Hey Isyaias,
It's Michael Rasmussen here with some
interesting things I've noticed about
successful online marketers.
In over ten years of running my own
Internet business, I've worked with lots
of famous and highly successful marketers.
Just like I recommend to you, I've paid
attention along the way to what these
folks are doing. In this newsletter, I'm
going to share some of the most important
habits I've come across.
Everybody's business is at least a little
different, and that's good. But these
habits should help you be more successful
regardless of what you're business looks like.
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HABIT #1: Take Action...With A Plan
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Taking action is good advice, if you have
a plan first. If you don't have a plan,
your actions will be more like shots in
the dark. It won't do you much good.
I can remember a few years ago when I got
stuck in a rut trying to help out lots of
my marketing friends. My calendar was so
full that I didn't have room to breathe.
Bottom line, I had essentially set aside
my plan and I was paying the price for it.
My stress level was insane, and my
business results were suffering too.
I was taking lots of action without a
plan, so I started focusing on my plan
again. When I did that, everything took
off. My profits went up, and my stress
went down. It felt almost like magic.
If you want to succeed, you MUST take
action toward your goals. But you need to
know what your goals are, and what steps
you need to take to achieve them. That's
what your plan tells you.
Your plan is your road map. If you aren't
following it, it's useless, and you'll
probably get lost.
Every single successful marketer I know has
a plan and takes action on it EVERY DAY.
That's really the key. Acting becomes a
habit, and that habit can build your
productivity to levels that will shock
most people.
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HABIT #2: Use A Repeatable System
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Lots of people jump from one thing to the next.
They might sell an ebook, or promote some
affiliate products, or do something else
for a while. They don't stick with anything
long enough to make a system out of it.
That can kill your results in the long run.
You should concentrate on creating
repeatable income systems in your
business. They don't have to be fancy,
just profitable.
For example, one of the early systems I
came up with (and I wasn't the first) was
to build small, tightly focused mini-sites
to sell single products.
In my case, I sold an ebook first. The
site was really small, and even somebody
without a lot of technical skills (like
me) could create it.
When I did that once, I could see
immediately how to do it again...and
again, and again. I still do it today.
Your systems could be anything that works.
For example:
* You can sell individual ebooks with
mini-sites
* You can promote products in marketing
forums
* You can create your own "how-to" video
courses
Just about anything can qualify, as long
as it's something you can do over and over
again.
I'm not saying that you can't ever do a
"one-off" experiment, or that you HAVE to
repeat everything you do forever.
What I'm saying is that if you develop
repeatable ways to make cash, you'll end
up with an arsenal of tools to build your
business.
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HABIT #3: Always Build Your List
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When I got my start online, I made a
horrible mistake. I still cringe when I
think about it.
Back then, I didn't focus on building my
list at all.
That means I was selling stuff and making
good profits, but my list was pretty much
stuck at zero.
Sometimes I wonder how my life would be
different today if I hadn't wasted so much
time!
Once I figured out that mistake, I started
to do things differently. Now I NEVER
create anything for my business that
doesn't have a list-building component.
Always ask yourself how you can capture
email addresses whenever you create a
product, or put up a website, or promote
something for somebody else.
Honestly, the fastest and easiest way to
do this is to offer something at no cost.
That can be anything you want. It could be
a short report for people in your niche, or
a quick video, or a checklist for a
particular task, or some helpful resources.
Anything that will entice somebody to sign
up for your list could qualify.
You don't need to add hundreds to your
list every day (although that's perfectly
doable), but you DO need to figure out how
to add some.
If you'll do this, you'll notice that your
list is pretty much growing all the time.
That's the single best way to build your
cash flow in the long run.
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HABIT #4: Focus On Competitive Niches
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This sounds crazy, I admit, but it's true...
You should be focused on building your
business in the most competitive markets
out there.
The more competitive a market is, the
better it is for you. That's because
competition means there's lots of profit
to be made in that market.
Even today, a good bit of my business
success is in the Internet marketing (IM)
niche. It's huge, and the competition is
ridiculous.
That's exactly what you're looking for.
I'm not saying IM is necessarily where you
want to be, but you should NEVER be scared
of a highly competitive market.
Way back in the day, I was just getting
into niche marketing, and I didn't want to
go up against major competition. So I
stayed in small micro-niche markets where
nobody else was.
Then I figured out WHY nobody else was
there...because nobody was buying in those
niches.
Competition reveals where the buyers are.
If big marketers are spending in a niche,
you can sure there's a profit to be made.
All you have to do is figure out how to
grab a small slice of that pie (see Habit #1).
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HABIT #5: Automate Whatever You Can
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You'll never be able to automate your
entire business. Read that again. I don't
think people quite understand it.
What you CAN do is automate most of your
business. You can do that in two ways:
1) Invest in tools (software, etc.) to
truly automate some of what you do
2) Outsource some of the tasks that
normally take a lot of your time
That second one might not sound like
"automation" but it really is from your
perspective. If somebody else is doing the
work, it's automated for YOU, and that's
what counts.
Obviously, when you're just starting out
you might not have a ton to spend on
automation tools. That's okay. Do stuff
manually until you can afford to automate.
But when you finally reach the point when
you have more cash than time, you MUST
figure out how to clear your plate a
little bit.
I used to work myself to death because I
did pretty much everything by hand. I
didn't even know tools were available to
automate a lot of what I was doing!
One way to avoid that problem is to be
always on the lookout for good tools to
automate your business. Make a list of the
ones you want. When you build up the
funds, you can buy one.
For example, a friend of mine offered a
product that would set up simple little
websites with a few mouse clicks, and run
them autopilot for me. Now I use that that
every single day to build my cash flow a
little bit at a time.
Automation is the ONLY way you'll be able
to grow your business beyond what you can
make in 24 hours a day.
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HABIT #6: Master Getting Visitors
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Lots of things might qualify as "the" big
skill for an online business, but this is
definitely in the top three.
Visitors are the lifeblood of your
business. If nobody sees what you're
offering, you won't ever sell anything.
Like most people, I used to struggle with
this, but it's easier than you think.
Here's a simple plan:
* Focus on getting no-cost visitors first
(start with article marketing)
* Always include ways to get more visitors
into every single offer you make, whether
that's something you sell (like an ebook)
or an affiliate product you promote
* Always experiment with new ways to get
visitors
For example, in my early days I found it
tough to get visitors. But I saw somebody
on a marketing forum talking about
offering a no-cost report to build a list,
and I had an idea...
I thought if a free report could build a
list, a killer video course could build a
HUGE list. So I created my first video
course and it added literally thousands to
my list almost overnight.
If you have a few different reliable
methods for getting visitors, and you're
always looking for more, your business
will never go stale.
And when you combine that with the five
other habits, your business will succeed
in ways you can't even imagine right now.
Have a great week, Isyaias!
All the best,
Michael Rasmussen
