Wednesday, May 27, 2009
33 Days to Online Profits
Day 33 (Friday) - Survey customers about new product ideas
Lesson Objective:
To survey your existing customers and opt-in subscribers about products and services
they’d be interested in buying in the near future.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Email
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
Well here we are…Day 33! We’ve come a long way together!
First off, please congratulate yourself! You deserve a big hand for doing what most
people don’t do…and that is, sticking with a plan.
I hope by now you’ve already started to experience the joy of waking up to find money
waiting for you in your inbox. Nice feeling, right?
Of course, it might not be a fortune waiting for you – but it’s a start…and more
importantly, you know how to do it for yourself.
Our last course of action is going to be looking for additional products or services you
can provide to your customers.
Did you know that it is 5x easier to sell to an existing customer than a new one? It’s true.
So that’s why, I want to show you how you exploit this for your profit.
There’s really no rocket science to getting very rich selling a product or service. Simply
put, if you have what people WANT they’ll be jumping over themselves to give you their
money.
So then the $64,000 question is “what do they want?”
Well, how about we ask them?
I don’t think you need to guess what your customers want – let them tell you and then
you can create it and sell it to them.
Pretty easy, right? You bet!
All you need to do is send out a simple questionnaire asking your customers to rank
several potential projects and which ones they’d like to see.
Here’s an example from a questionnaire I sent out:
* * *
Which of the following possible new products/services would
interest you most. Please rank in order from 1 to 5 (1 being most
useful and 5 being least useful to you):
__ Sales letter critique with a professional direct response
copywriter.
__ Membership site where you can ask top $250.00+/hour experts
in personal development and wealth creation any question you like
every month. Plus interact with other success-minded individuals.
__ 30 day, step-by-step blueprint to creating online profits for
any business or service.
__ Monthly copywriting analysis and break down of successful web
sites with the brains behind the sites.
__ Conversations with millionaires. Interviews of exactly how
real people are really accomplishing what they want in life.
__ Other
* * *
As you see, it’s really quite simple. I just add up all the answers and then I can decide
which project I want to pursue next.
People are pretty anxious to give you their help…if you ask – so go ahead and let them
help you by telling you what they want to buy.
Now, to get people to answer your questionnaire I suggest giving them an incentive. An
ebook or special report works great for this.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Come up with several new project ideas and let your customers decide what they
want to buy next from you.
2. Email it out to your customers asking for their help and offer them some kind of
incentive to answer.
Today’s Resources:
One Minute Poll – an incredibly easy and effective way to conduct polls online for ANY
size business… super easy to use and very affordable.
Zoomerang – create surveys and access results in real time.
E-Form - Email and web forms for surveys, collecting and updating databases and cool
survey reports. Ask anybody, any question, by email or web and place answers in your
database. Automatically produces and publishes html reports too.
To survey your existing customers and opt-in subscribers about products and services
they’d be interested in buying in the near future.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Email
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
Well here we are…Day 33! We’ve come a long way together!
First off, please congratulate yourself! You deserve a big hand for doing what most
people don’t do…and that is, sticking with a plan.
I hope by now you’ve already started to experience the joy of waking up to find money
waiting for you in your inbox. Nice feeling, right?
Of course, it might not be a fortune waiting for you – but it’s a start…and more
importantly, you know how to do it for yourself.
Our last course of action is going to be looking for additional products or services you
can provide to your customers.
Did you know that it is 5x easier to sell to an existing customer than a new one? It’s true.
So that’s why, I want to show you how you exploit this for your profit.
There’s really no rocket science to getting very rich selling a product or service. Simply
put, if you have what people WANT they’ll be jumping over themselves to give you their
money.
So then the $64,000 question is “what do they want?”
Well, how about we ask them?
I don’t think you need to guess what your customers want – let them tell you and then
you can create it and sell it to them.
Pretty easy, right? You bet!
All you need to do is send out a simple questionnaire asking your customers to rank
several potential projects and which ones they’d like to see.
Here’s an example from a questionnaire I sent out:
* * *
Which of the following possible new products/services would
interest you most. Please rank in order from 1 to 5 (1 being most
useful and 5 being least useful to you):
__ Sales letter critique with a professional direct response
copywriter.
__ Membership site where you can ask top $250.00+/hour experts
in personal development and wealth creation any question you like
every month. Plus interact with other success-minded individuals.
__ 30 day, step-by-step blueprint to creating online profits for
any business or service.
__ Monthly copywriting analysis and break down of successful web
sites with the brains behind the sites.
__ Conversations with millionaires. Interviews of exactly how
real people are really accomplishing what they want in life.
__ Other
* * *
As you see, it’s really quite simple. I just add up all the answers and then I can decide
which project I want to pursue next.
People are pretty anxious to give you their help…if you ask – so go ahead and let them
help you by telling you what they want to buy.
Now, to get people to answer your questionnaire I suggest giving them an incentive. An
ebook or special report works great for this.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Come up with several new project ideas and let your customers decide what they
want to buy next from you.
2. Email it out to your customers asking for their help and offer them some kind of
incentive to answer.
Today’s Resources:
One Minute Poll – an incredibly easy and effective way to conduct polls online for ANY
size business… super easy to use and very affordable.
Zoomerang – create surveys and access results in real time.
E-Form - Email and web forms for surveys, collecting and updating databases and cool
survey reports. Ask anybody, any question, by email or web and place answers in your
database. Automatically produces and publishes html reports too.
Day 32 (Thursday) - Submit Ezine Article #2
Lesson Objective:
To submit the second article you have written for your ezine list.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Email
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
Welcome to Day 32, our second to last day together.
Today, we’re going to submit another article to our same list of ezine editors.
The article that you created yesterday will go out and start generating free publicity for
you (like the first one).
There’s really not much to it! You should have the system down by now.
If you need a refresher check back to Day 17.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Send out article #2 to your list of ezine editors.
Today’s Resources:
“Turn Words Into Traffic” – Jim Edwards’ guide to creating an avalanche of free
traffic to your website using the power of ezine articles. Recognized as the web’s leading
course on how to use articles for massive publicity and profits… all free!
To submit the second article you have written for your ezine list.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Email
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
Welcome to Day 32, our second to last day together.
Today, we’re going to submit another article to our same list of ezine editors.
The article that you created yesterday will go out and start generating free publicity for
you (like the first one).
There’s really not much to it! You should have the system down by now.
If you need a refresher check back to Day 17.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Send out article #2 to your list of ezine editors.
Today’s Resources:
“Turn Words Into Traffic” – Jim Edwards’ guide to creating an avalanche of free
traffic to your website using the power of ezine articles. Recognized as the web’s leading
course on how to use articles for massive publicity and profits… all free!
Day 31 (Wednesday) - Prepare Article #2 for submission to your ezine list
Lesson Objective:
Today you will write your second article to submit to your list of ezines that accept
articles.
Skills Needed:
· Basic email
· Word processing
· Basic surfing
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – What should you write about?
If you need help with the actual writing process please refer back to Day 16.
After all we’ve been through together, the question on your mind should not be “how” to
write the article – it should be “what” to write about.
What does your audience need to know?
Based on your idea surfing sessions, what could you teach people that would make them
want to buy your product?
Example:
I just wrote an article about Adobe Acrobat 5.0 and a problem it has with converting
ebooks as a way to promote the ebook I co-authored with Joe Vitale, “How to Write and
Publish your own eBook in as little as 7 Days.”
I don’t give away anything from the book, I just tell them about a problem with a
software package a lot of people own or might upgrade to. Writing this type of article
enhances my status as an expert and promotes the book at the same time.
What problem could you solve for your target audience?
What bit of news could you comment on right now and really help make a difference in
their lives?
Today’s Assignment:
1. Write and edit your second article using the steps laid out in Day 16.
Today’s Resources:
“Turn Words Into Traffic” – Jim Edwards’ guide to creating an avalanche of free
traffic to your website using the power of ezine articles. Recognized as the web’s leading
course on how to use articles for massive publicity and profits… all free!
Today you will write your second article to submit to your list of ezines that accept
articles.
Skills Needed:
· Basic email
· Word processing
· Basic surfing
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – What should you write about?
If you need help with the actual writing process please refer back to Day 16.
After all we’ve been through together, the question on your mind should not be “how” to
write the article – it should be “what” to write about.
What does your audience need to know?
Based on your idea surfing sessions, what could you teach people that would make them
want to buy your product?
Example:
I just wrote an article about Adobe Acrobat 5.0 and a problem it has with converting
ebooks as a way to promote the ebook I co-authored with Joe Vitale, “How to Write and
Publish your own eBook in as little as 7 Days.”
I don’t give away anything from the book, I just tell them about a problem with a
software package a lot of people own or might upgrade to. Writing this type of article
enhances my status as an expert and promotes the book at the same time.
What problem could you solve for your target audience?
What bit of news could you comment on right now and really help make a difference in
their lives?
Today’s Assignment:
1. Write and edit your second article using the steps laid out in Day 16.
Today’s Resources:
“Turn Words Into Traffic” – Jim Edwards’ guide to creating an avalanche of free
traffic to your website using the power of ezine articles. Recognized as the web’s leading
course on how to use articles for massive publicity and profits… all free!
Day 30 (Tuesday) - Send out your endorsement email
Lesson Objective:
To send out your endorsement email letter to the house list you have built up over the last
month.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Email
Today’s Lesson:
Congratulate yourself – we’re already on Day 30…sending out your endorsed email!
Today’s lesson will be very profitable.
Today, we’re simply going to get your endorsed email from yesterday and send it out the
door to bring in some dough.
Believe it or not – email marketing is pretty simple when you do it right.
Before we go any further, I want to give you some information on opt-in email marketing
so you get this straight.
The Truth About “Opt-in” and “Permission” Email Marketing
If you’ve been on the Net for anytime, I’m sure you’ve heard of “spam”.
That’s the name for unsolicited commercial email… mostly the kind of “get rich quick”
and “send me a dollar” pyramid schemes that find their way into your inbox.
Many short-term minded marketers feel that since email is practically free they can send
out thousands and thousands of emails hoping for a handful of sales while dealing with
the risks involved.
We don’t think that’s a good idea.
You see, there is a big difference between permission email marketing and spamming.
I’m not talking about using software that can harvest emails addresses from the Web or
even those CD-roms with “30 million email addresses” floating around. The fact is,
without getting permission, you are just sending out spam and that will land you in some
big trouble.
I’ve seen sites shutdown, ISP’s cancelled and people basically being “blackballed” from
the Internet community.
Trust me, it’s not pretty.
In fact, there is legislation pending that makes spamming illegal. So not only will you
have all kinds of angry prospects – but you could also end up with severe legal penalties
against you.
Why would you want to put yourself through any of that?
There’s no point because getting permission is easy once you start using the strategies
we’re revealing here, plus it produces far better results.
Okay, with that said, let’s get to work finishing your endorsement email.
We’ve already discussed editing on Day 11 for your sales letter (and it’s really the same
process – just a little easier).
Your endorsement email’s only job is to get your recipient over to your affiliate link with
a predisposed idea to buy the product.
I’ve seen some endorsement email work with just a few paragraphs while others are 15-
20 paragraphs. You don’t want to really sell in the email – just “pre-sell” and lay the
groundwork for the sales process on the referring site to do the work for you.
If you’ve done a good job with this pre-sell you can easily see 5%, 10% even as high
20% conversion rates once they get to the website.
Before your email goes out – here are a couple simple points that are often overlooked:
· Make sure the link in your email is “clickable”. That means links should start
with http://www.yoursite.com and an email link should start with:
mailto:email@isp.com
· Make sure your “from” field is something people on your list will recognize,
such as your name or your business name.
· Did you include a way to people to remove themselves and unsubscribe from
your list?
· Do all the links work? Did you double-check?
· Is there a “spam” disclaimer? This basically comes at the end and says…
“This email is never sent unsolicited. You or someone claiming to be you
subscribed to this list using this email address [email]. If you wish to
unsubscribe please see below.”
Today’s Assignment:
1. Edit your email at least twice and read it aloud to yourself. Be sure it is formatted
correctly. Hard return before 65 characters so it wraps correctly.
2. Send out your endorsed email to your opt-in and customer list (you can slightly
change the opening for each group). Best days to mail seem to be Tue, Wed and
Thursday for sending out emails.
By the way - if you started this program on Monday (Day 1) – today would
be a Tuesday... a perfect day to mail!
To send out your endorsement email letter to the house list you have built up over the last
month.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Email
Today’s Lesson:
Congratulate yourself – we’re already on Day 30…sending out your endorsed email!
Today’s lesson will be very profitable.
Today, we’re simply going to get your endorsed email from yesterday and send it out the
door to bring in some dough.
Believe it or not – email marketing is pretty simple when you do it right.
Before we go any further, I want to give you some information on opt-in email marketing
so you get this straight.
The Truth About “Opt-in” and “Permission” Email Marketing
If you’ve been on the Net for anytime, I’m sure you’ve heard of “spam”.
That’s the name for unsolicited commercial email… mostly the kind of “get rich quick”
and “send me a dollar” pyramid schemes that find their way into your inbox.
Many short-term minded marketers feel that since email is practically free they can send
out thousands and thousands of emails hoping for a handful of sales while dealing with
the risks involved.
We don’t think that’s a good idea.
You see, there is a big difference between permission email marketing and spamming.
I’m not talking about using software that can harvest emails addresses from the Web or
even those CD-roms with “30 million email addresses” floating around. The fact is,
without getting permission, you are just sending out spam and that will land you in some
big trouble.
I’ve seen sites shutdown, ISP’s cancelled and people basically being “blackballed” from
the Internet community.
Trust me, it’s not pretty.
In fact, there is legislation pending that makes spamming illegal. So not only will you
have all kinds of angry prospects – but you could also end up with severe legal penalties
against you.
Why would you want to put yourself through any of that?
There’s no point because getting permission is easy once you start using the strategies
we’re revealing here, plus it produces far better results.
Okay, with that said, let’s get to work finishing your endorsement email.
We’ve already discussed editing on Day 11 for your sales letter (and it’s really the same
process – just a little easier).
Your endorsement email’s only job is to get your recipient over to your affiliate link with
a predisposed idea to buy the product.
I’ve seen some endorsement email work with just a few paragraphs while others are 15-
20 paragraphs. You don’t want to really sell in the email – just “pre-sell” and lay the
groundwork for the sales process on the referring site to do the work for you.
If you’ve done a good job with this pre-sell you can easily see 5%, 10% even as high
20% conversion rates once they get to the website.
Before your email goes out – here are a couple simple points that are often overlooked:
· Make sure the link in your email is “clickable”. That means links should start
with http://www.yoursite.com and an email link should start with:
mailto:email@isp.com
· Make sure your “from” field is something people on your list will recognize,
such as your name or your business name.
· Did you include a way to people to remove themselves and unsubscribe from
your list?
· Do all the links work? Did you double-check?
· Is there a “spam” disclaimer? This basically comes at the end and says…
“This email is never sent unsolicited. You or someone claiming to be you
subscribed to this list using this email address [email]. If you wish to
unsubscribe please see below.”
Today’s Assignment:
1. Edit your email at least twice and read it aloud to yourself. Be sure it is formatted
correctly. Hard return before 65 characters so it wraps correctly.
2. Send out your endorsed email to your opt-in and customer list (you can slightly
change the opening for each group). Best days to mail seem to be Tue, Wed and
Thursday for sending out emails.
By the way - if you started this program on Monday (Day 1) – today would
be a Tuesday... a perfect day to mail!
Day 29 (Monday) - Write “endorsed mailing” to your own list
Lesson Objective:
To write a letter to your own “house list” to endorse another product and make money!
Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
Okay today – I’m going to show you the secret to where the really “big money” comes
into play!
If you’ve read any marketing manuals you’ve probably heard about your “backend”
being the source of all your major profits in the business. Well, it’s true! Your most
expensive cost ever is going to be getting that initial customer to buy from your web site.
Stop and think about what I just said there!
Whenever you make an initial transaction with someone new there is always that fear of
being ripped off, or not getting exactly what was promised, or being dissatisfied -
whatever the case may be.
The easiest way to increase your revenues each and every month is simply going back to
your same customers and offering new products and services.
Most people completely neglect their current customers and only focus on driving more
and more new customers into the door. (Wrong!)
Each and every month (at least) my customers will get a pitch from me for something
else and it doesn’t have to be a product that I create, even though I’m pretty prolific at
creating products.
It can be a joint venture deal or affiliate program I endorse.
And that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today… creating an endorsement
email.
This is the opposite side of the coin of looking for joint ventures (now you’re the one
endorsing the other person).
In your research I’m sure you’ve uncovered some products/services that would be a good
fit for your new customers – well here’s your chance to profit from that research.
If the product you’re interested in endorsing has an affiliate program – it’s a total no-
brainer to get going. Just sign up for their affiliate program and then start crafting a
simple email that explains how you found the product and why they should get it.
Here’s a sample endorsement email I’ve sent that should give you some ideas:
*******
[[firstname]] - 3 minutes to greater joy, wealth and
happiness?
Hi [[firstname]]
I stumbled across something unusual recently....
And as a valued Instant Sales Letter member I wanted to let
you know about it.
A few months ago I met a man named John Harricharan at a
seminar, who graciously offered me his material to review.
I smiled and politely thanked him but I knew that I probably
wouldn't get around to reading it anytime soon. (You should
see my stack of reading material to get to and I'm actually
a quick reader.)
But as luck would have it, I was going away on my honeymoon
one week after this seminar and I decided to bring some
'lighter' reading along.
Honestly, I can't remember the last time I read a book that
didn't deal with the subject of marketing or advertising,
but once I started reading John's material on the airplane
and I couldn't put it down.
It was simply incredible!
His manuscript combined every success principle I've ever
been taught and wraps it all up into one succinct exercise
called a "Power Pause". And the best part is it only takes
just 3 minutes and 3 steps to achieve.
Yep! Only 3 minutes!
The truth is, I constantly find myself applying John's
simple (yet extremely powerful) "Power Pause" principles in
my life now and I feel like there is no problem or situation
I can't conquer. (Frankly - I'm not one of those spiritual
'walk on hot coals' type of guys - but this stuff really has
had a profound effect on my life.)
What's more, other top marketers like Declan Dunn, Jonathan
Mizel, Monique Harris, Joe Vitale and Marlon Sanders all
vouch for John's material (he even has an endorsement from
famed Deepak Chopra, MD).
It's amazing to think there are only 3 steps to solving
almost any problem you'll ever deal with (money, happiness,
relationship, you name it). And John assures me that it
works for anyone willing to give it a try.
The only thing you need to give this information a shot, is
an open mind. Open enough to take a chance on yourself and
the material contained in the "PowerPause". (Actually, you
don't even need to take a chance because his proven material
is backed by a 100% unconditional, guarantee -- so you
really can't lose!)
Do yourself a favor and check out this valuable information
by clicking the link below:
Power Pause
You'll be glad you did!
Yanik Silver
P.S. Could there really be 3 steps to happiness, joy, wealth
and getting almost anything you really want in your life? I
couldn't believe it either until I applied the "Power Pause"
material myself here: Power Pause
* * *
Now, let me point something out to here.
As you see I don’t tell the whole story in the email. I tell just enough to get people
excited and wanted to find out more about this resource.
Also, this is an affiliate link so I do get paid when people buy however I will never, ever
recommend a product unless I’ve purchased it and used myself.
You should make that a principal in your endorsements also because that way people
know that you don’t simply endorse everything.
Trust me, I’ve purchased tons of Internet marketing information and there hasn’t been
anything that has impressed me more than Jonathan’s stuff.
So this email I send out is totally true and sincere.
Also, it’s important when sending out emails to restate your relationship and tell them
how they got on your list.
Be sure there is some anti-spam disclaimer and also a simple way to unsubscribe.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Craft an endorsed email. Write from the heart and tell a story (see the article
below). This is just your rough draft.
Today’s Resources:
Million Dollar Emails - Collection of winning emails from the top Internet marketers
and eCommerce leaders. Just $19. An incredible value! In fact, there’s a whole section on
endorsement emails, customer emails, new customer emails, etc. etc.
WebAdMagic - Complete and comprehensive resource about autoresponders that make
money! You get an entire swipe file filled with tons of winning examples (and more)
Feature Article
=============================================================
The Art of Creating Hypnotic Emails: How To Get Your Emails Opened, Read, and
Responded To
By Yanik Silver, instantsalesletters.com
==============================================================
The power of email marketing is truly the "killer app" of the Internet. Personally, I’ve
witnessed some incredible results from my own email marketing campaigns:
$ $9,188.00 in profits in 72 hours
$ $15,558.81 in less than 3 weeks
$ $15,400.00 in 14 days
And if you read on, I’ll share with you 2 little-known factors to achieving results like this
in your own email marketing campaigns. I call it my “one-two knockout punch”!
The first thing you have to realize is what I’m about to share has been around *way*
before the Internet. The simple truth is that people don’t change and if you understand
human psychology you can make lots and lots of money online.
Your first job is get your email opened. Now, I’m going to make an assumption here;
That you are only using your own opt-in list, I don’t have enough room here to tell why
you should – so please just trust me.
Now, according to eMarketer.com, Americans get an average of 15.2 email messages a
day and that number continues to rise. That means unless your email’s subject line is
compelling – your message will wind up in the trash faster than you can blink!
One of the best ways to create a persuasive subject line is to incorporate curiosity.
Here are a few examples of powerful subject lines:
Hi! … just checking in …
- I'm finally spilling my guts...
- I goofed...
, what do you think?
, Oh no, you didn't
Open this before 7:15 p.m
When you receive something like this in your email box, it’s very hard not to take a peek
and open it up. Remember this is very important, your subject line is like a kamikaze
bomber, and its only job is to get your email opened.
----------------
Side note: Every part of your email has to have a job to do and the body of your email is
no different. I’ve had the most success sending out a small ‘teaser’ in the email and then
directed them to a web site for full details and to close the sale.
---------------
Okay, so now what?
Once you got your prospect to open the email, you had better grab their attention and
keep them reading. Frankly, the absolute best way in the world I know is to use a story.
From the ancient times to current day - stories continue to hold readers and listeners
spellbound. There is nothing better than a good story. It works almost like magic. You
can give people information and motivate using stories without having the barriers that
come up normally. This is a seldom used copywriting technique that work wonders
in email.
Here are a few examples I’ve successfully used:
* * *
Hi,
I stumbled across something unusual recently....
And as a valued subscriber I wanted to let you know about it.
A few months ago I met a man named John Harricharan at a seminar,
who graciously offered me his material to review.
I smiled and politely thanked him but I knew that I probably
wouldn't get around to reading it anytime soon. (You should see
my stack of reading material to get to and I'm actually a quick
reader.)
But as luck would have it, I was going away on my honeymoon one
week after this seminar and I decided to bring some 'lighter'
reading along.
Honestly, I can't remember the last time I read a book that
didn't deal with the subject of marketing or advertising, but
once I started reading John's material on the airplane
and I couldn't put it down.
It was simply incredible!
(copy continues)…
* * *
* * *
Dear [[firstname]],
Will you help me settle an argument (and win a bet)?
It's between my friend Markus Allen and me.
Here's the deal - I've been bugging Mark to update his
Postcard marketing book for almost a year now. (Mark wrote
"How to Market with Postcards" a couple years ago and it
was the bible for postcard marketing - but now it's out of
print and needed revising). I kept telling him that my
customers would love to find out all his little-known
secrets to low cost postcard marketing.
He would shake his head no and reply that people are only
interested in Web marketing or email marketing today.
I didn't think so. So we made a small wager.
(copy continues)…
* * *
I guarantee by simply using this proven “one-two knockout punch”, I just illustrated,
you'll see your next email campaign produce incredible results. Get ready to
click…send…and make money!
(c) 2001 Surefire Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved.
* * * * *
To write a letter to your own “house list” to endorse another product and make money!
Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
Okay today – I’m going to show you the secret to where the really “big money” comes
into play!
If you’ve read any marketing manuals you’ve probably heard about your “backend”
being the source of all your major profits in the business. Well, it’s true! Your most
expensive cost ever is going to be getting that initial customer to buy from your web site.
Stop and think about what I just said there!
Whenever you make an initial transaction with someone new there is always that fear of
being ripped off, or not getting exactly what was promised, or being dissatisfied -
whatever the case may be.
The easiest way to increase your revenues each and every month is simply going back to
your same customers and offering new products and services.
Most people completely neglect their current customers and only focus on driving more
and more new customers into the door. (Wrong!)
Each and every month (at least) my customers will get a pitch from me for something
else and it doesn’t have to be a product that I create, even though I’m pretty prolific at
creating products.
It can be a joint venture deal or affiliate program I endorse.
And that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today… creating an endorsement
email.
This is the opposite side of the coin of looking for joint ventures (now you’re the one
endorsing the other person).
In your research I’m sure you’ve uncovered some products/services that would be a good
fit for your new customers – well here’s your chance to profit from that research.
If the product you’re interested in endorsing has an affiliate program – it’s a total no-
brainer to get going. Just sign up for their affiliate program and then start crafting a
simple email that explains how you found the product and why they should get it.
Here’s a sample endorsement email I’ve sent that should give you some ideas:
*******
[[firstname]] - 3 minutes to greater joy, wealth and
happiness?
Hi [[firstname]]
I stumbled across something unusual recently....
And as a valued Instant Sales Letter member I wanted to let
you know about it.
A few months ago I met a man named John Harricharan at a
seminar, who graciously offered me his material to review.
I smiled and politely thanked him but I knew that I probably
wouldn't get around to reading it anytime soon. (You should
see my stack of reading material to get to and I'm actually
a quick reader.)
But as luck would have it, I was going away on my honeymoon
one week after this seminar and I decided to bring some
'lighter' reading along.
Honestly, I can't remember the last time I read a book that
didn't deal with the subject of marketing or advertising,
but once I started reading John's material on the airplane
and I couldn't put it down.
It was simply incredible!
His manuscript combined every success principle I've ever
been taught and wraps it all up into one succinct exercise
called a "Power Pause". And the best part is it only takes
just 3 minutes and 3 steps to achieve.
Yep! Only 3 minutes!
The truth is, I constantly find myself applying John's
simple (yet extremely powerful) "Power Pause" principles in
my life now and I feel like there is no problem or situation
I can't conquer. (Frankly - I'm not one of those spiritual
'walk on hot coals' type of guys - but this stuff really has
had a profound effect on my life.)
What's more, other top marketers like Declan Dunn, Jonathan
Mizel, Monique Harris, Joe Vitale and Marlon Sanders all
vouch for John's material (he even has an endorsement from
famed Deepak Chopra, MD).
It's amazing to think there are only 3 steps to solving
almost any problem you'll ever deal with (money, happiness,
relationship, you name it). And John assures me that it
works for anyone willing to give it a try.
The only thing you need to give this information a shot, is
an open mind. Open enough to take a chance on yourself and
the material contained in the "PowerPause". (Actually, you
don't even need to take a chance because his proven material
is backed by a 100% unconditional, guarantee -- so you
really can't lose!)
Do yourself a favor and check out this valuable information
by clicking the link below:
Power Pause
You'll be glad you did!
Yanik Silver
P.S. Could there really be 3 steps to happiness, joy, wealth
and getting almost anything you really want in your life? I
couldn't believe it either until I applied the "Power Pause"
material myself here: Power Pause
* * *
Now, let me point something out to here.
As you see I don’t tell the whole story in the email. I tell just enough to get people
excited and wanted to find out more about this resource.
Also, this is an affiliate link so I do get paid when people buy however I will never, ever
recommend a product unless I’ve purchased it and used myself.
You should make that a principal in your endorsements also because that way people
know that you don’t simply endorse everything.
Trust me, I’ve purchased tons of Internet marketing information and there hasn’t been
anything that has impressed me more than Jonathan’s stuff.
So this email I send out is totally true and sincere.
Also, it’s important when sending out emails to restate your relationship and tell them
how they got on your list.
Be sure there is some anti-spam disclaimer and also a simple way to unsubscribe.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Craft an endorsed email. Write from the heart and tell a story (see the article
below). This is just your rough draft.
Today’s Resources:
Million Dollar Emails - Collection of winning emails from the top Internet marketers
and eCommerce leaders. Just $19. An incredible value! In fact, there’s a whole section on
endorsement emails, customer emails, new customer emails, etc. etc.
WebAdMagic - Complete and comprehensive resource about autoresponders that make
money! You get an entire swipe file filled with tons of winning examples (and more)
Feature Article
=============================================================
The Art of Creating Hypnotic Emails: How To Get Your Emails Opened, Read, and
Responded To
By Yanik Silver, instantsalesletters.com
==============================================================
The power of email marketing is truly the "killer app" of the Internet. Personally, I’ve
witnessed some incredible results from my own email marketing campaigns:
$ $9,188.00 in profits in 72 hours
$ $15,558.81 in less than 3 weeks
$ $15,400.00 in 14 days
And if you read on, I’ll share with you 2 little-known factors to achieving results like this
in your own email marketing campaigns. I call it my “one-two knockout punch”!
The first thing you have to realize is what I’m about to share has been around *way*
before the Internet. The simple truth is that people don’t change and if you understand
human psychology you can make lots and lots of money online.
Your first job is get your email opened. Now, I’m going to make an assumption here;
That you are only using your own opt-in list, I don’t have enough room here to tell why
you should – so please just trust me.
Now, according to eMarketer.com, Americans get an average of 15.2 email messages a
day and that number continues to rise. That means unless your email’s subject line is
compelling – your message will wind up in the trash faster than you can blink!
One of the best ways to create a persuasive subject line is to incorporate curiosity.
Here are a few examples of powerful subject lines:
Hi
Open this before 7:15 p.m
When you receive something like this in your email box, it’s very hard not to take a peek
and open it up. Remember this is very important, your subject line is like a kamikaze
bomber, and its only job is to get your email opened.
----------------
Side note: Every part of your email has to have a job to do and the body of your email is
no different. I’ve had the most success sending out a small ‘teaser’ in the email and then
directed them to a web site for full details and to close the sale.
---------------
Okay, so now what?
Once you got your prospect to open the email, you had better grab their attention and
keep them reading. Frankly, the absolute best way in the world I know is to use a story.
From the ancient times to current day - stories continue to hold readers and listeners
spellbound. There is nothing better than a good story. It works almost like magic. You
can give people information and motivate using stories without having the barriers that
come up normally. This is a seldom used copywriting technique that work wonders
in email.
Here are a few examples I’ve successfully used:
* * *
Hi
I stumbled across something unusual recently....
And as a valued subscriber I wanted to let you know about it.
A few months ago I met a man named John Harricharan at a seminar,
who graciously offered me his material to review.
I smiled and politely thanked him but I knew that I probably
wouldn't get around to reading it anytime soon. (You should see
my stack of reading material to get to and I'm actually a quick
reader.)
But as luck would have it, I was going away on my honeymoon one
week after this seminar and I decided to bring some 'lighter'
reading along.
Honestly, I can't remember the last time I read a book that
didn't deal with the subject of marketing or advertising, but
once I started reading John's material on the airplane
and I couldn't put it down.
It was simply incredible!
(copy continues)…
* * *
* * *
Dear [[firstname]],
Will you help me settle an argument (and win a bet)?
It's between my friend Markus Allen and me.
Here's the deal - I've been bugging Mark to update his
Postcard marketing book for almost a year now. (Mark wrote
"How to Market with Postcards" a couple years ago and it
was the bible for postcard marketing - but now it's out of
print and needed revising). I kept telling him that my
customers would love to find out all his little-known
secrets to low cost postcard marketing.
He would shake his head no and reply that people are only
interested in Web marketing or email marketing today.
I didn't think so. So we made a small wager.
(copy continues)…
* * *
I guarantee by simply using this proven “one-two knockout punch”, I just illustrated,
you'll see your next email campaign produce incredible results. Get ready to
click…send…and make money!
(c) 2001 Surefire Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved.
* * * * *
Day 28 (Sunday) - Catch Up / Surf for Ideas day
Lesson Objective:
To catch up on any incomplete assignments and “Surf for ideas” for at least an hour to
find 2 things you can implement to improve your online efforts
Skills Needed:
· Basic email
· Word processing
· Basic surfing
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – Make a list of tasks you still must complete…
Have you signed up with Overture.com?
Do you need to research more keywords?
Have you signed up with at least 2 more pay-per-click search engines?
Have you submitted your ezine article?
Do you need to follow up with potential JV partners?
Do you need to follow up with people who have purchased from you?
Do you need to look at your numbers?
Do you need to “tweak” your headlines or modify your copy on the site?
Do you need to run another round of ezine ads?
… What haven’t you done?
Make a list of unfinished tasks and get them done today!
Part 2 – “Surf for Ideas”
Go out on the web and look at what other people are doing.
How do they process their credit card orders?
How do they deliver their products?
What kinds of headlines do they use?
Who do they link to?
Who links to them?
How could you get links from the same places?
How could you improve upon what you see?
How could you use what you see to enhance what you are doing?
Surf for at least an hour, find 2 things you can use and implement them today!
Summary of today’s assignments:
1. Make a list of unfinished tasks and get them done today!
2. Surf for at least an hour to find 2 things you can use and implement today!
To catch up on any incomplete assignments and “Surf for ideas” for at least an hour to
find 2 things you can implement to improve your online efforts
Skills Needed:
· Basic email
· Word processing
· Basic surfing
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – Make a list of tasks you still must complete…
Have you signed up with Overture.com?
Do you need to research more keywords?
Have you signed up with at least 2 more pay-per-click search engines?
Have you submitted your ezine article?
Do you need to follow up with potential JV partners?
Do you need to follow up with people who have purchased from you?
Do you need to look at your numbers?
Do you need to “tweak” your headlines or modify your copy on the site?
Do you need to run another round of ezine ads?
… What haven’t you done?
Make a list of unfinished tasks and get them done today!
Part 2 – “Surf for Ideas”
Go out on the web and look at what other people are doing.
How do they process their credit card orders?
How do they deliver their products?
What kinds of headlines do they use?
Who do they link to?
Who links to them?
How could you get links from the same places?
How could you improve upon what you see?
How could you use what you see to enhance what you are doing?
Surf for at least an hour, find 2 things you can use and implement them today!
Summary of today’s assignments:
1. Make a list of unfinished tasks and get them done today!
2. Surf for at least an hour to find 2 things you can use and implement today!
Day 27 (Saturday) - Set the stage for More Traffic!
Lesson Objective:
· Today you will brainstorm more keywords, submit your new keywords to
Overture and sign up with at least 2 more pay-per-click search engines.
Skills Needed:
· Basic email
· Word processing
· Basic surfing
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – Log on to Overture.com and brainstorm 100 more keywords
The more hooks you have in the water the better your chance of catching a fish!
Log on to Overture.com and research more keywords that would bring targeted visitors to
your site.
If you have trouble thinking of additional keywords to search, try this little trick.
Log on to your nearest competitor’s site and look at their keywords tag.
Step 1 – Log on to their site,
Step 2 – In the Internet Explorer web browser go to your
menu bar and click “View” then click “Source”. (In
Netscape you click “View” then click “Page Source”.)
Step 3 – This will open up your text editor and you can
look at what your competitors think are important
keywords by looking in the keywords meta-tag.
content='Sequential Autoresponder
System'>
Look for any words you may not have thought about -- but which make perfect sense
once you see them.
Use these new words to start your new research using the keyword tool on Overture.
Part 2 – Submit your new keywords to Overture
Submit your new keywords to Overture using your best tested titles and descriptions.
Part 3 – Add those same keywords to your Google Ad Words campaign
Just take the same keywords you just found and add those to your Google Ad Words
account. Also, by this time you should have some clear ideas about which of your ads is
the winner in our split test.
Do you see it?
Yes. Okay good. Create one more ad and start split-testing that also.
Part 4 – Sign up with at least 2 more pay-per-click search engines.
FACT! Traffic is going to make or break you online.
By now you should have:
· A sales letter that works…
· A product worth buying…
· Proven ad copy for your pay-per-click links and ezine ads!
Now it’s time to start pouring on the traffic and working the “numbers”.
Don’t spend more that you can afford to lose – but chances are, if you know your
numbers, you won’t “lose” anything!
If you’ve done everything you were supposed to do up to this point all you’re doing now
is “rolling out” your business.
Go get some more traffic and make money!
Summary of today’s assignments:
1. Research 100 new keyword combinations with Overture.
2. Submit your new keywords to Overture using your best titles and descriptions.
3. Use those same 100 new keywords and add them to your Google campaign.
Check to see which ad is the winner in your split test.
4. Sign up with at least 2 more pay-per-click search engines and submit your
keywords.
Today’s Resources:
Instant Traffic Stampede – Stop settling for tiny traffic spurts when you can unleash a
thundering herd of new traffic to your site. (Brand new resource!)
www.payperclicksearchengines.com - go here, find at least two more pay-per-click
search engines, sign up and get going!
Instant Web Traffic! – Learn the in’s and out’s of pay-per-click search engines from
one of the world’s experts!
Google Ad Words Manual - This is the most comprehensive course on Google Ad
Words created by a direct response testing and tracking expert. This is brand new
information that you need to get your hands on if you want to use Google Ad Words to
make serious money.
· Today you will brainstorm more keywords, submit your new keywords to
Overture and sign up with at least 2 more pay-per-click search engines.
Skills Needed:
· Basic email
· Word processing
· Basic surfing
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – Log on to Overture.com and brainstorm 100 more keywords
The more hooks you have in the water the better your chance of catching a fish!
Log on to Overture.com and research more keywords that would bring targeted visitors to
your site.
If you have trouble thinking of additional keywords to search, try this little trick.
Log on to your nearest competitor’s site and look at their keywords tag.
Step 1 – Log on to their site,
Step 2 – In the Internet Explorer web browser go to your
menu bar and click “View” then click “Source”. (In
Netscape you click “View” then click “Page Source”.)
Step 3 – This will open up your text editor and you can
look at what your competitors think are important
keywords by looking in the keywords meta-tag.
content='Sequential Autoresponder
System'>
Look for any words you may not have thought about -- but which make perfect sense
once you see them.
Use these new words to start your new research using the keyword tool on Overture.
Part 2 – Submit your new keywords to Overture
Submit your new keywords to Overture using your best tested titles and descriptions.
Part 3 – Add those same keywords to your Google Ad Words campaign
Just take the same keywords you just found and add those to your Google Ad Words
account. Also, by this time you should have some clear ideas about which of your ads is
the winner in our split test.
Do you see it?
Yes. Okay good. Create one more ad and start split-testing that also.
Part 4 – Sign up with at least 2 more pay-per-click search engines.
FACT! Traffic is going to make or break you online.
By now you should have:
· A sales letter that works…
· A product worth buying…
· Proven ad copy for your pay-per-click links and ezine ads!
Now it’s time to start pouring on the traffic and working the “numbers”.
Don’t spend more that you can afford to lose – but chances are, if you know your
numbers, you won’t “lose” anything!
If you’ve done everything you were supposed to do up to this point all you’re doing now
is “rolling out” your business.
Go get some more traffic and make money!
Summary of today’s assignments:
1. Research 100 new keyword combinations with Overture.
2. Submit your new keywords to Overture using your best titles and descriptions.
3. Use those same 100 new keywords and add them to your Google campaign.
Check to see which ad is the winner in your split test.
4. Sign up with at least 2 more pay-per-click search engines and submit your
keywords.
Today’s Resources:
Instant Traffic Stampede – Stop settling for tiny traffic spurts when you can unleash a
thundering herd of new traffic to your site. (Brand new resource!)
www.payperclicksearchengines.com - go here, find at least two more pay-per-click
search engines, sign up and get going!
Instant Web Traffic! – Learn the in’s and out’s of pay-per-click search engines from
one of the world’s experts!
Google Ad Words Manual - This is the most comprehensive course on Google Ad
Words created by a direct response testing and tracking expert. This is brand new
information that you need to get your hands on if you want to use Google Ad Words to
make serious money.
Day 26 (Friday) - “Announce” your affiliate program
Lesson Objective:
To let the world know your affiliate program is open for business by listing it in various
places online.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Surfing
· Basic Email
Today’s Lesson:
TGIF! We’re still working on your affiliate promotion strategy.
Now, with your tool box in place and a couple successful joint ventures going – it’s time
to let the whole world in on your good thing.
Announcing Your Affiliate Program
You should start is with your existing customer base.
Simply send out an email announcing your program and providing the link where they
can sign up.
Next, you should announce your affiliate program to the different directories of affiliate
programs on the Web.
I announced my new affiliate program to about 20-30 affiliate program directories.
Below is a list of the major Affiliate Program directories you should submit your
information to:
Associate Programs
2-Tier Affiliate Programs
Affiliates Directory
ATL Network
The top directory is Associate Programs, which is run by Allan Gardyne.
He’s somewhere in the sticks of Australia and he has the most comprehensive directory
of affiliate programs.
So when you have your new affiliate program all set up, you go there and announce it and
you should get affiliates.
Your announcement’s listing needs to stress the benefits to affiliates for signing up. Once
again, good copy is important.
The description I used tells affiliates why business owners will be interested in our
product and then I give the specifics on commission structures.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Create several program descriptions for your affiliate program. Each one of the
directories has their own requirements. Just have a ‘long’ and ‘short’ listing ready
to copy and paste.
2. Email your existing customers and let them know about your affiliate program. If
your offer is directly to consumers – let them know they can earn money by
referring their friends.
3. Submit your program to each of the major affiliate directories.
Today’s Resources:
If you don’t want to manually go through the trouble of submitting your program to all
the directories - there is a service at Affiliate Announce that will submit to 40 top
directories (by hand) and save you lots of time.
“Budget Cruncher”!
Submit to the affiliate directories yourself – by cutting and pasting
Program descriptions, sign-up pages, etc.
To let the world know your affiliate program is open for business by listing it in various
places online.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Surfing
· Basic Email
Today’s Lesson:
TGIF! We’re still working on your affiliate promotion strategy.
Now, with your tool box in place and a couple successful joint ventures going – it’s time
to let the whole world in on your good thing.
Announcing Your Affiliate Program
You should start is with your existing customer base.
Simply send out an email announcing your program and providing the link where they
can sign up.
Next, you should announce your affiliate program to the different directories of affiliate
programs on the Web.
I announced my new affiliate program to about 20-30 affiliate program directories.
Below is a list of the major Affiliate Program directories you should submit your
information to:
Associate Programs
2-Tier Affiliate Programs
Affiliates Directory
ATL Network
The top directory is Associate Programs, which is run by Allan Gardyne.
He’s somewhere in the sticks of Australia and he has the most comprehensive directory
of affiliate programs.
So when you have your new affiliate program all set up, you go there and announce it and
you should get affiliates.
Your announcement’s listing needs to stress the benefits to affiliates for signing up. Once
again, good copy is important.
The description I used tells affiliates why business owners will be interested in our
product and then I give the specifics on commission structures.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Create several program descriptions for your affiliate program. Each one of the
directories has their own requirements. Just have a ‘long’ and ‘short’ listing ready
to copy and paste.
2. Email your existing customers and let them know about your affiliate program. If
your offer is directly to consumers – let them know they can earn money by
referring their friends.
3. Submit your program to each of the major affiliate directories.
Today’s Resources:
If you don’t want to manually go through the trouble of submitting your program to all
the directories - there is a service at Affiliate Announce that will submit to 40 top
directories (by hand) and save you lots of time.
“Budget Cruncher”!
Submit to the affiliate directories yourself – by cutting and pasting
Program descriptions, sign-up pages, etc.
Day 25 (Thursday) - Launching your affiliate program
Lesson Objective:
To set up your “affiliate toolbox” so your affiliates have the tools they need to make you
money!
Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
· Basic HTML
· Basic FTP
Today’s Lesson:
Hey, we’re really motoring along – welcome to Day 25!
Today we’re going to focus on creating tools for your affiliates. This is critical!
Most people want everything handed to them and affiliates are no different. The easier
you can make it for them to promote you – the bigger your bank account will get.
Affiliate programs (also known as reseller programs, associate programs, etc.) are an
opportunity for you to get hundreds, even thousands of web sites all driving traffic to
your site and making sales for you…
And the best part is you don’t pay until they make the sale!
That’s the opportunity (and it really is a great one) but I’m going to give you my realistic
assessment from actually doing it. My affiliate program accounts for 50% of my traffic
and 40% of my sales so obviously I’m very happy with the results!
It’s been a tremendous success starting with the first month. It brought in approximately
$2900 in sales and I paid out $1400 in commissions.
From my initial investment of $650 ($450 for software and $200 for additional design
work) this came out to a $900 profit, or a 138% return on investment (ROI) in the first
month.
Six months later, it has provided me a 1900% ROI and I know it will continue to pay off
for many years to come. In the next few days we’re going to cover affiliate programs so
let’s get started with the first step…
(I’m already assuming you have a tested sales process, a good program and a good
payout to affiliates.)
The Affiliate Tool Box
I try to provide my affiliates all the tools and assistance they need to sell successfully.
Most affiliate programs simply give a couple banners when they sign up a new affiliate.
That’s why I created something called my “Affiliate Tool Box” to provide my affiliates
with all the tools they needed to promote the program and do really well.
Here’s what they get:
· They get a whole list of text links. These are headlines that they can use on their
site.
· I give them endorsement letters/emails they can send to their lists
· I give them “proven” ads that they can run in Ezines.
· I give them graphics… I give them pretty much anything and everything they
need!
· I give them viral ebooks and additional content they can use as their own with
their affiliate links.
I give them free reign of my material. They can take my content, like articles or ebooks
I’ve written, and insert their affiliate link in the resource box.
They can’t claim themselves as the author, but they can stick their affiliate link in the
resource box.
In fact, I try to give them everything I possibly can to help them succeed.
Actually, we give so much stuff that I have one of my top affiliates running a free web
site (like a Geocities type site) and he makes $500-$700.00 in affiliate commissions every
month… just using material from our toolbox!
So that’s exactly what you need to create for people!
Try to provide as many tools as you possibly can. Take you newly tested ezine ads and
put them in there. Take your new article and put it there. How about using your top
headlines as text links for them? Etc.
And once you post the new material, make sure you alert your affiliates you’ve placed
additional tools on the web for them to use.
Check out www.getfitwhileyousit.com/affiliate.html for an example of an affiliate tool
box we created for a brand new product.
Or sign up for my main affiliate program so you can see how I train affiliates and also
what tools I provide.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Create your own affiliate “tool box” which includes any and all the promotional
material you can provide so far.
2. If you have any existing affiliates let them know about the new “tool box”.
3. Sign up for a few of the major affiliate/associate programs. That’s how I learned
what I liked and what I didn’t like in an affiliate program. See what kind of
promotional material they give you.
Today’s Resources:
www.ViralEbookCreator.com – This is a new project the two of us will be launching so
publishers can let their affiliates ‘brand’ ebooks-on-the-fly. Check out this cool
technology.
Associate Programs - Sign up for a few of the major affiliate programs so you can see
how they are administered.
To set up your “affiliate toolbox” so your affiliates have the tools they need to make you
money!
Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
· Basic HTML
· Basic FTP
Today’s Lesson:
Hey, we’re really motoring along – welcome to Day 25!
Today we’re going to focus on creating tools for your affiliates. This is critical!
Most people want everything handed to them and affiliates are no different. The easier
you can make it for them to promote you – the bigger your bank account will get.
Affiliate programs (also known as reseller programs, associate programs, etc.) are an
opportunity for you to get hundreds, even thousands of web sites all driving traffic to
your site and making sales for you…
And the best part is you don’t pay until they make the sale!
That’s the opportunity (and it really is a great one) but I’m going to give you my realistic
assessment from actually doing it. My affiliate program accounts for 50% of my traffic
and 40% of my sales so obviously I’m very happy with the results!
It’s been a tremendous success starting with the first month. It brought in approximately
$2900 in sales and I paid out $1400 in commissions.
From my initial investment of $650 ($450 for software and $200 for additional design
work) this came out to a $900 profit, or a 138% return on investment (ROI) in the first
month.
Six months later, it has provided me a 1900% ROI and I know it will continue to pay off
for many years to come. In the next few days we’re going to cover affiliate programs so
let’s get started with the first step…
(I’m already assuming you have a tested sales process, a good program and a good
payout to affiliates.)
The Affiliate Tool Box
I try to provide my affiliates all the tools and assistance they need to sell successfully.
Most affiliate programs simply give a couple banners when they sign up a new affiliate.
That’s why I created something called my “Affiliate Tool Box” to provide my affiliates
with all the tools they needed to promote the program and do really well.
Here’s what they get:
· They get a whole list of text links. These are headlines that they can use on their
site.
· I give them endorsement letters/emails they can send to their lists
· I give them “proven” ads that they can run in Ezines.
· I give them graphics… I give them pretty much anything and everything they
need!
· I give them viral ebooks and additional content they can use as their own with
their affiliate links.
I give them free reign of my material. They can take my content, like articles or ebooks
I’ve written, and insert their affiliate link in the resource box.
They can’t claim themselves as the author, but they can stick their affiliate link in the
resource box.
In fact, I try to give them everything I possibly can to help them succeed.
Actually, we give so much stuff that I have one of my top affiliates running a free web
site (like a Geocities type site) and he makes $500-$700.00 in affiliate commissions every
month… just using material from our toolbox!
So that’s exactly what you need to create for people!
Try to provide as many tools as you possibly can. Take you newly tested ezine ads and
put them in there. Take your new article and put it there. How about using your top
headlines as text links for them? Etc.
And once you post the new material, make sure you alert your affiliates you’ve placed
additional tools on the web for them to use.
Check out www.getfitwhileyousit.com/affiliate.html for an example of an affiliate tool
box we created for a brand new product.
Or sign up for my main affiliate program so you can see how I train affiliates and also
what tools I provide.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Create your own affiliate “tool box” which includes any and all the promotional
material you can provide so far.
2. If you have any existing affiliates let them know about the new “tool box”.
3. Sign up for a few of the major affiliate/associate programs. That’s how I learned
what I liked and what I didn’t like in an affiliate program. See what kind of
promotional material they give you.
Today’s Resources:
www.ViralEbookCreator.com – This is a new project the two of us will be launching so
publishers can let their affiliates ‘brand’ ebooks-on-the-fly. Check out this cool
technology.
Associate Programs - Sign up for a few of the major affiliate programs so you can see
how they are administered.
Day 24 (Wednesday) - Time to “Up-sell”
Lesson Objective:
To create an up-sell for your site so you can potentially make more money from each
buyer.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
· Basic HTML
· Basic FTP
Today’s Lesson:
Today I’m going to show you a little “magic trick” that can instantly increase your profits
20-60% even without getting any additional business or website visitors.
It’s a simple concept called an “upsell” or a “bump”.
Let me give you a couple examples from a recent ski trip and I think you’ll immediately
see what this is all about.
Last February, after an Internet marketing seminar – I decided to go skiing in Colorado.
My friend Bart and I headed to Keystone resort to go skiing for 2 days. He needed to rent
skis and when he was paying for his ski rental the guy behind the counter says, “Would
you like damage protection – it’s only a dollar more?”
So of course Bart takes the insurance (boy did he need it considering we were going off
10 or 15 foot jumps that day! ?).
And during this same seminar in Colorado - I met a man who was responsible for
millions and millions of dollars in sales via infomercials who gave me some incredible
upsell examples.
His name is Alex Mandossian and I had the opportunity to sit down and pick his brain. It
was amazing all the simple tweaks he added that significantly increased his company’s
revenue.
The first example was an infomercial for a 35-mm Nippon camera for $19.95 with 100
free rolls of film. A good deal and lots of people called in.
Now, here’s the “juicy” part. Every time an order was placed the operator read this script:
Operator: “Are you going to be using your camera to take pictures inside?”
Caller: “Yes.”
Operator: “Well, as a preferred Nippon customer you can get the flash attachment today
only for just $10.00 with no additional shipping or handling. That’s a savings of $9.00.
May I add that to your order?”
That’s it – that’s the simple script. Would you believe 60% - 80% of the people said
“yes”?
It’s true. The bottom line increase was incredible because there was no additional cost of
sale to reach this customer. They sold hundreds of thousands of units.
Here’s another example from Alex….
As the marketing director for one of the biggest tooth whitening toothpastes around he
found a simple, yet ingenious way to increase the sale. When callers called in to order
one tube for $19.95 here’s the script:
Operator: “How many members are in your family?”
Caller: “2”
Operator: “Well, as a preferred customer you can get 2 tubes for only $29.95 today only.
For just $10.00 more with no additional shipping or handling. That’s a savings of $9.95.
May I add that to your order?”
Wow! Do you see the incredible leverage here?
There is no additional cost per sale each time a person calls in. The upsell or cross-sell is
nearly all “extra” profit!
Here’s an interesting fact – did you know nearly all of the infomercials you see on TV
today wouldn’t make a profit unless they continued using their upsell? It’s true. And I
hope that gives you a small inkling of the power this concept could hold for your web
site.
You’ve got to understand the psychology behind it.
Once a customer makes a buying decision by calling to order the product they’ve already
decided to buy. They have a credit card in hand and they’ve mentally gone from prospect
to customer.
At this point it’s not difficult to increase their order by simply offering them some ‘deal’.
And an upsell can work everywhere!
On my web site (instantsalesletters.com) I introduce an upsell that 44% - 66% of buyers
take. That’s all extra profit for me with no additional cost. So cool!
It works like this: Once somebody clicks on the order button on my page they are taken
to another page (not the order page). On this new page I let them know that today only
they can become a special “Gold” member for only $15 more and they’ll get 2 additional
bonuses not available in the regular package.
This is so important. If you give people a preferential deal, some percentage will take you
up on it.
The upsell is one of the easiest (and most profitable) techniques you can start
implementing tomorrow. This is like the “would you like fries” strategy. Unless you’re
offering “fries” you’re missing out on tons and tons of profit.
You simply need to come up with a couple more compelling bonuses, packages or up-
sells that people will get for the upgrade.
A couple options are:
· More of your product or service at a special price (i.e. 2 tubes of goop).
· Special membership into a continuity program (keep billing them until they say
‘stop’).
· Additional bonuses they can’t get without the upsell (the better you make these
bonuses the more people will say ‘yes’).
· Etc., etc. etc.
I’ve even used something as simple as putting a check box on my order form on Instant
Internet Profits. It could be that simple. On this we get a 25% upsell rate. Take a look at
what appears at the bottom after the customer has already filled out their info to buy the
course:
Or, if you order from Amazon you’ll notice they also say something like “here are other
books that people who have ordered your book have also ordered”. I love Amazon and I
buy lots of things from them – here’s what shows up on the screen before you make your
purchase:
One of my marketing friends did a double upsell on his site. He would offer an audio
program for $29 and then he’d also let people choose from 2 additional packages when
they got to the order page. He told me 2/3 of the people took some kind of upsell.
(Incredible!)
Trust me, an upsell can be a huge moneymaker for you and if you’re already selling
anything – you’re losing money by not offering it.
Today’s Assignment:
1. You guessed it! Create an upsell for your product or service.
If you are a catalog site – it can be a recommended product/service that goes with
what people bought (start with your top 10 items first).
If you sell an information product – think of a complimentary product or service
you can offer as an upsell.
2. Get it up on your site.
Today’s Resources:
Public Domain Riches – how would you like a 100% legal way to get free content to
turn into upsells, bonuses or even entirely new products? The public domain is a vast
repository of millions and millions of works just sitting under your nose if you know how
to find them.
eBook Wholesaler - sells you the rights to different ebooks you can sell or give away as
your upsell. Excellent source for a fast upsell!
To create an up-sell for your site so you can potentially make more money from each
buyer.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
· Basic HTML
· Basic FTP
Today’s Lesson:
Today I’m going to show you a little “magic trick” that can instantly increase your profits
20-60% even without getting any additional business or website visitors.
It’s a simple concept called an “upsell” or a “bump”.
Let me give you a couple examples from a recent ski trip and I think you’ll immediately
see what this is all about.
Last February, after an Internet marketing seminar – I decided to go skiing in Colorado.
My friend Bart and I headed to Keystone resort to go skiing for 2 days. He needed to rent
skis and when he was paying for his ski rental the guy behind the counter says, “Would
you like damage protection – it’s only a dollar more?”
So of course Bart takes the insurance (boy did he need it considering we were going off
10 or 15 foot jumps that day! ?).
And during this same seminar in Colorado - I met a man who was responsible for
millions and millions of dollars in sales via infomercials who gave me some incredible
upsell examples.
His name is Alex Mandossian and I had the opportunity to sit down and pick his brain. It
was amazing all the simple tweaks he added that significantly increased his company’s
revenue.
The first example was an infomercial for a 35-mm Nippon camera for $19.95 with 100
free rolls of film. A good deal and lots of people called in.
Now, here’s the “juicy” part. Every time an order was placed the operator read this script:
Operator: “Are you going to be using your camera to take pictures inside?”
Caller: “Yes.”
Operator: “Well, as a preferred Nippon customer you can get the flash attachment today
only for just $10.00 with no additional shipping or handling. That’s a savings of $9.00.
May I add that to your order?”
That’s it – that’s the simple script. Would you believe 60% - 80% of the people said
“yes”?
It’s true. The bottom line increase was incredible because there was no additional cost of
sale to reach this customer. They sold hundreds of thousands of units.
Here’s another example from Alex….
As the marketing director for one of the biggest tooth whitening toothpastes around he
found a simple, yet ingenious way to increase the sale. When callers called in to order
one tube for $19.95 here’s the script:
Operator: “How many members are in your family?”
Caller: “2”
Operator: “Well, as a preferred customer you can get 2 tubes for only $29.95 today only.
For just $10.00 more with no additional shipping or handling. That’s a savings of $9.95.
May I add that to your order?”
Wow! Do you see the incredible leverage here?
There is no additional cost per sale each time a person calls in. The upsell or cross-sell is
nearly all “extra” profit!
Here’s an interesting fact – did you know nearly all of the infomercials you see on TV
today wouldn’t make a profit unless they continued using their upsell? It’s true. And I
hope that gives you a small inkling of the power this concept could hold for your web
site.
You’ve got to understand the psychology behind it.
Once a customer makes a buying decision by calling to order the product they’ve already
decided to buy. They have a credit card in hand and they’ve mentally gone from prospect
to customer.
At this point it’s not difficult to increase their order by simply offering them some ‘deal’.
And an upsell can work everywhere!
On my web site (instantsalesletters.com) I introduce an upsell that 44% - 66% of buyers
take. That’s all extra profit for me with no additional cost. So cool!
It works like this: Once somebody clicks on the order button on my page they are taken
to another page (not the order page). On this new page I let them know that today only
they can become a special “Gold” member for only $15 more and they’ll get 2 additional
bonuses not available in the regular package.
This is so important. If you give people a preferential deal, some percentage will take you
up on it.
The upsell is one of the easiest (and most profitable) techniques you can start
implementing tomorrow. This is like the “would you like fries” strategy. Unless you’re
offering “fries” you’re missing out on tons and tons of profit.
You simply need to come up with a couple more compelling bonuses, packages or up-
sells that people will get for the upgrade.
A couple options are:
· More of your product or service at a special price (i.e. 2 tubes of goop).
· Special membership into a continuity program (keep billing them until they say
‘stop’).
· Additional bonuses they can’t get without the upsell (the better you make these
bonuses the more people will say ‘yes’).
· Etc., etc. etc.
I’ve even used something as simple as putting a check box on my order form on Instant
Internet Profits. It could be that simple. On this we get a 25% upsell rate. Take a look at
what appears at the bottom after the customer has already filled out their info to buy the
course:
Or, if you order from Amazon you’ll notice they also say something like “here are other
books that people who have ordered your book have also ordered”. I love Amazon and I
buy lots of things from them – here’s what shows up on the screen before you make your
purchase:
One of my marketing friends did a double upsell on his site. He would offer an audio
program for $29 and then he’d also let people choose from 2 additional packages when
they got to the order page. He told me 2/3 of the people took some kind of upsell.
(Incredible!)
Trust me, an upsell can be a huge moneymaker for you and if you’re already selling
anything – you’re losing money by not offering it.
Today’s Assignment:
1. You guessed it! Create an upsell for your product or service.
If you are a catalog site – it can be a recommended product/service that goes with
what people bought (start with your top 10 items first).
If you sell an information product – think of a complimentary product or service
you can offer as an upsell.
2. Get it up on your site.
Today’s Resources:
Public Domain Riches – how would you like a 100% legal way to get free content to
turn into upsells, bonuses or even entirely new products? The public domain is a vast
repository of millions and millions of works just sitting under your nose if you know how
to find them.
eBook Wholesaler - sells you the rights to different ebooks you can sell or give away as
your upsell. Excellent source for a fast upsell!
Day 23 (Tuesday) - Follow Up on JV Approach Letter
Lesson Objective:
Today you will follow up your initial contact with these potential Joint Venture Partners.
Skills Needed:
· Basic email
· Dialing and talking on the phone
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – Follow up with Joint Venture Partners
Today’s assignment is quite simple and I don’t want you spending a lot of time here
looking at this book!
You need to follow up with the Joint Venture letters you sent out yesterday with a phone
call.
“A phone call?!” you ask?
That’s right… a phone call!
The vast majority of people worth doing a joint venture with are very busy. They get
bombarded with email all day from people offering them get-rich-quick schemes and new
products they claim will “make us all rich”.
Your potential joint venture partners may very well have thrown your letter in the trash…
along with a dozen or more others that came in yesterday.
The best way to follow up on a Joint Venture proposal is to get on the phone, call them
up, and make your offer “live and in-person”.
This allows them to ask you questions and also shows you are a real person, not just
somebody out there trying to scam them and their customers.
Just because it is the Internet doesn’t mean the “old rules” of human interaction don’t
apply.
FACT! People do business with people they feel like they know and trust.
The fastest way to get your JV partners to trust you is to call them up, introduce yourself
and your proposal. Keep it brief, get to the point and ask them if they are interested.
Here is a script I have used with great success – you should modify it to fit your
personality and your offer.
Get their phone number from their website or do a “whois” lookup at
www.betterwhois.com or http://www-whois.internic.net/cgi/whois and get the registrant
or administrative contact phone number from the record.
Dial the phone!
If someone answers say this…
(Note: it helps if you write out your script on a piece of paper ahead of time and practice
it. You don’t want to sound like a telemarketer… but you also don’t want to trip over
your tongue because you’re nervous.)
You: Hello may I please speak to ___________?
Them: May I ask who’s calling? -- or -- What is this in reference to?
You: Yes this is your name with “your site”. I was calling about a possible joint
venture.
Them: How can I help you? -- or -- What do you have in mind?
You: Their name I was calling because I have a product / service called “name of
product/service” that I’ve written / created / discovered that state your
unique selling proposition.
(Your unique selling proposition (USP) is what sets you totally apart from the
competition. What makes you special and why should people buy your product as
opposed to anyone else’s?)
Example: The ebook I co-authored with Joe Vitale, entitled “How to Write and Publish
your own eBook in as little as 7 Days”, has a really cool USP…
USP - “How to write and publish your own ebook in as little as 7 days… even if you
can’t write, can’t type, and failed high school English class!”
You: I thought my product / service would create an excellent additional source
of revenue for you while providing a valuable service to your customers
because give reason why it makes sense for them to offer it to their people.
What do you think?
Them: “Well …”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
At this point you will either engage them in conversation or they will get off the phone.
- If your sales conversion numbers are really good tell them.
- If you have endorsements from famous people tell them.
Your objective is to engage them in a “normal” conversation, get them to take a look at
your product or agree to do a joint venture right there on the spot!
NOTE: Be persistent – but don’t get rude or pushy.
Once a JV partner agrees to work with you, get them to commit to a date for sending the
mailing!
Also, be fast to respond to their requests and get them any additional information they ask
for!
Always send a follow up email, whether they agree to work with you or not, thanking
them for their time and wishing them great success.
If they do agree to work with you, make sure your email includes a summary of what you
talked about and agreed so nobody gets confused later.
Part 2A
What if they don’t answer the phone or you can’t get them on the phone?
If it’s an answering machine or voice mail leave this message:
Hi ________ This is your name with your domain name. I was calling to follow up
on the letter/email/fax I sent you yesterday about a potential joint venture. I believe
My product / service would create an excellent additional source of revenue for you
while providing a valuable service to your customers because give reason why it
makes sense for them to offer.
I’d like to speak to you at your earliest convenience about how we could help each
other.
Please call me back at your earliest convenience at your phone number.
Part 2B
Also send a follow up email to go with your phone message.
Just like you followed up your conversation with people you actually spoke with, you
also want to follow up your phone message with an email that says something like:
Subject: Follow up phone call
Hi ________
I just left a message on your machine / with your secretary to follow up on my
letter/fax/email yesterday about a possible joint venture.
You probably get emails all the time with offers and “opportunities” so I wanted to
follow up to let you know I’m a real person! ;-)
The reason for my call is that I really believe my product / service would create an
excellent additional source of revenue for you while providing a valuable service to your
customers because give reason why it makes sense for them to offer.
Is there a time I could call you back to speak to you for a few minutes about how we
could help each other?
You may also call me back if that is more convenient. My phone number is your phone
number.
Thanks for your time… I look forward to speaking with you.
Your name
Part 3 – Don’t Stop…Don’t Surrender!
If you’re truly committed to making this process work – do not stop until you have found
2 people to do a JV with you to their list!
If you call everyone you sent emails to yesterday and you don’t have 2 JV partners lined
up, then start the process of mailing and calling all over again.
· Find 20 more potential JV partners.
· Send out 20 more letters.
· Follow up with 20 more phone calls.
NOTE: You can even make the phone calls without sending the letter first!
Call these prospects on the phone and just talk to them like a normal person.
Remember – they are people just like you and they want to make money too!
Summary of today’s assignments:
1. Follow up your letters to potential JV’s with a phone call.
2. Follow up all conversations with an email thank you – whether they agree to work
with you or not.
3. Follow up all phone messages with an email letting them know you called.
4. Repeat the process until you have 2 people solidly committed to doing a mailing
with you.
Today you will follow up your initial contact with these potential Joint Venture Partners.
Skills Needed:
· Basic email
· Dialing and talking on the phone
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – Follow up with Joint Venture Partners
Today’s assignment is quite simple and I don’t want you spending a lot of time here
looking at this book!
You need to follow up with the Joint Venture letters you sent out yesterday with a phone
call.
“A phone call?!” you ask?
That’s right… a phone call!
The vast majority of people worth doing a joint venture with are very busy. They get
bombarded with email all day from people offering them get-rich-quick schemes and new
products they claim will “make us all rich”.
Your potential joint venture partners may very well have thrown your letter in the trash…
along with a dozen or more others that came in yesterday.
The best way to follow up on a Joint Venture proposal is to get on the phone, call them
up, and make your offer “live and in-person”.
This allows them to ask you questions and also shows you are a real person, not just
somebody out there trying to scam them and their customers.
Just because it is the Internet doesn’t mean the “old rules” of human interaction don’t
apply.
FACT! People do business with people they feel like they know and trust.
The fastest way to get your JV partners to trust you is to call them up, introduce yourself
and your proposal. Keep it brief, get to the point and ask them if they are interested.
Here is a script I have used with great success – you should modify it to fit your
personality and your offer.
Get their phone number from their website or do a “whois” lookup at
www.betterwhois.com or http://www-whois.internic.net/cgi/whois and get the registrant
or administrative contact phone number from the record.
Dial the phone!
If someone answers say this…
(Note: it helps if you write out your script on a piece of paper ahead of time and practice
it. You don’t want to sound like a telemarketer… but you also don’t want to trip over
your tongue because you’re nervous.)
You: Hello may I please speak to ___________?
Them: May I ask who’s calling? -- or -- What is this in reference to?
You: Yes this is your name with “your site”. I was calling about a possible joint
venture.
Them: How can I help you? -- or -- What do you have in mind?
You: Their name I was calling because I have a product / service called “name of
product/service” that I’ve written / created / discovered that state your
unique selling proposition.
(Your unique selling proposition (USP) is what sets you totally apart from the
competition. What makes you special and why should people buy your product as
opposed to anyone else’s?)
Example: The ebook I co-authored with Joe Vitale, entitled “How to Write and Publish
your own eBook in as little as 7 Days”, has a really cool USP…
USP - “How to write and publish your own ebook in as little as 7 days… even if you
can’t write, can’t type, and failed high school English class!”
You: I thought my product / service would create an excellent additional source
of revenue for you while providing a valuable service to your customers
because give reason why it makes sense for them to offer it to their people.
What do you think?
Them: “Well …”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
At this point you will either engage them in conversation or they will get off the phone.
- If your sales conversion numbers are really good tell them.
- If you have endorsements from famous people tell them.
Your objective is to engage them in a “normal” conversation, get them to take a look at
your product or agree to do a joint venture right there on the spot!
NOTE: Be persistent – but don’t get rude or pushy.
Once a JV partner agrees to work with you, get them to commit to a date for sending the
mailing!
Also, be fast to respond to their requests and get them any additional information they ask
for!
Always send a follow up email, whether they agree to work with you or not, thanking
them for their time and wishing them great success.
If they do agree to work with you, make sure your email includes a summary of what you
talked about and agreed so nobody gets confused later.
Part 2A
What if they don’t answer the phone or you can’t get them on the phone?
If it’s an answering machine or voice mail leave this message:
Hi ________ This is your name with your domain name. I was calling to follow up
on the letter/email/fax I sent you yesterday about a potential joint venture. I believe
My product / service would create an excellent additional source of revenue for you
while providing a valuable service to your customers because give reason why it
makes sense for them to offer.
I’d like to speak to you at your earliest convenience about how we could help each
other.
Please call me back at your earliest convenience at your phone number.
Part 2B
Also send a follow up email to go with your phone message.
Just like you followed up your conversation with people you actually spoke with, you
also want to follow up your phone message with an email that says something like:
Subject: Follow up phone call
Hi ________
I just left a message on your machine / with your secretary to follow up on my
letter/fax/email yesterday about a possible joint venture.
You probably get emails all the time with offers and “opportunities” so I wanted to
follow up to let you know I’m a real person! ;-)
The reason for my call is that I really believe my product / service would create an
excellent additional source of revenue for you while providing a valuable service to your
customers because give reason why it makes sense for them to offer.
Is there a time I could call you back to speak to you for a few minutes about how we
could help each other?
You may also call me back if that is more convenient. My phone number is your phone
number.
Thanks for your time… I look forward to speaking with you.
Your name
Part 3 – Don’t Stop…Don’t Surrender!
If you’re truly committed to making this process work – do not stop until you have found
2 people to do a JV with you to their list!
If you call everyone you sent emails to yesterday and you don’t have 2 JV partners lined
up, then start the process of mailing and calling all over again.
· Find 20 more potential JV partners.
· Send out 20 more letters.
· Follow up with 20 more phone calls.
NOTE: You can even make the phone calls without sending the letter first!
Call these prospects on the phone and just talk to them like a normal person.
Remember – they are people just like you and they want to make money too!
Summary of today’s assignments:
1. Follow up your letters to potential JV’s with a phone call.
2. Follow up all conversations with an email thank you – whether they agree to work
with you or not.
3. Follow up all phone messages with an email letting them know you called.
4. Repeat the process until you have 2 people solidly committed to doing a mailing
with you.
Day 22 (Monday) - Send your JV Approach letter, check ezine performance, run a “stand alone” ezine ad
Lesson Objective:
To send out your JV approach letter using your mail or fax automation program and take
the top 2 performing ezine ads you ran and run a “stand alone” ad in at least one of them.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Surfing
· Basic Email
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – Send out your JV approach letters
My calendar says Day 22 – if you’re on the right page then today we’re going to focus on
contacting joint venture partners and reinvesting our profits (hopefully) from our first
round of ezine ads.
Okay, first things first, you should take your joint venture approach letter and send it out
to all the potential joint venture partners you found.
The same way we did an email merge to ezine editors is the same way you can use your
email program Group-Mail) or you can just individually send out emails (the free way).
If you choose to go the fax or snail mail approach then you would send your letters out
that way.
STOP! Before you send out the letter – check and double-check it one last time for typos
or anything strange.
Part 2 – Run a “stand alone” ezine ad
Next, we’re going to evaluate how our ezine ads did from last week (Day 15).
By now, those ezine ads should have run and you should have some conversion numbers.
It’s important to track these ads all the way through to the sale if you can.
So let’s do some quick calculations on the ads.
· Which ezines made money?
· Which ezines got the most response – the least?
For the 2 ezines that made the most money we’re going to expand our advertising effort
and reinvest our profits (don’t go spending your money on pizzas just yet) ;-)
That means if you ran a classified ad before – move up to a sponsorship ad or even a
stand alone “solo ad” if they offer it. A “solo” ad means you are the only advertiser in the
entire ezine!
Also, you should be looking for 3-4 more ezines you can advertise in.
Just reinvest your profits into more and bigger advertising. Simple enough?
Once again you should turn to your ezine advertising resources we discussed last week.
The best ones in my book are Top Ezine Ads and Directory of Ezines.
Also, be sure to use new tracking codes on each of the new ads because you will notice
responses still trickling in on the others. Don’t mix your results… always use a fresh
tracking code for each ad.
It’s important to note here that if your ads didn’t end up making you a profit, you should
try another variation and start small with a classified ezine ad again.
Then you start the process all over again of:
1. Run a small ad
2. Find an ad that produces
3. Find an ezine with a responsive audience
4. Reinvest your profits in buying bigger and better ezine advertising based on the
positive results you’ve produced so far!
Today’s Assignment:
1. Send out your joint venture proposal letter to your list of potential JV prospects.
2. Take the 2 top performing ezines you’ve found and invest in a bigger ad.
3. Take your profits from your ezine ads on Day 15 and look for 2-3 additional
places to advertise, starting small again.
Note: if you didn’t make a profit from any ezine ad – you should change your ad
and start from the beginning with small ads again.
To send out your JV approach letter using your mail or fax automation program and take
the top 2 performing ezine ads you ran and run a “stand alone” ad in at least one of them.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Surfing
· Basic Email
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – Send out your JV approach letters
My calendar says Day 22 – if you’re on the right page then today we’re going to focus on
contacting joint venture partners and reinvesting our profits (hopefully) from our first
round of ezine ads.
Okay, first things first, you should take your joint venture approach letter and send it out
to all the potential joint venture partners you found.
The same way we did an email merge to ezine editors is the same way you can use your
email program Group-Mail) or you can just individually send out emails (the free way).
If you choose to go the fax or snail mail approach then you would send your letters out
that way.
STOP! Before you send out the letter – check and double-check it one last time for typos
or anything strange.
Part 2 – Run a “stand alone” ezine ad
Next, we’re going to evaluate how our ezine ads did from last week (Day 15).
By now, those ezine ads should have run and you should have some conversion numbers.
It’s important to track these ads all the way through to the sale if you can.
So let’s do some quick calculations on the ads.
· Which ezines made money?
· Which ezines got the most response – the least?
For the 2 ezines that made the most money we’re going to expand our advertising effort
and reinvest our profits (don’t go spending your money on pizzas just yet) ;-)
That means if you ran a classified ad before – move up to a sponsorship ad or even a
stand alone “solo ad” if they offer it. A “solo” ad means you are the only advertiser in the
entire ezine!
Also, you should be looking for 3-4 more ezines you can advertise in.
Just reinvest your profits into more and bigger advertising. Simple enough?
Once again you should turn to your ezine advertising resources we discussed last week.
The best ones in my book are Top Ezine Ads and Directory of Ezines.
Also, be sure to use new tracking codes on each of the new ads because you will notice
responses still trickling in on the others. Don’t mix your results… always use a fresh
tracking code for each ad.
It’s important to note here that if your ads didn’t end up making you a profit, you should
try another variation and start small with a classified ezine ad again.
Then you start the process all over again of:
1. Run a small ad
2. Find an ad that produces
3. Find an ezine with a responsive audience
4. Reinvest your profits in buying bigger and better ezine advertising based on the
positive results you’ve produced so far!
Today’s Assignment:
1. Send out your joint venture proposal letter to your list of potential JV prospects.
2. Take the 2 top performing ezines you’ve found and invest in a bigger ad.
3. Take your profits from your ezine ads on Day 15 and look for 2-3 additional
places to advertise, starting small again.
Note: if you didn’t make a profit from any ezine ad – you should change your ad
and start from the beginning with small ads again.
Day 21 (Sunday) - Surf to find more potential JV partners
Lesson Objective:
To look around and find at least 20 more potential sources to do a JV with you.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Surfing
Today’s Lesson:
Welcome to week 4 – the home stretch!!
Today is a fairly light day – I simply want you to do your best to locate at least 20
potential JV partners for your list.
Once you have 20 then you can take the rest of the day off (or if you’re an over achiever
go for 30 total).
Remember, what we talked about for searching out potential JV partners:
· Start checking out the different search engines. See who is ranked highest for your
best keywords. (I bet they get lots of targeted traffic!)
· Ezine editors make excellent JV partners -- and they come with a ready-made list!
· See who is buying (and paying lots of money) for those keywords on
Overture.com or on Google.com
· Use Alexa.com to search out related sites more easily.
· A good spot to find people interested in working with others is at ClickBank -
just look in their “marketplace” section and you find potential joint venture
partners who are selling information products.
Also, another little-known way is to ask a question on one or several of the discussion
boards you’ve located.
Ask about the best resources, people, sites, etc. dealing with your topic. This will show
you who has the most pull and, of course, you want them to endorse your offering.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Get your potential Joint Venture list up to 20-30 prospects. Be sure you have their
full contact name, address, fax, phone, email, site name etc.
Today’s Resources:
ClickBank’s Marketplace – contains a whole group of people who are looking for other
people to work with selling each other’s products.
To look around and find at least 20 more potential sources to do a JV with you.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Surfing
Today’s Lesson:
Welcome to week 4 – the home stretch!!
Today is a fairly light day – I simply want you to do your best to locate at least 20
potential JV partners for your list.
Once you have 20 then you can take the rest of the day off (or if you’re an over achiever
go for 30 total).
Remember, what we talked about for searching out potential JV partners:
· Start checking out the different search engines. See who is ranked highest for your
best keywords. (I bet they get lots of targeted traffic!)
· Ezine editors make excellent JV partners -- and they come with a ready-made list!
· See who is buying (and paying lots of money) for those keywords on
Overture.com or on Google.com
· Use Alexa.com to search out related sites more easily.
· A good spot to find people interested in working with others is at ClickBank -
just look in their “marketplace” section and you find potential joint venture
partners who are selling information products.
Also, another little-known way is to ask a question on one or several of the discussion
boards you’ve located.
Ask about the best resources, people, sites, etc. dealing with your topic. This will show
you who has the most pull and, of course, you want them to endorse your offering.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Get your potential Joint Venture list up to 20-30 prospects. Be sure you have their
full contact name, address, fax, phone, email, site name etc.
Today’s Resources:
ClickBank’s Marketplace – contains a whole group of people who are looking for other
people to work with selling each other’s products.
Day 20 (Saturday) - Write your JV approach letter
Lesson Objective:
To write up your approach letter to potential Joint Venture (JV) partners and have at least
2 friends or colleagues take a look at it.
Skills Needed:
· Imagination
· Basic Email
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 - Let’s get ready to work some “win-win” JV deals!
In addition to finding top positioned sites you should contact lucrative Joint Venture
partners in your market (your affiliate software makes setting up these Joint Ventures a
piece of cake).
If you’re familiar with your market – you’ll typically know who the top players are.
Before you approach them make sure your numbers look good.
Also, instead of just contacting them via email, you might want to contact them by fax,
mail or phone.
Typically, the more a person is involved with the Internet the less likely they may be to
answer your email… or they’ll have their emails filtered and never see your email.
There are lots of ‘nuts’ who contact these top marketers every week for “deals”, so you
want to make sure you stand out as a legitimate business owner.
Regardless of whether you send out your letter via snail-mail / fax / email, be sure to
focus on them, their needs and their goals.
Here are some tips:
· Let the potential JV partner know how you found them (Are you a customer? Did
you read an article by them? Surfed to their site?).
· Let them know who you are and a little bit on your background / business etc.
· Is your product/service a proven winner? If so, you should tell them and give
specific figures to back you up (if it’s not proven, why are you contacting them?).
· What % can you offer them – extrapolate that into exact dollar figures.
Example: For each ebook they sell they make $15.00. With the size of their list
they ought to be able to sell 500 and that means $7,500 in their pocket.
· Who else is endorsing your product? Mention them by name, especially if it is
someone famous or known in their circles.
· How will the sales be monitored (3rd party affiliate software, in-house, real-time
access for them)?
· Can you give them a free trial, preview, password of what you are selling?
It is *highly recommended* that you give them a sample of what you sell. It
makes them much more likely to work with you.
· How can they contact you to discuss further?
Write your letter in a short concise way that will get attention without appearing too
pushy.
Part 2 – Find 2 or 3 more discussion forums
Find at least two more discussion forums where you can post responses to people’s
questions.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Write the first draft of your joint venture introduction letter. Have 2 colleagues
look over it and get their reaction and feedback.
2. Check-up on your web site’s “critical numbers” again. How do they look? Is your
conversion rate weak or good?
3. Try to find 2-3 more forums that you can bookmark. If you have time, answer 1 or
2 questions inside the forums you’ve already located.
Today’s Resources:
Instant Sales Letters - sample joint venture letters inside this package that will
absolutely knock your socks off!
Instant JV Letters – here’s a resource filled with nothing but JV letters. Nice help when
you can’t come up with the right approach.
To write up your approach letter to potential Joint Venture (JV) partners and have at least
2 friends or colleagues take a look at it.
Skills Needed:
· Imagination
· Basic Email
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 - Let’s get ready to work some “win-win” JV deals!
In addition to finding top positioned sites you should contact lucrative Joint Venture
partners in your market (your affiliate software makes setting up these Joint Ventures a
piece of cake).
If you’re familiar with your market – you’ll typically know who the top players are.
Before you approach them make sure your numbers look good.
Also, instead of just contacting them via email, you might want to contact them by fax,
mail or phone.
Typically, the more a person is involved with the Internet the less likely they may be to
answer your email… or they’ll have their emails filtered and never see your email.
There are lots of ‘nuts’ who contact these top marketers every week for “deals”, so you
want to make sure you stand out as a legitimate business owner.
Regardless of whether you send out your letter via snail-mail / fax / email, be sure to
focus on them, their needs and their goals.
Here are some tips:
· Let the potential JV partner know how you found them (Are you a customer? Did
you read an article by them? Surfed to their site?).
· Let them know who you are and a little bit on your background / business etc.
· Is your product/service a proven winner? If so, you should tell them and give
specific figures to back you up (if it’s not proven, why are you contacting them?).
· What % can you offer them – extrapolate that into exact dollar figures.
Example: For each ebook they sell they make $15.00. With the size of their list
they ought to be able to sell 500 and that means $7,500 in their pocket.
· Who else is endorsing your product? Mention them by name, especially if it is
someone famous or known in their circles.
· How will the sales be monitored (3rd party affiliate software, in-house, real-time
access for them)?
· Can you give them a free trial, preview, password of what you are selling?
It is *highly recommended* that you give them a sample of what you sell. It
makes them much more likely to work with you.
· How can they contact you to discuss further?
Write your letter in a short concise way that will get attention without appearing too
pushy.
Part 2 – Find 2 or 3 more discussion forums
Find at least two more discussion forums where you can post responses to people’s
questions.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Write the first draft of your joint venture introduction letter. Have 2 colleagues
look over it and get their reaction and feedback.
2. Check-up on your web site’s “critical numbers” again. How do they look? Is your
conversion rate weak or good?
3. Try to find 2-3 more forums that you can bookmark. If you have time, answer 1 or
2 questions inside the forums you’ve already located.
Today’s Resources:
Instant Sales Letters - sample joint venture letters inside this package that will
absolutely knock your socks off!
Instant JV Letters – here’s a resource filled with nothing but JV letters. Nice help when
you can’t come up with the right approach.
Day 19 (Friday) - Start looking for potential JV partners
Lesson Objectives:
To identify and lay the foundation for contacting potential Joint Venture (JV) partners to
sell your product.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Email
· Basic Surfing
Today’s Lesson:
Alright! We’re speeding along now to Day 19!
Today, we’re going to start doing a little more with those potential JV partners you
should have started “book marking” on Day 7.
Joint Ventures are an incredible marketing strategy and if I only had a couple hundred
dollars to market with, no customers and a new product – I’d immediately think about
doing JV deals.
Heck, the Internet makes it so much easier thanks to affiliate software. It’s awesome!
In fact, you should read the free report we’ve provided for you at the end of this section
to help widen your perspective on joint venture marketing.
Okay, but before we start I must give you a word of warning…
DO NOT START CONTACTING JOINT VENTURE
PARTNERS UNTIL YOUR SITE SELLS!!
Whoa…sorry for the shouting there.
I just wanted to make sure it was perfectly clear. Unless you have a good product and a
site that sells (and you know your “critical numbers”) – you won’t find many receptive
joint venture partners.
Well, on Day 7 we identified your competitors and put them into a folder named
“Potential JV Partners” – that’s a good start – but we want more…
1. Start checking out the different search engines. See who is ranked highest for your
best keywords. I bet they have good traffic!
2. See who is buying (and paying lots of money) for those keywords on
Overture.com
If a site looked like a good match as a JV partner, I would then open up a new window
and go to:
Betterwhois is a directory of domain owners.
This way I could gather the correct email address for the site owner. Often an email
address isn’t prominently listed on the web pages I have visited and I don’t want to spend
hours trying to track one down.
You want to look for the “Administrative Contact” – that is usually the owner of the web
site.
Also, think about why a potential JV partner would want to endorse your product or
service – and not just for the money either!
· Are you providing a service that would make them look really good to their
customers?
· Will your product or service make their product or service work better and get
even greater results for their existing customers?
· Will your product help their existing customers:
o Make money?
o Save money?
o Save time?
o Avoid effort?
o Get more comfort?
Sure, JV partners want to make money – but they also want to enhance their relationships
with their customers. How will your product or service help them do that too?
Today’s Assignment:
1. Locate at least 10 more potential JV partners on top of the competitors you’ve
already found.
2. Look up the administrative contact for each of these web sites and put the
information into a spreadsheet.
Today’s Resources:
Affiliate “Success” Spider Software
This is an interesting piece of software that will help you find “SUPER” affiliates. I’ve
used it and I think it gives you some good information.
Alexa
It’s a free download that helps give you approximate traffic with a 5-star system. So
anyone high traffic sites that are related to your product/service are worth approaching.
And also the software will provide related Links to the best sites on the web.
To identify and lay the foundation for contacting potential Joint Venture (JV) partners to
sell your product.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Email
· Basic Surfing
Today’s Lesson:
Alright! We’re speeding along now to Day 19!
Today, we’re going to start doing a little more with those potential JV partners you
should have started “book marking” on Day 7.
Joint Ventures are an incredible marketing strategy and if I only had a couple hundred
dollars to market with, no customers and a new product – I’d immediately think about
doing JV deals.
Heck, the Internet makes it so much easier thanks to affiliate software. It’s awesome!
In fact, you should read the free report we’ve provided for you at the end of this section
to help widen your perspective on joint venture marketing.
Okay, but before we start I must give you a word of warning…
DO NOT START CONTACTING JOINT VENTURE
PARTNERS UNTIL YOUR SITE SELLS!!
Whoa…sorry for the shouting there.
I just wanted to make sure it was perfectly clear. Unless you have a good product and a
site that sells (and you know your “critical numbers”) – you won’t find many receptive
joint venture partners.
Well, on Day 7 we identified your competitors and put them into a folder named
“Potential JV Partners” – that’s a good start – but we want more…
1. Start checking out the different search engines. See who is ranked highest for your
best keywords. I bet they have good traffic!
2. See who is buying (and paying lots of money) for those keywords on
Overture.com
If a site looked like a good match as a JV partner, I would then open up a new window
and go to:
Betterwhois is a directory of domain owners.
This way I could gather the correct email address for the site owner. Often an email
address isn’t prominently listed on the web pages I have visited and I don’t want to spend
hours trying to track one down.
You want to look for the “Administrative Contact” – that is usually the owner of the web
site.
Also, think about why a potential JV partner would want to endorse your product or
service – and not just for the money either!
· Are you providing a service that would make them look really good to their
customers?
· Will your product or service make their product or service work better and get
even greater results for their existing customers?
· Will your product help their existing customers:
o Make money?
o Save money?
o Save time?
o Avoid effort?
o Get more comfort?
Sure, JV partners want to make money – but they also want to enhance their relationships
with their customers. How will your product or service help them do that too?
Today’s Assignment:
1. Locate at least 10 more potential JV partners on top of the competitors you’ve
already found.
2. Look up the administrative contact for each of these web sites and put the
information into a spreadsheet.
Today’s Resources:
Affiliate “Success” Spider Software
This is an interesting piece of software that will help you find “SUPER” affiliates. I’ve
used it and I think it gives you some good information.
Alexa
It’s a free download that helps give you approximate traffic with a 5-star system. So
anyone high traffic sites that are related to your product/service are worth approaching.
And also the software will provide related Links to the best sites on the web.
Day 18 (Thursday) - Forum Posting to Discussion Boards, “Run your Numbers”, Catch Up
Lesson Objective:
Today you will:
· Make at least 3 forum / discussion board postings in response to other people’s
questions
· “Run your numbers” so far
· Catch up on any items you’ve overlooked or put off until now
Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
· Basic Surfing
Part 1 – Make at least 3 forum / discussion board postings
Yesterday you picked out 10 to 30 active discussion boards or forums and today you are
going to post answers to people’s questions.
Today you will post at least three responses to demonstrate your knowledge as “the
expert” and you will do it in such a way that it will entice other people to come to your
site as a result.
Whenever you're answering a question you should use a compelling title for your post to
pull readers into your posting.
Most other posters will simply reply to the post so the original post's title appears as "Re:
Original Title" – not very exciting :-(
Take a look at a few examples and see which one of the posts you would read if you were
in a hurry:
· Ad Tracking Software
Mike xxxx - Saturday, 14 October 2003, at 5:41 p.m.
o Here's A Great Way...
Yanik Silver - Tuesday, 17 October 2003, at 9:14 p.m.
· What ONE book would you recommend
Donna - Friday, 20 October 2003, at 3:06 p.m.
o I've Read This One 7 Times...
Yanik Silver - Saturday, 21 October 2003, at 8:35 p.m.
$ Re: I've Read This One 7 Times...
Don - Sunday, 22 October 2003, at 4:56 p.m.
o Re: What ONE book would you recommend
Willie xxxx - Saturday, 21 October 2003, at 6:52 a.m.
o Re: What ONE book would you recommend
Tom xxxx - Friday, 20 October 2003, at 11:45 p.m.
Important Dos and Don’ts To Posting
I believe there are a few points you should keep in mind:
1. Obviously you shouldn’t ‘spam’ a board with your blatant advertisement. You
can’t just post to the board announcing your new product (unless you have
explicit permission from the board owner).
2. Don’t put your URL unless you’ve got something to contribute. I always like to
contribute something before I list my link. I won’t simply say something like “I
agree” and then give people my link. I don’t think that makes you look very good
to visitors of the board.
3. Also, whenever I post a question I will not put my link because that really isn’t a
contribution I’m making.
Using Your ‘Sig’ File
On some boards they don’t have an automatic way to add your URL or text link – in that
case you simply add your ‘sig’ file (or signature) at the bottom.
This is a simple way of promoting yourself ethically on the web. A sig file is just 4 or 5
lines that appears after your name on every email message you send out. This is VERY
similar to your resource box at the end of your ezine article.
Part 2 – Understanding and Analyzing your “critical numbers”
Your website stats are also referred to as your “critical numbers”.
Here’s why your stats are so important:
The Hidden Fortune in Your Website “Stats”
Most people never bother to look at the statistics program that comes with virtually every
website because few realize the gold mine of information it contains.
Your website statistics hold a key for understanding your traffic, improving sales and
increasing the overall effectiveness of your online selling.
Whether you realize it or not, your website has “critical numbers” that enable you to
measure the overall success of your Internet presence.
Any serious website operator should understand the four most important numbers:
· Hits
· Unique, Targeted Visitors
· Leads
· Sales
Hits - Hits are typically page views, whether by the same or different visitors, and they
indicate overall activity on the site.
A lot of hits shows activity (usually a good thing), but doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve
had a high number of actual visitors.
Search engine “spiders” snooping your pages and website surfers hitting their back
buttons also increase the hit count.
Research has shown that, depending on the size of your site, the ratio of hits to visitors
will range anywhere from 2 to 1 all the way up to 12 to 1.
Unique, Targeted Visitors - people surfing to your site who have not been there before
within a certain period of time.
Depending on the statistics program you use, a unique visitor may be someone who
hasn’t been to your site in a day or a week, while in other programs a visitor remains
unique until you reset the stats.
You must understand how your stats program classifies unique visitors so you don’t
mistakenly believe your site is getting 30 unique visitors a day only to find out it is the
same 30 people coming back day after day!
A “targeted” visitor means that the visitor has an interest in what you are selling or
promoting. This interest is usually demonstrated by keyword searches at a search engine
or by clicking targeted advertisements in ezines.
It does you no good to attract general traffic to your site – you want unique, targeted
visitors with a high level of interest your product or service.
Leads - a valid email address usually makes the best “lead” since people can and do give
fake names and phone numbers online.
If someone won’t give you a valid email address, chances are they won’t give you their
credit card to make a purchase either.
Email leads enable you to measure interest and to follow up with prospects.
Once you know the number of unique visitors to your site, you can calculate the
percentage of leads you develop and concentrate on ways to improve your sales
conversion by testing different offers and headlines.
Sales - the number of sales as compared to unique visitors represents your most critical
statistic because it tells you whether or not you’ve made a profit.
For every hundred visitors to your site, how many sales do you make and how much
money do you net?
Most failed dot-com’s in the late 1990’s never bothered to answer this simple question.
Selling on the web is a “numbers game” – learn how to make the numbers work for you!
Any potential JV partner who knows what they’re doing is going to want to know your
“numbers” so they can reasonably figure out how much money they’ll make if they work
with you.
Knowing your numbers ahead of time will make you look much more professional!
I keep track of my critical numbers every single day in a basic spreadsheet… that way I
can see how I’m doing day to day at a glance.
So right now go to your stats and figure out the following:
(If you need to, consult the help file for your stats or email your ISP if you have any
trouble reading your stats and understanding exactly what they mean.)
How many “hits” have you had in the last week?
Look in your stats program to see exactly what are “hits”. Are they individual
page views or something else?
This total number of “hits” helps you gauge overall activity on your site.
How many leads have you developed with your autoresponder in the last week?
Besides sales, adding targeted people to build your mailing list is the best thing
you can do online!
How many unique visitors have you had in the last week?
Let’s say for example you had 100 unique visitors in the last week.
How many sales did you make in the last week?
Let’s say for example you made 3 sales and you net $23 on each sale after hard
costs of producing and delivering the product.
Divide your number of sales by your number of unique visitors and this will give
your “sales conversion rate”.
3 sales / 100 unique visitors = 3% conversion rate
What this means is that for every 100 targeted visitors showing up to your site,
you sell 3 of them. A JV partner would be very interested in those types of
numbers!
Divide your net profits by the total number of unique visitors you’ve had in the
last week and this will give your “Visitor value”.
Let’s say your net profit on those three sales is $69 (3 sales x $23).
$69 net profit / 100 visitors = 69 cent visitor value.
What this means is that you can spend up to 69 cents to bring a targeted visitor to
your site and still make money.
Part 3 – Here’s what to do if your numbers are low
Since we’ve only been at this for a little over 2 weeks now and your Yahoo, Dmoz and
search engine listings haven’t even kicked in yet, your numbers probably aren’t very
high. However you could get numbers from your pay-per-click campaigns and some of
the others action items you’ve been doing.
Don’t get discouraged!
Our purpose today is more to get you used to looking at your “critical numbers” as it is to
actually start tracking results!
If your total number of visitors is low, here’s what you can do at this point:
· Increase your bid amounts at Overture.com and the other pay-per-click search
engines.
· Increase the total number of terms you’re bidding on with pay-per-click search
engines.
· Run another round of ezine ads (if the ones you placed on Day 15 have already
run)
If your total visitors seem fine, but your sales or your opt-in subscriber numbers are
low, here’s what you can do at this point:
Note: It’s best to run each of these changes in front of the same number of unique
visitors. Doing so allows you to compare your results and see what effect a specific
change has on your results.
Do NOT try all of these at the same time! Only make one change at a time to your sales
letter or you’ll never know what does and doesn’t work!
1. Test a different headline on your sales letter – you came up with 50 or more…
maybe it is time to try a different one.
2. Adjust your offer to include more benefits for the consumer. Do you focus on
their needs or is your sales letter all about you?
3. Add more bonuses. Sweeten the pot even further until no sane person could say
no.
4. Change your price up or down. Sometimes a different price point can get people
off the mark and make a purchase decision.
Summary of today’s assignments:
1. Post at least three responses to messages on active discussion boards.
2. Thoroughly analyze your “critical numbers” so you start getting in the habit of
looking at them daily.
3. Make adjustments to improve your “numbers” and your sales results.
Today’s Resources:
Forum Profits – This step-by-step guide will teach exactly how to bring in more traffic
and more subscribers using free forums (without getting flamed).
Today you will:
· Make at least 3 forum / discussion board postings in response to other people’s
questions
· “Run your numbers” so far
· Catch up on any items you’ve overlooked or put off until now
Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
· Basic Surfing
Part 1 – Make at least 3 forum / discussion board postings
Yesterday you picked out 10 to 30 active discussion boards or forums and today you are
going to post answers to people’s questions.
Today you will post at least three responses to demonstrate your knowledge as “the
expert” and you will do it in such a way that it will entice other people to come to your
site as a result.
Whenever you're answering a question you should use a compelling title for your post to
pull readers into your posting.
Most other posters will simply reply to the post so the original post's title appears as "Re:
Original Title" – not very exciting :-(
Take a look at a few examples and see which one of the posts you would read if you were
in a hurry:
· Ad Tracking Software
Mike xxxx - Saturday, 14 October 2003, at 5:41 p.m.
o Here's A Great Way...
Yanik Silver - Tuesday, 17 October 2003, at 9:14 p.m.
· What ONE book would you recommend
Donna - Friday, 20 October 2003, at 3:06 p.m.
o I've Read This One 7 Times...
Yanik Silver - Saturday, 21 October 2003, at 8:35 p.m.
$ Re: I've Read This One 7 Times...
Don - Sunday, 22 October 2003, at 4:56 p.m.
o Re: What ONE book would you recommend
Willie xxxx - Saturday, 21 October 2003, at 6:52 a.m.
o Re: What ONE book would you recommend
Tom xxxx - Friday, 20 October 2003, at 11:45 p.m.
Important Dos and Don’ts To Posting
I believe there are a few points you should keep in mind:
1. Obviously you shouldn’t ‘spam’ a board with your blatant advertisement. You
can’t just post to the board announcing your new product (unless you have
explicit permission from the board owner).
2. Don’t put your URL unless you’ve got something to contribute. I always like to
contribute something before I list my link. I won’t simply say something like “I
agree” and then give people my link. I don’t think that makes you look very good
to visitors of the board.
3. Also, whenever I post a question I will not put my link because that really isn’t a
contribution I’m making.
Using Your ‘Sig’ File
On some boards they don’t have an automatic way to add your URL or text link – in that
case you simply add your ‘sig’ file (or signature) at the bottom.
This is a simple way of promoting yourself ethically on the web. A sig file is just 4 or 5
lines that appears after your name on every email message you send out. This is VERY
similar to your resource box at the end of your ezine article.
Part 2 – Understanding and Analyzing your “critical numbers”
Your website stats are also referred to as your “critical numbers”.
Here’s why your stats are so important:
The Hidden Fortune in Your Website “Stats”
Most people never bother to look at the statistics program that comes with virtually every
website because few realize the gold mine of information it contains.
Your website statistics hold a key for understanding your traffic, improving sales and
increasing the overall effectiveness of your online selling.
Whether you realize it or not, your website has “critical numbers” that enable you to
measure the overall success of your Internet presence.
Any serious website operator should understand the four most important numbers:
· Hits
· Unique, Targeted Visitors
· Leads
· Sales
Hits - Hits are typically page views, whether by the same or different visitors, and they
indicate overall activity on the site.
A lot of hits shows activity (usually a good thing), but doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve
had a high number of actual visitors.
Search engine “spiders” snooping your pages and website surfers hitting their back
buttons also increase the hit count.
Research has shown that, depending on the size of your site, the ratio of hits to visitors
will range anywhere from 2 to 1 all the way up to 12 to 1.
Unique, Targeted Visitors - people surfing to your site who have not been there before
within a certain period of time.
Depending on the statistics program you use, a unique visitor may be someone who
hasn’t been to your site in a day or a week, while in other programs a visitor remains
unique until you reset the stats.
You must understand how your stats program classifies unique visitors so you don’t
mistakenly believe your site is getting 30 unique visitors a day only to find out it is the
same 30 people coming back day after day!
A “targeted” visitor means that the visitor has an interest in what you are selling or
promoting. This interest is usually demonstrated by keyword searches at a search engine
or by clicking targeted advertisements in ezines.
It does you no good to attract general traffic to your site – you want unique, targeted
visitors with a high level of interest your product or service.
Leads - a valid email address usually makes the best “lead” since people can and do give
fake names and phone numbers online.
If someone won’t give you a valid email address, chances are they won’t give you their
credit card to make a purchase either.
Email leads enable you to measure interest and to follow up with prospects.
Once you know the number of unique visitors to your site, you can calculate the
percentage of leads you develop and concentrate on ways to improve your sales
conversion by testing different offers and headlines.
Sales - the number of sales as compared to unique visitors represents your most critical
statistic because it tells you whether or not you’ve made a profit.
For every hundred visitors to your site, how many sales do you make and how much
money do you net?
Most failed dot-com’s in the late 1990’s never bothered to answer this simple question.
Selling on the web is a “numbers game” – learn how to make the numbers work for you!
Any potential JV partner who knows what they’re doing is going to want to know your
“numbers” so they can reasonably figure out how much money they’ll make if they work
with you.
Knowing your numbers ahead of time will make you look much more professional!
I keep track of my critical numbers every single day in a basic spreadsheet… that way I
can see how I’m doing day to day at a glance.
So right now go to your stats and figure out the following:
(If you need to, consult the help file for your stats or email your ISP if you have any
trouble reading your stats and understanding exactly what they mean.)
How many “hits” have you had in the last week?
Look in your stats program to see exactly what are “hits”. Are they individual
page views or something else?
This total number of “hits” helps you gauge overall activity on your site.
How many leads have you developed with your autoresponder in the last week?
Besides sales, adding targeted people to build your mailing list is the best thing
you can do online!
How many unique visitors have you had in the last week?
Let’s say for example you had 100 unique visitors in the last week.
How many sales did you make in the last week?
Let’s say for example you made 3 sales and you net $23 on each sale after hard
costs of producing and delivering the product.
Divide your number of sales by your number of unique visitors and this will give
your “sales conversion rate”.
3 sales / 100 unique visitors = 3% conversion rate
What this means is that for every 100 targeted visitors showing up to your site,
you sell 3 of them. A JV partner would be very interested in those types of
numbers!
Divide your net profits by the total number of unique visitors you’ve had in the
last week and this will give your “Visitor value”.
Let’s say your net profit on those three sales is $69 (3 sales x $23).
$69 net profit / 100 visitors = 69 cent visitor value.
What this means is that you can spend up to 69 cents to bring a targeted visitor to
your site and still make money.
Part 3 – Here’s what to do if your numbers are low
Since we’ve only been at this for a little over 2 weeks now and your Yahoo, Dmoz and
search engine listings haven’t even kicked in yet, your numbers probably aren’t very
high. However you could get numbers from your pay-per-click campaigns and some of
the others action items you’ve been doing.
Don’t get discouraged!
Our purpose today is more to get you used to looking at your “critical numbers” as it is to
actually start tracking results!
If your total number of visitors is low, here’s what you can do at this point:
· Increase your bid amounts at Overture.com and the other pay-per-click search
engines.
· Increase the total number of terms you’re bidding on with pay-per-click search
engines.
· Run another round of ezine ads (if the ones you placed on Day 15 have already
run)
If your total visitors seem fine, but your sales or your opt-in subscriber numbers are
low, here’s what you can do at this point:
Note: It’s best to run each of these changes in front of the same number of unique
visitors. Doing so allows you to compare your results and see what effect a specific
change has on your results.
Do NOT try all of these at the same time! Only make one change at a time to your sales
letter or you’ll never know what does and doesn’t work!
1. Test a different headline on your sales letter – you came up with 50 or more…
maybe it is time to try a different one.
2. Adjust your offer to include more benefits for the consumer. Do you focus on
their needs or is your sales letter all about you?
3. Add more bonuses. Sweeten the pot even further until no sane person could say
no.
4. Change your price up or down. Sometimes a different price point can get people
off the mark and make a purchase decision.
Summary of today’s assignments:
1. Post at least three responses to messages on active discussion boards.
2. Thoroughly analyze your “critical numbers” so you start getting in the habit of
looking at them daily.
3. Make adjustments to improve your “numbers” and your sales results.
Today’s Resources:
Forum Profits – This step-by-step guide will teach exactly how to bring in more traffic
and more subscribers using free forums (without getting flamed).
Day 17 (Wednesday) - Submit your article and start researching forums
Lesson Objective:
To submit your ezine article to at least 50 ezine editors and start researching forums /
discussion boards.
Skills needed:
· Basic Surfing
· Basic Email
Welcome to Day 17 – today we’re going to work on getting some free publicity and free
traffic for your site.
To start with, we’re going to use the list of ezine editors you started working on and the
ezine article you should have finished yesterday.
Back on Day 14, I asked you make a note if the ezine editors accepted articles by creating
a field in your spreadsheet and indicating Yes or No for each one.
Take your list of editors that do accept articles and put them into a new spreadsheet. (One
simple way to do this is to do a ‘sort’ on the field that contains this information and then
cut and paste into a new spreadsheet.)
If you purchased Mail King or Group-Mail – both of these programs should easily
convert your spreadsheet into their database ready for emailing.
If you didn’t want to spend the money, you’ll have to manually send out emails to each of
these ezine editors (you should *not* use bcc or cc function for this).
When submitting, you need a good opening email that introduces your article and
yourself, give some personal contact details, and then I also like to give the number of
words in the article.
You then copy and paste your 65-character formatted article underneath inside the email.
*Do not send it as an email attachment.
People don’t like to open attachments because of possible viruses so they’ll just trash
your article.
Sample Opening to email:
Subject: <> — New Article For Your Consideration
Dear <>,
Here is a new article for your consideration. I’m sure
readers of <> will find the unique information
from “Sales Letter Secrets From The Man Who Sold Coal
By The Train Carload” extremely beneficial to them.
* * *
You’ll now want to send out your new article to every ezine editor you’ve identified as
accepting articles.
Also, you can post your new article on several web sites like:
Idea Marketers
Ezine Articles
Marketing Seek
Discussion Boards
Our next stop on the publicity bandwagon is to start using discussion boards and forums.
They’re a great way to get your name out there and develop good name recognition.
There are lots of discussion groups out there and you can search for some discussion
boards for your topic here Forum Directory
You can also find a number of forums by searching Yahoo or Google for your keywords
+ “forums” and / or “discussion boards”. You’ll actually get the best results doing it this
way.
Examples:
· Car forum
· Sportscar discussion forum
· Antique car discussion board
3 Types of Discussion Board Visitors
There are three types of people that go to discussion groups:
1. People who post questions
2. People who answer questions
3. People who lurk, or just read everyone else’s questions and answers.
You want to be the one that answers the questions because that establishes you as the
expert.
Keep in mind that you can’t just post to the board announcing your new product (unless
you have explicit permission from the board owner). And don’t put your URL unless
you’ve got something to contribute.
I always like to contribute something before I list my link. I won’t simply say something
like “I agree” and then give people my link.
I don’t think that makes you look very good to visitors of the board.
As you’re surfing around researching and keeping up with your topic – you’ll certainly
stumble onto different discussion boards and forums – be sure to bookmark these.
Also, to help get you started in the right direction you’ll get a free ebook with a listing of
500+ forums to visit.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Submit your ezine article to all the ezine editors you located.
2. Find 10-30 active forums and discussion boards related to your topic.
Today’s Resources:
One of the bonuses you received for purchasing this ebook is an ebook on “forums”.
Now would be an excellent time to review that.
If you misplaced it, here is a link to re-download the file.
www.33daystoonlineprofits.com/forumbook.shtml.
“Turn Words Into Traffic” – Jim Edwards’ guide to creating an avalanche of free
traffic to your website using the power of ezine articles. Recognized as the web’s leading
course on how to use articles for massive publicity and profits… all free!
To submit your ezine article to at least 50 ezine editors and start researching forums /
discussion boards.
Skills needed:
· Basic Surfing
· Basic Email
Welcome to Day 17 – today we’re going to work on getting some free publicity and free
traffic for your site.
To start with, we’re going to use the list of ezine editors you started working on and the
ezine article you should have finished yesterday.
Back on Day 14, I asked you make a note if the ezine editors accepted articles by creating
a field in your spreadsheet and indicating Yes or No for each one.
Take your list of editors that do accept articles and put them into a new spreadsheet. (One
simple way to do this is to do a ‘sort’ on the field that contains this information and then
cut and paste into a new spreadsheet.)
If you purchased Mail King or Group-Mail – both of these programs should easily
convert your spreadsheet into their database ready for emailing.
If you didn’t want to spend the money, you’ll have to manually send out emails to each of
these ezine editors (you should *not* use bcc or cc function for this).
When submitting, you need a good opening email that introduces your article and
yourself, give some personal contact details, and then I also like to give the number of
words in the article.
You then copy and paste your 65-character formatted article underneath inside the email.
*Do not send it as an email attachment.
People don’t like to open attachments because of possible viruses so they’ll just trash
your article.
Sample Opening to email:
Subject: <
Dear <
Here is a new article for your consideration. I’m sure
readers of <
from “Sales Letter Secrets From The Man Who Sold Coal
By The Train Carload” extremely beneficial to them.
* * *
You’ll now want to send out your new article to every ezine editor you’ve identified as
accepting articles.
Also, you can post your new article on several web sites like:
Idea Marketers
Ezine Articles
Marketing Seek
Discussion Boards
Our next stop on the publicity bandwagon is to start using discussion boards and forums.
They’re a great way to get your name out there and develop good name recognition.
There are lots of discussion groups out there and you can search for some discussion
boards for your topic here Forum Directory
You can also find a number of forums by searching Yahoo or Google for your keywords
+ “forums” and / or “discussion boards”. You’ll actually get the best results doing it this
way.
Examples:
· Car forum
· Sportscar discussion forum
· Antique car discussion board
3 Types of Discussion Board Visitors
There are three types of people that go to discussion groups:
1. People who post questions
2. People who answer questions
3. People who lurk, or just read everyone else’s questions and answers.
You want to be the one that answers the questions because that establishes you as the
expert.
Keep in mind that you can’t just post to the board announcing your new product (unless
you have explicit permission from the board owner). And don’t put your URL unless
you’ve got something to contribute.
I always like to contribute something before I list my link. I won’t simply say something
like “I agree” and then give people my link.
I don’t think that makes you look very good to visitors of the board.
As you’re surfing around researching and keeping up with your topic – you’ll certainly
stumble onto different discussion boards and forums – be sure to bookmark these.
Also, to help get you started in the right direction you’ll get a free ebook with a listing of
500+ forums to visit.
Today’s Assignment:
1. Submit your ezine article to all the ezine editors you located.
2. Find 10-30 active forums and discussion boards related to your topic.
Today’s Resources:
One of the bonuses you received for purchasing this ebook is an ebook on “forums”.
Now would be an excellent time to review that.
If you misplaced it, here is a link to re-download the file.
www.33daystoonlineprofits.com/forumbook.shtml.
“Turn Words Into Traffic” – Jim Edwards’ guide to creating an avalanche of free
traffic to your website using the power of ezine articles. Recognized as the web’s leading
course on how to use articles for massive publicity and profits… all free!
Day 16 (Tuesday) - Write your ezine Article and have it edited
Lesson Objective:
Today you will continue writing your ezine article for submission to the ezines you chose
day before yesterday.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – What type of ezine article should you write?
What’s the best type of article to write for the ezines?
Articles that either solve problems or explain critical “news” (and the impact of that news
on the audience) represent the two best types of articles to write for virtually any ezine.
Either help people relieve some pain they may or may not even realize they have… or
explain to them how some current event impacts their lives positively or negatively.
These two types of articles accomplish two critical things for you:
1. These articles give you the highest likelihood of getting published, since ezine
publishers always want to educate and inform their audience – and –
2. The ezine audience will view you as “the expert” since you solved their problem
or you explained how the news impacts them.
I know yesterday we told you to come up with 5 ideas for ezine articles… but sit down
right now and brainstorm 10 more ideas for articles you could write.
If you have trouble thinking of something, ask yourself these questions:
1. What problems do my audience members have that I can explain how to solve?
2. What is going on right now in the news that will impact them and how should
they react to it?
3. If I were to advise someone just getting started in my area of expertise, what 10
things would I tell them they really needed to know?
Once you’ve decided on the subject of your article move on to Part 2 of today’s lesson.
Part 2 – The proven ezine article “formula”
I have been writing professionally for over 10 years and have developed this strategy for
turning out 500 to 1000 word articles in nothing flat!
Quite frankly… you are about to make back the entire price you paid for this ebook in the
next couple of pages.
I am now revealing…
The ezine article formula
First I’ll outline the formula and then walk you through a real example using an actual
article I just wrote.
Step 1 – Write out a focusing statement. Why are you writing the article and what do
you hope to accomplish.
Step 2 – Write a “hook” for the story that either arouses curiosity or some other
powerful emotion.
Step 3 – Write out the main thought, subject or news item you will lay out in the
story.
Step 4 – Write out 3 or 4 main points you want to make about your subject.
Step 5 – Write out one to three sentences that support each point you are making.
Step 6 – Throw in a quote, a website to visit, or a brief story or anecdote that
illustrates the overall theme of the article and place it where it makes the most sense.
Step 7 – Finally, tell people what conclusions they should draw or actions they
should take as a result of reading your story.
Step 8 – If you haven’t already, create a compelling headline that captures reader
attention and arouses interest.
Step 9 – Read the story aloud and smooth out any spots that don’t “sound” right.
Let’s dissect the following article to see how I constructed it.
Step 1 – Write out a focusing statement.
The focusing “intention” statement goes something like this:
“I want to write a 500 word article giving favorable exposure to my friend, Joe Vitale’s
new book while using the latest developments in ‘print-on-demand” publishing as the
‘news’ angle for the story.”
Title - Internet Changes the Face of Book Publishing
(I actually wrote the title last once I saw the best news angle.)
The fact that a friend of mine recently published a new
book came as no surprise since he has already published
about ten others.
This is the “hook” in the first paragraph that arouses curiosity.
However, as I dug deeper into the story I realized he was
using the Internet exclusively to publish, print and sell
his book. A growing trend among authors, even established
writers with dozens of books to their credit, involves
using “print-on-demand” publishers, email and websites to
sell just as many if not more books faster than by
traditional publishing and marketing methods.
This section arouses curiosity even more and then ties in with a trend that is going on
right now – that’s the “news”!
The story about the how the book has been published and
marketed rates as impressive and innovative as the actual
subject of the book. The writer, Joe Vitale, has written
books for such organizations as the American Marketing
Association and the American Management Association. His
latest book “Spiritual Marketing” takes a spiritual, almost
metaphysical, approach to accomplishing your business and
personal objectives. Since the book approaches operating
your life and business in more direct fashion, it seems
natural that the production and marketing of the book
should also stray from the beaten path.
Point 1 – How the book is published is newsworthy, but to explain the point I use Joe’s
book as the example.
Joe decided to use a “print-on-demand” publisher, 1st Books
Library (www.1stbooks.com). Most people expect that
authors cash in on lucrative book deals and fat royalty
checks. The realities of traditional publishing come as a
shock when they discover it takes years to get a book
published and the giant publishing houses do little to
market a book. If the author wants book sales then it is up
to them to hit the trail marketing the book. Publishers
print books – authors sell books!
Point 2 – Why Joe and other authors choose to use print on demand publishers and how
traditional publishers fall short in marketing books.
Advancements in computer and printing technology have made
the miracle of “print-on-demand” publishing possible. With
print-on-demand a book doesn’t get printed until a customer
places an order, thus eliminating the risk most publishers
take by printing thousands of books that may or may not
sell. Also, print-on-demand publishers enable authors to
distribute their work in electronic form as “eBooks”
customers download and print right from their computer
screen.
Point 3 – The “what” and “how” of print on demand publishing.
As proven by the Harry Potter phenomenon, “word of mouth”
advertising represents the best way to sell books.
Traditional book marketing involves the hit-and-miss book
signing circuit. Joe took a different approach. He emailed
everyone he knew or did business with, told them briefly
about his book, and then told them they could go to
Amazon.com or 1stBooks.com to order a copy. Just that one
email has sparked book sales all over the world as people
read the book and tell their friends.
Illustration or brief story.
Even though the book has only been available commercially
for a couple of months, Joe has sold hundreds and this
initial success has even led to discussions with a famous
offline publisher.
If you could use a lift in your personal or business life,
Joe Vitale’s innovative book, “Spiritual Marketing” is well
worth picking up. Plus, when you think about the exciting
and ground-breaking process that brings the book to your
computer screen or front door it makes the whole purchase
that much more exciting.
Conclusion and action – in this case subtly telling them why they should pick up Joe’s
book!
The Result?
In the process of giving people a news story about the latest trend in printing technology I
gave Joe’s book some excellent exposure.
Tips on writing your article:
· Don’t worry nearly as much about style as about providing valuable content
and giving people information they can use.
· Explain in your writing the same way you would as if you were one-on-one
with someone over a cup of coffee or a beer.
· Lead people logically to your conclusions – imagine that you knew nothing
about the subject (or very little) and needed someone to give you a step-by-
step explanation.
Part 3 – Editing your article
Here are the basic steps for editing your article.
1. Run a spell check. I know this sounds elementary but you’d be shocked at how
many people don’t do it.
2. Read the article aloud slowly – try to do it at ½ your normal reading pace. Force
yourself to slow down.
3. Make any adjustments so it reads smoothly and naturally.
4. Add your “killer” resource box. (See more about this in Part 4 of Today’s
lesson.)
5. Email the article to at least 3 friends and ask them to read it. Ask them to give you
whatever feedback they want.
6. Take their feedback and use what makes sense. If one person tells you something
you can take it or leave it. If all three point out a problem area then you’d better
pay attention.
7. Make changes based on the input of your volunteer editors.
You’re done now right? Not quite yet…
Part 4 – Add your resource box to the end of the article.
Your resource box is your author bio and “killer ad” all wrapped into one. This is where
you entice people to come to your site or take some sort of action.
Unless you are getting paid up front for writing the article – this step is where you make
or break the payday!
Usually, you can get away with 5-6 lines of promotional material here.
When your article gets published, your resource box is what people read to find out more
about you.
You need a compelling one that makes them want to click over to visit your web site! (Or
whatever action you want them to take.)
Typically you should use some character formatting to separate the end of your article
from your resource box. Anything like this works fine:
=========
* * * * * * *
+++++++++++
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>>>>>>>>>>>>
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Resource Box Samples:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yanik Silver has developed a whole series of sales letter
templates available at ==>http://www.instantsalesletters.com
In less than 3 minutes you can create a winning letter
guaranteed to sell your product or service...WITHOUT WRITING!
Subscribe to his free ezine: *Surefire Marketing Secrets*
Send a blank email to: mailto:instantletters@getresponse.com
*Plus get his 3 day mini-course on direct mail secrets*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*********************************************************
How Much Is One Good Sales Letter Worth To Your Business?
Yanik Silver has created the ultimate no-brainer,
fill-in-the-blank sales letter writing resource. In less than
3 minutes you can create a winning letter guaranteed to sell
your product or service...WITHOUT WRITING!
Check out =====> Instant Sales Letters
*********************************************************
In the next example Yanik’s resource box relates back to an article he wrote about
creating powerful offers.
The tie-in makes the resource box that much more powerful!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
See how Yanik Silver creates an irresistible offer for his
new Instant Sales Letters
==>http://www.instantsalesletters.com
In less than 3 minutes you can create a winning letter
guaranteed to sell your product or service...WITHOUT WRITING!
Or you can get more surefire marketing secrets by
subscribing to Yanik's free Ezine - just send a blank email
=======> mailto:instantletters@getresponse.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notice that Yanik gives the full web address including the http:// and uses the mailto: in
front of his email address.
This makes it so practically everyone can just click on those links from their email
program or web browser and either go straight to your site or send you an email.
Here are some others I’ve used with great success:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an amazing new ebook, "Turn Words Into Traffic,"
that will teach you how to use free articles to quickly
drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or
affiliate link!
Click Here => Turn Words Into Traffic
Multi-Media Newsletter => igottatellyou@optinnewsletter.net
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=============================================
Why are some people getting rich selling their ebooks?
Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale have created the *ultimate* guide
"How to Write and Publish your own Outrageously
Profitable eBook... in as little as 7 Days!"
FREE Details: ==> 7 Day eBook
FREE Mini-Course: ==> mailto:7dmini@optinnewsletter.net
=============================================
==============================
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"The Lazy Man's Guide to Online Business"
How to Work Less, get Paid More and have
tons more Fun! Proven tips, tricks, techniques
and strategies of Superstar "Lazy Achievers"!
Click=> Lazy Man's Guide To Online Business
==============================
Do up your own “killer” resource box now and insert it at the end of your
article!
Part 5 – Sleep on it!
Before you send your article off to the ezine editors you should sleep on it!
Put the article away and pick it up in the morning for a final read-through and edit.
You’ll probably see at least one thing you can improve when you take a fresh look
tomorrow.
Summary of Today’s Assignments:
1. Decide on the subject and type of article you will write.
2. Write out your focusing statement.
3. Write your initial draft.
4. Edit the draft yourself.
5. Add your “killer” resource box.
6. Send the draft off to at least 3 friends.
7. Make their suggested changes.
8. Sleep on it.
9. Make your final edit in the morning.
Today’s Resources:
“Turn Words Into Traffic” – Jim Edwards’ guide to creating an avalanche of free
traffic to your website using the power of ezine articles. Recognized as the web’s leading
course on how to use articles for massive publicity and profits… all free!
Ezine Directories and marketing information
Top Ezine Ads
Directory of Ezines
Bonus Article you’ll enjoy very much on this topic of getting traffic and visitors
from publishing articles.
=====================================
Increase Sales By Flying Under
Your Prospects' "Radar Defenses"
- by Jim Edwards
(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
=====================================
How do you persuade someone to do what you want them to do?
A whole world of marketing exists around us trying to do
that every minute of the day. Do you even notice it anymore
or, like your prospects, have you subconsciously set up a
system of "radar defenses" against the daily bombardment of
marketing messages?
Take a minute and count up the advertising methods which
fight for your attention (and money) every day. Just the
basic list includes:
· Yellow page ads
· Newspaper and magazine ads
· Postcards, catalogs, and direct mail circulars in your
"snail mail" box
· Radio pitches interrupting the flow of your favorite songs
· TV ads - about 20 minutes worth per hour now
· Hundreds of storefronts, "mega" malls, and strip malls
· Highway billboards by the thousands
· Circulars hung on your doorknob
· Illegal signs on stop signs and telephone poles
· Legitimate email messages
· Spam email or UCE (unsolicited commercial email)
Just these 11 sources can overwhelm your brain with
marketing messages. Like trapped rats, people develop
defenses against this never-ending onslaught. They throw up
a wall or a "radar defense" that goes into action the minute
they smell a "pitch" or a sales job. Don't blame them. We
all do it!
So how can you get around this psychological wall against
the constant sales and marketing messages? Well, the answer
does NOT lie in hitting people with more frequent and
obnoxious advertising or sly, sneaky tactics. You might get
them to trust you for a minute, but it will backfire in the
long run.
You must do two things instead:
1. First, you must establish credibility for yourself and
your business as an expert.
2. Second, you must reduce their fears about doing business
with you.
Doing these two things will get you past their defenses and
allow you the opportunity to persuade them to buy your
product.
So how do you accomplish these two "simple" things? What
will win someone's attention, raise your credibility, and
lower their fear factor all at the same time? The one-word
answer really applies to most everyone.
Trust!
If a seller can get behind your defenses with information
which makes you trust them, then that credibility will carry
over into a sale much of the time.
How can you get this credibility?
Well, take this next fact as online marketing "gospel," for
many people have proven its effectiveness.
Fact: Publishing and promoting with free articles gives you
one of the most powerful opportunities available to tip the
buyer's credibility scale in your favor.
How can we prove this works? Quite easily actually. Take a
break from reading this and go check out a newspaper or
magazine for a minute.
Which do you trust more, the ads or the articles? Most
people will choose the articles hands down. Why? Because
the articles don't try to "sell" you anything. Instead, they
hand out useful information for educational or other
practical purposes.
Most of us grew up in a culture which says we can believe
and "trust" what appears in the standard "news" or
"information" format. In other words, if it appears in
print, then we can believe and trust the author.
So go ahead! Use this lifetime of conditioning to your
advantage in selling your products and services!
Very few things will create an atmosphere of trust and
confidence in people as reading one of your articles on a
subject that greatly interests them. It shows you know your
business. It also demonstrates you will do more than just
try to sell them something.
Publishing articles literally lets you fly under their
advertising "radar defenses."
So remember these points when deciding whether or not to use
articles to promote your business:
1. Few things create as much trust and confidence in the
minds of potential customers as reading an article you wrote
on a subject which specifically and intensely interests
them.
2. Articles establish credibility quickly because, right or
wrong, we've all been trained to trust the "news."
3. An article, or series of articles, will differentiate you
from the competition, who bombard people with nothing but
sales messages.
4. Providing content-rich, non-sales-oriented articles will
also help build and solidify your relationship with existing
customers so they give you repeat business.
----
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an amazing new ebook, "Turn Words Into Traffic,"
that will teach you how to use free articles to quickly
drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or
affiliate link!
Click Here ==> “Turn Words Into Traffic”
Today you will continue writing your ezine article for submission to the ezines you chose
day before yesterday.
Skills Needed:
· Basic Word Processing
Today’s Lesson:
Part 1 – What type of ezine article should you write?
What’s the best type of article to write for the ezines?
Articles that either solve problems or explain critical “news” (and the impact of that news
on the audience) represent the two best types of articles to write for virtually any ezine.
Either help people relieve some pain they may or may not even realize they have… or
explain to them how some current event impacts their lives positively or negatively.
These two types of articles accomplish two critical things for you:
1. These articles give you the highest likelihood of getting published, since ezine
publishers always want to educate and inform their audience – and –
2. The ezine audience will view you as “the expert” since you solved their problem
or you explained how the news impacts them.
I know yesterday we told you to come up with 5 ideas for ezine articles… but sit down
right now and brainstorm 10 more ideas for articles you could write.
If you have trouble thinking of something, ask yourself these questions:
1. What problems do my audience members have that I can explain how to solve?
2. What is going on right now in the news that will impact them and how should
they react to it?
3. If I were to advise someone just getting started in my area of expertise, what 10
things would I tell them they really needed to know?
Once you’ve decided on the subject of your article move on to Part 2 of today’s lesson.
Part 2 – The proven ezine article “formula”
I have been writing professionally for over 10 years and have developed this strategy for
turning out 500 to 1000 word articles in nothing flat!
Quite frankly… you are about to make back the entire price you paid for this ebook in the
next couple of pages.
I am now revealing…
The ezine article formula
First I’ll outline the formula and then walk you through a real example using an actual
article I just wrote.
Step 1 – Write out a focusing statement. Why are you writing the article and what do
you hope to accomplish.
Step 2 – Write a “hook” for the story that either arouses curiosity or some other
powerful emotion.
Step 3 – Write out the main thought, subject or news item you will lay out in the
story.
Step 4 – Write out 3 or 4 main points you want to make about your subject.
Step 5 – Write out one to three sentences that support each point you are making.
Step 6 – Throw in a quote, a website to visit, or a brief story or anecdote that
illustrates the overall theme of the article and place it where it makes the most sense.
Step 7 – Finally, tell people what conclusions they should draw or actions they
should take as a result of reading your story.
Step 8 – If you haven’t already, create a compelling headline that captures reader
attention and arouses interest.
Step 9 – Read the story aloud and smooth out any spots that don’t “sound” right.
Let’s dissect the following article to see how I constructed it.
Step 1 – Write out a focusing statement.
The focusing “intention” statement goes something like this:
“I want to write a 500 word article giving favorable exposure to my friend, Joe Vitale’s
new book while using the latest developments in ‘print-on-demand” publishing as the
‘news’ angle for the story.”
Title - Internet Changes the Face of Book Publishing
(I actually wrote the title last once I saw the best news angle.)
The fact that a friend of mine recently published a new
book came as no surprise since he has already published
about ten others.
This is the “hook” in the first paragraph that arouses curiosity.
However, as I dug deeper into the story I realized he was
using the Internet exclusively to publish, print and sell
his book. A growing trend among authors, even established
writers with dozens of books to their credit, involves
using “print-on-demand” publishers, email and websites to
sell just as many if not more books faster than by
traditional publishing and marketing methods.
This section arouses curiosity even more and then ties in with a trend that is going on
right now – that’s the “news”!
The story about the how the book has been published and
marketed rates as impressive and innovative as the actual
subject of the book. The writer, Joe Vitale, has written
books for such organizations as the American Marketing
Association and the American Management Association. His
latest book “Spiritual Marketing” takes a spiritual, almost
metaphysical, approach to accomplishing your business and
personal objectives. Since the book approaches operating
your life and business in more direct fashion, it seems
natural that the production and marketing of the book
should also stray from the beaten path.
Point 1 – How the book is published is newsworthy, but to explain the point I use Joe’s
book as the example.
Joe decided to use a “print-on-demand” publisher, 1st Books
Library (www.1stbooks.com). Most people expect that
authors cash in on lucrative book deals and fat royalty
checks. The realities of traditional publishing come as a
shock when they discover it takes years to get a book
published and the giant publishing houses do little to
market a book. If the author wants book sales then it is up
to them to hit the trail marketing the book. Publishers
print books – authors sell books!
Point 2 – Why Joe and other authors choose to use print on demand publishers and how
traditional publishers fall short in marketing books.
Advancements in computer and printing technology have made
the miracle of “print-on-demand” publishing possible. With
print-on-demand a book doesn’t get printed until a customer
places an order, thus eliminating the risk most publishers
take by printing thousands of books that may or may not
sell. Also, print-on-demand publishers enable authors to
distribute their work in electronic form as “eBooks”
customers download and print right from their computer
screen.
Point 3 – The “what” and “how” of print on demand publishing.
As proven by the Harry Potter phenomenon, “word of mouth”
advertising represents the best way to sell books.
Traditional book marketing involves the hit-and-miss book
signing circuit. Joe took a different approach. He emailed
everyone he knew or did business with, told them briefly
about his book, and then told them they could go to
Amazon.com or 1stBooks.com to order a copy. Just that one
email has sparked book sales all over the world as people
read the book and tell their friends.
Illustration or brief story.
Even though the book has only been available commercially
for a couple of months, Joe has sold hundreds and this
initial success has even led to discussions with a famous
offline publisher.
If you could use a lift in your personal or business life,
Joe Vitale’s innovative book, “Spiritual Marketing” is well
worth picking up. Plus, when you think about the exciting
and ground-breaking process that brings the book to your
computer screen or front door it makes the whole purchase
that much more exciting.
Conclusion and action – in this case subtly telling them why they should pick up Joe’s
book!
The Result?
In the process of giving people a news story about the latest trend in printing technology I
gave Joe’s book some excellent exposure.
Tips on writing your article:
· Don’t worry nearly as much about style as about providing valuable content
and giving people information they can use.
· Explain in your writing the same way you would as if you were one-on-one
with someone over a cup of coffee or a beer.
· Lead people logically to your conclusions – imagine that you knew nothing
about the subject (or very little) and needed someone to give you a step-by-
step explanation.
Part 3 – Editing your article
Here are the basic steps for editing your article.
1. Run a spell check. I know this sounds elementary but you’d be shocked at how
many people don’t do it.
2. Read the article aloud slowly – try to do it at ½ your normal reading pace. Force
yourself to slow down.
3. Make any adjustments so it reads smoothly and naturally.
4. Add your “killer” resource box. (See more about this in Part 4 of Today’s
lesson.)
5. Email the article to at least 3 friends and ask them to read it. Ask them to give you
whatever feedback they want.
6. Take their feedback and use what makes sense. If one person tells you something
you can take it or leave it. If all three point out a problem area then you’d better
pay attention.
7. Make changes based on the input of your volunteer editors.
You’re done now right? Not quite yet…
Part 4 – Add your resource box to the end of the article.
Your resource box is your author bio and “killer ad” all wrapped into one. This is where
you entice people to come to your site or take some sort of action.
Unless you are getting paid up front for writing the article – this step is where you make
or break the payday!
Usually, you can get away with 5-6 lines of promotional material here.
When your article gets published, your resource box is what people read to find out more
about you.
You need a compelling one that makes them want to click over to visit your web site! (Or
whatever action you want them to take.)
Typically you should use some character formatting to separate the end of your article
from your resource box. Anything like this works fine:
=========
* * * * * * *
+++++++++++
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>>>>>>>>>>>>
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Resource Box Samples:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yanik Silver has developed a whole series of sales letter
templates available at ==>http://www.instantsalesletters.com
In less than 3 minutes you can create a winning letter
guaranteed to sell your product or service...WITHOUT WRITING!
Subscribe to his free ezine: *Surefire Marketing Secrets*
Send a blank email to: mailto:instantletters@getresponse.com
*Plus get his 3 day mini-course on direct mail secrets*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*********************************************************
How Much Is One Good Sales Letter Worth To Your Business?
Yanik Silver has created the ultimate no-brainer,
fill-in-the-blank sales letter writing resource. In less than
3 minutes you can create a winning letter guaranteed to sell
your product or service...WITHOUT WRITING!
Check out =====> Instant Sales Letters
*********************************************************
In the next example Yanik’s resource box relates back to an article he wrote about
creating powerful offers.
The tie-in makes the resource box that much more powerful!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
See how Yanik Silver creates an irresistible offer for his
new Instant Sales Letters
==>http://www.instantsalesletters.com
In less than 3 minutes you can create a winning letter
guaranteed to sell your product or service...WITHOUT WRITING!
Or you can get more surefire marketing secrets by
subscribing to Yanik's free Ezine - just send a blank email
=======> mailto:instantletters@getresponse.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notice that Yanik gives the full web address including the http:// and uses the mailto: in
front of his email address.
This makes it so practically everyone can just click on those links from their email
program or web browser and either go straight to your site or send you an email.
Here are some others I’ve used with great success:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an amazing new ebook, "Turn Words Into Traffic,"
that will teach you how to use free articles to quickly
drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or
affiliate link!
Click Here => Turn Words Into Traffic
Multi-Media Newsletter => igottatellyou@optinnewsletter.net
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=============================================
Why are some people getting rich selling their ebooks?
Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale have created the *ultimate* guide
"How to Write and Publish your own Outrageously
Profitable eBook... in as little as 7 Days!"
FREE Details: ==> 7 Day eBook
FREE Mini-Course: ==> mailto:7dmini@optinnewsletter.net
=============================================
==============================
Are YOU a "Lazy Achiever"?
"The Lazy Man's Guide to Online Business"
How to Work Less, get Paid More and have
tons more Fun! Proven tips, tricks, techniques
and strategies of Superstar "Lazy Achievers"!
Click=> Lazy Man's Guide To Online Business
==============================
Do up your own “killer” resource box now and insert it at the end of your
article!
Part 5 – Sleep on it!
Before you send your article off to the ezine editors you should sleep on it!
Put the article away and pick it up in the morning for a final read-through and edit.
You’ll probably see at least one thing you can improve when you take a fresh look
tomorrow.
Summary of Today’s Assignments:
1. Decide on the subject and type of article you will write.
2. Write out your focusing statement.
3. Write your initial draft.
4. Edit the draft yourself.
5. Add your “killer” resource box.
6. Send the draft off to at least 3 friends.
7. Make their suggested changes.
8. Sleep on it.
9. Make your final edit in the morning.
Today’s Resources:
“Turn Words Into Traffic” – Jim Edwards’ guide to creating an avalanche of free
traffic to your website using the power of ezine articles. Recognized as the web’s leading
course on how to use articles for massive publicity and profits… all free!
Ezine Directories and marketing information
Top Ezine Ads
Directory of Ezines
Bonus Article you’ll enjoy very much on this topic of getting traffic and visitors
from publishing articles.
=====================================
Increase Sales By Flying Under
Your Prospects' "Radar Defenses"
- by Jim Edwards
(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
http://www.thenetreporter.com
=====================================
How do you persuade someone to do what you want them to do?
A whole world of marketing exists around us trying to do
that every minute of the day. Do you even notice it anymore
or, like your prospects, have you subconsciously set up a
system of "radar defenses" against the daily bombardment of
marketing messages?
Take a minute and count up the advertising methods which
fight for your attention (and money) every day. Just the
basic list includes:
· Yellow page ads
· Newspaper and magazine ads
· Postcards, catalogs, and direct mail circulars in your
"snail mail" box
· Radio pitches interrupting the flow of your favorite songs
· TV ads - about 20 minutes worth per hour now
· Hundreds of storefronts, "mega" malls, and strip malls
· Highway billboards by the thousands
· Circulars hung on your doorknob
· Illegal signs on stop signs and telephone poles
· Legitimate email messages
· Spam email or UCE (unsolicited commercial email)
Just these 11 sources can overwhelm your brain with
marketing messages. Like trapped rats, people develop
defenses against this never-ending onslaught. They throw up
a wall or a "radar defense" that goes into action the minute
they smell a "pitch" or a sales job. Don't blame them. We
all do it!
So how can you get around this psychological wall against
the constant sales and marketing messages? Well, the answer
does NOT lie in hitting people with more frequent and
obnoxious advertising or sly, sneaky tactics. You might get
them to trust you for a minute, but it will backfire in the
long run.
You must do two things instead:
1. First, you must establish credibility for yourself and
your business as an expert.
2. Second, you must reduce their fears about doing business
with you.
Doing these two things will get you past their defenses and
allow you the opportunity to persuade them to buy your
product.
So how do you accomplish these two "simple" things? What
will win someone's attention, raise your credibility, and
lower their fear factor all at the same time? The one-word
answer really applies to most everyone.
Trust!
If a seller can get behind your defenses with information
which makes you trust them, then that credibility will carry
over into a sale much of the time.
How can you get this credibility?
Well, take this next fact as online marketing "gospel," for
many people have proven its effectiveness.
Fact: Publishing and promoting with free articles gives you
one of the most powerful opportunities available to tip the
buyer's credibility scale in your favor.
How can we prove this works? Quite easily actually. Take a
break from reading this and go check out a newspaper or
magazine for a minute.
Which do you trust more, the ads or the articles? Most
people will choose the articles hands down. Why? Because
the articles don't try to "sell" you anything. Instead, they
hand out useful information for educational or other
practical purposes.
Most of us grew up in a culture which says we can believe
and "trust" what appears in the standard "news" or
"information" format. In other words, if it appears in
print, then we can believe and trust the author.
So go ahead! Use this lifetime of conditioning to your
advantage in selling your products and services!
Very few things will create an atmosphere of trust and
confidence in people as reading one of your articles on a
subject that greatly interests them. It shows you know your
business. It also demonstrates you will do more than just
try to sell them something.
Publishing articles literally lets you fly under their
advertising "radar defenses."
So remember these points when deciding whether or not to use
articles to promote your business:
1. Few things create as much trust and confidence in the
minds of potential customers as reading an article you wrote
on a subject which specifically and intensely interests
them.
2. Articles establish credibility quickly because, right or
wrong, we've all been trained to trust the "news."
3. An article, or series of articles, will differentiate you
from the competition, who bombard people with nothing but
sales messages.
4. Providing content-rich, non-sales-oriented articles will
also help build and solidify your relationship with existing
customers so they give you repeat business.
----
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an amazing new ebook, "Turn Words Into Traffic,"
that will teach you how to use free articles to quickly
drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or
affiliate link!
Click Here ==> “Turn Words Into Traffic”
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