She sent a nice email with all the details - I hate it when I get emails that make me reply and ask to get the full details of whatever the person is asking me to do.  I clicked the links, saw what the contest was all about and what she was doing within the contest.  In her initial email she asked for a copy of 30 Minute Backlinks to be donated to the contest she’s running, and I was happy to oblige.  I also liked that she gave me some details of her plans AFTER the Blogging Idol competition, so I knew where she was headed.

And, mostly, I love to see people go out there and make things happen! We can read marketing PDF’s and watch guru videos all day and call it “working on our business” but we know it’s really just delaying actual work.  it’s the doing that makes people successful, and Suzanne is out there doing it to grab her piece of the pie.  I commend that wholeheartedly.

You guys did a fantastic job helping Suzanne move up in the ranks of the Blogging Idol contest by subscribing to her RSS feed (and you still can, if you haven’t yet).  She’s made significant gains!  Now, voting is open and she’d really appreciate your voting for her here (she’s #7 in the list).

On Monday, she announced that the contest (where you can win a copy of 30 minute backlinks as well as other prizes) is OPEN!  For details on how to secure your entry, head on over to Suzanne’s contest page.

This isn’t to say that if you just ask your wishes would be granted.  But had I decided not to work with Suzanne, she wouldn’t have been out anything.  She took the leap and asked myself and other marketers to give her a hand.  I’m now asking you to give her a hand in voting for her and subscribing to her RSS feed. What you don’t ask, you won’t receive!

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Voting is Open

Suzanne is participating in the “Blogging Idol” contest and is doing fabulously.  One of the items on which contestents are judged is the number of new RSS subscribers they obtain during the duration of the contest.  It would be a great help to Suzanne if you subscribed to her RSS feed.  I’ve done so and she’s posted some great tips recently on increasing your RSS subscribers, the top 7 home business ideas, as well as detailing the exact strategies she’s using to win the Bloggin Idol contest (that you can copy).

Give Suzanne a hand, subscribe to her feed and stay tuned for Monday when she announces the contest details so you can get a copy of 30 Minute Backlinks.

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Win A Copy of 30 Minute Backlinks

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Give a Hand, Eh?

I mentioned in that post that a particular product, Turbo Continuity, was coming available to the public on Thursday, but it was delayed a day.  It’ll be up today (Friday) at noon.  Since it’s the only solution that manages the system I outlined in my post, I wanted you to know about it.  Assuming you’re already on the list, Jordan sent out an update letting you know of the delay as well.

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Turbo Continuity

Lynn was able to visit the Stomper “War Room” and was given the inside scoop on what Stompernet has done and is doing to (1) ensure this doesn’t happen again and (2) take care of those customers who have had delays in receiving their product.

It’s also an important look into how they’re handling what could have been a physical product fulfillment disaster, and a worthwhile read just to peek inside their operation.

The Net Effect is a physical product shipped each month to your doorstep.  Most of us deal with digital products, which don’t encounter the shipping and customs problems physical products do.  However, digital product delivery is not without it’s problems.

A HUGE issue is email deliverability.  Customers on AOL, Hotmail and Yahoo accounts often don’t receive the emails sent to them, whether it be receipts, download links or responses to support inquiries.  Stompernet has, I’m certain, encountered this as well: a customer emails with a support question, is replied to but then never gets the response because their email client deleted the message.  The customer thinks they were ignored.  The product owner is frustrated because they’re trying to help but can’t reach the customer.  And both parties lose out.

Unbeknownst to many folks, some email services don’t simply put messages they don’t like into a “SPAM” folder.  Some email services simply don’t deliver those messages to you.  You never see them.  There’s no way to recover them.

An email’s “From” address can be blacklisted, or a domain name, or an IP address.  So some customers might get your Aweber autoresponder messages but not your personal replies to their support inquiries, which is even more confusing to them, as they believe that they are getting your messages (from the autoresponder) and therefore think you simply haven’t replied to them.

As a product owner, you need to have an email address for customers to reach you on your own server with absolutely no spam filtering.  Ideally, you use a suport desk so that customers can always log in and check your replies (in case they don’t get the email notification of a reply).  This way nothing is ever lost.

As a customer, I use an email address on my own domain/server with no spam filtering enabled so that I receive all messages sent to me.  If you want to be certain you receive what you’ve purchased, it’s not a bad idea.  Gmail has also been kind, I don’t often see a customer with a Gmail address who’s messages disappear.  They sometimes get chunked into a “Spam” folder, but they are usually in one’s account, somewhere.

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Product Fulfillment: Issues and Resolution

Then there’s the Nitro Quatto system, which is similar in that it focuses on continuity, upsells, downsells, cross sells, etc. to bring the value of each customer up.  Rather then sell folks 1 item, you sell them 5.

These systems are the difference between selling a product and actually building a business:

1. Sell folks a product.  Put links to your other products on the “Thank You” page.  Put customers in an autoresponder sequence that tells them about your other products.  Broadcast emails to them about affiliate offers.  Hope they buy more at some point.
2. Build a list of buyers through a “Nickelmania” or other such lower-priced sale offer.  After the purchase, give them one time offers, upsells, downsells, entrance to a continuity program.  Within the member’s area give them the option to buy the OTO, upsells, downsells they may have initially denied.

Which model do you think makes the product owner more money?

WHY BACK END SALES WORK

When  customer hits the “Buy Now” button, they’re hot to trot on your offer.  They like you.  They like your offer.  They’re getting a little “I’m getting new stuff!” high from the whole thing.  They feel like they’ve made a good decision.

And, if it was good to buy Product A from you, it makes sense that Product B is good for them too.  Why?  Because it validates their own feelings - that your offer is good, that you are good.  If you can catch people when they’re in this mental state, they’ll buy more from you.

FULFILLMENT PROBLEMS

But, setting up the system you run into a little problem.  If you’re providing multiple products as upsells, downsells, multiple continuity programs, etc., actually fulfilling the order is a huge pain in the butt.  You can’t send everyone to the same “Thank You” page because some people purchased Product A & C but not Product B, some people only purchased Product A, some people bought EVERYTHING, etc.  It’s a logistical nightmare.

BUYERS ONLY

It’s also important that you deal with a list of BUYERS, not window shoppers.  One method to make sure your prospects have a credit card in hand is to conduct what’s known as a “Nickelmania” sale.  You offer a product with a starting price of $0.05.  Each time someone buys, the price goes up $0.05.  It provides a low barrier to entry so you can offer them more on the back-end, makes sure you’re working with paying customers AND there’s a sense of urgency as the price goes up with each sale.

ONE CLICK UPSELLS

Something else that’s VERY important if you want to max out your conversion rates on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th offers you bring to your customers: ONE CLICK UPSELLS.

This means that a customer clicks a “Yes, add this to my order button” and it’s done.  They don’t have to fill out their credit card information again, they don’t have to go through a lengthy (and often abandoned) checkout process.  One click.

One click upsells make all the difference in converting those back-end offers to actual sales.  It’s incredibly powerful - but requires custom programming.

I’m in a mastermind with some of the brightest and most innovative thinkers in the business and they’ve been using a custom script for their one click upsell process for a long time now.  EVERYONE has reported astronomical rises in the acceptance of their back end offers once they’ve implemented the one click upsell process.  It’s imperative to max out your per-customer value.

AUTOMATING THE PROCESS

My business is being redesigned to use this process.  It will run on autopilot.  Price goes up nickel by nickel.  Customers are offered additional products with a one click upsell.  Fulfillment on the “members area” side is automatic: each customer gets what they paid for without interaction from you.

Then within the member’s area you show customers the products they haven’t yet bought (on a per-person basis) and offer 1 click upsells for those as well.

My biggest roadblock to setting up this system - which I KNOW converts - is simply the technicalities of it.  The fulfillment, the one click upsells, the nickelmania, the multiple continuity programs - it’s all a huge programming headache.

Instead, I’m going to be using a set-it-and-go script that automates the entire process.  It will be publicly available tomorrow.

Now, whether or not you think you’re ready in your own business for this kind of sales process, you absolutely MUST know that you ARE going there one day.  Perhaps you’ve only got one product at the moment - so you’ll need a few more products to implement this kind of thing.  But you have to keep this business model in mind as you build your product portfolio so that when you’re ready, you can put it into place.

I could give a rat’s behind whether you purchase the product that automates this entire system when it becomes available tomorrow.  Because, while it’s an important product in terms of being the only drop-in system to run a business like this, I’m more interested in your understanding WHY this is so important.

You can be a onsie-twosie product owner, or you can build an entire niche product empire that operates on autopilot.  As long as you see that, you’re getting it.  Build a business, not a product.

WATCH THIS VIDEO

There’s a concept called “Continuity Stacking” that’s very important to this process as well.  Go to the opt-in page here (you can watch the video on that page if you want, but that’s not the important one).  Enter in your info, and then you’ll be given access to a second video that explains this business model as a whole as well as the idea of “Continuity Stacking”.  Continuity Stacking is where things really get crazy and it’s important you understand it so you can set your business up with it in mind.

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Build a Business, Not a Product

photo credit: blahmni

Commenter Cynthia wrote:

Let’s hope that Obama makes as much use of social media while he is our president. Can you imagine him leading the US utilizing the strategies employed in his campaign? Amazing.

That questions is beginning to be answered by Obama’s “Transition” team.  After immediately redirecting his campaign website to Change.gov, Obama’s team posted the weekly Democratic address on the new ChangeDotGov YouTube channel and wrote on the Change.gov blog:

For the first time, the weekly Democratic address has been released as a web video. It will also continue to air on the radio.

President-elect Obama plans to publish these weekly updates through the Transition and then from the White House.

The Washington Post reports:

In addition to regularly videotaping the radio address, officials at the transition office say the Obama White House will also conduct online Q&As and video interviews.

What’s this got to do with internet marketing?  Everything.

How do you take that enthusiasm and excitement creating during a launch or buying process and meld it into continued enthusiasm and excitement for your brand as a whole?

We’re able to watch as a team of social media experts are taking the support they garnered during the election (or, in internet marketing terms, a “launch”) and move it to support of the coming administration (a product).

And what can we learn from the moves the team has made?

1. Be Prepared: When the election was decided, Obama’s website was quickly redirected to Change.gov.  They had it ready to go.  When your product is launched, you’ll want to (obviously) provide the product to buyers, but also have a continued means of communication with them so you can continue to harness their passion for your product.
2. Be Visible: Obama’s campaign (and McCain’s) had presence on all the major social media sites, from Twitter to MySpace to Facebook.  You need to be able to engage people in whatever form (audio, video, text) and whatever platform (blogs, social networks, RSS, etc.) they want to consume your information.  You need to be wherever your potential supporters are.
3. Be Consistent: If you used a blog and a Youtube channel to launch your product and gain market visibility, you know that your new customers are accustomed to receiving communication from you in that manner.  Like Obama will be continuing his internet presence as whole and his youTube presence specifically, you should continue to engage your customers via the channels you used to initially introduce them to your brand.
4. Be Transparent: Aside from releasing the Weekly Address on the ChangeDotGov YouTube channel, Obama’s staff has also issued a video giving details on the coming transition and what we, as citizens (consumers) can expect from the new administration.  They even used the word “transparency” in the video.  While it’s a bit niaeve to think we’ll know everything about the Oval Office come Obama’s inaguration, they are making an effor to inform views as to the next steps.  You too should be keeping your customers (and prospects) up to date as you make changes or improvements to your products.
5. Work With the Competition: Some people liked Obama and some people liked McCain.  Obama could be doing a victory dance, but instead he met today with McCain to discuss working together in the days and months ahead.  The takeaway - your competition could be your biggest ally.  Consider that most folks buyand/or consume multiple products within the same niche.  A golf enthusiast probably reads more then one golf blog, subscribes to more then one golf magazine and owns golf equipment from multiple brands.  Consider aligning yourself with your competition to enhance both of your respective brands.  In most markets, there’s plenty of consumers to go around.
6. And most of all, Don’t Drop ‘Em When They’re Hot: Obama’s team has moved in very quickly to maintain his social media presence after the election and in that manner, has made an effort to keep his biggest supporters connected.  You too need to make sure that your customers aren’t left hanging and continue to support you - publicly - after the sale is made.

I look forward to seeing how the Transition Team and the new Administration fleshes out Obama’s social media presence as time passes.  Hopefully they’ll continue to innovate the Oval Office and we’ll be able to watch and apply these lessons to our own businesses.

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Learning From the Transition Team

Jeff Walker joined us on the next episode of Internet Marketing This Week to discuss just that, making a point that we all need to remember - and it’s a core component of his “Product Launch Formula”.  I asked him, as product owners, what can we do above and beyond providing product updates to continue to connect with and satisfy our customers.

Download the the podcast in iTunes for Jeff’s answer.

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Customer Satisfaction AFTER the Sale

The premise of YouTube Pay Per Click system is much like Google adwords - and in fact interfaces with your Google account for billing.  You pick keywords that relate to your promotion and decide how much you’re willing to spend per click and how much you cap your per-day spending at.  You write an ad, just like Adwords.  But where things get funky - you pick a VIDEO to display to the viewer once they click on your ad.

Let’s take a walk through the backend:

PICK YOUR VIDEO

Once you’re logged in, you’ll choose whether you want to promote an individual video or your whole channel.  Unless your on a branding mission (not recommended for your pocketbook) I recommend you choose a video with a solid call to action at the end (”Visit my site at yoursite.com”) and a “reason why” the viewer should follow through on your call to action (free download, more information, coupon code, etc.).  You can also upload a new video from this interface if you don’t want to use anything currently on your channel.

WRITE YOUR AD

Then you write your ad.  It’s like Adwords - you get 3 lines, first line is 25 characters and the next two are 35 characters.  Unlike Adwords, you don’t have a “Display URL” or “Destination URL” because people who click the ad are going to your video page, not an outside site.  This is why your call to action is so important.

You can choose here to use a different thumbnail for your video as well if you don’t like the current one, and you’ll see a preview of what your ad will look like on the right.

SELECT YOUR KEYWORDS

Here you get to pick what search terms (keywords) you want to bid on.  It will pull in the keywords and tags you used when you uploaded your video and even suggest alternatives.  When you click a suggested keyword, it will add it to your keyword box.  Assuming you’ve bid high enough, your ad will then appear anytime someone searches for these keywords on YouTube.

SET A BUDGET

Then you set your daily budget.  This is the maximum amount you’re willing to spend per day.  Once you reach that number, your ads won’t display anymore until the next day.  Again, if you’re familiar with Adwords, this won’t be a new concept.

You also get to pick your “Maximum Cost Per Click.”  This is the maximum amount of money you’re willing to spend when someone clicks your ad to watch your video.  It doesn’t guarantee the user will watch your video all the way through - you’re paying for the click, and then it’s your videos’ job to hook the viewer quickly.  Like Adwords, the position your ad is displayed in is determined by the Max CPC you select along with the amount of competition for your keyphrases.  If a competitor with the same keyword has a higher Max CPC, visitors will see her ad listed first.

SIGN IN TO A GOOGLE ACCOUNT

Then, you’ll sign in to your Google account for billing.  Of course, if you don’t have one already you can create one.

ENTER BILLING INFO, AGREE TO TOS

You’ll enter in your credit card billing information and agree to the Terms of Service agreement - and, big “GOTCHA!” you’re also agreeing to pay a $5 USD non-refundable activation fee.  It’s a small price to pay for access to YouTube’s massive user base and it’s indicated the fee is to ensure quality within the PPC network, but it should be noted.

CONFIRM YOUR VIDEO PROMOTION

As soon as your billing information is confirmed you’re directed to the confirmation page, where you can review your ad, keywords, Max CPC, Max daily Budget, language and country selections.  If it’s all good, hit “Okay, Run My Promotion” and your ads will be sent for review.

YOUR SPONSORED VIDEOS DASHBOARD

Your “Dashboard” page looks like this.  you can see what Video Promotions you have running, edit them, view overall impressions, clicks and CTR.  On feature I’m looking forward to seeing is the ability to split test ad copy.

SPONSORED VIDEO STATISTICS

Finally, once your ad is live (mine was approved in about an hour) you’ll be able to drilldown and look at individual stats on a keyword basis - so you’ll know what position your ad is in, how many impressions (views) your ad recieved and how many clicks it got.

VIEW YOUR YOUTUBE AD

Once your ad is live, it’ll look like this on a YouTube search results page.  You can see right now I’m the only bidder on the search term “smo” so I’m in top placement by default.  Your YouTube username is displayed under your ad, so it might prove worthwhile to have a username related to the content you’re pushing to encourage click further.  This could also lend itself to usernames with a build in call to action, i.e. your username could be “ClickHereNow” to encourage folks just that much more to view your video.

You’ll also notice that the keyword in this example bring up some non English suggested search terms and videos - this is something you’ll want to double check in your ads.  It’s clear “smo” probably isn’t a great keyword for use on YouTube, as their results (and therefore, the visitors) are looking for something entirely different.

Folks, this is uncharted territory.  We don’t know how much traffic will result in click-throughs to your site, or sales for that matter.  Much of it will have to do with your video - is your call to action strong enough?  Is the video immediately engaging so it draws people in?  Right now, you can get your feet wet at super low CPC values before the advertising marketing within YouTube gets competitive - I recommend you do so immediately.

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YouTube Sponsored Video How To

(Sidenote: You don’t have to have an iPod to use Itunes…  I didn’t realize that for a while, LOL.  It’ll download podcasts, like “Internet Marketing This Week” automatically to your computer so you can listen to them while you work.  And, Itunes is free to download and use, of course).

We also had Jeff Walked of Product Launch Formula on - smack dab in the middle of his re-launch!  Ed Dale, Paul Colligan, Lynn Terry, Jeff & I talked product launches, customer care *after* the sale is made and covered the “launch crazies” that seem to take over our industry.

Jeff is such an insightful, genuine marketer and he had a ton of intriguing points on today’s broadcast you’ll want to check out.  This wasn’t a promo call for his launch, we don’t do affiliate links on “Internet Marketing This Week,” so you’re promised great content from Jeff.

We also discussed one of the hugest changes to come to internet marketing in a loooong time - the availibity of YouTube’s new Pay Per Click advertising system.  This is enormous - and if you’re not doing video yet, it’s time to start.  Paul explains why on the call - you’ll be suprised at YouTube’s reach.

Subscribe to “Internet Marketing This Week” at the homepage and Tweet your feedback to @IMTW on Twitter.

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Jeff Walker & YouTube PPC On a New IMTW