Un-complicate things
While surfing around today, I came across a very interesting post by Jimmy D brown titled, “3 Keys To Kick-Start Your Biz In 24 Hours”. Now, now, I know, it’s very salesy title, but the idea or the knowledge he shared is Important here. It wouldn’t do any good to you if you miss the essence of the post because of salesy title.
The essence of the article was to “Un-complicate things”. Like he said, most internet marketers are chasing after the new shiny tool like dog chases its tail.
Like I always talk about “Mastering one way of doing things before you move on”. Often Doing it One way produces far better than spreading out in many different fields. Again, Do not complicate things.
People often equate simplicity = Not advanced enough = Bah, I am an expert, this thing is below me.
For anyone who ever practiced martial arts knows, “Basics properly executed often wins over advance technique”. In MMA UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), Royce Gracie+’s (Elite Fighter) most victories came from simple arm bar.
1. Streamline
2. Systemize
3. Stick
Are the simple formula Jimmy Uses in his life and marketing.
I also use simple formula to explain my philosophy.
Product + Targeted traffic + conversion = $$$.
Then I talk about 1 way of doing things. 1 way to create product, 1 way to increase traffic, 1 way to improve conversion. It starts with just 1 way.
And folks, that’s how you do things.
Varun Pratap
Aim for that peak like mad
Shadow Such people and Cheer Them On.
2X, 3X Clickthroughs on your email newsletter
I received few emails after I posted my clickthroughs percentage on email newsletter. Of course my readers are curious about how they can also increase CTR on email newsletters.
Internet marketers talk about giving Content as a strategy in newsletters, which I believe is as strong as a house of cards, full of air (hot air). I noticed couple of glaringly obvious problems with this strategy.
1. Everyone and his dog is giving away content – How the hell will you differentiate yours? If it wasn’t the only pain in the neck, then you have to worry about writing content on regular basis.
2. How much of content is enough? Can you tell how much is enough and when it’s time to shift from telling to selling?
3. Perception of content – If I am publishing something and an Already expert marketer publishes the same content. The perception of his content is going to be higher than mine, even if his ideas are inferior to mine.
If I play the games by same rules, I don’t stand a chance whatsoever against other marketers. So I have to bend the rules.
After realizing it, I went back to the drawing board.
First thing I notice was the marketers I was personally following, reading their emails or bought stuff from. And that number I can count of one hand. Very few marketers. Very Few.
We’ve been hammered to death about how content is important and it is, but one thing they forgot to tell us, that there’s no shift between telling and selling. Either you are persuading people or your are not. It’s as simple as that.
So if you are differentiating between giving content and sales pitch, you can never give enough content. And that’s the wrong way to do this. Remember, you are always selling.
Eben pagan talks about “moving the free line”, again good advice with half truth. Move the free line, but don’t forget to sell along with it. There’s no difference between telling and selling.
How to increase conversions on your email marketing?
1. Create a better relationship – Go Beyond content. Create a relationship with your list without using content. Content is small part of the strategy. Using content is like creating friendship with hidden motives. And that sucks.
When my subscribers write back to me, they write like they write an email to their friend.
2. Talk like a normal Guy – Again, following the first tip, I am just another guy who understands their situation and have a solution or an example that they can learn from. Don’t Act like a guru. If you don’t understand this, look at Frank Kern and Ed dale.
3. Connecting from the very first email – Your first email is very very important. Try to create a connection from the get go.
4. Use preview to increase readership – One of the good technique I learnt from Jimmy D brown was to use previews to talk about upcoming stuff. It builds anticipation and curiosity.
5. Don’t use too much of their name – Have you seen how some of the marketers use subscribers name in every subject line or emails. The personalization trick works but doing it for every other time is way too much.
Imagine how you’d feel if someone starts talking to you like this. Use their name when it’s natural.
6. Enjoy writing your emails – It’s such a little thing that we miss. If you don’t enjoy writing to your subscribers, it’ll come across through your emails. And this will create a disconnect. Which will always drop your sales.
Phew, I am typing from last 30 minutes and I need a little break.
Before I end this article, I have to comment on few questions/things I got from subscribers.
1. Someone asked me, if I write regularly to my list? How many times per week do you write?
The answer is yes. Write whenever possible is good way to start. Either people like you or they don’t.
2. Do you use and combine blog with email marketing?
Again, the answer is yes. But it’s not that necessary.
Varun Pratap
Aim for that peak like mad
Shadow Such people and Cheer Them On.
PS: This week India is celebrating Deepawali, so I won’t be able to do more than 2–3 Blog consultation. So if you want to get your blog strategy reviewed and consult, then you should contact me as soon as possible.
A different take on Building internet business part time
One of the most common mistake every new i-entrepreneur does is not take their business seriously. They are working part time with part time mentality. That’s where 95% of new internet marketer goes wrong.
You have to take it seriously and think like it’s your own business that you are working towards. People have this attitude from their teenage years where Part time = pocket money = few beers and pizza with friends. And this attitude cross over when you start building your own business online.
Think of it like this. You are baking a cake. It takes 7 ingredients to bake a cake. But what if you miss 3 of the ingredients. Will the outcome be still a cake? Heck even if you miss 1 ingredient, the outcome will not be a cake.
For internet business, you need
1. Ingredients – Raw Materials to work with – i.e. Website, domain name, hosting etc.
2. Time limit – Working hours – You have to spend time daily on your business.
3. Experience – nobody can make a decent enough cake with their first try– It comes with experience. You’ll have to get improve your skills with writing, seo, building traffic. It’ll take some time.
If you understand this simple aspect of building business, you’ll go further than most people. One of the studies about affiliate marketers suggested that 90% of them do not make more than $200 a month. To me, Which is not surprising. Taking into the account of their hard work, I am not surprised at all.
Whenever I think of new marketers, I remember someone who in this first month as affiliate marketer made $800. He worked harder than anyone, he worked longer hours than anyone, he focused on his objective better. He jumped into 10% of affiliate marketer in his first month. Is it surprising? No.
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