Marketing With Alex

I am dedicating this page to the Alex Jeffreys Coaching Program. I realize that the entire blog is about my journey with Alex Jeffreys and the online business he is helping me to create, but I wanted a page that breaks the coaching program down by modules and is a detailed review of everything we are learning.

I am late getting started on this but will catch it up to where we are at as soon as I can, so make sure you bookmark it and come back later as I will be constantly updating this page.

Marketing With Alex – Module 1

Forward To Basics

That's right I said "forward" to basics, not back to basics. Nothing we do in this class will be "backing up". Alex Jeffreys has one of the most postitive attitudes that I have ever run accross. He also talks a lot about failing forward, basically meaning that failing to do something right should be looked at as an achievement because of the lesson that you take away from the experience. That is the mindset of a winner, no doubt about it.

Alex then talks about how he created his course so that we could position ourselves around him to help us gain credibility. When you are first starting out, it is really tough to gain any kind of authority in the market place. You have no products,  you haven't made a lot of money. You basically have no social proof of any kind that would cause some one to want to follow you or even listen to you for that matter.

Dean Holland, a fellow classmate,  is a perfect example. He even started his own coaching program some months after we finished with Alex's coaching. Most of his material was simply relaying what Alex had taught us and adding in what he himself learned along the way. He didn't try to pretend he was some kind of guru. He was honest,  straight forward, and himself. The results were great.

Back to module 1. The rest of the module was about planning and goal setting.

"Failing to plan is planning to fail."

No truer words have been spoken. If you don't have a set plan of attack, you have no focus. Lack of focus will result in nothing getting done. I am sure that you are probably doing this part time, which means that you have no time. It is imperative that you are super focused to be as productive as possible with the little time you have.

Alex goes on to explain how he goes about setting his goals and does his planning. There is way to much for me to get into right here. I will be making posts with much more detail about planning and goal setting. (if I haven't already by the time you are reading this) The topic is of great importance to your success and is why Alex made it his first Module.

Marketing With Alex – Module 2

Profit Pulling Platform

Module 2 introduced us all to the K.O.T.O.B.O.T. which is simply "Keep On Top Of Being On Top". The essence of this refers back to planning and sticking to the plan. Alex recommends using weekly and daily game plans to make sure that you stay on track to the ultimate end, what ever that may be.

Alex then tells you about sales funnels and business systems. He shows you an example of a sales process that he set up and how it fits into his sales funnel and overall business system. He later gives you your very own sales process and system that you can set up and use for your self. I still have mine in place. Click on the link to check out the List Building System.

The system is made up of an ebook, squeeze page, download page, OTO video up-well, and a back end product. The process goes like this. You give away the ebook in return for people opting in to your squeeze page. When they confirm there email address, they are taken to the video up-sell where you can make some money if they buy. If not, they decline and are taken to the download page to get their free ebook.

Meanwhile, you have them in your autoresponder and can send them back end offers as long as they remain signed up to your mailing list. Thus, you have started building your list. List building is the most important part of your business and if you are just starting out, should be where you focus all of your efforts.

Now, in Alex's second coaching program he gave away two "Profit Pulling Platforms". He is also getting ready to launch Marketing With Alex 3.0 which is his new and improved coaching program. Marketing With Alex 3.0 will be tied to Alex's new million dollar business.

I watched him map it out at his workshop in Vegas this past January. The same coaching content will be in place but there will be a plethora of "profit pulling platforms" and multiple products to use as up-sells and to make back end sales.

To finish up module 2, Alex talks a little about outsourcing. Alex is one of these guys that makes thousands of dollars a week online and doesn't know how to set up a website. He outsources all of the "nuts and bolts" parts of his business. This allows him to scale things up as big as he wants.

The problem with most people trying to make money online is that their so callled business is a one person show. I am guilty of this myself. I have been doing everything myself, until recently, and have reached a point where I cannot advance any further. I simply have reached the limits of what I can do from a time point of view.

That is why one of my goals for 2010 is to create a team of assistants around me to do all of the things that are so time consuming. Traffic generation, writing and submitting articles, bookmarking, video submission, setting up Web 2.0 properties, and all the other stuff that is required to run an online business.

I did not start an online business to become a slave to it and work harder than I do at my old traditional 9 to 5. I want to be the "idea" guy and delegate the grunt work to someone else while I go play golf or take a vacation to Europe. That is living the dream.

Marketing With Alex – Module 3

Marketing Mafia Money

Cool name for a pretty simple module. Simple but very important. This module is all about setting up your own blog. Your blog will be where you tell your story. In Module 1, Alex tells everyone to start keeping a journal. Your blog will be where you share what you are doing with the world. It will be where you brand yourself.

Your blog will help you create "social proof". All of the blog posts you write will be there for ever. Years from now, a new visitor will come to your blog and can go back to the beginning and see the progress you have made. This will give you tremendous credibility in the marketplace.

Not only that, you will have visitors making comments on your blog. The interaction between yourself and your visitors builds relationships and authority. Especially if you help them as you begin to succeed. If you have only been doing this for 6 months, then you are still more knowledgeable then a total newbie.

As long as you are a few steps ahead of them, they will look up to you and follow you. Over time, if you provide value and interact with your visitors, you will create a large following. This is the same kind of relationship that you will build with the people on your email list. It's all about creating relationships and trust.

The students of Marketing With Alex 2.0 had a little advantage over the first because Alex created a forum for the students to interact and help each other. They also had the advantage of having a large group of former students that was there to help them out. Tommy McLaughlin donated his Blogging course to help the new students set up their blogs.

For someone who has never done this kind of thing, setting up a blog can be a daunting task. Not just the technical part of it, but the emotional stress involved with stepping out of your comfort zone. A lot of people are pretty shy and it is very hard for them to write a blog post and interact with a bunch of complete strangers.

Aside from the basics, Alex also talked a little about installing Google analytics so you can keep track of your traffic and where it's coming from. He also had a plugin create that would create a widget that listed all the other students blogs. This was for Marketing With Alex 2.0 students. We had to create our own blog rolls.

Alex explains that posting on your blog is important because it is training for the content that you are eventually going to create. Leading into the talk about the importance of writing your own ebook. If you are going to sell information products, you are eventually going to need to create one. This is another very important step to boost your authority and brand your name.

I saw a huge difference in the way that people approached me after I created "JV Giveaways Unleashed". Writing your own ebook is not as hard as it sounds. The thing that holds people back is not taking action. You can't be scared. Just do it!

At the end of the module, Alex announces a competition with a $1000 prize. After module 4, the competition will begin. Who ever drives the most traffic to their blog, in a 2 week period, will win the $1000. Alex holds several different competitions through out the training which are all designed to entice the students to take action.

Marketing With Alex – Module 4

Social Media Money

This module is all about getting traffic. I remember that I was very surprised when we got into this module. I was expecting Alex to start talking about article submission and press releases, you know, the typical traffic generation methods that you hear about. Instead, Alex started telling a story about oil rigs. He actually calls this method "oil rig hopping".

It's an interesting analogy. He talks about how fish gather around and underneath oil platforms in the ocean. The pilings of the platform grow algae which attracts clams. Small fish come in to feed on the clams which attract bigger fish. The bigger fish bring in even bigger fish and eventually sharks start coming in to feed.

The content you post on your blog is the algae. The comments people leave on your blog are like the clams that start to attract fish. Alex's technique is to leave clams on other peoples blogs. That does not mean you should spam other peoples blogs. When you leave a comment on someone's blog it should add value.

Do not leave a comment like, "Hey, come look at my blog!" If you make a comment that adds value. Make an intelligent statement or if nothing else pay the owner a compliment. By doing this, you will naturally draw attention to your self. People will want to know who you are and will click on your name, which will take them to your blog.

Hopefully, you see the power of this technique. It can also be used in forums. When ever you make a comment in a forum you are allowed to have a signature. Make sure it links back to your blog. Just make sure you are adding to the conversation and not pimping a product or your self. If you come off as an intelligent person that is adding value to their blog, you will see awesome results.

The best thing to do is to remember that for almost everyone that reads your comment, it will be their very first impression of who you are. Make them want to find out more about you. Peak their curiosity and they will come and take a look at your blog.

So once you get some decent content on your blog, it's time to go fishing! Alex calls it Oil Rig Hopping. So go out and find blogs that are related to your niche and start adding value. You also want to make sure that you use the list, that you are building, to drive people to your blog.

When some one signs up at one of your squeeze pages, make sure your first message in your auto responder series tells them to come to your blog. Remember that the more activity you have on your blog, the more likely people will hang out there. Encourage people to leave comments because that is where you engage and interact with your visitors.

Alex also talks about how you can use Google analytics to see where your traffic is coming from. If you have spent the week "oil rig hopping" and 50% of your traffic has come from one or two blogs, then you want to make sure that you visit those blogs on a regular basis.

Be smart about where you spend your time. You want to the greatest results for the least amount of effort. Also, make sure you are taking advantage of the traffic that comes to your blog. Funnel them into your list with opt in forms and find other ways to monetize.

Marketing With Alex – Module 5

Traffic Tornados