How to Build a Ravenous, Loyal Marketing Fan Base - Dirt Cheap!

Internet Marketing Gurus are EVERYWHERE!

Usually whenever you read anything about Internet marketing you hear about the latest whiz-bang method that someone claims to have thought up. 

Of course, they’ll tell you that it is a SECRET way to make money online, but in reality there is no new thing under the sun.

Trust me on this. 

Now, having said that, I’d like to point out that there are people on the Internet that you should listen to because their information is valuable.  They’ve been around the block quite a bit and know what they are talking about.  Their books and courses are pretty good and I think if you want to pay $200 + to buy one…Go for it!

You’ll probably learn a lot more from those courses than if you went to college for the “4 year vacation” and you’ll have spent quite a bit less.

The Dirt Cheap Method of Learning

I once read an article by Gary “The Prince of Print” Halbert wherein he was talking about the lean years of his life; he didn't have a lot of money and he was dealing with an overbearing wife. 

However, Monsieur Halbert was a smart man, and he knew that he was living in the richest country in the world. He knew that he could learn a crap-load about marketing if he read a lot of books on the subject.  So, off he went to the public library where he read every book on marketing he could get his hands on.

Yeah, I love it…The DIRT CHEAP method of learning!

He didn’t need to pay someone $5000 to learn how to make money marketing, he just needed the information available and he took it from there.

Not only can you learn from books in the library, but now we have the Internet as well.  Amazon, sells tons of books on just about any kind of marketing you can imagine, and you can get the books used for a lark. 

TIP!  Not only can you find used books in online stores like Amazon, but you can also get FREE reports and eBooks by many of the top-o-the-line gurus for the mere cost of your email address.

Your Marketing Can Be Dirt Cheap Too!

While it would be bone-dead stupid for me to tell you that you’ll put zero dollars into your marketing, you can still market your business as cheaply as you can and still have an effective way of reaching out to potential prospects and customers.

One of the cheapest ways to do this is by building a community.  It takes work but it’s not as hard as

you think, either. The fastest and easiest way to do this by simply being nice and helpful.

When I say “being nice” I mean it. 

I was on a forum the other day and I made a comment about how people don’t even say thanks by pushing a simple button on the forum that says “Thanks” on it.  (You can read my rant that started a group of people talking here: Your Attitude Sucks – That’sWhy You’re in Neutral! 

The problem I have with a lot of Internet Marketers, (especially younger ones) is that they think if they’re snarky, rude and use a bunch of foul language they’ll get somewhere.

BIG MISTAKE.  This is where I draw the line and tell whoever it is that I’m not even going to listen to them anymore.  Not only that, I’m NEVER going to recommend their business to anyone, ever.  I can’t tell you the number of times that I've not recommended someone based on their attitude and language.

Especially Internet marketing gurus that think it’s cool to do so.  Apparently, they think they’re so rich, powerful and invincible that they’re too big to fail.

Man, is that a stupid way to act.

About 2 years ago there was a guy that had a way of marketing on Facebook that was kind of popular so I went on YouTube to see if he had a training video on there for free.  

Sure enough he was on there, and it was a video of a seminar of his that he had recorded live in front of a large audience. 

About 30 or so seconds into his dissertation he starts spewing out the “F” word like it was a badge of courage.  And the real sign of immaturity was that he laughed at himself every time he said it.

Very impressive.

And to think there were ladies in the audience and had to listen to that rubbish.   

Now riddle me this…

If a person like that runs their filthy mouth in front of an audience, especially where women are present, do you really believe that he’s doing ANYTHING in your best interest?  Really???

It’s been my experience that people like that look at you like a number with a monetary symbol in front of it and that’s all.

Why you should never do this…  

But, you know what?  Let them be that way.  Because entrepreneurs that really care about the people they deal with are RARE!  People that respect others, follow up and help people sometimes without any gain in life are very hard to find these days.

And if you treat others with respect and dignity and call on their higher qualities rather than their basest instincts, then you’ll have gained a loyal following of people that know you really care.

Years ago, I saw a documentary about this guy who unclogged sewage lines for people.  He really had his business down to a science and really made a huge difference in his community. 

The thing that drew my attention the most to this guy was he had actually built a mini- shower in the back of his van.  He also had a whole row of uniforms hanging up in his van that he would change after almost every appointment. 

“I don’t want to smell like a rat when I go to somebody’s house.” He grinned.

He worked in a rundown part of a large city and was booked solid. Everyone knew and loved this guy. 

The reason? He was always super nice, extremely professional and his prices were very fair.  I remember one older lady that had no husband, and was obviously broke crying because the man did the work for free.  He looked at where she was living and saw that the services were going to break what little she had left. 

“Now, Ma’am please don’t tell all your friends I did this for free OK?  They’ll be calling me off the hook and I can’t afford to help everyone for free.  OK?  I just had to do it because you’d be up to your knees in sewage.”

“Thank you…Thank you!  The woman cried, tears running down her cheeks.”

Pushing his hat back and scratching his forehead he smiled again.

“She’ll tell everybody.”

However, this man was one of the most successful people in the business.  He was making money hand over fist and booked solid BECAUSE EVERYONE KNEW HE REALLY CARED.

It’s like the Joker said in that Batman movie,  

“It’s not about the money…It’s about sending a message….”

But hey, even if you don’t want to be Mother Teresa, think of how little he has to spend on advertising and marketing.

I’m tellin’ ya what Forrest…All the shrimp you can eat!  Dirt Cheap!

Even if he didn't want the attention, he’d get it and the people he helped won’t ever forget what he did for them.

Here's a company that really gets it. Watch this video:

So, random acts of being nice and helping folks can be beneficial to your business.  If you can’t afford to give something away, give away your expert opinion or advice because it costs virtually nothing to give those away.

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

Another Off-Beat Way to Immediately Start Making Money Online

They'll NEVER Tell You
How Hard Making Money Online
REALLY is!

About a week ago I told you how I first started making money online using eBay.  If you didn’t get a chance to read it just click on the link and take a look.  Reading how people do things sometimes is very inspirational.

It can also be very motivational.

You’ll probably say, “Heck, if Ellis made money doing that, why can’t I?”

It’s true, if I did it, so can you.  Just don’t ever say that I told you it was easy.  (I’ll leave that up to guys like Frank Kern, or Yanik Silver.)  I’ll never tell you Internet marketing is easy, because that hasn't been my experience.

Using eBay and Craigslist to Make Immediate Money Online

Just when you thought you’ve probably heard every angle in Internet Marketing, someone comes up with another angle that you’ve never heard before.  This on involves eBay, but you can replace that site with any other auction site on the Internet if you so desire.

It is not a complex idea, but one worth trying because it is DIRT CHEAP!  Ha-ha!  Here I go again with a wild and weird way to make money online without buying expensive Internet guru courses or even building a blog or a Website. 

I mean we’re talking CHEAP here!

So, if you don’t have access to an eBay account you might want to get one to try this out. 

Very simply you’re going to:

1.  Find HOT items that are trending or selling on eBay.

2.  Locate and buy the same or similar items that are selling on Craigslist

3.  Negotiate and purchase the items as cheap as you can from the folks selling on Craigslist

4.  After buying the items from the Craigslist sellers, take the item and resell it on eBay for a higher price.

5. Rinse and repeat!

Possible Problems from Perky Prospects Prompts Precautions

Without too much wide-eyed optimism, I think it is always prudent to think things through before executing an idea, no matter how good it sounds.  Funny thing how all of this sounds so simple when you’re told to try it for yourself.   If you've ever been involved in any kind of business, you know that it’s NEVER simple.

Precaution 1

For one thing, anything that usually involves Craigslist (CL) usually means that you’re running the risk of being spammed to death.  So if you’re doing any business at all on CL, take precautions!  Use a throw away email account or some way to ward off spammers. 

Also, don’t give out your phone number too quickly, either.  Communicate with a seller for a while to determine if they are somewhat normal.

Precaution 2

When you decide to look up items to see if they are hot on eBay, you need to make sure that the items that you are going to try to target are REALLY viable.  You can easily go on eBay and see certain items that are selling well and get excited. 

However, if you don’t know a lot about a particular subject, then you can easily get fleeced on this deal.

Example:  You look at hot items on eBay and discover fantasy based comic books are selling like hot cakes for a lot of money.  So you go on CL and buy a crap-load of comics.  However, after you buy all those comics and put them on eBay, nobody buys them.  Not one single bid! 

Let us step back for a minute and examine what went wrong.

 The fantasy based comics you originally viewed that were selling like hotcakes were mint condition, Conan the Barbarian comics from circa 1970 by Barry Windsor Smith.  No wonder they were selling like hotcakes on eBay!  These were elite, mint condition comics that are legend in the industry!

So, if you don’t have knowledge about a particular industry, you run the risk of doing something really stupid.  Learn a little about the items you are considering buying and selling before going into this venture.

Precaution 3

When you go to buy the items you are pursuing on CL, you should know how to negotiate the price down.  There are loads of books and now great videos on how to negotiate.  This is a great skill for every negotiator in any type of business to know.

So, before you start haggling prices, try to learn a bit about negotiating before you get started, it will be a HUGE help. 

Here is an excellent video on negotiating:

Precaution 4

Before you just toss your items on eBay, learn how to describe your products.  This is where knowing how to write a little advertising copy would really come in handy.   

First of all, having a real eyeball grabbing headline in your description is very important.  You want to generate interest while creating some curiosity at the same time.  You also want to mention the main benefit of your product or service in the headline as well. 

Make sure that you describe the item as best you can, pointing on features (color, size, functions) and really expand on the benefits. (What the product will do for the prospect thinking about buying the product.)If you take these precautions at the onset, this idea will probably work OK. 

Precaution 5

Consider the costs of shipping on the front and back end.  You’ll need to make sure that whatever you’re buying on CL that you are considering the costs of shipping.  This is crucial in this type of business!  The same thing with eBay.  You will need to make sure that you’re including the shipping prices.

However, having said that, don’t think for a second that this will be smooth sailing and you’ll be raking in loads of cash, enough to live off of. 

I highly doubt that.  In my humble opinion, you can easily and quickly make your first money online doing this and you will get some valuable experience doing this.

Don’t forget, you’ll be spending quite a bit of time doing this, so you have to consider the time you’ll be spending doing the following tasks:

• Looking on CL for items to buy and researching what’s hot on eBay to sell
• Calling people up or emailing them about stuff they’re selling
• Spending time negotiating and haggling prices
• Boxing up, and taking items sold on eBay to the Post Office
• Taking pictures of the items and posting them online
• Writing up the descriptions

There may be other things you’ll have to do, but basically that’s most of it.  So, you can see, that all that glitters is not gold and there is work to be done. 

Hey, at least I didn’t sugar-coat it for ya!

A New Spin I Thought Up Based on This Scheme

Let’s bump this idea up a notch!  Here’s an idea I just thought of that I haven’t tested yet, but one of you may want to try.  Instead of searching all over Craigslist for items that you can resell, why not take out a cheap ad in Craigslist asking for a product that you know id red-hot on eBay?

That way, people will be trying to sell YOU the item that you’ll want to sell on there.  And think about this: If they do call you wanting to sell the item and it is more than you’d want to pay, try negotiating the price down. 

If you can get the price down low enough, chances are you’ll sell the item and still make a profit!

Just an idea.  Like I say, it is untested, but I’m very tempted to try so…

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

Essential Dirt Cheap Newsletter Methods That Will Create a Flood of Traffic to Your Business!

If you are going to use online newsletters to stay in touch with your clients, you’ll need to acquire the proper tools to run an online newsletter. In a previous section, we looked at two companies that were dirt cheap to start out with and you can read that information here:  Newsletters That Will Make Your Business Magnetic to Customers

A List of Autoresponder / Email / Newsletter Services

 Below is a reference list of some of the best email and newsletter businesses on the Internet.  Rather than listing benefits and prices to you, I’m just going to list them so you can go to their actual sites and check them out. 

The reason why I’m not going to review each one of these is because the pricing and features change so often that by the time this is written, one of them will have already changed their information.

Autosenders
Aweber
Constant Contact
Get Response
iContact
Iminiacamail
List Wire Mail Chimp 

Text Versus HTML

Many of these online companies offer two versions of newsletters and email that you can send: HTML and a text version.  I personally like the text version for a number of reasons.  For one thing, if one of the persons I am sending my

HTML Newsletters can look
very professional in color

newsletters to have a slower method of receiving their email, HTML will take more time.  With text, you aren’t relying on faster broadband speeds because text has no colors, borders, pictures, etc.

HTML has all of that stuff, plus the ability to embed pictures, video and use templates that look like websites.  In my opinion, HTML takes longer to format.  You have to make sure your text is lined up right as well as your pictures and other elements that are on the newsletter.

All you have to worry about with text, is that you format it a little to brand the name of your business on it.  However, usually that is a onetime set up.

Offline Newsletters

If you are creating an offline newsletter, use Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher.  Both of these pieces of software require some time to learn, but almost everyone knows how to use Word, but if you don’t know how to create a cool looking newsletter with it, there are tons of online tutorials that’ll show you.

TIP: If you don’t want to do all of the formatting involved in producing a cool looking. newsletter, hire someone.  If you’ve already written the material, and want someone to turn it into a cool looking format that’s ready to print, you can always find someone on Fiverr to do that for you.

Fiverr is a site that only allows you to charge or pay $5.00 per job./  So you can easily get someone on there to format your material into a great looking newsletter for a mere $5.00!  Such a deal.  Here is Fiverr’s link: Five Dollar Gigs 

If that doesn’t appeal to you, you can always go to an outsourcing site and hire someone for more money, but then again, that wouldn’t be the Dirt-Cheap method I’m so fond of.

List of Outsourcing Sites:

oDesk 

Freelancer 

Warriors for Hire

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

                                                    

How Are Internet Marketing Strategies Like Fad Diets?

I’m starting to look at marketing plans like diet plans.  Before you tell me that I’m mad, hear me out.  Within the last two days, I have heard another two revolutionary methods of marketing your businesses online that supposedly was a new way to do it.  While I must admit, there are different styles of marketing your business, there pretty much isn't anything new under the sun.

Consider diet plans for a second.  If you watch any daytime TV at all, one of the popular Doctor talk shows that permeate the airwaves have a different diet plan almost on a continual basis.  Of course, this is marketing in itself, because women, which are the target market, are always looking for ways to look younger and thinner.

So, the shows are geared for this.  The products and plans they have on those programs talk about books and equipment dedicated to this industry.  Not only that, these shows are interrupted by obligatory commercials that have all of the low- calorie foods and plans dedicated to this market as well.

And the diet plans are endless:

The Mediterranean Diet
Low Carb Diet
South Beach Diet
Chocolate Diet
The Spartan Diet
The Paleo Diet
The Diet Diet
The funniest one I heard was the Peter Pan Diet.  (I wonder if it involves peanut butter.)


I once had a book given to me that was produced by Men’sHealth magazine.  It was a real interesting book because it had huge, luscious, full-color pictures of food in it that YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO EAT.  I took one look at that book and shouted, “Finally a book that tells me what I want to hear, eat all of this incredible food!” 

The part of the book that stood out the most, was a section at the beginning of the book.  It went through all of the most popular diets, and described what you were supposed to eat or not eat on them and the editors and nutrition experts at Men’s Health dispensed their 2 cents worth on what they thought of each of these diets.  At the end of the day, they said that all of them were not realistic ways to lose weight and that each one of these strategies of losing weight was not sustainable over the long term. 

However, the real kicker came at the end of that particular chapter.  Men’s Health decided to tell you the one and only method of losing weight that would actually work over time. Yup, according to them, there was one diet that worked, and it was so complex and hard to do you just wouldn’t believe it. 

However, because I have worked out an exclusive deal with this top of the line magazine, they have signed a massive 500 page release allowing me (and me alone) to unveil this ultra-secret diet plan.  And now for the first time anywhere, I am going to unleash its awesome power to you so you can use it.

Here, now, for the first time, is the Ultimate Diet Program by Men’s Health Magazine, exactly as appeared in their book:

(Uh-hem…Sorry, I get nervous revealing such incredible information.)

Burn more calories than you take in.

Yep, there’s no arguing the logic or the science behind that plan. 

Marketing Strategies are like Fad Diets

As I mentioned above, I recently heard two new marketing …I guess you’d call them philosophies that I had not really heard before.  However, when I got past the fancy titles, (I think one of them was “Ninja Marketing Tricks for Businesses on Steroids” or something like that.) and the double speak, it was the same marketing ideas I’ve heard a million times before.

One was a sure fire method of making millions on the Web, but when I got deep into the eBook, I looked at the blue print which really wasn’t much different than one I had sketched out for myself years ago.  Although, I’ll have to hand it to the guy that wrote it, it was a pretty massive eBook that the blueprint was in, even though it had quite a few advertisements that tried to upsell you to bigger and more expensive ideas.

The other marketing idea was from a lady that was into “Natural Marketing”.  In other words, her approach was predicated on trying to relate to people, get to know them, and then sell them.  The video that played, as well as the copy that went with it on the page, kept telling you that you were struggling in life and that there was a natural way to market via relating to likeminded people.  Right underneath the skillfully made video was a button telling you to “find yourself” by paying around $10.00.

Just Like Losing Weight 50 Years Ago…

If you study the principals that were used 50 or so years ago, you’d notice that the basics of sales and marketing don’t really change, even though the vehicles they’re delivered from do change, like the Internet.  

However, many marketers and businesses are starting to realize that people are getting savvier to their marketing techniques and are beginning to adjust.  Perhaps in the future new marketers will have to actually get to know their clients and prospects instead of going for the quick and easy. 
It may actually be a breath of fresh air.

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

Blow Away the Competition Using This Traffic Generating Method of Giving Away Free Content

One of the biggest words in marketing besides “New” and “Sale” is the word “Free”.  If you read my last post, you’ll know that I’m an advocate of “Paying it Forward”.  It’s one of the best things you can do for yourself and others, and a super easy way of building a loyal group of followers as cheaply as possible.

However, before I give you some great FREE ideas, let me just mention that just because you’re giving away something as cheap as FREE you don’t have to make it cheap.  You still need to make your gift as high quality as possible.

Recently, I heard a podcast by a young guy that mass produces eBooks on Amazon. His business model was to pick a group of pen names, (a different one for each niche he was targeting) have someone ghostwrite eBooks for himself - dirt cheap, and then sell them for $5.00 each because there wasn't any pain for prospects in parting with such a small amount of money.

He claimed he was raking in the dough.  Maybe he was...don’t know.

The problem with this business model, as I see it, is he will always have to rebuild his customer base.  People that buy cheap items that are just thrown together probably won’t be back, and probably aren't successful enough to buy anything that you’ll want to sell them later at a higher price. 

That’s just my way of thinking.

Why the Big Boys are Big

The reason why marketing experts like Dan Kennedy can command $300 an info product, or charge $3000 a seat at a seminar is because he DELIVERS super-high quality information, products and services and carries that reputation around with him wherever he goes.  And he’s been doing it for over 30 years.

That kind of clout comes with putting YOUR back into it, rather than hiring a ghost writer to dash out some fast junk. The Dollar Store does well at selling super-cheap stuff because that’s exactly what it is--super-cheap stuff.  

You won’t find Dyson vacuum cleaners that will last for 10 years or more there, because that’s not their niche.  (Of course you won’t find me buying a vacuum cleaner there either, no matter how cheap they sell them.)

Now, I know what you’re gonna say.  “Wait a minute Ellis! You’re telling me on one hand to give stuff away for FREE, but then you’re telling me that I don’t want to have a cheap reputation.  What kind of double talk is that?”

They Already Have the Job

People that want to become teachers go through a gauntlet you wouldn't believe.  In order to become a school teacher in the U.S. you have to go through at least 4 years of college, take a whole battery of certification tests, do your student teaching for at least a semester in a regular school, and then make sure you follow the rest of your certification requirements in the state you’re teaching in. 

In the state of Kentucky, for example, you have to go through an extra year of a state run program.  That program requires you to be observed and monitored by other teacher’s at your school as well as administrators and state administrators.  

By the time you’re done with that program, you’ll have a book full of state forms and lesson plans that’s as thick as a New York City telephone directory.  If you pass all of that, you still have to teach in your subject area for 3 years or take some upper level graduate classes.

Full-fledged teachers don’t make that much money for the first 10 years they’re teaching either.

I remember when I was doing my student teaching in college, there was a professor that was prepping us for that experience.  She really hammered out the fact that she didn't care what the rest of the staff at the cooperative school was dressed like, we had to be dressed to the hilt, very professionally.  She went through the whole laundry list of what women and men were to wear while doing their cooperative teaching.

Some of the students asked why we had to get so decked-out if the rest of the school teachers were dressed more casually.

Her response was quite blunt. “They already have the job.”

So, consider what other professions have to go through just to get started before you start whining, please.

The Reasons to Provide Free Content

•        Your customers, prospects and fans want it, plain and simple. 
• 
  
•        You are trying to establish and prove your knowledge and expertise in your niche. Cheapest way to do it.
• 
  
•        If done correctly, it could be used to provide an online watering hole for your fans to congregate, comment and exchange ideas on a regular basis. 
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•        If you use offline newsletters, online eBooks and other wonderful vehicles, they could be passed around so you’re ideas and reputation could be spread virally.

The Grateful Dead Goes Live

A real good example of this type of FREE activity actually working, is from the famous rock group the Grateful Dead.  From a marketing perspective, they were unique in many ways.  But one thing stands out that they did which nobody else was doing at the time:  they’d let you record their concerts for FREE.

As a matter of fact, there was an area right next to the mixing board, where the best recordings could

be made called “taper sections”.  This is where people recording their live events could make their own recordings of Grateful Dead’s concerts.

Most music moguls would freak out at the revenue lost, but not the Dead.  They went viral before the Internet. People were exchanging recorded tapes, talking about them, and spreading their fame very quickly, and it paid off handsomely.  Hardly anyone hasn't heard of the Grateful Dead.

Google Gets a Jump on Free

Still don’t think high-quality FREE works? Take a good look at Google.  They have great free services that would take pages to list here.  It’s even been rumored that one of their latest ventures is to provide free Internet services to anyone that wants them, but that’s a future goal I’m not sure will happen.   

Google, like the Medici banking family of the Renaissance is collecting geniuses; there’s a whole battery of tests you’d have to take to get in their doors.  These people work in an environment that does nothing but give them freedom.  

Freedom to think, play around with ideas, and learn more.  People that work for this company don’t want to go home, so they stay and put in many hours. 

They are keen on FREE.  If they’re that smart, perhaps we should follow their lead.

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

Web Savvy Content Generating Ideas That’ll Drive Free Traffic to Your Site

It appears that we are moving toward a more sophisticated economy.  About a year ago I watched a fascinating expose on how our education system MUST change.  It appears that we have been graduating from schools that are based on the Industrial Revolution production mindset.   The speech was given by Sir Ken Robinson, a man that was described as a “world-renowned education and creativity expert”. 

The premise of his speech was that basically, our education system was built to fuel factories with more warm bodies.  We had a factory driven, industry based economy and it was the civic duty of our leaders, government, and citizens to perpetuate it.

(If you are wondering why I am starting down this road instead of jumping right into the subject matter outlined in the title of this post, please stay with me.  I always want to tell you why you should do a thing before you go out and do it.)

Our Industrial Based Thinking Sucks

Anyway, we went to school, went from one class to another in lines, and with kids that were the same age as we were, and we were programmed.  Follow the rules, do what you’re told, sit at your desk, keep up or be left out, and DON”T BE DIFFERENT!!!

In the ‘60’s rebellion kicked in.  The “in” thing was dropping out and letting your hair hang down.  However, most of it was rather pointless.  As a matter of fact, some people could objectively look at the 60’s rebellion and call it another form of conformity, but that’s getting too deep.

Hence, the Industrial Revolution conditioning stuck and the education and labor system that we have become used to is still in place today. 

To see the video by Sir Ken Robinson on our industrial revolution school system click here:

The reason why I’m bringing this up is because our brains seem to think along the same business model/economic lines.  We still look at doing business the same way we were always trained:

Draw people to our site, try to sell them something, move on to another victim…er…customer or client, contact your previous prospects, try to upsell them something more expensive, and leave never to return. (Except when you want to sell them something else.)

People are catching on.  They know when you are merely looking at them like a piece of raw meat that you can suck the life from. 

Undercover Boss - The Bad Side of Things

The trouble with this business model is that there is a very high burn out rate, mainly because you’re just churning out CRAP. Even if you finally make a lot of money getting people to buy into your scheme, you’ll still have to fight like the dickens to keep replenishing your clients and prospects. 

And what kind of entrepreneur will you become as a result of this?

A perfect example of this was on a 2015 episode of the TV show, Undercover Boss.  Without going into too much detail, the show highlighted a seminar/real estate tycoon that was obviously a charlatan.  

He bragged about himself so much, you wouldn't believe it. He announced that if he died he’d want to be reincarnated as himself, because he was the “&%$#*” luckiest man on earth.  His claims were that he made about 40 million or so and was getting richer every day.  He charged attendees of his real estate seminar $43,000 per seat, for a 2 day session.

You should have seen the poor, deceived people he was fleecing.  Some of them looked like they were living out of their cars.  Some admitted that they were running up their credit cards to feed the beast.

(Not only that, but as the show was running, I was following the comments of people on Twitter about this show, and you wouldn't believe how hated this man was, especially by women.  The comments ran on and on and NOBODY had anything nice to say about him or his business.)

It was sad.

One of the reasons it was so sad, is because ANYONE COULD HAVE GIVEN THOSE POOR PEOPLE THE EXACT SAME REAL ESTATE INVESTING INFORMATION FROM AMAZON USED BOOKS FOR LESS THAN $20.00!!!! Actually, the information from the books would have been better than the info they would have gotten from HIS seminar. I guarantee it.

Why Am I Telling You This?

The reason I’m telling you all of this is because, your mindset has got to change!  

Gone are the days of merely taking people’s money and forgetting about them.  If you are just in this for the fast in and out, just be aware that people are becoming attuned to the fact that they are getting fleeced.  It’s little wonder why the term “Internet Marketing Guru” is now considered to be a negative term and the gurus are doing their best to distance themselves from that moniker.

People want to feel like they know you and they want to feel that they are a part of something.  They‘re sick and tired of being thought of as nothing more than a consumer that’s there to line somebody’s pocket with money. 

Consider a Facebook ad that looks like this:

Actual ad from Facebook- (URL removed). Apparently they were using Shutterstock’s pics without even paying.

Do you really think that anyone is going to feel connected to this, much less believe it?

The reason why I’m telling you this is because you are going to have to give, connect, respond, enrich, enliven, educate and HELP people if you really want true success.  And when you do sell them something, your product should be the best it can possibly be.  

You don’t want to cut any corners, and when you do sell somebody your wares or services, you’ll want to be extremely concerned that it is doing every single thing you said it would.

Hey, here’s a new concept:  After the sale, follow up and ask your customers how it’s working.

Generating Content – It’s Not Expensive to Give This Away

This brings me around to the subject matter at hand, generating content ideas.  The cheapest way for you to help people out and educate them about what you do, is to give them excellent, mind-blowing content.

 Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

• Cruise forums that are specific to your niche and read the questions that people are asking.  If you keep seeing the same question asked over and over again an excellent, FREE, well-written article will be something they’ll benefit from.

• If you have a list of people that have already purchased your products or services, ask them questions about what they thought the product lacked or helped them with the most.  This will give you fertile ground for subjects you can write about.  Make sure that you send this information out to people on your lists.

• Sit down and brainstorm a list of benefits that your product or service gives, as well as a list of problems that it solves.  Remember the color or size of your product isn't usually a benefit it’s a feature. Benefits are things that your product will do for you.

• Go on Amazon or eBay and look at products and services similar to yours. What benefits do you see vendors talking about the most? (NOTE: If you are rendering services, look at the books related to your services that are being sold.  Use the “Look Inside” feature of Amazon and look at the table of contents. There’s loads of ideas you can write about there.)   

Also, look at the comments sections of the products and see what people are complaining about the most.  That‘s pure gold for content creation.

Make a List and Create Your Programming

Once you have gone through these content generating ideas, use a calendar and make a schedule of the subjects you’ll be talking about on your blog, podcast or website.  Since I’ve already written a post about this, I won’t bore you by repeating myself, you can read it here:

Using a Calendar to Create a Content Schedule  

I hope you find this message enlightening and it has helped you in some way.  If you’d like to fire some ideas or comments at me please feel free to do so.  

Send them to:

Elmo033057@gmail.com

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

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

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

 (859) 797-9560