When I first started Internet Marketing almost two years ago the very first thing a guru said to me was: “The Money is in The List”, and he went on to explain what that meant.It was obviously possible since he seemed to be doing very nicely out of it. To me it was a total “mish-mash” of things I had no idea how to do.
Squeeze Page, Traffic, Articles, Hosting …. the list went on.
I’d convinced myself it was all too hard, when coincidentally a day or two later, what did I come across in the Warrior Forum? A WSO from a guy telling me “Not to believe all those gurus who say ‘you must have a list to make money’…”. Boy, this was the guy for me. His methods seemed so simple. He had testimonials galore confirming exactly what I suspected – that this was indeed the way to go. Why oh why would anybody bother with all that awful list building stuff when you can easily make money ‘this’ way.
Long story short, a year later and more list-less products than I care to admit, and I was still not making it big online. I started to consider the fact that I may have been wrong, and began beating myself up for not catching on sooner. So I looked at a range of gurus and how they make their money and guys, I want to tell you that I was wrong. I should have listened to that guy on day #1. Who knows where I might be by now.
Anyways as far as I could tell, albeit with some fancy refinements not strictly necessary when you’re starting out, the gurus were ALL making their dough like this:-
1) Put up a Squeeze Page
2) Drive traffic to it, and…
3) Email Market the list
Oh, and 4) Earn the right to ‘Bank large’ if you do it consistently well over time.
There’s Not a Moment to Lose
So if you need a little help to get started in the right direction, then this is what you should be doing – starting now! Keep in mind that this worked for all the gurus. It worked for me, and it will work for you too.
Now in this post of limited length, I can’t cover all that goes into buying a domain and hosting. But in a sentence, you buy your domain from a respected Registrar (Google that and you’ll see loads to choose from). I recommend you buy “yournameandsurname.com” or as close as you can get using a hyphen if necessary. This is going be your business hub and you’ll create a blog around it.
Also, buy hosting from any well known Company. Again Google “Domain Hosting” and the best ones will be on page one. Buy monthly packages if you’re on a budget, but these will be the worst value. If funds permit, buy the year package.
OK, to business. Now this post isn’t about the blog or anything other than what will be your main way forward in this business. So just stay with me on this. The rest will come in time – don’t worry about that.
Build a Squeeze Page
The first thing you have to do is to create a Squeeze Page and display it at your domain. Your Squeeze Page essentially contains 3 things.
i) A great headline
ii) An offer of a high quality free, and
iii) An opt-in form where your visitor can enter their email address to request the free gift and join your list
You can have some bullet points under the headline showing some benefits of your free gift. This helps create a good impression, and most people do this. Remember, your squeeze page is only a single page on which your offer is displayed. It should be simple, uncluttered and have a clear call to action.
Your Free Gift
OK, so your squeeze page is done and online. You now need to create a free gift of value to give away. In the limited space I’ve got here I’ll give guidelines about what to do rather than a fully detailed description.
Basically, you need to create a product. It’s usually going to be an eBook or report for a first attempt, but it can be an MP3 recording or even a video once you get a bit more confident, and it needs to be helpful to people in this niche.
That is, it needs to address the things that people in this niche are talking about and having challenges with. You want to help them with those issues. So how do you find those things out? Simple, just go to the places where people in this niche hang out. Forums and blogs are a great start. Just Google “niche+forums” or “niche+blogs” and tons will come up, but just join a couple of forums and read the blogs to see what people are talking about.
How many have thought of this? You can even type questions directly into Google in the following format:
Niche name FAQ (with or without quotes – the best ones will still be on page 1)
So now you know what is being talked about in this niche. Make a note of the questions. Research the answers from the exact same sources or even by typing the exact questions into Google.
From your research, simply compile a well laid out and researched eBook/report of about 20 – 30 pages in length. Get the guys from Fiverr.com to make up an eCover for the front page, and you are done with the content.
Convert it to PDF format and upload it to your domain to make it available to your visitors.
Traffic
So now you need to start driving traffic to your squeeze page. You’re going to be building a list of subscribers to email market to remember, that’s where your income is coming from.
There’s paid traffic and there’s free traffic. Paid traffic is quick, but costs. Free traffic is slower, but there are no out of pocket expenses.
Most newcomers are reluctant to buy paid traffic. They seem concerned with keeping a cap on costs while they’re still learning, which I kind of understand. But the fact is this is a business, and in business you need to use the right tools. It’s kind of like starting a Taxi business and not wanting to pay for petrol, you get nowhere fast. The way I see traffic, you can pay to send traffic to your offer, get the job done fast, and get on with building a list and earning money. Or you can go for free methods and take longer, which in turn delays your earning capability by the same time frame.
Also, free traffic can be quite time consuming, so using paid traffic is sort of a double whammy. You get your stuff happening faster, AND you get to use the time you save doing something more profitable, like building a second squeeze page or split testing your first squeeze page to get it converting (getting more subscribers) better!
There are many ways to get free traffic to your offer. I’ll list a few but there’s not space here to go into them. They’re all easy to find more information on however.
So, free traffic methods:
1) eBook syndication to Ezine Directories
2) Blog commenting
3) Forum posting/marketing
4) YouTube video marketing
5) Article Marketing
6) Ad Swaps (although you do need a small list to do this)
7) Guest Blogging
Paid traffic methods are many and varied, so I’ll list just a few that I know work well:
1) Facebook ads
2) Solo Ads
3) Ezine Advertising
4) Direct to Site Banner Ads
Clearly, I’ve only talked about ways to drive traffic. I don’t have space in this post to discuss the ins and outs of each method.
Once you have a blog and a list of 1000 subscribers, there are other things you can do to take your list to the next level.
For instance, you can survey your list to better understand their needs and wants, and with the information they provide create an information product or maybe even a software tool. Promote this product using affiliates at 100% commission. This will be a front end product, with up-sells and higher ticket items available once they buy. This way, your list will grow like crazy. Did you get that?
Email Marketing
And then of course there’s the Email Marketing side of things. This is where the fun really starts. But folks, that’s a whole other story, for next time maybe. You now have more than enough to be getting on with as you get started on your new path to success.
Well, in a nutshell folks, that’s it.
Now is the time to get going with those 3 simple steps and get things moving. Get your blog going and let it tell the story of how you turned the corner and moved to higher ground with this simple system.
On your Blog, write useful and helpful content for your subscribers about your learning curve, and tell them about your success. Write things that will help others in your situation and broadcast the link to your posts to your list. Comments and social activity will follow, and not far behind it the snowball effect, and success, will show up!
That should just about do it folks. Thanks for being with me, and I really hope you get something useful from this post.
My best to you,
Paul Henderson
This is a guest post written by Paul Henderson, if you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.
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A nice post and yes i guess it is those 3 simple things
i think where everyone falls down is on the traffic. The myth is build it and they will come, which of course is not entirely true, we still have to market to get them to come to our sites.
I´m going to check out adswaps to see how they work
Thanks again for that post, it´s helpful, lol and it could be sold as a wso!!
Richard
Hey Richard,
thanks for the comment, and you’re right it probably could be sold as a WSO. In fact, I have a 100 page eBook based on the same process that is about to go up as a free WSO – probably. Thanks for stopping by and commenting Richard 🙂
Hey Paul,
A great post from you as always! Nice to see John sharing this.
I believe that list building is so important and then to remember that the money is in the relationship you have with your list. You need your list to be responsive or it serves little purpose.
Whilst it is true that you can make money without a list (in fact, all the money I’ve made so far online has come from elsewhere other than my list), I believe that you should always look to build your list no matter what else it is that you’re doing.
Even if you’re concentrating on making money through other methods, I believe that you should still be trying to build your list and establish yourself that way. It is such a versatile tool and, once established, I think that it is as close to ‘push-button’ that you can get. I just need to expand mine a little now, thanks for the reminder!
Keep up the great work, Paul 🙂
Regards,
Glenn
Hey Glenn,
thanks for the kind words as always, and can I say “it’s great to be here”. For me, List Building is my number one priority now and it’s something that I put time into every single day.
As for helping people get on track with their online efforts, my post is intended to remind them of the simple nature of the basic system. It works too – trust me 😉
All the best pal,
Paul
Nice post Paul. Setting up squeeze pages is getting easier as there is some great software around these days.
Great to see you mentioning paid traffic, so many people shy away from this but it is just as important as great graphics & copy.
Cheers
Clive 🙂
Hey Clive,
it’s interesting you say that. In my experience a squeeze page is best kept simple. And with that in mind, very little is required to produce a decent squeeze page. A free HTML editor like Kompozer is fine for getting a 50% converting squeeze page imo. If you’re an expert, perhaps you can drag the last 5 to 10% out of a page, but for most beginners, Id say keep it simple every time.
Thanks for commenting Clive and all the best to you pal.
Paul
Hello Paul, how are you doing? I hope you are fine.
Email list building is a common marketing strategy yet many people don’t do it.
Providing your list with a free report or newsletter will bribe them to subscribe, then you can start to build a relationship with them.
Graphics, ebook covers, emails, broadcastes for launches are all things that need to be done to maximise your efforts and to monetize from your.
After this product launches can be done to this list, for even more monetisation.
SOME TIPS
———
1) Don’t lie in your squeeze page copy bullets
2) Provide value in your free ebook, which will create instant trust with you and your subscribers
3) Remember it is quality of your ebook, NOT the quantity/number of pages of it
4) Chose your traffic sources carefully, making sure they are targeted sources
5) Include an upsell after they subscribe, for a $5-$7 product.
Otherwise good luck people in your list building efforts.
Great Post Paul
Matt Morgan
Hi Matt,
thanks so much for taking the time to visit and for adding a thought provoking comment too 🙂
Apart from point number 1, which I’m not too sure how to interpret 😉 – you’ve added some excellent points for people to keep in mind when they compile their offers.
All the best buddy, and thanks again.
Paul
Hiya Paul, hope you are fine.
That was a typo, I was meant to say:
1) Don’t lie in your squeeze page copy bullets.
(Can a moderator amend that please, change ‘like’ to lie’ )
Thanks
Hi everyone,
you are absolutely right Paul this 3 easy steps system works.
But we need time or money to get results.
And we must treat it as a business and not a hobby if you and me want to earn big.
But thanks for sharing.
All the best and see you on top.
Erwin
🙂
Hi Erwin,
thanks for commenting buddy and your point is quite right.
Time or money, or a mix of both, are the what’s needed.
Personally, I’ve sold things I don’t use any more to pay for things that speed up results.
Then, if I really wanted that thing that I sold, I can buy another one when I’ve got time to use it 🙂
Have a great day pal and all the best to you too.
Paul
This is really a great post and I compliment you on it. It should be 101 reading for anyone interested in marketing. Very simple to understand and a lot of good information!
Hi George,
thanks so much for your kind comments. Yep, I can speak from experience, – this is what I’m doing and slowly but surely keeping it simple is getting me over many of the hurdles I had before.
Thanks for your enthusiasm 🙂
Paul
Hi Paul,
That’s a cracking post and I hope lots of newbies will read it – I think they would save themselves plenty of time if they did, given that starting out in internet marketing is initially a minefield and you can easily get lured into the shiny object syndrome.
I agree with the benefits of paid traffic. After all, this is a business and setting up any business requires investment. Of course, it’s always advisable to invest cleverly, for example, do your research on who to buy solo ads from.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Laura
Hey Laura,
you’re most welcome and thank you for taking the time to read and comment. It took me a while to actually get back to these basic techniques, and you know what, I was kind of surprised when it worked – lol!
I’m embarrassed to say that someone told me on day 1 (2 years ago) when I started in IM, that this was the go, and I didn’t believe them. As a consequence, I wasted a year messing around with other stuff.
Oh well, you live and learn 🙂
Thanks once again Laura