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I really love how Marlon Sander’s cuts to the basics. There are things you need to know even if you outsource them. Most of all YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING – START NOW. Here’s Marlon-

STOP OVERCOMPLICATING part 2: Even LESS Things You Gotta Do To Make Money Online And Sell Your Stuff To People Who Buy It

By Marlon Sanders

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Hit me with your feedback on today’s article at:
http://www.marlonsnews.com

Here we go…

I don’t get it.

There’s something about the human brain that makes everything seem more complicated than it really is.

The stuff that you gotta do in Internet marketing isn’t rocket science for the most part. Not unless you get into the really advanced stuff.

Part of the role of “gurus” is to think of more and more stuff to make it more and more complicated so they can sell more and more.

And if you have a niche, you should do the same in your own charming way.

But for me, for whatever reasons, I like making things simple. Many others CLAIM to do that right in the context of over-complicating everything under the guise of making it simple.

It’s like Photoshop Elements.

Here are the BASICS. These are ALL explained in ONE Design Dashboard video — The 20 MINUTE bonus walk through. If you HAVE Design Dashboard and have NOT watched that 20 minute walkthrough, go to productlogin.com, log in, go to the bonuses and find the one that’s the 20 minute walk through.

If you have Elements 6.0 it is THE SAME as 5.0 as far as what we do. The ONLY difference is the change in looks.

Here’s the stuff:

File new canvass, 650 W x 150 pixels H. 72 resolution, RGB, white.

Now you got yourself a header. Click the T for text. Type. Select Impact Font size 48.

Hit the gradient tool. Select a gradient. Ctr/Cmd and click on the T in the layers pallette to get the marching ants around the text.

Drag a line from top to bottom of the text.

POOF! Instant gradient.

Now go to EDIT Stroke, 1 pixel, black. OK. Now you have a nice little line around your text.

Now go to effects, click layers and select drop shadow. Pick one and hit APPLY. Now you got yourself a drop shadow.

Open a picture, select all, edit, paste into selection. Now you have a picture as a background. Decrease opacity. Control T and move it around.

Is THAT so all complicated you cannot do it?

Really, folks. It’s NOT hard.

My point is you spend all this time fearing Photoshop and thinking it’s some BIG MONSTER. And in about 20 minutes ONE video can show you all the basics.

You gotta know inserting type and sizing it, apply gradient, add stroke, add drop shadow.

You gotta add a pattern and pictures to the background.

I’m NOT claiming to turn you into some master Photoshop artist. But knowing the basics? You NEED to know. And it’s not some huge ordeal.

Ditto with the other basics like going into automateyourwebsite.com, Aweber or Getresponse and setting up an opt in form, copying and pasting the code.

Need to PODCAST?

1. Download audacity

2. Hit record

3. Talk

4. Save as mp3

5. Open up Sonic Memo

6. Pick player

7. Save

8. Upload

Here’s a little tutorial on how to put your podcast into your WordPress blog:

http://www.macloo.com/examples/audio_player/

Need video?

Open Camtasia or Camstudio. Select screen area. Hit record. Talk. Save. Upload. Learn this TODAY. Camstudio is FREE and easy to learn. Camtasia is a great product.

What about a mike? I’ve found that for starting out, Plantronics headsets work great. Later, you can get an Eidorol and higher quality mike.

Frankly, to start, grab about ANY mike you have. Practice. You’ll at LEAST learn. Then upgrade as you go. Try out different equipment.

You need to learn this.

HTML

You gotta be able to insert tables, position graphics, select font sizes. I think it’s really NICE to know how to screen cap a subhead font and then insert the image.

Also, you should know how to put a nice shadow around your table. That’s a bit more complicated but not bad.

Most people use Dreamwever. It’s the standard. You can also get by with Microsoft Expression Web. In Design Dashboard we taught Evrsoft, a free html editor that’s pretty robust.

Don’t have a name squeeze page? You open your html editor. Insert table. Center. Fill out web form info at Aweber, Getresponse or automateyourwebsite.com. Go to “code” area of html editor.

PASTE and save.

Now you have a name squeeze! OMG! It didn’t cost you an arm and a leg either. You did it yourself.

Have you LOOKED at the Double Your Dating name squeeze?

http://www.doubleyourdating.com

If you CAN’T DO that, you need practice. Seriously. Insert table. Center. Add code. Save and done.

Oops, I forgot. To dress it up add a headline and bullet points. Maybe even a picture of what they get. The ebook or report cover you can outsource, although Design Dashboard shows how to do them too.

KEY POINTS:

1. There IS a set of skills you need to learn
2. These are fairly basic skills
3. You need confidence and proficiency in doing them
4. That comes through practice
5. You do NOT gotta do all the super ninja stuff to sell and make money.
6. You DO gotta do the basics
7. Most people AVOID the pain of learning the basics and focus on super ninja stuff
8. You go super NINJA AFTER you have your basics in place
9. Always work on the basics and never forsake them
10. Gurus have a vested interest in selling super ninja stuff since people are totally enamored with buying bright, shiny objects which is MUCH more exciting than buying something that teaches the basics
11. Grasshopper says you don’t need to spend $5000 to learn the basics. But you can if you have the money and want to. Nothing wrong with it.

A lot of people will spend $3000 to $5000 for advanced methods (or even basic ones) before they’ll spend a few weeks (or less) learning the basics.

I mean, if you can’t format TEXT, insert tables, format and email, set up a web form for your opt ins, and do the basic stuff, I question spending those huge fees for advanced marketing.

I totally and completely believe in education and training. But there is a sequence to things. I think you START with the basics. You don’t start with advanced ninja marketing stuff.

And yeah, I KNOW some say just to outsource it. Fine, if you have the budget. But even then, you’ll STILL pull your hair out waiting for a freelancer to do what YOU could have done in 2 minutes with fairly minimal knowledge.

Don’t get me wrong. I use freelancers and employees. But in the beginning I did it myself.

There IS a time and a place for outsourcing. And when you launch that first site, yeah, you might wanna use a graphic designer to do something slick.

Still doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to put together a quick and dirty page or graphic yourself. Or edit the font, text or picture that a designer sends you.

You have to LEARN to see a little deeper sometimes.

When I say STOP OVERCOMPLICATING, what I mean is:

1. You gotta get traffic from one of these — pay-per-click, article writing and submission, banner ads, affiliate program or joint ventures (part of an affiliate program).

Pick ONE and become an expert in it. After that, you can add a second. But you start with ONE and learn it inside and out and make it work. I don’t care which one. Pick one. Pay per click is good but costs money. The Evergreen Traffic System is great but requires time. Affiliate programs are GREAT if you can network. Banner ads are great in niches where you can BUY them.

2. You gotta have a name squeeze page that offers a very enticing freebie to people for getting on your list.

3. You gotta have emails

4. You gotta have a sales letter, sales teleseminar, sales video or sales podcast.

Something has gotta GET people to buy.

Now, here are my questions:

1. Do you have your target market?

If you don’t, get pushbuttontargetmarket.com

2. Do you have a way to get traffic?

If you don’t, try:

http://www.affiliatedashboard.com or http://www.marlonsanders.com/evergreen

3. Do you have a name squeeze page?

Design Dashboard will teach you how. But to start, try hiring designgururyan.com. He is inexpensive and knows what to do.

4. Do you know how to write and format an email?

If you don’t, READ the emails you get from me or whoever. But LOOK and observe. Learn from others.

5. Do you know how to sell via a sales letter, teleseminar, audio or video?

WATCH what others DO and HOW they do it. That is how you learn.

Marlon

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Marlon Sanders is the author of “The Info Product Dashboard.”
If you want to create your own info products, go to:
http://www.productdashboard.com

There is the plan from a master but you need to take action.

As always your comments and questions are welcomed.

Mike Paetzold

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Disclaimer: Some of the links mentioned within this post or posts it may lead to are my affiliate links and in such case I will get compensated for recommending those products. However, I will never recommend something that I don't personally believe in and I welcome your questions and feedback.