Once there was a king who wanted to bathe in a giant swimming pool of milk rather than water… He had heard it was great for your skin, but it was too large a task to do alone.
He first told some of his workers to dig a pond. Once the pond was dug, the king made an announcement to his people saying that one person from each household had to bring a glass of milk during the night and pour it into the pond. So, in his estimations, the pond should be full of milk by the morning.
After receiving the order, everyone went home. One man prepared to take the milk during the night but milk was very rare in this town and he wanted to keep it. He thought that since everyone would bring milk, he could just use a glass of water and pour it inside the pond instead. Surely, because it would be dark at night, no one would even notice. So he quickly went and poured the water in the pond and came back happy.
In the morning, the king came to visit the pond and to his anger, the pond was only filled with pure water! What happened was that everyone was thinking the same thoughts as the other man that “I don’t have to put the milk, someone else will do it.”
When it comes to business help, do not think that others will take care of it all for you. I’m not saying not to accept help where you can get it. Help is important, but remember that it starts with you. If you don’t do things for yourself or at least oversee them, no one else will do it and if they do, you can’t complain that they did it wrong because you used something or someone outside of yourself to make it work.
There are only so many experts, workers, software, systems etc. that you can use to get ahead, all that will come later when you are rolling in your fortune. Meanwhile, if you want quality, get your hands dirty, do the learning, do the work and feel genuinely rewarded from it. This will avoid mistakes caused by others, it will encourage you to take responsibility and it will give you a sense of achievement.
If you have many automatic processes working for you and they are performing well, that’s great. But if there is anywhere in your life that you can step in and say – “Can I do more here? What can I do today that I didn’t bother with yesterday? What extra mile of work can I put in just for now?” Then every day will have purpose and every moment will feel in your control.
Life and business is all about what YOU put into it, so be sure you are doing everything you can every single day to actualize your full potential. Yes, leverage the help of others along the way when needed to improve efficiency, but never fully rely on others. Your life is what you make it, so make it ALL that it can be!
Many people think that they need to have all the answers to be successful in any capacity; business wise or in life. While we all require some knowledge, there are some people in the world that have made it without.
That is, without qualifications, studying, school or even full expert knowledge of the field they want to be in. In fact, the majority of the world’s richest people know that they don’t need to have all the answers in order to gain success, and what’s more, they use that to their advantage.
They may have a certain specialism in their field, but using Henry Ford as an example, having a solid team of people who fill out your knowledge gaps is far more important than having all the answers for yourself. Henry Ford was the founder of Ford Motor Cars and was a very wealthy man in his time.
A Chicago paper published some articles after the First World War, claiming that Henry Ford was an “ignorant pacifist”. Mr. Ford rejected the idea that he was ignorant and retaliated by bringing a libel suit against the paper, even taking the not-so-common approach of putting himself on the witness stand to prove that he was in fact, a very clever man with nothing to hide.
The court lawyers asked Mr. Ford a series of pointless general knowledge questions and accused him of being a man who runs a car company with no real knowledge or experience with cars, the industry, academics or mechanics. The answer he gave silenced the court and became a very famous statement…
“If I should really WANT to answer the foolish question you have just asked, or any of the other questions you have been asking me, let me remind you that I have a row of electric push-buttons on my desk, and by pushing the right button, I can summon to my aid men who can answer ANY question I desire to ask concerning the business to which I am devoting most of my efforts. Now, will you kindly tell me, WHY I should clutter up my mind with general knowledge, for the purpose of being able to answer questions, when I have men around me who can supply any knowledge I require?”
This retort was genius. The fact was – Ford didn’t have all the answers and that was OK. He had instead kept his mind free from clutter and employed experts in their fields to answer his questions while he focused on keeping his company running smoothly. If he needed to know about brakes, he would push the button for that expert, if he needed someone to explain engines to him, he had another. He used the specialized knowledge of others as an external brain to store extra information in and it made him the success he was.
You Too Can Be Like Henry Ford
We now live in the greatest information age of our time. You can Google any question you may have, so without qualifications – we are becoming experts just by searching.
The point is this – do not avoid a certain field or reject a job opportunity or investment because you feel you are not up to scratch, use other experts and research to find out as much as you can about your industry. Knowledge is power. If you think you don’t have it and that’s stopping you from moving forward, find someone who does and get up to speed.
Getting traffic to your squeeze page, website and sales pages is terrific. But if that traffic doesn’t convert, what good is it doing you? Here are 22 proven strategies to get your visitors to do what you want – whether that’s giving you their email address, sharing your content on social media or buying your products.
Before you read the following, allow me to offer 3 words of caution: Empty your cup. Just as a full tea cup can hold no more, a closed mind can’t increase conversions.
Imagine 3 people read this article. The first person says, “I’ve heard some of these before,” and dismisses the entire list. But is he doing these things? No. Are his conversions increasing? No. The second person reads this list and says, “These won’t work.” Again, her cup is full and her conversions never improve. The third person? Is you. You read through these and say, “That’s a good idea, yeah, I’ve been meaning to do that. I’m glad for the reminder.”
And then you get busy. Think your conversions will improve? Absolutely.
Let’s get started…
→ Use testimonials and case studies. A lot. Don’t just have a section for testimonials – work them into your copy, into your videos, everywhere.
→ If you don’t have testimonials and case studies, get some. Even if it means giving your product or service away or at a steep discount.
→ Use a guarantee. Or two. Or three. What sounds better, “If you’re not happy, you get your money back” or “You are 100% covered by our TRIPLE guarantee.”
→ Don’t make your guarantee contingent on anything but their satisfaction. Don’t say, “When you do every step in the program exactly as outlined, we guarantee you will get x results.” Instead, tell them if they so much as don’t like the font, they are fully covered. This takes all the fear away. Yes, refunds may increase slightly. But sales will increase even more.
→ Give them an ongoing bonus. Refunds do affect your true conversion rate, so reduce refunds by offering a terrific bonus that they get only if they don’t refund. For example, a valuable year-long membership can work well.
→ Use action verbs. Instead of, “Get yours today,” say, “Grab yours” “Reserve yours” or “Claim yours today.”
→ Reaffirm the sale repeatedly. Write an autoresponder sequence that kicks in after the sale. Each email should reaffirm how smart they were to buy the product, provide testimonials and show them something about the product they may have missed. “Did you see the trick in video 4 on how to get your mother-in-law to stop harping on you? Sally Smith used this exact technique and here’s what happened…”
→ On opt-in forms, use as few fields as possible. If you can just ask for their email address and first name, do it. If you need more info, consider asking for it later.
→ Use a two part opt-in. The first page announces the bonus and has a button to grab their copy. They click the button and it takes them to the second page where they put in their email address. These almost always out-perform one page opt-ins.
→ Pay a graphic designer to create a professional looking cover. Whether you’re giving away a book or selling a course, your cover should look as good as a New York Times Best Seller. If it does, your conversions will increase – sometimes dramatically.
→ Test and retest possible headlines. Sure, you’ve heard it before. But how many headlines have you tested on your squeeze page? Your sales page? It’s possible there is a headline that will literally double or even triple your conversions – you just need to find it.
→ Use video. On landing pages and sales pages, have a short, simple video showing that there is indeed a real live person behind the brand.
→ Create dedicated landing page for… everything. You’re doing a guest blog post? Create a page that says, “Welcome readers of ABC blog.” You’re running a PPC ad? Create a dedicated page that perfectly matches what the ad said.
→ Include subscriber or social media follower counts. Anytime you can provide positive social proof, you’ll increase conversions. That said, if you have 5 followers or 10 subscribers, wait until your numbers are more impressive to share them with the world.
→ Use strong, clear calls to action. Never assume they’ll fill out the form if you don’t tell them to.
→ Lose the hype and “get real.” Customers can spot hype a mile away. So instead of “BUY THIS NOW,” try, “If you want (benefit) then I’ve found ABC product works well.” Then tell them why it’s not for everyone.
→ Prevent them from comparison shopping. Let them know that your product has no competition because you do things or offer things no one else does. (Do this only if it’s true. If it’s not true, make it true.)
→ Get visitors excited. Use emotionally charged language, tell stories and create desire. Get visitors eager to have your product or service.
→ Don’t use boring generic images. You know the ones – a stick figure at a computer, 4 people in suits sitting around a table, a lightbulb, etc. Use interesting images that capture attention and make the visitor look twice.
→ Test a single column layout. MECLabs tested having a sidebar versus not having a sidebar. The version with only one column won – and generated an astonishing 681% increase in conversions. But further tests showed this is not always the case – thus the need for testing it on your own pages.
→ Include headshots on your webpages. Again you want to show there is a real person behind the brand.
→ Spend serious time crafting your “about me” page. Include your bio, come across as a real person, include plenty of contact info, and talk about what you want to help the reader accomplish. Done right, your “about me” page can be your greatest selling tool.
Pick out exactly 3 and write them down. Do one of them today, one tomorrow and the third on the following day.
Then pat yourself on the back, because you’ve just done more to increase your conversions than 95% of marketers out there.
Sometimes the shortest path to your next great internet marketing idea can be found in the annals of public relations history. I’ve sorted through 100 different PR stunts to bring you the most inspiring and entertaining exploits to stimulate your thinking and give you that one great idea you’re searching for.
1929 – Torch of Freedom anyone?
There was a time when it was not socially acceptable for women to smoke cigarettes in public, because it wasn’t considered ‘lady-like.’
So in 1929 Edward Bernay, one of the fathers of PR, got good looking women to light up cigarettes in New York’s Easter Parade, and he hired photographers to send the photos to news outlets around the world. He also renamed cigarettes “Torches of Freedom” for the women’s liberation movement. Sales of cigarettes to women skyrocketed.
How can we use this? First, if it appears that your product is being used by others, then prospects are more likely to buy it. It’s social proof, and it can be highly effective. Second, take great care when naming your product. Would you smoke a cancer stick, coffin nail or lung buster? Of course not. But if you were a woman in 1929, or even 1990 when they revived the ‘torches of freedom’ name, you might very well smoke it.
1986 – Human chain for charity
More than 7 million people across 16 states made a human chain to raise money for the hungry and homeless. Even President Reagan joined in, with everyone paying $10 for their spot in the chain. (Do the math!)
How can we use this? With social media, it would be easier than ever to organize something like this to raise money. Your website would of course be the sponsor. Imagine the free publicity! Tie it to a current event, such as relief for a natural disaster.
1996 – Taco Bell buys Liberty Bell
Taco Bell took out a New York Times ad that stated, “Taco Bell Buys the Liberty Bell.” The ad explained that they were renaming the historic landmark the, “Taco Liberty Bell.” The publicity was enormous as people rushed to complain. By noon Taco Bell admitted it was an April Fool’s joke. Over a thousand media outlets covered the story, and millions of dollars in additional sales were generated over the next two days.
How can we use this? The possibilities are endless. You can spread your ‘news’ on the internet or actually take out an ad like Taco Bell did, or both. You might announce that your website has just purchased a historic landmark, or is going to do something at a landmark (leap the Grand Canyon on your brand of vacuums?) or declare national naked day or whatever your imagination inspires you do to. The trick is to tie it to your brand like Taco Bell did.
1998 – Burger King announces left handed Sandwich
How people fell for this one I don’t know. Burger King announced they’d redesigned the Whopper to make a version better suited to the needs of left handed people. It was of course an April Fool’s joke, but that didn’t stop 32 million Americans from going to Burger King that day.
How we can use this – a website for left handed people? Tall people? Red-headed people? How about your products – maybe you can modify them to suit a special group of people. For example (and I’m being serious for a moment) you could take your marketing course and tailor it just to chiropractors, just to dentists, just to plumbers, etc.
And in a humorous April 1st mode of thinking, you might claim to alter your books for dyslexics, swapping the words around so when they’re read by dyslexics they come out right. Make sure you’re on the correct side of political correctness if you try something like this.
1999 – Half.com buys town for $100,000, sells company for $300 million
Half.com paid a small town in Oregon, called Halfway, to change its name to Half for one year. They gave the town of Half $100,000 and a package of other financial subsidiaries. The publicity on this exploded, and shortly thereafter Ebay bought the company for $300 million.
How we can use this – obviously most of us can’t afford $100,000 to buy a town for a year, although if we could, the return on investment could be mind boggling if Half.com’s experience is any indication.
You might pick out a very, very small town – Ideally one that isn’t even incorporated – and offer some kind of package (perhaps a marketing package to tourists?) If they will change their name to your website url. The key here is of course the free publicity, not only for your site but also for the town itself. And you can always offer a piece of the pie to the town should you sell your site for big bucks due to the free coverage you receive.
2000 – BA Can’t Get It Up
British Airways sponsored the London Eye (the ferris wheel) but they had an issue getting the wheel up. After several attempts while the press was watching, BA had a plane fly over with a banner that read, “BA can’t get it up,” turning a PR nightmare into a good laugh.
How we can use this – when everything is going wrong, find a way to laugh at yourself and others won’t mind. And more specifically, next time your site is down, go ahead and email your list and tell them you can’t get it up. They’ll enjoy a good laugh and they won’t soon forget you or your site.
2008 – Shreddies Goes from Squares to Diamonds
Shreddies – a 70 year old breakfast cereal – got people talking about their product again when they turned their square cereal 45 degrees. This was the “new and improved Shreddies,” and tons of positive feedback poured in. Customers even reported the diamonds tasted better than the squares.
How we can use this – rename your products, rename features on your products, put a new spin on something old… seriously this one should set your brain on fire with possibilities.
If tongue-in-cheek claiming that a cereal has changed shape by rotating it 45 degrees can create an influx of free PR and boost sales, imagine what you can do.
2012 – Pretending to Get Publicity
Ryan Holiday tried to get free press simply as a joke. He used Help a Reporter Out to find reporters needing experts for their stories. Then he made up whatever the reporters wanted to know, resulting in his being featured in numerous articles and news stories. His goal? Simply to get his name out there.
How we can use this – if Holiday could get publicity for fake purposes, imagine what you can do with your legitimate expertise. Get registered on HARO and then look for reporters who need exactly the kind of information you can supply them with. And if you can add in a little humor into your interviews, all the better.
There you have it – 8 crazy PR stunts that worked like a charm. Start small, think out of the box, and don’t be afraid to try something new, silly or charming. The worst that could happen is nobody notices. But you might just get free publicity for your business, an influx of new subscribers and customers and a day in the spotlight.
You’ve got a ton of stuff to do to set up your funnel…
→ create a lead magnet → write squeeze page copy → build a squeeze page → install tracking software → write follow up emails → create an OTO → create an OTO sales page → create an OTO download page
And so forth and so on.
It’s a big project, and when confronted with such a big project, what do most people do? They start on something – maybe the lead magnet – but they hit a snag.
So they set it aside and work on something else; maybe the squeeze page. But now they have questions about how to do it.
So they start on the follow up emails…
You see where this is going. Does it sound familiar?
Here’s the 79 cent method to getting stuff done:
Buy a pack of index cards.
Break down everything you need to do into steps.
Write each step on a card, in order.
Now pick up the top card and lay it right in front of you.
Put the rest of the stack inside your desk.
You don’t get card #2 until you finish card #1.
No exceptions.
NO exceptions.
Now when you run into an obstacle, you’ll find ways to get through it or around it so you can get that card off of your desk and move onto the next one.
Having trouble setting up the squeeze page? Go to Google for answers, or check YouTube for a ‘how-to’ video.
Just.Get.It.Done.
I noticed 2 things back when I first used this method. First, I got things done. It was great! And such a relief. Second, I built confidence. Every time I ran into an obstacle, I found the answer and powered through. I can’t tell you what that did for my belief in my ability to make things happen.
After awhile, I couldn’t wait to get to the next ‘problem’ so I could solve it.
And even today, if I notice I’m procrastinating on a project because it seems too big, I pull out my blank index cards and start writing.
Did you know that more than half of all new reviews submitted to Amazon are incentivized reviews? Third party review clubs have popped up all over the internet. “Get Products in Exchange for Reviewing them Online” they tell their visitors.
According to Amazon, this is acceptable as long as the reviewer discloses this fact. But here’s the major flaw in the system – product owners can CHOOSE who reviews their products. Thus reviewers are motivated to post positive reviews, so they can continue to receive free stuff.
Post an honest review that’s not positive, and you may never receive a freebie again. Post a positive review regardless of whether or not it’s honest, and the free stuff keeps coming.
For example, one reviewer has over 1,600 reviews, all of which are 5 star except for one lone four star review.
So how biased are these reviews? ReviewMeta analyzes online reviews and helps identify which ones are honest and which ones are less than honest.
On a study of 1.7 million reviews on 807 products…
– 7% received a lower rating from their incentivized reviews
– 6% received the same rating from their incentivized reviews
– 87% received a higher rating from their incentivized reviews
So what does this mean for you?
If you are selling products on Amazon, you can get incentivized reviews and they will almost assuredly boost your star rating.
But beware. As more and more shoppers realize what’s happening, there is a possibility it could hurt your product sales in the long run.
Best bet: Get incentivized reviews in the beginning just to get your first reviews. After all, a dozen or so incentivized reviews still looks better than no reviews.
From then on, let your reviews happen naturally.
And if you are buying a product on Amazon, you might want to insert the URL into the ReviewMeta analyzer to see what the reviews say minus the incentivized reviews.
For example, Xfinity Internet had an original rating of 3.7 stars. But the adjusted rating when you remove incentivized ratings is just 1.4. Ouch.
Marketers beware – there is no substitute for having a genuinely great product.
Not as much as you might think. Both marketers have the same access to the internet. Both have the same access to software, websites, plugins, courses, etc. And both have the same access to writers, graphic artists and techies. So what’s the difference?
Why does one earn 100 times more than the other?
3 things…
Belief and perseverance – at one time, the person earning 6 figures a month wasn’t earning a cent online. But because they BELIEVED they could do it, they persevered. They stuck to it and they kept going until they were successful.
Ideas – if we all have access to the same resources on the web, then the difference can be as simple as the one resource we have that no one else shares – our mind.
When you carry a notebook with you and jot down several ideas a day, every day, your mind becomes an idea machine. And some of those ideas are truly worth millions. They don’t even have to be original ideas. Sometimes a small tweak to an existing idea can make all the difference.
Ever notice how one app sells half a million copies and a very similar app doesn’t sell 50 copies? What’s the difference? Something small. Maybe how it was slanted, how it was presented, or even the name can make all the difference.
One more thing about your own ideas – you tend to love them more, and thus work harder to see them to fruition. They’re like your own children versus someone else’s kids. You’ll work hard and longer to support them and see them change the world.
Write down your ideas and hang onto them. Read them often. They can truly make the difference between being broke and being rich.
Experience – there is no substitute for experience. It’s experience that brings confidence to keep growing.
You start one small project and it’s a success. So you start a bigger project, and it fails. But from the failure you learn something really important.
So on your third project, you take what you learned from the first two and you have a breakthrough, and so it goes.
One last thing that makes the difference – Action. Doing what it takes. Hard work as well as smart work.
Now someone out there just read these words and said, ‘bullshit.’ Why? Because I didn’t talk about Luck. Sure, luck plays a part. Some people are lucky enough to be born rich. Some people are lucky enough to get really terrific breaks. For the other 98.5% of us, we get to create our own luck.
Yes, it would have been nice to get the special breaks a few enjoy. But when you don’t get them, you can either sit on the couch or weep or go make your own breaks. It’s up to you. Now take what you were reminded of here and go make your next 100,000.00! 🙂
If there was a way to make almost guaranteed money in the make money online, internet marketing niche – would you be interested?
The concept is simple – take away the work and offer a ‘done for you’ solution. People want to make money online. They want to create products to sell, create blogs full of content, create Amazon affiliate sites and so forth.
They want all these things – but what they don’t want is the WORK of DOING these things.
They don’t want to write their own book, or record their own video product.
They don’t want to set up their own sites and write their own site content.
They don’t want to write sales pages and emails and guest blog posts.
They don’t want to create plugins, build membership sites, set up funnels or list build.
But they WANT all of these things.
All you do is supply what they want and you’ve got an easy sale.
To start with, you might want to do the work yourself. But once you get a job or two done, you can consider outsourcing the work to someone else. Now you just take the orders, order the work done, and deliver.
You’ve provided much wanted services, and it’s not taking much of your own time. All because you’re helping new marketers avoid that thing they dislike the most – work. And giving them exactly what they do want – their own business.
You might not be telling your prospects and customers everything they want to know – and it’s hurting your sign-ups and sales. Yet these are 3 easy fixes you can do in a day…
Tell them what they get when they join your list.
Sure, you’re telling them they get an incentive like a report or a video… but are you telling them you’re going to be emailing them? Are you telling them how often, and what to expect in those emails? Most marketers don’t, and it’s resulting in unsubscribes.
If you’re not telling your visitors that grabbing your freebie means they get emails from you, then you need to do it in the very first email you send to them.
Make a bullet list of all the great things they’ll discover in your first 10 or so emails. And let them know how often you’ll be sending email.
Done right, this small step not only prevents unsubscribes – it even makes subscribers anticipate your emails and open and read them.
Tell them how you are different.
You’ve got competitors – probably LOTS of them. Your customers are having trouble understanding what makes you different from all the other guys. And when they can’t tell the difference – they don’t buy.
So clearly communicate your biggest difference. Communicate it well and communicate it often. Be specific. Don’t just say, “Our traffic generation product is terrific.”
Instead write, “Our traffic generation product stands apart from all others because it details 42 specific traffic generation techniques in step-by-step format. No question goes unanswered. And we even give you an assessment of which 3 technique will be the most profitable for your exact business.
Wow – I’m sold! Seriously, somebody make this product and I’ll buy it.
Solicit feedback.
At the end of any purchase, service or project, let your customer know that you want their feedback on their experience. Tell them you’re going to be sending a survey so you don’t take them by surprise, and so they know you really do want feedback. This puts them in the frame of mind to give you that feedback when they do receive the survey.
There are three kinds of feedback – good feedback, bad feedback and B.S. feedback. The hard part is telling the bad apart from the B.S.
Bad feedback is legitimate complaining about your product or service and shows you where you need to improve. Bad feedback is priceless and can earn you a fortune if you listen and if you make the appropriate changes.
B.S. feedback is a troll who is having a bad day or a bad life and wants to take it out on you. You should ignore this totally because it’s only going to make you feel lousy if you let it.
How do you tell the difference? Sometimes it can be difficult. Ask yourself if acting on the feedback will improve the product or the customer experience. Have others given this feedback? Does it seem like a legit complaint? If not, file it in the round folder, as they used to say (that’s the trash can.)
Good feedback is of course wonderful to receive, but don’t let it go to your head. Instead, find ways to do MORE of what they are praising for an even better customer experience.
And there you have it – 3 things you should be telling your customers: What they’re going to receive in emails and how often they’ll receive it, what makes you head and shoulders better and different from the competition, and that you sincerely want their feedback.
These 3 small changes can add up to a much larger bottom line for you.
