Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
May 28, 2009
Issue #483
Dear Business-Builder,
The great investor Warren Buffet has a net worth of about $62 billion. That’s sixty-two thousand million dollars.
If your net worth is $10 million, Warren is 6,200 times richer than you.
If you’re worth $1 million, he has 62,000 times more money than you do.
If your net worth is $100,000, Mr. Buffet is 620,000 times richer than you are.
There are people whose businesses grow a hundred, maybe even a thousand times or more faster than yours does. For every new customer you attract, they attract 100, 1,000, maybe even 10,000 or more.
There are people who look, feel and perform ten, twenty, even thirty years younger than you do …
Who have far greater success in love and relationships (OK – maybe just in sex) than you do …
Who live better for less, have greener lawns, clearer skin, more hair, thinner waists and smaller butts, better-behaved or more successful kids, more friends or are more successful in some other area of life than you are.
Sorry – but you know it’s true. And no, I’m not trying to depress you – just trying to make a very important point.
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Posted by:
Gary Bencivenga
October 28, 2008
Issue #533
Dear Marketing Top Gun:
If you want the easiest, surest and most rewarding way I’ve found to succeed online, here is the simple 7-step formula:
- Carve out a niche. Be known for something specific. Use the rifle, not the shotgun. When in doubt, go narrower than others in your field. For specific examples, see The Fuzzy Dice Secret for Exploding Your Sales.
- Give something valuable away free. Within your narrow specialty, create an e-zine (or course, collection of tips, series of mistakes to avoid, seasonal recipes, any regular communication) that demonstrates your expertise and is so helpful, interesting and informative, your prospects will want to keep getting it regularly.
- Promote your free e-zine every way you can — in Google ads, articles you write for the media, speeches before trade groups, press releases, radio interviews, communications with your customers, take-ones at related retail outlets, space ads, newspaper classifieds, direct mail, co-ops and swaps with others in your industry, etc. Explore any and all avenues.
- Capture e-mail addresses. Never give away your valuable free tips on your website! Share them only in exchange for an e-mail address when someone signs up for your e-zine. Consider offering one of your best free tips in the form of a free report to induce people to sign up. This automatically gives you permission — and the means — to stay in touch with your market, building your most valuable direct marketing asset, your list.
- Pile on the value. Work hard to make your free e-zine so valuable and interesting, your prospects eagerly open it. As in romance, woo your new prospects with your bouquets of insight and pearls of wisdom. Don’t be shy about opening up and getting personal. Become a friend. Resist the urge to keep lunging at them with sales lust. Your goal: get your prospects into the habit of welcoming your e-mails like love letters because they are so valuable, useful and interesting … not in the habit of deleting them on sight because they are self-serving sales pitches. The rule: establish trust before you sell with lust.
- Never sell hard in your e-zine or free course. Instead, dance the two-step. The biggest mistake even savvy marketers make in their e-zines is selling too much, too soon, too hard, and too often. Let your e-zine be an oasis of value in a desert of hype. Always, and especially in your first several communications, let the value of your free information far outweigh your sales copy.
Eventually, after you’ve proven your value to readers and it’s time to sell something, dance the two-step …
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Posted by:
Bob Bly
October 7, 2008
Issue #518
The other day, one of my online subscribers, CR, complained about a famous Internet marketer. "I unsubscribed from his list," she told me haughtily. "As soon as I joined, I got e-mails from him once or twice every day - and there’s no one I (or anybody else) need to hear from that much."
This begs the question: How frequently can you e-mail your online subscribers?
Or, said another way: How much e-mail is too much?
People have lots of opinions about this issue, which they support with arguments that are both passionate and logical.
The problem is: Their opinions are wholly subjective.
The fact is: There’s an easy way to objectively and accurately determine the optimal e-mail frequency for your online subscribers.
How does it work?
Well, every time you send another e-mail blast to your list, a small portion of your subscribers will opt out.
Why?
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Posted by:
Derek Gehl
September 23, 2008
Issue #509
Dear Business-Builder,
Today, I’d like to "bust" an affiliate marketing myth that’s been making the rounds since … well, since affiliate marketing started.
It goes something like this …
To be successful as an affiliate, just join any affiliate program, slap their banner ads onto a basic Web page - and presto, you’ve got an instant Web business that will make you money hand over fist!
For the record, yes, you can make a lot of money by marketing other peoples’ products on the Internet … but no, affiliate marketing is not a shortcut to instant wealth.
As with any other online business, building a successful affiliate site still requires research, planning, and - here’s that four-letter word I keep insisting on using - work.
It’s like building a house. The more solid the foundation is, the more stable the entire structure will be. So if you’re thinking of starting your own Internet business promoting affiliate products, here are four strategies you must follow to guarantee you’ll earn the maximum amount of commissions …
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Posted by:
Clayton Makepeace
September 18, 2008
Issue #17
In this issue:
- Why the Internet will at least DOUBLE in size in the next four years …
- Why that’s not necessarily a "good" thing for Web marketers …
- 3 "Waking Nightmares" stalking Internet marketers now …
- The one missing ingredient that can easily multiply the response to most Web promotions today …
- A one-second IQ test for Web marketers …
- And much, MUCH MORE!
Dear Business-Builder,
Hiya. Hope you’re doing great.
Me? Well, it’s 3:45 AM on a Saturday morning and I just woke up, made my way to the office and sat down to write this issue for you.
What a guy – right?
So what would you like to talk about today?
What’s that you say? "The Internet?" OK, what about it?
"… How business owners, marketing execs and copywriters could be – should be – making about ten times more money than they are now?"
Amazing how great minds think alike, isn’t it? That’s just what I was thinking about!
Alrighty then – here goes …
Internet gurus – especially the hypesters who want to sell you a book on "How to Make a Gazillion Bucks by Noon Tomorrow on The ‘Net" – will tell you that the Web is a godsend for anyone looking to get rich quick.
They shout about how hundreds of millions of people browse the Web and read their e-mail every day – and that thousands of them are just dying to buy the product you’re selling.
Well, there’s no doubt that the World Wide Web is huge. According to the CIA World Factbook, 223 million Americans – roughly 74% of the U.S. population – now have Web access.
Throw in the rest of the English-speaking world – and millions more around the globe who are fluent in our language – and it’s a pretty good bet that well over 300 million consumers and business people can read and respond to your English-language sales messages.
300 million prospects not enough for you?
Ok …
- If you translate your e-mail blasts and websites into Spanish, you’ll pick up about 76 million more prospects in the U.S., Mexico, Central America, South America and, of course, Spain.
- Add French, German, Russian, and Portuguese sales messages and you can talk to 116 million more future customers.
- And if you can figure out a way to make your sales messages readable to Web nerds in China and India, you’ll pick up another 313 million prospective customers.
That’s about 805 million prospects in all – and still, the Web is just getting warmed up …
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