The IM Inside Track

In part 1 of this topic we explained that your goal was to get 5X leverage for everything you create, and I suggested that you start by creating an audio.

Here’s what’s next…

An Article Suitable For Publishing

Now then, listen to the audio file you’ve just created. Take notes on the content, because you’ll be surprised at the great insights you had when you were talking freely and openly on the recording. You’ve cut through the cobwebs and doubt and questioning stages you might have gone through if you went right to the article writing stage. It’s all there, so there’s nothing to fear.

Some people choose to create a straight transcription of the audio file. That’s a great technique, too. Just brush it up a little bit and type it in a readable format. The most important thing is that it helps people.

Others don’t care much for straight transcription and would rather write an article that’s more loosely based on the recording. Either option is fine, as long as you stay true to the theme and purpose of the content.

If you’re not sure of how to write an article or you want to do it in the fastest way possible, you can use this as a sample outline:

Introduction— what is the article about? Why do people care about this? Focus on people’s emotions and what they really need and want out of the article you’re presenting them with. Let them connect with you and know that you feel what they’re feeling.

Body— Give them some great content. Hint at solutions or give them solutions, depending on the article’s purpose. Speak to them as a friend, with factual, helpful information. Try to include things they can’t find anywhere else, even if it’s just your unique perspective.

Conclusion— Take the reader where you want them. Do you want them to buy? Give a call to action. Do you want them to sign up for your newsletter? Ask them to do so. Do you want them to respect you as an expert? Make sure your closing reflects that.

Your article is all about what the reader wants and needs, no matter what the topic is. Always consider the purpose of your content and ensure your writing reflects that.

Keep in mind that you’re not reinventing the wheel here. There isn’t a “right” answer on how to write this article. You want it to be great quality and you want it to reflect (or duplicate) the content you gave in the audio version. No stress, just action.

I know people are going to ask how long the article should be. Most high quality articles are at least 400 words. Many kick-butt, viral articles are longer— between 600-1000 words. Yours should be however long it needs to be to serve its purpose.

Proofread and edit your article when it’s finished. Then, send it to niche publications to print with your author resource box. Post it on your website. Use it as an autoresponder or broadcast email to promote a product. Promote it on social media and take steps to help it go viral. A great article like this will serve you well for a long time. Use it in more than one place!

A List Building Download

List building should be a focus of everyone in business. If you have a great, responsive list, you’ll always be able to make sales and drive traffic to your own promotions and promotions as an affiliate.

Use today’s challenge to create an amazing list building download. Plop your great article and audio download into a zip file, create an enticing squeeze page, and drive traffic to this squeeze page to get people to opt in to your list.

Some people wonder if it’s okay to use audio or written content as a list builder that was otherwise freely given away. Absolutely! You’re giving a lot of value and simply highlighting that value in exchange for an email address.

It’s okay if you don’t get traffic to your list building page today. The important thing is that you create a squeeze page or put up some kind of enticing opt-in form that will get you sign ups in the near future.

You work very hard as an Internet marketer. Sometimes, it might seem like all you do is work. Don’t you wish there was a way to squeeze 5X more value out of everything you do?

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the years is to lever...

Don't worry about doing too much tweaking until you have the basics down. Don't worry about making your squeeze page exactly perfect. It's so much better to have an imperfect squeeze page up and getting sign-ups for you than it is to stew over your squeeze page for months because you’re worried it’s not perfect… not doing anything for you at all.

But once you do get things started and you’ve started to see some results and feel more comfortable, then it's time to think about improving your conversion rates.

You can test and track the conversion rates of your squeeze page. You can try different headlines, different bullet points, different opt-in form styles, and so on.

It might seem amazing with all of the sales data we have, but it's impossible to know exactly what will convert best for you before it's actually live and tested. You might think one color will work better for your headline when in reality a different color will work better. You might think that one version of an opt-in form might work better when in reality a different version will work better.

When you have traffic coming in and people subscribing, make one change at a time and then sit back and watch the results. Something as simple as changing the color of your headline, the font of your text, the wording of your bullet points, or whatever it is can make a huge difference.

Getting 50% of people who land on your squeeze page to opt-in is so much better than getting 10% of people who land on your squeeze page to opt-in. If you tweak your squeeze page over time, you can tweak your way to an incredible opt-in rate.

There are other conversion figures to think about as well. For instance, what's the percentage of people who open your emails? Of those people, what's the percentage of people who click on your links? Of those people, what's the percentage of people who actually buy?

All of the things I things I’ve mentioned can be tweaked. You can test different email subject headings to increase the number of people who open your emails, for instance.

You can change the way you format your links or the anchor text you include in your links.

You can change the way you phrase your email so you do a better job of pre-selling to increase the percentage of people who actually go on to buy.

There are so many different things to tweak that it can seem overwhelming. Don't get overwhelmed… Just think of it as one tweak at a time.

Of course, I have to mention again that the relationship trumps everything else. If you focus on building the relationship, everything else will start to come together. If your relationships and reputation are intact, then your squeeze page conversion rates will be better, your email open rates will be better, your sales will be better, and so on.

With that said, smart marketers do a good job of tweaking, testing, and tracking. They make changes that increase their conversion rates and it can make a huge difference.

Building Incredible Trust over Time

Your reputation is so important. You may not have much of a reputation yet at all if you're just starting out. But I promise you that your reputation will build in a positive way if you focus on building relationships and paying attention to the wants and needs of the people on your list.

If you focus on the people and relationships with email subscribers, affiliates, joint venture partners, and so on, then your business can and will grow to incredible levels.

Be a person who only promotes high-quality things. You should get to know the people of your niche inside and out so you know what will work for them and what won't work for them. Don't fall prey to promoting things or creating things just to make a quick buck. Focus on quality.

With that said, don't be afraid to promote. People will respect you more if you recommend products that will help them. They will actually want you to get an affiliate commission or money for your products if they trust you.

I've talked about getting people addicted to your content. What does this mean, really? To get a grasp on the concept, consider the blogs, websites, emails, and social media account you check most frequently. Is there a marketer out there you follow everywhere they are online? Do you regularly check to see if a certain marketer or business posted a new video or podcast? Whose opinions do you turn to before you make a decision or buy something new?

Make a list of the reasons why you follow these marketers so closely. You may not have even been aware that you were doing it! There might be something about their personality or style that really draws you to them. There's something about them, beyond the fact that they are in a niche you're interested in, that puts them above everyone else in that niche, as far as you're concerned.

Now consider the people in your niche. What can you do to get them to come back to you time and time again? How can you get them on a regular schedule of visiting your blog, podcasts, and videos? You don't want to reach them in just one place-- you want to reach them wherever they are!

When you start to make your traffic plan for the upcoming weeks, keep relationship building and the addiction factor in mind. In everything you do, take a unique angle so you can really stand out and attract people to coming back to you time and time again.

Give Them Something Eye Catching

Before people become addicted to your content, of course, you have to catch their eye. People are extremely busy these days-- so busy that it can feel impossible to build that relationship in the first place. I assure you it's not impossible. If you set yourself apart from others and consider what people in your niche need and want, you'll be able to drive a lot more traffic and really get people addicted to your content.

For each of your web properties, think of ways you can make your content more eye-catching. On your blog, it might mean posting about something controversial or that you have a strong opinion on. It might mean taking a different angle on a topic that people are really interested in. Consistently be a trend-setter and a thought maker in your niche.

On social media, it might be the videos you share or the images you share. Create content that’s going to stir people’s emotions. What’s going to make them laugh, cry, or even be furious? What’s going to spark interest and enthusiasm?

Marketing and getting traffic, in many ways, is about being different. It’s about taking a chance and putting yourself out there in a way that’s going to get some attention and really serve the needs of those in your audience. How can you be different? How can you instantly capture the attention of your audience? Allow your creativity to go wild. If you’re different and really serve the needs of your niche, there’s no doubt you can get a lot more traffic.

Inspire Them to Take Action

One important thing that will set you apart from just about every other marketer out there is inspiring people to action. It’s one thing to get people to buy something from you or read something of yours. It’s another thing altogether to get people to actually make something of it.

If you’ve read books of mine in the past, you’ve no doubt noticed that I make an extra effort to make my books easy to follow and easily actionable. I don’t want you to just read this and have it sit on your shelf or hard drive. I want you to read this and have it change your life. I don’t want you to ever struggle with getting traffic again.

I know that’s a tall order. But, I’ve studied the human mind, mindset, and productivity for many years. It’s a fascination of mine— why do some people take action and some don’t? Why does it seem like some people can get traffic with a snap of their fingers and others can’t?

If you’ve never practiced visualization before, then you’ve surely heard about it when very successful people talk about achievement. Most likely, you heard about it in the context of sports stars. You’ve no doubt heard time and time again that the very best sports stars in the world visualize themselves succeeding. For the strongest and most practiced of them, they are almost religious about it.

This phenomenon is widely recognized and practiced in the sports world. However, many would be surprised to find that it’s just as common among the most successful in the business and entertainment worlds as well. All over the world, and in all different cultures, successful people use visualization to help prime their brain and make success inevitable. Don’t you think it’s time you joined them?

Visualization works because it smoothes the path for real life success. What has seemed impossible suddenly seems possible. You can use visualization to change your habits and achieve your goals, starting today, no matter what your goals are. Are you ready?

How Visualization Fits Into My Basic Habit-Change Philosophy

You’ll see my habit-change philosophy throughout IMIT as well as the theory behind visualization. Now, I’d like to tell you how to use it very practically to change your mindset and see real habit change.

Ideally, I recommend you use visualization every morning. You can visualize what your day is going to look like. See yourself flying through your day, happily, using good habits, and achieving your goals for the day. This helps set you up for success in the morning.

I always recommend that you review the specific habit you’re working on, before you begin. You’ll need to pay close attention to that habit each day before it truly takes hold and becomes part of your life. The same goes for your goals. Often, the difference between those who succeed and those who do not is that successful people review (and even re-write) their goals daily.

In addition to visualizing yourself using new, positive habits and achieving daily goals, you should also visualize yourself achieving long-term goals. There are certain things you have decided you will achieve. It’s important to focus on the day-to-day, yes, but you also need to see yourself achieving in the long-term. This is sort of like keeping your eye on the prize.

The ideal scenario is that you’ll use visualization throughout your day. You’ll use it in the morning before you start your day, and ensure that what you visualize is specific to your day. You’ll also have a daily session where you visualize specific to your long-term goals so you stay on track and keep them fresh in your mind.

Yes, this means you will be visualizing a few times a day. I’d recommend you actually set a reminder on your computer or phone so you remember to do this. You should make it a habit. You should be able to wake up, review your goals, desired habits, and to-do list for the day and visualize yourself happily and successfully working through it. At some point in the day, you should be able to review your long-term habit wish list and goals and visualize yourself successfully achieving those more long-term goals, by way of your new and improved habits.

It really doesn’t take that much time to do this every day. The beauty of it is that, when you do it, it will lead to magnificent results. You’ll see results immediately… because you’re reviewing your to-do list and meeting the goals you set out for yourself in the morning.

You’ll also see long-term achievement. I promise that if you review your goals and habits (let’s say for the month) every day, that your brain will start making natural movements toward those goals and habits without any stress or strain on your part. All you had to do was visualize yourself getting there. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

And if you might be thinking that I’m talking about something very esoteric, almost suggesting voodoo,

As an email marketer, you’re open with your audience, right? You don't want to be just a faceless, nameless marketer who's only out to earn a buck. If you want to succeed as an email marketer or use email marketing to boost your business in ways that w...

Generating Traffic

Every business needs to generate traffic. That’s how you get more people to join your list and how you make more sales.

The trouble is, getting traffic seems so daunting. You may have tried dozens of things before and have found that nothing works.

The trick is that you have to be consistent. Not a day should go by in your business that you don’t work on driving traffic in some form.

I think it’s ideal to use a variety of different traffic sources. Drive paid traffic, article traffic, search engine traffic, social media traffic, and so on.

It’s very helpful for you to create your own traffic-getting system that you can follow every day. Even if you spend just an hour on traffic a day, you’ll be knocking it out of the park compared to what you’re doing right now.

There are so many different things you can be doing on a rotating basis. You can drive article traffic, search engine traffic, Facebook traffic, Amazon book traffic, paid Facebook ads, paid Google ads, affiliate traffic, other social traffic, and so much more.

I’m going to share a sample traffic system and checklists you can put to use right away. Feel free to add your own steps to this list to truly make it your own. It’s not important that you use all of these methods of generating traffic— the only important thing is that you follow through, do what works for you, and do it on a daily basis.

Here’s a sample system you can use:

Article traffic

Research popular, frequently shared articles in your niche

Take notes on what’s popular

Take notes on where these articles tend to be shared

Seek guest posting/article posting opportunities on established sites

Submit articles to niche newsletters

Consider posting articles in relevant, popular article directories

Release new articles consistently over time. Direct article traffic to your squeeze page

Search engine traffic

Do keyword research for terms related to your niche using the Google Adwords keyword tool

Search Google for your desired search terms

Take notes on what’s ranking most highly

Write articles/blog posts related to popular terms

Consistently post new content

Work on getting an active following on your site

Work on getting a variety of natural links to your sites

Work on directing social media traffic to your site

Work on building a site of authority

Know that ranking well via SEO is more of a long term strategy

Have opt in forms on all pages of your site so people sign up to your list

Facebook group traffic

Research popular groups in your niche

Come up with an idea people will love for your own group

Start your group

Change its settings and description

Work to drive traffic to your group

Be present and active daily to run discussions

Be active in answering questions

Build relationships with people who join your group

Drive people to your list via your Facebook group

Facebook page traffic

Research popular Facebook pages in your niche

Come up with an idea for a Facebook page people will naturally “like”

Consider also starting a Facebook page that’s simply named for your business

Post relevant, interesting information

Create shareable images

Create shareable content

Be present

Be helpful

Optimize your settings

Link to your website from your Facebook page

Amazon Kindle book traffic

Write relevant, interesting books the people in your niche can get excited about

Research related books that are already published on Amazon

Take notes on what might be popular/rank well (a lower ranking on Amazon is better) for you

Put a link to a freebie sign up in your book— make it so it’s visible from the “look inside” feature (so even people who don’t go on to buy the book can get your freebie)

Put a link to the freebie at the end of the book as well to remind people to grab their freebie— include enticing text so they’ll be more likely to do so

It's so important to find great information—you have to find the balance between spending too much time on this and not enough. Finding great information will make you a much better writer. It will help to ensure that your readers get so much more value.

You’ll also naturally become more knowledgeable about your topic over time. The knowledge you gather today builds up with the knowledge you’ll gather next week. It doesn't take much for you to become a very well-rounded expert on your topic. When you combine that with the fact that you'll have several titles published in your name, you'll soon be one of the top authorities on the topic you've chosen.

That can open an incredible number of doors for you. It doesn't matter whether your top goal is to become a best-selling author or you're using your books as a way to brand yourself as an expert, good research can help you get to where you want to go.

No matter what you do, make sure you stay active in reader communities so you can continue to digest new information on a regular basis. You'll be one of the first to learn about breaking news and you'll be able to hit on hot top trends before anyone else. You’ll find great sources you never would have found otherwise. Active communities often share great sources and you can benefit from that.

Top experts never stop researching, learning, and adjusting their views according to the new information they learn. Doing this will definitely improve your writing.

More on How to Choose a Specific Topic for Your Book

I'm going to assume that you at least have a general topic idea and you're ready to get started. I’ll also assume that you've already started to get to know your audience. Now what?

I recommend you choose a fairly narrow topic so you can easily write, publish, and start making sales. As a new writer, you probably don't want to target a very general topic – general topics are just too big in scope and it's harder to break through and make sales of your book when you're too general.

If you already have a topic in mind, then it's time to choose a great, sellable angle. With just a little bit of research, you can take an idea you have and turn it into something you can actually profit from.

So first, get your general topic ready. Then, as you research your topic, take notes on the ideas and topics you find all over the web. You never know when inspiration will strike. It might strike while you're researching your audience. It might strike while you're gathering general knowledge on your topic. It might strike while you're browsing trending topics on social media – you just never know.

One of the best ways to choose a specific topic is to pay attention to the chatter online. Pay attention to hot topics on blogs, websites, and especially social media. You need to have your finger on the pulse of what is hot right now.

You can do really well if you focus on trending topics There are many different places you can find out about trends related to your topic. There are entire websites devoted to trends, including Google Trends.

It's usually the case that good topics, trendy or not, will have a large number of Facebook pages and groups about them. It's ideal if your topic has a large online following. Of course, it's most important that it will sell well on Amazon. Just because people are interested in exploring the topic for free via social media, doesn't necessarily mean they want to buy a book about the topic.

But when you combine the two things, you just might have a great topic. When there's a lot of general online interest combined with an audience who is willing to pay for information, it's an ideal situation.

Consider what the most popular bloggers are writing about on a consistent basis. Consider what the people who comment on those blogs are most interested in.

Think about the information products that are for sale on that topic, via sites like Nanacast.com and ClickBank.com.

You can think of visualization as being like the director of your own movie. You are writing the movie of your life. What is it going to look like? You get to decide what you’re going to do and accomplish and how long it’s going to take you to accomplish those things. Your job is to visualize and picture exactly what you want.

We all get 24 hours in a day. Your 24 hours are the exact same as that of the people you admire and want to emulate. So, you need to decide how to better emulate their life, choices, and habits. Use visualization to move your life closer to what theirs is like.

That doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Other people seem so much better organized and prepared. Other people seem to have been given so much more— better opportunities, more money, and so on. Other people seem to be in such a better place in life. How can you compete with your own life movie script?

You can’t compete— not with that defeatist thinking. What you can do is decide that you’re going to more closely emulate their movie. You’re going to visualize your way to the kind of success they have and the kind of success you wish you had.

If you hadn’t guessed by this point, I get a lot of my inspiration from other people. It’s really inspiring for me to read rags-to-riches type stories. It’s extremely motivating for me to learn that someone wasn’t better or smarter than me— they simply took different steps in a different order, as well as more steps, and didn’t let their motivation wane. I can do that. I’ve done that. Now I’m the one getting emails from people telling me that I’m the inspiring and motivational story they look up to. I have to tell you— I never thought that would happen.

But it did happen and it does happen. It’s because I changed my own storyline. It’s because I changed the movie of my life. Part of that was through visualization. I saw that my life wasn’t anywhere near where I wanted it to be. That wasn’t acceptable to me. That wasn’t how I wanted my life to go. So, I fixed it.

I created pictures in my mind of where I should and would be. I ran movies in my head where I was happier and more successful. That $200 sticky note that I put on my computer printer which was right next to my monitor where I could see that note out of the corner of my eye constantly, before I was earning more money in my business became imprinted in my brain.

Now, you have to decide what’s going to become imprinted in your brain. What is your legacy? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Heck, where do you see yourself a month from now? You can re-write your story by changing your daily habits, and you can do it quickly.

The things you do every day add up to the things you do every year. The things you do every year add up to the things that tell the tale of your life. If you can change the things you do every day, you can change your life story. You’re writing the book, you’re making the movie. Change your habits; change your life.

Now’s the time to change your movie. You have to re-write your story. The exciting thing is that it can be whatever you want it to be. You just have to put it in your mind and see it there. You need to see the pictures you want to see in your mind. Get your own sticky notes and write your goals on them and have them imprinted in your mind. Do whatever you need to do to change your story.

Visualization Is Not Daydreaming

I want to make it very clear that when I talk about visualization, I’m not talking about daydreaming. Daydreaming can tell you a lot about yourself. It can also be a massive waste of time and a byproduct of procrastination.

Visualization is different because it’s deliberate. You are visualizing certain habits and goal achievements for a particular reason. Daydreaming is not deliberate. Mostly, there isn’t an end-goal there for the daydreamer—it’s just something that happens.

I’m not saying it’s not good to daydream sometimes… quite the opposite.

Are you a nameless, faceless marketer who is just trying to sell to people? Or, are you a real person with real feelings, struggles, and successes? Do you understand the members of your audience? Do you truly care about their success and what’s going o...