Internet Business Blog

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Hi All,

I have recently changed the look and feel of my blog site and I am running a quick test to make sure things are working properly.

I think it looks cleaner and is better organized.  What do you think?  Hopefully you will find topics and products easier with this new and improved format.  Enjoy, and thank you for your continued and valued readership!

To Your Success!

-Craig 

Popularity: 38% [?]

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Hi All,

 I want to take a minute and thank Sagar from the “Carnival Of Wealth Building” for listing one of my posts on their recent blog carnival #8.  I greatly appreciate them including me in their carnival, and I look forward to future issues!

I encourage you to stop by and view that post and other quality wealth building articles at the following link:  http://www.homeequityloanlowdown.com/2007/07/carnival-of-w-1.html

To Your Success!

Blessings,

Craig

Popularity: 26% [?]

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I had an incident happen to me today that triggered me to write this post.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. this morning I was rudely interrupted by a phone call while my family was at church.  Thankfully, we had finished the service and were visiting with some friends.  I answered the call that was from a customer of one of my Internet products wanting to ask me a question about the product.  I immediately proceeded to tell the customer I do not offer personal consultation and proceeded to hang up on that customer.  Why you ask?  Well, I’ll give you two reasons.

The first reason being the fact that this was my personal time with my family.  Outside of normal business hours I don’t talk shop on the phone, especially for free.  I value my personal time and so should you.  I’m not sure where this customer found my number, but I know for a fact that I sure didn’t give it out to them.

Access to me is simple.  However it is not free.  I value my time and encourage you to value your time too.  Time should never be looked at as a free commodity.  It is actually more valuable than the almighty dollar.  After all, were all given the same 24 hours in a day.

I rarely accept personal consultation by phone because my schedule is filled with activities that I want to be involved in doing.  If I offered personal consultation by phone, I would probably charge in the neighborhood of $750 per hour, maybe more.  It is a fair price because that is how much I value my time and is a figure estimated on if I were reaping profits from my own business ventures for the time spent.

I currently do not have a paid email-coaching program, but if I did, I would be willing to offer that service for a reasonable cost of $500.00 per 10 emails over a period of a month’s time of email coaching.  Email is more efficient to me and I much rather prefer that type of communication based on my lifestyle.

Secondly, the caller wanted to ask a question or questions about one of my Internet products.  The product in question not only has video tutorials, but a written tutorial, and a support email that can be accessed.  This is pretty standard with all my products.  I started thinking, boy if this caller could not find the answer to their question through one of the three avenues offered in reference to this simple product, then maybe they should not even have been using this product or possibly even be involved in an Internet business.  The product is simple to use and easy to figure out with just video instruction.

Sure I may have been a little rude hanging up on this person, but it was more rude invading my personal time especially on a Sunday morning, and especially for free.

If you’re going to run an Internet business then run it like one.  Time is valuable, very valuable.  Trust Me.  Don’t give it away for free!

Blessings,

Craig

Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to forward it to him or her!

Not a subscriber yet?  Like what you’ve read?  Don’t miss out!  Sign up at the top of www.craigsandrews.com to get future notices of newly posted issues delivered straight to your email:

Until next time!

Technorati Tags: time, email-coaching, internet business, personal consultation

Popularity: 29% [?]

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Traffic is essential.  Generating a good income online requires a good product, good copywriting, and traffic to your site.  If any of these three elements are missing from the equation, you’re level of income you generate will be adversely effected.

The one element I think most Internet businesses crave the most is traffic.  Traffic drives your URL rankings higher.  Traffic generates potential customers.  Traffic breeds more traffic through referrals, postings, and back links.

If you’re like me, I always want more traffic.  If you’re a newbie and just beginning your online career or if you’re a seasoned veteran, then you should constantly asking “How Can I Get More Traffic?”

Today I’m going to cover 10 Great simple methods you can start driving more traffic to your site.  I have broken them down into two categories, paid and free.

PAID TRAFFIC -

Method #1 - Press Releases

Press releases can generate thousands of visitors if done properly.
I recommend: http://www.prwebdirect.com

Method #2 - Google Adwords

If you don’t have a Google Adwords account you need one now.  This doesn’t have to be your primary source of advertising, but you should be using it to test and track your product campaigns when you first launch your products.  I would stick with “Keyword Targeting” for starters and then move into “Site Targeting” later on (see method #4).  Drive some traffic to your sales pages and split test or multivariate test everything to maximize your profits.  Running Adwords as a primary source of advertising is a method that requires a lot more than just throwing up some ads.  There is a lot of strategy and knowledge required to run a long successful ad campaign as one of your primary advertising methods.  I will cover more of this in later posts.  Don’t try it until you know the ropes.  You will waste a lot of money and pull your hair out from many unsuccessful attempts.
Go to http://www.google.com/adwords to get your account.

Method #3 - Other PPC Search Engines

MSN and Yahoo also have excellent PPC programs with lower bids and could be another profitable avenue.

To signup for a MSN account, go to:
https://adcenter.microsoft.com

To signup for a Yahoo account, go to:
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com

There are many other ppc companies that are not well known where you can buy traffic for as low as a penny each.
http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com tracks and reviews these lesser-known ppc search engines.

Method #4 - Banner Advertising

Banner advertising has received a bum rap over the years as being ineffective and dead, but it really is quite live and well.

In fact, you can even start off your banner advertising right from your Google Adwords account.  By creating a “site targeted” ad campaign, you can pick the exact sites you want your ad to appear.

Method #5 - Mailings

Find some mailing lists you can rent and mail to that target buyers in your niche.  You can target specific groups by using the SRDS manual usually found at most large libraries.

You can also find a list to rent and mail postcards at http://www.usps.com

FREE TRAFFIC -

Method #6 - Article Submission

I don’t need to tell you that this is my absolute #1 way I generate free traffic, and lots of it.  This is my all time favorite way to watch my rankings and traffic grow.  I cover this method quite a bit on my blog so I won’t go into much detail.

Using software that can generate unique article versions to avoid duplicate content and allow your articles to create more back links is key to success.

Article Submission Software that I recommend which can generate 100’s of unique article versions to 1,000’s of built-in publishers can be found here:
http://www.articleprosoftware.com

Method #7 - Trade Links

Trade links with other sites.  I highly recommend and use “Arelis” from IBP-Internet Business Promoter.  Arelis is the link building software from Axandra.  It is top-notch stuff.  IBP can be found under “Top Recommended Products” over on the side of my blog.

Method #8 - Start a Blog

Blogging is one of the most popular ways to generate loads of free traffic.  If you are serious about your Internet business then you need to have a blog to drive traffic to any other content sites or products.

My web hosting company that I use and highly recommend offers Wordpress blogs as plug-ins to their service.  You can check them out over on the side bar under “Top Recommended Marketing Tools”.  Click on the link “US Website Design and Hosting”.  Or, if you don’t want to use their hosting service, just go to: http://www.wordpress.org and set one up on your domain.

Method #9 - Post Videos

Everyone is getting crazy today with Youtube and Myspace.  Videos are really making the scene as a great marketing tool.

Create a video and post it for all to see!
http://www.youtube.com

Method #10 - Affiliate Program

If you sell any type of product, you must develop an affiliate program.  It is one of my largest sources of revenue.  One of the easiest and least expensive ways to get started is to sign up with ClickBank.
Go to:  http://www.clickbank.com and get others to start making money for you while you sleep!

To Your Success!

Craig

Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to forward it to him or her!

Not a subscriber yet?  Like what you’ve read?  Don’t miss out!  Sign up at the top of www.craigsandrews.com to get future notices of newly posted issues delivered straight to your email:

Until next time!

[tags]traffic generation, website traffic, internet business, income generation, article submission, article marketing, blog, make money online, affiliate marketing,

Popularity: 78% [?]

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I thought I would take a break from the usual posts on information and teaching, and use this post as a chance for you to ask a question regarding anything to do with Internet business.

If there is some information you are looking for, or something you need clarification on, whatever it may be, go ahead and ask.  I will try and answer them as best I can.

Please post one question only in the comment section.  You have until midnight Friday July 13, 2007 to post a question.  I will answer them over the weekend and post the answers.

Blessings,

Craig

Popularity: 23% [?]

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Hi All!

Here is a fun little article on everyday life management.  It has a nice twist to the norm.  Hmmmm, maybe it really should be the norm.  I think it should.  What do you think?  You be the judge. 

You can read it here:

 http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30866?utm_source=onion_rss_daily

Technorati Tags: the onion, leisure hours, craig andrews, andrews

Popularity: 30% [?]

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Do you have your own products or are you still trying to promote other products as an affiliate?  If not, why the heck not?  Don’t tell me you don’t have any ideas or skills.  Everyone has some skill or experience that someone else can learn from.  Is it not having the expertise to create products?  That’s a poor excuse too.  You can learn how right here from my blog.  You could also have other’s complete your products, sales letters or a website for you.  Sure it’s going to cost you a little money, but at least it’s your own product you can take direct interest and involvement in.

I’m currently working on a strategy to build websites fast so you can get your products up and running on the Internet without having to wait for other website developer’s to get it done or having to mess around with a lot of coding.  I wanted a way to take a new product that I created and get it up on the web fast without having to deal with all the web page development.  Too much time was being wasted trying to develop everything from scratch.  These websites are nothing fancy.  They are good websites that will do the job just fine.  In fact some of the ugliest websites I’ve ever seen generate a bunch of traffic and pull in some of the biggest bucks.

You say you don’t know how to get started?  I’ll solve that problem right now…the best way to get started is to work on smaller projects and forget about the big projects.  Go for base hits, not home runs.  Create several small income producing products and get them on autopilot.  Once you have 5 to 10 small projects you can lump them together to offer a larger product for a higher price.  For example, say you have 10 small products selling at $19.00 each.  That’s a total of $190.  Combine them together into a large product and offer it at $99.00.  Now you can list your larger product on Clickbank and have affiliates sell it for you.   It’s hard to get any affiliates involved with $19.00 products, but when you have a larger offering where they can make some money your in the money.

Let me also mention that information products should be your weapon of choice.  Information is readily available and you should even have some information at your fingertips about something you’ve experienced in life.  Information can be resourced from areas of work, school, hobbies, and interviews with experts, ect.

There’s one problem though, you won’t be able to cash in on any of that until you get started on your first product.  With that said, here are 5 reasons you should get moving on creating your own information products today.

1. You will establish yourself as an expert.

Having your own information products creates a nice doorway for your prospects to enter.  Information products are a great way to establish yourself as an expert in your field or niche.  Once you have established your credibility as an expert, it also allows you to work on bigger and better projects.  In addition, your revenues will also increase with your self-made expertise.

2. Affiliates can sell for you.

Create a product and start an affiliate program.  Let others handle marketing and selling your product.  If your not using an affiliate program such as Clickbank, then your possibly leaving 50% or more of your income by not having a product and an affiliate program.  Clickbank is one of the easiest, largest, and most cost effective sites you can utilize.  Make sure you offer a good commission to get affiliates to sign up.  I always try and give the full 70% commission on smaller priced products and usually settle for 50% to 60% on higher priced products.

3. Build in back end affiliate products.

Once you create your own product, build in back end affiliate products right into your product.  Refer to them inside your product or add a resource page.  Add a resource page or a “product’s I recommend” page with a list of affiliate products you want to sell that compliments your product.  You can develop a nice affiliate income stream and clients love the extra resources they can use.

4. Automatically generates income.

By creating your own information products you can set it and forget it.  Work on it once and get paid for life.  Your products can generate a nice income month after month while you’re out playing golf.  Some products maybe seasonable or timely, but I prefer concentrating on those products that will produce a residual income month after month.

5. More distribution outlets mean more exposure.

With information products you can create e-books, DVD’s, CD’s, and videos.  Sell them wholesale with minimum quantity buys to affiliates and others in your niche.  Sell them on E-bay and Amazon.  How many people do you think use E-bay or Amazon?  You’re increasing your exposure for almost no cost at all.  Get your products out there working.  Spread them deep and far for maximum results.

When are you going to start?

If you’re not creating information products then you’re mission out on the best way to get started on the Internet with your own Internet business.  People want information.  That’s what the Internet is all about.  Don’t ever think you can’t offer anything.  You would be surprised at the myriad of products and information already available on the Internet.  Get started today!

Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to forward it to him or her!

Not a subscriber yet?  Like what you’ve read?  Don’t miss out!  Sign up at the top of www.craigsandrews.com to get future notices of newly posted issues delivered straight to your email:

Until next time!

Blessings,

Craig

Technorati Tags: information products, internet business, affiliate program, affiliate products, make money online, work at home, craig andrews, andrews

Popularity: 61% [?]

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Hi all,

It has been an awful past week for me.  Last Sunday I had a gall bladder attack which put me out of commission of a few days, and of all things, Thursday I came down with food poisoning which I am still feeling the ill effects.  It has not been fun to say the least.

To refresh your memory, the last couple of posts I have written about outsourcing and the important need for it in your Internet Business.  There is no way you can accomplish all the tasks needed to operate your business by yourself.  Sooner or later you will need to start outsourcing.

When I first started working on the Internet I was also working a full-time job.  I also had to plan for family time in the evening after dinner for a few hours or I would be faced with the evil wrath of my wife.  That left me with working on my Internet business from around 8 p.m. to as long as I could keep my eyes open then get up at 5:30 a.m. and do it all over again.

When you have sales letters to draft, websites to create, emails to answer, articles to write, and all the other responsibilities required to run your business, 3 or 4 hours a night just doesn’t cut the mustard.  You have to start outsourcing somewhere freeing up some tasks.

As Tim Ferriss states in his book The Four Work Week, “eliminate before you delegate”.  Never automate something that can be eliminated and never delegate something that can be automated.  Otherwise you’re just wasting someone else’s time instead of your own.

This last paragraph is very important and you need to burn it into your brain.  Outsourcing is a method most all of the big Internet Guru’s utilize. Without it they would have never achieved the level of success they are at today.

There are plenty of people willing to help your business, just make sure it is an important role in your business that can be automated and that it can’t be eliminated.  A few tasks that can be outsourced are website creation, sales letter creation, article writing, article submission, e-book creation, and blog posting.  That’s right blog posting.  Did you know that many times I’m not even writing posts for this blog?  That’s correct.  I’m off playing elsewhere!

There are many qualified individuals that can help put your Internet Business on autopilot that will give you more freedom.  After all, that’s what it’s all about…More Profits, Less Work, and True Freedom!

Thanks for reading! If you know someone who could benefit from this, feel free to forward it to him or her!

Not a subscriber yet?  Like what you’ve read?  Don’t miss out!  Sign up at the top of www.craigsandrews.com to get future notices of newly posted issues delivered straight to your email:

Until next time! - I hope I’m feeling better

- Craig S. Andrews, or is it?

Technorati Tags: outsourcing, internet business, tim ferriss, four hour work week, freedom, craig s andrews, andrews

Popularity: 37% [?]

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