Make More Money From Your Ideas

"Is it OK/advisable to market someone else's products on your web site (with their approval of course) particularly when one first starts. Or is it better to start with less products or even just one product, but one that is 100% mine?"

The more important question is to discover what problems you're solving for your customers and clients. If you have products that solve those problems, sell your own; otherwise, find other products and sell them.

Most Internet marketers will tell you that they eventually end up selling their own products. But the key word is "eventually" - they don't always start out that way!

Find out more about creating products.

Labels: internet marketing, product creation

"If I am using an e-book or special report to give away, as an incentive for potential customers to come back to me for further services or advice, how much information should I give them to make the e-book useful, but not too useful? Obviously if I tell them everything they need to know to do the job themselves, they won't need me any more!"

I'll give you a different perspective on this question ... Some people would rather learn how to do something so that they can do it themselves; others would rather have somebody do it for them.

Aim to get your clients from the second group. They don't care how much information you throw at them - they would still rather have you do it for them.

In contrast, people in the first group do resent you holding back information. Even if they do hire you, they will always be thinking of ways to do it themselves, so they will be less loyal.

So, when writing your e-book or special report, focus on the things that will help that second group. Talk about strategic things, and help them make a decision, and help them make a decision to choose you. Don't worry about holding things back - they're not going to do it themselves anyway.

Find out more about marketing on-line.

Labels: e-books, internet marketing

"How do I do all that internet marketing stuff? My brain goes into meltdown. I can write, I can edit, I can do layouts, create pdf's - but when it comes to the stuff Corey Rudl's outfit and Tom Antion do - I run away screaming!"

Start by marketing your products to people already in your network - particularly your existing customers. It's far easier to sell more to them than to sell to complete strangers over the Internet.

When you generate enough cash flow from these sales, hire an Internet marketing expert to do the Internet marketing for you!

Find out more about Internet marketing.

Labels: internet marketing

"I'm brand spanking new in internet marketing. How do I weed out the 'dead' sites in free linking?"

I think you're referring to the "free for all link pages" that are out there. It's true that getting inbound links to your Web site is important, but I would recommend that you do not do it by adding your link to these free-for-all sites. You won't get much traffic from them, and certainly not much quality traffic, which is more important.

A better strategy is to write an article with, say, 10 tips about your area of expertise. Then submit that article to ArticleCity.com so that other people can start using it. The links you get from people reading your article are much higher value.

There are a number of other low-cost things you can do to make more sales on your Web site.

Labels: internet marketing, traffic generation

"How do I get listings to promote my products/services/website? I have products (e.g. e-books), I have services (e.g. coaching), I am getting a website. How do I get my message to people?"

There are three types of people who visit your site: Let's call them "strangers", "friends" and "neighbours". Strangers are people who have never heard of you before; friends are your existing clients; neighbours are somewhere in between (i.e. they have heard of you but have never bought from you).

There are obviously more "strangers" than "friends" in the world, but it's also a lot harder to sell to strangers, especially when you're an unknown person and you're selling services rather than products. For example, most people will only work with a coach they trust, so it's very difficult to sell coaching services directly on the Web.

I recommend that you start by publishing an e-mail newsletter, where you consistently deliver value to your readers. This is the way that you keep in touch with your strangers and neighbours, so that they eventually become friends.

If you're looking to get more strangers to your site, get some Google advertising to lead them there. But still make sure that you offer them your e-mail newsletter rather than trying the "hard sell" right away.

It is possible to sell things like e-books directly on the Web, but it requires some work. You require:

• a clear idea of your market;
  
• targeted traffic looking for your product; and
  
• powerful sales letters that convince them to buy
  

Labels: internet marketing, traffic generation

"I do search engine marketing (SEO) and am having trouble marketing my services. How do I find new, larger clients?"

Hmmm ... First, be aware that if you're marketing on the Internet, you're marketing in the most competitive market on the planet! By definition, you're competing with the best search engine marketers in the world.

That said, there's still more demand than supply for this service, so you can certainly succeed.

I suggest that you start with a free e-book, something like Seven Internet Marketing Mistakes That Could Cost You Thousands of Dollars, and use that as a marketing tool to open the doors for clients. In other words, give it away free as a way of demonstrating your credibility.

It's easy to write and publish this e-book on your Web site, then give it away.

Labels: e-books, free products, internet marketing