So I tried to buy this auto posting "package" online to help me with getting my ads up faster on Craigslist.
I plunked down $24, which as you know brings our grand total for this venture up over $25 ($37 if you count the entire autoresponder account for the month).
But the link the seller sent me is dead.
Totally dead.
He sent me two links with a note that he planned to update the package in the next few days and that he's send me the update.
I've heard nothing. I actually purchased the package on March 10, in anticipation of needing it for this project (you know, just in case). Well, I need it, but I apparently can't have it.
I'll keep you updated. In the meantime, I'm moving on to chapter two because posting on craigslist takes forever - and so far, not a single lead.
Oy-Vey!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Multiple Listings will scramble your brain
So I've figured out that having a craigslist account is a far better way to ensure that your listings get posted and no ghosted. All of the ads I ran from within my account were fine.
I did not have time to run ads in all 27 cities, so I only hit a few. So far, no takers, but today's the day I "Step up" to what Mike Dillard calls "power posting"
I broke down and purchased one of the autoposting programs that is recommended in Mike's book, Building on a Budget, so I'm going to spend today getting familiar with it, and seeing whether or not I have better luck with the autopilot posting program than I did doing it myself.
Now Mike Dillard says the key to success is daily posting on craigslist, so after today, unless otherwise noted, I will be posting ads daily. If something unusual happens, I'll let you know, and I'll always give you an update when I generate new leads.
The next chapter talks about videos. So that's where we're headed tomorrow.
I did not have time to run ads in all 27 cities, so I only hit a few. So far, no takers, but today's the day I "Step up" to what Mike Dillard calls "power posting"
I broke down and purchased one of the autoposting programs that is recommended in Mike's book, Building on a Budget, so I'm going to spend today getting familiar with it, and seeing whether or not I have better luck with the autopilot posting program than I did doing it myself.
Now Mike Dillard says the key to success is daily posting on craigslist, so after today, unless otherwise noted, I will be posting ads daily. If something unusual happens, I'll let you know, and I'll always give you an update when I generate new leads.
The next chapter talks about videos. So that's where we're headed tomorrow.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Ghosted: Not funny
So I slaved away and got my first ad ghosted.
My very first ad! I don't even know what I did wrong, but sure enough, it was ghosted.
Poop.
So I re-posted this evening with a basic, boring ad, and wouldn't you know it, there it sits in way less than 15 minutes!
I tried to figure out why I was such a "loser" when it came to posting on CraigsList. I mean, I did everything exactly according to Mike's instructions (well except for the image part - he did say short and sweet). Building on a budget, however, makes no mention of ghosting, or the possibility that you'll lose precious time on ads that will never appear.
So I did a little bit of research, and found this link that explains some of the reasons for Craigslist ghosting, and what you can do about it. More to the point, however, it tells you exactly how to know immediately whether or not your ad will appear - without waiting the 15 minutes.
The one thing I did notice, is that if I set up an account, the steps were fewer and easier to deal with. Hmm.. Why doesn't Mike suggest setting up an account? It's fast, easy and free, and makes a ton of sense from the perspective of saving time.
I ended up deleting my fancy ad, but I've still got my "basic" ad (which was posted after I set up an account). One down,
We'll see how it goes today.
My very first ad! I don't even know what I did wrong, but sure enough, it was ghosted.
Poop.
So I re-posted this evening with a basic, boring ad, and wouldn't you know it, there it sits in way less than 15 minutes!
I tried to figure out why I was such a "loser" when it came to posting on CraigsList. I mean, I did everything exactly according to Mike's instructions (well except for the image part - he did say short and sweet). Building on a budget, however, makes no mention of ghosting, or the possibility that you'll lose precious time on ads that will never appear.
So I did a little bit of research, and found this link that explains some of the reasons for Craigslist ghosting, and what you can do about it. More to the point, however, it tells you exactly how to know immediately whether or not your ad will appear - without waiting the 15 minutes.
The one thing I did notice, is that if I set up an account, the steps were fewer and easier to deal with. Hmm.. Why doesn't Mike suggest setting up an account? It's fast, easy and free, and makes a ton of sense from the perspective of saving time.
I ended up deleting my fancy ad, but I've still got my "basic" ad (which was posted after I set up an account). One down,
We'll see how it goes today.
The First one is a Lu-Lu
So I completed my special report this morning so that I was ready to post the ad in Craigslist today. I'm really cutting it close because I have another appointment at 9:30 and it's 8:30 now.
So here goes. I'm including an image from the cover of my special report in the listing. It appears that ads with pictures are more successful (I only say that because a lot of them have pictures). It also appears you can say a lot with a little bit of text changing that way. I uploaded the book and the report to my web server just now.
Then I have to write the little bit of code to insert the image in the ad. By 8:48, my first ad is created, along with the image. I've opened my confirmation email, and I even created a craigslist account.
Building on a Budget offers some very specific words to use for your ad, and Mike Dillard suggests keeping is short and sweet, which is hard for me because I'm a wordy girl. But I think I did okay for my first post.
My special report is a collection of conversations with successful people in my organization, so it not only provides helpful info, it pitches my company and establishes my expertise all at the same time. Exactly what Mike talks about in Magnetic Sponsoring.
I've heard a lot about ads being "ghosted", so we'll see if that happens here. They say it takes 15 minutes for the post to appear, so we should know something in about that time frame. Just enough time for me to shower and dress for my appointment!
Ciao for now.
So here goes. I'm including an image from the cover of my special report in the listing. It appears that ads with pictures are more successful (I only say that because a lot of them have pictures). It also appears you can say a lot with a little bit of text changing that way. I uploaded the book and the report to my web server just now.
Then I have to write the little bit of code to insert the image in the ad. By 8:48, my first ad is created, along with the image. I've opened my confirmation email, and I even created a craigslist account.
Building on a Budget offers some very specific words to use for your ad, and Mike Dillard suggests keeping is short and sweet, which is hard for me because I'm a wordy girl. But I think I did okay for my first post.
My special report is a collection of conversations with successful people in my organization, so it not only provides helpful info, it pitches my company and establishes my expertise all at the same time. Exactly what Mike talks about in Magnetic Sponsoring.
I've heard a lot about ads being "ghosted", so we'll see if that happens here. They say it takes 15 minutes for the post to appear, so we should know something in about that time frame. Just enough time for me to shower and dress for my appointment!
Ciao for now.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Forms are easy, forms are hard
In the process of building what I thought would be a simple form, I found that the more I tested it, the worse it worked.
Now, I'm not ignorant about HTML or PHP, but I'm not a genius either. I usually pull a "freebie" script from a google search to do whatever I need to do in my website, and edit it if I need to. I've always used Jack's Formmail script for my HTML form needs, but this time, I was really having difficulty making it work.
I wanted a simple little form - name, email, phone - nothing fancy. Then I wanted it to send 2 copies of the form - one to my personal email and the other to the business email I set up with the auto responder. This way I could test in real time without having to log into 2 email accounts. If it worked properly, it would also trigger the vacation message in the business account.
It didn't work because there was a problem with the "sender" address. Nothing I could do would fix the problem, and because I've already spent hours trying to "debug" this problem, I decided to do something else.
I added an autoresponder address to my email aces account. For those of you unfamiliar with email aces, they offer comprehensive auto responder solutions for a very affordable price. I've been using their services for over a year now, but I finally had to upgrade to a bigger account to handle multiple auto responders. My first expense in this project: $14.95 for 30 days.
On the bright side, I have unlimited messages that I can send to up to 10 different lists (and I'm only working on one), so I could divide that total by 9 (because I already had one account), and I get a total cost for this account at $1.67 for 30 days.
Not a bad first investment.
I really wish Mike walked people through this step in the book. An auto responder system is crucial to list-building, and when you're trying to generate 20-50 MLM leads daily, you'll need a way to keep up with them that's organized. My little "form mail" plan would have been a no-cost option, but it is difficult to manage a list that grows by 20-50 names each day that way. I think spending a few pennies a day to automate the process is a smart investment.
I haven't read MLM Traffic Formula yet, but Building on a Budget recommends that you buy that package if you want to learn more about autoresponders and the how-to of building a capture page. As I've said before, that would break our $500 budget.
So to date, let's recap our expenses:
Not too shabby!
Total time invested is creeping up on 10 hours, but that's because I spent a good 7 hours trying to debug the form mail script (and chase kids in between - it's a holiday here!). If I had remembered the account upgrade sooner, I would have been MUCH happier.
Email Aces makes the sign-up form super easy. They actually have a form generator that does most of the coding work for you. Simply answer a couple of questions and then copy and paste the code into your web page. So simple I could have saved hours!
Debug: nearly 7 hours (give or take with all the "mom" duties in between)
Autoresponder: nearly 15 minutes (with plenty of time for a nap!)
So now the page is done, and it works. And the re-direct page will be functional by the end of the weekend.
The first page is just black text, white background on a blue field. I didn't do any major cosmetic surgery to this page for a reason. I wanted it up today, and I wanted to test every aspect over time. You'll be able to see all the variations - as well as what worked and what didn't work - on future posts. This first page has all the elements Mike Dillard recommends for an effective capture page - including a change in font size for the headline.
I'll add variations over time, so you can see the evolution of the site.
Now, I'm not ignorant about HTML or PHP, but I'm not a genius either. I usually pull a "freebie" script from a google search to do whatever I need to do in my website, and edit it if I need to. I've always used Jack's Formmail script for my HTML form needs, but this time, I was really having difficulty making it work.
I wanted a simple little form - name, email, phone - nothing fancy. Then I wanted it to send 2 copies of the form - one to my personal email and the other to the business email I set up with the auto responder. This way I could test in real time without having to log into 2 email accounts. If it worked properly, it would also trigger the vacation message in the business account.
It didn't work because there was a problem with the "sender" address. Nothing I could do would fix the problem, and because I've already spent hours trying to "debug" this problem, I decided to do something else.
I added an autoresponder address to my email aces account. For those of you unfamiliar with email aces, they offer comprehensive auto responder solutions for a very affordable price. I've been using their services for over a year now, but I finally had to upgrade to a bigger account to handle multiple auto responders. My first expense in this project: $14.95 for 30 days.
On the bright side, I have unlimited messages that I can send to up to 10 different lists (and I'm only working on one), so I could divide that total by 9 (because I already had one account), and I get a total cost for this account at $1.67 for 30 days.
Not a bad first investment.
I really wish Mike walked people through this step in the book. An auto responder system is crucial to list-building, and when you're trying to generate 20-50 MLM leads daily, you'll need a way to keep up with them that's organized. My little "form mail" plan would have been a no-cost option, but it is difficult to manage a list that grows by 20-50 names each day that way. I think spending a few pennies a day to automate the process is a smart investment.
I haven't read MLM Traffic Formula yet, but Building on a Budget recommends that you buy that package if you want to learn more about autoresponders and the how-to of building a capture page. As I've said before, that would break our $500 budget.
So to date, let's recap our expenses:
- Domain name registrar: $0
- Domain name host: $0
- Web Page Editor: $0 (use the plain text editor on your computer!)
- Autoresponder: $14.95 (only $1.67 is for this particular project, though)
Not too shabby!
Total time invested is creeping up on 10 hours, but that's because I spent a good 7 hours trying to debug the form mail script (and chase kids in between - it's a holiday here!). If I had remembered the account upgrade sooner, I would have been MUCH happier.
Email Aces makes the sign-up form super easy. They actually have a form generator that does most of the coding work for you. Simply answer a couple of questions and then copy and paste the code into your web page. So simple I could have saved hours!
Debug: nearly 7 hours (give or take with all the "mom" duties in between)
Autoresponder: nearly 15 minutes (with plenty of time for a nap!)
So now the page is done, and it works. And the re-direct page will be functional by the end of the weekend.
The first page is just black text, white background on a blue field. I didn't do any major cosmetic surgery to this page for a reason. I wanted it up today, and I wanted to test every aspect over time. You'll be able to see all the variations - as well as what worked and what didn't work - on future posts. This first page has all the elements Mike Dillard recommends for an effective capture page - including a change in font size for the headline.
I'll add variations over time, so you can see the evolution of the site.
Creating the Capture Page
My primary company is a Spa Party Business. Our company prohibits specific advertising on the internet, as they consider it "National" advertising. So long as my ads are local, I can advertise, but as soon as an advertisement goes "National", I can jeopardize my business.
Mike Dillard suggests marketing an exclusive access item (book, report, interview, etc) as a means of generating leads. Instead of talking specifically about your opportunity, talk about the secrets to your success. This is an extension of the concepts he asserted in first his book, Magnetic Sponsoring.
This is a concept I've been telling my subscribers for months and months. Not only does it assert your authority in the mind of the potential lead, it also creates a stream of leads that may already have an MLM company affiliation, but may want to look at other options in the future. You're building a network that expands beyond the reaches of your company. There's some specific examples and verbiage that Mike includes, but you have to buy Building on a Budget in order to learn all the "top-secret" word choices.
I developed a capture page, per the specifics outlined in Dillard's book. Mike, however, doesn't go into detail on how to create the sign-up form itself, or how to process the form so that the subscriber gets immediate access to the product.
I could begin a lesson on auto responders here, but assuming you're brand new, we need to keep this as simple as possible. Something I wish Mike would have mentioned in the book's opening chapters.
So it's a good thing I'm not completely ignorant when it comes to HTML or web design. All those months as a business website builder did finally pay off! Yay!
I used a free form generator script to create the sign-up page form. I also created a rough "thank-you" page that refers successful subscribers to check their email for link details.
The link is sent via a "vacation message" set up in the email account I created to handle the traffic. Instead of saying "I'm away from the office until 2010", I just put the address for the download link.
The free report isn't live yet (I just created the page, remember!), but should be viable by the end of the weekend. Yes, this is Easter weekend, but I think I can swing it.
Mike's book says that once the capture page is up, we can start driving targeted traffic that should yield a 10% opt-in rate. Mike Dillard expects a 10-50% conversion rate, depending on the quality of the traffic sources. Based on generating 20 leads per day, we need to crank out 200 site visitors daily, which, according to page 17 of Building on a Budget, Mike says should be "easier than you think".
We shall certainly see. Considering my personal website generates about 40-50 new visitors on a weekly basis with minimal effort to drive traffic (my sig file in forums and emails mostly), I think I should be pretty capable of driving new traffic to my site with craigslist.
Mike Dillard suggests marketing an exclusive access item (book, report, interview, etc) as a means of generating leads. Instead of talking specifically about your opportunity, talk about the secrets to your success. This is an extension of the concepts he asserted in first his book, Magnetic Sponsoring.
This is a concept I've been telling my subscribers for months and months. Not only does it assert your authority in the mind of the potential lead, it also creates a stream of leads that may already have an MLM company affiliation, but may want to look at other options in the future. You're building a network that expands beyond the reaches of your company. There's some specific examples and verbiage that Mike includes, but you have to buy Building on a Budget in order to learn all the "top-secret" word choices.
I developed a capture page, per the specifics outlined in Dillard's book. Mike, however, doesn't go into detail on how to create the sign-up form itself, or how to process the form so that the subscriber gets immediate access to the product.
I could begin a lesson on auto responders here, but assuming you're brand new, we need to keep this as simple as possible. Something I wish Mike would have mentioned in the book's opening chapters.
So it's a good thing I'm not completely ignorant when it comes to HTML or web design. All those months as a business website builder did finally pay off! Yay!
I used a free form generator script to create the sign-up page form. I also created a rough "thank-you" page that refers successful subscribers to check their email for link details.
The link is sent via a "vacation message" set up in the email account I created to handle the traffic. Instead of saying "I'm away from the office until 2010", I just put the address for the download link.
The free report isn't live yet (I just created the page, remember!), but should be viable by the end of the weekend. Yes, this is Easter weekend, but I think I can swing it.
Mike's book says that once the capture page is up, we can start driving targeted traffic that should yield a 10% opt-in rate. Mike Dillard expects a 10-50% conversion rate, depending on the quality of the traffic sources. Based on generating 20 leads per day, we need to crank out 200 site visitors daily, which, according to page 17 of Building on a Budget, Mike says should be "easier than you think".
We shall certainly see. Considering my personal website generates about 40-50 new visitors on a weekly basis with minimal effort to drive traffic (my sig file in forums and emails mostly), I think I should be pretty capable of driving new traffic to my site with craigslist.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Mike Dillard's Instructions Are kind of Cloudy
I was probably one of the very first people to purchase Building on a Budget by Mike Dillard. About an hour before the public launch was live, I was clicking "refresh" until the order page appeared (about 15 minutes of clicking was all it took). I plunked down my $34 (that included shipping) and waited about a day an a half for the packet to arrive.
The book came via priority mail, and I was really surprised at how fast it got here. It took a LOT longer when I ordered Mike's flagship book, Magnetic Sponsoring. So eager was I, that I started to read it on the way BACK from the mailbox.
So I've read this book a couple of times now. Highlighted it, written in it, and really asked a lot of questions in the margins - I do that to help me thing about the message of the book I'm reading.
In an article I wrote about Building on a Budget, I mentioned that this book is not truly for the beginner. It assumes a lot of concepts that a newbie wouldn't know. So, for our purposes, I'm going to start at the beginning and take it chapter by chapter.
Yes, I chickened out from posting on craig's list last night. Sue me.
I got overwhelmed by all the crappy posts and realized that the better performing posts were not at all what I was prepared to put up myself, based on what Mike recommended.
So, I'm going to take a different approach, and start at the VERY beginning.
Truly, most of what you'll find in the book, you can also find in the pages of the community site - and membership is free.
But I bought the book, so I'm going to take it page by page.
Mike's writing style is very informal - not the kind of book you'd find on the New York Times Bestseller List. To that end, the spell checker was a little off, too. Nevertheless, Mike promises "to reveal the top 5 ways to build your home business for less than $500, and show you how to execute each method in step-by-step detail."
Further, Mike pushes the idea of encouraging your downline to buy the book and use it themselves. (I think I would have put that at the end of the book, myself, but whatever).
Mike's "Jumla Juice" case study is fictional, but the process is the same, regardless of your company.
The goal: create 20 new leads every day for the jumla juice company. I however will be using one of my own companies (or both, we'll see). Links to all my subject pages will be posted on my blog for your review, along with upgrades and tweaks as I go along.
So here's what's up with Chapter 1:
We need to create "a place to send that traffic and a way to turn out visitors into leads"
So we need to create a capture page, but Mike's book doesn't tell us how to do that. Instead, Mike tells us we need to buy MLM Traffic Formula - which currently retails for about $1000, which takes us clear out of our budget.
So let's create a home brew capture page, shall we?
A good capture page must have a form for your prospect to enter their data. We can use Jack's Formmail script to create a basic capture page and compose a basic web layout to put it on.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we?
Where are we going to host this page once we've created it?
OY-VEY! We need a domain name and a web host, too! Ack!
See what I mean? Mike didn't start at the very beginning.
So task one: secure a domain and host.
I found a free domain registrar and host that offers great support and it's provided by one of the largest computer companies in the world.
Who is it?
You'll have to buy my book to find out. Home Party Solution reveals tons of free resources to build your network marketing business using the Internet.
The book came via priority mail, and I was really surprised at how fast it got here. It took a LOT longer when I ordered Mike's flagship book, Magnetic Sponsoring. So eager was I, that I started to read it on the way BACK from the mailbox.
So I've read this book a couple of times now. Highlighted it, written in it, and really asked a lot of questions in the margins - I do that to help me thing about the message of the book I'm reading.
In an article I wrote about Building on a Budget, I mentioned that this book is not truly for the beginner. It assumes a lot of concepts that a newbie wouldn't know. So, for our purposes, I'm going to start at the beginning and take it chapter by chapter.
Yes, I chickened out from posting on craig's list last night. Sue me.
I got overwhelmed by all the crappy posts and realized that the better performing posts were not at all what I was prepared to put up myself, based on what Mike recommended.
So, I'm going to take a different approach, and start at the VERY beginning.
Truly, most of what you'll find in the book, you can also find in the pages of the community site - and membership is free.
But I bought the book, so I'm going to take it page by page.
Mike's writing style is very informal - not the kind of book you'd find on the New York Times Bestseller List. To that end, the spell checker was a little off, too. Nevertheless, Mike promises "to reveal the top 5 ways to build your home business for less than $500, and show you how to execute each method in step-by-step detail."
Further, Mike pushes the idea of encouraging your downline to buy the book and use it themselves. (I think I would have put that at the end of the book, myself, but whatever).
Mike's "Jumla Juice" case study is fictional, but the process is the same, regardless of your company.
The goal: create 20 new leads every day for the jumla juice company. I however will be using one of my own companies (or both, we'll see). Links to all my subject pages will be posted on my blog for your review, along with upgrades and tweaks as I go along.
So here's what's up with Chapter 1:
We need to create "a place to send that traffic and a way to turn out visitors into leads"
So we need to create a capture page, but Mike's book doesn't tell us how to do that. Instead, Mike tells us we need to buy MLM Traffic Formula - which currently retails for about $1000, which takes us clear out of our budget.
So let's create a home brew capture page, shall we?
A good capture page must have a form for your prospect to enter their data. We can use Jack's Formmail script to create a basic capture page and compose a basic web layout to put it on.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we?
Where are we going to host this page once we've created it?
OY-VEY! We need a domain name and a web host, too! Ack!
See what I mean? Mike didn't start at the very beginning.
So task one: secure a domain and host.
I found a free domain registrar and host that offers great support and it's provided by one of the largest computer companies in the world.
Who is it?
You'll have to buy my book to find out. Home Party Solution reveals tons of free resources to build your network marketing business using the Internet.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Building on a Budget: My first experience with Craigslist.com
This blog was established primarily as a place for me to update readers on my activities using any and all of Mike Dillard's recommendations in his book Building on a Budget. The book is designed to generate dozens of network marketing leads on a daily basis using a minimal $500 investment.
As an extension of Mike's magnetic sponsoring brand, he's released a new book that's supposed to be able to help any newbie on the market.
I have my doubts about this program, but I'm willing to give it a shot, so I've invested in the book as well as most of the other recommended items in the book. This blog will detail the work I do on a daily/weekly basis to follow through on the instructions Mike supplies in the book.
Building on a Budget hinges on one daily and time consuming activity: relentless posting of ads on Craigslist.com and other similar free ad sites.
My primary concern is that most people who get into network marketing do so because they are looking to frejavascript:void(0)
Publish Poste up their time, so I'm still a little cynical about this.
Before I purchase any autolisting tools, I want to be sure I know how to post to craigslist manually. I also want a rough idea of how much time it actually takes to do it.
I know don't berate me. Even my SISTER uses craigslist, but I never have.
Until today. I'll keep you posted.
As an extension of Mike's magnetic sponsoring brand, he's released a new book that's supposed to be able to help any newbie on the market.
I have my doubts about this program, but I'm willing to give it a shot, so I've invested in the book as well as most of the other recommended items in the book. This blog will detail the work I do on a daily/weekly basis to follow through on the instructions Mike supplies in the book.
Building on a Budget hinges on one daily and time consuming activity: relentless posting of ads on Craigslist.com and other similar free ad sites.
My primary concern is that most people who get into network marketing do so because they are looking to frejavascript:void(0)
Publish Poste up their time, so I'm still a little cynical about this.
Before I purchase any autolisting tools, I want to be sure I know how to post to craigslist manually. I also want a rough idea of how much time it actually takes to do it.
I know don't berate me. Even my SISTER uses craigslist, but I never have.
Until today. I'll keep you posted.
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