Marketing on a Shoestring

Like so many others, when I first decided to build a business on the internet, I
found myself totally lost in what has become known as information overload. I thought that
I had to learn everything to make it on the net. But, I was assaulted with SEO, PPC, search
rankings, keywords, long-tail keywords, negative keywords, list building and the list goes on
forever.
I was frozen into inaction. I didn’t know which way to turn. I knew that there was good
money to be made on the internet but I was so overcome with the mass of information available that I
could not make the moves necessary to even start building a business and one of the true keys
to success is massive action.
The fact of the matter is that you don’t have to know everything to get started building
a business on the net. Although I fell for a few scams along the way, I finally found a program
that actually helped me become successful on the net. It had exactly what I needed. It was
based upon list building, provided step by step instructions and incredible support. If I had a
problem, I simply emailed support and within a couple of hours I had my answer and even
suggestions for further improvement. It was not a new flashy program but it was time tested to
build an internet business with a solid foundation. In addition, it gave me daily assignments to
complete and within two weeks, the program was paying for itself. It still took a while to build
the business but it ultimately became very successful and the techniques that I learned have
easily been applied to other net projects that I have started.
The simple fact is, you need a starting point. There are many great programs on the
net that you can follow and become successful. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel. That
work has been done time and again.
The trick, of course, is in picking the right program to start with. Certainly, you can’t
believe all of the hype that you see in the sales letters but even the sales letters can give you
some clues as to whether this program is right for you.
The first thing I would look for in a sales letter is a contact phone number or at least
an email address that you can contact. The inclusion of a phone number is a good clue as to
the credibility of a project. Call them and ask them questions about what kind of support you
will receive. Ask for a brief outline of their project and what kind of resources that you will need
to build your business. I was recently intrigued by a program that I saw on the net. I am sure
that the program will build a substantial income but in further questioning, I found that you really
need a list of at least 15 to 20 thousand to make the program work. The fact of the matter is that
if you have that type of list, then you are already meeting with substantial success and don’t need
to invest in what turned out to be a superfluous program.
Another thing that I do when looking at a new program is get on the internet marketing
forums and ask about that program. Although some of the responses will be nothing more than
promos for other programs that the forum member is pushing, many of the responses will be
honest evaluations of the program that you are interested. If a forum member has had good
results with a program, they will tell you so and if they have had a bad experience with a particular
business opportunity, they are thrilled at the chance to take a shot at the offending program. Just
remember that as I said before, some of the responses will be nothing more than promos for other
programs.
Two final places that I like to check are the Better Business Bureau online and
www.wahwatchdog.org. The BBB may have a listing of the program and any compaints that
they have received and wahwatchdog actually rates some (not all) of the programs that are being
promoted on the internet.
In closing, don’t get lost in information overload and don’t try to reinvent the wheel. It is
far better to start with an existing program that has a proven track record. Start with the basics
and build the basis for your online business. There is plenty of time to get involved with HTML,
SEO and all of those other terms after you have gotten a good baseline business going.

You heard me right, the power is not in your list. The power
is in your relationship with your list.
All of the top marketers are constantly saying that the
power is in the list but in all truth, it is the respect that you build
with your list members that the true power of your list lies.
If you give your readers great usable content, only offer
good products and you prove to them that you are a person worthy
of their trust, then and only then is the power in your list.
To start off, give them good content that they can use
in building their business. There are no secrets to building a
business online so don’t hold back from your readers. If you give
them good usable content, and they are able to apply this content
to their online efforts, you have developed a rapport with your
reader and they are much more likely to buy from you.
Some marketers play it close to the vest when they send
out their newsletters. They don’t tell you everything because they
are afraid of a little competition. That is simply stupid. Gvie your
customer the information they need. It is a big world out there and
there are literally more customers than we can possibly satisfy. Don’t
be a hog, help your customer and he will remain yours for life.
Only offer quality products to your customers. If you
promote a shoddy product and the customer only loses money,
how likely do you think it is that they will ever buy from you again.
Somewhere between never and the end of time.
Before I make a product offering, I throughly research
the product and if possible purchase the product myself to make
sure that it is all that it claims to be. By offering a quality product,
you will have built trust with that person and in the best possible
scenario, your customer will tell his friends about you and the
quality products that you promote.
Many of the products on the market today, promote
what at best would be called “shady practices”. These products
should be avoided like the plague. Many of these products if you
put into practice what they tout will not only ruin your reputation
but, may end up putting your customer out of business.
PayPal, Google, ISPs-the list goes on, are very sensitive
to products with questionable practices and many a marketer
has found himself out of business because of this type of product.
If you find yourself banned by any of the above, it is going to take
a long time to rebuild your business and if your customer gets
banned, how long do you think it will be before he or she gets on
the social networks and ruins your reputation. If this be the case
you only brought it upon yourself.
Your business will only grow in proportion to the growth
of your readers’ businesses. Give them good solid content and only
offer quality products. You will build trust with your readers and
and your business will grow in direct proportion.

In this day of instant gratification, everyone seems to be looking for the “Secret” to instant success with their internet marketing projects. Millions of ebooks are out there promising that their secret technique
will bring you instant success and millions of dollars and not only that, but, you don’t have to do any work, just collect your massive income. I am here to tell you that you are just wasting your money. While there may be some good information offered in some of the ebooks, most are just a waste of your time. There are no secrets.
If you want to discover the secrets, the trick to study everything you can about internet marketing and the fact of the matter is that virtually everything that you need to know is available free for the asking. You have so many resources available for free that you could study for a hundred years and still not scratch the surface of the available information.
You could start out at your local library. No, don’t laugh. You will find many books on marketing and internet marketing at your local library. Although there are differences between brick and mortar marketing and internet marketing, many of the older techniques still hold true. So, revive that tattered library card and put it to good use.
Article directories are another good source of information. Join several of them and peruse the articles that are available. You will find tons of free information. Much of the content in article directories is current and up to date. Not only that, these articles have been written by experts in the internet marketing field. One of the things that I like about the article directories is that in the better directories, the articles are reviewed prior to publication so that you are unlikely to get erroneous information.
Another great way to get current marketing information is to join some of the internet marketing forums. These are people who have the same interests as you and are more than willing to discuss their successes and failures with you. It doesn’t take long to figure out who is giving expert advice and who is just using the forums to promote their own products. Read with care, ask questions and if you have expertise in the questions asked, go ahead and share your knowledge. If you use the forums as a learning exercise, you can get plenty of great help in growing your business. If you spam the forums, you will find yourself banned and your reputation will suffer.
Sign up for mailing lists. There are a ton of mailing lists available on the net and while their true intent is to sell you something, along the way you can also glean plenty of good internet marketing tips. If you can read them without getting caught up in the hype, they can be another good source of information.
I personally belong to about 50 mailing lists. I set up an entirely separate email account so that it does not interfere with my regular email communications. There are many choices but, I personally use Gmail as they do not prescreen the email and leave that up to me. So far, I have never had a problem with opting out of a list that I found had a poor spam to content ratio. Either way, it is a disposable account and if it gets over-spammed, I can always just stop using it.
One of the things that I do with the mailing lists is set up a several extra file folders. They are titled: content, sales letters and Nlfodder. Most of the lists, I delete immediately but, many times I find information that has really good content and I will learn something from it, so these I save under the content folder. Sometimes, I receive an email that contains a really great sales letter and these I save in the sales letter folder so that I can take my time and figure out why the sales letter works so well. The last folder is my Nlfodder file and this is just a file for good newsletter ideas. I am always looking for information that will help the people on my list become a success. I am successful in proportion to the number of successful internet marketers that I produce. Just remember, always give credit where credit is due.
Don’t forget your local community college. Many of them have programs on internet marketing and most are really good programs, produced and taught by a successful internet marketer. In addition to the education, you also get to network with like minded individuals who you may ultimately wish to partner with on future projects.
Another way to get your marketing education is to do keyword searches. Although you will get a ton of sales promotion, you can also get some really great information. All you need do is take the time to separate the wheat from the chaff and you can glean some very valuable information. One of the things that I do is look at the paid ads. If I continually see the same ads appearing on the first page of the search results, I know that ad is producing an income for someone. If it were not, then I would not see the ad constantly repeated. I personally don’t use PPC ads but I respect those marketers who are successful and try to learn from them.
In conclusion, study and learn. It is one of those “secrets” to success. I set aside one hour every morning and one hour every evening to the advancement of my internet marketing career. This little bit of time can save you from years of disgust and failure. The best way to succeed is to learn from the masters who have already done so.

I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I constantly hear people complaining about how Traffic
Exchanges (TEs) are worthless. I on the other hand have found that TEs have been one of the major foundations of my online business. If fact, without TEs, I would probably not be in business.

The main reason that people fail with the Traffic Exchanges is that they are promoting the wrong things. How many times have you looked at a TE and actually bought one of the products. Chances are that you have never bought anything on a TE. They are really not a good venue for sales.

Market experts will tell you time and time again that you need between 5 and 7 contacts with a customer before they will buy anything from you. You have to build up trust and a rapport with your customer before they will buy.

The other thing that market experts tell you is that the power is in the list. If fact, this is slightly inaccurate. The power of a list is in the trust and rapport that you build with your list subscribers. Only when they trust your expertise will they even consider buying your product.

The real power in the Traffic Exchange is in it’s ability to build a list for you. Don’t try to sell anything on a TE-sell yourself.

The trick to doing this is in producing a good squeeze page and this should be the only thing that you promote on a TE.

Typically, a squeeze page should be very fast loading, should contain a free offer and of course, the crowning glory, an opt-in form for your newsletter.

First why should it be fast loading. That is easy. Normally, a person only sees your site for `10 to 20 seconds. If your page is not loaded in one or two seconds, the customer is gone and off to the next site.

Why the free offer. Simple again. People join TEs because it is free advertising so you need to give them a real reason to stop and fill out your opt-in form. Offer them nothing and you will get the same in return.

Once a person has signed up for your list, give them good content and a reason to trust you and ultimately you will have a group of ready, willing and able buyers. If you promote a product to them, make sure that is is of top quality. You don’t want to lose your list by offering them something that you would not be willing to buy yourself.

As far as getting a squeeze page, there are several ways to go about it. If you have your own website, you could just build your own page. Your might also Google “free squeeze page” or you can join a program that already has a squeeze page. There are also programs out there, I belong to one of them, that offer a complete system including squeeze page, presell page, sales page and a list of daily chores (assignments) to build your business.

No matter which way you go, stop sending your customers off to some generic affiliate page that gives away the most important thing-your customer. Keep your customers to yourself and build a real business.

Obviously, the more credits you build on a Traffic Exchange, the more your website will be shown and the more you site is shown, the greater your business will build.

One method that is promoted to build your credits are the so-called Viral downline sites. A couple of examples are VitalViral and Ultimaterep. While they have, in fact, built very large downlines for me, they just are not very effective. In this age of instant gratification, people join these programs and are active for a week or maybe two, they soon grow weary of the work and drop out just as fast as they joined. You can go ahead and join these programs but, don’t expect to get the thousands of free credits that these programs promise.

When push come to shove, there is only one person that you can depend upon and that is you. It is an absolute must that you set a surfing schedule and stick to it. It is the repeated and consistent hits that your site receives that will build your business. I set aside one hour a day for surfing for credits and in that hour, I can build up at least 1,440 hits or about 900 to 1000 website views for my site depending on your TE membership level. Obviously, you can’t do this by surfing one site at a time.

Certainly, speed surfing is not new but it has become much easier with the recent introduction of tabbed browsing.

Here is my process for speed surfing:
1.Download and install the Firefox browser.
2.Open each of your TEs-each in a new Tab. If you have a moderately fast computer,
you can set up 10 to 12 tabs.
3.Now right-click on any of the tabs and click on “bookmark all tabs” and name the
resultant file “superssurf” or what ever suits your fancy.
4.Next time you open your browser, just click on your supersurf bookmark and you are
ready to start clicking on each of the tabs and building credits. Of course, you are
not going to wait for the site to load, just click on the next tab and keep clicking on
one after another. By the time you get through all 10 or 12 sites, the first one has
timed out and is ready to be clicked on again.
5.Done this way, you can get through the 12 sites in about one minute. However, here
is the next trick. If you hit CTRL and tab, the next tab will automatically come up.
This will get it down to about 30 seconds or less to get credits on all 12 tabs.

Now let us do a little simple math. 12 sites every 30 seconds equals 24 credits. Another words in 60 minutes, you have 1440 site view which result in somewhere about 900 or so views that your website will receive.

The method works and it works well. But, remember it is entirely up to you. If you don’t keep to a schedule, you won’t get the type of consistent website exposure that you need to build your business.

That’s all for now. Next time I will discuss the “highest and best use” of your traffic credits. Very few people on the TEs are using them properly an that is why their results are so poor.

A Traffic Exchange is a very simple way to get free traffic and actually very targeted and effective traffic if used properly.
But, I constantly hear people saying that Traffic Exchanges are a scam and that they are worthless. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I came to that conclusion when I found that one of the Gurus is purchasing 10,000 surfing credits a day from one exchange alone. I don’t know what he does on other exchanges but if a Guru is willing to spend money on a TE, it must be producing income for him. Although many people think that Guru a four-letter-word, the fact is they make a fortune on the net and really know what they are doing.

Let’s start at the beginning. A Traffic Exchange is an advertising site that lets you trade your time for advertising exposure. For example, with Traffic G, you get to advertise your site for every time that you view another person’s site. It has a 30 second timer and the process is called surfing. In fact, you are surfing for credits and the more credits you receive, the more that your site will be seen.

The problem with TEs is also the reason that they work so well. Everyone who is surfing is doing it for marketing purposes. They are not looking to buy anything, only to sell their own product. This is a kind of double-edged sword. Although they are in the TE to promote their product, any salesman will tell you that the easiest person to sell is a salesman himself. So with a TE, you have nearly a perfect market.

The main reason that people think that the TEs are worthless or even worse call them scams is: They simply don’t know how to use a Traffic Exchange properly. In a future post, I will get into the proper use of a TE (the highest and best use), I will also give you tips on how to build a ton of credits in a very short period of time.
I mentioned Traffic G because I have found it to be one of the most effective in terms of the results that I get from them. There are sites which rate the different TEs but, I have found that despite the fact that my favorite sites are not always in the top 5 of the rated sites, they are for me the most effective in terms of response.
My other two favorite sites are Traffic Swarm and Dragon Surf. In fact, I always concentrate my efforts on my 3 favorite sites. I surf some others but I simply don’t get nearly as effective response with them.

Remember to visit this blog often. The next entry will concentrate on how to get the best use out of the TEs.

My name is Stan Pontiere and have been marketing on the internet since 1998. Back in 1998, I discovered what total failure is. It has been a long and sometime rocky road but it has also been a wonderful education and although I keep a low profile, I make my living (a good living at that) strictly from internet marketing. What I am presenting here is going to be good solid content on internet marketing when you don’t have a fortune to back you up. I started with nothing and have built my own little empire. You can get started in internet marketing without spending a single thin dime. You don’t need a website to get started and there is simply a ton of free advertising available. Many people put down these methods but they really do work and many of the most vocal naysayers (usually Gurus) are secretly the biggest users of these methods. This site will be updated routinely so come back and visit often. It is going to be a wild ride and if you stick with me, you can build a highly successful business on the net.