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Monday, 12 October 2009

Should you freak out over the new FTC guidelines

"Should you freak out over the new FTC guidelines?"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Let's talk about the latest FTC guidelines and
how you should respond?

You're going to be seeing lots of web sites and ads that
say "The average person made .01 cents," or $1.00 or
other such ridiculous numbers.

Let's talk about WHY this is and what you should understand
about it. There's a bit of sane thinking in this ezine,
or I think there is.

So you might wanna read it.

The FTC published new guidelines about income
claims and affiliate links.

Here's a great link to an interview about it from Fast
Company:

http://www.TurboProfits.com/tracking/go.php?c=oct10fast

Since I ain't no lawyer, you better learn about this stuff
yourself. But let me give you a marketer's perspective.

I in NO WAY am criticizing the law. I'm just stating a
marketer's viewpoint and explaining things you're doing to
see happen on marketer's web pages, so you understand
WHY you're going to see these things.

A lot of what I say below is intentionally MELODRAMATIC
and tongue in cheek. But there is a real law and real
penalties. So understand that while I'm making a bit of
light of it, there IS a real point here you need to
take seriously.

Let's drill down.

1. Typicality of results

If you use testimonials or endorsements that make
a specific claim, you ALSO have to reveal the results
the average user gets.

So if you read in one of my letters and endorsement or
testimonial that says Johnny or Betty used one of my
products and paid for a new house with it, you'll ALSO
be seeing a disclaimer that says:

"The average person who bought this product made .01
cents."

I may be exaggerating but that is roughly what you'll be reading
quite a bit.

Now, you and I BOTH know (or you should know) that the
average person buys stuff and doesn't do a lot with it. Or if
you don't know that or haven't heard it, it is the truth.

Then again, the average person reads two books a year,
can't spell the word Potato, thinks UFO's exist, and
doesn't vote in elections.

So unless YOU are average, this shouldn't be of great
concern to you. Now granted, I had to look up the spelling
of potato in Wikipedia. But at LEAST I'm bright enough
to do that.

A lot of people aren't.

HOWEVER -- having said that, about three weeks ago, I
published an article FORESEEING what has gone down.
I published an article that said basically 95% of people
don't do squat at Internet marketing.

That statement a few disillusioned souls to refund
to my office.

Absolutely phenomenal.

So let me break this down for you again at the risk of
having other pie-in-sky dreamers freak out over it.

Here's what you're going to see:

Marketers WILL have statements in their sales materials
that reveal the average results are PATHETIC.

Does THAT mean the methods don't work?

Heck no.

What it means is people don't work the methods. I speak the
truth.

a. Very few people read more than five chapters of those
books, ebooks and courses they buy. I know this because
I've put tracking links in products and I can tell how
deep people read into the product.

So HOW pray tell are the average results going to be good
when, on average, NO ONE even READS the product?

Should the fact that you're competing against people who
can't and don't read ALARM you? Or should it KINDA make you
excited to know that you're competing against people who
buy stuff and never even read it?

b. Out of the people who DO read, there are many reasons
people buy products.

A LOT of people, maybe even the majority, buy out of curiosity
or to do research. They don't INTEND on acting on the
information.

I do this ALL the time.

I'm a curious person. I buy stuff all the time out of curiosity
with zero intention of doing anything with it.

Does that INVALIDATE the information I'm reading and mean it
doesn't work because a whole lot of people are just like me
and reading for enjoyment, research or curiosity?

c. Do you really believe you're an average person?

Personally, I don't like the attitude that everything should be
boiled down to the lowest common denominator and we should protect
people who can't read, can't spell (or at LEAST look it up in
Wikipedia) and believe stupid stuff like they can push a button
and buy a yacht the next week.

One way or the other, evolution will eventually weed those people
out. Just not in OUR lifetime.

I like to think that God don't make junk and that I got a little
something going for me. And I would hope you do also.

d. Decreased competition is GOOD.

This law will weed out some competitors who just don't want to
reveal that the people who buy their deal on average don't do
squat.

This is good.

It's the law of supply and demand. Less supply means more of the
pie for the rest of us. Seriously, this law isn't the end of the
world.

I've complied with MOST of it all my career or done my best to.
Much or most of this law has been in place for a long time. People
are just now realizing what the law says.

My take is, you don't freak out. You just comply. Ain't no big
thang. But when you see some disclaimers that sound outlandish,
you DO need to understand WHY they are there and the purpose and
intent of them to protect new, uninformed people from making bad
decisions.

I HAVE seen people who ARE sincere believe extreme hype and spend
money they didn't have.

Law one: Do NOT spend money you don't have to chase an uncertain
result. Scared money never wins. You build a business with money
you can afford to lose.

Law two: There is no simple, easy, no-brainer thing you can do that
will bring you in 6 g's a month. Everything in business requires
a brain and thinking.

Law three: People who are an overnight success were either lucky,
inordinately talented or spent a long time preparing for that big
moment of success.

Law three: There is no magic ebook or course you can buy that in
30 days or even 60 is going to allow you to pay off those huge
credit card bills or buy you a Lambo. So stop asking for it and
looking for it.

You GROW a business over time, not overnight. Relationships with
customers take some time to build. And some people like my friends
Lee McIntyre and Jason Fladlien DO extremely well really fast.
But yeah, that ain't average.

It took me a lot longer.

=================================
Is This A Hidden Flaw In The Law?
=================================

Now, lest you think this is all rosy, there IS a hidden flaw in
the law.

Here it is:

What the law SHOULD say is that you have to publish the average
results of people who reasonably followed what you taught.

This does NOT mean you skirt the law. I'm just saying here is
why I think it's misguided. Now, I'm NOT blaming the FTC on this.
They are trying to protect people.

I understand that and it's a noble cause. They have the right to
make and enforce the law and it's our job to comply fully and
completely.

But let me give you an example from a marketer's perspective:

The AVERAGE person who buys a beginner's book on how to play the
guitar WON'T ever play more than maybe one chord.

They read chapter one, and go back to playing video games, eating
bon bons on the sofa or reading the National Enquirer.

I'm NOT making this up. This is actually true. But what's wrong
with that? I have all kinds of books on all kinds of topics I
bought for one reason or the other and never did anything with.

Like this book over here on my bookshelf on how to design a
database. Like I ever read that! I mean, it sounded like a good
idea at the time!

I doubt I made it through one chapter. No big deal. And on rare
occasion I eat bon bons and read the National Enquirer. So there you
go.

Here's what the law SHOULD say through the eyes of a marketer:

What is the average result by the person who actually follows the
majority, if not all, of the instructions?

Of course, there are so few of those people, it wouldn't make for
a very good law. That would expose how ridiculous it is.

For example, how many people READ the Bible cover-to-cover or
even the New Testament?

How about even one whole chapter?

And how many of those people can even QUOTE what the 10 commandments
are not to mention even take a stab at following them?

Case proved.

The obvious example here is the people who buy something off of a TV
commercial that helps them drop 10 pounds.

Whatever "it" is comes with a little manual that says in addition to
using whatever the tool is, you ALSO have to STOP stuffing your
pretty little face with pizza, beer, tacos, nachos, pie, cake and
candy, not to mention those piggie blanket things down at the mall
I like to chow down on.

Of course, about .00001% of the people actually do that.

So we all KNOW what the average results are.

Does that mean whatever was sold doesn't work?

It's like Jared on those Subway commercials. By the way, I think
Subway is a trademark. I probably am supposed to say that.

Can you imagine the commercials when they say THIS?

"While Jared dumbped 108 pounds, (or however many it was) the
average Subway customer actually GAINS 25 pounds in a period of 5
years because in addition to eating subs, they ALSO on average
consume 512 pizzas, 398 bottles of beer, 498 pieces of candy, 109
servings of cake or pie and 598 bon bons, not to mention soft drinks
and other assorted goodies."

Americans, on average, are considerably overweight. Eating at
Subway ain't gonna change that as long people continue to pig
down on other stuff.

Is THAT Subway's fault?

So I ate at Subway this week. I also bought a full pumpkin pie
and chowed down on it (albeit a little guiltily). I had some
pizza and ice cream.

So on net I think I gained 1 or 2 pounds this week. None of that
is Subway's fault. By the way, this example if HYPOTHETICAL.
Maybe Subway customers lose tons. I don't know.

It's an example or illustration that's pure fantasy in my head and
NOT representative of true, real Subway customers.

Here's my POINT:

Isn't the real question what happens in that rare event when
someone actually FOLLOWS instructions?

I think that my results would look pretty decent if you looked at
what happens when people act on what I teach. Like on my
Dashboards.

For the people who actually go through all the steps on an icon,
I imagine most people get a good result on that ICON. Thing is,
they don't go through all the icons. And that's the fly in the
ointment as far as average results are concerned.

=================
Here's an Example
=================

About 3 weeks ago I published a drop dead ezine issue with extreme
specifics on how to do an outline in freemind and record it using
software that also is gratus.

Out of roughly 50,000 people who got my ezine issue, THREE PEOPLE
did anything with it.

THREE.

What percentage is that?

My math is crap (cause I'm "average" at math). But I think that is
.006% average results.

If you're one of those 3 people, congratulations.

You're the anomaly.

The weird, rare person with an ounce of entrepreneurial ability and
instinct and the capacity to take action.

People worry about competition.

Look at it this way. For every 50,000 potential competitors, about
3 of them will ever do jack.

This is what average is.

If you're one of the other 49,997 who didn't do jack, it's OK.
You're AVERAGE! It's normal to not do anything.

It's OK that you read my ezines for either inspiration, or for ideas,
or for use in the future.

A lot of people read this ezine just in case they DO decide to do
something in the future. It's all good. Nothing wrong with that.
Fact is, I'd say that's most people.

I do the SAME exact thing.

I subscribe to, buy and store information of all sorts from all
kinds of resources.

=========================
An Example From My Family
=========================

A long time ago when my dad who is 80+ now was a young buck, he took
a correspondence course to learn how to fix Television sets, which
were the hot new technology on the block.

I'm assuming the company sold a lot of those 3-year correspondence
courses.

My dad finished the course and they flew him in at their expense to
a graduation with two other people

That's right.

Two others finished the course that year! Three total.

My dad went on to do very well in the TV service business and at one
point serviced the TV sets for virtually every hotel and motel in
in the city we grew up.

And that was his part time job.

The correspondence course was a GREAT course. It worked. It allowed
my dad to accumulate substantial assets and support my family over
the course of his lifetime.

Yet the average person who took that course NEVER made even one DIME
because they never FINISHED it.

That's the fly in the ointment with this law.

You know that book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale
Carnegie?

On AVERAGE I dare say people who buy that book do NOT Win Friends or
Influence people. Why? Because it says stuff like you have to smile
at people and consider their point of view and listen.

How many people who buy that book REALLY do it? Seriously. How many
people do you know who listen, always consider the other person's
point of view and who do all the other stuff the book teaches?

Not me! That's for sure. And probably hardly anyone I know.

Ain't Dale Carnegie's fault I like to talk more than I listen,
criticize others, and consider my own point of view first.

2. Revealing affiliate links

This one is more vague. But the FTC says that, more or less, you
need to be transparent about this relationship.

No problemo.

You tell people it's an affiliate link or you make a
commission. Whatever.

I don't think this amounts to diddly squat. Just do it.

Here's my affiliate link: blah, blah, blah.

Or: Affiliate link: blah, blah, blah.

Ain't no big thang. I'm not sure exactly how you have to reveal
them or what's required. I BELIEVE you just have to state that
they're affiliate links. That's how I read the law.

"OMG! I clicked a link, bought and someone snagged a few bux in
their bank account because of it. The world is coming to an end!"

Personally, I make an ATTEMPT to buy via affiliate links because I
want to SUPPORT the people who give me ideas and turn me onto cool
stuff. But maybe that's just me.

I reckon lots of average folks out there believe that the people
who take time to write elaborate reviews on blogs with nice graphic
design and perty pictures 'n stuff are just altruistic human beings
and doing it without making one penny if they click their little
link their, whip out their credit card and punch in the numbers.

So in the spirit of full disclosure, get this NOW! ALL links to
ANY product in my ezines or products that are NOT my own ARE
affiliate links.

That means, if you click and pull out your credit card and enter
those little numbers on it and push SUBMIT that money is going to
appear in my bank account.

If you have a problem with that, then do NOT enter your credit card
numbers now, quickly and easily and do NOT push submit. Not NOW.
Please. Thank you very much.

If you have been deceived into thinking I'm a charity and I do this
out of the goodness of my human heart just because I ain't got
nothing else to do with my time, then let me clarify this for you
right this second.

You click. You buy. I profit.

How 'bout them bananas?

====================
The Final Disclaimer
====================

In the words of Frank freaking Kern, I ain't a lawyer nor do I play
one on TV.

That means you're well advised to go read the little law yourself,
consult your own legal advice, and, in general, use that little
thingy God put in your head called a BRAIN.

Now that's a pretty novel concept for a lot of us, myself included.
And I DO expect that at least 3 people who read this ezine will do
it.

Still, I gotta say that just cause I'm supposed to and it makes me
sleep better at night.

=======================
What You DO Need To Do
=======================

As I read the law, here's the scoop:

1. If you publish testimonials or endorsements that aren't typical
of average results, you need to reveal what those average results
actually are, as pathetic and pitiful as they probably are or
will be.

2. If you make claims or promises in your letter, as anyone selling
anything does if they hope to make any sale before Christmas,
then you need to state what the average results.

I'm not certain the law requires this but I believe it does.

Again, you and I both know that in ANY how to product, the average
results will be absolutely pathetic. Just embarrasing. So live
with it.

Comply with the law. There is no choice about this.

Personally, I'll probably state that my average earnings from my
buyers are .01 each unless I can get provable stats that show
otherwise.

Since thousands of my email addresses from thousands of customers
in dozens of countries are no longer valid, getting stats OTHER
than that won't be easy.

So when you see those average earnings from myself and other
marketers, understand why they are there and what they MEAN.

Oh, if I send you a survey about this, please take it and return
it.

You can also publish testimonials that are fluffy without specific
results. Like "OMG, Marlon is so smart!"

Personally, I like to print out and read those testimonials anyway.
I try to get other people to let me read them to them but you
know...that doesn't go down so well.

3. Consider publishing a separate web page for non-U.S. customers

I'm NOT sure about this one yet. But I THINK you will legally be
able to serve up a different page to non-U.S. customers.

4. If you use affiliate links, reveal they're an affiliate link.

Like honestly, who except the rawest newbie doesn't know this in
our industry.

So revealing it won't make a dime's worth of difference in your
sales.

This is NOT the end of the world.

People will STILL buy from you if they are educated about the
law in the U.S.

Average results suck but hopefully YOU aren't average.

And if you are, join the crowd.

Oh, and read the law yourself since I ain't no lawyer nor
attorney. I'm just an online marketer who likes to sell stuff.
I may be wrong as the day is long on all aspects of this law
and my opinions.

So use your noodle to get the boodle and do a bit of your
own sound thinking and research.

Marlon Sanders
The King of Step-By-Step Internet Marketing and
"The Ambassador of Old School Marketing"

P.S. In the spirit of complete compliance, here is my
new disclaimer:

Ain't NONE of the results in NONE of the web pages
below anything remotely resembling AVERAGE nor typical."
People who succeed at stuff possess superhuman,
freakish ability and you should NOT assume you fall
in that elite class of superhumans. You' ain't never
gonna amount to nothing so just give it up. That's
my disclaimer. My average buyer earns .01. And if you
work really hard, read well and follow all the instructions
you too can end up in this elite class.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Marlon Sanders is the author of "The Amazing Formula That
Sells Products Like Crazy for approximately .00001% of the
people who buy the product and the KING of Step-By-Step
Internet Marketing for those 3 people out of 50,000 who
can actually follow steps. Everybody else is basically screwed
with no hope of being anything but average -- EVER!"

You can COMMENT on this article here:
http://www.TurboProfits.com/tracking/go.php?c=oct4ezine

To get on his killer ezine list, to get cheat sheets and all kinds
of other goodies every Saturday and during the week, to get simple,
to-the-point Internet marketing know that works real world without
all the hype, go to:

http://www.TurboProfits.com/tracking/go.php?c=9_19_bloglink

//////////////////////

REPRINT RIGHTS: You have permission to use the above
article without omission and including the resource box.
You have the right to insert your reseller URL for any
products I mention

Saturday, 6 June 2009

Are You Too Busy Earning a Living to Make Any Real Money?

The wisest man I ever met told me something I’ll never forget By Marlon Sanders
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Joe Karbo wrote this question in a famous ad many years
ago.

Are you too busy earning a living to make any money?

See, Joe was one of the originals to discover the real secret of the direct response marketing business.

If you’re working hard, it means you’re trading your time for dollars. Since there’s a limit on your time, there’s a limit on your dollars.

It’s the problem I have with the way a LOT of people teach what they call “Internet marketing.” Really, all they do is trade time for MORE dollars.

Why?

Because they don’t really do Internet marketing. They do sales pitches on webinars, teleseminars and from the stage. Which is all fine and dandy — if you know how to
automate it.

But if you’re just slaving away trading time for dollars, even if it’s more dollars, you’re STILL in the TRAP.

Have you ever wondered why so many gurus and Internet marketers spring up one day as an overnight success then just as quickly fade away into oblivion?

That’s because they work within the TRAP and have never discovered how to get OUT of the fundamental time for dollars trap.

I’m going to be the first to admit there ARE Internet marketers who put more in the bank month in and out than I do. Why? Because almost without fail, they’re working really hard for that money.

They’re still IN the TRAP.

And here they are pretending to get others out of the trap when they’re still IN it.

Others say that the only way to get out of the TRAP is to get a big office, lots of overhead and lots of employees.

Since 1996, I ran this business from home. I have a small, relatively modest office now, and it’s 2X or 3X the size I really need.

It’s true that you can work your tail end off and make a zillion dollars on a launch. But it took 3-6 months of hard labor before the launch and another 3-6 months AFTER the launch.

That’s nothing but a glorified job.

Every day there’s a new Johnny-Come-Lately with glowing screen caps blaring out massive numbers with some new method. Now, apart from the questionable legalities of what is often done, notice how these people also tend to vanish off the face of the earth after a year or so.

I’ve been doing my “Amazing Formula” of online marketing since 1998, and really before then on AOL and Compuserve using my early beta methods of the Formula.

=======================================
Do You Want Out Of The Trap Of Having
To Trade Your Time For Dollars?
=======================================

Whether you have a “real” job or your home business IS a job, sucking up all your time, I’m the only person I know who has proven my “Amazing Formula” for personal freedom, income and success over time works — because I’ve been LIVING IT since before many “gurus” even knew about Internet marketing.

Gosh, some of them were 12 years old when I started doing this full time.

Here are my 7 steps to get out of the time for dollars trap:

1. You’re either at the top of the food chain or the bottom.

I’ve been teaching and preaching this since 1998 and before. See, you either own your own products, software programs, iphone apps, membership sites and intellectual property that OTHERS sell.

Or you sell products FOR others.

I’m probably the ONLY person who consistently for years and years has steadfastly advocated that you get on the side of the coin where you’re the one with the products that OTHERS sell.

It’s cost me money in some ways to teach and preach this. Why?

Because many of my top affiliates “got it” and went on to become famous gurus in their own right. In the past, my top affiliates have included Russ Brunson, Ewen Chia, Mike Mertz, Kevin Wilke and Matt Gill, Jim Edwards, Yanik Silver — and many others.

Now obviously, while I’d LIKE to take credit for their success, I can’t. But I’d like to think that consistently hammering home my theme over and over of create and sell your own products has had an influence.

I’m all for being an affiliate to learn the Internet marketing game. But at some point, you need to climb the food chain and be on top, not on bottom.

A lady the other day wrote my customer support and asked what the credibility was behind Amazing Formula. How about the fact that it was selling $200,000 a year+ before most
gurus were gurus.

I had to chuckle.

How about the fact that many of the top gurus were once my top affiliates and affiliates for Amazing Formula?

Then on rare occasion someone will say, “Well, what’s Marlon done since Amazing Formula?” This doesn’t happen often. It’s more like behind closed doors with a few insecure, jealous wannabe gurus.

Uhhh, I guess they forget about creating a whole genre of software with Push Button Letters. They forget I created the 2-page web site model with Gimme My Money Now. They
forget I created the first product on how to create big tickets (actiongrid.com).

They forget about our highly innovative Dashboard line, including Marketing Dashboard, Product Dashboard, Design Dashboard and Promo Dashboard.

I’ve innovated so many things in this industry I forget about half of them. There are some people who think that the ONLY marketers who are worth anything are those who do
big product launches. But your real players realize that a LOT of those launches don’t NET what they GROSS.

And if you’re working your tail end off to DO the launch, you’re STILL in the time for dollars trap!

It’s NOT how many people promote your offer.

It’s NOT what you gross because after affiliate commissions, product fulfillment, refunds and chargebacks, that net often quickly diminishes.

It’s NOT about bragging rights to the biggest launch.

It’s about the lifestyle. Do you trade time for dollars or products? Do you wear a watch or don’t you?

I laugh about a lot of this stuff because it’s so blatantly obvious to me. You know, I’m at Starbucks drinking ice tea, shopping at the mall, hanging out reading in bookstores, talking to friends on the phone, and doing other things I enjoy while they’re slaving away trying HARD to be this big celebrity.

That’s what I call working hard for a living. It’s a well-paying job but still a job.

2. You either trade time for dollars or products

I don’t care if your products are Facebook apps, iPhone apps, membership sites, stuff you sell on ebay, ebooks, cd’s, dvd’s, coaching programs, or physically delivered products.

You still have to trade something for dollars OTHER than your time.

3. If you’re spending all your time selling other people’s products, then you’re STILL trading your time for dollars.

Hardly anyone has the guts to be honest about this. Because the moment you’re honest about it, you cut your own throat a bit.

Why? Because basically I’m telling my own resellers that ultimately they’re best served by creating their own products and affiliate base. So I’m in the business of making my affiliates very successful but at some point they aren’t my affiliates any longer.

So many people will gloss over this truth. I choose not to.

4. Nothing happens until someone sells something

We’re in the SALES business. Yes, we get our leads and prospective buyers mostly on the Internet. Yes, parts of it are automated. But at the end of the day, this is NOT some highly complicated business.

We get or create products.

We create sales presentations that show people how it’ll benefit them if they trade their money for our products.

Then we encapsulate those sales presentations in Power Point videos, podcasts, blog posts, teleseminars, webinars, stage presentations or sales letters.

It’s ALL a sales presentation or sales MESSAGE. Do you get that? The SAME formula I taught in Amazing Formula back in 1998 or 1999 is the SAME formula that STILL sells like crazy.

Only difference is, now you can do it in webinars, Youtube videos, Ustream presentations, podcasts and so forth.

Or, in the case of a product launch, you post it sequentially to a blog. But it’s STILL the same basic sales process and sequence.

It ALL boils down to a sales message.

And you know what? You’ll find out there are ONLY 12 steps to such a message. And it’s easier, faster and simpler to learn and do than you quite possibly think.

It’s more PRACTICE than anything. And if there’s any bugaboo that holds people back in this business it’s fear of practicing at delivering a sales message because it might not work. Then they’d feel like a failure!

That’s got NOTHING to do with it.

If the sales message doesn’t work, you change the message and who you’re delivering to. One or both. This isn’t rocket science!

Sheez. See, people have a huge VESTED interest in making themselves and their processes out to be rocket science because that substantiates big prices. Which is a great sales tactic.

But the TRUTH is, you create and deliver sales messages using a 12-step formula. It works or it doesn’t work. If it doesn’t, you change or tweak it. Or find someone else to deliver the message to.

Where? Wherever they hang out. That’s where. You can quote
me on this bit of rocket science here:

You fish where the fish are.

If they don’t bite, you change the bait. The message. I make this HUGELY clear in Amazing Formula. Some people don’t get that. A few. Not a lot. But a few people think it needs to be all rocket science and stuff with 45,000 flow charts that are really super duper impressive.

Surely it can’t be as simple as a 12-step formula, can it?

This is not a complicated business. People make this thing complex to get people to spend more money. Which isn’t a bad sales tactic. But let’s get real here.

We find or create products.

We create sale messages.

We then DELIVER those sales messages via:

a. Email
b. Teleseminars
c. Webinars
d. Sales letters
e. Blog posts
f. Online videos
g. DVD’s
h. Power Point
presentations
i. Ustream events
j. 1-on-1 “strategy” sessions

But do I need some whole new sales message because I’m delivering it via a teleseminar vs. posting it in chunks on my blog or delivering it in a PDF or series of online videos?

It’s the SAME message!

The delivery vehicle changes. But 90% or more of that message is the same.

This business is ALL about the sales message. It’s funny that some people reading this right this very minute will realize how far they’ve strayed from the truth.

How they’ve been sent on a goose chase by people who have a vested interested in making things complex.

And the question pops into their mind, “How did Marlon freakin’ Sanders find his way back into my life?”

And the answer is that I’m a truth teller.

The answer is that I speak the essence.

We sell things.

We sell things via sales messages.

There’s a 12-step proven formula for such messages.

But the delivery changes.

5. Therefore, you need to get good at crafting sales messages

This is one of the “elephants in the room” you won’t hear a lot of “gurus” talk about. Why? Because most people are a little bit uncomfortable with or intimidated by the idea
of creating a “sales” message.

I’d rather do blog posts. I’d rather do a webinar. I’d rather have some automated dealer that somehow sells people.

Yes, you CAN automate it. But you STILL have to craft and create that sales message BEFORE you automate the delivery OF the message. Do you get that?

Why don’t more “gurus” tell you the truth: Internet marketing is all about selling stuff. It’s all about creating messages that give people reasons to spend their money and buy stuff?

It cracks me up that people get all pissed off at “gurus” for selling stuff. What do you THINK they’re going to do? It’s ALL about sales.

And if your guru doesn’t know how to sell something, you better find a new guru.

6. Remember that all the real gurus died in World World II

My mentor is Lew Williams. He was personally trained by one of the greatest old time copywriters Thomas Hall who Gary Halbert said was also his mentor. I don’t know if
Gary ever met Thomas but I do know he read his direct mail guides.

Lew worked for Thomas and was trained by him. Thomas Hall sold seminars and consulting for $5,000 and $10,000 way back in the 50’s or 60’s.

Lew produced the first seminar E. Joseph Cossman ever spoke at.

Anyway, Lew taught me from day one that all the real gurus died in World War II. Robert Collier. Claude Hopkins. Thomas Hall. John Caples.

These were the real gurus. The real teachers. My friend, they’re all dead and gone. The word “guru” simply means teacher. We all are a teacher to someone else at some point in time. That makes us all gurus.

Never put someone else on such a high pedestal that you think they have some magical powers you don’t. They do ONE thing better than you do:

Convince other people to give them money. A lot of money.

And this IS a skill you can learn. Yes, there ARE secrets to it. There ARE tricks. But it’s NOT something you can’t learn.

7. The single biggest secret of online marketing is simply learning by doing

You learn to sell by selling. You create or craft a sales message. You find a way to deliver that message to a target audience.

If they don’t respond, do you cry in your milk, go on Twitter and bitch at Perry Belcher or whoever your guru is? Do you go on a forum and proclaim that all the gurus are lying to you and that Internet marketing doesn’t work?

Do you go on blog posts and complain how you’re broke and can you please have the next magical product as a freebie?

NO! You simply craft a new what?

Sales message.

And you see if you can find a way to deliver it to a little more targeted audience. To a greater percentage of your target buyers.

You can even TALK to your potential buyers and ASK them about the sales message. Does it communicate to them or not?

The legendary Gary Halbert used to say that you knew you had a BAD sales letter if people complimented you on it.

You knew you had a GREAT sales letter if after reading it to someone they asked how they could buy that product.

Compliments on your blog, sales letters and web sites mean NOTHING. The ONLY votes that count are sales.

Now, make no mistake. Over the years I HAVE learned new things and secrets. For example, EVERYONE teaches my 12-step formula for creating sales messages. But they regurgitate it. They don’t have the ability to create formulas from scratch.

I’ve created new formulas that make it even faster, simpler and easier to create sales messages that work.

There ARE new ways to deliver sales messages and putting these in your arsenal can haul in lots of sales.

There ARE new types of products you can create that have greater perceived value and are easier to get more bux for.

So this business is dynamic, changing and growing. I was the FIRST person to create a product on using Amazon Kindle to get business. And that just KEEPS growing as they innovate new versions.

This is a great and exciting time to be involved in Internet marketing. Just understand WHAT the Game really is and don’t let people pull the wool over your eyes and make it something it’s not.

How do you STOP working hard for a living?

You trade products for dollars instead of time. And you get really good at selling them using automated systems to DELIVER your well- crafted sales message.

Years ago the late, great Joe Karbo wrote: The wisest man I ever met told me something I’ll never forget. Most people are too busy earning a living to make any money.

I hope you don’t wait too long to discover how true that is. And how to escape the TRAP and get on the path to freedom. I don’t consider myself a guru but a guide to light the path and show the
way.

If we see clearly, it is because we stand on the shoulders of the true gurus. Giants like E. Joseph Cossman, Jerry Buchanan, Thomas Hall, Gary Halbert, Robert Collier, Dean Dax Duvall, Harvey Brody and many others I don’t have time to mention. There are even people like Sheila Danzig and Michael Enlow not to mention Corey Rudl that we owe more to than almost anyone knows. I’d add my pal in there Jonathan Mizel who wrote the first newsletter in print about online marketing.

If we see clearly today….

———————————————————–
Marlon Sanders is the author of “The Amazing Formula That
Sells Products Like Crazy.”

To get on his killer ezine list, to get cheat sheets and all kinds
of other goodies every Saturday and during the week, to get simple,
to-the-point Internet marketing know that works real world without
all the hype, go to: http://www.marlonsnews.com and subscribe

Check out all my products here:

http://www.getyourprofits.com

Sunday, 8 March 2009

How Joel Got 29,653,625 Clicks At .01 Each In 30 Days

How Joel Got 29,653,625 Clicks At .01 Each In 30 Days

By Marlon Sanders

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In October of 08 my friend Joel got 29,653,625 clicks
at a penny each.

That is a .47% ctr rate on 6,372,399,989 ad impressions
on the Google content network.

Now, in his bonus with his latest product, he shows
SCREEN CAP proof of those numbers. And he spends 40
minutes telling the strategies that allowed him to
do it.

While I won't reveal all his secrets here, I want to
tell you several useful points I took away from his
video and from my private phone conversation with
him.

The REASON I want to talk about this is we see this
everyday in Internet marketing. People with numbers
that make your jaw drop. And you wonder how they do
it.

You often buy their product and find that the product
gives generalities but never really dig down into the
nitty gritty.

So let's talk a minute about how you DO scale up bigtime
and what it takes.

1. First, master the fundamentals and basics

Most people want to skip this. I know this as a fact.
Recently, I extended an offer for you to participate in
small groups to really APPLY Ockham's Razor. This
was extended to my buyers of the product.

Let's see. We had a total of 2 people sign up.

Now, I could tear apart my offer and say the sales letter
wasn't the best, etc.

But bottom line is, learning something NEW is exciting.
APPLYING what you learn isn't.

And if that's YOU and it probably is unless you were one
of the 2 people who signed up for the small groups, then
it means you need to take a long, hard look at yourself.

Are you attracted by the new bright, shiny object on
the block?

Or do you see an realize that it isn't what you KNOW, it's
what you DO.

So you gotta learn and apply the fundamentals, even if it
isnn't sexy. Even if it isn't exciting.

You EARN the right to go to the next level.

I'm a fan of the basics as I am a fan of football in the
U.S. The very first thing kids learn in 5th grade football
if they're a receiver is to catch the ball with their HANDS,
not their body. And to LOOK the ball in with their eyes.

But you watch pro football on TV and you see receivers
getting paid MILLIONS of dollars DROP the ball. Why?

Because they tried to catch it with their body and not their
hands and it bounced off their chest. And they where looking
around at who was going to hit them and didn't look the ball
in.

The basics.

The fundamentals.

You first gotta pay the price to learn and APPLY the fundamentals.
The DOING is 10X as important as the KNOWING.

Ironically, people are willing to spend $100 to learn something
but NOT $60 to APPLY and do it.

"But I can apply it myself."

True. But you won't. It's proven that people succeed at a much
higher rate if they participate in groups. Napoleon Hill called
it the MasterMind and attributed all wealth to it.

2. Watch what works

This sounds so simple.

But I asked Joel what he does when Google changes the rules.
How does he figure out how to counter it.

He said he looks at the ads that are STILL running and figures out
how THEY are doing it.

So study what works.

The other lesson here is that you have to ADAPT to changes. And
at some point, it won't all be in a course or an ebook. You have
to problem solve yourself.

3. Find something that works and then repeat it hundreds of times

This is what Joel does so well.

He did it with the core mini-site method in his course. He found
something that brings in 3 bucks a day.

Then he repeated it SEVEN HUNDRED times.

How many things do you have on your hard drive in ebooks or courses
you've bought that'll bring in 3 bucks a day?

Probably at least a few.

Now, what about doing that formula 700 times?

This is one reason I've been talking about outsourcing. You'll
need help. At first, do what you can yourself. Pay the price.
Learn the ropes.

But at some point, you need to get help, so you can scale up.

Now, notice the formula is to do ONE THING 700 times.

NOT do 700 things ONE time!

That's what most people I talk to are doing. They're trying to
do 700 things one time poorly.

Flip that around.

Get ONE FORMULA and do it 700X.

That's what ORIS is. It's my formula. Now, I didn't do it 700X.
But I've done it a good 30-50 times. And portions of it
hundreds of times.

4. Scale Up

All the big Adwords courses talk about target, target, target.

And it's REALLY true. You DO have to target.

But Joel will tell you it takes THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS AND
THOUSANDS of ad groups to get millions and millions and millions
of clicks.

That's a lot of scaling up.

He had to have custom software written. You don't have off-the-
shelf software that scales up like that.

And if you do, Google will break it for you when enough people
use it.

So Joel has his own software written. As a newbie, you don't
gotta do that.

But at a CERTAIN point of scaling up, you'll want to spend $500
or $1,000 or whatever and get some stuff custom written.

This is why I say that people who are getting HUGE numbers really
never reveal their secrets. Why? Because you gotta scale up.
And it's not something the average Joe wants to hear about.

You want to hear how Brad with Stomper originally was bringing
in millions. But you may not want to hear how he had a huge
warehouse to stockpile all the items he imported a very large
cash flow cost.

See what I'm saying? I'm just saying you gotta be willing to
hear the truth. And if you want to scale up, it ain't all gonna
be pleasant or a walk in the park.

Let's have an honest discussion here: If you wanna scale up
to millions, at some point it ain't all gonna be a walk in the
park.

Back when he was still here, Corey and I had this discussion.

He told me if he started over he'd do what I do. He'd stay small
and have a nice net and not go for the big numbers. But something
compelled him to grow larger.

In Joel's case, at one point, he employed 25 or more people in India
working full time on his Adwords stuff.

Now he employees 3-6 full time. And spent a month in India training
them.

On the flip side, when you bring in as much as $25,000 a day, you
don't mind the month in India.

So you wanna know how Joel got 29,653,625 clicks?

It's all in his 40 minute bonus video.

But in a way, you'll be disappointed to learn it unless you want
a dose of reality.

Let's see:

He scaled up on a massive scale. He outsourced. He created
proprietary software. He adapted to changes in Google. He has
trade secrets he doesn't reveal to anyone.

How did he learn the trade secrets?

By doing it over and over and over and testing and seeing what
worked.

But what you CAN learn a ton from is this:

Joel's basic formula is this:

Get one thing that works.

And do it 700X.

Or 23 million times.

Focus on doing ONE thing 700 times instead of 700 things one
time.

Get a formula.

Find one that works.

Now focus on DOING it over and over.

Hit me with your feedback on this article on my blog:
http://www.marlonsnews.com/?p=201

I personally respond to comments there.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Marlon Sanders is the author of "The Amazing Formula That
Sells Products Like Crazy."

Check it out all here:

http://www.getyourprofits.com

Sunday, 9 November 2008

Seven Ways To Hustle Up Some Money Selling Products

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Seven Ways To Hustle Up Some Money Selling Products"

Save this for reference and use it as a checklist

By Marlon Sanders
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


The bills are flying in.

Your house needs repairs.

The kids have needs.

The government wants their taxes.

Your gym wants money.

Your car needs new tires or repairs.

Where are you gonna dig up all that money?  Well, it's time
you get busy and sell some stuff.

Let's look at ways to hustle up some money selling products,
whether they're your own or someone elses.

1.  Hold a teleseminar

I recommend freeconferencecall.com if you're on a budget.  Send
an email to your list, announce the call, send remind emails and
a voice blast or two.

My friend Stacy Kellums runs ppc ads on Google, gets people on
teleconference calls and makes a killing selling other people's
big ticket products.

His model is really sweet because other people have the pitch
and the product.  All he has to do is put people on the call!

If you get something that sells really well, you can record it
and have it played back on demand.

The teleseminar comes down to how good you or your guest can
pitch while giving value and making people happy.  If all you do
is pitch and offer no value, you probably won't have many people
on your next call.

If you're not good at verbal selling, then maybe teleseminars would
be a good place for you to get that practice in.

If you love a topic and are passionate about it, you can't stray
too far.

If you sell stuff you could care less about, then probably
teleseminars aren't a good match for you, unless you can find
someone to be on there who does love the topic and wants to share.

TIPS:

-- Make sure you have a drop dead headline
-- Work on those bullet points on your sign up page
-- Send out multiple email reminders
-- Send out a voice broadcast the day of the teleseminar
-- Hook people right off the bat with a big, juicy promise and keep
it flowing or you'll lose 'em

2. Hold a webinar

The advantage of webinars is you can interact with the audience
via polls.  And you can see everyone on the webinar. 

Plus, you can show power point slides or even your computer screen.

Remember, you don't have to pitch YOUR product.  You can get someone
else with a product to promote.  All you have to do is get people ON
the call.

If you haven't held a webinar, you have to use gotowebinar some to
get familiar with it. It's a bit tricky to pull everything off
correctly.  I plan on doing more webinars.

The main thing about webinars is getting people on them.  You need
a great topic, a strong headline and good bullet points. Don't
expect people to show up just because it's free.

TIPS:

-- Realize you have to get people to sign up through gotowebinar.
They are required to sign up through a link.
-- Do a practice session so you're comfortable with the software.
-- Learn how to administer polls.  I goofed this up my first
webinar.

3.  Write an ebook and give it away

It's an oldy technique. But still works with a good topic, a great
title and a little hustle and showmanship.

I don't mean "hustle" in the bad sense of the term.  I mean put some
thinking to it and a little elbow grease or work.

You have to use your wits a bit and be resourceful.

Ebooks are still a good way to build your list. Unfortunately, in
times past, the method got diluted as do most marketing techniques.
People seek to make something work with the least amount of effort
humanly possible.

I've found that money gravitates to people who have passion and put
soul into their work. And while I know of people who seemingly make
tons without a soul, I don't aspire to be them.

I think I'd rather spend an hour talking to a starving artist with
vision and creativity than I would even 5 minutes to someone who
sells crap but drives an exotic car.

While it's true you can outsource an ebook to India, you can't
outsource heart and soul.

I mean, thank God no one has figured out how to do that yet.

TIPS:

-- Put great content in your free ebook. Don't put your scraps in it.
-- Realize that it's as hard to give away a freebie as it is to sell
a product.  Don't underestimate the task.
-- Know how you're going to profit in advance.
-- Pre-plan your upsells and downsells
-- Use Primal Branding in the ebook to emotionally bond readers

4.  Create a screen capture video

I'm seeing more and more well-done screen capture videos that pitch
a product. 

These are less effort than a teleseminar or webinar and potentially
have a longer life span.

The best way to learn to do a good one is to study ones that pull
you in and make YOU want to reach in your wallet and pull out YOUR
credit card.

It really just comes down to good old fashioned salesmanship or
saleswomanship, depending on your perspective.

-- Speak at a brisk pace
-- Articulate clearly.  Don't sound like a dead fish.
-- Have a little excitement to your voice.
-- Outline what you're going to say.
-- Avoid the ummmmms and awwwwws.

5.  Do a live streaming video broadcast

You've probably seen at least one or two of the live streaming video
sessions by now. If you haven't, go to ustream.tv and check them
out.

I have a whole product at http://www.pushbuttonchannel.com that can
help you get up and running.

This is the ultimate in communicating personally with your audience
and interacting.

TIPS:

-- Have pre-planned content to things keep moving
-- Make sure you use lightboxes for your lighting if you have them
available.  Warm light really helps.
-- Do a few small broadcasts to practice with.

6.  Create your case in a PDF

Believe it or not, free reports and PDF's STILL sell. Like anything
else, it boils down to your persuasive abilities.

You've got to hook people in, show them you have value, create
benefits and a reason to act today.

7.  Ramp up your blog

Done well, a blog holds considerable sales power.  Ramp it up and
you'll probably see more of those sales pouring in.

TIPS:

-- Study copyblogger.com to see how to write great blog content.
-- Don't assume you can put junk on your blog and get it read.
-- Learn to add video and podcasts to your blog
-- Make liberal use of pictures.

If you need help with ANY of the above, they're ALL covered in
http://www.promodashboard.com

-----------------------------------------------------------
Marlon Sanders is the author of "The Amazing Formula That
Sells Products Like Crazy."

I'm starting a new MasterMind so to speak.  You gotta get
Promo Dashboard first to be a member.

But you can watch the video on it here:

http://www.TurboProfits.com/tracking/go.php?c=920resourcebox

//////////////////////

Saturday, 25 October 2008

Who else wants to turn ideas into bank deposits?

"How To Turn Your Idea Into Money In The Bank"

Who else wants to turn ideas into bank deposits?

By Marlon Sanders

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The other day I was at the mall.

I often talk to the guys and gals at the kiosks that sell
stuff.

They're usually interesting to talk to. And they understand
sales, so the conversation isn't wasted.

I talked to this one guy.

He was really into herbs. His booth sold herbal stuff I
believe. Anyway, we talked about sports, bodybuilding and
so forth. He told me he had found an herb that was used
in ancient days to produce testosterone in elite athletes.

There's a heck of a story behind it. I won't give it away
here in case he decides to market it. Or maybe I will.

Point is, he's working at this kiosk on a small salary plus
commission. And with only one modestly successful product,
he could replace his income.

First, he researches the story more completely, pulls out
all the interesting facts he can, fascinating stories and
writes it up into a sales letter.

Then, he creates a booklet or ebook and a CD or two about
it. That makes for a nice $47 or $97 ebook on bodybuilding
sites because the U.S. is cracking down on steroids, so
he has a captive market.

His back end could be the actual herb if he found a supplier
and could work his way around all the legal entanglements, of
which there are many.

Otherwise, his backend is other products from commissionjunction.com
and clickbank.com.

Next he goes to bodybuilding web sites, forums and blogs
and buys banner ads and text ads offering a free report
with a catchy title.

"Free Bodybuilding Report Reveals Secrets Of The Greek
gods. Zeus used herbs. No bull."

I made that up. You get the idea. Something promising, shocking
with a big benefit.

To get the banners made he pays $20 each at 20dollarbanners.com
or wherever. There's no lack of banner designers on the web.
And if you own Design Dashboard, you should be able to do a
decent banner yourself.

In the video edition of this ezine, in the past, I've demonstrated
how to do that.

The report sells the ebook. The CD or CD's could be the upsell.
He could even do a DVD on how to prepare it, grow it legally
or whatever.

The elements are:

1. The sales letter that tells an intriguing story

2. The banner ads that send people to the story

3. The product itself

4. The things you sell to people who join the email list or
buy the product. This is called the "back end." In other words,
everything you sell after the initial pitch, whether they buy
the first thing or not.

Once you get people on your email list, you just keep emailing.
It's no more complicated than that.

The great thing about commissionjunction.com is you can earn
commissions for selling anything under the sun. And I wouldn't
be surprised if you could a commission FOR selling the sun!

Let's run some numbers.

1. Assume he gets clicks on the banners for .50 a click

2. One out of 100 clicks buys

3. That makes the cost to get the customer $50.00. If he sells
the report for $47, he's making money. How?

4. When the customer buys the $47 product, you IMMEDIATELY offer
something else for them to buy. This is called an upsell.

5. If they don't buy that, you offer something cheaper. That is
called a downsell.

6. If they buy the upsell, guess what you do? You offer ANOTHER
upsell!

In this case, he could offer some CD's or a DVD showing/telling
more about the product. How to grow it at home or whatever.

He could probably find related products to sell as an affiliate.
You want the upsells and downsells to be as closely related to the
main offer as possible.

The tool that makes this happen is at:

http://www.optimizeyourcart.com

You need to have an account with: http://www.automateyourwebsite.com
to use it. That is my private label of 1 shopping cart.

It's the thing that takes orders for you.

7. Let's say 10% of the people who buy the $47 thing buy a $100
thing that is more advanced. Out of 100 buyers, 10 get the upsell.
That is 10 people times $100 or $1000.

So if he sells 200 or 300 a month, he replaces his income based
on one upsell, and not including any downsells.

8. If the $100 offer is turned down, he could drop down to
something for $27 or $37 and pick up more.

9. He could do an advanced strategy and use forced continuity.
That way, when they buy the $47 thing, they get a free 30-day
trial in his bodybuilding whatever membership or club.

After the 30 days it's $27 or $37 or $47 a month. In that site,
he covers other herbal things for bodybuilders, does interviews
and digs up whatever content he can.

Out of 100 buyers, 50% to 80% should pay after the first month.
The average person will pay 3 months for a total of $27 x 3 or
$81.

Here's a summary of the profit centers:

a. Break even on the initial $47 sale

b. Have one or more $100 upsells

c. Have one or more $27 to $37 downsells

d. Have a forced continuity membership site

The initial $47 sale pays for the cost of the advertising.
Everything else is profit.

Now 2X or 3X a week you send content and one or two promos a week
using the methods in Promo Dashboard to pitch stuff you snag off
of CJ (Commission Junction) or Clickbank.

So now you have money rolling in every week. Week in. Week out.
Was that so difficult that somehow little ol' you can't do it?

:)

That's how you turn your idea into money in the bank.

Marlon

-----------------------------------------------------------
Marlon Sanders is the author of "The Amazing Formula That
Sells Products Like Crazy."

I'm starting a new MasterMind so to speak. You gotta get
Promo Dashboard first to be a member.

But you can watch the video on it here:

http://www.TurboProfits.com/tracking/go.php?c=920resourcebox

Tuesday, 30 September 2008

my new hobby - the Top 20 google results challenge!

Blackberry 8820

T-Mobile
Vodafone
Orange
O2
3
BT Mobile
Virgin Mobile

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Zara's Note: I've set up a scrapbook blog to house screen grabs of various profile, google grabs and other - via links - these are just some examples over the last few months that have been sat on my hard drive - but ENOUGH I'll ramble over there!

Thursday, 25 September 2008

Pot o' gold from Marlon Sanders

Will YOU Survive and Thrive Or Dry Up and Blow Away?

Hello,

Marlon here.

Pretend it's five years from now.

Are you still in the marketing game?  Are you in the game or out of the game?  Are you still at your job or not at
your job?  Are you burnt out or not burnt out?

Or have you moved on to turning a buck via real estate, vending machines or whatever the hot opportunity of the
month flavor is?

What's the difference between those who were doing well online 5 years ago but today are "out of the game."  They
are doing somethin' else for a living.

What's the difference?

I want to point out the 3 "longevity factors" that make a difference. 

LONGEVITY FACTOR ONE: The Time For Dollars Trap

You've heard the saying "All that glitters isn't gold." Nothing could be more true online.

There are a plethora of gimmicks on the web.  You get a new one almost every day on the Internet.  The people
I personally know who are still in the game have 1 thing in common -- A LIST.

You either have a business that is list-based or transaction-based.  An list-based business builds up
value as your list grows.  A transaction business means five years from now you're still hustling to turn that
seo buck or that ppc buck.

If you have a list, and you cultivate a relationship, five years from now, you have a source of income.  You
are better off than you were 5 years before.  Without a list, 5 years from now, you're still "turning
transactions" to bank some coin.

I said it years ago in Amazing Formula.  "The money is in the list."

If you're in a transaction business, that means each day you're trading your time for dollars or money.
To make more transactions, you gotta spend time.

The only way to escape that is to have a list and to have products.

That way, you escape the trap of having to trade YOUR time for dollars.  The products sold to
your list do it for you.

LONGEVITY FACTOR TWO: The Rainbow Trap

You've heard the expression "chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."  That's pretty much what
we all do.

But if you're always chasing and never doing, you've fallen into the trap.  The fortune is in selling the
tickets to go see the rainbow.  That's how the dude at the end of the rainbow got his pot of gold --
HE SOLD SOMETHIN!

My friend Jonathan Mizel lives in Maui, Hawaii. And when you're in Maui, there are some gorgeous
rainbows.  But the price of seein' rainbows isn't cheap!

No one makes any money until someone sells somethin' to someone and someone else buys it.  I talking at
the end of the day.  For example, there'd be no adsense income if someone else wasn't buyin' those
clicks.

Funny thing is, even the people who say you can bank some currency without sellin' something have
GOT something to sell to YOU to show you how to bank money without selling! 

How's THAT for interesting logic!

The people who are in the game and stay in the game have their own exclusive product or service to sell
most of the time.

Ask Google. Ask Bill Gates.  Ask Yahoo.

You gotta have a product or service to sell.  You gotta sell it.  And in most cases, you need to have
an exclusive on it.

LONGEVITY FACTOR THREE: The Quick Start Trap

People wanna get off to a quick start.

So the desire is to take shortcuts.  I won't create my own product.  I'll just buy this super
duper reprint rights package to 1,000,000 products or whatever.  (Not that reprint right packages are
bad...it's all about the person's mindset buying them)

Or this method doesn't require a product, a sales letter or anything else.  You just watch the video
and click the buttons on the software.  And money comes in.

What a deal, eh?

Truth is, at the end of the day, no one is makin' any money until someone sells and someone buys.

Simplify your life and skip the quick fix pitches. Stop searching for that pot of gold at the end of
the rainbow.

Start SELLING rainbows on cards, tickets to SEE the rainbow, rainbow concerts, rainbow hats,
ebook on best places to find rainbows.  Stories of people who FOUND the pot of gold at the end
of the rainbow.

Years ago I said "the money is in the list." Today, I add to that.

The money is in the selling.

The money is in the selling.

The money is in the selling.

Don't believe me?  Look at all the people SELLING YOU a way to stack some paper without you having
to sell anything to anyone else.

Five years from now, will you be in business or won't you?

1.  Will you have your own list?

2.  Will you have your own exclusive products?

3.  Will you still be hunting the quick fix or will you have laid a foundation for the future?

One of the things I've tried to do since day 1 is to boil out the fluff and turn the complex into the
simple and give you simple action steps to do it.

Bottom line:  Marketing is about finding demand, that is finding markets for products and services
and filling the demand for a profit.

You wanna be in business 5 years from now?  You wanna be sittin' by the beach or being able to enjoy
freedom?

Then discover the secrets of finding markets and fulfilling wants at a profit.

Folks, at the end of the day, ain't nobody makin' no money 'till somebody sells somethin' to
somebody.  And if you wanna buy yourself the FREEDOM you want, you gotta have products
that earn bux for you, so you don't gotta earn 'em yourself by tradin' time for dollars.

How's that for an esoteric secret of success?

I hope this article gave you ideas and is useful to you.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Marlon Sanders is the author of "The Amazing Formula That
Sells Products Like Crazy." If you'd like to get on his
mailing list and receive tips, articles and information
about online marketing, visit:
http://www.promodashboard.com

Sunday, 10 August 2008

Marlon Sanders article from consumer to producer

How to Go From Being A Consumer Of Internet Marketing
Info Products To Being A Producer And A Promoter Of
Products, Which Is Where The Action And The Money Is

By Marlon Sanders

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Today's the day, you know.

The day the magic bullet ends.

I'm not here to sugar coat things.

To candy coat his business and sell you sandcastles, dreams
and illusions of an easy life that doesn't exist.

Here's the truth:

The money is in producing and promoting products, NOT in
consuming "how to" info products.

Having said that, last year I spent $37,500 consuming ebooks,
courses, teleseminars and so forth on marketing.

In other words, I AM a consumer.

But dominantly, I'm a producer and a promoter of products.
My job in life is to come up with new products that create
value for my customers and to promote them to the best of
my ability within the time and money constraints I decide
on.

"Marlon, I have SPENT a small fortune.  I have BEEN in
coaching programs. I have BOUGHT the course.  How come I'm
NOT making any dough?"

Answer:  You're consuming.  But are you PRODUCING and PROMOTING?
And are you doing it more than ONCE?  Are you out there playing
the Game every day?

Let me explain...

The problem I see a lot of people have is they consume,
consume, consume. But NEVER cross the bridge to creating,
producing and promoting.

Fundamentally, you ARE a creator. It's a law of life. You
don't get money from others until you create or possess
some sort of value they want and are willing to exchange
for.

The thing that STOPS a lot of people from becoming a producer
and a promoter is FEAR of getting it WRONG!  You want it
all to be perfect, to be right, to NOT make mistakes.

Well, you can throw that out the door right now.

No matter how many courses you buy, you WILL make mistakes,
you WILL waste time, you WILL waste money.  Then why do I
buy info products?  Because I hate learning curves.

I hate figuring things out the hard way. I like doing it
the easy way.

But people get stuck there also. This program sounds good.
Then the next one sounds better or even more perfect.

Let me tell you what I've found -- there's often a difference
between what is SAID and what is DONE.  Meaning, people tell
YOU to do one thing while they DO something else.

You'll notice most Internet marketing teachers DO things
in their promotions they don't teach. That's because they
feel they need to 1-up their customers.

They need to have audio tricks, podcasts tricks, video tricks
that  are PROOF they have superior knowledge and skill.

When you go, "Wow, that was cool!  How did they do that?"
When you say that, you can pretty much bet you'll never find
out.

I have an issue with that.  If I pay you to show me then you show
me something entirely different, yeah, I have a problem with that.
Show it, reveal it, teach it or shut the (#_$ up!

I see a LOT of teachers who have huge, massive results.  Which is
totally awesome.  And their products are great theory. But they
NEVER reveal their secrets.  They never really teach YOU how to
do exactly what THEY do.

They have the cool pdf's.  They have the cool videos. They have the
trick blog graphics. Their video streams perfectly.  They have
hotshot designers. They have awesome video editors.  They have great
writers.

But they never tell you WHO these people are.  Or HOW to create the
PDF graphics.  Or how much they PAY the writers or video editors.
Or where and HOW they hired them and HOW specifically they manage
them. 

Personally, I think it's a crock.  They teach one thing and DO
another. And everybody acts like it's all so great what they're
teaching.  Don't you WONDER exactly how they get their PDF's
distributed by everyone under the sun?  Or how much they paid to
get that video edited.  Or WHO did those killer graphics?  Or
what the squeeze page really LOOKS like that built that 100,000
list?

Or whatever the case may be. I'm just saying I think you deserve
more.

Anyway, my goal is to "out" many of these methods.  At least the
ones that have to do with promoting. You know, some of the real
tricks about how you do the cool podcasts, videos, pdf's, etc.

You know those trick PDF's you see with cool graphics? They're
probably done in Adobe In Design.  But you can ALSO do them in
Power Point or Photoshop Elements if you know how.

You know those totally cool video effects?  Probably done in Adobe
After Effects.  Which is not too hard a program to learn, although
it isn't for newbies.

I think the test of a guru is NOT how tricked out THEIR list, PDF's
or whatever is.  It's do they empower YOU to go and do thou
likewise?

Or are they just building their own little kingdom and keep the
secrets to themselves?  Like HOW do you get trick graphics like that
on your blog?  Who did them and how much did you pay?

Or HOW do you shoot video that looks that good? Or how did you get
those cool graphics on there?  Where did you buy those sound
effects?

Now WHAT did that squeeze page look like exactly and HOW exactly
did you get those 200,000 emails on your list?

Whose empowering whom? 

Who is performing MAGIC TRICKS and illusions, CHARGING you for the
secrets then NOT taking you back stage and teaching you some lame
basic sleight of hand trick?

This is about YOU.

I want to encourage and empower YOU to become a creator, producer
and promoter.

I want YOU to have cool pdf's, cool videos, cool podcasts, cool
web graphics.  I want YOU to build that nice cash cow list.

Can you TALK?  If you can, start doing podcasts as soon as you
can, even if no one is listening.  At least you can post your
podcasts on your blog and send them out to podcast directories.

Create and send audio postcards to whatever list you have.

Don't have a list?  Create AUDIO something or the others that
you GIVE away on a squeeze page to GET subscribers.

Can you WRITE? 

Then get busy. Spend 30 minutes or 1 hour a day writing.  "But
Marlon, I can't type!"  I just talked last weekend to a best-selling
author with many books who types with TWO fingers!  No bull.

So if you can write, get your blog up and start doing posts.
Write emails and sends them to your list. Don't have a list?  Write
a free report, promote it and you'll HAVE a list.

Now, if you can't write and can't talk, you better get a business
partner or get REALLY good bidding out jobs on elance.com! 

Here's my simple point:

You've gotta find ways to COMMUNICATE with your target audience
and get it going.  You get better by DOING. Become a compulsive
DOER. You've got to add DOING to your LEARNING.

And the first step to doing that is to get over the fear of NOT
doing it right!  The way you DO it right is by getting started
and DOING. Then, when you get stuck or make mistakes go back to
your info products and get help. Or go to a forum and get help.

The money in this business is made by creating, producing and
promoting.

You ARE a creator by design.  If you have kids, you're a creator.
If you sing or speak or write, you're a creator.

Your creations do NOT have to be perfect. Few are.

They DO have to be something others want to exchange money for!
That's the criteria.  Will others PAY for your creations?  If
not, get better at it or create something else.  And get better
at the promoting of your creations.

The best artist does NOT make the most money. The best promoter
makes the most money.

Now, a LOT of Internet marketing includes web design.  You need
PAGES on the web. Those pages have TWO things -- design and COPY.

If you can ONLY learn ONE, learn to WRITE COPY!  But I'd advise
you to get decent at both.  It gets really frustrating if you can't
do any web design yourself.

But it gets really EXPENSIVE if you can't write any copy yourself.

I love graphic design.  I really enjoy mucking around with Photoshop,
even though I'm not that good at it.

What I AM good at is writing copy. 

So if you can ONLY learn one skill, learn to write copy.  Or, if
you can't write good, learn to sell on TELESEMINARS.  Good enough.
Lots of people in this business make great livings pitching products
via teleseminars.

My friend, this is NOT a complicated business in terms of strategy.

1.  You target people who are likely to buy and have the money to
buy.

2.  You offer them something VERY appealing for free to get them to
identify themselves as potential buyers.

3.  You make an irresistible OFFER to get them as a first time
customer and build trust.

4.  You SELL them more by sending emails that sends them to podcasts,
video, screen video, webinars or teleseminars.

Let's be honest...

The FUN part of this business is learning.

The DOING part gets frustrating.  It's a technology business.
Servers go down.  Autoresponders muck up. Software NEVER integrates
like it's supposed to. 

There's a learning curve anytime you wanna do something new.

But THAT is where the money is also.

What I do for money pretty much is remove the learning curve. Take
the pain out of the learning curve.

Anytime there's pain, there's money.


But the money is in being a PRODUCER and a PROMOTER. 

The challenge is to overcome the PAIN of things not working, of
NOT knowing which product to produce or hot button to put in the
headline or email to write.

And you'll NEVER know for sure. Gurus don't know. Don't kid yourself.
They ACT all certain because people want to buy CERTAINTY.

But they aren't certain.

There ARE no definitive answers. NONE!  Business and life isn't a
connect-the-dots affair.  It's not the real world.

Real world is you struggle with decisions. Real world is you aren't
sure.  Real world is 7 things don't work and 3 DO work. 

And if you never do the 7 the don't work, you'll never find the 3
that do.

Most people struggle under the illusion that gurus make all 10
things work.

Wrong.

Don't care who the person is. The law of life is 7 things don't work
and 3 things do. I could cite research done on something like 10,000
projects or experiments that validate this.

To sum up:

1.  The money is in producing and promoting, not consuming
2.  Consuming helps you shortcut learning curves
3.  You'll make mistakes and get it wrong. Live with it
4.  You'll never be certain
5.  When you ARE certain, the rules change
6.  You have to try 10 things to find the 3 that work

The people who succeed overcome the pain of doing.

That's the BIG secret.

They execute.  Period. End of story.  They do 10 things for everyone
else's 1 thing.  But that's also where the THRILL is.  There's a
certain THRILL in the doing.  A certain adrenalin. A certain
excitement.

You don't get that sitting on the sidelines. You get THAT playing
the game.  You gotta get IN the game and PLAY the game to win.

You get IN the game the moment you start producing and promoting.
And at first, you'll probably do it wrong.  You'll get it wrong.
You'll choose a bad target market or a dumb product idea.

It's just the way the game works.

You get BETTER at the game by playing.  You can READ chess books all
you want. But you'll NEVER be a great chess player till you pick up
a board and get your king captured and you kick yourself over making
a dumb move.

The thrill, the excitement is in the PLAYING.  And also the mistakes,
the pain, the learning. You don't get one without the other.

Now, my new Promo Dashboard takes as much as the learning curve out
of the way as I could.  It helps you avoid as much of the pain as
possible.

The purpose of the Dashboards is to HELP you execute. There's still
holes or things we overlooked.  I try to cover everything. But
there's always something you forgot or didn't put in.

You'll still screw up or get stuck on this or that.  I'm gonna have
a 60-day forum on Promo Dashboard to help out some.

Yet, this is the process. This is life.  It's not all connect-the-
dots.

It's more like "be uncertain, not know, do anyway, make mistakes,
do more, some works, do more of that."

That's reality.

The thing that gets you buy is passion and a love for what you
do. If you don't love it, if you aren't passionate about it, you
have a long row to hoe.

If you produce and promote like crazy in this business, sooner or
later, the tide will turn your way.

That is what I believe.

Marlon

P.S. I meet people on seminars, get a lot of blog posts, etc.
from people who say, "Marlon, I loved this or that Dashboard or
I loved Amazing Formula or used Push Button Letters."

Or, "I saw you at the seminar and boy were you funny!"

And I love positive feedback.  But if you really wanna put a smile
on my face, then this is it:  "Marlon, you gave me that push I
needed to make the transition from being a consumer to a producer
and a promoter.  Here's what I'm producing or promoting TODAY!"

I didn't say you had to make a zillion or whatever.  But that you
get it and that you're producing and promoting, THAT is the thing.
If you do that, then LEARN and increase your skill, do it and do
it and get better at it .....

See, THEN the bux come.

THEN, your ship comes in.

A lot of people want a magic wand they wave and money comes in
the door.  They want a magic bullet.  The magic system that
can't fail.

My friend, there isn't one. Stop looking. Seriously.

The magic is in YOU taking action, and producing and promoting.
THAT is when the good things happen.

As soon as you get a system up and running, you can HIRE people
to run it for you like I do.

That is when the "lifestyle" kicks in. That's when the "lazy"
part kicks in.

But you gotta get in the Game and get things running first.
THEN you hire people and farm out your systems.

That's how I've not worked a lot in years.  I got a system
up and running and then hired virtual assistants and recently
a few employees.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Marlon Sanders is the author of "The Promo Dashboard."
If you want to see it, go to promodashboard.com.

Monday, 4 August 2008

Here's How To Make Internet marketing Work For You

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Why You Do NOT Need 1,000 Power Points And Pages Of Flow Charts
And Systems, And Why I Believe You Should Learn To Do Things
Yourself Before You Outsource, By Marlon Sanders

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hello,

Let's cut through the bull, the smoke, the mirrors and talk
about ALL you really gotta do to make it in this business.

There are SO many programs, systems, approaches and so much
pitching, posturing, promising and claiming, people lose sight
of the simplicity this business.

Folks, you GET people on your LIST and you SELL them!  That's
it. Stop over-complicating.

How do you GET people on your list?  You give 'em something
free they just gotta have.  How do you sell 'em?  Guess what?
You send SALES pitches via email that go to audio, video and
so forth.

This is a SALES game. We SELL people for a living. It's NOT
complicated in that sense, although execution can be a
challenge.

Forget all the complicated nonsense you've heard.  You GET
people on a LIST and you sell 'em.

You don't need 1,000 Power Points to know how to do that.
You don't need 10 or 20 staff and buildings and offices!

You need an autoresponder, and something FREE and a way
to ADVERTISE it. Come on. It ain't rocket science. Get
'em on the list, find out what they WANT. SELL!

Sorry that isn't sexy or "sophisticated."  Now, later,
if you're like me and don't wanna work much, yeah, you
can hire a customer service person and a webmaster.

For 7 or 8 years I used Lisa in Canada.  You can do that too
after you have the money. The ONLY reason I have an office
now is I have aspirations of growing a bit bigger.

There are people who have a hidden agenda to take what is
at heart VERY SIMPLE and make it endlessly complex so
you'll buy program after program after program.

Which is fine IF you're at the level you need those things.
I contend you FIRST need to learn a few simple things about
how to GET people ON your list then SELL 'em. 

And you do NOT need a team of 20 outsourcers to do that for
crying out loud.  Seriously, you don't.

You know the Power Point slides showing you the 1,000 things
you gotta do in this business?

That's bull. I'm sorry.  It's TRUE at a certain level if you
WANT to grow big and have 10 or 20 or more employees.  And
yes, systems are good, even for small businesses.

With all due respect to my peers, you don't need to do all
that stuff. You just flat out don't.

You need to do a FEW of 'em. Not 1,000.  You advertise or
promote something free. You have people sign up for your
list on your autoresponder.

You write emails and send.

You have conversion audio, video, blogs, etc.  Yeah, if
I can convince you that 1,000 things are necessary and you
need endless people and systems to DO those 1,000 things,
I can SELL you a LOT of products, seminars, coaching, systems.

There is NOTHING wrong with coaching programs and seminars.
I think they're GREAT.  I should do 'em but don't. However,
for you to feel confused and overwhelmed and think you
can't do this business without 'em?

Come on!  Get real.  Those things are great IF you have the
time and money.

But I know people who do $100,000 a month and have ONE employee. 
I have another friend who does $100,000 a month and has I
think 1 full time and 2 part time.

You need someone doing customer service.  You maybe need
a part time webmaster and later a full-time one.  If you
want to grow bigger, you can later have a product creator
or an affiliate manager.

But at FIRST, you got few sales. You don't NEED the service
person until you're rocking and rolling.  The webmaster?
You do stuff yourself. Please.  Or, in a pinch, you
outsource to one of the inexpensive and talented graphic
designers.

I've had people tell me they've been in 2 or 3 coaching
programs or bought $40,000 of products and they're so
confused.

OK. Let's clear up that right now.  This is going to sound
a little "preachy" or hard core. I'm the original Marketing
Evangelist, so what I can I say?

Step one:  Get people on your list

Step two:  Send emails

Step three:  SELL

Which part of that equation is confusing?  See what I'm
saying?  THAT's what you do. THAT's ALL you do.  Everything
else is fluff.

Well, how do I get people on my list? Try advertising and
offering something HIGHLY attractive for NADA.  Try that.

Where do I advertise?

Where the people hang out!  Blogs, forums, web sites.
Seriously, where ELSE would you advertise?  On ships?
On the sky?  See, this is basic logic.

What kind of ads do I run?

Ummm, ads that offer something FREE, maybe?

Banners or text?  Both if they work.

What about affiliates?  Yeah, they're good too.

What do I sell?

Uhhh, products people wanna buy.  Either yours or other
people's. You got two choices -- create your own or sell
others.

Since back when I was marketing on AOL and Compuserve offering
my little FREEBIES through classified ads. The GAME was the
same!  People were doing TELESEMINARS back then!  And even doing
them on autopilot.

Yes, it's true.

What if people don't buy?  Employ the full arsenal of audio,
video, PDF's.  And raise your copywriting ability or hire
better writers.

I have a "conversion formula" that is gold. But I won't teach
it for free.

Here, let me spell it out step-by-step.

1. You gotta know WHO you're targeting and HOW you're gonna
reach them. That means knowing the blogs they read, the forums
they go to, the web sites they read, WHO they look to for
advice and who has the lists (potential affiliates).

Do NOT freak out if there are others selling in your niche
or market. This is a GOOD thing. It shows there's money.
And it gives you joint venture partners.

2.  You gotta have a HOT FREEBIE that people will crawl over
broken glass to get their grubby little hands on!

People say all the time, "I can't get anyone to join my list."
Well, guess what?  You don't got a freebie, or your folks
don't want it!  That could be due to the freebie itself OR
to the presentation of the freebie.

There is a thing called "signaling value."  Actual value
is NO more important than the signaled value.  You signal
value through your graphics, words, and social proof.

Presentation is everything.

Your headline and bullet points have a BIG influence on
whether or not people join your list.

I'll repeat:  It isn't enough anymore to JUST ask people
to join your email list. You have to GIVE 'em something
very enticing for doing so.

If they don't join, isn't it rather obvious the problem
is your freebie wasn't enticing enough, either due to
the freebie itself or the presentation?

Part of this process includes having a THANK YOU page
and a CONFIRMATION email that are effective and get people
to confirm.

3.  You gotta send out emails that send people to
"conversion pieces."

Now, in "Amazing Formula" I originally told people to
just send emails.  The game has changed. Now those emails
have to send people to selling tools like podcasts,
pre-recorded videos, live streaming video, PDF's, screen
capture video.  And you need to incorporate Twitter and
even Facebook or Ning (Ning.com).

That WHOLE formula is explained graphically and in more
DETAIL at: http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FqBHn&m=J.5QbFpZ1Dr&b=SPDdpM_ElOTjy2uaeifVSA

That page is in and of itself an example of what I just
described.  Here's another page that personifies the
process.  A podcast I call "the pizza cast."

http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FqBHn&m=J.5QbFpZ1Dr&b=jV5QBON_zKPgYm8g3I_kbQ

Here's another one I did for this project:
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FqBHn&m=J.5QbFpZ1Dr&b=ARtJ0Tur7JfzxK.gOCZz2w

Here's the thing:  Creating screen video, podcasts,
pre-recorded videos, PDF's.  All those things have
learning curves.  And a LOT of marketing is literally
just about overcoming the learning curve of the tools.

The FIRST time you do any of those, it's new, different
and uncomfortable. I HATE learning curves. Which is why
we do the Dashboards to begin with.

A lot of people don't get this.

I can NEVER teach you every little thing. It's NOT about
that.  It's about overcoming the 70% or 80% or even 50%
of the learning curve FOR you.

I've found once you "get it."  Once the initial FEAR is
gone.  Once you feel oriented, you can learn the rest
yourself pretty easily.  It's just getting over that
initial HUMP.

There's always going to be learning curves. You'll never
have every little detail figured out for you. 

But once you know the little tricks and secrets of
turning video into flash, stickin' it on a web page and
linking to it, doin' your podcast recording with Audacity
and turnin' it into flash with Sonic Memo.

Once you can do your screen recordings in CamStudio or
Camtasia then add some music in the editor, add a title
frame then save as the "right sized" flash file, so it
streams well, you're 90% of the way there.

This is what I've found.

One thing a lot of beginners don't get is you have to learn
to OPTIMIZE your graphic images (jpg's or gif's) and your
flash audio and video so the file sizes are SMALL.

For example, this video was 8 meg:
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FqBHn&m=J.5QbFpZ1Dr&b=SPDdpM_ElOTjy2uaeifVSA

A beginner that didn't know the tricks would've had something
30 or 40 megabytes that didn't stream.  In other words, viewers
would get that herky jerky motion.

Oh, and you see that turning CUBE at the beginning and the
rockets that fire? Normally, that would increase your file size
too much. But NOT when you do it right.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Marlon Sanders is the author of "The Info Product Dashboard."
If you want to create your own info products, go to:
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FqBHn&m=J.5QbFpZ1Dr&b=AqP7CNSqfHkIuRXrqtT5gg

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