Most entrepreneurs fail to raise
venture capital because they
make a really BIG mistake when
approaching investors. And on
the other hand, the entrepreneurs
who get funding all have one thing
in common. What makes the difference?
The Internet has created great
opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Most recently, a new online funding
phenomenon allows you to quickly
raise money to start your business.
"Barking orders" and other forms of
intimidating followers to get things
done just doesn't work any more.
So how do you lead your company
to success in the 21st century?
*** UPDATED Monday, January 25th at 5:27pm EST ***
Be sure to check out the "Special Announcement" at the bottom of the this blog entry. If you've already read the original version of this blog entry, you can click here to go straight to the special announcement.
Over the past several weeks, I have been putting the finishing touches on my new Internet Marketing training program.
And I'm finally ready to reveal what's included...
But first I want to share with you the story of why I decided to create this training program (including what subjects to cover, what format to present it in, etc.).
Why Did I Create It?
Well, this answer is simple... Because YOU asked for it!
Remember that survey I ran several weeks ago, when I asked my subscribers for their #1 question about internet marketing?
Well, when I ran that survey, I ALSO asked whether you would be interested in a training program to improve your internet marketing skills. I knew that entrepreneurs needed assistance with internet marketing, but I didn't know whether you'd want to invest in this type of training.
Well, to my pleasant surprise, the answer was overwhelmingly "YES"!
As you can see from the responses above, nearly 80% said they'd be interested in a training program to improve their internet marketing skills.
What Does It Cover?
When I ran that survey, I learned that my subscribers didn't want to just know the basics about internet marketing. You wanted a truly comprehensive training program, and so that's what I've created.
Many of the questions I received were very specific, spanning nearly every aspect of marketing, including: - Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising - Email Marketing - Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, etc)
And I'm glad to announce that my new training program will cover ALL of these important areas. My "Ultimate Internet Marketing System" focuses on EVERY critical tactical component of a profitable internet marketing campaign.
BUT... There is NO "Magic Bullet"
This is a VERY important point.
If you're struggling to market your business online, please know this:
Your lack of success is NOT because you haven't found the next new "magic bullet" or "secret" tactic.
That's why this training program doesn't just cover tactics.
If there's one BIG thing I've learned about internet marketing over the past 10 years, it's that all the tactics in the world won't get you a Return on Investment (ROI) without a proper STRATEGY.
So, my new training program goes beyond tactics to show you step-by-step exactly how to put together a profitable internet marketing strategy, including:
- How to avoid getting overwhelmed by all of your options - How to identify "hidden" profit centers - How to prioritize your best opportunities for maximum ROI
I walk you through all of this, and more, in the training program.
Who Is This For?
My "Ultimate Internet Marketing System" training program is designed BOTH for entrepreneurs who are just getting started AND for business owners who are already marketing online, but are looking to improve their ROI.
As you can see from the responses above, roughly 60% of my subscribers are actively marketing online, and 40% are just getting started. I designed this course to meet the needs of both audiences.
When it comes to internet marketing, another big issue is budget.
And, as you can see from the responses above, most of my subscribers have small online marketing budgets. However, there were definitely a fair amount of business owners who were already spending several thousands of dollars online.
I designed this training program BOTH for business owners with significant online marketing budgets, and for entrepreneurs on limited budgets.
In other words, this training program is for YOU, no matter your experience level or budget. That's because the "Ultimate Internet Marketing System" teaches you the fundamentals as well as intermediate and advanced strategies and the latest cutting-edge tactics.
What's the Format?
When I ran this survey, I was a little surprised by what format my subscribers wanted the course in. We've always been delivering our training products in "digital" format, because we assumed that you preferred the convenience of instant access.
However, as you can see based on the survey responses above, the majority of you were interested in a physical DVD Home Study Course.
And so, of course, that's exactly what we've created. The "Ultimate Internet Marketing System" will be offered on multiple DVDs with 14 separate modules, covering every critical aspect of internet marketing.
How Can You Get Access?
Just so you know, this is our FIRST time ever creating a physical training product. We're pleasantly surprised that so many people wanted the DVD version -- and we're very excited to be creating the DVD course.
Because this is the VERY first time we've ever created a physical training product, we're producing a fairly small number (only 200 copies).
On the one hand, there seems to be a lot of demand among my subscribers, so I wouldn't be too surprised if all 200 copies sold out.
However, since we've never done this before, I don't want to risk getting stuck with a lot of extra inventory lying around.
Assuming everything goes smoothly with our product creation and fulfillment process, we're planning to start offering copies for sale this Wednesday, January 27th at 2pm EST.
If you've been reading my blog entries for some time, you know that I'm a big believer in TAKING ACTION. I believe taking action is the single most important trait of successful entrepreneurs.
And so I always like to reward Action-Takers, so, here's what I'm going to do...
I'm working with our team to organize some EXTRA consulting and coaching resources to help make your internet marketing even more profitable, and to make sure that you get off to the right start in 2010.
My team of expert internet marketing consultants will use our proprietary 73-point Internet Marketing Checklist to perform an in-depth audit of your website and entire internet marketing strategy.
This expert audit and strategy consultation will give you a better understanding of your current strengths, weakness, areas for improvement, and most profitable opportunities.
And you'll come away with dozens of strategic and tactical recommendations to improve the profitability of your internet marketing.
Fast-Mover Bonus #2 (First 25 Buyers Only)
"FREE Group 'Mastermind' Coaching Webinar"
During this very exclusive group coaching session, I will personally review your website and internet marketing strategy, and provide live "on-screen" critiques via webinar. You will also see critiques of 24 other businesses and websites to gain tons of new internet marketing ideas.
Fast-Mover Bonus #3 (First 50 Buyers Only)
"2 FREE 'Direct Access' Q&A Coaching Calls"
Join me and a select group of like-minded entrepreneurs and business owners for 2 expert Q&A coaching calls, where you'll have the opportunity to ask me any questions you have about internet marketing.
Don't miss this opportunity to get all of your internet marketing questions answered!
In this video, I reveal the single most powerful concept in Internet Marketing: the "Browser-Shopper-Buyer" Framework.
If you're struggling to make internet marketing work for your business, it's probably because you don't understand this simple Framework.
Without a doubt, the BIGGEST mistake "rookie" marketers make is thinking that your website visitors are ready to buy the first time they come to your website.
But this couldn't be further from the truth...
In most cases, 99% of your website visitors have NO intention of buying anything from you. Most just want to look around and then leave, never to return again.
The GOOD news is that once you really grasp this simple Framework, you can gain competitive advantage in your market, and generate more traffic and profits.
The other day, I confessed to my friend Ned that I made a lot of mistakes early in my internet marketing career.
After recording that interview, I decided to shoot a new video showing you exactly how I turned it all around.
If you want to know how to gain ROI (return on investment) from your online marketing efforts, then this video is for you.
As you can see, this one simple technique really revolutionized our internet marketing.
Hopefully this Case Study video gave you some good ideas for how you can generate leads very inexpensively.
But of course, traffic and lead generation are really only half the battle... I didn't have time in this brief video to explain exactly how I followed-up with these leads in order to generate sales.
I am putting the finishing touches on a new step-by-step internet marketing course that covers every major aspect of internet marketing, from keyword research and effective website design, to pay-per-click (PPC) and search engine optimization (SEO), to social media and email marketing, and more.
In addition to tactics, my course provides strategic advice on how to improve conversion rates, increase return on investment (ROI), and capitalize on leverage points and "low hanging fruit" opportunities that far too many businesses ignore.
I'll post some more details in the next few days, as we get ready to open up the course.
In this interview, I confess to my friend Ned that I really struggled with online marketing, before finally making it work for me.
Why am I opening up about all of this?
I wanted to share my experience so you can learn from my mistakes, and start getting return on investment (ROI) on your internet marketing even faster than I did.
Click the button below to play, or click the link below to download the MP3.
(Right-Click "Save As..." to download to your computer.)
Here's the back story...
Based on the survey I did the other week, I discovered that most of my subscribers either haven't started marketing online yet, or they're just their getting off the ground.
My friend Ned Tobey is in that same exact position -- just getting started. (Of course, there was a time, 10+ years ago, when I was there, too.)
Specifically, Ned recently joined GoSimplifi.com (offers financial planning tools) as their VP and General Manager. And, like most of you, Ned wants to quickly start driving a ton of traffic to his website -- while maximizing profits.
Anyways, Ned had a bunch of questions for me about online marketing, and I figured that Ned's questions were probably similar to a lot of yours.
So, I asked Ned if he would interview me about what I've learned over the past 10 years doing online marketing. Luckily, he agreed.
Here are some of the topics we covered during the interview:
1. How I got started with online marketing (10+ years ago)
2. My early mistakes and (embarrassing) mis-steps
3. "To tweet or not to tweet," and other advice for getting started now
4. The most important first step of any online marketing campaign
5. Best ways to drive targeted traffic to your website
6. How to measure ROI (return on investment)
7. What you can do with a limited budget (of, say, $500/month)
If you're just getting started, or if you're frustrated with your results, this interview gives you a "mini" blueprint for online marketing success.
Click the button below to play, or click the link below to download the MP3.
Recently, I polled my subscribers about online marketing.
I asked, "What is your #1 question about marketing your business online?"
I was thrilled to receive so many responses. Thanks for everyone who participated in the survey!
There was a good amount of variety among all the questions, but after reading through them and categorizing them, there were some definite patterns. Actually, 3 big questions accounted for about half of all the responses.
Here are the top 3 questions, and my answers:
FAQ #1: "How Can I Drive Targeted Traffic to My Website?"
FAQ #2: "How Can I Get Return on Investment (ROI)?"
FAQ #3: "What's the Best Way to Get Started?"
Marketing your business online can be very overwhelming because there are so many options and so much to learn. I hope my answers have helped to "demystify" online marketing for you, and that you have a clearer idea of how to go forward.
In the coming weeks, I'll be providing more content as we get ready to release our new training program.
Do you have any remaining questions about online marketing? Or comments about my answers? Please share your comments below.
Many entrepreneurs and investors have been capitalizing on developing internet capabilities and the increased usage of social networks around the world by creating a new wave of social networks and Web 2.0 websites. Over the last few years, the Web 2.0 sector has seen a number of acquisitions for companies including Bebo, Blogger, Cork’d, Del.icio.us, Flickr, Jaiku, Last.fm, Picasa, Rojo, Skype, Sphere, StumbleUpon, and Webshots. Entrepreneurs have been encouraged by large scale transactions including YouTube selling for $1.7 billion, Facebook’s valuation at $15 billion based on Microsoft’s recent investment, and MySpace’s sale for $580 million.
A great Web 2.0 website can be built on a shoestring budget with a few smart developers and an innovative concept driving the growth of the business. Web 2.0 companies have the potential to experience overnight notoriety through a few press mentions and can grow exponentially thereafter. Thus, venture capital firms do expect to see a great deal of traction in the marketplace before seriously considering funding your social network. Due to market conditions, VCs today are seeking to fund companies that are already well on their way to success, rather than higher risk and earlier stage deals that they might have previously considered. As a social network, the right time to contact a VC is when your site has a solid user base and viral growth through an innovative guerilla marketing strategy, not at the idea stage. For example, just today Glubble BV (www.glubble.com), a niche Amsterdam based social networking website for families with children under the age of 12, announced that they raised $1 million in Series B funding. Glubble was launched in 2007 and counts 300,000 family pages on its service to-date.
Due to the large number of social networking sites that were funded in the last three years, VCs are getting increasingly skeptical of these concepts. Kleiner Perkins, one of the largest VCs, has publicly stated that they are no longer investing or even looking at Web 2.0 companies. I’m not suggesting that you get discouraged by this or that the opportunities for new web 2.0 or social networks have passed, but realize that the competition is great and you must differentiate yourself both in your market and when pitching to venture capital firms. Stand out by targeting niche users, such as senior citizens, travelers, specific cultures, or countries. Find a niche that has not been already conquered, but that has enormous value, and do not promote your business as the next MySpace or Facebook. These networks have generated enormous and loyal user bases and it will be extremely challenging if not impossible to replace them.
Growthink has worked with nearly 100 web 2.0 businesses over the last few years and has developed strong expertise in the sector. We can help you to strategically think through your business model and create a compelling business plan that will help your Web 2.0 company stand out among the throngs of competitors. We can also advise you on how to improve your viral marketing strategy to optimize your valuation before bringing your company to a VC firm.
If you are an existing website, we can also help provide you with strategic recommendations based on a complimentary website audit. Please follow this link for more information:
The world clearly has changed. Long gone are the days of Rotary Club and Elks Lodge America, and of Tuesday afternoon tea. Replacing them is the brave new world of social and virtual networking, of Linked-In, of Facebook, and of Twitter. And from a standpoint of access to and diligence of great deal flow, this is an extremely good thing.
Let's compare how deals can be and are identified and diligenced today to how it was done 20 years ago. Back in the good old 20th century, opportunity flow was limited to that which could be introduced to you directly by people you knew, usually in your local community or in your immediate circle of family, friends, and business colleagues. Oh what a simpler, more innocent time that was! But it was also a parochial and limited one.
There was first the limit of geography and introduction. If you were far from the major entrepreneurial and finance centers (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and Los Angeles), the likelihood of crossing paths with the "special deals" was very, very limited. Back then, opportunity flow really was limited to the "old boys club," and what you knew was far less important than who you knew.
Compare that to today. Sites such as Linked-In, Facebook, BizBuySell, RaiseCapital.com, The Funded, The Private Equity Exchange, Second Market and even Twitter are treasure troves of startup, small business, and emerging technology deals and ideas. This is to say nothing of the World Wide Web itself, where all of the serious entrepreneurs and private companies (a number that runs into the millions) have websites that explain, in various degrees of succinctness, what they do, where, why they do it, and how they make money. And if they can't, with a click of a button, you move on.
And there was enormous information friction 20 years ago. Getting quality information back then was time-consuming, expensive, and prone to omission errors. There were no websites, where you could quickly get that critical feel for the "realness" of a business' growth prospects. There was no ability to "Google" someone and to find out about that bribery conviction 10 years ago – conveniently omitted from conversation and the business plan. There was no Linked-In and Facebook to identify the various "degrees of connection" that confirm resume and background representations.
Now to this you may say, “But heck in a Norman Rockwell America this stuff wasn't needed,” because, back then, you did business like men: face-to-face with guys you knew from the club.
To this I say two words: Bernie Madoff. Mr. Ponzi himself could never have gotten away with what he did if he traveled amongst the modern "technocrati." His M.O. of secrecy and opaqueness would have screamed suspicion immediately to any one even basically versed in online networking. This brave new world is one that if you have nothing to hide, then you ain’t opaque. And it is a better world for it.
Finally, you may say, “Well Jay, if this new world of ours is so abundant and so filled to the brim with such incredible money-making deals, why are we all getting killed in the markets? Couldn't we all kind of go for some of those 1980's-esque returns about now? If this new world of ours is so great, why is everything so bad?”
To this, I refer you to Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the paradigm-changing treatise, "The Black Swan." At the risk of over-simplyifying Taleb's big idea, the good old days were a world of "Mediocristan," or in the inimitable words of Garrison Keiller, one where “all of the children were above average.” There were business successes and failures for sure, but they were of more of a gradual and tepid form. The 21st century, in contrast, is a world of Extremistan - characterized at the macro level by outrageous bubbles and busts, and at the micro level by a quite small number of enterprises and business models that are responsible for the significant majority of an investment class's return.
Our contention is that, as we move into the 2nd decade of the 21st century, more and more investors will both be able, and prefer, to hunt for these future supernovae via online social networking and deal exchanges and the Internet itself. From here, most but not all of the traditional deal diligence rules apply. In future blog posts, we will explore which ones do, which ones don't, and how to assess and price private company deals in the current environment.
Webinar: Keys to Successful Private Company Investing
Please join me on a live, interactive web conference where I will share with you my keys to successful private company investing including:
- How to utilize the Internet to source and research opportunities
- How to conduct data-driven risk analysis on private company deals
- How to exploit the "pricing inefficiency gap" endemic to private equity
- The importance of technology bias (and which technologies to bias) when selecting deals
- How to properly apply "black swan," or "randomness" thinking to private company investing strategy
For many businesses, internet marketing is the “low hanging fruit” -- the most-cost effective method for gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage.
However, most websites are poorly optimized for search engines and are not effectively designed to generate leads or produce sales.
That’s why we’re developing a new webinar that identifies common mistakes as well as proven strategies and tactics to accelerate your website’s growth and profitability.
In this upcoming webinar, Growthink co-founder and President Dave Lavinsky will reveal:
Why achieving "top rankings" or "driving traffic" is less than half of the battle
Which segments of internet marketing are growing, and where you need to invest today to remain competitive
How to create an inbound "pull" strategy to have customers knocking down your door
How to effectively convert website traffic to prospects, buyers, and lifetime customers
Why a holistic, integrated approach consistently delivers superior ROI
Are you looking to enter new markets or better serve your existing markets? If so, here's a technique that will allow you to gain insightful market research and learn best practices REALLY QUICKLY.
And for no cost, thanks to Google.
The other day, my son told me he wanted to take up lacrosse, so let's use lacrosse as our example. So, let's say I want to get into the lacrosse business, selling equipment through stores and/or online.
I typed in "lacrosse" and Google then shows me all the related keywords and how many times people searched on them last month. It immediately showed me the following:
From this, I see that lacrosse is a pretty popular sport; in fact, when I download Google's list of the top 150 lacrosse-related searches, I see that the sport gets 4.9 million searches per month.
To put this in perspective, and to see if the market is growing or expanding, I go to Google Trends at http://www.google.com/trends and type in "lacrosse."
Not only does Google Trends show the number of searches that people have done on lacrosse monthly beginning in 2003, but when I type in additional sports like football and basketball, I can see the relative size of lacrosse. Also, from the Google Trends graph, I quickly saw that lacrosse is a seasonal sport with peaks and valleys in search volume.
My next area of research is to determine the level of competition for selling lacrosse equipment. For this, I simply type in terms like "lacrosse," "lacrosse equipment," and "high school lacrosse." I find that general terms like "lacrosse" and "high school lacrosse" have very little competition (based on the few Sponsored Links I see on the top and to the left of the search results), thus providing a significant opportunity if I can figure out products and/or services to fulfill the needs of those who search these terms.
For the term "lacrosse equipment," which is a term that shows more buying intent (i.e., someone who searches this term has more intent to purchase a product than someone who simply searches "lacrosse"), I see several more competitors. Finally, when I search the term "lacrosse sticks," I see even more ads, since someone who types in this phrase has even more buying intent.
The next tool I use is Google's Traffic Estimator, located at https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox, which shows both the estimated clicks per day I would receive if I advertised on the term, but more importantly, the average estimated price that I would pay each time someone clicked on my ad.
Why is this important? Well, it gives me an estimate of how much my competitors are spending each time someone clicks on their ads.
For "lacrosse sticks," Google estimates that the top 3 advertisers pay between $0.99 and $1.26 per click.
The final stage of my research is to return to Google.com, do a search on "lacrosse sticks," and conduct competitive research. I click on the ads of the companies advertising on the keyword, and figure out how they are generating more than $1.26 per click.
I assess things like:
1. How their web pages are organized
2. Whether they are trying to generate profits from merely a one-time sale or whether they have long-term revenue generation systems (e.g., a paid membership club)
3. Whether they have a newsletter or other mechanisms to collect the email addresses of their prospects so they can market to them on an ongoing basis, etc.
This process provides me with significant competitive intelligence on current practices in the industry.
So, maybe this takes a little more than 10 minutes to thoroughly assess a new or existing market, but this technique and the tools listed above will quickly give you great information and insight really quickly.
Over the past few weeks, I've spent a lot of time studying a
field called Landing Page Optimization. It's a fascinating field that deals
with improving landing pages, which are the pages of your website that visitors
come to either organically or through paid marketing initiatives. The goal of Landing
Page Optimization is to maximize conversions (e.g., sales, newsletter signups,
etc.) of these visitors.
One of the guiding principles of landing page optimization
is that landing pages need to be simple. If there is too much information on
the page, the reader gets confused and either clicks the back button or closes
the browser.
This principle is the same as a guiding principle of
business plan development; mainly that the plan, and particularly the executive
summary, needs to present the business concept concisely so that the audience
quickly understands it. If not, they will simply discard the business plan.
Interestingly a concise message might not only improve your
business plan and your landing page, but your entire business’ success.
Consider the case of Google. The Google homepage has always had very little
text on it. In fact, if you go to it, it doesn’t even say that it is a search engine.
But, by having a big empty box in the middle and having a button underneath it
that says “Google Search”, it is pretty intuitive that Google is a search
engine.
Now, when someone was referred for the first time to Google
over the past few years and came to Google.com, what do you think they did?
Well, due to its simplicity, I think we can assume that nearly all people who
came to Google.com typed in a search term and hit the search button. Then, they
instantly saw high quality search results and were sold on the fact that Google
is a great search engine.
So, by keeping their landing page and business
concept/proposition extremely simple, Google was able to get people to try its
product. Because the product is high quality, those trials resulted in loyal
users.
While there are many examples out there, one interesting
company that I think could really improve its business plan, landing page, and
thus chance of success is SpinVox. I first read about SpinVox in this Guy
Kawasaki post in which he says, “This service translates voicemail to text
and then sends a text message to your phone and/or an email to your computer.”
While Guy Kawasaki does a great job clearly explaining
SpinVox in this 22 word sentence, I don’t think SpinVox does. On its homepage, SpinVox has the following text:
"SpinVox captures spoken messages
and cleverly converts them into text. It then delivers your message to a destination
of your choice – inbox, blog, wall or space. Right in the moment. Giving you
the power to Speak Freely... Simply put, we do one thing – turn
voice into text. But it's one thing that can be applied to the many ways you
communicate, from your Voicemail to your Blog. Use the finder below to find the
right one for you."
If I were to come to this page without Guy Kawasaki’s clear
explanation, I would most likely leave without trying the service. It neither
clearly explains the most common use nor the value proposition of the service.
To sum up, KEEP IT SIMPLE. Use simplicity to hook the investor, the customer, the partner, or whoever else you are trying to influence. Once hooked, over time (which could be as little as 2 minutes later), you can tell the full story.
