{"id":2565,"date":"2013-07-25T09:32:17","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T09:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johnthornhill.com\/blog\/?p=2565"},"modified":"2013-07-25T09:48:44","modified_gmt":"2013-07-25T09:48:44","slug":"if-getting-started-online-is-proving-difficult-try-something-simple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnthornhill.com\/blog\/if-getting-started-online-is-proving-difficult-try-something-simple\/","title":{"rendered":"If Getting Started Online is Proving Difficult \u2013 Try Something Simple!"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first started Internet Marketing almost two years ago the very first thing a guru said to me was: \u201cThe Money is in The List\u201d, <\/strong>and he went on to explain what that meant.It was obviously possible since he seemed to be doing very nicely out of it. To me it was a total \u201cmish-mash\u201d of things I had no idea how to do.\"Frustrated<\/a><\/p>\n

Squeeze Page, Traffic, Articles, Hosting …. the list went on.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d convinced myself it was all too hard, when coincidentally a day or two later, what did I come across in the Warrior Forum? A WSO from a guy telling me \u201cNot to believe all those gurus who say \u2018you must have a list to make money\u2019…\u201d. Boy, this was the guy for me. His methods seemed so simple. He had testimonials galore confirming exactly what I suspected \u2013 that this was indeed the way to go. Why oh why would anybody bother with all that awful list building stuff when you can easily make money \u2018this\u2019 way.<\/p>\n

Long story short, a year later and more list-less products than I care to admit, and I was still not making it big online. I started to consider the fact that I may have been wrong, and began beating myself up for not catching on sooner. So I looked at a range of gurus and how they make their money and guys, I want to tell you that I was wrong. I should have listened to that guy on day #1. Who knows where I might be by now.<\/p>\n

Anyways as far as I could tell, albeit with some fancy refinements not strictly necessary when you\u2019re starting out, the gurus were ALL making their dough like this:-<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0 Put up a Squeeze Page<\/strong><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0 Drive traffic to it, and…<\/strong><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0 Email Market the list<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, and 4) Earn the right to \u2018Bank large\u2019 if you do it consistently well over time.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Not a Moment to Lose<\/b><\/p>\n

So if you need a little help to get started in the right direction, then this is what you should be doing \u2013 starting now! Keep in mind that this worked for all the gurus.\u00a0 It worked for me, and it will work for you too.<\/p>\n

Now in this post of limited length, I can\u2019t cover all that goes into buying a domain and hosting. But in a sentence, you buy your domain from a respected Registrar (Google that and you\u2019ll see loads to choose from). I recommend you buy \u201cyournameandsurname.com\u201d or as close as you can get using a hyphen if necessary. This is going be your business hub and you\u2019ll create a blog around it.<\/p>\n

Also, buy hosting from any well known Company. Again Google \u201cDomain Hosting\u201d and the best ones will be on page one. Buy monthly packages if you\u2019re on a budget, but these will be the worst value. If funds permit, buy the year package.<\/p>\n

OK, to business. Now this post isn\u2019t about the blog or anything other than what will be your main way forward in this business. So just stay with me on this. The rest will come in time \u2013 don\u2019t worry about that.<\/p>\n

Build a Squeeze Page<\/b><\/p>\n

The first thing you have to do is to create a Squeeze Page and display it at your domain.\u00a0 Your Squeeze Page essentially contains 3 things.<\/p>\n

i) A great headline<\/strong><\/p>\n

ii) An offer of a high quality free, and<\/strong><\/p>\n

iii) An opt-in form where your visitor can enter their email address to request the free gift and join your list<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can have some bullet points under the headline showing some benefits of your free gift. This helps create a good impression, and most people do this. Remember, your squeeze page is only a single page on which your offer is displayed. It should be simple, uncluttered and have a clear call to action.<\/p>\n

Your Free Gift<\/b><\/p>\n

OK, so your squeeze page is done and online. You now need to create a free gift of value to give away. In the limited space I\u2019ve got here I\u2019ll give guidelines about what to do rather than a fully detailed description.<\/p>\n

Basically, you need to create a product. It\u2019s usually going to be an eBook or report for a first attempt, but it can be an MP3 recording or even a video once you get a bit more confident, and it needs to be helpful to people in this niche.<\/p>\n

That is, it needs to address the things that people in this niche are talking about and having challenges with. You want to help them with those issues. So how do you find those things out? Simple, just go to the places where people in this niche hang out. Forums and blogs are a great start. Just Google \u201cniche+forums\u201d or \u201cniche+blogs\u201d and tons will come up, but just join a couple of forums and read the blogs to see what people are talking about.<\/p>\n

How many have thought of this? You can even type questions directly into Google in the following format:<\/p>\n

Niche name FAQ<\/b> (with or without quotes \u2013 the best ones will still be on page 1)<\/p>\n

So now you know what is being talked about in this niche. Make a note of the questions. Research the answers from the exact same sources or even by typing the exact questions into Google.<\/p>\n

From your research, simply compile a well laid out and researched eBook\/report of about 20 \u2013 30 pages in length. Get the guys from Fiverr.com to make up an eCover for the front page, and you are done with the content.<\/p>\n

Convert it to PDF format and upload it to your domain to make it available to your visitors.<\/p>\n

Traffic<\/b><\/p>\n

So now you need to start driving traffic to your squeeze page. You\u2019re going to be building a list of subscribers to email market to remember, that\u2019s where your income is coming from.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s paid <\/b>traffic and there\u2019s free<\/b> traffic. Paid traffic is quick, but costs. Free traffic is slower, but there are no out of pocket expenses.<\/p>\n

Most newcomers are reluctant to buy paid traffic. They seem concerned with keeping a cap on costs while they\u2019re still learning, which I kind of understand. But the fact is this is a business, and in business you need to use the right tools. It\u2019s kind of like starting a Taxi business and not wanting to pay for petrol, you get nowhere fast. The way I see traffic, you can pay to send traffic to your offer, get the job done fast, and get on with building a list and earning money. Or you can go for free methods and take longer, which in turn delays your earning capability by the same time frame.<\/p>\n

Also, free traffic can be quite time consuming, so using paid traffic is sort of a double whammy. You get your stuff happening faster, AND you get to use the time you save doing something more profitable, like building a second squeeze page or split testing your first squeeze page to get it converting (getting more subscribers) better!<\/p>\n

There are many ways to get free traffic to your offer. I\u2019ll list a few but there\u2019s not space here to go into them. They\u2019re all easy to find more information on however.<\/p>\n

So, free traffic methods:<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0 eBook syndication to Ezine Directories<\/strong><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0 Blog commenting<\/strong><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0 Forum posting\/marketing<\/strong><\/p>\n

4)\u00a0\u00a0 YouTube video marketing<\/strong><\/p>\n

5)\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Article Marketing<\/strong><\/p>\n

6)\u00a0\u00a0 Ad Swaps (although you do need a small list to do this)<\/strong><\/p>\n

7)\u00a0\u00a0 Guest Blogging<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paid traffic methods are many and varied, so I\u2019ll list just a few that I know work well:<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0 Facebook ads<\/strong><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0 Solo Ads<\/strong><\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0 Ezine Advertising<\/strong><\/p>\n

4)\u00a0\u00a0 Direct to Site Banner Ads<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clearly, I\u2019ve only talked about ways to drive traffic. I don\u2019t have space in this post to discuss the ins and outs of each method.<\/p>\n

Once you have a blog and a list of 1000 subscribers, there are other things you can do to take your list to the next level.<\/p>\n

For instance, you can survey<\/b> your list to better understand their needs and wants, and with the information they provide create an information product or maybe even a software tool. Promote this product using affiliates at 100% commission. This will be a front end product, with up-sells and higher ticket items available once they buy. This way, your list will grow like crazy. Did you get that?<\/p>\n

Email Marketing<\/b><\/p>\n

And then of course there\u2019s the Email Marketing<\/b> side of things. This is where the fun really starts.\u00a0 But folks, that\u2019s a whole other story, for next time maybe. You now have more than enough to be getting on with as you get started on your new path to success.<\/p>\n

Well, in a nutshell folks, that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

Now is the time to get going with those 3 simple step<\/strong>s and get things moving. Get your blog going and let it tell the story of how you turned the corner and moved to higher ground with this simple system.<\/p>\n

On your Blog, write useful and helpful content for your subscribers about your learning curve, and tell them about your success. Write things that will help others in your situation and broadcast the link to your posts to your list. Comments and social activity will follow, and not far behind it the snowball effect, and success, will show up!<\/p>\n

That should just about do it folks. Thanks for being with me, and I really hope you get something useful from this post.<\/p>\n

My best to you,<\/p>\n

Paul Henderson<\/p>\n

Zero to Hero Marketing<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a guest post written by Paul Henderson, if you would like to be considered for a guest post please contact me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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