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Archive for the 'Creative Ideas' Category


email management made SUPER SIMPLE

I’ve just recorded a VERY short video (under 5 minutes) that will almost certainly save you 20 minutes per day if not HOURS. This video contains a couple VERY SIMPLE yet VERY POWERFUL and FREE tips to help you spend less time on email while being better at managing it.

The fact is I probably get 10 times as much email as you do and I spend a fraction of the time managing it that you do.

Stop wasting time on email! Here’s a link to the video where I show my secrets:

http://www.SilentSalesMachine.com/emailtip.htm

Got a comment? Leave it below - use the comment button just below this message!

TROUBLE VIEWING THE VIDEO? Check out the YouTube version:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=39R_4lMr8jo


Virtual Smart Agent

MySilentTeam.com contributing expert Dave Guindon is also a fantastic programmer and he’s just come up with an amazing idea for promoting ANY website. It’s called “Virtual Smart Agent”. This simple to install tool WILL (guaranteed) boost opt-in’s and sales conversions. Check out:

http://www.Virtual-Smart-Agent.com


A peek into my autopilot income streams strategy…

I’ve just created a video that is a first ever “behind the scenes” look at some of the income streams I have going on the Internet. View the video on this page:

http://www.mysilentteam.com/public/311.cfm

After you watch it please use the small comment link below this post to let me know what you think. If you are interested you can also use the links below the video to investigate the opportunity of coaching.

I’m getting more excited all the time about my plans to work one-on-one with some of my loyal readers and students in 2008!


Another example of a $100K niche on eBay to learn from

I love finding good examples for you of successful sellers on eBay that have carved out a COMPETITION PROOF niche market for themselves. There are THOUSANDS of possibilities and I want to show you another one I’ve just found…

Thanks to a recent comment left on my blog I investigated an eBay seller in the “cowboy” niche market.

Click HERE to see his recent auctions and the profits he’s made.

Many of the items he’s selling are simple DVD projects that could be done easily by just about anyone. The profit margin is astounding, and he’s building a great niche business.

There are several things this seller could be doing differently to DRAMATICALLY ramp up profits and lower his time commitment and risks, but overall it’s a good business they have carved out.

I’ve just started a new online discussion on the chat forum of MySilentTeam.com where we’ll be discussing this business. JOIN US by joining MySilentTeam.com!

Here are some questions we’ll be asking/answering in the discussion:

o Can you list 10 more ways this seller could be making AUT0PILOT-PR0FIT from this niche?
o Are you at a loss as to how to carve your own similar niche on eBay or the Internet?
o How important is it that this seller be passionate about this niche?
o How many niche market ideas are still untapped?
o How can you find your own niche like this?
o Besides DVD video what other high profit items might be sold by this seller?
o What simple task could this seller do TODAY to ramp up his monthly profits by 200% or more within a month?

Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog as well!


Can you really sell your own homemade DVD on eBay?

Every few weeks or so I get an email from MySilentTeam.com contributing expert Terrance about another great example of someone selling a simple home made DVD successfully on eBay. He’s got a great book about it and it’s inspiring some cool success stories.

The beauty of having your own DVD to sell on eBay is the ease of adding inventory (just burn more copies) and the high profit margins. You don’t have to be technically skilled either - you can keep it all pretty simple.

Here’s some recent results from one fan of Terrance’s approach to eBay success:

Hot air balloon dvd selling on eBay

You may think that $14.95 is a small profit, but keep in mind you can make as many different DVD’s as you want and there are over 12 other ways to profit besides just selling them on eBay. You could start a membership site, or have a related simple webpage with additional info covered with Google Adsense ads, or start a mailing list for enthusiasts…the ideas are endless. A DVD is a great niche product to build a business around.

Don’t worry about editing. Terrance does virtually NO editing on some of his most successful DVD projects. It can be as simple as point, shoot, and rewind if you want to cut something out.

Looking for ideas? Terrance suggests hitting local events and festivals. Interview the enthusiasts there (always ready to talk) and take footage of the sights and sounds. True fans will eat it up. For more ideas check out Terrance’s book. If you want to discuss these ideas (and other creative ways to profit on eBay and the Internet) you need a membership to MySilentTeam.com. About 1,200 members gather there to learn details on ideas like this one, interact with experts, and discuss strategies in our forums.

Want more ideas? Check out the video I made several months ago with many other examples of successful homemade DVD sellers on eBay. Click here to watch it

I love feedback - leave your comments below by clicking the comment link.


What would you tell this eBay seller?

I’ve just found an eBay seller that I think will inspire and challenge you!

    Here’s what they are doing RIGHT:

  • making a nice steady AUTO PILOT (hands free) income. 100% automated
  • the only product they sell is delivered via email to buying customers
  • they’ve been doing it for awhile! They have over 4,000 feedback comments since 2003
  • as an example, yesterday, Nov 4th I totaled up their FRONT END profits to be about $100 (about average)
  • BACK END profits (much higher recurring profit) from a membership site related to their product
  • It’s a great example of a business using some of the “Silent Sales Machine” techniques I teach in my best seller sold only at SilentSalesMachine.com (a little plug can’t hurt)

    I’ll give you a link so you can see this creative eBay seller in a moment…but before I do here’s my request:

    This seller could still use a little help!

    With a couple of simple tweaks to their business this seller could be making a lot more profit for NO LESS daily work. What simple improvements would you suggest to triple their results literally OVERNIGHT? Use the creative ideas you’ve learned from this newsletter and from the SilentSalesMachine.com book and share your thoughts with the rest of us!

    I’ll reveal my answer in an upcoming newsletter, but first I want to know…what do you think?

  • HERE’S A LINK TO SEE THIS SELLERS ACCOUNT ON EBAY: CLICK HERE
  • HERE’S A LINK TO SEE ALL THE SALES FROM THE LAST 30 DAYS: CLICK HERE
  • To leave a comment or read the ideas others have submitted please click on the “comment” link just below this article.

    JIM’s OFFICIAL RESPONSE IS COMMENT #64 but don’t skip the other fantastic contributions that left very little for me to say! Click the “comment” link below to read the replies or leave your own.


    Driving traffic to ANY site (especially for BANS users)

    In today’s newsletter I told you about BANS. It’s the BEST way I’ve found to easily tap into eBay’s affiliate program even if you can’t program a website.

    BANS stands for “Build a Niche eBay Store”. It’s not a store where you sell YOUR stuff though. It’s a store where you sell all the niche products on eBay as listed by other sellers! It’s true hands free income.

    BANS allows you to build niche stores around any eBay product category and then customize it to your audience easily. It’s all push button easy to learn and better yet…you can start cashing in on the eBay affiliate program that pays VERY well.

    Several MySilentTeam.com members are reporting fast success with BANS.

    Here are some top traffic strategies and tips from the most successful BANS users:

    1. Remember that the ever changing “eBay Product Content” Provides The Foundation For Your Search Engine Rankings

    All of the product listings in your store include the keywords which potential buyers will be entering into the search engines to find those very products. All of this product content is search engine friendly and updates regularly as old listings expire and new listings are added to the eBay marketplace. With BANS you automatically have content rich pages with relevant keywords to start your free search engine traffic rolling.

    2. Keyword Targeting And SEO

    Taking this content foundation, the first way to improve your search engine rankings is to perform keyword research to find the exact keywords that your target market is searching for. By finding the exact keyword phrases you can get an edge over your search engine competition by refining the title tags and page urls of your store pages (from inside your BANS admin panel) and also by creating new store pages beyond the default ones which BANS will create when you select the niche you are going to target (again from inside your BANS admin panel). New store pages means your store targets more keywords.

    3. Content Creation

    With a good understanding of the keywords your target market is using from number 2 you can then begin to add content pages to your store so that it targets even more of your markets keywords in the search engines. Product reviews are a great way to attract and convert more visitors into eBay buyers.

    4. Directory Submissions

    While “general” directories do not offer much value, directories related to your specific niche can be a great traffic source and will also give you a valuable inbound link which will assist your natural search engine rankings.

    5. Forum Marketing

    Forums and community boards related to your niche hold many potential purchasers and by including a link to your niche store or a particular product in your niche store and making insightful posts you can funnel a large amount of targeted visitors out of the forums and into your eBay affiliate store.

    6. Article Marketing

    Writing and submitting articles to directories like ezinearticles.com gets you targeted traffic in two ways. Firstly, the top article directories have a good standing with the search engines and you will often find your article ranking highly for its target keywords. Internet browsers go from the search engines to your article and onto your niche store which you will have linked to in the author bio box at the bottom of your article. Secondly, other webmaster, bloggers and ezine publishers use the articles in these directories as content for their visitors. This means that more people find your store through your author bio box and the additional inbound links your articles generate will indirectly increase your search engine rankings.

    7. Craigslist

    Posting an advertisement on Craigslist for a particular product or type of product found in your niche store can be a very effective way to bring people who are actively looking to buy through to your store and onto eBay. Craigslist listings are also starting to appear on Google.com in natural search results!

    8. PPC

    A Pay-Per-Click advertising campaign done correctly will bring targeted traffic through to your store at a rate and for a profit which can be easily calculated and monitored. If you can master PPC there are big opportunities for funnelling people through to eBay via your stores.

    Finding the right PPC keywords and sending traffic to your niche site could bring you INSTANT results.

    There are also numerous ways to drive traffic FROM EBAY to your niche site. Be careful not to violate eBay policy when doing this, but the book found at SilentSalesMachine.com has many great ideas in it!


    Profit for selling nothing

    This article originally ran in Jan ‘07, but I’ve added some updates to put a new twist on this great idea.One of the most creative ways to profit using eBay that I’ve ever encountered actually involves SELLING NOTHING from your own eBay account.

    Let me explain.

    You can partner with powersellers on eBay to “back end” sell eBooks and other easily delivered products (products you write/create or products created by others).

    Take advantage of the huge customer base and massive traffic exposure of the powerseller and split the profits you help them uncover. My estimate is that 95% of all powersellers on eBay have NO IDEA how to do this.

    These partnerships can be tricky to establish and must be built on trust. You have to be sure not to violate eBay policy in the establishment of these partnerships (be careful how you approach other sellers to avoid being accused of spam).

    …but when done right this is a VERY simple and powerful concept.

    EXAMPLE: Many eBay sellers running a large number of auctions could be adding 50 or more new leads to their email list every day…but they have no idea how to do it or why they even should.

    Let’s step through one example:
    o Powersellers get a lot of traffic to their auctions
    o Most powersellers do NO “back-end” marketing
    o A simple aweber.com name and email capture form on their about me page would yield great results
    o There are many ebooks to be found that would make GREAT up-sells and back-end sales for the eBay customers that join the mailing list
    o You could easily sell a product found on clickbank.com and share the profits with your eBay powerseller partner

    Another possibility:

    Most eBay sellers are very intimidated at the thought of adding video to their auction, but we know the power of video right? (There are several recent videos about the power of adding video to your eBay auctions on this blog

    Do you see where I am going with this? High volume sellers on eBay are great potential partners!

    You need to know the rules though when using these strategies.

    For example, you MAY NOT invite eBay customers to join your mailing list from within your auction listings.

    You MAY NOT send an email to your eBay customers with the sole intent of inviting them to join your mailing list.

    You CAN invite your customers to join your mailing list using your “About Me” page.

    You CAN invite customers to join your mailing list as part of any email follow up message you send them (don’t make the invitation the main point of the email).

    The vast majority of eBay powersellers would be delighted to be able to take back some of the control of their business from eBay. As a reader of this newsletter you hold the keys to helping them do that.

    As a reminder these kinds of ideas are what we are all about at MySilentTeam.com and it’s the kind of thing that my book (Silent Sales Machine) is full of.

    Stay creative!

    Be sure to leave a comment with your thoughts on this article! I love to hear from you.


    Videos get clicks. Let’s drive some eBay traffic! (VIDEO)

    In the newsletter that went out today I talked about a new idea for driving traffic from eBay to affiliate programs, opt-in lists, or websites without violating eBay policy.

    Experienced eBay sellers and those familiar with the “about me” page can skip forward to about the 2:17 mark. The front end of the video is for “newbies”.

    For EVERYONE though - this is an idea you haven’t seen before!

    CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

    Alternate links to video:
    YouTube
    FreeIQ

    Please leave me your feedback after you watch it.


    Use a “funnel” to put the most powerful word in marketing to use for any biz.

    More leads than you can handle - that’s what I’m calling this video:

    Click HERE to watch it

    Stop by and leave your feedback below once you watch it! Just click on the small “comment” link.

    I’m anticipating a lot of viewers…so check back later if you have trouble or…

    Alternate lower quality links to video:
    YouTube
    FreeIQ

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