These are super easy to pull off, yet so effective you’ll be kicking yourself for not using them sooner…
LinkedIn: See Restricted LinkedIn Search Results
When you search for people on LinkedIn, you might not see the search results you’re looking for. This is because results can be restricted based on your membership level.
But there is a way around this…
The majority of LinkedIn profiles are indexed on Google.
Thus all you have to do is search Google to find what you’re looking for, like this:
Site:linkedin.com “name of person”
And let’s say you’re looking for social media managers in New York. Type this into Google:
Site:linkedin.com//pub “social media manager” New York
Now you can find the information LinkedIn is hiding from you.
Sweet!
Twitter: Send Tweets Longer Than 140 Characters
No, I don’t mean send readers to another site to see what you have to say. We’re going to keep our readers right there on Twitter by doing this:
Send out your tweet just like normal, ending it with a (…) or a cliffhanger.
For example,
“Did you know you can send out a Tweet that’s longer than 140 characters? First you tweet like usual. Then…”
Reply to your own tweet from your own stream. Seriously. Remove your @name so you don’t look like you’re talking to yourself (which would be weird!) Like this:
“…you reply to your own tweet in your Twitter stream. Remove the mention of your name and finish your tweet.”
Visitors see either tweet in your stream, click on ‘view conversation’ and see the full length tweet.
Facebook: Reduce Attack Posts and Salty Comments
The Internet can be a rowdy place, especially in social media. But if you go to the Page Moderation section of Page Settings, you’ll get some relief.
Simply enter common inflammatory words such as “unlike,” “clickbait,” “idiot” and so forth. Then when a banned word is used, the comment will be hidden from the general public.
The comment still appears to the person who left it who is none the wiser. And their friends will be able to see it as well, but no one else.
You can also hide comments from trolls after they’re posted. The troll will still see the comment, so unless he compares his account with someone else’s he’ll never know the comment is hidden.
And it’s better than deleting the comment and banning the troll, since they’ll then email you and complain you’re stepping on their freedom of speech.
YouTube: Research What Viewers Want
It can be difficult to move viewers off of YouTube and onto your website. But now you can use YouTube cards to poll your audience and find out what they really love.
Ask the right questions and you’ll discover what will make them go to your website and opt-in to your mailing list. Then simply present them with the strong call to action they need, and they’re yours.
Any Social Media Platform: Vastly Increase Your Social Media Followers
Share for Share or Shoutout for Shoutout (S4S) is basically forming mutually beneficial partnerships with other people in your niche.
You post each other’s content with a reference back to them. Sort of like emailing your list to tell them about another email marketer (also called a solo ad) only it’s done reciprocally on social media. And it costs nothing because you are doing it for each other.
But what if you’re new to the platform? If you have social clout on other platforms, you might do a cross promotion in which you promote them on your established platform and they promote you on your new platform. And the best thing about this technique is it works on any social media platform, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so forth.
There you have it – 5 genuine social media hacks that can make a real difference in your marketing. Pick your favorite and start using today.
Obviously if the subject line of your email doesn’t get the open, it’s all over. No clicks. No sales. No anything. But with the right subject line, you can get your readers to open and devour your emails. Here then are 20 eye-opening tips for subject lines that get results…
Short is better
40% of emails are opened on mobile, and they’ll get cut off if they’re too long. Aim for 50 characters or less.
Another reason shorter is better – it’s more eye-catching. Compare these two subject lines and ask yourself which would catch your eye:
“Warning!”
“Warning, that early morning habit of yours might be causing a serious problem”
For the best of both worlds, consider this… with most email programs, you can place “Warning!” in the subject line, and use “That early morning habit of yours might be causing a serious problem” as the first line of the email, which will show up as preview text.
As always, test.
Still don’t believe that shorter is better?
According to Contact Monkey, subject lines with 3 or more words are opened 15% less than those with 1-2 words.
Don’t get cute
Some emailers like to begin their subject lines with “fw:” because they believe it increases open rates. But according to Convince and Convert, it actually reduces opens by 17%.
However, Contact Monkey also reports that the top five subject lines in their recent study all included “Re:” This just goes to show you the importance of testing.
Create urgency
Subject lines that evoke a sense of urgency and exclusivity receive a 22% higher open rate, according to Email Institute. Use deadlines such as “today only” and “12 hour giveaway” to encourage readers to act now.
Do NOT use the word “newsletter”
A study from Adestra found that email subject lines containing the word “newsletter” received an 18.7% decrease in open rates.
Why? Maybe because recipients think it will take too long to read, or they can always read it later; which of course they seldom do.
Use the person’s name in the subject line
Yes, it’s an old school trick. And yes, for a while it seemed like it wasn’t working as well as it did.
But these days, people get so many emails that once again having this little bit of personalization can make a difference. In fact Adestra found that personalized subject lines were 22.2% more likely to be opened.
Just don’t do it every time or it will lose its effectiveness.
Words to avoid –
“Meeting” reduced opens by 7% according to Sidekick. “Quick” reduced opens by 17%. “You” reduced opens by 5%.
Words to use –
“Tomorrow” increased opens by 10% according to Sidekick. “Free” increased opens by 10%.
Test to find the right sender name
If the recipient doesn’t recognize the sender name or doesn’t have a positive association to it, the email likely won’t get opened. If your business name implies a benefit “Your Best Body” then try sending from that name, as well as “Joe Smith, Your Best Body” and your full name “Joe Smith.” See which one gets the most opens and then stick with that.
It creates a terrible impression, looks anything but personable, and prevents recipients from adding it to their address book.
Use list segmentation
You don’t want to send news of your children’s clothing sale to a guy who only purchased men’s work shirts. Personalize each person’s experience according to the action they’ve taken – which list they’ve joined and which product they’ve purchased.
Who says you need a subject line?
According to Sidekick, emails with no subject line were opened 8% more than those with a subject line. But use this trick sparingly, if at all. And remember, preview text will be visible, so make it good.
Make readers feel like they’re on the inside
The psychology of exclusivity is a prime motivator. Give your subscribers a sense of belonging to your group, your tribe or your inside circle.
In other words, make them feel special with subject lines like this:
– “An exclusive offer just for you” – “My personal gift to you” – “For members only, you’re invited!” – “Private: For beloved customers ONLY.”
3 words to use
Using the words “Sale,” “Video” or “New” in subject lines boost open rates.
Don’t bait and switch
Any promise made in the subject line needs to be fulfilled in the email.
For example, don’t put “27 Free Ebooks” in your subject line, and then try to sell them 27 Ebooks which will ‘seem like they’re free because they’ll make you so much money.’
I’ve actually received this email – and unsubscribed because of it.
Tell them what’s inside – and make it good
Did they just join your list to get a free book? Then your subject line might be, “Your new ebook inside!”
Are you announcing a new service that is perfect for them? “Joan, this service is tailor-made for you.”
Use numbers
“Increase your traffic 200%” is better than “How to increase your traffic.”
Use action verbs
Think of a subject line as a call to action – you want the language to inspire people to click on the email. By starting with an action verb, you’ve got a much greater chance of motivating them to click.
For example, which of these stimulate you to want to know more… “Notice: The New Nissans are here” or “Drive a Brand New Nissan Today”?
“Daily’ and “Weekly” in subject lines boost open rates
But the word “Monthly” hurts them, according to Adestra.
Oh yes…
The subject line word that increased opens by 61.8% according to Adestra?
Believe it or not, it’s the word “alert.”
Again, don’t over use it, but instead reserve it for those times when it really, really counts.
You motivated your readers to open your email with a great subject line, but now what?
It’s all about your first sentence. And your second, and your third… You’ve heard how the purpose of the first sentence in a sales letter is to get them to read the second, and the second is to get them to read the third. Treat your emails the same way, like every sentence counts. Because it does.
Google says that a healthy, active online community is one of the signals they look for to determine your blog’s quality. Comments are considered part of your content, so the better they are, the better your blog does in search results.
The problem is, of course, that a lot of comments are either spam or they don’t add anything to the conversation. For example, “Great post!” and “Love it!” might feed your ego, but that’s about it.
So how do you encourage people to leave thoughtful, well-written comments that add to the conversation?
By using a seed question.
Once you upload your post, be the first one to comment on your own post. For example, let’s say you wrote a blog post titled 7 Ways to Get Free Traffic.
Your comment might be, “Thanks for checking out my post. I thought I’d kick off discussion with a few questions about how you get free traffic. What’s your favorite technique? How much time and resources does it take? And how effective has it been so far? I would love to hear from you on this.”
When you do this, you’ll likely find that more of the comments you receive actually ADD to the conversation.
One more thing, and this is a little sneaky – up-vote your own comment to keep it at the top. Odds are others will begin up-voting it as well, but it doesn’t hurt to add your own up-votes. You want your comment to be the first one people read.
Try this technique out on the next blog post you write, and I bet you’ll significantly increase the quality and quantity of comments you receive.
Not only can this help you with the development of your own community and search engine rankings, you’ll also likely find the seeds of inspiration for future blog posts as you interact with your blog readers in this way.
You send out an email and someone writes back that you’re a liar. You post on your blog and someone says you’re an idiot. You create a new product and someone says it stinks and it doesn’t work. Congratulations, because you are doing something RIGHT.
If you’re trying to please everyone, you’re pleasing no one. People who are having a real and positive impact on the world are inevitably met with trolls and haters.
If no one experiences discomfort when they see your work, then your work isn’t having an impact.
Think of every successful person and company you know. Every single one of them has trolls and haters. And likely every single one of them knows that those trolls and haters are clear indications that they are on the right track.
Maybe you don’t have ‘haters’ after all. Maybe you have ‘fans in denial.’ It’s all a state of mind. Remember, when people hate on you, it’s often because you have something they want.
And here’s how to have fun with your haters: Realize that the less they like you, the more religiously they will be checking your page. So smile. And maybe write them this note:
“Dear haters, I have so much more for you to be mad at. Just be patient.”
A tiger doesn’t lose sleep over the opinion of sheep.
Is someone trying to bring you down? They’re already beneath you, and they probably secretly wish to BE you.
If you’re not doing it, you’ve certainly heard of it – segmenting your email list is based on things like when and where readers subscribed, products they’ve bought, geographical location and so forth. Should you be doing it? Absolutely! Segmenting your list is a great way to increase response rates and grow your profits.
It’s not just the segmenting you’ve got to think about, but also moving people from one list to another.
Example: Jane subscribes to get your free traffic report. A month later she buys your traffic product. But the week after that she also buys your video creation product, and the week after that she buys an affiliate product you recommended on product creation.
So what do you do – move her to a new list every time she buys? Keep her on more than one list? Get frustrated and decided to keep everyone on the same list?
List segmentation might seem complicated and messy, so let’s talk about why you would even bother with it in the first place. Then we’ll cover how to go about it, what you need to think about, and ways to make it pay off handsomely for you.
Why Segment Your List?
According to DMA, 77% of email marketing return on investment came from targeted, segmented campaigns. Segmented email campaigns produce, on average, 30% more opens and 50% more click-thru’s compared to untargeted email campaigns. That alone might convince you to start segmenting your lists.
Let’s say you have 1000 people on your list. 300 of those people purchased an exercise guide on using stretch bands. The other 700 didn’t buy the guide.
If you send an email to the 300 offering them a discount on the exercise stretch bands to go with the book they purchased, you’ll likely get a good response. And if you send an email to the 700 offering a discount on a package deal of the book and the bands, you’ll likely get a good response.
But if you sent an email to both lists with a more generic offer, your response rate would go down. You can see how segmenting your list can work to your advantage.
Here’s how you might think of list segmentation: Pulling out portions of your list who are the most likely to respond to certain offers, and then giving them those offers. For example, you might have a list of 10,000 people who are interested in online marketing. But certain people on that list are especially interested in video marketing, while others aren’t. Some are interested in email marketing, while others aren’t. And some are interested in affiliate marketing, while others aren’t.
If you can segment your list to send the right offers to the right people, your response will go through the roof.
“But can’t I just send all the offers to all my subscribers?”
You can, but it’s counter-productive for several reasons:
First, readers are less likely to open any of your emails if they aren’t tailored to their interests. If you’re sending every offer under the sun, they’re going to realize that most of your emails don’t contain anything relevant to them. They won’t open all of your emails just to find the few that do pertain to them.
Second, the math is terrible if you send everyone the same offer. Imagine you have subscribers with 5 different interests. You could send out 5 different emails on the same day, each tailored to their specific interest, and get sales on 5 different products. But if you sent out the same email to all of them, then 4 out of 5 will have no interest and won’t buy anything.
Third, if you don’t segment then you’ll inevitably send out offers to people who already purchased that product. And that’s bad.
Imagine you’re the list subscriber. You buy product X, and a few days later you get an email suggesting you go buy the product you just bought. Now you’re thinking this marketer is an idiot.
Or maybe after you buy the product, the price goes down. Now you’re steamed. You paid $99 last week, and now you get an email saying the product is on special for $79. Grrrrr.
Sure, you write and ask for a $20 refund and you probably get it. But what happens from here on out? You don’t buy anything because you figure a better offer will be coming next week.
One more scenario – you buy a product and forget about it. Then later you get an offer for that product, buy it and… Oops! You realize you’ve just been snookered into buying the same product twice. Sure, you get a refund on the second one, but how do you feel about the seller? Not too great.
The list of reasons to segment go on, but let’s talk about…
How to segment your lists
In a word – autoresponders. Your list management service (autoresponder) holds the keys to segmenting. You can create tags, so that when a subscriber takes a particular action, they get tagged. For example, when they buy product X, they are tagged so they no longer receive emails promoting product X.
You can create automations, so when someone buys product X, they get moved into the buyer’s sequence. This is yet another reason to list segment – you can send a series of emails to product buyers that makes sure they get the most out of that product, thereby reducing refunds.
You can create separate sequences for each product you promote, moving your readers from one sequence to the next based upon their actions and preferences. Plus you can create separate sequences based on preferences, what lead magnet they signed up to receive and so forth. With the technology available in services such as Aweber and Ontraport, you’re only limited by your imagination and the desires of your readers.
Get creative in segmenting
Sometimes you’ll need to get creative, such as offering a bonus package that they need to enter their email address to receive. This will give you a list of buyers to a particular affiliate product you’ve promoted.
Use opt-in forms that offer bonuses, freebies, guarantees, support and anything else you can think of to get readers and product buyers to subscribe to segmented lists.
Always be thinking – how can I segment my list so I get them the information and offers they want to receive?
What can you segment?
This is where it gets fun, challenging and even exciting.
There are so many ways to segment your lists, and there are no hard and fast rules on this. Really you need to decide what is best for you, your list and your niche.
Here’s some ways to segment your lists…
Purchaser or non-purchaser – have they made a purchase? How long ago? If it’s been a long time, you’ll want to give them a great offer to get them buying from you again. If they purchased recently, you might want to reward them somehow to keep them active.
How active – have they clicked a link in your emails in the past month? Generally you want to make more generous offers to the least active subscribers, to get them interacting and purchasing again.
Customer value – did they purchase a $10 product? $100 product? How much they’ve spent with you can determine what offers you send them. Be sure to speak to your best customers in a way that shows how important they are to you.
Geographical location – depending on your niche, this can be a terrific way to speak to people using their local lingo, customs and so forth to better relate to them and push more emotional buttons.
A good example would be sending out special emails to the U.S. for things like Thanksgiving and Fourth of July, or Boxing Day in the U.K or Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand.
Area of interest – even if you build your list with a somewhat generic lead magnet, you can still segment your list based on interests. You can do this by making an offer – free or paid – and then segmenting those who click the link.
For example, your lead magnet is online marketing (very generic) and then you make offers to your main list for a free video on traffic generation, a report on making money with blogging, and a paid offer for a product creation course. Now you’ve got 3 separate list segments that are niched down.
Content format – some prefer written content such as blog posts and pdf’s. Others prefer podcasts, or video, or webinars. If you know how certain segments of your list prefer to consume their content, you can tailor future offerings accordingly.
Stages in the Sales Cycle – giving new subscribers an introductory email series is a great idea. This introduces them to you and your business and gets them excited for more. Then you might even give them a choice of what they would like to receive next.
This barely scratches the surface of different ways to segment your lists, but you get the idea.
Segmenting tips, ideas and monetization…
Making the same offer to your entire list? Segment anyway. Let’s say you’re promoting a course on traffic generation strategies to your entire online marketing list, which is segmented into 3 parts as follows:
– People interested in video marketing – People interested in blogging – People interested in Amazon affiliate sites
Of course you could send out the same email to everyone, but why would you?
Instead, talk about using videos to generate traffic to your video list. For your blogging list, talk about driving more traffic to blogs. And for your Amazon affiliate list, talk about driving traffic to Amazon affiliate sites.
Remember to tailor the subject lines to each segmented niche as well. You might be shocked at the improvement in your open rates, clicks and sales.
Send new subscribers your old offers.
Let’s say you launched a new product 60 days ago. Everyone on your list at that time received several emails about the product. But now you have new subscribers on your list – what to do? Send an email (or 2) just to them, telling them about the product. The point is to tell new subscribers about offers, products and opportunities they haven’t seen yet.
Segment product buyers who didn’t purchase the upsell.
Make them another offer to buy the upsell they missed – perhaps with an additional discount or an added bonus.
Segment affiliate product buyers based on product creator.
If you sold a hundred copies of Joe Smith’s course to your list, those buyers might want to know about everything else Joe Smith puts out. And right there in the email, you can remind them that they bought Joe Smith’s course back in June.
You can also segment based on interest – that is, people who clicked the link in the email to check out Joe Smith’s course, but didn’t necessarily buy. Remind them of their interest in Joe’s products.
Segment based on clicks.
Readers click a link to check out a product – send them a follow up email reminding them of their interest and that the sale is ending.
Last of all, get creative.
What can you offer certain segments of your list that will have them shouting ‘YES!’ The more segmented you make your lists, the more specific and creative you can get with your offers.
It’s possible to add another $1,000 – $2,000 a month or more to your bottom line if you live in the right location and own a car or truck.
In fact, some people actually lease a car or two in order to take advantage of these opportunities. And it makes sense: If you can lease a car for, say, $400 a month and make $2,000 a month, why not do it?
No doubt you’ve heard of Uber and Lyft, both of which allow you to start your own taxi service. But that’s not what we’re talking about here.
Instead, we’ve researched peer-to-peer sites where you can rent out your car to travelers for days and even weeks at a time while you focus on your internet business. Newer cars earn the most, as do popular travel destinations.
Turo – you can rent out your car, truck, SUV or minivan. Most rentals are at least a week. You might need to pick the person up or drop them off somewhere. Turo carries a $1 million liability insurance policy on every vehicle which covers damage and theft. turo.com
GetAround – similar to Turo, with reports of car owners earning up to $10,000 a year. www.getaround.com
Outdoorsy – do you have an RV sitting idle? Rent it out and earn $150 to $350 per day. The company handles bookings and payments and again carries $1 million in insurance. www.outdoorsy.com
EasyCar Club – this is the UK-based peer-to-peer car hire service. carclub.easycar.com
Do you use your car too much to rent it out? Then try a vehicle advertising service.
Wrapify – your car gets covered with a giant advertisement and you earn based on how much you drive. A typical commuter might earn $50 to $100 a week – which may potentially cover your car payment. www.wrapify.com
Carvertise – been around since 2012 and works like Wrapify. www.carvertise.com
None of these will make you rich, but they can add significant income to your bottom line while you’re growing your online business.
The Streisand effect is the name given for a phenomena that can be used for good or evil – for your own advantage or against you.
In 2003 Barbra Streisand’s lawyer sent a cease and desist letter to the California Coastal Records Project regarding an aerial photo of her Malibu beach mansion on the website. The website operators rejected that letter and all follow up letters and the Los Angeles Superior Court dismissed the frivolous suit.
Here’s what happened: The previously little-known CCRP website includes more than 12 THOUSAND overlapping aerial photos of the entire California coastline. Plus they house an additional 55,000 photos that date back as far as 1972.
Streisand was upset that her mansion was visible in one of these 67,000 aerial shots.
Had she done nothing, likely no one would have ever noticed or cared. But because of the lawsuit, now everyone heard about the site and the photo. Today, you can find that exact photo distributed all over the Internet.
Anytime anything is censored on the Internet, it’s immediately picked up by other websites. Get it removed from one site, it shows up on 10 new sites. Get it removed from those, and it’s on a hundred sites and in the news.
Banned books become highly popular. Movies that get protested see box office surges. Comedians, musicians and magazine publishers prosecuted for “obscenity” become folk heroes. (Lenny Bruce, Jim Morrison and Larry Flint, for example.)
Watergate wouldn’t have made much more than a ripple if it hadn’t been covered up. But six months of lies brought down an entire presidency.
Now then – why is this important to you and your business?
Two reasons. First, it can bite you if you’re not careful. Is there something you don’t want known? Did someone say something really rotten about you or your business that people could believe? Then it might be in your best interest not to make a big deal of it.
In the same vein – did you make a major mistake? Rather than trying to cover it up, it might be best to admit it immediately so it never becomes an Internet sensation.
Second reason and food for thought: How can you use the Streisand Effect to build your business?
Every year PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) submits an over-the-top TV advertisement for inclusion in the Super Bowl. It’s often highly sexually-suggestive, and usually the network flat out refuses to run it.
PETA lets it be known their commercial was banned, and overnight it becomes an internet sensation. And they didn’t have to pay the outrageous Super Bowl ad fee, either. Now that’s smart.
Greenpeace wrote a pamphlet critical of McDonald’s. McDonald’s sued and the case was in the news for over 10 years; the longest libel trial in English history. Thanks to the lawsuit, that little pamphlet and its contents became famous.
And the icing on the cake was when the court ruled the activists had not engaged in libel – now the claims McDonald’s fought to suppress had the tacit backing of the English courts.
Books, albums and movies that are banned by churches, religious groups and so forth nearly always see their sales skyrocket with the ensuing publicity.
Are you getting any ideas? I can’t give you a step-by-step here on what you might do – that depends entirely on your business. But you might keep the Streisand Effect in mind.
Sooner or later you’ll find an honest and ethical opportunity to use it to your advantage, and it’s up to you to grab that opportunity when it happens.
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.
Hi, it’s Seth and this is my new website. Stay tuned… I’ll have great things to share!
For starters, here’s an article I think you’ll enjoy…
It’s called: “Make the Leap to Home Business Success”
If you are going to build a successful home business, you need 3 “intangibles.” These are things that must come from WITHIN you.
===> Intangible 1 <===
First, you must have a strong WHY.
Why must you make a home business work? What’s driving you? What is it that you CAN’T have in your life anymore and/or what is it that you absolutely MUST HAVE now?
For me, I couldn’t stand working 12+ hours a day anymore and missing the experience of my children growing up. I also absolutely HAD TO HAVE the freedom of being able to control my life and finances through a little box that I could carry with me anywhere in the world and not be tied to anyone’s time pressures or demands but my own. That was my carrot and my stick. I felt a great pain deep in my gut of missing out on my children’s lives and the incredible freedom that succeeding in this business would provide for me. I found my why. You MUST find yours.
===> Intangible 2 <===
You must BELIEVE that it is possible.
If you don’t believe that it’s POSSIBLE for you to succeed in a home business or make your living on the Internet, you won’t. It’s that simple.
For me, figuring out that it was possible was just a matter of realizing that many other people were ALREADY making great money with a home business online. If they could do it, I could too. It would just be a matter of figuring out what those people were doing and then adapting it to my situation.
There is no shortage of undeniable PROOF that people (millions of them) are making money online in many different ways. Just get online and do some research and you’ll find countless testimonials and stories of REAL PEOPLE making real money on the Internet. Or head to your local bookstore and you’ll find the same documented evidence of this fact. Truth is, it’s getting easier and easier to start and succeed in a home based business. This is primarily because of the Internet and affiliate marketing.
I’ve always said that “affiliate marketing” is the job of the future. In the “old” days, you had to go to a potential employer, apply for the position and hope for the best. Now you can simply go to any company you want, fill out their affiliate application and start work immediately. Affiliates are the new working class. Believe me, making money with affiliate programs or making your living on the Internet is WAY MORE than possible. It is pretty much (or will be soon enough) unavoidable now. Affiliate marketing is the “job” of the future that’s here TODAY.
===> Intangible 3 <===
You must be willing to MAKE THE LEAP.
Ready, FIRE, then aim… This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with an Internet home business.
That’s backwards for most people who like to aim before they fire. The fact is the Internet is a moving target… The only thing constant about it is change. You need to stop analyzing the game and simply jump into it. You can’t learn from the outside… You have to be IN THE RING to truly understand it.
The lesson here is that you will never really be READY to start a home based business. You simply have to start one. This is what I call “Making the Leap.”
The good news is that the cost of failure on the Internet is very small. In the “brick and mortar” world you need to evaluate things very carefully before you decide to open up a business. It’s almost always necessary to invest thousands of dollars to get an offline business off the ground. However, on the Internet you can often start a successful business for less than $100. In fact, Plug-In Profit Site is a really good example of this.
You simply need get IN THE GAME… Each moment that you stay “out there,” you’re wasting valuable time that you could be learning and skills necessary to become a successful affiliate marketer. In fact, if you’re not in the game yet, you’re ALREADY behind the times. Come on… You can do it! Make the leap to becoming a successful home based business owner today!
About the author:Stone Evans was a washed up restaurant worker desperately searching for a way to save his family when he discovered the internet and affiliate marketing… 24 months later he finally cracked the code and started earning over $10,000 per month. Now the same system that saved him is available to you here >>
