CinchHomeBiz Successful Internet Business Blog

These days everyone's inbox is flooded with emails and it's harder and harder to get noticed, much less get opened. I've been doing my own testing of what works and what doesn't, and thought you might like to see the results. Optimize your “sender” or “from” field. Using a business name does not seem to work as well as using a personal name, probably because people want to read messages from people, not from businesses. However, combining the business name with the personal name seems to work well, especially if the business name is either well recognized or implies a benefit. For example, 'Joe Smith, ProBlogger' would likely work well, as would 'Jane Smith, Traffic Tips.' Further optimize your “sender” field. I've experimented with using symbols before and after my name in the 'from' field to make my emails stand out, and it does seem to make a small difference. For example, ~Joe Smith~ tends to be opened more often than Joe Smith. Use a gre

If you want true financial security, it's not enough anymore to be a millionaire – you've got to be a multimillionaire. So how do you join the ranks of the 1%? Make a firm decision to be a multimillionaire. Your first step is making that firm decision and then reaffirming that decision several times a day. See yourself rich, feel yourself rich, be rich in your heart and mind. This is where it starts and this is the first step to realizing your dream. You must lose the poverty thinking. No matter what you were taught about money being evil or scarce, you've got to let go of those beliefs once and for all. Abundance is all around you when you open yourself to it. Like attracts like, so if you're thinking poverty, you'll just get more poverty. Continuously think of your multimillionaire status as real. Since you can't hold two opposing thoughts at the same time, if you're thinking about how little money you have then you're not thinking about getting rich.

People are nothing if not predictable. Let me give you an example: If you say to someone, “You've got a great job.” They will invariably tell you why it's NOT great. But if you say to them, “You've got a lousy job.” They'll tell you why it's actually a very good job. Knowing the triggers you can use to activate certain behaviors in prospects can help tremendously to increase your conversions and your bottom line. That's why I've compiled 10 slightly sneaky methods to get your audience to do your bidding – or stated another way, here are 10 methods to get the public to buy your product and share your message with the world. People crave entertainment like they crave air, and they always need more of it. A good analogy is caffeine – in the beginning, the smallest amount of caffeine can give you a nice little buzz. But the more caffeine you use, the more you need to achieve that same buzz level. Entertainment is no different. The movies of the 40's weren&#

Something I come back to time and again is the importance of generating ideas, having ideas and then putting the best of those ideas to work. Every business you see and every invention you marvel at was at first someone's idea. Every great blog post, piece of new content, information product, etc., all started as a tiny little seed inside someone's brain... Without the idea, nothing else flows. With the idea, anything is possible. So how do you get great ideas? By training your brain to find them for you. Every day write down 10 new ideas. If you can't think of 10, then write 20. “But if I can't come up with 10, how am I going to think of 20?” By relaxing and having fun. The reason 10 ideas a day is hard is because you think every idea has to be good. No. Even most of the ideas you first think are good won't actually be... That's okay. Just train your brain that you want 10 (or 20) new ideas every single day, and your brain will deliver. It'll be slow at fir

Here's how a typical Internet business works – you pick a niche, create a product and then find the audience to sell that product to. If it doesn't sell, you do it all over again. If it does sell, you make more products to sell to those same people. Sounds logical, right?... Maybe not. Suppose – just suppose – you decide to sell NOTHING for the first two to three months of your business. Not a gosh darn thing. Instead, what you do is focus on building and nurturing your audience. Once they know you and are confident you know what you're talking about, then and only then do you sell them something. “But I need to make money NOW!” Okay, what if you had started the entire process 3 months ago? They say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, and the second best time is today. So bear with me for a moment while we plant a tree in your mind right now... Let's say you've taken up a new hobby. Maybe it's golf. You're cruising the Internet when you find this

One of the biggest expenses for some businesses is advertising. Think about the auto repair shop, the kitchen cabinet maker, the plumber, etc. They can spend a small fortune each month running ads that might not even pay off. After all, what's the reaction of most people to advertising? It's disbelief. "Sure they say they're great, but... They all say that!" But what if you could show offline clients how to get all of their business from referrals, thereby saving the money they spend on advertising? What would that be worth to them? Frankly, it should be worth about 2-3 months of their current advertising budget, paid directly to you. This won't work for all businesses, so use your best judgement on which businesses to work with using this strategy. While every business will be different, you can quickly learn the basics on how to set up a referral system that brings in as much if not more business than their current advertising. Let's use an automotive re

"I Hereby Dub Thee, Super Duper Expert! Now Go Forth, Change the World & Prosper!" If only it were that easy to become an expert – just get someone to tap a sword on both your shoulders as you kneel and PRESTO! You are now the go-to person for your niche. Wait – it actually can be almost that easy . The first thing you need to know about becoming an expert is WHY you want to be one. When you are viewed as the expert, people want to buy your products and services. They also want to promote you. Whether it's sharing your stuff via social media or interviewing you for the news, you become THE person in your niche that people gravitate to. The second thing to know is HOW to be seen as an expert, and it works like this: You need to ACT like an expert, THINK like an expert, and SPEAK like an expert. And all three of these will become natural when you believe you are indeed the expert. But what if you don't believe you're an expert? Then start acting like you are a

You've just entered a niche that's brand new for you and you've got zero contacts. But you're creating a product to sell and you need joint venture partners. So how do you get those all important JV's when you don't even have any contacts in the niche? Like this... First, make sure your product is something that gets people excited and wanting to promote it to their lists. You can do this by solving a BIG problem, preferably something that people are already spending time and money trying to solve. Second, solve the problem with a step-by-step formula – sort of a blueprint to success. You don't want to just give a bunch of info – they can find plenty of that on the Internet. Instead, it should be a system to solving the problem, such as “7 Steps to Getting 7 Hot Dates in 7 Days.” Now that you've got your product, take a little time to set up a JV page and an About Me page on your website. The JV page should tell about your product and how it will help th

Whether you're solving a problem, writing a blog post, crafting a review or creating your next product, creativity is one of your best tools for getting the job done with finesse and style. With that in mind, here are 17 methods anyone can use to become more creative. Free write – This is where you just start writing anything and continue to write as the words and ideas flow. At first it may be silly nonsense, but you'll be surprised how fast your words and ideas can coalesce into something truly inspired. Carry a notebook – By jotting down ideas as soon as they appear, two things happen. First, you don't forget your ideas because you've got a written record. Second, the act of writing them down tells your subconscious that you want ideas, which will encourage it to give you even more. Make lists – The very act of writing things down frees up your mind to be more creative. Take breaks from your work – Get up, walk around, play 5 minutes of hopscotch – whatever. Just

Well over 5.5 million gigabytes of content is currently being shared daily through social media and email. Want to grab a piece of that viral pie? Here are 5 tips to help get your content moving into new hands and seen by many new people every day . Use Great Headlines . This one's a no brainer, yet it's the biggest mistake marketers tend to make. Your headline should be short enough to be readable, long enough to be interesting, interesting enough to instantly grab attention, and the more curiosity it provokes, the better. Use a Story . “Buy this great product” is never going to get shared as often as, “The Customer Service Nightmare on Elm Street” or “Redhead Finds Bliss in a Bottle.” Use Visuals . Relevant, interesting visuals grab attention, heighten interest, tell a story, make content stand out in social media... do I need to go on? Use Humor . Nothing gets shared as much as something that makes people chuckle - or better yet - laugh out loud. Find ways to insert humor in

You've written a truly terrific blog post. In fact, you've written dozens of them – yet your traffic still looks more like a ghost town than the bustling metropolis you were hoping for. Here are 15 ways to drive traffic to your blog posts without monetary cost. 1. Add social sharing buttons to your posts. The easier it is for your readers to share your posts, the more likely they will do so. 2. ASK your readers to share your content. At the end of your post, you might write something simple like, “If you found this helpful, please share.” 3. Build up your own contacts. Make list building a priority so you can capture as many visitors as possible. Encourage people to join your list, follow you on social media, etc. Use bribes and offer great info to get them on board, then take good care of them to ensure they stay with you. When you write a new post, ask them to not only read it, but share it liberally with their own networks. 4. Email your list each time you post great content

Staying focused is quickly becoming one of the greatest challenges online marketers face today. For example, you sit down to write an article and end up surfing the net for the rest of the morning ... Or you've got an information product that you need to finish, but you check your email which leads to a news site, a sports site, a few entertainment sites, some social media sites and before you know it, it's already 3 hours later and you've accomplished nothing except making yourself feel guilty. Does this sound familiar? According to Dr. B. J. Fogg, Director of Stanford Persuasive Lab, “There's just one way to radically change your behavior, and that's to radically change your environment.” Students who transfer to a new university are much more likely to change their habits than students who remain at the same university. This is true for workers as well. People who change jobs or change job locations are much more likely to also change their habits. It makes sense

These are all super quick and fairly easy. In fact, there's not a tactic here that will take more than an hour, and some can be done in just a few minutes. Some can get you traffic pretty quickly and others take time. My suggestion: Do one a day every day until you've done all the ones that interest you. Some you will continue to do daily, such as using Twitter, but of course you can also use automation to lighten the workload a bit... Do product reviews . For driving traffic? You bet. Product reviews are easy to get ranked, especially if you do them in video. Here's the trick: Don't make it like every other product review out there. Instead, be real. Use your personality. Have fun with it. And ask the reader/viewer to subscribe to get more product reviews. One more thing: TELL THE TRUTH about what you think of the product. I once landed on a product review that said, quite frankly, the product wasn't worth the money. I didn't buy that product, but I subscribed

Personal question: Is it possible that you already know everything you need to know to be successful online – but something other than knowledge is holding you back? If it's as simple as the mechanics of online marketing – setting up websites and so forth – you can always hire someone to do that part for you. But if it's a lack of confidence, or fear of failing that's holding you back – then it's up to you to squash that particular bug, or at least quarantine it to the furthest corner of your house. And if the thought of failing is enough to keep you from starting your online empire, then welcome to the club. Fear of failure is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to success. Fear of failing is so oppressive and destructive, it can cause you to willingly set aside your dreams – forever. So why do we fear failure so much? It goes back to life experiences that inadvertently taught us it's better not to risk, than to risk and lose. When you fail at something, it's n

You know it's smart marketing to place a signature file in your emails, in forum posts (where allowed), and at the end of guest blog posts and so forth. But what is your sig file saying about you? That you're boring? That you and your business look like every one of your competitor's businesses? Or does it stand out and grab attention? If getting more clicks and visitors to your offer is what you want, you must have a compelling signature... Here's an example of boring: “For The World's Best e-Course on Driving Traffic to Your Website, Go to: sameoldsameold.com/wake-me-when-its-over Sure, you'll get a trickle of traffic. Maybe. Instead, let's apply some imagination and make a signature file that creates burning curiosity. If your website is about weight loss, you might use: “Click here to see a picture of my wife's abs” “Click here to see a photo of my ex when he saw me in my new bikini” Notice in these examples we say to “click here to see a photo.” Thi

Blogging is a proven way to stay in contact with customers, get new buyers, get traffic and backlinks and especially boost your own credibility rating. But all of that blogging takes time. Here are 7 tips to make your content creation, and blogging go a lot faster. 1. Keep a list of your brilliant ideas. Okay, so they won't all be brilliant but some will be. And if you don't write them down you'll lose them. Each time you get a new idea for a blog post, write it down. This simple act frees your mind to give you even more ideas and to improve the ideas you've already had. 2. When you've got a good idea, start making a list of what you'd like to add to it. For example, your idea might be “10 Ways to Inject $10,000 into Your Business.” As you think of each method, write it down. 3. Do your research. While you might know some of the points you want to make, you can deepen and enrich your post by also gathering information from outside sources. 4. Eliminate the least

Have you ever noticed how many IM products are sold under the premise of revealing THE BIG SECRET ? Newsflash – and please try not to hate me for telling you this, but... ... There aren't any real secrets . There's simply stuff you know and stuff you don't know yet. And that's about it. If there is a secret, it's as plain as day and hidden right underneath your nose. In fact, you've seen it a hundred times or more. Maybe even a thousand times. It's the “secret” to BIG BIG BIG money. But like I said, it's not a secret. Can you guess what it is? Build a tribe . That's it. Build a following, a tribe of people who like you and trust you. Contact them in social media, on your blog and through your list. Be their advocate. Their champion. And also their guy or gal next door. Find out what they want. Be one of them. Like them and love them. And sometimes send them dynamite offers that make you big bucks. Next, create your own products. Your own brand. Your

At the risk of stating the ridiculously obvious, Internet Marketing is changing. Just because you're making money today won't guarantee you'll still be making money tomorrow. There are the obvious examples: Possum, Penguin, Fred and what not. But then there's new regulations, new technologies, changing interests and priorities of consumers, more competition (sometimes bad, sometimes good) and so forth. Without a doubt, the money is still there to be made – but you might have to get creative and expand your horizons to find it. And when you do find it, don't rest on our laurels. Don't think you can set a funnel up and just ignore it and it will continue to deliver forever. You might wake up in a month or two and be shocked to find your account balance hovering near zero if you do. That's why you've got to always be on the lookout for great ideas, and even mediocre ideas that are profitable. Make it a daily practice to write down at least 3 or 4 new ideas

By now you know that social media is great for building your lists and promoting your products. A recent study discovered that sales people who use social media for their jobs outperform their non-social media peers by 73%. But have you thought of using social media for these purposes? Fundraising . Let's say you're using Kickstarter to raise funds for your new project. Problem is, no one knows you, no one trusts you, and no one is telling anyone else about you. Solution? Get busy on social media prior to your launch. Establish a strong social presence and build your credibility. Once you've got a strong following who believe in what you're doing, that's the time to start your fundraising campaign. Referrals . Sure, you're already hoping your content gets shared on social media, but that's not enough. Be sure to always give great value and service to ensure your customers have plenty of positive things to say about you. Then run contests, offer prizes and di

It's important to realize that with the exception of creating a video purely for entertainment purposes (cute kitten videos fall into this category) or simply to inform, in nearly every video you make, you are selling something . Oftentimes you're selling a click. You want them to click a link in or below the video that takes them to where you want them to go, whether it's a squeeze page, a sales page, a blog or whatever. Sometimes you're selling them on picking up the phone. Sometimes you're actually selling your product on that very page where the video appears. The point is, you're selling something, and this is the common point for all videos and the basis of the video script I'm about to share with you. NOTE: Even if you are making a purely informational video, I suggest you use at least a portion of this script because YOU ARE STILL SELLING. Now then, I can hear your thoughts: “I'm not selling, I'm making a video to convey info only.” But if yo