Donna Knight's Internet Marketing Tools and Reviews

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  • How Can Anyone Create “Value”? Even You…

    Is it possible for anyone to create “value”? Yes, it certainly is. You have to start by being ‘yourself’…really be yourself… talk like you would talk to a friend in your emails and let ‘you’ come through in everything you do.

    Most people are afraid to be ‘themselves’ because they might be rejected… you have to get over that.. not everyone will like you. Not everyone will be your friend either. That’s life!

    But…there will be enough people who will like you and those are the ones that will stay with you over the years and be good customers.

    Every once in a while I train a client who almost says to my face “you suck”. I can tell by their words and the tone in their voice they don’t like me or my teaching method. I also get glowing feedback from many clients who thank me profusely for my help.

    Now, let me ask you: Should I be upset and hurt that some people don’t like me? No. That’s literally their problem, not mine.

    And, should I be feeding my ego every time someone says they like what I do – again the answer is ‘no’.

    The bottom line is: You have to do what you feel is the most benefit, the most help to your customers and subscribers and listen to honest feedback, but ignore everything else.

    That’s the blunt truth. You have to be strong. You can’t let a little praise go to your head and you can’t let a little blame or dislike of what you’re doing discourage you in anyway.

    You have to be yourself and whenever negative or positive forces try altering your path, you must ignore them and keep building value and usefulness into everything you’re doing.

    Learn how to create VALUE… I’m talking about tangible, functionable products and services that are REALLY USEFUL to your prospects and customers. You create “value” by being yourself and building a little piece of “YOU” into everything you do. That’s a unique value that no one can completely copy.

  • Are Your Visitors Buying? If not, why?

    Doing business on the web is not much different than doing business in the ‘real world’.

    Your customer needs to know two things before they will buy from you, online or off-line:

    1. “Does your product or service solve the problem I have now?”,

    and…

    2. “Can I trust you to deliver the solution that you promised?”

    Most web sites violate both of these rules and unnecessarily limit their sales by doing so.

    But now that you know what the *2* rules are, you can play the game much more successfully and make a lot more sales for each unique visitor to your site.

    To apply these rules ask yourself this question:

    “Does my site’s design and copy inspire TRUST”?

    Look at every element of your site with this question in your mind.

    You’ll find that your site will take on a completely different ‘look’ and you’ll automatically know what needs to be changed.

    If necessary have someone else look at your site and ask them the question, “If you didn’t know it was my site, would you buy anything from this website?”

    Get their honest reaction.

    All a new vistor to your site has to go on are your graphics and words. People are very skeptical and they discount (don’t trust) 90% of what you say.

    Give them a reason to belive you. Include your address and your phone number on your page.

    The point is that many sites DO NOTHING to back-up and claims they make.

    Have you seen promotions on the ‘net like this? You betcha’… so have I.

    The program looks great, but I find so little proof that it works, I’m just not convinced.

    I need proof.

    Don’t you?

    Then start looking at your pages the way your potential buyer would… with a skeptical eye.

    Then change the things you need to change, add proof, add testimonials, add anything that will back-up your claims and ease the mind of the potential buyer… including a STRONG “risk reversal’, money-back guarantee.

    You’ll start making more sales, guaranteed.

  • How to Create Profitable Ideas

    There are so many ways to create profitable ideas I could not even begin to explain them all.

    There are basically 3 criteria I use that determine if an idea will be profitable.

    1. Does your idea contain a HUGE benefit for your potential customers?

    2. Is there enough MONEY in the deal for you?

    3. Is the idea EXCITING? Will it keep you motivated and hungry for as long as you decide to pursue it?

    Ideas are a dime a dozen… and that’s true. There are literally thousands of businesses you could start and another thousand ideas on how to make that business profitable.

    But the opposite of that is also true: You CANNOT succeed WITHOUT ideas… it’s IMPOSSIBLE!

    I evaluate potentially “good” ideas using the factors above. Will it benefit someone? Is there enough money in the running of the business? Can I get excited about it?

    If the answer to ANY of these questions is “no” then I don’t pursue it… the idea stops right there.

    On a typical day I will run 3 or 4 new ideas through this process… asking each question as I investigate a new business opp. If I’m lucky I get one great idea a year – yes, ONE a year! The rest of the time I basically exploit opportunities for myself based on a ‘variation’ of the “good” idea a came up with last year!

    Let me give you an example:

    I told my Personal Coaching clients about something I had read that had a profound impact on my business. It was a section from a report by Forrester Research.

    The idea basically launched my Internet business into super-profitability. This one idea was about not “locking-up content”… anyway I have used that one idea in several of my businesses and variations of that idea with great success.

    Ideas are a dime a dozen… but evaluating them according to some external criteria will help you determine if the idea is worth pursuing or a dead-end. You can use the criteria I use or make up your own… but once you have criteria to judge an idea by, you can relax.

    Seriously, relax. Find time to take a walk or cook or do whatever you do that has nothing to do with business … suddenly ideas will begin to surface, and when they do write them down. Then, evaluate them using your criteria.

    Which leads me to a very, very important topic: The most important factor of your success.

    I have studied the biographies of hundreds of successful men and women. There is one STRIKING resemblance to each and every one of them…

    Can you guess what it might be?

    EVERY person who was successful in business has this one characteristic…

    You know just about everyone says the same thing: You have to take “action” if you’re going to succeed.

    Well that’s true… but it’s not the WHOLE truth.

    Here’s what I’ve found: People who were really successful NEVER became successful in the very first business they started…

    Hmmm… makes you think huh? So what does this really mean?

    I mean, to what practical USE can we apply this info?

    What it means is this: In order for you to FIND the success you’re after you have to START someplace… in fact ANYPLACE. Yes, that’s right – just do ANYTHING.

    Now, burn this paragraph into your brain:

    Eventually what will happen is you will TRY this and TRY that – you’ll see what succeeds and what doesn’t succeed, and then by some kind of internal guidance system you’ll find the perfect business for you to be in and really succeed…

    …. but guess what?

    Since you will never succeed in the first business you start you can R-E-L-A-X about it… don’t be so worried if you’re “doing the right thing” because you’re not going to really succeed in it anyway! It’s a STEPPING STONE to something great… but you’ll NEVER get to that “Something Great” until you GET STARTED!!

    Ok… there may be one or two people out of a MILLION who got rich in their VERY FIRST business- they are the exceptions, not the rule… for the rest of us, we have to keep succeeding and keep failing until our “internal guidance system” steers us onto the right path.

  • Why You Should Fail As Fast As Possible

    Do you lack focus?

    It’s apparent from many internet marketing forum posts I’ve seen from people asking for assistance with their Internet business, that they are hyper-active and un-focused…

    Does that describe you?

    If it does, take solace in this fact: I was extremely un-focused too until I learned the secret of Selective Criteria Filtering TM.

    Here’s the problem.

    There are 100’s of ways of making money on the Internet and 100’s more ways of marketing your products and services on the Internet and 100’s of more product types you could be developing and 100’s of more things to do with your time.

    The good news is you have more options now than any time in the history of the world.

    The bad news is you have more options now than any time in the history of the world.

    More options = more thought required

    More options = more confusion

    More options = un-focused direction

    The solution to this is Selective Criteria Filtering TM. Selective Criteria Filtering TM is being single-minded in your pursuit of success… ignoring, or glancing only a few seconds at those things that could be an opportunity, but in most cases ignoring them all together and focusing exclusively on those one or two things that generate real cash profits in your bsuiness (like marketing).

    Selective Criteria Filtering TM is a fancy way of saying that, since you can’t be all things to all people, you have to Select the ONE THING that you know works and stick to it.

    But, before you can get to that point, you have to TRY different things to see what works and what doesn’t work.

    Yes, you can TRY a 100 different things and you SHOULD… if you know the ‘fast fail’ rule!

    Many marketers and entrepreneurs prefer the ‘fast fail’ method of success.

    The idea is that, the faster you fail the faster you know what works and what doesn’t work. Of course, it also means you have to take action to try things. Once you knwo they don’t work you get that much closer to success.

    The faster you fail, the faster you know what works and what doesn’t. Then you STICK to the one or 2 business models that generate the income and future potential income that will meet your goals.

    But don’t try things hapazardly… make your tests scientific- measure the results. Pick the one’s that work, throw out the rest.

    After you testing reveals a winner, then use Selective Criteria Filtering TM to determine what you should pursue, according to the business model you’re operating in, and which one’s to avoid, even if they look attractive on the surface.

  • Scan Public Domain Books Without the Usual Damage

    If you own public domain collector’s editions that you would love to sell, if you’ve ever tried scanning them yourself to create a digital eBook, you know what a time-consuming drag that is. While there are services that will scan your book for you, most of them will tear out the pages in order to scan them. If you have a very valuable book, this is not what you want. Here is a service that will scan your book without doing damage and give you an editable Word document in return.

    Check it out below:

    http://www.bookscanning.com

  • The One Secret To Success That You Don’t Take Seriously

    Let me get straight to the point. If you are trying to sell something but you are failing miserably, here’s why:

    You’re not succeeding because you are NOT following-up successfully with anyone interested in your products.

    This is a MAJOR cause of failure in both ONLINE and OFFLINE businesses.

    You work hard to get a prospect to see your site, to visit your store then what happens?

    You don’t get their CONTACT info… and if you do, you don’t FOLLOW-UP.

    I guarantee you, you can increase your business by 100%, 200%, 1,000% just by being:

    • CONSISTENT
    • HONEST
    • TELL-IT-LIKE-IT-IS
    • EMOTION BASED SELLING
    • STRESSING BENEFITS
    • SELLING! and ASKING FOR THE ORDER!

    …through…

    FOLLOWING UP… with prospects WHILE they are HOT.

    As long as your product is GOOD, and your prices FAIR you have as much right to your prospects business as anyone on this planet…

    SO GO GET IT!

    Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.

    Bottom line:

    You have to be IN FRONT of them when they are ready to make that buying decision.

    And THAT is one of the best kept ’secrets’ to success in ANY business and it’s one of the secrets Jay Abraham used to generate $Millions of dollars for himself and his clients- just by following up with prospects and past customers and telling them about new products and services that were available.

    The majority of businesses both online and offline Never follow-up, do not contact their past customers often enough and do not ask for an order even when they do.

    So like I said, you can EASILY increase your business By 10%, 200%, even 1,000% just by following-up.

    Even if you stink at copywriting, can hardly put two sentences together, just by follow-ing up you’ll increase your business.

    If you do NOTHING else this year, just implement this ONE simple piece of marketing advice I’m giving you today and you will see your business skyrocket.

    P.S. Systematic, consistent follow-ups are easy to do online with email. The problem with email is it doesn’t always get delivered, and when it does you have to be careful not to look like a spammer. So, in addition to email try to get your prospects mailing address and phone number.

  • The Easiest Way to Create Your Own Product – Hands down

    One big secret to success is the ability to create your own info-products.

    Not everyone can create their own products and if you can’t, it’s ok.

    You can purchase the rights to sell other people’s products.

    Just because you see some people selling the same product you want to sell, don’t think that you can’t sell it too. You can.

    The best products to buy, in my opinion are those that allow you to edit, add your own material and use it as a ‘base’ to create your own product from. I call those kinds of rights ‘Private Label’ rights.

    It gets you started. It helps you get something going. This type of ‘right’ is especially helpful when you don’t know WHAT to write about!

    If you do a search for private label rights Ebay, you can easily find products you can buy, and for cheap.

    You can create ebooks, ecourses, add them to your ezine or add them to your site surrounded by Google ads using AdSense, etc…

    If you’re stuck… you can’t get started writing something- use the private label rights product as a “get started” method.

    Let me say as clearly as I can: If you want to increase your income online CREATE something.

    You want to be successful online?

    + Create an ebook!

    + Create a course!

    + Create a video!

    + Just create something!

    Then just tell other people about it.

    The more people you tell, the more sales you’ll make.

    That’s it. Hard huh?

  • How Can You Make Money As a Bookaholic?

    One of the most common reasons some people fail to make money despite having read everything they need to is they love reading more than doing anything else.

    1) The first step in overcoming that problem is to recognize you ARE a bookaholic (or ‘info-junkie’), and admit it to yourself and you’ve won half the battle.

    2) The next step is to start applying what you’ve LEARNED all these years READING.

    CREATE your business by EXPRESSING yourself and getting it to FLOW FROM YOU. You have ABSORBED a lot of INFORMATION and now it’s time to be a teacher, let it out and inspire others with what you’ve learned.

    If you prefer theory to practical application…

    Then TEACH… teach others what’s going on in the industry and who is saying what. Give as much information as you are getting. Share your opinions and the facts as you see it.

    Most people who are well-read also write very well. Most avid book readers should have no problem getting people to sign-up for your ‘newsletter’….

    3) I’ll say it one more time. Take Action! Just start GIVING… giving of yourself and what you’ve learned, give a little back to others.

    You can do this… and if you think you can’t then the choice totally is yours. But I sense in your letter that you’re ready to do something with what you’ve learned, you just don’t know WHAT.

    Even if you have very little knowledge, or you think you have very little knowledge about a subject, there will always be people who are LESS knowledgeable than you, and those people are your market.

    The key is to focus, not on yourself, but on how you can HELP others…. that will set you in motion.

    Forget about attending some ’self-improvement’ seminars. You probably already know what they will teach you. Everthing you need to know is ALREADY inside you, you just need to recognize that and seek the answers INSIDE YOURSELF…

  • MASTER Online Marketer’s Formula

    MASTER Online Marketer’s Formula

    One of the most frequently asked questions in internet marketing forums is “how can I start making money online?”

    The answer to this is question is very simple. Here is the formula that ALL online marketer’s use to make BIG MONEY online.

    Here’s the MASTER Online Marketer’s Formula (for any market or niche):

    Making money online = a list + sales copy + products + timing

    Each one of these factors is CRITICAL to success.

    Another thing to think about is:

    “What is your marketing PRIORITY?”

    Let me start by saying that I can’t believe the amount of junk sales pitches I see in my email box everyday… you get them, I get them, everyone gets them.

    You’re probably very CONFUSED about the pitches you receive- they all LOOK so good!

    Each one promises to make you RICH… just buy their product or follow their plan and you will be!

    Gheesh… are you still falling for that?

    Let me be very blunt:

    Forget about making a $million dollars… start by making a few hundred each week, then a few hundred each day… pretty soon you’ll look at your bank account and scratch your head saying,

    “Where did all that money come from?”

    To be in that happy situation you have to concentrate on your #1 job as an online marketer:

    1) Building your list,

    2) Write effective sales copy,

    3) Find targeted offers for your subscribers and

    4) Get the ‘timing’ right…

    If you’re not making any money online right now this is the reason… you don’t understand or know how to work the “MASTER Online Marketer’s Formula“.

    #1: You need a list.

    The best ways to build a solid list is to participate in discussion forums, create mini-ebooks to give away and to sell inexpensive items related to your niche on eBay, use PPC (cheaply), and use eBay as a ‘lead generator’ by selling inexpensive products and asking your buyers to opt-in to your list (most will if your information is good)…

    Ok… what else do you need?

    #2: You have to know how to write.

    I’m sorry, but that is the truth.

    If you can’t put two sentences together that promote a product or service that GETS a RESPONSE you will have a very difficult time making money- it can be done, but it will be much harder for you to be very successful.

    Writing is not difficult… writing so that you are communicating clearly IS difficult.

    And the best copy I have ever seen is simple and convincing.

    It’s not hard, but you have to think clearly about what you want to say BEFORE putting it in writing.

    CLARITY and SIMPLICITY are the keys.

    #3: Finding Targeted Offers

    This comes AFTER you have provide good, solid content to your subscribers to prove that you know what you are talking about.

    Finding targeted offers is not that hard. You need to search for them online. You need to think about what it is your subscribers would want to learn or know or what tools would be helpful to them. When you find something that you think would interest them join the products’ affiliate program (if there is one) and ‘announce’ it to your subscribers.

    #4: Timing.

    The best time to send offers to your list is between 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM US Eastern Time. Don’t ask me why, it just is.

    There’s much more to ‘timing’ but we’ll save that for another time but, just realize…

    ….There are all kinds of things that prevent your offer from being opened and read, none of which have anything to do with you.

    You just have to know ahead of time that no matter how great your offer is, some people will just not be interested, even if they do open your email.

    Final words of advice:

    If you think making money online is complicated you’re wrong- it’s simple.

    I did NOT say “easy”, I said “simple’.

    It will take WORK… if you want to make money without work, then play the lottery.

    If you want to make money and don’t mind a little effort and some thinking, then stick around, you’ll find plenty of ideas here on how to boost your income.

  • Best Article Directory to Get Exposure for Your Articles

    By Donna Knight

    If you’re looking for a high quality article directory to post your articles to and you don’t have time to post to 200+ article directories. The best article directory is EzineArticles.com. The reason I rate this as one of the best article directories is that they have very, very strict article submission guidelines. This means that articles by spammers and people who don’t have a clue about writing decent articles will be rejected. This also means you really have to read their guidelines before posting and you must be up on your article writing game.

    My only complaint is their Premium article membership is very expensive at $97 per month, so it is pretty much out of reach for individual article writers unless they are making lots of money from their articles. Premium membership puts your articles near the top of the approval queue. Therefore it speeds up the approval process; however, it does not guarantee your articles will be approved. 

    They have three author types: Basic, Basic Plus and Platinum. Everyone starts out with Basic membership. After you submit 10 articles, they will consider upgrading you to Basic Plus membership. This allows you to submit 25 articles. If your articles meet have been excellent at meeting their guidelines you may then be eligible for Platinum membership.  By the way, premium paid membership does not buy you an upgrade to Basic Plus or Platinum membership. You have to earn the trust of this directory to earn Platinum membership. 

    My only complaint about upgraded memberships is that some Platinum members have only submitted two articles. This makes me wonder how someone who has submitted two articles has earned Platinum membership. I would think you need to have submitted more samples than this to earn such high level of trust. The only reason I can see for this upgrade in these cases is because the author has a high position in a company. I’m not completely sure how this makes one a trusted author because I have worked with executives whose writing skills left a lot to be desired. This makes me suspicious of elitism or nepotism or something similar, which I am not a fan of.

    While I do believe writers who are leaders in their field deserve respect, I think they should at least be required to submit at least the 10 articles that all Basic members are allowed. Only then, would there be enough of a sample of the author’s writing that clearly demonstrates excellent writing skills.

    Other than this hint of aristocracy, I do recommend that you join EzineArticles.com if you want your articles to be exposed to a high traffic highly respected article site that is not full of garbage. You can join for free at http://www.ezinearticles.com.