Author Archive | Ronald Aqui

This method costs you nothing but time – yet it can add mightily to your bottom line. As you already know, a buyer is worth far, far more than a simple subscriber, and here’s how to get buyers added to your list for free…

Step 1: Create a short report that solves a key problem. In other words, one problem, one solution. Simple. Now give it a great title. In fact, spend as much time on the title as you did writing the report, because the title has to grab attention and get people to read it cover to cover.

Step 2: Repeat step 1, only with a different problem and solution in the same niche.

Step 3: Set up a squeeze page to offer Report #2 for free in exchange for your prospect’s email address.

Step 4: At the end (and possibly the beginning) of Report #1, write teaser copy to entice them to go to your squeeze page and grab Report #2. If you did a good job of giving great content in Report #1, this should be easy because they’re going to be eager to read more from you.

Step 5: Go to forums and give away Report #1 with Master Resale Rights. This means they can sell the report or give it away with paid products, but they cannot alter the report in any way. This is crucial because you don’t want your link altered or removed.

Step 6: They add your report as a bonus to their paid products, or sell it outright for a nominal fee such as $7. People read it, love it, and go to your squeeze page to give you their email address so they can get more great stuff from you, like Report #2.

That’s it. It’s a system you set up once and forget about, other than periodically checking to see how many new buyers have been added to your list. The beauty of this system is 4-fold…

– It’s fairly easy.

– You only have to set it up once and then you can forget about it.

– You’re building a list of buyers and buyers ONLY.

– You’re building your list on other people’s traffic.

Brilliant!

So many times we don’t want to tackle anything new until we know step by step what we’re going to do and how we ‘re going to do it.

You might call it the paralysis of analysis – instead of taking action we…

…think about how we’ll do it and
…try to work out all the details and
…do more research and
…think about it some more until
…enough time passes that we
…just blow it off and decide we’re going to do something else.

Hopefully you can see why this step-by-step mentality can be a real motivation killer for you. You’ll never know every step it’s going to take to achieve something because you simply don’t know everything that’s going to happen (and not happen) along the way.

Personally, I think all you need are 2 things to get started on any project: You need to know what your end goal is, and you need the first step to take to begin moving towards that goal. Oh yes, and then you need to TAKE that first step. Once step 1 is out of the way, step 2 will reveal itself and so forth.

With this mindset there is nothing to bog you down and nothing to get in the way of taking action and making progress, even if the progress turns out to be discovering a way that does not work. Remember Edison and the light bulb – he discovered hundreds of ways NOT to make a bulb, clearing the way to inventing it.

Dean Hunt has his own take on the step-by-step mindset of knowing every step you’re going to take before you begin the journey. In fact, he has a brilliant 3 letter word for it – but I won’t steal his thunder, so you’ll want to watch his short video to discover what that word is…

What’s your next step? Take it.

You’ve just finished writing the sales copy for your new product. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to test your copy BEFORE you actually send prospects to it?

Because think about this – if you send 1,000 people to your sales letter and NOBODY buys, you’ve just wasted all that traffic. And if you spent money to get that traffic, you’re out that investment.

Even if it was free traffic, you’ve still burned your chance to sell them on your product. Odds are, even if you do rewrite the copy, they’re not going to go back a second time and read it again. (Unless you offer some kind of incentive, in which case you might be able to bribe them into taking a second look.)

If only there were a way to know ahead of time whether your copy is good or not… Wait, there is!

Here’s what to do – turn off the phone, sever your Internet connection and refuse to be distracted for the next hour.

Now then, imagine you are the prospect. You are thinking like the prospect, feeling like the prospect, experiencing the same issues, same problems, same questions as you prospect, etc.

Put yourself in their shoes and reread your letter from start to finish. Do not spend time making corrections or anything else – simply read the letter as though you are a prospect considering buying this product.

Finished?

Now rate how well your copy accomplishes the following, assigning a number 1 – 5 to each element.

1 means “Practically non-existent”
2 is “Room for serious improvement”
3 means “Not horrible, but could be better”
4 is “Strong”
And a 5 indicates “You positively NAILED it.”

Ready? Here we go…

Does the headline instantly grab your attention? _____

Does the lead-in compel you to read further? _____

Are the headline and lead-in completely believable? _____

Is the headline and lead-in combo likely to resonate powerfully with a significant number of your prospects? _____

Does the headline and lead-in combo offer powerful benefits? _____

Does the spokesperson establish his/her qualifications beyond doubt? _____

Do the emotions you experience while reading the first few paragraphs compel you to want to read further? _____

Is the prospect given a reason why he or she must read this, and must read this now? _____

Does the copy read like a conversation between two friends? _____

Is it clear that the spokesperson truly has the best interests of the prospect at heart? _____

Are the product’s benefits fully explored? _____

Are the emotional reasons for purchasing fully developed? _____

Does the letter entertain and inform as well as sell? _____

Is the price fully justified? _____

Is the guarantee prominent and does it restate the benefits? _____

Is there a compelling reason why the prospect should immediately make the purchase? _____

Is there a sense of urgency? _____

Do you feel yourself getting more and more excited as you move through the letter? _____

Is the call to action compelling enough that you would feel silly for not ordering immediately? _____

Is the prospect told exactly what to do next, how to order and how s/he will receive their product? _____

If you were a prospect, would you make the purchase? _____

Scoring

21- 50: Stop right there. Do NOT use this copy until you make significant changes.

51 – 65: Not good, but at least you’ve made a start. Now go back and make the adjustments your letter needs.

66 – 80: Not bad for a draft, but not good enough to use unless you just don’t have the time to fix it, OR your offer is so compelling ($100 cars, for example) that it doesn’t need a strong letter.

81 – 95: Looking good. A little tweaking here and there can still improve your conversions.

96 – 105: Congratulations! Maybe you should be writing copy for a living!

Work expands to fill the time allotted – and even more time beyond that – if you don’t have a hard deadline. Thus, if you make it a goal to finish your new ebook in 3 months, at the 3 month mark you’ll either just be finishing, or worse yet you’ll realize you’re only halfway done. If, however, you had a hard launch date, then you’ll have the book ready. Deadlines are a magnificent thing – they give you permission to ignore the email, ignore Facebook, turn the phone off, tear yourself away from the video games and television and actually get your work done.

So how can you create a product in a short amount of time? By doing two things:

First, set a deadline that is almost impossibly close, such as 10 days from right now.

Second, hold yourself accountable on a massive scale. That is, call up your best marketing buddy and schedule a live webinar with him or her to sell your new product. Now promote the webinar heavily.

Guess what? For the next 10 days you’re going to move heaven and earth to get your product finished for that webinar, and on Day 11 you are going to party!

First, you’re going to be celebrating the sales you made on the webinar.

Second, you’re going to be looking forward to all the sales you will make in the future with your new product. In fact, you’re going to take the momentum that webinar created and use it to contact other marketers and set up more live webinars for their lists.

Third, you are going to feel fantastic. That new product that you thought would take 3 months of your life only took 10 days!

Fourth, you’ve now got a system for not only getting products done fast, but also getting your first sales the moment the product is completed for an immediate payoff.

How great is that?!

YouTube is a great tool for marketing your business – if you can avoid the pitfalls…

Mistake #1 – Thinking all you need to do is upload a video and traffic will flood your website. No less than 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute, so the competition to get your video seen by viewers is insane. There are tons of high-quality videos that never get more than a few thousand views, and no doubt many more that get even fewer eyeballs.

What to do? First, tailor your video content to what your viewers want and not necessarily to what you want to show them. Always keep the viewer in mind every step of the video making process and put their needs and desires ahead of yours. Next, you’ve got to vigorously promote your video. Social sites are often the best way to get the word out. And third, realize that it takes time, resources and a good idea to make a video people want to watch and pass on to others. It also takes time and resources to properly promote your video. Don’t expect to slap up any old video and watch the sales role in.

Mistake #2 – Thinking you’re too small or new to make video work for you and your business. Just because you need to keep your expectations realistic doesn’t mean placing and promoting videos on YouTube can’t have an impact on your business. Any business, large or small, can use video to its advantage.

Think about what you like to share with friends and tailor your video accordingly. Even a few thousand views can increase your business, and if you get lucky, you might even create the next viral video sensation.

Mistake #3 – Creating a commercial. Online video is about engagement with others, not slapping out another “buy my product” commercial.

Think of your video as doing much more than simply selling a product or service. People on YouTube want to consume and share engaging and fun content, so don’t give them a 30 minute speech on why your product rocks, because odds are they won’t watch it.

Instead, inject fun, personality and pizzazz into your videos. Make them emotional, or thought provoking, or funny, or all three. Ask yourself: If I saw this video, would I send it to my friends? If the answer is no, then keep working on your concept.

Another test to see if you’re on the right track: If you are with friends, would you show them the video? If not, then you might want to start over. A video should grab attention and keep the viewer entranced. It should be short – usually less than 10 minutes and preferably less than 5 minutes. And it should leave the viewer feeling GLAD they saw it, not glad it’s over.

Mistake #4 – Trying too hard. You might think you need to spend thousands of dollars to get a professional video created, when the fact is an amateur type of video might do just as well, if not better.

People generally don’t like “slick” unless it’s of a “Hollywood” caliber – and that’s expensive. People prefer to watch videos of real people doing real things. To illustrate slick versus real, think of an overly smooth sales person trying to sell you a car – isn’t he or she an instant turn off? Now think of an average nice person with a car for sale. She tells you it’s a good car, but the heater takes 10 minutes to warm up and the ride’s not super smooth. Who do you trust?

Or think about the person trying desperately to impress you with how professional he is and how he knows everything about everything, compared again with the average sincere person who readily admits she makes bone-headed mistakes and sometimes says or does the wrong thing. Who do you like better?

Bottom line: Do create videos to market your business on YouTube, but don’t expect your videos to get a gazillion views overnight without promotion. Be yourself when making videos, and always keep the viewer in mind through each step of the process.

…regardless of whether they’re written blog posts or video blog posts. And this can even work on pre-launch videos for your new product launch.

You’ve got traffic, you create great blog posts – and yet only a handful of people bother to comment. Frustrating, isn’t it? You work hard to make a great blog post with lots of information your readers can use, but it feels like nobody cares. Worse yet, your blog has the appearance of a ghost town. After all, the more comments your posts receive, the more popular your blog appears. And let’s face it, everyone wants to be part of something BIG, something that others are involved with.

So how do you get more replies to your blog posts? And for that matter, how do you get people to reply to your pre-product-launch posts and videos? Here are 5 methods I’ve found that work…

1. Ask them. That’s right – sometimes it can be as simple as asking them to take the action. Ask them to respond to your post or to a specific question you place at the end of the post. Don’t make it a difficult question; Asking whether they prefer chunky peanut butter or smooth peanut butter will pull far more responses than asking how to achieve world peace. (I’m exaggerating the point here, but you get my meaning.)

2. Bribe them. Offer them one of your paid products for free when they leave a comment. You can either give the product to everyone who comments, or to the best comment, or 5 comments chosen at random, etc. Choose a product that your readers are likely to want, and if you’re awarding the bribe to everyone, be sure to send it within 24 hours of their posted comment. If you’re awarding it to the best comment(s) or to several comments at random, post the winners on your site so that a) your readers know you really gave away the prize and b) it becomes an incentive for them to post a reply to your next blog entry. After all, if someone else won last time, they’ll be thinking they’ve got a shot at winning this time.

3. Make it a contest. Again, you’re offering a bribe, only this time it’s monetary. For example, offer $100 to the poster who provides the most innovative answer to your question, or to the one who gives the funniest response, etc. Either you can choose the winner, or you can let your readers vote and choose the winner for you. (HINT: This method is also a great way to find out what your reader’s biggest challenges are – thus giving you great ideas for new products your readers WANT to purchase.)

4. Give away the launch. If you’re launching a new product, give away copies of your new product to the best replies to your post and videos, as well as to random posters. This way you get both the posts that take an effort, and the quickie posts from those who don’t want to take a lot of time posting a well thought out answer. This will increase the excitement, increase the exposure of your launch, and can result in some pre-launch testimonials from those who won the product.

5. Be controversial. Taking on topics that hold any kind of controversy will almost always get people talking. People love to take sides, express their opinions, and even get into a discussion. Watch for topics in your niche that spark definite opinions and blog about those – and the replies will naturally come.

6. BONUS Method: While you’re giving rewards out, don’t limit yourself to replies to your posts and videos. Also reward your readers for re-tweeting your content, telling others, referring others, etc. People will jump through hoops for you if you…

a) Are offering great content
b) Make it easy to jump through hoops for you and
c) You reward them for jumping!

Bottom Line: It’s a matter of training your readers to reply to your posts. The more you work to encourage their participation, the more it will become a habit for them to reply. Also take note of which threads tend to get the most response – these are topics that hit hot buttons, and you might want to blog about them more often.

You already know how important content is for communicating your message, getting traffic and making sales. But you might be overlooking a few things that make your content truly great…

Write for your readers, NOT for the search engines. Sometimes we get so caught up in optimizing our content for SEO that we forget we’re really writing for our readers and not Google. Create content that is useful for people, that helps them, educates them and entertains them. Make SEO your second priority in writing your content, not your first. Otherwise your traffic isn’t going to get past your second paragraph before they’re closing your site and moving on to someone else’s.

Write for your readers, NOT for a certain platform. Today all we hear about is social media and everyone wants to know what to put on Facebook, or what to Tweet and so forth to make money. Again, this is the wrong approach and if taken it will cost you. Instead, identify what your users want, and THEN consider which platforms are best for delivering your content. It’s not about Facebook, YouTube, your blog and etc., it’s about giving people what they want.

Don’t be a control freak. It’s easy to fall into the mindset that all of your content must be published on your website so you can stay in control of it, but that thinking will only limit the number of people you reach. Instead, build your content to travel so that it can be downloaded, embedded or shared – thus capturing many more eyeballs and driving those eyeballs back to your site. Think of your content as ambassadors traveling the world to tell others about you, and sending those people to your site. The more your content travels, the more people it will reach, and the more traffic it can then send back to you.

Be fruitful. Are you writing one article or one blogpost a week? Try stepping it up to one a day, or even more. Release as much great content as you can, and don’t get stuck in one rigid rut, either. Develop a range of different content and see what garners both the most eyeballs and the most response. Pay attention to user feedback – they’ll tell you what’s working, what they love, and what they want more of.

Be open. So you planned a series of videos on topic A, and during the second video you mentioned topic B, and people went nuts asking for more information. What to do? Simple – give them what they want. You can finish your series later if you like, but right now you’ve struck gold and you need to mine it for all it’s worth. Give them great content on Topic B, interview an expert or two on that topic, offer them affiliate products on that topic, and so forth. Sometimes we hit pay dirt when we least expect it, and the most foolish thing you can do is NOT jump on it immediately. Money loves speed, and customers love to have their desires satisfied NOW.

Don’t create your content and run. When you make a blog post, go back and ANSWER the replies you get. When you Tweet, stay on Twitter to respond to the responses you get, and so forth. Your follow-up interaction says as much about you as your content, and if you do it right, it says that you’re not just looking to make a fast buck and you DO care about your readers. Which is not only the classy thing to do – it’s also the most profitable in the end.

Twitter is all about relationships, growing your circle of influence, and yes, RELATIONSHIPS. The better (re: closer) your relationships on Twitter, the more likely people are to retweet your stuff, visit your Facebook page and websites, join your lists and buy your products. So how do you rapidly grow your Twitter following while wielding influence over your followers? Here are 5 tips….

1. Be Yourself. Oftentimes people think they’re somehow ‘not good enough,’ and so they pretend to be something they’re not. The problem is people can smell a phony a mile away. Don’t attempt to be Mr. Know-it-All or Ms. Perfect because nobody is buying that nonsense, and even if they were, they want to know REAL people with real lives, real challenges, and real things to say. Always stay true to yourself because you are a one-of-a-kind original, and as they say, everyone else is already taken anyway.

2. Appreciate Your Followers. Retweet their best tweets (or the tweets that are the most important to them.) Give them a #FF, which means you’re recommending others follow them. Or even send them a direct message. In other words, don’t just interact – promote others and expect nothing in return. The more value you can give to others, the more they will like you, appreciate you, and want to reciprocate.

3. Connect With The Big Dogs. Whatever your niche is, find the influential people in your niche and engage them. Being seen with people in authority is one of the quickest ways to be seen as an authority yourself. Plus, their audience will also notice you, and you’ll gain followers who hold an avid interest in your particular niche.

4. Engage Engage Engage. Answer everyone who engages with you, and see how many followers you can engage yourself. You never know who is going to become your next big client or customer – it could be that new guy with only 5 followers as easily as it could be the seasoned Twitter person with 50,000 followers.

5. Add a Heap of Pizzazz. We’ve already said you need to be yourself, and this is perhaps the best advice anyone can give you. That said, it’s okay to take yourself up a notch. You are unique, so go ahead and amplify that uniqueness and be a little bit larger than life. Be friendlier than you are in real life, be a little bit more flamboyant, go ahead and have opinions (your REAL opinions, that is) and by all means, STAND OUT from the crowd. That last thing you want to do is be a wallflower.

And even if you’re shy in real life, that’s okay. This is the Internet, and so it’s not like trying to be the life of the party in real life – it’s more like portraying yourself in the best light, with the most fun, and the least inhibitions. Frankly, there is no better place for shy people than Twitter – it’s a great way to meet tons of people with absolutely zero risk. After all, you don’t have to send a tweet until you’re certain it says exactly what you want it to say – so you can get it right every time.

6. Have fun. Need I say more? People like to hang out with people who are having fun, and Twitter is no different. So go ahead, have a blast, let the good times roll, and watch your follower numbers increase accordingly!

Okay, so you don’t know anything about SEO, and frankly you don’t want to learn.

It’s not your ‘thing.’

But naturally you want your best sites to rank really high in the natural search results.

So what should you do?

Most marketers will hire someone at $10 or $20 an hour to do it for them.

The problem with this is most of those $10 or $20 an hour workers don’t actually make money by ranking their own sites.

Which is to say, they’re not the best of the best at SEO.

Do you know who is? People who DO get their own sites to the top of Google.

The problem, though, is these experts are more likely to charge you $1,000 an hour for their efforts.

So here’s what you do: Hire a true expert to tell you what needs to be done in 30 minutes for half his hourly rate.

Record the call.

Then hire the $20 an hour SEO person to apply what you learned from the true SEO pro.

Blogging can be a great way to position yourself as an authority and create customer loyalty – if you’re willing to devote the time necessary.

Follow these 9 Tips for Better Business Blogging and you’ll be more successful!

1. Forgo the advertorial dribble. Decades ago some bright entrepreneur realized that if he wrote his sales copy to look like an editorial, he’d get more readers and more sales. Thus we entered into the age of the “advertorial,” and it still works in print publications. Where it does NOT work well is on your blog.

Yes, by all means advertise your products and services on your website, but don’t be devious about it. Don’t make it look like an article when it’s really a self-promotion – it annoys your readers and makes them feel let down when you’ve got them thinking they’re going to learn something new, only to discover they’ve got to pay to get it.

Thus, do not title your blog post, “Revealed: 35 Ways to Drive Traffic” and then reveal nothing about driving traffic except the order link to your new product. Instead, title your blog post, “Revealed: 5 Ways to Drive Traffic,” and then GIVE them the 5 ways. At the end, let them know that if they’re interested, you reveal 30 additional methods inside your product and give them the link. They’ll respect you for this, and because you’ve given them good information and demonstrated that you know what you’re talking about, it will actually INCREASE your sales.

2. Be the authority. This goes along with Tip #1, because when you’re dishing about all the latest updates in your industry rather than spending all your time promoting yourself, you become the expert in your prospects’ eyes. And who do people want to do business with? The expert. Who can charge more for their products and services? Again, the expert. Offer up the latest news along with plenty of how-to articles and your readers will come to like and trust you, and thus want to do business with you.

3. Educate, inform and inspire. Whenever possible, use real life stories to inspire your readers. Nothing sells like success, and people love to read how others have overcome the same challenges they’re having. Whenever you’re stuck for a blog post idea, just think, “What do my readers want to know? How can I help my readers and give them value?” Watch the forums for questions that pop up – this is an excellent source for ideas.

4. Show your personality. Building reader loyalty takes time and more than just great information – it also takes personality. Let your own unique style shine through in your posts, and don’t be afraid to reveal insights about yourself, and to even be controversial when it’s called for. Nothing rallies readers like a good controversy, and nothing makes readers more loyal than if they know you well enough to think of you as a friend.

5. Promote your blog. It would be great if you could write it and people would come, but it’s seldom that easy. Use your own network to promote your blog by letting them know each time you’ve made a new post. Guest write for other blogs to promote your own blog. And always ask people to share your blog with others.

6. Ask readers to reply. The more active your blog is, the more appealing it is to new and old readers alike. Always ask your readers to leave their comments on each of your blog posts. You might even consider running a contest to see who can write the best response, and give a prize to the winner.

Whatever it takes to increase comments is something you should consider. Not only does it make your blog appear that much more active and universally liked – it also provides a sense of ownership to each person who takes the time to leave a comment. The more they comment, the more likely they are to tell others about your blog and to return to your blog in the future. And be sure to respond to your reader’s comments so they know they’re being heard and appreciated.

7. Don’t blog unless you really want to. Blogging is a commitment, and while it might seem exciting and fun in the beginning, writing a new blog post every day or two can get old, especially after the first couple of weeks when you feel like nobody’s been reading it. If you’re not sure you can keep a blog rolling, consider writing guest posts for other blogs, websites and email newsletters. Every publisher is looking for new material, and being the guest blogger or writer puts you in front of an entirely new audience of prospects each time.

8. If you’re guest blogging, write a GREAT resource box. Offer them something intriguing with tremendous value for going to your site, and then deliver above and beyond their expectations. This is an excellent method of increasing your list of prospects and becoming well known in your niche.

9. Interview the big dogs. Interviewing others in your niche not only produces great content – it also provides you with powerful contacts and access to their readers when they mention the interview to their own people. So go ahead and ask others in your niche for interviews – the worst they can do is say no, and you’ll be surprised how many quickly say yes. Remember, they want to increase their own readership as well, and it’s a tremendous ego boost to be sought out and interviewed as an expert in their industry.

If there is a Tip #10, it is this: Have fun. Whatever it takes to make your blog writing fun is what you should do, since your enjoyment and passion for your topic will shine through in your posts. The more fun you’re having writing your blog, the more enjoyable it will be for readers to visit and linger.

So yes, have a blast, add humor, don’t be afraid to hold yourself up as an example to your readers, (both good and bad,) put your heart and soul into it, and go for it!