Internet Marketing Simplified -- 2 Pillars For Achieving Massive Results

Are you confused by the flood of information on how to improve your internet marketing results?

Mastering the search engines, pay-per-click advertising, affiliate marketing, website design, writing articles, and on it goes.

Doesn't it seem more and more complicated to focus in on what really works and what doesn't?

After working to build many businesses from the ground up over the last 10 years, it's more clear than ever that there are 2 main principles that will largely dictate your success in any business. All of the other techniques build on these first two principles.

Think of these two main principles as the cement pillars that hold up a bridge - without them, no matter how well you construct the bridge, it will still fall down.

Focus your energies, time and resources around meeting these two key principles - you will immediately see a big difference in your results.

PRINCIPLE #1

You must have a well positioned product, fulfilling a hot desire within a clearly identifiable and accessible target market.

Let's break this down.

Making a profit in business is really quite a simple concept, you have to earn more revenue than your cost. Revenue minus cost is your profit.

So where does that cost come from?

The two big sources of costs are: costs associated with creating or finding your product to sell and cost of reaching your market to sell your product

It only makes sense then that identifying a hot desire within a market you know how to reach will mean much lower costs for your businss. Ultimately, this means more profit for you.

Have you ever run against the wind? Tried to swim upstream in a river? Walk one way in a crowd when everyone else was walking the other way?

It's a very tough lesson to learn.

I've been brought it to consult with companies that have burned through millions of dollars before learning this lesson.

You cannot FORCE a low-demand product on a market - no matter how much money you spend on marketing.

You cannot hope to reach enough buyers in the entire marketplace even with a very high-demand product in one segment.

In fact, I've seen situations where unknown entrepreneurs enter a market, quickly identify a hot desire, address it with a less than perfect product and in a very short time have created wealth 100X higher than anyone else in that market.

An old mentor of mine used to tell me all the time, "focus on the low lying fruit - there's far more than enough to go around"

PRINCIPLE #2

You must reach your market with a clear, empathetic message that instantly catches your readers attention, interest, desire and moves them to see your product as THE answer to their deepest desires.

If you were reading closely, you'll recognize Principle #2 as the same principles that underly great copywriting.

How do you become a great copywriter and master Principle #2?

1. Research, research and research. I make sure I have a pulse on my target market's desires, needs, emotional triggers. Focus in on WHY they want a solution to a particular problem. Research takes many forms...

- speak with them

- survey them

- read what they read

- talk to others who do business with your market

- test using articles and special reports to guage the response

- do what they do

By doing this you should have content for 20-30 (at least) different benefits for your product.

Then....

2. Polish your benefit statements. This is where you can use books of action verbs, swap files (samples of great ads, letters and webpages), the services of a copywriter. This is the technical aspect of copywriting which can be learned by reading other great material.

Far too many people go right to #2, as a result their benefit statements seem bland, miss the mark or seem the same as everyone else.

Next time you get distracted by the latest and greatest tip, technique or strategy - know that focusing on these 2 fundamental principles: In-demand product ideas and effective copywriting, will make the most difference to your pocketbook in both today and in the future.

Discover how to create your own best-selling eBooks, Special reports or books to sell online ...AND keep 100% of the profits. Limited time complimentary access to 7-Part Minicourse will get you started quickly and easily. Visit: http://www.highertrustmarketing.com/

A New Way to Profit From Your Content-Based Website

“It’s a labor of love.” That’s how I’ve always described my content-based website. Until the last year or so, what I meant is that my website paid me in love more frequently than it paid in money. And if visitor compliments and good karma paid the mortgage, that would have been fine.

I knew I enjoyed and was very good at helping others and communicating in the online world. What I needed was a way to help others online that also brought in a steady paycheck.

When I found a direct sales company to work with, this all began to change. My direct sales business quickly became my highest – and most promising – single stream of income.

As a website owner, you have contact with a wide variety of people. Direct selling and network marketing allow you to monetize the networks that you have created with others. And as a content-based website owner, you are an expert at the largest network the world has ever known: the Internet.

Direct sales allows you to leverage the efforts and ideas of other people, so you’re no longer in business by yourself, looking at each month separately. The work you do today will benefit you for years to come. And you earn money to the degree to which you help others earn money for themselves, and that is truly a labor of love.

What to look for:

A good product.

First and foremost, you need to truly believe in what you are selling. You need to believe in the company mission and the products. Other considerations: It’s ideal if the products are exclusive; and even better if the products are also consumable, so you make sales from repurchases.

A niche market.

As with everything online, you will be most successful if your products fit a niche that people go online to search for. It pays to research and anticipate social trends.

Strong online component.

Ideally, your company will allow you to make online sales. Many direct sales companies have a provision that all advertising must be “blind,” meaning that you are restricted from mentioning the name of the company or its trademarks. If that’s the case, make sure that the company also offers a personalized website that you can link to from your content-based site, so you don’t lose your online leads. And make sure that you read the fine print of the consultant provisions, especially as it pertains to online promotions.

Many direct sales companies are now offering replicated websites so each representative can promote an individual online presence. A few direct sales companies even have shopping carts alongside these websites so you can make sales online, too, with the product dropshipped from the home office.

Relatively new company.

You want people to sign up in your downline, rather than the person down the street, it’s important that the market isn’t saturated.

And because you will be a long-distance support person, make sure there is team training in place – or set it up for yourself. You don’t want to have to reinvent the wheel each time you recruit someone. I have a 14-day basic training course by autoresponder, for example, that each new consultant starts receiving right away – and our team has a very large (and growing fast) online message board for sharing ideas.

Keep in mind that the most important factor in long-term direct sales success is that everything you do be easy for your downline to duplicate.

Most direct sales and network marketing businesses thrive on word of mouth and personal relationships. Not everyone in your new downline is going to be an expert at online marketing (In fact, most of them won’t be) so make sure you work the business the same way that they will. That means you’ll probably want to also expand your business in your own offline community, just as your downline will – so that you can be an effective trainer. If you can train your downline how to be financially successful, you’ll become financially successful, too.

Where to Look

I found the company that I work with through a solo ezine ad, which promoted low start-up, low pressure, and a strong support team – three factors that directly contributed to my success with the business. So it pays to keep your eyes (and mind) open when you are working online.

You can also research your options with the Direct Selling Association at http://www.dsa.org. The DSA is designed to help make sure direct sales organizations follow ethical business practices and good customer service.

When you have found the company and team that’s right for you, you’ll know it.

Susie Cortright is the creator of the award-winning online magazine http://www.momscape.com as well as a team leader for a rapidly growing direct sales company. Learn about the company she chose here: http://www.momscape.com/direct-sales

How to Sell High Priced Products Online and Offline

During my presentation at my recent Underground Online Marketing Seminar - I talked about my own "Underground" secrets. One of the things I covered was how to sell super high-end products.

Personally, I've sold everything from $17 ebooks to $14,500.00 "Apprentice Programs" and lots in-between. My most recent high-end product is a $7,995/month program for cosmetic surgeons.

I really love high priced products and you'll see why in a moment.

First off, if I want to make $1M this year - then I'd have to sell 20000 copies of my 'doohickey' at $50. Or it could be 2000 copies at $500. Or better still 200 copies at $5000.

It's a lot easier dealing with 200 customers than 20,000. Think of all the customer service and infrastructure, etc. Plus, as a general rule - the buyers of a high-priced product or service are better buyers are easier to deal with than someone who bought a $9.95 ebook and drives you crazy.

The other thing is these customers pay more attention and revere the information or product/service more. I've attended $500 seminars and I've attended $10,000.00 seminars. Which one do you think I was paying more attention to? So having higher priced products is actually better for your customers because they are more committed.

Think about the last time you gave free advice to someone - what happen? That's right. Nothing. But if you had made them pay you for consulting - they would have taken it to heart.

But there's still more on the economics side...

With a higher priced product that means you have more money to advertise. If I'm going against someone selling a $19 ebook and I'm selling a $199 home study course in the same market - who can spend more?

No contest, right?

My competitor can only go up to $19 (unless they've got a back-end product) but I can actually spend up to $199. But what else does that let me do? I can come into a marketplace and suck up a big part of the resellers because I can give more commissions.

Hey, that's the name of the game for many affiliates. I can give them $100 to promote my product instead of the measly $10 my competitor might give them.

And of course speaking of economics there's more money in it for you. If you've got a high priced product there should be a very high margin built in. If not, raise the price. I'm serious most people are undercharging for what they provide.

My rule of thumb and one of my values I look at it every morning in my planners says "I am rich by enriching others 10x - 100x what they pay me in return".

That's a big deal for me. If you pay me $1000 for a product - I want to make sure it delivers $10,000 in value for my customers. I suggest you consider something similar. If your product isn't good enough for you to raise your price on it - make it better!

Here are just some of the high-end products you could sell in the information marketing world (I've successfully sold all of these):

* Live events like workshops and seminars

* "Big" boxes of manuals, CDs, DVDs, CDroms, etc

* High end facilitated group masterminds

* eClasses

* "Done it for them" services

* Coaching

* Reprint rights and licenses and many more...

And don't think high-priced products can only sell if you are selling 'how to make money' related products. I have students and friends doing very well selling high priced products to the fitness marketplace, the dating markets, small niche obsessive-compulsive markets, self-help, career marketplaces and many more.

Now a lot of people think selling high priced products are a lot tougher than low-priced products. Not true. You usually spend about the same effort trying to sell a high-priced product as a lower priced product.

Now when selling a high-priced product most people make the mistake of just trying to "1-step" it. That means sending people off to a webpage or sending them a sales letter and then nothing more. Only a small percentage will buy this way. I prefer lead generating where I get people to "raise their hands" and say "yeah I'm interested".

This way I can now afford to spend more to chase those prospects. And it's not enough to just email them follow-ups. I prefer to have a whole arsenal at my fingertips if needed like direct mail, voice broadcast, telephone calls, postcards, etc.

If over-delivering on value - hold your breath and add an extra zero to your price. You'll thank me for it!

Just 31-years old, Yanik Silver is recognized as the leading expert on creating automatic, moneymaking web sites...and he's only been online full time since
February 2000! Yanik is a highly sought after speaker and attendees regularly pay up to $4,995.00 per person to hear his secrets.

He is the author, co-author or publisher of several best-selling online marketing books and tools, which can be found at www.SurefireMarketing.com

Fast and easy conversation starters to meet people

Fact: It's tougher than ever to strike up a conversation with new people these days.

Even those with the gift for gab often have a hard time continuing the conversation after running out of cliches.

Author Scott Ginsberg suggests these 6 creative questions to strike up a lasting conversation with just about every new person you meet:

1) Who are some of your mentors?

Mentoring is a hot topic right now. So, it's a perfect topic to bring up with someone you've just met. And you can learn a great deal about your conversation partner when you ask this question.

My friend Michael, for example, has a life coach, business mentor and spiritual advisor! When I first learned these facts about him I gained a new insight into the type of person he was. As a result I felt more comfortable sharing those same insights about myself. That's another beautiful thing about asking these types of questions: self-disclosure.

2) What's the one book that's been most influential on your business?

I go out of my way to ask this question to someone almost every day. It's probably because I am an author, and I love to read. But also, the books people read are partly responsible for creating who they are and how they do business.

I gave a speech a few days ago during which I asked the audience this question. The responses were excellent... and varied. People yelled titles ranging from The Bible to How to Win Friends and Influence People to The Yellow Pages (nice creative thinking on that last one!)

3) What's the biggest mistake you made in your first year of business?

Admitting mistakes, embarrassing moments, and errors you've made is a perfect way to invite someone into your heart. After all, a self-deprecating remark is one of the most effective forms of humor. And people love to know that the person they're talking to is human, just like them. Talk about making an instant connection!

A few weeks ago I popped this question during the Q & A session of a National Speakers Association meeting. When I finished, the room "ooooohed." It sounded like a studio audience of a sitcom! Then the panelist I addressed chuckled and offered his response, which was a story about a failed project he worked on a few years back. When he finished a few minutes later he said, "Thanks – that was a really great question!"

4) What part of your job do you enjoy the most?

This question is one of my all time favorites. It's fun, positive and always puts a smile on someone's face – because people love to talk about what they love.

Take my dad, for example. He's worked in the closeout business for about 30 years. When I asked him this question he said, "The Booth! I LOVE standing at our booth at those trade shows, talking to customers we've had for 20 years, showing them new deals. That's the best part about my job."

If you only used one question from this article, this should be the one. Ask it today. And just watch how the dynamic of your conversation partner's persona changes. It's beautiful.

5) What quotations or motivational phrases do you live by?

The challenging, impromptu nature of this question stumps a lot of people. However, no better reflection of one's values shines like the words they live by. One of the valuable activities I do during various speeches is to have people write one of their "words to live by" on the bottom of their nametags.

Then they have to share it with as many people as possible in the next five minutes. The room fills with laughter, smiles and instant connections! People discover CPI's (Common Points of Interest) and get to know each other on a new level.

Next time you have a meeting or a group session, try this activity out. And just watch the connections spark.

6) What's your preferred method of getting the news?

I enjoy asking this last question because it's a generation mirror. Whether you obtain your news from Larry King, CNN, Paul Harvey, USA Today, Yahoo, Google, Newsgroups, List Serves, Talk Radio or your local news station, each medium offers insight about:

• Whether or not someone is technology-savvy...
• Insight about their typical workday
• A person's learning style (i.e., visual, aural, etc.)

A great benefit of this question is its leveraging ability. Say your friend is obsessed with talk radio, and you come across a great new program on your local station. Well...call 'em up and reveal that you heard about this great new show and say "I thought you might like this." This is a surefire way to make instant friends.

Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, "the world's foremost field expert on nametags" and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He works with people and organizations who want to become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at http://www.hellomynameisscott.com/

9 Highly Effective Marketing Tips

Here are 9 low-cost but highly effective marketing tips to help you boost your sales and profits fast.

Internet Profits Tip #1:
Look for some low-cost ways you can enhance the perceived value of your product or service. Then test raising your price. Don't be surprised if both your sales and your profit margin go up.

Internet Profits Tip #2:
Try to limit your customer's decision making to either "Yes. I'll buy." or "No. I won't buy". Don't risk losing them by including "which one" decisions. The more options you offer, the more likely some customers will procrastinate and never make the decision ...causing you to lose a sale needlessly.

Internet Profits Tip #3:
You can demonstrate a low cost for your product or service by breaking down the price to its lowest time increment. For example, "Enjoy all of this for less than 90 cents a day" (for something priced at $325 a year).

Internet Profits Tip #4:
Add an unexpected bonus to every sales transaction just before completing the sale. It prevents customers from developing any last minute hesitation ...and changing their minds about buying.

Internet Profits Tip #5:
Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. Postcards are inexpensive and easy to use. Most recipients who ignore other types of advertising will read a brief ad when it's delivered to them on a postcard.

Internet Profits Tip #6:
Prospects who ask questions are usually close to buying. Take advantage of this. Don't just answer their question. Include a reason for them to buy as part of your answer. Then ask for the sale ...or tell them exactly what to do to place their order.

Internet Profits Tip #7:
Collect testimonials from your customers and use them in all your advertising. Testimonials provide evidence that your product or service delivers the results you promise. For maximum impact, use only testimonials that describe specific results the customer enjoyed.

Internet Profits Tip #8:
Include "benefit rich" headlines on all your web pages. Many visitors arrive at a web page then immediately click away ...unless something instantly catches their attention.

Internet Profits Tip #9:
Continually test and evaluate everything you use or do to promote your business. Allocate 80 percent of your advertising budget to proven promotions. Use the other 20 percent for testing new variations. Most businesses using this system continue growing - even in highly competitive markets.

Internet Profits Bonus Tip:
Handle customer complaints quickly and with a positive attitude. Strive to preserve your relationship with them instead of your immediate profit from the transaction. They will reward you with repeat sales and referrals ...instead of punishing you by telling everybody they know about their unhappy experience and causing you to lose future customers.

Each of these marketing tips provides a simple, low-cost way for you to boost your sales and profits quickly. All you have to do is to put them into action.

Bob Leduc spent 20 years helping businesses like yours find new customers and increase sales. He just released a New Edition of his manual, How To Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards ...and launched *BizTips from Bob*, a newsletter to help small businesses grow and prosper. You'll find his low-cost marketing methods at: http://BobLeduc.com or call: 702-658-1707 After 10 AM Pacific Time/Las Vegas, NV

Profitable Online Marketing - Guaranteed

When you boil it right down, there are really only three things that you need to do exceedingly well to market your business effectively online, and you should think of all three simultaneously with each new advertising campaign you entertain.

And they are,

Obtaining an Opportunity to Sell – Lead generation, driving traffic to your web site.

Closing the Sale – The sales presentation, online sales copy & order page etc., to close the sale.

Following Up on Your Maybes – Follow up call, opt-in email, offline newsletter, mailing list etc. Think of your market as an orchard, with some ripe & ready plums, and many more green ones. Pick the ripe ones yes, but be sure to irrigate & fertilize the soil, prune & bug spray the trees with care, and nurture the fruit along.

Mastering all three of these activities is critically important to the profitability of your advertising campaigns, and online marketing in general.

But when you’re starting a new venture, which one do you master first?

In my experience, the overwhelming tendency is to start at the beginning. That is, spending maximum time & effort attracting traffic.

Unfortunately, this all to common approach often results in failure.

Frequently, those that go this route never really get off the ground, because they can’t turn a profit. They invariably discover, after spending boatloads of cash, that some of the estimates they made in their online marketing business plan were off the mark.

Speaking of getting off the ground, allow me relate a story to illustrate my point.

I’m betting you all know the story of Orville & Wilbur Wright. They went down in history as the first human beings to really fly. But how many people remember Dr. Samuel Pierpont Langley?

In 1896 the Wright Brothers, and Langley were engaged in a fierce competition.

Who would be first to conquer the skies?

Langley, a distinguished scholar and secretary of the Smithsonian institute was the clear favorite. He had already achieved impressive unmanned flight over the Potomac River with his steam powered Aerodrome No. 6.

Based on this success, Langley was able to raise $100,000 in funding, and set out to develop an extraordinary radial-cylinder internal combustion engine that would produce an astonishing 52 horsepower. In his estimation, capable of powering an aerodrome large enough for manned flight.

The Wright Brothers, by contrast were convinced that the secret to success lay in their ability to control the aircraft, once in flight. They therefore spent their time experimenting with gliders over the forgiving sands of Kitty Hawk.

For several seasons they worked on manipulating the wings, nose, and tail of the aircraft, so as to allow the operator to actively control it.

Wilbur, who most often piloted, suffered a multitude of minor cuts and bruises. But on each successive trial, much was learnt.

On October 7, 1903, it looked like the Wright’s had lost, as Langley made ready his first manned launch. Langley’s plane would go from a dead stop to the 60 m.p.h. flying speed in only 70 feet.

But the stress of the catapult launch proved greater than the flimsy wood-and-fabric airplane could stand, and the front wing was badly damaged on take off.
The nose heavy Aerodrome “A” then plunged into the Potomac.

A reporter who witnessed the event claimed it flew "like a handful of mortar”.

Things went even worse during the second launch of December 9, 1903, where the rear wing and tail completely collapsed during launch.

Langley had succeeded in burning through almost all of his $100,000 in capital.

Just 8 days after Langley’s spectacular failure, a sturdy, well designed craft, powered by a tiny 8 horse power engine, costing about $1,000, struggled into the air at Kitty Hawk, defining for all time the moment when humankind, mastered the skies.

Langley died in 1906 after a series of strokes, a broken and disappointed man.

“What on Earth Does Flying Wooden Airplanes Have to Do With Marketing My Business?”

The moral of the story is this.

Test, test, and retest your prime online marketing value proposition to be sure it converts customers, BEFORE committing yourself to major capital outlays, and the start of your advertising campaign.

Will your site, or sales presentation, or direct mail piece convert a high enough percentage of prospects into customers to make that advertising campaign profitable?

Like the Wright brothers, who focused on control, versus brute force, you will dramatically improve your chances of online marketing success, if you make the development of a persuasive, & compelling closing pitch, your number 1 priority.

TESTED, to bring home the bacon! Don’t even consider launching your production advertising campaigns until this is done.

And then, BRING ON THE TRAFFIC!

It’s all about your ability to control, influence and motivate the minds of your prospects, once you’ve attracted them to your website. Just the way the Wright brothers were able to manipulate the wings, rudder, and nose of the aircraft.

Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto Canada. Recently, Daniel & world-renowned publicist & copywriter Joe Vitale teamed up to co author “Million Dollar Online Advertising Strategies – From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century!”, a tribute to the late, great Robert Collier. Let the legendary Robert Collier show you how to write words that sell...Visit the below site & get 3 FREE Chapters!
http://www.Advertising-Online-Strategies.com/ad-strategies.html

Fast Track Your Journey to Online Success

No one has ever logged onto the Internet for the first time and started pocketing dollars in a really short period of time. As with all things in life, there is a learning curve.

SOME PERSONAL HISTORY

Just a few short years ago, I was a working stiff just like you.

One day, I bought and read a book called "Multiple Streams of Income" by bestselling author, Robert Allen. Immediately, I began my journey.

Every night after work and after my wife and children went to sleep, I would get online and explore different ways of using the Internet to make money.

In the 2 years that followed, I spent over $10,000.00 racking up credit card debt buying eBooks, membership sites, special reports, opt-in leads, and joining every "guru" recommended business opportunity that flew into my email inbox...

I stayed up learning, working and drinking coffee until 5:00 in the morning month after month filled with the hope of making money online.

In my 3rd year of working part-time to build an home based income, I finally broke through and earned over $100,000.00 in just 12 months from the Internet.

BECOME THE MASTER OF YOUR LEARNING CURVE

Research the lives of all of the guru's. The one thing that you will learn is that my own experience is not unique. Most of the high earners on the Internet experienced a learning curve very similar to my own.

Chances are that your curve will also be similar to mine, but it is my hope that you can get to the top faster than even I did. Three years was a long time to struggle, but every ounce of struggle was worth the reward I have finally received.

In order to shorten your own learning curve, you must do a few things differently than the rest of us did. You must become the master of your learning curve.

THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS IS A STRAIGHT LINE

There is only one way to shorten the curve on the Internet, "you must plan to succeed."

Here is the deal. Most people put up a freebie website and select a few affiliate programs to add to their website. Right out of the gate, most people are running for the finish line without any real plan in mind.

After a few short weeks, people begin to see the writing on the wall that says, "This is going to be a long hard road."

People check their hit counters daily for six weeks before they realize that getting traffic to their free site is going to be tough.

At this point, they begin developing their first batch of advertising. Then they spend countless months finding places to show their advertisements for free. Some make an even more drastic mistake by blowing thousands of hard earned dollars on their new and untested ads.

These are the people who will learn the facts of life the hard way.

In time, they will learn how to make their advertising work for them. But most will earn very little money from their affiliate programs.

At this point in the learning curve, most people throw up their hands and walk away from their dreams in utter disgust. Instead of a walking away point, this should have convinced the struggling online entrepreneur that they were simply traveling the wrong road.

YOU MUST PLAN TO SUCCEED

From day one, you must begin to learn about the nuances of web promotion. Read everything you can get your hands on. Don't just read the hype, back it up with the opinions of others who have reviewed the same programs before you came along. Learn from their mistakes and successes.

As you begin to learn, you must also look to make a decision. Do you want to step into a pre-built program that is designed to help you to succeed, OR do you want to create a completely new program of which you are the sole owner?

If you decide to step into a pre-designed and complete turn-key online money making venture, then you must select the right venture to step into. If this is your decision, then please examine my program along with the others. You can review my Plug In Profit SiteT program at: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com .

If you decide to go the journey on your own, then do all of the necessary research, planning and preparation that is needed for your success.

PREPARE TO SUCCEED

Decide upon what you think you would want to do, and then figure out how your planned site will generate a real income.

Internet old-timers know about hundreds of corporation domains that existed with IPO millions, but did not have an actual money plan that could sustain their business model. Most of these companies were among the hundreds of companies that bellied up in the 2000 dot bomb experience.

Don't blindly believe in your plan. Research others on the web who have undertaken similar business models and see if they have survived. Study your competitors in depth to learn what is working for them and what did not work for them. To better understand what has or has not worked for competitor websites, check out their time lapsed progressions using the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/

Once you have determined your money plan, then you should undertake the development of a business plan and a marketing plan. Utilize professional assistance if you need to do so. While creating your plans, make a determination as to which domain name you think would be best, then use the NameBoy tool to figure out if that domain name is open:

http://www.nameboy.com/

Once you have developed your business plan and marketing plan and have run them through several revisions, then it will be time to buy your domain name and to begin work with a site designer and developer. You may need to have your domain sitting on a webhost for your site developer, but this is not always necessary. While they are doing their work, enlist a copywriter to help you with your site sales copy.

When your site designer and developer have your site working, you should then undertake significant testing to make sure everything works as planned. It is much harder to fix problems on a operational site than it is to fix problems on a site that is yet to be launched.

When testing is done, then you should fill in your sales copy and then shoot for launch. Of course, you already have a marketing plan in place, so your preparation here will be simply a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle into place.

You are finally ready to open for business. Don't be afraid to spend the money to bring your dream alive. Time can replace money in the goal of starting a profitable online business, but money invested can shave years off of your company's growth.

Stone Evans Will Personally Build A Money Making Website Just For You That's 100% Ready To Take Orders And Pull In Massive Residual Profits. Get Details And Signup Today At: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com

99 Ways to Persuade People to Use Your Hypnotic Traffic Tools

Here is a giant collection of 99 ways to increase the chances of your content being used. Under each tip are some related ad copy templates or phrases you could use.

1. Tell people how many helpful links and resources are in your content.

(No.) helpful links

(No.) resources

2. Tell people how long it took you to write or compile your content.

(No.) years in the making

Took (No.) hours to create this

Spent countless hours researching

3. Tell people how many pages are in your content.

(No.) information-packed pages

Countless pages of…

4. Tell people how many chapters or lessons are in your content.

(No.) information-rich chapters

(No.) knowledge-packed lessons

5. Tell people how big your content's download file is.

(No.) KB of information

Over (no.) MB of information


6. Tell people your content is completely original.

100% original information

No filler information

No rehashed information

7. Tell people your content comes with reprint or master reprint rights.

100% royalty free resell rights

Keep 100% of each sale

Free reprint rights

Free resell rights

Royalty-free reprint rights

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Loud

An excerpt from Larry Dotson and Dr. Joe Vitale's ebook Hypnotic Traffic Tools

3 steps for making all your marketing more effective

Today I'm going to let you in on one of my biggest secrets for making any direct marketing campaign far more effective. I can tell you this secret in one simple word:

Homework

What, no magic bullet? Maybe you were expecting some obscure technique for creating a powerful subliminal message no sane person can resist — or some other arcane, mystical information. If so, sorry to disappoint you. But stick with me, I promise that what I'm about to show you will dramatically increase the response to all your marketing.

In the next few minutes, I'll show you a 3—step formula that sets you up for success before you ever develop your strategy or tactics, or write a single word of copy.

The boring secret to success

When it comes to formal education, I confess that I barely made it out of high school. And I have less than one-quarter's worth of college credits — which means I finished only two classes of the four I enrolled in. Why? Because I hated doing homework. And if you're anything like me, the very thought of doing homework makes you want to run in the other direction. It sounds like nothing but drudgery.

But the kind of homework I'm talking about here is quite different from what you endured in various educational institutions. Because this kind of homework — or market research, if you prefer that term — starts to get very exciting when you begin to realize how substantial the payoff can be.

I've been around direct marketing for over 20 years and I've met or talked with many of the highest-paid copywriters and marketing consultants in the business. And I can guarantee you that the single factor that separates the top paid marketing minds from the rest of the pack is their superior skills at gathering information about their market and customers.

Want a riveting headline? Then you'd better know precisely what factor motivates your customer more than anything else. And the only way to gain that knowledge is to dig deep to find out everything there is to know about your customer.

Need to create a compelling offer... or offer the best guarantee in your industry... or create bullet points that vividly portray the exact benefits your customers want most? You can't expect to achieve any of this with out a deep understanding of who your customer is.

Here's another little secret that's paid tremendous dividends for me over the years. Whenever I'm stuck writing a piece of copy or creating a marketing strategy, I go back to my research notes. Reading them again nearly always gives me a deeper level of understanding of my market and triggers just the idea I need to solve my problem.

3 steps for making all your marketing more effective

The only real reason to do your homework is to gain a deeper level of knowledge that will give you a tremendous advantage over all your competition. You need to understand every nuance of what drives your customer to buy far better than your competition does. This is the ammunition you'll use to outsmart your competition at every turn. In order to achieve this, here's an overview of my 3-step formula:

1) Create a deadly accurate customer profile
2) Create a simple statement describing what your customer wants
3) Create a statement of the single most important action you want your customer to take.

Let's take a look at each step in detail and find out how they work together to improve all of your marketing.

Step 1: Create a deadly accurate customer profile

Research the web. Read trade journals for your industry. Subscribe to every newspaper and magazine relevant to your customer. Collect your competitors' marketing promotions. Read the testimonials your customers send you.

Read and re-read the complaint letters or requests for refunds you get. What didn't customers like about your product or your company? What suggestions did they give you for improving your product, rational or not?

Talk to your customers on the phone. Call them up and thank them for doing business with you, then ask them, "If there was one thing we could do to improve our whamblasters, what would that be?" You'll get a wealth of great ideas. And you'll start to see recurring ideas or themes that indicate room for improvement or identify features and benefits neither you or your competitors are offering.

Talk to some of your prospects who didn't buy from you. What did they prefer about your competitors' product (or service)? How could you improve on this to make your own product or service superior to the competitions'?

Use a mystery shopper to purchase your product, particularly from third parties. What do the sales people for those third parties say about your product? If they're telling customers that your competition has a better product, or that your product would really be great if it only had a certain feature, pay close attention. The lack of a particular feature, or your competitors' ability to deliver that feature in a superior way, could be killing your business.

Now, take all the information you've gathered and boil it down to a short, concise profile of who your customer is. I prefer to limit this to no more than three sentences. Also, this should be a living, breathing profile that represents your ideal target customer.

For example, let's say you sell DVDs on safety standards for manufacturing plants that must adhere to OSHA standards. Your homework might produce a profile that looks like this:

Our target customer is the safety officer for a manufacturing firm with revenue of $50 million to $100 million annually. The main problem they face is finding time to train workers who are putting in 10 to 12 hour shifts, six days a week. The repercussions of failing to meet OSHA safety standards are significant fines to the company and possible injuries to their employees.

At first look, this might not appear to be all that glamorous, but let me assure you, this profile will prove to be worth its weight in gold.

Ready to move on to Step 2? We'll do that in just a moment, but first...

Would you like to match or even beat these results?

* A lead generation letter I created for a client increased his response from 5% or so to a perfect 100%

* A letter I wrote for Book Marketing Update was so profitable, nothing tested against it could beat it for over 9 years

* A simple copy change I made for a client immediately increased his profits by 38%

I can help you get similar or better results with all your marketing. I offer consulting and copy services to fit just about any budget. To get all the details, just click here.

Step 2: Create a simple statement describing what your customer wants

Once you have your customer profile nailed down to three tight sentences, the next step is to give your target customer a name. Stick with me here, I'm not getting touchy-feely on you. I'm giving you a powerful tool you can use to measure all your marketing against, make sure it's firing on all cylinders, and leave your competitors wondering what hit them.

For this particular profile, let's say your research has determined that 80% of all safety officers are female, in their 30s to 40s, and have been working with OSHA standards for seven years or more. Based on this information, let's give your profile the name, "Patricia Johnson".

Next, use this personalized profile to determine, "What does Patricia Johnson want most from our training DVDs?"

Let me caution you, here's where you have to be very careful in your analysis. It would be very easy for your statement to merely parrot your profile, but if you do this, you'll sell yourself short. The purpose of the profile is to help you dig deep and uncover critical issues you wouldn't find without it.

So based on in-depth evaluation of all the research we've gathered, here's the statement that was developed to answer the question, "What does Patricia Johnson want most from our training DVDs?"

"Patricia has limited time to train staff members who must comply with safety standards. She must find a way to train them without taking time away from their daily work."

Whew, that's a tough bill to fill! But at the same time, this is where having done your homework really begins to pay major dividends. Because without it, you never would have known that this time crunch is the single most critical factor your training programs have to overcome.

Can you see how many sales you would lose if you continued to ignore this critical factor? And how you can absolutely cream your competition if you understand this driving factor while they don't?

Because this profile is actually based on a composite from a number of clients I've worked with in the past year or so, I can tell you from real-world experience that what the research uncovered was something no one else saw — not my client or their competitors. And once it was recognized and built into their marketing, their results shot up significantly.

Let's move on to the next step to find out how this information was used to produce exceptional response.

Step 3: Create a statement of the single most important action you want your customer to take

What is the one action — and one action only — you want your customer to take? Answering, "Buy my product", is not enough. What step or steps will it take to get your customer to the point of actually buying?

Having worked with dozens of training companies, I know that one of the most successful ways to begin the buying process is to have your customer demo the product. So your statement would look something like this:

"I would like Patricia Johnson to take the demo of our new OSHA safety standards compliance DVD".

Sounds straightforward enough, right? But because most training products are usually a few hours in length, we run into a problem here. Once you've determined that you'd like Patricia Johnson to demo your training DVD, you have to ask the question, "Will Patricia be willing to do this?"

The answer is that it isn't likely. Why? Because as much as Patricia knows she has to get her staff members trained in order to avoid injuries and potential fines, she will never have two to three hours of an employee's time to devote to this. So getting her to preview a one, two, or three hour training video is a lost cause.

However, your competitors didn't do their homework and they don't know this. In fact, they're probably still mailing a catalog filled with hundreds of choices rather than targeting Patricia with a demo of just the DVD that would best help her accomplish her goal.

But let's say for the sake of this example that while most of your competitors are still mailing catalogs filled with options and hoping one will stick, at least one or more of your competitors have moved up to sending a DVD to demo.

They're still dead in the water.

And you're at the helm of a streamlined yacht, swiftly motoring past them. Because you understand, and take full advantage of, the power of...

Customer-driven solutions

In the real-world example when I worked with a client faced with a situation very similar to this, we were able to solve the problem due to the detailed research we had performed. Because we recognized that the greatest obstacle to getting Patricia to take the demo, let alone use the DVD to conduct company-wide training, was the lack of time, we broke the long DVD out into a series of shorter "10 Minute Safety Success" videos.

Now when the client sent all the Patricia Johnsons of the manufacturing world a 10 minute demo, their chance of getting a viewing increased exponentially. In fact, the client reported that viewings increased by over 400%. And since viewings determine sales, my client captured significant market share from their competition.

Conclusion

To get the best results from your homework, I advise you to put your customer profile, statement of what your customer wants, and the single most important action you want your customer to take on a single sheet of paper and tape it over your desk. Whenever you create a marketing campaign or write copy, review these three elements.

If you have a question about a concept, a headline, a block of copy — or any other element of your marketing — simply ask the question, "Would this appeal to Patricia Johnson?" That will help you make sure your marketing is focused on what your customer really wants, which is bound to make all your marketing much more effective.

Copyright © 2005 by Bob Serling. All rights reserved

More Internet Profits With Affiliate Marketing

It's time for another issue of my Internet Marketing Profits newsletter. Since I normally wrote long issues, I cannot post them entirely into this Internet Profits Blog, but I will outline couple of good things here.

The first article is called "Affiliate Marketing Training -- Learn to Crawl Before You Enter the Race!" Here's a sneack preview:

The growth of the affiliate marketing industry has been astounding as of late, and that means that many new people are making the plunge every day. This has also lead to an increase in the amount of affiliate marketing training materials permeating the market.

So what gives?

Affiliate marketing is simply redirecting traffic, isn’t it? Isn’t that what makes it so easy to do and easy to be successful at?

In a word: No!

There is a lot more to affiliate marketing then just setting up an affiliate account, dropping your website into cyberspace, and sitting back as the cash rolls in. Yes, it can be easy, and it is definitely creative and fun, but it is a business, like any other, and you need to be qualified for the position and have a good handle on what you’re doing in order to survive.

There are many affiliate marketers out there who simply aren’t making the grade, and the reason is that they don’t have the proper training to be successful at their jobs. Anyone who is absolutely serious about being a success has three options: training, training, and more training!

But where to begin? Well, there are several ways to receive this kind of training.

First of all, trial and error may be one way to go, as many affiliate marketers are self taught. That is a time consuming affair though, with no guarantee of success. A better way to go would be through the use of affiliate marketing manuals, online tutorials, affiliate marketing training courses, and of course, the great affiliate conferences held every year in different parts of the world.

If you think these information are useful for your Internet business, read the full article posted on the Internet Marketing Profits Newsletter, issue 53.

The second article is called "Not Making Money With Affiliate Programs? Read the Fine Print!".

You may be building your home business using a home based business opportunity such as affiliate programs. This is an excellent way to begin, as you can be in business pretty quickly without all the expenses involved in creating your own products and services.

(That's one of the advantages of using a home based business opportunity -- it allows you to tap into a business which already has the foundation in place.)

But, too often, people blindly sign up for affiliate programs without reading the fine print. I know it's boring, but what you read could mean the difference between making some money and losing some, especially if you are driving affiliate traffic through pay-per-clicks or other methods that require you to spend your money to drive traffic.

Here's a case in point that I found this morning.

Everything is available into my Internet Marketing Profits Newsletter, issue 53. Enjoy reading!

PS: if you like what you read, don't forget to check my other articles available on my Internet Marketing Profits newsletter archive -- strike for more tips on how to skyrocket your internet marketing profits.

Does Buying Leads Work? Where Are Those Big Internet Profits?

For 15 years off and on, I bought leads. Especially if you are involved in network marketing, you most likely have bought leads.

Ask yourself a question. Does buying leads work? I have lost money every time. If it works for you, you are one of the lucky ones. Let's be honest. Buying generic leads is too risky. If you can't pre-qualify your leads with your own ad, you shouldn't be buying.

I will lay out several problems with buying leads in the rest of this article and some suggestions on how to turn that around and do something about it. In other words, this is not really a negative article. I want to give solutions here, not just gripe.

First, we can all agree that leads are necessary to run a business, whether a Fortune 500 company or a home-based operation. Even doctors and lawyers advertise these days, but there is a huge upswing in both profits and word of mouth with these types of businesses. It's not the same with a small business, especially network marketing.

Friends and family members often spread the word passively about products and services they like, but the simple truth is that most businesses either don't have mass appeal, quality products, or reasonable prices.

If what you are promoting doesn't have all three or doesn't dominate one of those areas, you are treading on dangerous ground when you pay for advertising or buy leads.

So, if you want to stop this risky, shortcut mentality, then all you have to do is create a system where you get your leads for free. This is the golden road to net profits. More about that later.

Okay, let's break down some other problems with buying leads. First, let's go with these generic email leads that are being sold everywhere these days. This is probably the worst strategy of all. If someone receives an email and has no idea who you are, you can almost forget selling to that person.

One honest marketer has even said that he had 40000 generic network marketing email leads. Of all those people, he had gotten a measly two people to join his main program. This method doesn't work. Period.

Fortunately, there are ways to get better leads without paying for them. We will discuss that later.

Next, we have the people who buy phone leads. These are typically more expensive, but some people can make money with these leads. The key here is to know yourself. Can you call people on the phone, establish rapport, and get them to join your program? This is where self-knowledge is paramount.

In this case, you must know your own abilities. If you are great at calling up people and closing sales on the phone, then these phone leads may very well be good for you. If you don't have the confidence in both yourself and your program, you are risking your money big time.

However, if you set up a free lead generation system, it is possible to not only pre-qualify your leads, but also get their phone numbers at the same time. If you can do this, then your only expense would be the long distance, which is pretty cheap these days.

Again, though, you have to know yourself. If you don't have the confidence or you get frustrated when you can't close sales on the phone, you might not want to call people up.

One possible solution would be to pay someone a flat commission for calling up your leads and closing the sale. There are many forums where people might want to JV with you. You create the leads, and they just close the sales.

Now, let's go to postal leads. I'm talking about snail mail here. In fact, the first mistake that many people make with this is that they mail out an entire package to an unqualified lead. If you are going to buy and send to postal leads, it's best to send a postcard first. This way, you aren't spending money on people who may have joined your program already or who just aren't interested.

Frankly, though, I have also lost money sending postcards. It's really hard. But, again, there are ways to create your leads for free, put them in an autoresponder like SendFree, and then mail them a postcard later. Simply buying leads and mailing them postcards is one of the biggest money losers for thousands of people.

Pre-qualify, pre-qualify, pre-qualify. This is the lesson. Generic leads don't work because you can't pre-qualify them for your offer.

Okay, I mentioned methods of getting your leads for free. First, don't just start emailing people. This is dumb and doesn't usually work. It's also spam. Instead, what you need to do is set up a lead generation page with a subscriber exchange popup.

http://www.lead-generation-tips.com/leadpage.html

The page above is what I use to get leads. Next, you use traffic exchanges, forums, and any other way you can find to drive massive traffic to that page and get people to opt in to your list. Bam! You no longer have to buy leads.

If you want to take the risk out of your business, set up a lead generation page and learn how to drive traffic to that page. If you have no risk and you make at least some sales, that's not just profit. That's a net profit, which is exactly what you want to achieve.

Article by Jimmy Boyd, Lead Generation Home