The story of Stephen Pierce is an amazing one that I wanted to share with you.

Homeless just a few years ago, he lived in the backroom of an office and at night, after everyone had left, he taught himself how to market and sell products online.

I've always said marketing is something just about anyone can do -- if you just take the time to learn some very basic principles that I'll share in a moment. But Stephen's story is another example that you don't have to graduate with a marketing degree to actually do marketing.

In fact, Stephen is now making a very nice living for him and his family in a beautiful home with his online ventures earning more than $100,000/month. And when he talked about how he's getting 30% of all his prospects to pay him nearly $100/month for his services, I just had to find out more.

Stephen was a featured speaker at a conference I helped coordinate and run and when he started explaining his 4 fundamental principles of marketing I couldn't sit still in my seat! These were the same principles I was using with clients and his clients were having just as much success.

Whether you're in launch mode or turnaround mode, the 4 principles of online marketing Stephen talks about work. I know because I've used them myself for years that's why I'm so eager to share them with you right now.

1. Find markets with 'rabid' buyers. You want to be in a market where your prospects want what you have so much, you don't have to chase them. 'You want to get in the position where they'll run over you to spend their money,' says Pierce, who is author of the e-book, 'Make Real Money on the Internet' and creator of ImpulsiveProfits.com.

2. Make sure you have a sizzling hot-selling product. A quick way to find out what will sell is to see what's already being sold on e-Bay, in Google Ads when you do a keyword search of e-zines and in print magazines in your market. Consider advertising not just in the magazines but on e-zines too. For a quick search, see www.bestezines.com. Find blogs that are active with postings throughout the day, every day. Most will allow you to place a 125 x 125 banner for $10-$25/month, but don't just put it up and keep it there. Change your banner every 3-5 days. You can also place banner ads on forums if they offer Google Ad Sense. Pierce says he pays based on the cost per thousand clicks (CPM) because few people pay for their ads that way and it helps him increase his rankings. Most people pay based on a cost per click (CPC).

3. Know how to generate the right traffic. The right traffic may not be what you think. You have to be willing to test. Oddly enough, Pierce's most effective marketing piece is a 3x5 postcard sent to buyers who responded to postcard offers previously and bought a product or service online. He generates a 76.5% opt-in rate and a 28% sales conversion. 'Postcards have been our best traffic generator,' he says. 'But how did we know if that would work if we didn't test it? PPC may generate traffic, but they're not proven buyers, they're proven clickers.'

4. Convert visitors into customers. In other words, be sure you're 'next-stepping' your visitors so they take a low-risk action with you, such as downloading a book or signing up for an online newsletter. Pierce gives away CDs, DVDs and books, but he found that books give him the highest conversion rate because it's easier for people to flip through it. He charges $4.95 for shipping and handling. Twenty-eight percent of them go on to pay him $97/month for his internet marketing service. The key is that once you've pre-qualified your prospects and they've shown an interest in you, offer them a product or service for sale.

Always taking you from where you are to where you want to go,

Jon

Jon Goldman, President