"The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind." -William James
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Improve Your Online Small Business Profits
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Cort: Diane Hughes is a long time Internet marketer and her site was one of the first web sites that I joined back in 2000. I would like to know what you did before your Net involvement. When was this? What got you interested in the Net?
Diane: Yes, I’ve been around a long time. The level of success I have achieved is pretty new, however, and I’m now reaping the rewards of 6 years of hard work and dedication.
Seven or eight years ago I worked full-time for a health insurance company. I was young, newly married, and broke. I decided to check some things out on the Internet on making money at home. Needless to say, it was disappointing to say the least. I got “suckered” a few times but out of my need to control things, I decided to venture out on my own. It wasn’t easy, but I’ve now more than achieved my initial goals….
Cort: Did you see the value of Email Marketing almost immediately after it appeared? What made you get involved with Email Marketing?
Diane: Oh, definitely! I started marketing via email when bulk email was the thing to do and you didn’t get in trouble for it. LOL – my, how things have changed! When things started changing, so did I. I quickly changed from bulk emailing to forming a legitimate list and ProBizTips began and has thrived ever since…
Cort: We all know that here in the States Congress is trying to get tough with Spammers. Do you think that they have gone far enough? If not, what should they do? Do you think that there will ever be an INTERNATIONAL Spam Law? If so, would you be in favor or opposed. Why?
Diane: Personally I’m not sure how they are ever going to regulate anything WITHOUT an International law. Every bit of spam I get is from another country. I rarely get any spam from the U.S. anymore. I don’t see the point in regulating anything unless they devise an International plan. I would be in favor… anything to differentiate me and my newsletter from the tons of spam people get in their email box!
Cort: What are your feelings about Plain vs. HTML Email Marketing? What about the Audio and Visual Email?
Diane: I have used both plain and HTML and they both do very well. HTML works better sometimes depending on what I’m marketing. I never use pictures or graphics, in my HTML emails…. I just “pretty” it up.
I have not gotten into audio or visual email and probably won’t… anything much bigger than a webpage in my email box just annoys me and I’m sure I’m not in the minority.
Cort: What have been your biggest successes in your business and why?
Diane: My newsletter: http://www.probiztips.com"
My membership site: http://www.netprofitsecrets.com
I succeeded with ProBizTips because I got it started so early. It’s so hard nowadays to get subscribers because of all the lists out there. Most people get so many emails that they don’t want to add to their reading time. Most of my most loyal subscribers have been with me for years!
And maybe I should rephrase that. It’s so hard to get legitimate, loyal subscribers. Most will only join your list for free stuff or because of a huge package promotion. You won’t retain most of them and I’m willing to bet that very few will ever buy from you or read your newsletter…
I succeeded with Net Profit Secrets because I did a survey with my subscribers and devised a list of everything that they wanted… I have basically tried to fill the most popular needs with this site. And joint ventures with “big names” didn’t hurt either…
Cort: Like our friend Graham Hamer. Failures? What would you do differently if you could do things over?
Diane: I’ve had so many failures that I couldn’t even begin to list them! But you know what? I wouldn’t change a thing. My failures are lessons for me. I learn a heck of a lot more from my failures than I do my successes. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t fail – and I sure wouldn’t be where I am today if I was AFRAID to fail. Tenacity is a must!
Cort: What would be your advice to Internet newbies concerning Email Marketing?
Diane:
a) Don’t buy your list – that’s asking for trouble.
b) Make sure there’s a way to subscribe to your list on every page of your site….then get traffic and watch your subscriber count climb!
c) Make sure your personable… let your subscribers get to know you.
d) Be original – don’t rehash a ton of old stuff. Write your own articles if you can…hire a ghostwriter if you’re not much of a writer.
e) Don’t send a bunch of ads unless you have plenty of content in your newsletter to counteract it.
f) Don’t give up! Remember – tenacity!
Cort: Thanks, Diane, words of wisdom from a long time success on the Net. I know you have a special for our subscribers.
Diane: Absolutely. How about my eBook, Successlaunch? This link won’t last long, so make sure you download it as soon as you can…
http://www.probiztips.com/free/successlaunch.zip
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Cort McCadden is the co-founder of a new AV/TV production company called Avmagination that will be specializing in producing HDDVD – High Definition DVD – for “edu-entertainment” info products like his soon to be released Barter Wealth.
You can reach him at cort@avmagination.com and visit the website at http://www.usprepared.com to be on his mailing list to receive his newly updated FREE Ebook Survival Manual for the Third Millennium.
In this ebook you will find preparation for hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc. Cort is a recognized authority on survival and has made appearances on Art Bell Coast to Coast.
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