This just in -

Hi Andrea,
I just stumbled on your page called learn it step by step that you did with Jackie. I have done the One week marketing course with Pot pie girl and I have managed to start getting traffic to some of the lens I have built. However I have not had any sales so far. I was wondering if you could help me to figure out what is it I need to do to start finally getting results.

Thanks in Advance

I realize it may seem to some like she is speaking in tongue – lol – and to tell the truth, the way it arrived it made me do a double take too…

See this is a PM (private message – not so private now I guess – grin) I just got in the Mastermind Community – a Network Marketing focused membership group – asking about a membership site that my friend Jackie and I opened about a year and a half ago.

Our membership site is based on a beginner SEO program called One Week Marketing (it’s the only thing I’ve gotten added to my recommended resources page to date if you’re curious) where we take that product and break it down into baby steps for folks who are not familiar with Internet Marketing jargon, or just want some clarity and guidance re. the process of picking keywords for SEO and then promoting them to get ranked on Google.  Squidoo is the vehicle – hence the ‘lens’ reference.

(no worries if none of this makes sense – it does for whomever it’s meant to)

As you can see above – she’s asking me to do what Learnitstepbystep.com already does (to a degree) – show her how we teach people to DO One Week Marketing.

But more than that she probably would welcome me giving her feedback for her particular situation.

And as much as I’d like to – couple of challenges …

1. it’s not really possible to get to everyone’s stuff in person anymore – there just isn’t enough time in a day.
2. I have private coaching clients who are claiming the time that I do have to offer and they’ve raised their hands with their wallets at the ready and suddenly – the folks looking for free mentoring/coaching/consulting aren’t grabbing my attention quite the way they used to.

[Interesting side note (maybe - lol): Am reading "Crush It!" right now - had this 'aha' moment...

I haven't always valued my time - in fact I still don't the way  really should ... but even so, I've been able to sort of force the issue by creating a supply and demand situation that requires the filter of coaching fees and membership products.  By simply helping people in forums, being authentic, adding value and setting up vehicles for my market to be attracted to me; funnel through to my lists and offers, that situation now exists.]

Okay back to business …

So it’s late and I’m caught off guard by that PM ’cause it’s outta context.

And I do like to help people when I can…

But I can’t go to her stuff and evaluate it – it’s just not in the cards … it’s after midnight after all and kids, etc … at 6am is all too ‘right around the corner’

So here’s what I did – I answered her as best I could generally and off the cuff. And then I realized that I could easily leverage my reply.

Helps me with content, helped her (I hope) and helps whoever else it helps – it’s all good.

And I want to stress and encourage (and then also remind myself) how super easy it is to create relevant and very current content this way – answer questions in forums well and then leverage the bejeebers out of your replies.

So here’s what I sent back:

Hey there  [Susie]-

Hmm … there are two main things that matter for OWM (well for anything  really) as far as getting sales… okay really three.

First is quality of keyword – are you picking phrases where people are likely to be buyers or more researchers …

Second is – volume of traffic TO the sales page. Doesn’t matter how much traffic your [Squidoo] lenses are getting if they’re not clicking thru to the sales page.

Third is ability of that sales page to convert to sales.

There’s this semi off hand number that online marketers use as a measure for conversions… if you’re not getting a sale for every 200 visitors to the sales page (minimum) – it’s a dog.

And most look for 1 in 100 to be the benchmark. And better than that is … well … better

So things to look at are your clickouts to the sales page – could be it’s just a bad sales page.

Or if you’re not getting clickouts, but you are getting enough traffic – could be it’s your lens that needs tweaking.

Or if by ’some traffic’ you’re not meaning 200+ clickthrus and no sales … you probably need more traffic to tell whether to press on with your chosen phrases or not.

That help?

Hey I think I’ll make this a blog post – neat … thanks!

And so another blog post is born and I gotta get some shut-eye

Any take-aways for you?

Appreciate you,

Andrea

Hi folks -

Have you ever wondered how to go about making your video in a way that allows your visitors to actually ‘click’ on them and land on the site that you’d like for them to go to next?

I sure have – and SO didn’t take the time to figure it out until this morning.

Here’s one way to do it…

Hope that tickles your interest

Best,
Andrea

A new mastermind partner spurred a reply from me this morning that I thought worth sharing here too.

He’s very excited about all the things that Jonathan’s system offer in terms of tools and training (the vastness of the value is amazing) and already is enjoying our member community – he just popped in to say “Hi from an older newbie” – and that sent sparks flying in my brain (lol the strangest things do that sometimes – I just roll with it).

So here’s what I said to him:

Welcome! Drink it all in and be sure to get into action-taking habits asap. Learn a little – share a little – learn a little more – share a little more.

Not sure of your exact age – but I find myself working the tech side of online marketing with Boomers quite a bit and that’s probably one of the biggest obstacles I find them bumping into … I figure it has something to do with how your particular generation learned to learn …

Here’s the general trap I see people fall into ALL the time – you feel the need to read everything (and I mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g) that comes through your inbox (neither possible nor recommended).

[sidenote: I currently have 45k unopened messages in my gmail inbox - a little extreme I'll be the first to admit - but it's not making me sweat in the least. I filter my messages and I scan and ignore quite well - grin]

And you also have always gone into learning situations with the assumption “first I’ll read the manual beginning to end and top to bottom and then I’ll be good enough to begin” —- this sort of dedicated study used to serve people very well.

Today not so much.

Two reasons  … first – the rate that everything online changes is so rapid that by the time you think you’ve covered it, you’re out of date. So commit now to be a life long learner. And get good at teaching others what you know today.

Second as a marketer – the activity you need to be in is marketing … that’s the income generating activity. And it turns out that one of the very best ways we can attract our market to us is to share what we’ve learned (no matter how slight it might seem) with our audience.

And as our skills expand – so does our reach.

It builds your expert standing – it facilitates the ever important know, like and trust and it puts you in that marketing action … in this case … marketing YOU.

Okay – truth time …

How many unopened emails do you have in your inbox?

And does it stress you out? Think this is telling??

Good stuff huh?

Appreciate you!

Andrea

Once you have a domain that you self-host (ie. you lease server space at a hosting company like the one I use so your content can be live online 24/7), FTP will come up.

So what’s FTP?

FTP is short for “File Transfer Protocol” – but basically, it’s a fancy way to say move files from your local computer to the hosting space where your site lives.

There are lots of reasons you might need to do this – and though it may seem a huge leap – it’s not really.

Can you screw things up majorly? Sure you can if you go clicking around where you shouldn’t be

BUT if you follow the two part FTP video series I created last night – you’ll be just fine.

Here’s Part I

And here’s Part II

And if you have any questions at all – ask away

Make it a great day!

Andrea

I remember my first Wordpress blog. What a disaster it was.

It took quite a bit of time for me to finally get the hang of categories especially.

And understanding categories, pages and posts and how they interact with each other is the biggest challenge that most people face right at the start.

The good news is – once you’ve got the hang of them – you’re in business!

I’m going to help you get clear right now

Here’s a video that shows what I describe below (though I didn’t get to explaining Tags in the vid – oops):

(BTW – you can view this “full screen” and see all the details clearly by clicking the 4-arrow icon on the lower right corner of the video) – Looks like this:

And then hit your Esc button (top left corner of your keyboard) to return to your regular screen.

How My Blog is Laid Out

On this particular blog theme (template) that top row of links is “pages” (Home, Testimonials, About).

The lower row of links in the header are managed in the categories settings.

Go to your dashboard -> click posts -> categories

That list is what determines the lower horizontal menu on this theme. Other themes display categories in different ways.

Here’s how it works …

There are two ways to add written content to your blog.

1. Pages - which is where you would store your more static content (about me, contact me, work with me, resources, etc …)
2. Posts - which are dated and presented newest first … usually on a single idea or topic … are something like an article.

Next -

Categories and tags allow your reader to search your posts by topic. But you have to assign them to your posts in order for this to work.

So you do both of these “content filing” operations when you’re publishing your post.

1. Categories – help to sort your posts into general themes (Personal Development, Marketing, Quotes, etc …) – determined by what you anticipate talking about… They can also be added to, tweaked and expanded later.
2. Tags - help you to further sort your posts in ways that general categories wouldn’t. (ie. marketing post that talks about ’social media’, ‘Jodie Thompson’ and ‘webinars’ might have those tags, but you probably won’t have enough posts to warrant a full category on Jodie – well maybe – and so clicking the tag “Jodie Thompson” will show me the couple posts where she’s been mentioned).

Make sense?

Andrea

PS. Oh one other thing to understand – your categories will only appear on your navigation bar once you have a post that you’ve assigned to that topic. Not before.

Yesterday I got a wild hair.

All thanks to Jaclyn Castro. Her enthusiasm for my previously half-promised 30 days of video (personal) challenge – caused me to spend all day yesterday putting together a whole funnel for what has now turned into:

The Thirty Day Video Challenge!

<– www.ThirtyDayVideoChallenge.com

You can go to that link to learn more about just how far down the rabbit hole my wild hair finally took me (pretty dang far!) – took ALL of yesterday and a good bit of today … too funny.

And for sure join us if you’ve been wanting to dig into video and just don’t know where to begin or haven’t quite found the time

Would love to have ‘ya.  So far the idea is getting a great response.

Just optin here:

www.ThirtyDayVideoChallenge.com

And you’re in!

My first video was the one you’ll see on the optin page. Oh yeah – a whole series of email follow-ups is happening too – wild and crazy huh? Haven’t even touched on the community or dedicated blog yet – schweet!

First things first though … my next video is demanding it’s time in the spotlight.

Coming right up

Can’t wait to see yours!!

Appreciate you,

Andrea

This is an article by Marlon Sanders .

He’s arguably one of the most prolific Internet marketers I’ve run across.

And with a down home, straight-to-the-point, clearly spoken way of saying things, he slices through a lot of the hype-filled jargon and sets you right to the “how-to” action steps.

My kinda guy

In spite of his sometimes “Billy Mays-like” delivery – he brings real value and experience to the table and breaks things down into step by step … ummm … steps.

So I have an offer for you … at the bottom of this article there’s a link – and yes it’s my affiliate link.

If what he says resonates and you’re wanting to get started (or re-started) putting together a soup to nuts online business, here’s what I’d like to do – go buy that product (it’s super affordable) and together we’ll use it as our study guide and get something rolling for you.

We’ll brainstorm, implement and figure out what works for you – then we’ll make a plan to do some more and if it fits with your plans, work towards outsourcing and automating so you can work hard up front and then reap the rewards.

Gonna do this for the whole month of January*.

For four solid weeks, I’ll be your personal coach – available by email and Skype.

We’ll even throw in four interactive webinars

Ready to start the year with a bang?

Read on – great content ahead!

Appreciate you,
Andrea

PS. If you want to just skip to the free video – Click Here

Business Step-By-Step”

The 7 simple keys that make the big difference between

success and failure.

- By Marlon Sanders

I started my Internet business from scratch.

In the early days it was AOL and Compuserve

marketing.

Later, the World Wide Web burst onto the scene.

If you’re starting from scratch, I’ve been there.

If you’re already got “something” going but you

wanna have multiples of that something going,

this article will help you.

Key #1: Build your lead generation

The heart and soul of your online business is lead

generation.

You’ve gotta have traffic to your site. And you’ve

gotta get people on your email list and make sales.

The most important skill you’ll develop is the ability

to generate leads for your business. Never lose focus

on that fact.

If you haven’t started a daily lead generation activity,

start today. Find something (anything) that generates

leads and get it running.

Even if it’s only one lead a day. If you’ve heard the

Promo Dashboard interview with Daegan Smith, you know

he converts 3% leads off of Traffic Swarm.

He gets leads off of ezine ads. I personally am going

back to running ezine ads.

You can write articles, submit them, turn them into

videos, submit those, record an audio and submit it

to podcast directories.

You can post in forums 3X daily with a signature line

offering a freebie.

You can run a few pay-per-click ads or buy a banner

on Adbrite.com.

Just get started. It IS the engine of your business.

It’s everything. Without it you are nothing.

Key #2: Add a new skill weekly or monthly

I believe that success in this business is built one

skill at a time.

You stack skill sets.

Maybe this week or this month you learn to do screen

capture video using Camstudio or Camtasia.

Next week or next month you learn to use Dreamweaver,

Sonic Memo or Photoshop Elements.

But you keep layering in skill sets.

In my Dashboard series, I try to turbocharge people’s

skillset stacking. That’s my objective. To put it

on fast forward.

You need to learn how to submit articles using article marketer or

submit your article. You need to learn how to use tracking links.

There are many skills to learn. Just add one a week and you’ll be

rocking in no time.

Key #3: Outsource once you have a system

I really think some people are getting the cart before

the horse. Once you have something rolling, you outsource

it.

It’s difficult in my experience to get results by

outsourcing what you don’t already have rolling.

First get it rolling.

Then outsource it.

Key #4: The hardest person you’ll ever hire is person
#1.

You’ll worry and fret about whether or not you can afford

them.

If they have talent, you can afford them. If they have

mediocre talent, you can’t afford them. If they have

a low level of talent, they’ll suck money out of your

pocket.

But once you have something coming in, don’t be afraid to

pay for help.

If you don’t, it’ll cost you in the long run.

Key #5: Never take your eye off the ball

The ball is your lead generation. Whether you use an

affiliate program, article marketing, seo, ppc, paid

advertising or viral marketing, that is the engine of

your business.

Never take your eye off of it. In Key #1 I said you

build your business by lead generation.

Now I’m telling you the secret to staying in business

is to keep the pedal to the metal when it comes to

lead generation.

Key #6: The better you convert visitors to sales, the

easier your lead generation will come.

You’ll find it’s easier to afford media, outsourcing

and help the more visitors you convert to sales.

Key #7: A robust back end fuels the fire

The more you have rock solid upsells in place, the more

you have recurring billing or forced continuity, the

more you have big tickets, the more you sell on the back

end, the more lubrication your business has and the

easier it runs.

A skinny rabbit will lose a long race for lack of fuel.

Keep your back end (your repeat business) fat and happy.

Out of all these keys, the most important one is #2.

Because if you keep doing that, you’ll eventually do all

the other keys.

Leaders are readers. Charlie Tremendous Jones said that

many years ago.

And it’s true.

There’s a niche market I’m involved in as a buyer, not

a seller.

And what I’ve noticed is that the people who succeed in

this field are ones who have an awesome skill set. While

some people complain about how hard it is to learn new

things and how tough it is, the winners just keep plowing

away.

Some people succeed in business due to genius.

But the surest route to success is to keep plowing away.

Keep learning. Keep doing.

Balance your learning and your doing. If you spend 80% of

your time learning, that’s likely too much unless you’re a

newbie.

If you spend 90% of your time doing, you probably aren’t

building your skill set enough and sharpening your saw.

Have a great week,

Marlon Sanders

**To Find Out How Marlon Got 199,540 Opt In Emails and Sold a

Million Dollars CLICK HERE

*Note From Andrea: Participation in this personal coaching requires purchasing Marlon’s product through the link above. Grab the ‘turbo’ version if you want the whole enchilada. Shoot me a copy of your receipt through my contact page when you’re done. Also – I reserve the right to take down this offer at any time.

I’m excited, you?!

Marketing is work enough …

There are certain things about getting around our computers and online that just don’t need to get into our way.

But you would not believe (or maybe you know first hand) how many people spend hours and hours on stuff that’s super basic and essentially end up wasting HUGE amounts of valuable action time when they don’t need to.

It’s my intention to help cut that learn time down to nothing ASAP.

Got this email this morning – talk about a frustrating moment! (for him, not me)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Andrea -

It has been a while.

You are not going to believe it.  I guess I just don’t have the right mojo.

I click on the link to the workbook—————-and guess what———-it closes my browser!! It closes Firefox.

Feeling Stupid,

Chris
[name changed to protect the beginner - grin]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And my reply :

Hi Chris -

Sounds like your equipment’s mojo more than anything (to me – grin).

Jenn has since moved that .pdf (you familiar with .pdf?) and if you don’t mind trying from a different location – go here:

http://the7figurenetworker.com/training/getting-started-workbook/

Try clicking on it to see if it does open. And if it still closes your browser – then do this instead:

Right click -> save link as -> save it to your desktop   (unless you already have a file for it)

Then go to the file and click on it to open.

Let me know if it opens that way or if there’s any part of this that hangs you up…

This isn’t just important for this workbook – .pdfs are the most common document format online. Adobe reader is the program that opens them. Could be yours needs updating too :

http://get.adobe.com/reader/

UNcheck the ‘free McAffee scan’ if you do that.

Don’t feel any way about this stuff – you just don’t know until you know, ‘ya know?

Andrea

I don’t know about you but these days my eyes are not liking the fine (read tiny and getting smaller by the day) print that’s so common on websites and blogs.

Luckily, about a year ago – Carolyn, one of our learnistepbystep students, shared this tip I’m about to share with you.

And I seriously use it multiple times through out the day.

Everyday.

For PC users -

This tip will work if you have a scroll mouse:

Bigger text:
Hold down Ctrl + move your scroll wheel away from you

Smaller Text:
Hold down Ctrl + move your scroll wheel towards you

And here’s the version for Mac users (thank-you Mac for Mom) -

This should work in Safari and Firefox:

Make text bigger:
Press the APPLE key and + key

Decrease text size:
Press the APPLE key and – key

Simple yeah?

Could be a game changer to the right person – spread the word

Make it a great day,

Andrea

A couple of my Mastermind team members asked this question recently…

“How do I customize my Wordpress blog urls?”

You know … make them show the page name instead of the WP default which is both ugly and non-informative to visitor and search engine alike:

The default urls look like this:

http://yourdomain.com/blog/?p=63

or like this if your blog is at the root level of your domain:

http://yourdomain.com/?p=63

The Good News – It’s a Simple Setting Tweak

The good news is – it’s a super easy fix for even the most technically challenged of us.

One quick tweak to the default settings and our links are perfect for readers and search engines to better find their way our way.

Here’s what to do:

1. Login to your site (http://yoursite.com/wp-admin)
2. Click on your “Settings” (lower left menu)
3. Click on “Permalinks”
4. Choose “Custom Structure”
5. Enter this –>   /%postname%/
6. Save

Viola updated and customized urls – aka. permalinks.

Simple yes?

Hope that helps!

Andrea

PS. You may have noticed that my permalinks are not in *quite* the same format that I just showed you. If you’d like your permalinks to look like mine then use this “Custom Structure” instead:

/%postname%.html

There are some who believe this format can be even more SE friendly, but I haven’t tested it so it’s something I do more out of habit than anything.