I'm on Adderall, I'm bored, and I feel like laying out a post that will virtually GUARANTEE anyone that reads it will break 6 figures this year. Easily.
I joined WickedFire as an *almost* total n00b about a year and a half ago. Since then, I have survived solely on my online efforts due in no small part to the stuff I picked up here.
But the biggest mistake that I ever made (and one that still occasionally haunts me to this day) is information overload coupled with trying too many things at once.
Every n00b does it. If I had to guess, I'd say that it's only natural.
Get this through your head right NOW:
The answer to your online success is NOT in that "one more thread" that you click on that will eat up ten more minutes of the *very* limited time in your day.
The answer to your online success is NOT in that new software that promises to make your life easier and enable you to work from the beach for ten minutes a day.
The answer to your online success is NOT in the latest buzzword, social media craze, or whatever else every "SEO Blogger" is talking about that week.
And the answer to your online success is CERTAINLY NOT in the latest hyped ebook touted by some asshole regurgitating information that he probably stole from these very forums (or even worse, DigitalPoint or Warrior Forum).
Odds are, you already know the answer to your online success because you've already read it twenty times in various places while nodding your head in agreement.
It's Do It Fucking Now.
What keeps most people back is that they think that they don't know enough to start something. They are afraid of failing and of some dire consequences that will come from it. But here's a secret:
Your best success will come after the 10th (or more) failure.
That's the beauty of the ol' World Wide Interwebz. There is always room to start over if you mess it up.
(The obvious exception is blowing all your money on a PPC campaign before you know what the hell you're doing, so don't do that mmkay?)
Today is the last day of 2007.
It's done. Gone forever. Take a moment to realize what that means.
All your failures of 2007 are gone.
All the worries you had in 2007 are gone.
All the time you wasted in 2007 is gone.
That nasty rash you got from that skank in 2007 is gone.
Here is your game plan for today, December 31st, 2007:
Step 1: Pick one facet of internet marketing that you have learned a LOT about and that compliments your strengths.
For example, I write well. But I couldn't code, program or design if my life depended on it.
So I play to my strengths and outsource (or beg, borrow, and steal) to make up for my weaknesses.
Step 2: Do it. Stop reading about it. Stop planning it. Do it. Now.
Step 3: Test, tweak, learn, improve.
Step 4: Scale it until you are rich.
Need some ideas? Short on cash and long on debt? Need a way to bootstrap yourself so you can work on the projects that will make you a Rich Jerk one day?
Here's one that I KNOW works well. I cannot fathom how it is not a foolproof method to start making $5,000+ a month almost immediately. If someone disagrees then they are probably not cut out for entrepreneurship.
Offer local search optimized websites to local businesses in your area.
Play up "local search" when you talk to prospective clients and how it can increase their business tremendously.
All it takes to land a client is a tiny bit of research on their niche and their local competition's online presence.
Sales tip: Don't sell "local search optimization." Sell "increased exposure to prospective customers may not otherwise know about your business."
When you show up to the meeting, bring printouts of the keywords that they need to target, a synopsis of what their competition is doing online, and a detailed plan of how you're going to make them rank well in Google, MSN, and Yahoo! for "Springdale, Illinois" or whatever craphole you live in.
It doesn't hurt to know how much other means of advertising costs, either (newspapers, local interest magazines, radio spots, crappy cable commercials, billboards, etc.) If you make this a sales point, reiterate continuously that all of those means of advertisement involve a recurring cost whereas yours is a much more prolonged solution.
Dress confidently. Speak confidently. You are the expert.
(And try not to patronize them when they have no idea what you are talking about half the time - I know, it can be hard at times.)
Once you've landed the account, take some snapshots of the business and anything else that is relevant to their business.
Implement their business name plus a good keyword and buy their domain.
(Example: "Furry Friends" is the name of a pet store. So register something like "FurryFriendsPetStore." Duh.)
Throw up a wordpress blog and then add a nice, clean theme that you tweaked. Make a static front page and make it look clean and professional. White space is good. Clutter is bad.
Add pics, a few good plugins, content, and do some on-page SEO.
If you can, throw in a gallery using the lightbox effect plugin. People are always amazed at that and it takes two minutes.
Take the time to submit the new site to local search directories and reputable, helpful sites.
After your first few clients, stick up a nice site of your own. Order GOOD business cards. Use the front and back of the card. Carry them everywhere.
Tell your previous clients that you will host their site free and give them "on going SEO" for free or a reduced charge if they send you referrals.
In no time at all, they will see that they rank #1 for stupid keywords like "Springdale pet store" and "Springdale pet supplies" because their competition is stupid and don't know what they are doing.
Be sure to send them a small, weekly newsletter along with an excel file that shows their upwards progression in the SE's for their targeted search terms.
Even though you and I know that those terms are cake to rank for, they don't. Hell, they are going to be shocked as hell that manipulating SE's are even possible.
(Another tip: NEVER promise ranking, no matter how longtail and easy. And ALWAYS give a good product. SEO is never done so these clients WILL BE a longterm commitment)
Before you know it, you WILL be making over 10k a month just through word of mouth (considering ~$1,000 to $2,000 per site + ~$100/mo for "on going SEO; <--Those figures are arbitrary. Decide for yourself what is fair and worth your time.)
Free, cheap, or just plain badass ways to market yourself:
The point is, find something to do and DO IT.
*whew*, long post.
Tomorrow is a BRAND NEW YEAR. It's time to stop THINKING, READING, and PLANNING your success. It's time to MAKE your success.
Footnote: No, I'm not a motivational speaker/writer and no, I don't care if you make it big or fail miserably. For all I care, you will be the schmuck that Armor-all's my dashboard when I take my truck to the car wash. But before you think I'm an a$$hole for saying that, just remember that everyone else is thinking it. So it's up to YOU to get off your lazy, procrastinating ass and do it.
Warning, girls: This is a long post so grab a snack and shut your hole.
Grown people talking now.
Grown people talking now.
I joined WickedFire as an *almost* total n00b about a year and a half ago. Since then, I have survived solely on my online efforts due in no small part to the stuff I picked up here.
But the biggest mistake that I ever made (and one that still occasionally haunts me to this day) is information overload coupled with trying too many things at once.
Every n00b does it. If I had to guess, I'd say that it's only natural.
Get this through your head right NOW:
The answer to your online success is NOT in that "one more thread" that you click on that will eat up ten more minutes of the *very* limited time in your day.
The answer to your online success is NOT in that new software that promises to make your life easier and enable you to work from the beach for ten minutes a day.
The answer to your online success is NOT in the latest buzzword, social media craze, or whatever else every "SEO Blogger" is talking about that week.
And the answer to your online success is CERTAINLY NOT in the latest hyped ebook touted by some asshole regurgitating information that he probably stole from these very forums (or even worse, DigitalPoint or Warrior Forum).
Odds are, you already know the answer to your online success because you've already read it twenty times in various places while nodding your head in agreement.
It's Do It Fucking Now.
What keeps most people back is that they think that they don't know enough to start something. They are afraid of failing and of some dire consequences that will come from it. But here's a secret:
Your best success will come after the 10th (or more) failure.
That's the beauty of the ol' World Wide Interwebz. There is always room to start over if you mess it up.
(The obvious exception is blowing all your money on a PPC campaign before you know what the hell you're doing, so don't do that mmkay?)
Today is the last day of 2007.
It's done. Gone forever. Take a moment to realize what that means.
All your failures of 2007 are gone.
All the worries you had in 2007 are gone.
All the time you wasted in 2007 is gone.
That nasty rash you got from that skank in 2007 is gone.
Here is your game plan for today, December 31st, 2007:
Step 1: Pick one facet of internet marketing that you have learned a LOT about and that compliments your strengths.
For example, I write well. But I couldn't code, program or design if my life depended on it.
So I play to my strengths and outsource (or beg, borrow, and steal) to make up for my weaknesses.
Step 2: Do it. Stop reading about it. Stop planning it. Do it. Now.
Step 3: Test, tweak, learn, improve.
Step 4: Scale it until you are rich.
Need some ideas? Short on cash and long on debt? Need a way to bootstrap yourself so you can work on the projects that will make you a Rich Jerk one day?
Here's one that I KNOW works well. I cannot fathom how it is not a foolproof method to start making $5,000+ a month almost immediately. If someone disagrees then they are probably not cut out for entrepreneurship.
Offer local search optimized websites to local businesses in your area.
Play up "local search" when you talk to prospective clients and how it can increase their business tremendously.
All it takes to land a client is a tiny bit of research on their niche and their local competition's online presence.
Sales tip: Don't sell "local search optimization." Sell "increased exposure to prospective customers may not otherwise know about your business."
When you show up to the meeting, bring printouts of the keywords that they need to target, a synopsis of what their competition is doing online, and a detailed plan of how you're going to make them rank well in Google, MSN, and Yahoo! for "Springdale, Illinois" or whatever craphole you live in.
It doesn't hurt to know how much other means of advertising costs, either (newspapers, local interest magazines, radio spots, crappy cable commercials, billboards, etc.) If you make this a sales point, reiterate continuously that all of those means of advertisement involve a recurring cost whereas yours is a much more prolonged solution.
Dress confidently. Speak confidently. You are the expert.
(And try not to patronize them when they have no idea what you are talking about half the time - I know, it can be hard at times.)
Once you've landed the account, take some snapshots of the business and anything else that is relevant to their business.
Implement their business name plus a good keyword and buy their domain.
(Example: "Furry Friends" is the name of a pet store. So register something like "FurryFriendsPetStore." Duh.)
Throw up a wordpress blog and then add a nice, clean theme that you tweaked. Make a static front page and make it look clean and professional. White space is good. Clutter is bad.
Add pics, a few good plugins, content, and do some on-page SEO.
If you can, throw in a gallery using the lightbox effect plugin. People are always amazed at that and it takes two minutes.
Take the time to submit the new site to local search directories and reputable, helpful sites.
After your first few clients, stick up a nice site of your own. Order GOOD business cards. Use the front and back of the card. Carry them everywhere.
Tell your previous clients that you will host their site free and give them "on going SEO" for free or a reduced charge if they send you referrals.
In no time at all, they will see that they rank #1 for stupid keywords like "Springdale pet store" and "Springdale pet supplies" because their competition is stupid and don't know what they are doing.
Be sure to send them a small, weekly newsletter along with an excel file that shows their upwards progression in the SE's for their targeted search terms.
Even though you and I know that those terms are cake to rank for, they don't. Hell, they are going to be shocked as hell that manipulating SE's are even possible.
(Another tip: NEVER promise ranking, no matter how longtail and easy. And ALWAYS give a good product. SEO is never done so these clients WILL BE a longterm commitment)
Before you know it, you WILL be making over 10k a month just through word of mouth (considering ~$1,000 to $2,000 per site + ~$100/mo for "on going SEO; <--Those figures are arbitrary. Decide for yourself what is fair and worth your time.)
Free, cheap, or just plain badass ways to market yourself:
- Word-of-mouth (by far the best)
- Join the local Chamber of Commerce (great networking and the majority of contacts you meet will either need your service or know ten people who do)
- LEGITIMATE Craig's List ads (Point out that you are LOCAL and that you give PERSONAL SERVICE such as visiting their business - it works)
- Quarter-sheet flyers on the counter at previous clients' retail locations.
- Feel free to post some more.
The point is, find something to do and DO IT.
*whew*, long post.
Tomorrow is a BRAND NEW YEAR. It's time to stop THINKING, READING, and PLANNING your success. It's time to MAKE your success.
Footnote: No, I'm not a motivational speaker/writer and no, I don't care if you make it big or fail miserably. For all I care, you will be the schmuck that Armor-all's my dashboard when I take my truck to the car wash. But before you think I'm an a$$hole for saying that, just remember that everyone else is thinking it. So it's up to YOU to get off your lazy, procrastinating ass and do it.
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