Maybe The Super Successful Aren’t as Smart as We Think

Most people who achieve extraordinary success are not extraordinary themselves. We might think they are geniuses, but it turns out they are typically of average intelligence.

What makes the difference, then, if it’s not how smart they are?

Most successful people simply hang in there. There’s no trick or secret formula. It’s a matter of deciding what you want, starting, and then never stopping until you reach your goal.

This explains why nearly all successful people have had several failures.

Countless self-made millionaires have declared bankruptcy multiple times.

Inventors first find tens and hundreds of ways something won’t work until they find the method that will work.

Online marketers will try a dozen things before they find the one that works for them.

Failure is an integral part of becoming successful. You can call it ‘paying your dues’ or getting your education. The bottom line is, if you keep going towards your goal regardless of how many times you stumble, you’ll inevitably be successful.

Successful people also tend to be arrogant. If you think of someone who comes from a background of poverty, and yet declares he will start and run a business that earns him millions of dollars, he’s going to sound arrogant.

Aspiring to do the ‘impossible’ will always make you sound arrogant, at least until you do it. It took arrogant people to figure out how to transmit voices from one place to another, to learn to fly and go to the moon, and to create the first real medical cures.

Everything great that’s ever been accomplished has been done by someone who sounded to others as though they were arrogant.

I imagine the first person to declare they would make a vaccine against influenza viruses sounded arrogant.

Yet now we make flu vaccines against four different viruses every year, and soon that number will be five once they have the vaccine for COVID-19.

Another thing successful people do is learn to use the talents and abilities of other people. It’s rare indeed that anyone has a major success in online marketing without the help of many other people.

Think of yourself launching a product – odds are the information you’re putting into the product is a combination of what you’ve learned from your own experimentation, as well as what you’ve learned from others. You might use writers and tech people to help you put the product together, to create the website, sales pages and emails and so forth. You’ll be using JV partners and affiliates to get the word out, as well as asking your customers to tell others via social media. It’s a team effort.

Lastly, successful people think of themselves almost as gods who are able to direct their lives and make things happen. They never choose the victim mentality, no matter what happens. They know they are in charge of their lives, their futures and their success. This gives them the confidence to make connections, move mountains and get things done.

To sum up, successful people aren’t necessarily geniuses; they’re just tenacious. They don’t mind failing repeatedly to become successful. They can be arrogant in their goal and act like they are a god in directing their own lives. They welcome plenty help from others, too.

And isn’t that the best lesson of all, that no matter what we’re going through, what our goals are and whatever our challenges might be, that we can always turn to others for help.

Irving


See the power of lead magnet funnel

Goodwill Giving during Quarantine Gets Customers | Give Far More than You Usually Do


See the power of lead magnet funnel

During this coronavirus, you might consider taking a two-pronged approach.

First, continue to sell your products and services.

Second, give far more than you usually do.

If you can hold online classes that help people right now and you don’t charge for them, here’s what will likely happen:

Some people will take the classes or watch the videos or whatever it is that you’re doing and feel a little bit better about their situation. You did something good, so be happy with yourself.

For other people, this will be an introduction to you and your work. They will get to know you, like you and join your tribe. They might buy something from you now or they might buy later. But you are expanding your tribe and your customer base which is always a good thing.

Some of those people will tell others. Depending on what you’re offering, it’s entirely possible there could be a viral effect. (Marketing-viral, not virus-viral.)

Your current customers will appreciate what you’re doing and you’ll build more goodwill with them.

And former customers who might still be on your list or your social media platforms can be brought back into your tribe.

The downside? I can’t really think of one, other than this will take you some time and effort to put together. But then again, if you’re stuck in self-isolation, odds are you have plenty of time and perhaps not much else to do.

What kind of content can you offer for free?

That will depend on your niche, of course. Anything that relieves stress and anxiety, such as yoga classes or meditation, is great.

Anything that can show people how to add to their income right now, or to get along better when their entire family is stuck at home, or to distract them from what’s happening is great.

Anything that makes them better in some way, that gives them a new skill or better confidence or new ways of thinking can be awesome.

Think about what you want to give right now, with little thought to what you might get back, and then get busy.

It could be cathartic for you, too.

Irving

How to Make $50 a Click | While You Are Stuck at Home

Make $50 per Click?

It used to be (way back in the day) that you could toss up any old website with junk content, slap on some Google Ads and make money.

People were putting up hundreds of these websites and making bank, until one day, without warning, Google slapped all of these folks back into the stone age.

It seems Google didn’t like the junk content on the sites, and frankly, Google had a good point.

After that, it was a lot harder to make money with Google ads on your site, even with good content. Usually this was because the amount you got paid per ad was just too little to make it worthwhile.

But there are still folks making serious money with this exact model.

And it’s not rocket science, either.

Go to Google ads keyword planner, and find the most expensive words like online colleges, insurance, loans, mortgages and attorneys.

Choose a topic based on how much money you can earn per click. Yes, it probably won’t be a topic you’re excited about, so just get excited about the income.

Now build a website, create content and drive traffic.

Stop rolling your eyes. Yes, there’s work to be done. Building the site? That’s pretty easy. Just hire someone if you need to. Create content? Outsource it if you don’t want to.

Traffic? Okay, that one’s a little trickier. Either get good at SEO, or get good at spending $1 on advertising to make $2 in clicks. There are courses, and right now you’re probably stuck at home anyway. So go learn.

Or if you’re into social media, then go that route.

One more thing – you need to get approved by Google to run their ads, called AdSense. This used to be super easy, but now they’re kinda picky. Don’t apply until you find out the best way. Do your research. It’s not rocket science – you’ve just got to get it right, that’s all.

Having trouble getting Google to say yes? Approach them again after your site has a little history. In the mean time, use one of these to monetize your site:

  • Adbuff
  • AdRecove
  • Adsterra
  • Adversal
  • Amazon Native Shopping Ads
  • Bidvertiser
  • Clickbank
  • Evadav
  • InfoLinks
  • MadAds Media
  • Media.net
  • Monumetric
  • OIO Publisher
  • PopAds
  • PopCash
  • PropellerAds
  • Revcontent
  • SHE Media
  • Skimlinks
  • Sovrn/Commerce (formerly VigLink)
  • ylliX

I probably missed some, but you get the idea.

Recap: Pick a HIGH paying keyword, build a site around that keyword, monetize it with advertising (or affiliate products, if appropriate) and send traffic.

Yes, I know many of you have seen this model before, but are you doing it?

And for those of you who are just getting started with online marketing – you’ve got your plan, now get busy.

Profits? I’m guessing if you don’t dawdle, you can be making money in about 2 weeks or so.

Goal? $100 a day starting in 30 days is a good goal to begin with. Next goal? See if you can ramp it up to $1,000 a day.

You’ll make some mistakes along the way and you might even get frustrated with the whole thing at times. But if you keep going, you’ll get to the day when one click earns you dinner for two, and you’re getting more than just a few clicks every single day.

The key is in picking a HIGH paying keyword.

Need Fast Cash? Do This:

Sell stuff on eBay, Etsy and any other marketplace that works for you.

What can you sell? Anything you can make or get your hands on. You might have some things in storage right now that you can sell. Maybe you order things to sell, or talk to your friends and neighbors, or…

Just put on your thinking cap and don’t forget to use your imagination, because there are literally millions of things you can sell in these marketplaces.

Here’s the key to doing this long term: Create a list of all of your buyers. Bribe them to get on your email list, and then when you have new stuff to sell, you tell them first.

I’ve seen sellers sell out of their items as fast as they list them by building and staying in touch with their list.

Your Enemy’s Enemy is Your Customer

I’m on Vanity Fair’s email list. They send out updates with all their latest posts on politics and the world in general.

Today as I was scrolling through the email, I noticed something interesting at the bottom.

VANITY FAIR

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Third rate Fake reporters,”

“phony and boring” hit pieces

DONALD TRUMP

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Get 1 year for just $15. Plus, receive a free tote.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

This is brilliant.

As you may have observed, Donald Trump is a polarizing person. He has people who love him no matter what he says or does. And then there’s the rest of the world.

They are using Trump’s own words (presumably from a tweet or two) to clearly show which side of the line they stand on.

I’ll bet this is working like gangbusters.

What is polarizing about your niche? If it’s not a famous figure, perhaps it’s a certain philosophy or method. Look for issues where people have strong opinions and find a way to use the opposite side to your own benefit.

Irving

NEWS and Resources | During Coronavirus

Small Business Shuts Doors, Adds Free Joke Hotline

Curious, a whimsical gift and home store on Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach, California, shut its doors temporarily due to the corona virus outbreak.

But to bright people’s days, show owners Andres and Bryce launched joke hotlines on their cellphones, recording one new joke each day.

Andrew Gawdun: 775-450-3723

Bryce Toney: 808-652-0600

They’ve even asked callers to share jokes of their own for the following days to come.

You probably don’t want to use your cell phone for this, but what about your website?

T-Mobile Debuts $15 Plan for Pandemic Relief

Now here’s a business idea for you – offer your products at a steep discount as “pandemic relief” to help those who are feeling the economic pinch. T-Mobile is offering $15 a month cell service. It’s a pretty good guess that once all of this economic turmoil is ending, the price will go up and they will have captured a good share of the market.

https://adage.com/article/digital/t-mobile-debuts-15-plan-carriers-offer-pandemic-relief/2245906

Yale’s “Happiness Class” is Available Online for Free

If you’re stuck at home and feeling blue, you might consider taking an online class. How about one on happiness?

https://fortune.com/2020/03/24/yale-science-of-well-being-free-most-popular-class/

Marketing in a Time of Crisis

Marketers talk frequently about how being agile and flexible helps them capitalize on shifting market dynamics, changing customer demands and competitive threats. But in reality, that’s not what we’re used to doing at all.

https://www.cmswire.com/digital-marketing/marketing-in-a-time-of-crisis/

Imagery of Human Contact Is Down 30% in Social Media Ads

Quarantine culture is already causing drastic shifts in the imagery and copy that brands use to advertise on social media.

https://www.adweek.com/creativity/imagery-of-human-contact-is-down-30-in-social-media-ads/

Using Comedy in Advertising: Who Should Use It, When to Use It, and Where to Use It

Comedy in your advertising can get you really far. We’re talking over 100 million views on YouTube far.

We’d be remiss not to mention the Harmon Brothers in an article on comedic ads. Their viral ads have garnered tens of millions of views, converting viewers to customers and creating brands that are hard to forget.

Have you ever heard of Squatty Potty, Poo-Pourri, or Purple mattresses?

https://www.digitalmarketer.com/blog/comedy-in-advertising-harmon-brothers/

Get to Yes: Three conversion lessons learned from an FBI hostage negotiation

Not too long ago, the aunt of a prominent Haitian political figure was kidnapped and held for a $150,000 ransom demand. Hostage negotiator Chris Voss managed to convince the hostage-takers to release her for just $4751 and a CD player. It’s a pretty incredible (true) story.

So how did he do it?

https://marketingexperiments.com/conversion-marketing/lessons-learned-from-hostage-negotiation

Podcast: 7 Free Ways to Get Original Data for Your Content

I knew creating content from original data was one of the best ways to attract links and exposure with little promotion. But I always thought it was expensive … until I had a chat with Andy Crestodina from Orbit Media.

https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2020/03/free-original-data-content/

Marketing in Times of Uncertainty: Tips From Top Marketing Pros

Are you unsure how to approach your marketing during a crisis? Looking for wisdom from well-known marketers?

To help you make wise decisions during trying times, we tapped the minds of top marketers.

https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/marketing-in-times-of-uncertainty-tips-from-top-marketing-pros/

What to do right now: How to navigate through a global crisis on social media

Social media has been driving a lot of conversations around our current global crisis, creating real connection among distant and sometimes disparate individuals. But what is the role of brands in facilitating this connection?

https://sproutsocial.com/insights/how-to-navigate-global-crisis-on-social-media/

Love and Brands in the Time of Corona

Now is not the time to hide and wait for things to blow over. It’s time to double-down, find a new voice and use our platforms as a force for the public good. Identify how your brand can be part of the solution.

https://www.adweek.com/partner-articles/love-and-brands-in-the-time-of-corona/

Overcome This Common Marketing Mistake that Makes You Want to Quit

I see a lot of businesses and brands struggling with the same common marketing mistake.

The problem usually shows up in statements like:

I’m not sure what to write anymore.

My content doesn’t seem to be connecting like it used to.

I’m tired of creating content because it feels like I’m saying the same thing over and over.

Have you ever felt any of those?

https://copyblogger.com/common-marketing-mistake/

7 Brands Increasing Social Media Spend Right NOW

There will be fortunes made by fast moving marketers during this pandemic. As other companies cancel their ad spend for fear of alienating their customer base, these 7 companies are stepping into the limelight and letting their brands shine.

https://adage.com/article/digital/7-brands-have-increased-social-media-spend-during-corona virus-pandemic/2246106

YouTube Tries to NOT Break the Internet

In an effort to ease internet traffic during the corona virus outbreak, YouTube is reducing the quality of their videos around the world for a month.

https://adage.com/article/digital/youtube-will-limit-video-quality-around-world-month/2246031

Marketing in the Age of Corona virus

This is interesting to watch. It’s a regularly updated list tracking marketer’s response to corona virus. You might find some ideas here on how your own business can deal with any fallout.

https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/regularly-updated-list-tracking-marketers-response-corona virus/2244251

Great Example of Business Expanding During this Crisis

Lest you think that everything is shrinking right now, let’s remember that some of the best times to make money is when everyone else is hunkered down, waiting for the storm to pass.

Cat Person is launching now, despite of and even because of what’s happening. People are home, they’re spending more time with their cats, so why not launch?

https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/despite-covid-19-crisis-d-c-cat-brand-still-launching/2245771

Irving

15 Ways to Give Away a Free Report to Increase Subscribers

You’ve created a dynamite report or lead magnet that is super helpful and meets your audience’s needs – Yah!!!

And you’ve even got a hot converting offer (or two) embedded inside the lead magnet so that you can start earning right away – Awesome!

Now all you need to do is get the lead magnet in front of people so you can build your list and start making sales.

This is where some (most?) marketers have trouble. The lead magnet alone is not enough – you’ve got to have an audience for that lead magnet, too.

The questions are simple:

How do you get your free report in front of your potential new subscribers to get them to join your list?

And how can you use your free report to make more sales?

Never fear, I’ve compiled 15.5 free methods to give your report away AND make sales. You don’t need to do them all, of course. Just pick out the ones that work for you, and then watch your list grow.

1: Website

This is basic, yet effective: Offer your report on your website. You can use it to get new leads and to segment your readers based on interest.

Offer your report on your landing page, in the header or footer of your website, in a pop-up window, in a slider or sidebar, and even directly embedded in your content.

2: Rebrandable Version

Create a rebrandable version of your report and let your affiliates give it away. This means affiliates can insert their affiliate links into your report. Every time they make a sale, both you and the affiliate get paid, so it’s a win-win for everyone.

Be sure to train your affiliates on how to make the most of your rebrandable report. Instruct them on how to distribute it to as many people as possible, including adding it to their autoresponder, giving it away on their website and social media, and using paid advertising to promote it.

3: Slide-share

Create a slide-share presentation with one main idea per slide that gives viewers an overview of what’s inside your report. Then link to the full report for those wanting more details.

Choose an attention getting title and upload to Slideshare.net.

Then create a video of the slide-share presentation and upload it to your website, YouTube and social media.

4: Create a Video

This could be a video of slides as we just mentioned, or any other format you choose, including filming yourself presenting the information.

You’ve got two options here:

Either share all your content in the video or make an overview video that only hits the high points.

In either case, at the end of the video you’ll want to invite them to download the report or go to the sales page of the product you are promoting within the original report.

5: Pop-up on a Sales Page

Let’s say you’ve got affiliates promoting your weight loss product. When someone tries to leave the page without buying, you have an exit pop-up that offers the free report, thereby building your list and giving yourself additional opportunities to make the sale.

6: Top of a Sales Page

Again, let’s say you’ve got affiliates promoting your product. At the top of the sales page, you offer the free report. Affiliates promote the free report (easier to do than promoting a paid product) and when people come to collect the report, they can also purchase the product. This can be highly effective if done correctly.

For example, let’s say you’ve got a 15-module course. You offer one module or report for free. Affiliates promote that free module, people come to collect it, and they see the offer for the entire course. Some will purchase the course on the spot. Others will read the free report first, and if they like it, then they will buy the course. Be sure to sell the course at the end of the report, complete with link back to the sales page. “You just read a single module from the “Blogging for Money” course. To get the entire course and discover how to make serious cash just for blogging your brains out, click here.”

And follow up with a 7-day email sequence reminding them of all the great reasons to buy the course.

7: Free Appetizers

Entice people with a distillation of your report for free, and then when they want the full version, they hand over their email address.

This can be an incredibly powerful way to get people to pay attention.

For example, create an infographic based on your report. This works especially well if your report shares a lot of data. Be sure to include the link to the squeeze page for the full report.

Or distill the information into a cheat sheet or checklist where you strip out all the in-depth details and create a one-page sheet that lists the main steps, ideas or tips. To get the rest of the details, they need your report.

8: Author Byline

Why use your author byline to talk about yourself, when you could promote your free report?

Be sure to add the link and a call to action, like this: “Click here to discover the 5 steps to make any woman fall in love with you by the third date!”

Use your byline everywhere you go on the internet, from guest blogging and appearing on podcasts, to forums, social media and anyplace that is appropriate.

9: List Post

Create a “list” or resource post, such as “The top ten downhill skiing resources.” Add your report as one of the resources and publish the list on your blog.

Put your free report in either the #1 or #2 position of the list, along with a call to action such as, “Click here to download this free report right now.”

Each entry should have a resource and the benefits of that resource listed.

List posts tend to be popular and are often shared on social media. For even more exposure, notify each company or person on the list and let them know their resource was featured. Guaranteed, some of them will share your post with their readers.

10: Social Media

This method is self-explanatory – post your free report on social media. Post it wherever you have a social media presence with tweets, videos, posts and so forth.

Post multiple times for maximum exposure. Use a content scheduler like Hoot Suite to make this easy.

Get creative and change your profile or cover photo to the ecover graphic of the report. Be sure to include a link and call to action in the description of the photo.

Offer multiple reports over time to attract the widest audience. Pin your current free report to the top of your page.

11: Unadvertised Bonus

Give away your free report as an unadvertised bonus when someone buys a product from you. This accomplishes four things:

It surprises your customer and makes them more likely to do more business with you.

It makes you more memorable to your customer, and again they are more likely to buy from you again

If you deliver the report by email, it puts subscribers on notice that they should open your emails, because who knows what treasure you will send next?

It gives you another opportunity to make a sale, assuming your free report is promoting a product.

12: Advertised Bonus

Do you want to increase sales of your products? Offer your free report as a bonus.

Do you want to decrease refunds? Deliver the free report after the guarantee period has passed. If they refund, they’ll never get their hands on your report.

Do you want to retain more members in a fixed term membership? Give away a free report every so often.

13: Resource Pages

Create a resource page with your newest free report at the top, and then distribute this page.

You might have a “recommended resources” section in your reports, videos memberships and courses. Be sure to link to it throughout your content and include it in any navigation menus.

Publish a resource page on your blog that is filled with all of your resources, including your new free report.

14: Audience Swaps

Get some joint venture partners and then promote each other’s free reports.

For example, agree to promote each other’s free reports inside email newsletter.

Promote each other’s content on your thank you pages, download pages and subscriber confirmation pages.

Endorse each other through social media.

Cross promote within products by promoting each other’s stuff inside apps, videos, membership sites, courses and ebooks.

Swap blog ads, with your ad going on their blog and their ad going on yours.

15: Incentivize Everyone to Share

In #2 above we talked about creating a rebrandable report that affiliates can share with their audience.

But other than earning a commission from the product that’s being promoted within the report, how can you incentivize anyone and everyone to share it?

By offering something highly desirable and valuable, such as free products, coupons and so forth.

You might ask your entire audience – not just affiliates – to share the report on social media for a discount on another product, or to gain access to a special report, video or membership.

And you can use a tool such as PerkZilla.com to automate this process of handing out rewards in exchange for sharing your report.

15.5: Use Paid Advertising

This method isn’t free, but it is highly effective and does produce as much targeted traffic as you’re willing to pay for.

In fact, you can literally create an ad and be receiving traffic today.

You might use Facebook ads or Google ads, choosing highly targeted long-tail keywords. Be sure to test and track to get the best response.

Or you might do content syndication on sites like Outbrain, creating an overview article and linking to your free report. The article is then syndicated, and traffic is on its way.

Or you could advertise on niche sites. This could be banner advertising, solo ads or even contextual ads. You can contact sites directly and see what they’re willing to do.

Choose one of these methods to get your report in front of as many targeted readers as possible, and then add methods until you’re getting the kind of traffic you want.

Not every method will work in every case, so by all means track and test everything.

And consider creating multiple reports. This way you can cross-promote your current free report from inside all of your other free reports.

Irving

HostGator Web Hosting

Men Wanted for Hazardous Journey

Internet Marketing – Truth be Told?

Urban legend has it that Ernest Shackleton placed an advertisement in the London Times that garnered 5,000 applications.

That’s not the weird part.

What is strange is that anyone – much less 5,000 people – would answer this December 29, 1913 ad which read:

“MEN WANTED for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.”

There’s something seductive about the unvarnished truth. It pulls you in and makes you a co-conspirator of the positive side, or the silver lining.

Let’s say you just saw a movie, and I say to you, “Wasn’t that the greatest movie you ever saw in your entire life? Aren’t you just over the moon thrilled that you saw it?”

It’s doubtful you will agree. In fact, you’ll probably tell me everything you found wrong with the movie, even if you did like it.

But if instead I say, “Wasn’t that movie horrible? Wasn’t it just the worst movie ever?”

Now you’re likely to tell me what you LIKED about it.

It’s human nature.

When you read an ad that says, “This is the greatest, easiest, simplest and safest make money online program ever in the history of the internet,” what’s your reaction?

I can almost guarantee you’re going doubt every word of it and immediately begin figuring out why it won’t work.

But if instead I say, “This is a proven program that works time and time again, but only if you follow the steps, only if you’re prepared to do the work and put in the time, and only if you’re committed to learning as you go and sticking with it despite setbacks.”

What would you think about that? I’m not blowing smoke up your skirt with this second ad, and in fact I’m telling you this takes WORK and TIME and might not even be all that easy or fast.

Which of the two are you more inclined to believe, and why?

And do you think your customers are any different than you?

Forget the hype and go with honesty.

Just try it. Test it out.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe your market is the one market that thrives on hype. (It’s possible.)

Or maybe your customers are so sick of false promises, they will follow anyone who does the opposite and simply tells them the truth. (It’s more likely.)

You won’t know for sure until you test it out, but I think you already know the answer.

~~~~~

One last thought to mull over: A cough syrup called W.K. Buckley brags that, “Canadians have hated it for 100 years.”

In fact, their slogan is, “Buckley’s Mixture: It tastes awful. And it works.”

It’s a household name in Canada. It contains no sugar and no alcohol, ingredients used in other cough syrups to mask the lousy taste.

A quick search on Amazon finds this original formula with 670 reviews and a 4.5 star rating.

The first review states, “Tastes Like a Horror, Works Like a Wonder.” They give it 5 stars.

The second review advises that if you don’t like the taste, you should, “SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP!!!!!” Also, 5 stars.

And the third review states, “Ever Drink Drain Cleaner? …after one taste, my body decided it would rather never cough again than to have to taste this again. SO, I GUESS IT WORKS!!!”

Imagine what their review rating would have been if they had said nothing about the bad taste, or worse yet, claimed it tasted good. By admitting up front that this stuff tastes horrible, they immediately overcame their biggest objection and cemented their claim that this stuff WORKS.

Before researching this article, I’d never heard of Buckley’s Cough Syrup, but I just ordered my first bottle, because I do believe it works.

Why? Because they also told me it tastes awful, and if they’re telling me the truth about that, then I figure they must be telling me the truth about how well it works.

Tell me what’s wrong with your product, and I might buy that, too.

Irving

How to Create Million View YouTube Videos – A Simple Strategy

Would you like your videos to hit a million views?

Or maybe 10 million or more?

While there is no exact science to creating a video that will be viewed millions of times, there is a method that greatly increases your odds.

No doubt you’ve heard that if you want to do something, you should find someone else who has already done it, and then do what they did.

This method works a lot like that, except of course we’re never going to duplicate content.

But we will investigate to find out what videos have insanely high spikes in viewership, and why it’s happening so that we might be able to do the same thing ourselves.

Here’s how it works:

Let’s say you’re in the dog training niche. You have your own YouTube dog training channel where you pump out dog training videos and promote your own dog training products.

You’re creating a video a week and each of your videos typically gets 10K views in the first week.

But then you get a spike. A BIG spike. Your latest video gets 100K views in its first week, which is a 1,000% spike.

At the same time, you also monitor your competition, watching other dog training channels to see how their videos perform.

Every week or so you check these channels and look for spikes in viewership.

For example, dog training channel X gets an average view count of 5K or 7K views in the first week. But then you notice their latest video has 150K views, even though they only have 10K subscribers. Obviously, something notable is going on with that video.

Your job is to figure out the reason these videos (yours and your competitor’s) have spiked. When you discover this, you’re going to use this information on your future videos to increase the chances that they will spike as well.

What makes a video spike?

It could be any of the following, a combination of these, or even another variable:

  • Primary keyword(s) or topic
  • The secondary keyword(s) or topics
  • The title itself
  • The thumbnail image
  • Piggybacking on a successful video (it’s acting like a sequel to a super successful video which may or may not be from the same channel)
  • Something within the video, such as content, structure, a surprising element, etc.

In the case of a video viewing spike on a channel with low subscribers, the answer is usually that the topic is something YouTube wishes to promote, and this particular video is chosen by YouTube to be a good representation of that topic.

If the video has a good impression to view ratio, watch time, retention and so forth (viewing metrics) that can be enough to convince YouTube to send plenty of traffic to the video.

Take as much time as you need to really pour over the videos that spike and figure out what’s happening.

Is it the topic?

A tag?

The title, or a particular word in the title?

Did it get shared someplace with lots of traffic? (Such as Reddit)

Is it piggybacking a popular video? Which one?

Is this a micro-niche that needs to be filled?

How is the video structured?

What happens in the first few seconds?

What grabs the viewer?

What keeps them watching?

Do the comments provide a clue?

Your job is to learn why these videos spike and then try to replicate the spikes by emulating, not copying.

Because we don’t know exactly how YouTube makes decisions on what videos to feature, and because you never know exactly what people will want, this is not an exact science (not even close.)

But as you spend more and more time dissecting spiking videos, you’ll learn what elements to use in your own videos to increase (sometimes GREATLY increase) the odds that they, too, receive huge spikes of traffic.

One last thing for people who don’t use videos in their marketing (yet): It’s entirely possible to sell $10K – $50K of a product – such as a course – from a single video with a huge viewership spike.

Food for thought.

Irving


Autofunnels - ultimmate selling machine

 

The Dumb Deliverability Mistake You May Be Making

Deliverability Mistake?

Wayne Gretzky is famous for saying, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Yet in email marketing, the experts tell us to ‘clean our lists’ every 30 days of anyone who hasn’t opened one of our emails.

They say this will ensure our emails get delivered.

But think about this: Emails you don’t send also don’t get delivered 100% of the time.

And emails that aren’t delivered also aren’t read 100% of the time.

Two things to know about this 30-day rule:

First, if you have good open rates, then you can wait much longer than 30 days to clean your list.

Second, when you clean your main list, don’t delete the email addresses of people who haven’t opened your emails recently.

Instead, transfer them to another list and keep emailing. Then use your own discretion of how often to email this second list, and what to send them to ‘reactivate’ them.

Send out bribes to reacquaint them with your products and services. Ask questions, send personal-looking emails, ask if they still want to hear from you, and just get creative.

The million-dollar marketers do this because it works.

For example, I ignored the emails from a certain marketer in my inbox for 3 whole years. Frankly, I forgot who he was, why I subscribed and what he sold.

I just get too many emails, and so it gets easy to ignore some of them.

Then one day he sent an email which I opened. I liked what he said, so I did a search of my inbox and found hundreds of emails from him.

I read a couple of dozen of them, went to his website, and later that day made a $997 purchase from him.

All because he was smart enough not to dump my email address in the waste bin just because I got too busy for a while to read his emails.

Oh yes, and I’ve made two more purchases from him since then.

Granted, I am likely the exception and not the rule. But if just a small percentage of your so-called ‘dead’ list were to reactivate and make a purchase like I did, what would that mean for your bottom line?

Irving


Automation templates

11.75 Places to Find Endless Ideas for Hot Selling Courses

Ideas For Courses

Have you ever had trouble coming up with great ideas for profitable, hot selling online courses?

A good course can sell for as little as $10, and as much as thousands of dollars depending on several factors.

Generally, courses sell for $100 to $500.

So, let’s say your next course sells for $300, and you sell 100 copies a month. You pay affiliates 50% and take home $15,000. Or you sell all 100 copies yourself and take home $30,000.

That’s just hypothetical, of course, but it’s a good illustration of just how lucrative the RIGHT course can be for you.

And it all starts with getting a good idea… or better still, a GREAT idea, using any one of these 11.5 methods:

1: Specific Keyword Searches – insert your niche keywords into a keyword tool such as Jaxxy.com. It will show you plenty of topic ideas, and each one is a potential course. Dig deeper with the keyword tool and you’ll find ideas for individual lessons as well. Try it out here.

2: Broad Keyword Searches – don’t know where to start? Enter broad search terms such as, “how to” and discover ideas in a variety of niches. This method will show you niches you’ve never thought of.

 

3: Ask Google – Start typing a search into Google and see what auto fill suggestions come up. Just like the keyword tools, these are terms people are searching for.

4: Marketplaces – Go to info product and ebook marketplaces such as ClickBank, JVZoo and Amazon. Search for your broad niche keywords and see which topics are bestsellers with multiple competitors.

5: Facebook Groups – Search for your niche keywords, and look for large, active Groups. See what topics are popular, and then run a search for the topic within the group to see how long it’s been popular. Avoid topics that won’t last and look for ones that will be popular for a while.

6: Forums – Search Google using your niche keyword(s) along with any of these words: Forum, Discussion or Community. Make sure the forums you find are active before looking at the topics under discussion.

7: YouTube – Search for your niche keywords and see which videos get a lot of views and positive comments. Take note of the questions people ask – these are often topics you can add to your own course.

8: Quora – Look for popular topics in your niche to see what people are asking. Compile the most popular topics within your niche, along with the questions being asked and even some better answers they receive to give you ideas.

9: Your Blog – Go to your blog archives and traffic logs to see which posts were the most popular. Look for posts with a lot of comments, social media shares, back links and traffic.

10: Other People’s Blogs – Want to know what’s happening in your niche? Check competitor’s blogs and see what’s getting the most traction. To find these blogs, do a Google search for your niche keywords along with the word ‘blog.’

11: Udemy – Browse Udemy and see what’s selling, both in your niche and outside your niche. Look for what’s missing, what can be improved, and what can be combined into something brand new and exciting.

11.5: Your Own Products – Sometimes your best product and course research is right under your nose.

Take a look at your existing products and ask yourself these questions:

  • Do you have any popular older products you can update into a fresh new course?
  • Can you take a chapter out of a product and expand it into a course?
  • Can you take an existing product and turn it into a course format?
  • Do you have bonuses that could be turned into courses?

11.75 Carry a small notebook – Jot down ideas as they come without judgment and evaluate them later.

Jotting down everything that comes to mind without judging if it is good or bad will encourage your subconscious to find even more ideas. And writing them down with pen and paper stimulates creativity in your brain.

Bottom line, you’re only one great idea away from adding 5 or 6 figures to your income.

Irving