Branding Your Name Online
Branding your name (or your pen name) is very important on the Internet, no matter what niche you’re in. You need to establish yourself as an authority in your market, because people trust authority figures.
They trust their recommendations, they trust that their products will be of good quality, and they trust that they have integrity. It also lends credence to the buyer that you’re a real person – not just some nameless, faceless entity trying to sell them something on a static, automated website.
You should put your name on everything you create. Whether it’s a membership site, an eBook, or something as small as a PLR article pack for sale - you should put your name on it. Getting your name out there is so essential to your ongoing success.
Think about all of the marketing gurus you’ve heard of. Some of them you may not have heard of yet, especially if you’re new, but chances are you’ve heard of at least a few of these. Have you heard of John Reese, Kevin Riley, Dr Mani, Joe Vitale, Willie Crawford, or the late Gary Halbert?
If you’ve been in marketing long at all you’ve surely heard of at least one of these people. People know and remember the names of these people because they put their names on everything they put out.
Their names are all over the marketing forums, their eCovers, their headers, and everything else they do. They work very hard to brand their names, because their names become the brands. People buy their products simply because their name is on it.
Buyers think that the product must be good, because the person is so well-known. You should do the same thing with your name. Always use the same name on everything you do within a particular niche.
You may not want to use your real name for whatever reason, but your name needs to be a “real name.” A nickname usually won’t cut it in most markets, but sometimes it works – like in the case of Travis “The Bum” Marketer or the “Rich Jerk.”
If you’ve signed up for forums under a nickname, ask the moderators if they can change your name to your real name or pen name. You might not want to tell the moderator’s it’s a pen name. That’s up to you.
Keep getting your name out there any way you can.
Offer to be an interview subject for someone. Be a “guest author” for popular websites and blogs in your niche, and create 100% original content for them. Never stop branding your name. Even when you’re as famous as Donald Trump, the king of name branding, don’t stop.
Donald still puts his name on everything he does. His name appears in huge, bold letters on his books. He names buildings after himself. Think of Trump Tower, Trump Taj Mahal, and Trump Plaza. His name is all over everything.
Not only is it a matter of pride, but it keeps his name everywhere. You may never be as famous as Donald, or even as famous as Willie Crawford, but you might become known as the king or queen of your own little niche or for a particular slant that grows in popularity.
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Are You A Blogging Marketing Affiliate?
One of the things that I am sure that you will have found is that the people that arrive at your Blog are actually interested in reading your content! They come to your Blog rather than to look at (and click on) the links that you have in your sidebars!
Well I think that you are going to like the newly released Easy Affiliate Wordpress Plugin! It enables you to insert your links easily into your Blog Postings in a far easier and more aesthetic way than the comparable products.
Take a look at Easy Affiliate and see what you think!
Free Report on Generating Free Web Traffic
As I do from time to time I have changed the free report that subscribers receive when they join my Hype Free Internet Marketing Newsletter!
New subscribers and all existing subscribers receive a Free Copy of the Free Web Traffic Generation Report and the Audio File when they subscribe - you can read more at Free Web Traffic Generation.
Are You Generating The Traffic You Need?
So just HOW MUCH traffic is enough? Do you need 100’s of visitors? 1000’s of visitors?
Successful web site traffic is never JUST about HOW MUCH traffic you can bring. In fact if it was only about how many visitors … you could drop a few hundred bucks and bring in hundreds of thousands of the least expensive visitors possible … and you’d be done.
NOT!!!
Here’s the key. You need the RIGHT type of visitor (whether it’s paid traffic or free traffic.) That’s because if your traffic isn’t interested in the product or service you’re selling, then there’s no hope at all of making any sales.
Let’s relate this to the offline world. Let’s say you own a small retail store that sells landscaping products (for example topsoil, mulches, and other ground covers.)
But if the people who walk through the door live in apartments, then chances of making a sale are slim to none.
To sell your landscaping products … who would need to walk through your door? Can you describe your customer?
A successful philosophy starts with the mind of the consumer. What do they want? What do they need?
This is exactly the process that an ONLINE marketer needs to do when deciding what type of traffic to bring to their site.
So let’s go back to the online world now.
Take a look at the product or service that you’re selling, and of course we’ll make a step of faith here that it’s something that people do actually want to buy.
Since buyers are looking for solutions to problems, then you need to know, where do they go when they want information? Yes, they’ll be doing some searching on the internet. They’ll go to their favorite search engine and start looking for some free information.
To get YOUR information into the results, you need to address their problem, and this can be done in an article, a blog, a youtube video, a podcast or any other CONCISE form of sharing information online. Be sure to ALWAYS include a call to action at the end of your info-piece because your goal is now to bring that CAPTIVE AUDIENCE back to your web site.
One of the ways to encourage them to come to your site, is to offer a free report or e-course series. Develop some credibility and rapport with your new lead, and then work on converting them to a buyer as a second step.
Traffic sources like youtube, forums, article directories and podcast directories are excellent in producing targeted free traffic. And although in the beginning it may only produce hundreds rather than the thousands you are hoping for, always remember that every one of these visitors is HIGH QUALITY because they are already targeted to your market or niche.
Subscribers to my Hype Free Internet Marketing Newsletter Receive a Free Copy of the Free Web Traffic Generation Report and the Audio File when they subscribe - you can read more at Free Web Traffic Generation.
Are You Spending Too Much Time Building Squidoo Lenses?
As regular readers will know I am a great fan of Squidoo which for those who don’t know of it is a site where you can build pages (called lenses) about specific areas or topics for free. When Seth Godin first launched the site back in 2005 he provided something which has continued to provide great benefit to those who use it. Seth is a great marketer and someone I have an immense amount of respect for. He openly welcomes those who want to market on the internet whether it be promoting their own products (both physical and digital) as well as those who are affiliate marketers.
However, increasingly I have become aware that there are many people who have all their eggs in the one basket called Squidoo! They generate a good income from their work on there through their regular payments from Squidoo and also from their affiliate incomes. The problem is though that they have no control over the site. Yes they can make suggestions as to how Squidoo should develop in the future but ultimately they are building someone else’s empire and generating much more income for Squidoo than they will probably ever generate for themselves.
It’s a bit odd in many ways isn’t it? The same people that say that they want to work for themselves and not be tied to some employer are in effect tied to an “employer” in the form of Squidoo! Squidoo sets the terms and conditions under which they can operate, Squidoo determines the pay rate and just like any employer Squidoo could go out of business and they would have no say in the matter! The big difference is that unlike a traditional employer there would be no severance pay!
Don’t get me wrong I derive enormous benefit from Squidoo, it’s perfect for promoting my sites, generating a contribution to my regular monthly income, establishing relationships with like minded people and positioning myself in some of the niches that I chose to operate in. But it’s only a part of my online and offline business activity - if Squidoo disappeared tomorrow (and I am not for a moment suggesting that it is about to!) then there are other areas of my online and offline activity that would compensate for the dip in income. I would be able to generate additional income from other activities because of the time that would be freed up by not attending to my Squidoo lenses.
Do keep using or start using Squidoo - it’s a great resource. But do ensure that it’s only a part of your activity and that your core activity is on building your own business which you can control.
