This post is going to hit you straight in the gut. It isn't
going to feel good either, so if you can't stand the truth…stop
reading…but then call me when the money runs out for your
internet business.
Just keep in mind as your reading this post, that you are not
the only one guilty of searching for a "magic pill" to explode
your online business (I used to as well in the beginning).
Nope, as a matter of fact, 90% of us (at least) are guilty of
at least one if not all of these things (and if you think you
are in the 10% club, do a hard check to be sure).
Take these to heart, make some mental changes, and your success
online will soon find you.
There are 5 primary reasons why we get caught up investing in
e-book after e-book, trying to search for some magical device
that will skyrocket our online businesses with little effort.
You can also apply these 5 reasons to any information device
attached to some sort of promise (remember the sales letter).
I will tell you that no such device exists, and while there are
tools that accelerate your business' growth, most of us don't
make full enough use of those tools anyhow.
NOTE: Coaching, mentoring, and business growth groups are not
included in this, because of a distinct difference, those types
of guidance usually come with a sort of accountability factor
and other variables that an e-book or study course does not.
This brings me to our first reason…
Reason #1 - Pieces of information
Have you ever purchased an e-book that made a promise to you?
Most do…from this one…
"Using this system to generate an income of over $10k a month
in less than 30 days!"
to this one…
"I have found the secret to easy cash on the internet!".
There are a ton of different promises that are made, but the
reason that you will most likely never make that kind of money
online with this one e-book, is that it is only a piece of
information.
The last time I checked, an e-book cannot "coach you" on the
rest of the answer necessary to make the system in the e-book
work. Nor would it be expected to do that. An e-book provides a
part of the answer, but the writer of the e-book used a complete
business system based on sound business growth principles in
combination with the "solution" presented in the e-book to
generate the results obtained and mentioned in the sales letter.
Quite frankly, the information in most e-books is actually good
and works. But the odds of you having all of the rest of the
pieces in place to use that information to 100% of its potential
are astronomical. Sorry for the dose of reality there.
In conclusion, if you had all the pieces you needed to run a
successful online business, you would already be running one.
Buying e-book after e-book is not the answer, unless you have
grown businesses online before, and are damn sure you only need
that one piece to make your system work.
On to reason number 2…
Reason #2 - The Consumer Mentality
Let's face it, we all like to go shopping once in awhile.
Guys, I don't want to hear the "I never go shopping, I always
know what I want to get from the store" line…because I know that
it's total B.S. (Craftsman Tool Section in Sears anyone? :) ).
Since we like to go shopping as human beings, and just "look
for things to buy" once in awhile, we have developed what is
called the "Consumer Driven Mindset". It's inside all of us to
some degree.
The sad part is, that applies to e-books as well.
And the website with the section that drives home my point here
is The Warrior Forum by Allen Says.
I have been a member of that forum for about 3 years now…and
there is one section that takes full advantage of the "consumer
driven mindset" in all of us…the WSO, or Warrior Special Offer
section. This section of the forum is specially created for
Warriors to sell and market their products to other Warriors.
Now think about that for a second…
The Warrior Forum in and of itself has enough information and
such to build an online business in just about any niche you can
think of. Some of that information comes from six and
seven-figure earners online as well.
But yet, there is a section on that forum where Warriors are
selling to other Warriors, and thousands of dollars change hands
every single day. From one Internet Marketer, to another.
Interesting huh? The forum has more than enough information to
totally build an online business, yet the same people who are
members, and internet business owners themselves, are also
shoppers buying even more information.
Which perfectly leads us to reason 3.
Reason #3 - The Human Condition…Laziness/Denial
Here is where I will lose the majority of you reading this post
(which I appreciate by the way :) ).
You, by human nature, have an element of laziness and denial
within you. You cannot deny it.
We all seek the shortest, or most efficient way of doing
something…including building online businesses or making money
online. For those of you that are successful already,
congratulations, but you are part of this group as well.
Successful individuals might have to look a little deeper within
for those "moments" of time when laziness creeps in, but it is
there every time. We are not robots.
You could tell me that you work hard, are very successful, have
"dialed in" marketing processes etc…but you cannot tell me that
you are not human.
What does that have to do with buying e-books?
Well, quite a bit happens in our businesses doesn't it? So,
when you see an offer to make any part of that business easier,
or a "magic marketing shortcut" that points the way to double
sales within 30 days or less…you start to think…
"Could this include me and my business too?"
That thought leads to another one…
"Could I be missing a piece of the puzzle?"
And then denial sets in…
"In buying this e-book with a magical solution, I wouldn't be
like other people who are falling for the marketing behind the
solution, I am just taking advantage of this opportunity!"
And you buy the e-book or study course looking for that answer.
The really interesting point is…if a solid marketer developed
that product…they are preying on that very emotion and a series
of others; our laziness, denial, greed, ego, etc…
One other emotion is a reason for buying e-books in and of
itself though…
Reason #4 - Misplaced Hope
I hate to bring this up…because it is so common.
Many of my coaching students, clients, and many other business
owners at one point have "hoped" that their marketing or other
business processes would work, and that some big windfall was
heading their way.
Do you know who this type of Hope is? She is a tired old girl
getting ready to retire…she cannot carry businesses!
It is this misplaced "hope" in your business processes that can
kill it…and if an e-book promises to bring you a ton of "hope"
in a 50 plus page package…we fall for it all the time and buy
that e-book. It is pretty easy for any marketer worth their salt
to tap into this emotion at their will.
Quit hoping, and start testing, and taking a more scientific
approach to your internet business. If developed properly, this
scientific approach can put you in a position where instead of
hoping you will get results…
You will know what results you are going to get!
On to reason 5…the final reason for this article (there are
actually a ton more).
Reason #5 The Feeling We Are Being "Lied To"
Have you ever bought an e-book with some promise of a complete
system, or other remedy to a business problem you have (the
secret to marketing by the way)…
Only to have that solution seemingly fail to work (remember
Reason #1)?
Then…
While surfing the net, you come across a similar solution,
perhaps packaged in a different way (the way you package
information is another marketing secret). This solution seems to
include another piece of the puzzle in your internet business
life.
How does that make you feel?
Most would feel this (I cannot speak for everyone) :
"Dang it, why didn't that other e-book give me the entire
answer, like this one does!"
Guess what, this e-book won't give you the entire answer
either. But I will bet you feel "lied to." Some people even take
this feeling another step and get a refund on the other
e-book…and read this one with a "complete" answer (it isn't).
In conclusion, there are a few points that are the bottom line
here:
* With the knowledge that we don't want to make just one sale
to our customers, and we want to strike as broad a part of our
niche that we can with multiple products…why on earth would any
marketer worth their salt at all give you a complete answer in
just one e-book? We don't. Instead, we work to build your trust
enough to buy another piece of the solution from us…and will
structure offers with that in mind (retaining you as a
customer).
This is why my business model is to only offer complete
solutions to my clients (i.e. coaching, copywriting and
consulting, etc…). While more of an investment, I know that I
could never provide a complete solution in one e-book.
* You are lazy by nature. You need to try and stifle that part
of your nature, knowing that there is no magic pill to grow
businesses, period.
* The time you are wasting buying e-book after e-book would be
better invested in testing another piece of marketing, and
finding a scientific process of your own that will work with
your business alone (then you can sell an e-book to others on
this process ;) ).
* If you are about to use the excuse "Joe, I believe in
self-education and these e-books are only purchased to satisfy
that end of my business." I will probably point you to your main
computer's hard drive and ask you to do a deep gut check on two
things… 1) How many e-books you have on that hard drive.
Now, I would have you compare that with 2) How many e-books on
that hard drive have you actually read fully and implemented.
You see, self-education is part of my business too…but I can
tell you that any e-book or educational material that I have
now, has been read and implemented. Not to say that I am perfect
by any means, I was where you are now about 4 years ago, and
have since deleted all of the e-books on my hard drive.
I have found that in the end, in most cases, we already have
the ability to build businesses. We have to develop with our
businesses online, make the mistakes, pay the dues, and grow a
successful one to really know how to do it again. That type of
process will not take as long if you quit buying e-books and
looking for the magic pill. It doesn't exist.
Once you know how to build a very successful business, you can
simply duplicate and eliminate mistakes…and e-books won't be
necessary.
About The Author: If you would like to investigate the shortcut
to making money online, in fact to generate six figures within
12 months... visit http://buildinginternetwealth.net/six-figures
Monday, April 20, 2009
Winning Against Your Competitors
"The competition's tough, and it requires us to be tougher - tough-minded, never hard hearted."
- John Kerry
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Bob Bly
There's a lot of money being made in marketing information products online today. But there's also a lot of competition - as I'm sure you've noticed.
You can't just sit there and pray that your customers never find out about your competitors. Thanks to Google, they can find their offers in seconds. Your best strategy is to identify who and what you're competing against - and fill a gap in the market that they're missing.
Here are the four types of competitors you face as an info marketer... and one good strategy for combating each:
Competitor Category #1: Companies that give away information on your topic absolutely free
There are countless companies out there giving away free information on their sites.
These folks are not in the business of selling information products. They typically sell a physical product or a service... and give away free content to build their e-list.
It can be challenging to compete in a niche where a lot of good free content is published by companies that treat it as a marketing strategy. After all, why should your customers pay you for your content when they can get it - or something close to it - for free elsewhere?
One strategy to use against this type of competition is to establish yourself as a guru in your niche.
Consumers want authoritative information from experts, and are willing to pay a premium to get it. For instance, anyone can compile information on conservative issues and politics. But only Rush Limbaugh can publish and sell The Limbaugh Letter.
Competitor Category #2: Bookstores
I've lost track of the number of times I have reviewed some publisher's expensive information product, only to find that it contains less information than a 250-page paperback I can buy at Barnes & Noble for 15 bucks.
One competitive strategy to use against bookstores is micro-niching - publishing in a highly specialized niche that trade-book publishers won't touch.
Example: I can go to Barnes & Noble today and find several highly useful - and quite inexpensive - books on social networking. But if I publish a title like "Building Your Dental Practice With Social Networks," that is too narrow a niche for bookstore sales.
Competitor Category #3: People who sell low-priced info products on your topic
During the 1990s recession, a major newspaper ran an article about two entrepreneurs selling reports on marketing in a recession. One was me, and the other one was a famous marketer.
The paper told readers how to buy my report but not the famous marketer's. Reason: Mine cost $7, and his cost $1,000.
From one press release, I sold over 3,000 of those booklets.
How could that marketer have hoped to compete with my bargain rate? One way would have been to offer more in-depth content.
In information products, there is a content hierarchy - from weakest to strongest - that goes like this:
Level A. Telling readers what to do (e.g., in a booklet on making money as a landlord, informing the reader that they must make every tenant sign a written lease)
Level B. Telling readers how to do it (e.g., providing a checklist of the nine points every lease should cover)
Level C. Doing it for them (e.g., actually including sample leases)
Low-priced info products mostly cover Level A and, to a lesser degree, Level B. The more your high-priced info products give the readers of Level B and Level C, the greater the price you can command.
Competitor Category #4: People who charge as much as - or more than - you for seemingly equivalent info products
If your pricing is similar to that of your competitors, two of the strategies I mentioned above - establishing yourself as an industry guru and micro-niching - can differentiate you from the crowd. If your price is lower than most of your competitors, play the price card.
In your marketing copy, talk about how the other guys charge an outrageous fortune for big, elaborate packages that the buyer won't have time to absorb and probably will never even look at. Then show how your product saves time because it is tightly written (no fluff) as well as inexpensive.
One other idea for handling competition: Befriend them instead of going to war with them. This strategy is called "coopetition." It recognizes that two businesses can be competitors and joint venture partners simultaneously.
Reach out to your competitors via phone or e-mail. Offer to do joint venture deals and affiliate promotions with them.
Maybe they have a high-priced product that is the perfect back-end to one of your front-end products. Instead of spending a lot of time and money to duplicate what they have done, sell their product to your customers on the back end for a nice affiliate commission on every sale you make.
[Ed. Note: Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter and the author of more than 70 books. To subscribe to his free e-zine, The Direct Response Letter, and claim your free gift worth $116, click here now.
- John Kerry
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Bob Bly
There's a lot of money being made in marketing information products online today. But there's also a lot of competition - as I'm sure you've noticed.
You can't just sit there and pray that your customers never find out about your competitors. Thanks to Google, they can find their offers in seconds. Your best strategy is to identify who and what you're competing against - and fill a gap in the market that they're missing.
Here are the four types of competitors you face as an info marketer... and one good strategy for combating each:
Competitor Category #1: Companies that give away information on your topic absolutely free
There are countless companies out there giving away free information on their sites.
These folks are not in the business of selling information products. They typically sell a physical product or a service... and give away free content to build their e-list.
It can be challenging to compete in a niche where a lot of good free content is published by companies that treat it as a marketing strategy. After all, why should your customers pay you for your content when they can get it - or something close to it - for free elsewhere?
One strategy to use against this type of competition is to establish yourself as a guru in your niche.
Consumers want authoritative information from experts, and are willing to pay a premium to get it. For instance, anyone can compile information on conservative issues and politics. But only Rush Limbaugh can publish and sell The Limbaugh Letter.
Competitor Category #2: Bookstores
I've lost track of the number of times I have reviewed some publisher's expensive information product, only to find that it contains less information than a 250-page paperback I can buy at Barnes & Noble for 15 bucks.
One competitive strategy to use against bookstores is micro-niching - publishing in a highly specialized niche that trade-book publishers won't touch.
Example: I can go to Barnes & Noble today and find several highly useful - and quite inexpensive - books on social networking. But if I publish a title like "Building Your Dental Practice With Social Networks," that is too narrow a niche for bookstore sales.
Competitor Category #3: People who sell low-priced info products on your topic
During the 1990s recession, a major newspaper ran an article about two entrepreneurs selling reports on marketing in a recession. One was me, and the other one was a famous marketer.
The paper told readers how to buy my report but not the famous marketer's. Reason: Mine cost $7, and his cost $1,000.
From one press release, I sold over 3,000 of those booklets.
How could that marketer have hoped to compete with my bargain rate? One way would have been to offer more in-depth content.
In information products, there is a content hierarchy - from weakest to strongest - that goes like this:
Level A. Telling readers what to do (e.g., in a booklet on making money as a landlord, informing the reader that they must make every tenant sign a written lease)
Level B. Telling readers how to do it (e.g., providing a checklist of the nine points every lease should cover)
Level C. Doing it for them (e.g., actually including sample leases)
Low-priced info products mostly cover Level A and, to a lesser degree, Level B. The more your high-priced info products give the readers of Level B and Level C, the greater the price you can command.
Competitor Category #4: People who charge as much as - or more than - you for seemingly equivalent info products
If your pricing is similar to that of your competitors, two of the strategies I mentioned above - establishing yourself as an industry guru and micro-niching - can differentiate you from the crowd. If your price is lower than most of your competitors, play the price card.
In your marketing copy, talk about how the other guys charge an outrageous fortune for big, elaborate packages that the buyer won't have time to absorb and probably will never even look at. Then show how your product saves time because it is tightly written (no fluff) as well as inexpensive.
One other idea for handling competition: Befriend them instead of going to war with them. This strategy is called "coopetition." It recognizes that two businesses can be competitors and joint venture partners simultaneously.
Reach out to your competitors via phone or e-mail. Offer to do joint venture deals and affiliate promotions with them.
Maybe they have a high-priced product that is the perfect back-end to one of your front-end products. Instead of spending a lot of time and money to duplicate what they have done, sell their product to your customers on the back end for a nice affiliate commission on every sale you make.
[Ed. Note: Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter and the author of more than 70 books. To subscribe to his free e-zine, The Direct Response Letter, and claim your free gift worth $116, click here now.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Starting a New Business Online - 5 Secrets on How to
You have decided to start your online business. It is so great
and you are assured to meet success. Millions will rain in a few
days and in the next few months you'll be richer than Bill
Gates. What will you do then? You'll get bored! With this in
mind, below I give you 5 secrets that will make your site a
failure and years of bankruptcy.
Secret No. 1: Sell a product that you do not understand.
It is essential to know at your fingertips the product you want
to sell. Mastering this subject does not guarantee the sale, but
helps greatly. Imagine yourself in your favorite supermarket, in
ecstasy before a 21-inch monitor. The seller arrives and you
ask: "That's a Trinitron screen?" and hey reply "It's a very
good technology that makes the picture more beautiful and
especially better than when it is not a Trinitron. But it is
very complicated so I will not bore you with details ". It is
obvious that you are going to take your caddie and spinning at
the nearest competitor.
Conclusion: Do your visitors flee at the ignorance of your
products?
Secret No. 2: Sell a product of poor quality.
It is one of the best-kept secrets and yet the publicity that
it generates for your site is immense. When you are satisfied
with a product, you recommend it to a few people but when you
get a poor product you talk to everyone: the media and friends
alike.
It is therefore essential if you want to talk about yourself,
offer products or services of poor quality. Moreover, ultimately
this will reduce your workload. Ahhhh ... Finally calm.
Secret No. 3: Do not collect email addresses.
If you want to fail, and that is what I wish you because I want
you to be happy, it is necessary to minimize contacts and leads.
What is the base of your income? The client. And before being a
client, it was a prospect, usually a name on a list or a visitor
visiting your site by accident.
Secret Number 4: Making a site confusing.
There will always be sites that link to yours, and sooner or
later, some engines will add you to their bases and from that
moment, it will be an escalation of your website traffic. To
minimize the risks of facing this influx of unwanted visitors,
make sure that three-fourths of the links are broken, that pages
are poorly written and confusing, URLs are more than 90
characters and are encrypted but especially do not divulgue your
contact information online. You don't wish to show that you are
a real person don't you?
Secret Number 5: No market research.
If you are looking to market a new product, you need to avoid
keywords research. by doing so you will never know if your
product is in high demand. Just knowing if your product is in
high demand is not important and you don't care about that. You
can invest your money with no problem in that product.
If you are seeing yourself in these secrets than it's time for
you to thing again about doing business online. It's still the
time to figure that out before it's too late!
To Your Success!
and you are assured to meet success. Millions will rain in a few
days and in the next few months you'll be richer than Bill
Gates. What will you do then? You'll get bored! With this in
mind, below I give you 5 secrets that will make your site a
failure and years of bankruptcy.
Secret No. 1: Sell a product that you do not understand.
It is essential to know at your fingertips the product you want
to sell. Mastering this subject does not guarantee the sale, but
helps greatly. Imagine yourself in your favorite supermarket, in
ecstasy before a 21-inch monitor. The seller arrives and you
ask: "That's a Trinitron screen?" and hey reply "It's a very
good technology that makes the picture more beautiful and
especially better than when it is not a Trinitron. But it is
very complicated so I will not bore you with details ". It is
obvious that you are going to take your caddie and spinning at
the nearest competitor.
Conclusion: Do your visitors flee at the ignorance of your
products?
Secret No. 2: Sell a product of poor quality.
It is one of the best-kept secrets and yet the publicity that
it generates for your site is immense. When you are satisfied
with a product, you recommend it to a few people but when you
get a poor product you talk to everyone: the media and friends
alike.
It is therefore essential if you want to talk about yourself,
offer products or services of poor quality. Moreover, ultimately
this will reduce your workload. Ahhhh ... Finally calm.
Secret No. 3: Do not collect email addresses.
If you want to fail, and that is what I wish you because I want
you to be happy, it is necessary to minimize contacts and leads.
What is the base of your income? The client. And before being a
client, it was a prospect, usually a name on a list or a visitor
visiting your site by accident.
Secret Number 4: Making a site confusing.
There will always be sites that link to yours, and sooner or
later, some engines will add you to their bases and from that
moment, it will be an escalation of your website traffic. To
minimize the risks of facing this influx of unwanted visitors,
make sure that three-fourths of the links are broken, that pages
are poorly written and confusing, URLs are more than 90
characters and are encrypted but especially do not divulgue your
contact information online. You don't wish to show that you are
a real person don't you?
Secret Number 5: No market research.
If you are looking to market a new product, you need to avoid
keywords research. by doing so you will never know if your
product is in high demand. Just knowing if your product is in
high demand is not important and you don't care about that. You
can invest your money with no problem in that product.
If you are seeing yourself in these secrets than it's time for
you to thing again about doing business online. It's still the
time to figure that out before it's too late!
To Your Success!
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