Why Listening to Your Customer is Not Enough
In a private consultation I had last week, I was talking with a very smart woman who happened to be new at online marketing.
We were going over her autoresponder series – a week-long series of lessons on selling real estate in this down economy – and we were talking about the words she was using in her text.
What I liked about what she had written was that the language was casual and “real” sounding, rather than the artificial, overly formal “corporate” style that most people end up writing their first time around.
In other words, she’d write things like “Do you remember back in the ‘good old days’ of real estate — just a couple of years ago — when all you had to do was list a home, and you’d get 5 offers to buy it? Well here’s how to go back in time as soon as tomorrow.”
That’s refreshing to read, and much better than Read more
The Most Overlooked Step in Business is the First Step
On a coaching call at the end of last month, one of the attendees sent in a question. It was “Okay, I’ve set up my blog. Now what do I do with it?”
If that strikes you as a good question, then I’ve got news for you.
It’s the worst question.
And that’s because it means that the woman who asked it was starting her online business the wrong way.
I’ve said this several times in lots of different ways, but it bears repeating so long as we keep getting new members in the club, and some of the older members haven’t gotten this message yet.
The right way to set up your online business is: Read more
A Free Ebook
Hi Folks
Just the other day I gave my mind a nice little break, kicked my shoes off, and read a short eBook that a dear friend recently shared with me.
Like me, you might spend most of your day squinting at a computer screen, so I find it is great to break things up a bit and relax. This eBook turned out to be just the ticket. I like to read as much as I can about the online marketing space, because you can never know enough. And frankly I’m still just learning and can never get enough!
It doesn’t happen often, but you know when you read a book that’s so good you want to share it with all your friends? This was one of them! It is called “The Triumph of the Stupid”. With a title like that it just begs you to read it! I read it in only 15 minutes and I immediately shared it with everyone in our office.
Then I thought since I am already sharing this with my co-workers, why not share it with you? We can never do enough for our TrafficSwarm Pro members. It sells for thirty bucks, but I’m sending it to you for nothing just because you are one of our valued Pro members.
Go ahead, give “The Triumph of the Stupid” a look - it’s yours to keep, no catch, just a ‘thanks’ for continuing to be a TrafficSwarm Pro member.
If you are already a Pro member, shoot me an email to get your FREE ebook
If not, join Pro today and send me an email for your FREE Ebook
www.trafficswarm.com
Enjoy!
Kaycee
TrafficSwarm Member Services
303-895-3575
Kaycee@trafficswarm.com
P.S. If you like the content, the author is Mark Widawer, the main coach for our Coaching program. I’m setting up some special pricing exclusively for Pro members to join the Club, so drop me a note or give me a call and I’ll tell you all about that.
How to Connect With Your Customer So That His Wallet Will Follow
The ‘official’ name for this month’s focus in the coaching club was going to be “Knowing your Customer.”
After all, it’s a critical part of online marketing.
But that’s not a catchy title. It’s down-right boring, unless you already understand the idea, and why it’s so incredibly important to your own personal success online.
“Knowing your Customer” is factually correct, but it doesn’t tell you anything at all about why you’d care. There’s no benefit in that title. No reason why. No attraction. No urgency.
No movement.
So we worked hard to find some other title for this month’s Coaching Club that would instantly appeal to someone like you. We wanted a title that would laser target itself into your brain so that your immediate response was “That’s for ME! I need that!”
The important thing about knowing your customer should be obvious, but it isn’t to many people. Especially new internet marketers.
Many new marketers think that there’s a river of gold online, and all they need to do is buy a pan and dip it into the river to get their share.
It’s not that way.
Internet Marketing is more like an ocean.
Lotsa fish. Lotsa people trying to catch those fish. Most of them using the wrong bait.
(You’ve heard me talk about stuff like this before.)
Its your job to use the right bait. Read more
Webinar Today at 4PDT! “Tour of Wordpress”
don’t forget to register for today’s “Tour of Wordpress” Webinar.
This time the webinar is at a different time, actually we had to reschedule many times 
We are going live at 4pm Pacific, (7 EDT).
All you have to do is show up, learn all about Wordpress, ask your questions, and get one on one coaching from your Coach Mark Widawer.
Pretty Easy right?
If you haven’t already, go ahead and register now at the Coaching homepage
Here is your link to do so http://mmc.trafficswarm.com/members
Now…I know that not everyone can always make it to the live webinars, but remember if you cannot make it, I can always ask your questions for you.
I’m here for you to get the most out of your coaching. Just let me know your thoughts, ideas, and questions.
It’s easy, either fill out the question box on your member’s homepage within the Coaching Club or shoot me an email at kaycee@trafficswarm.com
Heck, you can even call me directly at 303-895-3575
I want to encourage you to be involved and get the most out of your coaching…that is why you signed up right? To learn and succeed online?
Plus, look at last week’s winners. They participated, got personal coaching, and recieved 1000 Trafficswarm visitors?!
Way to go Cheryl, Belinda, and Bogdan! Keep up the good work!
See you on the call today, Thursday at 4 pm PDT, 7pm EDT?
Once again here’s your link to the Coaching Club homepage: http://mmc.trafficswarm.com/members
Talk to you soon!
-Kaycee
Your Coaching Club Team,
Kaycee and Karla
http://mmc.trafficswarm.com
303-895-3575
Dinner on Me
It’s Karla with Trafficswarm.
I was going over all of the new and existing Trafficswarm members that have upgraded to a Pro membership recently…
To be honest, there are very few members that have choosen to upgrade…
And well this really got me thinking? I mean, I know how valuable a Pro membership can be. I know what 2500 extra credits can mean to anyone who owns a website or is simply trying to earn an income online.
So, John maybe the problem is… I haven’t done a good enough job of showing the value of a Pro membership to you.
Well…
I asked my Boss if I could give a Pro membership to every Trafficswarm member for Free, because I know that if I could just show you the Value in a Pro membership first hand you could see what it could do for your business.
Read more
What is one of the easiest things you can do online…today
Hello,
There’s no simpler way to put up a website, put up some content, and get some organic traffic, than with a blog.
This month in the coaching club, we’ve been talking about Blogs and Blogging. And this week, as we finish up the topic, we’re diving deeper during this weeks’ webinar.
We’re going to show you the inside of a blog, how to write a post, how to install a theme, how to install a plugin, and other things that bloggers need to know how to do.
Plus, we’ll be answering your questions, live on the call.
This week we are changing up the time a bit too. The webinar will still be on Thursday, yet we will be live at 5p.m. Pacific (8EDT).
Go ahead and register on your member’s homepage if you haven’t already and mark your calendar:
http://mmc.trafficswarm.com
To your Success
Mark Widawer, Kaycee Edenfield
The Coaching Club
kaycee@trafficswarm.com
303-895-3575
Testing Affiliate Offers
Lots of people give affiliate marketing a try, see little or no immediate success, and quit.
What a shame.
Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to get started in internet marketing. You don’t need a product of your own, carry no inventory, and get paid half the money, more or less.
So why do some affiliates fail?
Well not all products are good products, and not all marketing is good marketing. In other words, maybe the product you’re promoting wouldn’t sell to anyone, no matter how much traffic you sent to it.
But it’s entirely possible that a nearly identical product might sell like CRAZY. Read more
Making Money With Your Blog
Good traffic plus good offers makes for good money.
There’s lots of ways to make money on your blog. Here are just a few.
* Links to your sales pages. Blogs are a great way to attract traffic, and then send that traffic to the pages that make you money.
* Google Adsense. Google’s advertising program is a great hands-off, automatic way to make money on your website.
* Affiliate Ads. Go find products in the same field as your blog’s topic. Download the banner ad the merchant will provide to you, or make your own. Add your affiliate link, and you’re done.
* Sell banner ads. Yes, banner ads are still alive and well on the web. You’ve got to have a lot of traffic for anyone to bother to pay for ads on your site.
* Paid Links. These are basically text-versions of banner ads. People will pay you for a link on your site to their site.
* Text link ads. There are several ad companies that will turn some of the text on your pages into text links. Advertisers pay for the link to the ad companies (like Chitika and Kontera), and the ad companies share that revenue with you. Neat. Effortless.
Okay, so there are a lot of ways to make money with blogs.
But when you’re just starting out, it’s best to leave your blog ad-free. Don’t be in a hurry to put Adsense and affiliate links on your blog from the beginning. At the very start, concentrate on getting into a regular rhythm of writing on your blog, moderating your comments, and building your traffic.
If you start out with one article, and 10 ads, the few new visitors that you’ll get probably won’t stay very long — or come back for more.
Of course, there’s lots more in this month’s Coaching Club about building your blog, driving traffic, and monetizing your blog.
Log in now to see it all, or attend this month’s webinars and open coaching calls each and every Thursday at Noon PDT, 3pm EDT.
To Your Success,
–Mark
Getting Conversions on Your Blog
So, what if your online business is all about selling your ebook.
What good is a blog to you?
Well the first answer is that blogs are Traffic Magnets — Search engines and people both love blogs.
But blogs also do their best work by helping your traffic become more familiar with who you are, and what you’re about.
It’s no coincidence that most people like to buy things they need from people they know. A blog gives you an opportunity to show your traffic who you are, and why you’re worth buying from.
Blogs are, by nature, full of free content. So your readers will be getting a big eyeful of the value of your content. Your job, as the owner of a blog about your specialty, is to impress your readers so much that they think to themselves “If his free stuff is THIS good, then the paid stuff has got to be EVEN BETTER!”
And on the path to getting your traffic to buy from you are some opportunities for getting your readers to take action and strengthen his relationship with you.
For example, even though Squeeze Pages are an excellent way to get opt-ins, there’s nothing wrong with putting an opt-in form right on your blog.
One other thing you’ll see on blogs are ads.
Now, these ads don’t have to be paid ads from other marketers. They can just as easily be ads for your own products.
Got another product in a related field? Put an ad for it on your website. Are you an affiliate for a related product? Put an affiliate ad for it on your website. Do you have a list you’re trying to build for your main product?
Heck, you can even put an ad for your squeeze page’s free offer on your website.
Of course, you can also add links to your Twitter feed, your Facebook page, and a bunch of other social media sites that you use to spread your message.
All of these links will help you either sell more product, or build your relationship with your readers.
So do you see the power of using a blog to support your online business? I hope so, because there’s a bunch of resources in the Coaching Club this month to help you build and promote your own blog.
If you’re a member, log into the coaching club now. If you’re not yet a member, you might just be a dollar away from the most important part of your online marketing machine. Sign up now.
To Your Success,
–Mark Widawer
