Safelists, Safelists, Safelists!!

Yes they work; No they don’t work!  So much disagreement going on!  The thing is this – YOUR  results in SafeLists can be totally different to the next guys.

WHY??

Well first of all think about our different circumstances.  We are all sending out different offers, from different countries, with different levels of marketing experience – from brand new marketers to six and seven figure earners!  So how can we possibly get the same results?  Some  just use 3 or 4 Safelists, others use 20 or more!  There are so many variables.  Of course the very best  thing to do is keep up-to-date with the Safelists that are giving the best results, but again you have to remember all those variables.

I use Traffic Hoopla and Jerry Iannucci to keep up with what’s working now.  You will never get exactly the same results as everyone else.  Just make sure you are always using tracking codes to check what is and is not working.  Then increase the ads that are working and ditch the ones that don’t.  Easy!

1)  Time and Day!

Amazingly, the time and day you send out emails really does make a difference.  Remember alot of the people who are opening your emails are in a different country, so the time may be completely different.  And it has been proven that some days are just better than others for getting your mail read.

2)  Composition of Email

If you are sending out a rambling, long, boring email, or failing to use paragraphs to make it easier to read, the recipient of your mail will probably close your email immediately or click  away quickly (I know this because I’m one of those recipients lol).

3)  Splash Page

If you are advertising your company website, you are unlikely to get many opt-ins.  Sorry to be the one to break it to you, but just imagine for one moment  how many of those replicated websites are out there on the web? Dozens?  More like hundreds or thousands.  You need to stand out in the crowd, so you need to find another way to advertise.  Either your own splash page, or a different offer where you are capturing your leads names and email addresses, so you can reveal your business to them at a later date.

4)  Your Name(!)

Just imagine if you sent out the exact same email to a Safelist as a professional marketer like Mike Dillard.  Do you think you would get the same results?  No, of course Mike would get a far bigger response because he is so well-known on the internet and demands far more respect than an unknown marketer.

Everyone can get results with Safelist Marketing but everyone will have different results.  But that is not something you need to focus on.  The secret to succeeding with Safelists is to work out a system to remind you when you can next send an email, maybe using Google Docs or something similar.  Persistence is key.  Just keep on sending those emails out.  And of course keep improving on them.  And keep tracking them lol!

And if you still think Safelists don’t work, consider your results.  If you only get an occassional sign-up, and only do occassional mailings, imagine if you ramped it up abit and started mailing everyday (or twice a day where you are allowed) and added more Safelists to your list, how much better your results could be!

If you want to know some Safelists that I use,  just click on the Safelists tab at the top of the page.

Let me know what results YOU are getting with Safelists!  And please share this post with your Facebook and Twitter friends.

Thanks!

Newquay

A few weeks ago I spent some time at a lovely campsite overlooking the sea and the weather was lovely (I mention this because its quite unusual for us in England to have lovely weather!)  I spent some considerable time just sitting staringat the waves crashing on the rocks or sometimes just quietly lapping on the shore.

The thing I realised was that the tide will come in and go out everyday, whatever is in it’s way, whatever the weather, whatever else is happening in the world.  It is unstoppable!!  Exactly the quality that you need to build a Network Marketing business!  The sea doesn’t care how many barriers you put in front of it.  It doesn’t care if we build sea walls and sea defences; it will still come in everyday!  And this is what you need to do to build an amazing Network Marketing business.

So be unstoppable in your business.  Ignore the people who tell you it can’t be done (even if it is your family and friends!); you know it CAN be done!  Go around all the obstacles that you will find on your way, or if that doesn’t work, go over them!  And when you are having a bad day, simply give yourself an hour or two off and go out and have fun.  Treat yourself. Take the dog for a walk, get some fresh air; go somewhere you have never been before.  Then get back on the horse (!) and ride away to success.  Don’t allow anyone or anything to stand in the way of your success.

Because just like the sea, you can be unstoppable. You need to be focused, determined and consistent.  Make a detailed plan of what you want to achieve each day and follow it as closely as you can.  Realise that a Home Business takes consistent action for maybe a year or even two before you will see results.  Of course, your life will get in the way; that’s a given!  Just don’t let it get you down.  Understand that stuff happens.  Just totally focus on what you want to achieve and get your head down and keep working.

Keep your dreams alive and right there in front of you, and you will be unstoppable!

Traffic Exchanges get alot of bad press.  Too many people join one, surf for 20 minutes and then decide they are a waste of time.  Well if you spent 20 minutes writing an article, then gave up on it you would be in exactly the same place.  You would have generated no traffic and just wasted some precious time.  A few years ago, Traffic Exchanges probably deserved the bad rap that they have, but if you havn’t checked them out recently, maybe you are missing out on a great concept.

The thing is everything online works if you give it your time and effort.  And Traffic Exchanges are no different.  I had not tried them until late last year, when I decided I didn’t like the direction my business was headed in.  I changed direction and was shown not only what Traffic Exchanges were all about, but how to use them effectively and effeciently.  Yes, at first if you cannot afford to upgrade, you will have to click for your credits, but everyone has to start somewhere and for many newbies coming online, free is there favourite word.  This doesn’t mean they will not succeed in their business.  If they have drive to stay committed, they will succeed whatever!  And many of the top Internet Marketers today started off using Traffic Exchanges!  How else would we have so many rags to riches success stories online?

So, lets get on with the reasons:

1)  And this one is key: The very people who are surf in Traffic Exchanges are your target audience!  Yes, they are indeed there to promote their own business, usually a Network Marketing or Affiliate business, but that only makes them the exact people who would do well in your business.  They are your ‘Target Market‘. They are the perfect people to attract into your business, because they already know all about MLM, they obviously have a ‘Why’ already and are actively trying to build a business.

Think about it:  They probably were recruited into their Network Marketing business from someone in their Circle of Influence.  They didn’t get a chance to decide ‘which’ Network Marketing company would suit them, they were only offered one.  They were offered a ‘business model’, a dream life; the possibility of making residual income!  So they bought into the concept, but perhaps as much as they like the idea, the actual company that they are involved in is not a product which they are passionate about.

They go online and start using Traffic Exchanges.  Whilst they are surfing they come across you, advertising exactly what they need to grow their business; more traffic to their page, a system to help them grow their business or something else which will help them.  So they join your list and start to get to know you and eventually, you  introduce them to your own primary business.  Lo and behold,  your product is something they ARE passionate about!  Do you think then that they may decide to join YOUR company instead? Result!  Of  course, that is just one possible scenario.

2)  You can start for FREE! When you come online as a newbie, you need to start advertising your business and you may still be working. You have come online to make money and the last thing you want to do is start spending money.  Of course eventually you’ll need to spend some money, but whilst you are learning the ‘art’ of Internet Marketing, you need freebies.

3)  Once you are regularly surfing the Traffic Exchanges, you can see what sort of Splash Pages or Lead Capture Pages works best, so you can soon improve your own pages to make them convert better.  It also highlights the mistakes others make with their pages, such as slow loaders (waste of time having them in Traffic Exchanges as they may not have even loaded by the time the surfer clicks away!) or making errors with the URL, so no page shows up (always check the link before posting).  It also teaches you ‘best practice’ in advertising, as it is easy after a few weeks of surfing to work out who is having success and who isn’t.

4)  It’s very easy to duplicate!  Once you know where you are going with Traffic Exchanges, it is very easy to get your downline to follow suit.  This will not only mean that they will be getting results quickly because they are being advised by you, but also means that if they join under you, you can earn extra credits when they start to surf, but also sometimes cash for referring them!  And of course, once they get people in under them, they can also duplicate the process.

5) It is very easy to track your advertising in the Traffic Exchanges and find out which adverts and indeed which Traffic Exchanges are working for you, and which are not.  Then it is just a case of ditching what doesn’t work and doing more of what does!

6)  You can soon build up credits in the Traffic Exchanges by surfing regularly, especially when you know all the shortcuts to quicker surfing.  Of course, if you don’t have time to surf regularly, or if you are going to be away for a week or so, you can upgrade or buy credits, so that your own adverts are still being shown.

Brand Yourself!!

7)  Traffic Exchanges are excellent opportunties to Brand Yourself.  I’m sure you have heard time and time again that people only buy from someone they know, like and trust.  By branding your splash pages with your name and photograph, surfers get used to seeing you so begin to feel  you are familiar to them.  This begins to build trust.  Many people who use Traffic Exchanges are new to internet marketing and are often (maybe even without realising) looking for a mentor to show them the way.  Seeing you regularly on the Traffic Exchanges will make them seek you out and join you in your businesses.

Personally, I love surfing the Traffic Exchanges! I have had more success there than advertising in other places and you certainly learn very quickly.  I now have downlines in many Exchanges who are following my example, surfing for credits, building their business and earning cash and credits just like me!  And I, too have met some great mentors and friends!

What do you think? Do you love Traffic Exchanges or hate them?  When did you last try them out?  Are you having success with them?  Leave me your coments and let me know! I will be writing some reviews of the Traffic Exchanges I use over the next few weeks, so tune in regularly!

L& L

Give Traffic Exchanges A Try!    Here are some of my favourites:  Traffic Splash, High-Hits, HitsBoosterPro, Hit2Hit.  Try them, you just might enjoy them,lol

Are you concentrating your time on your IPA’s for your internet home business? What I mean by that is the income producing activities. Are you writing articles, producing videos, marketing on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn or surfing for credits in Traffic Exchanges?

You probably believe that you go online everyday and work hard on your business. But have you ever actually tracked honestly what you are doing and whether the activity is an API or not? I have to admit, although I usually follow a plan, some days I realise that I have not really been focusing on my IPA’s.

You know how it goes, you switch on your computer to work your Internet Home Business and what’s the first thing you do? Check your emails maybe? Stop right there! Because as soon as you open your email inbox (yes I know, you’re just checking how many opt-ins you had overnight, right?) you are sunk! Yes, you know its true and I know its true, lol. It happens to all of us if we will only admit it!

You need to check your emails, you really do, but they are not an Income Producing Activity, so leave them til you’ve done your work for the day. And emails are not the only activity you need to avoid at the start of a day. Chatting to friends on Facebook, answering phone calls and skype instant messaging, as well as tidying your desk (for the 5th time) and filing your papers away should all be left until after you have done your API’s!

In reality, you need to choose how much time you spend on the important things in your Internet Home Business and obviously the IPA’s are the most important. I believe the ratio should be something like 70/30/10, which is 70% doing income producing activities. 30% on Personal Development/Training and then 10% on Customer Service. Of course if you are a newbie, you may not have any customers, so the extra 10% will go on extra training for your business.

So tomorrow, when you turn on your computer, think’ Income Producing Activities’ first!!

We Can Help You To Generate More Traffic to Your Primary Business In Three Simple Steps!

Do you promise not to tell?  As the song goes, haha!  Well I have recently got involved with some lovely people who have a Traffic Secret that they are more than willing to share……and for nothing!  You see I recently left one of the major marketing systems online and at the same time decided to stop promoting the mlm I was involved with.  A pretty major shift in my internet home business life! At the beginning of this year I realised I was not comfortable with what I was promoting online.  It just didn’t feel like I was being my true self and felt I could not happily get other people involved in a business which I had lost faith in.  I feel that biggest is not always best because sometimes the quieter (or just the less loud?) people miss out!

Anyway I had begun clicking on lots of links that looked interesting looking for something I could believe in.  And this website hit the spot!  It is a growing at a rapid pace, its run by real friendly people, who are contactable by phone and email.  This Traffic Secret system is evolving as more and more people join; more marketing help is being added and more income streams too!  And to top it all, you can also promote your own business within the system.  What more could you want?

It is a great system for newbies as it is free to join and the instructions are simple to follow, with lots of videos and help. And it is attracting alot of attention right now.  This system uses Traffic Exchanges, Safe List Marketing and List Builders to grow your business, all of which I have had very little contact with before I joined.   The majority of these can be used for free, which in these hard times is great for anyone coming online with very little money!

I have only been involved for a few weeks with this company and have not yet worked my way through all the trainings, but what I am seeing already is results – and hands on effort from the owners to keep on improving the system and help you to build your own business and make some money online!

But don’t take my word for it, check it out yourself  NOW and make sure YOU benefit from this awesome system!

Found this Inspirational Video; Its perfect for a Monday morning shot of motivation!  Don’t believe it when people tell you that you’ll never make it!  Only YOU can decide whether you want a better life, because it is you who must make the effort to succeed against all the odds!  Decide today!!

Contact Me

 Why do you need a blog if you are marketing on the internet?  A blog is a MUST for your business in 2010!  But why?  And how can you make money from it?  So many people are shouting that we must get a blog, but you need to understand what the purpose of your blog is.

 1.  You Blog is the ‘Nerve Centre’ of your business!  Everything else is connected or linked to it in some way.  It is the hub, around which all the rest of your business revolves.  It is a friendly, homely place where people hang out and chat, and generally feel comfortable!  If it was a real place, it would be a coffee bar!! lol

 2.  A Blog can generate repeat business.  When someone becomes a customer, they may subscribe to your newsletter or list, or subscribe to your RSS feed, and this leads to repeat business!!

 3.  Market Research.  Because a blog is regularly updated, customers will come back time and time again to see what is new, and you can get them to give feed-back in the form of comments, on what they like, dislike or want to see more of.

 4.  You can keep product reviews in front of your buyers, and introduce new products and services.

 5.  It can be easily syndicated to other sites, which all point back to your blog.  This means that you have your link on other websites such as Twitter and Facebook and other social media sites, and these links all point to your blog.  You need as many links pointing to your blog is you can, because they all help send traffic to it.  Other people who have blogs may be willing to have your link on their own blog.  Also if you submit articles, you can make these link back to your blog page.  If you have lots of links out there, you will raise your ranking considerably.  Alot of traffic equals alot of business.

 6.  It is reasonably easy to set up and very easy to maintain, saving you time and effort in the long run.

 7.  Search Engines love blogs.  This is because they are regularly up-dated and added to, something which search engines love on any web page.

 8.  The site is always fresh, because it is constantly moving on, changing from videos to articles, news items, offers and comments, so it is appealing however many times you visit it.

 9.  Customers and visitors expect a blog nowadays from businesses.  They know about them and expect to be able to visit and check out the latest news in your company and to see if you have any offers on.

 10.  They are lots of fun.  You can mess about with your blog, interacting with your customers and really connecting with them.  This will lead to quality leads for your business and is the reason so many of the BIG Network Marketers have an excellent blog online.

A recent headline in Business Week Magazine said that Blogs will change your business and they advised “Catch Up…or Catch You Later”!!!

Before Larry Beacham found out about LinkedIn, he was considering committing Network Marketing suicide!  In February 2009, not even a year ago, Larry decided that enough was enough and he should give up on MLM.  Before he gave up altogether, he decided to have one last look on the internet.  He was involved in one or two social networks, but had not heard of LinkedIn until he got an email that day from someone in his network of friends, and that email started him off on his journey to the top!

That email explained to him what he was doing wrong in his Network Marketing business.  The message was so clear it made him cry!  It was so simple, yet so powerful! It was about prospecting and it was simply that he should STOP! Yes, stop prospecting. What it told him was that he needed to become a Professional Marketer.  Larry Beacham had no college education, he was actually a TV cable guy at the time.  He had no marketing training. He had never made a video or written an article.  Immediately Larry joined a training system showing him step by step how to market online.

In the next 6 months Larry Beacham generated 1600 leads and over 95% of them were from LinkedIn!  Now these were not just leads, they were INTERESTED leads, who were looking to join an MLM or already in MLM but needed help with marketing.  Most days he got about 30 leads, but on 23rd June this year he got 46 in one day.  In his lead system he held the number 2 spot for recruiting, and the number 4 spot for lead generation.  And out of the 5,500 members at that time, he was ranking in the top 10 for three months.  He had 94 people join his marketing system, and 89 of them were from LinkedIn.

Using LinkedIn for lead generation compares favourably even against paid strategies like Pay Per Click and can generate similar numbers if done correctly.  Of course LinkedIn is a free strategy and with PPC you would need a minimum of $1200 per month behind you to get involved.

LinkedIn is a very professional social site. The average income of members is $109,000 and they include politicians, Best Selling Authors, Corporate CEO’s and such like.  They have over 47 million members in over 800 countries and executives from all Fortune 500 companies.  Because of this, a high standard is communication is required.  This is not Facebook; you cannot just add friends, you need to begin with people you know and you definitely need to get some recommendations before you will be taken seriously.  A recommendation needs to be from someone who you have worked with at some time, who is willing to write a short testimonial about you.

One of the main features of LinkedIn are the groups.  Every section of the community is represented by different groups and it is essential when joining or creating a group that you communicate with people and under no circumstances do you promote your business within the group.  Groups are for networking, offering help and advice and connecting with people.  On Facebook, many people connect with a new ‘friend’ and then immediately present their business to them.  This would not be tolerated on LinkedIn and would probably get you thrown out of the group.

If you request a connection on LinkedIn, you are asked how you know the other person, whether through business, friendship, a classmate etc.  If you do not know the person, you are told not to invite them.  This means that many fewer connections are made and many people give up on their LinkedIn profiles because it is not as simple as inviting someone to be your friend.  However LinkedIn has alot to offer in terms of the quality of the connections you can make if you have the time to involve yourself in the site.

Larry Beacham has now produced a book entitled “The LinkedIn Lead Generation Blueprint“  which tells you all the secrets he has used to generate leads on LinkedIn. He has been dubbed ‘King of LinkedIn’ by Cedrick Harris.

If you want to dive into the marketing system that Larry uses, just fill in your name and email in the form on the right and take the $1 trial for 14 days use of the FULL system, including a video training by Larry Beacham on LinkedIn!!

You’re so excited!  You just attended a meeting about a home based business opportunity and you’ll soon be rich!  You have bought a fantastic box of products and you cannot wait to tell everyone about them!  You are so pumped up when you arrive home and can hardly stop the flow of words from tumbling out, about all the money you are going to make.

 Your views are not shared with your other half! “You’ve spent how much money…?” they say.  “What on earth possessed you?  We can’t afford that.”  Your explanation is not a patch on the words used by the lady at the meeting.  You stand firm and insist that your friends will think it’s great.

 The next day your start making phone calls to your friends to get some support.  Your closest friend says she knew someone who did that for a while but couldn’t make it pay.  After hearing you out whilst you bend her ears, another friend says she agrees with your partner.  So you ring round all of your friends that you can think of and after 2 solid hours when your ear is ringing and your hand is aching from holding the receiver, you hang up, with only one friend who has agreed to pop round for coffee ‘one day’ and have a look.

 What makes it difficult is that when you join an MLM business you are expected to show your products to your family and friends. So when a network marketer decides to search for leads on the internet, they throw their products into everyone’s face! That is not the way to work online.  Actually I don’t think it works that well offline!  If you want to market online, and lots of us do, what you should be marketing is YOURSELF!

 You see people don’t buy products, people buy people.  It is all to do with psychology.  If you did not like the look of someone, you would not buy from them.  If, however, you found the person appealing, in some way and it was a product you wanted, or were interested in, then you would be drawn to them.  Online, when someone needs a mentor, they look around for someone to appeals to them.  My daughter is often drawn to people her own age who she admires, whereas I prefer people in my own age group who seem happy and friendly.

 So how can I sell my products, or my business opportunity I can hear you say?  On the internet you sell yourself first and your opportunity later.  First you find a good photo of yourself and then you start to build relationships with people.  Eventually during one of your talks, your business will be discussed, and then you have an opening.  Maybe you will ask them, or they will ask you.

 Putting up notices all over the internet offering anyone and everyone your business is a big no-no!  You would not ask everyone at a party to join your business, so why do it here?  It is not something you should do.  Therefore it is not correct to do such a thing on Facebook or anywhere on social media. If you look you will see person after person advertising their business, and after awhile, you stop reading them. You must sell yourself.  If people can see that you are worth knowing, that you give value and will help them, they may be attracted to you and want to know more about your business or products!

People often ask me how to start generating leads online quickly and I always suggest they check out listbuilders, such as Viralurl or ListJoe, both of which are recommended by MLM Lead System Pro.  The reason why this is such a good method is that even a complete newbie could copy and paste some good web copy onto Viralurl’s system mailer.

 Viralurl will then send it out to between 3,000 and 6,000 people depending at what level you opted for!!  Great isnt it?  Then you do it again every 3 days for a whole year for the one price!!  No monthly payments, just one yearly payment.  Great value!

 Viralurl is free to join but I would definitely suggest that you take the upgrade offer to at least gold membership to be able to send out emails.  At the gold level you will receive lots of emails from other Viralurl members, which you can look at to win advertising credit with Viralurl.  If you pay for Platinum membership, you can avoid having mail sent to you.  I personally thought the mailings were really helpful,as they showed me how to identify which copy was good and which was rubbish!  Learning everyday!

Does Viralurl do anything else?  Well you can cloak and shorten your URL’s.  For instance, if you are an affiliate marketer, you do not like customers to be aware of that so by cloaking and shortening the URL, your affiliate name is not shown in the address. Handy!  There is also a section which shows you how and where to promote your affiliate link, as well as a mail section and an ad credit section for you to manage your viralbar and banner adverts.

 Colin Kilkert and Frank Bauer, the owners of Viralurl, just recently launched ViralHosts which also is free to join and you can upgrade if you want to send out emails.  The difference with ViralHost is that they will host your Blog, based on CPanel for you!  This is really easy to set up, obviously useful for someone new to internet marketing.

The best part of ViralUrl in my opinion is how easy it is to send out the emails; so quick to set up and operate with pretty regular results.