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Saturday, January 4, 2014

Meet Ken Mabry, Author of LongTail Blogging Secrets

Ken Mabry is a full-time NASA Engineer, part-time Internet marketing blogger, and owner of LongTailBlogging.com.

1. How did you first become interested in Internet marketing?

Back in 2008 I started researching ways of making some extra money online and came across affiliate marketing. I was working in the IT industry at the time, and I had a good working knowledge of the technologies, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I was surprised at how miserably I failed.

I had zero experience in web site design, layout, copywriting, or any kind of marketing, and it definitely showed.

After about 18 months of trial and error and educating myself on the finer points of SEO, I started to see a little progress. I started climbing the rankings in Google for my buyer keywords. This, in turn, brought more visitors to my site. Then started the next trial and error phase of converting those visitors into tangible sales.

...and I've been hooked ever since.

2. What motivated you to participate in the Empower Network?

Honestly, Empower Network caught me totally by surprise. I'm not even really sure how I first came across it. It was late at night, and I was on one of my web research binge sessions, and I must have coincidentally run across it via a Google search.

I was curious but very suspicious at the same time. Being an affiliate marketer I'd never even considered participating in a multi-level marketing business. I honestly thought they were all scams, but I sat back and decided to watch a few of the video pitches put together by the founders (Dave Wood and Dave Sharpe). Their style was pretty unique, and their message seemed to make sense. Some people may find them a little offensive at times, but I tend to appreciate the raw tell-it-like-it-is approach.

3. What are some common misconceptions that people have about the Empower Network?

Probably the biggest misperception is that the Empower Network is a pyramid or Ponzi scheme. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Folks that are branding the company as such haven't really researched Empower Network, or they simply don't know what a pyramid scheme really is.

Unlike a pyramid scheme, Empower Network sells real, tangible tools and training to help anyone promote their online interest or business. And the business they're promoting need not be Empower Network. In fact, reselling Empower Network products is not a requirement for membership--it's 100% optional.

4. Why do you think that some Internet marketers find that they are unable to sell any products?

I'll have to apologize in advance, because I'll have to blunt about this. Some people just aren't cut out for it. It takes a lot of persistent, hard work to succeed at making money online. I believe many people are misled by Internet Marketing "gurus" who sell them on the idea of how easy it is to get rich quick using the Internet.

The problem here is that they're only telling folks half the story. You absolutely, positively can get rich quick using the Internet. But... it is FAR from easy.

Many other people that fail have only themselves to blame. It sounds harsh, but it's true.

The "Empower Network Scam" is a great example here. There's no shortage of negative reviews posted online about EN, but to me, they just don't make sense.

With Empower Network you have all of the training and tools you need to become successful. People that have access to these tools and don't use them can't blame the company for their failure. It's like joining a gym, paying your dues for six months, failing to meet your weight loss goals, and then going online and blasting the gym because you didn't get the results you wanted!

5. What is the relationship between effective blogging and successful marketing--and what would you say makes a blog effective?

Well, if by effective you mean profitable, I would say the two main factors that determine your level of success would be 1) your choice of blog topic, and 2) your choice of product.

Ideally, one should pick a single or related set of "buyer keywords"--meaning keywords that someone with a credit card in hand would be searching for--and build your blog around these phrases.

For example, which keyword phrase is likely to be a better "buyer keyword": "Jennifer Aniston pregnancy" or "Empower Network review"?

If my primary product in this example is Empower Network, I know which one I'd choose--even if blogging about Jennifer Aniston did bring me 100x more visitors--because I know that if someone is deliberately searching for "Empower Network Review," they're already interested and may be getting ready to make that purchase. Those are the readers I want on my blog.

Along with your blog topic, you need to pick a viable product. Preferably something with a low return rate. Something scalable—-meaning you can sell 1,000,000 of them as easily as you could sell 10. Think about this: you would have a tough time scaling up if your product was something like homemade furniture--there are only so many chairs you can make yourself in a month. Your time is limited. Whereas my blog sells Empower Network 24x7 on autopilot.

Also, pick a product that pays a large commission. You might think it'd be harder to sell a higher priced product, but that isn't necessarily true. The competition for selling big-ticket items is less, the refund rates are lower, and you simply don't have to sell a LOT of the products to make decent money.

Thanks, Ken!

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