Survey Says…
The results of yesterday’s survey are in. I mindmapped them below.
The results were quite interesting. Some were a bit of a surprise and some weren’t.
Two things really stood out. The number of people making a profit was almost exactly the same as the number of people that had a list of more than 500.
Coincidence? I think not. I know that I made money without a list but not consistently. When I started building and using lists my business became profitable.
Things that made me go hmmm…. (Yep an Olsonism)
More people had a blog or website than I expected. Seems that isn’t a key.
More people tracked their results than made money consistently but that number does correlate to the number of people making more than $50 a month.
Almost half of the people responding had not started their first list yet only about half of that number thought that list buiolding should be the number one topic.
Takeaways
If you are not making money and have not started building a list maybe you should.
Having a web site or blog does not correlate with success unless you are building a list.
What to expect from this blog in the future
After going through the results I am willing to bet that the vast majority of the people who have not made any money fall into one of these categories.
- Have not started to focus on a business
- Are looking for the magic button
I can help the first group but if you are looking for the magic button I think you need to look else where for help.
I will be going through some of the things you need to do to get started as this is an area I feel is sorely lacking but…
It will not all be free. I will on occasion recommend tools that I use and that you need to have. Some of these have a cost – some are free. If you think you can build a business with no investment then obviously you are a magic button seeker. It will take a combination of FOCUSED time and money to get going.
Let me know if you are interested in this by leaving a comment. It will take effort on my part and I have no problem with that but only if there are people that will actually take action.
No comments and I’ll figure that the readers here are afraid of that 4 letter word that begins with a W and looking for magic buttons.
Mike Paetzold
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Tags: business building, survey, survey results
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.
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Hey Mike,
I am always interested in your instruction.
Much of what I know that is working for me now, I learned by watching you.
Thanks
Ron
I do surveys too Mike and sometimes wish I hadn’t!
Most people do not want a business – they want to “make money”. And most do not want to build a list – which is or rather who are – where your “money” is.
Personally Mike I want traffic tips – I have the “mechanics” – squeeze page / blog and small list.
And then “how to” cultivate the right relationship with my list.
All The best
Alex
My own lists accelerated once I had a product. I got a product once I realized the direction of my business.
Creating the first product can be a chore but easier with a teleseminar discussing a product with an affiliate program.
Ultimately, people join lists when they feel they get more value than they pay for in money and time. So get that first product out there. Take action, revise later!
Bob
P.s. Nice use of Freemind by the way!
I was one of the 12.1 percent looking for more information on conversions.
Then Bob mentioned product creation. Going to be looking into that one too.
Hi Mike,
I was one of the ones who wanted to learn more about blogging as I have only the most minor understanding of how to use them effectively.
I have begun creating a product and am building a list in two ways and about to start expanding into a third way. As my list grows I am sure that my income will get larger as well.
Picked up some great tips from you and Robert Puddy last week in the SWAT Room. Thanks!
Hi Mike,
I would love to know about building a list and how to have a relationship with the people on it without having a product or newsletter.
Thanks for all the info
Hi Mike,
I was very surprised by the results, in that they reinforced the statistics bandied about on the net in their thousands by those trying to pitch everyone under the sun into buying their product or service. I had always assumed that the figures used had been just plucked out of the air.
It would be nice to know how statistically significant they are, for example how many respondents took part.
The messages that seem to be being absorbed by new or developing Internet marketers, are, build a list, get traffic and start a blog. All reinforced by your survey findings.
A very useful exercise, thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Jeff. H.
Hi Mike,
Very interesting survey results. I agree some of the things that usually are related seem not to be in this case…. food for thought.
Traffic and conversions are the life’s blood of any business…without both you will struggle to even build a list.
Hi Mike,
The results about the list and making money seem intuitive… Yet recently I’ve heard people talking about how to make money, big money, without a list? How is that possible?
Anyway, I agree that having a product, building a site/blog, building a list seem to be the necessary steps.
My list started growing when I gave away my first product. I started earning money when I started selling my second.
I’m looking forward to your lessons.
Best Wishes,
Charles
http://www.StayHomeDads.com
I have several blogs and websites. Each blog uses different plugins and themes. I have been having problems with one theme; I can’t get the left column to display (3 column theme).
I have had a squeeze page on one site over a year No subscribers? I use aweber.
I have two article directories and have several thousand authors. I have not tried to email them yet. I have little to show for my efforts at monetization with adsense and affiliate products.
I am setting up a bans, build a niche store, clickbank. I have one at http://eco-sentry.com and have not received any sales yet.
I know list building is important but have not had any luck getting subscribers.
I would like to see some detailed blueprints to get blogs and squeeze pages to work together,
I have started using rss feeds on one blog but it is filling a narrow column with the articles. I can not seem to get the feed to show on a post or separate page.
I need input on these types of things.
Thanks for the info so far. I am trying to get it implmented.
Hi Mike
I belong to the group that have not started focusing on a business yet, and to that all I can say is that I have a pretty close idea of what I want.
The problem here is that I lack the very basic info, such as how to name or accomodate files inside my host admin area so that a squeeze page, a sales letter, a blog, etc. are desplayed accordingly.
Perhaps someone may want to clear this issue for me?
Good luck to all
Bea
I was surprised at the number of people who are not building a list as everyone tells you that you need a list. I do have a list of over 700 people, I just have a problem getting them to actually buy anything.
Sometimes it is not just not having a list, it is that you need a quality list of known buyers. You need to know the best place to start building your list so that your offers do not fall on deaf ears.
There is so much to learn about how to do anything on the internet and any help that can be provided will always be welcome.
I totally agree on the list building and coversion subjects. Without these two items you don’t have a business you have a wannabee setup.I would like to see more on getting more conversions.
WOW!
That is really neat info!
Glad you shared and hope to see the continuing saga!
LOL.
List building – List building – List building – List building – List building – List building –
The consistent money is in the list…
I guess you really can’t stress that enough!
Keep ‘em coming, I really enjoy your take on topics.
Thanks!
Hi Mike,
I hope you will go forward with this training. I have spent a lot of time and money buying, reading and learning. I am not afraid of work or time spent researching, studying and learning. I am like Bea, I need to know how to set up the directory or folders or whatever on the server to have them show correctly. I put up a squeeze page but used a premade template I have from somewhere and it didn’t work correctly.
Someone tried to fix it and couldn’t but I messed up when I uploaded also because of not knowing how to set it up. If I do a review site, how can I have different squeeze pages and pre-sale pages for multiple products. I have researched and found many resources for a lot of the steps to get a site up but I can find nothing on how to organize the directory on the server so things will show as I want. I have been working hard and am almost online.
[...] Survey Says… [...]
[...] Survey Says… [...]
[...] Side note: My good friend Mike Paetzold recently did a similar survey of his list. His results and findings match mine extremely well, you can read about Mike’s results here. [...]
Mike, “Things That MaKe You Go Hmm” is a song from C+C Music Factory from the early 90s. I still remember dancing to it despite a lot of hangovers!
If I understand the mindmap correctly (maybe I don’t?), 66.3% *aren’t* tracking their results, so I’m having a problem with the correlation between tracking and profits. (Admittedly, I can’t quite make out some of the green text. Maybe that’s my problem?)
Hokay; I think I puzzled it out for myself. It was the “< than they make” in the “Make money” category that was confoozelating me. I think I’ve got it now.
[...] Paetzold ran a similar survey, and lists his results on his blog in a post titled “Survey Says…“ His results are much the same as Soren’s and came to a similar [...]