You know what I’m talking about.  Unless you’ve got a really comfortable desk chair, who wants to actually sit and read a 150 page document on their monitor?

But like Winston Wolff, I solve problems.  I suggest you go old-school, and actually make a printed booklet out of them.

A very convenient, portable, spiral bound copy can be yours in minutes- ready to lounge with at Starbucks, sipping your latte while reading about the latest SEO techniques.

And what about the effort/cost involved with something like this, you ask?

Piece of cake. Less that $3, and can be done in 20 minutes.

Learn what to do next here:

Here’s the three simple steps (and associated time/money invested):

1. Convert the PDF ebook to a PDF booklet   (60 seconds,  FREE!)

Go to www.BookletCreator.com

Upload your PDF file, click “Create Booklet”.  Even a caveman can handle this.

2. Print the new PDF booklet   (5 Minutes, FREE!*)

When you open the PDF, click Print, then select “Odd Number Pages”.

When it finishes, reload the printed pages upside down (you may need to experiment with this) and Print “Even Number Pages”, AND check the “Reverse Order” box.

* Ok, whatever the cost of 10-20 sheets of paper is

3. Cut the  pages in half, add the spiral binding  (20 minutes*, less than  $4**)

I’d suggest letting the professionals handle this.  FedEx Kinkos can knock this step out in a heartbeat.

When your ebook is cut (they can do it, or you can use their paper slicer) tell them you want a spiral bound booklet.

They’ve got special machines that punch the holes perfectly and the plastic spiral goes on easily.

Shazaam!  You now have a handy ebook-booklet!  Bask in your awesomeness and start reading, the old fashioned way!

* This takes into account driving time, and if there’s someone in line at Kinkos who has jammed up the copy machine.

** I’d suggest going for the carstock color cover.  Protects your booklet and wows your friends and family.

Eric Louviere is a sharp internet marketer, and a new friend.

He recently wrote a sizzling article directed at people trying to “get something going” making money online.

With permission, I’m reprinting it here.

WARNING: This article just may be that kick in the butt you’ve been looking for!
===================================
If you’ve been a newbie for over a year, then you might be a redneck.

No seriously, if you are a newbie right now, then you need to stop being a newbie and start selling stuff. In fact, just get a squeeze page up and send traffic to it.

If you do that, then you’ll be further along than 95% of all newbies right away.

Send traffic to a squeeze page, and you’re in business. That’s it.

Want to make six figures per year? send enough traffic to a squeeze page that you build a list of 5,000 subscribers or more.

I’m now fully convinced that people dont make money because of the BARRIERS they put up that prevents them from making money.

BARRIERS = mindset, making things harder than what they are, self sabotage, fears, overwhelmed, buying too much, lost, analysis paralysis or whatever the heck that is, etc etc

If you just put up a squeeze page and sent traffic to it, you’d be in the game… instead of on the sidelines wondering what to do and how to do it.

dont know where to start?

traffic to a squeeze page. that’s it. start there.

focus 98% of your time on that, and nothing else and just watch what happens.

Look, the best way to learn anything is to do it. The best way to learn this business is to do this business.

Once you are sending traffic to a squeeze page, the rest is easy…just promote stuff via emails. dont overcomplicate things and if someone posts below in this thread complicating this, ignore them.

It really is that easy.

(you make it sound so easy Eric)

IT IS!

If you are not making any money, it is because you are not selling anything.

(but Eric, I have a squeeze page)

Are you sending traffic to it constantly?

(but Eric, I am using articles and twitter)

Neither have ever made me a dime. I’m not saying they dont work, but I cant speak for those methods. But, if you’ve been at those methods for more than a few weeks, then that’s a lot of time to spend for nothing.

I would never put my income on the line where it depends on Twitter or articles. That’s just me. Feel free to disagree. I dont care.

Paid traffic
Affiliates

That’s what has worked for me. Again, twitter may be great for traffic, I just would not focus my effort there. SEO works too, I’m just not good at it.

So, if you wonder why so many never make any money in this business, it’s because they cant get traffic… they never-ever get started anyway… they are never selling anything… they offer no services… they sell nothing… they buy everything… they never treat this like a business… they just read, post, buy, read, post, buy, disappear for a while, come back, buy, post, read… etc etc etc

…for years

and are still newbies.

Sell something!

But today, I thought I pull you into the events that transpired this morning. And, true to my nature, there’s an interesting technology tie-in at the end. 

Luke in the coolest waiting room ever!

You see, my 1-year old son Luke had some minor surgery- and is now home recovering safely. While many people have gone through much worse situations… this was the first time for us.

I’m sure it’s always tough for parents to experience these things.

We had a great surgeon and anesthesiologist who took extra time to talk with us and let us know what was going on, before and after.

For any who are interested, here’s the quick synopsis of what happened.

( And since my medical training consists of watching a lot of House, forgive me if I get something wrong):

When infant boys develop, his “family jewels” drop by passing through a thin membrane. This normally seals back up, but sometimes (Luke’s case) it doesn’t completely. A small “leak” exists. While this isn’t immediately dangerous, it can be the root of a lot of future problems (infection, etc). And since it doesn’t fix itself over time, surgery is the best option.

A small incision was made in Luke’s abdomen and 8 (internal) stitches were made to seal this membrane back up. The procedure took about 45 minutes. Since little kids aren’t very good at sitting still, they used anesthesia. We weren’t allowed there when the put the mask on him to put him under… which was probably the toughest part for mom and dad… but the staff at this place were really top notch.

We had our own private waiting room- nice touch for nervous parents who would prefer not to be in a large, crowded room. The doc came back within an hour and told us all went well.

Luke would have a “fairly miserable weekend”, he said, but over the next two weeks he’d be back to normal. his Grandmother, codeine, and some VIP treatment should help him to make it through just fine.

They make those gowns for little kids. Who knew.

On another note, I had an interesting perspective on the morning.

Those that know me are aware I’m a recovering techno-geek, and love having my blackberry on my hip. I love technology almost as much as Kip Dynamite.

Many have commented on how society has become more isolated because of this technology- working, shopping, and even socializing is done while individuals are… alone. Behind their computer.

And to some extent I agree this is a concerning trend.

But as we arrived at the children’s surgery clinic, I knew there were friends and family around the country thinking and praying for little Luke. So, while giving him all the attention he could handle, I decided to include our family as we went along with the morning.

Snapping pictures on my phone took one click of a button, sending them out to a family email list was another. And for a third click- I sent them out to my Facebook family. From each picture snapped, to people seeing it on their computers- took about 20 seconds.

And an interesting thing happened. Almost in real time, we got a steady stream of people commenting, offering encouragement, giving us strength, helping us smile. Having all of these friends in the private waiting room was not possible (or even appropriate?) but instead of isolating us… my high-tech device actually brought us closer to the ones we care about… and who care about us.

No place safer than mommy's arms.

Friends from Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Montana, Las Vegas, and all over my home state of Florida… went through this eventful morning with us.

And yes, it did make a difference.

Luke is home sleeping now, and as I’m preparing to get back to work (on my trusty laptop), I think that maybe this world of technology- into which Luke is destined to grow up- isn’t all that bad after all.

It goes something like this:

Client: “Hey, take look at my site! What do you think?”

Me: “Well, to be honest, it really doesn’t matter what I think.”

Client: “Um.. what?”

Me: “You may have the prettiest site in the world, but if it’s not DOING anything for you- generating sales, or leads, or signups, then what’s the point?”

Client: “So you’re saying you don’t like my site?”

Me: “No no… look. Rather than look at the design, let me look at your NUMBERS. Show me the stats of your site.”

Client: “Right… my stats. I’ve never seen any stats on my website.”

Me: “And THERE is our problem! Let’s start with generating some measurements, how your site is performing- THEN I’ll tell you what I think of it!”

The good news is, most people “get it” after this talk. After all, most people pay to have a website in the hopes it will generate some income for them.

The bad news is, most people have no idea what statistics they need to be measuring, much less how to retrieve them.

To all of these people, let me introuduce you to your new best friend: GOOGLE ANALYTICS.

(And before I go any further, let me just say 2 words: absolutely free.  Ok, resume article.)

Once you have Google Analytics set up on your site, here are the Top 10 cool statistics you can analyze:

1. How many unique visitors you have to your site. (Forget those “counters” that were popular in the 90s. They’re useless. Your mom could keep refreshing her browser and you’d have 1000 hits per day.) This is absolute new people that reach

your site!

2. How many pages the average unique visitor views.

3. Which pages on your site are most popular.

4. Your site’s bounce rate (defined as people who land on your page and immediately click away.) If your site has a high bounce rate, you’ve got problems.

5. How long the average person spends on your site.

6. How people got to your site. (Directly typed it into a browser, referred by another site, or clicked from a search engine.)

7. If they got there from a search engine, what search terms did they use to find you?

8. If another site referred them to you, which site was that?

9. What connection speed is the user on? (i.e. if you find most of your visitors are on dial-up, you might want to tone down all the big flash animations!)

10. My personal favorite, where geographically (country, state, city) each visitor is from.

And this is just scratching the surface of what Google Analytics can do.

(Let me repeat something- this is absolutely free. Even if they charged $100 per month for this, it would still be worth it to you.  But it’s free!)

Setting this up on your site is a snap also.

Your steps:

1. http://analytics.google.com

2. Sign in using your google account login (if you have gmail, use that.) If you don’t have a google account, create one now.

3. Once you’re insite Google Analytics, click “Add Website Profile”. Select “Add a Profile for a new domain”, and type the domain in the box.

4. You’ll then see a box with a chuck of javascript code. (You’re looking for “New Tracking Code (ga.js)” ). Select all this code, and have your web person paste this exact code just before the tag of every page on your site. Just tell them exactly that, they’ll know what it means.

That’s it!

It takes about 24 hours for the data to begin showing up, but each time you log in to your Google Analytics account, you’ll see this website’s profile, and you’ll see all the data you can handle!

Only then you can really determine how your site is REALLY doing!

There are many more useful things with G.A. that I will write about in future posts.

But.. even if you’re not interested in doing anything with these stats, you can at least find out who around the planet is visiting your site- as I’m writing this, I just saw that I have 2 people from Bangkok who visit this blog!

Sawaddee krapp, my friends!

My computer gave me a pop up window with a very discouraging message yesterday. If you’ve never experienced this particular one, trust me- YOU WILL. It’s just a matter of time.

The warning went something like this:

“Your C: drive is 97% full. And buddy, your entire life stops until you deal with this.”

(OK, I added that last part, but that’s how I felt.)

I knew I let my hard drive get a little sloppy, and it was time to start trimming the fat. But where to start? My iTunes music? Pictures of the kids? All these ebooks I download?

And more importantly, how do I find the BIG space hogs, so I’m not picking off one Word document at a time?

Luckily, I found the ULTIMATE headache saver-an amazing (and free) little tool called WinDirStat, which allows me to *visualize* my hard drive.

That’s right, if you can wrap your brain around this one, I can actually SEE my files displayed visually based on size. This makes it very obvious in a glance what’s taking up all my hard drive space- and makes it a cinch to delete it.

In my case, the culprits were the BLUE files, followed by the BURGUNDY ones. (see image below)

Those giant blue blocks are video files, when I was playing around with green screen video production.

And somewhat embarrassingly, the burgundy files are “24″ episodes I downloaded from iTunes. What can I say, I got hooked.

Here’s the real power of this: In about 60 seconds, I deleted TEN files and freed up over 50% of my hard drive! Wow.

Although the developers of WinDirStat didn’t receive any creativity awards for the name (Windows Directory Statistics=WinDirStat), they made up for this with an amazingly solid and helpful tool.

Not only is it a free download, it’s an absolute breeze to use. Just start it up, and it produces a colorful representation of the contents of your hard drive, which you can easily match up with specific files- and delete them on the spot!

Download WiDirStat HERE

And while I have no doubt my hard drive will eventually fill up again (Jack Bauer still needs to rid the world of a few more terrorists) I know I’ll be ready to clean things off without losing sleep.

“Why am I not making more money online?”

If you’ve ever wondered this, you’re not alone.

But to get an answer that is REAL- not just someone’s fluffy opinion, you need to answer your question with another, more appropriate question:

“What do the numbers tell me about why I’m not making more money online?”

If you don’t have any data to look at… well, now you’re honing in on the bigger issue. Without tracking, your original question is impossible to answer.

It’s common (and essential) to measure things like traffic, signups, purchases, etc., but one very revealing (and often overlooked) stat is something called “shopping cart abandonment”.

This is where people reach your site, follow the “Buy” link- and then click away before actually making a purchase.

A recent study by Consumer Experience Management (CEM) evaluated the experiences of 719 consumers, and why they left a site’s checkout without making a purchase. Here are the top reasons:

1. High shipping prices (72%)
2. Comparison shopping or browsing (61%)
3. Changed mind (56%)
4. Saving items for later purchase (51%)
5. Total cost of items is too high (43%)
6. Checkout process is too long (41%)
7. Checkout needs too much personal info (35%)
8. Registration needed before purchase (34%)
9. Site is unstable or unreliable (31%)
10. Checkout process is confusing (27%)

This information is extremely useful for CORRECTING this problem, if you know that it actually IS a problem.  Don’t rely on your gut here.  Rely on the data.

For example, I recently took a look at a client’s numbers, and had to report some tough news: they had a 72.5% abandonment rate. Yikes.

Think about this for a minute.  All their marketing efforts (and dollars) drove traffic to their site; all the copy, graphics and bonuses enticed visitors to click the “BUY” link; yet three out of four people bailed out just before making a purchase.

As discouraging as this news can be- it’s exactly what they needed to know- and we immediately began working on how to close more deals.

Want to know your abandonment rate?

If you’re using Web Marketing Magic (1SC), it’ll take you one minute to find these revealing statistics.

From your account, select:

Analytics > Cart Conversion > (choose the date range) > Generate Report.

That’s it!  You can play with different analytics and learn a lot of useful stuff about your business, and more importantly, you’ll know exactly how much money is slipping through your fingers on the checkout page.

In another article, I’ll explore some of the effective ways I’ve found to decrease shopping cart abandonment, but at least this will get you started tracking like the pros!

Early in my career, someone taught me a principle about making your products/services free:

“If you give it away, it has no value.”

Well, if you’ve been around the block a while in Internet marketing, you know that this principle is being challenged intensely.

In fact, we are seeing the most successful online empires (Google, Yahoo, Craigslist, Wikipedia, etc.) thrive by providing FREE products, services, storage, and content.

Billion dollar companies, and we rarely pay them a dime.  Amazing!

Wired Magazine editor Chris Anderson wrote an intriguing article last year titled Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business.

I’d encourage you to check it out- because it DOES apply to your business!

For us, the online entrepreneurs and small businesses, the question can then move to the practical- HOW do I give something away online?

There are three ways, and each has unique advantages.

1. No strings attached FREE
This is just a link on your site, directly linking to the product, whether an ebook, an audio, video, etc.  No hoops to go through, completely anonymous.  This is a great way to establish yourself as trustworthy- and credible.

Truth is, people are a lot more wary online than they were 10 years ago.

Either they think you have an angle, or they will be getting junk.  Surprise them- and GIVE AWAY SOMETHING GREAT.  You’ve got a much better chance to win their trust, and their business.

2. Double Opt In FREEBIE
Most of us are familiar with this- a box in the top right of websites saying “I’ll give you X in exchange for your name and email.”  When they click the confirmation link in the follow up email (automatic from 1SC, Aweber, etc) they get the free download, and they’re now in your “list”.

Most of us use this method, and sign up for other people’s list.. both to get the free product and to hear from someone we hope is interesting.

My signup on WebMarketingMagician.com uses this- and the free 30 minute interview with a recognized expert is something I think is enticing enough for people to chomp at.

However, there’s a third method that very few people are aware of, and it’s even EASIER and more EFFECTIVE than the Double Opt In method.  If you have WebMarketingMagic (1SC), you could have this set up in 10 minutes.

3. The 100% Discount Coupon
Imagine you’re giving a seminar, and are hoping everyone in the room joins your newsletter list.

You then hold up your book/CD/Report, and tell them “This product is currently selling on my website for $47.”  (They are mildly interested.)

You continue, “HOWEVER, for this special group only- I’d like to give it to you as a GIFT.”  (OK, now you have their attention.)

“And If you click on my site’s $47 Buy link, and enter the coupon code “MAGIC77″, I will deliver it to you, FREE of charge, no strings attached- but this expires midnight tonight.”  (You now have a room of people scrambling to write this precious code!)

Using coupon/promo codes accomplishes three important things:

• The end user gets a product with real value for FREE- they walk away feeling they got a good deal.
• You receive a new addition to your list.
• There is no follow up email for them to click- they are instantly double opted in.

The power of this method is that a purchase itself counts as a double opt in… so there is no need to have them search for a link in an email.

However, since the product cost is $0, they never need to enter credit card payment information.

This is especially nice when you’re meeting someone in person, and they express interest in your products and services.

Rather than tell them to go to your website, fill out the form, look for the email and click the confirmation link- I like to pull out my business card, and on the back write “Free book, coupon code “MAGIC77″.

Trust me, their motivation sky-rockets, as does the conversion rate.

To set this up in your Web Marketing Magic (1SC) account, Go to:

Products > Manage Coupons > Add New Coupon

Here you’ll enter:

1. Coupon Code (i.e. MAGIC77)
2. Discount Amount (100%)
3. End Date (if you want it to be time sensitive)
4. The product it applies to (Find the product and move it to “Selected Products”.)

When you Save these changes, your coupon will be instantly available!  Go to your shopping cart and try it out.

Good luck, and remember, embrace this era of FREE!

A good friend, Fred Gleeck, recently proposed a joint project.  One of his niche areas is marketing to self storage owners.  And with some great foresight, 8 years ago he reserved the domain PhiladelphiaSelfStorage.com…. and 20 other identical domains- with different cities.

His plan- sell ad space on each of them to the self storage companies in each city.  The selling point- “We’re ranked #1 on Google for the search phrase “Philadelphia Self Storage”.

So the our Google Adventure began… build the perfect SEO site, and track the progress to the top.

And now, after 6 weeks- we’ve reached the #4 spot!

Once we get it to the top, we’re going to roll out all 21 sites… and see what happens from there.

Also, we thought it might be a helpful exercise to keep a journal of everything we’ve done, and track the rise up the charts.  Interested in getting the report when it’s finished?

I’d be happy to share it- no charge- but there is one thing you could do to earn it.  One of the key things to get your site to the top is inbound links.

So, if you put a link to our site like this:

Philadelphia Self Storage

and let me know- I’ll make sure you get the eBook when it comes out!

Look for more blog updates about our ascent to the top of Google!

NOTE: The following is a dramatization in the very near future, of an eager customer finding your website and going through the process you’ll soon have set up:

1. After some specific Googl’ing, Joe Customer reaches your sales page. He reads your copy, sees your product, and his heart starts racing… THIS is what he’s been looking for! THIS is the info he needs! And for ONLY $37? Wow! His lucky day! As he reaches for his credit card, his mouse wheel is frantically scrolling down your site until he sees an attractive button that says “Buy Now!”

2. Upon clicking this button, Joe reaches a friendly and familiar page titled “View Cart Items”. Since he only ordered this one item, he can see it listed on the page- and he can’t wait to download it! No need to click the “Continue Shopping” button, he’s ready to fork over some money NOW. Joe clicks the “Check Out” button.

3. Another familiar site… the Checkout Page. Joe knows the routine. (He’s no stranger to online purchases.) He types his name, address, email… then whips out his Visa. With blazingly quick fingers, he enters the 16 digits, along with the expiration date (“Don’t forget that 3-digit code!” Joe reminds himself). There’s some info at the bottom of the page about the agreement of sale, guarantee, blah blah blah… (“who reads that stuff anyway,” he thinks.) Then, with a powerful pointer finger slam, he triumphantly clicks the “Submit Order” button!

4. The next 0.5 seconds are agonizing for Joe. (“What if my card is declined? Did I pay my bill? Am I over my limit? What if…”) But alas, VICTORY! A page appears on his screen with the bold title: “Your Order Has Been Accepted! Please click the link below to download your Product!” Joe is giggling with anticipation. (meanwhile, behind the scenes, the process of tapping Joe’s credit card for $37, and depositing into your bank account is already in motion.)

5. Clicking the “Download your Product” link, a familiar Windows box appears, asking him if he wants to save the file to his hard drive. “Oh, you better believe I do,” Joe whispers out loud as he sips his Mountain Dew. “I’m even going to create a separate directory for you… my precious.” When the “Save” button is clicked, the download status bar grows, and grows, until… DONE! Slowly Joe opens the file, basking it the wisdom and knowledge you’ve provided for him.

6. Later, while checking his email, he receives an email receipt from you- how considerate and professional. A few days later, a personal email from you arrives in his inbox (after all, it does starts out “Dear Joe”), politely thanking him for his purchase- and reminding him about another great product he might be interested in. Feeling touched, Joe now considers you family, and looks forward to not only hearing from you again, but buying another wonderful information product you have to offer.

By the way, you were away on vacation when all of this happened. When you return- relaxed and tanned- the money is waiting for you in your (expanding) bank account.

To see a visual representation of the process described here, follow along in this diagram:

A friend of mine who uses WebMarketingMagic for his shopping cart recently asked this common question:

“My shopping cart produces some long, ugly URL’s that I need to put in emails and publications. Is there any way to shorten them?”

These generated links could be product “buy” links, Ad-tracker links, Autoresponder opt-in links, etc.

For example, a product “buy link” might look like this:

http://www.webmarketingmagic.com/SecureCart/SecureCart.aspx?mid=499D638B-5DDE-
476D-A313-CED23C8F7E5C&pid=a948e2a6851e6c57afebfe92fcd0e1ed

Not a very sleek, sexy URL. A more attractive link, which could be added to any email or print material, would be something like:

www.hamprollc.com/product1

The answer to the “can it be done” question is YES! But not from within your shopping cart system. The secret is to “mask” these links by creating a file on your website that will forward people to these ugly (but necessary) links. Here’s the steps to do it yourself:

1. Open up Notepad, or your favorite text/HTML editor

2. Enter the following text:

(note: enter your own “ugly” link in the indicated place)

3. Save the file as index.html, and upload (FTP) it to where you want the link to be. In my example, I’m moving it to www.hamprollc.com/product1/.

4. That’s it! Now when someone clicks this nice, short link, they are forwarded to the correct buy link!

Try it out: www.hamprollc.com/product1

..