Author Archive | Lawrence

No doubt you’ve been told to avoid using “hype” in your copywriting and sales messages, right? And I’ll bet there have been times when you’ve closed a sales letter page because the hype was too ridiculous for words. But when it comes to defining hype and especially to determining how much is just right, the water gets murky and no two marketers can give you the same answer.

That’s because “hype” is subjective. One prospect’s perception of hype is another prospect’s perception of just the right sales message to get them to buy. In addition, you need some hype to sell. No hype = no excitement, which means no sale. Here’s what I mean:

Sales message example #1: “This system is for sale for $33.33, here’s the order button.”

Now you’ve got to admit, that’s hype free. It’s also benefit free, boring and will capture the interest of just about nobody. Of course, if the system is already well-known and you’re discounting it to 5 bucks, you’ve made a sale. But if you’re selling a good product at a reasonable price, you’re going to have to turn on the hype. Here goes:

Sales message example #2: “This Revolutionary New System Cuts Your Work in Half While Tripling Your Productivity.”

Not bad, and certainly worthy of further investigation if you’re interested in getting more work done in less time. And yes, there is hype for sure, especially in the words “revolutionary” and “new” – just not so much that it raises red flags and causes your prospect to tune out.

Sales message example #3: “The Easy System that Earns You a Thousand Dollars a Second with NO Work.”

Looking at the words themselves, there isn’t much in the way of hype. We didn’t say it’s the greatest system in the world, or that everyone loves it, or that there’s never been anything like it since the beginning of time. However, is it believable? No. And therefore, the promise is just so much hype in the ears of the prospect and doesn’t offer enough substance.

Sales Message Example #4: “Give Me 5 Hours and I’ll Show You How to Earn $1,439 Per Month on Autopilot.”

Hyped? I don’t think so. This message offers a specific benefit in exchange for a specified amount of work – 5 hours. The amount doesn’t sound unreasonable because we’ve all seen examples of a few hours of work resulting in a monthly income of several hundred or even a couple of thousand dollars per month. Most importantly, the reader isn’t being promised something for nothing, which will ALWAYS instill doubt in a prospect. It sounds honest, it doesn’t sound hyped, and it’s completely plausible.

What have we learned from these examples? Plenty. First, if you don’t use some hype you’re never going to sell much of anything. People need to get excited before they’ll whip out their wallets and they need to see a clear benefit to making the purchase. They WANT to be fired up, they want to feel their heart race a bit and experience that adrenaline rush of getting a great deal. The better you can extrapolate how the features of your product will benefit the consumer and improve their life, the more likely they are to click the order button.

Second, be believable. Making wild claims is the ultimate in hype – and if you can’t back those claims with rock solid absolute undeniable proof, you’re better off not making those claims at all.

Third, be specific. “Make $2,000 a month!” sounds much more like hype than “Earn $2,078.55 a month.” Why? Because the specific number is more credible, as though it’s already been done. “Type Faster” doesn’t mean much, but “Type 15 Words Per Minute Faster after Just 4 Lessons” tells the prospect exactly what to expect. Non-specific claims and rounded numbers just naturally sound like hype, regardless of whether or not they’re factual.

Fourth, tell them what the catch is. This goes right back to being believable, because if you tell someone they can get a great benefit, they immediately want to know what the catch is. Often this equates to price, but if you can show a different catch, such as “5 hours,” then you take their mind off of price and onto the question of, “What do I need to do for 5 hours to make that $1,439 a month?”

And by the way – normally an article like this would start out with the definition of hype, but I wanted to save this gem for the end. Here’s what hype really means:

Hype: Verb meaning to stimulate or excite
Hype: Noun meaning extravagant or exaggerated claims

As you can see, hype is good so long as we strive to stimulate and excite, rather than exaggerate or stretch the truth.

Blogging is a great way to grow your business and brand. Here’s 7 tips to blog better…

Use images. People are more likely to read your post if there is an eye-catching image to go along with it.

Break your content up. Use a big headline, sub-headlines and short paragraphs to make it easy to read.

Reply to comments. It shows you’re paying attention and you care, which will get more people to comment. Plus, it’s the right thing to do.

Comment on other people’s blogs that are in your niche. This can drive traffic back to your blog.

Use a P.S. as a call to action. Sometimes when you sell within a post, it annoys people. But no one is upset at a P.S. at the end that says, “Hey, go check out my related product here.” In fact, most people appreciate that.

Link to relevant posts. You can do this within your post or at the end. Adding additional value to your blog posts by linking to related and supportive content can make your posts more valuable to others – which is the real goal of blogging.

Share your blog content. Let your list know you just put up a post, and share it with social media, too.

Apply these 7 tips to your blogging to create more value and engagement in every post!

When you’re struggling to write your latest blogpost, you probably don’t want to have to worry about SEO, too.

There is one theory that says you shouldn’t. After all, if you start focusing on SEO, then you won’t be writing the best content possible for your audience.

But is it really an either/or type of situation? It would be nice to get free Google traffic from your articles and blog posts without going crazy about how to structure your writing, what to add and what to leave out.

With that in mind, here are a few tips from the pros on how to do exactly that:

1: Your Writing Needs to Be Excellent

The content should be unique, high quality and written to professional standards.

Do this, and Google will likely reward you.

If any part of you is interested in buying those spun articles that were prevalent years ago – don’t even think about it. Don’t even consider using them simply to pad out your website – Google will look for them, Google will find them, and Google will penalize you for them.

(This sounds like a Liam Neeson movie…)

2: Longer is Not Necessarily Better

One popular strategy is to write a longer, more in-depth piece than anyone else. But it’s never that simple.

If you look at the webpages that have you beat in the SERPs right now, you can see for yourself how good they are and how long they are. But are they well-written? Do they answer the questions that customers are having? And do they understand what searchers are looking for?

You might be able to beat them by being more succinct and to the point. If you can convey the information in fewer words without losing anything, then do it. Any searcher will tell you they’re after the info, not a super long article because they have nothing better to do with their day.

That said, don’t write short just for the sake of fitting onto a mobile screen. Shortchanging your reader isn’t going to cut it, so remember to tell the whole story.

3: Write for People, Not Bots

True, your grammar and style should be the best. If it’s not, get yourself an editor who knows what s/he’s doing – it will pay dividends in the long run.

When you’re writing, ask yourself who your audience is and what their pain is. If you can put yourself in their shoes, you can write a better piece that your audience loves.

4: Use Good Copywriting Principles

For example, write an attention-grabbing headline that is based on your best keyword phrase.

Use subheads to keep your reader involved.

Write in short paragraphs and short sentences.

Do your editing days after you do your writing – you’ll be surprised how much better you can make your writing if you wait awhile.

And get someone else to read your work – they’ll spot mistakes you missed.

5: Key Phrases 2018

Yes, these are still alive and well, thank you. But their use in digital marketing today has changed somewhat.

When you’re doing your keyword research, focus on your audience. How big is your audience, where are they, what do you know about their demographics and what should your content be about?

Get the answers right and you’ll know how to write your copy.

Don’t write according to something Yoast SEO tells you. Millions of people are already doing this.

Instead, write according to the rules and advice here. And write for PEOPLE, not SEO plugins. You should start seeing better results.

6: User Experience Still Counts

An enjoyable read is a much better experience for your audience than some dry as dirt academic paper.

Likewise, having a page that’s easy to read and understand is crucial, too.

Make your headline big, your sub-headlines clear and easy to understand, and make sure your content is easy to navigate.

Bottom Line: Write with your READER in mind, not the search bots, and you’ll likely do fine (actually, much better).

This may or may not work for your list, but…

It can be effective for most marketers.

If you’re not getting the open rates you seek, try using a negative headline.

For example, instead of…

You’re going to love this product

This works amazing and even does the dishes

Having an awesome day, here’s why

Try something more like these:

You’re going to hate this product, here why…

This SEO product sucks (it won’t even do the dishes)

She was having a REALLY bad day (and then it got worse)

Of course, they’re going to ‘hate the product’ because it does a lot of the work for them, and now they have nothing to do

The SEO product sucks because ‘it said it does EVERYTHING,’ but all it does is get your site to Page 1.

And she’s having a really bad day, and it’s not even her fault, because… (You fill in the blank.)

Try using a negative headline of your choosing in 10% of your emails, and then compare open rates and click through rates.

You might get some very positive results.

Almost nothing is better than having your own product because you not only keep 100% of the sale price when you sell it – you can also get affiliates to sell it for you, thus simultaneously building your list and bank account through the efforts of others.

So how do you crank out products quickly and easily that people are hungry to buy? I’ve compiled a list of proven methods – and none of these should take you longer than 7 days, with most taking only a few hours.

Interview an Expert. This is a super fast and easy way to create a product, and you don’t need to have any expertise of your own. Instead you’re “borrowing” the subject’s knowledge and packaging it into a product.

So where do you find these experts?

• Search Amazon for authors in your niche – authors are often eager for the chance to share their knowledge and plug their latest book, and so they’re open to being interviewed. And on Amazon you can find an author on just about any niche topic you want to pursue.

• Look for authors on ClickBank. ClickBank is divided into niches so it’s easy to search. Choose your niche and look at the gravity of each product within that niche to find something with a high gravity (100+). This means that the product is selling well, and this might be a good person to interview.

• Do case studies. This is a bit different because instead of interviewing your subject on his expertise, you’re asking specifically how s/he did one particular thing.

Use What You Know by Recording Your Own Tips and Tricks. You may not think you have skills that others want to learn, but odds are you do. Maybe you know how to write a great blog post in 10 minutes, or how to lose 50 pounds in 3 months, or how to swap out the engine on a ’57 Chevy.

You can either turn this knowledge into a report or ebook, or record it as videos or audios. Once you start breaking down what you do step-by-step, you might be surprised at how much you know. And if there’s a market for what you know, you’ve got yourself a viable product.

Don’t ever discount your own knowledge. If you’re in the internet marketing niche, for example, and you’ve only been working in it for six months, you still know things that people who are just starting out don’t know, and those things can be turned into your own unique product. You don’t have to be the foremost expert in a niche – you can simply have more knowledge than the customers you’ll be targeting.

Turn Your Existing Content into New Products. Have you written a bunch of articles and blog posts? Maybe you’ve got enough there to create your own book. Do you have videos that you’ve made, audios, etc? Can you package this content into a product? Repurposing your own content is a great way to make a completely self-created product very quickly.

Co-Create a Product with Someone Else. Team up with someone who has the skills you don’t and vice versa. Perhaps you’re a good writer and they have the knowledge, or you have the personality to make the videos and they have the background in the niche. Decide in the beginning what needs to be done and who will do what, and the deadline for completion.

The benefits here are two-fold: First, two heads and two sets of experience are better than one. And second, by working as a team you are accountable to each other, and the product is likely to get created quite quickly with no procrastination or stalling getting in the way.

So that’s 4 ways to create products super fast. Get inspired, take action and you can have your own product created and selling online within the next 7 days, or less. Go for it!

There is a thought in online marketing that if you just get the mechanics right, then everything will fall into place and you’ll get rich.

I’m not here to dispute that.

Rather, I’d like to suggest that mindset plays a bigger role than most people think.

After all, if thoughts are things – and quantum physics tells us this is true – then what you think can have a huge impact on the success of your business.

Don’t believe me?

Take two people – one has a track record of building million-dollar businesses. The other has a track record of never having had a major success in his life.

Who would you bet on to build a million-dollar business? The one with the track record, of course.

But let me ask you this… do you think that both of these individuals view business – and specifically, the acquisition of money – in the same way?

You might guess that the successful person who has made millions of dollars sees money in an entirely different way than the person who has never been successful.

One sees opportunity everywhere – the other sees obstacles.

One sees challenges to overcome – the other sees problems that cannot be solved.

One believes leverage is the way to get rich – the other believes hard work will win the day.

One believes money is abundant – the other believes it’s scarce.

One thinks about how to make more money – the other thinks about how not to lose money…

… and so forth.

If you take the second person – the one who has never had a major success – and implant the thought patterns and beliefs of the first person concerning money and business…

…do you think the second person could then build a million-dollar online business as well?

That’s our question for the day. And you, with your consent, will be our test subject.

If you’ve never built a million-dollar business but you would like to, then I’m challenging you here and now to adopt the following thoughts and make them yours.

This means that reading them once won’t be enough. You’ve got to integrate them into your thinking 24/7. They have to become as much a part of you as your belief that you should eat, sleep and brush your teeth.

You’ve got to believe in these as much as you believe the sun will come up tomorrow.

In other words, you’ve got to make these thoughts YOURS.

You might do this by rereading the following list when you wake up and when you go to sleep each night.

You might write them out long hand, or record them and listen to them on your Mp3 player.

Just do whatever it takes to make these thoughts your own.

And just so you know, we did not pull these out of thin air. They come from a very solid book by Steve Siebold entitled, “How Rich People Think.” We’ve simply put our own online marketing spin on them.

If you’ve ever wanted a roadmap on how to be rich – I dare say this might be it.

Take these thoughts and combine them with any proven online business plan, and you should be making money – significant money – in no time at all.

Your results will vary. Remember that making these thoughts yours is just the first step – working your business is the second. And doing one without the other is probably just going to waste your time.

Just to be clear, we’re going to differentiate the two types of thinking as “Non-rich” and “Rich” thinking.

“Rich” is, of course, a relative term. To a millionaire, a billionaire is rich, while the billionaire might think the millionaire is poor by comparison.

Let’s get started…

The non-rich think: The rich are obsessed with money

While the rich think: Being obsessed with success is a wonderful thing

Why is it that we think obsessions are necessarily bad? If a person is obsessed with being healthy or with helping others, we generally don’t criticize. But if they are obsessed with being successful, we like to point out that there is something wrong with them. But why do we do this?

Most likely because it’s easier for us to say they are wrong than it is to become obsessed with success ourselves.

When you’re rich, you have the ultimate freedom to do what you want, when you want. Money is simply a gauge by which you measure how successful you are.

If you can think of business as a game you love to win, then you can become obsessed with success in a healthy, productive manner.

It’s all about what you can accomplish and how many people you can help with your online business.

The primary motivator for many millionaires is reaching a certain net worth – a number that is different for everybody. Assuming your business is legit and helps people – and hopefully it does – then the bigger the number you reach, the more people you’ve helped.

And think about this: when you hit your number, then you are free to chase higher pursuits such as philanthropy, time freedom and personal fulfillment.

So yes, go ahead and get obsessed with success. If that means working on your online business 14 hours a day for a few months, go for it. Success is calling and it’s time to answer that call.

The non-rich think: Saving is the way to get rich

While the rich think: Earning more money is the way to get rich

The non-rich cling tightly to their meager assets because of fear of loss and uncertainty of the future. Then when an economic correction occurs, they suffer catastrophic losses they cannot recover.

The rich, while understanding that saving and investing are important, also direct their energies toward making more money by serving others and solving problems. If a catastrophic loss occurs, they turn their attention to financial opportunities that occur in a downward economy and often become all the richer for it.

It’s a question of whether you operate from fear or abundance. Either mindset can lose money, but only the abundance mindset can quickly recover the money and more.

Focus on building an online empire of several different income streams, not on saving pennies.

The non-rich think: Trading time for money makes sense

While the rich think: Non-linear thinking and leverage is the way to get rich

Any time you’re trading your time for a paycheck, you’re actually trading the most valuable commodity you have – your precious time – for a fixed income.

If hard work made fortunes, every fast food employee would be rich.

The rich generate money through ideas that solve problems. And since there is no limit to ideas, there is also no limit to the money you can earn.

The right idea at the right time can make a fortune. Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft are classic examples of this.

Look at your own online business and you can see this at work. For example, if you write a book to sell to one person, you are trading time for money. This is what ghostwriters do.

But if you sell the book yourself, you can continue to sell copies of it every day for the rest of your life. You get paid over and over for work you did once.

And if you hire someone to write the book for you, now you are experiencing true leverage.

The non-rich think: Rich people are evil

While the rich think: Rich people are ambitious

The average person has been programmed to think rich people are somehow evil, dishonest and deceitful.

And while this is occasionally the case, as a general rule self-made rich people have used their drive, ambition and vision to build something that helps a lot of people.

Believing that rich people are inferior or morally lacking makes a great excuse for why a person isn’t rich – after all, they’re a nice person, and they don’t want to hurt anyone.

But if the non-rich will take responsibility for their financial plight and adopt the thinking of the rich, then they, too, can become rich.

And in the process, they can prove that not all rich people are evil.

The non-rich think: Being a lone-wolf is an positive quality

While the rich think: Building wealth is a team effort

When the non-rich folks have jobs, they’re paid for their individual efforts. They’re lone wolves, and they believe that if they start their own business, then they have to do it on their own.

But the rich (and future rich) know that building anything worthwhile is a team effort. Finding the right people and leveraging their knowledge and action is key to achieving success quickly and on a large scale.

The rich are team leaders. The non-rich try to do everything themselves.

The rich know their strengths and weaknesses and find people who fill the gaps in their knowledge and abilities.

The non-rich believe they can eventually learn everything they need to know to become successful.

If you can build a team and share the credit for your success, then you can achieve almost anything, and do it in a surprisingly short amount of time.

But if you go it alone, success will always be just around the corner and just out of reach.

In your online business, figure out what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing. Then outsource everything else. This will shave your time from conception to launch in half or less, keep you happy and more than double your profits.

Try it – once you do, you’ll never go back to trying to do everything yourself.

The non-rich think: Money is bad

While the rich think: Money is fantastic

If you were to ask most people why they don’t have money or even just what they think of money, you’ll realize why they’re broke.

They see ambitious people as greedy and self-serving. They think money is a necessary evil that must be managed but should not be their focus.

And there are better things to do with their time than be successful, like watch TV, sports and so forth.

The rich see money as a positive tool that can create freedom and opportunity to do what they want and have the life they enjoy. Money removes restrictions and lets them do what they want, when they want and where they want.

When you have money, you can engage in your favorite pastimes, help out the less fortunate and improve life for others beyond yourself.

Whether you believe money is evil or a tool for empowerment will make the difference between whether or not you have money.

The non-rich think: Formal education leads to wealth

While the rich think: Specific knowledge creates wealth

While rich people respect a formal education and encourage their children to attend university, they don’t see it as a way to build a financial empire.

Many self-made millionaires have very little formal education. They’ve amassed their wealth through getting, using and selling specific knowledge and information.

College typically prepares a person to trade time for money, and this is rarely the way to real wealth.

Rich people work from a non-linear mindset, with no limits or boundaries.

Give an employee a problem, and they will try to solve it for the company.

Give someone with a rich person’s mindset a problem, and they will not only solve it, but then sell the solution to everyone who needs it, thereby creating wealth.

And if the person with the rich mindset can’t solve the problem, they’ll hire someone to solve it for them, and again sell the solution to make their fortune.

Problem solving is an asset that can build empires. While academics and the middle class see problems as being complex, the rich mindset is able to break those same problems down to their essence to find the solution. Bill Gate’s founding of Microsoft is a wonderful example of this trait at work.

As an online marketer, you have the opportunity to present solutions to people around the world.

And you don’t always have to find the solutions, either. You can act as a reporter, finding out what people need and then reporting back to them with a product that fills that need.

The non-rich think: About spending

While the rich think: About investing

Do you really, truly need that new car? Or will your old one last for a few more years?

Living beyond your means isn’t living at all. It’s self-imposed slavery, where you have to go to work just to keep your nose above water and eke out a meager existence.

The self-made rich primarily buy the things they truly need and the things that will make them more money. True, once they become wealthy they do splurge, but by then they’ve earned the right.

Many self-made millionaires are ordinary people who went without luxuries and extravagances while they were building their fortunes. Instead of lattes and going to the movies, they invested in stocks and real estate.

But the real answer isn’t just to be frugal and live on as little as possible – it’s to double or triple your income and invest a large portion of that.

Ideally you want to live the good life, and if that means being cautious with your finances for a few years while you increase your income and your investments, it’s well worth the price you pay to then be financially free.

Investing your money into your online business can be the most freeing thing you ever do. Imagine being able to retire in 5-10 years, and then ask yourself if watching your money for that length of time while focusing on making more was worth it.

The answer will invariably be yes.

The non-rich think: “If only I could win the lottery…”

While the rich think: “Let’s get busy and make this happen!”

People love the lottery because they think it’s their only chance to get rich.

Sadly for most, they’re probably right. And it’s not because they’re not capable, either. It’s because they don’t believe in themselves and their ability to create wealth.

The rich know that talk is cheap, and take daily action to build their wealth because they know they can do it.

Beliefs dictate behavior, and behavior dictates results. If you believe you can succeed, then you’ll take action to do exactly that.

That’s why you’re in online marketing – because you believe you can succeed. But do you really, truly believe you can become rich?

If not, you might want to adjust your thinking.

The non-rich think: Money changes people

While the rich think: Money reveals people

The average person has beliefs that money turns good people into greedy, corrupt, uncaring jerks. This limiting belief not only keeps people poor – it also serves as an excuse for why they’re unsuccessful.

But the self-made rich know that success and money reveal the true person inside. If you were a crook before you were wealthy, you’ll be an even bigger crook once you’ve got money. If you were kind and generous before becoming wealthy, odds are you’ll do a lot of good with your money to help people, animals and the world.

Take a good look at your own personality, and then imagine them amplified by wealth. Do you like what you see?

If so, great. If not, you might want to make some changes now, before money amplifies traits you’re not proud of.

The non-rich think: You have to have money to make money

While the rich think: You should use other people’s money to get rich

Did you know it’s easier to borrow $10 million dollars than it is to borrow $10,000? It sounds crazy, but this is exactly how the rich think.

They don’t use the words, “I can’t afford it.” Rather, they think in terms of, “Is it worth buying, investing in or pursuing?” If it is, they find the money.

Again, this is all about linear thinking: “I have to make money in order to invest it in order to get rich.”

There’s nothing wrong with this, except that it takes time. A lot of time. And life is short.

Let’s say you’re starting an online business. You’ve got a proven business model that works, along with a great product. You could work yourself silly getting free traffic in order to get sales. Or you could get an investor who can pay for traffic. In the first case, it might take you months to make enough to buy consistent traffic, at which time your product might already be out of date. But in the second case, you can send massive, targeted traffic to your offer from day one.

In the first case, profits will come slowly. In the second case, you’ll be making solid money from day 1.

The non-rich think: Self-made rich people are somehow smarter

While the rich think: Self-made rich people are more savvy – not smarter

Memorizing information to get good grades in high school or score well on an IQ test won’t make you rich. There is a theory that the “A” students end up working for the “C” students, and this is likely true more than we realize.

Different people are smart in different ways. Some can memorize information, some are good at physical things, some are music smart, and others have an ability to figure things out.

The self-made rich have a talent for making money. Fortunately, no one is born with this talent (how many babies have you seen on Wallstreet?) which tells us that this talent can be learned.

And the best way to learn to make money is to find out what’s working for others and model their success.

That’s why ‘how to make money’ programs are so popular. People want to be rich, but they don’t know how to do it. They want someone to show them the ropes.

This is key if you’re in the make money niche. Explain to your prospects that your system is proven to work because others are already making money doing it.

Just follow the blueprint, and you can succeed. Just make sure your products live up to this promise.

By reading this article, you are now one step closer to becoming rich yourself.

And by knowing, understanding and incorporating rich thoughts into your everyday life, you are setting the stage for your own success.

Oddly enough, this article wasn’t about money at all – it’s about mindset.

And when you have the right mindset, then everything else falls into place.

Here’s an interesting case study from a guy in the US. It seems he’s something of a big name in his day job, so he wanted a way to make extra money online without ever revealing his real name.

He’s found a twist on the marketing method we all know and love – list building – that gives him multiple streams of income in several different markets without ever creating a product of his own, blogging, dealing with affiliates or creating a big name in any of his niches.

Here’s how it works: ‘Mark’ targets all of the usual niches – make money online, dating and romance, embarrassing problems, losing weight, golfing, stop smoking and so forth.

If there is a niche with good money, he goes after it.

His goal is to build lists in each of these niches, but he doesn’t do it in the usual manner.

He finds his prospects in both the offline and online world, with the goal of collecting as much data on each one as possible.

As you know, when you offer a free download in exchange for an email address, that’s about all you’re going to get – the email address.

But instead of ebooks or reports as his lead magnets, he offers printed ‘books’ in exchange for the prospect’s information. He mails these books to his new subscribers, so of course he has to collect their mailing address and full name.

And being the clever guy he is, he often collects a lot more info than just that.

He also collects things like the phone number, income bracket, gender, interests and so forth by using quizzes and surveys. It’s amazing what people will answer in a quiz, survey or test if they want to find out something about themselves, such as what they should be doing for a living, what kind of personality they have and so forth.

Of course, he makes each survey or quiz up himself, so it’s much more for fun than being scientific. The goal is always to collect the info.

And because he physically mails out the books, he only targets people in the US so that it remains financially viable for him to run this.

Once someone answers the survey or quiz or fills out the form to get the free book, he then tries to upsell them on related affiliate products, so that’s one income stream.

Then he continues to email these prospects offers in their niches. He has an autoresponder series set up for each niche, and in each series he promotes a lot of different products.

All of his emails and books are basically PLR info, or info he’s gleaned from the sales pages of the products he’s promoting. He doesn’t write much of anything himself. As mentioned, he also has a full time job he enjoys and he doesn’t want to quit; so time is at a premium for him.

Now then, when he mails out the books, he also encloses offers. Some of these offers are his, and he makes a commission on them if they buy. Other offers are from partners who pay him to send these out, so there’s another income stream.

Then, and this is perhaps where he makes about 50% of his money – he rents out the information he’s collected to other businesses. Every business is in search of new customers, and many like to find those customers through the mail.

For example, someone who is trying to lose weight will try a lot of different ways to do it.

One of the ways will be the free book he sends, and perhaps the upsell after the book, and perhaps an affiliate product or two through email.

Then other companies send the same person weight loss offers through the mail – often diet type supplements or an entire diet program – and the customer might try that as well.

This is how one customer can wind up making a dozen or more purchases in one niche within a fairly short amount of time.

And as you can see, Mark likes to get a piece of as many of these sales as possible.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it isn’t really. Initially he comes up with a book that’s really a report made from quality PLR materials.

Then he creates an email series promoting evergreen products in that niche – products that will be around for a while, usually from ClickBank but also from JVZoo and other places.

And then he’s got his contacts as to who wants to buy what type of lead.

He was a little cagey when I asked him about this part, but he did say that he simply contacts a few likely businesses and let’s them know what he’s doing – sort of a copy and paste email he sends out.

Some don’t reply and some do, and once he’s got a new client he’ll even ask specifically what they’re looking for in a lead. Then he’ll tailor a survey or quiz to find those answers.

He buys traffic, uses some basic SEO, places ads on blogs and uses other techniques to get people to his pages. Basically, he drives traffic any way he can, as long as it’s not time intensive.

His favorite method is buying traffic from Facebook, since he can do some heavy duty targeting there.

He also sells solo ads and even sells individual leads to lawyers. These might be people about to get divorced or who had an accident, and he rents these leads out for several dollars apiece to multiple lawyers at the same time. He gets these leads online and also buys advertising in small local papers – yes, it’s a very old school method, but it still works.

He also employs a virtual assistant to do much of the work for him, so basically he spends maybe 5 hours a week actually working the business now.

Initially, of course, he invested a lot more time, but now that he has his assistant trained, she does most of it for him.

Remember, he doesn’t blog, create actual products of his own or try to build up a reputation in any one niche.

When he does need to use a name, it’s always a pen name – he has a different one for each niche.

And his coworkers have no idea he does this on the side, nor will they ever know unless he tells them.

This shows you just how important data is, and why companies like Facebook and Google are all about tracking what we do.

The more info and intel you can gather on prospects, the more they are worth.

This is a good business model for someone who wants to make a mint with their mailing lists, while entering any niche you choose and remaining completely anonymous.

I’ve got a friend who has used this business model for years as a ‘side’ business.

Funny thing is, his side business earns more than many full time businesses – about $10,000 per piece of software per year.

And yes, he doesn’t own any of this software himself, which means he never has to deal with programmers or customer complaints that the software isn’t doing whatever it should be doing.

Here’s how it works:

Find free software that people use – for example, cloud storage, help desk software, popular WordPress plugins, membership software and so forth. You might want to concentrate just on software that is used in the online marketing world, or you could branch out into other niches.

You’re looking for software that is somewhat popular, but ideally it’s not all that simple to use.

Anything come to mind? Forums are a good place to search. Look for a number of posts from people all looking for help with the same software, and you’ve found a winner.

Now then, you can either do the next step yourself, or outsource it to someone who knows a lot about the software. If you’re doing it yourself, you’ll need to get really good at using the software before you proceed.

You’re going to put together a tutorial that shows people how to use the software. Your tutorial is going to assume they know next to nothing about it, so that anyone and everyone can benefit from it.

Take them through all the steps of installing and using the software, along with all the features they might not even know about. The point is to make it super simple for almost anyone to use the software, once they have your tutorial.

Charge a modest amount for your tutorial – nothing over the top.

You might want to add a “done for you” option or upsell in which the software is installed and set up for the customer. You can do this work yourself, or outsource it to someone else.

And inside your tutorial, place links to the paid version of the software, along with anything else that will help the reader to make the best use of the software.

All of these income streams add up.

And buyers are easy to come by, because many times people are desperate for answers. They’ve already wasted time trying to get the software to work, and they’ve wasted more time on forums and help desks trying to get the help they need.

By the time they find your tutorial, they are more than happy to hand over several dollars to get the job done, or even more money to have the job done for them.

As you can see, we’re targeting people already familiar with the software who need help.

But that’s only half of your customer base.

The other half is people looking for a particular solution.

For example, they want to know how to set up a membership site without paying a monthly fee for software. You can recommend the solution they need, and the software only has a one-time payment.

Better still, you’ll show them exactly how to install and use it.

Of course, you won’t name the software on that sales page.

And yes, you will need two different sales pages. The first one targets the group who is having trouble with the software, and the second one targets the group looking for the solution the software provides.

Want to make even more money?

You can sell private label rights or resell rights to your tutorials.

And you can also get affiliates on board as well.

This can be a great product to sell via paid advertising – both in the ‘fix a problem’ format and the ‘here’s the solution you need’ format.

The work involved in doing this is small versus the money that can be made. It won’t make you rich, but if you put out just one of these a month, you might hit six figures.

And the shelf life of each tutorial will vary according to how popular the software is. You’ll be able to sell some for only a few months, while others might be good for a year or two before you need to update them.

It’s a perfect little side business that doesn’t require much startup cash – just the ability to find software that’s confusing people or solving a real problem, and creating the tutorials for your customers.

And don’t forget – you can also sell more solutions to your new customers after they purchase the tutorial. In fact, this alone can double your profits.

Get busy, and go make some more money by helping other people solve their problems!

When you enter online marketing, you’re told to pick a niche.

And you’re told that health, wealth and relationships are the big three. Pick a sub niche in any of these, and you’ll likely do well.

But what if you want to do better than “well?” What if you want to dominate your market?

The first people into the big three markets had it easy, since there was a ton of demand and very little competition.

Those who followed had it tougher.

And today, while the demand is still there, the competition can be brutal.

Unless…

Unless you continue to niche it down.

Markets (heath, wealth, relationships) are saturated.

Sub-markets (weight loss, forex, dating) are saturated.

Which is why you’ve got to specialize even further.

Study the competition and the processes they use, and then create your own market.

Here’s how:

1: Audience and Slogan

Your first step is to choose your audience and then target them with the right slogan – a slogan that promotes change.

If you look at recent American presidential campaigns, you’ll notice a trend:

George Bush Sr’s slogan – “A Proud Tradition”

vs.

Bill Clinton’s slogan, “Time to Change America”

—

John McCain’s slogan, “Country First”

vs.

Barack Obama’s slogan “Change we Need!”

—

Hillary Clinton’s slogan, “Fighting for Us” and “I’m With Her”

vs.

Trump’s, “Make America Great Again”

—

All three of the winners talked about change.

Why? People want change. They are dissatisfied, which is why they will buy into your message and your products, IF you can show them that doing so will create the change they seek.

Ask yourself what will get your tribe excited enough to follow you.

2: Setting Your Audience’s Hair on Fire

Next, issue a challenge to your audience – one that gets them fired up.

What is it that your audience wants?

To look 20 years younger and make their friends crazy jealous?

To get six-pack abs without the gym?

To strike it rich in six months with cryptocurrency?

Issue a challenge to your audience that sets them on fire with enthusiasm.

3: Create Your Tribe

By making your audience feel like they are part of a tribe, they will self-identify.

Look at the CrossFit people – they are diehard fans because they identify as part of the CrossFit tribe.

Brand your business AND your audience.

4: Create an “Us vs Them” movement

This could be a manifesto your tribe can rally around, or an actual movement of us vs them.

If you look at American politics, you see this tactic being used every single day.

5: Don’t Improve Them – Switch Them

People don’t want to lose weight – it’s hard and they’ve already failed a bunch of times. Plus, who wants to admit they’re overweight?

But people do what a new opportunity.

So give them status. Show them how they can have a brand new billion dollar body – not just a 20 pound weight loss.

This is a new discovery for them, making it fun and exciting. Plus, they don’t have to remember the pain of all their prior failures.

Once you switch them to your brand, pile on the new opportunities within the opportunity you initially switched them to.

These steps make the difference between a $100,000 business and a 7-figure business.

When you first get started online, you might be worried. Frankly, you probably should be worried. Yes, you made sales this month. But will you make sales NEXT month? And how will you pay the bills if you don’t make sales?

It can be scary going from a job where you know exactly how much you’ll get paid and when you’ll get paid to working your own business online.

In your business you might have a banner month and then two months of starving followed by a mediocre month followed by (hopefully) another banner month.

Thus, the question becomes, “How do you get stability in your business – and your income -as quickly as possible?”

Or… how do you KNOW for a FACT that next month you can make the mortgage and eat, too?

Simple – continuity programs. Call it what you want – memberships, recurring payments, monthlies, etc.

It all boils down to getting people signed up into a continuity program so you can continue to get paid month after month.

Now you have a choice here: You can either promote other people’s continuity programs, or create and promote your own.

If you’re acting as an affiliate, then you don’t have to worry about sales funnels, membership content, customer service and all of that. You just need to focus on making the sales.

Drive the traffic, offer your own bonuses and do what you’ve got to do to get people signed up.

The problem, of course, is that in exchange for less responsibility, you also have less control and more competition.

The membership site owner has control over content. If s/he takes a “churn and burn” mentality and doesn’t care about keeping members happy, then people won’t stay long. You’ll have to continually make new sales, which isn’t what you’re looking for.

You want stability. That’s why you only want to promote truly great memberships and continuity programs that deliver a ton of value.

As to competition, you are competing with every other affiliate who is promoting the same program.

If you have your own list, then this isn’t that big of a problem. After all, people on your list know and love you, right? And so they’ll follow your recommendation.

Unless they’re on someone else’s list (they are) who has already promoted the program. In which case, you’re not going to make many sales.

Promoting affiliate memberships is a give and take. Less responsibility, no control and lots of competition.

And this is why you might want to start your own membership. Look around and see what people in your niche desperately want and need, and then fill that want with your site.

Outsource the content creation if you can, so you can focus on the important part – filling it with people.

Once you’ve got your membership site up and running, it’s time to get busy promoting it. Use every technique you can think of and track everything.

Find out what your best sources of traffic are, and then put all of your effort into just those methods.

For example, maybe you buy traffic from Facebook, Adwords and solo ads. You also get free traffic from guest posting, forums and social media.

9 out of 10 new members are coming from Facebook, so what are you going to do?

Drop all of your other methods and focus exclusively on Facebook advertising.

Get your conversions up and your costs down and now you have a viable way of getting a continuous influx of new members into your site.

Want even more members? Show affiliates how well your offer is converting, and you can get them to promote your membership site, too.

There are plenty of affiliates out there who want that continuous, month to month income that a good membership site provides. All you have to do is show them that your funnel is converting and members are sticking.

Naturally, there are a lot more details than this to starting a membership site. But hopefully this gets you thinking in that direction.

Because if you want true financial freedom as quickly as possible and with as little stress as possible, then almost nothing can beat having your own successful membership site.

One more thing – the first site is the hardest. Once you have a membership site that’s clearing at least a couple of thousand dollars each month like clockwork, continue to build on that one while building your second membership site, and so forth.

Create a membership empire to secure your finances, and then you can experiment with anything you like.

Security first, right?