We Have So Much To Be Thankful For During The Holidays

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0

I am out in Sacramento where I spend every Christmas with my two daughters and two grandchildren. I am an especially private person (just ask my family) and normally don’t share much private information about myself or my loved ones.

But in this new social marketing age one of my golas for 2012 is to open up a little bit and put myself on audio and videos, etc.

This year I am especially thankful here at Christmas because of an event that happened a week and half ago. Things happen so fast and this life can be short.

My youngest daughter (27) was leaving her boyfriends house in San Diego. Her truck was parked on the street. So as she was about to open the door on the drivers side a vehicle approaching fron the opposite direction swerved over and struck my daughter and her boyfriend.

Just inches saved their lives.

 There were still many injuries especially to her boyfriend who was hit in the back and his head slammed against her truck. He also suffered a broken leg in several places and spent about a week in the hospital and had to have a couple surgeries. My daughters leg was broken in a couple places and she had 4 hours worth of surgery and now has 4 or 5 screws in her ler leg.

The car was driven by a senior citizen who says he swerved to miss a vehicle that was stopped in the middle of the road. My daughter and her boyfriend  it turns out were very lucky. The vehicle hit them with a glancing blow before hitting her drivers side door. We are very aware of what would have happened had one or both of them been pinned against her truck and the mans vehicle.

So we have a lot to be thankful for even there were some broken bones and a head with several staples in it. They will both recover and be alright. I have a good friend who lost her son in a car accident last year just 5 days before Christmas. For her Christmas is over. It will never be the same.

Let’s all be thankful for what we have.

When I return home on the 26th I will be heading out of town to the beach for 3 days to get ready for 2012.

I plan on coming up with my goals both personal and business. I am going to make a few videos that I will share with you talking about my plans for 2012. Videos are something I find hard to do but I know one of my goals will be to put out a bunch of video and audio out there for my readers.

Hope you like a southern drawl because I got it bad.

After I get back from the beach I will leave for Orlando to watch South Carolina and Nebraska in the bowl game. I am a football nut. I watch high school, college and pro games.

Return from Orlando on the 3rd of January and get back to work.

Some of you know if you have read all of my posts I am still in the military. I work full time training National Guard units that are getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan and other places. I plan on retiring in a little over a year and becoming a full time internet marketer.(The hours I put in some time I feel like I am full time now.)

Starting an internet business while you still work is the best thing you can possibly do. You can learn while you keep your full time job.

To me I think it’s the best of both worlds. I love the military and as my career is winding down and I have found a new passion that I will be able to move right into full time when I retire with about 35 years or so of military service.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and let’s have a great start to 2012.

Twitt
Build Your Online Business, Uncategorized ,

How To Start A Blog For Profit

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 1

Before you just start creating content you need to know how to start a blog for profit. You need to think through what you want to do with your blog.  Do you want to sell from your blog or just put out free content for a website you have.

There are also blogs that people use just express themselves.

An online presence is important these days for whatever enterprise you engage in. To connect with a wide variety of people there is no bigger forum than the Internet. If you are looking for a way to show off your expertise and also make a little money while doing it, consider starting a blog.

What is a Blog?

how to start a blog for profitA blog is actually an online journal of sorts. With a blog you can upload daily posts about anything that you want. Some people create personal blogs as a way to keep in touch with family members. Pictures, videos and other information are uploaded so your loved ones and friends can stay current with what is going on with you.

For our purposes here we are going to talk about building business blogs. This is a blog that you use to attract online traffic in order to sell products or services. To be interesting to others, your blog will need to:

•    Have updated content for visitors
•    Show your personality
•    Stay on topic

How To Start A Blog

 

If you are new to blogging, you can use a free blogging platform to get your feet wet. Sites like Blogger.com and WordPress.org and others offer free blogs to users. Depending on the site you choose, the themes and plug-ins (added features) will vary. Most will walk you through the process step by step so that you can be up and running in no time.

Before you start your blog, decide what will be the theme, or niche of your blog. A jack-of-all-trades type of blog doesn’t do as well as one that is geared towards a certain niche. If you like crafts for instance, that can be your niche.

Anytime you develop a blog or website after deciding on your niche you need to come up with a list of keywords you will use. There are many tools both free and paid you can use for this.

Next I suggest you come with 25-30 possible titles for your posts. Be sure to include your keywords in the title. This helps with SEO and lets your readers know what the post is about.

Create posts that talk about how to craft, what to craft, how to make crafting profitable and so on.

How to Make Money With Your Blog

In order to make money with your blog, you need to have people visiting it. This is where you have to use your marketing skills. You can buy traffic or get free traffic. To GET traffic you have to get the word out about your blog.

Most people do not understand how much traffic you need if you hope to make money with your blog. If you go the free route you will need to spend several hours a day on just marketing to get any decent traffic to your blog.

Don’t expect much traffic for months if you only want to get free traffic. That is unless you are working full time on your blog.

There are several ways you can blog for profit.  Most newbies start with google adsense on their blog. It will be awhile before you have enough traffic to make much money with adsense. I use it on a few of my affiliate sites.

I think the biggest check I have ever received for adsense was $176.00. Google adsense sort of died out but has been making a comeback lately. I started reading a book on adsense by Joel Comm this month. He is the guru of adsense I guess you would say and his new book is like getting a PHD in how to use adsense.

Most people use their blog to sell affiliate products like I do here. The key is to find products you have used and really believe in. The biggest mistake you can make is to try and sell something you know nothing about.

There are to many crap products out there.

You can also sell your own information products you develop on your blog. That is my next step and I think everyone should strive for that if you really want to develop a business.

You can also sell advertising on your blog. To do this you will need to show you have a pretty big following on your blog. Especially if you are not a big name in your niche.

I have a niche website in a sports niche where my competitors are making money by selling advertising such as banner ads. To a lesser extent they are selling physical affiliate products from places like Commission Junction.

I am selling the physical products on my site but I don’t have enough traffic yet to sell advertising space. It’s a very competitive niche and you need high traffic to compete.

Hopefully in the next 2-3 months I will get the traffic I need with some new traffic sources I am working on.

This should give you a good primer and some things to think about before you start your blog. I hope this article helps you with how to start your blog for profit.

Twitt
Affiliate Marketing, Build Your Online Business, Information Marketing, Social Marketing, Uncategorized ,

Marketing To Moms : A Multi-Billion Dollar Market

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0
Marketing To Moms

Marketing To Moms

Marketing to moms may be just what your business needs to jumpstart your profits. Many marketers miss out on this golden opportunity. Many stay at home moms spend a good portion of their time online either shopping or running their own online business from home. Do you have a product or service moms would be interested in?

Mothers pretty much control everything that’s bought for the home. New moms are always online looking for information about raising a newborn. They are very concerned about safety and their children. Their are hundreds of niches where you should and  can market to moms.

This article will let you know some of the reasons why it’s so important to market to the moms out there.

The goal of any business is to make money. And, we’re not just talking about the short term but long term goals of increased revenue. To that end, many businesses are missing out on a multi-billion dollar market: moms. Marketing to moms is the wave of the now and the future.

Why Is Marketing To Moms So Important?

Moms are enterprising. According to BSM Media Inc., mom spending is already over the trillion dollar mark. That’s more than the budget of some third world countries.

Also according to BSM Media Inc., almost 90 percent of moms consider themselves the financial head of the home. Her husband may bring home most of the bacon but it is the moms who decide how to spend it.

They shop for everything related to the household: kids clothing, appliances, electronics, outdoor furniture, accessories and home improvement items.

Any husband that shops for these things is going to consult their wives before buying them.

Why?

Because wives do the research into these products to find the best on the market. Moms influence as much as 85 percent of the purchases for the home. That’s over 70 million women we are talking about here. It doesn’t get any bigger than that.

Think about all of the tasks that moms handle in a day. They take care of the housework, shuffle kids from school to sporting events to other activities, cook dinner and manage the finances.

In order to keep everything straight, they employ a wide variety of technology. It’s not uncommon to see a mom sitting in the park watching her kids play while listening to an iPod or browsing the Internet on her iPhone.

Mommy Bloggers Are All Over The World Now

Moms are also savvy on the Internet. The trend for many years has been moms coming out of the workplace and starting their own businesses at home to spend more time with their kids.

 To that end, moms have developed a network of blogs, websites and forums designed to teach moms everything from designing websites, starting Internet businesses, marketing to other moms and managing their homes. Their buying power has increased exponentially with their knowledge.

This means they are a huge source of traffic to your website for you.

Traditionally the only products marketed towards women were household products and cooking items. This goes back to the archaic thought that a woman’s place was in the home. That has been a huge detriment to many companies in the past.

Most companies are making amends now and see the tremendous value in marketing to mothers.

Women and moms have made an imprint in the business world in many areas. Women are not limited to office jobs; they are CEOs and CFOs. They run huge corporations.

They don’t just surf the Web, they are becoming entrepreneurs in the home with widening influence over Internet marketing. Thousands of moms now make a living as Virtual Assistants where they can perform all their work from the home.

Having moms shun your product because you are not marketing to them means you may be losing out on thousands of dollars a month to keep it simple…

Marketing To Mom What The Future Holds

. As moms become more “connected” in the world, their spending will increase. No product is off limits to mom advertising.

So it’s common sense to figure out a way to get your message out to the moms out there. If you are a mother you should be deeply involved in the mommy bloggers network. There are moms making nice income from their blogs.

Learn what they are doing. The biggest mistake we make as online marketers is trying to reinvent the wheel.

Men we can’t give up and think we can’t break into this huge network. If you offer an excellent product or service I suggest you too look at new ways to get your products in front of moms.

They want honesty and marketers they can trust. If you want to make a bad name for yourself quickly in this market screw over a few moms. The mommy bloggers will tear you to pieces.

So we know marketing to moms is one of the largest markets out there. It’s growing everyday. You need to figure out where your product or service can benefit mothers the most and start marketing to them now.

Twitt
Build Your Online Business, Getting Traffic , ,

Backup Your Computer Files Yourself Or Pay Someone

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 1

Right now data stealing is running rampant. I told you last week about losing several of my websites and my friend Davids problems. This week another person that I buy services from was hacked into also. You need to backup your computer files like right now!

I told you about Mozy the service that most of the people I know online are using.

But there are several other things you can do if you don’t want to pay for an outside service although I recommend it.

If your computer runs Windows 7, then you already have a software solution available to you – the “backup and restore” feature. You can begin the process on Windows 7 by entering your “Control Panel,” clicking “System and Maintenance,” then selecting “Backup and Restore.” The “Backup and Restore” function lets you choose the folders of your computer that will be backed up, and schedule the process to occur automatically. Some earlier versions of the Windows operating system also have similar functions.

Some Windows users might not be satisfied with this solution, however, and want something with more options and features. There are other options available, including software packages that actually synchronize – in real time – all of the files and folders that you want to back up. This means that you always have backup copies of all of your important data in files. (If you use a backup solution that backs up only on a twice monthly basis, for example, you risk losing any new data since the date of the last backup.)

Even if your primary computer cost several thousand dollars, you probably place a much higher value on the data that’s actually stored on computer. Since we conduct significant transactions and other aspects of our lives through our computers, financial records, family photographs and other items are now stored solely on our desktop and laptop computers. A single catastrophic failure of your computer’s disk drive could result in an incredible loss.

You can also protect against this type of scenario by periodically backing up your data to an external hard drive. Some people prefer this over backing up their data and documents online and sending their data into the wild blue yonder. There’s something reassuring about knowing that your data is backed up to an external drive that only you have access to.

But while backing up our data is something that we know we should be doing regularly, chances are we’re not actually doing a good enough job at it. Fortunately, there are some ways to automatically back up your computer files to an external hard drive, reducing the chance that you’ll suffer any significant data loss.

Before you can set up your backup process, you’ll need an external hard drive. In recent years, the price of hard drives has dropped significantly, so you should be able to purchase a high capacity drive on practically any budget.

Because the backup process is not something you will be performing every day, don’t be overly concerned with data transfer speeds. For most people it’s simply not necessary to have the absolute fastest hard drive for backup purposes. You should, however, try to get the largest hard drive you can afford. The more space you have for backup storage, the better.

In order to have your backups occur automatically, you’ll want to get some software that manages the process for you. Just google data backup software and you will find review sites for software that can help you out if you prefer to do it yourself. Having to do manual backups of all your files on a weekly basis is a sure way to get frustrated and stop doing backups altogether.

You can always refine your backup process later, but the important thing is to get a schedule in place and get into the habit of backing up your computer files and data now!

Twitt
Build Your Online Business , , ,

What’s On My Reading List Right Now

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0

UPS just pulled up with another box of books so I thought I would take a few minutes to tell you what’s on my reading list. Like most people at any one time I am reading 4 or 5 books. Yea I know it’s kind of stupid but that’s what most of us do.

I just finished reading The Barefoot Executive by Carrie Wilkerson. Very easy reading with some links to some of her videos inside the book. Very good book for a newbie or an experienced online marketer.

She discusses several different models for making money online and uses herself and others as examples. Her action steps in each chapter are worth the price of the book by themselves.

Last week I finished Huge Profits With Affiliate Marketing by Connie Ragen Green, a fellow NAMS member. Connie is a retired school teacher who has burst onto the affiliate marketing scene. Everyone wants her to market their product. She has a loyal following that buys whatever she recommends.

This book is a step by step for the beginning or struggling affiliate marketer. I have a lot of ideas to  try highlighted in this book and have already implemented a few.

A general business book I am about to finish is Why We Want You To Be Rich-Two Men One Message by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki. This book was published in 2006 and has been sitting around here for a year or two. I found it in a bag of books I had in a corner and started reading it.

Fascinating insight into how these two men built their empires. This book provides a great look into the future. It might scare you a little bit. Both men talk a lot about the principles that drive them.

I bought Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port originally because I thought it would help me with some offline marketing I am doing. Was I in for a surprise. He relates everything to the way products are being marketed online.

I am reading this book a little at a time  and have a special notebook for taking notes. It’s like having a strategy session everytime I read it. I will keep going back to this book long after I am finished reading it. If you sell anything I highly recommend it.

If you are reading this that means you sell something now or will in the future so get it.

That will finish off my reading list for now. I have a new book from Gary Vaynerchuk I need to get started on soon and my delivery today from UPS was 3 military books to give me a little something different from all the business and marketing books I read.

I would love to hear what you guys and gals are reading now. Leave a comment below.

Later

Mike

Twitt
Affiliate Marketing, Build Your Online Business , , , , ,

Top 10 Traffic Ideas for your Blog

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 2

Blogs are popular ways to create an online presence for personal and for your business . You can build a blog for free and begin posting content right away. But, what good is that content if no one is reading it. Here are ten traffic ideas to bring in the traffic your blog needs to survive.

Of all the successful blogs on the Internet, thousands more have failed. Running a blog is like running a business website. Unless you are willing to put the time in and treat it seriously, you won’t be blogging long. Unless of course you are just blogging for fun and not profit.

That is not to say that the failed bloggers weren’t serious about blogging when they started. Most new bloggers aren’t prepared for the work that goes into creating a successful blog. Just building the blog doesn’t mean that people will come to read it. You must pursue prospects and give them a reason to become a customer.

1.    Fresh Content – no one wants to visit a blog day after day and see the same posts. Update your blog content at least twice a week after the first month. The first month you should post an article a day for 30 days to get the most benefit. You don’t have to just write articles . You can post an audio or some video instead. Just write a few sentences explaining what your audio or video is about. This will be easier if you write several posts ahead of time and upload them at the appropriate times.

You may want to purchase some good PLR and rewrite or repurpose it. I use a couple different writers depending on what I am looking for but Nicole Dean at EasyPLR is one of the best and she has PLR content you can use in various niches.

2.    Article Marketing – the niche you’ve chosen for your blog is one that interests you. If it is interesting you will spend more time doing it. Create content not only for your blog but also to be submitted to article directories. www.EzineArticles.com is the granddaddy of article directories.Use the resource box to put a link to your blog so people can find you.

Big Extra Tip-  Submit your good articles to www.Bloggersbase.com This can bring you huge amounts of traffic. Most marketers do not know about the site or just just don’t tell you about the site.

3.    Social Networking – these sites are everywhere. Join Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or a dozen others and make connections. You can join groups of likeminded people who are also bloggers or entrepreneurs.

4.    Viral Marketing – this is where you spread the word about your blog. Talk to friends, family and even strangers. Give out business cards that have your blog address on them. Hang out in forums and groups online where your prospects hang out.

5.    Use RSS Feeds – RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” Readers can subscribe to your feed and get email updates when new content is posted. It is an easy way for them to keep up with your blog without spending all day online. This is something it took me awhile to understand.

6.    Submit Blog to Search Engines – This is not as important as it once was. Generally your wordpress blog should get found by the major search engines (Google/Yahoo)  just by putting out content. However there are niche search engines and smaller search engines you may want to submit your blog to. They could send you some traffic.

7.    Joining Forums – as a blogger you are a budding entrepreneur. Right now you are marketing yourself to find traffic and then profit. Become a member of  forums in your niche, business forums and work at home forums.  Meet new people on the forums and share ideas. You can add a link to your blog in the signature line so others can your blog or website.

8.    Visit other blogs – show your appreciation to those who visit you by also posting comments on their blogs. It is a kindness that shows others you are not just out to advertise your blog alone. Add links to your blog in your comments. Commenting on blogs will also get you backlinks which are very important.

9.    SEO Marketing – whenever you write, use relevant keywords and keyword phrases. Keyword density between three and ten percent is good for getting higher page rankings in search engines. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your niche. Go for long tail keyword phrases with 3 or more words in them

10.    Social Bookmarking – submitting posts to social bookmarking sites allows others who are members of those sites to track you back to your blog.

Using any of these traffic ideas will start the traffic moving in your direction. I suggest you concentrate on 3 of the 10 traffic ideas in this post. It takes time but you will build the readership you need to be successful.

Twitt
Build Your Online Business, Getting Traffic, Uncategorized ,

Back Up Your Online Websites and Online Work – Hard Lessons Learned

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0

I learned a hard lesson this weekend and it was something I had been meaning to take care of but kept putting it off. Back up your online websites and online data!

At the NAMS6 conference in August David even had a security expert come in and talk to us about different security problems online. David  talked about he got hacked and had serious problems that cost him quite a bit of money to be fixed back at the start of the year. Not to mention the money he lost while his site was down.

My problem was a little different and I am still at a loss as to exactly how this happened even after spending a couple of hours online with my hosting account.

It all started last week when I tried to log into one of my affiliate websites and I got an error message. I then put my URL into Google and guess what. There was an error message again.

So I started checking my other affiliate websites and I had 4 websites that had disappeared. I am still trying to understand how this happened but so far no one has been able to explain it to me. At least where I can understand it.

The bottom line is I did not back up my systems and now all the work is gone. These were sites that had numerous pages and a lot of work put into them. Not just some quick one page affiliate sites that people throw up.

So I am sitting here now wandering how to go about building them back up. It will be a lot of work to get them back to the way they were.

The lesson learned here is to back up your websites.

The company I will use to backup my work is Mozy Online Backup. I have heard several other marketers talk about them for a year or two now and they were talked about at NAMS 6 by Regina Smola who was giving classes on securing your work online..

I wish I had followed up and took action after hearing her talk and the several problems David faced last year. Now I have to find the time to rebuild the websites and of course I will have no money coming in from them for awhile so it will be just like starting over with those sites.

You live and learn. Don’t make the same mistake I did and do nothing. Go click on the Mozy Banner to the right and keep your online data secure. You can backup your data very cheaply by the way in case you were wandering.

If any of you have had your website hacked or lost all the material on your website I would love to hear about it so we can all learn from it.

Please leave your comments below.

Twitt
Build Your Online Business , ,

How Do We Best Learn The Technical Aspects Of Internet Marketing

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0

The audio below is a quick 3 minute audio I did about how we learn best. We basically use a part of the Cone Of Learning. I read about it a few weeks ago and I found it very interesting. In the audio I talk about the different ways we learn and how much we retain after 2 weeks. I think you will find it very interesting and can apply it to learning internet marketing.

In your internet marketing business I am sure a lot of you struggle with learning how to do technical things that need to be done in your business. This is what held me back more than anything when I first started online. Guru’s gave you a lot of theory but not to many showed you the nuts and bolts of how to do things. I now know why. Most of them outsourced the technical aspects of the business and could not really teach us because they didn’t know how to do it either.

Today with WordPress it is much easier to work on your website. Yet I still outsource stuff like graphics work because I don’t have a clue about building banners and the like.

A great money and time saver today is Fiverr. I am on their site looking to have ebook covers and other things done every week. Yesterday while I was watching football I made a list of things I need to get done on Fiverr. For only $5.00 you can’t beat the price, but more important to me is the time saved.

And yes there are people doing outstanding work on Fiverr for just $5.00. I could have saved thousands of dollars if Fiverr were around 4 or 5 years ago.

But if you have no money to spare the best way to learn is to watch someone do the task and then do it yourself. We learned this from the Cone Of Learning.

But I have no money to pay someone to show me how to do the task you say. No problem. BIG HINT: Go to You Tube and put in the search bar whatever you want to learn. I bet there are videos on there that will teach you. All you have to do is search around a bit. No money spent, just the time it takes you to learn more about this internet marketing business.

Twitt
Build Your Online Business, Uncategorized , , ,

How to Outsource Parts of Your Internet Business

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0

This is a guest post from a fellow NAMS member and instructor Nicole Dean. One of her companies is a PLR (Private Label Rights) company. If you are not familiar with PLR you need to get very familiar with it.They basically write content for you.

It is almost impossible to keep coming up with content yourself so I will purchase some articles from her from time to time that she has written, rewrite them and use them on my blog or send the articles to the article directories.

In this article she talks about outsourcing. This is something else you will need to do eventually. I have outsourced various projects over the last year when I was short on time or just did not know how to do something.

How to Outsource Parts of Your Internet Business

by Nicole Dean

One of my favorite topics to discuss is outsourcing.

You’d be amazed how thinking about outsourcing and where to begin outsourcing flummoxes everyone from the newest newbies to the seasoned gurus and everyone in between.

Buy why? Why is it so very confusing? Most of us manage to outsource quite nicely in our day to day lives.

I oftentimes pose these questions to my coaching clients -

When you go to a restaurant, do you head back into the kitchen and cook your own food? (That’s just silly.)

And, if your appendix burst right now, would you go online to find out how to remove it yourself? (Please say “no”.)

Of course not!

But, why do we think it’s ok to do everything ourselves in our businesses?

I can’t figure out what it is, but I think I’m starting to narrow it down.

* Fear of losing control.
* Not knowing who to outsource work to. (Needing a recommendation.)
* Not wanting to take the time to outsource. (You think: “It’s quicker to do it myself.”)
* Costs. (Oftentimes, though, you can get help for a lot less than you think it’ll cost.)
* Lack of confidence in ourselves.
* Lack of confidence in the potential of our business.
No matter which of those it is, there comes a point with all of us, where you HAVE to outsource — at least if you ever want to be able to go on a real vacation where you leave the internet behind and relax with your loved ones.

I know. I know. If you’ve been following me for any amount of time – you’ve heard this song and dance before. BUT! While outsourcing isn’t perfect, it’s a heck of a lot better than putting the chains on your wrists from a job that you’ve created for yourself – one where you can’t escape.

So, my #1 tip for outsourcing is to try it.

Choose something small and work from there.

  • Submitting some articles that you’ve written to the article directories.
  • Finding blogs to guest post on and contacting the owners.
  • Answering some emails regarding customer issues.
  • Graphics to promote your products.

It really doesn’t matter where you start. The big thing is taking that first step so that you can enjoy the FREEDOM that comes with the online lifestyle.

Start small. Don’t go crazy. But, when you find someone who you work well with – build on that relationship so you have access to great people who know your style and who you’re comfortable working with. When I need a project done, I have my own personal rolodex of fabulously skilled people who I turn to on a regular basis. Not only does it save me time – but it also helps me to get great prices because they already know what I like, they know that I’m easy to work with and that I pay on time.

I hope this inspires you to start outsourcing in your business.

Nicole Dean can help you to get more done in your business without going crazy in the process. Yes, you can have a business AND a Life! Check out OutsourceWeekly.com and sign up for her free “Outsourcing Mistakes” lessons on the top of the page to get started.

 

Twitt
Build Your Online Business , ,

3 Tips For Creating Powerful Headlines That Sell

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0

You have mere seconds to capture a prospect’s attention.  One of the single most powerful tools you have to accomplish this task is your headline.  There are several keys to writing a compelling headline and a few tips to help you get the job done.

Tap into Your Prospects’ Emotions

According to psychologists our buying decisions are based first and foremost on our emotions.  Use headlines which offer your readers a strong emotional benefit or reaction.  Some possible emotions are:

1. Joy
2. Sadness
3. Anger
4. Happiness
5. Fear
6. Surprise
7. Gratitude
8. Excitement
9. Disgust
10. Proud
11. Love
12. Satisfaction

There are many more you can use.

Write Your Headlines In Active Voice

To get your reader to act it’s important to use active language – language that shows movement and commands attention.

For example, “Stop Your Sugar Cravings Today With This Simple Step,” is a fine headline however it doesn’t command action nor does it really tap into any emotions.  However, “Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.”  Conquer is an active and emotionally powerful word.  Readers receive the benefit of feeling powerful and in control and it commands action.

Let Your Reader Know They’re Important

The word YOU is a very powerful word.  It let’s your reader’s feel as if you’re talking to them specifically and interested in solving their problems, issues and helping them achieve their desires.  Instead of using I, Me or We in your headlines, use You.  Using the headline example above compare the two options
“Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.
“Conquer Sugar Cravings with Our System”

People want to know what’s in it for them.  When they read what’s in it for them in the headline, they feel compelled to continue reading your copy and making a purchase.

Here are three more ideas for powerful headlines:

* Make a promise – Earn $1000 a day
* Make it newsworthy – New program guarantees you’ll earn $1000 a day.
* Ask a question – Do you want to ensure your financial future?

Three Simple Tips to Write Headlines That Sell

So now you have some ideas about what types of headlines sell, how do you begin to write those powerful headlines?

Step One – Get to know your audience intimately. What are their hopes, dreams, desires, and problems?  Understanding your audience will help you create an emotional and powerful headline directed specifically at your audience.

Hang out in forums, ask questions. See how your potential customers respond.

Step Two – Determine how your products or services are going to make your prospects’ lives better or solve their problems.  For example if you sell fitness equipment and your audience struggles with feeling attractive then you can create a headline that highlights a specific benefit your fitness equipment offers to solve that problem.

Step Three – Write ten to twenty, yes twenty, possible headlines.  Not only will this give you practice writing compelling headlines, it’ll help you hone in on that perfect headline.  And if you think you have a few winners you can always test them for conversion rates to find out which headline is more effective.

Most experts consider your headline to be the most import element of any effective marketing piece.  Take the time to craft a compelling, and selling headline and you’ll reap the benefits for years to come.

 

Twitt
Build Your Online Business, Getting Traffic , ,