Archive | May, 2020

When I suggest to Amazon authors that they seek reviews, the biggest objection I hear is, “But the more reviews I get, the greater the chances that I’ll get negative reviews.” Understandably, negative reviews are scary. But if you write a good book that either helps people or entertains them (or both) then two things will happen…

1. The positive reviews will greatly outnumber the negative reviews, thereby ‘negating’ the negatives.

2. The negative reviews can actually help sales.

For one thing, if you have negative reviews then your positive reviews become much more believable. Have you ever landed on a product with 400 positive reviews and NO negatives? Pretty hard to believe those are all real reviews, isn’t it?

And for another thing, ‘an enemy of my enemy is my friend’ Meaning, some negative reviews, when read by the right prospects, will actually convince prospects to purchase your book.

Here’s an example: Someone from political party ‘A’ writes a book. A member of political party ‘B’ writes a bad review, citing things in the book they didn’t like. But those things appeal to the prospect (who happens to be a part of Party ‘A’) and this is enough to nudge them into buying the book.

In other words, if you’ve written a good book then DON’T worry about negative reviews. On the other hand, if your book stinks then you might want to pull the book, rewrite it and relaunch it under a different title.

Lastly, why do you want more reviews of your Kindle books? Two words – more sales. The more reviews you have, the more popular your book looks, the more sales you will get. Plus, reviews are some of the best kind of social proof you can get.

Here then, are 8 ways to get more reviews of your Kindle books

– Write a good book. Seriously. If you write junk, your readers will be inspired to tell the world in reviews. But if you write a great book, again some of them will be inspired to tell the world in reviews.

Tiss: Practice makes perfect, so write a lot and you’ll get better and better. Add your own voice and personality – this makes it far more interesting to the reader. Get someone to edit and proofread the book for you.

– Write a short book. Most people finish reading a book before they write a review. Thus, if you have an 80,000 word book versus a 10,000 word book, all else being equal the 10,000 word book will get more reviews. Of course if you’re writing fiction, you might have to make it long since it’s expected.

Tip: If you already have an 80,000 word manuscript, break it into 4 or even 8 smaller books and charge less per book. Then cross promote your books for more sales.

– Ask for a review. Okay, this is really basic but most authors still don’t do it. At the end of your book, ask your reader to help you out and write a review. Remind them that they got the book at a great price, and if it helped them or entertained them, they can return the favor and really help you out with a review.

Tips: Let them know it will only take them a couple of minutes to do it. Provide the link where they can leave the review.

– Build a following. If you don’t already have one, build a list. Then when you put out a new Kindle book, ask them to review it.

Tips: Give your book away for free to your list and ask them to review it. OR give your book away for free to strangers on Amazon and ask them to sign onto your list – then ask them to review it. Either way, once you’ve got some great reviews, stop giving your book away for free and start charging for it.

– Use an email signature. If you have a separate email account just to answer questions about your book, then use a signature to ask for reviews. People will write to you with questions about your topic. When you write back, it’s the perfect time to ask for a review in your email signature. Be sure to give the link, too. And even if you don’t have a separate email account, you can still copy and paste a request each time you answer an email from your book’s readers.

Tip: When someone writes just to praise you and your book, ask them in your reply email to post what they wrote to you as a review. Be sure to give them the link to make it as simple as possible. When they do post it, THANK them.

– Give your book away for free. Strange but true, the way Amazon’s algorithm works you can get a real boost to sales after giving your book away for free for 5 days. Plus you can get a lot of good reviews when you give your book away, which will also boost sales.

– Run a countdown deal. This is the new ‘free’ and can have the same boost to sales as giving your book away. Again the added downloads will boost you in Amazon’s search results, plus you should be getting added reviews as well, which will also help sales.

Use social media. Post reviews of your book on your social media accounts to promote your book. This will get eyeballs on your books and usually sales, too. With more sales you can ask for more reviews.

Tip: When you have a loyal following, post a negative review now and then to social media to get your fans riled up. Your fans will go to Amazon to vote the review ‘not helpful,’ and often times they’ll even post a new review themselves.

One more reason to increase your reviews – publishing deals. If you get two or more books to each garner several hundred reviews, you might have a chance at getting a lucrative publishing offer.

If you do, think hard before you sign. Often times you can make more money by self-publishing than you can by going through a publishing house. But if they’re offering a large sum up front and a great marketing plan for your new book – then you might want to take it.

There’s a Shakespeare quote you’ve heard: “To thine own self be true.”

And here’s another one (not quite with the Shakespeare flair, but still quite eloquent): “You can’t fit a round peg into a square hole.”

People online will tell you what to do. How to do it. When to do it.

They’ll tell you to get up two hours early and work on your business before work. Or set a timer for 30 minutes and work without distraction. Or enter a niche just because there is money there. They’ll tell you all sorts of things. And they’ll even get righteously indignant when you don’t do what they tell you to do.

So now I’m going to tell you what to do. Seriously.

Know yourself first. Yes, you can get round pegs into square holes, but it does a tremendous amount of damage to the round peg. If you like to sleep in until 10:00 am, then maybe that’s what you should do. You probably do your best work in the afternoon and evening anyway.

If you have a flair for an odd niche, maybe you should find a way to monetize that, instead of going into a more popular and overcrowded field that everyone is telling you to enter.

If you don’t like speaking to people in person, why are you buying that course on how to do marketing for local businesses?

Figure out who you are and what you’re good at. Then build your business around YOU.

For example, if you’re great at seeing the big picture and hate details, then focus on what needs to be done and have other people do the actual work through outsourcing. If you love to write but hate to deal with websites, have someone else set up and run your blog. If you hate writing but love talking, make a vlog instead of a blog. Or do a podcast. Or both.

Just don’t do the thing you hate to do, because guess what? You cannot force yourself to do the things you don’t like for any real length of time. It just isn’t going to work.

To be successful, figure out who you are and what you like. THEN figure out how to build a business around you, instead of trying to mold yourself to a business you simply aren’t suited to.

If you haven’t yet had a big launch of your own, then it can be hard to relate to how things work, what needs to be done, and especially the results you can get. It all seems a bit foreign and out of reach. But the fact is, anyone has the potential to create a product that people love and launch it with tremendous success.

Imagine spending the next 2 months working on your new product and the launch itself. Then the big day is almost here. You’re lying in bed the night before, wondering if you did everything you can do to make this a big success. You’re worried it will flop. You’re thinking, “What if I just wasted the last two months of my life?” But the fact is, no matter what happens, it’s impossible to waste that experience as long as you learn from it.

Do you know what else you’re feeling? Excitement. It’s like the night before Christmas when you were a kid, times 10. Or maybe times 100. You can hardly sleep. What will tomorrow bring?

And let’s face it – you’re also proud of yourself. Regardless of how many sales you make or don’t make, you did it. You stuck with it and saw it through to the end. And that is priceless.

Do you see what we’re doing here? We’re imagining what it will be like when you launch your first BIG product later this year. Wow. What a great way to get motivated, huh?

Now then, I’m going to show you how to add a hefty sum to the bottom line of your next (or your first) product launch, and increase your chance of success in the process.

Let’s say you’ve done your work. You’ve built a nice list of buyers and prospects by offering terrific info on your topic. Now it’s time to take the next step and offer a course of instruction for the advanced players. You’ve even got some terrific affiliates lined up. You press the button and POW! Your new product is launched to the world.

Sales on the first day prove that you have a winner. For the next few days, sales continue to come in at a slower rate. Then on the final day of your launch, WHAM! Sales flood in like crazy. Why? Because people have trouble making up their mind, and it’s your deadline that will get them over the fence and clicking the buy button.

Your launch wraps up and you’ve done a very satisfying amount of sales. It might be $20,000, it might be $200,000, I don’t know. The point is, your launch was a success.

Now here’s how you make it even BETTER:

After your deadline passes, open a new, special enrollment period for 24 hours. Offer this special enrollment period ONLY to those who have clicked through to your sales page during the launch, but never enrolled. This way you are only sending it to those who have basically pre-qualified themselves.

Offer them something new. For example, if you were offering your product for one big price, offer them a payment option. Let’s say your course was $297. You could offer them 3 payments of $99.

Of if you were offering a payment option during your launch, now you can offer them a better payment option. Instead of $99 a month for 3 months, offer $49 for seven months.

When you send an email to tell them about this special enrollment period, thank them for their interest. Let them know that you understand they might want a better payment plan, and this is their one chance.

If you don’t want to offer payments, consider offering something else instead. Maybe a one-on-one Skype call to answer questions after they’ve gone through the course. Or a critique of their work after using the course. Or a special bonus that ties in nicely.

Here’s the bottom line: By clicking through to the sales page, these people have shown that they are indeed interested. Some of them very nearly bought. But ‘nearly’ doesn’t make the sale, and if you don’t get them to buy now, they never will.

What you’re doing is providing them with one more opportunity, along with an additional incentive, to get your course. If your course is good (and we certainly hope it is) then you are doing them a major service by making this offer.

And in return, you can put an extra 4 or 5 figures into your pocket, simply by sending a couple of emails. Of course, you’ve got to do all the work that comes with having a product launch. But the point is, in the world of online marketing there are no limits to what you can earn, if you’re willing to do what it takes.

Now for some motivation…

Think about what you want most in your life right now. Is it more time? More money? More freedom?

You can have all of this and more. And once you start making money, a funny thing happens. It gets easier and easier as you discover more and more techniques like the one we just described above. You’ve just got to do the work to get it, whether you feel motivated or not.

I’ll leave you with one last trick: Make a list of what you need to do in order to launch your next product. Find one thing on that list you can do right this moment, and then spend the next 15 minutes getting started on it. That’s it, just 15 minutes. Once you get started, you’ll probably discover you don’t want to quit.

And there’s your motivation. As the shoe company says, Just Do It. Just get started. That’s truly the hardest part. Everything after that? Is all downhill and will build momentum, almost automatically.

You might want to print out this page and keep it close to your computer – it’s a little goldmine of power words that capture attention and get your messages read & acted on:

– Free
– Sale
– New
– Tested
– Guaranteed
– Immediately
– Powerful
– Popular
– Special
– Affordable
– The truth about
– Absolutely lowest
– Daring
– Pioneering
– Unsurpassed
– Obsession
– Lifetime
– Strong
– Sizable
– Confidential
– Alert
– Energy
– Rare
– Famous
– Unparalleled
– Superior
– Bottom line
– Special offer
– Wealth
– Last minute
– Timely
– Unconditional
– Profitable
– Emerging
– Breakthrough
– It’s here
– Just arrived
– Growth
– High tech
– Innovative
– Exclusive
– Valuable
– Discount
– Endorsed
– Under priced
– Launching
– Reduced
– Enormous
– Now
– Fortune
– Authentic
– Announcing
– Introducing
– Portfolio
– Urgent
– Proven
– Weird
– Surprise
– Excellent
– You

Start using these words in your marketing and sales copy today, and then stand back and watch as your business soars to new heights!

It’s tempting to send offer after offer to your list in the hopes of making the most money. Yet this is also a sure fire way to alienate your readers and send them packing. If all you ever do is pitch them in every email, they’re either going to stop opening your emails, or simply unsubscribe. In either case, you are no longer relevant to your list. So when it comes time to promote your own products, no one will be listening.

There is a better way, and it’s to provide content along with the promotions. The problem is in knowing what kind of content to give them. What do they want to know? How long is it going to take you to research it and write it? And will it even be read?

The key is to think ‘engagement’ over selling. If you can continually engage your audience, then you can continually sell to them as well, at a reasonable pace.

Think of it this way: Every engagement email is like building your goodwill account. Every promotional email is like cashing in on that account. Both are equally important.

Here are 4 reasons to send engagement type emails:

1. They take the pressure off of you and let you have fun with your list. Let’s face it – if every email you send is trying to convince people to buy yet another product, you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself to continually SELL SELL SELL. And you know in your heart of hearts that your list does NOT want another email telling them to BUY BUY BUY. Which means you are having NO FUN writing nothing but promotional emails. Who can blame you?

Even a born sales person likes to take some time off and just shoot the breeze, talk about sports, do some gardening, whatever. Well, you and your list need time off as well. And we don’t mean time when they don’t hear from you, but instead time when you have something to say that doesn’t involve them reaching for their wallets yet again.

2. You can be their go-to person in your niche. If all you do is sell, then they always have their guard up when they open your emails – and with good reason. But if you can show them how to do things without buying, and even how to buy better, you can become the authority they like and trust.

3. You can email more often. If you only send promotional emails, you better either keep the frequency down or expect to burn your list. But if you’re sending engagement type emails, you don’t have to worry about how often you email (within reason.) Who doesn’t want to hear the latest news or tips or tricks in their favorite niche? Send it out, they WANT to read this stuff.

A funny thing happens when you send out engagement type emails and then you take a few days off – your list will write to you asking where you are and if you’re okay. When this happens, you know you’ve created magic.

4. You can cheat. Big time. What I mean by this is you can reuse material you’ve already written. Did you write a dynamite blog post earlier this year that got rave reviews? Break it up into several emails and send it out. Do you have a report on how to do something that is full of great tips? Break it up into several emails and send it out.

You don’t always have to come up with new material for engagement emails – you can reuse stuff from your articles and posts. Nice!

Here are 10 topics you can write about besides the usual ‘buy this’ stuff:

1. The latest news in your niche AND how it might affect your readers. Don’t just give the news – personalize it with your own take and your thoughts on how it might impact your list.

2. Tips, tricks and great ideas on how to do things in your niche. Everyone wants the latest hack on how to do something easier/faster/cheaper/better. So let them in on the secrets.

3. Teach your list how to be a savvy shopper in your niche. What should they look out for? What features are must-have, and what should they avoid? This is a great way to make yourself into the authority.

4. 3 minute interviews. Send email interviews to authorities in your niche and create emails from those interviews. These don’t need to be long – 1 to 5 questions is all you need.

5. Spotlight your customers. Show how Bill bought your product and used it with good results. Talk about the obstacles he had to overcome, the problems he solved, and anything else that might interest your readers.

6. Show your list how to USE your product. If they’ve purchased, this is helpful. If they haven’t, they get to feel what it would be like if they did purchase. Either way, it’s a win-win.

7. Stuff for your list only. Give your list benefits that people can get nowhere else. This might be free products, insider information or special discounts. Make these special benefits expire to train your list to open your emails as soon as they receive them.

8. Stories. People LOVE stories. Don’t get wordy, do start in the middle of the story where the action is, and always make it entertaining as well as relevant to your niche.

9. Seasonal tips. If you’re in a niche that changes with the seasons, this is perfect. For example, if your niche is sports then fall is the time to talk about the upcoming ski season, while spring is when you can talk about baseball, soccer, etc. Is your niche cooking? Talk about seasonal foods. Even if your niche isn’t seasonal, with a little creativity you can still use this angle.

10. Personality and humor. You don’t want to ramble on about yourself or your business, but injecting your own personality is terrific and highly recommended. And anytime you can make your readers smile or even laugh, you’re sure to get them to open your next email.

What not to talk about in your emails:

– Too much personal info. A line or two about yourself is fine, but unless you’re telling a story that is of particular interest to your readers, don’t overdo it. No one wants to know your life history, at least not in a broadcast email.

– How terrible your competition is. There is an exception to this rule: If one of your customers has a personal story of their experience with your competition, you can use it. But YOU cannot trash your competition. Even if every word you say is true, it still makes you look like a jerk.

By sending out engagement emails, you won’t burn your list, you’ll build rapport with your list, and in the end you wind up selling more than if you simply sent promotional emails. Plus your list will actually LIKE you and say nice things about you in social media, which is always a plus.

Want to KNOW your product will be a hit BEFORE you make it? This is simple and easy to do. And it can save you a ton of time and frustration. Validating your next product idea is crucial if you want to be sure you’re going to have a winning product on your hands.

Here’s how to do it…

Create a pre-launch page.

On the pre-launch page, give a short summary of your up and coming product. This is like a mini sales page with a headline, bullet points, benefits and a call to action. In this case, the call to action is a waiting list to buy the product when it comes out.

Once they join this list, send them to a second page that again talks about the product, but also offers them the chance to buy it right now at a lower price.

Structure it with your offer at the top. “Buy your copy now and get $20 off, plus this extra bonus.” Then reiterate the benefits of the product, and make the offer again at the bottom. Some people will likely click the buy button at the top without ever scrolling. Others will want to review what’s in the product before they buy.

Send the offer to your list. Gauge your response. Obviously, if you get no or very few takers, refund anyone who did order and move on to your next project. If you get a lot of people joining the waiting list and quite a few pre-ordering, you have a hit on your hands.

If the response rate is somewhere in between then you’ll have to make a judgement call. In this case, you might want to survey people who did join your list to see what they like about it, and survey those who didn’t join to see what they don’t like. Then make adjustments.

That’s it! By using this simple system you can accurately forecast whether you should go ahead and create that product you’ve got in mind, or move on to another, better project.

This is an email launch sequence that anyone can do and enjoy success with, whether you’re launching your next $10 product or $1,000 product.

I’m going to assume you have a list, whether it’s one you’ve warmed up for a while, or a new list compiled from affiliate promotions for your new launch. Either way, the email sequence will be the same.

And we’ll assume you’re selling some type of information product that teaches something. For our example, let’s say you’re selling a product on how to make great videos for marketing purposes.

Here is the sequence:

Email #1: The first lesson on making great videos that sell products. You’re going to be delivering 3 lessons in all on making great videos. But you’re only going to teach about 5 – 10% of what you know. This way they’ll have to buy the paid course to discover the other 90%.

Email #2: A survey question. In this case, ask them what their biggest challenge is in creating great videos that sell.

Email #3: The second lesson. Take the results from the survey question and find their 3 biggest challenges. Then tell them what to do to overcome these challenges, but not how to do it. You’re delivering great info, but not complete info.

Email #4: The third and final lesson in this series. Here is where you create open loops – Telling them more of what they need to do but not how to do it. Again, you’re giving great info but they will need more to get the results you get.

Email #5: This is your introduction to the paid course. Here is where you raise a good deal of curiosity of what’s inside the course. You build the anticipation and desire of the prospects. Think of it as teasing the customer and you’ll be on the right track.

Email #6: Details of the course. Time to lay out the bullet points and really hit the benefits in an impactful way. You’re getting them primed to hit the buy button when your course goes live. Let them know what the first buyers get that later buyers don’t get. And tell them when to be ready. For example, Monday, 9am EST.

Email #7: Let them know the product is live right NOW, and due to high interest the fast action bonuses will go quickly.

Email #8: Remind them that now is the time to order, before it’s too late. Show that the product is selling quickly and time is of the essence. Remind them of the deadline.

Email #9: At the last minute, extend the deadline by one or two days.

Email #10: Remind them that it all ends today. There will be no more extensions and no more opportunities to buy after the time you designate.

As you can see, this sequence is for a product you are going to sell for a short time and then pull from the market. If you want to continue selling the product, you still can by altering this sequence like this:

Emails 1-5 are the same.

Email #6: Tell them about the limited time bonus. Make this bonus BIG and VALUABLE.

Email #7: The product is live and the limited time bonus is only available for the next “x” days.

Email #8: Same as before, but with emphasis on the limited time bonus.

Email #9: Same as before.

Email #10: After your deadline they can still buy the product, but they will NOT get the bonus. No extensions and no exceptions.

If you don’t want to do a limited time bonus, you can also do introductory pricing to create urgency.

This is the exact email sequence used by 6 and 7 figure Internet Marketers to sell their products. And there’s a reason they continue to use it – it flat out works. Try it for yourself and see what results you get. You won’t be disappointed.

Stuck for ideas on what to write in your next blog post, article or email? I’ve made a list of what readers want most to see from you. In fact, this is exactly the content that people crave, so get ready to make your next content a smash hit with your audience.

Your readers want content that:

– Reminds them that they matter
– Reminds them that they are one of a kind
– Tells a story
– Takes them on a journey
– Surprises them
– Shows them that dreams can come true
– Has unexpected twists and unforeseeable turns
– Reveals awesome secrets
– Shows little Davids beating big Goliaths
– Confirms their thoughts and beliefs
– Challenges their assumptions in a respectful manner
– Gives a fresh point of view
– Takes a stand
– Reminds them that life is short – really short
– Gives them faith to believe in something BIG
– Reminds them to get back to the “basics”
– Makes them smile and laugh
– Makes them cry
– Educates while entertaining
– Inspires them to take action
– Encourages them to never, ever give up

This is the sort of content your readers never get tired of and always have time to read. If it’s really good, they remember it long after they’ve read it. And even if it’s only somewhat good, if it meets any of the above criteria, they are very likely to share it with others.

In other words, this is the kind of content that has the power to inspire, influence and move your readers to ACTION.

You might be thinking, “Why would I want my website to be like a grocery store? I don’t sell meats and produce, I sell information and opportunity.” Good question. But if you’re a fan of all things marketing, this is one article you do not want to miss.

Case in point: Did you know that nothing is left to chance in a supermarket? Everything in a grocery store is orchestrated to increase sales. In the same way, we want to be 100% intentional about how we guide people to the right place on our websites so they do what we want them to do (subscribe, buy, etc.)

Yes, it’s manipulative. But it comes down to a choice – are you going to be smart about your website, or are you going to leave it to chance and hope for the best? Being smart builds a real business, while hoping you accidentally get it right is a hobby. BIG difference.

Here’s a prime supermarket lesson we can use on our websites: When one very successful store cut their product line by 40% their sales went up 20%. Why is this? Because before people had too many choices, resulting in confusion and loss of sales. Reduce the choices and you reduce the confusion. This is why UK supermarket giant Tesco cut their range of products by 30% to simplify the experience for shoppers. After all, who needs 98 different extra virgin olive oils?

If you have too many products, pull the ones that aren’t selling well and focus just on your best sellers. This will benefit you in that you’re more focused on promoting your best sellers only. And it will benefit your customers because it’ll be easier for them to make a buying decision.

Here’s another juicy marketing morsel: When a four-foot cardboard cutout of a glass of beer was placed at either end of the beer shelves, sales increased 23% overnight. Crazy, right? The big beer glasses acted as sign posts, directing customers towards purchasing beer.

So how can you guide people on your website into making purchases? Good question. Give them a clear path from start to finish – a path they cannot easily deviate from. Guide them. Make it clear what their choice should be (to buy, versus to leave without buying.) Make it as simple as seeing a signpost and making the appropriate turn to get to the destination.

And speaking of making things easy – for years supermarkets hid things like bread and milk at the back of the store, with the theory this would increase sales. After all, if you make people walk past all the other items, they’re bound to buy some, right?

It turns out that was a bad theory. Instead of increasing sales, it had the long term effect of making people mad enough to not return to the store. Ouch. Now they know that by placing essentials at the front of the store, they are more likely to get repeat business from the goodwill they have built.

Again, it’s all about making the shopping experience easy for the customer. To get more ideas about how to make your website more like a supermarket, go here:

www.convinceandconvert.com/customer-experience/how-to-build-your-website/

Can you pick a topic, build a list of 1,000 and even promote your first product in just 7 days? Yes! Here’s how…

First of course is to choose your topic or niche. If you want a head start, pick something that will interest your friends – preferably both your friends in real life and your social media friends. Let’s say you’re interested in marketing, and you’ve got some business friends in your hometown as well as more business friends online. This is a good topic choice to hit the ground running.

Next, reach out to those friends you already have a relationship with. Let them know about your new endeavor. In our example case, you might write the following:

Hey George,

Quick question for you: I’m starting a new project where I give out the latest marketing tips for small businesses like yours on how to cheaply get more customers.

Traditional advertising just isn’t cutting it anymore, and we need alternatives that don’t cost a lot and flat out work.

Anyway, thought you might be interested.

I’ll be emailing the latest ‘how-to’ info as I find it.

Want me to include you?

Jill

When they reply back, manually add them to your list. Yes, this takes a little effort, but it’s an excellent way to get started. Go through your phone, email and social media contacts and get as many people as you can this way. Don’t stop until you have a bare minimum of 50. 100 is better.

Next step – create a contest for your new subscribers.

Brainstorm a list of 3 to 5 things you could give to the winner of your contest.

Do a quick poll of your list to see which of those 3 to 5 items they would most like.

Put up a giveaway page and announce it to your list. Use one of the contest sites to make this easy. Your goal is to get them to share it with everyone.

In our example, you might write something like:

Thanks for joining me in my new project!

To kick things off, I’m giving away the book, “How to Get More Customers Than You Need.”

In fact, I’m giving away 5 of them!

And since this email is only going out to 100 people, your odds of winning are pretty darn good.

Here’s what you need to do:

Enter the giveaway by clicking here to leave your email address.

Take the special link you get when you register, and share it with your friends to improve your own odds of winning.

For every friend of yours that joins, you get another entry. Good?

Great! Here’s the link.

Jill

You might be concerned about the cost of the prize(s). You can either give away something you own or have rights to, or you can get a sponsor who gives their products away in exchange for you promoting them to your growing list. Or you can simply buy them yourself.

The point is, don’t let obstacles get in your way. There’s always going to be something – web hosting, web design, copywriting, etc., that tries to throw up a roadblock to slow you down or even stop you in your tracks. Don’t let it. Just keep moving forward and tackle each bump in the road as you get to it.

The main thing is to always stay focused on your objective. In this case, it’s 1,000 subscribers in 7 days, followed by the immediate promotion of your first product. (And don’t sweat this part, either. If you don’t have a product, I have two work-around’s for you coming up.)

Continue to promote your contest. Let other list owners know, let blogs know, let the world know about your contest. If you get one good list owner to tell their list about your contest, that alone can snowball into a 1,000 subscribers. Remember, those who enter the contest can then promote their own link for more entries, thus further increasing your list size.

The next step is key: Immediately start building rapport and delivering great content to your list. Give them exactly what you promised and a whole lot more. What you send them is of course going to depend on your niche. Just make sure it is info they can use to solve problems and you will do well.

Also inject humor when you can, write like you’re having a conversation with your best friend and enjoy yourself. If you’re having fun creating content, your list is having fun reading or watching it. That’s right – recording videos for your list is a great idea and can work to build rapport far faster than simply sending emails.

Finally it’s time to promote your first product. If you don’t already have a product of your own that fits this list, don’t worry about it. Choose something that your list wants and be an affiliate for that product. If you don’t know what your list wants, take a poll.

And here’s an even better technique than promoting an affiliate product – sell a product you haven’t even created yet. That’s right. Take a poll to find out exactly what they want. Then sell it to them. Let them know if it’s a book or video series or what. Let them know exactly what’s in it for them. Let them know that if you don’t get “x” amount of orders, you won’t make it. And lastly, let them know that because they are preordering before it’s even made, they get special bonuses and / or a special discount. Make it an offer they cannot refuse.

Just think: If you get 50 sales from your new list for $30 each, that’s $1,500 for a product you haven’t even created yet. Your results will vary.

Things to remember:

Your friends want to help you. Sometimes it’s easier to ask strangers for help than it is your friends and family. But the people who know you are the ones who will join your list first and promote your contest first. They get the ball rolling for you because they want to see you succeed.

Don’t hide. Yes, you can email until you’re blue in the face, and you will get results. You can also pick up the phone and call people to let them know about your new endeavor. Guaranteed, those you call will be far more likely to promote your contest and buy your product.

You might even randomly call people from your list just to thank them for joining. They will be blown away. In fact, send out an email to your list telling them you will call them on Skype for a 2 minute chat if they like – just reply with their Skype ID and you’ll call. Even those who don’t answer will be intrigued that you would do something like that. It shows you are a real person who wants to make real connections. And that counts for a lot.

You can also send private messages to people on your list through Facebook and Gmail if they have a Gmail address. Ask what kind of help they might need and what they want to accomplish.

If you want to make more sales of your first product, wait another week or two before promoting to build more trust with your list. Build rapport. Build a relationship. THEN promote your new product or future new product. Sales will likely double the amount you would make by promoting after just the first week.

Continue to build your list. 1,000 subscribers is a good start. Now go for 3,000. You can do it. In fact, it gets easier and easier as you go. Do lots of guest blogging – it’s a great way to list build.

Create a list-building incentive that drives people wild. This will take some brainstorming, but the perfect incentive is one that people would gladly and eagerly pay for with real money. When you figure out what this is for your niche, your list building will skyrocket.

Don’t get lazy. Building a good list quickly takes effort. Building rapport with that list takes even more effort. But in the end it can pay off big. VERY big.