Free Internet Marketing Lessons

by Martin Avis

In this interview we meet a very different kind of online success story.

Pearl Sanborn is a 32-year old mother of four from Queen Village in New York. When I asked her what she does for a living besides the Internet, she answered 'I have the privilege of staying at home & caring for my 4 children ages 9-13.' What better answer could I have asked for?



BizE-zine: When did the Internet first take your eye?

PS: I got involved with the Internet over 6 years ago. I knew nothing about computers or the net, but I made it my goal to get online by New Year's Day 1996. I had a "very old" but much appreciated computer that was given to me by a relative. It was so basic I could only go to text areas within AOL.

BizE-zine: The fact that you are a 'stay at home Mother' will be great inspiration to many people. It shows that making money online is not dependent on any particular set of circumstances - just a willingness to get on with things. What would you say to other people in your situation if they secretly would like to 'have a go' but are still holding back? PS: * Don't Wait! *

I've found, that one of the biggest roadblocks for a person who wants to start their own business is - the fear of the unknown.

Guess what....... the unknown will ALWAYS be there until you know it ;)

A great example of this was when I was getting ready to have my fist baby. I would ask every mom I knew to tell me her story! What happened... What did it feel like... Did it hurt... How long did it take... Were there any problems... How did your doctor treat you... Did you enjoy your stay at the hospital...

But guess what - that was all nice to hear, but nothing they said could ease my inquiring mind. No matter how long they talked, what books they gave me, or what their stories were, I still had to go through my own birthing process to actually know what it was like! Now I had my own story. I finally knew the unknown and it wasn't scary anymore!

By the way.... I had four wonderful, uneventful births - so all of those scary stories did nothing but make me more apprehensive about the birthing process! Something I didn't need.

The same is true for business. We all hear the scary stories about 1 in every 2 businesses going under within their first 2 years of opening - but - that doesn't have to be MY story!

My pastor always says....."A failure is not someone who falls, but rather, someone who falls and stays down." So I say ... "I will always be up - or getting up."

True, you need to do your homework & find out how to run a business. But, make it a goal to find out the nuts & bolts of your business within a few weeks, then get started.

This is something that you CAN do. You just need to get that parked car in drive so you can go somewhere!

BizE-zine: Tell us how your wonderful Frugally4U site came into being. PS: After I learned to operate a computer 'the hard way,' and access my email, I started finding lots of folks online who had the same interests as I did. It was wonderful to be able to exchange ideas, recipes, how-to instructions, etc., with people from all over the world. After a few years, I started finding my email box full of requests for my knowledge on different topics. It was exciting to have people ask me!

To be honest with you, It was a rough time for me because I had no idea how to copy & paste. Everything I sent to each person had to be fully typed over. I had to do this hundreds of times - UGH! You can't imagine how excited I was to find out that you could actually just copy & paste the same thing over & over!

I soon taught myself how to build web pages & started putting all of the information that I gathered in one place on the web - through AOL's free member's pages: http://members.aol.com/frugally4u/frontpage.html< /a>

Because I continued to get so many emails requesting the same types of information, I decided to start a mailing (newsletter) that would contain all of the information that I was sharing in one place. This was the beginning of the Heart & Home Newsletter - which I still publish today.

It wasn't long before I found out about links, that once clicked, I would get paid! For example, I found one site that offered free catalogues to readers, but would pay me $1 for every person that took a FREE catalogue.

This one link started my success with affiliate marketing.

BizE-zine: Your Heart and Home Newsletter is a true joy. I just read the Christmas issue online and couldn't put it down. I've been searching for a good recipe for Bread Pudding for ages, and you have given me a great one! Yet, the newsletter and indeed, your whole site seem to break all the rules. Where the 'experts' say that to make money you have to stay focused on the process of getting every cent out of each visitor, your philosophy seems to be the complete opposite! You set out a seemingly limitless mass of information and (again seemingly) don't try to sell anything to anybody. Yet your site makes money. Why do you think it works as well as it does? PS: Well, besides God's blessing ... I am a FIRM believer that content RULES the web. If I come to your site and there is no helpful content - I'm gone. The web really is an 'information highway', and people want information! It seems as though I have found enough people that like my kind of information.

When you share good information (in my case it's mostly free how-to information), people will continue to come back to see what else you might have. They will bookmark your site and share it with all of their friends too!

When I am going to be able to make money with a particular product, I always try to include it in a valuable information article. That way, people read the article - find out some free how-to information - then find out right where to go to get the other products/services that they need to go along with that free information.

BizE-zine: When you said that you 'made it your goal to get online by New Year's Day 1996' you implied that you are a very goal-oriented person. Is that correct, and how do you go about setting and managing your goals?

My mind is a continual buzz of ideas. Sometimes, I have to actually shake my head to get my mind to stop generating more ideas! If I'm not careful, I find myself thinking about 100s of ideas, rather than stopping to implement any "1" of them.

I tell myself, God willing, there will always be more ideas & another day to put those ideas into action. My Mom taught me to write things down, and I have found that advice to be very helpful. Once I write something down, I don't have to keep thinking it over in my mind to keep it alive.

Here's how I set my goals, or decide what direction to go in.

Out of all of my ideas, which one would I be the most happy doing right now? Would this make other people happy? Is this something that would be helpful to others?

Then, I go through my list until I reach the perfect match for 'right now.'

With the Internet, we have the ability to make money in so many ways. Most of the time, we can focus most of our efforts on one project, then add other things along the way.



----- Sidebar ----- 
At this point in the interview, Pearl gave me a great lesson in product development. Here it is in her own words:

Pearl:

Here's an idea I gave another person recently about making money online.

Sit down with your wife and make a list of things that you love to do. Don't think about business right now - just what makes you happy.

Then look over the list and see which ones of those things you'd enjoy doing a lot and mark them with a star.

Now - look at your smaller list & try to see each listing as a business. You can probably think of 5-10 different businesses for each topic right away!

For example - Dogs

You could pick several ways to make money online with dogs as your topic.

Dog toys Dog Food Custom doggie clothes Exclusive doggie treats Garden ornaments in a doggie theme Dog shampoo & grooming supplies Breed description print of sheets Lists of different dog breeders How to become a dog groomer

The best places to get your dog groomed / prices/ locations across the country/etc

How to potty train your dog How to train your dog Which dogs are best for working the farm & the how-tos for that Support the canine units of the armed forces Meet the doggie police How to use your dog for mental therapy in a retirement home Let people share their doggie photos Dog coloring contests for children Dogs for sale Dogs for adoption Doggie sitters Dog walkers

You get the picture ;)

There is always a way to turn something you love into some kind of profit.

In this example, his goal might have been to make money online with dog information. Now all he needs to do is pick a main focus and get started. You can see from the list, how he can add other money making ideas to complement his original goal along the way.

----- end sidebar -----



BizE-zine: Can I ask how much your business generates? PS: Because I don't work outside of the home, all of the income that I bring in is extra income for our family. I started with free pages & my AOL account and made $15,000.00 my first year! That might not sound like a lot to some folks - but for someone who doesn't pay for advertising and works only 15-30 minutes every other day, I'm tickled pink!

My husband races me to the mailbox every day to look for more checks ;)

BizE-zine: How long did it take you to start making a profit? PS: I made a profit the first month after I started. Because I had no expenses except for my AOL connection, I was able to turn a profit right away.

To this day my only 'regular' expense is the $100 a year I pay for hosting. Our popularity came through word of mouth, so we have no advertising expenses (I still have never paid for an ad.)

BizE-zine: You make your income from promoting affiliate programs. Which ones work best for you - and what advice would you have for someone just now considering affiliate schemes? PS: Most of my income comes from affiliate programs, although I also love to barter for a merchant's goods.

I have tried 100s of different affiliate programs - mostly online stores. I've made different amounts of profits - from $2 to $3800. They all add up! My favorite affiliates are - Amazon, Allposters, and the Commission Junction Program.

BizE-zine: Do you buy information products yourself? PS: I have bought a few ebooks & courses over the years, but I think my best marketing information has come through a few great e-zines. In the beginning, I subscribed to everything I came across. Now I only 'read' 2-3 faithfully.

My favorites are: Allan Gardyne's AssociatePrograms.com and Wayne Yeager's Trafficology.com

I've also read lots of Mike McGroarty's newsletters and find him inspirational. Why? Because among other things, he does something that I love - deals with garden plants. See www.homemadebooklets.com and www.freeplants.com

As a matter of fact, that drives home my point about content on the web! I search for topics that I love and found Mike's site because I was looking for gardening info. He is able to make money by doing something that he loves, and someone like me might buy his products just because we love what he does too!

BizE-zine: To have such a successful site takes traffic. What do you do to attract visitors? PS: My most successful traffic tool BY FAR has been word of mouth and the actual content itself within my site. I can't tell you how many emails I've gotten over the years from people who did a search for some keyword and found my site. I had no idea that that particular page would rank so high in the search engines and honestly paid no attention to it. But to my surprise, those 'obscure' pages within my site have brought in thousands of visitors!

These high content pages have also been searched for by newspaper editors and radio show managers, which brought me many opportunities to appear in newspaper columns, and to be involved in a weekly talk radio show on one of the biggest AM stations on the East coast!

BizE-zine: What has been your biggest mistake?

PS: I think my biggest mistake continues to be that I am always looking for more information. I never want to stop and actually put knowledge to work - for fear of something more to learn about it. I once heard a saying that I remind myself of daily - "Art is never finished, the artist just has to pick the best time to stop." I think this is so true!

My Mom always says - 'you can't get anywhere in a parked car', and, 'if we aim at nothing, we'll hit it every time!' We have to set our basic direction, then start heading toward it making small adjustments along the way.

BizE-zine: Which pieces of software do you most rely on? PS: From the beginning I started using AOLPRESS to learn how to write HTML code. I still use it occasionally. I also use FTP Dummy to upload my files to the web. The basic windows notepad has been my best friend lately, with my recent knowledge of making SSI. Wow - updating a whole site (100s of pages) with one little file change ;)

BizE-zine: What is next for your online business? PS: I am so full of ideas, that I think my next product will have to be marketing my ideas! My Mom says - 'Honey, if you could just make some money with all of those ideas, you'd be rich!' I think I might test her on it with a few new booklets, a few new web pages, and a published book.

The Heart & Home Newsletter has been in publication for several years now, so I know what types of requests I get from the most readers.

People beg for a printed version of the newsletter, books, booklets, etc. on all of the topics that we cover at the site.

To begin, my focus will be on a few gardening how-to booklets. And being the frugal soul I am, the topics will all be about doing things for a low cost.

BizE-zine: What would you say to someone who is hesitantly waiting to start out online? PS: Please don't wait until you have to money to get started! Don't use credit cards - or take out a loan either!

Don't feel like you have to listen to every "self proclaimed expert" that you come across! Most of them are probably as new to this whole thing as you are! I found that out when I had editors that I was supposed to be learning from, asking me how to do things.

Always be honest & go the extra mile to help your readers. Those little extra things that I took time to do along the way, have come back as financial blessings to me. You never know who you're helping - or what they will become someday.

People don't like pages full of flashy banners, or pages with no content. If I come across a site that has no content but is filled with links, I'll pass that site and go on to find something that I can sink my teeth into - then I'll bookmark 'that' page. Fill your site up with useful information and people will always come back to learn what else you have to share with them.

BizE-zine: I realize that with your family and your online business you can't have a lot of time left over - but, which web sites do you visit when you are just in 'having fun' mode? Do you use the Internet for leisure? Or is it strictly business? PS: I love the net - because I love information.

I spend lots of time at my own site, because I actually built it for myself. I found it easier to find all of my favorite web sites, if I put them into a web page format. That's how the site got started in the first place! Since then, I have added a large link directory to help me (and of course others) find things in a hurry.

The second place that I spend lots of time is Google.com Of course if you want information, you need to know where to find it. I spend so much time there, that I actually made it the start page of my browser.

And remember...... In my opinion, my business & pleasure are both one in the same - to me they're inseparable.

***** Pearl Sanborn is the homemaker for her husband & their 4 wonderful children. She loves to share money saving ideas with all who will listen & has been able to make a good income in the process. Her Heart & Home Newsletter has won numerous awards, and she is listened to by thousands every week as a guest on talk radio. Find all of her free money saving ideas, and subscribe to her free newsletter at: http://www.LittleCountryVillage.com *****

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Martin Avis is a management and training consultant.

To get your unfair advantage (and 6 free gifts) in Internet marketing, business and personal success, subscribe free to his weekly newsletter, BizE-zine. mailto:subscribe5@BizE-zin e.com or visit his information-packed website at http://www.BizE-zine.com

BizE-zine: Success strategies that really work. ____________________________

Success Stories - 12 Doers Share Their Secrets. Interview #6: Pearl Sanborn (c) Martin Avis, 2002