Security Features Of Email Autoresponders

Looking over assets that are essential to operating my online business, I view my email autoresponder software, Aweber, as an essential asset to my internet marketing operation.  Years ago, I use to think that having an email autoresponder was not worth it, and would just be another wasteful expense.  However, with advances in email technology, FTC rules and regulations, and growing support for the concept of the Opt-In. The Opt-In methods for email marketing is today seen more a security feature, vs. an unnecessary evil.

As I was going through my emails one day, I had noticed some really weird emails which looked like it game from an internet marketer.  It had the classic sign of an promotional marketers email for a specific product, however, I noticed a few things that were not quite right.

One issue was the name of who the email was from.  The email name was not one I recognized – not because of the domain extension, but the actual name of the person sending it.  In todays marketing practices, it’s not that essential to have a business email, but it always is a plus.

Additionally, another factor that made this a suspicious email was the promotional link that was embeded in the email.  The url of the link was definitely a link shortned link, but even with a shortened link, it did not look right, nor did the link make sense.  The whole point of the shortened link concept is to reduce the size of a long and wordy link, down to a simple, one or two word phrase that is readable and makes sense.

Lastly, was the bottom of the email which provided the so-called “Opt-Out” area.  This was the major sign that this was a fraudulent email.  The email that was sent stated something to the following message:

Do not delete this message and do not report this message as spam.  You are receiving this message because you signed up for one of my offers online somewhere.  If you want to stop receiving messages, send me an email to:    “xxxx@gmail.com”

Now, this wasn’t the exact message I received, as I already deleted it.  I will most likely receive another one & post an update to this.  But overall, this was the gist of the email.  You see, with an Opt-In email auto-responder service, you are giving your express permission to receive emails from that person.  Why I know this was a spam and fraudulent email was not only because of the first two issues regarding the name, but also, that opting out involves you being sent directly to that company for confirmation of being opted out of that specific email list.  You should not be having to send your email for some sort of manual opt-out process.

I am now definitely a supporter and fan of using a quality email autoresponder service in your business. I see it more as a security feature in receiving emails even in your own personal life.  The reason is that personal emails from friends and family are usually emails that you directly know who they are from, and why.  In regards to emails that you don’t know where they are from, unless that email has a legitimate opt-out link and method that allows for “IMMEDIATE” opt-out, then it’s definitely a spam or email that can cause your computer harm.  You can assess all of this without even looking at the content of the email.  So, understanding the opt-out process is definitely a plus for older people who can easily be tricked into opening emails, and clicking on links, because they may not know these standards and rules to look out for, but also, just may not really look at what is being sent to them with a watchful eye.

So in your business, I definitely recommend the use of an quality Email autoresponder, not only for security purposes, but as there is growing support for people who know how to read emails they respect the ones that are from legitimate companies, where they can easily stop receiving an email or opt-in to receiving one.

Live Video Streaming Will Be Web Marketing 3.0 For 2011

Live video streaming is a tool that you should be using now in your internet marketing efforts. Streaming video live is growing rapidly and in the Internet Marketing world, is a tool that can be utilized to enhance your credibility, boost your social proof, increase sales, and engage directly with your customers and build relationships. Live video streaming will be the wave of the future in web marketing in 2011, mainly due to emerging technologies such as Facebooks social graph, companies such as Ustream, Justin.tv, YouTube, Livestream, and even online collaboration companies such as GoToWebinar, DimDim, ConnectSolutions and many more.

For Internet Marketers, it will be a very important tool to use so that you can now be more competitive, engage directly with the customer, build your credibility and increase your sales. In the online industry, there are customers with hypersensitive trust issues, due to some unscrupulous marketers. But now, with improved FTC Regulations and advancements in technology such as live video streaming, will not only improve the Internet Marketing industry, but will be a major factor in shaping it.

According to a comScore report, Americans are spending 648% (upward to 1.4 billion minutes) of their time watching live video online; services such as Stickam, LiveVideo, Ustream, Justin.tv and Livestream).  Hulu has increased 75% and YouTube went up 68%.  It goes to show that more viewers are not only seeking out but actively watching live streaming videos.  According to the comScore report:

Live online video sites have not only been successful in building audience, but also in keeping that audience tuned-in. For instance, the average live streamed video view is 7% longer than the average online video view. If you narrow the audience to a specific demographic, though, live video really begins to prove its advertising value to media planners. Live video sites are 72% more likely to deliver the elusive demographic, males age 18-34, than the average online video site. In fact, males age 18-34 comprise almost 30% of the total live video viewing audience in our sample sites. Even without the same brand recognition as other portals and publishers, live video sites are able to retain viewers’ attention and deliver desirable audiences for advertisers.

As an online marketer, today you have your typical marketing methods which utilize a content based landing page to generate leads, or a mini-site that provides some detailed information on your product or service.  A trend this year has been video sales pages, which has pushed out the need for a copywriter and takes on more of the concept of a direct-response pitch to your offerings.  Another trend, which I think is now being a bit overdone, and a bit disingenuous is the use of “live” webinars, or shall I say pre-recorded and repeated Webinars that pretend to be live.

Some really good live webinar software include, WebEx, GoToMeeting. These two web-based softwares are premium and cost a bit.  Free services include DimDim and Join.Me.  In a future post, I’ll get into deeper detail of these and other online webinar platforms you can use in your marketing efforts.  However, webinars are a useful live tool that is used by internet marketers where they can discuss and interact with potential customers in real time by showing an online powerpoint presentation, sharing their screens, have phone conversation and direct chat.  Overzealous marketers tend to do these types of events multiple times per week, as well as sending out replays as part of their email marketing efforts.  The problem ends up being over-saturation whereas, some marketers don’t engage with the potential customers enough, sending out too many replays, not taking enough time to answer all the customers questions in detail, falsifying their event by saying its live when it’s been pre-recorded.  Another issue is that it’s an area where some marketers tend to hide behind their power point slides, and phone conversations, and thereby become a telemarketer rather than a marketer that should be engaging and building relationships with their visitors.

So after the long sales page, we had video sales pages, and then the trend of live webinars.  Now, with live video streaming, marketing efforts will come to the light. In streaming live video, an internet marketer can launch their product or service in real time and potential customers can actually see who they are dealing with, what’s actually happening, whether or not the dreaded “crashing of the website during launch” actually occurs, and get real time data and information directly from the product owner.  Marketers can interact and engage in discussions live during this period in the launch phase.  A recent product launch by  Chris Farrell Mike Filsaime called AffiliateDotCom was an example of a live video streaming launch. They utilize the streaming video service called Ustream, and combined that with a social proof element using the social graph feature provided by Facebook.  That feature allowed only purchasers of their product to be able to provide a Facebook “like” and “comment” which would be featured on the site.  Others who did not purchase, simply would get an error response stating about only purchasers of AffiliateDotCom could make a comment.  This strategy allows for verifiable, and transparent and open social proof of not only sales of the product, but the actual inner workings of an internet marketing product launch.

Note: I personally saw this myself, and at the time there were about 1,500 actual Facebook people who placed a comment, signifying they had purchased the product.  With 1,500 people in the first 6 hours of launch at a $1997 price point, I can attest to at least at $2,995,500 in sales for their product launch on the high end and at least $562,500 in sales on the low end if everyone of the buyers took the payment plan.  Disclosure:  I witnessed this during the beginning of their launch on 8/24/2010, and these figures are based on what was researched, and estimated based off the information provided by AffilaiteDotcom.

So, look out for more live video streaming launches as a marketing tool.  I think this is definitely a way not only to market your products effectively, but when discussing what it really takes to be an Internet Marketer, a person can now really see it and experience themselves in real-time, streamed live right in their own homes.

Daily Doctrine: 10 Tips To Boost Your Blog Performance

While working from home as an internet marketer, I have found various tips to improve my blog performance. I am implementing these ideas in my business practices to improve my productivity, focus on my initiatives, and increase my speed to market.

10 Tips To Boost Your Blog Performance

Create a Blog Framework: This will allow you to categorize what your standard blog posts will be about. You are basically creating a vision for your blog. My blog framework consists of multiple categories, but based on 3 sections: 1.) Profit Pulse, 2.) Profit Lab, and 3.) ProfitDoctrine Premium.

Remove Distractions: Only answer email at a specific time of day. Put your phone on silent. Turn off the television. It may be good to take a 20 minute mediation break prior to starting so that you can visualize and focus on what you are about to do.

Clean Your Desk: The night before, ensure you clean your office space or work area, so that you a clean environment to work from. Sometimes, I like to work directly from my bed. I utilize a laptop platform that looks like I’m receiving breakfast in bed. But I ensure to have my bed made up, and then I begin to work. I also have office space, where I can go to at any time, and simply go to it & conduct business in an organize & efficient manner.

Musical Motivation: Music may not be for everyone. But some tunes can help stimulate the mind, motivate you, provide various ideas. It doesn’t really matter the type of music, but what is most interest to you.

Daily Schedule: Create a prioritization schedule. Write out what are the main priorities, what items are essential, and the non-priorities for the day only. Focus on each section separately, and complete those tasks in order. Once you get done with the priority tasks, your day will run much smoother & faster.

Outsource: If your funds are right, outsource the tasks that you either have trouble doing, or tasks that will take up time and that you want to get done right away. Outsourcing will allow you to focus on major tasks that need to get done.

Research: The mind needs to be stimulated with information. You should have a set of research sites, materials or information that you look at prior to blogging for the day. This will allow you to spark new ideas, and provide you an idea of what’s happening out there in the interwebs.

Plan For Tomorrow: At the end of the day, plan out your strategy for tackling any issues. Write out your daily schedule. Prepare anything today so that you can jump right to it tomorrow. This is the process of being efficient.

Have Fun: Sometimes, you need to take a small break. Since you are working from home, you may not be getting out too much as a blogger. Rent a Netflix move, take a walk, or go jogging. Sometimes, you have to get away to come back 10 x times stronger.

How To Become a Results Based Internet Marketer

If your goal is to start drastically improving your achievements and seeing quality results from your internet marketing efforts, then you should quickly start assessing your business practices right now. As you will learn from reading ProfitDoctrine, we are dedicated to providing an accurate picture of what exactly we are doing to grow our online business. ProfitDoctrine is like a science, conducting various experiments, documenting our research, creating hypothesis, executing a set of operations to achieve a specific result. However, none of that is possible without a set of standards that we employ.

How To Grow Your Internet Marketing Business

1. Review/Rewrite Your Business Plan: Many say you don’t have to have a business plan. Some people may already have business plans, some have already started their businesses, but don’t feel the need to have a business plan. I personally don’t think you need a formal business plan to start your business, however, it is good to have one to be able to create a focused strategy. Additionally, if after your first product, whether or not you have generate revenue, you should create at least a short term or 3-year business plan outlook. The goal here is to take a serious assessment of what your strategy is, document it, and have it as a base of foundation of how you will run your business. But as a measuring tool, you will then have the ability to look back on this months later, and can see a focused result. What you need to do now, is update your business plan on a quarterly basis. This will allow you to keep your business innovation healthy & keep the platform you created thriving.
2. Build Relationships: Develop your pitch. Be able to speak succinctly about your course offerings. When you speak to people in your conversations, be able to quickly turn their issue into a problem that can be solved with one of your products – but ensure not to do it so that it feels like you are dragging them to your sales pages. Start communicating widely with experts in your niche or field.
3. Niche Tunnel Vision: Don’t be a niche hopper. Perfect a set of products within one niche. Become marketable based on that specific niche. Once you are recognized, immediately start growing into another niche to expand your product lines. This way, you are focused on specific product development without trying to always figure out the “next big thing.”
4. Make Incentives & New Offerings Systematic: Provide high quality deals to your consumers. Offer pricing specials to loyal customers and repeat buyers. Ensure to do this on a timely and consistent basis throughout the year. You want to ensure there is no broken line in the communication flow of offering a “just for you special.”
5. Build Trust By Offering Value: Always provide quality products and services. Do whatever it takes. Ensure that you abide by all regulations. Don’t try to hide behind issues or concerns of your offering. Be up front & state what those problems. Remember, your product may not be for everyone. Share that truth with them, and they will respect you more.

When you notice results in your business, what specifically was the operations, tasks, or things that you did to get those results?

Do Your Blog Visitors Need A Roadmap To Navigate Your Blog?

Some bloggers have clutter up their blog so much with advertisements, pop-ups, content that doesn’t even have any relevance to what their blog is about. There so much distortion, that you seriously need a roadmap just to navigate and figure out what there blog is about. The worst part of a visitor experience, is having a visitor “purposely” go to your blogs sitemap or archive section just to understand what section or part they should read first. It may make for good page views, but it doesn’t give a good overall visitor experience.

One method of cutting through the distraction, especially if you are offering a members-only section on your blog, is to implement category and page icons to your site. Additionally, you may want to add post icons as well to enhance your bloggers experience if you write series of posts, or even posts that are continually relative over a period of time.

Here at ProfitDoctrine, we feature a members-only section which is called ProfitDoctrine Premium. ProfitDoctrine Premium is symbolized by the royal crown. Additionally, this premium section of my site has a keyworded navigation section so visitors can directly gain access, as well as on the homepage, provides a selection of categorized posts as in a magazine layout. So when visitors come to ProfitDoctrine.com, they will clearly see the royal crown section, which is a symbol that is engaging, and allows visitors to want to become members of the site. This section gives teaser content as well to pique additional user interest.

Next, we have what is called Profit Pulse. The Pulse is all about various Internet Marketing news, the state of the IM industry, and news that is affecting ProfitDoctrine the business. Profit Pulse is symbolized with a News symbol icon, so when visitors want to know where to get the latest updates and news stories, they can easily navigate to Profit Pulse. The term “pulse” is used to symbolize that here at ProfitDoctrine.com, we are committed to delivering daily updates, factual and relevant information to our readers.

Lastly, our third section of the site is focused on the behind the scenes, and inner workings of ProfitDoctrine. This section for our readers is called Profit Lab. The “lab” is symbolized by a chemistry lab beaker. This is to represent the ideas, strategies, theories, and reviews section of the site.

Additionally, there will also be other sub-sections within Pulse, Lab and Premium sections of ProfitDoctrine. These sections will also be featured with a unique symbol that represents the topic of the post or category. Adding category post icons to your site allows for a fun and engaging visitor experience. If you have a WordPress site, one plugin you can use is the Category Page Icons, which will easily help you implement icons for your selected categories.

Blog Brainstorming To Blast Beautiful Content To Your Blog

In your efforts to improve your blogging skills, one technique you can use is the concept of brainstorming.  Brainstorming is an idea generation technique.  It does not necessarily involve putting ideas into action, but more to get the creative juices flowing, allow you to think broad and then narrow down your a set or group of targeted choices.  Blog  Brainstorming is more of a creative exercise so that you can have a range of topics to write about.

One key to have an effective brainstorming session is to set up a process in which you will conduct the process, and focus on a specific topic.  My method for brainstorming to come up with incredible content involves not only my blog ProfitDoctrine, but also, coming up with unique ideas for developing information products, launching products, developing blog contests and even creating exceptional free giveaways.  Each of these areas, are separate sessions in which I conduct a brainstorming ideas session.

Brainstorming Blog Blast

Create your mission: The first step in creating your brainstorming session is to set a specific mission.  This means, examine what your problem is, and set what you aim to achieve.  For example, if you have chosen to focus on specifically the topic of “blog posts for your site,” you need to state the problem, state the goal, and set a timeframe.  I am having trouble creating ideas for blog posts for my site.  For the next 30 minutes, I will focus topics relevant to my blog and create a minimum of 10 topics for the week.

Set Your Time Table: Create a timed outline – break it down by hour or 10 minute increments if its less than an hour.  One the first two timed increments, write out some of the topics you will cover, so that you have some preparation and have some ideas pre-ready to go & to think about. Note, after every time period you should take a 5 to 15 minute break just so you can continue to keep fresh and not get frustrated.

Set a Quota:  In this brain storming exercise, your goal is to create a constant flow of ideas.  It doesn’t matter if the ideas don’t make any sense, but your goal is to get your mind moving, writing, and eventually your brain will start connecting the dots on its own.  Therefore, set a high standard to achieve that is obviously reasonable in your specific timeframe, but be sure to push yourself.

Read Out Loud: After you have written out your ideas, read them out point by point, and idea by idea out loud.  As you do so, you may want to combine selected ideas into new ideas, or even write down ideas that are popping into your head at that very moment.

Evaluate: Take a look at your written document, and evaluate the best ideas.  Highlight them and start conducting research on those specific ideas.  At the end of this session, you not only have a list of specific & fresh ideas, you have a plan to research these topics, apply your curious mind to them and simply begin writing.

If you are having any trouble coming up with fresh ideas for your blog, then try out this brainstorming exercise.  Leave a comment below and let me know what you brainstorming methods you use to get new & fresh ideas for your blog.

Does Your Blog Have A Lead Generation Process?

Generating leads and building your list is a key business process as an Internet Marketer.  Lead generation is basically the life blood of your business.  Many bloggers don’t embrace the concept of the lead generation process until it’s too late.  Many bloggers are inclined to slap on a email form and call it a day, however, by not planning and systematizing your process, you could be doing yourself a great disservice.

Whether you are a blogger, specializing in direct linking using PPC, selling information products, or any function in Internet Marketing, you must build a solid lead generation process.  This is one area I am looking at heavily as I build and grow my new media publishing firm.  As I looked at the process, I wanted to focus on multiple areas that will not only provide a systematic process in generating a lead, but also not to be intrusive to my readers.  Some blogs have pop-ups after pop-ups, trying to collect leads and monetize them at the same time.  In my opinion, you still need to give your readers a quality experience while they are on your blog.

There are 7 areas I have looked at to developing a strong lead generation machine on your blog.  These 3 areas revolve around 1 model, which is the concept of the freemium business model.  In each of the areas I will outline below, will consist of providing high quality freebies, and giveaways to my readers.

NAVIGATION BAR: I will feature a dedicated page for people to directly sign up for my custom free reports or free product that I create. This will be prominently displayed in the navigation bar, won’t be intrusive, and basically adds to depth of my site.  On the actual page, it will be a short sales copy of the freemium offer, with a focus on signing the visitor up to become a subscribed member of my email newsletter.  The goal here is to focus on building customer loyalty.

SIDEBAR FORM:  The sidebar form is like a direct marketing piece.  It will feature directly a call-to-action to visitors who want to quickly sign up for my email newsletter.  The sidebar subscription form will consist of direct subscriber message, as well as a high quality graphic of my ebook or information product that I will create.  I may possibly use video to give more of a face to face connection.  Some bloggers have opted to add a direct video describing either what they are getting, or what there site is about.

DELAYED POP-UP FORM: I will create a delayed pop-up form which will be a large direct call-to-action of the feature freemium product that I will be offering.  I will use the newly created WordPress plugin called Pop-Up Domination.  I have researched this product thoroughly, have purchased it, and will be using it avidly not only on this site but also on products that I create.

BLOG POSTS: Blog posts are an overlooked lead magnet.  If used wisely, the blog post will be an effective tool to capture leads who are really interested in what you have to offer.  The benefit of a blog post is that it will be in a controlled area where the visitor will be wanting to see your offer.  If you have keyword researched, and SEO’d blog post, it will also increase your leads heavily if done right.  In capturing leads through blog posts, Iwill focus on a highly targeted and keyword research title, and presenting a specific offer for my readers to accept.  There are numerous methods I will use which will include:

1. Request for more information: I will provide teaser information, and a person can sign-up to not only get that information, but also subscribe to the newsletter.
2. Graphical Ad Unit:  Within the blog post message, I can direct readers to a graphic based ad unit, which will include a link to subscribe to my offer.
3. Subscribers Only Posts:  Create subscribers only posts.  These are different from Members-only posts, where as you may have a paywall for premium type posts, whereas, subscribers are just gaining access to the information.
4. Contests:  Having subscribers sign-up to the newsletter specifically for a blog contests.  This will be highly effective whereas, you are engaging in one-to-many relationships, and interacting with readers who are interested in your offers.

SIDEBAR & END OF POST ADS: What can be extremely useful are graphical ad units spread throughout your blog.  You will be marketing your lead generation process via ads on your sidebar, and at the end of your blog posts.  Utilize 125×125 ads, and 468×60 size ads, or whatever suits you best.  I would recommend varying what they look like, as to not overdo readers viewing the same ad over & over, but ensure that it does not deviate too much from your original brand that you are offering.

MINI-TEXT BOXES: Another method we will use inside of blog posts is the use of a mini-text box.  This can be a highly effective method. If you have knowledge of CSS & HTML, you can create contextual text boxes that are placed within your content, requesting readers to simply sign-up to your offer.

WP GREET BOX:  Show a different message to your visitor depending on which site they are coming from. For example, you can ask Digg visitors to Digg your post, Google visitors to subscribe to your RSS fee, and much more. Download this plugin at the WordPress extension repository.

These are all free methods you can get started today in creating your lead generation machine. Provide a quality offer, implement these strategies, and increase your leads to your blog. What methods have you implemented on your blog to improve or build your lead generation strategy? Let me know what you’ve done, what has worked, and what has not worked in generating more leads to your blog.

Increase Brand Awareness With A Mobile Site and Mobile Apps

As an online business owner, you are always on the lookout for new income streams of revenue as well as improving your existing streams of revenue. One market that is extremely hot is the mobile phone market and app market. You should be sure to understand that these are two separate markets, however, they are two markets that have a high level of synergy.

The greatest thing about these two technical markets is that even without a lot of technical acumen, you as an online business owner in the Internet Marketing field can tap into these two markets, and it is definitely something you want to do specifically if you want to enhance your brand awareness.  I will be providing a series of articles specifically to introduce mobile marketing and mobile apps.  I will be looking for your support in comments in what specifically you want to learn about and to focus on, so be sure to provide some insights of what you see as trends, what your concerns are, what you would like to learn and know about in regards to mobile marketing and mobile apps.  This is the first in the series in the Profit Lab, discussing successful methods that are working now and reviewing various marketing strategies and providing you the tips that you can implement today.

MOBILE MARKET

If you have a blog and are regularly providing content to your readers, you may want to look into expanding your brand.  Creating your blog or website to be readable on a mobile phone will not only enhance your brand, but give you more readers, and even make you more distinguishable in the search engines.  Whereas, your mobile site can also be marketing online as well as via mobiles.  I will be focus on the wordpress themes for mobiles in this case.  There are advancing and improving themes that will instantly turn your site into a site that is readable on a mobile phone, specifically there is a wordpress theme that will create your site into a iphone themed site.  Additionally, there are wordpress plugins that will instantly allow you to mobilize your site, add unique advertising so that when mobile users see it, you can also generate revenue from simply someone using their phone.

MOBILE APPS

In 2008, Apple launched it iPhone App store to developers all around the world.  If you had an idea for an app, you could simply develop it, make your store submission, and generate 70% of the profits on app sales.  After launching the App store and the 3rd party development partnership, Apple announced 500 million downloads, and this was only 6 months from launch.

One app was developed by Internet Marketer, Joel Comm, where him and his company launched the iFart app.  This was widely successful and generate a ton of revenue for his business.  There was also the Ocarina app, which turned the iPhone into a musical flute.  This app was downloaded over 400,000 times at $0.99.  That’s a $396,000 payday!

There are resources online and toolkits one can use to create an app.  The goal is to create a quality app, that will be useful to the end user, and that has the potential to go viral.  More importantly, you want to do something that will also enhance your brand.

The successful methods to examine is that if you can combine the concept of create a mobile app, in conjunction with creating your website or blog to be mobile ready you have just boosted your brand two fold and increased the value of your product or service.  If you decide to sell your business, you can use Flippa to sell your online site.  Just think of the value you are bringing to the table with:

1. A Blog or Product Site
2. A Mobile Ready Themed Site
3. A Mobile App branded to your site/product

Having these 3 items prepared for sale will make your product/service for sale extremely unique and will demand a higher value in the market place.

Have you created a mobile app or site yet?  Leave a comment below and provide some insights on what you think about the mobile market and mobile apps.

How To Increase Profits With A Resellers License

Have you ever had a “license to print money?” You may think that a license to print money was just for governmental agencies such as the treasury.  However, you can boost your revenue with a Resellers License. There are multiple ways you can make money with a resellers license.  As an internet marketer, implementing a resellers license strategy into your business model is not only one way to give back to your customers and followers, but also a profitable method to increase your bottom line.

The Resellers License business strategy is the concept where you contract with a company or individual giving them explicit permission to sell your products or services to sell them to a 3rd party.  Essentially, the strategy is basically a “licensed affiliate” – who is aimed at promoting and marketing your specific product or service under a set of guidelines.  However, usually under the Resellers License, you allow for 100% of profits to be generated solely by your licensees.  There have not been any basic ground rules or set standards for the reseller license business strategy, and this is one of the downfalls in Internet Marketing, where some marketers either don’t fully specify a guideline or implement a high quality strategy.

In my opinion, the reseller license strategy is a bit different from the concept of content licensing.  Whereas, in content licensing, you are selling your content on a subscription basis for a fee.  Customers would have the right to use that content based on the standards and guidelines set out in your terms and conditions.  As a product owner, licensing your content can be very profitable, whereas, you can package and sell your content in various ways, such as article reports in a specific format, as an ebook, convertible formats such as PDF, Powerpoint, sell as audio or even video.  Content licensing is usually pre-made content or content and media that has already been produced and proved successful in some event of venue such as a successful and verifiable product launch, or a membership site, or even simply on an public access website.

In regards to the reseller license strategy, I feel that it is different than content licensing whereas, you are not selling a subscription based license, but more offering a full working, business model with revenue potential for free!  This is just one business model that ProfitDoctrine will be implementing in the future.  You may be wondering, why would you give away a revenue producing product for FREE?  Well this depends on how the strategy is implemented in your business.  Our goal here at ProfitDoctrine will be to:

1. Create a short term, subscription based training course
2. Launch a high quality informational and educational training product
3. Generate and assess success stories from customers
4. Take the training course, study materials, assessments and develop it into a book
5. Create a sales letter and site portal for the new book
6. Give the new advanced book away to members with a lifetime resellers license

This model will provide its members an instant way for them to generate revenue using methods and strategies that are already proven to be working, as well as provide the members with a product that is already generating revenue.  Essentially, the resellers license is a business in a box and a license to print money!  These are the steps and methodology that ProfitDoctrine will take in implementing the Reseller License business strategy.  I think this is a great way to be able to give back to my followers and members and give them an opportunity to implement the ProfitDoctrine principles and practices that they have already learned in Internet Marketing.  This gets my members up and running quickly and I can provide instant support and training as a service to all my licensees.

Other marketers have used similar reseller type strategies, but I don’t think they really provided out in detail why or even kept up with providing a quality product.  The goal is to ensure that the product you provide is of high quality and that 100% of the profits can be generated by its members.  Now, when implementing this strategy, I have outlined the base concepts.  Obviously there are some technical aspects to this. You can learn more about the technical aspects and how to develop a quality reseller product and set up the site when you sign up for ProfitDoctrine Premium.

Successful Membership Site Trends and Ideas

There has been a trend in Internet Marketing in regards to creating a profitable membership site. There have been information products launched about building successful membership sites, blogs writing about the best membership site business models, and downloadable reports about membership site tips and strategies. There are many opinions on the way a membership site should be operated, even down to what is the best software to use when creating a membership site. Some of the trends I see are a bit disturbing and some trends are an advancement and beneficial in the Internet Marketing community. A membership site overall is an excellent model to be able to create a stable, and long-term income in building your online business. But more importantly, with a successful revenue generating revenue site, you have more of an ability to provide quality and service to your customers.

NEGATIVE MEMBERSHIP SITE TRENDS

Yes, you may have heard of the six-figure launches, and the seven figure launches that have been happening over the past year.  As of today, there have been approximately 9 product launches with a price point of $1,997 in only a time span of 6 months, specifically in the internet marketing niche – and the year is not even over.  It’s great that there are new products created, however, a disturbing trend that is happening is that products are being launched without even having the full course content  or materials in them.  Now, it’s one thing to have the product training set to start on a specific date after customers purchase, however, one negative trend that is ever increasing is that  many consumers are noticing that what was stated on a sales page, and in their order forms does not match what was in the actual product.  Customers are finding out that:

• Product Delays:  Product Information & trainings are not available during the time frame they purchased them.
• Product Inconsistencies:  Information Products that were ordered don’t always match what was sold on the sales page
• Pricing Issues:  Increased buyers remorse after learning that the product sold is not updated material, or a version 2.0 with just some added webinars, or price is not a fair market value.
• Outrageous Claims:  Sales claims that their product can do a specific result, when it wasn’t that product that produced the result
• Poor Customer Service:  Product owners not fully responding on a timely basis or responding to their questions and concerns in a full, thought out answer.
• FTC Compliance:  Some marketers are out there still not adhering to the FTC regulations – specifically in the areas of Free plus shipping offers, Results claims and testimonials.  (Note: FTC regulations went into effect Dec. 2009.)  You can download a copy of the guide here:

These are just some of the negative trends I see that are continually happening.  This will be the first of a series of articles where I will go into more of these negative membership site issues further.  But to give a brief overview of what the root cause of these issues, specifically on the issue of product delays, one reason could be due to that many gurus and product owners focus on the concept of creating the product content as you go, while at the same time teaching “creating information products fast“, and “create information products in 24 hours“.  Product owners are developing the product either at the last minute, creating the product on a month-to-month basis, or having high ticket products where the main meat of the product is an virtual chat, or real-time webinar.  These methods can definitely have some drawbacks, whereas, many customers are focused on getting started quickly, and want to utilize the training on their terms and schedule.  Many marketers do not make it clear enough in their sales copy what exactly a customer will receive and when they will receive it.

A prudent and satisfied customer should be able to easily audit the purchase they made.  From a purchase a prudent customer should be able to match what was in the sales page to the actual ordered content, from the claim that was made to operational methods outlined in the product/service, all with easy to find methods and processes of cancellation and refund, to specific and detailed customer support.  It’s not just boasting about “quality content” that will make a satisfied customer.  The customer of 2010 and 2011 will be satisfied when what is “stated” matches what was “purchased”, and that if questions are asked, they are given VIP treatment at all times, and when questions are not asked, there is some engagement to gain an understanding of the customers experience.

POSITIVE MEMBERSHIP SITE TRENDS

There are also positive membership site trends that are also happening.  These trends not only improve the customer experience, but also, allow for product owners to create better information products and provide higher quality service.

• Social Proof: One trend I see happening a lot more is the use of social proof.  Many launches that are happening now are utilizing (although latently) social proof tools such as Facebook like buttons, and commenting.  These tools combine with a successful product launch allow you to see sometimes in real-time real people “like” what they see and buy.  Additionally, you have real people on Facebook commenting on their product purchase.  This takes the concept of testimonials to a new level.  I’ve discussed a recent product launch that used the social proof concept during a live launch with AffiliateDotCom.
• Advancing Technology: By December 2010, we will see the advancement of WordPress 3.1 with more features and functionality than it already has today. WordPress as a CMS is one of the premier blogging and content management systems platforms in the world today.  Now, you can easily and quickly create a network of sites with the new Multisite functionality, create unique style blogs, custom themes and frameworks, the sky is the limit.  Combine WordPress with a strong membership plugin, such as Wishlist Member, you are sure to have the ingredients to develop a quality membership site.
• FTC Regulations: The FTC Regulations have definitely shaken up some online business models, and this is certainly for the betterment of the industry.  Marketers who were misrepresenting results and their products via false testimonials, adding Oprah to their endorsements, conducting false scarcity tactics, and the whole concept of Free plus Shipping will continually to become void.  The FTC provided guidelines for not only consumers to be aware of but also directed at online marketers who were performing deceptive practices.  Many marketers have followed these practices.  But I think one way to enhance these practices and principles is not only to abide by them, but also improve them.  At the end of the day, the regulations bring out a much needed focus on the concepts of transparency, business quality and ethics.

Be on the look out for my next article in this series regarding membership site trends and ideas in Internet Marketing. If you know or have seen any trends in membership sites you have joined or contemplated joining, please leave a comment below and share your experiences.

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