There are so many “Make Money Online” products out there that it can sometimes be difficult to know what’s a scam from what isn’t. The unfortunate fact is that there are many unethical money-hungry scam artist out there that have perfected the art taking advantage of people who don’t know better. Fortunately, there are some simple ways that you can equip yourself so that you do not fall prey to these wicked people.
So how do you protect your pockets from these guys? By doing your research.
Lets say you head about an “Amazing product” that is making many people millions of dollars. The website looks legit and has many testimonials from “average people” just like you and I. Don’t buy on impulse, because there is a very high probability that you will regret your decision later.
How to do your research
A great place to start uncovering the juicy details of any online program is with Google. Type the name of the product or marketer into the search engines to see if there are any obvious scam reports. Do searches with the name followed by terms like “scam” and “review” and see what information you can uncover. However, while doing this type of research, be aware that many marketers use the word “scam” to lure you into a nice detailed (and positive) review of the product.
After doing these google searches, you will potentially find many articles dealing with the product. Always read these pages very carefully, with the intention of getting as much information about what the product/service is about.
You should also be aware that with just about every product/service out there, there will be a disgruntled customer or two. Some people can be impatient and even angry if they encounter a minor technical difficulty and don’t get a response within 30 minutes. Other, more dishonest individuals, try to tarnish the reputation of products to attempt to reduce competition.
The main thing you are looking for is that that the positive reviews far outweigh the negative ones. If not, it is better to stay away from that product/service. It is better to be safe than sorry.
In my opinion, the best way to find good quality program is by getting personal recommendations from trusted sources. There are a few persons that I consider to be my mentors. Most of the time when I am interested in finding out about a topic, I check with them to see what/who they recommend. By doing so, I know that I will find quality programs because I trust their judgment.
Find honest people who know more than you do, and trust their recommendation. They wouldn’t want to risk hurting their own reputation by providing you with a poor product recommendation.
So, the take home message is – NEVER trust the claims of the website/marketer. Even screenshots of earnings can be falsified. Do your own research and make sure you understand EXACTLY what you are getting into before you take the plunge. If you are investing your time and money, you want to be sure it’s a good program beforehand.
There is one more VERY IMPORTANT point that needs to be emphasized when it comes to making money online. There is a myth circulating around the internet that it is possible to make a lot of money without working hard. This might not be something that you want to hear, but the fact of the matter is that THAT’S A HUGE LIE. This concept is sold by many online programs and it is a concept that works, because it aroused the fantasies of unsuspecting individuals.
Yes, there are people who make lots of money online without working too hard. However, in order to reach where they are, there was A LOT of work that had to be done. Years of learning, many failures and (hopefully) many successes. Do NOT believe that you can immediately do what they do without investing a considerable amount of time and effort.
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Friday, June 11, 2010
How to keep going when you get discouraged
Trying to establish an online business can be a quite daunting task. There are so many variables that come into play. In fact, most people who try to build an online business never make it to the point where they are satisfied with the monthly income their online business is producing. As a result of that, many people give up and never reach their true potential.
There’s a vicious rumor that circulates the internet. That rumor is that it is Super Easy to make money online. We look to the Guru’s and see the thousands, tens of thousands and even Hundred thousands that they make online and get when we see their pictures, we take their faces off in our minds and substitute ours with the thought that “That can be me, if I just buy their product”. We then purchase the product and realize that we need to work our butts off to accomplish the goal. What follows next is discouragement.
The fact is that when you see those gurus that make it look easy, they had to work their butts off to reach to the point where they can make it look easy, and so do you.
Having great successful mentors (who are open and honest) in the field of online business has enlightened me to the following fact. Even they have faced discouragement. Sometimes even more than you think. I have mentors who makes Tens of thousands and one who makes up to $100,000+ per month and even in those cases, they’ve faced some great discouragement and self doubt at numerous points in the past.
What made their success level significantly greater than most others is what they did with that discouragement. They didn’t let it hold them down. It’s almost as if they used it as fuel to propel themselves even more into higher levels of success. This realization did a lot for me, as I even find myself facing discouragement and wondering if what I’m doing will ever amount to anything.
There’s a vicious rumor that circulates the internet. That rumor is that it is Super Easy to make money online. We look to the Guru’s and see the thousands, tens of thousands and even Hundred thousands that they make online and get when we see their pictures, we take their faces off in our minds and substitute ours with the thought that “That can be me, if I just buy their product”. We then purchase the product and realize that we need to work our butts off to accomplish the goal. What follows next is discouragement.
The fact is that when you see those gurus that make it look easy, they had to work their butts off to reach to the point where they can make it look easy, and so do you.
Do the Gurus face discouragement?
The Discouraged Entrepreneur
What made their success level significantly greater than most others is what they did with that discouragement. They didn’t let it hold them down. It’s almost as if they used it as fuel to propel themselves even more into higher levels of success. This realization did a lot for me, as I even find myself facing discouragement and wondering if what I’m doing will ever amount to anything.
How to Deal with Discouragement
Now that we have established that discouragement is normal, lets get to how to deal with it. This is important because we DON’T want to face discouragement for long periods of time. We need to whip ourselves into shape, and take our business to the next level. Here are some tips that have helped me significantly:- Connect with other successful and success-minded individuals. This is probably the thing that has helped me significantly. There are a lot of nay-sayers when it comes to internet business. Avoid them like the plague. When you surround yourself with people who have the same goals, it’s much easier to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
- Have a definite, measurable end goal. And easy way to be discouraged is to work your butt off to accomplish EVERYTHING. If you don’t know where you are headed, how will you know when you get there? What is your purpose? Why are you trying to build a business? The answer to that question is a huge step in the right direction of being focused and makes it harder to step off the path.
- Find a Mentor who is where you want to be and do EVERYTHING they say. This isn’t a guarantee that everything will work out, but this will help to eliminate a lot of wasted time time spent on things that aren’t productive and keep you focused. There’s so much info out there that it’s extremely easy to suffer from information overload.
- Establish daily routines to help you keep positive. I listen to a lot of business podcasts on a regular basis. This helps me to see what is possible and I’ve noticed that whenever I’m doing this, discouragement never crosses my mind. This is ONE example that I’ve been implementing that makes it close to impossible to feel discouraged on the days that I do it.
- Try your best to maintain a balanced lifestyle. One of the most stressful things in life (at least for me) is being so caught up in one thing that you don’t have time for everything else. Remember that Making Money is not EVERYTHING. There’s family, friends, health and other aspects of your life that are important too.
- Eat well and Exercise Regularly. I know this seems unrelated. What in the world does this have to do with business, right?? You’d be surprised to know that this helps tremendously. Since science is my background, this is something that really interests me. When you exercise, it increases the levels of a chemical called serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is known as the “feel good” chemical. It really does help you feel good and has the same effect as anti-depressant drugs, without all the yucky side effects.
- Read My Blog on a regular basis. What does this have to do with helping discouragement. Not much really. Well, I guess every so often I make a post like this that might help you
“If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t. Either way, you are right” – Henry Ford.
Comments
As usual, I would love to have your feedback. Here are some things you can comment on below:- Do you ever feel discouraged when it comes to your online business?
- If so, what do you do to deal with it?
- Do you have a question about what I posted? Feel free to ask.
- Anything else? Share it below.
Saying No is essential to Success
Having a full time job and trying to run an online business can be a very challenging endeavor, especially when you are just getting started online. There is so much information to learn, so much to keep updated on and so many mistakes to make and learn from.
I remember when I first started having online success. I was literally attached to my computer whenever I had a spare moment. Since I’m a teacher at a boarding academy, it was indeed a challenge. However, since I’m the kind of teacher that likes giving the students assignments for them to practice on, whenever they would be working on assignments, I would be at the front of the class, monitoring what they were doing AND working online at the same time.
Eventually, I got to a point where I realized that I was just TOO BUSY. Yes, I was making money, but I often felt as if I was neglecting my students, and even my wife. Whenever I wasn’t working at school, I was working online.
Now, when I first started my online business, one of the main reasons it looked so appealing was because I had seen a number of people who were doing it and evidently they weren’t spending much time doing it. That sounded exciting to me. It was not just about making money. It was about the freedom of how the Internet Lifestyle could be.
However, this was not my experience. When my wife pointed out to me that I was spending much more time with my laptop than with her and that it was really having an effect on her, I knew that something had to change.
It was at that point I had to realize something very humbling, and it might be that you need to become aware of this too. Are you ready for it? Ok, here it comes . . . I CAN’T DO EVERYTHING! Yes, it hit me right smack dab in the face. In order to be successful, I had to let certain things go. This was something that applied to my teaching job AND my online business. I had to learn to say NO.
There were two important points to consider. The first begins with the following questions. What are you goals in life? This is a fundamental question that, if put in perspective, eliminates a lot of unnecessary junk. It’s pretty simple. Whatever you find yourself busy doing needs to be evaluated as to whether or not it is in alignment with your goals. If it is, then it’s something you should consider doing. If not, WHY ARE YOU DOING IT? STOP NOW!!! Say NO to those things, because they only distract you from reaching your goals.
Now, that’s just the beginning. This second point is equally as important and often overlooked. Just because something is in alignment with your goals, it doesn’t mean that it’s something you HAVE to do. The fact is that if you were to do everything that is in alignment with your goals, you would have NO time for yourself or for the people you care about. Remember that the ultimate goal is not just financial success but also freedom.
When looking at the things you do on a daily basis, it’s very necessary to prioritize that list, so that it becomes obvious what things you MUST do (necessary) and what things are just good to do (unnecessary). Make sure you can identify the difference between the two.
Since, my real job is a teacher at a boarding academy, I get to be involved with students on a deeper level than the average high school teacher. I love my kids. However, if I were to say Yes to every request I received from every student, I would be taking students into town to go to Walmart or McDonalds all day, everyday. Yes, it is great to spend time with them and get to know them better. However, it is necessary to have balance.
If you find yourself being extremely busy on a day to day basis, ask yourself the following question – What can I say no to and still accomplish my goals? Once you have answered that question, start saying no. Tweet
I remember when I first started having online success. I was literally attached to my computer whenever I had a spare moment. Since I’m a teacher at a boarding academy, it was indeed a challenge. However, since I’m the kind of teacher that likes giving the students assignments for them to practice on, whenever they would be working on assignments, I would be at the front of the class, monitoring what they were doing AND working online at the same time.
Eventually, I got to a point where I realized that I was just TOO BUSY. Yes, I was making money, but I often felt as if I was neglecting my students, and even my wife. Whenever I wasn’t working at school, I was working online.
Now, when I first started my online business, one of the main reasons it looked so appealing was because I had seen a number of people who were doing it and evidently they weren’t spending much time doing it. That sounded exciting to me. It was not just about making money. It was about the freedom of how the Internet Lifestyle could be.
However, this was not my experience. When my wife pointed out to me that I was spending much more time with my laptop than with her and that it was really having an effect on her, I knew that something had to change.
It was at that point I had to realize something very humbling, and it might be that you need to become aware of this too. Are you ready for it? Ok, here it comes . . . I CAN’T DO EVERYTHING! Yes, it hit me right smack dab in the face. In order to be successful, I had to let certain things go. This was something that applied to my teaching job AND my online business. I had to learn to say NO.
Here’s how it applies to what you do in life (online and off)
Choices
Now, that’s just the beginning. This second point is equally as important and often overlooked. Just because something is in alignment with your goals, it doesn’t mean that it’s something you HAVE to do. The fact is that if you were to do everything that is in alignment with your goals, you would have NO time for yourself or for the people you care about. Remember that the ultimate goal is not just financial success but also freedom.
When looking at the things you do on a daily basis, it’s very necessary to prioritize that list, so that it becomes obvious what things you MUST do (necessary) and what things are just good to do (unnecessary). Make sure you can identify the difference between the two.
Since, my real job is a teacher at a boarding academy, I get to be involved with students on a deeper level than the average high school teacher. I love my kids. However, if I were to say Yes to every request I received from every student, I would be taking students into town to go to Walmart or McDonalds all day, everyday. Yes, it is great to spend time with them and get to know them better. However, it is necessary to have balance.
If you find yourself being extremely busy on a day to day basis, ask yourself the following question – What can I say no to and still accomplish my goals? Once you have answered that question, start saying no. Tweet
How To Make LOTS of Money Online – The Internet Guru’s Secret
Making money online is not easy. However, if do a search for “Make Money Online” in google, you will find over 200 MILLION websites, many of which will try to convince you that you can make easy money. If you buy this eBook or join that membership site, you are minutes away from uncovering the secrets of online riches.
Many Money-Making Internet “Guru’s” show you their bank PayPal and Clickbank accounts with tens of thousands of dollars in one month or even a few days and try to convince you that it is an easy process that you can do IF you just pay them some money and get their repackaged product that holds the “Key To Success”
However, the fact of the matter is that it took them A LOT OF WORK to get to where they are, in order for them to reap the benefits of being able to work less now and make more money in one month than many people make in one year.
I might not be telling you what you want to hear, but it is the truth. I’ve had MANY people contact me asking me what they can do to make a bunch of money now. I do have a simple answer to that. You can make a bunch of money now by winning the lottery. Otherwise, you will have to do what all other Money-making gurus have done – Use proven strategies and WORK to build a system that will pay off in the long run.
I fell for the hype a few times before. I got into High Yield Investment Projects in the past. I was excited because I could earn anywhere between 40 and 90% return in just one month. It was an awesome dream and I bought into it – so much so that I took half of my wedding money and invested it into that “sure thing”. Needless to say, I did not spend as much on my wedding as I thought I would.
Then there are those who are just lucky. Back in college, I had a friend who convinced me to get into investing in the stock market. They had put $1,800 into a penny stock and from one day to the next, it increased in value (luckily) from $1,800 to $25,000. When I heard about that, I could not believe my ears. I decided to take $4,800 of my tuition money and invested into stock. I remember the value of my stock fluctuating between $4,200 and $5,400 a few times.
Then, from one day to another, something terrible happened to the company and the value of my stock dropped about $2,000. Too emotional to pull out with such a loss, I decided to keep my money in until the value “came back up”. Unfortunately, that never happened and I didn’t pull out until the value of my stock was a whopping $136.
Was it just that I was unlucky? No, it wasn’t. It was that I was looking for a Get Rich Quick scheme at the time. I had been convinced that there was a trick to making money on the internet, and that some of these people knew the trick. If only I could get into what they are doing, I would never have to worry about finances again. I mean, just think about it – If he made $25,000 out of $1,800, can you imagine how much money I could make out of $4,800? I can, and the answer was $136.
So Leslie, what’s with all the Doom and Gloom?
Why am I telling you all of this? The answer is pretty simple. I want you to get the understanding that making money online (at least in the initial stages), takes A LOT of STUDY and WORK! That’s the unknown secret of Internet Marketing Gurus. Anyone can make a few hundred dollars. To be quite honest, you can make a few hundred dollars in your FIRST MONTH as a Freebie Trader. To be even MORE honest, it’s much harder to profit $2,000+ each and every month, which is the reason I built this blog, and so many other people have their blogs on Internet Marketing – To save you the struggles that we had in getting going.
So those are the cold hard facts, and I REALLY want you to be aware of that, so that you can know what to expect if you are looking to make a full time income online.
So then what’s the point of trying?
I’m glad you asked. Although it takes a lot of work to get stuff going online, if you do things in the right way, you can set yourself up for success in a way that you can eventually reduce the amount of time you spend working, and leverage what you already did to make A LOT of money while doing minimal work on your own. The more known I become in the Internet marketing niche, the more successful people I get to meet. I know people now who can work between 5 minutes and 2 hours daily and make anywhere between $10,000 and $70,000 in one month. However, it took some work and careful planning to reach to where they are now.
Right now, I’m starting to reap the benefits of the kind of work that it takes to reach that level. When I started as a Freebie Trader, I literally worked every free minute (considering I also have a full-time job) specifically on Freebies to build up to where I was making $2,000 in pure profit per month. Right now, if I were to work an hour daily, I can easily make that much and beyond. However, my plan by the summer is to be making at least $10,000 in pure profit on a monthly basis. So I continue to work, but in a strategic way, with definite goals in mind, while educating myself to where I understand what it takes.
So what does it take Leslie?
The first thing it takes is a CHANGE in MINDSET! I know, you’ve heard it before, but it’s the absolute truth. I’m not going to give you some sort of 5 step plan to online success. That almost makes it sound too easy. What I am going to do is provide you with resources. I’m doing it this way because I’m NOT trying to sell you some sort of dream. Actually, yes I am trying to sell you a dream. A dream that can only come through if you make the decision that it has to come through.
I would like to take you on a journey over the next few weeks. A journey to success. In actuality, I would like to ask you to journey along with me. I will be providing you with resources that I am using and will continue to use that have contributed to my growing online success and if you implement what is taught in those resources, your success will follow. DO not worry, I’m not talking about taking your money. I’m talking resources such as websites, books etc. Valuable information, that will not only save you time in the long run, but also help you take the first step of changing your mindset.
I’m not asking you for money in exchange for me sharing a bunch of information with you or promising to show you the steps to online riches. I’m asking you to walk next to me as I take my journey to online riches. You will be seeing what I’m doing, while I’m doing it and also be able to see the results of what I’m doing while they are happening.
It’s almost like a book club. However, it’s much more than that. It is what I believe will form the basis for your success. While we take this journey, we will have to hold each other accountable for the tasks that we will have to implement. I will check up on you, and hope you will do the same for me. 2 heads are better than one, and 5 heads are better than 2. So if you are willing to join me on this journey, let me know by leaving your feedback in the comments area of this post. Tweet
Many Money-Making Internet “Guru’s” show you their bank PayPal and Clickbank accounts with tens of thousands of dollars in one month or even a few days and try to convince you that it is an easy process that you can do IF you just pay them some money and get their repackaged product that holds the “Key To Success”
However, the fact of the matter is that it took them A LOT OF WORK to get to where they are, in order for them to reap the benefits of being able to work less now and make more money in one month than many people make in one year.
I might not be telling you what you want to hear, but it is the truth. I’ve had MANY people contact me asking me what they can do to make a bunch of money now. I do have a simple answer to that. You can make a bunch of money now by winning the lottery. Otherwise, you will have to do what all other Money-making gurus have done – Use proven strategies and WORK to build a system that will pay off in the long run.
I fell for the hype a few times before. I got into High Yield Investment Projects in the past. I was excited because I could earn anywhere between 40 and 90% return in just one month. It was an awesome dream and I bought into it – so much so that I took half of my wedding money and invested it into that “sure thing”. Needless to say, I did not spend as much on my wedding as I thought I would.
Then there are those who are just lucky. Back in college, I had a friend who convinced me to get into investing in the stock market. They had put $1,800 into a penny stock and from one day to the next, it increased in value (luckily) from $1,800 to $25,000. When I heard about that, I could not believe my ears. I decided to take $4,800 of my tuition money and invested into stock. I remember the value of my stock fluctuating between $4,200 and $5,400 a few times.
Then, from one day to another, something terrible happened to the company and the value of my stock dropped about $2,000. Too emotional to pull out with such a loss, I decided to keep my money in until the value “came back up”. Unfortunately, that never happened and I didn’t pull out until the value of my stock was a whopping $136.
Was it just that I was unlucky? No, it wasn’t. It was that I was looking for a Get Rich Quick scheme at the time. I had been convinced that there was a trick to making money on the internet, and that some of these people knew the trick. If only I could get into what they are doing, I would never have to worry about finances again. I mean, just think about it – If he made $25,000 out of $1,800, can you imagine how much money I could make out of $4,800? I can, and the answer was $136.
So Leslie, what’s with all the Doom and Gloom?
Why am I telling you all of this? The answer is pretty simple. I want you to get the understanding that making money online (at least in the initial stages), takes A LOT of STUDY and WORK! That’s the unknown secret of Internet Marketing Gurus. Anyone can make a few hundred dollars. To be quite honest, you can make a few hundred dollars in your FIRST MONTH as a Freebie Trader. To be even MORE honest, it’s much harder to profit $2,000+ each and every month, which is the reason I built this blog, and so many other people have their blogs on Internet Marketing – To save you the struggles that we had in getting going.
So those are the cold hard facts, and I REALLY want you to be aware of that, so that you can know what to expect if you are looking to make a full time income online.
So then what’s the point of trying?
I’m glad you asked. Although it takes a lot of work to get stuff going online, if you do things in the right way, you can set yourself up for success in a way that you can eventually reduce the amount of time you spend working, and leverage what you already did to make A LOT of money while doing minimal work on your own. The more known I become in the Internet marketing niche, the more successful people I get to meet. I know people now who can work between 5 minutes and 2 hours daily and make anywhere between $10,000 and $70,000 in one month. However, it took some work and careful planning to reach to where they are now.
Right now, I’m starting to reap the benefits of the kind of work that it takes to reach that level. When I started as a Freebie Trader, I literally worked every free minute (considering I also have a full-time job) specifically on Freebies to build up to where I was making $2,000 in pure profit per month. Right now, if I were to work an hour daily, I can easily make that much and beyond. However, my plan by the summer is to be making at least $10,000 in pure profit on a monthly basis. So I continue to work, but in a strategic way, with definite goals in mind, while educating myself to where I understand what it takes.
So what does it take Leslie?
The first thing it takes is a CHANGE in MINDSET! I know, you’ve heard it before, but it’s the absolute truth. I’m not going to give you some sort of 5 step plan to online success. That almost makes it sound too easy. What I am going to do is provide you with resources. I’m doing it this way because I’m NOT trying to sell you some sort of dream. Actually, yes I am trying to sell you a dream. A dream that can only come through if you make the decision that it has to come through.
I would like to take you on a journey over the next few weeks. A journey to success. In actuality, I would like to ask you to journey along with me. I will be providing you with resources that I am using and will continue to use that have contributed to my growing online success and if you implement what is taught in those resources, your success will follow. DO not worry, I’m not talking about taking your money. I’m talking resources such as websites, books etc. Valuable information, that will not only save you time in the long run, but also help you take the first step of changing your mindset.
I’m not asking you for money in exchange for me sharing a bunch of information with you or promising to show you the steps to online riches. I’m asking you to walk next to me as I take my journey to online riches. You will be seeing what I’m doing, while I’m doing it and also be able to see the results of what I’m doing while they are happening.
It’s almost like a book club. However, it’s much more than that. It is what I believe will form the basis for your success. While we take this journey, we will have to hold each other accountable for the tasks that we will have to implement. I will check up on you, and hope you will do the same for me. 2 heads are better than one, and 5 heads are better than 2. So if you are willing to join me on this journey, let me know by leaving your feedback in the comments area of this post. Tweet
How to use Facebook and other Social Networking Sites to get Referrals or Leads
Social networking is quickly becoming the new thing that people “can’t” live without. With sites like Myspace, Facebook and twitter (among others), it has relatively easy to connect with family, friends and meet new people.
Part of the reason why these sites are so addictive is because they allow real people to connect with each other in a way that was never possible before these sites came on the scene. One of the things I love about these sites is the ability to connect with people I haven’t seen in ages.
Facebook is one of the social networking sites that’s at the forefront of the social networking scene and is one of my favorites. It currently has over 250 million members and that number is increasing significantly on a daily basis. According to Alexa, Facebook is the second most visit website in the world, second only to Google (of course).
The best way to get exposure is to go where the people are, and obviously people are all over Facebook.
There are also many internet marketers that have caught on to the potential of social media, who are starting to focus intensely on promoting whatever they are into using these social media sites.
As you can see, all she did was mention how much she got paid using Freebie Sites (IFWs) and that got her friends interested. That is extremely effective marketing. If you are a Facebook user and you have friends on there, they connected with you in order to get your status updates (an also for other reasons). If you got paid from a Freebie Site, why not let them know?
Chances are, if they are in a situation similar to you (i.e. needing/wanting to make a little cash), they will be interested in finding out how you (a friend) did it successfully. At that point, you can easily bring them to a place like CaliStyle101, where there is a system in place to facilitate them trading with you. It’s a win-win situation.
The problem with this is that people do NOT come to facebook to be sold to. Quite frankly, I believe that people are tired of all the salespeople trying to get them to buy this and buy that. I know that this is true because I’m one of these persons. My wife and I went to the Alltel store yesterday to buy a cell phone and the lady was trying to get us to buy every accessory in the world and I was getting so tired of hearing her speak that I wanted to leave the store.
People come to these sites to CONNECT with other REAL people and that’s what your goal should be, even if you are hoping to get exposure for your business. Be a real person on there. Tweet about your day, what’s going on in your life or some cool things you found online. Every so often, update your status about a positive aspect of your business (like making $900 online). People will sense that you are genuine and want to know more.
Part of the reason why these sites are so addictive is because they allow real people to connect with each other in a way that was never possible before these sites came on the scene. One of the things I love about these sites is the ability to connect with people I haven’t seen in ages.
Facebook is one of the social networking sites that’s at the forefront of the social networking scene and is one of my favorites. It currently has over 250 million members and that number is increasing significantly on a daily basis. According to Alexa, Facebook is the second most visit website in the world, second only to Google (of course).
Using Facebook to promote your business
The best way to get exposure is to go where the people are, and obviously people are all over Facebook.
There are also many internet marketers that have caught on to the potential of social media, who are starting to focus intensely on promoting whatever they are into using these social media sites.
Facebook for the Freebie Trader
One of the things that Freebie Traders are ALWAYS into is finding ways to get more referrals. Facebook (as well as other social networking sites) are prime candidates for places to get referrals. I was browsing around Facebook the other day and came across a status update that excited me. It was a perfect example of someone using Facebook in an effective way to potentially get referrals for their freebie sites. I immediately took a screenshot, and am posting it here (with her permission of course).The Perfect Example
Chances are, if they are in a situation similar to you (i.e. needing/wanting to make a little cash), they will be interested in finding out how you (a friend) did it successfully. At that point, you can easily bring them to a place like CaliStyle101, where there is a system in place to facilitate them trading with you. It’s a win-win situation.
Many Marketers get this wrong
I’ve recently started focusing more on using social networking sites to connect with others with the goal of getting exposure to more people and what I’ve noticed is that many internet marketers get it wrong. They hear that twitter and facebook are great for doing business so they jump on there and start tweeting away about there business on twitter or updating there status on facebook to heavily promote themselves.
The Creepy Salesman
People come to these sites to CONNECT with other REAL people and that’s what your goal should be, even if you are hoping to get exposure for your business. Be a real person on there. Tweet about your day, what’s going on in your life or some cool things you found online. Every so often, update your status about a positive aspect of your business (like making $900 online). People will sense that you are genuine and want to know more.
Call To Action
Ok, I’m sure you see the value in using Facebook and how it can help your online business. So what’s next? Well, you I would recommend taking the following steps:- Register at Facebook if you haven’t done this already.
- Add Friends using the tools provided on your Friends Page. It’s very possible that you have already done this and have a ton of friends. If so, you are already ahead of the game.
- Connect with people and have ongoing conversations. Remember, it’s not about the hard sell. Your goal is really to establish connections and relationships that go beyond your online business.
- Talk about your successes in your business, but not too much. It’s a part of your life, and the people that are interested enough to connect with you are probably interested to know what’s working for you. There’s no set rule here, but I personally like to do something like 10 non promotional messages for every 1 promotional message.
- Watch your business grow. If you do the above 4 steps well, you should expect to see an increase in business. Keep doing them over and over and you will see the power of social networking.
Suggestions for comments
As usual, I would love to hear your comments. Here are some suggestions as to what you can say below:- What you thought about this article
- How using social networking sites have impacted your business
- Questions you may have about using social networking sites
- Strategies you’ve implemented that have had a positive effect on your business
How to rank well in Google using Wordpress Blogs and get TONS of Traffic
The secret many internet marketers know is that Google LOVES bloggers who blog in the right way. One of the biggest reasons for my online success has been the use of this Wordpress blog. The great thing about Wordpress is that it is FREE to use if you already have a hosting account with the right features. There are a number of reasons why Wordpress gives better Search Engine Rankings. However, instead of going into all of that, I would prefer for you to hear it directly from Google.
Matt Camp is the head of the Web Spam team at Google, and in this video he shares WHY blogs like mine do so well in google and why so many people (like myself) use wordpress to get tons of traffic to their business. It’s 46 minutes long, so make sure to watch it when you have a decent blog of time to sit back, relax and absorb it all, but trust me, it’s 100% worth it because it’s VERY informative. If you are interested in Making Money Online, these are things that you MUST know.
In Summary:
If you are interested in starting a blog, you should choose a host that has Fantastico installed on their accounts. You don’t need to know all the details about it, except that Fantastico allows you to install a wordpress blog (and a bunch of other stuff) at the click of a button. It’s really that simple. The hosting company that I use and HIGHLY recommend is Hostgator.
Now, I’m sure you have some comments or even questions. I would LOVE to hear them, so go ahead and leave them below. Tweet
Matt Camp is the head of the Web Spam team at Google, and in this video he shares WHY blogs like mine do so well in google and why so many people (like myself) use wordpress to get tons of traffic to their business. It’s 46 minutes long, so make sure to watch it when you have a decent blog of time to sit back, relax and absorb it all, but trust me, it’s 100% worth it because it’s VERY informative. If you are interested in Making Money Online, these are things that you MUST know.
In Summary:
- Wordpress ROCKS!! Use it if you want to boost your Search Engine Rankings
- Write relevant content.
- Write on a regular basis
If you are interested in starting a blog, you should choose a host that has Fantastico installed on their accounts. You don’t need to know all the details about it, except that Fantastico allows you to install a wordpress blog (and a bunch of other stuff) at the click of a button. It’s really that simple. The hosting company that I use and HIGHLY recommend is Hostgator.
Now, I’m sure you have some comments or even questions. I would LOVE to hear them, so go ahead and leave them below. Tweet
Thursday, June 10, 2010
How to Outsource your online (or offline) business
Many successful internet marketers have very similar beginnings. They found out about a way they can make money online, did some research and decided to give it a try. When they started, it was a one-man show. They did everything from the design (which in many cases was pretty pathetic) to the product development, the copywriting to the marketing, and all of the other dynamic aspects of running their online business. After a while, many internet gurus (as we know them today) experienced some form of burnout.
I am one of those individuals who has experienced that burnout. I remember spending every waking moment in front of my computer, trying to learn more and more and impliment more and more. Although I do not consider myself to be a “guru”, I do consider myself to have achieved a decent measure of success online.
However, it become quickly apparent to me that if I were to continue making a good income online, I needed to take a serious look into the topic of outsourcing. This was quite a scary thought for me. I had 2 main issues with the concept of outsourcing:
How I started
It was time for my blog to be redesigned. The design I had previously was NOT efficient, and to a certain extent was losing me business. The old Leslie would open up photoshop and start designing. It would’ve taken me many hours to finally come up with something I liked. The new Leslie decided to outsource it. I posted a listing at www.scriptlance.com, describing what I needed done. Within hours, I had a few bids and over the next 2 days or so, I had received numerous bids from people all over the world – many of which had very impressive portfolios and really good prices.
I finally made a decision and what you see today is a result of my first attempt at outsourcing – a design that far exceeded what I could’ve done. One that’s optimized to capture attention and conversions.
How I continued . . .
At this point, I was extremely excited. I wanted to outsource almost everything – From design to marketing, coding to development and even trading. Some mistakes have been made along the way, but it has been an amazing experience overall. More things was being done, and I had more time on my hands. My profit margins for each aspect of my business are not as huge, but there are more aspects to my business so that I haven’t noticed a drop in income. Not only that, but I am setting myself up for long term success.
Where To Start
The internet is a beautiful thing, allowing you to network with people all over the world. There are a number of websites out there that can be used to find quality work at a very reasonable price – less than many people think.
Here are a list of sites I have used to find outsourcers. There are many more out there, but I can only speak to those that I’ve personally used:
Elance – Elance is a very professional outsourcing site with an elaborate rating system where you can find individuals to do just about ANYTHING. Cost: $4 per hour+
Getafreelancer and Scriptlance – Also very good. This is where I got the person to design the blog that you are looking at right now. Cost: $4 per hour+
Bestjobs – This is a company that’s based out of the Philippines. It is not as professional as the others and don’t even have a rating system. However, it’s my absolute favorite site. The people I’ve worked with so far have been very polite and great at what they do. Using this site, I was able to find a great virtual assistant to work for me on a project for 40 hours weekly at a ridiculously low rate of $400 per month. Cost: $2 per hour+
How to make sure you get what you want
One of the challenges to outsourcing is that the person that is doing the work can’t see inside your brain. Here are some tips that you can use to make sure you get the best bang for your buck:
I am one of those individuals who has experienced that burnout. I remember spending every waking moment in front of my computer, trying to learn more and more and impliment more and more. Although I do not consider myself to be a “guru”, I do consider myself to have achieved a decent measure of success online.
However, it become quickly apparent to me that if I were to continue making a good income online, I needed to take a serious look into the topic of outsourcing. This was quite a scary thought for me. I had 2 main issues with the concept of outsourcing:
- I would be giving up control of certain aspects of my business. Different people would be doing different things and those people aren’t inside my brain.
- I’m not an extremely rich guy. Yes, my business was bringing in a few thousand dollars monthly. How could I spend money hiring others instead of using the money to pay off more bills.
How I started
It was time for my blog to be redesigned. The design I had previously was NOT efficient, and to a certain extent was losing me business. The old Leslie would open up photoshop and start designing. It would’ve taken me many hours to finally come up with something I liked. The new Leslie decided to outsource it. I posted a listing at www.scriptlance.com, describing what I needed done. Within hours, I had a few bids and over the next 2 days or so, I had received numerous bids from people all over the world – many of which had very impressive portfolios and really good prices.
I finally made a decision and what you see today is a result of my first attempt at outsourcing – a design that far exceeded what I could’ve done. One that’s optimized to capture attention and conversions.
How I continued . . .
At this point, I was extremely excited. I wanted to outsource almost everything – From design to marketing, coding to development and even trading. Some mistakes have been made along the way, but it has been an amazing experience overall. More things was being done, and I had more time on my hands. My profit margins for each aspect of my business are not as huge, but there are more aspects to my business so that I haven’t noticed a drop in income. Not only that, but I am setting myself up for long term success.
Where To Start
The internet is a beautiful thing, allowing you to network with people all over the world. There are a number of websites out there that can be used to find quality work at a very reasonable price – less than many people think.
Here are a list of sites I have used to find outsourcers. There are many more out there, but I can only speak to those that I’ve personally used:
Elance – Elance is a very professional outsourcing site with an elaborate rating system where you can find individuals to do just about ANYTHING. Cost: $4 per hour+
Getafreelancer and Scriptlance – Also very good. This is where I got the person to design the blog that you are looking at right now. Cost: $4 per hour+
Bestjobs – This is a company that’s based out of the Philippines. It is not as professional as the others and don’t even have a rating system. However, it’s my absolute favorite site. The people I’ve worked with so far have been very polite and great at what they do. Using this site, I was able to find a great virtual assistant to work for me on a project for 40 hours weekly at a ridiculously low rate of $400 per month. Cost: $2 per hour+
How to make sure you get what you want
One of the challenges to outsourcing is that the person that is doing the work can’t see inside your brain. Here are some tips that you can use to make sure you get the best bang for your buck:
- Before posting your job to one of the above mentioned sites, review job descriptions that other people used for projects that are similar to yours. This will give you a good idea of details that need to be included.
- Be very clear about your expectations in terms of what will be required, how payment will be made (i.e. Paypal, Money order etc), and turnaround time.
- Be as detailed as possible. There are many aspects to a project that you don’t think about when you are doing it yourself, because you know what you want (usually). These details need to be outlined in great detail when getting someone else to do a job for you. It is better to provide too many details than too few. You’d be surprised at what you get if you are not detailed. On the first draft of my blog design, instead of the superhero in the header, I had a person that looked like a Hindu God with 8 hands holding ipods, tvs and other consumer electronics. To say the least, I was not pleased. For the second revision I included details like what colors I wanted, and even gave links to specific images that were good examples.
- Treat your outsourcers well. If you find someone that is really good at what they do at a great price, you will most likely want to work with this person more. In order to do this, you need to keep them happy. One way to do this is by giving them bonuses.
5 Tips to help you take your business to the next level
One of the great things about making money online is that if you do it correctly, you can set your business up on autopilot so that your business is more automated and as you build, you don’t have to work as hard as you did in the beginning. When I decided to try to start making money online, one of my goals was to be able to eventually have my business work for me, so that I’m not busting my “behind” month after month trying to pay my bills. Since then, I’ve learned a number of strategies that have helped me to automate my business and I wanted to share 5 of these tips with you.
Tip #1: Build a website/blog
Yes, I know it sounds like a no brainer, but many people try to make money online without a website. Yes, this is possible to do so, but if yo
ur goal is long term sustainable income, then a website should be somewhere in your planning. It doesn’t guarantee you will make a bunch of money, but it’s your online real estate that can end up being extremely valuable if you do things right. You can secure a hosting account from Hostgator for under $10 a month. Hey, that’s much less than the price of renting your own office.
I would recommend starting with a blog. Blogs are great for getting traffic from Search engines and very easy to start. It wasn’t until I started this blog that my business started working for me.
Tip #2: Build a list using an autoresponder.
This is something that is often overlooked, but it’s something that can add a significant amount of automation (and MONEY) to your online ventures. Having a list allows you to be able to communicate with your readers and build relationships. These relationships can turn into a very profitable relationship for both you and your subscribers.
It allows you to send emails over specific time intervals. These emails can be sequenced to arrive at specified times after the initial signup. Just think about it. If you are teaching your subscribers how to do something (i.e. freebie trading), you can automate that entire process, by sending follow up emails without even thinking about it.
Not only that, but you can also share other business opportunities with them automatically. If your system is set up well, this can result in a very profitable situation. The autoresponder that I use for my Freebie Cheat sheets is Aweber. I highly recommend it, because it’s a great service. It does cost $19 per month, but if used well, it can be THE thing that takes your success to the next level.
Tip #3: Follow people who are doing what you want to do.
No, I don’t mean stalk them. You shouldn’t show up by their house uninvited and peak through their windows or anything like that. However, if they are doing what you want to eventually accomplish, there’s a lot that you can learn from them (without even paying one cent). Observe the techniques they use, and try to implement it in what you are doing. You can learn a lot from watching a person. Much of what I’ve learned has been from watching other successful internet marketers who I know and respect.
Tip #4: Outsource early.
In my opinion, this is essential to online success. If you are going to be successful online, you will have to learn how not to do everything yourself. For some people, this is easy to do. Some people don’t know how to build a website (for example) or set up an autoresponder. I’m not one of those people, and because of that, it took me a while to grasp this concept and I wish I grasped it earlier, because since I started outsourcing, my life got much easier, and YES, I started making more money. The internet makes it relatively easy to do this. If you need suggestions as to how you can go about doing this (very inexpensively), I recommend reading my article on How to Outsource Your Business.
Tip #5: Test everything and make everything better.
The best way to know if something works well is to test it. Many people make the mistake of thinking that if it sounds good, it will work. I’ve made this mistake myself. One thing I’ve learned is that it’s not a good idea just because I like it. Unfortunately, everyone doesn’t think like me. So in order for me to know what people think, I need to put stuff out there and then test the response of my visitors.
A GREAT tool for testing what works and what doesn’t is Google Analytics. It allows you to see exactly where your traffic is coming from, which allows you
to see what traffic generation techniques work for your particular situation. However, it doesn’t stop there. It also allows you to see how well each traffic source converts. This is one of the most beneficial aspects of Google Analytics. I would recommend checking it out, because this FREE software gives you more than many other programs that you would pay hundreds for. You can find out more about it by visiting the Google Analytics Page
These are a few of the tips that have helped me take my business to the next level and implement some automation in how I do business online. I hope you find it useful. Of course, there will be challenges when trying to make money online. That is to be expected. However, with persistence, it is possible to live the “internet lifestyle”. I’m heading in that direction and LOVING it
What are your biggest challenges when it comes to making money online? I would love to hear about them in the comments below. Tweet
Tip #1: Build a website/blog
Yes, I know it sounds like a no brainer, but many people try to make money online without a website. Yes, this is possible to do so, but if yo
ur goal is long term sustainable income, then a website should be somewhere in your planning. It doesn’t guarantee you will make a bunch of money, but it’s your online real estate that can end up being extremely valuable if you do things right. You can secure a hosting account from Hostgator for under $10 a month. Hey, that’s much less than the price of renting your own office.I would recommend starting with a blog. Blogs are great for getting traffic from Search engines and very easy to start. It wasn’t until I started this blog that my business started working for me.
Tip #2: Build a list using an autoresponder.
This is something that is often overlooked, but it’s something that can add a significant amount of automation (and MONEY) to your online ventures. Having a list allows you to be able to communicate with your readers and build relationships. These relationships can turn into a very profitable relationship for both you and your subscribers.
It allows you to send emails over specific time intervals. These emails can be sequenced to arrive at specified times after the initial signup. Just think about it. If you are teaching your subscribers how to do something (i.e. freebie trading), you can automate that entire process, by sending follow up emails without even thinking about it.Not only that, but you can also share other business opportunities with them automatically. If your system is set up well, this can result in a very profitable situation. The autoresponder that I use for my Freebie Cheat sheets is Aweber. I highly recommend it, because it’s a great service. It does cost $19 per month, but if used well, it can be THE thing that takes your success to the next level.
Tip #3: Follow people who are doing what you want to do.
No, I don’t mean stalk them. You shouldn’t show up by their house uninvited and peak through their windows or anything like that. However, if they are doing what you want to eventually accomplish, there’s a lot that you can learn from them (without even paying one cent). Observe the techniques they use, and try to implement it in what you are doing. You can learn a lot from watching a person. Much of what I’ve learned has been from watching other successful internet marketers who I know and respect.
Tip #4: Outsource early.
In my opinion, this is essential to online success. If you are going to be successful online, you will have to learn how not to do everything yourself. For some people, this is easy to do. Some people don’t know how to build a website (for example) or set up an autoresponder. I’m not one of those people, and because of that, it took me a while to grasp this concept and I wish I grasped it earlier, because since I started outsourcing, my life got much easier, and YES, I started making more money. The internet makes it relatively easy to do this. If you need suggestions as to how you can go about doing this (very inexpensively), I recommend reading my article on How to Outsource Your Business.
Tip #5: Test everything and make everything better.
The best way to know if something works well is to test it. Many people make the mistake of thinking that if it sounds good, it will work. I’ve made this mistake myself. One thing I’ve learned is that it’s not a good idea just because I like it. Unfortunately, everyone doesn’t think like me. So in order for me to know what people think, I need to put stuff out there and then test the response of my visitors.
A GREAT tool for testing what works and what doesn’t is Google Analytics. It allows you to see exactly where your traffic is coming from, which allows you
to see what traffic generation techniques work for your particular situation. However, it doesn’t stop there. It also allows you to see how well each traffic source converts. This is one of the most beneficial aspects of Google Analytics. I would recommend checking it out, because this FREE software gives you more than many other programs that you would pay hundreds for. You can find out more about it by visiting the Google Analytics PageThese are a few of the tips that have helped me take my business to the next level and implement some automation in how I do business online. I hope you find it useful. Of course, there will be challenges when trying to make money online. That is to be expected. However, with persistence, it is possible to live the “internet lifestyle”. I’m heading in that direction and LOVING it
What are your biggest challenges when it comes to making money online? I would love to hear about them in the comments below. Tweet
The Future of Internet Marketing: How to set yourself up for Success
Internet Marketing is quickly becoming the method of choice for a way to make money fro home (or anywhere else on the planet you choose). We live in the information age and people are making a ton of cash by selling that information. Even information that is freely available to anyone can be packaged into a valuable product and, if done correctly, can make you a ton of cash.
When you add Social Networking to the mix, with sites like Youtube, Twitter and Facebook, the potential is outrageous. No, I’m not trying to sell you a bunch of hype in this post. I’m just trying to set the stage for something. Don’t worry, just keep reading . . .
What is happening right now is that individuals are setting up Internet marketing empires that generate a ton of cash on autopilot. The process that a lot of the Internet Marketing gurus follow is first to make a lot of money with a method that works for them, then teach others to do the same and, in return, make a bunch more money.
There are some downsides to the way this happens. One of those downsides is that a lot of individuals get “caught in the crossfire”. By that, I mean that there are many people that see what these so-called “gurus” are doing and how “easily” they are doing it, and decide that if they can just give them a ton of money to learn what they do, they can become overnight successes, not realizing what those so-called “gurus” had to do to get to where they are today. The result is often misguided hope and lots of money lost.
As any industry grows, the natural thing that happens is that there is more and more competition. For example, when the first bloggers started blogging, there was hardly any competition and it was fairly easy to get high rankings and significant traffic. According to Technorati’s 2008 report, there are over 133 million blogs in the blogosphere, with over a million new ones rising every week. I know, it’s kinda crazy.
Since stores like Walmart came on the scene, a lot of smaller businesses have gone out of business. Where I live, there was a family that owned a carpet store that was doing pretty well. Then Menards moved in about a half hour away and there business dropped within months, causing them to close up shop and suffer the fate of many unemployed former business-people.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that if you are going to survive in the online business arena, there needs to be something about what you are doing that will cause your business to thrive when others are falling by the wayside.
What do I mean by this? No more toying around and hoping that a million bucks will land on your lap because you found the right gimmick. No more jumping from information product to information product to information product wasting a ton of money. Educate yourself on how to find a scam, and then find a profitable niche, and build a Big Business around it. Yes, it will take a lot of work – A butt load of work quite frankly. But in the end, you will have something that you are proud of. Something that will continue making money for decades, and set you up for the kind of success you’ve always dreamed of.
This post is not intended to be a discouraging post. It’s just one where I’m being real about what’s out there and where you can go with your online success. I WANT you to wake up (if you aren’t already awake) and give yourself the “kick in the butt” that you need (the same kind I give myself every so often). I’ve spent a lot of money in the past on “Get Rich Quick Schemes” until I realized that schemes don’t last, and can often end up hurting you and the ones you love. Remember, it’s not all about making money. It’s about being successful and helping others to do the same.
I’m going to be making a number of posts on how to build your business, because it’s becoming a passion of mine and I really don’t want people to make some of the mistakes I made in the past. So come back often.
Social Networking
What is happening right now is that individuals are setting up Internet marketing empires that generate a ton of cash on autopilot. The process that a lot of the Internet Marketing gurus follow is first to make a lot of money with a method that works for them, then teach others to do the same and, in return, make a bunch more money.
There are some downsides to the way this happens. One of those downsides is that a lot of individuals get “caught in the crossfire”. By that, I mean that there are many people that see what these so-called “gurus” are doing and how “easily” they are doing it, and decide that if they can just give them a ton of money to learn what they do, they can become overnight successes, not realizing what those so-called “gurus” had to do to get to where they are today. The result is often misguided hope and lots of money lost.
As any industry grows, the natural thing that happens is that there is more and more competition. For example, when the first bloggers started blogging, there was hardly any competition and it was fairly easy to get high rankings and significant traffic. According to Technorati’s 2008 report, there are over 133 million blogs in the blogosphere, with over a million new ones rising every week. I know, it’s kinda crazy.
The Future of Internet Marketing
There is one thing that is extremely obvious when it comes to increased competition. It tends to have a polarizing effect – separating the competitors into two groups: The group that falls by the wayside and the group that rises to the top. The question you need to ask yourself is – “which one of these two groups are you in?”.
Big Businesses
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that if you are going to survive in the online business arena, there needs to be something about what you are doing that will cause your business to thrive when others are falling by the wayside.
So what hope is there?
The beauty of online business is that individuals (yes, you and I) can set up empires that are very similar to what BIG businesses are doing and, in many ways, more effective. In order to thrive in the midst of stiff competition, you need to run your online ventures like a Business.
Internet Business Owner
This post is not intended to be a discouraging post. It’s just one where I’m being real about what’s out there and where you can go with your online success. I WANT you to wake up (if you aren’t already awake) and give yourself the “kick in the butt” that you need (the same kind I give myself every so often). I’ve spent a lot of money in the past on “Get Rich Quick Schemes” until I realized that schemes don’t last, and can often end up hurting you and the ones you love. Remember, it’s not all about making money. It’s about being successful and helping others to do the same.
I’m going to be making a number of posts on how to build your business, because it’s becoming a passion of mine and I really don’t want people to make some of the mistakes I made in the past. So come back often.
Comments
You know the drill. I want to hear from you. Your comments help me to develop content that is relevant to YOU. I’m a research kinda guy, so I love digging and finding information. So here are some suggestions for possible comments that you can leave below.- What topics would you like to hear about when it comes to building your online business?
- What struggles are you currently facing when it comes to building your online business?
- What mistakes have you made in your online business?
- Anything else related to online business
The 80/20 Principle and how it can help your business
Every so often I come across a book that completely changes the way I look at some aspect of life. This week, that book was The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less, by Richard Koch. This book addresses a concept that, if applied, can really change your life and have a significant impact on your business.
The principle itself is pretty straightforward and goes like this – 80% of your productivity comes from 20% of what you do. The concept was first described by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of the wealth of nineteenth-century England was enjoyed by 20% of the population.
The interesting part about it is that this 80-20 relationship can be seen in many other aspects of life. For example, in many businesses, 80% of the profits is made from 20% of the products, people wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time and 80% of crime is committed by 20% of the criminals (sorry for the “bad” example).
Ok, I know what you are thinking. It can’t be exactly 80 – 20 all the time, and you are correct. It isn’t intended to be a hard and fast mathematical rule. The main point is that everything you do doesn’t lead to an equal output for the amount of time you spend on that tasks. There are some tasks that I would refer to as high value and others that are a waste of time.
In your business (and in your life), there are some things that you do that have a huge impact and others that don’t – even some that have a negative impact. The interesting thing is that we often times find ourselves working our behinds off doing tasks that aren’t extremely valuable. Lets give some examples that I’m sure you can relate to.
right content, that can result in a significant profit for your business.
Traffic Generation: If content is king, then traffic is queen. Traffic generation is a process that takes a lot of effort but, when done correctly, makes the difference between a part-time income and an income beyond your wildest dreams.
Monetization: Content and traffic are good things to have, but having a good monetization strategy is essential to taking your business to another level. Learning about monetization strategies and implementing them in your business is of utmost importance.
Checking email: This is something that is important in every business. However, it is also something that can drain your time as much as flushing the toilet drains umm . . ok, I’ll stop there. I think you get the picture.
Instant Messenger: Wow, time really flies when you are on IM. Get online to do some serious business, turn on IM and get a message from a long lost friend, or from a business associate who has a ton of questions and you will notice how easy it is for hours to fly by without you even thinking about it.
Browsing the Internet: The internet is an amazing place, but just like in the other two examples above, it can definitely be a low yielding habit.
Once you have identified the 20% of what you do that accounts for 80% of your profits, you should spend more time on those things. By doing this, you can literally accelerate your earnings and have a bigger and better business. These are the tasks that will help your business to grow.
On the other side of the coin, you need to determine what the things are that have the opposite affect. What are the things that take up 80% of your time but only contribute 20% to your outcome? These are the things that you need to either spend less time on (possibly by outsourcing), or stop doing today.
If there were a third side to the coin (I know, I know. I’m weird), it would be this. 80% of your headache comes from 20% of your clients, customers, habits etc. ELIMINATE THEM. I know, it sounds harsh. However, you need to ask yourself the question – Is it worth the headache? If it is, then it’s something to deal with. If not, then you should be getting rid of those things.
By making those changes, you will be surprised to see what the effects are on your business. You WILL have more time on your hands and you WILL be more productive. I’m in the process of doing that in my own business and will be letting you know how it progresses. I would recommend getting a copy of the book, reading it and applying it to how your run your business. Tweet
What is the 80/20 Principle
Get The Book
The interesting part about it is that this 80-20 relationship can be seen in many other aspects of life. For example, in many businesses, 80% of the profits is made from 20% of the products, people wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time and 80% of crime is committed by 20% of the criminals (sorry for the “bad” example).
Ok, I know what you are thinking. It can’t be exactly 80 – 20 all the time, and you are correct. It isn’t intended to be a hard and fast mathematical rule. The main point is that everything you do doesn’t lead to an equal output for the amount of time you spend on that tasks. There are some tasks that I would refer to as high value and others that are a waste of time.
In your business (and in your life), there are some things that you do that have a huge impact and others that don’t – even some that have a negative impact. The interesting thing is that we often times find ourselves working our behinds off doing tasks that aren’t extremely valuable. Lets give some examples that I’m sure you can relate to.
80/20 Tasks in online business
Content Generation: In the world of the Internet, content is king. People come online to find solutions to their problems. If you have theGet The Book
Traffic Generation: If content is king, then traffic is queen. Traffic generation is a process that takes a lot of effort but, when done correctly, makes the difference between a part-time income and an income beyond your wildest dreams.
Monetization: Content and traffic are good things to have, but having a good monetization strategy is essential to taking your business to another level. Learning about monetization strategies and implementing them in your business is of utmost importance.
The other tasks
There are other tasks that, umm, putting it mildly, either don’t have as great an effect on your business or are an absolute waste of valuable time. Here are some examples:Checking email: This is something that is important in every business. However, it is also something that can drain your time as much as flushing the toilet drains umm . . ok, I’ll stop there. I think you get the picture.
Instant Messenger: Wow, time really flies when you are on IM. Get online to do some serious business, turn on IM and get a message from a long lost friend, or from a business associate who has a ton of questions and you will notice how easy it is for hours to fly by without you even thinking about it.
Browsing the Internet: The internet is an amazing place, but just like in the other two examples above, it can definitely be a low yielding habit.
How to apply the 80/20 Principle to Make your business better
Now that you have a realization that all tasks are not created equally, it’s a good idea to make a list of all the tasks that you do on a daily basis in your business and rank them according to which activities yield the most profit for your business. You might be surprised to notice where most of your productivity comes from. Also, what is a 80/20 task for me might not be an 80/20 task for you, so keep that in mind when coming up with your list.Get The Book
On the other side of the coin, you need to determine what the things are that have the opposite affect. What are the things that take up 80% of your time but only contribute 20% to your outcome? These are the things that you need to either spend less time on (possibly by outsourcing), or stop doing today.
If there were a third side to the coin (I know, I know. I’m weird), it would be this. 80% of your headache comes from 20% of your clients, customers, habits etc. ELIMINATE THEM. I know, it sounds harsh. However, you need to ask yourself the question – Is it worth the headache? If it is, then it’s something to deal with. If not, then you should be getting rid of those things.
By making those changes, you will be surprised to see what the effects are on your business. You WILL have more time on your hands and you WILL be more productive. I’m in the process of doing that in my own business and will be letting you know how it progresses. I would recommend getting a copy of the book, reading it and applying it to how your run your business. Tweet
Two lessons I learned from my movie-making experience
First off, let me start with an apology. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without writing to my blog. It has been 11 days, and that’s unacceptable. However, I do have a valid reason (along with a lesson).
As many of my regular readers know, in my “real life” I am a Science and Math teacher at a Christian Boarding Academy. If you know anything about working at a boarding school, you would know that it is NOT a 9 to 5 job. It’s more of a “You keep working” type of job.
I am also the Freshman class sponsor (among other things). The great thing about being Freshman Class sponsor is that you don’t have much to do. The biggest thing is putting together 1 program for a morning church service.
Well, Saturday was that day for my class and my kids had the “bright idea” to put together a movie for their program. Since I have recently acquired a nice video camera with some powerful editing software and other cool equipment, I thought it was a “great idea” and was very excited. What I did NOT predict was the amount of work it would take to get it done.
The Unexpected Work
We started filming a few weeks ago. I had to organize the times for the students to meet so that we could get things going. The problem was that although the students LOVED the idea, they HATED the amount of “work” they had to do. They complained over and over again. “Why do we have to do it so many times? Why do we have to meet again? I don’t want to do this! This is boring! I thought this would be more fun!” These were all very popular questions and statements, to the extent that it felt like I was a dentist trying to pull teeth (not to offend any dentists that might be reading this).
What was even more unexpected was the amount of editing work that needed to be done. Without exaggeration, whenever I wasn’t teaching a class or filming (or eating, sleeping, or using the rest room), I was editing video, up until 2am on a daily basis. My entire life was consumed with this movie. What made it extremely frustrating was the lack of cooperation from the students.
The two Lessons Learned and how they apply to Business.
1. It takes work. As with my “movie production experience”, it takes a lot of work to run a business. Those of you that have been reading my blog for a while would know that although a main focus of my blog is Freebie Trading, my ultimate purpose is bigger than freebies. It’s helping people be successful on the internet. I’m not going to lie to you. It takes a lot of work to make money online. Anything worth having is worth fighting for.
2. You can’t/shouldn’t do all the work yourself. If I had more people helping me, it would have been MUCH easier. I now understand why there are so many credits at the end of a movie. It takes a lot of people to make such a production. The beautiful thing about the internet is that you can find people to help you with tasks that can make your life much easier, and your business even more efficient. Most online businesses start as a one-man show, but as things start picking up, outsourcing becomes a necessity. This is something I struggled with for a while. I always had the idea that “if you want things done right, you have to do them yourself”. The problem with that if that if you do everything yourself, you won’t have time for anything, which I have seen first hand.
So how did it turn out?
Glad you asked. On one hand I can say that it turned out VERY WELL. The kids loved it and it was probably one of the best programs they had seen at the school ever. They were all very impressed because it was very “Hollywood-like” – from the screenplay to the effects, narration to the credits, everything was very well-done.
On the other hand I can say that it turned out VERY POORLY. I say that because over the last week, everything else suffered. I didn’t grade one homework assignment that week, nor did I spend time with my wife. At the end of Saturday, I had a call from a concerned friend wondering if I fell off the planet.
Will I ever do it again?
Not in the same way. If I ever try to make a movie again, it will be with people who want to make a movie. By that, I mean that they want to put in the work to make it happen. That way, much of the labor can be shared.
In the same way, I’ve decided that in my business, I will help people who want to be helped, as opposed to trying to convince people that they should want to be helped. The second takes too much time and energy and the first is more rewarding.
Oh, one funny thing – at the end of it all, I announced to the class that I would be making the dvd available for purchase. One of the students had the nerve to ask “Why do we have to pay for it since we did all the work?” I’ll let you get the lesson from that one Tweet
As many of my regular readers know, in my “real life” I am a Science and Math teacher at a Christian Boarding Academy. If you know anything about working at a boarding school, you would know that it is NOT a 9 to 5 job. It’s more of a “You keep working” type of job.
I am also the Freshman class sponsor (among other things). The great thing about being Freshman Class sponsor is that you don’t have much to do. The biggest thing is putting together 1 program for a morning church service.
Well, Saturday was that day for my class and my kids had the “bright idea” to put together a movie for their program. Since I have recently acquired a nice video camera with some powerful editing software and other cool equipment, I thought it was a “great idea” and was very excited. What I did NOT predict was the amount of work it would take to get it done.
The Unexpected Work
We started filming a few weeks ago. I had to organize the times for the students to meet so that we could get things going. The problem was that although the students LOVED the idea, they HATED the amount of “work” they had to do. They complained over and over again. “Why do we have to do it so many times? Why do we have to meet again? I don’t want to do this! This is boring! I thought this would be more fun!” These were all very popular questions and statements, to the extent that it felt like I was a dentist trying to pull teeth (not to offend any dentists that might be reading this).
What was even more unexpected was the amount of editing work that needed to be done. Without exaggeration, whenever I wasn’t teaching a class or filming (or eating, sleeping, or using the rest room), I was editing video, up until 2am on a daily basis. My entire life was consumed with this movie. What made it extremely frustrating was the lack of cooperation from the students.
The two Lessons Learned and how they apply to Business.
1. It takes work. As with my “movie production experience”, it takes a lot of work to run a business. Those of you that have been reading my blog for a while would know that although a main focus of my blog is Freebie Trading, my ultimate purpose is bigger than freebies. It’s helping people be successful on the internet. I’m not going to lie to you. It takes a lot of work to make money online. Anything worth having is worth fighting for.
2. You can’t/shouldn’t do all the work yourself. If I had more people helping me, it would have been MUCH easier. I now understand why there are so many credits at the end of a movie. It takes a lot of people to make such a production. The beautiful thing about the internet is that you can find people to help you with tasks that can make your life much easier, and your business even more efficient. Most online businesses start as a one-man show, but as things start picking up, outsourcing becomes a necessity. This is something I struggled with for a while. I always had the idea that “if you want things done right, you have to do them yourself”. The problem with that if that if you do everything yourself, you won’t have time for anything, which I have seen first hand.
So how did it turn out?
Glad you asked. On one hand I can say that it turned out VERY WELL. The kids loved it and it was probably one of the best programs they had seen at the school ever. They were all very impressed because it was very “Hollywood-like” – from the screenplay to the effects, narration to the credits, everything was very well-done.
On the other hand I can say that it turned out VERY POORLY. I say that because over the last week, everything else suffered. I didn’t grade one homework assignment that week, nor did I spend time with my wife. At the end of Saturday, I had a call from a concerned friend wondering if I fell off the planet.
Will I ever do it again?
Not in the same way. If I ever try to make a movie again, it will be with people who want to make a movie. By that, I mean that they want to put in the work to make it happen. That way, much of the labor can be shared.
In the same way, I’ve decided that in my business, I will help people who want to be helped, as opposed to trying to convince people that they should want to be helped. The second takes too much time and energy and the first is more rewarding.
Oh, one funny thing – at the end of it all, I announced to the class that I would be making the dvd available for purchase. One of the students had the nerve to ask “Why do we have to pay for it since we did all the work?” I’ll let you get the lesson from that one Tweet
My Official Review of Blog Mastermind – How Yaro changed my life :)
Since I started building my online business, I’ve had the privilege of being involved in a number of Training programs. There are many so-called Guru’s online that it is becoming more and more difficult to tell the real deal from over-sold Hype.
Out of every single program that I’ve been involved in, there is one that has had the biggest impact on the way I conduct business online. Let me tell you about the Australian guy that changed my life.
In his ebook he spoke about how he was making a sizable income from his blog. Over $10K/month to be exact. This immediately drew my attention.
So I decided to head over to his blog. I don’t quite remember what all I read that day, but I remembered being impressed. I wasn’t looking to spend any money and it didn’t seem as if he was trying to force me to read the typical Long-page Sales letter like many marketers out there and take my money.
I signed up for his Blog Tips Newsletter and got a Free Copy of his Blog Profits Blueprint. What happened next was astonishing. I read the Blueprint and was completely amazed with the valuable info. Then, as a part of his Blog Tips Newsletter, I received FREE email lessons that gave me a foundation as to understanding what it took to run a successful blog and found myself anxiously awaiting the next one.
When Yaro launched his Blog Mastermind Coaching program, I knew that it was something I had to be a part of, and I must say – it made my blog into what it is today. I remember thinking at the time – “if he gave away all that valuable info for free, the paid stuff HAD to be even more amazing”. Boy, was I right.
At the end of each lesson there are Action activities that tells you exactly what you need to do in order to implement the strategies you learned in the lesson for that week. You are free to do the tasks at your own pace, which eliminates the pressure, while still providing a framework for your success.
In addition to those lessons, there are a bunch of other resources that are provided. There’s a forum for you to ask specific questions and get answers from mentors who know blogging inside and out and for you to connect with other like-minded individuals, which has been extremely valuable for me.
I can literally go on and on about the additional bonuses, but that would take too much time. So let me just give you a quick Outline:
Yes, you can find a lot of the information out there Free of Charge. However, Blog mastermind helps you to focus on what is necessary to run a successful Blog and avoid information overload. If you want to start learning for free, I recommend signing up for his Blog Tips newsletter and getting the great tips.
I wholeheartedly endorse anything Yaro does because I know that he is genuinely interested in helping his mentees to succeed. I’m proud to have him as a mentor and if you are looking for a mentor that can change your business, Yaro’s your man.
His program will take you from a beginner to one that is confident enough to start a business online, because you have been equipped with the understanding, tools and resources that are necessary for running your business online.
Out of every single program that I’ve been involved in, there is one that has had the biggest impact on the way I conduct business online. Let me tell you about the Australian guy that changed my life.
Blog Mastermind Coaching Program
- Creator: Yaro Starak
- URL: Blogmastermind.com/coaching
- Purpose: Build a profitable blog from scratch and set it as an authority in your niche/industry
In his ebook he spoke about how he was making a sizable income from his blog. Over $10K/month to be exact. This immediately drew my attention.
Yaro Starak - The Blogging Genius
I signed up for his Blog Tips Newsletter and got a Free Copy of his Blog Profits Blueprint. What happened next was astonishing. I read the Blueprint and was completely amazed with the valuable info. Then, as a part of his Blog Tips Newsletter, I received FREE email lessons that gave me a foundation as to understanding what it took to run a successful blog and found myself anxiously awaiting the next one.
When Yaro launched his Blog Mastermind Coaching program, I knew that it was something I had to be a part of, and I must say – it made my blog into what it is today. I remember thinking at the time – “if he gave away all that valuable info for free, the paid stuff HAD to be even more amazing”. Boy, was I right.
Course Outline and Delivery
There are 6 modules in the coaching program:- Module 1: How To Set-Up and Optimize Your Blog For Explosive Growth From Day One
- Module 2: How To Create Blog Content That Magnetically Attracts Devoted Readers
- Module 3: The Exact Traffic Techniques That Took My Blog From 0 to 5,000+ Daily Readers
- Module 4: Super-Advanced Traffic Techniques To Really Ramp Up Growth
- Module 5: How To Make REAL Money With Your Blog – Monetization Secrets
- Module 6: How To Turn Your Blog Into A Real Business (Or, “How to Work Less and Earn More”)
Outlines The Strategy
In addition to those lessons, there are a bunch of other resources that are provided. There’s a forum for you to ask specific questions and get answers from mentors who know blogging inside and out and for you to connect with other like-minded individuals, which has been extremely valuable for me.
I can literally go on and on about the additional bonuses, but that would take too much time. So let me just give you a quick Outline:
Outline of Bonuses
- Question and Answer sessions with Yaro. These are live teleconferences where you can basically ask any question you have and get answers from the man himself.
- Bonus Interviews. Yaro has conducted interviews with successful bloggers on different aspects of blogging, where you can learn a ton from what they have done.
- Video Case studies. This is where Yaro goes through blogs and does actual case studies and shows what can be done to improve their success.
- Master the Mindset Audio. One of the most difficult parts of building a business is having the right mindset. Yaro put together some audios that really puts your mind in the right place to build a business.
Summary
All in all, this is one of the best programs out there. Yaro definitely over-delivers on what he promises and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about how to develop a business around a blog. Blogging is turning out to be one of the BEST way to drive FREE traffic to your business.
BMM receives an Outstanding evaluation
I wholeheartedly endorse anything Yaro does because I know that he is genuinely interested in helping his mentees to succeed. I’m proud to have him as a mentor and if you are looking for a mentor that can change your business, Yaro’s your man.
His program will take you from a beginner to one that is confident enough to start a business online, because you have been equipped with the understanding, tools and resources that are necessary for running your business online.
How to Get Started
- If you would like to get his FREE lessons, sign up for the Blog Tips Newsletter
- If you would like more advanced Coaching, sign up for Blog Mastermind
International Freebie Sites – Blogging Part 3
The number one question I get when I speak to bloggers about freebie trading seems to be: “I don’t live in the U.S. or Canada. Can I still do Freebies? The answer to that question is . . . maybe.
Most Freebie Sites cater to the U.S. and Canada. However, there are some sites that cater to the U.K. and Australia. Unfortunately, if you are from another country, you are not able to do Freebies at this point. Here are sites that allow U.K. and AU users:
Git-R-Free
Most Freebie Sites cater to the U.S. and Canada. However, there are some sites that cater to the U.K. and Australia. Unfortunately, if you are from another country, you are not able to do Freebies at this point. Here are sites that allow U.K. and AU users:
Git-R-Free
- CashRewards: Cashrewards Git-r-free – 1 Credit (I pay $20)
- Cleaning Supplies: CleanRup Git-r-free – 1 Credit (I pay $20)
- Video Games: VideoGames Git-r-free – 1 Credit (I pay $20)
- Apple Products: Apple Products Git-r-free – 1 Credit (I pay $20)
- Kitchen Supplies: GooderThanGrits Git-r-free – 1 Credit (1 offer) (I pay $20)
- Lawn Mowers: CutTheGrass Git-r-free – 2 Credits (I pay $40)
- Gas Grills, Hot tubs, Pools: MyBackYard Git-r-free – 2 Credits (I pay $40)
- Computers: Computers Git-r-free – 3 Credits (I pay $60)
- Scooters, ATVs, Go Karts: GetAround Git-r-free – 4 Credits (I pay $80)
- Diamond rings: MakeRHappy Git-r-free – 5 Credits (I pay $100)
Freebie Sites that cater to a wide variety of Niches – Blogging Part 2
So you read yesterday’s article on Why Every Blogger Should Consider Freebie Trading. That is something I really believe. You see, it can be a difficult thing to start making money online. However, when you can show someone in their first day that it is possible to make money, it gives them the motivation to move on. If You’re a blogger, then seeing that initial spike in income can be a great motivating tool to give you that extra push you need to keep going.
I also told you yesterday that I would be showing you sites that cater to a wide variety of Niches. I have to keep my promise, so here goes
How It Works
I’m assuming that by now, you have at least glanced at my Freebies 101 course. However, I will still give you some idea here of how the system works. It’s pretty simple:
No, I didn’t leave you out. There are too many niches to mention. If you have a niche that isn’t listed here, leave a comment and I will try to find a freebie site for you (just subscribe to this post and you will know when I get it). HOWEVER, even if there isn’t any, there is always a “Custom Order” option. On ANY site, you can submit a Custom Order for ANY product you wish. You can do this by just sending them the name of the product you want via a support ticket. They will reply and let you know how many referrals a person would need to get in order to receive that particular product. It’s a beautiful thing.
So there you have it, everyone can do freebies in a way that it’s beneficial to them. Questions? Comments? I want to hear them
Tweet
I also told you yesterday that I would be showing you sites that cater to a wide variety of Niches. I have to keep my promise, so here goes
How It Works
I’m assuming that by now, you have at least glanced at my Freebies 101 course. However, I will still give you some idea here of how the system works. It’s pretty simple:
- You register at a freebie site and complete the required amount of offers (go green).
- I pay you for your green
- You refer others to complete offers.
- When they go green, you get paid and you pay them.
- You Register at Getskinny Git-r-free using my referral link and complete 2 credits worth of offers. You can actually do this by completing 1 hosting offer (as an example)
- I pay you $40 just for going green.
- You promote Getskinny Git-r-free on your blog and tell people they can get a Bowflex home gym by completing 2 credit worth of offers and referring 9 people to do the same.
- When they go green, you can CHOOSE to pay them 50%, OR any other amount you choose. When they go green, you get paid $80 from the site. That’s $80 per person. Now isn’t that a SWEET deal?
- Cleaning Supplies: CleanRup Git-r-free – 1 Credit
- Video Games: VideoGames Git-r-free – 1 Credit
- Apple Products: Apple Products Git-r-free – 1 Credit
- Kitchen Supplies: GooderThanGrits Git-r-free – 1 Credit (1 offer)
- Lawn Mowers: CutTheGrass Git-r-free – 2 Credits
- Gas Grills, Hot tubs, Pools: MyBackYard Git-r-free – 2 Credits
- Computers: Computers Git-r-free – 3 Credits
- Scooters, ATVs, Go Karts: GetAround Git-r-free – 4 Credits
- Diamond rings: MakeRHappy Git-r-free – 5 Credits
No, I didn’t leave you out. There are too many niches to mention. If you have a niche that isn’t listed here, leave a comment and I will try to find a freebie site for you (just subscribe to this post and you will know when I get it). HOWEVER, even if there isn’t any, there is always a “Custom Order” option. On ANY site, you can submit a Custom Order for ANY product you wish. You can do this by just sending them the name of the product you want via a support ticket. They will reply and let you know how many referrals a person would need to get in order to receive that particular product. It’s a beautiful thing.
So there you have it, everyone can do freebies in a way that it’s beneficial to them. Questions? Comments? I want to hear them
Tweet
Why EVERY blogger should consider Freebie Trading – Blogging Part 1
One of the big problems many bloggers face is the issue of how to monetize their blogs. Yes, blogging can be a great hobby, but there are many people out there, myself included, who are doing this to make some kind of income.
When I started blogging a few months ago, it was for a few reasons. Yes, I wanted to help people out with valuable information so that they could start making money online and have a trusted source that they could go to. That’s been one of the most rewarding aspects for me. When I wake up and see that there have been a few more comments added to my blog, I get excited and anxiously go to the comments to try to respond to each comment individually.
However, since I started this blog, my intention has always been to set it up in a way that I can make a decent income from blogging. This has worked so far and I really enjoy that aspect of Blogging also.
A popular way of monetizing blogs is by promoting affiliate products. This is a very attractive method because they don’t have to worry about creating the products, and there are systems in place so that the blog owner doesn’t have to worry about having an infrastructure in place to handle the orders or handling inventory, since this is usually taken care of by the creator of the product. For example, I promote hosting with Lunarpages and provide people with free mentoring websites if they sign up using my link. I don’t take care of technical support of the hosting account, I just get paid for referring them people. It’s a beautiful thing.
The problem that many bloggers have is that even though they promote affiliate products on their blog, they make only a few sales every so often. The challenge that they face is convincing their audience/readers that the product is something they should purchase.
Many bloggers are able to do this well and even make a six figure income and more just from promoting affiliate products. Howeverm, you will find that many of these bloggers have mailing lists with tens of thousands of people subscribed. Although this is the goal of many bloggers, there are still many that just barely make it with enough cash to maybe cover their hosting payment.
How Freebie Trading can help
Freebie Trading is a great industry that is a relatively new one, when it comes to making money online. There are entire communities that are centered around this topic. For those of you that do not know what freebie trading is all about, I recommend going through my free Freebies 101 course.
The great thing about freebie trading is that you have an extra tool to convince your readers to jump in. The simple fact that you will be paying that. I know what you are thinking – “where do I get the money?”. It’s pretty simple, if you make $40 on 1 referral, you pay that referral $20. If you make $100, you pay them $50. It’s a win-win situation. Not only that, you can show them how they can turn around and start making a decent income using the freebie trading model.
In addition to being a freebie trader from your blog, you can also join communities that cater to freebie traders, providing you a place to get referrals separate from your blog.
Ok Leslie, but I don’t blog about making money
I knew that’s what some of you would say, and that’s the beautiful thing about the Freebie Industry. It’s not all about money. Many freebie sites offer Free Products that range the gammot from Cash, to ipods, vacuum cleaners to scooters, Workout equipment to diamond rings. Anything you can think about, you can find on Freebie sites. Best of all, you can show people how they can get those products simply by completing a few trial offers and referring others.
In other words, instead of trying to sell someone an expensive product, you can basically show them how they can work towards getting one for next to nothing, in addition to paying them a portion of what you make each time you refer someone. I mean, I was able to get a Free ipod touch and 40 inch Flatscreen TV.
Can you see how that can be a little more convincing than trying to sell someone something? So if you haven’t gotten into Freebie Trading as yet, I would recommend doing so now.
What’s coming in this series:
Part 2 – Freebie Sites that cater to a wide variety of Niches (tomorrow)
Part 3 – International Freebie Sites (day after tomorrow)
So check back here over the next few days to receive even more info on how you can use Freebie Sites to enhance your blog. Tweet
When I started blogging a few months ago, it was for a few reasons. Yes, I wanted to help people out with valuable information so that they could start making money online and have a trusted source that they could go to. That’s been one of the most rewarding aspects for me. When I wake up and see that there have been a few more comments added to my blog, I get excited and anxiously go to the comments to try to respond to each comment individually.
However, since I started this blog, my intention has always been to set it up in a way that I can make a decent income from blogging. This has worked so far and I really enjoy that aspect of Blogging also.
A popular way of monetizing blogs is by promoting affiliate products. This is a very attractive method because they don’t have to worry about creating the products, and there are systems in place so that the blog owner doesn’t have to worry about having an infrastructure in place to handle the orders or handling inventory, since this is usually taken care of by the creator of the product. For example, I promote hosting with Lunarpages and provide people with free mentoring websites if they sign up using my link. I don’t take care of technical support of the hosting account, I just get paid for referring them people. It’s a beautiful thing.
The problem that many bloggers have is that even though they promote affiliate products on their blog, they make only a few sales every so often. The challenge that they face is convincing their audience/readers that the product is something they should purchase.
Many bloggers are able to do this well and even make a six figure income and more just from promoting affiliate products. Howeverm, you will find that many of these bloggers have mailing lists with tens of thousands of people subscribed. Although this is the goal of many bloggers, there are still many that just barely make it with enough cash to maybe cover their hosting payment.
How Freebie Trading can help
Freebie Trading is a great industry that is a relatively new one, when it comes to making money online. There are entire communities that are centered around this topic. For those of you that do not know what freebie trading is all about, I recommend going through my free Freebies 101 course.
The great thing about freebie trading is that you have an extra tool to convince your readers to jump in. The simple fact that you will be paying that. I know what you are thinking – “where do I get the money?”. It’s pretty simple, if you make $40 on 1 referral, you pay that referral $20. If you make $100, you pay them $50. It’s a win-win situation. Not only that, you can show them how they can turn around and start making a decent income using the freebie trading model.
In addition to being a freebie trader from your blog, you can also join communities that cater to freebie traders, providing you a place to get referrals separate from your blog.
Ok Leslie, but I don’t blog about making money
I knew that’s what some of you would say, and that’s the beautiful thing about the Freebie Industry. It’s not all about money. Many freebie sites offer Free Products that range the gammot from Cash, to ipods, vacuum cleaners to scooters, Workout equipment to diamond rings. Anything you can think about, you can find on Freebie sites. Best of all, you can show people how they can get those products simply by completing a few trial offers and referring others.
In other words, instead of trying to sell someone an expensive product, you can basically show them how they can work towards getting one for next to nothing, in addition to paying them a portion of what you make each time you refer someone. I mean, I was able to get a Free ipod touch and 40 inch Flatscreen TV.
Can you see how that can be a little more convincing than trying to sell someone something? So if you haven’t gotten into Freebie Trading as yet, I would recommend doing so now.
What’s coming in this series:
Part 2 – Freebie Sites that cater to a wide variety of Niches (tomorrow)
Part 3 – International Freebie Sites (day after tomorrow)
So check back here over the next few days to receive even more info on how you can use Freebie Sites to enhance your blog. Tweet
How To Make Money Using FaceBook - Step By Step Instructions
Hey I've seen alot of posts about people trying to earn money using Facebook and I don't blame them. Facebook is a goldmine for internet marketers and website owners. I have been getting solid traffic for my websites using this one idea without spending a cent and its easy!
I could've made an ebook called "FaceBook Secrets, 1,00000000 visitors!" and made millions lol.
So how do I do it? It does take a bit of time but its also fun!
The way is to think of funny and relevant groups for people to join. Easy huh? Just about every user is in a group or a fan of some sort of page and I bet you are too!
I run a group called 'Coke is better in Glass Bottles' and I got over 20,000 members in just 2 weeks!
Now, the good thing is that each post you make in your group is seen by all of your members, then each member that 'likes' your post is seen by all their friends!
So lets break it down, if you have 20,000 members 1 post is seen by 20,000 people, then 10 people from your group 'Like' your post (more will like it but this is just an example) and if those 10 people have 200 friends then 2,000 more people will see the post! Then those 2,000 people will either join your group or like it so your group just keeps on growing! ITS A GOLDMINE!
How to do it:
1. Create a group or page.
2. The title of your page is obviously the most important, check trends websites to see what is hot. Or alternatively if you see a big group that everyone is joining, you can just reword their title and create you own. You will get about as much members as they do.
3. Pick a relevant display picture
4. Send an invite to all your friends, this will start the snowball effect because all their friends will see the posts if they like it.
5. Don't post your site just yet, just post funny posts relevant to your topic. Sometimes I cant be bothered thinking of anything so I just post a full stop (.) because it comes up like this Coke Is Better In A Glass Bottle. So it does the same as a normal post, still get likes and new members.
6. When you start getting members, look at the stats of your page. Facebook has a cool little stat that shows you where the majority of your members are coming from. Say most of your members are coming from the UK (this is usually what happens because they use facebook religiously) so me living in New Zealand, I post late at night just before I go to bed because I know thats when everyone in the UK go on facebook.
7. Once you have like 5,000 members it will keep growing like you cannot imagine. I was so suprised but 100,000 is not an unrealistic goal. I get 3,000 mnew members daily.
8. I post once a day, and one post every week I post my website link or you can post your affiliate link. You can post it more but I choose not to.
9. The next step is to just keep making more and more groups! Once you have 1 successful group its easy to create other large groups. The secret to doing this is to post your new group link in one of your posts with your big group. Then create a 'fake account' and pretend your a real person and have a picture of a hot girl as your display picture. Then add all the people from your big group as friends. Then suggest them to join your little group, so you get about half of your members from your other group.
Easy as that! No one has found this about before but jump on it quick! Because soon it will become huge and everyone will be doing it! Tweet
I could've made an ebook called "FaceBook Secrets, 1,00000000 visitors!" and made millions lol.
So how do I do it? It does take a bit of time but its also fun!
The way is to think of funny and relevant groups for people to join. Easy huh? Just about every user is in a group or a fan of some sort of page and I bet you are too!
I run a group called 'Coke is better in Glass Bottles' and I got over 20,000 members in just 2 weeks!
Now, the good thing is that each post you make in your group is seen by all of your members, then each member that 'likes' your post is seen by all their friends!
So lets break it down, if you have 20,000 members 1 post is seen by 20,000 people, then 10 people from your group 'Like' your post (more will like it but this is just an example) and if those 10 people have 200 friends then 2,000 more people will see the post! Then those 2,000 people will either join your group or like it so your group just keeps on growing! ITS A GOLDMINE!
How to do it:
1. Create a group or page.
2. The title of your page is obviously the most important, check trends websites to see what is hot. Or alternatively if you see a big group that everyone is joining, you can just reword their title and create you own. You will get about as much members as they do.
3. Pick a relevant display picture
4. Send an invite to all your friends, this will start the snowball effect because all their friends will see the posts if they like it.
5. Don't post your site just yet, just post funny posts relevant to your topic. Sometimes I cant be bothered thinking of anything so I just post a full stop (.) because it comes up like this Coke Is Better In A Glass Bottle. So it does the same as a normal post, still get likes and new members.
6. When you start getting members, look at the stats of your page. Facebook has a cool little stat that shows you where the majority of your members are coming from. Say most of your members are coming from the UK (this is usually what happens because they use facebook religiously) so me living in New Zealand, I post late at night just before I go to bed because I know thats when everyone in the UK go on facebook.
7. Once you have like 5,000 members it will keep growing like you cannot imagine. I was so suprised but 100,000 is not an unrealistic goal. I get 3,000 mnew members daily.
8. I post once a day, and one post every week I post my website link or you can post your affiliate link. You can post it more but I choose not to.
9. The next step is to just keep making more and more groups! Once you have 1 successful group its easy to create other large groups. The secret to doing this is to post your new group link in one of your posts with your big group. Then create a 'fake account' and pretend your a real person and have a picture of a hot girl as your display picture. Then add all the people from your big group as friends. Then suggest them to join your little group, so you get about half of your members from your other group.
Easy as that! No one has found this about before but jump on it quick! Because soon it will become huge and everyone will be doing it! Tweet
Affiliate Marketing Part II: Why Some New Marketers Fail
People who are new to affiliate marketing are often excited with the prospect of earning thousands of dollars a month, without the hard work of developing and packaging their own product. After all, there is an easier transition from the pressure of creating your own product to just focusing on marketing a product.
It’s almost the perfect win-win situation. Customers get what they want while you get to give valuable help and earn commissions in the process. Is it really that simple? Not by a long shot.
You will still need to flex that creative marketing muscle to attract visitors to get interested in your affiliate links. What people do no not know is that affiliate marketing is not a ‘one-stop-shop’. There’s no fool proof automatic system that will do all the work for you. Truth be told, there are no hard and fast rules to ensure what works and what doesn’t. Here are sine if the reasons why some marketers fail:
1. No proper training.
Newbies who come to affiliate advertising do not realize that they have their work cut out for them. It’s not as easy as just posting a few ads here and there. It’s not an exact science, and it can cost you and your host valuable business if you make too many mistakes. Not only that, it can even ruin reputations if you deliver sub standard performance for a well known product.
2. Rushing across many mediums and markets.
Newcomers who jump in different programs without a through understanding of their niche markets are setting themselves up for disappointment. Choosing the right niche is important. A good rule of thumb is to choose a product or service that you will be happy to use yourself.
3. Duplicating content of the host business.
Most host businesses cut off affiliates who do not offer their own unique approach to marketing a product. It’s really not cool to copy an established product’s own marketing material. This only makes you compete with your own host in Google rankings, and just spams the list with duplicate content. Visitors are more likely choose between you and your host, or worse, you can get ignored because your affiliate link is as obvious as a banner ad.
4. Spamming
Desperation doesn’t look good on any marketer. If you’re into stealing email lists or spamming through other media, you will just hurt your host’s reputation and even decrease sales big time.
5. Giving poor content with no value.
Part of being a good affiliate is paying close attention to value creation. The most popular sites are often those with real and practical solutions that answer a need or a problem. If you do not have what people are looking for, they would not bother listening to your pitch.
Which affiliate expert is the best one for you?
Getting the right people to show you the way may be overwhelming at times. Too many people are claiming to be experts in the field. Some even make exaggerated success stories when all they do is just talk about earning money. You know you are with the right teachers when they offer value and nothing else.
The Wealthy Affiliate is one of the best programs I know of that can give you the best value for what you are paying for. They have road tested effective and proven techniques to make your affiliate business succeed. They offer a comprehensive training course with complete and reliable support.
Visit wealthyaffiliate.com today! Tweet
It’s almost the perfect win-win situation. Customers get what they want while you get to give valuable help and earn commissions in the process. Is it really that simple? Not by a long shot.
You will still need to flex that creative marketing muscle to attract visitors to get interested in your affiliate links. What people do no not know is that affiliate marketing is not a ‘one-stop-shop’. There’s no fool proof automatic system that will do all the work for you. Truth be told, there are no hard and fast rules to ensure what works and what doesn’t. Here are sine if the reasons why some marketers fail:
1. No proper training.
Newbies who come to affiliate advertising do not realize that they have their work cut out for them. It’s not as easy as just posting a few ads here and there. It’s not an exact science, and it can cost you and your host valuable business if you make too many mistakes. Not only that, it can even ruin reputations if you deliver sub standard performance for a well known product.
2. Rushing across many mediums and markets.
Newcomers who jump in different programs without a through understanding of their niche markets are setting themselves up for disappointment. Choosing the right niche is important. A good rule of thumb is to choose a product or service that you will be happy to use yourself.
3. Duplicating content of the host business.
Most host businesses cut off affiliates who do not offer their own unique approach to marketing a product. It’s really not cool to copy an established product’s own marketing material. This only makes you compete with your own host in Google rankings, and just spams the list with duplicate content. Visitors are more likely choose between you and your host, or worse, you can get ignored because your affiliate link is as obvious as a banner ad.
4. Spamming
Desperation doesn’t look good on any marketer. If you’re into stealing email lists or spamming through other media, you will just hurt your host’s reputation and even decrease sales big time.
5. Giving poor content with no value.
Part of being a good affiliate is paying close attention to value creation. The most popular sites are often those with real and practical solutions that answer a need or a problem. If you do not have what people are looking for, they would not bother listening to your pitch.
Which affiliate expert is the best one for you?
Getting the right people to show you the way may be overwhelming at times. Too many people are claiming to be experts in the field. Some even make exaggerated success stories when all they do is just talk about earning money. You know you are with the right teachers when they offer value and nothing else.
The Wealthy Affiliate is one of the best programs I know of that can give you the best value for what you are paying for. They have road tested effective and proven techniques to make your affiliate business succeed. They offer a comprehensive training course with complete and reliable support.
Visit wealthyaffiliate.com today! Tweet
Affiliate Marketing Part III: Which Program is Right for You?
Why Affiliate Programs are Attractive
Joining a program offers many benefits, with lots of opportunities for growth at a pace that’s comfortable for you. First, you don’t have to shell out a lot of money to join, all you need is a computer, internet access and you’re good to go! You don’t even have to purchase the product you’re promoting.
Depending on your time and effort, this kind of online business can offer a big pay off. As an affiliate, your role is limited to marketing and nothing more. No worries over order processing, inventory or shipping are involved.
Types of Affiliate Programs
If you have made up your mind to try affiliate marketing but are still unsure about what steps to take, there are many free resources available on the web. Here’s a guide on the different types of programs popular today:
Pay per sale
This offers the biggest commission, sometimes maybe even up to 70% of a sale. Of course this requires more hard work and you will need aggressive marketing tactics to convert visitors to outright customers.
Pay per lead
You will be paid a commission for any visitor that does something besides click on a link or banner ad. The customer should have taken advantage of a free offer, or joined a membership list.
Pay per click
This is the most common and popular, although it’s the least rewarding. Visitors will just have to click on your affiliate link for you to get a commission. Nevertheless, you will still need to apply effective marketing strategies to have them interested in your advertisement link.
Scrutinizing Program Benefits
With all the attractive benefits affiliate marketing has to offer, you may be tempted to believe some that are too good to be true. Avoid scams by verifying important information with the following questions:
1. Does the retailer have a good reputation?
Keep in mind that any product advertised on your site is a reflection of your taste. Pick something that you like and may actually use.
2. Does this program have a reasonable cost per benefit ratio?
Not all affiliate terms are the same, so make sure your joining fee gets you the best value for your money.
3. Is the affiliate system user friendly?
A good retailer makes it easy for any affiliate to use their system without special technical skills or knowledge needed.
4. Does the retailer offer generous support?
You can also spot a good program if the retailer offers prompt and friendly response about product inquiries and other issues.
5. How does the retailer track referrals?
Here’s the important part: each program uses “cookies” to track referrals from your site. Cookies are software programs that monitor activity but usually expire after a specified amount of time. Check if your retailer offers cookies with a generous time period, with a minimum of at least 60 days or more.
Each marketing program has its own strengths and weaknesses; you should do your homework on the niche that’s right for you.
Finding the Right Mentor
You probably already know that my program of choice for learning about Affiliate Marketing is Wealthy Affiliate. I truly believe that it is one of the most dependable programs out there and can teach you the best training tools in the market today. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to improve on what you know, you can take advantage of their complete set of educational materials, including personal coaching time to succeed with your online business today.
So if you are serious about learning more about Affiliate Marketing, you ought to at least take a look at what they offer over at Wealthy Affiliate. Tweet
Joining a program offers many benefits, with lots of opportunities for growth at a pace that’s comfortable for you. First, you don’t have to shell out a lot of money to join, all you need is a computer, internet access and you’re good to go! You don’t even have to purchase the product you’re promoting.
Depending on your time and effort, this kind of online business can offer a big pay off. As an affiliate, your role is limited to marketing and nothing more. No worries over order processing, inventory or shipping are involved.
Types of Affiliate Programs
If you have made up your mind to try affiliate marketing but are still unsure about what steps to take, there are many free resources available on the web. Here’s a guide on the different types of programs popular today:
Pay per sale
This offers the biggest commission, sometimes maybe even up to 70% of a sale. Of course this requires more hard work and you will need aggressive marketing tactics to convert visitors to outright customers.
Pay per lead
You will be paid a commission for any visitor that does something besides click on a link or banner ad. The customer should have taken advantage of a free offer, or joined a membership list.
Pay per click
This is the most common and popular, although it’s the least rewarding. Visitors will just have to click on your affiliate link for you to get a commission. Nevertheless, you will still need to apply effective marketing strategies to have them interested in your advertisement link.
Scrutinizing Program Benefits
With all the attractive benefits affiliate marketing has to offer, you may be tempted to believe some that are too good to be true. Avoid scams by verifying important information with the following questions:
1. Does the retailer have a good reputation?
Keep in mind that any product advertised on your site is a reflection of your taste. Pick something that you like and may actually use.
2. Does this program have a reasonable cost per benefit ratio?
Not all affiliate terms are the same, so make sure your joining fee gets you the best value for your money.
3. Is the affiliate system user friendly?
A good retailer makes it easy for any affiliate to use their system without special technical skills or knowledge needed.
4. Does the retailer offer generous support?
You can also spot a good program if the retailer offers prompt and friendly response about product inquiries and other issues.
5. How does the retailer track referrals?
Here’s the important part: each program uses “cookies” to track referrals from your site. Cookies are software programs that monitor activity but usually expire after a specified amount of time. Check if your retailer offers cookies with a generous time period, with a minimum of at least 60 days or more.
Each marketing program has its own strengths and weaknesses; you should do your homework on the niche that’s right for you.
Finding the Right Mentor
You probably already know that my program of choice for learning about Affiliate Marketing is Wealthy Affiliate. I truly believe that it is one of the most dependable programs out there and can teach you the best training tools in the market today. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to improve on what you know, you can take advantage of their complete set of educational materials, including personal coaching time to succeed with your online business today.
So if you are serious about learning more about Affiliate Marketing, you ought to at least take a look at what they offer over at Wealthy Affiliate. Tweet
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Best Way to Make Money Online
So, you are searching for the best way to make money online. The best way to make money online to start is _____ OK I won't tell you what the best way is, because there is not one. Let me take that back there is not a best way to make money online for everyone, but there is a best way to make money online for someone.
I'm a little biased to online marketing, so naturally I'll tell you what I think the best way to make money online should be in regards to starting a home business.
The best way to make money online is one that appeals to the masses, meaning a way to make money online that anyone can join and set up with ease.
Best way to make money online is one that is low cost or even free to join. Prior to witting this, I did a Goggle search for best way to make money online and got back over 470,000,000 returns. That's allot of best way to make money online out there wouldn't you agree. Having been marketing online with both high ticket and low cost way to make money online programs, the majority of those searching are looking a low cost or free to join way to make money online. Now I'm not by no means saying you will make more money promoting a low cost free to join way to make money online, than if you market a big ticket item, I'm just saying that more people are attracted to free to join way to make money online and with that it seems to reason that no cost to join way to make money online are to be considered the best way to make money online.
The best way to make money online is in my opinion, digital products or one that a new member can log on and obtain the information they joined the way to make money online for immediately and in real time. Now that is not to say that tangible off line way to make money online products do not have a market, on the contrary they have a big market and in some cases even more than online. Here's what I mean, do you see or read every email you get, including your Spam or junk folder of course not, but I bet you see every post card, letter, magazine etc that comes in your postal mail box. You may not read them all, but they will definitely get seen.
The best way to make money online is one that offers multiple streams of income or different choices. As I alluded to earlier, not everyone will agree on what the best way to make money online is, so offering multiple ways to make money online choices through a single website link is the key. And that my friend is where you are now. Tweet
I'm a little biased to online marketing, so naturally I'll tell you what I think the best way to make money online should be in regards to starting a home business.
The best way to make money online is one that appeals to the masses, meaning a way to make money online that anyone can join and set up with ease.
Best way to make money online is one that is low cost or even free to join. Prior to witting this, I did a Goggle search for best way to make money online and got back over 470,000,000 returns. That's allot of best way to make money online out there wouldn't you agree. Having been marketing online with both high ticket and low cost way to make money online programs, the majority of those searching are looking a low cost or free to join way to make money online. Now I'm not by no means saying you will make more money promoting a low cost free to join way to make money online, than if you market a big ticket item, I'm just saying that more people are attracted to free to join way to make money online and with that it seems to reason that no cost to join way to make money online are to be considered the best way to make money online.
The best way to make money online is in my opinion, digital products or one that a new member can log on and obtain the information they joined the way to make money online for immediately and in real time. Now that is not to say that tangible off line way to make money online products do not have a market, on the contrary they have a big market and in some cases even more than online. Here's what I mean, do you see or read every email you get, including your Spam or junk folder of course not, but I bet you see every post card, letter, magazine etc that comes in your postal mail box. You may not read them all, but they will definitely get seen.
The best way to make money online is one that offers multiple streams of income or different choices. As I alluded to earlier, not everyone will agree on what the best way to make money online is, so offering multiple ways to make money online choices through a single website link is the key. And that my friend is where you are now. Tweet
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