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else.
Next is PR.
You can use this to build your e-zine, or to directly
promote your product. Or both. Definitely use media
coverage to give yourself an edge. It's free, and it's
very powerful. (Most people don't get a fraction of
the publicity they could. Check out the NETrageous Publicity
Resource Center for very specific advice from my good
friend, Dr. Paul Hartunian. We've gotten millions of
dollars of free publicity by following Paul's methods.
And, Paul used publicity and actually sold the Brooklyn
Bridge - the story is on the site, along with a template
for writing a great news release.) http://www.netrageousresults.com/pr/
Next, consider
an affiliate program. A well-run affiliate program can
generate a lot of business at a fixed cost per sale.
Once it's in place, it's a matter of marketing the program
effectively. There are several very good manuals available
for doing this.
This is an
area that's maturing very quickly.
Then I'd
go to sites that have a lot of traffic that target my
market. I'd offer them articles targeted to their readers,
and work on possible joint promotions.
GoTo.com
(http://www.goto.com/) would be the next step. Their
system is quite effective in generating traffic at predictable
costs per visitor.
One thing
to keep in mind when using Goto.com is that you don't
need to be number one in the bidding. If you can
write a better headline than the first site or two in
the listings, you can get the traffic without having
the highest bid.
Another thing
that some people miss with Goto.com is the potential
in secondary keywords. For example, for our Internet
ScamBusters site, the main keywords are things like
scams, hoaxes, and fraud. However, at Goto.com, we discovered
that many times as many visitors were searching for
computer virus hoaxes, stopping spam, and urban legends
than for scams. Since we have pages devoted to each
of these topics, they made excellent additional keywords.
You should have a large list of additional keywords.
Danny Sullivan's http://www.searchenginewatch.com/facts/searches.html is a great resource to help you create your list.
Remember,
you're only paying for actual visitors, so the secondary
keywords aren't an expense. You might even find that
they're substantially cheaper for good placement, and
more effective.
Then, if
it made sense for my product, I'd hire someone to optimize
my pages for the search engines and do the submission
work. Make sure a person does it. Don't use the automated
submission services. Even the best of them won't
come close to the accuracy and savvy of an experienced
submissions expert.
Targeted
e-zine ads would be my next choice. Look for e-zines
that are the most likely source of prospects and subscribe
to them. Read them to make sure they're a good fit.
Ask for references from current and past advertisers.
Ads in the right e-zine can be a very cost-effective
way to generate traffic. One friend of mine generates
100 subscriptions a day to his print newsletter - all
with inexpensive e-zine ads!
I'd look
for high traffic niche sites and work out deals for
banner ads with the owners. Many of these sites are
willing to sell banner ad space at very low rates, because
the demand for their ad inventory is so low. Often,
they're simply hobby sites. Some advertisers look at
these sites as "small time," but they really can be
terrific sources of targeted traffic. They're promoted
based on the builders' passion for their subject, so
they tend to develop quality content and very loyal
visitors.
I probably
still haven't spent my $3000, other than as pay for
performance results, but that ought to get people going.
:)
[Corey]:
What is the next project that NETrageous is taking on?
[Audri]:
I'm really excited about a new product we just launched
that we call the "$1,000,000 Break-Through Internet
Tape Series." It combines three talks we gave at Jay
Abraham's 24-month, highly experimental, $1,000,000
program called the "Ultimate Live Market Research Laboratory"
(ULMRL) with the most provocative, in-depth interview
we've ever done.
For example,
one of the talks is called, "How You Can Add At Least
$15,000 to $150,000 to Your Bottom Line Without Spending
a Fortune, Becoming a Nerd, Losing Sleep, or Betting
The Farm!" One of the Internet strategies brought an
entrepreneur $12,000 in 30 days… and almost all of that
was profit. Another resulted in $20 million of revenue
- all online.
300 entrepreneurs
paid $5,000 apiece to participate in the ULMRL. Six
of these entrepreneurs earned a combined extra $1,000,000
over the last few months by using the simple Internet
marketing strategies and techniques they learned on
just two of these seven audio tapes.
[Corey]:
Yes, your program is terrific. My favorite part is your
last presentation. If someone implements just one of
the strategies you outline in that talk they can't
help but make 100 times the cost of your program! (That's a great guarantee, BTW.) And, Jay Abraham's
interview with you and Jim is also fantastic, with lots
of excellent advice - and great examples. I particularly
liked your advice on advice on how a small company can
compete - and win - with a company that is a very well
financed and/or is selling products below cost. I highly
recommend your program to my subscribers.
[Audri]:
Thanks! If they're interested, your subscribers can
learn more about this program at http://www.asknetrageous.com/
[Corey]:
What else are you working on?
[Audri]:
The other immediate project is the seminar in January
that we're co-hosting with Jay Abraham. That's going
to be amazing. Jay and Jim and I will co-moderate the
seminar. Andy Bourland, Dana Blankenhorn, Larry Chase,
Declan Dunn, Ken Evoy, Rob Frankel, Paul Hartunian,
Cliff Kurtzman, Jakob Nielsen, Eva Rosenberg, Jim Sterne,
and Ralph Wilson will be there, working with the participants.
And you, of course. ;)
We'll also
have special sessions with Danny Sullivan on search
engines, Marty Chenard on pricing, and Bruce Roberts
on raising money for your venture. It will be four and
a half days of pure, results-focused training. We expect
this to be the most valuable gathering ever on the subject
of marketing online. Your subscribers can learn more
by visiting http://www.abraham-netrageous.com/imc/
[Corey]:
I understand that e-zine promotions are your specialty.
Tell us a bit about your approach, and what you do that
separates your techniques from all the other e-zine
promotional techniques out there.
[Audri]:
We wrote the first three reports on e-zines several
years ago. We've been keeping track of all the new systems
for promotion as they come out. Some of the newer ones
are really unique, but the principles have stayed the
same right along.
Start off
with a good plan that applies common sense, and test
everything. Don't rely on your assumptions until you
can prove (or disprove) them in real world conditions.
That's very important.
Of course,
we don't ignore the old stand-by methods, like registering
with the various directories, doing ad swaps and paid
ads, and submitting articles to related e-zines and
Web sites.
We're not
afraid to try unconventional methods. One simple but
rather unusual approach is customized email-on-demand
which we're using to boost subscriptions on the AskNETrageous.com
site. We're always looking for new approaches that can
help us to build circulation.
Probably
the biggest thing that separates our approach from most
e-zine publishers is that we're persistent. Most publishers
do their promotions in fits and spurts, with no real
plan or method. We promote regularly, and we test methodically.
Our e-zines serve as models for thousands of small businesses.
We find the
things that work best for each e-zine - they're not
the same for every one - and we keep doing them. Over
and over.
[Corey]:
What do you like most about running a business on the
Internet?
[Audri]:
I totally love it. We're 100% a virtual company. We
live in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina,
our headquarters are in Maryland, our customer support
is in Arkansas, and we have contractors all over the
US. You can live anywhere and do anything! The
Internet moves at warp speed - and we meet the greatest
people. It's the best of all businesses.
[Corey]:
What, in your opinion, is the future for small and home-based
businesses on the Internet? What will make it different
than it is now?
[Audri]:
The picture is excellent - but you must "nichify" and
provide real value. Find the right product for the right
niche (or the right niche for your product) and promote
specifically to them. Talk only to the people who you
know already want your product. If the rest of the world
ignores your message, that's okay. They weren't going
to buy anyway.
What will
be different? I think we're going to see a growth in
the seriousness with which most small businesses approach
the Net. Right now we see a lot of people with no business
sense or experience trying to make a go of it and failing.
Not because they don't have good ideas or quality products,
but because they don't know how to think about their
enterprise as a business.
I think this
failure rate will force a lot of these people to do
the work they need to learn to think like business people.
That's going to be good for all of us. This is happening
already, but the constant influx of new people looking
to make their mark hides that a bit.
Part of the
problem is the low cost of entry. A lot of people don't
take it seriously because they don't have much invested.
That problem will be part of the cure, too. Since the
cost of failure is relatively low, more people will
be able to afford to pick up and start over.
Failure in
a brick and mortar business takes a lot longer to recover
from. With careful planning and promotion, you can start
a small business online for less than two months' lease
for that same retail store.
[Corey]:
We see all the public companies in the news, most of
them spending millions (and losing millions!) - but
most of us are small businesses with budgets in the
hundreds or thousands, not millions. Are there any major
public companies that you model your projects after,
or do you consider them in a different league with different
ideals and business management?
[Audri]:
We did a ton of work with large Fortune 50 companies
at MDL. We sold to the best companies and got an opportunity
to work with - and protect - their mission critical
data. So, I'm quite familiar with that world.
I don't really
model any huge company. As small businesses, we have
the benefit of incredible agility. We can offer customer
service that most large companies don't.
The biggest
thing I think we can learn from large companies is how
they invest in the future. The best companies don't
look only at the immediate future - they can afford
to look beyond that and invest in their staff and in
themselves. We try to take that approach.
[Corey]:
If our clients wanted to make $1000-$5000 extra in the
next 60 days (assuming they have an online business)
what generally would you say to them or tell them to
do?
[Audri]:
Good question. Here's how I'd go about it...
Step 1: Have
a great product, and know exactly who your best prospect
is. Who already wants what you have to sell?
Step 2: Build
a Web site that's designed to sell. Make it as customer
focused and easy to use as possible.
Step 3: Promote
specifically to your best prospect. Write
your ads, articles, and any other promotional material
you use directly to that person.
Step 4: Work
from the free promotional methods into the paid ones
(see what we've already talked about above). Start by
submitting articles to e-zines and Web sites that appeal
to your best prospect.
Participate
in discussion lists or bulletin boards that your prospects
frequent. Use a sig file or tag line on all your posts.
Make sure you're posting useful material, not blatant
ads. Be a resource.
Start with
low cost ads in targeted e-zines. Find the ones that
work, and keep using them. Reinvest most of your income
into carefully expanding your promotional efforts.
Step 5: Test
everything, and keep improving your response.
There's a
lot more that we've already covered. With the information
in this interview, most small businesses can get a good
start on building a solid base for their online efforts.
One other
thing I definitely recommend. Keep learning.
Do your own
research, or pay for the information from people who've
done it already. (I personally do both.) Don't be shy
about reinvesting in your business. The returns are
well worth the effort and expense.
[Corey]:
Where do you think the Internet is going? How will it
affect all our daily lives? Do you have any ideas on
how some of our subscribers can harness that and profit
from it?
[Audri]:
I don't believe we can't even imagine where the Internet
is going. It is exploding in all directions, and already
transforming everything. It is effecting every aspect
of our lives.
Companies
no longer have the luxury to wait and see. Start now.
Commit to it. Do it. Test. Modify. Start again if necessary.
Focus completely on your customer. Own your niche. And
win!!
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR: Corey Rudl is the owner of four highly
successful online businesses that attract more than 1.8
million visitors per month and generate over $6.6 million
each year. He is also the author of the #1 best-selling
Internet Marketing course online.
To
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