Internet Marketing by Sue McDonald

Back to Basics

Hi I just watched a webinar and I would like to say it was back to basics. It reminded me where I first started and where I am now.Yes what a journey this has been. Everybody who comes online has to start at the beginning and it seems so strange to think back to the start of when you were first learning how to get started.

I remembered my start and my first coach telling me to write a blog but before that I had to buy a domain name, set up hosting, paypal and then get an autoresponder.

I remember the first blog post I ever wrote about the beginning of a long journey. I had no idea about the internet and what I had to learn. I have a saying about internet marketing – “You don’t know what you don’t know.” That sounds a bit like a riddle but it is so true. Every step you take is a new adventure.

I remember first learning about WordPress and I had to pick a theme. Now that doesn’t sound hard but to a newbie it was daunting but then I was told if I didn’t like it I could change the theme. It was just a matter of finding the new one and uploading it (again I had to learn how to upload the theme). Then I had to learn about widgets and plugins. It seemed strange at the time because it seemed quite difficult but now I can create a site very quickly.

I remember the first time I was told to put a video into my blog from Youtube. Again I had to be shown how to do that. I was taught all of this over a few weeks. Seems strange to remember back to then when I wanted to earn my first dollar online.

That is a really exciting moment for an internet marketer, checking their account and seeing money, even if it only a few dollars, it makes you believe that it is possible to make money online. It makes all the work that you have done feel worthwhile. You want to tell everyone but the secret is you have to be able to consistently see the money come in before you can throw away your day job to go fulltime online.

Some people do not want to make millions but just help with a little extra cash that will give them the extras in life that they could not necessarily afford before. So whatever your dreams are I hope you achieve them.

How to be Successful in Internet Marketing

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These days, you need to be on top of your game when it comes to internet marketing. If you do not keep up with the current trends then your techniques may become outdated or even obsolete. You have to make sure you are staying current in the market.

Use a professional email address. If you are willing to set up a website for your business, you should have a professional email to go with it. Try using something affiliated with your site, and keep it simple enough to remember and store. Using a personal email will overflow your inbox and keep you from reaching your customers effectively.

Your online promotional practices should offer some incentive for customers to visit your site frequently for updates, new products, and upcoming sales. This also increases your traffic, sales, and marketing efficiency. Invite users to check in with your site on a weekly basis, where they can then enter their name and e-mail into a drawing for free merchandise or downloads.

Make your customers feel valued by offering them a free membership to your online club. You can use this club to email your customers about new products and offers, or ask your club members to join your page on social networking website. This means the friends of the club members will be more likely to find you on social networks.

A great internet marketing tip is to incorporate whatever you are selling into an article. Whether it is a story or a blog, your readers will be learning about your product without even realizing it. This is one of the best advertising strategies for people who want to maximize the effect of their internet marketing.

To help you market your product and/or service, you should have a decent web presence. It will be hard to market something if you only use social networks. What you will want is a professionally designed web page which highlights your strengths and the benefits of your product or service.

A great tip for success in internet marketing is to try making your banner ads not look like banner ads. People have gotten in the habit of ignoring banner ads. Design your banner ads to look like there is more content behind them or they are where someone needs to click to get to page two of the article.

Try different colors for your website. Find out more about what each color means, and how they are used in marketing. Make sure you use a color that is different from your competitors. Depending on what kind of products you sell, you will need a different reaction from your visitors.

Make use of sites like Digg and Reddit to get your message out there. These sites allow users to post news stories and then vote on the ones they want to see featured on the front page of the site. Direct commercial messages do poorly on these sites, so link to things on your site that they might want to see, and make the marketing message secondary.

In conclusion, you know that in this day and age it is crucial to stay in the know with the latest information on internet marketing. Don’t get left behind or become obsolete! Make your internet marketing a success!

Get your traffic there

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You have finally got your blog up and running and you are posting information there that is helping your readers. What you really want now is to get some visitors or traffic to your site.

What is the best way to achieve that? These are what I would suggest you do.

1. Sign up for a autoresponder account. I prefer Aweber for this. Go and create an opt-in box and offer your visitors a free gift that is applicable to you niche. This means if you are in the golf niche you can offer them a free report on how to improve their golf swing or something similar. They have to sign it to get the gift.

2. Share your blog with other through the social media sites and social networking sites.

This is a list of some you can use.
http://stumbleupon.com
http://digg.com
http://reddit.com
http://delicious.com
https://facebook.com

3. Read and post comment on other peoples blogs. Make sure that the comment is meaningful. Read the person’s blog before you add a comment. This will also give you a link to your blog as long as you include your URL in the correct box.

4. Make sure that you add your site address to your signature when you are sending out correspondence.

5. If you are using WordPress as your blogging platform, it will automatically ping your posts, but you can also manually ping them yourself.

6. Manually submit your blog to Google, Yahoo and Bing.

7. Include your blog URL on your business card or a flyer you may produce.

8. Make sure you include an RSS feed on your site. This is very easy when you are using WordPress.

9. If you have other sites, you may want to set up a “Blog Roll” and have the sites linked.

10. Write content for your blog on a regular basis. Include external and internal links in your posts.

11. Write some articles and post them on these sites and link back. Unique content is best but always when using blogging platforms, check out there terms and conditions.

Squidoo.com
Hubpages
Blogger
Ezine Articles
If you follow these guidelines you will definitely start attracting traffic.

Can You Achieve Your Dreams?

Mindset 2 Responses »

I have just finished a massive clean up of my office. Well what I am saying, I de-cluttered it. There was so much paperwork, that I had printed out over a matter of time that I really had to go through it and I ended up throwing a lot of it out. But while I was doing this I came across the skeleton of a blog that I was going to write and when I looked at it I thought why not write it now.

The thoughts were about what were the qualities you needed to become a success in any endeavor your ever attempted. Believe it or not, it really is your “mindset” but let me expand on that because not everyone understands that.

Your beliefs are the most powerful of forces. Henry David Thoreau puts it so well:
“What lies before us and what lies behind us
Are small matters compared to
What lies within us
And when we bring out what is within
Out into the world
Miracles happen.”

You must be committed – remember be committed not interested. YOU must be prepared to do the hard work. You must take the time to acquire the knowledge to be able to do whatever it is you want to do. Now a word of warning here, knowledge without action is useless. You have to have the inner belief in yourself that what you have conceived in your mind can be achieved. You have to set goals (a goal is only a dream with a definite time line.) If goals are not set down in writing, how do you know you are following the right path? By reviewing your goals, you can see what you have achieved and what the next step is.

What this comes down to that you are persistent and focused and that you do not stumble at any hurdle. If you come to a problem, whatever it may be, find a solution.

I remember as a child (I played the violin) being told – “practice makes perfect”. Sorry, I must not have practiced as well as I should have because I never reached the point of perfection there. But as an adult, this saying takes on a whole new meaning. The people who are successful are the people who will, if necessary, perform the same task over and over till they achieve the results they desire. No one is a success overnight – but we hear that many times, but later we hear the true story of how they have achieved their goals. There has been a lot of hard work before they were a success but one common thread, in every story like this, is they believed that they were going to achieve.

To YOUR success

Sue McDonald

Procrastination – Why?

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Why is it that some times we procrastinate? Is it because we can be lazy or is it because we lack the knowledge and do not know how to tackle the task we should be doing?
Many times is the later. If we have insufficient knowledge – it is like a paralyzing fear. We want to start the task but because we are not sure that we know how to fully complete it, we tend to put it aside and not start it at all. This fear is often irrational but we tend to think, what others will think or say if you fail. The problem here is compounded because you are thinking what others will think instead of just trying to start the task. When it comes to this, think about yourself and forget the others around you. You will probably find that they will praise you for doing something that you wanted to do.

What you are experiencing is either the fear of failure or the fear of success. Write down all of your objections that are preventing you from attempting this task. Now go through each objection and I know that you will be able to overcome them one by one.

Once you start, you may surprise yourself when you see that there was really nothing to fear because you find it relatively easy. If you need help, why not ask. There are many people amongst your friends and colleagues who will help you, if you feel that you lack the knowledge or skills. Most people will go out of their way to assist you. There is a saying I love “You have to do it for yourself, but you do not have to do it alone.”
The thing about our society is we do the things we feel comfortable doing or things that we have to do during our normal day. This keeps us busy but to step out of our comfort zone and attempt something else scares us.

So this being my year, I am stepping out of my comfort zone and not procrastinating any longer. I am going to complete any task I attempt but I may need help along the way. I am determined to make it in the field of internet marketing with the help of my mentor Alex Jefferys and my friends and colleagues.

To YOUR success

Sue McDonald

Mindset

Mindset 1 Response »

Hi Guys,

We have all heard the word mindset. What is the definition of mindset? A mindset is best defined as having a group of assumptions or ideas that you believe in. I know you have heard the phase “believe to achieve” but there is much more to it than that.

Nothing in life is achieved by just sitting dreaming about it. You have to be motivated and productive to achieve the results you want. Always set yourself achievable goals but you need a workable plan to achieve the goals.

The right mindset, for what ever you want to achieve, is the same and I will attempt to describe it for you.

Always be positive in your thoughts. Positive thinkers are happy and healthy whereas the negative thinker often suffers depression and health problems. This is a scientific fact. Depression can lead to some severe health issues. When a person is positive, people will be attracted to them like a magnet.

If you walk into a room where people are negative and unhappy, you want to turn and run, lock the door and throw away the key. Well – not that bad but you know you want out. I know I do not like being around negative people because they just drag you down and you feel worse yourself – to be truthful I try and avoid them.

Now in the field of Internet Marketing, being positive is essential. The thoughts you have, and the actions you take, will dictate the results you achieve. The plan you follow is the logical sequence that will bring you results.

How do you know what the plan is? Easy – I suggest you get a coach who can guide you and help you achieve top results. A coach/mentor is an essential part of your success because they can guide and assist you. Notice I said assist – because you have to be prepared to do the work. Every day have your written plan and follow it and you will eventually reach the goals that you set yourself and then you create new goals and new plans. I have a new coach – Alex Jefferys. I intend to give this course my all. We have a live session every week and unfortunately for me here in Australia, it starts at 4am in the morning but I am going to try and attend each session. So follow along with me and I will tell you about my journey.

To YOUR success

Sue McDonald

Interested or Committed

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Hi Guys!

Some time ago I watched a short but interesting video from John Assaraff. If you watched the original “The Secret” you will know who he is.

The question he posed in the video was “Do you know the difference between Interest and Commitment?” The person who is interested in doing something is more often than not the person who never achieves his/her goals. They say they are interested in achieving a result but they are always making excuses why something is not working. They can’t or they won’t accept that they are the problem. They are the ones who are to blame for not getting the results. They allow themselves to believe that the goal they originally set for themselves is well beyond their capabilities and accept their failure.

On the other hand, the committed person will take any action or do what they have to do to achieve. They commit themselves to learning new skills and gaining the knowledge they need and they do not make excuses. That is not to say everything is plain sailing for them, yes, they can get into stormy waters but they will ride them out and get back into the calm again. A committed person will not take “NO” for an answer. They will explore every avenue to achieve their goals.

So which one are you? Are you the interested person or are you the committed person? If you want to succeed you have to fall into the committed category. You have to have the mindset that YOU will achieve what you want to. YOU are the master of your own destiny and never make excuses. Always think in the positive. You cannot change the past and you have your plans for the future but you are now in the present and the present is what you give yourself. That is right – give yourself the “present” and achieve all your dreams. If you encounter problems, solve them, learn from them and keep moving forward.

So now that I have joined Alex Jefferys I am more committed than ever. So this is Sue McDonald saying make sure you are the Committed one and you believe in your ability to get what you want.

Beginning My IM Journey.

General 2 Responses »

Well as you can see I have joined Alex Jeffreys coaching program. I guess I know some things about internet marketing but I want to achieve my goals and I believe that with Alex I will achieve my goals and dreams.

Have I made some huge mistakes on my journey? Originally I was introduced to internet marketing through what I now know was a “hype fest.” This group was offering to make you rich beyond your wildest dreams and as my husband was interested in computers and had just had a stroke a few months earlier, I thought that it would be good for him – I guess I thought it was going to be a type of therapy. What this group was charging was a lot of money but I thought if it was going to keep him interested and make some money at the same time – then it would be worth it. They even gave a money back guarantee if you weren’t making money. What I really did not know was the only income we were getting was from Google Adwords and they received the payments and it was sent to you 6 weeks later.

To cut a long story short they were caught by Google using black hat methods and so they decided to change the course structure and ask people to resign. My husband was not managing with it so we elected not to resign with the new course and asked for our money back. That was when things went really wrong. Because we had been receiving money from Google Adwords from the ads on our site – they said we had made money and therefore not entitled to a refund.

I had been trying to help my husband and the whole world of the internet fascinated me. So I decided to find someone who would teach me. Again second mistake – I signed up with someone, who although they said the course was for a newcomer, it was really was at an intermediate level and I found it very difficult and one week after the course finished they refused any further help or assistance. They never really talked about list building. The whole course centered about product creation and uploading your product online.

My husband told me to pursue internet marketing but if I had of known what it really entailed I may have run for cover. I am not a person who quits things and so I decided to bite the bullet and join Alex Jeffery’s inner circle.

Yes I have made some money online but I have not made it consistently and I believe that I have come to the right place.

The problem that I have found working online is that some coach/mentors will not tell you their secrets or exactly how they do what they do. One coach blatantly told me he only gave 80-90% and if I wanted more I would have to pay to have private coaching.

So up till now, it has been an up and down ride but I am going to give this my all and not be left wonder what if.

So come on this journey with me and see what I am achieving along the way.

To YOUR success

Sue McDonald

Can you do it?

Mindset No Responses »

Hi this is the real Sue McDonald and I just wanted to tell you about my day – today. I had to start my day at the doctors because I had to have some treatment on my back (not my favorite way to start the day). I had to wait for the treatment. So not to waste my time, I took along a book to read.

I am really into positive mindset and believing that all things are possible. The book I grabbed running out the door – was “It’s Not About the Money” by Bob Proctor. Now I must admit, I have been a fan of his since I saw him in “The Secret”. I actually went to a seminar in San Diego about twelve months ago and he was a speaker there. He spoke for over two hours and not one person was restless or wanted to leave the room.

Now what a lot of people fail to appreciate about getting the right mind set also requires that you have to do the work as well. Without action you will not achieve. Dreaming will not achieve your goals. There is a saying “seeing is believing” but Bob has turned that around to read “believing is seeing”- don’t you love it. Too many people focus on the money or the lack there of, and this will never improve their bank balance. Millionaires never think about the money – they know that will come after they have completed their work. Think of what you can do to improve your life. If you are in a job you hate, go to night school and learn other skills to get yourself out of there.

Every person is a sales person – you may not realize it, but that is the truth. You are either selling a service or you are selling a product. If you work in an office you are selling your skills as a service, or as a rep on the road you are selling the company’s product.

We often limit our thought processes and this is what you have to change. You have to believe that anything is possible. The way of life we were all taught was to go to school, go to college, get a job and after your working life was done – retire. This was what we were all taught and this is what we have to change. Think about what you want – and how are you going to achieve it. Again it all comes back to goals and plans. Write your goals down and then write a plan that will allow you to achieve these goals. Be happy as you achieve your milestones along the way, and if you hit an obstacle – think of a way to overcome and get back on track. This is as simple as it is and you can change your life if you really want to. Never be discouraged – stick to the plans to achieve the goal.

To YOUR success

Sue McDonald

What is Success?

Mindset 1 Response »

I was asked this morning by my new coach/mentor Alex Jeffreys what is success. Now I know there are a million different answers to that question – depending on who you ask. So allow me to answer this question from my point of view.

Let me say what success is not to me. Success is not about having lots of money. Success is having the lifestyle I want and helping my family and the people I love.

Success comes from taking action. The harder you are prepared to work the more successful you will be. You MUST have a definite plan that will allow you to achieve what ever your goal is. If you have to amend that plan along the way for you to achieve your goal – so be it. If you encounter any difficulties along the way – work your way through the problem and keep moving forward. Maintain a positive mindset as this will allow you to reach your goals. Success requires persistence and focus.

There are various ways to be successful and I believe there are five elements to being successful and each element requires attention.

These are the five elements that in my opinion ensure your success:

1. Relationships and family
Every day when you wake up you should ask yourself how I can improve things for my family today. Family is so important to me and they need attention.

2. Spiritual well-being
I am not talking about religion here. I am talking about your spiritual inner peace. Meditation will help find that peace. When we meditate we let go of negative thoughts and emotions and put yourself in a much calmer place.

3. Physical well-being
You have to look after your body. Regular exercise and a healthy diet will keep you healthy. Make sure that you get the amount of sleep that you require. There is no point to working so much and not exercising or eating healthy foods that you allow yourself to get ill.

4. Intellectual well-being
Always be prepared to learn and expand your knowledge in your chosen field. This could require you to get a coach/mentor or following a formal course.

5. Financial advancement
Don’t chase the money. As long as you are prepared to follow your plan and take massive action to achieve what you want there is no reason why the money will come to you.

I believe that by paying attention to all of these elements equally, you can become very successful.

To YOUR success

Sue McDonald