Make Money Online With Snowboardjohn

Just because I care: Get it here.

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This weeks winner is… dum dum dum…

Mihaela Lica who writes a very interesting and informative blog about SEO Web Design.

Mihaela came across my blog when someone submitted my article about “Why You SHOULD Buy Paid Reviews” to Stumble Upon. As you can see the comment Mihaela left didn’t neccessarily agree with what I wrote, however it was well thought out and argued.

If you would like to get an editorial mention and link from me, then make sure you write interesting, well thought out comments. Each Sunday I choose the best commenter of the week and give them some exposure.

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Damn, I’ll probably catch some fire for this one.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve probably noticed that most “Gurus” are always talking about why you should “give away what you know” as a front end.

Unfortunately though, many people who follow this advice ultimately fail to make the model work. So I want to discuss the pitfalls you face when you give away free stuff to your market, and then, discuss some of the best ways I’ve used to overcome them.

Let’s get started.

Here’s some problems the “give it away free” model runs into:

1. Because you don’t give away an affiliate commission (like you do with a paid product) no one that HAS the power to promote has an incentive to promote you. Why would they do it? Because they are such great people they want to promote you for free? 9 times out of 10 this is not going to happen. And in the back of anyones mind who you’ve approached to get some exposure for your “free” front end, is the thought that once you get known, you will monetize WITHOUT THEM… and… you probably will.
2. Why would anyone bother reading something from someone they’ve never heard of? Unless you’re already a perceived authority in your market, the market itself will not receive your offer with much enthusiasm. They are already exposed to the “Give It Away Free” Business Model on a daily basis - and - as such they are quick to ignore free offers from “wannabes” who currently flood the internet with a lot of content (some good, some not) attempting to get people to click on their affiliate links. Your free offer has the impact of ONE MORE single person clapping at a football game.
3. It’s time consuming as fuck. Sorry for my French but writing a well put together, well edited 20 page ebook would cost upwards of $1000 USD if you outsourced it. And the chances are that even with a GOOD writer, it will still fall below expectations, and YOU will end up doing most of the work.
4. Free front end information can become outdated quickly depending on the market. You have to constantly go back through your give away and update it. Which sucks.

There are more problems than this, but these are the main ones that I’ve encountered over the last few years. The free business model sounds so sweet (and makes so much sense when you first hear about it)… but… as you’ve seen is riddled with potential problems.

I wouldn’t be much of a badass if I didn’t have some solutions for you though.

So here’s some things I’ve discovered that “offset” the above mentioned problems:

1. Give away software. Software is not like information - you don’t need any credibility to get people consuming it. It’s like giving away a Swiss Army Knife. People can see the value if you just describe what it does for them. Also, market leaders are somewhat likely to promote your free software as they actually DO NEED cool stuff to tell their market about - and you can provide them with some easy value.
2. Blog without monetization. In this market, this is obviously what I do. And I do it because it creates several opportunities for anyone who does it: A) It teaches whoever reads your blog to CONSUME what you write. B) It allows you to exchange links and traffic with similar other blogs. By not having monetization you dramatically increase the likelihood that people will link to you and refer to you. C) It gives you an opportunity to brand yourself - not something to worry about until you have a large readership - but not to be underestimated all the same.
3. Create video. People will consume video much more than they will consume a written PDF. Video is much more viral as well - I’ve got a ridiculous video on youtube that has gotten over 80,000 views and took me 3 minutes to make.
4. If you want to give away written content MAKE IT SHORT. You’ll notice the PDF’s I give away from this blog are usually between 1-3 pages and no more. I get email from people though who tell me that my 3 page PDF gave them more value then the $47 ebook they recently bought.

There’s more problems and solutions then the ones I’ve mentioned here, but I feel this is a very good start to a problem that many people unknowingly face.

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I stumbled across this crazy article about a 17 year old high school girl who has done over $1 Million in adsense for her myspace layouts business.

It’s an interesting read.

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(The extremely flawed Alexa stats for whatever they are worth)

It’s weird to think that since August 11, my blog seems to have gotten picked up so quickly by so many sources at once.

I haven’t spent any money on advertising either - and - all my traffic is referral traffic. Not SEO traffic. (I love traffic that doesn’t come from search engines btw).

Anyway, I want to spend a little bit a of time talking about practical business promotion. And the beauty of using the “internet” as a business building tool.

I’ve noticed that a lot of people who read my blog want to become “pro bloggers”, so, I’m going to use blog promotion as my reference point. But for those advanced entrepreneurs who read my blog, please keep in mind that blog promotion is really just a metaphor for “word of mouth” PR. And that my discussion is really about PR, not just about blog promotion.

All Business Promotion Is Imperfect

When I wrote about whoring out my headlines yesterday, I wasn’t just trying to be cute. I really do see things that way.

A lot of the topics I write about do NOT fit my market/message match perfectly. Far from it. I try and stay as close to my main message as possible - but - the fact is to get talked about (or linked to) you need to do certain things which don’t fit the main core of the message you want to get out.

For example, I write about Godaddy news events so that I can trackback to BobParsons Godaddy blog. His readers demographic is one that I target, so I want his readers to become MY READERS over time.

Here’s an incomplete list of things I do that’s worked so far, which I recommend:

• Report on current headlines that relate to your market. You might not be a news center (or want to be one) but the reality is, more people will reference you more frequently if you talk about the changes to your industry. Extra points if you can discuss the changes intelligently.
• Challenge commonly accepted dogma. While being a potential minefield, challenging dogma can be very successful if you’re very knowledgeable about your topic, and are able to present your challenge logically with references that people will accept as legitimate.
• Mix up your content production into different Media Channels. Nothing is more boring than having Rice and Beans for dinner every day of the week. Using different media (like video, audio and so on) allows people’s brain to be stimulated in different ways. It’s different strokes for different folks. (And PDF’s are easy to create and make your readers feel like they’re getting an ebook for free).
• Don’t stray too much into your personal interests. I know a lot of business owners (and blog owners) think that personal touch means “opinion on reality TV show I’m interested in”. It doesn’t mean that at all - unless the reality TV show is specifically about your market, they don’t want to know. Use personal interests in brief references to build a persona that seems real, like “I watched America’s Next Top Model Last Night, damn I’m lame because I love that show… anyway…” and go no further than that. Running polls about off topic things is pointless and ruins an opportunity to increase the relationship people COULD HAVE HAD with you and your blog (or business).

I notice people use a lot of laziness in their thinking. They allow themselves to get away with too much “because it’s a reflection of their ideals”. Listen, business is unforgiving as hell. You need to be making the most of every opportunity you have. Being harsh on yourself and your decisions.

Everything above the fold (AND below the fold) of your website needs to have a SPECIFIC REASON for being there. If it doesn’t have a valid reason, then your opportunity cost is ENORMOUS.

People write to me and complain “Why do your speak so negatively about the social media buttons at the bottom of each post? They’re tiny anyway, and I think people like them. You’re so mean. Stop being so mean about this stuff!”

Listen, I speak the way I do because I speak from experience.

Take a look at someone like Darren from Pro Blogger and you’ll notice he doesn’t waste a SINGLE ACTION on his blog. Sure he uses some social media buttons - but only TWO OF THEM. And guess what? I don’t have a single doubt in my mind he has a Digg button and a del.ico.us button because HE KNOWS AND HAS TESTED that these are the only two services his readers use. And his market of “pro blogger” are the MOST LIKELY market to be using social media - and these are the ONLY TWO he uses. Have you thought about that?

Every opportunity you squander because you accept lazy decision making to affect your business or blog, DAMAGES your ability to become more successful than you already are.

Just Say Thank You

I try and send thank you notes to every single person who links to me or mentions me - even if they don’t like or agree with what I’ve written.

Maki from DoshDosh wrote about this recently.

Sure it takes time, sure you won’t get back to everyone immediately. But try and get back to everyone EVENTUALLY. People like to feel appreciated, so appreciate them. It’ll come back to you.

And on that note, I would say be careful about being inflammatory. Sure I do it to a degree, but I’ve been marketing and promoting for a good few years now.

I read a woman the other day who was all up about “how I’ve got such a big ego” etc. etc. - however - I don’t try and be this way, I write like I speak. I’m confident, not cocky, and there’s a difference. The difference is that: if you’re confident you don’t have to force the cockiness - it just comes naturally lol

Part 2 to come…

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I was recently asked about headlines in my BlogRush post.

Karen asked me if she should describe her content in her headline, instead of crafting a headline that everyone would be interested in. So to answer her question I’ve written this analogy:

To me, the headline is the pretty girl I’ve put out on the street to make me some money (feminists every where will LOVE this analogy ;-)) - her job is to attract the rich guys driving past. But cuz I’m a super high end pimp, she’s going to be wearing Versace Couture, not fishnets with holes in them.

Her appearance will FILTER the type of men who find her attractive. She might be a bombshell, but, she won’t attract EVERYONE. In fact, her upper class appearance will most likely irk many men who know she’s out of their league. “Look at that stuck up bitch” they’ll say to each other.

How she dresses, how she does her hair, how she wears her makeup, etc. - if done well, these things will achieve two outcomes simultaneously:

1. Attract her target.
2. Repel everything that is NOT her target.

And a headline will achieve these two things in the same way. But you’ve gotta be a good pimp and dress the headline up for whoever your target audience is.

One of the things I do extensively is READ the forums/blogs of the various market I operate in. I literally write down the Jargon phrases the market is using, and also, write down the sentence/syntax that is commonly used. Doing this allows me to write like someone who is an “insider” of the market.

Nothing is more pathetic and awkward then sending your whore to a high end business function in ripped fishnets. So don’t think that you have to - you have the choice of dressing her up however you want: but only if you have the patience and dedication to learn what you must before you send her in

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Watch this music video before you read any thing below it:

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The music was produced by Rob Dougan - and used in the film “The Matrix”. If you didn’t totally understand it, read the video explanation (below) and then watch it again.

At the start of the clip we see a car driving backwards, a glimpse of a fight taking place, a mother and daughter and a young man comes into focus. He is in the process of looking around, assessing his reality.

We also see some giants walking around, however, they are walking forwards while everyone walks backwards.

One of the giants look down, and sees the little girl and the young man, both the little girl and the young man acknowledge the giant. The young man considers what he’s just seen, and then, he makes a break for it.

Almost instantly, everyone in society starts SCREAMING at him to stop. He’s going against what’s expected of him, against what everyone else is doing. The onslaught of fear and criticism hurl him back initially - but he lands on his feet and starts running.

The fight becomes very prominent at this point. The fight symbolises the young mans fight both against other people’s expectations, and also his own fears. We see the young man run out of the street, and literally and figuratively turn a corner.

Once he turns the corner, the fight is over, and we see a young couple kissing. The woman who is part of the kiss stops kissing once she notices the young man running past everyone else, going in his own direction.

The young man runs out of town and hits the highway. We see him fall and get up, and keep going. He is picking up speed and we can see his face shows more confidence. He runs past a giant who looks down on him with approval.

The young man leaves the highway behind and continues to pick up speed. His momentum is enormous and he travels down empty unknown roads, continuing to go in his own direction. Then he hits critical mass, and literally explodes through a brick wall, back into his previous reality.

But this time he is one of the giants of life. He and the little girl catch each others eye, and they remember each other.

The little girl smiles, and the clip closes with her looking down at her feet, and then walking against the direction of society, choosing to become a giant of life.

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I don’t promote porn - in spite of it generating more revenue than Hollywood does each year.

But I know someone who used to - and - he was no small time player. In fact, he was playing to the tune of 8 Figures a year - before his conscience (and children) got the better of him.

So he turned his traffic generation skills to adsense and created a whole new empire there.

He’s a great business mind, and an entertaining writer, you should check out the Random Thoughts Of Woodrow Maximus (and subscribe to his RSS feed - I do :-))

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