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I love the first Tuesday of the month. That’s when Kyle Battis, Brian Edmondson, and I do the monthly “Marathon” calls. We call them that because they last for three hours! During them, we answer questions about the content for the month in the ListBuilding Club and Internet marketing questions in general.
Why do I love it?
I just love helping folks who are new to this business. If I’d had The ListBuilding Club 5 years ago when I started with Internet Marketing, I’d be so much further ahead than I am now. And the ability to ask experts questions about what I was doing would have been invaluable.
The people on the calls are generally stuck with something. Either they need to focus on a niche, they have a technical issue that is easily solved by someone who’s been around a while, or they need explanations of the who, what, when, where, and why. I totally love being able to part the clouds for them. Some of the simplest things can be so danged frustrating when you start!
That’s what makes the ListBuilding Club so awesome. You can have a business up and running in a very short period of time, if you just watch the videos and take action! That’s the thing most people leave out. They watch and go, “Yeah! I should do that,” but they never do. What’s cool about the members of the ListBuilding Club is that most of them take the time to DO, and they’re finding varied levels of success.
It’s awesome!
And I have to say that Brian Edmondson is awesome with video. His instruction is simple, but not simplistic. He’s straght-forward and has a good camera presence so that people warm up to him instantly. He makes the learning painless.
I could go on and on, but it’s because I’m kind of high right now. No, not THAT kind of high… The kind that makes feel good about helping people.
If you’ve been marketing very long, you know you need to be building a list. Why? Because when you have a list of people who enjoy you and your marketing message, it’s a sure bet that you’ll make more money.
So, if you’re not sure how to get an optin box into your blog… Here’s the deal:
I had an email today from someone on my list who wanted to know how to get 100 people into his site. So, naturally, I’m thinking onto his list.
In itself isn’t terribly hard to do, right? I mean, put up a squeeze page with an ethical bribe and send traffic to it. Getting 100 people doesn’t take that long if you join a giveaway, do an ad swap, or run an ezine ad or two. There are tons of ways to get subscribers.
I know this doesn’t seem at all simple to people just starting out, and I was ready to go into more detail and help this guy to do what he wanted to do, but he sent me the page he wanted to build his list from…
A “You’ll make $2,000 a week! All you have to do is refer people to this program!”
And then, I felt sad.
I remember when I started online. All that stuff looked pretty good to me, too. I figured, well… If it’s working for them, it has to work for me, too, right?
And I built a pretty huge downline in one of those programs. It wasn’t quite as bad, not a wild claim. The site was offering tools that marketers can use. Trouble was, the stuff wasn’t happening. I mean, the site was new, but three months later, none of the tools were ready to use. So, I started thinking… Bull puckey, right?
As with most people who get caught up in stuff like that, it did absolutely nothing for me. Nothing.
I didn’t get the benefit of the list.
I didn’t make ANY money.
I had just built a nice big list for someone else. Plus, I had wasted my time and my money making it happen. I felt really dumb and very discouraged. I remember how that felt.
Had I know then what I know now.
If you’re still new and involved with one of those, “no work and all cash” programs, run fast in the other direction. Seriously. Don’t think that you can make money online overnight. It can happen pretty fast, if you go about it the right way, but you will have to work at it. There’s no free lunch.
So, for my friend (whom I already wrote to and suggested that he start with a squeeze page) and anyone else who’s involved in hoping for miracles that just won’t happen…
Here’s step one: Learn about Internet Marketing from a trusted source before jumping in with both feet.
Step two: Pick a niche, and it shouldn’t be Internet marketing, unless you love a whole lot of competition that is far, far ahead of you in the game. (Wish I’d known that one early on.) It’s possible to still do okay, but it’s a much harder niche to crack.
Step three: Build a list. Put up a squeeze page and offer something of value for people to join. It can be a special report, an ebook, a teleseminar or even a series of teleseminars, a video, or a whole bunch of other things that can solve a problem that people in the niche you’ve chosen are having.
Step four: Drive traffic to your squeeze page. Write articles, start a blog, make some videos. All that stuff is free to do and can help you to get traffic.
Step five: Set up an autoresponder series with articles about your niche. Start with four really good bits of instruction or advice, and then, offer an affiliate product that is in line with that article.
Step six: Deposit your checks in the bank.
Is that a simple plan or what? Seriously, it really is that simple. I didn’t say easy. It will mean work. And you won’t make money overnight, but you will make money. And you’ll build a list over time and build a steady income that you can depend on.
If you’ve read my blog before, you know I work with the uncrowned King of List Building, Tellman Knudson.
I started working for him 2 years ago, and then, I had about 200 people on my list. I thought that was respectable. LOL What a dunce!
So, Tellman suggested I start list building by using co-registration. If you don’t know what that is, co-registration is a way for you to advertise your ezine, newsletter, special report, or whatever with a group of other ads. The co-registration service does all of the advertising for you, and you’re guaranteed a certain number of names and email addresses each month.
This is NOT the same as buying a list. Never do that because it’s illegal. You only want people on your list that ask to be there by opting in.
Even with co-registration, it’s a double opt-in process. Someone sees your newsletter ad, checks a box saying that they want to receive your information and he or she confirms the email address, as well. They want to be on your list. See the difference? Anyway, my favorite co-reg service is List Builder Pro. You should check it out, if your list is small.
What’s a respectable size? Well, you can’t do much with the big names, unless you’re talking 10,000 names or more. It takes awhile, unless you’re good at joint ventures, which are hard to set up, if you have no list, right?
Anyway, after two years of list building heavily (It should be your main focus.), I’m seeing the results.
I respect and honor the people on my list. I’ve been bringing speakers to them for my Blogging4Boomers teleseminar series, and directing them to some cool free stuff that will help them to move their businesses forward. I also do Q&A sessions twice a month. And I send them offers, but only for products I know are good.
If you’re not list building, you’re missing the boat. I just got a nice check in the mail today and that happens a regularly these days. Pretty sweet. Want yours?
So, you can tell I’m back to work, eh? Yep. Running like mad, as usual. But…
I just had to write and tell you about my friend Mike Purvis’s new website, called The List Auction.
Even if you’re new to the Internet marketing arena, you’ve probably heard this more than once: “The money is in the list.”
It’s the mantra.
Guess what else?
It’s the truth.
If you don’t have a list, you had better start building one TODAY. Without a list, no money.
Yet, if you’re just starting to build your list, no matter how long you’ve been online, you won’t have a sizable list overnight. So, what can you do?
You can try co-registration. I have been a List Builder Pro member for a couple of years and it’s grown my list tremendously. It’s reasonable and it works.
But it’s a monthly expense that some folks starting out just can’t afford.
What’s the alternative? Safelists. These are groups of people who belong to one website and who mail to each other. Some are non-credit based and some are credit based, meaning that you have to have enough credits in your account to mail to the other folks in the program. You usually earn credits by reading other members’ mails.
Well, The List Auction twists that notion a little and makes it more fun. You should check it out.
But don’t be surprised if you get a bunch of emails. That’s what safelists are for. So, set up a separate folder in Outlook to catch them all or open a GMail or Yahoo account for the purpose of just getting safelist emails. Then, go in and read them when you can.
I rarely use safelists anymore, but The List Auction might be something worth upgrading in and using religiously. I know for a fact that Corey Lewis uses them all the time and says they work great for him. I’ve decided to take a second look. Maybe you should, too.
Did you know that the big-time marketers all have something in common?
The have HUGE, big-ass, whopping lists of subscribers.
I mean, think not in thousands… Think in HUNDREDS of thousands.
When you have a list that huge, making money is simple. It’s just a matter of numbers. How many people on your list will buy what you’re offering? If you have 10,000 people and 2% of them buy a product with a $100 commission to you, guess what, you just made $20,000.
If you have 100,000… You made $200,000.
So, what’s the secret? Build a huge, big-ass, whopping list in everything you do.
Notice the optin box at the top of my sidebar? Yep. Always be list building.
That’s one tip.
Another tip is to check out Russell Bruson’s secret. He’s GIVING it away. He says it’s a tiny secret that has made him an extra gazillion bucks, and well… You think that’s worth $10?
That’s 2 Venti Double-Blended Green Tea Frappacinos to you.
It’s just a couple of bucks more than a theater ticket.
It’s less than a breakfast out.
It’s CHEAP!
So, here’s the deal… If you want this incredible secret from Russell, you just have to run over, quick like a bunny to http://easyseotricks.com/AEand pick it up.
I’m pretty excited about it. I mean, Russell’s a pretty smart guy, and if he’s going to show me how to do what he does… I’m down with that, pretty much no matter what it costs.
Kind of scary, that headline. But no… It’s a good tired and excited, so get your minds right.
Pat has been so quiet for the last couple of weeks because like everyone at Overcome Everything, I’m working my butt off. We’ve been doing Squeezathons, making reports, newsletters, videos, CDs and tons and tons of stuff for the launch of Listbuilding.com tomorrow.
I can’t believe the day has almost arrived!
I remember Tellman talking about it in early February and thinking, well… we have LOTS of time.
But time goes quickly. I’m excited about the whole thing, not because the company stands to make a bunch of money (and that’s always a good thing), but because I know how many people’s lives have been touched by the whole thing. I mean now, more than 300 people have squeeze pages up and running that never did before. That’s a BIG squeeze, eh?
I feel pretty good to know that I had some part in that, but we’ve all been working hard. We’re an incredible team of hard-working people and it’s actually ready to happen! Everyone involved is running like monkeys to get things in order before the big day.
And have you seen the list of teachers for the coaching classes? Holy cow! It’s a who’s who of marketing. All my heroes in one course. wow.
Shawn & Tellman totally went all out on that one. There will be stuff in the course that just can’t be had anywhere else. You need to be on the calls. You need to soak up every bit of this that you can, especially if you’re new to Internet marketing. If you haven’t yet…
You’re missing a sh*tload of great content. Shawn Casey, Tellman, and the whole OE team has been hard at work for the past few weeks creating all this stuff. You’ll find some basic tech stuff, mindset stuff, free reports, case studies of how well it’s working for other people, and even a gun.
GASP!
Yes, a gun.
OK… so some people hate guns, and are complaining that they have no place in Internet marketing or anywhere else. They’re sending comments and hate mail. I guess it’s OK for the criminals to have guns and people in danger should just wait like sitting ducks to be killed or maimed or whatever.
Brilliant!
But that’s not my point. (And not necessarily the views of the company. Personal views here, folks.)
My point is that there’s a whole lot of great, great stuff at ListBuilding.com and if you aren’t registered to get in on it, you’re nuts or lazy or both. So, go right now and watch that video that caused all the trouble.
So, I wrote about JVAlert yesterday and here come some great people I met making comments, like Paul Easton, who I got to spend some time with and really, really enjoyed, and Stuart Tan, who totally rocks, but I got to spend hardly any time with at all. That’s my mission next time, Stuart.
But at the end of all that came the traditional comments from people in the audience and whatnot, right? People were standing up making these awesome statements about what they’d learned and how the conference had affected them. Jeff Wellman was totally inspiring. (And he’s a pretty funny guy, totally.)
But then came this sweet dark-haired girl who for some reason, I’d missed. I had just about met everyone in the room. She started by telling us about her site, which helps you to make video squeeze pages, which to me, is ultra cool. And then, she mentioned that she was about to lose her home to foreclosure. And she started crying.
Oh… my… god…
She asked for JV partners to promote for her, so I like, totally rushed up to the front of the room to give her my business card along with about 20 other people, at least. It was just an extremely moving moment. One of those that makes you see how “family” JVAlertLive can be.
So, I promoted for her yesterday. Tons of people signed up for her site! Was I happy? Of course. I mean, I don’t even know this woman really, but it just felt really, really good to help. Oh, and I made some money along the way, which wasn’t too bad, either.
