I’ve been teaching how to profit with freebies almost since I first came online in 2006. Working online as an online entrepreneur is something that many people around the world are doing. There are many benefits to online marketing such as the fact you can work exactly when you want to, doing what you enjoy, and there isn’t a limit on how much income you can earn.

One of the things you will spend a good deal of time on is thinking of different ways you can increase your profits. One way to do this is by taking advantage of the different resources you have.

Just a few resources you have are:

• The things you are good at and think of as strengths (the different skills and knowledge you possess).
• Different technology and software for running an online business with more efficiency. Things like Aweber (or other autoresponder services), article management systems and software to help with invoicing are all things to help run your business more efficiently and easily.
  • Time management tools like your calendar and an organizer.
  • Relationships – family, friends, business partners, etc. These people are considered a resource because they can help you manage not just your life but your business too.
  • The Internet. This can be huge resource for you giving you access to both free and paid opportunities to help you grow your business. For example you can network and build relationships via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. You can pay to be a part of a mastermind group where you have access to a mentor and other like minded business people.
  • And last but certainly not least, don’t forget the content and products you have created. These are definitely excellent resources as well.

Each of these resources provides different opportunities for you to grow your business which in turn leads to increased profits. And if you look at the last couple listed, you can use those to create different giveaways and freebies for more income.

The idea of this report is to show you how to profit from freebies, both ones that you have already created and ones that you can find online.

What are Freebies?

More than likely you’re probably already familiar with what a freebie is but I’m still going to spend some time explaining this topic and how to leverage it to your maximum benefit.

In the online marketing world, freebies are simply those things that marketers give away. Often they’re even known as a ‘bribe’ in exchange for someone’s name and email address.  In the offline world, you’re probably more familiar as a consumer with the different freebie marketing tactics you see retail stores doing.

The idea behind freebie marketing is to either charge an extremely low price or give away an item that is fully salable to generate a continual market for another item, and that item is normally disposable.

For example, you’ll see freebie marketing in action when you buy a certain brush and get a pack of ponytail holders free. Or you buy a large bottle of body lotion and get a trial size hand lotion free. Or free mouth wash or a toothbrush when you purchase toothpaste. Or it can even be something like getting a free tube of lipstick if you give the makeup company your information (name, email, etc).

Now, let’s talk about freebie marketing in the online marketing world.  It’s the free eBook you receive after signing up for someone’s mailing list. Or it’s the free 7 day trial someone offers to their membership site.

Free is no longer considered just a marketing tactic, it’s become a full-fledged economy and people have pretty much come to expect it, so be prepared to offer it.

Take a minute to think about this:

• Craigslist – you can post free classified ads on their site
• Google – you can get a free email account through
• Hulu, YouTube and big networks – they provide you with free video and programming options
• Zappos – they give you free shipping
• Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites – these platforms give you the opportunity to network for free
• Match.com – free dating connections
• The New York Times – free content (when you access their paper online)
• Membership sites – some offer free memberships

And of course you can’t forget all the different content that websites provide – blog posts, articles, videos, audios, checklists, reports and eBooks. You can pretty much find information online for anything you want.

You’re probably wondering, but how do they profit from doing these things?

One way is by giving away these free resources and then teaching people how to best use them. There is a saying that ‘you don’t get rich by writing books; you get rich by teaching your book’s content’. This is similar in that you will provide your readers and prospects with everything they need, without going into the details of exactly how to best use what you are recommending.

I also profit with freebies by giving away something from another marketer that ‘cookies’ me in to their affiliate program. Examples of this include:

• when you sign up for the free NAMS weekly calls
• opting in to receive a free eBook from Earn 1K a Day
• picking up some free tutorials from a new site

Think about how you can profit with freebies to build your online business and increase your income dramatically.

If you have been searching for the top WordPress plugins for business, you will be thrilled to know that Adrienne Dupree and I have just released a training on this topic. This comprehensive training is the result of both of us being asked so many times which WordPress plugins to use to build a profitable online business.

Instead of simply adding every new or existing plugin as soon as you hear about it, as I did when I was just getting started with my online business, this course explains the purpose and value of only adding the plugins you need in the beginning. We also go into great detail about our top 20 favorite WordPress plugins and what each of them will do for your business.

The Member’s area contains the detailed guide, and we have also included some short videos to make sure you are able to find, install, set up, and configure any plugin you decide to use on your site. Both of us have extensive experience with WordPress and plugins and know how important and useful they can be.

And because everything on the Internet is not free, we also include information and details on a half dozed paid plugins we are both using in our businesses. This helps you to make an informed decision before you purchase anything, especially from people you do not know. We believe this inexpensive course will make a huge difference in your business success and plan to expand the course over time to include even more valuable information. Get in on the ground floor of Top WordPress Plugins for Business now while it’s still at the low introductory price. Please leave a comment here if you have more questions on WordPress, plugins, or getting started online.

The following is a guest post from Cassandra D. Wright of Natural Green Oasis.

Starting and running an online business can be a very exciting endeavor. Just the thought can evoke images of thousands of dollars and lots of online fans.

But in reality, building an online business into a profitable one can be quite daunting. Having a “reason why” you’re building your business can make all the difference in how much success you achieve.

Your “reason why” can provide you with essentials you need to succeed. Three of them are:

•  Resolve

Building a profitable online business is hard work and for most of us doesn’t happen quickly. It takes patience and a willingness to learn.

There may be times when you think you’ll never get things working the way you want them. Having a “reason why” will help fuel your determination to get it done.

• Focus

Although you set goals for your online business, life can bring about distractions that can cause you to lose sight of them.

It is inevitable that the unexpected will happen. Some of these occurrences may be of vital importance and must be dealt with immediately. These emergencies are usually short term and you can get back on track rather quickly.

However, there are those distractions that aren’t very important but can cause you to lose sight of your goals. Before you know it, days or even weeks have gone by. As a result, you’ve lost that momentum you gained while you were on track.

A “reason why” can keep your destination in sight and – if you veer off course – lead you back to your chosen path and steer you in the right direction.

• Commitment

Have you ever found yourself interested in something but as soon as the novelty wanes, your interest does too? Your “reason why” can prevent this from happening.

It will take you beyond the excitement and newness of building your business and give you the sustenance you need to persevere.

So, if you want what it takes to successfully build a profitable online business, know your “reason why.”

The Productivity Mastermind is a series of five classes I’m teaching to help new online entrepreneurs with time management, accountability, and productivity. I decided to add Session 3 to my podcast series over at iTunes and to share some of the highlights of the topics we are covering in the course.

Getting started online is easier than it was when I began back in 2006, primarily because of the availability of information and social media. That also makes it more difficult as we must make huge efforts to rise above the din and find our voice to get our message out to the world. No matter when you got started on why you are seeking out a life as an online entrepreneur, productivity is the key to your success. These are just some of the recommendations I have made during the course:

• Spend twenty minutes each day reading something that will enrich, educate, and enlighten you on your journey to successful entrepreneurship
• Find others to connect with, either virtually or in person, who will listen to you and be honest and open about the steps you are taking to achieve your goals
• Spend time each day in quiet contemplation of the life you are seeking
• Maintain a dynamic ‘to-do’ list, evaluating what you need to do yourself and what can be outsourced
• Set up a strategic planning session with your accountability partner
• Decide exactly what you want out of life and write it down
• Always ask yourself: “Is the action I’m taking right now moving me closer to my goals or further away?”
• Believe in yourself and take massive action

Entrepreneurship is a gift that must be nurtured and encouraged each and every day. Run your life like a business and you are sure to surpass any goals you have set for yourself or imagined in your wildest dreams. Move forward quickly by taking action and implementing what you have learned. Manage your time, stay as productive as possible, and find someone to be accountable to make sure you are moving in the right direction for what you’d like to achieve. The Productivity Mastermind is here for you.

Take A Look At The 2013 Productivity Challenge

Justin Popovic, PLR creator and motivational speaker is my guest for this podcast. I’ve been following Justin for almost two years now, ever since I purchased one of his quality PLR (private label rights) packages through our mutual friend Dennis Becker. During the summer of 2013 we finally had the opportunity to meet in person while we were both speaking at Dennis’ Earn 1K a Day event in Las Vegas.

Justin and I discuss the motivation for someone wanting to become an online entrepreneur and he shares how he started out by working for a prestigious firm in Canada for seven years after graduating from the university. Over time he realized his heart was not in it and he began to read and study and learn about what was possible with his life. In 2007 he saw the movie The Secret, as many of us did, and finally made the decision to leave the corporate world behind and become an entrepreneur. Having a wife and children made this even more risky for him, but he knew it was the right action for him to take at that time in his life and he had their full and complete support.

We then discuss how he formed his current company that creates high quality PLR packages in several niche areas. One of these niches is time management, and I shared with Justin how I used ideas and information from his PLR to write my bestselling book. Remember that you cannot use private label rights content directly to write and publish a book, but you can do what I did and build an outline, get more ideas, and flesh out your book so that it will be a contender among many books on the same or a very similar topic.

I know you will enjoy this podcast with Justin, and be sure to check out the very special offer he’s making just for my community. This is a full and complete package you will love. The topic of time management fits well with so many niches and you’ll be able to create blog posts, articles, eBooks, information products and more using this quality content as a springboard to your success.

Be sure to subscribe to hear all of the calls in my Podcast Series.

Sandra Beckwith, publicity expert on building book buzz for authors is my guest this week. Sandy considers herself to be a recovering publicist with more than 25 years of award-winning publicity experience.  She is the winner of the coveted national Silver Anvil award from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) for her shoestring publicity program and the author of two publicity books – Streetwise Complete Publicity Plans: How to Create Publicity That Will Spark Media Exposure and Excitement, a how-to guide for small business owners like freelance writers, and Publicity for Nonprofits: Generating Media Exposure That Leads to Awareness, Growth, and Contributions, a step-by-step manual for nonprofit organizations.

We first connected while we were both guests on a telesummit last year, and I’ve been following her and learning new strategies ever since.

On this call we discussed the importance of getting the word out about your book, information product, speaking event, or other newsworthy event through the strategic use of press releases. Even though I have been sending press releases regularly for my business for more than five years now, Sandy shared ideas I was not familiar with, such as creating a ‘Tips Sheet’ to share your ideas with your target audience. She gives us a concrete example of how this can be achieved. She also discussed free versus paid press release services and how each can be of value to us.

We also talked about the value of book signings, becoming a local celebrity and going to the places (both physically and virtually) where your audience is already frequenting for optimal results.

What Sandra Beckwith is doing for authors is my definition of true success; where preparation meets opportunity is where you will have the greatest success. Please take advantage of her knowledge, expertise, and understanding of business and publicity by signing up to receive her Build Book Buzz newsletter and her free Special Report, Beyond the Press Release: 10 Exciting Book Buzz Ideas That Will Take You to the Top. I know you will enjoy this podcast interview.

After a brief hiatus my Podcast Series is continuing for the second half of 2013 – Subscribe Today!

Viral Marketing Tips

Viral marketing may be a new concept for you, and you need to know that it is one of the biggest keys to attracting new prospects and clients to your online business. Most businesses don’t take advantage of this like they should, and you can set yourself apart if you take some time to learn about it.

So, what exactly does ‘viral’ mean?

It’s essentially the process of having other people and websites recommend you and your product to others. It’s another word for referral advertising. It’s different from affiliate marketing in that no commission changes hands. This is quite common in the offline, brick and mortar world and is now catching on in the online world as well.

The great thing about it is that it doesn’t require any additional expenses on your part. And if your prospects or customers provide word of mouth advertising, this will give you more credibility. This is because what others say about you matters more than what you say. When you visit a site that has many testimonials you automatically assume they are more credible, right?

So how do you make your marketing viral? Here are six of the best ways:

1. Offer A Compelling Free Giveaway

Also referred to as an ‘ethical bribe’ your free giveaway must be irresistible to your target market. One way you can instantly get more opt-ins for your newsletter is to spend the time to put together the exact information your prospects are looking for. Then encourage those who opt in to share it with others. Try this – it works!

2. Freebies

Another excellent strategy is to give away your own and other people’s products (with their permission and preferably through an affiliate link) to your community. I do this regularly with both the NAMS weekly trainings with David Perdew and an eBook about the Earn 1K a Day event with Dennis Becker.

3. Provide Excellent Resources

The best way to generate referrals is to give away a lot of valuable free information. A lot of times marketers don’t give good content with the free eBooks, because they are trying to save the best information for the product.

The problem is, if your free content isn’t good, people are going to assume your paid content isn’t going to be worth it either. The free information is supposed to wet their appetite. This gets them thinking, ‘if the free information is this good, just imagine how good the paid stuff will be.’

4. Write A Book For Kindle And Give It Away

I’ve written nine books, and every few weeks I am able to give one of them away for free through Kindle’s KDP Select program. This is a way to connect with your community and set yourself apart from others in your niche. Take a look at my books on Amazon to see what I am referring to.

5. Create Excellent Content For Your Website

Probably the best way to go viral is to simply have excellent and relevant content on your blog and other sites. Use a plugin like the one I have here to allow visitors to easily share your content, and encourage them to do so regularly. In many instances, other sites will pick up your content and post it on their sites.  This will give you additional traffic without having to do any more work. However, you have to stand out from other sites for this to happen.

How do you stand out to increase your viral marketing?

Storytelling remains the best way to stand out from the crowd. Incorporating your story into the body of your writing and relating it to your topic can be crucial to your success. I’ve shared stories related to hosting young people from eight different countries in my home over the past seven years, stories about my involvement with Rotary and other charities, and even stories about being a multiple cancer survivor. Storytelling fleshes us out as three dimensional beings to those who only know us online.

6. Use Channels To Share Your Information

Putting videos on YouTube and other popular video directories will encourage people to pass them around. Again, just make sure the content is good. Record your teleseminars and add them to iTunes as podcasts (my podcast is available here). Create pages on Facebook to get the conversation going.

The bottom line is, making your marketing viral is how to skyrocket your efforts. The best way to do this is to create and then give away lots of great free information. Get started with this marketing strategy today and watch your business grow.

This month I am hosting a Japanese student through my Rotary Club’s involvement in the Rotary International Student Exchange Program. Over the past seven years, since I’ve been working exclusively online as an entrepreneur I’ve had the pleasure of hosting young people from eight different countries, including Norway, Mexico, Sweden, Nepal, the Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, and now Japan. They range in age from fifteen to twenty-two, and it’s lots of fun to be a part of someone’s life as they get to know you, your family, and our country and vice versa.

My Japanese student is a seventeen year old boy named Ryosuke (ree-OS-kay). During the first few days my family and I got know him better. His English is not very good, so we had fun with Google Translate and a pocket dictionary to better communicate back and forth. We wanted to learn which foods he liked (loves eggs, hates tomatoes, allergic to peanuts), if he was into sports (plays tennis on a team, plays baseball for fun, and is not involved with any others), what he most wanted to see in southern California (Disneyland and as many beaches as possible), and more about his family (he’s the youngest of four, lives in a city of almost a million, loves astronomy, has never had a pet).

Based on this information we offered him eggs every morning in the form of scrambled, poached, hard-boiled, and French toast; got rid of the peanuts and peanut butter in our home; took him to play tennis twice; spent two days at Disneyland; visited several beaches; dug out our telescope and set it up in the back yard; and made sure he had time to get to know all of our little dogs.

As the days went on I saw that what we were doing was very similar to what we do when we are trying to reach our target market online. We get to know them over time by offering them more about what they came to us for in the first place, never offering them anything they have not asked for, and asking them questions to learn more about them and their dreams for success. If you are doing this every day you are probably already seeing your business grow. It’s when we get off course and start marketing to our community in a way that does not resonate with them that our business begins to stagnate.

One Saturday we took Ryosuke to a field day event hosted by our city. I was hoping he’d get a chance to participate in a tennis clinic or throw a few pitches, but both of those activities were set up for much younger kids. Then we saw the volleyball nets and encouraged him to give it a try.

Ryosuke was a natural! Because of his years of playing baseball and tennis he had many ‘crossover’ skills that served him well in this sport. The high school kids added him to their team and we watched in admiration for almost an hour while they played. It was only afterwards that they learned he had never played volleyball even once in his life.

As you are exploring how to reach your target market, think about the crossover skills you have from your previous job, career, or educational training. Most likely you also have skills that could be helpful to those you are now coming to you for advice. I had been a classroom teacher for twenty years, as well as working as a residential appraiser and broker and used that as a basis for teaching adults how to write and market their content and to build a profitable online business.

Having an exchange student in your home also allows you to spoil them. This is an interesting process as you find yourself doing things for them that you might not have done for your own family members for many years, including preparing special foods, listening to every word they say, and taking them to places they have expressed a desire to know more about. If you do this in your business you will see how quickly people respond, as we all like to be made to feel special by those we are interacting with.

I love how real life situations can be beneficial to us in our businesses. When you learn how to reach your target market, whether it’s people you are connected to within your family or those you are doing business with, everyone wins.

Online Marketing Tips Podcast

Do you need help with your online marketing? In this episode of the Online Marketing Tips Podcast With Connie Ragen Green, my newest podcast series, I discuss the importance of attending live events. The events included in this podcast call were NAMS (Novice to Advanced Marketing Systems) where I have been on the faculty since 2011; Dennis Becker’s Earn 1K a Day seminar where I have spoken the past two years; and my own upcoming event, the Weekend Marketer Live workshop in Las Vegas October 11-13.

My calls are interactive so that you may be heard. During this call I am joined my many of my students who share their questions, concerns, and accomplishments with their online business in regards to attending live marketing events, seminars, and workshops. This time we discussed how to add audio to presentations, tools for taking screenshots, article marketing and content creation, WordPress themes, hosting your own teleseminars, choosing the best events to attend, and much more.

These are the reasons you’ll want to attend live events:

• Learn new strategies by continuing to be a student
• Connect with prospects, clients, and friends
• Move out of your comfort zone
• Find people to Mastermind with after it’s over
• Make JV (joint venture) connections

This podcast and these online marketing tips are intended to teach you how you can take your business to the next level quickly and effectively, and as a way for me to share my very Case Studies, secrets, and advice on creating a profitable and lucrative online business using the ‘multiple income streams’ approach. Each session is first recorded live as a teleseminar, and then repurposed into a podcast to extend my reach to the world. Please join my list to be included on these calls, and be sure to introduce yourself and share your site for optimal exposure for years to come!

If you’re looking for the Study Guide for this podcast, go to this page and choose ‘August 14, 2013‘. These are intended to help you to get the most out of my training and resources as you build your online business.

Also, you can now pick up my popular training on winning affiliate contests and other online marketing tips for only seven dollars at Affiliate Contest Secrets. Use the discount code CONTEST to bring the price down to $7. This training has been updated for 2013 with the latest information, strategies, and Case Studies for you to use in your own business.