MarcsBusiness.com

5 Steps To Building a Profitable Website

marcaarons — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 01:40:05 +0000

After literally years of prodding from friends, one in particular, I’m getting ready to launch a new website with the goal of helping a minimum of 1000 people become successful online.

Why now?

Over the last 2.5 years of running mobile-broadband-reviews.com, I’ve been able to help over 2600 people like you find solutions to their biggest frustration with mobile broadband through the Mobile Broadband Buyer’s Guide (E-Course).

In doing that, I learned the specific and systematic methods to running a profitable business online by providing real solutions to people’s problems and I’m very thankful for the opportunity to do that. While my first instinct was to move faster than the running of the bulls in Spain, I stopped for a second to ask a couple questions (7 actually) that’d completely shift my focus.

Instead of shooting in the dark, I asked MBR readers“what’s your biggest frustration with building a profitable website” (feel free to join in on the fun). In exchange, I created a “5 Steps to Building a Profitable Website” Teleclass just for them designed to answer their specific issues.

Instead of privately hosting that teleconference, I decided it’d be much more beneficial for everyone to be able to access it for free. Be sure to stick around till the end for an offer I thought of on the spot valued at a minimum of $2000.

I cover specifically the 5 Steps to Building a Profitable Website, how I did it with no technical or academic background in computers and specific examples for you to take action and start seeing results immediately. It’s an in-depth interview and split into two parts (due to some slight technical difficulties, no background in techy stuff remember?).

Have fun, I know I did.

5 Steps to Building a Profitable Website – Part 1

5 Steps to Building a Profitable Website – Part 2

If you like what you hear, join the waiting list below (but only do so if you’ve listened to the call and genuinely want to be a part of what’s going on. As I mention on the call, my time is limited and I’ll only be working with the committed people who follow through on their word).

I look forward to hearing from you.

To Your Success,

Marc

3 Words That’ll Mess Up Your Day

marcaarons — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:13:29 +0000

“Take a seat”

Or “tek a seat” rather. Either way, you don’t need to speak Jamaican patois to figure that out.

“Look pon dis”

Engine vomit is not cute

Honda, we have a problem

A blind man could see that an engine’s not supposed to look like that. Shit, it’s so bad my Jamaican mechanic just stopped using words all together. The tired man just raised his eyebrow, shook his head slowly and drew a lazy line across his neck.

“It’s done”

At least 4 of his other handymen are all gathered round staring at the engine by this time.

He breaks the silence once more.

“You ever seen anything like that?”

They all shake their heads. Heck, I’m no mechanic and I knew it was bad. You don’t need a GED to figure hot oil spewing out a head gasket = fail. The diagnostic came next:

“Marc, I can fix anything. I never back down from a challenge. But this…this can’t be fixed”

It’s true. This man opens his shop at 9am and I’ve seen him close regularly at 11pm. He’s one of the hardest working men in the business. He’s like a neurosurgeon for cars complete with price quotes for random parts cuz he does it so much.

Funny enough, I wasn’t upset, angry, sad or anything like that. A not so strange calm always seemed to tip-toe a couple steps behind. I’d known for a couple months I needed a new car. I’d been pushing the poor thing to the limit. I’d been cruising to St. George’s Island, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Tampa, Miami and Timbuktu for good measure.

This sturdy 14 year old shiny red rock is as faithful a sidekick as they come. Did I expect the engine to die? Nah. Who would? I figured I’d have at least till the end of the year.

My ’94 Honda Accord felt differently. She was choking car blood and it wasn’t pretty. Now she was in the ER.

“How much?”

The question that echoes to eternity. It was there when I replaced the automatic transmission, the oil pan gasket, distributor o-ring, radiator fan & cap, timing belt, water pump, rear brake pads, muffler, variable speed sensor, tires, & headlights.

I grew tired of how much.

Ready for a new car but without the cash, a new engine’s my only bet. New car? Ha! Not with my pungent distate for debt. I hate bills. I feel like debt is the 21st century version of slavery. I look to break the shackles of captivity every damn day.

“You need a new engine. Parts, $600, Labor $475″

$1075?? Ugh…

Just a month earlier I replaced the transmission for $800. I’ve put more money into this car than what I even paid for it. It sucks. Big time.

I bite the bullet. Not wasting one more second than I have to. To the ATM we go.

My 15 min temporary truck

As I drive my mechanic’s jalopy of a work truck to the bank to get the cash for the engine, I try to keep things in perspective.

It could’ve been worse.

At least I have a car…well had a car.

At least my ride isn’t this broke, busted and disgusted truck that’s already shut off on me once.

Shoot, I can hear Malika now: “you know how many people would love to be in your position? To even be able to fix that with cash? You so damn spoiled!!!”

Well hey, 2 years ago I was dying to be spoiled.

Since learning how to build a profitable website, I’ve been able to cushion myself against hardships in life.

Have I hit my early retirement? Not yet. I’m working on it though. For now, my online business works as a financial airbag for the accidents that inevitably happen in life.

To be honest? I wish everyone had one. It’s part of the reason why MarcsBusiness.com exists.

While I’ve got my own Get out of Jail Free card, I’m working on my online business blueprint that’ll help my friends I have now as well as those I have yet to meet. I think everyone could use an extra revenue stream. Is the way I’m proposing for everyone? Probably not. Is it worth checking out? I definitely think so. After all, every man & woman is responsible for their personal bailout package.

What’s your Plan B (where B = bailout)? If you don’t have one, what’s stopping you? Drop a line in the comments. You just might help or be helped by someone you never met.

Why Aren’t You Mad As Hell?

marcaarons — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:29:38 +0000

“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job.

"I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad"

The dollar buys a nickel’s worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it.

We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be!

We all know things are bad — worse than bad — they’re crazy.

It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we’re living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, “Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.”

Well, I’m not going to leave you alone.

I want you to get mad!

I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot. I don’t want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street.

All I know is that first, you’ve got to get mad.

You’ve gotta say, “I’m a human being, goddammit! My life has value!”

So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell,

“I’m as mad as hell,

and I’m not going to take this anymore!!”

- Howard Beale
Network – 1976

Why Your Website Will Crash, Burn & Make No Money (In That Order)

marcaarons — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:10:26 +0000

No Money

Google has indexed over 1 trillion pages.

Most of those pages have sucky designs, don’t get updated, are forgotten and don’t make any money.

For all intensive purposes, they’re like digital flyers that people look at for 5 seconds before dumping into the nearest garbage bin.

Here’s why that happens:

The majority of people that build websites do not know the critical counterintuitive concepts that bring home the bacon.

They don’t know how to write copy that strikes the heart, stirs the soul and awakens the appetite of their visitors.

They don’t know that their bad graphics and site design are making people click the back button faster than a plunging stock market.

They definitely don’t know how to magnetize their message to attract and convert browsers to buyers with an irresistible web prescence.

They just…don’t know.

Instead, they act on arbitrary internal dialogue like “hey, I think this might be kind of cool”. Using no specific scientific method to measure success (or failure in their case), they end up six months later with virtually no traffic, no money and a website that looks like an 8^th grade science project. Coming to think of it, a couple 8^th graders would probably do better.

The greatest tragedy is their complete lack of awareness about exactly how much money they didn’t make.

Never knowing the lifestyle that could have been, it all remains a distant dream being sold to them by some savvy slick internet marketer. Frustrated, they resign themselves to a life of destitute mediocrity by pouring the brightest, creative, and energetic hours of their day into someone else’s dream.

In other words, they work a job.

Now, that’s all gravy if your intention was just to play on the web and say “Hey Mom! Look at me! I built my very own website!!”

How sweet.

You might be saying to yourself, “Hey! that’s not me”.

True. It’s not.

Let me ask you this though:

Are you making a webpage right now or reading one?
Do you have cashflow from a website right now or none?
Is your traffic growing or dying?

Wait, do you have a website?

Don’t be offended.I’ll only ask the tough questions to jolt you into reality. Besides, a little over a year ago I didn’t have one either. Awareness is the first step. Actualization is the last. We’ll get there.

Is your intention is to build an asset that generates a positive monthly cash flow in order to:

1. Pay off your credit card debt

2. Cover your monthly rent

3. Cover groceries

4. Cell phone bill

5. Internet bill

6. Utilities

If it is, you’ll need to do more than just read that Dreamweaver book at your Barnes & Noble. Don’t you dare do yourself the injustice of believing that’s gonna make you money.

Think about it.

Lots of folks know how to make a good burger. How many of them have a McDonald’s or Burger King to multi-national cash cow dynasty.

Are you with me?

There’s more to it than making a pretty website. It’s more than just writing good content. It’s more than search engine optimization. While those are components of a good website, there’s more to this thing.

If you’re to accomplish the great things you desire, you’ll need more than a website. You’ll need a web business.

According to Merriam-Webster a website is “a group of pages containing hyperlinks to each other and made available online”. On the other hand, a business is “a commercial or merchantile activity engaged in as a means of livelihood”. In other words, a business will feed your kids. A website might not.

So, when you blend the two, you’ve got a ‘a group of pages containing hyperlinks to each other online that facilitates commercial activity as a means of livelihood’. In english, a web business is a website that can feed you and yours.

Doesn’t sound too bad eh?

Shiii.., if you think about it, you’ve already got permanent bills that will exist for the rest of your life. Isn’t it about time you created some permanent income for yourself?

To do that, you’ll need to understand the fundamentals of running an online business. One key component is researching and developing your site concept. This will lay the foundation of your future wealth as you discover how many people are interested in your site topics.

You will also need to understand the inner game and outer game concepts that make it work. It would probably help if someone who has already been there and done that shared valuable tips like:

Using Microsoft Vista’s built-in (read: free) speech recognition software to create articles and webpages at 120 words per minute instead of the usual 50 words per minute most people type at (hint: I dictated this article when I woke up…I’m still in bed by the way).

Most of your Google Adsense revenue will come from the 300×250 Medium Rectangle because more advertisers create ads for that size. Placing it above the fold (where visitors can see it without scrolling down) can double or triple your daily revenue.

You can grab high quality, royalty free images in high definition to lock in your visitors wandering eyes for free using www.sxc.hu or www.freefoto.com.

Last but definitely not least, you’ll need to learn how to drive interested and qualified traffic to your site, build rapport and relationships with those visitors, and then do a money dance when they send you emails that read:

“How can I give you money because you’ve helped me so much?”

I’ll cover how to do make people ask you that. However, you’ll need to create your money dance. Mine’s already taken.

There are 5 critical steps that you, as a business owner, must take in order to create a profitable site.

If you complete each step with mastery, it’s practically guaranteed that you will not only make money, but you will have a positive cashflow (aka money that keeps beating down your doorstep every month).

If you don’t take these steps or skimp on any particular one step, you’ll be like most of the 1 trillion pages out there paying GoDaddy for the privilege of being a digital flyer. It’s the quickest path to the stagnation of your mental and financial creativity.

5 Steps To Website Success:

Research and fully develop your site concept
Create quality in demand content
Attract qualified traffic
Establish rapport and build relationships with your visitors
Monetize ethically

Visually it looks a little something like this:

Naturally, depending on your level this might seem a little bit vague.

If you’re a veteran, this may already make a lot of sense to you. Either way, there are intricacies to this process that, if followed correctly, will make the difference between becoming a Google or the long forgotten Lycos (Go Get It!).

Stick around.

I will share with you not only the fundamental principles that make all online businesses successful but I’ll also share with you what makes so many of them fail.

If you desire to pay off debt, cover all your bills, create financial independence, then create financial freedom, all while firing your boss, then you need to subscribe to this site.

Click here to subscribe now.

Before I forget, be sure to subscribe using Google Reader.

I won’t get into the specifics of why right now, just understand this: You will save mountains of time in the ways of productivity. A full explanation is on the way.

I’ll talk to you soon.

To your success,

Marc