Free Internet Marketing Workshop in Denver Colorado May 5th, 2010
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Apr 11, 2010
Using the Internet to grow your business has dramatically changed over the past few years. If you’ve been misled into thinking all it takes to be successful online today is getting a few hundred followers on Twitter, spending hours a day “Facebooking” or gaining top placement on Google for only your business name, we’d like to offer you a reality check…and a path for hope.
On Wednesday, May 5th, from 9am-noon, Zakary Barron of Constant Contact and I, Marty Dickinson of HereNextYear, Inc., and co-author of Web Marketing All-in-One for Dummies (Wiley, 2009), will team-up to offer a very unique 3-hour Internet marketing training live workshop called “Profit Again in 2010.â€
First, I will cover:
• The new evolution of websites and why it doesn’t make sense to use anything else for your business
• Hot strategies that are working this month for converting more of your website visitors to leads and paying customers, including less text and more video
• Updates on Google’s organic search mix and how real-time search and video is impacting your traffic today
• How the Internet marketing “heavy hitters†get more traffic to their websites using my “Traffic Triangle†process (You won’t hear about this at a Meet-up group!)
• How to get 300 minutes of benefit from every 30 minutes you spend on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin
Then, we’ll switch gears and have Zakary present the enormous power and process of more effective email marketing, including how to:
• Use best practices and winning strategies in your email marketing
• Get and keep quality subscribers
• Increase your deliverability and open rates
• Create more compelling content
• Integrate video into your email campaigns
This is your opportunity to learn the true cutting edge online strategies for today in simple step-by-step sequences you will be able to apply immediately to your own business promotion efforts.
Learn from valuable case studies of how other businesses have effectively used these important Internet marketing and email marketing techniques to boost their business.
Join us on May 5th at the Grand Hyatt Denver (Downtown at 17th & Welton). You must RSVP to this free event and we are sure to fill the room before the date arrives. So, do not hesitate.
Don’t wait. Click Here NOW to Sign-up today and get ready to Profit Again in 2010!
7 Steps to Getting Started for New Internet Marketers
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Oct 29, 2009
Getting started on the Internet seems to most to be a hugely daunting task. But, with a few good guidelines, you will be amazed how easy and fun it really can be. Here are 7 steps to getting started for new Internet marketers:
1. Know What’s Selling Online – If nobody’s buying it and nobody’s made it yet, that most likely does not mean “opportunity” for you. So, don’t get fooled. If you want to know what people are spending their money on right now, today, one great way is to go to Amazon.com and search a category of interest. The results you get will be sorted showcasing the best selling products in that category.
2. Enjoy Being Online – If you don’t like candy, you’ll be miserable in a candy store. So, before you go putting time and effort into learning how to make money on the Internet, you must learn to enjoy sitting at a computer and typing things. Of course, I could also add-in there using your mobile device. Social media is a great way to learn to enjoy working online. Join Linkedin, join some groups and participate in some discussions. Create a Facebook profile and reconnect with friends. Start tweeting on Twitter and inspire people to “follow” you because the quality of your tweets are actually worth paying attention to. User your personal name for all of your profile account names such as Twitter.com/MartyDickinson so that people can easily find you in the future.
3. Engage Offline Networking – An online business is a lot like a traditional off-line business in that financial success in both requires “people” to buy from you eventually. Go to Meetup.com and search for a group that meets near you to discuss certain topics. I just launched a few days ago, a Meetup group of my own called “Ski With Marty,” for example. Business owners, authors, speakers, and anyone else who wants to network and get some exercise can hook up with me every Wednesday during ski season at one of our world class ski resorts here in Colorado. By the time we have our first networking event on December 2, my goal is to have 100 members in the group. Checkout Meetup.com/SkiWithMartyInColorado if you’d like to see a sample Meetup group page.
4. Love to Sell – To be successful in any business, you must adopt a deep-down belief that anything you choose to promote is not really “selling,” but more of a “recommendation” of something you’ve experienced to make other peoples’ lives better. The fastest and cheapest way to do that is to find other peoples’ products to sell, try them for yourself, and start recommending them to others. These are known as “Affiliate Products.” ClickBank.com is my favorite for finding digital, downloadable affiliate products to sell and you can often contact the product producer and request a “review copy” of their product, which is FREE of course. Their hope is that by you having the product in-hand, you will have a better understanding of the product and will give more accurate recommendations. Continuing with my example of Amazon in step 1, they of course have an affiliate program as well. But, they only pay 4% of the sale price. So, the only products worth promoting on Amazon, in my opinion, are larger ticket items (over $75).
5. Register Domain Names – Whenever I am asked “Where do I register a domain name,” I steer them to BestDomainPlace.com. That is a domain name that I registered to point to my affiliate account. When you register a domain name for promoting an affiliate product, use the URL Forwarding feature (free with BestDomainPlace.com) where a tutorial is provided. Promote your affiliate products in your social networks and whenever a related subject comes up at your in-person networking events. Last week I was talking with a parent at my kid’s school about Internet stuff and suggested she buy a domain name for her personal name at BestDomainPlace.com. Sure enough a few days later, I saw the order come in.
6. Offer Your Services – Everyone has something of value they can offer. What is the one thing that you are truly really, really good at? Connect with others on your social networks (because you enjoy doing that by this step) who are in a related area to the service you want to provide. For example, one of the services I offer is creating websites for business owners, authors and speakers. So, I went to my Linkedin profile, logged in, clicked on “Groups,” and search for “authors” then joined a group, “professional speakers” and joined a group, and then “small business” and joined a third group. Within about 60 seconds, I was connected with over 16,000 people around the country who were in my direct target audience for a service I offer. Now all I have to do is participate in the groups and offer valuable content and the contacts begin.
7. Produce a Product – If you have an idea for a product, someone else has surely produced something close. At a recent Affiliate Marketing Meetup session, a good friend and former client who went off on his own to make $40,000 a month selling affiliate products online said, “Start off small by creating your own e-book, but first buy a few of the top selling e-books for that topic and use the best parts of each to create your product.” Now, he wasn’t suggesting you just copy and paste other peoples’ books into you own. But you can use concepts of how items are presented and rewrite them with different words and different examples. And, of course, add-in your own best stuff to make the product truly unique and the best on the market. If it’s a digital, downloadable product, get it added to ClickBank.com so that other affiliate marketers will have the opportunity to sell it for you.
All of these steps and I haven’t even talked about “Starting a Website” yet. That just goes to show that there is so much you can do to get started on the Internet these days, in your spare time, on a shoestring budget. Then, when you earn a few bucks, use that income to broaden your reach…and that’s when a website, or 5, 10, 50 websites come into play.
The best time in the world to get started on the Internet is right now, today.
Why Attend a Seminar? 101 Reasons
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Oct 28, 2009
Seminars are designed to give you tons of usable content on a variety of topics. The other purpose of a seminar is to get you introduced to several experts in a short amount of time.
When you hear someone you like who is able to speak to “you” and your situation, it is only natural that you would want more from that person. You wish you could just sit side-by-side with that person and suck them dry of their knowledge and experience for the rest of the week! You want more than their measly speaking slot allowed for, right?
Hence the offer or the dreaded “sales pitch.”
Ask anyone why they don’t like going to seminars and their reply will always be the same, “I hate getting those looooong sales pitches.”
And it’s true. No one likes to get a sales pitch. But, we don’t want to be left hanging either, do we?
Think about it. If a speaker just spewed an hour or 90-minutes of straight content and then said, “Well, good luck with that. Hope I got it all out and hope you took good notes,” what would you think? You would leave frustrated and probably pretty ripped off.
A good seminar speaker will always give you tons of content you can use but yet provide a way for you to get even more.
So, expect it. Live with it! And, even get to the point where you appreciate the typical seminar format (sales pitch and all) and you will be able to see the many more benefits of attending seminars and conferences.
In case you’ve been steering clear of seminars for a while purely because you don’t want to get “sold” on something, let this be a refresher by offering 101 reasons why you should attend seminars:
- Learn new information from the presenters
- Meet new people and share experiences
- Brainstorm your ideas and get immediate feedback
- Get new product or service ideas by hearing about needs in your industry
- Get spin off ideas from others, meaning, you might tell someone you main idea and then they’ll suggest you create something slightly different
- Evaluate the latest tools and technology to help grow your business
- Hear the same information you might know already but from a different angle from a different speaker so that you have an even better understanding of the topic
- Find investors in your business
- Allow time for creativity by getting away from your daily routine and working “on” your business instead of “in” your business
- Get inspiration from success stories shared by speakers and others you meet
- Buy products at the best possible price that can save you time and money and are not sold in stores
- Surround yourself with like-minded people for engaging conversation and meeting new friends who understand you lingo
- Connect with joint venture hosts to potentially promote your product to thousands of people
- Practice your in-person networking skills
- Expand your social networking followers by inviting them to connect with you online
- Observe how the heavy-hitters in your industry use use their time at the events
- Get answers to your business questions and challenges
- Get presentation materials to take home with you for later study
- Learn of free resources you can try later
- Chance to win something if there’s a contest (I won a laptop last year!)
- Learn facts and statistics that will help you better undertand your market and industry
- Get content to use in your own presentations, without plagiarizing of course
- It’s a tax write-off
- Increase your email list by getting other peoples’ business cards and contacting them later to have THEM sign-up to be on your list
- Get away from your normal work environment for a few days
- Keep up with your competition by learning the latest strategies in your market
- Get one-on-one guidance from speakers
- Discover there’s more to know even if you think you knew it all
- Pride: when you find out how much you really do know, you will gain a sense of pride in yourself and you will start answering other peoples’ questions
- Get business because there are probably people in the audience who need your help
- Hear stories of what to avoid
- Connect with people on your list that you’ve never met in person
- Evaluate how events are run
- After hours networking
- Making yourself visible
- Learn new procedures
- Make a product from your notes
- Record interviews with experts and make a product for sale
- Have someone interview you for a potential product for sale
- Get video testimonials while you’re there
- Get pictures with industry experts
- Determine who you don’t like
- Settle your fears
- Verify a hunch you have about a topic or issue impacting your industry by hearing the views of experts
- Update your understanding of an older process that has new steps
- Troubleshoot a problem you have that can only be solved by others who would attend a similar seminar
- Treat yourself to a relaxing pool or massage after the seminar sessions are over
- Transform your mood from being at a plateau to one of new possibilities
- Teach others what you know about your topic as a break-out presenter or just as part of the audience helping those around you
- Systematize a process you’ve only known pieces and parts of
- Receive large volumes of usable content within a compressed amount of time
- Satisfy your urge to be on the cutting edge
- Restore confidence in yourself that you are in the right industry and that your perseverance to succeed is worth while
- Recognize areas of opportunity that your business could be taking advantage of instead of being content with stagnation
- Realign your priorities so that your work time is better spent going forward
- Question the knowledge of experts in a public forum
- Purchase helpful products and services that you otherwise would not even know existed
- Plan a new direction and kill an old one once you find out how dead your old market really is
- Praise a mentor in person who’s virtual products, newsletters, or articles have helped you somehow
- Demo a software product to key industry influencers to get their opinions
- Overcome the fear of mixing and mingling with people you don’t know
- Volunteer to help so that you get to meet the event staff on a higher level
- Experience how some people make a lot of money in a short time
- Model after your favorite speaker’s presentation skills
- Acquire continuing education credit
- Meditate after hours on the influx of information you’ve just learned
- Locate vendors who support people in your business
- Launch a product of your own to a targeted audience by spreading the word and passing out flyers one-by-one
- Investigate a new law impacting your industry by seeking the opinions of experts
- Imagine the possibilities if you were to implement even 10% of what you learned at the seminar
- Identify key players that you need to become more acquainted with over the years
- Find contractors for hire or even be introduced to support staff that might be looking for a job you may be providing
- Formulate a new business venture if you run into just the right person
- Finalize business as you can recommend to a prospect that they meet you at the seminar
- Facilitate a dinner or be a co-sponsor for the open bar and get public recognition at the event
- Exhibit a booth to get direct traffic from your target audience
- Eliminate doubt by seeing a speaker live before you decide to hire them
- Diagnose problem areas in your business because a speaker went through the same problem
- Disprove a roadblock that’s been preventing you from meeting your goals
- Conceptualize a new business
- Compare your success with others you meet
- Accelerate your skills faster than reading a book in most cases
- Believe there is hope for success
- See a culture in another city or country
- Assemble a group of people you’ve been talking to by phone or email to conduct a coordinated book or product launch
- Calculate your operating budget for the upcoming year based on the new strategies you’ve learned
- Confront someone who has been badmouthing you in the social networks and resolve the complaint (peacefully)
- Build traffic to your website by passing out your business cards and giving people a reason to contact you
- Critique the work, ideas, websites of others because it’s not all about you
- Earn money by making a sale to someone who needs what you offer
- Make money by promoting an affiliate product to someone when the opportunity comes up in conversation
- Extract the true secrets of trends or processes from industry experts when you talk to them one-on-one
- Generate interest and intrigue about a new product you offer or are coming out with soon
- Observe audience reaction to the topics presented so you can see what your market is really interested in
- Separate yourself from family so that you can focus on business
- Test headlines, book titles, product names to get peoples’ reactions and suggestions
- Implement a new technique you’ve learned after the seminar session and ask questions about it the next day
- Reconnect with old friends you made at previous seminars
- Solidify the bond between you and your clients as you invite them to attend the event together
- Recruit speakers to present at your own seminar, conference, tele-seminar or webinar
- Because it’s fun
To get to or remain at the top of your game, you should plan on attending 4 seminars or conferences each year. Minimum 2. More than 10 and I would say you’re probably overdoing it, unless of course, your main business is getting connected with conference speakers or joint venture partners.
Carefully evaluate how your business fits in with seminar attendance and then start looking for the conferences to attend. I’m alerted every time a seminar, conference, workshop, tele-seminar or webinar is announced on the web thanks to Google Alerts. You should do the same so that you can pick wisely.
And, if you happen to see a guy running around in a black shirt with a HereNextYear logo on the shirt, be sure to say hi…because it’s me!
New Way of Using Social Media to Promote Seminars
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Oct 5, 2009
I’m slated to speak at the Thrive Super Conference on November 19, 2009 in Chicago. The organizer just sent an email to me to login to his promotional page at Ning.com. Now, I’ve used Ning to create a few of my own social network sites, but never to promote a seminar. It’s a great idea if you think about it. Here’s why:
1. You get to see the seminar is real – How many times have you just seen a sales page and wonder if it’s really going to happen? Wouldn’t it be nice to interact with the organizers and speakers to get a better comfort feeling that the seminar will actually occur before committing with your credit card? Of course.
2. You get to interact with the speakers – I know I said this in the previous paragraph. But, if the speakers are willing to dedicate some time of their day to answer questions and prove their willingness to be involved, I would figure there would be a much higher conversion rate of visitors to paying attendees. Doesn’t it just make sense that way?
3. Shows a hint of what you will see more of - People want to attend a seminar where they get to see what’s new. Using a “new” and current medium of interaction and promotion just encourages people that they will see and hear about more new things…and they will! It’s just not always so easy to convince them.
So, sure, I hope you will come say hi to me at the conference and you can claim your seat right here. But, go checkout Ning site that the organizers have setup for this conference and imagine how YOU might be able to use the site for one of your upcoming events.
SEO and Social Networking Training Class in Denver Feb 25
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Feb 11, 2009
SEO and Social Networking training class in Denver Feb 25 will be led by “me” Marty Dickinson. This is a special one because the entire class is entirely “hands-on.” No need to bring your laptop because every attendee will have a computer to use anyway. Limit to class size is just 20. The Google SEO class will be in the morning from 9 to noon and then Social Networking setup will be the afternoon. Register for one or both. Check out the press release we ran a couple of days ago that goes into some detail about why we chose New Horizons as your learning center for this event.
If you know of someone who really needs to learn about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for getting pages of their website on Google, suggest they attend this class. Perfect for web designers who have not yet learned about SEO. Also great for the non-technical business owner who would love to learn to optimize their own pages but just doesn’t think they have the technical skills to pull it off. You will be using LIVE data on pages of a website and shown how to optimize them. Then you will actually upload those to a real live web server so that you can go back to your business that night and work on your own pages without worry of breaking anything!
Class #2 is a set-up class where we will target 5 of the most prominent social networking sites: FaceBook, Twitter, Linked-in, Squidoo, and MySpace. Bring a photo of yourself if you have one.
With the other 27 class sessions we have planned for 2009, I can’t promise I’ll be doing these two classes again soon. So, if either or both of these classes would save you some money from paying someone else to do it, or you want to learn the inside secrets to making all of these things work together, this is your day to attend.
It’s time to learn how to do these Internet tasks on your own. That’s why we’re creating DoItMySelfInstitute.com. Be one of the first to attend. Hope to see you there.
Smartphones Used by Almost 80 Percent
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Dec 16, 2008
Can it be right that almost 80 percent of mobile users use Smartphones? I just saw this statistic in DM News November 17, 2008 issue that suggests 79.5% use Smartphones and 18.9% use a basic cell phone. These numbers were discovered by The Kelsey Group in October 2008 sampling 512 US mobile phone users.
Now, I’m not nearly as interested in the exact number as I am the reason why so many more people use smartphones than a regular cell phone. My brother has a “regular” cell phone and I asked him yesterday if he has Internet access. He said, “I think so, but I have to pay extra.”
But, I think one discovers why the increase after one actually begins using a Blackberry, Motorola Q or iPhone. The answer is because smartphones are really more like little computers than anything else.
I was on the phone with a client last week talking about mobile web and the fact that only 10% of my audiences at workshops have even viewed their websites through a mobile device. I predict that in 3 or 4 years, the majority of users will access the Internet first through their Smartphone and a distant second through their computer.
And, it makes total sense. There’s a lot you can do with one of these Smartphones without ever having to turn on a computer. You can chat with employees even when you’re out of the office, send text messages that are often read before e-mail, find directions within minutes to a meeting you’re supposed to be at on-time, and of course find a great pizza place around the corner.
But, my favorite use for a Smartphone is when I’m in a place where I can’t lug around a computer. That could be an airport, restaurant, or anyplace where I might have to stand in line for more than 3 minutes (yeah, kind of impatient).
I just pull out my Blackberry Smartphone and go to one of my favorite blog sites and start reading. If I see something interesting, I can even get myself involved in the conversation.
Smartphones are a great way to have a computer in your hands when you are in a place where the computer probably wouldn’t be a good fit. How have they helped you and changed the way you get things accomplished throughout the day?
Big Seminar Oct 3-5 2008 is a Must Attend
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Aug 22, 2008
Whenever the conversation turns to Internet Marketing one name comes up more often than any other name…Armand Morin. Armand is the Expert that the experts turn to and watch for direction.
I first met Armand in 2000 at a conference where he was NOT a speaker. Yes he too was once an “attendee” sitting in an audience learning form other speakers. And, that’s my point. People are always asking me, “Marty, HOW do you learn this Internet marketing stuff?” And, I tell them how much I spend a year on attending conferences and buying educational materials.
In the BIGinning
The BIG Seminar is the place where it all starts. It’s the only Internet marketing conference I attend EVERY time. Why? Because Armand only picks truly cutting edge presenters and gives them plenty of time to deliver tons of content I usually begin implementing throughout the weekend of the conference! Yes, I don’t even wait until I get back to start. I’m too energized to wait! While others are partying at the bar, I’m up until 3am trying out what I learned on my laptop.
Who Attends Big Seminar
The audience is made up of about 40% that are brand stinkin’ new to the web, but you could be sitting next to a multi-millionaire who has dozens or even hundreds of websites. And, that’s one of my favorite things about Big Seminar. You just never know who you’re going to meet.
Money Tight?
If you are strapped for cash, Big Seminar is the ONLY conference I would recommend you attend coming this October 3, 4, and 5 in Atlanta Georgia. And, if you can’t afford a couple thousand dollars toward your own education, you NEED to attend more than others! It’s the only conference I can honestly say pays for itself, for me, within the first week after the conference. It’s that good.
Now, let’s be real…
Big Seminar has an affiliate program. That means if I refer others to attend, I get some of the bucks. Basic sales and basic Internet stuff. And sure, when you register, of course I want you to Register Here through my affiliate link. But, there’s something more…
I always offer to my clients that when they attend the Big Seminar, if they’ve registered through my link (which they always do), they will get to meet with me as a small focus group on Friday and Saturday night in a private meeting room where we can go over what was covered during the day. I answer any questions they have and it really helps to have someone to put everything together into a summary of steps and fill in the blanks. Then, when we get back (because I always fly home on late Sunday afternoon), we schedule a conference call to go over what was covered on Sunday.
See, going to something like Armand Morin’s Big Seminar is not only overwhelming from a content and learning standpoint, but just the sheer experience of it all requires some savvy to navigate through. After all, you’re in an audience with typically 500 or more people. Just meeting the one right person you needed to meet could change your whole life…and your income! But, how do you navigate through Big Seminar?
You need a guide. Someone who’s been there. Someone who knows most of the presenters, staff, and a good chunk of who will be in the audience too. Let me be your guide.
Not Sure Yet?
One of Armand’s trademarks is having phone interviews with the speakers leading up to the conference. Would you like to sit-in as Armand talks with other experts and they discuss their Internet Marketing Secrets?
You can…and it’s free.
Every Tuesday and Thursday up until the BigSeminar Armand will host a FREE training call with one of the expert Faculty from his upcoming Big Seminar. They will discuss what they’re doing on the Internet and how they do it.
The calls are FREE…click here now to register for the calls.
Calls times, phone number Passcode etc. will be immediately sent to you via email.
In Summary:
If you’re wondering where all those Internet marketing folks go to learn what’s new and what really works to build a business and increase sales, Armand’s Big Seminar is the place to be. I hope you’ll join me and take me up on my invitation to attend the after-hours meetings to go through things. After you register, be sure to let me know. You can contact me through the Ask Marty contact form.
And, I hope to see YOU at Big Seminar October 3, 4, and 5 2008 in Atlanta!
The Capital Factor Conference is a Great Idea
Posted by Marty Dickinson on Aug 26, 2007
Have you heard of The Capital Conference yet? It’s going to be in Denver Colorado in late October and will have speakers from all around the country. How to get capital to expand a business is the topic but they’re going to have some Internet speakers too like Rick Raddats and Mike Stewart. They have an affiliate program too.
Check out TheCapitalFactor.com Conference for more.
Armand Morin’s BIG Seminar 2007 Reviewed
Posted by Marty Dickinson on May 2, 2007
Web Site Waves is the start of a whole new blog designed to keep my own clients up to speed with anything new I’m seeing in the industry. This also marks the beginning date of future anniversaries to be celebrated. For it was just a few days ago when I returned from Armand Morin’s BIGSeminar 2007.
And, let me tell you, it was quite the event! Here’s a pic:
This picture is of Alexandria Brown “Ali” as she like to be called, maybe better known as “The E-zine Queen.”
Ali was one of the many featured speakers at the Big Seminar. The event was great (of course), but the only thing that seemed like a surprise was that the speakers were so jovial and willing to talk about anything in the world…except their topic. I must’ve been told 15 times, “Well, yeah, that is a common issue….annnnnd, I’m going to be covering that in my presentation!”
And, then of course, they would be swarmed by people for a few hours after the presentation and then they disappear for a plane flight.
Brian Tracy did the same thing to me after a team of us helped him sell $100,000 in product after one of his shows here in Denver. I asked him a simple question about his speaking career and his response was, “Too big a question.”
Who are these people anyway? I mean, we buy their products, attend their high dollar multi-day events and they can’t just answer a simple question? The answer lies in “accessibility.” They’ve all gone to the John Carlton school of public speaking, which is to “tell a little…” and “sell a lot!” and the Dan Kennedy practice of being untouchable.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with selling and each speaker gave great content at the BigSeminar. It’s just this little thing that continues to catch me off guard at every event I attend.
What are your views? Should a speaker have the right to say “I’ll be presenting that later” or do we not have the right as attendees to be upset about not getting an answer? Post your views here.
So, I’m looking forward to making frequent posts with this blog starting tomorrow at my Winning the Internet Dogfight workshop. Stay tuned!
