How I used eBay! to Make My First Real Money On The Internet!

My Personal eBay! Story...

You've got to know what'll sell on eBay! if you
really want to make some money!

In case you've missed my last several posts, I’m conducting an experiment wherein I post several ideas that entrepreneurs send me on how they made their first money on the Internet.

The interesting thing is,  I have received only a few of these ideas from readers even though I've offered to post names and place web addresses with links next to the articles.   A few of you have sent in articles, but did not want to have their website information published, which is OK by me. 

I did have one really good tip sent to me by a guy named Jon that told me that he made his first money on eBay, buying and selling stuff that he found at yard sales.

Since he really didn't write much, and since I too used eBay a lot to make my first bucks on the Internet, I thought I’d expand on that and tell you about how I got down and dirty in the trenches with eBay. 

But, before I go down that road…

I just want to take a second and throw out the offer once again, for those of you interested in sharing your experiences on how you made your first money on the Internet. 

Please send your stories and ideas to: elmo033057@gmail.com or write your ideas and place them in a comment box.  It’s just that simple.  

I’ll give you full credit and place your name, business or whatever you want on my blog, to include your URL and a link to your site.

How I Made $20,000 on eBay!

OK this idea of using eBay to make money took quite a bit of work, but it basically forced me to try to learn how to do things on the Internet.  While $20,000 may look like quite a chunk of change, it was actually more money than that, and it was over a period of years I made money on eBay!  But as I said, it was really my first money that I made on the Internet, as far as I can remember.

It was about 1995 or 1996 that I got involved with eBay, and I just want to reiterate, it was a lot of work.  The first thing I tried to do was go around to yard sales, buy junk and try to sell it on eBay. 

I had heard at work that there were people going around making big bucks by going to yard sales, buying ties, shirts, or whatever and then selling them on the world’s greatest auction site.  

So off I went, hitting every yard sale I could buying things that I thought people would want. 

Unfortunately, I wound up with a garage full of junk. Some of the stuff I placed up on auction sold for a mere pittance and once I paid the shipping, I was the loser.

Clorox Bottles - The Turning Point!

But as I have stated before on this blog, your successes come from failing.  So, I kept at it.  I learned pretty quickly that you needed to have a way to check the

prices of things before you bought them.  However, this was before the Internet was on your cell phone, so I had to have another plan.

I had my slave…er…son sit at home next to his computer, and I took my cell phone with me.

Whenever I wanted to know what something was selling for I would call him up and ask him to look on eBay to see what the prices of particular items went for.

Hey, ya learn fast when you lose money.

So, my wife and I stopped at some lady’s house who was selling glass Clorox bottles.  Now, I was born in the late 50’s and as far back as I could remember, my mother always had to white plastic Clorox bottles, so I knew that these had to be antique.  I know that certain glass bottles can go for quite a bit of money, and these were in mint-perfect condition.

So, I asked the woman running the yard sale what she was selling them for. 

“$20.00.” She announced for everyone in the garage to hear.

They're $20.00!

I asked her where she got them from, and she told me they had been passed on for years in her family.  She also told me that glass collectors love those things. 

When I inquired why she wasn't trying to sell them to glass collectors and really cash in on the glass bottle bonanza, she told me that as soon as the yard sale was over her son was going to take them and do just that.

“Yeah,” she said chewing on a piece of beef jerky, “he’s gonna sell them to an antique dealer we know for $60.00 apiece.”

“Oh, really?” I said, dialing my son.

To cut a long story short,  it turns out there were loads and loads of them on eBay, in mint perfect condition starting at $4.00 apiece. So I skipped out of that yard sale thinking about a sign I saw in a library as a kid.

"Knowledge is power."

After that I usually checked things put before I bought them, and over time I knew which of the items were real hot sellers.

The Certain Things Sell Better Lesson

I remember going to a yard sale and some young guy (obviously pretty successful from the looks of his house) had a  brand new cell phone in a box.  When I asked him why he was selling it, he said,

"I signed up for a plan with the cell phone company and they hacked me off, so I cancelled the contract with them. Since that phone will only work with that particular company, I'm selling it."

He originally wanted 20.00 for the phone, but I offered him $5.00.  Since I hit him with this price right before he shut down his yard sale for the day, he decided to let it go.  I made $65.00 off of that brand new phone on eBay!

Knowing your market is kinda important 

So, if you know what the market on eBay! is looking for, you can still make money.  However, you have to consider the cost.  

• The cost of gas driving around

• The cost of time.  This method is pretty time consuming.  Not only do you have to drive around to all of the yard sales, but you have to consider the time you have to take packing this stuff up and then standing in line at the post office.

• The cost in shipping the items to the people that are buying them.  You don't want to charge too much, but at the same time, you don't want to under charge so that you're losing money either.  

• You'll need to spend even more time and money on eBay! itself.  eBay! does charge for placing items on it's auction site, and you'll have to take pictures of your items and upload them as well as write a real good description of the item.

The Lessons I Learned From This...

This isn't a real good way of making money on eBay!  

When I consider the time, money and effort I put into it, I was a loser.  However, as I said before knowledge is power, and I quickly learned how to put items up on eBay! and how the whole process worked.  

That set me up for making an actual income that was worth working on the "World's Greatest Auction Site" which I'll share with you in my next post.

Just a reminder, if anyone want wants to send me their story of how they made their first money on the Internet, please send it to:  elmo033057@gmail.com  

I'll be happy to give you full credit, place a link to your site and help you in any way I can.

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Anyone Can Use This Simple Technique to Get Started Making Money on the Internet Immediately!

Getting started.  This seems to be a big hang up for a lot of people.

Many of us get so constipated with information overload, we fail to take any action.  We buy the books and courses and watch a ton of YouTube videos, but when it comes to execution, we fall short.

Failure to Launch

I remember buying a huge Internet marketing course for about $400 and diving into it with excitement and passion, only to let it sit there for about 2 years before taking any real action.  I had a problem getting my ideas off the ground.

And even though a course like that was very well done, if you don’t take any kind of action, your results will be null, and if your results are null,  you’ll get depressed, and if you get depressed you probably won’t take any action… 

And the process repeats itself. 

The only way to beat this vicious cycle of inactivity is to GET OFF YOUR HINEY AND DO SOMETHING!!!

An Easy Way to Get Started From Two of My Readers

Yesterday I ran an article asking readers to share their stories and ideas about how they made their first dollar in Internet Marketing.

I’m encouraged by the fact that at least a few of you have contacted me with their ideas and I really appreciate it.  This information will definitely help out your fellow entrepreneurs and it is a clear and shining example of how kind some people can be in helping others.

If you would like to contribute to this blog, please send me your ideas on this subject and I will gladly post it.  Either post your idea in the comment section or write it up and send it to:

elmo033057@gmail.com

In the subject field put: “Mark, How I Made My First Dollar” - That way I’ll be able to see it amidst all of the email I constantly get.  Ha-ha!

 So, I got two emails sent to me (no signature or web address, which I would have gladly posted) that said just about the same thing.  The emails were basically one or two lines, so I’ve embellished on their ideas to help get the message across.

So, thanks so much to Ryan and Blake for sending these.  In the future if you want me to put a link to your sites on this post, just let me know.

Start Hocking Your Skills and Talents

Sit down and dash out on a piece of paper all of the skills you possess.  Here’s a list of ideas to get you thinking:

Writing – Articles, blog posts, advertising copy, etc.

Graphic Arts – Logos, banners, buttons, scanned art, etc.

Speaking – Making how to videos, pod casts, interviews, (even public speaking)

Web Design – Any skill you may have that contributes to building websites

Programming Skills – Java code, HTML, Flash, etc.

If you don’t have any skills ACQUIRE THEM!

You can learn everything you need to know from a laptop these days, so no more excuses.  Get busy and start learning!

What you can do immediately is start marketing your skills through a variety of channels like Craig’s List, Elance, oDesk, and if you just absolutely want to get started and make your first few dollars, market yourself through Fiverr. 

In my opinion, making a living on a site like Fiverr would be very tough, however some people have actually done that.  But I look at sites like Fiverr and opportunities for making money with Adsense ads as a springboard to get you started.  That certainly shouldn’t be the only way to make money to survive on. 

True Story about Acquiring Skills

A couple of years ago, I was rehabbing a house with my family.  We had purchased a home that we had bought from a foreclosure.  We got a super deal on it, however, it had severe leak problems with the roof. 

We decided we really wanted to have the roof work done by contractors, and we had a neighbor tell us that we needed to install a metal roof.  Our rehab was on top of a tall hill and it as susceptible to high winds from time to time.

So we ordered a metal roof from a local contractor.  However, the company we got the contractor through ordered the metal for the roof AND the porch and the contractor was never told about the attached roof.  So we had a big extra pile of metal roofing and no roof for the leaky porch.

I told my son we would try to do the porch roof ourselves because if we got that wrong and it leaked, it would only be the porch area affected.  So, we pulled up YouTube and watched every video we could on how to install a metal roof and we installed the porch section perfectly. 

It was also great that he had a cell phone with video capabilities on it because many times we would access those videos while we were on the roof working. 

Aren’t we living in an incredible age?

By the way, here's a video from the porch of that house right after we bought it.

The Sooner You Do This, The Better Off You’ll Be

The sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll learn how to market your opportunities online and gain skills others don’t have.  When I got started I knew nothing about Internet marketing, creating blogs, HTML, advertising copy, how to make graphics for websites, how to use Photoshop, how to use Social media, etc. 

I pretty much knew nothing.  But I learned by doing.  If I didn’t know how to do something I bought

books. (For Dummies books are great for learning certain subjects!)

And yeah, I failed a bunch, but I also learned a lot from those mistakes.  And quite frankly, it was a far better education that what I got in an expensive college.

Once again I want to take this opportunity to thank the two gentlemen that sent me the email with their story on it  - Ryan and Blake!

And if have a story or a comment about how you made your first dollar on the Internet, please take a few moments and share it with us.   

Please send it to:

elmo033057@gmail.com

(In the subject field put: “Mark, How I Made My First Dollar”)

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

We Need You! How Did You Make Your First Dollar On The Internet?

Last week I conducted an experiment.  

I ran an ad online asking for Internet marketers to send me an examples of dirt cheap marketing that they've used to make their first dollars online.  (I ran a real good deal on the ad, so I didn't pay much there and I didn't want to pay a bunch to get their responses. Ha-ha!  Cheap!  Cheap! ) 

I also posed a question on a popular marketing forum asking folks what their methods were there as well.  I got quite a few responses there too. 

So, this week I’m going to post those responses here for you to read.  

The Second Part of My Experiment Involves You!

Not only am I going to post the responses that I received, but I’m also going to post any good ideas that my reading audience sends me as well.  You can either send it to me here: elmo033057@gmail.com and I’ll post it to my blog with your signature and web address on it, or I’ll post it into the comment section of my blog. 

Either way works for me!

The Rules:

• Please don’t post duplicate content.  It will get trashed immediately.
• No foul language.
• We are here to lift each other up as entrepreneurs, not trash each other.  If you disagree on a point with someone, try to disagree without being disagreeable.
• I will not allow affiliate links.  If you have an example of a product or website, fine, but all affiliate links will get trashed.
• I won’t mind promoting your business if your post has a logical point or example with it. Readers can easily tell if you are just promoting your junk instead of sharing valuable information with them. 
• Oh, and No Running in The Pool Area!

Dirt Cheap Method #1 -Using Your Web Savvy Brain to Sell an eBook Online

I figured since I actually went through the process myself,  I'd be the first to tell you exactly how I made my first money online.  

I invested $30.00 on an eBook  which was titled, "How to write and Sell and eBook in 30 Days".  I bought the book and without thinking too much about what niche to dive into, I started writing.  

I actually got the book written in about 2 weeks and churned out about 75 pages of material.  I thought someone...anyone would want to read it and that I'd make some money on it.

I knew enough to figure that I would probably not make a huge sum of money from writing the book, but I was eager to set it up and get the ball rolling.  

In the early 1990's credit card processing was kind of expensive.  
You had to get an online credit card service if you wanted to sell something, even an eBook.  PayPal had just started to really roll, but it did not have half of the cheap merchant services it has today.  

I finally found a very inexpensive solution from a company called 2Checkout.  2Checkout is a company that would let you set up any product that you wanted to sell, and it would act as a credit card processor for a percentage of the sale.  (Currently, they will charge you 2.5% for processing.) 

They would let you set up your products, give you the code to drop into your page and then process your order for you.  With very few glitches, it worked like a charm.  

How I Faced Failure and Turned It Around...

However, nobody wanted to read my book on Internet marketing, especially since I was a Newb.  

So my first effort resulted in selling nothing.

But, hey, you'll learn your best and biggest lessons from failure.  Determined to still make money from Internet marketing thing, I decided to try again.  This time I wanted to find a niche that was narrow and that a group of people felt passionate about.  

At the time I was trying my hand at this, I was a band director at a military academy and I was working with a bagpiping team.  

The kids that I was working with at the time, were really into the whole Celtic/Bagpiping hobby, and I had a hard time keeping up with them because I had no education in the realm of bag pipes.

One Friday, when I was getting ready to go home from work, I noticed one of the bag piping team members getting into a car with his Celtic gear on. (Yep, the team wore kilts.) 

When I asked him why he was wearing his outfit, he told me something I had no knowledge of.  He was making all sorts of money playing bagpipes for different events.  Weddings, funerals, retirement parties, police events, etc.

And the money he was making was pretty good.  He'd make $200.00 at any given event, and he was only required to play for small segments of the events.

So, that was thew seed of an idea for my second eBook, "How to Make Money With Your Bagpipes"  and even though it didn't make me rich, I still made thousands from it.,

Heck, it was pretty easy to market, when I look back on it.  Since I was a band director at a military academy, it was very easy to network with bagpipers and find out where they all hung out at online.  

I also knew who the best bagpipe teachers were and I could easily contact them and get them to spread the word for me. 

I guess that's why identifying a focused niche is very important.



So, that was the first time I made money online and I've been hooked ever since.  

Now it's your turn.  What was the way you made your first money using Internet marketing? 

Once again, you can post your story in the comment section or send it on to me at: elmo033057@gmail.com

I look forward to hearing from you!

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Blogging The Web Savvy Dirt Cheap Method To Get the Word Out and Generate Traffic

Google loves blogs.  

Don’t ask me about all of the technical SEO babble that goes along with Internet Marketing, but I've read countless articles about this and the results are in:

Google Loves Blogs.

It’s just that simple.  Or is it?

If you've glanced at my articles for more than five seconds, you’ll see that I’m cheap.  I've mentioned this before, but I don’t like getting a second mortgage to start a business. That’s just the way I am. (Actually, I don't even have a first mortgage ;I paid my little house in the country off years ago, but that’s another story.)

The Upside to Blogging

So, blogging is one of those dirt cheap tools you can use to generate interest in your business and get people to actually go to your site.  There are several reasons for this that you should know about:

1.  As I said before, search engines like Google love blogs.  The reason that they do is because if you write brand new hunks of content every day, they’ll consider you to be an active web page rather than a stale, inactive one. 

2.   It can give you a good reason to stay in contact with your client and customer base.  Every time I finish a post, (which is usually once a day) I post it online and immediately tell everyone I can online about it.  I send out email, tweet, Google +, Facebook, and let everyone I do business with know about it. 

 I also have a physical newsletter that I send out as well and I mention that I just made a post somewhere in the body of the article.  It is very effective that way.

3.  People can feel like they are a part of your business and that they actually know you.  They can leave comments and feel like they are contributing to your cause.  If they follow you on a regular basis, they’ll feel like they really know you.  The evidence is in that people will spend their hard earned cash if they know you and trust you.  So, look at blogging as a trust building experience.

The Downside to Blogging

The problem with this blogging strategy is that it is labor intensive and requires massive amounts of discipline.  There are quite a few reasons for this.

1.  You have to research your posts before you write them.  You can’t just sit down and blather on about nothing.  Even if you're going to write highly personalized accounts about yourself or a particular subject, you need to sit down and think the post through.   

If you just sit down and dash out crap, people can smell it from a mile away.

2.  Keyword research is important too.  You need to find low competition keywords that are somehow related to your niche.  If you have a Google AdSense or AdWords account, you can use their free keyword research tool.  

They’ve changed quite a bit about it over the years, to include the name of it, (they now call it Keyword Planner) but it’s still pretty effective. 

If you don’t want to use that tool you can always pay to use WordTracker or MarketSamurai.  These have been rated pretty well by SEO specialists, but I can’t vouch for them because I’m too cheap.  

I just use the free Google tool.  That’s good enough for me.

3.  Formatting Text and Pictures on a Screen - You’ll need to go back into your blog and make sure that you format the paragraphs so that they are readable to your audience.  This is one of those times you need to put your grammar book away and think about the way people’s eyes work when reading a computer screen.

People see things as blocks of text on a screen much differently than they do when they read a book.  You can use all sorts of word processor conventions to do so.   Bullet statements, headings, underlined areas, highlighted text and paragraphs that are shorter and different length can be used.

Word count is important. Remember the reason why Google likes blogs is because it loves to see well written content as frequent as possible.  I personally like to write every single day.  However, posting every single day is sometimes impossible due to scheduling problems.  

So, post as frequent as you can.

You’ll need to post 500 words every other day to gain favor with the search engine gods.  Be patient with them though, because they might not to notice you for a while and you’ll need keep working at it without a lot of visible success right off the bat.

4. Spreading the Word – Once you get your post written, I would spread the word throughout the social media net as fast as I could, merely highlighting the posts and giving teaser information about it.

Here's a video on how a lovely young lady built her blog.  The rules are pretty much the same no matter what the niche or market is.

5.  Add on Videos and Charts – Not only do the search engine gods like new content frequently, but they also like other relevant information as well.  If you can produce relevant charts and graphs backing up your information, then you’ll find favor in their eyes. 

Relevant video is another area that search engines like if they are relevant to the posts.  If you can find video you can use that helps illustrate a point, then use it. 

If you want to read an excellent article on search engine optimization then I would highly recommend SEO Book’s Guide to Blogging.  It is one of the most extensive and well written posts on the subject.

The Most Important Facet of Your Blog that’s Dirt Cheap

I know I've spent a considerable amount of time talking about the things you should do for the search engine gods.  However, the main focus of your blog is to provide your readers the best information possible on your business niche.  You want to be seen as an authority, a valuable resource site and a place to go to share opinions and ideas. 

To Your Success

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

The One Thing You Absolutely Have to Have to Run a Business - Or You Can Just Hang It Up

Today, I’m going to switch things up a bit.

I’m not going to talk about what web savvy, slick tools you can use to generate traffic to your site.  Instead, I’m gonna tell you about the most important thing you are going to need to survive in business. 

I’m an active participant in the Warrior Forum.  The WF is probably the most active Internet marketing forum on the planet right now.  Probably because the seats are so cheap.  You can get a lifetime membership for $10.00.  Not bad. 

I've written about this forum and others more extensively in the past, and you can read that post here:

Marketing with Forums

The Reason I’m bringing up this venue is because the other day, I noticed there were quite a few people on that forum that were a certain class of people.  These folk show up all over the Internet.  On forums, blogs, and social media sites.

For some weird reason, they are rather shameless in their brazen messages, and they don’t care how much abuse they take from people reacting to them.  They just keep on broadcasting, no matter what.

Of course, the people I’m talking about are the habitual whiners. 

These folks, instead of writing extensive posts on their blogs or websites, spend their valuable time and efforts complaining about how something didn't work.  How Internet marketing doesn't work, or how they’re sick of hearing people give them the same advice over and over again, or how they lost money, yada, yada, yada…

It’s as if they think they’ll actually start succeeding if they keep complaining.

It ain't gonna happen that way.

And the sad fact is that there are a number of people on that site that’ll actually waste their time trying to help them.  My advice to those people is: Don’t waste your time. 

 

I've owned online and offline businesses and the downside to owning a business is that it’s not like a job.

 

With a job, you down have all the responsibilities of running the company.  You’re not the one that has to make payroll for everyone in the company, make sound decisions about which direction the company is going to go, spend money on marketing, and have health insurance for your employees, and all of the other stressful responsibilities that go with running an enterprise.

Usually with a job, you don’t have to do all of those functions.  You have a certain set of things you do for the company and that’s it. 

But if you are an owner, you have a very full plate. 

It’s like Spiderman’s uncle said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

So, if you are going to whine and cry about the “Internet Gods” not favoring you, go find something else to do.  Because business, (no matter what type it is) is a full-tilt, 10 million pound behemoth that you’ll have to battle with every day.

Failure is Absolutely Necessary

If you are going to be an entrepreneur, you are going to fail and you’ll probably fail a lot. 

I’m sure you’ve heard of Thomas Edison’s most famous quote, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

I guess it's all how you look at it.

So, failure is essential to learning.  Ask any musician, artist, writer, engineer, or business person.  Especially, when you are new to having your own business, failure is essential.  I’m not saying to go out and deliberately try to be a failure, I’m saying that it’s a part of the process.

If you’re not failing, you’re not trying, plain and simple. 

Why Dirt Cheap is So Cool

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll notice that I’ve talked an awful lot about using “dirt-cheap” methods of starting businesses and marketing.  There is a method to my madness.  For one thing if you start small, cheap and SMART, you’re reducing your risk dramatically. 

Thanks to the Internet, gone are the days of having to take out huge sums of money to start a business.  You can start a business anywhere from home and actually make a living.  And you can also do business globally.   

You won’t have to worry about having a lot of money or taking out a loan.  That’s the beauty of this method, and it’s low stress.

This makes it extremely easy to start a business. It no longer matters how young or old you are, whether you’re a cripple or Chuck Norris, the door to prosperity is wide open. 

That is, if you have the guts, knowledge and DETERMINATION to keep on truckin’!

But, you will fail.  Any successful entrepreneur will tell you that they've had many more failures than successes.  That is just the nature of any business or endeavor and you’ll have to face that demon on a daily basis. 

So keep swinging that bat, keep playing that horn, keep busting your butt, because that’s the only way you’ll ever learn enough to outlast people that just don’t have the will to stick it out.

To Your Success

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Webinars - A Mind-Blowing Traffic Generating List Building Tool You Can't Do Without!

This is a list building venue that isn't used by many marketers because usually, it requires planning, knowledge and a little bit of a technical set up.  This is usually enough to put most people off.  Just like video marketing, webinars require a little knowledge of equipment and software and it does take a little time to learn.

However, this shouldn't in any way stop someone from using these tools in marketing.  As a matter of fact, the benefits of using video and webinars should really encourage people to use them.  For one thing, they’ll help you get to the top of the search engines much faster.

 If you’ve ever made a video and posted it, you’ll be stunned at how quickly it can rise through all of the Internet clutter.

The same thing could be said for audio files from webinars.  The reason why videos and audio seem to rank faster, is because there is less competition.  People feel too intimidated to make them, so therefore there’s much less competition. 

There are other bennies that many people don’t think about too.  For one thing, if you are able to have a well done audio or video, it makes people look at you like an authority in your niche.  The other thing, these items can have incoming or outgoing links and can be shared through email and other online file sharing systems.

So, ignoring these methods of marketing online is not too swift.

Basics of a Webinar

If you are going to create your own webinar, you should get a webinar hosting account.  These are typically inexpensive, but well worth the money you put into them.  A good hosting system will give you a fast and easy way to invite people to your event and sign up, by allowing you to send out an email inviting people.

You can easily find good companies to handle this for you.

 For example, there’s an online service called GoToMeeting  that has a lot of great features on it.  You can set up a really pleasing interface for people that you've invited to the event, and you can even share pictures and streaming with them.

Here’s the Shameless Cheaper Way…

Another good company is AnyMeeting. 

The thing I like about this service is that it reminds me of MailChimp.  You don’t pay anything unless you have a certain number of people.  In the case of AnyMeeting, it’s free up to 200 people.

I like that idea, because you all know that my whole marketing ideal is to do everything as dirt cheap as you can, especially if you are trying to start your venture.  I’m sorry, that’s just the way I am. 

I figure once you’ve hit the same financial status as that guy that runs Virgin Records or that other guy that invented Facebook, THEN you can spend Mega-Bucks on advertising.

But until then, you’ll want to save some money in your marketing efforts.  Just sayin’!

Make Sure You Tell Your Audience All about It

Before the webinar, make sure that you’ve really spread the word about the webinar.  Use Facebook, Twitter, Google + and any other social media site that you can.  Also, make sure that your entire email list knows about it as well. 

TIP!  Go offline too!  Get some nice event note cards produced and send them to all of the clients and customers on your mailing list.  Make it like a real nice invitation that is handsomely made.  You can do this dirt cheap with a printer and some clip art or go on a site like Fiverr and hire someone inexpensively.

Considering all of the effort you’re putting into something like this, you may want to call people that you know as well.  

For example, if you do consulting it would be pretty beneficial for you to call them and invite them to your event.

Even if they don’t join you for the webinar, they will be happy to know that you are still thinking of them and that you value them enough to invite them.

Make Sure You Aren't BORING

I know this is kind of common sense, but try to make your webinar interesting.  If you and your guest are not enthusiastic about what you do, then it will come off that way.

Also it would be a good idea to organize and write down your questions before the seminar.  Give your guest a copy of the questions so he or she can think about a response.

Off the cuff comments can be OK as they arise.  You do want to have a logical structure to your webinar, but try to be natural too.  If a question you didn't happen to think about rears its head, go ahead and ask it.  It will sound natural and spontaneous because it is.

To Your Success

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Driving Traffic Offline Traffic to Your Online Website the Dirt Cheap Method

On the last blog post, we started down the road of how to generate traffic from offline sources.  I’m going to try to research and place as many ideas as possible and write about them.  Some of these ideas are from personal experience as well as research. 

You can read the last post I did on that subject here: Offline Traffic Generating Strategies

Tell Everyone You Know – How many people do you know?  Chances are, you know a load of people that you aren't even thinking about.  Sit down for a moment, get out a pencil and a pad of paper, your address book and any other log you use to keep names and addresses on and write down every person you can think of.  Not just friends and relatives, but anyone you do business with. 

You can then write them a brief snail-mail letter telling them about your website as well as the irresistible freebie that you have on your site if they get on your email list. 

Hey, double winner, chicken dinner!  Not only will they go to your site, but if the offer is great, chances are they’ll sign up for your shameless newsletter, email series, blog post alerts, etc.

Advertise Your Online Business on Your Vehicle – Have you ever been out driving and see a bumper sticker that had a web address on it?  Of course you have.  Sometimes I think the weirder the web address is the more it makes you remember it and want to go home and plug into the net.  Which brings up the major question of this post: Will people actually look up your business if they see your web address on your vehicle? 

Well, considering how many people are carrying cell phones and tablets around with them they probably will look you up. 

So here’s an idea, the more unique you can make your advertisement on your vehicle look unique or interesting, the more you’ll get the attention.  Use words or phrases that will generate curiosity.   Ask a question they ca answer on your site, or tell them that you have a free product to give them if they visit your site and register with you.

Once again, you’re trying to build that all-important list that you can use to market to the people that follow you and your products and services online. 

Put Your Web Address URL on Your Answering Service – Marketing Master, Dan Kennedy, had a great story about how he called a guy that was supposed to spray his home for bugs.  When he called the home office of the exterminator a lady with a cheerful voice greeted him and after a few seconds asked if he wouldn't mind waiting for a few minutes on hold while she transferred his call.

He was then treated to an awesome advertisement about the services and upgrades he could purchase with the standard service package.  That and all the perks, insurances and everything else you can imagine that you can think of.  Of course he was given the web address where they could get discounts and other freebies. 

Then Mr. Kennedy was treated to another commercial with all sorts of information and ideas on how to clean and take care of pools.  Yep, the web address of the pool maintenance company was on that commercial too and that business was owned by the brother of the bug spray guy.

Put Your Web Address on Al Correspondence- Yep, I know that this is a no brainer, but it bears reminding you to put your web address on all correspondence pieces like letterhead, envelopes, return addresses, etc. 

TIP! You could buy sticky labels and make them for your envelopes with a good call to action on it.  Put pictures on it or anything else that’ll catch the eye of your reader.  Just think of all the hands your letter passes through on its way to the recipient. That way your envelope will have a double purpose to it, carrying the letter and advertising!

 Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Dirt Cheap Offline Methods of Generating Traffic to Your Website

Most of the Marketing Methods I've talked written about has been methods of send traffic to your site online.  Now, we’re going to get into other methods of driving traffic.  Primarily, how to send traffic to your site from the offline world. 

In some ways, marketing offline can actually be more fun to do and you can get very creative with how you do this.

Join Local Groups in Your Community – I live in Lexington, Kentucky and I can tell you that this is not a big city.  Actually, where I live I can have access to 3 cities that are rather small.  However, there are business groups that have regular meetings to discuss their businesses and network together.

These are usually businesses that perform services or products in the bricks and mortar world.  

So their topics whenever they speak of them are usually about what they’re selling or doing.  In my case, since I talk about dirt-cheap marketing methods and also write advertising copy, I have a pretty wide appeal with my group.  If I were a dentist, well, I don’t think I’d have the same appeal, even though dentists perform a super-important service. 

Finding these groups is pretty easy.  Just Google “Business Networking Groups” and the name of your city or town. Once again, don’t try to be a “Johnny Jump-Up” and try to connect with your group too fast.  Just like online social groups, you’ll want to get to know your group before you approach them with anything.

Once they get to know you. They’ll be much more responsive to what you have to say and your marketing message.  At some point you’ll want to give them a business card or offer to speak at one of the meetings. 

I can’t overstate that you’ll want to ease into these relationships before talking to them about what you do too much.  Just be cordial and attend regularly.

Speak at local business meetings.  

Almost every city or large town has a Toast Masters Club.  These clubs are there to give members the opportunity to speak or help you learn to speak.  However, just like any other social network, you will have an opportunity to network and talk to others that are in business.

And guess what?  You’ll be able to give a speech about your business there and hand out business cards and make connections you can send to your website!

The next move you’ll want to make once you get used to talking to crowds is to research different business groups in your area and contact them.  Usually there are business chapters or clubs that meet regularly and many times they are looking for speakers.  Depending on your niche market, you can speak at some of these events.  All you have to do is send a brief letter to the chair person leading the group offering your services to speak. 

The only words of caution I would have is make sure your niche or subject is relevant and applicable to your audience.  A good way to make sure that you’re speaking on target would be to ASK the person in charge what subject (related to your field) that they think would be good for you to speak about.

This method is very effective, especially if you’re addressing people that are interested in your business.  Usually, people will come up to you and ask you for more information. 

However, I have a better plan for you…

Hot Tip!  Instead of just giving out your marketing materials when someone asks for it why don’t you “bump it up a notch”? 

At the end of your presentation, you could say something like this:

“Thank you so much for allowing me to speak at your event.  To show you my extreme appreciation, I’ve got some free parting gifts I’d like to give you at the door before you leave."

You could give them a free report, complimentary items like pens or key- chains that have your web address and other contact information on it.  This way, you can make sure that just about everyone in the room will have your marketing materials as they leave, rather than just one or two people that just talking to one or two contacts that happen to approach you.