• Creative is at the Root of Your Success
• Email Creatives
• Banner Creatives
• Banner Rules
• Search Creatives
• Holiday Creatives
• & Much more.

Checkout the below video to see the full presentation:

Technorati Tags: banner ads, banner creatives, banner rules, Email Campaigns, email creatives, marketing campaign, Online Marketing, Pay Per Click, PPC, search creatives

Been doing a lot of consulting with my cousin (also a famous super-model, Frank Kern).  It’s been really interesting, as some of these people we’ve met with are serious badasses.  Many have 1 to 15 million dollar businesses… and regardless if they’ve made a ton of money or a few pennies, most have the same problem.

They ain’t got no funnel!  They have a front in product, but they don’t have a strong back-end sales sequence.

Even though this is kinda marketing 101, most people don’t do it.  It seems like a pain in the ass, but ironically it usually isn’t.  Most people are sitting on a TON of product but they just don’t know it.

I gotta admit that I can totally relate.

In 2007 I created a little product for $49.95.  It sold like CRAZY (over 70,000 downloads sold in under 18 months) but I never built a strong funnel.

So I didn’t have a killer back-end sequence and my average customer value was… well… $49.95.

Here’s why that sucks:

When my front end traffic died (which can happen to anyone at anytime, especially if using Google) then I didn’t have a strong enough customer value to go out and play with the big boys and do media buys.

See, let’s say you have a “football throwing” product that sales for $45 bucks.

If you don’t have any back-end, then your average customer is worth $45 bucks.  If Johnny Utah (from Point Break fame) ALSO has a $45 football throwing product, BUT he upsells them to a $97 a month program… then his average customer value might be $100+ per customer.

So if you and Johnny Utah are both trying to buy some banner ad space on ESPN.com, guess who is going to be able to “out buy” your ass immediately?

Yup, Ol’ Johnny Utah.

So there are two important points here:

1. Don’t get lazy and stick with just a front end product.  You’ll thank me later and it’s not NEAR as much work as you think it is.

2. Once you know your metrics (Demographics, Average Customer Value, Back-End Sales, etc) then move on from just plain old PPC.  Try buying some banner ads and media.

Technorati Tags: Average Customer Value, Back-end, Back-End Sales, Back-end sequence, Demographics, frank kern, google, internet marketing strategy, Killer, Online Marketing, PPC, PPV, Price Point, Product, Sales Funnel, traffic, trey smith, Trey Smith Blog

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Some time ago my travels took me to the red soil of Nairobi, Kenya. A gracious schoolteacher named George ran a foster care program for AIDS orphans. He took me on a tour of his world.

How incredibly different it was from mine.

Someone had given George a Toyota station wagon, so we didn’t have to walk. He drove me through twisting back-county roads of Kukoyu, dodging potholes the size of bathtubs and showing me how the other half lives.

We would pass bands of children walking along that road and women balancing jugs on their heads. I met all kinds of kids without moms and dads, mostly living with relatives and hopefully holding body and soul together.

I met one kid whose most recent home was a rock quarry.

We visited a wooden hut where a girl, maybe 9 years old, was playing in the dirt in her filthy pink dress. She was mentally handicapped and there was no one else around. George spoke kindly to her in her native language. He gave her something to eat. Eventually, we left.

As we drove away, I thought, “I’d never leave MY kid here. . .”

I met a 7 year old boy who was dying of AIDS for lack of a $1 bus ticket to get a free shot.

It was gut wrenching. All these people staring at me with that blank gaze of poverty and apathy. Paralyzed by a belief that there’s nothing they can do to make their life better.

I asked George if he ever helped any of these people start businesses. “Yes!” he nodded excitedly. “I will show you some of our micro loan recipients.”

George drives me to another village. We walk into a cobbler shop. A guy named Paul is fixing shoes. Paul had polio when he was a kid so he can’t walk. His crutches are leaning against the wall behind him.

Paul does NOT have that blank hopeless stare. His eyes are clear. He’s alert and he’s aware. He’s proud of what he does. His kids have uniforms, they attend school, they are well fed. He’s a respected man in the community.

His legs might not work right, but he’s not a cripple.

George explains to me that with a $50 business loan, Paul founded that cobbler shop and became an economic pillar of his community.

By American standards Paul is poor, but he’s not living in poverty. Paul doesn’t speak the same tongue as me yet when our eyes lock we both sense that we share a common language: The language of entrepreneurship. He’s proud of what he’s accomplished and he’s not asking for handouts.

My friend, there is one and only one path out of poverty. It ain’t UNICEF. Or the United Nations. It’s not even jobs or technology.

It’s entrepreneurship. It’s brave people like Paul.

NOW:

Imagine for a moment that someone had taken Paul’s $50 and sold him a sham “business opportunity.” Big bag o’ smoke. Hit & run. Ain’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

How much would that scam have cost Paul . . . really?

For one thing he’d be a cripple living in a rock quarry today. Begging on the side of the street. Not a successful entrepreneur. Not a guy with a house and a kitchen and 3 beautiful kids.

His 3 kids would be living with who-knows-who, or maybe no one. Paul’s cobbler shop wouldn’t be there in the middle of his village. People wouldn’t be getting their shoes fixed. A certain school would be minus 3 students. A seamstress would have sold them three less school uniforms. The vendors who sell him soles and nails and leather would have one less account.

His kids might be stealing food instead of buying it.

Do you see how these little tiny hinges swing big doors?

That’s why it really frosts my cookie when snake oil salesmen and film flam men sell bad business advice. They’re teaching people s*** that don’t work.

Doesn’t matter whether it’s Africa or America or Antarctica, it’s still a crime. I hope them scammers end up living in a rock quarry. They sure don’t deserve to be making megabucks, that’s for sure.

I got fleeced real good for the first few years of my business career. You probably know that story and if you don’t I won’t bore you with it. But anyway, I’m one of those people who believes things happen for a reason. Maybe one of the reasons that happened to me was . . . so I’d know what it’s like.

Cuz God forbid that I ever sell people big bags o’ smoke. Or that you should ever spend your money one of those bags o’ smoke.

I believe that when someone teaches how to fish, they should teach you with real boats and real fishing poles and real ponds. Not with a flight simulator. They should be able to prove what they do works. In real market conditions with real tools and real customers. Not shills.

Every time someone sells fake business advice, the world loses a few entrepreneurs. People who might have made it, but they couldn’t recover from that one loss.

Who knows… what might have been?

Every time someone delivers *real* business advice, the world gains a few entrepreneurs. More “Pauls”. More cobbler shops. More kids going to school. More food to go around. More for everyone.

I take my job – and your job – very seriously. What we both do matters. A lot.

If you have any kind of “real” business on the Internet; if you know that more clicks for less money, better sales conversion, improved follow up and a superior marketing strategy would put more money in your pocket; then I invite you to apply for this fall’s personal AdWords coaching session.

Not all are accepted, but if we let you in, I back it with a hugely ballsy guarantee and a promise that if you put in the effort, you’ll get the results. www.BobsledRun.com. Starts September 28.

Whether you live in Africa, Europe or America – whether you only learn, or if you teach as well – I hope you take your teaching, and your learning, very seriously. Because a very very important entrepreneur depends on the knowledge you apply:

YOU.

Perry Marshall

Technorati Tags: Google Adwords, Guru, Gurus, IM Gurus, internet marketing, Pay Per Click, Perry Marshall, PPC

Don’t sweat it, every new person learning Internet marketing has these questions… and some veterans too! So here’s some quick tips and tricks that can solve huge headaches for you in the future:

Keywords:

1. You need to kill ANY keyword that isn’t profitable. I basically try to give a keyword a couple hundred clicks, but it really depends on the cost. If I spend more than the potential payout of a sale on one keyword, then I typically bail.
2. If a keyword is getting a TON of cheap clicks… converting BADLY… but STILL profitable, then you definitely want to keep it (I know this is obvious, but I’m trying to cover all the bases here).
3. When a keyword IS profitable, then make note of how much you are spending… and what your average cost per sale is for that keyword. Now up the bid a little bit (hoping to get more traffic) and see if you make more or less per sale than you were before.
4. If a keyword IS extremely profitable, then try to think of other similar keywords that might convert well. Think of every variation of that keyword. (Use a thesaurus). SO many people don’t do this… and using a little brain power can go a long way.
5. Do your research and find long tail keywords. There are TONS of free keyword research tools available. Check out our video section where we walk you through a few of them.

Ad Groups:

1. Remember, Ad Groups are all about RELEVANCY. All the keywords in an ad group should be related in some way and paired with ads that match your keywords… or match the general theme of the keywords in that ad group.
2. Create at least two ads per ad group. Yahoo, Google, MSN… they all have an ad split test feature. USE IT. Write one ad that’s similar to the competition and another ad that’s more creative so that it stands out. (Always split test ads).
3. When creating an ad group, start with about 20 keywords. Add MORE keywords once you get an idea of the ad group’s performance. So start small… but go BIG when you find a profitable market.

Campaigns:

1. If a campaign is profitable, then you obviously want to keep it (and ramp it up by adding more keywords). You can also CLONE your campaign to possibly double your rate of success.
2. If a campaign is NOT profitable, then I typically don’t pursue it anymore. Move on… there’s plenty of fish in the sea.
3. If the campaign has a proven history of breaking even (or almost breaking even) then the SMARTEST thing to do would be creating a similar product for that market. Keep ALL the money. This way you could instantly make this “break even product” a money maker. Having a better sales copy will make you MORE money too.
4. Make sure you’re not wasting clicks on countries that aren’t BUYERS. Use the geo-targeting feature. START with the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Australia, but check to see what other countries would be good prospects for your product.
5. Set up “content network only” campaigns for Yahoo and Google and budget them separately. Content traffic tends to be CHEAPER and sometimes even converts better than search. (Actually the content network is how I got my foot in the door when I began Internet marketing.)
6. Be sure that your MONEY-MAKING campaigns are NOT turning off towards the end of the day, because your daily budget is too LOW. (Trust me… it happens.)

Alrighty… that’s about all for today, but here are some closing thoughts: Remember, Internet marketing is a NUMBERS game. Put a system in place that’s in line with your budget and allows you to test multiple offers. Don’t put ALL your eggs in one basket.

And if you make any changes to your PPC campaigns then make a note of WHAT you did and WHEN you did it. Because when you wake up one morning to find a campaign is suddenly making BIG money… you’ll REALLY want to know what you did to make that happen. 

Keep at it!
Mitch Sanders

Technorati Tags: clickbank, google, keywords, PPC, roadblock, traffic, yahoo