CinchHomeBiz Successful Internet Business Blog

There’s a Shakespeare quote you’ve heard: “To thine own self be true.” And here’s another one (not quite with the Shakespeare flair, but still quite eloquent): “You can’t fit a round peg into a square hole.” People online will tell you what to do. How to do it. When to do it. They’ll tell you to get up two hours early and work on your business before work. Or set a timer for 30 minutes and work without distraction. Or enter a niche just because there is money there. They’ll tell you all sorts of things. And they’ll even get righteously indignant when you don’t do what they tell you to do. So now I’m going to tell you what to do. Seriously. Know yourself first . Yes, you can get round pegs into square holes, but it does a tremendous amount of damage to the round peg. If you like to sleep in until 10:00 am, then maybe that’s what you should do. You probably do your best work in the afternoon and evening anyway. If you have a flair for an odd niche, maybe you should find a way to monetize

If you haven’t yet had a big launch of your own, then it can be hard to relate to how things work, what needs to be done, and especially the results you can get. It all seems a bit foreign and out of reach. But the fact is, anyone has the potential to create a product that people love and launch it with tremendous success. Imagine spending the next 2 months working on your new product and the launch itself. Then the big day is almost here. You’re lying in bed the night before, wondering if you did everything you can do to make this a big success. You’re worried it will flop. You’re thinking, “What if I just wasted the last two months of my life?” But the fact is, no matter what happens, it’s impossible to waste that experience as long as you learn from it. Do you know what else you’re feeling? Excitement. It’s like the night before Christmas when you were a kid, times 10. Or maybe times 100. You can hardly sleep. What will tomorrow bring? And let’s face it – you’re also proud of yourse

You might want to print out this page and keep it close to your computer – it’s a little goldmine of power words that capture attention and get your messages read & acted on: - Free - Sale - New - Tested - Guaranteed - Immediately - Powerful - Popular - Special - Affordable - The truth about - Absolutely lowest - Daring - Pioneering - Unsurpassed - Obsession - Lifetime - Strong - Sizable - Confidential - Alert - Energy - Rare - Famous - Unparalleled - Superior - Bottom line - Special offer - Wealth - Last minute - Timely - Unconditional - Profitable - Emerging - Breakthrough - It’s here - Just arrived - Growth - High tech - Innovative - Exclusive - Valuable - Discount - Endorsed - Under priced - Launching - Reduced - Enormous - Now - Fortune - Authentic - Announcing - Introducing - Portfolio - Urgent - Proven - Weird - Surprise - Excellent - You Start using these words in your marketing and sales copy today, and then stand

It’s tempting to send offer after offer to your list in the hopes of making the most money. Yet this is also a sure fire way to alienate your readers and send them packing. If all you ever do is pitch them in every email, they’re either going to stop opening your emails, or simply unsubscribe. In either case, you are no longer relevant to your list. So when it comes time to promote your own products, no one will be listening. There is a better way, and it’s to provide content along with the promotions. The problem is in knowing what kind of content to give them. What do they want to know? How long is it going to take you to research it and write it? And will it even be read? The key is to think ‘engagement’ over selling. If you can continually engage your audience, then you can continually sell to them as well, at a reasonable pace. Think of it this way: Every engagement email is like building your goodwill account. Every promotional email is like cashing in on that account. Both are e

Want to KNOW your product will be a hit BEFORE you make it? This is simple and easy to do. And it can save you a ton of time and frustration. Validating your next product idea is crucial if you want to be sure you’re going to have a winning product on your hands. Here’s how to do it... Create a pre-launch page. On the pre-launch page, give a short summary of your up and coming product. This is like a mini sales page with a headline, bullet points, benefits and a call to action. In this case, the call to action is a waiting list to buy the product when it comes out. Once they join this list, send them to a second page that again talks about the product, but also offers them the chance to buy it right now at a lower price. Structure it with your offer at the top. “Buy your copy now and get $20 off, plus this extra bonus.” Then reiterate the benefits of the product, and make the offer again at the bottom. Some people will likely click the buy button at the top without ever scrolling. Othe

This is an email launch sequence that anyone can do and enjoy success with, whether you’re launching your next $10 product or $1,000 product. I'm going to assume you have a list, whether it’s one you’ve warmed up for a while, or a new list compiled from affiliate promotions for your new launch. Either way, the email sequence will be the same. And we'll assume you’re selling some type of information product that teaches something. For our example, let’s say you’re selling a product on how to make great videos for marketing purposes. Here is the sequence: Email #1: The first lesson on making great videos that sell products. You’re going to be delivering 3 lessons in all on making great videos. But you’re only going to teach about 5 - 10% of what you know. This way they’ll have to buy the paid course to discover the other 90%. Email #2: A survey question. In this case, ask them what their biggest challenge is in creating great videos that sell. Email #3: The second lesson. Take

Stuck for ideas on what to write in your next blog post, article or email? I’ve made a list of what readers want most to see from you. In fact, this is exactly the content that people crave, so get ready to make your next content a smash hit with your audience. Your readers want content that: - Reminds them that they matter - Reminds them that they are one of a kind - Tells a story - Takes them on a journey - Surprises them - Shows them that dreams can come true - Has unexpected twists and unforeseeable turns - Reveals awesome secrets - Shows little Davids beating big Goliaths - Confirms their thoughts and beliefs - Challenges their assumptions in a respectful manner - Gives a fresh point of view - Takes a stand - Reminds them that life is short – really short - Gives them faith to believe in something BIG - Reminds them to get back to the “basics” - Makes them smile and laugh - Makes them cry - Educates while entertaining - Inspires them to take action - Encourages

Can you pick a topic, build a list of 1,000 and even promote your first product in just 7 days? Yes! Here’s how... First of course is to choose your topic or niche. If you want a head start, pick something that will interest your friends – preferably both your friends in real life and your social media friends. Let’s say you’re interested in marketing, and you’ve got some business friends in your hometown as well as more business friends online. This is a good topic choice to hit the ground running. Next, reach out to those friends you already have a relationship with. Let them know about your new endeavor. In our example case, you might write the following: Hey George, Quick question for you: I’m starting a new project where I give out the latest marketing tips for small businesses like yours on how to cheaply get more customers. Traditional advertising just isn’t cutting it anymore, and we need alternatives that don’t cost a lot and flat out work. Anyway, thought you might be interes

This is so basic, a lot of people might dismiss this without another thought . However if they do, they’ll be missing out on one of the single greatest secrets to continuously increase their income month in and month out, for the rest of their lives... Here’s how it works: Look at what you earned last month. Whatever it is, write it down . Now set a goal to earn a certain percentage more this month. 5% works well. For example, if last month you earned $500, this month your goal is $525. Now track what you earn every day. That’s right – every DAY . If you’re not on target to beat last month’s total, then do something. Send out another promotion. Create a viral report. Do another guest post. Whatever it takes, make sure you reach your new goal. Odds are you will not only reach it, you will exceed it. Now rinse and repeat month in and month out. “But this is too hard!” You might be thinking. Nope. It’s not. You’re taking 2 minutes a day to record how much you earned the day before. You’re

Let’s say you write and sell a fairly successful monthly newsletter. How can you get your subscribers to bring you new subscribers? Or maybe you have a growing membership. How do you get your current members to bring you more paying members? The answer might be as simple as giving your existing members certificates to GIVE to their friends... In the case of the newsletter, let your subscribers give away 1-6 months for free. Limit the number of gift subscriptions they can give away to keep the perceived value high. Make the gift certificates look like they were paid for by your current subscribers, so that when they give them out, it appears they’re giving a valuable gift (which they are.) This also makes it more likely your subscribers will give the certificates out because there is a sense of pride in the giving of the gift. When the gift recipients sign up to get their free subscriptions, you can offer them the chance to subscribe for a longer period of time at a reduced rate. Some w

Guaranteed, you’ve been on the customer side of this equation. You buy a product and you think you’re going to be directed to the download page. Instead, you find yourself on an upsell page trying to sell you another product. No problem, you scroll to the bottom and click the ‘no thanks’ link, thinking you’re about to get to the download page. No such luck. You’re on another upsell page. You scroll down and click ‘no thanks’ again, and you’re taken to... ... yet another upsell page. Now you’re getting irritated. You scroll down, click the ‘no thanks’ button, and you’re finally taken to... ... another upsell page! @#$%& You’re no longer just irritated, you’re annoyed, mad and even downright ANGRY. Odds are you are talking to your computer and what you’re saying is not very nice. Who can blame you? Now then, let’s look at this from the marketer’s standpoint: The more offers you as the marketer can make, the more money you will make. Today, that is. But when you make your customers an

First, the bad news: If you’re telling customers that you’re only selling “X” number of your digital product, they’re going to think you’re a scammer. Think about it. Back in 2000, you could tell people you’re only selling 1,000 copies and they would believe you. But it’s 2020, and people have seen this tactic so many times, they not only don’t believe you – it makes them question everything else you say. Plus, how shortsighted can you be to limit how much money you make? Let’s say you put out a truly great product, but to create scarcity and make sales you decide to limit either the number of products sold, or the time during which you will sell them. You make the sales, you pull the product, and your income goes to zero. That could be a big long-term loss for you. Or worse yet, you claim you will pull the product but you don’t. Or you say you “may” stop selling, but you don’t. Or you stop selling for 2 days or 2 weeks or 2 months, and then you open it up again. And your credibility g

Which one would you remember: “Pete and Earl’s Hair Salon for Men,” or “Best Head Salon?” How about “The Best Irrigation Installation and Repair” or “Dirty Boots Irrigation?” Choosing a memorable name for your business, service or product can actually increase your business, for 3 reasons: - People can remember it in conversation with others. “Check out the “Stealth Remodeler,” he does work during off-hours so he won’t bother your customers. - People remember it each time they see it. They might forget a generic name and not realize they’ve seen it over and over again online in forums, on blogs and so forth. But a memorable name they will remember. “Hey, I see that product or service everywhere, it must be good!” - People can remember it when they need your product or service. “I’ve got to get a new window, so I’ll call the one window place I remember: ‘Peek-a-boo Windows.’” Or, “I need help with my website SEO, I’ll Google ‘Naked SEO’ because I remember their name from an article I re

Let’s say you have a product for brick and mortar businesses on how to get more customers. If you take the exact same information that is in your product, but customize it for a specific niche, you can charge more AND make more sales. For example, you customize the info for chiropractors and market it exclusively to chiropractors. Sales will actually be easier to make for a couple of reasons. First, it’s easier to reach your audience when you are being specific. Second, chiropractors will see the info is just for them, and be far more likely to buy than if it was generic. So it’s easier to reach your audience, and easier to sell to them when you find them. But perhaps the biggest benefit of all is that you can sell your product for more money because it is geared specifically towards chiropractors. And you can do this in multiple niches: Contractors, lawyers, accountants, dentists, etc. Let’s use another niche – weight loss. You have a generic product on how to lose weight, which means

Are there really any good reasons NOT to launch your amazing new product? Take this quiz to find out so you don't make the same critical mistakes that have destroyed many other businesses and entrepreneurs from the word GO... Ok, check all that apply: 1. __ Another marketer has just launched a product very similar to yours, and if you launch your product now, you’ll look like a copycat. 2. __ You just got word that another launch for a similar product bombed in a very big way – almost no one bought it. You’ll look like an idiot if you launch your product. 3. __ A big guru in your niche just started the launch process of a very similar product. His first video is out, and once he releases the fourth video everyone on the planet will be promoting his product. 4. __ There are already several free versions of products quite similar to yours – thus there is no reason anyone would buy your product when they can get the same info for free. Did you pick which scenarios should stop you from

Let’s say you run across an affiliate program for a product with recurring payments, such as a membership site or software. Because it’s recurring payments, you sell it once and you get paid over and over again, for months or possibly even years. Everything else being equal, these are always the best types of products to promote because the income just keeps coming and coming. Naturally you want to make as many sales of these as possible, so the question becomes: Other than your usual methods of promotion, how can you get more subscribers to this affiliate program? Try an old school method that still works – creating a viral report. In the report, teach how to do whatever it is that the product does. Teach the method in detail, step-by-step. Leave nothing out. Then at the end, let the reader know that they don’t have to do any of what you just said. Instead, they can get the same results a whole lot faster and easier by subscribing to the affiliate program. Simple, right? First you sho

Ready to avoid a big mistake and increase your bottom line? Do you have download pages? You know, pages where people pick up their product after buying it from you?... If so, have you TESTED those download pages? Odds are it never even occurred to you. But why not? You test everything else, so why not test your download pages, too? “Wait, I don’t sell anything on my download page, so why would I test it?” Oh-oh, let’s back up. Any virtual real estate you have – including download pages – can be selling something for you. In fact, download pages can be the PERFECT place for promotion because your customer just made a purchase. This means they’re already in a buying mood. And who buys products? BUYERS do . If you’re not promoting something on your download pages, you are missing out on what might be thousands of dollars of revenue a month, depending on how much traffic those pages get. So how do you best promote a product on your download page? Forget flashy banners and things that look

...yet it’s a technique most marketers aren’t even aware of yet. And it’s as easy as turning video PLR snippets into lists and cash. Here's how it works... Find some good, solid PLR videos that instruct on how to do something. They should cover the step by step method to achieve a goal. They don’t need to be fancy but they do need good information that people want. Once you’ve got your videos, watch them to find the “good” parts. These are the little 2-3 minute segments that teach something especially useful most people don’t know. Really you only need one of these segments, but if you find several, that’s even better. Copy that segment into a file of its own. You can use most any video program to do this. Basically you make a copy of that video, then cut out everything you don’t want, leaving that 2-3 minute segment. Place that video segment on its own page on your website. Once you’ve gotten this far, you’ve got choices on what to do next – LOTS of choices. You can... 1 . Add a l

This idea has been proven to work GREAT for insurance agents, and it can work phenomenally well for other businesses as well. Imagine you walk into Joe’s insurance to sell your marketing services. Joe is sitting at his desk, looking bored and sad. “Joe,” you say, “How’s business?” “Not great, he answers.” “Joe, I’ll bet you a steak dinner that I can get your phone ringing off the hook in days.” Joe takes you up on your bet. You then launch an advertising campaign via social media or traditional media, in which Joe offers a big steak or shrimp dinner if he can’t save a customer money on his or her insurance. Because the offer is so attention getting and so bold, the phone does indeed ring off the hook. Just make sure before you run a promotion like this that Joe can indeed save most people money. You can do something similar with other trades, too, such as tax preparers, travel agents and even auto repair shops. That’s right – auto repair. The offer might be – “Bring in your estimate fr

The fact is, most people have an expertise that would make a good product others would happily pay for. But some people either don’t feel confident enough to charge for what they know, or they really don’t know enough to charge. So what kind of product can these folks create? That’s easy – software. With software, you don’t have to record videos and write PDF’s and give case studies and examples and so forth, other than what you need to sell the software. All you need to create a software product is basically two things: A good idea and a coder. Coders are easy to come by – just go to any of the freelancing sites and take your pick. So how do you get a good idea for software? Study your market. See what people need. Make a note when you wish you had software that would do ____, because odds are other people are wishing for the same thing. Look at the new software introduced in your niche – how could you improve it? What are the latest, biggest, fastest growing trends? What software can

Let’s say you promote an affiliate product and it does pretty well, earning you some nice sales. The question is, now that you’ve found a product that is selling well to your list, how do you make even more sales? Here are 3 methods: 1. Send another email to those who opened your last email but didn’t click the link, and to those who didn’t open your last email. Offer them the same product, but with an additional 7 days of free email support from you. This works if you’re familiar with the product, which you should be if you’re promoting it. The addition of real live support can often double your sales or better. And it can be fun making new friends with people on your list. 2. If it’s your product that you’re promoting, send out another promotion to those people on your list who didn’t click the link or open the email, offering the same product with a twist for more money. The twist might be a special bonus, email support, a coaching call, etc. You can charge more because you’re off

There is a super simple way to create products people want to buy. It’s so simple, in fact, that you might have heard of this technique and quickly dismissed it. Yet it works like marketing magic just about every time it’s used. Here’s the secret: Write your sales page BEFORE you create the product. That’s it. Now here’s why it works: - The headline and bullet points basically give you an outline of the product to create. - You don’t have to think of the bullet points yourself – just go to forums and find out what people are asking. Those are your bullet points. - It is far easier to write the sales letter first and then create the product, rather than the other way around. - As you write your letter, you can think about what your customer wants to know. Put yourself in their shoes. This almost guarantees a great sales page and product. - If you outsource the product creation, you can simply hand your writer the sales page and let them create the product from that. You’ll get a far sup

Imagine if your products were as addictive as some drugs – only in a good way. Your customers derived tremendous satisfaction from using your products, and continued to buy and use them for months and years. Your business would thrive, your customers would receive tremendous benefit, and everyone in this scenario would be happy. But how do you build addiction into your products and services? And in fact, can it even be done? The short answer is that not only can it be done, but it already has been done many, many times over. Look at any product or brand that people rave about and continue to buy over and over again and you’ll have a product or brand that people are in some way addicted to. The Apple brand immediately comes to mind, as well as many video games, foods, certain authors and so forth. In fact, bloggers and authors can use addiction to tremendous advantage, getting their readers to come back time and again for their latest post or book. So the question is, how can you build

Someone asked me what I would do if I had to start my business over from scratch in 3 months. And that got me thinking – if I could take the experience I have and use it to start over from scratch, how would I do it? Mind you, I wouldn’t have my mailing list. I wouldn’t have traffic, a following, name recognition – none of that. Just my experience as to what works and what doesn’t. And let’s say that my life depends on me having a full time income at the end of those 3 months. No pressure there, right? But a lot of people find themselves in a very similar situation – make money or else. Or else they’re in trouble, or else the bills go unpaid, or else they’re facing losing their home, or... worse. So with that in mind, here’s what I would do: - I would stop looking for magic ‘make money online’ products and ideas. There is no secret combo of tricks and buttons to make money. It’s not a printing press. It’s a free market. And in that free market the way to make money is to stop focusing

Okay, this one will take a little legwork, but it is work you’ll be doing anyway. Only this time, it will pay off double. Here’s how it works: Every marketer winds up hosting downloads, pdf’s, zipped files, redirects, cloaked affiliate links, images and a bunch of other things. The way we do it is generally like this: yourdomain.com/buythisproductnow. Now then, to make this work you’ll want to get a domain name that you use only for hosting all of this stuff. It should be a catchy name that directly pertains to your niche – something that arouses interest and curiosity all by itself. For example, TheNakedMarketer.com or TakeThisJobAndShoveIt.org. Host everything on subdomains of this domain. As you get traffic to all of these subdomains, a funny thing is going to happen: You’re going to get traffic to your root domain as well. Even though you never send anyone there, people are going to get curious, lop off the part after the slash in your domain name and see what’s on the home page. T

Even if you’ve never made a video before in your life, you can do this. And once you have your videos, you can sell them, use them as lead magnets, use them as bonuses to affiliate products and so forth. You can even use them to establish your authority and credibility in your marketplace. Here’s how you can quickly start making your own video products: - Download the free screen capture video program called Snagit. You can download it at TechSmith or Google to find other websites that offer it. - Decide on what kind of video or video set you’re making and the purpose of it. Is it a training? Or an info product? How about a video for a sales page, or maybe a lead generator on YouTube. It could be the video you put on your squeeze page, or the incentive you use to get people to join your list. If you’re making a product, then keep it simple. Look at what is already selling so you’ll know ahead of time that there is a market for your new product. Look at what Kindle titles are selling, w

How do you get your readers to RACE to open your emails the moment they arrive in their inbox? Here’s one way to do it. It’s kind of sneaky but if you condition your readers properly, it can work really, really well. First, you already know that paying customers are worth far, far more than freebie seekers. So why not make an offer to your freebie seekers that even they cannot refuse? And in the process, why not get them to open (and read) your emails? Here’s how it works: Every few days or every few emails, you have one of your links go to a wonderful $1 or $5 deal, but only for the first x number of people. This might be a product that normally sells for a great deal more, a resale product, something you no longer sell, etc. So long as it still has real value, you can use it. Your link can be obvious or disguised. For example, you might send an email promoting xyz product, but your link goes to your special offer until it’s sold out, and then it directs back to the xyz offer. And on

Would you like to add a new income stream to an existing business? Or are you looking for a brand new business? Then check this out. First, you need knowledge. If you don’t have it, then obviously you can get it. It’s got to be specialized knowledge. Maybe you’re an expert at a certain software program, or a WordPress expert, or you know everything there is to know about how to drop to 5% body fat. Whatever it is, it’s got to be knowledge that other people want NOW. Next, you need a way to get your consulting in front of the people who need it. Let’s say you’re an affiliate for a software or program that you personally know inside and out. You keep a mailing list of everyone who’s visited your site or bought the product from you. These people sometimes email you with questions about the product. “How do I... ?” “Where is the... ?” “When so and so happens, what do I do?” And so forth. Being the good affiliate you are, you probably answer these questions. And you’re good at it, too. But

I know I preach about picking something and staying focused on that something until you make it a success, but there are exceptions, and this is a big one. There are certain products you should probably grab whenever you see them. These are “how to” products on marketing techniques that contain three little words that can be a goldmine for you – “Step by step.” The reason I love these is because for a very cheap price – usually less than $40 and sometimes only $10 – you get a complete step by step system on how to do something. You might buy 2 or 3 of these a week. Then when you’ve got time, go through each one. Read the PDF’s and watch the videos. Decide if you think the technique is something you can apply to your business. If it is, try it out. You might set aside one afternoon each week to try a new step by step technique. Then wait and see what happens. Sometimes you see results right away and other times it takes a while, depending on what the technique might be. You’re watching