The Guru Hub

Posts Tagged ‘Lot’

When I first started to market online everything was trial and error. I didn’t know where to start but I did know that I was going to jump right in and figure it out. That seems to be the best way for me, don’t procrastinate, just jump right in. So that is what I did. Little did I know how complicated things could be.

Talk about being overwhelmed! Everything was an hour or two to learn or a day or two to set up. Nothing was simple but that was OK because I was determined to learn how to do this.

About two weeks into it I came across a site called Site Build It. It looked really simple to follow and I didn’t have to be an expert at HTML. It was a bit more expensive than GoDaddy or other sites but offered much more in tutorials and step by step SEO information. This really cut my learning curve in half.

Now I no longer use SBI because I don’t need too. I have become proficient enough at SEO and HTML, Wordpress, Joomla and the like to not need all the tutorials and step by step help. This enables me to save some money by going through GoDaddy and Host Gator. But I would have never got to that point without SBI.

The reason I am saying this is because using information that others have put out there is a great way to save you time and money! Don’t reinvent the wheel when getting started. Use what is already out there. I liken it to my golf game. I fought a slice for 15 years and was embarrassed to go to a pro for help. When I finally did he had me straighten out in 30 minutes. Now, it took a lot of practice on my part afterward, but the point is, I could have save myself 15 years of aggravation and had a lot more fun if I would have just sucked it up and went to a pro early on.

If you are just starting out on line, take a look through the video’s and articles I have posted in this blog  as they should give you a pretty good head start to your online marketing.

Have you had a simlar experience? Leave me a comment below or if you have a specific question please post it below and hit the submit button and I will do my best to answer it.

****some of the links on this page are affiliate links and if you purchase something I could make a small fortune -:)

So…. your good friend recommends a product that she purchased and is having good luck with. You purchase the product without hesitation because you trust her opinion. Has this ever happened to you? If so, you are the beneficiary of word-of-mouth advertising.

This technique works well online as well. Here, it is called viral marketing. Marketing that is ignited by the spread of your product through “hyper” social channels online. Free Reports re a great way to get your own  viral campaigns up and running fast.

The reports we are talking about are special reports. They are usually around five to ten pages in length. In them, readers will find a wealth of information on a topic of interest. For you, the topic has something to do with your business niche.

Viral advertising only works when the product that you offer has mass appeal. This means that people will want to share it with others once they see it. It can be a unique twist on an old subject, something funny or something interactive. With reports, they can present a new twist, make someone laugh and provoke thoughtful discussion.

Hey, where can you find a report like that? You are going to write it. You don’t have to be a great writer to produce a free report worth reading. The best tool that you have is the fact that you know a lot about your niche. Your business is your passion and whatever you write needs to convey that passion.  The most interesting reports are those that offer something that the reader doesn’t already know or something that they need.

What do you want to accomplish with the free report? It can be a list of potential clients, a bigger sale or even a sign up for something else free like a trial membership or trying out a new product. Your answer to this question leads to your landing page. This is where you advertise your free report and give reasons why the reader needs to opt-in to receive it.

Your free report will touch off a viral storm but you need to let people know about it. It’s like using promotion to help you interest people in a product that will further promote your website. It sounds complicated but actually isn’t at all.

Are you familiar with article marketing? That’s when you write articles about your niche and submit them to article directories. At the end, you’ll include a link in our bio box that leads to your website business. With the free reports, you’ll write articles about the same subject as the report and link to the landing page so readers who like your article and find the free report.

How about your existing customers? They have already bought products from you and know how great you are. Send them an email with the link to your landing page. Do the same for your friends, associates and, if you have an affiliate program, your affiliates.

People like to get free items, but they also want them to be worth their time. Use interesting free reports to jumpstart a viral marketing campaign and drive traffic to your site.

John Carlton takes copy writing to a whole new level. If you are interested in learning how to write great copy from one of the masters, I highly recommend visiting John Carlton’s Official Blog (it is free).

Kevin Rogers was a stand up comedian for a while and wrote a nice post on the inner working of being a bartender in Chicago. It draws a great parallel to our direct selling market and how bar customers can teach us a lot about marketing. Give it a read.