During school, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a pretty smart student and had gotten through the other questions quite easily, until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?” I imagined this to be some kind of joke.

But when I thought about it, I realized I had seen the cleaning woman many times. She was short, dark haired and in her 60’s, but how would I know her name? I didn’t.

I handed in my paper, and just left the last question blank. Just before I left I asked the teacher if the last question would count towards our grade. “Absolutely,” said the professor.

“No matter what career you choose in life, you will meet many people. All are important. They deserve your attention and care, even if just by a smile and greeting.”

I’ve never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Clara.

Online, it is not as easy to obtain first names as it is in person but at least we have a better way to store them when our memories fail.

The professor was right, in fact, as it turns out, our names are so important to us that hearing them lights up entirely different part of our brain than any other words, scientists tell us.

Using your customer’s name makes them like you more, also using your own name makes the interaction feel more personal, too.

For example, who would you rather get an email from, “John” or “The Support Team”?

Personal names make a shopping experience much more enjoyable as does hanging out with people who know your name in real life, it just feels more respectful, more engaging and friendly.

Firstly, when sending emails, avoid the lazy trap of ‘Dear Customer’. Use their first name every time.

If customers call you, try and use their name in the first sentence as an instant rapport builder. This is especially helpful in calming an irate customer down quite quickly by seeming more authentic and familiar.

For some of you, when booking a callback, arranging a meeting or getting people to leave their names and numbers, ensure you have their names written in your diary on that date and any other bits of information you can get in that first interaction.

Then when you recall accurately the words of the last conversation you had with them or ask them a more familiar question using their name, you’ll instantly make the customer feel like you know them and so they relax with you.

Another trick of the name remembering trade is to create stories or rhymes in your head associated with the person’s name you want to remember and genuinely try to use it when you bump into them. It’s a great way to build connections and friends in person that may one day be useful to your company or idea, on or offline.

People like their name being used, and it will be a boost to your business and relationships in general if you make the effort to use them every chance you get.

That’s the question posed in an online forum recently. Answers ran the gamut of the spectrum, but here are the 28 I found especially helpful, in completely random order…

Become financially educated. Read personal finance management books, starting with Rich Dad Poor Dad. Learn how to budget and how to invest.

Live frugally. If you’re thinking you can’t save more of your money, take a look at homeless people who live on almost nothing. Yes, you can save money. Stop eating out so often. Cancel the cable. Don’t buy a new car. Don’t buy a new used car until you absolutely need one.

Always pay yourself first. Devote the first 10-30% of your pay to savings and investments.

Spend money on assets (real estate, stocks, bonds, etc.) not liabilities (everything that loses value the moment you purchase it). Thinking of buying a new car even though your old one is fine? Take that money and invest it in your business, in stocks, in real estate or something that is an asset. Then buy a good used car in a few years, when you really need one.

Don’t care what people think of you. Your neighbors think you’re poor because you don’t buy new cars? Little do they know that $20,000 you would have spent on a car is now earning you a 10% compound interest rate.

Invest in yourself. Self-education equals new knowledge. Add execution to that new knowledge and you get results. Repeat continuously.

Find ways to help as many people as possible. The more you can help others get what they want, the more money you can make.

Scale. Don’t render services when you can mass produce products. Better to make a $10 profit on a million sales than a $1,000 profit on 100 sales.

Stuck on services? Go upscale. If you’re going to render services, find the niches that pay the most.

Have multiple streams of income. This way if something happens to one, you are still in good shape overall.

Sell stuff. Lots of stuff. Hire others to help you, so that your earnings are no longer tied to your hours.

Always keep the return on investment in mind, whether your investment is time or money.

When you want to buy something, figure out how to make the money. Don’t take money out of your savings to buy a car or a vacation. Instead, figure out how to make the extra money needed to cover the new expense.

Be friends with people who have more money than you. Their mindsets and thought processes will rub off on you. That said, do not try to compete with them – keep the car and house you have now, at least for a while.

Leverage your abilities to their fullest extent instead of working harder to get ahead. Forget working hard and focus on working smart. For example, a personal coach can create a course and sell it for $297 a million times over, but can only coach a few people one-on-one at any given time.

Take calculated risks. Failure is a part of the journey. If you’re too afraid to fail, you will never take the smart, calculated risks needed to become wealthy.

Use your head more than your heart. Make your financial decisions based on provable fact rather than gut instinct.

If you have a business, work ON it, not in it. Your labor isn’t needed to make the business a success – your ideas and leadership are.

Things like sports and entertainment are simply distractions for the masses. While you’re watching sports and shows 2-6 hours a day, the rich are making million dollar contacts, doing deals and starting businesses. If you get more of whatever you focus on – maybe it’s time to stop focusing on distractions and start focusing on your finances.

Bad decisions are better than no decisions. Any decision that moves you forward is better than total inaction. The key is make decisions quickly and work until you get results.

Confidence and belief in your ability will take you further, faster. The higher your confidence and the more you believe in what you’re doing, the easier it is to bring others on board, to convince buyers and to make money.

Having a lot of money doesn’t change life as much as you think. It’s not a magic shield from illness, tragedy or loss. You’re no smarter for having it (although perhaps wiser if you made the money yourself.) You still have problems, although they might be an entirely new set of problems. On the plus side, you never have to worry about putting food on the table or paying bills, which frees you up to think about bigger things.

People will look at you differently when you are rich. The upside is they respect you more. The downside is most people will want something from you.

It’s best to not flaunt your money, but instead put it to work to make more money. Many millionaires drive beat up cars and live in perfectly average homes. Few people know they are rich and they like it that way.

Don’t buy stuff you don’t need. Rent it, borrow it or do without. And don’t carry a balance on credit cards. Ever.

Never borrow money to make discretionary purchases. Only borrow money to make money.

Start with the end in mind. If you’re starting a company, from day 1 ask yourself what to do to make your company as valuable as possible so you can one day sell it for millions.

Lastly, having money is power. Power to help any charity you choose. Power to help anybody or anyone. Power to make positive changes in your community, positively impact the lives of others and make the world a better place.

A man sets out on a journey of a lifetime. The problem is, he doesn’t know where he wants to go. So he spends the next 40 years wandering the back roads, never really going anywhere. Another man chooses his destination. It’s a promised land, far, far away. The dangers he faces along the route are great and the challenges seem almost insurmountable. Yet because he knows where he wants to go, he is able to find his way, overcome the challenges and reach his destination, where he retires in 10 years’ time.

One man didn’t know where he was going, and so he wandered for 40 years and achieved nothing.

The other man knew exactly where he wanted to go, and because of his belief and determination, he was able to overcome every obstacle and reach his destination in 10 years.

Which person are you?

Most people won’t define what they want until they have clarity on how they will get there. But because they don’t know what they want, they don’t have the clarity, and thus end up doing nothing.

That’s why you’ve got to decide first what it is that you want, and be totally clear on what that is. Write it down in detail. Only then will you figure out how to get to where you want to go.

One more thing: Once you begin your journey, take time every single day to revisit your goal.

Just like a builder continually consults the building plans, you should continually go over your goal so that your subconscious mind knows exactly what it should be doing to get you to where you want to go.

This will also help you avoid time wasting activities that you don’t need.

Advanced Tip: Measure what you treasure.

Whatever your goal might be, take daily measurements of how you’re doing.

For example, if your goal is to reach a certain income level, you’ll want to track your profits daily.

If your goal is to exercise and eat right, you’ll want to keep a journal of everything you eat and every exercise you perform.

Whatever your goal might be, measure what you treasure and you will get more of what it is that you want in life.

Before they share it, readers have to love your content. So how do you write the next viral blog post? I’ll show you…

Offer a simple, practical way of accomplishing a task. According to the New York Times, 94 percent of people share content because they believe it will be helpful to others. That’s why articles such as “10 Ways to Save Money” are popular.

Write “how to” posts. These kinds of posts are always popular and tend to stay evergreen for a long time. For example, few can resist, “How to Make the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever.”

Give them what they want. Figure out what your readers want to learn and write about that.

Use the active voice as much as possible. Instead of writing, “Donna is loved by Riche,” write “Richie loves Donna.” It’s easier, faster and more interesting to read.

Use present tense as much as possible. Instead of writing, “Last week when we were going down the mountain…” Write, “Imagine this: We’re going down the mountain when a cougar leaps in front of our motorcycle…” It puts the reader right there in the scene with you and makes it more exciting to read.

Entertain the reader. If you can delight the reader, make your content irresistible and even bring humor to it, so much the better.

Be credible. If you can back up what you write, your readers will trust your content enough to share it.

Cut the fat. It’s not the length of your content that matters, it’s the conciseness. Tighten up your sentences, rewrite anything that confuses, eliminate words like “very” and “just” and basically tighten up your writing. Every word should count.

It’s not War and Peace. Use shorter lines instead of longer sentences whenever possible.

Engage the reader emotionally. It’s not just about the facts, it’s also about grabbing the reader by the emotions and not letting them go until the end.

Tell stories. If you can illustrate your point through a story, do it.

Never, ever be boring. Have someone read your content before you post it. Ask them to watch for any place where their mind starts to wander. These are the places you’ll need to work on, so you don’t lose your reader’s attention.

If you find yourself writing in a style your English professor would adore, try again. The best tip of all to getting your content shared is to write as though you’re talking to your best friend, sharing useful stuff s/he wants to know.

I recently asked a group of marketers this question: “When you send an email to your list, what’s your #1 goal?” The answers I received were revealing.

Some of the answers I got were…

– To get readers to open it
– To get readers to READ it
– To give some useful info
– To build rapport
– To sell a product

Those are all good answers…

But they’re also all WRONG answers.

Of course you want them to open the email, read the email, build some rapport, maybe give some useful info, but none of these are your primary objective.

So what is?

To get the CLICK.

That’s it.

Everything else is simply in support of that #1 goal, getting them to click the link you send to them.

Ideally, you want to train your list to click your links like (pardon me here) mind-numb robots.

You want them to click automatically – without thinking – because it’s what they always do when they open your emails.

You don’t need to sell the product – the sales page or video you send them to should do that for you.

You don’t need to tell them everything about the blog post you’re sending them to – the post will do that for you.

Your job is simply to get the click.

So how can you improve your click-through rate?

1. Give great information. People will like you and TRUST you if you give them great info that helps them. Clicking the link is just a natural extension of that.

2. Show them the ‘what’ but not the ‘how.’ You might give them a really useful tip on what drives super targeted traffic, but to learn how to do it they need to click the link. And yes, that link goes to a product you want them to buy. You haven’t sold the product in the email, but you have sold them on the method. The product is simply an easy shortcut to using that method to get the result.

3. Don’t always send them to sales letters; send them to fun stuff, too. Show them your blog posts, your videos and even other people’s stuff now and then. Did you see a video on YouTube that taught you something really valuable or made you laugh out loud? Try sharing it with your list. Remember, you want to get them in the habit of automatically clicking your links. And giving them rewards when they do, like useful information or a good laugh, will teach them to do just that.

4. Now and then surprise them with a free product. Your email tells them a method to list build using Facebook. Then you send them to a link that will give them 5 more list building methods. And when they click the link, they see a very short sales page offering the product for FREE. How much do you think they love you right now? And what are the odds they will click more of your links in the future, just in case there’s another free product on the other side?

Of course, your list and your niche may call for slightly different methods. But bottom line, your primary, number one goal of email marketing is ALWAYS to get the click.

Because the more trained your list is to click, the more money you will make in the long run.

This one is so simple, yet diabolically effective… When you first introduce a new product to your list or your blog readers, do you simply pop a link on there with a line of text and hope they click? Of course not. You introduce the product. You tell them what’s good about it, how you use it, why it can change their business or help them achieve their goal, etc.

In other words, you’re introducing the product and warming up your readers BEFORE you send them to the sales page.

Now here’s the mistake I see marketers making all the time…

… when they first introduce the product, they take the time to do everything we just said.

And they make sales.

Then later they decide to promote the product again, only this time they forget a crucial step.

They slap that affiliate link or product link up on social media and figure people will click it and buy the product.

But they don’t click.

Why not? Because there’s no introduction to entice them to click and learn more.

So here’s what you do…

Take the copy you wrote in that email or post that introduces the product, and give it a page of its own on your site. Add your affiliate link or sales link to the bottom.

Now when you advertise the product on social media and other venues, send visitors to your intro page first.

I’ve seen this simple technique increase conversions 4 fold. Use it!

You’re familiar with how lead magnets usually work – you offer visitors a report or some other incentive for joining your list. Depending on your traffic source and the strength of your offer, your opt-in rate could be anything from almost non-existent to 30% or more.

Here’s the problem – EVERYONE and their uncle is offering some type of incentive to get people to join their lists. And because of this, visitors have become more and more cautious about giving away their email address.

So what can you do to increase and possibly even DOUBLE your opt-in rate?

Change things up a bit, like this:

Step 1: Create a dynamite lead magnet with great information on how to do something. For example, maybe it’s a case study: “How Janis Smythe made $4,294 in 12 days using XXX technique.”

If you’re just starting out and you need a case study to use, start Googling. Don’t forget to let the person know you’re doing a case study on them, because in this case you really should get permission first.

Or omit the names and fictionalize the personal details. That works, too.

Step 2: Write an excellent sales page. Yes, you’re giving the report away, but you still need to entice people into wanting it.

Step 3: At the bottom of the page, and perhaps to the right as well, put a download button. That’s right – no opt-in form at this point, just a ‘download it now’ button.

Step 4: Split your report into two sections. The first section is the introduction and overview. What they’ll need to do, how much money they can make and the success they can have, and so forth.

Don’t make direct promises, of course. Follow legal guidelines.

The second half of the report is the payoff, the actual technique and how to do it step-by-step.

On the bottom of the first section, tell the readers that the step-by-step blueprint is in Part 2.

Sneaky, right?

It gets better:

Place TWO links on the last page of the first section – one where they pay $17 to buy the second half of the report…

And a second link where they get the report for FREE in exchange for their email address.

Both links go to the same web page.

Step 5: Create the web page for the second half of the report. Give them the option to pay $17 and the option to get it in exchange for their email address.

You should get extremely high opt-ins using this method. Having the payment button there makes it look like they are getting an extremely good deal by giving you their email address.

And oddly enough, once in a while someone will actually pay for the second half of the report.

There you have it… a proven way to supercharge your opt-ins and grow your business online! Now take this knowledge and put it to use!

You might think the best way to make sales in the online marketing field is to promise a lot of money for very little effort. After all, we see these products that promise you’ll rake in the dough simply by tapping your toes three times and whispering you want to get rich.

Those kind of pie-in-the-sky promises may make for great fairy tales, but frankly your average Joe isn’t buying it.

You know what people say (and believe)… “If it sounds too good to be true, it generally is.”

The fact is, there are folks who make hundreds of thousands of dollars online each year.

Some do it each month.

A few do it each DAY.

So just because it sounds too good to be true doesn’t make it so. But it will scare away a lot of buyers, because they don’t believe THEY can make a ton of money from home.

And those programs that promise the moon for a few clicks? Their refund rates tend to be in the 50% range. Ouch. Plus you’ve got to wonder how well they sleep at night.

So what’s the counterintuitive approach to increasing your conversions in the make money online / internet marketing field?

It’s simple, really.

Tell them they’re going to have to WORK.

Tell them they’re going to have to put in an EFFORT.

And the results they get will depend on what they actually DO.

Obviously any business is going to take work. But if you don’t TELL them it will take work, they will likely mistake you for a scam.

So be honest and open about how much effort it will take. Doing so, you’ll find your products not only sell well, they will also continue to sell for a long time to come.

This won’t make you rich, but it can pay the bills. Basically, you’re going to hire two outsourcers and then sell the websites they build for you. This has been done by at least one marketer that I know personally, and I’m sure many others have found similar success with this business model. Here are the details…

Hire two outsourcers, possibly from the Philippines or anywhere you can get excellent full time help for about $500 each per month.

One outsourcer should be versed in all phases of website building and PhotoShop. Things they will need to do: Install WordPress sites, install plugins, install autoresponder forms, use Photoshop to create website graphics as needed, etc.

The second outsourcer is a good writer, preferably a VERY good writer, able to research and write about most any topic.

This is your team.

One thing to know – work expands to fill the time allotted. So if you give your team two weeks to build a site, that’s how long it will take. Instead, see if they can do it in 2 days.

For what you want done, it should only take 2 days. In fact, for the website builder it should only take one day, and two days for the writing.

Now then, the first site your team is going to build will be for you. It should be an authority blog, containing several posts and an embedded YouTube video or two.

You choose the domain name, let them know what you’re looking for, then let them sort out everything else.

This is going to be your example website. Of course, you can continue to build this site out over time, making it a true authority site. And you can use the outsourcers to do this for you. But first and foremost, you want to treat it as your example website.

Now you launch an offer to build authority websites for other people in the niches of their choosing. You can start by notifying your list of your new service, place in the top marketing forums and branch out to Facebook after that.

Charge whatever you like – $300 is a good price but it’s up to you.

The website will be a unique authority blog in whatever niche they choose, with perhaps 5 posts already written, all the plugins in place, basic SEO, a domain of its own… you get the idea.

You’re paying your team $1,000 a month, so you need to make 4 sales to be in profit.

But realistically your team can build 10 sites a month, spending 2 days on each site and working 5 days a week.

10 sales at $300 is $3,000, minus the $1,000 you pay your team leaves you with a $2,000 profit.

Of course, you can charge more, offer different packages and so forth. For example, your deluxe package might contain 15 posts and cost $700, depending on how good your team is and how well you do at selling the sites.

If you find your team has downtime between orders, you can have them create a product for you, or build sites which you then sell pre-made.

There is some work in getting the sales and communicating the desires of the client to your workers. But it shouldn’t take you more than an hour a day to accomplish this.

And once your other ventures are making enough money that you don’t want to be bothered with this endeavor anymore, you can always sell it as a turnkey business. Sweet success!

I’m about to show you how you can use a big discount, and a case study offer to start selling big ticket services like crazy. This can work for most big ticket items you’re selling.

Maybe you sell SEO services to brick and mortar businesses. Or perhaps you sell coaching over the phone to people who started with a free 20 minute session with you. This works in print as well, but it works even better when you’re actually talking to the person.

Let’s say you sell list building systems to local businesses. You’ve sat down with them, explained exactly what you can do for them and they’re excited. “How much do you charge?” they want to know.

Let’s say you charge $1,000 a month for the service. Tell them you normally charge $2,000, and explain why your service is a tremendous deal at that price. Then tell them that if they will allow you to use them as a case study, you will knock that price in half.

Here’s the beauty of this system:

First, you’ve already primed them for a higher price, so when you offer the lower price, they’re actually relieved and much more likely to say yes.

Second, in the back of their mind they’re thinking, “If s/he is using my business as a case study, that means s/he’s going to work extra hard to get good results.” Which makes perfect sense, because you wouldn’t want a case study that failed.

Third, you can use these case studies to bring in new clients. For example, let’s say you performed a service for a plumber. Now you can contact plumbers in other cities and show them the exact results you achieved in that first plumbing business. When they see these specific results, they are much more likely to sign on.

The same goes for any other service you provide to local businesses, professionals, coaching clients, etc. Show them your ‘regular’ price, then offer the option of getting a reduced price in exchange for allowing you to use them as a case study.

One caveat: In the case of personal coaching (versus business coaching) you might want to change their name in your case study to protect your client’s privacy.