Tips & Tricks

Affiliate Marketing Techniques: Understanding the Basics

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If you have decided to make more money online with affiliate links.  There are a few things you need to know. One of the most effect ways is through email marketing.  Of course you’re going to need to build a list of people to send emails to first.  Here are a few ideas to get people to join your email list.

Customers who make a purchase from your site may also be interested in joining your mailing list. Promote your email list by creating a web page that showcases the type of material a subscriber would receive.

Also, make it easy for someone to sign up. You should never ask for a customer’s personal information. Only ask for a name and email address. Make sure to tell your customers that belonging to your mailing list will provide them with valuable information and discounts. Give your emails interesting subject lines, and communicate with your customers on a regular basis. Personalize your messages with a software program. If people see their own name in the subject line, they will be more apt to open the email. Try to put in quality information, including recent company changes, relevant product links and discounts or promotions. To increase subscription rates, let your customers know that subscribers get special deals. Thank your customers, and inform them when you have sales on similar products or services.

 

Understanding your customers will let you know what they are seeking. Younger audiences will be more open to making contact through social networking sites and less likely to respond well to email marketing. Try to find out what your rivals are doing, visit their page, get emails from them, and learn! Ask your customers to complete short surveys so that you can learn more about them. Remember what product you are providing when advertising on social networks. If your customers might not want to reveal that they use a certain product, they may be reluctant to interact with you through Facebook. To find the best strategy you should understand your audience.

 

It is imperative that you keep track of your client’s needs so that your affiliate marketing campaigns are always well targeted. It is important to get yourself established in the market, but be sure to take into consideration the needs and interests of your clients. Evaluate any comments they make, both good and bad, and then aim to provide what your clients are interested in seeing. This will keep the customers you already have happy and help attract new customers.

 

Success Tip #201

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“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

 

Your path toward personal success may not always lead you in a straight line. Most paths have hills and valleys with a wide array of obstacles in between. If your journey has taken longer than you expected, don’t get discouraged. Keep your road map in hand, and KEEP MOVING!

 

Success Tip # 201: Don’t waste energy worrying about past failures. Each day is a new opportunity to start fresh. Make conscious choices and celebrate each accomplishment. Your mind and body are energized by reaching goals — Create the evidence that you are confident in facing the challenges of this day.

 

Learn to embrace the freedom that comes from creating better results.

 

Cold Calling

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“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

-Robert Collier

The Basics

99% of internet markers (me included) don’t like cold calling. In the world of offline marketing it is probably the hardest part of the job. Quite frankly if you don’t like it and you can afford it, I would recommend outsourcing it. Hopefully you can get to the point where you no longer need to make cold calls, instead you can rely on online lead generation methods and referrals. However if your just starting out and you can’t afford to outsource it cold calling is a great way to get real paying clients.

Cold calling is the most effective lead generation tool, that’s why there is endless training material on how and how not to do it. I don’t consider myself a cold calling expert and like I said I don’t enjoy doing it, but I have done it with some success. Therefore this training will just be my own little spin on cold calling.

First and foremost when cold calling for me I know there is one thing that kept me from doing it as often as I should have…. fear. No matter what I called it or what I pretended it was all it really was fear. Now I was just fine in one on one meetings, in fact I excelled at closing deals. But there was just something about picking up a phone and calling 50 businesses every day and I wanted no part of it.

So what changed for me, well I realized two things. First the one thing that I hated more than cold calling was NOT HAVING CLIENTS and its repercussions. Second everything that I was doing was passive and I wasn’t doing anything that produced leads on a regular basis. With that in mind I decided that I had to focus on cold calling no matter what so that I could reasonable expect, legitimate meetings with business owners interested in my services.

Fear

I don’t know what it was like for you but I’m a fairly confident person. However there was something about cold calling that made me scared out of my mind. It wasn’t just hearing people say no but something more than that. So I knew that if I were going to do cold calling I had to do something about this fear that I was having. The problem was I would let my imagination go crazy with all of the things that could go wrong during the call.

My solution was twofold. First if for some reason I was feeling nervous or scared before a call I would just give myself 3 seconds and acknowledge it. Following that I would take 5-7 seconds take some deep breathes and visualize speaking with a business owner that is 100% happy and excited that I called because I can help grow his/her business. I visualized having a fun and enjoyable call with the business owner and setting a meeting to talk more about how I can help them. I take a couple more deep breathes and start to dial.

Value

Another problem I had when cold calling was a general lack in confidence. Not because I wasn’t confident in my skills or services I was offering but a lack in confidence in my approach. When I first started I was just trying to cold call to get a sale and do everything on the phone. Going back to the fear a little bit, I didn’t feel like I was adding any value to a business by just cold calling.

To help with this I decided to only call with some type of benefit to the business owner. Instead of calling with the “hey I can get you higher rankings” I offer some type of report, mockup, analysis just something to add value from my call. This way I know the business owner will get immediate value from my call and be more likely to have a meeting.

Offer

My last issue with cold calling was trying to close over the phone. I was never good at closing over the phone during first contact with a business owner. The easiest way for me to get around this was to stop trying! I felt more comfortable in a one on one meeting with a business owner so over the phone I would only to close a meeting and NOT a sale.

Script

Finally I developed that I was 100% comfortable with and could repeat in my sleep. Having a reliable script gave me more confidence and helped me close more meetings. Another thing it did was give me a foundation to use no matter who was calling my business. For example if a business owner calls me right now interested in a website redesign then I basically just start into my “website redesign script.” Obviously this is done in a natural manner and doesn’t sound like a script, but I am always ready to field a call and close a potential meeting.

So here is my exact script:

“Hello, this is Heidi can I speak to the owner (say business owner name if you know it)?”

“What is this call in reference too?”  (Gatekeeper)

“Who am I speaking with?”

“This is Pam”

“Hi Pam I’m hoping that you can help me out. <vague info about service>.” (note you never want to pitch the gatekeeper, by keeping the information vague she will be force to connect you with the owner)  

“Oh ok. Well you can just leave the information with me” (expect objections, just continue to until you speak with the business owner)

“Actually I should leave it with the owner directly”

“One moment please”

“Thanks”

…..

“This is {Owner Name}”

“Hello John, this is Heidi….. is this a good time to talk? I have some information about your business that will take 2 minutes”

 “Alright”

“I work with a company’s in <insert industry> that want to get more customers and more profits”

“What we do is help these companies increase the effectiveness of their current marketing by 300% or more”

“<Additional benefit of your service 2>”

“<Additional benefit of your service 3>”

“Are you the type of business that wants: more new customers, <benefit 2> and <benefit 3>?”

(do not say anything let them respond)

“Uhhh yes”

“What exactly do you do?”

“Well I would love to explain more of it to you so… lets schedule a meeting and I will go over <value proposition>. I have Tuesday’s and Thursday available which works best for you?”

“Tuesday I will have some free time”

“Great. My morning schedule is tight when will you be available in the afternoon, I only need about 15 mins”

“Let’s do 4 PM”

“Great see you then John”

I will modify this script accordingly to match whatever service I’m offering. Now as I mentioned before I don’t have to do any cold calling for my business. The only time I do any cold calling is when I want to get more leads into my funnel with one off services. So I may cold call a businesses that I think can use YouTube Optimization package or a new services I come up with. Having a reliable script that is natural is very important for your cold calling success.

What’s Next

You now have access to the exact script I use to promote my business and services. Please adjust it accordingly to match you and your services. It doesn’t not have to be exactly what I have here, you have to do what you feel most comfortable with. The most important thing with cold calling is that you do it until you achieve your goals. Also start early with your cold calling most business owners have the morning open doing office work and finishing work from the previous day.

If you want more information about cold calling be sure to check out the WarriorForum. There are lots of great threads and WSO’s about how to effectively cold call and build a successful business.

Cold Emailing

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The Basics

Contacting prospects via cold emailing can be an easy way to generate leads for your offline business. If you want this can be the first form of contact between you and all of the prospects that you’ve collected. I use cold emailing as a way to contact business owners daily because it is efficient and with the right swipe file very effective. If you have done your prospecting correctly you should have a large number of business owners contact information including their email.

This is the exact template I use, and it is quite effective. You simply have to adapt it to fit the services you are currently offering.

The Template

Subject Line: Looking for new <business type> in <city name>

Body:

“I live in<city name> and I recently decided I needed a new <business type.> I have done some research and it is clear that you are best choice available I was wondering if I could schedule an appointment….”

Would you like to get more email and submission forms like this form local customers.

As the owner of a local business in <city name> I too know how difficult it can be to generate new business. However we have been able to increase small business leads in your industry by 64% while reducing cost of marketing by 200%. You can find out more by clicking here.

<Your Name>

Business Name

Phone Number

P.S. This link  will only be available for one <business type> in your local area; we are making this information available to all of the <business type> in the area so act fast.

How it Works

Now lets look a little closer into why this email is so effective. With this email we are trying to get the business owner to say a series of micro “yeses” in order to get the Big Yes at the end which is visiting our website.

The subject line to any email is the most important part! Most businesses owners will open this email, because they think its coming from a potential customer. Also there is the settle hint of “new” in the subject line which implies that the person writing the email is looking for this service now.

The opening paragraph is also important because most email service providers will show the beginning of the email next to the subject line when the reader is still previewing the email. Plus when the business owner opens the email the opening paragraph will keep them reading our email.

We then transition and tell the business owner who we are and what we have been able to do for other businesses. Now I know some of you may not have results to put in this section but don’t worry. You can always research and find convincing stats about the effectiveness of mobile marketing, SEO, PPC, or whatever service you provide.

We then have a clickable link which will then take the business owner to your website promoting your offline marketing services. It should be a landing page where the business owner can get free information about the service you provide or watch a compelling video. In an earlier training I recommended you purchase some PLR about offline marketing services.

We then end by providing our contact information. It is imperative that you leave your phone number. You want it to be as easy as possible for a small business owner to contact you. Finally in the P.S., you will use scarcity by informing the business owner that the information is only available for one business.

Now once your email are sent you are done! Give some time for the business owners to respond. I typically wait 24 – 48 hours before following up. I start by contacting all of the leads who tried to contact me either via email, phone call, email submit etc. I will then contact any of the businesses that received the email and didn’t try to contact me via warm calling. If the business owner is not interested just move on, there will be plenty of interest in your services.

What’s Next

You should create a base email marketing template and funnel. Decide what page you want to send your leads too and what your follow up sequence will include. Remember when creating the email you are trying to get a series of small yeses to get the business owner to visit your site. Be sure to remember the purpose of each section of the email. Finally be sure to track your email marketing efforts. You want know when to follow up with the prospect and maybe even split test different aspects of your emails. I typically do this in an excel spreadsheet. You are now ready to begin sending bulk emails to business owners to attract new business.

Auto Calling The Basics

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One of the most effective tools used for businesses is an Auto Dialing Software. Now this isn’t cold calling, this is getting your marketing message to an unlimited number of businesses with very little work. In this training I will show you exactly how to set this up for your business.

Auto Calling gives you the ability to call literary hundreds of business owners at once with auto dialing software. From here you have different options including having someone be redirected back to you live or (and my personal favorite) going through a pre-sales funnel of prerecorded messages. The best part about this is you don’t have to do anything until a prospect wants additional information from you.

Method 1: Instant Sales Call

Let’s walk through the first option of having a prospect call be redirected to you. First you begin by getting the phone numbers of your prospects and inserting them into your auto dialing software. You will then use a prerecorded message prompts the prospect to “press  1” for more information. After which prospects will press 1 and be redirected to your main phone line or simply hang up.

This method is great because prospect that “press 1” immediately become hot leads that is calling you! They want to know more information about the service you provide. Now you can decide if you want to set a meeting with your new lead or sale them your services right on the phone.

The most important part with this method is getting the right prerecorded message, which prompts the business owner to “press 1.” Lets look at a sample script of an effective prerecorded message when using this method:

“Hi, this is <Your Name> with <Business Name> we specialize in getting more leads for <Your Nice>. I have helped increase local leads by 64% while reducing marketing cost by more than 200%. Give me 5 minutes and I can show you how to increase your customers and ROI  I guarantee it. This opportunity is limited to one <Business Type> in the area so press 1 now to speak with me immediately.”

OR….

“Hi, this is <Your Name> I will be delivering 5 free leads to the next <Your Niche> that calls me! Press 1 now to be transferred to me immediately and claim your free leads”

Now both of these are just examples of some script that I have had success with in the past. Feel free to use them yourself or adapt them how you see fit. The most important thing is creating an attract offer which entices the business owner to press 1. You must always be prepared to answer your phone and go immediately into sales mode to either close a meeting or close a new deal!

Method 2: Virtual Sales Funnel

This method I like a little better than the first because you can send each lead through a virtual sales funnel all on autopilot. First you take you list of prospect’s contact information and put it into your auto dialing software. You software calls all of the numbers at one time however you don’t want the prospects to pick up. Instead you want to leave an enticing voicemail. Your voicemail will prompt the business owner to call you back during normal business hours. When the business owner calls you back they will then be sent to a second recording which further explains your services. At the end of the message you will prompt the business owner to leave their contact information. You now have a list of business owners just waiting for you to call and sale your services.

Again the message that you leave the business owners are very important, however at the end of the funnel you again have red how leads ready for your marketing services. Here is an example of the prompts I use when selling mobile sites:

MSG 1: Hi this is <Your Name> I am having some trouble viewing your website, please give me a callback at 123-456-7890

Hint – a good way to ensure you get the business voicemail is to schedule your calls to go out early in the morning (2am – 4am) this way no one will be in the office. However this will not work if you are working in a niche that offers 24 hour services.

(Business owners call back and directed to second prerecorded message)

MSG2: Hi <Your Name> thanks for giving me a call back, sorry I am unavailable at the moment. The reason I called was because I was on my mobile phone and couldn’t view vital information about your business because you website wasn’t compatible. This could be making you miss out on up to 36 new clients per month. So I created a free mockup of how what a new mobile website for you website should look like! If you would like your free mobile website please leave your Name Phone Number and best time to reach you and I will contact as soon as possible. We are only offering a limited number of free websites so please make sure to leave your information.

Thanks!

(Interested business owners will leave their contact information)

What’s Next

Now that you understand the two methods you can start to implement this system into your lead generating methods. Decide which approach works best for you (or split test the two) and create a prerecorded message. A good thing about using this approach is that you can use a larger list of prospects because those not interested will naturally fall out of the funnel. This method is used by some of the biggest companies in the world because it is so effective. You will be getting hot leads that are asking you to sell to them.

Direct Mail The Basics

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Direct mail is a great way to not only get new clients but also scale your business for 20, 30, 50 or even 100 clients! A direct mail campaign that is properly implemented can have the highest success rate when compared to your other lead generation campaigns. The hardest part about direct mail is getting the business owner to open your package. But the contents of your direct mail piece should be engaging enough that business owner will call back. Finally when following up with business owners you can refer to the “correspondences” you sent so you are now warm calling. Direct mail is a great lead generation system and a must for your start up business.

Packaging

The first and most important thing when it comes to your Direct Mail campaign is the packaging. Now there are many different options but the two that work best are Priority Mail Envelopes from USPS.com or Envelopes from Fedex.com. Both are equally effective and will greatly increase the chance of your direct mail piece being opened by a business owner. Typically information that is mailed via Priority Mail or FedEx tends to be important therefor a business owner will surely open it.

Another option that has been getting a lot of attention lately in the world of direct mail is the use of Bank Bags. These are simple bags that you can use to package you direct mail piece. Again the purpose of the packaging is to ensure your marketing piece is read by the business owner. Although this method may be a bit more expensive will it will greatly increase the chances of getting new leads and new clients.

DM Contents

Now that the business owner has opened your direct mail piece you MUST immediately grab their attention. The best way to do this is with $1.oo bill attached to the top of your marketing piece. This is an old direct mail gimmick that makes your report stand out and more memorable when you follow up. The $1.00 bill trick is the only method that I use when sending direct mail pieces.

By now you’ve successfully got the business owner to open your DM piece, you have their attention now its time to get a new lead! This is done with the contents you send to the business owner. Now it depends on the type of services you are selling the particular business, but you can create some type of personalized attractive report showing them their pain. This goes back to knowing your prospect. Simply create a report which shows their pain and how you can help.

For example if you are selling SEO services you can send a report showing the top keywords for an industry and how many leads the top ranking site can expect to get. Another option is for those selling mobile websites. Create a short a short report showing a non-optimized mobile site compared to a mock up site. For both examples you can create a general template and plugin different business information then send the report.

Finally, at end of your report you need to include a definite Call To Action (CTA). This is what makes the difference between sending out free and information and getting new leads. End your report by telling the business owner to call you back so you can talk more about the information you provided. You can also inform the business owner that you will be following up with them within a couple days if you don’t hear a response.

Follow UP

Although DM is very effective in lead generation it still requires some follow up. The two methods I use for follow up is warm calling and/ or sending a “lumpy” mailing. First I say warm call because since we know the business owner will open and read the DM piece we can assume they know we will be following up with them. Therefore the business owner should be expecting our call. My follow up warm call script would go something like this:

You: Hello this is <your name> I’m calling about the correspondence sent to <business owner name> on <insert date>

Sectary: Ok I will get him for you

….

Owner: Hello this is John, who am I speaking with?

You: Hey John this is <your name> I’m just calling about the report we sent you on <insert date>

The one with the $1 attached…

Owner: Oh yes I remember that, I looked it over and…

 

Now proceed to cover the report answer any question the business owner may have and set a meeting!

Numerous deals have been closed because of a warm call follow up. Most business owners want to call you back especially if you do a good job of showing how you can help them. However they are busy, so you must follow up.

Finally if you are still having trouble getting in contact with a business owner, I will follow up by sending some “lumpy” mail. These are just little items used to get the business owners attention and let them know that you are serious about helping their business grow. A good example of a lumpy mail follow up I often use is Shredded Money. I will add the line “your website costing you money” or “stop wasting money on ineffective adverting!” Of course after the lumpy mail is sent I will follow up with another warm call.

What’s Next

Before going out and investing in postage or direct mail pieces I would suggest visiting the warrior forum and finding a more detailed course about direct mail. You will be able to find a more complete step by step guide and templates to use for your direct mail efforts.

Find a good template that works for you. Direct mail does take an initial investment compared to other lead generation strategies, but as I stated before it is also one of the best. I would recommend starting off by mailing 20 of your top prospects. Most importantly be sure to follow up with each of these clients. Even If you close one new client from direct mail you will easily cover all of your initial expenses. Simply continue to repeat, improve and scale your DM process until you have reached the desired number of clients!

Choosing Your Niche

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“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
― Confucius

Your Niche

Welcome to day number 2 of your 30-Day Offline Marketing Empire Private Coaching. This training will cover one very important topic, choosing your niche. When most internet marketers decided to venture in the world of offline marketing they are looking for any business they can find. However dealing with multiple niches / industries / verticals can be an absolute nightmare. So today you will be choosing a niche that you can laser focus your marketing efforts on and completely dominate.

By the way, this is how all of the big marketing companies do it. In fact when I worked with the fortune 500 marketing firm all we did was work in the HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) industry… NOTHING ELSE. But we did it well, and we served over 500 of the top HVAC dealer across the US.

So I want to make this training so simple that no one can fail. When deciding what niche to target there are a couple of things that you should consider to ensure that you are working in niche that will be profitable in the long run. To do this simply ensure that your niche falls within one of the following criteria:

  1. High Profit Margin:  ensure that every new customer you bring in the client almost covers (or very nearly) the cost of your services. This will help justify the prices your charge. This is basic business principles here, if your marketing services cost $2,000 per month but you bring the business in $6,000 in new customers then any business owner will be happy to pay that.
  2. High Repeat Customer Percentage: these types of businesses charge an average on a per customer basis however those customers come back multiple times per year. So if you bring a business 5 new customers per month, and those same customers visit 3-5 times per year then the company is happy to pay for your services
  3. Highly Aggressive / Competitive Marketing:  the highly competitive markets are already spending a lot of money on aggressive types of advertising. The also tend to have large marketing budgets. Best of all these markets still focus mainly on traditional advertising, and what little online marketing they do employ tends to be ineffective
  • Medical Professions
  • Home Remodeling Companies
  • Lawyer / Attorneys
  • Construction Companies
  • Accounts / CPAs
  • HVAC Company
  • Plumbers
  • Mechanics
  • Hair Salons
  • Electricians
  • Carpet Cleaners
  • Real Estate Agents
  • Insurance Brokers
  • Independent Car Dealership
  • Nursing Homes / Retirement Homes

There are certainly more business that fall under the above categories, these are simply ideas to help get your mind going in the right direction. When deciding on your niche just be sure it meets one of the above mentioned criteria. Do some research find the niche that fits you best. Maybe you want a high profit margin niche so you can charge premium prices. Or maybe you want niche with more repeat customer so you can deliver more leads monthly. Whatever it is for you find the right balance between one or multiple of the criteria.

Now some may suggest that you find a niche that you are passionate about or have past experience with. However that is not necessary, what is important is that you choose a niche in which you can spend a lot of time researching. So if you hate going to the dentist and don’t want to learn about dentistry, then you should avoid that niche.

Throughout the coming months you will spend a lot time researching and learning about the niche you choose. You will be heavily involved with the niche on a daily basis.  Therefore it is imperative that you choose a niche that you don’t mind learning about and work with for the foreseeable future.

Niche Prospecting

Now before you begin prospecting, you must clearly understand the difference between prospecting and lead generation. Prospecting is when you research information about potential leads. For example simply finding the phone numbers of 100 Lawyers is prospecting. These prospects must be filtered before you can actually consider them a viable lead. This section of the training will be about prospecting for potential leads in your niche.

To begin it is good to start in a local area which you are familiar with. For most this will likely be the location they currently reside. Next simply combine your area with the niche you will begin focusing on. For the sake of this training we will use the “Houston, TX” area and the “Kitchen Remodel” niche. Now before we even begin for businesses that fit this description we must first set some basic prospecting guidelines.

  1. The business must meet our niche criteria
  2. The business must already have some type of online presence
  3. They must have invested in online marketing (past or present)

If you have an area and a niche that meets theses guidelines then you are ready to begin prospecting for new leads!

The first place to start is Yellow Pages. Simply start by typing in your keyword phrase (niche + area) or in this case “Kitchen Remodel Houston, TX”

We are prospecting on yellow pages for a very specific reason. All of the businesses that advertising on Yellow Pages have pay to be here.

You will be able to click on any of the business listings because they already meet all of our prospecting guidelines. From Yellow Pages you can then go to the business’ website and record some basic information including: business name, address, phone number, email, website address etc.

Pay close attention to the business listed on the top and side under “Sponsored Listing” or “Featured Listing.” Much like Google PPC ads these businesses have paid ever more in an effort to get more customers!

Here are some other resources that list businesses with paid advertising:

Prospecting is a critical step in not only getting your first client but also in building your business. Use all of the resources listed above to find as many prospective companies as possible before continuing onto the next training. If you local area is small, expand into neighboring city or towns until you have multiple businesses. The more business you collect in the prospecting the higher you chances of success!

What’s Next

Now that you’ve made it through training number two, its time to take some ACTION!

Make sure you pick a niche that you are comfortable with and meets the criteria for long term success. Once you have chosen your niche and area you want to focus on its time to start prospecting for potential leads. Remember there is a difference between prospects and leads, so be sure to remain conscience of this fact during this stage. Finally be sure to visit all of the resources provide so you can find prospects the meet the guidelines of a good prospects. Record as many businesses as possible because the more effort you put in now the more new clients in the long run.

 

Starting Your Offline Empire

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Starting Your Offline Empire

“Whenever you see a successful business, someone made a courageous decision.”

-Peter Drucker

The Basics

When starting any business there are a few things that you should have in place so you can present your business to other local business owners and be deemed an authority. Some of the items mentioned in the section are general things that any small business owner needs others are things specifically for Internet Marketers.

Business Needs

Business name

  • Think about the image that you want to portray when you’re picking your business name and what you want your company to represent. The most basic of course can simply be <Your Name> Marketing Group or <Your Name> Internet Marketing. You can also go with something more general like Local Marketing Experts LLC . Either way having a real business name is better then approaching a small business owner and saying “Hi I’m <Your Name> and I’m a freelance internet marketer and I can rank your website in Google.”

Business License

  • Before I begin this section I would like to say that the information is in no way shape or form legal advice and you should consult with proper legal representation. With that being said I would suggest that any new business start a LLC (Limited Liability Company). In most states you can visit your local courthouse and set this up for a nominal fee. You also have the option of visiting a website like Legalzoom and completing the paper work online. Either way once everything is set you will be able to do things like open bank accounts in your company name, fill tax returns etc.

Business Cards / Marketing Material

  • Next you may want to invest in some branding material for your business. For example you will need business cards (VistaPrint), which you can leave with prospects and clients. There are plenty of templates to chose from you just want to make sure your basic information is readily available: Business Name, Your Name, Address, Phone Number and Website.
  • Invest in other office supplies as well including company letterheads, brochures, and flyers. You can visit GraphicRiver to get great packages for everything that you will need to brand your new business.

Now those are some of the basic things that any small business will need when starting up. As a new small business owner this includes you. Investing the money in these items shows that you are serious about the success of your new business. Moving on, the following items are must haves for someone starting an internet marketing business.

Web Marketing Needs

Business Website

  • You will need to get a domain name (does NOT have to be keyword rich) and create a website to promote your offline services. Personally I suggest using WordPress for all of your website needs. There are plenty of templates to choose from, you can even outsource the work if you like. Your website is very important because it basically is proof that you can do what it is your selling.
  • Now it doesn’t have to be some expert looking blog with thousands of post. A few pages including: services offered, portfolio, testimonials, a slider and contact page will suffice.

Mobile Optimized Site

  • If you are using WordPress as I suggested you will have two options for mobile options. First you can use a theme that is “responsive” which means your website automatically adjust to any screen size it is being displayed on. You also have the option of downloading plugins which convert your website into mobile friendly versions.

Social Media accounts

  • Nice optimized social media accounts are a must for your business especially if you will be promoting these services.

Payment Processing

The next big question I get asked by those starting a new business is, “what do you use to process payments?” The easiest and most effective is PayPal. Everyone knows and trust PayPal so you don’t need to explain to offline clients what it is. I use PayPal to collect payments from all of my clients. Now you may have heard of horror stories about PayPal accounts being frozen, however that has never happened to me and I don’t think it will happen to you. As I mentioned before once you set up an LLC for your new business you will also be able to set up a bank account for that business, when that is done you will be to also create a PayPal Business account as well. It is very easy to do and this makes it much easier to separate your business gains from personals gains. In the event that you want to research other payment process companies here are two other popular choices.

Freshbooks

  • FreshBooks has been around a long time and lots of business owners use Freshbooks for their payment processing needs.

WePay

WePay is an online payment processor similar to PayPal. However it is not as well known. It does include many of the same features as PayPay. Finally one important part to any Internet Marketing Business are the tools that we use to achieve our marketing goals. With that in mind I would like to show a list of the tools that I use most often in my internet marketing. Now I have tested and wasted a lot of money on bogus internet marketing tools, and some that were too time consuming to learn how to use so they are not shown on this list. Theses tools are the best of the best in terms of what’s needed for an OFFLINE Marketing business.

Google KWT Tool

  • Quite simply…. “old faithful”

Market Samurai

  • This tool is a nice combonation tool for keyword research and Pay Per Click research

Places Scout

  • This tool is the swiss knife of my offline marketing efforts. You can pretty run your offline business using this tool only

Opensite Explorer

  • This is the only tool that I use for my backlink analysis. Best of all they offer a free 90 day trail, which is more than enough time for you to get real value out of the tool!

Semrush

  • The tool is crucial in both my initial client website analysis and competition analysis. This tool will show you all of the keywords that a website currently ranks for and all of the PPC keywords the website currently targets. It also creates great graphs which I use in my initial client proposal. This is a must have tool.

Backlink Indexer

  • This tool is absolutely amazing, it automatically builds backlinks to your backlinks. This helps makes your backlinks more authoritative and creates more link juice. I use this tool on all of my backlinking strategies.

Fiverr

  • This is the easiest and cheapest outsourcer you can find. Most of the work is quality and you can find outsourcers that you can use for the long run.

Bookmarking Demon

  • We all know that search engines are relying heavily on social factors when it comes to the pages they rank. Well This handy tool will automatically set up social bookmarking accounts and automatically create high PR social backlinks for your sites. This tool literally saves me hours of work and makes my rankings skyrocket.

Paymo

  • This is a handy time tracking software. Keeping track of your time is very important especially if your a “One Man Army” or if you charge for work by the hour.

Basecamp

  • Project management can become very difficult if you are keeping track of everything your doing at all times throughout the month. This is a great solution for your project management needs.

Local Business PLR

  • You may want to invest in some Offline Marketing PLR or create some of your own. There are warriors that have great material out there to help you promote / introduce your offline marketing services.

Call Fire

  • Call tracking for all of your offline marketing needs. Call tracking enables you to see exactly how many leads you marketing efforts produced. Call Fire in particular has some great features that you can use to get new clients for your business. Highly recommend.

What’s Next

Now that you’ve made it through training number one, its time for the hard part…. TAKING ACTION! To begin make sure you start getting the items you need for your starting your business. That would be setting up your LLC, ordering some marketing material and getting your domain name. Also do some research on each one of the offline marketing tools I covered and test a couple out. We will be covering all of the tools throughout the next thirty days so it will be nice if you can use the tool when we cover it in the training.

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