Saturday 12 June 2010

Feel the Fear and Market Anyway! (Apologies to Susan Jeffers...)

It can be hard, starting to "promote" a product or service. As someone put it in an email, there's a fine line between being pushy and being brave. The more scared you are, the more you will probably come across as pushy. But if you wait till you are not scared, you might wait a very long time.
How do you know you are scared? Well, there are a few signs of fearful marketing.

1. You are never satisfied that you have the right product. Should you create your own or should you promote someone else? That question alone could occupy you for months! You'll get opinions to back up both points of view, and the fact that it depends on you. Do you like creating? Enjoy writing? Then you'll probably want the buzz of creating something new. Does that idea stop you in your tracks? Then don't waste too much time on it at the moment. Find someone else's product and stick with it. You can always get going on the creative side of things later. Just avoid "analysis paralysis" and keep up the momentum!

2. You are on an emotional rollercoaster of exciting ups and devastating downs. On the ups you get into more programmes, explore more and more avenues for creating a business, learn a little about a lot of areas. On the downs you berate yourself for the lack of progress and wonder if you are completely wasting your time. The strange thing in that both ups and downs don't go in a forward direction. Either you are standing still or just going round in small circles even if you cover a vast area. Both modalities avoid the need for decisive action. The remedy here is Focus. Set goals, and the targets on the way. Watch out for digressions, especially those that require a credit card! Here is where the task list is vital. Doing 2 or 3 relevant steps every day is better than a 1000 steps round in circles.

3. You take your eye off the ball. Something starts to work, you get sign ups and yet somehow "forget" about this last, this topic which was working for you. It is similar to number 2, but is a more active kind of self sabotage. You are beginning to be successful and you can't stand it. Perhaps you lose interest in the niche, decide you don't know what to say, and you stop creating the autoresponder messages...But you still pay for the autoresponder. You are being your own worst enemy. This is where belonging to a good forum of marketers can really be useful. You could ask for someone to check in on your progress or ask for assistance in keeping up your content creation. There are sites like Affordable Words, which will create a bundle of articles for a few dollars.

No wonder that many internet marketers find they must have a major personal breakthrough in self development before they find significant success online. Or as the Abraham-Hicks teaching would have it, they must Allow their good to come to them, whilst making reasonable effort. Don't procrastinate, don't be a perfectionist, take one step at a time and allow success. Simple really! Susan Jeffers had it right all along.

Sunday 24 January 2010

I wish I had had this some years ago.

Just listening to Chris Farrell's soothing English voice is a treat. I wish, really I do, that I had had access to the training he provides when I was first online. He is a successful marketer, but he also understands what is confusing to the new person trying to get started. If you have ever struggled to understand the "big picture" at Aweber, and how to configure your autoresponder, you will be delighted at the clarity of Chris's videos. The pace is relaxed, his tone is friendly and encouraging, and the explanation is a model of clarity.
He offers the videos at his membership site, and I would waste no more time struggling with any of the basics of getting started without at least checking out his site. Chris Farrell is a great antidote to all the hype of some marketing gurus.

Saturday 9 January 2010

Viralizing Twitter

Would you like more Twitter followers? The guys at Viral Url have come up with a way of building you followers virally. It is a Set and Forget little machine that ticks away in the background once it gets going. You just need to send one tweet, then find a few other people to follow you on the system and it builds momentum very easily.
You can read more about it here.

Friday 8 January 2010

Promoting Your Blog

Here is a great way to get visitors to your blog. Traffic Momentum have a great way of creating links to other blogs, and spreading your links also. The links look like the ones to the right of this page...I think that six are relevant and the others are connected to the working of the system, including a link to Traffic Momentum, which is the viral element of the system.
Just go to Traffic Momentum and fill in a form, get the widget and paste it into a gadget box (in Blogger.) It also works for Wordpress.

Thursday 7 January 2010

Advertise Free? Learn How to Promote!

Another site with viral advertising. The concept is not unique, but on this site everything is very clearly explained....full marks to Walt, as so many "explanations" and "instructions" leave a great deal to be desired. He does a simple "walk-through" of what is required in online marketing. It is a video in which he appears in a small window, but you get good clear screen shots and he does not move too fast.
Along the way there are tips like how to organize bookmarks. But the main idea is to select a primary advertising base, like "Advertise for Life", and go there first before you promote anything else. Get a special link, which will advertise whatever you choose, but it will also have a link to Advertise for Life and an ad from another member.
These are not glaring or distracting, but they are also perfectly visible. These links begin to build a downline for you. You get credits as well, so the more active you are on the site, the more your ads are shown.
The layout and the graphics of the site make it easy to use. Walt has done very well with it and has impressive testimonials.

Saturday 2 January 2010

Making a Difference

For 2010, my goal is to make a difference in the lives of 300 children, who do not at present have the basics of life. The amazing thing is that by doing this, I will also be improving my own life. This is a truly heartwarming, mindblowing program that makes a huge motivational difference to being involved in internet marketing.
With a big enough "why" you can do any "what"! What really matters to you? What values are guiding your life? Sully Sullenberger, the hero of the Hudson River, was reading a library book on professional ethics at the time of the famous crash. He had not stopped growing, even though he was well on in his professional life. Nor,I believe, should we, and our business will reflect that growth.
So the HUB program is my core program. I invite you to look into it. If it touches and excites you, as it does me, then listen to the calling and step up! There is a reason why the internet was developed, why old financial institutions are creaking and groaning, and why we don't trust governments any more to provide answers. Now it is OUR time, the ordinary person, who chooses to be the truly extraordinary human being they are. Let's unite our brilliance and act to change the world.

Sunday 27 December 2009

Steve Pavlina

Hats off to Steve Pavlina! In the wonderful way of the web, I just picked up a Tweet, that had been retweeted from my Twitter account, and looked up something which led to something and back to Scribd where I downloaded Steve Pavlina's free ebook called "Personal Development for Smart People".His main site is the most popular personal development site in the world.In this ebook he tells his story....in his teens he was convicted of "felony grand theft". It is a great story,and I won't spoil it by retelling it. Let's just say, he had to face his demons.
How often the famous online marketers have such a story, though not necessarily a conviction for felony perhaps! It reminds me of the Christian theology of "repentance". Nowadays we talk about "turning our lives around". Is it really that different?
Here is a message from the Afterword of Steve's book:
"Embrace your unique path of growth. Use your intellect and
emotions to guide you in the conscious pursuit of truth, love, and
power. Invest in creative self-expression, service, and contribution,
and you will suffer no scarcity. Your greatest gift to the world
is to share who you really are...."