Blog Commenting Works! (Video Proof Inside…)

Waheyy.. it’s the start of a whole new week and I’m feeling fresh and fantastic. I took the morning off to go get my haircut. It was looking a bit drastically hedge-like after 4 weeks away from home (I, like most humans, am generally not comfortable with the idea of visiting a random hairdresser in another part of the world and trusting them with my ‘doo’).

Anyway, now that I’m safely out of the clutches of modern society, and back in my office (ready for this afternoon’s “work-romp”), I decided that you haven’t heard my vocal tones enough since I began this blog. So I’ve decided to make you a special video present. (I haven’t wrapped it though, sorry!)

I won’t say too much, but I just took a little look into my blog’s Google Analytics account (a fantastic free traffic tracking service owned and run by “the big G”). I was so excited by what I saw, that to say ‘my heart nearly had an orgasm’, would be an understatement.

So this video is talking about “blog commenting” and why it works better than I had ever imagined…

Speaking of blog comments.. don’t forget to leave me one!! :-)

Marc

P.S. By special request of my ego I’ve also added an e-mail subscription form to the right hand side of the blog. So, my little cherubs, feel to pop your first name and e-mail address into the boxes and subscribe. That way you’ll be among the first (lucky folks) to know whenever I add something new to the blog!

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13 Reasons To Love Marc Milburn’s I.M. Blog..

WARNING – This Blog Post Contains An INSANELY Valuable Free Gift
(With No Opt-In)!!

Guess what! It’s FRIDAY!! My favourite day of the week I reckon… especially because in about half an hour I’ll be off out with my girlfriend Rachel and my appointed sister, Fran for a night out “on the tiles” in Sheffield City Centre. Always a cracking good night with plenty of alcohol, drink and… booze. Or as the french call it… ‘Le Booze’. :-)

The Yorkshire lot know how to have a good night, it seems, even if they talk damn funny. Still, nobody is perfect, eh.

Anyway, before I toddle off and stick my gladrags on (I mean ’stick’ in a purely metaphorical sense, don’t go calling no fire brigade to free me), I wanted to call by and give you a present.

“Ooh that Marc Milburn’s a generous chap, isn’t he Harold?”

I know I am, its a curse!

(Moving on…) One of the brightest young British talents in Internet Marketing is Manchester’s very own shining star, Lee McIntyre (mines a Budweiser, Lee! :-p). I’ve followed Lee’s career closely over the last couple of years and been astonished to see his rapid rise to remarkable success. (I love alliteration). His office is based up near me now, in Newcastle, in fact.

Well… Lee has given me back-door access to a very special report called “Profit 13 Ways”. Although the title may not give it away (:-|) it teaches 13 ways to increase your profits faster than David Hasselhoff’s hands wrap themselves around a brandy.

Sounds useful?  Course it does. Even if you just employ ONE of the “bakers-dozen” of techniques then you’ll see your profits soar! They are all simple but outrageously effective and will transform your business.

Let’s face it, we’re all on the hunt for ways to increase our revenue and I’m gonna slap you across the face with 13 of them in the form of this handy PDF report!

Here’s the best bit… you don’t even have to mess about “opting in” or giving me any of your details.. just hit the slightly download link below and its yours!!

>>>DOWNLOAD NOW<<<

(Right Click And Select “Save Link As” or “Save As”)

Don’t forget to leave me a little comment to stroke my little red ego a bit :-)

That’s all for now…
Marc!!

P.S. Check out the new “header image” at the top of my blog too, what d’ya think?

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Time To Fall In Love With Giveaway Events…

So yesterday I explained why, contrary to popular belief, there is something more important than your list. BUT, your list is still important! Once you’ve got your customers and you’re looking after them (see yesterdays post!), you need a way to keep in touch with them, right? And that is where the importance of your list comes in!

So from day one, you need to be capturing leads and then communicating with your sign-ups effectively.

In fact, the list building is almost more important that a website … and you don’t actually have to own a website to start this essential process.

A well-established way of list building is the Joint Venture Giveaway. I’ve only just begun using giveaways (slaps wrist!) but I WISH I’d started years ago!! I’ve just come to the end of the first giveaway I’ve taken part in and you can the second one that I’m currently involved with here:
===> http://www.MarcMilburn.com/recommends/Valentines

Giveaways dominate in the Internet Marketing niche, but also flourish in other popular niches like Health and MLM/Network Marketing.

In this case, the Giveaway is concentrating on video training resources.

The basic process is this:

# A hosts sets up and advertises a JV Giveway event

# Contributors sign up and add their ‘gifts’ to the website … these are usually e-books, software packages, audios or videos

# These gifts are usually offered free of charge, but members have to sign up to the contributor’s email list in order to receive their gift … hence this is a ‘list building exercise’ for contributors

# After a pre-determined period of contributors adding gifts to the site, the doors open, and members can sign up and see what’s on offer

# Usually it’s a downloading frenzy, a trolley dash where you can download e-products for free … and many of them can be resold for profit

# Members are encouraged to promote the JV Giveaway, and incentives are usually given to encourage this

# Credits or commissions are usually awarded for referring people and possibly downgrade penalties if nobody is referred.

Many people sign up to Giveaway events just to help themselves to freebies, and there is nothing wrong with this.

If people didn’t do this, the marketers would not generate any new leads … so a Giveaway thrives on its ‘freebie seekers’.

However, there is no better place to be – if you’re serious about your online business and your list building – than at the front of the queue … and that means being a contributor and taking an active part in a Giveaway.

At http://www.MarcMilburn.com/recommends/Valentines there’s even a ‘Newbies Bootcamp’ which shows you exactly how to create a first listing at absolutely no cost to you whatsoever … and challeges you to sign up your first 10 referrals to convince yourself that this process really works.

Once you’re convinced about the process, having ventured nothing but your time, you can start to get really involved and get the additional benefits of taking an upgrade.

When you do this, you get text adverts and One Time Offers, as well as the ability to list more of your products.

Most Giveaways are so reasonably priced, you only have to sell one of your One Time Offers and you’ll have earned your fee back.

So, what are you waiting for?

Whatever niche you’re in, there’s bound to be a benefit in taking part in these Giveaway events.

Sign-up, at the link below, right now and convince yourself that Giveaways really are the place to be if you want to build a list fast.

===> http://www.MarcMilburn.com/recommends/Valentines

I hope to see your name at the top of the leader board soon!!

Don’t forget to leave me a comment before you go…..

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Internet Customer Service 101

There’s a common saying in Internet Marketing.. you’ll have heard it regularly. It says that “the money is in the list”. Unfortunately that isn’t strictly true. In truth, the money is in our customers pockets until they decide to part with it. So technically, customers are the most important part of our online business. Buying, money-ready customers are the only cog in our business which CANNOT be removed!

So, it’s really important that we take care of them as best as we possibly can. We need to keep them satisfied, whatever this takes! One disgruntled customer will be able to ruin your internet reputation faster than you can imagine, and you’ll need 1,000 raving fans to begin reversing the damage. The nature of the internet (and media outlets in general) is such that bad news travels FAST and praise takes time.

How do we keep customers happy? Well here’s a few ways to get you started:

1. Underpromise and Overdeliver

Make sure that your products/services, whether they are free or paid, provide much more value that you promised. It’s a great way to get people on your side and raving about you. There’s a couple of aspects to this:

- Firstly make sure that your products are actually of a high quality. I know it sounds ridiculous but I’ve heard many marketers say “Oh, it’s OK.. they’ll like it. And nobody asks for their money back anyway!”. PLEASE don’t take this attitude. You should never release ANYTHING that you wouldn’t be delighted to buy yourself!

- There’s a great way to increase your “over-delivery”. I like to write a sales letter for my products and then take a few things out of the copy. This way the product is sure to contain more than they expect, giving them a really nice surprise upon purchasing the product! It’s simple, takes a few minutes to implement.

2. Refund With A SMILE

If you’ve been selling online for any length of time, then chances are you’ll have sold something and had someone ask for a refund. It’s inevitable and impossible to avoid. None of us are perfect enough to give everyone exactly what they want. Our products won’t be for everyone and there will always be those who simply wanted to nosey at what you are offering.

Unfortunately there’s no way that we can know who is just out for a free ride and who is genuinely disgruntled with our products. But, assuming that the refund rate is LOW, we can guess that its the person, not the product. So, refunds are the nature of the internet marketing beast. Please don’t argue it out, just refund. It isn’t worth your time, hassle or reputation to cause problems. You never know who the person on the other side of the battle is, or how powerful they could be. Information products don’t cost you anything so refunding is definately the most painless option. Simple as that.

3. Keeping On Top Of It…

As your customer base grows, so does your potential for problems. The more people that you have buying from you, the more problems, refund requests and queries you’re going to get. So it’s important that you keep on top of it. Nothing annoys customers more than having their “cries for help” ignored. And this is hard.

I’ve found this recently as my business has grown to the next level. I always vowed that I would always run my “support” by myself. There wouldn’t be a support team, it seemed impersonal. I wanted to handle all support queries myself, by personal e-mail. I’ve quickly realised that this simply isn’t possible. No inbox solution in the world is powerful enough to keep you on top of your support queries, however many you get!

So.. I’ve had to go back on my word and employ the services of a help desk solution. And guess what? I should have done it in the first place! Because now its harder than ever. I’ve given myself a lot of extra work because I have to move over to the support desk and make sure that everyone knows that e-mailing me personally for support issues won’t get a reply. Instead, they have to go direct to my help desk. It isn’t fully set up yet, but is mostly functional at: www.MarcMilburn.com/Support.

I STRONGLY suggest that you get your support desks up and running FAST. If you expect/desire your business to grow, then it will be necessary. So you might as well get off on the right foot, start as you mean to go on and set it up now. Even if you can’t afford support staff yet, at least handle help queries through a formal system.

But which helpdesk? Well I’ve played with a few as I was getting myself up and running. Most marketers, including my mentor Alex Jeffreys, use Kayako. It’s a smart solution which allows user registration for submitting tickets plus a knowledgebase of FAQ answers.

But then I discovered the FREE solution Hesk (that’s NOT an affiliate link by the way.. I’m NOT on commission – just giving you my personal recommendation!). Hesk is a simple piece of software. Just upload it to your server, configure it to a simple database and you’re ready to go. It’s fully customisable with a bit of playing around. Your customers can submit a support ticket which can be accessed and answered by multiple staff members. You can create unlimited staff member accounts with different levels of access and different permissions. You can even programme canned responses to answer questions that you are asked frequently. Oh and it has a knowledgebase function too. Users can’t register to become a member of the support desk, they have to enter their name and e-mail everytime they submit a new support ticket, but I prefer it that way.

Oh and the best bit about Hesk? It’s FREE! As long as you don’t mind having the (very small) credit displayed at the bottom with a link to the Hesk website. Or you can pay the very reasonable $39.95 if you wish to remove the credit. I think it’s a bargain though! I’m going to do so as soon as I’ve finished setting it up. I like to support good work like this.

That’s all for today.. a simple recommendation. Keep your customers happy and they’ll keep your bank account happy for a very long time. I’ve discussed the top 3 ways to do it in this blog post. I suggest you get started today!

Don’t forget to comment with your thoughts/ideas……

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My Insane Bonus Worth $5679 (I’ll Send $100 To Your PayPal Account!)

WOW! What a whirlwind weekend I’ve just had!

Today was the final day of Alex Jeffreys’ oustanding internet marketing workshop in Las Vegas. It’s been tiring but amazing. Met so many wonderful people and learned so much! I’m just about to head back to the bar to drink LOTS of beer!!

Before I do… I have to tell you something special.

I am SO excited to announce that John Thornhill has JUST opened the doors to his 2010 Marketing Masterclass. This INCREDIBLE course (almost 9 months long) sells out EVERY year and catapults an incredible array of internet marketing talent onto the scene. John Thornhill is like Midas… every student he works with turns to GOLD!

Anyway.. I’ve just put together a truly BONKERS bonus package worth $5679  for anyone who registers for John’s masterclass THROUGH MY AFFILIATE LINK. I’ll even send a $100 payment to your PayPal account!

You can read full details of everything I’m offering here: http://www.MarcMilburn.com/John, but please note…this exclusive bonus is only available to the first 5 people who order through my affiliate link.

So take a look and I’ll speak to you soon!

Marc!

P.S. This bonus is SO personal that I really can only offer it to the first 5 people to take action. This is going to go fast… possibly even within a day or an hour!

===> http://www.MarcMilburn.com/John

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Spaghetti Will MURDER Your Internet Business…. (Free Training Video)

Hey!

It’s been a few days since I’ve been able to make a post here because I’ve recently arrived in LAS VEGAS!! Whoop!

That’s right.. I’m out here for Alex Jeffreys’ workshop which is taking place in a couple of days. Real excited for that, I can tell you! I’ve decided to make a week of it though and get to see some shows and stuff while I’m here. It’s my first time in Vegas and damn, is this place cool!

Anyway… on Monday I’ll get you some video updates from Alex’s workshop but BEFORE we do that I have some VERY important video training for you. It’s totally free – no opt-in required or anything. It’s just to thank you for following my blog, and I’m convinced that it’ll change the way you see your business.

Don’t forget to leave me a comment and tell me what you think………..

Enjoy!

Marc

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Traffic On The Move…

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

I’m delighted to be posting this blog from my brand new Blackberry Storm II. It’s a fantastic mobile solution for calls, e-mails and browsing. I now have the Wordpress application for the Blackberry (also available for the iPhone!). If you have a Blackberry/iPhone and want this FREE application, then the links are at the bottom of this post! I highly recommend it for browsing, commenting and posting on your blogs!

BUT.. before you get started with your mobile-blogging, I have something VERY important for ya. (A special gifty! Whoop!)

Because, as I’m sure you know, traffic to your websites = cash.

You see, without traffic and visitors, even the best product in the world will never sell! The more traffic you get, the more sales you CAN make. It’s a simple numbers game, really.

And with all of the different ways of driving traffic there really are never-ending streams available. There is:

*blog commenting;
*article submission;
*forum posting;
*video marketing;
*PPC;
*affiliate/joint venture traffic;
*social bookmarking;
*Twitter/Facebook & Myspace;
*Many, many more.

…The list is endless!

But what if I told you that there is another way…

I’ve recently released a very special report (value $37.00) teaching an incredible FREE traffic generation technique (NONE of the above). It’s easy, powerful, under-used… and it won’t cost you anything to implement!

I’ve decided to give you a special copy as my very important blog-readers! Aren’t you lucky!? :-p

Download Your Free Copy Today =====> http://www.websitetrafficanswers.com/Special/

I’ve broken everything down into simple steps to guide you to success. Just follow this system and you could begin driving unlimited and targeted buyers to your website within minutes!!

I just know you’re going love it. The reports coming in from this report are fantastic. People just wish that they had uncovered it years ago!

Don’t forget to call back to the blog and leave me a comment. I always love to hear from you!

Regards,
Marc!

P.S. I’ve been selling this report for between $7 and $37 so I’m not sure how long I’ll be leaving this “freebie” page up. Grab yours before I come to my senses and rip it away from you:

=====> http://www.websitetrafficanswers.com/Special/

P.P.S. If you want the Wordpress application for Blackberry or iPhone then you can grab them on the links below (they are free!)

Blackberry App –> http://blackberry.wordpress.org/
iPhone App –> http://iphone.wordpress.org/

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Profitable List Building!

If I had a dollar for every time someone had told me that “the money is in the list” then I’d be the richest Internet Marketer in the world!

Unfortunately, they are correct. I can’t even begin to explain the reasons why a mailing list is so important. I mean, imagine if you had the power to send a personalised message out to thousands of people all at once recommending a product (either yours or someone who is paying you a commission to promote their product). Each person would open that e-mail with trust and integrity. Knowing that because you are recommending a product to them that it will be good and a worthwhile investment.

I mean, the power for profits is amazing!

Let’s be honest, we all know the reasons WHY we should be building a profitable e-mailing list but thousands of marketers are still struggling to do it..

Now a couple of days ago, I promised you a free report (and I always keep my word!)… SO, I’m giving away a FREE report by my mentor (Alex Jeffreys) teaching the exact “ins and outs” of building a mega-cash-pulling e-mail list. (It’s much easier than you would think!).

So get yourself down towww.ListBuilding4Profit.com and download the free report.

Many thanks

Cheers,
Marc Milburn
www.ListBuilding4Profit.com
www.MarcMilburn.com

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What’s in a name?! (Are you making this mistake?)

Welcome to the third official blog post of the new-look blog!! I wouldn’t normally work on a Sunday evening BUT something has really wound me up and I had to write this post.

You see, unfortunately I’m writing today with a rant! (Dramatic roll of thunder, please!). That’s right, I’m going to jump up onto my soapbox and complain about something which seems to be happening more and more often in this industry. It’s really cringeworthy… and I’m quite passionate about it.

So what am I talking about? Well, we all know that “the money is in the list” but that assumes that “the list” is being used correctly.

You see, just a couple of days ago I received an e-mail which began thus:

“Hi {firstname},”

**MAJOR CRINGING**

That’s right.. instead of the e-mail including my name it simply included an (incorrect) personalisation code. Now don’t get me wrong, if the personalisation had worked, I wouldn’t be under ANY illusion that this e-mail was intended directly to me. As I use the same e-mail software that this marketer was using myself (Aweber), I understand that I was simply a a tiny cog in a huge list of other subscribers.. but I cringe as I think of them receiving this same e-mail.

In truth, I closed the e-mail and didn’t bother to read it. I suspect other people could be doing the same thing. Making this mistake could be damaging your marketing dramatically! It’s especially disturbing when you realise that all this marketer had done was to miss out the ! from the code.

BUT it gets worse…

Another e-mail that I received recently was seemingly part of an ad-swap so the e-mail copy was probably standard to the marketer who was being promoted. Now I am all for ad swaps and I think they are a fantastic way to expand your list and your customer/fan base BUT you have to be careful. You see this second e-mail finished with the words:

“Kind regards,
YOUR NAME HERE”

**MAJOR CRINGING**

It’s just simple carelessness. Just by making TWO minor changes to your e-mails, you can DRAMATICALLY increase your chances of success with your list.

So how can you fix this and make sure it never happens (again)?

Here’s my three-step personalisation plan:

1. Revise your personalisation codes for your specific autoresponder software (Aweber, GetResponse, 1ShoppingCart, etc) and make a note of them somewhere handy.

2. Use the “test” feature of the autoresponder. Send at least 1 test e-mail to yourself and make sure that the personalisation works!

3. Make sure to read through each and every e-mail that you send out before you send it.

There are many “schools of thought” which think that personalisation probably isn’t that necessary anyway. Some marketers say that most intelligent people realise that they are being “broadcast to” rather than being sent an e-mail personally. However, I still think it’s a nice idea. I get e-mails pretty regularly where people have “replied” to one of my autoresponder e-mails to say “Thanks”. Some people really appreciate the personalisation.. as long as its done correctly.

I know, I know, it probably is a fairly easy mistake to make BUT it’s also SO easy to fix.

That’s bringing me to the end of this rant so I’ll jump back down of my soapbox.

But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE… if you’re going to personalise your e-mails, do it correctly.

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Staying Focussed & Planning For Success!

Good afternoon!

I hope you are well and keeping as busy as you wish to be. Over my last couple of years in online marketing I’ve sometimes found  it hard to focus and stay on track. Especially through the trickier months where I wasn’t really earning quite as much as I’d like to. It’s difficult to try and avoid checking e-mails every 2 minutes, playing games or starting yet another new project which will probably earn some money………

Do you know this feeling?

As you may or may not be aware, I’m currently undergoing the Internet Marketing coaching programme from Alex Jeffreys. One of the greatest lessons that I have learned since taking Alex on as a mentor is the importance of planning within a home Internet business. I’ve come to realise that (even though we live in a world of technology) sometimes you just can’t beat the good, old fashioned pen and paper.

It’s unbelievable but just taking a few minutes out and putting ideas down onto a piece of paper does all kinds of positive and cash-generating things for your Internet marketing business. This morning, I managed to successfully complete a 90 day plan for my business.  And you know what? I feel amazing. It’s like a finally have some sort of structured device that I can use to ensure maximum success. It’s just given my business a direction. And it didn’t take very long either. Writing “goals” and “objectives” sounds really tough, doesn’t it? But truthfully, it isn’t.

I’m sure you’re aware that all large companies have business and marketing plans. Written documents detailing how they are going to get from A to B and onwards. Well don’t assume that just because you may be merely a one or two person operation that you need

The intention now is to expand that and create a 12 month plan. Check me out… not only am I planning my business for the first time.. now I’m even planning to plan!

So take a leave out of my book. Plan everything. Grab a parchment and quill (oh yeah!?) and scrawl down your plan. On a daily basis you should be planning whatever business activities you intend to do tomorrow. Now, at the “close of office hours”, I write out everything that I have done today and then plan what I intend to do tomorrow. Then, not only are you effectively planning BUT you can also begin to test, track and work out what business activities are earning you the most money.

So for today, my “to do” sheet says that I was going to write some new articles for one of my other niches, write this blog post and then spend half an hour commenting on blogs and making similar traffic driving/networking tasks. After that I’ll be taking part in a meeting on Skype to discuss a potential JV partnership.

Take it from me. I was always skeptical about this planning malarky. It sounds like bull, right? But seriously, it’s made SUCH a huge difference to my life. You MUST start planning.

The old adage/cliche is true…. “If You Fail To Plan Then You To Plan To Fail!”.

Speak soon!
Marc Milburn
www.MarcMilburn.com

P.S. Leave a comment on this blog with your favourite planning techniques, tips and strategies. Lets brainstorm the ass of this topic!

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