The turtles have a habit of befuddling me. Now it may be because I am old and bald or they may just like messing with my mind . Either way they do leave me shaking my head at times.

This week as I usually do I bought them some feeder fish. Now sometimes the fish last an hour or less and sometimes they are around for days. I really do not know why but this week there are still 12 fish out of 16 three days after they entered the tank. A very rare occurrence.

What I do know though is that once they do decide it is time to eat fish the fish won’t last more than an hour or two. They will decide and the feeding frenzy will begin.

Well your promotions tend to be the same way. Sometimes you have a feeding frenzy then other times it seems like people could not care less.

The problem is that unlike the turtles and fish which are in the same tank so that the fish are readily available when the frenzy hits the turtles your potential customers are not.

When they hit their frenzy if you are not in front of them someone else will be. Guess who benefits? Yep sure won’t be you.

This is the reason that you need to be building a list and keeping in touch with them regularly. Yes, there will be time when they are like the turtles quite content to sit up and sun themselves but there will also be times when they go on a consuming frenzy.

Building a list and keeping in touch with them is the way to make sure that you are in the game when they do decide to enter the fray.

So everyone has heard this many times but in a survey I saw over 50% of people trying to make money on line did not have a list of even 500 subscribers. The amazing thing is that the number of people who had made absolutely zero from their online efforts was almost exactly the same number. Coincidence? I think not.

If you don’t have a list or you just can’t seem to get your list growing check out the List Profit System and oh yes that recommendation does get me paid after all the turtles need to eat but ti will allow you to get your list going and be in front of your potential customers when they hit their frenzy without locking them in a tank .

The Turtle Dad

Technorati Tags: list building, List PROFIT System, online marketing

The turtles know all about persistence. You should hear the noise they can make splashing to attract attention when they want to eat.

Side note – They always want to eat or at least it seems that way to me as I listen to Gizzard splashing as I am writing this.

One of the reasons that email marketing is so powerful is the ability to be persistent in getting your offer in front of your potential customer.

They don’t always want it when they first see it (unlike the turtles) but if you keep in touch and gently remind them about what you can do to help them they do come around.

That is why building your list is so important. Every one says it but so many people I talk to just do not have an idea how to get it started.

Sunny Sugg’s has become the All About Gal. She puts together programs that take things that frustrate people and breaks them into little bite sized steps. Now she has addressed building your first list.

It consists of 10 lessons and walks you through each step in an easy to do manner. This will keep you from getting that dreaded information overload problem.

So go grab the First Chapter for free than check out the special offer she has to make this point and click simple.

The turtles are quite persistent so shouldn’t you be too?

Check out All About My First Listtoday.

The Turtle Dad

Technorati Tags: all about my first list, create list, list building, my first list, Sunny Suggs

Turtles went on a rampage this week. Went from 8 fish to 3 in a matter of a few hours. That is not totally surprising after all turtles eat fish and that is why they were in there.

The surprise was not that they ate the fish but why now? The 3 little ones had been in there for a month. They were the survivors from the last batch I bought of 8 feeder fish. The two big ones they got were an even bigger surprise. The 5 big fish (now 3) were as big or bigger than the turtles and had shared the tank for well over 6 months.

Now let me be truthful I have no idea why they picked the day they did to go on a fish diet. They get fed the same time and same amount each day. Nothing has changed so why now?

Well the same thing happens with people coming to your product. They may see it over and over and not buy. One day the stop and it is the day. They buy the product, the up sell, take the bonus in the first email follow up. Why?

Quite truthfully I have no idea why anymore than I can tell you why the turtles went on a fish eating spree. What I do know is that it does happen.

The key is to take advantage of that by continuing to get your offer in front of your potential customers.

The best way to do that is by list building and following up regularly. That is one of the reasons I really like and recommend Jimmy D. Brown’s List PROFIT System. Building your list and following up with them helps you make sure that your offer gets to your prospective customer when they are ready to go in a feeding frenzy.

The fish are always in the tank but they only get eaten when the turtles are ready. Make sure your offer is there for your customer when they are ready too.

The Turtle Dad

Technorati Tags: feeding frenzy, Jimmy D Brown, list building

Gizzard is shedding again and looks a bit ugly but that is part of his growth.

The picture does not do it justice but you can see the skin hanging off as it replaced with new skin below. Now there must be some nutritional value in that skin because you will see them eating the sheddings from each other.

Disgusting as it may seem to me they actually go out of their way to clean the excess of off each other.

I know you are wondering what the marketing lesson is here aren’t you?

After all what can we learn from eating shedding skin? Surprise you know there would be a lesson.

See one turtle feeds and gets nourishment from the cast off of another. Giveaways work like this for marketers.

See some people on your list will resonate with your message and some won’t. Sorry that is the way life is. Nice as I am not everyone wants to know how turtles can help their marketing. (not sure why but I do know it to be true or more people would sign up for the updates so they would not miss a post – hint, hint ).

Understanding that fact is what makes giveaways a win – win – win.

I send my subscribers to a place where they can get free items – they win. Now some people look at this as a loss for me and a win for whatever list they signed up for to get the gift but…

If they like my style they will still read and respond to what I send. If they like the other person’s style better than they probably would not have taken action on what I was offering anyhow.

In the mean time I have added people to my list. The gift I was offering was something that they wanted which means that they probably have an interest in the type of business I do. On those I win but hopefully the new subscriber won too with what they received.

So like the turtles I am in effect eating the sheddings of others as are the other participants. But.. like the turtles it allows all the participants to continue to grow.

So if you were not interested in using these very effective ways to grow your list because you were concerned with losing rather than gaining I hope you have learned the lesson that your losses can feed someone else just as their losses can feed you.

In the end you win – your subscriber wins – and the other participants win. That is always a good end result for any business.

There are three giveaways that I am participating in listed below that you still have time to join and grow your business.

As the good things about blogs is that the content stays here and people come by long after these are over and done with you can check out the current giveaways I am participating in here.

So make sure you sign up for the update list in the top right hand corner but even if you don’t you should get involved in the giveaways as they are one of the best list building tools you will find.

The Turtle Dad

Technorati Tags: giveaways, IM Dream Team Giveaway, list building, Santa's Big Giveaway, Thanksgiving Giveaway

Every two weeks without fail I end up adding water to the tank. Today is the day so it reminded me to discuss this. See it is constantly evaporating due to the filtering and temperatures necessary to keep the three babies happy and healthy.

If I don’t add water regularly soon the tank would not be a good environment for the kids to live in. So now I add water regularly and it is another task for the checklist of their care just like regular feeding.

How does this apply to your business? What can the turtles teach us with this lesson?

Your list is very much the lifeblood of your business and it has the same tendency to evaporate just like the water does in the tank. You need to constantly be adding more subscribers to your list or you will soon find what should be a valuable asset has eroded away to nothing.

You need to be consistently working on adding to your list and this should be a primary function of your business. If you need help understanding the process check out The Beginners List Formula. It is an easy to use guide to get you started.

Another great way to consistently add new subscribers is to use giveaways. There are two good ones you can join right now The Thanksgiving Giveaway and Santa’s Big Giveaway.

Just add a product in and generate extra subscribers easily. Make sure to take advantage of these and keep replenishing your subscribers as I have to keep replenishing the turtle’s water.

Your business will grow and I have happy and healthy turtles.

The Turtle Dad

Technorati Tags: Beginners List Formula, giveaways, list building, Santa's Big Giveaway, The Thanksgiving Givewaway