Work Yourself Up!

Why You Need Voice Overs for Your Online Videos

If you own an online business and are not making use of videos you may easily be losing on a substantial amount of business revenue. Even if you own an offline business, using online video as a means of promotion may be a huge boost to your bottom line. One of the most common problems faced by video marketers is that their voice simply doesn’t sound crisp and clear.

Having top quality audio for your videos is just as important as the rest of your video. If your video sounds like one of those boring history channel documentaries you may run into some problems.

When doing any kind of online promotion you always have to keep in mind the quality of your content. A sense of professionalism really goes a long way and this is especially true in the online world where just about everyone is trying to promote themselves or their business.

In recent years the tools needed to create high quality audio and video elements has become much more affordable and well within the budget of most internet marketers. Some of these tools are actually available for free online. Audacity, for example, is a free audio production program that is available for just about every operating system and is even included with many computers.

Often times when a video doesn’t perform as expected it is because there was a problem with the audio element of the video, particularly the spoken audio element. How your video sounds is just as important as how your video sounds and that is why is so important that you understand how to do your own voiceovers for your videos.

Unfortunately, many internet marketers fail to take the time to learn how to do their own voice over work and end up paying a small fortune for someone else to do it for them. Learning to do professional voice overs for your videos can give you a big edge over your competition and with internet marketing you need to pounce on any edge you can get.

A clearly spoken audio narration contained within your video can easily set the tone for friendly first impressions. Remember, first impressions last a lifetime. An unclear audio narration where your voice is constantly shaking or where you simply sound unsure of yourself will give your viewers a very bad first impression. A bad first impression is the last thing that you want. To really make things look good you can even add some royalty free audio to play in the background.

Just one well put together video can bring an avalanche of traffic and sales to your website. It’s entirely possible that one good video can bring you more traffic than your web server will be able to handle. This means you need to take the time make your videos look and sound as professional as possible.

The Best Way to Make Money Online

Here's a recent inteview I did with Wendy Wallace of DesireToGrow.com.  In it, I talked about starting my online business in the early 90s, what I've learned about doing business since then, and how I've been able to not only maintain things for so long, but grow them.

Wendy asked me a lot of questions about the best way to get things going, especially when you're under the stress of money or similar situations.  I feel this is a very important aspect of being successful both online and offline, so take a listen if "money stress" is something that you deal with in your life.

After you're done listening, feel free to post any comments or questions below.

Want more?  A couple of things for you...

You can get more insight into my mindset within my new book, Ask, Believe, Receive - 7 Days to Increased Wealth, Better Relationships, and a Life You Love. If you're into self-development material such as "Think and Grow Rich" or similar books, you'll like this one.

For those of you who are interested in more of a "business" process, try my workbook, Quit Your Job (and Never Go Back) - How to Create, Start, & Market an Online Business for Under $500 in 30 Days or Less.

How to Improve Your Ebay Listings

Selling items on Ebay is a great way to earn some part time cash in your free time. There are so many buyers and so many different things you can sell that just about anyone can get started selling on Ebay.

With Ebay you have to lure people in with your auction title and then hopefully make a sale through your auction description. If any one of these elements is poorly done, you will have a hard time making any money with your Ebay auctions. To actually make money some serious money with Ebay you need to spend some time working on and improving your auction title and description.

Your auction title, picture, and price are the first things that people see when they are browsing through the auction listings. Setting the right price for your item is actually very easy to do. By paying a $10 monthly subscription fee you can have access to Ebay’s market research tool. This tool will allow you to determine the average sold price and buy it now price of just about any item.

The market research tool tells you exactly what price you should start your auction at and exactly what price you should sell set your buy it now price. You absolutely can experiment with higher price points but the market research tool gives you a good idea of what prices you will be able to charge.

You must always include a picture with each and every auction you list on Ebay. Studies have shown that no matter how enticing your offer is, your listing is much less likely to get clicked on if it doesn’t have a picture. Many ebayers don’t like to visit auctions that don’t have a picture because of the number of scams which exist on Ebay. By having a quality picture of your item you offer assurance that you have the item in your possession and are therefore not a scammer.

Before you include a picture in your listing, it’s a good idea to take a look at what sellers offering similar items are using for their listings. Always make sure that your picture is crisp and clean looking and the detail of the item is clearly visible.

Your auction title tells potential buyers exactly what it is that you have to offer. You basically have just a couple of words to grab their attention. When writing your auction title, avoid using all capital letters. Instead, capitalize the first letter of every word and then capitalize trigger words like “free” or “new.” Try to avoid using symbols in your listing title except for a few exclamation points. If possible, try to create an aura of mystery surrounding your auction rather than just listing what it is you have for sale. The more curious people are, the more likely they are to click on your auction.

Tips for a Successful Product Launch

If you are starting out in the competitive world of Internet marketing you have hopefully discovered by know that the best and easiest way to make money online is to create your own product. What many internet marketing experts don’t tell you is that launching your product can be a very unnerving process and sometimes can even be as difficult as creating the product itself.

But once you have taken the time to create a product there is no turning back. There are many mistakes that can be made when launching a product and it’s best to plan ahead of time exactly how it is you will be launching your product.

By launching a product, the general public will be allowed to look at and scrutinize your product. Inevitably many people will form negative opinions about your product without ever actually making a purchase. It may sound strange but it’s nearly guaranteed to happen. The more exposure your product gets the more people will start to form negative impressions of your product. To make matters worse, negative opinions have a way of spreading whether untrue or not.

Successfully launching a product means you need to be able to handle the criticism that will invariably be thrown your way. The trouble is that many product developers develop an emotional attachment to their product. Negative feedback received on that product can easily devastate their marketing efforts because they simply don’t know how to handle the criticism. You must understand that many people are very negative and are impossible to please. It’s important not to let their criticism be a reflection of your product.

The average consumer has a tendency to comparison shop when making a buying decision. For example, when I make a purchase online I almost always look at other vendors who offer the same product. I ultimately want to get the best value for my money and most consumers share this same attitude. The downside to selling products online is that comparison shopping is very easy to do in contrast to a physical store where the buyer actually has to travel from to another store to do a comparison. When people look at your product it’s very likely that your product will be surrounded other similar products. In short, it really pays to research the competition.

When Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 game console in December of 2005 they knew as much about the competition as the competition knew amount themselves. By having a keen understanding of their competition Microsoft was able to differentiate their product. If you want your product launch to go smoothly you need to do the same thing. Your goal should be to develop a unique selling proposition (USP) for your product. A USP explains why someone should buy your product instead of competitors. Products that have an excellent USP traditionally do well in the marketplace.

How to Create a Best Selling Infomation Product

Just about anyone who has spent some time in the internet marketing field understands how fantastically profitable information products can be. However, creating an information product and actually making money with that information product are two totally different things.

Creating a profitable and successful information product can be quite a challenge to the average internet marketer. To actually be successful you need to find a topic with a lot of demand, research and write the material, craft a convincing sales letter, create eye catching graphics, and finally develop a marketing strategy for your finished product. All of this can be a little daunting to say the least.

By far the most common mistake that info marketers make is picking a topic that is of interest to them personally. Unfortunately, just because you are passionate about something doesn’t many that many other people share your same passion. Being knowledgeable and passionate about a given subject is certainly helpful but it is not as important as the demand for that topic.

For your info product to sell it needs to be about a subject that people will happily pay money for. Basically, most people will gladly hand over money for information that promises to solve some kind of vexing problem. The more serious the problem is that your info product addresses, the more money people will ultimately be willing to pay.

Actually researching the topic of your info product is probably the easiest part of creating an info product. This is the information superhighway after all and you can find information on just about every conceivable topic. You should start your research by looking at information products that are similar to the one you are working on. In many cases your information product will end up being an improved version of an existing information product.

This is done in the business world all of the time and is a much more effective strategy than developing a product out of thin air. If a particular information product is already doing well, you should have no problems marketing an improved version of that same product.

Once your info product is finished you need to convince people that your product is actually worth buying. The way to do this is by crafting a dynamite sales letter and throwing in some high quality graphics. It takes years of experience to be able to write and effective sales letter and unless you happen to be a seasoned copy writer, it’s best to hire a professional to write your sales letter for you.

The same goes for your graphics as well. You should not attempt these things unless you happen to have the proper experience. You can find affordable copy writers and graphic designers by looking at elance.com, guru.com, and even the warriorforum.com.

Your marketing strategy is how you actually plan on getting the word out about your info product. The easiest way to get the word out about your info product is seek out joint ventures with other internet marketers who happen to have access to the kind of buyers your info product appeals to.

The Warrior Forum, for example, actually has a section devoted purely to those are seeking out joint ventures. In order to engage in a joint venture you will need to create an affiliate program for your info product. This is how your JV partner will make money off of the deal. Don’t be discouraged if your first few info products are a flop. If you stick to it there’s a good chance you will eventually create a best selling info product.

Book Marketing Exposed - A New York Times Best-Seller

NOTE: This is part of a series I am doing here, which explains how I am marketing my new book, Ask, Believe, Receive - 7 Days to Increased Wealth, Better Relationships, and a Life You Love. If you enjoy this kind of "behind the scenes" info and feel the book would help you, please purchase it. :)

This doesn't have anything to do with my book, but these guys are doing something cool to promote their upcoming book, which I think you can learn from...

First of all, they're buying a ton of their own books in order to guarantee the title gets on the New York Times book chart.

Taking that into account, if somebody buys their related training program, they get mentioned in the book. Then they'll be able to say, "I was involved with a New York Times best-seller."

The concept would probably work with or without the NYT thing, but it certainly helps to have it.  Books are a dime a dozen, so this is something that sets this one apart.

But I've got to wonder what the final deal will be... 

I've worked with bands and musicians who have used a similar "donate a few bucks to help me record a new album and get mentioned in the liner notes" with good results, but the thing they have going for them, that this promotion doesn't, is a "starving artist" persona which makes people feel that the thing wouldn't happen had it not been for their donation.

And the movie Clerks 2 had a similar promotion, where people were mentioned in the closing credits...in a very small type.

So I'm hoping this will be more then a bunch of people listed in 4 point font...

Too early to tell though.  It might be cool, or it might fall flat.  But it's definitely going to be interesting to watch.  And again, definitely something you can learn from when it comes to your own book marketing.

The book isn't due for another 11 months, but they've already started to get the word out via a report and videos which talk about the concept. 

More info...

Charcoal Briquettes and a Marketing Lesson for You

Picked this one up from Early to Rise...

The History of the Charcoal Briquette

Give Henry Ford credit for inventing the charcoal briquette. Ford made the first briquettes out of sawdust and scrap wood from his factories. Then he sold barbecue grills and the briquettes at Ford dealerships to encourage people to drive their cars to go on picnics.

(Source: That's a  Fact, Jack!)

It's interesting knowledge, but there is a huge marketing lesson here...

What Henry Ford did by getting people thinking about picnics was getting them to imagine how much easier their lives would be by owning a new car.  And he made the transition from car to barbecue grill seamless, to  where it didn't seem like that is what he was doing.

You can do the same thing with your music...

My specialty is the music business, so let's look at an example from that area:

Perhaps you're a R&B singer with smooth love tunes.  What goes along with smooth love tunes?  Get people to imagine the scenario, so that your music is part of it.  In other words, say "If you want a good time tonight, you're going to need this music in your stereo."

Any time people can associate your music with a good time, whatever that good time is, you've got a great opportunity to sell something.

Bottom line-- A musician is not selling music; he's selling a good time.

And what are you selling?  Probably not what it appears at first glance. :)

Finding Products to Sell on Ebay

I have been a member of the Ebay community since 1998. In that time I have bought and sold hundreds of different items in just about every conceivable category. In fact, at one time I  actually sold comedy CDs because I had got a great deal on a bulk shipment. I’m firmly convinced that Ebay is the single best place to sell a product online.

The problem confronted by many would be sellers, is trying to find a product they can actually sell on Ebay. There may be an outrageous amount number of hungry buyers lurking on Ebay but you have to find the right product with enough demand in order to make a killing.

Electronics are one of the biggest categories listed on Ebay and at any one time there are literally hundreds of thousands of different electronics items listed for sale. Electronics include things like mp3 players, cell phones, and computers. Just about any adult who lives in an advanced industrial society has some interest in electronics. Therefore, the demand for electronics is huge and shows no signs of decreasing any time soon. Selling electronics can be very profitable if you are able to buy items in bulk. Believe it or not the best place to purchase bulk electronics is Ebay.

Many sellers on Ebay will list electronic items in bulk quantities like 10, 20, or 30. With a $10 subscription fee to Ebay’s market research tool you can easily determine the average sold price for each individual unit. When buying in bulk you are ideally hoping to make a profit of 20%-30% per unit. What’s nice about buying in bulk on Ebay is that you don’t have to worry about getting scammed and losing your money so long as the seller’s feedback is top notch.

When buying in bulk from other online vendors, particularly vendors located in Asia, the chance of getting scammed is very high. You can find wholesale lots in just about any category by clicking on the category on the main page and then clicking on “wholesale lots” within each subsection.

Baby clothes are yet another hot selling item on Ebay. The baby clothing category has an unusually high Sell Thru Rate (STR) which means that the number of auctions which are completed successfully versus the number that don’t is above average. Take a look at the completed listings and see for yourself.

As with electronics, baby clothing can be purchased in bulk right on Ebay. You can also purchase used baby clothing by visiting your local thrift stores and discount chains. What’s really nice about selling baby clothing is that you can create an entire business model based on selling nothing but baby and children’s items.

Think about it. If you sell baby clothing it is a certainty that your customers will need more clothing in the future because babies and young children grow. By building a targeted mailing list of your customers based on their purchase history you can send out emails when you have new items that may be of interest to them. If someone needs baby clothes they will eventually need toddler clothes and so on. By building a list you can supply all of your customers needs and make a small fortune in the process.                   

Book Marketing Exposed - Getting Reviews on Amazon

NOTE: This is part of a series I am doing here, which explains how I am marketing my new book, Ask, Believe, Receive - 7 Days to Increased Wealth, Better Relationships, and a Life You Love. If you enjoy the "behind the scenes" info on this promotion and feel the book would help you, please purchase it. :)

Every book, regardless of who wrote it or the level of publicity behind it, has a point where nobody has reviewed it.  And if you're selling on Amazon or similar sites, you want reviews, because they help sell the book.

So what do you do?

Personally, I ask for them.

Lots of authors I've dealt with are embarrassed to do this, but like most things, if you don't ask, you don't get.  In this case, it's because the majority of people visit Amazon to purchase books, not review them.  This is why you'll often see books which are selling well, but don't have a lot of reviews.

But as I mentioned earlier, when it comes to selling books on Amazon, reviews help...so you want as many as you can.  And here is my suggestion to make that happen...

Find a book that is similar to your book and directly contact people who have enjoyed it.  Offer them a free book.  When you send it, ask for a review.

Easy, right?

It is.  But that's no guarantee that you'll get a review.  My experience is that you'll get reviews on about 10% of the copies you send, so don't be cheap.  Send out 100 copies...or more, to get the reviews that you need.  It will be worth it.

Take a look at this one...   

'Whatever you think about and focus on the most, you'll tend to attract into your life', February 13, 2008

By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States)

   

David Hooper is a pragmatist - and an Idealist in the finest sense of the term! In this brief book ASK BELIEVE RECEIVE: 7 DAYS TO INCREASED WEALTH, BETTER RELATIONSHIPS, AND A LIFE YOU LOVE he avoids kitschy nonsense and in a bow to the time constraints of even the most devout 'self-help' addicts, he succinctly outlines his simple but pertinent methods for making changes.

The book is best read in the manner in which Hooper suggests: there are seven days to approach the different aspects of altering our lives by applying the principals of attraction, and to take advantage of his ideas requires the brief time to read his day's comment and then to apply it. 'Here's how it works: Your thoughts trigger your emotions. Your emotional state emits a specific "frequency" of energy to the universe. In turn, the universe returns events and experiences into your life that correspond with your emotional frequency'. With this bit of advice Hooper then proceeds through the topics of 1) How to attract money into your life, 2) How to attract ideal relationships, 3) How to attract your best health, 4) How to attract you dream job, and 5) How to attract everything needed for a successful business.

Throughout the book Hooper drops little gems, like 'Allowing actually means to be in a state of non-resistance', that on first glance seem rather obvious, but in the manner in which he incorporates common sense into his program for life enhancement they work very well. In a world full of self help manuals it is difficult to find the ones that actually work. For this reader, this is one of those! Grady Harp, February 08     Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you?

Notice the "Top 10" badge.  This is somebody who reads a lot of books.  And this is the type of person you want-- either somebody who reads a lot of books, or somebody who specializes in the topic you are writing about.

If you can reach "tastemakers" like this, it's worth a lot more than the average review.

How do you reach these people?  Ask!

Free Ways to Get Traffic

In real estate there is a saying that property selling is all about “location, location, location.” In the world of internet marketing and ecommerce it’s all about “traffic, traffic, traffic.” It doesn’t matter what you’re product offering is or how nice your website looks, you’re doomed if you don’t have a plan to get traffic.

You need traffic to succeed in this business and the more traffic you can get the more money you will be able to make. The trouble is that many would be internet marketers simply don’t take the time to draw out a plan to get traffic. There are several ways to get traffic to your website that won’t cost you much of anything.

Trading links with other similar or related websites is a great way to increase the volume of traffic to your website. Generally speaking, the more reciprocal links a website contains the more authority is given to that website in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

The higher the authority of your webpage, the more traffic you will receive. Most experienced webmasters understand the importance of exchanging links and are therefore more than eager to share links with other webmasters. You can actually find link exchanges all over the internet by performing a simple search. Most link exchanges are free to use although some do charge a small membership fee.

Blogs have become increasingly popular over the years and many internet surfers now only search for blogs when doing a search for information. Blogs have become popular because they are considered trusted sources of information, much more so than commercialized websites. Starting a blog related to the theme of your website will draw to your main website.

By far the best choice for your business blog is Wordpress which is free and can be installed directly into a sub directory within your website’s domain. Social bookmarking is all the rage right now and having a blog will allow you to more easily take advantage of social bookmarking traffic.

Online forums are great places to network and meet other people who share your common interests. What many people don’t know is that forums are also great places to bring targeted traffic to your website.

Before you can start using forums to pull in traffic to your website you’ll first have to find a forum that is relevant to the theme of your website. Most forums allow you to receive traffic by permitting you to use a signature file within each of your posts. Your signature file contains a link that directs people to your website. Like link exchanges and blogs, most forums a free to join.