Lee McIntyre’s Honest Marketing Blog

Different Solutions For Different People?

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Yesterday I got back from a LONG weekend in Newcastle Upon Tyne.  One of the great things about running an Internet business is the ability to work from anywhere, and I’m strongly considering moving to Newcastle for a short while.

I went to Newcastle University, I love the area, and I still have friends who live locally too.

Suddenly I feel an urge to make the most of the freedom that my Internet business provides, and so I’m looking forward to spending some time in one of my favourite cities.

In Manchester I own a house that I’m currently selling, and so in Newcastle I plan to rent for a while.  Over the weekend I looked at 7 VERY swanky city centre apartments overlooking the river, and now I can picture myself sat on the balcony, drinking beer and making money.

Are these apartments cheap? No way!

In fact, the apartment I like the most in the Baltic Quay development costs more than $2,000 a month.

I’m going to be working from home and I want to live in the city centre. I plan to do lots of writing, and so a balcony overlooking the river is enough to make me feel completely inspired.

Obviously $2,000 per month (£1,100) is a big amount, but at this stage of my life I’m more concerned with the benefits and the lifestyle than I am with the premium rental.

Let me take you back to 2001 when I was living in a student house in the same city…

At the time my main housing concern was to be living in a place that was as cheap as possible. I lived with 4 mates, and my monthly rental was just $168 (£84).

Now that might sound cheap in comparison, but trust me when I say that it felt expensive at the time! We had an amazing time of course, but if you actually saw the property you’d think we were being overcharged!

As a student can you imagine my reaction to the thought of paying $2,000 per month rental? I probably would have either fainted or been violently sick!

Let me explain…

The Lee from 2001 wanted cheap and cheerful, with the very minimum of thrills. My bedroom view was of a backwall containing barbed wire and broken glass and that was fine by me.

The Lee from 2008 wants a fancy bachelor pad with a plasma TV and a riverside balcony.

You see, different people have different problems needing different solutions. What would happen if you were a letting agent just selling $80 properties to a group containing people looking for a $2,000 pad?

What would be the likely outcome if you were only selling $2,000 riverside apartments to a group containing people looking for the $80 budget option?

In both examples you’d be providing just one solution to people with different problems. And that means you wouldn’t be maximising your profits, and you’d be leaving serious cash on the table.

Let’s apply this lesson to your online business…

Whatever your niche you will have some subscribers who want the budget solution. Maybe a $7 report, or possibly a $27 ebook.

You’ll also have subscribers who have more urgent problems and so who are willing to pay a premium price for a solution that delivers.

Some subscribers will want basic ‘how to’ information. Others will want toolkits and ready made solutions. Others still will want DVD sets and audio CDs.

And the solutions your individual subscribers crave will vary over time, in the exact way that the solution to my housing problem today is hugely different to in 2001.

Think about this…

Right now your list is full of people looking for different answers. The question you must ask yourself is are you providing different solutions, or are you just focussed on one problem experienced by one type of subscriber?

Let’s look at the products in my business for example…

I have a $1,000 phone mentoring program

I have a $450 email mentoring program

I sell a $240 per year membership site and forum

I sell a $197 webinar course

I sell a  $97 audio homestudy course

I sell a $37 ebook

I sell a $10 audio interview

I gave away lots of free reports.

Do you see my point?  Not all my subscribers want to spend $10 on a solution. And not all want to spend $1,000.

To maximise my profits I produce products at multiple price points and in multiple formats. Why? Because this way I’m doing my best to cater to the different segments that populate my list.

Does your online business offer different solutions to different problems? If not you’re missing out. Realise that your email list contains a varied bunch of people looking for differnet answers and you’ll make more money as a result.

And if you understand that the solution someone craves today might be different to the solution sought tomorrow you’ll find it easier to develop the range of products and services that keeps your subscribers AND your bank manager happy.

Popularity: 12% [?]

3 Simple Steps to Skyrocket Your Profits Today

Want to discover a quick and simple way to boost your profits by 50% or more? Well buckle up because that’s exactly what I’m about to share with you today.

But first I want to talk about my local pizza restaurant…

You see, they sell a fantastic ‘tuna and sweetcorn’ thin crust pizza and it really does just melt in your mouth.

Heck, it’s probably one of the best pizzas I’ve ever tasted and I’m getting hungry just thinking about it now!

In fact I’ve probably ordered at least a dozen (or more) pizzas from this place in the last year…and I must be one of their best customers by a country mile.

But here’s something to think about…

Every week they put menu leaflets through thousands of houses in the local area. They also give out flyers in town, and place huge ads in the local paper.

Cripes, in comparison to their competitors they’re an absolute marketing machine!

They spend a fortune on advertising, but do you know how many times they’ve contacted me directly as a loyal customer?

Not one! Blimey, talk about leaving some serious money on the table…

Let me explain…

What do you think would happen if these pizza guys rang me one quiet Tuesday evening? If they thanked me for my custom and then offered me a killer special offer?

What would happen if they sent me a nice thank you card together with a coupon for a 20% discount that had to be used inside 7 days?

Well I’d be whipping open my wallet and handing over hard earned cash that’s for sure!

You see, instead of deepening their relationships with EXISTING customers they concentrate far too much on finding NEW ones.

Let me ask you this…

Which piece of marketing do you think would give the pizza shop the biggest return on its investment?

Handing out 1,000 menus to strangers in the street or sending out a time sensitive discount coupon to 100 of its highest spending customers?

Blimey, I’d bet the lot on the fact that contacting its best customers in this way, and making them feel special while offering them a discount, would produce a jumbo sized result!

And this works online too…

Why do so many marketers shuffle around trying to build a big list of new prospects without even a second thought to their EXISTING customers and subscribers?

I haven’t the foggiest why they do this and it really is marketing suicide gone mad!

Let me give you an example….

Last week I sold out my Super List Building Webinar series. I emailed just 4,253 people and I sold out all 25 spots in less than 12 hours, giving me a profit of $4,925.

You can see some screenshots below…

How was I able to do this with such a tiny list and NO affiliates or JV partners? It’s simple.

With everything I do I put a HEAVY emphasis on looking after the needs of those who have ALREADY bought from me, and not just on trying to build a big list of new prospects.

I’d rather have a list of 4,000 where I have deep relationships with my subscribers than a list of 40,000 where people can’t even remember my name.

So what does this mean for YOUR business?

It means that if you stop the maddening hunt for fresh subscribers and instead start looking after those who’ve already placed some trust in you then you’ll massively increase your profits.

I guarantee it.

Want me to get more practicle? Not a problem.

Here’s a quick 3 step plan to applying the theory above to your business today…

1) Overdeliver starting right at the time of the purchase.

Want to make your customers buy from you again? Well simply give them MORE than they expect when they buy from you in the first place!

Customers who bought my list building webinar course paid for 6 sessions.

Is that what they’ll get? No way!

You see, I wanted to give a nice thank you surprise, which is why immediately after purchase they were told they would get a bonus week for free!

Give your customers an unexpected valuable bonus as soon as they buy from you and you’ll increase your profits starting today.

2) Add a buyers autoresponder message sequence

As soon as someone buys from you they should be placed onto an autoresponder sequence for buyers only.

If you fill this with messages thanking the customer for their purchase and encouraging them to ‘consume’ the product then you’ll massively boost your profits.

Why? Because if your customers see that you care for them even AFTER they’ve made their purchase then they’ll be more likely to buy from you again in the future.

So encourage your customers to use your product. Give them tips and hints.

Give them unexpected bonuses that add yet more value. Tell them real life success stories.

Place a heavy emphasis on getting your customers to enjoy your product and they’ll reward you with more purchases in the future.

Do you currently sell a product? Do you have an autoresponder just for buyers? If not, add one today. It will be quicker to setup than you might think.

This one tip has been responsible for adding thousands to my monthly income. And that isn’t hype.

3) Offer special deals to the buyers of your product

As well as packing your autoresponder sequence full of useful help you should also include some links to related products.

Remember the story about my local pizza place? Remember how I would have responded if they’d have offered me a customer only special?

Well apply this lesson online and your profits will skyrocket!

If a customer buys product A then offer them a discount for product B. Make them feel special and let them know that the discount is only available to buyers of your product.

Want to turbo charge this tip?

Then make sure that the products you promote in this way are more expensive AND contain more value than the product you sold in the first place.

Recommending products at the backend that increase in price AND value really is the way to building the business that you dream of step by step.

Don’t have any products like this to promote at the backend? Not a problem!

Simply find someone else who does and promote this as an affiliate (hint: if you really want to take this up a notch then negotiate a discount on this product so your customers MUST buy through your link).

Okay, there you have it…

Building a big list of prospects should never be the goal of any business. The goal is to build a list of CUSTOMERS who you develop deep relationships with and who want to buy from you again and again.

Why spend time and money building a massive list of cold prospects when instead you could be profiting wildly by markting to the HOT prospects who’ve already trusted you enough to buy from you in the first place?

These people are the lifeblood of your business. Treat them as such and your business will boom.

Follow the 3 steps above starting today and you WILL increase your profits. Just remember to come back here and tell me your success stories when you do!

(Don’t forget to leave your comments below…it’s always great hearing from my readers!)

Popularity: 65% [?]

Creating Your Own Product Doesn’t Need To Be Rocket Science

I’m sure that if you have been online for any amount of time, you will have realized that having your own product is one of the best ways to grow your business and establish yourself in your niche.

But many people are so overwhelmed with the prospect of creating something of their own, that they just freeze up and don’t know where to start. They think it will be too hard, and that they don’t have enough knowledge on a subject to make anything worthwhile.

If this is you, you need to get over that fear and just jump in and get started!

Do you think that all of the other marketers out there with their own products in multiple niches knew everything about the topic they created their product around? Cripes no!

Many of them will have paid a ghostwriter to create the product for them. Some may have taken some good PLR material they obtained and added some of their own research to it.

And just as many will have done some research and put their own product together from what they learned.

What I want to emphasize with this post is to just get out and start getting your product done.

If you have found a niche you are interested in, and you feel that there is a good market judging by your research, just go for it!

There is just tons of crazy information available that you can use to put a solid product together – on the internet and through books at your library, as well as by interviewing experts in the niche.

Go to some of the forums in your niche and see what people are asking questions about. Ask your own questions. Then, take note of the answers and use the knowledge you are gathering to put into your own product.

Having your own product is one of the best ways to make money online – and if you are serious about building a business, you need to step out of your comfort zone and just get your own product put together.

It doesn’t need to be a literary masterpiece, and it doesn’t need to be a grand slam home run product like the heavily hyped guru products.

If you have ten small products that you have put together over time and have them out there making even just a bit of money each day, you’ll be making as much as the big guru product.

The best thing is, without the big hype associated with your product – you won’t have to keep the momentum up to keep selling it.

Keep your head down, and keep working to put out good quality products that can work for you for the years ahead, and you will see the results you are hoping for.

Don’t get overwhelmed with the prospect of putting out the best and most unique product ever – put out your own product, that offers good information and that you are proud to put your name on.

Then you will start seeing the money come in, and your hard work will pay off.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Have You Ever Hit A Brick Wall?

Do you sometimes struggle to find new ideas for creating products? Have you ever hit a brick wall when trying to think of new things to write about?

If this ever happens to me, I take a step back, take a deep breath, make a crisp sandwich and dive into the Social Networking Sites to find out what the latest hot topics are!

I go to Sphinn, Digg, Stumbleupon, Technorati, Delicious etc. and take a look at the most popular articles in the subjects that I’m interested in.

In a short while, I have more fresh new ideas buzzing about in my brain than you can shake a stick at!

Other fantastic places to collect ideas from are forums. Take a quick visit to your favourite forums and find out what people are searching for or need help with. A lot of new ideas can be gleaned from these places.

After a taking a look at my favourite Forums today, I can see that some folks are searching for help with their Wordpress blogs, some want help with their salespages, others would like to know where they can find eBay About Me Page templates and another wants to know how to put an opt-in form on their eBay About Me Page.

So, after a quick five minute search my brain is buzzing full of ideas for creating products that will help these people out!

I could create a Wordpress video tutorial, a report about creating salespages, create some About Me Page templates , a video tutorial about how to insert an opt-in form into your About Me Page.

You can really create something of value out of these ideas!

These new creations could be given away in exchange for names and email addresses to build up your opt-in list. You could also offer them for free to your subscribers by including them in your email newsletter marketing with giveaway rights to make them go viral.

You could put a download link for your new creation on your site, and this will help you to build a fantastic relationship with your website visitors and ultimately turn them into subscribers.

You’re then giving great value to your subscribers and site visitors and above all, gaining their trust, which is crucial.

So the next time you hit a brick wall and you just can’t come up with anything to write about…or you have run out of ideas and can’t think…take a break from what you are trying to do and take a look at the Social Networking Sites and your favourite Forums.

And if that doesn’t work I always find that a short lunch break with a crisp sandwich works wonders!

Popularity: 22% [?]

3 Golden Rules For Email Marketing Success

I’m not sharing this with you to brag, but I am telling you this for a reason. In the month of February I made $26,540.30 in online sales, and after taking away $4,770 in commissions, I banked a gross profit of $21,770.30.

You can see my Paypal sales statement for the month below…

And here you can see one of my Clickbank accounts…

Below you can see the sales of one of the books I sell in the teaching niche. I usually sell at least one copy a day, plus I make a much bigger backend income from the promotion of a related product.

This is actually VERY low, but I just haven’t had the time to devote to this project. In fact, my last piece of promotion for this site was 26th June 2007, and yet it still brings in a semi decent income.

When you look at the $25,481.43 in sales on the Paypal statement above, it’s easy to think that this must be the result of hammering my subscribers with promotion after promotion.

After all, isn’t that what every ‘big name’ marketer seems to do on a daily basis? Surely if that’s how they market, then this must be the most lucrative game in town?

Maybe it is, but if you’re a subscriber of mine you’ll know that I don’t play by those rules. After all, when was playing by the rules much fun anyway?

Below you can see the emails that I sent that led to the bulk of my income last month…

Yep, I sent only 6 emails, which included promotions for my mentoring program (which sold out in under 3 hours), and the popular Project New Web package.

I also sent two free videos which you can view by clicking the links below.

Why you need to start building a list today (free video)

How I earned 100k in just 228 days from scratch (free video)

Also it is worth noting that the last email that I sent in January was a free 18 page newsletter packed full of solid helpful content.

During the whole month I only sent one email promoting a product belonging to another marketer, which was a fantastic book called Article Domination. This book sold for $39, but I worked hard to negotiate a discount to $27 meaning that I was able to offer my subscribers a very exclusive special offer.

Here’s somthing to think about….

During the month I didn’t take part in any big launches, and I didn’t bombard my list with offers, yet I was still able to earn a profit of $21,770.30 in just 31 days.

I sold more than $25,481.63 worth of information products yet I didn’t once bend over backwards to network with other marketers, and I certainly didn’t compromise my ethics. I simply got on with my job and I let the opportunities come to me, rather than me going looking for them.

Here’s something you might have noticed….

Almost everything that I did last month was the exact opposite of what we’re told we MUST do to succeed online.

=> I didn’t jump on EVERY big launch and promise it would make you rich

=> I didn’t put the interests of my JV partners over those of my subscribers

=> I didn’t run around using false scarcity tactics to pressure my subscribers

Instead I simply followed my head and my heart, did what I felt was right, and at the end I made a ton of money and slept like a baby at night too.

And there’s an important lesson here that I really want to communicate today.

Building a list isn’t enough though, and you also have to work hard to foster a relationship with your subscribers if you truly want to profit big online.When it comes down to a choice of how to treat your list, and how you market to your subscribers, you really do have a big choice to make.

You can either follow the established model that every wannabe out there follows and bombard your subscribers with offer after offer. Or instead you can follow my lead and concentrate on the incredible value that you can create.

Before you decide though I want to share with you a fact that underlines EVERYTHING that I do online.

The more value I create and simply giveaway for free the more I earn as a consequence.

Just think about that sentence for a second….

To make money online you don’t have to spend your time plotting how to ‘get one over’ on your subscribers. And you certainly don’t have to ‘carpet bomb’ them into submission.

I know it sounds a bit crazy, and I understand that this goes against almost everything that many other marketers will teach you. I know it’s hard to take but I promise you now that if you stop focusing on the profit YOU can make, and instead start focusing on how you can service the needs of your subscribers and visitors, then I guarantee you’ll earn more money as a consequence.

Let me give you some examples from my business….

EXAMPLE #1: I wrote a massive post on the Warrior forum which gave great content without expecting anything in return. As a consequence I had people pleading with me to release a more detailed version that they would pay for.

I subsequently released Auction Profits Unleashed and I’ve now sold over 1,000 copies. At the time I had no list and no JV partners.

EXAMPLE #2: I wrote the Big Fat eBay Lie and simply gave it away for free. I could have sold this using the $7 script but I wanted to say thank you to my subscribers.

The result? When I released Auction Secret Profits 10 days later it converted at 27.9% to my list and sold hundreds. Trust me when I say that the outcome here truly shocked me!

EXAMPLE #3: A short while ago I released Six Months of Magic and gave it away for free. Two weeks later I sold Project New Web which proved to be by most profitable product yet.

If you listen to many of the experts they’ll say that you should focus on what you want from your business, and that everything you do should have the ultimate goal of making you more money.

I completely disagree, and I think that the opposite is true.

Everything that I’ve done online has proved to me that the more I give, the more I receive back. Yes I could have sold some of my free content in the past, but by giving it away without expecting anything in return I helped out my subscribers AND I made more money as a consequence.

I see the question “How can I make more money from my subscribers” being asked an awful lot, and I’ve seen a lot of really bad answers given to it too!

A much better question to ask is “How can I serve the interests of my subscribers”, and if you truly start considering how you can help your members, rather than profit from them, then you’ll receive more back than you ever thought possible.

It sounds kind of whacky but I promise that if you focus more on the interests of your subscribers and less on your own then you’ll make more money as a consequence.

Here are my 3 golden rules for email marketing success.

#1 Become customer orientated.

Stop thinking about what benefit you can extract from a situation and instead start considering what value you can deliver. Your business isn’t about you, it’s about your customers and your prospects, and you’ll make more money in the long term if you put their interests ahead of your own.

#2 Give people a reason to open your emails

People don’t like to view adverts whether it’s on the TV or in their inbox. The success of your email marketing campaigns isn’t just a function of the size of your list, it’s also a result of the relationship you develop with your subscribers as individuals.

If you want to make more money with the emails that you send then give people a reason to open your messages. If all you send is promo after promo then you might find people ignoring your emails like they do the commercial messages during the interval of their favourite show.

#3 Give first and sell second

It’s been said a million times but it still holds true today. People don’t like to buy from those they consider to be a salesman and instead they prefer to buy from those they like, know and trust.

If you give first and sell second you’ll often find that the barrier to sale is lower, and that the trust you form with your prospects will mean you sell more today, tomorrow, and the day after too.

Invest time giving today, and you’ll sell more tomorrow.

Just have another look at the screenshot below…

I didn’t achieve this by maximising my sales funnel. And I certainly didn’t achieve this by looking to squeeze my list until they screamed.

I sold $25,481.63 worth of ebooks last month simply because I spent my time considering how much value I could deliver. Instead of worrying about how to take money from the pockets of my members I considered how to service their needs and deliver the good stuff.

Are you thinking about how much money you can make? Or are you thinking about the service you can offer and the value you can deliver?

Here’s the bottom line…

ANYONE can succeed online if they’re prepared to create enormous value and then prosper by giving it away.

And the good news is that not many are prepared to do this meaning the rewards for those who DO take the plunge are enormous. The question is ‘how prepared for this are you?’

(As always I’d love to hear from you so please leave your thoughts in the comments below….)

Popularity: 57% [?]

601 Reasons To Celebrate and an End to the Super Launch

If you read my latest free ebook this week then you’ll have a pretty good idea of the background to my Internet Marketing business. I started in June 07 and then quit my full time teaching job in August 07, and haven’t looked back since.

I’ve done a lot in this time, but the creation of Standing Start Profits has been my proudest moment by far. There’s a real helpful energy in the forums, and nothing quite beats the glow that I get when I help out some of our members.

I love teaching, and Standing Start Profits has allowed me to teach to a huge audience each and every month.

Here’s what I find really interesting though…

I’m not going to name any names, but you might have come across the usual big hype Tuesday launches that seem to rain down each and every week.

If you’ve been involved in Internet Marketing for any length of time then it would be hard for you to avoid them!

You might be aware of how these things go.  There’s a big pre launch, lots of JV partners promote with a bang, and then the product is pushed hard.

Usually most of the value is extracted during the first 10 days of launch, and two months later the balloon has been popped, and the hype deflates.

The point I’m making is that these jumbo product launches ARE a powerful way to gain momentum and get your product in front of lots of people in a short space of time.

But it’s often an unattainable model for many new marketers who have no contacts and who lack the know how, so it’s worth remembering that this isn’t the only model for success.

The launch of Standing Start Profits to my small list, and to the lists of a couple of select JV partners, was a quiet affair.  Since then I’ve concentrated on delivering high quality content on the inside, coupled with some pretty nifty viral marketing.

Rather than slowly deflating like might happen after a big Tuesday launch, the site has actually grown strongly, and now word of mouth referrals are having a bumper effect upon the membership numbers we’re enjoying.

Yesterday we hit 601 members and 11,715 posts, and I couldn’t be happier. When I launched this site I had no idea if it would succeed or not, but it’s fair to say that its performance has far exceeded my expectations.

I launched Standing Start Profits with barely a whisper, and I certainly didn’t follow the traditional super launch model, yet the momentum continues to build.

If you’ve ever wanted to get a product out there, but felt that the typical IM product launch was out of your grasp, then don’t despair as the success of Standing Start Profits shows that even quiet launches can produce profits too.

And while a gentle hushed launch might only produce a small number of sales in the short term, they’re often a lot more sustainable in the long term.

I spent a long time thinking that the super launch model was the only game in town, but the more I see and do, the more I learn that this simply isn’t the case…

Popularity: 43% [?]

Establish Your Expertise And Profit

If you’re in the business of authoring and selling information online, then it’s crucial that you take the time to establish your expertise to your potential customers.

If you’re selling information on how to become a world class chef in 21 days, then people want to know that you yourself are already a chef of world renown. If you’re selling information on how to become a profitable blogger, then go out of your way to demonstrate to your potential market that you own blogs that pull in the cash.

After all, if you’re selling information telling someone how to do something, what do you think would happen to your sales figures if people didn’t believe that you were an authority on the topic at hand?

I mean, would you buy a book on dating advice from the lonely guy sat in the corner at a party?!

Establishing your expertise and give people a reason to buy the information from you, and not a competitor, and your conversions will increase.

In every niche market where I operate, whether it’s classroom management or school teaching resources, I’m always taking the time to ensure that my target market know that I’m an authority on the topic at hand.

I do the same in the marketing niche of course, and estblishing my expertise has been one of the cornerstones of my online success.

Auction Profits Unleashed is a book about how to sell low value digital products on eBay, and then profit massively at the backend by building a super responsive list, and then exposing your subscribers to a suductive time limited offer.

The screenshot below showed the profits of this process in the teaching niche, and this helped to instantly establish my expertise on the topic, leading to an increase in sales.

The picture below shows my Paypal earnings as a result of my newsletter in November, and this helped to establish my authority on the topic of email marketing, which led to a boost in sales for Mailing Lists Unleashed.

If you’re selling ‘how to’ information online then take a second to think about the steps you could take to establish your expertise.

Maybe you could get a well know authority figure in your niche to review your product? Maybe you could offer to write articles in a well known trade journal? Maybe you could show proof of the product in action, and the results that it brings?

Whatever niche you operate in, and whatever type of how to information that you sell, take the time to establish your authority on the topic at hand and you’ll enjoy higher profits as a result.

So what do you currently do to establish your expertise online? Whatever strategies you use, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below…

Popularity: 38% [?]

Why I’m No Longer Using Blogrush

Regular readers will notice that today I removed the Blogrush widget from this blog. I initially installed this widget as a test, and I have to say that the resulting traffic that has flowed my way hasn’t been particularly impressive.

Before I give a brief summary of my results, it’s important to note that the volume of traffic that Blogrush sends to me isn’t just dependent on the quality of the service. Many of my blog titles weren’t particularly eye catching, and I did little to prompt blog visitors to signup for the service underneath me.

With more powerful headlines, and some marketing gusto, I’m quite sure that I could have gotten more out of this widget, and that’s important to note.

However, I feel that I’m pretty typical of many Blogrush users in that I simply added the code to my sidebar, and then moved on to other tasks, without actively thinking about how to get the best out of the service provided.

It appears to me that this is how the majority of Blogrush users use this widget, and so I’m sure that my results are fairly typical of many others out there.

Summary of the Lee McIntyre blog Blogrush test results.

Test period: 9th December 2007 - 6th January 2008

Category: Business Internet Marketing

Credits earned on my traffic: 4,780

Bloggers in my network: 5

Credits earned from my network: 0

Number of blog posts: 15

Number of times my posts were syndicated: 3601

Number of clickthroughs to my blog: 5

Clickthrough rate: 0.14%

I’m aware that my blog headlines could have been more powerful, and that this would have improved the clickthrough rate, but I doubt whether this would have helped to increase this to a level even approaching what I would consider acceptable.

Some people will argue that I gained five visitors for free, but it’s also important to balance this gain against the opportunity cost of the lost blog space. The blogrush widget commands a decent amount of blog real estate, and there are a whole host of other uses for that area which I’m confident could have produced a bigger net benefit than five new subscribers.

The concept behind Blogrush is a nice one, but unless the widget can deliver more traffic on a consistent basis then I feel that it’s only a matter of time before more and more bloggers find a more profitable use for their valuable blog real estate.

Have you used Blogrush on your blog? Have you experienced similar results, or do you have a completely different experience?

Either way, I’d love to hear from you so please post all about your views in the comments below…

Popularity: 61% [?]

Think Long Term and Grow!

Since the now semi infamous ask me a question post I’ve received many emails asking why I would be prepared to offer a near $200 prize to my newsletter readers.

The argument goes that I should be selling to my readers, and not providing free content, and certainly not offering a crazy cash prize.  Now, if you’ve read my popular Mailing Lists Unleashed then you’ll know that my email marketing techniques are often a little different to the so called experts, and they’re also often a little more effective too.

You see, instead of telling my subscribers about my new contest I COULD have sent an email promotion that would have earned me more money in the short term. The problem with this line of thinking though is that if you think about short term profits then you’ll likely end up with a short term business.

The Ask Me a Question blog post did earn me less money in the short term, but the long term benefits to my business are practically off the chart.

I’ve strengthened my relationship with the Lee McIntyre newsletter readers, and I’ve also increased the readership of my blog.  My brand has been bolstered, and my list has become more responsive to any future offers that I might send.

Other marketers have blogged about my contest, and the story has gained some natural leverage in a few of the social networking sites too, and this all means increased long term profits.

You can see below the number of visitors who dropped by my blog less than 10 hours after I sent the email to my small list.

My point is that if you’re really serious about your online business then you really need to think about your long term prospects.  Business isn’t always about doing whatever it takes to grab a profit in the short term, and if you’re prepared to sacrifice some short term gain for long term prosperity, then your business will grow as a result.

It’s true that my free contest might cost me money now, but the net result of the goodwill generated today will be increased profits tomorrow.

Whatever niche you operate in, take a second out of your promotional schedule to give something of amazing content to your list.  Do something to provoke a debate, or to provide some user interaction.  Hand your prospects something for free that they would normally expect to pay for. Shock them with the content that you provide while expecting nothing in return.

Do all of these things and while your short term profits might go down, your long term profits will sky rocket!

Popularity: 23% [?]

The Hidden Dangers of Over Optimization

Last weekend I decided that I’d been working far too hard so on the spur of the moment I took my finace to Chester for the weekend. We don’t normally stay in hotels, and when we do we usually stay in the cheapest one we can find!

On this occasion though I felt like rewarding our hardwork so I booked a room in the most expensive hotel I could find. It had all the trimmings, and I was excited to discover that it even had Sky Sports so I could watch the football, DVDs on demand, and high speed broadband too.

Now, we were planning to go out for a nice meal and so I only planned to quickly watch the football on the Sunday afternoon and I probably wouldn’t have used the rest of the amenities, but I liked the fact that my expensive room had these extras.

Well, I THOUGHT my room had these nice little facilities.

When I checked into the room I was pretty shocked to find that I COULD watch the football, but that I had to rent out the sports channel per hour. And I could use high speed broadband but it cost £5.99 per hour (about $12!!).

In fact, the whole hotel room was set up in such a way to upsell me to various products and services, and you really did have to admire the marketing at work. For example, the internet was £5.99 per hour or £9.99 for 24 hours. I mean, who will pay for one hour when you can buy 24 hours for just a small extra amount?

And there was even a room special where for £19.99 I could have the lot for 24 hours, although why you would want to watch football, surf the net, and watch a DVDs at the same time I’m not quite sure!

My point is that the hotel in question had undoubtedly maximised the marketing process at every opportunity, and I’m quite sure that this would add to their bottom line.

Many would decide to order one film, and then be tempted by the price break to order two, and then be tempted to just pay £19.99 and order the lot.

But what’s not so easily measured is the hidden impact that this has on the performance of the business. Yes they’re extracting more dollars and pounds from every stage of their marketing process, but that also has the very serious hidden effect of frustrating and annoying me as a consumer, and I’m sure that over customers in the hotel would feel the same too.

Their stats and tracking will sure an increase in short term revenue, but I was left feeling irritated that I’d just paid £200 for a hotel room and now they wanted an additional £20 to use the facilities provided.

Sure, they may a squeeze a few extra pounds from my pockets of its customers, but at what long term cost?

If you listen to many of the so called experts they will drill into you that you should be ‘hitting’ your customers at every opportunity, and that if you don’t have a variety of upsells, downsells, and cross sells, then you’re leaving serious money on the table.

And while this may be true, how much money are you LOSING by forcing your customers to jump through these hoops. How many customers are you alienating by constantly trying to upsell them to the next level of service?

I’m sure the hotel that I stayed at makes a significant amount of money by squeezing its customers in this way, but I’m equally sure that they lost a few lifelong customers too, although the immediate test results won’t sure this of course.

One thing I am sure on though is that any hotel that disrupts my plans to watch the televised football game on a Sunday afternoon certainly won’t be getting my business again!

So what are your thoughts on this? Do you think that this is just great marketing, or do you think that the hidden cost of this kind of optimised marketing is actually larger than we’re led to believe?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below….

Popularity: 33% [?]

Integrated Marketing In Action!

If you want to develop a passive income online, one of the most effective ways is to integrate your promotions with other marketers.

Not sure what this means, or how to go about it?  Not a problem!

Hit the play button now to see exactly what I’m talking about, and how I’m putting this into action right here at Lee-McIntyre.com.

As you can see from the video above, integrating your marketing really can have a HUGE impact upon your business. 

And trust me when I say that there’s not many better feelings than swapping promotions with a marketer today, that earns you money while you sleep two months from now!

The promotions that I’ve arranged with John Thornhill will allows us to earn money for years to come. John’s products are excellent, and I’m delighted to be able to grab a discount which I can share with my subscribers via an Auto Responder sequence.

John and I both make more money AND we get happy customers too!  Brilliant!

For those interested the discount links for John’s products are below

Aucution Profit Streams 25% Discount - Click HERE

Your Own eBook Business 30% Discount - Click HERE

Please leave a comment below letting know what you think about the video.  As always I’m always eager to hear what you have to say…..

Popularity: 17% [?]

Viral Traffic From Free Ebooks Made Simple

It seems that if you ask most struggling marketers which skill do they find the most difficult, the majority would say traffic generation.

When you’re first starting out, generating traffic on a consistent basis really can be one of the most difficult things that you have to do.

I remember building site after site and then getting incredibly frustrated as I struggled for days only to receive a few lonely visitors.

I now get plenty of traffic of course, even though I rarely play the search engine game anymore.  I’ve done hardly any SEO work to this site, and yet I still get lots of visitors each and every day.

There are lots of different ways to grab some fast traffic, but giving away free ebooks really is one of my favourites, and this accounts for the biggest bulk of traffic that I get here at Lee-McIntyre.com.

I have a LOT of content out there, and all of it has links back to my sites.  And I’m not just talking about books that I’ve written either. 

One of my biggest secrets is buying Private Label Rights books, adding my links, and then turning into a PDF with master resell rights.  When you do this it’s amazing how quickly your content can spread around the net!

If you’re struggling for traffic then go away and create a free report today.  Add some subtle links and then get it distributed around the net.  You’ll be amazed by the amount of traffic that this can help generate!

I know this sounds like an obvious plug, but if you want to discover the best ways to get your viral ebook circulating around the net then check out my acclaimed Auction Secret Profits book now. 

It really will give you all the tools to start using free ebooks to drive a ton of viral traffic starting today.

And if you want to see an example of how I sometimes give away a free ebook to drive traffic click HERE now to check out my new listing in the Warrior Forum  free eBook section.

A month ago I ran this book as a free Warrior Special Offer, and it was downloaded hundreds of times, so I’m no expecting too many downloads this time.  But since the advert only took a few minutes to write, even a few extra downloads will prove a good use of my time!

Good luck with the free ebook idea, and I hope that it generates as much traffic for you, as it does for me. If it does then you really can say goodbye to your traffic generation worries forever!

Popularity: 9% [?]

How To Make Money While You Sleep

When I first started trying to make money online I thought it would all be so easy.  I fell for a lot of the sales hype and seriously thought that I’d be counting my money from the beech each day long.

The  irony is that now I know what I’m doing making money DOES seem easy.  I’m getting to know the formula know, and I’m in serious rinse and repeat mode.

I know what works, and am repeating this process and earning more money every day.  But while the process seems easy, actually doing it can be quite hard.

You know I like to tell it like it is, which is why I’m going to be brutally honest. If you want to make hundreds online then you can treat this business as a hobby, and as something to dip in and out of.

But if you want to make thousands and secure financial security  for the rest of your life then you have to work hard.  I know that’s not what I’m supposed to say, but it’s true.

I know EXACTLY what to do in order to make money online, but it’s actually getting out there and doing it that’s the hard part. 

I’m currently working long hours and putting myself under a pile of pressure.  Do I want to do this forever?  Not a chance!  But I DO want to do it for long enough to give myself a cushion so that I can enjoy financial security for the rest of my life.

Each day I push myself harder than the last, and I’m determined to never give up.  Some of my friends think I’m mad, but I seriously love what I do.

Yes it’s often hard work, but I get to work from home and I wouldn’t change anything at all.

I’m not showing you this to brag, but look at the screenshot below from my Gmail account.  This was the money I was earning from my websites while I was ASLEEP!

Screenshots like above are easy if you’re prepared to work hard to set up and manage your own business.  Yes, the work can be difficult at times, but trust me when I say that waking up to an inbox like this every monring is a nice feeling indeed!

Once you know what you’re doing, making money online is easy…..

It’s a sad fact though that most will never get to this point due to not being willing to make the personal sacrifices that it entails.

This year I’ve canceled  holidays abroad, worked during my lunch breaks, stayed up until 5am when I had to be at work at 8am and much, much more.

Are you willing to sacrifice some short term pleasure to enjoy long term security and wealth?  This month I’ve earned $12,000 profits and it’s only been possible due to a strong work ethic and a decision to work harder than ever before.

I want this and I’m going to work enough hours to achieve it!

So my question is this.  How badly do you want to see screen shots like above? How badly do you want to earn a day’s wages while you’re a sleep?

If you want it badly enough then you CAN do it if you keep on pushing. 

But if you’re not prepared to really push yourself on then you might have to be prepared to settle for just a few hundred dollars per month, rather than a few thousand.

I know how badly I want to succeed.  But the question you must ansewer is how badly do YOU  want to achieve your online dreams and what are you prepared to give up to get there…….

If you want to make SERIOUS money online then you need to work hard, and you need to take action.  So get out out there NOW and start doing and stop thinking…..and it will only be a matter of time before you too are enjoying screenshots like above!

Popularity: 17% [?]

Develop Systems For The Future Now And Reap The Rewards Later

If you’re running any successful business, it’s important to effectively manage the communication with your customers.  Online or offline, it’s vitally important that systems are in place to handle all incoming or outgoing communications efficiently.

As regular readers know, here at Lee-McIntyre.com, I’ve experienced a rapid growth.  Just a few short months ago in the I’d sell less than five items a month internet marketing niche, while now I’ll sell over a thousand.

The system that I had in place to deal with five transactions a month was a simple Gmail account, and a primitive support desk.  Needless to say, when I started selling 1,000+ plus items a month using the same systems, this caused a few teething problems!

I found myself almost being consumed by the emails I was receiving, and incredibly stressed out by having to try and remember previous conversations with lots of different customers.

It wasn’t so much the volume of email that was causing problems, rather than disorganized way it was all being handled.  It was holding back my business and something had to give.

Step forward my brand new help desk at AskLeeMcIntyre.com!

Simply by piping emails into a support desk environment, I’ve been able to manage the email process much more smoothly, and free up a ton of time. 

I feel liberated!

Rather than getting bogged down trying to retrace an email conversation, and worrying about the disorganized mess in my inbox, I’m now free to concentrate instead on serving my customers and growing my business.

If your business is growing, and you feel as though you’re getting bogged down, take the time now to develop the system that will allow you to take your business forward.

Sure, it will take a lot of time to do this now, but think of it as an investment.  Within a week you’ll feel free and wonder just how you ever coped with the systems that you had before.

And from this point there will be no turning back…..

Popularity: 7% [?]

How Digital Delivery Gives You The Ability to Leverage your Work

Making money online is all about leveraging your efforts.  You might spend 30+ hours on product development now, but the use of leverage gives you the ability to sell thousands of copies of that product without hardly lifting a finger again.

And this is why it’s absolutely crucial to have a digital delivery system set up when selling online.  Imagine how long it would take you to manually dispatch 1,000 products via email attachment in comparison to how long it would take using an automated digital delivery system.

When I first started selling on eBay in the education niche, I  began by trying to replicate the market leader.  It was my intention to match watch she did step by step, and then attempt to better her marketing as the weeks went on.

Like her, I decided to send my products via email at the end of the day.  It’s no exaggeration to say that 10 sales a day often took over an hour to dispatch.  Locating the file, writing an email, sending the email, all takes a lot longer than you would think.

After a short while I set up a digital delivery system.  It was a primitive arrangement using Outlook Express to deliver by automated reply.  And even though the system was completely flawed and problematic, it still had a DRAMATIC effect upon my business.

You see, instead of spending one hour a night emailing products, I was now spending two minutes answering the odd support question.

By making this one small change to my business I literally saved myself an hour a day of the most boring aspect of my venture.  The results were fantastic.  I now had more time to spend actually taking the business forward which meant a huge increase in profits.

While my main competitor was sat behind her PC emailing product after product, I was working hard coming up with ever more creative ways to drive my business forward.

My competition was drowning under a pile of tedius admin tasks while I was powering forward. 

And my point is this.  If you want to make serious money online then you need to be constantly looking for systems that will save you time.  There’s only so much of you to go around, but if you can find a way to leverage your efforts, then you could make 1,000 times what you could earn if you were doing it all yourself.

I now use DLguard for all my digital delivery needs, and I’d never use anything else again.  And if you’re really serious about making money online then I strongly recommend that you do the same as well.

Check out the fantastic DLguard for yourself HERE

And if you want to read more about how I’ve managed to leverage my efforts to generate huge floods of cash then click HERE now to download my HUGELY popular hot selling Auction Profits Unleashed ebay profit guide.

Popularity: 16% [?]