Alot of people think I died, well I’m here to let you know I’m still alive and everything is all good.

I just got back from Los Angeles for a meeting with our hair supplier and have been working hard on our new hair line non-stop. That new business will launch NLT January 2009.

I’ve also cut down my consulting to only 3 clients now to focus on this current project.

Expect more writing from me in 2009!

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I pay close attention to user behavior on our websites. Mainly because opinion is just opinion as far as conversion, funnels, so called “best practices”, etc.

Most people have an immature view on what’s really happening with their website analytics. Most website owners know what their conversion rate is, how many unique visitors they have, etc.

This is all basic information and gives people a warm/fuzzy feeling inside when they can spit these figures out quickly, but at the end of the day, those figures mean nothing.

You have to get to a point where you not only KNOW that data, but you have to take it to the next level and make educated decisions on what to DO with that data. Avinash Kaushik explained it perfectly in his latest book when he said…

“Combining the why (intent, motivation, and so forth) with the what (clicks, visitor counts) has to be the cornerstone of any successful actionable web analytics program”.

Notice Avinash used the word ACTIONABLE when he was speaking about how to have a successful web analytics program. You not only need to know the why and what, but you need to have a plan of action once you get that information.

I’ve been doing some testing with ClickTale for a while now…

This service has been around a little while but I finally decided to use it. In my opinion, this tool is one of the most important tools I’ve ever experienced on the internet for understanding user behavior. If you combine this, with Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer as a small business person and start taking this stuff seriously you can start making so much more money it’s crazy.

I highly recommend to everyone here that you shift away from the latest and greatest persuasion and marketing techniques that are being pushed on the internet. All of that stuff can be found in books from Amazon and learned very quickly with some daily reading discipline.

Having a product, having good direct response copy, and having traffic are the cornerstone to a successful internet based business, we all know this. But WHAT next? Your next step should be drilling down and figuring out the best way to survey, communicate, build products for, and service your list/customers.

So after saying all that, the big “secret” to making MORE money online is you need to go much deeper within your market. You’ll make so much more money by implementing what I just talked about and learning that than you ever could with a new monthly subscription or marketing product. A new monthly newsletter is NOT what you need to hit the next level.

P.S. If you install ClickTale on your site and actually WATCH what people do on your site, most people reading this post will finally believe at last that copywriting is a DISTANT 4th compared to LIST, PRODUCT, and PRICE!

90% of our readers skim, and FAST! And that’s not just my market.

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I made a lifestyle decision not long ago and I’m finally blogging about it. I didn’t want to blog about it while I still had paying clients on the books but everything is cleared up and good to go now.

The bottom line is I’ve restructured my entire consulting business. It became very time consuming and I’ve made the decision to only keep a few clients and get rid of the rest. You can read how I’ll be doing business from now on here on my services page.

I still love helping people, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t want to work more than 10-15 hours a week. And those hours will be spent on my own businesses or with the top business people I’ll continue to work with who don’t require babysitting.

Thanks for understanding.

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I hope 1ShoppingCart pays attention to this blog post because this fix is so easy to make.  I’ve already called them about this problem and there’s still no fix. Why? I have no idea.

Here’s the deal… When people use the E-Check function in 1SC there needs to be a simple text change.

Click on the attachment below, do you see the problem?

The problem is that the wording is confusing for the consumer. Marketers may not think so but customers do think so. Why in the world would you ask someone to enter a “Transit Number” in the box but call it a “Bank Routing Number” as the example?

This is usability 101 and will cost you money if you use 1SC.

I just started using 1SC so I have no connections over there. But if anybody reading this blog post does have some pull over there, please bring this to their attention.

Thanks!

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I’m amazed at how unproductive people are. In fact, the problem is so terrible that I feel the need to reveal my biggest secret—the secret that makes me so productive.

But before I tell you how I’m able to get so much accomplished, we must first understand why people are unproductive in the first place. Here are the five biggest things I see….

1. Unproductive people constantly blame other people. Almost all unproductive people are experts at rationalizing their destructive behaviors.

2. Unproductive people are perfectly fine being broke. Give them some weed and a Budweiser and you’ve just made their day.

3. Unproductive people try to do 10 things at once, whereas productive people do one thing at a time. When they finish the one thing they were doing, they calmly move on to the next thing.

4. Unproductive people are generally negative people who surround themselves with other negative people. This makes them feel better about themselves. I’ve forgotten who said it, but someone said that you’re the average of your five closest friends. If you pay attention to the negative, unproductive person, I’m positive you’ll find that quote to hold true.

5. Unproductive people don’t read. They don’t read because they already think they’re smart and know everything they need to know. That’s why when you talk to these people, you want to cut your wrists after two minutes.

So let’s get into how to become a productive person.

First things first…. Don’t do any of the things I just mentioned. Second, you must set dates with yourself. It’s really that easy. If you don’t set dates, you’re screwed.

Here’s what I mean…

If you don’t tell yourself what to do, your daily circumstances will determine your schedule. To get this right, you must be ruthless with your time, schedule, and activities. You must also understand that most people are bored and want to rape every bit of your time to “hang out.” There’s nothing wrong with “hanging out,” but this must be planned. If you have time to just “hang out” without planning it, you’re not working hard enough.

Protecting your time and being a beast about planning your day and sticking to it is critical if you want to reach any amount of freedom. Here’s an average day for me:

1. Wake up and read for one hour.
2. Eat a healthy breakfast.
3. Workout.
4. Check e-mail, sales statistics, etc.
5. Study marketing, advertising, and business for two hours via books, courses, etc.
6. Implementation – Setup tests, create traffic strategies, and build businesses.
7. Write for one hour.
8. I also give myself 30 minutes to one hour to think. My best ideas and breakthroughs come during this time.

I’m finished by 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. When I’ve finished working/improving myself, I’ll think about the next day and what I want to get done. I never allow what happens during the day to affect my plans.

I tell my customer service team that unless someone has died or my kids have something terribly wrong—and I really mean this—then it’s not important. They simply take all messages and send an email to me at 5:00 p.m.

Everything, even death if you think about it, can wait until 5:00 p.m. The fact that I was bothered and my concentration was broken really didn’t affect the bad news; I just know the information earlier. Big deal.

So that’s my secret. I set strict deadlines for myself. I tell my day how it will act because I don’t deal with distractions; therefore, I’m in charge of my day and productivity. And I guard my time like a mother guards her infant.

If you want to increase productivity, I suggest that you do same.

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Most people I know think when you use autoplay videos on your website it makes the visitor mad and encourages them to leave your site.

Well after much testing I’m finally convinced autoplay is the way to go. At least in my niche. I’ve done extensive split testing over the last 12 months on autoplay vs. no autoplay. Autoplay has won 6 out 6 extensive testing rounds.

I’ll show you 2 of my latest tests here:

 
“Original” is the autoplay version. And “Combination 1 - Variation 1″ is the no-autoplay version. So what’s the big takeaway here?

The big takeaway here is to never assume anything in your marketing. You simply can’t take opinion as the final word in today’s competitive online marketplace. You must get out in the trenches and run tests, create new ads, and constantly be doing and creating new “stuff”.

Opinions are like… well you know the rest. Happy testing!

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I want to explain my mindset as far as tracking online advertising is concerned. So many people overcomplicate this issue. They think there’s some “secret” formula. Well, there’s not.

People make millions of dollars simply by sticking to this little system. This is not complicated. Just follow my simple system and you’ll be golden.

I’m assuming that you already know how to find website owners to promote for you, so let me share what most people do.

Most people simply send the owner’s email list to a standard link on their webpage, and try to sell them whatever it is they sell. It’s not good, but that’s the basic system for most people.

Here’s the right way to set up your promotions.

1. Contact the website owner with your joint venture proposal. I personally always offer a 50/50 split of sales minus shipping costs. I recommend that you do the same.

2. Stress to the website owner that there’s absolutely no risk for him. All he needs to do is simply press “Send.”

3. Always set up a special URL for the website owner. If everyone knows the owner by name, and his name is John, you could simply have it this way: www.yourwebsitename.com/John. Make sure to always personalize your link for the list owner.

4. Take the link you’ve just created and cloak it with Adtrackz. It will look something like this: www.yourwebsitename.com/Johns-Friends. That will obviously redirect to /John. You’ll want to know exactly how many people have clicked on the link in the email that was sent. Don’t count on your internal analytics program to track this information for you. This is too critical.

5. On the actual landing page, which is www.yourwebsitename.com/John, make sure to address his specific list in the headline. For example, say something like… “Special Offer Available Only to Friends of John!”

6. Create a new ID for the product in your cart that is specifically set up just for John. So if you’re selling lawn mowers, make sure to have the description say, “Lawn Mower Special – John.” This also reinforces the idea to the person who’s checking out in the shopping cart that it’s truly a special deal that’s not available to anyone else. Believe me. He will scour the entire website price checking, double checking that he is getting the best deal possible.

7. Create a backend offer just for buyers from John’s list. Offer another special on the backend. You can either keep 100% of the profits or let John in on it. It’s up to you.

8. Go through your sales letter, and look for places to personalize the letter so the visitor really feels special. Anywhere you can use John’s name or bring up that the deal is just for John’s list, do it. And always leave the original price very visible. The reason you’ll want to do that is because it gives you a reason to mark it out and put the “special” price next to it to reinforce the special offer.

There you have it. It’s so easy. By following this simple 8-step system, your next promo will go smoothly, and you can track exactly how many clicks and exactly how many sales came from those clicks.

A lot of people who have big lists think they’re sitting on gold. The sad reality is that most of them have no clue how to nurture the relationship with their list. This makes for a non-responsive list. I’ve seen it time and time again. Someone has a 30,000 or 50,000-person list, but if you actually track the CTR you can’t even get 2,000 clicks. It’s sad.

So make sure to track everything from start to finish, and you can’t lose.

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Most entrepreneurs take the easy way out. Everybody I know who has significant freedom, money, and time takes the easy way out…always.

Today I want to encourage you to keep taking the easy way out any way possible. If anyone tries to tell you anything different, they are probably not where you want to be.

I’ve NEVER told any of my clients or students not to take the easy way out. If there is an easy way, take it!

Most people, even myself, have been constantly accused of being lazy. Lazy to the average person means taking the easy way out. The average person will always tell you to work hard and grind it out, to not take the easy way out, and to be tough.

I think they are completely wrong and here’s why…

If you’re smart, you will ALWAYS find a way to make something easier. I know I did. With every new situation I enter, I’m constantly looking for new ways to get the same task done faster and with less effort. Unfortunately, for children, they are taught that taking the easy way out is a bad thing.

That statement can kill the creativity of a child. And unless children decide to unlearn those terrible things by reading, learning, and finding people who don’t believe that way of thinking, they’ll live their entire lives thinking they have to work hard.

That’s why you have adults who still talk the same mess they learned as children. They either…

1. Actually believe it
2. Think it

And that sucks for them.

The bottom line is to always be looking for better and smarter ways to do things. To the average person it will SEEM like you’re lazy. The intelligent person, however, will recognize your genius.

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So you know your website is converting visitors. You’ve been testing for a while and you’re confident. You’ve actually decided to create a product, or you have an existing product and it’s making good money.

So what’s next?

What’s next is traffic, and your goal should be to get a lot of it. But let’s be honest; it takes work. I don’t know of a single marketer making a lot of money who doesn’t have an intense traffic strategy.

Let me talk about what I’m currently doing. Note that I didn’t tell you to listen to my ideas, or hear what I have to say. I said let me talk about what I’m DOING. I stress that because it’s so important.

I do more than I teach. I teach because it’s fun. And I recommend you do the same. Just do and don’t talk too much. Be a crazy action taker. If you have no idea how to generate traffic just copy what I’m doing, and I can almost guarantee you’ll have instant results.

1. Buy Stephen Pierce’s Instant Traffic Expert system. It’s under $200, and it’s perfect if you’re lazy like me. Stephen gives you outsource ready traffic strategies for places like Myspace, Facebook, etc. I personally bought this system, e-mailed the login details to my assistant Sha, and she started reading and following the blueprints Stephen layed out. I don’t promote anything I don’t personally use. Get this. It’s outsource ready.

2. Buy Traffic Geyser. You don’t need to be a video expert to use this service. I don’t care if you use Camtasia, record only your voice, etc. Just get whatever you do out there, and Traffic Geyser the mess out of it. I’ve been using this service for two months and it works. I bought a yearly membership. If you’re skeptical, just buy a month. But once you use it, you’ll be kicking yourself for not using it earlier.

3. Buy Unique Article Wizard. With this tool, you can basically saturate any search engine with long tail keywords. Even for competitive terms, this tool works. Just make sure when you submit your articles that you aren’t lazy. Follow the guidelines that the owner of Unique Article Wizard lays out because it’s critical. If you do, you’ll be amazed at the traffic you get.

4. Use Pay Per Click. I use the big three: Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and MSN adCenter. If you’re not familiar with how to use PPC, buy Perry Marshall’s Definitive Guide To Adwords book now and start off right.

Using these methods WILL generate a lot of traffic for you. You just have to do it and take serious action. That’s really all there is to this game we call Internet marketing.

Of course, there’s a lot of little strategies you can use on top of these, just be creative.

For example, say you sell tires. Why don’t you go into a huge forum where people are obsessed about tire performance, find the 10 people with the most posts and who contribute the most, and Private Message them from the board and ask them if they’d be willing to put your link in THEIR signature file for $100 per year. Do you think they’d say yes? Most likely they would, expecially if you give them an affiliate link and they’ll make even more money on top of the $100 you just gave them.

Now not only is your link in every thread they post in, but it’s also in the 9,000 other posts they’ve written.

The bottom line is that the traffic is out there, you just need to stand in front of it. Get creative starting today!

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Every day, you can find so-called gurus touting the latest get-rich-quick-scheme. They’ll promise to tell you how to make loads of cash if you’ll give them a handful of your hard-earned dollars. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that their hyped-up sales pitch is going to work for your business. I know a lot of people who have been discouraged after being “taken” by self-proclaimed Internet gurus. If you’ve bought something from someone who has only sold “How to Get Rich on the Internet” products, you’ve probably been “had.”

There’s an easier way to Internet marketing success, and it doesn’t involve handing over an insane amount of money to learn the process. The good news is that making money on the Internet is within your reach. There’s no “secret” formula, and you don’t have to attend an expensive seminar and take lots of notes to get the answers. In the time it takes for you to read this chapter, I’ll show you how becoming a successful Internet marketer is less about luck and more about using common sense to sell your product or service to others.

I’m living proof that you don’t have to slave away for years in order to “break into” this business. I’ve built a very successful online business in a relatively short period of time, and I’ve tapped into a formula that’s so simple that I can’t believe more people aren’t doing it. Remember this very important point: Becoming a power-seller is not about creativity. It’s about strategy.

Now, listen up: I’m about to show you the proven, step-by-step approach that has made me a ton of money. It’s a simple five-part strategy for building your business, and it creates a win-win relationship between you and your customers. By developing products that you already know your customers want, you can become very wealthy. Employing this very same line of attack over and over again will have a snowball effect on your cash flow.

Have you ever wondered how some people create products that sell like crazy, yet others are constantly losing their shirts with products that never sell? What’s the primary difference between the two entrepreneurs? Both have great products. Both are passionate about their products. Perhaps they’re even selling within the same niche. But there’s one major difference: One used his enthusiasm to get the product out to the public as quickly as possible while the other used his enthusiasm to create desire for his product.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could produce a winning product right now? Wouldn’t it be great if people were so hungry for your product that they couldn’t wait for its release? Rather than praying that “this time” will be your ticket to success, why not create an “insurance plan” that will safeguard your business from failure?

The good news is that success is just around the corner, and I’m going to show you how to launch a marketing campaign that will generate winning products time and time again. You won’t believe how simple it is! I’ll even show you how to stop losing money with ineffective marketing by incorporating five simple steps into your marketing plan. My system works for me every time, and I believe if you put this same system in place for your business, it will also work for you every time, as well.

Before we get started, you need to know that this winning strategy is designed for people who have a customer list or a subscriber list of some sort. If you don’t have a list at all, then I recommend you build one now. Don’t wait another day. It’s your key to creating a winning game plan. Once you have a list in place, this system will make you rich. No kidding.

First, I want to quickly discuss the wrong way to launch a product. The main problem I see is that people get overly excited about their product without putting thought into the actual selling process. They’re inspired by an idea, and they get so pumped up about it that they charge full steam ahead without really giving the marketing strategy the time and thought it needs to succeed.

The Internet is a virtual marketplace of millions of products. Every day, goods and services are marketed via the web. Enthusiastic entrepreneurs, like you, launch new websites each day. Their potential for success or failure depends upon whether they jump too quickly into the fire.
Products bomb all the time because of ineffective marketing strategies, but with just a bit of careful planning your marketing campaign with be a success.

Here’s how an average person begins a product launch:

1. He has an idea.
2. He takes action on the idea.
3. He builds a product around the idea with no research.
4. He launches the product.
5. He experiences poor sales and wonders why.

If you can identify with this scenario, don’t sweat it. This is the normal thought process of an average entrepreneur. However, it’s a lousy process and one that will never take your business to the next level. Next, I’ll reveal how wealthy entrepreneurs launch successful marketing campaigns time after time again. It’s so simple—so basic—yet it’s the most overlooked part of the process.

As a matter of fact, as long as you read the entire chapter, this process will change the way you do business. Don’t skip a single word. For you to be successful, you must follow each step precisely as I’ve outlined them.

The first step that makes this process drop-dead easy is having a list. The size of your list doesn’t necessarily matter, but the responsiveness of your list is very important. Don’t get ahead of yourself and launch your product before you get some very valuable feedback from your customer list.

Why is your list so important? One simple reason: You will be asking these people some very important questions, and their answers will determine how you create new products. They will tell you exactly what they want and what they don’t want. The number one rule in selling is to focus on what your customers want, not what you think they want. Stop believing that the product creation is YOUR responsibility; it’s not.

Although you’ll physically create the product, your customer list will provide you with best ideas for what you should develop and when. When you listen to your potential customers, you’ll be rewarded with more sales than you would if you created a product without prior research.

Before we continue, you need to realize that you will no longer need to be creative when making your own products. There are a lot of broke creative business owners. Don’t be one of them. People don’t want “creative. They want products that will make their lives easier, make them wealthier, make them healthier, etc. You get the picture.

Where you launch your business is not nearly as important as how you launch it. For instance, I own a highly successful company, and it began in a small apartment. Although my wife and I made our fair share of mistakes along the way as we were growing our business, the best thing we did was listen to our customers. Because of this strategy, we’ve created a business that ships products all over the world, and our customers keep buying because we give them what they want. Because of the relationship we’ve nurtured with our customers, our business has thrived.

When you’re finished reading this chapter, you’ll understand exactly how I think and exactly what I do to hit home runs with my product launches. Now, let’s get started.

You can follow these steps with virtually any product, but because I own a business that teaches people to braid and weave hair, let’s assume we’re selling instructional hair styling DVDs. Because I’ve built a sizeable list already, I can get started with my market research. But, before we even begin to create a new product, here is what we’ll do.

Step 1:

As I said earlier, you’ll need to have a list, so focus on building your e-mail list with sharply focused intensity. Without this step, you’re just shooting in the dark and hoping for the best. You must create this list so you can sell to these people in the future, and you’ll also want to know their needs, wants, and desires for future product creations.

Step 2:

Once you’ve built your list, it’s critical you set up your autoresponders for at least one year with evergreen content that will be just as relevant in five years as it is now. You never want your messages to just stop. You want to keep the relationship going with your list. Always provide great content and build a life-long relationship. Relationship building is important and the lifeblood of your business, so you must constantly survey your list and ask questions.

Step 3:

Here’s a crucial step: Once someone signs up for your e-mail list, set your autoresponder so that exactly 14 days later you’ll ask a question similar to this one:

Hi [NAME], I’m sorry to bother you, but I have a real quick question. If you could choose any hairstyle you’d like me to film, what would it be? It’s simple to answer, simply hit “Reply” to this e-mail and let me know. Thanks!

The answers you’ll get will provide you with the exact information you need to create your next product. Look for trends, and make sure you stay current or one step ahead of the industry.

Step 4:

When someone contacts you on your website through your contact form, have a box that says, “What Hairstyle Would You Like Me To Film”? Now, this gives you even MORE great information for your next hair styling DVD and products. It also involves your customers in the process, which further builds on your marketing relationship. If you can build a good relationship with your customers, they’re more likely to buy more products from you in the future.

I would also recommend asking what their biggest problem is with their hair or hair styling products. This will give you great information for other products. Of course, you just need to change the words to fit your niche, but you can see how easy this is.

Step 5:

Now you’ll need to regulate your surveys.

Go to www.SurveyMonkey.com, and sign up so you can send surveys to your list on a regular basis. I recommend sending a survey to your list every four months. Ask your list five very specific questions, and offer a gift in return for taking the time to answer. For instance, you may also offer a discount on future purchases. Just make sure you give a gift that is valuable to the receiver; otherwise, you may not get the feedback you need.

Keep the questions simple. You don’t want to take up too much of their time because many of them won’t bother to respond. The questions should be short and to the point. For instance, if you’re in the hair styling business, you may want to ask the following questions:

1. What’s your favorite hairstyle?
2. What’s the best product you’ve ever used in your hair and why?
3. What’s your biggest problem you’re having with your hair right now?

If you don’t have a list already in place, get a list right away and give it time to build. I won’t create a product unless I have 200 or more responses from my list. I really like to have 350 or more but at the very least, I require 200 to get solid information.

See how simple this plan is?

Making money online doesn’t have to be complicated. Many successful entrepreneurs have built wealth with simple, low-cost products. Remember, the sky’s the limit! Because the world is your audience, you can tap into virtually any niche and make a good living.

I guarantee that if you start putting these systems in place within your business, you won’t have enough time to create all the products your customers want.

Now, go have fun and make lots of money!

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