Interview
with Internet Marketing
Success
Story: Corey Rudl
Marty
Foley, publisher of ProfitInfo Email Newsletter, interviews Internet
marketing guru Corey Rudl. For many savvy online entrepreneurs, Corey
needs no introduction.
[Marty]:
Corey, as one who has been extremely successful as an online marketer,
please tell us how you got started using the Internet as a marketing
tool.
[Corey]:
I started marketing online in the fall of 1994. It was quite a fluke.
In my course, I explain that we published my book, "Car Secrets Revealed",
and started selling it offline. The results were pathetic. We thought
we had a winning formula and it was barely breaking even. I spent about
$20,000 offline trying to promote it... and it flopped. I took the advice
of a friend that was setting up an automotive site on the net and he
helped me get a very simple web page online. I saw a few sales trickle
in and then took more interest in it, promoting the book online in my
spare time.
[Marty]:
What are some of the online ventures you are involved in?
[Corey]:
I own four different businesses that now generate over $5,200,000 in
online sales every year. I have interests in many other online projects,
as I have done work for clients for a portion of the profits I generate.
I also have a clientele base that hires me for online business advice
at $1,280 per hour.
[Marty]:
Your book "Car Secrets Revealed" has done very well for you online.
Can you give some details on it?
[Corey]:
Car Secrets Revealed was my first success on the net. Within 9 months
of truly starting to promote it heavily, it became the #1 best selling
car book online (using the unique promotional techniques I teach). It
generated over $140,000 in net profit in those months. To this day (almost
3 years later), it is still the #1 best selling car book on the Internet.
The site is at http://www.carsecrets.com/ if you want to check it out.
Everything I put on the page and everything I say is there for a reason...
We have tried many different web page designs and concepts, and this
one works the best (I explain why in my Internet Marketing course at:
http://www.marketingtips.com/t.cgi/XXXX/. I can't explain it here, as
it would fill up about 20 pages to cover just the details on that topic
alone).
[Marty]:
You were recently on the Maury Povich TV show in connection with your
businesses. Can you recap for those of us that missed it?
[Corey]:
There is not much to say. Basically, because of my exposure on the Internet
and having the #1 best selling car book online, they found me through
the net and invited me to appear on the show as their "car expert" to
explain a few tips and secrets to their viewing audience on car buying
and the shams and scams with car repairs. It was a good interview, but
what a long flight back... 10 hours on a plane. Whew!
[Marty]:
How long did it take your first online venture to start making a profit?
[Corey]:
The first month the sales trickled in, so I technically made a profit
within 30 days... but nothing to live off of. Since I was one of the
first group of commercial businesses online... there was a lot of "trying
everything", so it took me almost 18 months before I started to see
a full-time income. I spent literally 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week
trying different techniques, copy, and ideas online. Now that I know
most every trick and tip there is, I can literally take almost any business
online and make it turn a very healthy profit in a few months. As more
and more people got online, many of the standard marketing techniques
were getting overused and becoming ineffective... so I developed "twists"
to most of them to ensure they still made a profit when everyone was
using the "regular" approaches to online marketing. The results: the
techniques I use to market online are very unique.
[Marty]:
How did you learn about what it takes to succeed?
[Corey]:
At first a lot of trial and error. I took a lot of the concepts and
ideas I got from the very expensive seminars I used to attend and material
I bought (I was a Jay Abraham, Gary Halbert and Ted Nicholas fan, and
most of their seminars were $7000 and up.) I took those ideas - and
with a little ingenuity and creativity - adapted them to the net (while
in the midst of developing my own winning formulas for online success).
I came up with formulas that work like wildfire online.
[Marty]:
I recognize the names of those other well-known direct marketers that
you have learned from. It's apparent that your formulas work. Which
avenues are paying off the best for you?
[Corey]:
I have never had an online business that *has not* made a very healthy
profit. As I mentioned, my four online businesses combined now generate
over $5,200,000 in sales online per year! And the beauty of it is that
I started it myself as a one-man operation. I now have had to hire five
employees to take care of the paper work and customer service... but
have you ever heard of a retail business that has 5.2 million dollars
in sales with only a few employees? No! They have at least 15-20 employees.
That is the beauty of the net: you can automate everything so your overhead
is incredibly low.
[Marty]:
What specific types of online tools are you using successfully?
[Corey]:
That is a very difficult question to answer, because there is no one
tool that is responsible for making me a fortune online. My techniques
show you how to generate multiple small streams of income, and then
automate those streams of income so you can move to the next. Let me
explain... I would teach you a marketing technique that will make you
$1000 a month in net profit. You then automate that so it generates
that $1000 whether you are there or not. You then move on to the next
marketing technique, and it makes you $1500 a month. And once that is
in place (which takes you about 2-3 weeks), you automated it and move
on the next week, and so on. The concept here is that you are making
small streams of income from many different directions (all of which
are automated)... but if you add up those streams of income you are
looking at $10,000 to $15,000 a month in net profit, which is over $100,000
a year. The best part is that if one technique fails because something
on the net changes, you don't have to worry; you still have other streams
of income that are making you money every month.
[Marty]:
Do you do all of your business online, or do your online marketing efforts
supplement your off-line business efforts?
[Corey]:
100% online. I am a specialist at online sales and marketing. I have
become one of the most respected online marketers on the Internet...
and for good reason: I can prove my successes. If someone asks me to
help them with their magazine advertising, I simply tell them that there
are better people than me out there for offline marketing and they should
see them instead. I do what I do best... and that is online marketing,
so I concentrate *all* my efforts on that!
[Marty]:
What mistakes have you made?
[Corey]:
There are so many, I would fill up your entire newsletter listing them.
Let me just say that I have wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars
trying techniques that did not work (but from everyone I learned something
very important). But that is the "price of education" as I say.
[Marty]:
What major mistakes do you see other Internet entrepreneurs make?
[Corey]:
There are a lot of them and I discuss them in great detail in the course,
but I will briefly mention a few here. Having an ineffective web site
that does not turn visitors into sales. This is a very tricky thing
to do (that most people do not understand), and I devote a lot of time
in my course in how to make a web site profitable. Putting all your
eggs in one basket. Trying one technique and thinking it will make you
a fortune. You need to diversify your marketing efforts into different
promotions to see which ones pull the most net profit, and then concentrate
on those. Having a poor "sales process" in the marketing campaign. That
is the manner in which you interest the client into coming to your site,
then lead him into a good rapport with yourself, and then - and only
then - asking for the order. Most people break the link at some point
and lose the sale. That is why most sites only see one sale out of every
200-400 visitors (and some even worse).
[Marty]:
Are there any other tips or suggestions you would like to give others
that want to profit from the Internet?
[Corey]:
Research, research, research.... Read/study everything you can on online
marketing and learn about it before you jump in. For example, I hear
stories every day about people that "heard" bulk emailing was very profitable.
They may spend $1000 on the different software, only to find out they
were doing it very ineffectively (for example, indiscriminately spamming,
rather than ethically using bulk opt-in email) and don't make a single
cent. Then there are other stories of online success with MLM... people
spend months using the wrong techniques and end up not making a penny.
The list just goes on and on. Make sure you understand what you are
getting into with any business online so that your first attempt will
be your success!
[Marty]:
I agree, Corey. Too many are trying to "re-invent the wheel" instead
of learning how others before them have achieved success. I like how
Benjamin Franklin put it, when he said: "An investment in knowledge
always pays the best interest." Thanks for letting me interview you,
Corey.
Corey
Rudl gets over 4 million visitors to his websites yearly, does 5.2 million
dollars in sales online each year (yes, that is $5,200,000), and personally
makes hundreds of thousands of dollars from his online businesses...
all from his one small office. So listen to what he has to say as he
knows what he is talking about when it comes to starting and promoting
a business on the internet. Visit his site at Internet
Marketing Center® where he reveals all his unconventional tips,
tricks and techniques with examples so you can learn the most efficient
and fastest ways to make money on the internet.
