So without further ado, heeere’s Jimmy!

The 72 Hour Residual Income Plan

By Jimmy D. Brown of Membership To Go

One of the questions I get asked a lot is this:

“Jimmy, after being a full-time internet marketing for more than a decade, what’s one thing you know now that you wish you knew back when you started?”

Good question.

The answer is simple:  I wish I knew about fixed-term memberships back in the late 90′s so I could have built a residual income base much earlier in my “career” than I actually did.

SIDEBAR:  “Fixed term membership” is a phrase that I personally created and introduced to the internet marketing crowd, although the concept itself wasn’t original to me.  A “fixed-term membership site” (FTM) consists of content shared via autoresponder to paid members for a specified period of time.

There are a variety of reasons why a fixed term membership is a better model than the “traditional” membership site that are explained at the above referenced site, so I won’t go into them here.

But perhaps the most significant is the fact that all you need is that FIRST LESSON created in order to launch the site, as opposed to needing a bunch of content to stockpile a “traditional” membership site.

That’s important because you LITERALLY can have a FTM up and running in just a couple of days.

What I want to teach you in this article is a simple way to quickly setup an FTM site without writing a word of the content.

If you want to create residual income in 72 hours or lesson, here’s what you do…

Step 1:  Buy Quality PLR Content.

It begins with purchasing a private label rights license to “quality” content.  Choose this carefully as you’ll be converting it into your membership site lessons.  You want it to be first rate since your name is going to be attached with it in the end.

A) Look for content that “teaches a process”.  In other words, you want content that is very “how to” in nature.  The materials you purchase PLR to sell should teach the reader how to accomplish a desirable result.

Examples:  How To Build A List, How To Lose 20 Pounds, How To Shave 10 Strokes From Your Golf Game, etc.

This is important because the “fixed term” model works best when your members learn a series of steps for reaching a desired end result.

B) Look for content that is written by a qualified expert.  Preferably you’d like content that wasn’t created specifically for a PLR sale, but rather was originally sold as an actual product.  This will generally yield a better class of content.  (Especially if you’ve purchased the product in the past and KNOW personally that it’s good stuff.)

C) Look for content that is lengthy enough to be divided into at least 12 lessons of 5-9 pages each.  In other words, you’ll need 50-100 pages of meaty content to use for a 3-month FTM site that offers members weekly lessons.

Step 2:  Extract Marketing Materials.

After you’ve purchased the content, you’ll want to “extract” some marketing materials.  By “extract” I simply mention that you take out small portions of the content and convert them into a variety of marketing materials.

A) The default recommendation that I generally make is this:  you want 2-3 ezine articles, 4-5 short blog posts (think “tips”) and one short report (7-15 pages).

B) If you can find PLR offers that INCLUDE bonuses specifically created to promote the content, that’s even better.  The “best” PLR offers include marketing materials (in ADDITION to the product content itself) that were created specifically to promote the product you are licensing.  These are your best options.

You’ll use these extracted marketing materials to promote the FTM site once it is completed.

Option 1:  Use the materials yourself.  (IE Post articles to directories, post tips to your blog, send out report to your list, etc.)

Option 2:  Get affliates and joint venture partners to distribute.

Option 3:  Be smart and do both of the above options.

Step 3:  Setup FTM Membership Site.

The biggest part of your time will be used in actually setting up the FTM membership site.  But, even that can be done in just a couple of days.

Here’s the general overview (clearly this is an abbreviated version … it’s NOT a tutorial on how to do this)…

A) Register a domain and secure hosting.

B) Write the first lesson and set it up on a member autoresponder list.

C) Create a sales page and a download page with access to the member list.

That’s it.  You’ve got an FTM site setup.

So, that’s how you use PLR content to setup an FTM site.  The overall model here is solid.  It’s an easy way to create residual income from scratch virtually anytime you want to do so.  If you locked me in a room with no content on my computer at all, I could have an FTM site setup in lesson than 24 hours using this model.  I’m guessing that any intermediate marketer could do it in 72 hours and certainly in less than a week.

If you’re looking for the kind of content that I’ve been talking about, then you’ll want to check out Membership To Go.  It’s a complete, one-year fixed term membership site that you can license for your own use.  This has never been offered before and it includes EVERYTHING you need to get started, including private label rights to the membership content, its sales letter, presell report, articles and other marketing  materials.

Set it up at your site, sell as many memberships as you want, keep 100% of every sale.

Get all the details at:  http://tinyurl.com/bwrgtcn

A fixed-term membership site is the ultimate “set it and forget it” way to generate income online.  You create the site one time and it basically runs on autopilot.

—————–

Jimmy D. Brown is the founder of the PLR industry and creator of Membership To Go, an “everything included” membership site package that you can setup at your site and keep 100% of every sale you make.  Details at http://tinyurl.com/bwrgtcn

“I get to play golf for a living. What more can you ask for – getting paid for doing what you love.”

Tiger Woods

“I’ve never felt like I was in the cookie business. I’ve always been in a feel good feeling business. My job is to sell joy. My job is to sell happiness. My job is to sell an experience.”

Debbi Fields

The way you protect your company’s proprietary information, processes and equipment are with copyrights, patents and trademarks. So today’s article will give you a brief introduction to these three legal protections and what they do.

Let’s Start with the key questions you might want to know:
1. What is a copyright
2. Can everything be copyrighted?
3. How long do they last?
4. How can I get MY Stuff copyrighted?

A copyright is the expression of an idea. The idea itself is not copyrighted. Ideas can be patented and I will talk about patents later. Let’s consider the example of a story: a young good hearted but poor man found lots of cash on his way home from his job. He decided to keep the cash to pay for a surgery badly needed by his younger brother. But he couldn’t sleep that night because he was haunted by strange voices that told him to find the owner and return the cash. This idea cannot be protected. Anybody can write a short story based on the idea. What is protected is how the author expresses the idea in the form of texts, illustrations, drawings, photographs, etc.

All copyrighted materials have to be permanently recorded in some way, (papers, CDs, DVDs, etc.). If it is not fixed in a tangible medium, you can’t copyright it. For example, your speech to the graduating class that was never recorded, taped, or published is not protected under the US Copyright Act. All expressions of ideas are copyrighted the moment they are permanently recorded in some format, regardless of whether or not it is registered with the Copyright Office. However, if you register the expression with the Copyright Office, you can receive statutory damages and attorney’s fees if an infringement occurs. If the material is not registered with the Copyright Office, you can only recover actual damages.

After the story is expressed in a permanent form and copyrighted, others can still use it for fair use. You can tape a10-15 second video clip from a copyrighted TV program and post it in your video blogs about a commentary on the program or broadcaster, or a short excerpt from a story to review a book you are commenting on, etc. This will be considered a fair use and you will not infringe the copyright.
After a copyrighted material expires, it falls into the public domain. The life of copyrighted material is the life of the author, plus 70 years. Copyrighted materials that fall into public domain can be reproduced without any infringement. For example, if you have an old picture with an expired copyright, you can post the picture on your website. You can even take old books, and other writings from the public domain and use them to write your own copyrightable material. Of course, this requires making substantial changes and adding original content that makes it your own original expression.
Copyrights are filed with the US Copyright Office at the Library of Congress and can be done both by mail and online. Fees vary greatly depending on what you are copyrighting and how. For more info you can check out this link: http://www.copyright.gov/

Patents are a whole different animal.
A patent holder of an invention has the right to exclude others from using, selling, and making the invention. The United States Patent Office (USPTO) awards patents. There are three kinds of patents: utility, design, and plant patents. The most frequently used patents are utility patents. Utility patents have a life span of 20 years from the filing date, if the filing date is after June 8, 1995, and requires periodic maintenance fees to keep it active. A utility patent is given to a useful new invention or non-obivious process or use, a machine, a way of manufacturing, or compositions of something or significant improvement to something. There are three things that define a utility patent. First, it must be new. Nobody should have invented, published, used, or manufactured the invention before. Second, people must be able to do something useful with the invention. If it is just novel without any usefulness, it cannot be patented. A patentable invention can’t be obvious to the average person in the field related to the invention. A design patent is the appearance or look of an object, invention, packaging, etc and it has a life span of 14 years after the patent is issued. A plant patent, as the name applies, protects a distinct plant produced asexually. It has life span of 20 years from the filing date.

And of course there’s trademarks
Trademarks are different from copyrights. A trademark or servicemark is generally a word, symbol, design, or a combination of one or more of these items, (like a logo). A trademark is basically used for goods and a servicemark is used for services. So a restaurant or consultant would have a servicemark, where a retailer or widget manufacturer would have a trademark. For the purpose of this article I will be using the term trademark to include both terms.

Trademarks identify the source of goods and services, of one company and differentiate a company’s goods and services from others. A trademark cannot be confusingly similar to other existing names or symbols. The trademark, like a patent, is registered with the USPTO. It can also be registered locally through the state’s Secretary of State’s Office.

Most people are familiar with the idea that many companies trademark their logos. However, in some cases, if done right it can also be used to extend the life of a copyright. This is because unlike copyrights and Patents, trademarks & servicemarks do not expire and remain effective for as long as they are actively used and protected. Disney used this fact very effectively to extend the life of many of his cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck to name a few, by not only copyrighting his stories, but also trademarking the characters. Now even though the copyright has expired on these characters they have not fallen into public domain because of the trademark protection which the Disney Organization continues to actively use and protect vehemently.

You cannot use the symbol ® to represent a mark if it is not registered. However, you can use the TM symbol to let others know that you consider it a trademark and that it is being registered. A trademark like, the copyright is trademarked when you begin to use it in trade but if the trademark is not registered, the rights to the trademark may be geographically limited.

If you want to maintain a trademark for your business, you must actively use it. Just registering a trademark without using it actively will result in diminished rights over time. You also have to protect it. Never allow a trademark to become a generic word. For example, the trademark “Aspirin” by Bayer has become a generic word to represent acetylsalicylic acid. Once that happens others can use it without causing any infringement. This is why companies act so quickly to protect their trademark when they see others using it in a way that could weaken their rights; for example the stories you hear of the Disney Company suing some little mom & pop daycare center for using the Disney characters without permission. This is not because Disney is being mean, they’re simply protecting their rights so they don’t lose them.

Here is the link for the US Patent and Trademarks Office – http://www.uspto.gov/
Good luck with your endeavors and protecting your company’s intellectual property

“I was told to avoid the business all together because of the rejection. People would say to me, ‘Don’t you want to have a normal job and a normal family?’ I guess that would be good advice for some people, but I wanted to act.”

Jennifer Aniston

There are lots of books, both printed books and eBooks, about making money from home. Today I read one that really stands out from the crowd: Creating Your Profitable Home Business by Pam Hamilton, an upstate New York based attorney and business coach.

Ms. Hamilton makes a good case for starting your own home-based business by using the Internet, the ultimate marketing tool, to generate income and taking control of your future. In general terms that are easy to understand, she explains what’s required to succeed and what type of business you will have the best opportunity to greatly improve your financial freedom with.

The book covers what’s needed to get started and discusses the choices you have to make when deciding on products to sell as well as your business structure. Being a practicing attorney makes the advice she gives more valuable and accurate. So many other books I’ve read make me wonder where on earth the authors got their information from.

Included in the book is a case study of how to actually do your research and discover a profitable product that you can either produce yourself or you can promote and make money off other people’s products.

Have you ever tried to sell something? What was your commission? Five percent? Maybe even 10 to 20 percent? Well, Pam Hamilton shows you how you can make an average of 50 percent (normally 40 to 75%) commission without having to collect any money or deliver anything yourself. You don’t even have to sell, you just use the Internet to tell people about a product that they have been searching the Internet for.

The book is very well-written and does not include any of the common fluff that’s just used to increase the volume without providing real value. In addition to the book, by providing a link to a 30-minute video, you are also given access to an extremely informative presentation on how to set up the legal structure that’s best in your particular case. Of great value is also the list of tools and resources that’s included.

I have written many books myself, mostly business books, and I will highly recommend that you start out your entrepreneurial life by reading Creating Your Profitable Home Business. Regardless what type of business you are planning, you will find this to be invaluable information.

Kaare Pedersen
Author, Publisher and Marketing Expert
Dollarism Marketing
Effingham, IL

Check it out for yourself. Grab your copy here!

“I rate enthusiasm even above professional skill.”
Edward Appleton

The print version will be out in a couple of weeks for those of you who don’t have Kindle : )
Here’s the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007VEOESC

Creating Your Profitable Home-Business:
Use the Internet to Build a Six Figure Income

Let attorney and business coach, Pam Hamilton, show you how to build a successful home-based business using the internet. Inside these pages you will discover what it takes to to turn your interests and knowledge into a real home-based business.

“For a lot of people, the weekly paycheck is ‘take-home pay’ because home is the only place they can afford to go with it.”

Charles A. Jaffe

“Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure it just means you haven’t succeeded yet.”

Robert H. Schuller

“Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets.”

Henry Ford

One freebie that continues to be popular is email courses. People regularly sign up for these courses to learn more about topics that interest them. So they are very good for list building.

Of course, these are best maintained and delivered with your handy dandy autoresponder. An autoresponder can be set up to automatically send out the lessons for your email course at the intervals you choose. It is totally up to you how often your subscribers get the lessons they’ve signed up for it.

Email courses are unlike any other type of course you can offer. With traditional and web-based courses you have to worry about a schedules, not just your but yours but your student’s as well; because for most courses student interaction is a key component.

This not an issue with email courses. With an email course, you simply write out the information for each lesson. Add the series to your autoresponder and set the interval for the lessons to be delivered. You can opt to have lessons delivered daily, every other day, every three days, or what other schedule you feel works best for your email students. That’s it, the rest is fully automated for you.

Email courses are often used quite effectively to sell products and services. For example, if you sell medieval swords, you can create a course that shows people how to use medieval swords or the history of swords or even the best way to care for them. You can write an email course created for almost any product you can imagine – if you put a little thought into it.

The first step is to decide what your course will be about, and how long it should be.
For example, if you wanted your course to be delivered every other day for a couple of weeks, then you will need seven lessons. So you would write the lessons, load them in the autoresponder and set the time between lesson delivery, which in this case would be days 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12.

This means that the first lesson would be delivered the same day the person has signed-up for the course, and the second lesson would be delivered two days afterward, and so on. The interval for each lesson is set for the number of days after the person has signed up. It’s important to make sure everything is spelled right, and that your sentences are grammatically correct. You want the lessons to look and sound as professional as possible.

After that, run a test by sending the lessons to yourself so that you can be sure everything is good. Then simply advertise the email address or email capture page that activates your autoresponder. And let the sign-ups begin!

If you’re still looking for a quality autoresponder that fits your budget I highly recommend the one I’ve been using for years, click here to get started for a buck.

High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation.

– Charles Kettering

your RSS feed or “Rich Site Summary”, RSS is a web-feed format that allows  your sites visitors to subscribe and receive updates to your blog, website or other information directly to their chosen feed reader by simply entering your feed’s URL into their reader, or they can just click on your site’s RSS icon in their browser to begin the subscription process. This is very important because not everyone who visits your site will want to give you their name and email address the first the time they visit your site, even if you have an effective email capture form there. Your RSS feed gives you a second chance to show them the value of your site, and earn their trust.

Most web hosting packages and blog sites will have everything you need to create this option for your readers. In fact if you use WordPress for your blog, it’ll be set-up for you automatically. Now, how cool is that?

Check out my RSS feed by clicking on the big orange RSS icon and see how having one can help you show the value of your own site.

Thanks

The easiest and fastest way to build up an email list is to give things away for free. Some marketers will tell you that this is a waste of time – and if you already have a list of one hundred thousand people that you can market to, then it probably is. But for those who do not already have a list, this is the way that it gets built! You simply pay for advertisements to promote your freebie. Don’t think of this as lost money, think of it as an investment in future earnings.

Give away an ezine, free reports, free ebooks, free access to private websites, or anything else that you can think of. The object is to get people to sign up to receive that freebie, and to agree to receive email from you in the future! It is a win-win situation for everyone, but you get more than anyone else in the deal. The person gets a freebie. You get their name and email address, and permission to email them in the future.

But if you do it right, you get even more than that. The freebie that you give away should also be used to promote your products or services. Even if it just has affiliate links for products or services that are related to the topic of the freebie, it is a way to generate extra revenue. Then, when you send email in the future, you can again promote your products or services. Just be sure to include valuable information in the email as well, or you will have people dropping off of your mailing list like flies!

Using every opportunity that is presented to you in the world of Internet Marketing is vital to your success. You have the opportunity to earn money in the freebie that you create, you have the opportunity to earn money when you send the ‘thank you’ email after a person has requested your freebie, and you have the opportunity to earn money every time an autoresponder message is sent out to that list in the future! Don’t waste those opportunities, put it all in automatic mode with the use of an autoresponder.

If you are looking for a great autoresponder and have a not so great budget, the one I use for my business is Aweber and the best part is you can get started right now for the whopping price of $1 for your first month.
You can check them out here

Do more than is required. What is the distance between someone who achieves their goals consistently and those who spend their lives and careers merely following? The extra mile.

– Gary Ryan Blair

Thanks to the introduction of instant messaging the concept of socializing on the web has just grown in leaps and bounds. Today there are sites dedicated to social networking; from sites like MySpace, used primarily by the younger crowd, and FaceBook, which you may even being using to networks divided by interests, religion, ethnicity and pretty much everything in between.

Most social networking sites, don’t, however, actually make all these different distinctions. People basically just join the site, and then search or are attracted to whatever interests them including groups, businesses and even individuals.

Some of the more popular social networking sites include: MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Linkedin.com, Squidoo.com and Twitter.com to name a few.

Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.

      - Paul Tournier

The second in a two part series -  This podcast will point out some of the biggest mistakes info-marketers often make that keep them from
achieving the success they desire and offer helpful tips to help you avoid or at least minimize them in your business…
Listen here or download below:

Download Here

By the way – if you enjoyed this podcast why not leave some feedback below. You can also let me know about topics you’d like to hear in the the future.

To Your Success,

Blessed is he who has found his work; let him ask no other blessedness.
– Thomas Carlyle

Download Here

By the way – if you enjoyed this podcast why not leave some feedback below. You can also let me know about topics you’d like to hear in the the future.

To Your Success,

As a small businessperson, you have no greater leverage than the truth.

- John Greenleaf Whittier

Hell, there are no rules here – we’re trying to accomplish something.

      – Thomas A. Edison

95% of new business start-ups fail within the first five years. Make sure you’re not one of them. This podcast can help you become more
aware of some of the pitfalls that often cause businesses to fail and more importantly help you to avoid them.

Listen Here or Download using the link below:

Download Here

There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

     - Colin Powell

Listen here or download using the link below:

Download Episode Here

You probably are a bit fearful of gambling your money on expensive marketing campaigns that may or may not work. So you have chosen, wisely, I might add to try online marketing. I say wisely because even though it can sometimes be hard to understand and implement it’s actually the most cost effective marketing system currently available. But, to get the biggest return on the time and money you’ve invested in making it work you need to develop your Unique Selling Proposition or USP.

This is actually true regardless of the type of media you choose to market your business. To say developing a strong USP is a key component in successfully marketing your business would be an understatement. Why . . .? Creating a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) is the key ingredient in getting noticed by your target audience. Unique Selling Proposition is a worldwide term for setting your business apart from others. It says what’s unique about your business and let’s potential customers know why they should pick you over all the other screaming voices yelling “Pick me! Pick me!” right alongside you.

Do you have a USP, do you know how to create one? If you’re like many home-based business owners you probably don’t have a clue how to determine your unique selling point. But it’s important to figure it out because in business terms, it’s very much like being unaware of your own identity. Establishing a USP is the focal point around which the success of your company and the sale of your products and services are built. That’s why it absolutely needs to be stated clearly, delivered honestly and fulfilled honorably and effectively, every time, all the time.

To be most effective it is always offered in terms of what the benefit is to your customers. It also needs to be positioned or stated in a way that will ring true within your targeted market place to potential customers and be accepted by them at every level.

Take a good look at those USPs  each proposition is clear, attainable and unpretentious. They get  the attention of potential clients because they answer the question. They tell the client what’s in it for them and they do it in a way that can be accepted as believable.  When you can figure out how to do that for your business you’ll be well on your way to home-business success.

I want to put a ding in the universe.
– Steve Jobs

My presentation at the New Hartford Library for First Thursdays – “How to Choose The Right Business Structure for Your New Business” went great yesterday. And the day before my iTunes Podcast went live and I feel great. It’s a wonderful way to start my personal new year.

Plus, my teenage son and his friends called me from school at lunch time to do a happy birthday
shoutout . . . How cool is that!

You can subscribe for free and download the weekly podcast to your ipod, mp3player, blackberry or other smartphone or even your computer so you can listen to it whenever you’re ready.  The link is: http://www.HomeBizCoachoniTunes.com

I’d love it if you go take a listen and offer your feedback and rating at iTunes.

Thanks

One of the ways I’ve found to help do that is to really be clear about who your target audience is. You are always actually only talking to one person, not an audience. That means you need to think of your ad copy, marketing brochure and even video and podcast material as a conversation between two people who know each other.

I actually have an avatar, an imaginary person who is a member of my idea audience and I direct all my material to her, like I am speaking with her about whatever it is I’m talking about or creating at that moment.

Download the episode here

-Tom Peters

I liked the article because I agree with the principal message – your focus determines where
your attention and efforts are and therefore what is happening in your life. When you change
your focus you change your life too.

I’ve listed the ten questions he suggest you ask yourself daily, you can check out the full article here:
http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/10-questions-that-create-success.html

10 Questions to ask yourself everyday!

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

3. Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?

4. Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?

5. Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?

6. Have I avoided unkind words and deeds?

7. Have I accomplished something worthwhile?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

9. Have I collected some wonderful memories?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

http://ezinearticles.com/?Home-Based-Business-Profits:-Six-Steps-to-Generating-Quality-Leads&id=6816564

It all starts, of course with identifying who your target audience is.  Take a few minutes to reflect on that. Really, right now . . .

• Are they male or female, young, old, rich or not doing well financially?
• What is their average income level?
• How much schooling did they have?
• What problems do they face in terms of your specialty?
• Are they really passionate about the subject?
• What kinds of solutions have they tried before?

These are a few ideas to get you warmed up and thinking about your ideal prospect, but don’t stop there keep going until you have fully  identified your target audience so you can communicate better with them. Remember to focus a lot of your initial message on the hook.

The hook, in case you were wondering  is just  the way you get their initial attention. The hook can easily be found in your keywords it’s the problem that has them searching for the solution you have to offer in the first place.  Keep your headline short and to the point but be sure to make it as compelling as possible. I know this goes against what you often see in internet sales letters, but unless you’re an experienced copywriter, trying to follow that style is probably way above your pay grade. Stick to short and simple for the best chance of success.  Think about the best billboards you’ve seen while driving or rushing around town.

Next, follow your brilliant headline by addressing the problem your prospective buyer has in more detail.  Experts call it stirring the pot – reminding them of the reason they were searching for a solution.  Integrated it with the keywords that they used to find your offer or website. Tell the reader about different  kinds of related issues that many people are facing and use examples your audience can relate to.

Weave a story of triumph over adversity or success after crippling failure. Articulate the feelings that come with previous trials and disappointments. Commiserate with your reader because there is a very good chance that they went through similar issues as well or know someone who is.  This is especially true if you are relating your own personal journey in this particular area.

Then, show them how your particular solution can fix the problem.  Introduce your offer as “when” not “if” in your scenario.  Allow your prospect to be a partner in your story not just an observer.  Use as many “sensory words” in your explanation of the solution so that you involve the imagination, not just the brain.

Finally don’t be afraid to ask for the order.  If you see sales as  “opposing forces” change your perspective. When you educate your prospect and help them clarify both their problem and sift through the options to the best solution through your presentation, you’re no longer opposing their will; you are making it easier for them to make decisions. Be genuine in your desire to be of service, target the right audience and the sales will take care of themselves.

The keystone of making sales is attracting people that need what you’re offering.  And the only way to ensure that people know what you’re offering and how it can help them is for them to get an effective marketing message about it.  So how do you do that?

Here are five steps I would take:

1. First Identify Your Target Audience.

Your ideal prospects might be a 40 year old man who is divorced and looking to regain his sense of “machismo” by working out and looking good.  Or it could be exactly the thing that’s needed by 17 year old cheerleaders who are into state competitions.  The point is, you need to figure out exactly who they are.

2. Choose Several Outlets for Reaching Your Ideal Candidates.

Once you’ve determined you’ll need to know where your to find them.  Where do your idea prospects hang-out and what’s the best way to reach out to them.  Usually you’ll need multiple methods of approach.  There are many tools that can be found online as well as  offline that can help you do that.

3. Offer Them Something of Value.

Once you’ve found them and gotten their attention, show them how you can help them.  One way to do this is to offer a free giveaway. To make this really effective you’ll need to treat it with the same focus and dedication that you would give one of your top paying products.  Free audios, videos and downloadable e-books or reports all can become great lead generators when given away to prospects in return for their name and e-mail address or  perhaps for answering a simple survey.

4. Develop online credibility.

What are people saying about you on the internet? If a potential client “Googles” your name or the company name as the search term, would they be able to find you?  More importantly; would they be likely to use your product or service based on what other people have said about you?  You should have a platform that allows you to communicate with your target audience.  Start a blog and steadily populate it with expert solutions for potential clients and prospects. You can also use various forms of social media to help develop a solid online presence and establish your creditability.

Whether your business is in the real world or online, now-a-days it always pays to maintain a good online reputation with customers and prospects.  Promote yourself or business as the experts in your field. You can even link your best offers and specials within your blog posts as just take care not make seem like “spam”.

Another excellent use for your blog is as an ongoing communication system to connect with your customers and potential customers too.  Your blog can showcase articles, videos and examples or case studies  for solving specific problems. Your customers can even send relevant links from your blog to others they think might benefit from the information.

If you do this right your best customers can also be your most effective message, often referring your blog to family and friends that you might not have reached otherwise.

Stay in touch with your leads and customers.

Stay in touch with customers on a regular basis. This is really important because people don’t always need what you have to offer when they first see the offer.  But through regular followups you can make sure you do get the sale when the time is right.  This type of followup doesn’t need to be hard either. An auto-responder system like the one I use at Aweber, together with an e-mail marketing campaign can literally double your sales in a short period.  Plus, you’ll be building a valuable list of prospects and customers for continuous sale conversions.

It is definitely worthwhile to take the time to learn how to generate leads and systemically cultivate them into customers.  Many business owners have been able to successfully automate their lead generation using the Internet and have it running 24 hours a day.  But do be patient with your efforts, learning how to effectively generate leads and convert them into customers is an ongoing process.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

– Alfred A. Montapert

This is true in all business matters.  To borrow the words of a friend and early mentor -

“People buy from people they know like and trust,” remember this in our digital age and make

sure your potential clients know you’re a real person, you’ll be way ahead of the game then

all you have to do is get them to know, like and trust you :  )

One way to do this is to spend time researching hot topics, and offering your findings and/or opinions on relevant issues and then sharing that with audience members. You can also answer questions and strive to become a trusted resource for those who visit your blog or read your materials and use your products or services.

When you take the time to develop these opportunities for personal interaction with the people who regularly visit your social media sites, you’re not just helping your customers. You’re also creating an online presence for yourself. And that ongoing presence is one of the tools in your toolbox that will help potential customers/clients grow to know, trust and like you so that they become actual customers/clients.

Is it really necessary to use all these different types of media on your blog or website?  The short answer of course, is yes.

The bottom line is that the higher the content quality found on your website or blog the better the ranking you will receive on the search engines, like Google, Yahoo and Bing.  And the higher the ranking your site gets on the search engines the easier it is for people to find you and buy whatever it is you’re offering.

When you have a variety of different media types like written posts, audios and videos on your site you succeed in accomplishing two objectives in one blow; first you give your visitors better information that can keep them at your site longer and second you make the search engines love you in the process.

There’s another plus too, you can give your visitors a voice and/or picture they can connect to so that you start to become a real person and they can begin to feel like they know and can trust you.

The main thing is to be yourself and share useful info with your potential leads

You should have them commit up front to a subscription after the trial period is over. To do that you just need to let them know they have a full XYZ amount of days to try it out before they will be billed for the product, and remind them they can cancel anytime. That way, assuming you have a good product, you are more likely to convert most of your trial users into happy clients. If you leave it up to trial users to choose to accept the membership after the trial is over they often won’t bother, not because they weren’t happy with your product, just because it requires another action on their part that they just never get to. They simply forget about it.

Of course, you know your market and customers best so you may want to  test out both methods and determine which method works best for your target audience.