When you buy an Internet Marketing course that purports to describe a business blueprint, the promise is that it will explain how to create an operational business, based on that blueprint.

High Level Conceptual Understanding

High Level Options

Setting Up Business Infrastructure

Defining Business Processes

Record Keeping

On second thoughts, don’t bother! You already know what it’s like.

FULL!

You get annoyed with so many people mailing you so often. And if you get annoyed by it, most of those marketers who constantly mail you must be wasting their time.

So they must be pretty stupid to keep doing it – right?

Just like all those Adwords advertisers who keep showing their ads on Google’s search pages: you hardly EVER click on them, so surely they must be wasting their time and money? And yet it’s a time-wasting activity that provided Google with $43 billion of revenue in 2012.

So lets get back to those marketers who keep sending us all those unwanted emails and re-evaluate them. Probably they aren’t stupid. Probably they aren’t wasting their time. Probably, just like those adwords advertisers who pay Google $43 billion/year and still make a massive profit themselves (mostly!), those email marketers are doing very well for themselves!

Or they wouldn’t keep doing what they are doing.

So when you see all those emails filling up your inbox – don’t get annoyed: get inspired!

It’s clear that marketers spend a big chunk of their time crafting emails to send to their subscribers (or a big chunk of their budget paying for someone to do it).

So it’s rather surprising how little training there is on how to write effective emails and how to nurture a good relationship with subscribers (if that is the model you choose).

[Side note:

Most marketers who teach list building / email marketing tell you how THEY do it, and assume that that is the only valid way.

Some say: "You MUST form a close relationship of trust, or you'll just be wasting your time". Others say: "Blast your list 3 times a day - that's the way to maximize your profits".

Personally, I don't take sides - and I know people who mail multiple times a day and STILL have a strong relationship. In fact, I am taking a multi-model approach in my business, and that's what I teach in my list-building coaching program]

I recall when I first start mailing my list, I hadn’t been properly trained.

I was VERY cautious! I worried that I would annoy people if I mailed more than once a week; that they would get bored because what I wrote wasn’t relevant; that I would offend them by promoting stuff… and so on.

And, in fact, all those things I worried about came to pass! People have unsubscribed from my list for all those reason, and for more!

But what I discovered was – it doesn’t matter! That is EXACTLY what happens – and all it means is that, you have to grow your list faster than people un-subscribe from it. It DOESN’T mean you have to mail less often, or try to please everybody with what you write, or not promote stuff.

It’s not unusual for me to get two types of responses to the same mailing:

“I’m unsubscribring because I’m fed up with all this promotion.”

and

“Thank you SO MUCH for bringing this to my attention!”

If you’re just starting out in this field, you have to put aside the behaviour and emotions which are valid when you are communicating with a small group of people who probably know you (e.g. when talking to friends or giving a presentation at work or at a conference). You have to learn different behaviours and emotions. You need to learn to be more like a politician or business leader – anything you do or say will please some people and upset others.

If you’re interested in learning more about this (I mean email marketing, not being a politician!) – and especially about the “trust and relationship” model of email marketing, there’s an excellent little eBook available from John Schwartz called:

Email Marketing For The Squeamish

Here’s the Table of Contents:

1. What do I say? 6

2. I don’t know these people… I feel intimidated. 8

3. I feel weird sending affiliate offers… Don’t like “pushing” for sales. 11

4. I get upset and offended when anyone unsubscribes! 13

5. How often should I email my list? 17

6. Can I start sending emails to an older list I haven’t emailed lately? 17

7. What about spam complaints? 19

8. How can I stand out from all the other list owners? 23

9. My list is small… Should I wait to send emails until it’s bigger? 25

10. Do I need more than one list?… What is “segmenting?” 26

11. Where do I find tips and other free info to send to my list? 27

12. How do I find affiliate offers to send?… Do I need my own product? 27

13. What if no one buys what I promote? 29

14. How can I get my subscribers to respond more often? 31

15. How much time should I devote to building vs. emailing my list? 32

16. How much personal information should I talk about in my emails? 34

17. How many times should I email for something I’m promoting? 36

18. How do I know when to charge for something or give it away free? 37

19. What’s the difference between a ‘Welcome’ email and ‘Follow-ups?’ 39

20. Is my list ‘dead?’… How can I revive it? 41

This is very valuable training at low cost:

Email Marketing For The Squeamish

Alex

The program I will be putting together will fix TWO problems with my 7-Stage Model in the Internet Professionals Master Agenda program – which underpins my mentoring program.

Firstly:

The model makes an implicit assumption that the world is reasonably ordered and linear: you decide on your starting point, and then you work your way through the Stages, in the given order, and you pop out at the end with an Operational Business.

Of course, that is an idealization which NEVER happens. Don’t get me wrong – the model is still VERY valuable, and it is still essential to know exactly which Stage you are currently in – even if you don’t go through the Stages linearly.

Secondly:

The stumbling block for so many people is choosing a business model and/or thinking they have already made a rational choice and are now in the operational stage.

Not everyone has these problems. Some people know exactly what business model to follow (sometimes after trying 2 or 3 models) – and they are prepared to put in the effort and the patience to make it work because it aligns with a particular passion of theirs.

But such people are the exception, not the norm.

Most people try something for a while, discover some problem with the model, or get stuck, or get bored, or lose faith in it … and go into limbo until something else catches their attention.

I’m sure you recognize this syndrome – we’ve all been there: and some of us have been there far too many times!

Up until now, all I’ve been able to do is recommend blueprints for specific business models which other people have created. And my Choosing Stage in the IPMA offers some guidance on choosing a business model. But to be honest, most people still jump on the most recent thing that caught their attention and sounded exciting. That is just the nature of human nature.

So – what I am doing now is:

- Recommending a default business model for people who are having a problem making a choice

- Providing an alternative, less “linear” path through the IPMA Stages

- Creating my own blueprint for that business model – using all the principles within the IPMA (that’s one reason it will be qualitatively very different from any other blueprint for any business model).
You can learn more in my webinar TONIGHT (5.30 EST on 19th December)
http://netbiz-insights.com/webinar19dec2012
And yes – places on the program really ARE going to be limited – it may not be exactly 10, but if it’s more, it won’t be too many more.

And yes – there WILL be a replay of the webinar.

And yes – if there is a big demand for program places during the webinar, I WILL hold back a few places for people watching the replay.

http://netbiz-insights.com/webinar19dec2012

Regards

Alex

It’s just happened to me again – for the third time!

It’s a feeling of excitement in the pit of my stomach, combined with a sense of “rightness”.

The first time I got this was when I eventually kicked the Shiney Object habit and started working on my first IM product – the IMI Organizer.

What caused those feelings were three things:

1) Something had “clicked” in my head, and I knew that I knew enough to get started on developing the product. I knew the “outline” – the “countours” – of where I was heading, and, crucially, I somehow knew that I knew enough to fill in the details. The ideas had been gestating for long enough.

2) I also knew that I was creating something which was unique (and that is always exciting), but more importantly…

3) I also knew that I was creating something which was desperately needed – so there would be a good market for it.

The second time I got this feeling was when I got the idea for the Internet Professionals Master Agenda Program.

Exactly the same three things were in place

1) I had the outline (the Stages etc) but not the details – although I knew I knew enough to fill in the gaps (which I did during the early months of my mentoring program)

2) I also knew it was unique.

3) I also knew it was desperately needed.

That feeling has just happened again – for the third time!

1) Just now, I was mapping out some ideas for a product that I’d been mulling over for some time, and suddenly the outline of the framework more-or-less jumped out at me! And I KNOW I can complete the framework and fill in the details (although there ARE a lot of details!)

2) Again – this is unique! Well – the topic isn’t unique or original. There are many people giving advice and coaching and mentoring about it – people who have taken this a LOT further than I have. But no-one is packaging it up in the way I will be doing.

3) And for sure, this is DESPERATELY needed! This is the simplest, most guaranteed way to make money online – and I will be providing a system + coaching like nothing else you’ve seen.

So yes – I AM very excited about this – and I’m going to be following up on this very soon!

(I’ve decided to document the launch of this idea on this blog – so this is the first of a number of posts. If you’re on my mailing list, you’ll get to hear about the developments. If you’re not, make sure you register to get updates of this blog.)

Feel free to comment below – although I’ve not told you much at the moment, I do admit!

Alex

In this video, you can see me the tool to using to craft the subject line which I used in the email I sent to my subscribers about it.

MANY years ago I stumbled across, what seemed to me at the time, to be a very sophisticated tool for scoring the “sales potential” of headlines or other short items of text.

The product was called Glyphus, and had been developed by a very smart person who thoroughly understood text analysis and advanced algorithms – AND could implement that understanding in a computer program. I remember thinking four things at that time…

1. Wow! This is very clever stuff!

2. I would LOVE to get this and use it to improve my business, but…

3. It all looks a bit complex… and

4. It’s too expensive for me at the moment

Id’ completely forgotten about it until it popped up in a sales page about AdvantageBot – which is Glyphus technology re-packaged in a much simpler (and very engaging) form.

You can read more about it, and purchase it, from here:

AdvantageBot Sales Page

I definitely recommend this to anyone who is serious about online marketing. I now use it just about every day.

Alex Goodall

Many people have read Robert Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad Poor Dad.

But remarkably few Internet marketers who have read that book seem to take the principles on board in their business – me included.

The vision that Kiyosaki presents us with for achieving true wealth is to have income streams generated from investments. Typically this would be property investments, which is a path many people have followed.

But that path requires a significant upfront investment or a willingness to take on a large debt.

So might it be easier in the online world, investing in web properties? Certainly, the potential returns are much higher – I’ve read that 20-40% pa is not unreasonable.

But for most people, the investment needed to create a reasonable ongoing income is still far too high. And it is NOT an area you should enter without expert guidance.

Which brings me to the point of this post.

Chris Yates, who spends all his time in the web properties market, has a solution to BOTH issues.

His membership site, which he runs with a partner, covers all aspects and buying and selling websites, and you can join his training program for several hundred dollars. But that’s not what this is about.

In the current climate, Chris is proposing that one specific route through one of his four training programs is the optimal approach. And note this… he will provide – AT NO CHARGE – one-on-one help to the people that prove their commitment to this. All you pay is the very low cost of his WSO.

He’s clearly not in this to make an income from the WSO. But neither is he doing it as a charitable venture. Instead he’s found a way for everyone to benefit from this. What YOU get is:
1) Potentially very large “paydays”
2) Detailed insight into how this business works
3) A start on the path to Kiyosaki-style independent wealth

Of course, you don’t need goals of massive wealth to be involved in this. But if you DO have such goals, this business model can easily cope.

What I learned in the first hour has opened my eyes and re-ignited the excitement I felt when I first read Kiyosaki’s book.

Even if you decide it’s not right for you – go and find out more. You should only turn this down after you are sure you fully understand what it is you ARE turning down.

If you sometimes feel like ditching all the IM ‘stuff’ such as squeeze pages, plr, plugins, templates, mailing lists, WSOs, traffic, monetization, backlinks, Google slaps, social marketing, mobile marketing, offline consulting, Kindle publishing, Facebook pages, html, css, php, java, cPanel etc. etc. … then take a good look at this.

Get On The Path To Kiyosaki-Style Online Wealth

Alex

I watched this video from Bolaji Oyesterday  - and I LOVE it!

Here’s what it’s all about…

1) Cold calling is DREADFUL. I’ve done, and I hate it.

2) Lead following-up with prospective clients is almost as bad. I’ve done even more of that, and it can be demoralizing – but YOU HAVE TO DO IT!

2) Using Infographics to sweeten your follow-up is sheer brilliance! The visual impact hits people emotionally. Very powerful. See examples below

3) Automating the whole shebang is the gold plating on the icing (!)

Oh yes – and I forget to mention: Bolaji ALSO give you multiple strategies to get the leads in the first place!

If you get this product through my link, I’ll give you the PSDs to the two infographics below.

This is a superb product – and I KNOW you’ll agree when you see the sales page…

This is just ONE of THREE bonuses that Bolaji O and his guys will be giving you:

And these are MY extra bonuses (with PSDs) if you buy through my link (you’ll get a link to them automatically after you purchase):

I highly recommend that you…

This system is gaining popularity as it gets harder and harder to rely on SEO.

For people who dislike messing around with social media (which is the main other alternative) – this method is an excellent alternative.

I would recommend aiming for $100 per day – and then review whether to continue building, maintain it as a funding source, or sell it.

The video explains why I am recommending this method.