In today’s blog post I am going to reveal a few things most Internet Marketers will never discuss, I’m going to show you some real time stats from a promo I ran on complete autopilot while I was on vacation, including clicks and sales. I am also going to reveal something that I know may make you feel you were ‘tricked’ in some sort of way, especially if you were one of the people who responded to last weeks emails telling me to stop marketing while I was on vacation. However, you have to understand I am revealing this information to educate you.
The problem was Dave Nicholson and Daniel Sumner were re-launching PLR Monthly and had a fantastic offer running while I was away and I knew I had to promote this offer for 2 reasons.
- The offer was unbelievable value
- I knew I’d make a ton of money promoting it (just being honest)
So I knew I had to promote. However, if I had taken my laptop on vacation with me my good lady Tania would not have been very pleased, after all this was our annual vacation to Benidorm in Spain and there is no way she would let me near a computer as she wanted to have me to herself for a week without the usual distractions my online business presents. In fact I was only just allowed to check my stats from time to time on on my iPhone and that was after some heated discussions 
You see, the truth is I didn’t touch a computer while I was away, all the messages were pre-loaded into Aweber and there were 4 messages queued in total. This meant I didn’t have to touch a thing while I was away, so if you thought I was actually writing the emails while I was away I wasn’t, I wrote them all before I left. I’m sorry if this may seem like I cheated as I was discussing a vacation I hadn’t even started but I had this blog post planned and wanted to show you that we can plan our promos and make money on complete autopilot. Plus I did get sunburned, had a few hangovers and spent most of my time by the pool
And here are the results of this promo. The only dates that really matter are from the 6th to the 14th while I was away.
That’s almost 90 sales and over $2600 in affiliate commissions and most of that is recurring. Not bad considering I was soaking up the sun most of the time.
So never forget that even though things happen in our lives that can prevent us being near a PC we can still market and make money while we are offline.
Aweber can be pre-loaded and you can even schedule blog posts with wordpress as well as set up autoresponder campaigns that can go out at pre-determined times as soon as someone signs up for one of your lists. In fact if you sign up for the free course advertised in the top right corner of this blog you will be put into an autoresponder sequence that promotes my Mentorship Monthly program. Try it, sign up and take a look at how I market the program and remember, it’s all done on autopilot.
I am going to follow up on this post in a few days and go into a lot more detail about this promo but for now I just wanted to let you see how I effectively ran a campaign while I was on vacation. As always your comments are welcome.
SIDENOTE! If you are quick you may still be able to get locked in at the special PLR Monthly price as I managed to get it extended for a further 24 hours for you. Here’s the link you need.
32 Comments
Ron Barrett
September 15, 2010John,
What you did here is the perfect example of how the autoresponder is supposed to function. Not only can you use it for a promotion you know is coming up for an affiliate product but you can (AND SHOULD) use it for promoting your own product launches.
Yes, a lot of people use them for broadcasting jv emails on a daily basis but the main purpose of it is to do exactly what you did.
Bravo! Great job!
Donald
September 15, 2010Hi John,
Looks like you had a good holiday by the photo. I agree with the above comment. I sent you a couple of e mails and get an out od office reply. On the other hand I was getting e mails from you. There was me thinking that you were sitting by the pool side with your laptop and of course a beer.
It shows the power of Aweber. All your messages written in advance, quite genius.
Guess that’s why you are where you are.
Signed up for your trial. Just about starting week 2.
Regards
Donald
John Thornhill
September 17, 2010Hey Donald,
I’m glad you enjoyed that, as a new masterclass student you’ll be learning a lot more over the coming weeks.
Daniel Sumner
September 15, 2010Hey John,
Welcome back! Excellent promotional emails BTW, and I told you it was an unbelievable offer!
I love the beauty of automated income and the power of Aweber auto responder service. There is nothing like waking up in the morning to find an affiliate income from something you put in place days before.
I don’t use the WordPress feature very often but I feel safe in the knowledge that it is there to use if I want it.
Great information John and a good example of forward planning!
Dan
Jerry Holliday
September 15, 2010Nice one!
I hope you had a great hollers..
I sort of guessed your emails might have been pre-written but it’s what aweber and other auto responders were built for !
Jerry
Stuart Turnbull
September 15, 2010Although I’ve been an aweber user for the last couple of years I’ve never pre-loaded messages and used it this way, John so thanks for the heads up on this.
I love the holiday snap, You look like a very happy guy indeed!
I also love the way you teach your successful methods with nothing held back.
You deserve all the success that comes your way!
Steve Wilkins
September 15, 2010Hey John,
I had a feeling they were pre-written as when ever I go on holiday my wife never lets me near a computer either but thats exactly what we pay Aweber for and it’s something I have done a few times.
I shouldn’t think too many people will be upset when reading this as auto-pilot income is what we all aim for and this is a perfect lesson on how to make it happen. Great post!
Regards,
Steve Wilkins.
Andreas Spyrou
September 15, 2010Hi John,
Well isnt this the purpose of having an autoresponder? I am sure that one of the reasons your good lady Tania “let you” join Aweber was because you dont have to work while being on holidays!
I remember when a few months ago I was in Germany for holidays but my internet income wasn’t lowered because I wasn’t working. Of course I did not earned $2,652 but only $526 but I earned that money without doing ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING! (Just checking the stats). But that made feel REALLY GOOD and saw from first hand the power of making money on autopilot!
This is the “secret” of internet marketing. AUTOMATION! You can schedule as many emails as you want and make a really good income while swimming in your hotels swimming pool or being anywhere in the world.
Of course the hard part isnt scheduling those emails and joining an affiliate program but doing the marketing, knowing what to write on every email, doing the special offers etc.
Excellent post. I am waiting for the other blog posts.
Take care,
Andreas
Paul
September 15, 2010Hi John
-I’m still one of your greatest fans.
Looks like you had a good holiday and had time to relax. A great example of working on your business rather than in it. You couldn’t work in it and truly be on holiday at the same time. So you set up a system to take care of business while you were away.Often,the better the system , the better the business. This goes to prove what an important part the autoresponder plays when used properly.
Great reminder about WordPress being set on auto.
Thanks for a great post.
Despite the deception
All the best,
Paul
Steve King
September 15, 2010Hi John
That’s outrageous behaviour…I feel cheated. I thought you were sending me e-mails from the pool!
Obviously only joking, I always like the fact you break down the how & why you do things…and it’s not just a case of ‘do this’
…and that’s what auto-responders are for – it’s kind of given away by the name really
I look forward to the next installment…and Welcome back to blighty!
Cheers
Steve
John Thornhill
September 17, 2010Hey Steve,
A lot of people did think I was emailing from the pool and that’s why I was a little concerned about revealing what I did. However I knew most people would appreaciate what I was sharing and it looks like no one has had any objections so far.
Edson
September 15, 2010Hi John,
Glad to see you had a great time on your vacation. Aweber is what I use and I also recommend it to anyone getting started. Its easy to set up and once you set up enough series of messages, you quickly start making automatic income.
Take Care,
Edson Buchanan
Randy Smith
September 15, 2010Hi John,
Welcome back
Good to see you had a great time, and nice to see how well you did on the promotion.
It IS a fantastic offer for people
BTW – cheeky plug… http://www.WizardResponderPro.com also has the function of preloading messages, or scheduling them for while you’re on holiday 😉 …. Actually most autoresponder companies do..lol
I was luckier when I was away – Rachel likes her sleep on a morning, so my little 9inch netbook and a mobile dongle let me sneak online before she got up each day…hehe
Anyways – now you’re back we’ll all look forward to seeing some good stuff from you
And I hope you and the guys can make Northallerton soon – next
P*ssMeet Up is Sat 2nd Oct 😉Chat soon
Randy
http://www.RandolfSmith.com
John Thornhill
September 17, 2010Im gonna make one of those meets soon Randy, the holiday season is almost over and when it is my saturdays will be free (apart from when Sunderland are at home)
Mandy Allen
September 15, 2010Hi John, I actually use Wizard Responder in the same way and I find it invaluable. It was one of the best things you taught us on Masterclass, thanks.
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
Ed
September 15, 2010Hey John,
Brilliant advice on utilizing AWeber, loved it, and as far as I`m concerned nothing to apoligise for!
You know at the moment, I am creating a 22 follow up message sequence to my ‘newbies Auction Profits’ viral report list, that will pan out over a 12 month period, offering some great free eBay tools, with eBay product promos along the way!
I have been studying listbuilding and follow up messages hard lately, and your ti phere in this post as just added to my education and Implementation on building my business on autopilot.
Great advice here John….Ed AKA John.
Syed Alam
September 15, 2010Hey John,
It’s great that you brought to our attention,the incredible power of automation of our online business. I’m totally geared towards putting my business on automation. I have always believed that’s how we get to the lifestyle this business promises.
By the way, I bought lifetime memberships for both, PlanetSMS mentorship and PLR Monthly, from your links.
And, I always believed that most of the mails I received from you were from your auto-responder follow up.
Being your current Masterclass student, I’m trying to get thing off the ground, at times feels like there’s so much to learn until I get into the autopilot mode.
Thanks for keeping me focused, which for me is very challenging. Life just gets in the way.
On the side note, I’m still waiting for my PlanetSMS log-in info.
I got return response that told me you were on vacation and unable to respond.
I hope you had a great vacation, I believe you did!
–Syed
John Thornhill
September 17, 2010Hi Syed,
Yes, I set up an autoresponder message while I was away that will have directed you to my helpdesk. Your login details should be with you now, if not let me know.
Syed Alam
September 18, 2010John,
I got it! Thanks for the link. I appreciate everything that you do for us.
-Syed
Terry Conti
September 16, 2010Hi John, hoping your vacation was great. Having an internet business is amazing compared to traditional business. Thanks for the word-press schedule blog posts in the future link along with the Aweber info. Powerful!
John Thornhill
September 17, 2010Hey Terry,
The wordpress feature is something I have used a few times, combine that with aweber and you can be blogging away and notifying your subscribers on autopilot.
Martyn Boaden
September 16, 2010Hi John
Great post. Of course, the other good thing about marketing information products on the internet is that you can run the business from anywhere in the world. So instead of going on holiday for a week or two and setting up an autoresponder sequence, you can go away for a month or two and still run your business on a part time basis.
John Thornhill
September 17, 2010That’s actually something I’m planning on doing soon, this may be a remote lodge in Scotland or a villa in Spain and all I will need is an Internet connection and a laptop, what a great business we’re in.
Rob Corrigan
September 16, 2010Hi John some of us guessed this! But it’s a great example of practicing what you preach in the masterclass. I know what its like to be banned from the PC, I got banned for a full week.
Cheers
Rob
John Thornhill
September 17, 2010Lol, it’s actually good to be banned from the computer sometimes
Vivien Tan
September 16, 2010Hi John
Welcome back and glad you had a great holiday! I totally agree with you on how great an asset Aweber is when you are away, putting everything on autopilot. I’m one of your Masterclass students and not yet an established Internet Marketer, but I’ve been using Aweber to pre-load my affiliate swipe emails and it’s just awesome!
Rgds
Vivien
Sally Neill
September 16, 2010Hi John,
Your post made me giggle a little, just to myself I mean, because I have been using Aweber for about 4 years now and I only just set up some messages on the scheduler like 2 weeks ago!
I think it’s great that you set it all up to work for you when you were on holiday.
I would love to do that, but I would probably have sneaked into an internet cafe to check my commissions ha ha.
Glad Tania doesn’t let you work whilst you are away, I know Rachel doesn’t like Randy working on holiday either!
Catch ya soon, Sally
John Thornhill
September 17, 2010It’s actually really good to get away from everything once in a while, however with smart phones this is becoming harder and I couldn’t resist checking stats but for most of the time I was in vacation mode
Mike
September 18, 2010Hi John,
Another valuable lesson on using Aweber or any auto-responder service that you can set up your messages in advance and put them to work for you weather your on vacation or not and thanks for the heads up on scheduling your word press blog post for a later date.
Mike
Daniel Flower
September 18, 2010Hi John
Thanks for posting this – I was particularly interested to compare your stats with those of my own. Looks like I’m not doing too badly actually
Whilst I’m nowhere near to making the amounts of money you do, it is very cool to schedule a message into your Aweber account and then see the payments arriving in your Paypal or Clickbank account once the message has been sent. I’m starting to get REALLY excited about my online business and the results I’m seeing.
Congratulations on your results. Benidorm is actually my kind of holiday hell!! (much prefer a log cabin in Scotland or something) but the important thing is that IM has let you live your life the way YOU want to live it.
Thanks for posting this and all the other good stuff you continually put out.
Daniel
John Thornhill
September 18, 2010Hey Daniel,
Benidorm has a certain image but to be honest there’s something for everyone. If you can’t enjoy yourself there you can’t enjoy yourself anywhere.
I actually had the log cabin experience in Scotland in February this year, no internet, no mobile connection, no proper hot water, no TV… Brilliant
Sue Schlaiffer
September 18, 2010Hi John,
You never cease to amaze me with your skilled use of the IM tools! I am learning so much by following you and I did not think I would learn so much in such a short space of time. Maybe I will soon be able to spend much more leisure time with family while my business runs more on auto pilot, a far better lifestyle that’s what it’s all about.
Regards, Sue.
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