Legendary ETR Interview Continues
I’m traveling off the grid this week to Nicaragua, so we’re going to continue with a summary of the interview I did last week with Info-Marketing.org.
You’ll get more juicy details on the ETR Takeover…and in case you missed last week’s story about how I “attracted” ETR into my life, just go here.
The Legend, Bill Glazer, continued our interview…
BG: What was the first thing took over the ETR business?
Craig: Well, we were starting from scratch…
All of ETR’s employees and products were already committed to move to other divisions of the parent company, Agora.
But we kept three valuable components.
First, the reputation. ETR has been delivering the best quality business, personal productivity, and lifestyle information for over 10 years. So it’s easy for me to
introduce myself when I go to seminars. People know, like, and trust ETR. It’s an instant ice-breaker.
Plus, ETR’s reputation has allowed us to leverage many valuable contacts right away.
Second, we kept the rather large email list and immediately continued to deliver quality information and kept that relationship with our readers strong.
Third, we kept all the content on the site. ETR’s website contains thousands of pages of unique content, it’s been around for over a decade, and it has thousands of incoming
links. However, despite these factors this treasure trove of information was not being properly leveraged.
Since taking over the site we’ve done some slow, methodical, conservative SEO on the site to significantly increase the amount of search engine traffic we get each day.
We’re simply linking between pages, improving the onsite SEO (page titles, keyword optimization, etc.), and driving more links back to the site. No magic, just fundamentals.
Again, we didn’t do anything fancy – nothing that hasn’t been covered over and over again in our SEO traffic articles.
So that’s what we started with…but to specifically answer your question, one of the first things we did was to survey the ETR reader list.
BG: And what did that tell you?
Craig: There were a few surprises, and we posted all of the results.
The big lessons were that while the majority of readers are interested in creating an Internet based business, not everyone is, and of those who are, not many folks have had
a lot of success.
Our free content has taken all of that into account, and our Financial Independence Monthly newsletter and our upcoming seminar focus on helping people get started and make their first sale online.
BG: You’re doing an ETR seminar?
Craig: We’ve actually teamed up with Yanik Silver to add a bonus ETR Implementation Day to his legendary Underground Online event in March.
Here’s more info on our 1-Day ETR event at Underground
We hope to make this a long-term partnership, but we’re starting small with just the bonus day.
BG: So what are you selling right now at ETR?
Craig: As I mentioned, we were starting from scratch without any ETR products at all. Based on the survey information we spent September and October creating a very low-priced newsletter called Financial Independence Monthly.
You can see our unique scribble video sales letter here.
The offer isn’t working as well as it could, so we’ve hired Jon Benson to help us improve the video and we’ll soon be testing a couple of new versions.
But it worked very well with the ETR and InternetIndependence lists, as well as our affiliates.
However, it needs to be better in order for us to benefit from buying media advertising.
BG: What are your plans going forward? How are you going to leverage the work you’ve done these first few months?
Craig: First, we’re excited to be joining up with Yanik on Underground. That’s a legendary event that both Matt and I have been a part of before, and we have a strong connection to Yanik having met in his Mastermind group.
Our first event there is for beginners, but we plan on doing more advanced 1-day Mastermind-style meetings and perhaps entire weekends devoted to building out ETR reader’s businesses.
We’re planning on a 1-day Advanced ETR coaching day on June 8th, the day before Matt and I do one of those ridiculous “Tough Mudder” races (which ETR and II readers are invited to do with us – we are in the 9am start group). The event is in
Denver and the race is in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
But our main focus is on improving our FIM offer and getting more ETR beginners to finish their product and make their first sale online.
That’s a HUGE milestone for all businesses and represents a turning point. It proves they can do it. And their mindset shifts and confidence builds.
On a personal level, I need to keep building trust with the ETR audience. It was a little rocky with the sudden retirement of Michael Masterson and abrupt passing of the reigns to me.
There wasn’t much of a transition, and it alienated a few readers. So I’m on a mission to increase the KLT factor (KLT = Know, Like, Trust).
Each daily email must improve the KLT factor between ETR readers and myself if I truly want ETR readers to take action.
Eventually we may want to establish a Publishing Model business with ETR readers who are experts in their field – but not experts in marketing (nor interested in learning it).
In the Publishing Model, we join forces with the expert and everyone works within their Unique Ability. We (ETR) will do the marketing while the expert creates content and does what they like and do best.
Finally, we plan to create many more products unrelated to Internet Marketing and focused back on the other disciplines that readers want from ETR.
This includes Goal Setting (I’ve completed a webinar on this), Time Management (finishing up a webinar when I return from traveling), Offline Business Building, and other tools for a life well lived.
The possibilities are almost endless and we’re very excited for the future.
BG: Well thank you Craig, is there contact information for our listeners who want to get in touch with you to be an affiliate for your Financial Independence Monthly product or to submit article proposals for ETR?
Craig: Yes, absolutely. The best way to reach ETR is to contact Stephanie, our wonderful Communications Facilitator at: Support@ETRHelp.com
She’ll connect you with the right member of our organization.
I sincerely appreciate everyone’s interest and help in taking our message of the New American Dream to anyone they know who might be interested.
This is what Matt and I have worked all our lives to do – to help others achieve their dreams and financial independence.
Most people just need a little guidance or a nudge in the right direction, and at ETR, that’s what we deliver every day.
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It was a great call, and I go into a lot more of the “nuts and bolts” of our offer on the interview with Bill and Robert Skrob of the Info-Marketing.org Association.
I highly recommend you look into becoming a member of the IMA if you’re serious about creating an Info Products Business.
I’m not only an IMA interview, I’m also a long-standing member (since 2008 – and I ordered all the back issues, too).
Your personal development predicts your financial independence,
Craig Ballantyne
“When you take action, particularly bold action, the boundaries of what you believe to be possible (your belief system) expand. Which, in turn, gives you the capacity to consider new ideas, new possibilities, and new concepts that you previously thought to be impossible.” – Robert Ringer