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hsimpsonjr
Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 599
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# Posted: 27 Jan 2007 10:42
Reply
Fellow Coastal Reps,
Let's use this thread to help eachother out and give some encouragement to the new members of Coastal who have yet to see the success they want to have in Coastal Vacations.
It took me 2 months to make my first sale in Coastal. I was excited and scared when I started much like most of you guys on this forum. I thouht I knew how to use payperclick advertising but, after going 2 months without a sale, I finally decided to actually LISTEN to the wonderful training available in our back office at the WeCloseYourSales.com call center. I learned tons of stuff I didn't know and when I applied what I learned I generated $4,000 in 3 days! I just had to except the fact that I didn't know what I thought I did. I had never been successful in any other home business but now, with the training the Coastal Vacations Call Center has in their back office and the coaching from my director I am successful in Coastal Vacations.
The most important thing to remember is DON'T GIVE UP!!!! The one thing that all people who don't succeed in Coastal have in common is that they eventually give up. If you aren't making sales then change your strategy. Don't keep throwing money away on leads if they aren't working for you. Move over and do internet advertising or newspaper classifieds. Our call center says that most of the calls that come in to the center are from classified ads in papers. Now, personally, I haven't had success with classifieds but many people have. You need to find out the best method of advertising for your personality. Ok, end of tip number one. Who else can offer our new members some advice?
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tomcha
Joined: 4 Feb 2007
Posts: 102
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# Posted: 4 Feb 2007 01:07
Reply
Hey Harold, great tip.
Classifieds haven't worked for me either.
Pay per click worked better in getting more opt-ins and calling the Call Center. But the problem was that most of them were just tire kickers who did nothing but waste my time and my money.
But the worst had to be the leads. At first, it seemed great. Real live leads coming in and I was just sitting by my computer waiting for the numbers so that I could call them.
Problem 1: I was glued to my computer. Not exactly the business life that I was looking for when I joined Coastal.
Problem 2: Most of the leads didn't know Coastal and I had to explain to them. This defeated my advantage of having a Call Center.
Problem 3: I had to get them to opt in to my marketing website, the process in which I lost a lot of of my leads.
Problems 4: I was constantly on the phone. Waste of my time and again defeating the purpose of my advantage with the Call Center.
There are others, but these are the big issues with me.
So I'm currently looking into finding better ways to get leads and get them to call me or the Call Center. To automate it as much as possible.
Since I have the Call Center, it makes sense to figure out a way to utilize that tool as much as possible, leaving me more free time.
I have 3 to 4 methods right now that I'm trying to iron out. If they turn out to work well, I will post on this forum again and let everyone know.
Keep your fingers crossed.
In the mean time, unless the leads are working amazingly for you (meaning you're amazing on the phone, which I'm not), stop wasting your money on the leads.
You know who the lead programs make rich? The lead program companies. That's all and that's the truth. Save your money and figure out a better way with me.
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tomcha
Joined: 4 Feb 2007
Posts: 102
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# Posted: 21 Feb 2007 10:13
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Here's a little tip for those with their own websites and are concerned with SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
There are two main categories of criteria a SE (search engine) will look at when ranking your site for organic results.
Before going further, organic results are the results you get, usually on the left side, in the case of yahoo, live (MSN), google, etc... The small ads you get on the opposite side are what's called PPC (Pay Per Click). These are paid ads.
If Google is a good indication of where all SEs will go, and there is no evidence to doubt this as of yet, then relevancy is a huge issue. In other words, your content should be relevant to the search term entered by the surfer.
SEs will look at both on-page and off-page criteria to determine who gets what ranking.
ON-PAGE:
-The number of times a chosen keyword appears in a particular page. This is what's commonly called keyword density. Remember that you can have more than one keyword designated for a page, but generally they seem to lose their effect if you have more than 5 keywords or so assigned to a page.
-Having the main keyword appear in the URL, page title, description, and heading. It also helps to have the main keyword appear in the first 500 or so characters in the body of the content.
-This one isn't known too well compared to the other elements. It's helpful to have a text link from your non-hompage pages to the homepage. In the link, make sure to put in the main keyword of that particular page. This should be easy if you've included the main keyword into the page title.
OFF-PAGE:
-The time spent on your page by a visitor before exiting the site. This criterion is pretty much obsolete as it's not a great indicator of the relevancy of your site's content. People do forget to turn off the computer or browser. This was one of the first criterion used by SEs in the early days.
-There are few other ones, but as far as I know, they are becoming more and more obsolete as well.
-The one that continues to be important, as far as we can tell, is the inbound link. Inbound link means the links coming into your site from other sites. Links from within your site pointing to another page in your site don't count as these.
These are still considered important by many because it is believed that SEs like Google will put high value on these based on this logic.
If your content is valuable and relevant, then people will link to your site. That's basically it. So the more inbound links you have, the higher your chances of ranking higher and higher.
It should be noted that SEs are getting wise to non-value based links such as link farms or paid links. When they detect links coming in from sites that have nothing to do with topics covered on your site, the effects are minimized at best or both sites are penalized.
But don't worry if someone links to your site without you linking to them, it doesn't hurt you. It only hurts you when you link to sites that have no value to your visitors, as a general rule. And SEs are developing list of link farm sites, so don't ever be tempted to get links from such source under any circumstances.
Basically, keep it clean and give the SEs what they want. Valuable content.
Thomas
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hsimpsonjr
Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 599
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# Posted: 21 Feb 2007 12:49
Reply
GREAT INFORMATION, Thomas! I'm glad you are on our team!
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roger
Joined: 31 Jan 2007
Posts: 276
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# Posted: 21 Feb 2007 22:16
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Good insight Thomas, thanks.
Roger
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tomcha
Joined: 4 Feb 2007
Posts: 102
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# Posted: 22 Feb 2007 11:14
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While on the topic of SEO, I should mention this as well. For those of us with a cookie cutter sites or duplicated sites like those of WCYS or CSG, the chances of our sites ranking high is virtually nil.
Two reasons for this.
1. We do not have [full] control of the keywords, page title, etc... Basically, the main site operator submits everything to the SEs if at all.
In case they are not, we must submit them on our own, but as you'll see, it doesn't much improve our chances.
2. From the SEs' point of view, all the duplicate sites are 'spamming' their index database. As such, they will tend to ignore most of these sites or even drop them from the index.
If you were to type in a search word that matched my site, then it means it also matches everyone else's site as well.
As you can guess, trying to get our duplicate sites are not the best use of our time and energy. I think most people have caught onto this very early on or knew it and never tried. Perhaps I'm stating the obvious.
What's better is to submit articles and such to a variety of sources with links to your site. It's not as effective or grand as ranking on the coveted first page of Google, but it works and can bring good results if done well.
Thomas
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tomcha
Joined: 4 Feb 2007
Posts: 102
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# Posted: 23 Feb 2007 15:21
Reply
I posted some tips on the topic of email here.
http://www.work-at-home-forum.com/22_3149_0.html
I thought I'd expand a bit more on it since email marketing is such an important part of our business.
Did you know that less than 1% of the visitors on your site will make a purchase decision to buy on the spot? That's why follow up email is so important.
Here are some things to keep in mind. Print this off and make notes!
-Always put your URL and contact info in your signature file. This is the equivalent of your business card.
-An average person received over 60 commercial and/or spam emails a week. For this reason, you need to stand out from the crowd.
-Make your subject line and body text personal. This doesn't mean personalized, "Dear Thomas, ..." This worked well when it was first conceived, but spammers are now doing it, so you need to differentiate yourself from them. Always watch what they are doing and do what they're not doing.
-Respect your prospects' time and keep to the point.
-Write the email as if you are writing to that one person, not a list of 100 or 1000. Sounds easy, but it's not.
-The most part of the email is getting it delivered. All rests on this. For this reason, see the above thread and eliminate the use of spam-like words from subject line and body.
-Make sure to use the free online tool to get your email tested for spam at http://www.lyris.com/resources/contentchecker/
-Write an attention grabbing subject line. Many techniques are available, but generally, make it personal, cliffhanger (using ... at the end), etc...
-When they open your email, the first few lines are critical to hold their attention. If it's not interesting, their curiosity will have been satisfied and the chances of deleting or closing the email is higher.
-Stay with just one message per email.
-Provide some kind of value for them for reading the email. It can be monetary reward (discount, bonuses, download link for voucher, etc...), but not always. The value can be informational as well.
-Tell them of the benefit for what you want them to do. Benefit for them, that is.
-Finally, don't drop the ball at the end by not giving a call to action. Make it crystal clear, without sounding bossy, what it is that you want them to do next. Here, don't give more than 2 or 3 steps. They won't remember.
I hope you see the value in this posting and implement some of the suggestions to your email campaign.
Best of luck.
Thomas
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wendy727
Member
Joined: 4 Mar 2007
Posts: 1
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# Posted: 4 Mar 2007 16:47
Reply
I am a member of CSG and all of my business comes from purchasing leads. This works out okay but I would like to try a call center. Would this be possible even though I'm in another group? Thx! -- Wendy
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roger
Joined: 31 Jan 2007
Posts: 276
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# Posted: 5 Mar 2007 07:59
Reply
Hi Wendy,
Like you, I also started Coastal with a group outside the Call Center but joined the C.C later on so, yes, regardless of what group you are a part of you can utilize the Call Center and I can tell you it works!
If you have any questions feel free to contact me and you can test the system out yourself by opting in the link below.
Roger
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tomcha
Joined: 4 Feb 2007
Posts: 102
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# Posted: 7 Mar 2007 17:19
Reply
Hi Wendy,
Yes, doesn't matter what group you are with, you can try the Call Center. You can call them directly and get your answers straight from the horse's mouth.
1-800-378-1169
ID 5264TC
Thomas
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barefootmentor
Member
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 50
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# Posted: 7 Mar 2007 23:15
Reply
Have any of you ever tried Veretekk? You use it to produce your own leads... it sure works for me...
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luvtravel
Member
Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 800
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2007 08:19
Reply
One thing I have noticed from listening to recorded trainings and reading forum threads about Coastal it seems that the ones that are saying that they sold several hundred thousand packages have been with coastal for 5 plus years.
I have heard some Directors say they sold over 100,000 packages, than you hear people say that they sold over 20 plus packages within their first 3 months.
This all makes new people apprehensive if we aren't selling and recruiting at least 10 people consistently in our first 2 months. Especially with a good system to follow.
Is 10 plus recruits first 2 months the norm?
Are over 100,000 the norm for the first few years?
If you don't get hold of people on the phone and leave messages and dont get to talk with them does that mean you will never sell them??
Thanks
Terri
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hsimpsonjr
Joined: 16 Dec 2006
Posts: 599
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2007 09:16
Reply
Terri,
I would say that many people that make 10 sales in their first month are people that can actually do Coastal fulltime right when they start. They probably work fulltime hours either calling leads or placing and tracking ads as hard as they can go to generate a quick start. Most of us don't have that luxury so it takes a little while longer to get going and find that marketing method that seems to work for us. I know you want very specific answers with specific numbers but there really is no definate way to pin that down. I usually tell people that you can expect to make $3,000 to $9,000 in 30 to 90 days if you do what is recommended in our back office. That is no gurantee, by any means, but I know I did generate that much money within those time limits.
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tomcha
Joined: 4 Feb 2007
Posts: 102
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2007 10:59
Reply
Hi Terri,
Just wanted to add to Harold's response. Keep in mind that these "Superstars" might have had a lot of experience in other network marketing, mlm marketing or direct marketing field. And with that, they might have the advantage of coming recruiting over their previous downline to their new business: Coastal Vacations.
This is sort of a circular argument I guess in a sense because this would only happen (them having a downline and them following this person to the new business) if they were a good leader with solid performance history.
So you could say that they would have done well in Coastal anyways, but obviously not to such a rocketing start.
In any case, I don't think most people would generate sales in the range that you wrote about. Everyone has different learning styles and learning curve. Some take to the real world faster and learn by advice or trial and error. Others take much longer to get to the real world by trying to understand the business more (marketing, products, sales process, etc....)
Thomas
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OnlineMoney24 7
Member
Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 85
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2007 11:46
Reply
From all the reading I have done in this forum and from all the calls that I have listened in on. I have to say that YOU are the only one that can decide how much money you will make.
From my research I have found that every group has support systems in place. Every group has people that you can go to for help. Every group has their own training. The only difference is what YOU do with all that information/support. If you work the system and don't give up, then you will reap the benefits. But if you do nothing, well then you get nothing.
Man I really need to take my own advice and get started.
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luvtravel
Member
Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 800
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2007 16:18
Reply
Thanks everyone, you all gave more realistic expectations for someone working part time.
Terri
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tomcha
Joined: 4 Feb 2007
Posts: 102
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# Posted: 30 Mar 2007 13:49
Reply
Quoting: OnlineMoney24 7 Man I really need to take my own advice and get started.
You and me both....
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Pheleeto
Member
Joined: 19 Mar 2007
Posts: 6
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# Posted: 30 Mar 2007 16:35
Reply
Harold,
I dont think I could have put it any better. People who quite are the only ones who fail in this business. I stress that to my team everyday. When you enter a business like this you very quickly realize that if you dont work on yourself and learn from the experts that preceeded you , you will make things hard on yourself. The training that's there in our back office is no there because someone else fells they can do a better job than you . It's there because it will help you get get better results personally.
When it comes to the types of leads out there. I have tried them all. There is none that I think that works better than the other. Being consistent and persistent is what helps me along with working on myself to get better every day.
I work with an objective and that is to get results. I dont just do for the sake of doing. So if something doesn't work, reevaluate and try again. I teach that to my team everyday.
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susaneng
Member
Joined: 19 May 2006
Posts: 121
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# Posted: 30 Mar 2007 21:59
Reply
Quoting: OnlineMoney24 7 Man I really need to take my own advice and get started.
Hey Jat,
I am sure you will do well with Coastal. It seems you have been doing the research and have good knowledge on what Coastal is all about.
Hope you do take your own and advice and get started! Love to have you on the Coastal team.
Best of success to you,
Susan
__________________
Http://www.wealthbuildingtravel.com
Book your travel with the best rates:
http://www.susaneng.joystar.com
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garyd
Member
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 24
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# Posted: 17 Jun 2007 12:32
Reply
hi everyone,in regards to blogging. i am new to coastal(wcys). i have a blog site. is there anything anyone can suggest on how to get my blog noticed? i have heard blogging is a great way to advertise. all i have done so far is to register my blog on socialbook mark,feedburner,blog submissions.etc,etc.i must be doing something wrong.or is it because my blog is free?anyone who can help here will be great.this forum has been a godsend for me.the support is unbelievable.on another note.i had listened to someones advice to me on one of my posts about ad words and all i did was change 1-2 words and my opts ins more than tripled, but still no sales. how can i get these opt ins to move further along and find out if they are tire kickers or not. i have called these people 3-5 times in the day and evenings. most as we all know are never there or never call back or have no clue who i am,even though they opted in and or spoke to someone about a home biz op.i feel i am doing my time in regards to calls,ads, ppc, voice shots etc,etc,but i cant get a sale. i will never stop trying. i planned on doing this full time, but i am now forced to take a sales job i was offered untill this takes off(which i know it will).as my director said to me once i am unemployable,because i used to own my own franchise for 22 years and it was GREAT, but i sold it becuase i had no life, no family time, but i had the $. what good was ot with no time to enjoy it. i know i am all over the place with this post,but i have so much to say.thanks again to this forum, it keeps me motivated
thanks garyd
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decker2006
Member
Joined: 6 Jan 2007
Posts: 222
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2007 10:43 · Edited by: decker2006
Reply
Wait a minute garyd....I think you said it right in the end of your post when you said you are all over the place. First of all, focus on 3 marketing techinques. I would say you are looking at blogs, ppc and phone calls right now.
I am just starting with blogginig so I can't help you there. But there are many posts on this forum regarding blogging. (other folders). Just ask around.
PPC - make sure you go through all of the back office training for PPC. There is a lot of information. Also, there are free resources online. Are you using Google, yahoo, msn, what ones? I have found google to be expensive and yahoo more reasonable. If you are watching your budget, focus on yahoo or maybe msn for a while. If you are not getting satisfactory results, change your ad. Different title, etc. You can always go back to the original, but you have to test and track results.
Phone calls - People may disagree, but if someone opts in to my site, I would call them MAX 3 times. Then move on. There are ways to do this indicating that it is the last call, etc. The back office has some sample scripts for you to refer to. I would not take them out of my system because they are still getting emails and then maybe in the future they will come around. I am not in the business of trying to convince someone of this opportunity. If someone is looking for information, I am happy to provide and discuss the opportunity, however, I will not chase people down. Because I am looking for serious people. If somone is serious, they will make the call. Focus your energies elsewhere if you are not getting a response. You may want to buy some good quality leads and call them. You seem to be OK with talking on the phone, so maybe you want to take some of your PPC budget and focus on calling some Coastal specific leads. More expensive, but worth your while if you can get a sale or two.
What are you using for voiceshots? Do you have another autoresponder system besides WCYS? Don't forget you can send personal emails to all of your optins in addition to the set autoresponder emails. That may prompt some action.
Why would your director say you are unemployable? You seem to have a good set of skills if you have owned your own franchise for 22 years. Perhaps he/she meant you are not meant to be empolyed by someone else?? Just seems like a strange comment given you past success.
Don't forget to attend all training calls you can to soak up any information you can get. All I can say is this - read everything you can as far as training goes. Keep learning. This will work for you.
Noreen
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garyd
Member
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 24
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2007 13:32
Reply
hi decker2006
i didnt finish my thought, i realized it after i posted. being unemployable eas kinda what u said that i cant work for someone given the incaome i was used to. i tried a few diff. advetising options and i am sticking to ppc on google. i read alot about how to change words and title around and right now its my cheapest source.i will also place some paper ads and call them as needed. i did purchase coastal targeted leads, but i cant seem to get them to the live q& a call or i dont know if they went.my ppc is giving me a real decent amount of opt ins, but thats it,they are either not home or never call back and i have tried all the diff. scripts and answering machine messages. i'll just keep on keepin on until it clicks. same here i absoloutly will not chase my leads or opt ins. the opportunity is right there for them and i will be here for them if they join. youre right i want serious and depedable and trainable people on m,y team.i have sent my own emails from our autoresponder b/o as well, but nothing. thanks again for your support
garyd
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garyd
Member
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 24
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2007 13:35
Reply
decker2006
sorry for all my typos.next time i'll proof read it first.to much effort to start each sentence with a capital.im not getting paid for grammer.haha
garyd
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decker2006
Member
Joined: 6 Jan 2007
Posts: 222
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2007 13:39
Reply
I would try send people directly to the call center, not the Q&A. Try that. Or, don't forget, if they are $$ qualified and you have them on the phone and they are interested, you should 3 way them in to the call center. Even if it is after hours, you tell them who you are including your id# then ask Mr. X to leave his number and the best time to reach him and then someone from the call center will get back to him.
N.
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asskusabouttrav
Member
Joined: 6 Jun 2007
Posts: 141
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2007 12:09
Reply
I wanted to share something that I have done in this particular thread. It has proved to be very useful in creating my own leads and bringing them right into my system. A Capture page...Splash page. It gets the prospects info and gives an area for comment. It then can either redirect people to our movie page, main page, or a page that we design(sales letter). We chose to use the sales letter option and in that letter we have links for three of the opportunities we represent. Anyway the point I was trying to make is that this service (capture page) came pre templated. It was super easy to set up with our own text ,picture, and voice recording. It only cost us 56 bucks for the year. We can change it on the fly which is a great feature also. We are getting hits on it through free ads we have placed as well as some forum and newsgroup postings.
If your interested in seeing what we have come up with. Go check out the page. Its the same address that is posted below but its dot info instead. Oh and by the way gang I share this info with you freely. Please...Please...if you want to put in your info to see where the page takes you...go right ahead. but do us the courtesy of typing "Test" in the comment box or we'll have to call you and sell you a travel package...LOL
I hope this helps
Sean & Aviva
Level 3 Directors/ FTV SE Distributor
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asskusabouttrav
Member
Joined: 6 Jun 2007
Posts: 141
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2007 12:17
Reply
I should probably add to that last post that this is not creating a deluge of leads. its merely bringing me a constant stream. Between about 3-10 a day. But keep in mind these leads can be the same as premium high end Movie leads if you choose to direct them that way.
If this is something you would like to know more about email me with a request for more info.
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garyd
Member
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 24
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2007 15:21
Reply
hey sean & aviva. garyd again.you said you can change this on the fly. do you mean pics and links and text?what company is it from and its only 56$ for what i saw?video too? or only audio.do you reccomend this on top of my wcys movie site which has an opt in page?how long does it take to set up and see online?
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garyd
Member
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 24
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2007 15:32
Reply
ps is this anything like vac. power? i am doing so much research on all diff. avenues to go. i have a who is page (if you heard of that)and my regular wcys site.i want to generate opt ins in new way. ive been using ppc and i am getting pretty good at that( playing with the words and title)but its very costly, even though i figured out how to get clicks for dirt cheap,but i am getting so many and none are converting, its adding up. so i am trying to understand and learn these other ways.once i figure out something i get another suggestion from someone(which is great.i love the support)and then i am lost again. you see what i'm saying?
thanks garyd
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ibizniz
Member
Joined: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 263
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2007 20:49
Reply
Hello Howard
the tip I can give is to do 4 different things, every day.
Choose what you are good at, placing free ads, writing articles, writing press releases, posting in forums or chat boards, blogging...whatever it is, just do it.
The days I do nothing it shows. Personally I have received the best leads from my website in the organic searches on google. I have spent some time optimising and it has paid off. But that should be a long term goal. In the short term, make a plan to succeed and don't give up on yourself.
There are plenty of marketing ideas on my website under advertising help and I will be posting a lot more this weekend under the tools links.
hope this helps
maria porter
level 3 director
ps I made 11 sales in my first 2 weeks but that was back in 2001. Nowadays I would have had to do 3X the advertising and work to get the same results.
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garyd
Member
Joined: 12 Jun 2007
Posts: 24
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# Posted: 21 Jun 2007 20:55
Reply
hi again. does anyone know of a good forum or a place to blog that i can promote my biz w/o spaming.the links in wcys b/o are no good. too much work just to find it once you click the links and if so nobody is there.unless i am doing it wrong, but i dont think so.
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