There’s a ferocious killer that halts success more than anything else. This one success killer has ended the hopes and dreams of countless entrepreneurs. No, it’s not the lack of a great idea, inadequate funding or not knowing how to pull it all off. So… What is it?…
It’s waiting to get started. Waiting for the perfect moment. Waiting until everything is just right. Waiting for permission from the marketing Gods to begin building your business.
Waiting has killed more businesses and deprived more entrepreneurs of their fortunes than anything else.
Which is why I propose this: Start now, BEFORE you are ready.
When you come up with a new idea, do you feel like you need to get everything just right before you can get started? Most people do – but the problem is you’ll never get everything just right. You will always find something else that needs doing before you can begin, and so you will never start. Or eventually, one day months from now, you will finally get started only to realize you’ve run out of steam and no longer have an enthusiasm for your venture. It’s too late.
So why not start now? When you wait you get sidetracked and distracted. You listen to feedback from people who tell you it’s a bad idea. You talk yourself out of it. Sometimes you just forget about it completely, and there’s another opportunity lost forever.
Worse still, when you wait someone else can get the jump on you. Realize this – every time you have a great idea, there are other people in the world having that same idea. Do you want to be the first, or do you want to be an “also ran?” Take action and you’ll be a prosperous leader instead of a follower begging for crumbs.
Be impatient. Figure out how to get your idea out there sooner rather than later, even if you’re not ready. Are you writing a book? Give away the first chapters or the first version and ask for feedback. Gather email addresses to let people know when the book is ready. Launch the first version as an inexpensive Kindle book, get more feedback and re-release it as a hardcover. You could have waited until you thought it was perfect and released it as a hardcover to start with, but you would have missed out on the buzz you created and the feedback you received to make it even better.
If you wait to start, you’ll go through the entire process of writing and perfecting and publishing the book before you even know if there is a market for it, before you know how it will be received and whether or not people will buy it. By waiting you could spend the next year of your life on a project that yields nothing but frustration. Had you started marketing it immediately, you could have course corrected along the way to create a product the market truly wanted.
No matter what you’re doing, you can start right now. Even the act of starting gives you a momentum that can carry you through to the end. Take the book – with all the feedback you receive along the way, you’ll write a book people love, so now you can start a coaching program based on the book. Should you wait until you get the coaching program just right? No! Start now and perfect it as you go.
One more benefit of starting now – enthusiasm. When are you the most enthusiastic: When you first think of an idea, or 6 months later? When you’ve already experienced some success, or when that idea has been sitting on a shelf? By starting today you immediately make progress and get feedback, thus building your enthusiasm even further. When you work in a vacuum getting ready to start, you lose enthusiasm.
All the greats start now, whether that means writing the business plan now, writing the first chapter now, setting up the website now, getting feedback from social media now, etc.
Whatever your new idea is, start now and in 30 days you will be well on your way to seeing your idea not only begin to come to fruition, but also succeed in dramatic fashion.
One of the biggest expenses for some businesses is advertising. Think about the auto repair shop, the kitchen cabinet maker, the plumber, etc. They can spend a small fortune each month running ads that might not even pay off. After all, what’s the reaction of most people to advertising? It’s disbelief. “Sure they say they’re great, but… They all say that!”
But what if you could show offline clients how to get all of their business from referrals, thereby saving the money they spend on advertising? What would that be worth to them? Frankly, it should be worth about 2-3 months of their current advertising budget, paid directly to you.
This won’t work for all businesses, so use your best judgement on which businesses to work with using this strategy. While every business will be different, you can quickly learn the basics on how to set up a referral system that brings in as much if not more business than their current advertising.
Let’s use an automotive repair shop for our example. First, what do most people think of when considering auto repair places? The shops are dirty, the mechanics try to take advantage of customers by doing work that doesn’t need to be done, they take too long to make repairs, you have to arrange for transportation while you don’t have your car, their waiting room is depressing, etc.
We want to change all of those things. Cleaning the shop up won’t cost a thing beyond labor and it can make a tremendous difference in how people perceive the shop when they arrive. If the outside of the shop needs a new coat of paint, some flowers planted in the bed out front or a fresh sign, it should be seen to. This alone can bring more business in off the street.
Next, unless the mechanics are really good at explaining what needs to be done to the mechanically illiterate, there should be a liaison between the mechanics and customers. This liaison will show the customer what the problem is, what might have caused it, why it needs to be fixed and what it will cost. A clear, thorough explanation without technical mumbo-jumbo can go a long way to putting the customer at ease and making them feel they’re not being taken advantage of.
If the work is going to take longer than, say, 90 minutes, the auto shop either provides a loaner car or offers to drive the customer to their home or place of work, picking them up when the car is ready. How many auto places do this? Almost none. Imagine the word of mouth this alone can create.
If the customer opts to wait for the car, they’re shown into a waiting room that looks more like a living room than a nasty waiting room. The chairs are plush and comfortable, there’s flat surfaces if they want to work on a laptop or do anything at a desk, and instead of the usual daytime television, there’s a DVD playing of a truly funny and non-offensive comedian. Who doesn’t feel better after laughing? Plus there’s beverages – not just coffee – and maybe even some bagels, fruit or danish.
After the repair is made, the car is washed and cleaned. The bigger the repair, the better the washing and cleaning. This could range from a quick exterior wash to a full wash and wax outside, vacuuming and wipe down inside. An alternative would be to set up an affiliation with a nearby car wash, getting car wash tokens in bulk at a discount. Then for every $x amount of money spent, the customer gets a token. If the amount is $50, then on a $300 repair job the customer would get 6 tokens which could be used for 6 car washes. This is hugely unexpected by the customer and something they’re likely to brag about to others for weeks.
If the customer doesn’t receive car wash tokens, she should be given something. It could be as simple as homemade looking cookies for the road or a cup of good coffee to go. As the customer is paying her bill and receiving her tokens, she gets a very brief questionnaire about her experience. The final question is, “Can we use your comments for marketing purposes?” Thanks to the law of reciprocity and the small gift she received, she’s almost certainly going to say ‘yes.’ These comments can be put on the business’ website, and after several months should number in the hundreds. If they ever do more advertising, all they’ll need is a list of these comments along with their hours and location to create a very effective ad.
The customer gets an actual thank you card in the mail within 2 days of her experience at the shop. On the card is a photo of the shop with all the employees out front, holding a giant blank sign. Only the sign isn’t blank, it only appears that way when the photo is taken. Before sending it out, “THANK YOU customer name!” is hand written onto that blank sign. If they have the technology they can do this in Photoshop, but hand writing it in is fine. In the card is a very warm thank you along with 2-3 magnets containing the business’ details and the suggestion she give one or two to friends.
Finally, 3 to 6 days later the customer gets a follow up phone call, inquiring if the car is still running fine and making sure everything is alright. If there should be any problem, being this proactive will keep the business in good favor with the customer. And if everything is fine, it leaves the customer with a very warm, cared-about feeling that they simply don’t get with the typical auto mechanic.
This has been just one example – how you set up a referral program will vary according to the type of business you’re working with. You probably noticed that nowhere in this sequence did we actually ask the customer for referrals. Typically the best way to get great word-of-mouth advertising isn’t to ask for it – it’s to give the customer such an amazing experience, they just have to brag to others about it.
What’s the easiest way to make money online, without having to create a product or a sales page? Affiliate marketing, of course!
So, why is it that most affiliate marketers never make nearly what they could make? Anyone has the potential to make HUGE money in affiliate marketing, yet 90% or more of affiliates make a pittance (I’ll wager the number is closer to 98%, in fact.)
Think about this: If you earn an average of $50 on each sale in a sales funnel you promote, and you make 6 sales, you’ve made $300. Sounds good, right?
But guaranteed, there is someone else who made 600 sales and walked away with $30,000.
Why did they make 600 sales when you made just 6?
There are reasons why a handful of affiliate marketers do amazingly well, and everyone else barely makes a profit.
And marketers who understand this will always have a tremendous advantage over marketers who don’t.
1: Build a Relationship
I know you’ve heard it before, but are you doing it? People buy people, not products.
If you want them to open your email and click your link, or visit your Facebook Group and click a link, you’ve got to have a RELATIONSHIP with your people.
This is so simple to do, yet few marketers take the time.
Start with a blog post that is all about you, and then send new opt-ins to the post so they can get to know you. Make the post silly, funny and most of all REAL. Talk about the stupid stuff you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, where you live and so forth.
Do you have a strange hobby or unusual taste in food? Include that. Do you have 17 pets? Talk about them. Do you work until 3 in the morning and sleep until noon? Mention that.
Reveal the real you. Not the details people don’t want, but the ones that amuse and interest. You’re looking to make a real connection, not give a resume.
And above all else, don’t make your life seem like a series of magnificent accomplishments. No one is going to relate to someone who turns everything they touch into gold.
But they are going to relate to the time you bought Bitcoin when it was worthless and sold it just before it took off, or the time you thought you could fly and jumped off your uncle’s barn into the manure pile.
And don’t stop with your ‘about me’ page, either. Use this relationship building in your lead magnet, your emails, your other blog posts and so forth.
Always inject a little bit about yourself. Not so much that you bore people, of course, or make everything seem about you. But just enough to keep it real.
Think about relating an event to a friend. Aren’t you going to give your own perceptions of what happened, as well as tell about how you got out of your car and stepped in the mud puddle just before your big presentation?
Use this same method of personal, one-on-one friend communication with your readers as well.
Post on your blog as often as possible, and we’re talking every day or two. Encourage your list to subscribe to Feedburner or the equivalent so they know when you add a new post.
Your readers will realize you’re a real person who isn’t out to pitch them a new product every 5 minutes. And they’ll gladly read your sales emails much more readily when they know there is a real live human being who is sending them these messages.
2: Use Your Own Voice
How many emails do you receive that say something along the lines of, “Buy this product – this product is the greatest product ever – you will be sorry if you miss this – so rush right over and buy it now.”
Yeah. Same old stuff, over and over again.
There is a marketer (or maybe several, but I’m thinking of one in particular) who sells MASSIVE quantities of this exact type of emails as a swipe file to new marketers.
Like a brand-new marketer couldn’t write their own 25 word email that basically says, “GO BUY THIS NOW!”
People are TIRED of getting these emails. You’re tired of getting these emails. I’m tired of getting these emails.
Same phrases, same message, same B.S.
If you’re not going to stand apart from the crowd, then you’re going to have to share the same crumbs they’re getting.
Instead, take 30 minutes and write your own promotional email in your own voice.
Forget hype. Be sincere. Be honest. “Hey, this product isn’t for everyone. I don’t even know if it’s for you. But if you have this problem, then maybe this is your solution. Check it out and decide if it’s right for you, because I know it’s worked like crazy for some people. And it’s on sale right now, too.”
I’ve written emails where I basically tell people not to buy something unless they really really want it or need it. “Don’t buy this if you already know how to do xyz.” “Don’t buy this if you’re not going to be doing this type of marketing.” This is only for people who want (fill in the blank.) It’s like I’m trying to talk them out of it, which paradoxically often results in more sales, not fewer.
But the point isn’t tricking them into buying; it’s to be honest. Because you know what? That latest, greatest product you’re promoting ISN’T what everyone on your list needs. Some of them, sure. The rest of them, no.
Do you have any idea how refreshing it is to open an email that says, “Here’s a new product, thought you might want to know, but please don’t buy it if you’re not going to use it.”
The first time I got an email like that, I bought the product without even reading the sales letter. True story. I was just so happy that someone wasn’t ramming a sale down my throat, that I jumped at the chance to buy it.
Weird but true.
My point is, be you. Be honest. Talk to your readers as though they are your best friends and you don’t want to lose your best friends by acting like a carnival barker who is here today and pulled up stakes (vanished) tomorrow with their money.
3: Email a LOT
This is the one where people like to argue with me, and I understand that.
You’ve heard over and over again that you shouldn’t email too often, or you’ll upset your subscribers, right?
After all, every time you email, there is the potential that a subscriber will hit the unsubscribe button.
Do you know what the potential is when you DON’T email? Nothing. No opens, no clicks, no sales… not even any relationship building.
Do you want people to open and read your emails? Then send out those emails EVERY DAY.
Here’s why:
First, almost no one will see every email you send out. Let’s say you’ve got a sale on one of your products. Don’t you think your readers might like to know about it? But if they miss the one and only email you send that lets them know, then they’ve missed out on the discount and you LOST a sale.
Second, send emails at different times. I opened someone’s email just yesterday, decided I was VERY interested in the new membership he was selling, clicked the link and discovered it was no longer available.
What happened? This particular marketer only sends out emails at 1:00 a.m. my time, so I don’t even see most of his emails in the avalanche of mail I get before I wake up.
Third, if you’re sending email once a week or once a month, your readers are forgetting who the heck you are. And when you finally do send an email, they think it’s spam.
Fourth, if you mail more often, you will make more money. Don’t take my word on this, just do it for one month. Send out one email per day, every day, for 30 days. Put a promotion in each one. See if you haven’t made more – a LOT more – money during that time period than during the previous month.
And by the way, I’m not saying JUST send out a promotion in each email. Make sure you have some content in there as well, even if it’s just an amusing anecdote.
4: Think of affiliate marketing as a BUSINESS
This isn’t a hobby, nor is it an add-on for an additional income stream.
Even if you go on vacation, be prepared to send out an email every day. Schedule them in advance or write them on vacation. Either way, affiliate marketing to your list is a business that you can’t just jump into when you need cash and forget about the rest of the time.
You don’t have many support issues, since the product owners handle this. You don’t have to worry about creating products, sales pages and so forth. You don’t have to drive traffic, unless it’s to build your list bigger.
With so much you don’t have to do, there’s no reason not to focus your time and energy into building relationships with your list and promoting to them every single day.
Affiliate marketing can be some of the easiest money you’ve ever made, if you put in the time and effort to make it a real business.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the better your headlines grab eyeballs, the more money you can make. In fact, even a small improvement can add significant money if your sales funnel is set up with a high priced product or two. For example, getting 5% more people to opt into your list or open an email or buy a $7 product could result in another 1/2 to 1 percent buying your more expensive and profitable product. Over the course of a year that could easily add thousands to your bottom line.
Using Twitter to Find the Best Headlines
At the risk of stating the obvious, the better your headlines grab eyeballs, the more money you can make. In fact, even a small improvement can add significant money if your sales funnel is set up with a high priced product or two. For example, getting 5% more people to opt into your list or open an email or buy a $7 product could result in another 1/2 to 1 percent buying your more expensive and profitable product. Over the course of a year that could easily add thousands to your bottom line.
One way marketers used to test headlines was through Adwords, back in the day when they were super cheap. A marketer would try out 2 or more headlines and see which one pulled the best. Seasoned marketers still test headlines with Google and Facebook ads, but if you’re on a small budget there is a less expensive way.
These days Twitter is the easiest and cheapest method for testing headlines, so long as you have a following. Simply choose what you think are your two best headlines, tweet them both and track the results.
First, the tweeting: To be fair you’d want to tweet both simultaneously, but that’s probably not the best way. Instead, tweet them both in the morning and again in the afternoon, about 20 to 30 minutes apart. So for example in the morning you might tweet headline A at 9:00 and headline B at 9:30. Then do the same in the afternoon but reverse the order.
Track your results with a good click tracking software like Click Magick or your own favorite tracker. When you’ve got a winner, test it against another headline, and so forth.
Now then… why use this method instead of split testing? Frankly, I prefer split testing when it comes to something like a squeeze page or a sales letter, but there are times when this Twitter method comes in especially handy.
Are you sending out an important email or series of emails for a big promotion? Are you getting ready to launch a product and want to have a good idea in advance of which headline will work best? Using Twitter to test your subject lines up front can put you ahead of the game and into profit faster.
One of the hazards they never bother to tell you about when you become an online marketer is brain fog. You know what I mean… you’ve been sitting at your computer for 10 minutes or 10 hours when you realize your brain is moving slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter.
And you know if you could just get your brain in gear, you could get a ton of work done today. But despite that 5th cup of coffee you still can’t seem to focus. What’s a marketer to do?
I take a cue from Nelson Mandela when this happens and I take a walk. If the weather is good, I get some sun on my face, too. Taking even just a 10 minute brisk walk outside can do wonders for your brain, and 20 is even better.
Did you know that making a habit of writing backwards with your non-dominant hand can create an abundance of new connections in your brain that make it work better, faster and more creatively? Leonardo Da Vinci filled entire journals with mirror writing – and you have to admit, the guy was no slouch when it came to intelligence or accomplishments.
Doing things that you don’t normally do, such as taking up a new interest or hobby, will also awaken sleeping parts of your brain. Make it a point to learn a new skill so well, you can teach it to others.
Try going to bed earlier. Most people don’t get enough sleep, and this is one of the biggest causes of brain fog. Sleeping in until noon isn’t good, either. As they say, moderation in all things. Get up at a decent time, drink water and exercise, and then get straight to work.
Take a mid-afternoon nap. Thomas Edison was a prolific napper and look at what he accomplished. And Winston Churchill – despite running a powerful country during a world war – set aside hours each day just for himself to nap, bathe, dress and eat in peace.
Take risks. If you’re taking a risk, it’s going to be something important to you. If it’s important, you’re going to have an enthusiasm for it. And if you’ve got enthusiasm, brain fog tends to vanish. Henry Ford believed that if you’re going to fail, you should do it fast and learn from it. In other words, stop dreaming and take some action. No one who base jumped off a bridge ever felt like they had brain fog at that moment.
Cut out the sugar. The more sugar you eat today, the more tired you will be later today and again tomorrow. It’s not worth it. No doubt you’ve seen the studies that suggest sugar is as addictive as cocaine. It makes for a great headline, but the bottom line is sugar is addictive and as we’ve known for years, it’s bad for you, too. Go 21 days without your favorite sweet tweets – whatever they may be – and see how you and your brain feel.
Bonus: When you cut out the sugar you’ll not only feel better, you’ll look better too. They did a double blind study where men were asked to rate the attractiveness of women. Those women who did not eat sugar the previous day were rated as being more attractive than those that did. Sugar not only makes you and your brain sluggish – it can also make you less beautiful or handsome.
Make health such a big priority in your life, you end up creating a product in the health niche and sell 100,000 copies. Why not? It’s been done before and it will be done many more times because there will always be people who are willing to pay to get their health and energy back. So let them pay you.
See what happens? I start out by writing a few ways to combat brain fog when you’re stuck behind a computer for too long, and I end up creating a new product.
It’s good to be an online marketer, don’t you think? The ideas are everywhere and the market for solutions never ends.
Now put away the candy and go take a brisk walk to clear your head. Then come back and get to work on building your online empire!
Whether you’re solving a problem, writing a blog post, crafting a review or creating your next product, creativity is one of your best tools for getting the job done with finesse and style. With that in mind, here are 17 methods anyone can use to become more creative.
Free write – This is where you just start writing anything and continue to write as the words and ideas flow. At first it may be silly nonsense, but you’ll be surprised how fast your words and ideas can coalesce into something truly inspired.
Carry a notebook – By jotting down ideas as soon as they appear, two things happen. First, you don’t forget your ideas because you’ve got a written record. Second, the act of writing them down tells your subconscious that you want ideas, which will encourage it to give you even more.
Make lists – The very act of writing things down frees up your mind to be more creative.
Take breaks from your work – Get up, walk around, play 5 minutes of hopscotch – whatever. Just take a breather.
Get up and go – Leave your computer at home, take your notebook and get away from the office. Go anywhere – a park, the mall, a coffee shop, a museum – just get out, get away and soak up some different surroundings.
Get near water, especially if it’s moving – Studies show that being near moving water floods you with negative ions, which makes you feel good and can boost your creativity. Remember how you get some of your best ideas in the shower? That’s part of the reason why.
Talk nice to yourself – Positive self talk on how creative you are will produce more ideas. Beating yourself up for being a dummy won’t.
Have caffeine – If you don’t normally drink caffeine, one cup of coffee or tea can have remarkable effects on your thinking.
Clean off your desk – Nothing stifles creativity like a messy, cluttered desk.
Read something different – Read an article on a topic you know nothing about, a page out of the dictionary, a chapter out of a random book, etc. Learning outside the box can trigger many new ideas for you.
Practice writing or bouncing a ball with your non-dominant hand – This can help activate the connection between the two sides of your brain.
Be open to new ideas – All too often we dismiss an idea before giving it a real chance. Even if you think it’s a bad idea, try playing devil’s advocate and find all the reasons why it’s a good idea – you might be surprised.
Collaborate and mastermind – Two heads are better than one, and 5 are better than 2. Form a mastermind group, present a problem, and then let the ideas flow. The only rule: No one shoots down an idea.
Sleep on it – Give your subconscious your problem or need: “I need 3 new blog post ideas by tomorrow morning.” Then let it go and see what your subconscious finds for you.
Make friends with mistakes – When you goof up or make the wrong decision, realize it’s not the end of the world. It’s simply something that didn’t work at the moment. This allows your creativity to continue to flow.
Purposely break rules – Don’t break the big ones like “do not steal,” but do break the little ones like “this is what a blog post / new product / video should look like.”
Be you – Don’t worry about what others might think because no great idea is without naysayers anyway. In fact, if everyone thinks your idea is great, then it’s probably not.
One last tip: Ask “Why?” and “Why not?” a lot. Oftentimes we just accept things as they are, when there could be a whopper of an idea just staring us in the face the whole time.
“I Hereby Dub Thee, Super Duper Expert! Now Go Forth, Change the World & Prosper!” If only it were that easy to become an expert – just get someone to tap a sword on both your shoulders as you kneel and PRESTO! You are now the go-to person for your niche.
Wait – it actually can be almost that easy.
The first thing you need to know about becoming an expert is WHY you want to be one. When you are viewed as the expert, people want to buy your products and services. They also want to promote you. Whether it’s sharing your stuff via social media or interviewing you for the news, you become THE person in your niche that people gravitate to.
The second thing to know is HOW to be seen as an expert, and it works like this: You need to ACT like an expert, THINK like an expert, and SPEAK like an expert. And all three of these will become natural when you believe you are indeed the expert. But what if you don’t believe you’re an expert? Then start acting like you are and your actions will bring about the belief.
Of course, none of this is of any value if you don’t have a clue when it comes to your niche. That’s why constant study and practice in your field is essential. You’ve got to know what you’re talking about, and the best way to do that is to learn from others as well as from your own experience.
So how do you get others to view you as the go-to person, the expert they should do business with? Here are 12 methods:
1. Choose your niche carefully. It’s much easier to be a great big fish in a small pond than a whale in the ocean. For example, if you want to be a business coach, you’ve got a ton of competition. But if you coach massage therapists on how to grow their businesses, you can very quickly become a whale of a fish in that particular pond.
2. Act like you have a list of thousands, even when making your debut blog post. Be a professional from day one by imagining you have thousands of people depending on what you say and do. Sure, the only person reading your blog is your grandma, but keep in mind that’s going to change soon. The debut post you write today will eventually be read by hundreds or thousands of people, so make it good.
3. Use a great incentive to build your list from Day 1. Yes, offering to keep them updated on your blog posts will yield you some subscribers, but offering a coveted bribe will get you far more. And if your incentive isn’t ready yet, just tell them what it is and that by adding their email you’ll send them a copy the moment it’s ready.
4. Write a newsletter. Yes, an actual newsletter. And do it weekly. Put it in PDF form so readers can download it. Anything in PDF has a higher perceived value, probably because PDF’s are often paid for.
5. Interview experts for your newsletter. When you have an expert interview inside your PDF newsletter, it raises your own perceived stature considerably.
6. Hold webinars. This is less effective in the online marketing niche because it’s already done so extensively. But if you are in any other niche, offer to hold webinars and give free teaching. You can make these offers via social media and also to list owners. Your goal is to get in front of and help as many people as possible. Make sure they sign up for the webinar – this allows you to capture their email address. And if you don’t yet have a product of your own to promote, offer individual or group coaching at the end of the webinar. Split proceeds with the list owner (if there is one.)
7. Guest blog. The more high traffic websites you can appear on, the better. Always insert your short bio at the end and offer them your free incentive to click your link.
8. Pay attention to what people ask you – it’s important. The questions you receive are a great indication of what’s on the minds of your prospects. Find ways to answer those questions in a straightforward manner.
9. Skip the big words. You might think being an expert means using a lot of big words and fancy phrases, but what being an expert really means is have the capability to help others further their goals – no fancy lingo needed.
10. Find your voice and your message and stick to them. You don’t need to know everything about everything. What you do need to know is a whole lot about a whole little. Choose your stand on a topic and make your best case – don’t try to make everyone else’s case as well. For example, if your stand is that massage therapists can do 100% of their own marketing and do it completely through the Internet, don’t tell them how to hire a marketing agency or place a newspaper ad – tell them how to do their own online marketing. That’s it.
11. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel. You can if you want to, but you don’t have to. You might think that to be an expert you’ve got to be constantly thinking up new ways of doing things, but that’s not true. 99 times out of 100 it’s best to stick with what works. For that 100th time, make sure you test it yourself before advising anyone else to try it.
12. Recycle your content. A blog post can become an article in your newsletter, which can become the content for your latest video, etc.
Remember: When you think, act and speak like an expert and have the knowledge to back it up, you ARE the expert. It really is that simple.
Well over 5.5 million gigabytes of content is currently being shared daily through social media and email. Want to grab a piece of that viral pie? Here are 5 tips to help get your content moving into new hands and seen by many new people every day.
Use Great Headlines. This one’s a no brainer, yet it’s the biggest mistake marketers tend to make. Your headline should be short enough to be readable, long enough to be interesting, interesting enough to instantly grab attention, and the more curiosity it provokes, the better.
Use a Story. “Buy this great product” is never going to get shared as often as, “The Customer Service Nightmare on Elm Street” or “Redhead Finds Bliss in a Bottle.”
Use Visuals. Relevant, interesting visuals grab attention, heighten interest, tell a story, make content stand out in social media… do I need to go on?
Use Humor. Nothing gets shared as much as something that makes people chuckle – or better yet – laugh out loud. Find ways to insert humor into your content, both in the words and the visuals, and your shares will immediately go up.
Make It Easy to Share. Add buttons for each of the main social networks. The idea here is to keep the sharing process as easy and simple as possible. Even one extra click can result in no shares.
More and more webmasters have the recurring dilemma of how to increase the flow of traffic to their websites. During the past few years, many methods have been developed to solve this predicament. While most of them would work, there are those that would not make even a small impact.
One of the methods that have spawned many success stories in driving traffic to websites is viral marketing. Viral marketing makes use of the tendency of a person to share something they find informative, entertaining, or amazing.
Many companies bank on this behavior to spread their products and increase the popularity of their company or their website. Viral marketing makes use of many mediums to elicit this behavior. It might be in the form of an interesting story, an addicting flash game, an amusing video, and many others that may catch a person’s fancy.
This ingenious form of marketing is typically low-cost and is a wonderful tool for any company to utilize. The benefit greatly overshadows the cost or efforts to initialize this marketing scheme. Any website would greatly benefit from viral marketing.
Tell a Friend Script
One of the easiest methods in viral marketing is using a tell-a-friend script. This is a simple programming script that you can attach to the programming of your website. Generally, tell-a-friend scripts are installed on pages where media is placed so that a person can easily send the media to any of his friends or his family members.
The basic concept of a tell-a-friend script is a script wherein a person may input his name, e-mail address, and the recipient’s e-mail address and send the media to the intended recipient much like an e-mail with an attachment. As the recipient receives the e-mail he wouldn’t think of the mail as spam mail because he would see the sender’s name as someone he or she knows and trust.
Tell a friend script eliminates greatly the chances of being blocked because they use the information inputted by the sender. This allows for the wider spreading of this marketing method. It can be quite sneaky but it is very effective.
With the e-mail sent and opened the sent media will either be read, viewed, or played. Also along with the mail would be a brief description of the company or site that sponsors the media sent. This allows for the introduction of either the site, company name, or its products. Along with it is another tell-a-friend script.
Then the process begins again. As more people use the tell-a-friend, more and more people will know of the existence of the sponsoring company or site. People who read the ads inside the mail and liked what they see would go and click on the link and visit the site. This drives traffic to the site resulting in a greater number of potential customers.
Tell a Friend Script Availability
A tell-a-friend script is very simple and does not require a complicated method of programming. You can copy-paste the script and simply put it on an intended page. Finding one is even simpler. All you have to do is go to a search engine and type in the search box “tell a friend script” then press enter or click go.
On the search result page, you will see many links that will direct you to a site where you can get a tell-a-friend. It would just be a simple matter of looking and searching for the script and copying it to your intended web page.
With a tell-a-friend script viral marketing strategy, you can drive traffic to your site which could potentially spell profits. This is a simple harmless script that offers great benefits for low cost paired with great creativity and foresight.
You must have patience in using a tell-a-friend script. If your chosen media doesn’t get the mileage that is expected of it, it may take some time before it gets spread or shared. But surely many people will see your ads and there is a great probability that they will visit your site increasing your traffic flow.
Setting up an online business requires a few things, typically of which is some kind of capital. After all, making money requires money as well. But of course, with the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways you could find that help to optimize the potential of your business and generate a reasonable amount of traffic to start making money. This could be scary to a newbie internet marketer who may not have the resources and know-how.
In internet marketing, we do our best to recommend products and services that best serve the target audience. In the same vein, we will be writing about opportunities for IMs to generate traffic for their sites using free methods as a follow-up sequel to our last articles on paid traffic and advertising.
While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites don’t have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for their site.
If you fall into the latter category, you don’t need to fret. What you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.
How exciting it is to have good traffic for your site without spending a single cent. Now it’s a sure thing that many sites have articles that offer tips and guidelines on how to generate traffic using only free methods. Because it is possible, you don’t need to spend a single cent, it may take time, to say honestly, but I’m not going to beat around the bush with you. You get better chances by paying for your advertisements, but at least you get a fighting chance with some of these free methods I’m about to tell you.
Online Forums and Online Communities
Take advantage of onlineforums and online communities. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss things about the niche that you represent or offer. Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.
With online communities and forums, you can build a reputation for your company. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can build a reputation and build trust with the people with expertise and knowledge.
Newsletters
You can also make use of newsletters. Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people sign up using your newsletter, the more people visit your site, increasing your traffic.
Trading Links
Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You don’t have to spend a cent. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. By exchanging links, the efforts will benefit both sites. Every traffic that goes to the site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well. This works well especially when both sites feature the same niche.
Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have an interest in your product. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.
Free Ezines
Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there’s a great probability that they will go to
your site.
Great Content
Write good content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your own but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. It should provide certain requirements as well as great quality.
Keywords
Generally, internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.
All of these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man-hours. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.
