Quick-Start Method of Making Money on Amazon That's FAST and DIRT CHEAP!

I’m always bumping into someone that comes up with a new Internet marketing angle I never thought of before.  Funny thing about it is that it is usually some young new maverick that has somehow leaped over us older dudes and are on their first million or so.

Ahh… To be young again!

Anyway, if you have a unique way of marketing or making money online, send it to me here and I’ll post it for you and even let you put your URL and other credits with it: elmo033057(at)gmail.com

Using Amazon to Make $500 a Day

I’m about to start selling a few books and reports myself on Amazon, so when I found this piece of marketing advice I thought it was great.  Great timing too. 

The beauty of using this method is that it doesn’t take great skill, you can outsource a lot of it, and it is DIRT CHEAP!  That’s right, you heard my favorite words…DIRT CHEAP.

OK, so this method of making money online involves information marketing by selling books on Amazon.

What you’ll need to do this:

1) A word processor to write your eBook

2) An Amazon account to sell with

3) Time

Extra stuff that would be great to have:
4) Dragon Naturally Speaking Voice Recognition Software. 

Step 1 – Find a Niche that’s selling but small enough that you won’t have tons of competition

I've already written a rather extensive article on how to find a niche, but here’s the fast and quick explanation.  You can use other sites like For Dummies or eBay, but Amazon is my site of choice for niche research.

Go on Amazon and in their search window, click on the drop down menu and then scroll down and click on “Books”.

Click on the drop down menu until you get to "Books"

Once you click on “books” click on the little search icon and it will take you to another Amazon page.  This page should be dedicated to Amazon books.  Scroll about halfway down the page until you get to a section that has all of the Amazon book categories. 

Next, click on the "Search" icon

You’re going to start clicking on these different categories and drilling down into them looking for hot niches and sub-niches. 

For example you could look through the business and marketing books.  Whenever you click on a book category, more categories open up.  So in the “Business” category, you could click on the marketing link and you’d find pages and pages of books on marketing.  Within those pages are niches and sub-niches.  How do you find out which topics are the hottest? Look at the 
comments!

What The Comments Will Tell You…

There are loads of
categories to drill into!

If people take the time to read a book, go back online, log in with their account, and then write an essay or comments, then chances are it is a good book with good subject matter.  Amazon will also allow you to peruse several pages of the book to include the Table of Contents.

That is where you can really get some great ideas for a short eBook or paper.

At this point, you can do one or two things:

One, you can take an idea from the Table of Contents and then surf the net looking for free information on that subject area. 

Two, you can also just go ahead and buy the book from Amazon. 9 times out of 10 you can get the book dirt cheap used on there, and you know how I feel about getting things done DIRT CHEAP!

P.S. In case you want to watch a video on how to use Amazon to find a niche, look at this:

Step 2 – Write a short eBook based on the hot niche or sub-niche.
 

You want to write a short eBook that gets right to the point if you can.  The title should describe exactly what the eBook is about and the eBook should be SHORT and to the point, explaining exactly what you stated in the title.  Around 30 or so pages should be more than enough.

The reason why you’ll want to write a short eBook is because most people are going to want to read exactly what they’re looking for.  A lot of marketers make massive courses because to the purchaser it looks impressive. 

 However, many times it can have the reverse effect.   People see a vast ocean of information and get overwhelmed, so you want to create short eBooks but make sure that the information in them is well written and dynamite.  You don’t want to produce a bunch of useless crap, either!  

How to Get You eBook Into Amazon

Step 3 – Post and Sell you eBook/Kindle Book in Amazon Books.

Actually, Amazon makes it pretty straightforward about the process, and all you really need to do at this point is follow their step by step set up directions.

TIP: However, it should be noted that when you have to write a description of your product, some knowledge of copywriting techniques will go a long way.  This is where many people fail in their attempts at selling products of any kind on Amazon.  Also, make sure that it’s clear in your description that this is a SHORT eBook and let your potential customer know the number of pages in it.

TIP: For starters you may want to write your short eBooks under an alternate name.  This way, you won’t damage your good name or reputation if for some reason people don’t like what you’ve written.

TIP:   Price your short eBook at about $5.00 a shot.  That way you can easily justify a shorter eBook.

The Dirt Cheap Beauty of this Bid-Ness Model

The thing I like the most about this idea is that you can move very quickly with

it.  You don’t need to spend 4 months writing a pant-load of material for a massive eBook.  The $5.00 price point means that people will probably not mind parting with that much money as they would $30 or so dollars.

(Personally I love Bob Bly’s books, but they almost all start at about $30 dollars or so.  I bought 4 of them a month until I realized how much a month I was spending.  Not Dirt Cheap enough...Ha-ha !)

If you do decide to use your real name in this, make sure you've branded your eBook with your name and contact information.

  However, many times it can have the reverse effect.   People see a vast ocean of information and get overwhelmed, so you want to create short eBooks but make sure that the information in them is well written and dynamite.  You don’t want to produce a bunch of useless crap, either!  

Step 3 – Post and Sell you eBook/Kindle Book in Amazon Books.

Actually, Amazon makes it pretty straightforward about the process, and all you really need to do at this point is follow their step by step set up directions.

TIP: However, it should be noted that when you have to write a description of your product, some knowledge of copywriting techniques will go a long way.  This is where many people fail in their attempts at selling products of any kind on Amazon.  Also, make sure that it’s clear in your description that this is a SHORT eBook and let your potential customer know the number of pages in it.

TIP: For starters you may want to write your short eBooks under an alternate name.  This way, you won’t damage your good name or reputation if for some reason people don’t like what you’ve written.

TIP:   Price your short eBook at about $5.00 a shot.  That way you can easily justify a shorter eBook.

The Dirt Cheap Beauty of the Bid-Ness Model

The thing I like the most about this idea is that you can move very quickly with it.  You don’t need to spend 4 months writing a pant-load of material for a massive eBook.  The $5.00 price point means that people will probably not mind parting with that much money as they would $30 or so dollars.

(Personally I love Bob Bly’s books, but they almost all start at about $30 dollars or so.  I bought 4 of them a month until I realized how much a month I was spending.  Not Dirt Cheap enough...Ha-ha !)

If you do decide to use your real name in this, make sure you’ve branded your eBook with your name and contact information.

Danger Will Robinson...Danger!  Danger!

Danger!  Danger!

One other thing that I almost forgot to mention about selling eBooks on Amazon using this method. You can create quite a few of them quickly using this technique.  However there is a big danger here.  

Don’t make the mistake of creating a piece of JUNK.  Because if you create a piece of junk, no matter what pseudonym or moniker you hide under you’ll eventually get a very bad reputation. 

Besides that, you’ll get used to making junk and not quality products for your prospects and clients.

Please leave comments ...God knows I need them!!!

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. 

More Dirt Cheap Ways to Get Traffic to Your Website

There are so many ways to market your website that if you were to actually participate in all of these marketing activities you’d probably wouldn't have time to brush your teeth.

 My last two blog posts had at least 10 different ways that you could use to market your site for free, or at least dirt cheap.

In my opinion, you should pick the ones that you know how to use the best and run with them.  You don’t want to spread yourself out too thin trying to do everything.  However, if you use a calendar, you can schedule what days you’re going to use these different tools.  That way if you do use quite a few of them or even all of them you won’t burn yourself out.  Cycling through as many free method works, it just takes a bit of planning.

Here is the link to the two previous posts in case you missed them:

More Ways to Get Free Traffic to Your Website 

How to Get Free Traffic to Your Website

Another Batch of Free Tools

Use Google + to Get Maximum Exposure to Your Site – If you haven’t been using Google + you’ve really been missing out.  Just like Facebook and Twitter, Google + has emerged as one of the main players in the social media food chain. 

It’s very easy to make friends that have the same interests as you do on Google + because it has different categories called “circles”, that you can put them into.  This way, you can keep people that you are more intimate with in a different category than people that you merely do business with. 

Not only that, but you can actually create your own categories to put people into.  For example, I created a category called “Marketing Friends” since I have so many people I communicate on there about business and marketing.

The other tool I like using on Google + is a section called “Communities”.  This is a section wherein you can join up and communicate in online groups that have people interested in the same things you’re interested in. 

It’s a great place to post and share thoughts, videos, art, just about anything you can think of!  Like Facebook you’ll have to devote and spend time and effort developing and nurturing relationships, but in the long run it’ll generate traffic and prospects to your site.

Use Twitter to Get Eyes onto Your Website – if you can get involved with a group of people that have similar interests as you on Twitter, you may have an easy and fast way of getting some traffic to your blog.  There are a few things you’ll need to learn about how to use their hashtag system, but once you figure that out, leaving relevant posts are duck soup. 

TIP: Here’s an idea that’ll help you get noticed on Twitter.  If you know of a TV

show that you and others are interested in you can use the hashtag to post to people on Twitter that are also interested in the same TV show.  However, the show and Twitter conversation should be relevant to your business. 

For example, I write advertising copy.  Therefore any TV shows lie The Apprentice, Shark Tank or Undercover Boss are applicable for me to talk about.  Awhile back, I logged in during Undercover Boss, and used the appropriate hashtags and made good comments.

I got so many people to start following me on Twitter, that I was very surprised. These are basically people that are subscribing to my posts (or as Twitter calls them, “Tweets”) that every time I leave a comment or a link to my blog, they will see them.   This is one of the easiest and simplest ways of getting traffic cheaply to your site.

Set Up and Develop Joint Ventures – Joint ventures can benefit more than one person’s website at a time. It’s what you would call a win-win situation for both partners involved.  For example, you could team up with another person and develop a course, and split the work between you.  Both parties using their sites as a springboard for selling or showcasing the course.  If you were writing a book together, both parties could brand the eBook for both websites. 

I’ve seen joint venture books of this nature where different writers contributed their own individual chapter of the document.  Of course, within that chapter they mention their business and website where the readers can get even more information on the subject matter. 

The beauty of this is that the idea that multiple experts wrote a chapter is even better than on expert writing the whole book.  Not only that, but each expert reinforces and supports the other with testimonials, which adds more credibility to the eBook. 

You don’t just have to make eBooks either.  You can create video courses, guest blog posts etc.  The ideas are limitless!

Leave World-Class Comments on Other People’s Blogs – This is an easy method in theory, but it takes time and expertise to pull off.  It takes time to sit, think and then write for a blog comment.  Not only that, but you must make absolutely sure that you know what you’re talking about. 

If you try to come off as an expert and you don’t really know what you’re talking about, people that do know will call you out. So, write excellent blog comments, leave your URL if they’ll let you and for gosh sakes, make sure you know what you’re talking about.

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

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

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Another 5 Ways to Get Traffic to Come to Your Website or Blog

In my last post I gave you 5 dirt-cheap ways to get traffic to come to your site.  If you’re interested, the link to that article is here: Cheap Marketing Methods 

Now, I have another 5 ways you can promote your website that are very cheap.  However, I’d once again like to point out that these methods do require labor or, at the very least outsourcing. 

5 More Ways To Promote Your Website for Free

Reciprocal Links and Banners - It never hurts to send your readers and visitors to high quality websites.  The emphasis needs to be stressed on quality because you want to become a known and respected source of information.  If people come to your site expecting excellence and you refer them to a shabby website that has poorly written information, their stink will probably rub off on you.

Another thing that’s important to consider is that you don’t want to trade links very much.

The other day, I got a request from someone that wanted to trade links with me.  His site was an insurance review site which was totally outside my niche.  Also, I noticed that his site was an Adsense site wherein his site was merely written to generate clicks for Adsense revenue. 

Upon further inspection, I noticed that he had loads of what appeared to be outsourced articles. 

So, I declined his offer to exchange links. 

If you want to read a very well written article on link exchanging, read this article by Michael Bluejay:  Why Your Link Exchange Request Failed 

Donating Your Services to Charity – If you know of a business or charity that can use your products or services, you can donate your help to them.  Not only will you help others in need but they may also point your business out to others. 

My personal take is to help others in need without expecting anything in return.  That’s just the way I am.  I once got an email from a band director that had a trombone playing student that had cancer.  I was operating a music apparel business online and I wound up making a beautiful embroidered jacket for the kid.  I didn't make a dime or any notoriety for doing it, but it sure did feel good to make that student happy.

Put Your Web Address Everywhere – You can place your website’s URL on your car, shirts, business cards, letterhead, as well as any promotional items that you give out for your business.  Also, make sure that you use it in your email signature, eBooks that you’ve written and any communications you use. If you have a bricks and mortar business, make sure that you put your URL on the door of your business, on your menus, receipts, and any other item you use that has your branding on it.

Use Free Classified Ads – There are literally hundreds of free classified ad sites on the Internet.  Many of them service specific countries, so you’ll have to take a close look at them to see what country or area they service.  The downside of using free online ads is there are time limits on how long your ad will run.  You’ll have to go back and check to see if your ad is still running. 

Not only that, but there are a lot of people “phishing” on them.  Phishing is an online searching activity where nefarious people look around on sites where you would place your contact information, and then call you and try to sell you something.  They will also collect your email address and spam you like crazy. 

Here is a brief list of the best free classified sites to use:

Craigslist 

eBay Classifieds 

USFREEADS 

Back Page

Recycler 

Offer a Free Course on Your Website – This requires some effort and time, but if your visitors can get some excellent training, whether it’s audio, video or even a series of lessons, then you can post them for free on your website. 

Years ago, I created an extensive Photoshop course that you can still access today as well as a series on how to make your own blog using Blogger.   It was well received by people that used it.  So put your thinking cap on and think about a video course that you can come up with that is related to your business.  Not only will people come to your site looking for free information, but you can also embed your URL into your videos on YouTube to get even more traffic to your site.

Mark Ellis’s Photoshop Training Videos:

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