Happy Groundhog Day

Studies show that it costs from four to TEN TIMES MORE to create a new client than it does to keep an existing client. Yet one look at most marketing plans quickly reveals that companies spend most of their time, money and effort to make new customers!

The key to long term profits is in the repeat, or “backend”sales we make to existing clients. No money need be spent to find, capture and convince these people because they already like and trust us!

And when people like and trust you the odds of them buying on your recommendation are much higher than if they don’t know you.

Simple really. We buy from those we trust.

But how do we cause clients to buy from us again and again without falling into the “new launch of the week” syndrome where we are always pitching for them to buy? How can we use the Internet to build relationship and deepen trust?

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10 Headline Blueprints That Work Like Crazy

by Charlie Page 78 Comments

If you are interested in driving traffic to your website, or are into list building or affiliate marketing, then you probably know the importance of a great headline.

It’s often been said that the ability to write great headlines is the most important skill in all of copywriting. That might be true.

After all, unless you have a great headline your selling message won’t get read.

This applies to solo ads, classified ads, sales letters, blog posts, social media marketing … basically anytime you communicate with the public.

In the email marketing and solo advertising business we often talk about the “hierarchy” of a great email ad. That’s just a fancy way to say that any email ad, especially a solo ad, must have three key elements in order to be effective. And by effective, I mean profitable.

1. A subject line (or headline) that causes the email to get opened
2. An offer the reader wants
3. A call to action that gets the reader to click now

If your ad has those three things you will likely do very well indeed. If you get one of them wrong you risk losing profits.

But here’s the problem for most people … how do you write a highly effective headline or email subject line? [Read more...]

Automate Your Online Business in 5 Easy Steps

by Charlie Page 22 Comments

A good friend of mine used to say this …”You’ve heard that the goal is to work smarter, not harder, right? Well I say the goal is to work LESS!”

Jeff was an accomplished man and very wise. He saw the Internet for what it really is … a tool that offers the ability to set up a business that runs on autopilot.

And Jeff achieved his dream, seeing his online business earn over $250,000 almost completely on autopilot. Every time I spoke with him he would remind me how lucky we both were to have discovered how to do business online. “Not everyone finds it, no matter how hard they try” he would say. “They get distracted and forget to do the little things, the simple things, that really work.”

And he was right.

In the years since my meetings with Jeff I’ve worked hard to automate my business so that I could focus on what I wanted to do, not what I had to do. It’s been an interesting journey and I’d like to share five truths I’ve learned from the process.

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The Truth About Traffic

by Charlie Page 91 Comments

Rather read than watch videos?

The full transcript is below the video & available for download.

Click the words “Truth about traffic transcript” on the next line to read or download – Right click to Save. Left click to read online.

Truth about traffic transcript

Transcript of video

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The #1 Marketing Mistake

by Charlie Page 33 Comments

What Does Successful Marketing Look Like?

by Charlie Page 47 Comments

One of the problems with working on the Internet is that most of us do it in isolation.

Instead of the usual give-and-take of office conversation, we have email, a decidedly one-sided way to communicate. Or forums, where the opinions can be quite loud but not necessarily based on actual experience.

Instead of the usual boss judging our progress and letting us know how we are performing (often in no uncertain terms) we are on our own – accountable only to ourselves. Which is good and bad at the same time.

No boss looking over your shoulder is a good thing. Having no one to ask questions of when you need help is not. I think this is one reason why my consulting offer at the Directory of Ezines has been so popular.

While working on your own in an Internet business can be incredibly rewarding, it can be lonely and frustrating as well.

One of the big frustrations is NOT knowing what success looks like. [Read more...]