CinchHomeBiz Successful Internet Business Blog

When you first get started online, you might be worried. Frankly, you probably should be worried. Yes, you made sales this month. But will you make sales NEXT month? And how will you pay the bills if you don’t make sales? It can be scary going from a job where you know exactly how much you’ll get paid and when you’ll get paid to working your own business online. In your business you might have a banner month and then two months of starving followed by a mediocre month followed by (hopefully) another banner month. Thus, the question becomes, “How do you get stability in your business – and your income -as quickly as possible?” Or… how do you KNOW for a FACT that next month you can make the mortgage and eat, too? Simple – continuity programs. Call it what you want – memberships, recurring payments, monthlies, etc. It all boils down to getting people signed up into a continuity program so you can continue to get paid month after month. ...

In Chip and Dan Heath’s book ‘Decisive,’ they lay out three ways to make truly excellent decisions that can have a very positive impact on your business and your life. 1: The Vanishing Options Test In 1994, Quaker Oats made the decision to buy the drink company Snapple for a whopping 1.8 BILLION dollars – perhaps one of the worst business decisions of all time. They didn’t consider any other options. Believe it or not, no one in the company even argued not to buy it or suggested an alternative. If they had simply expanded their choices by asking, “What other options do we have?” they would have been far more likely to make a better decision. Do you decide to do things without giving yourself multiple options first? Do you limit your choices before you even start? For example, instead of asking, “Should I promote this product to my list?” Ask yourself what other products you might promote instead that would be a better fit for your li...

So many products are simply a rehash of other products, and the same goes for books. Someone wants to write a book on persuasion, so they buy five books on persuasion, read them and then take all the best ideas from the books and write a new course or book or whatever. But what if you want truly unique, stand-alone info that no one else has? Then you’ve got to go to the sources. Let’s say your niche is cat care, and you’re in a forum where people are discussing how they helped their cat get over a certain illness. In that forum you meet Jessie, who found a way to cure her cat in half the normal time at one-tenth the normal expense. You contact Jessie and ask for an interview, which you then turn into a product. No one else has this information because it’s something Jessie came up with in her veterinary practice, or wherever. You now have a product no one else has. Split the profits with Jessie, and do it again and again with people who know stuff that no one els...

There are only so many hours in your day, which is to say, you can only do so much. In the beginning of your business, you’re probably doing everything yourself. But as things start working and making money, you’ve got to scale it up if you want to keep growing the business. If you don’t scale, then you can’t grow beyond the point of what you can do alone. That’s why you want to begin outsourcing as much as you can. And the easiest way to do it is to record yourself performing each step of your business, so you can hand the recordings over to an outsourcer to do these things for you. Either write it up, take screenshots or use video recording. And no, it doesn’t have to be perfect. You’re simply going to hand it to an outsourcer and let them take over the task for you. Remember, your goal is to work ON your business, not IN your business. Otherwise you will have trouble hitting six figures and you will never come close to that magical seven figu...

The ‘secret’ isn’t all that secret, and yet most marketers get this wrong. You simply have to give a much higher value than the price that subscribers pay, and two things will happen: They will join in droves, and they will STAY and continue to pay. It doesn’t matter if you’re charging $10 a month or $1,000 a month. Just make sure that your members are getting far more than the price they are paying. For example, let’s say you want to build a membership on how to start an online business. If you give your subscribers an eight week guarantee (think ClickBank) and a promise that they can start earning by the fourth week, you’re in business. If you further promise full email support, you’ll do even better. Yes, you’ll outsource the support, and it will be well worth the cost. Many members will join just to get that live support. Subscribers get new content each week, they have 8 weeks to get a refund, they’ll be making money in ju...

Did you enjoy the Olympics? Every four years we get to see the best of the best and their gold medals, but sometimes the best inspiration comes from those who don’t win – or even someone who came in dead last. In 1988, Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards became the first competitor since 1928 to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping. How did Eddie do? He came in #58 out of 58. But it didn’t matter. His fans loved him for other reasons. He had no trainer, no money, no practice facilities – and some called him the great British loser. He had a cheerful air of bumbling incompetence, epitomized by the big pink goggles he wore. Says Eddie, “I got my letter saying, ‘Congratulations, you can represent Great Britain in the Olympic games’ when I was in a mental hospital in Finland. I wasn’t a patient. I was there because it was the cheapest place for me to stay.” On getting ready to do his jump, Eddie says, “There were about ...

You’re just starting out and your list only has 500 or 1,000 people. While it’s true you would gladly trade your small list for one that’s 100 times bigger, it’s also true that if you treat your little list right, you can still make really good money. How does that work? By getting personal. First, answer emails that you get from your list. When someone reads your latest email and takes the time to write to you – answer them. You’ve only got 1,000 people on your list, so odds are only 5 to 10 will ever write to you at a time. Yes, you can do this. Keep it personal. Second, let your list members know that they are part of a very small, intimate, private community by telling them. Otherwise they’ll assume you’ve got a gazillion people on your list and don’t give a flying flip about any of them. Third, email them daily. Yes, DAILY. Keep in constant contact with them. Update them on the latest news and give a tidbit here and there about ...

How can you create a product in less than a week that has a high perceived value and is almost guaranteed to bring its own traffic and sales? One word: Interviews. Here's how to do it... First, choose a niche if you don't already have one. Preferably you want to find a niche with experts who have their own email lists. Second, choose a hook. If your niche is vegetable gardening, your hook might be, “How to grow an entire year's worth of veggies for less than $50.” If your niche is classic cars, your hook might be, “How to buy classic cars for half their real value.” If your niche is Internet Marketing, your hook might be, “How to drive tons of traffic to your website without spending a dime.” Third, once you have your hook you'll want to find your experts. Book authors are great for this, as are bloggers and any fairly well-known experts in your niche. Don't be afraid to approach well known people because you're going to offer them something they want...

Okay, your competition has been around longer than you. They know more than you about your customers, your products, your marketing… …let’s face it – they’re racehorses, and you’re a mule. But what does that mean? New marketers feel like they are coming into a race when it’s three-quarters over. Seasoned marketers know more, have more tools, more contacts, more customers, bigger lists, more outsourcers and so forth. How is a mule to compete against a tried and true racehorse? One step at a time, that’s how. In 1976, the Great American Horse Race – 3,500 miles long through 13 American states – had 90 teams of purebred racehorses competing… And 1 team of mules. That’s right, mules - competing with thoroughbreds from across the world in the perhaps the longest, greatest horse race ever. Entered in the race were Viking horses from Iceland; Arabian stallions, favored to win by almost everyone; tall Irish thoroughbreds; s...

So you've set up your blog and you've got several posts – and no readers. Now what? Here are 7 proven methods to drive traffic to your blog in no time... Facebook Fan Pages . You can set up a Fan Page for your blog in about a minute – ten minutes if you're hunting for a photo and just the right thing to say. It's simple, easy and free, and here's my favorite part: Once people become fans of your blog they'll be able to see your blog updates when they're on Facebook. Plus, when they like your blog, their friends see that and check out your blog, too. Some of them 'like' it, and their friends check out your blog, and so forth. Twitter . Yes, just about everyone seems to be either on Twitter or joining, so go ahead and set up a Twitter account just for your blog. Again, it'll take you a whopping 2 to 3 minutes. Make a few interesting Tweets, and then begin adding followers. Use one of the many Twitter add-ons to schedule your tweets to run around th...

I feel almost silly writing an article on this topic, because I can sum it up in one sentence: Write about your own personal experiences in story form . That's it! People love stories - especially true ones – that show you overcame an obstacle, solved a problem, created something positive and so forth. So if you're writing a blog post about how to increase traffic, use your own examples of what you did, how you did it, and the results. If you can flavor it with storytelling skills that keep your reader riveted, so much the better. And who better to show you how to tell a story than professional stand up comics? These guys and gals live and die by the story – they either get it right or they're booed off the stage, and being booed is not funny or fun. The steps to great storytelling according to comedians? Be Brief (don't ramble – get to the point) Give Details (the useful ones – don't bog the story down with useless stuff) Use Story Twists (surprise is a wonde...

Half of Facebook's more than 2.2 BILLION active users are on Facebook in any 24 hour period. In addition, the average U.S. Facebook user spends nearly 6 hours a month browsing this social network. In other words, if your business isn't on Facebook yet, maybe it should be. And one of the first questions I invariably receive from newcomers concerning Facebook is, “What should I post to get people interested in my business?” Here are some ideas: Showcase your customers . If you've got photos, videos or emails from happy customers using your products, go ahead and show them. Just remember, you're not bragging about your product, you're showing what your customers are doing with your product. Keep the difference in mind when choosing and framing content and you can't go wrong. Instead of showing a testimonial from Jimmy telling how great your product is, show Jimmy using or enjoying your product, or show the direct results Jimmy achieved with your product. For exampl...

Here’s a ridiculously easy business you can run from Facebook using Facebook groups. It won’t take you much time, and it can net you a tidy little profit each month. Better still, you can create as many of these as you like. Grow them big enough, and you might make far more than $1,000 a month, too. Plus, you can either do it yourself, or outsource the work – it’s up to you. Here’s how it works: First, create a private Facebook group. This is going to be a free group, and you can do it for any niche where money is spent. For example, if you’re in the IM niche, you might title your group something like: Shortcut copywriting techniques for non-copywriters Easy and fast SEO for non-SEO people Latest and hottest ways to get tons of traffic to your offer Techniques for doubling and tripling your conversions Simple methods for building massive emails lists fast Etc. You can populate your groups with free WSO’s, from Facebook itself, as bonuses ...

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to make good money online is by doing webinars. Here's how it works in a nutshell: You choose a date and topic for your webinar, promote it, give great information on the webinar and then promote a product at the end. It's like one big informational sales letter, in that you begin by giving away a great deal of awesome info, and you close by offering them even more information or a service or membership they can use to implement what they've just learned. If you either have a skill that others want to learn, or you can interview an expert who has the skill (or information) people want to learn, then you can do a webinar. Here are the steps to ensure your webinars generate income... 1. Make the webinar an experience. There is so much I can say about this, but it might all boil down to the following: Do NOT be boring. As you put your webinar together, think about your customers and what they want to learn and experience. Make it interesting, ex...

I see new marketers all the time who have a goal of $100,000 per year or even a million dollars per year. And how are they getting their traffic? They're happily submitting articles, writing blog posts and commenting in forums and blogs. Now, if your goal is to earn an extra $1,000-$2,000 per month, then these methods are great. But if you want to earn far more, you'll want to change the way you get traffic. No one that I know of is making large sums of money using only these methods. Instead, they are doing either SEO, PPC, Facebook Ads, or creating their own products and affiliate programs. Or they have a HUGE list. But how do you get a huge, responsive list? Generally by using SEO, PPC or some kind of advertising. So the real questions to think about when it comes to not only traffic but also any issue regarding your business is: A) What is your goal? B) Is what you're doing going to get you to that goal this year? And if it's not – look for another method. I will sa...

Success is great, but failure is EASIER! Come on... I know you can do it. Here's how: 1. Be filled with doubt. Cultivate it at every step, looking for reasons why you will fail, why your business plan won't work, why effort is fruitless and hopeless. People who are successful want that success, they dream about it, breathe it, live it in their minds over and over before it happens in real life. When successful people feel doubt trying to creep in, they stamp it out faster than a cockroach in their kitchen. No wonder why they succeed. If you're going to fail and fail big, you've got to be sure you're filled with self-doubt from the time you get up until you fall asleep at night. Whatever you do, do not listen to or read positive messages, do not become enthusiastic, and try your best not to be happy. Just sit in the corner quietly with your milk and a giant box of cookies (or your beer and burritos) and don't come out of that corner until you've convinced you...

Over and over we hear how to succeed, how to achieve our goals and dreams, and so forth. And yet, somehow most people are falling far short of those goals and dreams... Now why is that? Perhaps it's time to do the opposite. In a famous episode of Seinfeld, George Costanza was a perennial loser who one day decided to do the opposite of what he would normally do in every facet of his life. Result? Success! Another example is contrarian investing – that is, going against conventional wisdom to buy when others are selling and selling when everyone else is buying – has been known to build fortunes. And this holds true for not only investments, but also in real estate. Another example of the opposite working: Over and over we've been told to do affirmations to improve our outlook and our outcome. Result? If we do them a million, billion, gazillion times, they absolutely do work. But who wants to repeat the same phrases over and over 50 times a day? Not me. Now I hear that if we si...