Things You Need To Know And Put Into Practice If You’re Looking At Starting An Internet Business

Starting An Internet Business

The dream of starting an internet business is one that lots of us hold.

The money, the freedom, the chance to work for yourself and be your own boss.

Turn on your computer and jump onto the internet and you may even begin to believe that it’s easy.

That everyone’s doing it.

I’m sure you’ve seen the get rich quick promises online that can suck you in and leave you believing that all you have do is follow the simple automated system and this time next week all your problems will be over.

The fact is that the internet “gurus” pushing these make money online systems are probably doing very well and making a nice amount of money.

Whether you will do the same is open to a bit more debate.

You know that 99% of all internet businesses fail right ?

Google it, 99% of all new businesses online fail.

Now those are some pretty daunting statistics despite all the rewards if you get it right and get in that top 1%.

So why is it so difficult ?

Why are only 1% succeeding despite all the online promises of easy money ?

Well I have a theory , and I think that by following it , you can give yourself a much better chance of  ending up in that top 1%,

And not getting lost in the 99% that fall by the wayside.

So why do the majority of people fail ?

Well I think that if you look at the way that most people get involved in an online business, it’s actually pretty easy to see why.

Firstly , the idea of starting an internet business appeals inherently to the kind of people that are a bit , how can I say , more freedom seeking.

The kind of person that isn’t satisfied with life by the numbers, with barely getting by, with being forced to conform to a job or career just so that they can put food on the table.

Internet businesses appeal to the kind of character that wants more from life and actively goes out and seeks ways to make it happen.

These kind of people are action takers, they are seekers, they have big visions and dreams and are prepared to go after them.

Online marketers know this !!!

They know the dreams that you have, because they too had , and still do have the same dream.

They know exactly what you want and which emotional buttons to push.

They have been there and felt it, and still do.

The desire for joy, freedom, independence, success.

These are emotional wants and needs.

And a successful internet business can satisfy them.

So the hundreds of ads for making money online that you will come across if you have an interest in starting an internet business, will all appeal and push these hot emotional buttons.

And because we are the kind of people that want to follow our dreams and our hearts , we can be more susceptible to believing  these promises.

We are willing to believe.

We give these internet “gurus” far more trust than they deserve and we often pay the price.

Because what they are selling us isn’t reality.

It is something they have designed to push our hot emotional buttons and make money out of us, and as much as possible.

We want to believe that we can have a hands-free , automated business that makes us six figures a month.

And we want to believe that we can be doing it next month.

Because that means that we can leave that job that doesn’t fulfill us.

That means we can provide for our family, and not have to worry about it ever again.

They know that what we really want is the end result.

And often the quicker, the better.

Let’s be honest , which of us wouldn’t accept a six figure income for working two hours a day ?

Which of  us doesn’t want that ?

For most of us, it’s the dream.

Money and freedom.

And we are prepared to chase that dream, and believe people that don’t really have our best interests at heart.

And we pay for it with a 99% failure rate.

Why ??

Because the gurus don’t want us to know what the real secret of  success in starting an internet business is.

And that is to put your own unique areas of interest, passion, knowledge and experience at the very heart of your internet business.

They want you to believe that you need THEIR system, THEIR way of doing things, that what you know and have to offer has no real value whatsoever.

Because that makes you a nice, timid customer who will buy from them time and time again.

And with every new product they release they know that you will be at the front of the line , again and again.

Because chances are that you won’t be making any money.

And even if you are the one that does , there will be 99 just like you that don’t.

But if you take charge of your own business, then they don’t have a hold on you.

If you decide to start a business in an area and market that you already enjoy,

 With some knowledge from a job, an interest, a hobby ,

Then you are taking charge and don’t need to go running to them every 5 minutes.

No matter what your area of knowledge is, there are business opportunities in it and a chance of starting an internet business around it.

All you need to do is get what you know , out on paper.

That then becomes your website.

Then there are plenty of different options for you to make money from the stuff you already know and love.

I recommend a tool called called Site Build It ( SBI ) that shows you exactly how to go about doing this, check out the video below by founder and CEO Ken Evoy and then either click through the video at the end or click on the link below for more information,

SBI for starting an internet business

Cheers,

Rich Paylor

P.S. If you’re not sure if you have the knowledge or expertise to build a website around, be sure to check out the homemade SBIer videos from the heart link a little way down the page.

Everything from a site about kids birthday parties, to needlework tips, to spanish translation to home decorating.

In fact , I guarantee that there is a site inside you just waiting to get out.

P.P.S Even if you don’t decide to use this tool to start your internet business, be sure to build your business around yourself and your unique areas of passion and interest.

It will save you years of chasing the next big thing, give you a far greater chance of success, and you’ll have lots more fun.

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Leads….The lifeblood of any business.

Or at least any business that needs to make sales, which is every business.

And leads are no good without…lead conversion.

No matter what your online business is, no matter what product you are selling, what marketplace you are in, who your prospects are…

There is a 99.% chance that you will :

a) need leads

b) need to be able to convert those leads into customers

I’m actually having a hard time thinking which businesses would not need to be good at this…

maybe a restaurant that now survives on word of mouth business and is always packed and has to constantly turn away customers, hhmmm.

Ok, I’ll give you that one, but for the rest  of us, it’s pretty important.

You may have heard it all over the web “content is king” , 

but what does it actually mean and how can it go about helping your prospects ‘ see the light ‘ and decide to hand over their hard earned money ?

It is pretty obvious that if you want to get good Search Engine listings, you will need quality content built around keywords that get you the kind of visitors that you want.

But i am not talking about content in the context of getting Search Engine rankings.

I’m talking about content as in, taking your prospects, educating them on you, your products and why you have what they need and eventually demonstrating why getting out their wallet to pay for your stuff is the best decision they have made since moving the TV closer to the sofa.

Because obviously there is a progression there.

People will very rarely want to give you a portion of their pay check a few minutes after meeting you, no matter how good your sales message is.

Studies show that on average it takes between 7-9 exposures to you before they are ready to buy anything.

So if you’ve got all your hopes pinned on them landing on your site, loving your sales message, and deciding they have to have what you are selling right then and there….

You may be setting yourself up for a fall.

Fortunately though, the internet provides us with a great medium to do things a little differently.

You may or may not have read my previous post on the importance of building a list, and a relationship with your prospects.

You can get the free white paper report that we used to give away to businesses below,

Marketing Model For Your  Internet Business Opportunity.

Basically the main point of it, is that building a list and a relationship and being able to move them along your ” sales funnel ” is crucial to your success online.

The art of  grabbing your prospect at their point of initial interest, and step by step moving them through the stages of educating them, overcoming any objections, and answering any questions before bringing them to the logical conclusion that they either want your stuff or they don’t.

And more will not want it than do, no matter how good you are, so don’t worry about that.

The article below is an excellent article on lead conversion through content.

How to take your prospect from barely interested enquirier step by step to raving fan.

Lead Conversion. Helping Your Prospects ‘ See The Light ‘

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Why Customer Service Can Be One Of The Most Critical Factors For Your Online Business.

Now I know that when you sat down to plan out your internet business, customer service was probably not one of the major factors that you sat around thinking about.

More than likely your mind was on the large, automated hands-free income your business was going to quickly start churning out for you.

You were probably thinking of ways to market your idea or business, your head swimming with things like PPC and SEO and of how all of those customers and prospects and customers were going to translate into your big new house by the beach and fleet of cars.

Well if you’re anything like me anyway

And that’s perfectly ok. We are all human and we all want to improve our lives and lifestyles.

That’s why we get into this business.

For a better quality of life.

Whether it be the house by the beach, the opportunity to travel the world or to spend more time at home with the family and actually watch your kids grow up..

we’ve all got our reasons for wanting to be in this business.

The danger comes along when we start to our customers and prospects as numbers on a screen , rather than human beings looking for a quality product or service.

And because our business is on the internet , it can be easy to fall into the trap.

In a normal small business, customer service is crucial.

You’re competing against the big boys so you have to make sure you’re going the extra mile to get and keep your customers.

Plus the fact that you will deal with a lot of your customers face to face or over the phone, ensures you treat them as you should, and don’t get slack in the customer service department.

But on the internet, it’s easy to lose sight of this.

Sometimes you won’t have any contact with your customers whatsoever.

Your sales will be automated through your website.

Your product can sometimes be delievered automatically or by a third party, especially if you are doing affiliate marketing.

It becomes easier and easier to get slack the less you interact with your prospect or customer.

Maybe the only contact you will have them is a weekly broadcat e-mail that goes to all of your contact list.

Now, this is simply a fact of doing business on the internet.

And it can be a very positive fact.

After all, for many this is a lifestyle business and not having the phone ring all day and deal with angry or irate customers can be a big bonus.

No doubt about it.

The point is to simply remember that business is still business.

Even though it’s online.

Yes you can automate and even outsource a lot of time consuming tasks.

But do remember that building a relationship based on trust and integrity cannot be replicated.

Even if the internet does try to convince you otherwise sometimes.

Below is a an article from a very successful marketer by the name of John Carlton, explaining exactly why this is so important to you and your business.

Check out the article , Small Business Customer Service……It’s Important

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Why You Should Be Building an E-Mail List For Your Home Internet Business.

You have probably heard a million people online telling you the importance of building an e-mail list.

That’s for a very good reason. It’s important.

It’s also very simple and easy to do and there is a lot of ways that you can make more money for your business with an e-mail list.

For a good overview of e-mail list building and why it is important for your business you can take a look at the 7 Secrets Report we used to give out to businesses.

Email List Building 7 Secrets Report.

So, email list building seems pretty easy.

You give away something for free on your website, like a free report or e-book on a topic or issue you know that your readers are interested in, and you give it away in exchance for their e-mail address and permission for you to contact them again.

So why does everyone not do it. Or at least not take full advantage of it ?

Building an e-mail list is THE most cost effective way of building a prospect and customer base that I know of.

It is the very cornerstone of internet business and anyone having any success online at all is doing it.

There are so many ways that it can help you, and all it costs you is an autoresponder service like Aweber or I-Contact that you can get for about £10 a month.

You can build a relationship with your prospects, establish yourself as an expert in your field. Sell stuff to your list many times over rather than just as a one off.

Remember if it costs you £5 to get a customer and that customer buys from you 3 times instead of just once, you have shaved a third off your advertising costs.

The article below gives you a brief introduction to the ways in which you can make money by building your e-mail list.

It is titled ” Free Online Money Making” , which is a bit deceptive because you can’t just build an e-mail list for free.

You will need an autoresponder and you will have to take the time to create a free report or a product you can give away.

But the fact remains that e-mail list building is by far THE most cost-effective thing you can do for your internet business.

It is simple and easy to do and can serve as the very foundation of your home internet business.

Anyway here is the article ,

Email List Building For Beginners

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Pay per Click , PPC can be a bit of a minefield for those relatively new to it.

Come to think of it, it can be a bit of a minefield for those of us who have been doing it for years.

There is certainly a lot of stuff to consider. All of it seemingly crucial to your long term success and ability to use PPC effectively, and most importantly, profitably.

PPC Campaign Management can be tricky. Ad campaigns, ad groups, different ads, keywords, headlines, calls to action, split tests, landing pages, tracking, CTR , cost per lead, cost per sale, there’s definitely a lot to take on.

Fortunately there are specialists in the field who know a lot more than me about it and who I can go and steal their ideas when I’m stuck or have a question.

And that is going to be the way I do it in this article.

Rather than bore you with what I know about PPC campaign management I am going to point you to a very informative and free MP3 from Glenn Livingston.

If you’ve never come across Glenn before he is pretty much the standard bearer for PPC online in my opinion,  ( although I’m sure Perry Marshall may have a little to say about that ).

He has lots of great free content and insight into Adwords that could be invaluable if you are trying to make your first bit of profit with adwords or are just setting up your first campaigns.

This particular article and Interview is  one that I wanted to show you because his philosophies about Adwords and the techniques for campaign management are ones that I wholely agree with.

Namely of taking the opposite approach to the conventional wisdom of Adwords.

Conventional wisdom tells you to throw up thousands of keywords, hoping that you will find some low cost ” long tail” keywords that not many people are advertising under.

Over time you will be able to trim down those keywords to the few hundred that are performing for you and through trial and error, find the best ones.

Makes sense and for a lot of people it has been the way to approach ppc campaign management for a long time.

However, Glenn’s methods , and the one I subscribe to is exactly the opposite.

It is starting with a main keyword or a handful of keywords with their own tightly written ad and headline and making sure that is profitable first.

Because if you can’t make money with your main keyword or handful of keywords what are the chances of you making money with the less relevant ones ??

It is all about being hyper relevant and targeted.

If that sounds like the way you would like to learn Adwords then check out this free article and interview on making more money with fewer keywords.

PPC Campaign Management with Fewer Keywords

Make PPC easier on yourself and make more money by making it simpler.

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How You Can Make Money From Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc…

Social Media plays a big part in most of our lives.

There is a pretty good chance that you use at least one of the social media sites above if not all of them.

Whether it be catching up with old school friends on Facebook, tweeting about what you had for lunch on Twitter ( Stephen Fry has about half a million people following his dietary schedule ???) , or showing the world a humerous video you made for Youtube.

If you are on the internet , the odds are pretty good that you are using these social media sites.

But is anyone making any money from them ?

Apart from the founders of the sites obviously, although even that can be a struggle. Facebook is having numerous problems trying to monetize it’s massive users numbers, because no-one wants to pay to use the service and the ad space they are trying to sell seems  to be proving very difficult for advertisers to make money from.

As you know, when you’re on facebook, you’re in the midset of having a laugh with your friends and not looking to buy anything.

ITV are looking to sell Friends Reunited for £15m , having bought it for £175m in 2005.

So what can Social Media do for your internet business and how do you go about trying to make money from it?

After all, the traffic is free, so if you can figure out how to do it, you are on to a winner.

The best in the marketplace for this at the moment is probably a guy by the name of perry belcher. You can google him and find out how he makes his money from social media.

In a nutshell , it’s quite a simple concept.

I’m sure you are aware of the wrong way to go about building a business using social media. If you’ve had friend requests on Myspace and Facebook, followed straight away by a message saying “ I found this great site where you can get blah blah blah, ” you will know what I mean.

Now I’m sure there are people who have had some success using this method but I’m not sure that the social media equivalent of spam is the way to build a solid online business.

Perry belcher does things a little differently and it is all based around the model that we recommend on this site of building an internet business around a subject or market that you are knowledeable and passionate about and providing a quality experience and content for your prospective customers.

Sounds simple.

Well the basics of Perry’s model is . He merely treats his social networking contacts as he would people he has met at a party.

Meaning if you meet someone at a party, you don’t start trying to pitch them your product two minutes after meeting them. You would get a lot of yawns and soon find yourself standing at the bar by yourself.

It’s simply too early and not the time.

Perry has a set of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and a Youtube Channel, all pumping out good contenet for free on subjects that he thinks his prosepctive customers would be interested in.

All of this content and these social sites all then push people to his blog for more good free content.

Then the more responsive and more likely to buy prospects, join his e-mail list in return for a free giveaway of some more content that they need.

And then through the e-mails on the e-mail list more content is deleivered mixed with sales messages and promotions.

It is a simple sales funnel that feeds the warm prospects through to his sales messages when they are ready for it, without upsetting his other contacts who may not be ready for it.

They can opt-in to his sales funnel at a later time as and when they are ready to do so.

It is the social media equaivalent of talking about your business with a new friend at your house, over a beer on the patio , rather than trying to pitch them within two minutes of meeting at a party.

Think about your sales funnel and how you can use social media to gather people with an interest in what you are doing, and slowly take them step-by-step towards your business and what you have to offer them.

Don’t go straight for the kill like a nervous teenager on a first date. Take the time to establish a relationship, provide the content and information that they are looking for, for free if possible and watch that one-off sale that you were going for, turn into a long standing business relationship based on respect and trust for you and your business.

Social Media is the perfect vehicle to start establishing that.

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How Affiliate Marketing Could Be The Quickest and Easiest Way To Get Started Online.

One of the main problems with an  internet business is where to begin.

Especially if this is your first time and you are wanting to get your feet wet and find out what this internet marketing and home based business stuff is all about.

There are literally hundreds of ways you could choose to get started, with one not necessarily being better than another.

However, I personally feel that affiliate marketing can be the quickest , simplest and easiest way to get started with your own affiliate business and here’s why :

Why Affiliate Marketing. Reason No.1

You can work in an area you know and are passionate about.

Whatever your area of expertise and passion is , chances are there is an affiliate marketing program or product that you can promote. Chances are that there are hundreds.

And don’t say you don’t have any area of expertise or knowledge because you do. It might just take a bit of brainstorming and research to decide if it’s the basis of a home internet business.

Once you have decided one the market you want to work in , research the affiliate products and programs in that area and find the ones you would like to promote.

Work in an area you already know and are enthusiastic about and you are already ahead of the game. And you will want to get up in the morning and get to work.

Why Affiliate Marketing. Reason No.2.

No fulfillment, customer service, after sale service, guarantees etc….

Although having your own product can ultimately make you more money. Along with that goes a lot of things.

You have to make the sales, answer customer queries, ship  and fulfill the orders, deal with refunds and guarantee’s, you may need telephone support , you will probably need employees and everything that goes along with that.

Affiliate marketing takes away all this for you and just leaves you with the task of pointing people at the sales system that has already been set up for you.

They give you the website, all set up to answer enquiries and take orders.Many have phone support and sales people to close the deal for you.

They ship and fulfill the products, take care of any queries and issues, any refunds and problems.You never get bothered with any of it.

You are totally free to spend your time marketing the product.

Why Affiliate Marketing. Reason No.3.

All the guesswork is taken out of it.

When you are advertising online there is a lot to test and optimise.

Different ads, text, headlines, calls to action, banners, landing pages, follow up. Which perform the best ?

This alone can take months and months to find out , before you start making any money.

With affiliate marketing a good marketing partner will have done all this for you and will just present you with the end results to market for them.

Text ads, banner ads, landing pages, all just given to you, ready to go. And more often than not these will be the best performing ones.

It can take  months, even years off your learning curve and get your internet business up and running a lot quicker than if you had to do it yourself.

Why Affiliate Marketing. Reason No.4.

Freedom and Flexibility.

You are paid by your results. Which means you can work when and where is best for you. All you need is an internet connection.

No boss, set hours or sales targets, except those you set for yourself.

You have the freedom and flexibility to change products as you see fit. If one is not bringing you the results you think it should, there are plenty more to choose from.

Affiliate marketing is as free and flexible as you can get with a home based internet business.

Why Affiliate Marketing. Reason No.5.

You can become an authority.

The idea with affiliate marketing, and the way you can stand out from the crowd and set yourself up as an expert in your field is by positioning yourself and not your products.

What I mean by that is by adding your own expert commentary and recommendations in your market you can have people following you and not your products.

Most affiliates will just point people to their product pages.

But by creating a review site where you compare 3 or 4 competing products you can position yourself as an expert and advisor in your field rather than a salesman.

Add your knowledge, try the products, give your recommendations, establish your position in your market.

Give added value, set yourself apart from the crowd.

Then you are not tied to any particular product.If you are establishing yourself not your product , you can try all kinds of products and give unbiased reviews that will have people following you and your recommendations.

Think about it , what are you more likely to respond to , an unbiased recommendation from an authority in the field who doesn’t seem to mind which product you get but has taken the time to show you the positives and negatives of each one ,

Or a blatant sales pitch for a particular product ??

Position yourself and not your product and create a reputation and long term business that is not tied to any particular product.

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A Marketing Model That You Can Apply To Get Better Results From Any Internet Business Opportunity.

Sometimes we get led to  believe that internet business is nothing like business in the real world. All the hype screams how easy it is to make money with little or no effort on your part.

How we don’t need a quality product , a quality service and how we don’t need to establish a relationship with our customer base.

How that can all be skipped because we have this magical medium called the internet that can make all those business basics obsolete.

I don’t think that’s the case , and I think that if you do believe that you are setting yourself up for a fall.

Below is a report that we generated for companies doing business online to show them how to make more money from their marketing efforts online.

You can apply it directly to your internet business opportunity and it will help you to develop a relationship with your prospective customers and ultimately have them buying much more of your stuff.

It’s called rather fancily ” 7 Secrets To Make More Money From Your Online Marketing.”

How To Make More Money From Your Online Marketing!

“ 7 Secrets Guaranteed to Boost Sales and Profits without Paying any More for your Advertising. ”

Copyright 2009 Wonderweb Media Ltd

Wonderweb Marketing is a trading name of Wonderweb Media LTD, Company Number: 6726777, VAT Registration Number: 941 0888 16

CONTENTS

1)   IT’S A TWO-STEP

2)   7-9 TIMES A LADY

3)   COMPEL ME

4)   THE FORTUNE IS IN THE FOLLOW UP

5)   A RELATIONSHIP IS FOR LIFE, NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS

6)   THE RIGHT CROSS AND THE UPPER CUT

7)   TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC

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Secret #1:

It’s a Two-Step
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The reason we see so many people that have had big budgets blown with the ad companies is because of this. The ad companies only do the one-step !

Your sales and marketing is a two-step process. Understand this and you can scale and grow your business to as big as you want to be. Fail to understand this and you may be on the road to ruin. Or at least blowing large chunks of unnecessary cash on your advertising.

Many people take their budgets to an ad company. They in turn will tell you all about how much traffic they can get for you ( although it may not be high quality, converting traffic ). You will pay so many thousands to get so many visitors or impressions, hoping and praying that those visitors or impressions will make enough sales to justify the spend. Then it’s cross your fingers time and hope for the best.

More often than not, you will find that your sales have not recouped your outlay. That’s if you even track your sales from your ad spend. You would be amazed at how few companies actually do.

But applying traffic is actually the second part of a two-step process and unless and until you have the first part right, you may as well not bother with advertising because it can blow a very big budget very quickly.

Before you even think about turning on the traffic ( targeted traffic by the way, I have seen very few ad companies that deliver targeted traffic ) you need to know your numbers.

I would highlight that and post it somewhere you can see it every day, because understanding this one point could literally change your business overnight.

KNOW YOUR NUMBERS !

Tracking and testing is absolutely the most critical thing you can do for your online business.

How many of your visitors convert into leads, sales? What is the average cost of a sale and average value of a visitor to your site ?  What is the average cost to get a visitor to your site ?

If your average value of a visitor is above the average cost it takes to get him/her there you’re onto a winner and you’re making money.

If it is not then you need to improve the numbers. Break them down into pieces and raise those figures one at a time.

Actually even if the figures are good you can always optimize and improve. Small improvements make massive differences.

Lets say your website converts 1% of visitors into sales. If you can optimise it and raise that to 2% you have just doubled your sales.

If you were making a million a year, you are now making two million. With no more money spent on advertising to double your sales.

From exactly the same advertising and traffic to your website, you have just doubled your sales.

Your home page or landing is the place to start. What percentage of people go on to buy or make an enquiry or give you their contact information and become a lead ?

Find these numbers out if you do not know them and then raise them !

This is absolutely critical! In fact, I cannot stress this enough but let’s continue with secret #2…

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Secret #2:

7-9 Times a Lady
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On average it takes a prospect 7-9 exposures to you before they will buy.

This is why a lot of companies put money into branding and ad campaigns that get the word out and stick in people’s minds. They know it takes repeated exposures, no matter how good your message or product is.

So if your site makes 1% sales. What happens to the other 99% ?

They go on their merry way. You have a kind of one-chance shot to get them and make the sale or not right ?

Well not really, the business world is catching up to what savvy internet marketers have known for a long time. The Money Is In The List !

If you get people to opt-in and subscribe to your list/newsletter/e-zine you can market to them over and over and over again. En Masse. You can send them special offers and product promotions. You can get their feedback and input on your products and business.

THE MONEY IS IN THE LIST.

Now this is something that’s pretty well known online, but there are still very few companies doing it and doing it properly.

Even if they are doing it they do it as an after thought. A timid little e-mail capture box meekly asking you to subscribe to their mailing list.

This is the most powerful tactic online and the most misunderstood and misused. Very few companies are getting the value from this that they should do.

This should be your number one tactic online. Getting people onto your list. Then you can market them your products time and time again.

So many companies and websites just go straight for the sale. A one shot deal. Either they buy or not, onto the next.

With a little creative thinking, any company, selling absolutely anything can come up with a compelling offer to get people onto their list.

It is the most simple yet effective and powerful tactic on the internet.

If you build a list you can market time and time and time again, at least 7-9 times a lady !

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Secret #3:

Compel Me
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Now you may be thinking that building a list and marketing to your prospects over and over again is pretty obvious. But it is the simplest techniques that are the most powerful.

In any area, it is the fundamentals that hold all the power. If the right building blocks are in place then you have the ability to quickly and easily scale and grow your business.

Too many businesses that we see want the latest fancy dan websites and gimmicks. But their foundations and building blocks are weak. They struggle to market themselves online, and with good reason.

Building a list is absolutely crucial. It should not be just a thing that you do. Something that you tag on to your homepage almost as an after thought.

It should be the entire purpose of your homepage and indeed website. To get people on your list.

We see all kinds of fancy idea websites, with home pages giving people a million different choices and options. A million different distractions , competing for their attention.

Yet it is the savvy internet marketers making millions online. With a simple 1 page capture site and follow up.

Make your home or landing page geared to have one focus and one focus only. The capture of your prospects details and information.

Offer them bonuses, free reports, discounts. Put up sales copy that sells and compels them on the benefits of opting in.

COMPEL them to join. It’s not an after thought, it’s the purpose of your page. If I was a prospect , why would I join your list ?

Well if you gave me free reports, bonuses and discounts that helped to solve my problems and fulfill my needs I would. If you explained about the great free content and value you were going to give me I would.

And how would you know what my greatest needs and desires are and the biggest problems I have ?

Well if you have a list, you can engage them in dialogue, surveys, questionnaires that get your market to tell you what they want. Then just offer it as an incentive for people to join your list.

Very simple, very powerful, but not done by 99% of businesses online that claim they know all about building a list.

As they say, knowing and doing are a million miles a part.

Don’t just give lip-service to the idea and claim “ oh I know that “. If you know it, do it. And make it the whole focus and point of your online sales process.

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Secret #4:

The Fortune Is In The Follow Up
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Or the subheading :

When everyone else is pushing, step back and pull !

There’s nothing worse than chasing business, it can be hard work, ungratifying and stressful. As someone who used to work in direct telephone sales, I came to hate the practice of cold selling.

But what if you can flip that on it’s head and have people calling YOU wanting your services. The ideal scenario right ?

That is exactly what you want, and that is exactly what building a list the right way does for you.

This is something we came across in the network marketing world when we were doing some work for a company in that industry.

We decided that network marketing was a great method of providing residual , leveraged income and so set about studying the experts in that field that were doing internet network marketing.

 A recent evolution of the old network marketing methods that involved calling people on the phone, getting them to meetings at houses and cheesy pre-scripted sales talk. Basically ,a lot of old school, dark ages tactics that leave you with a knot in your stomach.

No-one wants to do them, the industry has a 99% failure rate and it’s easy to see why.

Anyway, we came across a couple of guys that had figured it out and were well ahead of the game. The next level, the evolution of network marketers. The internet network marketers.

Here’s why this is so relevant to you !

They realised that a) you sell to buyers . i.e people already in network marketing. So if you are in the business of selling software, your target market is people that have bought or are looking to buy software.

Seems obvious when put like that, but the more targeted the marketing the better. Lets say you are selling software and you place an ad in a newspaper. You are marketing to about 90% of people who read the paper that have no interest in purchasing software. Targeted traffic and exposure is everything.

These internet network marketers knew that there is a big difference in marketing to people looking to make more money, and marketing to experienced network marketers that have already crossed the bridge and convinced themselves that network marketing is a good idea. A massive difference in fact.

So anyway that leads me onto the second point, which is

b) don’t sell your product , solve a problem.

Now this is something that you will find very few mainstream companies doing. The savvy internet marketers have it down, and it is slowly seeping into some mainstream business but most big companies are about 10 years away from understanding this. Just look at their marketing, it’s all about OUR products, OUR history, OUR record.

The internet network marketers were a lot more subtle, and so should you be. When everyone else is pushing , step back and pull.

So here’s what the network marketers did.

They placed targeted ads that were read by network marketers and just network marketers, Straight to their target audience.

But they didn’t go screaming “ join our opportunity, here are the great benefits “ , because that’s what everyone else was doing. They decided to go for a much more laid back and subtle approach that skyrocketed their sign-ups and made them millionaires.

Quite simply they advertised free reports and articles that helped solved the problems of the network marketers they were targeting. They got them to opt-in for a free report like  “ Top Network Marketing Strategies To Boost Sign–Ups and Explode your Business.”

They just gave away these free reports that any network marketer in any company could access and apply to help them build their own businesses.

They didn’t push their opportunity or their company, they simply gave away all their best techniques and tactics that helped solve their prospects problems.

They gave great content and value that genuinely helped solve the problems they faced in their business, and they asked nothing for it. They also took the time to publish a monthly newsletter that gave away more great free content, strategies and articles.

Do you see what’s going on here and how this worked for them ?

They were not going out shouting “ come and join us , this opportunity is great, here’s why you should join .“

They were positioning themselves.

They did not need to sell themselves or their products or company to their prospects. They sat back and let their prospects sell themselves !

Their content that they gave away was great content. Great value that genuinely helped. This is key, delivering great content and genuinely helping your prospect, before expecting any kind of pay-off in return.

The content positioned them as experts in their field for them. They did not have to go and sell themselves. Their excellent content did it for them.

No cheesy sales talk, or hype, no high-pressure sales tactics. These guys actually had people ringing them up wanting to join them because they could see that they knew what they were talking about and agreed with their methods.

Here is why this is so powerful.

The prospects sold themselves Implicitly !

If you are selling a product or service you can do what everyone else does and sell Explicitly ….

“ Here is my product / company, this is why we are so great.”

You are telling them and they decide whether to agree with you are not.

The savvy internet network marketers tapped into that part of the human brain that is ever so more powerful. The bit that comes to it’s own conclusions , implicitly, and stands by and defends those decisions for a long time because it has come up with the decision all on it’s own. It has not been pressured or pushed into it.

I can either tell you how great my products or services are explicitly ( I don’t mean in a pornographic way or anything J ) .

Or I can show you I know what I am talking about, and have you make an implicit decision that I know what I’m talking about and have you contact me off your own back, wanting to work with me.

Which do you think is more powerful. Which will create long lasting relationships that have you buying over and over and over gain ( if I provide you with great content and value that actually solves your problem ).

I tell you or I show you ? EXPLICIT v IMPLICIT

Understand this and you can pull whilst everyone else is pushing and create an army of raving fans , clamouring to contact you wanting your business.

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Secret #5:

A Relationship Is For Life Not Just For Christmas
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Ok , so there are many ways you can adapt and apply the principal above to your own business, whatever it may be.

Once you have people implicitly trusting you, your techniques and products and your advice, you are in a unique position.

And you can remain there for a long time if your deliver value.

If you deliver great content that quickly gives way to impatient sales pitches you will quickly lose my trust and patience and I will be reaching for the unsubscribe link. All that hard work wasted.

But if you make this the core of your strategy and give it the attention and focus it deserves you can turn your sales process into a smooth, almost effortless automated machine that pays you time and time again.

You must continue to deliver great content, time and time again. If you have a weekly newsletter , you must take the time to over-deliver with great content and value first and foremost before you think about monetizing your traffic / subscribers.

Again this goes back to Implicit vs Explicit.

The human brain is wired to respond in certain ways to certain stimulus. We can’t help it, it’s buried deep down in our psyche.

One of the strongest impulses we have is Reciprocation.

If I give you a load of great stuff that helps solve your particular problems. When it comes time that I ask a favour from you, you are pre-conditioned to respond. You are pre-conditioned to want to help me, because I have helped you. You can’t help it J

But this must all be done genuinely or it does not work. You have to over–deliver the great content and value first. Monetize second.

Do this right and have an army of loyal fans, that will buy from you again and again, as long as you keep over-delivering great value and content.

This relationship can last for years and years, even for life. If you engage with it , make it interactive. Ask your subscribers what they want, send them surveys, get to know what they want and how they respond to certain offers.

The more of a two-way street you make this, the better. Start a blog where people can submit questions, answer them for everyone to see, be transparent, be trustworthy.

Build a fan base and they will follow you !

Then as we will see in the next secret, there are a million ways of monetizing.

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Secret #6:

The Right Cross and The Upper Cut !
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How to turn your list of raving fans into happy customers.

Ok, so now you have begun to build your list. You are building it in the right way, taking a long term view , delivering great value and content first and foremost. Your list likes and trusts you and doesn’t mind at all by reciprocating when the time is right to monetize your list with some well chosen offers, in fact because of the way you present the offer , they thank you for it.

I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that the real value in any customer is the repeat business. If they buy from you 5 times over their lifetimes it is 1/5 the cost of getting 5 new customers that make 1 purchase each.

Repeat business is the most cost effective way to boost your sales, at little or no extra effort. And with a well treated, responsive list you have the perfect tool to help you.

Ideally your list should foster a sense of community, they should appreciate being the first to know, the first to try out special offers or new product ranges, consulted on their opinions about your products or services.

Your list can be an interactive community of loyal consumers if they are treated well.

So how , do you go about making the money ?

Well it’s incredibly simple.

First of all, people are not stupid, they already know that by being on your list they will receive advertisements and promotions. If you craft your offer right, it can be one of the reasons they sign up for your list in the first place.

You then turn them into totally satisfied customers by rewarding their loyalty.

Offer them unadvertised sales just for them. Discounts just for them. Give them first access to product releases. Get their feedback on launches. Make them feel special. Like they are getting a deal that no-one else is or knows about.

But here’s , the thing. THEY ARE. There’s nothing devious or deceptive going on here. You are reciprocating their loyalty , that they reciprocate to you. Back and forth it goes, repeat purchase after repeat purchase, if the value and offers are good.

Foster that sense of community and loyalty by being genuine and offering value to this trusted, responsive list, that cannot be had elsewhere. Then encourage it to grow virally, with things like tell afriend scripts and affiliate commissions to your list for referring others.

And you always have the right cross and the upper cut to give you a multitude of options when it comes to making money from your list.

CROSS SELL, with your partners or non competing companies that would be happy to offer your subscribers a great deal. Get them deals that they cannot get anywhere else. Find out what else they are interested in, what else they might want and cut deals with companies to partner up and offer these great deals to your list. Again at a discount they can’t get anywhere else.

UPSELL, your other products. Again offering your private discounts. Use proven sales campaigns to offer these discount up-sells and cross-sells only for a limited time, or with limited fast action bonuses. Train your list to expect, anticipate and be responsive to these great offers. Expect them to take action and reciprocate and as long as the offers are good and providing value both ways, they will.

However, in order to effectively use the other secrets here you’ve got to know our last secret.

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Secret #7:
Traffic, Traffic, Traffic
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How to find targeted, responsive people for your list !

Remember the internet network marketing guys from secret 4 ?

Once they had their sales process where they wanted it to be, it was time for them to turn on the traffic.

Most companies online do this backwards. They turn on the traffic first and cross their fingers and hope for the best. A few will make their money back, most won’t.

It is also how the big ad companies can blow through your budget very very quickly.

You see, the big ad companies work on a different level than the internet marketers. For an internet marketer, every ad must be tracked down to the last penny. They are the same as the direct response marketers off-line. Testing and tracking all the bits because they know that they need to get it right first, before they turn traffic on to it.

The big ad companies and many big companies and corporations that are their clients don’t care. They honestly don’t care. But that is because they are playing a different game. The ad companies just brand you. They work on the off-line marketing theory off exposure and repetition not tracking and testing from ad to sale.

Many of them can’t even tell you which ads resulted in sales.

Many big companies advertise in exactly the same way. They have a big ad budget, give it to an ad company to brand across a load of sites. No-one knows or really cares how many sales have been made. It is all a branding exercise.

Smaller companies can’t afford to do this, and slowly, larger companies are waking up to the fact that there is a smarter way to advertise that will make them much more sales for their advertising spend.

But it’s all in the tracking. Which are the best ads to run ? Have you compared the click through rates, one against the other ? You need to know this before marketing en masse.

Which websites give you the most converting customers into leads and sales? Again , pretty relevant information.

Which headline, body copy and call to action pulls the most people in from your ads?

It’s all tracking and testing.

As is finding out where you can get the best value visitors from. You can quickly and easily test pay per click traffic from Google, Yahoo and MSN and see which gives you the best results.

You can do the same with banner ads on targeted websites, e-mail cpm drops and e-zine ads. A little piece of code and tracking software is all it needs.

Then when you have found a winning ad and traffic source that your landing page is converting profitable into sales, scale it up, ramp it up to as much traffic as you can get from that source and cut out all the non-converting traffic sources.

Focus your efforts onto the traffic sources that work and cut out all the rest.

Find out your numbers. Test small and cheaply and ramp up the winners. Don’t throw arrows in the dark !

You may be a big company that can afford to waste $50,000 a month just on branding. But wouldn’t it be better to take that $50,000 a month and find out how to turn it into $100,000 in sales?

I’m sure it would mean a big pay-rise and promotion for you.

There are many sources of traffic and depending on your business and products, they will perform differently for you.

But the beauty of the internet is you can test small, optimize, find the winners and ramp it up, knowing that if you get $150 back from $100. You will get $150,000 back from $100,000.

It’s just a matter of cheaply testing and finding the winners !

And Finally …….

It is often the simplest techniques that are the most effective, and that goes double for the world of online marketing.

Testing and tracking everything, basing your online efforts around building an e-mail list and folllowing up regularly with your list with good quality, free content that helps solve their problems.

Convert more of your visitors to leads, convert more leads into sales and then cross-sell and upsell more of your products to your list.

Do the simple things well and the results will astound you.

Thanks for reading,

Kind Regards,

Richard Paylor

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Why Internet Businesses Can Leave You In A Bit Of A Pickle.

I know , this is a site that is supposed to be promoting home internet business not knocking it down.

But let’s face it, with any business there’s always down sides. Especially when you’re just getting started.

So for those weighing up their options and deciding whether an internet buisness is for them I thought i’d just give a bit of advice that will hopefully help on the way.

And it can be pretty much summed up like this ” Don’t Believe The Hype.”

Again that sounds a bit negative from a site that is supposed to be promoting internet business but if you can take this on board as you are starting out it can save you a lot of wasted years in time, effort and money, jumping from one opportunity to the next looking for the next big thing.

And that’s the big problem. The fact that the way internet businesses are marketed to us, bears no resembelance to the actual reality at all.

The sales pitch screams ” make £50,000 next month, turn key system, anyone can do it, only 2 hours a day”.

And to be honest one thing I have found online is that if something sounds to be good to be true, it is.

Internet business is no different to any other business. Just the medium is different.

You still have to have a sound business plan and blue print, quality products, advertising, a customer base that you take care of.

None of this is any different to any business. Yet you won’t hear any of that in the sales pitches for the thousands of home internet businesses all vying for your attention and promising you instant riches.

And you know why ?

Because the truth doesn’t sell well. That’s not what people want to hear. they want to be reassured that they can climb out of their mountain of debt next week with next to no effort or application.

They want to believe in the dream of £50,000 free and clear next month and every month.Of the villa in spain, doing 2 hours of work a day from the pool.

These are our hot buttons, this is what we all want and dream of, so push our buttons and we will buy your stuff.

It’s a simple formula and it’s also the reason why 99% of internet businesses fail.

Now the purpose of this post is not doom and gloom.Far from it. I want my readers to be a step ahead of the game and not have to spend years jumping from opportunity to opportunity looking for the one that will make their dreams come true.

Because the truth is, it’s not the opportunity, it’s you !

You have to come from a different mindset than the 99% of people that fail with an online business. You have to take yourself out of the mindset that you just want to be shown and told how to do it with little or no engagement or application on your part.

That just breeds the attitude that you are not good enough, smart or clever enough to figure it out and make your business , your way.

And that is not an attitude that creates successful, empowered entrepreneurs. That is an attitude that just takes everything you hated most about your 9-5 and plonks it smack , bang in the middle of your home internet business.

The very thing you are looking to escape from, you will transport right into your internet business, if you don’t change your mindset first.

Don’t go looking for the next big opportunity. Know that YOUR big opportunity is waiting for you, once YOU become clear on what you want in your business and in your life.

Then you can sit down and map out what it will look like. Then you start researching the businesses that come closest to that.

Then you are empowered, on the front foot and in charge of your business and your own destiny.

Remember , you can look at a thousand different opportunities and each one will try and sell you on why it is perfect for you. That is the job of marketing and it is needed to survive in any business.

There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s not eveil or underhanded. It just is what it is.

Understand this going in. Good marketers can be very persuasive, especially if you are in a hole and looking to climb your way out.

All your emotional hot buttons will be pushed, all your hopes raised, and before you know where you are , it’s a year later , you’ve made no real money and spent a lot more than you could afford.

Empower yourself from the get-go.

You can be a successful entrepreneur with your future safely in your own hands.

But you must own that and know what you want your business and life to look like.Then start researching the businesses that most closely match that.

Save yourself a few years on the learning curve and know your value and worth right now.

And watch out for those hot buttons !

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What Are The Best Internet Business Opportunities For Me ?

In my opinion internet business opportunities are very much horses for courses.

What works well for one person may not work well for another. What some person likes about their particular method or approach.Another may not.

There are so many ways that you can make money with an internet business that for me, the best way to begin is to sit down and write out exactly what you would like your ideal internet business to look like.

What will it be about, what industry will it be in, what will you be writing about , selling ? Who would be perspective partners , who would you like to work with ?

You see there are so many internet business opportunities out there, thousands and thousands and each one will tell you how it is the perfect one for you.

It is the job of all internet businesses to market themselves and attract new customers. So each one will shape their message exactly to you. So after reading about 10 prospective opportunities all with persuasive arguments about how theirs is the best model for you. You won’t know whether you are coming or going.

Again , this is why I suggest sitting down and taking the time to get very clear on what your own personal, ideal internet business would look like.

This can save you years of wasted effort and frustration.

Because the truth is , there are so many internet business opportunities out there that once you have a clear idea of what you would like your business to look like. You will be able to cross out a lot of them and it will leave you a much smaller amount to evaluate and see what suits you best.

From my experience the best online businesses out there are all focused on an area they love and enjoy writing about and building a business around. They know what they are talking about in their given field , whether it be internet marketing or dog training and that shines through.

You have to provide value and quality content to people that solves their problems. Then they may decide to buy your products or your recommendations.

But only if you show them you know what you are talking about and are not a greasy salesman trying to push them any old rubbish.

Remember that your strengths and areas of knowledge and interest are unique to you and this should be your starting point.

Services such as SBI , can then show you how to build a business around that, but your starting point must be you.

For example , some people are natural salesman, they are outgoing and enjoy talking to people all day , on the phone and face to face.

They are an ideal fit for MLM and Network Marketing, beacuse they can use their unique gifts.

I am not a natural salesman and don’t enjoy it. But I have been in Network Marketing because I was seduced by the sales pitch, that made it sound so easy. It took me a year of effort and wasted hours and money before I realised that it just wasn’t for me.

If i had just taken the time to sit down and clarify what my strengths and weaknesses were and what i wanted to spend my time doing, I could have saved myself a lot of aggravation.

But for most of us, this is the one step we don’t take. And it is the most important one.

There are internet business opportunities a plenty out there. But most are not right for our own particular talents and skill set.

We can take years of wasted effort and money , jumping from opportunity to opportunity to find this out, or we can start by defining what it is we want to do. What our talents and strengths are and then narrowing down the search to focus on just those businesses.

There is an internet business opportunity that is perfect for you. What would it look like ?

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

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