iDeborah

It took me all of 3 minutes to create my IM Faceplate.  Within minutes of stumbling across a new service that enables online business owners to communicate with their tribe, I had my IM Faceplate started.  IM Faceplate is a new service from Logiscape that offers a refreshing advance in social networking.  I just created my free faceplate and urge you to get your free IM Faceplate today!

Many online entrepreneurs struggle to get their message out and with so many competing social messaging services, it’s easy to see why.  IM Faceplate is a different breed of social networking but with a twist.

IM Faceplate members have the ability to add articles, videos and special spotlights in addition to tying in their RSS feeds and Twitter feeds for automatic updates.  And a really cool feature that I haven’t seen integrated on too many sites is the ability to add your own eZine opt-in.  So instead of trying to entice people back to your main hub site or blog to sign up for your newsletter, they can opt-in right on your IM Faceplate!  That’s a fantastic option to build into your profile!

IM Faceplate enables you to easily integrate all of your social media accounts.  Within a few minutes of creating your free IM Faceplate account, you can have your feeds integrated and online ready to connect with your followers.

Get your free IM Faceplate

Like it’s social media counterparts (think Twitter and Facebook), IM Faceplate is free but you do have the option of upgrading to a Pro account for $14.95 per month.  I haven’t upgraded my account yet so can’t comment on the features of the pro account.

IM Faceplate also offers a feature called “facepoints”.  As you and your visitors interact with your favorite faceplate, you earn facepoints.  Facepoints is a reward system and turn into a type of popularity rating.  The more facepoints you earn, the more exposure you receive throughout the IM Faceplate community.  There are a few names I recognize on the IM Faceplate community page already.

IM Faceplate is a new social networking service that launched on June 29, 2010 and if the initial buzz is any indication, it will grow quickly. I urge you to get your free IM Faceplate today… or at the very least lock up your preferred user name or brand name.  It’s easy to do and only takes a few seconds to sign up.  Get your free IM Faceplate

If you’ve been paying attention to your inbox lately, you’ve probably received a half dozen or more emails about Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula 3.  Every major marketer has been keeping you up to date on the launch by sending out the videos that Jeff produced and the race to claim your cookie was on.  Everyone is talking about Product Launch Formula 3 – and they should as it’s a good product that demystifies the secrets of product launches and helps online entrepreneurs create a launch campaign of their own.  I’ve had the chance to use one of the previous versions of Product Launch Formula and helped a client successfully launch his first product following the strategies outlined in the course.

Jeff Walker did a great job of compiling all the knowledge he’s learned from the launches he’s had experience with and gives you a behind the scenes look at the types of major problems that may occur behind the official public face of launches that you normally don’t see. Product Launch Formula 3 walks you through all of the potential product launch pitfalls to make sure they don’t happen on your own launch. Problems like deals falling apart at the last minute before a launch, epic server crashes, payment processors shutting down and much much more are all explained and you’re given a road map on how to avoid them.

Product Launch Formula is a good product, the only drawback being that the price tag may be out of reach for many online entrepreneurs who are just starting their online business.

An Affordable Alternative: Create a Buzz Army

One of the strategies that Jeff Walker outlines in his Product Launch Formula is an internal launch. An internal launch is when you create a product and launch it to your own prospect list. He also talks about the other main product launch strategy: joint-venture (JV) partnerships.

If you’re a new online business owner, your prospect list may still be in the growth stage and your business may still be too small to leverage the power of a large JV launch.

But you can still get others to promote you by creating what I refer to as a Buzz Army.

A Buzz Army is my term for an active affiliate program.  If you have active affiliates, they are are working hard to create buzz about your products and services.  All of their tweets, blog posts, and broadcasts to their followers work to drive traffic to your products.

I really believe that if you have your own product to sell online, you only need to focus on ONE traffic strategy!

Instead of trying to do a gazillion things to drive traffic to your site, there is a very simple, very effective approach: focus on the ONE thing that really matters, the ONE thing that produces the greatest results, the ONE thing that will get you all the traffic you’ll ever need.

And that ONE thing is to…

Start, Strengthen and Spread Your Own Affiliate Program

It doesn’t get any easier than that.  In fact, all the Product Launch Formulas in the world won’t help you if you don’t have prospects eager to buy your products or services.  So let’s take a look at how to start your own Buzz Army:

Step 1: START Your Affiliate Program: There is one major reason why you need to start your own affiliate program that stands head and shoulders above the rest: every traffic generation concept (past, present and future) can be done FOR YOU, BY OTHERS if you have your own affiliate program in place.

Instead of you working with PPC ads and you working on the SEO stuff and you buying the solo mailings, you can get others to do this FOR YOU as a member of your affiliate program.

You need to start your own affiliate program and you need to start one TODAY!

Step 2: STRENGTHEN Your Affiliate Program: After establishing your affiliate program, it’s important to “strengthen” it.  That is, you will need to train your affiliates to do all of the marketing for you.  You’ll also need to provide them with marketing materials such as brandable PDF reports, articles, advertisements, banners, videos, etc.

But, let’s take this another step.

Instead of loading some marketing and training materials to your affiliate center and leaving it up to your affiliates to figure out how to use them, why not point out how to use them?

You’ll be SHOCKED to see what this one additional step can mean to your bottom line.

But, you could take it even another step further.

How about offering to personally train 10 affiliates in how best to promote your offer?  You could teach one how to use ezine advertising; another how to buy PPC ads in numerous engines; still another how to distribute ezine articles.

In fact, you could even purchase a copy of the latest traffic tool or manual for one of your affiliates and get them involved in using it to promote you!

Can you imagine the impact?

Step 3: *SPREAD* Your Affiliate Program: Finally, you want to continue growing your program by recruiting more and more affiliates. As your numbers grow, so will your results.

The bottom line is simple: instead of “juggling” a bunch of different traffic ideas, a much more effective use of your time is to focus on ONE source of traffic: your own affiliate program, your own Buzz Army.

Juggling is great for clowns, but lousy for internet marketers.

Don’t be a clown when it comes to your business.

Sales Army Secrets: How to Get Your Own Buzz Army

Okay, so you know you need an active affiliate program because it’s the key to driving traffic to your site. But the process of starting your own affiliate program is a mystery to you.

Not anymore!

In Sales Army Secrets™, you will learn exactly how to start, sustain and spread your own affiliate program to get traffic to your web site!

If you want to add affiliate sales for your product (without spending a gazillion bucks on high-priced “home study courses” which leave you with more questions than money), then this is the announcement you’ve been waiting for

Everything you need to know about running your own affiliate program is included in this 105-page Sales Army Secrets™ course…

SETTING UP YOUR AFFILIATE PROGRAM. In the shortest chapter of the manual, you’ll get a quick recommendation for getting your affiliate program up and running within 48-72 hours. (Note: If you already have your own affiliate program, you can skip this initial chapter.)

CREATING AN AFFILIATE CENTER . You’ll learn the exclusive Affiliate C4™ methods for igniting explosive sales from your sales army. This is where 85% of affiliate program managers blow it and never see the sales they desire.

FINDING MOTIVATED AFFILIATES . If this isn’t THE largest list of ways to find affiliates, then it certainly is one of the largest lists. Revealed are a whopping 20 different ways to find affiliates (even “super” affiliates) to recruit into your affiliate program.

GETTING AFFILIATES TO SAY “YES” . You’ll discover exactly how to get affiliates to agree to join your affiliate program and begin promoting your offers. This is THE hardest part of the process, but it’s made super easy for you by sharing the proven effective methods the top “gurus” use.

KEEPING AFFILIATES ACTIVE . It’s never enough to find and recruit affiliates … you want them to remain actively involved in promoting your products and services for months and even years to come. In this section, you’ll learn many proprietary ideas for keeping affiliates active in your program instead of your competition’s program!

EXPANDING YOUR PROGRAM AUTOMATICALLY . In this section of the course you’ll learn some creative ways to recruit affiliates “indirectly” as you continue to multiply both the number of new affiliates coming in and the number of sales coming in!

WORKING WITH AN AFFILIATE MANAGER . More about this shortly, but there’s an entire chapter (well worth the price of the course by itself!) on the subject of hiring an affiliate manager (without investing any out of pocket expense) to run your entire program for you!

And that’s just the “broad” picture of what’s included in this one-of-a-kind (truly, “one-of-a-kind”!) course.

If you want THE authoritative digital guide on the subject of affiliate program management, with dozens upon dozens of original ideas that you’ve never heard before on how to get thousands of other people sending you traffic and generating orders for you, with information that you simply cannot find elsewhere… click here to order a copy of Sales Army Secrets TODAY!

 

 

 

I’ve been dabbling with online video for a few years now.  If you scroll through the archives, you’ll find several of my step-by-step screen capture video tutorials that have been posted both on my blog as well as distributed through the different video sharing sites like YouTube and Viddler to name a few.  I’ve been a little reluctant to post videos of myself but in the next few months you’ll probably see a few videos popping up that feature me, rather than just screen capture technology.  So keep an eye on this space for more videos and brand new tutorials coming your way.

In the meantime, let’s talk about online video and its ability to connect with your audience, help increase your traffic, and boost your profits.

A Powerful Tool To Build Your Tribe

One of the most powerful tools you can use to build connections with your followers or your tribe is online video.  The power of online video comes from its transparency.  Online video let’s your character shine through much more readily than mere words written on a blog post.  Look at it this way: if you’re a regular blogger, you’ll quickly establish yourself as an expert.  You can share your expertise and educate your followers easily, allowing you an avenue of sharing facts.  Add audio to the mix and you’re upping the transparency.  Not only can your tribe learn valuable information from you, but they can start to get a sense of your language and your tonality and start to get a clearer picture of who you are.

With online video, there’s another step up in transparency.  Your followers can see who you are.  They can see your personality and your character.  With video you’re able to connect with people, not only on a factual level (based on the information that you’re sharing) but on an emotional level.  Your personality, emotions and motivations come shining through much more easily in online video than with just the written word.

In a nutshell, videos allow you to connect one-on-one with your followers.  It feels more intimate, more personal than any other method of online communication.  It’s the closest you’ll get to a live face-to-face meeting with your audience.

Do The Math

If you’re not currently using online video in your marketing efforts, you’re missing out on a key traffic source that can help boost your business.  Let’s look at the numbers:

• There are 1.73 billion internet users worldwide.  The North American market represents 20% of the worldwide total.
• In the US, 83% of internet users view online video.
• The average viewer views 182 online videos per month.

If you’re leveraging online video, you have the potential to reach a lot of internet users.  As the technology to create online video becomes easier to use and more affordable, the reach is only going to increase.

Here’s a great little video that provides a powerful insight on the state of the internet:

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from JESS3 on Vimeo.

Video=Traffic=Sales

Okay so we know we have the potential to reach a large market with online video.  But how does this translate to traffic and, more importantly, to sales.

It’s a well known fact that a keyword optimized and targeted video is about 50x more likely to appear on the 1st page of Google.  So if you’re using video effectively and have a good understanding of the keywords your target market uses, video is a great traffic generator.

But what happens once those visitors reach your site?

Research has shown that most websites sites convert 1% or less of visitors.  So of all the traffic that you send to your site, only 1% will convert into a subscriber or a buyer.  The rest leave without providing their contact information or making a purchase.  What if you could convert a mere 2x more visitors?  My experience has shown that with the simple addition of video, you could easily engage an additional 20% of your visitors and convert them into leads.

Online video works because it allows you to leverage the psychology of the online buyer.  Let’s face it, people need to know you, like you, respect you and trust you — long before they buy a single thing from you.

As I mentioned earlier, video is the closest thing you’ll get to a one-on-one connection with your tribe.  But instead of reaching only one person, local to your geographic area, you have the ability to reach many people at the same time, without the restrictions of time and space.

In the next post, we’ll take a look at how we can easily implement video in our online marketing efforts.

Share and Grow

• Do you use online video in your marketing efforts?
• Have you seen an uptick in your conversions or sales?
• Have you noticed a change in the response of your readers or tribe?

Share your thoughts and experiences below.  Would love to hear your thoughts.

In the last post, we looked at the best strategies for getting started with an automated e-mail campaign and the most important e-mails  two common formats for automated e-mail marketing campaigns: the mini e-course and the weekly tips ezine.  If you missed the last post, you can  review the automated e-mail marketing models here.

Once you’re familiar with two of the basic types your automated e-mail marketing campaign can take, select a campaign type and read on to learn about the best strategies for getting started with an automated e-mail campaign.

Creating an eCourse

An eCourse, or e-mail mini-course, is one of the most common opt-in rewards offered to subscribers so let’s talk about how to create an email mini-course that promotes a specific product and builds a stronger relationship with your followers.

Let’s start with the basics: an eCourse is simply a series of e-mails or “lessons” that are automatically sent to your subscribers in a pre-determined sequence.  By using an autoresponder service such as aWeber or 1ShoppingCart you can easily create your eCourse series to broadcast each lesson on a timed basis automatically.

The best mini-courses I’ve created consist of 5 to 7 lessons.  Each lesson is essentially a 500 to 800 word article, and includes a promotion for the product you’re selling at the end of the day’s lesson.

Structuring Your eCourse

The first step in creating your eCourse is to define the structure.  A mini-course is easy to put together once you’ve started writing some content.  In fact, if you’ve been in business for a while and write articles frequently or publish a regular newsletter or blog, chances are you could already have the content you need to create an e-course.  To create your eCourse content, you could take 5 of your best articles and organize them into a mini-course.

But just taking five unrelated articles and slapping them together into an eCourse won’t be very effective.  Your eCourse should have a specific topic.  For example, one of my first projects as a Virtual Assistant was to turn a keynote speech that one of my clients would regularly give into an eCourse.  The topic of the mini-course was “6 Steps to Creating Info Products for Money, Image and Success” and the mini-course promoted a 90 day group coaching program that was designed to help online entrepreneurs create information products (ebooks, DVDs, CDs, etc.).

So you need a specific topic for your eCourse and then 5 to 7 500 to 800-word articles that are related to that topic and, more importantly, related to the product you’re trying to sell.  For example, “10 Steps to Start Your Internet Business Right and Save Money, Time, and Energy” which could be used to promote a DVD tutorial set on how to start an online business or even a website building service.

Once you have a topic selected, you’ll need to create content.  And not just any old content, you want to give away some of your best tips and materials in your eCourse.  The goal here is to share valuable information and create a relationship with your follower.  You want your content to shine so that your reader thinks “If this is what I’m getting for free, I know the product will be fantastic!”

This type of strategy works really well for an author.  If you’re a published author, you could create your mini-course based on the information in five chapters of your book.  Or you could hire a ghostwriter to write five 500-word articles based on five chapters in your book.  I know what you’re thinking: But if I give away the best information in my book, why would they buy my book?  Even though the mini-course gives away a lot of the information that’s in your book, your book is still more complete.  After all, your eCourse lessons are probably a synopsis of your book’s chapter.  The book would be more complete and would contain additional valuable information people would want to find out anyway!

The actual structure of each lesson is fairly simple.  Just follow the steps outlined below:

1. Start each lesson with a short sentence that outlines the topic of this lesson and gets the reader excited about what they’re going to learn.

2. Post the content of your lesson

3. Finish each lesson with a short sentence giving them a preview of what’s coming in the next lesson.

4. End each lesson with a P.S. that includes a promotion for the product or service you’re hoping to sell

5. Start the next lesson by quickly reviewing what they learned in the previous lesson and outlining the content of the current lesson.

6. Rinse and repeat all the steps until the mini-course is complete.

Using the outline above as a guideline, your first task is to select a topic and write five 800-word articles that support that topic.  Once that’s done, you’ll have the basic structure of your mini-course and you’ll be ready for the next step.

Delivering Your eCourse

When it comes to delivering your eCourse, that is, emailing it to your new subscriber, you have two options:

1) Deliver the entire eCourse by e-mail, either as text or an HTML formatted e-mail

2) Post the eCourse online and send your subscribers a teaser-e-mail with the link where they can access the new lesson.

Both options work well.  I outlined both in a previous article on How To Create an eCourse so won’t go into too much detail here.  If you’re short on time, your best option would be option 1 as a text-only e-mail.  That way, you won’t have to spend more time putting together web pages for each lesson or formatting an HTML e-mail.

If you do have time, consider creating a web page for each lesson and posting it to your website.  Then you can opt to deliver the entire course by e-mail using option 1 or simply direct readers to your web page as in option 2.  Be sure to check the How To Create an eCourse article for full details.

Scheduling Your eCourse

Now that you have the lessons written and you’ve selected your delivery method, you’re ready to put the course into your autoresponder service.  If you don’t have an account already, you’ll need to sign up with aWeber or 1ShoppingCart or some other ezine service.  Once you have an account, you’ll need to establish a schedule for your mini-course (i.e. how many days you want to pass between mini-course lessons).

The most common delivery method is to schedule a new lesson every two days.  When you’re first getting started with scheduling eCourses, it may be helpful to write out the schedule on paper first before you set it up online.  Using the two day delay method, you’ll be scheduling your lessons as follows:

Day 0     Introduction e-mail
Day 1     Lesson #1
Day 3     Lesson #2
Day 5     Lesson #3
Day 7     Lesson #4
Day 9     Lesson #5

Using this basic structure, you’ll be able to create an effective eCourse.  There are a few other teasers that you can throw in.  I’ve had clients who throw in a special one-time offer after Lesson #3 or even a survey in the mix.  I’ve even had clients post a special e-mail on Day 14 (so about a week after the course ends) with another special offer or even a final e-mail that summarizes your other resources, products, websites or blogs.  There are quite a few things that can be done but it’s important that the special offers not detract from the goal of sharing valuable information with your subscribers.  If you start with the basic e-course, you can always add in the extras later.  Just be sure you’ve designed an eCourse that gives value to your prospects.  Otherwise, all the special offers in the world will fall on deaf ears.

Upping the Ante

As I mentioned earlier, the automated mini-course, or eCourse, is one of the most popular opt-in enticements.  But there are many other strategies that you can use to automate your marketing.  I reviewed a few strategies at the start of this series.  If you missed part 1, you can view the different e-mail marketing models here.

What we haven’t covered yet is how to automate your new media marketing efforts.  Smart and savvy business owners like yourself know that the hottest trend in online marketing right now is online video.  Why not harness the power of online video and tap into the new media marketing revolution by creating a Video of the Week e-mail campaign.  They video need not be long, five minutes is more than enough air time.  The model is similar to the recipe of the week or tip of the week but instead of being a text only delivery, you’re creating a video tip and broadcasting the link to the video replay.

Not a fan of video, the same thing can be done as an audio tip of the week.  Be sure to harness the power of new media, especially if you’re in an industry or niche that hasn’t caught the new media wave.  Think outside the digital box and you’re sure to start standing out from your competitors.

Whatever strategy you decide to follow, make sure you take advantage of the possibilities of automation in your e-mail marketing.

Share and Grow

• Do you use mini e-courses in your marketing efforts?
• Have you tried combining special one-time offers in your mini-course?
• Are you part of the new media revolution?

Share your thoughts and experiences below.  Would love to hear your thoughts.

In the last post, we looked at two common formats for automated e-mail marketing campaigns: the mini e-course and the weekly tips ezine.  If you missed the last post, you can  review the automated e-mail marketing models here.

Once you’re familiar with two of the basic types your automated e-mail marketing campaign can take, select a campaign type and read on to learn about the best strategies for getting started with an automated e-mail campaign.

Starting Your E-mail Marketing Campaign

The First Email is KEY!

The most important e-mail, by far, when you’re creating an automated e-mail marketing strategy is the automated email that your new readers receive whenever they opt-in to one of your mailing lists.  Because this e-mail is so important to the relationship you build with your followers, it’s critical that a few key elements are included in your first message with any potential new customer.

The first e-mail is also your best chance of generating a sale with a new follower.  So you want to make sure you’re promoting your main product in the best possible way.

My experience has been that most sales are generated within the first three e-mails of any automated e-mail marketing campaign… with the bulk of the sales coming from the first e-mail.  It’s really not surprising when you think about it: your new follower is likely to be most interested in your advice the day they decide to sign up for your mailing list.  That’s when their interest in your product or service is at its highest.

The Introductory E-mail

The first e-mail in your automated e-mail marketing campaign should be an introductory message sent to your readers the day they subscribe.  No matter what type of mailing list you have, whether it’s an automated mini-course or weekly tips or even an automated blog broadcast that you’ve set up using aWeber’s blog broadcast feature, you need to include an introductory message to your new reader.

The introductory e-mail should accomplish three specific goals:

1.    Establish a relationship with your new follower
2.    Outline expectations and fulfill any promises (what they can expect to receive from you by becoming a regular reader as well as deliver any ethical bribe components)
3.    Persuasively introduce a product that may be of interest to them and soft-sell it

Here’s an example I’ve used successfully in the past:

SUBJECT: Welcome to my Kitchen

Hi %$firstname$%,

Thank you for joining my daily “Goddess In the Kitchen” fun
and inspirational tips. You’ll be feasting on a
smorgarsboard of tips for living, loving, and cooking… in
the kitchen (and sometimes out!).

Some days the messages will be short, some days a little
longer – but each day I’ll keep things real, and talk about
what matters, in the fun and lively manner that I’m
well-known for. I’ll try to bring a little of the magic of
sitting around my dinner table into your inbox every day.

You’ll get a message about every five days or so. If there’s
something I think you really should know about, I’ll pop you
a quick note. Otherwise, about every five days you’ll
receive one of the following:

~ Aunt Annie’s Recipe of the Week
~ Quick Tips For Living & Loving
~ Fun With Kids
~ Aunt Annie’s Bookshelf
~ Raw Recipe of the Week
~ Aunt Annie’s iPod
~ Passion Inspiration
~ and Create Your Best Life

Once again, thanks for joining. I’ve set a special place at
the table just for you.

Keep smiling!
~ Annie

P.S. If you can’t wait to get started, check out my first
ebook, “Aunt Annie’s Award Winning Recipes”. It contains
over 50 proven recipes that are sure to please the pickiest
palates. Go to http://www.AuntAnniesKitchen.com

Feel free to adapt the sample e-mail for your e-mail marketing or get creative and design your own introductory e-mail based on samples that you may have received in the past.

iDeborah’s Tip: Start a swipe file to store marketing e-mails that appeal to you so you have an easy source to draw inspiration from any time you need to create a new e-mail.

The Initial Follow Up Messages

As I mentioned earlier, the first few e-mails are where you’re likely to make the majority of your sales.  A new reader is interested in learning more about you so it’s the perfect time to leverage the unique opportunity you have at the start of a new relationship with a new follower.

A common delivery day for many e-zines and automated e-mail marketing campaigns is Thursday.  We’ve already discussed the timing of the first e-mail (immediately).  Once you create the initial e-mail, you can schedule the delivery of the message to be triggered as soon as a new reader joins your mailing list.

Next, you’ll want to create a few automated follow up messages to broadcast every two or three days after the initial message. If you selected the mini ecourse model, you’ll already have those messages planned so it will be easy to add the additional messages to your email campaign.

If you didn’t opt to create an e-mail mini course, you can still create a follow up sequence. If you’ve written any articles or blog posts, you could load those into the autoresponder series. Each article should feature educational content and can end with a promo or special offer. But remember… you’re not just selling products. You’re selling yourself!  You’re working to create a relationship with every new reader and earn their trust and respect. That’s why you want the first few articles or messages you send to be filled with your best material.

Be sure to spend time this week planning out your article series. You’ll be writing a few messages:

• A powerful, relationship-building introduction e-mail
• 3 or 4 additional, relevant content articles or blog posts to add to the series

Share and Grow

• Do you use mini e-courses in your marketing efforts?
• Have they had a noticeable impact on your opt-in rates?

Share your thoughts and experiences below.  Would love to hear your thoughts.

Many of the business owners I work with cite a common goal when they speak about why they started their online business: the freedom to work from anywhere!   Starting your own business, especially an online business, can help you fulfill that goal.   With a laptop and an internet connection, we can work from our backyards, our cottages or even the local Starbucks.

But in every business there comes a point where the goal of working from anywhere is replaced with a different goal: the freedom to work smarter, not harder. That is, the freedom to have your business run independently from you.  To fulfill this goal, you’ll need to set up systems and automate your marketing.  So let’s get started.

The Automated eCourse

I’ve written about how to create an eCourse before.   So let’s talk about how you can use them to automate your marketing.

Model #1 — eMail eCourse

One of the automated marketing strategies that I have used successfully in my own business as well as in my clients’ businesses is the eMail mini-course.  In fact, converting a keynote speech into a six-part mini-course was the first project I completed for a client when I started my Online Business Management business and still get requests to set them up.  With all the advances in new media marketing and online technologies in the years since I set up my first eCourse, it cannot be denied that eCourses still have relevance in automating your marketing.

The purpose of the mini-course is to promote or sell one product.   An ecourse is essentially a multi-part autoresponder series (or “lessons”) on a particular theme or topic.   So it’s a series of educational e-mail messages that share free content with your subscriber about a particular topic, while promoting one particular product in your product line.

That’s why the eCourse is a great model to use on your salespages.  Because of the targeted focus on the eCourse, it works well to enhance a product salespage, especially if you build it into the header of the page.

Model #2 — Recipe of the Week

I’ve been using this model on various different sites over the past few years.  It works quite well for any site in which health information or recipes are shared.  The concept is very simple: every week, subscribers receive a new recipe by e-mail. I’ve modified the format a bit over the years but the basic model for the ezine is one recipe and one ad.  It’s a very effective ezine format.  Click tracking (which can be enabled through 1ShoppingCart’s ad tracker feature) shows that this ezine format generates sales.

There are two ways that you can set up this eZine.  The fastest way to get up and running is to create your ezine template to include space for a recipe and then an ad for one of your products or an affiliate product.  Then on a weekly basis, you will generate the ezine to send out to your subscribers.  You can partially automate the process by using aWeber’s blog broadcast feature and integrating your blog’s RSS feed to format and broadcast any new posts automatically.

The second option is completely automated.  Using either 1ShoppingCart or aWeber, you can pre-load a series of messages into an autoresponder to broadcast automatically.  Let’s say you already have 52 recipes that you know you would like to share.  Simply format them in an ezine (remember one recipe and one ad per ezine) and then load them into an autoresponder, setting the delivery date one week apart on each message.

By pre-loading your ezine into your autoresponder, every time someone subscribes to the ezine, they will automatically receive a new e-zine per week, every week, for a year!

The same model can be followed for health tips or business tips.  I’ve even used the model successfully for a weekly Q&A ezine.  Think creatively!  If you don’t manage a recipe blog, how can you apply the ezine of the week model to your own business?

The Next Step

Spend some time this week thinking about how you can incorporate an e-course or a recipe or tip of the week into your e-mail marketing.  In the next post, I’ll show you exactly how to get started with your automated ezine campaign.

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A Professional WP Blog Theme That Has A
Whopping 10 “Built-In” Ways To Make Money!

Do you blog for fun? Or do you blog to make money?! (Or, maybe both … you like to have fun while making money!)

Are you a work-at-home mom who blogs to supplement the household income? Or are you an online business owner who blogs to engage an audience?

Whatever your reason for blogging, one thing’s certain: your blog needs to look great in order to compete in the blogosphere!

There are a lot of different blog “themes” on the market. Usually they involve making your blog more attractive. Seldom will you find one that is designed to make your blog more profitable.

That is, until today!

Introducing the Multiple Streams Theme…

Take a look around this blog. It’s called the “Multiple Streams Theme“. Why? Because not only is it an attractive, professional design, it’s also got…

TEN BUILT-IN WAYS TO MAKE MONEY JUST
BY USING THE THEME AT YOUR BLOG!

If you take a look at the Multiple Streams Theme (by browsing this site), you’ll find that there are ten great ways to make money that are “built-in” to the design. Here’s a quick run down…

1. List. You’ll be able to encode the opt-in form with your own list capture information (given to you by your list provider) to use the catchy box to get new subscribers for your newsletter, mini-course, announcement list or any other kind of list.

2. Freebie. See the third box at the top right of your screen? (To the immediate right of the “Latest Posts” box.) Your FREEBIE page gives you several great opportunities to turn a free offer into an order:

A. Give away a rebrandable report (most good affiliate programs offer these) that promotes an offer on the backend.

B. Offer a “toolkit” consisting of several reports, articles, videos, etc. that all lead to backend offers.

C. Convince someone to give your visitors a free trial to their membership site or subscription service which gives you a commission should they remain members. Whatever kind of “Freebie” you want to give away can be used on this page to generate new customers.

3. Product Spotlight. There’s an attractive “Product Spotlight” icon just below the Search form on the right hand column of this page. On your “Product Spotlight” page you can do a variety of things to generate revenue from your site:

A. Offer a special incentive for anyone ordering the featured product or service through your link.

B. Post an interview with the author/creator of a product or service and link to the salespage with your affiliate link.

C. Provide a case study of how you’ve used the product or service successfully and link to it with your affiliate link. You can “spotlight” just about anything on this page!

4. Time Sensitive Offers. Below the “Product Spotlight” graphical button is one that reads “Time Sensitive Offers”. Your “Time Sensitive Offers” page can likewise be used in some strategic ways to generate revenue:

A. Mention any specific deadline or limit that a recommended new offer has in place. (Ex. Only 250 memberships are being made available and 186 of them are already sold; the 50% off coupon expires on December 12 at midnight.)

B. Create your own INCENTIVE that is time or limit sensitive. (Ex. If you order XYZ through the link below before Thursday at noon, I’ll give you… ; If you are one of the first 20 people who order through the link below, I’ll give you…)

C. Use a holiday, event or other “built-in” deadline. (Ex. The FTC is changing the rules on December 2nd – this is your last chance to… ; If you want to receive it by Christmas, you absolutely must order by…)

5. New Releases. Next you’ll see a “New Releases” button. On your “New Releases” page you can offer an impartial REVIEW of the latest products and services.

A. Focus on ONE key new offer that has just been released and use this page as a timely review chich you replace periodically with reviews for another new released, or…

B. Use this page as an ARCHIVES for reviews of MANY products and services that you create over time.

6. Offer Buttons. Just below the “New Releases” button you’ll find a whopping EIGHT “Offer Buttons”. These can be encoded with your affiliate link to ANY related offer of your choosing! You’ll see these categories: Affiliate Marketing, Traffic Generation, Blogging, Membership Sites, Making Money, Product Creation, List Building and Web Design/ Hosting. Pick out your favorite resource for each of these and code the graphics with your affiliate link!

7. Reviews Tab. At the very top of the page you’ll see a tab labeled “Reviews”. Obviously, you can use this page to create unbiased reviews of products and services, linking to the salespages of those offers through your affiliate link. Your “Reviews” page can be used in conjunction with the “New Releases” graphic button. If you use your “New Releases” page to focus on a review for ONE new product or service, then use the “Reviews” tab for a page of archived reviews of dozens of products and services over time.

8. Recommended Resources Tab. Next to the “Reviews” tab you’ll find a “Resources” tab. On your “Resources” page you can use your affiliate link to a variety of products, services, membership sites, coaching programs, special reports, videos, eclasses, software programs, scripts, etc. by:

A. Creating a “personal rolodex” page of the resources that you personally use yourself.

B. Developing a “best buy” list where you post your highest recommendations for a variety of topics. (Ex. This is who I recommend for hosting, this is who I recommend for web design, this is who I recommend for script installation, etc.)

C. Organizing an “if you like this, you’ll like this” type list of related resources. (Ex. Music stores do this a lot… If you like Switchfoot, you’ll like Kutless.)

9. About Tab. Next to the “Resources” tab you’ll find an “About” tab. On your “About” page you can tell a bit about yourself and – to make money from the page – you can:

A. Share a short list of 4-5 resources that you personally rely on, along with an affiliate link to them.

B. Reference a personal mentor who has taught you a lot or made a difference in your life/business, along with an affiliate link to one of their offers.

C. Create a short tutorial of the 3-5 most important “steps to success” related to your subject matter and refer to recommended resources for each of the steps or at the close of the tutorial.

10. Include An Offer Your Header. See that unobtrusive, yet highly visible graphic in the uppermost right of your screen that is labeled “10 Built-In Ways To Make Money From Your Blog – Click Here”? You can replace that graphic with a similar affiliate banner and earn a commission when visitors to your blog click thru!

Remember, these are all “built-in”!

No matter how you use blogging in your business or life, the Multiple Streams Theme WP Blog Theme is for you!

The Perfect WP Blog Theme For Affiliates!
The Perfect WP Blog Theme For Product Owners!
The Perfect WP Blog Them For ALL BLOGGERS!

NOTE: You can even customize the header by simply editing the text in your favorite editor to reflect the name and description of your own blog. It’s as simple as retyping words in your favorite word processor!

UPDATE: Now included are the PSDs for the header graphic, three large sidebar buttons and eight medium sidebar buttons … you can even edit the text on them in Photoshop to truly customize this blog theme!

If you’re looking for an attractive, professionally-designed, money-making blog theme for the Wordpress blogging platform, this is about as good as it gets.

• It is a beautiful design!
• It has built-in ways to make money!
• It allows you to build a list!
• It has buttons to promote your favorite affiliate programs!
• It is perfect for affiliates!
• It is even budget friendly!

Instead Of Paying $499 For A Custom Theme
Or Even $97 For A Premium Theme, You’ll Pay Only $27
Do The Math: You Save A Bundle!

The designer who created this theme charges $499 per design, but you won’t pay anywhere near that amount!

The regular price for this blog theme was set to be $47, but you’ll only pay $27. Judging from the price of premium paid WP templates on the market, that would have been a very fair price. (Search Google and you’ll find them selling for $97 and more for high quality templates). If you had it created yourself, you’d pay $499 or more.

Buy the Multiple Streams Theme WP Blog Theme for only $27.

This is truly affordable for every blogger who would like a copy. The price is a “no-brainer” decision for you. Buy your copy now. Load it to your site. Thank me later.

There are a few “terms” that I gotta tell you about before you rush off to take advantage of this great deal…

1. The theme is for use at ONE site only. With your purchase you are entitled to use the theme at ONE site. You may use it at one of your sites or you may use it at a client’s site who has asked you to purchase it on their behalf. One purchase = one site.

2. You MAY customize the theme for your own use. If you’d like to use different graphical buttons in the right side column or photoshop edit the header or add a footer, etc., you may make cosmetic changes for your single installation.

3. You DO NOT have any licensing rights. You have not purchase a resale rights license, nor PLR license nor any kind of license to distribute this theme. The theme is for your own personal use and may not be sold, given away, nor distributed in any way.

4. There is no installation support. You are buying the theme and nothing but the theme. You will need to install the theme at your site and tweak any of the components of the theme. (I.E. Encode your affiliate link in the graphical buttons). You’ll be on your own. I can’t answer any questions or provide any support for installing the theme. But I do have a special offer for you…

* * * * * SPECIAL OFFER * * * * *

Upgrade your Multiple Streams Theme WP Blog Theme to Include Installation Support.

I know that technical challenges can sometimes get in the way of great entrepreneurs doing great things online.

That’s why I’m offering a 50% discount on installation and customization services for your Multiple Streams Theme WP Blog Theme!

I normally charge $200 for a wp blog theme installation and customization but if you upgrade today, your Multiple Streams Theme WP Blog Theme will be installed and customized for an additional $100.

Order Multiple Streams Theme for Wordpress Now!

Yes, I want to get my own copy of the Multiple Streams Theme blog theme.  Order Online By Safe, Secure Server Order the Multiple Streams Theme Do-It-Yourself Option Now! YOU WILL RECEIVE INSTANT ACCESS (Even if it’s 2:00 AM on a Saturday) Order the Multiple Streams Theme & Installation Bundle Now! * Every effort has been made to accurately represent this product and its potential. Please remember that each individual’s success depends on his or her background, dedication, desire and motivation. As with any business endeavor, there is no certain guarantee that you will earn any money.

I just heard about a special LIVE broadcast tonight that you won’t want to miss!  Join Coach Deb (@CoachDeb) as she is the guest on David Cooper’s (@askdavidcooper) Internet TV show from the Hopes, Goals & Dreams Studio in Nashville, Tennessee.

7:58 pm CST
8:58 pm EST

Here’s a quick video with Coach Deb & David Cooper in the Hope, Goals & Dreams studio talking about tonight’s LIVE Broadcast’s Topic: Profit with Social Media!

Be sure to spread the word!  I know Coach Deb well and the broadcast is sure to be full of useful tips and information that will help you profit from social media.

Invite your friends – they won’t want to miss this either!  Please retweet this link invitation out, because the normal fee for this Webcast has been waived and it’s now easier than ever to join Coach Deb.  There are no reservation signups – just go to the following page & have this link open 10 minutes before the show goes LIVE, and that’s where the Broadcast will stream directly to your computer!

“Click here to watch LIVE WebCast with Coach Deb and David Cooper”
(No registration or sign up needed)

PS: Spread the word! and Profit with Social Media!

A common complaint if you’ve been doing business online for any length of time is how to ensure that messages are actually being read.  I don’t have any hard statistics but my gut tells me (and my eyes tell me when I look at my own campaign stats or the stats of my clients’ e-mail campaigns) that about 1% of the messages being sent bounce because the e-mail you have is no longer valid and about 25% to 30% of your messages are being opened.  Now I know I majored in music in high school and University but even my math tells me that there’s a whopping 70-75% of messages missing in action.

Turns out, being able to get e-mails read by your prospects and customers has become a real challenge.  So if you’re relying on e-mail as your primary method of communication with your followers, you really can’t count on e-mail being a reliable method of communication.

As you can see by the brief example above, a large percentage of every e-mail you send will not find its way to your followers.  Chances are it could be found in their junk mail or spam folder but it may not hit their inbox.  Some e-mails never even make it to that far, as they’re tagged at the ISP (Internet Service Provider) level as and caught in their own spam or block filters.  Even if your message does manage to reach your follower, there’s no guarantee that it will be read, and even less will be acted upon.

Avoid the Junk Mail Folder

Here are my top three tips and tricks that will increase your chances of getting e-mail through to your followers:

1) Avoid HTML e-mails: If you use a list management program like aWeber or 1ShoppingCart, you’ll be able to run your broadcast through their spam filters and receive an indication of the likelihood that your e-mail will be tagged as spam.  One of the most common triggers they check for is whether or not you’re sending a fully formatted HTML e-mail.  I believe most spam checkers rank on a scale of 1 to 5 and many of the HTML formatted e-mails I’ve seen rank around 1.2 and anything less than 2 has a high chance of success but since we’re examining factors that could increase the likelihood of your message being tagged as spam, then HTML formatted e-mails is definitely a factor.  But it’s one worth the risk because HTML e-mails tend to get a better response from your reader in terms of actual clicks.

2) Avoid Spam Triggers: Spam filters generally examine e-mail content, so the words used in the body of the e-mail itself.  Words like “free” and “contest” and “win” or even “money” are common spam triggers.  It’s not that you can’t use the word “free” in your e-mail campaigns, but that you shouldn’t use it in combination with other words that are often used by real spammers.  While it’s not possible to keep up with all of the words that are categorized as spam triggers (and the list grows by leaps and bounds from week to week), you can be smart about how you choose to use those words in your message.  Even if your message is clear of all trigger words, there are a few other grammatical conventions to avoid in your e-mail campaigns. The excessive use of exclamation points is a big no-no, especially using an exclamation point in your subject line.  Also, its good to avoid using CAPITAL LETTERS for words, especially words like FREE!   If you want to emphasize a word, you can put it in-between *asterisks*, instead of using capital letters.

3) Teach Your Tribe to Whitelist You: One of the most important factors in avoiding the junk mail folder is to teach your tribe to add your e-mail address to their address book.  Once they’ve done that, their e-mail program views your e-mails as safe and you have a better chance of being routed to their inbox rather than their junk mail folder.  Give your tribe instructions on how to whitelist you as part of the opt-in process.  As soon as they’ve given you their name and e-mail address, you can redirect them to a confirmation page that will instruct your new reader that they need to confirm their subscription and offer instructions no how to whitelist your address.

Share your experience…

If you have any of your own strategies to share or a confirmation page that has been working well for you, let me know by writing in the comment area below.  Have you taught your tribe how to whitelist you?  Do you have a great read rate with a particular autoresponder service?  Share your experience by posting a comment in the comment area below.