ASSESS THE MARKET FOR YOUR BOOK

1. Visit large bookstores

Start by visiting some large bookstores. Take your notebook and a pen. Copy the Tables of Contents of books that treat the same subject matter that your book does. You will want to make your book significantly different from other books which cover the same topic. If your book is exactly the same as other books on the topic, no publisher will be interested in buying it. However, you shouldn’t be discouraged if there are many books covering the area which you intend to cover. Lots of books mean that this area is very popular. For example, publishers bring out dozens of diet books each year. And there's room for yours, too!

Aim for at least three to five points of difference. This doesn’t mean that you have to come up with all new information. In fact, presenting completely new information is impossible. Sticking with our diet book example, there's only one way to lose weight, and that's to take in fewer calories than you expend. Authors reveal this ghastly news to their readers in many ways. Therefore, it's how you present the material that counts. If you can show readers a new way to diet, and you can prove that your method works, you're in, with a hot seller on your hands.

2. Visit your library

Next, drive to the library. Ask the librarian for Books In Print. This is a multi-volume set of reference books which lists all the books currently available by author, subject and title. Your library may have the books, or it may have the BIP CDs. If your library's BIP is on CD, get a printout of all the books in your subject area.

Don't faint if you see an ultra-lengthy list! Several years ago when I was assessing the market for a book on time management, BIP spat out ten-plus pages. I got all the books which sounded as though they might be similar via inter-library loan, and none resembled my book at all. So the fact that there are lots and lots of books means little other than that this subject is popular. This is a good thing!

Next check out Forthcoming Books. FC should be available at your library right near BIP. FC lists all those books which will be released in the next six months.

You'll want to have the books which are the main competition for your book on hand if possible. You don't have to buy them all. You can borrow them from the library, or if they’re listed on Amazon.com, you can use Amazon.com's clever "Look Inside" technology, so that you can scan the contents pages of competing titles.

3. Amazon.com

Amazon.com is your next port of call. Type the subject of your book into the search query box, and you'll get a list of all those books which touch on your subject area. Print out this list. Having the list handy helps you when the time comes to pick a title.

Read the descriptions, and all the reviews of any books which sound as if they might be similar to yours.

Write a report on your discoveries

Now you've finished surveying the marketplace as it stands for your idea, take the time to write a brief report on what you've discovered. This report is for your own use. Do this right away when it's all still fresh in your mind. It's important to do this, because when you talk to your editor or agent, you'll want to have all the information on the market situation handy. Your report doesn’t have to be long. A page will do.

GET PAID TO WRITE A BOOK - DEVELOPING YOUR IDEA

Work on developing your idea step by step. Here's how:

1. Write down everything you know about this idea
Let's say you've decided to write a book on natural healthcare for pets. You own several dogs and a cat, and are an enthusiast for natural healthcare because it's worked for you and for your friends. Today you're going to make copious notes. You're going to write down everything you can think of which relates to your idea. It doesn’t matter whether you use a computer file, or a pen and paper, sit down and get ready.

Ask yourself: who, what, how, when, where and why. Make topic headings for each question. Then answer each question. Don’t try to write in complete sentences, just make notes. For example, if you took one of your dogs to a doggie chiropractor for several years, note down the chiropractor's name, the dog's name, problems the dog had, the number of sessions --- anything and everything you can remember. Also write down what you don’t know, so you can find out. (One of the benefits of research is that you get to answer all the questions you have about a topic.)

Take as much time as you need. You may want to work in forty-minute sessions, and then go and do something else for a while. Taking breaks is important. It's during the breaks that your subconscious mind will go to work for you can scan your memory banks to come up with more ideas.

Don’t discard any of your ideas. And write down every idea, no matter how tangential. Your mind works via associations. Therefore, if you get a notion to write down "Phips --- broken leg" write this down, even if it seems that it has nothing to do with natural healthcare for pets. Phips was your first dog, and was hit by a car. This was 30 years ago, and you don’t remember much about the incident. However, after writing it down, you ask your mother about Phips, and she tells you that the little Corgi was bred by a woman who was into natural healthcare (you didn’t remember this --- you may not even have known it, but somehow your subconscious got you to write it down). You contact the woman, who's elderly, but who's a fountain of useful information, and she provides almost a chapter of information for your book. You'll find that you have many serendipitous incidents like this as you write your proposal and your book.

2. Make a long list of possible book titles
At this stage, you don’t need the perfect title, Healthcare for Pets will do as your working title. Make a list of 20 title ideas as quickly as you can. (And save the list.)

Don't sweat a title. You'll often find that the perfect title doesn't occur to you until you book is completely written. Or, your publisher may come up with a title they want to use.

3. Create a list of contacts
Who could help you with information for this book? Write down the name of everyone you can think of. Do this quickly, you can look up their email address or postal address when the time comes to contact them. At this stage, you just want a list of all those people who will be able to help you.

Is there an association of people who might help? In our Healthcare for Pets example, there will be numerous veterinary associations and kennel club associations of people who could provide valuable information.

Create an Acknowledgements computer file. Whenever someone helps you with information for the book, type their name into the Acknowledgements file. People get a kick out of helping an author with a book, and the best way to thank them is to make sure that their name appears on the Acknowledgements page in the book.

BOOK WRITING - IDEA GENERATORS

There's nothing mysterious about coming up with ideas. Within a page or two, you'll have more ideas than you know what to do with. Your ideas start with YOU. When you think about what you enjoy, about your past experiences and your knowledge, you're guaranteed a regular fountain of ideas. Let's turn on the fountain.

As you do the following exercises, work through them quickly. Don't allow yourself to bog down. Do them as quickly as you can, and then go and do something else for a few hours, to let the ideas gestate and bubble in your subconscious mind.

When you come back, read through the ideas you generated, and add to them as you read through your lists. Please don’t discard any ideas at this stage. This is because the way to a brilliant, fantastic idea is by twisting an idea slightly, reversing it, or by combining several ideas into a new one.

Searching for ideas alerts your subconscious mind that ideas are important to you. Over the next few days, you may get a nudge from an idea which says: "Write me down". Do that right away, even if you're in the middle of a shower or you're driving along the freeway. (If you’re driving, pull over.) Write that idea down, because even if you're one hundred per cent certain that you will never in this lifetime forget that amazing idea you just had, believe me, you will forget it. Write it down, always.

When you stay alert to the idea hovering at the corners of your consciousness you will never be without a book bubbling away. This is how you turn your first book into a long series of books.

First thing in the morning is a great time to generate ideas. Set your alarm ten minutes early, then sit up in bed and jot down 50 ideas.


Idea Generator One: What you're good at
Make a list of 20 things you're good at. Don't think too hard about this. Maybe you're good at buying presents for people—you've got a knack for choosing just the right gift. Maybe you're a good cook, or a good parent, or a good swimmer or a good tennis player. Or maybe you used to be good at one or more of these things. For example: I grew up with horses, and owned horses for many years. I'm good with horses, and a good rider. If I saw a gap in the market for a horse book, I'd feel comfortable writing the book.

You get the idea. List at least 20 things that you're good at, or have been good at in the past. For example, if you know you're an excellent gardener, even though you now live an apartment, list "gardening".

Idea Generator Two: Your past experiences
Experiences sell. If you've been abducted by little green men from Mars, it's a book. If you're a bigamist, it’s a book. People have written books about their illnesses (see from challenge to opportunity below), their addictions, and their pets. Browse through the bestseller lists to see what personal experiences people are writing about.

Here's where you walk down memory lane. If you're in your twenties, it'll be a short stroll. If you’re in your forties or older, it will be a hike. Don't get bogged down with this, list 20 experiences you've had that spring to mind.

The easiest way to come up with experiences is to work backwards through the stages of your life, or through decades. Again, don’t take a long time over this. Set yourself a time limit --- ten minutes is enough.

Idea Generator Three: Your knowledge
What do you know? Start by making a list of all the subjects you were good at in school. Then list all the jobs you've had – yes, part time work counts.

Also list:
Your hobbies. Are you a keen Chihuahua breeder? Do you quilt? Take photographs?
Your current job. What are you learning in your job that other people would pay to learn?
The places you've lived. Your hometown may be boring to you, but guide books sell well.
Your family tree. What special knowledge do your nearest and dearest have that you could write about?

Spend around ten minutes writing down as many subjects as you have knowledge about.

Idea Generator Four: What you enjoy most
Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson freely admits that she cooks because she loves to eat. Nigella has turned her love of food into a career. She regularly produces bestselling books. (Her chocolate recipes are brilliant.) What do you love? People have written about garage sales, cosmetics, cars, vacations. If you love something, chances are that thousands or maybe millions of others will love it too.

Watch the newspapers and take note of current trends. Or better yet, listen to what your children are talking about, or asking you to buy for them. Children tend to be well up on what’s happening.

Remember that it will take around two years for your book to reach the bookstores. Therefore, the currently hot topics on the bestselling lists may be old news before your book is in the stores. This doesn’t mean of course that you can’t write on perennial favourites like money, sex and exercise. These topics never go out of popularity, and a new twist on one of these is always a sure bet.

The idea of writing about what you enjoy is that you will be bringing passion and enthusiasm to your topic. Enthusiasm is a must.

Idea Generator Five: From challenge to opportunity
You face challenges every day. Most are minor, some are major challenges. If you've ever faced a large challenge, or if you're facing one right now, then consider that the things you learn could help other people. Whatever your challenge is, whether it’s moving house or confronting a life-threatening illness, other people face the same challenges, and in those challenges lie the seeds of books.

Make a list of 20 challenges you've faced in your life. Anything catastrophic qualifies: losing your job, facing bankruptcy, the betrayal of a spouse. If you've had a quiet life, then make a list of challenges that the people you know have faced.

Additional challenges you can consider include any habit you've broken, from congenital lateness to overeating.

When you've finished brainstorming, you'll have dozens of book ideas. Winnow out the non-starters. Don't delete them, move them to another computer file. Call it "odds and ends" or "snippets".

You've worked through the idea generators, and you have one or more ideas which you feel would work as a book. The next step is to scrutinize your primary idea carefully.

Consider your idea and look at this list of questions. See if you can answer "Yes" to all of them:

Am I enthusiastic enough about this subject and my ideas about it to sell this proposal to an agent and an editor – and to readers?

Will I retain my enthusiasm through the months it will take me to complete the book?
Is there a market for my book? (I've checked Amazon.com and bookshops for competing titles. I'm convinced there is a market for my book.)

I can find people with expert knowledge to interview as I write my book.
Does my book provide solutions to problems?

If you can answer YES to most of these questions, you're set. Great! We're going to start work on your proposal.

GET AN IDEA FOR YOUR BOOK

Task One: Look over four non-fiction books
Take your notebook and visit a bookstore. Skim four non-fiction books of the kind which you hope to write. Check the number of pages, the table of contents, and chapter length. How are these books written? Are they written in a casual, tongue-in-cheek style like the For Dummies series? Do they include lots of anecdotes and personal information about the author?
In your notebook, write down each book's title, author, publisher and year of publication. Also write down anything you find interesting about the book. Scan the acknowledgements page to see whether the author thanks her editor and her agent. Make a note of their names if she does. (These people may be interested in your proposal if it covers a similar subject area.)

Task Two: Work through the Idea Generator exercises in this chapter
Read the Idea Generators, and do at least three of them, even if you've already got an idea for your book. Working through this material is important because it will give you confidence that you it's easy for you to find as many ideas as you need.

Task Three: Create a computer folder to hold your working files
Create a folder on your computer to hold all the files for your book. As you work, you'll generate many files. Create sub-folders as you need them.

Task Three: Create a Work Log
Create a file on your computer as a diary for this project. Paste all the information you gather while searching the Internet and while communicating with others in this log. Date each entry. If you need to leave your project for a few days, you can read your log to get back into the groove of your project.

SELL YOUR BOOK THE EASY WAY!

You can get paid to write a book. It's easily possible to make a fast $10,000, or even a six figure amount. You could even make seven figures --- over a million dollars for twenty pages of text. It sounds incredible, but a fast seven figures is certainly possible if you have a HOT, hot idea or have had an experience that hundreds of thousands of people want to read about. In his 2001 book about writing non-fiction, Damn! Why Didn't I Write That?, author Marc McCutcheon says that it's not hard to make a good income: "you can learn the trade and begin making a respectable income much faster than most people think possible".

The good part is that you don't need to write your book before you get some money. You write a proposal, and a publisher will give you an advance, which you can live on while you write the book.

Writing a proposal is the smart way to write a book. It's the way professional writers sell non-fiction. Selling a book on a proposal is much easier than selling a book that you've already written. A book proposal is a complete description of your book. It contains the title, an explanation of what the book's about, an outline of chapters, a market and competition survey, and a sample chapter.

A book proposal functions in the same way as any business proposal does: you're making an offer to someone you hope to do business with. It will be treated by publishers in the same way that any business treats a proposal. A publisher will read your proposal, assess its feasibility, cost it, and if it looks as if the publisher will make money, the publisher will pay you to write the book. When you've sold your proposed book to a publisher, your role doesn’t end with writing your book. You’re in partnership with your publisher to ensure the book's success.

If you do your part, both you and your publisher will make money.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET PAID TO WRITE A BOOK?

If you're thinking this is plain fantasy, think again. All professional writers get paid to write their books.

How? They sell their books via proposals before they write the books.


What’s a book proposal?
A book proposal is a document which convinces a publisher to buy your book before you've written it. Your proposal says, in effect: "Hey, I've got a great idea for a book which lots of people will want to buy. Do you want to publish it?"

Think of it as a combination brochure and outline of your proposed book.


You CAN sell your book the easy way --- sell a proposal
It's easily possible to make a fast $10,000, or even a six figure amount. You could even make seven figures --- over a million dollars for twenty pages of text.

It sounds incredible, but a fast seven figures is certainly possible if you have a HOT, hot idea or have had an experience that hundreds of thousands of people want to read about.

In his 2001 book about writing nonfiction, Damn! Why Didn't I Write That?, author Marc McCutcheon says that it's not hard to make a good income writing nonfiction: "you can learn the trade and begin making a respectable income much faster than most people think possible".

Do you need experience to sell a book on proposal?
No! You just need a good proposal. :-)

7 Days To Easy-Money: Get Paid To Write A Book by Angela Booth shows you how to go from idea to completed book proposal in seven short days.

Imagine --- in seven days, you could be sending your proposal to agents and editors!

The ebook includes everything you need to know. Just follow the easy steps. It even includes a sample proposal, which got a contract from an agent immediately it was sent out.

You can do it too!


Here's what you'll discover in 7 Days To Easy-Money: Get Paid To Write A Book by Angela Booth:

Day One: What’s a book proposal? Develop an idea for your book
Exactly what a book proposal is, and an EASY way for you to come up with more saleable ideas for books than you could write in a dozen lifetimes.


Day Two: Develop your idea and assess the market

Here's an excerpt from Day Two:

Dispelling myths and a word about confidence
If you're feeling nervous now that you're about to start this project, relax. Tell yourself that you will take it step by step. All you need to do is work at it steadily, a word, sentence and paragraph at a time, and you will complete your proposal, and then when you've sold the proposal, you'll complete your book using the same easy-does-it method.

While we're at it, let's dispel a few myths.

Myth One
It takes a special talent to write books.
It takes persistence. There are as many different kinds of writers as there are people. Some are young, some are elderly, many are in-between. You don’t need any special writing talent to write books, nor do you need to be highly educated. Many successful writers have never completed high school. If you can write well enough to write a letter, you can write a book.

Myth Two
Writers starve in garrets.
Many professional writers make incomes that would make doctors and lawyers envious. Most make reasonable incomes. If you decide to make a career of writing nonfiction books, the major benefit is that if you choose your book's topic with care, your book can stay in print for many years. For each year that your book's in print, you get two royalty checks. Let's say that you write two books a year for five years. At the end of the five years, if your books all stay in print, you'll be getting ten royalty checks a year. These ongoing royalties are your nest-egg, profitable investments in your future.

Day Three: Write the blurb and outline your book

The "blurb" is the back cover material for your book --- the selling points which will get people to buy the book. If you write the blurb before you write an outline, you're guaranteed not to wander off the track as you write your book.

Writing the blurb will keep you on-track as you write your proposal and your book. I've included two sample blurbs from my published books to show you how to write a selling blurb.


Day Four: Research your book proposal, and flesh out your book's outline

The fast and easy way to research your proposal – you may not need to do any research at all. You may already know all you need to know.


Day Five: Write your proposal query letter, and submit it to agents and publishers

How to write a SELLING query letter, with sample letters which have SOLD books.

Day Six: Write the proposal
The fast and easy way to write your proposal --- everything you need to include to make sure that your proposal SELLS.


Day Seven: Write the sample chapter. Revise your proposal

Seven days, and you're done! How to write the professional way, and a step by step easy way to revise.

7 Days To Easy-Money: Get Paid To Write A Book also includes a complete, selling proposal, which got a contract from the first agent who saw it.


Have you always want to write a book and be a published author?

7 Days To Easy-Money: Get Paid To Write A Book gives you a complete method. The ebook shows you EXACTLY HOW to write and SELL.

You can be a published author much faster than you imagine.


Can I show you how to write a book proposal that sells?

Yes! I've sold many fiction and nonfiction books, all on proposal. 7 Days To Easy-Money: Get Paid To Write A Book includes sample proposals which have SOLD.

I show you exactly what to do, and explain the methods I use to write and sell.

If you've ever thought "I could write a book" --- you can!


Can I guarantee that you'll sell your proposal?

I can't guarantee it , but I'll make it several thousand times more likely that you'll sell. You'll learn what a professional, selling proposal looks like, and will learn how to write a professional, saleable proposal.

Publishers receive hundreds of proposals each week. As any book editor or agent will tell you, 99% have no chance of selling ever --- they're amateurish.

Working with 7 Days To Easy-Money: Get Paid To Write A Book will ensure that your proposal makes it into the 1% of saleable proposals.



Check us out at:-
http://www.free-article-info.com/
http://www.divingpleasures.com/

DISCOVER HOW 'MR X' BUILT AN ONLINE BUSINESS MAKING OVER $100,000 A MONTH IN JUST 16 WEEKS....

This is the transcript of the first ever public interview 'Mr X' has given.

Here's a very quick background on 'Mr X':

Since 1980, he's owned many, many successful businesses, making millions in the process offline and online. Here's just the tip of the iceberg of his background and what 'Mr X' reveals in this interview:

· How he started a web business with almost zero investment and built it up to making over $100,000 a month in consistent sales (mostly profit) in less than four months.

· How he acquired the rights to a piece of software which was selling for $29.95 ... and within weeks was very successfully selling it for $495 a copy, making up to $40,000 a week in sales.

· How he sold many business franchise opportunities for $4,000 a sale from just one single sales letter.

· And much more...



In the following section of the interview 'Mr X' talks about how he acquired the rights to a piece of software selling for $29.95 and very successfully sold it for $495 a copy:

Basically I spent some time surfing around on the net. I knew, or had a good idea of the market I wanted to be in - it was poker related. Now every time I opened a newspaper, it was all to do with poker. Every time you turn on the television it's poker this, poker that, celebrity poker, the poker channel.

So it was a really hot subject - I knew that, I knew a lot of people would be interested in it and I knew that poker is just perfect for the net. The internet could have basically been designed for online poker.

So I knew that was the product that I wanted to get into, because it was a very hot topic at the time.

I just really went online - I keyed in "poker", "poker software" into Google and started looking through the websites.

Came across one which I thought looked a very good product, but as far as I was concerned selling it at $29.95 was just so massively under priced. And I knew that because of the popularity of the subject and the way that I intended marketing it, I knew that I could turn it into a much higher perceived value product, and one that would sell and sell easily at just under $500.

I got in touch - I sent the guy an email. He very kindly got back to me. I explained to him what I wanted to do. We had a couple of chats on the phone. A few phone calls backwards and forwards and we decided on me taking the product, rewriting the sales copy, re-branding it, repackaging it, putting it out under a different name - that's exactly what we did.

Started advertising it in a few select magazines and offline places over here, started putting it on Google AdWords and before we knew where we were ... I'd written some articles about it... we'd done some press releases ... it started getting spidered by the search engines... before we knew where we were, we were number two and three on MSN search and we were getting picked up by all the major search engines and the sales started coming in. It was just as simple as that.


In the following section of the interview Mr X talks through some of the tactics he used to successfully sell the software for $495, making up to $40,000 a week in sales:

I was marketing to a niche. Gamblers - although it's a big niche, it's still basically a niche.

I know that gamblers, are inherently gamblers ... I felt that the product, and obviously what I did proved the fact, that the product was so under-priced before.

It was just a ridiculous amount - $30 for a program that did what this particular program did was just laughable.

But the guy that developed it - all fair dues to him he'd made an excellent product there, he'd developed an excellent product, but he didn't really have much of an idea on marketing.

His ideas were keep the price down low and sell high volumes of it. Well, I came along and using the same system that I've used with all my offline businesses, and it's a simple system that I’d put into practice with any online business... I realized that I could sell this at a much higher price and still sell the volume as well, which is exactly what we did.


In the following section of the interview Mr X talks through how he easily put together a business franchise that he very successfully sold for just under $4,000 many, many times over:

This business - let me explain it... this business, it involved information that was in the public domain and readily available.

This information had to be accessed each time a property was bought and sold anywhere in the country. So you can understand that the market for this product was absolutely huge.

But because of the nature of the business it had to be logistically operated on a local basis. And this is where the network of franchisees I put together was vitally important to the smooth running of the business.

As I said the information that was needed was readily available, and because it involved working alongside the legal profession the information had to be put together and presented in a very precise and consistent way.

All the legal forms and the software needed to run the business are included in the business package. This helped simplify the process making it more profitable for the franchisees and by using all the information I supplied them on how to operate their business, earnings in the region of roundabout $3,500 to $4,000 a week were realistically achievable.

It was a very easy business for people to operate. As I said, the business involved information that was in the public domain.

A lot of legal firms were committed to ... let's put it this way - as I said every time a property was bought or sold in the country this information had to be presented. Now, that’s been done mainly over dozens of years ... it had been carried out by the legal profession.

But, it's something that they didn't really want to do. So they were quite happy to hand it over to an independent agent, who they could work with, who could collate all this information and give it to them, so that they could then present it to their customer (the person that they were handling the purchase or the sale of the property for) ... their time was better spent doing other things, they didn't want to send somebody off to get all this information, so that's where my franchisees came into play.

They were quite happy, and it was very profitable for them to go off and collect this information. They could do anywhere between four, five, ten of these a day and it wouldn’t take them (because of the software that I supplied them with) more than a few hours to put all this information together.

So, it was a very profitable business for relatively a small amount of work.


In the following section of the interview Mr X talks through briefly how he marketed the franchise opportunity:

First of all, I looked at the sort of person that I thought would be operating this business.

I was quite selective in the publications – again, I used my system that I use for promoting any offline business that I've built up: I advertise offline.

A lot of people seem to look at me as if I've got two heads when I say I advertise offline, but believe me it works extremely well in a lot of cases, and it worked extremely well in this.

I was selective on where I advertised the business - I advertised it in a few up-market magazines and weekly papers and sent people all the information.

It explained how the system worked, - showed them how the system worked ... just took it from there.

It was a very profitable business for the franchisees, with relatively little work involved.


In the following section of the interview Mr X talks through how he built up an internet business making over $100,000 a month in sales (mostly profit) in just a few short months with very little initial investment:

Let me explain to you how it came about - I was shown an internet business by a colleague of mine that was making a heck of a lot of money, and I realized that I could do this myself.

Quite cheeky I know - so after some research I took the same business model, made some small adjustments to suit my product, wrote the sales copy, and the rest is history.

My business partner and I at the time actually started with two phone lines, two pen and pads on our lap, and that was it.

We had one tiny second hand computer that we bought from a local computer store. We had no credit card processing - when I look back now, I just can't believe how the business took off.

Okay - timing, it was important because it was around the time of the dot com bubble. Everybody wanted to get online, but the business model I'd really just taken and adapted from somebody else’s business model.

There's an old saying isn't there - if it ain’t broke don't fix it.

If you find a good business model do what I do - look at it, think "yeah, that's working - I can maybe put a little tweak here and there".

I'm not saying outright copy somebody else’s business, but take their model if it's working.

That's what I did - I took this business model that I saw was working, and working very well, but I knew by adding a few little tweaks here and there, I could possibly make it work better, and that's exactly what happened.

And the phone started ringing, and again we advertised offline. The phone started ringing Thursday lunchtime - the publication came out on the Thursdays...… And it just went absolutely crazy.

We sent people to the website to read the copy that we put up there. We didn't have any way of taking any money - we weren't taking any credit cards at the time, we were just asking people to send us checks, postal orders, cash in registered envelopes ... it just came flooding through the door.

And that was in the October - by February or March time we had a staff of four, and we were turning over $100,000 a month easily, with the majority of that being profit.


In the following section of the interview Mr X talks through what he feels are some of the most important obstacles to overcome when starting and building a successful business, and the types of businesses to avoid (he used to own pubs and does NOT recommend that business):

I think, without sounding too presumptuous, the trouble with a lot of people is that they hold pessimistic views of things. They resign themselves to defeat even before they've begun.

They'll look at a business venture, they'll sit down and they'll try to convince themselves why it's not for them or why it won't work. They find it hard to comprehend that others are making absolute fortunes either online or offline.

I think I must have heard every excuse under the sun over the last twenty odd years as to why someone's business isn't working:

"If only I was younger"

"If only I was older"

"If only I had more time"

"If only I could be sure of success"

"If only I had more luck" - that's a good one.

"If only I had more money" - that's a really good one.

"If only I had more confidence"

"If only I could just get started" - well go out and do it. Just do it.

"If only I could just get out of debt" - well that follows on - if you get out and start the business, you'll normally find that it will get you out of debt.

It's just really the majority of people - what they're really saying is "if only everything was handed to me on a silver platter I might have a chance of getting it right"

Well, it's not going to be all handed to you on a silver platter, no matter what anybody says, there is going to be some work involved in running a successful business, it's just varying degrees of work.

What I try and do is look for businesses that can be very successful and profitable, but take the least amount of running. If something can be done on autopilot, I'll do it on autopilot.

Because believe me - if there's any publicans listening, they'll understand what I’m talking about - if you want to really work hard, get yourself a pub. And if you really want to work super hard, get yourself a country pub.

One of these idyllic country pubs that everybody says, "I would like to retire to".

Give it a month and you'll see what work's all about - eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. You don't have to do that with online businesses - if you set that up right, they can be hugely profitable and it's actually obscene really the small amount of time you have to put into a lot of these businesses for the amount of money you can get out of them.


In the following section of the interview Mr X talks through the type of coaching programs and work shops he runs:

Yes I do operate a coaching program. Louis as you know and I also do run some seminars/workshops several times a year.

I keep these down to a maximum of thirty because I just don't think it's right that people should, ... it can be quite intimidating for somebody that's maybe not been around online, not been in business a lot, and they don't want to sit there and put their hand up and ask questions in front of a hundred or two hundred other people, so I keep the workshops small.

I also run a coaching program as we said, and I'm sure that if people are interested in this I'm sure you'll give them more information.


In the following section of the interview Mr X talks through what people can look forward to when they come to his small-group workshops:

Yes I am in touch, because of the experience and because I have been around for quite some time (although I do look a lot younger, I know) and I do keep abreast of what's going on, so yes of course apart from my experience, when people come to my workshops they walk away at the end of the day with a lot of my experience, and a lot of other top marketers tips, techniques and they also walk away with ready-made businesses that they can start working on the very next day.

They don't have to put the business together - I put it together for them, I show them how to run it, they literally walk out of my workshop in the evening and they can start their business the following day.


To get the audio of this interview and to find out more about 'Mr X', visit:

www.AllportPublishing.com/Mr-X/


Check us out at:-
http://www.free-article-info.com/
http://www.divingpleasures.com/

HOW TO WRITE AN EBOOK

The hardest part of writing is the first sentence.
When you look at the whole project, it seems like an
impossible task. That's why you have to break it down
into manageable tasks. Think of climbing a mountain.
You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at
its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you
possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?

There is only one way to climb a mountain ? step by
step.

Now think of writing your ebook in the same light. You
must create it step by step, and one day, you will
take that last step and find yourself standing on the
summit with your head in the clouds.

The first thing you have to do, as if you actually
were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead
of climbing gear, however, you must organize your
thoughts. There are some steps you should take before
you begin. Once you've gone through the following
list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your
ebook.

Beginning Steps to Writing an ebook

First, figure out your ebook's working title. Jot down
a few different titles, and eventually, you'll find
that one that will grow on you. Titles help you to
focus your writing on your topic; they guide you in
anticipating and answering your reader's queries. Many
non-fiction books also have subtitles. Aim for clarity
in your titles, but cleverness always helps to sell
books ? as long as it's not too cute. For example,
Remedies for Insomnia: twenty different ways to count
sheep. Or: Get off that couch: fifteen exercise plans
to whip you into shape.

Next, write out a thesis statement. Your thesis is a
sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are
addressing and how your book will solve that problem.
All chapters spring forth from your thesis statement.
Once you've got your thesis statement fine-tuned,
you've built your foundation. From that foundation,
your book will grow, chapter by chapter.

Your thesis will keep you focused while you write your
ebook. Remember: all chapters must support your thesis
statement. If they don't, they don't belong in your
book. For example, your thesis statement could read:
We've all experienced insomnia at times in our lives,
but there are twenty proven techniques and methods to
give you back a good night's sleep.

Once you have your thesis, before you start to write,
make sure there is a good reason to write your book.
Ask yourself some questions:

* Does your book present useful information and is
that information currently relevant?

* Will you book positively affect the lives of your
readers?

* Is your book dynamic and will it keep the reader's
attention?

* Does you book answer questions that are meaningful
and significant?

If you can answer yes to these questions, you can feel
confident about the potential of your ebook.

Another important step is to figure out who your
target audience is. It is this group of people you
will be writing to, and this group will dictate many
elements of your book, such as style, tone, diction,
and even length. Figure out the age range of your
readers, their general gender, what they are most
interested in, and even the socio-economic group they
primarily come from. Are they people who read fashion
magazines or book reviews? Do they write letters in
longhand or spend hours every day online. The more you
can pin down your target audience, the easier it will
be to write your book for them.

Next, make a list of the reasons you are writing your
ebook. Do you want to promote your business? Do you
want to bring quality traffic to your website? Do you
want to enhance your reputation?

Then write down your goals in terms of publishing. Do
you want to sell it as a product on your website, or
do you want to offer it as a free gift for filling out
a survey or for ordering a product? Do you want to use
the chapters to create an e-course, or use your ebook
to attract affiliates around the world? The more you
know upfront, the easier the actual writing will be.

Decide on the format of your chapters. In non-fiction,
keep the format from chapter to chapter fairly
consistent. Perhaps you plan to use an introduction to
your chapter topic, and then divide it into four
subhead topics. Or you may plan to divide it into five
parts, each one beginning with a relevant anecdote.

How to make your ebook "user friendly"

You must figure out how to keep your writing engaging.
Often anecdotes, testimonials, little stories, photos,
graphs, advice, and tips will keep the reader turning
the pages. Sidebars are useful for quick, accessible
information, and they break up the density of the
page.

Write with a casual, conversational tone rather than a
formal tone such as textbook diction. Reader's respond
to the feeling that you are having a conversation with
them. Break up the length and structure of your
sentences so you don?t hypnotize your readers into
sleep. Sentences that are all the same length and
structure tend to be a good aid for insomnia!

Good writing takes practice. It takes lots and lots of
practice. Make a schedule to write at least a page a
day. Read books and magazines about the process of
writing, and jot down tips that jump out at you. The
art of writing is a lifetime process; the more you
write (and read), the better your writing will become.
The better your writing becomes, the bigger your sales
figures.

In an ebook that is read on the screen, be aware that
you must give your reader's eye a break. You can do
this by utilizing white space. In art classes, white
space is usually referred to as "negative space."
Reader's eyes need to rest in the cool white oasises
you create on your page. If your page is too dense,
your reader will quit out of it as soon as their eyes
begin to tear.

Make use of lists, both bulleted and numbered. This
makes your information easy to absorb, and gives the
reader a mental break from dissecting your paragraphs
one after the other.

Finally, decide on an easy-to-read design. Find a font
that's easy on the eyes, and stick to that font
family. Using dozens of fonts will only tire your
readers out before they've gotten past your
introduction. Use at least one and a half line
spacing, and text large enough to be read easily on
the screen, but small enough so that the whole page
can be seen on a computer screen. You will have to
experiment with this to find the right combination.

Of course, don't forget to run a spell and grammar
check. You are judged by something as minor as correct
punctuation, so don?t mess up a great book by tossing
out semicolons randomly, or stringing sentences
together with commas. (By the way, that's called a
"comma splice.")

Last of all, create an index and a bibliography.
That's it! You've written a book! Now all you have to
do is publish your ebook online, and wait for download
request from your website visitors.

WHY WRITE AN EBOOK?

It's not true that everything that has been said has
already been written. Since that unfortunate axiom
came into use, the whole universe has changed.
Technology has changed, ideas have changed, and the
mindsets of entire nations have changed.

The fact is that this is the perfect time to write an
ebook. What the publishing industry needs are people
who can tap into the world as it is today - innovative
thinkers who can make the leap into the new millennium
and figure out how to solve old problems in a new way.
Ebooks are a new and powerful tool for original
thinkers with fresh ideas to disseminate information
to the millions of people who are struggling to figure
out how to do a plethora of different things.

Let's say you already have a brilliant idea, and the
knowledge to back it up that will enable you to write
an exceptional ebook. You may be sitting at your
computer staring at a blank screen wondering, "Why?
Why should I go through all the trouble of writing my
ebook when it's so impossible to get anything
published these days?

Well, let me assure you that publishing an ebook is
entirely different than publishing a book in print.
Let's look at the specifics of how the print and cyber
publishing industry differ, and the many reasons why
you should take the plunge and get your fingers
tapping across those keyboards!

Submitting a print book to conventional publishing
houses or to agents is similar to wearing a hair shirt
24/7. No matter how good your book actually is, or how
many critique services and mentor writers have told
you that "you've got what it takes," your submitted
manuscript keeps coming back to you as if it is a
boomerang instead of a valuable mine of information.

Perhaps, in desperation, you've checked out
self-publishing and found out just how expensive a
venture it can be. Most "vanity presses" require
minimal print runs of at least 500 copies, and even
that amount will cost you thousands of dollars. Some
presses' minimal run starts at 1,000 to 2,000 copies.
And that's just for the printing and binding. Add in
distribution, shipping, and promotional costs and -
well, you do the math. Even if you wanted to go this
route, you may not have that kind of money to risk.

Let's say you already have an Internet business with a
quality website and a quality product. An ebook is one
of the most powerful ways to promote your business
while educating people with the knowledge you already
possess as a business owner of a specific product or
service.

For example, let's say that you've spent the last
twenty-five years growing and training bonsai trees,
and now you're ready to share your knowledge and
experience. An ebook is the perfect way to reach the
largest audience of bonsai enthusiasts.

Ebooks will not only promote your business - they will
help you make a name for yourself and your company,
and establish you as an expert in your field. You may
even find that you have enough to say to warrant a
series of ebooks. Specific businesses are complicated
and often require the different aspects to be divided
in order for the reader to get the full story.

Perhaps your goals are more finely tuned in terms of
the ebook scene. You may want to build a whole
business around writing and publishing ebooks.
Essentially, you want to start an e-business. You are
thinking of setting up a website to promote and market
your ebooks. Maybe you're even thinking of producing
an ezine.

One of the most prevalent reasons people read ebooks
is to find information about how to turn their
Internet businesses into a profit-making machine. And
these people are looking to the writers of ebooks to
provide them with new ideas and strategies because
writers of ebooks are usually people who understand
the new cyberspace world we now live in. Ebook writers
are experts in Internet marketing campaigns and the
strategies of promoting and distributing ebooks. The
cyberspace community needs its ebooks to be successful
so that more and more ebooks will be written.

You may want to create affiliate programs that will
also market your ebook. Affiliates can be people or
businesses worldwide that will all be working to sell
your ebooks. Think about this? Do you see a formula
for success here?

Figure out what your subject matter is, and then
narrow it down. Your goal is to aim for specificity.
Research what's out there already, and try to find a
void that your ebook might fill.

What about an ebook about a wedding cake business? Or
an ebook about caring for elderly pets? How about the
fine points of collecting ancient pottery?

You don't have to have three masters degrees to write
about your subject. People need advice that is easy to
read and easily understood. Parents need advice for
dealing with their teenagers. College students need to
learn good study skills - quickly. The possibilities
are endless.

After you've writtten your ebook

Getting your ebook out is going to be your focus once
you've finished writing it, just as it is with print
books. People will hesitate to buy any book from an
author they've never heard of. Wouldn't you?

The answer is simple: give it away! You will see
profits in the form of promoting your own business and
getting your name out. You will find affiliates who
will ask you to place their links within your ebook,
and these affiliates will in turn go out and make your
name known. Almost every single famous ebook author
has started out this way.

Another powerful tool to attract people to your ebook
is to make it interactive. Invent something for them
to do within the book rather than just producing pages
that contain static text. Let your readers fill out
questionnaires, forms, even crossword puzzles geared
to testing their knowledge on a particular subject.
Have your readers hit a link that will allow them to
recommend your book to their friends and associates.
Or include an actual order form so at the end of their
reading journey, they can eagerly buy your product.

When people interact with books, they become a part of
the world of that book. The fact is just as true for
books in print as it is for ebooks.

That's why ebooks are so essential. Not only do they
provide a forum for people to learn and make sense of
their own thoughts, but they can also serve to promote
your business at the same time.

CREATIVE OFFLINE MARKETING - PART 2

Event Marketing – Ever see those plaza store events, like when a new Harry Potter book is released? All the stores get together and celebrate the launch of the book in different ways. Obviously there’s the bookstore release, but the local video and game rental store gets in the act. So does the family restaurant, ice-cream vendor, and arcade. Even the dry cleaning store can get involved and pump up their business, if they stick to a common theme. And this is all announced ahead of time (with appropriate press releases, etc.) so people coming down know what to expect. “Oh, great, we can get the book for little Sally, I can drop off my suit at the cleaners, my wife can go to the apparel store. What a great time this will be for the whole family!”

Start a Talk Show – If you have regular content to deliver that your target market wants, your own local talk show may be another avenue to cut through the clutter. Where I live there are plenty of local access stations that have these types of programs, and in most cases the community stations are free to air your programs. Think nobody watches them? Well, you’re not going to beat out American Idol, and even infomercials will likely edge you out, but informal surveys I’ve conducted tell me that people are aware of these shows, and sometimes watch all or a part of one during late night channel surfing. There are even some regular “shows” that some of the locals rely on for information they can’t easily get anywhere else. The key is to not do the same boring thing everyone else is doing.

In my local Rare Reminder newspaper, a local cable-access talk show host who DOES have people watching advertises for guests. If you can’t start your own talk show, why not appear as a guest on one? You can get a DVD recording of it to use as a lead generation device. You can get great leads that way if your target market is watching.

Word of Mouth / Viral Marketing – The key here is create something that people will want to share. Yes, the “tell a friend” scripts are good online. The gift certificate idea mentioned previously is another. But surely there’s something you can think of to really “wow” them. You want to make them say “Wait until Jane sees this!”

One of the keys to making this work (and any sort of lead generation device) is to know your customer’s lifetime value. In other words, what does your average customer in this market (using the type of lead generation you are doing) bring me in profits over their entire lifetime? Let’s say it’s $25,000. And let’s say your method of gathering leads converts 10% of leads into customers. Do you think it’s wise to spend $100 per lead of that type in your efforts? Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Volunteer – Besides making you feel good about helping a worthy cause, it’s a great way to network if you can volunteer where you come into contact with prospects (or people who have frequent contact with your prospects).

Unusual Places for Ads – I should say “unused places.” Wherever a space is zoned for advertising and it’s blank, there’s an opportunity to get your message out. The side of a van. The side of a dumpster. Wherever.

Be an In-house Speaker – Besides getting great fees to appear and speak, you establish yourself as the expert. And like your free local mini-seminar, it’s a great place to pitch your products and services.

In-house Presentations – JP Maroney talked about the stadium pitch on our call. I believe he was referring to a Chet Holmes article that talked about in-house presentations and closing the sale. I’m not going to say it better than Chet, so I’ll refer you to that article so you can read it yourself. Great stuff!

http://www.chetholmes.com/articles/increasing_your_sales_ratio.htm

Dimensional Mail – Or “lumpy mail,” as it’s known is a great way to get your letter opened! They just can’t resist the lumpy package. After it’s opened, however, your sales letter should do its job. If you have a successful sales letter, adding a dimensional object to it will almost always bump response. A great place to get these types of lumpy mail objects is from Mitch Carson at http://www.impactproducts.net.


TO BE CONTINUED....

CREATIVE OFFLINE MARKETING - PART 1

Package Inserts – If you’re going to mail out a product or package to a customer anyway, always tuck a sales letter for another product in the package. It won’t cost you any more, and when your customer receives that package, he or she will be pleased with the product (assuming your product isn’t junk) and be more favorable towards another purchase from you. You can also joint venture with other companies that target your niche market and get them to include your insert when shipping their product.

Mini-seminars – A great way to bundle up all of your products and services and sell them from the platform. It’s very inexpensive to rent a hall and put on a 2 hour presentation for your target market on something that interests them. You position yourself as the expert, and you get to pitch your products and services. Be sure to record the event and offer it to other prospects who may not be able to attend the presentation in person.

JP Maroney (http://www.jpmaroney.com) did this for a shoestring cost and raked in six figures as a result. Michel Fortin (http://www.successdoctor.com) has done this also, repeatedly, and to my knowledge has never failed to make money. Look at the model of the Big Seminar (http://www.bigseminar.com). Speakers don’t get paid, but still make money by pitching their products. It works, and anyone who doesn’t have one or more of these planned is missing out of a lot of extra potential income.

Teleseminars – Basically a conference call, we’ve all probably been on many of them. Some have organized them and have been speakers. They can be pure content (i.e. no obvious pitches) for strengthening social proof and building up anticipation for a new product to be released in the future. They can be a mixture of content and pitch. You can even arrange a series of them as a tele-course and charge big money to attend (Marc Goldman and Jay Abraham did this with a six-month long series, one per month, on joint ventures and deal making).

Voice Broadcasts – A very under-utilized technique. If you have an existing relationship with your customers or prospects, the Do Not Call list does not apply. That sets the stage for a great way to call thousands of your customers simultaneously when they are most likely to be away from home. You simply upload your customer’s phone numbers, record the message you want to leave, and the technology does the rest.

Example: “Hi, this is John Smith. Sorry I missed you, but I wanted to let you know that our firesale is ending tomorrow…”

Voice broadcasts work best when they are part of a sequence.

Example: “Hi, this is John Smith calling, from Smith Publishing. I’m sorry that I missed you, but I wanted to let you know about a valuable letter and free gift we’re sending to your home. You should be getting it in the next day or two. Just look for the bright blue envelope…”

Gift Certificates – It’s generally known that people will usually spend more than the gift certificate amount. So if you operate a jewelry store, and you mail your customers a free no-obligation $25 gift certificate, it’s usually a very sound investment. Most restaurant owners already know that people generally don’t dine alone, so by giving your customers a free gift certificate, they’re bound to bring in others who will spend more money on food and drinks. A good variation on this formula is the free birthday dinner. Generally, nobody is going to come in on their birthday and eat their free dinner by themselves. They’re going to bring friends, relatives, you get the idea.

Here’s a great way to use gift certificates to get referrals: Send a letter to your customers with three gift certificates. One they can use for themselves, and the other two they can give away to friends or relatives. They keep your customers happy (and happy customers are more likely to speak highly of you to others) and they compound that fact by letting your customers give the certificates to others, to whom they will sing your praises. It’s like a tell-a-friend script on steroids!

Bonus: Check out what JP Maroney did for a jewelry store client of his by using gift certificates at: http://www.copywritersboard.com/viewtopic.php?t=663

Coupons – Like gift certificates, coupons are also a great way to “touch” your customers and bring them back into your store (or website or whatever).

Contests – The sandwich chain Subway recently had a scratch-off contest, but you had to go online to see if you were a winner. Contests are a great way to get leads and generate sales. Here’s a tip: always include an unadvertised “second place” that everyone who didn’t win will get. Joe Vitale did that last year, and used an email and voice broadcast to announce your “second place” prize. I would have included a sequence of direct mail as well, but the premise is the same.

Also, the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest is a great example of using their product in the contest itself. If your product or service lends itself well to this approach, consider testing it.

Celebrity Endorsements – They aren’t as expensive as you might think (unless you try to get Sean Connery or Tom Cruise). The key is that you need to use celebrities that your target market recognizes as such. So Tony Rice would make a great celebrity for bluegrass and acoustic guitar enthusiasts. Not so much for gardening fans.

CD Salesletter – People generally won’t read 90 minutes worth of copy, but they will listen to it. The perceived value is much higher than a traditional salesletter as well. They can listen to it in their cars, on their walkmans (although today everyone has an iPod…why not use a podcast instead?). The point is that you can cram in a lot more information. You can do testimonials in their own voices, have sound effects or music. Anything to help advance the sale.

Thank You Letters – Whether you send gift certificates, coupons, a 2 for 1 special, a free gift, or just a friendly thank you letter to stay on your customer’s radar screen, these types of letters are memorable and encourage your customers to send you referrals. As always, these types of letters should be personalized, and never use a mailing address letter on the envelope.


TO BE CONTINUED....

TRADITIONAL OFFLINE MARKETING - PART 2

Radio/TV/Infomercials – You might be surprised how inexpensive you can get these types of slots, especially if you use remnant advertising. Study the best infomercials, for example (the ones you see over and over again…they must be working or they wouldn’t keep airing them), to get some ideas on how they are constructed.

Flyers – Who says you can’t hire a high school student to stuff mailboxes or stick ‘em under windshields? Obviously if you are selling a high-priced financial course, it would be better to target the windshields of a fancy hotel than your local Wal-Mart. And I believe the US Postal Service also prints them for you like they do postcards if you want to mail them. Check out http://www.usps.com

Networking – Your local Chamber of Commerce, trade shows, seminars, and anywhere your prospects hang out are all good opportunities for networking. In many cases, the hotel bar the night before the seminar is the best opportunity for making contacts. It’s usually more effective to try to capture contacts and leads than to try to close a sale on the spot, so get your elevator speech ready and have plenty of business cards on hand.

Telemarketing – Remember the “Do Not Call” list only applies to consumers, so if you do any kind of business to business selling, telemarketing is a viable marketing method you can use effectively. Also, the “Do Not Call” list may not apply to you with your customers or if you already have a relationship with your prospects.

A Trade Show Booth – A great place to capture leads. Again, a free report or gift does wonders. When you get a long line waiting at your booth, many people will stop by just to see what the fuss is about. Make your sales materials and sales people benefit-driven. Remember what your prospects are thinking: “What’s in it for me?”

Blimps, Banners, and Billboards – If it’s zoned for advertising and it’s blank, you have an opportunity.

Door Hangers – Those same high school students can help you with door hangers as well.

Circulars – Again, high school students can also help you hand out circulars, post them on community bulletin boards, on telephone poles, wherever. You can make a donation to your local church and ask them if you can leave a stack at their next bake sale or bingo event. And certainly you can arrange to have your circular included in your local newspaper or community paper. For your money, circulars are very inexpensive to print and distribute.

Card Decks – These stacks of index cards are mailed to targeted audiences. Each deck can contain anywhere from 50 to 200 cards or so, each with an advertisement or coupon. They may also double as a business reply card on back. Since your ad is mixed in with tons of others, it’s especially important to have a great headline and layout that will stand out from the clutter.

Card decks are inexpensive because all of the advertisers are sharing the cost of the mailing. They can cost as little as three cents a prospect for large mailings. Even for smaller mailings, they are generally cheap, which is good for testing.

Make sure you choose your audience wisely. Card decks are great for targeting a niche. Free reports or books work especially well here, because the person flipping through the cards will be attracted to the word “FREE.” As always, make sure there is a clear call to action. Multiple methods of response usually work better than a single method. For example, they can drop the card in the mail, call a free recorded message, go to your website, etc. And you may have some options with remnant space, so always try to negotiate a lower price (how hard is it for them to stick another card in their mailing…their costs are incremental and their profit is high even on remnant rates).

A couple other tips: When you see repeat advertisers in a deck, you have a pretty good idea that the deck is working for that ad. If that ad also targets your niche market, it may be a good one to test in. Also, test with copy that you already know works.

Value-Paks – Similar to card decks, “value-paks” are little booklets with multiple ads. They are mostly used with coupons, rather than business reply cards.

Ad Magazines – You’ve seen them. Magazines that are little more than a collection of space ads. They are usually local, and the ads in them usually aren’t direct response. By putting your direct response ad there, you stand out over all the other ads. But the downside is that these magazines tend to be less niche-focused (although there are certainly exceptions, with the real estate and automobile-themed magazines and newspapers).

Catalogues – Your catalog doesn’t have to look like L.L. Bean or the like to be effective. A good one to study with respect to the ads themselves is the J. Peterman catalogue (check out http://www.jpeterman.com).

Here’s a good way to start small and work up from there in developing a good catalogue:

a) Try a simple double-sided flyer first and test response.
b) Make sure you locate highly targeted lists, as the wasted cost of mailings is going to be your biggest expense.
c) Continue to expand, test, and tweak. Test everything—your layout, your copy, your prices—until you find the best combination.

TRADITIONAL OFFLINE MARKETING - PART 1

Don’t think of these methods as too simple or mundane. They are very effective when done right and combined with other techniques in this report.

Classified Ads – This is something everyone should be testing in some form or another. It’s great for lead generations. You should still have a strong benefit-driven headline and a clear call to action. Free reports work very well with classifieds. My local paper, the Hartford Courant even has an ongoing deal of 3 lines for 3 days – for free! Even adding more lines only ends up costing a few bucks. With a price like that, there’s no reason anyone with a website should not be testing ways to draw traffic to the site with classifieds.

Direct Mail – Nothing beats direct response when it comes to results-driven proven advertising. And messages sent directly to your highly targeted market via direct mail can deliver a terrific return on investment (ROI) when tested properly. There’s a wealth of information on direct marketing by Michel Fortin, David Garfinkel, Gary Halbert, Dan Kennedy, and many more experts.

Postcards – Yes, postcards are a form of direct mail, but it warrants its own category. Postcards are cheaper to produce and mail than full-blown direct mail packages or sales letters, and they are great for generating leads. Like classified ads, a free report or free gift often works well here. Postcards are also a great way to stay in touch with your customers and prospects, and they also work well as part of a sequence of mailings. A good place to go for customized postcards is http://www.usps.com (the US Postal Service website), because the USPS has partnered with a company that will print and mail your postcards for you! Best of all, you only pay for the postage (i.e. FREE printing costs). Hint: be sure to include yourself on the mailing list so you can get your own mailing as well.

Yellow Pages – Another great resource that is often underutilized or used ineffectively. Yellow page ads are great because when someone sees your ad, they are already in the market for your product or service. Yellow page ads need to be benefits-driven, with your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) stated clearly and boldly (remember, this is the one place where your prospects will see your ad alongside all of your competitors). You want your ad to stand out from the clutter. Use a direct response type of ad, and again, free gifts or premiums work well here.

Gary Halbert has written about yellow pages several times in his newsletter. To find them easily, just enter the following search at Google:

site:thegaryhalbertletter.com +”yellow page”

Another great resource that JP Maroney recommends is Alan Saltz’s course on the subject, available at http://www.yellowpagesprofit.com

A great thread on this topic can also be found on Michel Fortin’s forum at: http://www.copywritersboard.com/viewtopic.php?t=1652

Space Ads – If you’re going to do a space ad, it will generally get better results if you use the same layout as the editorials. Use the same font styles and sizes for the headline, body, etc. If the newspaper uses 2 columns per article on the page your ad will appear, use 2 columns in your ad. If they use 3 columns, you use 3. The “advertorial” approach almost always does better than traditional space ads that scream “ad.”

A great way to get very low costs space ads is to use what’s known as remnant, or standby advertising. Enter the following search in Google to see what I mean and to learn more:

site:thegaryhalbertletter.com +"Nancy Jones"

And you’ll learn to experiment in many creative ways to find out what works for you. A local advertising paper, the Rare Reminder here in the Hartford area, has classified ads and space ads. But I noticed that one “stone and mulch” company has their space ad featured upside-down in every weekly issue. At first I thought it was a mistake. But after seeing it upside-down week after week, I suspected they found that their upside-down ad stands out from the clutter. People think it’s a mistake and read it. Yes, it’s a gimmick. Would I do it? Only if it tested positively. And maybe it has for these folks. Food for thought.


TO BE CONTINUED.....

YOU CAN SELL ANYTHING ON EBAY - OR CAN YOU?

Over 100 million people are members of eBay.
Through eBay, you can buy items in almost any
category that you can imagine – at great prices.
You can also sell almost anything you can
imagine on eBay – people often sell items that have
absolutely no real value for very high prices. There
are limits, however, to what can be bought and sold.

eBay does not allow certain items to be auctioned
through their website. Services are one type of ‘item’
that cannot be auctioned – simply because it is not
an item. Some seller’s blatantly ignore this however.
The sell of other items is illegal, even if it isn’t being
sold through eBay. eBay restricts the sale of any
type of item that is considered ‘illegal for sale’ in any
other selling format. Illegal items such as satellite
descramblers are forbidden as well.

Anything that is copyrighted - such as copies of
DVDs, CDs, or software - may not be sold through
eBay auctions. You can, however, sell a DVD, CD,
or any software that you bought legitimately…as
long as you are not just selling a copy that you
made of these types of items. eBay does not allow
the sale of ‘replicas.’ A replica is a knockoff version
of designer items, such as purses, dresses, shoes,
or sunglasses that look identical to those that have
designer labels.

Items that are regulated by the state or federal
government are forbidden on eBay. These items
include alcoholic beverages, weapons and firearms,
all tobacco products, and both prescription and
illegal drugs. There are small exceptions to this rule,
however. If you have a collectable, such as a tin that
contains tobacco, you may sell that item if the
package has never been opened, and if you state the
contents of the package are not meant for
consumption. There are other conditions that must be
met as well when selling these types of collectables.

Any type or breed of animal or reptile may not be
sold through an eBay auction. This includes animals
that were once living, and are now stuffed and
mounted. This rule may also apply to items that are
taken from endangered species, such as Ivory. When
it comes to these types of items, when in doubt,
don’t.

Tickets may be sold, but it is illegal to sell tickets
for a higher price than you originally paid for them.
This is called ticket scalping, and it is illegal.
Lottery tickets are also banned from eBay
auctions, as well as raffle tickets. Again, if you are
not sure if your item is eligible for an eBay auction,
either don’t put it up for auction, or contact eBay to
get an answer one way or the other. Don’t risk
breaking the law!

THE EBAY ITEM LISTING RULES

Because eBay is such a huge marketplace, with
members from all walks of life, in almost every single
country around the world, it is no wonder that there
are many scammers lurking about. In order to better
protect the buyers, eBay has specific rules
concerning the items that can be auctioned off on
the site. These rules must be followed, or the
person posting the item for auction can be banned
from the site.

Even though there are numerous categories, items
that are put up for auction really only fall into one of
four categories at eBay: Prohibited, Questionable,
Potentially Infringing, and Approved. Approved is the
simplest category to define and understand. An
approved item is any item that does not fall into one
of the other three categories. That is fairly simple,
right?

After the ‘approved’ category, however, it starts to
get a little harder to understand – with the exception
of prohibited items. A prohibited item may not be
auctioned on eBay for any reason, under any
circumstances. Prohibited items include alcohol,
drugs, animals, tobacco, human remains or body
parts of any type, lottery tickets, and
governmental property. There is quite a bit more
on the list, and that list can be viewed at the
eBay website.

Questionable items are those that are not prohibited,
but are not necessarily infringing. Adult material falls
under the ‘questionable’ category. Tickets of any
type may also be questionable. Law enforcement
related equipment, as well as guns, knives, and
other weapons are questionable items. Artifacts,
food items, batteries, all hazardous chemicals
and materials are also on the list of
questionable items. You can auction questionable
items at eBay, as long as those items meet certain
conditions.

Potentially Infringing items are those that violate
copyrights, trademarks, and other legal rights. These
items are almost always some type of media, such
as software, DVDs, and CDs, but the list contains
other items as well, such as counterfeit items and
illegal recordings. You can find out more about
‘potentially infringing’ items at the eBay website
as well.

If you are unsure as to which category your item falls
into, you should contact eBay with this question
before setting up the auction. As a buyer, you
should carefully consider the consequences of
purchasing items that fall under one of the three
categories above. In some cases, it may be very
illegal to have some of those items in your
possession – no matter how they were obtained.
Before making such a purchase, or bidding on such
an item, you should find out more details about the
item in question, and then get some legal advice.

GETTING STARTED ON EBAY

Getting Started on eBay

You’ve probably heard about how much money can
be made on eBay. With dreams of quick riches and
easy money, you are probably ready to jump in with
both feet – right now! The best thing you can do if
you are serious about making money with eBay,
however, is to slow down. In fact, just stop for a
minute. Don’t rush straight in. Take your time, and
do it right.

eBay has over 100 million members. Think about
that number for just a minute or two. When you get
your eBay business set up, that is how big your
customer base will be – instantly. 100 million people
- 100 million people who are just waiting for you to
get set up and running so that they can throw money
at you! Well, not quite. It is true that there are over
100 million members, but at this point, they don’t
know that you exist. In fact, no matter how well you
do on eBay, most of them will never know that you
exist. 100 million is a very large number.

The most successful eBay sellers started out as
buyers – and you should too. This will give you a
sense of how everything works. It will also show you
how things are from the buyer’s side of the fence.
Let’s call this period of time ‘consumer research.’
You are literally studying how eBay works, from a
customer’s point of view. You may not realize this,
but this eBay buyer experience will
actually make you a much better seller – right from
the very start.

Really pay attention to the customer service you
receive from the buyer. Think about how you want to
be treated as a buyer, and take notes. Take your
time during this process. Interact with the sellers.
Get involved in hot auctions to see what they are
like. In your spare time, start making notes about
the hot items that you see. These notes will come
in handy later.

eBay works just like any other business. You have
to determine what people want to buy before you can
hope to be successful. There are very specific items
that sell really well on eBay – you just have to figure
out what those items are. There are many
resources for finding out this information. Start with
the lessons that eBay offers to their sellers.
Strongly consider attending the eBay University as
well. This is the next step in the process. After you
have had the eBay buyer experience, it is time to
learn how to be an eBay seller.

Read all of the information eBay provides for you at
the site. The information is free and you will learn a
great deal from it. Take full advantage of this – before
you start setting up your first auction or your eBay
store! By reading through all of the resources, you
will avoid making numerous mistakes that so many
before you have made. This is another step towards
building a successful eBay business. Once you’ve
made it through the learning process, you should
know everything you need to know to get started
with a money making eBay business of your very
own.

INCREASING YOUR EBAY PROFITS

While it is possible to earn a full time living on eBay,
it is a mistake to depend solely on eBay for your
income. You could be using your eBay auctions to
generate a huge amount of business for other
products and services! Many people, however,
fail to fully utilize eBay’s resources to this end.

eBay has over 100 million members, and they
gained those members by continually running major
marketing campaigns. Essentially, they do your
marketing for you. But you have to help yourself as
well. The key is to drive people to your auction page,
which in turn can be used to drive traffic to your
website.

You can sell many different items on your website,
including items that are up for auction at eBay! This
is a fabulous way to earn income that does not rely
on eBay auctions. You can easily accept website
payments with a Paypal account, so there is no
need for an expensive merchant account!

You are not allowed to include the website address
of an outside website on your auctions – you are,
however, perfectly welcome to place a link to your
website on your eBay ‘About Me’ page. Invite your
bidders and potential bidders to view your about me
page, and watch the website traffic roll in!

HOW TO SELL EXPENSIVE ITEMS ON EBAY

Selling expensive items on eBay is really no different
than selling low cost items. Essentially, no matter
what you are selling, it all comes down to how you
market the item. This doesn’t mean you have to
surf around the Internet placing ads here and there –
when it comes to eBay auctions, the marketing is
all done at the eBay website. Basically, when you
set up your auction, you are setting up an
automated marketing campaign.

First, you must determine what the value of your
item is, in three different ways. This will help you
determine what your reserve price is. On eBay, the
reserve price is the lowest price that you are willing
to accept for your item. First, have your high priced
item evaluated to determine what the actual market
value is. Next, research similar items from past
auctions at eBay to see what price those items sold
for. Finally, determine what the value of the item is to
you. With this information, you should be able to
determine the lowest amount you are willing to sell
the item for.

Set your reserve price, and then set your opening bid
price lower than $50 – no matter how high your
reserve price is. This is a marketing tactic. It will be
hard to attract potential buyers to an auction for an
item selling for hundreds or thousands of dollars –
but getting them to an auction where the opening
bid is only $50 is quite simple. Remember, you don’t
have to sell the item to anyone who bids less than
your reserve price – unless you choose to do so at
the close of the auction. This method of price setting
resembles marketing gimmicks used by offline
businesses that are simply designed to ‘get customers
in the door.’

Work hard on the description for your listing. Use
words that really describe your item well. Provide as
many details as possible, including details that prove
the authenticity of collectible items. Include pictures
of the item as well. Do not try to deceive potential
buyers! If the item has marks or scratches, simply
be honest about it, and make sure that the pictures
convey this as well. State how the item will be
packed and shipped. Also let potential buyers know
that shipping insurance must be purchased as well
– in case the item is damaged once it leaves your
possession.

For higher priced items, most eBay buyers feel more
comfortable using an escrow service. Offer this as
an option in your auction, with the understanding that
the buyer must pay for the service. This protects both
parties from fraud, and it makes many buyers more
open to spending the money to obtain the item.
eBay has partnered with an escrow service that is
commonly used for high ticket items.

HOW TO PRICE YOUR ITEMS

Many new sellers don’t realize how important pricing
is when it comes to eBay auctions. Many don’t even
realize that ‘pricing’ needs to be done. eBay is an
auction site after all! But eBay auctions are not quite
the same as the auctions you attend in the offline
world. In fact, quite a bit of work goes into
determining and setting prices.

Essentially, there are only three prices that can be
set for an eBay auction: the ‘buy it now’ price, the
reserve price, and the starting bid price. Of these
three, the starting bid price is the only one that is
required for an eBay auction. The reserve price and
the ‘buy it now’ price are optional. The starting bid
price is fairly simple – never set it higher than $50 or
so – no matter what your item is really worth. This
low opening price will get bidders to your auction.

Setting low starting bid prices creates the need for a
reserve price. A reserve price is the absolute lowest
price that you want to get for your item. You may sell
the item below the reserve price, but you will not be
required to. In other words, if you set your reserve
price at $100, and your highest bid is only $50, you
do not have to sell the item to the highest bidder.
You can close the auction without any negative
feedback or repercussions. Set your reserve price
at the absolute lowest price you are willing to sell
your item for. Keep what the item is worth, as well
as what it cost you in mind.

The ‘buy it now’ option will allow you to set a price,
and buyers can buy the item immediately, without
bidding, for that set price. This option can be used
for any type of item, and it should be set to match
your reserve, give or take a few dollars. This option
is great if you have multiple identical items to sell.

Shipping has a price, and potential buyers take this
into consideration when they are looking at an
auction. If you can see your way clear to offer free
shipping, you will find that people are placing more
bids. Make sure that your potential buyers realize
that you are offering free shipping!

Before setting any prices, you need to determine
what the item is really worth. The value of the item in
different markets might be quite high. However, you
are selling on eBay, and it is a different world
altogether! Find out the price that similar items sold
for on eBay before setting any prices. If it is a
collectable, or a high ticket item, have the item
evaluated to ensure that you aren’t going to lose
money!

HOW TO FIND GREAT DEALS AT EBAY

Everyone loves a great deal! Many people spend
quite a bit of time searching for good deals on the
items that they want and need – and when they find
those deals, they experience a certain amount of
satisfaction. These people typically haunt garage
sales, stores that are holding sales, wholesale
warehouses, flea markets, and especially online
and offline auctions. With the incredible number of
auctions that are constantly going on at eBay, it
can be difficult to find the items you want, at the
price you want to pay. But it isn’t impossible to find
great deals!

There are steps you can take to ensure that you are
getting a great deal on the items you purchase
through eBay. In fact, these same steps will also
help to protect you against fraud. Participating in
online auctions is a great deal of fun, but you must
use caution as well. This caution entails doing your
research before you place any bids.

Start with the auction in question. Make sure that
you read every word of the description and the
auction details. You can never have too much
information – especially if that information is
about an individual that you may be doing business
with. Pay special attention to what the description
and auction details do not say. For instance, is a
guarantee mentioned? Is the item new? Is it
authentic? Is there proof of authenticity? Look for
auctions that provide the right information – and
the right amount of information. Avoid those that
do not.

Who will pay the shipping and handling costs? Often,
the buyer pays these costs, and sometimes, the
seller tries to charge more than the actual shipping
and handling costs are. Beware of high shipping
costs, especially for items that will be auctioned
off at a very low price. Also note when the item is
supposed to ship after the bidding has ended.
Depending on what you are trying to purchase the
item for, it may not arrive in time.

Don’t make the mistake of bidding on an item simply
because it is a ‘good deal.’ It is only a good deal for
you if the item is something that you really want or
need. Many people simply bid for the sake of
bidding – or winning – without having any real need
or desire for the item in question. Before bidding on
items that you do want or need, check prices
around the Internet and the prices available from
offline sources as well. Just because it is on eBay
does not guarantee that it is the cheapest price
available!

Finally, learn more about the seller. Can you trust
them? What is their rating? Read their feedback
page! Failure to learn more about the seller can be
costly. Not everyone is as honest as you are – and
the seller may be trying to take advantage of people
that simply don’t know enough to find out more
about them. Sometimes scammers make their
auctions sound like really great deals. Beware of
prices that seem extremely low!

HOW TO AVOID LOSING TO EBAY SNIPERS

Sniping occurs when a bid is about to end. Some
yahoo rushes in and bids a little higher than the
highest bid as the clock runs out of time – winning
the bid. Sniping is against the rules at eBay, but it
doesn’t slow the snipers down! In most cases, even
if you report it, the sniper will get away with it, and
you will have lost the item that you wanted to win
so badly. Unfortunately, in order to avoid losing the
items you want to snipers at eBay, you have to
take on the sniper mentality. You also need to
snipe in a way that will not violate eBay’s rules.

Snipping can be done in one of two ways. The first
way is the safest, but not necessarily the easiest.
Simply keep up with the item you are bidding on.
Make a note of the date and time that the auction
will end, and make sure that you are in front of your
computer and logged into the auction well before that
specific time. The objective is to either bid higher than
the highest bid during the last few seconds – which is
what snipers do - or to simply make sure that you are
not outbid by a sniper.

Remember that sniping is against the rules, so you
should log in about thirty or forty five minutes before
the bidding ends, and get your bid up until it is the
highest bid. At that point, all you need to do is to
keep an eye out to make sure that nobody else
raises the bid. If you’ve been logged in for a while,
this cannot be considered sniping.

Using this method, you must be aware of automatic
bidders. It is very hard to bid against people who use
bidding software. That software has been designed for
the purpose of snipping, and your chances of
outbidding the software manually are very slim –
which leads us to the second method of snipping
– Snipping services.

Snipping services are very easy to find online, and
they are relatively inexpensive. You can also
purchase your own snipping software. If you want to
become a sniper, purchasing your own software is
usually the best way to go if you bid on a lot of items.
You just set up the software, tell it which auction to
watch and what the highest price you are willing to
bid is, and let it do the work - just remember that it
is against the rules, and while eBay seldom enforces
this rule, you will be running the risk of getting
banned from eBay.

Sniping is bad if someone does it to you, but if you
use it yourself to win bids, it can be a wonderful thing.
On the other hand, it may not be very ethical.
Outbidding someone is one thing, sniping is
something altogether different!

HOW TO AVOID EBAY SCAMS AND FRAUDS

Countless people have been scammed and
defrauded on eBay. eBay is a fun place to bid on
items and to sell items – but you must know how to
recognize a scam, and how to avoid them, them or
you quickly join the ranks of those who have lost
their money to eBay scams. Of course, if you are
scammed, there are some actions you can take the
correct the situation – but in many cases, the
scammer does indeed get away! The best option is
to avoid being scammed.

You can easily avoid many scams with the payment
method that you use – whether you are a buyer or a
seller. eBay owns Paypal, and in most cases,
Paypal is the payment method you should use. First,
as a buyer, if you are scammed or less than
satisfied with the item when it arrives, you can
dispute the charge easily, and demand a refund. The
seller must reply and show proof that the item was
shipped, and that it arrived in the condition that you
expected, or Paypal will return your funds to your
account.

As a seller, you can protect yourself by only
accepting Paypal. This will eliminate the chances of
receiving a bad check or having the buyer dispute a
credit card charge. Instead, they must dispute the
charge through paypal, and you of course will be able
to prove that you shipped the product. You cannot,
however, prove that the product arrived in the
condition that was expected. In this case, you should
demand that the product be returned to you before the
refund is issued.

Another common scam that buyers use is the
bidding scam. This type of scam is run either with
two separate eBay accounts – with one person in
control of both of them, or with two friends with
separate eBay accounts. A very small bid is placed
on your item, using one account. This is followed by
a very high bid, from the other eBay account. Right
before the bidding ends, the high bid is cancelled or
withdrawn, leaving the low bid as the winning bid.
This bid can only be avoided by setting a reserve price
– the lowest bid that can be placed is the same as the
reserve price that you set.

If you are an eBay seller, you can further protect
your auctions by placing a notice on your auctions
page, declaring that you have the right to back out
of the sale if you suspect potential fraud. As both a
buyer and a seller, also beware of spoofed emails.
These emails appear to be from eBay. The email
may claim that you need to verify your information,
and ask you to login to your eBay account, using
the link provided. If you follow that link, the site looks
exactly like eBay, but it is actually a scam to get
your eBay login details, as well as your credit card
details! eBay will never ask you to do this. If you
suspect a spoofed email, report it to eBay
immediately!

Don’t let scammers ruin your eBay fun! Just use
good common sense, and a reasonable amount of
caution, and everything should run smoothly. Report
suspicious activity to eBay, and if a deal doesn’t feel
right, simply back away from it and move on to the
next auction.