So you’re interested in Internet Marketing. You find a niche you like, start creating content and have your money-making website up and running. Now all that’s left to do is to keep driving traffic that website and the possibilities are endless. In order to get raw loads of search engine traffic you need to get your site optimized.

A well-built site is the key element to start the optimization process, because after reaching a website a user typically decides whether they will stay or not after a few seconds. Follow my ‘Sales Page Evolution’ article in last month’s MarketingDotCom Newsletter issue and apply the evolution steps to your website to make that first impression.

Now that you’ve caught your readers’ attentions, you need to retain traffic and get them to take action. Something you absolutely need to pay attention to is your headline. Make sure you have a strong headline; readers generally focus on a few main areas like the headline, prominent images and graphics, simple text that explains major benefits, and most important a call to action.

Now you know what needs to be on your web page, more optimizing is needed to improve conversion even more. You can perform two types of tests, A/B Split Testing and Multivariate Testing. Depending on what you want to test and what kind of product you’re selling, one type should work better for you than the other. A/B testing works best for sites with less traffic, and multivariate testing I recommend for testing sites with multiple pages.

Give your site a second look! Are you optimized? Get started today… Get more leads. Streamline your online lead generation forms to get the data you need without losing potential leads. Improve your landing page. Reduce the number of would-be customers you lose through ineffective landing pages. Website Optimizer’s automated testing makes it easy to fix and deploy compelling landing pages.

Still need more to do? Increase viewer time spent on your site, uncover your best content, engage your visitors, and capture more attention. My favorite reason to optimize is to increase website conversion rates. With testing, you will identify the winning content combinations that drive conversions, regardless what type of site you have or what niche you’re into.

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By Lucius “Kern” Saltibus
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This article first appeared in the December 2008 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com

This month you are going to learn three valuable resources, plus several personal strategies and techniques to assist you in properly hiring virtual and/or in-house employees. Before we jump into those, let me back up and make one thing clear…
Your number one goal as an online entrepreneur is to generate a sale and a profitable sales process.

That occurs when you:

a) Locate or create an in demand product or service of value,
b) then provide it to a niche market who wants and needs that product or service,
c) attain the proper targeted traffic to your site,
d) convert a decent percentage of your targeted visitors into buyers,
e) priced at a fair market value the target market is willing and able to invest,
f) with a fair profit margin remaining for you as the entrepreneur.

This Out-Task & Grow Rich article series has shared numerous ways to assist you in accomplishing this goal through out-tasking so you won’t have to do it all yourself, and if this is done effectively it will dramatically shorten that journey to profitability. No magic formula exists that will tell you when the right time is to hire someone full or part time. That would be dependent upon your business plan, comfort level, and level of profitability. Only you will know when the time is right for you to bring on an employee.

One of the main questions asked frequently is, “Who should I hire first?” The answer to that is simple. Once your sales process is in place and your business reaches steady profitability, it is highly recommended that you hire people to handle your customer support and from there move into staff that can assist you with execution of your daily revenue producing tasks (video, html, php, webmaster, programmer, copywriter).

Three resources that can greatly assist you in knowing when the time is or isn’t right for you to add new people to your team and how to go about hiring and dealing with superstars are the books:

“The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies” by Chet Holmes

“Top Grading: How Leading Companies Win By Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping The Best People” byBradford D. Smart, Ph.D.

“Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat” by Michael Masterson

All of those books are highly acclaimed and recommended not only for tremendous business growth strategies but they get into how to hire stars and deal effectively with employees. When Mike wanted to hire a top sales person over a year ago, he and I used the ad laid out in Chet Holmes’ book almost word for word and followed his system to the letter. Bottom line, it saved us an amazing amount of time and it weeded out the low performers and we noticed very quickly who the top performers were.

Last month that top performer we hired by following Chet’s system, and his team that he hired using the same process, was responsible for over $100,000 in profit. Here is Chet’s ad as seen on page 84 of “The Ultimate Sales Machine” that we barely modified to bring in our top performer:

Superstars Only $50K to $300K
Don’t even call unless you are an overachiever and can prove it. Come build an empire within our fine, progressive company. We are in the XYZ industry, but we don’t hire backgrounds. We hire top producers. If you’re average, you can earn $50K with us. If you are a star, you can earn $300K plus. Young or old, if you have the stuff, we’ll know. Contact us at…”

Chet continues on until page 101 describing the follow up strategies in hiring a superstar sales person. As a quick summary, of pages 86 and 87, he explains how to separate the weak callers from the superstars within 60 seconds. Here’s how:

When they call, your whole purpose is to put the onus on them by asking them to tell you why you should interview them. No matter what they say, you tell them you’re not really hearing it; you’re not hearing a top performer.

To Mike and my surprise, many of the callers would say, “Really? Ok!” and hang up…which is EXACTLY what they would do to any prospect that threw them an objection. After numerous calls from people wanting the position we got a person who just wouldn’t accept the fact that he wasn’t the superstar we were searching for no matter how many times we told him we weren’t hearing it.

He handled it in a very professional manner and impressed us with his sales ability in overcoming that ego test objection.

Until you experience a process like this you can hardly grasp the power of it, yet once you do it once you will be forever grateful for the time you would have otherwise wasted in a long drawn out hiring process. One word for it: brilliant! There is much more to that particular system and as mentioned I would recommend getting this book and not only reading it, but keeping it as a valuable resource and reference tool. Shoot, Mike and I even used the books advice during the face-to-face interviews as it also has many great questions to ask potential superstars who make it past the phone stage for a face to face interview.

Obviously the above example shared our success in locating a sales superstar. So how about an ad for a local “normal” superstar worker like a copywriter or a programmer? That’s where the book “Ready, Fire, Aim” can assist you, since it even shares an example ad for a copywriter in Chapter 21.

“Top Grading” is another book that can become an invaluable tool simply for the forms it provides such as: interview guides (with questions to ask), career history, reference checks, assessment scorecards, interviewer feedback, and more.
It also goes into depth about steps and strategies you will want to know in order to avoid any legal problems in the hiring, managing and firing of employees.

Another popular question that is asked is, “Where do you find most of your people?”
We simply ask our friends and colleagues who they know that is good at XYZ task (whichever position we are searching for). From our own network of referrals and friends is where we have gained most of our team. Seminars and industry events are another great place to find talent. Mike and I first met at a seminar, and then again at another seminar a couple months later. That’s where our friendship and business relationship began.

Action Step #1: Get your hands on the three books mentioned in this article and read them immediately. (Re-read or review them if you already have them.)

Action Step #2: Always remember your number one goal as an online marketer. Is your profitable sales process in place yet? If not, what must happen to get it in place? If it is, who can you bring on board to maximize those profits?

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By Tom Beal
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This article first appeared in the December 2008 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com

Almost everyone has heard of that old quote:

“You can get what you want by helping others get what they want.”

Think about it. It’s absolutely the one of the truest statements I know. Here’s an example. This can relate to a lot of different situations. In this case it was an unhappy person/customer:

I had a customer on the phone the other day and he was stating he needed help or he would have to cancel a particular product. You have been there. You don’t understand something, but a simple solution could be answered by someone else who knows the next step or solution to your problem. At this point, I’m starting this conversation with his wall in front of me, so to say. I have to break this wall down before I can even go any further.

Listen to the customer or possible future relation. Find out what is the real problem and find a solution that will help him and benefit you at the same time. Helping them with their problem and not putting it off shows your relation you are there to help them.

Now, I helped him overcome what turned out to be a simple problem. Not so simple for some, but I was able to help him in this circumstance. This was the first step in the process of relationship building. Helping him gained his trust and attention. He was grateful, now that I have his attention. I started to ask him some key questions about what he does for a living. By doing this I am building a relationship for future integration at this point without him even knowing it. Not only did I save a customer from cancelling, I solved his problem, and I built a relationship. I got all his contact information and followed up with him a few days later. He was thrilled to hear from me. He started to tell me more about what he did; once again I gave him some more advice.

One week later he called me to thank me because of the advice I gave him. It relieved him of a major stress factor he was having and increased his sales and production by 30%. Now that I had opened a door to a new business relationship and I started to tell him a little about our company. We are now integrating with each other, with profits I must add. So, you can see how valuable helping others will build relations and in this example bring in profits.

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By Joseph Jablonski
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This article first appeared in the December 2008 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com

Howdy!

Eric Louviere here…

As you flip the pages of this newsletter, and gain all the priceless insights contained herein, I’d like you to take this specific article here and cut it out… circle it… tack it on the wall… tape it to your computer… memorize it… whatever you need to do… to get this formula down tight. Master this formula. It’s that good.

Now, let’s jump right to it… First off, there are networks out there called CPA networks. Those networks are stocked full of “offers”. CPA stands for “Cost Per Action”. These offers in the CPA networks pay you commissions when people take ACTION. For example, you get paid $2.00 if someone enters a zip code… or enters an email address.

Here’s an example of an offer (there are thousands of different offers for different niche markets):

Notice all the page asks for is an email address… If you send traffic to this page (with your affiliate link) and someone enters their email to get $500 towards Baby Supplies, Free – you earn a commission. I took this one from the network, PrimaryAds.com They pay about $2 for each lead.

So, if I can get cheap-as-heck traffic and this page converts decently, I can make easy-as-heck profits just brokering traffic.

Math time…

If I can get targeted traffic for about 10 cents a click, then for $500 I’d get 5000 clicks. If that page converts at 15% conversions, that would be 750 sales. If I make $2 per sale, that would be $1,500. Subtract the cost of advertising ($500), I’d profit an easy $1,000. If I paid out $500 per day, and make $1,000 profits per day… I’d earn about 30k per month, on just one offer being marketed strongly online.

Now, the math does not always work out though. Sometimes the offer does not
convert at 15%, and sometimes the traffic is more expensive than ten cents per click. But, if you can test different offers until you find a winner – that DOES convert at 15% or higher… and if you test traffic campaigns until you find a winner that gets you ten cent clicks (or less), then you are bound to find a winning campaign.

And boy are those fun!

So, as simple as I can possibly get… is this basic formula:

As you can see here, the basic formula is to send targeted traffic (through your affiliate link) to a CPA offer and earn commissions. What I do is test first with cheap-as-heck traffic sources like goclick.com or pulse360.com or mediatraffic.com etc.

If it converts decently, then I go to Google Adwords and promote the heck out of it. If it works well on Adwords, I expand the overall formula to be even larger. I’ll explain that in a second.

Now, what you’ll need to do is sign up for CPA networks as a publisher. There are
tons online. Some of the very good ones are:

HydraNetwork
CPA Empire
Azoogle Ads
PrimaryAds
ModernClick

But, there are many-many more out there. Also, you might not get approved at first, and if that happens, be sure and call them on the phone. They want to know you know what you are doing and that you’re a player. So, be sure and sound like you know a thing or two about making money online.

Ok, so here’s where it really gets good…

Understand that in marketing, it’s important to “market towards demographics”.
Let me explain what I mean by that. In the above CPA example, it shows a baby
and how you can get $500 worth of baby supplies. The question to ask is what demographics are we targeting here?

Well, we’re targeting parent’s right? Parents who have a baby… and those parents
spend money… and need stuff (I have a 10 month old and know this all too well).
So… what else could we sell these people, these people who have babies?

Well, they’ll be interested in:

Sleep problems with babies
Health concerns and prevention
Medical insurance
Life insurance
Education
Savings for college
Toys
Clothes
Holiday stuff

It goes on forever. Just stop by your local Babies R Us and see all the stuff being sold there. There is so much to buy and so little time huh? Well, all we need to do is:

A. Capture their email address and put them into an auto-responder list

B. Make them offers we think they’ll be interested in (all that baby stuff)

C. Or, even ask them what they are interested in by surveying them. I got a free
survey system you can use at frogdatabase.com (no charge)

So, now, what we are doing is adding a new element to our sales process… and that element is a squeeze page! Yee Haw! (We don’t really say Yee Haw in Texas, but I thought it would be funny).

With a squeeze page, you send traffic straight to the squeeze page, instead of straight to the CPA offer, so you can build a niche list. Then, you can promote to that list forever. You can sell them not one offer, but many-many offers over a long period of time.

The end result: You make more money!

It breaks down like this… If we both have $500 to spend on traffic (you and me), and I send that $500 worth of traffic straight to a CPA offer and make $1,000 that’s great! But, if you send that $500 worth of traffic straight to a squeeze page (instead of straight to the CPA offer like I did), you may make $1,000 per month for the next 5 years – compared to the measly 1k I made. See the power?

Then, you can promote, promote and promote forever to them. Pretty brilliant huh?
To further expand this formula would be to create your own products, or add in more CPA offers to the sales process. Maybe they opt in, see a CPA offer, then another CPA offer and so on.

Here’s the new illustration of the expanded process of this formula:

What you can do is give something away free on your squeeze page, like a free report on raising a new baby, or something. Then, you’ll get all these people opting in to your list to get that report. All those parents who need stuff (lots of stuff).

Now you have a captured market you can promote to forever.

After they have opted into your list, the next page they see is the CPA offer. That CPA offer can make you some good money…

In fact, it can create a situation where you are building a niche list for FREE. You see, if you spend money on traffic, but make that money back on the backend with the CPA offer, then your list cost what? That’s right… nothing!

Or, maybe they opt in, see the CPA offer and then you promote your own product to them via the auto-responder emails (promoting to your list). Or, you can do joint ventures with others and really build your list even larger. The sky is the limit once you get the hang of this. But, keep in mind, as with anything and almost everything in Internet Marketing, it always comes down to these two MAJOR things:

1 Targeted Traffic
2. Increased Conversions

If you can focus on those two things, then you can make yourself a lot of money in this game. It just takes implementation, tracking, testing and tweaking. And just so you know, this formula is proven to work and has worked for me many times!

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By Eric Louviere
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This article first appeared in the December 2008 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com

If you’ve ever spent any amount of time in any of the most popular marketing forums, you’ve probably come across many threads that swore these 3 streams of traffic are utterly useless:

- List Builders
- Safelists
- Passive Traffic

Every time I came across one of these threads, I would naturally chime in and defend them. On many occasions, I have provided documented results that THEY 100% DO WORK! It really is just a matter of how you approach these streams of traffic.

All 3 Can Produce Extremely Favorable Results – Some Better Than Others

I’ve added thousands of subscribers to my list and made lots of money from these subscribers. And you can too if you put into action what I’m about to share with you.

My goal in this and the next 2 to 3 articles is to teach you the best ways to maximize these streams of traffic. I’ll need more than my allotted space to cover all 3 in a way that you can understand it and take action with the information we’ll be discussing…
So, in this article, we’re going to talk about the most effective of the three.

List Builders

List Builders are viral membership sites that enable their members (YOU) to send email offers to those they refer. They can also send out offers to the referrals THEIR referrals get, usually down anywhere from 10 – 20 levels.

So, if you are an active member of one of these sites who promotes “the ability to mail any offer to your downline up to 20 levels deep,” you can potentially be able to mail to thousands of people every fixed amount of time.

These types of sites allow you to mail to your downline as little as once a week or as often as once every 48 hours – depending on your membership level.

Here’s the Best Part about List Builders

When you join these sites, you will always be presented with a special “New Member” offer which will enable you to not have to ever promote the site if you don’t want to. “Huh? That doesn’t make any sense Jason. I thought you told me I have to actively promote it so I can mail to my downline I built from referrals?”

The reason this is good is because they’ll offer you an upgrade to the highest membership level the site offers and you’ll be able to mail to more people more often.

In my experience, it’s usually anywhere from 1,000 – 5,000 random members that you can email your offer to every 2 or 3 days. I’ll provide a link to a list of the List Builders that I have been using for well over 2 years now in order of most responsive to least responsive. But, for now, just keep reading this article and I’ll give you the link at the end of it.

Join As Many As You Can Afford To Upgrade To
This is important. Don’t join the site if you’re not going to upgrade right away. You’ll be able to upgrade your membership later, but it will be limited and more expensive then when you first join.

You’ll get the best bang for your buck if you upgrade immediately after you join when you see the one time offer. Trust me on this. It will take you a LONG TIME to build up your network that you’ll be able to mail to if you go the free membership route.
Plus, you’ll only be able to send once a week instead of 2 or 3 times a week.

Here’s What You Send To Members Of List Builders
The best thing to mail to a list builder is anything where the only action for your site’s visitor to do is fill their name and email address into an opt-in form – or leave your site. In other words you send them to a squeeze page, also known as a lead capture page. Ideally, this should be your own site so you can build your own list instead of someone else’s, but if you don’t have your own site yet, I’m not opposed to your building someone else’s – so as long as they pay you a commission on any upgrade sales you make related to that site.

The Message Is Crucial
Having the right format for your message will determine the amount of traffic you get to your site, so you want the message to be short, sweet, and to the point.

Your subject line should be something like – “Download your free whatever” It doesn’t have to be in those exact words, but something along those lines would work. Your message should be just as short and to the point as well so they don’t have to scroll at all. Maybe just a 1 sentence opening and your link to your offer. Obviously, you should be testing different subject lines to get the most responses. That’s it!

Try this out and you’ll be astonished at how good of a source List Builders will prove to be for your business. If you are upgraded to every List Builder on the list you’ll see below, there’s no reason why you can’t add anywhere from 10 – 25 subscribers to your list daily. I’ve added as much as 75 in one day. Even if you can only swing one upgraded right now, you’ll still get a consistent flow of traffic to your site and you’ll be getting subscribers every time you mail.

Here’s a link to the List Builders I personally use and have been seeing great results with:

www.JasonDinner.com/listbuilders

That’s all for List Builders for now. Make sure you look out for my next article which will cover the 2nd most responsive of the 3 “useless” streams of traffic.

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By Jason Dinner
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This article first appeared in the December 2008 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com

In this article you will continue to gain insights on how to leverage your time and results through the power of out-tasking by learning more inside tips, tricks, and strategies used when searching for solution providers.

Proper use of out-tasking is one of the tricks of the trade that, once you get a handle on and become proficient, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without it.

As with any new strategy or technique though, it takes action and implementation on your part. Once you begin to apply these techniques and strategies you’ll soon recognize that it is not that complicated at all and your aptitude and comfort level will grow rather quickly.

The quickest way, as mentioned in the previous article, is to dive right in and hire a virtual assistant. This will build your out-tasking muscles and begin freeing your time to focus on revenue-producing activities. The one I use is www.LongerDays.com.

Next would be to post a project at one of the popular freelance sites: elance.com (web design, copywriting, ghost-writing, SEO, graphic design, software development, etc.). Remember, just because you post a project does not mean you must actually hire anyone. Do it just for the practice once or twice.

Now let me share with you a checklist of little tricks MikeFilsaime.com, Inc. has learned throughout the years when dealing with out-taskers.

• Ensure you have a clear vision of the end results you are seeking. Draw it out or mind map it to cover all the bases. We use www.MindJet.com.
• Post a 10-day job and hire no sooner than the 7th day. Be patient.
• Post projects in simple form and tell them you will provide an accompanying word doc with overload details (keeps job secret and not public, which could give other people ideas to run with).
• Be sure to post your budget, and use the phrase, “This is an easy job for the right person,” in the bid to keep the price low.
• Place a code word in your project that they must reply with in order to be considered. This eliminates auto-replies that sound good but most of time they never read your project requirements.
• Check referrals.
• Be sure to get a working copy of the script as soon as possible (in your hands, not on their servers), as many times projects are paid for only to disappear before fulfilling the end product.
• Always request template based scripts and fully commented code for software and scripts.
• Do not allow them to outsource to a 3rd party (very common if not addressed).
• Insist on their top people working on your project/script, not their new people.
• Have a non-disclosure agreement and a non-compete clause that states the project cannot be used to develop or bid on other projects . . . ever.
• State they may not illegally use anyone else’s technology simply because they were the prior developer.
• Use the communication tools provided by the site and not via email or IM until later stages of the project when trust has been established.
• State that you will not pay for unforeseen yet obvious needs and incremental changes that will be required.
• State that all bugs and minor tweaks will be done for 90 days after project completion with no additional charge.
• And when you do find extraordinary talented and reliable people, find a way to make them a full time virtual team member.

These are valuable insights that you can benefit from without putting in the years of trial and error we have put in.

Action step for this month is to hire a VA – if you haven’t already – and post a project in elance.com, guru.com, rentacoder.com, scriptlance.com, designoutpost.com, or 99designs.com. Begin working on those out-tasking muscles today!

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By Tom Beal
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This article first appeared in the November 2008 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com

Prepare to learn tips, strategies, techniques and systems that can assist you in fully harnessing and profiting from properly out-tasking in your business.

As you noticed, this is Part One in a series of articles focusing on the art of out-tasking. In each part of the series you will learn actionable tips and strategies that you can begin implementing and benefiting from immediately. First, let me share with you the distinctions between outsourcing and out-tasking.

Outsourcing vs. Out-tasking

Outsourcing is more of a long-term relationship you have with a company who performs tasks over and over again. For instance, services like payroll, fulfillment, customer service, coaching, telemarketing and accounting.

Out-tasking is when you are able to locate experts for a project or task that is more short or medium term. It is used to perform tasks you can do, but would cost you more of your time than having them done by a third-party professional.

In most cases, out-tasking will give you a better quality, faster and cleaner result than doing it yourself. Some jobs commonly out-tasked are web design, software creation, graphics, copywriting, transcription services, audio and video editing, script installation, PowerPoint presentations, Camtasia tutorials, keyword or market research, data entry and more.

Both outsourcing and out-tasking are great ways to free up your time to focus on your strengths and revenue-producing activities.

How to Post Jobs
Today you will learn a couple tips on how to properly post jobs on resource sites such as elance.com and guru.com to find quality people whose expertise can assist you in growing your online business and results.

Clarity in your job description is vital. The clearer the directions and guidance in your job post, the better your chances of getting what you envisioned. Here’s a big catch, though. Many of the experts who reply to your job do so with an automated response they send to every job they want to win. That means they most likely have not even read your post at all. They just want your business.

To ensure the bidders who want to earn your business have read your post, we suggest you have a sentence somewhere in the middle of your post. The sentence should have a code word instructing them to reply with the code word to be considered – something along the lines of: “To be considered for this job, your reply must contain the word ‘Shazam!’ (or whatever code word you choose)”.

Also, you will want to include the following line in your post to attract the level of expertise your project requires and to keep the price as reasonable as possible: “This is an easy job for the right person.”

Now that you have some knowledge on how to post your job, here is your assignment:

1) Grab a pad of paper and a pen and begin writing down all the activities that you currently do, but feel you could get an expert to do better, and in less time.

2) Visit www.elance.com and create a free account if you don’t have one yet, or log in if you already have an account. Click on the Find Professionals tab in the upper right hand corner. Begin browsing categories similar to the tasks you listed on your pad and paper. This will give you an idea as to what is out there waiting for you.

3) Choose your number one task that you should and can out-task. Go to My Elance, click on the Post Your Project button at the top right, then fill out the details of your project. Keep in mind, you are NOT required to even hire anyone if you don’t feel ready, but posting your first project is key.

Stay tuned for the next part in this series as we go even deeper in out-tasking. You’ll get more step-by-step guidance and learn how to properly work with out-taskers.

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By Tom Beal
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This article first appeared in the September 2008 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com

Okay, you’ve made that great first impression. Now what? It’s time to build a strong relationship with this person. Your goal here is to begin asking questions and listening to find common ground.

Find out where they’re from, maybe their hometown, college, or even their favorite sport or team. This will build a stronger relationship and conversational material for future meetings or chats on the phone. The information you bring to the table in this relationship combined with your value, skills and beliefs can take this to higher roads.

What you put into this relationship is usually what you get in return. The greater the value you give this person, the stronger the business relationship will become. This will lead to possible future ties to more relationships with their clients or business partners. Giving them leads or introducing them to possible business relationships can also build a strong bond.

Not every relationship provides value. But this is something you might not know at the beginning. Consider it practice and learn from it. You might be valuable to them, and sometimes you have to give before you receive. It goes back to that saying,” When you help others reach their needs, in return you will too.” Some people can take their relationships for granted.

Communication with your relationships monthly, or even weekly, will have an effect on taking that relationship to the next level. Just a simple hello on the phone or an email to keep you in the loop with them. Heck, send them a birthday card or holiday card.

You don’t want to lose this relationship or let it dwindle because of not staying in touch. If this relationship starts to fade, it can sometimes take a long time to get them back – more time than you initially invested in creating the relationship.

One important thing and a rule of thumb is:
Treat this relationship like you would like to be treated.

I know this is common sense and you probably hear it all the time, but apply it and follow it. Often, we forget the most common things and try to move too fast or right by them. Go back to basics no matter how many times you do it. It’s worth it in the long run. Here’s to your future connections.

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By Joseph Jablonski
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This article first appeared in the September 2008 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com

Writing articles is one of the best ways to establish yourself as an expert, generate website traffic and get people to buy from you. You can get article ideas everywhere.

Get them from news, current events and concerns voiced in online forums and discussion groups. You can read other articles, and expand on what the authors wrote, or use them as a springboard for offering a different point of view.

Whatever you write, follow these steps for best results:

1) Know What Readers Want
In their book, Turn Words into Traffic, experts Jim and Dallas Edwards list six things readers want:

• Answers to technical problems causing them pain
• Solutions to problems costing them money
• Solutions to save time
• Answers to personal or stress related problems
• Information they can use right away
• Something fun, amusing or entertaining

2) Write a Great Headline
Headlines are critical. If your headline doesn’t grab attention, the reader will stop reading. It must answer the question, “What’s in it for me?”

There are many types of headlines, including:

• The Guarantee
• The Testimonial
• The Frustration/Problem
• The Reason-Why
• The Benefit
• The How-To
• The Question

Within your headline, use these power words for maximum impact:

• Announcing
• How Much
• Advice To
• The Truth About
• Amazing Secrets
• Little-Known Secrets
• Facts
• Life
• New
• Now
• Discover
• At Last
• Free
• You
• Only
• Breakthrough.

3) Know the Do’s and Don’ts

DO keep content relevant and interesting. That way, readers will be engaged and may even share your article with others.

DO deliver on what your headline promises. You can either (a) cover a topic in depth, or (b) cover only part of the topic and drive readers to your website for more information. Either way, don’t disappoint the reader.

DO stay focused on why you’re writing the article. Don’t try to cover too much.

DO write in a conversational tone. Write to one person, not an entire group.

DO be mindful of copyright issues.

If you read something valuable, you can write a brief introduction and link to the original piece. However, if you want to include the article on your web site or newsletter, then get permission to reproduce it.

DON’T make your article all about you. Avoid constant sales pitches. If you’ve written a good article, your resource box at the end is enough.

DON’T write down to the reader. Sometimes a few subtle word changes can make all the difference.

DON’T overuse crutch words. Your article will be easier to read. These are all crutch words:

• am
• are
• is
• was
• were
• be
• been
• have
• has
• had

4) Focus on Word Count
Keep your article at 600-1,000 words. A full typed page is 500 words. If you are writing for your ezine, articles should be even shorter. Expert copywriter Robert Bly says his ezine always contains five to seven short articles, each only a few paragraphs. It takes readers less than a minute to read each article, and less than seven minutes to read his entire ezine.

5) Use an Easy Formula for Writing

Step 1: Grab your reader’s attention with a strong headline.
Step 2: Write your introduction. Use just a few sentences to explain your position on the topic.
Step 3: List your main points; around five of them.
Step 4: Expand on your main points with a few sentences.
Step 5: Write your conclusion. This could be a call to action or an opinion you want the reader to acknowledge or adopt.

6) Vary the Types of Articles You Write
Make it fun for yourself by changing the types of articles you write. Here are a few:

How-To: Include step-by-step instructions. If the information is too long for an article, link it back to your website for further material.

Interview: Select a topic your readers care about, and interview an expert. What trends are on the horizon? What actions, products or services do they recommend? You can write this straight or use a Q&A format. Interview your expert in person, by phone or email.

Profile: Profile a subject matter expert. Feature basic facts about where they work and how they’ve influenced the company or industry.

List: Magazines use these types of articles all the times. For example: 10 Ways to Feel Better Fast.

Seminar/Conference Recap: Attend an industry seminar or conference and write an overview of what you learned (e.g., new products and services or industry trends).

Case Study: If you have a satisfied customer, write about their experience using your product or service.

7) Rid Yourself of Writer’s Block

If you don’t know what to write about, an editorial calendar can help. This is a schedule of writing topics you can plan a month or more in advance. It helps with writer’s block because it gives you the topics. You gather material ahead of time so when you’re ready to write, you’ll have most or all of your content handy.

Whether you write your own articles or use contributing writers, you can ensure your readers eyes will be glued to your article with a catchy headline and relevant, interesting content. Following these simple steps can take your article from ho-hum to WOW!

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By Lauren Tyson
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This article first appeared in the September 2008 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com

Once you have PLR (private label rights) content in your possession, how do you turn it into cash? This is what separates the serious from the tire kickers. Taking action is the key step to making money. It’s so much better to try something, make a couple hundred dollars and learn from it. Not everything will be a runaway success!

Find out what works and what doesn’t by testing and making adjustments.

If you keep at it, you will find a market that pays you handsomely or a system that works for you over and over again. Typically, the first thing people want to do when they buy the latest PLR package is to simply turn around and resell the same package.

You can do that, but it’s only an advantage for you if:

• You get in early before the market is saturated.
• You already have a large list.

In all of the years I have been “turning around” PLR, I have made so much more money by making it my own.

Here’s what I typically do:

1. Choose a Core PLR eBook
Sometimes we find a PLR eBook that is so well written we don’t want to make any changes to it. It may be perfect for our target market so we want to put it out for sale immediately. Don’t be tempted to do this if you really want to maximize your profits and exposure in your niche. You should, at a minimum, change the title and author, and add some links of your own. But for the sake of being different and more original, you should add more content, as well as change what’s there. If you’re not willing to do even that, then you should really evaluate whether this is for you.

Let’s not forget the nature of PLR – hundreds of others have the exact same eBook, and they will inevitably be competing with you for sales.

2. Bundle Related PLR Products
It is much better to sell a package of products to give the buyer more value and increase the price of the sale. In this case, you would scour the PLR sites, auctions and forums to find several topically related eBooks, software, scripts or articles. This one tactic has increased my sales and profits drastically. When you increase the perceived and actual value, you will increase sales.

3. Sell the Resale Rights
You can always make money by selling the resale rights to the PLR product, assuming you’ve checked the terms of use. There are many people who don’t want to modify the product at all, but they want the ability to sell the product on their Terms, for whatever price they determine, and keep 100% of the profits. Those are the people who would happily pay a premium to buy the resale rights from you. In fact, this makes a very quick and easy upsell without having to add more content.

This takes very little setup time. There are many other things you can do, such as use an eBook as content for your newsletter or blog, create audios and videos to go with your package, sell your package on eBay as a lead generator, create Ad-Sense sites, and so much more. These are the things I do at a minimum. It’s important to be different and offer real value to your customers.
Bottom line? Take action. The profits will follow.

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By Mike Ambrosio
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This article first appeared in the October 2008 issue of the MarketingDotCom newsletter. You can get a free copy of the latest issue for the price of shipping at http://the7figuresecrets.com