43 Responses to “The Win-An-iPod-Shuffle-Contest Takes A New Turn…”

1. Mark Grupposo Says:
   April 21st, 2009 at 6:40 am

   a. Hire a professional copywriter with experience in this field to rewrite the sales letter.
   b. Set up joint ventures and gain access to their lists.
   c. Optimize website for keywords and SEO.

2. Mark Halpert Says:
   April 21st, 2009 at 6:45 am

   1- Find 3 people who can both provide Personal Training Opportunities at their location and where John can earn money both as a Personal Trainer and help the business with on-line applications

   2- Help a group of people at these locations lose weight, create testimonials and allow the business to create an on-line way to promote both their business and how they have also helped others to lose weight

   3- Create 1, 2 or 3 Raving Fans who can provide testimonials for John’s work — both as a personal trainer and on-line provider — giving John the choice to go either way

3. IanB Says:
   April 21st, 2009 at 6:56 am

   1. He should deepen the niche.
   2. Find out what they want.
   3. Give it to them.

4. Paul Martinez Says:
   April 21st, 2009 at 6:58 am

   1.) Set up Google Adwords campaigns with conversion tracking, based around long-tail, less competitive keywords/keyphrases, w/local qualifiers (i.e., “Boston personal trainers”, etc.). Using the conversion information you get from this…

   2.) Create a least two sales letters (with autoresponder campaigns) and split test them to improve conversion. Consider offering a free or discounted version of the main product to increase the number of opt-ins. Focus on building a targeted, responsive list, not just selling the product right away.

   3.) Market to this list with other offers (your own products as well as affiliate offers) as well as giving them lots of relevant, useful (and free) information.

5. Thomas J. Raef Says:
   April 21st, 2009 at 7:10 am

   1. John should focus the little time he does have to micro niches within the personal fitness market. Maybe do search analysis on terms like: at home fitness, workout at home, home workouts, stay at home training and other similar terms. Maybe finding some smaller niches to really focus on would be a better tactic. He should look at who his typical client is. Is it someone who’s a stay-at-home Mom? Is it a busy executive? Is it someone training for a sport? Focus on his strengths and pursue those micro niches.

   2. Start video taping some testimonials. Putting the testimonials on his site might improve conversions. I know that when I hear someone talking about how much weight they lost after following some training regime, I’m more apt to listen further and maybe even try the product/service knowing that others have had great success with it. People who have just lost weight or improved their physical condition must be happy to sit in front of a camera and talk about how wonderful they feel. Which should be the focus of the testimonials. Rarely do people who are over weight or out of shape want to workout, but they sure do want to look and feel better.

   3. Offer other products. Start video taping various client sessions (with their permission obviously). This could be offered as a freebie or as part of a larger series of downloadable sessions that he could sell on his site. Also, look into selling weight loss products, exercise equipment, workout clothes, etc. that could be drop shipped from some supplier.

6. John Kane Says:
   April 21st, 2009 at 7:19 am

   What three specific steps should John take to bring traffic to his site and expand his online business?

   As you stated Harlan he has “no time to market or share it”. If so, then he won’t do anything.He must outsource.
   Unless that’s hyperbole, then some thing else I’d suggest.

   1)Get one of the inexpensive videocameras and record some testimonials and workout tips/clips and get them on video sites. At least Youtube. Recording a training with clients would add seconds to his work.
   The wife could do the uploading.
   2)Hire someone off forum to build a Squidoo lens to get email by offering sneak peek at the 30 day course. Maybe a 3 day free membership.
   3)He should have someone, maybe a current paying member, write a short report with some of the tips from his site and offer it free on forums. Pay with extra membership time or workout discounts.
   3b)Send press release to free press release sites promoting his effective course and web site.

   There may be a lot of competition but, as his clients are recommending him to friends, I would think a “rewards” program might boost his traffic. Be it discounts, extra sessions,etc.

   Perhaps co-op with local health food stores to place lead generation box for emails leading to web leading to free “X” to visit.
   Store could offer coupons for % off with certain $ purchase.
   He could also do seminar at store.
   If clients willing he should post before and after pix online with their testimonials.
   All in all it is tough for me to figure as I don’t know his budget for outsource fees, copy, etc.

   Thanks for the shot at an iPod,
   John

7. Kevin Dawson Says:
   April 21st, 2009 at 7:31 am

   I’m afraid this isn’t going to be glamorous or exciting, but without this foundation, everything else will be window dressing.

   He’s got to work on the basics, as John Carlton would say with his quick fixes report.

   1. Develop a USP. It’s a competitive market, so make differentiate yourself
   2. If PPC is too expensive, outsource some good writing to get articles for website content and directory submission. Include your newly found USP in the writings. And remember to include a high-powered resource box.
   3. Capture email addresses and start working your list. It’s the least expensive, both money and time wise, and the most profitable way to grow your income.

8. Amy Says:
   April 21st, 2009 at 7:36 am

   1. Hire a copywriter for his sales letter and squeeze page. Written directly to his niche audience.
   2. Do a few free workout videos with tip specific to his target audience and make them available on all video streams - point them to his site. even with a coupon code from video
   3. Offer an affiliate program to other fitness trainers who promote his product.

9. Ian Says:
   April 21st, 2009 at 7:40 am

   Sounds like the first thing you should do is find a way to stop working so much. Here is my suggestions on how to do that.

   Double (or triple) your fees and cut the time you work in half (use your new spare time to get your online business rocking)

   Here’s a couple ways you to raise your fees:

   Create a video recording of the workout routines you enjoy teaching the most. Use that as lead generation bait locally. If you want to do PPC try local google search to get clients.

   Run ads in the newspaper driving them to your page where you offer your workout DVD’s. (if you can’t afford media, offer to write an article in the newspaper on keeping fit and get them to plug you or pay you with media credit)

   Figure out a good REASON WHY people should pay you twice as much, and clearly articulate it.

   When you are booked solid and you’ve cut your time in half, sell your leads your workout products.

   Hope this helps.

   Ian

10. John Gilger Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 7:58 am

    “He doesn’t get enough traffic to his site to even evaluate whether his sales letter is effective.

    So…here is the question for you:
    What three specific steps should John take to bring traffic to his site and expand his online business so he can ditch his exhausting day job once and for all?”

    1. Put a blog on his site and post at least three time per week — Success stories, videos of clients’ testimonials, funny gym rat jokes…
    2. Sign up for Twitter
    3. Tweet often… each blog post as a minimum

    After the traffic is there, if the letter isn’t converting, call me.

    John

11. Mike McRitchie Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 8:20 am

    3 Tips to Ditch the Day Job

    Noting that there is a middle zone between the one on one personal training world he’s in now and full blown internet marketing…namely he should be looking at ways to leverage his time and expertise. Internet marketing of his ideas is a great component. Here’s some other ways to get from point A (personal training) to point Z (internet only business).

    1) Presenting to groups or group personal training (this would be through a joint venture with health clubs, physical therapy practices, large employers in the area, YMCA, etc.) Here he can get more money for the same amount of effort. This is also a good platform to present his personal training ideas - and offer checklists, guides, etc. to participants as a value added benefit, that would later be used on the internet side. With this presentation he can also build his email list that he could send out monthly or weekly tips that tie in his clients to him.

    2) Do a weekly radio show on local AM radio station - they are always looking for talent and fitness is always a hot topic.

    3) Do fitness routines on cruise ship - captive audience and a great way to build an email list.

    Mike

    P.S. Like others have said, clarifying your USP and using others (not trying to do it all yourself) is critical to your success.

12. Shawn LeBrun Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 8:23 am

    Here’s what I’d do, and what I’ve done, in this same niche…

    1. Highly targeted Google Adwords campaign. Also, try to joint venture with complimentary, but non competitive websites who can do an endorsed marketing campaign to their lists.

    2. If he can afford it, rent a mailing list of targeted buyers in his niche and send out a direct mail campaign., directing people to his site

    3. Try to get some remnant display ad space in targeted magazines like Men’s Health, Men’s fitness, Muscle and Fitness and try to offer a free report in those magazines to get people back to his site

13. Steve Markowski Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 8:28 am

    John should

    First, increase his price to his current clients. How much? Test until they say ouch. This will result in more cash and/or more free time.

    Next, use the new free time to work on those marketing functions he’s good at and enjoys, and use the extra cash to outsource everything else.

    Third, resell or create back-end products for his current and future clients.

    Fourth, quit his day job, rinse and repeat.

14. Loren Woirhaye Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 8:44 am

    Since PPC in not an option presumably he has no money to
    spend on advertising at all and is attracted to the common
    notion that the great thing about the internet is you can
    make a lot of money without spending any.

    He is also exhausted - despite being a fitness trainer who
    I would think might have a higher level of vitality. Perhaps
    his own health needs to be looked at - starting a business
    on top of a job does require a supply of energy.

    It sounds to me like John has a mindset problem, actually.

    As far as traffic goes most of the free methods he could
    try would feel like headbutting a curb. I don’t want to be
    a grouch - but I bet he’s tried writing some articles and
    making “friends” on social networking sites… but he’s still
    frustrated by how time-consuming such things can be and
    struggling to get strangers interested in losing weight with
    his system.

    Could it be that he’s in the wrong niche?

    It could be. I was a cabinetmaker - and I am totally not
    interested in making an info product about cabinetmaking.
    Why would I want to make a product about how to do something
    that wore me out? I actually see a parallel, because John’s
    job is wearing him out and then he’s trying to make an
    online business around the same topic. For me that would
    translate to poor enthusiasm - dunno about john, but in
    my experience when I have enthusiasm getting ideas is easier.

    3 way to get a lot of traffic:

    1. Referrals - Make business cards - could be large ones -
    with an advertisement for a very seductive offer. He should
    also get a referral program in place so he can give the cards
    to his supporters to hand out to people, with their referral
    number written on the card so they get credit.

    2. Publicity - Get booked on the radio as a guest. John’s
    may object to this because he wants an internet business.
    In my opinion the money is in TALK - not poking buttons - so
    if you can get people to listen to you talking in podcasts,
    on the radio, or in any other format you stand a good chance
    of winning a prospect. Mark Kaye put out a product about
    how to get on the radio - I went through it - it was excellent.

    3. JVs - Call health clubs and webmasters who own weight-loss
    websites or have lists of people who might want to lose
    weight. You can get a lot further talking to people than
    you can sending them JV requests via email. I suggest he
    call 25 potential JV partners a week and explore his options.

    It’s obvious these are not typical “internet marketing” approaches
    to getting traffic.

    Well, John has tried the “typical” approach I bet and what
    he got what a feeble trickle of traffic.

    I suggest he look at what he REALLY wants and assess what
    the most effective way to get it would be. I bet it isn’t
    driving traffic “online” - which is pretty boring in general.
    and also an activity where he won’t get the kind of energizing
    feedback from people he will get by speaking directly with them.

15. Jonas Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 8:47 am

    He should

    1. Use A LOT of testimonials from his satisfied clients
    2. Develop A LOT of free stuff and Update his site OFTEN
    2. Sharpen his Unique Selling Point by using KILLER powerwords

16. Jay Simcic Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 8:59 am

    First it seems as if John needs help because he doesn’t have everything he needs to be successful. When in that situation I would recommend hiring professionals until he can learn the in’s and out’s of the business. There’s nothing wrong with outsourcing the things you need to do. Besides there could be many more problems than what he thinks are wrong if he’s not tracking or testing.

    Here’s what I recommend to John…

    1. Hire Anthony Coyne with http://www.UltimateMarketingSolutions.com to do a Competitive Analysis on his market. This would allow him to get a pulse on what’s going on in his market, uncover hidden keywords, discover what’s working, and ultimately spy on his competition. He’ll get an inside look of his competition and have a plan of attack he can use to start driving traffic though PPC + SEO.

    2. Hire Jay Simcic with http://www.ProfitConvergenceInc.com to write profit boosting sales copy that brings home the bacon. With a professional sales letter touching the hot buttons of his target market he’ll be ready to send traffic to his site for the highest conversions.

    3. Hire Teran Dale with http://www.terandalemarketing.com/ to have a red hot PPC campaign created and started. John will hand Teran the competitive analysis (blueprint) done in step 1 and Teran will be able to create a high converting PPC campaign that gets only targeted click through rates to his site.

    John will see that by starting with these steps he’ll be able to have the money and the time to learn all the components of this business on his own… only if he wants too. You see, John doesn’t need to know or learn every component of his business as long as he knows how to find the people that can do it for him.

    I would suggest more but being you only asked for 3 things, that concludes my recommendations.

17. Leslie Campbell Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 9:05 am

    John has everything he needs to get traffic. He has real clients with real testimonials who will pose for photos for his website or blog. He can use his existing clients to build a list, and also give them free coaching time for getting their friends and family members to opt-in. It’s all about the list. He can host a free teleseminar where his real customers gush with enthusiasm about how John helped them meet their weight-loss and fitness goals. He can give conference participants a fitness checklist and a 15-min telephone conference to discuss it. He can give the same thing to the people who opt-in to his list. The personal attention he is selling to clients is what he can give away in small increments to his list, and his business will grow automatically.

18. Lyn Woodring Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 9:12 am

    First if you’re mentally and physcially exhausted then I think the 1st step is to simplify my personal training business. Maybe fire some troublesome customers. Or if you have enough prospects hire and train a few personal trainers and pay them a commission. Which should leave you more time for marketing and cut down on your workload and increasing your pay.

    That extra money and free time should allow you more time and money to outscource and to market your online business. Remember in this example you have spent more time marketing your off line business so you should have a better grasp overall of marketing.

    Blogs, social network site(s),articles, and your tube as well as JV. Course most of that falls under marketing.
    It just seems like to me that you should start with the basics and the offline business seems to be driving you “nuts.” So that’s where I’d start.
    -Lyn

19. George Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 9:26 am

    1. Convert the 30-day program into an ongoing program, including
    – A “Getting Started” eBook for a price; and
    – An ongoing daily training session subscription for, say, $99/month
    – 2 or 3 teaser videos

    2. Segment the sales letter into 3-5 parts that are emailed to a targeted list (clients, Adwords) announcing the release (pick an actual date) of the online training program. One email should be a survey, and the following emails and even the teaser videos should reflect the survey data – the program responds to specific customer issues.

    3. Go for it.

20. Mary Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 9:28 am

    1. Set short-term goals. He’s looking at the picture too widely. Plan a workable strategy that allows him to work steadily (i.e. Spend one hour every morning and 30 minutes in the evening) to reach weekly goals. Week one, set up Facebook, Wordpress or another social media platform to begin branding and creating buzz.
    2. Allocate funds for outsourcing articles for article marketing. Use a good, reliable copywriter. Get it done right the first time, or plan to pay the experienced copywriter later to fix the articles.
    3. Offer a free report for lead generating and have a follow-up newsletter series developed.

    Best Wishes John!

21. Mike d Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 10:46 am

    1) create customer community [discussion area] on (a) web site
    2) setup a competition:
    a) customers create/capture [video] a testimonials & submit to Youtube.
    b) provide lead-in and trailer frames for video to advertise the competition and web services (no entry accepted without…)
    c) customers and others get to select the best 3 testimonials to go onto main web page via the customer community - needs to be an open forum (customers are likely to get their family, friends to at least vote for them)
    3) offer customers [say] 2 free weeks for each person they introduce who continues beyond the 30 day trial time

22. Wes Waddell Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 11:02 am

    Short and simple:

    1. Twitter Account and set his old and new clients up to follow. Use it for daily tips and advice answers. At least weekly copy all to his BLOG Can tweet with cell while at clients homes and when advice for all comes up.

    2. FaceBook Account where he can connect his Tweets and more detailed advice and content along with photos and videos he wants to share. Vids could also be posted on other free vid sites with little extra effort.

    3. Website should be a free intro course and a paid members area. All current clients should be members to get extra info/advice/video demos and discounts on future DVDs and/or books.

    Content can be build using videos and audio interviews and training sessions he is already doing. Testimonials would be built in while talking to clients and associates. The main theme here is to take full advantage of what you already have to start a positive cash flow. Then use the cash to build on what you already have and to systemize it so that you soon have others doing the work leaving you to grow and promote the business.

23. Colin James Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 11:14 am

    1) The first thing John needs to do is re-structure his business model. He’s so busy chasing around going to client’s homes and not making effective use of his time. A much better strategy for profit is to start doing group bootcamps as a way to introduce his programs. Then instead of only seeing 4-5 clients / day at $100 / hour, netting $500 / day, he can now charge $60 x 10 students for 90 minutes. Now he makes more in 90 minutes than a full work day.

    I’ve used this strategy this with many professional golf instructors and it’s worked exceptionally well. They went from $80 / hour with lessons to $300 / hour with group clinics and $3000+ / day for golf schools.

    2) The second thing John needs to do is to take advantage of “Piggyback SEO” where he gets a top placement in Google and other search engines by linking to other high ranking sites. These sites can include Google local, YouTube, Squidoo, Hubpages, Craigslist, Ebay and other Web 2.0 sites. If he properly titles his listings and includes the high traffic search phrases in the copy of the listing, he can likely come up in the top page of a search. He can find details on how to do that at http://www.profitmarketingsecrets.com under the video “How to Advertise Business Online.”

    He’ll need to do some research in Google Adwords to discover the exact keyword search phrases that will have the highest traffic for his local niche. You can find more details on how to do that at http://www.profitmarketingsecrets.com on “How to Get Rich in A Niche.”

    3) John’s website should not be just about his programs otherwise he will continue to hit a glass ceiling. John should view his website as a portal for exceptional information on health, fitness and nutrition. Within that site he should have a blog where he writes articles and reviews on certain products that he can have affiliate commissions from. There are all kinds of things you can recommend, including weight loss programs, diet books, healthy cooking classes, etc. Just think of all the things these people want, including hot training outfits. Set up JV’s with all kinds of people by figuring out how to help your clients improve their life.

    John needs to become a recognized expert in the industry and freely share his knowledge and expertise. Putting up some simple video reviews of products is excellent. He can then post them through free video servers such Tubemogul. Again, if he uses the same approach to research and posting his videos, he can get top ranking for many micro-niches within his industry. He can also put these resources on a podcast and create his own radio show online. I used this strategy in the golf industry reviewing golf training aids and recently sold the website for a tidy profit, just because I had developed such a loyal following of subscribers.

    John, hope this is helpful for you. All the best in your venture. Colin James

24. Tim Oyler Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 11:16 am

    What three specific steps should John take to bring traffic to his site and expand his online business?

    1. Start a wordpress blog and start using Persuasion techniques through video and email.

    2. Hire a professional to manage his PPC and Seo campaigns.

    3. Start a social media campaign and drive people to a blog to capture there name and email.

    Tim

25. Carolyn Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 12:01 pm

    Assuming John WANTS to stay in the niche he is already in, then

    1. USE the existing customer base he already has to migrate some of their business to his website. What can he do with his EXISTING customers that he physically visits to migrate them to his web service? He has credibility with them already and his programs are working. What about saying that moving to the web would allow them to continue with him even when they are traveling, on vacation or at late hours of the night or morning? What about offering them a discount compared to his present service? What about being “live online” with a webcam to give them personal training without being physically present?

    2. USE the exisiting customer base (list) to refer business to his website. Give them free discount coupons for their friends / colleagues to try his system. The coupon sends them to the website and they sign up for their free 1 or 2 week trial.

    3. Target specific customer groups that need fitness. For example, what about physical fitness for victims of heart attack? Fitness for diabetics? Regaining your figure after childbirth? Fitness for those over 70? Fitness for people with hip replacement surgery? Dig into his background and experience to find a much more tightly focuses niche.

    Carolyn

26. Carl Willoughby Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    The first thing I would suggest for John to do, is to look over the statistics that he has gathered from his past PPC involvment. Pick out the keyword or keywords that have gotten the most impressions and the most clicks with the highest CTR.

    Those one, two or three keywords are the ones that he should concentrate on.
    Then, set up a seperate landing page for just those 2 or 3 keywords and have
    the copy on those 2 or 3 landing pages highly targeted to just the one keyword.

    He won’t go broke bidding on just one or two keywords, will have a high CTR and as a result will pay less Cost Per Click. This story on the landing pages should go something like this… Summer is coming. You don’t want to look flabby and out of shape.

    What you really want is to show off your new sexy body on the beach.
    Men will envy you. Women will admire you. Plus you’ll feel great and be healthy to boot. I know. I’ve been where you are.

    I’ve tried everything. This is what worked for me. (Something like that).
    Click here for my story and how I can help you. (Make sure you have a picture
    of a slim person on the page and let them click on the picture.

    This then takes them to a squeeze page where they will opt-in for your FREE Report or your video or audio or whatever information you want to give them.
    And make sure you give them some great free information.

    By setting your pages up this way, you will increase your quality score,
    plus you have their name and email so you can follow up.

    Next, set up your autoresponder to send out a message on day 1, day2, day 3 and day 4. After that, send a message every 4th day. Your message should be about half content and half marketing.

    You could give them some healthy recipes, and then tell them where to purchase the cookware or the juicer or whatever (through your affiliate link, of course).
    You could offer them a free workout (or sell them a workout video).

    To keep your PPC cost down, John can geo-target. For example, just run his PPC ad for his fitness training ONLY in his city. The CPC is much less this way.

    Over time, by running his highly targeted keyword ad for just one or two keywords, his CPC will become very reasonable, while all the newbiew and wannabees will run out of money and bail out of PPC (just like John did before).

    By doing it this way, John will be building a large list of interested prospects. Just keep feeding them information (every 4 days) and pitching related affiliate products and the sales will start to accelerate.

    When your system starts working reasonably well, expand to MSN and Yahoo.
    Set up a seperate campaign for the Google Content Network and advertise on your competitors sites.

    Finally, advertise on Craig’s List and try some offline advertising.

    Good Luck and Best Wishes,
    Carl Willoughby

27. Sarah M. Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    It seems John doesn’t have much time or money so here are my 3 suggestions…

    - Word of mouth marketing: since John is spending so much time doing his day job, might as well use that to benefit his online ventures. Offer an incentive for his current clients to recommend friends, family, etc. to his website for a free resource that then exposes them to the product. Continue into offline viral marketing.
    - SEO the website: since the market is rather saturated, SEM is going to be expensive and unlikely to bring any great results. Instead, focus should be made more on SEO: meta data, content, spreading lots of links around, etc.
    - Email lists: since it seems money is tight or not readily available (first option would be to rent a targeted email list to market to), John should visit forums related to fitness and offer advice as a professional, including a signature link in his posts for people to sign-up for a free tips newsletter that then leads to his sales page (rather than annoying the hell out of folks by blatantly plugging his product). It’s also a great place to do some research, surveys, etc. to find out what people want.

    At the end of the day, what John has to do is make sure he’s offering the right product to the right audience via the right media. The above suggestions cover all 3 requirements. The more time he can dedicate to the above, the better his results will be.

    Having a pro copywriter write his sales page is all fine and well but if no-one gets far enough to read it, it’s a waste of money.

    The answers John is looking for are right there in what he is currently doing, it’s just a case of pin-pointing them and implementation.

28. David Phillips Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 3:19 pm

    First thing to note is lack of traffic to his site. Without traffic there is no way to judge if anything is
    working. So
    1. Arrange to speak at local meetings as an expert on fitness and weight-loss. At these offer a 1 week sample
    of his thirty day course for optin information to build his list.
    2. Obtain written and video testimonials to use as handouts to increase response and optin rates.
    3. Offer incentives to his current clients for referrals to his website and thirty day online course. Also offer
    the 1 week free course for optin information on his website using a sign-up form on the page and an exit
    pop-up reiterating the free offer. Also use local papers for small space ads offering the free course as a
    reason to optin.

29. RogerRamjeet Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 4:52 pm

    Hi Harlan,

    Great question. You really know how to get people thinking.

    Anyway, I’m assuming John’s product is good. He’s building an optin. And that the copy is also good. (Although, you just want ways for John to generate traffic to his site right?! So I guess once we got traffic, we can tweak the other things later. Yeah. Ok.)

    So now, I call my traffic getting strategy as ” Target Tapping”. This is short for leveraging off other people. As you know, the more people working for you, the more chances you got of exploding traffic to your site. (And not to forget sales. All in the one hit too!)

    The 3 strategies John may wan to use to generate traffic to his website would be;

    1. Tap Into People With Lists

    To get “targeted traffic”, I’d make some videos and articles for people with lists. Like Eban says, I’d get John to share his best weight loss tip in a video or in a report. And then what he may want to do is give it away for free.

    Now, I’m sure John knows how to research the market. (And watching woman do “tandem Yoga” doesn’t count as research right?!)

    Anyway, John probably wants to write down all those people who (a) sell weight loss products and (b) have a list. Now once he’s got a list (doesn’t matter how many you got, as long as you “take action”), he may want to email or call these people. John may want to let them know “they can share this content with their list”. Also, it would be good to sell them on the video by saying something like “this technique helped 659 people lose weight. And you can email this content to your list for free.”

    You probably know that providing massive value in the video, people will have no hesitation to blast it out to their list. And if things go well, you get massive traffic for your site.

    2. Start Up An Affiliate Program

    This is another cool way to get traffic to your site. Have other people do all the marketing for you. That means, you just have to worry about conversions. Again, once you have joined an affiliate program like Clickbank, PayDotCom or another, you can approach other people to sell your product for you. I like to use the strategy in point 1 after I’ve got my affiliate program up and running. Yep. Write down a list of affiliates. Contact them. Offer them better commissions. And they will send you traffic.

    3. There’s No Need For Number 3 If You Do One And Two Properly!

    However, if you really need a 3rd way, I want to share with you a strategy which has worked for me in the past. Put your videos on Youtube. Once your video is up, search around Youtube for a video which is going viral and related to “weight loss”. Now here’s what you *may* want to do. Copy the exact keywords the viral video is using, and paste it in your keywords description for your video. What you *may see* happen is that your videos begin to show up as a “related video” to the viral one. I’ve had good success in the past with people clicking on a related video and getting traffic back to my site that way. Make sure you have the “http://yourwebsite” in the description. That way, you get a live link people can click on to get them to visit your website.

    Anyway, good luck with it.

    Oh. And Harlan. Is there any chance of you downloading your “NLP 2″ course on the winning Ipod? Would be fascinating listening.

30. BubbleBoy Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    I’m lazy…

    1. Hire Harlan Kilstein to write the copy and blast his list
    2. Hire Frank Kern to to put the Mass Control twist on the copy and blast his list
    3. Hire Jason Moffatt to create the ghetto videos and blast his list

31. Perry Droast Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    SEO traffic stategy

    1. Start blogging on his site 3 to 5 times a week using 300 to 700 word articles. Start by writing one article a week. Then 2 a week. Build up to 3 to 5 articles a week as his proficiency grows. Maybe spend a couple hours on the weekend. Just get started. Done right in a few months time or maybe less his natural page ranking should improve.

    2. Add some teaser video lessons posted on uTube and other video sites. Just long enough to teach one thing people want to know how to do to peak peoples interest and get them back to his site.

    3. Work on getting high value backlinks. Spend an hour a week until his articles and backlinks bring him onto the first page of Google. People like James Martell and Colin McDougall and Michael Campbell teach this sort of stuff.

    It’s always possible he could trade some personal training for some professional copywriting or professional article writing.

32. Sharon Hoehner Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    John could:

    1) Buy Ryan Lee’s book The Millionaire Workout
    2) Read one chapter daily (get up half an hour earlier and do it before fatigue sets in)
    3) Follow the steps in the book

    Results: become a mega-rich workout guru like Ryan Lee!

33. Hugh Thyer Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 8:03 pm

    Since the problem is not enough traffic, that’s what we need to tackle.

    So, the three strategies I’d suggest are:
    1. SEO. Sounds obvious, but the higher up the search engine rankings he can get the better. But to get someone good to do it, its not necessarily going to be cheap.

    2. Stop going after weight loss specifically and go after different markets who have overweight people in them. These days you’ll find them everywhere, so if he starts cheaper PPC advertising in most other niches he’ll find overweight people there. For example, he could go after overweight bird watchers, overweight train spotters, overweight car enthusiasts and so on. This market is everywhere so dont wait for them to specifically go looking for you.

    3. Get someone on the program and have them blog every day about their progress. People will want to follow because we have a fascination with other people’s lives. Use a PR service to send out a press release about the LIVE weight loss participant that you can follow every day. Use as many tricks to promote it as you can. It makes great proof for future promotions too!
    Not only that, the search engines will just LOVE it because of all the fresh content.

34. ashleyk Says:
    April 21st, 2009 at 8:22 pm

    1. Broaden the website content so that it draws in unsuspecting searchers, whether it be by unusual content or recipes that can offer you something that reache far beyond a workout.
    2. ShortVideo workouts online to create a sense of what he can offer–a testimonial in itself, with a range of clientele that are relatable to viewers.
    3. Lastly, patent a product or a program that is effective to any everyday consumer–take out a google ad or some sort of adveritising banner that comes up with any hit relating to fitness marketing his product–linking back to his website.

35. Johnson Says:
    April 22nd, 2009 at 6:11 am

    1. Presents his price in an “appealing” fashion without deceit. For examples, if his program currently sells for $197, he could offer a 7 day Free Trial after which the $197 charge would kick in if the prospect decides to continue and doesn’t cancel. This will help improve conversion many times.

    2. Work on his back-end. Contact the clients he has worked with and ask if they have further issues regarding their fitness which he could help them with, and in the process, “upsell” them on an advanced program.

    3. Joint ventures, absolutely. John could work with the local gyms and other personal trainers to “cross-promote” each other services.

36. Dawn Says:
    April 22nd, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    Personally, I think John’s right about weight-loss. The industry is HUGE. SEO & PPC are super-competitive, and for direct response, he’s competing against seasoned copywriters like Dan Kennedy. But, if he insists on moving forward:

    1. Leverage existing clients. They’re already recommending John. Give them incentives to send their friends to his website. For this to work, you need to get them on an email or RSS list, so he can contact them over and over. It could be special deals or a “hyper local blog”, but I recommend an informative newsletter with weight-loss tips, which he could then add to his website for link bait and long-tail search engine positioning. A weekly publishing schedule might push him to create content. Blogging software makes it easy to publish newsletters on the internet, but I think it’s extremely important to then be able to “push” the content to your subscribers. If he can’t find the right software, a website designer with short turn-around times could fill in. (See below.)

    2. Get help. There are two ways to get a business started: time and money. John doesn’t have time, so paying someone else to spend their time is a good option. Virtual assistants are often inexpensive and could help with many tasks related to the business. A website designer or online marketing person might also be a good investment.

    3. Joint ventures. When you need a list and search traffic isn’t going to help much, borrow someone else’s. I don’t think direct competitors will want to help much (such as personal trainers and gyms). Health food/supplement stores might be a good fit, if they have a list to borrow. People selling exercise equipment might be an even better match. Did you see the commercial with the video from the “Biggest Loser” personal trainer sold with the inclined treadmill? That’s added value to both products and people who buy either are good potential customers for the other, so sharing a list would be beneficial. Another good place to look would be for local nutritionists who help people with weight loss.

37. Jay Says:
    April 23rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm

    Let’s first re-examine John’s problem. He’s good at what he does, has satisfied clients who refer him business. He’s already created a website, and has a product to sell. He offers effective diet and exercise information that people can do at home. He has lots of great information, but no time to market his site. He attempted to do PPC, but feels the market is too competitive to succeed. And, he’s fortunate to have a supportive wife.

    John actually has a lot going in his favor.

    But you asked:

    What 3 specific steps should John take to bring traffic to his site and expand his online business so he can ditch his exhausting day job once and for all?

    Here are John’s 3 Specific Steps:

    #1 - John needs to partner with a professional marketer. John finds someone like ME, agrees to split his profits 50/50, so that he can concentrate on doing what he does best, as I do what I do best, which is generate traffic to his site, write the sales copy, help create more products, build JV and Affiliate relationships, etc.

    More on # 1 in a bit.

    #2 - We equip John with a video camera. With his clients written permission, we not only record John’s personal training sessions, we also record testimonials for use in his marketing.

    These videos will be used for product creation and as “money magnets”. For product creation, specifically a membership website as the back-end or up-sell to his already existing 30 day course. That 30 day course will be split into 2 courses. They will be niche specific, one specifically for women, and the other specifically for men. The copy will be altered by me for each.

    Additionally, I will optimize those videos for top search engine placement, which will help to drive traffic to the website. A YouTube Channel will be created as well, and used to drive traffic to the site.

    A Twitter account will be established, and I will search for those both looking for weight loss information, and those already in the weight loss business. We will release the videos through Twitter. And I will tweet valuable weight loss information, building John’s credibility as THE expert in weight loss on Twitter.

    Moreover, we will begin to craft John’s “character”, using Mass Control concepts. Specifically, Reluctant Hero, Us vs. Them and Home town boy makes good. These characters will be woven into the videos and copy, and EVERYTHING we do.

    Back to #1: I will then seek out others who are already doing well in the weight loss market (such as Mike Geary, Jon Benson, Craig Ballentyne, etc.) , and using tools such as Mike Filsame’s “Hyperjava” (which I already own), we will ask them to offer our products on their “Thank You” pages for their products. We will pay them as an Affiliate.

    This will be the start to my building an Affiliate base to sell John’s Products. This will be attractive to Affiliates as some will be continuity based products.

    Additionally, I will seek out others in the market and offer to do interviews, so we can begin to add valuable content to our membership website. I will search out other experts, in places like RTIR.com, again to do interviews to add new content to our membership site.

    #3 - John will cease doing individual client personal training, unless it is for a high-end client at significantly more money. Instead, we will start doing “Bootcamps” with larger audiences. We will test these as a way to drive more sales to the 30 day online course, and then to the membership site/product.

    At this point, John’s time will be better spent creating new products, including e-books, DVD workouts, CD courses on nutrition, etc.

    John is a LOT closer to success than he realizes. The market, while competitive, is ready for a new face with a new message. John just needs the right partner.

38. Don Kaufman Says:
    April 24th, 2009 at 5:01 am

    Poor John. If he really hopes to succeed…
    1) Invest in Allison’s D-I-Y copywriting materials; his copy doubtless needs her guidance
    2) Jump into local Internet advertising to get found fast by prospects in his geo
    3) Twit away — his potential clients are there for the picking.

39. Tess Taylor Says:
    April 24th, 2009 at 7:00 am

    1. Hire a skilled copywriter or build a team of writers to produce articles to direct traffic to his site.
    2. Evaluate popular SEO keywords and start using them on the site & articles.
    3. Use social networking tools like Facebook,Twitter, Linked In to get the word out there.

40. Talmage Shipman Says:
    April 24th, 2009 at 8:28 am

    It seems to me he has 3 problems to solve.

    First is delivery of his service. Little detail was provided but it seems to be nearly a one on one process. This needs to be automated and systemitized. Videos, audios, excercise schedules and menu plans can all be produced economically; especially in a downloadable format.

    His second problem is time. I have one of two solutions to offer for this problem. First: consider cutting back on his current clients to make 60 to 90 minutes a day so that he can work on his online business. But I am going to make an assumption that his education in online marketing has gaps. There are amazing resources available on Youtube.com to fill in the gaps and eBay has many inexpensive courses available to complete his education. Concentrate on free and low cost marketing methods like video submission, blogging and social marketing. Second: Consider hiring a virtual assistant to offload his workload. You can hire college educated people in other countries for very good rates. Monitoring someone else can be done in a fraction of the time it takes to do it yourself.

    His third problem is his mindset. After the psycho-babble is over the truth is you do what is important to you. It doesn’t matter what it is, you will make time to do what you really want to do. John needs to decide whether he wants to be an online entrepreneur or a personal trainer. He has all the basis he needs to transfer his efforts to online. He just needs to make a decision on which he wants to do. It is implied by the outline above that John has not yet made a decision. I will say that the support of his wife is a tremendous asset. Go for it John!

41. jonathan Says:
    April 24th, 2009 at 6:21 pm

    1. Create a new market and change the paradigm.

    2.Offer it to only people over 350 lbs for free or something to like this to stand out. This will allow him to show some extreme examples.

    3. Charge more than anyone else.

42. Paul Says:
    April 25th, 2009 at 10:22 pm

    I think the idea of hiring someone to write a better sales letter, driving more traffic are all missing the point if we are talking long-term success.

    Yeah you could write a fancy sales letter, drive traffic and sell some magic ab machine that will sit in someones closet (diet is way more important than crunches) but I don’t think that’s what John is about.

    I won’t give three ideas, but I’ll give you two people you should consider looking at and possibly modeling. Layne Norton is the first. He’s a natural pro bodybuilder and I pay him for training and diet consultation.

    He’s finishing up his Phd and has competed as a pro in natural bodybuilding contests. He’s one of the main authorities on natural bodybuilding (no roids). He started grass roots in bodybuilding forums, answering questions, giving great content, until the users of the forum demanded he was given his own section. From there the users helped demand he become a regular writer for Muscular Development magazine. His articles are published in other magazines also I believe.

    He gave away tons of free content on bodybuilding.com and his section of the musculardevelopment.com forum is 236 pages long, has over 6,000 replies and over 250k views. It takes a good week to get thru it if you are starting from the beginning. He’s been responding to questions in there for years. . He created so much demand and interest I doubt he could turn it off if he wanted to.

    Whether Layne has monetized this correctly could be up for debate, but he’s got a good amount of consulting clients that he handles remotely and probably does pretty well, he’s got a video out and has sponsors too, but there isn’t a ton of money in natural bodybuilding.

    I guess what I’m trying to say is that John has to become intimately involved in the niche he selects. Anything short of that will be sniffed out by rabid fans. If you want lifelong customers part of an approach like Layne is necessary.

    Put it in internet marketing or copywriting terms. Those of us that are into internet marketing (probbly everyone reading this duh) and copywriting aren’t going to be seduced by a one off sales letter and fancy new product from a no name. At least not without some strong introductions from people we know. We buy mostly from the guys that have been around and you could probably count them on two hands. Even Harlan’s overnight success wasn’t overnight and had some pretty strong backing.

    Here’s the other guy to take a look at http://www.nordinez.com/ a former Mr. Universe.

    Hope that helps!

43. Kelly Says:
    April 28th, 2009 at 10:29 am

    Problem: . . .many trainers offering programs similar to his . . .
    Solution: Figure out what makes his product unique. Do this by asking current clients, “what made you use my program instead of the other guy?” Dig deep for the real answer.

    Problem: He has lots of great information…but has no time to market and share it.
    Solution: Stop making lame-a$$ excuses. Everyone has 24hrs in day. Either set 30-minutes a day to market the information yourself or hire some that knows how to do it. Marketing is the fuel that drives your business, if you have no time for that, you don’t have time for a business.

    Problem: He tried pay-per-click (PPC) but because the niche is so competitive, he couldn’t afford to stay in the running for long. He doesn’t get enough traffic to his site to even evaluate whether his sales letter is effective.

    Solution: Rent a targeted prospect list from SRDS or local business and direct mail 500 letters to the hungriest market. You will know in one week if you have a winner, loser or so-so. PPC is too passive in the fitness market.

    If his product is really so good and effective as he says, give it away for free for 10 days. Get feedback from people who used it. What they liked, disliked, what flipped them, what could be better, etc. This will tell you how they want to be sold. If you can’t give it away, dump the loser product and move on because if you can’t give it away, you sure as heck can’t sell it! There’s no perceived value.

Leave a Reply