What is the one thing that differentiates the millionaire success stories from the normal internet marketer who just can’t get a break or get his first taste of success. Of course there could be many reasons but in my opinion the biggest thing that holds 99% of marketers back is that they to do it alone.
They operate on their own, working long hours with little or no results. They could be spending hours at night after their day job trying to generate a few extra clicks to their site or busy buying the next “shiny object,” the one that will make all the difference and finally help them to become a success online.
But this really isn’t going to help them and instead they should be focussing more time and effort on Building Relationships with other people in their niche. The relationships you have with other IMers can be the difference between you making $1 a day on Adsense and making $10k + on a product launch.
To me it’s pretty simple and the choice is there for everyone to make. Either continue on the same path which you are on at the moment where you work long hours, dedicating yourself to your business but with little to show for all your effort. Or you can seek out others in niche, those who have gone before you and are already a success and reach out to them and start building that all important relationship.
I remember reading a post somewhere by Chris Munch. Those of you who are familiar with the Warrior Forum will recognize his name, he’s one of the most successful WSO sellers and holds the record for the biggest WSO of all time, his last product – Hook Pigeon.
Well, if you read about Chris’s story he started out just like everybody else and had his fair share of failures before he hit the “Big Time”. I think he actually used to be a content writer on a number of big blogs and that’s where his knowledge of all things SEO, Traffic Generation, Viral Marketing came from.
Well his first few products bombed but he didn’t give up. He realized that something wasn’t working and reassessed his approach. He reached out to other successful WSO sellers and began building a relationship with them. Now he didn’t send them an email requesting them to promote his product but rather over time earned their trust and helped them out with anything they needed.
If you take this long term view you can begin to see the benefits. You are entering a different circle, a place where you can begin to network with and in some cases become friends with some of the most successful people in your niche. I like to describe these people as “Influencers” because they can have a huge impact on how quickly you can build your business and become successful.
But How Do You Find these Influencers?
Easy, all you need to do is start searching in Google for all the successful blogs and websites in your niche. Make a list and start following these people on social media. Good places to look are :
You’ll find most of these links on their blogs so they are not that hard to track down. The next thing you need to do is reach out to these people. Maybe send them a message in Facebook telling them a little bit about yourself and asking them is there anything you can do to help them out.
They’ll be surprised when they see something like this because the vast majority of emails these people get are from people asking them for help. If you can, record a simple video introducing yourself using your webcam, iphone etc. I like this method because video is a far more engaging medium and will allow the view to instantly see you and get a chance to see that you are genuine.
Really there isn’t any more to it than that, but you have to take the first step yourself and do it. It might seem a bit unnerving in the beginning sending an email to some big shot in your niche but once you get that first reply you’ll be super excited there will be no stopping you. The beauty of this is that it opens up dialogue between you are some of the most popular figures in your niche and who know’s where that could lead?
It takes time to build peoples trust but I really believe this is the best way to build your business and it doesn’t take a lot of time. I’m sure a lot of you use Facebook for chatting with your friends, well why not use it to make some new friends…..Very Powerful Friends!!
And not only will you be building powerful connections with one person but it will also have a knock-on effect meaning that others will start to seek you out. Remember people talk and if you make a good impression on a someone they are bound to tell somebody else about you and the whole “success by association” game will come into play. Trust me this works and is well worth the little bit of effort needed in the beginning.
Hopefully I’ve opened your mind up to thinking a little bit outside the box. Building your online business will always be a challenge but it shouldn’t be as hard as it is for 99% of marketers. I believe if you start working on your Relationship Building and Network Marketing you can greatly reduce the waiting time and achieve all your goals so much faster.
All it takes is for you to make the first step….and who knows where it could lead??
Thanks for reading,
Noel.
Want to read more posts like this? Then you’ll enjoy these posts from the archive…
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Hi Noel,
Great tips about relationship building. Just need to get my product finished and I will start using some of these methods.
Cheers
Roger
Cheers Roger, glad you liked them mate.
Looking forward to seeing your product, should be exciting 🙂
– Noel.
Hey Noel,
I think the most important element of working with other people is what you mention, the fact that it has to be a two way deal.
The fact that you’re offering to help someone shows a good work ethic that most people, even the really big players, will respect.
Some people expect everything to be one way i.e. aimed towards them. As you say, this method of working won’t get you very far.
Regards,
Dean.
Hi Dean,
It def has to be “two-way” but it’s a tricky thing to get right, the balance between wanted to help and not appearing too needy or whatever….
I find reaching out to these people and making yourself known to them is a great way to get started simply because they know who you are and
can put a face to the name…
It will take time to build a relationship that one day might lead somewhere but everything starts with the first step 🙂
Thanks,
– Noel.
Hi there Noel, loved this post, I was actually one of Chris Munch’s customers for Hook Pigeon. It was fab product although not too successful for me as I didn’t give it the full attention it deserved.
I have just reassessed my marketing approach after discovering Alex Jeffreys as my mentor. All of what he says is in this post about giving value to your audience and slowly building a name for yourself and how you can help others.
I’ve just set up my blog only this week but it finally means I’m taking action. I get a real sense of achievement that I can help out others and of course once you can achieve this that’s when the money and success start to flow!
Steve.
Well done Steve, good to see another “Action Taker!” in the house 😉
I’ve no doubt if you keep working and updating your blog along the way you’ll be very successful!
Thanks,
– Noel.
I have just bookmarked your blog, looking forward to hearing what else you to say.
Steve.
Appreciate it Steve, I’ll yours too to my reader so I can keep an eye on your journey too.
Feel free to drop by anytime 😉
– Noel.
Hi Noel,
This is brilliant, if you don’t know how to do something then you pay someone who knows how to do it. Result is that you have a proper job done and you can move onto the next task.
Look at all the top people in business, most of them have an idea, and pass it onto a team who turn the idea into a product that sells. Sure you will have failures, but if you give up at the first hurdle you will never be able to finish the race and always be last.
Andrew
p.s. Can see that you’ve been learning from John Thornhill, great guy to learn from.
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the kind words and taking the time to leave us your thoughts. All the “big guys” do what you’ve outlined, they have an idea, plan it out and then give it to their team to bring it to the next stage.
I’ll love to be able to operate like that all the time but maybe in future I will. And ya, learning loads from John, I think he’s probably the best out there at what he does. His advice and training is invaluable to me really…
Cheers,
– Noel.
Hi Noel, I agree with you completely. Going it alone can make things very difficult. By building relationships with other marketers you can learn from each other. Getting involved in forums and commenting on blogs are also great ways to build relationships.
All the best,
Gerald.
Couldn’t have said it better myself Gerald! Great minds think alike 🙂
I just think it makes to have that support network of people that you can bounce idea’s off or turn to for advice when times are tough…
Cheers,
– Noel.
Hi Noel
hope everything is going well completely agree with what you say on building good relationships
good relationships build trust and without trust your nothing in this game
all the best
Darren
PS
quick joke for you
Why is it when a man talks dirty to a woman, its sexual harassment,
but when a woman talks dirty to a man, it’s $4.85 per minute?
enjoy:))
Lol great joke Darren, you made me laugh 🙂
Must share that one with the guys…
Cheers,
Noel.
Networking is so important in any business because quite simply, nobody makes it alone.
To many people fear reaching out and far more people simply do not know ho to maintain a relationship after reaching out.
It all comes down to adding value to the relationship. If you are a fun person and make the other party happy, then the value you may bring is simply fun. If you are hard working then sometimes the value you give is simply being an output for someone knowledgeable to do good for another person who is willing to take action.
Interesting to read also that people feel they need to finish products before making relationships. I feel it should be the other way round and at the very least a equal focus on the both.
Don’t be scared to reach out – the worst they can say is NO !
Well said Dee,
I firmly believe that reaching out to those more successful than you is a great way to advance yourself. Sure you may get a few knock backs but the one that says “yes” could really help you on your way.
Cheers,
– Noel.
Hey Noel,
This is an excellent post. As you mentioned, one thing that makes people rise to the top is the people they know. It’s a lot more difficult to figure things out compared to knowing people who can guide you the right way, provide feedback, and share your material to their followers.
In my eyes, networking really is one of the most high leverage activities someone can do. I’ve know people that have become super affiliates in one year’s time because they had a friend who was willing to show them the ropes and vouch for them online.
To add onto your bit about recording yourself on video and introducing yourself, this certainly reminds me of one of my current coworkers. He gets immense traffic to his website, and I asked him how he was generating so much traffic. He mentioned that putting yourself out there, having people see your face, and being likable and relatable to is probably what drove a lot of people to his site.
– Jeremy
Thanks Jeremy,
I’m glad you see the importance of relationship building and hope you’re adding it in to your blueprint for success.
It really can speed up the whole process and take you from “Zero to Hero” in no time at all!
Cheers,
– Noel.
Had a chance to look through your posts Noel, every thing you say makes a lot of sense and I can relate to it.
Especially this post, I recently launched a WSO of my own and soon realised that it helps if you have friends within your niche.
In fact i’m going to be attending Alex Jeffreys seminar in May and I’m looking forward to meeting a whole lot of new people, I can’t wait, are you going?
Keep up the good work. : )
Gary recently posted…Hmm, No Comment…Why?
Hi Gary,
Thanks for your comments, I’m glad you get where I’m coming from in this post!
Going to an event like Alex’s will really bring your business forward because at the end of the day it’s all about relationships : those with your partners and those with your customers. If you concentrate on building both you’re on a great path. No, I won’t be at that event but I’m planning on returning to Manchester in October for the second Marketing Summit – nothing has been announced yet but keep an eye for it in the next month. Might see ya there 🙂
Cheers,
Noel.