This video is a tutorial on how fast and easy it is to incorporate autoresponder software on to your website:

Now, you may be brand new to online marketing, or you may be a seasoned hand.  Regardless, you should absolutely be using some sort of autoresponder software on your website, for three main reasons:

1. Database Building

Building a database is one of the most profitable things you can do for creating residual income and having a long-term asset.  At HBSA, we use always go into a new market with the mindset of building assets.  Different business models take different tools to execute, and our mindset has always been “long term”, and having a database is essential to building a long-term, profitable asset.

2. Automated Followup

Are you busy?  Got a lot going on? Yeah, we know.  We do too.  And the fact is that as much as we all love the “human touch” in business, humans make mistakes.  They overlook details.  The forget stuff.

And that’s why we love autoresponders so much.  We use this technology to take some of the “oops, it slipped through the cracks” out of our businesses.   It basically allows you to write up a series of emails that go out on an automatic “drip” timeline, so that each person who opts into your list gets a predictable, steady flow of content and information from you.  Helps to build relationships, and be of service to your clients.

3. Broadcasting

This is where you can send out an email to your entire list, just with a click of one button.  Makes sending out invitations to webinars and teleseminars a breeze.  It also allows you to advertise time-sensitive specials and updates to your list as you need it.  I sent out an email last week to over 126,000 people, and it took less than 15 minutes.

Here are some additional considerations when using an autoresponder:

1. Website

What is your website designed to do?  If you have an optin website (which you can build easily with Weebly) then an autoresponder works well.  If you have a blog, it works well.  If you have a corporate website, and no offer to give people who opt in, you probably won’t get much action.  Give people an ethical bribe (i.e., a good reason to opt in) and you’ll get better results.

2. Single Opt In Vs Double Opt In

This is a hotly debated topic in the permission-based marketing field.  Kinda like when you get a bunch of Mac fanboy’s in a room full of PC nerds, the inevitable argument can be well-stated and well-made by either side, and it’s ultimately a matter of opinion.

The process for a single-optin setup is:

Lead goes to website >>> Lead opts into autoresponder >>> Lead receives what was promised immediately upon first email

The process for a double-optin setup is:

Lead goes to website >>> Lead opts into autoresponder >>> Lead gets email from autoresponder asking lead to confirm their identity >>> Lead receives what was promised after they confirm their subscription

Email marketing purists argue that double optin helps keep spam rates low (sometimes true) and filters your most “serious” people up to the top.

Personally, I prefer single optin.  I prefer to let leads filter themselves.  Fact is, some people want what you have (they opted in already) but they won’t confirm a subscription.  Plus, those email confirmation messages sometimes get sent to the users spam filter…meaning they never even get a chance to double opt in.

I’m able to keep spam rates low by only sending broadcasts that contain value.  Seems to work ok for us

3. Setbacks

You’re going to have setbacks when using an autoresponder.  It’s a fact.  If you’re new to autoresponders, understand that it is definitely one of the most profitable tools you can introduce to your online marketing campaigns.  It’s also new – which means you’ll need to learn the system.  As goofs will occur, it’s important to understand the mindset for how to deal with setbacks.  At the same time, you can avoid a lot of the more common goofs by getting an autoresponder service that simply has quality training on how to use their products.

There are several autoresponder softwares available.  We personally like Aweber.com for autoresponder software.  They have the highest deliver-ability of any that we’ve tested (and we’ve tested a lot).   Feel free to test ‘em all out, but this is the autoresponder we use.

Questions? Comments?  Post ‘em up below.

Weebly is an up-and-coming website-building platform.  I’ve heard mixed reviews, and so I wanted to put out a list of the pro’s and con’s of this particular platform so that you have a good idea of what you’re getting.

Weebly Overview

Back in the olden-days, you had to know html, css, and have a host of other technical skills in order to create a website.  However, that’s all changing.  The growing popularity of “drag and drop” solutions has touched multiple industries, and now Weebly is bringing it to the world of web development.

They are the first to create a drag and drop interface for building websites that is really simple, and easy to use.  For a newer company, they have integrated some really intelligent features that are important to note.

Drag And Drop Interface

Weebly does it up right with an interface that is truly simple to use.  In fact, it’s so simple even a child could put out something that looks professionally designed.  You just click on an element, drag it into your site, and start using it.  Easy.

Free Hosting (With No Advertising!)

Some hosting providers will give away hosting for free, but stuff tons of ads on your page.   Pretty lame, in our humble opinions.  But Weebly doesn’t do that – in fact, they allow YOU to put Adsense ads on YOUR site, so that you can monetize it and make money off the traffic that gets to your website.  This is a huge advantage when building a website, as they have eliminated one of the expenses of overhead for website creation.

Professional Templates (Plus The Ability To Customize Your Own)

Not sure how to create a sharp looking website?  No worries – you can borrow one of their 70 professionally-designed templates to use, and still customize every word on the site to reflect exactly what you want to say.

Audio/Video/ Blog Integrated

You can upgrade to a pro account, and integrate audio or video clips on to your website.  Even the free accounts allow you to utilize the power of a blog on your site at no additional expense.  You have full moderation controls to keep comments in check, or allow open /closed commenting.  It’s totally up to you.

Use Your Own Domain

If you already have a domain, you can still host on Weebly for free.  You can also purchase domains through them for very reasonable rates, but the fact that they will let you use their platform, use their hosting…all for free…it’s pretty amazing.

Webmaster Tools

They have a suite of webmaster tools included to allow you to properly track and SEO the pages on your website.  Again, no real technical expertise is needed to leverage these tools – they’re all “point/click”.

Customization

Add pictures, create online yearbooks, customize favicons…you can do all this and more without website design knowledge.  Drag, drop, and done.

We have a lot that we like about Weebly, but there is one thing that we don’t like about it.  If you opt for the “freebie” version, they put a footer link on the very bottom of your page that says “create a free website with Weebly”.  Honestly, we can understand why – they are giving so much away for free, that we can forgive this one small blip.  They are a company that needs to make money to provide good service, so that one small bit of promotion is OK with us

Here’s a video showing a back-office tour of Weebly:

Is Weebly A Scam?!?

Unfortunately, some skeptics have chosen to take the low road, and assert that Weebly couldn’t POSSIBLY give away all the great services that they do for free.  While they do have paid options and paid services, they certainly aren’t scammy about it.  They give away a superior product to what many web developers could produce, at a cost that is remarkable.

So while there is no free lunch, this is pretty darn close

You can check it out, and see that while others may charge thousands (or tens of thousands) for an inferior solution, Weebly is keepin’ it real and givin’ it away for free (that’s right, FREE son).

If you’d like to get more information, you can visit their website:  Weebly.com.

If you have experience with Weebly, please share below!

The 2010 HBSA Mastermind Summit is going down October 1st – 3rd, 2010 in Denver (here are the details if you missed ‘em).

We are running a contest to hook you up if you are currently promoting HBSA.

Here’s how it works:

From August 1st until September 30th, we will be tallying the total volume of sales by all affiliates.

First place gets: Free Ticket – Free Hotel Room – Free Dinners Every Night ($1,200+ value)

Second place gets: Free Ticket – Free Hotel Room ($1,000+ value)

Third place gets: Free Ticket ($697 +value)

Now let’s clarify a few points:

1. This is an equalizer.  If you’re looking at the competition thinking “I’m so far behind!”  Let us be the first to tell you “nonsense!”

This is an equalizer.  You have JUST AS MUCH OF A CHANCE AS THE NEXT PERSON.  You can absolutely make it happen.  If you need a hand, just drop us an email (joshua [at] hbsaonline dot com / martin {at} hbsaonline dot com) – we’ll personally help you any way we can.

So whether you are fresh to this program or you are a seasoned veteran – you have a chance, and you can make it happen.  It’s just a decision – if you decide that one of those prizes are yours, and you follow through with the action necessary, you’ll most likely succeed.

2. “What if I already purchased a ticket?”

Some people have already purchased a ticket.  If you win a prize, you’ll be refunded.  Simple as that.

3. “Do receivables count?”

Some of you are fans of payment plans (which is great).  What counts is money actually collected during this time period.  Volume collected (not receivables) is what is tallied up at the end.

Let’s make it happen!  If you have any questions about the contest, just post ‘em up in the comments below.

ADDENDUM

We have had some questions about the contest, wanted to post those up here for everyone:

1. Do BMS sales count?

No – closes of the flagship programs are what counts

2. Do previous payment plans count?

No – PREVIOUS receivables do not count.  Everyone starts from “zero” on this contest (no head starts!).  Payment plans enrolled during August and September DO count.  Say you enroll a 12 pay in the month of August / September – that definitely counts, as it is volume that is billed during Aug/Sept.  For payment plans, you get credit for what is actually processed during those two months.

3. If I win the contest, can I request that Martin sing a song for us at the Summit?

Well…let me check with Martin…ah, never mind, I’m sure he’d love to sing for ya!  For those of you who don’t know, Martin has an amazing tenor, and he has a special affinity for songs pertaining to American patriotism (America The Beautiful, The Star Spangled Banner, etc).  If you win the contest and ask nicely, you may get an unforgeable performance in addition to the other prizes listed

Any other questions?  Just post ‘em up in the comments below.

Entrepreneurs make mistakes.  It’s our job.  We are pretty much professional mistake-makers.  So long as we learn from our mistakes (and don’t repeat them) it’s all good.  Everyone successful entrepreneur has built their success on big piles of fail.

However, there is one mistake in particular that I’m seeing more and more that is concerning, simply because of ramifications of this mistake.  I’ve watched a lot of business owners crash during this recession, many of which fell prey to this one mistake.

And that one big mistake is simply this:

Continue reading »

So you want to make money online? Good for you!  There are many ways to make it happen, and some are even fast, free, and fun.

But before we get into all that, we need to talk about an ugly truth that may seem obvious.  It is easy to overlook this seemingly obvious factoid when we are looking for ways to earn some income online.  And this simple truth is…

Making money in anything takes work. The Interwebz is no exception.

Do you work hard at your job?  Do expect to get paid?  Good.  Because to succeed in working from home, you’ll need to work just as hard, and maybe even harder at the beginning.  The rewards are more than worth it, but it does take some sweat equity…especially if you’re doing it on the cheap.

I’m going to give you some of the best ways to get started in making money online.  One thing that I want you to keep in mind is that making money online from home is not a fallacy or a myth.  Real people do it every day.  I’ve been making a killing online for a long time.   It’s a TON of fun, it’s interesting, and it doesn’t take a technical genius to figure it out.  It just takes a little perseverance, some sweat equity, and some focus.

Continue reading »