Author Archive | Zed Debebe

I’m going to use the online marketing niche as our example to explain this technique, but keep in mind this could work equally well in other niches, too.

Consider this: When people have a specific problem that’s driving them crazy, they’ll do almost anything to fix that problem NOW.

For example, a bride-to-be has an acne outbreak the day before her wedding – what wouldn’t she do to fix her problem?

A woman is in immediate danger of losing her job – what wouldn’t she do to convince her boss not to fire her?

Parents are losing their child to alcohol – what wouldn’t they do to save their child?

Their need is great and immediate. Do you think they might pay to find the solution? Of course. Do you think they would enter their email address into an opt-in form to get the solution? You bet they would!

So how do we use this knowledge in a niche such as online marketing? Simple: If you pay attention to forums and blogs, you’ll notice there’s always some sort of online marketing crisis.

For example, Google just changed how they rank websites, and now thousands of online marketers are losing tons of money. Think they might like the solution?

Paypal is suddenly seizing accounts without warning and freezing the funds. Would the account owners like an answer on how to unfreeze their accounts? Would everyone else like to know how NOT to get their accounts frozen? You bet.

Facebook just changed (fill in the blank) and now marketers are unable to (fill in the blank) or maybe they’re banned, or…

Aweber just did the unthinkable, and marketers everywhere are freaking out.

XYZ hosting site just got hacked, big time. Websites are down and backups are missing – what to do?

The list goes on and on. Keep tabs on the forums and you’ll find a new crisis every month and often every week.

As you’ve probably already guessed, your lead magnet is going to offer the solution to the latest marketing crisis. Just imagine how fast marketers will give you their email address when you have the answer they desperately want NOW.

Right about now you’re asking, “But how am I going to find the solution when they can’t?”

Good old-fashioned research, that’s how.

Go to the help sections of the websites involved in the latest crisis and find out everything you can. If possible, call the website and ask all the questions you need to ask. Hit the chatrooms and forums and glean all the helpful info that is available. If you find an expert who knows what s/he’s talking about, do a quick phone interview.

Timing is everything on this, and you have got to act fast. If the crisis hits on Monday, ideally you want your lead magnet up no later than Tuesday to take full advantage of the tsunami of new leads you’re going to get.

And by the way, when you’ve got the solution everyone is desperately looking for, what does that make you? The trusted expert and authority, that’s who. Do you think people will open and read your future emails? You bet your life they will.

Now here’s the trick to getting your squeeze page in front of as many of these marketers as possible:

Outsource people to search out forums and threads where marketers are talking about this problem. If someone is looking for help, that’s where you want a link to your solution. Have your outsourcers post a link to your squeeze page offering them the answer they seek.

Yes, it’s that easy.

Oftentimes that thread and even your post offering your lead magnet will end up on page one of Google for that particular search.

Not bad, right?

And here’s the best part – your opt-in rate will be sky high. It will almost certainly top any squeeze page you currently have.

One more thing – if you want to take this just one step further, it can blow wide open.

Get podcasters to interview you, and do guest posts on as many blogs as possible.

Think about it – this problem is all over the online marketing community. What podcaster or blog owner doesn’t want to have someone with the solution to offer their listeners and readers?

Just one post on a major blog or podcast can result in a thousand subscribers in 48 hours.

Remember to position your solution not just as the answer to the problem, but also as the way to AVOID the problem for all those who aren’t already experiencing it. This way you’ll be able to grab not only the marketers looking for a solution, but also everyone else who wants to avoid this headache.

Wealth loves speed. Now go find the latest crisis, research the solution and start building that list.

Okay, your results will vary on this one. Frankly, I don’t see any reason why a person can’t make $500 per DAY, but as always, it depends on what you do with the info I’m about to share with you.

First, there is a stipulation – you must be really good at something that others want to know about. For example, if you’re really good at solving a particular problem or reaching a particular goal, then this might be right for you.

Let’s say you know how to list-build like crazy while spending very little money. Or you know how to write copy that converts, or how to get far more done in less time, or how to get podcasters to interview you, or…

The possibilities are endless. As long as you have a skill or knowledge that other people need and want, you can do this.

If you don’t, first get a skill and then do this.

And by the way, you’ll find this work rewarding and interesting. Plus you’ll make new friends, associates and business partners, too.

You can do this if you have a list, (best option) if you’re willing to advertise, if you’re willing to do guest posting, etc. Really, any method of getting qualified traffic can be used.

You’re going to advertise 30 minute brainstorming, troubleshooting or mentoring slots. Choose the term that works for you.

And you can do this in any niche, by the way, not just online marketing.

Charge a low fee when you start out – maybe $99 for 30 minutes. Once you gain testimonials and experience – which shouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks – significantly increase your price.

Ask your clients to send you any info you need for the call ahead of time. For example, if you’re doing website consultations, then of course you’ll need their URL. If you’re doing personal coaching, you might ask them what their biggest obstacles are, and so forth.

This allows you to prepare for the call. Later as you gain more experience, preparation won’t be as necessary.

But in the beginning, you want to build your own confidence so you instill confidence in your clients. Plus, you want to be able to give them the best advice possible. And sometimes that might mean doing some research prior to the call, especially if you’re somewhat new to the topic.

Personally, I’ve paid people as much as $1,000 for 30 minutes of their time. In return, I once saved 3 months of work and $5,000 in capital (I had a business idea that I learned from my expert wasn’t viable.)

And I’ve easily made 5 figures from just one consultation, resulting in a huge return on my money.

So yes, people DO pay for information, guidance and one-on-one help. And yes, you are providing a valuable service, assuming you know your topic.

You don’t need to be famous in your niche. You don’t need to be a guru. You just need to have a skill or knowledge that people want.

Do other people turn to you for advice? On what topic?

There’s your niche.

Have faith in yourself and your knowledge and you’ll do fine.

Be sure to ask the right questions. In fact, you might keep a list of questions handy. Once you know where your client is in whatever process you’re teaching, and where they want to go, then you can help them.

That last sentence, by the way, is a goldmine. Here it is again:

1: Find out where your client is in the process you’re teaching. How far along are they? What have they done so far? What are they about to do? What results have they gotten so far?

2: Find out where your client wants to go. What is their end goal? How do they plan to get there? Why do they want to get there?

3: Use your knowledge to help them get to where they want to be. What are they missing? What don’t they know or realize? What obstacles can you help them overcome? What shortcuts can you show them? What should their plan be? What is their very next step?

Things to know:

– Done right, you can get clients to book regular weekly time slots. For example, let’s say someone wants you to teach them different ways to get traffic.

On the first call, you might only have time to teach them one method.

Let them know you have a dozen more proven methods you’d be happy to teach them – given the time – and offer a weekly slot.

If they actually take your advice from the first call and start to see results, they will be back.

Or perhaps someone just needs you to keep them on track and making progress. You are now their coach, so naturally they’re going to be booking a weekly time slot with you.

– Let your clients record the calls. They will forget 90% of what you tell them if you don’t let them record, so yes, just let them.

– Provide tons of value, but forgo the firehose. Let’s go back to the traffic example: It’s better to teach one method of traffic generation really well so they can immediately put that knowledge to work, than it is to try to teach a dozen methods in 30 minutes.

If you try to teach too much too quickly, they won’t have enough details or confidence to implement what you teach. Plus you’re robbing yourself of potential repeat business.

– All you need to get started is a sales page offering your services and a Skype account. And use a scheduling service to schedule your appointments.

– Once you raise your prices enough to justify it, you might record the calls yourself and have them transcribed and sent to the clients.

This makes a nice added touch that provides real value, since they don’t have to go back to the recording each time to find out what you said.

– Ask for testimonials. Don’t be shy about this. Follow up via email and ask for their opinion of the call.

Ask specific follow up questions. If the answers you get back are positive, then ask for a testimonial.

– If the answers you get back are negative, fix it.

Maybe they didn’t understand something you said and were afraid to ask for clarification. Maybe they didn’t feel you understood their needs.

Whatever it is, fix it and fix it fast. When you do, you’ll often have a client for life.

Perhaps the most valuable point of all is to relax and have fun. The more relaxed and confident you are, the better your ideas will flow and the better advice you’ll be able to give.

Plus it’s important that the client enjoy the call in addition to receiving great information.

Make it fun for both you and the client – as well as highly educational – and you’ll get plenty of referral business, too.

What’s the easiest way to make money online, without having to create a product or a sales page? Affiliate marketing, of course. 🙂

So, why is it that most affiliate marketers never make nearly what they could make? Anyone has the potential to make HUGE money in affiliate marketing, yet 90% or more of affiliates make a pittance (I’ll wager the number is closer to 98%, in fact.)

Think about this: If you earn an average of $50 on each sale in a sales funnel you promote, and you make 6 sales, you’ve made $300. Sounds good, right?

But guaranteed, there is someone else who made 600 sales and walked away with $30,000.

Why did they make 600 sales when you made just 6?

There are reasons why a handful of affiliate marketers do amazingly well, and everyone else barely makes a profit.

And marketers who understand this will always have a tremendous advantage over marketers who don’t.

1: Build a Relationship

I know you’ve heard it before, but are you doing it? People buy people, not products.

If you want them to open your email and click your link, or visit your Facebook Group and click a link, you’ve got to have a RELATIONSHIP with your people.

This is so simple to do, yet few marketers take the time.

Start with a blog post that is all about you, and then send new opt-ins to the post so they can get to know you. Make the post silly, funny and most of all REAL. Talk about the stupid stuff you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, where you live and so forth.

Do you have a strange hobby or unusual taste in food? Include that. Do you have 17 pets? Talk about them. Do you work until 3 in the morning and sleep until noon? Mention that.

Reveal the real you. Not the details people don’t want, but the ones that amuse and interest. You’re looking to make a real connection, not give a resume.

And above all else, don’t make your life seem like a series of magnificent accomplishments. No one is going to relate to someone who turns everything they touch into gold.

But they are going to relate to the time you bought Bitcoin when it was worthless and sold it just before it took off, or the time you thought you could fly and jumped off your uncle’s barn into the manure pile.

And don’t stop with your ‘about me’ page, either. Use this relationship building in your lead magnet, your emails, your other blog posts and so forth.

Always inject a little bit about yourself. Not so much that you bore people, of course, or make everything seem about you. But just enough to keep it real.

Think about relating an event to a friend. Aren’t you going to give your own perceptions of what happened, as well as tell about how you got out of your car and stepped in the mud puddle just before your big presentation?

Use this same method of personal, one-on-one friend communication with your readers as well.

Post on your blog as often as possible, and we’re talking every day or two. Encourage your list to subscribe to Feedburner or the equivalent so they know when you add a new post.

Your readers will realize you’re a real person who isn’t out to pitch them a new product every 5 minutes. And they’ll gladly read your sales emails much more readily when they know there is a real live human being who is sending them these messages.

2: Use Your Own Voice

How many emails do you receive that say something along the lines of, “Buy this product – this product is the greatest product ever – you will be sorry if you miss this – so rush right over and buy it now.”

Yeah. Same old stuff, over and over again.

There is a marketer (or maybe several, but I’m thinking of one in particular) who sells MASSIVE quantities of this exact type of emails as a swipe file to new marketers.

Like a brand-new marketer couldn’t write their own 25 word email that basically says, “GO BUY THIS NOW!”

People are TIRED of getting these emails. You’re tired of getting these emails. I’m tired of getting these emails.

Same phrases, same message, same B.S.

If you’re not going to stand apart from the crowd, then you’re going to have to share the same crumbs they’re getting.

Instead, take 30 minutes and write your own promotional email in your own voice.

Forget hype. Be sincere. Be honest. “Hey, this product isn’t for everyone. I don’t even know if it’s for you. But if you have this problem, then maybe this is your solution. Check it out and decide if it’s right for you, because I know it’s worked like crazy for some people. And it’s on sale right now, too.”

I’ve written emails where I basically tell people not to buy something unless they really really want it or need it. “Don’t buy this if you already know how to do xyz.” “Don’t buy this if you’re not going to be doing this type of marketing.” This is only for people who want (fill in the blank.) It’s like I’m trying to talk them out of it, which paradoxically often results in more sales, not fewer.

But the point isn’t tricking them into buying; it’s to be honest. Because you know what? That latest, greatest product you’re promoting ISN’T what everyone on your list needs. Some of them, sure. The rest of them, no.

Do you have any idea how refreshing it is to open an email that says, “Here’s a new product, thought you might want to know, but please don’t buy it if you’re not going to use it.”

The first time I got an email like that, I bought the product without even reading the sales letter. True story. I was just so happy that someone wasn’t ramming a sale down my throat, that I jumped at the chance to buy it.

Weird but true.

My point is, be you. Be honest. Talk to your readers as though they are your best friends and you don’t want to lose your best friends by acting like a carnival barker who is here today and pulled up stakes (vanished) tomorrow with their money.

3: Email a LOT

This is the one where people like to argue with me, and I understand that.

You’ve heard over and over again that you shouldn’t email too often, or you’ll upset your subscribers, right?

After all, every time you email, there is the potential that a subscriber will hit the unsubscribe button.

Do you know what the potential is when you DON’T email? Nothing. No opens, no clicks, no sales… not even any relationship building.

Do you want people to open and read your emails? Then send out those emails EVERY DAY.

Here’s why:

First, almost no one will see every email you send out. Let’s say you’ve got a sale on one of your products. Don’t you think your readers might like to know about it? But if they miss the one and only email you send that lets them know, then they’ve missed out on the discount and you LOST a sale.

Second, send emails at different times. I opened someone’s email just yesterday, decided I was VERY interested in the new membership he was selling, clicked the link and discovered it was no longer available.

What happened? This particular marketer only sends out emails at 1:00 a.m. my time, so I don’t even see most of his emails in the avalanche of mail I get before I wake up.

Third, if you’re sending email once a week or once a month, your readers are forgetting who the heck you are. And when you finally do send an email, they think it’s spam.

Fourth, if you mail more often, you will make more money. Don’t take my word on this, just do it for one month. Send out one email per day, every day, for 30 days. Put a promotion in each one. See if you haven’t made more – a LOT more – money during that time period than during the previous month.

And by the way, I’m not saying JUST send out a promotion in each email. Make sure you have some content in there as well, even if it’s just an amusing anecdote.

4: Think of affiliate marketing as a BUSINESS

This isn’t a hobby, nor is it an add-on for an additional income stream.

Even if you go on vacation, be prepared to send out an email every day. Schedule them in advance or write them on vacation. Either way, affiliate marketing to your list is a business that you can’t just jump into when you need cash and forget about the rest of the time.

You don’t have many support issues, since the product owners handle this. You don’t have to worry about creating products, sales pages and so forth. You don’t have to drive traffic, unless it’s to build your list bigger.

With so much you don’t have to do, there’s no reason not to focus your time and energy into building relationships with your list and promoting to them every single day.

Affiliate marketing can be some of the easiest money you’ve ever made, if you put in the time and effort to make it a real business.