Category: Generating Revenue

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Michael Gerber’s 3 Step Process On Building An Automated Business System

In the Tim Ferriss interview with Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth Revisited) on Escaping The Entrepreneurial Seizure, Michael introduces the three step process for building an automated business system.

As an entrepreneur, the focus here is not on working in the company (being the technician), nor is it about managing the company. The entrepreneur steps outside of the process and works ON the company rather than IN it.

Albert Einstein certainly had the right idea when he said “Problems cannot be solved by thinking within the framework in which the problems were created.”

So here is Michael Gerber’s 3 step process (with commentary from me) for building your very own business system…

Step #1: Intentional Dreaming

With this foundational step, take the time to dream, formulating your vision for your business and the impact you want to make on your immediate surroundings and the wider world. What is the purpose for your business? Who will it serve? How will it serve them now, and how will it serve them 10 years from now? Dream big, and dream outside yourself. Dream so that this system can continue without you, and will live strong way beyond your own life span.

Step #2: Intentional Organisation

What is the specific product or service that your client will receive, and how will your company get it to them? How will the company operate? Conceive, build, and perfect the automated client fulfilment systems that make up how your company operates.

Step #3: Intentional Growth

Once you’ve dreamed up what the business will do, and you have perfected the system that delivers this product or service, the final step is to conceive, build, and perfect the operating systems of the company that focus on lead generation and lead conversion.

Lead Generation: How are you going to tell potential clients about the business and how are you going to get them to come to you?  What is the marketing effort that needs to take place to attract your ideal clients to your business?  How can you automate the whole process so that you are leveraging technology and other people’s time to drive more business to your company?

Lead Conversion: Once your prospects come to know about your company and the products or services it offers, how are you going to help them take decisive action and give you money for the products and services that you are offering?  What are the barriers to securing the sale that need addressing? How can you leverage technology and other people’s time to automate this sales process?

All successful entrepreneurs seem to follow this simple 3 step model for building their very own automated business system.

Over To You

So what do you think of this 3 step process for building a business system? Where else in your work can you apply these very principles? How would you adapt them to make them work better for you?

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How To Get A Buzzing Money Making Promotional Website Like OneAndOnlyMadonna.com Set Up Within A Day In Just 10 Steps

When you know that something hot is happening right now and you want to support it, here’s how you can get a good looking, self funding, great work promoting website up and running within a day.

In the example, we’ll use www.oneandonlymadonna.com, which is the site we have set up for our friend Evelyne Brink, who is currently on her way to winning the BBC1 prime time show hosted by Graham Norton: “The One and Only”. When she wins, she’ll have the opportunity to take her Madonna tribute show to Las Vegas for three months!

Here’s a 10 step plan on how you can create your very own site just like it…

Step #1: Get A Domain Name

Think up a domain name that you know people will be searching for. In our case, we chose www.oneandonlymadonna.com because our intention was to promote Evelyne Brink and help her get to Vegas, and the phrase “one and only madonna” was certainly catching on – Evelyne is most certainly the “one and only Madonna” on that show! See our article on Descriptive Domain Names for guidance.

Then go to GoDaddy.com and purchase the domain name that you think is ideal for your promotional campaign. You can pick one up for about £5. Sometimes you can even get a discount of 10% by searching Google for “godaddy promo code“and entering that code when you make your purchase. Hey, every penny counts!

While you’re getting this domain, you’ll need to point it to an external web host such as Dreamhost, by entering the relevant name servers – in this instance, you’ll need ns1.dreamhost.com. ns2.dreamhost.com, and ns3.dreamhost.com

Step #2: Get A Hosting Account

Next you need a place to actually host your website. We recommended Dreamhost for their hosting package, and you can get a terrific deal of approximately £60 for a year’s worth of hosting an unlimited number of domains.

Step #3: Add Your Domain To Your Hosting Account

Once you have opened your hosting account, you can add your new domain to be hosted at your new Dreamhost account. At this time, also create a new FTP account to upload files where necessary, and an email address to receive email correspondence specific to this campaign.

Step #4: Load Up Your Content Management System

The next step is to install the application on your host that lets you design and add content to your website quickly – for this you’ll be installing WordPress, which is commonly used for blogs.

When logged into WordPress, along the left hand menu, select Goodies –> One-Click Installs, and proceed with the instructions for setting up your new WordPress site on your domain.

Once installed, you’ll want to log in to your new WordPress website and set up the permalinks to show URLs with the full date and post name, as well as set the title and description for the site.

Step # 5: Install A Decent Looking Revenue Generating Theme

Now that you have the core website set up, you want it to look good and set up in a way that it generates revenue for you through contextual adverts such as AdSense and Amazon Associates – you’ll need to sign up with these services and enter the codes it generates into your theme.

The quickest way to find a decent theme that achieves this is by searching “adsense optimized wordpress theme” in Google, downloading a theme you like, and following the instructions given to you on how you can install the theme on your site.

Another way to make further revenue is to sell affiliated products – i.e. products that other people have either created or are distributing, and you are simply referring people to them and making an affiliate commission on each sale.   You can set up your very own affiliate store by signing up as a My Affiliate Store member.

Step #6: Add A Mailing List

Set up a mailing list on the site that can capture your visitors’ name and email addresses so that you may keep in touch with them and send them regular updates by email about the artist, to keep them engaged on the site. We recommend you use Professional Cart Solutions.

Step #7: Add Quality Content

When the look and feel of the site is set up, you’ll want to start adding relevant content. In our case, we located videos from YouTube, pictures of Evelyne as Madonna from Flickr, and Diva Eve’s music from the Last.fm playlist.

Evelyne has many fans around the world, so we have also been in touch with some of her most dedicated fans who are more than happy to write about Evelyne and how she progresses in BBC1’s The One and Only show with Graham Norton to be selected to perform as Madonna in Las Vegas for three months.

If you’re asking other writers for content, you may even want to create an account for them on your site so that they can contribute content as and when they are inspired to write.

Step #8: Help Visitors And Search Engines Find Your Site

To let search engines know that your site exists and ask them to list you, simply send them a request to add your site to their database. With Google, just go to their Add URL page.

You’ll also want to further optimise your site so that your description and keywords meta tags have something useful in them for search engines to pick up when visitors are searching for your content. The plugin we recommend that you download, install and configure is the Add Meta Tags WordPress Plugin.

Step #9: Get Fans To Rave About The Site

Finally you want fans raving about this promotional fansite by telling all their friends about it on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Help them do this by installing the I Love Social Bookmarking Plugin.

When fans are on your site, you can build stronger relationships with them by leveraging comments. Read our article on 6 WordPress Comment Plugins To Build Stronger Relationships With Site Visitors.

Step #10: Sit Back And Enjoy

So there you have it – get your very own buzzing money making promotional website like www.OneAndOnlyMadonna.com up and running within a day. Now sit back, watch your favourite performer being helped along the way by their fans, and see some money coming in to make up for the time you spent building the site.

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“Don’t Tase Me, Bro!” Top Quote Becomes A Downloadable Ringback Tone

The recently announced top quote “Don’t ‘tase me bro” by protester Andrew Meyers has now been turned into a ringback tone.

On 17th September 2007, University of Florida student Andrew Meyer was arrested and thrown out of a speech by a U.S. Senator. According to a Wired blog, “Meyer barged in line to harangue Massachusetts senator John Kerry during a campus talk that day. The student refused to pipe down after being asked to by the forum’s organizers, and after he carried on pressing Kerry for answers, police hauled him off. They forced him to the ground, and tasered him.”

This week, the quote was named most memorable quote of 2007, and has been turned into a ringback tone (sometimes known as a callback tone). Available from the Verizon site, this downloadable ringback tone is what the caller hears when they call you.

A ringtone or ringback tone is just another good idea for an Instant Digital Download product that can generate revenue for your business. Already we’re aware of other products that can be sold to and downloaded online by customers who want to be informed or entertained instantly, such as eBooks and MP3s.

What would you want your customers to have their callers hear when calling through? What ringback tone product could you create for your customers that would add value to them, and generate further revenue for you?