Easy Technique to Generate Online Leads and Sales

By David | Published: April 17, 2009

First of all if you don’t have a lead capture mechanism on your site you’re missing out on potential sales and leads.  A lead capture mechanism can be as simple as an opt-in box to your mailing list.

Now for the technique.  Let’s assume you created an opt-in box to get people on your mailing list.  Why would I want to sign up for your mailing list?  Normal reasons are coupons, exclusive discounts, more information, etc…

In addition to that we can also give out a free report or ebook.  I know you don’t want to write an ebook.  I don’t either.  That’s why I’m going to tell you how to create an ebook in 5 – 10 minutes.

First things first.  Fire up Word or any word processing program you might have installed.

Second go to article directories.  There are tons of them, but here are a few to get you started:

Ezine Articles

Go Articles

Article Dashboard

Third:  Search for your topic.  For example you do plumbing in Wall, NJ, so you search for plumbing.

Here are some of the great articles I’ve found:

Plumbing Basics

A Short Guide for Plumbing Emergencies

Plumbing Tips – From Thawing Frozen Pipes to General Pipe Repairs

Plumbing Problems and Solutions

Inexpensive Bathroom Remodeling Secrets

Electric showers: Making your bath economical

Emergency Plumbing Service: How To Choose The Best

Plus there are literally hundreds of other articles.  I found these articles in literally two minutes.

The good thing about these article directories is you can use their articles, all you have to do is leave the author information in.

Fourth: Create a cover page in Word (make sure to include your contact information).

Fifth: Pick your favorite articles and copy and paste them into Word, right after your cover page.

Sixth: Use a PDF converter to convert your document into PDF format.  Here are a few free PDF converters:

PDF 995

Primo PDF

Open Office

Seventh: Relax and take a nap.  You’re done.  You’ve created a good ebook with tips you can give your future clients in literally five minutes.

You don’t have to use this technique to create ebooks and reports, if you get stuck on what to write to your mailing list or are in a rush to get a mailing out you can do the same thing for your mailing list.

You can also use the articles on your sites for fast, keyword rich, free content.

Posted in Become Famous, Copywriting, Lead Generation, Tutorials | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

They Might Be Your Competitors But they Can Help

By David | Published: March 31, 2009

Here’s a little secret your own competitors might use against you and even if they aren’t there’s no reason why you can’t do it against them.

Basically you are opening up your competitor’s source code and using it to help you.

I use FireFox so the instructions are open up FireFox go to View, then Page Source.

For Internet Explorer it’s View, then Source.

The reason we’re opening up their source code is because there are important factors for each page for example the title, description and somewhat the metatags.

Since most of the content you can view on the page;  these are the three things you should be focusing on.  Personally I like looking at metatags and harvesting keywords off of them.  Of course viewing the title and description will also help you form ideas for your own.

The major search engines don’t put a big focus or even any focus on the metatags, but sites that are ranking usually use some or most of the keywords in these tags.  If you copy them and include them in your current SEO strategy it will help you rank for more keywords and for their keywords.

Posted in Become Famous, Search Engine Optimization | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Business Is Booming, You Can Do It To

By David | Published: March 27, 2009

Sorry for the long delay in between posts.  I’ve been insanely busy lately, which of course means business is booming.  Which brings me to the point of this post.  How can you make your business boom?

It’s easy look for clients in places you don’t normally look and of course SEO (search engine optimization) helps out a ton.

Business wasn’t exactly slow a few months ago, but I decided to try different tactics in my spare time to drum up added business.  I’m a workaholic so working 16 hours a day doesn’t bother me (as long as it’s not manual labor), but I can’t work 16 hours a day because I do have a family.  The first step I took was figure out a way to turn every day into a 16 hour day without doing 16 hours a day of work.

So I looked around and found tons of unpoached leads and generated several of my own leads (through SEO), a long story short I got myself up to 16 hour days by getting new clients, but my family was almost being neglected, so I decided to have two of me.  In the last month or two, I’ve hired three people.  Two of them I let go because their performance wasn’t up to par with the way I work.  I’m left with one (who’s doing an excellent job), but it’s really making me much more efficient and now there’s more working hours available in the day.  I’ll probably hire someone else because I think having two people help me would be even better and I probably do need two people because I’m creeping back up to those 16 hour work days (and have had several in the last week).

The point of that whole statement was I found leads in unlikely sources, I converted the leads, I hired more help which motivates me to generate even more business (because now more can get accomplished), and I’m going to expand again in the near future because I don’t want to start a waiting list and lose out on customers.  Don’t stop trying to generate leads.  The minute you stop new clients might stop showing up.  Word of mouth can get you tons of clients, but even that can be tapped depending on your business.

I know you’re probably waiting for the unlikely lead source.  Sorry that’s not included here (or for sale).  Look back on some of my posts and you’ll find several ways of creating leads, that work.

SEO won’t let you down no matter how you look at it, SEO being your first form of attack will get you noticed no matter what business it is you do.  There are so many people searching online that the yellow pages…dare I say…is just about obsolete.  I read recently that some companies are planning on doing away with local yellow pages unless you request them.  Online is the place to be.  If you don’t have a website you better get one designed and created now.  I don’t care if you’re a carpenter in Howell or a dentist in Toms River get yourself online now.

Sometimes you need to work harder and then smarter.

Posted in Lead Generation, Search Engine Optimization | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Bullet Points are the Foundation to Your Sales Page

By David | Published: March 9, 2009

Some people think long sales letters and hype pages are the best way to get sales and convert visitors.  While it can be true and it can help, the arguably most important part of your page are bullet points.

I skip through long sales pages and I know a lot of others that do this and go straight to the bullet points after reading a little bit from the first couple of paragraphs.  I don’t have time to spend an hour reading a page.

Bullet points are bold, easy to distinguish from the rest of the content and should have the most important and relevant information in them.

If you aren’t using bullet points in your sales copy you better start now.  Sales pages aren’t one size fits all.  For some demographics they’ll want a long sales letter, others a short sales letter, others prefer video.  The good thing is you can create your page however you want, but don’t forget those bullet points.  Even if someone decides to skip your sales letter or video they will know the main benefits of your product.  If they see a compelling reason within your bullet points they might just read the rest of the page or order.

Don’t skimp on the bullet points and make sure the top reasons to purchase your product are in there.

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Free Business Cards…I Mean Completely Free…

By David | Published: March 4, 2009

I just found a great offer for free business cards.

You don’t even need to pay shipping like with VistaPrint.  The only bad thing is it says Printed for Free on the back.  These are good as backup cards if you run out of good business cards or really as business cards in general.  I’m ordering.  Free is always a good price.  I figure free emergency cards can’t be beat.

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An On Page SEO Tactic That is Often Missed

By David | Published: March 4, 2009

Did you know that your site’s navigation can also play a role in search engine optimization for your site?  The search engines look for keywords and keyword rich URLs are given added weight in your rankings.

You sell wicker lawn chairs and your page navigation looks like this:

Home

Products

Etc….

Where it says Home you can rename it to Wicker Lawn Chairs Home Page.  Where it says Products a way to get a little more bang for your search engine buck, would be to rename it to Wicker Lawn Chair Products.   Of course this is a simplified example and you should do it to all or most of your URLs as you see appropriate.

The navigation text we are adding is technically called anchor text.  You want your anchor text to have the keywords you’re trying to rank for.  This helps the search engines figure out what’s on your pages, which in turn boosts your rankings a bit.  Anchor text is not only important with on site SEO, but it is also important for off site SEO.

Posted in Search Engine Optimization | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Don’t Believe the Hype…Fake Screenshots Do Exist…

By David | Published: February 26, 2009

I have a friend that wants to buy a revenue producing site.  He’s doing his homework before he buys, but I’ve been telling him over the last couple of weeks don’t believe everything you see.  A lot of those “gurus” out there and sales pages are complete bullshit.  From the screenshots down to the videos.

Testimonials a lot of times are faked also and even if they’re not the big internet marketing guys play the “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” game.

Another thing PayPal fees vary by transaction.  When I see a screenshot of PayPal transactions and the fees are exactly the same for every transaction, that raises a big red flag for me.  PayPal charges you different fees depending on what kind of transaction it is and what kind of account you have.  Usually you won’t be billed at the same rate for every single transaction if you have a ton of transactions.  For more information get it straight from PayPal.

Here’s a quick tutorial for everyone.  You can take this as a warning or you can take it to become a scammer.  Either way it’s up to you what you do with the knowledge.

There are a few ways to get the desired effect.

Technique one:

Go to your favorite website and save the page.  Open the page up in your favorite WYSIWYG editor.

Change the names and numbers.  Save, open up in your friendly browser, get a screenshot.  Done.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Fake PayPal Balance

Look who's PayPal account this is!

See How Easy it is to Manipulate any of the Fields?

See How Easy it is to Manipulate any of the Fields?

And that’s just one technique.  We still have the Firebug technique.  The javascript code technique.  I haven’t even mentioned videos.  You get the point.  I don’t think the other techniques are necessary.

Pay attention to detail and verify as many details as you can.  There are too many scammers out there.

Posted in Site Security, Tutorials | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Automate Your Business and Save…

By David | Published: February 23, 2009

I decided to take the weekend off from this site.  I normally post every day and lately I’ve been doing everything in real time as opposed to writing in advance (which is what I was doing before).  I’ve decided to post less frequently although I will post on here almost every day.  I have tons of pre-written notes for different topics but some of them go into so much detail it would take hours to formulate a decent post and frankly I don’t have that much free time to spare.  I use my free time to create new sites and stay on top of the latest trends and techniques.

Did you know that there’s a way to do all of your work and in record time?  Do you have some kind of daily task that’s repetitive and that you do every day or almost every day?  Since this is a blog to help your business I have a solution for you.

It’s called using macros.  A macro is basically a screen recording of some work you’ve done previously, except that instead of it just being a recording it actually does the work for you.  There are many programs available that create macros ranging from free to several thousand dollars.  I’ve compiled a list of several of them and most of them have free trials to see if you can use them in your business.

Here are several different macro creating programs:

Quick Macros

EZ Macros

iMacros for Firefox

iMacros

Smack Macro Recorder

Auto Macro Recorder

Journal Macro

WinAutomation

Automation Anywhere

Desktop Macros

You can save literally hours a day and run your business virtually on autopilot if you create the proper macros.

Some of these programs even create executable files that you can use on any computer without having to install any other programs.  Imagine you own a business and know other companies that have the same needs as you.  You can actually sell the macros to other businesses and help them automate everything.  It can be a side business to create extra income.

Posted in Saving Money | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Swipe Files the Shortcut to Creating Kick Ass Sales Letters

By David | Published: February 20, 2009

A swipe file is basically a sales letter you found that you thought was great.  To start using swipe files find several sales letters that you know were successful and that you think are well written.  Then save them to your computer.

Have a look at each sales letter and notice the way it was written; the headlines, the bolded print, the bullet points, the P.S., the images, etc…

Now that you have your swipe files you can take bits and pieces of each letter (not copying it word for word) and you can use that style within your sales letter.  You can even make the format look similar to your favorite letters.  This way you don’t have to brainstorm everything, all you’re really doing is re-writing sales letters and of course customizing it to your product.

Instead of spending days writing great copy, you will only spend minutes or hours.

You don’t need to do all the hard work someone else has already done the hard part for you.  You’ll find your sales letters are better and flow more fluidly if you model yours off of already successful sales letters.

A good resource to use when you’re copywriting is using a thesaurus.  There are tons of online thesauruses that are free to use.  If you see you’re using the same word too many time or even want ideas for what words to use these can be a very valuable resource in conjunction with your swipe files.  Synonyms help keep your written copy less redundant.

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Expand Your Payment Options and Terms

By David | Published: February 19, 2009

Right now people and companies don’t have the disposable cash they use to have.  Expanding your payment options and terms can help you get buyers that you thought you couldn’t reach.

I’m constantly evolving around my clients.  One client wants this, one client wants that.  No problem if there is a work around I’m always happy to do it.

Payment options could be accepting online payments like PayPal, EPassporte, Revolution Money Exchange, Google Checkout, etc…  It could be accepting cash, check, money order, bank transfers, different credit cards.  Extended or subscription payments, discounts for one time payments, discounts for cash.

You have to be flexible if you want the client.  If I think a client is serious I’ll bend over backwards to accomodate them and everyone should be thinking the same.  I’ll even barter for something I need, if the cash isn’t available.

You might also want to offer a “lite” or less complex version of your product at a lower cost if it’s possible.  If you offer a service you can only do part 1 and later on down the line the client can purchase part 2 when they can afford it.

If the client is willing to negotiate, I’m willing to negotiate.

Of course if no matter how much negotiating and flexible you try to be you can’t come to an agreement, just walk.  It’s not worth wasted energy if there is no hope in saving a deal.

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