Steve Wagenheim’s Home Business Blog

Well, today is a happy day for one Internet marketer. I was at the Warrior Forum and one of our members was so happy I thought he was going to have a baby. He finally hit five figures for a single month for the first time. Needless to say, I can understand his excitement. I remember when I had MY first five figure month. The thrill never goes away. In this article, I’m going to share his secret to his success. I think you will find it quite informative.

Okay, are you ready? You’re going to love this. His secret to success was to think big. Stop thinking small. Stop selling $47 ebooks. Think seminars and membership sites and providing massive value to your customers. Know what? He’s right. That IS one way of doing it. But it’s not the only way. In fact, it’s not for everybody. I don’t know his whole operation but when he started talking about his staff, I kind of figured that he’s got quite a few people working for him. In other words, he’s really gone big.

And that’s fine…if it’s for you. But make no mistake about it. When you go big like that, you have headaches that folks like me DON’T have. For one thing, when you have a staff working for you, you end up being a supervisor. Unless these are people who you can trust with your life, you have to keep an eye on them at all times. One screwup and it’s not THEIR name that gets trashed but yours. This is one of the reasons why I run a one man operation. And you can still make good money doing it. It’s just a lot more work.

It all comes down to what business model you’re comfortable with. A six figure copywriter who has clients lined up at the door waiting for him to write their sales letters is always working. He probably never has to worry about making a living. But unless he has some kind of agreement with these people that he gets a percentage of the sales of the product, he has to keep cranking out sales letters in order to keep making the money that he’s making. That’s the biggest problem with a service oriented business model.

So while I am thrilled for this guy (who wouldn’t be?) I also realize that his “secret” may not be something that YOU are going to want to tap into…at least not right away. My advice to you, at least at the beginning, is to pick a model that YOU’RE comfortable with. Jumping right into the deep end of the pool right from the start just might land you in the emergency room where CPR is going to be required.

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!

What is it with Internet marketers? You’d think the very first thing they’d learn to do is use a search engine. I mean how hard is it? I see how you guys use search engines and it’s a crying shame. Well, this article is going to teach you the RIGHT way to use them. If you’re curious as to what I have to share, you might want to read this.

First of all, you have to get away from this habit of using quotes when you search for something. Don’t you realize that that’s only going to help you find what you’re looking for a lot quicker? What’s the fun in that? Don’t you want the adventure of scouring through all those meaningless search results when you look up things like “how do I get cat poop off of my Stetson?” If you use quotes, you’re going to find your answer way to fast as there can’t be too many sites that are going to have that exact question. But without quotes, well, who knows what you’ll find? That’s the fun of searching without quotes. Be adventurous! Dare to live outside the box!

Secondly, when you use the search engines, you want to ignore all those results at the top and the right hand side. Don’t you realize that, one, those results are probably going to be the most relevant since those people are actually PAYING for those positions and two, you DO realize that those people ALL have something to sell to you. Do you REALLY think that you’re going to get to those sites and get the info that you need for FREE? I mean get real. You’re a marketer for crying out loud.

Finally, when you use the search engines you DON’T want to use just ONE. I mean what fun is that? You end up getting blasted with the same irrelevant results for every search you do because the search engine you decide to use doesn’t know a pea from a peanut. You MUST use ALL the search engines. That way you can get an idea of which one provides you with the MOST relevant results. Then, you can decide, depending on whether you want info quick or just want to get jerked around, which search engine you’re going to use for THAT particular search.

There you have it…my top three tips for using search engines.

Now aren’t you glad you read this article?

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

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I always get a chuckle when things like this happen. I know that the whole IM world is going to go into a mass panic and the forums will be hit with all the usual questions. Well, the other day, something happened that caused the usual panic. In this article, I’m going to tell you what it was, why it’s pointless to get upset about it and what you SHOULD do when something like this happens. Yeah, I get a real chuckle out of these things. Keep reading to find out why.

Okay, so yesterday morning after I get up, as I usually do, I went to check my overnight ClickBank stats. Well, I went to login and I got a message saying “Invalid login or password” or something like that. Well, my first thought would have been, “Did they ban me?” However, since this has happened before, I knew exactly what was going on. The ClickBank database had another meltdown and nobody was able to log into the system. I wasn’t worried.

But the rest of the world went into a panic. I went to the Warrior Forum and sure enough, there was a thread with the title, “Is Anybody Else Having Trouble Logging Into ClickBank?” or something like that. And of course, everybody responded with the usual, “Yeah me too…Wow, thought I got deleted or something.” Yeah, everybody was in panic mode and thinking the worst. Now don’t get me wrong. Sometimes you can’t log into a site because you WERE deleted.

However, and this is the point I’m trying to make here, getting upset about it and running to forums to find out if anybody else is having the same problem isn’t going to solve your problem or give you definitive answers. What you need to do, in this order, is stay calm (because getting upset won’t help) and THEN…contact the site that you’re not able to log into. THEY are the ONLY ones who will be able to give you definitive answers as to what is going on.

People get way too upset about things like this. It’s pointless. It doesn’t help your productivity any. And running to others isn’t going to solve your problem. I don’t remember exactly what I did when this first happened to me, as it was so long ago, but what I should have done (hopefully I did) was crank out ClickBank’s number and call them on the phone. Then I would have gotten directly to the heart of what was going on.

Life is too short to get upset over things like this. Go to the source and get your answers.

Then you’ll know where you stand.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to know what the 7 Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing are? Get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/7deadlysins/7deadlysins.html and save your business from going down the tubes before it even has a chance.

I usually don’t divulge such information in an article, but I think it’s important to see if we’re all on the same page here. I realize that every business is unique, but some things DO affect us all. This article is going to discuss the summer and pulling out of it as we just have. I’m going to share my personal experience as well as inside info I got from a guy who has had his pulse on this industry for about a decade now. I think you’ll find this interesting reading.

Okay, I’m just going to come out and say it…August 2010 was my worst month in like two years. In fact, I thought the world was coming to an end. No joke. But more interestingly, the guy I was telling you about in my intro paragraph…he said to me that everybody HE’D talked to essentially said the same thing…that August was an absolute disaster. Now, summer is traditionally slow because most people don’t want to spend the nice hot days in front of a computer. But THIS was ridiculous.

And then September hit. I don’t know about you, but everything has gone up. My EzineArticles daily views have gone up by almost double and my income has increased by 20%. Things are almost back to normal. I suspect that this is across the board going by what my friend told me. Great, so what does all this mean? It’s not like we have any control over downturns in the economy or the seasons that come and go. Or do we?

Well, that’s where there are differing schools of thought. Some say that it truly is out of our control. If people aren’t buying, they aren’t going to buy and nothing you do can make them buy. Others say that if you roll up your sleeves and really put your mind to it, you can soak a dollar out of a rock. Where do I stand on this issue? Well, let me put it to you this way.

As bad as August was for me, it would have been even worse if I didn’t do a couple of special projects. I saw that the month was going south so I did a few extra things that I wouldn’t have normally done. I didn’t just sit back, throw my arms up in the air and say, “Oh well, this month is shot.” I did something about it. Did it help? Not as much as I would have liked, but it DID add to my bottom line.

So what’s my point? My point is simple. Even during bad times, you will get out of your marketing what you put into it. It’s not just going to happen through wishing and hoping. My apologies to Dusty Springfield. If you want to succeed, even during bad times, you have to do whatever you can to make it happen. I did. And while it was still my worst month in two years, I don’t want to think of how bad it would have been had I not done the work that I did.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of spinning your wheels trying to get your marketing off the ground? Haven’t got a clue what you’re doing and sick of being dead broke? Why not get some solid mentoring from somebody who has been EXACTLY where you are today? Check out my mentoring program at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/mentoring/mentoring.html and finally get yourself the one on one education that can FINALLY give you the success that you’ve been looking for.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this article is going to hit a few raw nerves of quite a few home business owners. Personally, I have a 21 year old daughter and today I thought to myself…”If I told my daughter exactly what I did with my home business, would I be proud of what I do?” The answer for me is a resounding yes. In fact, I talk about my business a lot to my daughter…not that she listens. LOL. Point is, from what I’ve seen, there are a lot of business practices out there that I think would disappoint a lot of children. Is your business one of them?

Look, let’s be honest. It’s rough out there. Running your own home business is not easy. Nobody said it was. And nobody promised any of us a successful business. Certainly nobody promised me anything. In fact, it took me five months just to make my first $28 online. No, that’s not something I was proud of, but at least what I was doing was ethical.

And then I see people who cookie stuff to steal commissions of others, spam blogs and forums and do just about anything that they can to make a buck. They’ll promote products that they know aren’t worth spit. If you think I’m kidding, pick up one of the big sellers from one of the big affiliate marketplaces and tell me if it’s worth as much as the digital paper it’s printed on. And yet, people blindly promote this garbage without blinking an eye…as long as the money keeps coming in.

I can’t help but wonder if these home business owners who were doing all these less than desirable things to bring in an income, if they were to tell their children exactly what they were doing, what would their children say? Would they be proud, or would they say “Daddy, that’s not very nice” and give the dirtiest look that they ever gave to anyone? My money is on the latter. Of course with some families, who knows? And don’t get me wrong, I’m not passing judgment on how parents raise their kids. That’s not my job. I leave that to a higher authority. But really…some of you folks give new meaning to the term “stretching credibility.”

Anyway, I’m not your conscience. That’s not my job either. All I’m suggesting is that it’s actually possible to run a home business without taking advantage of others. I read about all these back hat and gray hat tactics and I can’t help but thinking…”How come I can make money without pulling all this crap?” I think it’s a question that a lot of people should be asking themselves before they cross over that line and have to tell their kids that it’s none of their business what they do with THEIR business.

Just saying.

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!

Ladies and gentlemen, step right up and watch the gurus attempt amazing feats of magic as they dazzle us with their videos with no controls and their product launches guaranteed to spellbound you and amaze you. And right before your eyes, they will take the money RIGHT out of your wallet. Okay, it’s a little over the top. I’ll give you that much. But tell the truth…don’t you get caught up in all the glitz and glamour of Internet marketing? Don’t you want to be apart of all that hoop-de-do? Or maybe you already ARE a part of it? And if you are, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Too many questions? Head already spinning from them all? Well then maybe you should read this article and get some answers.

Let me start off by saying that I am all for making a living…honestly. And I also have no problem with a little glitz. But what I do have a problem with is the same predictable nonsense that we get with every product launch. You know what I’m talking about. The servers that mysteriously crash just as the site goes live. The endless build up to launch day. The testimonials for a product that doesn’t even exist yet. And of course every affiliate marketer and his grandmother jumping on the train to promote the masterpiece of the day. After a while, it’s enough to make you sick.

If that’s what you want…if that’s what you want to be a part of…then go for it. As long as it’s an honest living and you’re delivering a quality product that actually helps people, whoop it up as much as you can. All I’m doing is suggesting that their MIGHT be a better way.

Personally, I’ve never done a big product launch. Yes, I’ve had my share of several thousand dollar days. I do them quietly and without fanfare. In fact, most people don’t even know when I do release something because most of my releases go to my private list only and/or to the Warrior Forum as a Warrior Special Offer. You’d have to hunt for a lot of my stuff if you REALLY wanted it. And yet, I still make more than a comfortable living without all the stress of a major product launch. And if you think there isn’t stress in a major product launch, try one. Just reading about how they work (Get Jeff Walker’s PLF) makes my head spin. Sorry…don’t need all that headaches.

Yes, believe it or not, you can make a very nice living as an Internet marketer without being part of the IM circus sideshow.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of spinning your wheels trying to get your marketing off the ground? Haven’t got a clue what you’re doing and sick of being dead broke? Why not get some solid mentoring from somebody who has been EXACTLY where you are today? Check out my mentoring program at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/mentoring/mentoring.html and finally get yourself the one on one education that can FINALLY give you the success that you’ve been looking for.

I know you’ve just read the title of this article and you’re probably scratching your head wondering just what the heck I’ve been smoking. I assure you, I have not been smoking anything. In fact, I don’t smoke…PERIOD. But what I do is try to get people to think about what they do when it comes to their Internet marketing practices. Well, this article should get you thinking a lot. So I’m just going to ask this question straight out. Where did you bury the bodies? Not sure what I mean? No problem. Keep reading and it will all be crystal clear.

Breadcrumbs. I love breadcrumbs. I love to eat them and I love the breadcrumbs that other marketers leave laying on the ground so I can figure out just what it is that they’re doing. That way, I can reverse engineer their campaigns and see if I can’t find a way to do them one better. Yes, breadcrumbs are a wonderful thing for other marketers. And the truth is, we all leave our little trail of breadcrumbs. Even I do. But I do my best to cover them up the best that I can. How? By burying the dead bodies so nobody can find them.

Okay, you’re probably asking yourself, “How can you do this?” Well, there are a lot of ways to bury the dead bodies. One way is by using link cloakers. This way, nobody can see what your domain is initially without actually clicking on your links and going there. Some people are just too lazy to do this so they won’t bother. Cloak your links and that’s one body that’s going to be a little harder to find.

Another way is by using pen names. You don’t want people to know that it was you who wrote a particular article? No problem. Come up with a pen name and submit it under that name. If you write articles for EzineArticles, they allow you up to 50 pen names. That means that you could tackle up to 10 different niches and nobody would ever know that it was you in any of them.

Finally, when you register a domain, you want to use private registration. That way, if somebody goes to look up to see if a domain is yours, should they suspect that it is, all they’re going to find when they head over to whois, is a private registration and no way to determine who the actual owner is. This is what you call burying the body six feet under and covering it up with mud.

Of course there are plenty of other things you can do such as using proxies, but this short list will do for now. Point is, if you don’t want people to know what you’re up to, there ARE ways to keep them from finding out.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to know what the 7 Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing are? Get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/7deadlysins/7deadlysins.html and save your business from going down the tubes before it even has a chance.

I’m making a point in this article that I hope people get. It’s rather long winded but hopefully you’ll get it. I know a lot of people are right now reading this thinking to themselves, “What does Harry Potter have to do with Internet marketing?” Well, hang in there because I’m going to lay out the perfect product funnel line for you. If you don’t get it after reading this, you need to have your brain checked for malfunctions.

J K Rowling wrote Harry Potter on a napkin. She was dead broke and had an idea. That’s all it was. That idea turned into a first book. That first book was one of the best sellers of the year. Well, she already had the whole Harry Potter storyline in her head and knew exactly how the whole saga was going to end. So a series of books came out, ending with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. I read them all. They were one heck of series.

But Harry Potter didn’t just end with the seven books. There was a movie made for each one. Well, actually the last movie hasn’t been made yet, but eventually, all seven will be made into movies. But if you think that’s all there is to Harry Potter, think again. Movies and books only scratch the surface of this mega empire.

We also have Harry Potter games and action figures. There are Harry Potter puzzles including a fantastic one of Hogwarts. If you want to see a really cool puzzle, get it. There are also tons of clothes you can buy including T-Shirts, scarfs and, well, you name it. Ever go to a Halloween party and see how some of the people are dressed? You got it… tons of costumes too.

Even some of the supporting characters in the series have their own toys and dolls like Malfoy. Now that is one evil kid. You can even get a wall banner if you like. They’ve got all the Hogwarts houses. There is even a Clue game you can get based on the Potter theme. Oh, and for you chess fans, there are chess sets… and really nice ones.

Okay, I think I made my point. Come out with a great idea and then develop that idea into as many areas as you can. If this example doesn’t inspire you, well, you really DO need to have your brain checked for activity.

Now get out there and make something great!

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of spinning your wheels trying to get your marketing off the ground? Haven’t got a clue what you’re doing and sick of being dead broke? Why not get some solid mentoring from somebody who has been EXACTLY where you are today? Check out my mentoring program at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/mentoring/mentoring.html and finally get yourself the one on one education that can FINALLY give you the success that you’ve been looking for.

This may seem like an odd question to a lot of marketers. I mean, if nothing else…money should motivate you to get your marketing into gear. But for some people, myself included, money just isn’t enough. Oh yeah, maybe when you don’t have it, it’s enough of a motivator. But after a while, you need something else. But why do you need to be motivated at all to work at your marketing? Well, this article explains why.

Like it or not, human nature is so that, after a while, we get bored with things. Think about it. Do you have just one DVD in your movie collection that you watch over and over? If you’re a music buff, do you have just one CD that you listen to all the time at the exclusion of all else? I mean, even if you love just one group, if that group has more than one CD you have them all, right? We don’t eat the same things every night. We don’t even have the exact same routine everyday. Most people, even if they work a 9 to 5 job, take the weekends off to do something else. And they don’t do the same things every weekend.

So what do you think is going to happen if day after day you’re doing the same Internet marketing routine without any variation? You’re going to start to get a little bored. I know there are times when I get bored doing the same things everyday, especially those menial things that you HAVE to do. Don’t they just drive you CRAZY?

Well, when boredom starts to set in, we tend to put off doing those things. We look for other things to do. And ultimately, when that happens, our marketing suffers. It has to, unless of course we have everything on auto pilot. And I’ve yet to see a marketing system yet that is 100% hands off. Even an AdWords campaign has to be monitored to make sure your CTR isn’t falling off or your quality score hasn’t gone down. Sure, you can just hire people to check this stuff for you. But until you’re at that stage where you can afford to do that, you have to do these things yourself.

So what motivates you to keep going? For me, it’s my family. I think about how I’d be letting them down if I didn’t keep doing my work everyday. I don’t personally care about the money for myself. I’m not materialistic. My hobbies are relatively cheap. In fact, most of them I can do for next to nothing. But I like to be able to give my wife and daughter everything they want. That’s what I live for.

If you’re having trouble getting motivated on your own, think about what’s important to you. Certainly there has to be something that makes it worth while to go through the marketing routine on a daily basis.

Find what it is and you’ll find the secret to keeping yourself on the top of your game.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Tired of spinning your wheels trying to get your marketing off the ground? Haven’t got a clue what you’re doing and sick of being dead broke? Why not get some solid mentoring from somebody who has been EXACTLY where you are today? Check out my mentoring program at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/mentoring/mentoring.html and finally get yourself the one on one education that can FINALLY give you the success that you’ve been looking for.

I want to thank Paul Hancox and Paul Myers for the inspiration for this article. Paul H for reminding me of how important what I’m going to talk about really is and Paul M for being the inspiration to Paul H so that he’d even think to bring the subject up. So you understand what the heck I’m talking about, let me preface my point with a short story.

The other day, Paul Myers sent out an email to his list with a product of his. The product will show you how he got 12,000 new subscribers to his list with just 40 hours of work. Well. I was so intrigued by the whole thing that I immediately went to the sales page. I didn’t even have to read it. I just saw the main point and went down to the bottom of the page to the buy now button. I clicked on it and bought. End of story.

Now think about this. How many people can send YOU to a sales page and you won’t even have to read the darn thing? You’ll just look at the main benefits and drop down to the bottom of the page and order. Do you know why that is? Paul Hancox reminded me of that this morning with his great post at the Warrior Forum.

It’s called building trust and a reputation. When you consistently deliver great value to your subscribers, you can almost send them a headline and a buy not button and they’ll click on it and buy. How do I know? I’ve done that myself many times. At least close to it. Once you’ve established a relationship with your audience and they know they can trust you, it doesn’t take much to get them to pull out their wallets.

But it also doesn’t take much to destroy that trust. Come out with just one substandard product and many of your faithful followers will turn on you. That is why you have to always be on the top of your game. You can’t just say to yourself everyday, “These people love me…I can sell them any old thing and they won’t care.” They WILL care. Abuse their trust and you’ve lost them for good.

Obviously, somebody who doesn’t know Paul Myers (anybody who lives on the moon or in a cave) will need to read that sales letter, which is why we DO have to keep writing them. But over time, you will find that certain people will buy your products with nothing more than a brief description.

Build trust. Treat people with respect and provide them with value.

If you do this on a consistent basis, you’ll be surprised how lousy a copywriter you can be and still make sales.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to know what the 7 Deadly Sins of Internet Marketing are? Get my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/7deadlysins/7deadlysins.html and save your business from going down the tubes before it even has a chance.