Before I share my point, here’s a major update regarding this blog:

1. I am too busy on my recently launched site (not related with online marketing) so you will just see me write a new post twice or at least once a week. To make up for it, I’ll make sure to give you articles that is really informative and worthwhile.

2. I’ve been asking my other website’s visitors about their biggest problem on their online business and generating traffic comes on top of the list. So I’ll be posting more on this topic and probably would change the whole structure of the site accordingly.

I think that’s about it…now on with the topic – The New FTC Guides Governing Testimonials and Endorsements.

If you haven’t read about it yet, here’s a link to the FTC’s site: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/endortest.shtm

Before moving on, I just want to say that what you are going to read here are just my personal opinion. This should not be taken as a legal advice. I am not a lawyer and neither know a lot about laws (I’m not even based in the US!).

Before taking any suggestions, you should first approach your lawyer. Plus, if you do not agree with my site’s TOS, please leave this site now. : )

Whew…a very boring paragraph to read right? But you’ll be seeing a lot of those in the near future so you just might as well get used to it.

I assume that you have read the new guide on the link I gave you above, if you haven’t or is too lazy to click and even glimpse on it (like most people do), you can continue reading…just don’t take it out on me if your business get busted later on.

As you know, these new rules will greatly impact all online businesses that have testimonials (results-driven and income claims – yes, now you can’t use the most effective type unless you include a disclaimer that states the average typical result of  your buyers) and those that are doing endorsements and any product referrals.

Here’s what I have to say:

1. Testimonials.

If you are one of those that do use “specific” results-driven testimonials or post income claims/ proof, you should consider changing it. Unless you want to put a disclaimer after each testimonial stating the average typical result of your buyers which, for most if not all, is pretty embarrassing.

Here’s why:

No matter how good your products are, your average result will always be really really low. A really high quality product with an income proof of $5,000 per month and with customer testimonials showing a result of $1,000 in the first month, may have an average result of $00.01 or probably less.

And it’s not because the claims or testimonials are fake, its because a lot of buyers (we’re talking about 80%+ here) will not finish reading it, will not even follow the information, and will not take any action at all. I’m guilty of it…and I know you are too.

For example, this “Buffettology” book that I purchased two years ago. I haven’t finished reading it until now. I remember reading the first chapter but after that, I just put it in my pile of unfinished books. Why did I bought it? It’s because it’s the current “craze” way back then.

How many ebooks, books, e-courses, etc. do you have in your hard drive? How many of those you actually finished reading and took action til the end?

My solution:

Use other type of testimonials. The one’s that are pretty general and doesn’t convey your customer’s results like “Hey Ricz, I really love your product. Looking forward to purchase another one from you.”

If you really want to use “results-driven” and income claims testimonials, you just have to find a way to state the disclaimer and reveal what your average “typical” result really is in a way that it doesn’t devalue your product.

2. Endorsements/ Recommendations

FTC wants you to fully disclose to your website visitors the real relationship between you and the products you promote/ endorse/ recommend. If you earn any compensation from it (commissions, paid reviews, etc…), you need to tell them. Transparency is key.

My Solution:

This one won’t really affect your sales if you do it right. If you’re targeting other niches (not the make money online/ internet marketing niche), you don’t have to worry about it at all. Of course, disclose to your website visitors that what they are clicking is your affiliate link and that you are receiving a payment from recommending it. Non-IM guys won’t really mind it at all.

If you are in the make money online/ internet marketing niche, find a way to make them buy from you and not from other sources. You can do this by offering high quality bonuses that complement the product your promoting. The only way that they can get these bonuses is when they get the product from your affiliate link.

To reiterate, please don’t use this as a legal advice. Always consult your lawyer regarding this and don’t think that you can get around with this new rule. Do your best to always comply!

I would love to hear your opinions about this new rule. If you have something in mind, you can freely do so by replying below. : )

Others who read this post also read:

• August 31, 2009 -- Getting Ideas For Your First Info Product (1)
• August 25, 2009 -- How To Become An Expert In Your Niche (1)
• August 10, 2009 -- Don’t Be Sold! (1)
• August 1, 2009 -- How to Write a Sales Letter That Really Sells (5)
• September 9, 2009 -- Split Testing Basics (2)

Now that you know how to write a sales letter that really sells, it’s just a matter of fine tuning your sales copy to achieve the maximum conversion rate that it can squeeze out from your website visitors. As an internet marketer, it is essential to test, track, and optimize a campaign, product, or website in order to reach the desired level of profit that we want.

Here are 3 things that you should optimize and use on all your sales letters:

1. Evidence or Proof

One thing that you should always keep in mind is that your website visitors don’t want to believe anything that you have in your sales copy. This is because most of them already have bought a product that is similar to yours and have been lied to or scammed.

This is the reason why you need to show them your proof before they even have the chance to object!

I talked about what testimonials to use for your sales letter on this post, Sales Letter, and I’ve mentioned that the best testimonial are those results-driven ones. Instead of “This is the best “making money online” program I’ve ever seen”, make them say “I Earned $XX In X Days With This “Making Money Online” Program!”.

Always include photos and information of the one leaving the testimonials to boost credibility.

Also, if you’re product is that of the “Making Money Online” niche, you should always post a screenshot of your earnings using that kind of technique. Just make sure it is updated and with no modifications. People can easily see through those deceptions.

Always include a proof or evidence whenever it is applicable or necessary. This will boost your conversion and this means more money for you.

2. A Catchy Headline

Spend as much time on your headlines as you do when you write the whole sales letter. Yes, it needs that much time! The headline of your sales letter can make or break your business. Your sales letter should be able to stand out among the rest if you want it to be even read at all!

If you already have a good conversion rate with your sales letter, then split test another variation and see its effect on your numbers. You will be surprised how changing two or three words of your headline can significantly increase your profits.

3. The Right Approach

What this means is that you should write your sales copy just like when you are talking to a real person in front of you. Empathize, connect, and naturally converse with them.

A good sales letter follows the natural flow of a conversation between two strangers. You find out what their problem is, be empathic with them, tell them that they should not suffer that way, and how it would be very convenient if their problem is solved, etc…

Include the readers of your sales copy in the conversation. You want to make a relationship with them, a bond that will make them like you – and eventually purchase from you.

Don’t be afraid to write your very first sales letter. Even if you haven’t sold anything online, chances are, that you have tried selling other things.

Copywriting is a skill that can be mastered over time. Just practice by writing your own and applying these three simple things. Remember that in internet marketing, everything is a learning process.

Continue to look for ways to spice up your sales letter until you reach the results that you wanted.

Others who read this post also read:

• September 16, 2009 -- Where To Get Your Website Content (1)
• August 26, 2009 -- Internet Marketing For Newbies – Saving While Making Money Online (2)
• August 22, 2009 -- Making Money Online Is Not Just Finding the Right Opportunity (1)
• August 1, 2009 -- How to Write a Sales Letter That Really Sells (5)
• July 13, 2009 -- Earning Your First Dollar Online (5)

I finally have the time to write a new post! Our country has been hit really hard by Typhoon Ondoy and it needs all the help it can get. For those who wants to donate, you can do it here = Donate Through Kerygma.

On with the topic…Article Marketing 101

Before I teach you the fundamentals of writing a really good article, I’ll give you its importance first.

Why Write To Article Directories?

1. Your link or website URL will be advertised by the article directory in exchange for a short article. Depending on how much traffic does the article directory receives, you could get a lot of targeted visitors back to your site.

2. If your articles are published on article directories, most especially the most popular ones, you will be perceived as an authority in your subject. This builds up credibility and trust with your visitors.

3. These article directories allow other webmasters to republish your content on their site, provided that they include your bio box with it. Here is an example of a bio box:

Having your articles reprinted with this bio box on it will give you two benefits:

• This gives you backlinks to your site, which is good for SEO
• You will be leveraging on the traffic of the sites that have republished your article – the more visitors that site gets, the more traffic to your site

Now that you know the power of article marketing…let’s move on how to write your very first article.

Before you write your articles, make sure that is based on a really good research. The first thing to do is find out what people are searching on the net. There are several free tools out there that will do this job. Just Google search “Keyword Research Tool”.

Google Keyword External Tool being one of my favorites.

Don’t skip on this important step. Without research, you will be like shooting in the dark with your articles. All you have to do is collect a small keyword list that will serve as your guide in writing the article.

Writing Your Article

Article Headline

The most important part of your article is the headline. Make sure that your articles have a catchy headline that will increase the curiosity of the website visitors.

When writing your headlines, include your keywords on it. The ones that you collected a while back. Let’s say your niche is about weight loss.

And “Weight loss program” is one of your keywords…

Your title can be “The Best Weight Loss Program”…this is not the best title out there but it should kill those other articles that are not optimized at all.

When inserting the keyword in a headline, make sure that the exact keyword is included…without any modifications in it. Don’t insert any word in the middle, even “and”, “with”, etc…

Also try to insert the keyword as close to the beginning of the title as possible. Google gives more weight to these words, it’s called “Keyword Prominence”.

Don’t be limited to your article titles. Make use of the allowed max characters for it. Make it interesting. As for our example, we can make it more catchy with “The Best Weight Loss Program For Busy People” or something like that.

Other Techniques To Spice Up Your Article Headline

• Use the “How To” Formula – “How To Be Effective In Any Weight Loss Program”
• “Top 10″ Technique – “Top 10 Things To Look For When Choosing The Best Weight Loss Program”
• Creative Use Of Numbers – “How I Lost XX lbs. in XX days With This Weight Loss Program”

Don’t limit yourself with these examples. Try out other stuffs. Be creative!

To wrap it up, when writing your headlines, make sure that it shows a big benefit that the readers will receive, how much convenience they will get when they read your article, and has a catchy element that increases the readers curiosity.

Writing Your Article Content

There’s no faster way to finish an article than actually starting to write it. There’s so many marketers out there asking how to write an article or where to get the content if they don’t know a bit about the topic. If you want to find some techniques on how to get your article content ideas, check my post at Where To Get Your Website Content.

Additional Place To Get Your Website Content:

• Gutenberg.org – this is a site full of public domain literature, these are writings that no longer have any copyright protection on it. This means you can use these for republishing and put your name on it as if you are the author, much like private label rights but completely free.
• ExpertVillage.com – site full of how-to videos. Just convert or transcribe it into a written output.

You don’t have to write an award winning article. Just use ordinary English terms. And you don’t have to write a very long post (500 words and up), 300-400 words would do.

You want your readers to click on your link inside your bio box so don’t leave them with too much information.

Contrary to what several article marketers say about keyword density percentage, you don’t have to focus on that much. Having your keyword on your article title is enough for Google to find it.

However, there’s no harm on being on the safer side so try to include the keyword on the introduction and conclusion of the article.

This should be enough for now. I’ll discuss how to write a bio box with high CTR on my future posts and other article marketing techniques that I use on my sites.

Article marketing is also known as “bum marketing” because its really that easy (and its free). What you need to do now is write your very first article with catchy headlines and properly structured content and submit it to article directories (focus on ezinearticles.com first).

For a list of the best article directories, visit my other site here: Internet Marketing Tools and Resources.

Others who read this post also read:

• October 12, 2009 -- My Take On The New FTC Rule Concerning Online Marketers (1)
• September 13, 2009 -- Internet Viral Marketing 101 (2)
• September 9, 2009 -- Split Testing Basics (2)
• September 5, 2009 -- Instant Back-End Product Creation (1)
• September 3, 2009 -- Email Marketing 101 (0)

Do you own a website? Do you have a blog? What if you want to update it with at least one article a day? Can you handle it?

Well, not everyone could. As much as I wanted to, I can’t…with all the projects I’m working on (I have three other sites aside from this one). You have to come up with new stuffs to talk about and squeeze out that creative juice at least a little further.

Getting Your Website Content

Determine what you want to talk about in your website. Write the topics that immediately come out on your mind. Brainstorm on ideas.

If you can’t think of anything at all, then it’s time to approach good ol’ Google. Search your topic.

Still missing something? Try Amazon.com or Magazine.com and browse for ideas on your topic. Go to your local library and look for books about your topic. Take note of the title, extract its table of contents, and if possible read some of its chapters. This knowledge will help you a lot in the future.

I have my list of topics for my website….now what?

If you are done with your list, narrow it down to a specific niche. Niche that you are more interested about and with less competition. The more niched, the better.

Focus!

You will be able to properly target your market much better and Google will like your website more if you are focused on a very specific niche topic.

After narrowing your list down, sort the topics out in order of relevancy. Only focus on those that are most relevant to your website’s theme. In the future, you might want to add some recent topics concerning your site – new products or news.

I narrowed my list down…what’s next?

Now that you have an organized list, take a topic each day (depending on your posting frequency) and start writing about it.

Don’t have anything to write? It doesn’t matter. Just write! Believe me, it will come naturally. Learn to relax. Let your creative side do the writing.

If possible, create an outline first. But after that you have to just write it all out. It may not be as perfect as you want it to be and you may have to rewrite it again and again but the end point is, you finished it. You took action. And you will get better in due time.

What about keywords?

Keywords don’t really matter that much. If you write a very good article, you don’t have to worry about keyword density. But it doesn’t hurt either if you injected some keywords you want to rank highly on. Most of the time, I include my keywords or key phrase on the title, introduction and conclusion of my post.

Also make sure that you do your on-site SEO (meta tags, title, keywords, etc…) as well.

Don’t overdo it. And being a perfectionist won’t help either. A very informative article with 400-600 words a day is enough for your subscribers to be happy and for search engines to crawl your website and find new content.

Others who read this post also read:

• August 22, 2009 -- Making Money Online Is Not Just Finding the Right Opportunity (1)
• July 13, 2009 -- Earning Your First Dollar Online (5)
• October 12, 2009 -- My Take On The New FTC Rule Concerning Online Marketers (1)
• October 5, 2009 -- 3 Ways To Spice Up Your Sales Letter (0)
• September 9, 2009 -- Split Testing Basics (2)

I’ve tackled the what, how and why of internet viral marketing plus some basic viral techniques on my last post, Internet Viral Marketing 101.

Today, I’ll be giving you three more viral marketing strategies (advance viral techniques). These three produce more viral effect than the last three since you’ll be utilizing other site’s traffic as well.

Advance Internet Viral Marketing Tecniques:

1. Writing Blog Posts To High Traffic Blog Sites As A Guest Author

The process is simple:

1. You find a blog with very high traffic (should be relevant to your niche)
2. Find out if the site offers guest posting to their blog. If not, approach and ask the blog owner if you can submit an article to their site in exchange of a link back to your site at the end of the article.
3. Write an excellent and very informative blog post
4. Put a link or a bio box at the end of the article

Do not write a medium quality blog post. In order for this to work, you need to offer the best post that you can write. Do not be afraid of leaking out some of your expertise or knowledge! Share it and you will be rewarded. These high traffic blog sites will definitely give you the exposure that you want.

2. Blog Theme Viral Marketing

If you have a skill at designing websites and blog themes, you can use this viral marketing technique very easily. You only need to design your very own blog theme and just give it away at no cost!

How it works:

• You design a website or blog theme
• You give it away for free
• Your theme will be uploaded to their site and a backlink to your site will be created
• If your website really looks nice, they will recommend your blog theme to other people, thus, giving you more exposure

3. Web 2.0/ Social Sites Viral Marketing

Using the power of these Web 2.0 Sites (Facebook, Myspace, Friendster) is one of my favorite viral marketing method. You post a link on a social site, invite your friends to check the link and spread it to their friends as well.

Social site users are trained to do these viral “chain” procedures as every application on these sites use this function.

Video sites like Youtube.com is a rich source of viral traffic as well. Remember Susan Boyle’s first audition video? In under four months, it garnered 8 million+ views from around the world! Talk about getting viral!

You should integrate internet viral marketing techniques as early as possible to your site. It might not produce the results that you wanted right away…but there is one thing that I’m sure of, viral marketing will give you that result in the long run automatically.

Others who read this post also read:

• September 13, 2009 -- Internet Viral Marketing 101 (2)
• October 12, 2009 -- My Take On The New FTC Rule Concerning Online Marketers (1)
• October 5, 2009 -- 3 Ways To Spice Up Your Sales Letter (0)
• October 3, 2009 -- Article Marketing 101 (0)
• September 27, 2009 -- Using Yoono Video (1)

Viral marketing is one of the best free traffic methods around. I know marketers who have earned more than $1,000 of commissions relying only on viral marketing campaigns.

What is internet viral marketing?

It is when you use the power of other people to promote your products or offers in exchange of something of value in return – a gift, comission, reward, etc…

Why viral marketing?

You always hear the phrase “the money is in the list” right? If you have a list, you can send offers to them and earn money right away but…you don’t want to send offers to your list every day…unless you want them to leave your list that is.

Viral marketing will take the burden off your list and pass that to other list owners. By leveraging on other people’s list, your products will be promoted all over the internet without exhausting your own resources.

Internet Viral Marketing Ideas

In the internet, it’s very easy to do and launch viral marketing campaigns than it is on offline businesses. This can be done at no or at a very low cost. The list below are some of the most used internet viral marketing techniques by internet marketers.

1. Tell a Friend Viral Marketing

Almost every social site have this tool. Sign up on friendster, myspace, facebook, etc… and you will be prompted by an opportunity to invite your friends as well. These friends will in turn invite their friends if they sign up with these social sites. The process can go on and on without the site owner lifting a single finger…that’s the power of viral marketing.

This type of viral marketing campaign, however, will only work well with these three conditions:

• The one referring or telling his friends should have something to benefit from doing it
• His friends should also have something to receive as a benefit for joining
• The process of telling or referring should be made as easy as possible

If you want to see a tell a friend script in action, you can look at my site here – Free Traffic Generation Softwares.

There are several tell a friend script or software out there but these are the ones that I highly recommend (good for any level of experience – beginner to expert):

• Viral Friend Generator – this is the one I’m using at my website.
• Viral Inviter – more pricey but if you want to have a cool looking Facebook style tell a friend tool, this is the one your looking for.

2. Master Resell Rights Viral Marketing

You create a product, put all the links you want inside it and then offer or sell it with Master Resell Rights. The resellers who purchased the product from you will then do the selling for you and spread your name and links around the net.

Ways to obtain a Master Resell Rights product of your own:

• Write the product yourself or hire a ghostwriter to do it for you then sell it with Master Resell Rights
• Find a product with Master Resell and Re-branding Rights so you can place and brand it with your own links

3. Private Label Viral Marketing

Private label rights is one of the best rights that you can buy from a marketer. Having a PLR means you can do whatever you want with the product. Not all private label rights are created equal, there are some that still have certain restrictions such as bundling rights or non-transferable rights.

You should try to look for products that have no restriction PLR. Since you can also sell the private label rights and pass it to other, this will produce a very massive viral effect because plr products are really easy to sell. And most of them come with a reseller website. You just need to put your links on the product and watch it spread exponentially.

What if the resellers who bought the private label rights from you actually edit the content and change your links?

Believe me, 90% of the time, the resellers won’t do a thing on the plr products they buy. We, as a human beings, are lazy by nature. Because it is too much work for them to redo and rewrite the content, these resellers will just copy and paste the sales page and promote the product as it is – in its original form.

These are just some of the basic viral marketing techniques. On my next post, I’ll give you another three viral techniques (more advanced.)

You don’t have to drive traffic to your website by yourself, maximize your site’s potential by leveraging on any of these viral marketing techniques and watch your sales grow exponentially.

Others who read this post also read:

• September 14, 2009 -- Internet Viral Marketing 202 (3)
• October 3, 2009 -- Article Marketing 101 (0)
• September 27, 2009 -- Using Yoono Video (1)
• August 15, 2009 -- Forum Marketing 101 (1)
• July 19, 2009 -- Video Marketing 202 (0)

If you’re having a hard time getting additional traffic, then you should try out other ways of increasing the income you get from your online business. I’ve already talked about one method on one of my post which is creating back-end products and adding it to your sales funnel.

Today, I’ll tackle another method which is one of the easiest ways to make more money online in your business without directing additional traffic to your site – split testing.

The Magic of Split Testing

Split testing is very easy to do and most of the time you can do it for free (I’ll show you a free method later on). Split testing, as the name implies, takes the traffic from your site, split it and drive it into different variants (in this case your webpage) that you want to test.

What pages of your site should be tested?

You can actually test any page that you have in your site that requires an action from the visitor – this can be a simple click on a link, opting in forms, or getting them to buy your product.

Most Important Pages To Split Test:

• Opt-in Page – page where you have your opt-in form. This is where people type in their name and email address in exchange of the information you promised.
• Sales Page - your sales letter. Where you advertise your product and entice people to buy it.

Two types of split testing:

• A/B split testing – the simplest way of testing. Compares the performance of two different versions of a page. This is what I’ll discuss further on this post.
• Multivariate testing – Tests the content variations on multiple areas or parts of your web page. One page with multiple testing points.

A/B Split Testing

This type of split testing compares the performance of two different versions of your webpage.

This test equally splits the traffic you get from your site and directs it to the two versions of the web page you want to test. Version A – the original page (we call this the control version), and Version B – the page where you made some changes.

You need to use a split testing tool to do this. There are several tools and softwares that offer split testing capability but the one I use is Google Adwords Website Optimizer which is free if you have a Google Adwords Account.

If you don’t have a Google Adwords Account yet, you can sign up here. Don’t worry, you don’t have to run an Adwords Ad campaign to use its tools. Follow the instructions below to get to the website optimizer A/B split testing tool page.

1. Log-in -> Select tools tab -> more tools.

2. Select website optimizer from the set of tools.

3. Create a new experiment.

4. Choose A/B Experiment

5. Follow the instructions and complete your first split testing experiment.

This split testing tool will track the performance of each version and will tell you which of the two has a higher conversion rate.

What elements to split test?

• Content – heading, sub-heading, P.S., call to action, etc…
• Layout – position of your opt-in form, call to action, etc…
• Colors – background, font, borders, etc…
• Sizes - font, heading, sub-heading, etc…

After putting up your first testing experiment, you need to forget about it for now. Remember that you need a significant number of traffic to really determine the winner. I suggest you select the winning version after having at least a hundred conversions.

Split testing is an ongoing process. Strive to increase your conversion rate by 1-3% per experiment. This way, you increase your income without the need for additional traffic.

Others who read this post also read:

• October 12, 2009 -- My Take On The New FTC Rule Concerning Online Marketers (1)
• August 31, 2009 -- Getting Ideas For Your First Info Product (1)
• August 25, 2009 -- How To Become An Expert In Your Niche (1)
• August 22, 2009 -- Making Money Online Is Not Just Finding the Right Opportunity (1)
• August 17, 2009 -- Getting Out Of The Newbie Stage (0)

On my last post, Getting Ideas For Your First info Product, you learned where to look for ideas on your very first info product. This product will form your front-end promotion and is the one where you will focus your marketing efforts. As also mentioned on  Looking in an Internet Marketing Guru’s Mind post, you need a solid sales funnel to really bring in the dough.

Back-end offers are high quality, high priced products that are immediately offered (one-time-offer back-ends) or offered after some time to those who bought your front-end products.

Why Create Back-End Offers:

• This instantly doubles or even triples your income without additional traffic
• People will look at you as an expert – back-end offers will give you more credibility (this depends on how you choose your back-end offer, I’ll teach this later on)
• Back-end offers are easier to sell than your front-end products since the people seeing the back-end offer already bought from you

Before integrating your back-end offers with your front-end products, you need to make sure that everything is in place and that your front-end is really doing well in terms of sales and conversion. Here are some back-end product ideas to give you a head start.

Back-End Product Ideas:

• Seminars
  • This is a live event that is either hosted by you or other internet marketers (you being one of the guest speakers)
  • You can offer free tickets as your back-end or the recording of the event itself.
  • Will boost your credibility, include photos of you and with other well-known internet marketers
• Workshops
  • One of the highest priced back-end products
  • Very limited slots – workshops are in-depth, hands-on training, much like personal coaching but with limited time to each attendees
• Teleseminars
  • A live training event that can be accessed via the internet or telephone
  • Usually focused on one particular topic
• Personal Coachings
  • A personal or over-the-phone consultation
  • A one-on-one session with a buyer
• Continuity Programs
  • Those that have monthly recurring fees
  • This can be newsletters (physical or digital), membership sites, audios or videos of the month, monthly softwares, etc…
• Softwares
  • Tools that can complement your main offer
  • Can integrate with the membership site model – this is when you charge your customers a monthly fee for the use of the software
• Home Study Courses
  • Your all-in-one solution package with audios, videos, manuals, softwares, and so on that tackles your main offer’s content in great detail

You can choose one from the list above or create your own if you already have one in my mind. Your back-end offer can also be a combination of these. After knowing what type of back-end product to create, the next question would be how to create it? The list below will show you how (don’t worry if you’re just a beginner, you can easily create your back-end product – see option 3)

Instant Back-End Product Creation:

• Option 1 – Teleseminar -> Home Study Course Package
  • When you host a teleseminar, record everything on it
  • Have the audio and video recordings transcribed
  • Gather all the recordings and transcriptions and package it to create a Home Study Course
• Option 2 – Workshop -> Membership Site
  • Launch a monthly workshop and record everything as well
  • Transcribe the recordings and add content, if needed, and upload it all to a secured member’s area
• Option 3 – Interview Experts In Your Field -> Membership Site or Home Study Course
  • This is for those who are only starting out
  • Find experts in your field and interview them
  • Make sure you mention your intention of doing the interview
  • Record the interview, have it transcribed and put it on a membership site (if you’re planning to do an interview every month) or packaged it with a home study course

There are no limit on the types of back-end products you can offer. Creating back-end products should not be hard at all, just extract that creative juices of yours and start brainstorming on ideas that you think will fit and boost the overall value of your front-end offers.

Others who read this post also read:

• August 31, 2009 -- Getting Ideas For Your First Info Product (1)
• August 26, 2009 -- Internet Marketing For Newbies – Saving While Making Money Online (2)
• October 12, 2009 -- My Take On The New FTC Rule Concerning Online Marketers (1)
• October 3, 2009 -- Article Marketing 101 (0)
• September 9, 2009 -- Split Testing Basics (2)

“The Money Is In The List”, that’s what almost all the internet marketing gurus say and you will hear it as long as you are doing online marketing. It may be a cliche, but this is really the truth. Having a big list is a major advantage to internet marketers when it comes to promoting their products or someone else’s products.

Several courses out there focus on how to build a big list…but having a big list WILL NOT give you any money online if you don’t communicate well with it.

Email marketing is one of the best free online marketing methods. However, you have to know some things in order for it to work right.

Here are some basic email marketing tips to get you started:

Avoiding Spam Filters

Email marketing is getting harder and harder these days as the information technology grows – with all the spam filters and certain restrictions of major ISPs. So having a knowledge of what triggers a spam is a really good arsenal to take along on your internet marketing journey.

1. Don’t send unsolicited email.

Unsolicited emails will most likely end you up with a major complaint and so prepare to get hit by your ISP really hard. You don’t want to ruin your reputation because of a single mistake would you?

Only send emails to people who really want your information. These are people who signed up in your opt-in form and gave you their contact information.

2. Avoid spam filters that several ISPs use.

The filters being used by these ISPs isn’t perfect. It’s only a system after all. Even if you send non-spam emails to people who opted in with you, it will likely end up being not delivered because of these spam filters.

The system have no way of accurately checking if your email is a spam or not. It targets the words you use in your emails as well as the subject line. Every system has a flaw, so is these spam filters. Sometimes, it takes a word completely wrong and mark it as a spam, even if it isn’t.

There are hundreds and thousands of words that are technically considered as “spam” words so I can’t tackle it in this post. You can, however, search for free email score sites and have them check and give your emails a score.

One example of this site is this – http://www.mailingcheck.com/spamassassin-score/.

Make Your Subject Line Stand Out

No matter how good your email content is, it will not be read if it doesn’t have a captivating subject line.

Treat the subject line as your main headline in a sales page. Make it interesting enough to get your subscribers attention. Read through some emails that you have in your inbox. Take a note of those subject lines that really get you want to open it.

One thing you have to avoid is to write a subject line that will mislead your subscribers. Do this and see your unsubsribe statistic shoot up fast.

Create A Well Structured Email Body

This is your chance to get your subscribers to do the action that you want them to do. Aside from making the body of your email informative and interesting, it should have a good structure.

Write the body of your emails as you are writing a sales copy. Include an intro, a body, and a conclusion with a strong call to action.

These are just some of the things that you should do in order to communicate well with your list. The most important step you should do consistently is to deliver high quality information with your list regularly (don’t just send hard-pitch emails!). Mixed it up with your promotions.

Email marketing is not just about making money, it’s about making a long-term relationship with your list.

Others who read this post also read:

• October 12, 2009 -- My Take On The New FTC Rule Concerning Online Marketers (1)
• August 31, 2009 -- Getting Ideas For Your First Info Product (1)
• August 25, 2009 -- How To Become An Expert In Your Niche (1)
• August 10, 2009 -- Don’t Be Sold! (1)
• August 1, 2009 -- How to Write a Sales Letter That Really Sells (5)

You’ve done choosing your target market, finished researching it, and have chosen a niche that is profitable and unsaturated. Now, you’re ready to create your first info product!

You think the researching part is over? WRONG!

A niche marketer knows that a seemingly lucrative market may not be what it seems after doing product research. After finishing this step, you will find out your target market’s “true potential” – its value may be a lot less or a lot more than you originally thought.

Product research is one of the critical steps you should take as a marketer as it could dramatically increase your chance in dominating your chosen market. This will uncover hidden profitable niches within your chosen niche. Niche that are with  less competition but the same profitability.

Know what your market wants!

Where to get your info product ideas:

• Online Methods:
  • Amazon.com – gives you detailed search results and allows you to browse by subject, watch product trends, sort by best selling titles and more. Look for the best selling titles and subtitles of your chosen niche. You can check the preview of the book you like to based your product on and take note of its table of contents.
  • Magazines.com – provides top categories and ranks titles. Check out the best selling magazines and check its contents. What titles are doing good? Is there a niche within your target niche? Do your research!
  • Community forums – participate in forums within your niche. Know what people are looking for. What problems do they want to be solved? Make sure that the forum is active and has many members.
  • Short Course Catalogs – this is a great idea for upcoming trends. Look for online class directories like “The Learning Annex” and look for courses that are selling fast. You can also look for seminars and events as well.
• Offline Methods:
  
  • Magazine Racks or Stores – look for related magazines in your niche. See if it’s been around for some time. Check for its contents and read the articles. This can give you an idea on your product’s topics.
  • Book Stores – just like magazine stores, check for the best selling books on your local book store. Take note of the nature of how these books were titled and how you can use it to your product.
  • Passionate People - open your radar when someone talks about your niche passionately. This people can be found at parties, at seminars, or at conventions. Listen to how they talk to each other. What are the common problems they’re having and where are they spending the most bucks.
  • Television Programs – watch programs that have general interest topics. TV programs are driven by trend so watch out for something like “The next fastest growing hobby in the US” or “The next big thing in your market”.

Focus on creating one product at first. You can add some bonuses if you want, to increase its value. Bonuses such as products that can complement what you have to offer based on what you have researched.

You now have a wealth of information in your arsenal. Use it to construct your marketing plan and create an info product that will surely sell.

Others who read this post also read:

• October 12, 2009 -- My Take On The New FTC Rule Concerning Online Marketers (1)
• August 25, 2009 -- How To Become An Expert In Your Niche (1)
• August 10, 2009 -- Don’t Be Sold! (1)
• August 1, 2009 -- How to Write a Sales Letter That Really Sells (5)
• September 9, 2009 -- Split Testing Basics (2)