Adventures in Internet Marketing

It’s been a very interesting couple of weeks for me in the world of online marketing. I’ve stumbled across and discovered a whole host of amazing people in internet business that are achieving the results that I want, in many cases, from the same methods I want to use. I will of course be sharing these with you over the coming weeks and months.

I also had a very interesting conversation with a friend of mine and that is the reason for this post. She’s an actor/actress (I never know which one it’s supposed to be) and I’ve been fortunate enough to appear in plays with her. She’s very talented and has appeared on TV. She’s also recently been asked to audition for one of my favourite TV shows.

However, like most actors, she spends most of her time working for someone else in order to have the money she needs to live.

‘That’s great Matt, but so what?’ you might be thinking…

Well, during our discussion, she said to me that she thought I was using my internet business to put off doing what I really love (acting). She asked how long it would take to set up my business and get it to the stage where I was happy with it. She was (and probably still is) concerned that I wouldn’t allow myself to reach my goals because I was too busy focussing on the money and the business.

This made me stop and think and I want to know if this has ever happened to you. Has a friend said something about your pursuit of internet marketing that has made you reconsider your goals. How did you deal with it?

In my case, I know deep inside my being that I can have the life I want. I can have Read the rest of this entry »

As you may know from my previous video (which you can see here), I’m a huge fan of a site called Fiverr.

This video shows you some of the great stuff I’ve outsourced for just $5 using Fiverr. If you’re not using this, you’re really missing out on a very simple and easy way of outsourcing things like graphic design.

For example, I taught myself how to create good 3D cover images for my products when I first started. However, on Fiverr, I can get a professional graphic designer to do it for me for only $5. It looks better than if I’d done it and costs me about 2 minutes work to outsource. Love it!

Here I show you exactly the sort of stuff I’ve had done….. Enjoy!

Oh, and I have a strategy that one of my readers has created to share with you. It’s awesome, so that’s coming very soon. In the meantime, enjoy this:

I recently discovered a wonderful organisation that allows people like you and me to lend money to entrepreneurs in the developing world.

http://www.kiva.org

Rather than simply donating money to a charity where you don’t necessarily see the project you’ve helped, you lend your money to a specific business person in the form of a start-up or development loan. These people then repay the loan once they’ve got their business to the stage of being profitable. They currently receive funds at a rate of 1 loan every 12 seconds!

There is no interest charged on the loan. Once the money is returned to you, you have the option of distributing it to other causes or taking it back to use yourself. This gives you the option of only donating when you have the funds available.

Better still, for those of you who have read books like The One Minute Millionaire and The Secret, you’ll know that there’s a lot to be said for giving money away. The act of giving attracts
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Following a comment from one of my subscribers (and friends), I’ve set up a contest to find the best method of adding personality to internet marketing.

That might sound strange, but I explain it all in this video:

Here’s the link that Luke sent me. It’s pretty interesting and shows the extent to which blogging can create a great income online (if you go about it in the right way:

http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-4-blogging-revenues-brands-and/

For the contest, simply add your comments below, telling me the best way of adding personality to internet marketing (both e-mails and blogs). I’ll create a prize for the best suggestion, and of course, I’ll share it right here so that everyone can use it to increase the impact of their marketing.

The contest will close on the 6th August at 12pm.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ you may be thinking

‘Free traffic? Whatever…’

But bear with me. If you’re a blogger, you’re leaving money and traffic on the table if you’re not doing this.

OK, first of all, you might have heard of my friend and blogging consultant, Chris Garrett. He wrote the Problogger book with Darren Rowse.

Well, he has a new e-book out that tells you everything you need to know to get quality authority links and a boost in traffic, all through a quick and easy approach to guest blogging.

http://www.adventuresininternetmarketing.net/guest-posting

Guest blogging is simply the idea of making a guest appearance on someone else’s blog in your market. You write them an article that provides great quality content for their readers and subscribers. In exchange, at the end of the article, you get a link from their site back to yours. This does several things
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I’ve been reading up on persuasion recently. Not for anything sinister, you understand (internet marketing cult anyone?).

No, I’ve been reading up on it because I know that I’ve been influenced by it in the past, as I’m sure have you. As a result, I want to know what went on in those situations in order to be able to use that technique myself when creating sales letters, offers etc.

As a result of a conversation with Neil Asher, I picked up a copy of Dr. Robert Cialdini’s book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

In it, Cialdini talks about a number of different elements that affect our judgement and turn us from prospects into buyers. It’s brilliant, and I wanted to relate something from it to you, as I think you’ll be able to apply it to your business.

In the book Cialdini outlines several ways and examples in which people have been made to comply with a request to buy something. In most cases, the thing they’re buying is an idea, but you can easily see how this can be related to a product or service. In fact, most products should be sold on the idea of what they can do for you, not on how technically brilliant they are. Prospects find this far more inspiring as they can see an improvement in their lives, not just a shiny product.

One chapter in the book talks about Commitment. It seems that we humans are suckers for commitment when it comes to buying into an idea.

Simply stated, commitment and consistency are two elements that we all want to maintain. It’s bigger than just talking about that one sale – we want to be seen as consistent and committed to our decisions in everything we do. Society has taught us that being consistent is something to aspire to, and that being inconsistent means you perhaps can’t be trusted.

As a result of this, we marketers can use commitment and our buyers’ need to be consistent to get them to purchase our product or buy into our brand.

Warning: These techniques are powerful. Do yourself and all of us a favour and only use them to promote and sell things that are worthy, helpful and have a positive influence.

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