Tony has been one of my mentors for years.
Never met him personally (yet), but it was always my dream to give him even only a BIT back for how he helped me improve my life – without him even knowing.

And somewhere in the back of my head, I always knew that one day I’d get a chance.

Well, the day is here.

First: Tony is starting a new prime-time TV show tonight (U.S. time – I will stay up late here in Germany to watch it!) on NBC (!) called “Breakthrough”. Perfect name.

You NEED to watch it if you’re interested in personal development AT ALL. At the very least, you need to check out the website for the show:

http://www.breakthroughinsider.com

Now, there’s actually a SECOND reason why you should check that site out…

See what I discovered on there. I hope it’s gonna help drive a lot of traffic to his site(s):

So, if you’re a Viralinviter customer: Welcome Tony Robbins as one of us!

If you did not get Viralinviter yet, I can now assure you, it works stable on VERY HIGH volume levels!

What a great case-study.

Check out his site and make sure to watch the show:

http://www.breakthroughinsider.com

Norman

PS: LEave a comment if you had a situation like this too before! Was there some kind of connection to someone you really admire for years through some good product/service you put your heart in over years? Or something similar?

PPS: Just found a short preview about the show on youtube:

This post might keep you some customers that would have left and make you think a little about how you present content & functionality (any kind of content/solution/…) to your customers!

I could go hours about this, but today is about SEARCH functionality!

Here’s a positive example: Google.

Yes, it has it’s flaws to let google decide what’s it that you’re really searching for. however in the end, people seems to happily sacrifice some accurancy for the easy of use. And I agree.

It makes total sense: I dont want a “solution” that makes it harder than it was. (“Refine your search”…)

So today, i just want to talk about search. There are billions of HORRIBLE search functions everywhere on the internet.

And, if you’re not a programmer, you may even think “Heck, what’s the problem creating good search functions…!?”. Actually, there’s A LOT to it! Coding a search “engine” is one of the hardest things in programming. Many assumptions, possible ways to go and in the end, the user just wants it to be EASY and give him exactly what he wants.

We are currently using Infusionsoft as main customer database for our business.
It does a couple of things well (that’s why we use it) and a couple things horribly bad. Also, it’s a “do it all” machine. So much so that nobody could make this thing really fun to use – from a usability point of view.

Today, let’s just have a look at their search box:

On first look, it gives the impression that they thought it through (and they probably have). They help you on your way to the proper result by giving you options to refine your search.

Who said MORE OPTION = BETTER RESULTS ?
More FUN is not even part of this equation!

I am so terrified by this search that very often I don’t even open the app because i know i will have to use the search function for what i plan to do.

At least, they try!

It also has an interesting feature that is supposed to make search easier:
You can type in a part of the first name (it HAS to be the beginning part) and a part of the last name and it will auto-find and open the person for you – if it finds a match.

This sounds like a good idea, but is only partly practical. In case your searchphrase was somehow not logical to the engine, you get presented with this to get into detail about your search:

FUCK THAT, I’m outta here…!

I mean really, this destroys the fun completely!

Why can’t their searchengine KNOW if what i typed in was an order ID, an email or a name!?

Is it THAT HARD? (It’s not!)

You can also NOT search for an Order ID directly (one of the most common searches for our support team). You have to navigate through other submenus to find the right “search” for your query.

Read that again: You have to FIND THE RIGHT SEARCH FUNCTION that fits your question first, THEN you may be lucky to get the right answer.

(Fuck THAT, too!)

I don’t understand why search-function inventers think asking for more details about your search makes search easier and the user happier.

Fact is, it doesn’t even not make the likelihood to FIND what you search for higher!

VERY often it happens to me with these multi-variable -detailed-searches that I define some variables for my search and since it were so many (3 is a lot already!), i make a small mistake that behaves like an evil butterfly effect and generates simply wrong results.

By the way, if your Infusionsoft search fails, you see this EMPTY table of results:

WHY? Where does this make ANY sense?
If the result is empty, give me the searchbox right back and tell me my search failed!

Now i have to go back and review my settings and try to find the error.

ALL I WANTED IS TO HAVE A QUICK ANSWER TO A SEARCH!

And YES, by now I’d 100 times rather take google up on their compromise – delivering results with less accurancy, BUT fast easy and without frustration!

It starts to make sense why Google’s approach is the compromise (less options to chose from, but saving time even if results are not 100% accurate on first search) that people like best.

I like it. Time is money, right? And distraction eliminates focus.

How we do it:

Now that’s why we designed this for our own ecommerce app (bazaarapp.com):

Voila, our search form. “That’s it?” you may ask. Yupp, that’s it!

In this one form, you can search for ANYTHING in the system. Also: for PARTS of ANYTHING!

Let’s say your search is for “anfree”. Results will be the contact record from normanfreeman@turbobuzz.com.

Search for a PART of a transaction ID (you don’t have to tell the search which merchant account by the way!) and boom, you’ll find it.

Search for any (part of a) string in emails, names, order names, order IDs, member data (address etc..), telephone numbers etc.

Cudos to the Coder!

I have to say I am truly happy that i found a developer that was able to create this for Bazaar without performance issues – because that’s the tricky stuff.

Searches like this can of course not be “realtime”, meaning to search the whole database field by field for the string you typed in – AFTER you typed it in. He came up with an internal indexing system that is smart as hell. I love him for that. And Bazaar users will, too!

Here’s why this stuff matters to you:

You will lose customers if you don’t simplify things! Simple as that.
You, too, should think about usability in everything you deliver.

Make it harder for your customers and they will get more frustrated.
They will file a divorce with you soon.

We are searching our customer/order/member/transaction database DAILY and OFTEN, especially for support issues.

In Bazaar, it will be 2 steps:
1. Search for the phrase
2. Click on the result
optional: 3. Change data & save

Clicking on a result will open a popup with all the information about this contact imediately and everything she bought as well as all order numbers etc:

(click image for large view)

Did i mention that from within this popup you are going to be able to do one-click refunds (yes, you do NOT have to login to paypal or authorize,net to do this! heck, i don’t now why not many people already take advantage of this in their ecommerce systems), grant/revoke access to specific products/member area, change customer data right there immediately (no extra-click on “edit” or so).

This is my own personal DREAM of a workflow. This will cut our support time per issue per search around 70% (if not more).

I built this thing for ME (“Scratching your own itch” – another example here), which means I will make sure this application will be the best it possibly could.

What’s your itch?

… that would make many more people happy? Finding those things can lead to more customers, a good word-of-mouth effect and peace of mind.

Have a great day on the internet!

Norman

PS: There’s another good example of search that i do not use daily 8even if we use this application for all our project-management needs),but it’s good:

It’s the search in Basecamp by 37signals! Refreshing, right? Let’s all learn from each other to provide our customers with the best experience possible to make their lives easier.
Cause in the end…. we are all customers, right?

Have a great day on the internet – Wherever you are!

The following video lets you in on one of the most important traffic generation method we use at the moment – for ourselves and our clients.

Best thing: ANYONE can use it.

Go ahead, make friends with the greatest traffic machine ever invented – Youtube!

As always, you can get the FULL module and the complete “done for you” outsourcing guide inside the TurboTraffiSystems program on monday.

Have a GREAT day and USE THIS:

LEAVE A COMMENT!

——————-

We are releasing a couple more early-access spots for TurboTrafficSystems next monday.

Deal is: Very low early-adopter price because you get digital download only for now. You’ll get the physical version as well as soon as it’s out. (when people have to pay a lot more)

We do this because we love to get some more feedback on it – to improve.

Signup for the notification list:

	Email

Hi XYZ,

we met briefly at [event/seminar/facebook group/someone referred me/..] (and talked about Y).

I have your product XYZ and use it on [site you use it on].

I made a feedback/testimonial video for you!

OR:

You mentioned problem Z [in your newsletter/on your blog/on twitter/...] and I thought I’d just write you and tell you about this [solution to the problem].

Oh yes, and here’s the video I made (just 2 minutes):

[LINK]

Have a great day and hope to meet you [again/somewhen] soon!

Your Name

Have fun and watch out for the next tips!

——————-

We are releasing a couple more early-access spots for TurboTrafficSystems next monday.

Deal is: Very low early-adopter price because you get digital download only for now. You’ll get the physical version as well as soon as it’s out. (when people have to pay a lot more)

We do this because we love to get some more feedback on it – to improve.

Signup for the notification list:

	Email

Here’s what REALLY works for me:

1. Having Your Own Product

This is part of my philosophy. You have to have your OWN product. Not a PLR or rebranded product. Your own. Your baby.

The feeling of needing this comes naturally when you come from a mindset of providing as much value as possible for people. you want to share what you know. You want to share what you KNOW WORKS.

Having your own product obviously puts you in the best position: You can have affiliates, drive your own traffic, do testing and improve your “baby” to become something you’re really proud of. Now, that’s the second aspect of this:

Being proud of what you create. I’ve seen so many peole fall for the “quick cash” methods and wanting to build a quick online business to make money too fast – and I did that too. This often results in crappy products that don’t work properly and that you later are not passionate about developing further – which then results in big problems regarding customer support for a product you don’t even like anymore. That sucks.

Build something you’re proud of and that solves a lot of people’s problems. (=provides value)

It’s so often said, but it’s really THAT TRUE.

2. Getting Traffic

Now this is key:

No traffic = no business = no sales = no fun.

“Nothing moves without a sale!” is what I heard someone say at a conference. That really stuck with me.

You (and I) NEED TRAFFIC to make this whole online business thingy work. Same as offline businesses, by the way. You don’t just open a restaurant providing great food and wait for people to step in and want to eat at your place. You need traffic.

Paid, free, viral, whatever. As long as they eat at your place.

It’s just the same online.
In our business, we use various methods to drive traffic. And all are SYSTEMIZABLE (is that even a word?). We created systems to be applied daily by team members.

What does that mean? It means everyone can do them after as little training as possible. You, your (outsourced) staff – be it in your country, india, the philippines or students in a close by school or university or an intern.

If you have to train someone on a repetitive task in your business for more than 2 days, you don’t have proper training in place.

*

I don’t believe in the bright new flashy super traffic tricks that come up every month and being sold for $200+ PER TRICK. I buy them all, because I am passionate about the subject and I want to provide the best possible research and knowledge for our customers. But I wouldn’t recommend this to you when you are trying to get an overview.

There’s more traffic generation methods than the 12 I mentioned. In THIS POST, I gave a first impression to think about.

I am going to post it here again:

With TurboTrafficSystems, we spend 2 weeks with a team of THREE for EACH MODULE to bring it to the state it is in right now. That’s 6 weeks of manpower for one module. And we’re not done. We will extend this product in the future if new traffic generation tactics PROOF themselves working.

3. How you can do it!

I am going to SHOW you free traffic tips and how we teach them to TurboTrafficSystems members over the next couple of days. It’s going to be free and fun!

*

You can do this kind of product creation too. But take my advice about the processes. You want to make sure you get HIGHLY QUALIFIED people working on this AND you check the results YOURSELF as well.

Means: You YOURSELF need to know what you’re talking about! Or, what others are talking about in YOUR brand’s name. I have that covered. I’ve been traffic building for HUGE corporate companies for years. Long enough to know what really works.

I’ve been going through all the traffic material I had gathered over the last couple of years and compared it to what we REALLY USE every day in our business.

Now, it occured to me that there’s a lot of “noise” out there.
And there’s not a lot of good courses that are worth their money. I am being a busy entrepreneur myself every day. I needed something that saves me time.

That’s why we work on TurboTrafficSystems.

It solely was a result of “scratching our own itch.”. We formulated and systematized traffic generation training program – created from the ground up to educate new staff members (overseas, in our case) to be able to grow and scale our business by applying and following instructions.

All the instructions and worksheets are in the course.
We ended up creating these modules for TurbotrafficSystems:

Module 1 – Social Networking
Module 2 – Joint Venture Traffic
Module 3 – Video Marketing Traffic
Module 4 – Google Adwords Traffic
Module 5 – Gmail Ads Traffic
Module 6 – Blogging & Guest Blogging
Module 7 – Facebook Ads Traffic
Module 8 – MSN Adcenter
Module 9 – Yahoo Search Traffic
Module 10 – SEO Traffic
Module 11 – Google Placement Ads Traffic
Module 12 – Banner Ads Traffic
Module 13 – Youtube Hidden Trick

These proved to be the most stable, sustainable methods to drive constant traffic over time.

Leave a comment if there’s any trick, method or magic you heard of that would be your favourite to be discussed here on this blog!

And did i mention you should definitely have more than ONE source of traffic?

The resons are obvious. Do not make your self depending on ONE pillar of traffic. If it’s gone one day, you’re done.

All of the modules in TurboTrafficSystems come with a general workbook, a webinar explaining everything on video and an outsourcing guide with the exact same instructions we give out to our staff. Some even have bonus modules when it makes sense.

We are very proud of this product.

**

I suggest you create something similar for your market. Something that REALLY WORKS for you.

That has another advantage: You never have the feeling of selling something you’re not really sure about if it works. That, my friend, is the worst of all situations possible: Not being sure if what you sell is really that good.

Everything suffers if you don’t trust your own stuff.

——————-

We are releasing a couple more early-access spots for TurboTrafficSystems next monday.

Deal is: Very low early-adopter price because you get digital download only for now. You’ll get the physical version as well as soon as it’s out. (when people have to pay a lot more)

We do this because we love to get some more feedback on it – to improve.

Signup for the notification list:

	Email

And if you liked that, take 30 minutes to watch the video below as well.
If you don’t know it yet, it WILL change your view on a couple of things related to “getting rich online” and how the “magic word” FREE is often misunderstood in marketing!

Building a REAL business online is what you should do.
It’s what we do.

Write a comment below and I’ll send out a copy of REWORD and GETTING REAL (the two books by 37signals) to the commenter who has a cool thought to add to the topic of this post.

Have a great day! Enjoy!

You know we’ve been working on traffic generation methods for the last 2 years.
So today i want to share something “historic” with you.

What you can see below is the FIRST VERSION of a “traffic map” that we started to bring to live about 6 months ago. This was our very first brainstorming about what later evolved into the idea for TurboTraffic Systems. I will share the latest version of this for you next week as well. Maybe on 31st, cause that’s my birthday.

Just wanted to give you some food for thought about where you actually CAN get traffic from. Sometimes it really helps to just have a birds-eye view on things to then dive in deeper into specific parts.

So, here you are. If you are currently just using 1 or 2 traffic generation methods, feel free to pick one or two others as well and learn about them.

Here’s for your inspiration, our traffic map version 1 (click for big version):

Have a great weekend and enjoy time with your family and friends!

Norman