Steve Wagenheim’s Home Business Blog

There are so many articles being written telling marketers what TO do with their marketing efforts. But how many do you see that say, “Don’t do this or you’ll end up like a fried egg?” It’s just as important to know what NOT to do as it is to know what TO do. So this article is going to be my little warning shot across the bow of your marketing efforts. I hope you will take these words to heart.

First do not…Do NOT believe that the only marketing worth anything is the kind you pay for. Let me tell you something. I am as cheap as they come. I spend maybe $200 a month on advertising. Know where most of my traffic comes from? My articles…and they don’t cost me a cent. There are many forms of traffic generation that don’t cost a penny that are quite effective. The key is knowing how to use them. So don’t get suckered into the belief that the only good traffic is the kind that you pay for. It’s simply not true.

Second do not…Do NOT think you have to do everything yourself. I know so many marketers who simply don’t trust anybody with their business. I should know because I was one of them. I had to do it all on my own. Ever see some of my early ecovers? It took me a long time before I was finally able to crank out something that was presentable. All that time, I could have just paid to have a professional do it for me. Okay, you don’t have to do it all on your own. Get help where you can afford it.

Third and final do not…Do NOT limit yourself to just one payment processor. This is a real sure way to kill your business. There are a lot of countries out there who don’t accept certain payment processors. If you’re using that one, you are effectively telling that part of the world that you don’t want to do business with them. So use as many as you can. You’ll find that your sales WILL increase because of it.

There you have it…3 ways to really kill your business. So don’t do these things.

End of lecture.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to discover how to use the crappiest forms of promotion online that earn me over $3,000 each month? Visit my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/crapads/index.html

If you’re writing salescopy for a living, time is money. The more time you have to spend on a sales letter, the less money you ultimately end up making simply because you can only work on one letter at a time, realistically speaking anyway. Point is, you want to crank out that sales letter as fast as possible so that you can get on to the next one. This article will give you a few tips that will help you to do just that.

First thing you want to do is plan out your sales letter in advance. Having a template is a good way to do this. What I mean by a template is the format you’re going to use for the letter itself. For example, headline, subhead, copy, bullet points, testimonials and so on. If you know what piece of copy is going to go where before you even write it, the process will go a lot quicker.

Probably the next thing you want to do to speed up the process is make sure you’ve done all your research on the target market BEFORE you begin writing. This way, the actual writing process isn’t broken up by other things. I know you’re probably thinking, “What does it matter? I still have to do the research.” That’s true, but when you do one activity straight through, in this case the writing, it actually goes faster than if you broke it up over time. The reason is because having to restart anything takes extra time. It’s kind of like driving your car from point A to point B. It will take longer if you stop the engine every five blocks, even though you’re driving the same distance, simply because from a dead stop, the car has to accelerate to get to the speed that you were at previously.

Finally, you want to know your subject cold. I hate to say this, but there is no substitute for knowledge. If you know how to create a killer headline without even thinking about it, naturally it’s going to greatly reduce the writing process time. Same with your subheads, bullet points, closings and even your final PS. If you have to think about what you’re going to write, it WILL slow you down. In other words, there is no substitute for study, practice and doing it.

There you go. Nothing magical. Just some common sense suggestions to get you into high gear. Add the above to your daily routine and you’ll be cranking out sales letters in no time flat.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to write copy just like the pros? Visit my site at http://www.bcipe.com/ and discover killer copywriting tips that have allowed me to write my own copy for years and earn myself a 6 figure a year income selling my own products.

For some of us, writing articles is a chore. It isn’t for me, but then again, I’m weird. However, some folks would rather be doing something else. So the last thing they want to do is labor over their article. They want to get it written as fast as possible. No problem. This article is going to give you three super tips to get your article written as fast as possible.

Tip number one is to plan out the article in advance. If you know what you’re going to say before you even say it, you’ll be surprised how quickly the writing goes. For example, I knew before I ever began writing this article that I was going to cover three ways to speed up the article writing process. This made it so that I could just start writing without having to do any extra thinking. Knowing what I’m saying, it actually made the typing go faster.

Tip number two is to practice a lot. There is no substitute for practice. The more you write, the faster you will naturally get. Even your typing speed will increase as you write more. When I first started typing I was at about 25 words per minute. Now, I’m between 40 and 45 words per minute. So I’m effectively writing articles i about half the time that I used to, simply because I kept practicing. Repetition does make you go quicker.

Tip number three requires a bit of an investment but it is well worth it. There is a piece of software that I use when I am in a real hurry. It’s called Dragon Naturally Speaking, or DNS for short. It is dictation software that is incredibly accurate. It does take a little time to get used to using it, but once you do, articles that would take you 15 minutes to type out could be dictated at about 150 words per minute. So a 450 word article can be cranked out in about 3 minutes. Like I said, I use it when I’m pressed for time.

Just these three simple tips will greatly increase the speed at which you’re writing those articles. By planning ahead, practicing a lot, and getting voice recognition software, you can be doubling your article writing output with ease.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to write articles that get people’s attention and can earn you up to $200 per article written? Then check out my Complete Article Writing And Marketing Guide that you can find at http://www.honestincomeprogram.com/tcawamg.html – This is my own book that I wrote from over 30 years of writing experience.

I have absolutely no doubt that this article is going to ruffle a lot of feathers in the copywriting world. I’m going to be addressing an issue that has been going on, and has been accepted now, for ages in the copywriting community. Nobody seems to have a real problem with it. Well, almost nobody. And don’t get me wrong, I am not saying flat out that this practice is wrong. I am just putting this out there for discussion. You have to come to your own conclusion.

One of the first things copywriters teach their students is to keep what they call swipe files. What these swipe files are, are little bits and pieces of copy from other sales pages. Most swipe files contain headlines that copywriters use to create their headlines from. The idea of the swipe file is to do just that, get ideas. You hear it all the time on forums. “I just added that to my swipe file…thanks.” And everybody is cool with it. But I still have to ask…isn’t this just pure theft?

Now, I realize that there are only so many unique ideas in the world. If you look at any one sales page, you’ll probably see elements that you know you’ve seen elsewhere. The headlines especially all seem to come from the same cookie cutter mold with just a word here and there changed to fit the particular product. For example:

“Discover How To Permanently Lose 30 Pounds Of Ugly Fat…In Just 3 Days”
“Discover How To Permanently Remove Warts…In Just 3 Days”

I could keep going but I think you got the general drift of where I’m going. The “discover” headline is just one of the many popular ones that copywriters use. And there are plenty of others…all the same…all with that cookie cutter feel. It’s like nobody has any originality anymore.

And why should they? The swipe files…the good ones…are all taken from the top selling copy of all time. Heck, there are even products out there that sell swipe files making the key selling point that these swipe files came from sales letters that made millions of dollars in sales. In other words, just use these bits of copy and you’ll make all this money too.

The irony is, and the truth is, these swipe files only help at a minimum. The thing that really sells the product is the offer itself. If it’s something nobody really wants, or isn’t at a price they’re willing to pay, no swiped copy is going to sell it. But the belief is still there, so the myth continues to go on.

Like I said, I’m not passing judgment on this whole thing. It’s up to you to decide whether or not this practice is theft or not.

Me? I like to try to come up with original stuff…maybe because I’m just too lazy to keep a swipe file.

To YOUR Success,
Steven Wagenheim

Want to write copy just like the pros? Visit my site at http://www.bcipe.com/ and discover killer copywriting tips that have allowed me to write my own copy for years and earn myself a 6 figure a year income selling my own products.

Well, this is a question that no doubt is going to get a lot of heat from a lot of people after they read my answer, but so be it. I was never one to go along with the crowd just because it was the thing to do. So let me answer the question right up top and then I will explain my answer below. You can then decide if you want to keep reading depending on whether you agree with my answer or not. Of course if you knew the answer already, you wouldn’t be reading this…correct? Okay, the answer is…no. There is no such thing as automated income. I can hear all you naysayers screaming right now. Like I said, I’ll explain.

Let’s just go right for the top gun that everybody thinks is going to be automated income, or income that you generate on autopilot…pay per click advertising. Everybody thinks that once you get the campaign going, and you see that your ads are converting at whatever percentage they are, all you have to do is sit back and watch the money come pouring in for the rest of your life. If you believe that, I have some real estate to sell you and it’s very cheap.

Pay per click advertising is no different from any other form of promotion. You have to constantly watch over your ads. Heck, unless it’s your own product you’re promoting, you have to check just to make sure that the product you’re promoting still exists. Yes, products do get dumped and you end up promoting a blank page. Then there’s all the constant changes to the pay per click rules that can kill a campaign in a heartbeat.

Okay, what about membership sites. Lots of people think that they’re automated income. Not true. Again, just because you have a site with recurring memberships doesn’t mean the people that you bring in are going to stay members forever. The average length of time that a person stays a member of one of these sites is 90 days. So if you went on a mass promotional campaign in your first month and signed up even 200 people, those 200 people are not going to be members forever…therefore you have to keep promoting if you want to bring in more members.

And if you think any other form of advertising is anywhere near as automated as pay per click, which is the closest you’re going to get to automation, you can pretty much forget it. Even articles that you write eventually lose their juice and you have to keep on writing to get new people to your site.

Bottom line is this…the day that you can just set your business up and let it run by itself so that you can spend your time at the beech, is a long way off…if ever.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of busting your behind for peanuts online? Go to my web site and find out how I earn a monthly income that exceeds 5 figures and how I can help YOU do the same. Get your free report at http://www.mysecretarticles.com/report.html

I don’t normally hit the panic button like this, but recent Ezine Articles changes to the way articles are displayed on the Internet through their site may very well kill article marketing as we know it, at least if you’re using Ezine Articles, and ultimately spell the end of the company itself.

In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, let me explain.

The old format for displaying articles was simple. You had your title of the article and immediately under it you had the content. Off to the right hand side, you had some Adsense ads. You also had some under the article itself. This didn’t affect CTR too much. At least I don’t think it did, though I am sure some readers clicked through the Adsense ads and away from your article.

Well now, the format is as follows. After your title, instead of getting to see the content of your article, the reader is hit with a huge block of Adsense ads. Forget that the format itself looks like crap and very unprofessional, but now the chances of somebody clicking away from your article are GREATLY increased. I have already heard from several article marketers who have reported HUGE drops in click throughs.

Ultimately, what this means is that article marketers, once they see their results start to drop like a ton of bricks, will begin to leave EZA in droves. I mean what would be the point if nobody is reading your articles anymore?

As a big EZA supporter for many years now and an author of thousands of articles, I implore Chris at EZA to go back to old format. I feel he has made one of the biggest mistakes that he could have made while EZA has been in business.

I do not say things like these lightly. Chris knows me and knows that if anything, I have always supported EZA and essentially tell writers that if they don’t like his rules, to go play in somebody else’s sandbox.

But this latest move was not only bad business, but a slap in the face to article writers. This essentially says that we don’t care if anybody reads your articles or not. We just want our money. Sorry, but I call it as I see it Chris. This is going to KILL our business and ultimately kill yours as well.

Anyway, that’s the deal. Please keep track of your CTR and see if you have noticed a decrease in the weeks to come.

Me? I honestly don’t know what the hell I’m going to do.

I’m just glad I have my own blog and a name to fall back on.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to write articles that get people’s attention and can earn you up to $200 per article written? Then check out my Complete Article Writing And Marketing Guide that you can find at http://www.honestincomeprogram.com/tcawamg.html – This is my own book that I wrote from over 30 years of writing experience.

This article is going to be a little out of the box thinking when it comes to affiliate marketing. See, most affiliate marketers simply look for a viable niche (one with a big demand) and then try to find a product in that niche to sell. And don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with this approach. I use it all the time. However, it’s NOT the only way to come up with products to sell. There is another method that can actually make you more money quicker if you know what to look out for and jump on it right away. I’m talking about Hot Trends. This article will explain.

Google Trends is a great site that Google has put together. It is essentially the top 100 trends (most searched phrases) updated every hour on the hour. Most of the trends are either political or entertainment related. But every once in a while, a hot trend pops up that has to do with a new product. Or maybe it’s an old product that for whatever reason is back in the spotlight. Many of these products have affiliate programs. Therefore, it’s a great opportunity to jump on selling it. But why? Why is this such a great way to make money?

Reason number 1 is because it IS hot at this very moment. People are talking about. People are interested in it. If it’s in the top 100, that means a lot of people. So you don’t have to worry about promoting something that isn’t going to bring you a decent amount of traffic.

Reason number 2 is even more important. See, most of these hot trends are so specific that there aren’t a lot of web pages out there targeting them. For example, one hot trend that I found the other day had only 10 competing web pages. When you have such little competition, it’s that much easier to get YOUR piece of the pie.

The downside to this system is that the trends don’t last long and usually the product will only sell for a day or two. That means you’re constantly searching for new trends. But if you have the time, and it really only takes about an hour a day, you can make quite a few sales daily if you hop on the right trend at the right time.

Certainly it’s something to consider adding to your affiliate marketing arsenal.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to make money TODAY without spending a DIME? Check out my site at http://www.hottrendsdaily.com/ and find out how.

Most of the articles I write about running a business have to do with how to information. However, I think it’s important that I cover mindset. Why do I say this? Because believe it or not, all the how to tips in the world aren’t going to make you successful if you don’t have the right mindset. So this article is going to cover this topic briefly. I hope you get something out of it.

Why don’t we start with what the proper mindset is? The proper mindset is the one that will allow you to achieve your potential. If that sounds a little cryptic, let me explain. I have the unfortunate displeasure of having a very good friend of mine who has the wrong mindset. He is very smart and very knowledgeable, especially about music. He could have easily been a program director of any radio station. The problem is, he has the wrong mindset. He doesn’t believe he can do it. He looks at everything (his age, education, etc.) as an obstacle. He doesn’t look at what he has…only what he doesn’t have.

When I first started trying to make a living from home, I was the total opposite. I believed, without any doubt, that I was going to be successful. And when it didn’t happen right away, I was stunned. I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t having the success that I was so sure I was going to have. So I worked harder. I studied more. I kept at it until I DID have the success that I always expected to have. Today, I make six figures a year from home and I only work a few hours a day. Truth is, for me, it’s not even work anymore. I love this stuff. I can’t picture myself doing anything else.

That’s mindset. That’s how you have to go about your business. You have to believe that you’re going to be successful and you have to enjoy what you’re doing. If you look at this as a “job” then you can forget about ever having the success that you want. A job is what the OTHER guy is doing, the poor schnook who has to go work for a nasty boss because he feels like he has no other options. That’s not you. You’re the person who is going to be successful. You’re going to have everything you want. If you believe it, it will happen.

Sounds a lot like that power of positive thinking mumbo jumbo…I know. But trust me, if you don’t believe you can be successful online, you won’t be. It’s that simple.

The mindset of the successful home business owner.

That’s what I have.

What about YOU?

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Looking for a solid 4 step plan to building your own business…FREE? Pick up my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/4steps.html and get started TODAY!

I want to thank my friend Oilman, from the Warrior Forum, for bringing up this question. He wanted to know if marketing under a pen name was ethical. He was having some personal problems with it and wanted to know how others felt. Instead of posting my response there, where only a few people will see it, I’m going to answer the question in this article. Please understand, this is only my opinion.

For starters, let’s get one thing straight right off the bat. Marketing under a pen name is not illegal. People do it all the time. The list of authors who wrote under pen names is a mile long. Certainly nobody really believes that there is a Geico gecko. I know I don’t. Point is, companies have been using fictional characters of all sorts to endorse all kinds of products. I think the public is intelligent enough to know that this is just a representation.

But what about the person who uses XYZ name to promote a product that he has created and people begin to identify the product with him, especially if he promotes himself as the “friendly” marketer, or the “average Joe” marketer? What if that’s the name he actually uses, something like “Average Joe Wilson” and his real name is John Smith. Is this ethical? Is this person getting sales based on a persona that he has created that he wouldn’t have normally gotten otherwise?

Well, maybe he is. But that still doesn’t answer the question…is it ethical? Okay, here is how I look at it. If the product does what the persona claims, made up or not, then I see no problem. If I create a product that fixes relationships and I call myself the “Relationship Repairman” does it really matter that my name is Steven Wagenheim? And yes, that’s my REAL name. I mean my goodness…who would make up a name like Steven Wagenheim? Certainly I can do better than that.

Point is, it’s what the product promises and delivers on that matters. If I used my real name and created a product that was garbage, I think THAT should be a crime, especially if I’m making claims about the product that aren’t true. The name I use shouldn’t matter. And again, according to law, it doesn’t.

Yes, there are some gray areas, such as you can’t call yourself a doctor if you’re not an MD or at least a PhD. That is fraud and punishable by law. But if you want to call yourself “John Darling The Romantic Specialist” in an effort to sell custom Valentine cards, I say power to you.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to cash in on the hottest money making business on the Internet today…reaching offline businesses? Not sure what system to follow? Read my comprehensive review of Easy Offline Riches at http://easy-offline-riches-review-blog.blogspot.com/ and make a minimum of $400 per sale without doing all that grunt work.

It’s not something that a lot of people give much thought to, but what a prospect sees first when he arrives at your blog is going to greatly influence what he does next. The cool thing is, there isn’t one blog platform or look that’s a “can’t miss” for all people. It really depends on what the prospect is expecting to find at the blog when they arrive. That’s where the “setup” is important. I’m not talking about the setup of your blog. I’m talking about something entirely different. I’m going to explain, so hang in there.

Probably the best way to explain this is with an illustration. I have one blog that serves a very specific purpose. As a matter of fact, it is such a specific purpose that there is only one thing on that blog. I’m talking about my review blog for a video marketing product. On the blog is just one thing…a review of the product itself. Now, why would I put up a blog with just one entry? This is where the setup comes in.

The setup, in this case, consists of a number of articles that I wrote on the subject of video marketing. At the end of each article, in my resource box, I tell the reader that if they want more info on video marketing and read an unbiased review of a great product that will teach you how to create stunning videos for marketing purposes, to visit my blog. I then give them the URL.

What they find, upon arrival, is a headline that says “Review of (product name)”. Under that headline is the review. There is nothing else to distract the visitor..no videos, photos, articles, AdSense blocks or anything else that could possibly make that visitor turn away from that review. At the end of the review is a link to the product itself.

And that’s it. That’s the whole blog. That’s all there is to it because that is the purpose of the blog. There is no need to put anything else on it and doing so will only be counterproductive and probably result in fewer sales…unless I could add something to the review to enhance it, such as a video under it demonstrating how effective the process is by actually showing a finished product. Otherwise, the review is all I need.

Naturally, what you put on YOUR blog is going to depend on what YOUR visitors are expecting to find. But again, that’s going to depend on the setup…how you get them there in the first place. If your pitch is, “Everything you’ll need to know to run a home business” then that’s what the visitor better find. How you lay it all out…that’s another story. But make sure it’s as clear as day.

Each blog has a purpose and it is THAT purpose that determines that a prospect should first see when arriving there.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim
CLICK HERE to discover how to put together an authority site that will ultimately bring you in a steady income for years and years to come with very little upkeep