Many of my customers ask me what the most powerful form of online advertising is, and I always respond with the same answer, personalized email advertising (you must build a list to truly succeed online).

Email advertising allows you to personalize, respond automatically and provides a gateway for instant feedback.

In fact, it’s extremely easy to set up if you are using the proper software or service to manage your list. If you’re getting thousands of subscribers a month, you’ll be able to ’subscribe and un-subscribe’ your opt-in’s automatically.

Why is it good to personalize your emails?

You can gather thousands of prospects interested in your niche, and using the proper approach begin prospecting for business with email without getting complaints or being accused of ’spam’.

The key is that with the personalization functions offered by many services and email software programs you can highly personalize your emails in a way that, at least appears, like you have personally visited or know a great deal of information about your prospect - that you know them personally.

When you use someone’s name they tend to trust you more, than if you where calling them ‘friend’ or ‘dear subscriber’.

Keep this in mind when choosing your list host.

Whether you call it ‘your gut’ or ’subconscious’ or whatever term you use …you must learn to trust yourself, and see that your decisions can pay off for you.

In order to trust yourself you need to start getting into the habit of trusting yourself with small decisions, and slowly your confidence in yourself will grow substantially.

Just like meeting someone for the first time, you have your guard up to a certain degree. When is the last time you build a trustful relationship with someone you only met for a few minutes? Only after several times of being around this person and learning about them, do you begin to trust them. And then only if they actually prove themselves to be trustworthy.

Sometimes it can take years to develop trust in other people, but hopefully it should take much less time to begin really trusting yourself. if you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?

Sadly, many people do not trust themselves to start their own business.

Simply stated, we (as a society) have become so accustomed to relying on ‘experts’ in every walk of life that we can barely think for ourselves anymore. We rely on ‘experts’ to think for us, we listen to the ‘news’ we read journals and magazines. There is a lot of advice we are given on a daily basis about how we should be running our personal lives and our businesses.

We have become a programmed society - not fully trusting our own judgment.

I’m NOT saying we shouldn’t listen to anyone anymore, but BEFORE taking action…on what may affect our business, our fortune…we should ask ourselves what is the most profitable and opportune course for us to take, and then TRUST the answer we receive.

I guarantee you that TRUSTING YOURSELF and LISTENING TO YOUR GUT, is the fastest and easiest way to a successful business and a fortune … and the best part is, you already have this ability! You don’t have to spend years to acquire it!

Start listening to yourself and trust yourself……you will surely find the answer.

I’m going to share with you a way to MAKE YOUR THOUGHTS become real, faster.

Everything that now exists, exists because someone first thought to create it.

This person’s thought became real, because they took action.

A simple example would be the thoughts of an artist coming to life in a painting or sculpture.

Think of your favorite song - this was once a musicians thoughts, that he or she brought to life.

Take a look around the room you are now sitting in. Every book, piece of furniture, even your computer was FIRST a THOUGHT.

Everything that now exists, exists because someone first thought to create it.

So why can’t you do the same thing when it comes to running your business?

If you want more money, then THINK about how you can get it. Now get a number inside your head, is it $1,000, $5,000, $100,000 or more?

All you have to do is have a THOUGHT with a clear picture of what you want…including the final exact results of your actions.

For example. Say you need $10,000 to pay off some credit card debt.

Now what if you could simply ask yourself how you can acquire this money? You can.

Ask yourself the question, “How can I make $10,000 in less than 30 days from now?”, and EXPECT an answer!

Don’t THINK constantly or worriedly. Try to quiet your thoughts after asking yourself a question like this and WAIT for an answer.

The time to ask is just before nodding off to sleep for the night. It seems that our conscious mind is constantly fighting to control us, so it’s best to ask for things when it’s not at full power.

When you receive an answer (I said “when” not “if”) get up immediately and write it down. If the answer comes when you’re waking in the morning, write it down before you lose it. It will invariably be the ‘right’ answer for you.

Try it tonight on some perplexing business or personal problem that you haven’t found an answer for. Just as an artist will listen to himself or herself from within and create the perfect work of art from the answers they get, you can too!

Some people say they have a ‘gut feeling’ about something. What does that mean, ‘gut feeling’?

It means that something inside of them is giving them an answer to a particular situation.

Have you ever had a ‘gut feeling’ about something?

Something that you should have avoided? Something you should have taken advantage of, like a new business opportunity?

What happened when you didn’t follow your ‘gut’?

Whether you call it ‘gut’ or ’subconscious’ or psycho-cybernetics, or whatever …it PAYS to listen to yourself and to TRUST yourself.

Today we’re going to discuss how you can achieve the benchmark of most online marketers - making a million dollars a year.

Does that sound like alot hype? Well, it is.

You see hundreds of ads online promising to help you make thousands every month…

Can they really deliver on that promise?

Perhaps. The point is that there is something in the promise that is enticing to you.

The expectation that you can go from zero to a million dollar a year income is what the promises in those headlines are based on.

Now let me say that you and I know that, unless you win the lottery, the chances of that happening are slim to none.

Do you really want to make a million dollars a year? You can you know. For anyone who is making $800,000 each year in gross sales should be able to devise a plan to increase revenues 20% over the coming year.

That’s’ all you have to do to make a million dollars a year. The question is, how do you get to $800,000 a year in revenue?

Make $700,000 in the previous year…and so on and so on.

You must have realistic expectations for sales.

If your earning $50,000 a year now, aim towards $65,000 or even $75,000 the next year.

If you’re earning $150,000 a year income, shoot for $200,000 to $225,000. Do you see what I’m driving at?

Wealth is not accumulated by hope or empty promises.

Wealth is accumulated by increasing your revenues and decreasing or stabilizing your expenses.

Reaching your goals is a process that can only be achieved by sticking to your plan and making gradual improvements, month after month, year after year.

Now that I have explained why it is important to be a leader when marketing online, let’s take a closer look at what that means when you’re communicating to your prospects and customers.

Studies have shown that magazine ads lose their effectiveness after 90 days and the average person forgets almost 80 percent of what they’ve read or seen within 30 minutes!

So it is with great urgency that you urge every prospect who reads your ads to take action immediately - or they most likely will forget about you.

You must grab them by the throat (figuratively!) and shake them up a bit! Instill in them a sense of urgency and a sense of loss if they don’t respond right away.

You can do this with the power of words.

Don’t believe in the power of mere words?

Haven’t you ever heard the saying that it is better to read a novel than to see the movie? Why? because you create the images in your mind, you don’t have them created for you by someone else.

Read the following and monitor your emotions as you read them:

1. I hate you, you dirty lowlife!

2. The country side is beautiful this time of year.

Words carry with them ideas - your thoughts and ideas. Pictures do too, but words replayed in your mind create a picture of your own making- not someone else’s. That why words are more powerful than pictures.

You want to create a picture in your customer’s mind that will be a thousand times more compelling than the one they will see in your ad.

You can use pictures to support your copy. But imagine what would happen if you simply put a nice picture in your ad, without using any words! The prospect would have no idea what message you intended to get across.

You might say, “Well who would be stupid enough to do that?” Take a look at the majority of ads by large, national corporations. You can measure the space devoted to a picture VS the amount of space to copy. Typically it’s 60% to 90% picture and just a small space devoted to copy. And then the copy is usually ineffective.

When selling anything, remember to paint a picture of the benefits and use of your product WITH powerful and persuasive WORDS.

Lead your customers to your door with the right words that convey ideas that appeal to them!

In the last post we talked briefly about how we can use a positive attitude to influence our customers.

Pay careful attention to this point:

To be successful online you must lead your customers to make a buying decision.

You must become a leader and use your influence to convince your customers that your product or service is the solution to their problem.

When most people think about leadership, they rarely think that marketing is a form of it.

But it is one of the most important aspects of it.

If you want to be a millionaire, you must lead your customers…. take them by the hand and lead them in the direction you want them to go.

Show them with confidence and poise that you are the solution to their problems.

DO NOT expect your customers to choose to do business with you just because you’re nice or are well dressed, or you give away free coffee. You must be a leader of your customers and with firmness, empathy and gentle prodding get them to open their wallets.

You must do this each and every day if you want long term and lasting success online.

For most of us, coming up with a creative idea can be grueling.

I generally get my best ideas while doing something completely unrelated to my business such as running, watching TV, or relaxing.

The ability to think creatively and in original ways can be done by everyone.

A wise man once told me that, “Originality is simply having a pair of fresh eyes.”

We can nurture the habit of looking at the same old things in new ways- as though we have never seen them before.

Here is one way to “get a pair of fresh eyes” and look at your world as if it was brand new:

= Ask Your Customers for Their Ideas =

In emails to my customers I will ask them for their opinion on projects I’m considering.

You and I tend to look at things the way we always have…but ask a stranger for their perspective and you’ll see what you’ve been missing.

If you’re trying to choose between several projects and aren’t sure which one you should pursue, simply send your ideas to your email list and ask them for their opinions. For responding, you could offer them a discount on the product or a free gift.

This ’system’ works for products your developing yourself or for products you might be interested in distributing or representing.

You have the power to make a difference in someone else’s life. Your words, actions and attitude affect people around you.

If you have ever spent any amount of time with a a young child the affect you can have on them is dramatic.

Frown and they will frown. Act happy and excited and they will follow suit.. They will follow your lead in whatever you do.

This phenomenon doesn’t get that much different when we become adults.

You can have the same affect on your customers. If you’re happy about what you’re selling, they will be happy to buy from you. You can affect your customers in positive ways and they will respond by doing more business with you.

As I felt my face turn red, I knew I had do something to save myself from further embarrassment.

The source of this embarrassment was my great aunt.

She was chaperoning my eighth grade class on a field trip to the zoo. Then she did it…

As we finished eating our lunch, my aunt wrapped up a half eaten hotdog in a napkin, and promptly stashed it in her purse.

As everyone at the table looked at me and started to laugh, I instinctively kicked out my friend’s chair. As he fell to the ground, milk shot out of his nose, inciting a roar of laughter. I had saved my aunt from any further ridicule amongst my peers, for this day at least.

I loved my aunt, but she refused to waste anything, and this sometimes caused me a great deal of embarrassment.

Once I started marketing online, I realized my aunt was on to something. In order to succeed as an online marketer, you can’t afford to ‘waste’ anything.

You have to utilize every resource available to you, and leverage these resources to help you grow your business.

One such resource is your customer “thank you” page.

When a customer orders a product or service, they are usually sent to an order confirmation page.

Most marketers have a few sentences expressing their gratitude and a contact email.

Are you making this same mistake?

This lack of imagination is costing you dozens of new customers every month.

The people who read these pages are coveted prospects who are willing to spend money.

There are countless marketers in your niche who would relish the opportunity to pitch their product to your customers.

For years, many savvy marketers have been swapping thank you page promotions with one another. They are adding new customers to their businesses, without very much effort.

You can jump on this money train as well, with two simple steps:

- Find a suitable partner to swap promotions with
- Then simply add his/her ad to your ‘thank you’ page

If you are unable to find any willing partners, you can always place related affiliate ads on your page. (Remember these are hot prospects who are interested in your niche).

Now you have no excuses not to implement this powerful technique immediately.

Remember, you must maximize all of your resources to help your business grow, all it takes is a little imagination on your part.

I want you to stand up, spin in a circle for a full minute, then try to sit back down and type out your full name.

Can’t do it? I’m insane you say?

The sad fact is, many new marketers start out going in circles, which makes it impossible to focus on even the most routine of tasks.

To become successful online you must use the “focus factor”.

Have you ever felt like you’ve gotten in way over your head? When you first embark on an internet marketing venture, it’s perfectly normal to be overwhelmed. There is so much to learn, so many different things you can do to market a business online, and so many “experts” that claim they’ve got the “secret” to making money online. It can really be mind boggling at times.

So, what’s the secret to internet marketing and making money online? Well, let me tell you, there is no secret. What there is though is information overload. There are tons of strategies for various types of internet marketing techniques and what works great for one business, might not work at all for another.

So, rather than trying to “master the art” of internet marketing, it is best to get a quick overview of internet marketing techniques, decide which one (or two) you want to try first, gain the knowledge and skill you need to pull off the technique, and see how it works. Of course you need to do some research to identify your target market and create a marketing plan, but your internet marketing plan doesn’t have to be extensive and doesn’t have to be set in stone from day one. You can review your stats, see what is working and what isn’t, and tweak your internet marketing campaign as you go along to strengthen it and make it more effective.

When you get started in internet marketing, it is good to have an understanding of various types of internet marketing techniques, but the primary ones to concentrate on in the beginning are search engine marketing and pay-per-click search engine marketing. On average, over 80% of the traffic that comes to a website finds the website through the search engines, so search engine listings are vital to internet marketing.

Search engine marketing consists primarily of optimizing your website using targeted keywords, filling it with relevant content, building relevant incoming links, and submitting the site to the search engines. With pay-per-click search engine marketing, the process of internet marketing through the search engines is simplified a bit because you bid on keywords that will provide results for your particular website and your search engine rank is based primarily on your bid rather than relying solely on site optimization which can be quite challenging.

Rather than focusing on a variety of internet marketing techniques at once, you’ll find it is much more effective to pursue internet marketing options one at a time. After perfecting one strategy, you can move on to the next, continually strengthening your internet marketing efforts.

Traffic is the lifeblood of any Internet marketing business. Without a new flood of prospects to your site each and every day, your business will stop growing, and your profits will come to a screeching halt!

Buying traffic to your Website from a wholesale Website traffic broker might be a good Internet marketing technique because you can get massive traffic at a low cost. However, if it isn’t quality, targeted traffic, it really won’t do you any good and it will simply be a waste of your advertising money.

If you are considering buying traffic for your Website, you’ve absolutely got to do some research regarding the type of traffic that certain traffic brokers deliver. Pop up advertisements are common techniques that traffic brokers use to drive traffic to your Website. While they can be appealing to some Internet surfers, pop up ads are considered to be a burdensome annoyance to many and pop up blocker technology prevents them from even being displayed to many prospects.

You also need to know where the traffic you are buying comes from. If it comes from an expired domain that is relevant to your Website, it might be good, targeted traffic. However, if it comes from a source that has nothing whatsoever to do with your target market, it probably won’t be beneficial.

When you do purchase Website traffic in bulk, start with a small amount and carefully track the results that are being produced from the traffic in regard to the number of hits to your Website and the conversion rate. If the traffic proves to be fruitful, you may opt to purchase more, but if results are not evident, save your money to be spent on more productive Internet marketing alternatives.

While traffic to your Website is essential to making money in an Internet-based business, the traffic simply must come from your target market in order for it to be useful. Study up on methods for driving traffic to your Website considering the potential for the traffic to be converted to sales all the while. With a good Internet marketing strategy that consists of a variety of traffic driving techniques geared to the characteristics of your target market, your Website is sure to be successful.

1. While writing a blog, think like a visitor, as this helps immensely. If a blogger dons the visitor’s thinking cap, there is more likelihood the words a visitor will use to query search engines will be present in the blog.

2. Add a good layout and catchy adverts to a blog. This helps because the visitor might want to stay longer reading the blog, rather than scooting away to another site.

3. Once the blog is published, it is a good idea to ‘visit’ the blog assuming to be a visitor. Going over links and various pages can give a feeling of how a visitor will react to the blog.

4. Inspect the site regularly, as this can uncover any broken links. Likewise, it is also a good opportunity to do some site maintenance as well. Jotting down points like what can be added to augment site appeal and what else could be added to the FAQ page can be of immense advantage.

5. Use key words that are more likely to be used by visitors to search for your blogs. If there are individuals who want to read about, lets say, power gardening tools, then missing out key words like power or gardening can be a huge mistake. This is because search engines will give the blog a go-by and opt it out of the listings.

Further, the visitor may even chance upon the blog in the listings, but may choose to avoid the site, because the keywords were not highlighted in the large search engine listing.

6. Posting articles about 700 words in length is considered good if taking into account search engine indexing tactics. You can make the post search engine friendly by inserting relevant keywords and links at the right places.

7. You can incorporate specific key words, which are adored by search engines. Integrate keywords into