EBook Writing and Marketing Secrets with Connie Ragen Green

My name is Connie Ragen Green, and I teach people just like you how to build an online business and use the technology needed to get started in this fun and lucrative field. The first year was difficult for me online and I ended up spending about 10K and not making any money. I vowed that my students would not have to struggle like I did.

I have been making money online since 2006, and now make a comfortable 5 figure monthly income, primarily from my own programs and courses, information products, and affiliate marketing. I teach how to write eBooks and articles, as well as how to set up your own blog, build webpages, use Twitter and Facebook, create info products and write your own web sales copy, which is copywriting for the internet.

My newest group, the Online Business Mentor program is now open again. See if this level of training is right for growing your online business. This program includes my monthly webinars, like the one I just held on Using Amazon’s Kindle To Publish Your Writing.

This week I held a free teleseminar on how to use the 5 Pronged Approach to Build Your Online Business. Sign up at the right to receive a link to the replay of this informative call, as well as additional information to help you to build your internet business and start making money.

Sign up in the box on the right to get the dial-in information for all of the teleseminars I am teaching. You only need to sign up once to be invited to these calls.

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I was consulting with some clients this morning, and it reminded me of when I first came online in 2005. It was my belief at that time that I did not need anyone to help me make money on the internet. I’m not sure why I believed this, but it turned out to be completely untrue. You must have a mentor.

But that is not the end of it. Your mentor must be someone that can relate to where you are currently, as well as to what you will need during the next 12 to 18 months. They must be someone who is working online every day and understands what it takes to be successful on the internet. They should have a mastermind program where you can exchange ideas with others and work to achieve your goals. Additionally, they must also be in someone else’s mentor program so that they will continue to grow and learn as you are doing.

Perhaps that is why more and more people come to me for mentoring. I tell it to them straight, so my people can make progress quickly. If they are willing to listen to my suggestions and take action on them, they will benefit from the mentoring process. So, what about you? Are you trying to be successful online by listening to free teleseminars and reading eBooks, or are you someone who understands the value of having a mentor?

I am asked many times how many people you must have on your list before you can start making money. The answer is that you can start with less than one hundred people, if you know how to monetize what you are doing.

When Alex Mandossian found out that I was making six figures a year back in 2007, with a list of only about five hundred people, he came up with the idea for a new blog. Two months ago I launched that site - Big Money, Tiny List. I post twice a week, giving you ideas about how you can start making money while your list is very small.

Of course, you will want to actively continue to grow your list, but there is no reason not to start making money now. When I started out with only a few people on my list I still marketing to them regularly.

As my list continues to grow, I still market to Read the rest of this entry »

Well, the cat is finally out of the bag, as Jeanette Cates worded it to me this morning on Twitter. We have been busy for the last few weeks putting together a fantastic program that is very different from anything I’ve been involved in before.

We are holding a 90 minute preview webinar next Wednesday, July 8, at 5 PST. This webinar is one dollar, because we only want people who will commit to being there. Today marks the first day of the second half of 2009, and we want you to reach your financial goals for the year.

During this webinar we will explain how you can get started with a product right now, without spending months getting it ready. Product creation does not have to take that long. We’ll share how we both are able to get our products ready for sale quickly, so that you can start making money very quickly.

We look forward to seeing you on the webinar.

Time management is key to almost everything we do in life. When I first started working from home in my internet business in 2005, managing my time became crucial to my success. I find that this can be easily accomplished, once you understand how it all works.

We all have the same 24 hours each day; it’s how we organize our life and business that makes the difference. For example, when I work from my home computer I do not have to commut back and forth to a job. This gives me about 15 extra hours each week, because of my particular situation. You may be saving more or less time than that.

I use this additional time to blog and write articles that market my business. Every day I spend about one to two hours writing articles, short reports, and blog posts to make the most productive use of my time. It is important that you Read the rest of this entry »

Today I worked harder than I have ever worked since coming online in 2005. It was also the most fun and satisfying day I have ever had on the internet. Let me explain what I mean by this.

It started at 7:30 this morning when I spoke with my webmaster. I had asked her to do some things for me over the weekend, so that I could play with my friends and family instead of being on the computer all weekend. She called to say that everything had been completed and that my new sites were up and running.

At 9:30 I did my weekly radio show and at 10 I was interviewed about what I do. At 12 I spoke with Jeanette Cates about our new course we are offering this summer.

Later on I had a consultation with one of my clients. Then I did a webinar to help my students with thier Adwords campaign. While I was on this webinar my friend Gareth Owen called me from the UK on Skype. I asked him if he would join the webinar and my people had 45 minutes of training from one of the foremost Adwords experts in the world. After that I had a teleseminar for my students on how to use article marketing effectively.

Yes, I did a little bit of everything today, and it was incredible. I encourage you to start an online business and have the best time of your life while making an excellent income.

The Amazon Kindle continues to grow in popularity. As prices come down over the next few months, even more people will be buying these devices to take their reading with them wherever they go. This is an excellent time to publish your eBooks and short reports to Kindle so they will be available for download.

Last week I did a webinar with my webmaster that explains exactly how to do this. We explain how to set up a free account, how to use a free HTML editor to format your writing, and how to choose the right category to attract the most prospects. We went over everything slowly and carefully so that you will be able to put this into action right away.

If this sounds like something that will make a difference in your online business, be sure to check out what I have written here. I plan to spend some time this coming week on publishing several short reports and an eBook in this way. This type of self-publishing sets you apart from others in your niche and helps to position you as an expert.

One of my students recently asked me about choosing keywords to use when she submits her articles to sites such as EzineArticles. The most important thing to remember is that your name is a keyword, so be sure to list it first. Do this so that you will not run out of room at the end. They allow you 100 characters for your keywords and you want to make every word count.

Your other keywords should be related to the topic of your article. For example, if I am submitting an article about training my Yorkshire terrier to stop barking so much, my keywords would include ‘yorkshire terrier training’, ‘how to train your yorkshire terrier’, and ‘how to train your dog not to bark so much’. As you can see here, a keyword is typically not one word; it is a phrase that someone may type into Google when they are searching for information on your topic.

If you need more help finding the keywords that are right for your niche, use Google’s free Read the rest of this entry »

I recently wrote a guest post for blogger Doug Hughes. He and I had connected on Twitter, mainly talking about where we live. I currently live in Santa Clarita, California and he lives in Ventura, California. When I drive up to Santa Barbara most weekends, I go right through his town.

We ended up exchanging emails and he then asked me to write a guest post on his blog. Before saying yes, I quickly went to his site and read his last 10 posts or so. This gave me a good idea about his blog and his niche to see if it was a good fit for my topics. Doug writes about online business building and internet marketing, so it was a perfect match for me.

The concept of having someone write a guest post for your blog works well for several reasons. It allows you to connect personally with another blogger, gives you a day off from posting (if you feel like you need one), positions you as an expert in your field, and just makes your blog more interesting overall. Go ahead and check out Doug’s blog at Entrepreneur’s Success Journal, and leave a comment if you find it of interest to you.

Kiva is the world’s first person to person micro-lending website. You can make small donations, as small as $25, and help entrepreneurs to have a better life for themselves and their family.   This week my friend and colleague Denise Wakeman is choosing to celebrate her 50th birthday by raising five thousand dollars in loans on Kiva. I applaud this goal and encourage you to help her achieve it.

When I decided to leave the classroom and my real estate business back in 2005, the reason was that I wanted to make a difference in the lives of people around the world. I became a Rotarian in 2006 and have been able to be involved in projects both locally and internationally.  Rotary is also involved in micro-lending, so I have been familiar with this work for some time.

When you go to Kiva’s website they will have one of their entrepreneurs featured. The woman they have featured today is from Ghana. She wants to borrow $425 to help her with her clothing business and will repay this money over an 8 month period.

We are so furtunate to be living in a developed country. If this resonates with you, please help Denise to meet her goal. People are more alike than different, and I believe that entrepreneurs are similar all over the world as well.

I am so excited about this, can you tell? This evening I did a webinar with my webmaster, Nikki Talmadge. We spent an hour showing how you can publish your eBook or short report on Amazon, for people who have a Kindle. This can all be done quickly and at no cost to you.

This webinar will be available by Monday. Get your reports and eBooks ready so you will be able to get them ready to sell or give away as lead generators over at Amazon. The Kindle continues to grow in popularity and the cost will come down over time, so this is an excellent opportunity to get your information in front of more people.

I’ll be talking about this on my teleseminars over the coming weeks, so sign up to receive more information if you aren’t already on my list. This is something that I haven’t heard many people teaching about; I believe it will explode during the next 12 months. I want you to be ready and have your writing published now.

I have about 75 affiliates, but only about 15 of them are active. Those people promote me regularly and receive a check or PayPal deposit every month. Are you one of them? If you are interested in signing up as an affiliate, click on the ‘Resources’ link at the top of this page and scroll all the way to the bottom.

I haven’t done the best job of training my affiliates, but that will be changing on July 1. I will hold a 30 minute training webinar on how to best promote my courses and programs. I will also give you other ideas about how to make the most out of promoting others online. Affiliate marketing is a huge part of my monthly income, so I would like for you to have that same opportunity to make some money.

You should also become an affiliate for anyone whose products or programs are ones you would recommend. This is an excellent way to get started making money online, as I did in 2006. Contact the people you know online and ask them about their affiliate program. If they are like me, they will be happy to share the details with you about how you can sign up and get started right away.

One of my new students asked me about starting out with a private label rights product to start making money online. Yes, this is an excellent way to get started quickly. A private label rights (PLR) product is ready for sale almost immediately. You can purchase an eBook, along with graphics and a sales letter, for less than ten dollars. [This is one of my favorite PLR sites].

The reason the cost is so low is that these eBooks are written by authors who do not have any interest in marketing. They are paid once and their writing can be sold over and over to others. You will want to read the eBook completely and then rewrite or edit it to suit your needs. The sales letter will also need to be edited. I like to change the headline and write a little more about the product.

You can choose a PLR product, read and edit the eBook, edit the sales letter, and get it all up on the internet within a few days. Remember that Read the rest of this entry »

It was just last summer that I was teaching my students to market themselves and their online business every single day. Things have changed dramatically online and off, the economy is in a downturn, and more people than ever are trying to get an internet business up and running.

For these reasons I am now recommending that you market yourself three times every day. Some of the techniques and methods I describe here take only a few minutes, while others may take you up to an hour. Depending on your schedule, choose a combination of marketing methods to make yourself and your business more visible to your prospects. Here are some things that I do that have proved to be extremely effective:

• post to your blog (if you are part of my 30 day power blogging challenge, you are already doing this)
• schedule an internet radio show for 15 or 30 minutes (listen to my show here)
• write and submit an article (keep it to around 250 to 300 words in length)
• post a comment in a forum (make sure you have a signature that tells what you have to offer)
• set up a group in Facebook that will attract people from your niche

These are just a few ideas. What else are you doing to move your business forward every single day?

This is not a political commentary of any kind, but I did find it interesting when Obama was asked earlier today about his first Father’s Day in the White House. He said that even though he travels quite extensively for his new job, he still spends more time with his family than ever before, because his office is located in the same building as where he lives. This may not be your typical example of a work at home dad, but he certainly qualifies.

What about you? Are you enjoying the work at home lifestyle? Until I walked away from my teaching and real estate work back at the end of 2005, I never thought it would be possible for me to make a good living from my home computer. The flexibility of work hours allows me to be there for every family occasion and event, and to be active in my community during hours that I used to have to turn down.

If this sounds like Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been waiting for awhile now to review Dave Lakhani’s latest book, How To Sell When Nobody’s Buying (And How To Sell Even More When They Are), so when it arrived at my door yesterday I dropped everything to sit down and read it.

Dave’s book delivers on the title’s promise, and even reminded me of things I had completely forgotten about as an online marketer who is selling every day. Most of us are selling like we did years ago, but those techniques just don’t work in today’s world, and especially in this economy.

The book starts with a ‘Quick Start’ guide. This consists of five days worth of strategic actions to get your momentum going. I’ll be starting these on Monday morning, and have made two pages of notes to make sure I am on the right track for my business.

He reminds us that “money follows action”, and then proceeds to teach the readers what types of action to take. I like this ‘take responsibility and don’t make excuses’ approach to selling during any type of situation or economy. I had not heard anyone talk about Jugular’s four cycles of business, and then explain this concept in such great detail, since I began selling real estate in the 1980’s. Dave uses Read the rest of this entry »

I was at lunch today with some people from my Rotary Club. They asked me if I was working this weekend, and I wasn’t sure how to answer. They have traditional jobs in insurance, banking, and as a veterinarian, so they think of Friday as the last day of their work week. We are planning a project to help out the wounded vets who are returning from Iraq, and I volunteered to help because I have more free time than they do.

Working online is simply not working, not in the traditional sense of the word anyway. I make my own hours, and choose the times I will teach my teleseminars and webinars. What’s even better is that I can do every part of my online business from anywhere in the world, as long as I have an internet connection.

You may be able to tell how passionate I am about all of this, so I encourage you to sign up to be on my list, if you aren’t already, and join me on my free calls. I usually hold them about twice a month. Let me know you are on the line and get your questions answered so you can move ahead in building your own online empire.

Some of you have emailed me, thinking I am out of town this week. No, I’m still in southern California, but I’ve been very busy getting a new course off the ground. This will be the most intensive four week program I have ever been involved in, so I’ll keep you posted.

Also, I am finally taking the leap into video marketing, after being influenced by both Jeanette Cates and Robert Plank. I don’t think I will ever be ready for my close up, but that’s not going to stop me from making some videos and sharing my information in a more visual way.

I will let you know what I am doing and what to expect next as I take this new leap deeper into internet marketing. The best thing about building an online empire is that it never gets boring. In fact, I have learned more in the past three years than I did during the previous twenty years working in real estate and education.