Step 4: Advertising (Free, Paid & Funded)

Lets get this one handled first because whether you like it or not, you have to advertise or you will not survive in the modern online world. Now you have three choices here:
1. Free Advertising
2. Paid Advertising
3. Funded Advertising

Get Good Ad Copy: The first thing you need to do is create powerful ad copy. Your message must grab the viewer’s attention (powerful headline and sub-head). It must identify a want, need or a solution to a problem they have.

You are either giving someone something they want or need (not what you think they want or need and there is a difference) or you are providing them with a solution to a problem they have.

If you have completed step two of this series of articles you will have identified a need or want in the marketplace and then researched your competition and selected some powerful keywords.

Tip: If you cannot write good copy, get someone who can! This is critical to your online success. There are numerous places like elance.com and rentacoder.com where you can advertise your project and let other people from around the world bid on your job… and it won’t cost you the earth.

1. Free Advertising: This one is going to take some work on your part but if done correctly can generate massive traffic in the long run. So where do you start? Well one of the easiest ways is to post your ad onto free ad networks (just do a Google search for free ad networks and pick the top ones}

One we use and have had success with is US Free Ads particularly if you select the featured ad option.

Another couple of ways is to use free banner exchanges and advertising co-ops. Once again do a Google search for them and pick the top ones. You will probably find some of them will also show up when you do the free ad networks search.

2. Paid Advertising: This one requires you to open your wallet/purse so make sure you do your research first and, this includes reading the terms and conditions and learning how each system works.

This is extremely important when dealing with pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns like Google Adwords because if you get this wrong, it can cost you a lot of money. Make sure you are aware of the approximate bid price for all the keywords you are planning to use so you can set your daily budget.

Remember to do your keyword research first, it is no good getting a good bid price on a keyword that does not get any searches (refer to the research module in step 2)

3. Funded Advertising: This is where you set up system where potential prospects sign up to your list to receive a free gift. This can be in the form of a free e-book, software or product, the choice is up to you, just make sure it represents value to your prospect (make it worth opting into your list for)

This is how it works; you present a compelling free offer in return for someone opting into your list. After opting in, your prospect is then sent to a landing page where they are offered an upgrade or another compatible product at a special discounted price. Ideally you want to keep the price of this upgrade or product under $20.

You must give them the option to decline the offer (but if it is compelling enough they won’t). When they opt for the upgrade or product or, decide to decline, they are then sent to the download page to collect their free gift.

Now here is a crucial key, which if you do not utilize will cost you dearly, you must follow up with a thank you email congratulating them on downloading the free product and/or upgrade and offer some advice on how to get started using the product.

You continue with follow up emails, once a week or every few days, with powerful useful information, based on their need or want which you have now identified, that will take them a step closer to their goal (not yours). You can subtlety offer them additional products in these emails but DO NOT bombard them with offers or you will lose them… and fast.

The key here is quality content that they can use to further their goals. By doing it this way, you will build a relationship with them and they will learn to know, like and trust you. Then, when they are ready, they will start asking you for advice on the best products to use for specific projects. This is where you become the hunted instead of the hunter and this, in Internet and Network Marketing, is a powerful position to be in.

Step 2: Research Your Competition (Keyword & SEO
Analysis)

Before you even consider starting your online marketing efforts you need to do some research.

>>>Click Here For More About Market Samurai Keyword Research<<<

You need to find out what people want, source a supply of that product and provide to your hungry audience. This is extremely important in affiliate marketing (selling other people’s products)

And, if you already have your own product, you need to find out whether your product is in demand. Do people want or need what you have to offer? It doesn’t matter that YOU think it’s the best thing since sliced bread, if nobody else thinks so; you are dead in the water. There must be a demand for what you are offering.

So how do we find out if our product is in demand? You need to do some research. You need to identify whether there is a demand for your product or service. The easiest way is to jump onto a search engine like Google and type in the type of product or service you are offering into the search bar and see what comes up.

Do not get caught in the trap of “our products are unique and no-one else in the marketplace has what we have got” syndrome. The truth is, there are millions of websites out there and you can bet there is someone else selling your product or something very similar competing for your customers. Do your due diligence and find out who they are.

Getting to know your competition is power. If you know who and what
else is in your marketplace, you will be easily able to identify your USP (unique selling point), and focus your marketing around that. So type into the search box what you think people would type to find your product.

Now if you look to the right at the top of the page you will see the total amount of websites vying for that phrase you typed in. For example, if I typed in the phrase “help with stress” it says: Results 1 – 10 of about 107,000,000 for help with stress. If there is no websites vying for your phrase, then there is no or very little demand for your product because no one is searching for it.

Now look at the top three websites listed in your search; read their headlines, sub-heads and first few paragraphs in the body text. What need, want or solution are they offering their readers? What keywords are they using?

Hot Tip: Find a blank spot of the home page and right click with your mouse and select ‘view page source’ and you will be presented with the HTML code. Near the top of the page you will see the keywords they are using. Now don’t just copy and use them because some are probably useless. Just make a note of them.

Now you utilize a keyword research tool like Google’s Search-Based Keyword Tool to find related keywords to the keyword you have selected. When searching for keywords you are initially looking for two things; supply and demand.

1. Supply pertains to your competition, which is, how many websites are using the keywords you are targeting in their pages? Less is better here (30,000 or less)

2. Demand pertains to how many people are typing in those keywords when searching on Google and other search engines. How many people are searching for that keyword? More is better here (min. 80 searches per day)

This will allow us to get an accurate estimate on how many people search for these keywords and how many websites exist around these keywords. So what you are looking for are keywords with high traffic and low competition.

There are a lot of questions that need to be answered before you can determine whether your keyword has a marketing edge over your competition such as:

• What is the SEO potential of your keywords?
• What is the phrase-to-broad match of your keywords?
• What is the monthly trends of keywords?
• Adwords traffic your keywords might attract
• How many people would likely click on your page with that
  keyword?
• How much would you expect to pay for the keyword in PPC
  campaigns?
• How many websites are competing for that keyword?
• How many people use that keyword in PPC ad campaigns?
• What is the potential value of that keyword (how much could
  it make you)?

Now before you start pulling your hair out screaming ‘I thought he said this was simple’, these are tactics that will give you an unfair advantage over your competition because 90% just are not doing this sort of research.

Yes, this is very time consuming stuff however, there is a solution. For a small investment into your business you can get access to software that will do all the above and more for you with a click of a few buttons… now that’s simple! Check Out The Software Here!

So now you have your high-traffic, low-competition keywords for your product. Now we need to look at how to get online… bookmark this page by adding to your favourites or subscribe to my RSS Feed (its free of course) to receive each instalment as it is posted. Not sure what an RSS Feed is or how to subscribe? Check out this cool YouTube video. Which shows you how.

Step 1: Getting The Right Mind-Set

There is a particular mind-set you will need to develop in order to succeed online and, while a good off-line business mind-set is useful, there are a few different things we need to master first.

Do not skip this step. If you think you already have or do not need the mind set, then you are the one that needs this step the most. Remember this is a process, and in order for the process to work you need to play by the rules.

Do all the steps because if you don’t, you can bet that the one you skip will be the one that will trip you up later.

Your first step to getting the right mind-set for small business Internet marketing is to get educated. Take the training course, paid and free ones, because they will help you avoid a lot of the pit-falls. Learn how to build landing and thank you pages, how to write articles for article directories, how to build and maintain a blog.

But first and foremost you need to have the right mind-set, the right understanding on how things work and how to deal with setbacks and challenges. Attend one of Chris Howard’s free weekend events and discover your passion and how to build your business around that.

Read Your Way To The Right Mind-Set

There is a very powerful book written approximately 100 years ago that holds some very powerful keys to developing your mind-set. This is the same book that many of the best selling success books like “The Secret’ are based upon. The secret is there is no secret, just a 100-year-old book with some sound wisdom.

This book can teach you how to unleash the power of your mind to manifest anything you desire in life. I know that is a big statement but once you grasp and apply the principles described in this book, you will have the right mind set to succeed in whatever you choose to set your mind to.

The name of that book is “The Science of Getting Rich” written by Wallace D Wattles in 1910. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Wattles

The original book has since been updated to reflect today’s modern age but without compromising the original message. In fact the author (Sean Rasmussen) assures us that the meaning and conviction, which Wattles intended, has not been changed or compromised.

Sean Rasmussen calls the edited and updated book “The Secret Law of Attraction”. Sean has built a successful online business based on the concepts revealed in this book and, as an internet marketer and coach, firmly believes that this book will create the mind set needed to become successful and create the betterment of yourself and those important to you.

Sean has made this updated, edited version of the book available for free as a part of his commitment to “paying it forward”. Sean has graciously allowed us to also “pay forward” the book to you. It is available in PDF format here!

If you say you can’t do it, you’re right! If you say can, you’re right! Your subconscious mind cannot differentiate between can and cannot, it can only work with what you give it, what you focus on.

Where is your focus? Creating the correct mind-set is more than just about convincing yourself you can achieve something… its about believing it is possible to achieve your dreams regardless of your background or present circumstances.

And believing is not wishing or hoping. Have you ever noticed how we wish and hope for something but deep down we never expect it to happen?

And if it does, we think we got lucky. Well guess what? We will always get what we expect and very rarely what we wish and hope for. So how do you shift your mindset from wishing and hoping to expect what you want?

Well first you want to be clear about what you want and then you need to become emotionally involved with the outcome you are expecting.

Picture yourself already in possession of the thing you want or being in the place where you want to be. Notice how you feel when you picture yourself with what you want or where you want to be… that’s the emotional energy that will make it happen.

Now you may get others close to you say it is not possible and, you may start to doubt yourself. This is where you need to be strong… focused. Whenever doubt rises, counter it with picturing yourself in possession and let the emotion of already having it permeate your whole being and eventually it will be so.

“A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person convinced of it.” -Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)

The most powerful way to get the right mindset is to read the books, listen to the CDs and DVDs and, attend the seminars that teach you the techniques. There have been and are many great teachers that can teach you how to get the right mindset. People like Wallace Wattles, Napoleon Hill, Anthony Robbins, Werner Erhardt, Bob Proctor, Eckhart Tolle, Og Mandino and Stuart Wilde to mention a few.

Some Recommended Reading:

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

The Cash-Flow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

A Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

Life Was Never Meant To Be A Struggle by Stuart Wilde

Affirmations by Stuart Wilde

Personality Plus by Florence Littauer

The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Freedom: The Courage to Be Yourself by OSHO

We know we did! We wanted to get out of 9-5 jobs and start living life today… not when we were in our 60s. But we needed an income coming in every month with little to no effort because to be honest, who wants to leave one career and start a new one from the bottom again?

As soon as we looked at Internet Marketing we were hooked! But then came all the hours, the packages, the courses and the questions! We all of a sudden felt like a fly trapped in a spider web. You can easily get caught if you don’t know the signs of when you are looking at the real deal or just being “conned”.

After studying numerous courses (and yes we got caught on a few) and spending thousands of dollars, we discovered there really is no “easy’’ answer but there is a way to get you there faster, and it’s all in getting and using the right tools… and actually using them!

Do you have what it takes to live the dream and make money online?

We have found a way to get out of the 9 to 5 rat race and we are now offering everyone the programs and tools so they can do it too. We have it, and we want you to have it for FREE! Yep, FREE!!!!!! No hidden costs, or traps, YOU just follow the steps and YOU choose where to spend your money.

Introducing the Internet Marketing Dummies Course designed to help you make money from home. Some of the tools you can use for free and others, we are going to let you try out for 14 days for only $1. If YOU think a particular tool we recommend will work for your business, you choose to purchase it.

Get started on our Free Internet Marketing Dummies course now by registering here:

We will send you regular emails to keep you up to date with all the latest tools and marketing strategies that will help you with your online business and much of it will be FREE… I like the sound of that!

Don’t have a website or never been online? No sweat! We have put together an easy, step-by-step guide to help you get online fast and make money  from home even if you have no idea how. You can access the guide and a host of other resources right here.

Hello, my name is Paul Holcroft and, together with my business partner Annie Murdoch, we have been studying how this whole online marketing game works over the past few years.

We have participated in many seminars, online training courses and coaching programs, and joined many different programs to further our education and understanding of what makes everything tick and how to fit it all together to work like a well-oiled machine.

What we were looking for was to create a simple easy-to-use program that anyone, mums, dads, friends, business owners, could follow in a simple step-by-step process to achieve the best possible chance of succeeding in an online business. We believe we have come up with the perfect structure to get online fast and start making money, which is what we are all after, right?

We only bring to the table quality products and services that will benefit your business and give you that “competitive edge” that everyone seeks in business.

Something isn’t worth doing unless done well! If you are going to build it, build it with integrity and passion… and be magnificent!