Exploit The Power Of Viral Marketing
Most newbies trying to start an online business struggle with exactly how to get started. What products should I promote? Should I develop my own product? Do I need a web site? What domain name should I buy? Where should I buy my hosting? And the list goes on and on.
Let's forget all that for a moment and try to figure out exactly where we're going. Even though the thought of making money online is exciting it is easy to fall into the trap of trading hours for dollars - much like a regular 9 to 5 job. That's fine if that's all you intend to do but this site and our advice is to think more big picture. Design a system and residual income stream that you put in place one time but keeps providing monthly checks with very little maintenance from you so that you can then go and build another system, rinse, repeat and eventually have an empire that can create almost unlimited wealth.
In the old days MLM (multi level marketing) promised this but with so many levels and very little focus on quality products the money was all siphoned off at the top leaving a lot of workers at the bottom of the pyramid with little to show for it.
With the internet and affiliate marketing there are a number of methods that we'll highlight in another article. The focus of this article however is viral marketing. Create an ebook with valuable content on a subject that people need to know and make it FREE. How do you profit? In your ebook you will have several affiliate links to related products where you will make a percentage of each sale. Part 2 of this plan is even better.
Using rebranding software, you can also allow others to change one or 2 of the links to their own affiliate link and they can then offer it for FREE to their email list, blog visitors and Facebook or Twitter followers.
Yes, you are giving away some of your potential profit - however, let's assume you have 5000 visitors a month to your website and 250 of them download your free ebook and purchase through one of your links which nets you $20 per purchase, $500 per month or $0.10 per potential reader. Or, we can make 1/2 the links rebrandable meaning that we're only going to make $0.05 per potential reader but since several hundred people each month are rebranding and promoting your ebook the number of potential readers skyrockets into the tens of thousands per month.
An extra bonus to this is that you are still the author of the book, your name, contact info and web site link is exposed to an exponentially higher number of people than it ever would be with typical advertising methods.
The best software we've found to do this is Easy Viral PDF Brander. Get started today and use it for promoting other affiliate products and you'll also have it ready to go when you develop and market your own products.
Trust Level At An All Time Low
I met with the marketing manager and owner of a local small business earlier this week to discuss some creative ways to improve their marketing efforts. At some point in the conversation the owner blurted... "I feel like trust is at an all time low in society so nobody believes anything we say in our marketing pieces."
In some ways he's correct but I'm not sure that trust was ever really all that high. People have always been skeptical of advertising claims. Since early childhood when one of your siblings points and says "hey check that out" while they steal your chocolate chip cookie we've all been conditioned to take someone's promises with a grain of salt.
So, what's different? In years past, people would congregate around the barbershop, general store, church, social club, etc. and share experiences with local merchants to find out who did the best work and who to use for an upcoming project. Today, people don't spend nearly as much time interacting on a social level. You need to find ways to collect testimonials from happy customers and share those as part of your ongoing marketing efforts.
"But I don't have any testimonials" you say? One thing I do think about our society is that the bar between average and exceptional service has been raised. People expect a much higher level of product or service before they are impressed. Give them just an average experience and you won't have their business for long much less recommend you to their friends.
If you're a business owner or department manager you need to find ways to create WOW experiences for your customers:
- Develop a bonus package with your product to give customers more than they expected.
- Provide free video tutorials to help them set up your software package.
- Have a 'no questions asked' return policy.
- etc, etc, etc. - add more and more of these until you're so far ahead of your competitor they don't even have a chance at catching you.
The Best Web Site For Your First (or 50th) Business Site
There have always been two routes to having a presence on the internet.. spend thousands of hours learning to hand-code a web site or spend thousands of dollars having someone build one for you.
Over the last 3 years that has all changed with the development of content management systems and the king of all of them - Wordpress sites! You can literally (for NO COST) have a great looking site that can be edited from any computer without special software. The best part is that Google and the other search engines love these sites and quickly rank them high for your chosen search terms.
Even if you already have a site in place you can start several more Wordpress sites using domain names for niche products you might have - of course, linking back to your main site and increasing it's search ranking. We have hundreds of these sites that we use to promote affiliate specialty products (eBay & Amazon) that just sit there month after month putting money into our paypal accounts.
If you haven't started your first site (even for testing) you need to do it today! We've been using the guys over at Start a Micro Business dot com to put our sites up the last couple of months as our schedule has become tighter - they keep their server loads low and specialize in Wordpress hosting. Check them out and let us know when you get your first site online...
http://www.startamicrobusiness.com/how-to-get-a-free-small-business-web-site/
Thanks... Mike
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Being Average Is Not Going To Make The Cut
Well, I certainly stirred up a hornet's nest with my last email. I really wasn't trying to judge anyone as much as say that we all need to find something that motivates us because it is too easy to become complacent and just settle for an average existence - which we then compare to the successful around us and somehow feel cheated.
I did receive a number of resumes from people out of work asking me to find them a job... Interesting reading - overqualified, under-qualified, some bouncing from one industry to another with little overall goal or purpose. Many I'm sure were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
I can't address all the causes of unemployment but I can say that the chances of being average and successful are pretty much over (if they ever even existed). Want to find a job, start a business, be a consultant, etc - find one thing that you are extremely passionate about, understand better than anyone around you and become THE expert that people turn to when someone asks. I truly believe that every person brings a unique perspective to the table and has one area (or a unique combination of skills) where that they can truly become a leader.
The internet gives us access to knowledge that we've never before had - and also a platform for experts to share their knowledge.
What do I mean by a unique combination? Maybe you're a good chef specializing in healthy food choices, but laid off and without the resources to move to NYC and duke it out with the best of the best - but you have a good voice, learned all you can about producing a radio show and a small recording setup on your computer. Start a podcast (online cooking audio show) and brand yourself - sell a pdf download cookbook with your best healthy choices recipes.
Of maybe you love auto racing but at 50 years old are never going to get that NASCAR ride you always dreamed about. However, you learn how to build a successful blog or online forum site and syndicate content from 10 of the best sites you can find so that yours becomes the go-to site for your unique brand of online racing news and information.
Unique skill-set combinations? I pretty sure the sky is the limit.
Thanks... Mike
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Download Michelle Macpherson's (internet traffic super mom) free Social Media Myth report -----------------------------------
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The Problem With A Handout Mentality
It seems kind, caring and compassionate - helping out someone who's going through a tough time - and there are certainly many natural disasters, war, famine and other unforseen circumstances that require us to give generously to those in need.
Unfortunately, many of our best laid plans have turned a seeming 'act of kindness' into an emotional cage that many cannot escape.
I overheard a conversation on Saturday that made me bristle. An obviously healthy young man was bragging to his buddy "I know there are plenty of places I could find work, but why would I want to spend 40 hours a week making $20k a year when I can sit at home and collect $15k in unemployment". Much like humans feeding wild animals cause them to no longer have the desire to forage for their own, handouts without any cost or consequences to stimulate the desire to improve lead to a distorted world view.
Like Newton's law - bodies at rest tend to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Left to my own devices, I'm a normal human - lazy. I need hunger, fear, desire for love and acceptance, etc. to motivate me. One of the reasons we began StartupandRun.com was to share our experiences and help motivate others. For years I knew there was significant income to be made as an affiliate marketer but it took a financial downturn to spur me to actually start making things happen...
If you're looking for a little extra motivation check out Ed Dale's 30 Day Challenge. I went through it 2 years ago and still refer to the info.
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Don't miss Michelle Macpherson's (internet traffic super mom) new traffic tool she is giving it away for a limited time. Download the Rank Decoding Software
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Supporters of Startup and Run
Social Media Myth report
Produce Professional Quality Videos
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Happy Tax Day! and a Warning…
For those of you in the US it's the day we all love to hate - adding up what the government says we owe them in exchange for all the services they've provided. Unfortunately, 47% of the citizenry pay no taxes at all - meaning the rest of us pay their share. Is forced philanthropy really part of the constitutional fabric? I'd love to hear your opinion...
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Warning - if you have a web site hosted with Network Solutions you'd better check for infected pages. I have several clients who've been hacked and a quick web search shows widespread attacks on Net Sol sites. Look for embedded 'iframe code' in the footer.
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One of my heroes - Michelle Macpherson is a 'normal mom' turned internet traffic guru. I recommend you read everything she puts out as she knows what she's talking about. She just developed a new traffic tool and is giving it away for a limited time.
It's a tool that will REVERSE engineer the search engine algorithm while you watch! She'll also send you a video link showing exactly how to use it.
Download the Rank Decoding Software
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3 Things You Must Do NOW To Succeed in 2010
I don't know about you but 2009 started off pretty rough for Cheryl and I and required that we pull back from much of our offline investing and expand the internet businesses. Thankfully our investment in online properties continues to increase in profitability.
Looking forward to this year I thought I'd share a couple things that we are doing and I feel everyone (unless you're independently wealthy already) must do to succeed in 2010.
1. Get Out Of Debt - If the economy improves the amount of money the Feds have printed are going to cause inflation rates to skyrocket and if the economy crashes again it'll be twice as bad and debt will be the anvil hitting you in the head. Sell everything you have that is unnecessary to free up cash. Find additional sources of income to pay down any debt you have faster.
2. Develop Multiple Income Streams - No matter what your current position (homemaker to upper level management) the last two years have taught us that nothing is certain and diversification of income is essential. If your time is as valuable as mine you also don't want to spend a lot of time learning HTML or building a web site from scratch. I've outsourced everything that I've done this year in online properties - including purchasing 2-3 existing web sites a month and then driving traffic to them to increase the profitability. I learned this from the master Ed Dale who overdelivers on every one of his courses. If you have a couple extra bucks to spend I'd recommend his beginner to expert video course - http://startupandrun.com/sitevalue
3. Learn To Use Social Media - If you operate any kind of business large or small you need to use social media sites and audio / video in your marketing efforts or you'll fall far behind in the coming year. Whether you love or hate Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Digg, etc. you're going to need to learn how to leverage their incredibly huge base of users. Video and audio sales messages are becoming the norm and will get your prospect's attention much faster than any other resource. I've been using the Killer Video geeks to create some attention grabbing sales videos for my sites - http://StartupAndRun.com/killervideo
What are you using to secure your future in these difficult economic times? We'd love to hear from you...
The Power of a Great Idea
We've all heard the phrase "there's nothing new under the sun" and I must admit that I've often said it myself. Unfortunately, that phrase just clouds my vision and stifles creativity at the times I need it most.
Robert Ringer is one of my favorite authors and often challenges me to think outside my mental box - especially in the area of not believing doubters and taking action on my ideas.
Need proof that all the great ideas have not been used? Last winter's Snuggie commercials on TV - I thought this had to be the dumbest idea ever. I turned out to be the dumb one when it went on to make the inventer a multimillionaire. These things are just goofy enough to be incredibly popular and this winter will sell better than ever. In fact, i found a web site today promoting them already...
http://startupandrun.com/snuggie - there's even one for kids now... http://startupandrun.com/kidsnuggie
So, what ideas do you have rolling around in your head that you just haven't taken action on? Ideas never made anyone rich - it's only the people who have the courage to take action on their ideas.
Your comments are welcome...
Video Marketing Rules!
There is no excuse for you to be boring!
Whether you're making a presentation to your local Lions club or the board of your fortune 500 company you want to make a dynamic impact. Nothing does this better than a fast paced video - the good news is you don't need to be a technical guru or spend a fortune to have something custom produced.
I found a new web application last year that with some photos and a couple of mouse clicks you can produce your own incredible video - animoto
I've been using it for over a year now and every time I show one of my videos the audience is simply blown away!
I've also used it to produce videos for clients who place them on YouTube and then embed them into their web sites. This benefits them several ways:
- 1. YouTube has huge traffic numbers so the chances of someone seeing their promotion is an order of magnitude higher than finding their site.
- 2. Putting a link in the video description brings link juice from a hugely popular site improving their site search rankings.
- 3. Google loves video and often has videos on page one of any search that you do.
http://startupandrun.com/animoto - sign up for a free account today and you'll be a video hero at your next presentation. If you have a consulting business you can produce killer videos for your clients in record time and charge a premium.