2011 was a crazy year for me and not necessarily in a good way.  I stepped away from my bread and butter for a little while, being a web designer, to try a few other things.  I quickly found out what happens when you ignore the Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule) and try to focus on the things that aren’t bringing in the money.

So this year I am going to do a few things:

1.) Hire salespeople to expand my business.

2.) Outsource as much as possible to ensure I don’t get overloaded….. again.

3.) Focus on writing and teaching what I know through this blog.

Now I know that setting goals need to be more specific (and measurable) than just the 3 generic things I have written above so I will get specific.

1.) I will hire and keep fully employed at any given time 5 full time, 100% commission salespeople.

2.) I will increase my own personal income to $10,000 per month.

3.) I will hire and maintain a small team of sub-contractors to do ALL web development work for me.

4.) I will post what I know, have learned or feel to this blog at least twice a week, ensuring that what I write is valuable to YOU more than it is to me.

5.) I will setup 3 separate businesses that are largely self running.  (All related to web design so I don’t get away from my greatest talent.)

6.) I will build my Facebook Fan Page to 5,000 Fans, Twitter Followers to 10,000 and Email Subscribers to 10,000 through adding valuable content that helps you build or maintain your business/website.

Those are my goals and I hope you’ll keep my feet to the fire.  Thanks for reading this and if you haven’t already follow me on Twitter, Like me on Facebook or Subscribe to the Mailing List.

-Steve

Google Docs – Google docs allows you to create, edit and share documents easily online.  We use this service to manage our password lists and keep track of back links and article posts.

LogMeIn (Free Version) – My computer in my office is much more powerful than my laptop.  Additionally I have a ton of client info on that computer.

Joomla or Worpress Websites – While these aren’t services they do allow you to edit your website remotely. With your login information you can log in to your website and edit or add pages to your website.  I often edit websites through my android phone.

Filezilla – A free FTP program which allows you to upload files and folders to your server.  I used this in conjunction with LogMeIn to upload some files I had forgotten at the office to my server.  I was then able to download them to my laptop.

My wife and I just returned yesterday from our first working vacation.  We went and stayed at my parents’ house a half hour away from home.  I know, I know, “Only 30 minutes away.  Who cares?”  We did go for 4 days though.  The point of this trip was that we could do it.  We could grab a bag and our laptops and leave the office and still continue to run our business.

I will follow up more on what we learned on this little trip in a later post.  I am still putting my thoughts together.  For now though, I will catch you up a bit on how we were able to use the programs/services mentioned above to work remotely without pissing any clients off.

I have been watching the John Carlton Kick Ass Copy Writing Crash course and all I can say is wow.  This guy makes so much sense.  I highly suggest that anybody with a website or a product/service to sell get your hands on these videos.

I have a new niche site that I have set up with an information product which is not yet receiving much traffic.  It’s only been a few days though.  Hopefully those Clickbank.com affiliates will begin coming through though.  In the mean time I figured I would do some research and try to hone my copy writing to get my sales page to convert.  John Carlton was the first guy I went to after bouncing around for ideas on the forums.  Below are my notes from John Carlton himself.

• Unique Selling Proposition: Positioning yourself uniquely in your market in order to sell.
• Persuasion Equation: Problem + Promise + Proof + Proposition = Persuasion
• When you are writing copy you can not write anything that allows your prospect to say “so what” or “I don’t believe this.”
• Every word of your copy must be directed to the passionate sweet spot of the prospect.
• You must learn to tell a story.
• Homework: Take a proven piece of ad copy and rewrite it word for word by hand.  This will let you experience the wording and the rhythm of the copy.  One of the ads that John References can be found here: One Legged Golfer Ad
• A sales piece is a conversation and should allow you to “join the conversation already going on in the prospect’s head.”
• The gist of your piece should have three main points: 1.) Here’s what I have.   2.) Here’s what it is.   3.) How many do you want?
• To reiterate an Offer = Defining what it is that you have, why they need it and telling them how to get it.
• If your ad is good you are pissing the prospect off.  Your ad should present him with a new problem and why he needs your product to solve that problem.
• Take your prospect out of their comfort zone.
• Your copy must get the reader past “that’s really good” to “that’s really good and I want it.“
• DO NOT WRITE BULLSHIT – Be Honest
• Reiterate the benefits as part of the guarantee.  For example: If this product does not benefit #1, benefit #2, benefit #3 etc. then…
• Guarantee Example: If in 30 days you are not absolutely happy for any reason at all (or for no reason at all) then I insist you call or email me and request a refund and we’ll still be friends.
• Your Unique Selling Proposition should be in your headline.
• See the Ad Appeal Graph.  John Carlton calls it something else but I don’t want to swipe too much.  Basically this graph displays how many people your ad will appeal to based on it’s claims.  You need to go as far to the right as possible without lying or false advertising.  See Graph Below
• 4 Things that every ad must portray your product/service as:  Easy – Fast – Simple – Cheap
• Your headline should put your prospect into a receptive trance.  To do this you must hit their emotional sweet spot.  Get inside their head.
• There must be an empathetic transfer of trust when they read your copy.  When they are done they should not even remember your words.  They should only be thinking of your product/service.

That’s right.  I am finding out quickly that no one gives a shit about your website.  I have heard it all over the place but it is more important than ever to write about things that will actually help people.

There is so much half ass writing being done on the internet that is being done solely for SEO.  Every article you read or page you go to has a few very specific keywords that contain a link.  That link is the only reason that article was even posted.  It was not to teach you anything.  It was not to give you anything.  It is so Google will pick up one more link back to that particular website under those particular keywords.

If you are an internet marketer then you already know this.  If you are an internet user then you may not.  I am both.

I am looking for websites that will teach me things.  I am looking for websites that have value.  I need to create the same.  It is easy to get in the rut of following all of these “Gurus’ ” advice.  Write honestly and openly.  Write things that you would like to sell.  Write things that you think should earn you money.  And give them away.  Nobody gives a shit about your website.

If you can get people to give a shit about your website you will be able to make money.  One of my favorite blogs belongs to Pat Flynn at his passive income blog (yes that is free unsolicited link love).  Every month he gives you an honest and open breakdown of his earnings.  I started to do that but after a few weeks of no earnings it can be discouraging.   Guess what it’s still discouraging.

I am going to start following the advice of some of the best people in the business.   Start doing what is making them money.