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- May 1st, 2008
- 0 Comments
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My whole life is a big TO DO list. However, since there is direct cause and effect with building a business to do list, it helps to see the big picture by literally creating a BIG PICTURE
. While we work on copy, videos, etc.. let me share where it REALLY should start. Mindmapping has become huge and there are many online sources that allow you to create your own free Map. I wanted to quickly share with you, in a few broken up images to allow it to fit on this screen, the maps I am using for our Launch.
At the core is the Name of the project. (here its the name of the website)
In order to draw people in we will:
- we have to bond with them (here we will tell a story of how we can relate to them)
- show them social proof (samples) (either exhibit one way to help them, or show expertise on what NOT to do)
- appeal to their interest in the topic (in this case would be their PAIN - and in MANY cases Pain is great emotion to go after).
In order to figure out what we have to work with, we created a list of our assets..
- We currently have a pretty high ranked site with decent organic traffic
- a mailing list that has offered incredibly little value thus far, so I would view it as starting from scratch
- Blake has already written an ebook on the topic, with some visuals, also a prevention manual
- Not one, but 2 Internet Marketers! Myself plus Blake (he actually approached me about our pathetic autoresponders. I didnt write them - I inherited them! I think he was SHOCKED, to say the least when I told him who I was and what I do!) So we will both focus on keyword searches to our page, gtrends, whats hot, whats not to know what our visitors want before they even TELL us. They will just enforce it.
- We have a list of cute work at your desk exersizes that can be a bonus/freebie
- I included videos because it was a given that we would have them, and we are working on making them better, and they WILL be a part of a final product since how can you teach someone certain specific exercises without it?
- The Message Board was very active for a while, until it got taken over with spam. I am updating it to a better version. Perhaps only members will have access.. a lot of options..
Finally PROMOTION: I didnt get into this one more, since I *think*, in the interest of just getting something behind us, we may want to pull off an internal launch, with our small list. Once we see how it works, then we can approach other potential JV’s and have some stats to back it up, and also work to improve it since we will have experience, feedback, etc. Here are some ideas:
- Advertise on sites or ezines who have no idea how they could be making more money from their niche site. It is then cheaper to pay them a set price for their visitors to see, than give them a huge cut on the sale. In fact, many should view the site we are sampling here as such a web property - totally not maximizing its potential
- Traditional affiliate program, offer a big cut
- Fleshing that one out more - approach potential affiliates, let them get in earlier to offer your freebies to their visitors, list, etc.. then they look generous, its an easier conversion on our end since who doesnt want something free, and they still get a nice cut while WE do the rest of the work bringing it home.
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- Apr 25th, 2008
- 4 Comments
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40 is the new 30, orange is the new pink, ANDBillioniare is the new millionaire! So.. just as you thought you were approaching success by hitting 6 zeros, there is a new beast to face.
000,000,000 - yes 9 zeros!
If you are still looking to acheive 1 zero, let me inspire you with a quote I had the pleasure of reading in Februarys Entrepreneur Magazine. Billionaire Marc Ecko was interviewed on the billionaire mindset and very succesfully sums up how he has acheived his level of success and why so many others LOSE:
“I dont think theres one silver bullet that will shoot you to the moon. Not being emotional and being able to call shit on yourself and on the people around you is really important. And not having to worry about tap-dancing or tiptoeing around people’s feelings. Just to be sober and say “look, this is how it really is”. I think having an environment that lends itself to that without everyone getting pissy is really important. That, coupled with being passionate and being able to distinguish between the shades of passion, and emotion, because there is a distinction. Being passionate doesnt give you license to be emotional..”
I have personally witnessed, rather ALLOWED parts of my businesses to FAIL since I didnt want to confront someone, rather to avoid conflict than get what I wanted, needed, deserved, and PAID for!
I am working hard to make sure this is no longer a concern by aligning myself with people who ‘get’ the above quote. Life is too short and business is too damn hard to have it any other way.
Is this full of EGO and ATTITUDE? Heck ya, but listen close to what it really means.
If WE work together, the EGO I am looking after is YOURS.. How can I build you up, how can I make you feel more important? The Attitude I bring is what can I do to make this a success, where do my strengths lie? (why did you seek me out in the first place?) and where am I weak? I have the Ego and Attitude to do this Honestly.
Is it too much to request the same in return?
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- Apr 18th, 2008
- 2 Comments
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Here we go:I am sorry to be so scientific about this, but we have Passover (google it!), so I am in a mad dash to get everything done .. and its all on top of my usual hectic schedule.
Therefore, with no further adieu, I give you this to look to: (NOTE: THIS IS NOT LIVE!! IT IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS).
PLEASE read this FIRST:
1) PLEASE do not Opt In to the list! I will give you a link here for the 2nd page that aweber sends you to, and I will ALSO (not today, since its not complete yet), give you the first autoresponder. You will not miss a step! I dont want you to opt-in so that when the page goes live, the stats will be 100% accurate, and not skewed by all of you
!2) This launch is for the very specific ailment niche in which I am partnering with someone else - an expert in the field. Therefore not everything is in my control. While Blake (he) is completely flexible and happy to go along, it is still a work in progress. These are his first videos and I did what I could to jazz them up. He has not even seen the changes yet, so I am waiting to hear if he thinks he can do better, plans to try to do better, or is satisfied. Curious what you guys think..
3) On Page 2 I tried for like 30 minutes to get the text below to NOT be centered. Its like an HTML exorcist. NOTHING WORKED. I know it looks bad. (also the text isnt complete)
4) Once we move along and get to a place where we all care cuz it succeeds (YES!), then I can go back and tell more history about this site, and how I came to be using it for this project. For now, I consider that information unnecessary to expound upon and dull.
Tell me if you notice the variables that would classify this site as in the stages of ‘pre-pre-launch’ mode? I will clarify them in a few days.Â
ok. Check this out:
(sorry - link removed for a few days to work out faster video playing! I dont want to make you suffer here!)
When someone signs up, they reach HERE:
(same sorry for this link too) Â - on that page is a link to a 3rd video…
Ok, look. I am a big girl and I can take it. So BRING IT ON. Tell me what SUCKS.Â
Caveat: try to imagine you are a ’sufferer’ and not an IM’er..Â
Back soon…
P.S.- If you recognize the squeeze page look and feel, the background what have you… it is because you are looking at a professional squeeze page STEALER, THIEF, RIP OFF. That’s right. When I see a page, I like - its as simple as :
View Source. Copy. Paste. Change content. USUALLY hire graphic designer for new header graphic/logo, but didnt yet.
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- Apr 11th, 2008
- 3 Comments
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I am really pleased with the response I received inviting you to witness the product launch. 5 comments (so far) may not seem like a lot to you, but 4 are from FIRST TIME commentators on this site, so I know there are others!At the conference in Orlando, I was a little envious of those who were able to speak with 100% confidence on their particular market and immediately apply what they learned to their bottom line. Being an across the board marketing
genius chick can be confusing at times . I have too many projects, since I see SO much possibility in everything, and want a piece of it!!I mention that before I talk about phase I of our Product Launch, since I am sitting here debating WHICH launch to share with you. One market is highly competitive, but I have a lot of materials ready to go, and its being controlled 100% by my company. The other market is a great specific ailment niche, and I have partnered with an expert in the field. I have no reason not to share with you both, so just giving you the heads up that in addition to my beyond ridiculously packed schedule I am working these, so whenever pieces of each are ready.. I will share them! blah blah blah - every now and then I feel like Charlie Browns teacher when I speak. I just go on and on and wonder if anything penetrates!
Ok so PHASE I - the list building phase. List building. List building. List building. Can you hear my sigh?? People get sooo uptight about building their lists and as Jeff Walker says, your LAUNCH will build your list. If you do it right, the ‘buzz’ spreads and the small list you build should be a responsive list.
DO THE MATH:
If you sell a product for $47 and you have a list of 10000 but the list converts at 2% (this is a VERY accurate statistic -ask any guru), then you have a nice figure of $9400. If you have a list of 500, (which is only 5% of 10000!) and 50% convert to be buyers, you get $11,750! So the secret isnt to build the list, its to WORK the list.  In the product launch market, it is not atypical to hear of 50-60% converting into sales.
More Math! It has also been said to death that you should expect to pay $1 per subscriber. How does paying $500 sound compared to $10000 to acheive the results exhibited above. You could afford to sell 40% of your list and still do the same.
If the math + the logic + the philosophy doesnt make sense, then I can scream too:
STOP WHINING ABOUT NOT HAVING A LIST.
More to come.. Keep watching this space!
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- Apr 4th, 2008
- 12 Comments
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I would like to INVITE all my readers (voyeurs, spectators, whatever you call yourselves) to witness as we roll out our own product launch.There is no learning as by witnessing in action. I am sure I can find some old smart dead guy with a fancy quote to that effect, but you get my point, right?
Why should we watch you Andrea? Ok, I can respect this question. I have access to tons of free material, but FREE doesnt necessarily translate into ‘worth my time’.
1) A brief history:
Do you know what I was doing OFFLINE before I became a successful online marketer? I was moonlighting running Garage/Estate Sales.
In fact for a while, I was turning away clients AND not making it online. A little crazy I know.. but a lot confident - can never go wrong there. Now I take on clients just for pleasure since I still LOVE doing these sales!
The Irony of it all is that what made my business successful OFFLINE turned out to be exactly that which makes businesses successful online. My moving sales were SO popular and exciting and successful since we turned them into events! We held people off.. teased them a little.. pulled so many good psychological triggers that people would literally THROW their money at us when we opened the doors.
That is not an exaggeration!
Competitors would have to negotiate, show up 3 days in a row, to earn little - I would sell an entire household at top dollar in less than 2 hours.
yes..
2 hours..
& if that isnt enough for you to want a front row seat to our launch…
2) I became friendly with Jeff since hanging out with him in Orlando at the Strategic Profits conference, and I am getting direct access to his brain on how to do it the RIGHT way! He is super nice and helpful!
Are you interested? Great.
What do I want from YOU?
Well other than a big round of applause..
We plan to succeed, and maybe you could help by sharing your thoughts, opinions? Tells us what works and what doesnt?
We are now creating the opening squeeze page sequence and literally will show you step by step as we go along….
Remember the post a few days ago about starting over from SCRATCH and making a million in a year? Certainly launching products would factor in heavily to acheive that lofty goal!
More info to come..
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- Mar 28th, 2008
- 4 Comments
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1) Then you are brilliant for noticing. and probably not 100% wrong if you think I am neglecting you to eat Ben & Jerrys and watch movies all day (hey some credit for knowing where the heart is)
2) Then you should be ashamed for not following me on twitter. I am currently ranked as the least famous person being followed by the most famous. What is your ranking? I am thinking somewhere between thinking twitter is what butterflies do (which is FLUTTER), and thinking that yet again there is something neat I have opened your eyes to and you should get there soon. (the latter is true).
3) Then I am busy skyping brilliant and rich folks who make me laugh by being a combination of eccentric, young, funny, egotistical, stupid.. all the while skyrocketing my..well my ‘ME’ to another stratosphere.. Whoever said working from home is boring must have invented panty hose and alarm clocks.
4) Then I am busy on something so big that I have slept 6 hours out of the last 72 and witnessed that which very very very few online marketers, and well.. .001% of the human species has been priveledged to experience. I just might tell you about it.. when I am allowed to.
5)Then I am even too busy to proof read this post, and ponder if I have given you value today or if you are just saying HUH?
PUBLISH OR PERISH. Here goes nothing!
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- Mar 20th, 2008
- 12 Comments
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Everyone needs a Mr. X … a behind the scenes whiz kid that could wipe the floor with you yet for some remarkable reason wants to remain anonymous and help you SHINE. Or actually thinks that you do Shine.
My Mr. X is not interested in you, he likes me, so dont bother trying. Go find your own !!
We have really *deep* conversations.. check out this last one (He is a little colorful, so all you Nigerian princes who are anxiously awaiting my passport so that we may split your 33 million being held up.. it’s still on the way! ) ..
Andrea (and your readers) - Here is a question for you:- imagine within the next ten minutes you lost everything
- some nigerian stole your domains
- swiped your adsense accounts
- and some south americans got access to all of your merchant accounts
- and some lawyer sued you for everything you had
- just imagine your screwed
- the products you had are no longer available to sell
- the websites that made money are no longer under your control
- what would you do within the next 12 months to generate at least $1,000,000
- how would you do it
- what would you do
- what would you not do
- who would you work with
- who would you avoid
- remember you have to start with no money
- any momentum you have now would be gone
imagine you had nothing - all of what you have now is gone, what would you do to get it back and make at least $1,000,000 in 12 months?
Certainly it wouldnt be fun to ANSWER this right here, and not give you guys a shot at it first, or to at least THINK about it. Answer will come soon..
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- Mar 14th, 2008
- 6 Comments
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So.. the bad news..
I lost a great babysitter.
The good news? I am going to get all the juicy details about her new job.
As you know I live in Jerusalem, Israel. What you may not know - the locals are a melting pot of lots of ANGLOS, well in addition to a few other people . If you are looking to open a Call Center, due to the high volume of educated, perfectly accented English speaking, willing to work for low pay individuals, Israel is YOUR move!!
Therefore the Call Center industry is HUGE here, the companies are just working harder to secure deals in European countries, since many of the jobs require very odd working hours .. 8 pm to 4 am is NOT uncommon.
Ok, so my Hawaiian house help, who was sticking around here for a while after meeting her Israeli boyfriend in Thailand, is currently working the following job: Jeremy Estes should pay attention, since I think you actually make money doing this even small time, so imagine the possibilities of big time.
An online ‘web’ directory is created and the focus is on specific niche areas. House painters, plumbers, electricians, etc.. The cold callers aka ex Hawaiian househelp receive a list of leads from each city, which is as easy as collecting a phone book, and approaches them with a “Could you handle more business?” the pitch continues with “We are only looking to find reputable people in the field, and if you meet our standards, we will list you in our online directory that is accessible blah blah blah..” then they say a few sentences that probably goes over most people’s heads.. “we are partnering with such and such sites, etc.”.. I am certain in addition to cold callers they do have a full time (outsourced people!!) backlink builders, and SEO specialists..
If you have the right script in front of you, and usually just ONE local business on board to start, then it should not be too hard to convince someone else to sign up! Meaning the conversion rate of sales made per call is much higher than it would be if you were sending the business to a direct sales page.
Dont be scared to work it OFFLINE to succeed ONLINE.
They charge $100/month for one LINK on their site. They do offer their callers a HUGE chunk of the first month as a commission, but this is all about continuity and the long term. It does seem daunting to be paying a base salary + the bulk of the first months earnings to your employees.. but when the 2nd month rolls around and the members are charged automatically, while your staff is generating more sales.. you are then on the road to serious business!
All it takes is ONE WEBSITE!!! and a bunch of gullible small business people who think the word Website is like what the immigrants thought of the word AMERICA!! Gold RUSH (oh and for many, America / Websites is the REAL DEAL!!)
Here is to YOUR personal Gold Rush!
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- Mar 7th, 2008
- 2 Comments
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One of the most inspirational speakers at the Rockin Conference I attended in Orlando was Gary Vaynerchuk. He has his game on 100% and will no doubt own the NY JETS one day . His passion is palpable and he literally sat there for HOURS after his speech, definitely hungry and tired.. until everyone felt that they had whatever piece of him he could give before moving on.
Some people, as Frank Kern so expertly delivered at the conference, have to do deep introspection to figure out WHO THEY ARE before being able to take over your market. You become 100% true to yourself, be 100% true to your Market, and the rest will follow.. Gary was BORN with it, and it seeps from his being. He was trying to teach it, and yeh.. some people will get lucky, and will train themselves how to market from their CORE.. but it may just be you either HAVE it or you DONT. Well let’s rephrase that. Everyone HAS something.. its just owning up to that and being great at it.
So can I make a living being a flirt lol.. I probably could.
As I went over to winelibrarytv.com to see Gary in action, I thought it was pretty ironic that the episode of the day, #422, is all about Kosher Wines. Do you know Gary that the symbol for tourism in Israel is 2 figures holding HUGE grapes! Well some of you may know where that Biblical story came from, and it didnt exactly turn out great, but the logo stuck.. - Check it out —>
I especially love how Gary says one of the wines smells like Bacon. Wonder if he knows Bacon is way up high on the NON Kosher list . So Gary, this chick from Israel thanks you and appreciates you for your appearance in Orlando, your personal time, your inspiration, and the support you gave our products today!
Right back at ya:
P.S - One thing that Gary has are FANS. TRUE fans. I dont think you would believe me if I told you HOW many people visit this blog, and READ, but DONT comment! Be a part of the conversation. It’s so much more fun for both of us, and then I can get to know you better, and maybe share with you some of my secrets hahaha.. seriously dont be scared. I know you are out there!!
My favorite Disney Picture (I was at the conference, so didnt get much Disney time therefore my Mom and Sis have all the pics!) so my ONLY picture from our trip - 2 of the kids sleeping on the plane.
Parting words of the day: Brand Yourself through Your strengths and Talents, Fans will Follow, and the rest will Happen.
Watch, Learn and Earn or your money BACK! (hahaha - it's 100% FREE!!)
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