If you read all of this post I guarantee you will increase your blog subscribers! A bold statement to be sure, but one I stand by 100%, no BS theory, just stuff that works!

Ok, let us get right into this with the stuff that works. I assume you have a blog online, if you don’t then take a look here, but before you do please finish this article as it will help you during your blog creation.

Generating subscribers to your blog is essential, not only for building business but for your own sanity! There is nothing more disheartening than seeing no traffic and no interaction on that personal space you so dearly care about. So let’s change that and start with – 8 tips to build subscribers!

These tips are applicable to anyone at any level and most of them are free or very low cost.

1. Opt-in – First of all when it comes to gathering subscribers to your blog, you need a process in place to gather those readers with. By process I mean an opt-in form. This type of opt-in form can be seen here on John’s blog, my blog and many others like it. So your first step is to get an opt-in and position these opt-in’s to maximise exposure.

Maximum exposure from an opt-in can be achieved by positioning your opt-in on one or all of 5 positions:

a. Sidebar – The most popular place to opt-in. Keep the opt-in high on the sidebar and above the page fold.

b. Below the post – After the post is a great place to have an opt-in, providing you give great readable content so the reader gets that far :-D. This opt-in can however be overlooked by those who would rather comment, so don’t rely on just this opt-in.

c. Pop-ups – Popups can be very annoying, but also very effective. Probably the most effective of all popups is to have a good looking pop-up with a great call to action. Some opt-in software such as Aweber can be set to show only new people the opt-in, this helps to prevent old and already subscribed readers from seeing the popup every time.

d. Feature Box – A feature box is not available on all blogs, but this is one of the best places to put an opt-in. Just below the title (same as John’s blog) is prime real estate to place your opt-in and call to action. This gets seen almost immediately when a visitor lands on the site.

e. About me page – Surprisingly, having an about page on your blog gets visited a lot. People are naturally curious to see who is writing and what they do. On your about me page, place a description, images and also your opt-in. It is very important to connect with people and by creating an about page, you can do just that.

2. Facebook – Facebook has 3 avenues which you can effectively distribute content to others:

a. Groups
b. Fan Pages
c. Personal Timeline

a. Groups – By joining groups of like minded people, you will find the space to share your information with the people in those groups. By providing good information on related content and inserting your blog post hyperlink to the group post, you can link direct to your post. This is gold if the group you are in enjoys your content.

The same goes for your own groups. If you own a group of related content to your our blog, then you have a gateway to share your online content with the people who are interested in what you have to say. Sharing your content with your own group will allow your readers to interact with you on another platform i.e. Your own blog.

b. Fan pages – Fan pages are a little different to groups where the content of the page is more about the owner of the page. The principals are the same as a group however. Just remember to ask permission of the page owner to share your content on their timeline.

c. Timeline – Simple, share your content on your own timeline. If you have a single Facebook account, you can group your friends together into internal groups so you can share content with these specific groups. Syndicating your groups like this allows you to share valuable content on your timeline with people who want to read it. Once more, the link back will provide an access to your blog and allow you to build subscribers from your opt-in’s.

3. Blog Hopping – Yes, you may have heard of this before and may have tried it, but did you stick with it? Blog hopping can be very time consuming, but it works. Take your time and spend it commenting on around 5 blogs per day to generate links back to your own blog. I guarantee, if you engage the readers and authors on the blogs you visit, you will see results.

Rules:

a. Always leave value when commenting. This is essential to gain interest from fellow bloggers and the blog author.

b. Share content on social networks. By using the share links on the blogs you visit, especially if they have them setup right, you attract the attention of the blog owner. Reciprocation is not always returned but quite often is. If your posts are shared by others, this creates a viral effect and generates traffic back to your posts. Let your opt-in do the rest!

4. Guest posting – Simple but very effective! By providing value on other people’s blogs you can set yourself as an authority in your niche. The guest blog will always give you a link back to your own blog, which will generate traffic and new readers.

Rules:

a. Provide massive value when writing guest posts

b. Always have a great posts on your own blog for people to connect with

c. Be on hand to return comments to every commenter on the post with a valued and respectful message. This allows interaction as well as relationship building with new readers. Remember, just because you landed a guest post doesn’t mean your traffic will explode. You need to work with your new readers. Earn their respect!

5. Product development – A little trickier than the sharing methods above due to the fact you need to create a product before you actually can share it, but the end benefits are huge.

a. Free Guides – By creating a free guide you can share this in many places and also allow it to be shared. This then creates a viral effect which, yes you guessed it links back to your blog. You can give these away on many platforms including social media, ad swaps, giveaways, Kindle amazon, eBay (paid for) to name a few.

b. Paid for products – Something I remain constant about is creating a link back to my blog from every product I create. No matter what happens to that product when it is sold or after it has run it’s course, my blog link is always there and my blog is always constant. Having a blog link in your products provides extra value for the product buyer and also provides a place to become part of your own community. Always give value to retain customers.

6. Paid traffic – I’m sure I could hear the groan when you read that! Ok, forget Google, and look toward Faceboook and Just Retweet.

a. Facebook – Did you know your can target your ads to pretty much anyone and any location. The demographics are awesome, so don’t discount a Facebook ad offering free information. This will guarantee you some new readers and customers. Just remember to provide value.

b. Just Retweet – Ok, Just Retweet (JR) has a paid and a free option, but the free option is very time consuming, so I suggest spending $10 on some targeted tweet traffic. JR allows you to buy tweets from real people, from which the real people earn points so they can in-turn spend their points on retweets.

By placing your link and short description on JR for people to retweet, the people who retweet your post gain points and you gain visitors from twitter. Good enough posts can go viral! I have had in excess of 150 tweets and the same in subscribers from just $10. JR is worth looking into for some of your more informative posts.

7. Tribes – Admittedly, not something I have spent a ton of time involved with but works very well. Sites like triberr.com allow you to join a tribe of bloggers who actively share each others content over the blogosphere. Joining a tribe allows you to become part of a blogging community, to share your content and also learn a thing or two about blogging on the way. Remember adding value and sharing each others content is the key here.

8. Content sharing – Ok, lets say you have written a very good article on something in your chosen niche. You have exhausted all your avenues of social media sharing and are looking for the next place to gain more exposure? Have you considered asking people on similar blogs to share your content? Some bloggers or websites will gladly share your content with their readers. They may even ask you to write a small article and then link back to your article, but this small task is nothing to what you will get back from it.

Remember, we live in a content hungry age and people/businesses are more than willing to share important information with their readers if it makes the reader happy. Don’t be afraid to ask people to link to one of your articles in their own articles if it’s related. Sharing is fun!

What are you waiting for? Get to it!

I hope you enjoyed these 8 tips today and do take something away with you and put them to work. You will see improvements to traffic by doing so I guarantee it.

If you have any questions related to this post, please let me know in the comments section below or if you have any additional value to add, please let me know I would love to hear what you have to say.

If you liked this post and would like to read more from Dan, you can check out his blog here at DanSumner.com. Dan writes about online marketing, focus methods and business tips.

 1, It’s all about content.

People visit your blog to read your content so try to avoid using your blog to pitch tons of products, it’s fine to advertise your own products and services, after all your blog is about you, but don’t make each post a shameless plug for something else. Sure, if you are talking about a particular product or service feel free to link to it via an affiliate link but make sure delivering great content is your number one priority.

2, Update your content on a regular basis.

No one likes seeing a blog that isn’t updated regularly so try to update your blog as often as possible and at the very least at least once per calendar month. This means your archives will always display every month in your blog post history, so even as little as 12 posts per year written once per month can give the impression of a busy blog, but of course try to write more often.

3, Write for people, not search engines.

There is nothing worse than reading content that was designed to get better rankings in the search engines, so when writing try to forget about keywords and SEO. People visit your blog to read your content. If you forget about keywords and SEO your content will read better and you will probably get better long term search engine rankings.

 4, Don’t be afraid to be controversial.

A controversial blog post can split opinions but this can lead to a ton of interaction and traffic. In fact if someone heavily disagrees with what you write they will probably end up driving a ton of traffic for you. Ask yourself if you have read an article that made you angry or you strongly disagreed with. Were you more compelled to add your opinion? If the answer is yes then you already know how well this works.

 5, Capture leads.

When someone visits your blog it would be a shame to let them go without at least offering a bribe to have them opt-in to your mailing list. I actually have three opt-in forms on my blog, a pop up and three static opt-in forms. See if you can spot them all. People can also connect with me via Facebook and RSS. If people like what you are doing they will want to connect with you so make sure it’s easy to do so.

 6, Keep your blog up to date.

WordPress is constantly changing, make sure you keep up to date and always update your blog when updates are available as sometimes updates are to protect you from security risks.

 7, Appearance is everything.

I have to be honest, I have seen some shocking looking blogs over the years, we don’t need to see flashing images, audio, bells, whistles and the like. People visit your blog because of your content, not because it has a nice flashy logo. Keep things simple and also make sure that any graphics you use on your blog are professionally created. I hate to break it to you but unless you have major experience in graphic design your logo probably wont look professional despite your best attempts. So pay a designer to create your blog graphics. I can recommend GFX-1.

8, Use images in your posts.

Have you noticed I tend to add an image to most of my posts? I feel this breaks up the text in your posts and makes your blog look more visually appealing. Try to add at least one image to each post you write. Make sure you have the rights to use any images you add to your posts, just doing a Google image search and downloading isn’t enough and could land you in a lot of trouble. I usually download my images from Fotolia and I would recommend you use a similar service.

9, Spell check.

Make sure your blog is free from spelling and grammatical errors. The spell checker in your browser isn’t enough as it’s usually very hard to spot your own errors, so make sure you get someone else to proofread everything you write. You can get away with the odd error but if your posts are full of errors people wont stick around for long.

10, Get social.

Make sure you interact your blog with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. If you write good content your followers will want to share it and the best way to do this is via social media sharing tools. Sharebar is a great tool to encourage social sharing.

11, Share your secrets.

Some people think it’s wrong to share ‘secrets’ via a blog thinking that giving away great content should be kept for a product that people will need to buy. My take on that is if you share your best stuff for free people will be falling over themselves to get at your paid material. If you discover something that works don’t keep it to yourself, share it with your followers. I promise you will earn more as a result.

12, Encourage interaction.

Most people won’t leave a comment on your blog but the more you encourage it the more comments your blog will receive. Ask your readers for their opinions and ideas, respond to their questions and try to build a community.

Can you add anything to this post? If so please share what’s working for you in your blogging world.

Product creation is hard work!

I would also like to bet that 90% of people who create a product only get as far as the idea stage and don’t know how to progress further.

I mean how would you get past the idea stage? What knowledge do you have on product creation? We weren’t taught it at school? The last time I looked there were no college courses for online product development. Do you just go it alone? Maybe I can help you out a little.

Choose your passion

Why would you create a product in one niche if you weren’t passionate about it? Could you immerse yourself into a product? Could you live it and breathe it if you didn’t like it? How could you give that product 100% 24/7 if you didn’t love it and love learning about it? With the world as your audience and the internet as your shopping mall, there aren’t many niches out there that you can’t provide a product for.

I guess by now you may have a niche idea in mind, so let’s move on

Planning is the key

Without prior planning you are dead in the water. Yeah sure you can create a product on the fly, you can wing it, you can scrape it all together and create it with post-it notes. But would it be as cool and as awesome as it could be if you just planned your full product before you even started?

Are you asking yourself the critical questions, such as:

• Do I have enough knowledge?
• Can I learn this knowledge?
• Is my niche profitable?
• Am I in the right niche?
• Can I monetise my product?
• What sales flow should I have?
• What payment processor will I use?
• What format should I have?
• What format is going to work best for me?
• What is the purpose of my product?

These are just some of the questions you need to ask yourself before creating your product. If you have your bases covered then your product is going to CRUSH IT. I have no doubt.

The first stages of product creation start with an idea of what could be. Ask yourself the question, what do I need? What do others need? What can I provide to help people? These questions provide you with the grounding for the start of your product development plan.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when creating your own product, your new product just needs to work and provide good information for the end user. For example, how many traffic programs are out there? How many FaceBook programs have you seen? If something is working for you then you can create a product. If you have something to teach, then why not teach it? If you have a software idea then why not create it? Like I said you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just provide some great info that works and helps others.

Break out the mind maps

Below you will see an example mind map about product development (You can click the link to look at the map in full). As you can see there are a lot of angles to cover when creating a product and a mind map is the perfect starting point.

Mind maps allow you to see things clearly and effectively build on ideas to create the perfect idea. By building mind maps for your future products nothing should be left on the table and no critical parts should be missed.

By creating more than one mind map for each module of your product, you can break your product down, and then bring it all back together again. With all avenues accounted for, it’s time for product creation.

Play to your strengths and outsource

Lets take a few things into account, such as what are you good at? Are you a good writer? Are you articulate? Do you have confidence behind a camera or using screen capture software? Are you awesome at graphical content?

By playing to your strengths you can make product creation very easy indeed. I mean how easy is it to do the things which are second nature to you? Very easy!

Unless you have the time to learn all aspects of product creation, it’s time to get tough and outsource. If you have problems with certain aspects of your products e.g. graphics, is it not time to outsource and save time and quality rather than struggle along with poor quality? Outsourcing is a must for a professional look and feel.

Here are 6 things you may want to remember when creating your product in the future.

1. Niche – Love your niche and be passionate about it. Your knowledge is power.

2. Format – Decide on your format and create the best product to your ability. eBooks, video and audio all have awesome power. Master these techniques.

3. Pages – Get your website pages down before hand. The last thing you need is to miss one when it comes to the end and launch day.

4. Sales flow – Plan your sales flow and how you want your product to flow. Do you want upsells, down sells, exit pop etc.

5. Payment processor – Plan your payment processor and who you are going to use. Can they accommodate the sales flow?

6. Test, Test ,Test

By using the techniques above you can create a great product easily and more efficiently with a lot less effort. By mind mapping and structuring your products, you can use the same model time and time again creating a fail safe structure which you can use over and over again which works!

Your turn

Did you find this helpful? Is this your first product? When it comes to product development and product creation, how do you do it?

About the Author:

Dan Sumner loves to create great free helpfull content at his on blog: www.dansumnerblog.com. You can also catch up with him on Twitter @danielsumner. Don’t be afraid to slide over and connect with Dan he really is a nice guy…

In 2011 I released a record number of products and in 2012 I plan to release even more.

You will see me release at least one new product each month in 2012 and I will actually release three new products in January alone, and if you wish you can quote me on that because two of these products are complete, I just need to fit the time in to launch them, it’s a nice problem to have though

If you have been a subscriber or blog reader of mine for any amount of time you will know product creation is something I have always preached from day 1, I keep putting buy buttons in front of people because it keeps making me money. It’s not rocket science but yet it’s still something most people haven’t done. Most people will simply look for alternative ‘push button’ methods or quick fix solutions. You’ve probably heard me talk about this till I’m blue in the face and you may think “that’s nothing new John”, well guess what? What I do isn’t new, in fact I still do the same thing I’ve done since 2004, I create and sell information products, the only thing that has changed is the type of information in the products I sell and the fact I use video more than anything else to deliver my information.

So here’s my first prediction for 2012, nothing has really changed in the last 7 years and won’t change, people will always crave information and it’s our job to provide it.

2011 Was The Year of The WSO But Will it Last?

2011 was the year of the Warrior Special Offer and although WSO’s have been around for years 2011 saw an explosion in this area, and my prediction for 2012 is they will continue to be just as popular and in fact become even more popular, after all it’s just people selling information to people who crave it so nothing will change there as more and more marketers are realizing that creating and selling products on the Warrior Forum really can be a very lucrative way to sell information.

What I do predict will change though, is the way people choose to sell their WSO’s. I feel a lot of people will suffer at the hands of PayPal and choose other methods of payment and running the affiliate side of things. I really feel a big bubble is about to burst so remember where you read it first.

2012 will also see me launch my most comprehensive coaching program ever. I have launched many programs over the years but I am currently putting together a 12 month program that will enable anyone who wants me as their mentor to achieve success in 2012 and I expect to launch this around the end of January. More in this in a couple of weeks time.

So as you can see my predictions are nothing really groundbreaking are they? The reason is because while the Internet is moving forward so fast the fundamentals will always be the same. People go online every day to search for one thing, information! Never forget that, I had a record year in 2011 simply because I worked on what I know works and I plan to work on it even more in 2012 by releasing more products than ever.

Hopefully this blog post will make you realize that product creation is the way forward, once you get that, success really is almost guaranteed.

So set your sights on creating as many info products as possible in 2012 and I’ll meet you at the bank.

You may be thinking why the new domain and why the new blog? Well the old domain reflected my eBay business (planetsms) and to be honest I’m trying to get away from that and brand myself more. Also, when planetsmsblog.com was created I didn’t own the domain johnthornhill.com and as I do now I thought it was time to practice what I preach to my coaching students and install a blog on my main domain. So that’s the reason behind this blog.

You may have noticed something else. Where are the ads and banners?

Yes, there are no banner ads, no AdSense ads and no external links to other blogs or products, everything on here is all about me. I have decided that the best way to profit from my blog is to sell myself on it. This means no AdSense, no paid ads and no banners linking to other peoples products. If I believe in a product I will simply send a mail to my subscribers.

I will still promote the odd product through reviews, guest posts and posts that discuss a particular method but that will be it. The reason behind this is simple, you go to a ton of trouble to create great content so why should you send your visitors to other sites. Some people will disagree and some may even think this is selfish but the way I see it is this is my most popular site so why would I send the traffic elsewhere? Yes, I still have links to Facebook, Twitter and the like but it’s my Facebook, my Twitter and my other sites.

But John, you told me when I built my blog to put AdSense ads on it and link to affiliated offers?

That is true, and if you are just starting out it’s still something I recommend. However, once you have been online for a while you should have enough products and services behind you to concentrate on the most important thing in your online business.

You!

So that’s it, my first post on my brand new blog is complete, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the look and of course on this post.

Oh! And although this is my first post I have imported everything from planetsmsblog.com, this means it’s still jam packed with the same great content so if this is your first time here feel free to have a look around. Also, as I have just launched this site there may be the odd bug or I may have messed up. If you spot anything wrong or have any suggestions please let me know.

However, I had a change of plan and decided to offer this at $29.99 and offer a product called the WSO Development program as an upsell. This complimentary upsell is a monthly training program that costs only $7.95 per month, it is aimed at people who want to take their WSO training to the next level. You get a chance to join the WSO Development Program when you invest in WSO Domination. The WSO Development program includes:-

•  Personal Training Where I Will Show You How To Develop Your Skills and Fast Track Your Success
•  Additional Live Interactive Group Training Where we Can All Share Ideas, Tips, ETC
•  Access to The WSO Development Members Only Forum
•  Interviews With Successful Warriors Revealing The Secrets to Their Success
•  Personal Support Including Telephone Support if Needed
•  Behind The Scenes Case Studies of Every Single WSO I Launch in The Future
•  A WSO Review and Promotion Service For YOUR Product

As I wanted as many people as possible to see the WSO Development Program I decided to price WSO Domination at $29.99 in the hope it would bring in a ton of sales.

Then just 12 hours before launch I posted this question on my Facebook wall asking what people thought the price of WSO Domination would be.

This was a crazy thing to do as a lot of people guessed low, way lower than $29.99. I knew I was in trouble and as a result I decided to offer WSO Domination at the completely crazy price of only $9.99 for the first 7 days. Now I may be a little crazy but I also knew that this would result in more sales of my front-end offer and in turn this means more people get to see the WSO Development Program upsell.

This means everyone wins, the customer gets WSO Domination at the best price ever of $9.99, I can offer my WSO Development Program to as many people as possible and generate a ton of recurring billing sales and the WSO Development Program becomes a thriving community. Because of the low price point I also have fewer refund requests (I’ve only had 1 so far) as the customer knows they have received incredible value.

So far almost 1000 people have invested in WSO Domination in the first 72 hours and over 35% have invested in the WSO Development Program resulting in hundreds of recurring billing sales so far, as this is where the long term income will come from I believe I have made the right decision with the initial $9.99 price point.

If I hadn’t posted that question on Facebook I would have priced WSO Domination at $29.99 from the start and I know this would have resulted in fewer front-end sales, so this week I have learned 3 valuable lessons that I want to pass on to you.

First of all what do you want to achieve long term from your product? My long term goal for WSO Domination is tons of recurring billing sales and a thriving community in the WSO Development members area. I know by making the price point $9.99 for the front-end offer this will be achieved.

Secondly, listen to your customers, Facebook friends and subscribers. They will tell you what they want from you and also help you price your products.

Thirdly, I want you to check out WSO Domination before the price increases, I strongly believe this is the best product I have ever created and you will be blown away when you see what’s inside the members area, you will also get the chance to work with me on a personal level for only $7.95 per month via the WSO Development program should you invest in the complimentary upsell.

http://www.wsodomination.com/

First of all lets look at some interesting and quite frankly unbelievable facts about Facebook.

• Facebook is the second most popular site on the Internet second only to Google and currently has over 600 Million active users. With 50% of those users logging in on any given day, that is 300 Million users per day on average.
• Facebook receives over 100 billion hits per day.
• Facebook has around 500 thousand new users joining every day.
• If Facebook was a country and its users were the population, it would be the 3rd most populated country in the world. To put that in perspective, the United States of America would be the 4th.
• More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook. Are you one of them? If you’re not you should be.

OK, So we now realize that there is the potential to receive massive amounts of traffic from Facebook, but how do we set things up to start receiving this traffic?

Simple! We set up a Facebook ‘like’ page. (Formerly and sometimes still called a fan page)

This is big business and most of the big companies already have Facebook pages, I’m sure you’ve seen a TV ad and at the end a Facebook page is advertised. So why are these big companies doing this? Simple! To connect with their audience.

Let’s use this page from Adidas Clothing as an example:

I can guarantee you right now that there is no way Adidas could have gained access to over 8 million people any other way for free other than creating a Facebook page. Sure offline they could have done it if they had invested a ton of money in doing so but on the flip side the investment would have to be continuous. Online and with Facebook Adidas has been able to successfully build up a ‘like’ page to up to 8,784,010 fans to date.

What’s even better is, anytime Adidas wants to get on the forefront of all their fans minds, all they need to do is update their Facebook status (comment on their own page), and that update will be able to be viewed by all 8.7 Million of their friends. Now imagine being able to harness such a power for yourself. I know, it’s scary isn’t it!

Now if you’re reasonably new to Facebook let me explain two things in a little more detail.

How Adidas have grown their page virally.

How Adidas now has access to every one of the fans on their fan page.

So How Did Adidas’ Page Grow to 8.7 Million Fans?

Well, it all happened using a part of Facebook that makes it the most viral network in the world. This feature is called the Facebook Newsfeed and everyone on Facebook has their own unique feed that is seen when they visit their Facebook homepage.

The newsfeed is a live compilation of all the activity that your Facebook friends are engaging in over Facebook. You can see all your friends posting on other friends pages, posting on their own page and joining events.

So if I were to see a friend or fan of mine had joined a page that caught my eye and then I decided that I would like to join the page then all of my friends would see that action in their newsfeeds and be able to join also, creating a viral snowball effect with every person who joins over Facebook.
This is a great way to build social proof for businesses and this is exactly how Adidas has grown to a stage that they have over 8.7 Million fans on their page.

So How Does Adidas Get Access To All Its Fans Over Facebook?

Well, in the same way that actions from other pages in my network get featured in my newsfeed, the same applies to pages that I am a fan of.
Every time Adidas posts a status update (comment on their page) then all 8,784,010 of their fans will have the opportunity to see the status update on their news feed.

Win, win for everybody, fans get their updates and Adidas reaches out to millions of targeted fans.

So What Does All This Mean For You?

Well, this basically means that if you want your business to grow, expand and get exposure to those outside of your main customer base, then the best action that you can take is to create a Facebook Page and start generating fans that can help you grow your business.

Each customer or person who ‘Likes’ your page will have that action of joining your business page featured for all of their friends to see. This will increase your businesses exposure and it will help provide your business with the essential social proof that comes along with a friend of someone’s recommending your business.

So What is a ‘Like’ Page?

A ‘Like’ Page, sometimes known as a ‘Fan’ Page, is a page that you can setup inside of your Facebook account that allows you to present your business to Facebook users, just like the Adidas example above. Unlike owning your own website there are a limited number of settings that accompany setting up a Facebook page, which means that there are a limited number of opportunities in a Facebook Like Page to make your own page. However the main purpose of your page is to get people to click the ‘like’ button to grow your page virally.

How do I Get People to Click The ‘Like’ Button on my Page?

What you need to do is offer an incentive to get people to ‘like’ your page, this is best done by offering a freebie, this is a little like offering something via a squeeze page. However, unlike the prospect having to enter their name and email to receive their gift all they have to do is click ‘like’, it’s this simple action what makes the whole process so effective.

Sounds Great, so How Can I Build a Like Page of my Own?

Simple, you use Like Page Builder, this amazing software I have created along with Dave Nicholson can create your Facebook ‘like’ pages in seconds. And best of all it’s free, and before you think ‘what’s the catch?’ There is an upgrade option but the free version does the job just as well. The upgrade just makes things easier.

If you want to see an example of a page created with Like Page Builder then check out my Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/johnthornhillpage

And when you are ready to start building a Facebook ‘like’ page of your very own go and grab Like Page Builder for free.

http://www.likepagebuilder.com

If you watch what Apple do when it comes to launching a new product you’ll see that it is much the same as an Internet Marketing product launch. They have created a buzz with their pre launch, mostly from the Keynote that was released on the 7th of June. However, apart from the fact the new iPhone looks amazing the biggest tactic I think Apple are using at this moment in time is scarcity. We actually queued up for just over an hour just to register for our iPhones, we couldn’t go in the shop today and buy one because there is not enough stock, you can imagine how disappointed we were when we were told this but that’s how it is, so now I have to wait for an email telling me when more stock is arriving. I do believe that the demand is so high that stocks are running low, but I also think also think a lot of companies (including Apple) use the scarcity tactic when they come to launch a product.

You see this happen nearly every time Christmas comes around, there is always a toy or something that everybody goes crazy for and usually it’s something you can’t get your hands on. The biggest thing about this is, when you can’t get something you want it more, now if Apple had a million iPhones in stock today they would sell a lot but the fact that they are very hard to get hold of at the moment means they are very very desirable, don’t believe me? Go on eBay right now and go and have a look at how much iPhone 4’s are selling for, I’ve seen some today selling for almost $2000. Because of this in the long run Apple will sell more iPhones because stock is limited.

So in future have a look at what’s going on around you and see if there is anything you can learn from the big companies to implement into your online marketing, and have a look at what Apple are doing right now, they’ve created a buzz, now they are using scarcity and now that the product has gone live its very very hard to get hold of which makes it extremely desirable.

Remember! If you can:-

• Create a quality product
• Build a buzz
• Create scarcity

You will have a buying frenzy, today I was part of that buying frenzy and even though I didn’t receive my iPhone 4 today I know it’s only a matter of days before I get my hands on one. Just like thousands of other people out there Apple have got me hook, line and sinker with their marketing tactics.

Hey Guys Daniel Sumner here and today I want to talk about you!

Do you ever have days when you find that your whole business isn’t moving as fast as you would like it too? Are those days the days where you just want to bury your head and forget about the whole damn thing in the first place! Hey it happens to the best of us and will happen more than once within our lifetime I can guarantee that.
It’s that deflated feeling to the point where you may just throw in the towel, it is a serious test of your inner strength and your ability to carry on!

Don’t Do it Man! Hold That Towel!

You will regret every minute of it and you will ask yourself in the future should I have done it? Then try to justify your actions to make yourself feel better. I wonder where I would be today if I had given up? Trust me when I say if you give up, then you will never know how successful you can be. The hardest part of your business is getting it started from the ground up.

The truth is there is always a solution to the problems you face if you just seek out the answers. Here are a few examples of excuses we have all heard and most likely used in the past:

• I can’t afford it
• I don’t know how to do it
• I don’t have the time
• I don’t know how to start

The list goes on and on, but let’s take a look at these points in a little more detail and see what we can do to eliminate them.

1, I don’t know how to start – There is a multitude of information out there readily available for free which can start you on the right track. Take blogging for example you can acquire a free blog from Word Press, also a free template to get you started. All you need is a PC it costs nothing to write content and monetize your blog!

Nearly every blog you come across has a free download of some kind which you can use to help you. Free traffic guides, free blog guides, free marketing guides. All of these will get you on the right track in one way or another and offer free advice to move your business forward.

2, I don’t have the time – I know of at least three guys who work all day, look after their children and still find time to post on their blogs and create products! It’s the time you make for yourself to achieve a target that counts. Forget about the TV and structure a little time for you to prioritise your workload and achieve that target. Yeah it may be slower but you are moving in the right direction by taking action.

3, I don’t know how to do it – There is a learning curve for all new activities in the beginning! I never knew how to build a website until I learned. I never knew how to create an eBook until I found out exactly what to do. It’s called building your business knowledge! Yeah it takes time but it’s all worth the effort. You will find ton’s of tutorials and free help on forums, Youtube and blogs to enhance your knowledge. Do you think the likes of Frank Kern, Naomi Dunford and John T stopped thinking and gave up because they never knew how to build their business?

4, I can’t afford it – Possibly the one and only reason which is legitimate here in this list but “and there is always a but” why are you trying to earn an online income in the first place? More income, Better Lifestyle, Financial Freedom the list goes on and it just so happens you are in one of the only businesses in the world you can start with only a PC and an internet connection and very little capital to speak of. You have all seen the video tutorials, the rags to riches stories and the truth is most of us started with nothing in the first place anyway so why worry

Your success is your responsibility and it’s your choice to take action and do something about it. The word of the day is DEDICATION! If you are committed to your business you will prevail but it takes dedication to create success.

Looking to the Future

I dedicate a lot of my time to marketing, product creation and research. I immerse myself in my business to get results. This will assure my future business success and help me overcome any obstacles. If you stay positive about your business and vision your triumphs then you will prevail and secure the future of your online business. Ignore the words Don’t and Can’t and concentrate on the words Can and Will and your reward will come in time.

Success for 99% of people does not just happen overnight, you may get a few in the minority who achieve greatness quick on the back of some A list marketer’s promo. But for the majority its plain old hard work with an outlook to the future, with structure and a game plan which will help you achieve this goal.

Help Yourself NOW

If there is one thing I find I do a lot of is read and research. Less reading more action I am told by my peers and mentors “I also keep telling myself the same thing”. You see one of my biggest fears is not being able to be the best I can be, not being able to write the best blog post, or create the best eBook.

The truth is if I was the best blog writer I would have the best blog, if I was the best eBook writer I would have the best eBooks. If I was the best at product creation I would have the best products (you get the picture). To be honest I’m not the best, if I was I would be a millionaire and I’m not one of those yet either But I never give up and I will succeed, I have the drive to accomplish what I set out to do and I know this attitude will give me the outcome that I am looking for.

Not enough action and too much of the other is common. It’s time to grab the bull by the horns and get up to your neck in it. Stop surfing the net, reading, researching, watching TV, playing games and start making your ideas and dreams a reality. You can’t build your business by talking about it now can you?

A Little Structure Never Hurt

You can help yourself by adding structure to your week. Create a schedule of your week and the items you need to do. Take Monday for example my schedule was:

1, write articles and post them on articles sites
2, read and comment on blogs
3, Product development
4, research

Now all these will take around 3 – 4 hours sometimes more sometimes less, but you can make them as long or short as you like. It’s your choice ‘JUST DO SOMETHING’ however large or small it’s a step forward. Hell it’s only 4 things on a list how hard is that?

If you are stuck for ideas create mind maps and spray diagrams to help you break the ideas down into one main idea which you can focus and use as your new project (Google search for Mind Map Tools to help). Say you are stuck for an eBook you want to create but not sure what to write about. Get your ideas down on paper and brain storm it, do your research and plan out your steps to action. Then TAKE ACTION!

If you remember to be yourself and never give up your rewards will come and when the time comes you will be glad you never threw in the towel.

What’s your motivation for success let me know?

Thanks for reading.

Daniel Sumner

Marketing Through My Eyes

Hey guys, It’s 11am as I write this quick blog post and the sun is shining, the weather here in the UK has been fantastic lately and under normal circumstances I’d probably get this blog post done, do my emails and give myself the afternoon off. However, I have a ton of consultation calls booked in today and tomorrow so it looks like I’ll have to stay in the office but that’s ok as I know I’ll be generating content while helping others.

John’s Marketing Calls Launches Today

Speaking of consultation calls, this conveniently brings me onto my next topic, I’ve just launched a site called John’s Marketing Calls. The plan is a simple one. I have a video on the main page and I give away some of my previous consultations. No opt-in is required but you do need to opt-in to receive more calls. Once you opt-in I offer you the chance of consulting with me. I’m at the testing stage at the moment but if I make sales I’ll open the site up to affiliates.

Here’s a breakdown.

1, Main page

2, Download page, this can be accessed without the need to opt-in

3, Thank you page after opt-in

4, Example of a page I send people to when they access more calls

You will notice the main aim of this site is to make sales of $497 consultation calls. Something which I feel is great value as I will ultimately promote the calls to my list.

If I do bring affiliates on board this will mean I am building a list from this and generating $497 sales, can’t be too bad if it works. I’ll keep you posted but hopefully this setup will give you some ideas for your own business. BTW, let me know what you think about the video on the main page

Affiliate Silver Bullet.

No doubt you will have received a ton of emails about Affiliate Silver Bullet that’s due to launch tomorrow. I’ve had a good look at this and have to say this looks solid. It’s basically a ‘done for you’ kind of product where everything is provided to help you set up automated affiliate campaigns. I like the look of this product so I’ll be promoting this myself. In the meantime you can find out more and register for the pre-launch webinar here.

Anyone Going To Bristol?

Finally, are you going to the LFMPIRE Workshop in Bristol on May 7^th 8^th and 9^th? If so let me know and we can arrange to have a drink and a chat. I’ll be there from Friday tea time for the whole event along with Dave Nicholson. It should be a blast and I’m sure many long term business relationships will be formed. If you’re quick you still may be able to grab a ticket, get all the details here.

That’s all for today, please leave a comment and let me know what you think about the setup for John’s Marketing Calls, Affiliate Silver Bullet and if you’re going to Bristol let me know.