How I kept myself from making much more.

It was the perfect system. One that if I
had today I could cash in big time.

That may sound strange, as of course I still
have the system.

The great product to give away,
The auto responder series that sends my
subscribers to even greater paid products.

The Domains, the hosting, the PalPal buttons
and the affiliate accounts.

And now, the knowledge of what I should have
done with it all.

You see things move fast on the Internet and
the products in that system now are yesterdays
news.

However, I now know that the methods that
were taught to promote the system, to drive
traffic to the system are evergreen and still
very viable today.

The mistake that I made was believing that I
knew a better way. I had bought into the hype
that millions could be quickly made on the
Internet.

I was determined that I could do it the fast
way,

not the real way, the proven way. The
way that works.

Yes I blew it, I wasted so much time, so much
energy, so much money.

Finally I stopped took a breath and decided
that I had better take a second look at what
my mentor had tried to teach me.

Plus I found a second mentor who taught me
to stop chasing money. Thus the creation of
this blog and its name.

By the time I turned it all around the system
was doomed.

Others who had also purchased that training and
that system were still chasing money.

They cut the prices on the products or even
gave them away rendering much of the system
worthless.

I re-worked, re-wrote, re-invented and re-thought
the whole thing.

Combined it with the knowledge gained from my
mentors and finally money started to come.

Today it flows in on a regular basis and I am
always working on ways to increase the flow.

I have created a free training series to help
people get started or turn themselves around
and start making some money. It is delivered
over a 6 week period by email.

If you are interested in the series you can
get started by clicking right here.

It will point you in the right direction and
help you to get the money flowing.

Well the contest is over. Actually ended on
the 26th but my sites have been down due to
some hacking at the hosting company. They
finally came back up just hours ago.

The contest really was not much of a contest.
Probably my fault I should have promoted it
more.

But, I have been busy working on this great
product. It is almost finished.

Yes I am looking for affiliates. I will be
running the affiliate program through PayDotCom.
I am paying affiliates 60% which works out to
a little over $40 per sale in commission. There
may even be more by the time it is all said
and done. So if you are interested let me know
so I can keep you posteed.

email: diamondseeker@roadrunner.com with
“yourproduct” in the subject line.

So here are the names of the winners

Anthony Santiago
Sean Beardmore
Mick Fallon

Congratulations guys. I will get the product
to you as soon as I get it finished.

Sometime early next month.

Ok that’s all folks

Thomas

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly For 2010

The bad of 2010

Let’s just get the worst over with and talk
about the Bad of 2010.

Many of the experts predict that the recession
will get worse. In fact some say that “we ain’t
seen nothing yet”.

This is bad news for the people of the world.
Many will lose their jobs, homes, and investments

However, it will make some people rich. People
who are in the right position will actually
prosper during this recession.

One example would be those who invested in gold
when the economy was strong and the gold market
was low and unattractive.

They are having a big payday now as the price
gold has at least tripled since that time.

Many believe gold will climb much higher
in the near future. That is why all those
companies have sprung up offering to buy 
scrap gold.

They are taking advantage of the current
recession by getting people to sell their gold
at under market prices plus they are speculating
that gold prices are going to rise in the future.

Another place where people will get rich
during the recession is with Internet Marketing.

Many in the Internet Marketing Make Money niche
are reporting huge increases in sales during this
recession as more and more people are searching
for ways to make extra income.

This brings us to the Ugly.

The ugly fact is that there are many crappy
products floating around on the Internet that
gives people false hope or just plain rips them
off.

Unfortunately there will be many more of these bogas
products created in 2010 to take advantage people
struggling in this economy.

This will give Internet Marketing and Internet
Marketers a bad name.

There will be everything from products that do not
deliver as described, coaching programs that are
being put on by people who have yet to find success,
and some forced continuity programs that are almost
impossible to unsubscribe from.

Thank god the FTC has stepped in to get rid of
some of the garbage claims in advertising.

Finally The Good

The good for 2010 is that anyone can take advantage
of the economy and make a fortune if they position
themselves correctly.

They can do it without deception, con jobs, cheating
or stealing.

And, they can do it with Internet Marketing.

The key to Internet Marketing success in 2010
will be delivering true value and building trust.

They can be the hero and help people during these
hard times.

They can actually care about their subscribers
and create products and send offers that will truly
help them to find success.

Yes 2010 will be a profitable year for many.
Some will make a ton of money the wrong way
and consider themselves rich.

Others may make less money but, be even richer because
they did it by helping and caring about people who
were struggling to survive.

Comment Contest

Leave a comment for this post.

I will select the best three comments on Jan 26th and
each will receive a free copy of my first product in
2010 which is due to launch later this month. This
product will be of great use to anyone in the Internet
Marketing Niche and of real value to those who are just
getting started. So get writing and tell me what you
think of the post and why you would like to get a copy
of my product.

To Your Success
Thomas

I think it was Joey on the T.V. show
Friends that made this question
(pick up line) famous.

Today I am using it, not to pick you
up, but as a question about your
Web site or blog.

So How You Doing?

Do you even know?

Are the search engines finding your site?

What do they think about it?

What is your page rank?

How many inbound links do you have?

What is your Alexia ranking?

For answers to these questions and more
there is a great tool out there that is
Free to use.

Not only does it give you the answers.
It also gives you tips to improve your
ranking.

Very Cool Tool.

Hey, you can check it out here.

http://websitegrader.com/

Thomas

PS While you are here do not miss
the chance to grab my Free Internet
Marketing Success Toolkit. Just click
the big Orange button over to the right.

So what makes someone remarkable? Their actions,
their words, their accomplishments?

What determines if someone is remarkable? Is it
how the person is perceived to another person?

Someone may not be perceived as remarkable to
those who have accomplished more and greater things.
However, they may be perceived as a role model
to those who are struggling to reach their level.

Success in Internet Marketing may well be determined
by “being remarkable”. The ability to stand out in
a crowd and do things differently than everyone else.

Most agree that the key to success in Internet
Marketing is building a list.

Those who can find a way to become remarkable to
their list subscribers will guarantee their own success.

The path to this success will be in caring for the
list. Over delivering on content. Promoting only things
that will help the subscribers find their own success.
Offering and providing help to whoever seeks it.

Those who look at their list as not a way to make money,
but a way to help others find success will guarantee
their own success.

Many years ago I had the privilege of meeting a old man named Oscar. Oscar at that time was in his mid seventies but he looked and moved like a much younger man. Oscar’s passion was growing landscaping plants. His entire back yard was row after row of plants. These plants all varied in type and size from very small baby plants to mature plants ready to fill a blank space in some ones landscape. Oscar even had plants growing in his window wells. He used his window wells to start his cuttings. Magically getting roots to grow on pieces of plants severed from their momma plant. Oscar was quite the nurseryman and people from all around knew they could depend on him for high quality plants for their landscapes.

Each night right before sundown Oscar would go out and stand on his back porch and gaze out over his rows of plants. Some nights he would stand there for close to an hour gazing out over the plants. Other nights he was out and back in a flash. The neighbors of course took notice of this kinda bizarre habit of Oscars and commented on the possibility that Oscar could be getting a little bit senile. Growing concerned mostly from the now advanced rumors that the old man had gone completely nuts one of the neighbors ventured over one night. That night Oscar was having one of his longer gazing sessions. As the neighbor approached, Oscar did not take notice he just continued gazing over his plants his attention focused to one corner of his backyard nursery. Finally after a few minutes of watching Oscar gaze and not wanting to startle the old man the neighbor very quietly almost whispered his name. Oscar just continued gazing and said ” I wondered if you were gonna say something or if you were just here to look”. Finally breaking his gaze Oscar asked ” What can I do for you this fine evening”? The neighbor a little bit taken back by Oscars obvious clarity stammered a bit and finally just said “Oh I saw you standing out here and just wondered what you were doing. Oscar just smiled and said ” I do this every night, I come out here and plan what I am going to do tomorrow”. “That way I wake up every day knowing exactly what I need to do for these plants”.

A recent webinar reminded me of this story. Rich Schefren was talking about the importance of planning for the success of an Internet marketing business. Though the webinar he talked about keeping a journal, and how the majority of very successful people keep a daily journal. He explained the importance of setting a goal. Explaining that just setting a financial goal was not enough. The goal had to be something that could be visualized in your mind. The house you were going to buy with the money. The vacation you were going to take. The lifestyle you were going to have when the goal was attained. He then talked about how make a plan to make that goal happen. Breaking it all down into time periods that finally lead to what you needed to do every day to reach that goal. This reminded me of what Oscar had said almost thirty years ago. “Plan for tomorrow today” Know exactly what you have to do tomorrow to get you to your goal.

The average person just takes on life as it happens. Most are content to live their lives this way. Going to work everyday, collecting a paycheck every week and enjoying the things they can afford to enjoy. They are successful at being average and are happy to live their life that way. The very successful take on life in a different way. Always setting goals, always planning, and knowing exactly what they need to do to meet their goals. The successful person is rarely content to just let life happen. They make it happen.

Alex Jeffreys once said ” A fool with a plan will always beat a genius without a plan. If you are struggling with your Internet Marketing business maybe it is time to get organized, get focused and make a plan of action to achieve your goal. At the very least you should always take a lesson from Oscar and “plan for tomorrow today” which is another quote from Alex.

An outline will not only help you create a better product, but it will help you do it in a shorter period of time. Outlines, are tools that make your product creation faster and easier. Outlines work for all types of products. With an outline, you know exactly how you want to produce your product and in what order. You will not have to stop and come up with new ideas or think about what part should come next.  Rarely when working with an outline will you find yourself at a stand still trying to decide what needs done next.

Outlines, including e-book outlines, come in a number of different formats.  Despite all these formats, there are some items which are almost always included in an outline. These items are the main topic, headings, and subheadings. This basic format can be adapted in many ways.

When writing an e-book, or even when creating a video you may want to write an outline  for each chapter or in the case of a video each scene. While it may seem like a lot of work, In the end, this is likely to improve your final product.  In fact, the use of an outline may be the one thing that helps to set your product apart from thousands of others.

Here are a couple samples of basic outlines

Topic: The Magic of the The Word “To”
  
1) In the English Language there are different ways to use the word “to”

 a) The Different meanings of the word “to”
 
  1) to
  2) too
  3) two
  
 b) Examples of ways to use the word “to”
 
  1) use as a number
  2) Too be included
  3) as a verb showing action
  
2) The word “to” is very useful…..
For a video your outline may look like this;

Topic: How to make a video

Scene one

Title Card -How To Make A video

Scene Two

Title Card-

To Start Making Videos you will need some basic Equipment and Software

 Equipment 
 
  a) camera
  b) web cam
  
   1) Different types of cameras
   2) Different types of web cams
  
 Software
 
  a) windows movie maker
  b) Camtasia
  
  
Of course your actual outline could go into much more detail then shown in these examples. The most important thing is to choose a outline method that helps you streamline your product production. It could be as basic as a set of organized notes on a sheet of paper, or a very detailed outline using one of the above formats. The most vital part is to get your plan and your ideas out of your head and organized on paper.

For the best chance of success, you should choose an outline method that you feel comfortable working with. If you find yourself having a difficult time preparing or reading an outline, keep on experimenting. Soon you will find an outline format that you enjoy working with and one that will increase your productivity.

A profitable sales funnel can be created in any niche. There are a few components that must be considered when setting up a sales funnel. First, and most important a good opt-in or squeeze page. Second, and perhaps equally important a good professional auto responder. Third, quality products to market. Fourth a well written email series.

The first thing needed is a way to get potential customers into your sales funnel. That is where your squeeze page or opt-in page comes into play. The goal of this page is to get people to opt-in to your list by giving them something of value. It is important that this squeeze page and gift are directly related to your niche. It is not going to work to get people to opt-in for a report about dog training then try to sell them rabbit food.

The best gifts for opt-in pages are usually some type of report or ebook. However, much can be said these days for gifts that are a video training series, production related software or even free memberships to training or information sites.

The next component of the funnel is the auto responder. There is only one auto responder that I can recommend and that is Aweber. The auto responder will collect the names and email address of the people who opt in to your list. Then it will automatically send a series of emails that directs your subscribers into your sales funnel.

The next part will be the products that you are going to promote to your subscribers. Three to seven good solid products directly related to the niche will make a real nice sales funnel. These can be products that you have created or other peoples products for which you are an affiliate. Two of the best places to find affiliate products are ClickBank and Paydotcom. They have thousands of products you can promote and earn a good commission.

Once you have selected your products it is time to start writing a great email series to promote these products. This is the trickiest part, and if done correctly the most profitable part. First and most important before you try to sell anything through your sales funnel you must create a relationship with your subscribers. The first email is the most important to start building this relationship. In this email thank them for joining your list, give them the download link for your gift. Let them know that you are there to help them and also that you will be sending them further information related to your niche.

There are many lines of thought on how far apart to space your email series. Three days apart is a good time period which most subscibers find acceptable.

The second email is where you really want to start working on the relationship. It is a good place to tell your subscriber a little bit about yourself. Now is the time to pile on the value by giving them a free bonus item.

In the third email it is time to begin to talk about common problems that people face in your niche. It is good to mention problems that you have faced and how you overcame them. If you have another free product to offer go ahead they will love you for it, and think you are the greatest thing since french toast.

In the fourth email you should address a problem in your niche that can be solved by one of your products. Go into detail of how this problem holds people back and even tell a story about how you have been dealing with this problem. Then at the end of the email promise to have a great solution to this problem in your next email.

In the fifth email you want to tell them about the great solution to solve the problem. If you are using a affiliate product you can probably find ideas for copy for this email from the sales page for the product. Do not copy from the sales page word for word, but creatively mention questions or topics which are addressed on the sales page. Finally, now is the time to give your subscribers a link to the sales page.

The sixth email is a reinforcement email. Very positively, as if you know they have already bought the product talk about all the benefits they are seeing from the product. Talk about how the product has helped you and how you are glad they are can now get the same results. Again put the product link in the email.

The seventh email should be a general email about the niche. Any type of training or helpful information is good to use here. This is also a great place to toss in another freebie.

In the eighth email you can identify a problem that is solved by your next product. Repeat the process that was used for the first product but change it up a little so your subscribers do not see a pattern developing.

Repeat this process for all of your products and once you are done with the original products, search for more products to add to the funnel. Remember to add a couple emails with good content and toss in a freebie here and there between product promotions. Keep that relationship building, and your subscribers will look forward to seeing your emails, trust you, and most important buy from you.

Run from money is a great place to find some very
special online business tips.

From how to start an online business, to business
planning, to tools for twitter, and search engine
optimization. You can find it all here.

For something really special grab a copy of my
Internet Marketing Success Toolkit, you will find
it in the side bar to the right.

There are many online business tips in the older
post so stick around and dig deep. Discover the
things that my mentors Michael Cheney and Alex
Jeffreys have taught me.

Information worth thousands of dollars and you
can get it here for free. You may also want to
check out my blogs about my mentors and their 
products like Michael Cheneys 

Delta Squadron Revealed for more online business tips.

If you are a merchant selling digital products through ClickBank or Paydotcom you are leaving a ton of money on the table. This statement is made in confidence due to a powerful new and free tool that will boost your affiliate sales by a much as 800%. This new tool is a powerful re-branding system in which allows your affiliates to re-brand a report about your product or service then use this report to direct traffic to your sales page.

Right now this article may seem to overstate the value of this tool, there are many re-branders on the market today. None, even come close to doing what this one can do for your sales.

It is not the re-brander that is the key to this amazing free service, it is the system behind the re-brander. A system that includes over 10,000 hungry affiliates just waiting to promote your product. A system that includes squeeze page, confirmation page and download page. A system that sends out seven auto responder messages to continue marketing your product to potential customers.

The sales process is not even over at the end of the auto responder series. Your affiliates can effortlessly continue promoting your product forever. They can do this by “cloaking” your product blog feed with their affiliate link. This way, your affiliates can automatically broadcast every “product specific” update your make on your blog to their list of people interested in your product.

This is extremely powerful! Just think, every time you make a blog post, it is not just seen by your visitors, it goes out (automatically) to every targeted list that your affiliates have built to sell your product.

The whole system is very easy to use. First create a re-brand able report addressing the problems your product solves. Second create a squeeze page, confirmation page, and download page for your affiliates to use to deliver the report and collect potential customer information. Next create seven auto responder messages for your affiliates to send out to their list of potential customers. Finally submit this entire campaign to the Ebook vault where there are over 10,000 affiliates waiting to promote your product for you.

A few hours of work, and you will have a perpetual marketing machine, working for you 24/7. Of course the best part, did I mention it was free?

Check out this powerful system here.