Don’t Try To Learn It All

I’ve been marketing online for over 5 years now.

The other day, somebody mentioned something related to marketing that I really wasn’t familiar with. I never used it and son of a gun, it hasn’t prevented me from earning a living online.

Imagine that… something that I don’t know and I still pocketed over $250,000 online last year.

Who’d a thunk it?

The point is, you don’t have to know everything in order to earn an income on the internet. As a matter of fact, you can earn a living online with just a few promotional methods.

For example, you could earn a living, albeit not a huge living, by simply doing some bum marketing.

Okay, you’re probably scratching your head saying to yourself, “What’s bum marketing?” Well, it’s not the marketing of bums and it has nothing to do with bums doing marketing.

Actually, bum marketing is a phrase used to refer to a method of advertising that is so simple and so cheap that a bum in the street could use it to make money online.

The basic premise of bum marketing is you write articles, submit them to online directories and other websites. In your resource box point readers to your blog where you promote a product that relates to the article you wrote. The method is totally free because article submission is free and you can get a blog with Blogger or WordPress for free as well.

The key to bum marketing is to write good articles with a strong call to action in your resource box. If you can do that, and write up a good review of the product you’re selling, you can make quite a few sales from this method.

It does take some time to write articles and you do have to write quite a few to see any significant amount of traffic, but it’s worth it once you get a good number of articles out there.

My point is, just by using this one method, you can make money. You don’t have to learn about Adwords or product creation or anything complicated. A few simple steps can earn you a nice income if you put the time in.

So don’t try to learn it all. You simply can’t know everything even if you wanted to, and trying to know it all will spread yourself so thin that you will never master anything (and probably never make any significant money online). Even I don’t know everything that’s out there, and I don’t want to. It hasn’t hurt my bottom line one bit.

How Come I’m Not Making Any Money?

That is a very good question and a lot of internet marketers and other people trying to earn money online are asking it to themselves.

Lots of people directly ask me it too. Do you have any idea how hard it is answering a question like that when you have no idea what the person is actually doing to even try to make a living online? It’s like guessing his birthday and the time he was born in one guess! It’s almost impossible.

So what follows are a few of the main reasons why you may not be making any money online based on the hundreds of cases I’ve seen over the years – though I can’t be 100% sure since I don’t know YOUR particular situation.

1. No Business Plan

Do you think you can just throw up a website, post a few ads, write a few articles and the money is going to start pouring in? Trust me… it doesn’t work that way! You need to sit down and write out a comprehensive business plan.

Don’t want to do it?

Then don’t expect to make a lot of money – unless you get really lucky.

2. No Knowledge

Think you can make money online without knowing what you’re doing? Forget it! There is so much you need to learn to be successful online it would make your head spin…everything from sales copy to advertising strategies to list management. If you don’t take the time to get educated… don’t expect to earn a living on the internet.

3. Improper Research

So many people dive into a niche without even taking the time to find out if there’s even any money in it. It doesn’t matter if you think people will love your product. If they have no need for it, they won’t buy it. It’s that simple.

Research takes time… lots of it. You need to research keywords, competition and whole lot of other things.

Don’t want to do it?

Then don’t expect to make any money unless you get very lucky.

4. No Work Ethic

This is probably the biggest culprit of them all. No, surfing the net and playing video games is not working on your business. And checking your email and Adsense stats every 5 minutes isn’t working on your business either.

You need to sit down every morning, or better yet the night before, and write out a schedule for your workday.

And then stick to it.

The above 4 items are just the tip of the iceberg. The truth is, there are so many pitfalls that can fubar your business that they’d blow your mind.

Maybe what you need is a mentor. Problem is, they don’t come cheap.

If you want to get your shit together and stop putzing around with your business… drop me an email.

Or not.

At least I know where my next meal is coming from.

How to Make a Second Sale Immediately After Your Customer Buys

One of the most important aspects of internet marketing is the ability to sell multiple items to the same customer. That’s why the 80/20 rule is so important — meaning 80% of your money will come from 20% of your customers.  If every person who came to your site only bought one item and never came back, you would have to continuously drive more and more fresh traffic to your site to experience growth in profits. This is how many internet marketers go about running their online home business, and it can work, but doing it this way is so much more difficult than it needs to be. 

I have found that the more sales you can make to each and every one of your visitors, the easier your job becomes, by far.  It is a known fact that people who have already bought from you once will be much easier to sell to on subsequent occasions (as long as you are providing good products/services).  Think of how much more profit your online business would be producing if every one of your customers made at least four separate purchases from your site over time!

One of the best times to get many people to make a second purchase is immediately after they place an order.  It is at this time that their trust in you is at an all time high.  You have successfully convinced them that you are looking out for their best interest and are offering something of great value.  If they didn’t feel this about you they would not be ordering in the first place.

So how do you go about selling the person another item right after they have finished making their first purchase?  It is actually quite simple.  I am amazed at the number of online marketers who fail to utilize this tactic. 

Here is what you do: Create a thank you page your customers are taken to after they finish ordering.  On this thank you page include an enticing offer for another related product, or a great add-on to what they just purchased.  This product should compliment or enhance the item the person just bought.  The reason this works so well is that you catch them when they are still in the mindset to buy.  They probably still have their credit card out.  This makes selling them on the second product much easier.

You will find many people respond positively to your thank you page offer and order.  This will make your profits explode.  My online business profits increased by about 60% after implementing this simple thank you page offer and I don’t have to do anything else to get the extra sales.

If you don’t have a second product to offer that’s no problem.  You can easily offer an affiliate product. All you need to do is find something that matches what you already offer and recommend it.  This is a simple and effective remedy if you don’t have a second product of your own.  I strongly recommend that you don’t let this powerful internet marketing technique go to waste.  Add this simple offer and watch your online business profits explode!

Are You Focused Enough to Reach Your Business Goals?

I have a very important question to ask you that could literally be the secret to your success or the reason for your failure…

Are YOU focused?

Here’s why I’m asking. See, a lot of us entrepreneurs, when we sit down to do our day’s work, think we’re actually getting something done, but we’re not.

Tell me if this start to the day sounds familiar to you:

7:00 AM – Get up, shower, get ready.
7:30 AM – Read the morning newspaper and eat breakfast.
8:30 AM – Boot up the computer while checking your phone.
8:45 AM – Read a bunch of emails. Reply to some of them.
9:15 AM – Surf the web a bit. Maybe go to Youtube and watch some videos.
9:45 AM – Go to your favorite forums. Reply to a few posts.
10:30 AM – Jump on Facebook and/or other social media sites. Get lost in that.
12:00 PM – Have lunch.

Okay, I’ll stop there. You know what I’m talking about. It takes you forever to actually get to your work and that is IF you ever get to it. Getting focused is the hardest thing in the world for you. And you know why that is?

You have NO schedule.

I wake up EVERY morning and know EXACTLY what I’m going to do each day. It’s all written out for me. I then check off each item as I complete it. I try to complete at least 8 items each day. Depending on how time intensive an item is, that may be a little tough, but I always accomplish a lot.

If you’re not focused, I don’t care how much smarts you have, you’ll NEVER be successful online.

So get out your Google Calendar or whatever you use and make a schedule for the next day and STICK TO IT.

The days where you don’t feel like working, reward yourself for completing a task. I do it by playing my guitar.

It works wonders and is a big part of the reason why I have become (and stayed) so successful over the years.

Get focused, make money!

5 Ways Work at Home Moms Can Occupy Their Kids to Get More Work Done

When you’re a work at home mom (WAHM), it can be very hard to find some quiet time away from kids so you can actually do your work. There are ways you can create time to work and below I have given you 5 ways to make extra time each day so you can work at home in peace.

1. Nap Time

One of the easiest ways to work at home with kids in the house is to do it while they nap. That way you’ll have the quiet you need in order to make phone calls, write emails, and otherwise concentrate on all the work you have to do. Scheduling naps for your children at the same time each day is a good way to get them adjusted to the routine so it’s not a chore to get them down each time. And if your children are older, you can still impose regular quiet times each day. Most older kids will be happy to get time alone in their rooms knowing that you won’t be disturbing them either.

2. Movie Time

As long as it’s structured, monitored, and kept to a reasonable and defined period of time, there is nothing wrong with sticking your kids in front of the TV for a little while. Allow them to watch a movie or TV for a certain amount of time each day while you work. Most children’s movies and television shows are fairly short to keep their attention and many of them are also educational. Your kids will love you for it, and you know you will be able to work at home without being interrupted constantly because your kids will be glued to a screen.

3. Structured Playtime

Once your child gets a little older they can be started on a fun activity they can enjoy while you’re working. This can be a puzzle, a model, drawing or coloring, working with logos, or any other activity you know they’ll find interesting and engaging. You can even place a little table right near your work desk so they can “work” right alongside you. Checking in with them and offering some assistance periodically will also give you a nice break from work every hour or so.

4. Playing Outdoors

If your kids are old enough to play outside unsupervised this is a great way to get some time away from them while you work at home. They get to have fun, burn some energy and get their much needed exercise while you get to have some free time to work. This is an especially easy solution if you have a fenced-in yard. You might even be able to ask a neighbor to keep an eye on them while you work. You should also give everyone a time frame for how long they are going to stay outside so they don’t keep running in and out disturbing you.

5. Computer Time

Working at home doesn’t necessarily mean you will be on the computer all the time so allowing your children to get on the computer can be a fun way for them to pass time quietly if you are on the phone or doing other business tasks. There are many educational websites and games that they play online and even smaller children will enjoy typing if you just open up a blank document and let them hammer away. As they get older, this will also be a good way for them to learn typing and become more familiar with the computer.

As a work at home mom you want to be there for your children but you also need some free time away from them so you can get your work done. Use the five ideas above to take the stress out of finding quiet time and keeping your kids busy while you complete your work.