Archive | October, 2022

To double your revenue, we’re going to presuppose that you first of all have revenue from something you’re selling, be it your own products, resale rights products, affiliates, etc.

Let’s say right now you’re selling a $17 ebook and video course. You might be paying for your traffic or getting it in other ways, it doesn’t matter at this point.

Now watch carefully – this is a two step process. Mind you, you could simply do step 1 and ignore step 2 and it will increase your revenue. But we want to DOUBLE your revenue or better, so I highly recommend doing both.

Step 1: Build up your backend. That is, offer upsells and one time offers on all of your deals. This step alone can greatly increase your revenue, and this doesn’t have to be your own products. Go buy resell rights to products related to your $17 deal and offer those.

Now tweak your sales funnel to maximize that backend.

You want it producing as many sales as possible, and simple tweaks can sometimes result in startling increases in your conversion rates.

Step 2: Use some of your increased revenue to purchase more traffic. These days you probably want to avoid Google Ads because they’re heavily into slapping and banning, but there are plenty of other places you can advertise, such as Facebook, Bing, etc.

What’s that? You’ve never paid for advertising and don’t know where to start? Like anything new, there is a learning curve. Spend an hour a day on it and within a year you will be a bonafide expert.

Start out slowly, spending maybe $10 at a time, and work your way up. Remember, because you’ve added an entire backend to your sales system, you are already bringing in a lot more revenue than you were. By leveraging this money into yet MORE traffic, you can make more money still.

Frankly, if you’re already selling anything online consistently, focusing on these 2 simple things (improving your back-end upsell to provide more value for your customers, and expanding your advertising to reach more customers for your product that is already selling) is the only thing you need to focus on to double your income, or possibly more…

There is so much misinformation out there on article marketing, I want to try to set the record straight. Granted, some of this misinformation has been repeated so many times that you may be incredulous by what I’m about to tell you. Then again, you might be one of the savvy ones who see through the nonsense of article spinners and the like.

First myth: If you post an article on your website and again on Ezine Articles (or any other article directory) then you’ve got to significantly rewrite it so that it’s not duplicate content, right?

Wrong.

So long as it is ORIGINAL content, as in it’s your own content (whether you wrote it or hired someone to write it) you can post the exact same article on your own website and again on the article directories. That’s because Ezine Articles doesn’t care if the article has already been published — as long as it is credited to the original author.

And as far as I know, this holds true for every article directory. If there’s a directory out there demanding unique content, then they don’t know what they’re doing. It would be like asking the Beatles for a unique version of Yellow Submarine before a radio station would play it. It’s just plain crazy.

Second myth: You should publish your article to the ezine directory first, and once it’s accepted then you should publish it to your own website.

Rubbish.

Why would you give your own original content to an article directory before your own website?

If you’re thinking it somehow helps with SEO, it doesn’t. If you’re thinking they won’t take it if it’s already on your website, see above.

You publish it to your own site first to make your site the authority site and to give your site the link juice.

Your main goal in publishing articles to article directories isn’t SEO and it isn’t getting traffic from the directory. It’s to get relevant authority sites to pick up and publish your content, thus giving you valuable backlinks and yes, targeted traffic.

Third myth: “But if other websites are picking up my article, isn’t that duplicate content?”

No. Before the Internet, when the Associated Press would write an article, that article could be picked up by hundreds of different newspapers, with each paper printing the exact same article and byline.

Enter the Internet. Just like the AP, news sites generate content that is then picked up by hundreds of different websites. Each website posts the same identical article with the same byline. It’s called syndication, and it’s perfectly fine. You will NOT be penalized in any way for it, and it can provide valuable backlinks and targeted traffic to your website.

How does Google perceive syndicated content? When a particular article appears on multiple websites, Google perceives it as being POPULAR and adds SEO weight to it, depending on how many instances it discovers. And if it finds your content on high PR and authority sites, it gives it even more weight.

So with those 3 myths officially debunked, stop being held hostage by fake news and get to work on getting your own article content published, circulated and syndicated online!

Do you want to close more sales on your website? Then you need to answer more objections. If you were selling vacuum cleaners door to door, you’d find that prospects have questions they need answered before they will buy. Those questions are actually objections, and a skilled salesman will welcome them and answer them in such a way that the customer is more than satisfied with the answers.

Of course on a website we don’t have a star salesperson closing prospects, so we’ve got to rely on content to do it for us. Usually this is in the form of a sales letter, but the typical sales letter is rather lengthy. This is good, in that they cover the main objections and do a good job of explaining the benefits. But if a customer has a particular question, making them scroll through this long sales letter to find the answer may actually lose you the sale.

Imagine a customer on the brink of making the purchase. They just have one question, something that will be the deciding factor on whether they whip out the credit card or close the page. They’re busy, and they want the answer now. And no, they don’t want to scroll all the way through your sales letter 2 or 3 times searching for the information.

Solution? A Frequently Asked Questions section. That’s right. Adding an F.A.Q. to your sales process can increase your sales – sometimes dramatically. And it doesn’t have to be on your sales page. Installing a prominent F.A.Q. link to the top and bottom of the page is effective. So is having a F.A.Q. section either within the sales letter itself or off to the side of the page.

What should be in your F.A.Q.? Two things: First, all of the information a typical customer needs to make a decision. This includes what’s included in the offer, the major benefits, the price and guarantee, what they can expect, time frame to get results, etc.

Second, your F.A.Q. should include all of the questions you repeatedly get from prospects. These might be things you wouldn’t think they would ask, but they do, such as, “Does this work outside of the U.S.? Do I need to purchase anything else to make this work?” Etc.

Think of your F.A.Q. as a living, growing thing. Any time you think of a question that should be added, do it. Any time someone asks you a good question, add it. Typically, the better your F.A.Q., the more sales you will make.

I received an email the other day from a young man who has created six different products in four different niches – and sold a total of 37 copies. Not 37 copies of each – 37 copies all together. One of his products didn’t sell a single copy.

Should he quit? Most people would say he’s obviously in the wrong line of work and should do something else. I say that’s incorrect, and here’s why:

Anyone with the perseverance to continue creating products even though he’s not making sales is going to eventually be successful. Obviously he’s not afraid of failure – if he were, he would have stopped after the first product. And he’s got the drive and determination to keep going, even when everyone around him tells him to quit. Heck, even his sales are telling him to quit, yet when he emailed me he said he was working on his seventh product, and by the sound of it I think he’s got a winner this time.

There was another fellow by the name of Eddie who wanted to be a jockey, something fierce. When he was 15 years old he traveled to Kentucky and went to work at galloping horses for $15 a week. But his boss told him that he was not good enough to ever be a jockey, so Eddie hid his tears, told his boss goodbye, and headed to California.

There he found a job with horse trainer Clarence Davison, who let Eddie ride in a race. Result? Eddie lost. He lost his next race, too. And his next.

In fact Eddie kept racing and losing for eight straight months, and after every race Clarence would sit down with Eddie and go over every mistake. Eddie kept persevering until two hundred and fifty losses later, he quit. That is, Eddie quit losing. A month before his sixteenth birthday, Eddie won his first race.

He steadily improved under Clarence’s guidance, but then two years later he cracked his skull, fractured two ribs and punctured his lung after falling off a horse in Chicago. Time to quit, right?

Not Eddie. Four years later he captured his first Kentucky Derby win. Then ten years after he was told he would never be good enough to become a jockey, he captured the U.S. Triple Crown. He went on to become the only jockey to win the U.S. Triple Crown more than once, and during his racing career he rode in 24,092 races, won 4,779 victories and placed in the top three 11,888 times. Not bad for someone “not good enough.”

Eddie Arcaco was known as the “Master” by his peers. Is it any wonder? Yet he could very easily have quit anytime during those first 250 losses and we never would have heard of him.

Do you have the ambition and perseverance to be a success? I think you do.

Do you enjoy speaking and explaining things? Do you have a topic you’re knowledgeable about, even passionate about that others want to know more about?

And do you know someone who can intelligently talk with you about that topic? Then you can make fantastic money by speaking. Here’s how…

First, choose your topic. Use the same criteria you would use for creating any kind of info product – are people willing to pay for this info? Next, find a partner, preferably someone just as knowledgeable about the topic as you, or someone who has complimentary information and knowledge to share.

Next, write an outline of what you will cover. Make sure the two of you agree on what will be covered and that you’re not leaving anything out. Now talk on the phone and record the conversations using your conferencing service of your choice. It might take you one or several calls to cover everything. Really more calls are better, since the product you’re creating will have a higher perceived value.

Now get transcripts of the calls made, and sell the entire package as one product. You can do this from start to finish, including transcripts and sales letters, in 7 to 10 days. Result? You’ll have a product you can sell for months and years to come. Split the profits with your partner, promote to both of your lists, place it on ClickBank, sell it through forums, etc. I know people who’ve cleared $50,000 to $100,000 on a product like this. Splitting the profits with your partner, you would walk away with $25,000 to $50,000. Not bad for spending a few hours on the phone.

The shortcut you probably don’t want to take: Yes, you can do this by yourself. Sure, you get to keep 100% of the profits after affiliate commissions. The problem? Your product will almost certainly not be half as good as it would be if you had a partner who knew as much about your topic as you do.

First, there is a synergy and energy that develops between two people having a conversation that you just don’t get talking to yourself. Second, your partner is bound to have information and stories you don’t have. Third, one person lecturing can be – let’s face it – boring. Fourth, a partner with their own list will double initial sales and help you to spread the word with affiliates, creating momentum from the first day you launch.

Can you make a recorded product by yourself? Absolutely, and some people have been very successful doing just that. But everything else being equal, you’re almost always better off partnering with someone else.

Tips for making the calls/recordings: Keep the energy high and the umms, errs and ahhs to an absolute minimum. Have fun, smile, laugh and joke when appropriate, and give great, timely, usable information that will truly make a difference for your listeners. Your value is to quicken their learning curve so be sure to do this to the very best of your ability, and not only will you make money once, but some of these customers will be eager to buy future products you develop in the future as well!

Six years after starting a blog called the Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington sold the website for 315 million dollars. But 3 years before the deal was done, Arianna shared her secrets to creating a successful blog at the MarketingProfs event. Little did they know at the time just how successful her blog would become!

Here are 3 points she said marketers should keep in mind when creating and growing their own blogs, along with my elaboration:

1. “Make it easy for your contributors to contribute.”

You’ll notice when you visit the Huffington Post there isn’t just one writer, there are hundreds of writers. In fact, any celebrity can share their thoughts in a blog post if they do it “transparently and honestly.” How can you adapt this method to your blog? Allow anyone known (and perhaps even unknown but up and coming) in your industry to make blog posts, and make it easy. If they want to phone it in, email it in or use any other method (snail mail?) then let them. So long as it fits into your blog’s guidelines, publish it.

2. “Have a clear point of view.”

Forget keeping everyone happy by covering every point of view. Instead, choose your angle and stick with it. It’s clear to all where the Huffington Post stands, and it should be just as clear to your readers where your own blog lies in the spectrum of opinion. Find the truth in each story from your point of view and your visitors will have a clear idea of what you stand for.

3. “Provide a safe environment.”

It’s not going to be easy to get new contributors if they’re afraid they’re going to get attacked each time they make a post. That’s why the Huffington Post employs a team of comment “pre-moderators” who approve or reject comments. Thus no personal attacks are allowed, and disagreements are kept on a civil and intelligent level.

If success leaves clues and you consider selling a blog for $315 million to be successful, what can these blogging guidelines do for you? Put them into practice and let’s find out!

What’s the easiest way to make money online, without having to create a product or a sales page? Affiliate marketing, of course. 🙂

So, why is it that most affiliate marketers never make nearly what they could make? Anyone has the potential to make HUGE money in affiliate marketing, yet 90% or more of affiliates make a pittance (I’ll wager the number is closer to 98%, in fact.)

Think about this: If you earn an average of $50 on each sale in a sales funnel you promote, and you make 6 sales, you’ve made $300. Sounds good, right?

But guaranteed, there is someone else who made 600 sales and walked away with $30,000.

Why did they make 600 sales when you made just 6?

There are reasons why a handful of affiliate marketers do amazingly well, and everyone else barely makes a profit.

And marketers who understand this will always have a tremendous advantage over marketers who don’t.

1: Build a Relationship

I know you’ve heard it before, but are you doing it? People buy people, not products.

If you want them to open your email and click your link, or visit your Facebook Group and click a link, you’ve got to have a RELATIONSHIP with your people.

This is so simple to do, yet few marketers take the time.

Start with a blog post that is all about you, and then send new opt-ins to the post so they can get to know you. Make the post silly, funny and most of all REAL. Talk about the stupid stuff you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, where you live and so forth.

Do you have a strange hobby or unusual taste in food? Include that. Do you have 17 pets? Talk about them. Do you work until 3 in the morning and sleep until noon? Mention that.

Reveal the real you. Not the details people don’t want, but the ones that amuse and interest. You’re looking to make a real connection, not give a resume.

And above all else, don’t make your life seem like a series of magnificent accomplishments. No one is going to relate to someone who turns everything they touch into gold.

But they are going to relate to the time you bought Bitcoin when it was worthless and sold it just before it took off, or the time you thought you could fly and jumped off your uncle’s barn into the manure pile.

And don’t stop with your ‘about me’ page, either. Use this relationship building in your lead magnet, your emails, your other blog posts and so forth.

Always inject a little bit about yourself. Not so much that you bore people, of course, or make everything seem about you. But just enough to keep it real.

Think about relating an event to a friend. Aren’t you going to give your own perceptions of what happened, as well as tell about how you got out of your car and stepped in the mud puddle just before your big presentation?

Use this same method of personal, one-on-one friend communication with your readers as well.

Post on your blog as often as possible, and we’re talking every day or two. Encourage your list to subscribe to Feedburner or the equivalent so they know when you add a new post.

Your readers will realize you’re a real person who isn’t out to pitch them a new product every 5 minutes. And they’ll gladly read your sales emails much more readily when they know there is a real live human being who is sending them these messages.

2: Use Your Own Voice

How many emails do you receive that say something along the lines of, “Buy this product – this product is the greatest product ever – you will be sorry if you miss this – so rush right over and buy it now.”

Yeah. Same old stuff, over and over again.

There is a marketer (or maybe several, but I’m thinking of one in particular) who sells MASSIVE quantities of this exact type of emails as a swipe file to new marketers.

Like a brand-new marketer couldn’t write their own 25 word email that basically says, “GO BUY THIS NOW!”

People are TIRED of getting these emails. You’re tired of getting these emails. I’m tired of getting these emails.

Same phrases, same message, same B.S.

If you’re not going to stand apart from the crowd, then you’re going to have to share the same crumbs they’re getting.

Instead, take 30 minutes and write your own promotional email in your own voice.

Forget hype. Be sincere. Be honest. “Hey, this product isn’t for everyone. I don’t even know if it’s for you. But if you have this problem, then maybe this is your solution. Check it out and decide if it’s right for you, because I know it’s worked like crazy for some people. And it’s on sale right now, too.”

I’ve written emails where I basically tell people not to buy something unless they really really want it or need it. “Don’t buy this if you already know how to do xyz.” “Don’t buy this if you’re not going to be doing this type of marketing.” This is only for people who want (fill in the blank.) It’s like I’m trying to talk them out of it, which paradoxically often results in more sales, not fewer.

But the point isn’t tricking them into buying; it’s to be honest. Because you know what? That latest, greatest product you’re promoting ISN’T what everyone on your list needs. Some of them, sure. The rest of them, no.

Do you have any idea how refreshing it is to open an email that says, “Here’s a new product, thought you might want to know, but please don’t buy it if you’re not going to use it.”

The first time I got an email like that, I bought the product without even reading the sales letter. True story. I was just so happy that someone wasn’t ramming a sale down my throat, that I jumped at the chance to buy it.

Weird but true.

My point is, be you. Be honest. Talk to your readers as though they are your best friends and you don’t want to lose your best friends by acting like a carnival barker who is here today and pulled up stakes (vanished) tomorrow with their money.

3: Email a LOT

This is the one where people like to argue with me, and I understand that.

You’ve heard over and over again that you shouldn’t email too often, or you’ll upset your subscribers, right?

After all, every time you email, there is the potential that a subscriber will hit the unsubscribe button.

Do you know what the potential is when you DON’T email? Nothing. No opens, no clicks, no sales… not even any relationship building.

Do you want people to open and read your emails? Then send out those emails EVERY DAY.

Here’s why:

First, almost no one will see every email you send out. Let’s say you’ve got a sale on one of your products. Don’t you think your readers might like to know about it? But if they miss the one and only email you send that lets them know, then they’ve missed out on the discount and you LOST a sale.

Second, send emails at different times. I opened someone’s email just yesterday, decided I was VERY interested in the new membership he was selling, clicked the link and discovered it was no longer available.

What happened? This particular marketer only sends out emails at 1:00 a.m. my time, so I don’t even see most of his emails in the avalanche of mail I get before I wake up.

Third, if you’re sending email once a week or once a month, your readers are forgetting who the heck you are. And when you finally do send an email, they think it’s spam.

Fourth, if you mail more often, you will make more money. Don’t take my word on this, just do it for one month. Send out one email per day, every day, for 30 days. Put a promotion in each one. See if you haven’t made more – a LOT more – money during that time period than during the previous month.

And by the way, I’m not saying JUST send out a promotion in each email. Make sure you have some content in there as well, even if it’s just an amusing anecdote.

4: Think of affiliate marketing as a BUSINESS

This isn’t a hobby, nor is it an add-on for an additional income stream.

Even if you go on vacation, be prepared to send out an email every day. Schedule them in advance or write them on vacation. Either way, affiliate marketing to your list is a business that you can’t just jump into when you need cash and forget about the rest of the time.

You don’t have many support issues, since the product owners handle this. You don’t have to worry about creating products, sales pages and so forth. You don’t have to drive traffic, unless it’s to build your list bigger.

With so much you don’t have to do, there’s no reason not to focus your time and energy into building relationships with your list and promoting to them every single day.

Affiliate marketing can be some of the easiest money you’ve ever made, if you put in the time and effort to make it a real business.