How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! “How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less!” How To Transform Yourself From A �Nobody’ To A Wealthy Celebrity In Just 30 Days…Or Less! B Byy E Ew weenn C Chhiiaa aanndd FFaabbiioo ““ffaabbm maann”” M Maarrcciiaannoo -1© Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! A Note To YOU, Our Valued Reader WARNING: What you are about to read will completely change the way you view some of your most cherished authors and celebrities. That’s because we’re exposing some of the secrets they used to get to where they are today. Our hope is that you learn a thing or two about how to replicate their success for your own business, so that YOU can become a wealthy celebrity in just 30 days…or less! This e-book is the first of its kind. We hope you enjoy it! We took great pride researching and editing it down to the bare essentials. Even edited, it turned out to be a little longer than we had intended, but we felt we had to include all the material found within this ebook. We hope you enjoy the results of our efforts. We believe that you will not only enjoy reading this e-book, but will profit from it as well. Please take the time to read through it either on your computer screen or by printing it out. (Reading a hard copy will allow you to write notes in the margins.) Whatever method you choose, we recommend keeping a notepad and pen by your side. We want you to take action on the materials every step of the way. Our e-course will walk you through the program step-by-step and make it easier to take action and apply the secret strategies. If you haven’t signed up for our e-course yet, then sign up now by clicking on the link below or sending an e-mail to: [email protected] Okay, let’s keep this going. We know you’re anxious to get started! To your success, Ewen & Fabio -2© Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! This is NOT a free E-book! If you’re interested in making money with this book, see page 8! Copyright © 2004 by Ewen Chia and Fabio Marciano. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. The information in this e-book is intended for educational purposes only. Published by Four Green Houses Press, Harrison, NY Division of The Wealthy Pauper, LLC, P.O Box 676, Harrison, NY 10528 www.thewealthypauper.com First Edition ISBN 1-932515-16-X Cover design by Max Covers Edited by The ALM Group Limits of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: This publication is designed to provide competent and reliable information regarding the subject matters covered. However, it is published with the understanding that the publisher and authors are not engaged in rendering legal, financial, accounting, or other professional services. Laws and practices often vary from state to state and if legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a professional should be sought. The publisher and authors specifically disclaim any liability that is incurred from the use or application of the contents of this book. The authors and publisher of this e-book and the accompanying materials have used their best efforts in preparing this program. The authors and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this program. They disclaim any warranties (expressed or implied), merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. The authors and publisher shall in NO event be held liable for any loss or other damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. As always, the advice of a competent legal, tax, accounting or other professional should be sought. The authors and publisher do not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of any sites listed in the e-book. All links are for informational purposes only and are not warranted for content, accuracy or any other implied or explicit purpose. This manual/text contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. -3© Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Table of Contents A NOTE TO YOU, OUR VALUED READER ............................................................................2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................ 4 HOW TO TURN THIS E-BOOK INTO YOUR OWN 24/7 MONEY GENERATOR! ........................... 8 ABOUT THE AUTHORS .......................................................................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 11 WHAT’S AN EXPERT? ..............................................................................................................11 WHY YOU WANT TO AND NEED TO BE AN EXPERT .............................................................13 WHAT’S AN INFOPRENEUR?.................................................................................................13 CELEBRITY STATUS .............................................................................................................13 OTHER PERKS AND BENEFITS ..............................................................................................14 IS SOMEONE REALLY GOING TO PAY YOU FOR THE KNOWLEDGE IN YOUR HEAD?.................15 SHOULD YOU CREATE A NEW NICHE OR PLAY IN AN EXISTING ONE? ...............16 CAN YOU REALLY DO IT IN 30 DAYS? ..................................................................................17 CHOOSE YOUR NICHE (OR MAKE ONE UP) ............................................................................19 INSTANT NICHE PRODUCTS – A PREVIEW OF WHAT YOU CAN DO VIRTUALLY OVERNIGHT TO CREATE PRODUCTS AND START MAKING SOME REAL MONEY ...........................................21 WHAT AND WHERE IS YOUR STARVING CROWD? ................................................................ 23 IS THE MARKET UNDESERVED? .......................................................................................... 27 IS THERE MONEY TO BE MADE?......................................................................................... 27 THE SNEAKY WAY, WHICH I DON’T ADVOCATE…BUT…. ..................................................... 27 THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTINUOUS LEARNING ..........................................................35 FOCUS ON THE 20: THE 80/20 RULE REVISITED.........................................................35 YOUR MASSIVE ACTION PLAN ............................................................................................38 SO HOW LONG BEFORE YOU’RE RECOGNIZED AS AN EXPERT? .............................39 STEP #1 – BASIC BUSINESS TOOLS..................................................................................40 YOUR UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION (USP) ..................................................................... 40 BENEFITS OF YOUR SERVICE: YOU SOLVE PROBLEMS .......................................................... 44 CREATING YOUR ELEVATOR SPEECH .................................................................................. 44 FOUCUS AND PROVIDE SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS ............................................................ 46 STEP #2: CREATING YOUR WEB SITE ..............................................................................52 YOUR WEB SITE AND BEYOND – CREATING YOUR INTERNET PRESENCE .............................. 54 GET A DOMAIN NAME THAT DESCRIBES WHAT YOU DO OR SELL ......................................... 55 MINI-SITES (A BRIEF PRIMER) .......................................................................................... 60 BUILDING YOUR SITE – DOING IT YOURSELF ...................................................................... 62 DROP HINTS ABOUT YOUR GREATNESS .............................................................................. 65 10 WEB SITE ESSENTIALS TO INCREASE YOUR SALES .......................................................... 66 -4© Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! STEP # 3 – WRITING ARTICLES AND PUBLISHING YOUR NEWSLETTER ...........69 4 THINGS TO STRIVE FOR WITH YOUR ARTICLES ................................................................. 69 3 STEPS TO GETTING YOUR ARTICLES WRITTEN IN 30 MINUTES OR LESS ............................ 72 FINDING A HOME/MARKET FOR YOUR ARTICLES ................................................................ 76 YOUR NEWSLETTER AND/OR E-ZINE........................................................................80 PROMOTE YOUR OWN PRODUCTS. DUH, WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT? ........................... 86 SALES LETTERS THAT SELL ................................................................................................. 89 YOUR SWIPE FILE .............................................................................................................. 89 HEADLINES THAT SCREAM, SELL MORE ..................................................................... 89 STEP #4(A) - YOUR E-BOOKS: YOUR ULTIMATE VIRAL MARKETING TOOL ......97 KILLER TITLES AND COVERS ............................................................................................... 98 HOW TO WRITE YOUR EBOOK ............................................................................................ 99 EXACTLY HOW DOES YOUR E-BOOK BECOME A VIRAL MARKETING MACHINE? ................. 100 E-BOOKS – ELECTRONIC MONEY MAKERS........................................................................ 102 THE EASY EBOOK SYSTEM OR THE ONE MINUTE E-BOOK ................................................. 102 ANYONE CAN WRITE AN E-BOOK, THAT’S THE PROBLEM................................................... 102 YOU ONLY HAVE TO BE SUCCESSFUL ONCE ...................................................................... 104 THE ONE MINUTE E-BOOK: JUST A QUICK LOOK ...............................................................105 DO E-BOOKS MAKE MONEY?.............................................................................................107 WHAT’S YOUR HOOK?...................................................................................................... 109 STEP #4(B) BOOKS: A MUST-HAVE MARKETING TOOL ........................................... 111 EVERYONE CAN WRITE A BOOK ..........................................................................................111 A BOOK IN 30 DAYS OR LESS? IMPOSSIBLE, RIGHT? .......................................................... 112 BUT I DON’T WRITE OR "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO WRITE." ................................................ 114 BOOKS…MAKE THAT BESTSELLING BOOKS, CAN BE WRITTEN QUICKLY ............................. 116 THE SYSTEM: HOW YOU’RE GOING TO WRITE A BOOK IN 30 DAYS…OR LESS! ................. 117 MAKE A WRITING SCHEDULE ............................................................................................ 118 TURN OFF THE EDITING MACHINE ....................................................................................122 PUBLISHING OPTIONS .......................................................................................................124 STEP #5 - NETWORKING & JOINT VENTURES!........................................................... 126 BUILDING A BIG NETWORK PAYS BIG DIVIDENDS ..............................................................126 GIVERS GAIN ....................................................................................................................127 FOLLOW-UP! FOLLOW-UP! FOLLOW-UP! ......................................................................... 130 TOOLS OF THE TRADE ....................................................................................................... 131 QUICK START PLAN FOR NETWORKING SUCCESS ................................................................139 THE IMPORTANCE OF WORD OF MOUTH ............................................................................147 JOINT VENTURES ............................................................................................................. 148 HOW TO CONVINCE A POTENTIAL PARTNER TO WORK WITH YOU .......................................149 CREATE YOUR MASTERMIND GROUP/INNER CIRCLE .........................................................152 STEP #6 - COACHING CLIENTS......................................................................................... 153 GET YOURSELF A COACH ...................................................................................................155 CREATE YOUR PROGRAM...................................................................................................156 FABIO’S FINANCIAL FREEDOM COACHING OUTLINE ........................................................... 157 -5© Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! STEP #7 CREATING ADDITIONAL INFOPRODUCTS .................................................. 167 HOW TO CREATE MULTIPLE STREAMS OF INCOME .................................................. 167 THE PROFIT IS IN THE BACK-END................................................................................... 167 DON’T GET INFECTED BY THE TWENTY DOLLAR E-BOOK SYNDROME ................................ 168 WHY YOU NEED INFOPRODUCTS (AND LOTS OF THEM).......................................................170 PLAN YOUR BACK-END BEFORE YOU START SELLING STUFF ........................................... 171 THE LAZY INFOPRENEUR’S PATH TO RICHES ......................................................................176 PRICING YOUR PRODUCTS .................................................................................................176 PRICING LEVELS FOR EVERY PURSE AND POCKET............................................................... 177 CONVERSION RATIO (OR RATE) .........................................................................................179 #STEP 7(B) - CREATING RAVING FANS! ....................................................................... 182 CONNECTING WITH YOUR FANS ........................................................................................ 182 SOLVING THEIR PROBLEMS .............................................................................................. 182 10 SIMPLE STEPS TO MEMORABLE AND VIRAL ARTICLES & E-BOOKS ................................. 184 STEP #8 - SPEAKING, SEMINARS AND TELESEMINARS.......................................... 186 SPEAK AND GROW RICH ................................................................................................... 186 PUBLIC SPEAKING IS A PROMOTIONAL VEHICLE ................................................................ 186 NETWORKING ...................................................................................................................187 TRADE ASSOCIATIONS ARE GOLDMINES .............................................................................187 GREAT SPEECHES – THE APC’S WORK .............................................................................. 191 THE CLASSIC SPEECH OUTLINE – ONLY 3 PARTS ...............................................................192 SEMINARS, BOOTCAMPS AND BEYOND .......................................................................... 197 THE BEST WAY TO LEARN HOW TO HOLD GREAT SEMINARS .............................................200 GIVE SOMETHING AWAY…FOR FREE ............................................................................. 201 THE FORTUNE IS IN THE FOLLOW-UP................................................................................ 201 HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE BIG MONEY? ............................................................ 202 PROFITING FROM SEMINARS ............................................................................................ 203 TELECLASSES – TRAINING WHEELS FOR BUDDING GURUS ................................................ 204 HAVE A PLAN AND A PURPOSE: TO MAKE MONEY ............................................................. 205 STEP #9 - MEDIA AND PR................................................................................................... 207 MEDIA: PUBLICITY SELLS YOU ........................................................................................ 207 MEDIA KITS ..................................................................................................................... 207 PRESS RELEASES ..............................................................................................................208 PR – THE MOST UNTAPPED MARKETING VEHICLE .............................................................. 211 YOU NEED A HOOK ........................................................................................................... 211 PITCHING YOURSELF TO THE MEDIA..................................................................................221 GETTING ON RADIO.......................................................................................................... 223 GETTING ON TV ............................................................................................................... 223 TOP MEDIA SOURCES ....................................................................................................... 225 -6© Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! STEP #10 - LEARNING TO SELL YOURSELF & PROMOTION, PROMOTION, PROMOTION......................................................................................................................... 229 SELLING ISN’T FUN, BUT IT’S CRITICAL ............................................................................. 230 SOME KEY ELEMENTS OF GREAT SELLING .........................................................................231 LIST BUILDING 101 .......................................................................................................... 232 LIFETIME VALUE OF A CUSTOMER .................................................................................... 234 IT’S NOT THE SIZE OF THE LIST THAT COUNTS (SERIOUSLY).............................................. 234 AUTORESPONDERS ........................................................................................................... 235 STEPS TO OPTIMIZING YOUR HTML CODES ..................................................................... 244 SELLING TO YOUR LIST.............................................................................................. 253 CONCLUDING CHAPTER....................................................................................................... 255 VISIBILITY + CREDIBILITY + WORD OF MOUTH = REPUTATION ..................... 255 HOW TO BRAND (YOURSELF AND YOUR BUSINESS) ........................................................... 256 INVEST IN YOURSELF........................................................................................................ 258 YOUR 30-DAY ACTION PLAN! ............................................................................................ 261 WHAT LEVEL EXPERT ARE YOU? ...................................................................................... 262 TAKING THAT FIRST STEP ................................................................................................. 263 MY ACTION PLAN TO BECOME AN OVERNIGHT WEALTHY CELEBRITY ................................ 264 MUST HAVE RESOURCE ................................................................................................... 267 AFTERWARD............................................................................................................................. 268 PRODUCTS YOU CAN SELL IN AS LITTLE AS 30 DAYS FROM NOW… ..................................... 269 OUR ONE-ON-ONE COACHING, JOINT VENTURES, AND BEYOND…. ................................... 269 RESOURCES USED THROUGHOUT THIS E-BOOK........................................................ 270 -7© Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! How To Turn This e-Book Into Your Own 24/7 Money Generator! We know we’ve written a great e-book which you’ll absolutely enjoy and learn from, thanks to the feedback we’ve received from our inner circle members and experts we’ve sent out to for advance reviews. We think you’ll greatly value this book as well, which is why you’d want to make easy money by recommending it to others as well. You see, the best people to recommend a great product are the people who already own and value it! So, are you interested in making effortless 50% commissions just by telling others about this lifechanging e-book? All you have to do is send traffic to our proven sales letter (through an endorsement to your opt-in subscriber list or your customer database etc.) and we’ll handle the rest. We’ll pay you 50% for every sale you make, and our affiliate program pays out twice a month! For simple e-mails, tricks, and tools you can use to help make selling this e-book easy, just visit: www.CashMoreChecks.com/affiliates.htm Go there now to find out how you can make 50% in commissions just by helping us spread the word about this great resource. Again, we’ve made it as turnkey as possible for you. All you have to do is sign up for the program, get your affiliate link, and you could be earning commissions in as little as one hour from now! www.CashMoreChecks.com/affiliates.htm Yes, one hour from now you could be making 50% commissions with no (well, practically no) work! -8© Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days..or Less!From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! About the Authors Fabio Marciano Fabio is the author of The Secrets of Wealth and The Wealthy Pauper. He is also the president of The Wealthy Pauper, LLC a company whose mission it is to help educate people about investing and personal development. He has been called the #1 Personal and Financial Freedom Coach on the Internet. He writes The Million Dollar Dream, his e-zine on personal and financial wealth. Subscribe now at FabmanSecrets.com Fabio is also the author and coauthor of some other best-selling e-books, including: Î Write It FAST! - How to Write a Book in 30 Days…or less! “Sick of carrying that book idea of yours around in your head? Well now you can follow this simple seven-step process to get your book written in 30 days…or less.” http://www.WriteaBookin30Days.com Î The One Minute E-book “The Amazingly SIMPLE SYSTEM you can follow to learn how to write your very own profitable e-book when you only have a few minutes a day to spare.” http://www.TheOneMinuteEbook.com Î Teleseminar Magic “How to leverage others to create products for you, promote your business, and build your list…while making you rich...practically OVERNIGHT.” http://www.TeleseminarMagic.com Î Instant Niche Products “Sick of making a FEW BUCKS from every Affiliate sale? Keep a bigger share of the profits by creating your own products even if you can’t write, don’t have a niche and well, you’re lazy.” http://www.InstantNicheProducts.com -9© Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Ewen Chia Ewen Chia has been marketing online since 1997 and is the owner of Instant Marketing Secrets Inc, serving dozens of money-spinning sites in its network. He’s also co-owner of Midas Touch Marketing, a joint venture marketing consultancy powerhouse with partners Jo Han Mok and Alex Tan of PowerAffiliateMarketing.com Recognized as an expert information, direct response and super affiliate marketer with a fiery passion for creating unique content and best selling products, Ewen has made fellow marketers go wow. Ewen’s widely known as a prolific info-product creator with the unique knack for cranking out hot-selling products fast. The speed at which he creates best-sellers will astound you. For instance, in the short space of two months, he launched “Website Conversion Secrets” and “Resale Rights Secrets” back to back! Consistently creating new products to help marketers skyrocket their profits and take their businesses to the next level, Ewen’s dedication to excellence will surprise you. He is also the author and/or publisher of “Turnkey Internet Profits”, “Mini eBook Secrets”, “Underground Sales Letters”, “Power Affiliate Marketing” and “Instant Graphics Generator”. Ewen has partnered with many of the Internet’s top marketers to produce consistent 5 figure profits - in as little as 72 hours! If you have not experience his powerful writings and no B.S. content to turn your site into an over-driven profit machine instantly, you’re missing out! You can get more information on him at http://www.EwenChia.com "Do You Know The Hidden Marketing Secrets To Instantly Skyrocket Your Traffic, Sales And Profits?" Sign up for some real-time uncensored marketing letters, tips and strategies – it’s 100% free! Click here to sign up now 9 -10© Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Introduction Let’s start from the top. What’s an Expert? An expert is simply the recognized authority in their field of business. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the dog grooming or the speaking industry; if you’re the “go-to” person, then you’ve gained expert status in your area of expertise. And by the way, the word “guru” means an expert as well. We use the terms “guru” and “expert” interchangeably throughout this ebook. In fact, we probably use the word “guru” more often because we think “guru” is used more often online, versus “expert.” So who are some well-known gurus? Gurus are people like Tom Peters, Dan Poynter, Anthony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki, and Mark Victor Hansen, to name a few. They’re not ashamed of the money they make and the fees they charge because they know that they’re providing value and helping people in exchange for the money they’re making. So how does this happen? Does it magically happen? Is this honor and status bestowed upon them by some association or industry? No, that’s not how it works. ALL gurus are self-made. No one is born an expert. They’re manufactured. They’re created by hard work and studying the ins and outs of their fields. They become experts through a simple process of self-promotion and self-marketing that propels the everyday, ordinary professional into the stratosphere of guru-dom that instantly explodes their income into the stratosphere. The trick to becoming a guru is learning how to sell your services and actively market yourself as what else…an expert in your field! Is it really that simple? Yes, it is that simple. We’d like to paraphrase a quote by P.T. Barnum and say: - 11 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! “Without self-promotion, something terrible happens to your business; You make NO MONEY!” No one is going to seek you out and no one is going to pay you above the going rate for your services. Worse, they’ll constantly ask you for a discount and you’re going to have to spend valuable time justifying your fees. Yuck! Why would you want to spend your valuable time doing that when you could be working one-on-one with a client or spending more quality time with your family because you have more business than you can handle? “But am I bragging if I’m a self-promoter?” No, you’re not. Unless you’re a blowhard that’s just sitting there rambling off your skills to someone or constantly referring to the fact that you know “such and such,” you’re not bragging. As Will Rogers said, “If you done it, it ain’t braggin.” When you become an expert you will have the luxury of selecting the assignments and clients that interest you the most. You won’t “have to” do anything. Want to work only three days instead of five or six? Fine. Want to have clients come to your house instead of you going to theirs? No problem. You do what you want and you’ll still have plenty of money coming in to pay the bills. What this e-book will give you by the time you’re done reading it is a clear and concise plan of action that has at its heart amazing self-promotion and self-marketing strategies. These strategies will help you advertise to the world your credentials, abilities, and skills to the target clients who need your help. This plan of attack will help you set yourself apart from your competitors and have the media knocking on your door for interviews and commentary on issues in your field of expertise. - 12 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Why you WANT to and NEED to Be an Expert Simply put, if you’re the “go-to” expert in your niche, you’re going to be making a lot more money than everybody else. It’s virtually guaranteed! And of course there are plenty of rewards for being an expert in your niche, but the one everyone seems to focus in on are the financial rewards. Financial Rewards Your vacations are paid for by your company/business and you get to deduct everything from your cell phone to most of your “business” meals. Just a word to the wise: Don’t play games when it comes to paying your taxes. Don’t mess around with Uncle Sam. The infopreneurs and experts out there are pushing a ton of different products and they’re getting very, very rich because they’re cashing in on their celebrity status. The truth is that you don’t have to be a mainstream or well-known guru to make a six-figure income. You just have to follow the system we’re going to show you and work really hard to make it a reality. Yes, the rewards for becoming an infopreneur are HUGE. What’s an Infopreneur? An infopreneur is nothing more than an expert who sells information. We’re going to get technical on you right now. According to Skip Weitzen (a.k.a. Harold F. Weitzen), author of Infopreneurs Online And Global, (He’s the man who first coined the word “Infopreneur:”): “An Infopreneur is a person who gathers, organizes and disseminates information as a business venture or as a value-added service. What differentiates infopreneurs from the rest of the population is their ability to rapidly deploy their ideas and information to the marketplace.” Celebrity Status Life is pretty rough for the celebrity expert. Yeah, right! You’re going to get free stuff, higher treatment and tons of other hidden benefits by being a recognized expert in your niche. Ewen’s considered an expert internet marketer and consultant and you better believe people want to be around him, pick his brain, and have him help them with their businesses. In the process, he has consistently produced 5 figure profits in DAYS for himself and his clients! - 13 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Fabio regularly gets preview copies of e-books and books from authors and aspiring authors looking for a testimonial, help with editing, or even coauthoring requests. The same can happen to you once you become an expert in your niche. Other Perks and Benefits Most business owners, consultants, and professionals struggle to earn a living and have to go out and relentlessly pursue new business. Experts do not; their business comes to them. In fact, they have more business than they can handle and usually have a small staff whose sole job it is to answer phones, respond to potential customers’ inquiries, and mail out brochures and information on the experts’ business. So while the rest of us struggle to break through the noise of the marketplace, these chosen few gurus in our industry don’t even have to advertise, and the world is beating down their doors. Why? How is this happening? Good questions and the reasons are simple enough. The public at large perceives these people as experts in their niche and they want to deal with experts, not the local no-name professional down the block from them. "The road to happiness lies in two simple principles: find what interests you and that you can do well, and put your whole soul into it - every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have." - John D. Rockefeller, III Here’s a little secret! You already have everything you need inside of you to become a guru. That’s right, you already have a pretty deep understanding of your future profitable niche. Whether it’s your hobby that you’re turning into a business or your passion that you’re going to profit from, you have a wealth of knowledge about your area of expertise…. - 14 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! And that knowledge is worth a lot of money to a lot of people. Is Someone Really Going to Pay You for the Knowledge in Your Head? The answer is a definite yes. Why would someone pay you for the answers that they could find in a book or on the Internet? Because there simply is too much information out there to weed through. In this Information Age, we’re simply overloaded by all the information that’s being thrown at us. We can’t make heads or tails out of it, let alone use it to improve our lives. “We are drowning in information, yet starving for wisdom.” – Anthony Robbins People are going to pay you because you will help decipher that information into simple to remember, easy-to-use nuggets of gold that they can quickly implement into their lives to boost their sales, improve their finances, or help them in their personal lives. You’re just going to organize the information better, that’s all. That’s what you get paid to do: simplify a lot of information and make it easy for people to digest and use. That’s what Stephen Covey did with the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and Robert Kiyosaki did with Rich Dad, Poor Dad. They boiled down the field of time management/personal effectiveness and getting rich in life down to the core elements and have made millions of dollars because of their breakthrough books. Our hope is that you will do the same. You can create your own jargon, acronyms, simple steps, and can’t-miss formulas, but never lose sight of the importance of making the information simple and easy to explain. - 15 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Take a Slice of the Pie Every industry, no matter how arcane and small it may appear, has room for dozens upon dozens of experts. How? It’s all about slicing that pie into pieces. The narrower you slice your piece of the pie and create your niche in a particular area, the easier it is going to be to become the foremost guru in your niche. This is how you can have the likes of Tony Robbins, Mike Litman, Dr. Phil, Fabio Marciano, and so on fighting for your dollar to help you master your life and your destiny. It’s why you can jump on the Internet to find Yanik Silver, Corey Rudl, Ewen Chia, and Marlon Sanders all competing for your dollar to help grow your business online. Should You Create a New Niche or Play in an Existing One? This is an interesting topic for discussion and you can argue for both sides. The advantage of diving into an existing niche or category is that there are already existing customers and the public at large is going to understand what you do. So if you decide to become a time management coach, people are going to know what that is. But if you instead decide to become an optimal thinking coach, then they’re going to look at you a little funny. We’re not saying that it’s bad to invent your own category, it’s just that it will require more work on your part. The good news is that the returns on your efforts can be excessive. Make that extremely excessive. Seth Godin of Unleasing the Ideavirus fame created his own category when he coined the term “permission marketing.” He’s the foremost expert on buzz marketing and permission marketing, as a result. It is no wonder that his seminars sell out quickly. But you don’t have to invent a term or coin a phrase to create your own category. Mark Victor Hansen went after the struggling writers market when he created his Mega-Book Marketing seminar series. For a hefty price you can join Mark and other book marketing experts and learn the tricks of the trade. The point we’re trying to make is that you must determine if you want to take the easy/safe route and play in the well-established (and probably bigger) sandbox or if you want to find your own sandbox that no one has discovered yet. - 16 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The advantage of taking the latter approach is that you can quickly and easily dominate the field. After all, you wrote the first book on the topic or you coined the phrase that became an industry buzzword. Jay Conrad Levinson is identified with guerilla marketing because he wrote the book on it. This, despite the fact that millions upon millions of successful small business owners have been practicing “bootstrap” marketing for centuries before Jay was even born. Get the point? Good. Let’s move on. “But wait,” you’re saying to yourself. “Can I really do this in just 30 days?” The answer is yes. In fact, you can do it in less than 30 days! Can You Really Do It In 30 Days? We admit that it might seem kind of crazy to think that you could go from a complete nobody to a wealthy celebrity in 30 days, but it can happen. And it can happen a lot faster than 30 days. How fast? How about one second? That’s right, just one second to become an instant expert. (The richest part takes a little longer than a second.) All you have to do to become a guru or an expert in the eyes of the public is call yourself one. That’s all you have to do. “C’mon, you’re joking, right?” you’re thinking. Nope. No joking around. We’re serious about this. The way to get people to start calling you an expert is to start calling yourself an expert. It’s not that hard of a process to go from being a nobody to being “THE” go-to person in your niche. All you have to do is know your niche inside out and make sure that everyone knows who you are. That’s all there is to it. - 17 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! YOU start the process of making yourself a guru; then once your name is out there and your list of satisfied customers grows and grows, your customers will help spread the word about you. But until that happens, it’ll be little old you pressing the flesh, shouting your message from the rooftops, and talking to anyone who will listen. Of course, you have to make sure you have the skills, tools, and strategies to help make sure that you can walk the talk when the public comes knocking. This e-book will help give you everything you need to kick start your expert status and help you get started making some real money for your business. Everyday People Have Done It Who have transformed themselves into self-made gurus? Such people as Marlon Sanders, Mike Litman, Ewen Chia, the South Beach Diet Guy, Fabio Marciano, Dr. Phil, David Garfinkel, Yanik Silver, and Jim Edwards, to name a few. And the heavyweights of the information products and coaching game all got started by following a course of action and a plan that put them on that path to stardom. Anthony Robbins is perhaps one of Fabio’s most important mentors because he literally helped transform Fabio’s life overnight. Without Tony, who knows where Fabio would be today? (He’d probably be working some dead-end job and not coaching people one-on-one to help transform their lives.) But do you know how Tony Robbins got his start? He started from a miserable point in his life. He was 38 pounds overweight and living in a 400 square foot apartment. He was down on his luck, and if it wasn’t for a friend kicking him in the butt, who knows where he might have ended up? - 18 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Instead of staying in his rut, Tony got up the courage to start helping others transform their lives. He started giving speeches and in the matter of a single year, he was living in a castle and enjoying the spoils of the rich. How did he do it? Well, he just followed a few key principles of self-promotion and marketing and was able to transform himself and his business into a multi-million dollar empire. Overnight! And you can too. But first things first. Choose Your Niche (or make one up) Experts do not try to be all things to all people. They focus on a narrow market of customers in order to become the dominant force (expert) in that market. Don’t confuse a narrow market with narrow profits. The opposite is the reality in the information selling industry. The tighter you focus your efforts and the better you target your customers, the easier it will be to establish your credibility, maintain your visibility, and increase your profits. The process starts with entering or creating a niche. Finding Your Expert Niche We’re not going to spend a lot time on the subject of finding your niche, because we’re making the assumption that you already have your idea developed or own a business that you’ve created. Most of our clients come to us for help in promoting their businesses and their speaking careers and don’t need help with figuring out where they should focus their resources and attention. But just in case you don’t know what niche you fall into, we’re going to briefly cover how you, the average Joe or Jane, can make millions of dollars from what you already know. We don’t care who you are or what you do; there is a wealth of information trapped inside of your head - 19 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! that can be unlocked to provide you with untold riches. Thousands of information-based businesses have been started online and offline by “ordinary,” everyday people. Bill Phillips, Dr. Atkins, Dr. Phil, Tony Robbins, Richard Simmons, Ron Popeil, and thousands of others like them are all making millions of dollars from their information empires. They started with nothing; no business, no marketing resources, and no canned speeches. All they had was a hobby, area of interest, or area of expertise that they were passionate about and wanted to share with others. Along the way they realized that there might be a business in losing weight, getting fit, taking charge of your emotions and so on using the methods that they either stumbled upon or created. That’s “created” first for themselves…then for others. How are you different? You’re NOT! You have a passion that gets you going every time someone mentions it. Maybe it’s your hobby or sport, or maybe it’s helping others deal with their addictions. It doesn’t matter what it is. We don’t care if it’s building ant farms, gardening, perfecting the golf swing, or ridding people of their fears in 30 minutes. We’re going to show you how to tap into the knowledge and turn it into a stream of cash that flows into your bank account monthly… While you sleep…. And do less than a few hours of work a week! All because you will become an expert in your niche in the next 30 days! Experts get paid very, very, very well for the knowledge in their heads. Yes, even you can get paid well for the knowledge in YOUR head. All you have to do is write down that information and turn it into a saleable product and you’ll be off to cash your first check in a matter of weeks! Again, we’re not going to get into this area because we’re more interested in helping you become an expert, not create a product. But if you need help in the area of creating a niche for yourself and creating products that sell, check out www.InstantNicheProducts.com - 20 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Instant Niche Products – A Sample Preview of What You Can Do Virtually Overnight to Create Products and Start Making Some REAL MONEY Instant Niche Products is a MUST HAVE resource for anyone trying to create information products. Rather than reinvent the wheel here, we’re going to excerpt a bit of information from Fabio’s best-selling e-book that explains to you about how you find your target market: Selling WITHOUT Selling If you hate selling to prospects, the Instant Niche Products system is for you. We’ll teach you how to position yourself instead of prospecting for customers. That’s right… Get high quality prospects to come to you instead of the other way around. You no longer have to prospect! I’m SERIOUS here! People are bombarded with messages every day. Learn how to market in such a way that you can get people to come to you or your web site…almost automatically! When you focus on your niche, you attract pre-qualified prospects to your door and your inbox every single day. Rather than prospect for clients all day long, five days a week, 52 weeks a year for the rest of your career, you invest a little time up front and reap the benefits for the rest of your life. How do you do this? You just position yourself as an expert in a highly defined target niche that serves a very specific audience and/or market. Again, remember that people are bombarded with messages every day. There’s just too much “noise” out there to compete with…so don’t! Once you stop trying to be “all things to all people,” your ideal clients will begin to show up at your door begging for you to help them. They come to you pre-qualified because they want to work with the expert that deals with marketing solutions for small businesses in the automotive industry, or they want to talk to the financial planner who creates plans for doctors who just opened up their first practice. - 21 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Get the point? Focus, Focus, Focus on a well-defined and financially lucrative niche and you’ll get rich! It’s practically guaranteed. When you target a select few, you’re better able to target your message to this one group of people. Suddenly, when they read your articles or come across your advertising, they’re going to hit themselves over the head. “Finally! Here’s someone who’s got a solution to my specific problem.” Or you can do it the way the Pepsi’s and Nike’s of the world do it, right? Heavy advertising to get you to notice them and buy their products. Do you have a spare $50 million to spend on this year’s advertising budget? Of course not, so why would you EVER want to use the mass marketing and mass positioning model of a large corporation? The answer is you don’t ever want to go after as many eyeballs as possible or drive untargeted visitors to your site. The two of us would rather have one highly qualified lead come to our site than ten random surfers that we got through some rented mailing list. Now we admit that if you can drive a huge audience to your site and you work on following up with them, you can eventually sell to them, but that’s a lot of work. Why is it so much work to take a visitor to your site or a person who viewed your advertising and convert them into a buyer? Think about it for a moment and put yourself in their shoes. Do you like it when you’re cold-called by a sales person? I didn’t think so. Do You Want Referrals or Cold Calls? If you’re a salesperson or know one, then you know that it’s much easier to sell a referral versus someone you cold-called. One of the reasons is that the person who is coming to you with a referral is a better quality lead than someone you pulled out of a stack of cards and decided to call upon. Your referral is coming to you with a specific problem and they have been told that you can solve it for them. - 22 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! There are three components to a good niche: It already exists It’s easy to identify It’s easy to target prospects Find the market first, and then create the product. If you create the product first and then try to market the product to the niche, you’re going to fail every time. It’s guaranteed. You need to first research and understand the needs of the target market, find out their major problems and/or concerns, and then create a product or service that solves their problems. What and Where is Your Starving Crowd? Do NOT waste your time writing a book or creating a product unless you know who your customers are. We get contacted all the time by writers and product creators who want help promoting and marketing their stuff, but they have no idea who will buy it or how it will solve their target market’s problems. While the two of us have worked overtime to take loser products, repackage them, rebrand them, and remarket them for successful results, it’s much easier to start with your target market first, THEN create the product to fill their needs. 3-Step Process to Instant Riches • • • Find a starving crowd Find out what they want Give it to them Give them what they want in a simple, easy-to-understand language, and you’ll soon have an information empire in your hands. But first you have to find your niche. - 23 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Find Your Niche It’s not hard to find your market these days, thanks to the Internet. It used to be that you’d have to pay thousands of dollars for information on demographics, psychographics, and a whole bunch of other stuff we barely understand. Nowadays you can do a quick search using a tool like www.GoodKeywords.com and find out how often people are searching for certain keywords or topics on the Internet. Once you find a keyword or two that has good traffic, you go to www.Google.com and enter in the search term and see what pops up. You can tell if there are a number of web sites dedicated to your topic, how many active members are participating in the discussion forums, and so on. Later on I’m going to talk about how to dig even deeper into the nuts and bolts of finding your target audience and marketing your products to them. Is it BIG Enough? When we tell you to create or enter a niche, we’re not saying that you should go after over 100-year-old European men who like to skydive. Your niche needs to be focused, but be careful about choosing a niche that’s TOO SMALL. Using Google You can do a search on www.Google.com under a list of key search words that relate to your niche and industry. See how many web sites pop-up and spend some time surfing those sites. Are they selling anything? Use Alexa Another great tool to see how well-trafficked (big) these sites are is to check out their ranking using the Alexa.com toolbar. The toolbar is free to download and it simply takes a look at the traffic patterns on the Internet and ranks the web sites based on their traffic and who is linking to those sites. The more traffic and links, the higher the rank. Learning about Your Potential Customers Once you’ve narrowed down your list of niches that you want to go after, it’s important to learn a thing or two about your target market. - 24 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! (Your) Target Market By Renee Kennedy http://www.thewritemarket.com If you've developed a survey, you may have a very good idea who your target market is. Here is another strategy to determine who your target market is: Sit down with a piece of paper, think about who your target market might be, and write down the answers to the following questions: ♦ How old are these people? ♦ Are they male or female? ♦ How much money do they make? ♦ What are their occupations? ♦ What is their level of education? ♦ What are their hobbies? ♦ Are they married, single, divorced? ♦ Do they have kids, grandkids? ♦ Are they students? If you're selling your products with a web site, also answer these questions: ♦ What is their level of experience on the net? ♦ Have they purchased on the net before? ♦ Are they using a Mac or a PC? ♦ Which browser are they using? ♦ Are they accessing the net through home or work? You're asking yourself these questions because you want to get a feel for the people you are trying to sell your product to. You want to know these people as well as you know yourself. In the process of selling your products or services, you are going to talk to your customers, you are going to respond to them, and more importantly, you are going to have to find a way to SELL them on your products. In order to sell, you need to know who they are. - 25 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! When you have thought about your Target Market, write down a profile of them in your marketing plan. Write down as many details about these people as you can. You will use this information to choose your marketing strategies; this information will affect how you choose to market your products. Thanks for the assist Renee. Let’s move on… Shut Up and Listen The best way to find out the concerns and problems of others is to listen more than you talk during a conversation, online chat, or when you’re in a discussion forum. It’s really that simple. Ask questions and listen to the responses. TAKE NOTES! Always take notes on key phrases (keywords) that people use to describe their issues, concerns, and problems. These keywords will then be used to write your sales copy, back cover of your book, your table of contents, and even help became the outline for your speeches. So where do you find your hungry market so you can interview them? You have to do a little legwork, which shouldn’t take more than one or two days. Yes, that’s all that’s required thanks to the power of the Internet. You can find web sites with forums dedicated to the most arcane and highly-specialized topics these days. Create Your Master List of Problems and Questions The key is to not only identify your target market, but to immerse yourself into their lives. You need to know their fears, their dreams, and most importantly, their problems. You need to know what their major concerns are and what their desires are. Then you take all this information and create a list of questions they want answered, problems they want solved, or things they want more of or less of in life. Then you take this list and systematically “build” your products to solve their problems and meet their needs. When you start with your target market’s needs and desires, the creation of information products is a very simple process. Whether you’re planning to write a book or an e-book or - 26 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! create a seminar, you can speed up the process just by finding your market first, asking them what they want, and then giving it to them. Never forget this simple three-step process (unless you want to waste your time and create products that don’t sell and nobody wants). Remember that creating products is very simple. Finding the people who are going to pay you is the hard part. Isn’t it pretty stupid to create a bunch of information products and then try to find someone who’s going to buy them? Why not start with the “end” in mind first and get yourself a starving crowd to satisfy? So now you know your niche, you know a little about the target market, but can you make any money creating products for them? Is the Market Undeserved? It’s one thing to have a big market and narrowly defined niche, but you have to determine if your future customers are already satisfied and happy with the products that currently exist in the marketplace. Chances are that 99 percent of the niches you’ll come across won’t be overcrowded and satisfied, which means that you can still make money in them. If you feel that the niche is satisfied or overcrowded, you can always slice the pie a different way and go after a different subset of your original niche. But be careful. You want to make sure that there’s still money to be made in that niche. In short, find out if there are any unmet needs in the niche. Is There Money to Be Made? How do you determine if there are enough current paying customers in the niche? You can do this in a number of ways. The easiest way is to take a look at the best-selling e-books that are selling on www.Clickbank.com, or you can look at the best-seller list on www.Amazon.com to find out how well certain products are selling. You can also look at the data you got by surfing competitive web sites. Do they have products and services for sale? What kind of products and how much are they charging? The Sneaky Way, Which I Don’t Advocate…But…. You can also get information out of your competitors by posing as a potential client. I don’t advocate doing it this way, but I’ve run into enough budding experts at our seminars to know - 27 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! that this is one way people are getting competitive information. Request sales brochures and “welcome” packages that they send out on a regular basis. Ask to speak to satisfied clients and customers. Then ask them why they’re different from their competitors. Take particular note and write down their answers. This should be their “Unique Selling Proposition (or USP)” and it’s important to know what your customers think theirs is. More on USPs later on. • Write down the features and benefits they claim. • Print out pages of their sites, especially the “Home” page because you’ll need them as reference guides later on for your site. • Sign up for their free newsletters on their sites • Simplify the info because people are on information overload • How? Find out what the top two to three problems are and SOLVE THEM, not every problem ever encountered. Focus, focus, focus. So that’s the sneaky way, but we advocate being direct. Very direct, in fact. Ask Your Competition. Yes, I’m Serious. It might sound funny, but why not call up the competition and pick their brains. Sounds crazy, right? I mean who in their right mind would give away their secrets to someone who they’re going to be competing with in a few years? Many more than you would think. The key is to position yourself not as a direct competitor, but as someone who is interested in a similar, but different niche. So how do you make the call? You simply call them up and tell them that you’re very interested in the category and would like to start your own business one day. Maybe you ask them if they have an affiliate program because you would love to sell their products on your site. You tell them that your subscribers would love to get their hands on the expert’s products and articles. If they hesitate, ask them if they wouldn’t mind letting you run some of their articles in your ezine or newsletter. Everyone loves free promotion, so they shouldn’t balk at the idea. You’ll - 28 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! soon find out that you’re going to be networking with your so-called competitors at trade shows and seminars, and they may very well become a joint-venture partner down the road. More on this later. Trade Shows Another great way to find out about the competition is to attend industry trade shows. You can get a hold of your competitors’ sales brochures, samples of their products, and can listen to their sales pitches. In short, you can get an entire preview of how they sell themselves to potential clients in the span of a few minutes. Time and money spent attending industry trade shows is an investment that pays off handsomely. NETWORK!!!! You need to get off your butt and press the flesh, as the cliché goes. You need to network with the industry insiders and the movers and shakers within your niche that are making things happen. Along the way you’re going to find your mentor who’s going to take you under their wings and mold and shape you, as well as help provide you with a shortcut to your success in your business. Of course, your mentor isn’t going to just reach out and pick you to be their next pupil. You have to take the initiative to introduce yourself, show them that you’re someone who is dedicated to making it in the business, and make it clear to them that you’re willing to help them out with their business as well in exchange for their guidance and coaching. - 29 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Internet Forums Another way is to troll around some Internet forums that deal with your niche. Look through the old posts to get a feel for the forum before posting questions. Perhaps you’ll find a thread by a subscriber asking whether they should buy a certain product or not. You’ll instantly find out if a number of people on the site have bought the product or not. Are There Too Many Players? So what if you think there are too many players or people competing? Look at the diet industry. Thousands, if not millions of competitors competing for your money. Then along came Dr. A with his South Beach Diet. It’s simply a twist on the highly successful Atkins diet. Was that market taken? Sure, if you’re looking at the market as “low carb,” but Dr. A put his little twist on the idea (to make it a healthier version), and just like that you have a very profitable, multi-million dollar business on your hands. And he was a NOBODY a few years ago. The rest of this e-book will take you through how you can create your products that will help establish you as a SOMEBODY in your particular niche. Make that a very rich somebody. ========================================================= That was just a pretty long excerpt from Fabio’s Instant Niche Products e-book, but it’s indicative of the type of information you’ll get when you read the easy-tofollow, “paint-by-the-numbers” program in Instant Niche Products ========================================================= Fish Where the Fish Swim! The reason we included that excerpt from Instant Niche Products is because we didn’t want you to fall into the “build it and they will come” syndrome that plagues many a niche product creator. You need to create products and market them in such a way that people will come to you and your web site with money in hand, ready to buy your product because it’s the thing they’ve been searching for over the past few days, months, or years. - 30 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! What if You Choose the Wrong Niche? Although we believe you can never choose a wrong niche if you’ve followed the process we’ve outlined, you can always work your way into another niche. Dan Poynter, the self-publishing guru, says that you can be an expert in three niches simultaneously. We’ve looked around, asked around, experienced this rule of thumb for ourselves, and found that in general it’s true: you can only become an expert in three areas. Fabio’s niches are helping the everyday person achieve personal and financial freedom, selfpublishing, and also helping people turbocharge their online businesses by helping them create online businesses in half the time, with double the profits than if you did it by yourself. Do You Need to Know Everything About Everything? While the public at large might perceive a guru like Anthony Robbins to know everything about personal development and think a superstar sales trainer like Brian Tracy would know everything there is to know about selling and developing rainmakers, these gurus don’t know everything. And you don’t need to know everything about your particular area or category either, but you should know 95 percent about your niche. Know Your Niche Inside and Out This is why we advise people to take a quick inventory of what they already know and the topics that they’re passionate about. It’s this combination of already acquired knowledge and what you feel passionate about that makes for the best niches for would-be experts. Why? Because when you’re passionate about something, it’s easy to spend hours and hours learning more about it; and that passion will translate into passionate, powerful, and profitable speeches, books, seminars, and bootcamps where you get to talk for hours on end about your favorite passion. Now that’s what’s meant by DOING WHAT YOU LOVE! - 31 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! But What if I Don’t Know Enough? Then learn it. That’s the simple answer and it’s the truth. Do a self-analysis or an inventory of your skills in your particular area. Determine what areas you’re weak in and then go about filling in the voids. You’ll probably just need a few days surfing on the Internet or reading one or two well-chosen books on the topic. What’s Your Twist? With dozens of competitors, web sites, and products vying for your target customers, how are you going to stand out? Ask yourself: “How am I different from/better than anyone else in this field?” “What can I give my customers that my competition can’t?” “How will I set myself apart from the competition?” By answering these questions, you will begin to craft your unique niche within the broader category that you compete in. Then you will begin the process of communicating this unique point of difference to your potential customers and they will see you as the ONLY answer to the problems and challenges they are facing. Again, the key to creating a great niche and establishing yourself as the guru that transforms lives and businesses is to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. If you were a customer experiencing your business for the first time, what would you expect? What would you want to change? What would you want more of? Would you be more concerned with price or quality? We thought so. Now let’s talk about how you’re going to become such an expert in the first place. How Do You Gain Your Expertise? But what do you do if you don’t have a lot of knowledge in a particular niche that you want to carve out for you and your business? Despair? Break out into hives? Give up and go back to the nine-to-five drudgery? - 32 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! No, you just have to commit yourself to a power-packed learning program. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, you’re going to inundate yourself with every magazine, article, and resource out there in your given area. Books – If there are books written about the niche you’ve chosen for yourself, you MUST read them…preferably all of them. Why all of them? Because you want to know how people are currently talking about and dealing with the issues within your industry, and you need to be able to find creative ways to present the information in a new and exciting (read: engaging) way. Reading the books will also help get you up to speed and fill in the voids of your current knowledge about the niche you’ve chosen. Visit Amazon.com to find the topselling books in your category/market. Review what customers are saying about the books, search through the table of contents, and so on. Then buy the books and skim or read through them to get your hands on some of the best information around about your niche. Afterwards, you will know what other experts are saying; and you’ll also be better prepared to help your clients and to tell them why your services and products are better than the competition. Magazines – There are thousands of magazines out there that cater to every conceivable category and specialty. They’re not mainstream magazines, they’re trade journals. Find out which ones are relevant to your niche and subscribe to them. Reading your industry’s magazine of choice will help keep you on top of changes within your area of expertise, as well as provide you with an outlet for your articles down the road. Study the writing style and subjects that the authors cover in the magazine, because one day soon you’ll be pitching your articles to the magazine. Web Sites – While doing your search online for articles to read and associations to join, you’re going to come across useful web sites that have information and data on your area of expertise. You’ll also come across the web sites of the competition. Bookmark the best sites for easy reference. Newsletters – Most savvy Internet marketers have newsletters, or e-zines as they’re called online, that are free. Join the ones that seem most relevant and make sure you read them all. You want to note who’s writing articles in the e-zines and visit their sites and sign up for their e-zines as well. E-zines will offer you the most current and up-to-date information on what’s - 33 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! going on in your category. You can also quickly identify the key players and reach out to them and either partner with them or learn from them. Attend Seminars – Yes, you’ll be giving them soon enough, but you need to get up to speed very quickly on what others are doing to position themselves as experts in the field. Take note of the topics they discuss and the solutions they present to the most common problems. Associations – Do a search on Google to find out if there are any associations that you can join. Attend industry gatherings and make sure you talk to people. Hand out your business cards and make some friends/allies/mentors. You need to plug yourself into THE network of movers and shakers. Speaking of networks… Network – While you’re at the seminars and conventions you MUST “press the flesh” and meet the movers and shakers at these events. It also doesn’t hurt to interact with your future clients and customers and ask them questions about why they attended the seminar and what they’re trying to get out of it. The more you ask, the more you will learn about your customers’ psyche and the reasons they need help. Talk to Experts – Along the same lines, try and strike up a conversation with the seminar leader or other association members. Yes, it sounds funny at first, but you really should go out and talk with your future “competition.” Why? Because you’re probably going to become friends with the so-called competition. In fact, you can’t help it. You’re going to be giving speeches at the same seminars and boot camps, meeting at the same association dinners, and so on. If you read enough books by those on the “speaking circuit” you’ll find that the same people are giving testimonials in each others’ books. Why? Because they all know each other and help each other out. But back to the point we were trying to make. You need to talk to these experts. You’ll learn what they think are the main issues and concerns with your potential clients, and they can help point you in the right direction of how to make it in the business. The both of us have benefited a great deal by attending seminars and rubbing elbows with the movers and shakers in our respective areas of expertise. And once you’ve read all the books you find, surfed the sites a dozen times, and read all the articles you find, you’re not done. That’s right. You have to do it all over, again and again - 34 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! and again. It’s one thing to achieve expert status, but it’s another to stay at the top. Staying on the top of your game requires dedication to continuous learning. The Importance of Continuous Learning Studying, attending seminars, listening to tape sets, reading books and magazines, and surfing the Internet – that’s the basis of the continuous learning process. You can also increase your knowledge by getting a mentor or two that operate within your field. Brian Tracy is an expert in the field of sales training and personal mastery, but he still spends thousands of dollars a year on courses, books, magazines, and research–all to stay on top of and get ahead of his competition. If you’re serious about becoming an expert in your field, you need to do the same. You learn by researching, writing about, and putting into practice the techniques and strategies that you will pass along to your clients. By practicing and sharing your knowledge with others, you’re going to slowly build your reputation as the expert in your field. Focus on the 20: The 80/20 Rule Revisited Do you know about the 80/20 Rule? It’s the rule of thumb that was first discovered by Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist. He realized that 80 percent of the wealth was held by 20 percent of the people. That observation was then applied to the area of quality management, personal effectiveness, and a dozen other areas in life. What researchers found was that 80 percent of a company’s revenue was from 20 percent of their customers. Eighty percent of your effectiveness could be attributed to 20 percent of your tasks. And so on and so on. The same thing holds true in your industry and every other industry. Twenty percent of all the problems out there are what cause 80 percent of the issues. And by focusing on that 20 percent and learning how to quickly and effectively solve those problems, you’re going to solve 80 to 90 percent of the situations a client will bring you. You’re going to be looking for those common problems and issues that come up most frequently. When you concentrate on a niche, you’re going to see the same problems over - 35 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! and over again. If you have half a brain, you’re going to solve that problem and then when a client comes along with the problem, the same problem that they’ve been struggling to fix for months or years, you’re going to solve it in a couple of minutes or days at most. “Wow!” they’ll say. “You really know your stuff. You really are an expert in [fill in the blank].” Yes, you are. Thanks to the fact that you’ve done your homework, created a list of the most common issues and problems people have, and developed (or found/researched) solutions for them. And you’ve put those solutions in easy-to-use and easy-to-follow steps for your readers. The truth be told, you’re not any smarter than your clients or your competitors; you just know how to focus on the 20 percent of problems that cause most of the issues. But we don’t think you want to tell anybody that! You Need Attitude (with a Touch of Humility) You need to have an air of assurance and confidence about you. There’s no way you’re going to sell yourself as an expert in your field if you cower before your potential clients, stutter when you speak, and whisper your credentials to them. You must operate from a position of personal power when talking to anyone and everyone. You have to be able to establish your credibility in the first few seconds of a conversation, or you might as well pack up your bags and head back to the hills of anonymity. Your potential customers make judgments about people in the first few seconds of a conversation. Heck, we all do this, even you. That’s why it’s absolutely critical that you make sure you operate from the Millionaire Mindset. You must have a positive mental attitude and believe in yourself. If you’re struggling with your self-worth and self-image, then you need to take immediate action. We suggest you read books like Think and Grow Rich, Unlimited Power, and Life Strategies. Regardless of whether you’re a megalomaniac or you’re just plain full of yourself, you need to work on the way you come across to people. People who need help and answers gravitate toward genuine and honest people. You need to have and project an attitude of gratitude. And if you’re not the most confident of people, we suggest you first focus on creating that confidence within yourself and your abilities before you present yourself to the world as an expert. First impressions matter most in this world, and you want to be on top of your game when you’re talking to potential and future raving fans of yours. - 36 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Okay! Enough about your mindset. Let’s get into the nitty gritty of becoming an expert. But What About All My Competition? We frequently talk to would-be gurus who know their stuff but are afraid of all the competition. I mean how many people can be fighting for the “lose weight” or “stop procrastinating” crowd? Many more than you think, and you’re going to learn how to stand out from the crowd. Relax, The 95/5 Rule is in Your Favor Ten percent of the people in your competitive set might be competing with you, but at most half of them are doing anything worth writing about. So you’re really competing with only five percent of the people who are trying to do business in your niche. And since you’ve already done a little competitive intelligence, you know what your competitors are offering, how their products stack up against one another, and how you can differentiate your products to appeal to your target audience. In short, don’t sweat the competition. Armed with the information we’ll provide you with, you’ll be able to run circles around them in no time flat. Are you ready to get started? Great. Let’s do it! - 37 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Your MASSIVE ACTION Plan A Brief Overview You’ve now picked your niche, figured out if you can make money, and done the research; the rest of this e-book will take you through a series of steps that you must perform in order to achieve guru status. #1 Basic Business Tools #2 Your Web Site #3 Writing Articles and Publishing a Newsletter or E-Zine #4 Writing e-books and/or books #5 Networking & Creating a Joint Venture(s) and Creating Your Affiliate Program #6 Coaching Clients #7 Creating Additional Infoproducts #8 Holding Seminars, Tele-seminars, and Boot camps #9 Media and PR #10 Learning How to Sell and Promote Yourself These are the ten steps that you must follow and concentrate on. We’re going to cover them in this order and we urge you to follow along with us. At the end of this e-book we have a checklist of sorts that will walk you through four stages of becoming an expert, starting from the beginner and culminating into master status. You’ll find that those starting out concentrate and begin the process by first setting up their web sites, writing articles, and sending out newsletters. Then they complete each of the next steps until they’ve reached master status. DO NOT SKIP STEPS. Okay. Enough warnings. Let’s get cranking. - 38 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Two Questions You Might Have at This Point • How long is all this going to take to do? • How long will it be before I’m recognized as an expert? How Long is All This Going to Take to Do? Let’s tackle the first one. How long it will take you to write articles, that book you’ve been meaning to write, and so on will depend on the level of expertise you already have. It also depends on your innate talent to write and promote yourself. If you find yourself having trouble writing articles and pounding out that first book, you can check out Fabio’s e-book called Write It FAST! - How to Write a Book in 30 Days...or Less! for a proven method of getting that book out of you. You should also download a copy of Lifetime Traffic and Mini eBook Secrets by Ewen. Next, visit our web site at www.30DayExpert.com and visit our Resources section for more information on how to write articles. Okay, back to what we were saying. It should generally take you a couple of days to write a few articles and submit them to online and offline newsletters, e-zines and media outlets. Believe me, it’s simple once you start. But in reality it’s going to take you three to six months to achieve all the tasks on the above action plan. It might take an additional three or four months to create an empire of infoproducts and get your first major media interview. So How Long Before You’re Recognized as an Expert? It could be as little as one month or it could be as long as a year or two. It all depends on the niche you created or decided to play in and how aggressive and committed you are to making this happen. You could write a breakout bestseller like Dr. Arthur Agatston who wrote The South Beach Diet and became an overnight sensation using our proven tactics and strategies, or you can plod along for the rest of your life with that book inside you that never gets written. Don’t let procrastination happen to you! Get started today by running down that path to expert status. But before we begin on step #1 of this process, we’ve got a little homework for you to do. “Homework? Yuck!” No, not that type of homework. This will be fun, we promise. - 39 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step #1 – Basic Business Tools The Essential Tools You’ll Need If we asked you what tools you needed to become an expert, you might flip back a couple of pages and rattle off some of the things we listed: Web Site Articles Newsletter – paper and electronic Speeches Seminars Products – Books, Infoproducts, etc. PR Campaign Little Known or Discussed Tools The dozen or so books we dissected on the subject of promotion and attaining expert status listed the tools of the trade we just covered, but all of them didn’t do you, the reader, justice. You see, they left out some of the most powerful tools of the trade that you can use to instantly set yourself apart from the competition. Let’s get into them right now. Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) Your Unique Selling Proposition is a one-sentence statement of why you’re unique and how your product or service instantly solves your customers’ key problem. USPs help differentiate you from the crowd by emphasizing your strengths and exposing the weaknesses of your competition. After all, you’re the pizza place that guarantees fresh, hot pizza in 30 minutes; you’re not Joe’s Pizza down the block. You’re the one who ships products that have to absolutely, positively be there overnight, not the other also-run shipping company. While these are examples of BIG businesses, they hold true for smaller and more entrepreneurial businesses as well. It’s just that most small companies never even know the secret behind a good USP and how it can transform their business…overnight. Let’s turn things over to our friend and marketing expert, Renee Kennedy. - 40 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Your Unique Selling Proposition By Renee Kennedy http://www.thewritemarket.com What is a unique selling proposition or USP? Very simply stated, your USP is what differentiates your product from your competition's product. What a USP looks like: 1. It's one sentence. 2. It is clearly written, so that anyone can understand it. 3. It should be believable. 4. It is composed of one benefit that is unique solely to your company or product. Develop a USP using one or more of the following strategies: 1. Focus on a niche. In other words, before you develop the USP, find your target market. Who exactly are you selling to? 2. Fill a void. This is similar to finding a niche. Look for a void in the market and fill it with your USP. 3. Concentrate on “pain” or “pleasure.” 4. State how your product will solve a problem. 5. Look at your competition. (The next article is about how to look at your competition.) 6. Tell the customer what they are going to get – what's in it for them. 7. Make it "measurable." Time and price are measurable qualities. More Tips: 1. Sit down with a piece of paper: a) Brainstorm. b) List all the benefits your company or product can offer. c) Prioritize those benefits in order of what is the strongest, and most unique to your business. d) Write one sentence that conveys the first benefit on the list. 2. Every employee should know your USP and be able to state it. (Especially if you are a small business.) 3. Your marketing campaigns, your marketing plan, and your business plan should surround your USP. - 41 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 20 Ways to Beat Your Competition Make a list of products/services that compete with yours. Go to their web sites and compare their offers to yours. Some elements of comparison and sample USP's: Delivery Dominos Pizza: “Domino's delivers, 30 minute delivery or your money back.” Durability Energizer: “Outlasts all other batteries.... It keeps going and going and going.” Performance/Efficiency M&M's: “Melt in your mouth, not in your hand.” (Well, that's a type of performance!) Tide: “You bought a high efficiency washing machine... Why wouldn't you buy a high efficiency detergent?” What it's made out of Ragu: “It's in there!” (I hated those Ragu commercials, but I sure do remember them.) Provides feelings of self worth NIKE: “Just do it.” Kia: “Who wouldn't be proud? Darn good cars. Darn good warranty.” (Now that's my kinda commercial.) “Feelings of self worth” is one that you can really delve into. Go back to the article, Product for more ideas: Guarantee/Warranty Midas Muffler: “Guaranteed for as long as you own your car.” Price Walmart: “Rollback the prices.” Convenience or ease of use 7-11: “Open all night.” Dunkin Donuts: “Time to make the donuts...” impying that whenever you're ready for a donut, the donuts will be ready for you. Choice Verizon: “Whatever you want, whatever you need.” JCPenney: “It's all inside.” - 42 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Saves money Geico: “A 15 minute call could save you 15% or more on car insurance.” Bonuses or Extras Here's an article on that one: 10 Free Bonuses That Can Ignite Your Profits! Process of making the product Stouffers: “Nothing comes closer to home.” Burger King: “Flame broiled the way you like it.” (If you have a home made or handmade or personalized product, you can really develop a strong USP.) Customer Service Burger King: “Have it your way.” (This was an older Burger King USP) The ONLY one Paxil: “The only mediation proven effective for social anxiety disorder.” (Can you tell I like to watch the soaps?) For the betterment of society Phillip Morris: “Working to make a difference, the people of Phillip Morris.” (This one really irks me; it should read, “Working to bring you lung cancer and liver disease...” but, I have to give credit where credit is due, they are doing a heck of a job at re-branding.) Expert's Choice Metamusil: “The Doctor's natural choice.” Solves a problem thingamajob.com: “Don't get lost in cyberspace. Life 2.0 starts here.” Dependability First National Bank: “Here Today... Here Tomorrow... We have stood the Test of Time.” Maytag: “The dependability people.” Complementary Services Are there other services that complement the main service that you are offering? (Full Service or Service Added.) Targeting Service “We do one thing and we do it better than everyone else.” Some companies will take a few of the above and incorporate them into one strong USP. For instance, Kia takes “feelings of self worth,” “guarantee/warranty,” and “dependability” and rolls them all into a bold USP. - 43 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! If your competition is using one of the above, then you need to establish a USP that is different from theirs; attack in a different way than your competition. Out of the above 20 examples, has something struck you? Can you say that your company does one or more of those things better than all of your competition? That's your USP. ======================================================= Thanks for the help Renee! If you want to learn more about USPs and positioning, hop on over to www.thewritemarket.com But for now, let’s talk about you as the “PROBLEM SOLVER.” Benefits of Your Service: You Solve Problems Beyond your USP, it’s also critical to have a short list of industry problems written out with answers as to how your company or service solves those problems. Again, it goes back to the Law of the Few or the Pareto Principle. Eighty to 90 percent of the issues you’re going to hear about will be traced back to ten to 20 percent of the problems out there. Getting rid of procrastination, gaining motivation/self-discipline, and creating a clear action plan are the most common issues life coaches will face. Wouldn’t it be smart to know how your service solves these issues so that when a client asks you if you can help them in an area, instead of stammering and uttering a bunch of “uhs” and “ums,” you can quickly and clearly articulate EXACTLY HOW you will solve their problem? Having a clearly defined USP and doing the work of answering the most common questions ahead of time will put you above 95 percent of the competition. Creating Your Elevator Speech So now you have your USP and you have a list of benefits that you provide for your clients and customers. Now you have to develop an elevator speech. A what? An elevator speech is simply the name given for a 60-second or less infomercial about yourself or your business and what you do. It’s called an elevator speech because the idea behind it is that you’re in an elevator with your ideal client and you only have a precious few seconds to communicate to them what you do and how you can solve their problems. In the next 60 seconds, you have to introduce yourself, describe what you do, how you do it, and why they would be absolutely, positively crazy not to do business with you. - 44 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! So What Do You Do? Sounds far-fetched? Not exactly. The above scenario happens all the time; it’s just not always in an elevator. How many times have you heard the question “So, what do you do?” Hundreds of times, and the moment you start your own business with you as your CSO (chief selling officer), you had better have a compelling answer. So how do you answer the question of what you do for a living today? “Uh…I’m in the business of….how do I put this….coaching people to give it….I mean achieve all their dreams and stuff like that.” That response just doesn’t cut it. Prepare ahead of time and have an answer that they’ll remember long after the end of that elevator ride. Create that 60-second infomercial about you and what you do to help solve problems…specific problems, that is. Then cut it down to have a 30-second version. Then cut it down to a one or two liner that can be used to introduce yourself and your business quickly to someone without sounding like a sales pitch (which it always is). Here’s Fabio’s cut down version: “Hi. My name is Fabio Marciano. I’m a personal and financial freedom coach. I help people get out of debt, make more money, and get more out of life. I also work with people to create part-time businesses.” Introductions Now boil it down to a one or two line introduction. This is useful when you’re meeting someone for the first time, and you’re shaking hands, and you say…what? Here’s what you say. “Hi, I’m Fabio Marciano and I help people achieve personal and financial freedom, practically overnight.” “Hi, I’m Ewen Chia and I help turn normal ordinary folks into overnight internet success stories.” And this is what one of our friends says: “Hi, I’m John Smith and I help people take the worry out of their financial planning.” - 45 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! FOUCUS and Provide Solutions to Problems The key is to make your one-liner focused in on the solution to the one or two key problems that occur in your industry. Or you can focus it on how you can help people achieve success in a given area like the above examples. Some Inspiration Networking guru Ivan Misner tells this story of one of the best elevator speeches, or memory hooks, as he calls them. “Memory hooks are excellent tools to use when you are introducing yourself to many people at networking events. A memory hook is something in your introduction that so vividly describes what you do, people will be able to visualize it clearly in their mind's eye. This visualization of your product or service makes it easier for them to refer you whenever they meet someone who needs your service. For example, many years ago I met a telephone equipment sales rep at a networking meeting. When his turn came to give his 60-second commercial, he painted a vivid picture in everyone's mind about the type of company that needed his product. He said, “The next time you're in someone's office, look at their telephone system. If they have a phone system with fat wires, they need me.” He explained that old phone systems use thick wires, while new, more advanced systems use thin wires. Consequently, anyone with fat wires has an old, inefficient phone system, and he could offer that person a more costeffective alternative. To this day, every time I go into someone’s office I look under the secretary’s desk to see if the phone system has fat wires! (I’ve had more than one secretary say to me, “Dr. Misner, is there something you’re looking for under my desk?”) It’s been more than 10 years, yet I still remember that memory hook as though it were yesterday. The result is that this salesman, in effect, has many “salespeople” like me out in the business community looking for businesses that need his service.” What’s your “fat wire” in your business? Start thinking and create your own elevator speech or memory hook. Pull out a piece of paper and start brainstorming yours. Or if you’ve printed out this e-book, just use the lines provided below: - 46 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! My Elevator Speech --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - 47 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Stuck? How about some more inspiration from Misner: I've always believed that memory hooks like these were money in the bank. Here are some other notable memory hooks I've had the privilege of being hooked with over the years: • • • • • • • • • • Chiropractor: “You'll feel fine when your spine's in line.” Or, “We're always glad to see you're back.” Dentist: “We cater to cowards.” Or, “My filling station is downtown, where I put the bite on decay.” Electrical contractor: “For your commercial and residential electrical needs…give us a call and we'll check out your shorts.” Hairdresser: “If your hair is not becoming to you, then you should be coming to me.” Lawyer: “Before you turn to dust, see me for your will or trust.” Maternity-shop owner: “We carry everything for you but the baby.” Plumber: “Remember, a flush is always better than a full house.” Realtor: “I help people find a home–not a house, but a home. Not a place where you live, but a place where you love to live.” Therapist: “I have the owner's manual for your mind.” Water filter representative: “Either buy a filter or be a filter.” Great Product…but Who Cares You might have the greatest product or service around, but it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s because your product sounds too good. Well, maybe that’s because it IS that good. Maybe you really know what you’re talking about. Guess what? It doesn’t matter how good your product is, people aren’t going to buy from you. They don’t trust you because they don’t know you and they’ve never heard of you. This is especially a big problem online. With all those scam artists out there, get-rich-quick schemes, and fly-by-night operations, it’s no wonder people are a bit leery when they come across your web site or your products. So what do you do to establish credibility? You work on each of the tools that we’ve briefly discussed and you can instantly improve your chances at projecting a credible image to your prospects. - 48 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Casting Your Net Wide or Narrow?: Highly Efficient Spending One of the best things about becoming an expert in a narrowly defined niche is that you don’t have to go bankrupt trying to reach your customers. Madison Avenue marketers are trying to reach 50, 100, up to 300 million people, and as you can imagine, that’s really expensive. But thanks to the advent of the Internet, you can quickly and easily target your potential customers. You can set up a web site and grab your visitors’ attention, and turn them into paying customers. You can work with e-zine owners to have your articles published for free. You can visit several Internet forums that are the big gathering ground for your target customers and quickly establish yourself as an expert that can solve their problems. And so on and so on. The key to establishing yourself as an expert in the most-efficient manner possible is to know your customers intimately. No, not that way! We mean that you have to know where they are at in their lives, what their problems are, what they’re looking to accomplish in life, and how you can help them. When you know what your ideal customer looks like, then the hard part is over. The easy part is finding them and convincing them that you have the solution to their problem. They will become convinced that you can help them through a combination of visibility, credibility, and genuineness on your part. The key is to focus your attention on the tactics that give you the biggest bang for the buck. That’s what we teach our coaching clients: how to get the most from your investment dollars. Let’s talk about some of those tactics right now. Logo Before we get ahead of ourselves, you should look into having a graphic artist design you a logo. A logo will immediately improve your brand’s recall and it will help you visually articulate what you do for a living. A logo also will help add some credibility and permanence to your business. Most consultants, speakers, authors, and professionals never take the time to give their business that professional look that immediately provides the business with credibility. Don’t make the same mistake. The designer who handles your web site should be able to handle the creation of a log for you; if not, check out www.GotLogos.com for help with creating a logo that’s professional (and sells)! - 49 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Business Cards A potential joint-venture partner is sitting next to you at a seminar. She likes what you’ve said about your business and your plans for the future and wants to work with you. She says: “Hey. It’s been great meeting you, and you and I should get together and brainstorm how we can write that e-book together. Do you have a business card?” You stumble. “Uh. Uhm. No, not with me. Here,” you say, grabbing your pad and pen. “Let me give you my e-mail address and web site information.” So much for being professional. The bottom line is that you HAVE TO HAVE A BUSINESS CARD. They are dirt cheap to get these days and $50 to $100 will get you a decent business card. Having business cards in this industry makes you look like a pro because 90% of wannabe entrepreneurs and infopreneurs never take the step of spending a benjamin on getting good business cards. Check out VistaPrint Inc. They have great prices and can get you great looking business cards without breaking the bank. Stationary If you want to go the extra mile and be like only one percent of the pros, get yourself some personalized stationary. This way you can write a quick note to people who buy your books, slip it into the book, and ship it off. That personalized service and message from you will work hard for you many years down the road. It also communicates to your potential JV partners that you’re serious about your business and you’re a “player” to be reckoned with. - 50 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Premiums Sounds kind of funny doesn’t it: an expert who wants to be taken seriously giving away premiums and trinkets to prospective clients, but it works. Future customers will leave your free talk or seminar with a CD business card that will have a few of your free reports on them. Those reports will have active links that will drive those customers to your web site. Or maybe it’s a mirror with the words “$mile to Make more Ca$h” on it for the struggling salesperson. Maybe it’s the overdone pen trick or a notepad. Whatever it is, the important thing is to get it in their hands and make sure it’s something that will remain visible for the rest of the year. Now you know why so many businesses give out calendars. Their prospect is staring at their face and business for 12 whole months. Once you have your USP, your elevator and introduction speech, business cards, and perhaps a premium or two to give away, you’re ready for step #2: Creating Your Web Site. - 51 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step #2: Creating Your Web Site (i.e., Your 24/7 Salesperson!) You absolutely must have a web site. There is no way around it. “Duh!” you’re thinking. Bear with us here. We can’t stress enough how important it is to have a web site that’s designed correctly. We’ll be talking about how you’re going to create one practically overnight in a few moments, but we thought we should get you thinking about creating a web site right now. If you see some sites you like and some tools/calculators that you like on competitive sites or sites you surf frequently, print them out and set them aside. These sites will act as your “model” sites that you will use to create your own web site. (They can also be handed over to your webmaster.) We use an outline from a very simple and direct article from the king of guerilla marketing, Jay Conrad Levinson. Eight Golden Rules For Your Web site: Courtesy of Jay Conrad Levinson, Guerilla Marketing 1. Planning. You must know ahead of time exactly what you wish to accomplish with your web site. 2. Content. This is what's going to attract visitors to your site, then keep them coming back for more visits on a regular basis. 3. Design. There's a “hang or click” moment when people first see your site. Should they hang around or click away? Design influences their decision. - 52 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 4. Involvement. Guerrillas take advantage of the net's interactivity by involving visitors rather than just requiring that they read. 5. Production. This refers to putting your first four elements online. Easy-to-use software now can do this job for you. 6. Follow-up. People visit your site, e-mail you, ask or answer some questions. Guerrillas respond to their e-mail, stay in touch. 7. Promotion. You must promote your site online by registering with search engines and linking with other sites, while promoting it offline in mass media, mailings, and wherever your name appears. 8. Maintenance. Unlike other forms of marketing, a web site requires constant changing, updating, freshening, renewing. It’s like a baby. ==================================================== Jay Conrad Levinson The Father of Guerrilla Marketing and Founder of The Guerrilla Marketing Association www.guerrillamarketingassociation.com Author, "Guerrilla Marketing" series of books over 14 million sold; now in 39 languages. ==================================================== If you already have a web site, then you’re ahead of the game. Of course, you still have to optimize your web pages, clean up the pages to make sure they load quickly, and have the right keywords in order to optimize your chances of coming up during search engine requests by your target customers. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s talk about getting a web site. Facing the Fear Most newcomers to the Internet quickly get up to speed when it comes to surfing the web, getting news, checking e-mail, and managing their bank accounts and investment accounts; but the thought of creating a web site of their own puts them into a panic. The both of us understand the panic because we’ve felt the panic firsthand when we first went “live” on the World Wide Web. But thanks to advances in technology and software provided by hosting companies, it’s getting easier and easier to create a web site…from scratch! - 53 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Planning and Content The easiest way to plan your site is to surf around the Internet and find a number of sites that you like and print out the pages from their sites and make a note of their URL’s in a Word document. This will help you remember them and forward on to your web site developer if you choose to use a web designer rather than do-it-yourself. Design and Involvement When you’re designing your site, keep your reader and target audience in mind. We like simple and straightforward sites that don’t use JAVA or Flash because that distracts people. Don’t distract your visitor. You want them to come to your site, immediately get that you’re an expert, then stick around for a while. Make that a very long while. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, you’re toast. Simple, straightforward sites load fast and engage visitors. But first things first… Your Web Site and Beyond – Creating Your Internet Presence Everybody from the kid next door to, yes, your mother has a web site these days. It’s an absolute must for the Guru-in-Training. Your livelihood over the next few years is going to slowly (or quickly for you gung ho types) transition from your day job to your informationbased side business. Since you’re in the business of selling your information, either through products or services such as coaching, you’re going to need the most efficient information disseminator on your side: the Internet. The first place people go these days for help or information on a topic is the Internet. They run to Google.com or some other search engine, type in a keyword or a question, then spend hours scouring the web for more information. You Must Get a Killer Domain Name Your domain name is such a critical factor to your success these days. Since you’re going to be competing with thousands upon thousands of other sites for people’s attention, you’ve got to cut through the clutter. Shorter Names are Better It’s always best to use a shorter domain name versus a long name. Short names are easier to remember and easier to type into a browser without making a mistake. It’s also a critical - 54 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! factor to see if you can find a domain name that uses one of the top keywords that people use to find your product or service. A domain name like www.InstantSalesLetters.com is a good one for what else? People looking for help with writing sites that will help them write sales letters. The same goes for www.InstantMarketingSecrets.com because it will key in on people looking for advice on promoting their business or themselves. Get a Domain Name that Describes What You Do or Sell Fabio’s domain name, www.FabmanSecrets.com doesn’t really tell you what he does or what industry he is in. He chose it at the last minute after finding out that his #1 choice was taken. The name he wanted was in his head for three years. Now he has thousands of subscribers that are used to going to www.FabmanSecrets.com, so how do you start getting them to another site? You can do it easily by having the domain name “forwarded” to another domain name, but what a headache. Had he gone online to www.GoDaddy.com and done a search for it, he could have locked it up for the low price of $8.95 (or less) a year. They’ve been running promotions for $7.45 a year if you sign up for 2 years at a time. Don’t make the mistake of not locking up your domain name. Shorter is also better. One word domain names are better than multiple-word domain names. And you can forget about using domain names with cute alliterations or using the number “4” instead of “four.” People tend to spell out names. You should also avoid hyphens in your domain name, regardless of how your search engine’s algorithms search for sites. Finding Your Perfect Domain Name So Fabio goofed, but how do you avoid the same problem? You need to brainstorm some keywords that your target customers search for when looking for information on your topic. There are plenty of free tools on the Internet that do searches of the most popular words that are searched on the Internet, but www.GoodKeyWords.com offers one of the best tools around. You simply type in the name of the product category you’re playing in or the name of the service you provide. Then once you run the query you’ll see how many times that keyword was searched in the past month. - 55 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Plus you’ll get a list of similar search words and how often they were searched. Now you know what search terms are popular, and by using these keywords, you need to come up with a short, memorable name for your web site. Now head on over to www.Register.com to find out if someone has stolen (we mean already taken) the perfect name for your business. Don’t delay locking up your domain name. Both of us have missed out on domain names we’ve wanted by a matter of weeks. So while you’re at www.Register.com you type in the domain name to see if it’s available. If someone already has it, you can do a “whois” search on the registrant to find out who owns it, how long they’ve owned it, and if it’s set to expire. We will often open up another browser on our computer to see if the site is live or whether the individual is just “parking” the name for later use. If the latter is the case, you can decide whether to make them an offer to buy the domain name. Expect to pay a couple hundred bucks. If it’s a good name, you can expect some owners to demand higher prices. Fabio had one overzealous owner ask for a “minimum of $6,000” for the domain name. He promptly said “no thank you” and found a better domain name the next day. But…. If the name is available, run over to www.GoDaddy.com, create an account, and purchase the domain name…TODAY! Dot Com or Nothing And you better run to the Internet and claim your domain name fast because they’re running out..FAST!!! As the Internet explodes with popularity and more would-be entrepreneurs jump on the web in search of riches, they’re scooping up all the best domain names. More often than not, they’re taking domain names that end with the suffix: .com. And this is a problem because you want to have a domain that ends with “.com” and not one that ends with .org, .net, .edu, or .anything else besides .com. Simply put, dot com domain names are the industry standard and they instantly convey to your target customers a sense of permanency and stability. - 56 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The Web Pages You’re Going to Need How many web pages you need and the type of information you have on your site will depend on what your intent for the site is: to be a selling tool or to be more of a content and information updating type of site, more commonly referred to as a content site. Here are some different pages to ponder: Home Page – This page should immediately describe who you are, what you do, and the benefits of your service. Every site should be a selling site. What this means is that your site should instantly establish your credibility, tell people what you sell and why they should buy it NOW from you and only you. That’s the goal and objective of your site. Yes, you can have a content-filled site instead of a mini-site, but the bottom line in all this is to sell, sell and sell. Ultimate Benefit – This isn’t a page, but it’s what you need to have on your home page. You only have a few seconds to grab the attention of your reader. Whether you’ve got a minisite or a content site going, you’ve got to grab their attention and make them want to stay on your site. The best way to do this is to hit them immediately with a great headline that speaks to the ultimate benefit they get from being on your site. Whether it’s to instantly create their e-book or market their products in half the time for double the profit, you’ve got to hit them immediately with the benefit. It keeps them from clicking to another site. Your Picture - Along with your logo, you need to have a picture of you on your site to establish credibility. Your visitors will want to see you in order to connect with you. It sounds strange, but it’s true. People will come to your site and they will be more engaged if they feel that there is a real live person behind the site. You can take pictures on a good digital camera and upload the picture(s) to your web site. Make sure you dress professionally and/or appropriately for your niche. The gurus selling professional services are often in suits and blazers while the one pitching "get rich quick on the Internet” are often in casual clothes chilling on some beach somewhere. The bottom line: get an appropriate picture of you on your web site. About You – You’re going to want to create a page that provides a brief description of who you are, your company, the products you’ve created, awards you’ve won, and the services you provide. Some people like to add testimonials from satisfied clients on this page as well to enhance their image and give credibility to their services. You can also list your satisfied clients to date. Also include your contact information: phone number and e-mail address. - 57 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Products – You need a page that’s dedicated to your catalog of books, tapes, videos, reports, and so on. If you’ve only written one book or the site is dedicated to one product in particular, you can feature the image of the product directly on the home page. This will help drive awareness of the product and increase the “click-through rate” of the product. Shopping Cart – If you plan on selling your products online, you’re going to have to set up a shopping cart. Now you’re moving toward the more advanced end of the spectrum. You can get away with using PayPal for most of your purchases, but eventually you’ll want to either install more sophisticated software on your site or use a complete system like the one offered by www.1automationwiz.com, which will give you not only payment options, but autoresponders, instant affiliate programs, and much more. Free Stuff – Are you giving away a free e-book? If so, you might want to create a link in your navigation bar that shouts “free stuff” or “freebies” to entice people to download your stuff. Then encourage them to spread the word. Resources – Calculators, links to other great sites, affiliate links, and so on can be put on one page for additional help/information. Articles – You should have one page on your site that lists all the articles you’ve written. And if they were published in major e-zines, magazines, or newspapers, then note it somewhere on the page. Also make it absolutely clear that anyone can reprint your articles as long as they include your resource box. You can also include articles from your peers. Why would you include articles from someone other than yourself on your site? Because the majority of Internet surfers are using search engines to find the information they’re looking for and you increase your chances of being “found” if you have a ton of articles and resources on your site. More on this in a moment. Newsletter Archive – You may or may not need this page, but it can be helpful in convincing someone that they MUST join your newsletter or they’ll be missing out on a bunch of great information. Testimonials – When you have satisfied clients, you’d better work hard to solicit their feedback so you can use them in your sales letters and web site pages. The complete list of testimonials deserves its own page. The more the better! - 58 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Media – You should have a page that contains your press releases, electronic media kit, and contact information, including an e-mail address and phone number. If someone in the media is looking for information on a topic and came across your web site, they might give you a quick call for a quote or interview for their story. Newsletter Signup Form – Although this usually isn’t a fully dedicated page, you absolutely MUST have a place where prospects can sign up for your newsletter on every page. You MUST capture the e-mail addresses of as many visitors to your site as possible. Why is it so absolutely critical? Because these visitors will one day become your customers and if they don’t buy from you the first time they visit your site, you’ve got to be able to contact them in the future. This is why you need to create a form to sign up for your newsletter so you can build your list. More on the power of building a list in just a moment. Sketch Out Your Site Now that you know all the pages you’re going to need, just take the time to sketch out how you want your site to look and all the different pages you’re going to need. Make Your Site Easy to Navigate Flash does not equal cash. Stick with the basics. Nothing to distract your potential subscriber and future customer. If you take a look at some of the best and highly ranked sites out there, they keep it simple. You must focus your site around your core identity and give them what they want. Content is King Your articles, links, resources, calculators, and anything else you can throw on your site will help establish you as the “go to” site for information in your niche. The more articles and “answers/solutions” you provide your readers, the more traffic you’re going to generate for your site. Eventually, you might be able to charge an annual membership fee or create a “members only” section, so you want to work hard to become the destination site for your niche. Blogs The number of blogs on the Internet has exploded over the past two years. Blogs are web pages that can be arranged in a number of ways, but are usually set up to resemble a journal or diary from someone. They’re great content builders for your site and they can serve a - 59 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! number of purposes: keeping your subscribers up-to-date on what you’re doing, industry news and ideas, cool web sites to check out, mini-essays, commentary from you, and more! They’re great communication tools and can help you stay in touch with a wider group of people than through your newsletter. Plus the content, if it’s keyword rich and targeted, can help drive some great traffic to your site. One of our favorites is run by Permission Marketing guru Seth Godin. Check it out at: Seth’s Blog. For more info on blogs, just check out Blogger.com Mini-Sites (A Brief Primer) On the flip side of the bloated and big “content” site is what’s called a mini-site or a productfocused site. You’ve seen these. They’re really just a site with one page, a sales page. The site describes the features, benefits, and why you would be crazy not to buy the product right NOW! These sites will be part of your arsenal once you have created products for sale. Ewen’s a master at creating these cash-churning mini sites; visit these few for ideas and inspiration: Turnkey Internet Profits, Underground Sales Letters, Power Affiliate Marketing. Other examples of best-in-class sales pages are some of the following sites. They range from the simple to the more complex and hard-selling: Here are some sales pages that you might want to print out and keep handy: Uh, duh! Yanik’s sales letter for his product is phenomenal. Instant Sales Letters Another Yanik sales letter that’s incredible. Instant Internet Profits One of Fabio’s sales letters that pulls like crazy! The One Minute eBook The sister site to Teleseminar Magic isn’t too shabby either: Write It FAST! How to Write a Book in 30 Days…or less! A great sales letter to check out for products with multiple contributors/interviews: Success Alert This I Joe Vitale’s site and he’s just a master copywriter. Click on his products and see what grabs your attention: Mr. Fire - 60 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Print Them Out and Study Them While you’re at the above sites, make sure you print out the sales letters. Really study them in-depth. Find out what makes them so successful, i.e., what made you want to push the “BUY NOW” button at the end. Pay particular attention to: • • • • • • • • How the headlines and subheadlines draw you in…IMMEDIATELY? How the testimonials are laid out and positioned throughout the letter. What words tug at your emotions and cause you to read more? What type of bonuses they list? What’s the perceived value of those bonuses? How do they close you and get you to whip out your credit card. What do they put in their Postscript (P.S.) to get you to reconsider buying NOW? How long are the sales letters? Check out Fabio’s site at: www.CashMoreChecks.com/resources.htm for a free e-book from Larry Dotson and Joe Vitale that has 92 Sales Letter Templates that you can use to help you craft your Killer Sales Letter. Speaking of Killer Sales Letters, Yanik Silver has created a great product that will help you with the tedious work of creating sales letters. It’s called Instant Sales Letters and you can check it out here: Instant Sales Letters - 61 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Building Your Site – Doing it Yourself You can just use the templates and software provided on your web host’s site to get your site up and running. Or if you want to create your own pages using HTML, then be our guest. It used to cost a thousand or so dollars to get a site “back in the day,” but that’s all changed thanks to advances in software. Microsoft has democratized the Internet with their FrontPage software. It’s easy to use and you can get the hang of it in a couple of days for the basic stuff. Dreamweaver is another software program that several thousand people SWEAR by. Our suggestion is to visit some online forums and see which ones work best for you. Fabio started out with a little help from his friend Keith, and together they created the first few pages of his site. After things got a little more “complicated,” he outsourced the design of his site. A regular maintenance fee and some money here and there gives him what he needs. Getting a Designer You can go the route of hiring a pro to create your site. There are thousands of people out there who will design a site for you, install the scripts necessary to have people sign up for your e-zine (more on this later), and get your site up and running in a few days. If you don’t want to pay someone, perhaps you have a friend who’s tech-savvy and can help you. Fabio had his good friend Keith help him out for the first two years before deciding to bring someone onboard (and give Keith a much-deserved break). Web Hosting Dozens upon dozens of options await you. The “best” hosting companies change year to year, and it’s not likely that you’re going to need all the bells and whistles when starting out, so start out with a cheap plan that gives you enough bandwidth and tools. At most, your monthly hosting should run you around $25. That’s at the high end, and if you’re looking to spend in that range and get all the bells and whistles you’ll ever need, your best option is Third Sphere. Both of us use Third Sphere and we’re extremely happy with the support, the features, and the benefits the company offers. Some hosting companies will offer you a generic autoresponder as part of the package. This is a good place to start if you want to save money and test the waters for your site to see if you can make money at it, but we HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you sign up for a separate autoresponder service. You don’t want to be stuck with the situation where you’ve built - 62 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! your list on a hosting company’s server, get accused of spam, they shut down your account, and you lose your list (if you didn’t download it/export it frequently). Or you don’t want to have to go through the hassle of importing your e-zine list into a new autoresponder system and have to send a note to your subscribers asking them to “double-opt-in” to satisfy your new autoresponder’s requirements. That was a bunch of words, wasn’t it? The long and short of it is that we suggest you bite the bullet and either buy a fully contained system like AutoresponsePlus or your go to www.1automationwiz.com and sign up for their basic/intro package. It’s only $19 a month, which will get you either unlimited autoresponders or their starter shopping cart package. Their basic e-commerce package will run you $39 a month. Accepting Payment You can sign up for a PayPal.com account for free and pay a minimal fee to get a ClickBank.com account. Both systems will allow you to accept credit cards, but ClickBank.com will not allow you to sell physical products. Another reason to go with someone like www.1automationwiz.com is that they allow you to accept credit cards, bill your customers monthly, and you get to create an affiliate program if you sign up for their pro package. They’ll even provide you with the merchant account. Enough Rambling On (and on) You’re not done yet with your web site, but the shell is up and running. In the coming days, weeks, and months you’re going to be adding pages, resources, links to other sites, and even creating your products catalog once you’ve finished all the steps in this e-book. But for now, let’s talk about how you’re going to be adding content to your site. The first way is by writing articles. It’s Getting Harder and Harder to Establish Credibility Online Becoming a recognized expert in your niche is hard enough in the “real world,” but it’s even harder online. Establishing your presence and building your credibility has never been more important than it is today. Your web site shouldn’t be some mish-mosh of articles, links, resources, affiliate links, and pictures. It should be crystal clear what you do when someone first visits your home page. - 63 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Your company name must be visible and you must have your “ULTIMATE BENEFIT” statement right at the top (or near the top) of your home page. Your Introduction Letter Every good home page/sales letter talks to one person and one person alone. The best copywriters put themselves in the shoes of the ideal customer and they then begin the process of writing in a way that would arouse interest and desire within the customer. The most common way sales letters are doing that these days is to write, what else? An “open” letter to the potential customer. They’ll say something like: “Dear Friend, I was facing bankruptcy just three short years ago, but then I discovered a way that I could make money part-time while holding down a demanding 50-hour a week job. I was amazed at how simple the process was and I’m sure you will be AMAZED as well. This information is so simple, I can’t wait to share it with you so that you can start making money and stop worrying about paying the bills all the time.” You get the point. Your Headline above should have the ULTIMATE BENEFIT or reason why you would be on the site: ie, searching for a solution to your problem. You provided proof that you know what you’re talking about because you won a Gold Medal for your efforts or you made gobs of money and you’ve posted the checks to prove it. Then the copy drills down into an introduction where you empathize with the person and then you slowly build and build until you sell them at the end. Can you see how this would help build your image and establish your credibility from the first few sentences they read? Think you don’t have the ability to write like the example above? No problem… - 64 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Putting Credibility into Your Copy/Content We urge you to get your hands on a few good copywriting books or hire a copywriter for your site. They’re worth their weight in gold. But if you’re just starting out, reading through a good copywriting book or “swiping” copy from good sites can help you immediately establish your online presence (and credibility) in no time flat: putting testimonials on your site. NOTE: When we say swipe, we’re not talking about stealing someone else’s copy word-forword. We’re talking about using other sites as reference points, so make sure you earmark the good ones and print the web pages out and put them in a binder. This binder is now your “swipe” file. Every good copywriter has one of these (more like ten). Add Testimonials to Your Pages Of course, you’re going to be saying good things about yourself and your services. But it’s more important what other people are saying. When you have testimonials on your site, it adds to the believability of what you’re trying to sell your prospect. Put testimonials on your site from the most respected people and well-established people you can find. Your mother and father don’t count unless they’re published authors or Nobel Peace Prize winners. Drop Hints About Your Greatness No, we’re not talking about chest-thumping or head swelling dialogue. We’re talking about dropping subtle hints throughout your articles or your sales copy that talks about your experiences and your expertise. For instance, let’s say you’re trying to become an expert in rapid weight loss. You’ve just written the book, but you’re designing your site and you want to talk about something other than that amazing “before and after” photos plastered all over your books and your site. You might say something like: “After years of trying to find the best weight loss solution, after spending thousands of dollars on diets and gimmicks, after trying every other program in the book, I finally discovered the real secret to losing weight…fast. As a boardcertified nutritionist, I was skeptical at first, but after putting 47 clients on the program, each achieving a minimum of 13 pounds of weight loss in two weeks, I’m convinced my system is the best around. I think you’ll agree once you see the results.” This passage establishes how long the expert has been at it (a long time) trying to find an answer, the results have been proven time and time again (over 47 people to date), it’s the - 65 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! only one that works (because she’s tried all the rest..and so too have her prospects in all likelihood), and she knows a thing or two about eating right and smart because she’s a nutritionist. You might not have picked up on all those items, but they’re the types of things that you will need to insert into your web site copy, your articles, and your one-on-one communications with your clients or prospects. Sprinkle enough of these type of statements around and your prospects will instantly begin to believe that you really know your stuff. 10 Web Site Essentials to Increase Your Sales by Shelley Lowery If you are a serious Internet Entrepreneur, your top priority must be your web site. Your web site is a direct reflection of you and your business. Creating a professional web site designed to sell will take a great deal of time and effort, as there is much more to take into consideration than design. You must look at a much broader picture and specifically design your web site to sell. 1) You must have a professional-looking web site. Your web site is the most important sales tool you have. Your visitor's first impression will almost instantly determine whether or not you're going to make a sale. A professional web site should be pleasing to the eyes, well organized, easy to navigate, and load quickly. 2) You must specifically design your web site to rank high in the Search Engines. This involves much more than just including META tags. Your KEYWORDS, TITLE, IMAGE ALT tags, Text and overall design, all play an important roll in determining how your web site will rank. You can learn more by reading the Optimization tutorial at Web Source. http://www.web-source.net/webpage_optimizing.htm 3) You must use effective sales copy. Your words are the entire foundation of your business. Most business failures are the result of ineffective copy. Whether it is your web site, sales letters or advertisements, your words play a major role in determining your success. When writing your web site copy, use the following formula: A – Attention – Use a powerful headline that demands attention. I – Interest – Intrigue interest and create curiosity. D – Detail – Provide details about your product or service. A – Action – Call for action. - 66 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 4) Drive traffic to your site. In order to create a steady stream of traffic to your web site, give your visitors a reason to visit and continue to visit in the future. You must provide your visitors with fresh content on a continual basis. Content comes in various forms, such as news, articles, tips, horoscopes, weather, etc. and is freely available on the Internet. Your content should blend in well with the focus of your web site and be updated on a regular basis. The following web sites provide free articles for publication: http://www.web-source.net/articles/ http://www.mega-success.com/ http://www.marketing-seek.com/ http://www.ideamarketers.com/ http://www.infobot.net/ Syndication services provide free content from a wide variety of sources. You simply place a small line of code within the HTML of your web page and each of the following services provide fresh content for you. The great thing about syndication services is that once you've placed the code, you don't have to worry about updating the content, as it is automatically updated. Syndicator – Provides free syndicated articles and columns with photographs. http://www.web-source.net/syndicator.htm isyndicate – Provides free headlines for news, articles, comics, weather and more. http://www.isyndicate.com/ Moreover – Provides news headlines from over 1500 sources. http://www.moreover.com/ ScreamingMedia – Provides free headlines from various resources. http://www.screamingmedia.com/ 5) Provide free instruction. Your web site is the storefront for your product or service. You must convince your visitors that they need the product or service you're offering. This can be accomplished by providing your visitors with free helpful advice and instruction in the form of an article, tutorial, free e-book or free autoresponder course. 6) Display your testimonials. You must gain your visitors’ trust. By displaying customer testimonials, you are boosting your potential customers confidence in you and your product or service. You can either create a web page to display all of your testimonials or use a script to rotate them on your main page. You can find a great random text script here: http://willmaster.com/master/merrygoround/ - 67 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 7) Let your visitors know who you are. Provide complete information in regard to your company, including address, phone number, and e-mail addresses to request information and support. 8) Tell your visitors about their privacy. Create a page on your web site called, “Privacy Statement,” and let your visitors know exactly what you do with the personal information you collect. 9) Provide a sample or trial of your product or service. For example, if you’re offering a Search Engine optimization service, provide a free META tag analysis at your web site. Not only will this increase your sales, but it will drive more traffic to you site as well. 10) Remove the risk. To further increase your sales, you must remove the risk by providing a guarantee. A guarantee will boost your potential customers’ confidence in purchasing your products or services. A professional web site specifically designed to sell is one of the most important factors in determining your success. Take your time and make sure you're looking at the complete picture before you begin. If you're not secure in your abilities to create your own web site, rather than risk the potential success of your business, consider hiring a professional web designer. Your success depends on it. About the Author: Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web-Source.net. Your Guide to Professional Web Site Design & Development. Display complete, professionally written articles & photographs on your web site that automatically update each week, free. Join The Syndicator. http://www.web-source.net ====================================================== Well, that step was pretty exhausting, but necessary to go through. Hopefully you’ve learned a lot and if you take the time to go through Jay Conrad Levinson’s “8 Golden Rules for Web sites,” you should be in good shape. - 68 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step # 3 – Writing Articles and Publishing Your Newsletter Writing articles is probably the first way you’re going to get your feet wet. It’s the way most gurus get started. It’s the way Ewen started. They write an article about a particular subsegment of their industry and then another and another, and soon they become the preeminent expert in that niche they’ve helped create. Even if you’ve never written an article in your life (don’t start having a panic attack on us) you can pound one out in less than an hour if you follow the following formula: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. List out your topics Pick a topic to write about Just start writing about that topic Write like you’re talking to a friend Edit your article/Add in research information Add your resource box at the end. 4 Things to Strive for with Your Articles You want to write articles that will have information and strategies that customers can immediately put to use. It doesn’t matter whether you structure the information in the form of an “advice” article or a how-to article, you should always strive to have your articles be: 1. 2. 3. 4. Relevant To the point Thought-provoking (filled with “aha’s”) Immediately actionable Most articles will be between 500 to 800 words for online articles, and you might go as high as 1,000 to 1,200 for offline articles. We know we said that you need to use self-promotion in order to achieve guru status, but when you write an article it should NOT be 100 percent blatant self-promotion. Editors hate these kind of “articles,” and if you submit a “sales piece for your business” instead of a well-written, actionable article, you’re going to be remanded to the REJECT pile. DON”T DO IT! - 69 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You want to write articles that address the major concerns and problems people are having within your industry. Things like how to achieve better results, get more done, make more money from their business, motivate their employees, and so on. The articles that get read are how-to articles that are filled with actionable steps that get the reader to really pause and reflect on their business or personal life, then strike out and take action based on the information in your article. Yes, it’s a tall order, but once you learn the basics of writing a killer article, you’ll find it very easy to write your articles in less than a day. Topics The topics of your articles will be pulled straight from your speeches or book and/or the headlines. But if you write about stuff in your book, won’t editors pull out the REJECTED stamp because you’re not offering any “new” news? The simple answer is no. Most of the information that appears in their magazines is recycled material by either their staff or freelancers, and if you remember our discussion earlier about information, you’ll know why. Most of what’s needed in life is already known and there are few truly new ideas in a given industry. The books have been written on getting out of debt, managing your finances, and so on. You’d be hard pressed to come up with a new slant on things every time you tried to write an article, so don’t sweat it. Writing articles that rehash your materials will serve to reinforce your message, and you’ll come off as an expert on the topic. After all, you’ve not only written the book on the topic, you’ve also written a dozen articles that appeared in the industry’s leading magazines. Now how’s that for proof that you’re an expert in your niche? A Word of Caution: While you don’t have to reinvent the wheel per se with your articles, you should strive to create something that will be of benefit to your readers. You can’t just repackage the material from your books or seminars and slap on a byline or resource box and be done with it. That’s nothing more than a blatant advertorial for you and your services and publishers HATE THIS KIND OF ARTICLE. Now back to what to write about. Take out a sheet of blank paper and a pen and start brainstorming a list of things you can write about within your niche. Do this for about five to ten minutes. You should be staring at a bunch of different topics and strategies. Now take each one of those and break down the topic into subtopics that you can write about. Go ahead, just do it. We’ll explain why in a second. - 70 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Your List of Future Articles Now you have a list of various topics that you can write about, but the next step is to make them into article titles or “headlines.” What you do is take a topic, say getting out of debt, and you create a title for an article about getting out of debt. Then you write another title and another and another using the subtopics that you created. The easiest way to come up with titles is to use the following phrases: [X] Ways to ……….. How I ……… How You Can …….. How to ……. [X] Simple Ways to ……. The Secret …… Stop ……. and Start ……. Don’t [Do X] …….. We’ve found that the best titles to articles contain a number in the title. Such as “7 Simple Steps to Get Out of Bad Debt for Good” or “4 Ways to Get More Traffic from Your Autoresponder.” Don’t worry about having the “7” or “4” ways right now. Just create the title, then brainstorm the steps. You can always change the title after you’re done writing the article. We’re going to cover titles and headlines a little later on in this e-book because they’re that important, but for now, just follow through the process of taking the topic “get out of debt” and creating several article titles/topics to write about: “7 Simple Steps to Get Out of Bad Debt for Good” “How I Got Credit Card Companies to Stop Calling Me” “How to Instantly Put Your Debt Repayment Strategy on Autopilot” “13 Ways to Refinance Your Bad Debt” And so on…. - 71 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Prioritize Your List Before you start firing up the word processor, we just want to give you one piece of advice that has served us well: prioritize your list. The tendency of most writers is to pick the first topic on their list and start writing. You shouldn’t do this. Take five minutes to number the topics/titles in order of importance. Are there any “sexy” titles on your list that editors will salivate over? Are there any topics that will engage readers that you can write in no time flat? Then these are the articles you should write IMMEDIATELY. Save the rest for last. Take five minutes to prioritize your topics/titles in order of importance. Writing Your Articles The above titles all came out of the topic “get out of debt” during a brainstorming session. The reason you do this is to create a list of articles that you can write around a central topic or theme. Then you go about writing the articles using the simple 1-2-3 process we use to write articles in less than 30 minutes. 3 Steps to Getting Your Articles Written in 30 Minutes or Less We hate to see writers struggle to write articles on subjects they know like the back of their hand. The reason most struggle is that they’re trying to cram in too much information into an article that’s supposed to only be 500 to 800 words long. The idea of creating sub-topics and writing about them should solve this problem. The second reason is that most writers are used to writing chapters on the topics and they don’t know how to write simple, yet effective articles. We’ve got a simple 1-2-3 process that we use to get our thoughts on the page and create articles in less than 30 minutes. We think you should try out this strategy with your own writing. Step One: The Opening Take the title and write a four or five sentence opening paragraph that will tell readers about what you’re about to cover in your article and why it’s absolutely critical that they read the article (or what they’ll continue to experience – pain, suffering, lost money, lost time, less freedom – and so on if they don’t read the article). - 72 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step Two: The Body After you have the opening done, start listing your different tips or strategies in the order that they should be done. Now write a few sentences about each of the items, elaborating where necessary. When you use this “list” format, it’s much easier to come up with a bullet point or two about what they have to do. Don’t worry about the language and the number of sentences. Just list out the key information your reader needs to know. Step Three: The Conclusion Here you simply reinforce why they should take action on the information you just provided, you tell them what they’ll lose if they don’t, and then you end on an upbeat note. You can add in a testimonial type of message, such as: “Many of my clients have used the above 7-Step Formula to get out of bad debt, and you should too.” This type of one-liner reinforces that you know what you’re talking about and it further reinforces that what you’re writing about really works. How-to and List Type Articles are EASY to Write Again, this is just one way to write articles, but if you’re writing articles primarily online, the “how-to” and “list format” articles have been the biggest sellers when it comes to getting publishers to run them. Don’t be intimidated by them. Tips articles are really just a list of things or tips that you’re giving to someone, preceded by an opening paragraph and followed by a closing paragraph. Just brainstorm a topic; come up with a list of remedies to the problem, then set about writing an introduction. Grab the reader’s attention from the get-go, then insert the list you created, add a line or two after each tip, then create the closing. Just Freakin’ Write Don’t complicate the process. Just start writing. Period. End of story. Now that you have the topics/titles for a slew of articles, know which ones you should write first, and have a simple process for writing them, the last step is to start writing. Don’t worry about writing the perfect article right off the bat. Just start writing. Don’t worry about the length of the article or if you’re being clear. Stop agonizing over your choice of words and the grammar or anything that’s stopping you from writing at a healthy clip. - 73 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Just pretend you’re writing to a friend or one of your clients and get your thoughts on paper. After you’re done you can go back and edit your work. For now, just freakin’ write! Writing Style and Techniques that Draw Readers In FOCUS - Don’t Do Too Much in Your Articles Pick a topic and stick to it. Nobody likes to read an article that’s too difficult to follow or wanders aimlessly throughout. Write your articles with one topic or idea in mind and stick to it. Write to One Person This technique is something that you must learn to do, whether you’re writing headlines, copy, or articles. The best way to connect with a reader is to be personal and write as if you’re talking to one person and one person alone. This person is what Stephen King calls his “Constant Reader” and others call their “ideal reader.” Whatever you call them, make sure that you’re writing on the personal level. This means that your articles and books should be peppered with a lot of “you’s” and �you” and “your,” and so on; not “all of you” and “some of you.” Write to one person and one person alone. Your readers will connect better with the material because as they read it, they’ll feel like you’re talking directly to them…and you should be! Be Different What’s your twist on an old subject, or what’s unique about your article? Don’t submit articles on topics, ideas, and strategies that have been written “to death” by would-be writers. You need to come up with some fresh ideas that are going to be new, or at minimum, refreshing to read. You want to keep your readers in mind and the response you want to get out of them is to have them either print out the article, rip it out of the magazine, or run to your web site for more information. You don’t want them to say: “Oh, another article on [insert what you’re writing about].” Then flip the page. - 74 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You engage your reader by providing fresh perspectives on old topics or by coming up with some really breakthrough ideas and strategies. Remember to be different and take a chance. You’ll find your articles getting accepted and “running” in publications more often. Your Resource Box and Byline Whether you’re writing an article for an online e-zine or for a “real world” magazine, you’re going to want to have a way for the readers to get in touch with you or at minimum get to your web site. If you have a 1-800 number, then you can include this along with a short bio about yourself and your company. Most editors don’t mind adding a line or two about your business at the end of an article because it adds credibility to you and reflects well on their magazine. We love writing articles online because we can include a hyperlink to our web sites, as well as tell the reader that there’s an incentive for joining our newsletter (there should always be an incentive/freebie/compelling reason/bribe for someone to give you their e-mail address). Example of a Resource Box: Ewen Chia has been marketing online since 1997 and is the owner of Instant Marketing Secrets Inc. For a limited time, discover how you can access $6,997+ worth of million dollar marketing secrets, interviews and audio recordings completely free at: ==> http://www.InstantMarketingSecrets.com Fabio "fabman" Marciano is the # 1 Personal and Financial Freedom Coach on the Internet. He is the author of the best-seller, The Secrets of Wealth, and he's shared his investing principles with thousands of people and his CASH FLOW CALCULATOR has helped countless others get their finances back into shape. Get your hands on his FREE newsletter, helpful articles, and FREE chapters from his bestselling book, The Secrets of Wealth at: http://www.fabmansecrets.com. It's Time to Live the Life You've Imagined… - 75 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Yes, Fabio’s resource box is kind of long (just like his writing), but it serves its purpose. If an editor balks at publishing that long of a resource box, he sends them his cut down version: Fabio "fabman" Marciano is the # 1 Personal and Financial Freedom Coach on the Internet. He is the author of the best-seller, The Secrets of Wealth. Get your hands on his FREE newsletter, helpful articles, and FREE chapters from his bestselling book, The Secrets of Wealth at: http://www.fabmansecrets.com. It's Time to Live the Life You've Imagined… Now let’s get to bylines which are typically run in offline magazines and newspapers. Example of a Byline: Fabio Marciano is the author of The Secrets of Wealth and The Wealthy Pauper. He is also the president of The Wealthy Pauper, LLC a company whose mission it is to help educate people about investing and personal development. Visit his site for a FREE download of his famous Cash Flow Calculator. Finding a Home/Market for Your Articles We talked about finding and subscribing to industry trade journals in our discussion of “How do you gain your expertise?” but we wanted to briefly touch upon it in greater detail in this section because it relates to the subject of finding a home for your articles. Now that you’ve written an article or two you’ve got to get it in the hands of editors. Online World If you’re trying to find e-zines to run your articles in, you can take one of two routes: sign up for one of the many services on the net (or buy the software) that instantly submits your articles to dozens of web sites, or do the dirty work yourself and find the editors yourself. We actually prefer doing the dirty work and here’s why. The Internet is rapidly expanding and changing. Someone who might have been hot a couple of months ago or even a few weeks ago, might have been leapfrogged by the competition. People’s e-mail addresses and web sites change, that’s just part of the business. Looking for the information yourself also forces you to go out there and learn what the competition is doing. You can tweak your articles and your pitch in lieu of what you’ve found. You can also tailor your message better if you’ve actually visited the editor’s site and even interacted with their readers if there is a message board on the web site. - 76 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Offline World There are two main resources that will help you find the names of publications and where to submit your articles: Bacon’s Publicity Checker and Writer’s Market. Bacon’s is very expensive, but most large libraries will carry a copy. We suggest you visit your local library before you shell out money for a book you may or may not use. Don’t get us wrong, Bacon’s is a goldmine of information. It will tell you the circulation of each publication and journal and give you the names of the editors, along with their addresses and contact information. We’re not going to cover offline publishers in that great of detail here, but if you want to find magazines that would be appropriate for your material, you only have to use two resources: Writer’s Market, which is a huge book that’s published every year, and Bacon’s Publicity Checker. Bacon’s is an excellent resource to have if you’re really interested in finding the movers and shakers in the media world. It’s expensive though, so we suggest you go to your local library and see if they have a copy. The Writer's Market is sold in most bookstores and you can get it at Amazon.com, as well. If you’re serious about getting your articles in print, then this is a must-have Resource. Okay, now let’s get back to online publishers and publications… Will Publishers Really Run Your Articles? The answer is simply YES! Most trade journals don’t have big budgets and they rely on the help from industry practitioners to help them write articles and fill out the pages within a particular issue. Otherwise they’d have to pay journalists and other writers to do it and they’d go belly-up in a matter of months. So the truth is they need you just as much as you need them; don’t forget this critical point, especially when you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by the thought of calling up an editor or writer for a magazine. - 77 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Grab Their Attention!!! Chances are, if you’re submitting your articles to big publishers online or offline, they’ve got several dozen requests every week to run articles from aspiring infopreneurs and would-be experts. You need a way to stand out from the pack instantaneously and you do that first by having a great title. You need to craft titles that say they’re going to solve a common problem the editor’s readers have, or they should seek to expose a scam, offer great money saving tips, and so on. Writing about issues occurring right now in the headlines and news means that your information will be timely and highly relevant to the reader. You’ll also have a greater chance of getting your articles accepted by editors who like to keep their magazines fresh and on the cutting edge. It’s a Numbers Game Don’t just send off your articles to one or two “must have” publishers. You need to send your articles out to A LOT of publishers in order to get published. The process of getting published is a numbers game. If you send out your article to one or two and you get shot down, then what did you accomplish? Not much. But if you sent them out to ten or twenty, you’ve got a greater chance of an editor “biting” and offering to publish your article. Do Your Homework As we just stated, we teach our clients to go out and spend some time researching and learning the market for their articles. You should already be subscribed to the major magazines in your niche and know the format and type of articles that are in them. By knowing the magazines inside and out, you can tailor your pitch to an editor by saying “this article would be perfect for your advice column” or “I know your readers will want to learn about these promotion techniques in your �Grow Your Business’ section.” This shows that you know the magazine and that you have their readers in mind. Most writers and would-be experts don’t take the time to do their homework and they land in the REJECTION pile because of it. Do your homework to improve your odds of acceptance. - 78 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Contacting the Editor: By E-mail and by Phone The two main ways you’re going to reach editors is via e-mail or the phone. The phone is the preferred method because it’s too easy to delete e-mails and it’s also easier to tailor your pitch when you’ve got a live person on the other end of the phone. The Editorial Calendar Most publications plan their issues months or even years in advance. They have a calendar that outlines the topics and types of issues they want to cover. By planning, they’re better able to get their magazines out on time. You can get your hands on the editorial calendar simply by asking for it and saying “If you send me your editorial calendar, I can write you articles that fit that issue’s theme.” You can then call up the editor or assistant from time to time and pitch story ideas that will mesh well with the issue’s theme. If they don’t bite, fine; you didn’t waste your time writing an article. But if they do bite, you know you’ll be working on an article that will get serious consideration. Of course the easiest way to get your articles published is to start your own online newsletter, or e-zine, as they’re called. The next step in the process will be covered shortly. In the meantime, for more insider tactics on article marketing, remember to download your free copy of Lifetime Traffic now! - 79 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! YOUR NEWSLETTER AND/OR E-ZINE Start Publishing an E-zine NOW Publishing an e-zine is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to start promoting yourself on the Internet. Everyone knows that the profit is in the list, but if you don’t have an e-zine, you’re missing one of the fastest and easiest ways to get a big profitable list. Don’t Know Where to Start? Don’t sweat it. None of us knew where to start when we first took the plunge. We just threw stuff against the wall and saw what stuck. You don’t have to do that. Just follow this simple plan: Free or Paid? One of the most cost-effective ways to help spread your “word” and get your articles in front of highly targeted readers is to start your own newsletter. You can do this via a print newsletter or via an online version, or what’s called an electronic magazine (or e-zine for short). An e-zine is the preferred route for Experts in Training. The startup costs are virtually non-existent and you can test the waters with your niche category, build your list of subscribers, then make the decision whether or not you need to create a print version of your newsletter. Subscribe to Several E-zines Simply go to Google and type in keywords that relate to or describe your niche. Scroll through the results and visit the web sites. If the content and the site looks good to you, and if they have an e-zine, sign up for it. If they have an archive of previous issues of their newsletters, even better. Print out the ones that you really gravitate toward. Now you have a few examples of the outline and format of e-zines that you like. You can now copy them (the format, not the content, that is). If you haven’t done so already, visit our web sites and sign up for our e-zines. We’ve spent years perfecting the layout, copy, and tone of them. Luckily, you don’t have to invest that much time to learn from e-zines that sell: Ewen’s Web Marketing Exposed E-zine: www.WebMarketingExposed.com Fabio’s Million-Dollar Dream E-zine: www.FabmanSecrets.com - 80 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! A Sample E-zine We’re not going to spent a lot of time on how to write an e-zine. It’s a simple enough process. And if you get stuck, just borrow a format from an e-zine that you like. You’ll be a publisher in the matter of a few hours! Here’s a sample outline of an e-zine: Dear Subscriber: Insert a quick welcome message and update your subscribers on anything. ============================= Table of Contents Article #1 Article #2 Resources You Can Use Book Excerpt Client Testimonials (if appropriate) Contact Information ============================= Ad: Insert a small 3-5 line ad for one of your books, tapes, or coaching program ============================= Article #1 ============================= Article #2 ============================= Resources You Can Use ============================= Book Excerpt: ============================= Client Testimonials ============================= Contact Information and Legal Garbage Thanks to the CAN SPAM act you now have to include some legal copy and your full contact information. ============================= - 81 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Must Have Resource: TextPad You’re going to find that you can’t simply type something out in Microsoft Word and paste it into your autoresponder or broadcast e-mail system and send it out to your subscribers. You need to convert your e-zine into text. It’s a lot easier than it sounds. Just go to www.textpad.com and download a free version of their text writing software. It’s a very simple tool to use. Mainly, you’re going to be looking to change the “apostrophes” and “quotation marks” in your writing because when these marks are sent through the autoresponders, they get all jumbled up. Get Help From Others If you’re having trouble writing articles for your e-zine or are having trouble getting it started, don’t despair. You can contact those same e-zine owners that you’re benchmarking and tell them that you would like to publish one or more of their articles. Ninety-nine percent of them will say “YES!” because it’s free publicity and exposure for them. If you find an e-zine owner who’s particularly helpful, ask if you can run your e-zine by them before you publish it. Not everyone is going to be willing to take the time to help you out, but each and every “big” Internet marketer out there started right where you are today, and most are going to help you out. Why? Because someone helped them out and they’re giving back. Sounds corny, but it’s the truth. Try this out and you’ll prove us right. Need Help Writing??? There are a number of books out there that can help you with your writing. Obviously, you’ll need a good thesaurus and dictionary; but if you are using a word processor, they’re already built-in these days. Two books that we’ve used that deal with writing more from an authoring books perspective are: 100 Things Every Writer Needs to Know by Scott Edelstein 1,818 Ways to Write Better & Get Published by Scott Edelstein Again, these are just two books that we’ve found particularly valuable in helping shape our writing, but there are also some online tools that you can use to improve your writing. - 82 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Online Writing Tools Quotes Peppering your writing with a few well-timed quotes will not only keep your writing interesting, if you select them correctly, but they can also help reinforce the fact that you know what you’re talking about. Having a well-known expert essentially reinforce a point you’re making adds that level of credibility that we all strive for in our writing. http://www.bartleby.com/ Thesaurus If your word processor’s database of words isn’t cutting it, you can always use some online resources like: Webster's Hypertext Dictionary at http://m-w.com/netdict.htm and Roget's Online Thesaurus http://www.thesaurus.com Clichés Fabio is notorious for using clichés in his writing and this little site will give you thousands to choose from. http://www.westegg.com/cliche/ Others We’re sure there are dozens of others out there that you can use. Just do a search on Google.com for what you’re looking for and you’re bound to come across 2,467 sites. Less CAN Be MORE You don’t have to write a thesis every time you send out your e-zine. You can just use the template you got from someone else’s newsletter, insert your own information, then paste in the one or two articles and you could be done with your newsletter. If you want to add a quote here and there or a “Must Use Resources” or “Ask the Editor” section, go for it. The key is to keep it simple when you first start out and just get your e-zine out there. As you gain confidence and read other e-zines, you’ll begin to feel more at ease writing your newsletter. - 83 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Add Your Personal Touch And once you’re more comfortable writing articles and publishing your e-zine, it’s time to inject it with a little of your personality. Add life to the boring subject matter or provide your readers with more resources and benefits than your competition. You want your readers to feel like they can’t wait to receive your next newsletter. When you encourage readers to write to you and submit their own articles or links to their site, you’ll find yourself with a burgeoning online following. WARNING: Just remember, it’s your newsletter and the idea is to promote you, your products, and what you’re selling. Over the years we’ve seen hard-working e-zine publishers lose the “pulling” power of their e-zines because they’ve filled it with free subscriber ads, subscriber articles, and links. Don’t fall into the same trap. Now to beat this idea to death… Feature Your Articles in the Newsletter One of the biggest mistakes we see new e-zine editors making is featuring articles by every guru on the block, but they forget to include their own articles. Your e-zine is a PROMOTIONAL TOOL for you, your products, and your services. It does you no good if you’re constantly showcasing the knowledge of others. Sure it’s an easy way to get started (compiling articles from others), but you’ve got to cut the cord at some point and publish your own stuff. This is CRITICAL to your success. Remember, people have subscribed to your e-zine to hear what you have to say, not some other guru. They already belong to the guru’s newsletter. Give them a piece of you and your insights into the topic you’re supposed to be an expert on. When to Publish There’s a lot of back and forth as to the best time to publish your e-zine. A lot of e-zine owners tend to send out their newsletters on Monday because they’ve had a chance to put it together over the weekend. If you publish on Monday, you’ve got a lot of competition not only from other e-zines, but from the typical Monday Morning Fire Drills and meetings and so on that we’ve all got going on in our own lives. The weekends are times where people are out and about and not really thinking about making money on the web or building their businesses. They’ve hopefully been doing that for the past five days. The weekends are a time to relax, unwind and get ready for a new week of challenges. - 84 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! That leaves only four other days. Let’s not drag this one out. According to Internet Marketing Guru Ralph Wilson, of www.wilsonweb.com, the best days are Tuesday and Wednesday, and we’d have to agree. Here’s the link to his survey results: http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/email/email_days.htm We understand that you’re probably going to create an e-zine as a creative outlet and a way to get your content in front of as many people as possible, but don’t lose sight of one of your most important goals for your e-zine: to make money. That’s right. You need to make money from your e-zine. This is not to say that the sole reason to have an e-zine is to make money, but it IS an important piece of your profit pipeline. You CAN continue to help people with whatever niche you’re focusing on, but if you start to lose sight of making money, your little e-zine and online ventures will burn a hole in your pocket. As our good friend Mike Litman puts it: “Are you trying to save the world or are you trying to make some money?” Which one are you trying to do? You CAN help thousands upon thousands of people and make money in the process. It’s what Tony Robbins has done, it’s what Dr. Phil has done, it’s what Oprah has done, and you too can make money while helping people. Let’s learn how! Building Relationships Ask any good salesperson what’s the most important thing to create with a prospect and they’ll tell you a relationship. Your e-zine helps you build a relationship with each and every subscriber. Over the course of time, you transform a subscriber into a reader, and a reader into a buyer and a buyer into a customer, and a customer into a lifelong customer. Your ezine will help establish your credibility as an expert in your niche. If your articles are easy to read and help your readers with their problems and the issues they’re facing, their respect for your advice and what you have to say will increase over time. And by making references to your books, e-books, and other products, readers will seek out your other products to help them learn more and help them overcome their business and personal issues. - 85 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! An even better way to connect with your readers is to frequently remind them that you’re there for them and that you’re available to help answer their questions. When a reader reaches out to you and you respond to them in a timely manner, with a well-thought out response that’s personalized, they’ll never look for anyone else to help them. You’re their GoTo Guru. Period. End of story. What a nice place to be in. What do they want and need? Ask them! Ask and you shall receive. It’s timeless advice, so why aren’t you doing it? Why aren’t you regularly polling and asking your subscribers what they want and what they are looking to get from you? If you spend the few minutes it will take to craft a simple little e-mail asking what they’re looking for, you’ll be surprised at the wealth of information you will receive back. Or if you want to get a little fancy, you can send them a link to a survey on your site (or include the survey in your e-mail) that will accomplish the same task. The key is to find out what they want from your relationship with them. They’ll even tell you how much they’re willing to pay for your advice, your books, and your e-books. Then you can use that information to create your business plan, create your information products, and even write your sales copy. Such a simple little trick, but hardly anyone is using it these days. We’re actually both guilty of waiting too long to use this little tactic. Fabio grew his list to 19,000 subscribers before he even asked these simple questions. What a mistake! The result of a simple little survey prompted him to shift gears and offer a coaching program that was geared toward not only helping people improve their finances and money management skills, but also overcome their fears and fight that dreaded disease called procrastination. Matt had a similar experience after a conversation at a seminar with several of the audience members. He realized that people needed help learning how to promote their businesses and make that jump from anonymous writer or speaker to the big time. Promote Your Own Products. Duh, Why Didn’t I Think of That? We’re constantly amazed when we read other newsletters at how infrequently those e-zine owners pitch their own products. You shouldn’t be afraid to use your e-zine to promote your products. After all, if the reader is there to learn more about your niche, it stands to reason that they’d be interested in your products that are on the same subject. - 86 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! WARNING: Don’t SPAM and/or bombard your readers with constant sales letters and offers. While it’s okay to include an occasional “advertorial” or article with links to your product sales pages, you don’t want to go overboard. We hate e-zine owners who are blatantly just sending out sales letters and adding little to nothing in the way of educational and action-oriented content. If you want to send those blatant advertorials or SOLO ads for your products, limit them to no more than twice a month. But what do you say about your product? How should you best position your product to customers? Well, the first step is to sit down and write about your product and list out its benefits and the problems it solves. Our friend Renee Kennedy came up with a quick 3-Step process you can use: Product By Renee Kennedy http://www.thewritemarket.com Sit down with a piece of paper and answer these questions: 1. What is unique about my product? 2. What can my product give someone that no other product can give them? 3. What emotions can I evoke when someone hears or reads about my product? a. Greed – will it save them money, make them money, make them look like they have money? b. Leisure – will it save them time? c. Happiness – does it provide relaxation? (hobbies or travel) d. Pride – is it something that will make them proud – make them achieve? e. Health – will it improve health or ease their pain or make them look and feel younger? f. Belonging – will it make them feel as if they belong to something - an exclusive group? g. Basic Needs – does it fulfill basic needs – hunger, sleep, shelter, safety? h. Love – does it involve romance? Out of your answers, create one sentence that describes the biggest, the best, the most important benefit of your product. Make sure it includes what this product does, what no other product can do. This is your “Unique Selling Proposition” or USP. - 87 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Some suggestions to consider in your USP are price, convenience, and guarantee. You need to provide a tangible service, yet evoke emotion. Here are some examples of a Unique Selling Proposition for businesses that we've worked with in the past: “Personalized children's books custom printed and bound specifically for your child for $15.45 per book, includes free shipping and orders are shipped within 24 hours!” http://www.treasurebooksandgifts.com/ “Are you tired of yo-yo dieting? The Nutricounter is calorie counter made fun and easy. 100% satisfaction guarantee.” http://www.healthcrazed.com/ “Secure Financial Management offers complete financial planning services for flexible, blended rates at the level of service you desire.” http://www.sfmfinancial.com/ Do NOT Skip the Above Step We urge you to take out a blank piece of paper and a pen and do the above exercise that Renee outlined. It will help you create a list of benefits for your product, help you sell the product one-on-one when you’re talking to potential customers, and it will begin the process of laying out your sales letter. Your sales what? We thought you’d never ask. Now we should probably wait until step #10 to tell you about sales letters, but they’re so critical, we’ll spill the beans here and get you working on them NOW! - 88 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Sales Letters that Sell We’re not going to pretend that we’re experts at writing sales letters. Even the two of us who are writing this e-book on becoming experts probably couldn’t pull off passing ourselves off as expert copywriters. What we can do is steal from the pros. Well, not exactly steal, but borrow to help write our own sales letters. Let’s explain that a little bit further. Your Swipe File Every, and we mean every, copywriter out there has what’s called a swipe file. It’s nothing fancy, just a binder, a box, or a bin full of other sales letters, direct mail pieces and other copy that pulls. “Pull” is industry slang for copy that sells. That’s what you want to create, copy that pulls and puts money into your bank account. For some help on writing sales letters, check out Yanik Silver’s e-book: Instant Sales Letters. Or invest in the world’s best swipe file with over 400+ pages of million dollar marketing masterpieces at your fingertips! Of course, we glossed over one of the most important parts of your sales letter in the previous section: your headline. Simply put… HEADLINES THAT SCREAM, Sell More Okay, so that statement isn’t 100% accurate. What we mean is that great headlines that instantly connect with your readers will sell more products and services. At minimum, they’ll keep your reader from clicking off your site or turning the page and not reading your sales letter or advertisement. That’s why we think you’d be crazy not to spend some more time learning how to write effective headlines. For some more help with creating headlines and titles for your articles, we turn to our friend Michael Buck. It’s All About the HEADLINES that SHOUT! Let’s learn how to make your headlines shout right now… - 89 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! How To Write Headlines That Will Attract Interested Prospects and Sell More of Your Products or Services by Michael Buck All your marketing materials must contain headlines, if you want them to sell. This includes all ads, sales letters, web sites, press releases, etc.. And yes, I did say web sites. Some people don't realize that their web site is an advertisement. I come across far too many web sites that don't include a headline telling me why I should stay and browse the site! Why should all your marketing materials have headlines? First, competition for your reader’s attention is fierce. Everyday, people are bombarded with advertising of all sorts: TV and radio commercials, billboards all over town, newspaper and magazine ads, numerous forms of advertising on the Internet. Even grocery stores are overflowing with ads – special prices, new and improved products, low-fat this, and sugarfree that…and the list goes on. People are becoming numb to this excessive exposure to advertising. And if you want even the slightest chance of selling your product or service, you'd better have powerful headlines to grab their attention. Next, you only have a split second to catch your prospect's attention. If you don't have a headline that commands immediate attention, the rest of your copy goes unread. Which, of course, means you won’t get the lead or make the sale. Also, the headline is what gives your prospect a reason to read your ad (or other marketing piece). People don't just read what's put in front of them. They read what interests them and can benefit them in some way. This applies to web sites, too! With so many web sites failing to use this basic, highly effective marketing tool, your site will stand out in the crowd with a compelling headline. Types of Headlines Here are some of the most common types of headlines you can use: 1) Promise of a major benefit 2) Solution to a problem 3) Flag headline 4) Warning headline 5) Testimonial headline Often times, good headlines use a combination of these, and I'll discuss each of them in detail. - 90 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 1) Promise of a Major Benefit This is the safest, most widely used type of headline. And for it to be as effective as possible, it must display the #1 benefit your prospect will receive buy purchasing your product or service. The most effective way to determine this benefit is to survey your customers – by phone, email, or postal mail. Ask them the top three reasons for purchasing your product or service, and have them rank them in order. It’s a good idea to offer your customers an incentive for providing you with this information. A free report related to your product or service is easy to write, and will give you leverage in getting more responses. Once you get ten (preferably 20 or more) responses, the #1 benefit will be clear. Then simply incorporate this benefit into your headline. If you don't have any customers to survey, you may have to do the work yourself. Write every benefit a customer would experience with your product or service. If you really spend some time on this, you may be surprised to find that what you thought was the #1 benefit was actually secondary. List everything you can think of, and don't hold back – a minor benefit may spark a new idea – revealing the most important benefit. This process can make the difference between an ad that flops and an ad that brings in record-breaking sales. Once You Have the #1 Benefit, You're Half Way There. Use some of the following techniques to craft a winning headline for maximum profits. 2) Solution to a problem This type of headline is a slight variation of the #1 benefit headline. The problem solved by your product or service is the #1 benefit – it's just presented in a problem/solution format. Example: “Now You Can Melt at Least 3 Inches of Fat from Your Waist in 30 Days or Less Guaranteed!” This headline presents the benefit of reducing fat in the waist as the #1 solution to the problem of having excess fat in the waist area. Note: When you use a problem/solution headline, be sure you’re providing a real solution or cure to a problem, and not just a way to “prevent” a problem. Solutions are a hundred times easier to sell than prevention. People tend not to worry about problems until they actually exist. - 91 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Want proof? Just look at how much fast food, tobacco, and alcohol today's society consumes. And look at how many people are out of shape these days. These people don’t seem to be very concerned with preventing heart disease, lung cancer, obesity, etc. But when they begin to experience the negative side effects, people want a solution fast. Yes, it is unfortunate. But when you’ve got the solution to an overwhelming problem, you’re in a powerful position to create a win/win situation. You provide the solution in exchange for money in your bank account. 3) The Flag Headline A flag is a phrase calling for the attention of a particular person or group. Use a flag headline to attract your target audience – those most likely to buy your product or service. For example… Attention: New Mothers! New Exercise Safely Burns the Fat You Gained During Your Pregnancy in Less than 60 Days – Guaranteed! You can also use the flag headline to increase response by catering your offer to readers of the publication you're advertising in. Example… Attention: Newborn Journal Readers! New, Exercise Safely Burns the Fat You Gained During Your Pregnancy in Less than 60 Days – Guaranteed! 4) The Warning Headline This type of headline can yield tremendous results when used properly. There are a few ways to use this approach. Your headline can propose a warning to read your message before making a purchase. Or you can use the warning to flag a specific audience. The following example uses both of these techniques. * Warning: Dieters * Don’t eat another reduced calorie meal until you read this startling message… Why Your Current Eating Habits May be Doing More Damage to Your Body Than Good! - 92 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 5) The Testimonial Headline This is simply a satisfied customer testimonial used as a headline. Here’s an example: “Big Boulder Protein Powder helped me pack on 11 pounds of muscle and reduce my body fat by 6.4% in only 37 days, without changing my exercise routine, and I’m convinced it can do the same for you too.” The quotes around the headline signify that it’s an actual quote from a customer, giving it added validity. When using this method, it’s important that the testimonial has a strong impact. It must make a significant claim related to a major benefit of your product or service. Don't just use an “average” testimonial, or it won’t have the desired effect. A note about using numbers: Specific beats general. In the example above, notice that I used: “11 pounds of muscle” instead of “over 10 pounds” and… “reduced my body fat by 6.4%” instead of just “6%” and… “in only 37 days” instead of "less than 6 weeks." These specific numbers make the statement more believable and will bring better results. Another key point: Notice that I used the phrase “without changing my exercise routine.” This shows the reader that the product itself (not the workout routine) was solely responsible for the results. It’s crucial that your product or service is “easy” to use and get the desired results. People buy simplicity, not complications. Power Words for Stronger Headlines Here are some power words that will make your headline irresistible: ♦ How/How to ♦ You ♦ Easy ♦ Free ♦ Health ♦ Discover ♦ Love ♦ Guarantee ♦ Proven ♦ New ♦ Save ♦ Announcing ♦ Safety ♦ Now Incorporate these words into your headline, where appropriate, and watch your response rates soar. - 93 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Headline Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs If you want your headlines to sell (and of course you do), don't waste your time or advertising dollars on these common mistakes. 1) Don't Be a Comedian (Even if You Are One) Don’t use headlines that try to be clever, cute, or use a play on words. This is definitely NOT the way to get attention and entice readers to take action. Stick with the proven methods discussed earlier. 2) DON'T USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS Capitals will not make your headline more effective. People are just not accustomed to reading words in all capital letters. This just makes it more difficult on the eyes and harder to read. Occasional words may be capitalized for emphasis, but not your entire headline. 3) Don't Use Excessive Punctuation!!!!!!!! Besides looking amateurish, it screams "hype" from a mile away. A big turn-off. 4) Don't Let Graphics (or Anything Else) Take Attention Away from Your Headline. The headline is the most important part of your sales piece. Any distractions will hinder results. You can use graphics to enhance your sales piece, but not to distract from its purpose. 5) Don't Try to Get “Everyone’s” Attention with Your Headline If you advertise with the mindset that your product or service is for everyone, you’ve already lost. Only a specific group of people will respond to your offer. And you should only attempt to reach that specific audience with your headline (and all your other marketing materials). This is a basic marketing principle known as “target marketing” (a great topic for a future article). Now you have a solid foundation for crafting powerful headlines. You have five of the most effective headline types…power words that will make your headlines irresistible…and common mistakes to avoid. Use them in all your ads, sales letters, and web copy to attract more prospects and win you more sales. Michael Buck of www.WealthMagnet.com and www.FitnessMarketer.com is a copywriter and creator of “Magnetic Advertising.” He specializes in writing responsive ad copy and implementing proven marketing strategies that get results. Visit us on the web for more info about Magnetic Advertising and a free e-mail subscription to the Profit Report. ======================================================= - 94 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Want Great Headlines FAST? – Resource You Can Use Instead of investing the time to learn how to write killer headlines, you can just buy the software that will do the dirty work for you. Yes, Joe Vitale has come up with an amazing software that only costs $99 and will help you write a sales letter, an ad, flyer, brochure, news release, and even a book chapter, article, or speech. Imagine having one piece of software for all that. Crazy, but that’s Joe for you. If you’re interested in this amazing breakthrough new software that almost magically helps you write sales letters, ads, news releases, articles, speeches and entire books easily, effortlessly and even hypnotically, then check out: www.hypnoticwritingwizard.com/ A Paid Newsletter or E-zine? You can make the leap from FREE e-zines and newsletters to paid membership sites and newsletters. It might be difficult to make the leap if you haven’t delivered value to your readers, but it can be done if you’ve got a strategy. What? People paying for content online? Yes, it’s true and it’s happening more and more. While the Internet might have started out as a free-for-all with dot.com companies giving away the store in hopes of rapidly increasing membership and subscribers, the tides are beginning to turn. A number of savvy Internet marketers (and offline marketers, too) are starting to create paid membership sites that have quite a few bells and whistles beyond what the regular old “free” subscriber gets. But don’t get us wrong. It’s not easy to make the jump, but we’ve seen plenty of marketers do it to know that there are people out there willing to spend their hard-earned money to get their hands on the freshest content that they can actually use to help grow their businesses or improve their lives. How Do You Make the Transition? There are way too many steps involved to go into them in detail, but the main idea is to show or excerpt some of the “paid” content in your free newsletter. In your resource box you casually mention that the information was from the members’ site and that plenty more great stuff is available. Include a link to testimonials of satisfied (and paying) customers on your - 95 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! site that states exactly how much money those customers of yours made or how they’ve transformed their lives. The more specific the testimonials are, the greater the pulling power of them. You should also begin to offer free trials that last a few days or weeks to get the reader “hooked” on the content. If they like what they see and like the service/value you’re delivering, you’ve got a great chance of transforming them into a paying customer. - 96 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step #4(a) - Your e-Books: Your Ultimate Viral Marketing Tool You must have e-books in your arsenal. E-books make some of the best viral marketing carriers and they make great products to sell on your site. They can sit there on your web site and people can download them 24 hours a day, seven days a week…and they can pass them on to their friends. For those new to the game, e-books is short for electronic books. They are nothing more than “self-contained executable files” (.exe is the most common) or PDF files that someone can open and read. E-books that are self-contained (read: fancy) have all shorts of buttons to get you back to the table of contents, flip pages, and so on. The best e-books are rich with links to the Internet, graphics, video, and even audio files. While the majority of the world is on Windows ® and might have the latest browser software, it might make sense to go the alternative route: PDFs. In fact, it’s what I recommend you do. If you want to go with HTML type e-books, be my guest. You can use one of several software packages to write and publish your e-books. They range in price from $99 to $189. eCover Generator http://www.ebookgenerator.com/ Hyper Maker HTML http://www.bersoft.com/ eBook Edit Pro http://www.ebookedit.com/ WebCompiler http://www.webcompiler.com/ Adobe Acrobat PDF is the Way to Go If you’re going the traditional/easy route of creating an e-book, all you’re going to need is Adobe Writer or free software to create PDF files. Unfortunately, the software costs $295. That’s way too expensive in our opinion. Thankfully, there are other software programs that will do the job quite nicely. Check out www.download.com for the latest software to convert Word documents into PDF files. Or if you’re the lazy type and don’t want to do a search, here are some of the free options out there to convert your word processing files into PDFs. You can go to http://createpdf.adobe.com to create an Adobe PDF file online. They let you create five documents for free. Unfortunately, there’s a 10 minute time limit on conversions, - 97 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! which means you’ll have to chop up your e-book into different PDF files. That’s NOT an option if you plan on selling your E-books. Thankfully, there are other alternatives. Check out http://www.software995.com And http://www.PDF995.com will convert files into PDFs and much more. This is our preferred source for people who don’t want to shell out the $295 for the Adobe Writer software. The Look and Feel of It There is no one “RIGHT” way to create an e-book. We prefer PDF files because they’re easier to read on all computer operating systems, you don’t have to worry about the way it will look on screen, and you also minimize printing issues. Aside from that, you have to create an ebook that looks and feels like others in your niche. The easiest way to do this is to get a model e-book. Get a Model e-Book Get your hands on your competitors’ e-books (whether you have to buy them or they’re on their sites as freebies) and study them. Do you like the look and feel of them? What would you change? Is the font easy to read? Is it clear? Concise? Did you learn anything? Write down all your initial reactions and comments in your note-book and then get to work writing, editing, and designing your e-book. Now keep this “model” e-book in front of you. Don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to. Follow the same look and feel for the Table of Contents, Chapter Headings, Headlines, and even the font, if you want. Killer Titles and Covers You should spend some time brainstorming titles for your e-book. Having a killer title is absolutely critical to the success of your e-book. If you’re having trouble coming up with titles, take a look at the list of e-books for sale on Clickbank.com for inspiration. Notice the common threads they have and the type of claims they make. If you like the way a cover looks, print it out in color and send it off to your graphics designer. You need to know what sells, and the process of learning and understanding what sells and why it sells begins by analyzing the best-selling e-books inside and outside of your niche. - 98 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Spend the Money and Do it Right People DO judge a book by its cover, or a product by its package! Don't believe me? Go into any book store or video store and look around. Nine times out of ten, it is the cover design or packaging that will first draw your eye to a particular product. It's at that moment your first impressions are formed and the sale is made..... or lost! The same is true on the Internet, probably more so. That's because everything on the Net is two-dimensional. If you want to make a good first impression, to build trust, and to create value in your customer’s mind, then you have to present your product in a way your customer can relate to. You have to present it in a way that makes your customer want to reach into their screen and pick it up. If you can do that, make the product jump and say, “Hey! look at me! I'm real, buy me now!” Then you will make more sales. It's as simple as that. The best place for a Killer Cover is at Max Covers. Drop Max a line. When you send him a note or sign up, tell him I sent you and maybe he’ll help you out with the price or throw in something extra. He’s quick, efficient and creates Killer Covers for you that really STAND OUT from the crowd. How to Write Your eBook Are you dreading writing your e-book? Don’t see yourself as much of a writer? Well it’s time to stop doubting yourself and put all the negative thoughts and fears behind you. You’ve got a few busy days ahead of you during this mini “bootcamp” of ours. And when it comes to your e-book specifically, you’re going to have a busy two weeks. Very busy. Let’s learn how to write e-books quickly… Fabio’s e-book The One Minute eBook will show you how to write your very own e-book in as little as 7 days. There are a variety of different types of e-books you can create, but all the different types start with a detailed outline or a table of contents. Once you have a detailed outline to work from, it doesn’t matter whether you have several hours a day to write or just a - 99 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! few minutes. By having an outline to work from and a few writing secrets from Fabio, you can pound out an e-book in record time. That’s up to you, but you should have already chosen a niche if you’ve been doing your homework while reading this e-book. If you’ve already written a book, then your job is very easy. You can take sections of your book, expand on them, add some links, and suddenly have a viral e-book in your hands that you can give away for FREE. If you want to sell the ebook, you want to over deliver on what you’re promising to your readers, so you’re going to have to spend some time adding more content, links, and resources. You can turn to articles you’ve written on your niche and you can even ask some experts in your field if you can reprint their articles to help you fill out your e-book. This e-book contains several articles from our friends and fellow Internet marketers. They get exposure to a wider audience, and if some of you want to find out more about them, you just click on the link in their resource box and you’ll be brought to their site. When you follow this strategy, it’s a win/win situation for both sides. Exactly How Does Your e-Book Become a Viral Marketing Machine? Easy. tell, no, implore your readers to pass the e-book along to their friends and family members, and tell them to post the link freely in online chat rooms and discussion forums. The second page of your e-book should have the words “THIS IS A FREE E-BOOK. FEEL FREE TO GIVE IT AWAY ON YOUR WEB SITE OR GIVE IT AWAY TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY.” That’s all you need to say. Soon you’ll see your e-book popping up on web sites as giveaways to encourage people to sign up for newsletters or as freebies in promotional campaigns. - 100 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Example of How Your E-book Can Get Into Thousands of Hands: You only have 400 subscribers to your newsletter. Only one in four download the e-book, which is a really low conversion rate, but realistic for those starting out. So 100 subscribers downloaded your e-book. Each of those 100 gives away two e-books = 200 Out of those 200, each gives away two e-books = 400 Out of those 400, each gives away two e-books = 800 Out of those 800, each gives away two e-books = 1,600 Out of those 1,600 each, gives away two e-books = 3,200 So now you have 3,200 new people (actually 3,200 plus your 100 existing subscribers = 3,300 customers) exposed to your content, your site, pitches for your product, and testimonials for those products within your e-book. Not bad, but you can improve your odds by hooking up with another e-zine publisher and let them offer up the e-book as a freebie through one of their issues, or have them post it on their web site. This way their existing subscribers get a chance to get their hands on it and all future surfers on their site get exposure to your name and the link to your site. If those surfers download the e-book, even better. Now you have more potential “virus carriers” that will help spread the word about you and your business. You’d also want to look at Ewen’s best-selling Mini eBook Secrets for more top insider tricks and tips to get create and promote your first e-book out in less than 24 hours flat. Before We Begin… Let’s be honest with each other. The two of us are lazy. Very lazy. That’s not to say that we’re not highly motivated, go-getter types. We just HATE wasting time reinventing the wheel. We want to spend as much time as possible with our family members and helping our clients. So we like to take advantage of the best resources out there that will help us dramatically decrease the time needed to create products, promote our businesses, and well…make money in the process. Guard your time like a hawk. The easiest way to instantly cut down on the time needed to create and market your products is to make the time and money investment in several outstanding resources that every Expert in Training should have in their arsenal. At the end of this e-book is a list of resources that you can use to dramatically improve your odds at becoming a successful entrepreneur and infopreneur. One such “must have” resource is on writing e-books. - 101 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! E-Books – Electronic Money Makers The Easy eBook System or The One Minute e-Book We’re not about to reinvent the wheel and waste your time by giving you the background on how we write eboooks soup to nuts (i.e., coming up with the ideas, structure, and actually getting them written and promoted). Fabio’s developed a great system for coming up with the idea for an e-book, publishing it, and profiting from it in less than 14 days, which he’s outlined in his e-book: The One Minute Ebook. Perhaps you can do it faster or maybe you need more time to get it done. Regardless, you CAN get it done. We used his best-selling e-book to help guide us through the steps needed to write this ebook, and we were able to write this very long e-book that has no author interviews or BS filler in just 11 days. And now we’re going to selectively take parts from that best-selling ebook and put them into this section of this e-book. Now that’s an effective use of our time. Anyone Can Write an E-book, That’s the Problem Everyone and anyone can write an e-book, even you. You just need a plan of action to go from thinking of the idea, to writing it, to making money from it. Most people get scared because they think they don’t know enough about a subject or they’re intimidated by sitting down to write down their thoughts. We’re here to tell you that it’s not that hard to do it. You just need some inspiration followed by a lot of perspiration to make sure you do what you need to do to get the book outlined, written, edited, and published. You don’t need any groundbreaking information in your e-books to sell a ton of them. All you have to do is write a good e-book that gives people information to solve their money or time problems in a quick and easy fashion. That’s it. That’s the secret to your e-book success. You need to make an outrageous promise of what your e-book will help them do. Whether it’s solving a problem or giving them more time or financial freedom, you want it to be something they DESPERATELY want. Then you have to package it welll and you need to already know what hungry market you’re going to sell it to. It helps if the list you’re marketing the e-book to is very highly targeted and they’ve proven that they’re buyers. You need an audience that is big enough and has big enough problems - 102 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! and issues that they want solved…NOW. Why is this so critical? Because people are going to be paying anywhere from $9.97 to $47 (or more) for your e-book and they want to save thousands of dollars or make thousands of dollars from the information inside of the e-book. Kind of unrealistic, but that’s what they want and you have to deliver it to them. Just Think BIG! • • • Find your BIG market Solve a BIG problem that they want to fix Make a BIG promise in your sales letters and e-mails That’s all you have to do in order to sell tons of your e-books. As we talked about earlier in this e-book, you should be doing the first step no matter what. And we also talked about the need to be a problem solver whether you’re writing articles, e-books, or working with a client one-on-one. So all that remains is making an OUTRAGEOUS CLAIM that you can back up for your e-book. Outrageous claims are things like: “Learn how to play the piano without ever touching a key!” “You can make MASSIVE amounts of MONEY in just 21 days or less with our proven system.” Or how about our favorite from the header of this e-book: “Become an Expert in 30 Days…or Less! – How To Go From A Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days!” To find some more examples, just visit the sales pages for products from anyone on the Internet. There are some pretty shady and very outrageous claims being made, which reminds us… Of course you MUST be able to back up your claims or else you’ll have not only a lot of upset people, but you’ll also have some government agency coming after you for making false claims. - 103 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Okay, so you can make some big claims, anyone can do that. But what if you’re not so sure that your system is proven and time-tested. Don’t worry about that. It hasn’t stopped writers for centuries from writing about their systems and successes they’ve achieved. You Only Have to Be Successful Once The truth is that you only have to do something once and you can talk about it for the rest of your life. Let’s explain that further. Fabio coaches his clients to think about the results they’ve had in a particular area, and he helps them create a hook or “angle” that they can then use to pitch their products. And the funny part is that you just have to do something once in your life and you can talk about it for the rest of your life…and make money in the process. This is what Tony Robbins has done, Robert Kiyosaki has done, and just about every other infopreneur has done. So if you’re going to write an e-book on how to write a book in under 30 days, you just have to do it once and you can tell people about your system. Fabio’s written two books in 30 days or less and surprise, surprise, he’s selling an e-book on How to Write a Book in 30 Days…or Less. You can do the same thing, especially when it comes to e-books because people want to hear the story, but they also want to see the steps you took to get the results you got. Does that make sense? We hope so. Will It Sell? You should never write a book or an e-book without knowing beforehand if it’s going to sell. One way to find out if it’s a best-seller or a stinker is to send a survey out to your e-zine subscribers. Once you know what topics they want to learn more about, you can create your e-book virtually overnight. This is the strategy we used to write this e-book. We asked our subscribers what they wanted to know more about and got writing. If you don’t have a list of people yet, but want to get cracking on writing your e-book, then you can just look into one of the consistent best-selling topics or categories. Things like: Diets, Money, Food, Politics, Religion, Sex/Relationships Add to that list starting a business or making money on the Internet and you’ve got the top categories around. Your job is to find your niche within those categories and find your topic. - 104 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Then put your spin on the idea and market the heck out of your e-book, and you’ll be on your way to making ridiculous money from your efforts. The One Minute e-Book: Just a Quick Look Fabio, after having helped other people get their e-books on track, decided to step up to the plate and write, what else: an e-book on how to quickly write e-books. How original, right? Well, it is. If you take a look at the rest of the e-books that “claim” to help you write your outrageously profitable e-book in less than four seconds, you’ll find that there really is no process to follow. There’s no outline that you can use to write yours. Sure it might be buried in the fluff and the interviews inside the e-book, but you want solid results, right? Exactly. Which is why Fabio developed his system to get you on the fast track to writing, publishing, and profiting from your e-book. So, how does Fabio’s system work? Well, you’ll have to buy his e-book to find out. Just kidding. We’ll give you the topline information on how to get it done. You can check out our web site for articles Fabio has written on writing e-books and books for more help. The first step is to think about what you want to write about and come up with a killer title for it. The title should tie back to the benefit or problem that you’re going to solve in the e-book. This really helps to capture the attention of your target audience. What’s next? You go about either interviewing people on the subject or doing some quick research on the topic. Then you create an outline of what you want to write about, then get writing. Once you’re done writing, you do a quick edit, send it out to five or six people to review and add comments, then you make your final edit and publish it. Done. It’s that simple. We know we threw a lot at you in the above paragraph, but we just wanted to give you a taste of the steps you would need to take. You can take a look at the process in-depth at: http://www.TheOneMinuteEbook.com/ or the resources page on our site here: http://www.CashMoreChecks.com/resources.htm - 105 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Having Trouble Writing it? If you’re having trouble writing your e-book, why not speak it? Yes, we’re serious. A number of Internet gurus are now taking their teleseminars, interviews, and other recordings and transforming them into e-books. It’s how Fabio makes some of his “side-cash,” as he calls it: helping others transform their current book or the knowledge that’s inside their heads and making it into “multiple streams of income” for them. It’s easier than you think to do. There’s Dragon Naturally Speaking or you can always send a tape or MP3 to someone and have them transcribe it for you. Not fun? How about getting people to Coauthor the e-book with you? Perhaps you put in 10% of the writing and they handle the rest. Just a thought. So if you’re struggling to write your e-book, ask yourself: “Who could I coauthor an e-book with?” Compile It We hate seeing these types of e-books, but they’re making lots of money on the Internet. Essentially you send out a list of questions to be answered by a bunch of gurus, then take their answers, edit and polish them, then publish the thing as an e-book. The gurus are glad to help out because it’s publicity for them and they’ve got mentions of their products all throughout their answers. Pretty smart. If you must, going this route is one of the fastest ways to write your e-book. One of the best examples and PROOF that this works big time is really Ewen’s own Resale Rights Secrets and Underground Sales Letters (which uses the same concept in a different format). So now you know what to write about, how to write it and so on, what about making money? - 106 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Do e-Books Make Money? You bought this one, right? So there must be a market for e-books, but how big of a market? The market is HUGE, in fact. The best-selling e-books on the Internet are selling thousands upon thousands of copies every year. A decently marketed e-book can sell a thousand copies in a year if the audience is big enough. And since there’s no printing costs, no warehousing costs, and no fulfillment costs (aside from giving Clickbank their share), you’re talking about 90% to 99% margins. Not too shabby. A thousand copies? No way. Yes, the two of us were skeptical at first, but once we became friends with some e-book writers, we were AMAZED at the number of copies that some writers were selling. And you will be AMAZED as well once you create your e-book and use some of the marketing techniques we’ll share with you later in this e-book. In Conclusion… Just remember to Find your big market, Solve a big problem that they want to fix, and Make a big promise in your sales letters and e-mails. Do these three steps and you’re certain to make some big money in this racket. That’s all that’s needed to come up with the idea for a great e-book: research it and get it written. We didn’t want to bog you down in all the details because you can always visit our resources page on our site to get your hands on more information on how to write e-books. Just go to: www.30DayExpert/resources.htm “But what if it doesn’t sell well? Is it worth the effort?” Even if you only sell a few copies each month, that’s pure profit for you because the selling and fulfillment will be on autopilot. Nice. Very Nice. And it’s an important part of your viral campaign to get your name out there, so stop making excuses and put “writing my e-book” on your To Do List NOW. - 107 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Don’t Publish Crap At the beginning of this section we said that anyone could write an e-book and that’s a problem. The “problem” piece is that, thanks to the low-cost of entry and lack of being able to browse the product before purchasing it, a number of hacks and awful writers are putting out…well, crap. They don’t take the time to research their material and they go out and maybe interview some people via e-mail or take a bunch of articles and string them together. They then charge $27 for it. People buy it, are horrified that they wasted the money, and they then don’t want to buy e-books from “no-names” any longer. This is why it’s so hard to build your e-book business without the help of some joint-venture partners. The reason for our rant here is to just push you to make sure you write and create only quality products. You’ll not only help yourself (word will get out about your e-books), but you’ll help that next budding guru by upholding a standard in publishing; i.e., people aren’t going to be afraid of buying their product – sight unseen. Physical Books vs. E-books So we’ve talked about writing physical books and we’ve talked about writing e-books. Which is better? It depends. Nice answer, but it’s the truth. If you’re looking to make cold hard cash, then ebooks are your ticket to quick cash. They’ll give you a net profit of upwards of $40 a pop versus $14 or $15 for a physical book. Plus, you don’t have to inventory the books and you get to insert affiliate links in your e-books and make some more cash from commission checks. You don’t have to pay for shipping the books and you can outsource a lot of the order fulfillment and credit card payment processing for a small fee. Books will give you profit margins of around 40 percent if you sell them through Amazon.com, after fees, printing costs, and so on. If you sell them direct, you’re looking at margins of around 80 percent. Not bad, but not the 95 percent you can get from e-books. The one thing books do give you that e-books cannot is prestige. There’s just something about a physical book that you can hand to someone and say “Here’s my book. Why don’t you read through it, see what I’m all about, then decide if you want to do business with me.” We say do both for a lot of reasons. The main one is to fill out your infoproducts funnel. More on this a few steps from now. But to finish up before step #5, we should also note that - 108 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! you will want to have products for every type of consumer. Some people like the convenience of e-books, while others like to hold a physical book. If you have both formats, you’ll be able to satisfy a greater number of people in your target market, and that should always be your goal. Benefits of a Real Physical Book With all of those benefits of having an e-book and digital products having been said, there’s no denying the power of having an actual physical book. Your book adds credibility to you and your practice. It makes the perfect sales piece, as well. Talk to any author or speaker and they’ll tell you that their books are their best lead generator outside of targeted free publicity. In short, if you really want to make it in this business and sell your services, you MUST HAVE A BOOK! What’s Your Hook? What’s your angle, how are you different from all the other books in your niche? You need a way to differentiate yourself from the pack. Your book is a selling tool, never forget that. So what’s your hook? What do you help people do faster, easier, more-efficiently? How does it save them more money? What extraordinary results have you seen with your system? What’s your sexy title? Think The South Beach Diet, not Bob’s Low Carb Solution Manual. Think The Automatic Millionaire, not Money Budgeting Advice You Should Follow. What’s My Sexy Title? ___________________________________________ - 109 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Why is Your Book Better than the Competition? Along the same lines of creating a hook for yourself, what’s your point of difference versus the competition? Is your program simple to implement? Do you get results in half the time? Think hard and write out the list of benefits of not only your book, but of your services. These “one-liners” will be useful when it comes time to write sales copy and handle interviews from the press. Getting Testimonials for Your Back Cover and Web site It’s a lot easier than you think to get testimonials for your books than you think. Why? Because the smart authors and the hungry authors and experts out there know that if they give you a good testimonial, there’s a chance that you’ll put it on your book. It’s free advertising for who they are and their latest book. Of course they’re going to want to give you a testimonial. Just create a list of people you would want to give you a testimonial and hit the Internet and find their contact information. Send them a sincere e-mail or call them up and ask if you could send your book/manuscript/first few chapters to them for their review. It’s as easy as that. - 110 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step #4(b) Books: A Must-Have Marketing Tool You MUST have a book if you’re going to become an expert. Books are simply the best marketing and image-enhancing tool that you can have in your arsenal. When you write a book on a topic, you automatically can start calling yourself an expert in the area. More importantly, the media, your readers, and others “outside looking in” can’t help but think of you as an expert. After all, you wrote the book on the subject, right? Everyone Can Write a Book So why do you want to write a book? Is it to make money, increase your marketability, provide free publicity for your business, or maybe to just get your voice heard? Whatever the reason, you’ve probably bought this book because you’d like to write a book, but just haven’t gotten around to it. I’m Not an Expert Yeah, so what? You don’t have to be an expert to write a book. Through the process of researching your topic, interviewing people, reading the best books in your niche, and writing the book, you will get to know your topic and niche very, very well. In short, you become an expert throughout the process of writing your book. Sure it helps to be a recognized expert before your book comes out, but the chicken doesn’t have to come before the egg in this case. Scour the bestseller list and dig deep into the biographies of those big name authors and you’ll find that most merely dabbled in their genre or subject area before writing “the” book on the subject that made them a star. The same can happen to you. Focus on laying the egg, I mean writing the book, and you’ll never have to use this excuse again. Your book will help train you to become an expert in a variety of ways: • You’ll be forced to do lots of research into your book’s subject matter. This means rereading three or four (or more) of the best books in your area of expertise. If it’s something like starting an online business, you only have to read three or four ebooks by the top gurus. If it’s something like investing in real estate, you might have to read or skim through ten to 15 books. - 111 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! • You have to organize your information into easily digestible and memorable “simple steps” that readers can use to easily digest the material. This reinforces the information and helps you to instantly remember the steps when asked a question. You simply rattle off the steps people have to take. • You can “cut up” the book into mini-reports or articles that can be sent out to magazines and online e-zines for added exposure. • If the topic of your book is “hot” enough, you’re going to get plenty of request for interviews from the media. This exposure, whether it be on radio or on TV, will instantly cement you as the expert in your niche. Write about what you love doing, not just what you’re an expert in. Fabio has been in marketing for over five years and while he’s no expert in brand management, he certainly has more credentials in the field than he does in the area of personal finance. But he’s passionate and simply loves helping people get on the path to financial freedom, so how could he possibly waste his time writing about marketing when he can invest it writing about his hobby? He can’t, which is why he’s written two best-selling books about personal finance. You might find yourself in a similar situation. What does this all mean for you? Write about what you love doing. Write about your hobby, because your passion will show through and your reader will feel the energy in your words as you describe how to garden, or to sell, or to paint, or to golf, or to do whatever it is that makes you feel truly alive. Write about what you love doing when you’re not at work, and you’ll enjoy the next 30 days more than you would have ever thought possible. A Book in 30 Days or Less? Impossible, Right? Wrong. Fabio created a system that he used to write his second book: The Wealthy Pauper in 30 days. Not only did he write the book in 30 days, but he edited it, proofed it, and shipped it off to his printer. Three weeks later he had the book in his hands ready for shipment to Amazon and other booksellers. If he went with a Print-on-Demand Publisher, he probably could have had the book in his hands even faster. Right now we want to concentrate on you and that book you’ve been carrying around in your head for the past five, ten, 15, 20 or more years. - 112 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Don’t Get Me Wrong, It’s Not That Easy We think writing a book is simple, just not easy. we know we use that phrase often, but it really applies here. Writing, and writing a book in particular, is hard work. You should know that going into this whole process. You need to be able to push yourself to write even when you’re bored, lack inspiration, or have too many other things going on in your life. You’ve got to adapt the mindset that you’re going to write your pages every day no matter what. Save your excuses for the excuse monster and get writing. Again, writing can be hard work but it doesn’t have to be if you have the right system set up. Other Excuses After talking to several best-selling authors and reading more about the process of writing bestsellers, we realized that there was absolutely no valid excuse that we could come up with that someone else hadn’t already overcome. “I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.” -George Bernard Shaw We mean if Phil McGraw can write a diet book and Madonna can write a children’s story, why can’t you write a book on your favorite topic? Writing the book on the subject makes you an expert, right? After all, YOU WROTE THE BOOK on the subject! We’re not kidding around here. Seriously. Take a look at the books on your bookshelf. Now ask yourself how many could you have written? Most of us glorify the writers we love, and if truth be told, we know just as much, if not more, than some of the bestselling authors that grace our bookshelves. These authors started out just like you with an idea for a book in their heads. The main difference between you and them then is that they took action and wrote their book. If you don’t think that you can write a book, then you MUST check out Mark McCutcheon’s book, Damn! Why Didn't I Write That? How Ordinary People are Raking in $100,000.00...or more Writing Nonfiction Books & How You Can Too! If you buy the book and read through it, you’ll literally be hitting yourself over the head because there are hundreds of people making a ton of money writing books on the most bizarre of subjects. By bizarre, we mean really, really tight niches like: The Jumbo Duct Tape Book and Consumer Joe : Harassing Corporate America, One Letter at a Time - 113 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The Duct Tape book has sold thousands upon thousands of copies and Consumer Joe is just getting started on its quest to sell thousands of copies. The point is that you could have come up with a crazy idea for a book like they did. Don’t think so? Well, how about these: How to Work for an Idiot Dealing With People You Can't Stand The Book of Positive Quotations Everything I Know I Learned in My Garden: Life's Lessons in My Own Backyard 1,000 Places to See Before You Die Death by Meeting : A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business Of course you can, anyone can! And once you learn the simple WriteItFastTM system, you’ll be steamrollering your way through your first book. But I Don’t Write or "I Don't Know How to Write." If you have never written an article, let alone a full-length book, don’t panic. We’ll show you several techniques the pros use to get their books written in a fraction of the time most writers take so they can quickly profit from it. We don’t want to trivialize this, but if you got through high school or graduated from a higher education facility, you can write. You just don’t know it yet. Actually, let us re-qualify this. You don’t even have to know how to write to “write” a book. You can just speak into a microphone, have someone else translate it, edit it, package it, and publish it. You don’t even have to know how to read and you can “write” a book in 30 days or less! We’re only half-kidding. But writing doesn’t have to be this difficult and mysterious thing. You know how to write, or at least speak. We’re going to show you techniques you can use that will virtually guarantee that you’re staring at a completed first draft 30 days or less from now. Assumptions You Have a Topic that You Can Write About (and are Passionate About). We’ve covered this to death already, haven’t we? You’re an expert already; you just don’t know it yet. - 114 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You Have Some Degree of Self-Discipline Okay, you don’t need a lot of self-discipline, just enough to keep you in your seat for about an hour or two every day for the next 30 days straight. If you can do that, then you can write a book in 30 days or less. "Some things you have to do every day. Eating seven apples on Saturday night instead of one a day just isn't going to get the job done." - Jim Rohn You Know How to Type…or Not Okay, you don’t need to be a great typist, but you just have to type a minimum of 35 words per minute to write your book in 30 days. Actually, you don’t even need to type most of your book if you don’t want to. There are software programs, most notably Dragon Naturally Speaking, which will allow you to talk your way to a completed book in 30 days or less. You Want to Write a Non-Fiction Book Non-fiction books are easier to write and you’ll make more money writing them versus writing a fiction book. The “How To” book market is booming and people can’t get enough of diet, working out, finance, memoirs, and other non-fiction books that either help solve a problem of theirs or help fulfill a need. Fiction, on the other hand, is harder to write because you have plot lines to develop and characters to create and you have a fickle audience to sell to. In short, writing fiction just doesn’t pay well. For every John Grisham or Stephen King, there are 100 other aspiring writers in the rejection bin at some editor’s office. “Fiction writers tend to be creative, interesting people who are fun at parties. But nonfiction writers drive better cars.” - Dan Poynter, Author, The Self-Publishing Manual Now, the system we will share with you WILL work for writing a fiction book, and a number of best-selling fiction books have been written in less than 30 days…it’s just harder to do. In fact, we wish to persuade you to write a non-fiction book first before you attempt to write a fiction book. Why should we force you to write non-fiction if you don’t want to? Because we want you to learn the system of writing quickly, and we know that it’s easier to do when writing non-fiction as opposed to writing fiction. “I used to be faster than I am now; one of my books (The Running Man) was written in a single week, an accomplishment John Creasey would perhaps have appreciated (although I have read that Creasey wrote several of his mysteries in two days.)” - Stephen King, On Writing - 115 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You’re Committed to Writing a Book Before you even sit down at your typewriter and start pounding away, you need to make a commitment to yourself that you’re going to finish this book you want to write. You need to know up front that there are going to be tough days when you’re having trouble writing 50 words, let alone 500 words. There are going to be days when you think everything you’re writing is crap, but you must stick with it. Over the course of the next 30 days you’ve got to write day in and day out until you reach your goal. “A writer’s courage can easily fail him . . . I admire anybody who has the guts to write anything at all.” - E.B. White, writer, editor of New Yorker But can you really write a book in 30 days or less??? Books…Make that Bestselling Books, Can be Written Quickly The Christmas Box by Rick Evans was written in six weeks. It’s only 87 pages long, but it’s sold quite a few copies. Okay, so it’s not less than 30 days, but it’s sold millions of copies and is only 87 pages long! Think you can write three pages a day? Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff was originally written during an 8-hour transatlantic flight. Yes, that gem of a book that’s sold millions of copies and spawned Don’t Sweat It titles for a variety of people has made Dr. Carlson quite rich. I’ll bet he’s glad he spared those eight hours. Communicate with Confidence by Dianna Booher was written in 22 days. She probably would have been done faster if the book wasn’t 402 pages long. The Wealthy Pauper by, well, Fabio, was written in less than 30 days. While it’s only topped the bestseller list once so far, it’s provided quite a nice income for Fabio thus far. - 116 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Current Writing Ability & Experience The system that we will show you will work for anyone in the following four levels: 1. Never Wrote Anything 2. Wrote an Article or Two 3. Have Written Some Articles, Chapters, and Other Material 4. Have a Full-Manuscript in a Filing Cabinet or Underneath Your Bed Are you in one of these groups? Great, then you are qualified and able to write a book in 30 Days of Less. Let’s get started! THE SYSTEM: How You’re Going to Write a Book in 30 Days…or less! We’re not going to go through the entire process, but we wanted to give you the basics so that you could see how easy it is to write books these days. Prep Time and Research Fabio’s students often ask him if research and prep time is included in his 30 day or less guarantee. He tells them it depends. (How’s that for a copout?) It depends on how much they’ve already got in their noggin about the subject and how much legwork they’ve already done getting articles and materials for the book. To be honest, we’d say that it should only take you a weekend to gather all the materials you’ll need to create your book binder and “office space.” It also should only take one or two trips to the bookstore and a search on Amazon to come up with the books you’ll need to buy and use as research for your book. Thinking While You Work You probably have a full-time job or have other obligations that have been keeping you from writing your book. Shirley Jackson, the author of the award-winning short story, “The Lottery,” is a mother of four children and barely had any time during the day to write. But when she sat down to write it wasn’t that hard. Why? Because she had been thinking about her story and plot lines throughout the day. Agatha Christie said that some of her best story ideas came while doing the dishes. John Grisham was a full-time lawyer when he wrote A Time to Kill. Mitch Albom was a full-time sports writer, but it only took several “Tuesdays” every week to get the interview he needed to write the emotional best-seller Tuesdays with Morrie. And so on and so on. There are dozens of examples of best-selling authors and, well, published authors who were able to set aside the time to write their books. You need to make the same commitment - 117 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Make a Writing Schedule You need to create a writing schedule for yourself and stick to it. Aside from creating your detailed outline, this is the second most important factor in getting your book completed. Yes, if you have a family affair to attend or you’ve got the flu you can shift around your schedule, but ideally you’re going to be writing every day. Again, create the schedule and stick to it. Be realistic about the amount of writing you will accomplish every day. In Write It FAST! Fabio gives you the basics of what’s involved in the process of writing a book, i.e., what you need to do in order to prep for it, write it, edit it, and get it ready for publication. You need to figure out when you write the best and how much time you can find in your daily schedule to write. How do you figure this out? Well it’s not a difficult process. Just look at your current schedule and see when you have or can create some free time. Waking Up Earlier or Cutting Out Some Activities The two ways most of my coaching clients find the time to write is either by waking up earlier or cutting out some activities. Maybe you wake up 30 minutes earlier than normal and write for 30 minutes before hopping in the shower. Perhaps it’s just a matter of getting to work before everybody else and writing for 30 minutes to an hour. Or you can cut out some activities like watching TV, watching TV, or watching TV. The electric boob tube is responsible for the biggest killer of your time, so why not slash the amount of time you waste watching TV and INVEST it in your writing? The average person watches a ridiculous amount of TV every week. Something like three-plus hours per day. That’s all the time you’ll need to write your pages, read for an hour, and get some extra sleep. No extra time to read? Cut out the TV watching: problem solved. "The more serious the writer – and that is to say if a person really wants to claim being a writer and consider that writing is heir main, central and most focused work – then it's very painful to write. It's very hard to write. It takes everything to write well." - Maya Angelou Sorry Maya, I love you and all, but writing doesn’t have to be painful. Yes, it can be challenging and difficult if you’re striving to write the perfect poem or sonnet, but I’m not and I hope you’re not. You’re merely trying to write a bestseller and you don’t have to be so perfect to write a bestseller. Just visit the bestseller list on any given day and you’ll see a handful of books that are poorly written, but well-marketed. Daily Writing Plan - Aim for a Minimum # of Pages Per Day Your target should be to write a minimum number of pages a day. I’m not going to share with you the critical number you need to write every day, because I want to make sure you didn’t just read this section and skip reading the Write It Fast! manual. Sorry to do that to you, but if you’re anxious to know the exact number of pages you need to write in order to - 118 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! reach your goal of a book in less than 30 days, just turn to page number 52 in the Write It Fast! e-manual. Can You Write More Per Day? You can write more than your daily goal, but it’s not recommended. When you spend too much time writing one day and you have ten or 15 completed pages in front of you, something happens psychologically. The next day you’re blank. You can’t write, or worse, you say “Well I already wrote enough yesterday to fill my quota if I average it out, so I can take today off.” Wrong. Big mistake. And there’s another reason not to write beyond your goal: you’re going to get burned out. Before I developed my system, I’d always have these “moments of inspiration” and write late into the night and have 20+ pages staring at me in the morning. Job well-done, right? Sorta. The problem was that I was exhausted from writing so much and getting so little sleep. When I sat down to write I wasn’t focused and I felt like my brain wasn’t working. This happened on multiple occasions and it was days before I was able to write again. And it’s not just a sleep deprivation thing. Even when I got lots of sleep, if I wrote too much the previous day, it was like the creative juices were drained from me. Maybe that’s what people call writer’s block, but I can’t be sure. What I do know is that I’ll never make this mistake again. Writing beyond your quota is a recipe for disaster. Remember, you MUST write your minimum pages each and every day; nothing less per day is acceptable. “I like to get ten pages a day, which amounts to 2,000 words. That’s 180,000 words over a three-month span, a goodish length for a book – something in which the reader can get happily lost, if the tale is done well and stays fresh. ON some days those ten pages come easily; I’m up and out doing errands by eleven-thirty in the morning, perky as a rat in liverwurst. More frequently, as I grow older, I find myself eating lunch at my desk and finishing the day’s work around one-thirty in the afternoon. Sometimes, when the words come hard, I’m still fiddling around at tea time. Either way is fine with me, but only under dire circumstances, do I allow myself to shut down before I get my 2,000 words.” - Stephen King, On Writing I just had to put in that quote from Stephen King because it reinforces the need to have a quota that you stick to, no matter what. Now King writes 10 pages per day, but he’s the King, right? In all seriousness, Stephen King is a professional writer who’s been writing for years. Don’t push yourself to write more than the goal you’ve set for yourself (which is hopefully less than ten). - 119 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! PAY ATTENTION! Below is an important lesson for BANISHING WRITER’S BLOCK FOR GOOD! You MUST Write EVERY DAY! You need to write every day. No editing, just writing. Save the editing for when your book is done. Don’t waste your time going back through your writing or you’re going to sit there and rewrite it and rewrite it and rewrite it to death. Then you’re never going to get your pages done. You’ll have more than enough time to edit your book once you’re done writing it. Even if you think what you’re writing is crap, you’ve got to meet your quota every single day. Resist the temptation to read your work thoroughly. Just get down the bones of what you want to write about and move on to the next topic. How Writing Every Day Keeps You Writing Every Day! So here I am yapping about how you should write each and every day and how you shouldn’t miss a day because you’ll never start again if you stop (and the world will stop revolving around the sun, and so on). But there’s something powerful in creating that habit of writing every day. You create that discipline in you to sit down at your computer and write every day. Regardless of your schedule or what you have going on in your life, you make the time to write and you become a better writer in the process. When you write every day, you don’t have time for writer’s block. You force yourself through those periods when you’re struggling by forcing yourself to write your five pages. You gain a confidence about your abilities to write, regardless of how you feel or whatever else is going on in your life. That confidence will help you keep the myth of writer’s block at bay. You’ll literally come to realize that with a little practice you can write on demand. It also helps you to keep that evil disease called Perfection Paralysis at bay. By forcing yourself to write to a quota every day, you simply don’t have time to sit there and find the perfect word every time. Now the book you write won’t be a long one and it probably won’t win you a Pulitzer Prize (of course you never know), but you will achieve your goal of writing a book within one month's time. “Will My Book Suck?” Why do people doubt themselves so much? I hear this type of question all the time. People seem to think that just because you write a book in 30 days, that it’s going to be awful and destined for the trash bin. It just isn’t so. People seem to think that if they only have a little time each day to write and they’re pushing to just finish five pages as quickly as possible, that they won’t write great stuff. That’s simply not true, and here’s why… - 120 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You’re probably not going to win the Pulitzer Prize, but you will write something worthy of being read every day. Some days you’re going to be on fire and you’ll write five of the best pages anyone has ever written. The next day you could be writing something that’s destined to be rewritten several times. Who cares? I don’t and you shouldn’t, either. The goal is to get the manuscript done, completed, finito and move on with the next step in the process. If you sit there and start worrying that what you’re writing is crap or that you’re not cut out to write and so on, you’ll NEVER finish. I can’t stress this fact enough! Besides, as you’ve read in Write It FAST!, you’ve got a few editing sessions and a peer review and perhaps an editor that stands between your first draft and being published. In between those two points there’s going to be a lot of reworking, filling in and massaging of words, sentence structure and chapters. I’ll show you how to work through each of those critical stages in Write It FAST!, so let’s move on. So NO, you’re book will not suck. It’s going to be a good book. After all, why would you want to waste your time writing a book that sucked? And to make sure that your book stays out of the dumpster, I’m going to give you some simple advice about ways you can rapidly improve your writing skills. That discussion comes in a little bit. First let’s finish up our discussion about your writing schedule. You’re Done For The Day…Seriously! Once you meet your quota for the day you can stop writing. Seriously. I mean it. Once you get your five pages done, you can shut down your computer and do whatever you want for the day. Even if you knock out your pages first thing in the morning, you don’t have to write any more. Now that I’ve beaten that topic to death, let’s talk about schedules a little more. Your Writing Schedule Find an hour or two during the day that works best for you. Mark it down on your calendar and stick to it. Determine how many pages you’re going to need to write per day to get your book done on schedule. Just don’t bite off more than you can chew, especially if this is your first book. If you haven’t written your detailed outline yet, get to it now. You’re not allowed to start writing unless you have a detailed outline. You don’t have to kill yourself creating it, just get it to the point where you’re 90% to 95% satisfied with the information you’re covering. You can always change things around during the editing stages. Okay, enough jabbering. Let’s start writing! Day 1: Pull out your detailed outline that I showed you how to create, select a topic and associated sub-topics, find your pile of notes on the subject, spread your notes and research out in front of you and start writing. Don’t stop writing because you go blank. Use some of - 121 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! the writing prompts that we spoke about earlier. Just focus on the topic and write about it. Then write about the sub-topics. Once you’ve answered the “questions” that are in the topics and sub-topics, move on to the next few topics. Don’t stop writing. Don’t edit. Don’t stop. Just go with the flow. If you’re drawing a blank on a word, just use the special tactics for getting past writer’s block that I showed you earlier. When you reach your quota for the day, you’re DONE for the day. Seriously! When You’re Done with Your Daily Writing Quota, Reward Yourself Yes, this might seem silly, but I don’t think it is. When you reach your daily goal for the day, you’ve moved that much closer to reaching a long-term goal of yours. You’ve worked hard for the day and if you’ve met your goal, there’s nothing wrong with indulging with a piece of chocolate, a can of Pepsi, or 30 minutes of surfing the Internet. You make the call. You decide what your “reward” is going to be. Of course when you’re done with your entire manuscript, this is where you really reward yourself with perhaps a big night out on the town, a dinner at a fancy restaurant, or even a much-needed vacation. All the little rewards and that big reward at the end serve as positive reinforcements and help keep you energized and motivated to stick to your daily regime and finish your book! So again, your goal is to write a set amount of pages every day. That’s your goal that you’re shooting for. Take consistent and persistent action, write each and every day, and in a month you’ll have a finished book in your hands. It’s guaranteed! Well, as long as you turned off that darned editing machine that is… Turn Off the Editing Machine The number one problem my book coaching clients have is that THEY EDIT TOO MUCH. They can’t get enough of editing and tweaking of the four sentences they just wrote. In the middle of their writing, they stop to read what they’ve just written. They don’t like it, so they start changing the words around or deleting it altogether. - 122 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! All this editing gets them nowhere…FAST! You must realize this and realize it right now: YOUR FIRST DRAFT IS A DRAFT. IT’S NOT GOING TO BE: • • • PRETTY PERFECT READY FOR PUBLICATION ON DAY 31 And that’s OKAY. Seriously. Your first draft is supposed to be rough. It’s supposed to have “holes” in it and have spelling mistakes and all that jazz. Just focus on your daily goal. Just sit at your computer and crank out those pages. Write them in the morning if you like or during your lunch break or after dinner; it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you get them done. How many would-be authors do you think are out there with only one chapter sitting on their hard drive or in some drawer collecting dust? Thousands? More like millions. My first book started off like this. I wrote a lot to start, but I caught the editing bug and couldn’t stop rewriting and rewriting every page I wrote. Don’t fall into the trap. Turn off your internal editor and just write, damn it! Write! Be Like Stephen, Not Dean Dean Koontz works six days a week. He arrives at his desk by 7:30 in the morning and works straight through to dinnertime. He doesn’t eat lunch. Wow! Talk about a workhorse. I’d rather go with the routine of another best-selling fiction writer: Stephen King. King writes from about 9 to 1 p.m. every day. King is just as prolific as Koontz; must be working from that outline in his head. What we’re getting at is don’t overwork yourself and don’t set unrealistic schedules for yourself. You’ll burnout that way. “To write it, it took three months; to conceive it – three minutes; to collect the data in it – all my life.” - F.Scott Fitzgerald, The Author’s Apology, letter to the Booksellers Convention, 1920 Thanks to the awesome power of the Internet, advances in word processing software, and information on writing and book publishing, it’s getting easier and easier to write and publish a book. In fact, I’m asserting that you can write a book in 30 days…or less! Now the book you write won’t be a long one and it probably won’t win you a Pulitzer Prize (of course you never know), but you will achieve your goal of writing a book within one month’s time. - 123 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! If you’re serious about learning how to set up your manuscript and create an outline in a way that will ensure that you finish your book in 30 days or less, then you need to check out Fabio’s complete writing system that includes a free one-on-one coaching session. If you’re interested and you don’t want to waste any more time wishing you wrote a book, then hop on over to Fabio’s web site for his best-selling e-book on how to write your book faster than you ever thought possible: How to Write a Book in 30 Days…or Less. Publishing Options So now you’re staring at your completed manuscript and you have to get the darned thing published and into the hands of your readers. Now comes the tricky part of deciding whether to self-publish or to go the traditional route. There are pros and cons to the whole process of either self-publishing or getting an agent and a traditional publisher. Either would be tedious for you and, well, us as well. We also don’t have the time to go through it, but we’ll give you the pros and cons of each option and let you decide which route to go. We know where we net out, but you alone can make the decision based on the amount of time, money and resources you have, as well as the expectations you have for your book. Okay, enough preamble. Let’s get to it. Traditional Publishing – Get an agent after sending out lots and lots of letters, then the agent sends your manuscript or proposal to lots and lots of publishers, then someone finally offers to publish it. From there you wait another 18 months to get the thing published and on the shelves of bookstores. Then you’re expected to do 99% of the promotion for the book, and in exchange you get six percent to eight percent royalties. Of course if your book doesn’t sell, and you only have four to six months to prove yourself, the booksellers will say “no thanks” and tell your distributor to take the books off their shelves. Nice. Self-Publishing – You pay all the costs to have the book edited and proofread. You pay to have the cover designed and the book printed. You pay for the review copies you send out and you pay, you pay, you pay…but the payout can be much bigger than if you go the traditional route. Instead of getting one or two dollars in royalties, you can get around $7 to $9 when you self-publish. And if you sell the book through your web site at full retail, you can make around $14 to $17 a copy, depending on your cover price and what you charge for shipping. Okay, so I tilted it a little bit toward self-publishing, but we can’t help ourselves. If we went the traditional route, none of our books would have seen the light of day for months and months after we got them on the best-seller lists. The thing we like about going solo is that we control the entire process. You choose what your end product will look like and you say what the title is going to be, and so on. - 124 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Of course if you self-publish, you have to distribute the books, handle payments, manage the accounting and a lot of other things that will take up a large chunk of your free time. And of course you have to front a lot of the money. If you go with a Print On Demand company and only print a few copies, you could produce and print your books for under $1,000 if you find a cheap cover designer and edit the books yourself. That’s not including the cost of your ISBN numbers, which will run you $100 for ten numbers. But most people spend in the neighborhood of $4,000 to $5,000 to see their blood, sweat, and tears go to the presses. Ultimately, it’s up to you which route you choose. If you decide to self-publish, then you need to get your hands on The Self-Publishing Manual by Dan Poynter. It’s the selfpublisher’s bible. He will walk you through the entire process. You can also check out my upcoming e-book on the subject called Self-Publishing Riches. I even interviewed Dan for the e-book, so you know it’s got to be good. =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= That was just a pretty long excerpt from Fabio’s e-book on how to write books quickly called Write It FAST! - How to Write a Book in 30 Days...or less!, but there are even MORE CRITICAL STEPS in the entire e-book. If you’re SERIOUS about writing your own book FASTER than you ever thought possible, visit Write It FAST! - How to Write a Book in 30 Days...or less! =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= In Closing A book is an invaluable tool in your arsenal of promotion. As best-selling author Mike Litman likes to say, his book is his “Biggest Brochure.” It sits there on someone’s shelf and if you learn some of the secrets Fabio shares in Write It FAST!, you’re going to quickly and easily get your readers to visit your web-site and convert them into a happy, lifelong customer! - 125 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step #5 - Networking & Joint Ventures! Networking – Just the Basics Ivan Misner, a networking guru, described the whole process of networking so eloquently when he referred to it as “the oddly altruistic yet self-interested collaborative ideal.” Networking isn’t a difficult process to understand. To paraphrase Misner, it’s about meeting people and building relationships with them in a way that’s mutually beneficial. In short, you help others to get what they want and soon you will get what you want. Building a Big Network Pays Big Dividends The more people you know who also know you, the greater the chance that you will meet the right person at the right time who will help you get that next break in life. Maybe it will be someone your business associate introduces you to or maybe it will be someone you meet at a seminar, but it’s going to happen. The good news is that you can help speed up the process by building a bigger and better network for yourself. The people you hang around with most obviously have a great impact on who you are and where you will go in life. It stands to reason, then, that if you hang around with millionaires and other “movers and shakers” in life, you’re going to go far…very far in life. So what we’re talking about in this section is making sure that you identify the right people to include in the group you hang around with most often, whatever you might call them: your Mastermind Group, your reference group, or your inner circle. How do you get the best of the best inside and outside of your industry to become part of your network? You work hard at it, that’s how. You need to have a “deliberate and systematic approach to networking” to use the words of Brian Tracy. In short, you’re not going to be wasting your time talking to people you can’t help and who can’t help you. You need to focus your attention on becoming the person who people of influence want to be around. You start this process by becoming an expert in your niche. You continue the process by becoming - 126 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! successful…very successful in fact, because successful people love to hang around with other successful people. They will literally pull you into their world once you begin to have some success in your business/niche. Again, don’t waste your time with people who have big dreams, but never take action in life. You need to surround yourself with like-minded people who are action-oriented and who are interested in getting things done in life, not talking about last night’s game or what happened on the latest reality show. Networking is about building relationships with people, then leveraging those relationships to achieve sales. But…that doesn’t mean the sales come immediately. It requires some time to build a relationship, create trust in that relationship, then leverage it. Those who don’t understand that about networking never get good at it. They push too hard for sales, referrals, and leads and damage the potential for a relationship. The other party senses that they’re being “used,” and so what do they do? That’s right, they never pass along their name to friends and family members, and they certainly never do business with the other person. Why? Because the salesperson is, well, just another salesperson. Don’t let this happen to you. Givers Gain When you get into a networking situation, you obviously have your own motives, but you must help someone else in order for them to want to help you. In short, in order to gain you’ve got to give. And the more you give, the more you will receive because that’s just the way it works. Just remember that you can’t operate from the mindset of giving just to receive something in return. According to Deepak Chopra, “the intention should always be to create happiness for the giver and receiver, because happiness is life-supporting and life-sustaining and therefore generates increase. The return is directly proportional to the giving when it is unconditional and from the heart.” We love that quote because it reminds us that we should be networking not just for personal gain, but to help others. If we do, that successful thing will work out for us…and then some. - 127 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! A few short days from now you’re going to be putting your plan of attack into action. You’re going to get your business going and you’re going to establish yourself as an expert in your niche. A few months from now you’re going to be looking to do a JV (joint venture) with someone, or you’re going to be at a seminar and talking to someone when the conversation will shift to networking. Well, it won’t be about networking specifically. It’s going to be about someone in your niche that always seems to hook up with the best JV partners and have the latest and greatest product going. They’re at all the seminars and they seem to be making all the money. What you don’t know about that person and what you don’t see is the hours and hours of networking that went into that person getting to where they are. You don’t see the countless e-mails they sent out to potential JV candidates, and you don’t see the countless hands they’ve shaken over the years. In short, you’re going to be tempted to explain their success as simple luck when in reality it’s the result of good old-fashioned networking. “In the networking environment, rewards come by empowering others not by climbing over them.” - John Naibitt You’re only going to get referrals from those you have become friends with and connected with over time. This is why it is critical to connect with those in your network on a frequent basis. You need them to view you as someone they know and can trust, not someone that’s looking to just get leads and business from them. Build Quality Contacts We often talk to people about the importance of building a quality list instead of a quantity list online. You should strive to do the same with your networking group. It does you no good to know 300 people if those 300 people can’t put you in touch with other people who need your service or can help you grow your business. On the other hand, if you had 30 quality influencers in your networking inner circle, look out! - 128 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! When you do something extraordinary for someone or take them under your wing, they’re going to sing your praises to other people…sometimes a lot of people. These super networkers are your evangelists, out there on the streets and on the Internet spreading the word about how great you are and how willing you are to help others. The best thing you can do is make it really easy for someone to become a “salesperson” for you. The big Internet marketers know exactly how to do this with their incentives and commissions, as well as through setting up plenty of tools to make it as easy as possible for affiliates to spread the word about the latest product. You need to make sure that everyone knows your ideal prospect and client. You do this through helping them understand your business and what you look for in clients. Develop Your Elevator Speech or One-Minute Commercial If you’re going to breakthrough the noise and the hype that others are putting out there about themselves, you need to make sure you have an ironclad elevator speech and one-minute commercial about yourself. You need to be able to succinctly tell the other person who you are, what you do, and who your ideal candidate is all within the first few minutes of a conversation. If you do it in a memorable way, you’ll be remembered. Connect with the person and they’ll be passing your name along to others. Build a relationship with them and show them that you’re a giver, and they’ll soon be recommending you to others and sending referrals your way. Get to know who the “key players” are in your association and group. Maintain a positive and upbeat attitude. People like to be around winners. Enough said. Make a good first impression. If you ever get business through a referral, make sure you over deliver. Do NOT damage a potential source of future business by not taking care of the person they referred. - 129 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Follow-up! Follow-up! Follow-up! Do you think we feel like this is critical? You bet. You must follow-up with prospects and new contacts immediately to show that you’re different from the rest. After you meet someone for the first time, make sure you send out a note or an e-mail to touch base. If you ever have the chance to refer business to someone else in your network, do it. Then call up the person to let them know that a friend of yours should be calling them shortly. You want the person in your network to know that you were the one who sent the business their way. “Yeah, this sounds great, but I don’t know anybody?” Interesting excuse, but it doesn’t hold up. The truth is that you know some people, whether it’s 50 or 250, you know people and those people know people, and so on. That’s why it’s called a network, remember? Most people are unaware of the network that’s literally “in their backyard” because they’ve never paid attention to it. The first step to becoming a good networker is to understand and identify the people you know and the categories they fit into. Are they authors, business owners, insurance agents, teachers, etc? Figure out where your current network is and then decide where it needs to be. Then create the plan of action and just get it going. Sounds like a lot of hard work and it is. But the payoff is HUGE. But since it’s hard work up front, no wonder there are so few people out there with big networks. Make the Commitment to Grow Your Network You must make a solid commitment to get good at networking if you’re ever going to have any chance of building a network that’s big enough to boast about. When you network with others, you’re sharing your knowledge and experience to help others. The more you share, the more you’ll be perceived as the expert in your field, which is the whole point of this e-book: to make you into an expert. The more people you have in your network that see you as the go-to expert in your niche, the faster and quicker the message of who you are and what you do can spread. - 130 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Tools of the Trade You need business cards to hand to people, but more importantly, you’re going to need your elevator speech and your quick introduction about who you are and what you do. E-mail Duh. Of course you need e-mail, but you need to actually read it and respond in a timely manner. Make sure you stay on top of your inbox and reply to people within 24 to 48 hours. If you can’t do that, then hire an assistant to help or get a Blackberry so you can do your email while you’re waiting in line at the bank, etc. Keeping in Touch – E-mail and Phone Don’t forget to use your e-mail and your phone to reach out and contact your network every so often. Super salespeople use some sort of follow-up system, whether it be ACT or Outlook, to remind themselves to keep in touch with prospects and contacts. You should do the same. And if you want to take the extra step, clip out an article you see in the newspaper that might be relevant to someone in your network. It shows that you’re thinking of them and their business. They’ll reciprocate. By the way, you can easily forward articles and items of interest via e-mail, as well. Discussion Forums We love discussion forums because you can not only scan posts for research on the hottest topics and problems people have, but you can easily get into contact with the movers and shakers out there. But you’re also surfing these forums to help people out. Don’t just get on there and spam forums with links to your site and the services you provide. Go out there and help people and they’ll come to your site in due time. We’re not going to beat this to death, but we want to remind you that you’re there to share your knowledge with others and help them out. You can always write your posts with a well-written signature file that includes your web site and contact information. This is considered “good form” when it comes to self-promotion on discussion forums. Now to find the best discussion forums in your industry, just spend ten to 20 minutes at Google doing a search. Then when you’re on a forum you can always ask the people on there where else they post. - 131 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! What Level are You Playing In? Joe Vitale talks about the different levels within a particular industry. By levels he means that people tend to stay on the same level of business or social status, but they never go into the next level. So there they sit, trying to do deals and get things done, all the while staying in the same circles and level of success. In order to really achieve anything great, you’re going to have to fight, kick, and scratch your way into that next level. You do that through networking and getting someone else to help you “get your foot in the door.” Your books and your speaking gigs will help you get into that next level in the pecking order. Your books are your calling card and they will put you into contact with people at higher levels than you. According to Vitale: “If you want to succeed in phenomenal ways today, you need to go up a level or two on the status scale of networks. The good news is e-mail makes this a snap to begin. Anyone alive can be reached through e-mail with some persistence and cleverness. That's how I first reached marketing superstar Jay Conrad Levinson, direct mail legend Joe Sugarman, and even gonzo daredevil Evel Knievel. I did it all by e-mail.” And you can do it too. E-mail is the best way for the budding guru in you to get into contact with players that are a level or two above you. And don’t be surprised if someone from a higher level comes a calling. The two of us have received e-mails and phone calls from people who were a few levels above us and wanted to do joint ventures and were asking for help in certain areas. Why did they call us? Because we were experts in our niches and they wanted help. Amazing what this expert-inyour-niche stuff will do for your circle of influence and your networking skills. So start creating a list of people who you want in your own network some day, then start working to get them into your network. How are you going to do it? Easy. Start thinking about what you can do for them first, and you’ll then get your foot in the door. From there, take Joe Vitale’s advice for getting to different levels: “It would take an entire book to fully explain the concept of levels. I don’t have that space here. But before I end this short article, let me offer a handful of tips for going to a new level: - 132 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 1. Write something of value new levels will admire. This doesn’t have to be a book. This very article may introduce me to new levels. One of the main reasons my name is known to a vast majority of people online is due to the hundreds of articles I’ve written and distributed (like this one you’re reading) over the last ten years. You can write articles, too. 2. Apply for membership in a prestigious organization. When I joined the Society for American Magicians, a very old club for professional magicians, I elevated my position among magicians. Joining the right country club or business group can do the same thing. 3. Create or join a master mind group. Napoleon Hill strongly urged people to form master minds. The trick to making them work is to be among people who are already successful in the areas you want to succeed in. Their presence will help elevate you. 4. Write to people in higher networks. When I was first starting out as a writer, people way above me, such as famed copywriter Bob Bly, helped me. In later years, marketing gurus such as Murray Raphel and later Paul Hartunian, all helped me. I simply wrote to them. They sensed my sincerity and offered guidance. Today I do the same for others. 5. Speak at associations or gatherings of people in higher levels. You’ll need to have something unique to offer, but if you can deliver what these levels want, you’ll be welcomed into their fold. Again, there is nothing wrong with the level you’re on. You don’t want to forget your friends or burn your bridges. I’m simply suggesting that if you have giant goals and big dreams, it may be time to take the elevator up a floor or two.” ===================================================================== Dr. Joe Vitale is author of way too many books to list here, including the #1 best-selling book Spiritual Marketing, the best-selling e-book Hypnotic Writing, and the best-selling Nightingale-Conant audioprogram, “The Power of Outrageous Marketing.” His latest books are the best-selling The Greatest Money-Making Secret in History and Adventures Within. He’s being called “The Buddha of the Internet.” Sign up for his monthly e-zine and see many articles by him at http://www.MrFire.com ===================================================================== Wow, thanks Joe for that great stuff. So our question to you is: What are you going to do in the next 30 days to start expanding your network? Brainstorm and think hard? Now get going and start building that network! - 133 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Join Associations, Groups, and Clubs What are the big organizations and associations that you can join in your niche? Don’t know any? C’mon, there’s a magazine, newsletter, web site, and organization for almost any type of niche out there, no matter how small that niche is. Your job is to find the key ones and join them. Once you’re in it’s easy to find the few people within your niche who are out there making a name for themselves and doing things in a big way. It’s your job to get into their circle and become one of them. Volunteer for committees or any positions that are available. Get involved and your network will explode! Why do all this work? Easy answer: because the movers and shakers within organizations are likely to be key influencers at their companies, in their communities, and in your niche. When you get involved in a bigger way at associations and clubs than most people, you’re elevating your status with these people. All of the sudden you’ve got your foot in the door and you can talk to them as an equal. People help people they see eye to eye with, especially if those people (you) are out there and making themselves seen and heard. But don’t overlook the opportunity to network on the job… The Power of Networking You have the opportunity to network at your current job, but most budding experts never think of this because they’re writing their books on the side and growing their Internet business while everyone else is out to lunch. We’re not saying that you should go off and tell everyone at work what you’re doing, but trust us on this one: if you invest the time to network on the job, it will pay off in the future. Maybe it will be scoring a speaking gig through your cube mate’s wife’s sister’s hairdresser, but it’s going to happen. Of course, when you work for a big company, one of the hardest things to do is stand out and get noticed. The good news is that there are things that you can do to meet people and network, like join the company softball team or sign on for cross-functional projects. Who cares if you’re not a good softball player or you don’t have time to do any projects, or worse, what if your boss won’t let you be on a project team? You just have to show up to the games and show everyone that you’re human. - 134 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The objective of networking isn’t to kiss someone’s butt in order to get ahead. The objective of networking is to make contacts that will help you get things done faster in the organization, as well as to provide you with a cadre of endorsers who will be able to help steer your career toward the fast track. Besides, if you’re kissing too many butts, it’s going to be obvious to your peers and the person you’re trying to impress, and you’ll get nowhere. You have to be sincere in your approach to networking and you have to give just as much as you receive. Understand? Good. Let’s move on. If you want to learn more about networking, you only have to read one book: Dig Your Well before You're Thirsty : The only networking book you'll ever need by Harvey Mackay. It’s priceless for helping to build your networking skills and it’s a musthave book for the Expert-in-Training! Networking Doesn’t Have to be Face-to-Face Thanks to the Internet and more specifically to e-mail and discussion forums, you don’t have to meet people face-to-face anymore to network. While virtual networking can never compare to meeting someone at a trade association meeting and taking them to lunch, it’s getting easier and easier to reach halfway around the world to connect with potential JV partners and key influencers. The more you put yourself out there, the more e-mails you send to the big names in your niche, and the more you actively work to grow your network, the bigger your network will grow..and the faster it will grow! Networking will help open doors to a whole new world for you and your business. If you’re not good at it right now, then you MUST get good at it. We don’t care if you’re shy, timid, and don’t have the best social skills. You MUST make networking part of your plan of attack or you’re going to be leaving a lot of money on the table. And when we say a lot, we mean huge amounts of money. It’s been estimated that 80% of all business is created or transacted through some sort of business relationship. The rest, the puny 20%, comes through advertising, cold calling, and other sources. - 135 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Networking is a Skill and it CAN be Learned You might not be good at it now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn how to be a better networker. The steps are simple. Just follow them and be prepared to listen more than you talk and you’ll become a master networker in no time. When you attend an event, remember: Goal – What do you plan to accomplish? Plan – How are you going to do it? Action – Go and do it. Evaluation – So how did you do on your exam, er, your plan of action? Follow-up – The fortune is in the follow-up. Keep these five steps in mind every time you go to an event and when you come back. Follow all five steps, especially the last one and you’ll have your million dollar rolodex in no time. Now let’s get a little deeper into some things you need to consider. Have a plan of attack whenever you go to a seminar, trade association meeting, and just about anywhere else where there is a large gathering of people. Know beforehand who you want to meet, what your purpose is for attending, and how you want to be known by people attending the gathering. How you want to be known? This simply means you need to be crystal clear on how you want people to perceive you and what you want them to remember you for. Do you want people to view you as the cost-cutting expert or do you want them to remember that you’re a speaking coach? Maybe it’s that you coach people on how to improve their efficiency on the job. Whatever it is, be crystal clear and have your elevator speech ready. Have Your Elevator Speech Memorized. You need to have your introductions down pat before you enter into any gathering. Whatever you want to be remembered for and whatever information you need to tuck into your introduction, put it in. Then spend a few minutes rehearsing your elevator speech so you can recite it without forgetting a line or stumbling. - 136 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Listen. Shut your mouth and start listening more. People are interested in themselves, not you. You’ll be remembered as a great person simply by allowing the other person to talk more than you talk. In the meantime you’re gathering valuable information about the person, their family, their interests, their hobbies, their businesses, and more importantly, what they need more of and want less of in life. Use key prompts to get them to elaborate and talk more, such as, “Tell me more.” And they will. Build Trust. How ever you do it (ethically, of course), strive to build an instant rapport with the person. Establishing your credibility through your elevator speech and listening to what people are saying will make it much easier to become a confidant of theirs. Be Passionate. Don’t be boring and lifeless. Be interesting and interested in their life. Speak passionately about what you do for a living and the people you’ve helped. Toot Your Own Horn No one likes the person who sits there and talks on and on about how great they are, how wonderful their products are and why they’re the best things since sliced bread. But you’re going to have to learn how to be a self-promoter if you’re going to elevate your stature among your peers. If you’re too modest, you’re going to go nowhere fast. Learn to brag, but don’t be obnoxious about it. Just seek to connect with people and inform them about what you do and drop hints as to why they should stick close to your side. - 137 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Be the Hub or the Connector A “hub” is the term for the person in the middle of the networking circle. They’re the person people go to for advice and for help. One surefire way of becoming the hub is to share your contacts with other people. By this we mean that you should be willing to promote and “showcase” people you know by putting them into contact with others. Think back to your own relationships in life and the time when a person introduced you to someone who helped you. You’ll never forget that moment (and can’t thank that person enough). Raise Your Status People naturally like being around successful people. When you raise your status in your niche, you’re going to get all the movers and shakers in a room gravitating toward you. Yet another reason to become the expert in your niche! Overdeliver on Your Promises Yet another way to raise your status is to do something faster, bigger, better, and so on than you said you would. When you overdeliver, people are going to want to do business with you. They start talking about you and telling others that you’re a go-getter in the industry. Offer to Help Them. This is a golden nugget. Ask them, “If I were going to refer your ideal customer to you, who would that be?” Or ask, “Who is your ideal customer?” You love referrals, and they do as well. Make it known up front that you understand how the game is played and that you want to help them grow their business. Usually, after they tell you who their ideal client is, they’ll ask you who your ideal client is. Volunteer More. You’ll be surprised by the number of contacts you can make through volunteering to be on committees for your trade association, but even more surprising is the amount of contacts you will get through volunteering in your community. You get the benefit of doing good and growing your network. Talk about a win/win proposition! Givers Get. Always remember this motto. It’s at the core of networking. Don’t network just to get, but give instead. Keep Records. Those two words are worth their weight in gold. How much do words weigh? All joking aside, you need to keep notes on who you meet, where you met them, who their kids are, their spouse’s name, etc., etc., and etc. Whether you use a system like ACT or Outlook or your PDA, just have a system and remember to use it. You’ll be glad you did when you’re trying to remember the name of someone’s spouse. - 138 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Quick Start Plan for Networking Success How can you quickly build your network? Easy, just create a plan of action and work that plan: • Call at least one person a week from your network or make it your goal to meet one new contact a week. • E-mail a JV partner or friend in the industry and ask that person who the key players are. Call the key players up or e-mail them and connect with them. • Take someone out to lunch. Whether it’s a client, a supplier, or a friend in the industry, you’ll rapidly increase the strength of your network. • Pick up the phone and reconnect with those friends and family members you haven’t talked to in a while. Let them know what you’re up to. What else can you do? Read this awesome article by someone Fabio networked with: Donna Fisher, one of the premier networking experts around. How to Increase Your People Power By Donna Fisher, www.donnafisher.com Networking is choosing interdependence over isolation and realizing the power of cooperation over competition—it links people and information to one another for the mutual benefit of everyone involved. One of the reasons networking has gotten a bad reputation is because many people are selling in the name of networking, but those who are truly masterful at networking do so in a very quiet, yet powerful manner. These people know the power of grace and respect. They’ve developed their personal power and know how to connect with people to share their power. You have that personal power within you, and your network is unlimited! The following 12 People Power principles show you how to be a source of power for yourself and others. 1 – The Power of Giving Action Questions • In what ways could I be more giving and supportive? • In which personal relationships could I be more giving? • In which professional relationships could I be more giving? • Who will I call and ask, “What do you need?” and “How can I help?” - 139 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The “boomerang effect” of giving is the guarantee of networking. A boomerang always comes back because that is the design of the instrument. In the same way, what you give always comes back in some form because that is the design of the law of giving. However, the only way the boomerang can return is if someone first takes action and throws the boomerang. Giving is a powerful way to activate your network, because human nature inherently provides the desire to respond in kind. Put your “giving power” into action. Pass along support and information to others. Then all you have to do is watch for that boomerang and catch it on its return. 2 – The Power of Interdependence Make a powerful and mature shift from the mental state of “I can do this on my own” to “I honor the power and results that are accomplished from working effectively with others.” Expand your thinking beyond yourself—the “I can do it on my own” mentality limits your outreach and effectiveness as a networker. Many of us need to retrain ourselves to think positively about interdependence. Think of yourself as a multi-dimensional entity of resources and contacts. Who you are consists of all of your life experiences and the people who influence who you are as a person. You are larger than what you see in your mirror. You are a culmination of connections that provide an unlimited source of knowledge and opportunities. Make the Shift from... Independent “They probably don’t have time. . . .” “I can do this myself. . . .” “I know what needs to be done here. . . .” “I don’t want to bother people. . . .” “I don’t know them well enough to call. . . .” “They probably don’t know anyone. . . .” to Interdependent “I call on people in a way that respects their time.” “I work efficiently and effectively with others.” “I run my ideas by others to check my thinking.” “I acknowledge others by asking and including them.” “I will expand my network by calling on people.” “I’ll never know if I don’t ask!” - 140 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 3 – The Power of Praise Send Notes Frequently That Say... • • • • • • • • Thanks for your support. Thanks for your friendship. Thanks for the referral. Thanks for the ideas you shared with me. Thanks for the words of encouragement. Thanks for the opportunity to learn more about your business. Thanks for the opportunity to do business with you. Thanks for taking the time to. . . . Praise calls attention to the good, the helpful, and the positive. By praising yourself and others you bring people to a higher level of energy and awareness. Humans thrive on positive reinforcement. There are two ways to regularly acknowledge people in your network: speaking in person or over the phone, and sending notes. Make sure you are giving and receiving positive feedback in your life on a daily basis. Sprinkle the word “thanks” throughout your day. Tell people specifically how they influence your life in a positive way. Handwritten notes convey the personal touch we often yearn for in our society—you’ll brighten someone’s day and maintain your own attitude of gratitude. My favorite story about sending notes is from someone who attended a musical performance and sent the performer a one-word note: “Stunning!” That person’s experience and appreciation was so eloquently and beautifully conveyed with that one word! Who Are the Five Most Well-Connected People You Know? By consciously building relationships with people who know people, you are multiplying your reach. List five people you know who are well connected and identify what you will do to strengthen your relationship with each of them. Ask... • • • How can I be a valuable resource for this person? How can this person be a valuable resource for me? What will I do to strengthen this relationship? - 141 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 4 – The Power of Quality Connections Everyone has a vast and powerful network. However, for some people the connections have become weak and rusty from neglect. Clean up those communication connections so that you can network with all the people in your life in an easy, natural and consistent manner. Networking is as simple as friendship and as complex as match making. It is about people being there for one another. People are much more likely to be “people loyal” than they are to be brand loyal, and your network will naturally grow and blossom as you strengthen and nurture your relationships. Never underestimate the power of your contacts! 5 – The Power of Staying in Touch Staying in touch with people is what keeps your relationships close and connected. All of us at times get busy and even though we think about giving someone a call, oftentimes we don’t follow through on that thought. Make a point to call people to stay in touch and reconnect. Focus on calling at least one person a week to wish them well or see how they’re doing. Call someone you have not talked with in a long time and let them know you are thinking about them. Networking simply happens through conversation, yet someone has to be willing to reach out and initiate the conversation. Seven Types of Calls to Cultivate Your Network The “Reconnection” Call: A call to someone you haven’t talked to in a while for the purpose of reestablishing the relationship and getting an update on what the person is doing. You can acknowledge that it’s been a long time, express your interest in catching up, and even if it feels awkward at first, most relationships can pick up again fairly quickly. The “Follow-Through” Call: A call to follow up on a project or idea; might involve giving or asking for information, scheduling an appointment, or staying in touch about an opportunity. The “New Contact or Referral” Call: A call to someone you’ve just met or been referred to by someone you know, for the purpose of getting to know each other and seeing if and how you can provide mutual support. Remind people how you met, or tell them who referred you. The “Thinking of You” Call: A call that has no particular agenda other than saying hello and keeping communication lines open. Does not involve a sales pitch. The “Asking for Support” Call: A call made to request information, ideas, contacts or support of some kind. Be clear about what you want and how you think this person can be of help. The “How Can I Help?” Call: A call to offer support or make yourself available as a resource. When you hear about a project or challenge that someone is facing, call. - 142 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The “Developing Friendship” Call: Sometimes you meet someone and recognize an easy, natural rapport that leaves you wanting to get together again. This call is focused on creating an opportunity for a personal or professional friendship to develop. 6 – The Power of Knowing You Ways I Can Be of Value to Others • • • • • • • • • • Introduce people to other people I know. Recommend products and services that have benefited me. Share information that I have learned through my success and failures. Provide feedback regarding ideas. Provide encouragement. Share my expertise. Brainstorm and contribute ideas. Learn about other people’s businesses so that I can promote and refer business to them. Provide a new insight or idea. Send other information I come across that could be of interest or value to them. You are a wealth of information, ideas, and contacts. You must believe that this is true and train yourself to think and respond as someone who has value to offer. A positive sense of self, an awareness of the value you can be to others, and a positive attitude, all contribute to your success in networking. Identify your goals in all areas of your life and utilize your resources to assist you in accomplishing those goals with more ease, fun, and efficiency. 7 – The Power of Small Talk Small talk is a style of conversation that allows people to get to know one another in a nonthreatening manner. Small talk is not insignificant chitchat. Expand Your Comfort Zone Are you at ease making conversation with someone you don’t know, or do you avoid making eye contact? Ask yourself the following questions: • • • • What steps am I willing to take to expand my comfort zone? In what settings am I willing to take the initiative to approach new people? Who do I know who is good at generating conversations with new people? What do I notice about this person that can be helpful? It is the exploratory stage in conversation that leads to discovering commonalties and opportunities—and conversation is where networking happens. Learning to approach people with confidence is a professional skill. It is not about making people talk or cornering people - 143 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! on elevators, but about your ability to open the door to conversation with the people right around you. When you focus on putting people at ease and show an interest in learning more about others, small talk leads to connection, trust, and rapport. Have you ever been in in a conversation that seems to be going nowhere? Then all of a sudden you find that you have something in common with the other person and the conversation takes off? Be interested in and curious about people. Most people are waiting on someone else to make the conversation interesting. Remember you are part of the conversation, and you have the power to direct the conversation to a topic that is of interest and value. Opportunities exist all around you—wherever people are, networking is possible. 8 – The Power of Listening Key Phrases to Listen For “I want . . .” “I need . . .” “I’m looking for . . .” “I’m involved in a project that . . .” “My goal is to . . .” “I’m having a problem with . . .” Listening is the heart of communication, but most people listen as if listening is simply a matter of not talking. Listening is about being mentally engaged in what the other person is saying. Masterful listening means giving your full attention to someone else to create a connection that goes beyond the words that are being said. It is through listening that people connect and develop trust and rapport. It is about more than just hearing the words. Listening and responding to your clients or prospects when there is nothing in it for you will help you to strengthen your relationships with them and reap rewards in the future. Also, listen for what non-business needs you can fill. There are many opportunities to do this: recommending an auto mechanic, a florist, a dentist, a travel agent. The sale is just the beginning for building a client relationship that will lead to a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. - 144 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 9 – The Power of Speaking Up Start Your Introduction With . . . • “I love helping people . . .” • “I make sure my clients . . .” • “I enjoy . . .” • “I am committed to working with people to . . .” • “I am dedicated to . . .” • “I love working with . . . to . . .” • “My focus is to . . .” Are you one of those people you grew up hearing the phrase, “Don’t toot your own horn!” and responded by going to the other extreme? If so, it’s time you learned to speak up! You don’t have to brag or be aggressive; however, you must learn to speak with pride and confidence about who you are and what you have to offer. Always speak to the value and benefit of what you provide people. Most people introduce themselves by merely giving their name, title, and the name of their company. To connect with people you must include in your introduction a phrase or tag line that helps people relate to what you can do for them. 10 – The Power of Asking How to Be Effective with Your Requests • Be clear about what you want • Ask for what you want • Make your request as concise and specific as possible • Make your request with no demands and no strings attached • Ask in such a way that people feel acknowledged and included • Ask often People are often hesitant to ask for help or information for fear of rejection or concern about bothering people. In reality, most people feel flattered, acknowledged, and glad to help, but you have to be the one to open the door and give them permission. The power of asking is that it builds relationships and allows people to get involved in creating opportunities. Asking for help and information is a way of including people and actually acknowledging them for the contribution or knowledge they have to share. There are so many contacts available to you from the people who are all around you. - 145 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 11 – The Power of Thinking Big Stretch Your Reach Who are some of the people you have never contacted because you thought they were out of your reach? List their names, then ask yourself the following questions about each one: • Why do I want to contact this person? • What do I think this person can do for me? • What could I do for this person? • Which of the people I know could be the link or stepping-stone in contacting this person? When you notice yourself thinking, “I’ve called everyone I know,” think again. Everyone has anywhere from 250 to 3,000 contacts. If you know 250 people and each of those people know 250 people, then at the second level of your network are over 64,000 people! Every person you know could be a resource for an influential, life-changing contact with someone. Don’t ever think that something is out of your reach. Don’t ever think you’ve contacted everyone there is to contact. You have the choice and opportunity to have your network lead you to resources beyond your imagination. 12 – The Power of Commitment The difference between a mediocre networker, who occasionally produces results and experiences sporadic satisfaction and gratification, and a master networker is the level of commitment they have. That comes from a deep awareness of the long-term value of networking. Is networking a good idea? Absolutely. It is the most cost-effective marketing tool for growing your business and reaching an endless stream of influential contacts. But there is also documentation that people who have a strong support system tend to live longer and recover more quickly from illness. With commitment, these principles become a natural part of who you are. Good ideas are not the basis for results you produce in your life—your daily actions and habits are. Making a commitment to yourself, your relationships, and these principles is the most powerful step you can take toward a life of richness. Networking is like a treasure hunt. With a treasure hunt, you know there are jewels out there, you just don’t know where, and the fun is in finding the jewels. With networking, there are jewels out there everywhere—you just don’t know where. So you meet this person, talk to this person, go to this meeting, call another person...and sometimes nothing will happen until all of a sudden you’ll find one of those jewels! And sometimes those jewels show up in the most unexpected places. - 146 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Let your life be a treasure hunt! Let it be fun. Let it be an exploration, and I guarantee you’ll have a life full of jewels! ===================================================================== To learn more about the amazing Donna Fisher and her books, including the best-seller Networking for DummiesTM, check out her web site at www.DonnaFisher.com. ===================================================================== So what are you waiting for? Get out there, find a network to tap into, and start creating your million dollar rolodex! Okay, just one more piece of advice…. The Importance of Word of Mouth Some say that it’s the 90-10 rule: 90% of the world is influenced by 10% of the people. Yeah, that rings true and it’s probably an even smaller number influencing the masses, but why split hairs? The reason we bring it up is this: imagine if you could get in contact with the key 10%. Imagine if you could get yourself on Oprah or get on Larry King. Imagine what would happen to your career and your business then. The bottom line is that the big shots in any industry know more people than the “little people” and, well, you and me. Just grit your teeth and forget about your nervousness and approach the big shots. The worst thing that can happen is that they shoot you down and tell you to leave or they put a restraining order on you. Seriously folks, what do you have to lose? Nothing…but you have everything to gain. Walk up to the “players” in your industry and start getting serious about your career. Can’t think that big? Fine. How about the ten-Percenters in your niche? Your industry? Your …you get the point. Aim high and go after the key influencers in your niche. If you get one of them on your side, singing your praises…you may never have to actively look for business again in your life. - 147 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Joint Ventures Joint ventures (JVs) are hands-down the best way to drive traffic to your web site and sell your products. Now you can do a JV offline as well, but where you really get to take advantage of them is online. The wealthiest Internet marketers all have one thing in common: they worked hard to create successful joint ventures. Endorsements are the strongest form of advertising for you and your products besides client testimonials. When you can hook up with a big player on the Internet (or many mid-range gurus), you’re going to instantly tap into a user base of thousands upon thousands of potential customers. In order to make it online you need a highly targeted list and you need solid joint ventures. If you have these two things, you can make millions with a marginal product! The best part about JVs is that they’re free to set up. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on advertising or marketing to drive hundreds upon thousands of people to your web site. Once you begin to track which guru is bringing you the most business, it’s easy to “sweeten the pot” for them and make them want to not only endorse your products, but to create products with you. E-zine owners are one of the best sources of JV deals. Often they don’t have products of their own, and they’re anxious to make some extra money from affiliate sales. You need to figure out: • • • Who would make a great partner Where to find them How to approach them - 148 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Who Would Make a Great Partner You need to join forces with people who have big lists and send offers on a fairly frequent basis to their lists with successful results. When doing your research, that’s the objective: to find list owners who have raving fans on their list who will take action because the list owner said to do something. Where to Find Them? Look in your inbox. Seriously, look in your inbox. Changes are you’ve subscribed to dozens of e-zines online and you’ve received thousands of offers over the past few years. Which e-zines from the big players do you subscribe to? Now you have an in – you’ve been a subscriber for a long, long time and have learned from them, etc. Then do a search online for people in your niche and find more people to contact. So now you have a list of the “big guns” who are on the priority list, and then you have everyone else which you’ll put on the “nice to have” list. How to Approach Them Now that you have a nice list of potential JV partners, it’s time to send them an e-mail or call them up to introduce yourself and pitch your offer. Don’t complicate the process. If you’re afraid, why? You’ve got nothing to lose. It’s just e-mail. Create the letter using the form letter we’ve got on our resources section on our site and get this thing rolling. Stop worrying about getting rejected. Unless your product is absolute garbage and your sales site is amateurish, you’re going to get their interest. How to Convince a Potential Partner to Work with You Potential partners are interested in a few key things. If you don’t offer to show them these things immediately, you’ll find that your calls won’t get accepted and your e-mail will be instantly deleted. Is the Product Any Good? You show them by giving them a link to download an advance copy for their review. You also tell them who else has endorsed the product or your other products to date. - 149 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Does Your Sales Letter Convert? They’re going to want to know how many browsers become buyers. If two to five percent of visitors buy something, then that’s a good number these days. Anything greater than that, they’re going to be falling over themselves to pitch your products. WARNING: Do not lie about your conversion rates. You want to be able to deliver what you said you would deliver. If your site doesn’t convert and sales are dismal, they may never work with you again. How Much Will They Make Per Sale? Tell them the percentage they would get and the exact dollar amount. They’re going to want to know how much they make per sale. They’ll immediately do the math in their head (i.e., take the number of people they have and multiply it by the number that click on offers and then they’ll take that number and multiply it by your conversion rate) to figure out how much they can make from doing the mailing. You can send a very simple e-mail to them or read from a script when you call them directly. And if they say “not interested,” it’s no big deal. Ask them if they know anyone else who might be interested. If they give you a name, then you can just contact that person and say, “Such and such big shot guru told me to give you a call about this great product I’m launching.” By the way, the big guns are very busy, so tell them what you’re offering and give them the facts…fast. They decide whether to look at something or delete it within a minute. They just have too many offers coming their way to bother with the garbage. Your job is to make sure you don’t end up in the trash heap. Adding Value for their Subscribers Another reason for potential partners to sign on (besides the money) is the ability to provide value to their subscribers. They want to help their subscribers achieve certain results or rid themselves of a problem. If your product helps them do something to that effect, then they can send out the offer and truly help their audience (while in the process make some money). It’s a win/win from their point of view. From the subscribers’ point of view, they must perceive the offer to be genuine and done for the sole reason of helping them...what? You guessed it, achieve certain results or rid themselves of a problem. - 150 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Endorsement Letters and Tools to Promote You In order for the endorsement to work, the list owner needs to convey both sincerity and credibility. What we mean is that the person reading the offer letter/endorsement must feel like the words are coming from the publisher and they need to feel like the person is being sincere and not just out there trying to make money from some affiliate program. You also need to show credibility from the standpoint that this truly is an “AMAZING OFFER” and that the person who purchases the program or service will benefit. We urge you to keep a “swipe file” of all the offers that you get in your inbox. Study which ones move you to actions and which ones come off as blatant pitches to make money for the list owner. Borrow with pride from the best of the best for your own sample endorsement letters. In Conclusion… Be professional, show them the numbers, tell them what’s in it for them and send the e-mail out. If you’ve got a good product and a decent sales letter that “pulls,” then you’re going to get a lot of JV partners to sign up with you. It’s that simple. Recap of Why JVs Work Well for Both Sides • You only pay on results. On your end you only pay if they bring somebody to your site and you make a sale. With PPC’s and other list-building sites, you pay for traffic and click-throughs. With JVs, you only pay a commission based on results. • Not only is it cheap, but you’re getting highly targeted traffic. You’d have to pay a ton of money to get that type of traffic to your site. Instead, you just look for people who have lists in your area and you just link up with them and get this targeted traffic for free. • It’s cheap. Actually dirt cheap to set up and run. All your partner needs to do is take the endorsement letter you wrote for them, add in their affiliate link and send it out to their list. There’s no cost to send out the e-mail and you only pay on guaranteed results…but we already said that. • You’re banking on an existing relationship between the list owner and his/her list. You don’t have to spend time and money building a relationship with the prospect. Your JV partner has already done this work for you. Now you don’t have to spend - 151 - © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! boatloads of money creating a relationship and building trust between you and your prospect. The endorsement does this for you. • You get lifelong customers out of the deal. How nice is that? Once a person buys from you, they’re on your list. Now when you create another product and send it out, they’re going to be buying directly from you and not through some affiliate link. Create Your Mastermind Group/Inner Circle You can’t go it alone in this world. You need a core group of advisors and peers to help you along the way. Napoleon Hill was one of the first to coin a phrase for a kind of collaborative group that existed to help each other become more productive. He called them Mastermind Groups. The two of us have what we call our inner circle. The people inside our inner circles are: ♦ ♦ ♦ Two to three peers One to two coaches One to two mentors We keep the group small in order to focus our time and efforts. Everyone inside our circle has done what we want to do and been where we want to go. This point is critical. You don’t want to be teaching everything to people in your inner circle. They’re there to help you and you help them by spreading the word about their businesses and about who they are. You can create strategic marketing alliances with their web sites and you can also coauthor books, articles, and e-books together. Outside of this inner circle, you should always look to develop joint ventures, affiliate programs, and other businesses with up-and-comers in your niche. These individuals are vital to helping you spread the word about your business and products. In short, you become part of their inner circle and help them grow their business by sharing with them your experience and knowledge. So you got it? Get in the habit of networking and looking for joint ventures. Become a giver and you’ll soon be getting as well. Let’s move on…. - 152 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step #6 - Coaching Clients What’s Your Niche? Just like opening an offline business or developing an online business, you have to pick your niche. You have to be very clear about what areas you want to coach in and who your ideal clients are. If you haven’t figured out what area you want to coach people in, just take a few moments (or longer, if necessary) to think about what you like to do most often. Think about what you would do for a living even if your boss never paid you again. Think about what area you’re interested in and how you can develop that area to help the most amount of people. Sometimes you’re going to have to tweak the area that you want to coach people in and adjust along the way, but we think that most people immediately know what area they want to coach people in. And don’t think you can be a generalist. While there might be a thing as a laborer or a general practice doctor, there is no such thing when it comes to coaching. You MUST focus on a niche. As one of our mentor says: “You can’t coach the whole world and make money, but you can coach a narrow niche and make millions.” Not exactly a catchy quote, but it works. Envision in your mind the ideal candidate for your coaching services. How old are they? Where do they work and live? How would you reach them? What are their biggest problems? What are their dreams and aspirations? Through answering this series of questions, you begin to identify your ideal candidate. When you identify your niche and your ideal candidate, it’s easier to target your market, market to your market, and sell your market on your services. The two of us market our services to distinctly different groups, but we’ve been able to skyrocket our coaching businesses because we focus on finding people who need our help and expertise the most. Here’s who we look for: - 153 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! EWEN “I’m looking for people who have a web site and want to learn how to really turbocharge the marketing and promotion of their site and their products. I’m looking for people who are frustrated that they’re not making the kind of money from their sites that they want to be earning.” FABIO “My ideal financial coaching client is someone who is stuck in the rat race and wants out, has a lot of bad debt, and wants to start increasing their passive income. They’re anywhere from the age of 23 to 55.” “My ideal writing coaching client is someone who may or may not have any writing experience, but wants help writing their e-book or a full-length book. I look for people who want to write their e-books in 14 days or less or write their books in 30 days or less, and I show them how to do it.” Now it’s your turn. My Ideal Client is: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ Helpful Hint If you’re still having trouble identifying who your ideal client is, then make a list of all the friends, family members, and co-workers you’ve helped throughout the years. Think hard about what you’ve helped them with, what suggestions came naturally to you, and what results you helped them achieve. By going through this list of people you’ve helped, you should be able to identify your ideal client. - 154 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Get Yourself a Coach No, we’re not joking here. You’ve got a huge learning curve ahead of you and if you’re not going to be going through training at Coach U or some other program, then you’re going to need help from someone who has an established and thriving business. Why? To copy what works and discard what doesn’t. “There are two ways to acquire wisdom; you can either buy it or borrow it. By buying it, you pay full price in terms of time and cost to learn the lessons you need to learn. By borrowing it, you go to those men and women who have already paid the price to learn the lessons and get their wisdom from them.” – Benjamin Franklin That’s why we have mentors in life: to speed up the process of achieving our goals and our dreams. You can simply follow their blueprint. We’ve had two coaches thus far in our lives that we have paid for their services. We plan on having many more along the way as we build and expand our practices. Get a Business Mentor Even if your own personal coach is a great coach and has things in order with regards to their business, you still might want to get a business mentor. We’ve found that you need to have several mentors in your life, and if you’re running your own business (which you are), then it makes sense to hang around like-minded people who run or have run successful businesses. You don’t have to pay these mentors, but even if a mentor requires a nominal fee for services, it might be worth the expenditure. We’ve been lucky because we haven’t had to pay our mentors. Perhaps you will be, as well. Be Passionate and Lively You must be excited about your new career or side business if you’re going to ever be successful as a coach. People who come to you will need help and direction and they’re going to want to work with someone who is energetic and full of life. And most of the people who come to you are probably down in the dumps, a bit discouraged, overwhelmed, and so on. They’re looking for someone to feed off of and emulate. They’re not going to stick around and work with you if you’re mumbling along and reading from a cheat sheet on the other end of the phone. - 155 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You must INSPIRE your clients to take bigger risks and TAKE MASSIVE ACTION to change their lives for the better. If you’re not passionate and positive and upbeat…you’re dead meat in this business. Create Your Program Coaches and infopreneurs love programs and models with acronyms. It’s time to develop your own. The reason you need to develop a program, and more importantly, an outline of what you do, is so that you can explain what you do and what you teach to potential clients. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP If you don’t have an easy-to-read, simple to understand outline of what you do and how you work with clients, they’re not going to sign up with you. They want to be able to visualize in their minds the entire process and what they’re getting for your coaching fee. They need to see themselves working through the steps before actually going through them with you. You should then walk them through what you will cover with them over the course of your relationship together. Developing Your Outline Don’t complicate the process. Just think of your situation or how you’ve achieved your results and write out the process, steps, tricks you used, and so on to achieve your results. KEEP IT SIMPLE Your clients don’t want some newfangled, hard-to-understand model or process that they have to follow to get results. • • • • • Simple Easy Painless Little Time Requirement Did we mention simple? That’s what people want, so KISS: Keep it Simple Stupid or Keep it Stupid Simple! That’s the ticket. Once you “dumb down” the process of doing what you do, now you’re ready to create your program materials and the outline for what you’ll take your clients through. - 156 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Don’t kill yourself here. What’s more important is being able to sell the sizzle and show that you’ve had the results. Here’s an outline that might help you jumpstart the process of creating a program outline: Fabio’s Financial Freedom Coaching Outline Listed below is the brief outline of the program that Fabio has created for his financial and personal freedom coaching clients. He doesn’t share with them his models, acronyms or any of the other juicy details. That’s handled on a complimentary 20-minute coaching call that anyone can get when they sign-up on his site: www.MyFreedomCoach.com Get OUT of the Rat Race and Get on the Path to Financial Freedom Program Your 12 Month Transformation Month 1) Values and Goal-Setting – This critical first month will cover setting your personal, financial, spiritual, and career goals. Those who have clearly defined short and long-term goals are the ones who succeed in life. This is why you CANNOT skip this step. Bonus Session) Creating Your Action Plan – We’ll cover how you can break down your goals into more manageable goals and tasks to make it easier to get you started on the path toward accomplishing your goals. Month 2) Cash Flow and Paying Yourself First – Normally this would be covered much later in my coaching sessions, but I feel as though this is one of the main reasons you came to me. We’ll talk about how to calculate your cash flow, as well as quick ways to increase your cash flow overnight. Next we’ll briefly cover the process of paying yourself…automatically. After all, you are your most important investment. Bonus Session) Creating an Easy-to-Follow Budget – I’m not big on creating budgets, but you’ve got to have one that works for you and is easy to stick to. I’ll show you how. Month 3) Getting Out of Bad Debt – If you’re living in bad debt, then you’re not living up to your full potential; financially, physically, and mentally. I’ll give you a proven debt repayment strategy that will accelerate the termination of your bad debt whether it be in the form of credit cards or loans. Then we’ll talk about how you can transform those debts into profitable investments long-term. Bonus Session) Interactive Checkup – Let’s step back and take the time to see where you are, what’s on your mind, and how we can work through any of your specific issues. I intend to break up the entire group into smaller, more manageable calls to increase the level of interactivity and dialogue between you and me, and between you and other members of - 157 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! the group. I’ve found that interacting with others who are experiencing the same issues and trying to do the same things in life somehow makes it much easier to get through the process. Month 4) Living Below Your Means – If you’ve read The Millionaire Next Door you know how important this concept really is to your future success in life. We’ll also cover the difference between needs and wants. I’ll show you my proven 4-step formula for living below your means, while still enjoying life to the fullest. Bonus Session) Time Management – Most people literally throw away days by the end of each and every year. I’ll show you how you can gain an additional nine full forty-hour work weeks over the course of one year. (That works out to be only one hour per day multiplied by 365 days a year). How am I going to do it? By showing you some better, more effective ways to manage your time and get more done with the time you have each day. Month 5) Investing – We’ll cover retirement accounts, taxable accounts, and more. I’ll take you through the easiest and most efficient way to invest your money so you can put it on autopilot. Bonus Session) Investing Part 2 – Most of the time we run late with our discussion of investing and I like to have a second session to review the concepts and ideas with my clients. Month 6) Invest in Yourself – This critical skill is often overlooked, but we’re going to cover it in detail. You’re going to learn how to become an expert in your chosen area and how to improve your chances of success in life. We will build on the time management skills we discussed in Month #3. Bonus Session) Interactive Checkup – Let’s step back and take the time to see where you are, what’s on your mind, and how we can work through any of your specific issues. I intend to break up the entire group into smaller, more manageable calls to increase the level of interactivity and dialogue between you and me, and between you and other members of the group. I’ve found that interacting with others who are experiencing the same issues and trying to do the same things in life somehow makes it much easier to get through the process. Month 7) Real Estate – We’ll kick off this discussion with the merits of renting vs. buying, then get into the best way to buy a house and get a mortgage. I’ll show you some ways you can cut your costs and how you can save thousands of dollars in interest using one little trick. Bonus Session) Real Estate Investing – For you future Donald Trump and Carlton Sheets types, I’ve got a great bonus lined up. My real estate mentor has agreed to give us a little talk about how anyone can easily get started in real estate. He’s done it all from buyand-hold, to flipping properties, to short sales. You’re not going to want to miss this one. Month 8) Guarding Your Wealth – I’m not a life insurance expert, nor am I an attorney, but there are simple things you must have to protect yourself. This critical discussion will - 158 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! provide you with a list of things to protect your life, your assets, and your loved ones from harm. Bonus Session) Personal Development – In the midst of all this talk about investing in yourself, I want to give you a bonus call on personal development. We’ve covered procrastination and time management, but let’s get into other areas involving communication, leadership, and your getting more out of your life. Month 9) Rich Dad vs. Dave Ramsey – All of you have probably heard of Robert Kiyosaki and his Rich Dad because you can’t go anywhere these days without bumping into someone who hasn’t been deeply impacted by his work. But do you know Dave Ramsey? Dave’s written a few great books, including Financial Peace Revisited. His financial planning advice is a little more conservative, but I believe his “Baby Steps” model could offer you some great insights into how you should structure your financial plan. Creating, Revising, and Auditing your plan will be very important over the course of your life. Implementing the teaching of these two great teachers will help you tremendously. Bonus Session) Health and Wellness – If you’re going to be able to enjoy the money you accumulate over your lifetime, you’ve got to take better care of yourself mentally, physically, and spiritually. We’ll go over the basics and give you a plan of attack so you can lose more weight, get in shape and feel great. Note: I’ll probably bring on one of my fitness advisors to help with this call. Month 10) Mentors, Role Models, and Beyond – I would not be where I am today had it not been for the kind help of a few of my money mentors. In this lesson I will share with you networking tips that you can use to increase your circle of influence. Bonus Session) Interactive Checkup – Let’s step back and take the time to see where you are, what’s on your mind, and how we can work through any of your specific issues. I intend to break up the entire group into smaller, more manageable calls to increase the level of interactivity and dialogue between you and me, and between you and other members of the group. I’ve found that interacting with others who are experiencing the same issues and trying to do the same things in life somehow makes it much easier to get through the process. - 159 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Month 11) Giving Back – You’ve invested your time and money to improve your current situation in life. Hopefully by now you’ve transformed your finances, your career, and yourself in the process. Now is the time to apply the skills you’ve acquired and apply them in your community to make a difference in the world. Bonus Session) The Millionaire Mindset – This call will cover the first part of my book, The Wealthy Pauper and the importance of having the Millionaire Mindset in life. Bonus Session) The Cashflow QuadrantTM – This simple little device, created by Robert Kiyosaki, helped me “get it” when it came to creating a better life for myself and my family. I just wanted to take the time to share it with you because I know a number of you are interested in creating part-time businesses and want to desperately get out of the Rat Race in life. I’m right there with you on this one! Month 12) Revising Your Plan – The last Secrets of Wealth in my book deals with creating your Financial Freedom Plan. It is here that you put take the previous nine Secrets and use them to create a plan of action that you will work at until you achieve Financial Freedom. Bonus Session) Creating a Part-Time Business – This call will be at a very topline level, but I will cover some of the trials and tribulations that I went through in creating my part-time business. I’m also planning on bringing in one or more of my advisors to share their stories as well. It should be an exciting and inspiring call. The Program in Detail: To learn more about Fabio’s “Get Out of the Rat Race and on the Path to Financial Freedom” Program, check out his coaching site at: www.MyFreedomCoach.com. Whether you’re interested in becoming a coaching client or not, we suggest you visit the site to learn how to sell your services effectively. And yes, you can “borrow,” not “steal,” with pride all the techniques and tricks I use. The Secrets of Wealth Becomes a Coaching Program The above outline was developed from the simple steps or Secrets that were identified in Fabio’s book, The Secrets of Wealth. A long time ago he identified the ten steps all beginners must take to get their finances under control and get them on the path to financial freedom. Once he identified the steps that he had taken and followed, he wrote them down, expanded on them, and then developed a course that took people through them. You can do the same. - 160 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Take the time now to identify the steps you’ve taken to achieve your level of success in your niche. To get at the steps you used, you just have to answer one question… Answer the question: What steps did I take to solve the problem of ____________________? 1. ___________________________ 2. ___________________________ 3. ___________________________ 4. ___________________________ 5. ___________________________ 6. ___________________________ 7. ___________________________ Note: You don’t need seven steps to solve your problem; we’ve found that less than seven is best. Don’t be like Fabio and have to take people through 10 steps. Most people want quick and easy solutions. Remember that! The above process isn’t limited to just solving problems. You can use it to answer the question of how you achieved certain results, as well. Ask yourself: How did I: Lose weight so quickly? Instantly improve my energy level? Sell more products effortlessly? How did I become the top selling salesperson in my company? How did I get out of debt? How did I promote my business on a shoestring budget? What did I do to overcome my self-esteem issues? Okay, enough of that. Let’s move on to figuring out how much to charge. - 161 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Charging for Your Services Most coaching programs are sold on a monthly basis. That is to say that it’s a “pay as you go” plan where you work with your coach one-on-one for a set amount of time every week. Or you can create a program like Fabio did where the expectation is that you’re going to work with them for a set amount of time to cover all the material in the program. Most coaching happens over the phone and the calls last between 30 minutes to a full 60 minutes. The number of coaching calls will vary by individual coach and program, but you can expect to give a client three to four calls a month. You’re going to give them unlimited e-mail access, as well. Perhaps you’re going to include a “clients only” section of your web site that will be password protected. Whatever bells and whistles you want to add is up to you. There are no set formulas to calculate what you should be charging. That’s the honest truth. The field of coaching is so new that the fees you charge will all depend on the services you provide, the niche you’re in, and the going rate. Coaches charge anywhere from $100 to $250 an hour for phone consultation. Some executive coaches are charging $400 to $500 or more for their expertise. There are also coaches selling “packages” that last a year, similar to what Fabio does with his financial coaching program. The level of support, bells and whistles, and so on will determine the price of the program. We suggest you find out what others in your niche are charging and charge a similar amount to start off with and then see how you do. You decide if you want to charge by the hour or if you want to sell a package deal where you charge up front for a year of help. Just remember not to sell yourself short. As a reference point, we thought we’d share with you our current consulting fees: EWEN Ewen will charge you $5,000 for help with everything from developing your online business model to promoting and implementing it online. He’ll also help you build your list and sell more to your list. - 162 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! FABIO Fabio’s Get Out of Debt and on the Path to Financial Freedom Program is $49/month for 12 months or $499 up front. One-on-One coaching runs about $100 a month, which is extremely cheap, but he’s got this sort of “save the world complex and go broke while doing it” thing going on. Writing Services – Fabio charges $600 for a 6-week coaching program on how to get your e-book written, published, and profitable by the time you’re done with the coaching. Since he wrote the The One-Minute eBook, which shows you how to write an e-book in as little as 7 days, you understand why he guarantees a written and profitable e-book by the time you’re done. If you’re struggling to write a book, then Fabio can help. The fees depend on the subject matter and your level of expertise, but the basic package is $1,000 and lasts eight weeks. Only eight weeks? Well, he’s written two books in 30 days or less, so he doesn’t anticipate it should take you longer than eight weeks to research, outline, write, edit, and publish it. Yes, a published book only eight weeks after you start your coaching calls. Interested in any of the programs? Just drop Fabio a line at: [email protected] Okay, enough blatant self-promotion (we can’t help ourselves, and someday you too won’t be able to control the urge to tell people “I CAN HELP YOU GET THE RESULTS YOU’VE BEEN WANTING TO GET/ACHIEVE FOR YEARS!”). Let’s move on… One last word of advice, be firm with your fees. If you’re struggling to find clients, you might offer a discount if someone pays for a package up front, but don’t cheapen your time: it’s extremely valuable. Work on positioning yourself as an expert, show the results, get the testimonials from satisfied clients, and you should be able to command AND GET the fees you’re charging. - 163 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! What are You Going to Charge? Take the time now to think through what you could be or should be charging for your services. Examples: Six weeks of e-book writing coaching is: $600. Eight weeks of book writing coaching is: $1,000. My monthly fee for financial coaching is: $100 for the basic level. I charge $3,200 to help someone create a profitable online business. Now it’s your turn: _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ Selling Your Services Maybe it’s hard to imagine someone paying you for what you know, but it will happen. Why? Because you’re an expert in your niche. C’mon, that was an easy one. In all seriousness, you have an expertise in a certain area and people are going to want to know how you achieved something or how you got your results. Trust us on this point. Now you just have to work on selling your services to others and we’ll cover that in-depth in step #10. For now, just remember that the process of selling your coaching services boils down to: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ Describe what you’re going to teach them. Explain the time and money commitment. Share with them the results of some of your other clients. Tell them how you will help them get similar results. Implementing your plan is simple, easy, and guaranteed to get results. Now is the time they need to sign up. You are the best person for them to work with. Follow this outline and implement some of the techniques we’re going to share in secret #10 and you’ll be on your way to a six-figure coaching career. - 164 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Is Coaching Your Business or Your Hobby? That’s the question you need to be asking yourself. Are you serious about becoming a coach? Because if you’re not, then don’t waste your time, and more importantly, your clients’ time. You have an obligation to the people that are going to be paying you and you MUST provide them with value and deliver what you said you would: namely results. Growing Your Practice through Marketing and Beyond If you believe in yourself and your abilities, then tell the world. Coaches have three main ways to market their services: writing, speaking, and networking. We’ve covered writing and networking so far in this e-book and we’ll get into speaking in step #8. Word-of-Mouth is going to be the greatest builder of your practice. Satisfied clients will spread the word on how amazing you are and how quickly they achieved results, just by working with you. You can also encourage word-of-mouth advertising in a number of ways. We’ll show you how later in the e-book. Web site – Make sure you take the time to create a web site that’s dynamic, interactive, and helps to sell you as an expert. There should be enough material (book excerpts, articles, interviews) and testimonials from satisfied customers that visitors to your site are going to realize that you’re the coach that can solve their problems. If you’re really aggressive on the Internet, you can promote yourself using your e-zine, teleclasses, and through pay-per-click promotions. We’ll cover the last two a few pages from now, but the key to growing your business is to first deliver results and second, be passionate and relentless with your marketing. Writing – In your e-books, books, and articles mention that you offer coaching services. Mention success stories in your e-zine and in your article resource box. Help spread the word yourself. Networking - Work your contacts inside and outside of your niche to find clients. When you’re talking to people, make sure they know that you offer coaching services. Seek out joint venture partners that can help get you in front of potential clients. Think, think, and think some more about how you can network your way to finding clients. - 165 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Complimentary Calls - The BEST way to get someone interested in your coaching program is to give them a free 20-30 minute trial call. Once you have the call, you now have a qualified lead you can pursue to convert into a paying customer. On the flip side, you can quickly assess whether a person is a dead lead and just sign them up to your newsletter to keep them in the cold leads hopper. Just make sure you let them know you’re signing them up for your free newsletter. You don’t want to be accused of spamming anyone. The Fortune is in the Follow-Up Salespeople know it and online marketers do, so get used to the phrase: the fortune is in the follow-up. You MUST follow-up on any leads that you have in order to turn visitors to your site or referrals into paying clients. We know one would-be coach who spent a ton of money on his marketing campaign, his business cards, his web site, and some advertising. His business didn’t grow one bit. Why? Because he didn’t follow-up on his leads and he didn’t learn step #10 in the process of becoming an expert: learning to sell yourself. Coach Yourself: Plan to Succeed We’re serious here. Whatever advice you give to clients, take it yourself. Go ahead and plan out your year from starting from scratch to having five, ten, 20, or more clients. What are you going to do in the next 21 days to kick start your coaching career? What sites are you going to visit? What e-books are you going to read? Create that plan of action for yourself and put yourself through the material that you’re going to be sharing with others. Does it make sense? Is it easy to follow? Do your acronyms or models make sense? - 166 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step #7 Creating Additional Infoproducts How to Create Multiple Streams of Income (off the same information) The Profit is in the Back-End Up to now you’ve probably been making some money selling e-books or books to your list of subscribers. Perhaps you’ve had some success and made some money, but that’s about to change. You’re about to learn the secrets that all gurus know: the profit is in the back-end. What’s the Back-End? Back-end is just the term for sales that happen after the initial sales you make to your new customer. We’re going to show you exactly how you can create a passive income stream for yourself by creating dozens of products off of the same core product that you sell. We’re going to be sharing with you what’s called an Infoproducts Funnel, and it’s going to be something that you’re going to want to print out and post prominently either in your bathroom or by your computer so you can see it every day and remind yourself to “fill out your funnel” to really make big money. Information Products But to step back a second and define what we mean by infoproducts, it’s nothing more than a shortened version of two words: information products. Infoproducts are any product that you can sell under the sun. They include everything from e-zines, newsletters, books, ebooks, CDs, audio cassette courses, videos, one-on-one coaching, boot camps, and seminars, to name a few. Repackaging the Same Old Stuff If you look closely at any established guru out there, they’ve got a full lineup of products that they can offer you. More than likely, a lot of the information that’s in their $20 book is also repeated in their $497 home study course, and that’s the trick. You can essentially repackage the same information in a different form of media and make more money…from the same customers! - 167 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You see, if you create raving fans, they’re going to want your information in book form, in CD form so they can listen to you on the way to work, and they’ll want to see you live so they can get the latest information and get a chance to ask you a question. Is That “Right” to Do? Is it wrong to push products on people that are essentially the same recycled stuff? NO, it’s not. Because it’s not simply recycled stuff. All the way up your ladder to your bootcamp product, you’re adding more bells and whistles. You’re including freebies they wouldn’t get if they only bought your book, and that’s it. When they purchase your e-book, you’re giving them links they can use for additional products that can help them. When you give them a CD set, now they have the material in a format they can listen to over and over again to help reinforce what you’re teaching them. When they see you live, they get to feel the passion and the energy. They get to network with like-minded people and maybe set up a joint venture or two. In short, you’re delivering more and more value as someone moves down your funnel. Don’t believe us? Well just read what Infopreneur Willie Crawford has to say about it: Don’t Get Infected By The Twenty Dollar e-Book Syndrome Copyright 2003-2004 by Willie Crawford Making sales of one thousand dollars or more in your Internet business is absolutely intoxicating. It really drives home the point that you can make a nice living working from the comfort of you own home running your own Internet-based business. That feeling, sadly, is also something that the majority of Internet marketers have never experienced! At my recent Internet Marketing How To Workshop, several speakers admonished attendees not to get stuck selling just twenty dollar e-books. We all reflected upon how it felt the first time we checked our e-mail and saw that we had an order and had just earned twenty dollars. We admitted that this used to get us excited. However, we also had to move beyond that point; we had to shift our thinking to greater possibilities if we were going to earn a fulltime living from the Internet. Study any successful Internet marketer and you will see that he offers a range of products at different price points. That’s what I do. My least expensive product is $9.97 and my most expensive product is currently $2495. In between I offer audiotapes at $197, videotapes at $297, and consulting at $250 per hour. I offer this range because different people want the information I offer in different formats. Different people learn best according to how their brains are wired. - 168 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Some people prefer learning by listening to audiotapes. Some people prefer learning by watching videotapes. Some people learn best by actually practicing and doing it. They need to attend workshops or actual classes, although these can be virtual classes too. Some people understand best when you explain it to them on the phone or via e-mail. They need the two-way interaction to fully clarify points. Some people prefer to print something out and read it. I am a reader who will read the same book several times if it contains really good information ...absorbing something more with each reading. I also have tons of audio and videotapes, though. As an information product marketer, your task is to offer your product in as many different forms as possible so that you don’t overlook any segment of the market. You should offer ebooks, printed books, courses, CDs, and all of the other formats. The amazing thing is that this in NOT that hard. If you’ve already written an e-book, it’s easy to be interviewed on the topic and turn this into a marketable recording. It’s easy to package the audiotapes and transcripts, plus some additional notes, into a three-ring binder and call it a course. It’s easy to organize your notes and then physically teach the material either at a workshop, over the Internet, or even at a local community college. The thing I see too many beginners get trapped in to is creating a great e-book on a topic they know a lot about. They check to see what similar e-books sell for and choose $19.95 or $29.95 as the price. Then they settle back and watch the sales roll in. These sales may be a slow but steady trickle, which satisfies many people. It’s thrilling to do the work once and generate a continuous income stream from it. It’s somewhat intoxicating. However, the writer also becomes infected with the twenty dollar e-book syndrome and never tries to create anything higher priced. He reasons that his market has shown him that they want and will buy twenty dollar products. He’s afraid to risk offering them something more expensive. How do I know lots of authors get infected with this ailment? I talk to and e-mail them every day. When I suggest to them that they need to create a $97 product or a $297 product, they tell me that their customers can’t afford these products. I have news for them! Their customers are buying these products. They are just buying them from your competition. They tell me their customers won’t spend a thousand dollars for a seminar seat. I have news for them, their customers are spending two thousand dollars for a seminar seat, they are just buying from the competition. Your competitors are earning $500 commissions...I do regularly. The purpose of this article today is to prevent you from falling victim to this “syndrome.” Consider this. If you sell one $297 audio product and make $200 or more profit, you’ve just earned more than if you had sold ten $20 products and made 95% profit. And you’ve only had to deal with 1/10th the potential customer service issues. And you’ve only had to - 169 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! process one transaction. And believe it or not, that sale was probably just as easy... maybe easier....than the $20 sale. One other insight I’ll share with you—people who buy higher ticket items seem less prone to complain or request refunds. They are people of action, so they buy the product, use it, and get the results they sought. Many who buy twenty dollar products are looking for some magic solution or all-encompassing answer for only twenty dollars, and that doesn’t exist. Part of that expectation is admittedly due to the hype used to sell the $20 products. We condition our prospects to expect something for nothing...and in the process sabotage our success. So your job for the next few days is to plan out how you are going to convert your twenty dollar product or idea into something much bigger. No excuses. Just do it :-) ===================================================================== Willie Crawford has been teaching others how to build an online business since late 1996. Frequently featured on radio, in magazine and newspaper articles, and in interviews, Willie teaches the average guy what the top marketers are doing but seldom talking about. Willie provides detailed how to information in his newsletter, through his personal coaching, and at his annual how to workshop. Learn more at: http://InternetMarketingHowToWorkshop.com ===================================================================== In short, you need to create infoproducts at all levels of the price scale. Why You Need Infoproducts (and lots of them) We’re going to get to the infoproducts funnel in a second, but we wanted to make sure that you understand the importance of this step in the whole process of becoming a master expert. If you sit there and you’re only selling a book to your customers, then you’re leaving a lot of money on the table. If you only have a book, you’re like 99% of the other would-be gurus that are on the one yard line, but haven’t pushed the ball into the end zone. Make that the PROFIT end zone. If you want to score more profits, just make more products. Why? Because you want to be able to give away some free stuff to get people into your funnel. Then you want to offer them your book for $20. Then perhaps it’s an e-book for $37 or $47. Next it’s a CD set for $97 and so on and so on until you’re offering them a bootcamp for $3,000. - 170 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Plan Your Back-End BEFORE You Start Selling Stuff This is CRITICAL. Don’t make the mistake we made which was to create a newsletter and then flop around for a few years before we had products to sell and a fat infoproducts funnel. You MUST plan your back-end BEFORE you do anything else. YOU MUST HAVE A VISION OF WHERE YOU WANT TO GO BEFORE YOU TAKE THAT FIRST STEP!!!! We can’t stress this enough. Take the time to do the exercise of coming up with various product ideas that will ensure that you have a product along each of the stages of the infoproducts funnel. Not Sure What to Create? ASK THEM One of the easiest ways to figure out what your current list of subscribers wants is to simply ask them. Why not send out a quick survey to your subscribers telling them that you’re struggling between giving them an e-book or a CD set. Tell them what you’re thinking of charging and what material you’re thinking of including. You’ll be surprised at the responses you get. Very surprised. Sometimes you’ll have subscribers literally creating the product outline and format for you. All you have to do is fill in the blanks and you can have a product in days!!!! And surveys are just one of the ways that you can create products. Fabio shares the rest of them in his e-book, Instant Niche Products. Get it NOW if you really want to speed up the process of creating products for all levels of your customers/subscribers. The Funnel System – Examples of Products in Your Pipeline • • • • • • • • Booklets Newsletters (free and paid) CDs Special Reports More Books Videos Seminars One-on-One Coaching And more…. If you create a product for each of the categories above, you’ll have created yourself a miniempire in your niche. You’ll have the products that people want and are desperately searching for. With this arsenal of products, you will become the “go to” expert. Go to - 171 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! experts get paid big bucks for speaking at seminars, coaching people one-on-one, and for helping people at bootcamps and weekend events. A Little Help with Your Infoproducts Funnel You might be a bit overwhelmed if you’re staring at that funnel and you don’t know about any of the products besides books and e-books. The truth is once you have the knowledge in your head; it’s very easy to transform a book, e-book, or just the information in your head into many different information products. Special Reports These are nothing more than documents ranging from a couple of pages to 20 to 30 pages. The sell price is usually in the range of $4 to $20 per report. They can be delivered electronically or by snail mail. Check out self-publishing guru Dan Poytner’s site for an example of a guy who is making a killing off of special reports: www.Parapublishing.com Tips Booklets One step up from special reports are booklets. Sold only as physical products, these booklets are usually for under $10 and they make great giveaways or premiums at your seminars. Paulette Ensign is the queen of booklets. Visit her site at www.TipsBooklets.com to see how she does it. Workbooks This is a no-brainer if you’ve already written a book or even an e-book on a subject. You simply create a workbook that someone can use to learn how to apply the information in your other infoproducts. Everyone from Brian Tracy to Anthony Robbins has done this. Now you can sell the workbook as a standalone product or you can package it with your book and audiotapes to create a very high-end ticket product. David Bach did a great job in packaging his Finish Rich Workbook out of the same material found in his Smart Couples Finish Rich and his Smart Women Finish Rich books. Then he went on to create his bestselling book The Automatic Millionaire that landed him on Oprah in early 2004. The material in this sensationally titled book is probably 95% from his other books. Bach definitely is a savvy marketer that knows how to reuse the same material to create additional products! Audio Version of Your Book/eBook This is another no-brainer and it’s a great way to create another product quickly using information you’ve already created. You can simply take sections of your book and cut them down or expand upon them, then get into a recording studio and talk your way to riches. Actually, these days you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home. Thanks to the advancements made in recording devices, you can just pick up an mp3 player and record yourself then download the mp3 to your computer. From there you can burn the file(s) onto CDs and print out some labels and covers and you’re done. Now you’ve got a $24 to $48 product on your hands. - 172 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Again, it’s not too difficult to do this….really. Don’t worry so much about the sound quality and don’t be a perfectionist. Just get it going and get that next product created and out the door. Mike Litman’s done a great job with his audio series based on his Conversations with Millionaires book and an even better look is his How to Make Money on Demand product. www.MakeMoneyOnDemand.com Videos And taking the audio format a little further, you can produce a line of videos based on the same subject matter as your e-book or book. You can even charge for copies of your live seminars. That’s right. You can videotape yourself on stage at some event you’re holding, and then sell the videotapes for anywhere from $49 to $297 depending on the number of days and the number of bonuses and other materials you include with the package. Talk about getting paid multiple times for the same material! You can even videotape yourself doing your workout, fixing your car, coaching baseball or whatever it is you’re doing and make it into a product. Forget the big budgets and get rid of the mindset that you have to have slick and fancy covers and other materials. Sure those things help, but the main thing you need is great information and a great hook to sell your product. Teleseminars Teleseminars are nothing more than giant conference calls where you can mute out everyone else and talk about topics within your niche. Everybody from Mark Victor Hansen of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame to Mike Litman are doing them these days. And everybody else will be doing teleseminars in the next few months and definitely by next year. The profits are just so huge. We suggest you start out with free teleseminars, build your audience base, then move up to paid teleseminars. People are charging $20-$39 per teleseminar that lasts anywhere from one hour to two hours and beyond. A great resource to learn more about teleseminars is: www.TeleseminarMagic.com Audio Version of Your Teleseminar Want to talk about really stretching and recycling the same old stuff! Some marketers are either charging for access to teleseminars or giving it away free, but recording the calls and selling the files on CDs. As an added bonus they’re throwing in the transcripts from the call in an ebook format. Pretty slick stuff and they’re charging anywhere from $27 to $49 per seminar depending on who’s the guest speaker. Again, for more details check out www.TeleseminarMagic.com - 173 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Paid Newsletters We don’t do them, but we know a few gurus who are making a killing from charging anywhere from $24 a year all the way up to $297 and beyond for the privilege of receiving their words of wisdom either electronically or via snail mail. If you’re going to attempt this you’d better have some quality content, loads of freebies you can give away to add value for your subscribers or else you’ll get a lot of people canceling their subscriptions on you. Your efforts will be rewarded if you do create a great product. Getting just 100 subscribers to pay $49 a year will mean close to $5,000 extra revenue. Not bad for a little extra work. Paid “Members Only” Web-Sites Taking the previous product to the next level, you can have a “for pay” site. The concept is similar: great content, downloads, freebies and more that people can’t get on your regular site. In addition you can offer free teleseminars, previews of your new products, exclusive interviews and so on and so on. Before you jump on the “for pay” web-site bandwagon make sure you can offer value for your subscribers. There putting up good money (anywhere from $9.99 to $49 a month) so your stuff really needs to be good. Corey Rudl has taken the membership site business to the next level. Check out his site at: Secrets to their Success Seminars We haven’t gotten to them yet, but you’ve probably guessed already that seminars can mean big money, mainly because of the back-of-the-room sales. Seminars are a great way to interact with your fans and convert them into big-time buyers by proving that you have the solutions to their problems or that your system can help them get more of something in life; usually money, time or both. The absolute best way to “get your feet wet” and learn how a seminar works is to attend several yourself, but you need to participate in them as often as possible as well. There are speaking associations and seminar companies all across the world. For instance, The Learning Annex is one seminar company that holds a lot of seminars in my local market. I have attend a lot of courses throughout the years and I’ve learned a lot about how other infopreneurs conduct and plan their seminars. And if I ever want to take it to the next level, I can call The Learning Annex up and see if I can teach my own class for them. Coaching If you have the confidence in your abilities and your expertise, coaching is an absolutely FABULOUS/MUST HAVE product to roll out. And yes it’s a product that has to be priced, marketed, researched and planned before you can make any money from selling your services. You can offer your coaching as a one-on-one service or you can do it via group teleseminars, like I did with my first coaching program. What should you coach people on? The sky’s the limit. You can coach people on anything and everything that you’re good at. The one caveat is: that there is a starving crowd ready to pay you and pay you well for your coaching services. The best part is that you don’t have to - 174 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! tie yourself down to one or two niches. If there’s somebody out there that will pay you for help with creating an infoproduct and another who wants help writing a sales letter, then you can easily coach both of them. I have several coaching programs that I offer: e-book, book, niche product creation and financial freedom coaching. As I mentioned, my first infoproduct (besides my two books) was a coaching program. You can see what I’ve done at www.MyFreedomCoach.com Bootcamps Ahhh….probably the most profitable product you can sell. This is where you charge a flat fee for a weekend event at the location of your choice (usually your hometown). You have a small group of people that are paying anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 to be there and learn directly from you. Bootcamps are usually reserved for the master gurus, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do one if you’ve got your act together and you have a highly defined niche. John Burley makes a ton of money doing these every few months. Visit him at www.JohnBurley.com Systems And Beyond Software programs, subscription services, autoresponders, copywriting services and other types of services are just a few of the different type of other products that you can create to make big cash…FAST! You can create a service or a business out of almost ANY PRODUCT. Yes, any product. Wrote an e-book on how to write an e-book? How about providing a soup to nuts service that will take your clients manuscript, format it, design the cover, publish it and promote it. Now that’s a service I should get into. Hmm… Bronze, Silver and Gold No, I’m not talking about the Olympics. I’m talking about the various versions of the same product that you can sell to people. In my eyes this is a kind of variation on the immediate up-sell. The bronze level is say your basic e-book with 3 or 4 bonuses. The Silver Level is the e-book, 2 additional bonuses and an audio file. The Gold Level is everything the Silver Level has but includes resell rights and an extra special “Quick Start” report or something. The Bronze Level would cost $27, the Silver would run you $47 and the Gold would cost you $97. An extra $20 to go from Bronze to Silver isn’t much and you’ll get enough to go for the Silver to make it worth the effort to put these levels together. Plus you’ll get the serious spenders to go for the Gold (has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?) and you make an extra $70 for adding a few extra items to the pot. Plus if people go for the gold, you’re going to have your customers go out there and promote your product and more importantly, your name. - 175 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The Lazy Infopreneur’s Path to Riches So that’s just a few of the different products that you can create on your own or with others, but for you lazy infopreneurs who don’t want to work too hard, you can always focus on #3 #5 on the list of ways to create products that Fabio outlines in Instant Niche Products: 1. Create your own product 2. Create a product with another writer or partner 3. Have someone create the product for you 4. Buy the rights to a product and market/sell it 5. Find information and products to market that are in the Public Domain 6. Chicken Soup It! - Get others to contribute to your project 7. Just Added! – Transforming a raw product or data you bought Okay, enough about what products you could be creating. Let’s talk about actually creating them. Plan Your “Backend” Before You Write Your Book We urge you to take the time to print out the funnel we showed you and/or take out a blank sheet of paper and start crafting your own funnel. Ask yourself: ♦ What products are missing from my funnel? ♦ What’s the next low-priced item in the funnel that I can create? Pricing Your Products Now for the fun part – pricing your products. Most budding gurus UNDERESTIMATE THE WORTH OF THEIR INFORMATION. They underestimate the quality of the product they are putting out and they pick a price tag that’s less than they are worth; not to mention the information. If you start out in this business by pricing your products for peanuts, you’re going to attract quite a few buyers, but there’s a downside to this practice. You might be clogging up your mailing list with people who are nothing more than thinly veiled FREEBIE SEEKERS. You DO NOT want FREEBIE SEEKERS ON YOUR LIST!!! Let’s clarify that. You don’t want people who are only looking for free stuff and will NEVER shell out money for information. You do want people who are window shopping, but have - 176 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! bought stuff in the past from others and may one day buy from you. Understand the difference? Good. Now the first type of freebie seeker, the kind that will never buy, are not good for your funnel and will only delude you into thinking that you have an active and big list of buyers. You’re looking for people who are willing to pay you good money for your services. You don’t get that by selling $17 e-books or $5 tip booklets. Sure you can create quite a nice business for yourself, but you’ll find it harder to crack into the big time as an infopreneur. On the other hand, you don’t want to be known as someone who’s peddling e-books that don’t deliver on their sales pages or selling books that don’t deliver what you said they would on the back cover or introduction to the book. You must strive to OVER DELIVER ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS! This is how you build a loyal base of RAVING FANS!!! So you can’t charge peanuts for your products, but you can’t start charging $5,000 for a bootcamp, either. What are you going to do? Set up different pricing levels for different types of products, that’s what. Before we finish off our conversation on pricing, let’s talk about your funnel. Pricing Levels for Every Purse and Pocket When you create free giveaways with the offer to sign up for your newsletter, you’re main concern is to get people into your funnel. This is why you NEED to give stuff away. Then to convert them into buyers, perhaps you offer them a $5 or $7 tips booklet or you offer them a $5 discount off of your “best-selling” book. Then you offer your $37 or $47 e-book that shows how to improve some area of their life. Perhaps you’ll create a CD set that accompanies your book, or maybe you’ve recorded one of your live seminars and you’re selling the DVD for a fraction of what it would cost to attend the event live. From there you sell them a year’s worth of electronic (and phone) coaching or a paid teleseminar with you and some of your guru friends. The next level might be a seminar that - 177 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! you give yourself, or perhaps you’re part of a larger group of speakers. Then it’s on to bootcamps and beyond. There are endless possibilities, and all along the way you have tiers of products that are priced at different levels. Your job is to bring in as many prospects as possible into that funnel, then overdeliver at each level or tier so that they will feel compelled to make it to the next level. How do you compel them to the next level? You give them what they want…and MORE, that’s how. Freebies are Important It’s important to have some things that you give away to people. Why? To get them into your funnel. But you want the type of freebie seekers that will eventually buy something, not just the people looking for “something for nothing” and who will NEVER pay for anything. Okay, so we’re beating that one to death. Let’s move on. Now once the people are in your funnel, you can actively work to convert them into buyers. This is why Robert Kiyosaki, Tony Robbins, and other big names in this business give away free tapes at their seminars and why some marketers on the Internet have started to offer everything but the kitchen sink just to get you on their list. They’re doing it because they know that once they have your name and your e-mail address, they can work on converting you into a buyer. Speaking of converting……... YOU MUST KNOW YOUR CONVERSION RATIO. Conversion what? - 178 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Conversion Ratio (or Rate) This number is critical to your success. YOU MUST KNOW WHAT YOUR CONVERSION RATIO IS TO MAKE MONEY IN THIS BUSINESS. Your conversion ratio is simply the number of visitors to your site that are then converted into buyers. For example: ♦ ♦ 100 new visitors visit your site and 3 of them buy something Your conversion ratio is 3% (i.e., 3 divided by 100). Average Purchase per Buyer and Visitor Next, you figure out your average purchase by buyer and by visitor. Let’s pretend that you only sell a $27 e-book on your site. This means that out of those 100 visitors, you made $81 from the sales to the 3 people who bought something. Take the $81 and divide it by the # of visitors you had (100) and you get $0.81 Why is this critical? Because now you know that every time you drive a person to your site you make $0.81 on them. Now you know that the maximum you’re going to be paid for traffic is $0.81 per visitor. This is HUGE! You know the exact breakeven for driving someone to your site. You know that if you’re only paying $0.10 per person through some co-registration service, you should in theory make $0.71 per visitor. An Added Benefit Now you can go to a joint venture partner and tell them that your site or sales letter converts 3% of the traffic to your site. - 179 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Work to improve your conversion ratio. This is critical because the better your site converts, the more interested the big players in your niche are going to be in doing business with you. Why? Because your site converts. They run the math in their heads. Based on the size of their list, the percentage they think will go over to your site, and the money per sale you’re giving him or her, they’ll know how much a potential deal is worth. Ahh…the power of numbers. Know your conversion ratio and the value of a visitor to your site. Actively work to increase both of those numbers and you’ll soon have people coming to you with JV offers. - 180 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Instant Niche Products Info-Funnel (How �Fat’ is Your Funnel?) Lead Generators You Can Use Marketing Networking • PPCs • JVs • Newsletters Publicity • Advertising • Seminars Awareness NonBuyers YOUR GOAL: Use Lead Generators to Bring in Targeted Leads Interest Browsers Trial Non-Buyers & Freebie Seekers Conversion Zealots Selling Buyers & Core Loyals Automate Your Follow-up System to trade up your buyers to the next level in your funnel. $ Free Ezine Free Articles $5-$10 Booklets & Reports $15-47 Books & e-books $47 - $99 CD Courses $48 - $197 Monthly Newsletters $100 - $250 Hourly Coaching $99 - $197 1 Day Seminar/Event $297 - $497 Home Study Course Buyers Raving Fans $1,000 - $2,500 Multi-Day Seminar $2,000 - $5,000 Bootcamps Work to gain the awareness of people, gain their interest, give them a trial or taste of what you offer, then convert them into a buyer…and a customer for life!  Fabio Marciano 2004, www.InstantNicheProducts.com - 181 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! #Step 7(b) - Creating Raving Fans! “The most important asset of any business is its customer relations–it's worth focusing your business growth efforts on. In fact, most business men and women do, as they spend tens of thousands of dollars building relationships with their customers. Quite simply, every ounce of effort they spend building customer relations can benefit you.” - Greg Schliesmann, www.JVMarketer.com Connecting with Your Fans The sad truth is that most authors and speakers never really go the extra mile to connect with their customers and clients. They simply take their money to the bank and never reach out to their loyal customers in a personal way. We’ve already talked about the power of autoresponders, so you know how easy it can be to stay in touch with your customers several times a month. And you can surprise them by being accessible via e-mail. Sure, when you go “big time” it might get harder and harder to answer their individual questions, but you can always hire a staff that is mindful of the importance of treating customers like family members, not dollar signs. Solving Their Problems Ultimately, your job as an expert and guru is to solve people’s problems. That’s your job and your ultimate responsibility, and you will be judged by the results your clients and customers achieve. You’ve already done the work to research the key problems in your niche, so you should work hard to make sure that you have simple solutions to the most common problems. This will enable you to quickly, effectively, and efficiently solve the problems of the majority of people that will come to you for help. Solve problems quickly and you’ll soon build a reputation for being the “go-to” person in your niche. You’ll be the person who can instantly change your clients’ lives. That’s a powerful selling point to hammer home and it’s one that your satisfied customers will be glad to pass along. Speaking of which… - 182 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Encourage Your Customers and Readers to Share the Message In the course of your day-to-day operations and interactions with your clients, you’re going to get a lot of positive feedback from your satisfied clients and customers. They can share their satisfaction with your services in two main ways, testimonials and by telling others. Testimonials – Having testimonials or endorsements from satisfied customers on your web site, in your sales brochures, and on the back of your information products goes a long, long, long way. Telling Others – Word-of-Mouth marketing is quickly becoming recognized as one of the most powerful and influential forms of marketing. Viral Products They Can Pass Along You can help seed the message by giving your satisfied customers (and even potential customers) electronic products that they can easily forward on to their family and friends. Things like e-zines, articles, and e-books are great vehicles that can get passed around the Internet at scary speeds. You can produce an e-book, post it to your site for free downloading, tell your e-zine members about it, and watch as the number of hits skyrocket exponentially in the days after the “launch.” Inside of that e-book is your free information, along with tons of links back to your site, your products, and other articles you have written. In short, you can give away a virtual sales piece that will get passed around the world and be read over and over and over again. If you want to learn more about viral marketing, we suggest these great books: Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin The Anatomy of Buzz : How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing by Emanuel Rosen The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing: How to Trigger Exponential Sales Through Runaway Word of Mouth by George Silverman Whether you call it viral marketing or word-of-mouth marketing, it’s something you need to learn how to help “seed” or start. Why? Because your fan base will grow exponentially once you get it started, especially if you use the Internet. It’s like free marketing for you on steroids. Very, very powerful stuff. - 183 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! So do we have any tricks and tips that you can use to help “seed” your message and get people to spread the word? Of course we do…but we’ll be brief because we think the tactics are pretty self-explanatory. 10 Simple Steps to Memorable and Viral Articles & e-Books 1. Byline with your e-mail and web site address – This is more along the lines of being a viral carrier for your message and site. 2. Include a note for a free report in the resource box in your articles – Hook up autoresponders tied to different free reports you have. When someone finishes reading about one of your articles, they can just click on your e-mail address and they’ll get a free report and now you have their e-mail address! 3. Have Killer Titles – Articles with killer titles get read. The more articles you write that get read, the more your articles will get passed around and picked up by other e-zine editors. 4. Tell editors to pass it along – Find the top sites that are in your niche and ask the editor of the e-zine if they accept articles – Always attach the article in the body of the e-mail (since no one likes opening attachments from people they don’t know). Just make sure they include your resource box with your web site. 5. Make it controversial – As sad as this might sound, controversy sells. 6. Make it timely – If you’re writing about stuff that’s happening in the news right now, more people will be interested in what you have to say. 7. Make it humorous and entertaining – Let’s face it. Most of what you’re going to be saying and writing about will be pretty serious stuff. Everyone needs a good pick-me-up once in a while. - 184 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 8. Tell subscribers to pass it along – This little idea is often overlooked and we’ve rarely seen an offline article that suggests that you photocopy the article and pass it along or post it on your company’s bulletin board. Why not add a quick line in your articles telling your most valued readers to pass the message along to others. 9. Tell infopreneurs they can use your e-book as a freebie – Look at any good sales letter and you’ll see that they pile on the freebies for buying their e-book. Why can’t your ebook be one of the freebies they give away? Through the process of networking, this step will happen naturally, but there’s nothing wrong with going out there and actively looking for web sites to give away your e-books. 10. Brainstorm more ideas – Yes, we want you to work that noggin’ of yours to come up with some ideas of your own. Just think discussion forums, chat rooms, message boards, and so on and you’ve got some opportunities out there to instantly spread the word about your free products. Just don’t go spamming any forums or anyone. Bad form. - 185 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step #8 - Speaking, Seminars and Teleseminars Speak and Grow Rich That’s what will happen in a nutshell and it’s why you should start honing your speaking skills TODAY…before you get that first speaking gig. The more you speak, the more you become comfortable with standing in front of people, and the more comfortable you become with your own material. The more speeches you give, the faster you establish your credibility and status as an expert in your niche. Speaking and being an expert go hand in hand. If you have a fear of public speaking, then you’re going to have to get over it…and fast if you really want to make it to the next level of expert status. Public Speaking is a Promotional Vehicle Why give speeches? There are many reasons, but the main one is to establish yourself as an expert in your niche. If your speech connects with the audience and leaves them wanting more, then you’ve instantly established yourself as an expert in their eyes. Whenever they’re in the market for the goods you sell or the services you provide, they’re going to come to you, the expert. We urge you to seek out speaking engagements within your niche by locating the associations or finding the partners that are holding events on the topics in your niche. If you “score a gig,” you’ll be placed in front of dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of prospects. Prospects that in all likelihood are paying customers of the event organizer and host. If you work at the craft of giving speeches and you learn how to sell yourself from the stage, they will soon become YOUR paying customers. Have Speech Proposals Ready Take 20-30 minutes to brainstorm some speech ideas and topics that you can talk about. If you’re stumped, browse through some old trade journals or visit the web sites of the big players in your niche. Flip through your own book and articles. Can you steal material from yourself and make it into a 30 minute speech? How about a 45 minute speech with 15 minutes of Q&A? - 186 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You need to have some speeches in mind before you find your speaking gigs. This way you’ll be ready to send them off once you’ve found someone who wants you to speak at an event. How to Find Speaking Gigs There are three main ways: through speaking associations, through asking event organizers if they need “one more speaker,” and through networking. Let’s cover networking first. Networking One of the main ways beginning speakers book speaking gigs is through their contacts in the industry. If you’ve followed the first five steps in this e-book, then you should have a lot of material about you floating around and you should have quite a few contacts you’ve made through networking. You’re going to be amazed at the number of offers to do joint ventures and speak at seminars that others are hosting. Why? Because they need to fill time, get more experts, get quality content for their attendees, and so on. The trick is to provide value for their paying subscribers/customers and make sure you overdeliver. This brings up a point we want to make, namely to watch the sales pitch. Watch the Sales Pitch Just in case you think you’re going to be up there talking about how great you are and how great your services are, think again. The key to being a successful speaker is to add value to an event. Yes, you want to “sell” yourself as an expert, but you want to do it by positioning yourself as an expert by the material you are giving your audience, not by the hardcore sales pitch of your services, your books, your tape sets, and your bootcamps. Okay, back to the second way to find speaking gigs: through trade associations. Trade Associations are Goldmines You can find out about seminars and association meetings in your area very easily. Most trade journals will have announcements regarding major events, shows, and expos that are going on throughout the nation. And since you’ve subscribed to the major trade journals as part of your continuous learning, you should know about all of the events happening around you and across the nation. - 187 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! If you’re a member of several industry associations, you’re likely to be on an e-mail list or a newsletter list. Check your mailbox and inbox for e-mail and direct-mail pieces that “announce” any meetings and conventions. Now you have the event listings and the phone numbers of the event coordinators. The next step is to call them up. Ask for the Gig It’s going to be difficult cold-calling heads of conventions and trade associations. Well, it will be hard at first. You’re going to doubt yourself, and you’re going to feel like you don’t have good enough material, and that you’re not worthy, and a dozen other excuses why you shouldn’t be speaking in front of a trade group. The truth is that the heads of trade associations are DESPERATE for speakers. They’ve got a full-time business or practice they’re running in addition to being the head of the trade association or being the person in charge of running the events. If they get their hands on a qualified speaker and expert in their area, they’ll be ESTATIC TO HEAR FROM YOU. Even if you’ve never given a speech in your life, by sending your book, the articles you’ve written, and testimonials from satisfied customers you’ve received, they’ll definitely be interested in putting you on the agenda. Send them a few of your speech proposals and outlines of what you’ll be discussing. Let them know that you’re flexible and can talk on a number of topics within your niche. GOLDEN NUGGET: Pitch early and often. If you operate in a big enough niche (is that an oxymoron?) you're likely to come up against some competition from your fellow gurus. The earlier you get your proposals in, the better the chance you have of scoring a gig. Small events will have a four to six month planning window, while the big events usually plan their events six to nine months in advance. Get as Much Information as Possible Once you have them on the phone, it’s important to find out as much as possible about the association, their members, what companies they work for, and what their most common problems are. You can also ask if they pay speaking fees or at least cover travel expenses. Most trade associations do have funds earmarked for speakers, so you should be able to negotiate the covering of travel expenses, if not an outright fee for your time. And last but definitely not least, you can get a speaking gig through a speaking association. - 188 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Speaking Associations We’re not going to cover speaking associations in-depth, because most gurus-in-training are going to get most of their gigs through trade associations and networking. But just in case you’re interested in really going the extra mile and becoming a super-guru, joining a speaking association is a MUST! The two of us don’t belong to a speaking association, but it’s on our goal lists for this year. Why? Because when you join an association or get on the speaking circuit, you’re instantly exposed to thousand upon thousands of potential customers. You also get to rub elbows with some of the best (and highest paid) experts around. Talk about Networking on Steroids. If you’re interested in learning more, check out the National Speakers Association at: www.nsaspeaker.org/ Here’s a little background from their web site: The National Speakers Association (NSA) is the leading organization for those who speak professionally. NSA's 3,500 members include experts in a variety of industries and disciplines, who reach audiences as trainers, educators, humorists, motivators, consultants, authors, and more. Since 1973, NSA has provided resources and education designed to advance the skills, integrity, and value of its members and the speaking profession. Speaking Bureaus You can also join one of a number of speaking bureaus that will market and advertise your presentations for a fee. They do the dirty work of getting you booked and you do the canned speeches. It’s a nice arrangement when you’re ready for it. What You’re Trying to Do with Your Speeches There’s a lot of effort that goes into writing, re-writing and crafting the perfect speech. Take your time and get it right because once you get it right, you’ll have a “canned” speech that you can give for years and years. Actually, you’ll constantly be revising it by adding material and tweaking it, and so on; but you’ll have the guts of it down on paper and in your head so that you can be ready to give a speech at a moment’s notice. So what are you trying to do with your speeches? Well, you’re trying to: - 189 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Captivate them – Get their Attention: You need to grab their attention and get them out of their slumber if you’re talking early in the morning or just after lunch. Inform them: In the end, you want to add value to the speaking event and you want to provide value. No, you actually want to overdeliver on value. Make that your mantra. Entertain them: Along the lines of involving them, you want to inform them in an entertaining way. Don’t just speak about steps and strategies, tell a story that explains the information. Tell a joke (if appropriate) and get them laughing and moving. Involve them: You want them to “participate” in your speech and feel like you’re talking about them and to them instead of “at” them. Inspire them – Get them to Take Action: Ultimately, you’re looking to inspire them to take the next step and make a change in their life or take some action on the ideas you’re giving them. Of course, part of every good speech is the underlying “soft-sell” that will make them seek you out either at the “back-of-the-room” after your speech or some time in the future. Establish Yourself as an Expert – And lastly, when all is said and done, you want to come off as an expert in their eyes. That’s what you’re striving for. You want to be seen as a professional who knows what you’re talking about and, more importantly, YOU WANT TO BE SEEN AS A PROBLEM SOLVER. You want the audience to leave your speeches with stuff they can actually use and implement easily into their lives or into their businesses. And at the end of the day, if you do that, you’ll have proven yourself as THE expert in your niche. If you can’t remember all that, just remember the A.I.D.A. acronym. You’re trying to: Attention: You’re trying to get the attention of the audience. Interest: You’re trying to get them to be interested in what you’re saying. Desire: You want to tug at their emotional strings and get them involved. Action: You want them to take further action (and hopefully buy your products at some point). - 190 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Great Speeches – The APC’S Work There are a lot of books, articles and tape sets out there about giving great speeches. We’ve read them and we still think this little acronym will serve you best. Attention Problem Consequences Solutions Why it Works Overcome Objections Recap Killer Closing that causes them to take action Attention – Again, get their attention and get them interested in what you’re saying. A great way to do this is to ask questions. Problem – State the problem they’re having or get them to state it for you. Relay back to them some of the answers that they just gave you based on your leading questions. Consequences – Tug on the emotions and make them feel the pain of not changing. Solutions – Give them your can’t-lose, simple-step formula for guaranteed results. Why it Works – Whether it’s through testimonials or stories, show them proven results. Overcome Objections – What are the common objections for not buying and not doing something? Know them and overcome them. Recap – Recap what the major problem is, how and why your solution works, and why it’s the only solution for them. Killer Closing – Right from the recap, you need to close with something that gets them to applaud heartily and run to the back of the room. - 191 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The Classic Speech Outline – Only 3 Parts With the above “APC’S WORK,” we tried to give you an outline that would get you thinking about how to craft an action-packed speech that will move listeners to buy. But you must know that there is a classic formula that states a speech has three parts: a beginning, a middle, and you guessed it, an end. You start your speech by involving the audience and getting them to interact with you. One of the best ways again is to ask questions. After your brief (make that really brief) introduction about yourself, you start asking the audience questions like: “How many of you are here to make more money? How many of you are sick of working nine to five for some idiot? How many of you would like more time to spend with your friends and family instead of at work? How many of you would like to take more vacations? Buy a bigger house? Get a sports car?” Now you’ve got the audience interested and their hearts are beating faster. Then you segue into what you’re going to cover in your talk and how you can help them get exactly all those things they want. Now you have their attention and you’re about to get their interest during the middle part of your speech. During the middle part of your speech, which is the bulk of it in terms of time, you’re going to be hammering away at what their problems are, what consequences they’ll face if they don’t change, and how your solution is proven to work for them. Then during the end part or recap part of your speech, you close on a strong note. You tell them exactly what they need to do in order to avoid the pain you just spoke about. Convince them that each and every one of them MUST act and must change to live a better life. Whether it be exercising more, investing more, saving more, learning more, or quitting drinking, smoking, or overeating…you get them pumped and excited to TAKE ACTION. And of course, you’ll be there at the back-of-the-room answering questions as you stand next to your line of books, tapes, and home-study courses. Now you don’t have to even pitch your products. They’ll scoop them up because you’ve already sold them. - 192 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Give Handouts The majority of speakers don’t give out handouts and that’s a big, big mistake. Handouts ensure that practically every one of your audience members will leave the place with at least something that has your name and contact information. That’s invaluable, especially if you’re just starting out and you didn’t do your homework and create lots of back-of-the-room products to sell. The great thing about a handout is that it serves a dual purpose as your “cheat sheet” or your outline to talk from. Just put the handouts on every seat in the place before you talk or have your assistants hand them out right before you speak. You decide whether you want to hand them out before or after you talk. We like doing it before because it encourages people to take their notes on the handouts, thus making those pieces of paper more valuable (and less likely to be thrown away). Get Their E-mail Addresses You should devise some way to get contact information from them. How about a drawing for a free bootcamp package or your CD set? Create quick and easy sign-up sheets where people give you their name, address, phone number, and e-mail address and you’ll quickly create a golden list for yourself. Just be sure to let them know that you’ll be contacting them in the future and if they don’t want to be contacted, they shouldn’t enter the drawing. Learn from Others We obviously don’t have the time or space to write about how you get the attention of your audience or how you frame out the perfect speech. The best way to learn is to get out there and attend some seminars and trade association meetings. Listen to the speakers and see what they do to get your attention, draw you into their speeches, and get you to buy their products. Speaking of buying products, YOU HAVE TO WATCH MORE INFOMERCIALS. We’re serious. Infomercials are selling machines that follow a simple formula of getting your attention, talking about a common problem, showing you the consequences of having that big butt or flabby abs, and then getting you to believe that their soution is the only one in the world for you. Are we right or are we right? - 193 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Need Some Speaking Help? We kind of glossed over the fact that you’d have to get over any of your fears of public speaking and just do it, but it’s not always that easy for some people. And yes, like 3,432 surveys have told you, public speaking is the #1 fear people have, followed by death, which runs a distant second. Crazy as that sounds, it’s the truth…but... Regardless of how deep your fear of getting up in front of people and talking is, the fact is you’re going to have to do it if you’re going to get to that next level of guru status and make the big bucks. You can get help and there are two resources that we recommend: Toastmasters (or something like it) and Instant Speaking Success. Toastmasters is an organization that will help you go from knock-kneed, scared stiff mumbling, bumbling, whispering speaker to a real pro in the matter of a few months. The premise is that you have a series of speeches that you have to make. You start out with an introduction speech which is nothing more than introducing yourself and then you move up to more advanced speeches. The group environment of people who are in the same boat as you (scared and trying to improve their public speaking abilities) makes it easy to relax, learn, and get on with learning how to speak like a pro. Instant Speaking Success is a relatively new product by Paul Evans and he’s done a great job of breaking down the elements of giving great speeches and overcoming the fears of giving one. We highly recommend it if you’re having trouble talking in front of audiences. According to Paul, successful speaking consists of three elements: 1. Content. A message packed with practical, easy to remember and useful information. 2. Confidence. Knowing that what you share will be valuable and useful, and that you are the one who should share it. 3. Connection. You must be able to draw the audience into the message. That's what brings the laughter, the tears, and the standing ovations. - 194 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! His program will help you create your speeches, give you the confidence to get up there and deliver them, and more importantly, connect with your audience. The program overdelivers and his Fast Talker bonus was AMAZING! Okay, let’s move on… Top Ten Rules for Great Speeches We thought we’d close with a top ten list on what we think makes great speeches. Feel free to add your own tricks of the trade and favorite speech “musts” as well. Okay, enough talking. Let’s get to the top ten things you need to do in order to give great speeches. 1. Have an outline or notes to work from 2. Use the classic three parts of a speech – Tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then recap and tell them what you told them. Use the APC’S of WORK to really make your speeches effective. 3. Keep it simple – Don’t have elaborate PowerPoint slides, don’t run around on stage, and forget using too many props. You want your audience to focus on you and your content, not bells and whistles. 4. Show Enthusiasm – It really is infectious and your audience will feed off of you. 5. Ask questions to involve your audience 6. Give Handouts – People will be able to take notes, remember your key points and will take along your “selling brochure.” 7. Talk about Problems, Solutions, and Benefits, Not YOURSELF – Talking about yourself is the best way not to get invited back. 8. Use stories – Everyone loves stories and they serve two purposes: it’s easier to communicate ideas using stories and people are more likely to remember you and your speech thanks to the story. - 195 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 9. Never go over your allotted time – If you’ve ever struggled to sit there while some blowhard is talking on stage, you know why we put this one in. 10. Stick around and answer questions (and sell as well). How much will you make from your speech? Does it really matter? Back of the Room sales will easily double, if not triple the speaking fee that you get. In fact, in a few short months you’re going to be falling over yourself to get gigs that don’t pay you anything. That’s right, NADA. NOTHING. ZIPPO. Why get so excited for gigs that don’t pay? Because as long as you have the ability and right to sell your products at the back of the room, you won’t need to get paid to make money hand over fist. Remember that. Well, that’s speaking and giving seminars in a nutshell. Don’t overcomplicate the process. If you’re still struggling with coming up with a compelling speech, you must hop on over to Paul Evans’ site Instant Speaking Success and learn how to do it the right way from the beginning. - 196 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Seminars, Bootcamps and Beyond If you’re going to be an expert, then you have to give seminars. Whether they’re teleseminars, short talks of 30 minutes or less as part of a group of speakers, or your own gig, you’ve got to do them. There’s a lot of preparation and training that you’re going to have to put yourself through, but the time and effort you put into learning how to create and hold great seminars will be well worth it. Why is it going to be worth it? Because you can make BIG MONEY at your seminars. You can sell everything from your books, CDs, home study kits, bootcamps, and your one-on-one coaching programs. Why are they so effective at making you money and promoting you? Because you get to “press the flesh” with your audience and you get to “sell them” on you, your knowledge, and your ability to instantly help them solve their problems and help them make more money, get more free time, or whatever it is that you do. You also get highly targeted traffic, which is just fancy talk for having a lot of people in a room who have gone through the weeding process in your funnel for you. They’re there to learn and they’re not afraid to spend a little money to get some knowledge, tips, secrets, and insights into a particular topic. So there you are on stage or at the back of the room talking to them, and in the process of delivering your soft sell sales pitch, you’re connecting with them. You’ve got the golden opportunity to convince them that you can help them and they’re captive. They’re not going anywhere, after all, they paid good money to come see you. - 197 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! It’s Not All Sales Pitches But a word of caution is warranted here. You’re not going to be on stage pitching products and services left and right. That’s the fastest way never to be invited back to speak at a group, and it’s surely the fastest way to turn off an audience. You need to connect with people. You need to listen to their needs when you get to talk to them one-on-one or as you answer their questions. You need to show empathy and relate to them, and they need to relate to you. Sure sounds like a lot, right? You bet. And we said there would be some work to do and it’s not easy to pull off hosting a great seminar, but it can be done. You just have to work at refining your speeches and you have to work on relating to people, entertaining them, and making the information you’re presenting as simple and as easy as possible to understand. Free Seminars Holding free seminars at the local library, town hall, or community college is the way many speakers get started. There’s nothing wrong with learning the ropes at a small venue before going to bigger venues. It’s what ballplayers have to do: that’s why they have the minor leagues. You have to learn how to perform on stage before you make it to the big leagues! Just don’t think that because it’s a free seminar you can slack off and not come prepared. Why give your knowledge away for free? Because you’re a “no-name” right now and it’s not worth the hassle of charging folks, besides you’ll get double to triple the number of people if you DON”T charge. The idea with these seminars is to learn as much as you can and potentially sell someone on a coaching package after the event. Look upon making money on the back-end as gravy, not the sole purpose of why you’re there. Group Seminars Sometimes these are sponsored by trade associations who bring in two or three speakers to talk about a particular subject, or they’re organized by a seminar company like The Learning Annex. As part of a group of speakers, there’s going to be less pressure on you. This will make it slightly easier for you to make the transition from giving free speeches and talking in front of small crowds to getting paid for your speaking and talking to larger audiences. - 198 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The good news is that you’re probably going to use 90% to 95% of the same material you used during your “practice” seminars. You might have to add some content and strengthen it in other areas, depending on the nature of the seminar, your audience, and what you’re being told to focus on. By “focus on,” we mean that sometimes you’ll be called upon to talk about one specific aspect of what you do. For instance, it might be cold calling if you’re a sales expert, or goal-setting if you’re a personal development guru. We’re not going to drag this section out, but we’ll leave you with the usual warning of “beware of selling too hard from the stage.” You’re there to provide information and help people. The seminar organizers aren’t going to like it if you’re up on stage selling yourself every other minute. You get to sell yourself after your talk, so save your speaking time for adding value to your audience. Your Own Seminar Now it’s time for the big-time, and that means self-sponsored seminars where you charge a fee. The fee should be based on the going rate for your niche and your current level of perceived gurudom. That’s fancy wording for what amounts to: you must charge what you can at this point. If you’re a sales expert and you start charging the kind of money that Brian Tracy does for a seminar, you’ll only fill 25% of the venue. If you charge about what everyone else is charging and you add on some bells and whistles, offer a discount for signing up early and so forth, you’re going to have a better shot at filling the room. Bonus Tip – www.SeminarInformation.com We’re not going to go into too much detail on the promotion of your seminars because we’re going to be talking about promotion in general in steps #9 and #10. But there is a great resource you can use called www.SeminarInformation.com that will help you promote your live seminars and events. - 199 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The Best Way to Learn How to Hold Great Seminars There’s a very simple and easy way to learn how to hold great seminars: attend a lot of seminars and take notes on what works and doesn’t work. When you go to seminars you should be taking the whole thing in: • How do they handle registration? • How many people are working the event? • How are the seats arranged? • Is there a projector or overhead AV equipment? • Who is the Master of Ceremonies? • Do they give handouts? • Does the speaker use a pad and easel or overheads? • How many breaks per hour? • Is it interactive? • Does the speaker do a question and answer session? • Did the speaker tell a joke or two? • How did the speaker engage the audience? • Was there a giveaway? • How big is the area for back-of-the-room sales? • What products is the speaker selling? • Is there an autographing session? And so on and so on. Every time we attend a seminar, we write down notes on what we liked and didn’t like about the event. We steal the best ideas and revise our own seminar outline to constantly improve them. You should do the same. Ask for Feedback It’s simple, easy to implement, and it’s worth the effort. We’re talking about evaluation forms. Provide them for your audiences, especially when you’re just starting out. Find out what they liked and didn’t like during your presentation and make the necessary changes. Enough said. Make Sure You Get Their Names One last bit of advice that’s worth its weight in gold. If you’re part of a group of people speaking at the seminar, chances are you don’t have access to the names of the attendees since you didn’t organize the event and register the participants. Ask the organizer if you can receive the final list of attendees after the event. If they say no, don’t worry because there’s a great way to get the names of the majority of the audience members: give stuff away. - 200 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Give Something Away…FOR FREE If you want the names of people, just create a simple sign up form that asks for their name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and areas of interest. Then have them drop their name off in a box at the front of the stage for the chance to win one of several prizes. Speaking of FREE. We highly recommend creating a pamphlet in addition to your handouts to give to attendees. This way everyone will leave with some sort of sales piece that has your name and contact information on it. The Fortune is in the Follow-up We’re going to talk about selling tactics and follow-up later on in step #10, but it warrants us talking about it here, as well. Now that you have a list of people’s names, addresses, and email addresses, you can send them a note thanking them for attending. Included will be a questionnaire in the mailing asking them to give you feedback on the event, what they liked and didn’t like, and so on. Offer a free gift, maybe an e-book or special report as an incentive for filling out the form. You can also send sales pieces and postcards at regular intervals throughout the year. Maybe it’s an offer for your latest book or just a postcard telling them that you’re going to be in town again next week. Whatever you decide to do, you now have the name of someone who paid good money to come see you talk, and it’s your job to overdeliver on value and to bring them further down into your infoproducts funnel. Test, Test, Test And as always, monitor your results. Out of 100 surveys/thank yous that you mailed, how many were filled out? Maybe it’s time to tweak the copy and see what happens. How Much Money Can You Make? The answer is: it depends. Geesh! Don’t you just hate those type of answers? But it’s the truth. There are speakers out there who are making $20,000 and more per speech. There are speakers who are earning a six-figure living just by working the speaking circuit and selling products in the back-of-theroom. - 201 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Then there are those who are giving talks here and there and they’re making $1,000 to $4,000 a month by doing two or three seminars a month. The reality is that it’s up to you to decide how much time, money, and effort you want to put into making money from seminars. How Long Does it Take to Make Big Money? Define “big money.” We can tell you that it doesn’t take long if you’re smart about it, work on delivering value to your list of prospects, and make sure that you’re creating raving fans every step of the way during the process of becoming a guru. But here’s an inspirational success story that we thought we’d leave you with…. Our friends Matt and Mike Litman were on the phone one day and decided to do a seminar that would be geared toward the budding infopreneur. They called it “The Ultimate Lifestyle Workshop,” and rather than spend weeks and months working through the format, the information they would cover and so on, they just put up a quick web site that collected people’s e-mail addresses, their phone numbers and addresses, and that’s it. The response was overwhelming. They got over 1,600 people to sign up for a free giveaway on the site, they had their teleseminar sell out, and they proceeded to get 37 people to come to Atlanta two weeks later for the seminar. They charged only $97 and they PRE-SOLD the audio CDs of the seminar. That’s right. They sold a product they hadn’t even produced yet for $97 a pop and had over 50 buyers before the event was even held. To this day they continue to sell that awesome, one-of-a-kind CD from the event for $97 at www.UltimateLifestyleWorkshop.com. All told they made over $20,000 from that one idea. Not bad for an idea that was generated over a phone call on an unrelated subject. What was the key? They didn’t wait to get it right. They just got it going and made some instant cash. They learned from the experience and now they’re creating bigger and better seminars. Make that bigger and more profitable seminars. - 202 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Profiting from Seminars Infoproduct guru Fred Gleeck uses the following formula to talk about the total revenue that you can generate from seminars: TR = SR + PS + CB TR = Total Revenue SR = Seminar Registration PS = Product Sales CB = Consulting Business Seminar Registration or Speaking Fees is self-explanatory. Product Sales is self-explanatory… But what’s Consulting Business? Simply put its consulting work you do that comes about from the leads generated by your seminar. Oh, you mean I can sell something that’s an even bigger ticket item than my bootcamp? You bet. Listen, you have to start looking at all the revenue streams from doing seminars. Most people look at just the product sales and perhaps their speaking fee from doing an event, but they never follow-up with the people who attended the seminars. Remember, THE FORTUNE IS IN THE FOLLOW-UP!!! The Consulting Business that Gleeck is talking about can be a huge added revenue stream for you. An additional $9,600 was made by Matt and Mike from their seminar they did. How? They followed up with the attendees and got some of them to become coaching clients. That’s an additional $9,600 that they would have left on the table had they not followed-up with their audience. Start planning ALL aspects of your infoproducts funnel in advance and you’ll have them available to pitch to your audience members (at the appropriate time) whenever you’re ready to go big! The registration fees will come in immediately. The product sales will be made immediately…and some will be made after the fact. But the consulting business can come in forever. Remember that! - 203 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Teleclasses – Training Wheels for Budding Gurus If you’ve been on the Internet for more than a couple of weeks, you’ve probably been bombarded by e-zine owners who are pitching the latest “must attend” teleseminar. Everybody from Mark Victor Hansen to Joe Schmoe down the street are doing them, and you should get in on the action. What are they? They’re nothing more than a live seminar that’s done over the phone. People sign up for the call via e-mail and receive a PIN number and phone number to call at a certain date and time. Then they punch in the PIN and they’re on the call. As the moderator or host of the call you have the ability to mute out everyone and talk during what’s called “lecture mode.” What’s great about teleseminars is the cost savings to both you and your subscribers. You don’t have to fly to some city, rent out a room and get a hotel room for the night. You can do your presentation straight from the comfort of your own home. And of course your subscribers can participate from home; you’ll get a higher response rate because of the convenience factor. Testing New and Breaking Information We love teleseminars because for a relatively inexpensive fee, you can set up an unlimited amount of calls per month. You can hold weekly calls to inspire and motivate your affiliates, or you can share your latest information and material with your clients and customers. If you have smaller groups, there’s also the opportunity for a high level of interactivity. - 204 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Handouts are Still a Must The best way to connect with and make sure that your participants are listening and digesting the information is to have a handout that you make available prior to the call. Send out an email to all confirmed participants at minimum several hours before the call so they have time to print it out and look it over. Then place the file on your web site so you can let those that signed up late know about the “cheat sheet.” Have a Plan and a Purpose: To Make Money We’re not about to get into all the nuts and bolts of how you can profit from teleseminars right now, but we will give you two bits of advice. You must have an outline to follow as you do your teleseminar. Whether it’s a list of questions that someone’s asking you or a detailed outline that you’re going to speak from, you need something to keep you focused and on track. Second, you should always have in mind how you’re going to drive people back to your web site to purchase something. Many gurus are creating special promotions that last only until the next day after the teleseminar. Whether it’s a steep discount on one of their products or add-on bonuses that were never offered before, make sure you offer something to make some money from the teleseminar. You should do this whether it’s a free or paid-for teleseminar. Charging for Your Teleseminars? Yes, you read that right. There are some infopreneurs out there that are starting to charge for teleseminars. So, should you? It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with the calls. If you want a lot of people to be on the call to kick off things and sell them over the phone on one of your products or events, then don’t charge. If you’re not as concerned with how many people attend, then charge a fee. How much? The going rate, which we can’t even believe sometimes, is around $27 to $39 per call, with each call lasting between one to two hours or more. Some big names out there are charging $99 for some highly specialized teleseminars. Yes, you read that right; $99 a pop for a teleseminar. Just wait until the technology and price for hosting webinars comes down! NOTE: If you’re planning to charge, then you’re going to have to interview big names and give away some great freebies, bonuses, and handouts that they can’t get elsewhere. Otherwise, you’re just ripping people off and word will get out about you. - 205 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Personally, Fabio likes hosting a lot of free teleseminars so that we can connect with our subscribers, showcase our expertise and highlight the “wins” we’ve had with our clients. By wins we mean success stories which inspire our subscribers to contact us and learn more about our coaching programs. Money on the Back-End And believe it or not, some people are selling CDs and transcripts from their calls. How much are they charging? Anywhere from $39 to $49 and more. It’s a simple enough process. You just buy a $20 device at your local Radio Shack and then convert your tapes to MP3’s, burn them to CDs, hook up with a CD packager and designer (or do it yourself), and you’ve got a slick looking product to sell. Fabio covers the whole process in Teleseminar Magic. A Short Recap So you’re saving on marketing costs, hotel costs, travel costs, and other associated costs. You’re also able to connect better with your subscribers and add a ton of value to them by bringing on guest speakers that can be located halfway around the world. And promoting them can be a snap thanks to the various web sites that are out there that promote teleseminars. There’s just so much going on with teleseminars and it’s such a new area right now, but in a couple of years or perhaps even months, teleseminars are going to be really all over the place. We were ahead of the curve and participated and hosted some of the earliest calls on the web. We even wrote THE authoritative e-book on the subject: Teleseminar Magic. If you’re serious about making big money through leveraging the power of teleseminars, then this is a must have resource. Enough said. Time to learn about the 9th step in the process of becoming a master expert. - 206 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step #9 - Media and PR Media: Publicity Sells YOU The media that we’re going to talk about in-depth is public relations, or PR for short. Why aren’t we going to be talking in-depth about TV, radio, magazines, and other forms of media? Because not only are those other forms cost-prohibitive to the bootstrap marketing expert, they pale in comparison to the level of credibility you can gain through effective PR. You can either spend a ton of money on advertising through these other mediums or you can get that same level of exposure (or higher) through public relations. Most people get the two confused. So what’s the difference between advertising and publicity. Well, as one wellknown industry expert put it: Advertising is what you PAY for, publicity is what you PRAY for. Publicity is a form of free advertising for your business and your service. Someone in the media is giving you FREE coverage or visibility for your business without you having to pay for it. Why is someone in the media going to cover you and your business? Because they think that you have something that is of interest to their readers or viewers. Why are they coming to you instead of finding stories themselves? They’re busy, that’s why, and it’s a lot of work to go out into the “field” and find stories. In fact, the majority of the news stories that journalists and reporters report on daily were developed through or pitched by PR firms and developed from press releases. Media Kits Before we get into press releases and other methods of getting a little love from the media, we wanted to talk about media kits. Media kits are nothing more than packets of information that PR agencies send out to producers of radio and television shows. The kits contain press releases, your biography, any testimonials or endorsements you’ve received, the jacket cover of your books, copies of any articles that you’ve written (and hopefully published), and a tip sheet. The tip sheet is nothing more than a sample list of questions that interviewers can ask - 207 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! you. More on this in a moment. But there’s actually another benefit to having a media kit: it’s an ego booster. The Ego Booster – You’re probably not going to need a media kit right off the bat, but the work that goes into putting it together will be well worth the effort. You’ll have it handy if someone happens to ask for it, and it helps you mentally because media kits are kind of like little ego boosters. You’ve got who you are and what you’ve accomplished in one little box. It might sound kind of corny, but you know that you’ve got to stay upbeat and focused on your core objective: becoming an expert. Having a media kit handy and in your office keeps you charged and upbeat. Press Releases A press release is one of the most effective tools in your arsenal to raise your public visibility. It’s a one or two-page document that deals with a news topic or issue of concern. Your company name and contact information is included at the top of the document. You need to create press releases that are simple and direct. You need to get the point of your press release across as quickly as possible because the reporter or editor who is scanning through them is extremely busy and doesn’t have time to “work” through the information. You must have a headline that grabs their attention. This is critical. You have to capture their attention or your press release will end up in the trash bin. In fact, most press releases are handled for five seconds or less, so you’d better pay attention to the most critical part of the release: the headline. That attention-grabbing headline will draw the reader in and get your press release read. Then it’s up to the body of the release to sell the story or event. Your contact information must be at the top along with your web site and the phone number where they can reach you if they need a quote or, better yet, an interview…now! Don’t kill yourself by agonizing over every little word and detail of the press release. Do, however, sweat over that headline and putting the spin or hook into the release that will get the attention of the journalist. Keep your writing to just one page and keep it simple. Put all the basic elements that journalists give their readers in the first paragraph of a story: who, what, when, where, why, and how. If you have to put it in a bullet point format, that’s okay too. Again, you’re not striving for a literary masterpiece. You’re trying to grab the attention of the journalist and get them to read more and realize that your story is something their - 208 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! readers or listeners want to know about, and well, MUST ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY know about NOW! The Self-Interested Press Release Some would-be experts send out releases announcing their new product or service or any lame-excuse-of-a-reason to send out a press release. They have good intentions, but only a fraction of these types of releases ever get read or used. Why? Because they’re totally devoid of any real NEWS, that’s why. However, there is one way to add a line or two in your press release that will drive traffic to your web site or 1-800# every time. In your press release, you can state that you have written a report on the “20 Most Common …..” and only include 10 in the press release. At the end of the release you state: “Readers can go to [your name]’s web site and get their hands on the rest of the free report.” Once the readers go to your site they have to enter their e-mail address into your form in order to be mailed the free report. Now you’ve captured the e-mail address of a prospect that is highly interested in your product and/or services. The key to making this work is to have excerpts from the article or report that you have created inserted into the article or news story. Some savvy experts take this idea one step further. They offer a physical booklet that will be shipped to the respondent’s home. This is a little more expensive, but if you’ve got some cash it might be worth trying out. Now you have their home address and can send them the booklet and a mini sales letter. It’s important to keep careful track of the results of this mailing to see if you’re converting enough prospects into paying customers. One more thing, if you’re going to try the tactic of using a physical booklet or report to draw in readers, you don’t have to send it to every editor of every paper you send your press release out to. Just include the following at the bottom of the news release: “EDITOR: I CAN SEND YOU A COPY OF MY BOOKLET [INSERT TITLE] UPON REQUEST. JUST CALL ME AT [INSERT PHONE NUMBER] OR E-MAIL ME AT [INSERT E-MAIL ADDRESS].” - 209 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Again, not all editors are going to include your contact information and call to action when they use your press release, but enough will to make this tactic worth using. Sample Press Releases Rather than make it easy on you, we’re going to make you work for this little lesson. Why? Because we want you to hop on over to PRWeb.com, which is the best site for free online press release distribution. Spend 20-30 minutes browsing through press releases and see which ones are newsworthy, exciting, and interesting. Figure out what made them “different” and better than the self-promoting releases everyone else sends out. Borrow with Pride Take the best information from the best of the best and integrate them into your press releases. Enough said. Getting Your Press Releases in Front of Journalists PRWeb.com really is the best option for authors, speakers, and experts to get their press releases out to journalists. The service is free, but if you make a donation, according to their site they will “provide benefits and upgraded distributions that are not available to users taking advantage of our free distribution.” In other words, make the donation, something like $30, and get the added benefits. They’re worth it. You can go through the various media directory companies or you could hire a PR agency, but the fees they charge for these services are very, very expensive. Cut your teeth and learn the ropes of press releases through PRWeb.com, and then when you’re ready to go big-time, spend the money. For now, go the economical/smart route. - 210 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! PR – The most untapped marketing vehicle Timely and newsworthy is all that matters to journalists. You should strive to be informative, entertaining, and controversial, well maybe just a little controversial if you want to play that angle. Some producers like to spice things up for their programming. You’ve all heard what we’re talking about: “And later at 10 p.m., we’re going to talk to a guy who thinks your home isn’t an asset. He says it’s a liability. It’s a story you won’t want to miss.” You Need a Hook People are bored and they want something fresh and new. In order for you to stand out in the eyes of the media, you need to have a hook in your press release or your story idea that is pitched in such a way that the writer or journalist will immediately realize that your story will appeal to their readers. When you develop a well-thought out and compelling hook, the media will be more inclined to run your story or give you press coverage. In short, you have to know the elements of a news story that matter most to journalists: the story effects a large number of people, people care about the story, and it’s timely. For instance, every parent is concerned about their kids getting into college, so if you sent out a press release that talked about “10 Surefire Tips to Get Into Your College of Choice,” it’s going to be a compelling story….or is it? If you send out your press release in May, it might not get the attention of the press, but if you send it out right before school starts in September, you’re going to get a lot more coverage. This example just enforces the need to be timely and relevant. If you’re pitching products that deal with weight loss, the best time for diet tips and articles is right at the beginning of the year and at the beginning of the summer when everyone is weightconscious. Got a program that deals with improving your finances? February through April are good times to send out the message, especially right before April 15th when it’s time to pay Uncle Sam. Back to the importance of having a hook. You need to be able to connect your story to something that’s going on in the news already. If you have the perfect recipes for an Atkinsfriendly way of life or you’re the expert on the latest craze, trend, or consumer hot button, then you’re going to gain the attention of the media. What other hooks are there to play with? How can you promote your service and business with a new and exciting angle to - 211 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! increase the chances that the media will want to run your story? You need to add some news value to your story or else you’re just another self-interested salesperson in their eyes. Adding News Value to Your Hook The information in your press release or the story you’re pitching over the phone has to be relevant or of importance to the editor’s audience. In short, your story has to have genuine “news value,” or they’re not interested. Put yourself in the reader or viewer’s shoes and you’ll see why this point is critical. You have to find a way to slant your story so that it will be interesting to the average viewer and pitch it so it’s relevant to their life and what they’re going through. The key is to find a way to make your story a little more interesting and relevant. For some help on how to add news value to your stories, we turn again to publicity expert George McKenzie. The following is from his best-selling book, Mining Online Gold with an Offline Shovel. Universal News Themes, Story Lines, Hooks, and Angles It’s conventional wisdom in the news business that certain things are automatic attentiongetters. They’re universal themes, story lines, hooks and angles. Let’s call them “hot buttons”. Construct your pitch so that it punches one or more of these hot buttons, and you’re on your way to thousands — maybe even millions — of dollar’s worth of free publicity. The definitions that follow are among the most common, but the list certainly isn’t all-inclusive. There’s always room for creativity. Beating the Odds Any story about someone who has accomplished the unlikely is inherently interesting. A story about someone who’s attempting to accomplish something unlikely is also interesting, as long as it’s not totally ridiculous (e.g. sending a news release about your client who plans to shoot himself out of a cannon and land on the moon will get tossed in the trash.). Celebrities This one’s pretty obvious. If we weren’t naturally interested in movie stars and sports heroes, there wouldn’t be racks full of magazines and tabloids dedicated to them. Anything that has to do with a celebrity automatically gets media attention. - 212 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Civic & Charity Connected News people generally want to project an image that they’re concerned citizens with a social conscience. Therefore, they look for stories about civic involvement and charity events. Contests Everyone does Halloween costume contests, but you can be imaginative and creative at other times of the year. Example: if you owned a restaurant, you could ask your customers to submit stories about their biggest holiday meal disasters, with the winners (pick more than one) getting a free family dinner at your place. Circulate a news release to the media with an invitation to come to your location the night the winners will be there. For a terrific resource on how to attract media attention with contests, get Joan Stewart’s Special Report #18: Clever Contests That Will Tempt Reporters to Call at: www.get-free-publicity.com/ at www.get-free-publicity.com/publicityhound.html. Controversy Again, it’s conventional wisdom in the news business that “heat sells better than light.” In other words, controversy gets nearly everyone’s attention. “Conspiracy Theory” As the guardians of the common good, news people are always on the lookout for scams, con games, and “conspiracies” aimed at the public. If you can make even a relatively reasonable case that somebody’s out to take advantage of somebody else, you’ll probably be able to get the media’s attention…especially if it’s somebody “big” trying to stick it to somebody “small.” David vs. Goliath Everyone roots for the underdog, so stories of this sort are a “gimme.” There doesn’t even have to be an element of conflict — as long as you show how the “little guy,” working alone or with minimal resources, has accomplished something the “big guys” with lots of money and power couldn’t figure out how to do. Environment Clean air, clean water, preserving and protecting natural resources and the overall health of Mother Earth. This one is fairly obvious. Fighting City Hall We’ve also heard the phrase, “You can’t fight City Hall.” But some people try, and some even succeed. They make interesting stories. Again though, the fight has to have some basis in reality. There are a lot of kooks running around making all sorts of bizarre claims about their government, and they love to share their fantasies with folks in the media. So if you’re going to use this approach, be prepared to demonstrate you’re not just a crackpot. - 213 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Follow-Ups Everyone likes “where are they now” stories, right? That’s one type of “follow-up,” but there are several others. Basically, a follow-up is a technique of adding new information to something that’s already been in the news. For instance, if some people in your area lost their homes due to flooding, the local newspaper might want to do a follow-up story a few months later telling how those people have been managing. “God & Country” Many people are religious and patriotic. Anything that touches on these subjects tends to get attention. But because they’re such emotional issues, you really have to be careful how you use them when approaching the media. Don’t be crass. Health and Medical Issues Almost every TV newscast and almost every newspaper does at least one story related to health and medicine every day. Holiday Tie-Ins Stories about firecracker safety on the Fourth of July, how to bake a better Thanksgiving turkey, gift shopping at Christmas time, etc. Human Interest The greatest teachers of all time have taught their lessons through stories, anecdotes, examples, and even parables. And you’ll start getting loads of free publicity from the media if you understand that they’re really in the storytelling business. Kids & Animals We’ve all heard that “cute kids and talking dogs are a tough act to follow.” Pets and kids are inherently interesting to people. Local Angle Offer a local twist on a national story. If you see something on The Today Show that touches on your area of expertise, send a quick news release to the NBC affiliate in your town and offer them a “local angle” on the story. Lost Opportunities These are stories that tell people they’re missing out on something. People like to learn about anything that makes life more convenient, interesting, rewarding, financially secure etc. Milestones, Firsts, and Record Breaking Events These are so obvious that we don’t need to do anything other than mention them. Money and Financial or “Pocketbook” Issues Another “gimme,” like environment, health, human-interest stories, and milestones. - 214 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Myth-Busting Information that debunks a myth or flies in the face of conventional wisdom will raise eyebrows — and get attention. When you can get talk show hosts and reporters to say, “Wow. I had no idea…” they’ll be standing in line to tell your story. Polls and Surveys Conduct a survey among your customers, and offer the results to the media. Even surveys asking basic questions like “What’s the number one reason you’ll stop patronizing a restaurant?” can turn into a filler story on a slow news day. Write and circulate a news release detailing the results. Technology Got a great new gizmo that will help speed up service or make life more convenient for your customers? Let the local media know about it and offer to show them how it works. Example: when some restaurants started taking to-go orders by e-mail. Because you’re in the business, some technological changes may seem basic and everyday to you, but they have a “gee whiz” quality to consumers and reporters. So it’s often worth a news release to your local media. Tip Lists David Letterman made the idea of a “Top Ten” list famous, and you can get attention by offering the media some lists of your own. Unlike Letterman they don’t have to be funny, but they should be interesting, relevant, timely, and if possible, attention-grabbing. For instance, a restaurant might offer: “Five Ways To Make �Em Love Turkey Leftovers.” A cleaning company or maid service can provide “Five Reasons Why There Are More Germs In Your Kitchen Than In Your Bathroom.” Travel Lots of people are doing it, especially in summer. Trends or “Signs Of The Times” Stories – These often overlap with stories about new technology. They’re examples of trends and innovations. Vanity A powerful human emotion and therefore a possible source of stories. Anything that helps people look better or feel smarter creates interest. Weather It effects just about everybody, just about every day. Therefore it can be newsworthy. This category would also include seasonal and climate-related stories. “Whoa’s” and “Over the top” stuff If this kind of story didn’t get attention, the circus would have gone out of business long ago. It doesn’t have to be weird, but anything that’s unusual or “eye-popping” will work. - 215 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Caution: Hot Buttons Are Often in the “Eye of the Beholder” Have you ever sat in front of your TV, watching a local newscast, and said to yourself, “I don’t like that news anchor. There’s just something that bothers me”? Most of the time, it has nothing to do with that person’s professional qualifications or congeniality. You just don’t like their looks, their voice, or the way they raise an eyebrow when they say certain words. Or maybe they remind you of a high school classmate you disliked. That’s called a subjective judgment, right? In a sense, that happens with news judgment, too. You may send a news release to one place and it goes in the trash. The same release goes to another place and they nearly trip on themselves trying to get you aired or published. Subjective judgment. Period. Journalists in every medium watch their competition. They’ll debate at length whether a particular story should have been “page one above the fold” or “page two below the fold.” They pick apart each other’s writing styles and fuss over the way someone spent too much time talking about one part of the story and not enough talking about another. It’s all about human nature and subjective judgment. The news business is as much art as science, and therefore, everyone’s opinion is as good as anyone else’s. So don’t waste a lot of time and energy feeling good about the success of one news release or feeling bad about the failure of another. Use the experience to learn anything you think might be useful, and get to work cranking out other releases. Stick as best you can to the principles in this book. Don’t be afraid to take a chance. Don’t sweat bullets over small stuff in your release, and don’t fret about splitting semantic hairs. Most important of all, just keep getting your ideas in front of people. Keep pushing those hot buttons. Success will come. George McKenzie offers a free 7-day mini-course that will show you how to get thousands of dollars worth of free publicity. Go to: www.PublicityGoldmine.com. George has been a radio and TV reporter for more than 30 years. His work has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and ESPN. He's a three-time-winner of the "Best Sportscast In Texas" Award from the Texas Association of Broadcasters." Also see “The Instant Press Release Toolkit” at www.PressReleaseToolkit.com OnlinePressReleases.com offers software that you can install on your own computer to send out press releases to over 28,000 media contacts. The software is called Media Magnet, and while we have never used it, the system does sound tempting. ================================================= - 216 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Letters to the Editor Every major and local paper has a section dedicated to letters from the editor or a column by the editor. Every day the editor needs to fill that spot in the paper with, what else, letters from readers. Why can’t it be you? Most would-be experts never even use this wonderful promotional tool, despite the fact that the letters to the editor section of the paper is one of the most highly read sections. The fastest way to write a letter that gets read and published is to have your letter address a problem in your industry (or even outside your industry) that everyone will be instantly drawn to. If you position it using the following formula, then you’re almost guaranteed to see your name in print: “Your readers should know about this problem/issue/new regulation/change in the law/way of doing business, or else they’re going to [lose more money/get into debt/gain more weight/be taken advantage of/etc.].” Essentially, it’s the old “what’s in it for me” wrapped up in the fear of losing something angle that most editors will instantly gravitate toward. And at the end of it you can write a quick one or two liner about your business, what you do, and how you help people solve the problem or issue. Of course, even if your little blurb at the end gets cut out, you will be seen as the expert or “solutions provider” who will be able to help readers with the problem. Pitch Letters Besides press releases, another and more direct way of getting your story heard is to use a pitch letter. This is nothing more than a letter to the editor that introduces you as an expert who is willing to talk to one of their reporters on an important [read: newsworthy] topic. In the letter you outline the problem or issue and why they should talk to you in such a way that they’d be crazy not to share the information with their readers/viewers. Rather than spend a ton of time on pitch letters, which might not get read, how about we cover how you call up editors and talk to them about your story idea? - 217 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You can call up the editor or shoot them an e-mail and pitch them a story. A simple conversation like: “Hi, this is John Smith of ABC Company and I have a great story idea that I know your readers will enjoy and get a lot out of. I’ll only be a few minutes. Is now a good time to talk?” That’s all it takes to open the door with the key decision maker. Now most editors will want to see an outline of the article, but some will ask you to write up the article and send it on over. Some editors like to work via e-mail, so you have to be ready to send a quick outline to them or you’re going to lose your window of opportunity. After you’ve sent your outline, you’ve got to follow-up with the editor. If an editor doesn’t like your story idea, then just ask them what kind of stories they do like. Maybe you’ll find a way to change the angle of your story or you’ll come up with new ideas that you can pitch to them at a later date. But you can save yourself some time by creating articles that save consumers money, time, effort, reduce stress, and give them “how-to” tips. These are the general themes that most magazines are looking for. Essentially, you must write articles that solve specific problems or give them specific advice on how to improve some area of their life. You’ll have an easier time getting your article accepted into a trade journal versus a national magazine, so make sure you don’t forget to do your homework and find the trade journals that cater your niche. Just make sure you don’t submit your story idea to more than one editor at a time. Editors like exclusivity and want to have the freshest material, and you don’t want them finding out that you’re running the same story in a magazine they’re competing with. You’ll save yourself a lot of time by asking editors if they like your story idea. You can then work with them to tweak the idea and not waste your time writing an article that won’t be accepted. - 218 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! How Long Should Your Articles Be? The length of your articles will vary by publication, but generally you’re going to be looking to write between 800 to 1,200 words per article. The average magazine article is about 800 words, while the average e-zine article works out to about 600 to 700 words, depending on the publication. Why write more words than necessary? Because in the case of magazine editors, they like to edit the article to meet the needs of their readers, so give them something to work with. However, most e-zine editors don’t want to fiddle around with editing your articles, so you might give them a cut down version of your article to begin with and don’t forget to include your resource box with links back to your site. It’s also important to ask if their members are opt-in subscribers, which just means that they’ve agreed to receive correspondence from the editor. Your Articles Page We’ll cover this more when we talk about web sites, but you should post some of your best articles on your web site. You should make it known that you encourage people to use them in their e-zines, just as long as they ask your permission first and include your resource box, which includes your byline and a link back to your site. A Word of Caution While you want as much exposure as possible to build your brand name on the Internet and beyond, just be careful who you allow to publish your articles. You’re trying to establish your credibility and you don’t want some hack out there reprinting your article who sends out nothing more than an e-mail filled with your article and a bunch of ads for questionable products. - 219 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! A Sample Pitch Letter The below pitch letter is not the greatest or most formal, but it’s the one that Fabio used to pitch his article to his local paper. Hello __________< insert editor/contact’s name, Here is a new article for your consideration. I hope you will find “How to Get Out of Debt Without the Stress” to be the perfect article to run in the weekly “Financial Tips” section of your paper. Please feel free to publish the below article along with my resource box and byline. By the way, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Fabio Marciano and I’m the president of The Wealthy Pauper, LLC, a company based out of New York. I’m also a best-selling author and financial freedom coach. I’ve worked with hundreds of people to help get their finances back into shape and I’ve helped quite a few avoid bankruptcy. I think you’ll find me well-qualified to write the below article. If you need any additional information about me, what I do, or about my company, just visit my Media Relations page at: http://www.fabmansecrets.com/media.htm If you should have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call me. My contact information is below. Thank you for the chance to be published in your fine newspaper. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Fabio Marciano President, The Wealthy Pauper, LLC http://www.FabmanSecrets.com [email protected] - 220 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Pitching Yourself to the Media We’ve learned a lot about getting publicity from publicity expert George McKenzie, author of the best-selling Mining Online Gold with an Offline Shovel. Read through his article below to learn a thing or two about how to pitch your story to the media. Avoid Canned Pitches by George McKenzie Since I do several weekly radio talk shows in San Antonio, Texas, I often find myself on the receiving end of pitches from people who want to be a guest on my programs. Most pitches from PR firms are professional and brief...something any talk show producer/host appreciates. But I got one recently from a firm—in New York City, no less— which was a great example of how NOT to pitch. After I answered the call and identified myself, the PR person launched into a non-stop, rapid fire description of the book and the author she represented. I doubt she took a breath for close to a minute. Worst of all, she was obviously reading from a script—and she SOUNDED like she was reading from a script. Fortunately, the book dealt with subject matter that would have little appeal to our show's audience, which is generally made up of seniors. So it was easy for me to say “No thanks.” If you’re an author, a speaker, or just someone trying to get free airtime on radio or TV, here are some rules to follow that increase your chances of success. *Ask if you can have a minute of the person’s time. Most media people work under deadline pressure, and they appreciate someone who knows it. *If possible (and it isn’t always possible), know something about the content of the show you’re pitching. *If you don't know anything about the show you’re pitching, say “I have something here that might be of interest to your audience. Can I tell you a little about it?” - 221 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! *Keep a list of “bullet points” or “talking points” in front of you, but don’t use a script (see above). Keep your pitch down to 30 seconds. *Be gracious if your pitch fails. Ask if your topic might be of interest to someone else at that station, or at another station owned by the same company. Some companies own half-adozen stations in the same city, and the producer will feel comfortable referring you to someone “down the hall.” Above all, remember that in the broadcasting business, the word “NO” does NOT necessarily mean “Never.” It probably just means “Not now.” Circumstances could change at any time, and the same person who turned you down this time around may actually be looking for you someday. Get the Right Person on the Phone Most radio station programs have a lot of dead air time that they have to fill every week, which can be a daunting task week in and week out. Radio producers are the ones who have to fill that radio space with compelling programming. More specifically, talk show radio shows have a TON of extra time on their hands that they have to fill. And if you position yourself as a solution to this problem, then you’ll find yourself with more radio interviews than you can handle. In the TV world you want to get a hold of the assignment editor, not the producer. The assignment editor is the person who filters and sorts through stories and then presents them to the producer or the show. The assignment editor weeds through the press releases and handles all the phone calls from PR agencies and individuals looking to get themselves on the show. The assignment editor in turn passes along the story ideas on to the producer of the show who makes the final call as to whether or not you make it on the show. But getting a hold of that producer or assignment editor might be a difficult task. If you want to get your name in print, then it doesn’t hurt to aim for getting a hold of the reporter who covers the stories and breaking news. They’re reading the same press releases and listening to the police radio, as well and they’re generally more receptive to story ideas because they’ve got a more personal interest in mind when talking to you: making themselves look good. If you position yourself as a resource to the budding journalist, you stand a better chance of getting your sales pitch listened to and getting your name in print. - 222 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! So where do you find the contact names to call? Luckily there are a number of resources at your disposal: Bacon’s Directory Of Publications Burrelle’s Media Directories College Media Directory The Directory of Small Press/Magazine Editors & Publishers Getting on Radio There are thousands upon thousands of radio stations throughout the country. Of course, the stations will vary in size and reach, but it’s important to cut your teeth at the local (smaller) stations before you get your break and find yourself on a major radio station with millions of listeners. How do you get on one? Essentially through press releases and pitch letters. You can also use a PR firm that will help book you on shows, but you can get booked without outside help. Essentially, you just send your press release to the producers of the radio show. The names of all the producers and their contact information is listed in Bacon’s (www.Bacons.com). NOTE from FABIO: A highly recommended resource for information on radio and getting on radio shows is Alex Caroll. I met Alex at a recent seminar and the information he shared was simply amazing. He’s got this resource directory of all the stations in the US and the contact names and which shows you should go on and which you should wait to get on. If you’re serious about getting on radio, it’s a must-have resource. Getting on TV You’re not likely to get a TV appearance, but it’s worth a shot. Just like with radio and the newspapers, you’ve got to get through the producer of the show to get on. You do this by looking them up in Bacon’s (www.Bacons.com) and calling them up on the phone. Be brief and to the point. Pitch who you are and your story and why you would make the perfect guest for the show. If they’re interested, they’ll probably ask to see a media kit and/or other materials about who you are and why they should put you on air. If you want to get on Oprah, then you have to check out Rick Frishman’s tape set, “How to Get on Oprah.” Rick’s an industry veteran and PR guru who’s booked all the top names on radio and TV shows. He’s even written a great book on publicity that you’ve got to check out: Guerrilla Publicity - 223 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Preparing for Radio and TV Interviews While you’ll generally need more preparation to handle radio interviews because they’re typically longer than TV interviews (unless you land a spot on a talk show), we decided to handle the preparation part together for both radio and TV. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare You need to run through your interview and your answers to the questions until you have the “spiel” down pat. How do you know what questions will be asked? Easy, you give them to the producer or radio personality. Most producers are too busy to come up with questions on their own and will simply hand over the list to the radio personality to use. Avoid “Yes” or “No” Answers You want to be able to elaborate on topics and want to get the message that you’re an expert in the field across to the listeners or viewers. So try to add some depth to the conversation if the interviewer is simply asking questions that are typically asked that elicit a “yes” or “no” response. Tell a Story, Be Animated, and Get Excited You’ve got to be passionate and caring, where appropriate. You need to engage the audience and make them realize that the problem or issue you’re discussing is of absolute importance to them and they’d be crazy not to take it seriously, and crazy not to reach out and contact the industry expert (that’s you) for more help. But before they do that, they need to be drawn into the interview, and you do this by telling short stories or examples of clients you’ve helped or stories about what could go wrong if the issue isn’t taken seriously enough. When we say animated and excited, we really mean passionate. You need to convey passion in everything you do or else people just won’t gravitate toward you. That’s why Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy, and Mike Litman are such huge successes. The passion in their voice is absolutely spellbinding. You need to make sure that you’re passionate about what you do and make sure that the passion gets translated into your interviews, along with your writing, speeches, and coaching sessions. Give Your Contact Information Away - 224 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Throughout the interview you’re going to try to establish yourself as an authority by stating some facts and figures and perhaps by describing the number of clients you’ve worked with. You’re also going to have the opportunity to tell the audience your web site address and/or your toll-free number. The interviewer isn’t going to like it if you’re constantly shouting out your web site or contact information, so be discrete. If they love you and you’ve “connected” with them and provided their audience with great information, they’re likely to wrap up the interview with: “Say, you’ve been great today. Where can people go to find out more about you and how you solve their [what you do] problems?” Ahh, the rewards of a job well done! ===================================================================== Top Media Sources By Kelle Campbell www.kcwriter.com Writing attention-getting material is the goal of every communications professional, but distribution plans or channels are essential if you’re going to reach your audience. I recently had the opportunity to research some distribution options, and I’d like to share them with you. 1. Media Directories This is the traditional method of finding media outlets. Directories contain the names and contact information of thousands of editors and producers. The disadvantage is that they are usually published annually, but journalists tend to have a high turnover rate. So your directory may become inaccurate very quickly. Many directory publishers supplement their print publication with CD-ROMs containing updates. Updates can also be provided via e-mail or regular downloads from the vendor’s web site. 2. Online Media Lists and Distribution Services Practitioners are now able create their own media lists from online databases. You can select contacts by beat, circulation, media type, geographical location, etc. - 225 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! These databases are updated very frequently so you’re more likely to be targeting the proper contact. These online vendors often offer an array of additional services. Please note that I found no vendor that offered all the services listed below: * Media list experts to build customized lists * Writing, editing, printing, and assembling press materials * Distribution services * Searchable press release archives * Monitoring and clipping * Translation 3. Software Many of the vendors providing online databases also offer software that lets you access and manage information from the entire database whenever you wish. Some of these are Internet-based while others are on CD-ROM. Vendors offer some or all of the following: * Editor profiles * Editorial calendars * Access to articles written by journalists * Contact tracking and project management features Many software selections also allow you to delegate distribution to the vendors. Usually you complete and send in an order form along with originals of the press materials, and the vendors will handle distribution for you. The high-end of public relations software is automation software, which allows you to manage practically every aspect of your media relations online. Not only can you access databases with detailed profiles of media contacts, this software also helps you manage and track distribution of material and identify future publicity opportunities. - 226 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! In addition to the features mentioned above, this type of software typically includes combinations of tools for the following: * Managing press clips * Recording notes on conversations and correspondence * Reporting and analyzing activities Prices range from $70 for simple media lists to a few thousand for automation software. But that means that there's something for every budget size. If you’re losing precious writing time researching and updating media contacts, investigate these options for yourself. ************************* Links of Interest I’ve assembled a few of the media list sources available. This list is nowhere near comprehensive, and I’m not personally endorsing any of these vendors. However, they are good places to start evaluating your options. Bacon's http://www.bacons.com Bacon's offers print directories, an online database and software. Bulldog Reporter's MediaBase http://www.infocomgroup.com This new service offers media lists that are guaranteed to be accurate. MDS Connect http://www.mdsconnect.com Media Distribution Services provides a database, software and full distribution services. Press Access http://www.pressaccess.com A member of the Lexis-Nexis group, Press Access provides a variety of software (including automation software) for media relations. ===================================================================== Kelle Campbell is a freelance public relations and marketing writer. Visit her web site at http://www.kcwriter.com to learn about her and to see more articles. ===================================================================== Thanks for sharing that with us Kelle. We’d also like to add the following links of interest: PRWEB http://www.PRWeb.com - 227 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Do You Need Help with Your Publicity? Give Rick Frishman a call. He co-wrote the best-selling book, Guerrilla Publicity and he teaches classes frequently for the Learning Annex in NYC. Fabio attended his class and learned a lot of great information. You can too. Visit his site and read more about getting some publicity for yourself: www.RickFrishman.com Now let’s move on to our tenth and final step in how to make you an overnight expert within your niche… - 228 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Step #10 - Learning to Sell Yourself and Promotion, Promotion, Promotion “Without promotion, something terrible happens, NOTHING!” – P.T. Barnum Sales and Marketing. They are the two most important functions of major corporations and they’re the two main areas that you need to focus your efforts on. You need to focus on marketing to bring targeted leads into your business, and you need some selling skills to convert those leads into buyers. Yes, it’s important to have operations that are world class to create great products and you need finance and accounting to make sure things run smoothly, etc., etc., etc. But if you don’t have customers buying the stuff you’re making, your business is DOA. We’re not about to get into a lengthy discussion about the techniques and closing tactics that you need to learn, but we will give you a quick primer. When you’re done reading this section, we highly recommend that you go out and purchase the following two books: How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger The Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource by Jeffrey Gitomer Both are phenomenal books that will help you understand more about the selling process and help you become a better salesperson. In the meantime, let’s get to our primer. - 229 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Selling Isn’t Fun, but It’s Critical Even the macho sales cowboys will have to admit that selling is a difficult job to have. Okay, some salespeople absolutely love selling, but they’re probably not working cold leads and dialing for dollars. They’ve got their network up and running and their customers come to them instead of the other way around. Every expert needs to learn how to sell themselves or else they’re not going to be able to sell their products and services to potential clients. It doesn’t matter if you’ve written the greatest book or you’re the best coach out there, if you can’t sell yourself, you’re going to be making peanuts instead of the big money. This is why financial author Robert Kiyosaki stresses the importance of learning how to sell in his books, tapes, CDs, infomercials, and bootcamps. Keep a List of Common Objections You’re going to get rejected…A LOT, so you might as well get used to it. The reality is that you’re not going to close 100% of your leads, you’re not going to sell everyone a bonus package, you’re going to have people unsubscribe from your newsletter, and so on. Don’t sweat it, but don’t ignore the feedback that’s there, either. Learn from it. You need to start keeping a list of the most common objections that you hear from prospects. Whether it’s “I don’t have the money right now,” or “I’m too busy to do that,” or “I can get that from any book on the shelf,” you need to listen to your prospects’ objections, write them down, and then brainstorm the best way to counter their objections. Take the time to think through the reasons and motives these prospects have for saying no. Then create a one or two line response to each of them. Address their objections in your response and remind them what key benefit(s) they will get from purchasing your product or service. You can then use this information and put it in your sales letter online or in your sales brochures. This way you’re starting to overcome 80% to 90% of the objections you’re going to hear; you’ll see the conversion rate of your sales letter and sales brochures skyrocket. - 230 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! If you’re having problems coming up with good “rebuttals” to your client’s objections, enlist the help of a pro. This could be anyone from your own coach to a top salesperson in your niche or even your mentor. The point is that there’s someone out there who can help you and will be willing to share their secrets for overcoming clients’ objections with you. The two books we recommended earlier will help you tremendously with overcoming key client objections. They will also help you overall with the entire selling process. Just by reading both books cover to cover you’ll become a more effective salesperson. Imagine what will happen when you put the authors’ tactics and strategies into action! Those books again are: How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger The Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource by Jeffrey Gitomer Some Key Elements of Great Selling Just some helpful hints as we wrap up this section. What are Your Prospects’ Key Needs and/or Problems to Solve? – You need to listen to your prospect and understand what their key needs are and what their biggest problems are. Once you know what their major problems are, you need to find a solution to their problems. Be a Problem Solver – We spoke about this in the introductory pages of this e-book and we’re talking about it again. The whole foundation of your infopreneurial empire stands on your ability to solve people’s problems quickly and effectively. Make sure you’re solving your prospects’ problems, or you’re not getting the sale. You Need to Build a Relationship with Your Prospect – People buy stuff from people they like and people they trust. You become a person they want to do business with over time through building a relationship with them, and you establish your credibility through the books you’ve written, your seminars, and your web site. You can do this through personal contact, through your online newsletter, or through your books and CD sets, but you must do this if you’re going to succeed. - 231 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You Need to Handle Their Objections – We touched on this just a few moments ago, but it’s critical. You need to be able to answer all of their objections and make them understand WHY they must purchase your product or service NOW, not at some future date. Ask for the Sale – It’s amazing how many times people will end a call or a meeting with, “Well if you’re interested, give me a call.” Ask for the sale right then and there. Decidedly Online Tactics The information we covered was mainly for offline selling. Now it’s time to turn our attention toward selling online. You’ll find that some of the same tactics, strategies, and techniques that work offline will work online as well. Which is why we always tell our clients to pick up Bettger’s and Gitomer’s books to learn how to sell, then use those skills online. (How many times do you think we can recommend that you pick up those books? Our copies are dog-eared and worn. Yours will soon be as well). Okay, back to online selling…which starts with having a solid list of opt-in prospects (i.e., subscribers). List Building 101 We could have included the information on building your list a lot earlier in this e-book, but we thought it made more sense in this section. We want you to focus on building some quality tools before you go off and try to grow a big list and then…. Right, then what? You have nothing to sell to them. This is not to say that you shouldn’t focus on building your list before you do seminars, it’s just that you shouldn’t make it your sole goal. We’d like you to take the long-term view and do what’s right for your business. Okay, explanation time is over. Let’s talk about… - 232 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Building Your List “If you build it, they will come.” That might have worked for Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams, but it won’t work for you. You to need to help spread the word about your site and why people need to rush on over to it. The Importance of Your List There’s a lot of hype out there right now about how much money you can make on the Internet. The sales pitch usually tells you how you only need to invest a few dollars and a couple hours of work and presto, you have a sales machine that operates 24 hours a day. Well, guess what? Some of those stories are outright fraud, but some of them are 100 percent true. You CAN make money while you sleep thanks to the power of the Internet. With your web site you have a 24-hour salesperson working to handle leads, answer questions, and put you in touch with hungry customers. And how do you begin to capitalize on the hard work, time, and money you’ve spent on your web site? Through the power of converting your list of subscribers to your newsletter into paying customers, that’s how. How profitable can it be? Well, the most famous example is the one that Hall of Fame Infopreneur Robert Allen of No Money Down Fame talks about in his book The One Minute Millionaire. On May 24, 2000, he sent out an offer to his list of about 11,000 subscribers. Robert told them he was trying to make $24,000 in 24 hours and for their help in getting there (by buying his seminar), he would load up the wagon with a few hundred dollars worth of bonuses. Twenty-four hours later he had made over $90,000 from his one little e-mail. Not bad, huh? But we know infopreneurs that are doing this every day of the week. The key is getting that casual visitor or surfer into your sales funnel and you do this by capturing their e-mail address. Then you build your credibility with them through frequent follow-up via an autoresponder that distributes your newsletter or messages to your database of opt-in subscribers. This allows you to turn the subscriber who never bought anything but signed up for your newsletter into a paying customer. And that customer has the ability to turn into a very highly profitable member of your Internet community. - 233 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Lifetime Value of a Customer In short, you’re not there just to sell one little rinky dink e-book to someone. You’re there to provide them with solutions to their problems and offer them your other e-books, your tape sets, your videos, your seminars, and your one-on-one coaching, to name a few items in your arsenal. Over the course of their lifetime, that one customer that bought a $47 e-book has now blossomed into a raving fan who has improved their life and their business as a direct result of the information you have provided them with. In the process, they’ve also spent several thousand dollars with you. This is the process that we’ve seen work for countless others, and now it’s time to work for you. A few paragraphs ago we talked about the importance of your list and now you know what we were talking about. You have the ability to attract subscribers to your opt-in list and turn them into paying customers. These paying customers are going to create a lifetime of passive income streams into your bank account each month. Now that’s truly the way to make money while you sleep! It’s Not the Size of the List that Counts (Seriously) Don’t look for the easy way out when it comes to building your list. A big list is nice and you’ll get there some day, but it’s not critical for making a lot of money online. We’re serious. Hear us out and then decide for yourself. Many people rush out and they buy an e-book or two on how to build a list, or they pay thousands of dollars to a list-building service only to find out that the people on their list aren’t buying anything from them, or worse yet, they could care less about what they have to say. That’s because they haven’t worked to develop a relationship with them before they try to sell them. The prospects don’t trust them and they have no reason to believe what they’re saying. To the prospects, they’re just a glorified salesperson: the kiss of death for the wouldbe expert. So focus on connecting with your subscribers and overdelivering on your promises. The two of us have struggled to learn how to build our lists and we’ve spent thousands of dollars on mailing lists and other promotions that didn’t pan out. Then we struck gold and learned how to build our lists in the fastest, most efficient, and most cost-effective manner possible. - 234 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Take a look at our individual web-sites for some free articles on how you can quickly and efficiently build your list without spending a dime: http://www.CashMoreChecks.com/resources.htm/ We really encourage you to head on over to the site and check out the articles if you’re interested in learning more about building your list the right way. The right way allows you to create a highly profitable list for yourself….and not just a bunch of names in some database. You can also download a free copy of Ewen’s Explosive Opt-In Profits here. Note from Fabio: Ewen’s Explosive Opt-In Profits is the report that helped me first develop a plan to turbocharge my list and profit from it. It’s worth the read, big time! Hit them Hard and Often Frequency of your message is important. It’s been said that you need to hit your target with your message at least seven to nine times before they listen and respond to you (hopefully in a positive manner)! “Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting.” – Christopher Morley, Novelist, Journalist, Poet You have to get the message out to them, and the good news about niche marketing and establishing yourself as an expert in a highly focused market is that you don’t have to waste thousands of dollars. The easiest way to automate your contact with your subscribers is through the use of a series or carefully scripted messages. Those messages are delivered via an autoresponder. Autoresponders Once you get your site up and running (and your list is growing), the number of emails and requests for information will grow exponentially. Especially if you’re handing out your website address at every opportunity possible. In short, you’re going to need a little help handling all the requests for information and sending out your newsletter to thousands of subscribers. Just managing your email alone will become a full-time job. You need help…fast! That help will come to you in the form of an autoresponder which will help manage daily chores like sending out welcome messages to your new subscribers, confirming orders and handling frequently asked questions. Having an autoresponder system frees you - 235 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! up from the tedious chores that can suck your free time away and keep you from developing new products and coaching clients. Autoresponders aren’t complicated. In fact, you’ve already seen the benefits of them if you’ve ever signed up for a newsletter online. The confirmation note you received or first issue came to you compliments of an autoresponder. So how do they work? Let’s give you the most common examples of how they’re used. Newsletter Signup A visitor to your site likes the content on your site and decides to signup for your FREE newsletter (especially since they like the FREE gift that’s mentioned), so they enter their name and email address into a form and click the “submit” button. The HTML script your webmaster put on your site submits the information to your autoresponder service and the autoresponder service stores the information and automatically sends out the confirmation message you set up to handle subscription requests. In this case [email protected] is the email address that handles requests to be subscribed to your newsletter. Moments later they receive that message from your autoresponder that welcomes them to your newsletter and provides them with a link to download their FREE gift. The whole process is automated and you don’t have to do anything once the HTML code is set up on your site and the autoresponder is set up. And once that person’s email address is captured on your autoresponder list, you can quickly and efficiently send them new issues of your newsletter, announcements of new products and services that you have created. Request for More Information If you’re following my advice to write lots of articles with your resource box included at the bottom, you can have a line in the resource box that says “if you would like more information about such and such topic, just send a blank email to: [email protected]. You setup an autoresponder to send out an additional article or two and let the reader know that you’ve automatically signed them up for your monthly newsletter. Now you’ve got someone into your prospects list who didn’t even have to visit your site. Pretty powerful stuff! - 236 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! In fact, you can setup a number of different autoresponders to handle a myriad of requests and questions that your web-site visitors might have. Everything from sales literature, article requests, frequently asked questions, new product announcements, and report requests. All can be set up on separate autoresponders. For more help on how to explode your e-mail campaigns, check out Corey Rudl’s The Insider Secrets to E-mail Marketing- Advanced Series" eBook. It’s a 433-page printable eBook that’s literally an A-to-Z guide, crammed full of step-by-step instructions, examples, and case studies of absolutely everything you need to know to explode your e-mail campaigns. It will help you grow a super-responsive opt-in list…FAST! This e-book will help you with everything from generating the highest possible revenue from every e-mail you send, to protecting your business from being wrongly accused of spamming and knowing how to effectively deal with it if you are and explain when you should mail, how you should mail, what you should write, and when you should send it so that you are guaranteed the best possible results from each and every e-mail. It’s an AMAZING resource to have! Okay, so you get Corey’s The Insider Secrets to E-mail Marketing- Advanced Series" eBook and you’re ready to do some promoting, but how do you get your hands on one of these super-duper-automating devices? You have 3 main choices. Your Web Host Depending on who you sign up with, your hosting company will sometimes provide you with an autoresponder. This might be a good option if you have a small list and want to get your feet wet by dealing with only one system. Unfortunately, most hosting companies only allow you 1 or 2 autoresponders and they usually limit the number of people you can send messages to. One of the hosting companies we originally used limited us to 1,000 subscribers. Obviously you’re going to blow past that number in a matter of weeks, so you’re going to have to look for other options. A great option is Third Sphere. They’ve got great packages and you can host a number of sites for the great same low price and you get unlimited autoresponders. - 237 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Free Autoresponders There are free autoresponders like GetResponse.com that will allow you to use their system if you allow them to include rotating ads that will appear at the top or bottom of your messages. This might be a good option if you’re strapped for cash and on a budget, but we highly recommend you stay away from free autoresponders. Their systems might not be advanced enough to meet your requirements and let’s be honest with each other. You’re trying to project a professional image. Do you really want an ad for “Sparky’s Discount Hosting” showing up at the end of your newsletters? We didn’t think so. Let’s learn about your last option. Paid Autoresponder Services You can also pay money to get your hands on an autoresponder system that doesn’t throw in ads every time you send out messages to your subscribers. Unfortunately the cost of autoresponder services can be quite expensive. Expect to pay around $20 to $24 a month for a quality autoresponder service. The one system that offers a one-time only charge is AutoResponsePlus, which lets you buy the system for $99 and that’s it. More on this system in a second. Having a paid service allows you to send out unlimited messages and set up numerous autoresponders that can handle requests for different products, questions, and practically anything else you want to keep separate autoresponders for. Just note that most autoresponders will increase your monthly price after you reach 10,000 subscribers. Hopefully by that point you’ll have turned quite a few of your subscribers into paying customers so that they will pay for the entire cost of your autoresponder service each month. Some autoresponder services to look into: www.AutoresponsePlus.com www.GetResponse.com www.Aweber.com - 238 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Setting Them Up Most autoresponder sites have tutorials that will walk you through the setup process. Those that are housed on the autoresponder servers are usually easy to navigate and manage. One word of caution: back up your database frequently. You don’t want to lose your list if the company goes under, bars you from using their service because of spam complaints, or any other calamity that can happen. If you go with something like Autoresponseplus which is a great piece of software that sits on your server, you can pay a little extra to have your webmaster install it or their support team will contract out the installation for you. Total cost for the software will run you around $100 and to install it, you can either have a tech-savvy friend help you or pay $50 to $100 to have someone install it for you. I use Autoresponseplus, despite the fact that my host has free autoresponders. I’m just used to the system, it’s worked great for me and it was a cheap investment. The only downside is that you’ll need a separate license for each domain you host if you want the software to reside on more than one domain. That’s a fancy way of saying that if you have multiple sites (and I hope you do, one for each of your many products), you will need to buy multiple licenses to have an autoresponder address with your domain’s name. For example, to have: [email protected] [email protected] I would have to buy two licenses. I hope that makes sense. If not, drop me a line at [email protected]. Web Design Software I don’t want to get too deep into the whole designing of web-sites, because I want to stick to the basics of creating infoproducts, not the nitty gritty of HTML. If you want to learn more about designing web-sites, I recommend getting your hands on The Genius Guide to Web Design. It will tell you everything you need from start to finish on creating web sites by yourself. - 239 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The advice we’re going to give you regarding web design software might not be popular with other infopreneurs out there, but it’s worked for us and it works for Tom Antion. He’s the infopreneur who’s currently making around $50,000 per MONTH from his rinky dink, crappy web-sites. Those are his words, not mine. You see, there are a lot of different software programs that you can use to actually design and create your web-sites. The most highly recommended software (and the one my designer uses) is Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver rocks and it’s easy to use. You can create “pure” code with it and so on, but I’ll stick with Microsoft Frontpage. Yes, Frontpage code isn’t pure and it adds extra lines of code to your web pages and the pages load a microsecond slower, but who cares. It’s easy to use and get this, it came FREE with my company’s purchase of Microsoft XP. How’s that for a bargain. � If you’re not that fortunate to have XP, then see if you can locate a copy of Frontpage Express which is a free program, but doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of the standard version of Frontpage. If you want to try something new and go the free route, you can always checkout www.Download.com and see what HTML and web-site development software they have for free. My recommendation is to go with Frontpage or make the investment in Dreamweaver. Either will do. So the question should be in your head: how can Fabio be serious about making money on the Internet and not really care what kind of software he uses? Wouldn’t he invest in Dreamweaver and make sure his web-sites are fancy and pretty? Nope. Fabio wants ugly sites. Check that. Fabio wants ugly sites that make money. Simplicity Sells If you take anything away from this section of the manual, it should be: SIMPLICITY SELLS!!! I learned this the hard way after trying to design pretty sites; with all the bells and whistles and I found out that people just don’t care! After reading Killer Mini Sites, you’ll realize that you don’t need the fancy stuff; you just have to stick to the basics to make a ton of money! - 240 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Your mini sites should be nothing more than a well-written and well-tested sales letter. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on site design to make thousands of dollars in sales. Simple Sites = Big Profits! Look at all the big names in the business – Yanik Silver, Marlon Sanders, Armand Morin, and even Corey Rudl (his product sites) – and you’ll see that they’re very simple and straightforward. They don’t use Flash technology and they don’t do anything that would distract you from the main objective of their sites: getting you to buy something. In Closing, Spend a Little to Learn A Lot I know we’ve covered a lot of ground during this step and we’re about to cover a lot more during the next mini-step of Developing Traffic Builders, but if you have the right resources, it’s not hard to learn how to create killer mini sites and autoresponder series that will help you sell those products you’ve worked so hard on creating. The below four resources are must-haves in our minds because they’ve helped us so much in developing our selling systems. We’ve always operated from the mindset that it’s smart to spend a little money and invest in learning something once that will pay off the rest of our lives. We hope you’ll agree. * Recommended Resources * ThirdSphere Hosting Killer Mini Sites Genius Guide to Web Design AutoResponsePlus These next two offer some of the best emails and autoresponder series that the pros have used to sell millions of dollars worth of products. Yanik Silver got the big name gurus to send him all their best emails and he packaged them into two must-have products. Now you don’t have to go searching for e-zine courses or autoresponder emails that work. - 241 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! You can just swipe them from the pros: Autoresponder Magic Million Dollar Emails Incentives to Join If someone is going to give you their e-mail address, they’re going to want something of value immediately in return. Free e-Books Seth Godin, author of Unleasing the Ideavirus, unleashed his own virus through the launch of this little e-book. He gave it away on his site and hundreds of thousands of copies were downloaded. You read that right. Hundred of thousands of copies. He collected all the e-mails and shortly after the launch of the e-book, he did a small production run of the print version and sold them for $40 a pop. Very savvy. But back to you. We’re not saying that you should give away free e-books with the intention of turning them into physical books, although you can. What we’re getting at is that people love free stuff, and if you’re giving them something that has a high perceived value, somewhere between $9.97 and $47 for an e-book, you’ll get a lot of people to give you their email addresses. Free Chapters from Your Books and eBooks This is a great way to get a casual reader to check out the material in your book. You can have them access the information either by downloading the sample, viewing it in a separate web page, or filling out a request to have the information sent to them. Free e-Courses We love free e-courses. You get to spread out your messages over the course of seven to 14 days or longer and you get to put yourself in front of a potential buyer multiple times. And you probably know that you need to get yourself in front of a prospect seven or eight times before they will become interested in what you have to offer, or just plain pay attention to you because of all the “noise” in the marketplace. By noise we mean the total bombardment of advertising messages that people are hit with every day. - 242 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! An e-course lets you cut through the clutter and deliver value to your prospects. More importantly, you can put little ads for your products and services at the end of the lessons you’re sending out. If you don’t have an e-course yet, then you MUST create one. Subscribers love them, and your bank account will love them too, once you start ringing up some sales of your products or affiliate products as a direct result of your messages that are inside your e-courses. How To Create an e-Course Let’s not waste any time. Here are the steps. We’re not going to elaborate because we feel it’s self-explanatory. • • • • • • • Create a Killer Title for Your e-course: Should describe a benefit or simple steps to solve a problem. Map out an outline of the course over the next couple of days or weeks. Write or compile the articles and information that will go into each new lesson. Add in an advertisement at the bottom of every message or, at minimum, include a signature file that points people back to your site. Load up the messages to an autoresponder sequence. Test the sequence by subscribing to the e-course. Post it to your site and advertise it in your articles and on forums when you’re ready. Just remember not to SPAM folks! Search Engines The two of us outsource most of our web site design and maintenance. Therefore, it would be silly to pass ourselves off as experts in the area of site optimization (I mean how many niches do you think we can occupy???). So we turn to one of the best experts around for a little help: Shelley Lowery. - 243 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Steps To Optimizing Your HTML Codes by Shelley Lowery Your key to success in online marketing and promotion is your web site. From your title, keywords, meta tags, and text, to your overall site design, each plays a very important role when optimizing your site. If your site doesn’t rank in the top ten or 20 when doing a keyword search at the top search engines, your target audience won't be able to find you. About eighty percent of all web site traffic originates from the eight major search engines. Most people will go to a search engine, type in a keyword or keyword phrase and look through the top ten to 20 results. Most of the time they’ll find what they’re looking for in the first ten results. The percentage of click throughs are even smaller. Listing near the top and grabbing the attention of your target audience is the top priority. There are many components of your web page that you should pay close attention to when preparing it for listing in a search engine. The first step towards improving your listing is selecting the best keywords and keyword phrases that best reflect your web page. Keywords are the foundation of your web presence in the search engines. * Keywords To help you choose effective keywords and keyword phrases, there are two important steps. First of all, get a Thesaurus and investigate synonyms for your original keywords. Write these words down on a sheet of paper. Next, perform your keyword and keyword phrase search at the major engines. Pay close attention to the web sites that rank one through ten. View the source code of these pages. Pay close attention to their placement of keywords in their headers and tags. * Tags Tags are HTML code that enable the search engines to determine what keywords are relevant to this specific site. The META “description” tag will contain a description of your site. Make sure your description contains some of your relevant keywords. The META “keywords” tag will contain a listing of your keywords and keyword phrases that are relevant to your site and enable a search engine to find you. Example: “Top Professional Pet Groomers” name=DESCRIPTION - 244 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! * Text Not only are the html tags an important part of optimization, but it is almost just as important to add plenty of text to your pages. Your text should contain each of your keywords used in different variations. I.E., If your keywords are “free,” “promotion,” “marketing,” and “advertising,” your text might say something like this: “Promotion, Marketing and Advertising are the key to your success. We offer many promotional resources, including Free marketing articles, classified advertising, and free promotion.” Optimization will be your solution to winning the search engine wars. About the Author ===================================================================== Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source – Your Guide to Professional Web Site Design and Development. Join The Syndicator, our new free article syndication program and display complete articles w/photographs on your web site that are automatically updated each week. http://www.web-source.net ===================================================================== Looking to Turbocharge Your Search Engine Traffic & Ranking? Our friend Marc Harty is one of the leading experts in search engine optimization and driving traffic to web-sites through search engines. His Strategic Traffic course is simply amazing. Marc knows way too much about search engine traffic and if you want to optimize your websites and get a boatload of traffic to your sites from search engines like Google, then Marc’s site and course is worth the look. PPC Campaigns We’re just testing our own PPC programs for the first time this year, so we’re far from pros, but you MUST get up to speed quickly on this valuable tool. We turned to our friends at www.SelfPromotion.com for some help with PPCs. Enjoy! - 245 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! How to Pay for Clicks and Not Pay Too Much! By Robert Woodhead While many users will be satisfied with getting free clickthroughs from the search engines, for some people (myself included), it pays to pay for traffic. There are many sources of paid traffic on the Internet, including banner ads, newsletter sponsorships, and so on, but this article is devoted to three of the most “search-engine”ish sources: Google Adwords Select, and Overture (formerly Goto.com). I also comment on the new DirectHit sponsored listings and the many Overture clones – and the latest and potentially most revolutionary entry into this arena, Sponsored Links on Yahoo. Overture Overture.com (formerly Goto.com) is simply a search engine where you can bid for the top positions for various search keywords. It cuts through all the “search engine position” baloney, and simply says “put your money where your mouth is.” The big news recently with Overture is their partnership with Yahoo which puts the top three Overture results for a keyword near the top of the page in Yahoo search results (positions four and five appear at the bottom of the page, and lower positions sometimes appear on subsequent pages). This will no doubt increase the traffic you get from them, but the usual positioning rules (see below) still apply. Overture was originally the best deal on the net for paid clicks, but changes implemented by Overture have significantly reduced their value, and you now have to be much more selective in your use of their service. Overture now charges a set up fee of $50 (applied against your charges, so you get it back), a minimum monthly fee of $20, and a minimum bid amount of $0.10 per click. Overture has developed a pattern of increasing their minimum bid amount. I personally have no problems with the minimum monthly fee; if you’re not spending more than $20 on Overture, you’re probably not using it to your best advantage. It’s the minimum bid that I find very shortsighted. I bid on hundreds of terms on Overture, and many of them are not worth ten cents. In particular, there are several very general, very high-traffic search terms that generate a lot of clicks for me, even though my bid is only a cent or two, and even though my bid position is very low (in the 15-20 range). Twenty to twenty-five percent of my Overture bill every month is a result of those bids. Overture’s major search engine partners only show the top two or three listings from Overture, so my low bids will never appear on them—only on the main Overture site. Under the new policy, I’d have to remove all of those high-traffic, low-cost search term bids (current accounts are grandfathered, but the latest increase raises even the old bids to at least five cents). That’s a total loss of income to Overture—even a penny or two is better than nothing. - 246 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! If Overture is raising the minimum bid in order to satisfy their partners—which I have nothing against, by the way, because any search term for which I'd want to be in the top five bids is going to be worth more than a few pennies—then the correct way to do it is to simply require that the top three or five bids must be ten cents or more. That way the partners get their money, the advertisers can still place low-cost, low-position bids on popular keywords, and Overture optimizes their income. But currently, Overture isn’t doing this, so my advice on how to use them has to be based on their current rate structure, which is getting more and more advertiser unfriendly as time goes on. Overall, I find Overture to be reasonably effective. For every $1 I spent with them, I typically got $3 in contributions from new users. Under their new pricing system (in particular as revised in the spring of 2003), I don’t expect it to be that good, but still worthwhile. In the early days, before there was much competition for keywords, it was more like 10 to 15:1! Compared to banner ads, Overture tends to deliver much more targeted and valuable clickthroughs. That said, given the recent rate changes, as well as the $20 a month minimum, I cannot advise that you deal with pay-per-click at Overture. My advice is that your first stop should be at Google Adwords (see bottom of the page for more). You’ll spend less money, and be able to get a better (and cheaper) education in what works for you. If Google Adwords makes you money, then consider getting an Overture account. Overture now has several Full Service Plans designed to help you get started. A price of $99 or $199 gets you $50 worth of clicks, plus some hand-holding (the more you pay, the more you get) to help you determine what keywords to target. Of course, if you've read my page about keyword selection, you can save yourself $49 to $149. Send half to me (grin)! How to use Overture Rule #1: Three to four word keywords attract buyers; one to two word keywords attract browsers. As much as possible, you want to target and bid on specific phrases. The more specific the phrase, the more likely it is that a click will convert into a sale. As I love to say, “It isn’t the number of clicks you get, but the number of sales you make!” And this is particularly true when you're paying by the click. I should give credit where credit is due: I came across this insight during my regular perusal of WebMasterWorld. It’s a must-read if you’re serious about web promotion. Rule #2: don't be obsessed with getting the number one position on the search returns. It often isn’t worth it. My rule of thumb is that the more specific the keyword, the higher I want to rank. For very specific keywords I want to be in the top three, because then I’ll appear in Overture partner sites like Yahoo. But for general, nonspecific keywords, I believe that positions eight to ten are more cost effective, because the first few listings will tend to “filter” the clickthroughs you get. After all, the more other listings the visitor passes - 247 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! up before getting to yours and then clicking on it, the more likely he is going to be interested in what your site is about. See rules #3 and #4 for amplifications on this. Rule #3: monitor the effectiveness of your clickthroughs. You can have each of your search terms click through to a different URL if you want, and you can use this to track what search terms are actually generating income for you. Some search terms are worth only a few pennies, others might generate a dollar or more in income per click. Bid accordingly. Overture has a basic tutorial that demonstrates a couple of ways of making it easier to track the results of your search terms. Under the new pricing system, it is imperative that you only bid on search terms that are specifically focused on your product or service. The more specific the keyword, the better it is likely to convert into a sale. Since you now have to pay at least $0.10 for a click, it is usually no longer worthwhile sponsoring general keywords. Do the research to figure out what specific search terms apply to you (read my preparing your pages for the search engines article for tips on how to do this; in particular, use the WordTracker service). If you’re a current Overture user who is grandfathered, plan now on what search terms you’ll cancel when those terms start costing you five cents. Typically, you'll be getting rid of the low-cost, low-position, high-volume bids, but the only way to know for sure which bids are cost effective for you is to track your conversion results for each search term you're bidding on. If you’re not doing this now, you should be. Rule #4: If you are bidding on a keyword that isn’t the prime focus of your site, my advice is, at first, simply bid enough to get on the first page of search returns. Later, once you know how much those clickthroughs are worth, you can raise your bid to get more clickthroughs. But note that often, the higher up on the page your link appears, the less valuable it becomes (because of the filter effect). Now that you have to pay at least ten cents, you have to be much more picky about even thinking of sponsoring a general keyword! For example, if you search for “yahoo” on Overture, you'll find that I have a link to my Yahoo tips page. I used to be bidding enough to get position three, but found that dropping my bid to a mere two cents (position six at the time, now often not appearing since Overture’s stopped showing the low bids) only slightly reduced the number of clickthroughs but increased the number of visitors who ended up being contributors—the filter effect in action. Even so, before the first round of price rises, I was considering dropping my bid to one cent, because the keyword isn’t closely focused on what my site does, so my conversion rate from visitors to paying customers is much lower on this keyword than, for example, “register web site.” When Overture forces me to pay a nickel for this term, I'll not be bidding on it and Overture will be kissing $20 a month good-bye. - 248 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Rule #5: Consider bidding for one of the first three positions, but only on very specific, very focused search terms that are directly relevant to your site, but only if they are cheap. Overture is now providing paid search listings for Yahoo!, America Online, Netscape Search, Lycos, Hotbot and Altavista—but only the top listings will appear. Overture search results also appear on many of the major metasearch sites. This promises to generate a large amount of traffic, but because each of these sites differs in how many Overture listings they display on their first page of results, the “let the top positions act as a filter” advice may not be the best approach because it means you won’t appear on the other search engines, many of which get a LOT more traffic than the main Overture site. My gut feeling here is that if you’re currently in the number four to six position for a very specific search term on Overture, and you can bump yourself to position three for less than a twenty-five to thrity percent jump in your bid, it’s probably worth doing. But here’s an important caveat; if you get outbid and drop to position four, then you probably should reduce your bid to put yourself back into the position six to eight range. Similarly, if you can get a number two position cheaply, go for it. Obviously, you should only do this on search terms that will only be searched for by people who are clearly interested in what you’re offering, and like any other search term, you need to monitor how cost effective it is. You can’t lose a penny on every click and hope to make it up on the volume! Because the new search engines have much more traffic than Overture, less popular variants (and misspellings) of your keywords will become more important. Consider increasing the number of keywords you sponsor to cover the misspellings. Wrapping it up The whole point with pay-per-click is this: if the average visitor to your site generates $0.20 of profit for you (after counting all your costs!), and you can get the visitor for less than $0.20, then you make money. So it’s crucial that you be able to track your visitors and determine how much they are worth to you. For example, I know that the average visitor sent to me from Overture is worth $0.18. My average cost per click is around six cents, so I’m making a nice profit on the investment. The new pricing system means you have to be more careful and monitor your clickthrough conversions more closely. Other Overture-like services There are tons of new services that use the Overture model; in order of traffic they generate, the most popular are FindWhat, Sprinks (sponsored links on About.com), Kanoodle, and Xuppa (formerly Bay9). None of them generate more than a small fraction of the traffic that Overture will, but FindWhat is probably worth looking at; it generates ten times as much traffic as Kanoodle or Xuppa and has been aggressively ramping up traffic recently. If you are spending $50 a month or more with Overture, FindWhat may be worth doing as well (they charge a $25 set up fee). Wondering why some of the sites don’t have links? Read on! Keep in mind that you need to track traffic from each of these search engines seperately, because the “quality” of their clicks varies. While the average visitor from Overture is worth $0.16 to me, the average FindWhat visitor generates only about ten and a half cents in - 249 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! income. Thus, my bids on FindWhat are considerably lower than my equivalent Overture bids. Here are the current overall statistics on clickthroughs I’ve gotten from some of the major pay-per-click engines; as you can plainly see, the quality of some of them is abysmal and they should be avoided. At the present time, I can’t recommend bids of more than one cent on any pay-per-click engines other than Overture and FindWhat—and on Xuppa and NetFlip, I can’t even recommend that! Espotting is a special case, they are a UK-based payper-click engine with relatively low traffic but decent results; you might consider them if your business is international in scope. Espotting is affiliated with Xuppa but generates much better results. Whatever you do, avoid any pay-per-click service that pays surfers to click. The quality of the clicks is very low, and clickfraud is rampant. Site Overture FindWhat Espotting Epilot (*) Kanoodle Sprinks Xuppa (Bay9) NetFlip % of clicks % that send me that create a contribution account 11.36% 0.89% 8.66% 0.61% 11.62% 0.44% 6.66% ? 4.25% 0.20% 8.71% 0.24% 2.18% 0.06% 0.50% ? Average click value (in cents) 16.85 10.68 9.45 ? 4.05 3.92 0.63 ? Note: While Epilot is generating decent account conversion rates, the traffic from this engine is so low (about one click a day) that after two months of sponsored listings, it is impossible to determine a conversion ratio. Finally, some of these services have problems with click-fraud; people running robots to repeatedly click on links so as to drain your account. I have never had a problem with Overture in this regard, they seem to be very on the ball, but I have had some problems with some of the others. If you notice something and complain, you can almost always get a refund, but you have to notice, so keep careful logs of your clickthroughs from these services and scan them for suspicious activity (repeated clicks on the same link, repeated clicks from the same IP address, etc.). In particular, I cannot recommend Kanoodle. I just got hit with a blatant and obvious case of clickfraud, which drained my account of over $40 right after I added more money to it. What is particularly interesting about this case is that it was so blatant and obvious that even the most cursory anti-fraud detection on the part of Kanoodle should have caught it, so clearly they don't have any such thing installed. The fraud was on a keyword where I had a one cent bid and was in a low position! A deeply troubling event, compounded by the fact that Kanoodle took over a week to respond to my inquiry about this event, and then came back with a boilerplate reply that did not address the questions I posed. Other longtime selfpromotion.com users have had problems with Kanoodle. Google's Adword Select - 250 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Adwords Select is Google's entry into the pay-per-click arena, but it is so different—and unique—that it deserves a section all on its own. Adwords Select listings are small text ads that appear to the right of the main Google listings. Google makes it very clear these are advertisments. Like other pay-per-click engines, Google lets you decide how much you want to pay for a click. However, Google doesn’t rank sites by how much they are willing to pay! Instead, they rank them by how much money they generate for Google! Let’s say you have an ad that generates a two percent Clickthrough Ratio (CTR). This means every time Google shows your ad 100 times, on average, two clicks result. And suppose you’re willing to pay 50 cents for each click. The result is that, on average, Google earns one cent per showing (100 showings = 2 clicks = 100 cents of income). Your competitor, on the other hand, is willing to pay 75 cents for a click. However, his ad only generates a one percent CTR, so if Google shows his ad 100 times, he’ll get one click and Google gets 75 cents. In Google’s system, even though you are bidding less than your competitor, your ad will appear in a higher position, because it generates more money for Google. Even better, Google will automatically adjust the amount you pay down to the minimum amount needed to maintain your position. This means that Google’s system rewards those advertisers who can write good ad copy that attracts clicks, and that sponsor relevant keywords. In fact, if your CTR on a keyword drops below 0.5%, Google stops showing your ad. The whole system is very slick, and very much in the Google tradition of doing things very differently from the rest of the search engines. Oh, and did I mention that Google charges a piddling $5 to open an account, and only charges you for your clicks after you get them? Such a deal. As of the current writing (3/1/2003), I've been using Adwords for about a year, and my results have been modest but positive. It isn’t the screaming bargain that Overture used to be (and alas, no longer is!), but it’s making money for me. Also, I very much like the way the advertiser interface helps you optimize keywords and ad copy. If you’re just starting out in pay-per-click, I’d use it to get my feet wet, and then, if you do well, use the knowledge gained from Google Adwords to effectively use Overture. And if you’re already advertising on Overture, you should strongly consider giving them a try. Andrew Goodman has written an excellent report on Adwords that raises some interesting points. It costs $49, but if you are a serious pay-per-click advertiser, it is probably worth the investment. You can find out more about it here. As always, commissions I receive on referrals are donated to charity. DirectHit DirectHit, which supplies search engine results to a lot of indexes and search engines, now has sponsored listings. However, unlike Overture, you bid on a “cost per thousand impressions” basis, with a minimum bid of $5 per thousand. So you pay every time your listing is shown to a visitor, not every time one clicks through to you. - 251 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! My experience with DirectHit has been totally dismal and I do not recommend them at all. The average cost per clickthrough was about $1, that’s 20 times more than the cost of an Overture clickthrough. Avoid them. Yahoo Sponsored Listings Yahoo has just started offering Sponsored Listings for between $25 to $300 a month, depending on category. Five sponsored listings are displayed at the top of category pages (if more than five people buy sponsored listings, they rotate randomly). In order to get a sponsored listing, you must first get a normal listing in Yahoo, then you can apply for a sponsored listing in the category your listing is in. You can’t use this to change your listing title or description, by the way; it just gets you “up top.” Is it worth it? My experience is that Yahoo Sponsored Listings totally suck! Not only are the clickthroughs dismal, but when I applied for a sponsored listing, Yahoo edited my current Yahoo listing and totally trashed it. Talk about adding insult to injury! Even worse, I have been trying to get a response from Yahoo on this, and so far, they haven’t responded, even to my requests to cancel my sponsored listing. Yahoo has also introduced “Most Popular” listings underneath the sponsored listings; so far it is unclear how a site becomes a Most Popular site. Related Sites: Overture has several PPC-related tools that are useful for finding the right keywords to bid on (and not just on Overture, research done there can broadly be used on other PPC engines). PayPerClickSearchEngines.com is a good site that is full of information and links related to pay-per-click search engines. Similarly, PayPerClickAnalyst.com is a well organized site, full of useful reviews of the various pay-pay-click sites. CompareYourClicks.com is a nifty site that lets you see, in real-time, what it will cost to bid for particular keywords on a number of the major pay-per-click search engines. ===================================================================== Robert Woodhead, CEO, AnimEigo www.animeigo.com www.selfpromotion.com The Net's only URL registration SHARESERVICE. A power tool for power webmasters. ===================================================================== That was a pretty thorough look at pay-per-click campaigns. Why did I include them? Because I think and know they’re the next big thing in list-building and advertising for your budding business. - 252 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Perry Marshall’s Google Adwords If you want to know more about the biggest player in the game right now, Google AdWords, then you’re going to want to check out my friend Perry Marshall’s The Definitive Guide to Google Adwords. I met Perry at a recent seminar and he really knows his stuff. He cuts through the hype and gives it to you straight. As we mentioned earlier, this is worth the investment! Discussion Forums, E-zines and Beyond We covered newsletters, e-zines, and online forums earlier in this e-book, so we won’t go into great detail here. These three promotional vehicles, two if you only have an e-zine and not a printed newsletter, are going to be the bread and butter promotional vehicles for Level one and Level two experts. Our suggestion is to learn by watching what others do, what kind of offers they put in their newsletters, and how they post messages in online forums. You can learn a lot by watching the best of the best do what they do, then imitating what they’re doing. SELLING TO YOUR LIST Bounce-Back Catalogs In the pre-information age, gurus would create a mini-catalog of their products and services and send it out to their mailing list. That’s right. They had a physical color catalog that they would print up every year or six months. They’d fire up the label maker and stick labels on the catalogs and then send them out. Most have gotten away from that and you want to know why? You guessed it, the Internet. Now you can have your catalog up and in front of consumers 24/7. You just upload the product information onto your web site, get a shopping cart for your site, and you’re open for business every day, 24 hours a day. But that’s just one way to do it. The more profitable way is to use autoresponders and messages sent in a specific sequence to get your subscribers and freebie seekers and turn them into buyers. - 253 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! The process is so simple that all you have to do is create some copy once (or swipe and tweak copy from some Internet guru you admire), load up your autoresponder with four to 15 or more messages, and you’re done. You just have to monitor your autoresponder and maybe tweak your messages once in a while. Oh, you have to also check your bank account every month to see how much money you’ve made or go to your mailbox to collect the checks. Fun isn’t the word to describe this monthly routine. You’re going to be freaking ecstatic every month when the checks come….all because you took one weekend and locked yourself in a room, wrote a bunch of e-mails and offers, and uploaded them to your autoresponder. MANY, MANY MORE TACTICS YOU CAN USE There are literally thousands of ways that you can sell your products to people. Some of the better known and successful ways are: • • • • • • • Postcards Classified Ads in Newspapers Classified Ads in Magazines Online Classified E-zine Advertising Joint Venture Mailings Free Teleseminars And so on. Keep a constant watchout for ways other marketers are selling themselves and their services. Make it a point to look into one new way to sell yourself every month. If you learn how to feed your funnel with fresh, new quality leads every month, then you’ll have a never-ending flow of new customers that you can transform into lifelong customers. - 254 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Concluding Chapter We thought we’d give you a quick primer on what it takes to build your reputation and your brand. Yes, your goal is to create a brand out of yourself. According to marketing expert Marcia Yudkin: Visibility + Credibility + Word of Mouth = Reputation These are the three areas that you need to concentrate on. Visibility – You gain from having people listen to your speeches, read your books, learn from you through audio tapes and/or bootcamps and seminars. Credibility – This is gained from the testimonials on your site, who you network with, and what big events you’re a part of; your books, newspaper articles, e-books, and seminars also create credibility. Word of Mouth – This is the trickiest and hardest one to manufacture. It’s a combination of how newsworthy, exciting, and relevant your message is and how easy you make it for someone to pass along the information. We urge you again to hop over to Amazon.com and purchase Unleasing the Ideavirus right now and read it cover to cover. It will help you immensely with trying to generate WOM. And now for an awesome article by Renee Kennedy that does a great job of teaching you what a brand is and summarizing most of the steps we took you through in this e-book. - 255 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! How to Brand (Yourself and Your Business) By Renee Kennedy www.thewritemarket.com/marketing/brand.htm This article was really tough to write. My favorite thing to do when writing a “how to article” is to break everything down into sections; nice, neat little piles of organized information. The problem is that branding is more of a holistic technique. Branding has to encompass many elements that all work together to create a meaningful mark in the minds of the buying public. Branding has to be at the root of ALL your marketing efforts. Branding has to emanate out from every pore of your business. In my efforts to organize information, I have broken down branding into seven elements. My suggestion is that you analyze the seven elements and if you feel that you are weak in one element, then follow up with the resources provided. However, at the back of your mind, realize that all the elements must work together to create a business presence. What is a brand? A brand is a mark that you sear into livestock with a hot poker; that mark identifies which animals belong to your ranch. If you’re a marketer, you may have come to think of branding as a mark that you sear into people’s minds and hearts that identify your product, services or company. Elements of your Marketing Plan you can use to create a successful brand: 1. Niche/Target/Positioning: a. What do you know about your Industry? b. Where does your company fit into the Industry? c. How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors? d. Who is your target? e. How does your product satisfy your target's needs? 2. Slogan or Unique Selling Proposition (USP) a. Does your USP deliver one strong BENEFIT to your target? b. Does your USP tell people what You can do for Them? c. Does your USP eliminate the competition? d. Does your USP imply that you are the ONLY solution that your target will need to solve their problems? - 256 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! 3. Logo a. What images or ideas does your logo conjure? b. Does it deliver a clear message? c. Does it deliver a message that is consistent with your USP? 4. Customer Service Policy – Do you have systems in place to handle Customer Service – Issues and Topics might include: - billing and payment services - how you will handle customer complaints - first contact with a customer - how you answer the phone 5. Pricing: a. How does your price compare to your competitors’ prices? b. Are you using pricing to imply quality? c. Are you using pricing to imply cheapest price? 6. Trust and Credibility a. Trust: • secure online shopping • guarantee or warranty • builds a community b. Credibility: • are you looked at as an expert? • do you provide information to your clients freely? (This is a tough issue; you do want to provide some information, but you may need to have limits – you don't want to give away the store.) • the web is a great place to provide information and to make your business look credible. It can start with the little things like a professionally designed web site and move up to providing resources like online manuals that show how to use your products. 7. Marketing Strategies (how you will build awareness of your brand): • Networking • Direct Mail Marketing • Traditional Media Advertising • Training Programs • Become an Expert • Direct Personal Selling • Publicity and Press Releases • Web Site • Internet Advertising Thanks Renee for yet another great article. - 257 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Invest in Yourself Commit yourself to lifelong learning and you will prosper. Jim Rohn says, “Don't ask for things to get better, ask that YOU get better.” Investing in Yourself is about becoming more valuable to yourself. It’s about making a conscious decision to improve your skills and develop the habits that will make you a successful entrepreneur All it takes is one hour a day to become an expert in five years, according to some pretty big names in personal development. We think you can easily do it in half the time. It doesn’t matter how slick your web site is or how nice your canned speech is, you MUST continue to invest in yourself if you’re going to adapt with the changes in your industry. If you don’t invest in your own education, if you don’t attend the latest seminars, if you don’t read the latest books that are getting buzz in your industry, your industry will pass you by. Don’t throw away all your hard work by getting lazy and getting fat off of the reputation you built in the past. You make a living off of the knowledge inside your head and you have to constantly update that knowledge so that you can talk coherently on issues that are happening in the marketplace today. In Fabio’s book, The Secrets of Wealth, he wrote about his Book of the Week Club. That’s right, a book a week, every week for five years. Why did he come up with this? Well, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Napoleon Hill, and Earl Nightingale all speak of the importance of setting aside time in your day to learn. All four have mentioned that an hour is what would help take you to the top. Fabio’s just not sure which one was the first to teach him the idea. (Although he believes it was Jim Rohn who came up with the idea of reading a book a week.) Regardless, it’s a powerful idea that you should think about. How does it work? Glad you asked. The Book a Week Club? Everything you know has gotten you this far in life. What makes you think you’ll be able to go farther down the path to achieving greatness in your niche without learning anything new? Think about it. You may have learned some things from me in the past couple of weeks that will help, but you’re going to have to stay on top of your industry at work in order to outperform your peers. Likewise, you need to stay on top of - 258 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! changes in your industry, new methods of reaching your prospects, and so on. The bottom line is that you have to make learning part of your priorities and part of your life. We suggest you spend an hour per day reading about your industry, whether it’s through ezines, books, or e-books. It’s a big commitment, but the payoff is huge. “The mistake that others make, and that I trust you will never make, is to treat education as a chore instead of a joy; to treat graduation as an end of education rather than as a beginning.” – Arthur Burns It’s Easier Than You Think Before you start complaining, let’s explain how easy it is to put in place. The plan is an outgrowth of a book Fabio read describing Earl Nightingale’s comment that one-hour per day of study in your field of work is all you need to get to the top of your industry within three years. That’s all it takes. You want to know why? Because the majority of people are either too lazy or too busy to read or invest their precious time in learning something new. The whole objective of this e-book is to give you the tools you need to become an expert. Now it’s up to you to use them and put them into practice. But by reading up on your field of work, you ensure that you’re going to know more than 99 percent of the rest of your competitors and that’s a very, very powerful motivation to invest an hour per day in your development. How do you find the time? You make it. - 259 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Use Your Spare Time Wisely – Your time is precious, so invest it wisely. Don’t waste it on watching the TV, playing video games, surfing the Internet, or yapping for hours on the telephone. Invest in Yourself and don’t let temporary setbacks get you down. Learn from your mistakes, rework your approach, and make sure you work that plan of yours. Take action today and let the real you shine through. Either get busy living or get busy dying. Why not do the former and live the life you’ve imagined by becoming the person you daydream about becoming? Start today… “Anything less than a commitment to excellent performance on your part is an unconscious acceptance of mediocrity. It used to be that you needed to be excellent to rise above the competition in your industry. Today, you must be excellent even to keep your job in your industry. By engaging in continuous self-improvement, you can put yourself behind the wheel of your own life. By dedicating yourself to enhancing your earning ability, you will automatically be engaging in the continuous process of personal development. By learning more, you prepare yourself to earn more. You position yourself for tomorrow by developing the knowledge and skills that you need to be a valuable and productive part of our economy, no matter which direction it goes.” - Brian Tracy, Author, Goals! - 260 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! YOUR 30-DAY ACTION PLAN! Thirty Days??? To do all this? Are You Freakin’ Kidding Me? If you’re just starting out on the path to becoming an expert (and becoming a millionaire), then you’re probably sitting there thinking we’re nuts. Sure it’s only ten steps, but there’s so much to do in that time. How the heck can you do this all in 30 days? You can’t. No. We didn’t trick you by coming up with some sexy title and lie to you. What we gave you was EVERYTHING that you could do to get from Point A to Point B. Point A being Nowheresville and Point B being Gurudom (quite a lovely place to be)! What you’re able to accomplish and do all depends on your starting point. If you were starting at the ground floor with no writing experience and no web site and no list, it could be difficult to do everything in 30 days. Actually, you could feasibly finish all the steps except for writing a book in 30 days. You could attend a seminar next week, hook up with a partner, do a teleseminar to their subscribers where you’re the expert on the topic being discussed, and find yourself at a live event giving a presentation to that very audience. Stranger things have happened…but you shouldn’t bank on that kind of instant success. For those of you just starting out, we don’t expect you to write a book in the next 30 days or book your first speaking gig, but it can and has been done by those with the time and money to get it done. But you can craft a plan for the next 30….60….and 90 days that gets you through all the steps, including getting your book written, edited, proofed, and printed. Yes, we’re serious about that. How far you go in the next 30 days all depends on your starting point, your desire, and your persistence. - 261 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! What Level Expert are You? How to read the chart As you learn to master each step in the process of becoming an expert, you move up the “food chain” toward becoming a master expert or guru in the infoproducts business. We suggest you take stock of where you are and what you need to accomplish before moving on to the next step in the process. WARNING: If you skip a step, you’re leaving a hole in your business that might come back to haunt you! Do NOT skip steps. Remember, it doesn’t take long to move through them if you have a Mentor or Coach in your corner. ME Right Now Step # #1 #2 #2 #3 #3 #3 Basic Business Tools Web Site Autoresponders Articles E-zine/Newsletter Joining Affiliates #4 #4 #4 #4 #5 #5 #6 Writing e-Books Writing Books Shopping Carts/Selling Tools Copywriting/Writing Sales Letters Networking/Doing JVs Create Your Own Affiliate Program Coaching Clients #7 #7 #8 #8 Filling Out Your Product Funnel Creating Raving Fans Giving Teleseminars Seminars, Bootcamps & More #9 #10 #10 Level ONE Level TWO Level THREE MASTER Level Media and PR Learning to Sell Yourself Promotion, Promotion, Promotion NOTE: As always, we think #10: Promotion, should be practiced at every level of the food chain. Don’t forget to promote yourself at every opportunity. - 262 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Level One If you’re just starting out, we advise you to concentrate on steps #1 through #3 to start, then once you’ve finished them, move on to the next and work through each step in order. Level Two If you’ve got a site already, an e-zine and you’ve written some articles, then it’s time to take the next step and write an e-book or a physical book. Then it’s time to network like mad and begin coaching clients. Level Three At this stage you’ve got most of the pieces of the puzzle together, but it’s time to create some more products and start doing teleseminars and seminars. In short, it’s time to start making some real money. Master We truly hope you get to this level one day because you’ll have already been making some good money, but it’s time to go big at this stage. Taking that First Step So what does all this mean for you? Well, it’s time to take an honest assessment of where you are and the “holes” you have in your repertoire. Then it’s up to you to stick to the plan of writing that e-book or doing a teleseminar. We’ve laid out the information in as good a format as we could. Now it’s up to you to take that information and run with it. We know it can be overwhelming anytime you try and undertake anything that’s new, but if you stick with it and just work your business one hour a day and you stay focused on one or two tasks until it’s completed, you’re going to be very, very successful in this business. So without further delay, let’s take a look at your action plan… - 263 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! My Action Plan to Become an Overnight Wealthy Celebrity Don’t Even Start Without These Items • Find a Starving Crowd • Is There Money to Be Made? • Determine their Problems and Needs (i.e., Create Your Master List of Problems and Questions) • Choose Your Niche (or make one up) • To Make this Whole Step Easier on You, Get Your Hands on Instant Niche Products Remember the 3-Step Process to Instant Riches • (1) Find a starving crowd • (2) Figure out what they want • (3) Give it to them • What’s Your Twist or Hook? • Do Your Homework – Create a Plan to Read Up on Your Industry 30 to 60 minutes a night #1 - Basic Business Tools • Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) • Your Elevator Speech • Logo • Business Cards • Stationary • Premiums #2 - Your Web Site • Killer Domain Name • Web site Up and Running with a Newsletter Signup Form and Other Basic Pages • Autoresponder System • Can You Accept Payment for Your Services & Products? #3 - Writing Articles and Publishing a Newsletter or E-zine • Five to seven Articles Completed • Send Articles to E-zine Directories (and added to your web site) • Send Query Letters to Other E-zine Publishers to Run Your Articles and Vice Versa • Sign Up for ten Different Newsletters/E-zines • Spend a Weekend Learning How to Use Your Autoresponder • Create and Send Out Your First Newsletter - 264 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! #4 - Writing e-Books and/or Books • Find a Starving Market (You should have already done this) • Pick Your Topic and Create Your Unique Hook • What’s My Sexy Title? • Do Your Research for Your E-book or Book • Get Your Hands on Fabio’s The One Minute Ebook for a “take you by the hand” approach to getting your e-book written virtually overnight • Want to Write a Book? Then You NEED to Check Out Fabio’s Best-Selling e-book: Write It FAST! How to Write a Book in 30 Days...or less! #5 - Networking & Creating a Joint Venture(s) and Creating Your Affiliate Program • Find the Discussion Forums that You Will Post on Daily and Network On • Join Associations, Groups, and Clubs • Get Your Hands on Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty. • Research Who Would Make Great Joint Venture Partners • Send Out E-mails to Potential JV Partners to Gauge Interest • Set Up Your Affiliate Program – Clickbank.com is the Easiest Way • Create Your Mastermind Group/Inner Circle • Remember to Give First, Then Receive #6 - Coaching Clients • Determine Who Your Ideal Client is • Get Yourself a Coach and a Mentor (The two of us will volunteer for the job!) • Create Your Program – Develop Your Outline • Determine Your Fees • Start Promoting Your Coaching Program Everywhere You Go #7 - Creating Additional Infoproducts • Plan Your Back-End – What Products will Fill Your Funnel? • Calculate Your Conversion Ratio – Know the Lifetime Value of Your Customers • Use the Step-by-Step Formula Outlined in Instant Niche Products #7b - Creating Raving Fans • Encourage Them to Share Your Message • Get Some Testimonials to Use in Your Promotions • You Need to Buy and Read Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin and The Anatomy of Buzz : How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing by Emanuel Rosen - 265 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! #8 - Holding Seminars, Tele-seminars, and Bootcamps • Create Your Speech Outline • Create Your Handouts • Get Some Speaking Help if You Need It – Join Toastmasters or Get Your Hands On Instant Speaking Success • Just Get Out and Speak • Sell Your Stuff at the Back-of-the-Room #9 - Media and PR • Create Your Media Kit. • Write three Press Releases for Yourself and Your Business. • Go to www.PrWeb.com and Learn from Your Peers. • Come up with five Possible News Hooks. • Send Out Your Press Releases and Pitch Letters. • Be Persistent. Success Won’t Come Easy, but It’s Worth the Effort! #10 - Learning How to Sell and Promote Yourself • Check Out Yanik Silver’s Must Have e-book: Instant Sales Letters. • Buy and Read the Following 2 Books Cover to Cover: How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger and The Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource by Jeffrey Gitomer • Create Your List of Common Prospect Objections • Learn to Build Your List • Re-Look at the Autoresponder Sequences that You Have • Create Your e-course • Optimize Your Web site for Search Engines • Set Up and Test Your PPC Program #11 – Relax and Enjoy the Fruits (MONEY) of Your Efforts No, we didn’t talk about this step in our e-book, but it’s an important step. You need to set aside some time for vacations, “sanity” days and breaks, and sabbaticals to recharge your batteries. If you follow our ten-step program you’re on your way to earning millions from the knowledge in your head. You should enjoy the fruits of your efforts and live the life you imagined instead of working at your old nine to five full-time job. Don’t forget to enjoy the process along the way, as well. We wish you success in your endeavors toward reaching Personal and Financial Freedom. Thank You for Listening to Us and What We Had to Say! - 266 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Again, we wish you the best in your quest for Financial and Personal Freedom through whatever business you are building for yourself and your family. If you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to drop us a line. We’re anxious to hear from you. “The truth of the matter is that there's nothing you can't accomplish if: (1) (2) (3) (4) You clearly decide what it is that you're absolutely committed to achieving You're willing to take massive action You notice what's working or not You continue to change your approach until you achieve what you want, using whatever life gives you along the way.” - Anthony Robbins Must Have Resource And just to make sure you get the latest information on how to profit from your expert status, make sure you sign up for our FREE Newsletter at: [email protected] Again, we wish you the best in life. The future is wide open and your fate is in your hands. Don’t wait around for things to happen to you…MAKE THINGS HAPPEN FOR YOURSELF!!! All the best, Ewen Chia http://www.InstantMarketingSecrets.com [email protected] Fabio “fabman” Marciano http://www.CashMoreChecks.com [email protected] - 267 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Afterward Have You Become an Expert as a Result of this e-Book? If you’re re-reading this e-book for the second or third time and have used the principles outlined in this e-book to create guru status for yourself, why not share your story with us. We’ll put your case study in the next version of the e-book and you’ll give your business some free exposure from two reputable authors and businessmen. You might even win yourself a free ticket to one of Matt’s many seminars he hosts throughout the country. Mark Victor Hansen of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame is one of the best in class at being able to take an idea and leverage it across a variety of mediums to make cold hard cash. His motto is, "It's not just a book, it's a business.” This should become YOUR MOTTO from this point on. You need to start thinking of your product, your service, and more importantly, your current ideas, and begin to think of ways that you can turn them into a very highly profitable business. Perhaps after reading this e-book you’re thinking that you still don’t know enough to become an expert. Perhaps you didn’t finish the prework in the early pages of this e-book where we wanted you to find your passion and identify your niche. If that’s the case, then why not set this e-book aside and immediately think of your passion and finally identify your niche. Once you’ve identified your niche, then you’re going to begin the process of creating a mega business empire. “A mega business empire? Little old me?” you’re thinking. Yes, you. You have it within yourself to make MEGA MONEY through selling information, products and services. The truth is that once you have enough information or a model or a little success in your life, you have all the material you need to sell a ton of products. Don’t believe us? Turn the page. - 268 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Products You can Sell in as Little as 30 Days from Now… => e-Books => e-Courses => Books => CDs => Audiotapes => Workbooks => DVDs => Videotapes => Coaching and mentor programs => Webcasts and Teleseminars => Speeches and Seminars => Radio shows => Retreats and Bootcamps => Training courses => Television shows => Licensing agreements, and... ...and so on and so on. Our One-on-One Coaching, Joint Ventures, and Beyond…. Once you take the time to establish yourself as an expert and once you put the foundation of your business in place, it’s really easy to grow it. Ewen and I both coach budding infopreneurs to take the next step in the process. We know we’ve given you solid information to help grow your business the right way and the fastest way possible. Should you require any one-on-one help, or you just want to bounce some ideas off of us, or have lucrative jointventure proposals to send us, just drop us a line. We’re here to help you achieve greatness in life. Ewen Chia: [email protected] http://www.InstantMarketingSecrets.com Fabio Marciano: [email protected] http://www.CashMoreChecks.com - 269 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! Resources Used Throughout This e-Book We know we had a ton of resources that were listed throughout this e-book and there’s a reason why we’ve bought so many e-books, gone to so many seminars, and purchased coaching: it speeds up the process of going from where you are to where you want to go. So just to make it easier on you, here’s a list of all the resources that we’ve found invaluable. And we think you will too! #1 - Basic Business Tools • To find out what people are searching for (i.e., how big your niche is), just go to: www.GoodKeyWords.com. • To Find Out What e-Books Are Selling and What’s Not: www.Clickbank.com. • To Find Out What Books Are Selling and What’s Not: www.Amazon.com. • Need a Logo? www.GotLogos.com. • Good Place to Get Your Business Cards Cheap: www.VistaPrint.com. #2 - Your Web Site • Need a Domain? Check out www.GoDaddy.com. • Complete System with Autoresponders, Shopping Carts and More: www.1automationwiz.com. • For more info on blogs, just check out www.Blogger.com. #3 - Writing Articles and Publishing a Newsletter or E-zine • Just go to www.textpad.com and download a free version of their text writing software #4 - Writing e-books and/or books • You can go to http://createpdf.adobe.com to create an Adobe PDF file online • Check out http://www.software995.com for an affordable option to Adobe • And http://www.PDF995.com will convert files into PDFs and much more • The best place for Killer Covers is well, www.KillerCovers.com • Get Your Hands on Fabio’s e-book The One Minute Ebook for a “take you by the hand” approach to getting your e-book written virtually overnight. • Want to Write a Book? Then You NEED to Check Out Fabio’s Best-Selling e-book: Write It FAST! - How to Write a Book in 30 Days…or Less. - 270 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com How to Become an Expert in Your Niche in 30 Days…or Less! From Nobody to a Wealthy Celebrity in Just 30 Days! #5 - Networking & Creating a Joint Venture(s) and Creating Your Affiliate Program • Get Your Hands on Dig Your Well before You're Thirsty : The only networking book you'll ever need. #6 - Coaching Clients • Get Yourself a Coach and a Mentor (The two of us will volunteer for the job!). #7 - Creating Additional Infoproducts • Create Your Infoproducts Funnel By Using the Step-by-Step Formula Outlined in Instant Niche Products. #7b - Creating Raving Fans • Two Awesome Books on How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing for Yourself: Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin and The Anatomy of Buzz : How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing by Emanuel Rosen. #8 - Holding Seminars, Tele-seminars and Bootcamps • Get Some Speaking Help at Instant Speaking Success. • Want to learn how to hold profitable teleseminars? Get your hands on Teleseminar Magic and watch your profits explode! #9 – Media and PR • Go to www.PrWeb.com and Learn from Your Peers on How to Submit Press Releases that Get Picked Up. • Bacon’s Directory Of Publications. • www.PublicityGoldmine.com. • www.PressReleaseToolkit.com. #10 - Learning How to Sell and Promote Yourself • Check Out Yanik Silver’s Must Have e-Book: Instant Sales Letters. • Buy and Read the Following two Books Cover to Cover: How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger and The Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource by Jeffrey Gitomer. - 271 © Ewen Chia & Fabio Marciano – All Rights Reserved http://www.30DayExpert.com
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