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If you’ve been marketing anything online for even the shortest period of time I’m sure you’ve heard about the importance of listbuilding.

Listbuilding has been going on for as long as emails could be entered into a website web form, yet so many people just don’t fully appreciate the value of doing this one simple thing.

You see whilst you could spend countless hours and untold dollars generating traffic for your website it’s always going to be a “one hit” affair (or maybe 2 or 3 if some of your visitors come back to your site again).

Now the thing about listbuilding is when someone visits your website for the first time you offer them something of value in exchange for their email address. That’s literally all your website does…

Take a look at these examples of how I build my own lists of subscribers…

www.BigSellingNiches.com
www.BigSellingConversions.com

When you visit those pages above you’ll see that the main focus of the page is to get your name and email address in exchange for something of value.

Now, just in case you’re wondering how well those pages convert visitors into subscribers here are those stats…

www.BigSellingNiches.com
= 47.3% of visitors become subscribers.

www.BigSellingConversions.com
= 58.8% of visitors become subcribers.

Those figures are reached whenever I send targeted joint venture traffic to those pages. They will vary all the time depending on the quality of the traffic they get. But nevertheless they convert traffic into subscribers extremely well.

Here’s where the power of listbuilding comes into it’s own because now you have that persons email (and permission to email them) you can send them to any website you choose.

It can be sending your subscribers to your own website again, it could be your blog or it could even be another website you’re recommending. Of course you still have to use the power of persuasion to get them to those website, that’s a whole different conversation.

But nevertheless once you start listbuilding you can really start to see a difference to your bottom line (whatever that might be for you).

Just recently listbuilding has become a huge phenomenon online with Tellman Knudson and Shawn Casey’s recent launch of their List Pros intensive listbuilding training course.

What’s different about their course is it costs nearly $2,000 to attend and lasts only 6 weeks, it takes your listbuilding skills to a whole new level (as you can imagine for that kind of cost!).

You can see how they’re building their list here.

Anyway… that’s not really the point of what I’m about to share with you, I just wanted to illustrate how important listbuilding is and that people will pay vast sums of cash to learn how to do it properly.

I personally know Tellman having stayed at his “Tellmansion” in Brattleboro last March when both myself and his team worked on developing ListHero.com.

ListHero is something Tellman and I had been working on and developing in the background for several years before this, so it was great to crank things up a notch or 2.

Just recently I created a few more PDF mind maps that I’m going to be offering from the new ListHero blog in a week’s time.

I wanted to let you have first crack at them because of how they explain how listbuilding works and I know this is something that should be close to your heart if you have a website.

So with that said here are the download links…

23 Ways To Build Your List
All it takes is one way but I’ve given you 23, so make sure you take full advantage!

7 Ways To Monetize Your List
Once you’ve started to build your list of subscribers how do you profit from it? This mind map gives you 7 easy ways.

Squeeze Page Profit Secrets
This mind map lays out a simple and proven formula to profiting in the biggest way possible from simple squeeze page websites.

7 Reasons Why You Need A Professional Autoresponder
Only those people smart enough to use a professional autoresponder system to help them manage and build their subscriber list will succeed at this.

ListHero Exposed
Just in case you’re wondering what ListHero is all about and how it can help you build your list of subscribers this mind map explains how everything works.

I hope this helps… if you have any questions about listbuilding just let me know.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Finding useful and informative information for great web design can be a time consuming task. Apart from the time involved you really need to know what you are looking for.

One of the best methods I have found for finding information that is not only relevant but useful is by using information others have found and bookmarked.

Stumbleupon is one of the best sites for this.

So here are 10 of the sites I ‘ve bookmarked for great web design. They include; how to guides, tutorials, tips, tricks and
examples. More than 259 plus resources within these 10 sites!

1. 99 Resources for Web 2.0 Design
2. Developers | Tutorials Garden | Photoshop, PHP, Flash, CSS, XHTML,
3. Mandarin Design. Web and Blog Design and Development
4. Top 10 WordPress CMS Plugins | Blueprint Design Studio
5. Open Source Web Design - Download free web design templates
6. Jatecblog & Links for Making Your First Web Site Without Paying a Dime
7. pForm - Free HTML Form Builder - Create Web Form Template Online
8. 60 ridiculously useful tools and generators for your blog or website
9. Tag Cloud Generator
10. 100+ Resources for Web Developers | BlogWell

I hope you find these sites as useful and resourceful as I have for your web design endeavors. There are over 259 plus resources here! Take advantage of them.

Popularity: 20% [?]

How do you know if your marketing works if you’re not testing?

Do you casually glance at your website traffic stats, hold a finger in the air and say …yes that headline increased our website sales? Or do you scientifically test one headline against another and synchronize this with the number of orders you get?

To help make sure you’re on the right track here are 6 “hot” tips for successful split testing…

1. Test at least two versions of whatever it is you’re testing, this would be the contol and the variation

The control version is the one that’s getting you the best results so far, the variation is the version you’ve created that you want to have beat the control.

2. Equally test one version against another

You’re looking for each version you’re testing to be exposed to the same environmental factors. In the case of your website this would be making sure each version gets the same amount of website traffic form the same source.

3. Measure the actions of each split test

Now you have equal amounts of traffic going to each version you’re testing how will you determine which is more effective? This is where you need to state clearly the objective you’re aiming for, it might be more subscribers or more sales. Then you need to measure this for each version you’re testing.

4. A big enough sample of results.

It’s no use testing 10 visitors to each versions of you’re testing, I promise this won’t tell you anything of any value. On the other hand if you looked at 300 visitors for each test variation you’ll begin to see a more representative picture as to which version is the winner (which then becomes your control in future tests).

5. You need patience

Testing takes time, if your website doesn’t get much traffic on a regular basis it’ll take longer for you to get the results you’re looking for. On the other hand a high traffic site will get your website testing moving along much quicker, leading you to a high converting website in a fraction of the time.

If traffic is something you need more of recently I launched a traffic course called “Flood Your Site With Traffic” if you don’t have this yet click here to get yourself a copy today.

6. You need to understand the results

This one needs more investigation because sometimes you’ll find yourself in a situation where one version A of a test out performs version B by 5%, yet version B communicates your websites values more effectively. So which version should you choose? Over time you’ll become more experienced at testing and your “gut feeling” will play a significant role in deciding the winners of split test where the results are close.

To get you started with your split testing I recommend you take a close look at using Google’s excellent website optimizer.

Get started with your split testing today:

Google Website Optimizer…
http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer

Split testing doesn’t stop with regular websites either… you can also split test the headlines and the content of your blog posts using this special WordPress plug-in…
http://websiteoptimizer.contentrobot.com

Here’s a useful online tool that helps you to calculate the effectiveness of your testing…
http://www.splittester.com/index.php

There’s one last thing you’ll come to realize once you’ve been split testing your website for a while… even your best testing is uncertain at best.

Why? Because of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principal which states that we can’t be certain of anything because the very act of looking changes its nature. This is why as Mark Joyner says in his excellent book Mind Control Marketing… “Drawing broad conclusions from your testing can be hazardous to your financial health”.

Popularity: 45% [?]

The Internet Lifestyle is all about freedom…

Freedom to earn more, work less, and enjoy life!

My friend, Terry Dean, has just released the Internet Lifestyle Retirement System containing everything you need to build that freedom based business online…

• Discover how to know with certainty just how successful your project will be before you start.
• How to quickly and easily develop multiple winning products for your target market.
• 3 quick million dollar tips for improving your conversion…and how to beat the marketing gurus.
• How to generate BUYERS to your website instead of just visitors and lookie-loos.
• Multiply and leverage your business results through outsourcing and proven systems.

Best of all…

Terry is letting you steal 95 of his business systems to build your own Internet Lifestyle…

Curious to know more?

Visit here now…

www.InternetLifestyleRevealed.com

I suggest you hurry as the first 200 customers get a special price that almost shocked me when I saw it…

He definitely knows how to overdeliver, and this is no exception.

Popularity: 28% [?]

First of all thanks to everyone who completed the recent survey I ran, I really appreciate your candid answers.

As promised here are a few of the results as they apply to the content of this blog. It’s these results I’m going to use to help make this blog better than ever for you.

What I asked first was…

What types of blog posts really help you the most (you can check more than one answer)?

The top 3 answers were:

1. Videos demonstrating specific website design, marketing and conversion techniques - 58.6%
2. Website conversion strategies - 56.9%
3. Links to useful website design tools and resources - 51.7%

Amazingly the least 3 popular were:

1. Links to other blogs about about website design - 12.1%
2. Blog only discounts and special offers on products - 12.1%
3. Test results from website designs - 34.5%

An interesting statistic was that 56.9% wanted website conversion strategies yet only 46.6% wanted advice on website design.

The fact that Videos demonstrating specific website design, marketing and conversion techniques was no real surprise to be because of the way the Internet is moving towards video content. I also included in the option some of the other options that did very well like website conversion strategies for example.

Another question which was “When would you like to read new blog posts?” was also a real eye opener for me because it turns out that most people (47.4%) were more interested in reading the blog once a week. The second most popular choice was 3 times a week at 19.3%. 12.3% even wanted to read my blog every day! …thanks, I appreciate it!

After this I asked “Would you recommend this blog to others? What would you say about it?”

I was asking this question for an insight into people’s perceptions of my blog and what they would say. In some cases their answers gave me new ideas.

Here’s a snapshot of a few of those replies people gave…

yes - if you want your web site to work for you you need BT (brian terry)

yes,very straight forward and comprehensive content.

“Yes. great information and helpful tips and tricks from one of the genuine guys.”

“yes - I’ve already done so. One of the easiest to understand and most informative sites I’ve found.”

“Yes. i ‘d say it is informative, invaluable and amust read.”

“Yes! I would say that you are current in conversion techniques and that you are transparent in showing exactly “what did and did not work for you”. Thanks”

“yep it’s helpful - mindmaps eg squidoo and traffic sources v helpful to keep handy or put on board”

“I would recommend your Blog for the excellent info that you give to your readers, as it is hard to find a place that isn’t loaded with Hype and pushing sales all the time.“

The final question I asked was…

What could I do on this blog that would really knock your socks off?

“Out of all the replies people gave here are the best ones…”

“have contest to give free website to see who can make the most innovative methods for making fast cash with info collectedfrom different guru sites that provide so-called free cash generating info”

“Examples of pages that work and examples of pages that dont and why”

“More info on web design ie photoshop,illustrator,and more on css”

“One post on the anatomy of a sales letter”

“Test results on conversion etc - real stats etc would be helpful in guiding what to try/test on own sites. reviews of different traffic sources, and so on.”

“Give real inroads into niches that are worth exploring. Maybe a ‘hint’ a month on up and coming trends?“

I’ve got to say that now I’m totally stoked by the results of the survey. This blog I’ve created here is for you so what better way to find out what you need and what you want than by running this quick survey.

The results you’ve given me open up new possibilities on how I can take what I’m doing to a whole new and more value driven level.

How did I set up this survey?

I used an excellent online survey generation service by a company called “Survey Monkey”. It takes literally minutes to set up a survey and it’s extremely easy to use.

I started off with a free account with Survey Monkey which limits you to 100 responses. The other day I upgraded which now opens up more possibilities. Through setting up and running this survey I’ve now realized I need to be running surveys more often to find out how I can better serve my customers and my readers.

If you have any questions just let me know.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Here’s all you do…

Whenever you build a website always believe that what you’re building will be successful. Have an expectation for success as you build each web page believe that the universe is conspiring “for” you to help make this happen… that’s inverse paranoia!

As you’re designing your website in Photoshop, as you’re converting your design to HTML always have in your mind that every action you take is exactly the right one that will lead to your ultimate success.

Positive expectation combined with inverse paranoia is extremely powerful and works every time without fail.

Make sure your expectations are in line with what you want to have happen and guard them carefully.

Imagine as you’re creating your websites, creating your products, looking for new ideas that everything is conspiring to help you succeed. Even when things don’t go right know that it happened for a reason that ultimately benefits you (even if you can’t see it right now).

The fact is you can never rise any higher than the expectations you have of yourself …so expect the best from every situation, expect that the website you’re building is going to be a total success, expect your products to be great, expect your ideas will be the best and most profitable ever!

By following this law of inverse paranoia and positive expectation you have a power in your hands that is virtually unlimited.

Go ahead and try this out now!

Imagine your desired outcome for your next website design project and keep this in your mind as you create and complete your project.

You’ll find your results will be nothing less than spectacular! It works for me and it can work for you too! Let me know how you get on wont you?

Popularity: 41% [?]

A friend of mine put together something really special and is allowing me to share it with my most loyal readers, that’s you…. however…

http://BigSellingWebsiteDesign.com/VIP

This is extremely exclusive, limited and will not stay available for long…

Click the link and watch the video :) 

http://BigSellingWebsiteDesign.com/VIP

Don’t miss it!

P.S.  I deeply apologize if the page is gone before you get there… Keith said it was coming down shortly.

Popularity: 36% [?]

Following on from the 4 steps to a big selling website where I reveal exactly what it take to create a big selling website I’d like to expand on step 2 which is all about creating a product to sell with a high profit margin.

There seems to be a belief surrounding product creation that it’s actually hard to do or it takes months and months of blood sweat and tears to get there. I’m here to tell you it’s easier than you think and creating a product with a high profit margin is no different.

First lets take a look at what’s meant by a “high profit margin”…

This is nothing more than you buying or creating something for a ultra low cost and selling it for a price where your profit is very high. As I’m sure you know only too well it’s digitally downloadable products that can generate the most profits.

And it’s those digital products that are the easiest to create when you know how.

A digital product is anything you can give to people with a perceived value that they can download from your website to their computer, what this can be is limited only by your imagination.

So what high profit margins can you create that you can offer to your hungry market with money to spend?

The simplest and the easiest answer is “just ask them”. Ask them what kind of problems they have that relate to the niche market you’re going after. All you do then is provide them with a solution, again it’s all very simple.

Read the rest or post a comment »

Popularity: 53% [?]

In a previous post I gave you a link to some free software that creates psychic sales letters for you. The way it works is really simple, the first page on your website asks your visitors a series of questions.

Once those questions are submitted your visitor is then directed to a customized sales letter that answers their questions. It’s a pretty good idea if you ask me because it cuts out any guess work and can send your conversions through the roof as a result.

So how can you use surveys in other ways?

Let me show you by example…

What I’d like is your help in improving this blog by giving you more of what you want.

So what’s the best way of doing this?

Simple, I’ve set up a short online survey…

Click here and give me your input

This is your opportunity to let me know how I can best serve your needs and at the same time give you a very powerful strategy you can apply to your own website.

In a couple of days time I’ll be back with the results of the survey.

I’ll also tell you exactly how I did it and show you how you can do the same. Surveying your website visitors, customers and subscribers helps to remove the guesswork from your internet marketing, boosts your conversions and ultimately makes you more money …so stay tuned!

Popularity: 49% [?]

I’ve just gotten back from a fantastic vacation to Vienna with my wife Tatiana. Out of all the European cities we’ve visited Vienna is easily the best! There’s lots to see and do, it’s extremely clean and the people are really friendly and welcoming.

We stayed at this excellent hotel called K+K Maria Theresia. If ever you find yourself in a major European city we highly recommend them as a place to stay.

After just stepping in through the door of our apartment for the first time in nearly a week and firing up my trusty Mac I go to thinking how can I best help you create a big selling website (after being totally shattered from the journey home).

Since starting this blog I’ve been able to help you with things like creating profitable website ideas, techniques on helping you convert more visitors into customers and of course generating web traffic itself. So what I decided to do was give you the links to the top 10 posts that help you create a big selling website… as voted by you.

1. Here’s how you really use the web (and it’s not what you think!)

2. Less Effort, More Keywords and Better SEO

3. 17 “Must Have” Sources Of Website Traffic

4. Why You Need Long Tail Keywords

5. Your shortcut to Internet business success starts right here

6. Your Website Traffic: 7 Crucial Reasons Why You Should Be “Squidooing”

7. How to build massive traffic to your website

8. How To Unleash the Hidden Power of Website Linking

9. Profitable websites ideas made easy

10. Who Else Wants This Free Pay Per Click Website Traffic?

I hope this helps…

(In case you’re wondering how you voted on these blog posts I used this really useful Wordpress plugin called Popularity Contest. What it does is it looks at how many visitors each post gets and gives it a percentage popularity score.) 

Popularity: 51% [?]