Why You Need To Get Out More!
By · CommentsOne of the most effective things I have done to boost my progress and personal relationships in internet marketing has been to attend live events.
This takes the form of workshops, seminars, exhibitions and mastermind groups, and as you can see from the picture below, I’ve gathered quire a few name tags in the past 12 months …
The first live event I attended was one Lee McIntyre’s live, 2-day events in Newcastle in February 2010.
You know, I nearly didn’t go … but I realised straight rom the start of that event that it was something I needed to repeat.
I met so many marketers that weekend, many of whom I went on to work with, running webinars, giveaways or other events,and now they form my growing network of internet marketing contacts.
So why am I telling you all this?
Well, the reason for writing this post is to encourage you to get out more … to attend workshops, conferences and seminars and grow your contacts in the business.
It’s a small world in internet marketing, and the more people who get to know you, the better the knowledge and support network that you’ll build.
And it’s a lot more fun that doing it all alone!
I was bitten by the bug at Lee’s event in 2010 and in 2011 I have attended a great variety of live events.
Here’s a taster of where I’ve been and how it helped my business …
My 2011 world tour (okay, it was just the UK!)
January 28/29/30 2011 – Ultimate Facebook Marketing Seminar
A Mark Anastasi event, not only did I meet lots of marketing friends, I finally got to meet Steven Essa who I’d been emailing and chatting to on Skype previously, and made plans with Chris Freville, who I’d just launched Auto Cash Funnel with in December.
I was there primarily to gather as much Facebook related information as I could in preparation for my Fast Fan Pages launch which was scheduled for later that year.
With Chris Freville and Steven Essa at Mark Anastasi's Facebook Marketing Seminar in February 2011
March 12/13/14 2011 – The Greatest Facebook Show On Earth
I went here primarily to meet Jo Barnes and Chris Farrell – which I did – but I also met an amazing group of people at this event, many of whom went on to be friends and customers for my Fast Fan Pages software.
I also added to my Facebook learning in preparation for my Fast Fan Pages launch and got a great feel for who my potential customers would be and what they needed from my fan page service.
March-September 2011 – Daniel Wagner & James Watson Mastermind Group
This one involved travel to London once a month and I met a remarkable group of people many of whom I would now class as friends.
This was an excellent, supportive group – I learned so much from the entire experience – and although I left in September I keep in regular contact with many of the members and continue to work with them.
25th March/1st June/16th June/11th November – Social Media Presentations in partnership with regional newspaper group
I’ve done 4 presentations this year to groups of 50-100 local business people (plus one to a group of journalists) on using Facebook for business.
In each case I’ve made excellent local contacts and got a feel for the concerns and issues facing local businesses in social media – as well as promoting my Fast Fan Pages software.
Paul Teague talking about social media in Barrow-in-Furness (Copyright CN Group, image may not be reproduced)
4th June 2011 – Ministry Of Traffic Live
This event was hosted by a mastermind group friend called Phill Turner and I was supposed to attending as a guest.
As it turned out, the main speaker cancelled and guess who got shipped in at he last moment to replace him?
This was my first event speaking toa group of internet marketers, so I was incredibly surprised – and flattered – when I was voted ‘best speaker’ by the audience.
What is it they say about facing your fears?
On this occasion, I’m pleased that I did 
21st September 2011 – Ad Tech Exhibition
This was a fascinating experience and as well as meeting with my mastermind group at this event, I also met a very well established internet marketer here for a business discussion, left with lots of useful contacts and information … and may well even exhibit there myself in 2012!
19th October 2011 – A4UExpo
I went to this exhibition specifically to source software based affiliate partners for a launch I’m working towards in early 2012.
I made two brilliant contacts here, one of which was actually interested in using my software, and I also attended a meal and meeting with Clickbank representatives and many of the UK’s top internet marketers whilst in London.
So, do you need to get out more?
As you can see, it’s been a busy old year and me and the train from Carlisle to London know each other very well now!
And I’ve missed out lots of 1-to-1 meetings and small meetings with other marketers … this is just a selection from a list of ‘public’events.
But as you can see, although much of my work as an internet marketer is done at my desk, in isolation, I highly value those face-to-face meetings and they’ve been an essential part of my business building and strategy in 2011.
So, what events have you attended in 2011 and how have they helped to move your business forward?
Please leave a comment below.
Start 2012 with your first great event!
My friend Phill Turner is holding an event in London in mid-January and if you want and information-packed, pitch-free seminar and a place where you can meet like-minded internet marketers, I can’t recommend Phill highly enough.
This is a great opportunity to start as you mean to go on in 2012 – getting out and about and making contact with people whowill become your friends, possibly business partners and maybe even customers.
Check out details of Phill’s event here
Thoughts?
25 Things You Don’t Know About Paul Teague!
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1) I was born in Hamstreet, Kent but have spent all my life since the age of 5 in the North of England.
2) I have moved house 24 times, 21 of those moves after leaving home at the age of 18 … and most of them connected with chasing my career in radio.
3) In was pretty entrepreneurial as a teenager – I set up and ran my own disco business with a friend, I worked several gardening jobs at a time, had a paper round and fixed broken calculators from the local electrical store to sell on for profit.
4) I took the academic ‘conveyor belt’ route in life, gaining 9 x ‘O’ levels, 1 x ‘O/A’ level, 3 x ‘A’ levels, 1 x 2:1 degree and 1 x postgraduate diploma. The funny thing is, although all that studying gave me a teaching career for 4 years, it was the things that I did on my own – radio and web work – that resulted in the best career moves and the most pleasure in life.
5) I did my first ever radio broadcast on Scunthorpe Hospital radio aged 18 in 1983 and was ‘bitten by the bug’. It took me another 9 years of work and persistance to finally get my first job at the BBC where I worked for 20 years … as a journalist, broadcaster and website manager.
6) I met my wife on my first day in college in 1983 delivering a telephone message as a favour to the porter. It was a case of ‘love at first sight’ (for me anyway!) and we’re still together all these years afterwards … with 3 lovely children to add to the mix.
7) My middle son has Aspergers Syndrome, which means that he’s on the Autistic Spectrum. In my mind this just gives him ‘special powers’ – he has an amazing memory, can learn stuff really quickly and never frets about many things that we’d all worry about – like performing.
I didn’t fly in a plane until the age of 27 – my parents could never afford it and neither could I until that age. These days I can’t stop … I love to travel abroad, and one day hope to spend time living elsewhere in Europe or America. I flew in a hot air balloon before I flew in plane.
9) I didn’t own a computer until 2002 – even though I’ve been working with them since my days as a teacher.
10) I once abseiled off the Humber Bridge whilst doing live commentary on the radio. We’d set it up so I really wasn’t sure if I’d do it until actually got there. I did and I loved it!
11) I love eating out in restaurants with good company – it’s my ideal night out.
12) I love the cinema … and now fortunately we’ve passed on that love to the kids.
13) I worked in a restaurant as a waiter between the ages of 13 and 18 (this was in addition to all my other jobs) and also did a summer season at Pontin’s in Lancashire waiting on tables whilst on vacation. It was always work I enjoyed.
14) I have interviewed a number of politicians such as John Prescott, Anne Widdicombe, Ken Livingston, Jeffery Archer and Michael Howard – who told me off for being ‘negative’ about his latest political announcement!
15) I love the Scottish group Runrig (my wife is Scottish) and have seen them perform many times – at Loch Lomond, in York, twice in Carlisle, at Edinburgh castle and at Stirling Castle. I have also interviewed band members several times for radio items.
16) I’ve also had a long standing love of the rock group Queen – the first single (remember those?) I ever bought was ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ and I got to see them with Freddie as frontman at Elland Road in Leeds in the 1980s, on the ‘Hot Space’ tour.
17) While we’re talking about music, I was once embarrasssed at a Motorhead concert. They were once known as the ‘loudest live band’ so I’d bought along a roll of cotton wool so could put some in my ears if it was too loud. When I was frisked at the entrance I had to explain it’s purpose surrounded by hundreds of seasoned heavy metallers.
18) When I was a child (ie below the age of 11) I used to write books. I’ve got a rejection letter from Penguin in my scrap book. I’ve had several skirmishes with writing over the years – with short stories and plays mainly – but never with any level of accomplishment or success.
19) I would love to play a musical instrument, but I can’t yet. The best I did was recorder at school. I need to take lessons one day … I love music, and I know I’d get massive pleasure from it … I just need to do it! I’d also love to know if I can be taught to sing.
20) I love live radio broadcasting and would love to do it again. My career took me away from the practical stuff when I moved into management, but I did a live, all speech talkshow for 6 months of my career and although it was raw, uncut and dangerous, I’d love to do it again some day.
21) I love American TV … Battleship Galactica, Jericho, Big Love, 24, Game Of Thrones, The Sopranos, 6 Foot Under, Dexter, The American Office, Damages … the list goes on and I love ‘em all. Fortunately, my wife does too!
22) My dad used to play in a band with Cliff Richard before he was famous. Cliff was in my dad’s group ‘The Dick Teague Skiffle group’ but wanted to play rock ‘n’ roll which was the ‘next big thing’ in those days. If you don’t belive me, Google it!
23) My wife and I would like to take a driving holiday across the USA when we’re 50. We’ll both be 50 in the same year and it’ll be our 25th year of marriage then – my daughter will be an adult by that time, so she’s baby-sitting and we’re off on a jaunt My wife loves American wooden porches and I’d like her to sit on one at some point in her life (too many cowboy films when she was a child!)
24) At the age of 18 I cycled around Lake Geneva in 1 day (see note 8 – we travelled by coach) stopping off at Castle Chillon for a swim to cool off.
25) Although I haven’t done it for years now, I used to be into drama and acting in a big way. My biggest roles was as the Reverend Samuel Parris in ‘The Crucible’ whilst studying Theatre Studies for a year at college, but lesser parts included playing Lady Begonia, a ghost in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and one of King Herod’s ‘disco courtiers’!
What questions does this raise for you?
How I Ended Up On A Leaderboard With Mike Filsaime!
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I was amazed this week to find my name at the top of a pre-launch leaderboard
… right next to Mike Filsaime!
Now, I’m only a small marketer at the moment, I have a list of subscribers that is less than 20,000, so how come I managed to grab a top-spot on a leaderboard?
Well, first of all, I have never – since I started internet marketing – given a campaign such massive support.
In this promotion I was supporting my friend Tahir Shah on his Auto Build It! launch and I knew from my conversations with him that this was a high quality product and one which I was happy to put as much weight as I could behind.
I’d also got access to Auto Build It! prior to launch, so I knew it was good – and something very different.
One important thing to note is that I don’t usually do pre-launches.
I don’t like them unless the product is pretty extensive – or pricey – and requires some build up for prospective buyers to help them to make a more informed purchase decision.
I don’t do pre-launch with my own products because I think it’s too easy to kill a launch before you even start – get that pre-launch tone wrong, and you’re doomed!
So this was unusual for me in more ways than one … I’ve never, ever sent out so many emails for one campaign, and certainly never for a pre-launch.
The full campaign – everything is revealed!
Below I have set out the exact details of my full campaign – you can see the full details ‘warts and all’.
Why am I giving you such extensive access to my campaign and stats?
Well firstly, nobody ever shows you this stuff.
Since I’ve been taking part in Mastermind groups, I have been given access to information like this from other big marketers, and every time I see it, I wish more people shared information like this.
You can see the number of emails I sent out, the open rates, the unsubscribes – everything!
I hope that with data like that you’ll see:
1) Everybody gets unsubscribes, it’s just part of what we do
2) I thought those unsubscribe and complaint rates were pretty good considering how heavily I pushed this campaign
3) The kind of open and click rates I achieved to deliver such a massive overall result (see bottom of page).
Essential campaign info
A couple of background bits and pieces before you start to dive into the statistics.
These emails were sent to my prospects list … it’s made up of prospects and a list of buyers that is now 1 year old … so it’s what’s known as a ‘cold’ list now, not the kind of sparky list you get immediately after a launch.
My main list of buyers and quality prospects were excluded from this promotion?
Why?
Because I intentionally market to that segment in a different way, send them far fewer offers and attempt to give a more even balance of information and sales emails.
So I probably could have done much better here if I’d incorporated that segment, but they’re in a different niche and I decided not to do that.
Secondly, many of these emails were sent repeatedly to ‘no opens’ … so I used my Get Response stats to determine who wasn’t opening or clicking … and I sent them email after email until many of them did open one of my messages.
The big lesson that I learned from this is that this technique does pay off, and brings far more rewards (in the form of opens and clicks) than it does penalties (in the form of unsubscribes or complaints).
So read away, and I hope that this information is really useful to you in your own internet marketing.
And please lave a comment at the bottom of the page – or share this article – as I can’t help feeling that a lot of internet marketers will get some real value from seeing this information.
Email 1, sent date: 2011-10-23
Subject: WARNING (don’t ever build another website!)
Friend, are you still struggling to get a real website online
that actually makes any money?Do video and squeeze pages baffle you?
Don’t know your HTML from your Javascript? Couldn’t write a lick
of code if your life depended on it?I’ve just finished testing a new
service makes it so drop-dead simpleto build any type of online sales…
that even a DRUNK MONKEYcould click around the screen and ACCIDENTALLY
build a site thatlooks like you’ve just spent $25,000 on it.
To say it’s idiot-proof is an understatement. With a few clicks
of the mouse, you can build full-blown marketingsites, video squeeze
pages, order forms, delayed ‘buy it now’ pages,opt-in forms, integrate
with social media, run a membership site andaffiliate program…
and have the whole thing deployed to your own.com live, in minutes.
And best of all? These sites look GOOD. Like, *really*
good.No code, no designer, no technical skills. Just point,
click and you’re done.I’ve spent the last few days testing
this service out and I can honestly say there’s nothing else
that comes close.Lets say you want to split-test a squeeze
page.It takes 2 seconds to hit ‘duplicate’, another 15 seconds to
type a new headline,5 seconds to choose a new design, and a single
second to save it.Instantly, that new page is online! It’s
so brain-dead fast and easy to build pre-optimized, SEO-ready sites for dominating
ANY market, that I’m convinced it’s going to single-handedly change the
way we build‘direct response’ sites for good. No more trying
to force your blog to act like a ‘real’ website… or outsourcing web
work to an expensive programmer/designer.There’s nothing to install,
either – just log in to your online control panel and go.I’d
love to give you immediate access so you could try it out for yourself.
The only problem is… I can’t tell you the URL! It’s still locked
away from the public.I was invited as a private beta tester.
The site won’t be accessible in your browser until Monday (and even
then, you won’t be able to buy it — it’s not on sale for another week.)
I’ve let slip too much already… but I’ve got some good news. If
you check your e-mail on Monday morning… around 11am EST… I’ve
been authorized to share with you a behind-the-scenes video tour of
what this software can *really* do.
And if you watch it… you’ll be invited to be one of the very first to
use it to buildsites 10x faster vs. struggling with the ‘old’ way.
Which means… you’ll have the headstart on dominating pretty much
any market you want to lay claim to
Meet me back here on Monday? Paul Teague
Results
Email 2, sent date: 2011-10-24
Subject:
Never Build A Web Page Again! (URL just released)
Friend, it’s here!
=>>http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
This piece of software lets you build a full-blown
site with squeeze pages, order forms, sales page,
opt-in forms and more… ** in 15 minutes flat. **
(Even if it’s the FIRST site you’ve ever built.)
And unlike other ‘web builders’, these pages
actually look great, are optimized for SEO and
don’t rely on rigid blogging platforms or buggy
third-party plug-ins to work.
Plus — it instantly uploads to your own .com
so you’re in business in minutes.
=>>http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
If you’ve ever struggled with the ‘techie’ side
of marketing… but you still want to be able to
build all the cool components that make a site sell
(you know– delayed ‘buy it now’ buttons, video
squeeze pages, testimonial boxes, slick opt-in
forms, membership sites… i.e. the good stuff!),
then you absolutely need to check this out now:
=>>http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
And best of all– NO technical knowledge is
required.
Your GRANDMA could click around and
*accidentally* build a site that’s good enough to
make sales. It’s disgustingly simple.
Paul Teague
P.S– The software is not available to purchase
yet, so there’s nothing to buy at the link above.
But, you’ve GOTTA check out the video to see what this
software can do — your jaw will drop!
Leave your e-mail at the link and I’ll tell you the second it’s
available
=>>http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
Results
Email 3, sent date: 2011-10-25
Subject:
Can your squeeze pages do this Friend?
Check this out and see if your squeeze pages match up:
=> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
Note: In tests, this type of squeeze page
beat regular video squeezes by over 23%.
Enjoy!
Paul Teague
P.S– Visit the link, and I’ll not only show
you the squeeze… but also how to build it…
in 3 minutes flat!
Results
Email 4, sent date: 2011-10-25
Subject:
This is BETTER than WordPress … and easier!
If you’re building sales pages on your site
the old way– you’re wasting your time.
Let me show you how you can build your next site
in UNDER 5 MINUTES… with gorgeous web design,
perfect sales letter formatting, videos, testimonial
boxes and more.
(Without writing a single lick of code!)
> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
Paul Teague
PS
Boy do I wish they’d invented this when I
first started out trying to make money online
in 2004!
Results
Email 5, sent date: 2011-10-26
Subject:
(Info only) 5 minutes to build your next site …
If you’re building sales pages on your site
the old way– you’re wasting your time.
Let me show you how you can build your next site
in UNDER 5 MINUTES… with gorgeous web design,
perfect sales letter formatting, videos, testimonial
boxes and more.
(Without writing a single lick of code!)
=> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
Paul Teague
Results
Email 6, sent date: 2011-10-27
Subject:
[Dead simple] How to launch your own product …
If you’ve ever wanted to launch your own product
online, you MUST watch this video.
=> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
(This is the exact toolkit being used *right now*
to generate a 7 figure launch.)
Paul Teague
P.S– You’ve gotta drop in your e-mail to get
to the video… they’re keeping the good stuff away
from the general public until launch next week.
Results
Email 7, sent date: 2011-10-29
Subject:
(Important) Check your e-mail on Monday
The ‘old’ way for building web sites is changing.
No longer do you have to struggle with
blogging platforms, cumbersome ‘web builders’ or
raw HTML code to produce sites that make REAL SALES.
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
That’s because a millionaire marketer from England
sat down and wrote out *exactly* what his dream
web builder would look like if you could turn
complex web building tasks, into simple point and
click operations… then spent $250,000 building it.
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
This software does EVERYTHING for you. From video
squeeze pages, to delayed ‘buy it now’ webinar-style
sales pages, to full-blown sites with membership
management software– building everything you need
for a site that actually makes real sales, is now
as easy as clicking your mouse around your screen.
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
No technical skills required. In fact, the less you
know about web building, the better. Even if you
struggle to put together UGLY sites and wouldn’t know
where to start with HTML, Photoshop, Javascript, PHP
or any other buzzword — this software makes it EASY.
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
This has never been released to the public before–
there’s nothing available elsewhere that comes close.
But this coming Monday, you’ll have a chance to use
this software to build your next winning site… at a
FRACTION of what the software is worth.
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
In fact — you’re going to be amazed at the price. I
can’t reveal anything yet… but I can say that this
is affordable for ANYONE who wants to build the kind
of website that people feel comfortably buying from.
Watch your inbox at 12pm EST on Monday for
the announcement.
OR… if you’re the kind of person who likes to get
a headstart over the competition, sign-up for our
“15 minute advance warning” announcement list at the
following link, and start dominating whatever market
you want to target before the general public:
Beat the rush on Monday – I’ll see you there!
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
Enjoy your weekend,
Paul Teague
Results
Email 8, sent date: 2011-10-30
Subject:
(Important) Check your e-mail on Monday
The ‘old’ way for building web sites is changing.
No longer do you have to struggle with
blogging platforms, cumbersome ‘web builders’ or
raw HTML code to produce sites that make REAL
SALES.
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
That’s because a millionaire marketer from England
sat down and wrote out *exactly* what his dream
web builder would look like if you could turn
complex web building tasks, into simple point and
click operations… then spent $250,000 building it.
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
This software does EVERYTHING for you. From video
squeeze pages, to delayed ‘buy it now’ webinar-style
sales pages, to full-blown sites with membership
management software– building everything you need
for a site that actually makes real sales, is now
as easy as clicking your mouse around your screen.
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
No technical skills required. In fact, the less you
know about web building, the better. Even if you
struggle to put together UGLY sites and wouldn’t know
where to start with HTML, Photoshop, Javascript, PHP
or any other buzzword — this software makes it EASY.
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
This has never been released to the public before–
there’s nothing available elsewhere that comes close.
But this coming Monday, you’ll have a chance to use
this software to build your next winning site… at a
FRACTION of what the software is worth.
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
In fact — you’re going to be amazed at the price. I
can’t reveal anything yet… but I can say that this
is affordable for ANYONE who wants to build the kind
of website that people feel comfortably buying from.
Watch your inbox at 12pm EST on Monday for
the announcement.
OR… if you’re the kind of person who likes to get
a headstart over the competition, sign-up for our
“15 minute advance warning” announcement list at the
following link, and start dominating whatever market
you want to target before the general public:
Beat the rush on Monday – I’ll see you there!
=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
Enjoy your weekend,
Paul Teague
Results
Email 9, Sent date: 2011-10-31
Subject: WordPress (Rest In Peace) The
‘old’ way for building web sites is changing. No longer do you
have to struggle withblogging platforms, cumbersome ‘web builders’
orraw HTML code to produce sites that make REAL SALES.
>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
That’s because a millionaire marketer from England sat down and
wrote out *exactly* what his dreamweb builder would look like if
you could turncomplex web building tasks, into simple point and
click operations… then spent $250,000 building it. >> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
This software does EVERYTHING for you. From video squeeze pages,
to delayed ‘buy it now’ webinar-stylesales pages, to full-blown
sites with membershipmanagement software– building everything you
needfor a site that actually makes real sales, is now as
easy as clicking your mouse around your screen.>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
No technical skills required. In fact, the less you know about
web building, the better. Even if youstruggle to put together UGLY
sites and wouldn’t knowwhere to start with HTML, Photoshop, Javascript,
PHPor any other buzzword — this software makes it EASY. >> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
This has never been released to the public before– there’s nothing
available elsewhere that comes close.But later today,
you’ll have a chance to usethis software to build your next winning
site… at aFRACTION of what the software is worth. >> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
In fact — you’re going to be amazed at the price. I can’t reveal
anything yet… but I can say that thisis affordable for ANYONE
who wants to build the kindof website that people feel comfortably
buying from.Watch your inbox at 12pm EST for the announcement.
OR… if you’re the kind of person who likes to get a headstart
over the competition, sign-up for our“15 minute advance warning”
announcement list at thefollowing link, and start dominating whatever
marketyou want to target before the general public: Beat
the rush before 12pm EST – I’ll see you there!=>> http://paul-recommends.com/info/ABI
Paul Teague
Results
Overall click statistics
Now look at what those 9 emails produced by way of clicks.
I have never in my internet marketing life sent that many clicks to one campaign.
Usually, I’d send 500-1000 to an average campaign … and that’s if I’m committed to the product and it converts well.
So the lesson for me from all this?
Well, I clearly have more marketing firepower than I thought … if the product is right and I put my mind to it.
But you know, I struggle to find products that really interest me these days … so many of them are a waste of everybody’s time and I therefore don’t want to promote them.
So, I think that the lesson is to support fewer launches, to focus on the really high quality ones, and them to commit to those 100%, even in pre-launch.
Initial sales results
By the way, there was one final surprise in all of this.
I thought that it would be all over after the pre-launch … I knew I could deliver something at that stage, but I wasn’t so sure that when it came to sales that me and Mike Filasime would still be rubbing shoulders.
Seems I was wrong
Thoughts?
Business building: What’s your plan?
By · CommentsI’ve been very busy in the consolidation phase of my online business recently, and I wanted to write a post showing what I’ve been doing and how I’ve been doing it.
Lots of marketers will talk you through the launch phase of a product – but how do you build on that to turn it into a business that will generate an ongoing income which, let’s face it, is what we all really need?
Auto Cash Funnel Clickbank Earnings
The launch bit
It doesn’t seem that long ago that I launched Auto Cash Funnel with Chris Freville, my first big Clickbank launch with full JV support (see My product launch exposed!)
It was December 2010 in fact … and that product has now grossed over $350k to date and continues to make sales.
Now a lot of people I speak to are surprised to hear that.
They think that after a launch, a product stops selling, dead in its tracks.
Well, that’s not the case and it’s why I 100% advocate aspiring to be a product creator in your business.
You might not be ready for it yet .. but if you keep working at it steadily, you will be.
Auto Cash Funnel has continued to generate a daily income since after the launch … the numbers have clearly reduced since the initial frenzy of December 2010/January 2011, but only this week we had just short of a $600 day just from sales of that product.
So, Useful Tip 1 is: Create products, they give you solid equity in your business and mean that you can instantly start to earn not only a launch-based income, but also a residual income.
All that work becomes an asset for you.
I have hundreds of affiliate marketers sending traffic to Auto Cash Funnel … they have done the SEO work for me.
Don’t get me wrong, affiliate marketing is an essential part of any Internet Marketer’s toolkit – I use it every day.
But aspire to be the product creator, that’s where the long term, solid income is.
Which way next?
The post-launch bit
Okay, so here’s the problem with the product launch model.
It takes a massive amount of time, commitment and energy.
It’s very stressful, you rely entirely on the support of JV partners, and although you make a lot of money in a short time, it doesn’t build you a business.
So Useful Tip 2 is: Just because you earned some money, it doesn’t mean that you have a business.
I know a lot of people will say ‘What? $600 in a day 8 months after a launch?’ … and believe me, I struggled to make that in a month not so long ago.
But that figure is an exception, rather than the rule, and I ain’t going to be retiring on that!
So, after Auto Cash Funnel I was determined to put some business ‘eggs’ into a solid proposition for a long term business … something which didn’t rely on the ‘boom and bust’ of a Clickbank launch.
A different approach
That’s when I started work on Fast Fan Pages, my new software aimed at the growing and lucrative Facebook market.
I decided that I wanted to create a product that was as well regarded in the marketplace as Easy Video Player, OptimizePress and Chris Farell’s Membership site … you only ever read good things about those services, never any moans, groans, cries of ‘scam’ … and definitely no high refunds.
That’s the place I want to be … and with Fast Fan Pages I have been adamant that it will not be sold as a conventional IM product … no promises of fast riches, effortless income or automated millions!
Check out the marketing, you won’t see an income shot or earnings promise anywhere.
And frankly, if I had marketed it as a conventional IM product, I’d have made a pile of money from it – and a corresponding pile of refunds no doubt
But this is my long distance product, the one I’m going to build slowly, based on reputation and service.
Frankly, I don’t want you to use it if you don’t need it or don’t understand it – you’ll only refund anyway and damage my standing with Clickbank.
So I give a massive amount away for free – there’s no way you should be paying for that product then refunding with the free access I’ve given … the aim is to ensure that buyers make a fully informed purchase decision, the opposite of a blind sale or hard sell.
Around my Fast Fan Pages project I can build a community focus, use it to deliver the coaching that I love doing and move into offline and small business marketing as well … put my eggs into some different baskets.
I’m also doing lots of work with my local newspaper to deliver coaching and information to local offline businesses now.
Oh, and based on what we learned from the soft launch of Fast Fan Pages, we created an entirely new software called Instant iFrames which aims to generate massive, organic traffic from Facebook.
That’s me building in less dependence on JV support which although invaluable, and always appreciated, can be variable and is always dependent on reciprocity … and that it turn can damage your list, because you’re not free to send the emails you want to and may ‘force’ you to send emails that you’d rather not send.
So here’s Useful Tip 3: Aim to build an excellent reputation and a long lasting, sustainable business model.
Don’t just think short term ,though it’s hard not to do that when you’re just trying to get those crucial first dollars in.
As soon as you can, build in and deliver long term strategies.
And by long term I mean a couple of years, not months – my projections around Fast Fan Pages are built around the likely lifespan of Facebook and anticipated growth curve … I expect it to peak (for business) then begin to decline.
If it peaks for longer, then all the better
Get yourself some help!
Get help!
I’ve spent a lot of time working with Patrick, who codes Fast Fan Pages – since New Year 2011 in fact – and we built, developed, tested and tweaked it up to the soft launch in May 2011.
Every time I use this product I feel personally proud of what we have achieved … and you should see my list of new plans and features for the future!
Incidentally, I hooked up with Patrick via Elance – I got lucky, found a great guy and we enjoy working together.
But Useful Tip 4 is: You don’t have to do this all yourself!
I can’t code software, wouldn’t know where to start.
So I found someone who could – and he turns my crazy ideas into something workable, plus adds some great ideas of his own.
Get help to assist you in your areas of weakness … it will move you forward, faster.
Now Fast Fan Pages is up-and-running and I can devote a couple of days each week to growing it and supporting it.
It’s not like Auto Cash Funnel, we had a small launch to get it started, get some paying customers in there and allow us to work through the teething problems.
But this keeps adding customers, not losing them … this will not go crazy then tail off, this one will grow and develop.
And I’m very happy I got that in place early, even though the temptation was to rush at a second money-spinning launch.
More of the same
So now I’m back to doing the things I love doing, and growing my business in the directions that I want it to go.
I held a Giveaway – my first in over a year – because my friend David Walker and I had talked about teaming up for one ages ago and I was really keen to make it happen.
We added over 1300 subscribers to our lists in 1-2 weeks … these events work ladies and gentlemen, please do not disregard them!
I enjoyed it so much and, depending on my commitments, I’ll be back!
So Useful Tip 5 is: Do what you know works for you, what you’re good at and what you enjoy.
I’m also working on a live coaching program with my one-time mentor, now I guess part time business partner, Chris Freville.
I’ve done a lot of work with Chris over the past year, starting with his Internet Marketing Empire launch, moving on to Stealth Profit Machines, creating content for Passive Portals and now we decided to team up once again.
Great JV Giveaways
I’ve wanted to do a live coaching program for ages, so this is a great opportunity to get that going.
Will I be doing product launch again?
Yes … but later!
This little lot will keep me busy until end November 2011, then I’m going to enjoy the fruits of my labours and take the family to Spain again for a month over Christmas – there have to be some advantages to spending so many hours locked in my office working
Which brings me to Useful Tip 6: Don’t ever be foolish enough to believe that this can be done without hard work – it can’t!
But it’s a wonderful way to make money and the freedom it gives you is priceless … so long as you have your laptop and a connection, you can work wherever you are in the world.
By the way, my final Useful Tip 7? Get a mentor!
Work with somebody who’s got a proven record of success at at least the level above you you and learn from them how they do it.
My mentors to date have been Chris Freville and now, Daniel Wagner and James Watson.
I’m part of Daniel and James’ Mastermind Group – as I was with Chris’s before that – but with Daniel and James I specifically wanted to focus on long term, business building … from Chris I learned everything I know about successful product launches.
So grab yourself a mentor … it doesn’t really matter who you pick, but make sure you trust them, respect them and like them first and make sure they’re the right person to take you where you want to be next.
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How To Write The Perfect Email …
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… as determined by my own subscribers in a recent survey.
Like many internet marketers no doubt, it concerns me that you can have so many subscribers on an emailing list, but yet so few of them every open the emails that you send.
Does that mean that they’re not interested in what you’re saying, are you sending them the wrong material or is it just a consequence of us all getting too many emails in our inboxes?
So I sent a survey to subscribers on my mailing list who hadn’t opened one of my emails for a month or more …
Don’t they know what they’re missing?
Here are the results from that survey, and I’m sure there’s some really useful information in here for anybody who uses email marketing.
Q: What annoys you most about receiving emails?
I receive too many emails 28%
I receive too many sales offers 32%
I just don’t have time to read them all 27%
I don’t like the style they’re written in 4%
There’s never any useful information in them 9%
Q: What would you like to receive in my emails?
Links to your latest blog posts 14%
Links to free gifts with or without opt-ins 10%
Links to instant access free gifts (ie no opt-in) 17%
Useful tips and information in the actual email body 33%
Some paid for offers, but only the best please 26%
Q: When you are offered a paid for product, how
would you prefer me to select this?
Only products that you would buy yourself 35%
Only from marketers who you know personally 11.5%
I don’t care … send them all, I’ll make my own decisions 4%
A mix of the best Clickbank and non-Clickbank offers 12%
I don’t want to receive any paid for offers 3.5%
Only products which you personally recommend 34%
So, according to my subscribers, the perfect email will contain the following ingredients:
# Only products which I personally recommend
# Only products that I would buy myself
# Useful tips and info in the email body
# Some paid for offers, but only the best
# Not too many emails
To be honest with you, that’s all fair enough really.
But for those newbie marketers who are reading this, a bit of insight.
When you do a product launch you generally reciprocate support from marketers who helped you to promote your product.
This is a nice thing for them to do and a polite thing for you to do … but sometimes it means you lose control over the quality of what you’re promoting.
It’s a tricky one … and I suspect the only answer is for all marketers to produce only high quality products … that would make reciprocity an easier thing entirely
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Finally, a look at some of the comments I received from subscribers.
I’m holding nothing back here, and the comments I’ve selected are the ones which give useful pointers or constructive advice … things we can all use!
I would say providing good content that actually helps point newbies in the right direction and by offering products or services you would or are using in your business.I can count on one hand how many emails I actually look forward to getting from certain marketers and there in newsletter format and offer great content and links to products relevant to the article and products that are useful. Sneaky subject lines or ones that are in-congruent are misleading and deceptive. I like the subject line of this email for instance and if I can help you by providing the information you need than it’s a win win for both of us.
Since I have purchased and returned many programs lately I’m just not opening many emails to avoid being SOLD and then finding it is NOT as represented too many times … I would like to know UP FRONT what the highest cost I will need to pay out to be in profit. AND if the sales copy says ‘this is all I need(whatever ‘this’ is)’ then I don’t want an upsell after I pay for the program! I would like to see the thing do what it says it will do and LATER be presented with what might help increase my sales after it is delivering sales(of course I must do my due diligence). Presently I don’t know WHY I have to keep getting new programs to add from program owners when supposedly the one I just bought is ” ALL I SHOULD EVER NEED” … Also and I’m not saying YOU have done this, I HATE the bad and off color slangy language being used by numerous marketers and I will not keep or buy a program that is offensive like that so I appreciate that all is kept respectful in the sales copy and program videos/literature.
Im just starting out using the internet so there is a lot that I don’t know aboutbut Im bombarded with lots and lots of offers and this can get info overloadso sometimes Im not sure what is a good thing or not,but would like to team up with a person who can show me the way to build a business .
It’s nothing personal, I don’t have a problem with your emails. It’s just that, generally, I get so much rubbish vs. useful information through my inbox, it is very hard to deal with it all.I ‘unsubcribe’ from all lists where the promotions exceed the information.I personally feel that in a lot of cases we get bombarded with “offers” – often almost immediately we have bought/looked at the marketer’s own product.I hate upsells or OTOs and would rather pay a higher price for an all inclusive product at the point of sale. (I also know that’s not the marketing model as taught by most IMers!)Paul, we are bombarded with emails from so many lists that I spam list 80-90% of them now (too much effort to unsubscribe). Give us an email that tells us what you are linking us to rather than just a link. I would recommend a two prong approachwith 1 email (say weekly) something for newbies -Call it newbie friendly for example and something for the more established marketer -Call it Succes Builder for established marketers. (same email broken into two parts) It would take a little more time to set up initially but once done you would have an email that caters for both. This would be your “I love you customer” email with useful links and the second email would be product specific.
More info for newbies, as to the best places to go to get things set up on a minimal budget!
Email titles that clearly state in the title whether its info or a sales offer only (I know this may affect your click through/open rate). Also clearly state at the start of the email what the email is about and how advanced a strategy it is and then maybe link to the bulk of the info on your blog or as a PDF download.
Hi Paul, I don’t remember what you have been sending me but I can tell you what I like and don’t like. I hate when I get mail where someone is pulling tricks probably taught by gurus such as download this, or per your request, or support, or you just made a sale, or stuff like that. I also hate to get every clickbank product offer known to man. I really hate those pop ups that won’t let you leave a website too. I think only one that offers a discount is not too bad. I love simple honesty! I am signed up to too many lists, but at least I see the bad stuff people are doing out there and I know that I won’t be doing it! I am sure your not doing that or I would have unsubscribed already.
More online advice for the New starting Internet Marketers who suffering a huge information overload and not seem to find what we need like:
- How to do good research (a dicected example would realy help),
- Keyword research and how to apply,
- traffic sources and how to use them.
- How to setup your business (ltd, plc) and when do you do this, best moment to do and it would help if this is related in my case to a UK based IM marketer
The e-mails I open first are from, in order:
1. People whose products I have bought and found to be valuable.
2. People I know from forums who are generous with help and support.
3. People who provide good content mixed in with offers, and don’t ever try to sucker me into “magic button” or “secret loophole” approaches. If a marketer finds the actual product behind a tacky over-the-top sales page to be useful and a good value, he’d better tell me so in his e-mail instead of sending me blind to a page like the “stripper secret software” from a few weeks ago.Oh, and about the coaching question: I checked the “donate button” option, but what I’d really like to see is a kind of “partnership coaching” option: help me reach an achievement goal (not necessarily just an income goal, it could be number of pages that have made a sale or something similar) and I’ll gladly “tithe” an agreed-upon percentage of profit along the way. I don’t know if that approach would turn out to be profitable for the coach, but it’s something I haven’t seen before: could be worth a try.
I don’t like personal addressing ie Hi XXXX?
I don’t like long emails
I like the title of the email to descibe the content.
So there you have it … just a small selection from the varied comments I received, but lots of fascinating food for thought there for any marketer, whatever stage of internet marketing they’re at.
Please leave your own thoughts, comments and experiences below …
