Here's what I said about Marlon Sanders' post:
Awesome post, time spent reading it through was well worth it. Chockfull of valuable lessons - if only enough people would read it and INTERNALIZE what you shared, success would be so much easier to achieve, Marlon.
It's titled:
How to Escape Your Day Job, Pay Your Bills, And Make Progress Towards The Ideal Lifestyle
It begins like this:
There are 6 basic ways to get dough online:
1. Promote affiliate products
2. Google adsense
3. Sell a service
4. Sell advertising
5. Sell physical products (think ebay)
6. Sell information
You’ll notice that the last 4 all involve selling something. That’s the approach I wanna talk to you about today.
And then, Marlon goes on to explain each component in stunning and explicit depth. It's a post everyone - especially those getting started in online business - need to not just read, but deeply internalize.
Read it today. Think about it. And save a copy to review from time to time.
It's worth doing!
To Expose List Marketing MIS-INFORMATION
On any popular discussion forum on marketing online, a topic that is brought up
often is about list building and selling through email to one's list.
And there's a lot of 'envy' or 'curiosity' about the size of some 'guru's list.
Often unnecessary or unwarranted, because I've known list owners with tiny
little lists whip the 'big boys' in contests time and time again - because they
have the RIGHT kind of list.
In response to one such discussion I participated on recently, I shared a
portion of a report that focuses on the numbers to watch and monitor as a list
owner - and that proves the common mis-perception about 'big lists equalling big
money'.
Some years back, I even did a full course called EZINE ANTI-MARKETING - where
the theme was 'SMALL Lists - BIG Money'.
It's possible. I've done it. You can too.
But first, go through this exercise.
= = = = = = = = = Start of excerpt = = = = = = =
The first goal is your desired income.
How much money do you want to earn every month from your list?
If you haven't thought about it until now, do it. Imagine the things you
expected to do when you launched your online money making efforts. What would
they cost you? What gifts or luxuries do you dream of enjoying? What income on
a monthly basis would let you get them?
When you've arrived at this figure, write it down here:
MY MONTHLY INCOME TARGET FROM MY LIST IS: $ __________
The next target or goal to set is related to your effort at list building and
ezine publishing.
How much time do you have available every day to work on your ezine? Write it
down:
I HAVE ________ HOURS EVERY DAY/WEEK TO PUBLISH MY EZINE
(If you have not able to commit to a daily writing schedule, calculate this
figure on a 'per week' basis)
Next, estimate how long it will take you to write an issue and mail it out to
your list - on any topic you choose. To make sure you are being realistic,
consider writing about a subject you are NOT an expert on - that way, you'll
factor in the time you'll spend on researching the topic.
Once you're done, write that down too:
I ESTIMATE EACH ISSUE WILL TAKE ME ________ MINUTES / HOURS TO WRITE
Finally, let's do some math. Calculate how many ezine issues you'll be able to
write every week (or month)
No. of issues per week = (Time available to write per week / Time to write
each one)
So if you have 4 hours every week and can write an email to your list in one
hour, you can write FOUR ISSUES in a week.
Then, compute how many you can write in a month - just multiply this figure by
4. Write down the answer.
I CAN WRITE _________ LIST EMAILS / EZINE ISSUES EVERY MONTH
Now, look at your income target that you wrote down before. Calculate how much
you'll have to earn from each issue in order to reach your target income.
For instance, if you wanted to earn $200 a month from your list, and can create
8 issues each month, then you'll have to earn:
$200 / 8 = $25 per email blast
Are you with me so far?
Great.
Now, if this figure is too steep (e.g. if you have to make $75 per email), then
there are two solutions to make it work...
1. Write more emails (which means you'll have to write faster, or spend more
time each month writing)
2. Sell more from each email, or higher profit products/services
Let me explain with another example.
If you want to earn $900 a month, but can write only 6 ezine issues, then each
one you write must earn you:
$900 / 6 = $150 per email
That may be a bit on the higher side if your list is small - but if you work
longer and harder, and can write 12 issues instead of 6, you can manage with
less and reach your target.
Or else, you can sell more to your list by crafting more compelling sales
pitches, or selling higher ticket products with bigger commissions, or growing
your list bigger.... and still reach your target of $900 per month.
Ok, now before you move further along, get these calculations done and written
down on paper. There's a special power in writing down your goals and targets -
so please do this NOW before going on:
MY INCOME TARGET PER MONTH IS $ __________
I CAN WRITE __________ EZINE ISSUES EACH MONTH
TO REACH MY INCOME TARGET, I MUST:
MAKE $ _______ FROM EACH MAILING, AND
NEED TO SELL TO ______ PEOPLE PER EZINE ISSUE
= = = = = = = = = End of excerpt = = = = = = =
Guess how many list owners have numbers like this WRITTEN down?
Guess how many review these numbers regularly?
Guess how many get UPSET if they don't grow?
I'll guarantee that it's not many folks who participate in discussions about
list building on most forums, though... because there's far too much
misinformation being spread about list marketing issues.
I don't have the answers either - but have a one-word piece of advice:
T E S T
And if you'd like to learn more about list building done the RIGHT
way, check out the EZINE ANTI-MARKETING course experts are raving
about - click here!
Over the next couple of weeks, we're going to do something interesting at the 'Money.Power.Wisdom' blog
Just about everyone with a Web presence today wants a blog. And most of them want to get started YESTERDAY!
While a blog doesn't need too much preparation and planning to get launched, you can MULTIPLY your impact by charting out a basic blueprint before you publish your first words on it... and that's the theme of this course...
.