If you’re on my email list, you know I don’t mail very often. Only when I have super important stuff to tell you like what colour socks I’m wearing. But the important thing is I keep in touch. Not often, but I hope just the right amount to make you feel loved.

So it amazes me when businesses have no email list. No active way of communicating with  potential or current clients. How are you supposed to build a relationship if you don’t talk people? Note: As an equal opportunities supporter, I will accept sign language as an answer.

Now I’m not saying you need to leave people swimming in your emails, quite the opposite. Before you send each email you should ask yourself, “How will this benefit the other persons life?” And no, the answer can’t always be “Because they’ll buy my fantastic products and live happily ever after!” We’re looking for a little more than that…

Now my overwhelmingly witty dialogue has convinced you to start collecting email addresses, you need some kind of opt-in process. Most Internet savvy people go for ‘double opt-in.’ This means they’ve given you their email address (opt-in #1) and then clicked a confirmation link in the first email (opt-in #2).

Then you include an ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every email so you can be sure they actually want to hear from you. Because, surprise surprise, some people don’t want to be spammed to death by product offers.

There are various services that will make things easy for you. I personally use Aweber and find it good. It can be a little complex to start with but there are heaps of tutorials to teach you how to use it. It also has a high delivery rate, meaning your email doesn’t get marked as spam as often…unless you’re selling Viagra. Shop around, read some reviews, and make an informed choice.

The moral of the story, if you have information that is valuable to your potential market (their definition, not yours), then you should start giving it to them. The more value you can offer, the better relationship you can build, and the happier everyone will be.

There are literally millions of people trying to making millions online. They’ve caught the bug and they can’t wait for their bank accounts to start overflowing like the gurus claim.

To help all these people out in their endless cycle of frustration and despair, here are my…

Top 5 Ways to Ruin your Life and NOT Make Money Online:

1. Try all new ideas for exactly one month before getting bored and moving on

2. Always look for the get rich quick scheme, not a sustainable business opportunity

3. Buy all the ‘gurus’ products, then wait for them to jump out of the box and do it all for you

4. Never stop learning new marketing techniques, even if it means never taking action on them

5. And remember, if it sounds too good to be true…
grab your credit card!

Well I hope those tips will help you reach your goals of misery and frustration. Remember, your old boss will always take you back and definitely won’t hold a grudge.

If you enjoyed it, please share it!

Being different sets us apart, especially in business. To many people are afraid that if they stand out they will lose customers. But if you look at the most successful businesses, they all do things differently.

Go and take a look at the other websites in your industry and your competitors. What strikes you about them? Bingo, they’re all the same. You could argue that they’re the same because that formula works, but I blame a lack of creativity and laziness.

Your website should be different and unique. It should make your customers actually take notice and not just file you away with all your competitors. When all the businesses look the same, people decide on price. You never want to compete on price!

I hear the moans of “But we ARE different! We’re way better than all our competitors!” Guess what, saying it doesn’t make it true. Even if you have great customer service, putting that on your website doesn’t mean anything.

Guess what? All your competitors say they’re “high quality, customer focused, and great value.” So where does that leave you?

The solution? Show them you’re different. If you have great customer service…show them! And you don’t have to wait until they make a purchase, get some testimonials on your website. Make them stand out, have photos and videos of your customers. Tell stories the have examples of great customer service in them.

There are so many ways to stand out and it doesn’t take a great amount of creativity to do it. Look at other websites and see how they do things. Steal great ideas from other websites in other industries.

So, the moral of the story: Be Different. And then work out how to show this through your website.

Well the new TV anyway, YouTube. I’ve just finished working on a new video and I think I’m improving…

It’s to replace my old dodgy one on the frontpage of my website. My favourite description of it was “annoyed and constipated.” So now, check out the new version right here and see what other strange emotions I can convey through the magic of video.

It answers the curious question of: “How can I improve my website?”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqaT74TSxS0[/youtube]

And while you’re surfing the website, you may notice some clues about my upcoming plans using the words “membership” and “free.” This post was also brought to you by the number 13.

I know, I know…the blog posts have been a little inconsistent lately. But there’s a good reason behind it…I swear!

I’ve been working on some content for my loyal email subscribers lately and that has led me to a great idea. It’ll mean a load of great content for you…and best of all, it’ll be completely free.

So if you’re on my email list, keep an eye on your inbox over the next 2 weeks. Something is coming…and I’m sure you’re going to learn a lot from it.