Bindaas Life

How can one make money online without any products?

Ajit — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:25:06 +0000

This is a situation you might be stuck with specially if you don’t have many networks or have any idea about if you can create a product about a special skill you have.

Now this is what you wanna know, YOU DON’T NEED THE ABOVE TWO TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE.

Fortunately, internet works like the real world. The only change being the rules of the game and the name of the game changes.

Like you have malls in real life, you have huge publishers online. Like you have shops in real world, you have affiliates.

Affiliate. That is how you make money. If you have no product and don’t want to put the time and effort to create/re-create one, go the affiliate highway.

Who is an Affiliate?

Affiliates are like shop owners who have their own customers who come and buy from them, but these shop owners don’t really own the product, they sell stuff for a larger enterprise.

So, let’s say you love books and you read a lot. What you can do is visit a big site in the kind of books you like, in all likely hood they will have a link for “partners” or “affiliate” either of the link would suggest you how you can help them sell. On every sale they would give you a share.

How to get started?

Find out what you are passionate about and look for best product/or the product you believe works in that domain. Study it. Now from here you have these 3 ways:

1. Start a google adwords campaign leading to the products opt in page or sales page (this add should have your affiliate ID so that you get your commission).

2. Create a review blog of you own, write on the subject matter and drive traffic to you blog and from there drive traffic to the sales page (or opt-in depending on what you think will help close the sale)

3. Create your opt-in page/blog and get email addresses of people who come to your blog. Once you have a list of the same, send them email sequence introducing the product and your experience with it.

Hope the information is useful. If you wanna know more about it, send me an email (trick to get my email address, sign up for the SEO report on right hand column, ill send you my personal email address )

Cheers yo..

LinkedIn–How to Use it for more Business?

Ajit — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 06:15:52 +0000

Just got back from Bali last week, and let me recommend Kuta Beach for an awesome chilled out vacation. Specially, if you heading out with great friends you are bound to have a great time.

Thanks for all the emails that I received I was away, I was surprised that would happen even when I have never ever promoted my blog. Thanks to Google and friends I believe.

Here is a Blog post I found from Paul Castain on his Blog Sales Playbook.

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In the spring of 2008 I addressed the Consolidated Graphics national sales force and told them they needed to get Linkedin! I told them it was the best thing since sliced bread and how their personal brand depended on a venue like LI. A month later, I scratched my head, clueless, wondering what all the fuss was about. 2 months later, I thought it sucked, wrote it off and moved on!

After some serious soul searching in November 2008, I had to face the hard, cold reality that I basically showed up to Linkedin, sat on the sidelines and expected the world to beat a path to my computer. I don’t think I’m the only one, who went about it all wrong and offer the following 25 tips for you to leverage this powerful venue to enhance your personal brand.

Warning: This is gonna be a lengthy post. I wasn’t about to milk 3 blog posts out of this. If you are like me, you want the info and you want it now. So fasten your seat belts!

1) Change your expectation of Social Networking. There is no quick fix, silver bullet, get rich quick. This is a long term strategy to say the least. Kind of sucks, huh? Well I think its safe to say that thanks to this economy many things are now long term strategies so perhaps a little patience is in order! Social Media Jedi Master Chris Brogan says “It’s not the kind of project where you show up, build your profiles, friend a few people and call it good. It’s a lot like tending the farm” Be sure to check out Chris’s blog by visiting http://www.chrisbrogan.com/

2) Put some thought into your profile and make sure it does justice to the wonderful brand we call you! Want to improve your “Googleability”? Then by all means make your profile public by clicking here http://www.linkedin.com/myprofile?editwp= By the way, you Google potential clients, don’t you? Think they Google you? This will give you at least one good result that comes back. Consider using the privacy settings if you don’t want people to know that you viewed their profile. This way you can check out a potential client without them thinking you’re a stalker.

Thought: Do you want your connections visible to everyone in your network? Do you have some clients that may get a tad pissed if they find out you are doing work for their competitors? Then click here and change that bad boy https://www.linkedin.com/secure/settings?browse=&goback=%2Eaas

3) Use a cool tagline to help set you apart from the masses. Examples: Craig Wilson is the Chief Appreciation Officer of his Sendout Cards business. Mi Amigo Hank Trisler isn’t the President of The Trisler Companies . . . He’s the Supreme Commander! Desire McBride is The Print Diva. My favorite is John Hudson who is The Dark Lord of Staffing. Our biggest challenge these days folks is being memorable. These people get it!

4) Join Groups: The biggest mistake many people make is joining groups in their industry exclusively. I think that’s great, but you better branch out. I mean how many widgets do you think other widget dudes are gonna buy from ya Gomer? My advice to you is to join some sales groups as well. First, it will help you keep your finger on the pulse right now since sales people are pretty much out there on the front line. Second, you will pick up some good best practices and lastly, sales people can be a point of entry often overlooked in getting in the door. I would also recommend that you join some industry groups for the verticals you want to penetrate. Go where the money is right now. What industries aren’t hurting as much?

Did you know?: You can join up to 50 groups. When you share a group with someone you can usually send them a direct email without paying for inmails.

Did you also know? That emails sent through LI have a much higher open rate than traditional emails. Can you leverage that as a sales rep? Damn right you can!

5) Get off the damn sidelines! This is where I screwed up big time. I joined groups but didn’t participate. Get the feel of your group. Contribute! Add value. By the way, doesn’t this help make you more visible and help with the whole branding thing? If you do it right it does! Start your own discussions in those groups. This is how you stand out! What are some thought provoking. appropriate discussions you could start in your group(s)?

6) Want to look like a Grade A, Ahole? Then spam the discussions with ridiculous infomercials on your company, start discussions that are blatant self promotions or get cute and start a discussion with the old “For the rest of the story, click here” That’s how you build a brand as a jackass real quick.

Do you belong to a group that is littered with spam and self promotion? Tell the group moderator and if that doesn’t work, then put your efforts in elsewhere. They aren’t worth your time!

7) Facilitate your discussions for God’s sake! This is by far one of my biggest pet peeves on LI. If you start a discussion and then disappear, you are an idiot! You not only display bad manners in doing the disappearing act, you allow your discussion to go inactive, sooner. Why wouldn’t you want your discussion up at the top of the first page of discussions? Isn’t that a great visibility position? Check out my rant on this subject here http://salesplaybook.blogspot.com/2009/04/play-39-david-copperfield-and-linkedin.html

Show appreciation for those who contribute to your discussions 2 ways. First, you should always thank people in the discussion with a simple “Thank you for your input (insert name here)” By the way, do we all enjoy being acknowledged in front of our peers? Do you think acknowledging contributions encourages additional contributions as well as folks following you to other discussions and groups? Worked for me. The other way I show appreciation is by sending a TY in a quick email. It’s a great door opener and helps me differentiate from the masses!

9) Avoid ninjas like your online life depended on it. It amazes me how many otherwise intelligent adults will attack someone online in front of thousands. Trust me, when I tell you it will happen to you and if you are like me you will want to stick your virtual foot up their virtual ass. In a word, DON’T! You won’t change ignorant people and you will damage your brand in the process. Doesn’t mean you have to like it folks!

10) Use a hyperlink in your signature when you contribute to a discussion. If all you do is put the old “www” it would read as a link. Here’s how ya do it the right way: Put a handy dandy http:// in front of your domain and viola. Check out how I do it.

Respectfully,
Paul Castain
Vice President Consolidated Graphics
http://salesplaybook.blogspot.com/

11) Don’t use the automated invites, they are lame and you will sound like every other clueless person. Take a moment to make your invite personal. Think about the power of first impressions and more importantly, the power of being memorable. Reference something you have observed about them in the groups, a point they made, their company, some common ground or simply:

Dear Jake:

I would be honored if you would join my network.

12) How to minimize IDK’s: IDK’s stand for I Don’t Know. If you invite someone and they select I don’t know you get a real nifty snotgram from LI. If you continue to get them, LI can remove your ability to invite, because everyone has basically labeled you a dick. The real problem isn’t with LI its in the ignorance of the recipient. They simply don’t know how to tell you to piss off gracefully. That’s why you have to educate them.

Dear Jake:

I would be honored if you would join my network.

Should you choose not to connect, that’s fine, simply hit the “archive” button rather than the dreaded “I don’t know” button.

13) Start your own group: One bit of advice I always give in conventional networking is to get on a board in a leadership position. The same can be said for LI. I waited until I had enough involvement in the groups and started The Sales Playbook group. Its grown by more than 2300 members in 3 months and it has dramatically enhanced my brand. I’m also happy to say that I have done so by enhancing other people’s brands.

Come join our Linkedin Sales Playbook community by clicking here: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1832739&trk=anet_ug_grppro

14) Post interesting articles in the news section. Use the “share” button to alert other folks in your network when you read an article of value to them. Comment on interesting articles. This contributes value to your group and keeps you visible in the process!

15) Add value to your network: One of the best ways you can do this is to be a matchmaker. Introduce them to people they want and need to meet. With so many displaced workers in these challenging times keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities. Not a bad idea to have a recruiter or three in your network while we are at it. Neil Wood replied to me privately when I asked for advice on some good branding books. He told me he had an extra copy of a really good book and sent it to me. Stacy Stateham has given her time very freely to folks that have needed advice and I too try my best to give value (even to my competitors believe it or not) When you do these types of things ladies and gentlemen, you don’t create followers, you create evangelists spreading the good news of your brand!

Branding 101 Moment With Uncle Paul: Do you think it packs more punch when someone else says cool things about you and your company or when you self promote? Sorry to get basic on ya but if you are on LI then you know there are many who didn’t get the spam memo!

16) Use LI as part of your meticulous pre call planning. I think its an incredible way for me to get inside my prospect’s head by getting a feel for how they think in the groups, perhaps they link to a blog etc. This is a great way for you to get the inside track!

17) Let people get inside your head by using the applications such as amazon bookshelf, slideshare and links to your blog. Tip: People buy from people they trust. One of the first steps towards trust is familiarity. Make sure you give your network every opportunity to experience “Brand YOU”

18) Cross pollinate your efforts by putting a link to your LI profile in your email auto signature.

19) Status updates: This is a great way for you to stay on your network’s radar screen. Avoid boring play by play. Donna Highfill puts inspirational

quotes in her status updates. Others will put a link to a timely article, links to articles and blogs you have written. The key here is to stay on the radar screen by continuing to add value and avoidance of over saturation and taking it easy on the self promotion. You also need to use your head. Trust me when I tell you that your network doesn’t find value in a status update that informs us that a bottle of Cuervo has your name on it or that you are having a meltdown. I can’t make this shit up! Make sure you comment on status updates from your network. Example: someone in your network just mentioned that they started working at ABC company this week. Leave a congratulatory comment etc.

Tip: Scan the home page daily. There are tons of opportunities for you there but you have to remember Everyone’s favorite subject is usually them self so make it about them!

20) Want to expand your reach? Comment on the blogs of your connections. Doing this opens you up to their community. In today’s online world, it’s

not who you know, it’s who knows you and who knows those who know those who know you and, well you get the picture.

21) Be consistent: You won’t build your brand worth a damn if you show up two days in a row, take two weeks off, come back for a day or two. This needs to be a daily investment. Remember, this is a long term investment. Don’t ever forget that!

22) Recommendations: Use your head on this one. Please! One of the quickest ways for me to yell Jackass is when someone I barely know, hits me up for a recommendation. When I call them out on it, I’m usually given an explanation that they used the automated send to all feature which is just plain stupid if you ask me. Be selective who you ask and be selective who you give recommendation’s to. Remember, its your credibility dude!

23) Stop with the juvenile “I want to have the most contacts” BS! How in the hell can you realistically connect properly with 12,000 contacts. Seriously dude! Better to have quality contacts. Be selective in who you ask to join your network. Be selective who you allow to connect with you too! Be deliberate and intentional in this department. By the way, I’m in the process of writing a book. When I first started I didn’t know a thing about finding an agent, a publisher and all that fun stuff. I purposely hunted folks with experience in these areas and avoided contacts that had nothing to do with what I do or who I can impact.

24) Ask and answer questions to further position you as a thought leader by clicking here:http://www.linkedin.com/answers?trk=hb_tab_ayn

Cool Tip: Want to get a better response and greater visibility when you ask a question? Choose the option to send the question

out to up to 200 people in your network.

Hook a fellow Jedi up: by suggesting someone from your network as an expert to a question. This is a nice way for you to continue to add value to your network and encourage a really cool thing called reciprocation!

25) Understand that you must move this virtual online stuff to real time or its absolutely meaningless! One of the things I do is make a goal each week that I will connect live (face to face, phone, coffee, lunch, drink, etc) with at least 2 people from my network. When I do, I make sure my time with them is about them, not me. My goal is to not only get to know them, its to find out who an ideal client would be for them, their goals, their dreams their challenges.

I want to leave you with a bit of a challenge. One that I wish someone told me about when I left Linkedin after only 60 days of half assed effort. Try these things that I mentioned for 90 days. Give it your all. Be consistent and do something daily to enhance your online brand. Give value to people unconditionally and don’t keep a scorecard. Learn everything you can and if at the end of 90 days of you getting off the sidelines you feel it was a waste of time, then move on.

I, for one am quite pleased with my results. The Castain brand is alive and ticking and as a bonus, I’ve made some wonderful friends along the way. Also been talking to a few publishers so its nice to be moving toward that important milestone in my life!

I want you to think about something else that many people don’t realize. Your linkedin experience is about community. All human beings want to belong to or be a part of something. Can you leverage that?

There’s your million dollar question to chew on!

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Hope you enjoyed it, Thanks Paul for the post.

Made $150,000 in 10 days!

Ajit — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 06:13:27 +0000

Yes, that’s true. The launch sequence I was working for (which is the reason I was not able to post for past few days) just completed its 10 days (6 out of these 10 I was in Bali, on vacation) just completed 10 days, and as I write this post it also walked through the second biggest launch I have done (the biggest being $250,000 in 7 days).

How to make that kind of money?

A Great Marketing Angle

By Marketing Angle I mean the approach to our customer and how I take them through the experience of the Launch. It is based on the market that we cater to and the pain points. Marketing Angle is also defined keeping in minds the various psychological triggers that gets a person to buy.

Psychological Engagement

It is extremely important in a launch to have people engage through various psychological triggers. There are emotions and aspects that a person feels connected to, or feels the need to BUY.

Great List

All the money was made through list of engaged people. People who wanted a solution and we were there to offer it. A person buys something only and only when it solves a perticular pain for them. This is what you might wanna consider while creating the product that you wanna sell.

Mix Media

People learn and connect through various media. PDF’s, Audio’s and Video’s all are equally important, they engage different kind of people and so one should have all media’s mixed in a launch sequence.

A Great Execution Team

It is important that you have a great execution team when you are launching anything. This is important as at no point can you say for certain that the sequence is going perfect (until you are getting exact results as you predicted, which happens rarely), and so you need a team that executes fast and really well.

Above were just a few key pointers for a great Launch. Launches involve way more fine tuning and enagegement, micro details that a person should take care of. What I can say though, Launches are fun, they are challenging and the window for error is really REALLY small.

Do let me know about your launch experiences, would be great to hear.

Can Twitter Help SEO?

Ajit — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:46:34 +0000

Lately, I have been trying to study Twitter patterns and how Twitter can change the game (if at all), and in the process have been discovering various articles, studies and other content that may or may not be completely true. But this one seemed interesting and when I googled some stuff, I realized it works well too.

I am putting out here the link to actual post on Mashable.

Learn How Twitter can Help with SEO.

Dell makes $2 Million off Twitter–And you were still wondering if you should get on it or NOT?

Ajit — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:09:23 +0000

@DellOutlet has been one of the biggest success stories amongst big companies using social media. For those unaware, @DellOutlet is a Twitter account owned by Dell that tweets out major discounts for Dell
computers and products. All of the deals on @DellOutlet are
Twitter-exclusive.

It has gained quite a following (620,000+ followers) and sold a lot of computers – at the end of last year, they surpassed $1 million in revenue, after about a year and a half’s worth of tweeting.

Well throw those numbers out the window, because Twitter’s
phenomenal growth and Dell’s social savvy have pushed sales from Dell
Outlet to over $2 million, in 1/3 the time needed to pass the first milestone. And @DellOutlet is still on the rapid rise.

Get The Full Story Here>>

Meet Perry Belcher–How to Make Money From Social Media?

Ajit — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:52:59 +0000

Perry Belcher, known for wrong and right reasons releases awesome content specially close to launching an internet marketing product. One of his kick–ass videos I found online is right here.

Though he does not give all the information (like a true marketeer), he does talk about how to think while tying to make money of social media. Which is why it is worth watching this video. Give it a look, you will like it for sure.

There is some great content that I will be adding to this site in the next couple of days– sign up to get regular updates about it.

Beginner Tips for SEO from Senior VP, Network Solutions..

Ajit — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:36:58 +0000

Here is a little something I found on YouTube and I think it was worth sharing. These are some beginner tips from Stefanie Leffler, VP at Network Solutions (not sure if she still is).

Short but helpful video to give you insights on SEO basic steps. For more advanced knowledge you can always sign up on the right column and get SEO Quick Action Guide.

Do let me know what you think about the blog and the video in the comments area below.

How Gary Built a 20 Million Dollar Company using Social Media

Ajit — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:17:33 +0000

Gary Vaynerchuk (I hope I spelled the second name right), a wine guy, young and already a multi-millionaire. Gary started out as a regular graduate helping his father run their traditional wine business, and soon tranformed the company in a span of few years to a Multi-Million dollar store, with 80% of sales coming from Online Sources.

An awesome presentation where he talks about what’s important when you are talking about building a business from a little some thing to multi-million dollars. He talks about how he built relationship with his people who now give him repeat business over and over again, and LOVE him for what he is.

A great watch, not only something to note when you are talking about Internet Business but when you are talking about offline business as well.

Your Personal Economy

admin — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:38:09 +0000

Three Months. Three months ago if you would meet me, you would see a completely different individual, a completely different mentality and a completely different way of thinking. But in the past three months, knowingly and unknowingly I went through experiences that changed me as a person, we are not talking about a little change here and there, we are talking about a sea change.

Moving further, this blog post or the blog itself is not about me. I have a personal blog for that. This one is about you. This one is about me sharing actions, mind shift, perspective and soul searching. But not only that, it is about living in abundance, not only financially, but personally and professionally. Its about having “Your Personal Economy”, which stays uninfluenced by recession or other haunting words like these.

Well my journey started with this guy called Anthony Robbins (or Tony Robbins), he is one of the very successful authors and have influenced over a million lives positively. Here is a video of him at TED talks, and I think its a good start to making a change in your life.