The Tipzu handbook is a complete guide for choosing, launching, promoting, and maintaining a profitable newsletter-based business. You must become a member to browse the book.
In Part 1 of the Cookbook, you will be guided through the process of setting up your Tipzine from concept to the moment you are ready to start building your site.
Before you begin, here are some questions that will help decide if Tipzu is right for you. Ask yourself:
1. Do I have an idea, hobby or expertise I am passionate about sharing with the world?
2. Do I enjoy writing and can I write short weekly tips/articles about my topic?
3. Do I have several hours each week to devote to promoting my Tipzine?
4. Do I want extra income from an online business that can be run from a laptop?
If you answered yes to these questions, read on.
Before you launch your site, complete the "Tipzu Warm-Up." These steps are outlined in chapters 2-4 of this guide, and include:
1. Reading this Cookbook, the FAQ, and the Discussion Forum.
3. Choosing a topic.
3. Choosing some "keywords."
4. Choosing a name for your Tipzine.
5. Writing your "about" page - a short description of your site and yourself, and the benefit readers will get from reading your articles and subscribing to your Tipzine.
When you've finished, you can Sign-up and start your site.
The first question to ask yourself is, "What am I passionate about?" Make a list of everything that comes to mind. Next, narrow it down to topics you feel comfortable writing about. Finally, you need to choose the one with the largest potential market.
If your idea is snail collecting, you can have a slightly profitable enterprise but there is a limited amount you can make because there just aren't that many snail-collectors.
The best Tipzines have potential readers of many millions, and while you can make do with fewer, remember that the larger the audience the more profit you'll earn. Here are some great tips ideas, because they could be read by millions:
Babies
Dogs
Running
France-Travel
Diet
Chinese-Cooking
Coin-Collecting
On the other hand, poor ideas are those that don't have a sizable audience:
Camel-Riding
Coconut-Collecting
Latvia-Travel
Tribeca-Real-Estate
The rule of thumb - aim for something with at least 1 million potential worldwide readers.
Another key to success is whether you can sell a product to your subscribers. This is discussed at length in Chapter 9, but for now, keep in mind that good site ideas are those for which there are many related products.
Your products will come either from Tipzu partners or from boutique manufacturers you have contacted. (It's unlikely that Proctor and Gamble or IBM will give you the 40-50% discount that you will need.) Ideal products are consumables (things that you buy more than once -- perfume, soap, jam, oft-updated e-books, wine, etc.).
Here are some examples of things you could sell:
Babies: custom cribs, handmade toys, unique clothes.
Dogs: organic dog food, sweaters, jewelry.
Running: pedometers, packs, books.
France-Travel: maps, guides, travel accessories.
Diet: energy bars, e-books, recipes.
Chinese-Cooking: woks, accessories, rare ingredients.
Coin-Collecting: coin holders, coins, display cases.
And once your site is up and running, don't be surprised if manufacturers approach you with offers to sell their merchandise. Here's an example of the variety of products that are sold at one of our Tipzines:
Okay, now you have your topic - what's next?
A "keyword" is a word or phrase that people type into search engines when looking for information. Keywords are usually phrases, like "france budget student travel." Let's assume Joe Strummer decides that he wants to play guitar. One of the first things he does is go to the web and type in "guitars." Of course, he gets millions of sites and they aren't much help.
So next time he gets a little more savvy, and types "buying guitar free tips." He wants a guitar, he wants to know how to go about buying one, and he doesn't want to pay for this information.
There are ways to discover if this phrase - "buying guitar free tips" - is the best (see below), but for now, let's assume that it is. If you want to sell guitars to people like Mr. Strummer, you need to create a page at your site that responds to this need. In other words, it needs to contain these words: "buying guitar free tips." If it does, it will come up higher in search results. (If you're not in Google's first page or two of links, you may as well not exist at all.)
Google (and the other search engines) uses a secret system for punishing and rewarding pages based upon their keyword usages (for instance, if you use "free guitar" too many times in a paragraph, you could be punished).
How do they punish you? By listing your page as #1,232,311. How do they reward you? By giving you good placement on the search page. Go to google.com and type "free acting tips", "free marketing tips", "free organizing tips", or even "free knife throwing tips" - you'll see that in every case a one of the Gracia websites comes up near the top (#1 in all cases as of this writing). We can help you achieve that, too.
The trick to finding a great keyword is to identify a phrase that LOTS of people are using in their searches, where there are FEW websites with this information. If you take the number of searchers and divide it by the number of pages that it brings up, you'll get a handy number that tells you how good the keyword is: a Keyword Efficiency Index, or KEI. Good KEI's are over 10.
You’ll want to get familiar using the keyword analysis tools on the web, such as Wordtracker. This system will tell you the KEI of your chosen keywords (as well as help you find better ones). You can sign up for a free trial (as many times as you want) and they will help you find a keyword that has a high KEI:
http://www.wordtracker.com/free-trial.html
Here are some more resources about choosing great keywords:
http://onlinebusiness.volusion.com/articles/find-keywords-finding-the-ri...
http://counsellingresource.com/practice/keywords/metadata-part1.html
http://www.avangate.com/articles/keyword-research_40.htm
It's important to put good thought into your keyword choice now, because the future of your site depends on it. (Of course, there is nothing to stop you from you making new pages in the future with different keywords.)
Q: My site is about making cocktails but I've discovered that a great keyword is "drink recipes" (KEI = 10). This isn't exactly what my site is about - do I need to refocus my entire site to make it contain just recipes?
A: No, you don’t necessarily need to change the entire focus of your site, you just need to make sure that you do include some information on the keyword, in your case, you need to include some drink recipes. Since it's also a great keyword, you might also want to make your offer a list of drink recipes ("101 Little Known But Unforgettable Drink Recipes").
Remember, keywords are what people are typing into Google, so web surfers will land on your site if they are searching for “drink recipes.” Here's the key, these people would also be interested in your “cocktail tips” newsletter and your related products. If you found the keyword “cocktail dresses” and your site was about “cocktail tips,” then you would be wasting your time, no matter how high of a KEI “cocktail dresses” had. That's because everyone who visits your site will likely click away immediately since you aren't providing any information on cocktail dresses.
Once you have keywords, you'll need to choose the best and distill it to one or two words (separated by a dash) that will become the name of your site. Here are some examples:
www.Babies.tipzu.com
www.Dogs.tipzu.com
www.Running.tipzu.com
www.Dieting.tipzu.com
www.Chinese-Cooking.tipzu.com
www.Coin-Collecting.tipzu.com
Your name is the most important decision you'll make, so choose carefully. If you have narrowed it down to several choices, and have KEI's for them, you can contact me and I'll give you my opinion on which to choose.
Optimizing your site means nothing more than using the keywords you have identified in certain sections of your site. Your goal is to convince Google that you are a content rich treasure trove of keywords, that anyone searching would be pleased to find.
In order to succeed, you'll need to use your keywords intelligently but sparingly, and you'll also want your pages to connect to other pages in your site that have more instances of your keyword. That will really increase your chances of being honored with a top slot at Google.
Here are a few useful sources to review:
http://www.seomoz.org/article/bg4
http://www.bruceclay.com/web_rank.htm
http://www.1stonthelist.ca/WebsiteOptimization.html
Adapted from Google:
Following these guidelines will help Google find, index, and rank your site. Even if you choose not to implement any of these suggestions, we strongly encourage you to pay very close attention to the "Quality Guidelines," which outline some of the illicit practices that may lead to a site being removed entirely from the Google index or otherwise penalized. If a site has been penalized, it may no longer show up in results on Google.com or on any of Google's partner sites.
* Design, content, and technical guidelines
* Quality guidelines
When your site is ready:
* Have other relevant sites link to yours.
* Submit it to Google at http://www.google.com/addurl.html.
* Make sure all the sites that should know about your pages are aware your site is online.
* Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.
Design and content guidelines
* Create a useful, information-rich site, and write pages that clearly and accurately describe your content.
* Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it. (These are your keywords.)
* Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn't recognize text contained in images.
* Make sure that your TITLE tags are descriptive and accurate. (You will find these at the top of every article, product, and blog entry.)
Quality guidelines
These quality guidelines cover the most common forms of deceptive or manipulative behavior, but Google may respond negatively to other misleading practices not listed here. Webmasters who spend their energies upholding the spirit of the basic principles will provide a much better user experience and subsequently enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit.
Quality guidelines - basic principles
* Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as "cloaking."
* Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"
* Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
* Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our Terms of Service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.
Quality guidelines - specific guidelines
* Don't load pages with irrelevant keywords.
* Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
* If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.
If you determine that your site doesn't meet these guidelines, you can modify your site so that it does and then submit your site for reconsideration.
How do you attract subscribers to your newsletter? Well, some people will find your Tipzine and sign up for your newsletter directly from your site. Others will be friends and family that you've informed of your newsletter, and who want to follow your progress. You may also already have some leads that you want to add.
The majority of your subscribers, however, will provide their email address in exchange for a free eBook, or "offer."
An offer is usually a short book of tips (or an "eBook") and can be as long or short as you like. It should directly relate to the content of your site and should contain some of the keywords in the title.
The offer will be available to anyone who provides you with an email address. Once they submit this, they will receive an email telling them how to download your offer. You will also let them know that they'll receive a free newsletter from you, that you will protect their privacy and refrain from spamming, and that they can unsubscribe at any time. Here you can see a few offer pages:
http://meditation.tipzu.com/free-ebook
http://dogs.tipzu.com/free-ebook
http://drinkrecipes.tipzu.com/free-ebook
Here are a few examples of great offers that could go with our sample sites (these are all e-books):
Babies: "1001 Unique Baby Names."
Dogs: "How to Name Your Dog."
Running: "101 Tips to the 5-Minute Mile"
France-Travel: "101 Little Known Excursions in France."
Diet: "25 Heart Healthy Recipes Under $10"
Chinese-Cooking: "10 Chinese Recipes You Won't Find Anywhere Else."
Coin-Collecting: "Ten Surprising Places to Find Collectible Coins."
How do you create an "eBook" for your offer? For now, just know that it will be in PDF format. But don't worry, you'll just write the content and we'll take care of everything else.
I recently received this email:
"Chad, My site is about cats. I thought about writing an ebook about cat first aid but then I thought gee, if I have to write a newsletter every single week, cat first aid is going to be good for at least ten newsletters. I finally settled on writing a longer version of my cat's diary. I think people will like it. What do you think?"
My answer was this:
An eBook, or "Offer," needs to provide a clear benefit and relate to something that people are searching for on google. Not many people will be looking for your cat's diary, but millions are searching for help on choosing and naming their cat.
Remember, 1) Provide a benefit, and 2) Be sure your eBook relates to your keywords.
If you discover that people are searching about cat first aid, then I think that would be an excellent topic.
In the beginning, you may have to write a few articles off the top of your head. Choose an introductory topic, so if your newsletter is about "beer," write about "First Steps to Becoming a Beer Guru," or "How to Brew Your First Beer."
After you have a hundred or so subscribers, send an email to your list asking for questions (you may not have to ask, your subscribers may have already sent you inquiries). This is a great source of inspiration, and even more important, it ensures that you're writing about a topic that interests your readers.
Here are a few tips for writing effective articles (which will become the main content of your newsletters):
- Use a headline with a benefit.
- Keep the newsletter clear, concise, and compelling. 500 words is about right.
- Use short paragraphs. Online readers like lots of breaks.
- Avoid the controversial. Don't alienate half of your audience to please the other half.
- Aim for the universal. Write tips of value to the greatest number of your readers.
- Remain objective. The less you push a product or service, the better.
- Always end with a teaser and link to your website, preferably to your store.
One way to save time is to ask your readers to submit articles themselves. You'll be surprised how many people will be happy to write for free, in exchange for a writing credit.
Following our example, you might ask a local brewer to write ten tips on how to choose a great brewery tour (ending with a link to his or her business) or ask a bartender to write about arranging a beer tasting at a pub.
The advantage of guest writers is that they save you time, expand the breadth of the experience you can offer, and build relationships with people in your community. The disadvantage is that you lose some of the control over the voice of your newsletters, you don't have full say over what is being promoted, and it is generally more difficult to make a graceful transition to a store link on your site. Once you're making a good income, you may consider paying ghost writers for a modest fee, so you can maintain your brand.
Once you've written your article/newsletter, the first step is to cut, cut, cut. Trim all unnecessary paragraphs from the whole, unnecessary sentences from each paragraph, and unnecessary words from each sentence. As Thoreau said, "Simplify, simplify, simplify."
If you're not 100% confident in your writing (and even if you are), pick up a copy of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. There are few books as valuable when it comes to improving your writing.
A few other comments:
- Write simply. Do not use words that the general population wouldn't know.
- Use active voice.
- Be positive.
- Cultivate your own unique voice.
- Don't write like a salesperson, eliminate "Act now!", "Once in a lifetime!" and other stale marketing pitches.
- Use a question and answer format.
- Expand your horizons, stay on top of your subject, improve your expertise.
If you follow these instructions, you should be able to write an article every day or so. You'll be surprised once you start how many ideas you have percolating in your head.
One of the first things you should do to get subscribers is announce your new Tipzine to your address book. Many of your family and friends will want to stay informed of your business, but more importantly, they may forward your newsletters to others.
To do this, just log in and click "Announce" under the "Other" section and follow the directions there.
We've already talked about one of the keys to promoting your site. This is called "Search Engine Optimization," or "SEO." Good SEO will ensure that your Tipzine comes up near the top in most search engines, especially at Google.
There are three other ways that you can promote your site for free: through link exchanges, ad swaps, and the publication of your articles in various media.
Let's talk about each of them.
LINK EXCHANGES
Link exchanges are a really great way to build site popularity. The process is simple, you find a website in a similar industry and ask the webmaster if they will link to your site in exchange for a link back to them. Most webmaster emails are available on a "contact" page.
*Warning, do not link to any site that seems too broad or isn't in your industry. Google will punish your site for linking to non-relevant webpages.
When finding sites to link to, the key is to search one of your search terms on Google, then ask the owners of the top ten pages (that's approximately 100 sites) if they will do a link swap with you.
TIP: To find sites that do link exchanges, type your industry name into google, and add this phrase: "add link". This will bring up a list of sites that are actively seeking link exchanges. You can use our built in link management module to organize all of your links.
AD SWAPS
Another way to get free advertising is to convince other email newsletters to place your short ad in their newsletter (or elsewhere). In exchange, you will place their ad in yours.
These ads should be short, focus on a benefit, and always link directly to your offer page. Here's an example:
*****************
Free Acting Tips, Monologues, and Supplies
http://www.actortips.com
Get thousands of FREE tips for succeeding as an actor, over 20 monologues to help you win that big role, and all your acting supplies. Learn everything from how to get an agent to how to kiss on stage.
*****************
Many newsletters will swap ads with you because it's win-win situation - you both end up with more subscribers than you started with.
ARTICLE PUBLICATION
The last approach is take some of the articles you've written and offer them to various media. Don't expect to get published in "USA Today" or "Time Magazine" at first. Aim for online and niche publications.
There are thousands of online magazines with very targeted readership. And they are often looking for free content. You can provide it.
Here are a few more sources to help you master the art of website promotion:
http://www.givetogetmarketing.com/ecommerce.html
http://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/sitepromotion.shtml
http://homebusiness.about.com/od/onlinehomebusiness/a/onlinebizforums.ht...
There are many sites that will allow you to list your small business, especially if you are selling crafts. It's free to register your site and so you should definitely do it.
Here is a good site I recommend you register with:
Q: You say to link to other websites in your industry, but why would someone else in the same business as you want to link with you? Aren't they worried you'd be taking potential business from them?
A: The main reason people will link with you is because it can increase their page ranking. A distant second reason is that they might get some traffic to their site and therefore some sales.
For instance, if you are selling hand-crafted guitars, you might want to get a link from companies that sell guitar straps or guitar books. You might also try a site that is dedicated to hand-made instruments in general. This is not to say that you shouldn't try linking to direct competitors - sometimes they will bite!
Of course, some sites won't link to you, especially if they already have a high page rank and if they see you as competition. One thing to keep in mind is that you will have much better luck with linking if you write a personal email, get to the know the website owner, and be straightforward and sincere.
Also, many websites are looking for free content, and they will risk losing some of their customers in exchange for it. So offer an article or two, but be sure that keep a link to your website in the article itself.
Once you have a steady flow of subscribers, you'll need to find products to sell. An e-Book, usually composed of the previous year's newsletter, are always a good bet. Here are a few real-world examples:
marketing -- e-books
organization -- filing systems, travel packs
acting -- headshot envelopes, monologue books,
horses -- saddles
travel -- books, maps, backpacks,
style -- clothes
Usually, you'll begin selling through "drop-shipping" (in other words, the manufacturer will ship each order on your behalf) and so you won't have to carry any inventory. For instance, let's say your newsletter is "Guitar-Playing." After you have enough subscribers, you might want offer a guitar. Make sure it's a model that you really believe in. Ignore the big manufacturers and find a small company that makes unique guitars.
Let's say they sell for $500 and you can get them for $300 from the manufacturer since you will be bringing in lots of business. You then mention the guitar in your newsletter (which always remains 80% free tips -- it just now includes a mention at the bottom that you're selling guitars and a link to your store at Tipzu). When an order comes in, you forward it to the guitar manufacturer who then ships it. You pay the manufacturer his reduced price out of the revenue you generated from the sale (which was mailed to you by Tipzu).
Down the road, you might be getting so many orders that you decide to buy 100 guitars in bulk and store them at the Tipzu warehouse. Now you might get a wholesale price of $250 each. Another reason to move beyond the drop-ship model is if you are selling multiple products from various manufacturers. If someone orders them all, they'll have to pay shipping from 5 different locations - very inefficient!
Ultimately, you might have 50 guitar-related products stored at the Tipzu warehouse, and your orders include pics from California, guitars from Colorado, sheet music from New York, and a tuner from Florida. All the products are costing you 50% of the retail price and you earn the difference. Tipzu provides everything from credit card processing, storage, shipping, and customer service - in exchange, we keep 18% of each sale.
A great place to find handcrafted products is Etsy:
These are exactly the kind of products that you can sell at Tipzu. You'll have to become a member and then contact the sellers and ask if you can get a drop-shipping discount or ordering in bulk.
Remember, aim for a 50% discount.
Another wonderful resource for digital products is Clickbank:
http://www.clickbank.com/index.html
Drop-shipping is the process whereby you take an order and then email that order to the manufacturer of the item, who then ships it for you.
You hold no inventory and incur no expense until after a product is ordered. Drop-shipping is a great option for new businesses because you take very little risk (there is no upfront expenses). Many manufacturers will offer you a 35-50% discount, and this represents your profit. More on drop-shipping:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_shipping
http://www.workz.com/content/view_content.html?section_id=497&content_id...
Direct Retailing is when you order in bulk at a wholesale price and keep the products at the Tipzu warehouse. This requires an upfront payment, but the advantages include:
- Usually a larger discount than with drop-shipping,
- The ability to keep all customer information to yourself and not share it with a potential competitor (your manufacturer),
- The ability to collect lots of products from different manufacturers but still ship them from one location and in one shipment.
Tipzters generally start by drop-shipping, and then when they are getting a steady flow of orders they start directly retailing products and buying them in bulk.
In either case, beware of wholesale scams.
Also, remember that in order to get wholesale prices you will need either a State Sales Tax ID or a Federal Tax ID Number (FEIN). You can learn more about these requirements in our FAQ.
If you've completed the "Tipzu Warm-Up", you're ready to launch your site:
http://www.tipzu.com/tipztersignup/
Once you've signed up, spend some time exploring the system and eventually, these will be your first tasks:
6. Write 3 short articles about your topic.
7. Identify 5 websites that you can ask to link to your Tipzine.
8. Identify 3 newsletters that you can do an ad swap with.
9. Identify 3 news-heavy websites that might publish one of your articles.
10. Identify 3 products you might like to sell to your future subscribers.
In the next section of the Cookbook, we'll walk you through the process of creating every page on your new Tipzine.
In Part 2 of the Cookbook, you will find detailed instructions for actually building your Tipzine.
When you first log in, it might seem a bit overwhelming, but don't worry, it's all actually quite simple.
TIP: Write down your login information (username and password) and keep it in a secure place.
First, what you see on the left (Create Article, Blog Post, etc.) is only viewable by you, the Tipzter. If at any time you want to see what a normal viewer experiences when they visit your site, just click "Logout" and you'll see what the world does when they visit your page.
Also, remember that everything you create can be edited later, so in the beginning, before you start directing people to your site, experiment. In every "edit" page you might see a few options that you don't understand -- no need to worry, you can ignore them for now. They are all pre-set to do just what they should. Focus on editing the titles and content.
Another note, it's smart to start using keywords right from the beginning on every piece of content you create. Later it will help in organizing your content.
You can either write your content in a program like Microsoft Word and then paste it into the windows, or you can write it directly there, whichever you prefer.
WARNING: If you write your articles directly into the web windows and there is a crash at your computer, you will lose any unsaved information.
So get started now, click on the tabs above and add your content. Or click one of the "Create" links to add a particular entry.
Right now, your Home Page is not very customizable. The default content is your mission, teasers from your first three articles, and two testimonials.
The first thing you should do is click "Site Information" and add your site name, slogan, and mission. You can always change these later.
You can add different content to your Home Page in this way:
1. Click "edit" on any of your content.
2. In "Publishing Options" at the very bottom, select "Promoted to front page."
3. Hit "Preview" or "Submit."
If you want to change the look of your site, click Manage:Themes. Each theme is a different style and look.
You will soon be given more options in customizing your home page. You'll also be able to personalize your welcome message, add photos, and more.
The About page is one of the first places new visitors will click, so it must be well-written and compelling.
There are three things you'll need for your About page: a short description of your site, a short bio of yourself, and a picture.
To start, click the "Edit" icon and type in your text. The description of your site should emphasize the benefits that a reader will receive if they read more and become a subscriber to your newsletter. In this section, it is appropriate to mention what you will be talking about in your newsletter as well as some of the things that you will offer at your store.
The more biographical information you enter, the better: it is valuable to talk about your experience in the topic you've chosen. But short general bios can also work if you don't have a lot experience in the topic of the Tipzine. In any case, don't spend too much space about unrelated biographical details (although you may put one or two snippets if they add personality). It's distracting and not generally useful to know what kind of movies and food you like if you're writing a Tipzine about turtles.
Finally, the photo can be one of yourself if you have a professional-looking, headshot-type picture. Do not post normal pictures of yourself - that will undermine the professionalism of your site. You can also upload a photo of something related to your Tipzine topic: a glass of beer, a baby, or a sailboat, for instance.
To find images, you can do a google search and click "images" or you can search here (one of my favorite spots): http://www.corbis.com/ (At Corbis you can become a member for free and download images without watermarks.)
You can ignore the other fields for now on the Edit page, just hit "Submit" or "Preview" when you're done.
The first step to building your Free eBook page is creating your "Offer" (this is the same as your eBook). You might want to re-read Chapter 6 to remind yourself of what to put in the "Offer."
Once that's complete, you should save your file with a logical name, such as "Naming_Your_Dog" or "Playing_Guitar." It is much better if you can save your eBook as a PDF file (because you'll get fewer complaints from people who can't open the file), but Microsoft Word could work as well.
To save a Microsoft Word document as PDF, click "Print" and then choose the "PDF" option.
Once you have your eBook, just click on "Upload your eBook attachment" and upload the file. Now, when someone visits this page and registers on your site, they will have access to your eBook. It will appear as a file that they can download. Here is an example:
http://meditation.tipzu.com/free-ebook
The value of this system is that this person will now be one of your Tipzdiggers and will receive your newsletter. And remember, your newsletter will be the main vehicle through which you promote your site and sell your products.
***
By default, your newsletter is not activated. To activate it, just contact Tipzu when your site is ready; select "Newsletter Activation" here:
***
In order to send a newsletter, click on "Create" then "Newsletter Issue." Then follow these steps:
1. Give your newsletter a title. (It's generally best to include a direct benefit.)
2. Choose the newsletter from a drop-down box. (You will generally have just one and it will called either "Free Newsletter" or the name of your site.)
3. Choose "Don't send now" while you are working on your draft; choose " Send one test newsletter to the test address" when you are ready to test. Finally, click "Send newsletter" when you are ready.
The newsletter will automatically be sent to those people who have signed up.
Remember, the newsletter should contain 80% objective advice and information, and only 20% marketing. This marketing section should come at the end of your newsletter and should contain links to your store.
Where do you get your newsletters from?
1. Use your articles - usually you can just tweak an article to make it into a newsletter.
2. Use one of the questions at your Discussion Forum for an idea of what to talk about.
3. Ask one of your readers to write a guest column.
4. Ask another blogger in your industry to write a guest column - in exchange you can write one for them and link to your site.
Here is a sample newsletter from one of our Tipzters:
------------MEDITATION TIMES, ISSUE #27------------
Greetings Conscious Community!
Welcome to your issue of the Meditation Times! Below you will find the
following good medicine:
1.) April's Intention: Weeding out our soul garden.
2.) Weed #4: "The Universe/God is untrustworthy."
3.) This Week's Meditation: Leap of faith.
4.) Inspired Affirmation
**************************************************************
It's our last weed for April! We have come into a realization that there is
enough for us all. We understand that we are empowered beings capable of having
a life we love. We know in our hearts that we deserve all this and more.
Now, we must trust that there is a benevolent presence that has our back and
will support us infinitely and eternally.
Our final weed...
4.) The Universe/God is untrustworthy.
****************************************************************
“The Universe/God is untrustworthy”
*
I’m not here to convince you of God or a Universal Over-Soul. I’m going to
assume that if you are reading this, you already believe, somewhat, in a
presence beyond our human-ness. I’m also not going to try to convince you of
this Source’s trustworthiness. Essentially, it’s not about whether or not
this Source is trustworthy, it’s about whether or not you CHOOSE it to be.
*
Do you choose to trust that there is something bigger than you that is loving
you, supporting you, guiding you to your greatest good? Do you choose to trust
that this thing is within you, guiding you as your own inner voice, your inner
wisdom? If so, do you choose to act from this inner guidance?
*
When you are prompted to take a leap of faith, whether in your relationships,
your career, or your health, do you trust the external world, or the internal
world? Realize that whatever your decision, you are choosing this as your
Source. Your Source can be the economy, your bank account, your friends. Or,
your Source can be the infinite stillness that you find in your meditation--
that space of unlimited peace and love that speaks to you and tells you that you
can have the fulfillment of your desires.
*
Let me give you an example; you receive a huge inspiration to start your own
business, or travel across the country. It’s a joy-filled, intuitive hit,
straight from your inner guidance. It feels right on every level. What’s the
first thing you do? Do you look to your bank account to see if your funds would
support the vision? Do you look to other people’s opinions to see if your
vision is valid. Do you look to the economy and make a choice based on it’s
tumultuous highs and lows? Well, I’m not saying any of these things are bad or
good. What you choose to do next is the kicker. Do you act from your inner
wisdom, knowing that you can trust it, that it will not fail you, that it will
support your vision no matter what the external world is telling you? Or do you
choose to allow the external world to dictate your divine right to make manifest
your vision? Who do you chose to trust??
*
The point I’m making here is two fold:
*
1.) If you don’t trust your Source, get to know it better. Sometimes people
take a while to trust others, especially someone/something as big as God, or as
soft as the inner voice. That’s ok. It’s like a muscle, the more you work
out your trust, the more you can trust. Start with small things. It’s ok to
listen to your body and take a day off work. Everything will take care of
itself. It’s okay to listen to that still small voice telling you to go into
this store, or talk to this person. See what happens. Build your trust muscle.
*
2.) Once your trust muscle is bigger, then choose to act from this place in all
things! Act with reckless enthusiasm, knowing that you are supported in all that
you do. You cannot fail this life experience. Whatever you can dream up, you can
achieve... just start taking action. Dream Big! Drive across the country, start
your own business, move to France. The entire Universe is behind you... Trust,
Leap, Dare, Risk, Allow, Let Go, and Fly!!
******************************************************************
Meditation: Leap of Faith
Take your typical meditation seat. Allow time to settle in, and be still. Once
you feel in a good meditative state, begin to dream big. Dream a dream that
feels fun, exciting, and downright yummy. See it, then feel it. Feel the quality
of this dream in action. Where does it live in your body? In you heart, your
head, your feet? Simply notice. Does it feel light? Bubbly? Fiery? Notice.
*
After several minutes of this dreaming, wipe the slate clean. You can imagine
an eraser erasing all, a fairy wand waving it away, or any other visual that
appeals to you. Now ask your Inner Wisdom this question, “What do I need to do
today to put this dream into action?” Listen, listen, listen. The answer may
come as a vision, a color, a sound. You may have a friend pop into your head, or
a simple instruction to be joyful.
*
Whatever you receive, be grateful. Gently bring yourself out of your meditation
and immediately take action on your dream directive from the Universe. It is
important that you act immediately. We are building our trust muscle here, no
time to waste.
*
Throughout the day, still your body and check in with your Inner Source.
“What wants to happen now?” Act. Act. Act.
*
***************************************************************
*
Affirmative thought of the week:
*
I trust the still small voice within to guide me to the highest vision for my
life.
*
*****************************************************************
Beloved Community- It takes time to trust the Universe with the big stuff.
That’s part of the human ride. Choose to develop your trust. It is a
worthwhile pursuit that will take you to your biggest, brightest dreams.
Until next week... be good and take your good medicine!!!
Peace and Mucho Love,
JZ
Your first step is to come up with a few topics that you think you can write about and equally important, that your readers will find useful.
Once you've got this, I always start with a hypothetical question, for instance: "Why should I become a vegetarian?"
Your job now, if you're running vegetarian-tips site is to answer this question. You'll be surprised how much you know.
Write in short-ish paragraphs and keep the whole thing under 500 words. Once you're done, log into your Tipzine, and follow these steps:
1. Click "Articles" along the top.
2. Click "Submit Article" to add a new one, or the article headline and "Edit" if you want to change an old one.
3. In the Keywords section, just add 3-5 words that link to what the article is about. For instance, if it's about hiking in France, then: travel, france, hiking, alps, tourism - might be good keywords. Remember these keywords link to what people are searching, so you want to help them to find your site when they type in any of these phrases.
4. In the editing section, fill in your text.
a. Be sure the title is short and contains a clear benefit of reading the article.
b. Write the bulk of the article as clear and compelling as possible. I like to break things down into lists, 1-3 or 1-10 tips. That makes the article much easier to read and digest. It's also easier to write.
5. The "Abstract" you can ignore, unless down the road you want to have really short teasers of each article that you use somewhere on your site. My recommendation - if you have time, write a very short abstract (or overview) of your article.
Images: For now, you can add images to your articles or blogs in two ways.
1) First, find or post the photo you want to use. Second, type the following in your article/blog post where you want to photo to go:
(just replace the url with the one for your photo).
Finally, be sure to turn on "Full HTML" in the "Input Format" section of your article.
2) Advanced option: Upload (ftp) your photo to your Tipzu folder (ftp information was sent to you, you will need an html editor like Dreamweaver to do this). Next, put an html image link in the article main body section (see above). Finally, in the "input format" section, choose "Full HTML."
More Editing Options:
Log Message: Can generally be ignored, unless you have more than three people building your site. In that case, just add your name here so people will know who made these changes.
File Attachments: These can be very simple to do (just browse for any file on your computer) and if you have something of value you want to share, this is the way to do it. Remember, you can upload books, sound files, photographs, and more.
Comment Setting: Here is where you have to decide just how democratic your site will be. Do you want anyone to be able to comment on your articles, good and bad? Well, then select "Read/Write." If, on the other hand, you want no graffiti mussing your articles you can toggle "Disabled."
In general, it's better to allow unedited comments on your site (you can always delete the unfair or obscene ones), but it will build loyalty among those who truly adore you and what you provide. (And who knows, you might learn something from the negative comments.)
Authoring: I'd leave this as it is, it just records who made the changes.
Publishing: There are three options -
Published: If this is NOT checked, no one will ever be able to see the content. So generally, unless you're in a rough draft, you should turn this on.
Promoted to front page: This is the way that you fill your Home page with content. Anything where "Promote to Front Page" is clicked, that content will automatically appear there. (You can turn it off, of course.)
Sticky at top of lists: If you'll have, for instance, many articles but you want one to always be at the top of the bunch, you can select "Sticky at top of list."
Maybe you don't have a lot of time to write all of your articles or aren't confident in your writing style.
Well, Private Label Rights (PLR) articles might be right for you.
PLR articles are basically packages of articles on various topics that are sold to a limited number of people and which you can use as your own.
If you buy PLR articles, you can keep them exactly as they are, update them, or totally rewrite them. You are even allowed to put your name on them and brand them in your site.
I used PLR to get 400 dog articles on my dogs.tipzu.com site in just a few hours. It would have taken me years to write that many articles. For that, I paid $99.
If you are interested in pursuing this idea, I would go to google and type in your topic and "PLR" or "Private Label Rights." You'll probably find some places selling content you can use.
You can also try out these sites:
http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/private-label-rights.html
http://www.associateprograms.com/articles/46/1/Where-to-find-good-PLR-ar...
Some questions you will be asked more than once. Thus, it's much better to put these "Frequently Asked Questions" into a page where others can view them.
Try to start your FAQ with the most general questions and then down to the more specific. You also shouldn't have more than 20 - if you do, you need to either merge some of your questions/answers or work on making your site clearer.
Also, remember that the FAQ is not for obscure or highly specific questions - those should be directed to your Discussion Forums.
The Discussion Forums are a place for your users to ask questions and interact with one another. You may want to create a few "containers," or top-level Discussion Forums, for your users. For instance, if your site is "Acting-Tips," you might want to have these Forums:
Lounge: General Discussion
Film Acting
Theater Acting
TV Acting
Auditions / Jobs
You will see when someone has posted a new comment, and you will probably want to check them all out in the beginning. At that point, many of the questions you'll answer yourself. But after a short time, you'll discover that other members are answering questions for you.
In the long run, your Discussion Forums will be a great resource for product ideas, article inspiration, and even finding like-minded people who can help you build and promote your site. Many times people in a Discussion Forum will become volunteers for a site, so cultivate them well!
Finally, each post that someone makes in your Discussion Forum can help improve your page ranking and get you higher up in Google search results.
There is one main reason that you should have a links page, and that is because "netiquette" dictates that the site you link to should link back to you.
Why is this important? Because links drive traffic to your site and more importantly, getting lots of links of highly ranked sites in your industry will increase your Google ranking. Remember, you goal is to get into the first page of Google.
Tipzu gives you two main options for adding links: Add Directly and Suggest a Link.
ADD DIRECTLY
Many sites will ask you to add a link to your page before they will consider adding you to theirs. In these cases, you will need to first add their link. If you want to be sure that your link is added at their site, click "Verify."
You can also use this feature when you simply want to add a link to your site with no other checks.
SUGGEST A LINK
If you find a site that you think would make a good link trading partner, you can suggest a link trade. Simply enter the information and hit send. If you've filled out your "Marketing Information," the email will contain all the details that are needed.
As your site grows, you will receive requests from other sites that want to link to you. Ignore all link requests that come from sites that are clearly nothing more than link farms or marketing tools.
In short, your ideal link will look something like this:
*********************************
101 Tips For Choosing a 1st Guitar
Little known tricks that sellers
won't tell you and experts are
too busy reveal. Save hundreds.
www.guitar-tips.tipzu.com/free-e-book
*********************************
Here is a breakdown of each part of the ad, with explanation:
*********************************
101 Tips For Choosing a 1st Guitar --> Used the word "tips," great; specific benefit; short; and getting them early.
Little known tricks that sellers --> Very short, well written and compelling text; why you can't get this elsewhere; the benefit ("save hundreds")
won't tell you and experts are
too busy reveal. Save hundreds.
www.guitar-tips.tipzu.com/free-e-book --> Note that the link does not go to your homepage, it goes to your Free Offer page.
*********************************
Your goal is to get as many links back to you as possible, especially from sites that come up on the first 3 pages of Google when you search for your keywords.
How do you do this? Be friendly, honest, and direct. Some will want to help a struggling site, others will be convinced by your charming request, still others will want to hear how you can help them. At that point, you can offer them free articles, promise them a top slot in your links page, even send out a link to their site in your newsletter.
In the beginning, you may have to beg for good links, but after a while, they will come to you.
One of the first things you'll need when searching for links is to know the google PR ("page rank") of the pages you are considering exchanging links with. The best way to get this is to install the free Google Toolbar.
To find the right version for your browser, just go to google.com and enter "install google toolbar" - google will automatically return the right download for you. Just click it.
You might need to turn on "Page Rank" in the preferences section.
Now, whenever you visit a site, you'll be able to see how highly google ranks it - anything over 5 is great and you should definitely consider linking to them.
This is a wonderful overview of the insights provided by Google's 2005 patent application:
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/6-10-2005-71368.asp
Here are the highlights: "You can't go far wrong with your SEO if you try to grow your site as organically as possible. If you know what you are doing you can take short cuts. Carry on with link exchanges but consider each site carefully and slow down in your gathering of them. Vary your anchor text. Add small amounts of good quality content to your site regularly. Check your search engine listings and edit your site to include a call to action in them if possible. Make your site more 'sticky' to encourage visitors to stay a while. Encourage visitors to Bookmark your site."
When you receive an email with a compliment about your site, don't keep it to yourself. "Is this a world to hide virtues in?!"
Instead, ask for permission and post it to your "Testimonials" page.
Coming soon.
Coming soon.
Once you have products to sell, you must set up your store.
We use Ubercart for our store software, and complete instructions are here:
http://www.ubercart.org/docs/user/297/configuring_your_store
You can ignore the first few entries (that work has already been done), and start at: Attribute Settings
OR, follow these instructions for basic functionality:
To manage your store, click the "Manage:Store" links on your admin page.
First, enter your general information in "Configuration:Store settings."
Next, click "Configuration:Catalog settings." Catalog items are the categories of the products you will be selling. If you have a guitar site, you might choose "guitars," "straps," "pics," "music," and "dvds," for example. To add a catalog item:
Click "catalog settings"
Click "edit"
Click "View the catalog here."
Click "add term"
Fill out information. Add another if you want to.
When complete, click "Manage:Store:Configuration:Manufacturer Settings"
Click "Add manufacturers here."
Add "term," this is the company name of the manufacturer of your product.
Upload a logo if you like and add a description of the manufacturer. (Leave URL and phone numbers blank.)
Next, you're ready to add a product.
ADDING A PRODUCT
To add a product, click "Manage:Store:Products:Submit Product"
Add title, description, and select Manufacturer and appropriate catalog entry.
Fill out remaining information and hit "Submit."
You will need to determine your state's tax rate and enter that in the "Configuration:Tax" field.
Try a google search with your state name and the phrase "sales tax."
The Contact page is fairly straightforward - this is where your readers can email you.
Remember that many of the emails you receive will be questions you've already answered in your FAQ or Discussion pages. So have a pre-written response prepared which sends these inquiries back to your site (no use in wasting time answering the same question over and over again).
At other times, you'll receive a very good question that other users may be considering themselves. In that case, I would add either a FAQ or a Discussion topic, answer the question there, and then send the inquiry to the place it's posted.
Finally, if the question is truly not answered on your site or is specific to this individual, give them an answer as quickly as you can. Be courteous and clear; remember that viewers who take the time to write you are primary leads and represent the heart of your business.
This section of the Cookbook will give instructions for promoting your site and making sales.
The Tipzu system is unlike any other in that it provides a complete e-commerce solution and business strategy to promote your website. Tipzu is not just a host, but a comprehensive system for generating income from your passions.
Plan to set aside a few hours every week to promote your site -- the work you put in will definitely pay off.
Before beginning with this section of the Cookbook, be sure that you have finished your "About" page, written several articles, set up your store, customized your menu, and turned on your newsletter. You will also need to prepare your eBook, of "Free Offer" page and upload the file to your site.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember that your goal is to increase the number of Tipzdiggers (or registered users) of your site. Most of your sales will come from these users, and most of them will come as a direct result of sending them your weekly newsletter.
Read on for details!
Before you start to convert strangers into subscribers of your site, it's best to invite those people you already know. Tipzu makes this easy with our "Invite" module.
Just click on "Other" and then "Invite Friends". Either type in the email addresses of people you want to invite or upload them directly from your Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo account. These people will receive a short invitation from you, asking them to become part of your community.
* Remember, we won't store any of this information - it's for your own use only.
Check your "Tipzdiggers" tab to see who is registered at your site. For an example, see:
One of the fastest ways to build traffic to your site is by linking to related sites. Tipzu has a built-in module that let's you do this easily and effectively.
You can find detailed instructions for adding links here:
http://tipzu.com/18-links-page
NOTE: Never link to a link-farm, or a site that just collects thousands of links. Google will punish you and might even remove you from their system. Instead, build links one at a time with trusted websites that are in related industries.
At the bottom of every article you write, you will see a little button that will automatically add that page's content to any number of social network websites (Digg, Del.icio.us, etc.). If you have accounts at any of these places, it will take you just one click to register your page.
Tipzu comes with a built-in blogging system, and you should try to write something at least 2 or 3 times a week. A good blog does not have to be long, it just needs to be relevant to your topic and contain something of value for your subscribers.
I will add more sources in the future, but for now, I suggest signing up for this excellent blogging newsletter:
It's packed with tips about writing a successful blog.
And don't forget, the key to the Tipzu system is taking highlights from your blog and sending it out as a weekly newsletter.
There are several ways that Tipzu can help you promote your site. Here are a few:
1. Ask us to place your site on its Featured Sites page (http://tipzu.com/featured-tipzines).
2. Ask us to feature your site in our weekly newsletter.
Just visit here to send a message:
In this section, we will provide various downloads and files that will be helpful in running your site.
One of the most important aspects of running a successful Tipzine is to keep good records.
I've made an easily printable sheet of labels that will help you organize all the documents you need for your Tipzine. Just print them out on Avery label sheets 5160, affix them to some manila file folers, and start filing away!
(Note that I've positioned the text nearer the top because that way when you stick them to the folders, they will be visible.)
And of course, feel free to adjust for yourself - these are simply the main topics that I've found essential.
All digital audio files that you sell are compatible with Apple's iPods and iPhones. Let your customers know this by adding this image to your digital product page.
Don't make it your main image, but a secondary or tertiary one.