Archive for July, 2013

The Danger of Novelty (and the Most Disturbing Marketing Trends I’m Seeing This Year That You Need to Avoid)

July 27, 2013126 Comments

Let's talk about some shiny brand new stuff. Some of you are already excited, right? You don't know if I'm talking about hip new social media site, the latest WordPress plugin or the next edition iPhone, but you're ready for it! Screw that old stuff, it never worked, I want something new!

The reason the old stuff didn't work is because you either didn't apply it or you were eager to throw it all out in favor for the latest and greatest thing.

You'd be surprised how many people don't get this. Especially the ones who respond to something like this with, "I've heard of that... that's Bright Shiny Object Syndrome." Ok, you memorized the words but did you actually implement? Do you actually connect the phrases, facts, and figures you memorized (not sure why'd you do all that) to the actions you actually take or don't take? (Don't answer that.)

When Lance and I check in on the support desk for Backup Creator, you would be SHOCKED at how many people are moving their sites from one web host or another (sometimes the same people every month) because this other web host is 1 dollar a month cheaper or has a 1 month trial or has some new feature that I know I won't use but I think I might need.

It's fine if you've already done that, but I've caught you red-handed and it's time to stop.

The way I've always done business is... I try a few things out, repeat what does work and I don't repeat what DOESN'T work.

Direct response style sales letters, 1-hour webinars, 4-week webinar classes, emailing every day, those are all things that MAKE ME MONEY. I know everyone thinks they're special and that they're the one to business where sales letters don't apply or webinars don't apply – and yet, if you look up your most successful competitors, they're probably doing those things.

Danger #1: Google+ Hangouts on Air

Whether you do or you don't have a product or course yet, but you have a niche, you have a skill, and you have something to say, condense your "greatest hits" down to a 45 minute presentation (preferably with a live demo or magic trick) in there, mail every day for 5 days about it, do whatever you can to get 1000 people to view the special link to your live webinar presentation.

1000 eyeballs means you'll get about 500 people to register, and 166 people to show up. If you're "on a budget" so to speak, then register for GoToWebinar's 30-day trial or go with the lowest price packaged so that 66 out of your 166 people will actually be locked out of your webinar and you'll present to your 100 best people. Record it with Camtasia (also has a free trial) and post it online, email for that one for at least once a day for 5 days after you run it. Promote either your existing course or book, or promise the course you're about to create, at the end of that presentation.

Running a webinar usually means that you're 100% live on the spot, people can see your screen (so you should show a PowerPoint presentation and flip to your browser or to whatever you're showing on your screen) and speak your voice out live. Answering questions doesn't matter as much as you think it does. Running a "Q&A" session at the end is a really bad idea, makes your presentation way too long and gives people lots of reasons NOT to buy.

If you've heard of Google+ (Google's social network) they have added a feature called "Google+ Hangouts" for video conferencing, and "Google+ Hangouts on Air" where people can VIEW that video conference.

The problem with Hangouts:

  • It shows up in a browser tab (instead of an actual program like GoToWebinar) so people can easily close it – even on accident
  • It either shows your screen in a really tiny window (so no one can see what's going on)...
  • OR most people opt for the web camera option, so I can see you drinking your bottle of water, I can see the stuff on your bookshelf behind you, I can see your bad lighting, I can see the reflection in your glasses and all your facial expressions, it's way less professional and way more distracting than  a PowerPoint presentation

The best reasons I've heard for running a Hangout instead of a webinar have been:

  • It's free (you don't have 100 bucks a month to spare to grow your business?)
  • The recording appears on YouTube instantly (you can't click the "Record" button on Camtasia?)
  • I can show my face to you (I actually don't want to see your face)
  • I can have multiple speakers on my Hangout (so you want a messy recording you can't control?)

The problem with running webinars for longer than an hour, running so-called "Q&A sessions", going for 4 or 5 hours, showing your face or answering every possible question under the sun, is that you're either talking to people who have no intention of buying (they're trying to squeeze all the information out of you in pieces) or you're talking to the people who can't buy it and are looking to justify a reason to NOT buy it. They'll keep asking until you give them the reason.

That's why I don't like Google Hangouts and you should instead run a real business, sign up for that GoToWebinar account and PITCH a real product instead of being a chicken. (Sorry if that seems harsh.)

Danger #2: Automated Webinars

The average marketer doesn't do webinars. Of those marketers that run webinars, I would say they run one webinar per YEAR on average. Why? It's awkward, they dread everything leading up to it, they dread running it, they don't want to go through that hell again. (Until a year later and they want money and forget how much they suffered through it.)

Condense your webinar down to 1 hour and find a way to have fun doing it, run at least 5 webinars per year (instead of just once per year) to work up that webinar muscle.

I see people hesitate with their webinars because they want to make sure they can "play that evergreen webinar 3 times a day afterwards."

They want to present once, record that webinar presentation, then put it online using a special service so someone sees a page that says... free training on this subject, coming up at this date and time, register here. That person enters their name and email address, then it says ome come back at this date and time to watch the live webinar.

The problem is the webinar isn't actually live, you're not on there at all, it's just a special video player that only streams the video once per day.

I know some people swear by automated webinars, but I don't use them and I don't suggest you use them either. Don't even get near it.

Why? Because you're LYING on an automated webinar. If someone registers and comes back at that special date and time, watches your stream and you claim to be live, you're actually lying to your webinar attendees.

I've heard some really bad advice about automated webinars including:

  • Record about 10 minutes before the webinar starts so it looks like you're getting ready (what???)
  • Make sure you play special sounds at the end of your call so it sounds like sales are coming in, or call your office phone from your cell phone so it sounds like people are calling to place their orders (your merchant account wouldn't like to hear that you do that)
  • Use a countdown timer in your auto-webinar to "trick" people into thinking your offer is about to expire! (that can't be legal)

And you might say... but Robert, that's why I run automated webinars and I let them know it's automated. In that case, just put a video on a web page! When I tried out fake webinars a few times, here were my numbers:

  • 50% of people opted in
  • 33% of people actually came back to the webinar at the right time
  • 6% of those people stayed till the end

When you combine those numbers, we're talking about 1% even looking at that offer. You send 1000 clicks to that fake webinar, 990 dropped off after jumping through all your hoops. If you convert at 10% at $100, then congratulations, you just made one sale.

Compare that to a video on a web page. My webinar replays tend to convert at 2 to 3 percent. I don't track how long people stay on the videos but I know that, because there's no opt-in, 100% of the people who click get to the web page (instead of 50%). 100% of people start watching the video (instead of 33% of 50%).

If you're interesting, it won't matter if you're showing it on a video or a webinar replay. But if you're uninteresting, an auto-webinar isn't going to save you! No one cares how beautiful the soufflé is, if the appetizer is turds in a blanket.

Danger #3: Busybody Marketing

There's nothing wrong with getting traffic. There's nothing wrong with getting your name out there. There's nothing wrong with presenting an offer and making sales.

Do you see some marketers who seem to be everywhere? You ask what's the best WordPress plugin for this, they're there. Ask on a forum the best way to do this thing, that person's there. It's almost like you're following you around the internet!

That's how they make sales. Spend most of their day on Facebook closing one-on-one. I have no problem hopping on Facebook every now and then to help out, but it's time consuming and I tend to get in a lot of fights. I also feel bad about being a broken record and promoting myself in someone else's group or thread.

But it doesn't stop after the sale. The current "trend" is to add a private Facebook Group as a bonus to a product or member's area. You buy that course about YouTube traffic, they link you to a Facebook group where you can ask any question about YouTube traffic at any time, or show your videos and get advice.

Sounds good... but the PROBLEM is that these groups are full of questions that are already answered in the product. Instead of saying... go to module 1 or page 12, they keep re-teaching the course over and over, one person at a time.

Once again, I have NO ISSUE answering questions, but if it takes that much time, and it's already covered, why repeat myself?

  • Instead of Google Hangouts, run a 1-hour pitch webinar using GoToWebinar.
  • Instead of automated webinars, place a video on a web page... we have a plugin called Paper Template for that.
  • Instead of being a busybody marketer, make a product based on the activities YOU perform, that YOU reference, so that others will as well.

Can you please comment below, not just about your thoughts about Google+ Hangouts, fake webinars, and busybody marketers (whether you agree with me or not), but also... how do YOU PERSONALLY avoid shiny object syndrome? I look forward to seeing your comments below.

The Golden Rules of Internet Marketing That Unsuccessful People Miss, and Successful People Follow (Whether They Realize It Or Not)

July 13, 201385 Comments

I almost wish I could say the clichéd line, "I don't know where this industry is headed..." But the fact is, we always have been, and probably always will be, distracted by at least 1000 new ideas and concepts every day when we're trying to build an income and a lifestyle online.

The biggest trap to avoid is the "herd mentality." If you've visited message boards in your niche you know what I'm talking about. Someone asks a question like, "What's the best membership software?" Gets a couple answers, doesn't get the exact answer they were looking for, waits until there are at least 20 different answers. You probably had one good answer in that heap somewhere but it was out-voted by the 20 other answers of the mob mentality.

You can't always tell who's telling the truth and who's making it all up. Who's actually teaching you what works or talking about something just because it's "hot right now" (like Google Hangouts).

I saw someone post on a forum the other day that just ran their very first webinar. I was about to post a congratulatory message... until I read further. The first webinar this person had ever run, was about how to run webinars! (Wait, what???)

Another very high profile marketer has taught, for a long time, to locate 20 competitors in your niche, buy all their products, then release your OWN products basically combining all their ideas together. Then this person bought one of my high ticket products... I quickly, quietly, and politely refunded the person.

For some reason,
many people label "untested" as "new"
and "proven" as "old."

"Creating an optin page, selling a product online, getting affiliates on my affiliate program, that's old stuff... I want something new and exciting." There's nothing wrong with new and exciting, as long as you have the BASE SYSTEM IN PLACE! (Lance and I call this the "Income Machine.")

Here are the biggest "strategy" problems or mindset problems I'm seeing today's marketers make...

  • Mistake #1: Can't Separate the Forest From the Trees
  • Mistake #2: Going Down the Rabbit Hole
  • Mistake #3: Risky Marketing
  • Mistake #4: Ignoring the 80/20 Rule
  • Mistake #5: Not Understanding Why People Really Buy

Here's what I mean...

Mistake #1: Can't Separate the Forest From the Trees

forest

The next time I hear someone teaching that everyone needs to sell at exactly $97, and have a $37 upsell with another $27 upsell and a $17 downsell, or use a big orange button on their sales letter with the text "Add to Cart" ... I just might throw my computer out the window.

Using your own success as a case study template for others to follow is just great. But did you make 1,000 sales at $97 just because the product was at $97 and that reason alone, or was it because...

  • You had a clear compelling offer that people really needed that was the right thing at the right time
  • You had a list of subscribers that trusted you
  • You followed up with them multiple times

For me, it comes down to "must-haves" versus "nice-to-haves." Sure, maybe you said 1000 copies available, 34 copies remaining (and you were telling the truth) and that gave you a BOOST. Or you said offer closes Friday (and you were telling the truth) which gave you a BOOST. But it improved something that was already selling.

Mistake #2: Going Down the Rabbit Hole

hole

The next logical thing that happens when people try to teach how they made money online... a new twist on an idea, which leads to a spinoff of one hair-brained idea after another.

Someone thinks, how can I improve the conversion rate on my sales letter? I know... charge people a few dollars to read the sales letter... then they end up with a page with almost NOTHING on it, asking people to pay money, when people have no idea what they're getting...

The modern day version of this is a thing people have tried called a "paid webinar." I've seen a few people do it every few years. They say, I'm doing a webinar, it'll cost you 50 bucks to attend, I won't tell you what you're buying exactly, just trust me.

It might work ONCE. But it sells based on the novelty and curiosity, and maybe a little bit on the trust you've built up with your subscribers... so it won't work with new traffic.

The solution? Add more detail to that sales letter explaining what they're getting for their $50, so now you need a free webinar to explain the details on that sales letter... you're back to selling a regular $50 product.

(It reminds me when "non fast-forward" videos were popular. Remember those? I ran a few, and tracked about a 2% conversion rate across the board with webinar replays with videos where you could fast-forward to the end, and 3% for non fast-forward videos. Meaning... that boost in conversion from 2% to 3% made it an OPTION for me, but not always an option I choose to take.)

Mistake #3: Risky Marketing

dice

But it gets even worse. About three years ago I saw a marketer run a "trial" webinar. Basically, get people to sign up for a $0 3-day free trial (which gets them access to the webinar). The idea is they get your free training, they get access to a product at the end (so there's no pitch), if they don't want it they can cancel the "trial" before it rebills, if they do like it, they do nothing.

It's almost as if everyone forgot how scary things were a few years ago when there were new FTC rules, Visa/MasterCard rules, PowerPay rules.

For example, people seem to have forgotten that most popular payment processors FORBID a countdown timer on a sales page! Or that using the term "cure" anywhere in your marketing puts you in Kevin Trudeau land.

If you have any kind of rebilling, to clearly state the price and frequency on your sales page itself -- don't just rely on the terms spelled out on the order page.

And one-click upsells... the customer must confirm that extra charge TWICE, meaning no 1-click upsells.

For some reason, people either forgot, weren't around back then, or think "the coast is clear" and are falling back into the trap of having multiple upsells and downsells...

Mistake #4: Ignoring the 80/20 Rule

glass

The good news about this thing called the 80/20 rule is that if you have just 20% of the skill you can get 80% of the results. When I started I was a terrible copywriter.

You know what else... I don't always choose the "best" headlines. I forget many times to speak with "bucket brigades" (starting sentences and paragraphs with words like "Because..." or "And then..."). I don't know anything about rhythmic hypnotic language or appealing to different senses (do you see what I'm saying, hear me out, this is what it feels like).

Put together an offer that solves a real problem that real people are having right now, make a convincing argument to why you're the best and they need you right now... get it out there... you can always tweak "clever wordage" later (but the dumber, simpler sales letters always convert better for me).

Mistake #5: Not Understanding Why People Really Buy

stop

This leads me to the real triggers that get people to buy. Many people wrongly think that limiting the number of copies available, increasing the price, dropping the price, adding a deadline on it... is what gets them extra sales. All it's doing is WINNING OVER those people who already know they should buy, but are on the fence and need one more reason TO buy...

Off the top of my head, here is a quick list of the reasons people buy from you...

  • It solves their problem right now (value)
  • They're ready to solve their problem (timing)
  • They know they need it now (urgency)
  • Bad things will happen if they wait or if they go to your competitor (scarcity)

Basically, if you know what brought people to your website, you know the state of mind they're in, the problems they've had leading up to discovering you and what they've tried in the past... plus knowing what they know and don't know... is a GREAT starting point for your sales letter... which leads me to what I think is the first rule of internet marketing...

Rule #1: You're Not Your Market

Remember earlier how I said someone ran their first webinar ever, and it was all about how to run a webinar?

Here's the problem: if you create a business around teaching weight loss, or webinars, or WordPress site building, you yourself don't stay "intermediate" for long. Either you're brand new to it and know nothing about it (so you shouldn't be teaching it) or you know it so well that you're an expert (and then you can't relate).

This is the big reason why I see these guys teach "advanced" internet marketing topics like automated webinars, 1-clicks upsells, funnels, traffic arbitrage. They're bored with the simple stuff. Not realizing that the majority of their market is not advanced. They're newbies, they just don't want to admit it!

Right off the bat, if you talk about running weekly webinars where it filled up all 1,000 seats every time... you make $100,000 every time you run an event... you're in the top 1 percent... you don't know where to stash all this extra money... and don't even bother asking "dumb questions"... you're not relatable!

On the other hand, if you dumb it down and talk about running webinars with 10 people where you make $100 or $1,000... that's not exciting enough.

The solution? Before and after... empathizing and connecting by saying, "I was just like you."

"I was just like you. I ran webinars and no one showed up, I was nervous and scared, I did everything wrong, until I developed a system for doing it the right way and here it is."

Rule #2: People Are Easily Distracted

squirrel

Speaking of your pitch and your story... you SHOULD run these things called 1-hour no-cost pitch webinars where you demonstrate value, share some knowledge, introduce your offer and ask for the money and close it down.

The easiest way to simplify it so that you'll actually do it, have fun doing it, and continue doing it? Or the easiest way to make them more effective if you're already doing them?

Compress it all down to 1 hour. People don't need to know your life story, you don't need to start the webinar late ("to make sure everyone shows up" -- I guess???) You also don't need to unmute anyone else during the call, not even a business partner. This is a big one.

And if you're going to "launch" a product of yours (I've been doing them since 2001) limit it to 1 week, 2 weeks at the most. Meaning... you don't need 4 videos dripped out and a blog post with 2,000 comments and a PDF report or a mindmap.

Mail every day for several days leading up to a free webinar you're running. Run the webinar pitching your product where they can buy that night. Mail for several more days to the replay where there's a link to buy from the replay. Mail for a few more days directly to the offer. Done and done.

The reason for all this is because people are easily distracted. This is the same reason why, on a webinar, we mention the URL we're promoting multiple times... ideally, 10 different times, because most people are only half paying attention.

When it's a product with a payment plan, I list the exact dates they'll be rebilled when they join today, because most people aren't looking that closely.

If there are two payment options (like pay full price vs. a payment plan) I'm sure to list them side by side (NOT one on top of the other) and list out identical bullet points so it's 100% CLEAR that whether someone pays full price or a payment plan, they're buying the same thing.

We put the contents of our entire offer compressed into one single table, an offer stack, because people aren't going to scroll around or skip through the video to find out what module 3, 4, or 5 are.

Rule #3: Build the Damn List

Remember when Senator John McCain had the campaign slogan, "Build the damn fence?" Kind of an angry, almost immature thing to say but my attitude is the same with list building. Build the damn list!

Lance and I have private discussions over and over again about this marketer, or that marketer, who made it big in 1999 or 2004 or 2006 or 2008 or back in 2010 and are hurting big time, but don't want to admit their income has dropped drastically... and they have no idea how to get back to where they were...

I know the answer. Build the damn list! What happened back then was, everyone had "launch calendars" and when it was your turn, all these affiliates of yours would send massive traffic, massive sales, enough money to live off for a couple of years.

What happens when the money runs out? Most of these guys didn't email their list after their big launch, not really. Maybe once a month or once a year. The list ran out and the cashflow stopped.

You need to keep your list alive. If you treat your list well it'll decay at 1% daily and if you ignore it, or email too much, that will drop off even faster. But best case scenario, if you build your list up to 10,000 subscribers and aren't adding 100 leads a day, your business is slowly shrinking and dying. 50,000 subscribers and less than 500 leads a day, shrinking and dying. 100k subscribers and less than 1,000 new leads, dying.

Most people don't have the urgency that I think they should for building their list bigger, for some reason they think a small "tribe" of 1000 or even 100 or 10 people is going to support them. Not long-term it won't.

Rule #4: It's All About the Joint Venture

You need those little things like forum posts, articles with your name on them, blog posts, podcast episodes, paid ads but those are all just tiny trickles of traffic.

To get real traffic you need to tap into other peoples' lists.

The only realistic way to make that happen is with an affiliate program.

Setup an affiliate system with tools they can use to promote, actively get people to join and then regularly contact those affiliates to promote -- another big step people miss.

Once you have that affiliate program setup, you're going to want to do a bunch of things to get your name out there.  This includes doing things that the majority won't do (but are easy) like attending offline events. Connecting with people on Facebook groups and legitimately helping them without asking for anything in return.

Contact people one on one (make a schedule for X number of people you want to contact per day) with a PERSONAL message. See if you can get THEIR affiliate link for YOUR product on THEIR download page or membership site. Schedule a 20-minute interview with them if they have a blog or a podcast.

Get your affiliates on a mailing list so you can broadcast to them and remind/encourage them to promote. Give them lots of tools like pre-written emails and banner ads. When new affiliates join, they get on a timed follow-up sequence so they've given instructions on what to promote for those first 30 days. We run specials like prizes or increased commissions for short periods of time.

Anything to break even on our sales or even take a slight loss, because every one of those affiliate sales builds our list for us.

Speaking of joint ventures... the ULTIMATE joint venture that many people seem to miss is..

Rule #5: Get a Mentor

 maze

I'm not talking about JUST becoming a busybody on a forum or Facebook group. Or even attending offline events (which is good but not enough). Or even joining a mastermind where everyone is an equal. I'm talking about paying for a COACH who will tell you what to do to get you where you need to go. And to SOLVE all the problems that creep up on you!

Look, I've seen far too many people fall into the traps we've talked about today such as... giving away their best ideas before they've taken action on them. Next thing you know, you aren't as motivated to take action (because you talked about them so much), or someone copies you before you had a chance to implement. Or the strength in numbers from the inexperience mob drowns out the real answer you should have listened to. Or just maybe... you have actually been asking the same question over and over until you get the answer you were looking for. Don't do it!

Sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes a coach will tell you, you're doing too much of this and not enough of that... or... throw this part of your business out because it's not working. It all comes down to this: do you want to be "comfortable" (and continue getting the same results you've always been getting), or do you want to be "temporary uncomfortable now and comfortable later" (get new and different results) with someone who's helping you?

I know what I want.

I think these five tools combined will really help you with your internet business:

  • Rule #1: Understand you're not your market and sell to the mass newbies in your niche
  • Rule #2: Make your marketing and offer as clear as possible because people get distracted
  • Rule #3: Build the list so that your business is growing and not dying (maintenance is a myth)
  • Rule #4: Recruit people into your product's affiliate program to take advantage of the "real" internet traffic
  • Rule #5: Get a mentor who's already achieved what you want so you can follow their path

Now it's your turn. If you had to add just one extra "rule" to your personal internet business, what would it be? Comment below with your one-sentence "rule of internet marketing" right now.

019: How to Create an Email Followup System That Makes You Sales and Money on Automatic Pilot

July 6, 201318 Comments

Be sure to tune in to this edition of the Robert Plank Show...

"Create an Email Followup System" FREE Report

Subscribe on iTunes - RSS Podcast Feed
Like the Robert Plank Show on Facebook

You'll discover:

  • Why most "product launch systems" don't really matter and what to do instead
  • The best way to reach your audience right now
  • The best way to avoid email list decay
  • How you're leaving money on the table and how to extract the hidden money from your list right now
  • How to do it all effortlessly and in no time at all!

Related question for you: what's your best tip when it comes to sending out a quick email to your list?

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