You know webinars are a great way to sell products. Hop on a webinar, talk for 30 to 60 minutes and sell some products right there on the spot. Then rinse and repeat as many times as you like, buddying up with a different list owner each time. It’s simple, it’s fairly easy, and the more you do the better you’ll get.
But for many marketers, it’s scary to get on the Internet and talk to tens, hundreds and maybe even a thousand people at one time. “Me? Talk for an HOUR? To PEOPLE?”
Here’s something to consider: You don’t need your own list to run webinars. If you have a great product or service, you can go to list owners and split the money with them. What an outstanding way to get access to other people’s lists and make money doing it!
And most list owners love doing webinars because it’s almost hands off cash in the bank for them. All they do is send out one or more emails to their list, and you do the rest of the work. This means that webinars are an excellent way to get your foot in the door with people who have big, active lists.
Another thing to consider is that webinars mean almost instant and highly targeted traffic for you. Your partner promotes your webinar to their list and their people flock to your site to sign up.
Webinars create instant products in themselves. You can SELL your webinar if it’s packed full of good info. Think about that – what better way to create an instant product than by talking to an audience for an hour?
Or you can give your webinar recording away as a list building incentive of your own.
Plus, webinars can be REPLAYED to make even MORE sales. Again, you record it once and you can set it up on your own website to make more sales. You can also let your list-owner partner put it on their site as well, or send more traffic to your site to listen to the webinar.
And here’s the kicker you probably never even considered: Webinars are one of the best ways to build your own list. You partner with someone, they send traffic from their list, you get (for example) 500 sign-ups and 150 of those attend the webinar. 15-30 of the attendees buy your product, and now you have sales AND a new list of 500 people!
Webinars provide quality traffic, high conversion, partnerships and quick product creation for both free and paid products.
Webinars are truly great for selling products because nothing gets people more excited to buy your product than hearing from you – the expert – on how they can achieve their goal.
And they’re also one of the best ways to build your list.
Imagine if you do just one webinar a week or even once per month – how much more you could accomplish in your business… Believe in yourself and go for it!
This is a little technical but kind of a cool article in my mind. The way you use HTML in your web pages affects your standing in the search engines. Search engines are like the casting directors to a potentially lucrative movie production, they approve whether you appear in the listings or not. If you’re not careful about using HTML, you might just miss getting cast yourself. Make your appearance by learning how to write HTML pages in a way that search engines will love. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you:
Learn the language. If you don’t know HTML yet, you better learn it now. This is the language of the internet, the very foundation upon which millions of websites rest. Without HTML, it would be difficult indeed to create and view websites the way we do today. Thanks to this language, we can read text the way we would from a book, navigate the world wide web without losing our way due to too many codes and even convert a simple link to a whole new webpage.
You don’t have to be an expert at it, just make sure you know basic HTML. That way, you’ll understand how tiny changes in the letters and symbols that make up a code can make a huge difference in how a web page appears.
Know your search engines. Search engines rank websites differently so you might want to know their methods if you want to adjust your site’s structure accordingly. Google, still the most popular search engine in use today, uses ‘spiders’ that ‘crawl’ into a website to check for keyword relevance and density. Google also ranks sites according to the number (and quality) of other sites that are linked to it.
There are also search engines that use spiders exclusively, which categorize websites depending on what they find. Some search engines use actual manpower (that’s real humans, folks) to rank sites while others, such as pay-for-placement-sites, will work on your ranking based on what you’ll pay them.
Take a look at your meta-title. Most search engines rank websites depending on their headings. Make sure that your meta-title includes your main keywords. Search engines love website headings that point directly to the site. It’s like someone putting up a sign that says, ‘Doctor who handles eyes, ears, nose and throat problems’ instead of just ‘Doctor.’
Don’t use dynamic URLs. Dynamic URLs use HTTP GET variables. When search engines send out their spiders to look for websites to assess, they tend to avoid or ignore those sites with this type of URL. Use URLs that contain your keywords instead. It’s also a good idea to use keywords for your directories and files because your keyword density increases. You will also appear more frequently in search engines should someone use your keywords to look for something.
Learn to compare. Imitation is the greatest flattery so other websites won’t mind if you check them out in order to improve your own site. Try to compare your site with another website in the same category or subject. Click the ‘View’ button on the browser to view the source code. If you understand HTML by now, you’ll see why this website rocks the search engines and why yours doesn’t.
Using HTML in a way that search engines love can be complicated for some people. To make sure you’re not left scratching your head, learn more. Use a reference such as ‘On Page SEO’, a Barking Videos presentation that teaches newbies and experienced website owners the art of manipulating HTML codes in your web pages in order to produce a more relevant website. Don’t let the concept intimidate you because once you understand the basics of this language, your website will be on its way to becoming a star that search engines will readily recognize.
A traffic exchange network requires website members to browse other affiliated websites to earn credits. The more credits you get, the greater visibility or exposure you get with other members of the network. Membership is usually free, but those obtaining paid accounts are naturally accorded with privileges like better credit ratios. Joining a traffic exchange network isn’t that helpful for established websites, but if you’re just starting out then it just might help your website get noticed by the right people. The Benefits of Joining a Traffic Exchange Network is they are affordable. Even paid accounts don’t cost that much but if you really don’t want to spend money then you don’t have to because most traffic exchange networks offer free membership.
Traffic exchanges are easy to do. As a member, all you have to do is just browse some sites and spend enough time on each and every one of them to understand what they have to offer. The more sites you explore, the more people will get to visit your website. It’s a very simple exercise of mutual exchange. Get Credits from Referrals too. If you refer other people to the traffic exchange network, they can be made a part of your downline. When they earn credits, you get to earn credits, too. Pretty soon, you might no longer need to browse other sites since your referrals are doing the work for you.
Choose Your Ad. This is key as you need to grab the attention of the person browsing the traffic exchange. Some traffic exchange networks allow you to select the ad you wish to be viewed. This is a great way for evaluating the profit potential of new and untested ads you’ve created for your website. It gives your website instant exposure. It’s always hardest at the start and the same goes for building your reputation online from the bottom. Joining a traffic exchange network gives you instant exposure and with people who are unlikely to have even known your website existed. Who knows where else it could lead to.
Tips on Making Good Use of Your Membership in Traffic Exchange Networks One of the greatest complaints traffic exchange networks are troubled with is the low-quality traffic it produces. With the way they work, you can’t take steps to ensure that those viewing your website belong to your target market. Secondly, most people who’d be viewing your website might just be interested to rack up credits. But since this is for free, you’re not in a position to argue. Rather, it’s better to be productive and find a way to work around those disadvantages. Consider the following tips.
Tip #1 Join well-established traffic exchange networks. They’ve got more time, experience, and members in their side, all of which will make building awareness of your fledgling website easier.
Tip #2 Join traffic exchange networks that only allow manual browsing. With this, there’s a stronger chance that members will truly pay attention to what your website is marketing.
Tip #3 Choose traffic exchange networks that offer the best credit ratio. A 3:1 ratio would mean that your website receives one visitor whenever you get to browse three websites.
Tip #4 Members are only required to browse just one page of your website. Make the most out of that. Your content must be brief but compelling. Focus on getting their attention and convincing them to just know more about your product. Don’t sell outright. You just don’t have enough time for that.
If you market to Internet marketers, you might consider the following: 60-80% of your prospects are currently going through or have just gone through a major life change.
Maybe they were downsized, fired or retired. Maybe something at their job changed and now they want out. Maybe they’re going through a divorce or mid-life crisis. Maybe they have money problems or the opposite – They’ve come into money and want to invest it into an online business.
People who are suddenly looking for ways to make money online have experienced a major shift in their life. They’re probably unhappy with the way things are. They’re looking for guidance on how to make a change. Many of them want money FAST – as in yesterday. They want solutions now. They want to push a button and have it done for them. And if that’s not possible, they want to be told EXACTLY what to do to make it happen.
You can use this information to better communicate with your prospects, to let them know you know what they’re going through, and to show them that it can indeed be done.
And you CAN offer them “push button” solutions, too. The legitimate kind. As an example; “We’ll set up your WordPress site, create your first product in 3 different formats, build your squeeze page, write your autoresponder series and so forth, all for “x” amount of money.” That is truly a push button solution, because they push the “buy now” button and you do everything for them.
Of course, it will be too expensive for many, so you can also offer a downgrade, like this: “Too expensive? Then we can teach you how to do it yourself.” By offering two dramatically different price points, you can appeal to both the people who can afford the real push button method, and those who will have to invest their own work to make it happen. In fact, by wording your offer this way you will often get more sales. Your second option will look so low in price compared to the first option, they will find it difficult to say no.
Another great way to market to new Internet Marketers is to offer micro-continuity products that anyone can afford. For example, instead of charging $100 for your product, charge $9.99 a month. Then give them the option of receiving the entire course now for $89 more. Most will opt for the monthly charge, and a percentage will go for the $89 option because they don’t want to wait.
Once they’ve signed up as members, market other affordable products to them inside your members’ area. Plus, make an offer of a big ticket coaching program where you work with people personally.
You might use the Pareto principle when marketing to the Internet Marketing Community. 20% of your prospects are knowledgeable and perhaps even making money online. The other 80% are new, don’t know a great deal and haven’t yet made their first Dollar, Euro, Pound, Yen, Franc or Rand.
Which brings up my last point – unless you specifically target one geographical area, your market is GLOBAL. Yet the needs are very much the same. People who lose their job in China or Switzerland or Brazil or The United States all have the same concerns and fears – “How do I pay the bills and provide for my family now? What if I can’t? What if I fail to land on my feet?”
It’s scary for them, and what they want most of all is someone to take them by the hand, alleviate their fear and show them the way out of the dark and into the light.
The need for money is universal. Your target market is in distress, and they’re desperately hoping you can provide the very real and legitimate guidance that will see them through their financial crisis. Do so, and you will never want for business or income yourself.
In the world of Internet marketing, your URL is your identity. You may have the silliest website on the planet, or the most attractive one; you might have the best content for your research or the worst material, or the most useless text; you might have the best graphics and animation, or you might have the worst downloadable software. In any case, if your URL is out there, it can make you famous.
Now why is this so? You can make the most elaborate description of your services, the most flattering words to describe your products and services, and the most highfalutin prose to show off your company. However, all these words cannot fit into a web directory, and you will need to have your link to show yourself off. When people see this link, they should be redirected to your website whether or not you have the audacity to show your text off.
Now how can this be advantageous to you? If you have your URL in all places, from magazines, to advertisements, to other websites, to linked pages, then you generate a buzz around your URL. Your link is now your identity and the more buzz it generates, the more famous it becomes, and the more famous you become. The more famous you become, the more people can go to your site, and the more chances you have to convert these visits into profit.
This process, of placing your link nearly everywhere, is link building, and link building, when done prudently, can earn you your place in the net universe. All you need to do is know yourself well, and know your market perfectly. And although all this sounds very simple, it can actually be a long process that can cost you a lot of money.
First, know yourself. Are you an up and coming company that is filled with verve and vibe, or a classic company that thrives on elegance? Know, moreover, what you want to become. Do you want to spread your wings out and cater to a great number of clients, or do you want to narrow your market and cater only to a few people? All of these will spell out what kind of link building strategies you will carry out: young people frequent a certain kind of website, while the not-so-young will rely more on email and other things that can be read offline.
Second, know your market. If you are catering to the young, you will need different strategies versus when you are catering to the not so young. There are certain colors, styles, and words that you need to use, and there are certain products and services that you can attach yourself to. Moreover, because putting your URL on certain sites, products, services, and other marketing marquees can cost money, you cannot simply employ a shotgun method and place your URL everywhere. Remember, sometimes ubiquity translates into hard sell and you can also turn off customers if you employ link building without prudence.
These are only a few tips that you might want to follow as you engage in link building. There are still many other ways that you can carry it out, but the important thing to remember is that you should cater to your market. You need to also know yourself well, because the efforts that you take on today’s marketing field will still resonate years and years from now. If you meet market needs and tastes, moreover, then you will succeed online.
Even small changes can sometimes improve your new subscriber opt-in rate dramatically, resulting in thousands more opt-ins that you would have otherwise gotten. Here’s how…
People photos – Response tends to increase if there is a photo of a person. And since both women and men respond better to a picture of a pretty woman, that’s what you’ll want to use.
They eyes have it – Have the woman looking directly at the action you want them to take. In this case, you want them to click the button to opt-in, so this is where she should be looking.
Tools rule. For your incentive, try offering a tool instead of a technique. People believe if they have to tools pros use, they’ll perform like pros. Just look at all of the terrible golfers with high end clubs and you’ll see this is true. Your tool might be a piece of software, a comprehensive guide, a secret website and so forth.
Lists of tools are even better. For example, the 5 best resources for losing weight or the 3 best resources for doubling your opt-in rate. A list of tools has actually been proven to convert higher than some things of much greater value, such as a free coaching session.
Video isn’t the incentive powerhouse it once was. Know that the perceived value of videos has gone down considerably. Offering free videos for their opt-in does not work like it used to. Offering tools or a list of resources tends to work better these days.
Curiosity lights a fire. In your headline offering your free incentive to join your list, use curiosity. For example: “The only 3 pieces of exercise equipment you need in your home. Hint: they all weigh less than 5 pounds.” Obviously what you’re going to reveal is unexpected, and thus they become curious enough to find out.
Use a two step opt-in. On the opt-in page, have a button to get the free list, report, etc. Then have a new box open that asks where you should send it and a box for their email. This two step opt-in works better than the old method of having the opt-in form right there on the squeeze page.
If you’re not already doing these things, try all seven and you might easily see your opt-in rate double.
In the brick and mortar world, communications on special events, launches, and new and emerging stars are done through press releases. A press release is a one-page statement that contains information that will give the reader the why, who, what, where, when, and how of an event or person. It is the press release that is circulated through newspapers in order for events or products to be made public. It is also the press release that is circulated through radio stations and TV stations so that broadcasters can immediately make an announcement regarding the release’s contents.
A press release may look like an old-fashioned way to deliver
communications, but believe it or not, a press release can actually work
online. Think of the press release as the one-stop-shop that it is in
the real world: if the person reading the press release online knows the
why, who, what, where, when, and how of your website, and at one go,
this person can immediately find out what your website is all about and
what you can offer. You can also tailor a press release to fit a product
or service that you are offering: if you can keep the elements of the
press release short and sweet, then you can have prospective customers
going to your website faster.
What are the advantages of having a press release? First, a press release is short. A person’s average attention span online will last no more than ten seconds. That is, if you fail to catch a person’s attention within ten seconds (and sometimes even less!) through an online-delivered message, then you will lose that person immediately, along with the potential sale and profit that that person could have brought. A press release will do just the opposite that most online ads do: a press release will give all the information at one go, allowing your prospective customers to make their decisions faster. And if you can press these customers to buy or visit your website faster, then you can see a faster turnover!
Because a press release is short and often comprised of just text, it will be easier to send the press release through email to different websites that are tasked with giving out or posting press releases. Imagine how tedious it would be for your recipients to download your attachments, or to wait for a long advertisement to finally finish getting into their inboxes. Moreover, because a press release is short, you can post it on forums or in online groups without taxing on the forums space or the inbox space of the rest of the members of your online group. By failing to annoy people, you just might get a better reputation for yourself faster.
These are just a few advantages of making press releases. If you want to make a press release, be sure to state, in just one page, the basic facts about your website, or about your products and services. Make your mood engaging, avoid using jargon or technical terms, and keep your sentences short. Make your paragraphs less text heavy too: this can allow for more white space in the body of the press release itself, making it easier to read online. With some press release-writing know-how, and with good language that is convincing as it is correct, you can increase your sales and profits, and bring more people to your website.
Podcasts, like ebooks, do not generally require you to spend money when creating them. You may already have the materials and resources needed for creating a podcast: a good-quality microphone, a few software tools to edit your recording, and of course, valuable content. If you have all that then you can start creating free podcasts that could drive targeted traffic to your website.
Step 1 Formulate your script. Choose a topic that will be interesting for your target market to listen to and which they can benefit from as well. If you have a topic in mind already, research for more information about the topic. If you have enough data, it’s time to start a script. Think of writing a script as something similar to creating an outline. A script will let you ensure that the flow of information is logical, orderly, and smooth. A script is made up of several acts and an act is made up of several scenes. Choose the best scene or act for which you can redirect the dialogue to your business. It’s very, very important to mention your business because you want people to remember where the podcast comes from and where they could go if they want more.
Step 2 Choose the proper format for your podcast. Consider your resources, skills, and topic. Would you like the podcast to take an interview format? Should it be formal or informal? How about a monologue?
Step 3 Consider the length of your podcast. If you don’t have an established reputation online just yet then not many people will be willing to give their entire time to listening to your podcast. New online business owners are better off limiting their podcasts to a short duration, maybe not more than fifteen or thirty minutes. When you get a bit more popular then that’s the time you should make your podcast longer. For now, it’s better to keep things short, simple, and sweet. Make your listeners look forward to what you have to say next.
Step 4 Start recording. Choose the best place where you can record. An ideal room would have sound-proof walls and carpeted floors to preserve the original sound of your voice and other audio effects. The room must also be free from external background noise like a mouse squeaking in the corner, an open window letting in street noise from below, or something similar. Make sure you subject all your recording tools to a sound test and ensure that they’re in working order. Whoever the narrator or speakers are, they must have clear and well-modulated voices and able to enunciate words perfectly.
Step 5 Humor is always appreciated but only if it’s applied at the right time and place. Adding a touch of humor here and there, especially if it’s ad-libbed, will go a long way in obtaining the loyalty of your listeners.
Step 6 End your podcast with an invitation for your listeners to check out your other podcasts. Let them know what you have in store for them next and your regular time and day for uploading podcasts in your website. Listen to your recording several times before making it available for downloading.
Step 7 Lastly, submit it to directories and make sure to use the same set of information when describing your podcast. Include targeted keywords with your description and don’t forget to display your website address!
This article is a little different so I hope you learn something here. When you start a web site project for you or for you’re client, you would probably generate lots of ideas about your final project. Ideas are either vague that you need to flesh them out more or they could be too specific that you must keep them organized and realize the real reason behind them. To put it simply, you need an efficient plan to drive traffic to your web site and make it a success.
What is a mind map and what is its use? A mind map is an illustration used to symbolize tasks, words, ideas or any other items which are linked together and arranged accordingly around the innermost key idea or word. It is simply used to visualize, produce, constitute, and categorize ideas and generally aids in the organization, study, and decision-making of carrying out a plan. A mind map is quite similar to that of a cognitive map or semantic network, however, the difference between them is that a mind map has no formal limitations on the types of links used. The elements are normally arranged instinctively according to the relevance of the ideas and more importantly, they are structured into branches, groupings, or areas. All this well-organized group of ideas aids in making your plan easier and simpler.
With a mind map’s centralized structure of ideas and their connections with each other, it can always encourage a brainstorming approach to a given task. Thus, it eliminates the difficulties of establishing the right and important theoretical framework to the work ahead.
Creating a mind map to drive traffic to your web site The success of a web site will solely depend on how you are going to plan out all the ways that can possibly drive the most traffic in a site. This is where you need a mind map in constructing your web site. To make your mind map useful, you have to follow these guidelines in forming a mind map:
Begin at the center having an illustration of the topic. Make use of symbols, images, dimensions and codes throughout you mind mapping. Each word or image must have its own line.
Make use of color coding to be familiar with your own mind map. Create your own style of your mind map. Emphasize the things that are of great importance and show associations in which how all of the things are linked together. Always make sure that you have included everything in your mind map and make it as neat and understandable as possible by the use of numerical order, radial hierarchy, and outlines to hold together all its branches or groupings.
When you are done with your mind map, you may immediately carry out your plan in creating the web site that would drive the most traffic. One should need not spend a great deal of advertising the site; instead one could always use his mind to generate out ideas that leads to the success of the site. You could always improve your ideas and link them together to obtain positive outcomes. With the use of mind map, these brilliant ideas cannot go into waste and may lead you to your web site’s success.
Here’s an experiment for you to try. If you don’t already, get a year’s worth of issues of any one magazine. If possible, make it a business magazine such as Entrepreneur. Now go through each issue of the magazine and see which full page and half page ads repeat month after month, and which ads are only there for one month before they disappear.
Notice the difference between the two types of ads. The ones that appear once and never appear again tend to be feature based and devoid of emotion. The ones that appear month after month are benefit and emotion based.
Why is that? Because ads that run month after month are working. Those that run once and never run again aren’t working. And ads that only highlight features without benefits or emotions do not work.
Now then, there are hundreds of different emotions and you can’t hit every one of them in your ad. So which are the very best to target? According to author Robert Imbriale, you can’t go wrong when you include as many of these 5 motivators as possible into your sales process:
Fear. Fear of missing out, fear of making a mistake, fear of loss, fear of failure – all of these things can work in your favor to get the sale. Show your prospect what will happen to them if they don’t buy your product. A life can completely change and take an entirely different course simply by making the right decision at the right time. Let them know how your product can make that difference, and then show them how awful it would be if they didn’t take that next step.
Every market has a set of fears that is shared by a large percentage of your prospects. If you have the solutions to those fears, or even to just one of those fears, you simply need to tap into the fear and use it to market your product.
For example, use news stories to tie your product in as the solution to a fear. You might use the story of a man who once had everything, got laid off and is now homeless. “Don’t let this be you. Buy our course on how to start your own business today and never worry about your future again.”
Love. Are you surprised? Real, genuine social contact is at an all-time low. Most people don’t even know who their neighbors are. Families are no longer living close to each other. Television and the Internet has become a poor substitute for human contact.
More than ever people need a sense of connection, and you can provide that connection in a myriad of ways. Have a video blog (vlog) where you speak directly to your audience. Host calls and interviews. Create a community around each product, through a Facebook page or forum. Do live calls where people can ask you questions. Become the expert in your niche that your prospects feel they KNOW, and you will get their business.
Example phrases to use:
Join us
Meet people just like you
Be a part of
Connect with others
Want to take it even further? You’ve heard it a million times – sex sells – and it does. Incorporate a sexy message into your marketing and sales will go up.
Words to use:
Join us
Meet people just like you
Be a part of
Connect with others
Free Things and Hot Sales. This one needs very little explanation – everyone loves to get a great deal. So for example, if you can offer your latest product on sale with an older product thrown in for free, you’re probably going to make a lot of sales.
Give something away to build your list. Give something else away to get referrals. Give away tidbits of good info. But don’t give away the store. Offer special deals that are time limited – if they snooze, they lose. Your customers will learn to buy quickly or miss out – a good way to combine hot sales with the #1 motivator above – fear.
And one of the most potent of all freebies – the free (or nearly free) trial. Let them try your $197 product for just $10, and then 3 easy payments of $67. Or your monthly membership for just $1, and then $39.99 a month starting in 30 days. Yes, you’ll get cancellations, but you’ll also get a great many sales, too, as more people get to experience your product and decide they want to keep it.
Easy Money. You’d think this powerful motivator couldn’t be applied to every business, but if you try, it’s nearly always possible. For example, if you’re selling a dating book for guys, you might talk about how much more confidence they’ll have when they’re able to date beautiful women – confidence that will greatly enhance all aspects of their lives, including their ability to make money, get a promotion, etc.
If you’re selling an organic gardening guide, you might mention that with their greatly increased yields they’ll have tons of produce to sell beyond what they need for themselves. And of course organic produce is in high demand, so it’s a money maker. If you’re selling a weight loss product, you might talk about how much more energy and confidence they’ll have, leading to more productivity and better opportunities, and so forth.
Be their fairy godmother and make wishes come true. Everyone has dreams. Everyone wants something. Show your prospects – better yet, prove to them that you can grant their wish when they purchase your product, and you’ve got the sale.
Don’t believe it? Think of the one thing you want more than anything else. Now imagine I can prove to you that you can have that very thing, and the way to get it is to simply purchase and use my product. What’s it worth to you to make your dream come true? Probably just about every cent you have.
Here’s your task: Find a way to incorporate four or all five of these motivators into your next sales piece, and watch your response soar!
