Well we got back on Monday from the System Seminar internet marketing conference put on by Ken McCarthy. Jesse and I went with a good friend and neighbor Mark Butler who is also making his name in the internet marketing world. The three of us are like minded so we had some long in depth internet marketing conversations.
I will give you my feelings towards the conference at the end of this post. But first, here are my 10 take-aways from the conference which by the way cost me $1000 just to get in.
- It is very important to get to know your visitors. Find out what they want and what their needs are. If you know their objections, it is very easy to overcome them. Use feedback tools like Kampyle.com to get the voice of your visitors.
- The most important thing you can do is develop a relationship with your visitors. You do this by providing a lot of value to them. If you do this properly you will gain a following. Once you have a following you can really make money online.
- A good internet marketing strategy is to develop a sequence of products that you push to your visitors. A good example of someone who does this is Dave Ramsey. He has an entry level book you can buy. Then he has a home study course which is more expensive. After that he has financial coaching which is even more expensive etc. He just moves his customers through the sequence. Sure there is a drop off as the prices get higher but obviously you don’t need as many customers when the ticket price is high.
- Use Google’s Website Optimizer to test. I know I have said this time and time again but let me reiterate this. You need to always be testing to increase conversions. A Google representative in charge of Optimizer came to the conference and was one of the speakers. He really renewed my desire to test, test, test. Surprisingly, when he asked the attendees how many people used Website Optimizer, there was only a handful of the 200+ people that did.
- Pricing is relative. Always test your pricing. You can increase your revenue dramatically simply by increasing your price.
- It’s all about the list. When I said before that you need to create a following the best way to do that is to build your email list. Do whatever you can to get more and more people to sign up for your email list. Provide them with real, valuable content that will keep them loyal to you. Make your email sign up prominent on your website. Make it as easy as possible.
- Here are 4 books you should buy and read: My Life In Advertising, Tested Advertising Methods, Web Design for ROI, Landing Page Optimization
- Be proud of your product. Don’t be afraid to tell people what you offer. If you provide value they will want to know what you offer.
- Don’t discount your product. Make it a bargain by adding value to it with bonuses.
- 90% of what we heard at this conference we already knew. There wasn’t a lot of specific information being given out so I really felt bad for the beginners. I would advise against attending this seminar in the future, especially if you are beginning.
The biggest benefit for us was the time in the hotel room in the evenings when Jesse, Mark and I would bounce ideas off of each other, give advice and strategize with each other on our own businesses. That time was way more valuable than the actual conference. I highly recommend that you find some like minded individuals that live near you and start meeting for lunch once a week. It really will help your business.
PS – We ate at Gibsons Stakehouse in Chicago (rated #1) and it was probably the best steak I have ever eaten.
