Erik Stafford's Marketing Blog

StomperNet, the leading Internet Marketing training and educational company, has announced the addition of eBusiness veteran Erik Stafford as StomperNet faculty.

Erik comes from an advertising and design background and has won numerous awards over the past fifteen years, including several AAF-ADDY Awards. He has worked with a wide range of companies around the globe.

Most recently Erik has worked “behind the scenes” on several high-profile internet launches, providing his creative expertise to increase responsiveness and conversions.

Erik is an expert in direct response branding, direct response design (online and offline) and after leaving the grind of working for clients, he’s become an in-demand coach, consultant and speaker. His work has been responsible for millions in sales.

Brad Fallon, StomperNet’s CEO announced the addition of Erik Stafford via email newsletter, saying via Ross Goldberg that “(Erik is the best)… when it comes to helping newbies, guiding them into a business model that works, and teaching the basics of internet business in a way that can be understood.”

Erik added, “I am so pleased to be involved with a company that has such high standards for success, and I look forward to helping Stompers achieve their goals!”

I am spending some time this week taking notes on what has really worked well for me over the past year…

And creating some awesome, free training videos for my subscribers.

I want to make sure to build stuff that’s ACTUALLY going to help people, and not more of the “same old same old” that everyone else sends out…

Would you take a minute to post a comment and let me what you are most interested in?

I sure would appreciate it!

To your success,

Erik

Hey everyone!

My son was bitten by a poisonous spider this week.

He is only 5 years old, and since he is so small we have been to the doctor twice already to have it lanced, cleaned, and tested…

And he is on several antibiotics to stem the infection.

He is going to be fine, and I’m sure you don’t REALLY need to know about my personal problems…

But I wanted to tell you because I what’s happened has been a strong reminder that I have forgotten one of my cardinal rules.

You see, I have been shut down in a TOTAL PANIC by this bite.

All I do is worry…

My stomach has been upset, I haven’t been able to eat…

And talk about tired! All I have done for a couple days now is sleep.

Work? Out of the question.

I missed deadlines, I missed calls… It was all I could do to even answer my phone.

And you know what?

It was (and still is) totally irrational… And yet it’s been making me insane for days now.

Why am I so worried?

There is nothing I can do about it that we aren’t doing already…

It’s totally out of my hands.

This experience has been a great reminder for me of something I promised myself many, many years ago:

Not to ever worry about things that I can’t control.

Of course I love my kids more than life itself, and of course it’s natural as a parent to worry…

But worrying myself to the edge of panic? Unacceptable.

Becoming immobilized by fear of “what might happen” and shutting down?

Shame on me.

So what is it you’re afraid of?

- Losing your job?
- Not being able to provide for your family?
- Snakes? Spiders? Swine flu?

More importantly: Are your fears stopping you from being successful?

Whatever it is that shuts you down, and renders you helpless…

Take a long hard look at that fear and realize that most of it (probably) is irrational.

What you need to do is prepare as best as you can, and then stop worrying about it and go about your life.

It’s out of your control.

Anyways, I just wanted to share some thoughts I have been having about what’s happened to me this week.

Hopefully it helps.

Erik

P.S. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Post your comments, and share your fears!

Hey folks!

I am speaking this weekend at Rockstar Platinum Live, in Las Vegas.

If you are in the area, please come down. It will be well worth your time:
http://www.rockstarplatinumlive.com/erikstafford.html

For those of you who can’t make it, I wanted to give you a chance to ask some of the brightest minds in marketing any question you might have.

Here is how:

1. This is the speaker lineup: http://www.rockstarplatinumlive.com/erikstafford.html

2. If you have a burning question for anyone on that page, please post it as a comment to this post.

3. I will have my video camera with me, and I will do my best to record video answers to your questions. I will post the answers here throughout the weekend.

Cheers!

Erik

If you are reading this, you might feel that you have been deceived. It may not have been intentional, and yet you feel that way just the same.

There are 5 common misconceptions that people have about Internet Marketing.

They are responsible for thousands and thousands of people wasting time, going broke, and giving up in despair. Hopefully by sharing the truths behind these common misconceptions, it will help you to avoid them and also have a better understanding of what you’re getting into.

Make no mistake: it is possible to generate huge amounts of income on the Internet. And compared to regular 9-to-5 jobs, it can seem quite easy. There is also an enormous amount of freedom in working from home, as you can see from my other blog posts:)

Well, that’s kind of true. I have in truth, pushed a button, sent an email, and had it generate thousands of dollars. In some cases, while I slept! But that’s not the whole story. The whole story is that I spent a year working my tail off to build a responsive email newsletter list before I could do that.

Of course, most Marketers will never tell you that. And it’s not that they are being deceitful… it’s just that they are marketing and selling… and like anyone in sales, they are going to “talk up” the good parts, and talk much less about the bad parts.

Does that make sense?

Think about it: When you go and look at a new Escalade SUV at your local car dealership, they are not going to talk with you about how terrible the mileage is. They are going to tell you how high it sits on the road, how safe it is for your kids. They are marketing and selling.

Keep in mind that everything in life takes at least some hard work, and you are not always going to get the WHOLE story.

I hate to say this, but so far in my 36 years on this planet NOTHING has been guaranteed other than the fact that I get older each year. You might be guaranteed to get your money back, if you are not happy with a product or service… I get that. That’s good business, in my opinion.

But I would be pretty skeptical (if I were you) of anyone who tells you something is “guaranteed to make you money.”

There are simply too many factors: The economy could change, people’s buying habits might change, the technology might change, or you simply might not have the skills you need to put it all together and make it happen.

It’s a great idea to build a product, and sell it to a targeted group of people who are hungry for it. Unfortunately that’s just one part of the equation.

You can build the best product in the world, and if no one sees it, it flat-out isn’t going to sell.

If you manage to build a great product, and get it in front of an audience, it still isn’t going to sell unless you have a strong, compelling offer that converts prospects into sales.

Like any business: Offer + Audience + Conversions = Sales.

So building a product and launching it is a great start… but it’s not the whole story.

This one bugs me to no end. You wouldn’t open a restaurant without understanding something about the restaurant business, would you? Of course not! So what makes you think you can open an Internet Business without understanding the Internet?

You have to have a basic understanding of how computers work to start an Online Business:

• How to copy and paste
• How to move files
• How to use Email
• How to package and unpackage ZIP files
• How to create folders and organize files

You also have to have a basic understanding of how the web works:

• What Domain Names are, and how they work.
• What Hosting is, and how it works.
• How websites work.

Some people say “No experience necessary” which I don’t have a problem with… But anyone who tells you that “You don’t need to know how computers work” is (in my opinion) misleading you.

Well, sure… there might be systems out there that you can use and only work 1 hour a day… but you are shooting yourself in the foot if you do that.

Think of it this way: Have you ever had a friend or acquaintance open a small brick and mortar business?

A retail store, for example, or a restaurant? I have and you know what? I didn’t see those guys for like, a year!

They wanted their business to succeed… so they immersed themselves in it! They were there, 14 hours a day, learning, building, promoting, marketing, listening to customers and making their services better.

If you can’t work full-time on your business because you have a full-time job, or have kids (or both!) I understand that.

But you do have to work on it as much as you possibly can if you want to reach your goals. And unfortunately, in my experience, one hour a day doesn’t cut it.

As far as it being easy? Everything I have ever done has come with a learning curve. It might be easy for you, or it might not be depending on your skills. One thing is certain: you will get stuck somewhere. Make sure you have the desire and motivation (and focus!) to stick with your plans when you hit a roadblock.

I hope this helps clear up some misconceptions, and injects some reality and understanding into your goals and business plans.

How do you avoid feeling “deceived” by these five misconceptions?

1. Understand that marketers will market, and you may not be getting all of the story. Stop looking for magic pills, and start looking at offers from a research point-of-view. Learn from them.

2. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

3. Work towards building and launching a product… but make sure to do some research first! Also know that once launch something there is still a bunch of work to be done: Testing, tracking, and improving your offer so that it converts.

4. Learn some basic computer skills.

5. Work as much as you can on your business, and always keep this in mind: build a foundation. Don’t worry about trying to make 2k before the end of the month so you can keep your lights turned on. If that’s where you are living right now, then get a job! Or get a second job!

6.Make sure to only buy from websites that have clear links to contact information or a HelpDesk. Ask questions, and see how responsive they are.

Don’t rush your Online Business out of desperation.

Plan carefully, work methodically, and you will have great success.

I hope this helps and would love to hear your comments.

Erik