Let’s begin at the beginning … change your life? A little strong, right?
Not at all. I truly believe that mastering the use of the following tools can change your life.
I get this question often – “If you had to start over with no list, no money and no contacts what would you do?”
My answer is that I would master using these four tools.
How can using these four tools change your life?
If you take the time to master these four tools you will be able to …
- Make money at will by selling products online
- Save money by keeping your overhead incredibly low
- Save time by leveraging the true power of the Internet – automation
- Enjoy your work as you master these basics and use them time and time again
Those are strong claims. Too strong? Not at all.
I know because I am living proof that this works.
If you know my story you know that to be true.
So let’s get right to it.
What are the four tools and why these four tools?
First, the list, then some detail on why and how to use them. I will list them in the order they are best used.
If this seems too simple please know it is not. These are the four tools I still use every day.
All successful online marketers, whether they are selling information or peanut butter, use these tools to run their businesses.
If I lost everything, including my list, these are the four tools I would use to rebuild.
Here’s how to use these tools to create both financial and time freedom.
WORDPRESS
In the “old days” of the Internet (2006) you really did not need a website of your own to make money online.
That is no longer true.
There are several reasons why you really must have your own site in order to succeed online.
The first is the rapid growth of websites. Think about this – in 1995 there were only 18,000 (yes, 18 thousand) websites.
According to CNN there were 100 million sites in 2006 and some sites estimate that the web will top out at over 1 billion websites (websites, not web pages) in 2013.
This is why now is the time to stake your claim.
Now is the time to establish your home base, to find your audience and begin a relationship with them that will serve you both for many years to come.
Another factor is that many, if not most, of the sites you will promote as an affiliate don’t convert visitors into buyers anymore. One reason that we often hear that “99% of affiliates never make money” is that the sites they promote simply don’t convert.
So what’s the answer?
You must have a site of your own, a following of your own (what Seth Godin calls a “tribe”) and, by all means, you absolutely must build your own mailing list.
It’s simply not an option anymore.
This is why you must have your own site, you must establish YOUR presence online and begin developing your audience.
Notice I said your audience. This is important.
One key to success is to find a group of people who know you, like you and trust you.
Once you do that, using your own site as your “home base” you can serve that audience with high quality information, honest recommendations and more.
And they will buy from you again and again and again.
AUTORESPONDERS
Once you have your own site you will want to build a list of your own and communicate with them regularly.
But you won’t want to have to work every day doing this. You want to use automation to do the work once and profit from that work many many times.
And that is what an autoresponder can do for you.
Make no mistake, the key to freedom is automation.
Using your autoresponder you can focus on these three very important tasks.
- Providing update notices to readers of your blog.
- Updating your social media accounts automatically every time your blog updates.
- Getting to know the people on your list so you can serve them and meet their needs.
And yes, part of meeting their needs is selling high quality products with integrity.
Hence, you make money. 🙂
Using an autoresponder and blog together is simplicity itself.
Simply tie the two together using a plugin offered by your autoresponder company and you are good to go.
Then log in to your autoresonder account and set up a thing called “blog broadcast”.
Once you do that your list will automatically be notified every time new content is posted to your blog.
After you have this working smoothly you can learn the fine art of setting up follow up systems that will help you make more sales than ever, on complete autopilot.
Again, this is what I do every day, which is why I teach members exactly what I do, not some dry theory.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Next there is social media. When I started out online there was no Facebook, no Google+, no Twitter.
If we wanted free traffic we did article marketing.
Today is different — today is better, for you.
Today you can share your best insights with those in social media and they will share those insights with others.
When this happens you get credit for great ideas and content; and you get traffic!
Starting with social media will take time and some learning. But it can be done by anyone and it costs absolutely no money, which is a factor for most people.
Please understand that you do not need to be a celebrity (or even a wannabe celeb) to use social media well.
All you need is a true desire to help others and some good quality information to share.
Also know that this information does not need to be unique to you.
We all start somewhere and there are going to be people who come after you that don’t know what you know now.
This is why it’s valuable to share on social media every time you learn something, be that good or bad.
- Have you been burned and lost money? Share it.
- Have you found someone who truly helps you? Share it.
- Are you frustrated and feeling alone? Share it.
The more you share, the more you connect, the more connections you will make.
And ultimately the more traffic you will get to your site.
ONLINE ADVERTISING
At some point you will have money for advertising. When I started out online it took me about a year before I could afford to buy any advertising at all.
I needed to buy food for my family first. So I wrote articles for $5 each and built my website (this was before blogs) with high quality content.
I really was in that place.
But, thank God, the day came when I could afford to take a chance.
For me it was email marketing and ezine advertising. And it worked very well indeed.
Today there are so many more options than I had.
The best advice I can give you is to understand your options and choose the one that seems most logical, and targeted, to you.
For a good review of paid advertising options you can read my article Paid Traffic: 20 Methods That Create Fast Results.
There are three keys when it comes to paid advertising:
- You must be able to afford it. Never borrow money or use credit to pay for advertising. That’s a huge mistake.
- They need to have a track record. You need to know that others have succeeded with this method before.
- You must track results. If you don’t do your own tracking you will be at the mercy of others, and that’s not a good place to be.
Using a simple tracker like Pretty Links on your blog will do the trick in most cases.
So there you have it — the four tools that really can set you free and help you make money online at will.
While these might not be the only tools you ever use (as you grow you might need a shopping cart, etc.) these are the four foundational tools on which you can build your business.
The key is this — learn to master these tools. Use them to their full potential and earn some real money before moving on to today’s “latest and greatest” invention.
If you do that you will build a real online business. One that can set you free both financially and from a time standpoint.
And that sort of freedom is a beautiful thing indeed!
