Lisa Rae Preston’s Internet Marketing Blog

Hi!

Y’know, I love it when an underdog pulls through!

I was neutral as far as who was going to win the big Superbowl game. In fact, my brother laughed and asked me, “Do you even know what the Superbowl is?”

“Sure,” I smirked. “It’s where you fill super big bowls with snacks and watch some tv show.”

He told me to leave the premises.

But you know, it was quite exciting to watch the little guy pull it off at the end of the game.

Do you ever feel like the little guy when it comes to making your livelihood online?

I don’t know what your resolutions for the new year were, or what your business goals might have been, but February is a brand new month with brand new possibilities!

I’m told that when a person climbs Mount Everest, there are stops - “camps” along the way where folks take a break from the climb. Even if they feel like they can go further, they know to stop for awhile.

You may be struggling to make your first affiliate check or wondering why more checks aren’t coming in. That’s a place every successful-marketer camps out on the way up. It’s totally normal - definitely not a point at which to retreat. You just don’t want to stay too long here.

Just wanted to give you a boost -a thumbs up that you can reach your business-goals this year, even if January was a bust.

If it helps to know, two months before creating Instant Niche Emails, I was sobbing into my pillow thinking ,”What am I doing?? I should have stayed in teaching.”

By the end of that year, tens of thousands had come into my account. Two months short of giving completely up.

So keep on pushing ahead!

2008 WILL be your year for success!

I’m believing with you!

Whatever you do this year, please focus on setting up a site with high quality content. I’m more convinced than ever that it’s the only way to set up a sure foundation online. If you’re targeting the mom market, homeschoolers, recent grads, or folks just looking for new jobs, you may want to look at the new PLR Genius Pack over at Great Content at a Great Price!

Have a great week!

Lisa (Rae) Preston

When I was little kid, I dreamed of adventure at every turn. Two of my
favorite tv shows, Get Smart and Wild, Wild, West, spotlighted a contraption
I coveted with every ounce of adventurous spirit inside me.

The Cable-Get-Away. It never failed.

See, the bad guys would be within breathing distance of Artemus.
And he’d take out a special gun, shoot a cable into a support far away,
and then grab hold of the handles. A second later he’d sail away,
cruising down that cable, foiling the bad guys who were stomping mad.

Man, I wanted a Cable-Get-Away. I tried rigging one from the maple tree
in my grandma’s back yard. Had the rope burns to prove it. I could never
come up with one like the guys on tv had.

Imagine my surprise this week when I open up a little catalog from t
he mailbox and found it! The Fun Ride Zip Line. Attach to two supports and
glide away for up to 70 feet.

Boy, I’d have had a heyday if I’d had that toy as a child. My brother and I would
have been in kid heaven.

I found this fun ride in a homeschooling catalog which stands out as
one of the best relationship tools I’ve seen.

The catalog is 64 pages long, and full of quality educational items.
What makes it so special is that not only are the explanations of the
products written with excitement and personalization (“my son Nathan
entertained at the local talent show with his juggling tricks…”) but there
are pictures of the children in the family using the products throughout
the catalog.

This catalog is read by hundreds of homeschooling moms as if it
were a magazine. The product explanations are like a trip down
memory lane, and moms love to connect with others via pics of children.
It’s the perfect relationship marketing tool. I mean, if I saw the Fun Ride
Zip Line in a different catalog, big deal. I’d want to buy it from this family’s
business – they’ve got one of these set up in their back yard for their kids
(and half the neighborhood!).

I’d choose to purchase from them because they have created a
relationship with me by sharing their lives in their catalog.

Revealing a little about yourself and what you stand for goes a long way
in building trust and connection with folks. People like to do business
with folks they feel they know something about.

That’s why connection is such a strong business builder. The typical
online business transaction leaves one uninspired at best. Be the person
who stands out, sends a personal thank you email to your customer
(or personalize one in your autoresponder) and show you’re a caring human
being.

Your average marketer won’t go that extra mile. Well, it’s honestly more
like an extra two inches. We’re not talking rocket science here. But most
folks won’t take the time to connect. When you do, you stand head and
shoulders above the rest of the crowd.

Commit yourself to personalization and connection throughout your business.
When you share a product recommendation, show some pics of your family
using the item, or share a fun story about using it.

Creating relationships with your clients makes marketing so much more
meaningful and fun. And it increases business exponentially. That makes for
one Fun Ride!

Talk to ya later!
Lisa

Hi,

Sarah, my eight year-old niece, and I
visited our Aunt Mae and Cousin Carolyn
today.

Carolyn, a widow of some twenty years,
finds herself courted by a gentleman
she’s known since childhood. She was
talking about the newness of dating
after all these years, and pondered
aloud, “I don’t know if I should get
married or not.”

Well, Sarah exclaimed, “Never!”

Carolyn was tickled, and a little
unnerved at Sarah’s vehement response.
“You don’t think I should get married?”

“No, no, no!” This from a child who
thinks boyfriends are the “grossest
things ever”.

That was cute. But I have to ask a
silly question. How seriously do you
think Carolyn will take Sarah’s advice?

Will she forego possible love on the
basis of an eight year old’s “never!”?

Of course not. Sarah isn’t an expert on
marriage.

Well, I have to tell you, the whole
scenario reminds me of how people are
responding to creating so-called
“authority sites” that are nothing more
than a few content articles taken from
a directory.

The website creators typically know
nothing about the topic. They simply
found a good keyword, and off they
went.

Compare that to a site that “someone
with a passion” sets up. They live,
eat, and breathe the topic and have
great content based on their own
experiences in the niche.

Who are folks gonna listen to? Whose
site is going to be visited the most
and taken seriously?

The site based on passion will win,
hands down.

I encourage you to focus on the niche
you’re personally passionate about.
Save your moola- avoid any info-product
that deters you from setting up that
stellar authority site.

More and more products will come out,
touting “create instant content with no
work whatsoever”. I guarantee you that
if you use those tools, you will never
create a site that visitors find
addictive enough to return to. And
you’ll never brand yourself or your
site as one of the top in your niche.

Spend your time creating content based
on your experiences within your niche -
the tips and tricks you’ve found
helpful and the situations that taught
you what to do and what not to do.

Real quality content comes from the
heart and takes commitment to create.

If I had it to do all over again, these
last 5 years online, I’d have continued
writing content for the niche I’m most
passionate about and not bought every
program out there.

Hope this note encourages you to live
your passion online! That’s the key way
to make a lasting-business on the
internet.

Have a great weekend!

Take care,

Lisa

Instant Niche Emails shows you how to
create emails and REAL content based on
quality information, gathered from your
own brain, or online. That’s why no
duplicate content is possible with this
software. If you’re feeling frustrated
with the writing process or face
writer’s block, re-vitalize your
content with INE!

http://www.instantnicheemails.com

Hi,

Hope you’ve had a super week!  Just wanted to
share something that’s been on my mind lately.

With each new year comes multiple opportunities
to attend awesome seminars and conferences.
Depending on the niche, that could add up to
quite a pretty penny.  You’re talking travel,
hotel, food, and likely a product or two.

So it’d be a good idea to consider what kinds of
seminars will pay off FOR you in the long run.

If you are centering your business around a site
you’re passion about, then there’s no question.
Attend a conference based on that niche.  Really
addicted folks are there, so take business-cards
sharing your unique, quality content filled site.
Folks will be thrilled to hear about it!

If you’re planning on attending any conferences
this year, please ask yourself these two questions.

Is the audience made up of my hungry target market?

Will this conference help me market my site and
gain hungry visitors to it?

If the answers are yes, then ask…

How will this conference pay off for me directly?

Time is short, and when you’re marketing online,
it seems like the months whiz by at warp speed.
Guarding your time and carefully choosing what
conferences to attend can save you lots of effort
in the long run.

That’s it for today!

Talk to you later, and hope you have a great weekend!
Lisa

Hi!

Well, last week we talked about the need
to focus on one particular site that
you’re passionate about.  Focus on building
that site into a real authority site that
folks will be raving about and sharing
with their friends.

Sounds wonderful.  Who wouldn’t want their
site to be a household name among folks in
their niche?

Heck, you’d get so much traffic, you’d never
need another traffic-generating tool!  Imagine
the moola you’d save there!

And if folks are sending mega-traffic to you,
do you think that advertisers would be
interested in paying you for the privilege of
putting their info on a site that’s getting
thousands of visitors per day?

The ways you could monetize a site like this
are endless!

The key is  - setting up a site that’s unique
and addictive. If I’m on a soapbox about a
topic, I write with passion and folks read
with interest. I get emails from folks sharing
their thoughts and opinions.

That’s the kind of writing you want on your
site.  You know, even folks who think they’re
not good at writing can get on a soapbox, and
before long, folks are listening!  That kind
of passion from a person is rare, and when
found, draws great interest.

Now, I know all this sounds nice.  Sure, we
all want a passion site that folks love to
visit.  But who’s got the time to spend on
creating a mega-authority site like that?
Heck, it could take months to come up with
the content, much less learn all the techno
stuff to get it up and running.

There are a few short cuts that I will tell
you about soon - that can help you shorten
the time for creating a fully-original
addictive mega-authority site by a year!

In the meantime, please be thinking about your
real passion in life.  What are you addicted to
learning about?  Identifying that will be part
of the key to your total freedom in business!

Talk soon,
Lisa

P.S.  Defining your passion really is the first
step in setting up your site that will rise to
one of the top in your niche.