Entrepreneurs-Journey.com Down-To-Earth Advice For Bloggers and Internet Marketers

Over the last few weeks I’ve been listening to recordings of Perry Marshall’s Live Workshop on email autoresponders held in Chicago. It’s some really great content, direct from one of the online marketers I trust the most.

Perry really hammered home a point that on some levels, I haven’t fully taken to heart in the past.

That point is, for long term success, you can’t expect to survive the changing online business environment, without fully cementing your place as a leader by constantly delivering trust-building quality content.

This isn’t anything new of course, but realizing how to truly embed this ethos into how you run your business, and in particular for us online entrepreneurs and how we market through email, is more difficult than you might think.

Why? Because it’s so easy to fall for the lure of the quick buck.

It’s too easy to be lazy, and most people aren’t prepared to wait and put in the effort to establish themselves. They want a return on their work in a matter of weeks or a few short months, not the years it’s going to take to build your following, set up systems and ultimately, establish a quality business.

Perry sums up this idea using a great example in how to operate an email marketing campaign using autoresponders.

Most online marketers in recent years have built email lists that they essentially use to constantly promote affiliate products and launches. Finding a marketer who sends content out to their list, even as often as 50% of the emails they send, is rare.

As Perry explains, once customers get sick of the spam, it’s those marketers who built an autoresponder system that uses quality content to foster trust, and not hit their customers with excessive pitches, who succeed.

When the water rises, only those who have built a strong fortification survive. The rest drown.

The water is definitely rising right now in the Internet marketing industry.

It’s pretty clear, in the make money niche, the majority of marketers, even the best ones, have at times abused their lists by sending out too much pitch and not enough content, and I’m including myself in this claim. This could have worked in the past, but we’re reaching a saturation point. It’s safe to say that long term, you won’t survive by sending only emails that ask people to buy something.

I know this is true, because I’ve felt the change in my business. Email response rates are down. I choose to say no to promoting new launches now more than ever before because I know each promotion I do damages relationships with my list. People are sick of the same pitches, from the same people using the same trigger points. Our customers are getting wiser to fluff and consequently gravitating towards substance.

Perry really emphasized this point throughout his workshop, and he’s not alone, I’ve taken the idea to heart in the last few months so much that it has shifted my entire focus in 2010.

I plan to continue to be about substance even more so than in the past, which considering most of my current marketing is about content, says a lot about how important I think this change is.

The Emotional Bank Account

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Download the MP3 [ 57 Minutes - 26 MB]

Perry Marshall is the first true Internet marketing expert I ever came across. I can’t remember how I found Perry, but he was one of the very early influences on my work online, in particular his email newsletter style.

In this interview you will hear Perry explain how he became an Internet marketing expert, his thoughts on affiliate marketing, why content is so important to success online, why Perry says no to most joint venture requests and lots more wisdom about direct marketing online.

Perry Was The First Marketer I Gave My Money To

Perry’s Renaissance Club membership was the first internet marketing information product I ever purchased. Many of the lessons I learned from that package stimulated some of the very early and most successful pillar articles I have ever written, including my two part series on search engine optimization, which was partially inspired by lessons learned from Brad Fallon on the CDs I got from Perry.

I then went on and promoted Perry’s Definitive Guide To Google AdWords as the very first affiliate product I marketed on this blog, way back in 2005.

Although that first affiliate promotion didn’t do so well, a few months later I promoted an event Perry was running which was offering a 50% commission on a $1500 sale, and I managed to make two sales netting my first ever four figure affiliate income payday. That was a momentous achievement for me and enough encouragement to continue down the affiliate marketing path, leading to where I am today.

What I like about Perry is that he rarely does any affiliate promotions and most of his emails are 99% content with a link to one of his products, if any promotion at all. This style of very soft selling, content-driven email marketing was a heavy influence on my own style of email marketing and I recommend you join Perry’s email course just to see how he promotes his products and delivers value through email.

Show Notes

• Perry explains how he entered the Internet marketing industry
• How Perry landed his first speaking gig at an Internet marketing seminar
• Why Perry was able to convince so many affiliates to promote his products
• Perry’s two key elements of an effective online sales process
• Why Perry doesn’t participate in big product launches
• What Perry considers the two most important variables to track in your online business
• Why email list segmentation is so important to maintain list integrity
• How learning in slow chunks is the key to success
• Why content is critical if you want to become an online expert

Click Here to Download the MP3 [ 57 Minutes - 26 MB]

I have a couple of quick updates for you today as I have to run away from the house with the cleaning lady here.

Help! My Business Sucks!

Andrew Lock who I refer to as the eBay expert with the cool British accent, has recently started producing a web based television show called Help! My Business Sucks!.

The show focuses on entrepreneurship and Internet marketing, with Andrew as the host. If you are looking for another example of a new way to use Video online to spread your message, educate and entertain, take a look at what Andrew is up to.

The show can be found at – http://helpmybusiness.com/

Perry Marshall AdWords Update

Next, some important advice from Perry Marshall – the only AdWords expert I follow. I’ve been on his newsletter for years now, it was one of the very first I subscribed to and one of the only ones I remain a subscriber.

Perry sends out actual advice to his newsletter and rarely promotes any other products than his own. I’ve never seen him participate in an Internet marketing product launch, so if you are sick of “launch emails” and you are looking for a great newsletter covering Google AdWords, general Internet business, lead generation and conversion advice, you can’t go wrong with Perry’s Newsletter.

You can join his free AdWords e-course, which is great, and that will get you on to his newsletter too.

Google AdWords New Feature: Automatic Matching

Perry recently sent through something I thought was critical for anyone currently running a Google AdWords campaign, regarding a new feature called Automatic Matching. Perry presented a warning regarding this feature, so if you have never heard of Automatic Matching, here’s some advice you need to read…

Google is phasing a MAJOR feature into the AdWords
program. If you log into your account you’ll see a notice
that says,

“New! Automatic matching has been enabled in your
account. Your ads will now show for additional relevant
search queries based on the keywords, ad text, and landing
pages in your ad groups. You can opt out by visiting a
keyword-targeted campaign, and then clicking on edit
campaign settings.”

If you edit your campaign settings, you’ll see a check box
that says:

“Automatic matching: Show ads on more search queries
without adding keywords.”

And in your ad groups at the bottom of your keyword list,
you’ll see a new column labeled “Automatic matching total.”

What this means is, if you’re bidding on a keyword like
“dog grooming”, Google may show your ad for a keyword
like “pet grooming brush” even though you’re not bidding
on it at all.

The question is, do you want this?

First of all, there’s no way to know for sure unless you’re
using conversion tracking.

In fact, you should disable this feature immediately unless
you have conversion tracking enabled and hold Google
accountable for the quality of traffic they’re sending you.

***DO NOT USE THIS FEATURE UNLESS YOU TRACK
THE CONVERSIONS FROM ‘AUTOMATIC MATCHING’
TRAFFIC.***

Automatic Matching traffic will seldom be better traffic,
except maybe for people who simply do not know what
they’re doing in AdWords.

AdWords advertisers who learn this game from me are
always control freaks. They don’t want to just take what Google
gives ‘em. (Hey, that’s how you gain an advantage that Google
doesn’t have.) The ideal way to do this would be to use
the bootstrapping technique I’ve taught for years, which is:

-Campaign 1 has bids set at, say, $1.00 with Automatic Matching OFF
-Campaign 2 has bids set at, say, $0.75, with Automatic Matching ON

This will shift all the Automatic Matching traffic into Campaign
2 and you’ll have complete control of it.

Source: Perry Marshall Newsletter

Perry went into more detail than the above excerpt, but I don’t feel right publishing his entire newsletter here (although I almost did!).

Unfortunately I’m not sure if you can get back-issues of Perry’s newsletter, but if you want more info along the lines of the above, take his free e-course and you will never miss another newsletter.

This from Perry Marshall about the recent Microsoft buying Yahoo to beat Google news -

Unfortunately…. In My Humble Opinion, expecting Microsoft and Yahoo to be better than Google by getting together is like pairing up two people each with an IQ of 75 and putting them in a spelling bee and hoping that together they’re a 150 genius.

NOT. They’ll just argue with each other about how to mis-spell everything.

Source: Perry Marshall newsletter

Lol

I have to agree with Perry, I can’t imagine combining the Yahoo culture with the Microsoft way of life resulting in anything that could compete with Google. The enemy of my enemy is my friend just won’t work in this case.

You know how sometimes you get that uncomfortable feel when reading marketing materials, especially long sales letters and hypey emails, and how that feeling can transfer to the marketer so you have this icky feeling about them and what they sell?

I think you know what I am talking about.

There’s one Internet marketer who I have never ever felt that way about and he’s actually the guy I first came into contact with (well his materials anyway) when I began studying Internet marketing many years ago now.

His name is Perry Marshall, and chances are you know him already, probably as the guru of Google AdWords.

I’ve been on Perry’s email list for a long time. I bought his Definitive Guide to Google AdWords – I think it was the first e-book I ever bought online. I also joined his Renaissance Club marketing print newsletter, which is the first product I ever promoted as an affiliate on this blog and still continues to pay me ongoing commissions.

Perry has a certain style and I like it. His information is honest, valuable – he tells a great story – and at least for me, I never have that “hype” taste in my month after reading his materials. In fact it is Perry’s style that I model my own email newsletters and promotions after. You can learn a lot from just mimicking how this guy plies his craft.

Simply put, Perry has my respect.

Work With The Best

If you currently have a Google AdWords campaign and/or a successful business that has cashflow, then you are in the right situation to consider Perry’s Google AdWords Intensive Coaching that Starts September 25.

This is NOT a cheap program and it’s by application only, most people reading my blog probably wouldn’t qualify. However if you are in charge of a somewhat successful online business and you want to take it to the next level and work with Perry personally, this will interest you.

Here are the details direct from Perry -

Is Google AdWords an important part of your business? Do you want to pay less for every single click and earn more from every visitor?

If so, you’re entitled to a rather bold guarantee: If you’re accepted as a team member in Perry Marshall’s 12 week “Bobsled Run” and if you complete the homework assignments, you’ll recoup your tuition by December 2007 (through AdWords cost savings and increased sales), and you will make at least $25K more next year than you would have without the course, or your money back.

Step by step, you will master:

-Google AdWords: Discover the nuances of the most powerful advertising medium since television, and walk away with complete mastery

-Google Analytics: Find out exactly what’s positively persuasive on your site, and what’s not, and plug all the holes (this is where much of the profit-making wizardry is!)

-Google Site Optimizer: Try different headlines, colors, graphics with ease – get double-digit improvements to your opt-ins and sales nearly overnight

-Email, Autoresponders and Copywriting – find out how to develop powerful bonds with customers over time, further distancing yourself from me-too competition

-Sales and Pricing Strategies for maximum profitability – in most cases it’s possible to increase your sales 30-40% and profitability by 60%, with my plan for extracting maximum profitability from every click

-Live workshop in Chicago, October 6-7: Accelerates your learning and implementation with hands-on, in-person expertise.

The course starts September 25. Find out all about it at:

perrymarshall.com/adwords/personalcoaching.htm

Yes this is an affiliate promotion but like I said, Perry is a guy I have no problem recommending to you and if I was a heavy user of AdWords right now I’d be signing up for this myself just for the chance to have Perry as a guy I can call a contact, even a friend, and get to know personally.

Anyway, that’s enough Perry’ lovin. You will know if this program is right for you and if so, please go check out the details and consider applying for a position in his program.