Half of Facebook’s more than 2.2 BILLION active users are on Facebook in any 24-hour period. In addition, the average U.S. Facebook user spends nearly 6 hours a month browsing this social network.
In other words, if your business isn’t on Facebook yet, maybe it should be. And one of the first questions I invariably receive from newcomers concerning Facebook is, “What should I post to get people interested in my business?” Here are some ideas:
Showcase your customers. If you’ve got photos, videos or emails from happy customers using your products, go ahead and show them. Just remember, you’re not bragging about your product, you’re showing what your customers are doing with your product. Keep the difference in mind when choosing and framing content and you can’t go wrong.
Instead of showing a testimonial from Jimmy telling how great your product is, show Jimmy using or enjoying your product, or show the direct results Jimmy achieved with your product. For example, if you teach your customers how to restore classic cars, show Jimmy with before and after shots of his car.
Use humor. Don’t make yourself or your business overly serious on Facebook. Instead, use light-hearted humor whenever possible. This isn’t necessarily telling jokes – most times it’s simply taking a poke at yourself or your day, showing something in a humorous light, being witty or simply sharing that silly thing that happened to you a few minutes ago.
Post funny videos, especially if they’re relevant to your business. And don’t just grab videos from YouTube – make your own quick videos when you feel inspired.
Give them content. Facebook isn’t necessarily the place to offer long winded diatribes about anything. But it is a great place to share cool content – especially the “How-to” variety and the entertainment variety. And it doesn’t all need to originate with you – use curated content to round out your own and keep people engaged.
Let them inside. That is, show off your staff (if you have one) or your family or the inner workings of your business. Engage them by pulling back the curtain and showing what they normally wouldn’t get to see. For example, if you’re a one person business working out of your home, show them your office, your view, and your little dog that keeps you company. If your business has oodles of employees, post pictures of your in-office celebrations such as birthdays, as well as the antics that go on and so forth. By giving them a peak behind the curtain, your friends and fans feel very much included and part of the group. You’re no longer just a business, you’re part of their circle.
Ask questions. Nothing engages other people like asking them their opinion on something, even if it’s as silly as, “What’s better: Baseball or Football, and why?” Posts with questions get the conversation rolling, especially when it’s an easy question to answer. And be sure to respond to the answers you receive.
Use these Facebook “attention getters” to quickly begin bringing more people your way.
he easiest way to go full time is to BE full time. That is, quit your daytime go-to-work type job and begin working full time online. When you’re full time online you’ll discover opportunities that otherwise would have passed you by. And you’ll be able to create a lot more opportunities as well, by having the time to forge relationships with other marketers, time to work on your own social media, blog posts and products and so forth.
But the problem for many is their online business isn’t making enough money yet to enable them to leave their job. And until they leave their job, they won’t have the time to grow their business into a full-time income. It’s a catch-22 situation that holds a lot of marketers’ hostages for years.
So how can you get some extra money coming in immediately? By offering services online. When you offer a service, it’s fairly easy to get clients and get paid. You typically won’t make a fortune, but you can make enough to replace your income from your job. And then you can use your extra time to create your own products, build your own sites and so forth.
Here’s a list of services you could offer:
Being a personal assistant to another marketer. This job is doubly great, because you’ll also learn as you earn. You’ll need a good variety of skills to land a VA position, but never underestimate the power of Google, either. Anything you’re required to do but don’t know how can be found on Google and YouTube.
Freelance customer service. Many marketers don’t want to hassle with support tickets, but they can’t afford to hire someone full time, either, because their own business isn’t big enough yet. Offer to do support 1 hour per day, 5 or 6 days per week for $10-$20 per hour. Get 3 clients and you have a nice little side income. And best of all, you can do these support tasks as you have time throughout the day from the comfort of your computer or even your mobile device.
Writing. This could be anything from simple articles and emails to full blown product creation. Content is hugely important and every marketer needs more great content. If you can write in a conversational manner and do good research, you can make money freelance writing. You might even ghost write books, too.
Copywriting. This is a little trickier than simple writing, in that your job is to sell with the written or spoken word. However, it can pay quite well if you’re good, and copywriting is a skill you’ll need to hone for your own business anyway.
Proofreading and editing. If you have an eye for details, you can be a proofreader. If you’re good at taking rough copy and turning it into something coherent that flows well and makes sense, then editing is for you.
Ebook formatting. Getting a book ready for Kindle or even to make into a sharp looking PDF takes skill. Can you do it? Then there are tons of marketers who need you.
Graphic design. Are you good at Photoshop? Can you make headers, product covers, logos and so forth? Then this is a great way to make some extra money.
Website design, maintenance, security, SEO and so forth. In other words, anything and everything technical. If you’re good at the technical side of online marketing, you’ll always have work because the majority of marketers really don’t want to bother with it – they’d rather hand the work over to an expert such as yourself.
And anything else an online marketer needs…
In the course of building your own business, make a note of the many things you’re having to do. Ask yourself, “is there a market for this service? Do I enjoy performing this service?” If so, then you’ve got a skill you can sell to others to make ends meet until your own business is running full steam ahead.
Plenty of bloggers like to write about their thoughts, their day or the crazy thing that happened to them on the way to the zoo. But this type of blogging is generally more for fun than for profit. To make significant money with your blog, you’ll want to focus on keyword phrases and questions your target audience is actively searching for at this time.
When you help people solve problems through free and valuable content that is relevant to your business, you reach larger audiences and build trust. The best part is you get the opportunity to show people how your products and services can help them solve their problems and fulfill their desires and needs.
Let’s say that you’re a real estate agent. Your potential clients aren’t looking for your recipe for apple pie, the award you won last week or even the number of houses you sold this month. What they do want is their questions answered:
→ “How do you buy a house?” → “What credit score is needed to get financing for a house?” → “What is the best way to invest in real estate with 10% down?” → “How do I know I’m buying in a good neighborhood?” → “What are the easiest ways to increase the selling price of my home?”
Find out what real estate prospects want to know, and then use those exact questions for your titles. Give helpful info in the blog posts and then refer them to your squeeze page to get your lead magnet, or suggest they give you a call to further answer their questions.
These types of posts can rank high in search engines without tricks because they are exactly what searchers are looking for. And once you rank, you’ll be getting free, consistent traffic from Google.
This works in just about any and every niche you can think of and it’s an easy way to demonstrate your authority while building an audience that is super receptive to your offers and services.
Here’s how you can take this knowledge and double the impact: Use the same approach for your YouTube videos. YouTube is simply a search engine for videos, which is why ranking on YouTube is similar to ranking on Google.
Choose keyword phrases and questions that match what people are looking for on YouTube. Create videos with those titles that are packed with great info. And invite your viewers to visit your website, subscribe to your list or take the action you seek.
Using this method and being consistent will yield powerful results: Free targeted traffic, building your authority with your new viewers and readers, along with gaining a steady stream of new subscribers and customers.
Millions have tried, millions are trying right now, and millions will continue to try in the years ahead. There is so much misinformation out there regarding making money online, that you can easily be forgiven for thinking that all these millions are enjoying unbridled success.
The real truth of course is that the vast majority are failing. Their hopes of earning a healthy living from home are usually shattered before they have even begun. There is no single reason for this. It’s usually down to a combination of factors, and I intend to look at some of the reasons for the now infamous quote, “95% of people fail in their online business”. Some of the things I list below will doubtless be contested by many people, but the harsh facts are that making money online, whilst entirely possible, is not the cakewalk that a lot of people will try to convince you it is.
So, let’s get down to debunking some of the nonsense – hopefully this will save a lot of people a lot of time and frustration.
1) Affiliate Marketing – so much rubbish is spouted by so many people who have never made an affiliate sale in their lives. The affiliate marketing model is indeed a powerful one and has made a number of people very wealthy. However, you are very unlikely to succeed with affiliate marketing without going through an arduous and sometimes lengthy learning process.
A huge swathe of articles you read about affiliate marketing are no more than rehashed PLR articles being used by lame hopefuls who are incapable of writing anything original on a subject that they are hoping to convince you they know all about. You can spot these peddlers of fifth hand information easily enough – look at the sites they link to, check their traffic rankings. Ninety Nine times out of a hundred you will find a cookie cutter website just like thousands of others or a direct link to an affiliate program that they foolishly believe you will sign up for having read their blindingly convincing pitch.
Are they the people to look to for advice? Think before you answer…….
2) Freebie Seekers and Freeloaders – this encompasses so many people it’s laughable. They talk about their “business” and seriously expect others to follow their blind lead. The term “business”, at least to my mind, indicates some sort of investment on behalf of the owner of that business – both in terms of time and money. Those most guilty of this faux pas are usually those who sign up to a free program, usually in the network marketing or MLM arena, and use every useless and pointless form of promotion as long as it’s free.
Much is said regarding failure rates in MLM schemes being so high, but one of the biggest is the freebie mentality. Don’t get sucked into believing you will ever make money online this way. The freeloaders are kidding themselves, but don’t let them kid you. The programs they sign up to for free often offer a paid upgrade and they live in hope (if they ever manage to recruit a single person of course) that they will grow fat on the subscriptions of others. Naturally this rarely happens, simply because they advertise to other freeloaders who have no intention of spending any money on their “business” either, and so the vicious circle continues.
If you don’t believe me, visit any free traffic exchange and look at some of the webpages circulating there. These people are dreamers – they will never make money online until they accept that they are eventually going to have to spend money to make money. Let’s get real here – when you’re looking for potions or energy drinks or some other latest greatest product that is no more than a copy of an already well established brand, is the first place you think to look going to be a free classified site on the internet? Maybe you’d head for the closest traffic exchange? Think – you don’t have to do it for more than a few seconds to see why these things do not work!
3) Throwing up a blog on a free platform and filling it up with AdSense or other PPC ads is unlikely to deliver much success. This applies whether we are talking one blog or fifty blogs. AdSense is great, but it’s also a numbers game – you need big numbers in terms of pages and visitors to make big returns. By big, I mean big – tens of thousands of pages receiving tens of thousands of visitors and you will probably start making a nice income. Throwing up fifty, a hundred or more useless blogs or splogs won’t work even if some people tell you that all you need are a couple of AdSense clicks a day on each one and you’ll be raking in the money. Great theory, but you won’t get the traffic to even generate those occasional clicks in the first place. Throwing up such poor-quality free pages will achieve nothing – in fact, you’re more likely to get banned from Blogger and AdSense to boot if you’re not careful. Oh, and don’t think you’ll be smart and use auto surf sites to rack up huge numbers of impressions – using any kind of traffic exchange in conjunction with AdSense will get you banned very quickly.
Our freebie seekers of course will tell you otherwise, expecting you to believe that their PR0 blog with no comments is really generating a thousand dollars for them every month, and that all you need to do is visit this or that site, where you can learn to do exactly the same. You will naturally be directed to a page through an affiliate link – Click Bank or similar – to purchase an eBook that the freebie seeker has naturally never laid eyes on, let alone read.
4) Making millions with PPC advertising. This is a no brainer – all you have to do is pick some keywords, write a snappy ad, link to an affiliate program and give your credit card details to Google, Yahoo, MSN or whoever. You will wake up rich beyond your wildest dreams.
OK, maybe too heavy on the sarcasm, but it’s really not that easy. Ask anyone who has rushed blindly into PPC and lost their shirt in the process, paying for a truckload of clicks but generating nary a sale. I have a little more sympathy for these types than the freeloaders; after all, they have accepted that they need to spend money to make money, but unless you do your homework, it’s likely to prove costly. Even if you do your research beforehand, there are no guarantees that PPC campaigns will work for your business. Having said all that, PPC can be a very profitable tool, just don’t believe overly hyped claims from the totally inexperienced.
5) Start a blog and you will soon be collecting checks on a regular basis. Don’t believe this one either. There is a lot to be said for blogs as a marketing tool, don’t get me wrong. Blogs can and do increase your exposure tremendously, but apart from an elite few, blogs are usually not their direct revenue generators. A blog is a tool, and used wisely it will help an online business to grow, but it’s unlikely to pay the bills all by itself.
6) Article marketing – another area where a lot of ill informed and overly hyped prose is written. As a long term strategy, carried out correctly, article marketing can be hugely beneficial to a business of any kind, but it takes time to see results and there is a learning curve to go through.
I actually saw someone advocating the tactic of blanket bombing article directories with PLR articles and slapping affiliate links into the resource box. This was in an article submitted to one of my directories. They even went as far as to claim that this would guarantee a huge number of hits and sales. This is just one piece of foolish nonsense from a clueless fool, who, no doubt is wondering why article marketing is so useless, whilst trying to tell others how rich it will make them. It is a fact that most article directories do not permit linking directly to affiliate programs in the resource box! It follows that this is hardly the way to proceed.
7) Work from home opportunities have become a breeding ground for scams and hucksters the world over. Global opportunities for peddlers of schemes and tricks to make themselves rich have never been more plentiful.
There are several “opportunities” circulating at the moment that are borderline illegal and when they disappear into the ether there will no doubt be plenty to replace them.
Promises of overnight riches rarely hold much water if you examine them even superficially. Just because you see a video of someone opening envelopes full of cash does not make it so. One “gifting” program of this nature has obviously sucked in a fair number of gullible souls who really believe that people will be queuing up to send them three thousand dollars just because they show them a poor quality video on a traffic exchange.
Have you ever managed to sell a product online for three thousand dollars or more? I’m guessing the answer in most cases is – probably not. If you fall for this kind of scam, you probably deserve to get rooked – after all, how difficult is it for someone to get three thousand in cash (there are plenty of ways), go to FedEx, mail it to themselves and then film it’s arrival and subsequent opening on a webcam. If that’s all the proof it takes to convince you, you have some painful lessons to learn.
Whenever you read outlandish claims offering boatloads of money and retirement before you’ve even started working, in conjunction with proclamations that you don’t have to sell anything, don’t have to advertise, don’t have to do anything at all really, other than sit back and watch the money roll in…..and you find yourself believing it – my advice is to seek professional help.
8) Making money with sites that pay you to read ads, emails, visit sites, sign up for free offers, etc. I’m not saying that none of them work but in terms of time expended set against financial reward, they are usually a dismal prospect. Would you go and do a job for $20 a month?
There you have just eight of countless things that you should not believe. Trust me there are plenty more.
If you are serious about making money online, you are going to need a plan. You are going to have to spend some money to get yourself set up to do business. You will need a website of your own for starters (unless you intend to buy a hundred ebooks and courses telling you how to succeed without even this most basic of needs). This means hosting fees. If you are starting from a position of very little technical knowledge, you will have to dedicate a lot of time to learning the ropes or you will have to pay for the services of others. With most things online, the sooner you bow to the inevitability of having to lay out a little cash as you go along, the sooner you will start to open up some real possibilities.
There are countless ways to make money online, there are many people who are living proof of this, but try not to get caught up in the rubbish.
I have not mentioned things like stock or currency trading simply because they are not scams. Trading online can be lucrative and you won’t need a website of your own for this kind of venture but you will need capital, and you need to understand the risks, which are not insignificant.
However, that’s all a subject for another day. As grandpa said, free advice is often pretty much worth what you pay for it. Just be careful what you believe in your quest for online wealth and you’ll avoid a lot of wasted time and disappointments.
There IS plenty of free information on the internet and there are also plenty of free tools and software and services that may help you – but – you are starting a business and business means you will need some business capital to get off the ground. If you think otherwise and persist in looking for the elusive, no cost magic bullet, you are destined to fail and I don’t care what any rehashed nonsense some self help book tells you about irrefutable laws of nature or anything else. You need to do a lot more than just dream about online success if you wish to achieve it.
A closing thought – money may well make the world go round. If nobody spends any, nobody receives any. If you can find me something that disproves that 100%, tell me where to sign up.
People are nothing if not predictable. Let me give you an example: If you say to someone, “You’ve got a great job.” They will invariably tell you why it’s NOT great. But if you say to them, “You’ve got a lousy job.” They’ll tell you why it’s actually a very good job.
Knowing the triggers you can use to activate certain behaviors in prospects can help tremendously to increase your conversions and your bottom line.
That’s why I’ve compiled 10 slightly sneaky methods to get your audience to do your bidding – or stated another way, here are 10 methods to get the public to buy your product and share your message with the world.
People crave entertainment like they crave air, and they always need more of it. A good analogy is caffeine – in the beginning, the smallest amount of caffeine can give you a nice little buzz. But the more caffeine you use, the more you need to achieve that same buzz level.
Entertainment is no different. The movies of the 40’s weren’t fast paced enough for people of the 60’s. The music of the seventies can’t compete with the music of the 80’s. The comedy of the 90’s seems tame compared to the comedy of now. Why is that? Because entertainment is constantly having to turn up the intensity to get the same reactions from the audience. People want more and more exciting stuff, and if you can build excitement and entertainment right into your product, you’ve got a hit.
Speaking of entertainment, people LOVE controversy. Build a controversial website, blog, forum, product line, podcast, YouTube channel, etc. and watch people flock to it. You’ll get free publicity everywhere as people either promote you or flog you in social media, forums and other blogs across the net.
And as a marketer, you could capitalize on both sides at the same time if you wanted to be sneaky about it. For example, you might build two websites – one on each far, far end of the political spectrum – and let them slug it out online. Anything that has what is perceived to be a polar opposite could work, such as God-fearing vs Atheist, protecting wildlife from loggers and miners, etc.
Or build controversy into your product from the start. “How To Use Tax Loopholes So You Don’t Pay Your Fair Share Of Taxes.” Is it legal? Yes. Is it fair? No. Or how about toy guns for children? Some parents love them, many hate them, and all will have something to say about it which drives more traffic to you.
This one’s really sneaky – carry on a conversation between two people about how great a product is. This could be in a forum, posts on a blog, or even if it were to “come up” during an interview about something else. The point of course is to not appear as though it’s a promotion. Yeah, I know; pretty sneaky.
People like to follow, as in “follow the leader.” What happens when one cow walks away from the herd? If the other cows suspect this cow knows something they don’t, they’ll follow. It doesn’t matter WHAT this cow might know, only that they have information that might be of use. Is the grass greener over there? Is there a secret stash of alfalfa or a salt lick over there? Let’s follow her and see!
It might seem callous to compare people to cows, but the herd mentality applies to many species including people. If someone is seen as a leader and that leader uses ABC product, then it’s going to be easy to get the followers to use ABC product as well.
As a marketer, you can use this in one of two ways – either become a leader yourself, or get your product into the hands of leaders and make sure people find out about it.
Speaking of following, people follow the confident person. They’re attracted to confidence like bees to honey. If you don’t have confidence, get it. Depending on your niche, arrogance might work as well.
Take it away. Whatever your product is, find a way to take it away from the potential buyer. Maybe they have to qualify and not everyone can. Or there’s a limited number. Or the offer is ending soon. Or maybe they’re just plain NOT supposed to have it, so you tell them NOT to buy the book but you drop hints of just how powerful it is.
People do not like to be left out. This works well in the Internet Marketing niche, and it works even better in any non-marketing savvy niche.
People work harder to get something for nothing. Weird but true. What else explains someone who master’s a gambling system or studies racehorses just to bet? If your product promises huge returns for small effort, it will sell. Unfortunately, most products like this can’t deliver. But you can use the something-for-nothing technique in a way that is totally ethical – referrals. That is, get people to promote you through social media in exchange for something free.
Another way to ethically use something-for-nothing is to make it appear as though the very act of purchasing your product is a giant leap towards attaining their goal. You’re being honest that there is work involved, but you make the first step seem so enticing they feel they’ve practically achieved their dream simply by buying the product.
People get seduced by stories. BIG TIME. Think of the man sitting cross-legged, playing a flute while a cobra sways hypnotically to the music. This can be you hypnotizing your audience through storytelling, both written and verbal.
Entire courses have been written about using storytelling in marketing. A good story creates thoughts and images in your prospect’s head that seem to originate from the prospect, not from you. And a really great story causes the audience to feel emotions and desires that come from these thoughts and images. Bottom line, get good at storytelling and then use your skill to weave mesmerizing stories throughout your marketing.
People buy dreams, not just once, but over and over again. Why is it a camper will buy every camping gadget out there? Why will a golfer purchase every golfing book written in the past 20 years? Why do Internet marketers buy online marketing products sometimes at the rate of 3 and 4 a day?
This is why a list of actual buyers is so hot – if these people bought once, they will very likely buy again and again. You can continue to create products and promote products to this list and as long as their dream remains alive, they will continue to buy. Perhaps it’s the act of purchasing that makes them feel they are one step closer to realizing their dream. Thus 5 purchases puts them 5 steps closer, and 10 purchases put them…
You can get sneaky with this one as well. Create several somewhat similar products and then let them compete with each other. It can be surprising how many customers purchase two or more.
People actually WANT to believe. So make it real. Make it believable. Help them along. Show some negative with the positive. Did you know that testimonials are far more effective if they mention something NEGATIVE? For example: “I wasn’t crazy about the title of this course and thought it was going to be just a rehash, but it turns out it was exactly what I needed. Using this information I’ve been able to ___ and ___ and achieve ___.” Make it believable.
And remember, please use these methods only for good and never for evil.
Even if you’ve never made a video before in your life, you can do this. And once you have your videos, you can sell them, use them as lead magnets, use them as bonuses to affiliate products and so forth. You can even use them to establish your authority and credibility in your marketplace.
Here’s how you can quickly start making your own video products:
– Download the free screen capture video program called Snagit. You can download it at TechSmith or Google to find other websites that offer it.
– Decide on what kind of video or video set you’re making and the purpose of it. Is it a training? Or an info product? How about a video for a sales page, or maybe a lead generator on YouTube. It could be the video you put on your squeeze page, or the incentive you use to get people to join your list.
If you’re making a product, then keep it simple. Look at what is already selling so you’ll know ahead of time that there is a market for your new product. Look at what Kindle titles are selling, what info products are selling and so forth.
– Now that you know what you’re going to make, break it down into steps. If you’re making a product, for example, then break it down into a problem, analysis and solution. Each step will be one video of 5 minutes or less. If one of the steps takes longer than 5 minutes to explain, then break that step into two videos. Think of these as video mini-trainings.
– Create 3 to 4 PowerPoint or Keynote slides for each step, or plan a short demo for each step. If you’re using PowerPoint, then choose ‘browse by individual’ so it can be resized to any size screen. Write the steps as bullet points. Use 3 to 4 bullet points per slide.
– Open up Snagit and narrate as you make your video. The bullet points cue you as to what to say for each slide. Just talk your way through each step as though you were talking to someone there in the room.
– Once you’ve got your videos, you can either host them on your site, use a hosting service like Amazon, or place them on another site like YouTube. As you upload each video, grab the URL and paste it into a Word document in order: Step 1, Step 2 and so forth. Obviously if this is a paid product, you’ll want your videos to be hosted somewhere out of the public eye.
– Write short narrative descriptions for each video and place them above the corresponding links in your word document, to let your readers or buyers know what each video is all about. This document will act as your introduction to your product.
– Then save the document as a PDF. If you’re selling the series, you can deliver the PDF, and buyers can click the links and watch the videos.
You can even give away the first videos, and then offer to sell them access to the remaining videos. For example, on your PDF you show the first 3 video links, then you have descriptions of the rest of the videos but no links. If they buy the product, they get the links to those videos.
It’s a very simple way to make a video product, and you can do it all in less than a day.
Snagit can be used for a lot more than making products, and it’s an excellent way for new marketers to play with video and get results very, very quickly.
Google’s answer to Facebook is of course Google Plus. As an individual you might not spend any time on this social network. However, as an online marketer it’s critical to have a business presence on Google Plus because it influences how well you can rank in Google’s search results. That’s why I’ve made a list of tips to help you brand and build relationships using Google Plus.
1. Open your Google Plus profile to allow for search engine indexing. Simply mark the box that says, “Help others find my profile in search results.” You’ll find it under Search Visibility.
2. Fill out your Google Plus profile completely, since this might be the first contact someone has with your business. Also, you get 5 featured spots for photos, so use them wisely to brand your business and engage others.
3. Use keywords. In your ‘About’ section, use the keywords you want to rank highly for – especially the keywords you know your potential customers are using.
4. Add your links. In the “recommended links” area of your profile, add links to your website, blog and social profiles.
5. Add more links throughout your page. Remember, Google Plus can help you in Google search, since the two are so closely tied. Therefore you want to post links to your business in both your introduction and your contact information.
6. Manage and interact with your circles. If you’ve got more than one target audience, you’ll want to manage your circles accordingly by targeting the news and information you send to each circle.
7. Do you write a blog? Then add the +1-button widget to your posts, enabling your readers to share your content on Google Plus.
8. Use a short and snappy tagline. You’ll notice that Google Plus gives you a place for a tagline underneath your page’s business name. Make it work for you by incorporating your best keyword to help with Google search.
9. Wear your badge. Promote your Google Plus page on your website(s) by adding the Google Plus badge to your profile, in your sidebar, etc.
10. Know who your audience is. This isn’t Facebook or Twitter, so don’t assume you’re interacting with the same type of folks. Instead, take time to get to know your circles. Ask questions, make polls, find the best ways to interact and share content, etc.
11. Get others to circle you. The more you can be in other people’s circles, and the more followers you have, the better your ranking is likely to be in Google searches. (Are you beginning to see why Google Plus is important? It’s not so much the social aspect, it’s getting Google to notice and rank your website.)
12. Use video and pictures. Both work well on Google Plus, and both are far better at accessing people at the emotional level than mere words alone.
13. Don’t be afraid to suggest. To keep people on your page longer, create your own list of suggested circles in your profile’s About section.
14. Search for your business. Make it a daily habit to do a search for your business and see if people are talking about you and what they’re saying. And be sure to respond and also re-share their posts when appropriate.
15. Learn the basic formatting. You can rev up your Google Plus posts and make them stand out by learning these 3 basic formatting codes:
Bold: If you want show any word(s) in bold text format, enclose the word(s) with *.
Italic: Enclose the text with _ (underscore) to show it in italic format.
Strike through: Enclose the text with – (dash) to strike through the text.
16. Update through your smart phone. Download the Google Plus app to manage Google Plus on the go and make updates when ever you want and where ever you are.
17. Hyperlink to someone’s name. Posting about someone on Google Plus? You can hyperlink to their name by typing “=” or “@” in front of their name.
18. Think about your timing. When is your audience most likely to be on Google Plus? This is when you should be posting. Also, when someone likes or comments on a post you made, the time to reply is immediately or ASAP. The longer you wait, the less of an impact you make.
Need some serious cash in a flash? Assuming you already have a customer base, here’s what you can do:
1. Identify your best customers. If you have only two lists, one of prospects and one of people who have actually made a purchase from you, then of course choose your list of buyers. But if you have a list of repeat buyers or customers who have made large purchases from you, then you want to choose that list. Whoever your best buyers are, those are the ones upon which you want to focus your efforts.
2. Talk to these people. You might call some of them if you have phone numbers, or more likely you will send them an email or survey. Identify what they most need and most want right now. Some things they might need, and other things they might want. What you’re really looking for is the one they both need and want.
3. Based on what you learn, create a high value offer with a matching price tag. In other words, you’re going to offer tremendous value and charge accordingly. This won’t be for all of your customers, but then again you’re only targeting your very best customers with this offer.
4. Make the offer to your valued customers. If you’ve done this correctly, you should see a nice cash infusion into your business, and this entire process can be done in less than a week.
How do you get people calling you up on the phone, visiting your website, emailing you, and saying; “I know you’re expensive and that’s okay, just let me buy – please!”
Simple: Write a book. What do we say about an expert? “She’s the one that wrote the book.” So what happens when YOU write the book?
You’re no longer chasing customers, they’re chasing you. The better your book sells, the more customers will be chasing you, too.
Doors magically open. Suddenly other marketers want to do JV’s with you. Radio shows want to interview you. Other websites feature you. Groups ask you to come and speak to them. And best of all, clients seek you out.
Think your niche isn’t book worthy? Surprisingly, there is a book to be written in nearly every niche.
Do you install swimming pools? Write the book on how to get a great pool at an affordable price without the contractor nightmares. You sell handbags on the Internet? Get creative and write stories about how your handbags saved the day for their owners – perhaps as they slogged their way through the jungle while avoiding angry natives and poisonous snakes. You help people with SEO? Write the book on do-it-yourself SEO.
You’re only limited by your imagination and creativity. And for any portion of your topic that you’re not an expert on, you can get help. Just Google it and begin your research.
Get busy, write your book, and stop chasing customers around… Instead, let them beat a path to your door by writing a book that positions you as the expert in your field.
I got out my trusty calculator and did a little math. Assuming you make your own information products, what would it take to earn $100,000 in a year if you work with affiliates and pay them 50% commission?
$47 eBooks: You’d need to sell 355 of these a month, or 12 per day.
$97 Teleseminars and Webinars: You’ll be selling 172 seats a month, or 5.7 per day. Think no one would pay that kind of money for a teleseminar? If your information is timely and valuable, they’ll line up for it. For example, stock market and forex trading advice would fit this category.
$197 Audio Courses: You only need to sell 85 of these a month, or 2.9 per day. Now who’s going to pay $197 for an audio course? Actually, a lot of people. The trick is to make a big promise, record on a library of CD’s, and make sure you fulfill that promise. Example titles might be; 7 Days To Speaking Confidence or perhaps Improve Your SAT Scores by 33% In Two Weeks or even How To Become A Master Pick Up Artist Practically Overnight.
$497 Video Courses: I know what you’re thinking – who’s going to pay $497 for a video course? The truth is, many people have paid TWICE that amount. Sample title? How about… How to Generate a Six Figure Income in 90 Days. Oh yes, and to earn $100,000 a year using affiliates at 50% commission, you’d only need to sell 33.5 a month. That’s practically one per day.
Now then – would you rather make 12 sales a day, or 1 sale a day? Are you ready to step up and start selling big ticket products?
And by the way, other products you can sell for $497 and MORE are…
– Home Study Courses (video, audio and written material) – Online Study Courses (video, audio and written material, plus it’s more interactive and more likely to actually be used by the buyers.) – Seminars and Workshops – Group Coaching
So let me ask you a question: What if you put on a killer online study course and you charged $997 – how many sales would you need to reach that $100,000 mark (assuming all sales were made through affiliates?) Just 16.7 per month.
Or what if you charge $2,000 for your seminar – you’d only need 100 attendees to make a $100,000 payday.
Or if you charge $300 a month for group coaching – you’d need just 55 members.
And in any of the above scenarios, what if you didn’t use affiliates? What if you made all the sales yourself? Then of course you’d only need half as many sales to make just as much money. So in the $997 product example, you’d only need 8 or 9 sales a month to generate a $100,000 income.
If you’ve been paying attention here, you might have noticed I left out one major possibility. Do you know what it is?
Recurring subscriptions or membership sites. 355 members paying $47 a month yields $200,000 – half for you and half for your affiliates. Can you retain 355 for the full 12 months? You’ll have to offer killer content and incentives to come close.
One more thought – what if you do a combination of the above? Perhaps you choose two things, or three or four. Then instead of earning $100,000, you’re earning $200,000 or more.
I’ll let you in on a secret: We tend to get so bogged down in day to day thinking that we forget to step back and look at the big picture. And so is it any wonder that we think small, instead of thinking in numbers like these? You can indeed attain these marks and more, but the first step is to think the thoughts and the second is to believe you can do it.
And you already know the third step – take action on a massive scale and don’t stop until you reach your goal.
