The Jimmy Krug Blog

A few minutes ago I receive yet another “Free Gift” offer in my Inbox.  All I had to do was click on the link.  The problem is, once I click on the link, I was taken to yet another in a long line of squeeze pages where I had to enter my email address.  This time, I didn’t bother.

Why?  The process is being done to death.

First, you submit your email address.  Then, you download the free product that “usually goes for $10,000.”  Okay, I’m exaggerating.  The product usually goes for $97 or something like that.

The page tells you “We hate spam as much as you do and will never share your list.”

You download the product and discover the $10,000 product is worth about a buck-fifty.

Then, you receive an email offering you more unbelievable secrets to wealth along with 2 other offers from people you never heard of during the next day or two.  By the end of the week you’ve (or at least – I’ve) unsubscribed from about 4 different lists.

There’s a right and a wrong way to use a squeeze page.  Ninety-percent of my clients are businesses that have decent budgets.  If businesses used the same tactic you see in your inbox every day, they’d be out of business.  Why?  Because successful businesses and the people who run them know they have to offer value to their clients/customers on an ongoing basis.

They can’t sell dreams.  They survive by functioning in reality.  In reality, you may be able to “squeeze” a sale out of someone once… but don’t think you’re generating a customer for life that way.  It won’t happen.  Businesses grow by establishing a relationship between themselves and their clientele.  A measure of trust becomes established and the process grows and develops from there.

My first big client was Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina.  I was able to reach someone who is (by most people’s standards) “unreachable.”  I was hired by him during his initial run for office.  I was able to reach him after I reached someone who was about 3 “steps away” from him.  I’d established a reputation with that person first.

That’s how the process began.

Now here’s the thing… I don’t even live in the same state!  I live in Florida.  You can establish trust with anyone – regardless of distance, if you know the secret.

What is the secret?  The secret is to create real value between yourself and a potential buyer – BEFORE you ask them for anything.  I’m not saying not to collect names and email addresses.  What I’m saying is, don’t get in the habit “squeezing” before you start GIVING.  By giving someone a sample of what you have to offer that’s more than just a “tease,” you will be establishing the type of credibility – up front, that truly rare in 2009.

You’ll find a similar parallel in the “food court” of your local mall from time to time.  By tasting a sample, you know up front if that product is for you or not.  And if you decide not to buy today, there’s still a chance you may ultimately purchase tomorrow.

By inundating people with a string of “gotta have” offers in their inboxes, you’re actually lessening the chance of making a sale tomorrow.  You’re “losing a customer for life.”

So, be careful how, when and where you use your squeeze pages.  In a rush to make a few dollars, you could ultimately be losing hundreds or even more that person would have spent with you over the course of a lifetime of sales.

-Jimmy Krug

http://www.SimplePublications.com

http://www.JimmyKrug.com

http://www.OnlineMentorMagazine.com

Back in the day, I heard the term “Starving Artist” more times than I can remember.  Of course, I was in college at the time majoring in Graphic Design.  It didn’t take me long to learn the difference between designers and marketers.  A good product design or layout can go a long way in helping you sell more products and services.  And a good marketing plan ensures a bunch of real, live, breathing people will ultimately set their eyes upon that design!

When I first got online during the mid-90’s, I was one of the many in a long list of “ugly” sites that first cropped up on the Internet.  Another service was called Free Yellow.  They were amongst the first.  Domains were about $35.00 back then so a lot of people used the free sites to host their sites.

A lot has changed since then!  And that includes the quality of web site graphics and design.  Over the past few years, more and more templates are being created and sold for just about every type of web site and product you can imagine.  And for good reason.

1. Designers need to make a living!

2. Marketers need to spend more time marketing and less time creating web sites and products if they’re to be successful.

I’m starting to use more and more templates as the days go by for just about everything.  The secret to using a template is to modify it so your “personality” comes through as opposed to someone else’s!

I’ve put my “design pride” to the side and now have templates for just about everything I do.  You should, too.

I have the exact package I’m not using to sell my business-to-business services at: http://www.jimmykrug.com

If you have enough templates at your disposal, you can focus your energies on creating new products and marketing them.  When I first started, I was in such a hurry to sell my new publications once they were finished, the web sites I created didn’t do justice to the quality of the product I was creating.

These are the same templates I’m using to reach more “offline” businesses than ever.  I sell eBooks locally just by giving business people I meet my URL.  Then, they read my eBook and hire me to help promote their company.

Your products sell – YOU.  Your web sites, blogs, etc… can all be used to pick up business clients who have a lot more money to spend than “an opportunity seeker.”  And the best thing is, these are businesses that are right in your hometown.

If you work out of your home, better yet.  You will be able to compete with just about any vendor under the sun because you don’t have the higher overhead to worry about.

It’s just you.

-Jimmy Krug

It’s raining down here in Florida, which is good.  It hasn’t rained like this in about 3 months.  I just finished meeting with several clients of mine today.  One has deep pockets.  The other doesn’t.

One has a presence on MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, etc.  Everyone’s on Twitter, of course.  Be sure to follow the twitter link I have a few paragraphs below.  Especially if you’re having a bad day.  It’ll put a smile on your face!

They both have high placements in their niches on Google and Yahoo.

They both have Blogs.

Both have boatloads of traffic.  One uses press releases and a newsletter to generate 70% of their traffic.

The other uses a combination of everything (MySpace, Facebook, Craigslist, etc.) for 70% of their traffic.

One spent $1500 a month on Adwords until a month ago.  Yeah, that’s the one with the deeper pockets.

The other never spent a dime on Adwords.

So, what was the result of all the effort, time, (money – in one case), mailings, etc?

Not too much.  In fact, almost nothing changed until they followed my original advice.

What was that?  TEST the offer!

(Twitter Video – Must see for the “serious” marketer!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHAZt-Exuaw&feature=fvhl

Well, if that’s the case, then what should you do?

First, you have to realize, traffic is just a part of the equation.  It’s no longer the most difficult part, either.  Think of business (online or otherwise) like a coin.  In order to a coin to have or maintain its value, both sides must be in tact.  In other words, if you sand one side down so that it’s completely smooth, legally (at least in most countries) it becomes valueless.  Both sides of the coin must be in tact for the coin to be considered “legal tender.”

In plain English, without both sides the coin looses its value.

In business, one side of the coin is the product
The other side of the coin is the offer.

Together, they create value.

If you have the same type of product everyone else is offering for a similar price, the perceived value of your product becomes severely diluted as it stands besides dozens of other similarly priced products.

Today, the value of the dollar and its buying power is under extremely close scrutiny in most households.  That goes for the business sector as well.  Most people can’t afford to buy – “I wonder if this will work for me?” type products in 2009.

Unless you can convince the buyer of the value of your products and services, your online efforts will dry up quickly in the current market.

I’ll teach you a little bit about how I do this in a few days.  If you adapt my methods to your industry, the results may be a pleasant surprise for you!

- Jimmy Krug

When I first started in the publishing business back in the mid-90’s, I “accidentally” connect myself with the business sector without realizing what I was really doing at the time. Turned out to be one of those “good” accidents! You see, back when the Internet was really heating up for the first time, all I wanted to do was sell lots of info/how-to booklets all over the world. That was the “business model” I was attracted to. Instead, I wound up bypassing the private sector and focused my efforts upon the business sector instead.

What a great decision that turned out to be! You see, publishing for the commercial “end user” isn’t all that different that publishing to the “residential” user.

Services like MySpace, Twitter, FaceBook, etc. are all designed to plug you into a network of people who have a potential interest in your products. Throw out everything and keep the word “Network” in mind.

In the business or commercial sector, the first time I connected with a Credit Union who purchased my publications to market their services to a client – I was IN a big network with a fraction of the effort it would take to do the same in today’s “social networks.”

What advantages does the publishing information and marketing it to the commercial sector have over that of the private sector.

1. They have a lot more money to spend. A lot more than the average working man or woman who has to buy groceries, put gas in the car, etc.
2. They’re used to spending hundreds and thousands of dollars to achieve their objectives. You’ve gotta sell a lotta books to JackTheFaceBook Guy to do the same in the private sector.

What kind of stuff do you publish for the business market?

*Training materials
*Marketing courses
*How-To information
*Marketing and publicity services, etc.

Your own publications that you’re selling to the “private sector” can be used to validate your credentials (as an expert) to the business sector.

It’s a model I’m still using to this day to grow twice as large, twice as fast.
Do I still market to the private sector? Sure. That accounts for 20% of my income. I have several products being created that give more concise information on how exactly to do what I’m talking about. But let me be honest in saying this… if you’ve been on this board over a period of years, there’s probably very little that you don’t already know about marketing.

Maybe not so much about publishing… but you still have a solid grasp of the subject.

What you have to ask yourself is; am I hunting squirrels when I should be hunting Buffalo? Yes, there’s a lot of squirrels in the wild. But you have a “bad day” or “bad month” and you don’t eat! You bag a Buffalo and not only do you have food for a few months, you can even make a jacket out of the thing.

How many squirrels does it take to make a hat?

- Jimmy Krug

Hello, friends.  This is Jimmy Krug.   To increase your business income, you don’t need activate lot of fancy, high-dollar marketing campaigns.  And the great thing is, no matter what you hear – no one has a “corner” on the Internet.  What do I mean?

You don’t have to join the latest and greatest network, or follow the “Internet crowd” that changes directions every other day in order to make money and sell products and services.  Doing so will only produce the opposite.

Are you familiar with Facebook?  Yes?  No?  The good news is, you can make money with or without it.  How about MySpace?  Twitter?  YouTube?  Google Adwords?  You don’t have to become a slave to the tools of technology and marketing.  The tools are there to assist you – helping you communicate with your audience.

Are you following where I’m coming from?  You don’t worry about chasing the latest and greatest.  Doing so will only leave you exhausted with little to show for it.  The reality is, it takes about 6 months of staying with and testing any particular method.  You have to put time and energy into one or two methods over a period of time too really see whether or not that particular outlet or vehicle is the right fit for your business.  Remember, all these site/networks do essentially the same thing… they enable you to allow you to deliver your message to a defined group of people.

First and most importantly, however, is this;  you have to have a message worth delivering.  I don’t say that to poke fun at anyone… but the real truth is, most people don’t have a clue how to market their products and services effectively.  So guess what?  They don’t.  Marketing and technology are two different things.  Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook, Blogs, Websites… they are all designed to do one basic thing.  And that’s to deliver an enticing message to a specific group of people with the same basic interests.

If your message looks and sounds like everyone elses… it gets lost with all the other “clones” that are out there!  That’s why follow the leader only works 100% for those who are out in the front – taking the lead.  Those who follow are merely financing the leaders.

Lost amidst all of this “Internet Noise” are the real secrets and keys to lasting success.  One of the best-kept secrets of marketing has been used by Guru’s, Wizards, Experts, Politicians for hundreds of years.  What secret am I referring to?  Well, for lack of having a better label for it, I call it  – “The Man & The Message” formula.

This, of course, works for women, too.  It doesn’t matter.  Here’s how it works… If I asked you these questions, “Who are you?  What is your message?”  What would you tell me?

What if I asked the same question of you – relative to your business life?  Could you answer clearly and concisely?  The secret is; the easier it is for you to answer that question, the easier it will be for you convey that message in your marketing.

Moreover… if you answer that question with passion and conviction, you have the capacity to create something beyond the ordinary.  This is an offshoot of what I call – “Personality Marketing.”

Most of the “competition” you’re seeing today – out there in cyberspace, isn’t really competition at all.  It’s just noise.  It’ll pass.  That’s because the people creating it will have to move on to something else in order to pay the bills.  It sounds funny but it’s true.  Over 90% of today’s perceived competition will be punching a clock within the next few months.  Or, they’ll move on to something else.  So don’t sweat them.  If you haven’t done so already, now is the time to lay a real foundation for the next 12 months of your business life you can build upon - by answering these questions.

“Who are you?  What do you have?  Where are you going?”  Notice the word “think” is nowhere to be found in these questions.  It’s the definitiveness by which those questions are answered that are the real indicators of where you’re actually located at this point in your life.  That’s the difference between where you think you are… and where you really are.

Before you do another thing, I challenge you to answer those questions.  Being able to do so can often mean the difference between – ordinary… and extraordinary.

-Jimmy Krug

All PDF publications are NOT created equal.  It’s funny to put it that way, but it gets the point across.  These days, I would rather pay a little extra and buy a larger sized book to read for pleasure than I would a tiny, little paperback.  Did you ever try to read a book that’s three inches thick but no larger than the size of your hand?  Where’s the pleasure in reading in that?  The same hold true for “How-to” type publications.

Make good use of white space.

Never have paragraphs longer than 5 or 6 lines.  If possible, have a table of contents with live links to make it convenient for your readers to skip ahead to whatever chapter they’d like to read.  For shorter publications, this isn’t necessary.  Next comes the cover art.  Cover or Box Art has come a long way since the early days of the Internet.  Nothing beats a clean, professional look when it comes to your web site’s design and the same holds true for your product designs.

Let’s take a look at a special report design.

It took about about 30 minutes to create the product cover your see on your left.  Your covers do not have to be that colorful.  They do, however, need to look crisp and professional.  You could take the images of the cars away from the background and have a plain white background instead and it would still look good.

Covers can be as important as the content.  After all, if the buyer doesn’t like what she see’s, she’s off to the next book and the next product.

I freely admit, over the years I had some real “dogs” as far as cover design artwork goes.  The information was good, however, and people referred my products to others and my publishing business grew.

Today, I could never achieve the same results using the amateurish designs I used back then.  Times have changed.  So take it from me, updating your product looks for 2009 can do wonders for your sales and for your business.  Today’s buyers have been exposed to more “eye candy” than ever before.  So don’t overlook the little things like the artwork and designs that accompany your web site as well as your products.

These “little things” aren’t as little as you think.

-Jimmy Krug

The biggest software publisher in the world makes mistakes all the time.  That doesn’t keep them from owning their market place, though, does it?  Whatever you publish – information, software, guides, courses, etc. there will always be room for improvement in terms of quality.  Imperfect people create imperfect products.  The goal is to give 100 % to the project.  When complete, you should be able to look at the final product and say without any hesitation, “This is a good product.”

You won’t be able to say it’s perfect unless your ego is firmly implanted within the drivers seat of your personality.  Aside from that, you should be able to say you’ve created a good product.  If it’s just “not bad,” or “okay,” you should go back and make revisions until you feel your efforts have resulted in a much better end product.

The secret is; don’t be afraid to make mistakes!  Until your product reaches the market place – it doesn’t exist for all intensive purposes.  If it doesn’t exist, you won’t make a dime while each day leads to the next… followed by each month… and then – each year.  Take it from someone who went through life for years having more things on “the backburners” of life than on the front burners.

Some people are so worried about what the competition is doing that they spend more time and energy watching what everyone else is doing instead of directing that same energy towards their own projects, plans and pursuits.  Always remember, until you’ve completed your own project – your main competition isn’t outside of you, it’s within you.

Until your product or service reaches the marketing – you’ll be wrestling with your own inertia, doubts, laziness, lack of focus, etc.

Completing each project and objective gives you added momentum towards accomplishing the next.  This is how business grow and develop.  This is how reputations within a market are formed.

The Wizards of tomorrow are those who mastered themselves – today.

- Jimmy Krug

REAL BUSINESS SOLUTIONS – DETERMINING WHAT YOU NEED FROM WHAT YOU WANT

Hello, this is Jimmy Krug.  About a decade ago I combed the Internet for the best solutions that I could find for the problems I was faced with at the time.  There were quite a few “low cost solutions” available at the time as well as higher priced solutions that went for around $97.00 and higher.

So, I went ahead and bought BOTH!  Yeah, I know, but don’t tell me you haven’t done the same thing yourself?  I can’t tell you how much money I spend on eBook Makers.  I bought eBook Generator from Armand Morin, I bought eBook Compiler, I bought another one called “Neo” something or other?  Then I found a really sharp one that created pages that you could turn on your own like reading a book.  No, it wasn’t the flip book one… it was made by a company in Europe.  That narrows it down, right?

Today, I only use PDF files for my publications!  It took well over a thousand dollars to figure out what I should have realized from the start.

If you’re wasting money on eBook Makers, take it from me – just buy a simple PDF eBook Maker.  I sell one here… and I sell one… there, too.

The cost about what you’d pay for lunch at a fast food restaurant, but you’ll have them and use them for years to come like I do.

(See the “here” by clicking here, and see the other one that comes as a bonus by clicking – “there.”)

Making more money online doesn’t happen because you buy expensive software.  If it did, we’d all be rich because we own more programs than we use.  They’re like shoes in a woman’s closet… they’re there – just in case.

I wound up doing the same thing with copywriting courses.  I bought all the expensive ones!  I bought book after book after book.  None of them make me a better copywriter, though.  What did?  Well, first, I had to stop trying to sound like a PT Barnum huckster.  Then, I had to sit down and think with all honesty about what my publications DID – and what solutions did I offer my readers?

Then, once I had that information on paper, I needed a guide that would help me lay it all out on my web page so it looked right.  Again, I plunked more chunks of $97 down for more programs.  When all was said and done, I wound up using the program I advertise below.  I probably will for years to come.

The things you need the most to succeed in the publishing business – on and offline can’t be purchased.  They’re inside you.  What am I talking about?  I’m talking about focus and follow through.  Once you know where you want to go, you need to develop and plan and purchase the tools that you can afford to help you get there.

As you continue the journey, you can upgrade if you want to… or you may find as I did, that you really don’t need to.  And I don’t think I have to remind you to – shop around and get the best prices you can.  Now more than ever, you can get great products at very affordable prices.

Have a good day my friends.

Your Publishing Consultant,

Jimmy Krug

Who Buys – You?

Years ago I saw the original Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi.  My father actually saw Bela Lugosi as Dracula – live on stage as a kid growing up in Newark, NJ.  For Bela, it was the role of a lifetime.  He was even buried in the cape when he died years later while on the set of a low-budget B-Movie called: Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Lugosi experienced what many actors have experienced over the course of a long and successful career.  He was type-cast.  In other words, when you saw Lugosi on the silver screen, you saw “Dracula” whether you wanted to or not. 

Christian Bale may be “Batman Forever” whether he wants to be or not.  Snoop Dogg will always be, Snoop Dogg.

What does all this mean?  First, it means you can’t be everything to everyone.  Eventually, if you do a lot of things or have a lot of talents, you will either become known for doing one thing great or many things average.  You may not be average at many things.  You may, in fact, be great at several things… but that won’t be the case in the mind’s of others.

Albert Einstein may have been a great cook, but in the minds of others, he will forever be known as a genius in the area of science.

If the spotlight of publicity were to come to rest upon you today, and all eyes were focused upon you… would people see a person who could be easily defined by what they did and what they had to offer?

Or would they see a “Jack of all trades” who was the master of none?

The question isn’t so much about who you really are as it is the perception of who you really are.  That, my friend’s, is the difference.

- Jimmy Krug

http://www.simplepublications.com

Become A How-To Guru Wizard or Teacher
Self-Publishing Your Own Self-Help Book
Simple eBook Publishing in 5 Days

Hello Friends, this is Jimmy Krug with more information that you can use, right here, right now, to help increase your business.  Today I want to talk to about “Presentation” or how you present your products to the public.  Back in 1997, when I first started, building a web site and with great looking graphics wasn’t an easy project to tackle.  The WYSIWYG editors didn’t always live up to their billing.  Then, there was the issue of creating graphics to “symbolize” you product box or eBook cover.  Once again, the results were not exactly overwhelming.

Having been in the design business myself, I knew the importance of getting your product to look right.  I’ve visited many web sites where sales letters boasted of large incomes for the person or company running the site.  These sites were designed to lead a person to believe that they could do the same by purchasing their materials.  Whether they were telling the truth or not is anyone’s guess.  The point is, their “homemade” site design/look and product design graphics led me to believe otherwise.  Believe me, I’ve been broke before as most self-employed entrepreurs have at one time or another.  And I know, if you can’t afford to pay someone else to do the job, you do the best you can yourself.  Sooner or later, however, you’ll have to put the homemade look behind you.  Especially now – almost a decade into the 21st century.  The game has changed, especially the “window dressing!”  Would you pay $100 for a product when the product box/illustration on the web site looks like $2.00 product?

When I first started online, back in 1997, I created my own graphics and designed my own web sites.  I was just starting out and it showed, too!  The information was good, though, and I made a lot of sales.  That was over a decade ago.  Today’s web surfers are 100-times more graphically oriented in 2009 than they were in 1997.  If your materials look amatuerish these days – your sales will reflect it.  Believe me, there are very few exceptions.  Today’s visually oriented society will see a red flag if you boast high-dollar profits on a “low-dollar” site design.

If you can’t afford or don’t want to hire a designer, there are many tools available to create a sharp, up-to-date, visually appealing web site.  Just like the teenager with the pimples and long greasy hair who cleans himself up over the summer and returns to school with a brand new image,  the right look will go a long way in jumpstarting sluggish sales in 2009.

The key is, you don’t have to have moving images, sounds or even video.  All those things are pluses, but they’re not imperative.  Not yet.  All you need is a crisp, color coordinated page that doesn’t look like it was created by a fill-in-the-blanks template from the late 90’s.  Not too long ago, I too came to the “design fork in the road” and had to make a decision.  Stay with the old… or move on to the new?

I chose the new and don’t regret it for a moment.  Neither will you. 

In the world of publishing, just like any other niche, the competition is greater than ever.  Most of the competition, however, will fall by the wayside within their first 12 to 24 months.  As the field clears, those who’ve paid attention to the smaller details of their business will be amongst those who are still standing.

That’s all for now, this is Jimmy Krug wishing you much success in 2009!

Become A How-To Guru Wizard or Teacher
Self-Publishing Your Own Self-Help Book
Simple eBook Publishing in 5 Days