How can you tell whether your terrific new brain-child idea is a killer or a dog?

Well, as any seasoned marketer will tell you, there are no sure-fire ways. There are NO right and wrong answers in marketing – there is not a single expert who can tell you whether your new product will fly or sink!

As an example, a very seasoned marketer and copywriter I know admitted to me recently that he launched a new product last year that he was convinced would sell like hot cakes…

Did it? No – it bombed!

So not even the experienced marketers get it right all the time!

But yes, there is a way of making absolutely certain-sure that you have developed a winning product…

As web entrepreneur Nick James explains, it’s quite simple:

You allow the punters to tell you whether or not they want your product….

And he’s deadly serious when he says that the only certain way to be sure is to test your product in a suitable, email broadcast, newspaper ad or direct mail campaign…

The punters will pretty soon tell you whether or not they want to buy or not…. Either you will get lots of orders, or you will just about break-even, or you will hardly get any orders at all. You just wont know until you test!

Now, do you want to know the single most powerful piece of information in the product development and/or direct marketing business?

This information is worth more than everything I have previously told you, put together. It’s this:

Believe the punters - not yourself.

There. I really don’t like to tell anyone not to believe in themselves…

But in this particular instance, you must put all your faith in the punters.

It doesn’t matter how much of a ‘pet’ your product is. It doesn’t matter how much your old mum and your friends tell you it’s a GREAT product. It is wholly irrelevant that you have seen scores of adverts for similar products at a higher price. - If the punters don’t respond to your advert, then you must drop that product and move straight on to the next one.

The only exception to this is if you have a modest response, and you think you made a slight mistake… (say by advertising in completely the wrong place, or too expensive, etc.).

In this case, it might be worth testing again. If this second attempt also fails, then drop the product immediately.

Don’t try and second-guess the punters.

Don’t worry too much about how or why the punters didn’t buy your product. You will probably never work this out… I never can!

The greatest mail-order gurus in the world often find themselves scratching their heads in disbelief at what works, and what fails. They are continually amazed that their ‘dead-cert’ product flops completely, and their rank outsider, no-hoper product which they whacked-in for a quick test, results in bulging mail-sacks.

There is often no rhyme or reason to this. Who knows why the punters will go for a product, or leave it alone? It could be one word in the copy, a ‘feel’, the picture, the price, their perception of your ability to deliver…. ANYTHING. You’ll never find out.

Now the big difference between a winner, and a loser is that the winner will listen to the punters no matter what he thinks. If the punters tell him that his red-hot favorite product is a lame dog, then he’ll drop it immediately. Losers will back their hunches right down the line until they go broke.

They just know that this product is a winner…. If the marketing fails, then they attribute it to the media, or the day of the week, or the price, or the delivery time. They don’t believe that the punters could ever reject such a super product.

So they promote it again, and again and again until they have lost a very great deal of money. Then they believe. But even after all this, they still harbor a sneaking suspicion that if they’d just altered the coupon shape, or increased the money-back guarantee to 30 days, or…

You get the idea….

To become a direct-response winner, you MUST believe the punters…

The punters KNOW – you only BELIEVE.

This principle can be summarised in this vital concept:

MILK YOUR WINNING PRODUCTS, DROP YOUR LOSERS.

Source: http://www.ebizhelpers.com/article~cat~ecommerce-general~articleid~4047.htm © Nick James.

John Thornely

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

So, you have your business up and running… You’re ready for business. But, wait.

Where are all the people? You are all ready for them, but they have no idea who you are, let alone what you are offering. What do you do now?

You have to market your business. However, you need to be careful on how you do this. Advertising could be what helps your business soar, or it could be what brings it down. Take the time to research to find the most effective way to advertise your business.

Google Maps is growing more and more popular for businesses of any size. Whether you have a company that only delivers locally or one that delivers around the world, Google Maps can reach anyone on the internet.

People use Google Maps for many reasons. Sometimes they are looking for a place, while many times they are searching for a specific type of place in a specific area.

For example, someone might be moving to a new home, and needs information on daycare centers. If they go into Google Maps, they can type in daycare centers, and all of the daycare centers in that general area will pop up.

Or, if you are a business owner ready to take the advertising step, you can utilize Google Maps to target potential customers in a specific area. Listed below are tips on why and how you can use Google Maps to target potential customers and increase sales.

Tip # 1 - Reach new customers using Google Maps and Google AdWords

Google Maps offers Google AdWords. This service allows your ads to appear next to related map search results. You pick keywords that describe your business. When a person enters in one of your keywords, your ad will appear directly on the map. People will then click on your ad, and will be connected to your business.

This is a great service to those advertisers who want to market their products or services to a very specific location. You may have a service or product that you are only offering delivery to locally because you do not have the resources to deliver all around the world. Therefore, you will only want to target specific areas for advertisement.

Google Maps has made it very easy to customize a target audience. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can now define your location. All you have to do is click-and-drag the map, and zoom into find your location or target area. Then, enter in a distance of at least 20 miles around your location target. A circle will appear next to the areas you chose. Check to be sure the circle is near the neighborhoods you wish to reach for potential customers.

Advertising your products or services through Google Maps will reach those potential customers at the exact moment they are searching. Millions of people use the internet to find information at their fingertips. Many will be looking for products or services in their general area. Listing your business in Google Maps will generate traffic to your websites, and potentially increase sales significantly.

Tip #2 - Google Maps works for businesses of any size.

Google AdWords is an effective tool and offers excellent marketing opportunities for a business of any size. Through Google AdWords, you are able to control your budget, because you pay only when someone clicks on your advertisement. You do not have a minimum spending requirement, and you can set a daily budget of a few dollars or pounds. This works well for small businesses that only have a certain amount to spend on advertising or larger businesses that are able to spend a little more.

Regardless of whether a business has a lot or a little to spend, the benefits remain the same. You are able to target your advertising campaign to specific locations, demographics and a select market. Google AdWords offers real-time control. You are able to pause, resume, increase, decrease or change any of your advertising specifics, instantly. Your company will begin generating traffic immediately.

Tip #3 - How to Effectively Use Google Maps to increase your sales

The goal you have should be to reach as many people as possible that are searching for your ‘specific’ product or service. It should not be to reach as many visits as possible to your site, but to reach quality targeted clicks.

It is important to advertise cost-effectively. Many companies waste hundreds or thousands of dollars on “unwanted clicks” that do not generate business. You’ll want to target people that are truly looking for your product or service, and not pay for clicks that don’t generate sales.

In order to find these people searching for your specific product or service, you need to create a keyword list that is unique to what you are offering. Using specific keywords, rather than broad or generic keywords, will ensure those people are finding exactly what they are searching for.

This in turn, leads to ‘true’ potential customers, which leads to ‘potential’ sales. And, in the end, leaves your paying for less unwanted clicks.

Determine if your product or service will be local, national or global. Google AdWords allow you to specify the exact areas you would like to target. Analyze your product or service. Determine keywords that are unique to what you offer, and try to be as specific as you can about the description of your product or service.

Tip #4 - Update your listings at any time

Google allows you to update your listings at any time. It is imperative to carefully manage your account in order to reduce expenses for ineffective advertising and gain the maximum benefits Google Maps has to offer. Along with carefully considering your keywords, you should monitor them, too. And, you should continuously manage your cost per click.

Increasingly, Google is presenting maps on its everyday searches, so this can help your business!

So - Check out what Google Maps can do for you!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Apply these seven secrets to your mar­keting and see a 200-400% increase in sales per lead.

According to one industry publication, over 99% of small businesses do not consistently follow up with their prospects and customers. Why? Because they don’t have a system, they don’t have time, they don’t know how valuable it is, or they don’t know how to follow up!

Learn from the best minds in direct response marketing, peo­ple like Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert and Jay Abraham. These guys are masters of the direct response marketing profession and they know how to maximize sales.

There are only three factors that influence the profitability of any marketing effort. The smartest mar­keting minds on the planet have sifted these factors down to this simple, but powerful formula:

1. Send The Right Message… To The Right Market… At The Right Time

Most businesses miss one, two or all three of these factors, and as a result, their marketing and ad­vertising results are ineffective. This costs millions in missed sales every year!

It is CRITICAL that you follow up with your leads repeatedly, incorporating a va­riety of media such as mail, phone, fax, e-mail messages, and voice broadcast­ing!!! Automate your system to methodically, repeti­tively and consistently follow up with your leads – or you’ll be wasting a lot of leads or a lot of man hours!

2. The Three Types Of Leads

Your market­ing campaigns will produce leads in three broad categories:

· Hot Leads – those that are ready NOW

· Warm Leads – those that aren’t ready now but will be soon – these leads are CRITICAL to your success; and

· Cold Leads – that may never be ready

But how do you know which is which?!!! Most businesses follow up every lead once or twice and focus on leads that look like they’re going to close – ie they ‘cherry pick’ the ‘low hanging fruit’!

That’s fine, but the problem is that, too often, all those warm leads slip through the cracks! You must have an automated system to follow up with these leads like clock­work. And with an on-line business, you can use an Autoresponder very effectively.

3. Timing Is Every­thing

Never forget the simple truth: “People will buy when THEY’RE ready, not when you’re ready to make a sale.”

So you have to be in front of folks when they’re ready to buy – in other words, you have to follow-up with them… religiously! Because if you don’t, some­one else will land that business.

So, again, you must follow-up if you are to ‘be there for them’ when they’re ready to buy.

4. Transform Your Sales from Out­bound Hunting To Inbound Harvest­ing

This secret is critical to your success be­cause it increases conversion rates and lands customers quicker. When you’re always chasing prospects in “hunting” mode, there’s resistance at every turn and you can waste tons of time working with leads who simply aren’t ready.

On the other hand, when you’re in har­vesting mode, you’re working smart and focus on leads that you have already ‘warmed up’ with your earlier follow-up. If you close the gap between “getting the lead” and “closing the sale”, you’ll make the shift from hunting mode to harvesting mode… and your profits will skyrocket.

5. Maintain A Living, Breathing Customer Database

You can do this most effectively by sending relevant, valuable information to EVERY PROSPECT on a scheduled, recur­ring basis – using a variety of methods – communicating efficiently and logging all contacts with the prospect in an organized fashion.

6. Use Education, Repetition and Variety In Your Follow-Ups

Education: Your follow-ups must inform and educate your prospects. You need to provide valuable information and convince your prospect that you are on their side and deserve to be trusted. Customers WANT to trust you, so give them information they need and you’ll earn their trust.

Repetition: Human beings have to hear the same thing over and over before it ‘clicks’. Your customers may not “get it” the first time they hear your message – and don’t make the mistake of thinking that if a prospect heard the pitch once, they understood it. Chances are, they didn’t. Tell them again, and again and again.

Variety: You need to consistently tell your message, but your follow-up delivery needs variety. Different people respond to different stimulae, so follow-up with a multi-step sequential campaign that incorporates e-mail, di­rect mail, phone, fax, voice broadcasts, and other media!

When you begin to properly follow up with your leads and customers using Ed­ucation, Repetition and Variety, your numbers will abso­lutely shoot through the roof. You will be completely amazed!

7: Personality, Genuineness and Entertainment

Your prospects and customers need information. They need repetition. They need educa­tion. They need variety and frequency. They need to hear the right message at the right time.

That’s what they need. And if you provide it, if you practice the six secrets, you’ll see great improvement in your business.

But if you want phenomenal results, you need to give them what they want.

What they want is YOU! They want your personality. They want you to be real with them. They want you to be straight up, helpful, sincere. They want your spin, your angle, your advice, your perspec­tive. They don’t want corporate dribble. They want YOU!

Give them what they want, and combine it with what they need, and you’ve got something spectacular, even entertaining. You’ve got permission to converse freely with your prospects and customers, to help them with the things they need, to offer them the products and services you provide that make their life easier, better, more successful.

Only you know how to be you, how to be real but you can inject personality into your follow-ups using conversational language, not corporate speak; by laughing at yourself and your mistakes; discussing the “stuff” of your personal life with your prospects and customers; talking about what you like, what inter­ests you, what annoys you; and so on. View your prospects and customers as friends.

Now, if you’re telling yourself, “I can’t do that,” then I want you to do three things:

Slap yourself for al­lowing that negative thought to take root in your brain and your heart who knows how long ago;

Resolve to give it a shot, realizing that it’s a learning process; and

REMEMBER that while you’re learning how to do Secret #7 well, the other six secrets will drive tremendous re­sults for your business.

But if you want phenomenal results, you need to give them what they want.

What they want is YOU!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

“My website looks very nice — but I don’t get any enquiries or sales from it”.

How many times have you heard that?

My first website — a property site — cost me far more than it should have, because I didn’t really know anything about selling on the web. I put the site before the customer.

I hunted around until I found someone who seemed to offer the kind of site I was looking for. She produced a nice-looking website (she was a graphic designer!) — but one that was subsequently described to me by a copywriter as being ‘typically corporate in approach’ — all about ‘us’, with no great appeal to a visitor, no single focus and no convincing call to action.

A bit of a put-down, heh?

And — more importantly — no great traffic as a result! Even though the site eventually reached a Google page ranking of 3 (by reason of the large amount of information I put up on it), it didn’t bring in the punters.

Was this the web designer’s fault or mine?

The answer is — both! It was a case of ‘the blind leading the blind’. I hadn’t really worked out who my targets were and how to win them over, and she didn’t understand enough about commercial marketing to make me do this before even starting out on formulating the website. She ‘did’ corporate brochures!

All About Us – Not You!

The typical website out there is ‘all about us’ and little or nothing about the visitor or what they actually want. Never forget that someone only visits your website because they are looking for information or to solve a problem or need. Think about it — what are you looking for when you browse the Web?

This is why the standard ‘corporate style brochure’ on a web page really doesn’t work. Your website needs to capture your visitor, entice him/her to stay and browse further — no matter what business you’re in!

You can actually do this very easily: create a site which is full of information — full of ‘nuggets’ the visitor gets an immediate benefit from — and where they’ll want to return.

Mouthwatering Detail

Develop a site that describes, in mouthwatering detail, how your product or service

creates the exact results they’re looking for.

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in — whether you are directly selling a product, building a list of prospects or a public service website — you still need to fulfill your visitors’ needs and involve them, if you want them to return to your site and find it valuable.

The Big Myth

And here’s a BIG MYTH. Most businesses’ websites will not make a sale on a prospect’s first visit — unless you make them an ‘irresistible offer’ so compelling that your visitor just can’t go without buying (which many single-page sites can do, with good copywriting).

Typical ‘conversion rates’ that the experts achieve are only in the range 1 to 5% of visitors — so 95 to 99 of every 100 visitors to your site are likely to leave without buying.

So your website should focus on starting a relationship with your prospect, so that you can convert perhaps another 20 – 30% of your visitors over time. You need to engage with your visitor and make it worthwhile for them to do two things:

· Opt in to your ‘free offer’ and

· Return to your site later to buy.

If you succeed in getting your visitor to opt in, you can build your relationship — and this is primarily about building his/her trust in you — and encourage him/her to return to your website, for instance using a series of emails sent out by autoresponder. Tests typically show that it may take anything from 5 to 10 contacts with a prospect before they trust you enough to buy.

Clear Site

One of the most successful commercial website styles is one that looks like a letter. It can be a single site or multiple-page site (each ‘page’ can be hundreds or thousands of words long).

Each page should look like a letter and each should aim to promote a single product or service — gently but inexorably leading your visitor through to a specific action, whether it be to opt-in, download a free report that contains more information or to purchase.

Unless your site is purely for information, it should not have numerous links and buttons at the top or down the side of the page, which can distract the reader and lead them away from your site.

The exception to this (for example, see the diabetes site mentioned above), is where the whole of a multi-page site acts as a carefully crafted sales machine, focused on getting the visitor to opt-in and return again.

Lead Your Prospect

Interwoven into the text (‘copy’) on your site, you should have links to request your free report or whatever is being offered. These links, scattered throughout the letter, lead to a form for the visitor to complete, so you capture (as a minimum) their first name and email address, with permission to stay in touch.

Getting this permission (hence ‘permission marketing’) is absolutely necessary if your visitor is located in a country that has ‘data protection’ or privacy policies, such as the UK.

And don’t worry about what to give as a ’free report’. This can be distilled sections of a few chapters of your information product (if that’s what you’re offering) — some marketers simply adapt sections of the sales letter on their web page!

You can use this direct response website approach to identify your target audience — visitors literally ‘hold up their hand’ by requesting your free report (although there are quite a few ‘freebie seekers’ out there, too).

Once you have your visitor’s contact details, you can nurture a relationship with informative emails until he/she is ready to purchase from you.

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

If you want to succeed online, you have to have a strategy (or theme, a purpose, or community) for your website, with a central focus on a specific WANT that your prospects have. Then, you find products which follow along the theme.

So, the three keys to creating income from ANY web site and ANY theme, according to Terry Dean, are:

1. Have a lead product that people WANT.

2. Have freebies at your site that follow the theme.

3. Have multiple backend or supporting products for the theme.

You can’t develop a business around a single product. Even if you are promoting a single product upfront, it is not the product that people want.

They want the BENEFITS they receive out of the product.

When designing your site, think about that ever abiding “WANT” or “GOALS” that your prospects have with them continually.

Things such as: more money, weight loss, online success, being sexually attractive, self-defense, etc.

These ultimate benefits are what your prospects are really seeking.

So, don’t base your business just on products.

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Here’s how to do quick research on a market… and cutting your losses.

Set up ten different Affiliate campaigns in ten different markets:

· Sign up as an affiliate for suitable products at ClickBank.com or Amazon.

· They give you your affiliate link

· Use Google Adwords to drive traffic to your Link

· Check daily how you’re doing.

If you’re making sales and covering your ad costs—stick with it…

… and get out of the ones that don’t pay as soon as you’ve got some results.

Try it!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Using Google to find HOT Niches!

Want to dominate the Web — but Stuck for ideas for niches?

Would you believe that Google will actually show you how you can make money on the Web? Sounds too good to be true?

Well, here are three ways that Google will show you exactly what’s hot just now — and what products sell on a seasonal basis!

What’s Hot Just Now, Mr Google?

Here’s a little trick using Google Products (formerly ‘Froogle^TM’), a focused search engine that allows you to search for products for sale on the internet.

But you can also use it to see what’s hot today and what people want right now!

Go to www.google.com/products and look at the list of products below the search box. They are stuff that people are searching for right now!

Now, press ‘refresh’ and you’ll see a new list come up — these are live searches on Google, so you can see the kind of things that people are currently searching for.

Look for the products that come up most frequently and find ways to turn them into

niche products you can offer!

Trendy Niches!

You can use Google Trends in a similar way, but it also lets you see seasonal trends and even compare different search topics on the same page — a very powerful research tool.

Go to www.google.com/trends and you’ll see two lists. The one just below the search box shows you what people are searching for just now. The numbered list below that shows you Today’s Hot Trends.

You can also see an expanded list of hot trends at www.google.com/trends/hottrends.

These are things that thousands of people are searching for now, so use some of the ideas on www.Internet-Tycoons.com to see how you can provide what they want!

‘Tis The Season!

You can even compare searches by entering several topics in the Trends search bar, separated by commas! Try looking at the seasonal trends for searches on Fishing, Cricket and Baseball.

Not surprisingly there are spikes around special events, such as the World Cup and so on.

Target Your City!

But there’s another very powerful tool to aid your Web domination strategy hidden away in Google Trends!

Below the trend graphs, you’ll see a list of the Countries and the Cities where the terms were searched for most often. You’ll also see the Languages that were used most frequently to search for the terms.

This is very powerful information — you can target particular countries where topics are particularly hot. And—just think about this— you can even target particular cities with your Adwords campaigns, to maximise their effectiveness and minimise your Awords costs by making your keywords location-specific!

You can even target Google searches in particular languages, where you’ll probably

find that there is little or no competition for very valuable keywords and dominate the market!

Where’s Your Zeitgeist?

Google Zeitgeist is a treasure trove of research and information for your Web Biz!

Anything from Google Trends, what’s behind the stories, and the most popular searches last year and by month.

You can actually do this for each country in the world. Try ‘Bodyboard’ in Brazil, ‘Rabbits’ in Canada or ‘Jack Russel’ (dogs) in Norway!

And Zeitgeist will also show you the headline gainers and losers this month, guiding you as to what’s hot and what’s not!

Go to www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html, open your mind and explore!

So, with this enormous research arsenal at your fingertips, what’s holding you back?

Get out there and get HOT!

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Ever spent a lot of money developing products and ideas that nobody wanted to buy? What a horrendous waste - there are so many ideas that people will spend money on!

With Google AdWords, you should never need to invest more than a few hundred dollars - or in the worst case a few thousand dollars - pursuing an idea that won’t work.

Let’s say you’ve got a product idea. The product itself costs $5,000 to develop, and you’re sure it’s a good idea because it solves a really thorny problem.

So here’s what to do: You write a report, ebook or white paper about how to solve that problem. You create an opt-in page where people can get your report in exchange for their contact information.

Then you ‘buy’ keywords, send people to that page and see how many people you can get to opt in. That’ll give you a gauge of interest.

If you absolutely cannot get anybody to opt-in to your report - or if you can’t find keywords that anyone is searching for - then that’s a good sign you should abandon the project before you throw any more money at it.

When people do opt in, you can send them an email (or even call them on the phone) and ask them what they’re really looking for. If your report is any good, they’ll be happy to talk to you, and you’ll get LOTS of input about the kinds of problems they’re trying to solve.

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

Before you spend a lot of money setting up in your chosen niche, you’ll want to research it thoroughly and test it out, to see what traffic you get and the quality of this traffic – are they ‘hot buyers’ or just browsers?

Hot Tip: One of the ways that you test a niche, before you get started, is to send some traffic to an affiliate site (you sign up as an Affiliate to sell someone else’s product – they’ll generally set up a website for you). If you are getting sales as an affiliate, then you could make sales with your own product.

Hot Tip: Another way to test your niche is to sign up as an affiliate to Amazon and send people to your Amazon affiliate site, using Google Adwords.

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com

A great way to find new niches is to use Google searches and Keyword tools to do all the hard work for you!

Hot Tip: Go to one of the keyword tools and type in short phrases like “How to”, “Where to”, “Make”, “Do It Yourself”, “Discount”, etc – you’ll get a list of the most searched items – and some ready-made ‘hot niche’ suggestions!

Most marketers recommend looking for markets where the total searches per month (the numbers on the left hand side) equal 15 to 20 thousand or higher.

But some people do really well in smaller markets (more than about 5,000 searches per month) – it depends on the niche and you can dominate in a small market.

When you work in niches with at least 20,000 searches a month, you can make yourself a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, on a weekly basis.

John Thornely
© John Thornely www.johnthornely.com 2008

To learn more about how YOU can
Profit From The Internet – Fast, visit
www.Internet-Tycoons.com