Saturday, December 15, 2007

Have You Found The Missing Pieces To Your Products For Dollars Puzzle?

What's Your Sticking Point and How Will You Get Over It?
By Marlon Sanders

As you know, you either trade your time for dollars or you trade
products for dollars.

But let me relate a story that might be useful to you:

I'm involved in another market that I'm considering creating
products for. What I've found out is that MOST of the people
in that market do NOT want to spend more than the price of an
ebook to solve their sticking points and problems.

They expect to get everything they need off of a free forum.
Then, they go in the forum and post how discouraged they are!

Occasionally one person finally spends some money to buy some
quality information and know how. They post the gist of it
to the forum.

But since everyone is following different models, the result
is a mish-mash of methods that may or may not work and combine
well with each other. It's often the blind leading the blind.

Nothing is wrong with people helping people. I have a 6-day
forum to help my Info Product Dashboard buyers hook up with
each other.

What I've found is that ANY process has sticking points and
steps that trip most people up. But the right piece of know how
can help you get OVER that sticking point.

And I've found that there are so many POV's (points of view)
being promoted, people don't know WHAT to do. Understand that
marketers have affiliates who promote a specific agenda, angle,
method, approach or point of view in the forum.

Why? Because they sell a product RELATED to that POV. But
new people come in and get all caught up in the forum psychology.
They think that the dominant opinion of the forum must be
accurate.

That's not always true.

One of those sticking points in trading products for dollars is
finding your target market. Another one is doing surveys to
find out what people want to buy. Another one is figuring out
how to create info products if YOU are not personally an expert
on the topic.

These are sticking points you MUST get over to succeed. But those
sticking points and the right solution DEPENDS on what model you're
following.

Different models have different sticking points and different
solutions. You can't take one model, identify sticking points for
another model. Then grab solutions for a third model.

Or, more commonly, try to combine ALL the models into one! That
can be a REAL mess. Like let's take all good features from ALL
cars and vans and make the "Super Car!"

Or not.

The way you make progress is to identify YOUR sticking point.
Then work to get over THAT hump.

So the question is, "At this point in time, what is YOUR sticking
point?" What is keeping you from having your own products you
can trade for dollars?

Quick question: If you already HAVE a product, who is the target
market for it and did you DO a 12-product survey?

All the time I see people who have decided THIS is the product to
sell. But they don't know WHO they're going to sell it to. And
they haven't done a 12-product survey.

That's called a shot-in-the-dark. Maybe it'll work. Maybe it won't.
And doing about anything is better than doing nothing. At least
you'll learn if you do something.

Most people think you START with the product and then hunt for
someone to buy it. And while you can succeed doing that, I advise
you to start with a group of people you want to sell to. Come
up with product ideas. Do a survey.

Let them tell you what they want to buy.

And more importantly, ask yourself what your real sticking point
is. What's stopping you? Then, focus on overcoming that issue,
whatever it is.

1. If you don't have a target market, you need to solve this
puzzle. Who are you going to sell to?

2. If you can't come up with 12 product ideas for that market,
you need to learn HOW to do that.

3. If you can't figure out how to get people to take the survey,
you need to solve that issue.

4. If you can't find a way to get other experts to create your
product for you, you need to learn how to do that.

5. If you have the paralysis of analysis, you need to get over
it.

-----------------------------------------------------------
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://getyourprofits.com/z/170/CD15727

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

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Services You Can Use"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

YOUR OWN AFFILIATE PROGRAM?
http://getyourprofits.com/z/370/CD15727

PUT UP YOUR WEB SITE?
http://getyourprofits.com/z/361/CD15727
Discover how easy and simple it can
be to do your own graphic design (or at least some of it).
Plus, find out the exact resources I recommend to save a
bundle. Avoid going down the wrong path.


NEED A SALES LETTER?
http://getyourprofits.com/z/179/CD15727
Many people have copied my software. But there really and
truly is only ONE original.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

How To Avoid The Four "De-Rail Factors" That Can Get You Off Track And How To Make Sure You Are On The Right Track

There are a couple of things that get beginners, newbies and
even intermediate people OFF track.

I want to talk about these and how YOU can make sure YOU are
on the right track and stay there.

De-rail Factor #1: Getting totally confused by the "model battles"
between Internet marketers and becoming lost in a sea of b.s.

Every Internet marketer has something to sell you. That's NOT
bad. That's good. If they can't SELL, you don't want to learn
from them.

The flip side is that as a result, every marketer is going to
promote their OWN frame of reference and point of view (POV)
that puts their products in the best frame of reference that
would lead to you buying them.

If I sell private label rights, my pitch will be that creating
your own products is a waste of time. The money is all in the
traffic. So forget product creation.

If I sell an Adsense course, I'll say, "Forget PLR. Who needs
a product at all! Just drive traffic."

If I sell a pay-per-click angle, I'll say, "Organic seo is too
hard. Just buy the clicks and be done with it!"

If I sell an organic seo course, I'll say, "Why buy clicks when
you can get 'em free?"

Now, in my case, I teach product creation. I believe my frame
is right. But still, I want you to be a SMART marketer and
understand that I'm STILL setting a frame that makes buying my
products a logical conclusion or decision.

Most newbies get snowed by marketers who are ALL promoting a
pov or frame of reference that's in the best interest of selling
their products. Be smart enough to see through this.

De-rail Factor #2: Not focusing on basics

You can't be triple diamond until you're a diamond. And you can't
be diamond until you "go direct." What I mean is, you START
with the basics.

You START with targeting a group of people, learning to do
surveys, creating offers and sales letters, writing emails,
learning a little web design, getting comfortable with
autoresponders, writing articles and submitting them, setting
up your affiliate software and program.

IMHO this is where you PUT your focus.

De-rail Factor #3: Listening to people who say, "I tried that and
it didn't work."

Remember, they have a VESTED INTEREST in saying that. Either they're
promoting a frame of reference or POV (point of view) that helps
them sell their own products. Or a POV that helps them sell
an affiliate program they promote or reprint rights they bought.

This is NOT an objective opinion!

I know a case in another industry where a guy achieved great
success using one method. But then, when he realized it was to
his advantage to switch methods he taught, he did so.

Now, all his minions say the old method doensn't work, blah,
blah, blah.

It's ALL marketing!

De-rail Factor #4: Getting sucked into "the pitch"

Listen, success in this business comes FIRST from knowing and
mastering fundamentals. Then you add on the neato "new" stuff.

But if you get sucked into a pitch, you become convinced all
you need is the "magic pill" that'll make it all happen overnight
without learning the basics.

Yeah, right.

Questions:

1. Can you write great headlines? If not, learn how.
2. Can you do a 12-product survey? If not, learn how.
3. Can you operate autoresponders with ease? If not, learn how.
4. Can you write emails that get responded to? If not, learn how.
5. Can you easily and quickly create PDF's? If not, learn how.
6. Do you have an affiliate program and software set up? If not,
do it.
7. Do you know how to record audio and put it on a web page? If
not, learn how.
8. Do you know how to get your audio transcribed and make a nice-
looking report out of it? If not, learn how.

Do you see what I'm saying? You START with learning basics. My
Dashboards attempt to get you through the basics (and a few advanced
techniques) with the shortest learning curve possible.

Does that mean it's all easy or there weren't be stumbling points?
NO!

But it sure beats the alternative.

Best wishes,

Marlon

-----------------------------------------------------------
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://getyourprofits.com/z/170/CD15727

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

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Services You Can Use"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

YOUR OWN AFFILIATE PROGRAM?
http://getyourprofits.com/z/370/CD15727

PUT UP YOUR WEB SITE?
http://getyourprofits.com/z/361/CD15727
Discover how easy and simple it can
be to do your own graphic design (or at least some of it).
Plus, find out the exact resources I recommend to save a
bundle. Avoid going down the wrong path.


NEED A SALES LETTER?
http://getyourprofits.com/z/179/CD15727
Many people have copied my software. But there really and
truly is only ONE original.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

What If You Can't Find People To Take Your 12-Product Survey?

In the Info Product Dashboard, I teach a method for doing a
12-product survey.

I KNOW this method works.

The problem or challenge is, if you don't have a list, WHO do you get
to take the survey?

Last week I held a live forum chat with my Info Product Dashboard
buyers. Several people were getting stuck on this point.

I'm going to be talking about that issue and more in my Quick Start
call. You can STILL get in on this if you're not an owner yet.
But you need to get on board immediately.

Let's drill down on this problem some.

One way of doing the survey is to find forums that target your market
and get those people to take your survey.

If you're in a small niche, you have a pretty decent chance the
members will be happy to do it. However, in some niches, it's not
so easy to get people to take the surveys.

In the Quick Start call, I'm going to cover ways to solve this
problem.

But right now, I want to talk about a simple solution:

A friend of mine actually buys PLR, Private Label Rights, and sells
those ebooks for the Front End. If you've read "Amazing Formula,"
you know Front End means the initial sale. The cool thing about
PLR is you can change or add to the content.

With reprint rights, you usually can't do that. With PLR, you can
make yourself the author (typically).

So what my friend does is sells PLR ebooks on the front end. They
usually come with sales letters. He uses split testing and his
copywriting ability to tweak or improve the conversions on the
sales letters.

This is something the vast majority of PLR buyers do NOT do. They
just buy it, stick up the sales letter, the conversions don't pan
out. So they get discouraged.

The winning approach is to split test and improve the letter.

Now, for the BACK END or repeat business, he sells a CD of the month
created using the methods in the Info Product Dashboard.

It works like a charm for him.

My point is that in business you have to PROBLEM SOLVE. Most people
buy PLR products and throw up the exact same sales letter as
everyone else. People who succeed test and change the letter.

That is problem solving.

Some people will let the lack of success getting people to take a
12-product survey STOP them. Others will figure out ways to move on.

My friends PLR solution is just one possible way to solve the problem.

Here's one SIMPLE solution. Post in the forum and ask for ADVICE
from the members on how to get people in the target audience to take
the 12-product survey.

Let the members of the target market teach you how to successfully
survey them!

The real lesson here, though, is do NOT let an obstacle stop you.
Find a way to get around it.

Marlon Sanders

-----------------------------------------------------------
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://getyourprofits.com/z/170/CD15727

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Services You Can Use"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

YOUR OWN AFFILIATE PROGRAM?
http://getyourprofits.com/z/280/CD15727

PUT UP YOUR WEB SITE? Discover how easy and simple it can
be to do your own graphic design (or at least some of it).
Plus, find out the exact resources I recommend to save a
bundle. Avoid going down the wrong path.
http://getyourprofits.com/z/188/CD15727

NEED A SALES LETTER? http://getyourprofits.com/z/179/CD15727
Many people have copied my software. But there really and
truly is only ONE original.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Weekly Tip-Tie a Knot and Hang on

Hello All,

Marketing is not always an easy path.

It takes time to learn. Especially if you don't have the
knack for it to start with.

I certainly didn't.

It took me a long time to learn these things.

That's why I can teach them.

I heard a sermon once.

The preacher said, "When you get to the end of your rope,
tie a knot and hang on."

That's pretty good advice in the field of marketing.

Because if nothing is working and things aren't going your
way, you can't give up.

The only way you learn is by keeping on.

You just gotta reach somewhere deep inside and tie a knot
and hang on.

I remember one year a long time ago when I made $7500 the
whole year! All I ate were $2.00 hamburgers, corn dogs and
50 cent burritos.

But I tied a knot and hung on.

I kept trying. Experimenting. Reading. Learning.

One day it all clicked.

I guess if it hadn't, I'd still be scarfing down corn dogs
and burritos. Because once marketing gets in your blood,
it never leaves.

It's a hound dog that won't let you sleep at night.

At least, not in peace.

And once you figure it out, it's the sunshine on a cloudy
day. The rock you stand on in a storm.

On a day when things are a little rough or I have a
problem, I've been known to eat a corn dog or one of those
50 cent burritos.

Just to remind myself...

That when things are hard...

My friend, you gotta tie yourself a knot and hang on.

I spent a life time learning about marketing. Figuring it
all out.

You can steal my life for almost nothing.

http://getyourprofits.com/z/170/CD15727

Best Wishes,
Marlon Sanders

Sunday, November 04, 2007

What momma never taught me about fishin

My dad was a pretty busy person working in his business
and everything.

So we never did stuff kids normally do like fishing and
things.

But my momma took me fishing once 'cause I kept screamin'
about us going.

So she took me down to a fishing pond at the local park.

We stayed about 30 minutes.

I think we caught a little bitty fish or something.

Momma never taught me how you really fish.

1. You find a pond loaded with fish that are hungry.

2. You find out what bait the fish can't resist

3. You feed it to them

4. If the fish don't bite, aren't hungry, you don't have
the bait they like, or your pond is thin on the little
critters, GO TO ANOTHER POND!

Fishing is a lot like making money.

Is your money pond loaded with hungry customers?

Are you fishing with the product bait they can't resist?

If your fish aren't biting, have you tried fishing in
another pond of fish?

Think about it.

If you enjoyed this little fishing analogy, then you'll
want to grab yourself a copy of "The Amazing Formula That
Sells Products Like Crazy!"

It puts marketing in terms you can understand and use.

http://getyourprofits.com/

Best Wishes,
Marlon Sanders

Sunday, October 21, 2007

My Plan For New Affiliates

Most people who come into this business START with affiliate marketing.

Here's something I want you to understand:

The purpose of promoting my products as a beginning affiliate is to learn some basic skills and make some money.

The people who make the big payouts are those who have lists. The BEST way to develop a list is to have your OWN products and OWN affiliate program. I'll tell you that straight up.

I highly recommend that as soon as you can, you develop your own product to sell. Then, you can use affiliate products as ADDITIONAL sales to your existing customers. Frankly, I recommend you do that sooner rather than later.

Having said that, I realize as a beginner you probably won't follow that recommendation. The advantage of promoting my products as an affiliate is it gives you an opportunity to gain experience with some basic skills like setting up a blog, writing articles, learning a little web design, figuring out the basics of hosting accounts, creating forums, learning how to use an html editor, and so forth.

There are two schools of thought in marketing:

1. Do NOT create and sell your own products. Promote affiliate products because you won't have to worry about customer service, you don't have to pay affiliates and so on.

That's not the school I come from. But I agree there are some people who make large incomes doing so. For the most part, I'm not sure they "reveal their secrets" until those secrets are no longer working well.

2. Create and sell your own products.

This is the school I come from and endorse. I really believe in being a product creator. What does THAT have to do with YOU as an affiliate of mine?

a. It's your ultimate objective or goal — You can promote affiliate products in the meantime as you're going through the learning curve of acquiring skills. And, you can make a little money in the process. The only thing that concerns me about this path is I see some people get STUCK on this step. You know, they don't make much money in six months, so they get discouraged and drop out.

They never get around to the good part — creating and selling your own products and services. If you follow this path, it needs to be a stepping stone, NOT a stopping point. If you go in with the expectation you're going to make a killing promoting affiliate products and you're going to drop out if it doesn't work for you, I think you're making a big mistake.

I hear a lot of affiliates say, "I just need to make some money. I just need to see this "work" to believe in it. Well, that's all fine and dandy. But you need to keep your objectives in mind. As an affiliate, you're trying to build your skills base. That's your objective.

The money comes when you create and sell your OWN products.

The guys at Nitro Marketing (Kevin and Matt) used to be my top affiliates. Now look at them! They have their own highly successful products, business and coaching programs. Ewen Chia used to be my top affiliate. Now look at him! He has his own highly successful line of products.

b. You can create and sell low dollar products to start with.

I've seen a number of people having success promoting 7 dollar products, low-priced reports and so forth. That way, you build a list of your own.

Then, you can promote carefully chosen affiliate products to those buyers.

This is a path I recommend to beginners. Start out with simple products you create and sell. Things that don't take months to make or create. Get some experience under your belt and slowly build your skills.

Marlon Sanders

Marlon Sanders is author of "The Amazing Formula That Sells Products Like Crazy" and many
other Internet marketing products and software programs. His blog is at:
http://www.marlonsblog.com

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

This issue contains

A. Success stories from UK

B. Announcements from Marlon

C. Main Article: "The ONLY Way to Make a Lot More Money Than You’re Making Today"

D. Services You Can Use

Brought to you by: Marlon Sanders - Publisher

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

FREE VIDEO Shows You How To Create Your Header Graphic For Your Web Site In 16 Minutes and 8 Seconds

http://www.designdashboard.com/20min/

Watch the video. Lisa hasn’t worked a lot for me lately due to illness. But she got the time to create a kick
video.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A. SUCCESS STORIES FROM UK


While in the UK, a lot of people came up to me and told me about their success stories with our products.

I remember one gentleman who told me he’d used Design Dashboard to design his web site. Another lady who told me how awesome it was and how she had just watched the videos and follow instructions.

I took probably 30 or 40 pictures with various attendees and speakers.

I had several speakers and event volunteers tell me Amazing Formula was the very first product they had ever bought on Internet marketing.

Every time I go to an event, I hear tons of success stories from people who have used my products, models, systems and ideas to get great results.

My stuff works. And I’ve been teaching the SAME systems and methods for years now. Why? Because they are evergreen. Because they work.

The article today will PROVE that to you.

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

B. ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM MARLON

One: Two new Milcers newsletters FINALLY going to press

Santos is now up to speed on Adobe In Design. And we have two Milcers newsletters headed out in the mail. They’re good issues and worth the wait.

TWO: I’ll be re-doing the call this week for my London seminar presentation. We had conference call issues the first time. The call just dropped off in the middle of my presentation.

Plus, I wasn’t happy with how I presented the call. So I’m re-doing it. You’ve been sent an email with the call details. This is ONLY for those of you who spent your coupons.

THREE: I’m also doing a GOLD Milcers call this week on the same topic as the article this week: How to have a breakthrough in income by having products generate money for you instead of your own personal work efforts.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
C. "The ONLY Way to Make a Lot More Money Than You’re Making Today"

Subtitle: Why I don’t have a clock in the house and don’t wear watches other than for good looks. How to escape your income trap and discover the free life
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Marlon here.

The reason you aren’t making the money you want is ’cause you’re on the clock.

And I’m not.

That’s it. That’s the reason. Let me explain.

It’s well known that I don’t work a lot. Even compared to other Internet marketers.

How come? How can I do that?

The reason is because I have products. Those products generate money for me, so I don’t have to work a lot.

Most people STILL don’t understand this.

They keep on following work intensive models that require their own personal efforts and time to make money. As long as you have a model where you’re selling your work, what you personally do, instead of selling PRODUCTS, you have a very serious lid on your income.

The ONLY way to make a lot more than you are today is by getting out of that trap. Now, you can have employees who do the work for you. That is called a service business. The margins are low and you have to be an expert manager or hire one.

But the model I have been teaching for many years now is one where you find, acquire or create products and those products generate your income for you.

Since there is no limit to the number of products you can sell, there is no limit to your income.

A lot of people blame themselves in life because they have a friend who rose in a company or occupation to make a lot more money than them. Yet, on examination, you’ll find that star person is STILL working a lot to bring home their paycheck.

One of the things I don’t need to do is wear a watch. The battery in my watch was run down for the past 3 or 4 years. I finally got it replaced. Not because I needed to. Because I wanted to wear the watch for the aesthetic appearance! You know, to look good.

I don’t have a clock in the house other than the one on my computer and VCR. I don’t need clocks.

Why? Because my investment of time is not what generates my income. It’s my products.

"But Marlon, I can buy this software. And I click the button and it makes stuff, and uploads stuff, and magically makes money appear."

My response is, "Yeah, but is it EVERGREEN?" Or, as I often call it, "ever-red" since red is my favorite color.

Will the thing keep on working?

An awful lot of people in this business email blast their list ever time the hot, new, sexy whatever model comes out. I have never done that even though it would be to my advantage. Why? Because when you email for others, you increase the liklihood they’ll email for you.

The reason I haven’t done it is because I don’t believe in endorsing things to my list that I don’t personally feel are evergreen.

There are lots of models in Internet marketing. People who say you can make a fortune this way or that. Most of ‘em haven’t been around as long as I have.

I mean, it’s fashionable now for marketers to say they’ve been marketing online since 1996. Show me! I was around then. I never heard of most of those people. I can show you my sites. And I think archive.org even tracks traffic back to then. Or fairly far back.

My point is NOT to brag about how great I am. It’s simply to explain that the model of the day, week or month may not be one that lasts over time.

The model I teach is evergreen and lasts. That model is to obtain or create products and let those products generate your income for you.

I’m gonna boil this down and make it VERY simple for you: You NEED, you MUST have products that you sell. Yeah, I KNOW the money is in the list. But what do you sell TO that list?

You sell products — either yours or someone elses.

And while selling affiliate products is good, you won’t generate loyalty that way. And you can’t build your own back ends into the products. I get a $6,000 check each month (as high as $7500) from one back end built into one product.

It works.

To start, you can use private label rights products. But as soon as you can, I advocate having your own products.

"But Marlon, creating products sounds like work."

My answer: It ain’t nearly as much work as doing the work once and getting paid for years. It ain’t nearly as much work as a job. It ain’t nearly as much work as having to spend your own time for every dollar you earn.

You NEED products.

That’s what I do. That’s what I teach. I show you how to have products, have lists and sell products to lists.

For help, go to: Marlonsanders.com and buy all my products. ‘Cause what you just read is what I do.

That’s why I ain’t got a clock in my house and I don’t wear a watch other than for looks.

It’s a strange business. For other "gurus" to make money, they gotta convince you THEIR method is better than mine, so you buy from them and not me. And frankly, the same is true of me.

My job is to convince that the soup of the day won’t last long. And that my model, the evergreen model, rocks. Others have to convince you that the zillion dollars they made in the last 12 months on a shaky model that will break in 6 months is a better way to make money than evergreen.

Evergreen ain’t sexy. It isn’t real new. It just HAPPENS to work like clockwork. See, people been makin’ money for 1,000 years sellin’ products. That don’t change.

Now, the methods? They change. But the core? It’s solid. My model is SIMPLE — find people. Find what they wanna buy. SELL it to ‘em. It is that simple.

Do you wanna me on the Marlon Sanders evergreen program? Or do you wanna trade your stupid time for dollars the rest of your life and chase rabbits, rainbows and hype programs the rest of your life?

That’s really the decision. I say go evergreen. I’m about evergreen. I’m about what works and I know works. Been working the last 7-10 years. Gonna keep working. The only thing I feel I need to tweak or improve in my model
is my traffic method. I’m working to enhance it some. But basically, the model still works the way it is "off the shelf."

Will you work the model? That is the question. You either work the model, work the system or you make excuses.

You either product products or you make excuses.

You either sell products or you make excuses.

The same goes for my assistants. They either produce the products of their posts and their assignments or they make excuses. You can’t put excuses in the bank. So when people make excuses, they buy themselves new jobs!

Ditto for you. When you make excuses for not having, creating, producing, promoting or selling products, you BUY yourself more time on your job!

Only 1 thing buys you freedom, time and gets you away from a job — PRODUCTS that make money instead of you working your fingers or brain to the bone making that money.

I am the liberator of men and women.

Why? Because I liberate people from having to spend their TIME to make money. I show them how to have products that make money for them, so they ain’t gotta be on the clock making money.

Dump your freakin’ clock. Dump the idea that you gotta make money with your time. Get it clear in your head once and for all that the way to make money is by having products that SELL and put money for you in your bank account.

Get that straight. Today!

Once you get THAT in your head, you’ll understand why my friend Stephen Pierce says "today is the BROKEST day of the rest of your life." What he means is that once you have products selling for you putting money in your bank account, you will no longer be trading your personal time investments for money.

Your products will be earning money for you.

You no longer earn money with your time.

THAT, my friend, is the ultimate liberation. And why I’m the great liberator of men and women around the world.

I don’t go chasing rabbits. Selling you every hot new product or model that comes down the pike just because I can whore my list and turn a coin. I am here to liberate you by selling you a model that works.

A model with integrity.


OK. I gotta go. I’m going to a coffee shop to work on a product. Yeah, some days I work. Not a lot. But if my assistants don’t do their job or don’t get a product done, then the buck stops here.

The good news is, when I get this product done, it’ll pay my bills for 3 or 4 years. It’ll be bringing in at least some money 5 years from now.

Will what YOU do today do that?

If not, it’s time you change. It’s time you get with the product creation and promotion program I teach and STOP chasing sales pitches that sound good but fall apart in execution.

Hop to. Buy some of my training and START doing it. Or dig out what you got of mine on your hard drive and get busy creating your OWN products. Oh, and stop complaining that it’s work!

You work once and get paid for months or years. I STLL make money from products I created years ago. Years!

‘Nuff said.

In the eloquent words of Stephen Pierce, "Today is the brokest day of the rest of your life."

Now GO create, produce and promote.

Marlon Sanders

———————————————————–
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.0tips.com

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

Friday, September 28, 2007

Blogging Update

"Special Report On The Results Of My New Blog. Should You Have One or Not? Is It Worth The Effort? (Plus, the secret of setting your Word Press blog up in 10 seconds!)"

By Marlon Sanders

If this report had another subtitle, it would be "confessions of a reluctant blogger." Because…

I’ll confess: I’m not big on giving away content people don’t pay for. And that, to some degree, is what a blog is.

I’ve always made more money selling my know how than I have giving it away for free. I believe you make money by selling stuff, not giving it away for free.

Having said that, I think I’m becoming a blogging convert. Here are the reasons:

1. You need to email content to your list once a week anyway.

In the old days, I didn’t email content. The reason I do it now is you have to work harder to maintain a loyal following nowadays. Otherwise, the readership on your list goes down.

Since you’re creating weekly content, you might as well post it on your blog, right?

2. You can take the articles you write for your email list and for your blog and submit them to the article directories.

I haven’t been doing this. But we’re going to start.

3. By writing content for your blog weekly, you have articles to feed to your affiliates and resellers.

This is another WIN for you and for them.

4. You all know I’m not big on seo. But here’s the deal — My blog IS increasing my traffic from Google. I don’t have all my analytics set up right yet to track it.

I’ll report to you when I do. But I can see every hit that comes in from the search engines using my Human Click/Live Person service. I can see every single person on every one of my sites. And they have a special little tag if they came from a search engine. And I can see the
key word they searched on.

From this, I CAN tell you that I’m getting an instant bump in my seo traffic. Added to the reasons above, that’s a big plus.

5. As an added bonus, as you accumulate articles, you can put them into a brandable PDF for your resellers or incorporate them into products you sell.

A lot of you guys and gals don’t have money. You’re starting from scratch. Writing articles and posting them to your blog, then making them available to your affiliates is something ANY of you can do.

Anyone can learn to write articles with a little effort. That means YOU! All you need is to write one article a week. Now, when you first start your blog, see if you can post good content to it every day or every other day for two weeks.

That will jump start the process for you.

6. The last benefit of blogs is you get COMMENTS from your customers and prospects. Think of that as easy market research. You can see what they do and don’t respond to. It’s a terrific thing.
How To Set Up Your Blog In 10 Seconds!

As for cost, you can go with Blogger.com for free. However, I had read stories about blogs getting deleted without notice on there, and I didn’t believe them. But we had my first blogs on Blogger, and I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if’n one of ‘em didn’t get zapped!

So that quickly made me a convert to Word Press. The issue on Word Press is you need hosting. Try the good ol’ basic Host Gator account. If you can afford it, the $25.00 reseller account is good. If not, go for the 8 buck a month account with unlimited dcomains.

Now, here’s the 10 second part:

http://www.installity.com

That is NOT a reseller URL. I’ve read good things about them. They have a little system that does your install in 10 seconds! And it’s free.

The other issue is the blog header. Lisa covered that in one of the Design Dashboard bonuses as I recall. If you have the product and didn’t get that bonus, just post to Tim at the support desk.

Avoid This One Big Mistake That Can Waste A Lot Of Your Time, Money & Energy
And Set You Walking Down a Primrose Path To Nowhere — While Causing You
To NOT Do The Things You Need To Do To Succeed Long Term

Everyone wants a shortcut. I understand that. The thinking goes like this:

"How can I have someone ELSE do my thinking for me, someone ELSE do my writing for me? Someone ELSE do my design for me? Someone ELSE do my articles for me?"

The FIRST thing most people thing about is "How can I create 1,000 blogs all automated!" And there are those who will sell you tools for doing that. There’s a very long history of shortcuts being shortlived.

The problem is, the pitches sell like crazy. I mean, when the new automated thing comes out, everyone jumps on board. Everyone loves it. It must be the most seductive pitch in the world — "Buy this, push a button, make money."

Blogging that uses a human brain and the human element? I think it’s going to be around a long time. You’ll notice I’ve been personally commenting on blog posts. Why? Because I want to ADD the human element, not take it away!

I don’t know how long I can keep up the personal comments. But I’m going to do it as long as I can. You want to form relationships with your readers.

I’m all for automation. But I’m for things that are Evergreen, or as I call it, EverRed (only because my favorite color is red, not green. Which probably confuses the heck out of people. But you know, sometimes you just go with it right or not!)

You can do what you want. I’m just telling you, "if you listen to the songs of the sirens, you’ll pay the price."

If you play with fire, you’ll get burned.

On the other hand, blogging itself? I think it’s a solid strategy that’s here to stay. I didn’t "feel" it at first. I wasn’t on board. I was a very slow adopter.

But blogs do get "Google love." And I don’t think that’s likely to change. And they also fit into a sold strategy of writing articles, article submissions, and affiliate marketing.

OK. So those things aren’t sexy. But I did first write about them and lay out a plan for them back in Amazing Formula in 1998 or 1999. Something like that. And they STILL work, right?

That’s what I’m talking about. Building something today that will be there tomorrow.
So how do you get started in online marketing?

Step 1: Start a weekly article.

Step 2: Post it to ezinearticles.com or do an article submission.

Step 3: Start a blog where you post your articles.

Step 4: Start your affiliate program (HINT: affiliatedashboard.com).

I’m even starting a separate blog for my affiliates (http://www.marlonsblog.com). And you may wanna do that also.

Step 5: From your blog articles, link to your money sites. Those can be your own products. But until you have that, yeah, I guess I’m on board with linking to reviews of affiliate products or PLR products.


Step 6: Take some of the articles you write and make a little PDF out of them and use them on your money sites as an incentive to get people to opt in to your list.

COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE. I mean, really, seriously, go COMMENT on the freakin’ article!

http://www.marlonsblog.com

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://getyourprofits.com/



Tuesday, September 18, 2007

"What I’ve Learned About Naming Your Product Or Service...

...and How One Wrong Word In A Title Cost Me My First Copywriting Job"

The name you give your product or service is crucial.

My first copywriting job was at a company that went bankrupt because they called their private membership club the "Millionaire’s Circle".

Three states in the U.S. said the name WAS an income claim, in and of itself. That’s right, just having that ONE word in a product title put the company under.

After bankrupting the company fighting 3 attorney generals, they changed the name to the "winners circle" instead of the "Millionaire’s Circle." But that little naming mistake put the company under and caused me to lose my first copywriting job.

A lot of people wonder if I’m just a sour puss for making a big deal over the proliferation of blatant income claims. There IS a reason for it.

If you’re in UK, Australia, or Canada, I bet there are similar precedents in your country you should be aware of.

But naming goes much deeper than just not using "potty words."

Let me illustrate the vital importance of the name you choose with several of the names I’ve given products.

1. The "Cash Like Clockwork" system.

That’s a great name.

The only reason I don’t use the name more is that I really hate to use things that have too blatant of a money appeal in them.

The good things about the name are that it conveys a benefit. Your product name should usually have a benefit in it. The other good thing is that it isn’t too generic. It implies a brand. Plus, it lends itself to a visual — a CLOCK!

So, overall, it’s a great name. I would be more comfortable with "Sales Like Clockwork" than I would "Cash." Thing is, people like names with two letters that are the same.

Think of Coca-Cola as an example. You’ll also find a lot of celebrities with names that follow the same pattern. Marilyn Monroe, Alan Alda and many others.

Marketing With Marlon came out #1 on our name survey. Part of the reason for that is the two use of the two M’s.

2. "The Amazing Formula"

It isn’t as good a name as "Cash Like Clockwork." And the reason I say that is there isn’t a clear benefit in it unless you add the rest of the name "….That Sells Products Like Crazy." But now, you have a really LONG name.

The positive is that the word "Formula" still hasn’t made the rounds nearly as much as the word "System." Overall, the title has worked well. But if I did it over, I’d try to get a benefit in the core title.

3. "Milcers"

Milcers has a problem. It’s a coined name that is hard to pronounce. Most people called it Milsers instead of MILKERS. Plus, I thought the idea of "milk your cash cow" was obvious but implied.

To me, "Marlon’s Internet Lifestyle Club" explained the benefit. But to many others, they didn’t like the word "lifestyle."

Thing is, my style is to NOT put money directly in the title of a product. One reason is you risk Paypal feeling that you went over the line. I don’t like my titles to seem too "bizopy" (short for "like a business opportunity").

One of the first laws of online business is:

"Protect your merchant processeing at all costs."

Without it, you don’t have a business. I’m going to rename Milcers. I’ll keep what I feel is good in the concept. But add a new angle or twist.

4. "The Marketing Diary"

The name is too generic to be honest. But I liked the word Diary. And I chose the word "marketing" over some name that more directly implied money.

At least I should have come up with a "D"-word to use in place of "Marketing." The name would have been better.

The main problem with the name is, "What’s the benefit to the buyer?" Who cares if they buy a diary about marketing? See, there’s no benefit.

That’s a problem.

5. "Articles By Marlon"

The title I’ve been using for my ezine is "Articles By Marlon" or "The Sell Products Like Crazy Ezine." I’m going to move to a NEW title. It’s a secret right now, because I want to create a blog to match. The problem with the existing title is, "what’s the benefit?" Is there REALLY a benefit to getting another article by email?

The only benefit that the article is "By Marlon" is that it isn’t "By" someone else. That doesn’t quite cut it in this age of noise.

Tips On Naming Your Products, Ezines, and Memberships

The biggest problem with names is finding a DOMAIN. It seems like most of the good, short ones are taken. I tried like crazy to find a nice, short domain for the renaming of Milcers and got nowhere with that search.

I had the same problem with my blog. I’ll probably end of using "marlonsblog.com" or something like that. The blog isn’t up yet, so don’t go there.

The reason short names are good is that they’re easier for people to spell. The chances people will type a long domain without a typo aren’t good.

You may have seen the article in Inc. magazine about the guy who is registering thousands of domains that end in .cm instead of .com to get the typo traffic.

It costs something like $600 to register a .cm name. But he made a deal directly with the country (Cameroon or something like that). Point is, a lot of people can’t even type .com without making a mistake!

Normally, your product name should have a benefit in it. However, web sites do well with coined names. Think Google, Yahoo and others.

MSN isn’t a particularly good name.

Oh, if you wanna learn more about naming, I recommend the book "Positioning" by Trout and Ries. It’s a classic.

Would you like Marlon Sanders to Show You How To Set Up Your Entire Online Sales System? Check out the phenomenal product Microsoft promoted to 400,000 subscribers!

Saturday, September 15, 2007

What Is A Demonstration of Higher Value and How Can You Use It To Get People To Buy From Your or Pay More?

So there he is.

They call him "the world’s greatest pick up artist." He’s wearing this crazy, tall, funky top hat like a magician. He has odd jewelry on. And he’s teaching guys how to "pick up women."

It’s a show on in the U.S. Where the man named "Mystery" takes a group of dateless, desperate guys and teaches them how to meet women.

It’s fascinating in that he has his own world and own set of terminology. Things like DHV’s, which stands for "Demonstration of Higher Value." Then there are OIO’s, which are indicators of interest and IOD’s, indicators of disinterest.

And the lingo goes on. You can see video of him on VH1.com. Just search for "pick up artist."

What’s totally and completely bizarre to me is how much of what he says applies to Internet marketing. I’m going to zero in on one of those things — demonstrations of higher value. Let’s start with "the pickup artist" TV show to begin with. It probably wouldn’t exist unless a book called "The Game" hit bookstores bigtime and demonstrated the value of the concept. Mystery was the featured character in the book. And that likely had a major impact on him being the featured character in the TV show.

Next, in "The Mystery Method," he has his guys wear clothes or articles of clothing that are unique and stand out. One reason is so they have a conversation piece. The other is to increase their social value.

Point: Your packaging or design of your products and web site signals or demontrates the value you have.

Another thing Mystery has his guys do on the TV show is "social proof" themselves by being seen with attractive people. So a guy might invite along an attractive woman some place to help him meet someone else. By implication, he has high social value if he’s seen with someone perceived as attractive.

In short, social proof. Social proof in marketing would be having articles published in directories, speaking at seminars, testimonials, showing that you hang out with popular influencers, and so forth.

Then, there is scarcity — not looking so "available." By implication, if you’re in demand, that’s a demonstration of your value. And if you’re NOT in demand, then it’s a demonstration of low social value. DLV.

Anyway, I could go on and on drawing parallels.

And the point I want to make today is that you may already know a lot about marketing that you don’t know you know.

Why? Because if you have a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, you probably used some or all of the above techniques without realizing it.

Signalling value or demonstrating value for your product or service is largely FREE. It costs you NOTHING to do but has a major impact on whether or not people buy from you.

And chances are, you’ve already demonstrated a skill in doing this in an area of your life in the past.

People buy based on benefits - costs. And increasing the benefits part of the equation is as simple as demonstrating or signalling higher value.

Marlon Sanders

———————————————————–
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.marlonsblog.com


Get Insane Blog Traffic FREE

A friend of mine John Reese has been working hard
to release a brand new tool to get MASSIVE TRAFFIC
to your blogs.

It's FREE... Click This link and watch the video
http://www.blogrush.com/

It's pretty slick and worth taking a look at.
http://www.blogrush.com/

I joined... so should you!
http://www.blogrush.com/

Best of Success,
Art

Friday, September 14, 2007

My Quick ‘n Dirty SEO Secrets...

Let me first say that without doing jack with seo, I’ve gotten 1 out of every 102 people who surfs the Internet via an English browser to visit one of my sites….and that does NOT include our traffic this year nor our traffic my first 2 or 3 years in this business when I had huge amounts of visitors.

So I STILL feel associate programs rock. Still, let me share what I dug up while banned to this sofa:

A: I have some sites and pages that are ranked PR5 by Google. PR = page rank. By linking to the same 3 pages from all 5 of those sites, I can create 3 PR6 pages (or that’s what this spreadsheet I downloaded tells me).

Page rank is a combination of how Google ranks domain factors, off-page and on-page factors. Mostly, that translates into how well you’ve done on-page basics like having a title on the page that targets your key word, your H1 tag (I’ll explain that shortly). And then your off-page factors. Far as I can tell that is your inbound links and the quality (or PR) of those links.

LONG story short — I can take 5 of my PR5 pages that have NO links on them. I can put links to 3 sites on those 5 pages. And if all works well, those 3 sites will be transformed into PR6 sites!

Who cares?

Well, if I have a PR6 site on many of my keywords in Google, I’ll get a top 10 ranking. For example, on the term "sales letters" Yanik’s instantsalesetters.com is #1 and pushbuttonletters isn’t even there (I’ve got salesletters.com on the right hand PPC side).

But with a PR6, I would at last whip Instant Sales Letters in the SERPS (search engine page results….or those listings you get when you do a search).

OK. For all you tech savvy seo people, I’ve probably just hacked that explanation to death. My thing is associate programs, NOT seo.

But for those of you who want the quick and dirty, boiled down explanation of seo, here is what I think the important things are:

* Doing the basic things on your site like having a title that targets your key words, using your keywords on the page at least some. I DO recommend you learn to do these basics.

* Your domain name. The domain name does count into Google’s page rank measure. I don’t know what percent it counts.

* Your inbound links, the PR rank they have, and how good the match is between the page sending you the link and your page.

If you get a link from a PR9 page about cows and your site is about horse racing, this is not good. Actually, I would be interested to hear what the data says about that.

According to this spreadsheet I found, if I get a link from a PR9 page to my page, and there are 10 or less outbound links from that PR9 page, then my page becomes a PR8 — if the PR passes through.

The question is, how closely related do the pages have to be for the PR to pass through? I’ve read that Google requires the pages to be similar in nature.

To make a long story longer, you can actually BUY PR 8 or 9 links at sites that sell ‘em. So let’s say that you buy a link from a NEWS site to your Internet marketing site. How much PR boost wil you get? Or are you just wasting your money? $100

Reason I say that is because there aren’t many Internet marketing PR9 sites willing to sell you a link! Anyway, here’s what I do NOT understand whatsoever:

Unless I’m totally mistaken, 80% of search engine positioning boils down to having the basics on your sales pages (title tags, etc) and then your inbound links.

All the seo products I read get lost in a complex assortment of information. I think what this boils down to is 80% of seo that will get you 80% of your results ISN’T complicated.

But I’m not sure anyone wants to let the cat out of the bag. See, in the early days of Internet marketing, people were doing the exact same thing…trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes about how complicated things were.

The MOTIVE for doing so is to sell services.

I came along with a series of products and made a pretty big impact to cut through the smoke and mirrors.

So let me tell you what I think is going on in seo. Companies publish elaborate lists of 101 ways to get inbound links. They make it sound so tough and difficult that you could NEVER have time to do it.

Then, they go out and buy a few high PR, relevant links to their client sites. And maybe they mix in a few directory submissions.

Simple. Client is happy. And their rather sizeable bill gets paid. Maybe that is happening. Maybe not.

I do know that today people tell clients they need $50,000 and $100,000 web 2.0 applications, complex content models and many other things.

The models are, at best, dubious in terms of the potential payoff.

But clients don’t want to pay $100,000 to hear it all boils down to having an affiliate program and pimping the daylights out of it. Which is the
truth in most cases.

I’m not going to become an seo guru any day soon. What I CAN tell you is that NOT doing a few basic seo things has been less than bright!

None of my pages have title tags worth anything, descriptions or H1 tags. Let me ’splain that for those of you who who are dummies about seo like I am:

B: Your title tag.

In IE, Firefox or whatever browser you’re using, go to THIS web site:

Now, view the source code of that page. On your browser at the top, you’ll see a link that says VIEW. Then you select "source" or "page source."

At the top of the page if you hunt around a little, you’ll see something that looks like this:

Keyword keyword whatever whatever

That is your page title. And between the two title "tags" (both those words that say TITLE and have the little < /> around them are called "tags" because they tag the text with code that tells the browser how to display it.

Now, at the time I’m writing this (soon to be fixed), if you go to http://www.pushbuttonletters.com and look at the top left of the page, you’ll see that it says "Push Button Letters".

That’s because THAT is what I have listed at the title of my page. You would THINK my page title would be Sales Letter Software. Or somethin’ like that.

See, if the search engines read that title, they’d go, "Oh, this page is about sales letters." And they would then put me in the SERPS (the listings you see when you search) under "sales letters."

Using the name of my product as the title of the page is a total waste.

I’m told you should make the first couple words in your title your key words. And you have 60 characters total that the search engines will
see, but do NOT quote me on that!

C: Description

One of the common "meta tags" is description. This is what some search engines publish in their results as the description of your page.

I don’t have ANY of my sites. Arggghhh!

D: Inbound links

Remember that example of the search term "sales letters" I gave you and how Yanik’s "Instant Sales Letters" is #2 in the listings right behind Microsoft?

Well, I fired up a clever little software program I found and discovered he has 1 PR9 link, six PR7’s and a lot of lesser links.

But his high ranking links have dozens or hundreds of links on them, which dilutes the PR that is passed through.

By the way, Yanik is a friend, so that’s why I’m using this example. He’ll get a chuckle out of it. I’m sure he spends about ZERO hours of his time each month on seo, although he may joint venture or pay someone to do a little for him.

Anyway, if I send off links from five of my PR5 pages, I’ll get my page up to a PR6. His is PR5. Thus, I WIN!

What sweet victory!

Well, actually, seo stuff seldom works like I anticipate. So I won’t be spending those golden eggs until the goose lays them.

That’s the great thing about affiliate program marketing. You KNOW pretty much what it takes to get a result.

If you missed my 6-week startup class on creating and marketing your own affiliate program, I can honestly say you missed out on some really, really good stuff.

Those who made it to the live calls and asked questions or really listened to all the audios will tell you a lot of secrets and great info were revealed.

Also, I’m gonna take the spreadsheet PR calculator I found, several totally tricked out software programs and write ‘em up for my Milcers.

Check this out….I found this program (10X better than any others I’ve seen like it) that lets me type in keywords like "sales letters." It runs a search and lets me know the PR of the pages in the top 10 and how many inbound links each has.

Then, you can take any of THOSE pages, run a search and get a breakdown of the PR of every page linking to them. That’s pretty trick.

Thing is, if you see only a few inbound links with high PR, you know you can beat those pages out. Or, if you see that the top pages all have high PR (7’s or 8’s), then you know to not waste your time.

I’m gonna talk about that program in my Milcer’s issue. Too bad you will NEVER see that info if you aren’t a member!

If you aren’t one, you’re missing out! You know, I may go 2 or 3 issues and not cover something you are that interested in. Then, I’ll hit a home run.

Best wishes,
Marlon Sanders

ANNOUNCING:


The most in-depth, step-by-step, complete, no-stone-left-unturned, what-to-do and exactly how-to-do-it system that includes more than 30+ "how to videos" for creating, promoting and delivering your own Info- Products -- anywhere at any price!
http://getyourprofits.com/



Wednesday, September 12, 2007

How To Cure Overwhelm

How to get your market targeted, your products ready, your promos out, and your affiliate program humming — In short, what you need to know and do to get your products and services selling like ice in the Mojave Desert.

I want to talk to you about a crucial psychological aspect of getting your Internet marketing signed, sealed and delivered!

I want to lay a very important piece of groundwork and that is to find your "just right" gradient and put it on a screen saver, so it’s in your face ever day.

Let me explain: The first secret of getting things humming is called "decreasing the gradient."

Let me explain: In behavioral psychology, there is a thing called your gradient. That is the degree of difficulty of what you’re trying to accomplish. The very first thing you should do if it seems like you’re making no progress is to decrease your gradient. That means you don’t tackle such a steep slope all at once. That means dividing your objective or goal into smaller chunks and giving yourself kudos when each one is accomplished.

If you are beginning your online endeavors with very little experience in business, marketing, computers or networking, you’ve got to be a lot more patient with your progress than a person does who comes into the arena bringing a lot of experience.

You’ve got to walk before you run. And you’ve got to run before you fly. Marketing "gurus" are flyers. They fly. But realize that most have prior business experience, knowledge and so forth.

For example, one of my friends came into this industry and succeeded very quickly. But he had also ran his own business before, had attended numerous business seminars, and had developed potent networking skills.

The point is, tackle a LEARNING CURVE that is appropriate to where you are. It’s hard when you have the pressure of bills, or a spouse or family member who doesn’t fully support your endeavors…it’s hard to find your "just right" gradient. When you feel stuck or stymied, it’s a sign that you need to decrease your gradient or chunk down what you’re doing.

Let’s say you’re writing an ebook. Intstead of making your goal to get the whole thing written, work JUST on the table of contents or the first chapter. Put your focus on that.

If you feel OVERWHELMED, it’s a sign you’re focusing on too big a picture. Set your sights on a smaller, more easily accomplished objective.

For example, when I created my new Marketing Dashboard, I divided the objective into 6 major actions and 6 steps for each action. How do you know if you have selected the gradient that is "just right" for you?

1. Do you feel excited and challenged?

If you don’t feel excited and you don’t feel challenged, then your goal or your gradient is actually TOO SMALL! You need excitement and emotion to movitate you to take action and get things done.

2. Do you feel frustrated, overwhelmed or lost?

If so, your big picture needs to be chunked down into manageable steps.

Once you break your goal down into steps that are challenging but not overwhelming, you write these out and put them on a SCREEN SAVER that will be in front of your face on your computer all the time. Every time you take a break and come back to your computer, there your goals will be in front of your face.

If you’d like help in chunking your online selling goal down into a manageable, step-by-step system, check out my new Design Dashboard at: http://www.designdashboard.com

Fantastic Internet Marketing Product Deals!...

Ever heard of QVC, HSN or ShopAtHome?...

Over the past few years, these mega-million dollar
businesses have become a household name...

Why?

Because every day they feature amazing products,
the bargains are outrageous and anybody with a TV
and credit card can watch and buy (my Mom is a huge
buyer from these companies)...

This makes these "home shopping" networks naturally
'viral' as a result... It's easy to brag to all
your friends and family about the great deal you
just got...

Then, they tell two friends... and so on...

Now imagine this...

What if there was a "QVC/HSN/ShopAtHome style" site
that offered a new killer deal each day on the best
products to help you build and grow an online
business?...

I'm talking about all the top rated software,
information products, ebooks, membership sites,
PLR, scripts, and more!...

You know… the exact same (new or existing)
products that you've been meaning to buy, but
were holding out for a better deal...

Well, this "Home Shopping style" site is about to
open its doors real soon... And you are in a
fantastic position to profit from it....

Sure, everybody loves a great deal. But, more
importantly, here's where things really get
exciting for you, because...

>>> YOU Get Paid! <<<

Imagine if you could generate passive, residual,
income online by simply telling your online
friends, associates, subscribers, and customers
all about this new "deal a day" site...

...and then, you got PAID on 3 separate levels
whenever they bought ANY product over the
next 50 years!...

Plus, if anyone who you referred decided to
promote the site and they refer more people,
you get paid on ALL sales they generate too!

Announcing DealDotCom...

This opportunity is real and yours for the
taking...

Is DealDotCom legitimate?...

Absolutely.

DealDotCom the brain child of a few reputable
software geeks that you probably have heard of - my
close friend Marc Quarles and his partner Jason
Potash...

Believe me, DealDotCom is set to explode once the
word gets out and it won't take long... I've sen
this concept being developed over the past few
months and know all the inner workings, and
frankly, it's amazing...

And the best part is you're going to not only get
in on it before anyone else does, but you'll get to
profit from it too! -- often for not doing a single
thing!...

To get the full scoop and sign up, head on over
to this *private* by-invite-only webpage right now:

www.dealdotcom.com/invite/

You're going to hear a ton of buzz and excitement
about DealDotCom within the next couple of weeks...
this thing is going to REALLY explode... and it's
not going to cost you a single cent to be part of
that explosion!...

Even better, rather that sit on the sidelines and
watch everyone else promote this site... YOU
could be the one getting an early jumpstart and
maximizing your profit potential...

Before you forget (or get reminded when you
receive an email about it from someone else), go
check it out right now:

www.dealdotcom.com/invite/

Don't delay, the sooner you sign up (for FREE) the
sooner you can tell others and begin to profit...

This thing is amazing, it wowed me the first time
Marc showed it to me and it still wow's me
today!...

So go right now and check it out...

www.dealdotcom.com/invite/

Success!!!
Art Luff
The Affiliate Chronicle Newsletter

Some Wicked Thoughts On Creating Perceived Value For Your Products or Yourself. If This Article Doesn’t Help You Sell, It’ll Help Your Social Life

I like to keep things simple.

I think anyone can create complexity. You know, take something simple and make it complex, so people will will deify your knowledge.

I think it’s quite another thing to sort through complexity and find the inherent simplicity. I’ve always felt all the great ideas were simple ones.

Alexander the Great conquered the world based on the short sword idea, a simple weapon. I could go on and on. So let’s get back to basics and the inherence simplicity of this business. Here are the important things:

1. Targeting a group of people with common wants or needs.

2. Finding out what they perceive as valuable.

3. Offering that to them with a sales process that gets them to buy.

Step one is where most people falter traditionally. But what I’ve noticed more and more is that step two is a problem. People sell their product, service or information too cheaply.

Why? Because they don’t know how to create perceived value for it.

It cracks me up sometimes. So people wanna buy from the "guru" who gives them the whole ball of wax for next to nothing. Can you see how absurd that is? I don’t mean to criticize the teachers. I understand they’re lead generating and probably have back end products. My point is that a lot of people really don’t get it. They think that the best "guru" to buy from is the one with the mostest for the cheapest!

If someone doesn’t know how to create perceived value for their own products and services and get paid for that value, then HOW, pray tell, are they going to teach YOU to get paid a decent profit for what YOU are selling, pimping or marketing?

It mystifies me.

The question, then is, "How to you create perceived value?" I’ll tell you a story that illustrates it.

There’s this show on TV in the U.S. called "The Pickup Artist." It’s about this guy named "Mystery" who teaches guys how to get dates, meet women, etc. It’s an evergreen topic. Parts of the show are shown on vh1.com. I don’t know if it’s must me being a middle-aged guy and all, or if the show is really as engrossing as I find it.

Normally, I don’t watch reality TV.

Anyway, one of Mystery’s big themes is that a guy (or girl) has to know how to project VALUE. For example, Mystery says the #1 indicator of value for a guy is a big smile. I’d never thought about it that way. But a smile projects confidence.

He goes on to talk about other indicators of value. The show is kinda addictive to watch. I’m really not into TV other than sports and anime. But there are so many parallels to marketing, it’s uncanny. I NEVER thought about the points he makes about social value. It really makes you think.

Basically, the same things that apply to marketing a product or service, apply to marketing a person.

So let’s say you’re starting out. You’re a newbie. And you have a product or service to sell. You gotta create perceived value for what you sell. Otherwise, you’ll be selling $7.00 info products all your life. Not that there’s anything wrong with 7 bucks. But you know, there isn’t a lot of perceived value there.

You create value through packaging, appearance, presentation, the pitch. And just by being convinced you really ARE offering something of value.

The other thing I’ll say about the TV show is I never knew that guy Mystery from Adam. But by virtue of the fact he’s now on TV, you assume what? The guy must know what he’s talking about.

This is why books, publicity, writing articles, and speaking engagements are crucial parts of an info product business. They all create the perception of value.

Opinion leaders read more than the average person. And they attend more social functions, seminars and networking events than others. So by putting out articles, books, info products and then speaking at events, you’re reaching the opinion leaders.

And those are the folks who influence the opinions of others. This is something few people understand about the info product business. Now, you know. Now, you’re on the inside.

Speaking at seminars, having info products, books, articles — these all build SOCIAL VALUE and proof. Mystery would be proud. By the way, all of the above are great tools for recruiting affiliates.

Now, maybe you can’t write or speak. But when you understand the whole principle behind social value, you can find OTHER ways to build it that DO work for you. If you haven’t read the book Influence by Caldini, it’s a must read.

And if you’re in the U.S. and happen to be up late at night like I often am, then maybe watch that Mystery guy. And you’ll learn a thing or two about social dynamics, creating perceived value and packaging the offer.

I realize if you’re a newbie or just getting into "the game", this may seem a little over your head. Sometimes I have to talk about more advanced topics to give the people who aren’t newbies something to chew on.

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://getyourprofits.com/

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Finally A Winning Formula for Making Money on the Web

Review of: The Amazing Formula

Reviewed by Robert G. Gardner, Ph.D

Sure, you should know better, but how many times have you been a victim of the �too good to be true� syndrome?�I know I�m not the Lone Ranger when I�m on the receiving end of those �Secrets of Getting Rich on the Internet!� e-mails that line up in my inbox.They show up almost every day, with screaming subject lines that are rich with promise: Absolutely Guaranteed! Surefire Success with Internet Marketing! Easy Money through Web Selling! And on and on.

Sometimes I blow these messages away instantly, without even thinking about it. Other times my curiosity (or boredom) gets the better of me and I open the file, follow the links, and spend a few minutes reading the hype. Then I go away disappointed. Lots of sizzle, but I'll have to pay a lot more if I want to taste the steak. If it's there at all! I've quickly reached the point where I don't know who to trust or what to believe. If it looks too good to be true, we're told over and over again, it probably is.Sound familiar?

But, if you�re like me, you're more than half serious about making money on the Internet. You may have little more than a web page and a desire to earn more with your computer. Yet, up to now there's been no real plan, no method to the madness. So you keep on searching for secrets you can use a little bit from this guru� and a little bit from that one. All the while, you're wishing for that no-nonsense, soup-to-nuts system that really works. One that's built from successful experience and that covers all the bases. No illusions, no bottled smoke, no magic bullets.

Call off the hounds! The search is over.

I just discovered Marlon Sanders The Amazing Formula that Sells Products Like Crazy. This carefully constructed, gem-packed e-book is the first common sense, how-to system on web-based product marketing I've seen yet. And believe me, with all those spam e-mails coming across my desktop, I've become an expert on what doesn't get it done for me!

First off, Marlon makes no assumptions about his reader's online sales know-how. And he offers no guarantee that his system will make anybody millions from selling products on the web. What he does produce is good, solid guidance (and there's plenty of it) on cutting through all the crap and getting down to business on the Internet. It's a roll up your sleeves and do it system that's worked for others in the same boat I'm in. If I follow the formula, I'll increase my odds for success. With a money-back guarantee. That's all anybody could ask for!

Just like a friend talking to you from across the dining room table, Marlon speaks with passion and conviction about a subject he obviously knows a lot about. And he shatters every myth the so-called experts have led me to believe about selling products on the Internet. Here's the biggest myth: Web marketing has to be complicated. It's not rocket science, Marlon tells us at the outset. Then again, he adds, rocket science isn't what makes you money.

No deep diving is required to get these pearls. Every step in Marlon's truly amazing formula is powerful in its simplicity. Here we have a ready-made cookbook for making money online, covering every aspect of web-site marketing. The whole lifecycle of the marketing process is completely and clearly described for you, including how to: understand the important Internet money equation for implementing the formula, obtain hot product ownership, write the killer sales letter, get and build a list, generate leads, create repeat business, and increase your sales ratio.

It's all there, in easy to digest sections that flow so smoothly you actually want to read on and get to the next step. Marlon's system is packed with real-life examples, quick-hit lists of reminders and action items, and links to web sites for more information on a topic he's discussing. Need information on franchise laws The book gives you the URL to click to and get the data immediately. The amazing formula's got it covered. How about a mailings program A web site is served right up.

Bottom line: The Amazing Formula that Sells Products Like Crazy really works. It promises an amazing formula for success and then delivers it to you in a way that will excite anyone looking to taste that steak behind the sizzle. This is a must-read for e-business entrepreneurs interested in learning from a pro at web-site marketing.

--Robert G. Gardner, Ph.D

Dr. Gardner writes professionally and, as such, was compensated for preparing this review.

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://getyourprofits.com/

Monday, September 10, 2007

How much of a genius do you have to be?

Ever wonder how much of a genius you have to be for your
marketing know how to pay off for you?

Here's a story that reveals the answer.

Today I ran into the lady who runs my local computer
repair shop.

"That banner you told me to put up WORKED! I've gotten 5
jobs from it just this week," referring to the big yellow
banner outside the shop reading "Virus Removal Experts."

Now, actually, the headline I gave her was along the lines
of "Viruses Removed -- Guaranteed!"

Or something like that.

But what she's running is working, so I ain't tellin' her
to change it anytime soon.

Flash back in time to 3 weeks earlier. We were talking
about how she could get more customers.

Drawing on my vast storehouse of marketing wisdom, I
inquired, "What's the #1 best seller you got around here?"

"Virus removal," she snapped back.

"See that blank spot on the sign out front? Will they let
you put anything on that?"

She replied with a skeptical tone, "Well, you'd have to
PAY for that. But they will let me hang a banner up."

Being the marketing genius I am, I replied, "How 'bout you
put somethin' up there on a yellow banner...like your
viruses Removed -- Guaranteed!

"...or perhaps....Viruses Removed in 48 Hours --
Guaranteed.

"Or...Free Virus Analysis."

I spouted off some blatantly obvious stuff like that
anyone with any knowledge of and skill in headlines
whatsoever coulda come up with.

Anyway, she put the yellow banner up with the relatively
lame "virus removal experts." And it paid off in spades.

"Next time you come in, your repair is free," she offered
generously.

Now, you may be thinking that all the money you spend on
ebooks, courses and so forth is a waste if you don't start
a business.

Look at it this way.

You can get a lot of free stuff like computer repair, dry
cleaning or whatever...Just by having the most basic,
simple understanding of marketing.

Anyway, I popped by later and showed her how to run an
editorial style ad dropping into a hotline followed up by
a series of letters ala Dan Kennedy/Jeff Paul model.

Again, this ain't rocket science stuff.

You shoulda seen her eyes light up.

Then I came up with a back end for her since her profit
margin is horrible.

And if you've studied headlines a little and know just the
basics of lead generation, you pretty much coulda done the
same.

How much of a genius do you gotta be to come up with a
headline like:

"What will YOU do when your wife, kids and friends see
P-O-R-N popup on YOUR computer? We get if off FAST!
Guaranteed. Or it's free."

See, all this marketing stuff might end up not bein' a
waste for you after all.

Fact is, with a little direct response knowledge, you can
appear to be a genius to a LOT of businesses.

Best Wishes,
Marlon Sanders

P.S. If you think I'm a genius for coming up with the
stuff above, you need to go through the Cash Like
Clockwork System.

Check out: http://getyourprofits.com/z/269/CD15727/

Sunday, September 09, 2007

"Emotional" Swipe File

Last week I said I'd tell you about a neat (and free) swipe file
resource.

And it's from a copywriter named Michael Morgan.

Mike's created some impressive winners over the last few years, and
he's come out with an extremely helpful resource he calls, "The
Emotional Swipe File."

Now, it's not a swipe file of "ads".

It's a swipe file of words.

Words that tap directly into specific emotions.

Like love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness, fear, and interest.

All very powerful emotions your prospects have.

And all you do is figure out which emotion you want to hit, find
the list of the corresponding words in his emotional swipe file, and
then use one of those words where appropriate.

Anyway, you can get a free copy of this awesome resource at:

http://www.magicmarketingwords.com

Sincerely,
Art

P.S. By the way, you will have to opt-in with your name and email
to get the emotional swipe file.

But I have no partnership or JV with Mike. He has no idea I'm
even plugging it. I just want you to have this resource because
it's so brilliantly useful.


Tired Of Looking Like This After Checking Your Daily Stats?

Is This Killing Your Sales

Are slow-loading pages and graphics killing your sales?

It's absolutely true.

I've seen studies where sales increased 3 and 4 times just
by making the pages load faster than a bolt of lightning.

In order to do that, you need some tools. And like the
postman, I'm here to deliver for you!

Here's a nifty little resource you may not know about.
It's free and fantastic. http://www.netmechanic.com

Net Mechanic has a gif bot that works really well to
shrink down slow-loading graphics on your web site.

They offer a free sample of their server monitoring
software. Nice stuff. Click free trial under "server
monitoring" and see how your web host stacks up.

Their server monitor will SNIFF OUT a slow server like a
hound dog and notify you that you have a dog server on
your hands that is ripping money right out of your pocket.

Slow servers kill sales.

Slow page feeds kill sales.

Don't let them kill your sales and kill your money.

A server is the computer that your web hosts puts your web
pages on. When people go to your URL or domain name, it
serves up the pages.

If it's slow when people go there, it costs you money. You
want to have fast pages. And for that, you need to make
sure your web host has you on a fast server.

If they don't, if you use Net Mechanic 2 or 3 times and
you get only a fair or poor rating, you may want to change
web hosts.

I like to test my web host on a busy day like Saturday.

I know this is a simple thing but fast loading pages are
very important.

We break many of our pages up into multiple tables to make
them load faster. The top table loads first....that means
people see something on their computer screen very
quickly.

They can start reading my sales letter right away while
the rest of it loads.

If you aren't familiar with tables, they are pretty
simple. Just read a basic book on Front Page or
Dreamweaver for help.

Find out how to create your very own products fast and
roll them out successfully with simple two-page web sites.

This is the step-by-step system I use in my OWN business.
And it's what I teach my friends to do.

Powerful stuff.

I'm serious.

I can tell anyone how to make money on the web in about 5
minutes. What I mean is not the nickel and dime stuff that
you read about in those free and cheapo ebooks.

I'm talking about the hard core stuff that really works.

For details, go to:
http://getyourprofits.com/

Saturday, September 08, 2007

How to See Through B.S. — Fast

When you're in the field of Internet marketing, the b.s. can fly fast and furious.

Let's say someone claims they're making all this money with niche sites. You can check out those claims.

Step 1: Check out their pay-per-click bids

Go to http://www.keycompete.com — Do they have any bids on pay-per-click ads? You can tell this with the FREE version. You don't need a subscription. You can also use Spyfu.com and keywordspy.com. You will see a very large variation in the results reported by those 3 tools. I'm not sure why that is.

Step 2: Check out the traffic of their domains

You can use: http://siteanalytics.compete.com

And, of course, alexa.com.

Step 3: Check out quantcast.com

You can see if Quantcast has anything on the domain or domains.

None of the above tests are conclusive. It's fair to say that in niches, the traffic may not appear on the radar. But, if there are no signs of traffic AND there are no ppc ads, you start to wonder if the person is REALLY making money on those sites.

Now, let's say the person is indeed getting traffic. Domaintools.com will give you an estimate of the number of visitors. So all you do is take that figure and multiply it by 1% to get an idea of the number of sales per month. Keep in milnd, they could be converting 1/2% or 4%. But probably, they're at 1% or 2%.

You can also use the above tools on the Clickbank Marketplace to get a better picture of how hot a product is or isn't. Now, if you see a giant spike of traffic, then the traffic disappears, that is fairly normal in today's market.

It's a sign of promoting the product to an in-house list or a big product launch via affiliates. So on the one hand you don't want to read too much into the above. But you will get an idea of whether or not someone is shooting straight with you.

Marlon

Friday, September 07, 2007

How To Submit Your Blog To The Social Networking Sites

Here's the URL:

http://www.onlywire.com/

Just go there and follow the easy and simple instructions.

Then, once you have it set up, bookmark your blog using onlywire and it'll hit all the social bookmarking services for you. It takes some time. And I don't know if it'll change your life or your traffic. But it's free. And you can use it on all your blogs and sites. So why not?

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

How To Find Demand

I want to talk today about the ONE step that most people get stuck at and never get beyond: How to FIND DEMAND.

Everything starts with finding out what people want. That’s like Amazing Formula 101.

The questions is HOW? And what about all the competition? And how do you have a quality product to sell?

Those are questions I’ve answered at length over time in my Milcer’s newsletters. I’m going to use the word product here to also mean service. You can use this formula to create either a product or service.

Method one: The complaints method

a. Find a group of people

b. Find out what they already buy

c. Find out their complaints about those things

d. Come up with something that solves the complaints

That’s one method.

Method two: The "target a group" method

Another is take a broad product and customize it to a specific group of people. So you customize a product to men or women or dentists, or teens, or senior citizens, or accountants. My friend Fione Tan is the "Internet Marketing guru" for Asia. So she’s targeting by geographic region.

Method three: Target the weakness of the leading product or service

Every product has a weakness. For example, "Armand’s Big Seminar". The obvious weakness is that it’s big, opening the door for the equivalent of "The Small Seminar."

Whatever the #1 weakness of the #1 product in the category is, that’s what you target.

Method four: The USP approach

USP = Unique Selling Proposition

You come up with a fresh angle. John Alanis did this with: womenapproachme.com.

That’s a fresh angle or USP. The other products are all about "How to meet women." He took the OPPOSITE angle of the most popular products being sold.

Method five: The "wants" approach

You get a bunch of people in the target market on a conference call. You interview them in depth on what it would take for them to buy a product. Then you create your product to those specs.

In MILCERS, I posted a teleconference before of me doing this live. The idea is that you meet the exact wants better than others do.

Method six: The "solve a problem" approach

You find a problem that the group as a whole has and you find a solution for it. The late Corey Rudl did this with Farrarri owners. He found out they all had a problem with hood ornaments being stolen. And they were expensive to replace. So he found a supplier for them overseas and started a little business that his dad still runs to this day as I understand it.

Method seven: The 12 product survey approach

You brainstorm your best 12 ideas and do a survey. This is the method I most often teach.

Best Wishes,
Marlon Sanders

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://getyourprofits.com/

Monday, September 03, 2007

Your 8 Minute Method To Get Affiliate Sales

Hi,

I found this audio that is FREE and will show you how to write an article in 8 minutes.

Once you write your article, here's what you do:

1. Once every few days, write an article and submit it using articlemarketer.com, or another article submitter

2. In the resource box of the articles, link to your BLOG or to a Squidoo.com page (these are free and easy to create).

You can create this using Blogger.com for FREE. Or you can use Wordpress. You can install a Wordpress blog on your server in 10 seconds using: http://www.installity.com

3. You can also write exclusive articles for ezinearticles.com. Be sure to link to your blog or Squidoo page.

4. On your blog or Squidoo page, you write reviews of the affiliate products you're promoting. And sprinkle your affiliate link in there a few times.

Do NOT link to the affiliate products directly from the articles you submit to the directories. Instead, promote your blog or Squidoo page and use THAT to promote your affiliate products.

Here's the link to the audio that tells you how to write these super duper promotional articles in 8 minutes:

http://articlemarketer.com/jumpin.php

It's worth your time to listen to.

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://getyourprofits.com/