Digital Profit Success

Taking Control Of Your Life – A Wake Up Call

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Do you ever get the feeling like you’re constantly firefighting problems, like life is one continuous uphill struggle to stay afloat?

Do you come home from work feeling tired and stressed and without the energy to do anything other than collapse in front of the TV?

Do you always feel like you’re just not quite as happy as you think you could be/should be?

That’s life I’m sure you’ve been told! Or at least it’s life as many of us have come to “experience” it. But in truth there’s no real reason that this should really be the case.

One of the biggest problems is that we’re always chasing after the gold at the end of the rainbow and in doing so, we never stop to smell the roses and live in the now and appreciate life.

Sorry to use all these metaphors but I feel it paints a pretty accurate picture of many people’s life experiences. We’re never happy because we’re always striving for what’s next or “better.” As marketers this manifests itself as “Shiny object syndrome” and we wonder why we never make any real progress in our business becasue we are always chasing the next big thing that makes things easier or quicker. The result of all this undue pressure is we’re always stressed about what’s coming up and whether it will work and we never truly appreciate what we have until we lose it.

We think that the only way to change this is to change our lives. To work harder and longer.

But it’s not.

The way you bring about this change is from the inside out. We need to change the way we think about our situation and we need to change the way we approach life’s problems and the way we enjoy the moment.

And that means taking control of our minds. Once you can do that, you can take back control of your life and this will make you feel more confident, relaxed and happy in the exact same circumstances that you have now. It’s all about focus and once you can do this, you can start to actually plot a course of action to start changing your life for the better. You can stop treading water and start swimming.

Isn’t your life worth it…?

Build A Blog And Make Money Part 6

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Get Ready to Start Posting

Some newbies mistakenly start creating content and putting it all on pages. This messes up your navigation. You want just about everything to be a blog post, not page.

Click on Posts and you’ll see some subtopics you can navigate to. Start by going to Categories and edit the Uncategorized option to something else.

Have you mapped out your site yet? You need an idea of how to have a well-organized site, so just as you did with your niche research, go through the process and group concepts together.

For example, let’s say you were in the “exercise over 40” niche. You might brainstorm the following:

  • Safety
  • Low Impact
  • Weight training
  • Kettlebells
  • Zumba…etc.

You could safely nestle Kettlebells under weight training instead of having dozens of categories all over the place. You might put Zumba under a category called Recreational Fitness.

Create a set of Categories and make sure you format them the same. For example, capitalize the first letter of each word like this:

Weight Training

 

When you create categories, you can have “parent” and “child” categories, which simply means you can create it so that it looks like this:

Weight Training (parent category)

-Kettlebells (child category)

-Dumbbells (child category)

Under the Posts section, you can add tags – but it’s easier to just add them each time you create a blog post where it asks for tags.

In the final part of this mini training we will look at monetizing your shiny new blog…

Grow Your Mind And Your Business Will Follow!

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If you’re a new internet marketer who is serious about creating your first information marketing business but don’t know where to start or you lack the confidence in your ability to create a product that people want to buy then please read on.

It’s no secret that more and more business is being done online than ever before and  that more and more people are turning to the internet to search for the solutions to their problems. People will always be willing to pay for quality information to help them in all areas of their life.

These problems may be physical – being in pain, being overweight…

Or emotional – mood swings, depression…

Or sports related – improve golf swing, run faster…

The problem is that if you approach your business incorrectly you will see very little in the form of sales and your confidence will drop and this is when self-doubt appears. To counter this you need the correct business strategy and mind-set to overcome any frustrations.

Remember that you’re in business to help people!! In fact, Thomas Oppong, Founder of Alltopstartups.com and contributor to Entrepreneur.com stated…

“Don’t Just Start a Business, Solve a Problem

 

Think about this typical scenario…

A budding entrepreneur decides to sell an information product showing a consumer how to “Add 10 yards to their golf swing” And it tells them what they need to do; things such as invest in better clubs, get a mentor for some personal coaching etc. Unfortunately they make very few sales and become disheartened and this is a very common occurrence because their mindset and business approach is actually all wrong.

If you don’t believe me, just look through some articles on sites like Entrepreneur.com to realise that you need to produce a MUST HAVE product, not a NICE TO HAVE product.

And it must focus on what the consumer WANTS, not want they NEED.

The golfer WANTS a set of quick fixes he can use to improve his swing. He doesn’t want to waste time and money buying better clubs and paying for expensive one to one coaching; although this is what he NEEDS if he is to improve long term.

Now I love the Information marketing  business and it is undoubtedly one of the most lucrative business models available and now is the perfect time to get started.

Not convinced yet? Here are a few more reasons…

  • The start-up and running costs are minimal
  • It is low risk
  • It has a perfect sales model; selling 1 to many i.e. you are selling to a global audience and can even make money while you sleep!

So if it’s so good why aren’t we all doing it? Well, many internet marketers suffer from the idea that creating information products takes a lot of time, money and expertise in the niche but nothing could be further from the truth!

The thing is: Information marketing is SIMPLE but it isn’t EASY

And many people fail before they even start!

Why do people fail?

  • Is it technology? No
  • Is it a lack of money? No
  • Is it a lack of time? No

Now you may think that all these things are reasonable obstacles and they are but it goes much deeper than that and the root cause of these obstacles is because they don’t have the correct mind-set and are full of self-doubt. The good thing about this is that can be easily fixed!  You need to realise that success is more about mental endurance than physical or educational ability.

Harvard professor Dr. Ellen Langer once said “Where the mind leads, the body will follow”

The first thing you need to do is to determine your “Why”

  • Why are you starting this business?
  • What are your ultimate goals and dreams and why do they attract you?

Wasn’t it the ancient Greeks that stated “Know thyself” And when you do know yourself something magical happens and you lose self-doubt and begin to smash down the barriers of your business, you stop procrastinating and you achieve SUCCESS! So don’t be discouraged, especially if you have tried before and not got the results you wanted…

And remember:

  • Most experts started off where you are today
  • The tech stuff isn’t that difficult and a lot can be outsourced
  • Find a course that fits YOU and USE IT; TAKE MASSIVE IMPERFECT ACTION or you will NEVER see results
  • You must believe in yourself and develop a positive business mind-set

SO many people give up after trying something once, or worse just as they are about to make the breakthrough that could change their lives. So take a moment and “know thyself.” Know your reason why and then you can start the shift in mind-set that will explode your success once and for all. Mind-set and a positive attitude are a crucial part of the puzzle for any entrepreneur yet it never gets discussed in traditional information marketing courses or coaching. In fact, there is a reason for this: Most people want you to fail because they can then sell you more products!

You see, any successful business owner has a specific mind-set which stimulates creativity, increases productivity and reinforces self-belief even when faced with so-called “failure.” So you really need to study and emulate these people and develop a positive wealth mind-set. You can make this shift all on your own but please be aware that it takes precious time and this is time you can never get back. You see, the information marketing business is exploding and it’s only going to get bigger so you really need to know how to create and market information products, BUT before you even begin to think about marketing and product creation, you need to have the positive mind-set that is crucial to success. Some people are born with it but most are not! But you can train your mind to work in different ways and to create new habits that empower you and greatly increase your chances of success.

Is this what you want? Well, if you do, please watch this free video which covers what we have just discussed and will offer you the opportunity to invest in an inexpensive course that will enable you to find your reason why, overcome FEAR, set goals, cultivate the wealth mind-set, overcome procrastination and greatly increase your chances of success.

So many people underestimate the power of the mind and how it can directly affect your business success. It took me a long time to realise this but when I did and made the changes outlined in the course I noticed a massive change, not just in my business life but also in my personal life so I heartily recommend taking a look.

Expand your mind and watch your life become richer in every way…

The Downsides of Living The Digital Lifestyle

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Living as a digital nomad means that you’re able to grab your laptop and travel the world. This normally means that you are involved in some kind of online business model, which in turn means that you earn money as long as you have access to a computer and an internet connection. This allows you to work where you want and how you want and many people use this to fulfil their ambition of seeing the world and of living a lifestyle of freedom. This is one of the truest examples of being free and it’s something that many people who work online aspire to.

But let’s not pretend that this kind of existence is all rainbows and sunshine. Like with any lifestyle, there are downsides to this style of living too and it’s very important that you understand what those are and that you are able to cope with them. So what are they?

There’s No Place Like Home

One of the most obvious disadvantages of being a digital nomad is that it robs you of your ‘creature comforts’. Travelling around means that you’ll probably be living in hostels and eating cheap fast food when you can. If you’re someone who loves to kick back on the sofa with a cup of tea and a blanket, then you might find this a bit difficult.

You Will Miss Family And Friends

Assuming you’re a regular person, you’ll probably find you start missing friends and family after a short while and this can be hard as you’re constantly travelling. It’s especially hard when you see them start to get married, attend important events or generally continue with normal life that you’re no longer a part of.

It’s Hard to Return

When you’ve lived a life that is full of fun and adventure, it can be very hard to return to normality. You may find it difficult fitting into a more regular (read boring!) routine and many people find they must keep travelling as a result because they quickly develop “itchy feet.”

You Need To Work

Even with a very passive income model, you will still need to do some work to make ends meet. This can be difficult when you have 101 exciting things that you would rather be doing, but all you can do is to sit in a dingy coffee shop somewhere and plough through your tasks.

Working Can Be Difficult

The simple fact is that working on the move on a laptop is challenging and there are many ways in which you may be forced to compromise. Sometimes your internet connection will be down, sometimes you’ll struggle to find a power point. Sometimes there will be a lot of sun glaring on your screen and bees buzzing past your keyboard. This makes travelling and working that much more difficult and shouldn’t be underestimated!

Your Business May Suffer

There are some things you simply can’t do while travelling – meeting people in person is a great example. I was recently given the opportunity to star on a YouTube channel and the company invested in me by buying me filming equipment and lighting equipment. This was all very exciting – but it wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t have a home to store all those things in!

But please don’t let any of this put you off – living the laptop lifestyle is still a fantastic experience. You just need to realize that it isn’t perfect either!

Build A Blog And Make Money Part 5

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blog4Creating Your Pages

In your dashboard sidebar, go to Pages and if it’s not already taken down, delete the sample page. Now it’s time to add the pages that will help you create a formidable presence online.

Start with your About page. The About page is intended to help your readers get to know who you are, what the site is all about, and how you intend to help them. It’s best to include a picture or video along with the text so that they can get to know you.

Watch how you word things. You don’t want to be an Eeyore about things. If you’re launching a “make money online” blog but you yourself haven’t succeeded, then word it like this:

“I learned a long time ago that it’s beneficial to send the elevator back down to help the person on a lower level than you. So as I discover great, new information on how to make money online, I’ll be teaching it to you, to help you climb the ladder of success.”

That sounds much better than something like this:

“I am a struggling, out of work man who is about to get kicked out his apartment if I don’t learn this Internet Marketing stuff fast, so this is my journey to see if I can succeed. I’ve been trying for 2 years and haven’t yet made a dime.”

No one will want to learn from that person. There’s no need to lie, either. The first example is a simple, motivating and inspiring account of how you like to help people. And even newbies usually know more than some other newbie, so approach it as a community where everyone helps one another learn best practices.

Create a Disclaimer page for your blog. This is where you should comply with any laws and terms of service, disclosing that you might make money as an affiliate, for example.

Another good page to have is a Contact page, which we discussed earlier. You want some way of people contacting you easily. On your contact page, you also might want to include links to your social

Depending on where you are in your journey, you may want to have a Products or Services page – if you yourself have created products or offer services of your own.

Just make sure it’s relevant to the blog’s topic. For example, don’t have a blog about cooking and put an offer to read Tarot cards for your cooking blog readers. The topics don’t match.

If you’re not yet a product creator or service provider, then create a Resources page. Here, you can list certain products you want to recommend, or you can link to search results pages in sites like Amazon.

If you do have your own products, then you’ll want to have an Affiliates page where you provide information on how people can become an affiliate to promote your products.

In part 6 we will look at Posting your content…

Build A Blog And Make Money Part 4

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Optimizing Your Widgets

Widgets are what goes into your sidebar – and this is a prime monetization spot for most marketers in any niche.

You can have the small search widget at the top, but directly under that, make sure you have a Text widget with the code for your opt in form. There are also plugins you can get to do the same job, depending on what email autoresponder you’re using.

As a newbie, you might have no money for start-up costs. If so, go with a tool like MailChimp. It’s free, but limited. If you have $1 for a first month trial, and $19 a month after that, then go with Aweber.

When you’re in your autoresponder tool, it will ask you if you want to grab the code and you will grab the HTML code and paste it into the Text widget before saving it.

You always want to be building your list form your blog. Marketers don’t say “the money’s in the list” for no reason. They know that it takes multiple encounters with a person to get them to trust your recommendations, and having a list is the only way to ensure they interact with you again.

You can use Text widgets for any kind of HTML code you want to place there, so if you’re an affiliate, you can put vertical banners to promote products, or you can install AdSense code if you want to go that route.

Some bloggers, as they gain footing in a niche, will sell ad space in their sidebar to other marketers. You can do this, too, but just starting out, it’s not a viable income stream.

Include links to your social networking business pages in a Text widget, including:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Google Plus
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

The other widgets are all under your control – categories, recent posts, recent comments, etc. Just be mindful of the user’s experience. You want them to see comments because it’s a way of showcasing the fact that you have a thriving blog. You won’t at first – and that’s okay. No need to go pay for phony blog comments.

In part 5 we will look at your Pages…

Build A Blog And Make Money Part 3

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Useful Plugins

Newbies can get carried away with plugins, if they’re not careful. The more plugins you use, the slower your site functions. But there are some things that help your visitors have a good experience while on your domain.

You want to use Akismet to help stop spam. No blogger wants to be dealing with the amount of spam that comes in automatically to their site. This filters out most of it.

Install Contact Form 7. This will be used for your Contact page and it’s a free plugin. Instead of just putting your email address live on your Contact page (which helps spammers scrape and use your email address), use this form. They will need to fill in their name, email address and leave a message for you. This gets sent directly to your inbox.

Greg’s Threaded Comment Numbering is a good plugin that’s free to use. It helps your visitors communicate with one another on your blog and helps you build a community. If Mary wants to respond to Jack, she can – and then Jack can respond to her comment. It helps people see the flow of conversation better.

WP Socializer is a good plugin that’s free for social sharing buttons, but you can pick any you prefer. Basically, you want to make sure it has all of the hot social sites, including:

  • Facebook
  • Google Plus
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest

You can have others, but those are the big ones. For increased sharing, traffic and profits, make sure you place the buttons above and below the content, and possibly hovering as they scroll on the side.  When people can share content, it helps you make more sales.

There’s a good plugin that you can use to help you build a list and promote products. It’s called Covert Messenger. You can get the lite or Pro version, and this is a discreet, non-intrusive popup that gently appears in the lower right side of your screen.

It doesn’t block the reader from seeing the content they’re looking at, so they never get frustrated and have to exit out of it. But it does catch their attention from the corner of their eye.

Here, you can promote products you created, products you’re an affiliate for, tout your opt in freebie, etc. The Pro version has more options, but if you’re new, you might want to start with the lite one and upgrade later.

You’re going to get bombarded by plugin offers over the years. There are plugins that do just about everything under the sun. Resist the urge to automate everything on your site.

Some automation is good, but overdoing it erases you (the human element) from the site, and you won’t be able to build that bond with your readers. Look for the best plugins to help with whatever task drags you down most.

For example, if you’re running an Amazon review blog, there will be plugins to help you quickly and easily create links to products. The faster you can do this, the more time you’ll have to write more reviews and increase your commissions.

In part 4 we will look at widgets…

How to Create a Versatile and Effective Logo

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When you create your logo, you will be developing a symbol or a stylish way of writing your company name that you will subsequently use to represent the entirety of your brand. As you can imagine, this is an important consideration as you are going to be using that image in every piece of marketing and on every product and service you put out.

So it needs to be good. The question is; how do you make sure it is?

Brainstorming The Idea

Coming up with a killer idea is going to be the most difficult part to start with but there are a few ways you can get over that blank screen staring back at you.

The first is to look for inspiration. Create a mood board by collecting anything that gives you ideas or that you like the looks of. At the same time, draw down all the related images and symbols that you associate with your industry or niche.

The next thing you can do is to try combining that imagery in various ways alongside your company name written in various fonts. Don’t be afraid at this stage to try absolutely anything – just throw out every idea and see what sticks. You will eventually end up with a few different designs which you can then decide upon by asking around. As a rule, the simpler ones are preferable as they will prove to be more versatile ultimately.

It’s worth noting at this stage that the colors you choose are likely to affect the coloring of your website, of your products and more – so don’t choose a color that’s too garish!

 Creating Your Logo

To actually create your logos, you need to use vector software, the most popular example of which is Adobe Illustrator. This software has the advantage of creating images that you can subsequently edit with ease and which you can scale to any size with no loss of quality.

You might find in future that you need to use different versions of your logo. For instance, if your logo is white and it needs to appear on a white background, then you might have to invert it or make it a light grey. Illustrator will allow you to do this quickly and easily, as will having a relatively straightforward and simple logo to begin with. Follow this advice then and you’ll be able to ensure your branding works in as many different situations as possible.

If you want to know more about branding and how it can fit into YOUR business, take a look at this FREE video here

Content Marketing Strategy To Establish Authority In Your Niche

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Once you’ve created a brand for yourself, the next job is to start making that brand recognisable by creating a reputation around it that will encourage people to seek you out and to (hopefully) order more of your products and services. The idea here is to establish your brand to the point where people consider your logo and/or your name to be a ‘guarantee of quality’ so that they know they can trust you. People will then seek you out to get your opinion and at that point, selling will become a LOT easier. This is essentially how you become an authority and a thought leader for your chosen subject matter.

One of the best ways to reach this point is through content marketing. This means publishing content on your site and on other channels that will demonstrate your knowledge and gradually help you to build a name for yourself.

The mistake that a lot of bloggers and business owners make here is in thinking that they can build that name for them with just one or two posts. But in reality the ‘process’ of content marketing and of building trust is a long term strategy.

These are the steps that any blog must go through to become an authority in the eyes of any one customer…

  1. A visitor finds a blog post by accident and reads it, finds it valuable and entertaining. They then leave your site and give you no further thought.
  2. They then come across another blog post and finds it this one entertaining too. Now they might make a note of your website name/brand.
  3. They then find your blog a few more times and eventually come to think of you as someone they can trust on a particular subject. They may actively start to look around the rest of your site at this point and may even subscribe to your mailing list.
  4. In future, when they are looking for information about a given topic, they will specifically search for your website or business name along with their question because they believe they can trust your answer.
  5. At this point they now consider you an industry leader and if you suggest something for them to buy they will be more likely to trust your judgement and make a purchase.

As you can see, a content marketing strategy is a long process and is predicated on you delivering consistently high quality content for a long time! But it will be worth it in the long run.

4 Ways To Help Your Customers Get To Know You

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If you are trying to build a personal brand in order to build trust and authority in your niche, then one way to achieve this is to get your visitors to feel as if they know you. By doing this, they will be far more likely to trust your future posts and far more likely to want to listen to you when you suggest buying a product.

Think about it: who would you be more likely to listen to your recommendations to purchase a product; a friend or an advert? Obviously it is the friend and that’s because we feel as though we know them and can trust their judgement. If you can be seen in the same way by your audience, then your suggestions will carry much more clout and your offers will be much more persuasive.

So how do you go about establishing this level of trust? Well here are a few options…

Write in the First Person

Try to write some of your messages in the first person. This is rather different to what you may have learned in school. Most schools will teach that writing in the third person is preferable for business as it sounds more professional and authoritative but the point here is that you want your readers to feel as though they know you and as though you are personally recommending something. And you can do this by writing in the first person. Use ‘I’s and ‘Me’s and generally write as though you’re talking to that person; write as if you are writing a letter to your mother!

Honesty is the best policy

And don’t just write in first person, make sure you’re being honest too. If you have concerns about a product, let your audience know; believe me, they will appreciate it. Not only does this fill in your personality but it also shows that you’re willing to ‘tell it how it is’ and boosts your integrity. The same goes for talking about issues in your personal life which has the added bonus of making you more relatable; you can be seen as a fellow traveler along the journey.

Make good use images or photos

Including images of yourself is a great way to help people feel as though they’re getting to know you. Remember that a picture paints a thousand words and it is always nice to put a face to a name. If you’re writing about the benefits of a certain exercise, then why not include an image of you performing that exercise? This is also a good way to get graphics for your site without paying the high prices charged for stock images.

Get on camera!

Why not go one step further and put yourself on camera?! If you are confident enough, then going on YouTube is a great way to reach a larger audience in a way that will leave a more lasting impression. Video is infinitely more engaging than text so if you have the confidence, go for it!