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Are You Using Psychic Search Yet? 10 Seconds To Install And You Will Never Run Out Of Good Blogging Ideas Again
Why is it that I never run out of things to say on my blog, in my sales letters, in my reports, and in my daily auto responder emails, while so many other marketers are out of business or have simply stopped updating their blog?
You can't think of 100% of your ideas in a vacuum. You need a source of inspiration - and what better source of inspiration than the people who are already reading your blog? That way you can be sure that the things you are writing about are the things they want.
So How Do You Figure Out What People Want?
I am not very trusting about survey results because people will tell me the things they WANT to know, but not the things they need. Those can be two separate items.
I will give you an example. Many people say they want to know about article writing. But what they are really looking for is the end result of that: traffic. Therefore they might be searching through my blog about ways to get traffic, but if I asked them what they wanted, they would say, "Articles."
It would be a much better idea to write a blog post about articles, but position it in a way that they get more traffic with those articles.
I don't trust survey results because people lie or they just don't know what they want. It is a much better idea to monitor what they are doing. And that is exactly what the Psychic Search plugin does. To find it, just do a Google search for "Psychic Search."
This is a WordPress plugin that keeps a log of every search someone has looked through your site with. If somebody goes to that search box in your sidebar and types in the word, "Articles," Psychic Search is going to make a note of that. If ten people came to your site last month and searched for "Articles," It is going to make a note of that too.
That means it groups all the searches together and you can see what terms have been searched the most.
The next time you feel Writer's Block, go to that Psychic Search tab in your WordPress Admin Dashboard and look at that list to get ideas.
What's great about this plugin is if you took it one step further and also listed "Searches without any results." If someone typed in the word, "Articles" and found seven blog posts by you, then great - they have probably found the answer to their question. But if they typed it in and got zero results, wouldn't you like to know that?
Psychic Search will give you a second group of search results that were people who typed in one thing but got no blog posts.
That Way You Know What Holes To Plug With Your Training!
And the final feature of Psychic Search is that they will store the searches people typed into Yahoo, Google, and MSN in order to find your site. If somebody searched "Article marketing" in Google and clicked on a blog post from Google, the plugin makes a note of that and therefore gives you even more ideas about what to write.
If you find yourself getting fifty or one hundred page views per month from a specific search result, it is a good idea to write more about that subject because you will get ranked even higher in the search engines.
And that is why I like the FREE Psychic Search plugin - because I don't trust people's direct answers, I can see everything someone has typed into my search box on my blog, I can see which of those searches had no results AND I can see what searches comes from the search engines.
What is your best tip to overcoming Writer's Block and maintaining a fresh stockpile of blogging ideas so that you can always write something new?
Let me know in a comment below.
Eating Your Own Dog Food: Make More Money, Reduce Refunds And Minimize Customer Support
In programming, there is a phrase called, "Eating Your Own Dog Food", which to my surprise almost no marketers know about it, almost no MBAs know about it, and almost no programmers know about this phrase. It is so important, not just in programming, but in writing, in real life, in presenting and in copywriting.
Here's What "Eating Your Own Dog Food" Really Means...
It means test your stuff!
When you think of dog food, it's not very appetizing is it? You probably would not eat it. But what if you had to? If you had to eat dog food, you might make it with better ingredients. You might make it with different ingredients so that it would taste better for you.
It is the same idea with your own websites and reports. If you were the one using your software programs, if you were the one using your blog or your membership site, what would you change to make it easier for you to find your own information?
Think about Microsoft Word. When you open up Microsoft Word, what is the first thing that happens? It automatically opens up a new blank document. You don't have to navigate to open up something new. By default, it guesses that you are going to write something brand new. It saves you a little bit of time every time you open up that word processor.
What about the iPod music player? I notice that sometimes when I am listening to my iPod or iPhone and I yank out the ear-phone jack, the music player will automatically mute itself. Back when I had a DiscMan, WalkMan, or tape recorder and I was listening to something through head-phones, and the head-phones were accidently disconnected, it would immediately switch to the speakers.
Nine times out of ten, I did not want it to broadcast out of the speakers. That's why when they created an iPod they added this extra feature so you would not accidentally broadcast your music.
It makes it much more convenient because if you are listening to something on your iPod or iPhone and you are done listening through the head-phones, simply unplug and it mutes itself.
I use this logic all the time in the real world. For example, back when I had a day job, I created a web page that submitted a form that took a while to load. People testing it noticed when students were waiting for this long form to load, they would click the submit button multiple times.
What I did was greyed out these submit buttons, so after they clicked it once, they could not click it again. You might see this in sites such as PayPal. When you click the pay button, you only want to pay once.
The best story of Eating Your Own Dog Food, which I am not sure is true, is from Michael Fortin. Apparently, Michael released some kind of VHS video tape about copywriting. He sold a thousand copies. Only one person asked for a refund. The person said that the video tape was blank. As it turned out a mistake was made and all 1000 video tapes were blank. Because no one had tested it, and none of the customers had even played the tape, nobody knew the tapes were blank.
How Do You "Eat Your Own Dog Food" in Your Business?
Do you have instruction manuals or software manuals? If you keep getting the same questions asked over and over, integrate those into your manuals. I have revised my manuals for products such as "PaySensor" and "Action PopUp" hundreds of times to the point where the first page gives people the quick-start guide.
Certain phrases people still miss, even with the written instructions. I have bolded, made them red, and increased the font just to cut down on the amount of customer support. On my blog, I have adjusted things such as moving the search box higher in the side bar. I've used plug-ins such as Psychic Search to figure out what people are looking for and what they aren't finding.
After I setup a membership site, I create a user-level account to see what my users see when they first join it. This is how I sometimes can catch that the category bar is missing, or that the site needs a search box, or that certain posts need to be stickied or moved to the top so people can easily find information, or even create special side bar widgets that give easy links so they can quickly navigate to different areas of the site.
Even if none of these options apply to you, read your own reports, your own articles, your own blog posts. You might notice that you are not giving a clear picture of what needs to be done. Maybe you need to add a step by step blueprint or checklist. If you follow along the different steps you are providing in your report, you are missing a crucial chapter.
For example, in one of my reports I talk about how to dictate a lot of articles and get them transcribed. I noticed going back weeks later using my own report, I missed the step about getting applicants who transcribe a job to take a test. I filled in that missing chapter.
This should be common sense. I still have to tell it to you: Eat Your Own Dog Food! Test your stuff.
Use Your Own Sites, And See How Your Front End Appears To People Who Are Trying To Find You!
If people are searching a certain phrase in Google to find you, what are they searching for? When people are on your sales letter and there is a video on that page, is it clear where the play button is? If someone goes through the check-out process of your site, is it clear how they can get their download? Do you have an email follow up sequence in place to ensure that they download your product, that they consume it, and that they actually get to the end and get the results they were looking for? If not, you have more work to do.
You will thank me later because you will reduce refunds, spend less time on customer support, and make more sales by Eating Your Own Dog Food.
Question Time! Do you eat your own dog food? In what way? How are you going to do a better job of dog fooding in the future?
Comment below, right now. It's 100% free.
How To Use Google Website Optimizer To Make More Money In The Next Five Minutes
Are you split testing yet? Split testing is the internet marketing equivalent of flossing -- but it doesn't have to be anymore!
Marketers usually lie and tell people they split test, but if we are lucky, they do it once a month, and not on a daily basis. Like both things, the irony is that it only takes a few seconds and it saves a lot of frustration later.
Do you ever wonder if you might have a better headline than the one you are using now? Do you ever wake up at night wondering if you should charge less or more than what you are charging now? What if that extra bonus on your sales letter is reducing your sales? Should you use long or short copy or even a video sales letter instead of a written one?
You can all these questions for your particular niche, your audience, and your offer by split testing. Once you split test, nobody can argue with you. Because Google Website Optimizer, like most of Google's services, run on their server and not yours, it is pretty easy to set up. You just have to copy and paste a few lines of code onto your web page.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yTjj9MnzRYI am going to give you the basic steps of setting up your own split tests right here.
Step 1: Create Two Versions Of The Same Page
You first need to decide what you are going to split test. I start with the headline. Here is something interesting, I once increased conversions by 19.6% just by adding quotes around my headline. What does this mean? It means for every $100 dollars that I made from that site. By having quotes around the headline, I would instead make $119 dollars. For every $1,000 dollars I made on that site. Instead by having quotes around the headline, I would make $1,196 dollars. You can see how that adds up over time.
The most aggravating thing about split testing is you don't always know exactly why a certain change makes a difference. Maybe having quotes around my headline makes it look more official and gets them to read longer. I'm not sure. I do know from testing that it works.
If you don't know what to split test, enter quotes around the headline, remove a couple of words from the headline, or remove or add a sub-headline. Just make a quick change, don't over think it. Spend about 10 seconds making a slightly different version of your sales letter.
Now you should save that new sales letter as index2.php. It means that your normal sales letter is named index.php. You alternate sales letter is called index2.php. Once you get Google optimizer set up, it is going to send half your traffic to index.php, the other half to index2.php to figure out which one gets you more sales.
Step 2: Create Campaign
The next step is to create your Google Website Optimizer Campaign. If you have an AdWords account, you can simply log in, go to the reporting tab and click on website optimizer. If you don't use AdWords, just go to Google and search for Google Website Optimizer and you will find a page to sign up. It's free and it's easy.
Once you are logged in, you should see a link that says Create Experiment. You are going to click that link and create an A/B Experiment. GWO allows you to either run AB test, which is what we are doing where you compare two versions of a page versus multivariate, which requires a lot more traffic which we are not going to use.
Click on A/B Experiment, go to the next step and then create an experiment name. Most people skip this step, name is something stupid like split test 1. Name it the name of your site, plus whether it is a sales letter or squeeze page. For example, Action Pop Up Sales Letter would be the name of my Google Website Optimizer experiment.
The next step is to identify the pages you want to test. You are only comparing two versions of a page, so you are going to put in the URL to your original page. For example, www.actionpopup.com/index.php and then you are going to name and give the URL for your alternate page, for your variation page. For example, "Subheadline" that way you know what the difference is between your original and alternate sales letter. You are going to add the page variation URL, for example www.actionpopup.com/index2.php.
Finally, you are going to give them the URL for your conversion page, for example www.actionpopup.com/thankyou.php. This way the service knows what your two test pages are and what is your download page, click continue.
Copy and paste the tracking code from this service. Website Optimizer is going to give you four pieces of code. It will tell you exactly which pages to place it on. For the original page, that index.php file. It's going to give you a control code to place at the top of the page.
What this is going to do is decide if your visitors should be viewing index.php or index2.php. It will make sure that an equal amount of traffic will be sent to both pages.
Next it is going to give you two pieces of tracking code, one code to place at the bottom of index.php and one to place at the bottom of index2.php. Even though this code looks scary, it is just a hit counter. It is going to figure out how many people viewed your index.php file and how many viewed you index2.php file.
Finally it is going to give you conversion code which you place on your download page. This is another hit counter that will only count if someone gets to your download page.
Step 3: Let It Run
Can you see how all the pieces are working together now? When somebody comes to your site, first it is going to decide to send them to index.php or index2.php. Let's pretend they got sent to index2.php, it's then going to load the tracking code and say "ah ha" they viewed index2.php. Then the person might leave or they might buy. If they do buy, they will end up on your download page and then website optimizer will make a note of that, and notice that index2.php happens to make this particular sale.
Let it run until the end. This service will keep track of which page is winning and will run a statistical formula to decide when it is time to stop split testing.
If one of your pages, either index.php or index2.php got a lot more sales than the other, it will decide the clear winner. For example, your index2.php page with the quotes on the headline might be the winner, and now you know you have improved your conversion rate and have more money.
Delete index.php and replace index.php with index2.php since it is now the clear winner. You are not done. Now it is time to start the process all over again and split test the next thing you want to test. Maybe another change to the headline, a logo, bigger buy button, whatever you want, stop guessing and start split testing with Google Website Optimizer today.
Are you split testing yet? If not, what's your deadline for your next split test to go live? Comment below please...
Roboform: Software Program That Gives You 120 Extra Hours Per Year?
Wouldn't it be cool if there was a software program out there, that can save you 20 minutes a day (which frees up five days per year?)
There is, and you might already be using it.
It's called Roboform.
Roboform remembers your passwords and makes it so you can login to all your favorite web sites with one click.
Even if you don't have to rummage around for that password, the act of typing in that password -- even if it's just for a few seconds -- and waiting for the page to load... adds up very quickly if you visit several sites each day like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, forums, Gmail...
So one day you can save 20 minutes a day RIGHT NOW is to install Roboform.
Want to save 21 minutes a day instead of 20 minutes a day? That means you gain 126 extra hours a year instead of a measly 120.
Just use ONE PERCENT of the advice I give you in my "100 Timesavers" report... and you'll get 6 hours.
Then use one more to get another 6 hours. Over and over.
6 Ways to Drip Content Automatically
The biggest benefit you can give to yourself as a business owner is to remove yourself from the equation. That means automate as much of yourself as possible ahead of time so your daily tasks do not become chores.
You might be surprised at all the ways you can pre-schedule your content and your marketing ahead of time and I'm going to explain six ways to do that right now.
1. Blog Drip
When someone says the phrase "drip content" to me, the first thing that comes to mind and the first thing that should come to mind to you is dripping out content on your WordPress blog.
WordPress is the #1 blogging platform and my favorite feature about it has always been that you can schedule content ahead of time with no additional plugins needed. When you're writing a blog post, you can choose to submit it right now or you can change the date on it so it appears as if it was written a long time ago, but you can also change the date to a date in the future – for example, date it to be next week or next month.
That post will remain in a scheduled state until the next week or next month and it will automatically be published for you on a timer. You can set not just the date but the time of day so you know exactly when that next post is coming out.
I highly recommend that instead of sitting and writing out your blog's next week's worth of content, write 4 or 5 short posts and schedule them one month apart. That way, you have the next several months of blog posts already scheduled. And guess what else, if you're using WordPress to run your membership site, you're dripping out content inside your paid membership site as well.
2. Autoresponder Drip
The next easy way to drip content is with your email autoresponder.
You might not have notice it yet but your autoresponder gives you the ability to pre-schedule posts in the same way as your blog. You can write an email that will be sent to your list and set it to tomorrow's date or next week's date, which means that you can write your next month or your next week's worth of autoresponder emails and not have to do anything for that amount of time. You could go on vacation for the next week, schedule your next week's worth of emails and now your business will run even though you are not present.
When you are launching a product, one email simply won't cut it. You need to give people multiple reasons to go check out your offer. You need to give people multiple email reminders getting them to look at your webpage. When you're running a webinar, you should send several emails leading up to the webinar to make sure everyone is on the call.
When you make a blog post, you should send traffic to that blog post and even send reminder emails, which means you can schedule your blog post and schedule your autoresponder emails for that blog post.
3. Sales Letter Drip
If you know a programmer for about $5, you can get content on your sales letter dripped out. There's a little thing called "if else" statements.
That means if you want to slowly increase the price of your product – say increase it by $10 once a week for 5 weeks, you can at a special bit of PHP code that will replace your order button with a new one at a higher price every few days. You can run seasonal specials. For example, every month you could rotate in a different bonus for your offer to give different people a reason to get in.
4. Squeeze Page Drip
You can apply the same "if else" technology that you use on your sales letter to your squeeze page as well and you can use it to do the same things – rotate a monthly or weekly offer, and this can be a different headline, a different bonus or even an entire page swapped out for another.
You can switch out one of your opt-in forms after 2 months for a different one and have the first opt-in form send people to a page where they are supposed to re-tweet one of your free audios, but after 2 months, now direct them to a page where it sends them to your blog, which is now filled up with content.
More often than not, if I have a hard deadline for something, if I know I'm going to increase the price, change the headline, change a redirect, I will set it on this timer instead of doing it manually because otherwise I know I might forget.
5. Social Media
Now that you've dripped out your blog post, install a WordPress plugin such as Twitter Tools to leave a Twitter post or a tweet everytime you make a new blog post.
Also, if I know I'm going to be tweeting about something for the next week or two, I will use a scheduling service such as SocialOomph (formerly TweetLater) to write tweets but set a publication date on them, which means I can write 10 or 20 tweets a time which will be posted once a day or once a week.
If you don't know what kind of scheduled tweets you should put out there, just use 30-day reminders. If you're posting about a blog post today, schedule another tweet in 30 days, reminding people about that old blog post.
6. Traffic Drip
Even third-party services allow you to drip out your content, even if your content appears on other people's sites.
The Traffic Geyser service allows you to upload up to 90 videos at once and determine when they will be scheduled. (I wish Tube Mogul did too.) When I was using this service for videos, I would record 90 videos at once, upload 90 videos and set the publication date for each and everyone - meaning that I could leave it alone for 3 months and it would send out a new video to the video sites once per day.
EzineArticles even has a premium option which means you can schedule all your articles and determine what date they will be published. Meaning, you can use the same strategy, write or outsource 90 articles, upload and schedule them all and the next 3 months' worth of traffic building are now automatic.
I hope that one of those 6 ways to drip content automatically opened your eyes and made you realized that doing things on a consistent basis doesn't always involve you and doesn't always have to be a chore.
So, which one do you like the best? The blog drip, autoresponder, sales letter, squeeze page, social media, or traffic drip? Post below, letting me know. Thank you.
How to Create the Perfect Information Product and Make Money Doing It
I know you have at least one idea for a product. Maybe you haven't made a product yet or you've made many products in the past.
How do you know that your big idea is something that everyone else is going to pay money for? We're going to figure out right now if your idea will be profitable in two stages – the research stage and the creation stage.
Stage 1: Research
I don't believe in doing more than 30 minutes of research to figure out if your idea will make you money. I say this because I know of too many marketers who have spent a month or 6 months or a year researching as an excuse not to do anything. Let's spend 30 minutes and figure out if your idea is worth it.
The first thing you should do is check forums. What's the hot topic inside the #1 forum in your niche? When I go to my favorite marketing forum, I find that the threads with the most replies are about articles, membership sites, and ClickBank.
When I go to my favorite programming forum, most of the replies are about PHP frameworks, WordPress plugins, and outsourcing.
Don't bother making a report about something unless it's a hot topic that a lot of people in your small niche are talking about. I'm not a believer in going mass market unless you have a lot of money to invest. If you're just starting out on a niche, start in the niche.
Now that you know what everyone is talking about, figure out what people are paying for. You have friends in the same niche you're in, right? What have they all bought recently? What big launches are going on in your niche? What have you personally paid for? There's no point in getting into a niche unless people are willing to spend a bare minimum of $100 on you.
I have bought products showing me how to make a software outline, how to write faster, how to create video, how to make audio products, and they have all accelerated my path towards getting things done.
The final part of your research now that you know what people are talking about and what people are buying is finding out what your competitors are doing. Go to Google and search for the niche you're in.
If you are thinking about creating a course on how to sell on eBay, search the forum you're on for the word "ebay." Search Google for "eBay eBook," "eBay guide," "eBay course," "eBay video." Go on amazon.com and look for books in that niche and DVDs in that niche as well. This is good because not only does it show you what areas to target but also what your price point should be.
You should match your price point fairly well to your competitors but price slightly higher, that way you will have a higher perceived value.
Stage 2: Solve It
Now that you've done your research, you should know how to adjust your idea to deliver the best solution by answering people's questions on forums, figuring out what they're paying for and duplicating or doing the job better than your competitors. Now, it's time to create the product.
I have never spent more than a few days making a simple lead generation product, and by lead generation, I need a product that's $100 or cheaper. Your product will be a lot better if you write it without distractions and write it as fast as possible. You can always go back and make version 2.0 later.
What's more important than spending or wasting a lot of time on creating a product is to add your own "how to" information. I can go online right now and find lots of tips and advice about placing an eBay ad.
I can find lots of videos on YouTube showing me the mechanics of placing an eBay ad, but I want you to show me what makes an eBay ad profitable. I want you to tell me exactly what steps I should take from start to finish from having something to sell on eBay to actually placing the ad and making the sale and what to do after that.
Also think about what simple problem can you solve for them. For some people, an eBay problem might be that they cannot get people to read their ad.
The sooner you make your info-product not just "how to" but also problem and solution-based, the more people are going to benefit from your book, the better reviews it's going to get and you'll have an easier time making a sale. And finally, what success stories can you gather from the people who use your product?
Here's something to think about. If someone has not yet bought your eBook or home study course, all they have to go on is your pitch page or sales letter.
That's why you need to make your sales letter as best as it can possibly be and the way I like to make a sales letter better is to gather testimonials or proof and show that on the sales letter – so, people who have not yet bought can see that others have benefited from this training.
And that's how you're going to create the perfect info-product and make money doing it. First, researching it in forums by what's making money, what your competitors are doing, and then create that product by offering your own unique how to, solving a problem, and gathering success stories from those people whose problems you have solved and place it back on the sales letter.
Did this help you make your next info-product? Where have you been lacking?
In the research stage or in the creation stage? And how will you get better? Leave me a blog comment below right now while it's still fresh on your mind.
The 10 Emails You Should Send to Your List Right Now
Although writing reports and making products, submitting articles, and writing blog posts are all great ways to get traffic, you need to follow up with people who are already on your email subscriber list.
Most people, probably including you, do not have enough emails in their autoresponder, and that means when someone joins your list, they don't know what to do or where to go.
I want to help you and give you 10 free email templates to fill up any autoresponder follow-up sequence that needs filling in no time flat. Here are 10 different types of emails you can send to your list either for the same offer or different offers.
Email #1: The Hard Pitch
The easiest way to get somebody to buy something from you is to be direct – ask them for that sale. Even if you're not a writer, you probably already have a sales letter or some kind of pitch page or pitch video that you can swipe from in your email copy. Copy and paste chunks of your sales letter and make each chunk an individual follow-up.
If there's a really good testimonial on your sales letter, that can be a follow-up. If within your sales letter, you give away some kind of free lesson or free tip when you set up your pitch, use that as an autoresponder follow-up. Chances are you already wrote most of your email sequence and don't even realize it.
Email #2: Reminder For That Hard Pitch
Because email is getting more and more competitive and the internet is becoming more and more crowded, many people might not have even seen your email coming to their inbox. If they have seen it, they might have read the email but forgot to click the link. They also might have opened your email, read it and clicked the link but have not yet bought.
That's why you should send them reminder emails about your previous emails just to make sure they have received your information. You'd be surprised at how adding this one email will improve your traffic and click-through rates.
Email #3: The Quick Tip
You want to be recognized as an authority in your niche, right? You want people to want more from you, right? That's why if you can give people a quick tip, one small piece of advice they can read in a minute or less about your niche, schedule that as an email.
If you are teaching people about copywriting, a simple tip to share could be to write 10 or more headlines to settle on the perfect headline.
This way, you're not divulging your entire formula but getting them on the right track and getting them to think in the same way you do. It's also a simple piece of advice they can pluck out and apply to their business right away. You're delivering value and now it's up to them to decide if they want to purchase more value from you.
Email #4: Free Blog Post Reminder
Sometimes, I write quick tips that end up being very long. Instead of sending very long emails, I will post that longer tip to a blog and then send traffic to it. This way, this is free training out in the open, so they still get some free advice, but there's also the possibility for search engine traffic for people to link to it and above all, provide feedback in the form of comments that I can then respond to in public.
Email #5: Post-Sale Content Consumption Reminder
Just because you've given somebody something doesn't mean they have necessarily used it. Just because somebody joined your list in exchange for a free report doesn't mean they've downloaded or even read that report. It's up to you to make sure they do and it's easier than ever before to do that because autoresponders are automatic.
Whether somebody got a free report or paid for a training course from you, figure out where they should be after 3 days and schedule a quick email saying something like: "Have you opened up the report yet, have you read the first page. If you have, you should be writing your first headline," for example.
What about after 7 days? Maybe by then, they should be on page 10, at which point they know how to format a sales letter. What about after 14 days? Maybe by then, they should be creating their very first sales letter and it can't hurt to remind them to open up the report, free or paid, flip to page 10 or 20 or wherever they should be and complete the assignment in that report or at least supply the knowledge to their business.
Trust me, you are not being a bother. Most people who sell products don't follow up and don't make sure that people get the most out of their money.
Email #6: Part 1 And Part 2 (Dangling Carrot)
You definitely want to train your subscribers to be look out for the next email from you. The most common sensible way to do this is to add the phrase "Part 1" to your subject line or to the body of your message.
Let's pretend that in your free copywriting course, you were helping people decide if they should offer a 30-day guarantee or a 60-day guarantee. On one day, you could tell people "here is why you're going to want to have a 30-day guarantee" and at the end of that message, instead of going into the 60-day guarantee, you could tell them that there is a very important time when the 60-day guarantee makes more sense than a 30-day guarantee and to look out for the next email from you tomorrow explaining that.
This gives subscribers a good reason to check in tomorrow and at the same time provides them with a quick training course that doesn't last for too long.
Email #7: Broadcasted Personal Response
Let's use the example of the copywriting course again. What if one of your subscribers who has not bought emails you and asks how long someone can expect to take to write a sales letter or how quickly they can have a sales letter out in the open? You might be tempted to send them a quick response.
But what if you spend a couple of extra seconds on that response and made it about half a page long? Well guess what, now you have an additional email you can send out to your subscribers. If one person asks that question, chances are 10 others have the same question but didn't bother to email you.
That means that your entire list can benefit from one person's answer, plus at the same time you've devoted extra effort into answering that person's question, so everybody wins.
Email #8: Why Didn't You Buy?
If I don't know what to put in my autoresponder sequence next, I'll ask people why didn't they buy. I'll explain to them that I've already gotten around all their objections, I've already given them all the free training they need, the only thing that's left for them to do is buy and take the next step.
It seems like a silly or a pointless email to send but this kind of email gets me the most responses more than any other email I have ever sent to my list and it works over and over again in any niche for any product.
Email #9: The Relationship Builder
When I'm going through the product launch process, I like to ask subscribers what's holding them back or what have been their experiences in this niche. People might say for copywriting that they hate writing and then I will know in my launch emails or in my sales letter or maybe even in the exact product to explain how to write sales copy by dictating it.
If someone has a really good case study – for example, they found that their short sales letters converted better than the long sales letters, I can use their case study to prove my point. It all comes back to using real results and real people in your marketing than making new things up.
Email #10: Commitment and Consistency
I want to save you a lot of missed opportunities when marketing to your list by telling you right now that people love to respond to things. Look at how many letters to the editors are on the newspaper or how many text in votes come on American Idol or how many people call in to radio stations.
If your subscribers can change the direction of your emails or of your marketing, they feel involved. If you're launching a new product but it's not out yet, what would happen if you emailed your list and asked them if they are planning on buying this product?
Justify this by saying you want to know how many people will be in the membership so you know how much time to devote to it or how many people will be attending your webinar so that you know how long to run it or my personal favorite, will you comment on my blog so I know how many comments to leave open before closing up that blog post.
By getting people to agree to something before they buy, even if it's just with a simple email message, they will feel like they have to do what they promised. If somebody promises to attend your webinar but later on they missed it, they'll feel bad because they promised something to you and did not deliver. This is definitely a fun tactic you should try to not only get more response from your list, but make them feel more involved as well.
I hope now that you've discovered these 10 types of emails to send to your list that you no longer have writer's block when it comes to sending out today's email, tomorrow's email or even filling up an entire autoresponder sequence.
Which one of these was your favorite? Please leave me a comment below letting me know and how you are personally going to use this in….
Don’t Tell People Everything You Know
I am going to tell you something right now that I hope will get you over that hump of making your next information product. It should also change your minds about what your customers are actually paying for and what information you should be giving away.
My mentor for many years was a guy called John Calder. He was really arrogant (which is a good thing!) and the best piece of advice he ever shared with me was, "Don't tell people everything you know."
But what does that mean?
Leave Room For A Sequel!
Here is something to think about: How come every movie you watch does not end with all the characters dying? Because there is a chance that the movie will get a sequel and that some or all of the characters can be in movie number two.
The same is true with your report creation. Do you try to put everything you know about a certain subject in one report? Sure! Can you put EVERYTHING there is to say in that report? Of course not!
A great example is my "Time Management on Crack" report. This is something that started off with me just explaining how I get things done, how I'm so productive. Then, I later added in formulas for writing, for blogging, for video creation and so on.
In fact, it has now tripled the size and got ten times' as much information - and I am still adding to it! But is that my only product about time management? Of course not!
Lance Tamashiro and I have a Membership site all about time management called, "IM Productivity Secrets." I also have a report called "100 Time Savers" that lists 100 quick and easy things you can use to save a minute a day.
Even though "Time Management on Crack" is the best report anyone could ever get about time management, I do have a prequel to "Time Management on Crack," called "100 Time Savers" that is at a lower price point and gets people ready for the main course, and I have a sequel to "Time Management on Crack" called "IM Productivity Secrets" which is a monthly membership site that contains ongoing training. And none of these products have any overlap.
You don't have to give away every single thing you know, because you might have a Volume II of your product.
Keep It Simple!
Here is the next thing to think about: Do you know how your cable internet gets from your computer out into the world? Probably not. I don't know either. But I still can USE my internet.
Do you know how your power company pumps electricity into your home? I don't either. But I still know how to turn on a light switch.
I can teach subjects, such as time management, without knowing exactly how psychology works, or how everything in my brain works. People don't have to know all the details.
My copywriting report, "Fast Food Copywriting," doesn't explain every single facet about copywriting, because I don't KNOW everything about copywriting. What I do know is how to accomplish a task. And that is all you really should be explaining in your paid materials, is how you accomplish a task and how other people can do the same thing you do.
I have many home study courses teaching people various things about PHP and WordPress. All I do is show how to use a certain script or WordPress plugin, and how to tweak it. That's it! Do I explain in every single report exactly what a function or a variable is? Not necessarily. I just show how to put those things into action.
And that leads me to my final point about not telling people everything you know: You deserve to get paid for your expertise.
Here is a really easy formula to decide what information you should charge for, and what to give away. If the information you are teaching about your subject is a step-by-step "How to" process, people should pay for that. But if all you are sharing is a simple tip, that is free article content or blog post content.
Inside "Fast Food Copywriting," I explain my step-by-step process for copywriting. But I also have hundreds of articles about copywriting that explain simple ideas like a headline or bullet points.
In "Time Management on Crack," there are five productivity levels you can master. There are also over 28 formulas when it comes to article writing, report writing, copywriting, and more.
I share my general time management advice in articles and in my blog posts. But the "How to", the Step-by-Step, people have to pay for that.
I hope you are now ready to knock out that next article or report - because guess what? You don't have to tell people everything you know!
Did this blog post help you? Tell me in what way... that comment form won't bite.
Can’t Write Your Next Sales Letter? Dictate It Out Of Thin Air!
Writing anything is pretty tough, whether it is writing articles, putting together a report, writing a blog post - but especially creating sales copy. Let's figure out what your options are...
Hiring A Copywriter
Finding someone to write your sales letter for you sounds good, right? You just pay somebody some money, and out pops a brand-spanking-new sales letter.
But it's not great, because the copywriter doesn't necessarily know you. He doesn't know your voice. He hasn't seen your product. He doesn't understand what your customers' problems are.
And the worst part is you paid money to get something that is worse than if you had made it yourself!
Writing It Yourself
There is a free option: that is that you try to write the sales letter yourself. However, unless you have been trained in writing sales copy, it is not going to be that great. It is also going to take you for ever, and you might not even finish it. If you are not a writer, let alone a copywriter, your skills might be better put to use creating videos or marketing your solution.
Also, many people who have not written on a regular basis don't write the way they sound - which means your sales letter is going to seem completely different than the way you come off in person or in audios.
What is the solution then?
Put together a list of problems your customers have, and a list of benefits that you have that will solve the problem, and...
Dictate Your Sales Copy!
You are going to use the same exact elements as a sales letter: like a headline, sub-headline, body copy, your story, a problem, and so on. So you might need to consult for one hour with a copywriter, especially to help you flesh out the headline and organize the copy.
But if you know your niche and you know your product, and you are passionate about it, you can dictate out an audio file, get someone else to type it up for you. And now you have a complete sales letter that sounds exactly like it came from you - because it did!
Also keep in mind that once you have the sales letter dictated, transcribed and properly formatted, you can send it to the same copywriter again to get it critiqued.
This will probably take only about an hour, and critiques where the copywriter gets on a phone call with you - or preferably a webinar - work the best because you are not waiting around for him to finish.
The next time you need a sales letter done, dictate it! Meet with the copywriter for one hour to flesh out the plan of the copy. Dictate it, transcribe it, format it. Then meet back with the copywriter again, to make it shine.
Have you dictated sales copy yourself? What kinds of things are you dictating? Are they articles / reports / sales letters? Or something I hadn't even thought of?
Leave me a blog comment below with your response.
Sending an E-Mail Every Day is Scary, Right?
Quick question: how the heck are you going to send an e-mail every day to your list, if you don't already?
Inside "Time Management on Crack" I show you the five different types of e-mails I regularly send to my list... and six more types of blog posts I write. Guess what, every time you send a blog post is a chance to e-mail your list three more times per blog post.
Oh yeah, plus I have a formula to launch a product in five-step e-mail sequence.
Guess what all that gives you?
- Five follow-ups (per thing you are offering)...
- Six times three blog post notification e-mails (that's 18 more)...
- Plus five e-mails to launch the product... even if you're only promoting as an affiliate.
Five plus eighteen plus five is 28 e-mails. So yes, you can promote one thing for a month, or even one week at a time for four months.
You Just Gotta Follow a Formula!
That and remember e-mails should be short and only have one call to action.
Never broadcast an autoresponder email with signature links. Or with 3 SEPARATE URLs. It's ok to mention the same URL multiple times.
But you might say, Robert, I've got 10 different URLs. People need to see them all.
Fine. Just space them out over 10 weeks. Week 1, all you're doing is giving different reasons, and on some days just reminding them, to visit URL #1... every day of the week.
During week 2 you transition into URL #2 and keep promoting that all week.
And so on. So now you don't have to give people a 10-step process (because they WILL get confused)... just commitment and consistency them.
Just one call to action, simple steps, and follow a formula... please.
If you think daily emails will "annoy, overload or confuse" your subscribers... the internet marketer known for unsubscribing from lists that mail too often, is still on my list after years and years. And I mail every single day! Here's what he had to say when I asked him:
"You're right. I don't usually stay on lists that email me every day. Your stuff is short, useful and interesting enough to keep me reading. Doesn't hurt that your products rock, either."
-- Paul Myers
There you have it. How often you mail is irrelevant. What does matter is: short length, interesting messages, and good offers.
Do you disagree, or do you think I'm awesome?
Paper: Why You Should Never Use It Again And Why Your Business Will Accelerate As A Result
It's 2010, do you really still write on scraps of paper? Do you still use post-its, index cards, and notebooks? Why?
Here is something really interesting. Even in the early 90's, I met someone who hated paper. I was in grade school at detention in the principal's office, and a woman who worked in that office did not use paper, and hated paper. Keep in mind that this was before the internet was available anywhere. This was just when Windows 3.1 was coming out, and "easy" networking was almost unheard of. To transfer files she must have been limited to a slow modem fax machine. But even with all the limitations of the 1990's, she made sure not to use paper.
Now going paperless doesn't seem silly at all. I am telling you right now, as soon as you stop using paper, you will instantly become more productive. But how can you give paper up?
Network Shares
Because networking and file sharing has been built in to all modern operating systems for at least the past 10 years. You can easily share a folder on your desktop computer and access it from your laptop.
I don't have everything on my computer shared over my network. But I do know that anything I am currently working on such as a word document, a mind-map, or a PowerPoint presentation, I will have on my desktop. I have my desktop shared through the whole network so that when I am downstairs on the couch, or in my front yard or backyard, I can easily get to whatever document I am currently working on.
Having shared folders over a network also makes file copying easier. When I record a webinar on my laptop, I don't have to use a USB Stick to transfer the file, I just copy it right over the network. Think about all the steps you save
You save having to put the USB stick in, wait for the computer to recognize it, open up the folder on the USB Stick, open up the folder on your desktop, drag the file over, wait for it to copy, close out the windows, unplug the USB stick from the laptop, plug the stick back into your desktop, open up both windows and copy it over.
Instead, you open up the destination you want to copy your file to on your laptop, find the file you want to copy, drag it over, and it magically happens.
EverNote
Speaking of things happening magically, my favorite iPhone app is a program called Evernote. Evernote allows you to write notes, in other words text documents. What makes it magical is that they have versions for the iPhone, iPad and Windows. They actually have a web-based version, a MacIntosh version, a Droid version, and a Blackberry version, but I don't use them.
The idea is that I have this program called Evernote installed on my laptop, desktop, iPad, and iPhone. Whenever I make a change to any of the notes or documents in Evernote, it will sync them up to the cloud and any other devices I have, and will download the new versions.
This means I can type a note on my computer and get to it on my phone. I can edit on my phone and read it instantly on my iPad. I can change it on my iPad, and then open up my laptop and read it or write to it there. In other words, I have many devices editing the same document at the same time.
Accountability Blog
Speaking of storing my notes in the cloud, the number one source of wasted paper I used to have was my to-do list or my task list. Not anymore. Now I store my full daily tasks on a private membership site that only myself and Lance have access to.
Because my laptop, desktop, iPad, and iPhone all have internet access, I can get to that task list any time I want. Because I have XML-RPC enabled on that blog I can use the blog press app on my phone to easily post new to-do list items without having to even use the browser.
The great thing about storing my daily task list on my blog is I can easily edit it. I can store away the old version. But if I need to get something, I can type something in the search box and figure out exactly when I was working on what tasks.
Speaking of depending on searches.
Gmail And Google Calendar
If you are still stuck on an email program like Outlook, you are missing out on the advantages of Gmail. Gmail is a totally web-based email client. What set it apart at first from other email clients is it has almost a desktop-like interface. You use keyboard shortcuts, you can drag and drop, and most importantly it's fast.
Instead of using the folder system like Outlook, Gmail allows you to tag your messages with labels. If someone emails me asking for a download link for a specific product, I can label that message both with the name of the product and the tag download link. That means, if I ever want to view all the requests for download links, I can click on one button and find it.
If I get a confirmation email about a hotel or flight reservation, I tag it as "Travel" and then I can see the email in the list of all my messages, or just click on the "Travel" label and see everything I need.
Also, the search feature is extremely fast. If I am going to Austin for example, I can search the word Austin in the search box, and get a list of all the email messages that contain the word Austin. If I want to look up all the correspondence between myself and a particular person, I will type the persons name and find all the results.
The missing part of Gmail, that I only discovered within the last year or two is the Google calendar. Google calendar allows you to store appointments and see everything you have to do today. But what makes it unique is that you cannot only see it from anywhere, but you can share your calendar with other users. Just like with Outlook.
I make sure to store my appointments and my meetings on there, and I synchronize it with my iPhone and iPad. That way I get alerts when something important is coming up. When I am traveling, I also store my travel itinerary directly in the calendar, that way I can be sure which flight I am on and when my flight leaves and arrives. The final paper killer I want to share with you today is.
Mindmaps
A mind-map is basically a network of thought nodes, you can have one node and many nodes coming out of that node, and other nodes coming out of those. That way you can structure a thought into a tree.
Many people spend way too much time on mind-maps, and make them crazy, which is why I only use mind-maps as a temporary brain-storming tool. If I am going to be making a power point, I will plan out the structure in the mind-map. That way I can drag notes around and arrange things, and then create the power point, then delete the mind-map.
I will also use mind-maps to plan out a series of articles I'm writing for the same reason. Because I can drag ideas around before settling on the final structure, and once those articles are done, I will again delete the mind-map.
Those five elements of technology should completely remove any reason you have left of having paper.
Did I leave any out? Do you still have an excuse for using paper? Please let me know in the comments below and I will tell you why I think you are wrong.
Eight Time Management Habits You Need to Adopt Right Now if You Ever Want to Be Successful
If you are in business for yourself, you need to have good time management habits. You no longer have a boss looking over your shoulder, making sure you get things done. You can no longer get paid by the hour and run out the clock and make money doing nothing.
You need to do something to make money. That means you need to get the most out of every single day. You need to be busy and not just productive. Take a look at these 8 time management habits, figure out which one you're not applying and apply it to yourself right now.
Habit #1: One Project At a Time
Many people fight with me or don't trust me when I tell them they need to have one project going at a time and yet they wonder why I get so much accomplished. Don't have a big long to-do list. Instead, decide what is your focus this week – are you writing articles, are you writing a sales letter, are you making a new product? And this week is only for completing that project.
You will wear yourself out if you try to write an article in the morning, build an AdSense site at noon, make a product in the afternoon, and post on forums in the evening.
If your focus today or this week is to write articles, have a goal such as 30 articles... write a handful of articles everyday until you're done and then that project is finished forever and you will never have to go back and worry about it.
Habit #2: Finish What You Start
If something is 99% complete, it's not complete. Write that report or finish that sales letter and launch it, even if it's only version 1.0.
Habit #3: Stop Doing What Loses Money
I have known far too many marketers who had a successful information product business working for them but then they abandoned it all to move towards a new niche or to move towards membership sites. If you have something that is making you money and you want to try something new, add it to your business. Don't simply drop one thing and get a new thing.
The (basic) definition of insanity is to continually attempt an action and expect a different result to happen. If something is not making you money, if building AdSense sites are not making you money, if pay-per-click is not making you money, try something new.
Habit #4: Repeat What Makes Money
Once you find that one thing that works for you and it might be freelancing for the moment, repeat it but in a bigger scale. If you're freelancing, that might mean to charge more for your hourly rate. If you have a low ticket info-product, that might mean to get more traffic or make new joint venture connections.
Find one thing that makes money that's been proven to convert and to sell and course-correct. For example, if you find that writing 10 articles on a certain subject gets you lots of traffic, opt-ins, and sales, then write 100 articles on that same subject.
Habit #5: Simplify It
Although many gurus get money from you by selling their complicated system or by throwing out fancy terms for you, the things that work and the things that you are able to wrap your head around are the simple things.
Most of the systems I use for writing sales copy, making articles, writing blog posts are only around 4 or 5 steps long. Think about Steve Jobs and Apple's product line. What do they sell? Desktops, laptops, Mp3 players, and phones. When in doubt, if you can't fit it on a napkin, it's too complicated.
Habit #6: Be Fast
It's one thing to say you're going to write 100 articles but if it takes you a whole year to do it, that's no fun. You want instant gratification and instant results, that way, you know that what you're doing is working.
You need to be fast in order to stay excited... you've been only working on something for a few days, it's fresh, and it's new and it's not some chore you have been forced to keep up for the last several months.
Get used to going from an idea to a finished concept quickly and be used to making snap decisions, whether it's to choose what you'll do today, what your project will be or even how to outline it and what the structure of that project will be.
Habit #7: Do What Makes You Happy
Here's the thing most people won't tell you about working for yourself and working on the internet – it is much harder than any day job. Why deal with that? Because the idea is: even though the thing you are doing is tougher than a day job, it's something that you are excited to wake up and crank out.
You can focus on what excites you, what niche excites you, for example, webinar training, and what activities about that excite you, for example article writing to get traffic. You might work harder and might even work longer hours being self-employed than at a day job, it's something that you're excited to wake up and complete. So that way, it's really not a job.
If you do what makes you happy, even if it's slightly more work, you will be able to sustain it for longer and it will have a much better payoff. When you're happy with what you do, your life has meaning.
Habit #8: Don't Do It Alone
For me and many others, we became much more productive when we had someone making sure we stay on task. I'm not necessarily saying a boss who gives you orders. Just someone who makes sure you stick with your own orders.
Have somebody who will read your task list everyday, have somebody who you can report to and at the beginning of the day, tell them what you will be working on and at the end of the day, you can tell them if you completed those tasks or if you failed. This way, if you fail, you'll feel bad, but if you succeed, you'll feel happy.
You will be a lot more motivated if you're worried about letting someone else down as opposed to letting yourself down.
Those are 8 habits you should be adapting right now to make yourself more successful...
Change of plans today: I will also RESPOND to your comment, if you click the retweet button in the post above, and your Twitter "first and last name" is the same as the name you leave in the comment.
1. Leave a comment. 2. Click the retweet button. 3. I'll respond to your comment.
Out of the 8, which was your favorite? Please let me know in a comment below.
The Reasons I Buy Your Stuff, Finally Explained
Why is it that people pay you money for your services, products and memberships?
It really helps to figure out not just how people found you, but what is their reason for joining your community? That way, when you send emails and write sales letters, you can appeal to all the groups.
I can't speak for anyone else, but here are the reasons I buy your stuff...
The Entire Step-By-Step Training
Four years ago, I joined a Membership site from Jim Edwards that taught everything I needed to know. It taught how to create videos, how to make reports, gave me tips on sales letters... And a lot of the things I learned were not taught directly to me. They were things I observed from his marketing and his videos.
I joined that site as a relative newbie because I wanted to learn and apply one hundred percent of what he showed me.
That training helped me get over a lot of obstacles. For example, I had not ever created video. I had some idea in my head that I needed to have green screen, that I needed to have different camera angles and different screens. But most of his videos were simple PowerPoints. At the time, PowerPoint videos were not very common. And that was the biggest benefit I got from learning and taking all his training, was making PowerPoint videos.
Eventually I outgrew that training and quit. But I short-cut a lot of things that I might have taken a long time to figure out, or maybe would not have figured out at all.
The Quick Fix
I have joined other membership sites, just to get one piece of the training. It is very important that when you join some kind of site, you know what your goal is.
Jeanette Cates delivered a three-month training program about product creation. And although most of the things she taught I already knew, I joined because I wanted to get motivated enough to record more audios. That was my one goal from joining: to record more audios.
I joined the site, picked up some extra tips about how to make my audios better, recorded them and then showed them to her for accountability. I also used those audios to build my list, and I reported back to her about how many opt-ins they gave me and how many sales those led to.
More often than not, I will join someone's site just for one particular thing. This is why, in addition to explaining the step-by-step of what they are getting in your sales letter, go into the details. Tell them EXACTLY what result they will get from your training - because you never know what outcome people are looking for.
Community
I have joined a number of monthly membership sites, just to get my name out there. It is one thing to leave blog comments, or post on a free forum. But the audience there has not been proven to buy anything.
On the other hand, if you join somebody's "$100 per month training" and are allowed to leave comments or make forum posts, you know that every single person reading your messages has at least $100 per month to spend on some form of training.
Also, because it costs money to get into this community, it is more exclusive, which means it is a smaller crowd, which means you have less competition as far as getting your information read.
Some of my best connections came from the inside of these communities.
Brownie Points
When a friend of mine, Stu McLaren, offered training about his WordPress Membership Software, I joined - even though I had previously taught similar membership training.
I joined this site basically to become the "Star Student." I listened to all the training calls, read all the blog posts, and when he had call-in days, I made sure to have some kind of question, to make sure I understood all of the content. And I contributed a couple of things just to make sure all the bases were covered with his training.
Although you should definitely position your sales letter and marketing materials to "Why newbies can best benefit form your course," keep in mind that some experts may join, to keep their own training up-to-date, or even show support for you.
And those are the four reasons why I buy eBooks, reports, services and memberships. Did I leave any reasons out? What is the top reason YOU join someone else's community or pay them money for something?
Let me know down below, in the form of a very brief comment.
What You Have That I Don’t: Remove These Things from Your Life to Instantly Become More Productive
Why are so many other people in the world more successful than you?
As you read this blog post, you are not only going to discover the answer, but you are going to be surprised that most people who get more things done than you don't have MORE stuff to do in their life. They actually have LESS things to do.
Let's figure out what you can REMOVE from your life to become more successful, more productive - and therefore make more money.
Clutter: Paper And Notes
I have told you before many times how much I hate paper. Paper is imperfect. You write on it and you can't really change what is on the paper. It takes up space. You can't always find it. And it distracts you.
I often hear people recommend you do silly things like write the amount of money you want to make per month and put it on your computer monitor. Or write your daily "To Do" list and put it on your wall. Or even (the silliest of them all!) have a whiteboard! Yuck, I hate whiteboards.
Are you kidding me? How often does your whiteboard really change? Chances are, when you first got that whiteboard, you wrote on it every day. But then you let it sit for a month or longer with the same exact stuff written on it.
You can't have all that stuff around your office distracting your attention. If you have got something to write, send it to someone in an email. Or write it as a blog post. Or post it to your Accountability Blog. Or write it in EverNote. But put it down and file it away so it doesn't distract you.
And because it is filed away in a computer system, it is very easy to find, especially if you need to search for it.
Remove paper from your life.
Time Killer: Cable TV
I don't think it is a coincidence that five years ago I stopped getting cable TV, and that was also when I started to get a lot more accomplished.
With TV, it is way too easy to sit down, flip channels, and before you know it, an hour or two has gone by. If we all lived for ever, cable TV would be a great invention. But because you will never get tomorrow back, or last week back, last month, or even last year, back, you shouldn't waste time on cable TV.
I am all for watching a DVD or watching a movie. But having that ability to wander and get distracted, especially by commercials, is not a good thing.
Remove cable TV from your life.
Distractions: Instant Messaging, Email and Pop-Ups
Back when I hosted webinars for people, so many of those webinars were interrupted by someone's chat box appearing. You may have heard the statistic that "Once you get distracted, it takes you at least fifteen minutes to regain focus."
That means that if you were distracted twice, by only a few seconds each time, every hour, you have just lost half of your productivity.
Your computer needs to be a hot seat. When you have a task you need to finish, such as posting on forums, replying to emails, writing articles, scheduling blog posts, finishing that chapter - whatever it is, close your instant messaging, close the browser that is open to your email. Otherwise you will see that "1 New Message" and HAVE to click on it!
Close Tweet deck or any other program that can pop up and distract you with a new message. It's okay - the world will still be there when you turn those programs back on after your pressing matter is finished!
Turn off the instant messages.
And those are the top three things that you should definitely remove from your life if you want to become twice as productive - or even more.
Are you going to remove one of the three from your life? If not, what one thing can you remove from your life RIGHT NOW to eliminate distractions and get more accomplished?
Leave a short comment in the form below.
Who Do You Want To Be Like? The Correct Way To Have Role Models
You do have role models, right? People whose behavior and success you want to model yourself. I know you do because every time I see somebody ask this question on blogs or forums, they usually get people responding with at least 10 names. The problem with listing all these role models is that there are too many people in that list to even keep up with what they are doing, or there are conflicts.
I don't want to name any names, but all too often I see people list one of their role models as being a guy who only markets using article marketing, and another role model is someone who markets using only pay per click.
That is why today I am not going to list people who I only take "partial advice" from like Seth Godin, James Brausch, Steve Manning, Allen Says, John Calder, or Joe Sugarman.
Instead I am just going to list my top three role models and why they are that way.
Role Model #1: Steve Jobs
Many people will agree that Steve Jobs is the best presenter out there. If you watch one of Steve Jobs' videos on you-tube, he makes everything look really simple. I used to not be too impressed with Steve Jobs' presentations until I knew what to look for, until I saw how simple his power point slides are, the words and the branding he uses and how easy his demonstrations are.
Role Model #2: Armand Morin
I am in Armand Morin's mastermind and he is my coach. I also try to duplicate the way he presents, but the most significant part of that is the way he speaks. If you have watched my videos, heard my audios, or seen me present you know that I am kind of a Spaz. I talk too fast, I slur my words, that is just how I talk.
I have made it a point, especially in the last couple years, to slow down my speaking, project better, so that the way I present is clearer. Whenever I am going to present, or I want to get excited about something, I will have one of Armand's recordings playing in the background.
It doesn't really matter what the subject is, I just try to get his voice in my head, and get his energy and enthusiasm. I will also listen to his talks to pick up some of his careful phrases. For example, you notice that Armand uses words like "free" a lot, or "instantly, or "overnight", or the phrase "100%". Even when he says things like that, he will slow down his speaking when he says words or numbers such as one hundred.
Role Model #3: Joel Spolsky
One thing you may have noticed about the first role models is that they are computer nerds. 
They are programmers, they are tech guys, and Joel Spolsky is as well. Joel runs a company called "Fog Creek Software", and he runs a blog called "Joel on Software" where he gives advice about marketing and software developments. I haven't seen nearly as many of Joel's presentations as I have Steve's and Armand's. I have read a ton of his writing.
I read his writing for the attitude he gives. He is a sassy guy and has a way of telling stories and saying phrases that get in your head and stay there. He also has strong and direct opinions, which is what I like in a writer. He writes like a programmer in a clear step by step fashion.
Who are your role models? Do you have too many, if so can you narrow it down to your top three? What do they all have in common? Are you picking out the right things from the three?
Comment below. Go ahead, do it right now.
Start Less, Finish More
On almost all of my web sites, I use the same paper looking sales letter template.
On all of my paid membership sites, I use the exact same WordPress theme.
Why the Heck Do I Do That?
Because the layout really doesn't matter. Which would you buy from, a fancy looking sales letter with no text, or a plain looking sales letter WITH text? Exactly.
On top of that, I've tested this and I know people who have tested this... the "plain looking" web sites convert better.
Is it because most designs have giant logos that distract people? Who knows.... all I know is the plain template converts.
So when I launch a new product or write a new sales letter, I don't even worry about the design.
I worry about some stuff like the headline, a TINY logo, and a bunch of other stuff... but the mini-site design, not an issue.
What Decision Can You Remove Today?
What's one thing you can make it so you'll NEVER have to think about it again?
Is it what autoresponder to use? What shopping cart? What download page template or sales letter template? Or even something simple like the name of your next product?
Remove something today so you NEVER have to think about it again. That's how you'll get more stuff finished!
You'll find more about this in Time Management on Crack, when I talk about how you need to be "desperate to reduce clutter"...
Remember: start less, finish more! Darn, I should trademark that...
I Am Done: How to Finish Everything You Start, and Then Some
If you have been inside any of my training courses you probably see the phrase "I am done" showing up a lot in the comments, especially in the "Challenge" posts.
Whenever you teach somebody something, it is in both your best interests that they go ahead and complete that task - isn't it? It is one thing to get people to PROMISE to complete something; but it is just as important that they come back and tell you when that has been finished.
And that is why, when I offer membership challenges, I always tell people to come back and post "I am done" in the comments. That way I can easily do a search and figure out who has finished and who hasn't.
So How Do You Know That You Are Done?
And how do you make sure that you finish as many things as possible? First off, only focus on one project at a time. You might have to change your thinking. I know that for a long time I had many different projects going. When I was finished High School, I was taking AP Tests, going to school, working on a long-term programming project, creating products of my own, and writing my own books. I had about five or six projects going on at the same time - and I had to switch gears so often that I hardly got anything done!
If I had spent just one week finishing the book I was working on, I wouldn't have to think about it ever again. If I had then turned my efforts to finishing the script I was working on, the program, I'd be done! If I then focused all my effort on the large project, I'd be done!
So don't leave things unfinished because you underestimate how much effort it takes to switch between tasks.
Also, set a deadline for everything you do. You know yourself; you know how long something is going to take you based on how focused you are on it. If you have to record a set of five videos, and you know you can only record one video a day, it will take you exactly five days - and that becomes your deadline.
It is important, though, to have not just a DATE-based deadline, but a TIME-based deadline as well. Don't say something is going to be finished "next week"; tell me it is going to be finished "next week, Wednesday, at exactly 4.30pm."
And to make sure that you HIT your headlines, keep what you have shippable, so that you can be done at any time. This means that when you are recording that video course, if you can get away with only having three videos, and that is Version 1 of your course; and Version 2 contains five videos, then you can meet that deadline without having to stress about it. You could launch the product with just three videos instead of five, if you had to.
And finally...
Don't Tell People Everything You Know!
Look at the way Apple launches new items versus the way Microsoft does: Microsoft announces things years in advance and always misses their deadline; while Apple keeps their new stuff secret until it is perfected and it's ready to go.
You don't have to announce every single thing you are going to launch because you might not end up launching all of them - and then you appear to be unreliable and a joke!
Those are the ways you are going to get more stuff accomplished in less time: By only having one project at a time and finishing what you start; having a time-based deadline; keeping it shippable - and don't announce everything you know.
What is your best productivity tip to get your tasks finished? Leave me a comment below telling me right now.
30 Day Blogging Challenge: I Need Your Help
I'm participating in Jeanette Cates' June 2010 30-Day Blogging Challenge.
A 30 day challenge of anything is a really good idea. Even in 2008 I let people follow along in my "30 day video challenge" where I recorded one quick video every day for a month. After that, it was hard to stop creating videos.
If you write every day for 30 days, you'll get used to it and it will be hard to stop writing.
But I do have one roadblock. I still want social proof and comments. In an ideal world I'd like to get 100 comments a day for 30 days, but I'm going to be talking to my list about OTHER stuff aside from my daily blog posts.
My questions to you are:
1. How should I get 10+ comments per day this month without mailing my list?
2. Can I count on you to leave a quick comment on my blog every day for June (yes or no)? I need to decide how many comments to open up.
3. What would you like me to talk about on my blog this month?
Please leave me a comment below answering these three short questions...
Choose the Time for Your Free Webinar
Hey guys, thanks for exceeding my expectations and getting that last blog post higher than 30 retweets... to 45 tweets.
What time should I deliver your free webinar showing you how to stay motivated and get more things done... in other words, how to be like me?
Leave a comment below telling me:
1. What day of the week we should run this group webinar.
2. What time of day we should run it (including timezone).
(I'll either average out the times or choose the timeslot that appears the most.)
Looking forward to your comment below...
Why You Are Putting Up Major Roadblocks For Yourself (and How to Overcome Them)
What is wrong? Why is it that you keep checking your phone for text messages?
Why is it that you keep opening up TweetDeck, checking your email, surfing on forums - and not writing as many articles, getting as much traffic, as many joint ventures, or making as many products as you would like?
There are four categories for this. And I hope after you have identified which category YOU are in, you will take the next steps and get yourself out of that hole. Continue Reading »
Top 21 Ways to Ruin Your Business
A split test of mine recently finished and the conversion rate increased from 2.21% to 3.92% by changing JUST the headline -- but not even the words on the headline... the COLORS!
Imagine that, an additional 14 signups to a "$47 every 2 weeks" membership site -- an extra $1400 monthly passive income -- from such a small change.
Why does this happen? Why does split testing even work?
I'll tell you why... it's because: Continue Reading »
Forfeit the Race to Free!
Price training your list and your customers IS real. If people are used to getting everything from you for $10, there's going to be a price shock if you jump to $500.
So you're stuck working way too hard trying to land 10-dollar cheapskate customers.
You need to work your way up to at least 100 bucks per sale. Consider if you want to raise 700 bucks... you can either make 7 sales at $100, or 100 sales at $7. Which do you think is easier? Getting just seven sales. Continue Reading »
Why Are You Trapped in the Sandbox?
Are you ever middle of helping someone and suddenly it hits you... and you think, "I can't help you anymore?"
That's what happens when I come across someone who is in "demo mode."
Maybe you do this or you've come across someone who does this every now and then. These are people who always setup web sites called "Test Web Site." Or blogs called "Demo Blog." Or membership sites called "Temp Membership Site."
Come on man... tests are for students, demos are for little battery-powered keyboards and temps are for offices. I honestly want you to make an actual product, an actual membership site, and an actual blog.
Lance and I talked about this in one of our private coaching calls but I think a lot of you can benefit from this advice as well... Continue Reading »
Keep it Shippable, Stupid!
This is something I was thinking about presenting at my next live seminar...
But I'll share it with you here anyway!
It's something that most people who teach "productivity" leave out, and I see marketers FORGETTING this over and over again, even though they should know better.
This is "supposed" to be a programming concept but when I worked with other programmers, almost none of them knew about this, let alone implemented it...
It's Keeping Your Stuff SHIPPABLE!
I'll explain. Think about the order you see items (as a buyer) in a "fully optimized" sales letter... Continue Reading »
The Emperor Has No Close: How to Avoid “Just One More Thing” Syndrome
Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) who is worth over 5 billion dollars and is a fantastic speaker, has a unique close that if you try to emulate it, will kill every single webinar pitch and every single sales letter you have.
I'm not a huge Apple fan, but Steve runs an event once a year called MacWorld Expo... you've probably heard of it. A bunch of geeks go to this event and he shows off all the latest stuff their company has put out.
At the end of the presentation, he stops and says, "Oh yeah, one more thing..." And then reveals something big, like iTunes or the iPod Touch. Continue Reading »
