Adventures In Internet Marketing

I now have 2 Warrior Special Offers (WSO) going.  Wow, I’m feeling very productive!

The first one is the PLR article bundle special, see the previous post.  These specials go for 3 weeks so you still have time.

The new one is a report called Testimonial Power.  It came about after I asked for testimonials from new marketers who reviewed a new ebook I had written.  These new marketers had questions on how to write testimonials:

* Who do I write it to - you or the reader?
* What should it say?
* How long should it be?
* What should it include?

It got me thinking about the power of a good testimonial and what it can do for you and your business.  So I put together this report telling why great testimonials are so important, answered all the questions, and gave many examples of do’s and don’ts.

I even included my own recent little true story that still puts a grin on my face every time I think of it.
http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=262725

Maybe you’ve had these questions too?

Or maybe you’ve realized how giving good testimonials can give you a huge amount of exposure?

You can get it for the special discount of $7 and add it to your Internet Marketing Resource Library
http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=262725 

If you want to get it but don’t want to go through the Warrior Forum, please email me and I’ll give you the PayPal info.  peggy[at]peggybaron.com

For anyone interested, I have 3 new PLR article bundles I’m offering at a reduced rate on the Warrior Forum as a WSO.

Topics:

Going Green
Relationships
Resell Rights, PLR, and MRR

Sound interesting?  Check out the WSO for the details: http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=261661

If you’re on the hunt for PLR articles but those don’t suit you, I also have:

Toddler Issues
Kids Activities
Stress
Blogging
Blogging Report
Pet
Lawn Care
Gardening
Business Leadership

All at www.allstarplr.com

I promised I would list my results from the first giveaway I’ve every contributed to and here’s the full disclosure breakdown of opt-in numbers:

133 signed on for my IM blogging report
69 signed on for my Cookin’ Kids free newsletter sample
17 signed on to some of my other lists
I spent $17 for the upgrade
I made $8.50 when one of my contributors upgraded their listing

I think the IM blogging report sign ups are pretty good considering it was a brand new giveaway from Wonderful Web Women and probably not promoted as heavily.  Watch out next year though!  I am thoroughly happy with this giveaway because they were very helpful to newcomers and don’t bombard me with email like the giveaway I just joined does.

I didn’t know what to expect with the Cookin’ Kids free newsletter sample because the product wasn’t in the IM niche, so I’m okay with the 69 sign ups.

I really was surprised with the 17 people who signed up for my other lists.  I realize some were just signing up for everything I offer to (get more freebies, learn from me, become my personal stalker?? ;))  But it appears that some of them came from my giveaway product to my website and just picked up something that interested them. 

From the get go I paid the $17 for the upgrade which gave me a higher standing and a better page listing on the giveaway.  Unfortunately, I did move down the rankings as it went on because I didn’t have as many people join as others did.  I still think it was worth it for me to upgrade or I would have been waaaaay down on the list.  My products were also listed on the “Favorite Products” page.

So to recap:  219 new people (with some duplicates) to my lists and $8.50 out of my pocket.

Would I do it again? 

Absolutely.

This is what I was doing last week with my kids and my dad (orange hat) on the Wenatchee River in Washington state.  It was Class 3 rapids at times which was a blast! 

Even though it was 103 degrees out, we were told to wear partial wet suits as the water was a chilly 42 degrees.  We were quite wet by the time we were through, but we didn’t lose anybody overboard. 

How many times have you heard expressions like “give away your best stuff” or “moving the free line”?  I understand what they’re getting at, but I’m going to go out on a limb here [Please don’t smite me Guru Gods] and profess not to love those expressions.

 Don’t get me wrong - I like to give away free stuff and do it all the time.  I also love to help people as much as I can.  But I worry that when I give everything away for free that my work won’t be viewed as valuable or appreciated… because it’s free.

Remember the kid at school who used to give away all the good parts of his lunch in an effort to get the cool kids to like him?  It never worked and he just got used.  He didn’t make any lasting friendships and when he stopped giving away his good stuff, the kids ran to the next one in line who was willing to try the trade food for friendship route.

Then there was the savvy kid who would only part with his lunch if coin crossed his palm or he could trade his food for something of value.  This guy’s goods had perceived value and he had an actual following of kids who would ask him when he was going to bring this or that again or what was in his lunch that day.

This kid probably even sweet-talked his mom into throwing extra cookies into his lunch, and he just might have convinced her to buy a certain brand of chips because he knew what his buddies wanted.

Okay, I’ll stop with the analogy now before I get too carried away.  I was just pondering out-loud… don’t have anything new to sell right now, dang it.

So what do you think?  Go ahead and leave a comment.

Thanks,
Peggy

Shhhh…. the kiddies are still sleeping and I’m working in my pj’s here, trying to get a LOT done before they wake up.  Well the reality is, they’re teenagers and could sleep til noon if I let them.   It’s tempting!

Here’s what I’m up to these days:

     *  I’m working on a project with several other marketers that will put all our skills together on one website.  My field of “expertise” will be PLR.  It’s going to be an excellent place for new marketers to go and learn.

     *  I’m putting the final touches on my giveaway product for the Wonderful Web Giveaway.  If you’d like to get on board (and grow your list) you can do so here:  wonderfulwebgiveaway2008  It doesn’t start until June 19th so you have some time.  I think the deadline for getting your stuff in is June 10th or 11th.  If you don’t have anything to give, start with some PLR you have, add value, get new graphics done, and send it in.  You can do this!  Email me if you need help getting started. 

     *  I’m in the process of changing one of my website’s hosting.  If all goes well, I’ll move the rest of my sites over too.

     *  I’ve been offered a wonderful opportunity to join the team of a website I admire and respect.  We’re working out the logistics and then I have to decide whether I can commit.  I’m trying really hard to look at my bigger Internet Marketing picture to figure out how to have enough time to do all I want to do.  Am I an overachiever or just a glutton for punishment?

     *  I’m working up another PLR bundle on relationships.  I finished a new bundle not too long ago on PLR, MRR, and Resale Rights.  It’s a great bundle of 7 articles and it’s ripe for putting altogether as an ecourse or report.  You could even use it for the above-mentioned giveaway. ;-)  Here’s my main PLR site allstarplr.com.  If you don’t find anything you want there try Nicole Dean’s site, EasyPLR.

Time for some more coffee.  Why don’t you grab yourself a cup and leave me a comment here?

We get lots of thunder and lightening storms in the summer here in Denver, Colorado.  We turn off our computer and TV, and even head for the basement if it’s right over top of us.  It can get very dark and loud and a little scary. 

But it doesn’t compare to what the folks in Windsor, just 55 miles north of me (near Joel Comm’s turf), must have felt when the tornadoes ripped up their small town.  Talk about scary!

When I heard the news, I made sure my kids were inside and I anxiously watched the sky.  Luckily, we only got high winds and some hail.

If you’d like to help the Windsor folks out, you can go to www.unitedway-weld.org  

Should you start a newsletter?  Will it take too much time?  Will you run out of things to say?  How long should the newsletter be?  How often should you send it?

First off, your aim should not be to just “get it out”, it should be to offer useful information.  Secondly, you should keep your newsletters short.  People prefer something they can quickly skim and then use if they choose.

I suggest you follow a format similar to any of the newsletters you enjoy skimming, er… reading.  Be honest with yourself - can you really keep it up weekly, or is monthly a more honest estimate?  I suggest you don’t put any extra stress on yourself by trying to get a newsletter out weekly, unless you plan to outsource it.

Your newsletters can have any (but not all) of the following:

1.  Tip of the week.  Self-explanatory.  Provide a tip to solve any of your reader’s problems, and make it as short and sweet as you can.

2. Top Ten.  You’re the expert.  List your top ten tips for getting out of debt, the top ten mistakes people make with their websites, or the top ten garden pests in the Northwest.

3. Three Ways to ___.  With only three items to list instead of ten, you can go into more detail on each.  Plus it’s easier to come up with three!

4. Compare before and after’s.   Case studies work well here.  Before they tried product xyz for their acne and after, or how their office looked before they tried xyz organization system and after.  Add pictures, especially if you’re in the weight loss niche.

5. Checklists.  When you’re explaining something new to your readers, they will really benefit from a checklist.  They’ll even thank you for it.

Again, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.  Look carefully at all newsletters you receive and figure out what you like and don’t like about them.  If you don’t get very many (yeah right!) then sign up for some more. Once you get your system perfected, it’s easy to follow each time.  My Cookin’ Kids newsletter has:
     a very short personal blurb
     a recipe
     a cooking tip from an expert
     3 short related tips by me
     a plug for my product
     sometimes an interesting link to check out
     sometimes a short article
     a request for feedback
Each thing is short and sweet and my readers can get through it fast if they want to.

Woo hoo!

AllstarPLR is up and ready to go.  Please check it out and let me know what you think.  www.allstarplr.com   I’m a little brain-dead from loading up the shopping cart and doing little nitpicky things so if you find something that needs correcting, let me know!

I’ve got several niches covered and more on the way.  Please tell me your needs and I’ll see if I can cover them.

=> If you want to buy the blogging, pet, or lawn care bundles, I’m offering a discount on the Warrior Forum:  www.allstarplr.com/wso1

And again, you can sign up to be notified of new bundles and when you do you’ll get a couple of helpful goodies. [See descriptions in last post]

I look forward to your feedback.

Just a quick note to let you know where I am with my upcoming PLR article website.  It’s done!  It’s all ready to go! … except there’s this little issue with not being able to use my new shopping cart because my server isn’t saving my cookies correctly.

So, if you want to have a peek at it you can:  www.allstarplr.com  You just can’t buy yet.

If you want to sign up to be on the notification list, you can do that now.  When you sign up you’ll get my pdf about all the ways you can use PLR articles, called Profit With PLR.  At last count there are 51 ways to use PLR in the pdf.   Let me know if you have one I’m missing and I’ll add it to the ebook.  You will also get Mike Ambrosio’s ebook, PLR Cash Machines.  Mike is a fount of knowledgeable marketing info.  IMHO, Mike rocks.

I plan to add more article bundles on a consistent basis so stay tuned or get on the list www.allstarplr.com

Thanks,
Peggy