How To Build An Online Business, Use Technology, Write Articles And eBooks, And Create Info Products To Build Your Online Empire
My name is Connie Ragen Green, and I teach people just like you how to build an online business and use the technology needed to get started in this fun and lucrative field. The first year was difficult for me online, and I ended up spending about 10K and not making any money. I vowed that my students would not have to struggle like I did.
I have been making money online since 2006, and now make a comfortable mid 5 figure monthly income, primarily from my own programs and courses, information products, and affiliate marketing. I teach you how to write short reports and articles, as well as how to set up your own blog, set up mini-sites, use Twitter and Facebook, create info products, and write your own web sales copy, which is copywriting for the internet.
My motto is: “If I can do it, YOU can do it!”
Join me as I coach one of my students, Helen Raptoplous, to 10K a month as part of the 10K Laser Coaching program! This will help you to do the same thing in your online business.
Today’s The Day! My Amazon Book Launch is Official
My book is ready and today is launch day. I have moved up to #2,109 on the Amazon list so far, after starting around #60,000 first thing this morning. This is what I’d like for you to do if you would be willing to help me with this.
- Click on the image of my book – Huge Profits with a Tiny List – on the right hand side of this blog. This will take you directly to Amazon.
- Purchase two (2) of my books at $12.95 each. Request the Super Saver shipping and it will be included at no additional charge. Your total will be $25.90.
- Forward your receipt to me – conniegreenhouse at yahoo.com.
- Tomorrow I will send you my newest course, Social Media Marketing Explained. This somprehensive training includes more than 4 hours of webinar trainings, and is available as video replays. I have also created a worksheet for you to plan out your social media for the next 4 weeks.
I will be selling this course for $97 beginning tomorrow, so this is your opportunity to receive it as a bonus for purchasing two of my books. It is my hope that you will read my book and implement what I am teaching there, and share the other copy with someone you care about who also wants to build an online business.
Thank you, and I look forward to sharing the details of this book launch with you in the near future.
Niched Affiliate Marketing – The Road To Residual Income Online
Specialized niche affiliate marketing is an excellent way to build up a residual income stream for yourself on the Internet. It is not passive income, because you do have to set it all up and get it working correctly until it begins to bring in money. Then you can leave it alone and move on to your next project. This is very attractive for us working online, so I will tell you more about it here.
A specialized niche is a tiny segment of a larger market. For example, copywriting and article marketing are both specialized niches within the broader Internet marketing niche. Scrapbooking and knitting would fall within the home crafts niche. You get the idea. By focusing on these smaller markets you are able to reach the exact people who are searching for information on what they want to achieve. You notice I said searching for information, because I am not talking about selling physical products in this way. You certainly could sell books, DVD’s, scrapbooking supplies, knitting needles, and yarn, but that is another type of online business that I am not addressing here.
The first thing you will want to do, after you have selected the area you want to work in, is to do your keyword research. I use the free keyword tool provided by Google, and you can find it by simply typing in “keyword tool” (you don’t need the quotation marks) over at the Google search engine. This will show you all of the keyword phrases people are typing in when they are looking for very specific information on that particular topic. When we search for exact words and phrases we are most likely in buying mode, so that is your goal with this information.
Next, set up a blog to talk about your chosen niche. This should be a hosted Wordpress blog for best results. Write about your topic, and share valuable tips and information with your readers. Finally, choose an information product on this niche topic to recommend to your new audience. I like to search on Clickbank’s engine site (I have a lifetime membership here, but you can start with a free trial to make sure you’re going to use it) to find the best product to promote. You can do this again and again to continue to add more residual income streams to your business.
Don’t Buy My Book…Yet!
My book – Huge Profits With a Tiny List: 50 Ways to Use Relationship Marketing to Increase Your Bottom Line – is now available. It is the culmination of several months work that explains exactly how I have built my online business and how you can do the same things that I have been testing since 2006. You can see the icon over on the right that will take you to Amazon to purchase it. But please do not buy it until next Wednesday, September 1. That is when I am doing my own mini-launch to get my name and information out to as many people as I possibly can.
I decided to make it worth your while to purchase, so I spent last week creating my new course, Social Media Marketing Explained, which consists of almost 4 hours of videos showing how you can get started with the ‘Big 3′ of social media – Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn – to build your business more quickly than was possible back when I was starting out. This works for both online and offline businesses, and I show you every tip and trick that makes this so good for building our credibility, reputation, visibility, and bottom line.
Another thing I would like to share in regards to my book is how glad I am that I wrote it at this time. The publisher sent me a few proof copies several weeks ago, and I was able to give one to my mother, age 93, and experience what it means for her to hold it in her hands. My mother does not understand the Internet or eBooks, so when I told her I was writing a book it didn’t mean as much during the first half of this year. To her, a book is something tangible, so giving her the first copy meant a lot to both of us. If you have been putting off something in your life that would be meaningful to those you love, I encourage you to do it now.
I’ll be sharing the details of how you will be able to receive my new social media marketing course next week, and I look forward to connecting with you in many ways in the future.
All In One SEO Plug-in – Help Your Prospects to Find You Quickly
There are many free plug-ins for Wordpress that you can easily add to your blog to increase your visibility as you build your Internet business. One that I particularly like is called the all in one seo plug-in. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and refers to the ability to use the keyword phrases people are typing into Google and the other search engines when they are searching for more information on what you do.
While you are in the dashboard of your blog, click on the link that says ‘plug-ins’. When that page comes up look for where it says to manage plug-ins, and then ‘add new’. When you click to add a new one, type in ‘all in one seo’ and it will come up. You can then install it and add your keyword phrases and the title of your blog. Now you are ready to write a post and use your keywords to be found more easily.
Every time you post to your blog you must take the extra three minutes and add the information requested. Write the title of your post, copy and paste one or two sentences of your post for the description, and add more keywords, separated by commas. This is well worth your time and will ensure that your blog will be found more easily by the exact people you are hoping to reach. Even if you post every single day, you are only going to spend an additional twenty minutes each week.
You do need to think about your keywords while you are writing, but you absolutely must use them in the title of your post and within this feature. You will be glad you did when your blog readers increase and you start building your business more quickly. Email me if you would like to see the video that shows how i do this.
How To Choose the Best Affiliate Products and Services to Promote to Your List
Affiliate marketing comprises half of my online income, and that is because I have spent considerable time and effort in developing this part of my business. Choosing the people and products you will want to promote as an affiliate must be given ample time and thought. There is just too much going on, in terms of digital and physical products and promotions, to just start recommending everything that comes along. From the very beginning I decided that I would only promote what I had purchased and benefitted from myself. I know that single factor has been responsible for much of the success I have had as an affiliate marketer. This is completely up to you, but it just seems that we have much more credibility when we can tell others how we have benefitted from something we are asking them to purchase.
Think about the products, services, and people you have spent money with since coming online. These are the ones to start recommending first. Then, think about the niche you will be serving. You want to make sure the products and services you are an affiliate for are a good match for the people you will be in contact with. Many of the things you can recommend, such as your autoresponder service and the teleseminar recording service, will cross over into many different niches; others will not.
When I know I am going to recommend someone to my list, I begin to let them know more about that person over time. I will mention their name on a teleseminar, write something about them in one of my email messages, or include something about them in one of my short reports. If they have something free to give away to my subscribers, that makes it even easier to introduce them. All of this is for the purpose of making it easier to promote something they have to offer later on. By then, my people feel like this is someone they can trust, and will take the offer more seriously.
Nicole Dean Discusses PLR (Private Label Rights) For Blogging
I’ve been a fan of marketer Nicole Dean since 2007. She’s so smart and generous, and I’ve been buying her PLR articles, e-courses, and short reports to build my business for three years now. We finally met in person this past February, and that’s when I was able to learn even more from her about product creation. So, when Nicole offered me an exclusive interview, I had to take her up on it.
If you’re already a fan of PLR, you can go shop here: http://budurl.com/ndeasy - but if you’re new to PLR, then you’ll definitely want to read this interview.
Welcome Nicole.
Hi Connie! I hope you know that you’re one of my favorite people on earth – even before you bought me a drink on the airplane. 
Thanks so much for inviting me here today.
I’m going to focus this interview on using PLR for blogging. I hope that’s ok with you. It seems that a lot of people have love/hate cycles with their blogs. They love blogging for awhile, but also it can oftentimes feel like a chore. Luckily PLR can make blogging fun again – and make it more profitable, too!
Let me start by explaining what PLR is, specifically PLR articles. PLR articles are written by ghostwriters and are then sold to bloggers to use in their online businesses. A blogger like you can buy the articles inexpensively (usually around $1 or $2 each) and use them as “drafts” to generate blog content quickly, easily, and affordably.
How can the PLR site owners possibly charge so little for the articles? Simple. The PLR site sells the same articles to multiple people, in essence splitting the costs between several bloggers. So, rather than you having to search for and find a good ghostwriter and pay big money for unique articles, you get access to the nearly the same thing for a fraction of the price – and much less hassle.
So who is PLR perfect for?
- Marketers who know they need content, but don’t enjoy writing.
- Talented writers who sometimes freeze when staring at a blank screen.
- Any blogger who ever gets the feeling they *should* blog, but just don’t have the time or feel like it.
I’m a busy marketer and I have an active life with two kids. I use shortcuts whenever possible. PLR is a great alternative for busy internet marketers like you to ensure that a steady stream of quality content is regularly added to your blogs.
What is the biggest mistake you see people making with PLR material?
The first one is that most people who purchase PLR do not ever use it. That’s a great thing for those who do use it, as there is less competition. So, the moral of the story is that content can’t make you money sitting on your hard drive.
The second big mistake that people make is buying junk PLR from bad PLR sites. If you buy PLR articles that are written poorly, you’ll never use them (hopefully). I really dislike wasting money. I’m sure you feel the same.
What do you consider sets quality PLR material apart from all the poor stuff offered around the internet? As far as how to determine what is good verses what isn’t? Well, there are a few factors.
- Grammar & spelling. Writing for the internet is completely different than writing for your High School or College Creative Writing courses, but there should still be standards of quality. If the PLR looks like it was written by a fourth grader, it may have been written by someone who does not have English as their first or even second language, or it may have been written by a writer who is being paid so little that she is trying to write four or more articles per hour just to make it worth her time. (Disclaimer: One of my best friends is an extremely talented and brilliant writer and marketer and English is her second language. I certainly do not mean to imply that it’s not possible. Also, I can not write my way out of a paper bag in any language other than English, so I certainly do not imply that I am any better than someone who speaks more than one language fluently enough to write in it.)
- Valuable Content or Just Fluff? Is the article nothing but fluff? I’ve seen PLR articles that offer absolutely no value whatsoever to the reader. It was just the same thing restated for 400 words. Here’s an example: “Crock pot cooking is a way to save money. You can save money on your meals by cooking with your crockpot. It also helps you to save time. Yes, crock pot cooking can save you time, too, if you’re busy. Both time and money are two things that you can save by cooking with your crockpot. This article will tell you about how you can save time and money by cooking with your crock pot.” – Yes, I’m serious.
The best way to avoid poorly-written PLR is to find a website that has a reputation for offering quality. There are many PLR websites out there that are basically anonymous. There’s no name. No contact information. No credibility. I wouldn’t give them my credit card info, and I certainly wouldn’t trust their content. For all I know it could be stolen. So, stick with a PLR site that has a reputation that you can trust.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my PLR site, as I have had thousands of happy customers since 2006. Click here to shop.
Can you explode any misconceptions that stop people venturing into using PLR content?
I’ve got to tell you that Read more…
Teaching Internet Marketing To Newbies – Could This Be A Calling For You?
I taught in the classroom for twenty years, and felt that it was a calling. In 2005 I was called away from that and came online, where I soon had the calling to teach new marketers what I was learning. Teaching is not easy, but it is extremely rewarding. Just recently I heard several people on a coaching call say that they would like to teach newbies how to get started in Internet marketing. I think this is an excellent idea, and I want to help by creating a course to teach them how I have been so successful teaching others how to build online businesses.
I have written a short report to explain how to get started with this, if this idea is appealing to you. I believe that we must follow our heart and do what feels right for us. I have done that all my life and have been happy with the events that have unfolded. Take a look at my report on how to teach Internet marketing to newbies, and then let me know what exactly I should teach in my course. It isn’t easy to teach, but the reward of seeing others learn and succeed is the best one I have ever experienced.
Raving Fans – One At A Time Or Month After Month?
I started my first membership site in 2008, even though I did not have a membership site set up officially. Instead, I simply asked the people who were attending my weekly teleseminars and purchasing products from me – either my own or affiliate recommendations – if they would like to have ongoing access to everything I was offering for one low monthly fee. I still have many of these people in my program, and I continue to include them in trainings that I charge considerable more for those who come into them now. I learned how to do this from Jimmy D. Brown’s monthly training program.
My thought was that it would be much easier to build a community of students who would look forward to my next course or product, instead of looking for new people each time I had something new to offer. I had read about the concept of ‘raving fans’, and wanted to make that a part of my own business model.
Soon after I set up a membership site in order to deliver the content to my monthly members, but it can certainly be done on a much simpler basis. Imagine having a group of people who spend $20, $50, or even $100 a month for access to you and your training, while all you need to do is to continue to provide good solid information that can also be sold as stand alone trainings or products. That’s exactly how it works.
It is much more difficult to get a new customer than it is to keep a current one. Take a look at the training I received on exactly how to do this. Instead of earning money just once from everything you do, earn money month after month as residual online income. This just makes sense!
Your ‘Reason Why’ – Success Is Sweeter When You Have A Bigger ‘Why’
As I spend the last few days with my extended family in Europe, I am again reminded of why success in my online business is so important to me. Outside the window are my stepchildren, grandchildren, and assorted friends and relatives, and these are the people who give my life meaning. Working exclusively on the Internet means that I am able to visit them regularly, and they are able to visit me in the United States as well.
I am also able to provide for them in other ways; one is returning to school to become a nurse, another now owns his own home, and one granddaughter now takes horseback riding lessons. This would never have been possible if I had not made the conscious decision to change my life dramatically in 2005.
I also have another ‘reason why’. It is Rotary, the international service organization I have been a part of since 2006. This group does so much for people around the world, and I feel that what I do makes a huge difference in the lives of people I may never meet. I have been to Rotary meetings in 6 states within the United States, both Finland and Sweden in Europe, and in Beijing, China.
What is your ‘reason why’? Are you building your online business in order to quit a job that no longer fulfills you, put someone through college, or to be able to travel whenever and wherever you please? I honestly believe that success is sweeter when our reason why is bigger.
Teaching Internet Marketing To Newbies
Some of my students have expressed an interest in teaching Internet marketing to others who are new to the Internet. Based on this, I have decided to prepare a course on how to teach this topic to people who are newer than you are.
While I still believe the best teachers are those who have been successful in their own right, I do see the value in learning from someone who may only be a year or so ahead of where you want to be. Every year that I am online I tend to forget exactly how it felt to be learning about this new world. If you are new, you may be able to relate to someone better who is closer to where you are currently.
My new training will focus on how to best teach someone from a practical, rather than a theoretical, approach. It will cover choosing a niche, marketing online, building a profitable business, and where to send people once you have taught them as much as you can so they may continue to grow.
If you are interested in this training, please leve a comment and let me know which topics would be most helpful to you.
The European Experiment Continues
As I write this post it is just after 4 in the morning on my fifth day here in Finland. I am here visiting with family, and we are at the lake house, located about 90 kilometers northwest of Helsinki. I had promised them I would not be on the computer all the time during our two weeks together, so I decided to experiment with the idea of working just one hour each day.
My goal is to earn one hundred dollars a day based on what I would be doing during that hour. I am not counting any income I earn from my own products or recurring membership sites, as well as any affiliate income I earn on a regular basis. This is all new income from affiliate products I am promoting during that hour each day.
So far I am way ahead of my goal, and I wanted to share what I am doing to make this possible. I went back to my 5 pronged approach to making money online, a concept I’ve been teaching my students for about three years now. The 5 prongs are blogging, article marketing, social media, teleseminars, and affiliate marketing. Each day, during the hour I am online. I am doing something from this list, along with reading and answering some email.
I have now written two blog posts and two articles, a 5 page short report, and commented in several forums. I spend a few minutes on Twitter each day letting people know what I am doing. I have not been able to access my Facebook account because I am in a remote location and could not answer the security questions they asked. I am also using a computer that is completely in Finnish, a language I do not speak. This means that I will need to ask for help when converting and saving my short report as a PDF document.
The hour limitation each day requires that I stay focused and organized. It also means that I am outside of my comfort zone because of the language. Could I continue this for an even longer period of time and still make money? Definitely.
When I think of my students who are the most successful with earning money online quickly, they all have one thing in common; they are all learning the basics from Stephen Beck’s easy to follow program. This is a step by step program that encompasses my 5 pronged approach and includes videos to show you exactly how to complete each step easily. Take a look and see if this would make a difference for you. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.
Day 1 – The Experiment Begins
I’m in Finland for the next two weeks, relaxing with family, and I thought I’d do a little experiment in my business. My goal will be to earn one hundred dollars each day, based on new affiliate sales. This will not include any recurring affiliate income, or income from my membership sites or products. I will share with you exactly how I am doing this, and if I am successful or not.
Tomorrow I will be writing an articles to promote the eBook on how to make one hundred dollars a day. Each day I will think of a new promotion and a new way to market it online. The keyboards are a little different here, so please overlook the typos I am bound to have in my writing. Let the experiment begin!
Being A Part Of Something Much Bigger
I love working online. It gives me a kind of freedom I had only dreamed of before. With this freedom comes a responsibility, I believe. I have been a Rotarian since 2006. Rotary is an international service organization. In 1985 they vowed to eradicate polio from the face of the earth. Now, thanks to several organizations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary is very close to achieving their goal. I am proud to be a part of this, and I look forward to being a part of a documentary film called The Last Village. This film will document the last place on our planet where people still contract polio. The last person to be vaccinated against polio in the last village will mark a turning point for mankind. I am proud to be one person who is part of something much bigger than cannot be done alone.
Start Your Own Affiliate Program
Starting your own affiliate program may be the right thing for you, especially if you have your own product and need to reach more people. Jeanette Cates teaches how to do this, and her training on setting up your own affiliate program is now available. Affiliates can become an online sales team, bringing you more leads and buyers on a regular basis. Before setting up your program, think about the affiliates you will look for, the tools you will provide for them, and the way you will run your program to train people the way you need them to be trained.
Finding the right people to promote your products and services is not as difficult as you might think. You will want to make sure they understand what you are doing in your business, and will be able to give the highest recommendation to their list and other contacts. The very best people are the ones who are also your clients; this gives them firsthand knowledge of why someone else should buy from you.
You must provide your affiliates with the tools to make their job much easier. You can write emails for them to send to their lists, tweets they can use on Twitter, and articles they can post to their blog. All of this makes it much easier for them, and more likely they will make the effort required to be successful. Be sure to give them their exact Read more…
Increase Your Income By Putting Affiliates To Work For You
Affiliate marketing is the process of promoting other people’s products and services in return for a commission. The flip side of that is getting affiliates to promote your products and services. If you can get enough people to recommend you to their lists, you will have an excellent way to increase your online sales. When looking for affiliates, think about the similarity of what they do online, what types of promotions you will want to have, and how you will continue to get people to recommend and promote you for years to come.
You will find that the best affiliates are doing something on the Internet that is similar to what you are doing. This makes sense, if you think about it. If I have a product or service that is related to, but not the same as what you have, my customers will most likely be interested in knowing more about it. I might as well promote it and receive the commission when they make a purchase, rather than chance that they find it on their own. In fact, I feel that I am obligated to let my people know about something else they would benefit from.
The types of promotions you run are extremely important. Affiliates want you to make it as easy as possible for them to promote your products. Be sure to give them enough notice, and include all of the links and passwords they will need within the body of one email. This will ensure that they have every opportunity to mail their list or do whatever type of marketing they believe would be effective. Their goal is to earn money by Read more…
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