Internet Marketing With Purpose

Achieve Success Marketing Your Product on the Internet    

• Greg Nemer.com
• About
• Real Net Success Blog
• Contact

Now you can learn how to successfully sell your own product from the comfort of your own  home!

Time: 9:27 AM Dear fellow entrepreneur: If you're one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who wants the benefits of the of selling your own product on the internet, but don't know how to get started, I've got some great news for you in this letter. Identifying where and how to start, not knowing what programs to use, and not knowing how to obtain, promote and sell your own product are the most common reasons people give for failure in internet marketing.

5 Purpose-Filled Steps & What you'll learn from them

I've identified FIVE KEY PURPOSES /INGREDIENTS that are essential for you to achieve success in your online Internet Business. Use this step by step system and you will succeed in marketing & selling your e-book, service or product on the internet.

Very simply, the reason many people don't succeed in Internet marketing is because they're missing one or more of these key ingredients.Allow me to give a brief explanation of the benefits and features of these key purposes:

• KEY PURPOSE #1: FIND

  Find Your Purpose. What do you like to do? What gives you pleasure? Knowing how to find and pick the right opportunities. This is known as finding your niche.

  This is the single most important skill in marketing. Get this right and the rest is easy. Get it wrong and nothing will work.

• KEY PURPOSE #2:  START

   You have to start somewhere. Get Started online by building & adding content to your very own website. I will show you how to do this from the ground up, even if you are completely new to the internet.

• KEY PURPOSE #3: GROW

  The Third Purpose in Internet Marketing is GROW. Use Basic tools for optimum growth and website optimization. Get set up with the right tools. I get many questions from potential successful Internet marketers concerning tools, which ones to use and how to use them.

  You'll also learn how to optimize your site for maximum internet marketing potential.

• KEY INGREDIENT #4: PROMOTE

  Another word for Promoting is Marketing. They are synominos. Turning traffic into money and getting the traffic you need  is what real successful internet marketing is all about. This single purpose is probably worth ten times the price of the entire HOME STUDY course. It answers all the basic questions people have about this essential part of Internet marketing.

• KEY INGREDIENT #5: MONETIZE

  To make money you must actually sell your (or someone else’s) product

•  

   

   

   

   

  Internet Marketing with Purpose

  Basic Start-up guide for beginners

   

   

  “Discover Your Purpose and How to Achieve Real Success Selling Your Own Product on the Internet!”

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Contents

   

  Chapter 1: Finding Your Niche

  Chapter 2:

  Chapter 3:

  Chapter 4:

  Chapter 5:

  Conclusion

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Introduction: What are you here for?

  What drives your life?

  So many people come to internet marketing with one goal at the forefront of their mind – to make money.  This is certainly a fine ambition, but it won’t get you anywhere.  I know this is a blunt way to put it, but if you just have a goal of “making money”, you won’t get anywhere.  Why?  The goal is to vague.

  The question becomes, why do you want to make money?  What is it in life that drives that desire?  Do you want to:

  ·         Leave your day job

  ·         Send your kids to college

  ·         Travel the world

  ·         Buy a house

  ·         Move out to the country

  ·         Retire in style

  ·         Buy that fancy car you have always wanted

  ·         Buy a cottage by the lake

  ·         Fill in the blank _______________________

   

  You need to capture one or more of your dreams and make it a long term goal, something to aim toward.  Of course, some of our dreams are wants (which we all have) and some are purpose-driven.

  There is more to life than just figuring out what our dreams are.  Every person has been put on this earth to fulfill a purpose, to somehow contribute to life on this planet and to somehow give to others.  What is your purpose?  You might find your dreams and purpose are aligned.

  For instance, you might have a dream of learning all about eco-living and to buy a farm on which you can establish an environment of self-sustainable, earth-friendly living.  Then you will open it up as a retreat center so that you can teach others and help them reconnect with themselves and the earth.  Your dream of buying a farm is in line with your purpose in life.

  First things First

  Your purpose in life can easily be translated into your purpose in business.  After all, we do live in a world in which we need to make money to survive and if we can turn our purpose in life into our career, then we are very fortunate indeed because then we will be truly happy with life’s work.

  Now I would like you to start thinking about what your life’s purpose is and what you feel your business purpose is.  The key is to create a business purpose in line with your life’s purpose.  Just close your eyes and imagine what you might want your internet business to be in.

  Then you need to decide if you are going to market a product or a service.  What do you want to promote to the world.  The key here is that you want to be sure that whatever you do gives you pleasure.  It is not enough in life to just do enough to earn money or to do anything at all to earn money.

  It is from this perspective that I will guide you through the steps of starting your own internet business.  In the following pages you will learn:

  • How to find your niche
  • How to choose a domain name
  • Website design
  • Optimizing your website
  • Marketing your website
  • How to write an eBook and how to sell it
  • About affiliate marketing

  However, before we get started I would like to tell you about my own journey in internet marketing.  I have been a missionary to Latin America since 1987. At present time I am helping Indians in the mountains of Chiapas. When I first went to Central America I had no idea what I was doing. I just wanted to help those who  were less fortunate than I. So I did a little bit of everything, however after years of doing a little bit of everything I finally figured out that l I had accomplished was, “a little bit”   It wasn’t until years later that I found someone to set me straight and he helped me to develop our P.E.A.C.E. plan. He taught me 5 purpose driven principles to live by.:

   

  We are now setting goals and achieving them, what’s more,our charity work can be defined as a success because we now have purpose.

  I wish I could say that I learned from my past experiences when I embarked upon the internet marketing journey, however that is not the case. I learned the hard way. So how did I start?

  I began with a search for a weight loss product and I stumbled upon the all time greatest fitness Bible by Tom Venuto. His product is called Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle.. As I read his book and put it into action, I not only loss fat, but I got in shape.

  One day, I got a n (autoresponder) email from Tom saying that I could make money off of his product by becoming an affiliate. I clicked on his affiliate program link and began my internet marketing journey. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know how to by a domain name, how to put up a webpage or even how to set up my own e-mail address. However, I liked his product, I knew what it had done for me, and I needed money.

  My mistake when I started was that I jumped all over the place.  I tried Google AdWords, Ebay, Adsense, affiliate marketing, etc..  I am not saying that any of these are wrong, in fact, they all can be ingredients to your success if used correctly

   But since I was trying all these things but didn’t know how to do any of them well and I ended up making little headway. I spent money, but I didn’t’ MAKE Money.,

  Then I made another major mistake that I do not want you to make. Since I was now an affiliate marketer, I heard that I should sign up for as many newsletters as possible so as to learn from the other affiliate marketers. I did that. The problem is that I spent all of my time jumping on a new bandwagon each time a new idea came out. Believe me, there are new e-books, new secrets, and new affiliate marketers coming out every day. Whenever someone tells you that if you buy their product you will become rich in so & so amount of time- beware. I know, I’ve jumped on a lot of “The latest & greatest” internet marketing bandwagons.

  That is why I am writing this book. After learning from trial and error, I want you to know that you do not have to do the same. Here is purpose of this book:

  Discover Your Purpose and How to Achieve Real Success Selling Your Own Product on the Internet.

  I want you to know from the start, that I believe that the very best way to be a successful business person on the World Wide Web is to create & sell your own product.

  It should be a product that exemplifies who you are, One that you are passionate about. A product that You believe in, it should fulfill your purpose for being here.

  What this book is about is helping you so that you don’t have to re-invent the wheel.  I want to help others achieve the success they CAN have and deserve so that each and every one can live their purpose in life.  Just think about it.  If every person on earth was able to do what they were put on earth to do and earn their living from it, this would be a very different world with a lot of very relaxed, happy people in it.

   

   

  Chapter 1: Finding your Niche

   

              You might have heard the term “niche” and know precisely what a niche is and you might have heard the term and have no idea what it means.  Chances are, if you have any knowledge about internet marketing, you have heard of it.  The term niche is bandied about these days with incredible frequency and there is a reason for it.  Niche marketing on the internet is the best way to make an amazing online income and you can do so while working in a field or area that holds meaning for you.

              So what is a niche?  A niche is simply a focused portion of the market.  It is a specific category or topic that allows you to strategically plan your marketing campaign because you can target consumers who are interested in your specific niche.  You know who you are looking for, the people who are looking for your niche, and the internet makes it very easy to make yourself visible to the people interested in your niche.

              Now, there are many marketers out there who will tell you to go out and find the most profitable niches and build an online business centered on those.  This is certainly a viable option.  However, there are two drawbacks to this approach.  One is that these profitable niches are probably loaded with competition and it will take you an incredible amount of resources to be successful.  Can it be done?  Of course!  But will you like it?

              This brings me to the second drawback to this approach.  If you just pick from the most profitable niches, you very likely will end up working in a niche that holds very little or no meaning for you personally.  This means that you will not have any real passion for the subject matter of your website and that lack of passion will show through.  Your internet business will feel like work, not fun.

              Think of it this way.  Each and every person has life experience.  We all have knowledge about at least one thing in this world and it might be extensive knowledge.  We might have a solid amount of knowledge in more than one area.  This knowledge might be linked to:

  ·         Hobbies

  ·         Work

  ·         Volunteer roles

  ·         Spiritual/religious life

  ·         Education

  ·         Family and children

  ·         Other subjects about which you are passionate

   

  That is the key word here – passion.  When deciding upon your niche, you will enjoy your work and your internet business far more if it is something about which you are passionate.  It is very common for people to begin something and not follow through.  When you start a new business, as with any type of project, you will find that the initial energy will keep you moving.  However, this initial energy will die down and when it does, many people simply stop moving forward.  This is less likely to happen if you are working with a passion.

  When you are working in a niche that you love, you will feel more motivated to keep things moving and get yourself out there.  You will feel more inclined to keep pushing forward because you will feel like there is so much you want others to know and you want to share that knowledge with as many people as possible.  Here is a list of questions you can ask yourself to help determine a niche that might work for you:

  ·         Do you have any hobbies

  ·         Do you have any special interests

  ·         Are you passionate about a particular charity or movement

  ·         Are you an expert in anything

  ·         Do you have specialized training in anything

  ·         Do you play sports

  ·         Do your family or friends think you are particularly good at something

  ·         Is there anything that you are interested in and would like to know more about

   

              Having said all of this, you might have a passion for all things new and just looking for the profitable niches in which you know you can make money might be just up your alley.  You might have a passion for breaking into a niche, making money, and learning about something new.  In this case, go wild!  Just remember that if you don’t know what you are talking about in a specific niche, your customers will see right through you.

  The best way to begin the search for a profitable niche is to go to SEO Tools (http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/).  They have a free search tool that is very accurate and reliable.  You just type in keywords and keyword phrases and you will be able to see how much a particular niche was searched during the past week.  You will also be able to see the most searched keywords that week, which will help you see what niches are really hot.  Whether you have a niche in mind or you are looking for the right niche for you, you will have a lot of research to do.

  There are two other useful tools when you are searching for a niche.  These are Good Keywords (http://www.goodkeywords.com/) and Wordtracker (http://www/wordtracker.com)...

   

  How to Find Niche Markets

  Research.  That’s it.  That’s the big secret.  You must research your niche.  If you have knowledge in your chosen niche, you will have less work to do to get your business up and running.  However, even if you were the world’s ultimate expert in your niche you still have a lot of research to do.  You need to research:

  ·         Your market

  ·         Whether the niche is profitable

  ·         Your competition

  ·         The hot topics in your niche

  ·         Additional information regarding your niche

  ·         Whether you should narrow your focus within your niche

   

  So you have decided upon the niche in which you want to develop your business and you are ready to get started.  You need to know everything there is to know about your niche before you ever get your website up and running.  In fact, the greatest amount of work you will put into your business might very well be at this research stage.

   

  The Google Advantage

  There are many ways you can research your niche in order to understand its potential and your competition.  I am going to start off by talking about what might be the most obvious place to begin – with Google.  Google has numerous ways to research your niche and they are all free!

  The very first thing to do in Google is to type various key words in your niche into the search engine and see what comes up.  You will want to take note of the number of results found in your search and you will want to browse some of the sites that come up so that you get a feel for what is out there.

  This is just the beginning.  There is a very useful, yet little known trick with Google to help you find very targeted information on your niche.  If you type +yourniche+free+filetype:pdf, you will be shown a list of all the free .pdf files that exist online.  This will allow you to really get a taste of what competition is out there and you can get very specific information on your niche if you need to research the topic.

  The next useful tool from Google is Google Groups.  You can go to http://www.google.com/ and click on Groups at the top left of the screen (you might have to click on More to see it).  Once you are there you will be able to type in a specific keyword or keyword phrase in Explore Groups and look for discussion groups in your niche.  This is great because you will be able to find out what people are currently talking about and what is hot in your niche.  Focus on the groups that have a high activity and lots of members and join the groups if you really want to learn and get involved.

  With these groups, you can scan the discussion forums for subjects that indicate a problem in the niche.  Someone might have a problem with availability of something, or prices, or anything else under the sun.  You will get a very good idea of some possible business approaches in your niche based on the problems people are having.  You will solve their problems for them.

              Another way to determine where to focus in your niche is by going to Google News and typing in your keywords.  Here you will find all news articles relating to your niche and you might find some breaking news that you can take advantage of.

              The final Google tool I am going to discuss is Google Blogsearch.  Let’s face it.  blogs are the latest thing and they are fast becoming the “in” thing to do on the internet.  Blogging is so popular that it will benefit you to research blogs in your niche.  You can do this via Google Blogsearch at http://www.blogsearch.google.com/.  When you are researching blogs, you will be able to find the leading names in your niche and you will be able to learn what they are saying about it.  When you type in your keywords you will get a page that shows the results much like the Google search engine.  Then you can browse and read.

             

  The Other Stuff

              Although I say “the other stuff” I by no means want you to think these are not as important as Google.  They are.  Google is just a more obvious starting point and has so much to offer, but the next few ideas are solid and will give you so much information.

   

  Alexa

              Alexa is the best way to scope out your competition and see what they are up to.  Once you start researching your niche and finding competing sites, you can take each of these sites and key them into Alexa’s search engine.  In return, you will get the following information about the site:

  ·         The amount of traffic the site receives

  ·         Site information (such as how long they have been online)

  ·         What sites are linking in to the site

  ·         Sites that visitors who visited this site

   

  This is valuable information that can tell you what is popular and what is not.  You can find Alexa at http://www.alexa.com/.

   

  Social Networks

              The final tool to help you research your niche are the social networks that exist online.  There are many of these and they have a powerful presence.  I am talking about sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Friendster.  These sites have millions of members and the great thing about them is that you can also form groups with them, groups that are similar to the Google Groups.

              These social networks have search capabilities that allow a person to go in and search for targeted groups (these will become your audience) in your niche.  You will be able to chat with others in the group and get a solid sense of what people want and what they are interested in.  This is like striking gold!

   

  What to Market

              When you have chosen your niche and delve into internet marketing, you have two choices as to what to market.  You can:

  • Sell your own products
  • Sell someone else’s products (aka affiliate marketing)

  I will discuss each of these in detail in the following section.  One thing to remember is that these are not mutually exclusive and you can easily profit from both, in your chosen niche, at the same time and often from the same website.

   

  Your Own Products

  Once you have decided on a niche and completed your research it is time to decide what you want to market.  Are you going to market physical products or informational products?  Informational products are by far the most lucrative and the easiest way to do business online.  The advantages to online informational products are:

  • Once the product is created, you have no more work to do
  • You will have unlimited quantities to sell
  • No shipping required
  • Customers can get their product immediately, with the click of a button

  For this reason, I am going to place a lot of emphasis on informational products in this book.  The first and possibly easiest informational product to create and sell online is an eBook.

  “But I can’t write,” you say.  Well, you might be surprised at what you can do.  As long as you have a decent grasp of grammar and the English language, you can write an eBook.  If you feel really unsure about writing the eBook yourself, you can easily and affordably hire a writer to do it for you.  There are a number of resources online that can hook you up with a professional ghostwriter to do the “dirty” work for you.  This is called “outsourcing” and it is something you might need to do in various areas in order to get your business off the ground.  Probably the top resource for finding a writer is Elance (http://www.elance.com/).  Another top notch source for hiring a writer is Rent A Coder (http://www.rentacoder.com/).  Here you will find hundreds of capable writers to which you can advertise your project.  You can choose from those that submit a proposal.

  The great thing about eBooks is that it doesn’t matter what niche you are in and it doesn’t mater what sub-niche you want focus on, you will be able to write an eBook about it.  Millions of people are searching the web every day for information and they will pay money to get it if they feel your product is worth it.  And if you are interested in a certain niche, then you can rest assured that somewhere else in the world there are others who are interested in it too.

  Now, I will move onto another informational product you can create and promote.  It is actually an alternative form of laying out the information than to create an eBook.  This is the membership site.  This does require a little more work on your part, but it is a great way to keep people informed and up-to-date and to establish a relationship with your customers.

  A membership site has so much flexibility.  People sign up and pay for a membership, this is generally an annual fee, and then they have access to articles, online course, eBooks for sale, resource directories, and anything else you can come up with that you feel will be of value to your members.  The website itself is a little more complicated and you will more than likely need help in designing it.  Also, unlike the eBook that you only had to write and then it was finished, you have to regularly update the information and what is available on your membership site so that your members feel they are getting value for their money.  After all, you want to keep them coming back for more.

  Other ideas for products include software that you have developed.  It is very easy to create software, if you are a programmer, and then market and sell in online.  Again, it is worth your while to research your chosen niche and find some problems that you might be able to solve with your product.

  Another way to fulfill your purpose online is to offer services.  For instance, if you are a writer, a programmer, a website developer, or anything else you can think of, you can offer your services online.  Even if you can coach people in a specific niche, you can offer those services.  This is a great way to help others with the talents you have been given.

   

  Other People’s Products

              Have you ever heard the word affiliation?  I am sure you have, but have you heard it in the context of the internet?  Affiliation is when you associate yourself with a certain product, service, or individual and promote it.  Online, affiliation is one way to help expose a product or service you believe in and want others to know about.  It is also a great way to make an income.

              What makes it so great?  Simple.  The benefits are many and they are supreme.  Here is a list of benefits that had me convinced and I am sure you will be able to see why:

  • You will have no costs associated with the production of the product or service you are promoting.  Someone else has taken care of this and this can save you a bundle of money (and time).
  • The startup for an online business is very low cost.  You have all the equipment you need already and you have a rent-free location.  What more could you ask for?
  • You will not have to pay fees for licenses in order to promote products and services as an affiliate.  In the brick-and-mortar world, you must have a license to sell or distribute a product, but not online.  And when you are an affiliate, you are not actually making the sale, just promoting and directing traffic to the right place.
  • You can easily get into affiliate marketing without any previous experience.  Of course, it is a good idea to study up on internet marketing, but you can learn as you go and no one will turn you away if you start out without knowing a single thing.
  • You can sell practically any product or service known to the human race.  If you are passionate about a particular niche, then you can focus your efforts there, but there is an almost unlimited number of choices available to you.
  • You will not have the expense or the responsibility of hiring and managing employees.  A big bonus!
  • You do not need to set up any merchant accounts and you do not have to keep track of payment processing.  You only send the traffic.  The sale is made by the product creator or whoever owns the rights to it.
  • Even if you are promoting physical products, you will not have to keep any inventory because you are not responsible for the actual sale.
  • If you don’t have the responsibility of keeping inventory stored, then you are certainly not responsible for shipping any of the products that are sold.  Again, you are simply directing traffic to the site.
  • You don’t even have to process the orders!  Yippee!
  • When there are customers that require assistance or have problems or complaints, you do not have to deal with it.  That’s for the merchant to handle.
  • You can make money 24/7 with this business.  This is truly amazing!  Even when you are sleeping, there are people somewhere in the world who are busily clicking their way to your affiliate links and making purchases.
  • As with any online business, you have access to the entire world marketplace.  Forget trying to market to the local neighborhood or within the city.  The whole world is at your virtual doorstep.
  • Again, as with any online business you can work from home, in your PJs if you want to.  And you can take your business with you anywhere you want to go.  You can go on a quick vacation, travel extensively, or move to a part of the world in which you have always wanted to live and you will still be able to run your business as long as you have internet connection.
  • The risk factor in affiliate marketing is minimal because you have not sunk a lot of money into development.  If you have a difficult time promoting one product, then all you have to do is leave it and try another one.
  • Although I have saved this for the last, this is maybe the best reason to become an affiliate marketer.  The income potential has no ceiling!  You are not selling your time for money (and we all know our time is limited).  We are getting paid for results and we will be paid very well if we are promoting the right products for the right merchants.  You could easily make four or five figures every month!

   

  So how many products and services are out there for you to promote?  Here is a list of categories from Clickbank, one of the largest affiliate marketing programs online.

  • Business to Business
  • Health and Fitness
  • Home and Family
  • Computing and Internet
  • Money and Employment
  • Marketing and Ads
  • Fun and Entertainment
  • Sports and Recreation
  • Society and Culture

  Within each of these categories are subcategories that you can search.  For example, in the Home and Family category, you can search for “Parenting” and find plenty of affiliate opportunities in that particular niche.

  When you sign up as an affiliate, you will then work to promote a certain product or service.  When you successfully promote that product or service, meaning a sale results from your efforts, you will receive a percentage of the sale.  You want to ensure that you get high commissions for your hard work.  Do not accept less than 50%.  You will find that the really serious and knowledgeable internet marketers out there will make it worth your while to promote their products with high commissions and incentives.

              You can search for individual affiliate programs in your niche and this can be a very good way to find specific products to promote.  However, you can do the one-stop-shop when you sign up with an affiliate program.  This is a way to get hooked up with many different products and services that you can promote.  There are a number of great affiliate programs out there and Clickbank (http://www.clickbanl.com/) and Commission Junction (http://www.cj.com/) are two of the best and the biggest.  I have also included below a list of affiliate directories that will point you toward many different affiliate programs that are well worth your while:

  • 5 Star Affiliate Programs: http://www.5staraffiliateprograms.com/
  • Affiliate Scout: http://www.affiliatescout.com/
  • Affiliate Seeking: http://www.affiliateseeking.com/
  • Affiliates Directory: http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com/
  • Affiliate First: http://www.affiliatefirst.com/
  • Refer-IT
  • Affiliate Announcement
  • 2 Tier
  • Affiliate Guild
  • Affiliate Base

  As an affiliate, you will create an advertising campaign to promote the product and generate traffic for a website.  If you create a good enough campaign to make sales happen or to generate lads, you are paid for that effort.  It works for both parties because the product creator does not have to pay for the advertising until the sale is made.  Here are the different ways to earn money as an affiliate:

  • Pay-per-sale: This is where you get a percentage of each sale that is made as a result of your promotion efforts.  Commission Junction and Clickbank are examples.
  • Pay-per-click: This is a program in which you get paid every time a person clicks on your link, whether a sale is made or not.  Google AdSense is a great example of this.
  • Pay-per-call: This is when you are paid for directing telephone traffic instead of clicks.  You are paid a fixed amount for each telephone call that comes in.
  • Pay-per-lead: Known under various names, this is when you are paid a fixed amount whenever anyone signs up for or takes any action on a website that requires them to give their name and email address.
  • Pay-per-post: This is where you get paid to post reviews of products, services, and websites on a blog for different advertisers.
  • Broker programs: This is a system in which you are paid to direct other webmasters to the affiliate program.  Sometimes you are paid a one-time fee and sometimes you will be paid a percentage of everything that referral earns.

   

  When you truly get into the world of affiliate marketing you will begin to make contacts with other affiliates and you will find a tight-knit community that you can establish a relationship with.  Your connection with the affiliate world is not longer just about business and profits, it becomes about belonging – being a member of a community.  It’s almost like if you were to work in an office.  You would have your co-workers with whom to establish relationships.  Well, the other affiliate marketers are your virtual colleagues.

  This is especially exciting because, if you are working in a niche that holds meaning for you, you will be getting to know other people who share similar goals, desires, and interests as you do.

  Finding a mentor (prelude to membership and belonging) Purpose Driven

   

  The Option of Both

              Here is the best thing about all of this.  Creating your own products and becoming an affiliate are not mutually exclusive.  You can do both!  You can have websites devoted to your products and others devoted to affiliate products or – this is the best part – you can have your websites designed for your products and also include your affiliate links to the products you are promoting for someone else.  If these products are in the same niche as, but not competing with, your products, then you can capitalize in a very big way.

              You would simply provide your content (we’ll talk about this below) and then you can include the links to your affiliate products in special articles, reports, and other informational text on your site.  If you are using Google AdSense, which is an ideal way to put a few extra dollars in your pocket, then you can easily post banner ads or text ads on your website that will blend in with your content so that you can offer more to your site visitors and make their experience richer and of greater value.  You would be amazed at how much your profits will increase.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Chapter 2: Joining the Online Community

   

  Your Website

              This is the place where it all comes together.  You have chosen your niche and you have prepared your product.  However, you need a landing place for visitors to come and see what you have to offer.  You need a website.

   

  Business Basics

              Before we get into the meat of creating your website, there are a few basics you need to know.  The first of these is your basic services.  There are two services you cannot live without.  The first of these is a Google account with both AdWords and AdSense.  These will be necessary and indispensable when it comes to doing business, whether you are promoting your own products or services or you are an affiliate marketer.

  The other service that is a must-have is a PayPal account.  PayPal is an online service that allows you to send and receive payments for a minimal charge.  It is secure, it is fast, and it works with many different currencies.  You can hook your PayPal account to your bank account and credit card.  Find PayPal at http://www.paypal.com/ and sign up today.

  Next I want to talk about your basic software.  The first of these is the Google toolbar.  This is really self-explanatory.  This toolbar will help connect you with Google with the click of the mouse button so that you can search Google from any website you happen to be on.  Talk about convenient!

  The next type of software that I recommend is a basic text editor that will not show formatting characters in emails.  Notepad is a popular text editor and you probably already have it on your computer.

  File compression and extraction are issues you must deal with so a good program to extract and decompress files will be a lifesaver.  WinZip (http://www.winzip.com/) is the most popular of these programs.  However, there are a few free versions of WinZip that can be found online.  Some of these are:

  • tucows: http://www.tucows.com
  • Shareware.com: http://www.shareware.com
  • Download.com: http://www.download.com

  For Mac users, you will need something that will not only decompress but also decode the file.  I recommend Stuffit Expander (http://www.stuffit.com/expander/index.html).

   

  What’s Your Name?

  The first thing to consider when creating your website is your domain name and website hosting.  When choosing your domain name, there are several considerations that you have to make.  It isn’t as easy as picking a name out of a hat or even just using your business name.  Here are five things to consider when you are choosing your domain name:

  Extensions: When you think of searching for a website or the particular name for a website, what comes to mind?  For most people xxxxx.com comes to mind.  The dot com extension is where it is at and your website image and credibility will be higher when you use that extension.

  Keywords: Search engine indexing takes domain names into account these days and that means that you have to consider your keywords in your domain name.  Try to get at least one, maybe two keywords in your domain name and it will help boost your rating and your traffic.

  Ambiguity: This is something you don’t want!  You want people to be able to find your website easily and you want your domain name to be easily remembered.  Avoid names that could be typed in improperly such as names that include numbers.  When someone hears the domain name spoken, they should immediately know how to spell it when they go to type it in.  If they don’t, you might be sending your competition a lot of traffic that should have been yours.

  No Hyphens: Besides avoiding numbers in your domain name, you also need to avoid hyphens, dashes, underscores, and any abbreviations that might be misinterpreted.  These make it more difficult to remember your domain name and beg for someone to type them in incorrectly.

  Stand Out: Within the various constraints mentioned above, you still want your domain name to stand out form the crowd and be noticed.  When it is short and catchy, people will remember it.  Make your domain name flow and make it something that will stick in the memory of your customers.

   

  Website Hosting

              Choosing the web host who will enhance your presence on the internet is crucial to your success.  Not only will it affect the amount of traffic your site receives, it I also a pain to have to switch hosts later if you don’t have a good experience.  The best thing to do is to choose the right one from the start and there are many criteria upon which to base your decision:

  Support: Your business is running 24/7 and so should your website support.  You need to know that you can get in touch with your web host any time of day and any day of the week if there is a problem.  You are running a business and business cannot be successful if they are not open for business or running properly.  Make sure are able to get prompt, friendly support anytime.  You also want to be sure that you can contact technical support via the telephone because you don’t always want to wait for email response.

  Interface: Is the interface user-friendly?  This is important because you have far better things to do with your time than trying to figure out how to interface with your website administration.

  Storage: You will need to have enough storage space for your website.  The larger your site, the more gigabytes (GB) you will require so make sure your web host can accommodate your needs.

  Data Transfer: You will need to consider how many GB of data transfer you will have if you will be displaying videos or anything that will take up a lot of bandwidth.  Ideally you will want a minimum of 200GB.

  Email Accounts:  How many do you get?  An unlimited number of accounts is the ideal situation because you will be able to fully take advantage of marketing opportunities.  I will discuss this in greater detail further on in the book, but I will say here that you will need to join different programs and groups and having unique email addresses for each will be necessary.

  Forwarding & Autoresponders: This is key to your success.  You will want to be able to forward email from one account to another, but more importantly, you will want anyone who has sent you an email to receive a prompt reply from you.  Then you can follow up later.

  Browser-based Email: You will want to make sure that you can access your account from anywhere as long as you can get online.

  Stats: You will want to be able to access your website’s log files and the server statistics to keep track of what is happening with your site.

  Website Design: Unless you are able to afford to hire a website designer, you will want to ensure that the web host you choose has a site builder and design tools that will allow you to build your own website.

  Scripting and Database: Make sure that your web host supports Perl, PHP, MySOL, and SSI (Server Site Includes).

  Uptime: This is a biggie!  You must ensure that your web host will have a minimum of 99.7% uptime.  This means their server is up and running for that amount of time because, if their server is down, there will be no traffic to your site.

  Upgrading: How easily can you upgrade your account as your business grows (and it WILL grow)?  You might need to add more email accounts or more space.  Whatever your needs, you should be able to quickly upgrade via email or the phone and you need to make sure you don’t pay any setup fees for the upgrades.  If you do, keep shopping!

  Community: Is there a presence of community with the other users?  Is there a forum and is it well organized?

  Discounts: Does the web host have discounts when you sign up for longer periods of time?

  Bonuses: Do they offer any bonus software that might be helpful such as shopping carts, guest books, and various scripts?  These are nice ad-ons.

  The Guarantee: There must be a guarantee!  It has to be an unconditional, no questions asked, 100% money back guarantee so that if you did pick the wrong web host, you can recoup your losses and start again somewhere else.

   

  Website Design

  Do you know how to create a website?  Many people do not.  This is where outsourcing might come in handy.  Hiring someone to design your website for you is a great way to create a presence and brand yourself in your niche.

              Speaking realistically, there are many people who are just starting out and who have very limited resources to draw upon.  Many people might not be able to afford a web designer in the beginning.  Fortunately, there are two other options.

              The first of these is to buy a website package deal.  Many web hosting sites offer great tools to build your own website without needing html knowledge.  However, the best way to build your own site is through SiteBuildIt! (SBI) at (http://buildit.sitesell.com/main/home.html).  This is the full deal.  SBI includes web hosting, site building tools, domain registration, autoresponders, and all the other necessities to get your website off the ground and running, not only smoothly, but at a profit.  You will get this all in one place, with one interface, and it will save you a lot of time and money in the end.

              The other option is to build your own site through blogs.  Yes, you can use blogs technology to build a website!  This is easier than you might think and you will end up with a professional product that will represent you and your business well.  Let’s cover this in more detail because it is so easy.

              Blog is short for web log and it is a specific type of website that allows a webmaster to add and edit content at the drop of a hat using a web-based interface…

   

  BASIC KNOWLEDGE

  Do you know how to copy and paste text from one document into another? Do you know how to download a file from the Internet to your computer and find it again
  easily? If not, learning some basic computer skills including a few computer codes and some file management techniques will save you time in the long run.

  Although you can use your web host's facilities to transfer files to your
  site, an easier way to transfer files fast is to use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software.
  If you run Windows, I recommend that you download and install FileZilla, which is available for free at http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla/.

  Mac users may use Cyberduck, which is an open source FTP and SFTP (SSH
  Secure File Transfer) browser licenced under the GPL (General Public Licence). CyberDuck is available at http://cyberduck.ch/ .  Now let's cover some of the basic knowledge that you'll need to run your affiliate business.

  Computer Codes and Macros

  A macro is a way to automate a task that you perform repeatedly or on a
  regular basis. The following macros or computer codes are common across most Windows platforms and are worth memorizing for the time they can save during your daily tasks:

  • Ctrl-A Select All Ctrl-N New Document
  • Ctrl-B Bold Ctrl-O Open Document
  • Ctrl-C Copy Ctrl-P Print
  • Ctrl-D Fill Down Ctrl-R Right Justify
  • Ctrl-E Center Ctrl-S Save
  • Ctrl-F Find Ctrl-T Tab
  • Ctrl-G Goto Ctrl-U Underline
  • Ctrl-H Replace Ctrl-V Paste
  • Ctrl-I Italicize Ctrl-W Close Document
  • Ctrl-J Full Justify Ctrl-X Cut
  • Ctrl-K Hyperlink Ctrl-Y Redo/Repeat Last Action
  • Ctrl-M Increase Indent Ctrl-Z Undo

   

  Adding Content to Your Site

              No matter what you are marketing, your customers will be looking for the value of your offer – the value of your site.  You want to give them that value, whether you are selling your own products or you are an affiliate for someone else. 

              Content can come in the form of:

  • Newsletters
  • Articles
  • Online courses
  • Blogs
  • Reports
  • White papers
  • eBooks
  • Tips

   

  The question you might be asking yourself now is, “How do I come up with the content?”  Well, there are six ways to do this.  You can:

  1. Write it yourself
  2. Hire someone to write it for you (a ghostwriter)
  3. Use other writer’s content
  4. Buy Private Label Rights (PLR)
  5. Use public domain work
  6. Re-use your own content

   

  Write it Yourself

              This is one very good way of creating your own content because you have complete control over it.  On the flip side of that argument, you will have the work of writing it all yourself, but if you like having control and you like to write, then this option might be the best one for you.  Just be sure you have the time to devote to it.

              When you write the content yourself, you can make it far more personal than anyone else ever could.  You can let your readers know the real you and you can bring your personality out in your writing.  This is a wonderful way of establishing a rapport with your readers and rapport is what gets people buying.  People tend to be more open to buying products from someone they like.  When you make it more personal you also bring up emotions in others and people make purchase decisions based on emotions.  You can also help establish your “brand” when you write it yourself.

   

  Hire a Ghostwriter

              If you really do NOT want to write your content yourself or you simply don’t have the time, then hiring a ghostwriter can be a viable alternative.  With a ghostwriter, you can still inject your own personality on the work, which is a plus. 

              When you are posting your project, please be precise when you describe what you are looking for and be prepared to pay the writer well.  You can expect to pay anywhere between $10 and $30 per article for a good writer, depending on the article length.  This is fair and you often get what you pay for so if you want to cut corners beware.

   

  Use Other Writer’s Content

              This is a great option when you are looking for quality content for your site.  You can research and read other articles and then put it in your own words.  I know, I know, this is writing, but it is really more rewording than trying to come up with your own content.  Just be sure never to plagiarize!

  There are also plenty of article sites that have content that you have permission to copy in whole or in part and use on your own site as long as you keep the author’s byline and the links intact.  This way, the author is actually marketing as well and it’s a tactic you can use.  We’ll discuss it further in the marketing section.

  The following is a list of article distribution sites where you can source great articles in any niche and find great content for your site:

  • Ezine Articles
  • A1 Articles
  • Add Me
  • Article Dashboard
  • Idea Marketers
  • Go Articles
  • Article City
  • Search Warp
  • Marketing Seek
  • Article Biz

   

  Buy Private Label Rights

              This is a very useful way of gaining professionally written content that you know will be of very high quality.  This content can come in the form of articles or eBooks.  You will have to pay for it, but it is relatively inexpensive (less than a ghostwriter would cost) and once you do, you can use it in any way you want.  You can rewrite it, break it into parts, combine it with other material, and you can even put your own name on it and pass it off as yours.

              Just be sure when you do purchase PLR to something, that you do have the right to use it any way you want.  The best resource for PLR material is All Private Label Content (http://www.allprivatelabelcontent.com/).

   

  Public Domain

              This is written material on which the copy right has expired and it is now up for grabs so to speak.  This material can be used in the same way as PLR material, except that it is free.  You can rewrite it, add to it, and make it your own and when you do, you will own the copy right on what you have produced.  You can source public domain material at Public Domain Goldmine (http://publicdomaingoldmine.com/).

   

  Re-use Your Content

              This is an easy way to create content.  You simply re-use what you already have.  Whether you wrote it yourself, had a ghostwriter write it for you, bought PLR, or used public domain, you can take these articles and eBooks and use them in other places.  For example, you can take a portion of an article and use it in your blog or your autoresponder series.  You can also re-use material by turning it into an audio file that people can download and listen to or you can turn your autoresponder series into downloadable reports.  The sky is the limit so use your imagination.

   

  Search Engine Optimization- DWM 10/

  Marketing Basics, Basic Sevices, software Gardner 24

  Starting your business IMB 15

  Tools for your business IMB 17

  Graphics IMB 102

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Chapter 3: How to grow your business

   

  When it comes down to it this chapter is all about marketing.  I want to start off this section talking about the “Golden Rule” because I hope that you conduct your business with this rule in the forefront of your mind.  After all, we have all been marketed to since we were children and we know what it is like to be bombarded, scammed, and treated like the next big sale ($$$) rather than a person to whom to relate.

  Since you know how it feels to be marketed to, I want you to bring this feeling of understanding with you when you plan your marketing strategy for your online business.  Again, your marketing campaign should be driven by your purpose.  You have a wonderful opportunity to share with millions of other people something that you feel is important in the world.  Whether it is a special gift, talent, or service you have to offer, you will be able to bring something unique to others.

  Now, if you are sitting there thinking, “How can I justify making money off of something I was put on earth to do as a service to others,” then I can hopefully put your mind at ease.  Of course, it would be nice if we could help others for free all the time.  If only our special talent or service could be given to others.  However, we live in a society in which we MUST have money to live.  Our basic needs, those we once provided for ourselves, can only be acquired with money.  We must pay for our food, shelter, clothes, and warmth.  We even have to pay for our water.  While money is not the most important thing in the world and it does not buy happiness, you will certainly be miserable if you don’t have enough of it.  With this in mind, let’s look at marketing in detail.  But first – the Sales Letter.

   

  Sales Letters 101

              This is the page that convinces people that they need what you are offering.  This is the page on which you:

   

  ·         Hook them

  ·         Tell them the value and benefits of what you have to offer

  ·         Build the product value

  ·         Give testimonials of the worth of your product

  ·         Close the sale

   

  In order to understand how to do all of this on one sales page, I will walk you through the different elements of the sales page in detail.  After you have read this, you will know how to write a sales letter.  These elements are:

   

  ·         The Headline and Sub-headline

  ·         The Introductory Paragraph

  ·         The Body

  ·         The Close

   

  The Headline and Sub-headline

              This is the second most important part of the sales letter (we’ll get to the most important one later).  The headline is what truly hooks the reader.  It is the first thing visitors to your site will see and it MUST get their attention.  Once you have that, they will be more inclined to continue reading.

              Your headline must be many things.  It must be catchy and unique.  However, there is more to a headline than just coming up with a few words that are unique.  You have to choose these words carefully and there are specific words and phrases that work better than others.  Here is a list of words and phrases that are always useful in headlines:

   

  ·         Secret – people love secrets

  ·         Discover – people are always into discovering new things

  ·         Change – people like change, it intrigues them

  ·         Who else – this tell people that there are others interested and buying the product

  ·         Easy to use – anyone can use it, even you

  ·         Experts – adds creditability

  ·         Never/Forever/Always – words that intrigue the reader and draw them in

   

  Although these words might seem overdone and unrealistic, they DO work.  People are subconsciously attracted to words like these and they will pay more attention when you use them.  Use your imagination to come up with more enticing words that are along these same guidelines.

              The sub-headline is a more focused piece of text that is used to direct the reader to the introductory paragraph once they have read the headline.

   

  The Introductory Paragraph

              This is a short paragraph that will fully engage the reader.  The goal with the introductory paragraph is to evoke the emotions of the reader.  Get the reader thinking, no visualizing, their dreams and goals.  Get them to visualize a part of their life that will be affected by what you are offering.  You can also use the introductory paragraph to start a story, an analogy that will carry throughout the body of the sales page and keep people at the edge of their seat.

   

  The Body

              This is the meat of the sales page.  This is where you build a real rapport with the reader and present a problem you will then solve for them.  One thing you must realize about people is that they are busy, as busy as you are.  They will scan, not read in detail.  For this reason, you have to make sure the body of your sales page is scan-friendly.  Here are some general rules that apply to the body of the sales letter:

   

  ·         Use bullet points, lots of them, and vary the bullets you use to make it visually appealing

  ·         Use short paragraphs because they are less intimidating to read

  ·         Use different colors to make the page appealing, but do not use more than three because you don’t want it to look like a circus

  ·         You can also use a couple of different fonts and font sizes to make it an appealing read

  ·         Use headlines throughout the sales letter

   

  In the body of your sales letter you will really sell your product or service.  You will present the problem in detail and then you will present the solution to the problem – your product or service.

  You will also need to build the credibility of your product and the best way to do this is by giving placing testimonials right on the sales page.   You can get these testimonials by giving your product to select people before your launch so that they can test drive it and evaluate it.  They get it for free and tell you what a great job you’ve done.  Then you can put their words on your sales page so that others can see what a great job you’ve done.  It is preferable that you include a picture of the person who has left you the testimonial.  It makes it more personal and gives it more meaning and impact.

   

  The Close

              This is the most important part of your sales page and it is more than just telling the reader what the price is.  Throughout the entire history of sales, the close has been the part of the process that has shut people down and kept them from true success.  There is a whole mystique around closing the sale, but it is really based on a very basic principle.  There is a psychology behind the close of the sale that you must know about.

              As I said earlier, people are motivated to make decisions based on their emotions.  In the close, you are bringing these emotions to their height, specifically those of fear.  Yes, you do actually want to dispel one fear and create another fear.  Here’s how.

              First, you will have your guarantee.  While there may be some marketers that say you do not necessarily need one, I highly recommend you include it.  This is the part of your close that will dispel your reader’s fear.  Potential customers may very well fear being taken for a ride.  After all, we have all had negative experiences when buying a new product.  Now, if you have done your job well in the body of the sales letter, the reader already feels somewhat comfortable with you.  However, by offering a guarantee you will take all the risk out of the purchase.

              You can choose the wording for the guarantee such that you give the reader the reassurance that is they are not satisfied with what they bought, you will refund their money in full.  Here is an example:

   

  Here is our GUARANTEE to you!

   

  We want you to succeed.  If, after 56 days, you are not completely satisfied with the contents of this book and certain that it will help you to quit smoking, then we will give you your money back…

   

  NO QUESTIONS ASKED!

   

  It’s that simple.  You can’t lose.  You will, at the very least, walk away with more information than you began with.  If you do not feel confident that you can come up with a plan of action after reading this book, we give you a full refund.

   

  This example says it all.  The reader can feel safe in knowing that they are making their purchase risk-free because there is no way they can waste their money.

  Now, let’s talk about building fear in another sense.  This is related to what is known as the scarcity rule and it is linked to any limited offers you will make.  You limited offer might be related to the quantity of your product or the amount of time it is offered, or it might be related to your bonuses or a discount.  Here are some possibilities:

   

  ·         Limited quantities: You only have X number of units available so they must act now so they won’t miss out.

  ·         Limited time: You are only offering the product, a discount on the product, or your bonus offers for X number of days (weeks).

  ·         Limited space: If you are offering a teleconferencing workshop, course, or other participation-oriented offer, then you might reserve the number of spaces you have.

   

  You can do so much with these three scenarios.  What this does is it makes people think, “I don’t want to miss out on that!”  There are two reasons for this and they come down to the basic and contradictory human needs of wanting to fit in and wanting to stand out and be unique.

  You fit in because you can say you got a great deal and you can be part of the group of people who got what you got.  You will stand out from the crowd because you are one of the few who got the deal.  This is about the perceive value of what you have to offer.  No matter how good it is nor how many benefits it has, if your reader does not think it has value, they wont’ go for it.

  When you offer bonuses, you don’t have to, but again they add value to the offer, you need to build up the value of these bonuses.  First, you must let the reader know the value of the main product, which you mostly do throughout the body of the sales letter.  You can do this partly through the testimonials and partly through describing the processes you went through to create the product and make sure it was good enough to offer.  Then you must give value to the bonuses – dollar value.  Make sure that the reader knows what they are getting and that these bonuses are not trinkets that you can get for a dime-a-dozen.

  The final thing to put in the close is the PS.  People read the PS in a sales letter, in any letter, and it is here that you can stress again the value of your product and give them a final look at what they might feel if they pass up your offer.  Put in terms of such finality that they won’t question their decision.

   

  Marketing Basics

              Online marketing can be split into two categories:

  ·         Paid marketing

  ·         Free marketing

   

  You can use both to your advantage.  We will look at both of these in depth and I will give you all the different methods of each of these.

   

  Paid Marketing

              There are four main methods when it comes to marketing for which you must pay.  I will discuss these in great detail because they will most likely make up the bulk of your marketing campaign.

   

  Pay-Per-Click

              Pay-per-click advertising is the fastest way to get your website noticed.  They way that pay-per-click works is that you don’t pay one red cent unless someone clicks on your ad.  Of course, you want people to click on your ad and then you can convert to sales once they have arrived at your site.

                  There are numerous pay-per-click programs on the internet.  The most popular are:

  ·         Google Adwords

  ·         Microsoft Ad Center

  ·         Yahoo! Search Marketing

   

  The most popular pay-per-click program out there today is Google AdWords and there is a reason for this.  While the other pay-per-click programs rank there advertisers strictly on the basis of how much they are paying per click, AdWords takes performance into account as well.  This is a huge plus because you can be paying less than your competition per click and still rank higher if your site has been shown to perform.

  There are several statistics that you can track during a pay-per-click campaign.  These include:

   

  Click-Through Rate (CTR):

   

   

  Article Marketing

              Marketing your website through the use of articles is a highly effective way of getting your URL out there for people to click on.  The more articles you have and the more places in which you have them, the more traffic you will generate.

              I know we are talking about that dreaded writing again, but it is relatively simple to come up with a few articles about your niche.  Again, if you are really averse to writing your own articles, you can always hire someone to do it for you.  Please refer to ____ for resources to hire a writer.

              The idea behind promoting your website via articles is to give exposure to your URL in an informational context.  You can write informational articles for your readers that will be of value to them.  These articles will help educate them on some aspect of your niche and then when they read it, they will see links in your article to your sites or to other articles of yours.  You will also have a byline and your URL at the end of the article.

              You can distribute these articles to the many articles directories that exist online.  Most of these directories are free and they generally allow the content to be posted people’s websites as long as they follow the terms of the directory.  These terms usually stipulate that the content cannot be altered in any way and that all links and the author’s byline must remain intact.  In Chapter 2, I provided a list of article directories you could source for articles.  I have reprinted the list here because they are also great places to submit your own articles:

  • Ezine Articles
  • A1 Articles
  • Add Me
  • Article Dashboard
  • Idea Marketers
  • Go Articles
  • Article City
  • Search Warp
  • Marketing Seek
  • Article Biz

    

   

  The Yahoo! Directory

   

  Press Releases

              This is a great way to get your website URL out there and at the same time educate people about your niche and boost your rank on the search engines.  I list this in the paid section of marketing because, although you can submit your press release to any publication for free, finding them all and taking the time to contact them can be very time consuming.

              You can, for a minimal price, sign up with a press release distribution company and they will submit your press release to potentially hundreds of online and offline publications.  They can even submit to niche markets, which means that you will be able to gain exposure to a more targeted audience.  Just think of the time you would spend if you were to research and find all of these publications yourself.  Here are a few PR distribution companies to get you going:

   

  ·         PRWeb: http://www.prweb.com/

  ·         Mass Media Distribution LLC: http://www.massmediadistribution.com/

  ·         CorporateNews.com: http://corporatenews.com/Visitors.html

  ·         realwire: http://www.webitpr.com/

   

  Free Marketing

  Email Marketing

              This is an incredibly effective marketing tool and it is easy too.  Of course, you have to generate an email correspondence list, but that is straightforward.  Have you ever gone on a website and been prompted to sign up for a free newsletter, report, online course, or anything else of that nature?  Probably more times than you can count I imagine.  Well, this is how email lists are generated and you can do the same thing.

              You will have to prepare some sort of content for your subscribers so that they get value from your offer and you will have to write it yourself or outsource it, but it is totally worth it.

   

  Search Engine Optimization

              Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is all about keywords (and keyword phrases).  The idea is that you want to include your keywords in a high enough quantity and in the right places to ensure your website is indexed by the search engines.

   

  OPTIMIZE YOUR SITE

  Search engine optimization DWM 10

  Search Engine Marketing Gardner 135

  Developing  killer Web Content DWM 32

  Build Quality Web Site Links DWM 45

  Pop-ups IMB 86

   

  Free Directory Listings

              There are plenty of directories on which you can get listed for free.  Some of them are new and, because they are just starting up, they want to build up their listing.  Others will allow you to list your

   

  Use Real Simple Syndication

   

   

  Your Email Signature

              This is such a simple strategy and yet it is one that so many people fail to take advantage of.  Every time you send an email to anyone, anywhere, no matter what their association with you, you MUST include a signature in that email.  That signature MUST have your URL in it so that people can visit your site with ease.

              However, you can put more in your signature than just your URL.  Make your signature stand out by including your business, a quote, a useful tip, an intriguing question to get them thinking, or anything else you can think of.  Use your imagination and remember to keep it short and sweet.

   

  Groups and Forums

              If you are not participating in online groups and forums, you are missing out on one of the best modes of free advertising there is.  There is a very good reason why this method of advertising is so effective.  It is targeted!  That’s right.  You are going to participate in groups and forums that are in your niche and the people who you are “talking” with are your target market.

              When you are involved in online discussions with others in a niche you can accomplish two very important tasks:

  1.    You can establish yourself as an expert on the topic, on the subject matter, or in the niche.

  2.    You can establish a rapport with the people involved in the discussion, which will help them trust you more when it comes time to promote yourself and your business.

   

  Of course, when you are participating in online discussions, you do NOT want to blatantly say, “Here is my site, come and visit me.”  The key is to become involved, offer opinions, send out questions to get people thinking, and make the people you are in discussion with comfortable with you.

   

  Social Networking Sites

              These are like hidden gold.  They will allow you to “market” your site to a very targeted group of people.  The main players are:

   

  ·         MySpace

  ·         Facebook

   

  I am going to focus on MySpace here because it is much more flexible in its capabilities.  When you sign up for an account with MySpace, which is free, you will need to do the following:

   

  Set up your profile – This is easy and all you need is an email address (this is where those unlimited email addresses will come in handy).  Then you can update your profile, fill in your company name and URL.  You will also want to change your number that you are assigned to something catchy by which people will remember you.  If this phrase is in your URL all the better.

   

  Content – You will definitely want to add content to your profile.  Do this as quickly as you can and make it of value to people.  You want your friends to think that what you have to say and the content you post is of value to them.

   

  Add friends – This is the best part.  You can add friend after friend.  The trick here is that MySpace only allows you to add a maximum of 50 friends per profile per day.  The way to get around this is to have many profiles and then add 50 to each every day.  You will need those unlimited email addresses that came with your website to do this.  If even 15 of those 50 people accept your invitation and become your friend, that is 105 new friends per profile per week.  Where else can you build a contact list that quickly!

   

  Join groups – MySpace has thousands of groups in hundreds of niches.  You can search for these groups by niche and you can target your audience.  When you join a group, you will be able to share with others who have an interest in your niche.  Through this sharing you can build a relationship with people.  You will have to wait a week after you first join the group before you can post on the forum, but then you can contribute to discussions and ask questions.  Make sure your URL is in the signature line and away you go.

   

  On MySpace you can also post bulletins that all your friends can see and you can post on friends’ profiles, which can be seen by anyone looking at their profile.  You can also blog on MySpace.  These are different ways that you can subtly advertise your site.

              When you have friends that you have developed a rapport with, you can then add these people to your email list and send them promotional material.  If you do this too early in the game, you might scare them away, but if you are sure they are ready, then go for it.  How can you be sure?  Ask them.  They will answer you honestly and they will respect you because you respected them enough to ask first.

   

  Craigslist

   

   

  Squidoo

   

   

  YouTube

   

   

  The Backend

   

  The Sales Letter

   

  Learning the basic hands on tools of the trade

  Discipline-Purpose Driven

  Grow your business Gardener 162

   

   Sales Letter- Waterhouse Step 2, IMB 47

  Step 3. Produce your Ebook- Waterhouse

   

  Clickbank or Shopping cart- Affiliate Networks-  Waterhouse

   

  Search Engine optimization DWM 10

  Trials help us to Grow- Purpose Driven

   

  Problem Solving & Avoidance Gardner 173

   

  Set-up an Autoresponder Gardner 131

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Chapter 4: Your Service to the Internet community

  How to promote/Market your Business/Services

  Ministry:  Purpose Driven

  MARKET YOUR SITE

  Use the gifts, talents, and opportunities God gives us to benefit others. Purpose Driven

  What to Sell IMB 59

  Keys to selling IMB 33

   

  Traditional Marketing

  Marketing your site/ services - Gardner  page 130

  Traditional Marketing DWM51

  Google Adwords IMB 55, Waterhouse Step 5

  Social Marketing

  Blogs, My Space, Facebook, Podcasting, Stumbleupon, Twitter      DWM 85

  Blogging Basics Gardner 62

  Please look for more material in this subject

  Direct Response Marketing

  Email Newsletters DWM 65

  Autoresponder- Gardener 131, IMB 68

  
  

  5. Fulfilling your Mission

  How to start making money

  Your Mission – Reaching Others who do not know, Become a Messenger

  Made for a Mission – Purpose Driven

  Sharing Your Life Message – Purpose Driven

  Monetizing your services- Garner page 95

  Selling your products/EBooks

   

  Step 5. ADWORDS- Waterhouse

   

  Your own Affiliate program

   

  4 ways to generate more sales, bonus materials DWM 88

  Traffic, google adwords IMB 35

  Sales letters IMB 47 Waterhouse Step 2

   

  Automate your sales system IMB112

   

  Sales process IMB 118

  Merchant Accounts IMB 123, 129

  Affiliate programs IMB 131

   

   

  Google Adsense

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

  Conclusion

   

  Becoming a World-Class Christian PD

   

   

   

   

   

  Balancing Your Life PD

  Start Small & Recap IMB136, 138

   

   

   

   

  Living with Purpose PD

   

Home | About |  Contact |  | Privacy Statement  | Site Disclaimer  | Disclosure Statement  | Terms and Conditions | Spam Policy (AUP)  | More on Greg Nemer