What kind of email list do you have? How did they find you? What caused them to sign up for your content? What are you saying to your prospects to turn them into customers? Is yours the kind of Internet business where the focus is on selling a product once, without follow-up contact?

I was listening to Bob Proctor’s Six Minutes to Success Videos last night, and in one of early lessons he said something that stopped me in my tracks: what inspires you? Without hesitation, I thought to myself, “working with people who are determined to succeed.” It’s that kind of tenacity I look for in my clients. Those are the people who come to me for coaching: those are the people I want on my email list. It’s a deliberate goal for my business to work with people who recognize the value of learning web skills that support their online businesses. And it is nothing short of thrilling to see them wrangle their websites and blogs with confidence. I’m just as happy about their success as they are!

When you first learn Internet Marketing (depending on who mentors you) it feels like you’re under pressure to build up the numbers in your database, without any filtering for “quality.” How do you “filter for quality?” By establishing up front that you deliver value, and that you are not going to rely solely on the delivery of free information to attract customers.

Yes, you’re going to create an opt-in bonus that delivers solid, usable, valuable content, but you’re also going to have half a dozen $7 Reports, and maybe some $27 products. Each and every one of those products for which you charge money must over-deliver on quality, of course. In the process of offering these low-cost purchase opportunities, you’re communicating that you have value to offer, and that you deserve to be compensated for your quality products. This is not an easy thing to do! It requires subtlety, some thoughtful planning (including a “sales funnel”), and the conviction of your own worth.

This point was dramatically demonstrated to me by a fellow Internet Marketer, and I’ve never forgotten the lesson. After being on his list for a while and attending a number of his free teleseminars and webinars, he suddenly announced a $7 webinar with content that interested me. Now, I like to attend free stuff as much as the next person, but I thought, “hey, I can afford the $7. He’s already given plenty, and I’m going to go for it.”

When the event started, he explained why he had charged for this particular event, and he said to us what I’ve explained above. He wanted us to think about our own lists, who we had attracted, and whether they were responsive and willing to compensate us for value received! It was a timely lesson for me, and I began changing the way I communicated with my own list.

Tonight, Wednesday April 28th at 5 pm Pacific/8 pm Eastern, I’m sharing my methods for building and improving your email list based on my own 6 years as an Internet Marketer, plus work done on behalf of clients. I haven’t charged for a webinar for quite a while, but this is one topic that is so critical that I’m devoting 2 hours to the workshop. Plus I’m including a CD of the recording, a 14 Day Trial Membership I Can Fix My Website Support Forum, and other bonuses, all described at:

http://www.icanfixmywebsite.com/listwebinar/

Whether I see you tonight or at some future webinar, I strongly encourage you to reflect on your own email list strategies, and decide who you want to work with! I’ll be here to help.

Toolie®

P.S. You can also click the big red button at right to get to the salesletter page. Enjoy!

Technology is a funny thing. At first we resist it; then we succumb to it, then we’re mildly interested, then we get involved, then we become passionate. I’ve seen this digital diversion take over my siblings, then my Dad (who STARTED with his first computer at age 77), then my clients, and now our culture as a whole.

The same thing happens when you first get involved with marketing over the Internet. You put up a website, then you realize that if people are coming to your website, you probably ought to be collecting email addresses and maybe sending an email or two. But you don’t want to spend money on a service, so you sign up for an autoresponder or low-cost email service that doesn’t include a shopping cart.

Then it occurs to you that could be selling an information product or handling registrations for your local workshops over the Internet. That’s when you realize that maybe having a shopping cart is a good idea. You put up a PayPal button but you don’t really have a sense of what sales you are making and whether your emails outbound are bringing traffic inbound.

It’s usually at this point that clients come to me and ask for help. We talk about their use of a non-cart email service and decide whether it’s time to move up to a single solution where they can start separating out their hangers-on from real prospects and real customers; where they can track their results from their email list in one place.

Tomorrow night, the core of my “Online Marketer’s Guide to Building and Managing Email Lists” webinar is about this critical point in the development of your Internet business. If you have a list of people and you want to move it to a shopping cart system, how do you do that?

Some of my clients used a closed loop (double opt-in) system prior to switching to a cart; most did not. They may have a lot of people on their lists who they have added manually, but who may not be truly “engaged” with the messages my client is sending. If you’re about to move to a new service, how do you keep from losing them in the transition?

Being able to have your email list and your shopping cart work together is a HUGE advantage. I’ve got the real-world strategies to share with you in my webinar: how to set up the transition, what to say in the emails to the old list, and how to get them to your new list.

So join me tomorrow night for this 2-hour workshop (don’t worry, we’ll take a break in the middle). If you’re thinking about making this transition, this webinar will answer all your questions. As usual, I’ll give you the demo files I have prepared, and above all, you will have a recording you can keep and refer to again and again.

The webinar is just $37, a bargain considering my usual consulting rates for this kind of strategic support. I’m also throwing in 2 weeks of tech support through my “I Can Fix My Website” Monthly Membership along with the next 2 Monthly Group Webinars.

Read all about it and sign up for both the webinar and the 14-day trial at http://www.icanfixmywebsite.com/listwebinar/ or just click the big red button at the top right.

See you tomorrow night!

Toolie®

Reason 6 – Jazz Up Your Website or Blog with Ideas from Other Sites

Have you ever seen a cool image, graphic, or feature on another site and wondered how it’s done? With a little knowledge and some curiosity, you can find out how it’s done, and maybe produce something similar on your website.

On most websites, it is possible to view the source code of a site in your browser,
and even examine it in your favorite HTML editor. (I do this all the time when I’m trying to diagnose a problem for a client.) I also collect URLS to code for neat things like countdown timers, background snow effects, and other features that I’ve spotted on other websites. I don’t use the code, though, without first finding out what the terms of use are, whether it’s free or licensed code.

Most of the time, the code that makes those nifty features appear is code someone paid for, and with some investigation, I can go find the site and buy it myself. I am in no way advocating theft of other people’s intellectual property. (Did you hear what I said?) I’m talking about doing research in the code so you can go do the right thing (by buying the code), and enjoy the benefits.

There are sites on the Internet where you can go shopping for features by the type of code you want to use. Let’s say you want to add a background “snow” effect for your website during the holidays. My favorite source for such things is www.HotScripts.com, a centralized search engine for both free and paid scripts (Javascript, PHP, and other languages). You don’t have to be a programmer to install the scripts, you just need to know enough HTML to place the code in the right spot (very much like you do to install a Facebook badge or Twitter feed).

Some scripts on www.HotScripts.com are just features you add to your websites; some are entire programs you can buy. Most of the free scripts simply require that you keep their website URL in the code to give them credit, which is absolutly the right thing to do. Some scripts will allow you to remove that credit if you pay a registration fee, which is also fair. Here are an example:

http://www.dseffects.com — will let you use the script for free if you keep the author credit within the code. It costs $24 for a license for one domain so you can remove the author credit, and $80 for up to 10 websites. (What a bargain!)

Some sites let you take their images as long as you make a copy, rather than linking to their image. Here’s where I found a page of animated snow GIF files:

http://www.scri8e.com/h/xmas/CICED/SnoAni/

The site owner allows you to make a copy for personal use, and explains on this page why you cannot simply link to the images.

http://www.scri8e.com/5/1TermsOfUseNoLinking.html

If I decided to use one of his images, I would create a shortcut to his website in the folder where I store the images so I remember where I found them.

Now, to do the research initially, you need to know a little HTML. But once you do, it opens up a whole world of possibilities. This isn’t just about having the neatest effect to impress your friends; this is about finding and utilizing features that will benefit your customers.

For example, I found a fabulous live chat program on someone else’s site, and decided to switch. That allowed me to stop paying a monthly fee for a chat program that was overkill for my little business. I found that new chat software developer by inspecting the code, tracking down the company website, and buying a license for all my websites. I even recommend and install that chat program now for my clients.

So what are you waiting for? It won’t take long for you to learn HTML and CSS and be
able to track down the features you’ve liked on other sites. You don’t have to imitate, you can customize. Most of all, you can assist and please your customers with the website and blog features that help them buy from you. My website training program will get you started learning HTML and CSS right away.

Tomorrow: Reason 5 – HTML/CSS Skills for More Than Just Web Pages and Blog Posts

At this point, we’re turning from the rather esoteric ideas to more tangible reasons for learning to manage your own websites and blogs. You may have suspected that what I’m about to tell you is true, so I’ll confirm it.

All the really good stuff you can do to enhance your site involves working with a little code.

There. I said it out loud.

Meta tags. Title tags. Google Analytics. Twitter Feeds. Facebook Badges. Blog Widgets. Live Chat buttons. All of these require little bits of code to be created and placed in the right spot in your websites and blogs. “Tell your web designer to…blah blah blah.” Why? Why not take care of these small tasks yourself. You CAN learn how.

I also work with a lot of clients who are ready to move away from a website template for similar reasons. I had a client who took my training course when I was teaching it via webinars, but who decided to stay with the website template he already had. After about a year, he came back and said he was ready to go for an independent site. When I asked him why, he gave me a list of his frustrations (his words!):

• “Lack of control and spotty technical support – I felt like I was on my own when things went wrong.
• “Internet-based work meant every change I make went over the web, and it was dreadfully slow and therefore, a big time waster.
• “I had to upload all images to their web server first and then access them from there – uploads were another big time waster, took forever.
• “No access to parts of the code, so even if I knew how to change something I didn’t have access to it.
• “The WYSIWYG was not really accurate, for unknown reasons. What I saw in the template system was not always exactly as it appeared on my page, so it was difficult to get things precise – like placing an image in an exact place, lining up text. So I would spend hours trying to get it to look just right and then find it wasn’t just right once it was published to my site.
• “Limits on the font sizes: I could use to a few predetermined ones.”

Now he has a site of his own, created from scratch and designed so he can updated anytime he wants. From time to time I get questions and/or we schedule a coaching session to resolve a problem, but for the most part, he is self-sufficient. His growth and confidence is truly breathtaking to watch.

The concepts behind HTML and Cascading Style Sheets are actually pretty simple. They require attention to detail, but they’re not difficult concepts. This is not rocket science! But it is interesting, there’s room for creativity, and it’s fun.

Get the edge on your competitors by being able to make changes at a moment’s notice. Web skills are one of the best investments you can make in yourself and your business. My website training program includes coaching and a membership site where you can post problems and get answers to questions for a low monthly flat fee.

Tomorrow: Reason 6 – Jazz Up Your Site with Ideas from Other Sites

I’m very excited about tonight’s free webinar where I’ll be showing you how to add social media to your websites and blogs. With 5 demos, a resource page of links, downloadable starter files, and a preview of my new website product, it’s going to be a great webinar!

As an “Internet Marketer,” keeping up with the latest methods for attracting traffic is essential. That’s tough to do when you don’t really know how to work on your websites and blogs. After years of watching my clients struggle with their sites, (plus several painful episodes of my own) I created a website training course specifically designed for entrepreneurs. I start at the very beginning and take you all the way through installing social media, plus audio, video, and much more. I’ll be revealing the details of this product during the webinar tonight.

So click the big button on the right to sign up, and I’ll see you at 6 pm Pacific/9 pm Eastern!

Toolie®

Late last month I put the finishing touches on a simplified setup in my office for recording videos for my websites and blogs. I started the process 18 months ago when first delved into Internet video for my weekly webinars. One thing I learned when I started doing webinars; if you want to get good at recording either audio or video and you want to do it often, work the equipment into your office setup as much as you can. If you have to stop to set up the equipment every time, you’ll never get around to it.

Of course I included a detailed full-motion video demo in my soon-to-be released website training product. I really love putting video clips, audio voice-overs, and music together to deliver a business message. I’m inspired though to do more impromptu video as part of my business: at my live presentations, when I work with clients in person, and even at conferences I attend. You know where I get my inspiration for cool ways to tie video elements together? The Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters program.

Yes, I’m a big fan of the Mythbusters; I discovered them about a year ago when I realized that I needed a consistent way to find my “happy place” and decompress at night. I record every episode I can, and I save them up to watch as I get ready for bed. I love their problem-solving approach to myths, their humor, their inventiveness…and their cool video editing! Have you ever watched one of their episodes with an eye for the way their video is edited together? I love the on-the-spot, in-the-moment nature of much of the footage. Imagine doing your job with videocameras recording YOUR every move! No stress, eh?

Watching the Mythbusters also reminds me that I don’t HAVE to have perfect hair when I go to record a video clip; I just need to have a genuine message and a purpose for talking into the lens. It’s the content that matters. And that’s the bottom line when it comes to delivering value over the Internet: real content, whether it’s via audio, video, or plain old email.

Speaking of delivering content, don’t forget my free webinar Tuesday night on “Adding Social Media to Your Websites and Blogs.” You can have a great message to deliver, but you need prospects to connect to you so you can deliver it. Tuesday night at 6 pm Pacific/9 pm Eastern, I’ll show you exactly how to install your choice of social media methods.

And yes, I’ll finally reveal the details of my website training program, so sign up right away! Just click the button on the right to register for the webinar. See you then!

Toolie®

Social Media has everyone’s attention these days — Facebook, Twitter, Social Bookmarking, and so on. There’s no doubt that you can benefit from participating in social media. You can even put icons, badges, and feeds on your websites and blogs to encourage your visitors to engage with you. Did you notice the new icon in the left column? That’s a Twitter badge.

On Tuesday night, November 17th at 9 pm Eastern/6 pm Pacific, I’m having a f~r~e~e webinar on HOW to install social media on your websites and blogs: how to decide what’s appropriate, where to put the information, and exactly how to install it.

Putting social media icons and feeds on your websites and blogs is not difficult, it just requires some attention to detail, and I can help you with that. I’ll explain the HTML that Facebook, Twitter, and FriendFeed are so eager to have you install, and we’ll make it happen right there, live!

I’ll also be previewing my new website training course that evening, so be sure not to miss this webinar.

Save the date: November 17th, 9 pm Eastern/6 pm Pacific, and click the button on the right to sign up! This webinar WILL be recorded and available to everyone who signs up for the webinar.

Toolie®

We had a good turnout for the live webinar on June 3rd entitled “The Online Marketer’s Guide to Web-Savvy Graphics,” and even more interest in the subject since then! The recording is done, the Resources page (containing over 40 web links)  is finished, and I’ve collected my demo files, putting all of the above onto a single CD that you can now order online. I’m also adding to that package my laminated Web Graphics Reference Card that you can keep handy while you’re working on your websites and blogs.

http://www.fixmywebsiteplease.com/webgraphics

I also included in the CD another 23-minute demo on an image-protection technique that we didn’t have time to cover in the original presentation. This new demo uses Cascading Style Sheets to help thwart the casual image downloader — you know — the people who love to save copies of YOUR intellectual property by right-clicking on an image and saving it to their hard drive. I included all of those demo files too, so you can open up your favorite HTML editor and follow along as I demonstrate this technique.

http://www.fixmywebsiteplease.com/webgraphics

You can order the CD online at the address above, or by clicking on the blue ad in the sidebar. I welcome your comments!

Toolie®