Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Pat Pearson, MSSW
Does financial success seem to elude you, no matter how hard you strive? Do you get close to your goals time and time again, only to find yourself repeatedly "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?" According to direct sales expert Pat Pearson, you may have an unconscious agenda that is leading you to self-sabotage your sales.
"I have seen it over and over in working with hundreds of entrepreneurs and salespeople," says Pearson. "Undermining their ambition is at least one hidden belief that holds them back from succeeding."
For instance, Sally consistently finished in the Top 10 of her cosmetics sales company each year. By October she was usually the #1 or 2 sales producer. Yet in the last quarter, her sales would inevitably slide until she finished the year in 5th or 6th place—still excellent, yet clearly below her potential for the top spot.
Similarly, Janice sold clothing through a direct sales organization. Although she was very smart and personable with a great deal of style, she could never seem to make more than $30,000 a year, regardless of how much effort she put out.
If these examples sound frustratingly familiar to you, the reason may be rooted in your unconscious "Deserve Level."
Explains Pearson, "Most people have an amount that they have unconsciously set as what they deserve to make. Whenever their earnings approach this limit, it triggers a host of self-sabotaging mechanisms that counteract their goals—they start to lose sales for no apparent reason, or their motivation drops, or they simply hit a sales ceiling that they can never seem to exceed."
Once you identify your Deserve Level and its underlying causes, you can stop the sabotage and turn around your success.
Sally internalized a childhood message that being number one professionally meant that people wouldn't like you. So she unconsciously sabotaged herself in order to be liked. Since reprogramming this negative belief, Sally has remained the number one or two salesperson in her company ever since.
In Janice's case, she uncovered a fear that her father—a farmer who had never made more than $30,000 a year—would no longer love her if she earned more than that. When she asked him, he replied, "Of course not, I'll love you no matter how much money you make." One year later, Janice grossed $100,000.
Pearson provides in-depth coaching to individuals and organizations who want to increase their Deserve Level through her website (www.PatPearson.com). Here are the basic 8 Steps to Sales Success that she teaches her clients:
1) Find out your Deserve Level. First, write down the lowest monthly figure you can make and still stay in business. Then, write down the highest monthly figure you've ever made. This range is your Deserve Level.
2) Determine your business or personal goals for this year. These can include your desired income, how many people you want in your downline or your wish to have a loving relationship.
3) Ask yourself, "What am I doing to sabotage my goals?" For example, do you avoid public speaking or choke up when it's time to close the sale?
4) Explore what fear(s) might be causing the sabotage behavior. Look at common fears such as fear of rejection, fear of asking, fear of closing, fear of failure or fear of success, or something unique to you.
5) Change your self-talk. More than 75% of our internal communication reinforces negative views about ourselves and the world. By writing out new beliefs, wants and goals as if you already have them (e.g., "I choose to do the work necessary to make $100,000 this year"), 20 times a day for at least 21 days, you can permanently "reprogram" your new Deserve Level.
6) Practice self-release. Accept, express and release negative emotions like anger, jealousy and discouragement. Ignoring these feelings won't make them go away; they simply go "underground" and work against you behind the scenes.
7) Focus on self-nurturing. Be kind and understanding to yourself, especially when you are not perfect. Perfectionism amounts to ignoring the 95% of you that's good and criticizing the 5% that can be improved.
8) Get support. Choose mentors who believe in you and encourage you to go after your dreams the same way they did. Allow yourself to receive praise for your accomplishments on a regular basis, and ask for positive feedback when you are feeling uncertain.
Using these 8 Steps to Sales Success, it is possible to stop sabotaging yourself and reach your goals—whether you want increased sales, better health or closer friendships.
About the Author:
Pat Pearson, MSSW is an internationally known author and motivational speaker with a passion for inspiring individuals to claim their own personal excellence. A clinical therapist for over 30 years, Pat has given more than 6,000 talks and seminars worldwide and has spoken to over 250,000 direct selling professionals and has worked with more than 300 companies in the U.S. More information on Pat Pearson's approach can be found at: http://www.PatPearson.com
Sunday, June 15, 2008
How To Get Massive Free Website Traffic
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Willie Crawford
There is only one real secret to getting a lot of visitors to your website. That is merely figuring out where lots of your ideal visitors are, and standing in front of them.
When you think of it in those terms, it's really simple.
There are also only three real ways to get in front of the traffic flow. You can buy traffic, borrow traffic, or create traffic.
You buy traffic using pay-per-click search engines. It's very dependable, and can give you a steady flow of consistent traffic.
The big drawback with using pay-per-clicks to generate traffic is that it can be very risky. Those who use pay-per-clicks to generate 100% of their traffic, and are considered the best of the best, will tell you that as many as 7 out of 10 campaigns that they set up will lose money. The professionals very quickly shut off the losers, and their winners more than make up for the losses, but it's really not a game for someone not properly trained.
You can also buy traffic using an affiliate program. Since you only pay for the traffic when a sale is made, it's a very low-risk method. Since your affiliates are sending you their best customers, you can also think of it as borrowing traffic.
I love the affiliate program model, and have numerous products sold via affiliate programs. I also sell a lot of others' affiliate products. It's win-win.
You can also create traffic by putting things on the Internet that people are attracted to. You can create content by writing articles or blogging for example. I love content creation and have written over 1100 different articles. My articles teach people how to solve pressing problems, and at the same time point them to me (my sites) as a great resource.
When you create content your big challenge is to get it noticed and indexed by the search engines, so that people can follow links from there to your site. It's actually fairly easy - but time and labor intensive.
If your content is "viral" it will be something that others will happily share. Examples include in-depth articles, essays that touch people on a deep emotional level, or humorous videos that you post on YouTube.
Of the three methods of getting traffic (buying, borrowing, and creating it) my favorite has to be borrowing it... with creating it second. I generally only buy traffic when I need a really quick surge to test my website's conversion process.
The key to generating an absolute flood of free traffic is getting noticed, getting backlinks, etc., from high traffic websites such as Google, Craig's List, Yahoo, YouTube, and the various bookmarking and social networking sites.
This can be as simple is searching through Yahoo Answers for questions on your area of expertise, and then posting a great answer - along with an appropriate link to your website or product.
It can be as simple as searching through YouTube for videos on your area of expertise, and then leaving a comment along with a link sharing that they can find more information on the topic at your site.
It can be as simple as using the search engines to locate dozens or even hundreds of blogs and forums in your niche, and then interacting with these communities.
There's only one problem with most of the methods that I just mentioned. They can be time consuming and labor intensive. Just locating active communities in your niche can literally take hours.
I do have a secret. I use automated software to monitor and notify me of active blogs, forums, and communities in my niche. I use automated software to notify me when they are discussing my area of expertise or there is a new video posted pertaining to my area of expertise.
When I discover a new resource, I then analyze it, and if appropriate, I interact with that high traffic site, and leave a link back to my site, which is a perfectly acceptable practice.
So there you have my secret for generating literally hundreds of thousands of free hits to even my newest sites. Of course, your site has to be about something that people are interested it. I do strongly advocate using software to automate many of the mundane processes such as just finding these sites.
Many webmasters really struggle with website traffic generation, and there is absolutely no need to. You merely find the huge pools of traffic interested in your topic, and then you stand underneath the waterfall, and enjoy the cool, refreshing flow of new visitors.
About the Author:
Willie Crawford has been marketing goods and services online since 1996. With very busy websites in dozens of niches, he teaches that the secret is automating the flow of traffic, since without traffic you don't really have a web business. His favorite traffic generation software is at Stealth Traffic Tools: http://IncredibleWebsiteTraffic.com
Copyright © 2008 Willie Crawford
There is only one real secret to getting a lot of visitors to your website. That is merely figuring out where lots of your ideal visitors are, and standing in front of them.
When you think of it in those terms, it's really simple.
There are also only three real ways to get in front of the traffic flow. You can buy traffic, borrow traffic, or create traffic.
You buy traffic using pay-per-click search engines. It's very dependable, and can give you a steady flow of consistent traffic.
The big drawback with using pay-per-clicks to generate traffic is that it can be very risky. Those who use pay-per-clicks to generate 100% of their traffic, and are considered the best of the best, will tell you that as many as 7 out of 10 campaigns that they set up will lose money. The professionals very quickly shut off the losers, and their winners more than make up for the losses, but it's really not a game for someone not properly trained.
You can also buy traffic using an affiliate program. Since you only pay for the traffic when a sale is made, it's a very low-risk method. Since your affiliates are sending you their best customers, you can also think of it as borrowing traffic.
I love the affiliate program model, and have numerous products sold via affiliate programs. I also sell a lot of others' affiliate products. It's win-win.
You can also create traffic by putting things on the Internet that people are attracted to. You can create content by writing articles or blogging for example. I love content creation and have written over 1100 different articles. My articles teach people how to solve pressing problems, and at the same time point them to me (my sites) as a great resource.
When you create content your big challenge is to get it noticed and indexed by the search engines, so that people can follow links from there to your site. It's actually fairly easy - but time and labor intensive.
If your content is "viral" it will be something that others will happily share. Examples include in-depth articles, essays that touch people on a deep emotional level, or humorous videos that you post on YouTube.
Of the three methods of getting traffic (buying, borrowing, and creating it) my favorite has to be borrowing it... with creating it second. I generally only buy traffic when I need a really quick surge to test my website's conversion process.
The key to generating an absolute flood of free traffic is getting noticed, getting backlinks, etc., from high traffic websites such as Google, Craig's List, Yahoo, YouTube, and the various bookmarking and social networking sites.
This can be as simple is searching through Yahoo Answers for questions on your area of expertise, and then posting a great answer - along with an appropriate link to your website or product.
It can be as simple as searching through YouTube for videos on your area of expertise, and then leaving a comment along with a link sharing that they can find more information on the topic at your site.
It can be as simple as using the search engines to locate dozens or even hundreds of blogs and forums in your niche, and then interacting with these communities.
There's only one problem with most of the methods that I just mentioned. They can be time consuming and labor intensive. Just locating active communities in your niche can literally take hours.
I do have a secret. I use automated software to monitor and notify me of active blogs, forums, and communities in my niche. I use automated software to notify me when they are discussing my area of expertise or there is a new video posted pertaining to my area of expertise.
When I discover a new resource, I then analyze it, and if appropriate, I interact with that high traffic site, and leave a link back to my site, which is a perfectly acceptable practice.
So there you have my secret for generating literally hundreds of thousands of free hits to even my newest sites. Of course, your site has to be about something that people are interested it. I do strongly advocate using software to automate many of the mundane processes such as just finding these sites.
Many webmasters really struggle with website traffic generation, and there is absolutely no need to. You merely find the huge pools of traffic interested in your topic, and then you stand underneath the waterfall, and enjoy the cool, refreshing flow of new visitors.
About the Author:
Willie Crawford has been marketing goods and services online since 1996. With very busy websites in dozens of niches, he teaches that the secret is automating the flow of traffic, since without traffic you don't really have a web business. His favorite traffic generation software is at Stealth Traffic Tools: http://IncredibleWebsiteTraffic.com
Loosing Customers and Losing Sales - It Sounds Funny Doesn't It?
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
(Revised, 2008) The number of people who write free-reprint articles, to promote their online business, is increasing with each passing month. I should know --- I have built my own business around free-reprint articles.
As the manager of several article distribution groups and an article distribution service, I see hundreds of articles per month go through my biggest article groups. Hundreds of publishers, webmasters and writers subscribe to article distribution lists such as this one:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Reprint-Articles
Of course, the goal of the group is for writers to get their articles to publishers and webmasters who might want to reprint the work. When publishers and webmasters decide to publish a specific article, the writer hopes that the article will generate volumes of traffic and sales for their own website.
Why Does This Matter?
As I review each article for distribution to the groups, I see one misspelling time after time that really leaps from the page.
Hey, it is not my reputation on the line, so why should it matter?
A writer's reputation can be made or broken by his or her use of the written word. So many people look up to writers as people who have a gift to share ideas with the masses.
The reason we are able to share ideas with others is not because we are special. The truth is that we are able to share ideas because we are not afraid to try to do so, and we are not afraid to work at it.
Being afraid to try and messing up the process are two different things.
Misspellings, Bad Grammar And Bad Formatting Counts
It pains me when I see articles coming through to the groups where there are problems with spelling, grammar or formatting. For some reason, we publishers tend to expect the writer to put forth the time and effort in advance to make sure that the article is ready for copy-and-paste publication.
In the old days, I used to edit articles for publication in my own ezines. Soon, my workload became too much and I had to begin to cut down on my time expenditures. At first, I simply stopped formatting articles for publication. Eventually, I even stopped proofreading articles for publication. When I reached this point, I had made a decision that if an article was not copy-and-paste ready, then I would not publish it in my own ezines.
It should come as no surprise to writers that spelling, grammar and formatting could be as important to the publication decision process, as the message communicated in the article.
But, in watching the articles come through to the groups, I have to wonder what is in the mind of some writers.
Why It Is Important
Writers take the time and effort to write the articles to promote their own businesses. But, if there are misspellings, bad grammar or no formatting, the chances of the article getting published is greatly diminished.
I am not willing to venture how many more people might publish an article if everything was in good shape, but I can guarantee you that some people may opt against publishing an article due to these kinds of problems. Writers, who do not invest sufficient effort in the creation of their articles, make the process of elimination much easier for the publishers who seek to reprint the content.
My Pet Peeve --- Losing Or Loosing?
Losing - To be unsuccessful in retaining possession of; mislay. To be unable to keep control or allegiance of: "is losing supporters by changing his mind."
Loosing - To cast loose; detach: "hikers loosing their packs at camp."
Far too often, I see writers talk about "losing" customers. Yet, when they spell the word, they spell it "loosing".
If you would note, the act of "losing" customers has to do with not being able to hold on to them. "Losing", reflects doing it without intent.
On the other hand, the act of "loosing" customers means to set them free --- voluntarily.
I am not sure that anyone actually "looses" their customers, unless they are closing their businesses. Most businesses simply "lose" their customers, quite by accident and definitely against their will.
In Conclusion
I hope my title now makes sense to you --- "Loosing" Customers and "Losing" Sales.
Take the time to get your spelling, grammar and formatting right. If you write articles and choose not to take the time to get your article right, then I could probably assume that you are --- with intent --- "loosing" customers.
Hey, it is your choice.
About the Author:
Bill Platt operates The Phantom Writers, where he offers article ghost writing services and article distribution services at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com His recent ebook, "Article Marketing for Traffic, Sales and Profit" has received excellent reviews across the board. If you write your own articles, you should seriously consider getting your own copy of his Article Marketing ebook.
Copyright © 2008 Bill Platt
(Revised, 2008) The number of people who write free-reprint articles, to promote their online business, is increasing with each passing month. I should know --- I have built my own business around free-reprint articles.
As the manager of several article distribution groups and an article distribution service, I see hundreds of articles per month go through my biggest article groups. Hundreds of publishers, webmasters and writers subscribe to article distribution lists such as this one:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Reprint-Articles
Of course, the goal of the group is for writers to get their articles to publishers and webmasters who might want to reprint the work. When publishers and webmasters decide to publish a specific article, the writer hopes that the article will generate volumes of traffic and sales for their own website.
Why Does This Matter?
As I review each article for distribution to the groups, I see one misspelling time after time that really leaps from the page.
Hey, it is not my reputation on the line, so why should it matter?
A writer's reputation can be made or broken by his or her use of the written word. So many people look up to writers as people who have a gift to share ideas with the masses.
The reason we are able to share ideas with others is not because we are special. The truth is that we are able to share ideas because we are not afraid to try to do so, and we are not afraid to work at it.
Being afraid to try and messing up the process are two different things.
Misspellings, Bad Grammar And Bad Formatting Counts
It pains me when I see articles coming through to the groups where there are problems with spelling, grammar or formatting. For some reason, we publishers tend to expect the writer to put forth the time and effort in advance to make sure that the article is ready for copy-and-paste publication.
In the old days, I used to edit articles for publication in my own ezines. Soon, my workload became too much and I had to begin to cut down on my time expenditures. At first, I simply stopped formatting articles for publication. Eventually, I even stopped proofreading articles for publication. When I reached this point, I had made a decision that if an article was not copy-and-paste ready, then I would not publish it in my own ezines.
It should come as no surprise to writers that spelling, grammar and formatting could be as important to the publication decision process, as the message communicated in the article.
But, in watching the articles come through to the groups, I have to wonder what is in the mind of some writers.
Why It Is Important
Writers take the time and effort to write the articles to promote their own businesses. But, if there are misspellings, bad grammar or no formatting, the chances of the article getting published is greatly diminished.
I am not willing to venture how many more people might publish an article if everything was in good shape, but I can guarantee you that some people may opt against publishing an article due to these kinds of problems. Writers, who do not invest sufficient effort in the creation of their articles, make the process of elimination much easier for the publishers who seek to reprint the content.
My Pet Peeve --- Losing Or Loosing?
Far too often, I see writers talk about "losing" customers. Yet, when they spell the word, they spell it "loosing".
If you would note, the act of "losing" customers has to do with not being able to hold on to them. "Losing", reflects doing it without intent.
On the other hand, the act of "loosing" customers means to set them free --- voluntarily.
I am not sure that anyone actually "looses" their customers, unless they are closing their businesses. Most businesses simply "lose" their customers, quite by accident and definitely against their will.
In Conclusion
I hope my title now makes sense to you --- "Loosing" Customers and "Losing" Sales.
Take the time to get your spelling, grammar and formatting right. If you write articles and choose not to take the time to get your article right, then I could probably assume that you are --- with intent --- "loosing" customers.
Hey, it is your choice.
About the Author:
Bill Platt operates The Phantom Writers, where he offers article ghost writing services and article distribution services at: http://www.thephantomwriters.com His recent ebook, "Article Marketing for Traffic, Sales and Profit" has received excellent reviews across the board. If you write your own articles, you should seriously consider getting your own copy of his Article Marketing ebook.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Driving Traffic And Getting List Profits
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
A great number of tested ways for sending traffic to your site exist today. You can spend time, money and considerable effort getting variable results with many of them. Much of my time has been spent in trying many of these. This is an approach that works very well.
Give before you try to GET!!! Provide a free gift for your visitors.
There is a high perceived value on the part of your visitor if you can provide them with useful information. Information has a high perceived-value and can truly change lives.
It is important that you realize there is a huge credibility gap between you and the folks you would like to have as visitors to your site and, ultlimately, customers. This level of mis-trust MUST be overcome before you can succeed in your efforts.
Finding and sharing information is your initial step. An on-line approach is the most efficient way to find and distribute valuable information. Key-word searches give you the quickest feedback on the subjects that people want to know. These subjects are what people want to know and are the ones you want to include in what you give away to your visitors.
Rather than simply sending off an e-mail or two when you provide the information, it is much better to turn it into a study course lasting several days. You will find more success if you spend the time necessary to make this a high-quality gift. This will return to you many times over in the form of a valuable list of quality subscribers. Very little cash takes you a long way in this project.
You give the information if your visitor will simply provide their name and e-mail address. The best way to perform this information capture function is to use a 'squeeze page'. Getting a squeeze page set up can be done simply and without much cost.
It's quick and affordable to get professional, quality work done. In a very short time, your own squeeze page can be activated and running.
You can have your own squeeze page up and running fast, just let me know. Use this excellent starting point to build your own profit machine.
Profitable long-term relationships, based on trust, can be built with these strategies and techniques. These methods can build your long-term relationships and ongoing profits.
Seeking to help your customer base and striving to be of value to them will pay off in any business, on-line or off-line. As you move forward, you can be well-rewarded. The optimal time to provide valuable information is long before you ask any prospective visitors/customers to do anything. The list is long when it comes to the types of information you can provide free. When you focus on quality of information delivered in a professional manner you will be taking giant steps on the road you wish to travel.
Information need is the primary thought process going on in the mind of the internet user you wish to reach. If you have the best interests of your reader at heart, it will show through in what you say and do. This is important! You have to overcome an always-present barrier of doubt in your visitor's mind. Provide valuable information at no cost and you will quickly erode the doubts. Writing and submitting articles on topics of intertest to a wide number of folks is a great way to attract the interest of internet travelers. You can pick article topics based on your own interests as well as a review of what key words people are seeking on the internet.
Articles work best at driving traffic to your website if they are not self-serving or blatant efforts to sell something. Use your articles to tell, not sell! The biggest role your articles perform is to inform. After your article has presented the information, it's fine for you to include a resource box at the end. The resource box gives your name, website address and what the reader will benefit when they visit it.
The process of article writing and production has taken some forward strides lately with new software that automates everything. A lot of the grind and struggle of article-production has been made much easier now that the industry has taken this step forward. Everything has gotten much simpler lately with all this. Articles can be written, produced and distributed to thousands of people at very reasonable rates.
Recent advances in computers as well as in writing and publishing services help you make articles an integral and ongoing strategy. If you want more information on these useful tools (or anything else in this article), just contact me.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Copyright © 2007-2008 Casey Moher
A great number of tested ways for sending traffic to your site exist today. You can spend time, money and considerable effort getting variable results with many of them. Much of my time has been spent in trying many of these. This is an approach that works very well.
Give before you try to GET!!! Provide a free gift for your visitors.
There is a high perceived value on the part of your visitor if you can provide them with useful information. Information has a high perceived-value and can truly change lives.
It is important that you realize there is a huge credibility gap between you and the folks you would like to have as visitors to your site and, ultlimately, customers. This level of mis-trust MUST be overcome before you can succeed in your efforts.
Finding and sharing information is your initial step. An on-line approach is the most efficient way to find and distribute valuable information. Key-word searches give you the quickest feedback on the subjects that people want to know. These subjects are what people want to know and are the ones you want to include in what you give away to your visitors.
Rather than simply sending off an e-mail or two when you provide the information, it is much better to turn it into a study course lasting several days. You will find more success if you spend the time necessary to make this a high-quality gift. This will return to you many times over in the form of a valuable list of quality subscribers. Very little cash takes you a long way in this project.
You give the information if your visitor will simply provide their name and e-mail address. The best way to perform this information capture function is to use a 'squeeze page'. Getting a squeeze page set up can be done simply and without much cost.
It's quick and affordable to get professional, quality work done. In a very short time, your own squeeze page can be activated and running.
You can have your own squeeze page up and running fast, just let me know. Use this excellent starting point to build your own profit machine.
Profitable long-term relationships, based on trust, can be built with these strategies and techniques. These methods can build your long-term relationships and ongoing profits.
Seeking to help your customer base and striving to be of value to them will pay off in any business, on-line or off-line. As you move forward, you can be well-rewarded. The optimal time to provide valuable information is long before you ask any prospective visitors/customers to do anything. The list is long when it comes to the types of information you can provide free. When you focus on quality of information delivered in a professional manner you will be taking giant steps on the road you wish to travel.
Information need is the primary thought process going on in the mind of the internet user you wish to reach. If you have the best interests of your reader at heart, it will show through in what you say and do. This is important! You have to overcome an always-present barrier of doubt in your visitor's mind. Provide valuable information at no cost and you will quickly erode the doubts. Writing and submitting articles on topics of intertest to a wide number of folks is a great way to attract the interest of internet travelers. You can pick article topics based on your own interests as well as a review of what key words people are seeking on the internet.
Articles work best at driving traffic to your website if they are not self-serving or blatant efforts to sell something. Use your articles to tell, not sell! The biggest role your articles perform is to inform. After your article has presented the information, it's fine for you to include a resource box at the end. The resource box gives your name, website address and what the reader will benefit when they visit it.
The process of article writing and production has taken some forward strides lately with new software that automates everything. A lot of the grind and struggle of article-production has been made much easier now that the industry has taken this step forward. Everything has gotten much simpler lately with all this. Articles can be written, produced and distributed to thousands of people at very reasonable rates.
Recent advances in computers as well as in writing and publishing services help you make articles an integral and ongoing strategy. If you want more information on these useful tools (or anything else in this article), just contact me.
About the Author:
Casey Moher - Caseymoher@comcast.net (801) 941-3334
Mr. Moher is a Registered Pharmacist and Life-Long Marketing and Sales Professional. You Can Get His Free Five-Day Mini-Course on Building Targeted Website Traffic by visiting: http://www.newtrafficmaster.com
Book Authors: How To Sell More Books And Get Your Publisher Active
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2006-2008 Bill Platt
It is an unfortunate reality that most people who write books believe that their publisher will always put their best foot forward, to promote their book. In the real world, it does not quite work that way.
Let me put this in perspective for you.
THE PROFIT-LOSS EQUATION IN BOOK PUBLISHING
It is a financial matter of profits and losses. The book publishing world is much different than what many of us believe it is or that we believe it should be.
The average publisher will only print 1,000 copies of a book. They do this because the average book will sell an average of 400 or 500 copies.
When a publisher takes on a new title, it is a real gamble. Publishers are gambling that the books they take on will generate sales of 1,000 copies, and on rare occasions, they can hope for a book to sell a full 5,000 copies.
The book that sells 100,000 or one million copies is extremely rare.
With more than 100,000 books being printed every year, fewer than one percent of those books will see sales in the range of 5,000 or more copies. Every publisher has hopes that one of the 1,000 books every year that will sell at least 5,000 copies is one of the books sold through their publishing house. These are the books that will help the publisher to make a real profit this year.
One publisher told me that he lets his editors take care of the full book editing and development process. And, he said that he will not even pay attention to the book, until the book sells 5,000 copies. Only then will he consider reading the book himself and cranking up his marketing department to try to sell the book to a wider audience.
So, here it is in a nutshell. If you are a new book author, and you would like to see your book get some serious attention from your publisher and the public, then you need to step up to the plate and promote your book in such a way, as you can ensure that your book will sell 5,000 copies or more.
These days, most publishers will put up single webpages offering each of their books to the public. As a writer of the book, you should not believe that this page will be a well-written, well-optimized page on the internet.
Don't fool yourself... The webpage where your book is offered generally will not get great rankings in the search engines for the keywords relevent to the topic of your book. Additionally, the sales copy will not be set up in such a way as to give much confidence to your potential buyers.
Print book publishers don't do a good job building online promotional materials for a book, until they put their best people on the job. And, the publisher will not put their best people on the job until they believe that they have a winner in their stable.
As a writer, if you want your book to be anything more than a dust-catcher on your own shelf, you need to learn to be a book promoter also.
HOW TO SELL YOUR FIRST 5,000 BOOKS
As a book author, there are three basic steps that you will want to undertake to promote your book online.
1. Set up a domain website,
>2. Promote your book with articles,
3. Promote your book with press releases.
In this article, I am going to take a look at how and why you will want to consider each of these steps.
1. SET UP A DOMAIN WEBSITE
Yes, you need a "domain" website. A free page on Geocities.com or Freeservers.com will not instill confidence with your potential customers. Let's face it, the most important marketing consideration for any product or service to be sold on the internet today is to build the "trust factor".
A person, who is being asked to take out their wallet, wants to know that they will get what they have paid for. Free sites cannot be traced to anyone in particular, and commercial websites on the free servers are considered in general to be owned by the fly-by-night outfits on the internet.
We have to give our potential customers the confidence they need to buy products and services from us. And, in order to give our potential customers confidence, we must be willing to spend a few of our own dollars to set up a website.
You can actually register a domain for less than $20 in most cases. Hosting for that domain can be picked up from hundreds of web hosting companies for as little as $10-$20 per month.
On your website, you want to tell readers about your book and why your reader might want to buy your book. On your website, be certain to also ask your reader for the sale, and give them a link where they can buy your book.
Including testimonials and book reviews on your website, will also help you to build interest and trust with your readers.
Sometimes, it can pay dividends to hire a web designer to design the visual template for your website, and to hire a sales copywriter to write your sales copy for the book.
One thing to keep in mind is that not all web designers can write good salescopy, and few copywriters make good web designers.
When you can afford to do so, you should seriously consider hiring a professional to do the tasks necessary to build a nice website and to put good salescopy onto your website. Great web designers will also help you by building your e-commerce system, so that your readers can buy directly from your website.
The professionals do not have to be really expensive. Both can usually be found for a couple hundred dollars. Of course, you could pay more, but you can still find some good people at these rates.
2. PROMOTE YOUR BOOK WITH FREE-REPRINT ARTICLES
Free-Reprint Articles are informational pieces designed to educate the reader about something of interest to the reader.
In an article, your goal is to talk about some topic that is related to the topic of your book. You don't actually want to sell your book inside the body of the article. Instead, you want to use your article to introduce your readers to concepts that might be covered in your book.
When you reach the end of the article, you want to include your About The Author information (often referred to as your Resource Box). Keep your sales material in your Resource Box, but keep in mind that your goal is not to sell your book in your Resource Box. Instead, your goal is to use your Resource Box to get the reader to your website, then use your website to sell your book.
Many people ask if article promotion will work for them. This is what I tell them.
The ability of an article to produce results for you will depend on your article. The internet is still a democracy in that people will make the choice for themselves whether or not they want to use your article.
Some articles get lots of reprints, some do not. The average outcome is about 40-50 backlinks and multiple publications in ezines.
Poor articles still get an average of ten reprints. Exceptional articles generate in excess of thousands of reprints. The results really do rely upon the article.
(One client of mine has one article that generated more than 5,000 reprints in two years time. This same client has written more than 100 articles. He is a well-known article writer and this fact does help his ability to generate more mileage from a single article.)
Just as important as the article itself, is the author resource box. The article is the vehicle to get your resource box seen. A good resource box offers just enough information to inspire the reader to visit your website to learn more about your book. A good resource box also offers a strong call-to-action to get the reader to your website. Let your website do the selling, but use the resource box to get the reader to your website.
Also, you really should consider doing more than one article over a longer period of time. For example, six articles over six months. Each subsequent article puts your name in front of the publishers who will use your articles. Name recognition will help your overall ability for getting published.
3. PROMOTE YOUR BOOK WITH PRESS RELEASES
I always recommend a two-fold approach to any book promotion. 1) reprint articles related to the topic of the book. 2) Press releases distributed through a system such as http://www.prweb.com.
Press releases are different from an article. A good article will have an educational or informational slant to them. A good press release will be designed more as a news story. A good press release has the most noteworthy news in the first paragraph, the second most noteworthy information in the second paragraph, etc.
Additonally, the press release will provide a telephone number for news reporters to contact you for more information concerning your story, so that they can build their own news story from your information.
Although the premise of a press release is so that a reporter can learn enough to build their own news story, you have to remember that their schedule is tight as well. Build your press release in such a way that it can be used as THE news story. Many people will take your press release verbatum for their own use. They might take only the first paragraph, and then they might take the whole thing.
Build your press release with the hope that it will be used in full. Build your press release with the thought that the reporter may only use the first paragraph.
Be prepared to receive phone calls to answer questions about your topic. And, be prepared when no one calls.
I have sent out more than a dozen press releases myself. I have seen those press releases read thousands of times and used hundreds of times. And yet, no one has ever called me for more information.
IN CONCLUSION...
Book promotion should not be viewed as a one-time event. If you take the idea that I will try this once to see if it works, then you might as well save your time and money and not even try at all.
Promotion is an ongoing process. Nothing will happen until you do something. And then you will need to keep doing something to keep open the possibility of something happening to your benefit.
You need to build up a momentum, and then just keep on running.
You are more likely to get published and to sell books if people recognize your name. And, one-time out will not allow anyone to get to know you.
Book authors who can build up a promotional momentum for their book are very likely to find their first 5,000 sales. And as a general rule, once you have crossed that threshold, your publisher will be more than happy to help you to keep that momentum going.
About the Author:
Bill Platt is the owner of the Phantom Writers at: http://thePhantomWriters.com He specializes in distributing free-reprint articles to help his clients to promote their online businesses or their books. Bill can be reached by phone at (405)780-7327, from 9:30am to 6pm, Monday through Friday.
Copyright © 2006-2008 Bill Platt
It is an unfortunate reality that most people who write books believe that their publisher will always put their best foot forward, to promote their book. In the real world, it does not quite work that way.
Let me put this in perspective for you.
THE PROFIT-LOSS EQUATION IN BOOK PUBLISHING
It is a financial matter of profits and losses. The book publishing world is much different than what many of us believe it is or that we believe it should be.
The average publisher will only print 1,000 copies of a book. They do this because the average book will sell an average of 400 or 500 copies.
When a publisher takes on a new title, it is a real gamble. Publishers are gambling that the books they take on will generate sales of 1,000 copies, and on rare occasions, they can hope for a book to sell a full 5,000 copies.
The book that sells 100,000 or one million copies is extremely rare.
With more than 100,000 books being printed every year, fewer than one percent of those books will see sales in the range of 5,000 or more copies. Every publisher has hopes that one of the 1,000 books every year that will sell at least 5,000 copies is one of the books sold through their publishing house. These are the books that will help the publisher to make a real profit this year.
One publisher told me that he lets his editors take care of the full book editing and development process. And, he said that he will not even pay attention to the book, until the book sells 5,000 copies. Only then will he consider reading the book himself and cranking up his marketing department to try to sell the book to a wider audience.
So, here it is in a nutshell. If you are a new book author, and you would like to see your book get some serious attention from your publisher and the public, then you need to step up to the plate and promote your book in such a way, as you can ensure that your book will sell 5,000 copies or more.
These days, most publishers will put up single webpages offering each of their books to the public. As a writer of the book, you should not believe that this page will be a well-written, well-optimized page on the internet.
Don't fool yourself... The webpage where your book is offered generally will not get great rankings in the search engines for the keywords relevent to the topic of your book. Additionally, the sales copy will not be set up in such a way as to give much confidence to your potential buyers.
Print book publishers don't do a good job building online promotional materials for a book, until they put their best people on the job. And, the publisher will not put their best people on the job until they believe that they have a winner in their stable.
As a writer, if you want your book to be anything more than a dust-catcher on your own shelf, you need to learn to be a book promoter also.
HOW TO SELL YOUR FIRST 5,000 BOOKS
As a book author, there are three basic steps that you will want to undertake to promote your book online.
1. Set up a domain website,
>2. Promote your book with articles,
3. Promote your book with press releases.
In this article, I am going to take a look at how and why you will want to consider each of these steps.
1. SET UP A DOMAIN WEBSITE
Yes, you need a "domain" website. A free page on Geocities.com or Freeservers.com will not instill confidence with your potential customers. Let's face it, the most important marketing consideration for any product or service to be sold on the internet today is to build the "trust factor".
A person, who is being asked to take out their wallet, wants to know that they will get what they have paid for. Free sites cannot be traced to anyone in particular, and commercial websites on the free servers are considered in general to be owned by the fly-by-night outfits on the internet.
We have to give our potential customers the confidence they need to buy products and services from us. And, in order to give our potential customers confidence, we must be willing to spend a few of our own dollars to set up a website.
You can actually register a domain for less than $20 in most cases. Hosting for that domain can be picked up from hundreds of web hosting companies for as little as $10-$20 per month.
On your website, you want to tell readers about your book and why your reader might want to buy your book. On your website, be certain to also ask your reader for the sale, and give them a link where they can buy your book.
Including testimonials and book reviews on your website, will also help you to build interest and trust with your readers.
Sometimes, it can pay dividends to hire a web designer to design the visual template for your website, and to hire a sales copywriter to write your sales copy for the book.
One thing to keep in mind is that not all web designers can write good salescopy, and few copywriters make good web designers.
When you can afford to do so, you should seriously consider hiring a professional to do the tasks necessary to build a nice website and to put good salescopy onto your website. Great web designers will also help you by building your e-commerce system, so that your readers can buy directly from your website.
The professionals do not have to be really expensive. Both can usually be found for a couple hundred dollars. Of course, you could pay more, but you can still find some good people at these rates.
2. PROMOTE YOUR BOOK WITH FREE-REPRINT ARTICLES
Free-Reprint Articles are informational pieces designed to educate the reader about something of interest to the reader.
In an article, your goal is to talk about some topic that is related to the topic of your book. You don't actually want to sell your book inside the body of the article. Instead, you want to use your article to introduce your readers to concepts that might be covered in your book.
When you reach the end of the article, you want to include your About The Author information (often referred to as your Resource Box). Keep your sales material in your Resource Box, but keep in mind that your goal is not to sell your book in your Resource Box. Instead, your goal is to use your Resource Box to get the reader to your website, then use your website to sell your book.
Many people ask if article promotion will work for them. This is what I tell them.
The ability of an article to produce results for you will depend on your article. The internet is still a democracy in that people will make the choice for themselves whether or not they want to use your article.
Some articles get lots of reprints, some do not. The average outcome is about 40-50 backlinks and multiple publications in ezines.
Poor articles still get an average of ten reprints. Exceptional articles generate in excess of thousands of reprints. The results really do rely upon the article.
(One client of mine has one article that generated more than 5,000 reprints in two years time. This same client has written more than 100 articles. He is a well-known article writer and this fact does help his ability to generate more mileage from a single article.)
Just as important as the article itself, is the author resource box. The article is the vehicle to get your resource box seen. A good resource box offers just enough information to inspire the reader to visit your website to learn more about your book. A good resource box also offers a strong call-to-action to get the reader to your website. Let your website do the selling, but use the resource box to get the reader to your website.
Also, you really should consider doing more than one article over a longer period of time. For example, six articles over six months. Each subsequent article puts your name in front of the publishers who will use your articles. Name recognition will help your overall ability for getting published.
3. PROMOTE YOUR BOOK WITH PRESS RELEASES
I always recommend a two-fold approach to any book promotion. 1) reprint articles related to the topic of the book. 2) Press releases distributed through a system such as http://www.prweb.com.
Press releases are different from an article. A good article will have an educational or informational slant to them. A good press release will be designed more as a news story. A good press release has the most noteworthy news in the first paragraph, the second most noteworthy information in the second paragraph, etc.
Additonally, the press release will provide a telephone number for news reporters to contact you for more information concerning your story, so that they can build their own news story from your information.
Although the premise of a press release is so that a reporter can learn enough to build their own news story, you have to remember that their schedule is tight as well. Build your press release in such a way that it can be used as THE news story. Many people will take your press release verbatum for their own use. They might take only the first paragraph, and then they might take the whole thing.
Build your press release with the hope that it will be used in full. Build your press release with the thought that the reporter may only use the first paragraph.
Be prepared to receive phone calls to answer questions about your topic. And, be prepared when no one calls.
I have sent out more than a dozen press releases myself. I have seen those press releases read thousands of times and used hundreds of times. And yet, no one has ever called me for more information.
IN CONCLUSION...
Book promotion should not be viewed as a one-time event. If you take the idea that I will try this once to see if it works, then you might as well save your time and money and not even try at all.
Promotion is an ongoing process. Nothing will happen until you do something. And then you will need to keep doing something to keep open the possibility of something happening to your benefit.
You need to build up a momentum, and then just keep on running.
You are more likely to get published and to sell books if people recognize your name. And, one-time out will not allow anyone to get to know you.
Book authors who can build up a promotional momentum for their book are very likely to find their first 5,000 sales. And as a general rule, once you have crossed that threshold, your publisher will be more than happy to help you to keep that momentum going.
About the Author:
Bill Platt is the owner of the Phantom Writers at: http://thePhantomWriters.com He specializes in distributing free-reprint articles to help his clients to promote their online businesses or their books. Bill can be reached by phone at (405)780-7327, from 9:30am to 6pm, Monday through Friday.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Are You Looking For A Great Product To Market? Here's Where To Start!
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Acey Gaspard
Finding a product to market takes effort and several defined steps. You could go after the wrong product and end up with a failing business.
I'll discuss my view on this subject and if you take the advice, then you'll be headed in the right direction and find something fulfilling to put your time and effort into.
Doing what you love to do will dramatically increase your chances of success. Don't waste your time and effort on something that's not for you.
Alex loves computers; he can talk about them all-day. He keeps up with the latest trends and technologies. Computers are his passion. Alex has a successful career in selling computers. He's doing something he loves. He could market computers with little effort and he could go nonstop because of his passion for computers. Alex is blessed, because he's doing something he loves. Do you have a passion like Alex?
Many of us may be unaware that we can do much better by marketing something that we are passionate about. Don't look for the hottest products or latest trends to market just because of the money. If you want long lasting success you have to market something you enjoy, something that captures your interest.
Here are a few reasons you should market something you're passionate about rather than just doing it for the money.
When you're marketing something you're passionate about, then you'll find new ideas easily. If you face a setback, you'll always a find away around it. You'll be creative. You're focused and you won't jump at every unrelated opportunity that shows up. You'll be happy while you're working. You'll be working at your peak performance. You'll feel satisfaction when you're successful. You'll enjoy your work.
When you're marketing something you're NOT passionate about, then you'll think of giving up when faced with any glitch as opposed to looking for a solution. You'll be jumping from opportunity to opportunity, cutting your resources short. If you're successful you'll feel a void, because this is not your true purpose. If you work long hours, you'll ask yourself, "Is this worth it?" You'll feel overwhelmed when you need to give it all you've got. Your efforts and creativity are limited.
Here are some simple steps to help identify your true interests
Step 1: Consider the following questions:
What are you good at?
What are you interested in?
What are passionate about?
What do people ask you about a lot?
Step 2: Write down ONE answer for the above questions.
Step 3: Is there a product or service that you THINK the marketplace wants? Write down your answer on the next line.
Step 4: Go to Step 1: and repeat the steps until you have eliminated all other interests.
Step 5: Go over the list and do a little research on what's going on in the marketplace. You can do this by typing in a few keywords in your favorite search engine. For example: Your interest is art. You could type in any of the following: art business opportunity; affiliate program art; art; business art; starting your own art business
Step 6: With a little more knowledge of what's in the marketplace, you now have a better idea of what you want to aim for and what the marketplace wants. Follow your feelings and choose the area that interests you the most.
There is still work, but you are now on the right track. You can put your time and effort into something that you're interested in. Now you can develop or find the best product for the marketplace. You have just dramatically increased your chances of success, because you have a solid foundation and you're pointed in the right direction. Your passion will guide you and push you through any hard times you may face.
That's the way I see it.
To Your Success!
Acey Gaspard
Action Steps When Looking for a Great Product to Market
1. Think about your passions, what brings you enjoyment, what you would do all-day without getting paid for.
2. Take some quiet time and do the exercise above.
3. After you have identified your passion and interest, then you must do research to find or develop a product or service for the marketplace.
Important Points to Keep in Mind When Looking for a Great Product to Market
Doing what you love to do will dramatically increase your chances of success. Don't waste your time and effort on something that's not for you. Many of us may be unaware that we can do much better by marketing something that we are passionate about. Don't look for the hottest products or latest trends to market just because of the money. Follow your feelings and choose the area that interests you the most. Put your time and effort into something that you're interested in.
About the Author:
Acey Gaspard has over 20 years of business experience. His site, A Touch of Business.com, http://www.atouchofbusiness.com is steadily growing with well over 1,100 original pages to help you run and market your small business. Get Tips you can use today! http://www.atouchofbusiness.com/tips.html
Copyright © 2008 Acey Gaspard
Finding a product to market takes effort and several defined steps. You could go after the wrong product and end up with a failing business.
I'll discuss my view on this subject and if you take the advice, then you'll be headed in the right direction and find something fulfilling to put your time and effort into.
Doing what you love to do will dramatically increase your chances of success. Don't waste your time and effort on something that's not for you.
Alex loves computers; he can talk about them all-day. He keeps up with the latest trends and technologies. Computers are his passion. Alex has a successful career in selling computers. He's doing something he loves. He could market computers with little effort and he could go nonstop because of his passion for computers. Alex is blessed, because he's doing something he loves. Do you have a passion like Alex?
Many of us may be unaware that we can do much better by marketing something that we are passionate about. Don't look for the hottest products or latest trends to market just because of the money. If you want long lasting success you have to market something you enjoy, something that captures your interest.
Here are a few reasons you should market something you're passionate about rather than just doing it for the money.
When you're marketing something you're passionate about, then you'll find new ideas easily. If you face a setback, you'll always a find away around it. You'll be creative. You're focused and you won't jump at every unrelated opportunity that shows up. You'll be happy while you're working. You'll be working at your peak performance. You'll feel satisfaction when you're successful. You'll enjoy your work.
When you're marketing something you're NOT passionate about, then you'll think of giving up when faced with any glitch as opposed to looking for a solution. You'll be jumping from opportunity to opportunity, cutting your resources short. If you're successful you'll feel a void, because this is not your true purpose. If you work long hours, you'll ask yourself, "Is this worth it?" You'll feel overwhelmed when you need to give it all you've got. Your efforts and creativity are limited.
Here are some simple steps to help identify your true interests
Step 1: Consider the following questions:
What are you good at?
What are you interested in?
What are passionate about?
What do people ask you about a lot?
Step 2: Write down ONE answer for the above questions.
Step 3: Is there a product or service that you THINK the marketplace wants? Write down your answer on the next line.
Step 4: Go to Step 1: and repeat the steps until you have eliminated all other interests.
Step 5: Go over the list and do a little research on what's going on in the marketplace. You can do this by typing in a few keywords in your favorite search engine. For example: Your interest is art. You could type in any of the following: art business opportunity; affiliate program art; art; business art; starting your own art business
Step 6: With a little more knowledge of what's in the marketplace, you now have a better idea of what you want to aim for and what the marketplace wants. Follow your feelings and choose the area that interests you the most.
There is still work, but you are now on the right track. You can put your time and effort into something that you're interested in. Now you can develop or find the best product for the marketplace. You have just dramatically increased your chances of success, because you have a solid foundation and you're pointed in the right direction. Your passion will guide you and push you through any hard times you may face.
That's the way I see it.
To Your Success!
Acey Gaspard
Action Steps When Looking for a Great Product to Market
1. Think about your passions, what brings you enjoyment, what you would do all-day without getting paid for.
2. Take some quiet time and do the exercise above.
3. After you have identified your passion and interest, then you must do research to find or develop a product or service for the marketplace.
Important Points to Keep in Mind When Looking for a Great Product to Market
About the Author:
Acey Gaspard has over 20 years of business experience. His site, A Touch of Business.com, http://www.atouchofbusiness.com is steadily growing with well over 1,100 original pages to help you run and market your small business. Get Tips you can use today! http://www.atouchofbusiness.com/tips.html
Thursday, June 5, 2008
How To Leverage Your List to Grow It Even Faster
Article Presented by:
Copyright © 2008 Willie Crawford
People are peculiar creatures... more alike in our thoughts and behavior than we like to admit. One thing that is true of most people, regardless of culture, and unique circumstances is that they like to know something that other people want to know.
We also like to share that information.
It makes us look and feel smarter :-)
It allows us to appear to have inside information and we like that. Not only do we like to share information, we like to steer our friends and family in the right direction.
People share all kinds of information. They tell their neighbors which exterminator to use and which one does a shoddy job. They recommend the talented barber or hair stylist.
The same traits are common among your subscribers. They consider you a trusted expert, and a great source of products or services, or they wouldn't stay on your opt-in list.
You need to find ways to take advantage of this human need to know what-is-what and the instinct to share useful information. Most people will share information willingly and without much incentive from you. However, providing a little incentive usually doesn't hurt.
Your first step is to convince your opt-in list subscribers that they really do have the inside track for success by being members of your list. There are about a million ways to tell people that they are smart and that by being members of your opt-in list proves it. Never miss the opportunity to share that compliment.
Your next step is to get these smart subscribers to share your great ezine with their family and friends thus building your list.
The easiest and simplest thing that you can do is to... ask them.
Ask them to pass along copies of your ezine or autoresponder messages, and include a link to your subscribe url at the bottom of each issue. That way, those who read "pass-along copies," and enjoy them, will know how to get more :-)
You can also Offer incentives for referring new subscribers. I actually PAY my existing subscribers (on some lists) for referring others.
You can offer cash payments for new referrals, having them send the referrals to get something like a value-packed free report. Use an affiliate tracking system such as ProfitAutomation.com to automatically track referral commissions and then once a month, pay those commissions.
If you want the paid referral system to be totally hands-free, set it up as an affiliate program using a script like Rapid Action Profits. With Rapid Action Profits, they would use a referral link to sell an inexpensive report, and when a referral gets the report they pay the referrer directly. The token fee for the report, is deposited directly to the referrer's Paypal account.
This is a very powerful way of using subscribers or customers to build a list of paying customers. Many people treasure a list built this way more because it's a list of PROVEN buyers. If you are not familiar with RAP, you can check it out at: http://TheRealSecrets.com/RapidActionProfits/
You can see how I implemented using RAP with an ebook that I wrote called "Secrets Of The Clickbank Millionaires." I let my subscribers sell the ebook for $5 (a real bargain for their friends) but the payment goes directly to them, and it's paid INSTANTLY. Since they don't have to wait for Payments, it's a very powerful incentive for those with cashflow problems.
You can see how I've implemented using "Secrets Of The Clickbank Millionaires" to incentivize subscribers to make referrals at: http://TheRealSecrets.com/ClickbankMillionaires/
Another powerful way to get your existing subscribers, and even just random website visitors, to make referrals is to use a tell-a-friend script on your site.
Perhaps, tell your list that referring your ezine to 4-6 people will earn them a free gift, and set the form to forward them to that download once they've completed and submitted the form. Don't base it on the number of people who actually sign up, but rather on them referring your list to their friends. Many of their referrals won't sign up, and you need to avoid creating frustration in existing readers who are trying to help you build your list.
You can find good tell-a-friend scripts in many places. The Rapid Action Profits script mentioned earlier even has a tell-a-friend script built in that allows customers and subscribers to make referrals right from your download pages.
I've just given you a few quick and easy ways to leverage your existing list to grow your opt-in list even faster. The leverage comes from you simply getting existing subscribers to recommend you to their contacts. You can do this with or without offering an incentive. Simple isn't it :-)
About the Author:
Willie Crawford is an Internet marketer with over 11 years of experience at generating record-breaking sales and massive email lists using viral marketing techniques. Rebrandable ebooks created using Viral Document Toolkit are a favorite tool! See the demo video at: http://ViralDocumentToolkits.com
Copyright © 2008 Willie Crawford
People are peculiar creatures... more alike in our thoughts and behavior than we like to admit. One thing that is true of most people, regardless of culture, and unique circumstances is that they like to know something that other people want to know.
We also like to share that information.
It makes us look and feel smarter :-)
It allows us to appear to have inside information and we like that. Not only do we like to share information, we like to steer our friends and family in the right direction.
People share all kinds of information. They tell their neighbors which exterminator to use and which one does a shoddy job. They recommend the talented barber or hair stylist.
The same traits are common among your subscribers. They consider you a trusted expert, and a great source of products or services, or they wouldn't stay on your opt-in list.
You need to find ways to take advantage of this human need to know what-is-what and the instinct to share useful information. Most people will share information willingly and without much incentive from you. However, providing a little incentive usually doesn't hurt.
Your first step is to convince your opt-in list subscribers that they really do have the inside track for success by being members of your list. There are about a million ways to tell people that they are smart and that by being members of your opt-in list proves it. Never miss the opportunity to share that compliment.
Your next step is to get these smart subscribers to share your great ezine with their family and friends thus building your list.
The easiest and simplest thing that you can do is to... ask them.
Ask them to pass along copies of your ezine or autoresponder messages, and include a link to your subscribe url at the bottom of each issue. That way, those who read "pass-along copies," and enjoy them, will know how to get more :-)
You can also Offer incentives for referring new subscribers. I actually PAY my existing subscribers (on some lists) for referring others.
You can offer cash payments for new referrals, having them send the referrals to get something like a value-packed free report. Use an affiliate tracking system such as ProfitAutomation.com to automatically track referral commissions and then once a month, pay those commissions.
If you want the paid referral system to be totally hands-free, set it up as an affiliate program using a script like Rapid Action Profits. With Rapid Action Profits, they would use a referral link to sell an inexpensive report, and when a referral gets the report they pay the referrer directly. The token fee for the report, is deposited directly to the referrer's Paypal account.
This is a very powerful way of using subscribers or customers to build a list of paying customers. Many people treasure a list built this way more because it's a list of PROVEN buyers. If you are not familiar with RAP, you can check it out at: http://TheRealSecrets.com/RapidActionProfits/
You can see how I implemented using RAP with an ebook that I wrote called "Secrets Of The Clickbank Millionaires." I let my subscribers sell the ebook for $5 (a real bargain for their friends) but the payment goes directly to them, and it's paid INSTANTLY. Since they don't have to wait for Payments, it's a very powerful incentive for those with cashflow problems.
You can see how I've implemented using "Secrets Of The Clickbank Millionaires" to incentivize subscribers to make referrals at: http://TheRealSecrets.com/ClickbankMillionaires/
Another powerful way to get your existing subscribers, and even just random website visitors, to make referrals is to use a tell-a-friend script on your site.
Perhaps, tell your list that referring your ezine to 4-6 people will earn them a free gift, and set the form to forward them to that download once they've completed and submitted the form. Don't base it on the number of people who actually sign up, but rather on them referring your list to their friends. Many of their referrals won't sign up, and you need to avoid creating frustration in existing readers who are trying to help you build your list.
You can find good tell-a-friend scripts in many places. The Rapid Action Profits script mentioned earlier even has a tell-a-friend script built in that allows customers and subscribers to make referrals right from your download pages.
I've just given you a few quick and easy ways to leverage your existing list to grow your opt-in list even faster. The leverage comes from you simply getting existing subscribers to recommend you to their contacts. You can do this with or without offering an incentive. Simple isn't it :-)
About the Author:
Willie Crawford is an Internet marketer with over 11 years of experience at generating record-breaking sales and massive email lists using viral marketing techniques. Rebrandable ebooks created using Viral Document Toolkit are a favorite tool! See the demo video at: http://ViralDocumentToolkits.com
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