End of Week Roundup (11-30-07)

Here are a few items from around the web this week that definitely shouldn't be missed.  If you didn't catch these already, be sure to go take a look.

James Brausch
James posted an excellent article on Joint Ventures this week.  He makes the point that it's pretty useless to try to get him (or anyone else for that matter) to pitch your "thing" by harassing them with FedEx's, preview copies and the other typical stuff…while dangling the "carrot" of an affiliate commission.  Instead, he advocates simply focusing on YOUR customers and mentioning good products you come across that will help your folks…without worrying about any affiliate commission/JV nonsense (i.e., use a direct link).  In the end, it's better for everyone.

James lists 10 very important reasons why this is a more powerful strategy.
You'll have to check out his post to find out those reasons.

Aaron Brandon
Aaron posted some interesting preliminary data on a test he's been doing on split testing an optin form.  This is actually something I'm planning on doing myself once I get my copy of MuVar (don't know why I just got around to getting this…hard headed I guess…review forthcoming after I play with it).  Anyway, Aaron's post is more evidence that we should all be AGGRESSIVELY testing any aspects of our site that lead to a customer "action".  It also sounds like using something like MuVar and the HTML version of AWeber code is much more powerful than using AWeber's built-in split testing feature. 

Richard Lee
Since we're on the topic of testing and tracking, one of the most overlooked aspects of online business is conversion.  A lot of people seem to be narrowly focused on getting more traffic rather than converting more of the traffic they already have.  Richard lays out a killer explanation of why conversion is so vital for giving you a competitive advantage.  In fact, here's link to the first in a series of posts where he covers "Traffic vs. Conversion".  Definitely worth checking out.  Be sure to read the entire series.  (Also note the use of a "series" of blog posts as a way to get around the "what do I write about today" problem.  Nice!)

His posts also make a good case for knowing where your traffic is coming from and segmenting that traffic to see how visitors from each traffic source behave once they hit your site.  All traffic isn't equal.  But there's a really simple way to capture this sort of data using a free tool. 

More on that next week…

Popularity: 37% [?]

Video Tip of the Week: Automatically Finding Ideas for New Website Content

This video is hopefully the first of MANY "Video Tips of the Week".

In this video, I go over one of my favorite online tools (and a freebie at that).  It not only shows you which sites your traffic is coming from and which terms people used in the search engines to find your site, but it also provides you with suggestions for creating new content to bring even more people your way. 

Basically it suggests terms that people searched for that actually led them to your site.  But typically these suggestions are terms your site isn't ranking that highly for…yet.  The idea is to create additional content based on those terms (e.g., a new blog post or article using each term and with solid content for your readers). 

If you "bumbled" your way to the 30th or 40th position in Google for some search term without even trying, it stands to reason that you'll enjoy an even better ranking (and hopefully more traffic) if you have content specifically for that keyword phrase.

Plus this tool does a good job of showing you the "long tail" for your specific site.  It's pretty cool to see how much traffic comes from so many wide and varied terms.

Anyway, enough chatter.  Check out the video and let me know what you think.

Popularity: 37% [?]

You Can Overcome This Common Trap That Stops Most People From Creating Their First Money Making Product - Guaranteed

I was reading some comments made about a YouTube video I found the other day.  The video was basically an offer for a tutorial on a popular piece of software.  It looked good…in fact, great for people who wanted to fast-start their use of this software without getting bogged down in unnecessary details.  Sounds like the typical model for a good info product, right?

Well, low and behold, one of the comments was something like, "Hey, so-and-so already offers tons of free tutorials on this software, so why would anyone buy this?". 

And that brings me back to one of the things I listed in my Biggest Mistakes People Make When Starting an Online Business…thinking you have nothing of value to offer that someone else would pay for.  Or, thinking "No one would buy this".  

 

1. There's a Lot of Churn in This Market

The person leaving the comment didn't realize that there's a lot of "churn" in the market that this product is serving.  By "churn", I mean lots of new people coming on board every single day looking for info on how to get started.  This person was obviously NOT the target prospect, and that's fine.  But that doesn't invalidate the fact that the product was still a good idea for a given target market (a group of people that continues to grow each day).  Are there a lot of new people entering YOUR market?

2. Many People Just Want the Basics to Get Started Fast

Another thing the commenter failed to realize is that there's VALUE in having just the basics…something you can watch or read, then get going with FAST.  This is especially true with new people coming into a market.  The source he was referring to does, in fact, have free tutorials available.  However, they're not geared toward the same use of the software as this tutorial being offered.  Also, there's an entire library full of stuff to weed through, much of which doesn't apply or is just "nice to know" but not CRITICAL. 

I don't know about you, but for myself, information overload is a real killer no matter what I'm trying to learn!  A lot of people would rather just have someone show them how to do what they're trying to do…again, that whole fast-start thing.  More often than not, it doesn't take a library full of tutorials or a 400 page book to get the basics down.

Case Study:  A Personal Example I Recently Went Through

I just bought a whole series of DVDs related to a topic I'm interested in learning more about.  The total cost was about $120 and was well worth it.

Note: That makes for a good day for the product creator by the way.  Figure one sale like that per day:

$120/day x 30 days = $3600/month.

Not filthy rich, but nothing to sneeze at.  And well worth it from my perspective as the buyer too.  A win-win.

I plan on buying the rest of this guy's DVD's too.  Why?  Because at $40 a pop, it's a better use of my time to learn the basics that way rather than trying to find an online forum where people in the know hang out, then trying to figure out who REALLY knows what the heck they're talking about, then trying to get help with my specific knowledge gaps.  That could take WEEKS!  Same goes for reading a book.

3. The Only Opinions That Matter - What Your Prospects and Buyers Think

On the other hand, I wouldn't buy a tutorial on how to build your own computer.  Or one on how to change the oil in your car.  Does that make them bad products?  Nope.  But if I thought they were dumb ideas, should someone give a hoot about MY opinion?  Nope!  I'm not the target market for those type of things (because I already know how to do them).  Same goes for the guy who made the comment mentioned above.

This is another good example of why you should only listen to your target market, more specifically, your BUYERS.  If some dude wants to bash on your product idea saying no one will buy that, consider whether or not he's in your target market (or even more likely, a competitor ). 

I bet you'll find that you can safely ignore those sort of unproductive comments and focus instead on providing good value to people who actually NEED your product - in the end, the ONLY people that count.

Popularity: 21% [?]

End of Week Roundup (11-23-07)

Since it's Thanksgiving weekend here in the States, I'll keep this Weekly Roundup pretty short.  But there were a couple of items I came across this week related to online video that I wanted to share with you…really awesome stuff.

1.  Get Camtasia Studio for FREE!!!

If you haven't heard already, you can now get Camtasia Studio 3 absolutely free.  Now there's NO EXCUSE not to start cranking out some sort of video product.  Why not set a goal to have one done by the end of the year?  That would make for a great way to kick off 2008 with your very own infoproduct.

Why is Techsmith doing this?  Because they're hoping that you'll upgrade to the latest version of Camtasia ($149 upgrade fee).  From what I've heard from others who've used the latest version, Camtasia Studio 5, there are some added features that make the upgrade worthwhile if you've got the money in your budget, but version 3 works just fine for what most of us are looking to do.  And it's not some trial version that expires if you don't pay for the upgrade either, so you don't have to feel pressured to whip out your credit card.

Anyway, to get your free copy of Camtasia Studio 3, here's what you do:

1. Download Camtasia Studio 3 from this link:

                http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/enu/312/camtasiaf.exe

2. Register for a Software key:

                http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp

Now, if you want a really cool way to get the word out about your videos, check out this resource…

2. Free Online Video Distribution and Tracking for Your New Camtasia Videos (or any other videos…)

I have no idea how I didn't know about this already.  I feel like I totally missed the boat on this one, but a big thanks to Josh Wexelbaum over at the Scrappy Business Blog for putting together a quick video highlighing TubeMogul.  If you've heard of Video Post Robot, then TubeMogul will sound familiar - it allows you to upload your videos to a dozen online video sites, sort of like an ArticleMarketer for online video. 

The downside is that there aren't as many services available as you get with something like Video Post Robot.  But there are enough upsides to more than make up for that.   Here are just a few of those reasons:

1. The sites that TubeMogul DOES submit to are the major players in the online video space.  For most of us, worrying about the second and third tier video sites is sort of like worrying about how much traffic you're getting from one of the lesser-used search engines when we all know Google has more than half of all online traffic (or is it higher now?).  Just focus on the big guys and you'll be fine.
2. TubeMogul is free.  Nuf said.
3. This one is crucial for measuring the success of your video marketing efforts -  TubeMogul allows you to track the stats on all your videos across all the sites they submit to.  You can see which video sites are getting the most views (or which individual videos for that matter) and quite a few other stats.

I haven't tried this out yet for myself, but Josh has a quick TubeMogul video that shows the basics of the service and I plan on testing this out pretty soon.  For video info product publishers, affiliate marketers or anyone looking to pull in more traffic through online video, this looks like an awesome service to try out.

I'll probably post a follow-up sometime soon with my own results after testing it out.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Time Management Tips for Busy Entrepreneurs

Whether you're a full-time entrepreneur or you're just getting started building your business, the fact that there's a limited amount time will become crystal clear, if not already.  It's one of the biggest challenges - just getting it all done.  Here are a few ideas you might want to try out.  These are things that I've implemented recently to take back more of my time that you might want to try too.

Batch Similar Tasks

The biggest thing I've started doing is batching my tasks.  This is an idea I got from the 4 Hour Work Week and if you haven't read that book, you should definitely check it out.  There are quite a few more great ideas for time management, outsourcing and other issues.  But in terms of batching, all that means is doing similar tasks all at once. 

For instance, if you know you want to have one blog post per day during the week, instead of taking time EACH DAY to write a blog post, why not do all of them on Monday (or whatever day you choose)?  That way, you can get them all done while you're "in the zone" rather than trying to get in the mood to write every single day.  The same goes for paying bills, running errands, or other periodic tasks (typically weekly stuff).

Force Tasks to a Specific Amount of Time

Speaking of things like writing (or any other task for that matter), another idea is to use an egg timer.  No, not to time how long it takes you to do something, but to FORCE yourself to get it done within a set amount of time.  I'm giving myself 15 minutes to write, proof, and post this article to my site.  There's nothing like the ticking of that clock to focus your mind on the task at hand…in this case, writing a blog post.  How else can you get your time back if you don't limit the amount of time devoted to a task?  Otherwise, the time required will just continue to expand since more time will be available.  Gotta' limit things to a reasonable amount of time and then move on.

Only Work on Tasks Related to Your Goals

I hate to bring up the topic of goals, but it's important to mention when it comes to managing your time.  If you don't have clearly defined goals, you're likely to just end up spinning your wheels.  You'll be more likely to take on tasks that aren't in line with your goals or not finish things that would help you reach them faster. 

By having clearly defined goals, you can focus only on those things that will move you closer to those goals…tasks that actually produce RESULTS.  In addition, you can figure out what needs to be done, which tasks suit your particular skills, and which need to be outsourced (the ultimate in time management).

Figure Out Tomorrow's Tasks the Night Before

One last tip is at the end of the day, take 5 - 10 minutes and look back at what you accomplished today and what needs to be taken care of tomorrow.  Make tomorrow's to-do list the night before.  That way, when you wake up and are ready to get to work, there's no time wasted figuring out what you need to do. 

It's even better if you can prioritize your list, identifying the 2 or 3 things that would make the day a success if that's all you got done.  Do those FIRST!  Or do the hardest, most time consuming first.  It's sort of a personal choice, but it helps to have some rhyme or reason to your list.

Bonus Tip: Have a Plan for Your Extra Free Time

Another idea pulled from the 4 Hour Work Week is the fact that once you've freed up some of your time, it helps to have an idea of what you'll do with that extra time.  The goal is freedom, not more time to work on the business, search forums, or for goodness sakes…finding MORE ideas!  So have a plan for something worthwhile to do with the extra fee time you create.

Popularity: 6% [?]

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