TurboBuzz Online Marketing. Word Out – Turbocharged.
Tony Robbins using Viralinviter!
What an honor. Seriously.
Tony has been one of my mentors for years.
Never met him personally (yet), but it was always my dream to give him even only a BIT back for how he helped me improve my life – without him even knowing.
And somewhere in the back of my head, I always knew that one day I’d get a chance.
Well, the day is here. 
First: Tony is starting a new prime-time TV show tonight (U.S. time – I will stay up late here in Germany to watch it!) on NBC (!) called “Breakthrough”. Perfect name.
You NEED to watch it if you’re interested in personal development AT ALL. At the very least, you need to check out the website for the show:
http://www.breakthroughinsider.com
Now, there’s actually a SECOND reason why you should check that site out…
See what I discovered on there. I hope it’s gonna help drive a lot of traffic to his site(s):
So, if you’re a Viralinviter customer: Welcome Tony Robbins as one of us! 
If you did not get Viralinviter yet, I can now assure you, it works stable on VERY HIGH volume levels!
What a great case-study.
Check out his site and make sure to watch the show:
http://www.breakthroughinsider.com
Norman
PS: LEave a comment if you had a situation like this too before! Was there some kind of connection to someone you really admire for years through some good product/service you put your heart in over years? Or something similar?
PPS: Just found a short preview about the show on youtube:
“If this is the solution, I’d rather have my problem back!”
Or: How bad search functionality sucks in web apps.
This post might keep you some customers that would have left and make you think a little about how you present content & functionality (any kind of content/solution/…) to your customers!
I could go hours about this, but today is about SEARCH functionality!
Here’s a positive example: Google.
Yes, it has it’s flaws to let google decide what’s it that you’re really searching for. however in the end, people seems to happily sacrifice some accurancy for the easy of use. And I agree.
It makes total sense: I dont want a “solution” that makes it harder than it was. (“Refine your search”…)
So today, i just want to talk about search. There are billions of HORRIBLE search functions everywhere on the internet.
And, if you’re not a programmer, you may even think “Heck, what’s the problem creating good search functions…!?”. Actually, there’s A LOT to it! Coding a search “engine” is one of the hardest things in programming. Many assumptions, possible ways to go and in the end, the user just wants it to be EASY and give him exactly what he wants.
We are currently using Infusionsoft as main customer database for our business.
It does a couple of things well (that’s why we use it) and a couple things horribly bad. Also, it’s a “do it all” machine. So much so that nobody could make this thing really fun to use – from a usability point of view.
Today, let’s just have a look at their search box:
On first look, it gives the impression that they thought it through (and they probably have). They help you on your way to the proper result by giving you options to refine your search.
Who said MORE OPTION = BETTER RESULTS ?
More FUN is not even part of this equation!
I am so terrified by this search that very often I don’t even open the app because i know i will have to use the search function for what i plan to do.
At least, they try!
It also has an interesting feature that is supposed to make search easier:
You can type in a part of the first name (it HAS to be the beginning part) and a part of the last name and it will auto-find and open the person for you – if it finds a match.
This sounds like a good idea, but is only partly practical. In case your searchphrase was somehow not logical to the engine, you get presented with this to get into detail about your search:
FUCK THAT, I’m outta here…!
I mean really, this destroys the fun completely!
Why can’t their searchengine KNOW if what i typed in was an order ID, an email or a name!?
Is it THAT HARD? (It’s not!)
You can also NOT search for an Order ID directly (one of the most common searches for our support team). You have to navigate through other submenus to find the right “search” for your query.
Read that again: You have to FIND THE RIGHT SEARCH FUNCTION that fits your question first, THEN you may be lucky to get the right answer.
(Fuck THAT, too!)
I don’t understand why search-function inventers think asking for more details about your search makes search easier and the user happier.
Fact is, it doesn’t even not make the likelihood to FIND what you search for higher!
VERY often it happens to me with these multi-variable -detailed-searches that I define some variables for my search and since it were so many (3 is a lot already!), i make a small mistake that behaves like an evil butterfly effect and generates simply wrong results.
By the way, if your Infusionsoft search fails, you see this EMPTY table of results:
WHY? Where does this make ANY sense?
If the result is empty, give me the searchbox right back and tell me my search failed!
Now i have to go back and review my settings and try to find the error.
ALL I WANTED IS TO HAVE A QUICK ANSWER TO A SEARCH!
And YES, by now I’d 100 times rather take google up on their compromise – delivering results with less accurancy, BUT fast easy and without frustration!
It starts to make sense why Google’s approach is the compromise (less options to chose from, but saving time even if results are not 100% accurate on first search) that people like best.
I like it. Time is money, right? And distraction eliminates focus.
How we do it:
Now that’s why we designed this for our own ecommerce app (bazaarapp.com):
Voila, our search form. “That’s it?” you may ask. Yupp, that’s it!
In this one form, you can search for ANYTHING in the system. Also: for PARTS of ANYTHING!
Let’s say your search is for “anfree”. Results will be the contact record from normanfreeman@turbobuzz.com.
Search for a PART of a transaction ID (you don’t have to tell the search which merchant account by the way!) and boom, you’ll find it.
Search for any (part of a) string in emails, names, order names, order IDs, member data (address etc..), telephone numbers etc.
Cudos to the Coder!
I have to say I am truly happy that i found a developer that was able to create this for Bazaar without performance issues – because that’s the tricky stuff.
Searches like this can of course not be “realtime”, meaning to search the whole database field by field for the string you typed in – AFTER you typed it in. He came up with an internal indexing system that is smart as hell. I love him for that. And Bazaar users will, too!
Here’s why this stuff matters to you:
You will lose customers if you don’t simplify things! Simple as that.
You, too, should think about usability in everything you deliver.
Make it harder for your customers and they will get more frustrated.
They will file a divorce with you soon.
We are searching our customer/order/member/transaction database DAILY and OFTEN, especially for support issues.
In Bazaar, it will be 2 steps:
1. Search for the phrase
2. Click on the result
optional: 3. Change data & save
Clicking on a result will open a popup with all the information about this contact imediately and everything she bought as well as all order numbers etc:
(click image for large view)
Did i mention that from within this popup you are going to be able to do one-click refunds (yes, you do NOT have to login to paypal or authorize,net to do this! heck, i don’t now why not many people already take advantage of this in their ecommerce systems), grant/revoke access to specific products/member area, change customer data right there immediately (no extra-click on “edit” or so).
This is my own personal DREAM of a workflow. This will cut our support time per issue per search around 70% (if not more).
I built this thing for ME (“Scratching your own itch” – another example here), which means I will make sure this application will be the best it possibly could.
What’s your itch?
… that would make many more people happy? Finding those things can lead to more customers, a good word-of-mouth effect and peace of mind.
Have a great day on the internet!
Norman
PS: There’s another good example of search that i do not use daily 8even if we use this application for all our project-management needs),but it’s good:
It’s the search in Basecamp by 37signals! Refreshing, right? Let’s all learn from each other to provide our customers with the best experience possible to make their lives easier.
Cause in the end…. we are all customers, right?
[Off Topic] How I saved Sweden. (And YOU can too!)
I never really shared this, but i think it’s important – Seriously.
Have a great day on the internet – Wherever you are!
[Part 3] The Youtube Traffic Exploit.
This is, without a doubt, one of the most controversial weekend traffic trick I would ever share.
The following video lets you in on one of the most important traffic generation method we use at the moment – for ourselves and our clients.
Best thing: ANYONE can use it.
Go ahead, make friends with the greatest traffic machine ever invented – Youtube!
As always, you can get the FULL module and the complete “done for you” outsourcing guide inside the TurboTraffiSystems program on monday.
Have a GREAT day and USE THIS:
LEAVE A COMMENT!
——————-
We are releasing a couple more early-access spots for TurboTrafficSystems next monday.
Deal is: Very low early-adopter price because you get digital download only for now. You’ll get the physical version as well as soon as it’s out. (when people have to pay a lot more)
We do this because we love to get some more feedback on it – to improve.
Signup for the notification list:
[Part 2] JV traffic in 10 minutes.
Unfortunately, this first one turned out much longer: about 20 minutes.
Leave a comment and ask questions please!
The game has changed so much. It’s so easy to get in touch personally now – and that’s a good thing!
Whatever you try to get in touch with a potential JV partner, get on the personal level as soon as possible if you can.
One smart friend of mine, Sterling Valentine, always said “We are not in the marketing business or the software business. This is a PEOPLE business!“. And I think this is actually true for ANY kind of business.
(Here is a helpful post about what NOT to do when approaching JV partners: http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/how-not-to-approach-online-jv-partners-and-bloggers/)
You may try something like this:
******
Hi XYZ,we met briefly at [event/seminar/facebook group/someone referred me/..] (and talked about Y).I have your product XYZ and use it on [site you use it on].
I made a feedback/testimonial video for you!
OR:
You mentioned problem Z [in your newsletter/on your blog/on twitter/...] and I thought I’d just write you and tell you about this [solution to the problem].
Oh yes, and here’s the video I made (just 2 minutes):[LINK]
Have a great day and hope to meet you [again/somewhen] soon!Your Name
******
Oh, and here is a worksheet you may use to quickly write down who you contacted:
Norman
——————-
We are releasing a couple more early-access spots for TurboTrafficSystems next monday.
Deal is: Very low early-adopter price because you get digital download only for now. You’ll get the physical version as well as soon as it’s out. (when people have to pay a lot more)
We do this because we love to get some more feedback on it – to improve.
Signup for the notification list:
[Part 1] What really works for building an online business
I can only speak from what i KNOW from EXPERIENCE. I will not talk to you about affiliate marketing business – since i don’t know much about it myself. Yes, i am making money from affiliate commissions as well, but i don’t have a solid, proven Business Model around affiliate marketing only that i could show you.
Here’s what REALLY works for me:
1. Having Your Own Product
This is part of my philosophy. You have to have your OWN product. Not a PLR or rebranded product. Your own. Your baby.
The feeling of needing this comes naturally when you come from a mindset of providing as much value as possible for people. you want to share what you know. You want to share what you KNOW WORKS.
Having your own product obviously puts you in the best position: You can have affiliates, drive your own traffic, do testing and improve your “baby” to become something you’re really proud of. Now, that’s the second aspect of this:
Being proud of what you create. I’ve seen so many peole fall for the “quick cash” methods and wanting to build a quick online business to make money too fast – and I did that too. This often results in crappy products that don’t work properly and that you later are not passionate about developing further – which then results in big problems regarding customer support for a product you don’t even like anymore. That sucks.
Build something you’re proud of and that solves a lot of people’s problems. (=provides value)
It’s so often said, but it’s really THAT TRUE.
2. Getting Traffic
Now this is key:
No traffic = no business = no sales = no fun.
“Nothing moves without a sale!” is what I heard someone say at a conference. That really stuck with me.
A way to go.
This is very much in tune with what the direction for Turbobuzz is.
Watch from MINUTE 47:00!
And if you liked that, take 30 minutes to watch the video below as well.
If you don’t know it yet, it WILL change your view on a couple of things related to “getting rich online” and how the “magic word” FREE is often misunderstood in marketing!
Building a REAL business online is what you should do.
It’s what we do.
Write a comment below and I’ll send out a copy of REWORD and GETTING REAL (the two books by 37signals) to the commenter who has a cool thought to add to the topic of this post.
Have a great day! Enjoy!
Where to get traffic (& free “map for thought”)
Just want to share something with you for the weekend.
You know we’ve been working on traffic generation methods for the last 2 years.
So today i want to share something “historic” with you.
What you can see below is the FIRST VERSION of a “traffic map” that we started to bring to live about 6 months ago. This was our very first brainstorming about what later evolved into the idea for TurboTraffic Systems. I will share the latest version of this for you next week as well. Maybe on 31st, cause that’s my birthday.
Just wanted to give you some food for thought about where you actually CAN get traffic from. Sometimes it really helps to just have a birds-eye view on things to then dive in deeper into specific parts.
So, here you are. If you are currently just using 1 or 2 traffic generation methods, feel free to pick one or two others as well and learn about them.
Here’s for your inspiration, our traffic map version 1 (click for big version):
Have a great weekend and enjoy time with your family and friends!
Norman
Getting Real.
I don’t want to make this longer than neccessary:
Things are going to slightly change here at Turbobuzz.
The company has now grown to 6 people and we’re getting away from the small projects and also won’t target the “internet marketing community” that much in the future.
The changes coming affect infrastucture, technology, direction, communication.
INFRASTRUCTURE
We are moving all our stuff and centralize member logins.
You will get ONE login for all our products/membership sites.
We will get back to hosting this ourselves too.
Lately, we had a HUGE problem with a 3rd party system that was handling our customer’s product access. It is called customerhub (http://customerhub.net) and they fixed it rather quick – or not? Within 48 hours. Well, that’s AGES if you have a problem related to product access.
This “small problem” gave ALL our customers access to higher level versions of our software – which most of them did not pay for. We’re using a licensing system, so piracy is not that of a big deal (unofficial downloaders will work only for the next 60days) – But it could easily have been. And that is BAD.
It reminded me:
I want full control of my technology infrastructure – including hands on the technology to fix things our way and – FAST. Especially when it’s about sensitive stuff like payment processing and product access.
So, we will enhance our main website with a member-area and move all out product access there.
Not to worry, the login you already have will stay the same. Just the URL changes.
TECHNOLOGY
There’s one part that we can’t have full control over: Hosting.
We want to make this as accessible, reliable and as highly supported as possible though.
So we switched all our hosting to RACKSPACE and will have moved there completely by the end of March. Rackspace was recommended to us by MANY and our research and testing seconds that. We are now using Rackspace CloudSites as well as CloudServers.
This will improve performance for our customers around the world. We are using Rackspace’s CDN (Content delivery network) too – similar to Amazon S3. Just faster (we tested it).
DIRECTION & PRODUCTS
TURBO TRAFFIC SYSTEMS (http://www.TurboTrafficSystems.com)
- This is what SO MANY people have been asking for. Finally, a traffic course that gives you the ability to NOT have to do your traffic generation yourself.
We created a 12 module traffic course that is written from the ground up to be outsourced to overseas staff. Each module contains a workbook, an outsourcing guide and a 2 hour screenshare webinar where all questions are answered. I love this because we’re basically just giving you the exact systems we use daily in our business.
You may as well do it yourself and follow the instructions. But why not make someone in the Philippines happy by giving him a fulltime job?
BAZAAR (http://www.bazaarapp.com)
- This us our most demanding, challenging project. I love it. Some call it the “Basecamp of eShops”. It will make selling stuff online EASY. Really easy. Feature-wise, we left out what’s not neccessary, but put in what’s cool (=profitable) to have.
You’re going to be able to utilze all the good stuff the “gurus” preach: One click upsells, List segmentation, a salesfunnel/tree, a cool member are for your customers, an affiliate program, sell one time or subscription products, use paypal or creditcard processing, connect to infusionsft and even have multiple sites from within ONE admin area.
You get a membership site with it as well. All hands-free, automated.
Oh, and it’s all on CLOUD hosting (with Rackspace), so even if you drive trtaffic like the Big guys (orchestrated or by accident), your site will stay up.
The special thing about Bazaar is: It’s designed to be simple to use & setup. NO copy&paste WHATSOEVER. Not even for Autoresponder forms! No HTML skills neccessary. No FTP, no PHP.
You don’t even need to install anything. It’s all online.
This may give the impression that it’s for newbies. It’s not. We are in fact going to use it ourselves for viralinviter.com and our other sites. Everything you see there is going to run on this exact same engine. Why? Because we want to be fast working with our sites. We want to streamline the processes of maintaining our sales-websites. 1Shoppingcart, Infusionsoft, Clickbank and all the others are not what we want. To heavy, to complex, to user-unfriendly. To much stuff we don’t need.
With Bazaar, you just upload your product and arrange it in the salesflow – that’s it. (By the way: I’ll let you know more about HOW this will actually work in one of my next posts!)
If you know 37signals and their book “Getting Real”, then you know the rules this web-application follows.
Giving you a first impression of the orders table. More screenshots and explainations coming WHY we did WHAT in WHICH WAY.
COMMUNICATION
We will have much more info on this blog in the future.
We want to get closer to our customers and friends.
At the same time, we are getting a little more distance to all the “Internet Marketing” product promotions that are going on. We’ve been following what’s happening in “the scene” for a long time and got very tired.
There are still good products coming out that are worth it’s weight in Gold – and I am definitely let you know about them.
However, you will not see me sending out promotional emails every other day to remind you of buying the next “make $345.426,97 in no time” product.
I want to get into a much closer relationship with YOU. Please feel free to comment on this blog. It’s going to be the main channel to reach me. We will have ustream liveshows coming as well – testing all this new stuff.
Oh, and I’ll do open call-in hours every other week where you can call me directly. No answering machine, no assistant. Just me. Watch out for the announcements.
We can talk about anything you want, but it’d better be about online business.
This post was a start. I want to let you know where we’re going.
May the force be with all of us.
Norman
P.S.: If you’re interested in building a small, viable, profitable company, get 37signals’ new book “Rework”. Don’t think about it. Get it! (http://www.37signals.com/rework)
Here’s a trailer:
Another one:
And here’s a cool one too. They’re picking a fight!
- 14 Comments
- Tagged 37signals, bazaar, customerhub, infusionsoft, rackspace, rework, systems, Traffic, turbo
5% is NOT 5%. Why testing is important.
This is one of the MOST IMPORTANT things you HAVE TO UNDERSTAND about having/building an online business. Be it selling your own stuff, being an affiliate marketer or just getting more visitors to your Hobby-Website.
I extracted this video from my monthly TurboUnderground.com Club which is $58/month and the doors to that are currently CLOSED. This is one of the most raved-about video I ever put together for my members and I KNOW you WILL love this! Especially because it’s FREE for you today.
PS: PLEASE COMMENT ON THE VIDEO! Is THIS the stuff you want to hear more about?? Let me know!
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About Norman Freeman
