Internet Marketing Strategy

How do you know if your website is successful?

By Christian

I find it curious how some people choose to define success when it comes to web marketing. For example, I have one particular site in mind that many (if not most) traditional web marketers would define as a failure in many ways. It’s been up for over 4 years now, and I’ve never added any content to it. The bounce rate (people who hit the site and immediately leave) is high…over 60% last time I looked. After 4 years, it doesn’t rank very well for many keywords I would like. As if that’s not enough, traffic is low by many people’s standards. It gets fewer than 2,000 visitors per month.

Is my website a failure?

These are all metrics that most web marketers use for indicators of success, and by all counts this website pretty much sucks! But I consider it a success. Why? Because I spend no time on it and no money on it, yet it brings my team an average of $18k per month. How does that sound to you? I think that a pretty good return on investment, so I’m thinking I’ll leave this sucky website up for a little while longer 🙂

What metrics do YOU use to measure your site’s success?

What’s my point? Maybe all these metrics we use to measure “success” don’t mean nearly what we think they do. Maybe it doesn’t matter how much traffic you get, not if you’re converting at a high rate and earning a good return on your investment. Maybe it doesn’t matter whether you have 100 or 100,000 followers on Twitter. Maybe quality matters, not quantity. What do you think? Is it too simplistic to say this? I get lots of questions from clients that reveal their distress over things like not having more comments on their blog or not having as much traffic as they think they should have. First, we always have to address “why”? Why do you want these things in the first place? It’s crucial…

Therefore…

Are you working hard to build your follower count on Twitter? Why?

Are you spending a lot of time or money to get more traffic to your website? Why? If you’re not making a good return on the traffic you’re already getting, why do you think more traffic will help?

Let’s challenge ourselves to set worthwhile goals. Let’s go deeper than the superficial metrics we usually use. Numbers matter. They do, but context is everything. The number of people on your email list, for example, means nothing outside the context of your business plan. Do you have a written business plan? Does your business plan address your web marketing goals? Too many of us do not have these things in place, and without them, the traditional metrics we use to gauge success online don’t have any context.

I know marketers who did over $1M in business last year with a list of 500 or less. You can do it too. The tactics that will work for you are out there, but first you have to figure out your business. If you’re interested, fire me an email about my training solution called “Sales Funnel Mastery”. It addresses this exact thing for you. It gives you that context you need and puts everything into perspective for you, so you know exactly how to approach your business and get laser-targeted results.

Until we have that type of clarity in our business, none of the metrics we use to measure success mean anything.

The biggest myth of “making money online”

By Christian

disappointed — I don't mean to disappoint, but there are some "internet marketing" myths that really need to be cleared up 🙂

Do you want to “make money online”? Do you want to “make money blogging”? Do you want to “build an internet business”? Well, forget about it. This article describes why the whole “make money online” thing is completely misunderstood by most business owners!

I’ve spent some time thinking about the whole “internet business” thing lately, and this is part of what originally caused me to start this Dangerous Tactics blog. I’ve read articles recently like this one from David Risley, where he talks about his feelings on why some people make money online…and why most people don’t. Derek Jensen unloads on us here on why people need to stop talking about how to make money online. Sonia Simone has also shared some awesome thoughts with us about why you can’t make money blogging…ironically enough, her post appears on one of the most profitable blogs in existence. Bottom line, the internet is a misunderstood place. It’s a new frontier, and there’s a lot of opportunity here, but let’s not lose track of what the internet is…and what it is not.

The biggest myth of “making money online” is that the internet has somehow changed how business works. It hasn’t. Here’s the truth:

The internet is a place, not a tactic. The internet has changed HOW people buy, not WHY they buy.

On the surface, this may seem like a minor difference, but the difference has massive ramifications. If you take some time to absorb this truth, it will affect how you approach your business on many levels. It will make you more profitable, because you’ll realize all the flash-bang, snazzy products and courses on “how to make money online” are built on a false premise. They are built on the premise that the internet is some magical place that YOU don’t understand. And of course once you “get it”, you’ll be able to “leverage the internet” and make millions.

How to really make money online

To be completely fair, there ARE some things you need to learn about marketing online. There’s some jargon and some moderately techy stuff that you need to learn, but once you “get it”, you’ll realize the internet is just another place where people hang out. You’ll realize that technology has changed…quite a bit. But people…haven’t changed a bit. Most of us are a bit crazy, mixed up, emotional, awesome, a lot of fun…and we buy LOTS of stuff, spend TONS of money on things, and we buy things for the EXACT same reasons as we did a million years ago.

This is what we need to learn how to do: we need to learn dangerous ninja selling tactics, so we can be highly effective and sell lots of our stuff. And yes, we’re going to do it online. We’re going to run blogs and squeeze pages, and we’re going to build email lists and sell things on the internet, and I’m going to show you how to do it. But we’re NOT building an “internet business”. We’re building a “real” business. Does that make sense?

Real Tactics for Selling to Real People

On this blog I share with you many of the ways I’ve made money…both online and offline for the past decade or so. The tactics are solid. They work on the internet. They work off the internet too. How could it be the case that these tactics are so powerful? One reason: people buy for the same reasons, both online and offline. At the end of the day, you’re either running a real business or you’re not.

If you’re running a real business, you will make money. If you’re not, you can use all the blog formulas, make money online formulas, launch formulas or any other type of formulas, and it won’t matter. Formulas don’t make money. Businesses make money.

Now you can choose to market your business online, and that would be a smart decision, seeing as how so many people are here. But don’t think of your business as an “internet business”, and don’t think of your marketing as “internet marketing”. It’s business. And it’s marketing. Just plain old business and marketing.

Screw the internet

The internet could implode tomorrow, and I’d still be rockin, because I don’t run an internet business. I run a business that I happen to market exclusively online right now. If something happened to the interwebz, I would just change my marketing plan. Problem solved. I bet the chances are good that you want that type of flexibility and security in your business as well, no?

If you think of yourself as an “internet entrepreneur” or a “social media marketer” or whatever, then go visit your local shopping mall and try to find a business that considers itself a “mall business”. Try to find a “how to launch a mall business” ebook somewhere. Yeah. Just because a business is located at the mall doesn’t mean it’s a “mall business”, and just because your business is engaged primarily in marketing online shouldn’t define you either. Most internet-based businesses have a LOT more in common with their brick and mortar counterparts than they realize. Figure out your business, and I bet you will see you’re not an “internet entrepreneur” after all. You’re simply an entrepreneur. That’s pretty liberating, no?

Are You Being Fooled by These Membership Site Myths?

By Christian

I’ve heard a lot of talk about continuity programs lately. Continuity is just another word for “membership site” of course. Let me be clear: membership sites can be highly profitable. It’s a great model to follow, and if you’re interested in building a membership site, this post is NOT meant to discourage you from doing so. But, but, but…there’s a huge “but” here; there are 2 important myths about this business model that I don’t see being addressed, so I’m gonna do it here.

Membership Site Myth #1: Membership Sites are a Great Way to Make a Lot of Money Quickly

You know how many articles I’ve read that say something like “Do the math. Just charge $50 a month and get 200 members. All of a sudden you’re making $10k a month.” Dude, nothing is quick and easy. I hope I’m not bumming you out here…my goal really is to save you some valuable time, so you can stay on track.

Don’t look at membership sites as some quick way to make cash. Yeah it’s true, if you charge $50 a month, all you have to do is get 200 members to make more money than most people on the planet. So what? It’s not any easier to sell 200 memberships for $50 a month than it is to do anything else that will make you the same amount of money.

If you want to start a membership site, you should. But it’s the same with anything…do it because that’s what you want to do. Do it for these reasons:

You want to build an ongoing, lasting and long term relationship with members who value what you have to teach.
You want to have an ongoing conversation with committed members who are willing to pay for the value you offer, instead of people who just demand everything be free.
Build a membership site because you want to use it as a smart front end to your sales funnel. Charge a very low price, creating a reasonable hurdle for people to get on board with you, and then give them huge value, and upsell them on premium, totally kickass products or services after they’re members.

Build a membership site for these reasons. It’s not quicker or easier to get rich with a membership site than it is doing anything else.

Membership Site Myth #2: Membership Sites Provide Stable, Predictable Income

When it comes to building a business, many of us are easily lulled by the promise of anything “stable and predictable”, but let’s look at the facts…membership sites are a lot of work. I want to repeat…this is not a BAD thing. Membership sites rock, but I have just seen so much misinformation about them lately that I wanted to take a minute to set the record straight.

What a lot of the top marketers out there will tell you is that a lot of the work can be outsourced, and this is true. But it’s still ongoing work that you’re accountable for completing. This is what happens with membership sites that you may not automatically consider:

Not every member pays every month. Payments don’t always go through. Credit cards are rejected. If you run a membership site, you’re also signing up for the role of bill collector.
By running a membership site, you’re not creating passive income. You will still need to create ongoing content. Yes, that content can still be resold, but that requires a new launch and more work. This can be done with a traditional product as well. Membership sites are not superior to traditional products with regards to passive income. Neither produce passive income.
Once someone becomes a member, that doesn’t mean they’ll always stay a member. Membership attrition (people dropping out) is a regular part of the membership site business. You still need to continue your marketing efforts and provide huge value to your members in order to keep your numbers up.

My solution

So if membership sites are not the magic solution, what is? Ha. You’re kidding, right? There IS no magic solution. Membership sites are awesome. My only point here is one thing: other business models are awesome too, and there is no magic bullet. For me, I am simply going to continue to focus on selling traditional products and consulting. I don’t rule out the possibility of ever running a membership site in the future, but I have no current plans to run one. The reason is not because membership sites aren’t profitable and a great business model. They can be. But I prefer my own approach, which is to simply sell products and services.

Look, I can build a site and charge members $50 a month, or I can sell a product which has all the same information and sell it for $600. That’s the same income as someone staying a member with me for an entire year, which is rare, and I get all the money up front. Which model makes more sense to you?

Yes, I need to continue to market what I do. I need to still prospect and follow up on leads. I still need to continually improve what I do, keep my offers updated and current. All of a sudden, membership sites and selling products for a fixed price seem to be very similar don’t they? They are.

Have you thought of running a membership site? Does this connect with you at all? Have you been reeled into considering a membership site business model by the lure of stable, predictable income? I know I have 🙂

What my chiropractor taught me about affiliate marketing

By Christian

earning-cash-as-an-affiliate — Honestly? Earning cash as an affiliate doesn't have to be a struggle. When you take a personal approach, it's a piece of cake 🙂

Chiropractors are affiliate marketers. Did you know that? So are personal trainers. So are many professionals in many other industries. Not only are they affiliate marketers…they are BETTER at it than most internet marketers.

An effective approach to selling other people’s stuff…

Imagine going to your chiropractors office for a visit. Your neck has been killing you, and he helps you out a great deal. He says you’ve most likely been sleeping in a poor position, which is why you’ve been to see him several times with the same issue. He recommends a special pillow would really straighten you out so you don’t have to come see him as often about your neck pain. This is a guy you trust whom you’ve been visiting a while, and he’s offering you a way to feel better…what are the chances you’ll make the purchase?

I don’t know about you, but this happened to me, and I bought it immediately. I even take it with me on the road. Not only has it helped me a great deal, but I regularly refer new business to this chiropractor, because he has helped me so much.

We buy stuff, within reason, from people we know and trust almost…without hesitation. Most of us struggle hard with affiliate marketing. Ironically when done well, it’s the easiest extra income you can earn.

Affiliate marketing shouldn’t be a struggle. It should be easy money. Think about it. My chiropractor get more referrals from me in exchange for making more money from me by selling me stuff! That’s affiliate marketing at it’s best.

Why Most Internet Marketers Seem to Struggle with Affiliate Marketing

So why do most internet marketers struggle with selling affiliate products? Because their approach is completely different. Most of us place banner ads on our site, place links throughout our site (or worse…far worse…just blindly blast them out on Twitter) and basically hope and pray people click on them and make purchases. As long as you’re cool with a .03% conversion ratio, then that’s great…you’re all set 🙂 But most of us want better results than that.

Readers on this site who only stop by every once in a while and who don’t know me very well don’t get many affiliate messages from me. I have no banner ads on this site, and I only very rarely post any articles to the blog that contain affiliate links. I suppose my approach is different than some, but I’d love your thoughts on it…my approach is much more like that of my chiropractor’s. When I’m working with a client or interacting with a subscriber about a particular issue, I will refer them to an affiliate when it’s appropriate and when I honestly feel it will be helpful. The result? They shoot over and buy it. Almost every time.

This is my tactic…it’s just a matter of math. You can get a .03% conversion (or whatever) from a banner ad, and if you’re pulling in mad traffic, then maybe that makes sense. For me and my clients who are interested in being way more efficient than that, personal interactions and relationships seem to pay a much higher dividend.

Does this make sense? What are your thoughts?

My Uber-Simple, Proven System for a Grotesque Level of Affiliate Marketing Success

By Christian

When it comes to business, simple is good. Wouldn’t you agree? That’s my take on it anyway. I’ve recently been pouring through a plethora of information on affiliate marketing…people talking about how to make it big by selling other people’s stuff online. First, I’d argue if you really have anything to offer your audience, it’s simple enough to create your own product anyway and make 5 times as much per sale, but I digress.

marketing-strategy — Chess is a very simple game, but the strategy is complex and takes a lot of skill to execute. What's the "trick" to winning at chess? There isn't one! Likewise, what's the "trick" to affiliate marketing success? There isn't one! If you want to win, you have to actually do the work.

There’s so much talk out there about how to optimize PPC campaigns and tweak pages to increase opt-ins and, blah, blah, blah. I see the value in paying attention to minutia to a certain extent, but tonight I’m reading this stuff and feeling overwhelmed. It’s amazing to me how hard people will work to avoid work!

Paying attention to all this technical stuff has value, yes. And to a certain extent I even cover some of these things on Next Level Blogger, but here’s the deal…if you’re not paying attention to the big picture; if you’re not spending 99.9% of your attention on the big prize, then all the other minutia is just that…minutia. It all adds up to nothing if you’re not focused on what really matters.

What really matters when it comes to selling online? One word: Trust.

Trust Makes Rockstars

What makes a rockstar? Trust. Real fans pile into a store and buy records when they could easily get the music for free online. Why? Because they respect and trust the artist…they already know they want what the artist is selling. They want it now. They want the real thing. They’re already sold.

No “magic marketing formula” or “overnight business system” causes this kind of behavior.

Bottom line…if you don’t have trust, then you will always be fighting for the sale. It doesn’t matter how well-optimized your page is, dude! It doesn’t matter how good your SEO is 😉 If you don’t have trust, then you will always be trying to find the “secret” to making your business work more smoothly. Trust is the ultimate business lubricant…it’s makes everything easier. Here’s the catch…it takes a while to earn it. But it’s worth it. Trust changes everything.

With trust on your side, you go from fighting for the $10 sale to being handed multiple $1000 sales without having to lift a finger. With trust you go from schlepping to find business to having business come to you, without even having to solicit it. How do you get trust? By being there and creating value for people over time. Your hard work does NOT go unnoticed. Call it karma…or whatever the heck you want to call it. Trust-building beats link-building any day of the week. This is a really important point:

If you think you’re responding to email inquiries and giving advice for free, you’re not. You’re building trust.
If you think that unwarranted, unfair refund you’re processing is a loss, it’s not. You’re building trust.
If you think all that time you spent with a client is lost because they ended up buying with another vendor, it’s not. You’re building trust.

Trust is your ultimate asset. Trust takes time to build, but all the good work you do over time adds up. It really does. That said, I want to offer you my uber-simple, proven system for a grotesque level of affiliate marketing success.

My approach to affiliate marketing:

Build trust.
Tell the people who trust you what to buy.
Collect checks.

Works like a charm baby!

I’d love anyone to find a hole in this approach. It’s bullet-proof. Problem is, it takes time and work. Do you have a problem with that…or are you going to do what it takes? Play it to win!

How to Sell Online Without Being a Jerk

By Christian

selling-online-making-offers — Selling online requires one simple thing...SELLING! That means you have to MAKE OFFERS! Making money online is not a mysterious process. The fear of selling is one of the biggest production-killers out there 🙂

I just read a very insightful quote from Jeffrey Zeldman at zeldman.com in the latest INC magazine. I want to share it with you, because selling…and how to do it well…is a common theme I cover here. I think his thoughts on how to sell tactfully are beautiful. Couldn’t have said it better myself. Here you go:

There is a difference between being arrogant about yourself as a person and being confident that your work has some value. The first is unattractive; the second is healthy and natural. Some people respond to the one as if it were the other. Don’t confuse them. Marketing is not bragging, and touting one’s wares is not evil. The baker in the medieval town square must holler ‘fresh rolls’ if he hopes to feed the townfolk.

I’m a huge advocate of selling aggressively and fervently. I think if you don’t believe in what you’re selling, you need to get out of business, period. On the other hand if you DO believe in what you’re doing, you have a duty to tell people about it, and make sure you do good business with as many people as you can.

How do you feel about this?

I personally witness a lot of people visibly hesitating to make the pitch, out of fear of being perceived a salesperson. We need to get past this and realize what sales is, and what it isn’t. I’m telling you…there’s so much confusion and indecision out there about how to build a successful blog, how to build a successful online marketing strategy. Of course, there are some things to learn, and there are definitely some techniques to implement, but if you get past the biggest hurdle of making offers…the rest is honestly a piece of cake 🙂

Seriously, it’s amazing what you can get when you just ask!