Well, not exactly. . . however, if you’re an entrepreneur, I have exciting news for you. I will be selling several pre-packaged turn-key online businesses ready for you to step in and start making money with immediately and keep 100% of the profit. Some of these businesses are mine personally and some are from other colleagues of mine.
You wouldn’t believe how many turn-key websites are lying around just waiting to be marketed online. Why don’t I market them myself? I simply don’t have the time. My attention right now is on my private marketing and web design clients, and I don’t have time to market other websites. So, rather than letting them collect dust, if you want them, they’re yours. And I’m selling them off cheap!
How can learn what they are and get one?
You have to be on my Entrepreneur Hot List!
Last year, I launched the Entrepreneur Hot List and registration was open for only about a week before I closed it. It’s an exclusive list and has been closed ever since, until today!
Today I am opening up registration for the Entrepreneur Hot List, and for a limited time membership is FREE for my blog readers and those subscribed to my newsletter.
How can you join?
Go to www.entrepreneurhotlist.com.
If registration is still open and FREE, you’ll be able to sign up right there and get on the list.
Now, I have to get back to packing up these businesses for you!
Whether you realize it or not, the 2010 marketing showdown between you and your competition has already begun; both you and your competition have decided to make 2010 the year when things are going to change.
Are you committed to coming out on top? What will make the difference for your business in 2010? The economy? Wrong! A bail-out bill? No! The FED printing more money? No! The answer is YOU!
In this workshop, web designer and online marketing specialist, Nate Burgoyne is going to blast through the fluff with a “double-barreled marketing shotgun” and show you what really works!
The last couple weeks have been very exciting! I’ve been working with a new client of mine, Scott Bucknell from a company called Race Hawaii. It’s a company that sells surfboards, stand up paddle boards, and related accessories. Scott came to me with a new product that he’s preparing to release to the market, and we got right to work with a product pre-launch campaign.
We’ve been growing an email list for about a week now and the results have been fantastic. We’re now moving into the next stage of the pre-launch and expect his list to continue to grow in the coming weeks. For those interested, here’s the squeeze page we built that is pulling about a 50% opt-in rate!
That’s right! Almost 50%…. a full 1/2 of all visitors are opting in to the page! How? And extremely targeted launch with a intricately crafted squeeze page.
We started the pre-launch about a week ago at midnight, and by 8:30 in the morning I got a call from Scott, in awe with the response we got in such a short period of time. He sent me an email that said, “Is this for real!?” I replied, “Yes, it’s for real. . . and we’re just getting started.”
Is a 50% opt-in rate possible? Yes! I’ll keep you posted on the progress of the campaign. And for those who want to see the squeeze page, go to www.racehawaiistandup.com/powerglider.
Here’s the proof. The /powerglider/ page is the squeeze page. The only way to get to the preview page is to enter your name and email address and opt-in. Notice 444 views of the squeeze page and 213 views of the preview page. Almost 50%. . . Sweet!!! And the numbers are excellent for the niche market we’re targeting after the first phase of online marketing. I just rolled out phase 2 today, and we have about 5 more pushes before the pre-launch is completely on autopilot.
Here’s a letter I recently received from Scott of Race Hawaii. . .
“If you have a product that needs to be introduced or brought to the market, and your website brought to the forefront of the search engines, I’d like to recommend Nate Burgoyne or Integrity Online Marketing.
I am aware a lot of people are good at web design and are capable in this generation of electronic expertise. Nate not only stands head and shoulders above computer literate web mastering and design competitors, but brings a special talent with the written word to describe and capture the essence of the product.
This has proven invaluable for me in making a new patent pending product known.
Nate and his business relationships fire on all cylinders because he is smart, he listens, and then he creates what is needed.”
Scott Bucknell
RACE HAWAII
We all have great business ideas! I’m serious, I have this list of businesses that I can’t wait to get off the ground. Of course I’m not sitting on my hands about it. In fact, I just registered one more business before the close of this year!
For me, one of the most difficult decisions of all is deciding on a domain name for a new business of mine. Man, it seriously stresses me out sometimes. This is the domain name that you will be telling all of your friends, family, and business associates about. This little domain name will often be the first impression your customers will get about you before they even see your website. This is the domain name that you will be launching a serious marketing campaign around. And once a viral marketing campaign is underway, there’s no turning back.
I was thrilled when I got an email this morning from Network Solutions letting me know that they’re running buy one get one free sale on domain names! Now, instead of having to decide between the two finalists for a company web address, you can just register both and sleep on it without worrying that someone else might register the other one overnight.
Yep. Buy one domain and get one free. Pretty awesome. Anyway, here’s a banner that you can click on to get your free domain name. . .
Hey gang! If you’ve been wondering how to make ebook covers, this is the blog post you’ve been waiting for. There’s a piece of software I’ve been using over the years that creates covers for my eBooks, digital audio files, and special reports. So, I thought I’d share it with you. It’s the same software I used to create the eCover to my audio book, “The Truth About Online Marketing: Confronting the Biggest Mistake” that you see to the left there.
This software creates eCovers for reports, books, software, and CDs. You upload the pictures or create them using the software, then you simply choose the size, angle, and shadow of the images. The software does the rest and “presto” you’ve got slick covers to your ebooks!
You don’t have to be a design genius to use it. The software was developed so that anyone can use it right away. After you get the software, you simply download the file, double click it to install it, and it’s ready to do the hard work for you.
What does this mean for your business? Well, first of all you don’t have to pay a graphic designer big bucks to make 3D images of your ebooks. And, secondly, now you can give a professional look to all the information you’re selling or giving away to your website visitors. The software is called eCover Generator. Enjoy!
It was hard for me to believe this one! I was just sorting through my emails when I saw this offer that I had to spread the word about. 1&1 is giving away 3 months of free hosting through December 31st of this year! If you’ve got a website or blog that you’ve been thinking of launching, now is definitely the time. With 3 months of free website hosting, you can basically launch a bunch of websites and test the marketing for 3 month without any risk. You’ve got nothing to lose when the hosting’s free. Pretty awesome if you ask me. I’ve never seen a deal like this so I had to share it. Here’s the special banner that’ll get you the discount. Enjoy!
One question I’m often asked is, “Hey Nate! What software do you use to design your websites?” By nature, most entrepreneurs are hands-on people and like to try to do things themselves first. Hey, I’m no exception to the rule. In fact, as I look back on the growth of my business, there are certain things that I definitely shouldn’t have done myself, such as licking 2,000 stamps for a direct mail campaign. Yeechhtt! Gross! It’s an interesting cycle we go through as we search for the most economical way to effectively grow our businesses. From what I’ve seen, the “What web design software do I use?” question is part of every entrepreneur’s search for the perfect low-cost website. You’re not alone in that search. Here’s how it goes. . .
Most entrepreneurs and small business owners quickly come to the realization that they need to a website. Here’s how the process goes. And, hey, I’ve been through this cycle myself so if this describes you, I’ve been there myself.
I love stories! Let’s take an entrepreneur named Jane, and follow her through her search for an aggressive online presence. Jane is an accountant with her own small business and has decided she needs a website.
First, Jane goes to all the do-it-yourself website creation companies out there where you pay anywhere from $10-$60 per month to create a website for your company with pre-built templates. She signs up for an account and starts shuffling through the templates, and picks out nice one with a blue background and a picture of an office building at the top of the page. It doesn’t really represent her business and she can’t put her logo on the page but she feels it’s good enough.
Jane spends all of her spare time for the next week and a half trying to learn how the template builder works and trying to get her website to look just how she wants it. On day 10, she’s run out of patience and decides to leave it how it is and hope for the best. She’s a little hesitant to send prospects to the site because it’s kind of home-made looking and doesn’t really represent her business but she does it anyway.
After a couple weeks, Jane’s business has been stagnant, and she’s thinking it’s because she’s sending her prospects to a cookie cutter website that looks like everyone else’s home-made cookie cutter website. So, she starts to look at other do-it-yourself website creation companies to see if there are better templates out there. . . maybe the $19/month company has better templates than the $10/month company. So, she makes the switch. . . and goes through the same cycle of choosing, learning how it works, and trying to customize it with no results.
It’s at this point that Jane starts thinking that maybe she should look into getting a custom site done. So she talks to some web designers and asks the question, “What web design software do you use?”. Well, from her previous two experiences with building websites, Jane thinks that professional web design software will build her a professional website.
So, Jane buys the same web design software that the pros use. It’s kind of expensive but she figures it’ll be worth it. Well, after downloading the software for 4 hours, she installs in on her computer. Then, after opening up the software, her face goes white as she quickly realizes that the software is not going to build the site for her. In fact, it occurs to her that asking a web designer what software he or she uses is like asking a car mechanic what tools he uses, buying them, and hoping the tools will fix the car for her.
Now, she has decision to make. Does she spend the next couple months learning how to use the software and basically learn to be a web designer while her accounting business suffers? Or, does she hire someone to just build a professional site for her?
Jane goes on Craigslist, asks friends, and family members, and starts looking for the cheapest web designer she can find. After all, she just spent all her money trying the home-made site services, and buying the expensive web design software, plus her business has been suffering from the time she’s been taking to sort out the website. So she finds the discount web guy who says he’ll do her site for $199 and make it perfect. Well, unknown to Jane, the $199 web guy is a college student that build his brother-in-law a website for his tree cutting service once and that’s about it. So the cheap web guy builds Jane a site that looks almost as good as the do-it-yourself website she had build herself months ago. She bites the bullet and pays the guy.
Well, now she’s back where she started. She now has a homemade looking website, expensive software she’ll never use, a dragging business that she hasn’t been giving proper attention to, and a big fat headache. Now, Jane has a decision to make. Should she hire a trusted professional to build her site exactly how she envisions it or keep her “new” website that looks like it was built in 1992?
As humorous as it may seem, believe it or not, this is a very real and very common scenario my friends.
Had Jane, simply hired the right person to build her site from the beginning, she probably would have had her site live online in about a week with no problems. She would have saved about $1700 on website creation software, do-it-yourself trials, and bottles of ibuprofen. And who know how much money she lost by minding her website instead of her business. Had she hired the right person, her site would have been clean and professional right from the start and she would have been able to confidently send her prospective clients to her website for information.
Wow! What an adventure!
So the moral of the story is. . . before you launch a new website or get an old one upgraded, talk it over with a professional web designer that you can trust. A good web designer will be able to take care of your needs a let you know know what your best options are within your budget regardless of whether or not he or she gets your business.
I know, I know. . . you still want to know what web design software I use don’t you?
Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn happen to be some of my favorite social networking websites. It’s great to keep in touch with friends, family, and business clients through the internet. In fact, you’re all invited to join my social networking groups. (For LinkedIn, use email nate@nateburgoyne.com). Just be sure to include a little note about yourself with your requests.
However, I think we all may be forgetting that face-to-face networking is still an important part of lead generating. This morning I was invited to attend a business networking group here locally and I’m excited to be part of it. I met some great like-minded business owners and entrepreneurs that are willing to work together to grow each other’s businesses.
There something special about meeting people in person, especially when you see the same people at different venues and different networking events. You remember their smiles and personalities.
One of the greatest things about being small business owners and entrepreneurs is that, in most cases, we are able to choose who we do business with. In fact, for me, when I meet a new potential business contact and start get to know him or her, I’m really trying to make the decision of whether this person and I will be able to connect and work effectively together toward a common goal.
While, all of this trust can certainly be developed online over several weeks of Facebook updates, the same connection can take place in about 30 seconds or less in a face-to-face meeting.
If you’re a blogger writing on products that you’re given for free, or compensated for writing about, there are new FTC requirements for disclosing the endorsement. The rules are pretty simple and make sense. Basically, you have to simply disclose something like, “Company XYZ sent me this product and he’s what I think. . .” Here are four videos by the Federal Trade Commission outlining the new requirements.
I love National Public Radio. This morning they mentioned the free internet war between Google, Bing and Yahoo!, and it’s definitely worth a mention. Google has slowly taken over the internet world by providing stellar services at minimal or no direct cost. This time it’s internet service.
As a gift through the holidays this year, Google has subsidized WiFi internet access at various airports across the country to help promote the new Google Chrome browser of which I, personally, am a fan. How much are they subsidizing the internet access? Well, it’s Free. I’m telling you, Google it taking over the internet world.
Well, Bing and Yahoo! have answered back. Bing has been keeping up with the Joneses by offer the same free internet service at other airports across the country, while Yahoo! has decided to wire up New York’s Times Square with free WiFi through the holidays. Boy, the search engine and browser battle is getting pretty heated, and it looks like Google is still the Jones to keep up with.
