Things You Already Know - But Aren't Doing
by Willie Crawford
Published on this site: July 22th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
At a recent seminar, one of the attendees reminded me of why
most seasoned Internet marketers are not more successful.
This seminar attendee and I were sitting at a table in the
hotel's lounge with several other guests and speakers. He
began to enumerate all of the things that he had done the
first NIGHT of the seminar. He'd gone back to his room, and,
in the middle of the night, implemented three proven techniques
that speakers had shared on the first day.
I wanted to yell "YES!" He'd discovered the golden
"keys to the kingdom." He understood that nothing
happens until you take massive action. He was one of those
rare individuals that doesn't over-analyze but just DOES the
things he understands he needs to do.
As I sat there at the table, I wanted to grab the others,
shake them, and ask, "Why didn't you guys do the same
thing last night?"
By the time you've been in Internet marketing for a year
or so, if you've studied everything you could get your hands
on, you "know" all that you need to know to be successful
online. Then it's just a matter of DOING it.
Here's a list of thing you probably already know but aren't
acting upon:
- Follow-up Is The Key. We all know that most customers
won't buy on the first contact. You need to capture their
contact information and follow-up. Many Internet marketers
have this part down, BUT they stop after only 5-7 follow-ups.
You need to follow-up FOREVER. Make sure that you have at-least
15-20 follow-up messages in your autoresponder sequence.
You need to be there when your prospect is ready to buy.
If they are no longer interested, they will unsubscribe.
- Procrastination Kills Most Projects. You don't
have to do things perfectly the first time, you just need
to get started. You can always refine and revise things
later. Your perspective customers/subscribers/clients can't
buy from you until you present your offerings to them. Get
over the perfectionism, and get it "out there!"
Get over your fear of making mistakes by MAKING a few and
seeing that it won't kill you. In-fact, there's a very good
chance that your mistakes won't even be noticed.
- Test And Track Everything. If you are not constantly
trying to improve your results, they won't improve. If you're
not tracking the results of what you're "testing"
then you don't know what's working. Don't just talk about
testing and tracking - do it. Then, stop doing the things
that don't produce results and keep doing those that do.
Amazingly, most people know that many things they're doing
are not producing the desired results, yet they keep doing
them!
- Practice Your Copywriting. It's the words on your
webpages, in your ezines, and in your emails, that sell.
The only way to get better at writing more convincing copy
is to study what others have written and practice. Over
time, if you really practice, you get better. Your nervous
system becomes conditioned to write better copy with much
less effort.
Build a swipe file of proven, effective copy. Model and
"rip-off" elements from stuff in your swipe files.
Get a huge head-start in this area by grabbing Yanik Silver's
complete copywriting course at: http://www.ultimateonlinecopymanual.com
It's what I use - EVERYDAY!
- FOCUS For Greater Results. Decide on an objective,
lay out the steps to reach that objective, and then force
yourself to ignore most other things. Learn to shut out
distractions and take projects through to completion. Stop
worrying that you may miss something. You're not likely
to miss anything REALLY important.
If necessary, set aside specific times to read email, answer
the phones, even to walk the dog. During the times you've
set aside to get a given project done, just focus on that
project, and you'll get it done.
Also, force yourself to spend less time doing non-productive
things such as watching television, or reading questionable
opinions on discussion forums. When you do watch television,
study how they use marketing. When you do visit discussion
forums, look for commonly discussed problems that might suggest
a new product to you.
Repeatedly ask yourself during the day, "Am I just procrastinating?"
This will bring you back into focus.
Force yourself to do just the five things above (that you
already KNOW that you should be doing) and your results will
shock you. After you've actually made these five things HABITS
then you can focus on implementing other, new, more-productive
habits. Form the new habits one at a time, but start today.
NO, start now
Willie Crawford has taught PROVEN Internet marketing
techniques to thousands of successful Internet entrepreneurs
since late-1996. Grab a free copy of his comprehensive, 20-Lesson
Internet Marketing Success Course now at:
http://WillieCrawford.com
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