Internet Marketing Archives - Page 3 of 4

CPA Offers And Offline Marketing

For those of you who are unaware, Toronto is a massive metropolis – to the likes of New York or Chicago. When I was still working a shitty cubicle-bound day job, I would ride the subway to and from work on a daily basis, and during this ride it’s common, almost ritualistic, for the commuting gerbils to pick up a free copy of the local paper we have here called the Metro. Now more than often I go straight to the business/financial section, peruse through some classifieds and continue on to my daily horoscope on the second last page – and this is where I was struck with an “outside the box” moment…

Newspapers are slowly dying…

Let me get right to the point – every town, city and county has several free local newspapers which all survive off of the advertising revenue they receive. In a city like Toronto, the Metro paper gets into the hands of probably half the population (3 million +) which presents a great opportunity for some prime time, low cost, creative marketing.

I went onto the Metro website and took a peak at the advertising program they have, and some of the pricing options available, and found out that I could get a reasonably size block on the front page for less than $50/week – are you kidding me?? I found this to be absolutely scalable, and well worth a trial run.

Here’s the plan…

Grab 1 or 2 of the more popular free local newspapers in your city or town, go to the classifieds section (usually near the back) and you should find info for advertising – usually a phone number or email address. Find out the pricing info, as well as reach for the first 3 pages of the paper.

Find a strong performing CPA offer from Neverblueads or Copeac, keeping in mind seasonal and social factors that may cause certain offers to perform better. Here’s an example of what I mean: It’s Christmas time, so you could find a dating offer and put up an ad like “Don’t Spend The Holidays Alone – Hot New Local Dating Site, Sign Up For Free! www.blahblah.com”. Another offer that might work now is targeting last minute Christmas shoppers with a free gift card, or another incentive based CPA offer and post an ad up like “Guilty Of Last Minute Shopping? Claim Your FREE $250 (enter store name) Gift Card Now! Limited Quantities Available! www.blahblah.com”

Are you getting my drift?

Many top performing CPA offers have custom landing pages available, so all you need is to grab a domain name to host it, or if permitted by your affiliate network, redirect straight to the advertisers landing page of your choice.

If you’re even half decent with Photoshop, you could make a really attractive ad in under an hour, $7 for a domain name, and if you want to take it an extra step – make some flyers that are similarly branded and post them up around busy sections of the city.

Most dating, scholarship, loan and gift card offers range from $3-$20+ payout for a simple form completion. When you look at the investment compared to potential return – one would be stupid not to take advantage of the struggling local newspapers that provide cost effective advertising options. What if that $60 translated into $400 dollars per week, would you consider that to be a sound investment? I think we all know the answer here.

Think outside the box, because each day that passes more people are getting into “online” methods of marketing, which means saturation and intense competition – especially with a platform like Adwords. By utilizing offline advertising mediums, one can cash out with minimal time and monetary effort – and after some initial testing you could have a hands off proven stream of revenue to add to your online wallet.

Cheers,

Elijah

All Sales Pages Suck Ass

After I wrote you the title for this post I stopped and asked myself, “I wonder what kinda weird traffic I’m going to be getting for the term suck ass?” Anyways, it’s the first thing that popped out of my head so I wrote it. Over the last few days I’ve been working on an ebook package to flip – while simultaneously building a mini site template to cut down the amount of time it takes me to crank these babies out. Not only do I hate the tedious aspect of working in HTML, but I also hate how crappy most sales pages are.

I have never in my Internet surfing career (10 years) read a sales page that convinced me I should buy something – and that’s the honest truth. If I’ve ever bought something online, whether it be an info product or a service, it was because I did my research or because I have purchased from that person before.

Here’s the dilemma…

As I’m new to the process of creating my very first info product and campaign, I’ve been searching for related products and sites that I feel are examples of what an up-to-date ebook sales package would look like – and to satisfy my expectations I’ve been continually disappointed. I can’t stand the fact that somewhere in the history of info marketing it was decided that this is what works, and this is what encourages people to purchase your product, or opt in to your list.

I realize that there is a science to copy writing – which is a very complex skill to say the least. Developing your ability to write enticing copy that will convert traffic requires training, and the more I reference recent product launches the more I find myself wanting to vomit at the thought of releasing my own.

Change is needed…

Considering my first info product is going to be an off the wall (naked) guide to better blogging, it would be safe to assume that my buyers will fall under a handful of possible categories:

Existing bloggers who are looking to blog more efficiently
Existing bloggers who enjoy my style of writing from TheAtHomeCouple.com (you people)
New bloggers who can’t seem to get things going
Word of mouth bloggers that have read my dumb ass comments around the way
Random newbies who want to start a blog
All people in general who can’t find a bullshit-free product on effective blogging

More importantly, the success of my first launch will rely heavily on who I know – and what they’re willing to do for me. Yes, I know that a bunch of you will blast it on your blogs, or contact me to arrange some sort of contest – but how vital will the role of sales copy and a mini site play in the greater scheme of things?

SuiteJ was telling me earlier that he genuinely believes that 90% of people who buy a product scroll right down to the price. I agree with him entirely.

I think it would be safe to assume that people buying products within the MMO niche, whether it be on the Warrior Forum or via some autoresponder opt in have already made up their mind whether or not they are going to “show love” and make that purchase. Don’t get me wrong, there are still a whole load of people on this planet who have no idea what copy is, and are just starting to read some things about this “affiliate marketing phenomenon” and how to make money blogging – but what’s percentage of people really read the entire sales page and base their purchase decision on that?

I think there needs to be a change in the way we market within this make money niche. All these “Find Out How A 7 Year Old Retarded Kid Made $3789.77 In One Month By Selling Drool Samples Online” make me sick – and I’m sure there are a ton of newbies who are getting sick of it as well. Guys like Joel Comm and Frank Kern don’t make a killing because of their sales copy – they make a killing because of who they know, and how many people know them.

Perception is everything and the more visible you are to your potential buyers the more likely it is that your launch will be a success. Selling “make money online” products to the make money online niche has little to do with copy, and everything to do with visibility.

The sales page needs to die and we need a revolution.

That’s my opinion.

Cheers,

Elijah

Internet Marketing Causes Insomnia

It’s 4:46 am here in Toronto, and after 3 and a half hours of laying in bed with my eyes closed I have given up on trying to fall asleep. I’ve been a night owl since I was a child, always making a fuss when it came time for my mom to put my sister and I to bed, and as an adult I go through these periods of insomnia usually caused by the obstacle of not having enough hours in the day to get things done – even when I’m unemployed and at home. It’s a known fact that excessive amounts of time in front of a computer can put serious stress on your eyes, and cause your brain to have troubles “shutting down” at the end of the night and I’m sure most bloggers and Internet marketers can attest to that, especially if you haven’t reached the 4 hour work week pillar in your online career as of yet. I know we’ll all get there eventually…

The quest to make money online is an addiction. It goes hand in hand with crack, small children and Pringles – once you pop you can’t stop! I bet every one of you can remember that first moment when the veil was lifted, and you came to realize that beneath all the sales hype and push-button promises there was an actual industry of people making a living online, using the same business foundations and marketing fundamentals you were taught in the real world – and that these people were cashing in on something very real, and very possible. That moment when you discovered search engine optimization and what a “spider” was, or the very first time you heard about affiliate marketing and how people make an income promoting products that they don’t even own – it was a beautiful moment indeed!

I can also bet that once the blinders were removed you didn’t sleep for a few days, or months…

I just came up with an amazing idea for a niche product – Dealing With Insomnia: An Internet Marketer’s Guide. Included will be audio tapes of CPU noise, or the soothing sounds of a keyboard typing away with the occasional instant messaging notification. Joint venture anyone?

For real though, I need to snap out of this going-to-bed-at-all-kinds-of-crazy-ass-hours slump that I’m in. Not only is it hindering my productivity and time management, but it’s also not good for my mental and physical health. Regulated sleep is vital for any home business person and is just as important as having a good accountant and getting fresh air on a daily basis – which is another area where I’m lacking. Yes I’ve actually made enough money this month to cover my half of rent and call Visa’s collection department with a payment confirmation number, but at what cost? I’m going to bed between 4 and 7 am and usually waking up between 10 am and 3 pm on a semi-regular basis.

Not good.

Time for a much needed change. Valerian Root Extract here I come!

Cheers,

Elijah

Finding A Profitable Niche For Local Success

I spent the last week or so helping two good friends of mine, Mickey and Alistair, move from their recently sold condo to a cozy apartment in the trendy Bloor West area of Toronto – I absolutely hate moving, but that’s another post on a whole other blog! Anyways, Mickey and myself have always shared a passion for computers and technology, and whenever we get together for 37 beers and a bottle of scotch the conversation usually leans towards business ideas and world domination tactics. 3-5 times per year a whole crew of us travel north of the city to a very popular cottage town called Wasaga Beach, where Mickey’s father John lives and plays. This is usually our time to relax, build a fire, eat awesome food and spend some quality time together, as most of us don’t hang out as often as we’d like now that we’re all getting older – and more consumed in our individual careers.

This past summer we stumbled upon the realization that there isn’t a central location on the Internet for our demographic (male/female aged 19-30, future alcoholic millionaires) relating to what’s going on in Wasaga Beach. This discovery lead to the obvious discussion of building a web 2.0 social network style community, that would utilize our individual skills (Mickey is a Computer Programming Ninja, and Alistair is Night Club Manager/Promotion Sniper) and provide the Wasaga Beach party people with a go-to spot for events, contests, and intoxicated gatherings.

A Moment Of Genius…

A huge factor with pulling this off would be the ability to make the concept “sticky” and branded – because with our age group branding is everything. If we can come up with a catchy name, tag line and logo that people will recognize all the way from the strip to the line up in front of the keg, not only will the idea explode but word of mouth will take effect – and that my friends is what viral marketing dreams are made of.

All we have to do is funnel that viral buzz towards a fully interactive, multimedia driven social community where people can upload videos of their friend streaking across a beach volleyball court with a Roman Candle hanging out of his ass, and we’ll be in business! We can combine this with a Profile system, a vibrant choice of locally themed forum threads, photo galleries with tagging capabilities, and an up to date events section providing the inside scoop to everything Wasaga Beach Bums deem important.

We have all winter to get the foundation of the site complete, as well as the necessary traffic generation and link building methods – which is where I come in – and as summer roles around next year we’ll be more than prepared to start spreading the word and claiming our authority within the party scene of Wasaga Beach. Here’s a few ways I think we can create the viral power we need:

Take the entire crew down to the beach at least once every long weekend, all wearing branded t-shirts with the website address and logo on it while being loud and vibrant as usual.
Get branded bottle openers and condoms on a stick to give away while we’re out partying. Making people do ridiculous shit for free stuff and recording it to compile in an online video release at the end of each cottage season.
Host a free karaoke party at the beginning of cottage season – with more filming and condoms.
Every year in August Mickey has a pig roast for his birthday. We can charge people $20 a head for a Keg Party Pig Roast – all you can eat and drink with contests and prizes.
Once established we can cross over into the winter season and host events at the surrounding ski resorts – milking the snowboarding crowd.

I’m sure the wheels are all spinning in your heads right now – how can I find a profitable market locally and use the power of the Internet to support it? Take a look around you. What do people enjoy doing in your town or city? What’s popular based by season, or even year round? How can you position yourself between a trendy tourist spot and it’s visitors to capitalize and provide a resource or service to enhance their experience?

Spend a Sunday walking around your downtown core and keep your eyes open – the opportunities are everywhere! Thinking locally might not be as profitable compared to a global online launch, but on the flip side local niche targeting makes it much easier to establish authority and dust what little competition there might be – especially if you know a thing or two about Internet marketing!

Cheers,

Elijah

Are You Ready For Christmas Traffic?

I’m not feeling 100 % sexy today as I seemed to have picked up some flu-like hitchhiker while driving carelessly through the blogosphere this week. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’m going to bank as an affiliate with the gravy boats full of hungry, credit card ninjas that will be shopping online this Christmas – and I’ve also been thinking about what market I’m going to focus my efforts in.

I’m excited because this will be my first Christmas “online” as an imitation money maker, and I really do want to provide some genuine resources for the shopping traffic, rather than setting up a bunch of mistletoe-domains cranked with Adsense and scraped content. I haven’t started a list of possible avenues yet, so why not start my brainstorm right now as I’m typing this prize-winning post:

Where To Find Christmas Ideas

eBay’s Hot Brands section
Google Trends
Amazon
Your nearest shopping mall
Ikea
Your affiliate managers
Your kids

I’m sure you guys could have filled in the bullet points I just listed, but I don’t like assuming that everyone reading this blog already knows how to search for profitable niche markets and products. Personally I prefer studying Amazon’s marketplace over Ebay, simply because the prices are not auctioned off and it gives me a better idea of what people are willing to spend for something “brand new” online. You’d be surprised how much you could learn about the marketplace from your kids and the young children in your family. If anyone has a handle on what is going to be hot this Christmas, it’s them!

Once we’ve got some sort of list going on regarding products/markets, it’s time to think about how we are going to enter this market, our advertising budget (if any) and what mediums we plan to use for traffic generation. Here are a few proven methods:

Promotion Methods

Pay Per Click (most profitable/risky)
Article Marketing
Classified Ads (Craigslist, USFreeAds)
Squidoo, Hub Pages
Forum Marketing
Myspace Groups/Facebook
Link exchanges

I’m confident that most people within my inner circle of collaborators will be utilizing as many free methods as humanly possible, and keeping away from PPC due to lack of experience. ***Warning – If you have never made consistent profit using Pay Per Click marketing to drive traffic to an offer, you will get eaten alive if you try to jump in during the Christmas rush! Christmas is when all the big dogs make their big money, and if you’ve only dreamed of big money, stay away from the big dogs and let them do their thing. I really hate hearing horror stories of how somebody lost their kids college fund on PPC during Christmas… I can see it now “Merry Christmas Johnny! I got your McDonalds application framed for you!”

Go play in traffic dad…

I’m sure you get my point. There are TONS of free ways to generate traffic to your Christmas offers, just be unique and find those niche markets before hand – and don’t forget to make money off your friends and people you work with! It will get more and more difficult to locate profitable keywords, or find good domain names the closer it gets to Christmas, so start to think about what you’d like to do now – and take your time to use the tactics that work for YOU, and make some money to pay for all the wonderful gifts you plan to buy for your friends and family – and if you do super well, you can even grab something indulgent for yourself!

Cheers,

Elijah

How The Rich Stay Rich: An Internet Marketing Reality Check

In any business regardless if it’s on or offline, it all boils down to one thing at the end of the day… Who you know, and more importantly, Who the FU** knows you. If you have sensitive eyes and figured out that the asterisks after FU are the letters “C” and “K” my apologies, but I’m feeling very passionate as I’m writing this.

Something dawned on me…

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has an email address set up specifically for your Guru mailing lists – if you don’t please visit your email provider of choice and set up a dummy account for this specific reason. So as I was doing my normal routine today I logged into my designated email account and noticed that I had 13 new messages, which is nothing out of the ordinary, and while I was sifting through the Aweber generated communications I realized that they all had something in common – they were all promoting Brad Fallon and Andy Jenkins’ Stomp The Search Engines 2 release. Wow.. Immediately I started thinking back to the Mass Control launch and the magnitude of force behind it, and that’s when it really hit me: This is exactly how the millions are made online. It’s who you know, who knows you, and what they are willing to do for you. This financial mantra is no different online than it is with the Donald Trumps and Ted Turners of the world.

You’re going to love this…

Imagine launching a product and having the force of 15-20 of the worlds most successful Internet marketers blasting your launch to their lists every day for a consecutive 2 weeks prior to the release date. On September 3rd I received a blast from the likes of Yaro Starak, Frank Kern, Jason Moffat and Matt Callen to name a few – and if any of the people I just mentioned are reading this and have an issue with your name being mentioned, I love you all and you’ve taught me tons, but in the next 48 hours you will make more money individually than I have made in my entire working career – so bite me.

Back to my point, let’s hypothetically say that each of the 20 people blasting your launch own 5 lists combining 10,000 hungry ass leads – that would give you a total of 200,000 targeted leads not including your own lists. Take that number and throw in a conversion rate of 15% on the first day of launch and a product priced at $97 and with less than half the people converting you would have a total of…

$2,910,000.00 in sales

The last thing I want to do is discourage anyone from aspirations of Internet domination, like my man Avon Blake, but I do want to remove the veil over your eyes for a minute and bring to light the harsh realities of gaining “Guru” status in the affiliate marketing industry. The only way you are permitted access to the inner circle of marketing powerhouses is through money – not by paying your way in, but by becoming a top affiliate. If you consistently out perform on top campaigns and industry wide launches you will quickly gain recognition just as each one of our Guru’s did. You will begin getting phone calls and emails with directions to every “secret” roundtable meet up, and as long as you deliver results you too will be bathing in tubs full of money.

Affiliate newbies and beginner bloggers pay attention…

Keep your goals realistic. Start off by connecting with people who are on your level and create a strong network to bounce ideas in and out of. If you become over obsessed with what the Gurus are doing, you will be passing up opportunities to form your own roundtable of ninja marketers. If you are out to make millions and millions of dollars, fine, but don’t fool yourself with dreams of being the next Shoemoney because it won’t happen. Why waste your time making the Gurus richer by blasting everything they put out? They really don’t need your help if they truely are as big as we think they are. Why not concentrate on making your own network richer by promoting your own products, and eachothers? This is how the rich stay rich my friends. Think about it.

Cheers,

Elijah