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Well now, that’s a sobering thought, isn’t it?

And it’s not just Netflix. You are in competition with Reddit, YouTube, Amazon, social media, video games and every website out there for your prospect’s attention.

Scary, right?

But before you give up and curl yourself into a self-defeated ball, consider this:

You have a message that no one else on the planet can deliver.

It’s your own unique perspective on the world and on your niche.

No one has your exact experience or viewpoint.

No one looks at things exactly as you do.

And no one on the planet can articulate your message like you can.

So beyond delivering what is uniquely yours, what makes for riveting, effective content that keeps your visitors reading, watching and consuming?

Effective content is:

1: Focused. Let your headline guide you and write from an outline so you don’t wander off track.

2: Conversational. Write in a friendly and welcoming tone. Use a style and vocabulary that is appropriate for your target audience – not your English professor.

3: Task Oriented. Write actionable content that solves problems. Keep in mind that boredom is one of those problems, so solve it by being interesting, too.

4: Concise. Use as many words as you need, but no more than that. You have no interest in wasting your reader’s time or putting them to sleep.

You already know all about scarcity. The scarcer something is, the more people want it.

That’s why we use deadlines to entice customers to buy. Without the deadlines, people would put it off and then forget about it.

For decades savvy store owners have used this trick. By limiting the number of items a person can purchase, they increase the number of items sold.

But I wonder – are we using this to maximum advantage online? Yes, we sometimes limit the number of copies sold. Yes, we use deadlines and then promise not to sell any more after that deadline.

But what if we used it in a slightly different way…

Imagine you have different levels of participation in a product launch.

For example: You will sell only 10 copies at $2,500 each that includes actual coaching and one-on-one time with you for 12 weeks.

You’ll sell only 100 copies at $1,000 that includes group coaching for 12 weeks.

You’ll sell 200 copies at $500 that includes the “done for you option,” which is also included in the higher levels, too. But there is no coaching at this level.

And you’ll sell 1,000 copies that don’t include coaching or the done for you option.

Then you place counters on your site that tell how many copies of each have sold.

Yes, this will take some guts. After all, what if something doesn’t sell? But that’s also the fascination factor, too.

People will continue to revisit the page just to see what’s selling.

And what happens when there are only 6 or 5 or 4 copies left of the highest option? Suddenly they’ll start selling FASTER.

The last copy or two will likely FLY off the shelf.

You’re adding a new brand of scarcity, a higher level of fascination and interest and accommodating people’s needs.

You might think of this as a new way of upselling, or a more transparent method than using one time offers. It’s up front, honest, and lets people decide ahead of time what they want.

And if they don’t act fast enough, they will miss out, too.

Short and sweet: If you’re making good money coaching others to do or accomplish something, then you can probably double the money you make without much effort.

It’s sort of a recycle and reuse kind of thing, where nothing in your business goes to waste.

Let’s say you spend time coaching people on how to start their own businesses. You show them the sequence, how to get things done, how to outsource, the shortcuts, the little things they need to know and so forth.

But consider this: There are other marketers who want to get paid for coaching, too. Except they don’t know where to start or what to do.

So you also coach other marketers on how to do coaching.

You let them in on all your secrets of how to get clients, how to work with clients, how the whole process works and so forth.

I suppose you could even let them listen in on your coaching calls. If you do, you need to let your students know someone else is on the line.

And whatever you’re charging your regular coaching clients, you can probably about double for your new students who are learning how to become coaches. Again, it’s up to you.

You’ve got a skill – coaching – that others want to have. So why not become a coach’s coach?

You can give your future coaches templates for their sales pages, techniques for getting their first clients and ongoing support. And for this you can easily charge $5,000.

Even if you just take on two new students a month who are learning to be coaches, that’s an extra $120,000 a year.

I mentioned this to a friend, and he’s a bit snarky. He wanted to know, “If you’re coaching students, and you’re coaching coaches on how to coach students, couldn’t you also coach people on how to train new coaches that teach coaching?”

Actually, yes. But that might be taking things a bit far. 😉

People love to tell you they are logical and rational, and that they make decisions based on the facts. But what people say and what they do are two different things.

Between you and me, people make decisions based on emotion – they just don’t realize it. So how can you tap into those emotions and get them to click your link or buy your product? By adding faces to just about everything you do.

Next time you run a Facebook ad, do a test. In one ad, use any image you want, as long as it’s not a face.

In the other ad, use an interesting face that expresses the emotion you want your prospect to feel.

Now notice which one gets more clicks.

Face images, whether they’re drawings or photos, work not just on Facebook ads, but also on your sidebar ads, blog posts, social media posts and so forth.

And they work especially well on all things Facebook and social media, because people are already looking for faces there. Thus your posts and ads will unobtrusively blend right into your customer’s newsfeed.

The human brain is actually wired to look for and respond to facial cues and expressions, much more so than the written word.

What’s the easiest way to make money online, without having to create a product or a sales page? Affiliate marketing, of course. 🙂

So, why is it that most affiliate marketers never make nearly what they could make? Anyone has the potential to make HUGE money in affiliate marketing, yet 90% or more of affiliates make a pittance (I’ll wager the number is closer to 98%, in fact.)

Think about this: If you earn an average of $50 on each sale in a sales funnel you promote, and you make 6 sales, you’ve made $300. Sounds good, right?

But guaranteed, there is someone else who made 600 sales and walked away with $30,000.

Why did they make 600 sales when you made just 6?

There are reasons why a handful of affiliate marketers do amazingly well, and everyone else barely makes a profit.

And marketers who understand this will always have a tremendous advantage over marketers who don’t.

1: Build a Relationship

I know you’ve heard it before, but are you doing it? People buy people, not products.

If you want them to open your email and click your link, or visit your Facebook Group and click a link, you’ve got to have a RELATIONSHIP with your people.

This is so simple to do, yet few marketers take the time.

Start with a blog post that is all about you, and then send new opt-ins to the post so they can get to know you. Make the post silly, funny and most of all REAL. Talk about the stupid stuff you’ve done, the mistakes you’ve made, where you live and so forth.

Do you have a strange hobby or unusual taste in food? Include that. Do you have 17 pets? Talk about them. Do you work until 3 in the morning and sleep until noon? Mention that.

Reveal the real you. Not the details people don’t want, but the ones that amuse and interest. You’re looking to make a real connection, not give a resume.

And above all else, don’t make your life seem like a series of magnificent accomplishments. No one is going to relate to someone who turns everything they touch into gold.

But they are going to relate to the time you bought Bitcoin when it was worthless and sold it just before it took off, or the time you thought you could fly and jumped off your uncle’s barn into the manure pile.

And don’t stop with your ‘about me’ page, either. Use this relationship building in your lead magnet, your emails, your other blog posts and so forth.

Always inject a little bit about yourself. Not so much that you bore people, of course, or make everything seem about you. But just enough to keep it real.

Think about relating an event to a friend. Aren’t you going to give your own perceptions of what happened, as well as tell about how you got out of your car and stepped in the mud puddle just before your big presentation?

Use this same method of personal, one-on-one friend communication with your readers as well.

Post on your blog as often as possible, and we’re talking every day or two. Encourage your list to subscribe to Feedburner or the equivalent so they know when you add a new post.

Your readers will realize you’re a real person who isn’t out to pitch them a new product every 5 minutes. And they’ll gladly read your sales emails much more readily when they know there is a real live human being who is sending them these messages.

2: Use Your Own Voice

How many emails do you receive that say something along the lines of, “Buy this product – this product is the greatest product ever – you will be sorry if you miss this – so rush right over and buy it now.”

Yeah. Same old stuff, over and over again.

There is a marketer (or maybe several, but I’m thinking of one in particular) who sells MASSIVE quantities of this exact type of emails as a swipe file to new marketers.

Like a brand-new marketer couldn’t write their own 25 word email that basically says, “GO BUY THIS NOW!”

People are TIRED of getting these emails. You’re tired of getting these emails. I’m tired of getting these emails.

Same phrases, same message, same B.S.

If you’re not going to stand apart from the crowd, then you’re going to have to share the same crumbs they’re getting.

Instead, take 30 minutes and write your own promotional email in your own voice.

Forget hype. Be sincere. Be honest. “Hey, this product isn’t for everyone. I don’t even know if it’s for you. But if you have this problem, then maybe this is your solution. Check it out and decide if it’s right for you, because I know it’s worked like crazy for some people. And it’s on sale right now, too.”

I’ve written emails where I basically tell people not to buy something unless they really really want it or need it. “Don’t buy this if you already know how to do xyz.” “Don’t buy this if you’re not going to be doing this type of marketing.” This is only for people who want (fill in the blank.) It’s like I’m trying to talk them out of it, which paradoxically often results in more sales, not fewer.

But the point isn’t tricking them into buying; it’s to be honest. Because you know what? That latest, greatest product you’re promoting ISN’T what everyone on your list needs. Some of them, sure. The rest of them, no.

Do you have any idea how refreshing it is to open an email that says, “Here’s a new product, thought you might want to know, but please don’t buy it if you’re not going to use it.”

The first time I got an email like that, I bought the product without even reading the sales letter. True story. I was just so happy that someone wasn’t ramming a sale down my throat, that I jumped at the chance to buy it.

Weird but true.

My point is, be you. Be honest. Talk to your readers as though they are your best friends and you don’t want to lose your best friends by acting like a carnival barker who is here today and pulled up stakes (vanished) tomorrow with their money.

3: Email a LOT

This is the one where people like to argue with me, and I understand that.

You’ve heard over and over again that you shouldn’t email too often, or you’ll upset your subscribers, right?

After all, every time you email, there is the potential that a subscriber will hit the unsubscribe button.

Do you know what the potential is when you DON’T email? Nothing. No opens, no clicks, no sales… not even any relationship building.

Do you want people to open and read your emails? Then send out those emails EVERY DAY.

Here’s why:

First, almost no one will see every email you send out. Let’s say you’ve got a sale on one of your products. Don’t you think your readers might like to know about it? But if they miss the one and only email you send that lets them know, then they’ve missed out on the discount and you LOST a sale.

Second, send emails at different times. I opened someone’s email just yesterday, decided I was VERY interested in the new membership he was selling, clicked the link and discovered it was no longer available.

What happened? This particular marketer only sends out emails at 1:00 a.m. my time, so I don’t even see most of his emails in the avalanche of mail I get before I wake up.

Third, if you’re sending email once a week or once a month, your readers are forgetting who the heck you are. And when you finally do send an email, they think it’s spam.

Fourth, if you mail more often, you will make more money. Don’t take my word on this, just do it for one month. Send out one email per day, every day, for 30 days. Put a promotion in each one. See if you haven’t made more – a LOT more – money during that time period than during the previous month.

And by the way, I’m not saying JUST send out a promotion in each email. Make sure you have some content in there as well, even if it’s just an amusing anecdote.

4: Think of affiliate marketing as a BUSINESS

This isn’t a hobby, nor is it an add-on for an additional income stream.

Even if you go on vacation, be prepared to send out an email every day. Schedule them in advance or write them on vacation. Either way, affiliate marketing to your list is a business that you can’t just jump into when you need cash and forget about the rest of the time.

You don’t have many support issues, since the product owners handle this. You don’t have to worry about creating products, sales pages and so forth. You don’t have to drive traffic, unless it’s to build your list bigger.

With so much you don’t have to do, there’s no reason not to focus your time and energy into building relationships with your list and promoting to them every single day.

Affiliate marketing can be some of the easiest money you’ve ever made, if you put in the time and effort to make it a real business.