Have All the Best Product Creation Ideas Been Taken Already?

On January 20, 2012, in Online Content Marketing, by Jim
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Ideas are the Basis of Progress. Every Improve...

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Is the “heyday” of Internet information products now over?  Although it may be currently more difficult to market online information products, this is far from true.  New products are being created on a daily basis.  In many ways, Internet information products are similar to books in the more traditional publishing industry. After all, aren’t online products usually just e-books?

First of all, just because an idea has been taken, doesn’t mean you can’t create your own improved or targeted version.  As in any industry there are usually several major competitors present in order to give consumers a choice and the lowest possible prices through competition.  In addition, consider just how many ideas that exist as products today didn’t even exist 6 months ago.

Why then is it considered difficult to create new products by many Internet marketers?  Or, why do many get stuck?

Jason Fladlien of Rapid Crush Consulting believes in cutting the fluff from products.  In other words, “one product, one solution.”  What is just one way to run a Facebook ads campaign, for example?  Jason’s first product was called “How to write an article in 7 minutes or less.”  His product, published Nov 12th, 2007 sold initially for $4.  At the time, Paypal took over 10%, and he had 268 sales in less than 24 hours.  He increased the price to $7 and later to $17 and continued to make more sales.  Even today, selling for $47, the same product earned him $188 in 10 days this month.

But isn’t Jason an accomplished copywriter, and don’t  you need to be Superman to do this?  Not according to Jason, because in his experience, speed is the most important factor holding most back from their own breakthrough.  Profits from low cost, simple products can be used to invest in future products.  And success is inevitable, because every completed product adds an asset to your business regardless of whether or not it produces immediate financial return.

Can anyone do this, really?  Most people are held back by their own belief systems, which must usually be destroyed first.  Jason’s own success came through a simple principle of first creating a product in one sitting of two hours or less.  After this, he was he able to move on to creation of more in depth, complex products.  Jason’s Rapid Crush software products are also often the result of leveraging existing works that haven’t been properly marketed, further keeping the process as simple as possible.  Concentrating on bite-sized chunks can increase your own belief system through your own initial results.

Jason is now offering a repeat of his very successful product creation eclass including these and additional concepts from his own success.  So, as an entrepreneur, whether you’re looking to become an author or the next Internet marketing sensation, this may be the place to be.  It is certainly worth a look if you believe you just might have that spark within that needs to be released.  Jason will introduce his class in a webinar on Saturday, January 21 2012.

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Facebook Marketing Lead Generation

On December 1, 2011, in Social Network Marketing, by Jim
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Ken Michaels started in Internet marketing in 1993, after realizing he hated selling.  His area of expertise is developing systems to automate the lead generation process using social networks.  His specific area of focus is creating Facebook pages for small businesses.  Finding clients using specific online tools and automated systems is his expertise.Facebook 4.74 Degrees of Separation

Just 5 years ago, most businesses were interested in getting websites setup and leveraging Google through SEO.  In the last few years, social media started to take over, led by Facebook and YouTube.  Today, most people are obsessed with Facebook, where 4.74 is the new “degrees of separation.”

There are several easy ways to generate Facebook fan page leads including:

  • Manta – This is a directory of small businesses, which categorizes businesses by company revenue.  According to consultant Ken Michaels, targeting businesses under $1 million can have an advantage of ease of contacting the decision maker.  In addition, these businesses often hire-out specialists for specific tasks such as  marketing online, since they really only have time to run the day-to-day operations.

    English: Graph of social media activities

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  • Yellow Book – In this directory, businesses are listed according to the level of advertising that they currently own:  Gold, Yellow, or Blue.  The ones to target are the ones already spending money on advertising.  In addition, businesses that have paid Yellow Book to create a video can be selected (Note:  the videos that have been produced are very poorly done, including a promotion at the end for Yellow Book!).
  • Social Bakers – This website is a directory of Facebook pages, including the number of fans, and complete details on every existing Facebook page.  The best target businesses are those with between 100 and 300 “likes.”  This is the point where most fan pages “die off.”

Developing leads in an automated fashion can be done with automated systems.  FB Cash Accelerator leverages Social Bakers to generate thousands of leads, in minutes, including contact information when available, applications used, and if the Facebook page has been claimed by the owner.  In addition, a full contact manager is included, including support for virtual assistants and outsourcing the lead generation.

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Turbo Affiliate Cash – A 6-Step Approach to Fast Affiliate Marketing Profits

On October 4, 2011, in Attraction Marketing, by Jim
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In this article, we review a methodology developed by Mike Cowles and Keith Dougherty to consistently and quickly generate income as an affiliate marketer.  Their methodology,which is now sold as a product in Turbo Affiliate Cash, involves mostly free tools, e.g., OpenOffice.org, and a six step process as follows:Turbo Affiliate Cash

  1. Select an affiliate product.  Mike suggests going to one of the affiliate centers such as ClickBank, SimpleOneClick, etc. and select a product with at least 20 copies sold and between 10 and 50% conversion.
  2. Get free content.  Contact the product owner and ask if they would participate in a quick email interview, of 5 to 7 questions, e.g., “How would you get started with Amazon marketing.”
  3. Use the report which you have developed to build a list.  Submit to sites such as tradebits.com with a free offer in exchange for their email address.
  4. Find free graphics.  Use professional headlines, screen capture, screen shots, and logo icons to enhance your content.  Mike suggests using gimp.org vs. spending megabucks for PhotoShop and SqueezePageCity.com for free templates.
    Adobe Photoshop CS

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  5. Leverage JV traffic.  Go back to the person you interviewed and ask if they would mind posting to their blog (and write the post/swipe copy for them).
  6. Free back-end offers.  Offer master resale rights to people that download your report.  Offer your partner the ability to embed their own links, using PDF Blueprint (a Mike Cowles Product).  Then, place additional discount and free offers that your partner agrees to on your download page.

Mike Cowles is a very innovative marketer, as evidenced by this strategy.  This methodology is much easier than standard affiliate marketing and jump starts a new marketer’s ability to develop joint venture partners.  Using this innovative methodology makes it very hard for a marketer to say no to your offer.

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Is Mobile Marketing an Effective Advertising Method?

On September 13, 2011, in Attraction Marketing, by Jim
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LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 08: A T-Mobile sho...

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What would it be like to be at the forefront of the internet revolution in 1998-99, knowing what you now know?  What would you do differently.  Did you know that the absolute hottest trend, possibly bigger than the Internet revolution itself, is mobile connectivity.  While it seems today everyone has a cellphone, we’re just beginning.  CNET predicts that there will be 5 Billion cellular customers in the next 1-2 years.

How can you participate in and profit from this trend?  E Brian Rose, on of the leading Internet marketers today, believes that it’s exactly the same as with any new technology.  Simply do some research to know what is working in the marketing arena and then share this with business owners.  Every business is looking for a way to expand their message to potential customers and find new ways of bringing existing customers back.  The key to successful advertising has always been in getting your message in front of the customer.

What are the common advertising choices of small business?

  • Print ads -  How many people read the newspaper as part of their daily routine today vs. using CNN.com, FoxNews.com, or the online version of their favorite newspaper?  Unless you’re selling hearing aids, or something geared to older people, print ads are no longer viable.  The read rate for print ads is 0.25%
  • Direct mail – Similarly, how many people read the direct mail coupons in this day and age?  The read rate is 1.5% for direct mail.
  • Email marketing – This isn’t the easiest thing for small mom/pop shops to do, although still fairly effective.  For email, the read rate is 5%.

In the absence of a better choice, these primary methods still work.  But there is a better option today:  text marketing has a 97% read rate.  In addition, text marketing is the least expensive form of advertising, possibly because it is also the least known way of reaching customers.  Text Marketing Opt-in OfferE Brian Rose believes, however, that the number of text marketing campaigns will explode in the next 6 months.

Today, 24% of Americans sleep with their cell phone, although it isn’t the healthiest thing to do.  In addition, 90% of text messages are read within the first 15 minutes.  Text marketing has become the #1 way to reach a potential or existing client.  But small businesses don’t yet realize this fact!  Many are still paying $10 to 20,000 per year for their (almost defunct) yellow pages ads.  It is very realistic today to be able to improve a business’ marketing effectiveness over 20 times while decreasing costs by 50%.

Text marketing, also called SMS marketing, is when businesses make use of the texting feature that is available on almost every cell phone.  Businesses can text coupons, sale notices, daily specials, appointment reminders, and more, using a 100% opt-in strategy. An effective sales ad to increase your salesIn particular types of businesses based on appointments, e.g., hair dressers, medical and dental offices, the biggest losses occur due to missed appointments.  These businesses can “text” customers the day before, and an hour before their appointment.  Studies now show that no-shows can be cut by over 30% with a text messaging system in place.

Is mobile marketing the wave of the future?  Stay tuned to this blog for some exciting upcoming developments, case studies, and specific ideas of how to leverage this exploding marketing method.

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5 Steps to Creating Irrestible Offers Through Copywriting

On September 6, 2011, in Online Content Marketing, by Jim
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conversion_rate

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On a recent webinar, John S Rhodes focused on the methods he uses in creating an offer.  An offer is a combination of product/services with sales/marketing materials that allows you to deliver massive value to individuals.  One of the secret advantages to those unfamiliar with copywriting, is that they have an advantage to start.

In fact, it’s really not about being smart and creative or about your experience and using technology.  The secret to what John actually does is actually at the opposite pole with an emphasis on design (templates, swipes), focus (offer, headline, subheads), and people (having empathy and using Avatar…or ideal customer).  But the foundation must begin with your product.  The following are suggested questions (a template) that John often uses:

  • Who is your ideal customer (people)?
  • What is your offer (focus)?
  • What proof do you have (design)?
  • What are the key emotional words (design)?
  • What are the 3 main benefits (design)?

For those without a new product, upgrading an existing product may be the best option.  Licensing products would be an additional option for those without a product.  But for most, the best option is using a PLR marketplace, e.g., Tradebit.

When purchasing PLR, the most important factors are quantity and quality.  This allows you to select the best content and eliminate less relevant parts to your task of creating an offer.  What are the steps in the process?

  1. Select a product from your PLR marketplace.  By searching for exact titles, you can often find lower pricing.
  2. Highlight parts of the PLR product that stand out to you and from these “notes,” create a video, using Jing.com (or other video service).
  3. Create (or outsource) a Mindmap using xMind.net or other (often free) Mindmap software.
  4. Headline creation involves two steps, first reviewing the 5 questions in your template.  Second develop emotional content (PLR, cheap, instant, Facebook) and benefits (saves time, unrestricted PLR, fresh).  How to  ___________ Get _______ __________ ______ for Less than the price of _______ __________ _________.   Drop in PLR, Fast, Cheap, Targeted:  Iteration: 1)How to quickly get new Facebook plr for less than the price of a hot Starbucks coffee. Iteration:  2)  How to instantly get fresh Facebook PLR for less than the price of a hot Starbuck’s coffee.
  5. To create proof, shoot a YouTube video of your download page, e.g., everything they expect is there, including bonuses.  This overcomes the quantity objection.  In order to overcome the quality objection, you can open up part of the product and “tease” the prospect with some of your content.  “Now, I’m not supposed to do this, but here is a sneak preview of the product.”

John offers a 7 week “course” in creating offers, Juggernaut Copywriting for a limited time at http://jsrhelp.com/mike.  His course includes how to write a full sales page, create an offer, develop a new WSO, create proof, quickly add people to your list, set up a sales funnel, and create a webinar script.  For those that prefer a simple turn-key approach with “done for you” sales funnel and proven copy, we recommend My Lead System Pro’s attraction marketing system 2 week $10 trial, especially those in the MLM/network marketing niche.

 

 

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Secrets of Business Marketing on Facebook

On September 6, 2011, in Social Network Marketing, by Jim
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Facebook is one of the hottest topics online, although only a minority of marketers are effectively using the platform for marketing.  Becki Andrus began online in 2006 and quit her job in 2007 based on her own successful traffic generation strategies.  She has been moving with the trends vs. using some of the more traditional Internet marketing strategies, although her initial marketing focus was Adwords.  She believes that Google Adwords is too hard today for most due to campaign slaps, adwords account shutdowns, SEO algorithm changes, and higher competition.

Although marketing on alternative platforms, especially Facebook is easier, the Facebook mindset is crucial to understanding marketing on Facebook.  Those trying to blatantly market in their ads will be ignored.  By way of contrast, when Becki quit posting to a fan page due to an emergency situation that came up suddenly in her life, her fans began posting to the page to inquire where she was and that they “missed” her updates.

Marketing on Facebook is about creating relationships.

Today, the average Facebook user spends 33 minutes on the site vs. 20 minutes on Youtube and 13 minutes on Google.  The search engines recognize the importance of social media, with Google’s +1 as key evidence.  In addition, Bing now integrates a user’s profile preferences into it’s search algorithm.  Small businesses now recognize the importance of Facebook, but few know how to leverage it.  Finally, Facebook has become a main source of information; often much better than available on the news sites.

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

Today, very few marketers are using Facebook due to:

High perceived cost of ads.  But most of this is based on a misunderstanding of how to use Facebook for marketing.

Ineffective ads.  Another misconception, based on using “traditional” marketing methods vs. socially adept marketing.

Personal logins and privacy concerns, mixing business conversations with those of friends.  Again a misunderstanding of how Facebook keeps fan pages completely separate from business accounts

Of today’s 500+ million Facebook users, over half log in every day.  Social relationships are most important and users are there for social interaction and entertainment.  Many people start their day with Facebook, often before brushing their teeth.

Becki uses Facebook for affiliate marketing (creating fan pages in niche markets), opt-ins to build a list, building a blog following, offline marketing, branding (more expensive), and staying connected with current customers (often more effective than email marketing).  Although no website is required, she advises associating a website for list building, since Facebook owns the property.

Fan pages are effective in building a community of people with like interests.  In addition, the news feed creation automatically creates updates for fans.  The viral aspect of these feeds encourages friends of your fans to join and promote your page as well.  And once a page has been established, the use of demographic targeting can be used to keep the costs down.  Split testing is important, in order to maximize effectiveness.  Becki is achieving 80% (up to 98%) conversion (Likes), which isn’t possible with any other type of traffic.

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Austin Walsh Review, 19 Year Old Social Media Expert

On August 17, 2011, in Social Network Marketing, by Jim
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Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in Chicago...

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Austin Walsh is a successful 19 year old Internet marketer in Chicago.  He has been an entrepreneur since age 15 when his Dad bought him $400 worth of equipment to start his career as a DJ.  For New Year’s eve, he created a Facebook event, expecting 200-300 attendee at an event, however with 2700 attendees registered the owner informed him he’d only get paid $500.  Austin decided to try to find an alternative venue in Chicago with only 72 hours notice.  With only 24 hours notice he changed the venue on Facebook and not a single person showed up at the original location.

At this time he found out that his Dad was a seminar speaker.  He joined as a speaker on the circuit, but didn’t forget about his Facebook experience and soon started a business in marketing online.  Today he is passionate about the possibilities and future of marketing online using Facebook.  His 6 Figure Incubator program, iSocial Academy, teaches a systems approach to Facebook marketing.  His client list includes very well know speakers, e.g., Les Brown and others, for whom he still manages Fan Pages.

Austin has the following suggestions for Fan Page Branding:Les Brown and Austin

  • Use a picture of yourself (or a personality in your business) vs. a company picture.  In a test with Mark Victor Hanson, a personal picture was “Liked” 4,000 times more than a business picture, e.g. one of his book covers.
  • Use favorite Fan Pages from key figures congruent with your business principles.  This will result in a lot of content for your page from notable people.
  • Do a weekly video.
  • Use a customized Fan Page which includes a welcome tab and opt-in form to capture subscriber emails.
  • Be an E.A.P.  This stands for extremely active poster.
  • Brand on an international platform.
  • Have a Fan Page launch.  Give rewards to people who help you build a following.

In addition, Austin uses continuity program levels.  Nano continuity, priced at $9.97 per month or less, provides a good entry point for small business “gold” club members.  Major continuity would contain more content, priced at $97/month and $27/month as an intermediate offer.  He also uses video tagging with great content to advertise his “brand,” to about 50 people at a time.  He also uses text mesaging and Facebook’s code of 32665.

Although Austin appears to be one of the most capable marketers in the Facebook realm today, he believes that any business that wants to survive will need to eventually get online.  And especially to get on Facebook.  For those in the network marketing space, we highly recommend the training offered by My Lead System Pro pertaining to Facebook.

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The 5 Biggest Mistakes in Internet Marketing

On February 24, 2011, in Search Engine Optimization, by Jim
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“Build it and they will come,” is a method that might not work out so well in the world of Internet marketing.  Location, location, location isn’t really a useful catch phrase, either.  What can be done to ensure the most possible benefit from a new or existing web property?  Professional website designers, the best of whom are really graphics design experts, make some of the same mistakes as novices trying to construct a “free” site.  Here are the top mistakes to watch out for and hopefully avoid, in order to maximize the Internet’s considerable potential for leverage:

  1. Failure to Incorporate Search Engine Basics – Although most website designers give “lip service” there are few who actually do an adequate job.  Can you say missing title tags, meta keywords (although not as important as actual page content), and meta description?
  2. Failure to do Keyword Research – Just because you think it is a good keyword doesn’t mean anyone is really searching for it.  Getting ranked on a keyword that you think best describes your business probably won’t get you any leads.  What are your customers actually typing into Google?
  3. SEO Incompatible Technology – Flash sites, in particular, cannot be indexed by the search engines and are thus not able to be ranked.  Also, free websites and replicated pages generally rank poorly.
  4. Taking Shortcuts – Do not succumb to every offer to get your site listed on Google’s first page, or buying certain keywords in the Internet’s next big search property.  There are many scams in existence.  SEO is quite simply doing things that make sense.  Trying to “trick” Google with the latest “black hat” methodology is almost surely destined to backfire
  5. Not Measuring Results – Google analytics and other tools available online can be used to fine tune your websites and marketing campaigns.  Especially if using paid ads, you may be exposing yourself to unnecessary losses and missing out on potential profits. Learn from your mistakes before moving forward and to maximize your return on investment.

Internet marketing offers many advantages over traditional methods, if leveraged and exploited correctly.  But like any powerful tool, when things go wrong the problems can cascade, resulting in an avalanche of poor results.  As with any discipline, there is an education and learning process that everyone goes through.  Avoiding these mistakes is fairly simple, once the potential issues have been recognized.  My Lead System Pro and other excellent online membership training and attraction marketing systems offer specific training and details.

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