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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Be Honest...Are You Struggling With Your Online Ventures?

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It’s interesting tuning into the buzz of my social media connections and noticing the ebb and flow of enthusiasm various people have for their various and transient Biz Opps.

You can almost taste the frustration as the excitement of ‘hey guys check this out its awesome’ gradually dissipates to eventual silence and AWOL-before emerging a month or two later with a familiar rallying call.

This is absolutely not to belittle their efforts-on the contrary I am a huge advocate of entrepreneurial zeal and ambition, however the unfortunate reality of life is that enthusiasm and euphoric evangelic ‘marketing’ can be counter productive. 

All but the most charismatic of leaders will need a proper system and foundation on which to build their successful business. Incidentally charisma is not duplicateable, and if your business model requires replication, then you’ve definitely got a problem.

I have colleagues earning consistent 5 figure weeks-yes WEEKS in various online ventures that I’m involved in. BUT that does not hide the fact that literally hundreds of adherents are making Zip, Nada in the same businesses.

After the euphoria wears off and they start to realise that the shiny Porsche they’ve had their eye on is not going to materialise anytime soon-they make the decision to QUIT or change businesses.
Invariably however this changes nothing. (Excuse the grammar!)

Lets look at the recurring loop that takes place. Exposure to a clever (very expensive) copy written capture page. This leads to a ‘Wow-What if…” moment. Belief creates action, which bears little fruit. Bank balance starts to bleed! Disappointment turns to disillusionment, which loops back to NEXT! Off we go again.
Message?

It’s pretty embarrassing to vocally and visibly promote your business to all and sundry and then return to your social network tail between your legs and start over.

As long as a lesson has been learned then it’s just feedback. I would suggest that you don’t give up on your stalled business just yet. Yes there’s probably a whole bunch of other exciting ventures you could hook up to, but if you’ve already invested time money and resources into a business it would be a shame to waste all that. Let’s face it-you must have believed in the dream at the start. Maybe it’s just your strategy you need to revisit not the business.

Like it or not your sponsor or mentor may not be best equipped to help you. They may be too busy or inaccessible, or any number of reasons.
 
To succeed you absolutely need a system and mentoring process.

I wasted countless hours trying to reinvent the wheel when I started. HTML-Website creation-Article writing-Blogs-Traffic generation-Auto responders-Video creation-Twitter-Facebook-etc. For goodness sake I wasn’t even up to speed with copy and paste! If I wasn’t so stubborn I should have quit before I began, as the learning curve was so ridiculously steep!

My recommendation.

No it’s not to join my primary business-well you can if you want-BUT that won’t help you anymore than your current opportunity. No my recommendation is to hook up to a proper Turnkey Training System that is completely set up from A-Z. Replicateable for your new members. Brands YOU not your business. And offers a solid affiliate income right out of the blocks (funded proposal)

There are quite a few really good systems. Mike Dillard’s Magnetic Sponsoring is probably the best known and promoted and you could do worse than invest $30 in the book. 

The downside is that it’s a pretty ubiquitous program and there’s probably not a great deal of mystery and excitement like there was a couple of years back.

MLSP – pro is one system I use to build my brand and attract traffic. It has very comprehensive training resources in the back office, AND you can use it as a platform to promote both your business and various affiliate programs. You may however find that you get filtered into the Carbon Copy Pro Business. Which is OK-but may distract you from your original plan.

My #1 training resource of choice is definitely the latest version of the 4 Step System. I only share the system with those who choose to opt in though. Why? Well to be candid I’ll bend over backwards to help those that want to partner up with me-BUT if I can’t get a minor commitment of trust and commitment then it becomes pointless.

Best wishes with your business endeavors and keep the faith!!!






Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Key to Building a Real Social Media Network-That Hardly Anyone Gets!

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I have way too many Twitter connections. Let’s not delude ourselves that they are Followers-that’s a misnomer if ever there was one. Yep that’s the price you pay for accepting every request. What you say! How can you have too many? Isn’t the goal to have an infinite number of Tweeters in your tribe? Those with the most followers win-surely.
Ok perhaps I’m being overly wry. But have you considered the downside to building a large Twitter base?
  • Too many tweets from anonymous twits create a din, not an orchestra.
  • The tweets that you actually see are completely random and virtually impossible to engage.
  • Too many ‘followers’ assume that they now have an intimate relationship with you that justifies them sending you automated direct messages-that under any other circumstances would be considered spam.
Why bother then? Well of course it’s not ALL bad! A few minutes browsing especially following the retweets (those are usually the interesting ones) can be very illuminating, diversionary and lead you in directions that you’d never expect.
There’s also that nagging feeling that Twitter is a social medium that hasn’t fully evolved yet and perhaps its better to be in it and see how it all unfolds than be a bystander.
Enough about Twitter. This Blog was originally supposed to touch on that nebulous concept called engagement. This is somewhat different to connectivity. Hook me up to your Facebook page and I guess we’re connected perhaps never to directly communicate. Engagement is immeasurably more powerful than a degree or two of separation.
We may share an acquaintance, but that doesn’t mean we are now related. We do however have a reference point that gives us an excuse to become acquainted.
It’s ironic how much time many social networkers spend chasing people to add to their collection and then proceed to sprint off into the distance with barely a wave.
Here’s a thought. Not very original but I would suggest profound in its effectiveness.
 
Make a decision to actively engage 10 or 20 of your connections per day for the next 21 days and be prepared to see a quantum shift in your online experience.
How? Sorry If I’m over doing the rhetorical questions!
Respond to comments. No I don’t mean copy and paste the same response all over the place like a poodle introducing herself to the neighbourhood! Check out someone’s Facebook profile and see if you have anything in common that you can make a genuine comment about. If you have nothing in common why are they in your social network? Not many people do this and when it happens it creates a much bigger impression than you’d think.
Check out people’s blogs-and yes you’ve guessed it-leave a relevant comment. I don’t mean something like ‘hey dude great Blog check out my GRQ affiliate program it’s awesome!”
Once you’ve built some genuine connections you can then ask them to visit your Youtube channel or blog and many will reciprocate. Imagine if just 1% of your social media connections popped by your site and left a friendly and supportive comment. You’d feel like an absolute celebrity. How come? Well work out how many people that is. More than likely 1 in 1000 will take the trouble to so unprompted.
Authenticity takes time to become second nature. Human nature has a natural default towards competitiveness, which alas is not great glue for social adhesiveness.
  • Instead of trying to impress, try being impressed.
  • Be interested instead of trying to be interesting
  • Give compliments rather than chase them.
  • Tell people how inspiring they are.
You get the message. I know, you already know all this-we all do-but sometimes we kinda get sucked in to the vortex of following the crowd-shouting ever louder to get our message out there-only to realise no one’s listening.
Hope this doesn’t sound too evangelical!
If you can be bothered leave a comment and yep I do practice what I preach and I’ll gladly reciprocate-of course if you think it’s all rubbish then feel free to ignore.
Hope your universe is unfolding well for you!

Cheers Kiaran


Friday, May 21, 2010

Truth or Myth? 'There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch in Life!

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Even more seductive than the word SALE!


Can anything really be Free? If we are being pedantic, we could suggest that there is a cost, be it time or energy to everything-yes even reading this Blog- however in dollar terms Free does have a value. That statement is pretty contradictory or is it a paradox? The point being that Free and Value are not the same thing. 

If I offer a 'Free' E-book to my subscribers does that devalue the content? Of course not-except perhaps the perception of value. We are moving ever faster into an open source community. There is more Free online content available than you could conceive. The evolution of online business has lead to consumers becoming more savvy than ever before, regarding WHO they do business with. 


In order to solicit this business, marketers need to become more creative in their efforts to build likability and trust. A great starting point is to give before you pitch. Give me some decent content/resources and I may come back and visit. Be consistent and I may become an advocate and SHARE your 'stuff' with my 'tribe'



Free works, but only if it has inherent value. Offering a whole bunch of outdated PLR articles that are neither unique or authentic won't work for the prospective new client. Likewise those who spend their lives surfing for a myriad of free coupons, traffic, e-books, downloads, jokes, images, music etc will rarely hit pay dirt.

Real long term value comes at a price. That price may be advertising, dialogue with social networks, outsourcing projects etc. It's called investing! I've never met any successful person who hasn't built their triumph on a foundation of investment. Investment in time, Money, Knowledge, Emotion, with the end game being the rewards of leverage that such investment often brings.



Everyday I hear people ask: 'how can I join a business with no investment that will allow me to quit my job and hit the beaches of the world?' The answer: 'Buy a Lottery Ticket'! Investment is risky that's why only the truly motivated and ambitious follow this path. Chasing the free lunch is largely delusional. 


Yes, FREE does exist, but it's an appetizer for the main course. The main course is where its all at. 


If you are window shopping and doing a little tyre kicking-checking out the various online opportunities being spruicked-then you may like to sample a FREE appetizer of mine. Yep it's FREE. Yep there's value and Yep the main course is at the back end for those that wish to check it out!




Sunday, May 16, 2010

Internet Marketing is NOT Easy!

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Don't listen to the marketing spin and hype. Internet marketing is not easy. Inexperienced newbies will NOT make money fast-if at all-simply by joining the RIGHT program. I know because I sweated blood sweat and tears with painfully modest results.

Some things that your 'sponsor' hasn't told you:

  • You need to create a credible personal brand that will attract an audience.
  • Creating a Facebook and Twitter following will NOT produce a significant impact on your business development.
  • You will need an auto responder.
  • You will need a constant stream of targeted traffic
  • You will need to know some basic computer knowledge
  • You will need to invest regular focused time to build your business


  • You will need a marketing budget. There are FREE resources out there that can assist your marketing, but virtually no successful online marketer has achieved significant FAST results relying on social media, blogging and article writing alone.
  • You will need a positive mindset, because there will be many times that you'll want to quit before you achieve your goals and without a determination to persevere and belief that you WILL make it work, you will never become the leader you will need to become in order to build a tribe.

If I haven't lost you by now, then here's the good news! You CAN make an extraordinary income from the comfort of your own house with a system. The right system.

If you are willing to burn some bridges-change your belief in what is possible and commit to FINDING a way-you will succeed. There are people from less fortunate beginnings who are older or younger than you, who had less money and support than you and more reasons to fail than you who have succeeded online-so why not you?


If you are already in a business but are perhaps not seeing the results that you had hoped-then you need to do something different. You may need to bite the bullet and change businesses or more than likely find a BETTER system to plug your business in to.

The #1 Key to succeeding online is to find a DUPLICATEABLE system that is mostly automated that you can plug your prospects in to, and which doesn't rely on your time and credibility to make work.


Here is one such system. If you are willing to take the 'risk' of clicking below and opting in, then you will get ALL the information that you require in order to make an informed decision regarding this program. If you choose to follow through you will have access to ALL my resources and personal email to assist you achieve your aspirations. 


Cheers Kiaran


THE SYSTEM

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

The Value of REAL Connections.

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The Holy Grail of online success seems to be List Building. A soulless label is ever there was one. Lists are made up of an assortment of relatively random names, behind each of which there is a person. 

Automated marketing programs are often skewed in their approach to creating leverage via 'virul' name capturing systems that are anonymous in the extreme and perhaps even cynical if expedient.

Engaging with a person takes a little time and effort. The time to actually engage in dialogue-which is of itself two way and the effort to add value. Conversations are never generic. Speeches can be and copy written sales scripts most definitely are.

The pay off, for taking the time to engage directly is interesting and tangible. It's the stuff that relationships are built on.

It takes the briefest of moments to skim an article and grab a morsel of value. To leave a considered comment takes a few additional moments, yet the footprint is so much deeper. one of the most enduring of human traits is the need to reciprocate. Numerous studies have concluded that people have an innate desire to return a favor, and not only its equivalent but to a larger degree. There is a fascinating book titled Influence by Caldini that is worth a read on this subject.

The message? Perhaps instead of simply joining Twitter groups that guarantee to follow back try to contribute to the community buzz. The back links will come of their own accord.

The noise online is so loud it's sometimes hard to know what channel to tune into. Funnily enough I find myself investigating the sites of those who choose to comment on my Blogs or who subscribe to my Youtube channel. Incidentally I find myself reciprocating. On the odd occasion that I get a direct message on Twitter that is not automated, IE one that addresses me by name not DEAR FRIEND, I feel compelled to check them out and conversations begin and sometimes evolve into relationships.

If you'd like to leave a comment below or on my Youtube channel (Icon on the side) that would be great and I'd be genuinely interested to check out your site-'life's like that'!

Cheers Kiaran


 

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Why Every Business Needs A Smarter Marketing Funnel

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This a content rich article/hub that will clarify a lot of confusion regarding social media and business marketing. Very concise. Click below.




"Cash-Flowing" Dreams Online! Open The Valve For A Stream Of Leads & Sales By Building A Smarter Marketing Funnel