No Website, No List, No Product - No Sales?

When I started my online business in 2002 1 of the most popular and effective headlines for business opportunities was "You don't need a website, a list or even a product to ...". And guess what. That headline is still 1 of the most popular and effective ones used to get people to join things.

Now back in 2002 when I was first starting out that headline was true just like it is today. However there is 1 thing this no product, list or product headline doesn't tell you and not knowing this 1 thing is why most people using only free affiliate and opportunity web pages fail.

And the 1 thing is...

If you don't have any of these things you will have to either:

• Know how to effectively use and have enough money to use the pay-per-click advertising services that allow affiliate and business opportunity pages or
• Know how to use free social networking sites like blogs, MySpace or Squidoo effectively or
• Know how get traffic through forums or large classified ad sites or
• Know how to write effective articles and submit them to article directories or
• Know how to get others to drive traffic to your sales or opportunity page using partnerships or list building services.

And why do you need to know how to do 1 or more of these things effectively?

Because you need to get traffic to your free page just like those who own their own websites.

The only differences are that you have fewer choices on how to get that traffic and less bargaining power when it comes to making partnerships. (There is 1 other difference and that is you'll have a smaller conversion rate from the traffic you do get because you didn't have a chance to do any pre-selling.)

Now most people fall for the "No..." headline because it makes it sound like making money online is free and easy. But it's not.

If it's free - It's not easy!

If it's easy - It's not free!

And since most don't have the "big bucks" to make it easy, they go the free way.

Now there's nothing wrong with going the "free" way. It just takes more time and work and less anonymity.

And while most are willing to put in the time and work they choose to remain anonymous. They want to be a nameless person offering a fantastic product or opportunity that no one can refuse. They spend hours submitting free classifieds and surfing the traffic exchange programs and may even spend a few dollars on ezine ads.

And what do they get for all this work?

Very little or nothing.

To be successful online you need a name. And you need your name to be recognized by others as someone who is knowledgeable and trustworthy.

Spending all your time writing and sending anonymous ads for generic free affiliate and opportunity pages won't make you successful. You need to join into the global web community by offering good information with your name on it. Post to your community pages, submit articles, participate in forums, comment on blogs, anything! But get your name out in front of as many people as you can, as often as you can so it's recognized as someone who should be listened to.

Yes, it's true. To be successful online you do not need a website. You do not need a list. And you definitely don't need to have your own product. But you do need a name. It's after your name is recognized and you are trusted as a person who knows what they're talking about and offers good advice that your business will start becoming successful.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. You have 2 opportunities every month and 1 opportunity every week to get some name recognition in the FriendsWhoCare Newsletter. Are you using any of them?

P.P.S. What do you think about this tip? Please leave a comment.

Tags: no website, no list, no product, no sales, name branding, branding, traffic, free traffic, affiliate page, business opportunity

Is This 4 Letter Word Stopping You?

Today's tip comes in a free downloaded report that I received from David Bullock. There are no affiliate links and there is no sales pitch for any product. In fact, the only link in the report is the 1 for signing up for future updates however, this information is timeless.

Why I am passing on this free report rather than writing my own tip or re-writing his information? Because...

1. This report is short and well written. And as they used to say where I worked, "If it's not broke don't fix it." Since the report is "right on", it doesn't need fixed.


2. Like you, I can relate to David's statement that he included in his email to me about this report,
   "Did you know that for over 6 years.. I didn't make a dime online?.. nope it was zilch... nada... nothing..."



3. While I didn't go for over 6 years, I can relate to those dry spells where you don't make any money and again, this report is "right on.
   
   "This report really hit me. There's 1 bolded sentence in it that sums it up...
   
   "People who ... make money. People who ... don't."
   
   I'm not going to fill in the blanks. You'll have to read the report for that. But I'll say that these 2 statements should be printed out and put somewhere where you can read them every day. Oh, and don't try to guess what the missing words are because odds are, you'll guess wrong.

Get Report

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think of the information inside this free report.

Tags: free report, make money, why online businesses fail

"When Less Is More"

We've all heard the saying, "The more the better." And in internet marketing we've heard things like, "The more targeted traffic the better." "The more interested subscribers on your list the better." "The more content the better."

Unfortunately, the internet marketing mores don't always translate easily into what they really mean. For instance, "The more targeted traffic the better" actually means -
The more targeted traffic the better. And "The more interested subscribers on your list the better" means -
The more interested subscribers on your list the better.
While "The more content the better" should be read as -
"The more relevant content the better."

Sure, having lots of traffic and subscribers is a good thing. However, having 1,000,000 site visitors or subscribers who have no interest in what you're saying isn't worth as much as 500 targeted site visitors or 500 interested subscribers.

Taking this "less is more" concept a step further, let's look at content.

"Content is king" and "Search engines love new content" are 2 common phrases you hear in internet marketing advice. And while both these statements are true they leave out the most important concept - relevance.

Relevant content is the king and what search engines are looking for. Just because you, the owner of a site on gerbils, are also interested in small-engine-repair doesn't mean all gerbil enthusiasts are also interested. And just because you've decided to put content about small-engine-repair on your gerbil site doesn't mean it will help you with the search engines.

Expanding the "less is more" idea, let's look at ads on our index or home page. Now while some might think that if they put lots of ads for a wide variety of products on their main page then surely some of their site visitors will find something they want and buy it.

Wrong - Wrong - Wrong

Wrong because people recognize ads for what they are and don't like to be sold to.

Wrong because lots of ads give the impression that you're just out to sell them something.

Wrong because offering a wide variety of products just confuses people and makes them leave your site quickly.

As the internet keeps getting bigger and bigger every day, the "less is more" concept becomes more and more important. Just as in the field of medicine where doctors are specialists rather than general practitioners, the modern online marketer must also become a specialist in their carved out niche.

A few years ago the big names in internet marketing were able to take the general practitioner approach to online marketing because there wasn't much competition. Today this is no longer true and all the well known internet marketing gurus have become specialists and so must you.

No matter what niche you've chosen you must learn to apply the "less is more" principle to your business. Don't try to give everything to everyone because it can't be done. Instead, become a specialist who can provide the best content and products to those who are interested in the little chunk of the internet you've carved out for yourself.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. Rosalind Gardner, Brad Callen and Rob Benwell all know and use the "less is more" principle and are well know specialists in their respective niches.

P.P.S. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Tags: traffic, targeted traffic, list, subscriber, build list, content, search engine, content is king, niche, target market, affiliate marketing.niche marketing

"The Worth Of A Word"

It's been said that a picture is worth a 1,000 words, but, how much is a word worth?

Homebased Your Super Power Mall Income romance read Love Free advertising tools Residual Income FriendsWhoCare Autoresponder Beginners Flyfishing poetry AffiliateMarketing wizardfreeclickgoldkey AffiliateMarketingSecrets CANDLES BestLookMeUp Marketing Pond Backdoor Common Sense Living The Whole Truth about Network Marketing free online mall FREE TRAFFIC Internet Marketing Foreclosures Natural Healing Chick-lit Foreclosure control the internet WomenMarketers

To discover how much a word is worth let's have a short internet advertising history lesson.

A little over 2 years ago a young college kid named Alex Tew launched a pixel page, http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/, and within 4 month he sold all his pixels and earned $1,000,000.

The minimum price to buy space on Alex's page was $100 and the advertiser was promised their pixels would be online until August 26, 2010.

Now if you take a look at the milliondollarhomepage your eyes may want to pop out because it's full of crowded colors, images, links, etc. In fact, many would consider it a web designers worst nightmare.

But...

By the time that page had sold all it's pixels it had a Google page rank of 7. And now, more than 2 years later, it still has a page rank of 6.

About a year after Alex's pixel page, Joel Comm's launched his 500 Words word cloud page. It was similar to the pixel page however, since search engines can't see picture, he offered to sell words, something search engines can see.

The base price for Joel's word cloud page was $100 although the average cost was usually closer to $200. Like the pixel page, this page was to last at least 5 years and it sold out quickly (within a month).

After Joel had set up his site he started to sell the software that created it and comments like these started to be seen on forums:

"These word cloud pages will NEVER replace PPC ads or affiliate banner ads". "How DARE Joel sell this script for so much money." (it IS a bit spendy at around $800, with two knockoff scripts out now under $200). "These pages are scams." "Advertisers beware - You won't get any traffic." "Google will ban these pages."

Well, it's been over 2 years for Alex's site and over a year for Joel's site and guess what? They are both still there and they both still have a decent page rank!

Now I didn't get in on either of these 2 pages so I can't tell you how much direct traffic you can get from advertising on them. What I can tell you is 1 of the real added benefits from having a link on either of them.

All those who made the 5 year investment of $100 or more now have a 1-way link to their site on a page with a very good page rank. If they spent $200 dollars to get a bigger, bolder or more colorful link that averages out to about $3.33 a month.

But because not all pixel and word cloud pages are created equally, here are

7 things you should consider before you rush out and start buying links

1. What is the theme of the page? The best traffic will come from a page with a specific target audience.


2. How is the page rank for the page? A page with a good page rank will be worth more.
   
3. How many links are being offered. If they are offering more than 100 links then the search engines will treat them like a link farm and they won't do to well.


4. What types of links are allowed? If they offer adult sites, do you want your link on the same page?


5. How does the page owner intend to get traffic to this page, especially after they've sold all the pixels or words?


6. Does the site offer content, a blog or a contest? These things will help in getting new traffic to the site and page.
   
7. Is the word cloud or pixel page visible on more than 1 page or site? The more the better for getting click-thrus.

So how much is a word worth?

On a page that has a good page rank and gets some good targeted traffic, a word can be worth a lot more than you have to pay.

To Your Success,
Susan

P.S. If you don't have the budget to buy a word on a word cloud page then don't. You're always welcome to get a free word with all the trimmings on our FriendsWhoCare word cloud.

Tags: word cloud, tag cloud, pixel ad