My Buy Essay

Archive for April, 2008

One question that I hear more then any other in the internet marketing world is “What is the quickest way I can start generating a profit”?

My biggest piece of advice… FOCUS!!

There are a TON of different ways to make money online but whatever you decide to pursue you’ve got to focus all your energy on it.

There’s an Internet Marketing (IM) trap and it goes like this…

1) You start signing up for everyone’s email list to “learn for free”

2) You start seeing what everyone is doing and you think to yourself… “I should do that”

3) You finally get the courage to start pursuing something but you actually start pursuing everything. You go in all different directions and only make a half assed effort one way or the other.

4) Because you didn’t experience “ultimate success” the first go around, you start buying products and information on IM.

5) Well unfortunately that takes you in 50 different directions because although the advice from most of the big named gurus is good, they all have a different approach.

6) Then you spend some more money following another strategy that you heard about or you buy some resell/private label/public domain materials hoping that just through the nature of putting it up on the web, sales will start coming in.

7) Because sales aren’t pouring in, you decide to buy some traffic from Google Adwords.

After your Google Adwords account gets run up and you’ve blown a whack of cash AND still don’t have that many sales you start to get a bitter taste in your mouth about IM.

9) Then it hits you… I’m all over the place and don’t have a plan at all.

How do I know this?

This was my exact story.

I’ll never forget the moment when a well known internet marketer shared with me an ENORMOUS tip that this year has helped put thousands of dollars in my bank account.

I was eagerly showing him my big elaborate mind map of another “million dollar idea” when he did something that confused me at first, but then made total sense.

He closed my mind mapping software on my computer and said focus.

So…

1) Figure out “how” you want to make money online. Do you want to create and sell your own products? Do you want to make money with Adsense? Do you want to do affiliate marketing? Do you want to buy and sell on eBay?

2) Think through the process of what you want to do. What’s the first thing that needs to happen? The second? The third?

Create a flow chart to help you understand clearly the “steps” in the process. Then focus on each step and either master them yourself or find reliable outsourcing partners who can take care of certain “steps” for you.

3) Start taking consistent action!!

This is where most people drop the ball. They jump in too quick, loose some money and get out. It takes consistent action of doing the same things over and over. Build momentum over time.

My last tip would be to focus on who you like learning from.

In the beginning, when you narrow down who you learn from the process becomes clear a lot more quickly. I zeroed in on two people first and then slowly (very slowly) branched off once I had a grip on where I was heading and had implemented what I had learned.

Hopefully that helps because if I had followed this earlier, my life would have been a heck of a lot easier!

Here’s to your “early days” being more lucrative than mine were!

For a successful internet marketing strategy one must first have a product that they can market and a website to promote that product on. From that point on internet marketing takes over. The purpose of internet marketing is to promote a product in the most creative means possible.

The first step is to get the website of the product some traffic. The best way to accomplish this is to get the website on some search engines. Having your website come up in a search will do wonders. Make sure to think of as many keywords as possible to allow your website come up. Another good way to produce more traffic is to recruit affiliates, having them add links to their websites that will bring them back to yours. You can go to specific businesses that you know of already or use databases that have companies listed with them that are willing to make new affiliate relationships.

If your website is kept in your customers mind this will bring more repeat traffic. To do this, send a newsletter out to them, monthly at the very least, reminding customers that your website is still up and running and you are more than happy to do business with them. Use some of your favorite websites as examples. What is it that they do to get you to keep coming back to them to give them your money?

If things still seem a bit hazy there is always the option of internet marketing courses. Many of which are offered on the internet. In these classes a student will learn the ins and outs of terms, plans and little known secrets of the internet marketing world. At the end of the courses a student should be fully prepared to take on the challenge that lies ahead of them.

There is always the option of having someone do the work for you. There are several internet marketing agencies out there that will think of strategies of ways to promote your growing business. Some will even test your product with a consumer panel to best optimize your business.

Through imaginative internet marketing your business will flourish. It just takes a little ingenuity to get things off and running and before you know it your business will be booming.

For some time now I have become disillusioned with running my own traditional style business. You know the one where you have to rent premises, pay rates, employ staff, keep large amounts of stock and a million of other time and financially consuming things. Anyway, a couple of months ago, I decided to investigate the possibility of starting my own internet business or as they say in the trade, become an internet marketer.

During my search of the net and on my many visits to literally hundreds of sites, I was cordially invited to join the many free courses and obtain numerous free newsletters. This was great, all this information was soon winging its way to me. However, it was only on further investigation that I realised that the newsletters were only telling me so much but to get the really important stuff I had to send money. Now don’t get me wrong, I am a realist, I know there is no such thing as a free lunch, but hey, if I was to buy everything that everyone suggested I must have and really needed, not to mention the $5,000 courses and seminars that only a true internet marketer should attend then a remortgage of the family home was inevitable. Not being the impulsive type I refrained from enrolling for every must have marketing item. And I am glad I did as you will discover later.

What I did find most interesting and very amusing was some of the Headlines of the many automated emails I received and I thought I would share some of these with you.

So here goes.

What if?

He will email your ad to 1 MILLION people (sorta)

This is a killer

I am the Undisputed King of Cash….

I’ve found it ….

Get your site on Google in days

$250 – $500 every single day, guaranteed

Earn Minimum $300 A Day

Resources to Generate $11,643 Every Week

How He Makes $1500 Every Day

Powerful Training Methods

Start earning in 15 minutes from now

Get FREE links and Traffic within days

You will easily Earn $500 to $1,000

36 Ways to Affiliate Success

Profit Pulling Niche Packages

Limited Time Offer: Discover my Secrets, Earn $25,000 A Month

However, and what I mentioned earlier that you would discover later was during my investigations, I accidentally came across an excellent FREE eBook titled “Perpetual Profits” by Brian Campbell. This contained information which others were selling for $79 and upwards. I was so impressed with the content of the book I contacted Brian who kindly gave me his permission to distribute it. You can get your copy by visiting my website and I have attached a link below. Oh! and whilst you are there, sign up for my Newsletter. Only joking……

Happy marketing.

Webmasters often ask if paid directory submissions worth the money? Of course the answer depends on the directory and the money.

There are two things you can get from a directory: link popularity and traffic. I don’t know of any directories that really deliver much traffic. Listings in Dmoz, and the Yahoo directory don’t even get me much traffic. Still if you’re buying a permanent listing, getting a few visits a year for 20 years isn’t so bad. There’s little doubt that this is targeted traffic.

Then you want backlinks or link popularity. This depends on the directory and the category where your listing will be placed. The structure of the directory categories will determine if your site will get a top-level listing (one or two clicks away from the homepage) or a deep listing (3 or more clicks removed from the homepage). Then it depends on the number of links on that page. Many paid inclusion directories are selling everypage links, but these are a serious link popularity drain.

So the two main problems with web directories are where your listing will be placed and how much link popularity gets passed on to your site. My solution is to submit to 300 free non-reciprocal directories (with new sites I do 100 submissions a week for three weeks) and choose several paid directories that will place my new site in a top-level category or on a page that has only a few links.

A recent case study revealed that these 300 free directory submissions, combined with one listing in a top-level category of jtrotta.com web directory and one homepage link from a related site produced, in just over a month, over 130 backlinks (according to Yahoo) and led to my site being fully indexed by Google. Search engine traffic has been good, due to high rankings in Google and MSN search results. All this would cost the average webmaster 30.00 for the 300 directory submissions, 69.90 for the top-level jtrotta.com listing, and 45.00/month for the homepage link. The best part is that it required so little of my time.

Internet marketing literally means to advertise, buy and sell products and services online. Internet marketing has become very common among the public these days. There are many products which you can buy, sell and advertise on the internet. A recent study undertaken by a leading internet marketing magazine has shown that people are more and more getting inclined towards buying and selling on the internet.

The first thing which you must consider while undertaking internet marketing is proper research. Proper market research will give you an idea as to what aspects you will have to consider before undertaken marketing online. This will also give you a fair idea as to how the market scene in general is. Market research will also give you an idea about what your customer wants. There are many research agencies which will conduct the research for you in return of payment of a certain sum of money.

Internet marketing requires you to have a website where you can put up information about your product and services. It is very essential for you to have website which tells about your products to the customers very clearly. There is no use having a website just for the sake of having it is sensible to hand over the making of your website to a professional who has expertise in this field. There are many professionals who will do the work for you.

All you will have to do is brief him about the product you are dealing with and also the type of website which you will need. Leave it upon him to provide you with a good website. However make sure to make periodical checks on the status of the work done in your site. You can always change anything with which you are not satisfied. Getting a customized site designed for you is a good way to earn profit from internet marketing.

There are many internet marketing strategies which you can make use of to make internet marketing a success. The proper marketing strategy goes a long way in making or breaking your internet marketing. Vigorous marketing strategy is what you will need to make a mark in this field. Just making a website will not help your cause you have to make sure that people come to your site. You will have to make your presence felt in the crowd through every possible means. Customers will have to be lured by you from every possible place.

Any website needs constant care and attention of the webmaster. One way to make your site customer friendly is to upload it at regular intervals. No visitor will come to your site if it does not contain updated information about the products and services. Make sure that all the information are updated and contains whatever information the customer is looking for. Ensure that the site contains all the elements which will make it attractive and easy to negotiate for the customers.

Researching home based business opportunities on the internet?

Fasten your safety belt and stock up on the Dramamine&ndashbetter yet get a helmet and a NASCAR crash suit too, because it’s a wild ride and you’re likely to spin out or hit the wall more than once. In the world of Too Good to be True, online moneymaking opportunities have got to be the big dog on the street these days. “Bigger than television advertising?– you ask. In a sense, yes, because online you are more pro-actively and interactively engaged in seeking solutions. Yeah, the couch potato with his remote finally dons cape and tights and heads for cyberspace seeking truth, profits and the American Way!!.

I started off opting into a couple multilevel marketing opportunities, you know, vitamins and that sort of stuff. This wasn’t totally foreign to me, having been involved (unsuccessfully) with MLM a number of years ago. Like many people, I’m interested in ways to supplement my diet and maintain good health. The added element of earning extra income is also appealing&ndash and why wouldn’t it be? However, discovering that most of your family and friends, “warm market”, just don’t share your excitement, the business aspect ends up in a carton downstairs, under the Christmas decorations.

The idea of marketing on the internet is what drew (sucked?) me back into another attempt at MLM or “network marketing”, as some now prefer calling it. The industry was ready for me too, with team replicated websites, backoffices, promo materials for order, e-mail autoresponders, online conference rooms, you name it. And all I had to do was “simply send people to my website…” and everything would roll along from there. Sounded good to me. So, after setting up everything, including getting a healthy supply of nutritional supplements AND an autoship account for monthly re-stocks, I once again found myself facing my warm market– only this time it was, “Hey, check out my cool website!”, followed by, “hmm…who else is gonna check out my website?” Well, my spiffy back office also included a link to a source for pre-qualified sales leads which I could purchase in bulk, at quantity pricing of a mere few bucks per lead. I should expect to get 10 interested prospect “sign-ups” out of every 100 leads&ndashafter all, “Remember, it’s a numbers game Sparky”.

My team training also heavily promoted meeting people everyday and having weekly meetings in my home, where everyone would watch a DVD introducing our revolutionary new product and compensation plan. Now, I happen to live in a rural area with a very wired Chihuahua (actually it’s my wife’s). Yeah, I know, that’s my problem, so what? But as you may well imagine, I wasn’t terribly excited about roaming the neighboring towns, dropping cards and inviting people to my humble “out in the boonies” abode for a special DVD presentation, including additional background soundtrack provided by “Pancho Psycho”, barricaded in the bedroom, shredding up the carpet.

AND ANYWAY, WHERE EXACTLY WAS THE INTERNET MARKETING SIDE OF ALL THIS!!??

That’s when I decided to go back online and surf my way to the answers&ndashin cape and tights, of course. The number of “How to” websites, capture pages and sales letters on the web, dealing with making money online is simply mind boggling. It becomes Kryptonite after awhile. I went through such a mind numbing number of sites, it nearly put me in a carton downstairs under the Christmas decorations– OR to quote Chris Farley as my favorite motivational speaker, Matt Foley, “…IN A VAN, DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!”. But interestingly enough, after awhile, one also realizes there isn’t actually a lot of different information out there; just a lot of different people duplicating similar stuff in very similar formats, often with just enough variation to make it “their stuff”– and mostly dealing with how to sell an information product which reveals how to sell an information product, etc., ad infinitum. Not exactly a unique new thing here. It gets kinda like Rap music or fast food after awhile. This homey was being supersized, yet still starved for real nutrition.

Another key that I (Mr. Thick and Na

After spending a lot of time and effort on building a site, many wonder where they should start with Internet marketing. Site owners can be bombarded with pitches about marketing and it is hard to sort out what should be done. In this article, a short term marketing strategy is discussed.

Short Term Marketing Strategy

The single best short term marketing strategy is pay-per-click marketing campaigns. A “PPC” campaign simply involves placing advertisements on the results pages of search engines. In essence, you open an account with the PPCs, develop a list of keywords and create ads for those keywords. The two best PPC platforms are Google Adwords and Overture.

Google Adwords lets you place ads on Google search results. In addition to its own search engine, Google also supplies search results to AOL and other sites. When you create your ads, you can choose to place your ads on “content” or “search” results. Select only “search” results until you are sure the advertisement and your site coverts traffic into revenues.

Yahoo purchased Overture a few years ago for 1.8 billion dollars. Overture places advertisements on search results for MSN and, ta da, Yahoo among others. To build your ads, you search for keywords from a list provided by the PPC and create individuals ads. It can take a long time, but it is worth it.

Which PPC is Best?

Both Google and Overture have serious benefits. Google will send more traffic to your site than Overture. Getting your ad in front of AOL users is particularly advantageous because AOL users are buyers. For whatever reason, they simply seem to be more amenable to buying what you’re selling.

If Google is so great, why use Overture? In many ways, Overture has serious advantages over Google Adwords. One of the biggest advantages involves the size of ads.

To effectively run a profitable PPC campaign, you must get the maximum bang for your buck. One strategy for doing this is to qualify your traffic by explaining details in your description. If you only carry one model of a product, say that so money isn’t wasted with people who are looking for a different model clicking on your ad. With Google, you only get two to three words in your title and 8 to 10 in your description.

PPC advertising is a tremendous short term marketing strategy for a number or reasons. First, the advertising gets traffic to your site immediately. Second, it allows you to test the ability of your site to convert traffic into dollars. If conversions are low, you can modify the site and get immediate feedback.

If its time to get working on your marketing, research the PPC possibilities. Google Adwords and Overture have a lot to offer.

Tax deductions for business expenses aren’t just for large corporations. As an Internet marketer or online entrepreneur it is important to know what you can and cannot deduct to save money on your taxes.

People new to business taxes tend to fall into one of two groups. The first group are those people who simply don’t believe they can be eligible for tax deductions. The second group are those who believe anything they touch while conducting business can be written off as a business expense. Both ideas will cost you money; the former in lost tax money, the latter in IRS fines.

In general, the kinds of things that can be deducted deal with the ongoing operation of your business: rental costs, utility expenses, and travel expenses. Not, for example, a new car. Items that add permanent value to your business (i.e. assets) are capitalized, not deducted. Interests on mortgages or repair of computer equipment (which maintain rather than appreciate your businesses value) are deductible expenses.

If you use your personal vehicle for your small business you may be able to deduct repair expenses. If you have a room in your home used strictly as a home office you can deduct certain expenses. There are numerous ways to plug the money leaks streaming out of your business.

Luckily, the IRS has listed in detail what you can deduct in its free publication entitled, shockingly, “Business Expenses.” (.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p535.pdf) At fifty-eight pages it is not a casual read, but it has a good index you can use to find the parts relevant to your business.

The IRS Small Business site (.irs.gov/businesses/small/index.html) contains a lot of useful information and, as government websites go, is well put together and easy to navigate. From this site you can access practically every form needed in your relations with the IRS and even find out how to electronically file for free. Our tax system isn’t simple, but at least they publish the rules.

Once your site is up and running, the best method for getting immediate traffic is pay-per-click search engine marketing. Although you have to be patient, you should also be focusing on search engine optimization as a long term strategy.

Search Engine Optimization &ndash “SEO”

Search engine optimization, or “seo” as it is better known, is the definitive long term Internet marketing strategy. So, what is it? Seo simply refers to taking steps to make sure your site appears high in non-paid search results on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

The reason seo is considered a long term strategy is…well, it takes a long time. If your marketing is focusing on highly competitive keywords, such as “Europe travel”, there is so much competition that you could be looking at two or three years before getting top rankings. The time period is really a factor of how fast you can build links. Sometimes you can move up within 6 months, but sometimes it takes a few years.

Is it worth it to wait for 2 years to get into the top five for “Europe travel”? There are over 2,000,000 searches a month for the keyword phrase. What do you think? If you offer a service or product related to traveling in Europe, how much money would you make if even 1 million people visited your site each month? Think about that.

The Big Three

There are three, and only three, search engines that matter when it comes to seo &ndash Google, Yahoo and MSN. What about Alta Vista, etc.? They simply don’t have enough traffic to make them worth pursuing.

There are four keys to seo. First, you must research the amount of traffic various keywords are receiving. Second, you must modify your site to include the exact keywords phrases in the meta tagging and text. Third, you must add and add and add content to your site. The more content, the more the big three will like your site. Finally, you must trade links with other sites that have content related to your site.

The keys to pursuing a seo marketing strategy are discipline and patience. Let’s take a quick look at each.

You must have the discipline to stick with your seo effort when you are seeing no results. The desire to throw one’s arms in the air in frustration is going to be strong. Just remember that every step you take today will pay off down the road.

Patience balances feelings of frustration and you are going to have a lot of those. Look, it is going to take a long time, so resist the urge to whine. Stick a sign up over your desk counting off the months or have a regular exercise routine. If nothing else, you can day dream about all of the free traffic you are going to get one day.

Search engine optimization is not for the weak of mind or impatient. If you can stick with it, this long term marketing strategy always pays off.

Face it. There are tons of websites out there but very few that actually pull their weight and get results. Effective website design is not easy. If it was, every business that put up a website would realize enormous success. It takes many different skill sets to pull together a killer website.

That being said, here is a list of website design sins for your edification. Consider these deeply and I highly recommend you make sure your website doesn’t commit them.

Website Sin # 1 &ndash Website does not have a crystal clear objective. Why do you have or want to have a website in the first place? What do you want it to do for your business?

Website Sin #2 &ndash No clear call to action. This sin dovetails on the previous one. Once you are clear on your website’s objective, make it real clear to your visitor what action you want them to take. Clearly spell it out. Trust me, leave no room for interpretation.

Website Sin #3 &ndash Website does not have a means to capture visitor’s contact information. You are missing a tremendous opportunity to gather prospects who are clearly interested in what you have to offer &ndash hence qualified prospects to market to going forward. Do whatever it takes here. Offer what we call an “ethical bribe” in exchange for their contact information.

Website Sin #4 &ndash Website doesn’t give visitors a reason to come back. Unless your website is a one-time sales website, you must keep it chock full of new and great content to keep it producing for you.

Website Sin #5 &ndash Website has no substance, all style. Dovetailing on the previous sin, focus should be more on adding valuable content as opposed to having flashy animations. Flashy animations may wow your visitors once (if you’re lucky), but great content starts building a relationship or dare I say a dependency on you. Bottom line you’re adding value to your prospects.

Website Sin #6 – Website has an “it’s all about me” mentality. Keep the copy conversational in tone and focus clearly on what’s in it for your visitor. Make them feel that it’s all about them &ndash make them feel special.

Website Sin #7 – Website is inconsistent with your “Brand”. Your website does not have to be the best looking site out there. It is far more critical to be consistent (same overall look, feel and design as your other marketing materials).

These next three sins are absolutely inexcusable and should not require much explanation. Nothing will frustrate your visitor more and detract from your credibility faster.

Website Sin #8 &ndash Poor or inconsistent navigation. Don’t make people think. Make it real easy for visitors to find what they are looking for.

Website Sin #9 &ndash Dead links. This is a credibility killer. Always do what you say you’re going to do. It is amazing what people can read into a dead link &ndash the worst being that you simply don’t care enough about you visitor.

Website Sin #10 &ndash Slow website. I know, it’s hard to believe but not everyone is using high speed broadband Internet connections yet. A little compassion here goes a long way.