Marketing Archives

MLM Myth #6 "You can make money working as little as seven hours a week…"

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 5:02 pm  
Leave your comment

Ahhh…another clever marketing ploy to appeal to the “get rich quick”, “time poor”, and just plain lazy prospect.

MLM Myth #6

Now this is simply a bald faced lie. Again, think about this logically.

Every person who steps into this industry for the first time (especially if they have no previous business experience of any kind), is faced with an enormous learning curve. We are not exaggerating, it is huge. Less a curve, and more of a Mt Everest in fact.

There is only one way to learn, apply and master new skills, and that is with time. And unless you are an exceptionally fast learner, you will need to be prepared to devote lots of it.

Now, don’t get us wrong, you can definitely start learning how to run your business in as little as seven hours a week, and if you have a very strong desire to start your own business, and that is all the time you have available to you, then you have to start where you are at.

There may be one exception to this statement, and that is if you have the capital to outsource your business set up, and your lead generation. But in any event, you will still need to invest the time in learning how to deal with your business once it has been set up and is running.

Now, many companies use testimonials in their marketing and promotion, where top earners talk about how they earn X dollars working only 10 hours a week.

It is important to understand a couple of things about these testimonials.

Firstly, without exception, the people who have been very successful in their business dedicated a huge amount of time to learning their new business, getting set up, and then running.

And it may be true that they have relaxed the pace a little, and are now working far fewer hours in their business.

But we know that the person who is inclined to go hard to make that kind of money in the first instance, is not likely to be happy resting on their laurels. They are more likely to be planning and working hard to take their business to the next level. It is the nature of the entrepreneurial beast.

Which brings us to another home truth. If you do not have the time to invest in building a business, or you are not inclined to spend the time it takes to build a profitable long term business, you should reconsider your motivation to start your own business.

There is no getting away from it. Successful business requires work that is smart and hard. In this industry, perhaps like few others, you can expect to put in the hard work once, and be paid for life. But there is no way around doing the hard yards.

We would be lying if we suggested otherwise.

Making a six figure income from home and only working seven hours a week sounds like a business that is too good to be true…and it is.

Respectfully,

MLM Myth #6 "You can make money working as little as seven hours a week..."

Ian Shilton, Duke Street, Myrtleford, Victoria Australia 3737.
Email Me Here: ianshiltonpromarketing@gmail.com
Meet Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/AboutMe
Join Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/Welcome
Ask Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/FAQ

NOW … If you are serious about creating a real, substantial, wealth building income for yourself, CLICK HERE. My colleague Jay Kubassek has an important message for you.

MLM Myth #6 "You can make money working as little as seven hours a week..."

Click here … to see Jay’s inspiring message.

MLM Myth #2 "These products are so incredible and life changing, they virtually sell themselves…"

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 at 5:58 am  
Leave your comment

So we have arrived at MLM Myth #2

And this one is a beauty. In fact, I think this is the most dangerous myth of them all. It ties in perfectly with Myth #3 (which I will get to next).

If you have been involved in MLM before, or if you have made inquiries into a company, you are highly likely to have been told something like this.

“These products change people’s lives. Imagine how many people will want to buy these products from you when they see what they can do for them“.

I’ll never forget the ‘sales training’ I received in my last MLM. It was never actually called ‘sales training’. For some reason (that is now fairly obvious to me), the truth of what the business involves is skirted around, and never called what it really is.

Companies seem to think that if they dress the sales training up as something less ‘offensive’ consultants will be happy to do it.

So the primary sales strategy that most people are taught is to make a list of your family, friends and work colleagues. And then “take massive action” and “share” the products with as many of these people as you can.

Our trainers actually used to say lame things like “How would the people who are important to you feel if they knew you had these life changing products/ business opportunity, and you didn’t “share” with them?”

And this is how the Amway style home meetings started. Desperate new consultants who didn’t know any better (and some that definitely did) roping in everyone who was unfortunate enough to make eye contact with them to attend “opportunity meetings”, and “share” the products and opportunity, whether they were in the market for either of these things or not.

The home truth of this matter is that products do not sell themselves. Ever. Strategic and targeted marketing sells products.

MLM companies will not tell you this, because the top earners in most of them do not know how to use focused and leveraged marketing techniques to promote their products or opportunity to an appropriate niche. In fact, most of them would not know what this means.

You see, instead of targeting the people who are actually looking for what they have to sell, they pitch to everyone they come into contact with, and hope that if they churn through enough numbers, someone will eventually buy from them.

In all fairness, twenty five years ago, a small handful of people made a lot of money doing this very thing. But in the age of technology and information marketing, this ‘business strategy’ will not fly.

And even back then, it was not a professional or leveraged strategy to build a business on.

So remember this. If you are looking at a business opportunity, and you are told that the products “virtually sell themselves”, keep looking. This is an indication of how you will be taught to market your business.

And trust me, you will not have a hope of even getting your business off the ground if you proceed this way.

If it sounds too good to be true… it is.

Respectfully,

MLM Myth #2 "These products are so incredible and life changing, they virtually sell themselves..."

Ian Shilton, Duke Street, Myrtleford, Victoria Australia 3737.
Email Me Here: ianshiltonpromarketing@gmail.com
Meet Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/AboutMe
Join Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/Welcome
Ask Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/FAQ

NOW … If you are serious about creating a real, substantial, wealth building income for yourself, CLICK HERE. My colleague Jay Kubassek has an important message for you.

MLM Myth #2 "These products are so incredible and life changing, they virtually sell themselves..."

Click here … to see Jay’s inspiring message.

MLM Myth #1 "This business is so easy ANYONE can do it…"

Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 5:49 pm  
Leave your comment

And so to “MLM Myth #1″.

Sorry to burst your bubble so early in the piece, but such a business simply does not exist.

If you have been involved with MLM or Network Marketing before, no doubt this was almost the first thing your ‘sponsor to be’ said to you. By the way, usually this person is quite new to the industry themselves (they tend not to hang around too long before they discover that they too have been mislead, or they have maxed out their credit card – whichever comes first).

This is how it all begins. You will be shown the product range. You will be told that the products are “revolutionary”, “life changing” and “so powerful that everyone will be knocking down your door to get their hands on them”.

You will be told that even with absolutely no previous experience of any type in business it is possible for virtually anyone to build a residual income by “sharing” these products with anyone and everyone you come into daily contact with.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here, more of MLM style “marketing strategies” in MLM Myth #2.

There are many reasons why people are attracted to the MLM or Network Marketing Industry. These might be some of the very same reasons that you are looking.

The promise of making money from home.

Sacking your boss.

Choosing when, where and how much you work.

No more office politics.

No more commuting.

More time with family.

More time doing the things you love.

Achieving financial security.

These are all highly valid reasons for wanting to pursue this as a business. Unfortunately, these benefits are almost always combined with marketing strategies which lead prospects to believe that the business is easy.

The marketing tends to focus on the income claims of the top earners (and these people usually represent about the top 1% of the total number of active consultants in the company).

And so now you are to believe that not only is the business easy, you need no previous experience, and only need to do the minimum amount of work to realistically generate a six figure income at lightening speed.

Now, what this style of marketing does, is attract the wrong type of people to the industry in the first instance. People who are looking to “get rich quick”. People who have a “lottery mentality”. People who expect that the money will come flooding into their bank account by osmosis.

People who think that any legitimate business can be built this way should not even be considering self employment.

The simple home truth of the matter is that in many ways, this business is even tougher than a “brick and mortar” business.

Just think about it for a moment.

Let’s imagine that you have opened a shop in a busy part of town. You lease a building, put up signs, bring in stock and then advertise your new business.

If you have done your market research well first, you will have positioned your business in a place where your niche market is likely to be walking past your shop every day, and there is a pretty good chance that at some point, they will walk in your front door to see what you have to offer.

Not so in a home based business. There is just you, your phone, and often a cupboard chock full of your ‘life changing’ new products.

No boss to answer to.

No deadlines (except perhaps those imposed by your bank or lending institution).

No daily routine to work to.

No need to even get dressed if you don’t feel like it.

It may all sound idyllic, but it takes a particular type of drive and discipline to build a business out of nothing under these circumstances.

Our experience has been that people who have had previous business experience in either brick and mortar or MLM have a far greater understanding of the consistent and focused effort that is required to build a business. People who have been career employees tend to find the learning curve far steeper.

So if you are looking at a “business opportunity” and it all sounds too good to be true, keep looking. Because if it sounds too good to be true… it is

Respectfully,

MLM Myth #1 "This business is so easy ANYONE can do it..."

Ian Shilton, Duke Street, Myrtleford, Victoria Australia 3737.
Email Me Here: ianshiltonpromarketing@gmail.com
Meet Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/AboutMe
Join Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/Welcome
Ask Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/FAQ

NOW … If you are serious about creating a real, substantial, wealth building income for yourself, CLICK HERE. My colleague Jay Kubassek has an important message for you.

MLM Myth #1 "This business is so easy ANYONE can do it..."

Click here … to see Jay’s inspiring message.

Free Leads Vs Death Online – Video Marketing Do’s and Don’ts

Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 11:57 am  
Comments (1)

Ahhh…one of my favorite topics. I love the concept of video marketing for many reasons. And video marketing is rapidly gaining in popularity thanks to the emergence of You Tube, and distribution tools like Traffic Geyser. More online business people than ever before are utilizing video marketing as a powerful means of free lead generation.

But don’t get discouraged that so many people are using this medium to promote their business. The good news (for the emerging savvy Internet marketer – that would be you Free Leads Vs Death Online Video Marketing Dos and Donts , is that most people are doing it pretty badly. I see far too many people online commiting the business equivalent of hari kiri with poor quality videos.

And for someone who understands how a) the medium works b) attraction marketing works and c) information marketing works, this will narrow the pack substantially.

Alright, down to the nitty gritty. Why is video marketing such a powerful medium?

Internet video is now the most sought after commodity on the search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.). These search engines love video content and will generally push your posted videos up in the free search results (also known as the “organic” or “natural” search results).

30,000,000,000 web videos are watched every month in the United States. That’s right, videos. In fact, videos now comprise THIRTY BILLION. This represents 60% of all web traffic.

Not only is there tremendous video traffic on the internet, but surfers who are looking for videos are a highly desirable demographic. 71% of You Tube viewers are employed (repeat after me – we don’t want to particularly target broke people – sad for them, not much use to you). 15% are students. The median income of a You Tube viewer is $75,000. Almost 50% are married ( not totally relevant, but interesting fact), and 70% are college educated.

When you combine and apply the fundamental principles of attraction and information marketing in your videos, along with smart keyword research, you can learn how to dominate the search engines.

So, what to talk about in your videos. Here, I am going to direct you to the Carbon Copy Pro training under the Resources tab -> Training call archives. There are a series of five calls, hosted by John Jackson, with Traffic Geyser co-founder Mike Koenig. You will find that I will continually refer to these calls, because every principle that you will need to understand, implement and master in your online business is represented there.

Mike will take you through advanced keyword research techniques, and then go into how to create content relevant to your keywords and your niche. His favorite strategy is to use the 10 x 10 x 4.

In short , you will kill two birds with one stone here. You will attract the people who are looking for what you have to offer, by positioning yourself as a leader and an authority in your industry, through the delivery of the valuable, useful and relevant information they are searching for.

Now would be a great time to discuss what you don’t do. This is very simple and easy to remember – and hopefully, you will have already guessed what I am about to say…

Don’t talk about yourself, and pitch your business. Ever. I mean it – EVER.

This is an ‘old school’ offline marketing technique. Leave it in 1980 where it belongs.

Remember why people are online looking for information. They are not looking for you, or your business in the first instance. They do not care about you (they don’t even know you yet), or your ‘next best thing’ biz opp.

They are looking for information that will help them to answer a question, solve a problem, or make a decision.

So, to the content you will post. Answer people’s questions. Deliver high quality, accurate information that your niche might be searching for. Be generous. Don’t hold back your best stuff. Serve it right up front and centre. This is counter intuitive, I realize, but it will establish your expertise, and more importantly, trust between you and the searcher. People will be more inclined to take the next step in your marketing process, if they can see that your primary intent is not to blatantly pitch them.

Now, I don’t want to give you the impression that your story is not important. It is. Vital, in fact. But not right up front. The purpose of your personal blog, website or social media profile is to allow your prospects to get to know you better. And this is the appropriate place to tell your story.

You do not want to be posting lengthy “War and Peace” style videos, two to three minutes long is plenty. Aim to cover one Q and A per video.

Your videos will serve to educate your prospects, establish you as a person of value and allow you to direct your viewer to take the next step in your marketing process.

All you are EVER trying to “sell” is the next click. Where you send people to next will depend on how you have designed your pipeline. It may be to a landing page, or yMy Blog. But, and this is also important – they should find what you tell them they will find when they get there. Make sure you transition your viewer in a smooth and logical way to the next place.

Video marketing is particularly powerful when you combine it with a PPC strategy. The idea is to build your list relatively quickly using PPC, and then communicate with your list on a regular basis via your autoresponders. In this way, you can let your list know that you have posted a video on topic “X”, provide them with the link to view the video, and invite them to comment on your post.

This will increase the views of your video. And if people have been invited to leave a comment, they will have had to watch your video through to the end. If the viewer actually leaves a comment, pat yourself on the back. This is a marketing trifecta, because Google rewards all of these elements by giving your video a higher ranking in the organic search listings.

You will not need any fancy equipment to record your video, in fact $150 will get you a snazzy Flip camera, which will do the job perfectly.

Now, just a couple of other snappy tips:

Choose a quiet location to record your video. The sound of background noise (traffic and wind in particular) is very distracting.

Outdoor locations are great, but make sure you are not squinting into the sun, or wearing sunglasses (we made the sunglasses mistake in our first videos – people like to be able to see your eyes).

If possible, make sure the viewer can see your hands – again, a trust issue.

Make sure you are confident about your subject matter before you start. Speak with authority.

Never use the words “thank you” “please” or “just” ( an excellent little tip from Andrew Cass).

E.g. “I’m just making a video to tell you about X” or “thank you for watching my video”. Sounds needy.

Near enough is NOT good enough. If you are not really happy about your video, don’t post it. Practise is the mother of mastery, so practise this skill until you are very comfortable about what you are producing. I personally think that a poor quality video does more harm than good.

Create some “interview” style videos. If you are part of a couple, have your spouse ask you the questions you want to cover. The presentation tends to be more relaxed when you work this way.

Try to avoid walking and moving around too much as you film – it can be very distracting, and detract from the material you are presenting.

So there you go, some ideas to get you going on a video marketing campaign.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

Ian

Respectfully,

Free Leads Vs Death Online Video Marketing Dos and Donts

Ian Shilton, Duke Street, Myrtleford, Victoria Australia 3737.
Email Me Here: ianshiltonpromarketing@gmail.com
Meet Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/AboutMe
Join Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/Welcome
Ask Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/FAQ

NOW … If you are serious about creating a real, substantial, wealth building income for yourself, CLICK HERE. My colleague Jay Kubassek has an important message for you.

Free Leads Vs Death Online Video Marketing Dos and Donts

Click here … to see Jay’s inspiring message.

A Lesson From The Wright Brothers … How to Give Your Business Wings!

Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 11:53 am  
Leave your comment

by Ian Shilton

In 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright were struggling to fly the world’s first airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. At the same time another man, Samuel Pierpont Langley, was also trying to build an airplane — with the assistance of an entire staff.

His assumption was that if he put a big enough engine on the airplane, he could get anything off the ground. He focused all his effort on that one project: creating a super-powerful engine for the plane.

The Wright Brothers’ approach, however, was to build a glider that would glide from a hilltop with no engine at all. They focused their energy on (finesse), balance and steering — power was almost an afterthought. Only after it worked with no power would they try to put an engine on it.

After three years of tedious experimentation the glider was working well, so they commissioned bicycle shop machinist Charlie Taylor to build them an engine. It was the smallest engine he could design — a twelve-horsepower unit that weighed 180 pounds.

Needless to say, the Wright Brothers changed the world and became famous historical figures, while few have ever heard of Mr Langley. Their approach of making the plane fly before applying high power was the superior one.

“Langley had spent most of four years building an extraordinary engine to lift their heavy flying machine. The Wrights had spent most of four years building a flying machine so artfully designed that it could be propelled into the air by a fairly ordinary internal combustion engine.” – Smithsonian Magazine, April 2003

There’s a direct analogy to your success in network marketing here. Your advertising budget is the engine. Your sales and marketing system is the glider.

An engine without a good set of wings will not work. But when you put an engine on a workable glider, you have a plane. When you feed customers to a sales and marketing system that can “fly,” you have a business.

If you have an effective sales and marketing pipeline that simply lacks customers, you have a glider; just apply a lightweight engine (read: sensible marketing budget) and it will soar. But if you have traffic that’s going to a lousy or non-existent sales and marketing pipeline, you don’t have a business. You have a money pit.

Here’s the lesson:

Money can bring you a lot of traffic, but it’s only valuable to the extent that your sales and marketing pipeline is designed to convert the traffic to leads and sales. It’s about lead conversion. You grow your business by having a quality system. So as you’re getting started, marketing methods such as Google Adwords are like a lightweight engine that you can turn on and off instantly. You can test your glider safely without crashing, without killing your momentum, without burning through a lot of money fast.

This is the lesson that network marketing casualties like Tanya and I learned the hard way. We were a lot like Langley. We focused on the engine instead of the wings. When it didn’t take off, we just poured more gas into the engine (bought expensive leads, paid for expensive newspaper ads, conventions). When none of that worked, we thought we’d put it on a rocket launcher and force it up into the air (we were going to hire a copywriter to design a system for us for $US60,000).

Thank goodness we found CCPro before we went to that stage! Think of all those companies with their “platinum leads”, their useless cookie-cutter websites, their pills & potions. Their exotically named products, their empty promises, small checks and their fast-folding downlines. 97 percent of distributors make a beautiful arc, smash into the ground, and explode in a ball of flames.

And you know what’s interesting? Some never see the crash coming. Some never trace the arc and wonder why they’re not gaining altitude.

Our friends in network marketing, great people, hard workers, are quietly digging themselves into a deeper hole as their company and its heavy hitters feed off their labor and dreams.

Laughing all the way to the bank.

While we continue to wonder how it is that a company can present as “an opportunity” something in which at least 97 percent of people will spend more than they earn. Not to mention the toll it takes on their self esteem, energy and lifestyle.

And the companies seem genuinely surprised when people claimthe “brick” they were sold, won’t even make it off the ground, no matter what size engine you put on it.

We on the inside, at CarbonCopyPRO, are never surprised.

What are you waiting for? Give yourself some wings.

Respectfully,

A Lesson From The Wright Brothers ... How to Give Your Business Wings!

Ian Shilton, Duke Street, Myrtleford, Victoria Australia 3737.
Email Me Here: ianshiltonpromarketing@gmail.com
Meet Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/AboutMe
Join Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/Welcome
Ask Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/FAQ

NOW … If you are serious about creating a real, substantial, wealth building income for yourself, CLICK HERE. My colleague Jay Kubassek has an important message for you.

A Lesson From The Wright Brothers ... How to Give Your Business Wings!

Click here … to see Jay’s inspiring message.

Would You Seriously Buy A Vehicle Without Checking Under The Hood?

Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 11:51 am  
Leave your comment

by Ian Shilton

Joining a network marketing company, on the basis of “it’s such a good product” (like I almost did) is the caryard equivalent of buying a van without checking under the hood. Let me explain.

Like it or not, the primary purpose of any business, network marketing companies included, is to move product.

Similarly the primary purpose of a van is … (you guessed it) to move product.

Trouble is, most companies offer a great “looking” vehicle, but on closer inspection, the home business owner finds it doesn’t have an engine capable of driving sales. You pay your money and get your van back home — loaded to the brim with product, hopes and dreams.

You put the key into the ignition, turn it clockwise and … click … nothing … It won’t go anywhere. The van you bought won’t move, let alone move product.

It’s a shell … a souffle. All hot air. The used car salesman didn’t say anything about this?

So what do most people do?

They push their van around the block a couple of times, hoping it will somehow gather momentum.

They try putting more fuel (money) into it.

But it doesn’t make any difference.

In the end the clever ones realize they have to buy or build their own engine (and then cross their fingers that it works with their particular vehicle).

Meanwhile, the company puts on “rah rah” training sessions and meetings all about their “products” and their “success stories”.

Of course, they rarely mention anything useful about driving sales.

This is what you really need to know.

The core problem here is this. When looking for an opportunity, most people only focus on the product or service they will be selling. This is natural and understandable (the companies bank on that). But it is a HUGE mistake.

There are some incredible products out there. There’s no doubt about that.

But the product is only half the equation.

If you don’t believe me try ordering a pallet of any product in the world.

Have it delivered to your garage. Are you rich yet?

Of course not.

It won’t move itself. It needs to be marketed (no matter how good it is). And no amount of affirmations, no law of attraction, no “awakening” or “abundance mentality” is going to shift that sucker.

You see, the most important — and the most often overlooked — criteria for choosing a business opportunity is being able to crawl under the hood and check that it has a powerful and automated sales and marketing machine.

Without an engine to drive sales, most home business owners quickly find themselves at the side of the road — alongside the rusted out wrecks of the 97% of other independent distributors whose dreams stalled.

And you know what the real tragedy is? Those 97% of people never realise what went wrong. No-one tells them you need an engine to drive a home business. They blame themselves for not “pushing the van” hard enough. “Maybe if I’d done another lap of the block, another meeting, bought more leads, listened to more training calls?”

They never realize that the bright and shiny “shell on wheels” they were sold was never going to get out of first gear.

And that it wasn’t their fault.

Meanwhile the companies and their “heavy hitters” ignore the wreckage — somehow managing to put it to the back of their minds, as they welcome a new round of eager members ready and willing to test drive a shiny new van.

Respectfully,

Would You Seriously Buy A Vehicle Without Checking Under The Hood?

Ian Shilton, Duke Street, Myrtleford, Victoria Australia 3737.
Email Me Here: ianshiltonpromarketing@gmail.com
Meet Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/AboutMe
Join Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/Welcome
Ask Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/FAQ

NOW … If you are serious about creating a real, substantial, wealth building income for yourself, CLICK HERE. My colleague Jay Kubassek has an important message for you.

Would You Seriously Buy A Vehicle Without Checking Under The Hood?

Click here … to see Jay’s inspiring message.

When search engines attack…

Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 11:25 am  
Leave your comment

I want to share with you today, a story that is all about love, hatred and betrayal. It is an inspiring and gripping tale that will leave you wondering what the next chapter will bring. You can rest assured that there will be no end to this saga.

At it’s core, this is a classic story line. You know it very well, I’m sure. It is the quintessetional “boy meets search engine” tale. For those of you who are unaware, it goes something like this: Boy meets search engine, boy becomes besotted by the power and unparalled reach of the search engine, search engine kicks boy to the curb (for no apparent reason), boy’s account is suspended and his once thriving business is shut down overnight.

What I have just described, is the most recent round of ‘slaps’ for Adwords advertisers. For the purposes of this story, we’ll refer to the boy as “Cam” and the search engine as “Google” (this is actually based on a true story When search engines attack... .

From the very start, we could see the unbelievable power of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising to drive traffic to our landing pages. It is fast, targetted and when done well, yields an extremely high ROI. We knew that the top earners rely almost exclusively on PPC to generate the number of leads necessary to build a profitable business in this industry. So from day one, Cam immersed himself in learning PPC. After a couple of months of full throttle study, he unleashed our campaign, and within four months, we had been recognized with a master marketing award by CCPro. It was a giddy ride. Cam loved the science and precision of PPC. We could see immediately which of our campaigns were working, and which weren’t. Our campaigns delivered us highly qualified leads within hours of turning them on, almost more than we could handle in fact.

But then the rules of engagement changed. Google, partly at the behest of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) went on the rampage in the home based business industry. Any Adwords campaigns that drove traffic to landing pages which were replicated, or obvious “biz opp” pages, were shut down. Use of trademarked company names in Adwords campaigns, such as Liberty League International, Lifepath or Global Resorts Network, also led to the shut down of the campaign.

Now, in some cases, accounts were ‘slapped’, and advertisers received a warning. In other cases, accounts were suspended (definitely more serious). Worse, some advertisers were advised in writing, that Google would not accept any advertising from them ever again.

Obviously, this is pretty devastating, but when we consider what has happened in the context of why it has happened, it is actually not as grim as you might imagine.

Having spent a lot of time listening to people such as Perry Marshall, Dr Glenn Livingston, Frank Kern and Cherie Yvette (as well as gleaning information from Google itself), it has become apparent that a couple of forces are at work here. Firstly, the FTC is cracking down on the home based business industry in a big way.

It would seem that there is a strong move to clean up the “get rich quick” marketers who extract a lot of money from people who are chasing a dream, and are generally not well suited to work this type of business (these same marketers give this industry a very bad name). This is a very good thing. For those of us conducting our businesses online with integrity and professionalism, this will narrow the pack considerably. It will also protect consumers to a greater degree than ever before.

Google enjoys market share online (a staggering 83.5% amongst a field of thousands of search engines), and the reason why, is because it consistently delivers value to searchers in the form of relevant, current and unique information on each and every search. So you can understand why Google might be inclined to crack down on replicated websites.

This is where a solid understanding of marketing principles is going to be absolutely critical to your success online. You will need to know how to research what your niche is searching for, and how to deliver that information to them in a professional manner. And the principles that underpin the way the search engines function are not likely to change in dramatically in any way, other than to continue to tighten up to protect searchers/consumers when they are online looking for products, services, businesses and information.

You have now joined the ‘Information Marketing’ industry. You will need to learn how to research and present high quality relevant information online, and in doing so, position yourself as a person of value and a leader.

So, in the final wash up, the ending is not necessarily the disaster it first appeared to be. Increase your value to the world, present your business in an honest and professional way, and stay abreast of search engine requirements (by tapping into as much training in the CCPro back office as you can), and you should be well positioned to enjoy a happy ending.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

Respectfully,

When search engines attack...

Ian Shilton, Duke Street, Myrtleford, Victoria Australia 3737.
Email Me Here: ianshiltonpromarketing@gmail.com
Meet Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/AboutMe
Join Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/Welcome
Ask Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/FAQ

NOW … If you are serious about creating a real, substantial, wealth building income for yourself, CLICK HERE. My colleague Jay Kubassek has an important message for you.

When search engines attack...

Click here … to see Jay’s inspiring message.

Landing Page versus Branding Page. This is sooo important.

Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 11:23 am  
Leave your comment

This week the guys at mystoryhub let us know about a new service that is detailed here … http://myccmarketing.com/services/mystoryhub.php

A quick word of advice/clarification … I think (pls correct me if I’m wrong as I wasn’t on the call), I think this is a service offering to set up a hub site. Now this is fine, if you want someone to set up a good looking personally branded website.

But (and this is a big “but”) if you’re after a Google Adwords-friendly landing page to beat Google slaps, I don’t know if this is the answer. You’ll have to clarify it with the guys at MyStory Hub.

My big concern, when I checked out the http://myccmarketing.com/services/mystoryhub.php

offer is that it didn’t mention that they can or will design any “landing pages” for us.

Now, here, everyone needs to understand there is a huge difference between a landing page (squeeze page, capture page, opt-in page) and a “branded personal website or blog”.

The examples at http://myccmarketing.com/services/mystoryhub.php are “branded personal websites/blogs”. Tanya and my branded personal website is http://cameronandtanya.com. On the other hand, an example of one of our Landing pages is http://IanShiltonMarketing.com. Huge difference in form and function.

A landing page is set up with the sole purpose of capturing a lead’s name and email address (and possibly phone number). You can have dozens of these doing their job all over the internet.

A branding page (personal website) on the other hand serves a totally different purpose (in terms of our sales process). This is where people go — after they have become a lead. You direct them there, once you have established contact with them to get to …

* know you

* like you

* build rapport with you

* and trust you.

It’s like inviting people to your Home, after you made initial contact with them in a business sense (after they’ve been to your landing page).

So, your prospects will generally (99% of the time) become a lead from your landing page, not from your branded website/mystory hub/Wordpress blog.

It can be confusing. But it is dangerous (if that’s the right word) to imagine that you can have a personal branding page that ALSO functions as a landing page (lead capture page). The two have to be considered as serving two completely separate functions. One capture, the other rapport.

I would have liked to see the mystoryhub offer include a Google Adwords-friendly landing page design, with the form and everything. You’ll want to check this out with them.

Yes, you can certainly include a landing page within your personal website. But the landing page’s purpose and navigation should be isolated from the rest of the site. Otherwise people will get there, get distracted and start wandering around, instead of focussing and giving you their name and email address in return for the promise of “what’s on the other side”. You see, if there is no “other side” because the other side is already conveniently laid-out for them in your navigation bar, then there will be no reason for them to provide their name and address.

So I’d be asking the guys at mystoryhub if they can incorporate a Google Adwords-friendly landing page for you.

You will want them to basically copy the general wording and layout from one of the landing pages from the back office. But change the design and change the names of the graphics and maybe include a pic of yourself and a sentence to introduce you (to make it Google Adwords-friendly). You will want them to bring across a “form” (the bit where the person fills in their name and email address) and they will need to link that back to aWeber and then back in to CCPro back office for you so you can track your leads.

I’ve just been through this today. Quite involved (sheesh). Good luck.

At the end of the day when approaching the thought of planning a landing page that’s not hosted by CCPro don’t be thinking you can incorporate one with, for instance, a personal blog site Home Page for instance. I just don’t think it will work. Too distracting. A traditional welcome page with a “For More Information” Form, is not a Lead Capture page, not an effective one anyway.

Yes, it is still a good idea to have a lead capture form on your Home Page and wherever else you might want one, but it’s not going to get many leads for you.

Of course there’s always an exception. Michael Forces blog (see picture below) at http://securebusinessmodel.com is the exception in this case. Michael has designed this whole site like a personal blog site.

But it’s not a “blog site that acts as a landing page”.

It is, rather, a landing page that looks like a blog site. Or, to be more accurate, a series of landing pages that, together, look like a blog site. Very cool. You go from one page to the next and unwittingly you are being confronted by one “landing page” after another. Ingenious. Each page makes you want to join Michael to see what’s on the other side. He gives a lot of info, but he’s careful about what he doesn’t tell so that there is still the offer of something incredible “on the other side”. Every page has an opt-in Form. You have to fill in the form to see a “Private Business Overview”. Every page has pics of Michael and Dalila enjoying the lifestyle made possible by “whatever it is on the other side”. Every page has great headlines. Every page follows a similar rythm and feel.

I hope this makes sense. Please understand you don’t have to worry about Google Adwords-Friendly landing pages unless you are doing Google Adwords advertising to get your leads.

Cheers,

Respectfully,

Landing Page versus Branding Page. This is sooo important.

Ian Shilton, Duke Street, Myrtleford, Victoria Australia 3737.
Email Me Here: ianshiltonpromarketing@gmail.com
Meet Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/AboutMe
Join Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/Welcome
Ask Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/FAQ

NOW … If you are serious about creating a real, substantial, wealth building income for yourself, CLICK HERE. My colleague Jay Kubassek has an important message for you.

Landing Page versus Branding Page. This is sooo important.

Click here … to see Jay’s inspiring message.

Some disturbing things I do while I'm on the phone.

Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 11:15 am  
Leave your comment

So did the headline compel you to read on? It’s actually not my own headline, although it is quite risque, which is absolutely my style ordinarily Some disturbing things I do while I'm on the phone. . I have to give credit here to a brilliant direct response copywriter called Ben Settle. And I’m going to share this story with you now because it contains not one, not two, but three fabulous take aways. Sorry, I won’t be throwing in a complimentary set of steak knives if you continue to read on.

Ben is an internationally known and respected copywriter who both develops his own products, and writes on behalf of other business people.

I was listening to a training call between Ben Settle and Dr Glenn Livingston one day, and Ben was talking about the headline that has generated more opt ins for him in his business than any other. And it was the headline I lured you here with today (picture me rubbing my hands together in a faux evil gesture).

But by way of explanation, Ben was referring to the fact that when he speaks on the phone, he picks up and waves around a hand gun that he keeps on his desk. Now, don’t be alarmed, Ben is not a gun toting homicidal maniac. The gun serves a very practical function.

Research has shown that when you engage your hands in a physical activity, it stimulates the creative centre of your brain. Ben said that when he is on the phone, brainstorming with clients, he has his best ideas and breakthroughs when his hands are busy, waving his hand gun around. You can imagine that he does not employ this tactic when he is meeting people face to face. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that it would probably make most people feel quite uncomfortable.

And don’t think for a moment that I am suggesting you dash out and purchase a hand gun for the purpose of stimulating your creativity. Any physical object that you can roll around in your hand would do the job equally well. A stress ball, a smooth stone or similar would do the trick. A friend of mine rolls a cricket ball around in his hand while he listens to training. Swears by it.

Also, don’t discount the impact and importance of getting away from your screen on a regular basis, and grounding yourself, particularly outside. Feeling sunshine and fresh air on your face, walking on the grass or sand with bare feet, or getting your hands dirty in the garden engages and connects your mind and body, and helps you to find perspective. Actually, I’ll amend that by saying you will find perspective only if you are actually looking for it. It won’t happen by osmosis.

As entrepreneurs, it is critical that we develop the skill and habit of looking for solutions, rather than becoming bogged in problems. You will be astounded at how powerful this is when you come back to the screen.

So that was takeaway number one: engage in physical activity regularly, even while talking on the phone or listening to training in order to stimulate your creativity.

Takeaway number two refers to the headline. I tend to labor this point, but only because it is that important. A powerful headline is what will compel someone to read your article or not. In fact, most people will read only a headline, a caption (underneath a photo) or the PS message in piece of writing, as long as they are intriguing or seductive. So these are the power points of every piece of writing.

And takeaway number three? Take everyday situations and weave them through your writing (or videos, if you are using videos to market your business). Because this gives readers an indication of what kind of person you are and it gives them something to relate to.

On a more practical note, it gives you material to write about. If you are brand new to business, you can use this technique to talk about what information you found useful and what was confusing. You can use this to share things you have learnt along the way (successes and failures), whether it is technical information or more esoteric mindset material. In any event, other people will be drawn to your honesty.

This is where you can create a feedback loop, and build relationships with people who read your posts, which is brilliant for building your business. This is where you can invite people to interact with you on yMy Blog, to share their thoughts and even ask you questions. This process positions you as a leader, and regular interactive activity on yMy Blog also helps to improve your ranking in organic search. Happy days.

Make today a great one.

Cheers,

Ian Shilton

Respectfully,

Some disturbing things I do while I'm on the phone.

Ian Shilton, Duke Street, Myrtleford, Victoria Australia 3737.
Email Me Here: ianshiltonpromarketing@gmail.com
Meet Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/AboutMe
Join Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/Welcome
Ask Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/FAQ

NOW … If you are serious about creating a real, substantial, wealth building income for yourself, CLICK HERE. My colleague Jay Kubassek has an important message for you.

Some disturbing things I do while I'm on the phone.

Click here … to see Jay’s inspiring message.

SelfEmployed And Rich 2

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 1:59 pm  
Leave your comment

Boot Camp Day 2: “Why less than one in a thousand people in the MLM industry will ever make 6-figures 
(and what you can do to be 1 in 1000)”

The Facts:

  • Less than 1 out of 1000 people in the MLM industry will ever make 6-figures.
  • 90% of all businesses will fail within their first 5 years (Entrepreneur Magazine).
  • Over 30,000,000 (yes million) Americans have either attempted Network Marketing or are currently involved in the industry.
  • Yet 90% make less than $10 a week.
  • Yet 70,000,000 (yes million) Americans plan to start their OWN businesses in the next 3 years (Forbes Magazine).

Both Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki say that if they had to do it all over again, they would build their fortunes in THIS industry.

Easily the world’s most famous and respected investor, Warren Buffet also bought several Network Marketing companies last year. Many people are lured to this industry by dreams of riches and easy money. A better lifestyle, less work, more free time, nice cars, and holidays. There is a LOT of hype out there about this type of business. But you probably already spotted that.

So why does everyone think this is an industry of easy-riches when the reality is that most are failing dismally?

It’s simple: Over 90% of the money in this industry is made by the company owners, and they know this!

They also know something about leverage…

Unless you are joining a group or team that is REALLY going to show you the common denominators of their 
success, then you are dead in the water.

The typical work-at-home newbie thinks that success is all about a hot sizzle product and timing. Well, that’s simply not the case and I’ll prove it to you right now… Go buy $10,000 of any product in the world that you’d like. It could be the latest, best, and most amazing product on the planet in the most incredible “ground floor opportunity”.

Have it delivered to your home?


Are you rich yet?


No off-course not.

Please pay close attention to the next line because this could be the most important thing you ever learn …

Products don’t make money — marketing does.

So the bottom line is this. If you don’t join a leadership team that really knows how to market both online and offline, you’re in trouble.

You see, this is an industry of marketing and promotion and yet, tragically, it is pursued by people who have no idea how to market or promote.

If, like us, you want to be successful, you’ve got to align yourself with a group of experienced marketers. That was the turning point for us. This is the reason this business has so many consultants achieving the “impossible”. It’s because they are able to leverage hundreds of collective years of experience in marketing legitimate products.

This eliminates 90% of the learning curves and struggles that typically cause most people to fail and give up on their initial dreams. All of a sudden, instead of this being a money-game, you’re marketing something you can stand behind and be incredibly proud of, using a sales and marketing turnkey system that is proven to work like clockwork.

As we continue “Who Wants To Be Self Employed and Rich Boot Camp”, we will walk you through our actual marketing process, revealing the websites we use and the types of ads we place that have a constant stream of people contacting me — 30, 40 and 50 people a day.

Coming Next on Day 3: “How To Avoid The ‘Stupid Tax’ Of Online Advertising”. You won’t want to miss this one…

Respectfully,

SelfEmployed And Rich 2

Ian Shilton, Duke Street, Myrtleford, Victoria Australia 3737.
Email Me Here: ianshiltonpromarketing@gmail.com
Meet Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/AboutMe
Join Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/Welcome
Ask Me Here: http://IanShiltonMarketing.com/FAQ

NOW … If you are serious about creating a real, substantial, wealth building income for yourself, CLICK HERE. My colleague Jay Kubassek has an important message for you.

SelfEmployed And Rich 2

Click here … to see Jay’s inspiring message.

 Page 1 of 3  1  2  3 »