Archive for the ‘IM Tips and Tricks’ Category

Welcome to the third part of this article series, if you missed any or both of the first 2 then you can access them directly here Part one Part two

O.K in the last 2 articles we talked about reviewing the e-mails and comparing the different offers etc.

In this article we will go over some points why it is also important to make purchases.

One fact, and it is actually true is that when you get something free then you often don’t give it any value and it ends up somewhere collecting digital dust on your hard drive.

This is not to say that the product doesn’t have any value because it’s free, often they are excellent products or services but it’s a psychological factor that we tend to put more value on something that we have paid for albeit a few cents.

The fact that you have taken the first step in buying a product or service will encourage you to go on with the next step which is actually using it.

It also creates a certain sense of  obligation to ourselves because we have already made an investment.

Try it next time you see a Dime sale, buy it and see for yourself  how much quicker you use it even if you only paid 10 cents for it.

That is of course only one reason to make purchases and there are more to follow in the rest of this article.

Another reason to make purchases is because if you are not already making sales then eventually you Will do hopefully and you are going to get e-mails or support tickets from customers involving any problems they may have.

It could be due to technical errors or even human errors causing them not to be redirected to the download page etc, they may simply have a question to ask about something  that confuses them.

My point is that it is your job as a Marketer to be able to help those people and the best way to help them is to understand what they are going through.

By making a few purchases first, you then put yourself in the same situation as your customers and because of your own experiences it will make things a lot easier to help people, this will also increase your credibility as a Marketer.

There is nothing worse than not being able to answer a customers question properly, or worse still not at all.

When buying products there are a few things to consider and to make notes on.

First of all don’t go over your budget, before you  buy any product make sure you can afford it, if you are just starting out and on a low budget then try a few Dimesales etc because often you can pick these up for a few cents and you are still gaining the experience of knowing what your customers are going through.

Here are some points to take note of.

• When you click on the order button does it take you directly to the payment processor or does it take you to a page giving you multiple choices of payment?
• Which payment processors do the different marketers use? which seem to be the most popular? note them down.
• Where there any extra charges added by certain payment processors? some automatically add sales tax etc on top of the price. Which ones appeal to you?  again take notes.
• Once your payment transaction is complete are you directed straight to the download page or did you have to wait for an e-mail or confirmation, this is often the case when joining paid membership sites etc.
• Is there a One Time Offer before the download page? this is a common technique used by marketers including myself  involving selling a product at a low price and gaining it back on the One Time Offers.
• What is the One Time Offer? does it appeal to you? even if you can’t afford it would you buy it if you could?
• If you turn it down are you presented by a second offer at a usually lower price? what  do you think of it?

Make notes on the above points, this will help you by knowing how other marketers work and you could use some of the ideas when creating your own campaigns etc.

Once you arrive at the download link to your product take note of the following points.

• Is there a time limit on the download link? this is usually the case when marketers including myself use download protection.
• Do you just have to click on it or do you have to right click on it then select save to your computer? mostly you can simply click on them but sometimes as in the download of a single e-book it can be a pdf  file and this will require you to right click on it and save as.
• Always check usually right at the bottom of the download pages etc through the whole process because often you will find links to the service they are using, this can help you in deciding which services are best for you, if you found it a pleasant experience buying through  the system then chances are your customers will too.
• Is there a contact link on at least the download page? does it lead to a support center? does it give you an e-mail address? if  it’s a support desk do you need to create an account first? what do you find the most helpful? also is there anything you don’t like? so you can avoid submitting your own customers to it.

Once you have downloaded your files take a look at how they are presented,

• Are they zipped? are the file names clear to understand or are they all code names that you first have to search through to see what they are?

• Are there any other offers or advertisements contained in the zip files? are there any extra unmentioned bonuses? this is a trick I often like to use as a thank-you to my customers, everyone likes surprises
• Do you receive a follow up e-mail after your purchase from the marketer? most payment processors will send you a confirmation of your purchase which also serves as a receipt including the transaction details but how does the marketer self go about it? does the e-mail contain a download or contact link in case you encounter problems?

If you take the time to act on the points in this series of articles so far and do some research you should develop a good understanding of how the sales process and e-mail marketing all fits together and be able to come up with some of your own ideas involving some or all of the methods you will discover.

Don’t just note the good points but also take notes on any bad experiences you may have, these are things you will want to avoid for your own customers but also take into consideration that it is not always the marketers fault when things go wrong and try to be polite and professional when submitting or replying to a support ticket or help desk request.

I also promised in the first part of this series to give some tips on what you can do with all those products you have collected on your hard drive but that’s looking like part four now otherwise this article would go on for too long and be too much to digest in one go.

I hope you have enjoyed this series so far and found it helpful in at least some ways, if there is anything you would like to add or comment on, even if you just want to tell me how handsome I still look for my age   I would appreciate it if you could leave a comment below.

Until next time Success and Have A Nice Day

Ian Wilson

Hi and welcome to part two of this article series, if you missed part one you can access it directly here

As I mentioned in part one there are two ways to look at all those e-mail offers you receive in your mailbox but here are some things you can do with them to help you in your business.

Firstly I thought this was a good comment from Don on the first one and a nice addition to the post, Thank you Don.

“I don’t unsubscribe because the last 10 or any number were not of interest at the time. Who knows when the exact thing I want/need will just magically arrive in the old inbox”

That’s one way to look at it and if the e-mail isn’t interesting it’s only one click to delete it.

OK here goes.

If you are subscribed to a number of lists you will quite often get bombarded with e-mails all promoting the same thing, especially if it’s a new product launch from a well known Guru who everyone seems to know or want to know.

Instead of deleting them all group them together, most e-mail programs allow you to do this, otherwise make a temporary folder for them and move them to that folder as they come in.

Wait a couple of days and when you have a few together first check the e-mails themselves and compare them asking yourself the following questions and make notes.(Very important to do this even if it’s just in a simple text editor such as windows notepad.)

• What is the Headline used? did it grab you attention? Is it original or is it the same as everyone is using? List any you like for future ideas.
• How is the e-mail formatted? has the Marketer used his own description or has he/she just used the usually supplied pre-written e-mail like everyone else or has he/she just edited parts of it to suit his/her own style?
• Are there certain words or phrases that get used often or in more e-mails from different people, did they catch your attention and why?
• Are there any bonuses being offered if you buy from that link? mostly in the case of affiliate promotions it becomes a battle of who can offer the biggest bonus. who is offering the best and why?
• Are the e-mails personalised meaning do they address you by First Name or Full Name? what made the e-mail more appealing to you?
• How many times did that particular Marketer e-mail you? did He/She e- mail you every day, just once or multiple times a day? what did you find got YOUR attention the best?

These are just a few ideas although you could scrutinize them even further such as see if there is an unsubscribe link in the e-mails or does the Marketer have his/her address at the bottom. this is usually enforced by law so any e-mails not containing that information you can be sceptic about.

Once you have compared the actual e-mails and made notes it’s time to start clicking on the links, if  however the offer seems appealing to you then click on the links straight away as the e-mails come in because some may be time sensitive and waiting a couple of days could cause you to miss out on a good deal.

Firstly look at the link itself, does it scream affiliate link or has it been cloaked or disguised?

Just for clarity and in case you don’t know what I mean by an affiliate link I will briefly explain.

Most Marketers who release a product will have what is known as an affiliate program which you can sign up for (usually free) and once your signed up you will get your own personal link to the product which you can use to promote it for commissions.

This link will contain your own unique code that it carries with it and if anyone buys that product through your link then you will be paid the agreed commision for the sale.

Often your code is placed at the end of the link so a lot of people will nip the end of your link off that contains your code and paste the remainder of the link in their browser just to stop you getting paid, yes it happens often and I think this is a lousy trick because the person who does this won’t get it any cheaper and pasting their own code at the end usually doesn’t work anymore because most affiliate programs won’t allow them to buy from themselves anyway for security reasons.

A link cloaker is a program or service that allows you to change the look of your affiliate link while still keeping your code even though hidden.

Here is one of my cloaking services that you may use for free if you wish, simply paste your original link in the box and click on the arrow for your newly formatted link.

http://mywebtoolspage.com/url/

Ok now that’s cleared up lets get back to the main subject.

As you click on the links ask the following questions and again make notes.

• Did the link open quickly or did it take a long time?
• Did it go straight to the site or was there a page between such as a link cloaking page? where there any more adverts on that page in between or maybe an opt in box for some other offer? again did it grab YOUR attention?
• Is it an affiliate link or is it a site from the Marketer you got the e-mail from? in the case of an affiliate link then it’s usually a battle of who gives the biggest bonus as I mentioned, if it is a page from the Marketer who mailed you then it usually comes down to a price war, who is giving the cheapest price? you’ll be surprised at the difference from one Marketer to another and this is how you find the best deals, don’t go grabbing the first one you see without checking out the rest because you can save yourself a lot of money here which is another reason why you should group them and compare them.
• How does the site look in general? does it appeal to you? is it easy to read? are the graphics good? what grabbed your attention the most about the page?
• Does the page have links for the disclaimer etc at the bottom? is there a support contact link on the page?

As above these are just a few things to check out, take the time to think of your own ideas too and I’m not saying you should do this every time a new product is launched or with all e-mails you get because it does take up some time but if you do this frequently you will begin to see a picture of how other Marketers work and use the ideas you liked best in your own campaigns, you could find some excellent ideas to use that you would otherwise never of thought of yourself.

Another advantage it gives you is that you also stay up to date with what’s happening on the web which is also very important for any Internet Marketer.

The best thing about this information you will find is that it is first hand information that you have researched and not something you have found written in a report which gives it a certain uniqueness, hey what the hell after a while you could even put the information together and make your OWN report from it and sell it or give it away to build your list whatever.

To conclude this part of the series my point here is on the contrary to what the other Marketer is saying about Marketers sending you information.

If you use your own head and do your research as all good Marketers should then you’ll be surprised at the information and tips you can pick up from these offers, after all does it really need to be stamped on your forehead for you are shoved down your throat before it’s any use to you?

Research is an extremely important part of Internet Marketing, in fact in any Business be it on or offline so if you are not already doing it then it’s time to start if you really want to be successful.

I’m going to shut up for now and in the next part of this series I will cover another important thing, buying some of the offers.

I can hear you now “what do you mean BUY them? I’m in this business to make money not spend it’  which actually happens to be a comment I have heard from some people but I will explain why this is important in my next article.

Have a nice day

Ian Wilson