Archive | April, 2023

Someone asked me what I would do if I had to start my business over from scratch in 3 months. And that got me thinking – if I could take the experience I have and use it to start over from scratch, how would I do it?

Mind you, I wouldn’t have my mailing list. I wouldn’t have traffic, a following, name recognition – none of that. Just my experience as to what works and what doesn’t.

And let’s say that my life depends on me having a full time income at the end of those 3 months. No pressure there, right? But a lot of people find themselves in a very similar situation – make money or else. Or else they’re in trouble, or else the bills go unpaid, or else they’re facing losing their home, or… worse.

So with that in mind, here’s what I would do:

– I would stop looking for magic ‘make money online’ products and ideas. There is no secret combo of tricks and buttons to make money. It’s not a printing press. It’s a free market. And in that free market the way to make money is to stop focusing on the money, and simply make yourself indispensable to people who need your solution to their problem. Do that and the money follows.

When you’re focused on providing solutions, you no longer get distracted by all those shiny programs that steal your time and your money. I’m not saying all programs are bad. In fact, many of the “how-to” and “step-by-step” are useful as small pieces to the large puzzle. But that’s what they are – puzzle pieces – not full blown businesses.

– I would start with the outcome first. What is my market? My product or service? My goal? What is the solution I can provide that people will gladly pay for? What is THE ONE BIG BENEFIT I can provide to my customers? This is the starting point of everything that will come next.

– Next I would build my website. Odds are it’s going to be a blog. I’m not going to spend a world of time on setting this up because I only have 3 months. I’ll spend an hour maximum choosing the URL, I’ll get the hosting, I’ll choose a simple, streamlined theme, I’ll get the autoresponder and I’ll be ready to get started.

Yes, it takes money to get started. Not a lot, but some. You’re making an investment into your future. And if you think spending a couple of hundred dollars to set up your internet business is somehow a lot of money, consider the alternative: Spending at least that much each month just to drive to and from a job, or spending thousands for a brick and mortar business.

– Time to create content for that blog. But this isn’t about running a blog, it’s about running a business. The blog is just the tool to get the business done. So here’s what I would do: Look at the big benefit I deliver, and then write down all the stumbling blocks people encounter trying to get that big benefit. Then pick out 3 of these and write stellar posts on how to overcome those barriers. Then repurpose those posts into videos and podcasts, as well as an incentive to get people to join my list.

Notice I’m only creating 3 pieces of great content, not 300. And I’m repurposing those. Some folks spend years trying to get everything just right, but I’ve only got 3 months, so forget perfect and just get it done.

– Next, I would offer a service or coaching. Do you know why? Because it’s the quickest way to make real money. Offering products is great, but it takes time to create the products and more time to build the lists to promote the product to. When your list is small, it’s best to focus on services or coaching because it’s the fastest way to profit.

The blog posts should be highly focused on getting my prospects to take the next step, which is likely going to be a free consultation. It’s not easy to sell a $300 a month coaching program or a $1,000 website optimization package online. But it can be if you get them on the phone first.

– Now I’d focus on getting as many people on the phone as I can, because I know two things: The more prospects I get on the phone, the more likely it is that some of them will say yes. Plus, I’ll get better and better at finding out their needs and selling them on the solutions.

– With my first customers or clients I would deliver like a madman (or mad woman.) I’d blow them away and earn myself raving testimonials which I would then use to earn more clients.

I’d also be Mr. or Ms. Communication, with both my clients and everyone else on my list and in social media. If someone writes to me, I answer quickly. If they mention me in social media, I am thanking them the same day and so forth. This is a people business and my goal is to please the people and thus build my name and my reputation.

– As I’m servicing my clients, I’m learning what they need and want. And I’m using that information to create my first product which I will then sell to my list, and hopefully through affiliates for a long time to come.

Selling time for money is a great way to get started, but as soon as possible you want to be creating assets that you use to systematize your sales funnel and your income.

– Time to focus on traffic and more traffic. Social media, guest blog posting and paying for advertising are methods that can be used long term to drive people to your site and onto your lists. Each one has a learning curve, but as you improve you’ll see quick returns for your time and monetary investments.

And I’d build relationships with other marketers in my niche. Almost nothing drives good quality traffic faster than an expert in your niche telling their list about you or your offer.

– Lastly, I would continually strive to improve the benefits I deliver to my customers. Great today is only good tomorrow and not good enough the day after. I know I have to stay on top of my market and provide my customers with what they need and want even before they know they need and want it.

Bottom Line: By delivering the solutions people seek, I can build a fully functioning business in a short amount of time. And yes, by diligently following these steps, you too might be earning a full time income in 3 months.

Okay, this one will take a little legwork, but it is work you’ll be doing anyway. Only this time, it will pay off double. Here’s how it works: Every marketer winds up hosting downloads, pdf’s, zipped files, redirects, cloaked affiliate links, images and a bunch of other things. The way we do it is generally like this: yourdomain.com/buythisproductnow.

Now then, to make this work you’ll want to get a domain name that you use only for hosting all of this stuff. It should be a catchy name that directly pertains to your niche – something that arouses interest and curiosity all by itself. For example, TheNakedMarketer.com or TakeThisJobAndShoveIt.org.

Host everything on subdomains of this domain. As you get traffic to all of these subdomains, a funny thing is going to happen: You’re going to get traffic to your root domain as well. Even though you never send anyone there, people are going to get curious, lop off the part after the slash in your domain name and see what’s on the home page.

This is where you make your money. You can either put up a squeeze page that’s followed by a one time offer, or you can redirect it straight to an affiliate offer.

If you get 500 people a month going to this domain, and only one out of 5 joins your list, that’s still 1200 new subscribers a year. PLUS whatever sales you make from the one time offer. If you position your squeeze page correctly, you should get a conversion rate much, much closer to 50%.

Now then, if everyone you’re already sending to these downloads, redirects and so forth are already subscribers, then don’t use a squeeze page. Instead, redirect that domain straight to your highest converting offer of the moment. Even a handful of sales a month can translate into a thousand dollars or more per year, just for doing this one simple thing.

And since you have to place your downloads, redirects, cloaked links and everything else somewhere anyway, why not make some money from it?

Even if you’ve never made a video before in your life, you can do this. And once you have your videos, you can sell them, use them as lead magnets, use them as bonuses to affiliate products and so forth. You can even use them to establish your authority and credibility in your marketplace.

Here’s how you can quickly start making your own video products:

– Download the free screen capture video program called Snagit. You can download it at TechSmith or Google to find other websites that offer it.

– Decide on what kind of video or video set you’re making and the purpose of it. Is it a training? Or an info product? How about a video for a sales page, or maybe a lead generator on YouTube. It could be the video you put on your squeeze page, or the incentive you use to get people to join your list.

If you’re making a product, then keep it simple. Look at what is already selling so you’ll know ahead of time that there is a market for your new product. Look at what Kindle titles are selling, what info products are selling and so forth.

– Now that you know what you’re going to make, break it down into steps. If you’re making a product, for example, then break it down into a problem, analysis and solution. Each step will be one video of 5 minutes or less. If one of the steps takes longer than 5 minutes to explain, then break that step into two videos. Think of these as video mini-trainings.

– Create 3 to 4 PowerPoint or Keynote slides for each step, or plan a short demo for each step. If you’re using PowerPoint, then choose ‘browse by individual’ so it can be resized to any size screen. Write the steps as bullet points. Use 3 to 4 bullet points per slide.

– Open up Snagit and narrate as you make your video. The bullet points cue you as to what to say for each slide. Just talk your way through each step as though you were talking to someone there in the room.

– Once you’ve got your videos, you can either host them on your site, use a hosting service like Amazon, or place them on another site like YouTube. As you upload each video, grab the URL and paste it into a Word document in order: Step 1, Step 2 and so forth. Obviously if this is a paid product, you’ll want your videos to be hosted somewhere out of the public eye.

– Write short narrative descriptions for each video and place them above the corresponding links in your word document, to let your readers or buyers know what each video is all about. This document will act as your introduction to your product.

– Then save the document as a PDF. If you’re selling the series, you can deliver the PDF, and buyers can click the links and watch the videos.

You can even give away the first videos, and then offer to sell them access to the remaining videos. For example, on your PDF you show the first 3 video links, then you have descriptions of the rest of the videos but no links. If they buy the product, they get the links to those videos.

It’s a very simple way to make a video product, and you can do it all in less than a day.

Snagit can be used for a lot more than making products, and it’s an excellent way for new marketers to play with video and get results very, very quickly.

How do you get your readers to RACE to open your emails the moment they arrive in their inbox? Here’s one way to do it. It’s kind of sneaky but if you condition your readers properly, it can work really, really well.

First, you already know that paying customers are worth far, far more than freebie seekers. So why not make an offer to your freebie seekers that even they cannot refuse?

And in the process, why not get them to open (and read) your emails?

Here’s how it works: Every few days or every few emails, you have one of your links go to a wonderful $1 or $5 deal, but only for the first x number of people.

This might be a product that normally sells for a great deal more, a resale product, something you no longer sell, etc. So long as it still has real value, you can use it.

Your link can be obvious or disguised. For example, you might send an email promoting xyz product, but your link goes to your special offer until it’s sold out, and then it directs back to the xyz offer. And on your special offer page, be sure to have a prominent link to the offer mentioned in the email.

The following day, you can congratulate those who got the special deal, and remind the other readers that they, too, can grab these deals if they pay attention and if they’re fast.

You’ll want to condition your readers ahead of time to always be looking for these deals by opening your emails and clicking your links.

You can even get tricky. You can have the link go where you say it will, but then embed an Easter egg on the page that leads to the special offer. If they read your email, they’ll know where to find it.

There is a trade-off here. While you are conditioning your readers to open your emails and click your links, you’re also training them to look for special deals. So while your opens and clicks should rise dramatically, the money you make per open and per click could drop off slightly. You’ll want to test this.

Odds are you’ll still make more money because so many more people are opening and reading your emails and clicking your links. This means more sales of the products you promote, not just the special deals.