A number of affiliate marketing principles also apply to local business marketing and I found this article from Chris Rempel very applicable to our local business marketing environment. Enough already…. Just read it and apply it:

“My aim in this blog post is to try and show you the reality of why so many people fail, even though they’re busting their ass for hours on end, day after day.

This isn’t a preach-fest, nor is it some obscure new-age theory. Furthermore, it’s not exclusive to newbies. We ALL “suffer” from these symptoms from time to time, no matter how experienced.

But this is especially important for beginners, as well as anyone who’s never seen any kind of REAL results from this business.

If you read this and actually take it to heart (and take action) – I promise you this – 2010 will be drastically different for you…

It drives me NUTS when I get emails from people who I know are honestly giving this their best shot within the context of their abilities and situation – and I know instantly based on the types of questions they’re asking (or whatever) that they don’t have a chance in hell.

And of course – I try to set them straight, put them on the right path.

But their mindset and “what they’ve learned” blocks it out. The wheat gets lost among the chaff, and it all becomes a big, confusing (disappointing) mess.

Which is truly sad.

Because the real way to success in this industry is far, far easier and simpler than most think. And that “way” will become clear to you as I go through the following 3 “failure symptoms”…

3 Symptoms of a Marketer Who’s Destined for Failure:

Symptom #1: Perfectionism

This is a silent killer because being a “perfectionist” can in many ways be a good thing. (It’s better than being a slacker). But it becomes a problem when the constant improvements, “setbacks” and bar-raising is either a subliminal fear of action/failure/success – or perhaps indicative of a deeper issue, like a lack of confidence in one’s self; and therefore your product.

Even though in most cases the product, or the site – or whatever – is beyond finished. (Just promote the damn thing already!)

We all know someone who’s been “working on their site” or whatever for what seems like forever. Sure, they’ll tell you it’s almost done. Just a few days left. Etc.

Ask them in 3 months, and you’ll get the same old song. And they’re still broke.

And chances are, most of us have been guilty of it as well (I have in the past, for sure). It’s funny how it’s more comfortable to keep things in “idea” mode or the development stage because you still have an “out” – isn’t it?

That is the root of perfectionism, folks: FEAR.

When I look back at all the stuff I’ve done in the last few years – all the sites I’ve built, all the crap I’ve tried doing, etc – the bottom line is that I ONLY got results when I finished something and rolled it out. Period.

And what’s ironic is that some of my biggest performers were things that took a few DAYS to put together and promote. 5 page sites generating double-digit sales transactions daily. Info-products that were assembled and produced in less than a week. And so on.

And inversely, I’ve also had stuff that took me forever to roll out, and by the time it was all said and done, I’ve probably made more money from my “simple and fast” strategies in the meantime anyway.

That isn’t always the rule.

But the mindset always applies.

And on top of that, there is no substitute for experience. The more you actually finish, the more you truly learn. And it’s a lot easier to springboard from one experience into the next, learning from mistakes (and leveraging profitable discoveries) as you go.

So if you catch yourself continually adding to your tasklist… ask yourself why, and answer truthfully.

Getting big results doesn’t require perfection. It just requires ACTION.

Just like our Canadian hockey-legend (Wayne Gretzky) was quoted saying, “100% of the shots you don’t take won’t go in…”

Symptom #2: “Space Pen” Syndrome

Back when NASA was trying to figure out how to get a man on the moon, they were obviously presented with an endless series of insane technological challenges – and for obvious reasons, given that at the time the average calculator was about the size of my desk.

One of the issues they faced was something really simple. Astronauts couldn’t use a conventional pen in a zero-gravity environment because the ink would simply “float” in the pen.

So what they did was develop the most technologically advanced zero-gravity pen the world had ever seen. The damn thing could even write underwater, since the ink was pressurized.

It took years and God-knows how much (tax) money to develop these ridiculous space pens.

The end result?

Astronauts could now write stuff in space, doodle, etc.

And guess what the Russians did…

They used pencils.

The end result was the same. Cosmonauts could do all the same things as the American astronauts (with the exception of writing underwater), without the months or perhaps years of development, testing and expense.

And I see so many marketers doing the same thing – over-complicating every single task and going way beyond the realm of necessity when it comes to building and marketing their sites.

Everyone’s so caught up with all the latest social media crap, “linkwheels”, spinning their content (which takes forever and has little, if any, benefit), widgets, plugins, etc…

…that they’re missing the POINT.

Make offers. Create content. Promote it.

Not rocket science, folks. Not even space-pen science.

And pretty much everything, with very few exceptions, still works today just as well as it did 10+ years ago. If you think it doesn’t – try it. The fundamentals have NOT changed. And it’s the fundamentals (converting copy, building good content, targeted offers, list-building) that build wealth.

Not “tactics”. And definitely not space pens.

(Hint: All those people out there clogging up the marketing forums with their SEO tactics, “new” strategies, etc… guess what? Chances are they’re broke or making a mediocre living at best. The big dogs are doing what they’ve always done. And it’s not hard to see what that is.)

Symptom #3: Always Looking for Shortcuts

Wanna know what’s funny about most people who are always looking for that ultimate tactic or shortcut?

It takes them 3 times longer (and they put in way more effort) to get the same results as someone who simply does it the right way the first time.

(And there’s usually no long-term effect, either. The guy who’s out there blackhatting has to constantly work in order to “stay on top”. In contrast, the guy who’s produced genuinely good content and earned his traffic, reputation, etc. will see effortless traffic & revenue for years. Which one sounds better to you?)

I’ve seen this repeatedly over the years. Both with my own activities and others. In fact, these days I don’t even care about “tricks” or “new tactics” for driving traffic, etc. I just don’t care.

And I really don’t think I’m missing out, because I’ve gotten to the point where my time is simply better spent working on my core business model (and enjoying my life) than staying up into the wee hours testing out some freakish tactic.

Anyway, let me give you a real-life example of why “shortcuts” are anything but smart…

My partner on the Affiliate Genie project (Matt Chitty) comes from a sales background, and a few years ago he was actually one of the top sales managers on a nationwide scale for a very large Electronics retailer up here in Canada.

As Matt puts it, there are two types of producing salespeople on the floor.

Type 1: “Mr. Tactic”

This is the guy who hard-sells, uses all the “sales tricks” and will basically tell the customer whatever they want to hear just to make that sale.

He typically does the most volume at first, but he also loses a lot of commissions due to returns, etc. Moreover, because he only cares about the sale, the customers can easily sense this and they’ll avoid him next time. He always has to find new customers.

This means that Mr. Tactic has to work long hours and hard-sell all day long to keep up his numbers.

And nobody likes him. All he gets out of it is the cash. (I’m sure about a bazillion people come to mind who fit this description…)

And, then - there’s the other guy.

The anomaly that Mr. Tactic can’t stand…

Type 2: “Mr. Truthful“

This is the guy who’s your typical down-to-earth dude who seems to have more of an interest in the products he sells than he does about actually selling them.

He doesn’t try and “close” every customer he meets. Nor does he exaggerate or talk out of his ass when customers ask questions about what a product does. He simply shares what he does know, and he helps the customer find exactly what they actually need. Regardless of his commissions.

He’s not as “high energy” as Mr. Tactic. And maybe he’s a little bit plain on the exterior. But over time, people come to know him as being someone you can trust.

Mr. Truthful will have regular sales levels for the first little while. His results at first won’t be anything too shocking, maybe a bit above average.  But there will be next to no returns on his commissionable sales, since he’s upfront with the customer.

However…

As the weeks and months go by, something strange starts happening.

Happy customers come back, as do their friends, who specifically seek out Mr. Truthful. This slowly becomes a sort of “chain reaction”, to the point where Mr. Truthful is actually doing the same volume of sales as Mr. Tactic – with the difference being that it’s effortless and painless.

He doesn’t have to “trick” people into buying, nor does he have to “work” a prospect. All he does is basically just help people who want to deal with him all day long. And since his sales generally don’t generate any returns, at the end of the day he’s actually making more money than Mr. Tactic.

Even though he’s working shorter hours and, plainly speaking, not even ”trying”. It just flows to him.

Over time, this sets up Mr. Truthful in a high-paying sales career that he can enjoy and prosper with as long as the company stays in business.

But for the other guy – over time, inevitably, Mr. Tactic will burn out and try and make it big somewhere else, only to meet the same results over and over again due to the core issue – he doesn’t care about the customer, he cares about his results. (Sound familiar?)

——————————————————-

This “Mr. Tactic” approach is what plagues internet marketing.

I understand that we’re all in this to make money. And that’s totally okay.

But you have to realize that if you treat your visitors with contempt and don’t care about the fact that they’re spending money based on your recommendations, then every sale you generate will be a fight.

And you’ll have a never-ending slew of nasty emails, complaints, refunds – or worse.

On the flipside, if you come across as genuine with your visitors and genuinely try to help them – they’ll buy from you in droves! And they’ll love you for it. Then they’ll buy from you again, and again… etc.

That is how you build true wealth online, folks.

It’s not about “tactics” or the latest technique. It’s about building trust and influence.

That’s something you can’t simulate. No sales tactic on earth is going to make somebody trust you. The only way to “get” trust is to earn it. And you do that by publishing good content and providing valuable, honest stuff to your people.

And guess what?

When you have good content and genuinely cool stuff to offer – everything literally falls into place for you. Getting backlinks is easy. It’ll happen naturally. Getting JV’s is brainless. People will want to work with you – you’ll be the one turning down offers that don’t match (not vice-versa).

And of course – making sales is a breeze. When people trust you, they’ll buy stuff just because you recommended it. Some people won’t even look at the offer (literally, this happens). They just buy because they trust your word.

You think you can do that with some weird-ass “hypnotic sales trick” or something?

Um… no. I don’t care what anyone claims – you can’t. You only get to that level by establishing trust.

But it all starts with the basics:

1. Create Genuinely Good Content

2. Make Relevant Offers Prominently on Your Site

3. Promote Your Site

That’s the “big secret” folks. The ultimate tactic – and it’s all you have to do if you really want to hit it on the web, long-term. All of the sites I’ve created where I’ve actually catered to the visitor as a paramount concern are still running strong as ever, and many are several years old.

And on top of that, getting backlinks and stuff was a breeze. All I’d do is simply email all the other sites, show them some cool function or helpful article on the site, and ask for a link or a “story” on it for their readers. For one of my sites in particular, out of about 200 emails like that – 40 of them willingly did so. And one was even a PR8 news site

In contrast, I’m lucky if my little “tester sites” and small conduit sites (which have a purpose of their own) see maybe 6 months of solid traffic before they fade down to a small trickle.

Value matters.

It’s been working since 1995 (or whenever the internet was “born”), and it works just as well today.

And it seems so straight-forward.

Just like using a pencil in space…

——————————————————-

Okay – now here’s how to take all that stuff I just said and make a crap-load of money with it this year…

First, you need to identify areas where these symptoms are showing up. Maybe you’re freezing up and endlessly delaying your sites because they aren’t “good enough”.

This needs to stop. Who cares if your sites aren’t perfect? Your visitors don’t. (And your bank account certainly doesn’t).

Just get them out there and marketed. Period.

You can make them better later.

Now I’m not saying that you take shortcuts or skimp out on value. But what I am saying is that you need to cut out stuff that isn’t an absolute necessity and just FINISH your sites so you can start building links, getting traffic, buying ads – whatever.

Or maybe you’re over-complicating everything.

You think that you need to “leverage” every available trick in the book to maximize your traffic. So you insist on setting up all the latest SEO plugins, developing a 300-message autoresponder series, having your site “drip” content automatically, you spin all your articles and submit them various ways, you set up peel-away ads and exit scripts, etc.

None of that stuff is necessarily bad (in fact lots of it is very profitable) – but if it’s causing you to be overwhelmed… or if you think that it’s all required – stop it.

Just start with the basics, and as your traffic increases, you can add stuff as you need to.

Remember that two complete sites with NO gimmicks will almost always out-earn a single site with EVERY gimmick. (And I’m talking about affiliate sites here, not authority sites or products which are a different animal and not something you dive into before you test the waters).

So if you feel like you have to build a “space pen”, just remember that a pencil will do the same damn thing, and you can always improve stuff LATER.

And finally – maybe the issue is that none of your sites are converting well (even if they get tons of traffic and you’re promoting proven, hot offers) because your content isn’t genuine.

You need to realize, then, that your product reviews, your articles, your presells – everything – needs to not only be truthful, but it has to be published with the intention of actually helping your visitors get the best solution for their needs.

If you’re honestly trying to help your people – it shows. Your visitors can sense that, and that’s how you become trusted.

You’ll sell more, you’ll get more links more easily, you’ll be able to do deals in the market easily – everything works better for you. And on top of that, it’s actually easier to do this since you don’t have to use “hype”. Just talk straight. And wherever possible, allow your visitors to lend their voice as well.

So if 2009 was a rough year, I can guarantee you that 2010 will be drastically different for you by doing the following:

1. Just Finish/Market Your Sites FAST & Improve Them LATER.

2. Keep it Simple & Stop Wasting Time Building “Space-Pen” Sites.

3. Be Genuine & Actually Give a Damn

A lot of people who read this won’t “get it”. They’ll be reading in between the lines looking for tricks, for things they can swipe for a quick buck, and so on. Those are the washouts, folks. Even if they do make a bit of money, it’s always short-lived.

Anyone who’s actually made real money as an affiliate (or any kind of marketer), and I mean well into the 6-figs, realizes that everything I’ve said here is literal. There is no hidden tactic or “trick” to making a pile of money in any viable market. It just comes down to getting sites up, creating helpful content and getting traffic (building links, ads & doing deals).

It’s that simple.”

You can find more of Chris Rempel at: http://www.thelazymarketer.com/blog/

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