Welcome to part 2 of How To Make This Year Your Best Year Ever. In part 1 I shared my thoughts about how and why this year can be your best year ever.
In that article I said this …
“Whether you are struggling to make your first dollar online, or whether you have an online business that provides more income than you can spend, this year presents a unique and stunning opportunity for you.”
I believe there are four keys to making this year your best year ever.
The first key is mindset. We touched on that in the first article. You can read that here if you have not read it already.
Now it’s time to cover the second key… a commitment to excellence.
Having been online since 1999 I’ve seen many products, and product providers, come and go.
Based on those years of experience, I believe that a commitment to excellence is missing in many of today’s online businesses.
Have you noticed it too?
There just seems to be very little accountability online anymore.
It’s all too easy to whip up a product (often containing rehashed content) put up a sales letter and make some “dime sale” special offer to make a few bucks.
But once the thrill of the product launch is over, these new product “creators” really don’t want to stick around to update their product, or offer customer support.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not throwing stones.
As hard as we work at it our own customer support is not perfect. It’s very good, and our customers are happy, but perfection is an unattainable goal no matter how hard we try.
But what we do have is this – accountability.
While my health does not permit me as much customer contact as I like, our staff is always there for our customers. To the degree that I can be there for customers personally I am there.
We work hard every day to live by the Golden Rule — to treat others as we would like to be treated.
Vince Lombardi said this …
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
Nowhere is this more true than in an online business. Because online businesses don’t have storefronts or smiling employees at the door we must rely on our choices and actions.
In that light, let’s examine a few choices and actions where quality matters most.
Excellence in product choices or creation
I know this might be controversial but what I am going to say next I believe with all of my heart. So here goes.
It’s time to give up false metrics like “gravity” and start focusing instead on promoting products that will actually help the people who buy them.
We who promote products online should be held accountable by our customers for the products we promote.
Those products should help people. They should be products of high value and high quality. And they should be well-supported.
Let me use myself as a case study. I recently promoted a product by Ryan Deiss about publishing on Kindle.
As you may know, I promote very few products other than my own.
So why this one?
Because I bought this product and love it. And yes, for the record, I bought it with my own money. Even though I have known Ryan for many years I did not request, and would not accept, a free “review” copy.
Doing so would make my endorsement a paid one and I don’t do that, ever.
I promoted it because this product helps people. Because this product is of high value, high quality and is very well supported.
As a result of a good product choice, and because of faithful readers like you, I was one of the top 4 affiliates during this promotion.
With my tiny list of faithful readers I out sold “big dog” marketers whose name you would know, some of whom were offering bonuses of up to $3000 to their readers.
I say this not to brag but to make this point.
When you choose great products and promote them from a place of integrity very good things can happen.
I’m always amazed that people promote money-getting schemes but forget great products like LifeLock or Ancestry.com
So let’s give up on the hype and shiny-object syndrome surrounding “special offers” and “forum specials” and “gravity” and get back to promoting products that help customers.
Excellence in marketing methods
When it comes to marketing online there are a few things that work very well and a whole host of other things that don’t work well but sound good on paper.
The problem is this – the tried and true methods (the ones that actually work) are not nearly as sexy as the latest and greatest “shiny object”.
I spoke with a member not long ago who had been trying to make money online for 4 years. He had spent over $20,000 on business opportunities and was yet to make a profit.
When I asked him about article marketing he replied that he did not have time to write articles. He went on to say that article marketing was too slow, too time consuming and more. But he bought a massage chair so that he can work and same time sit in the chair and get massage, you can find best massage chairs from reviewsfield website. Massage chair is especially important for people who have back pain.
But the reality is different.
In reality he had over 200 weeks of time under his belt. If he had written only 1 article per week for all that time he could have created an authority site that had more content that many top-rated blogs.
Here’s the point. The methods that work, and have stood the test of time, are not sexy or always fun.
They just work!
So feel free to go out there and build that Twitter list or yet another Facebook page.
But do yourself a favor and first make sure you are building your own list of readers and buyers.
Make sure you understand the basics of paid advertising and know how to profit from things like solo ads and pay per click or banners.
And be sure to build your blog and begin putting in the best content you can.
Do the foundational things first, and then add the johnny-come-lately methods if you want.
Because the things that actually work online – the unsexy things – are content marketing, list building and promoting high quality products.
If one were to focus on those three things alone the sky would be the limit.
This much I know.
Excellence in effort
Let me share what I mean by “excellence in effort”. Before I do, I want to say something very important.
I know you work hard.
I know you are trying with all your might to make money online. I know you need this to work, not so you can take Carribean vacations or buy a Rolls Royce but because you need, really need, the money for your family and life. And I know it is confusing.
I get that, and I know where you are coming from.
Less than 15 years ago I had $14 to my name.
Not in my pocket – the $14 was it.
So here is what I mean by “excellence of effort”.
I mean identifying the few activities that provide the most leverage and using your focus and creativity to make sure those activities get done before doing anything else.
I truly believe that focus matters more than just about anything. But focus, if misplaced, will actually lead to failure faster than not being focused.
Let me share an example.
If you are like most readers (and like me!) you will have bought things you did not use. It might be a membership or a book or a piece of software.
Why do we buy things and not use them?
Because we do not put our focus on using what we buy.
Instead we end up clicking the links in the emails we receive and wind up watching yet another video that makes success sound easy.
I’m here to tell you … success is not easy. It’s hard. It takes work. It takes prayer (for me).
And it takes focus.
So try this – set aside 2 hours in the next week to focus on one thing. Turn off the cell. Close the email. Close the door.
And really dig into the thing you bought last that holds promise for you but you have not really used yet. If you do that I believe you will find value there.
If not, you will never again need to wonder why that product did not help you. You will know if it’s a winner or loser for you.
Let’s look again at what Vince Lombardi said …
“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
While I’m not your pastor or counselor, I am your friend. And friend to friend I will share this.
If you commit to quality in your online business dealings you will be happier, more prosperous and you will begin to make the progress you want to make.
It’s time to say “no” to the get-rich-quick overnight success methods that don’t work.
It’s time to say “YES” to putting our all into the work we do, the products we promote and create and the way we promote those products online.
It’s time to make an unconditional commitment to quality.
This is my mission. I hope you will join me.
