May 31, 2005

Jim Edwards Aint No Sweetie

People have been writing to me and asking me questions that seem to reveal the fact that…

Jim Edwards AIN’T no sweetie.

People noticed that some of the advice I gave in my “Internet Marketing Sweetie” teleseminar seemed to downright conflict with what Jim said in last week’s “How to Mini-Site Teleseminar”.

Jim said not to give out content for free.

I said give out as much content as you can for free.

Who’s right? The guy who used to live in a trailer park or a sweetie?
Click here for thoughts on the subject (and please use the comments area below for yours)

7 Comments Print This Post

May 26, 2005

Wassup Around Here - WOW!

Things are a-hoppin’ in Alice’s virtual la-la land. The boys are with their Dad this week (sniff! sniff! I miss my boys), so I’m getting lots done, but I can’t wait until the end of May now, so I can relax a bit.

Here’s my to-do list…how’s yours going?

Today’s the last day for listening to the full Internet Marketing Sweetie recording. I’m super busy working on the finishing touches for getting the courses people ordered. It’s been great fun, but lots of details to take care of. I wanted to start thanking all the people who’ve helped me, but there’s so many — I was afraid I’d forget someone, so THANK YOU…I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me and this project.
I’ve been reviewing all the Internet Based Moms Business Grant applications and I wish I could give grants to everyone. There’s lots of great entries. But good news…I’ve added a 2nd $1000 grant, so 2 moms get cash.
Tomorrow is the Mini-Site Teleseminar with Jim Edwards: Hope you’re all signed up. Jim has some wicked info on this topic.
I just signed up for Gary Halbert’s seminar in Miami next month: I’m totally psyched about going to learn from the likes Gary, Mark Joyner, Michel Fortin and John Carlton. I don’t know how I’ll be able to contain that wealth of knowledge.
I’ve also been busily working on something I’ve promised for a while. Well, I finally had my friend Lynette to set-up a CMS for me to make it much easier. The…

will be unveiled next week…so watch out.

Thanks to Nola Cooper of Classic Creations Design for the cool logo She did the original AliceSeba.com and a bunch of other graphic work for me too. She does great graphics and printing, if you’re looking for someone.

Okay, back to work. What are you up to these days?

3 Comments Print This Post

May 24, 2005

Have You Seen My Focus?

It’s the bane of so many online business owners trying to get their businesses profitable ==> FOCUS. I know that when I first got started (and even sometimes now!) I was like a kitty-cat distracted by every shiny object that came around my way.
I lost my focus a lot of times.

When my friend Kelly McCausey released a course for moms who need to find focus in their business, it got me thinking about all the seemingly conflicting information that is out there for all online business owners.

The fact of the matter is, if you are just getting started or have been doing this “forever” and still aren’t making any decent money - it’s time to realize that you need to make at least one project profitable before you can move onto another. If you have 10 things going and none are making any money, there is a problem.

But there are lots of people talking about creating multiple streams of income and making a lot of websites, so it becomes confusing to know what to do. There’s John Reese talking about “Virtual Real Estate Empires” (and believe me, I’m building mine!) and even I am encouraging you to sign up for this Thursday’s free mini-site class. So, where’s the focus if you’re building a bunch of sites?

Again, when you’re getting started, you need to learn the basics of marketing and you have to know how to make money with one thing before you move onto the next. It’s all an educational process. If you keep putting up stuff that does nothing for your bottom line, you are not participating in the education process. You’re just hoping you’ll “get lucky” next time.

Yes, if you’re smart (and I know you are!), you are going to create these multiple streams of income and that’s the beauty of online business. If you have an offline store and it goes under — you’re out of luck. If you do business online, you can always have many “back ups” in case one project goes sour.

Here’s a few tips to get you to where you want to be:

Stay educated: If you want to cut your learning curves dramatically, learn from others who are already successfully doing what you want to do.
Hire help: For example, if you want to create a network of mini-sites, don’t do it all yourself. Hire a virtual assistant, a programmer or whomever you need to help you get the job done. I would be totally lost without my assistants and techies. They do the work I don’t want to do (or don’t know how to do) and I can focus on the things I do best — growing my business.
Have a plan: Jumping around from idea to idea isn’t going to get you anywhere quickly. What is your business model? What are your businesss goals? Your model and goals may evolve over time, but if you understand what your focus is…you’ll stay on track (or at least as much as you can…sometimes those distractions are really, really shiny and it’s tough not to look. Hee hee!)
Keep a notebook of “ideas”: Sometimes that idea that seems like a real winner at 1:45 AM doesn’t seem so bright in the light of day. Right down your ideas before you act on them and then go back and see if they are still the “brilliance” you thought they were.

Overall, don’t beat yourself when you lose that focus. Just get back on track and keep working toward your business goals…and your business will continue to grow and prosper.

6 Comments Print This Post

Are Safelists Profitable?

Q: Hello Alice, I spent last evening listening to you and Kelly discuss internet marketing. I found that I have been doing some of the same things that both of you did when you started in the business. I guess we all have to go thru that, as we tend to be very gullible and accept the word of every so called guru. Do you believe that submitting to safelists are profitable? Do you believe in using autoresponders? Thanks again, Rob

A: Yeah, we all have to go through the garbage to get to the good stuff, I guess. As a short answer to your questions:

1. No.

2. Yes.

Let me explain further:

As far as safelists go, realize that everyone joins a safelist for one reason only — to post their ads. People don’t join to READ ads. So, your success on any of these is probably quite limited.

However, there are people who say they have success in offering freebies to these types of lists. If you offer something for free in return for an email address, you may start to grow your list. However, realize that you may have a list of freebie seekers, so you’ll need to figure out how to market to them after they are on your list. Ideas could be pay-per-lead programs, driving them to articles with Adsense ads on them or other freebies that have some benefit to you.

There are a couple programs that seem to do the safelist better than others, but they are really only for people who have business-related offers to share…rather than consumer offers. I also say they seem to do it better — because I haven’t tried them first-hand.

Two of these programs are (and they are neither endorsed or condemned by me) Opportunity.com (NOTE: No longer in operation) and ListDotCom.com. These programs actually limit the number of email that is sent out, so participants aren’t constantly bombarded with offers. Also, the number of emails you can send out is directly relevant to the number of people you refer to the program. It’s like MLM for safelists.

For autoresponders, absolutely! You must use these for your online business and you will find more questions and answers on these in the Email Marketing category.

For more help with email marketing, sign up for my free weekly Email Marketing Tips.

Filed Under Email Marketing Questions, FAQ · Leave a Comment

What is Public Domain & How Can I Use It?

What is Public Domain? [Read more]

Filed Under Beginner & Biz Idea Questions, FAQ · Leave a Comment

Should I Make a Mini-Site or Big Content Site?

Q: Alice, my biggest question is about affiliate websites. Which is better a mini site or a bigger content based affiliate site. On my site I am promoting two affiliate programs. And I am stuck deciding which is best. Last night I was on a teleseminar with Jim Edwards, and he swore by affiliate ’showcase’ sites… I am totally confused!! I hear so many different views and would like to know which would be the best decision.” [Read more]

Filed Under Beginner & Biz Idea Questions, FAQ · Leave a Comment

May 21, 2005

To Mini-Site or Not to Mini-Site?

There’s been a lot of “buzz” around talking about mini-sites and how they are THE way to make good money online. Others say, it’s huge content sites that are going to make you the money you need. I’d say smart marketers experiment with both. If mini-sites are not in your plan…you may be losing some cold-hard cash.