A Simple, Effective And Lasting Traffic Generation Strategy

There is a simple, effective and lasting traffic generation strategy that I think every marketer should consider. We use this strategy since 2009 and till now, this simple strategy is still bringing us traffic.

The strategy I’m talking about is rebrandable ebook.

Since 2009, our members have been able to rebrand the ebook, One Signup A Day, and distribute it free. Being able to rebrand it means they are able to include their LeadsLeap affiliate link in the ebook before distributing it, so that when people click the link in the ebook to our website, they will be tracked as referred by the member.

Why Ebook?

If you want affiliates to promote your website, you’ll have to make it easy for them to do so. It is much easier for affiliates to simply give away a free ebook instead of trying to promote your website. Just let the ebook do the selling.

How To Make An Ebook Rebrandable?

Most ebooks come in the form of PDF file. I’m sure you know what a PDF file is. To make it rebrandable, you need a software or PHP script to modify the PDF file so that your affiliates can insert their affiliate id into the PDF source file and turn the ebook into a customized one.

There are a few products in the market that can do that. In the past, we used a software, but I don’t recommend it now. That’s because our affiliates need to download the software, rebrand the ebook and then upload the rebranded ebook back to our server before they can distribute the ebook. That process is a little tedious and the uploaded ebooks are taking up our server space.

What we are using now is a PHP script that is installed in our server. It is called Easy Viral PDF Brander. With this script, our affiliate can simply create a rebranded ebook with one click. That one click will get the script to do everything in the background and return the download link. (If you want to see how easy it is, you can login to your member’s area and go to referral tools, look under strategy #3.)

What I like most about this script is it doesn’t really create another rebranded ebook. It simply creates a database of the affiliate ids and a unique filenames. When someone download the file, it will generate the rebranded pdf file on the fly. This will save a lot of server space in the long run.

Final Note About Rebrandable Ebook

Needless to say, the content of the ebook is important. The content should be unique and interesting. More importantly, it should make people wanting to take action. But these are not the key. The key that make or break your rebrandable ebook campaign is the title of the book.

You see, if you can’t get people to download the ebook in the first place, they don’t even have a chance to read it, no matter how good the content is.

I once advised an advertiser to change his free ebook title from something like ‘How to make money from the internet’ to ‘How I made $1500 from the internet in 1 week’ and that change significantly increased the opt-in rate. The content of the ebook was essentially the same.

What I’m trying to say is spend some time to think of a good title. Don’t spend a month writing a top-notch ebook but in the end use a lame title that can’t arouse people’s interest.

Read More

Proven Ways To Make Money On The Internet

In this article, I’m going to share with you 3 proven ways to make money on the internet and 1 proven way to lose money online.

Sounds interesting? It will be more interesting as you read.

I am going to approach this topic from a totally different angle, as I always do. If you find this article confusing, just keep reading. You will get a clearer picture when I put everything together.

Ok, let’s start with the first proven way……

Proven Way #1 – The easiest way to make money on the internet

Do you want to know what is the easiest way to make money online?

It’s to exchange your time for money.

In other words, you make money by trading your time.

For example, you can sign up as a freelancer at elance.com and provide freelancing job to people who need your service. You can also sign up with surveying firms to get paid doing market surveys, or become a mystery shopper to help companies to do market research. If you are good in graphic design, you can also start your own online design company to provide graphic design services.

Trading your time for money is the most basic way to make money. It is also the easiest way to start making money. That’s why most people start with a ‘job’ when they are newly out from school. I hope you can see that a job is just another way to trade time for money.

There is nothing wrong to trade your time for money. In fact, if you are pressed for cash, providing online services, such as freelance services, is probably the best option to start.

Proven Way #2 – The toughest way to make money on the internet

The second proven way to make money online is to exchange your skills for money.

For example, Adsense and affiliate marketing are proven ways to make money on the internet, but you need the skills of search engine optimization, website building, PPC advertising etc before you can make money from these methods.

It is the toughest way to make money because if you do not have the necessary skills, you will have to learn. Learning new skills is ‘tough’ to most people. If you enjoy learning new skills, I’m happy for you. You will be successful soon.

Proven Way #3 – The smartest way to make money on the internet

The third way and also the smartest way is to exchange your idea for money.

The world may be changing everyday, but certain fundamentals will never change. The economy is always looking for means of doing or producing things better, faster, easier and cheaper.

If you can come out with an online idea that can do or produce something better, faster, easier and/or cheaper, you will have your fortune at your fingertips.

Now that you’ve learnt the 3 proven ways to make money on the internet, how about the one and only proven way to LOSE money online?

The Proven Way To Lose Money Online

The proven way to lose money online is to use money to make money.

If you believe that you can make $X and all you have to do is invest $Y, then you are destined to be the victim of the next online scam.

Without time, skill and/or idea, money is useless. Read again!

Don’t get me wrong. Having money will definitely help you to make more money online faster, but it is only true if you use it to buy time, skill and/or idea.

When you outsource your work to freelancers or professional services, you are buying other people’s time and skills.

When you buy into other business opportunities, you are buying the idea.

Do you see what I mean?

Summing up……

In a nutshell, you can either use time, skill and/or idea to make money online. These are the 3 proven ways to make money on the internet. I personally guarantee that. People who fail to make money online are those who refuse to invest time, refuse to learn the skills and refuse to think.

Read More

Basic Copywriting Tricks That All Marketers Must Know

Personally, I think copywriting skill is something every marketer should learn. I know some people may disagree and they prefer to outsource copywriting. It’s probably the right thing to do if you have the budget. But if you are just starting out, it is better to know how to do it yourself.

Below are some basic copywriting tricks that you can use. Keep this page handy. Whenever you need to write a sales copy, just come back here to check if you’ve done these tricks.

1) Use An Action Button That Invoke Imagination

Most action buttons use words like “Submit Now”, “Subscribe Now”, “Send Now”, “Sign Up Now” or “Buy Now”. You see them being used in mega sites like Amazon, Ebay etc. But in copywriting, we don’t use these words. The experts say they have done the tests (honestly I haven’t, I merely follow what they say and so far it’s been working). These are the words to be used in an action button:

- Get Your Instant Access Now
- Download Now
- I Want The Report Now
- Show Me The Money

Generally you want to use words that invoke imagination and expectation. You want them to form a mental picture of what they can look forward to if they click the button. This way, it will make them feel that they are missing out on something if they don’t click!

2) Use The Power Of Subheadlines

If you are writing a sales letter instead of a squeeze page, it is important to break the paragraphs into subheadlines.

Studies have shown that people don’t read a sales letter from head to toe. Instead, they will just scan through. In the process of scanning, they are likely to read the subheadlines. They will only read the rest of the content if they find it interesting.

The subheadlines serve two purposes:

I) They must arouse people’s curiosity so that they will read the details.
II) They are like the content page of a book. By simply reading all the subheadline from head to toe, it should give the reader a brief idea of what the sales letter is talking about.

When your sales letter is completed, do this: Read only the headline and subheadlines from the top to bottom of the letter. Then ask yourself if you see a logical flow in the sales letter. If you do, you have more or less served Purpose II. Next, look at each subheadline and see how you can make it more intriguing, so as to serve Purpose I.

3) Use The Power Of Subheadlines Again

Testimonials is a must in a sales letter. The more the merrier. But overwhelming a sales letter with testimonials isn’t the right way to do it.

Again, the trick is to use subheadlines. What you can do is take a short phrase from the testimonial and use it as a subheadline for that testimonial.

People are not likely to read all the testimonials. By using subheadlines, they are more likely to get the gist of the testimonials and hence form a better impression of your product.

4) Use Words That Gain Attention

Some words are more likely to gain people’s attention. In a long sales letter, it is important to use these words throughout the letter to encourage the readers to read on.

Here’s a list of such words
- Imagine …
- Imagine this. …
- Can you imagine …
- You see, …
- Now, …
- Look, …
- Simple isn’t it?
- You’re probably thinking, “…….”
- Ok, …
- Wait! …
- Yes! …

5) KISS (Keep It Short And Simple)

I know, the experts have been saying that long sales letters sell better. But we also know that people don’t like to read.

A good sales letter is long because it has to include many things, such as testimonials, product benefits, how it works etc. It is not long for the sake of being draggy and beating around the bush.

It is your job to keep the sales letter short, yet still provide enough information to build prospects’ confidence in your product.

Here are some good practice to make a long sales letter short and simple.

- Avoid very long sentence. As a rule of thumb, if a sentence can be split into two sentences, do it.
- Vary between short and long sentences.
- Use short paragraphs. A paragraph can be as short as 1 sentence! Paragraphs with 3 or more sentences are considered long.
- Use active voice instead of passive voice.
- Use simple vocabulary and sentence construction that even a kid can understand.
- Write as if you are talking to them. Forget about those essay writing skills taught in school.

Copywriting is not rocket science. With some simple tricks, you too can write an effective sales letter like the pros.

Read More