The Mizel Method

Did I ever tell you about the time I was in a cult?

It’s 100% true! Way back in the year 2000, for 60 long days, I was a member of an actual Internet Marketing Cult in Culver City, California.

• We had a cult compound we all lived in.
• We had cult logos.
• We had special cult food.
• We had cult books.
• And most of all, we had lots and lots of cult business.

Thankfully, I figured out that something wasn’t quite right, and got out before things turned ugly. You can read about it here.

The reason I mention the cult is because these guys, while freakish to say the least, had a penchant for getting difficult things done. In fact, the more outrageous and unreasonable the thing was, the more they relished the challenge. And you know something, they didn’t have to push very hard to get what they wanted.

Whenever they got a firm no, they’d simply ask again, or have someone else ask, or send some flowers and candy, or find a different contact, or call from a different DBA, or use a different accent (really).

Whatever it took, they did.

One time, there were about a dozen of us in a meeting trying to figure out how to get some recently flush dot com to do a joint venture with us. We went through the normal channels, but were thwarted. So we made a list of all the people we knew at this particular company; all the friends, contacts, boyfriends, girlfriends, and school chums. Literally anyone and everyone who could potentially help us.

Two days later, we got the deal.

So what does this have to do with you? Well, one thing I see all the time are online entrepreneurs who get incredibly discouraged because things aren’t going their way.

You’ll meet them at an event, and they’ll complain about ad prices, or the fact that they weren’t accepted to a CPA network, or because some guru didn’t call them back, or a million other trivial things that are easily remedied with a little elbow grease.

Put a little effort into it and don’t be so quick to give up. Pick up the phone and start a relationship with the decision maker in question. Be friendly and courteous, but persistent. Your job is to get them to like you, and to communicate why you should be doing business together.

People will go out of their way for you if they like you;)

Some examples:

Problem: The CPA network didn’t approve me!

Answer: Call them and talk to a real person. Maybe you didn’t put down your stats, or you forgot your URL. More than half the time, a quick call has gotten me approved. If that doesn’t work, find an existing client of the network on a discussion board or through your friends and clients and ask for a referral. That works 100% of the time;)

Problem: The rate card said the minimum test price is $10,000!

Answer: Call your rep and say you are prepared to spend $10,000 a week, or even a day, but only if his advertising is profitable for you. Offer to do a $1,000 test and put the ball back in his court. Let him know you are a marketing professional and you’ll do everything you can to make the ad work, but he’s got to meet you half way.

Problem: The product price just got raised!

Answer: Tell the owner of the company you couldn’t find your credit card that day. Ask for the old price and offer to provide a testimonial or JV or endorsement (or something else you have that they want) in exchange for the old price.

Problem: The advertising for my niche is too expensive!

Answer: Negotiate harder, and find a partner in the same niche or industry to share the cost. Start an ad co-op and sell off ads to others, keeping what you need for your test.

Problem: I can’t afford the seminar!

Answer: Offer to work the seminar for free and share a room with someone, think of creative ways to contribute to the event without paying money.

In fact, the next time you are being held back by someone or something in business, you can smile knowing those same conditions exist for your competitors. Meanwhile, you just walk the extra mile and pick up your prize at the end;)

Jonathan

The $25 commission sweet spot

If you are selling consumer products through affiliates on networks like ClickBank (CB) or PayDotCom (PDC), there seems to be a minimum commission amount people are looking for, and amount is right around $25 per transaction.

Even though promotions are actually about metrics like earnings per click (EPC) and earnings per thousand impressions (ECPM), a lot of CB and PDC affiliates focus on the net commission, in spite of the fact that they make more money with a lower commission rate that converts better.

Like it or not, that’s a reality in the marketplace.

If you are promoting your own site on CB or other pay-per-sale networks, consider increasing commissions to 75% (ClickBank’s maximum) or more, and offer bonus commissions paid by PayPal or check to strong resellers. A number of top CB sites do this, and I’ve negotiated bonuses that get me up to 100% commission or more.

CB is great at generating lots of front-end volume without a big strain on your merchant account, and with the volume some CB affiliates can drive ($50,000 per month or more), this is an excellent way to build your list using an effective NameSqueeze process.

Not to mention you’ll get all the “juice” when people delete their cookies, or return to the site directly and there’s no affiliate to pay. Over a few months of heavy promotion, these orphan sales can be 5% - 10% of your volume. That means you can afford to pay a little more without losing anything in the long run.

If you have a strong back-end product, that’s where your profits are really generated. And if you don’t, you should definitely make that a priority.

Jonathan

Heads up to product developers and info marketers…

Just saw a post on the Warrior Forum that made me realize how “New and Improved” is usually way overrated, especially when it comes to useability and interface issues.

The story goes like this… Someone bought a product online, and after purchasing it, realized it was delivered in RAR format. RAR is an obscure compression process that consumers don’t understand, and generally haven’t heard of. RAR requires special software that must be downloaded in addition to the product itself just to open the dang thing.

This guy, smart as he was, couldn’t figure out how to open his recently purchased ebook, and was getting frustrated to the point of wanting to ask for a refund. He had tried various solutions on Google, and none of them worked.

Heads up to product developers and info marketers… Don’t confuse your customers with new and improved download delivery solutions.

** Use universal delivery options for video, audio, and text like Flash, PDF, and MP3.

** Don’t make your customers download additional software just to read your files.

** If you must compress, use WinZip, not an obscure format like RAR. Winzip is easy to use and is built in to most operating systems.

The idea is to use LCD (Least Common Denominator) software, programming, and interface solutions people are familiar with and comfortable using.

Order Button Triggers

I just found an interview from way back in early 2003, that honestly reads like it could have been done yesterday. The interviewer was a fellow named Michael Nicholas, and the topic was Order Button Triggers.

There’s some pretty goof stuff here about increasing conversion rates through the use of charged ad copy, as well as overall online selling psychology.

Read Order Button Triggers now and feel free to leave a comment after you check it out.

Jonathan

The follow-up formula that turns your mailing list into cash!

Interesting story… An affiliate marketer and I were having a beer last week, talking about follow-up sequences, and how so few marketers - even smart, successful, guru-type marketers - aren’t using them correctly.

Since he’s primarily an affiliate, he mentioned he’ll often opt-in to the Web sites he’s promoting to see what happens. E-mail follow-ups are a typical way to screw affiliates by resetting the cookie, and he wants to make sure he’s working with honest people.

A small percentage of the time, he finds vendors who try to scam him, so he stops working with them. Some times, they follow-up correctly, and he’s happy knowing he’ll get credit.

But do you know what vendors do most of the time - like 95% - that’s actually much, much worse? Something he really can’t stand?

The don’t follow-up at all!

Now that’s a real crime:(

You see, when you squeeze the names from the traffic affiliates give you, you initially hurt the conversion rate. It’s only when you begin a concerted effort of follow-ups that you allow the affiliate to make money as well.

This is essentially the concept of having a process that makes so much money for resellers, they send you their traffic above everyone else. It’s the universal truth in action that traffic, like most good things, flows where it’s respected.

So to give you the strength and motivation to get the “follow-up” part of your business handled correctly, I present you with this amazing archived article from the Online Marketing Letter, sure to reframe your opinion about “over” mailing the very people who asked you help them buy your product in the first place.

Happy selling and enjoy!

Jonathan

One technique away from success…

I just got back from Yanik Silver’s Underground Seminar in LA, and while there, made an interesting observation.

I’ve spent the past 15 years training entrepreneurs and business owners how to increase their profits online, and realized that many of the people who don’t move forward with their grand plans have the mistaken idea they are just one technique away from success, thinking…

All they need to do is add a pop-up to their site.

Or learn how to blog and ping.

Or crack the arbitrage code.

Or effectively buy media.

Or set up a namesqueeze.

Or implement a One Time Offer.

Or build their list faster.

Or choose the right niche.

Or write more articles.

Or get the right graphic header.

Or whatever.

And they seem to think if they get that one thing down, whatever it is, they’ll finally be able to make more money. In fact, that one thing becomes the reason they aren’t making any money. Yet when they finally fix that “thing,” whatever it is… there’s another thing. And so on, and so on.

Now listen, those techniques can certainly help you make more money, but you should probably know there is no one single trick that can make you successful. In fact, even if you do all those things listed above (and many more), it’s still quite possible to fail.

So what are the big secrets? They are simply…

Passion and strategy!

Passion is the motivation to get up, morning after morning and take another crack at it instead of sticking your head in the oven. It’s essentially your reason why. While the money part is nice (and quite necessary if you have a family), you know you are on the right track when you realize you would do what you do even if you weren’t being paid.

Strategy is the overall plan that makes a successful business come together. Everything from how to get your leads, to how you convert them into customers. Basically, it’s a cohesive, understandable, scalable, process that you use to grow your business.

So the next time you think you might be just one technique away from success, spend a few minutes observing the whole of your business, rather than a small piece. It’ll make you far more profitable in the long run.

Jonathan

What to invest in now?

If you have money, or you make money, you gotta be scared right now.

As much as you’d like to be in cash, you know damn well the government is going to give the value of your nestegg a huge haircut this year, probably in the neighborhood of 15% or more through inflation and currency devaluation (printing too much money).

The bottom line is you absolutely must stay invested in something that has a chance of beating those twin demons if you hope to come out of this downturn successfully.

• While there are opportunities in equities, the broad-based stock market has little chance of recovering in the next few years. Some see a big drop as eminent.
• Real estate, both commercial and residential, are fading fast, with record foreclosures, and trouble even in “unstoppable” markets like Boulder, Portland, Raleigh, and Austin.
• US Government bonds don’t even keep up with the kind of inflation we are seeing today, and will likely see later this year.

So where does that leave us?

Well, last year I decided to so something rather bold and put 10% of my money into generic keyword domain names. This video pretty much convinced me I was on the right track. (It’s a seminar presentation by domain investor Frank Schilling).

I don’t have any blockbusters like Travel.com or Sex.com. Most of those top-level category generics are long gone, and would probably go for six or seven figures.

But I am finding some very good two and three word names through Drop services like SnapNames and NameJet for under $250. Many of these get highly responsive type-in traffic and generate cash when you park them. A few can be redirected to sites you own, or even affiliate links, and pay for themselves in 6 months or less. In my opinion, most of these names will be worth well over $1,000 in a few years. A few might even fetch five figures.

I’m also registering a lot of fresh domains for new, upcoming products, services, and industries. You would be surprised what’s still available when you look outside the typical domainer niches like mortgages and online dating. Think of solar, ethanol, globalization and other growing trends not only as stock investments, but as domain investments as well.

And listen, with a few exceptions, I’m not selling the bulk of my names for at least 2 - 3 more years, when I expect prices to really spike. The traffic from the names makes over $1,000 a month, which is enough to pay the registration fees, and even fill up the car every now and then. LOL! That’s the kind of portfolio you want to build too.

How do you get started in this?

First of all watch the video with Frank. It’s not a sales pitch or promo, it’s a presentation by a real domain investor who has over 370,000 names, telling you how he got started and what he’d do now. I bet you learn a few surprising things about domain investing that will make you money.

Second, spend some time at online domainer hangouts like:

DNForum.com

DNJournal.com

Domainer.com

And the most important, pick up the Domains into Dollars course by Phil Craig, who’s a savvy investor and also a good friend. Phil figured out exactly how to buy profitable names in this environment, and his formula is what I’ve been using since I bought the course last September.

I now have over 1,500 names, my investment is cash-positive, and frankly, I’m sitting on an asset I expect will outperform all my other investments over time.

Jonathan

Read these direct-mail books first!

There are dozens of great books on direct-mail, but a few that you should read before any of the rest. In many cases, the techniques can be transplanted and/or integrated online as well. For example:

• Advertising an online business with postcards, outdoor signs and billboards, or in print.
• Generating leads online, but following up with a direct-mail piece.
• Selling with direct-mail, but delivering the product online.

You can pick these up from Amazon or at your local library or from the link provided. These are quite literally the foundation of direct-mail marketing:

The Golden Mailbox by Ted Nicholas

The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert

Insider’s Guide to Direct-Mail by Bill Myers

The Robert Collier Letter Book by Robert Collier

Enjoy, and feel free to add any that have helped you out.

Jonathan

Direct-mail stages a comeback

Like most direct-response marketers in their mid 40s, I started out offline with fellow cohorts like Marlon Sanders, Scott Covert, Bill Myers, and Tony Blake.

The commercial Internet didn’t even exist in 1989, thus our generation was reared on display and classified ads, newspaper inserts, card-decks, flyers, billboards, and most of all, direct mail.

Direct mail was a hugely powerful medium because it allowed you to create a special bond with a prospect, far removed from the clutter of competing ads found in newspapers and magazines. If you were selling an expensive or sophisticated product, direct mail was often the best medium. It offered measurable returns, relatively exact targeting, and most of all, privacy.

Gary Halbert once said something like, “You can send a million sales letters and attract less attention than if you one run small ad in a local penny shopper.” And he wasn’t just talking about attention from the Feds;) He was also referring to competitors, criminals, and various corrupt officials.

However, around 2000, a funny thing happened… the direct mail started to dry up and get replaced with e-mails, pop-ups, banners, and advertising links. The messages were the same; Get rich, get laid, get smart, get skinny, etc.. but the primary medium became the Internet.

And in 2003, nearly all low-end direct mail dried up due to increased costs. Gone were the chain letters and magalogs and ad sheets and all the other crap we used to receive. And even more interesting was the fact that the long-format sales letter had almost completely disappeared from the mail box and started showing up with increased regularity online.

But as fate would have it, the tables have once again turned.

Gone are the 50% click throughs and 3% - 5% conversions to cold lists. Gone are the $0.05 clicks and $0.25 registrations. And gone are the days when you could send an e-mail blast and know most of your subscribers would read it and click through. In other words…

The noise online has become unbearable for consumers!

The Internet is so completely filled with ads and sales solicitations, that the only way to once again pull the prospect aside and share an important message is to take them offline, specifically to their mailbox.

In the past week, I have received no less than 9 postcards, 7 sales letters, 3 invitations to seminars and workshops, and 2 magalogs, and the volume increases every month.

Frankly I welcome this return to old-fashioned marketing. Not that I’m a fan of wasting paper or anything like that, but if people are willing to spend a few bucks to send me something, they’ll generally put more effort into the sales presentation and copywriting.

And that tends to raise the bar for all marketing, something I’m always happy to see.

See you in LA?

One of the things I recommend above ALL ELSE, a technique that is nearly fool-proof, is to study real life masters of marketing who operate ‘outside’ the Internet niche. In other words…

Real people selling real products to real customers. (A novel concept to be sure;)

Much to the dismay of the mainstream Gurus, there’s a very real $40 BILLION dollar industry out there. It extends well beyond the home study courses, coaching programs, and product launches to thousands of businesses, products, services, and niches.

And the best place to pick up this kind of information is at Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Seminar in Los Angeles next month, January 28 - 30.

Yanik’s speakers and staff are always amazing, and the content is going to be first-rate. But in my opinion, the real action takes place in the hallways and bars and Executive Suites, far away from the stage. Power-players, marketing experts, advertising veterans, and other successful business owners come together to meet new friends, cut JV deals, and discover powerful ways of making sales, all with a focus on fun AND profit…

It’s a beautiful thing;)

Listen, I live on Maui, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, right near the beach. It’s warm and fun and safe here. I can surf for free, pick fresh Papaya for breakfast, and get a tan 325 days a year. Bottom line: I don’t really like to leave the island unless it’s absolutely necessary.

But in this case, I’m going to pack my bags and head to LA. It’s simply THAT important. If you are going to be there too, let me know and we can get together for a drink.

This is the first seminar I have been to in several years, and it’s going to be a blast!

Underground Online Seminar