What I Consider When Building Websites

What I Consider When Building Websites

by | Jun 1, 2020 | Affiliate, Guides, SEO

Website Structure Is Critical For Online Success

I have built so many websites that now I can look at a website and in three clicks work out if this website is doomed or in a good position for success. Theres 2 reasons that we pay attention and put so much focus into how we build websites and those two reasons are:

  1. Building for humans to navigate the website
  2. Building for Google to crawl and index our web pages

The structure I want you to build should be one that allows both Humans and Google crawlers to clearly understand and navigate your website. This is a critical part of building websites especially if you plan on using that website to make money once you build it.

Lets go over the basics.

CMS solutions help businesses of all sizes maintain an online presence through blogs and websites, internally organize and optimize content, and process orders and payments online. A well-deployed content management system can extend the reach of a business online, increase search rankings, unify communications to customers in one place and manage employee contributions to content (through administrative and security settings, as well as accountability within the CMS).

Responsive templates, like those found in many of the CMS platforms we reviewed here, make it easy for SMBs to maintain professional-looking websites without employing a large team of web and graphic designers. It’s no wonder, then, that so many businesses use CMS services. WordPress alone is used by over 2.8 million websites to date, and as CMS programs become easier to implement and less expensive to use, it’s likely more SMBs will adopt them.  

What Is a CMS Used For?

At the most basic level, a CMS lets you upload and manage the content for your website. No matter the size or type of your business, a CMS has become almost indispensable. It operates on the backend of your website, allowing you to manage the content and other facets of your website, including the visual layout.

Another benefit of a CMS is that it makes it easy for users with varying levels of tech savviness. If your tech literacy is low, CMS systems have a variety of premade themes and plug-ins that have already been developed (think phone apps but for your website) and allow you to add tools, like search or appointment calendars, to your website.

If you know how to code, or employ software developers, most CMS software is open source and can be customized to your liking.

Businesses of all types can benefit from using a CMS for their website. Here are some examples of how a CMS can enhance the websites for a variety of different business types:

  • Restaurants: CMS software makes it easy for restaurants to add and update their menus, create coupons and offers, and allow customers to make reservations online. There are many premade plug-ins that specifically target restaurant websites.
  • eCommerce: A CMS can benefit your online store by allowing you to quickly add and remove products, track sales, and manage other aspects of your business. Plug-ins are available to add a shopping cart to your site. A brick-and-mortar store can easily add a shopping cart using a CMS.
  • Small Businesses: No matter what type of business you operate, a website is a necessity in today’s business world. A CMS allows you to manage the content yourself and update information quickly. Most CMS applications include SEO plug-ins to help you optimize your website’s content. You can also find templates and themes to quickly create an attractive website without having to hire a designer.
  • Nonprofits: A CMS allows nonprofits to easily manage their websites for not a lot of money, plus you can accept donations online by adding plug-ins. Many open-source CMS applications have robust communities of developers that can help nonprofits create the best websites. Add-ons and plug-ins are also available to help nonprofits manage their social media and marketing presence.

CMS vs Blogging Platforms

A CMS platform is different from a blogging platform in terms of scale. Some of the services profiled in our buying guide began as blogging platforms and offer that service, but a CMS is much more robust, offering greater control over the look and feel of your site as well as allowing for different administrative levels of control. A CMS also allows you to add plug-ins that expand the look and functionality of your site. You can brand your website, send emails, manage user access and even add a shopping cart.

Another main difference between a blog platform and a CMS is that the blog will be hosted by the platform itself. This means that your website will have the domain name of the blog host, such as Blogger.

If you use a CMS to manage and develop your website, you’ll need to pay for the domain and the web hosting. Many CMS platforms include web hosting services, though you’ll have to pay for the hosting. You can read our articles about web hosting to learn more.

Open Source vs. Closed Source

Content management systems fall into two major categories: open source and closed source. An open source CMS has lower costs and is created and maintained by a community of developers A closed source CMS is proprietary and is more expensive to use. Here are some other benefits and drawbacks with each type of CMS.

The biggest difference is in the price. Open source CMS software doesn’t require you to purchase a license in order to access and change its source code. All code is free to the public and often supported by a large community of users. This gives you solid support since so many others are using the program as well. It’s easy to find ideas for incorporating various functions and features on your website. You can also find the required code from these community support groups, so even if you aren’t as program savvy as others, you can find enough information to make it work.

However, because the source code is free with so many users, most CRM companies continually update the software. This means you can count on new versions, patches and updates on a fairly regular basis, which could require you to change your website and code in order to keep up.

Because the code of open source programs is license-free, there is a greater risk of a security breach. Everyone using the open source code understands how to get around various protections. However, you can invest in add-ons and other security programs that work hand-in-hand with content management systems to give you an extra layer of security. Closed source CMS software has heavily guarded source code that requires a license in order to access it, or several if you have a team of developers. Because the source is so protected, it costs a lot to get started. Several closed source content management systems require a monthly access fee, so it isn’t unheard of to have to pay between $200 and $1,000 to get started.

Since you put so much effort into creating a CMS program, these systems are built to last for a while between version releases. While the occasional update or patch may occur, for the most part, once you purchase a closed source CMS, you can find solace in knowing you won’t have to update the program and risk reworking your website code. This also helps keep the program more secure since there is a limited number of people who hold a license to the code.

If you discover you need help with your closed source CMS, you don’t have the large community support found with open source software. Instead, these systems tend to come with high-end, personal support including telephone support, which is rare among open source content management systems.

Benefits of Open Source CMS

  • Cost: An open source CMS doesn’t involve any fees to use the platform. All of the open source CMS applications in our lineup include a free option. You may have to pay for hosting or advanced features, but there are several themes that are free to start with.
  • Customization: Open source CMS applications are flexible and can fit the needs of many businesses. Because a broad community of developers works on these systems, there are a wide variety of options, so you can find certain tools or plug-ins to suit your business. For example, if you want to add a feature so your customers can schedule an appointment or make a reservation online, there are several plug-ins available that are easy to integrate with your CMS.

Drawbacks of Open Source CMS

  • Vulnerability: Open source CMS software can be vulnerable to security issues, especially if plug-ins and modules are not updated.
  • Support: Don’t count on personalized support for problems you run into with your particular website.

Benefits of a Closed Source CMS

  • Security: Because this type of CMS software is proprietary, these applications undergo a more rigorous testing process, which leaves them less vulnerable to Trojans and other security flaws.
  • Customized Support: You can receive ongoing, personalized support to help you troubleshoot any problems with your site. Often this support costs extra.

Disadvantages of Closed Source CMS

  • Cost: Costs range from a few thousand dollars to upwards of a hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the scope and scale of the CMS.
  • Lack of Flexibility: A closed source solution isn’t always one size fits all, but there are fewer options for customization, and if you need something specific for your business, you may have to pay extra for it.

A content management system allows you to quickly and easily add and edit content on your website. You can control who has access to the various functions of the software and can schedule when content goes live on your website. We’ve assembled a lineup of the 10 best CMS applications in the industry so you can explore your options and find the one best suited for your business.

FAQ – Terminology

Throughout our reviews, we use a lot of internet and programming terms that might sound familiar but you don t quite know the meaning. Below are samples of some of the most commonly asked questions when it comes to terminology. 

What is access control?
This refers to a hierarchical system of privileges and permissions that secures content and identifies who can read, create, modify, and delete content on a web site.

What are web analytics?
This is the study of the impact of a website on its visitors. E-commerce companies often use web analytics software to measure statistics such as how many visitors, how many unique visitors, how they arrived at the site (i.e., if they followed a link to get to the site or came there directly), what keywords they searched using the site s search engine, how long they stayed on a given page or on the entire site, what links they clicked on and when they left the site. Web analytic software can also be used to monitor whether or not a site s pages are working properly. With this information, site administrators can determine which areas of the site are popular and which areas of the site do not get traffic and can then use this data to create a better/more profitable user experience.

What is asset management?
Asset management is the organization and publication of digital assets such as content and media and including but not limited to images, sounds, animations, movies, music and text.

What is the back end?
A database or program that is accessed by users indirectly through an external application. In a CMS, the admin panel is the back end.

What is CSS?
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheet   this is the preferred way to add styles (which include fonts, sizes, colors and spacing) to web documents and designs. It s preferred because of the capability to simply tweak a class or identification attribute on the style sheet that will automatically apply to the entire page. Compared with the manual way of editing thousands of individual font tags, CSS is an elegant and efficient design tool.

What is a database server?
In either a client-server model or a master-slave configuration, this is a computer program that stores and performs the database services to other programs or computers.

What is deployment?
In systems this term describes the transforming of a computer system from a packaged form to an operation state. In software, deployment is used to describe all activities that make a software system available for use.

What is document management?
Document management systems (DMS) are similar to content management systems and serve different though complementary roles within an organization. DMS focus is primarily on the storage and retrieval of self-contained electronic resources in their original (native) format.

What is the front end?
As opposed to the back end, the front end is an interface that collects input from a user in various forms and processes it to conform to a specification useable by the back end.

What is load balancing?
This is the practice of dispersing work between two or more computers, network links, CPUs, hard drives, or other resources.

What is a log?
In a database or CMS this is a record of sequential data. In content management system software this could be user logs, content logs, etc.

What does OS stand for?
OS stands for Operating System   this is the interface between the hardware and its user. For example, if your computer is a PC your OS is likely Windows-based. If your computer is a Mac, it s OSX, etc.

What is Page Rank?
Page rank is the Google system of ranking web pages determines the value of any individual web page.

What is RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication   it is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works such as news headlines, blogs, etc. These feeds benefit content publishers by enabling them to syndicate their content automatically.

What is a sandbox?
In content management system software, this is a secure area where developers can test a software tool or other code modification with full administration privileges, but safely walled off from affecting the stability of the site or CMS.

What is a static page (as opposed to dynamic)?
Static means that the web page always contains the same information in response to all download requests from all users. A dynamic page is regularly updated.

What is validation?
In content management system software, validation refers to security measures that ensure data inserted into an application meets pre-determined formats, complies with length requirements and any other defined input criteria you assign to it.

What is meant by workflow in a CMS?
Workflow is the system for routing documents or pages between users responsible for working on them   the management of who is making changes to or creating a content element or template.

Best CMS Overall: WordPress: WordPress

WordPress is one of the most ubiquitous CMS platforms on the internet, and it is open source, so you don’t have to buy a license to use it. Since the open-source community is continually growing, developing new plugins and creating new themes, the functionality of WordPress is always evolving. According to WordPress, nearly 24 percent of websites use its CMS to publish and/or manage content.

Even the free version of the CMS offers users the ability to produce blogs and websites with ease, tag content by category and keyword, manage content and change visual themes, embed media on different pages, and more. WordPress makes SEO hands-off by sending the titles of your posts and the content of your website to Google for ranking. In addition, WordPress offers feature-rich website management by giving users the ability to moderate discussions (something many free blog and website platforms don’t offer), ban commenters by their IP addresses, and even block specific terms or phrases.

Users who upgrade to premium business versions of WordPress gain access to CMS tools like advanced analytics, additional templates, more flexibility in menu configuration and access to back-end code for further customization. Companies like The New York Times, Forbes, eBay, Best Buy and IBM use WordPress, but small businesses and individual bloggers also take advantage of its accessible interface and wide variety of features.

The only real downside to WordPress is that the interface takes some time to get used to. Doing things like rearranging menu items and moving a page from one category to another is a bit unwieldly at first. Also, many of the best features are only available at premium subscription levels. 

Best Blog Hosting Service: A2 Hosting: A2 Hosting

Previously known as Iniquinet, A2 Hosting is our top choice for blog hosting services. It offers managed WordPress hosting and will transfer any existing WordPress site to its servers for free. This company is also a good fit for WordPress users, because it offers a proprietary plugin called A2 Optimized to not only boost the speed of the hosted site but also prevent hacks through a unique WordPress login URL. Plus, A2 Hosting’s security works with WordPress, through a unique admin login, to easily manage and load WordPress security updates and create an additional barrier against hacking.

All clients of A2 Hosting enjoy automatic data backup courtesy of the company’s Server Rewind Backups, which make it possible to restore a single file or an entire website in just a few clicks. A2 Hosting offers unlimited SSD storage, so you never need worry about running out of space. A2 Hosting has a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee, and businesses that use A2 Hosting for their web hosting needs receive reimbursements for downtime.

A2 Hosting ranked highest on our list of reviewed hosting services partially because of its compatibility with WordPress and overall blog speed, but also thanks to its excellent customer service. Clients of A2 Hosting enjoy around-the-clock customer service every day of the year, which is ideal for teams with people in different time zones and for businesses that need to keep things running regardless of holidays or weekends.

Additionally, the hosting platform offers users some choices in terms of server location, which not all hosting companies provide. A2 Hosting has three servers to choose from, one in Michigan, one in Amsterdam and one in Singapore. The ability to select a server closer to company headquarters (or large customer populations) makes faster response times possible. 

Best for Easy Blog Creation: Weebly : Weebly – Content Management Systems & Blogging Platforms

If learning new technology doesn’t come easily to you but you want to create a blog or website for your business, Weebly is our recommended choice. Weebly was built with regular users in mind; there is no coding required, and you don’t have to understand the ins and outs of advanced security settings or SEO to use it.

Users who opt for Weebly are guided through the blog design and creation process with helpful text bubbles that offer suggestions and point out basic dashboard navigation, but the interface is so user-friendly you might not even need the guidance. Weebly takes a drag-and-drop approach to website design; you can drag and drop content anywhere on a given page, and that content may include text, photos, videos, forms or audio files. Once assembled, each asset can be rearranged and resized with a few clicks, making it easy to get the look and feel you want.

The web CMS aspect of Weebly is excellent for basic website organization. Pages and subpages can easily be moved and updated, and passwords may be set to protect certain pages from being viewed by unauthorized users. There is a section for SEO analysis in the admin dashboard, but it’s not very robust. Weebly is best for companies that require a basic website with up-to-date information or blogs that play a supplementary role to a primary business.

That said, users who opt for the Starter ($8 a month), Pro ($12 a month) or Business ($25 a month) packages, rather than the free service, get a $100 credit toward Google Ads. So, it’s not that it’s impossible to have good SEO or promote a site built with Weebly; it’s just targeted to users who favor a clean, easy-to-use interface over a robust arsenal of features and options. The only downsides to Weebly are the inexplicable lack of a spell-check function and the lack of backup history.

Best CMS for ecommerce: Magento: Magento

While many of the CMS platforms we reviewed have plugins available for ecommerce websites, Magento was built top to bottom specifically for ecommerce users. In addition to all the features an ecommerce business owner might want, Magento has an extensive blog with relevant posts about online trends and SEO practices, as well as evergreen information on best ecommerce practices and general user guides. If this is your first foray into ecommerce and you want guidance alongside easy website creation, Magento may serve you well.

One major benefit to using Magento for your ecommerce site is the easy product catalog setup process. Magento makes it simple to showcase configurable products for sale (so your customers can select colors, sizes and styles with ease while you keep track of SKUs), made-to-order products with lots of customization options (like engraving or monogramming), product sets and multi-piece products. Magento also allows users to disable items, so seasonal items don’t have to be re-created every year – they can simply be disabled when they’re not relevant and then added back to the online store.

Another key ecommerce feature of Magento is the ability to set up multiple stores through one dashboard. This is key for stores that need to operate in different languages as well as ecommerce sites that tailor their offerings based on customer location. Invoicing, billing and shipping are also easy to set up, and Magento’s security system is built to meet current laws and payment card industry requirements. Plus, this open-source CMS has dozens of paid and free add-ons available, offers users the ability to program custom widgets, and provides lots of customizable reports on sales, customers, products and performance.

Like other CMS products, Magento offers well-designed templates for simple web design, as well as the ability to custom create a website from the bottom up, but it’s the ecommerce-specific features that earned it a spot on our best picks list.

Key Takeaway

Ive built A LOT of websites and Ive wasted A LOT of time with dud platforms. I really love WordPress, Shopify & Magento for building long term assets. But for quick easy you cant go past a Wix Weebly type throw up and see what happens type web lead gen site.

When I build sites I need functionality, customisation and support because hey even I break stuff sometimes. The best platform isnt even my choice it should be your choice for what best suits your business.

 

I hope this helped and you get something from it. Enjoy and share it if you liked it. Peace!

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Take The Opportunity When It Presents Itself

Take The Opportunity When It Presents Itself

by | May 31, 2020 | Business, Guides, Lifestyle

One of the biggest mistakes I made starting out in business was chasing money. The focus, the driver and the motivator was money and thats wasnt the best thing to do it alienated a lot of opportunity. The opportunity to grow and expand this one because the numbers werent solid.

Because the direction my business partner and I were considering taking didnt have a proven track record and didnt make financial sense we missed the opportunity to pounce on the emerging gap in the market.
Money as a key metric in business isnt a good stat to be building a business around. Revenue and monthly reoccurring revenue and annual reoccurring revenue are great metrics to use to make data driven decisions for your business. Having the numbers visible is a great motivator when you track the right things.

“I don’t ever recommend just chasing the growth of the bank balance.”
When you make money as your primary metric you may develop tunnel vision on a number a very specific number. If you hit that number or dont come close you become fixated on that number and dont take in other variables that might be more profitable than pursing the magic number.
build a money generating portfolio
I am not a bean counter of the finance guy in any of my businesses. Ive been in more finance and accounting meetings than I have wanted in my time. While extremely boring and hard to focus during these meeting they were really beneficial for me to upskill my finance intelligence.

My experience with money is that outside of the business we dont talk about it with competitors, partners, affiliates and keep our cards to our chest. This helped me keep focus on our goals and not worry about competitor ABC who was chasing $500K MRR or what ever dick measuring number that they had fixed as their success metric.

I honestly can not stand loud mouth marketers or business owners who boast and brag about who much their business makes in revenue. This places a big fat red target on your chest. I also just as a human with good manners be bragging about myself. Be humble and know you are doing well without shouting it across the room.
If you do attend conferences you can look around and see these same people in deep financial substance abuse and trying every which way to find happiness outside their business. They focus on money because they dont have anything else to contribute.

Your business should be your dream hobby that you can not wait to get started on each day. The people you do it with should be your favourite people. Ive built many businesses with this in mind, who do I want to work with and does this fulfil me.
My success indicator is knowing we have a steady flow of money coming in, the number monthly and yearly is increasing gradually. Then when we are stable or growing I dont have money as a motivator because our system to grow that is working. This is where I have time to look for an emerging business or brand and speak with them about how they can do more and pass on some of our tips and strategies that helped push our business into the green.

Thats my success metric, being free enough to share my knowledge with others who are just starting out.
I did’nt come from money and Ive never had big capital injections to buy and start businesses. I would grind and hustle my skills to build momentum and steadily grow a seed money allocation for new ideas or acquisitions. It takes a bit longer but I dont owe anyone anything and I am free to make what ever decisions I need to to grow that business without reporting into a board or a JV partner. This is not the method for everyone it takes commitment and dedication to the goal.
Ever since I built my first company Ive wanted to take an opportunity where I would have a job that provided fulfilment and made me feel satisfied. Ive got this thing where I need to be doing something all the time. I move fast and I am easily bored if theres no movement or anything for me to do. I often found myself after the growth period of a business and things had started to plateau a bit, I would start buying crap that I didn’t need or hiring people I didn’t really need just to keep busy.

I wasnt looking for new opportunities, I got a little com-placement. In one of my physical service businesses I was extremely passionate about building it and we actually grew it to 5,000 employees and one day I just lost all attachment to that business. I felt it had done its dash and I couldn’t give it anything else. I was bored and I was not enjoying the business that last week I was so excited to get to work.

My recap is we were so busy building relationships that we had taken our eye off the ball of business growth and just the day to day operations had worn me down. It was so sad losing all that organic energy where I could do everything everyday sucked down to the bare minimums and I struggled even filling the weekly roster.
The good news was I found a new opportunity and I pounced on it like a leopard catching its prey. I got to help businesses with a specific problem they had online.
Moving from a that physical services business and into online marketing was such a huge shift of ways of working It did take me a good 6 months to adjust. The sale of the services business was relatively smooth and I was out within a month. The opportunity of the next move wasnt on a countdown timer so I had time to manuvere and get my ducks in a  row.
In month 8 I grew that new marketing business 600%+ from $10k monthly reoccurring revenue to over 600% and all it took was focus. I needed a good 6 months to get familiar with how online marketing agencies worked and freelancing and tools metrics, the money verse expenses was so different from physical businesses.

But know this, the more I focused on the business opportunities the more my new business grew. I built a business that I wanted to work in and I hired people I wanted to work with. That was simple backend systems, and for revenue I targeted people I wanted to work with and that was automotive clients and ecommerce stores.
It was that simple!
I targeted people who were doing things I had an interest in and I could talk their language and know their industry. The immediate shift in business from taking that opportunity changed the business. It literally changed the way we worked fulfiling those services for these new clients. Such a breathe of fresh air for me to get that energy back and have that drive and focus to really sink my teeth into business.
The marketing agency was much easier to grow when I was the one calling the shots, making the plays at new opportunities and ultimately the one who was responsible for growth and failure. The business was not new to me but online  was, I had a great finance and accounting system in place and then for me it was learning online marketing.
Now to this day I love this stuff. There is no day Ive not wanted to get up and get online to help my team and my clients or assets grow.
IF you are an entrepreneur you are going to get your fulfillment and satisfaction from these. You will also slowly die inside without them.
  • Build a team of talented marketers
  • Build a service or product that you are proud of
  • Build a solution to other peoples problems
  • Solve the problem for your ideal customer
I know a lot of marketing techniques, tactics and ways of working but I often consult with my sopecialists on super advanced tactics for specific things I want to deliver or we require as a deliverable in business. I hire inelligent superstars at the one thing that they do, this gives me a great database of very targeted specialists.
One thing we do regulary is to look at our competitors and any competitors in emerging spaces and see how they treat their customers and audiences. Do they truly love their audience or are they just applying tricks and hacks to get by. The intelligence we get back from this allows us to exloit these opportunities because we have a system for customer journey and experience. Building for customers and not for money.

“I always build for the customer and towards the problem and solution. This is just how I learned marketing. Sell the solution to people who have a problem and do this with the ciustomer in mind and not the money they give you for that solution.”

Shenzu

I find it really interesting the number of marketers who are still trying to use tricks and indirect methods at trying to hide information around the policies on chargebacks and refunds. Focus more on making amazing things and move away from making crap products and you wont have to worry about your reputation or the payment processors and chargebacks.
This was an early morning post just after a workout so if its a bit shaky to follow along I am sorry for your eyes struggling to keep on track haha. I had a lot on my mind and wanted to press the point of taking opportunity. If I didnt take the opportunity to change careers from physical services to online marketing I think that during cornova virus I would of bene wiped out. I am also so thankful I can do what I do on computers to help people. I never work for cash or chase a pay rise, I am my own boss and I make my own hours.
If you are stuck I want you to start looking around at the next step or a new avenue for you to apply your passion powers to and forge a business around. This is the best time ever to do this. Look at the opportunity in everything that you do and you will never need money.
Thats my thoughts for today. As always if you enjoyed this share it and enjoy yourself. Peace!
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How To Be Safe Buying From Ali Express

How To Be Safe Buying From Ali Express

by | May 28, 2020 | Affiliate, Ecommerce, Guides

6 Ways to Safeguard Yourself When Buying on Alibaba

When doing business overseas you want to learn to protect yourself against loss. You want to be able to avoid scams and middle-men as well as getting substandard products. While there is no one solution that is totally infallible, using a few simple guidelines can prove to be very effective.

I use AliExpress and Ali Baba A LOT! I even bought my girlfreinds birthday present from Ali Express

Here are her birthday socks haha

ali express printed socks

 

At first she was sad because she had sloth feet but she warmed up to these printed socks and now she has a collection of monster feet printed socks.  That my friends is the power of Ali Express, people buy random stuff online to pass time, have a laugh and to spend their hard earned money. This si where we come in with our ecommerce stores and product promotions. 

Here are a few things you can do to help yourself when dealing with overseas suppliers –

1. Verifiy Your New Supply Partner

Believe it or not Alibaba has put a verification program of their own into place. It gives you several different levels of verification. They have 3 levels of verification all total and the chart down below goes into it a little deeper. The verification badges appearing on the product list as well as supplier profiles help give you an idea of what kind of vendor you’re dealing with. Having a look at these badges is a good was to start your search.

 

2. Ask Questions Around The Product Nothing is as it Appears

As your search begins to narrow down and you have weeded out most of the competition, it’s time to get down to some more serious types of questions. Request a copy of a business license to verify who they are, or maybe even a phone number and then call it right away.

Contact them on Skype or their main contact channel and request some sample products. You can get variations like red or blue etc. This helps you see what type of communication you will have with the person who will be handling the product and shipping process of your business.

You should feel totally free to ask any questions that pop into your head. It’s not too far fetched to have somebody at the factory snap a selfie and send it to you while on the factory floor. You could have them include a copy of today’s newspaper as well as a product of theirs. Of course, you don’t want to push them away either. Too much distrust will only breed and foster more distrust. It’s wise to be cautious but not overly distrustful.

If you plan to scale you need a solid partner and someone who has clear communication with you. What if you had the biggest front end sales month ever for your store and corona virus 2 hits and you need answers on shipping and delivery dates as well as inventory levels. You need clear communication.

 

3. Get Some Product Samples First

It’s just good common sense to check out some samples prior to committing to any large amount of inventory and money. You should get the samples in order to verify the ‘quality’ of the products for yourself. You can even contact them using a fake name and email address.

You 100% need to get the products before you sell them. This helps you see what the delivery time is like, what the boxing or packaging lookslike and most impoirtanly what the actual product looks and feels like.

I wont promote any products that I havent at least had a play with to test its quality.

Bonus tip – use this to film unboxing videos and product demos 🙂

4. Things That Seem Too Good to be True

Everyone has heard that when this happens things usually are too good to be that true and usually aren’t. Be wary of promises and prices that run up your skeptic meter.

You can read reviews of past buyers to get a quick pulse check on that product and the vendor.

Never be afraid to walk away from any deal that doesn’t ‘smell’ right. You are the buyer and Ali Express is a buyers market.

5. Get It In Your Hands & Try To Break It

Your dropshipping products are going to fail if you dont know the quality of what you are selling. My advice and its saved my butt more times than not is to get that product in your hands.

Now you have it you should try being a little rough with the product to stress test the product. You may need to buy 2 or 3 of the same products. You do this because you can really nail your product descriptions and features benefits descriptors by knowing the limits.

If it breaks and you only just picked it up then change the product or find a better manufacturer.

6. Use A Pen Name Account To Buy & Review

I would never be buying items from Ali Express with my real account. I say this because as you build success you will naturally attract trolls and copycats. This can not be avoided.

Use a throw away email account where the name is random and not your name or your business name. These manufacturers on Ali Express need reviews to help their businesses and you should be leaving reviews out of courtesy.

But you also need to be safe with your behaviour online. Use a random profile to leave reviews. Keep safe and this allows you to shop and review unkown to any copycats.

I love dropshipping and ecommerce, but you need to be smart when using these latforms. Esopecially for the long term play. I hope this helps you get more from Ali Express. Enjoy.

How To Load Value Into Affiliate Offers

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10 Ways To Monetize A Blog

10 Ways To Monetize A Blog

by | May 17, 2020 | Affiliate, Guides, Paid Ads, Reviews

What is the trend with people building websites and then making a living from them? You may have asked this question before. Its a real things.

Is it to share some knowledge that we have or is it to make money? People build websites for many reasons. I like to provide my visitors with good quality content so that they will come back to my website.I also love to train and educate people about how they can change their lifestyle by working online.

We all would like to make more money, and you can learn how to monetise your website to do that.

 

Here are 10 ways that bloggers can monetise their websites:

1. Google AdSense

 

This is a form of banner advertising where you allow websites to place their advertising banners on your website through the use of the Google display network.

You are paid per impression or per click on each banner. Google AdSense is one way you can monetise your website. Once you have your website up and running, go to Google AdSense and sign up for an account. You will have the chance to make some good money. Let’s say that your website is getting traffic every day; you could easily make a dollar a day.

You can then expand that to 20 pages and easily turn into $20 a day. That would come to $600 a month of extra income into your pocket. What if you did this two, three, five or ten times? Meaning, you have ten websites with targeted traffic every day.

Can you see the potential? That’s $6000 a month. This is not going to be easy and will take you some work to get it set up. I do need to let you know that this is going to take time. It might take you a year to get this all going, but once it is done with all your blood, sweat and tears, you’ll be able to kick back and enjoy the fruits of your hard work and labour.

Learn how to monetise your website, and you could make some good money. Lots of people are doing it, why not you?

 

2. Display Advertising

Very similar to Google Adsense but different in the sense that you dont involve Google. If your website deals with a unique topic, you might find it hard to attract contextual advertisements. In such cases, you could try display ads. These ads pay per view, and not per click. While using multiple ads and service providers could help you make a respectable amount of money, you should make sure that you don’t use a lot of display ads.

Too many, and it could affect the load time and overall look of your website, lowering some visitors it attracts. Display advertising now offers advertisers more opportunities to more clearly define who will see an ad. With behavioural targeting options, you can have your ads served up to consumers who have visited certain other websites or performed certain actions online.

With psychographic and demographic targeting, you can serve ads only to people who fit specific consumer profiles regarding age, household income, gender, and many other variables.

3. Contextual Advertising

 

This form of promotion and hype is known to the web market as contextual advertising. More than a simple publicity strategy, contextual advertising is aimed to relate directly to the gist of the page on which it is posted. Being a targeted marketing sub-form, promotions and ads are placed to reach the most number of site viewers and customers.

In contextual advertising, advertisements themselves are sorted and served by programmed software and systems based on the displayed content of a particular web page. If you happen to view a site about health and you come across ads for weight-loss programs and food supplement products, it is more likely that the page is utilising contextual advertising.

For this modern form of advertising strategy to complete, a contextual advertising system performs thorough automated scans of website texts, highlights keywords and then returns ads to the web page based on perceived content.

These advertisements can either be automatically linked to an on-page layout, or it could also take the form of pop-up ads. To prove the success of such platform, even search engines also make use of contextual advertising to put on-view promotions and ads on search results pages.

Based on the user’s query, the system automatically delivers the information along with the ads promptly, the reason why this marketing form is dubbed as a cost-effective and efficient technique.

This is in a way a combination fo teh first 2 points. This is an effective method for advertisers to get more focus targeting for their offers.

4. Affiliate Marketing

 

Using affiliate links is one of the oldest ways of website monetisation. No matter what your site or blog is about, there will be companies which sell complimenting products. Internet marketing is one of the best ways to reach a very diverse audience.

Years ago, you were limited as to who you could reach with your product advertisements. With so many people from all over the world online, you can now market your products, literally, to the ends of the earth.

Stay focused on the content offered on your site. Do not compromise your content to better cater to the affiliate programs you are using because it will cause you to lose your readers.

If you lose the readers, you lose the opportunity to make any money off of the ads that you have on your site.

Read more:

5. Product Reviews

 

Integral with any high-performance product review is how well it can presell the reader, and that is completely different from selling the reader. The biggest advantage of effective preselling is that you won’t face the typical objections that are usually faced with prospects as you’re not doing any direct selling.

It is not difficult at all to create killer reviews, and you just have to be willing to learn them and do some work. We have put together a few essential facts about creating product reviews using solid preselling methods. Understand that a product review is not a sales pitch; you can’t fill in all the hype and drama into your product review and expect it to work.

You can review these product types:

  • Digital products
  • eBooks
  • Online courses
  • Physical products
  • Services
  • Locations & destinations
  • Entertainment
  • All the things 😉

Your review’s job is to convince your target audience that the product is right for them without actually selling to them. You can make a better impression with the reader when you add your honest feelings including anything you found that is less than positive.

Every good product review that focuses on the needs of the reader will perform better in the long run. We recommend that you discuss the negative aspects of the product in addition to the obvious positive ones. Don’t just sugarcoat things to make the review highly positive as that may look misleading to your readers.

So many people and marketers are afraid that if they talk about the wrong things, then that will hurt sales. We think you will be surprised to find that folks love it when they find someone who is willing to be open.

 

6. Whitelabel Products and Sell Your Own

 

You could sell your products to make money out of your website. Selling items such as eBooks, DVDs, etc. is a great way to make money since you get a full income from them. At the same time, such merchandise also helps promote you as an expert in the field.

However, it takes time and effort to create quality products and effectively market them.

You can speed up the process by working with a whitelabel vendor who already has mass volume of teh product but needs some help selling their stock. They will work with you on some minor customisations of their product so it feels more like a new “version” of their main product. This is a fantasic way to get sales without having to spend months in R&D.

I love whitelabel it saves a lot of time and with some imagination you can take a winning product customise it and sell it as your own.

7. Using in Text Advertisements

 

You’ve likely seen these on different websites while browsing. Rather than putting up ads on your site, these ads are randomly placed within the text of your site’s posts and pages.

There are a few different high quality in text advertising networks out there which make it simple to start making money from in-text ads as all you have to do is add a line of code to your site and tell them where you want your checks sent. The most profitable way to monetise your web page or blog is to know your customers and create products that help them.

Learn how to monetise your websites and use all the tools available so that way, you will have a better chance at success. You would be missing out by not taking advantage of these paid advertisers.

8. Banner Advertisements

Banner ads have existed for almost as long as the Internet has. Banner ads give a great return on their investment as long as you don’t make the mistakes that many marketers are making.

If you read on, you will discover some ways to optimise your results and build an excellent banner ad campaign. As someone who works with websites and blogs, you should always remember to make sure your advertising banners represent your blog or site, matching up perfectly with it in every way.

Your banner ad must be persuasive as your site should be; it’s not a minor point. Having the design of your ad be compatible with your site means you won’t have to change the look of it every time you put another new banner ad up on the web.

All you should need to do is create new text, and you should have a fresh new banner ad. It also will assure the fact there’s a flow to your ad. When you choose to work with banner advertising you don’t want to allow them to be outdated, so to continue to have a great traffic flow you must keep your banners fresh. A perfect example of the negative effect on customers of an outdated banner would be the promotion of a sale which already is over.

Quite simply, they will stop coming to your site to purchase anything. It’s pretty basic thinking; if you don’t care enough to keep your ads current, nobody’s going to trust your products or service either. Regularly updated banners allow you to drive more traffic to your site, promote new products and get better overall results from your efforts. An easy way to keep your banner ads fresh looking is to switch colours or designs once in a while.

There are those who choose to change their ads monthly, and those who do it less frequently. The point is the more frequent changes are made to your ads, the more you’ll be receiving conversions. Usually a change each month will be adequate to freshen up your banners.

Don’t forget that you can use your banner ads,in social posts, forums, emails and many more places. All it takes is a little imagination.

9. Targeted Content Ads

This method aims to take conventional advertising a step further wherein an ad is triggered by the consumer’s search. A typical keyword has a title (of about 25 characters) and a text (that has about 35 characters). Within the short space that’s provided, the advertiser explains the benefits of his products over his competitor.

Using content-targeted advertising has the advantage of generating more revenues for the advertisers. This is due to the fact that targeted ads increase its relevancy. So even if the number of ads is decreased or limited in frequency, it can still influence more people.

Another advantageous benefit of this form of advertising is the immediate showing of data and content that is otherwise limited by time and geography in traditional advertising. The ads can also be easily customised so it can quickly adapt to a changing audience demand or preference.

Content targeted advertising matches the context of the ad or the interests of the users to that of the advertisement. This allows more interest to be generated for an advertised product or service which in turn generates more sales conversion.

The utility of targeted advertising can further be enhanced by dynamically linking the most applicable contents which are taken from various sources such as YouTube video clips, RSS feeds and Wikipedia articles. At present, many businesses have profited from this form of advertising that it has made this Google creation very popular throughout the internet.

No other platform enables small businesses to compete with multinationals and Fortune 500 companies.

10. GoFund Me Type Donations

If you have a large, dedicated fan base, you could consider asking for donations. However, it is important to ensure that you don’t come across as greedy. I really like how Patreon, Indigogo and some Go Fund Me campaigns are setup where its super clear for funders to see the roadmap or the plan for the donation.

Place your donate button out of the way and avoid it altogether if you already have a lot of ads on your website. You have to get people to visit your site first, or that donate button is useless.

And before you do even that, your site’s donate button and donation form has to be designed in such a way that, once inspired, people will follow through with the donation. Great stories, emotional writing, and amazing media are not enough to get people to complete the donation process if your donate button is hidden, or your donation page a confusing mess.

I know Ive spent a bit on Patreon and Indigogo helping businesses take the next step with crowd funding. I do want to stress that having a worthy cause is a must. I might make a off the shoulder comment that it seems more and more people are putting up donations pages with no clear purpoise why. This worries me that people are just cashing in on the opportunity.

If you see a Go Fund Me on this blog it will be to buy a small tropical island away from all the noise of big cities.

 

Key Takeaway

Use your imagination to think a little diufferently and try new things on your blog. These 10 tips are tried and tested they work and they allow you to get paid while you build a bigger asset.

 

Well thats the end of the 10 tips but thats not the end of the opportunities available to you. I hope you have enjoyed this list of website money making tactics. As always if you have enjoyed this content like it share it and help me spread the word.

 

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9 Things School Should Start Teaching Kids

9 Things School Should Start Teaching Kids

by | May 16, 2020 | Guides, Lifestyle

What School DID NOT Teach Me

Schools don’t teach the basics of adult life. Things we all need to deal with on a daily basis. I found it really difficult to transition from being a student to being a tax paying adult and how to juggle 3 jobs, taxes, debt, money and the expenses in life.

I had a really good chat with my daughter who is just finishing her secondary high school journey and moving into the workforce. We started spitballing some things that schools should have been teaching to get her ready for her transition into adult life.

This was really interesting and we had some similar thoughts about what should make this list.

What school didn’t teach you? Well, there’s a lot that could be taught but are schools ready to mix up how deliver education I don’t think so. At least not at right now. All these young people who have the world ahead of them are getting at times outdated irrelevant teachings from people who may or may not have done what they are teaching at one point in time.

Things change the world keeps spinning. What I did 4 years ago is going to be very different now. I really hope COVID-19 taught you about innovation, how to pivot and adjusting the way you learn heading into the future.

Ive spoken with my daughter about one of her passions and turning it into a business. She is really into creative writing and we explored the possibilities of her turning that passion into an online business. I don’t think she is ready to take that plunge yet. 

 

What Teachers Should Be Teaching Kids in School

brad pitt money ball money works

1. How Money Works 💵

I strongly believe that schools should be teaching kids how money works and the importance of being on top of your own finances.

2. Bank Accounts — This flows on nicely from learning about money. Where should they keep their money? in a bank, under the mattress or in a bitcoin wallet. These now more than ever are very important.

2. How Tax Works 🧾

Understand all the types of income tax that affect your money. What a valuable life lesson for young people who will be joining the workforce. The worst thing you can do as a hard working community member is to find out while you worked hard and made good money you did not pay the tax man and now you actually OWE MONEY!

This happened to me so many times and it feels like crap. You bust your back to make a decent living and the tax people want their cut of your money. This is soul destroying if you don’t stay on top of it.

 

3. How Tax & Money Work Globally 🌎

Combining both points 1 & 2 makes sense to expand on teaching young people about how the rest of the world handles tax and money. What type of money is used in Europe or Thailand and how does currency conversion work. The expense of living in other countries verse Australia.

I find it amusing watching people in Bali struggle to currency convert on the fly. A smart traveller would have a conversion bible/guide somewhere handy at all times. Know your money and have the power to avoid bad purchases or jump in on great investments.

Knowing the different taxation policies in the popular countries would be great. I would also like to see modules taught on how earning money internationally should be handled and what needs to be documented for tax purposes.

This right here would have been very valuable for me early on working with people all over the world. If I do work for a business in Toronto and they pay me the Canadian rate for that job, what does that mean for me when the 💰💰 hits my bank account and what tax should I be paying or not have to pay. What is this mystical tax exclusion zone and how does it apply to people who work online who do business with people all over the world

What if I want to sell Ice to eskimos? do I need to pay tax? or is that ice selling money tax free? just make it super simple and people will do more international business.

4. Property 🏠

Understand the basics of how to buy property for investment purposes. Why buying property is a way to generate income and how best to make this a focus goal for the immediate future.

Teachers may not be the best to educate on this topic, why not bring in specialists who do this every day to educate on the pro’s and con’s of real estate. Buying a house is expensive and the average loan goes for 30 years, THAT IS A LONG TIME!

Teaching students some fundamentals around this would help shake up the housing market. It would also help

Side note – Imagine if people coming out of high school understood money and the housing market. The banks and finance brokers would be losing out on buckets of 💰💰💰 this might have a bigger impact on the economy than expected.

5. Starting an online business 💻

The number 1 thing I teach people in my training sessions is to take ideas and stress test them as startup businesses. Particularly starting a blog and taking it from there. I like to problem solve and create new opportunity. The age old saying about throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks does apply here.

On a daily basis I have 3-6 NEW BUSINESS ideas that I can pursue. The reality is I do not have time to put these ideas through their paces. My good friend Gabriel has 200 times more start up ideas a day and he acts on 1 of these a day. He is also spread thin and can not give these ideas the effort the need to grow into something sustainable.

Young people are the future and they have something most successful business people do not have …..TIME. If startup was a module taught in the education process the world just might be using Tony Stark Ironman type technology right now.

tony stark technology

I really think teachers would struggle teaching this because they may not have experienced it themselves.

Id like to see a class dedicated to exploring the types of online businesses people build.

  • How they pick the industry category
  • How they take the business to market
  • How they project and maintain the business
  • How to staff the business and when to expand
  • How they build revenue streams into the business
  • Looking at the growth potential

That in a class would be fascinating and I would say right now that I for one wouldn’t be caught skipping class if this was the type of learning material we had.

“I am a big believer in making online businesses as soon as you can. The ability to take an idea and build a business opens up a world of opportunity for you.”

Shenzu

6. Types of investments 🏘️

Know the different types of investment opportunities available when they have some money. Imagine a world where your kids are planning how to manage their finances before they graduate.

I would love to see my daughter having knowledge about taking her savings and having the insight to invest in a money generating asset coming out of high school. That would be a really valuable finance lesson.

I chatted with my daughter about how to invest in teh future and one of my all time fave methods of buying websites and growing them. We spoke anout her buying a small established website that makes a couple hundreds bucks a month. We talked about taking a thousand dollers and buying a small site making about $50 month or so and buying that to keep as a money maker. The reality is this is new for her and so many others it can be hard to believe that websites can make money unless you live in that world.  

I cover my expenses involved in running this blog and how its more of an investment than an expense. Its not all rainbows and butterflies.

7. Debt Management 💳

Let’s face it not everyone has surplus money, there are people who are born into debt. Why don’t schools teach kids how to manage debt.

I had a bit of debt in my younger years because I didn’t understand credit cards, loans and interest enough to manage that. Funny that this might form a similar story for many people reading this. It took me a little bit of trial and error before I understood how it worked, gee if only I had a guide or mentor to help me navigate young adulthood.

Teaching kids how to manage debt makes so much sense. Rolling on from learning money, bank accounts and investments this is the natural next step. Educating on the impacts and makeup of credit and why the credit card is not a great idea no matter how attractive the deal is upfront.

im sorry sir meme

If people were not in so much debt they would have more capital to build the startup business that they could pursue their passion. This would be like moving money away from the credit and loan companies and putting that money into other business that HELP BUILD the economy.

 

8. Stress Management 😤

This could play a huge part of helping the transition from student to adult. The stress of family, expectations, earning enough money, and just the daily grind of life all build stress.

There should be a stress level indicator test or chart or something that shows them the different levels of stress and what impact it has on your body or brain.

Today I handle stress very well, Water in a glass . I don’t let anything or anyone impact my day. My day will go as planned with slight deviations dependant on who or what I interact with.

Some stress management techniques that have helped me:

  • Breathing
  • Routine – Gym, walking, house chores
  • Lately Jigsaw Puzzles
  • Video games
  • Writing content

9. Eat healthy & exercise daily 🥒

Make sure you are eating healthy, as a young adult nutrition is vital to the growth and development into a healthy adult. There is a very very basic overview of this in schools at the moment but not to a level where kids know 2 cans of Coke A Cola a day are bad and that swapping a Snickers bar for a apple is the better choice

I would really like to see a basic fitness routine laid out for the class so they can leave school and have a routine they can take with them everywhere they go.

I would also love to see a basic meal plan for them when they leave school and move into their college dorm or first apartment. This is one of those most basic things that you need, I know Im a terrible cook but I learned how to make healthy food the hard way.

This just makes so much sense to me to provide these young people with the life skill to know what meals to prepare when they are looking after themselves.

Extra: The Art of Being a Man 👨‍🏫

They could also do one for the ladies but being a man I think it’s something that is fading as we move further and further away from the 1900’s. The more I see the young men of today the more I shake my head in confusion. How did we go from building railway lines and roads to wearing shoulder sling purses and skinny jeans and not opening doors for women? I am bamboozled at times.

undertaker is bamboozled

Not everyone has a father to pass on knowledge and teach them the art of being a man. Manners, attitude, hard work, trust and integrity the basics of being a great human being. The schools could take this on as a extension module to help educate in various life skills and good human traits as a basic preparation from school to workforce.

 

Thanks for reading and I hope this provoked some thought about what your kids are learning. This really opened my eyes to what I should be teaching my daughter myself because it wont be taught at school. I have shown her this blog and she gives me feedback often about topics I could write about and things she see’s in her world. If you enjoyed the blog please take a moment to like and share it :).

 

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Alternative Tips For Attracting New Clients To Your Agency

Alternative Tips For Attracting New Clients To Your Agency

by | May 7, 2020 | Business, Guides

Client Attraction Tips To Help You Get New Clients Into Your Agency

 

Clients, not everyone loves working with clients and I hear horro stories about this almost weekly. The end of the day the agency model depends on the clients to continue trading. What this article is about is some alternative ways to attract and sign new clients and some ideas for improving your process around this.

*Disclaimer I am not client facing and do a lot of my work through an account manager or someone who handles that client relationship. I know areas where I am not so strong and that is definatley client relationships.

ClickBucks does not take on clients.

 

Potential clients need one thing above all others. A valid reason to believe what you have to offer will work for THEM. You see we have all purchased products and services that haven’t lived up to the promises made. So we have become smarter at not getting burnt again.
The easy way to do this is say no.
But what hasn’t changed is our wish to fulfil our wants, needs and desires. So as a business we need to give potential clients a reason to believe that what we offer will live up to the promises made. There are many ways to solve this problem but an easy one is to find something new in your offer.
That way people can see that your offer has this thing and the others didn’t so it may work for them.
One question you can use to find the something new is.
What is something clients can only get from me?
It’s challenging but rewarding work and it is also highly profitable.

Things You Need To Do To Get Momentum

Even doing 1% each day works, but you need to do it more than once.
If you improve something you do to market your business each week by just 1% the impact over a year is enormous.
Here are a few 1% actions you can try:
  1. Do 1% more propspecting.
  2. Speak to 1% more people.
  3. Post more valuable content to social media
  4. Test sticking to one social media channel per week
  5. Contact 1% of your current clients for a catchup
  6. Focus on improving your Ad optimisations by 1%
  7. Focus on improving your website page content by 1%
  8. Improve your tool stack by 1%
  9. Review your expenses for improvement and use that saved $$ on advertising
Like Al Pacino said in the locker room scene in Any Given Sunday, Life is a game of inches. If you put in 1% focus each day you will start moving the momentum on that thing you are focused on.

I’ll stop there as I think you get the idea.
Now please do yourself and your business and take 1% more action on something before the end of the week.

“I’m not really a client facing guy I do prefer the background operations of client work. But I do enjoy the assist where I will help a account manager with a technical pitch or a really unique opportunity where they need some out of the box thinking. In essence the client wants the expert advice from the professional. As long as you can confidently demonstrate that you are the boss at what you are selling they will have confidence to give you their money.”

Shenzu

Would you like to know what I believe the most potent and underused marketing weapon is?
If you didn’t say yes and you own a business please call a doctor and make sure you’re OK. 😂
It isn’t curiosity like I used in the opening line though that is powerful.
I believe it’s a word you don’t hear often.
>> Consistency.
In other words doing the things you need to do to drive your business every single day.
Some days you will do them and seemingly nothing happens. That’s the why life is.
Other days you’ll strike gold. But unless you do the things that matter consistently you will have substandard results.
My number one thing every business should be doing daily is running prospecting systems to bring in new clients.
This doesn’t have to be one of those 60 step sales funnels the gurus are so fond of.
It can be as simple as reaching out to 10 people a day and having helpful conversations with them. 
Multiply that by 52 weeks a year and if you are doing it even half right you will get some decent clients coming in. 

Quick Method To Attract New Clients

One of the fastest ways to get a bunch of new clients is to access other people’s audiences.
That is find someone who already has a great relationship with a group of clients you’d love to have. Make sure they are non-competing of course.
For this to work well you must make sure you have something to offer that is great for their clients and ensures they gain status by passing it on. Not everyone will go for it but those that do can bring you in a ton of new sales.
If you’re stuck for ideas on finding people with your potential audience ask questions on Reddit or Quora and monitor teh comments you will get some unique tactics this way and potentially introductions to new clients or people who have complimentary skills to you.
Make sure you include what you offer and what a great client looks like for you

What Can You Do To Lower The Risk For A Client?

The lower the risk a potential client feels the easier it is to say yes to doing business with you?
In challenging times the businesses that reduce risk the most will perform the best.
What do you do to reduce risk for your clients?
Here are some ideas:
> Provide a minimum result guarantee
> Provide batches of leads upfront
> Provide 1 week of work free
> Provide 1 month free
> Help get them $$ upfront before they pay you

The Key Takeaway

 

There’s never been a better time to reflect on your unique selling position, systems and offering to take stock and answer some of these key questions.

How can I make it better?

Here’s some examples to get you started.

How can I make my ads better?
How can I make my website better?
How can I make my social posts better?
How can I serve my clients better?
How can I make my product/service better?
You can also apply this powerful question to your self.
How can I make my health better?
How can I make my skills better?
I think you get the idea.
What I am going to do is to ask you to takke stock and take action. Start with your why and then set your self a task to answer the questions raised here and come up with a better offering.
And finally…Which question will you work on today?
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How To Make Website Visitors Convert Better

How To Make Website Visitors Convert Better

by | Apr 27, 2020 | Guides

Psychology Behind Website Visitor Conversions

Before you start your first landing page test, it’s important to understand some psychology around the behaviour of compliancen and why people must complete things.

When you’re looking to generate leads, trials, or demos, if you keep taking fields away (like we spoke about before), you’re left with the fields that are the most threatening for a visitor to fill out.

The usual supects

  • Name
  • Email
  • Phone Number

This is their contact information. The information that they hold most precious and would prefer NOT to give out if they can avoid it.

If they give you this information without you giving them the information they want, then they’re no longer anonymous, and that can freak people out.

So how do you get that information from them, in a willing manner, that also leaves you with higher conversion rates?

You add more fields and more steps. The exact opposite advice of what everyone else is preaching.

But here’s the catch.

The order of your fields and the order of your steps are extremely important.

Your goal is to get the visitor to micro-convert on a step with fields/questions that are easy to answer. Once you’ve done that, you unlock some pretty crazy conversion potential:

I didn’t make this up, there’s actual research behind this

Here’s How It Works

Compliance Psychology is literally the landing page version of the “Yes Ladder” that’s used in sales.

It’s the art of eventually getting to what you want (the conversion) as a marketer, by getting visitors to accept/say yes to much smaller requests first. I like to think of it as an appealing micro conversion or a snack sized commitment.

It’s the science of working backwards from whatever your big ask (your call to action) is on your landing page.

  • Are you a divorce lawyer who wants to drive free consultations? Ask your visitors how long they’ve been married and how many kids they have.
  • Are you an online university who wants to drive applications? Ask your visitors when they graduated high school and how many hours they’d like to be in school.
  • Are you an interior decorator who wants to drive quote requests? Ask your visitors how many square feet your home is or how many rooms they have.

By asking your visitors questions with fields that are easy to answer and allow them to stay anonymous, you’ll set yourself up for a higher chance of them to finish the entire conversion process.

The Breadcrumb Technique

Originally coined by those PPC geniuses at Klient Boost this is a way to let the visitor see the trail by giving them one bite at a time.

Why You Can’t Lessen The Amount of Form Fields

Since we’re a PPC agency that uses PPC platforms like Facebook and AdWords to drive traffic and conversions, we’ve been fortunate to use the landing page test of The Breadcrumb Technique across hundreds of different industries.

The more we use it, the more it affirms the reality that less fields don’t always equal more conversions.

Some of the hypotheses we’ve thought of as to why using multi step landing pageswork so well have come down to this:

  • Having just the fields of name, email, phone number make the visitor believe that they won’t get an answer to their question without having to speak with someone first (this goes against their goal of being able to compare you and your competitors while still being anonymous). Plenty of Hotjar polls prove this.
  • People are busy. If they find your landing page via a Google ad click, then they won’t want to fill out seven different lead gen forms (because of seven different Google advertisers) as they know seven different companies will call them back.
  • People are lazy. They want quick answers, and most of their questions revolve around costs. They know they won’t get a quick answer if they have to wait for you to reach out to them.

    Another thing to understand – people can be anonymous while comparing you to your competitors, so the last thing they want to do is give you their contact info before they’re able to compare you.

Now some types of landing pages don’t do well when utilizing The Breadcrumb Technique, and these mostly include when you’re trying to promote eBooks, guides, and white papers, that usually only require an email field on the form.

The severity of your ask of your call to action determines whether or not The Breadcrumb Technique will work for you.

If you’re asking for someone to request a free consultation or get a quote (a big ask), then the technique will work. If you’re trying to promote a free eBook, a podcast, or a webinar (small ask), then the technique won’t work that well.

There’s something about this technique that continues to perform, regardless of the industry.

But be careful…

Dont Overdo the Landing Page Form Fields

The order of your fields are sometimes much more important than the fields themselves.

That’s pretty crazy to think about.

You can actually get away with asking questions that people normally wouldn’t convert on, as long as you consider the timing of the field.

It’s the same thing that happens with the “Yes Ladder” and “Foot-In-The-Door” techniques.

If you go straight for the jugular, you’ll most likely lose. That’s why the Scott and Jonathan from earlier in this lecture were able to increase their “yes’es” from 20% to 76% when they asked for small favors first.

Think about the fields and steps in your form and how they can be rearranged so that the least threatening fields/questions are first, followed by contact information fields as the last step.

I’ll give you some real life examples:

• As a kid, you probably wanted to spend the night at your friend’s house. But out of fear of getting a no from your parents, you ask if you can go to your friends house for an hour first, and once there, then ask if you can spend the night.

  • If you need to borrow a car for a longer period of time, ask first if you can borrow it for a short drive. It will make the owner feel more at ease knowing that you didn’t crash it on the short drive.
  • Remember when you were in school and had project due dates? You could ask if you could turn in the paper a few hours later, even though you know you’re eventually going to ask if you can turn it in a few days later.

    So how does this translate to your landing page test?

    The questions/fields you ask on the first step could be the same questions you ask to qualify a lead. Or you could also make them up to make the visitor believe it’s part of the information you need to give them what they want (a free quote or free consultation as an example).

    Take the example test we ran below for another SaaS company. We already used The Breadcrumb Technique but later found that we asked the wrong questions on the first step.

Key Takeaway

Aim for a small conversion first, that micro commitment is key to something bigger on teh users part. So as you take a look at your landing pages, focus on the small ask first and get people to micro-commit.

Even with more steps and more fields, you’ll start seeing you conversion rates increase. Test everything because you may have an increase does not mean stop there try and improve on that with another round of testing.

I hope this has been helpful now go and make some sweet conversion rates. 

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Netflix How To Get Better Browsing Experience with this Hack

by | Apr 23, 2020 | Guides

I’m stuck at home you are stuck at home and we have all watched Ozark, The Office and Game of Thrones at least 3 times already.  How do you get more from Netflix? there is a way. What Ill show you is the hidden power of Netflix. Just like Spotify the powerful Netflix personal AI builder keeps you inside what it thinks is your bubble of what you like.

There is a VERY large library of movies TV shows, Documentrys available online but its locked away. Below Ill send you the powerful way to unlock the hidden feature 🕵️.

Enter Your email and get the goods.

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10 Tips To Be Productive Online

10 Tips To Be Productive Online

by | Apr 19, 2020 | Business, Guides

Do These 10 Things To Get More Done and Increase Productivity

 

I found in my early days of online marketing that I would open tab after tab after tab and click down the rabbit hole. Taking control of my day helped me get serious and move past roadblocks while buildingva team of likeminded goal orientated ninjas here at Click Bucks. Ive compiled 10 tips for you to use to build and grow and effecive team.

 

Tip <h1> Tackle the BHAG First

BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal or big hairy ass goal. This refers to doing the bbiggest meatiest hardest thing you need to do first. Another reference is swallowing the frog. I like to tackle the hardest things first to get them done and from me subconciously putting the off because they are hard to do.

Tip <h2> Make a List For The Day

This will help you prioritize whats the focus verse what just needs to be done. I find visualising the list of what I need to do in a day helpful. We as humans love lists because we can cross things off them and feel a slice of accomplishment when we complete the mini tasks on that list.

Tip <h3> Remove Distraction

This was a real big one for me when starting out. I needed clear focus and having dogs and no supervision I would find myself at the fridge more than I needed to be and wandering from the computer to go play with the dogs. How I tackled this was to create a space that was work only with a door I could close.

I would also block out time chunks. Hard core tasking for 60 minutes then 5 mins of free time then back into it with another sprint session with a small reward at the end. This helped me chunk out my day so I could operate effectively and give myself small rewards for completing micro goals.

Other tips: put your phone on silent or flip it over. Sign out of Facebook and try to limit the number of tabs you have open at once.

 

Tip <h4> Assign Tasks To The Team

I often have to review my task list for a backlog that builds up being the leader means I review a lot of work and this is a squeeze point in the operation so I give allocate a time to review and assign tasks so that the work can be done. Dont hold onto things assign it out or outsource what you cant do or dont have time to do.

 

Tip <h5> Clearly Define What Things Are

This is a great tip for helping others work with you. I often move so fast its hard for my team to keep up and I find that I do two things that slow them down:

  1. Spell everything like an ape
  2. Leave brief notes so vague they just dont understand

What Ive done to fix this is slow down when creating the brief notes for teh team. I write it out and think does this capture everything they need to know and will they understand what this means. Its ok to have teh idea in your head but passing that onto someone else who may not be an all round marketing weapon can be hard.

Write your brief notes, take a breath and reread it. Make it clear and include reference links and linked things they may need. 

I use the following project management tools for making sure my projects are managed effectively:

  1. Asana
  2. ClickUp
  3. Google Sheets
  4. Integromat

For more Tools that might help your team check out the marketers toolkit here.

Tip <h6> Move Impact Tasks Forward

I like to review the task list of my team each day and opush forward the tasks that help me complete goals or are what I call impact tasks. The impact tasks help me move something closer to complete. These can have a huge impact on the project but also team morale and momentum two things that need to be given boosts every now and then. 

Tip <h7> Move Quick To Complete Tasks Forward

When you have tasks on your list that will take less than 3 minuites to complete either do them yourself or assign to your fastest worker and get them done and off your lists. These are quick wins that can add up and add momentum to your productivity.

 

Tip <h8> Improve Your Process When You Can

Im a big fan of constant optimisation in processes and techniques. This is no different, review how you do things and make improvements where you can. This will be really valuable when you start workingw ith teams. If you pick up a new technique that cuts down implementation time by 5 minutes work that into your process.

Share these wins with your team and encourage them to contribute. As you grow your team you will find this culture to save you money and build a string team culture.

 

Tip <h9> Apply Parkinsons Law

To reference someone moe famous than me “Don’t give more time to a task than you absolutely need to”. This rings true the more complex you make a task to be the bigger it gets and the bigger it gets the more time and resources it takes to complete it. Keep it super simple and allocate the tie that it needs to be done and keep it to that rule.

Tip <h10> Like Nike Just Do IT!

The best advice I can give you is just do it, dont put it to the side and move it back. Take the bull by thehorns and get that thing done. This give syou momentum and removes something that you needed to do from you list.

 

This is just a list of productivity tips that can help you get more done each day and help your team be better at delivery of thier tasks. I hope it helps you get more stuff done each day.

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How To Beat Amazon Affiliate Commission Drops

How To Beat Amazon Affiliate Commission Drops

by | Apr 15, 2020 | Affiliate, Business, Guides

Amazon made some big changes early this morning causing ripples throughout the affiliate community. I honestly think if you didnt see this coming then you need to now take control of your revenue. I made big moves away from Amazon in late 2016 after they blundered a big investment in Amazon FBA and made some bogus claims against my Amazon associates account. 

I opened my eyes and looked for other alternatives. They do exist and they are always better to work with than a huge corporation who at any moment can screw its affiliates. Funny enough the screwing happened in the early hours this morning.

 

Summary of what happened:

assive fee changes for some categories on the Amazon Associates program, starting on 21st April.
Home improvement, Garden, Pets,Beauty and more go from 8% to 3% Ive added a change table so you can see what the commissions were and what they are as of 21st April 2020.
To change table  by Amazon – Heartbreak link

The Opportunity For Amazon Affiliates To Pivot

Amazon associates program is not the only revenue stream for affiliate sales. There are so many more opportunities available and Ill show you some of the better places to get affiliate deals setup.

I would suggest taking the approach of diversify your revenue stream just like COVID-19 taught us that things can change. Never leave all your eggs in one basket, make moves to secure multiple revenue streams and this works for affiliates as well. Look at using multiple affiliate programs to monetise your websites.

Think of these platforms like Landlords:

  • Google
  • YouTube
  • Amazon
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Bing
  • Pinterest

You dont control them, you cant control them. All you can do is play by their rules and hope they dont change the rules on you after you have invested time and money building your empire around their goal posts. These are goal posts that move when they say they need to move.

Google will make algo updates and ruin yoru organic strategy overnight.

Facebook will create social engagement changes so you can no longer bait people to click and share your pormotions.

Instagram will hide your engagement metrics so people have to do more things to engage with yoru content making it less rewarding for them.

YouTube can ban your account because you posted more videos in one day than they think you should. The list goes on about how you can loose everything because of these platforms changing their goal posts.

I actively search for new affiliate programs every 6 months in my niches and I would ask you to do similar. Book a date in your calendar and set it to 6 month reoccurring and do the searching you will be suprised at what you find.

My Advice: Consider expanding your site’s potential profit by diversifying your affiliate networks.

Amazon being a big orange bag of dried up apricots is not the end of the world. In fact there are other alternatives and I went through this process when I swore off Amazon when they F#@cked me over back in late 2016.

Here is a roundup of the affiliate networks I would suggest you look at joining to get that loss of revenue back while still selling from your site you were using with Amazon. Each network has strengths and weaknesses and different terms, I found most are decent enough and when you can verify traffic results and sales your almost set to renegotiate your percentage of commission that you get for a sale #winning.

Check them out below.

How to find affiliate programs?

I would always start by searching Google first. a simple query like “Pet food affiliate programs” is a good starting point.
you can search Google using the term “<brand> affiliate” and you will have a range of affiliate program options in most cases. 
Like to have the tech do that for you? I have a solution. You can also try searching platforms like odigger.com and  affi.io.

 

10 Other Affiliate Networks and Programs

 

Clickbank

The staple in naffiliate marketing and where I began my journey into promoting other peoples products. Clickbank is a well-known name withmore than 20 years online maketing history they are the belly of teh beast. Clickbank has developed a reputation for relatively high commissions ranging 10-75% and a name that pays on time everyy time. They say they have reach of more than 200 million customerbase

Clickbank comes with a learning hub for beginenrs, very functional analytics dashboard, extended oppotunity for partnerships and has many reoccurring commissions offerings.

This is a great starting point for beginners and really should be in everyones marketing arsenal.

CJ Affiliate by Conversant

CJ Affiliate are a big player with a LOT of offers. They are a massive affiliate network that works with and promotes products and companies all over the globe, I am suprised by some names that keep popping up in the dashboard of local companies near my home city. Its a suprise to see but just goes to show the power of online marketing.

I love the simplicity of the affiliate dashboard and search functions for finding those winning offers. They have history and expereince o their side and it shows. Great expereince with them so far and Ive been really impressed with thier dropshipping component. They have extended features for more expereinced affiliates called “premier” where you can earn $10k a month and upwards. 

This is free to sign up to and a great starting point for beginners, the more expereinced marketers will thrive with this platform.

 

Rakuten Marketing

Hosting a library of household names think Best Buy, Lacoste, Wal-Mart, Macy’s, and the like this is a one stop shop for affiliates who want to promote more retail type offers. Think big machine style affiliate marketing, they say they have pushed over 120 million orders a year and growing.

They have sme high profile industry awards thrown their way thanks to mThink, they picked up Best Affiliate Network seven years running. 

Rakuten manages the quality and reliability of products and services being promoted. I found this platform a little clunky to use and staying on top of it was a chore. Useful to be part of and you can find amazing offers that do convert really well.

This is good for beginners who want to test the general retail sales offers and clothing etc. Really decent network of offers available but I just found the dashboard clunky, that does not mean the program stinks. Very much worth your time to join and start promoting sales offers.

eBay Partner Network

If you’re already familiar with Amazon’s affiliate network platform, adding eBay’s affiliate program into the mix should be fairly easy to do. With 1.2 billion listings on eBay, there is certainly a wide array of options to choose from, and potential to make money. For Australians eBay is the choice to buy online before Amazon.

On the flip side, eBay’s payment structure could be a deterrent, as the percentage commission in comparison to other programs is smaller (50 to 70 percent), and partners are only paid monthly. This is part of why the platform doesnt have my undying support. I would say use it more but the payouts and structures are not enticing enough for me to focus efforts on here.

This is best for those who liked Amazon associates program. Very similar experience and offerings.

Ive used this damage report before and I have a feeling that 2020 will be the year that I absolutely wear the colour out of this image. Every week its like getting a speeding fine when driving on the freeway. 

Avangate

I like promoting digital info products and downloadables. This is where Avangate comes in to play, a very simple to utilise platform that removes a lot of cumbersome fiddling with settings and crap you just dont need to be doing.

They have a decent sized database roughly 22,000 software products available. They pay pretty good commission rates and have a pretty extensive network of partners. This wont be the best fit for people selling physical products.

 

Shareasale

Shareasale has been around for 18 years and works with more than 4,000 merchants across a wide range of product categories. I like this platform for the range of options it provides. Ive made a lot of money with Shareasale and find them a solid platform for affiliates.

The actual support team are legends they actually take time to help you and keep it real. No slick sales or anyone pulling te ewool over your eyes, the typical internet marketer and affiliate manager stereotype. I give them props for doing a great job consitantly.

Great for beginners to advanced.

GiddyUp

Billed as an “exclusive performance marketing agency,” GiddyUp works with “innovative and disruptive brands” around the world. This site is particularly attractive for affiliates who are working in more obscure or highly specific niches.

Their GiddyUp Publisher program allows affiliates to get weekly Net 5 payments on every offer, and all campaigns are tested and optimized before they go live.

JVZoo

JVZoo is a software as a service (SaaS) company that focuses mostly on online or digital products. It is free to sign up and use JVZoo, and their “newbie-friendly” site design and signup process help facilitate and teach those who might be fairly new to affiliate marketing how to really get going without a lot of risk.

Some of the benefits of using JVZoo are up to 100 percent instant commissions one of the only platforms where you will be getting 100% of the sale. Dashboards show real time tracking of your commissions and alerts on purchase notifications.

This platform gets a bad wrap because a lot of vendors are sharks, they create software thats not complete so that it can be resold in 6-12 months rebranded for another cash grab. Ive lost count of software Ive purchased through JVZoo where Ive had to contact the vendor about support or functional assistance because the domain is down or the logins not working or the entire screen of the dashboard is messed up. All fun with JVZoo.

This network is a headache but it also does have some sweet deals available. You just need to know how to spot the sharks from the actual marketers.

This is for beginners and advanced marketers. Please check your vendor and offer before putting your name behind it as a suggested action from me.

Avantlink

Avantlink is all about data, customization, and better understanding the relationship between the products you promote, how you go about marketing them, and making adjustments so as to better reap the benefits of your work. The Avantlink network is connected with hundreds of merchant partners to work with across different fields, so many different kinds of affiliate marketers may find options there.

With dedicated international affiliate networks, product-level tools, and custom tracking links, you can make sure you are being focused with your time and efforts.

FlexOffers

FlexOffers connects you with more than 12,500 affiliate programs and lists just on 5,000 premo advertisers. You can find a host of categories to promote using FlexOffers.

Apart from its partners, FlexOffers also has a sleek interface for tracking your account, as well as on-call support for publishers.

 

skimlinks affiliate program

Skimlinks

Similar to Sovrn, Skimlinks will create affiliate links in your content automatically for you. For content that’s created without your involvement (like a forum), this might be a good option.

You can also insert links manually as well. They currently have over 24,000 merchants they work with, so I recommend you signup for this one as well. They have a wide range of niche markets.

Bonus Affiliate Marketing Tactic

Another strategy I’ve used is to contact individual companies and ask about their affiliate programs. Not every company will have an affiliate program but if you can explain the benefits to them you can often twist their arm and get them setup with a program.

Some companies run in-house affiliate programs, which means they have a select few affiliates that they work with. Such companies can be quite profitable to work with as you’ll be competing with way less affiliates.

reaching out to these companies to set up a private affiliate deal with them. These can often be worth far more than going with an affiliate network’s offer, as the payouts can be higher.

If they don’t have an affiliate program, you can offer to set one up for them using a tool like http://reversion.com/

Diversifying Your Affiliate Networks Matters

Being in the online business world, you probably already know that things change pretty quickly and that having flexibility is key to success. When it comes to affiliate marketing, that remains true.

If you haven’t already, expanding your potential profit by diversifying your affiliate networks is a great way to build in additional revenue streams for your business. Before diving into any one in particular, make sure to do some research on the program or network to confirm its legitimacy, potential for profit, and alignment with the types of products and services highlighted on your website.

 

Despite the affiliate program you use you should have a niche where you have the knowledge and advantage to produce great content that you can layer monetization opportunities over that content to make you money. Your business goals can bend a little to accommodate the alternative affiliate marketing network that you have added. This will be a new opportunity to try new things and it might just be the wake up call that you needed. Thanks Jeff.

The learning from this move by Amazon remains the same as I say again and again diversify your revenue streams, and do not forget to diversify your traffic channels. This works for using several affiliate networks to make money from yoru website because if one (Amazon) goes down you will still have 2 or 3 programs making you money until you can replace the one that went down.

This is a smart lesson for website owners and online marketers to be more involved in your asset management. Take more control of your asset to keep it future proof against thrid party interference.

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Insights Into My Niche Store Top Selling Products

Insights Into My Niche Store Top Selling Products

The thing that I love about what I do is that I can take an idea and within a day or two turns that idea into an actual thing. I'm talking about eCommerce dropshipping or other product promotion ideas. It is not uncommon for me to have an idea on Friday and by...

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10 Steps To Get New PPC Clients

10 Steps To Get New PPC Clients

by | Apr 13, 2020 | Business, Guides, Paid Ads

Today I’ll share some tips for thoise readers who are looking for new pay per click clients. There is always a way to find new clients and the breakdown today will cover 10 steps to get them signedup.

How Does PPC Work?

For beginners: Pay Per Click PPC, SEM Search Engine Marketing is a method of paying for advertising space hence the name pay per click. Go to Google right now and search buy new car and you will the first 4 or so results will be little PPC ads. This is where businesses pay Google to have their ad show up at the top or bottom os search results. 

This is extremely valuable for businesses especially if they make sales from it. It is also a not so straight forward advertising process, businesses get it wrong so many times. It takes a good online marketer to help them get up and running and making sales.

When I am on the hunt for new clients at the agency I work with I use a tool called ScopeLeads ( no longer for sale) that scrapes Google for companies paying for ads and calculates the position, industry and gives me a list of contacts and data for each results that I can then use to help these businesses get better results.

But today no cheating Ill do it the manual way.

 Quick Note: You can use this 10 step system to get new clients in ANY industry (not just PPC), you’ll just need to alter the steps slightly.

Step 1: Pick a Niche

I dont suggest going broad and searching for anything this will be a huge waste of your time. You should pick a niche and stick with it.

What industry are you going to target?

  • Get an idea by typing some keywords into Google
  • Get ideas by looking at businesses advertising in your area
  • Look at offline options like magazines, mailout papers and newspaper adverts
  • What niches do you already have insider knowledge of?
  • What niches are making money and have high customer value?

Step 2: Find businesses advertising with Google Ads already

If you are going to get clients for this service its a good idea to start with prospects that already understand what it is you will be selling. Not everyone understands online. Don’t try to educate them on something new, instead help them with something they’re already doing.

Look at how they are running their ads and what they doing right but more importantly what they are doing wrong. Now you know exactly what you can do to help them. You just need to exlain to them.

  • Determine best suited relevant keywords from chosen niche
  • Search Google for those keywords and review the results (take notes)
  • Search SEMRush or SpyFu Ad data for those keywords
  • Note down any niche competition so you can use them in your pitch

Step 3: Pre-Qualify Your Prospects

You want to find opportunities where there is some good money to be made. Don’t waste your time with low dollar time suckers. One example is lawters they are very competitive because the money is good when they sign a new client. Think about industries that have high  charges to clients, those are the best for pay per click services.

  • Is your chosen niche spending a decent amount on Google Ads?
    • If not, then move on to another niche
    • Find with SpyFu or SEMRush
  • Gather list of prospects with estimated ad spend > $1,000
  • Gather list of prospects with estimated ad spend > $20,000
  • Remember the low dollar clients are a lower return on your time spent on them
  • Focus on the higher dollar clients as much as possible

Step 4: Complete Mico Ad Audit

You know what they are doing wrong now you need to convey that in your micro audit. This will be used to get you in front of the decision maker. Find the pain and agitate it. The more problems you find the bigger the opportunity.

  • Find problems with their website and ads
  • Does the website load properly?
  • Are they split testing Ad copy?
  • Are they using a call to action in their ads?
  • Are the Display URLs optimised?
  • Do the top three ads contain Ad Extensions (Sitelinks, Call, Location)
  • Mobile optimised website?
  • Are competitors beating them?
  • Are competitors bidding on their brand terms?

Step 5: Engage Prospect Contact

It’s time to reach out to let them know, “You are misisng out on a lot more sales revenue” or ” Your competitor XYZ is getting 5x more than you unless you fix this” type lines will get you responses.

  • Research business to learn of contact info and personnel
  • You wnat to find a decision maker not a receptionist
  • Contact the prospect
  • Start with email and then follow up with phone
  • Always convey that you have more than wha you have told them so that they know you have more to offer but wont give it up unless you get a face to face
  • Get past the gate keeper
    • Did I catch you at a bad time?
    • Who is the best person to speak to about some issues with the Google Ads account?
    • I’m calling/emailing about your Google Ads account and glaring issues that are costing you money
  • Conversion action is a second appointment

Key Takeaway

Prospecting is easy the real struggle is getting in front of the prospect and being given that 3-5 minute window to pitch your professional insights to the right person. You must have confidence in your data and your pitch to get the message across. You want them to sign you as their marketing company.

Step 6: Position Yourself &  Qualify the Prospect

Part I is positioning. Positioning is key to you being the right choice for their business or just some one man band with not many clients. Portray confidence, you did the research you know they are not getting a good return on ad spend.

Part II of this step is letting them know you have other options, even if you dont make it look likk eyou have options. You’re busy and can’t work with everyone, so make sure they’re a good fit.

  • Once they are hooked let them know you can’t work with everyone
  • Tell them you need to ask them a couple further questions to make sure they qualify
  • Verify how much they are spending per month with Google
  • Verify they have access to the Google Ads account (some agencies like ReachLocal don’t allow client access to their account)
  • Set second appointment to review your findings

Step 7: The Meeting

I shouldnt have to give this advice but dress the part. Look confident, smell confident and present like you are the guy that they need to fix their problem. Know your pitch inside out, be sure you know what slide everything important is on and how you will be presenting. Their device or your device and what you need to present on your device.

It’s time to show them what they’re doing wrong.

  • Show up early
  • Dress for the job you want
  • Be prepared with business card, notepad, pad and paper
  • First tell them a little about you and your company
  • Present your mini-audit findings
  • Integrate trial closes throughout the meeting
    • Does this make sense?
    • Do you see why this is important?
    • Did you learn something today?

Step 8: Close the Deal

You’ve demonstrated they could be doing better and you have the knowledge and the team to fix what’s wrong.

  • After you’ve presented your findings sit quite for a moment
  • Give them a chance to speak up
  • With any luck THEY ask YOU “what’s next?”
  • If they don’t speak up, simply ask, “do you want some help fixing these things?”
  • If they want your help, you sell them the full-audit
    • Internal look into the account instead of external like the mini-audit
    • You are going to need to do this work anyways, so you might as well get paid
    • Gives them another hoop to jump through before the big commitment
    • If they want you to jump in right away and start fixing then, include cost of full-audit in the setup fee

Step 9: What Should You Be  Charging?

My rules are to always start high, it makes you look more valuable and you can always offer a discount. Remember do not undervalue your knowledge they obviously need help and thats why you picked them out because you know the details. Charge what you are worth.

If you have to give them something to seal the deal, use a loss leader thats a low cost now but can be a higher cost to them once you have their full trust and support.

  • Mini-Audit – Free
  • Full-Audit – $1,000 or more (roughly 5 – 10% of ad spend)
  • Monthly Management – depends on ad spend but roughly 15 – 20% of monthly ad spend
  • Cost should depend on work that needs to be performed
  • Account setup
    • E-commerce site MORE depending on number of products
    • Lead gen site LESS than e-commerce, cost depends on number of services
  • Don’t forget to charge for setting up the stats tracking
    • Google Analytics goal tracking
    • Google AdWords conversion tracking
    • Call tracking
    • Google Analytics E-Commerce tracking
  • Increase value instead of decreasing price
  • Discount for payment in advance (this works great towards the end of year)
  • Don’t be afraid to push back

Step 10: Contract/Agreement

Don’t forget this step, it’s one of the most important. The agreements especially in this COVID crisis these terms and agreements sheets will be a revenue saver but also can help you to defer payments now in way of giving a couple of free months to pay due to COVID or what ever your agreement covers. 

You need to have an airtight contract or agreement in place to cover yourself and your work. Imagine you have just busted a hump putting together a 10 ad group Google search campaign build for a new client and they decide that the leads are too slow. They then decide that you stalled and dont know how to manage the account, they want to leave and they take all your setup and ad copy and bail on you. These agreements cover your butt.

  • 12 month term with 90 day out if not happy
  • Auto renewal if not cancelled
  • Assignable
  • Mostly boilerplate except for Statement of Work
  • Statement of Work shows what you’re going to do
  • Set expectations of meeting times, mediums (in-person, phone, email, skype) and frequency
  • Show example of monthly reporting template

This is not the exact process you should use but its a great starting point that you can add or subtract and really make your own.

The goal is to get you more paying clients and thats what this framework will do for you. Prospecting is half teh battle, picking those higher paying niches can pay off if you can sign them. Good luck and sign them all up.

Business minded marketer with a keen interest in online behaviour and Ecommerce.

Shen Zu

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How To Load Value Into Affiliate Offers

How To Load Value Into Affiliate Offers

As marketers we are always competing against someone and getting an edge on the competition is what we do as marketers. This article will focus on crafting the offer and how to load up the perception of value behind the offer. This one thing can be the difference...

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How To Craft A Real Marketing Message

How To Craft A Real Marketing Message

Crafting Your Marketing Messaging If you look at your written marketing for what you do e.g. sell websites, promote affiliate offers, printing brochure etc does it communicate in the same language you would use in person?. For some reason when we write we seem to get...

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Insights Into My Niche Store Top Selling Products

Insights Into My Niche Store Top Selling Products

The thing that I love about what I do is that I can take an idea and within a day or two turns that idea into an actual thing. I'm talking about eCommerce dropshipping or other product promotion ideas. It is not uncommon for me to have an idea on Friday and by...

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Email Marketing Guide: How You Can Start Earning

Email Marketing Guide: How You Can Start Earning

by | Apr 10, 2020 | Email, Funnels, Guides

The Most Underrated Online Money Maker is Email

 

Ive been a little late to the party on getting email marketing content out but none the less this ones pretty packed with action sections that you can put in place to build your email marketing money. The beauty of sending emails and making money is hard to believe but its a real thing and its so powerful if you treat your list the right way.

If you look at the nuts and bolts of the real key takeaway here for you and for me in a nutshell is this key takeaway right here:

> Key Takeaway

  1. You need a website
  2. You need landing pages
  3. You need lead forms
  4. You need an email autoresponder
  5. You need some sales offers
  6. You need some content
  7. You need a sequence to tie it all together

My friends that is the keep it super simle overview of how you can make money using emails. But these 7 steps mean nothing unless you know the use case of each step in a little more detail. Ill cover each step in this guide and help you get that email money flowing in for beginners to medium marketers.

Advanced marketers and those already making lots of email money you already know the ins and outs of autoresponders and email sequences.

I use email marketing because it allows me to have a lifestyle that doesnt require me to be stressed or stuck working in one place. I can run this business from anywhere in the world as long as they have internet there Im all good.

Making money online is ​not​ that difficult. It just seems that way at the start or if you get overwhelmed. Well here is the news and it’s not new. You need to ​focus​. This guide shows you in great depth how you can create a simple system to make money online that can easily be scaled up without any saturation to the market.

Unfortunately there will be ​two​ types of people that read this guide.

First there will be shiny object seekers. People who will glance at this book and either move on to something else as it presents itself or glance at this and think they know it all. Either way they ​will not​ take action.

Secondly there are the ​action takers​. These people will read and digest the information we have provided and then put it into action.

It is important that you decide what sort of person you want to be, where you want get to and how you want to live your life. If the answers to those questions are ​something better​, then you must take action. Better still take action now!!!!!!!

In this guide we have put together the system to allow you to create wealth online. Follow the steps in order. Re-read the sections over and over as necessary. We have tried to get the photos as big as possible but remember that you can zoom in if you need to!

In this guide I want to help take brand newbies and people making just on $1,000 a month to the next step and help that email money hit your bank accounts. Bold statement to say online but its really not that hard. If you apply the basic marketing principles and the step by step Ill show you here you will be successful in a month.

Important:

I want you to set a goal before you start this. Work out what you need to hit to have some freedom and I dont need be able to buy a gold lambo lets be real, realistically what $ figure would you need to not be stressed or worried about money all the time?

$100 or $1,000 or $4,000 or more. If you have a target you will be able to track your success better. Also when you hit your target its a really healthy thing to give yourself a small reward like a nice dinner out on teh town or a day spa visit what ever floats your boat.

I will ask you to aplly yourself to the work. You only be successful when you apply yourelf. Two key things I se of people in my community are that they have Focus and they have drive to be successful. If you can apply these 2 things you will be on your way.

 

What you need to do

At the bottom of most of each section I’ve  inserted a small section called ‘​what you need to do​’. This is small brief recap of what you need to do following reading the chapter.

It is not an alternative for reading the contents of the chapter, just a friendly reminder of what to do next, so read the chapters fully. Remember you are the one who needs this to work.

How To Build Your Email List

 

What is a list?

A list is a collection of email addresses that have been obtained by a user subscribing, completing an opt-in form or purchasing a product. By doing so we are building a targeted collection of people who have at least one common and specific interest. Once we are in possession of this list we can send them specific emails that may be of interest to them that contain offers that will earn us money.

Remember what a list is this will be very important later in this guide.

Why build an email list?

First of all email is not going anywhere. You also control this list of subscribers, customers and followers. Unlike Google and Facebook you control this traffic not them. You will be able to communicate with the audience when you want to and for the reasons you wnat to talk about. Never give Facebook etc full control of your audience in that instant that they decide your brand and images are not suited to their audience.

I’ve seen a lot of friends completely wiped out after a Google algorithm update and Facebook algorithm update. That is complete BS man.

Email has now become the number 1 form of communication. We no longer communicate to any real extent via traditional post methods. However remember that we always seem open our emails, even when we know it is trash.

Why? because it is personal. This has to some degree transferred onto email. Yes, we do not open every email. I know people with thousand of unopened emails, i’m one of them i currently have 72k unopened emails over numerous personal accounts. But despite that hundreds of emails still pique my interest daily.

The point is that social media has opened up a lot of ways to communicate in the recent years. But think about this. How many social media updates and statuses are put in front of you each day? How many do you actually read? Then think about the amount of emails you get and how many you read, The percentage will be massively in favor of email. People just read email because it is more personal. It is directly sent to a recipient. We feel obliged to check it out.

The beauty of the list as we have already established is that it is targeted. We know who they are and what they like, therefore we can predict their behavior. When we send an email it is effectively an advertisement. There is no other advertising platform out there (Facebook, twitter, google, bing etc) that can compete with a list in terms of targeted traffic to the right people. Compare monthly subscriptions charges for email marketing 

services with ad charges and there is no competition. Therefore it is the most economical way to advertise your offers.

Problems most people have in building a list

They give up at the first hurdle or set back. This is really relevant to life. We all give up far too easy, regardless of the rewards. I can remember watching the first episode of ‘​The Walking Dead​’ and thinking it was slow and not for me. Years later because I persisted it is my favorite tv show. Not the best example granted, but I would have missed out. We do this all the time.

When building business or trying to improve our lives we will experience blocks in the road. It is how we meet these challenges. Every successful person will have many failures. That’s life. Sometimes things do not happen right away or the first time you try something. It is what we learn from the failure and the commitment to keep trying.

Many people struggle to build a list and then maintain it, because they have no strategy. They haven’t planned their entire funnel of how and why people joined their list and what their experience will be as they move through their business as a customer. Everything needs to relate to one another. If you want a productive list you need a strategy that links the people on it with what you will promote to them and why.

The lack of knowledge in what traffic converts is also an issue for list builders. It’s slightly different for every market. Some convert well in ads, some better on social media and some on video platforms. But then sometimes it can really just be how a person utilizes the traffic.

Lastly it is a lack of investment capital to put forward to build the business and pay for large amounts of traffic in order to build the business quickly. This is usually the main stumbling block people face. The confidence to invest. This is one of the reasons we wrote this book to show people that there is a way to build list on a neutral investment basis.

Image source: Clickfunnels.com 

How To Build An Email Sales Funnel

A funnel is the journey a person experiences as they go through your business from being on the outside all the way through your offers in becoming a paid customer. Each element needs to complement each other to ensure that the customer keeps progressing through the funnel.

A simple list building funnel is as follows; a person opts in to a list in exchange for a lead magnet or having made a purchase of a product. They receive the item. They then receive regular email correspondence with updates or offers in order to increase the customer’s lifetime value to the company. I’m sure you will all be family with this process as we have all bought hundred of things over the Internet. We need to replicate this.

autoresponder follow up funnel

As you can see from the above diagram there is slightly more to the funnel. This enables us to have more opportunities and for the business to be much more productive.

Connecting web pages with forms and sending emails might sound like a technical nightmare on Elm street but its really not that complex. Remember the motto of keep it super simple. We wnat to keep it easy to manage and a tip how I manage sales funnels is to draw them out first and then build hem. After Ive built the funnel Ill save each URL in a workbook with teh name, offer, sequence, form, list name and notes so I know what and where it is in future.

 

We drive targeted traffic to a landing page where we offer a simple specific lead magnet or the opportunity to see an offer. If people are interested they will opt in and subscribe to receive their advertised offer or incentive (lead magnet). By doing so they are added to our list. We will then send them promotional emails as and when which will make us money over the long run on a regular basis.

When someone click on the opt-in button they will be presented with the offer. If they take advantage of this offer we will earning a commision. Alternatively if we have promised the person a freebie, we will also present them with the paid offer and merely supply the freebie by email. Either way we have the opportunity to earn commissions by presenting an enticing offer once they opt in. This gives us the opportunity to start making money straight away! If we offer a freebie it must be strictly linked to the following paid offer so that they are more likely to buy.

So let’s do some simple maths based on typical results.

  • You send 500 targeted visitors to your landing page.
  • 30-60% opt-in rate. (150-300 opt-ins)
    5-10% purchase paid offer (8-30 sales)

These are typical results.

You will never get 100% because you will never interest everyone, it is just impossible to convert 100%. Dont aim for 100% always aim for 30% worst case and 60% best case in these situations. You can improve these rates by split testing and optimising the funnel and Ill cover that later in this guide.

Your front end offer doesnt have to make you money, use the backend funnel to get sales & conversions. These work much better as you have some rapport with the reader. The funnel will help you give value away for free and build trust working towards providing a sales offer to your list. 

Your list will respond better the higher the value you have given them. If you straight up blast spam garbage offers at your list you will crash and burn my friends as simple as that.

 

 

How To Promote Sales Offers Over Email

As you can see from the funnel we need at least one offer to start with that will be presented to the customer after they opt in. My favorite starting point as an affiliate is to promote low paid CPA offers. Offers or products that cost the customer around $5-$10. The magic to this is these low value product typically have a deep sales funnel, if the product we are promoting has a deep sales funnel, then we can make a lot of money if the customers we send to the offer go onto purchase upsells in the funnel.

For example a customer may buy the front end offer for $5, then go onto buy the first upsell of additional content for $27, then a second upsell of additional content for another $27 and so on.

What is CPA

CPA stands for cost per action. In simple terms this means that you promote something and when somebody takes action you get paid a commission. The action can vary but typically it is making a purchase.

Where to find offers

The following sites I recommend as starting points when becoming an affiliate and CPA marketer. You will graduate upwards the more you sell and learn where the best offers are. But we all need to start somewhere.

Warrior Plus: warriorplus.com

Warrior Plus has a variety of make money online courses all of which have low priced (typically 100% commission) front end offers with variable commission deep funnels. I do think beginners should start here, teh low cost ticket items are perfect for getting your first sale. 

The products wont be amazing and change lives but like all networks they have some great products that are mostly underrated because so much of the products on offer are complete shite. Beginners should start here until you have made at least 20 sales.

JVZoo: jvzoo.com

JVZoo has a mixture of courses and softwares that are slightly more higher in quality but typically have more expensive front end offers. Good to get involved with JVzoo offer when promoting to you list later down the line. Just be aware that a lot of JVzoo software offers are hit & run promotional style marketing. 

There are gems among the herd but there is also a lot of software promotions that release a product and then in 6 months promote a NEW flashy shining product that is exactly the same but with 1 or 2 new features and has been rebranded.

I have several products from JVZoo that I promote but no more than a handful because the software development gets abandoned or the creators are scammy D bags. Use this platform at your own risk.

Click Bank: clickbank.com

Clickbank is also full of ebooks and courses, but are priced more expensively. Good to get involved with Clickbank offers when promoting to your list later down the line.

Other CPA networks:

cpalead.com

maxbounty.com

nexusoffers.com

ogads.com

cpagrip.com 

The above sites lists a wide range of offers. There are offers that only require leads to payout rather than sales but these typically have lower commissions. A lot of the offers come via advertisers and therefore admissions to the networks can be a more difficult process, so we recommend joining the three recommendations above first.

What to consider when selecting an offer

When selecting an offer to promote there are a number of things you should consider. Firstly what is the quality of the offer? Are people promoting it already (good sign) and has the product creator a track record of producing products that sell. Secondly is the offer evergreen or at least current? Check out the product and see if it’s still relevant before selecting. Lastly you need to know what the commission rates are.

Two factors here. What % do you get from the front end product ie. the initial commission you get upfront when a sale is made and what the upsells are and the % you receive if sales are made. Also consider whether there are any recurring commissions, which means you get paid every month for example from one sale.

Your Affiliate Link

One thing to remember is that the affiliate link that is created is usually the domain of the network plus a long list of letters and or numbers. This is fairly long and unsightly in most cases because they track a lot of affiliates.

Not a major issue, but a lot of other websites and email providers do not like affiliate links and block them. Therefore we need to mask them. This is the process of hiding them behind another weblink that automatically redirects people to our affiliate link once it is clicked. The best way to do this is with your own paid hosting and domain, by creating a redirect link as this will have your own domain name and look great.

I prefer using bridge pages now for longer strategy goals. This is basically a bridge page where you can provide a bit more info or value and direct all link clicks to your affiliate offer.

For example;

www.mydomainname.com/thisoffer

As a starting point I suggest promoting ClickFunnels because it converts really well.  Find your link by registering at ClickFunnels and search for ‘affiliate signup’. The approval process is pretty quick and you can use it without owning ClickFunnels.

How to mask links with your hosting tutorial

Firstly log into your hosting control panel and go down to domains.

make redirects in cpanel

 

Choose ‘modify the redirects’.

 

Next choose the domain name you wish to utilize, then fill in the details. You will need to type in the page name which is what come after the forward slash.

So ​www.mydomain.com/theoffer​. ​Then paste in the link to where you want it to be redirected to. Its best to keep it really simple so the URL looks clean and shows what the page may be to someone who is thinking about clicking on your link.

What you need to do

1) Sign up for ClickFunnels affiliate program.
2) Apply to promote the recommended offer.
3) Upon acceptance retrieve your personal affiliate link.
4) Mask or shorten your affiliate link 

What Email Marketing Platforms & Tools Will You Need?

 

What is an email marketing system?

Email marketing systems (EMS) are online services that allow you to collate and store email addresses AKA your list. They then enable you to manage the list and send email as you see fit to the list or parts of the list.

You need to select you EMS to suit the level of service you require. Many people decided to start off with Mail chimp (​http://mailchimp.com​). This decision is typically made due to the offering of a ‘forever free’ level of service offered. For free they will allow you to create a list up to 2,000 people and you have the ability to send up to 12,000 emails (in total) per month. On the face of it that is pretty impressive. If you want a free to entry EMS this is the place to start. However the downside is that on the free option you do not get the benefit of any autoresponder features. You can send emails but can not create an autoresponder series, something which is so powerful in converting leads into sales.

What is an autoresponder?

The autoresponder series is a series of emails that you have pre-written that get sent to a customer at pre-determined intervals following their opt-in to your list. As you can imagine this is a very useful feature. For example you can immediately ‘remind’ them about the offer that was presented at the opt-in stage. You can also immediately deliver the lead magnet if you are offering one, which is the best tactic. Why? because it makes the customer definitely read the very first email you send to them. This helps us with future deliverability of emails as it helps the system see that we are not spam.

What are the options?

In terms of EMS that have autoresponders we have two options. We use an online service or we use a plugin to create our own. There are many services available. Such as Awebber, Get Response, Moosend, Mailerlite, Wishpond and Send Lane etc.. everyone seems to have their favorite. They do a similar job and are priced very similar. Typically starting at approximately 20 dollars per month rising as your list grows. Most give a month’s free trial. Alternatively you can purchase a wordpress plug-in than enables you to create an EMS on your wordpress website. With this option you only pay up front for the product, but in order for emails to be sent you need to log in. So whilst you can create an autoresponder you have to physically log in each day to send the days emails.

As your list grows you will probably need to upgrade your hosting package. Swings and roundabouts depending on the control and budget you require. I am finding Moosend to be amazing right now for my mailing campaigns. 

>> Try Moosend for free

Create a list tutorial

Firstly sign up to an EMS, take your pick. For the purpose of this tutorial we will walk you through Awebber, but others are very similar.

Once logged in. Choose to manage your lists.

Next we need to just click create a list.

Once the list is created we need to fill in the information. First we decide on the sender name (your name) the sender email address and our physical postal address.

Next we have to input a name for the list and the a description. The description will be see by a subscriber if they decided to unsubscribe.

Your list is now created.

What you need to do

1) Sign up or create an EMS

2) Create a list

How To Build Landing Pages

What are landing pages?

A landing page is a promotional web page with the sole purpose of

obtaining or converting​ traffic.

Landing pages generally fall within 2 types, firstly a squeeze page where we merely seek to obtain an opt-in to an email list or a sale page where we look to sell something.

We need a landing page to pre sell our offer which will increase the conversions of our traffic to sale.

If you google landing pages you will be met with a plethora of solutions for creating such pages. The high ranking sites will all be web based subscription services. Services such as Lead Pages and Click Funnels. Some of these services are incredible. Currently we are using Click Funnels and it is working exceptionally.

>> Get 14 day free trail on ClickFunnels

What are the options?

There are other options. Firstly if you have the skills you can create a page yourself. Alternatively outsource it. As it is a relatively simple exercise it will not cost much to get an expert to put one together for you. Just go on fiver.com​ and search for someone suitable. Make sure you speak with them first to get their experience and examples of their work. Make sure they can integrate your autoresponder.

We also have wordpress plugins. There are many out there like Thrive Landing Pages which work in a similar way to the web services options. We like thrive, it is not as slick as Click Funnels, but what it does it does very well. Plugins typically cost up front with no recurring fees.

Lastly if you want a totally free option you can create you own utilizing free plugins within the wordpress platform. It is totally possible to achieve decent looking landing page in this fashion without being a whizkid web designer. But you just need to accept that it will definitely take a lot more time to get it together and ultimately will not be as slick and easy as the other solutions other or be as attractive.

What needs to go on my landing page?

The landing page needs to pre sell the offer or gain an opt-in. Therefore you need three key elements.

1. An attention grabbing headline
2. Persuasive sale copy or video
3. A call to action with an opt-in box

Fairly straightforward set of elements. Just remember to consider your end goal. What is the purpose of this landing page. When putting a page together the three elements to consider are; the customer’s pain points, the benefits of the offer and how this solves the problem. Remember you do need to sell the offer to the reader. You need to get them to opt-in. If they leave before opting in you have lost them for good.

The landing page will be promoting an offer, so ensure that you have the link to where the landing page will send the viewer once they opt-in. Also when designing you opt -in try your best to make it similar to the offer page in terms of color schemes etc. You can also put similar phrases and words in your landing page. For example if the offer specifies certain earnings or results put these on your page.

How to build the funnel

The initial funnel will comprise of two or three simple elements. These are effectively two or three simple web pages that a customer will pass through as they opt in to your list. The first page is the landing page which we have discussed extensively above, but it is essential you persuade people to input their email address in exchange for a lead magnet or the opportunity to see and offer. Here is an example.

example clickfunnels page template

 

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At this point there are two options. This will depend on whether you are offering a freebie or are just pointing them in the direction of an offer. Once someone clicks ‘get instant access’ their email address will join our list. If you choose to send them to an offer we just need to make sure that the ‘get instant access’ button will re-direct the person to our affiliate link, this will differ depending on how you created your landing page, the initial funnel is over and we will then hopefully reconnect with them in the future via email. Alternatively if we are offering a freebie (lead magnet) we recommend a further 2 pages. The next page should be a landing page which introduces the offer, but really only links to the offer page, see below. But we add a no thanks link at the bottom which will redirect the viewer to a page which advises that the freebie has been sent to their email address.

 

how affiliate links work

 

They then have two choices either they see what the offer is or continue in the funnel. So we need the third page, which is the thank you page. Keep this so simple. Also always deliver the lead magnet whatever form it is in by email so they check your emails!!!

This system work well to ensure people read your emails from the start. Alternatively we send people straight to the affiliate link from our initial landing page.

What you need to do

1) Decide how you will create landing pages 2) Create landing pages
3) Build your funnel

You Must Have A Website & Email Setup

Having a website and email is crucial to any online business or money making method and should always be your very first tools you purchase. Some methods will tell you that they are not essential. Maybe they aren’t. But we always recommend that you jump onboard with a website and email because of additional benefits they provide.

>>> My Guide For Building A Blog

We need a website for the following

1. A domain name
2. Hosting
3. An email address at the above domain

Why do we need this?

Firstly it is your home on the net. It is a place where you can store all of your promotional material like landing pages, products or downloads. It will look so much more professional than a free hosting option and will give you continuity throughout your brand and message and elevate you as an authority and a genuine expert in the chosen field.

We also get the opportunity to create email from the domain. This is essential to anyone that wants to maximize what they are doing. Firstly we have the first impressions. When we send an email the reader sees who is it from. Always make great first impressions. For example

[email protected] rather than [email protected]

Secondly free email addresses like Gmail do not always make it to someone’s inbox. They can hit the spam or promotions part of the inbox and the majority of people do not check these boxes so we have effectively lost that person on the list. Increase your odds with a domain hosted email.

The incredibly useful benefit of having a domain and hosting is the ability to mask links by redirecting a webpage on our site to another site. This means that when we publish links it initially appears to be from our website. For instance we may have a link to an affiliate product on Warrior Plus and that could be something like

www.warriorplus.com/aha6s8hfsksof983jdsls0 Whereas if we set up a redirect link we could have a link like

www.mydomain.com/offer

What I need to do

1) Buy a domain with a hosting plan
2) Install wordpress
3) Create your own personal email with the domain name 4) Create re-direct links with your chosen offers

How To Build A Email Follow Up Sequence

 

What is an email sequence?

The autoresponder email sequence is a series of pre written emails that get sent to a customer at predetermined intervals following subscription to a list. We want to set this up so we can communicate with the list in the early phase on auto pilot. We just have to create a system that includes a series of emails that we always want to send to the list.

We can easily create email sequence within EMS that have autoresponder features like Awebber. We just have to decide on the content and the strategy and then draft out as many emails as we want to be sent out on autopilot to the new subscribers.

Within the sequence we have to build a relationship with the list so that they continue to open our emails. We have many options and many opportunities. Feel free to experiment. Many people like to introduce themselves whilst many like to go straight into promotion.

Generally we have 4 options;

● Provide value and engage the list 

● Provide content and information
● Selling lots of crap
● Promote the sale.

The whole mailing game is all about strategy, which i have alluded to above. You need to work out how you want to tackle it. Do you want to befriend the list? Do you want to just promote? Do you just want to give content 100% and leave monetization to a later date. Initially we recommend that you do the following regardless of your strategy.

Tip: Always deliver the lead magnet in first email

By delivering the lead magnet in the first email it forces people to recognize your emails straight away. High open rates of rate first emails will improve your chances of open rate as you continue mailing into the future. In the same first email you have an opportunity to remind the person about the paid offer your presented to them after they opted in to you list. It is also a great idea to mail over the course of the week further tips and content relating to the lead magnet and/or the paid offer always including a link to the offer. Once you have gone through this process and ‘warmed up’ your list adopt whatever strategy you see fit.

Email sequence tutorial

Again we will be using Awebber, but other provider are very similar.

Login and select your list then from the message drop down menu chose ‘campaigns’.

Next we must create a campaign and name it

This bring up the campaign editor. Choose to start campaign ‘on subscribe’. Which is self explanatory. Then begin building the campaign. On the left hand side we can drag and drop element. Either emails or wait. Think about your strategy and how frequent you want the emails to be then drag them in. Them edit the wait times of the waits.

We now to to start creating each email. Click on emails you have dragged to the centre them choose ‘create a message’ on the right hand side. This open the editor. Draft out an email and click save. You will be returned to the campaign page where you can click save and exit and it’s done!

What you need to do

1) Define your strategy
2) Plan a series of email
3) Load the auto responder with emails

How To Get Traffic To Your Website

This is where we find our customers. Free traffic strategies are very useful, I know many people who use free strategies exclusively and it works for them, however these are long term strategies. But most of these guys also supplement them with paid methods. As we said free methods do give longevity as we are leaving a footprint somewhere for people to find today, tomorrow or next year. Paid strategies typically give us quick results as we are getting qualified leads. This is because we are paying for something to be visible for a period of time.

In the online space paid traffic falls into three type;

1. Traditional ads

2. Modern ads
3. Email ads

Traditional

By traditional advertising we are referring to search engine ads. Here we promote websites at the top results of google or along the side column. As search engines are used so extensively we can get good results. The same goes for banner advertising on specific websites. Downside is that this can be fairly costly and targeting can be hit and miss.

Modern

Modern advertising relates primarily to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Facebook has become an advertising giant. They have taken advantage of their enormous user base and have cleverly utilized all of the data they have for each user. We are talking about pages you ‘like’ or groups you join. Your age, location, marital status etc.. The brilliance is in its simplicity. But that works for us, we can utilize this data and target ads to specific people. Works very well, buy can be expensive when working out what works.

Email

Then we have email ads. ​This is what we love​. The whole business we are building is driven by email, so it make sense that our initial traffic should come from email. That way we know the people coming on to our list open emails!!​ The secret sauce​. This really works for any type of niche, fine people who already have list and negotiate a price to send an email from their account to their list.

In the space we are utilizing which is internet marketing or making money online, we have the benefit of have solo ad vendors. These are guys who have built up and continue to build enormous lists of leads that are favorable to the internet marketing message. The cost of solo ads is priced by the estimated open rate. So typically you will put in an order for say 200 clicks (opens). This helps us to asses the efficiency of the ads. So let’s just recap on solo ads, they work because;

  • People read emails
  • Very cost effective
  • You get what you pay for
  • The audience is already targeted
  • The results are quick.

So going back to the funnel we gave you and the example of how the traffic can filter its way through into leads and sales.

Which was as follows;

• You send 500 targeted visitors to your landing page. • 30-60% opt-in rate. (150-300 opt-ins)
• 5-10% purchase paid offer (8-30 sales)

So we if we consider that a click may cost us 50 cents. So that is 50 cents for a single lead. Some people will think this is expensive, but if you consider that typically on average over the course of a year each email address on your list should be producing 1$ per month you can see how worthwhile it is. So at 50 cents the 500 clicks will cost us $250. In exchange for this we will receive 150 – 300 leads, which as long as we optimise our email effort will earn us the 1$ per month.

But we also get the 8-30 sales. What this equates to is hard to assess, as we will have the front end price which could be 7$, but each offer will have upsell of varying cost. On average we could take $15 of the average commission.

This means the 8-30 sale equate to approximately $120-600. Please do not get down of the ad doesn’t not make a profit or even come close. Remember we are in it for the long game and want to make money from the subscriber regularly!

How to chose a solo ad vendor

Choosing a solo ad vendor should be no different to any other investment you make. You need to do due diligence to make sure they are capable to fulfilling the service you are in need of. First of all check out the reviews. Here’s a good tip for choosing anything. Make sure there are a mix of good and bad. From experience if all reviews are 100% good, something can’t be right. If something is real, it will have ‘haters’ remember that. But assess what’s on offer and make a balanced decision.

We also need as much tier 1 traffic as possible. Our message is in english, so we need, typical english speaking countries like USA, UK, Canada, Australia etc.. There no point wasting money on people who potentially can’t understand the message or haven’t got the money to spend.

Most vendors will provide statistic and so will the reviews of the vendor. We need to check out the open rates and the opt-in rates to see what vendor are proving quality traffic. Some vendor will guarantee opt-ins, which is great, but may be slightly more expensive however they may give you more guidance due to their guarantee.

Speak with the solo ad vendors and tell them about the offer you want to promote. Many will give advice. Some will offer to write the copy in the email. Some will also produce the landing page for you. Why? They want results too so you reccomend them, or continue to use them.

Find Solo Ad Vendors

There are numerous solo ad vendors.

First of all check out facebook groups that have solo ad testimonials, there are many.

Some other great solo ad sources are Udimi.com

What to monitor

When you send a solo ad you need to monitor and track statistics. You cannot just go by how many pole join your list despite that being the keep metric. You need to monitor that you are getting tier 1 traffic and whether you are getting the clicks you requested. We can do this with link tracking software like Clickmagick. There are many alternatives out there. The software tracks the links that you put in the email and how it is exposed to other email boxes and whether it is read or clicked. Ask the solo ad vendors how they prefer to track the solo ads.

What you need to do

1) Research solo ad vendor and communicate with them

2) Track links
3) Make solo ad

Now You Start To Split Test Performance

This an element of any business that most people do not consider important. If we go back to the start where we spoke of the mindset and also where people go wrong trying to build profitable lists it was that people give up too easily. They hit a roadblock or something doesn’t work straight away and they then wave the white flag. This is life people. Sometimes things don’t go well the first time. If everyone gave up when this happened nothing in the history of the world would have ever happened.

When things don’t go as smoothly as we thought or we want to improve we need to makes changes. This is where testing can be great. In this type of business what can we test?

• Offers – some just suck
• Landing pages – Color, headlines, pictures
• Lead Magnets – Some will work better for different audiences • Solo ad vendors – Some have better leads
• Emails – Headlines and content style

Trial and error. Mistakes and rewards. You will need to learn on the job in many ways, but you can see there are many ways you test different things to see if results improve. Just do not give up.

The Key Takeaway

When I set out to create this project I wanted it to be a guide that was easy to follow with a clear message. I also wanted it to almost be a bible for building an online business that ANYONE could do. I feel we accomplished it here.

We’ve shown you the theory behind every element of an online business and we’ve also shown you what YOU need to do. If you follow each step you will struggle to fail.

Just remember if you send targeted traffic to carefully selected lead magnet or offer you will build a list of targeted emails. This in turn can be converted into sale after sale.

Author: Shen Zu

 Business minded marketers with a keen interest in online behaviour and Ecommerce.

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