You’re desperate for money. You’ll do anything to make a couple hundred dollars by next Monday to get your mortgage paid, or buy better gifts this Christmas. We all understand that. But keep your ethics intact and realize that short of offering services to other successful marketers, you’re not going to become successful by just focusing on making a quick buck.
Quick cash thinking is a thing of the past. Or, at least, it ought to be. Many are still clinging to it, but most successful marketers are fairly honest about how this is something you build up over time by giving value and putting greed on the backburner.
Quit thinking keywords and start thinking, “How may I serve?” If you follow this formula, the money will find an easier path to your door because people will inherently trust what you are doing.
Over-delivering is a tactic in itself – just not one that creates as much quick money as walking up and pick pocketing someone who’s not paying attention to their wallet (which is what scam artists do online).
How can you create big value in your niche? Start by giving away something to your opt in prospects that really represents the kind of value you want to be known for. No quick, sloppily slapped together reports that aren’t organized or that resemble nothing more than a sales letter.
Make sure your email autoresponder system is queued up with dozens upon dozens of heartfelt communications with your list. Don’t make it cold and pushy. Offer tips in each email you send out. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering, but it should be honest and helpful.
Blog like it’s a friendly, two-way conversation with your prospective buyers. Don’t speak TO them. Have a discussion WITH them. Value their insight as much as you’d like them to value yours.
Visit forums and your competitors’ blogs to see what your target audience is discussing outside of your presence. Bring those topics back to your domain for a dissection by you and input from your readers.
Sometimes, put something together at no cost for your audience for no other reason than wanting to provide value. If everything you put out has a price tag on it, then it speaks volumes about your purpose. No one is saying you should work for free, but most leaders are proving their worth – and you don’t want to build a reputation as someone who squeezes every last penny out of your audience.
Greed is going to be so transparent in 2012 when it comes to online marketing – and a lot of that will have to do with how search engines rank sites because on quality content and sharing among your target audience.
