The S.W.I.S.S. Money Blog | Entrepreneurship, Online Marketing and Making S.W.I.S.S. (Sales While I Sleep Soundly) Money

6 Ways to Overcome Click Inertia

by Adam Kreitman

A few months ago I introduced a concept I call Click Inertia.

Click Inertia is the resistance that your prospects have to moving their index finger just that few hundreths of an inch to click on your ad, blog post, email, link, video, etc.

It’s the biggest obstacle to your online marketing success because clicks make the web go ’round.

Here are 6 ways you can get your prospects to overcome Click Inertia:

Be Somebody. Do people know who you are? Have you made a name for yourself in your given niche? If so, that name recognition will go a long way to getting people to click on your links. If they’re familiar with you, and better yet, know you, like you, and trust you, they are much more likely to click on your links than if they don’t know you from, well, Adam!
Tell a Story. People love a good story. An affinity for stories is ingrained in the human brain so being a gifted storyteller is a huge plus for an online marketer. If you can weave your message into an intriguing storyline, watch the clicks come flooding in.
Write Great Headlines. How can you not click on an article with the headline “8 Ways to Make Your Message More Spreadable Than Syphillis in a Slovakian Steamroom?” This gem is from my approachable friend Scott who writes some of the most intriguing, and clickable, headlines you’ll ever see. Writing powerful, attention grabbing headlines is a surefire recipe for overcoming Click Inertia.
Make a Strong Offer. Study some of the great direct marketers like Claude Hopkins, Eugene Schwartz, or Dan Kennedy and learn how to craft a powerful offer. Place a strong, compelling offer in front of the right audience and they’ll be like moths to a flame (in the sense that they’ll be very attracted to your offer and click on it as opposed to flying to their firery deaths!).
Provide Value. Can you provide genuinely valuable information to your prospects? Can you help them solve their most pressing issues? Can you improve their lives in some way? Do that, and do that on a regular basis, and watch your prospects resistance to clicking on your emails, videos, blog posts melt away.
Eye-Catching Images. I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” I don’t know if that’s true or not, but what I do know is using eye-catching photos or pictures (especially in your banner ads) makes a huge difference in whether or not your prospects will notice them and, more importantly, click on them.

Do you have any other ways to overcome Click Inertia? Please share them in the comment section below.

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The 4-Letter Word Missing From Most Social Media Strategies That Dooms Them to Failure

by Adam Kreitman

Small business owners are rushing to the promised land of social media to save their recession ravaged businesses.

They’re frantically signing up for Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and other social media sites because they’re being told they have to be there. And social media experts are making a fortune selling the “secrets” to getting tons of Twitter followers and Facebook Fans/Friends and on and on.

But most of the small business owners flocking to social media are not going to make one penny from their efforts. The reason is because most social media plans leave out one absolutely critical piece of the money-making puzzle.

This piece of the puzzle is a four letter word that seems to get fouler and fouler to most of the population with each passing year. The mere suggestion of it makes most social media experts shudder in their tweets.

What is this vulgar word?

Sell.

Yep, I said it. Sell.

If you want to make money, you have to sell. Whether it’s on the phone, face to face, in print or in the world of the Internet and social media, to make money you have to sell.

Sell yourself.
Sell your products.
Sell your services.

Last year, there was a huge infoproduct launch online about how to make money with social media. The promotions teased prospects with headlines along the lines of “Discover the Secrets of How I Got 4 Bazillion Twitter Followers in 11 Months.”

What I found interesting about the launch of this product about making money from social, however, is that they didn’t actually make money from social media. All the heavy selling was done using time tested direct marketing principles that were delivered using email autoresponders and landing pages with video sales letters and long copy sales letters.

No doubt that using social media and, perhaps more importantly, building a large email list, led to the success of this launch. But the money was made because of the more traditional direct marketing and sales principles that were used.

Yes, you can use social media to connect with customers and prospects. You can use social media to build relationships. You can use social media to get people to know, like and trust you.

But at the end of the day, if you want to make money (and that’s at least part of the reason you’re in business in the first place, right?!), you have to offer something that satisfies a need in a marketplace, you have to know how to craft an offer, and you have to SELL.

[One last note: if the thought of selling makes your skin crawl, you don't (and shouldn't) have to sell in an unethical, sleezy kind of way. My friend Gill is an expert in helping people sell with honesty and integrity.]

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The Secret of the Tactical Triangle

by Adam Kreitman

When it comes to the world of Internet marketing gurus, there are very few I trust and fewer that I follow on a regular basis.

One of the exceptions to that rule is Perry Marshall. He built his reputation as an AdWords expert, but he also provides some phenominal insights in many other areas of marketing. His newsletter is the only one that I’m willing to pay for on a regular basis.

In his latest newsletter, he described a concept called the “Tactical Triangle.” This concept breaks marketing down into three core areas: Traffic, Conversion and Economics.

I read the article a few times because it’s a very powerful concept. However, instead of trying to explain it here, I’ll let you hear it directly from Perry himself because he’s made a good chunk of that article available on his blog. You can read it by clicking here.

It’s definitely worth a look if you do any sort of marketing online or offline.

Note: The link above is an affiliate link. It’s free to read the article, however, if you decide you’d like to buy something from Perry Marshall in the future (which I have done a few times because I think his stuff is that good), I will get a commission from your purchase.

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The Single Biggest Challenge You Have To Overcome When Marketing Online

by Adam Kreitman

It’s the simplest of movements. And one that takes almost no effort at all.

I’m talking about moving your index finger a few hundreths of an inch to click the button on your mouse (or click the touch pad on your laptop).

Yet this simple task is your biggest obstacle to success in online marketing.

The problem is not that the task itself is any more difficult for your prospects to perform than it is for you. The problem is your prospect’s resistance to doing it.

Overcoming this resistance is something I’ve dubbed “Click Inertia” and it is your single biggest challenge as an online marketer.

The dictionary definition of inertia is the “resistance or disinclination to motion, action, or change.” And that’s precisely what you’re up against on your blog, website, social media sites, etc. when it comes to getting people to click.

Your online marketing success in dependent on getting prospects to get past their inertia and click on your email, pay per click ad, search engine listing, video, local business listing, affiliate link, Buy Now button, become your fan on Facebook, etc.

Bottom line is clicks make the web go round and for you to make a sale online takes at least one click, or more likely, a bunch of them.

This challenge of overcoming click inertia is one that’s getting more difficult by that day as the amount content, good and bad, competing for your prospects attention expands at a exponential pace.

So your #1 job as an Internet marketer is to give prospects a real compelling reason to get past their Click Inertia and move their finger than few hundreths of an inch.

How do you do that? Answering that very question will be the topic of my next blog post.

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Online Marketing Lesson From the High Chair

by Adam Kreitman

Meal time is a challenge in our house.

Besides literally being allergic to more foods than not, my daughter is a highly finicky eater. In the course of trying to get her to eat the foods she can safely eat, I’ve made an interesting observation.

It’s not so much the food itself she’s opposed to, but the presentation.

Those peas that are sitting there ignored on the high chair tray? Put them in a bowl and they get gobbled up.

Won’t touch small bite-size pieces of carrots? Cut up some carrots lengthwise instead and they’ll get downed instantly.

Rejecting the applesauce I try to feed her? Put a spoon in her hand and she readily opens up her mouth and finishes applesauce down to the last drop.

Same food. Different presentation. Completely different result.

Your marketing efforts are no different.

If you’re having trouble selling your product or service, the reason may not be the product or service itself. It could very well be your presentation.

If long sales copy isn’t effective in selling your product, try breaking it up and delivering it in a series of emails. Or use videos instead of text.

If you’re not getting any takers on your eBook, maybe converting it into a audio course will do the trick.

If no one is signing up for your membership site, try breaking the material into smaller chunks and selling them as stand alone products.

Technology makes it faster and easier to try out different ways of packaging and presenting products and services to your prospects. So if what you’re doing isn’t working, try changing the way your presenting it and see if that can boost your sales.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go figure out a way to make broccoli appetizing to a 16 month old!

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Google Local Search Update: Lowly PPC Guy Gets A Big Slap And An Important Reminder

by Adam Kreitman

I was kind of expecting this.

When I posted my story about how I out-SEO’d the local SEO firms, I was #2 for the search term “St. Louis online marketing” and #1 for both “St. Louis Internet marketing” and “St. Louis marketing” in the Google 10-Pack.

Then, just 2 days later, I was #6 for “St. Louis online marketing” and not even on the first page for the other two terms.

Why?

I don’t know.

Maybe Google changed their algorithm for the local search rankings.

Maybe a ticked off competitor reported my listing to Google because they didn’t like me using the keyword “Internet marketing” in front of my company name.

Or maybe there’s some other reason that triggered this fall from grace.

In any case, it was fun while it lasted.

And, more importantly, getting “slapped” by Google for whatever reason gave me a reminder of why I chose to focus on PPC instead of SEO in the first place.

Here’s the deal folks.

If your business and/or business’ online marketing efforts relies on free traffic, you don’t have a business. You have a mirage.

Why?

Well, what happens when the traffic stops? (And I say “when” not “if” because it’s gonna happen.)

It could happen because Google changes their algorithm.

It could happen because the competition gets better at SEO than you.

It could happen because you (or your SEO firm) get lazy once you get that coveted first page ranking which causes you to tumble in the rankings.

But whatever the reason, if all you’re doing is relying on free traffic, the effect is devastating. In fact, here’s a story of a local business who fell off the first page of Google and ended up going out of business.

If you know, however, that you can profitably pay for traffic to your website, it’s a whole ‘nother ballgame.

Because you know you can always buy more traffic. If traffic from one source dries up for whatever reason, you can buy it from somewhere else.

When you rely on “free” traffic, however, you just can’t turn the traffic faucet on that quickly.

One of the main reasons I was drawn to Google AdWords (pay per click advertising) in the first place is control.

You simply have more control over your advertising efforts when you pay for them. If you know you can pay $1 in advertising and get $1.01 or $2 or $10 in return, you are in control.

Then your business’ success is not determined by Google or anyone else. Because you can always buy more traffic. From Google. From Yahoo!. From MSN. From web sites. From blogs. Even from offline mediums.

When you know you can convert traffic into sales, you’ve got yourself a solid online marketing plan for your business and have firmly put yourself in control of your business’ success.

Listen, I know how appealing the thought of free traffic is. Especially for a small business. Especially in times like these.

But there are no guarantees with free traffic. You can spend months and months and pay an SEO specialist $1000s of dollars to try to get your business ranked #1 for your chosen keywords.

But you may never get there.

And even if you do get there, one little algorithm tweak by Google can send you spiraling back to oblivion.

To me, that’s an incredibly risky strategy.

Now my point here is not to say SEO isn’t important. It is, and will remain an essential part of any online marketing campaign.

But if it’s all you rely on and if you don’t first prove that you can profitably buy traffic and can turn that traffic faucet on at will, you’re putting your business in a very dangerous position.

Just one last point here. And it’s about diversity in marketing.

If I was relying solely on Google Local Search for traffic and leads for Words That Click, I’d be screwed about now. Luckily that’s not the case for me.

But some businesses do rely on one source to drive all their traffic. If that’s the case for you, my advice is to diversify. Quickly!

It’s critical that you have traffic coming from different sources – paid search, SEO, articles, videos, social media and more.

Yes, there will be one that you probably focus on more than the others and will probably drive more traffic than the others. But if it’s your only source of traffic (especially if it’s free) you’re in an extremely risky state.

So diversify your online (and offline) marketing efforts. Be wary of building an online marketing strategy that’s based on free traffic. And though I don’t plan to devote too much more time to it, I’ve still got a few more tricks up my sleeve so I expect to be back on top of the local 10-Pack soon!

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Google Local Search: How a Lowly PPC Specialist Beat The Local SEO Firms at Their Own Game

by Adam Kreitman

I’m not one to brag (really, you can ask anyone who knows me!).

But this is just too good not to share so please excuse my having a little fun with it!

Here’s the setup:

A recent study about how people find local businesses shows that people now use search engines more than any other method to locate a local business. Clearly if you own a local business, you need to figure out how to get high visibility in the search engines or you’re missing out on a lot of potential business.

So how do you get that visibility?

There are a number of ways, but we’re going to take a look at a local search query in Google because if you haven’t heard by now, Google dominates the search engine market.

If you do search for “st louis auto repair” in Google you’ll notice at the very top of the search results is an area that says “Local business results for auto repair near St. Louis, MO.”

To the left you’ll see a map of the St. Louis region and to the right you’ll see a listing of 10 local businesses.

These results are also known as the “Google 10-Pack” and, since they’re the first thing a searcher sees on the search results page, are extremely important.

But it gets even better for the 10-Pack. If you were to do a search for just plain old “auto repair,” Google will determine where your computer is located and still put the 10-Pack, with local business listings, near the top of the search results. I say near the top because if you don’t use a geo-qualifier like “St. Louis” with your results, the 10-Pack appears after the first few organic search results.

The bottom line is if you can get your local business to the top of the 10-pack, you get a ton of visibility from locals looking for local companies to do business with.

So a few months ago my friend, expert Internet marketer and Likeability Guy Bob Sommers shared a story with me about helping a local spa in Maui get to the top of the 10-Pack. It was a small spa yet was able to beat out the likes of the Ritz Carlton and Four Season Hotel spas.

That got me thinking about whether I could get my local St. Louis Internet marketing business, Words That Click, to the top of the 10-Pack.

Now I’m not an SEO guy. My specialty is AdWords and pay per click. But I decided to devote a little bit of time to see if I could at least get in the top 10 on the Google Local Search 10-Pack.

First I did some keyword research and decided to target the phrases “St. Louis Internet Marketing” and “St. Louis Online Marketing.”

Next I tried to find myself in the local listing for those terms. I wasn’t on the first page, or the second, or the third, or . . . well, let’s just say I gave up trying to find myself after reaching page 10.

So I talked with Bob to get some ideas, modified my local business listing in Google, changed some things around on my web site and noticed I started inching higher and higher.

Then last week, I made a few minor tweaks and all of a sudden I jumped from page 2 for “St. Louis online marketing” and page 3 for “St. Louis internet marketing” to the #1 spot on the #1 page of the local business results for BOTH those keywords!

That’s right, I beat out all the other local firms that do SEO for a living at their own game and I have the screen shots to prove it.

: Local Business results listing for keyword st louis online marketing

: Local Google business results for st louis online marketing

Now, getting there is one thing, I’m sure staying there will be more of a challenge as the SEO firms take aim at me. In fact, my friend Michael Slawin who runs hitsthatclick.com – and, despite what he tells me, TOTALLY ripped off my company name – has already taken back the top spot for “st. louis online marketing” and bumped me to the #2 spot.

But I’m still #1 for St. Louis internet marketing and am enjoying all this for as long as it lasts!

But more important than my own ego is the take away for you . . . if a lowly PPC guy who has little experience in SEO can get his business ranked at the top of the Local Business Listings in a little over a month in an industry full of SEO specialists . . . what’s stopping you from taking the top ranking in the 10-Pack for your local business?

It’s said the one-eyed king rules the land of the blind. And most local business owners are still in the dark when it comes to local search.

This presents a great opportunity for local business owners who take a little bit of time and effort to position themselves in front of the prospects most of their competitors are missing out on.

Oh, and if you’d like some help or advice on getting your local business to the top of the 10-Pack, let’s talk!

Update: Well my time at the top was short-lived. Find out what happened and find out about the important reminder I got about the difference between SEO and PPC.

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The Real Secret To Making Money With Information Products

by Adam Kreitman

Listen up.

I’m going to share a little secret with you about selling information products online.

The real money is made on the back end.

It’s easy to miss this fact with all the hype, sensationalism and “make $500,000 in 3 hours” BS being peddled all over the Internet.

Though there are exceptions, the truth is you’re probably not going to strike it rich selling a $27 ebook or MP3 recording online.

But it doesn’t matter.

Because it’s not about how much you make from the entry level product, it’s what happens after that first sale is made.

That’s where the real income potential comes from.

My last blog post about getting over the myth that people won’t pay for information online ended with a mention of some powerful psychological factors that work in your favor when it comes to selling information products online.

First, when you create and sell authoritative, high-quality information that delivers as promised (or, better yet, overdelivers!), your expert status is greatly enhanced in the buyers’ minds. It helps you build strong bonds with your customers who come to view you as THE go-to expert in your field.

Second, you get the rule of Commitment and Consistency kicking in. When people pay money to buy your information product, they’ve made a commitment to you. And human psychology dictates that people want to stay consistent with their past actions. This means it’s more likely that these people will pay for other products and services you may offer them in the future.

(Quick related side note: One of the most common marketing mistakes I see in any business, online or off, is they don’t market to their existing and/or past customers. That’s a mistake because it is MUCH easier and cheaper to sell to someone who’s already demonstrated a willingness to give you their money than to go out and try to solicit new business.)

So where does this leave you?

You’ve sold your ebook or other entry level product for $17, $27, or whatever and you now have a following of people who regard you as THE expert in your niche, know you, like you and trust you, and have already demonstrated that they’re willing to pay to access the expertise in that big, juicy brain of yours.

When it comes to having a list of prospects, it doesn’t get much better than that!

Leveraging that gift is how you really make money selling information products.

You can do this by:

Creating and selling higher priced information products like membership sites, teleseminars, webinars, courses, audio CDs, etc.

Landing lucrative speaking engagements

Creating group coaching/consulting opportunities

Organizing bootcamps for your followers (fans)

Getting highly paid one on one coaching engagements

You see, selling that first information product isn’t so much about the money as it is getting your foot in the door. Once you’ve done that, it’s a lot easier to get invited in and reap the rewards that lay inside!

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Free Information: A Roadblock to Striking Passive Income Paydirt?

by Adam Kreitman

It’s a common misconception.

And one that keeps a lot of people from creating and selling information products that could generate a very nice passive income stream for themselves.

It goes something like this - “people won’t pay for information online, they just want to find the free stuff.”

WRONG!

Yes, people are looking for free information online. However, when they come across information they perceive as valuable and they believe could improve their lives, they definitely are willing to pay for it.

People have been paying to get information in various forms for years:

Books
Newspapers
Magazines
Premium cable
Satellite radio
Newsletters

Sure, they can read the books, magazines and newspapers for free at the library, but they still pay for the convenience of having their own copy delivered to their homes.

Sure, they can watch TV for free using an antenna, but they still pay for premium cable/satellite stations to get (perceived) premium content that isn’t available on network TV.

Sure, they can listen to the radio for free at home on in their cars, but they still pay for satellite radio to get more choices, specialty content, and commercial-free radio.

Sure, they can get lots of information for free about finance, health and other topics, but they still pay for a newsletter that gives them an expert or insider’s view and/or pulls information from a variety of sources and puts it all in one place.

The Internet hasn’t changed any of that. People still pay (and do pay) for information that offers convenience, more choices, expert advice, etc. online.

There will ALWAYS be a market for quality information that people want and can help them improve their lives in some way. And if you can convince people that the information product you are selling does that, they will pay for it online or offline.

There’s another important point I’d like to make about free content.

And it’s that people simply don’t value free content as much as they do the content they pay for.

This creates a huge opportunity for experts like speakers, authors, consultant, coaches, etc. who sell information products. When people pay money for the expert information you provide, they pay more attention to it and to you.

Your expert status is elevated in their minds. And when you have a group of people who have already demonstrated that they’re willing to pay money to access your brain AND they have started to worship the ground you walk on, some very powerful psychology kicks in.

And that leads to the secret benefit of selling information products online. A secret that will be revealed in the next post so stay tuned . . .

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Residual Income Opportunity for Experts

by Adam Kreitman

You’ve already done most of the work.

You’ve . . .

prepared and delivered the speech(es)
written the book(s)
designed the consulting/coaching program(s)
developed the expertise
solved the problem(s) for clients

The hard part’s done.

All that’s left is turning it into a residual income stream for yourself.

This is perhaps the most compelling online business opportunity out there for authors, consultants, speakers, trainers, coaches and other experts – leveraging the Internet to take your expertise and convert it into a passive income stream.

It’s a model that’s been big in the world of Internet Marketing for a long time – Internet Marketing experts selling information products like eBooks, membership sites, teleseminars, webinars, and more. Many making huge amount of money doing it.

Selling Internet Marketing-related information products is an extremely competitive industry. But here’s the thing. You can apply the exact same business model to your industry and probably have little to no competition.

There are countless niches out there for experts who repurpose the material and expertise they already have and deliver it online. And most of the players in these niches haven’t caught on to how to build a decent website, let alone sell information products that people will pay for.

I believe in this opportunity so greatly that it’s become the primary focus of my St. Louis Online Marketing consulting firm. I’ve started consulting and/or partnering with experts from various industries to help them create their own online passive income stream.

Over the weeks and months ahead, I’ll be sharing more of my ideas on potential of this opportunity and how you can turn your expertise into Sales While You Sleep Soundly.

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