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This PageLimitless Marketing Ezine - March 31st, 2004
ISSN: 1525-8459
PUBLISHER: Willie Crawford - willie@williecrawford.com
2345 Whispering Pines Blvd, Navarre, Florida 32566
Phone 850-939-5794
Featured In Corey Rudl's Secrets To Their Success! Site.
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I just wanted to invite you to two teleseminars/conference
calls this week.
The first one is a call my friend Jack Humphrey is hosting
tonight at 9PM Eastern Standard Time. It on how to maximize
your networking and marketing skills by attending seminars,
workshops, etc. To register and get the dial-in information
visit: http://power-linking-profits.com/seminar.htm
The second call is my free, weekly, Saturday networking
and brainstorming call. Last week's call was extremely
productive and this week's call should be too.
The call will be from 11AM - 12:30 Central Standard Time.
It's a great chance to ask questions and just discuss internet
marketing in a small group setting. Register by sending a blank
email to my autoresponder at: willie3-56875@autocontactor.com
Then email in your questions.
We also review 3 websites during the Saturday brainstorming
session, so it's a great chance to get some feedback on how to
improve your website. Just submit your site for consideration
after you register.
If you haven't already registered for the Internet Marketing How
To Workshop, do so today. You'll be able to lock in a great
airfare, and learn how to finally build an online business that
affords you and your family a very comfortable lifestyle!
Register now at:http://InternetMarketingHowToWorkshop.com
Today, I decided to give you two feature articles. I've spent a
lot of time sitting on the beach writing lately. Spring is in full
swing her in northwest Florida :-)
The first feature article is just below. After you read it, if
you'd like to, post it on your website or run it in your ezine, you
may also substitute your affiliate urls for my url in the resource
(if you are an affiliate for the programs mentioned. If not, become
one, and then run the article with YOUR url. You provide your
visitors and subscribers with some great content AND earn some
extra money while being of genuine service.
Your also free to publish the second article, but not to modify
it :-)
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After being in business online for over 7 years, I often need a
whack upside the head to remind me that not everyone
understands this online stuff the way that we do. In fact, there
are tens of thousands of people who venture online regularly,
exploring ways to make a little extra money. Some are looking for
ways to eventually quit their jobs and work full-time from home.
Since I have been living that dream-life for so long, it
sometimes takes me a second to answer questions from
complete beginners. I'm talking about people who not only
haven't built their first website, but aren't even sure what type
of product or service they want to sell. They just know that they
want to make some extra money and have heard that the internet
is an easy way to do it.
How would you respond to a complete online beginner who comes
to you seeking advice?
Here's what I tell them and why...
First of all, there are a lot of scams, hyped-up promises, and
just plain "ways to lose your money." So you do need to look
before you leap. You can't be too careful!
Secondly, building a business online is just like building a
business offline. You need to decide "what you are going to sell
in your store" before you open the doors. So you need both a
plan and a product. Most people will advise you to build a
website around a personal interest. That way, while the business
is slowly "building up steam," it will be easier to keep motivated,
and it may even be more fun!
The easiest way to get into business online is through what are
called affiliate programs. These are programs where you sign up
and then you earn a referral commission from selling other's
products. Online, these products are very typically books,
software, etc... things that have a low production and delivery
cost. Software and electronic books can be delivered as a file
that's downloaded directly to your customers' computers. So it
has very little real delivery cost. Therefore, the person selling
it can afford to pay you a hefty commission for helping them sell
their product.
I generally recommend that beginners join a few affiliate
programs and then begin telling others about them... referring
others to the site. This is also where beginners hit the first
snag.... Who do they tell and how?
People like me have a mailing list of well over 100,000, and over
200 active websites. I can tell people about products and
services through my mailing lists. I can tell people about
products and services on my websites, which are found
through the search engines, articles I write, and affiliate
referrals. However, the beginner doesn't have immediate
access to these resources.
So how does the beginner attract people to his products or
services? First, you need a website. It is possible to market
online without one, but a website gives you a "home-base."
It's a place that you can center your operation around, refer
people to, and use to branch out.
You DON'T necessarily need to have a website designed for you
since many affiliate programs do offer them for free. You DO need
an affiliate website that you can modify to make it different
from all of the other sites promoting the same product(s) or
services as yours. If it's identical to thousands of others, the
major search engines won't list it.
You also need to build a mailing list. This is a list of people
who have contacted you and given you permission to stay in
contact with them. For many online businesses, people join
your list by subscribing to your online newsletters. You send
these people your regular newsletter, and over time, develop a
relationship with many of them
It's very important that you understand that people buy from
people that they KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST. A newsletter
allows you to share information and resources with your
subscribers, and eventually causes them to feel this way
about you. You have to earn their friendship, trust and
admiration. You do this be doing things to help them succeed.
It's that simple.
The easiest way to build a list is to have a signup form on
most pages of your site, and ask people to join your list.
However, they won't join unless you give them a good reason.
Even though your newsletter may be free, you still have to
sell them on the value of joining your list. Your potential
subscribers have so many choices of free ezines, that they
won't sign up JUST because you ask them to. Tell them
the benefits of being on your list.
So... you need a list, a website, products to sell, and some
guidance from people who are actually doing what you want
to do.
I currently have 4 resources I recommend to beginners who
contact me. I honestly believe that these 4 resources give
them the best start... the best probability of building a
successful online business. Those resources are:
1) I recommend that they subscribe to my free 20-lesson
Internet Business Success Course. This is a course that
I put together which contains some of my favorite articles
and resources. It explains a lot of things they will need to
master to succeed in an online business. That course is
available at: http://WillieCrawford.com
2) Next I recommend that they join Affiliate Showcase.
At
Affiliate Showcase they can get a free website that, in words
right from the site:
"An AffiliateShowcase site is a website of your own -- an
affiliate program search engine that you own, you customize,
and you fill with your own affiliate links. And then you watch
it grow all your affiliate checks."
You get this site... that you send people to. When they buy
the products or even get their own Affiliate Showcase site,
you earn a commission. At the same time, for a small upgrade
fee, you can FULLY-customize the site. You can put your logo,
your picture, links to your favorite sites or programs, etc.
It puts you in business real quick - real cheap. You can see
my Affiliate Showcase site and get your own - in just minutes
at:http://www.AffiliateShowcase.com/?41368
Affiliate Showcase has a complete affiliate training program.
You can join in on conference calls several times a week
where you are trained by experienced marketers in how to
set up and promote your Affiliate Showcase business. You
are not left to figure it all out by yourself as many affiliate
programs do.
3) I also recommend that they join the Internet Marketing
Warriors. The Warriors is an online community with the most
active members-only discussion forum that I am aware of. At
this site, you can actually brainstorm your ideas with other
members and they will give you their honest feedback. The
Warriors range from complete beginners to those earning
millions a year.
I recommend that they get the Warrior Pro Membership.
This membership will cost them $25 per month, but
gives them a number of great benefits including a place
to build their next website. In fact, they get a number
of pre-designed, template websites that they make just
a few edits to and they are all setup to sell some products,
and keep all of the money. For this they do need a way
to process credit card orders, but Paypal is the perfect
solution for that.
Paypal is a service that allows anyone in many countries
to send and receive money via email. You can find out
more about Paypal at:
https://www.paypal.com/us/mrb/pal=GTQ2ANFJTKDNG
Join the member-only, Warrior community at:
http://www.warriorpro.com/cgi-bin/w.cgi?2602
4) The other thing I recommend for beginners is a Clickbank
Mall. Clickbank is a "third-party credit card processor"
that
allows many merchants to set up an affiliate program without
having a merchant account. It also recruits and manages
affiliates for them. Affiliates sign up as Clickbank affiliates
and can then search the Clickbank database for products to
sell.
The Clickbank Mall allows anyone to literally link to the entire
Clickbank database. When a visitor to your site searches
for a product using your search box, and they make a
purchase, you earn a commission. It only takes a minute
to set up and you can use it on as many of your websites
as you want to. You can get more details on Clickbank Mall
at: http://www.CBmall.com/join.asp?storefront=wcrawford
The 4 resources mentioned above provide a very good
education and get the new online business person off to a
great start. They don't spend a fortune getting setup and
they start earning money fairly quickly. From this very
solid foundation the newbie is then ready to teach other
beginners how to safely get started.
This short note provides the complete beginner with a plan
... a very good starting point. Then it's just a matter of
doing it!
------------------------------------------
Willie Crawford has been teaching others how to build an on-line
business since late 1996. Frequently featured in radio, magazine
and newspaper articles and interviews, Willie teaches the average
guy what the top marketers are doing but seldom talking about.
Willie provides detailed how to information in his newsletter,
through his personal coaching, and at his annual how to workshop.
Learn more at:http://InternetMarketingHowToWorkshop.com
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Copyright 2004 by Willie Crawford
NO, that's not one of my secret dreams :-) It's an observation
that you need to make. Years ago, I read Harvey MacKay's
fantastic best-seller, Beware The Naked Man Who Offers
You His Shirt. I really enjoyed the book and even sent Harvey
a note. He sent me an autographed copy of his book "Swim
With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive." It's one of my
most prized possessions - but back to the naked man...
When you surf the various websites offering advice and
information products teaching you how to earn an online
income, it becomes glaringly obvious that many people who
created these products haven't done what they teach!
They are in effect, "naked men offering you their shirts."
Anyone just starting out online can understand why this
happens. If you put up a website on making money online,
and you admit that you haven't made any yet, people will
realize that you have no useful advice to pass on. To avoid
this consequence, beginners often "fake it, until they make
it."
One of the reasons many online marketers never "make it"
in the first place is because they ARE following the advice
of "naked men." They are absorbing, believing, and then
re-teaching the conventional wisdom so prevalently shared
in the internet marketing arena. The consequence is that
not only does the creator of the info product fail, but so do
all of his mislead followers.
We have two problems within this situation. The first is, "How
does a beginner establish himself as an expert if he has
achieved no major online marketing success?" The answer is
that he creates a product in an area that he IS an expert in or
that he has very thoroughly researched.
The beginner can also very easily create a product by
interviewing or partnering with someone possessing the
knowledge or skills he lacks. I sort of touched upon this in
another article I wrote entitled, "Don't Pretend To Be An Expert,
Become One." That article is available on my website at:
http://williecrawford.com/articles.html
The second problem is in knowing who is genuine and who
hasn't really learned the ropes yet. My advice to many of my
clients is to fully check out anyone before following their
advice. Simply go to any major search engine and enter their
domain or their name. Visit many, MANY of the sites that are
listed as featuring something related to this so-called expert.
This will give you a very good feel for who you are really
dealing with.
If sites about them contain testimonials, contact some of the
people providing the testimonial... especially if something
doesn't quite "feel right." That's right... I'm advising you to
trust your instincts.
Another way to easily check out someone is by using a website
called "The Way Back Machine." This website visits sites
scattered across the internet and takes a snapshot of them.
So if someone tells you that they've been in business for 5
years and you see that their only website is barely a year old,
run away very fast - and don't look back!
The way back machine can be found at:
http://www.archive.org/web/web.php
If you enter my url, http://williecrawford.com in the search box,
you will see that it offers snapshots of how sad this website looked
beginning in 1998. Prior to that time, all of my websites were
self-replicated websites offered by various affiliates programs,
and websites built on free hosts such as FreeYellow, Angelfire,
Hypermart, Webspawner, and about 30 others :-)
To digress just a little, I purchased my own domain name when
someone responded to one of my posts in Links Exchange Digest
insisting that I would have a lot more credibility if I got my
own domain name AND ditched the Hotmail account. I kept
websites on free hosts for several more years, but finally started
really listening. People were telling me that using a free hosting
company... building and promoting their domain, was just bad
business. When I listened and took their advice, that's when
things REALLY took off for me.
I've just pointed out to you a way to avoid the naked man look.
If you are a beginner, get you own domain... one with a url
that is easy to remember and that suggests what your
business is all about. My domain name, WillieCrawford.com was a
poor choice in many ways, but over the years it has developed a
very strong brand. My second flag-ship domain, Chitterlings.com,
was a better choice since it centered around "soul food" and the
name was easy to remember to anyone familiar with that
category of cooking.
Another way for beginners to avoid pretending to be something
that you are not, and build online credibility, is simply to
market other people's products. If you want a higher than normal
commission either approach them about joint ventures, or
obtain reprint rights to in-demand products. Don't waste your
time and resources promoting products that there is no demand
for. Many reprint rights that are offered for free are priced
that way because the owner of the product couldn't sell them :-)
The benefit of obtaining products that are proven sellers through
reprint rights is that you often get a tested website that will
generate a steady income for you if you just drive traffic to
it. It's really easy, but again, you have to make sure that the
product is one that is worth the effort. The criteria that I use and
suggest you use is, ask yourself if you would purchase the
product at the price you plan on offering it for. Also read the
template website being offered and notice whether or not it gets
you really excited. If not, look elsewhere.
I do recommend that you eventually develop your own product or
service. However, that may take some time. In the interim you
need to establish a professional business that's built on quality and
integrity. Avoid coming across as a fake or "naked man." Also
beware of those who have to fake it until they make it. You know
and appreciate that we all had to start somewhere. Most of us could
not afford to buy a huge, thriving web business, so we had to start
from meager beginning. Just look at my websites in The Way Back
Machine for proof of that :-)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Willie Crawford has been teaching others how to build an on-line
business since late 1996. Frequently featured in radio, magazine
and newspaper articles and interviews, Willie teaches the average
guy what the top marketers are doing but seldom talking about.
Willie provides detailed how to information in his newsletter,
through his personal coaching, and at his annual how to workshop.
Learn more at: http://InternetMarketingHowToWorkshop.com
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