Entrepreneurs-Journey.com

Update: The links in this post now point to the sale page for the SMARTS program, since the program went live. If you haven’t seen the video yet, here’s the link: Going Natural 2.0 Video.

Also I called Don Crowther “Dan” in this article and have since fixed it - sorry Don!

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StomperNet have released a new video that provides a fantastic discussion of what Social Marketing is, why it’s so critical to the future of Internet marketing and ends with three (well four really) practical ways you can use social media sites to drive traffic to your site.

Here’s the link -

Social Marketing: Success without SEO, Pay-Per-Click or Affiliates

The video is long - 50 Minutes - and the tips start about half way through, but it’s worth watching from start to finish, especially if you have not looked into using social media and Web 2.0 sites as a means to market your blog or business.

Social Marketing Is Huge

I don’t know about you, but I can’t keep up with all the social media and Web 2.0 talk lately.

Not a day goes by where I don’t get some notification from Facebook and given the growth numbers the site is putting up, it won’t be long until Facebook rivals MySpace, the current traffic leader.

Then there’s YouTube, the video sharing site that apparently every single American who uses the Web goes to watch at least once every day.

…And that only skims the surface. There’s social networking sites like LinkedIn, bookmarking sites like Digg and Delicious and collaborative resource sites like Wikipedia. Plus every day a new Web 2.0 site is born offering yet another way to connect with people and drive traffic back to your site.

It’s so overwhelming, most of the time I just take a quick look at the few sites I frequent or keep profiles at, then go back and post an article to my blog.

However every now and then something comes out about social marketing that I take notice of because I don’t want to be left behind and I trust the source of the information.

The “problem” with social marketing is how different it is to traditional marketing. You can’t even smell like you are trying to sell something or just using the site to build links or traffic back to your site, because as soon as you do - BOOM - you are banned.

To make social marketing work you have to…well…be social. Yeah, not surprising, but very true.

Social marketing is about community participation, but you can have a business agenda. You are there first and foremost to be an active and valuable member of a community and if you are smart, use your profile and connections to drive traffic and links back to your site.

Everything has to be organic and friendly - it’s actually a wonderful way to market a business because it’s like talking to friends. There’s no hard sell because hard sell simply doesn’t work - it’s not even permitted.

How Do Top Marketers React

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I’ve mentioned before that I derive some of my income online from websites I have purchased - forums in particular - that bring in a steady stream of passive revenue.

It’s not a huge source of income for me (about low four figures at the moment), but given the return on investment - you can buy a website and earn back your investment cost within 12 months at most (usually closer to 6 months) - it’s hard not to take advantage of all the amazing opportunities currently available in the online real estate world.

Dominiche

Ed Dale became famous as an Internet marketer because of his amazing story of selling 38 niche websites for 5 million dollars. He’s gone on to make over 9 million from website trading and it’s pretty clear Ed knows how to make money from buying and selling websites.

Ed, along with his friend Frank Kern, created a program called Dominiche, which teaches people how to replicate their system for locating, buying and profiting from website real estate. Earlier this year Ed joined the team at StomperNet and it appears that Dominiche came along with him.

Presently Ed is producing a series of videos introducing people to the world of buying and selling websites as part of the relaunch of Dominiche, this time brought to you by StomperNet. I just finished watching video number 8, where Ed explains how sometimes it’s better to have little money when entering the web property market.

Yaro Quits Blogging

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I’m watching the StomperNet DVDs in my car, well listening to them anyway. They contain the stage presentations from the Orlando event held earlier this year that I missed out on because I was on a plane back to Australia at the time.

While 95% of the content in the presentations isn’t teaching me anything new, in almost all presentations there’s one or two really powerful points that make watching worthwhile (some of the best stuff was about eBay selling - but that’s another story).

There’s one tip I’d like to pass on now from Dr. Mike, the real life doctor turned Internet marketer, who builds niche sites. He talked a lot about how he uses pay per click traffic to initially test his niches to see whether they can turn a profit. He covered some standard PPC stuff, like beating the Google Slaps, setting high maximum daily spend limits and choosing keywords, but there was one point that I hadn’t considered before that I thought was quite clever and something I suspect most PPC users don’t do.

How To Target High Priced Keywords Using Parallel Markets

Dr Mike called his method “Parallel Marketing”, which is a PPC technique you can use to tap into lucrative markets without paying the high per click rates.

As you probably know, Google calculates click prices factoring in demand for the phrase. If a lot of people are willing to buy certain keyword phrases then the price increases. This usually happens for the most lucrative markets, like mortgages and insurance etc. Anything where the lifetime value of a customer is high.

The Parallel method simply means to target complimentary industries using PPC at lower per click prices to attract the same type of customer who would be interested in buying the lucrative products and services.

The example Mike used was related to reverse mortgages, which are apparently targeted at seniors and retirees (must be a USA thing?). Tapping keywords related to this niche is costly due to the competition and customer value, but if you find markets where the same type of customer has an interest, you can use PPC to drive traffic and build a list at lower click prices and then sell the higher priced items.

Taking the mortgage example, seniors and retirees are often interested in RVs (campervans) for holidaying, which will have a lower click price than mortgages. In this case you build a campaign targeting PPC traffic searching for RV related information, build a list and eventually promote the higher paying mortgage related products.

Think Laterally About Your Marketing

This strategy should work in any market. If the PPC cost is high, think about other things the target market are interested in and go after the traffic there. You need to be clever in how you market your offers because the message won’t be as perfectly aligned if you use complimentary industries to tap the traffic, but if you are clever you should be able to carefully weave in related offers without turning away your audience.

Think laterally and you should be able to come up with many things your target market are interested in, then set up PPC campaigns to tap into the traffic there at a much lower cost. It’s simple, so it must work.

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Is it me, or is the $1 trial period all the rage lately?

Now StomperNet is offering a $1 trial that includes access to their SIMPLE system designed for people new to e-business to get a real online business going fast.

I promise this will be my last post about StomperNet, but with the $1 trial I felt the need to highlight it one more time.

The 30-day $1 trial begins on May 10, but you need to sign up now for the T-Minus-Seven email list to begin the prep work.

Here’s the spiel…

We will have seven days of critical information, education, and even some major prep-work, so you can be better equipped to get the MOST benefit out of our 30-day $1.00 StomperSIMPLE curriculum.

Click Here to Sign-Up

This offer is for those still not convinced StomperNet is worth it so you can “try before you buy”, and especially for people new to Internet business, so you can take advantage of the special 30 day beginner course.

I’m actually considering hiring an intern and sponsoring them to take the introductory course and see what results they can achieve just based on what they learn in StomperSIMPLE.

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In case you didn’t get the email (or the many thousands of emails if you are on certain Internet marketer email lists), the doors to StomperNet are now open.

You can read the details about the program and sign-up here:

www.StomperNet.net

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