5 Ways to Jumpstart Your Internet Marketing Business
Archives: Daily Issues
Issue #2256
- WEALTHY: What you need to do before February 19 (Bob Bly)
- HEALTHY: The best way to lose weight (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Anna Pavlova on the secret of success
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Is the AWAI copywriting program obsolete?
- An inexact and contradictory word to eliminate from your writing (Don Hauptman)
- It’s Good to Know… about the pros and cons of lead paint
- Add "expunge" to your vocabulary
Welcome to the Turning Point in Your Life
How can it be a group of people in the same city, with the same education, upbringing, bank balance and opportunity make riches beyond their dreams, and others don’t?
Answer: They used a system… a set "proven" process which set them apart.
Want to know what this system is?
They followed a set of simple instructions which made money automatically come their way… money was attracted to them like metal to a magnet long BEFORE they became wealthy.
It was following these simple instructions I now call "The Billionaire Way" which gave ME an unbelievable ‘piggy-back ride’ from a simple insurance sales guy to founder of the world’s first TV shopping network.
"To follow without halt, one aim; there is the secret of success."
Anna Pavlova
5 Ways to Jumpstart Your Internet Marketing Business
By Bob Bly
If you aren’t yet making money online, one of your goals for 2008 should be to stop talking about starting an Internet marketing business – and start actually doing it.
If you already have an Internet marketing business, your goal should be to double your online revenues within the next 12 months.
Where to start? Here are five suggestions:
1. Try the "e-list swap."
Your online sales are roughly proportional to the size of your opt-in e-list – readers who have given you their e-mail address and permission to use it. There are more ways to build a large e-list of quality subscribers than I have fingers on my hands… though not many more.
My favorite method is what I call the "e-list swap." Go to an online marketer who reaches the same market niches you sell to. Offer to promote his free e-zine (or another free offer) to your subscribers. In exchange, he promotes your e-zine to his list. You both get new names and build your lists, with no out-of-pocket costs.
2. Ask your subscribers what they need and want.
The most important part of your Internet marketing business isn’t your product, your prices, your offers, your websites, or your software. It’s having an intimate relationship with your online subscribers.
By "intimate," I mean really knowing them – and caring about them.
What do they want or need in their lives… or their businesses… that you might be able to supply?
Figure it out. Easiest way is to ask them. (I sent a solo e-mail to my list saying, "What do you guys need and want from me?" Within days, I knew the answer.) Then create great products that fill those needs and satisfy your subscribers’ desires.
Yes, it’s almost that simple.
3. Convert site visitors into prospects with a "floater."
If Internet users come to any of your websites and pages and leave without buying anything – and you do not capture their e-mail addresses -you have lost a big opportunity. Specifically, you have lost the opportunity to capture leads from prospects who were interested enough to click onto your site, add them to your online subscriber list, and convert them into customers.
One way to capture more e-mail addresses from your visitors: Use a "floater." A floater is a window that slides or "floats" from the sides of the monitor to the center. Because it’s the same HTML code as the site, a pop-up blocker can’t stop it.
The floater copy typically says something like, "Hey, don’t leave without claiming your free gift!" You offer a valuable free report or other free content. All the visitor must do to claim his prize is submit his e-mail address, adding himself to your opt-in list.
4. Develop affiliate relationships.
You can build your online business on your own, but affiliates can help you build it faster.
Find Internet marketers serving your market. Become their affiliate and sell their products to your list for an affiliate commission. At the same time, see if they like any of your products enough to offer them to their list as your affiliate.
5. Stop dreaming and start taking action. Do something!
I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve spoken with who tell me they dream of starting an Internet marketing business… and then never do. The main reason, they tell me, is usually that they do not know enough about the Internet – yet – and are not quite done with their research and "studies." They always have to meet one more guru… attend one more bootcamp… attend one more seminar… study one more course… master one more technology. And then they’ll be ready to go.
If you fall into this category, my advice to you is: Stop studying. You already know enough to start – more than enough, in fact. The rest you will learn better by DOING it than by reading about it.
It won’t even cost you a lot, since the Internet is very forgiving of mistakes: You can test-market any new information product for a few hundred dollars or less.
Ready to take action? Good. Now here’s your challenge: Create your first product… and put up a site or landing page to market it… by February 19, 2008. (That’s exactly a month from today.)
Not a day later.
Because if you don’t take action now, I fear you never will. And I don’t want you to miss out on all the fun – and money – that can be yours when you start or jumpstart your Internet marketing business this year.
[Ed. Note: Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter, the author of more than 70 books, and co-creator of ETR's Direct Marketing Masters Edition program.]
The Greatest Medical Discovery of the Century
Scientists have discovered a remarkable substance that has the power to prevent diabetes, stop heart disease before it starts, and kill cancer cells on contact. In fact, this substance has been shown to prevent and treat more than 20 major diseases in all!
However, more than 85% of the population is deficient in this disease-killer at least part of the year. And believe it or not, medical professionals and health authorities actually advise people to avoid the single greatest source of this vital substance.
Click here to learn why you probably haven’t heard about this revolutionary discovery.
Praise for Ready, Fire, Aim : "This is not only Michael Masterson’s best book, it is his opus."
" You’ve been wasting my time. Your ideas sound like everyone else’s. But what would you say if I were holding a gun to your head and you knew – you absolutely knew, for certain – I would pull the trigger? What if the only way to stop me would be to come up with a better idea? How would you sell this product if your life literally depended on it, in this very moment – right now!"
I can’t remember if Michael Masterson was actually shouting. I only remember the intensity of his glare. He was deadly, unblinkingly, serious. And though I knew the "gun" was only metaphoric, I also knew he meant it. Business is a life-or-death struggle, as anyone who’s made their own fortune will tell you.
That’s the first piece of advice I can remember getting from Michael. We were sitting in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel, on Canal Street , in New Orleans in 1998. He opened my eyes to what was possible if you were willing to break through the world of vapid business "strategy."
In the five years that followed, while I was still in my 20s, I built one of the largest and most profitable businesses in my field – from scratch. Today, the business, which I still run, is worth more than $100 million. It is a leading global brand, with more than a quarter-million customers in over 120 countries. With coaching from Michael, I was able to launch and then grow my business without using a single penny of my own capital. And we’ve never had a quarter in the red.
The nuts and bolts of how we did it – and how dozens of other entrepreneurs have done it – are in the pages of Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat. This is not only Michael Masterson’s best book, it is his opus. Reading this book brought back all of the lessons Michael taught me through countless meetings and in thousands of e-mails. This book deserves to become the best-selling guide to entrepreneurship of all time. The step-by-step advice in these pages will make any other book about how to start and grow a real business seem like worthless, empty platitudes.
This isn’t another "feel good" book. These are the iron laws of business success, as I know from experience. They’re not what you learned in college, either. Almost the opposite, in fact. If you own your own business, if you’re a profit center manager, or if you dream of launching your own business, you can’t live without this book. You just don’t know it yet.
- Porter Stansberry
Stansberry & Associates Investment Research
Baltimore , MD
[Ed. Note: Want ETR to fly you down to Florida in February?]
Dear ETR: "Is the program I purchased still relevant?"
"I purchased AWAI’s copywriting program a little over a year ago. I worked hard for several weeks, enjoying the education. I then had a bad accident and had to put it aside. Meanwhile, I started to get e-mail from ETR about the way the Internet had changed direct marketing. Then I started to get e-mail from AWAI about bootcamps and advanced training programs. I am now able to get back into the copywriting program I purchased, but I feel lost. Is it still relevant? Has it been superceded by new Internet marketing training? Should I go to a bootcamp? What is the best way to get into the Internet marketing business today?"
- Ron Lane
Asheville , NC
Dear Ron,
Don’t worry. The AWAI program is totally relevant. It’s also the best copywriting program in the world, because it is the most comprehensive and incorporates the tricks, techniques, and thinking of at least a dozen master copywriters writing today. Most programs out there are very narrow by comparison. You get a single copywriter’s ideas and secrets – generally about a single market.
One copywriter has a good program geared to writing copy for natural health newsletters. Another one has a good program for business-to-business marketing. But only AWAI has it all: health, financial, non-profit, business-to-business, corporate, professional, banking, retail, wholesale, catalogs, bookalogs, reportalogs, direct mail, direct e-mail, space ads, Web ads, etc.
Beware of copywriters who "specialize" in Internet copywriting. Those we know of who are doing that have never proven themselves in the mail. It’s easy to pretend you know copy when you are writing ads for entrepreneurial wannabes who don’t know anything about direct marketing. Who knows if such ads worked or not?
When looking for a copywriting program, ask the people who are marketing theirs for details:
- What control packages have you written and for whom?
- What major direct-marketing companies have you written for?
- What success have people who have taken your program had?
- Can you give me references?
AWAI can provide good answers to all these questions. In fact, Katie Yeakle is preparing a pamphlet that spells out their credentials – with proof – in detail. Use that to compare AWAI with any other program, and you’ll be more than confident you have made the right choice
[Ed. Note: Send your questions to AskETR@ETRFeedback.com. Include your full name, your hometown and state, and the ETR team may answer you in an upcoming issue.]
Another Supplement That Doesn’t Work for Weight Loss
I get sick and tired of hearing about the latest "miracle" fat-burning supplements. Hopefully you haven’t been fooled by the marketing hype, because these so-called miracles are anything but.
Researchers from Purdue University put 35 women on a weight-loss program. They divided the women into two groups. One group received diet and exercise instruction. The other group received the instruction and took two of the "fat-burning" supplements you may have been reading about: chromium picolinate (CP) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
After 12 weeks of the diet (eating 500 calories less than normal) and exercising five days per week for 30 minutes, both groups ended up losing the same amount of weight (over 11 pounds) and body fat (over 9 pounds). In other words, there was no benefit from taking the supplement.
Instead of wasting your money on worthless pills, invest your time and energy in a fitness program and nutrition education.
[Ed. Note: Fitness expert Craig Ballantyne is the creator of the Turbulence Training for Fat Loss system. For a free online source of information, motivation, and social support to help you improve your health, lose weight, and get fit, sign up for ETR's free natural health e-letter .]
The Language Perfectionist: Full House
By Don Hauptman
Can you see any problem with the following two sentences (drawn from published articles)?
- Fully half of the businessman’s profits went to bribes.
- A repeat episode still drew 24.34 million viewers – a full 7.67 million more than…
The phrase fully half is contradictory and oxymoronic. Logically, only 100 percent can be characterized as full. Yet careless writers describe just about any number as full or fully .
The practice can have ludicrous consequences. For example, an article I found in a trade publication, within the space of a few paragraphs, gives us "a full 40 percent," "a full 36 percent," and even "a full 17 percent."
The writer is trying to say, "Wow! This is a really large number in this context." But that point can be made in other, clearer ways. Most of the time, full can be fully expunged.
[Ed Note: Don Hauptman, a direct-response copywriter for more than 30 years, may be best known for the space ads he wrote with the classic headline "Speak Spanish Like a Diplomat!" He also writes books and articles on language and wordplay.]
It’s Good to Know: The Pros and Cons of Lead Paint
Lead paint, specifically its use in children’s toys, has been in the news lately, with several companies issuing recalls for imported toys covered in the stuff. If ingested, lead paint can cause brain damage and other serious problems. The U.S. government banned its use in children’s products, hospitals, and residences in 1978, but it may surprise you to learn that it’s still widely – and legally – used. It is on road signs, ships, heavy equipment, bridges, and the like. Why? Because lead paint is cheaper, brighter, and more durable than its less-toxic cousins, and it’s also mildew-resistant.
(Source: Slate )
What If There Was A Way To Legally Beat A Traffic Ticket?
“When Attorneys Get Speeding Or Traffic Tickets, This Is What They Do… No Points, No Increased Premiums & Definitely No Stupid Driving School. These Tricks Work Like Magic.”
If you’re like me then the simple sight of a police car in your rear-view mirror is enough to send shivers down your spine, but…
When the lights start flashing…
There Goes That Safe Driver Discount… Right? Not anymore…
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Expunge
To "expunge" (ik-SPUNJ) is to erase, obliterate, or destroy. The word – ultimately from the Latin for "to prick" – is derived from the practice of marking a name on a list for deletion by pricking dots above or below it.
Example (as used by Don Hauptman in his "Language Perfectionist" brief, above): "Most of the time, [the word] full can be fully expunged."
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
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