Steve Wagenheim’s Home Business Blog

Simple question today. Can you compete with the big boys of marketing? A lot of new Internet marketers think that they can’t. They believe that they’ve gotten into the game too late, that the big boys like Frank Kern and John Reese have things all sewn up. Well, before you go hang your head and cash in your chips, you might want to read this article. I think it will be a real eye opener.

For starters, the question you should be asking is not “Can you compete with the big boys” but “Do you have to compete with the big boys?” I think this is where a lot of new marketers are quite misinformed. They seem to think that the only way to make money online is to sell “how to make money” products. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are plenty of niches out there that the big boys don’t even go near. Okay, that’s number one.

But let’s assume, for argument sake, that you WANT to sell IM related products. Who says that just because you’re not a big name that you can’t? I certainly am not a big name and I do well enough selling IM related products. In fact, I’ve carved out a few nice sub niches for myself in this area. And while I’m not making seven figures a year like these guys are, my mortgage is paid and my daughter’s college was paid for without having to take out a student loan. So I’m doing okay.

Point is, it’s a big world out there. You’d be surprised how many people have never heard of Frank Kern or John Reese or any of the other big names. When I first started in Internet marketing some seven plus years ago, I didn’t know any of the big names back then…nor did I care who they were. Heck, I didn’t even know there WERE any big names. I thought everybody who did this was just a regular Joe like me. It’s amazing how sometimes ignorance IS bliss. Imagine if I had been pumped with all the fear of competing with the big boys like people today are. I’d never have even tried.

Okay, got it? You don’t have to compete with the top marketers. You can carve out your own little niche doing whatever you want. Just learn some fundamental marketing principles, work your tail off, and you’ll find that you can make a nice living just being a John Doe.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

If you want to discover the REAL truth about Internet marketing and get some solid tips to take your business to the next level…get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/realtruth.html and subscribe to my REAL Truth newsletter where you’ll discover more than from all those high priced ebooks combined.

If you are reading this article, I am going to assume that you are a home business owner. Well, if you are, I have a question to ask you. Remember when Google had its Pac-Man day and let everybody play the classic game online during its 30th anniversary? Were you working on your home business that day or playing Pac-Man? Either way, I think you’re going to find this article interesting.

Let’s start off with a figure, though I am not sure how they came up with it. Probably the same way that they come up with 97% of home business owners don’t make any money. According to statistics, Google’s Pac-Man day cost businesses world wide about $160 million in wasted man hours. These were people at work who were playing Pac-Man instead of doing their jobs. Amazing how Google can have that big an effect on things. But tell me something. Were you one of those people?

I have a confession to make. I was. I played about three games of Pac-Man and it took about 20 minutes of my day. No, I’m not very good at the game. Otherwise it would have been a lot longer. Point is, that was 20 minutes that I wasn’t working on my business. Now, given that I make six figures a year and 20 minutes isn’t that big a deal, it really didn’t affect my day much at all. I probably would have wasted that time doing something else. And that brings me to my bigger point here.

How much of YOUR day do you waste doing things that aren’t related to your home business? I’m not talking about the things you have to do like eat, chores, or whatever things you have around the house that need to be taken care of. I’m talking about the things like doing the crossword puzzle in the morning paper or watching some TV show or maybe even playing some CDs. Yeah, I know…all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. But too much play doesn’t get the job done.

Truth is, way too many home business owners spend less than two hours a day on their business. I have a news flash for you. You can’t create and run a successful home business on two hours a day. Heck, when I first started, working 14 hours a day, it took me months to finally build a solid business. Sacrifices had to be made if I was going to make it quickly.

If nothing else, it’s something to think about. Are you spending productive time on your business or are you playing Pac-Man?

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’m just going to come out and say this. My daughter, who is no Internet marketer, would put a lot of Internet marketers to shame. She hasn’t bought any of the latest traffic generation courses or anything like that. She doesn’t know beans about AdWords or AdSense, but she knows how to get people to her blog. This article is going to share a simple marketing lesson, not from me, but from my daughter. You might want to pay attention to this.

Okay, our story begins with the series finale of Lost. We’re both huge fans of the show. Anyway, we’re watching the last episode and she’s on her Macbook typing away. I’m asking her what she’s doing. She tells me that she’s writing up a review of the series finale. Now, I’m kind of puzzled because it’s just started and we’re like 10 minutes in. So how can she write a review on something that she hasn’t seen yet?

Well, she explains to me that she writes it up real time and then makes any minor edits after the show is over, in case there are a few things she assumed that turned out to be wrong. Lost has many twists and turns so this is quite possible. Then she tells me, when she’s done, she just hits publish on her blog and then, if she goes to Google, she’s the first one listed for a review of that show.

Amazing…and she figures this all out with no Internet marketing training. Be the first one to talk about something and you’ll get a ton of traffic. Man…why didn’t I think of that? Oh actually, I did with something called Google Trends. But that’s another issue. Oh, and she also had all her proper tags for the blog post as well so that the blog could be properly indexed. Again, all without any Internet marketing education.

So what’s my point? My daughter, who just graduated college and is going to be a guidance counselor and has absolutely NO desire to be a marketer, probably gets more unique visitors to her blog than some marketers who have spent hundreds of dollars on courses and whatnot. It’s almost disgusting when you think about it. And yes, she knows she gets lots of visitors because she has a tracker on her blog. Imagine that. She figured out that there is a way to track her visitors…free.

And she does this with MANY shows. So she gets many different fans. Imagine if she actually took the time to monetize her blog with AdSense or something. But no, she’s just a casual blogger who actually gets traffic…something a lot of marketers would kill for. Yeah, it’s disgusting.

My point is this. Internet marketing is NOT hard. We complicate it for reasons that I can’t even begin to fathom so I’m not even going to try. But maybe you should take a lesson from my daughter and just be the first person to do something. That’s a sure way to get traffic to your site.

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.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, today I saw a request over at the Warrior Forum that had me so scratching my head that I was beginning to wonder if this guy was either on drugs or just a plain jerk. If you wonder why I feel this way, keep reading. Point is, if you’re going to make requests, be realistic about them.

Okay, what was it that got me so ticked off today? Well, this guy comes to the Warrior Forum and he starts a thread that says “I’ll pay you $200,-for finding 35 YouTube videos for me”

Now, upon first sight, I figured, “Well, how hard can this possibly be? He’s probably looking for certain kinds of videos that shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

Here were his list of demands:

* Must be less than 1 year old.
* Has at least already 100,000 views.
* Must have at least 1,000 views per day. (track or follow it for 24 hours)
* The stats of the video must be going up and not neutral or going down.
* Must be a video longer than 1 minute
* Has of course no link and also no annotation in the video
* Video owner accepts link and annotation.
* Must be a good video where I can place a link on to an “internet marketing” website. So an entertainment kind of video is good enough.
* The demographics of the video should show people visiting it mostly from the US/Canada/UK region. Also, the age of people viewing the video must be at least 18 years old. So no videos that attracts a lot of kids.

Why don’t you just ask for the moon to be delivered to you on a silver platter fellow?

Let me tell you people who are reading this article something. I’ll pay $2,000 to anybody who can find ANYONE who fits the above criteria. I mean talk about total insanity.

Well, after I finished reading the insane demands, I laughed, wished the fellow luck on his quest and then went on my merry way.

Okay, but why is this such an unrealistic request aside from the fact that it’s unlikely he’s going to find 35 videos that match the criteria?

It’s called time my friend. How long do you think it would take to find even ONE video that matches the above criteria? Would you say it would take a minimum of 48 hours? I would. At $6 per video, what does that come out to hourly as far as pay scale?

See what I mean? It is absolutely not worth anybody’s time to do this.

So please, if you’re going to make requests, please make reasonable ones.

End of rant.

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.

One of the wonderful things about running our own home business is that we get to choose the kind of customers we want. Question is, what kind of customer do YOU want? Not sure? Don’t know where I’m going with this? Keep reading and you’ll find out.

Let me start off with saying that this article was inspired by a forum post where one of the members was complaining about his “free” customers, saying that they required more support than his “paid” customers. Now, we can debate all day about whether or not somebody who never gave you any money is actually a customer, but if you’re providing them with support, they’re going to take a piece of your time…maybe a big piece too.

Okay, but why? Why is it that people who get your stuff for free or at a very low cost are more of a time suck than somebody who has purchased something from you at a higher price? Well, it comes down to mindset. People who are always looking for free stuff are of a scarcity mindset. They’ll take and take and take until the well runs dry and then they’ll run off to take from somebody else. In short, they’re bloodsuckers. If your free report has a typo in it, they’ll be the first ones to write to you and complain about it. Somebody who just bought your $297 home study course won’t even notice the typo. They just want to get educated so that they can run a business themselves.

So what kind of customer do you want? If you sell low end products, you are going to get customers who demand more of your time. If you sell high end products, not so much. Now don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with selling low end products. I do it all the time. However, you must understand going in that doing so will probably end up causing you many support issues that you will have to deal with on a daily basis. If you’re cool with that, great. But if you don’t want to spend a good part of your day handling these issues, you might want to think about selling higher end products.

There you have it. The choice you ultimately make is yours. Just be aware that the kind of customer you cater to will determine what kind of a home business support headache you will or won’t have.

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!

In case you’re wondering why I’m even writing this article, it’s because of a forum post that just made my eyes bug out. I’m going to get to that post in a minute. Point is, if you participate at forums, there are a lot of members who spout a lot of garbage that sounds real but isn’t. Problem is, it’s hard to tell the real stuff from the BS as some of these guys talk a good game. This article is going to give you a few tips to help you determine if something is real or nonsense.

First, the forum post. Essentially, it was some guy claiming that he gets a 96.7% CTR on his articles. As soon as I saw this, my BS meter went off the charts. Okay, why?

Number one, I’m an article marketer and I’ve been doing this a long time. Not only that, I know a lot of people who have been doing this a long time and trust me on this…nobody gets a 96.7% CTR on their articles consistently. Heck, 50% would be a big stretch. So that was my first clue that this was a BS post. The claims were just too outrageous. But it goes deeper than that.

Next thing you have to look at is the poster himself. Is he using his real name or is he anonymous? Now don’t get me wrong. A lot of forum members use pseudo names because they want their privacy. However, the legit ones don’t go spouting off nonsense like this. They’re usually pretty well mannered and say things that make sense. If the poster is anonymous and spouts off nonsense, that’s two strikes against him.

Finally, you have to look at the join date and ulterior motives. Did the person just join the forum recently? This is usually a sign that they are trying to worm their way into the spotlight, usually backed up by a signature pointing to a related site to whatever is being said. This is a very common practice used by new members to make some sales off the less suspecting members. They talk a good game and even get a few people to chime in with “proof” of what they are saying. These people are usually shills or even the same poster under a different user name.

Yes, there are all kinds of tricks that people use to worm their way into the community. But if you use a little common sense and look at what the person is claiming, you can usually spot the BS. In other words, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

If you want to discover the REAL truth about Internet marketing and get some solid tips to take your business to the next level…get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/realtruth.html and subscribe to my REAL Truth newsletter where you’ll discover more than from all those high priced ebooks combined.

When a subscriber first opts into your list, it is at this time that they are going to be most open to any offers that you might have. So you want to strike when the iron is hot. In this article, I’m going to show you a simple way to get your subscriber to make a purchase on that initial opt in.

What you want to do is quite simple. Let’s say you have a product and it sells for $47 normally. What you want to do is include something like this in your initial newsletter.

“Dear Subscriber…Thank you for subscriber to my newsletter. I hope you find this information to be informative and helpful. In case you are not aware, I have a product specifically geared to solving the problem that you’re having with (problem goes here) that normally sells for $47. What I am doing today is making this product available to you for the next 24 hours ONLY for the reduced price of $27…”

And so on. You can then go on to describe the product and all the benefits of having it. You want to stress, at the end of this message, that this offer is ONLY good for the next 24 hours. What this does is it introduces a little scarcity into the mind of the prospect. Fear of loss is going to set in. They’re going to start thinking to themselves, “What if this product is really what I’m looking for? What if it really helps me? If I can get it for $20 less, I’d be a fool not to do it.” More times than not, the person is going to take you up on your offer.

Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself, why would I want to sell a $47 product for just $27? Well, two reasons. The first reason is simple. A sale is a sale, and it may be one that you might not gotten otherwise had you not reduced the price. I have run many such sales and have had numerous people who had been on my list for ages FINALLY buy the product because it was reduced. It all adds up.

The second reason is something most people don’t think about. As this is most likely a digital product (no, you wouldn’t do this with a physical one where you’re losing money on the sale) there really is no cost of sale. Each sale is 100% profit. So what is the difference if you sell it for $47 or $27? If two people buy who normally wouldn’t have, you have $54 profit, which is more than the price of one regular sale.

It’s for this reason that you see many offline stores run sales. They know that the extra sales they make will more than make up for the money lost in the reduction of the price.

Anyway, it’s something for you to consider doing with your first time subscribers.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of not getting your emails delivered, read or opened? Sick of not making any sales from your email marketing efforts? Visit my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/emailmarketing/index.html and get your hands on 5 years of my personal experience with email marketing…experience that has earned me tens of thousands of dollars yearly.

No doubt this article is going to tick off a lot of people. Well, I’m at that stage of my IM career where I don’t give a rat’s behind. Somebody has to explain why affiliate marketing is getting such a bad rap these days. Oh there are reasons all right. This article is going to go over just a few of the many. But these are at the very top of my list.

Let’s start off with the affiliate marketing mentality, which is essentially this. Throw as much crap at the wall as you can and hope something sticks. What exactly do I mean by this?

For starters, affiliate marketers have absolutely no loyalty to any product. The product is just a means to an end. So in most cases, the marketer doesn’t even check out the product to see if it’s any good. He looks at one thing… how much he’s going to get paid per sale and that’s it. The product could be the worst piece of garbage in the world. Doesn’t matter as long as it sells and brings in the cash.

Secondly, affiliate marketers will promote a ton of different products hoping that at least one of them will stick. The problem with this mentality is that when you split up your efforts in this manner, you can’t possibly do justice to any one promotion. But there is a bigger problem than that. When people see you promoting everything from acne cream to computer doctor kits, they begin to wonder if you’re really recommending products that are good or just out for a buck. After all, how can one person be so knowledgeable about all these products?

Aside from the mentality aspect, there is the promotional aspect itself. Many affiliate marketers use promotional tactics that would make a sailor blush. I won’t go into any of the specifics because I don’t want to give anybody ANY ideas, but some of the stuff these people are pulling is outright illegal if not unethical. And then the complaints come in and the FTC has to step in and clean up the mess. It’s not a pretty picture.

Anyway, there you have it. The reason affiliate marketing gets such a bad rap. Are you part of the problem or the solution?

I’ll let you answer that question for yourself.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of being an affiliate failure? Want to turn yourself into an affiliate assassin like I am? Want to land in the top 20 of every affiliate promotion you tackle just like I do? Check out my site at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/affiliateassassin/index.html and start earning a solid income as an affiliate marketer.

It’s easy to make things more complicated than they have to be. I think all of us are guilty of doing that at one time or another…even myself. But if you sit down, take a deep breath and really think about it, success with your home business, or anything in life for that matter, comes down to these three things. I’m going to outline them in this article.

At the top of the list is honesty. That might sound strange in a world where so many people make a living being dishonest. But how many of those people eventually get caught? The jails are filled with them. Truth is, it’s much easier to remember the truth than it is to remember a lie. And then, the more you lie, the more the lies build up until you can’t keep track of them anymore. Plus, many people who deal with home business owners have been burned enough that they can spot a lie a mile away. So do yourself a favor. Be honest. You’ll actually do more business that way.

Secondly, you need to know your business. I remember seeing a video, not too long ago, where this person was trying to pass himself off as an SEO expert. Well, somebody called this person who actually knew SEO and was able to expose the person for the fraud that he was. You can’t fool everybody with fast talk. Eventually, people will get wise to you if you don’t know your stuff and then, when they do, the word is going to get around fast. If you know your business and can SHOW people how you can really help them, you’ll have many more customers that way.

Finally, you need to know HOW to deal with people. A lot of home business owners make it sound like just because they’re on the Internet, it means that the people on the other end of the connection are all robots. They’re not. They’re people…real people. And these people have needs, wants, feelings, families to take care of and problems. They have to deal with so much impersonal crap each day as it is. Think I’m kidding? Try calling any service for support these days and see how many menus you have to go through before you get to talk to a real live person. Okay, get it? Be a real live person to others.

I know the above three things seem very simple, and they are. But you’ll be surprised how many home business owners don’t do them. Make yourself one of the ones who DO and you’ll find that you’re at the front of the pack.

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!

Well, the arguing is on again. Sometimes I think that people love to argue just for the sake of it. What’s the latest debate about? It’s about dealing with off line businesses and who IS and ISN’T qualified to do so. Supposedly, there is a difference between dealing online and off line. Well, this article is going to set the record straight on a few issues here. I think you’ll want to read this.

First of all, let’s get one thing straight. There is no difference between dealing with people online and off line other than the fact that online there is no face to face time and off line there is. Other than that, the same business principles apply. You have to know what you’re doing regardless of who you’re dealing with. Online of off line, people will see through a con…eventually.

Okay, so just who is qualified to deal with off line businesses? This is kind of where the debate comes in. Some argue that just because you are able to get traffic and earn revenue for an online business doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to do the same for an off line business. While there is some truth to that (nothing is a sure thing) it stands to reason that IF you have had success with an online business that you probably have the skills to do the same for an off line one.

However, where the problem actually lies is not so much in the tactics to get people to a web site. The problem is that many off line businesses simply do not translate well to an online presence. In other words, their product or service is not going to be something that will see online or where there is enough interest to generate the needed traffic.

For example, take food. It’s much cheaper for people to go to the store and buy food directly than to try to sell it online. Shipping costs alone would make it too expensive. However, if you are looking at people who are looking for a local food store, then you need to look at how many searches there are monthly in that area. Depending on how many, that will determine the viability of taking that food store or chain online.

So just because you have the skills to generate traffic to a web site for an off line company, it doesn’t mean that offering that service is going to be in THEIR best interests. Therefore, the people who are best qualified to deal with off line businesses are the ones who can tell IF the service they provide is going to actually benefit the company.

That, unfortunately, is where honesty and integrity come in. There are a lot of people out there who will simply say to a business owner, “I can get you tons of people to your site” and while that may be true, it may also be true that the traffic they generate results in zero income.

So the answer comes down to a little bit of “qualification in skills” and “qualification in integrity.”

Carry them both and you should be very successful approaching off line companies.

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.