Yup, this is me, Gail Buckley  Here are a few facts about me: I've been married forever to a wonderful and... very patient... husband, Brian I have two terrific... if at times trying... kids, Meaghan and Mike I attended Cornell University, where I earned a Bachelor of Science degree... I'm still trying to figure that one out? When I worked for a salary I did every kind of job from waitressing and hostessing to receptionist to sales, to graphic design, to advertising and accounting work - you name it - I tried it! But I couldn't find something that I could really sink my teeth into until I began spending time online after finishing up my first book, Funny Wiring. You can find the online version of this book at http://www.aboutautism.com  In the year 2001 I launched the entrepreneurial "HUB" site: http://www.websuccessmaker.com, an online business planning & resource coordination service and the ebookstore: http://www.ebiz-ebooks-togo.com  In 2002, I published "Plan To Succeed Online" a comprehensive online business planning master course. http://www.plan-to-succeed-online.com In March 2004, I launched an innovative viral solution to affiliate marketing with my Perpetual Profit Portfolios: The Only eBusiness Solution that Makes Multi-Stream earning effortless! http://www.websuccessmastery.com However, the culmination of all my work online is my WOW line of Content based Membership sites - WOW: Where Vision and Value Go Hand in Hand with Information and Opportunity. At WOW, We specialize in Over-delivery! http://www.wow-content-club.com  http://www.the-wow-empire.com  http://www.nichereportsresource.com  http://www.freenichereports.com

How The Web Success Mastery Program Came About

It all began accidentally around five years ago when I invested a lot of money in a health related, network marketing opportunity, naively thinking that I would simply take my business online and make my fortune. I registered two catchy domain names and set up two separate Websites (one for retail and one for recruiting) and even got myself a merchant account.

This done, I figured all I had left to do was promote my sites and I'd be raking in the dough.  (I know, I know...I can hear the groans!).

I worked like a dog. I diligently registered my sites with the search engines and directories. (I actually paid a hefty fee for a service that promised me premier listing but somehow never managed to pull it off.) I advertised in all the classifieds I could find, posted my ads on FFAs and paid for as many banner ads as I could afford, eagerly anticipating the surge of traffic I was sure would come as soon as the word got out that I was "open for business."

I did get a few visitors to my sites, but what I mostly got was a barrage of (what I soon learned was) spam addressed to my business e-mail accounts. At first I diligently read each message, and when there was a link to click, I clicked it. I discovered a whole new world of marketing and advertising opportunity. The more I followed through on the leads, the more popular my e-mail box became - but not my Websites. I was still only getting a trickle of visitors a day and, in truth, most of that traffic was due to some off-line classified ads I was running.

I figured that I must be going about it all wrong, so I signed up with a promotional service that promised to flood my sites with traffic. Guess what? It never came. Meanwhile my monthly bills were beginning to pile up, as I continued to sign up for this service and that, each one sounding even better and promising even more than the one before. (I can hear the groans again!)

Fortunately, I was smart enough to realize that I had a lot to learn, so I was also and signing up for courses and downloading ebooks on internet marketing and promotion. I began reading and the more I read, the more foolish I began to feel. 

I belatedly realized, of course, that not only was I going about the business of building my business all wrong, but I was in the wrong business altogether. There was no way I was going to be able to "stand out from the crowd" in the highly competitive arena I was in, and there was no point in exhausting myself and my finances promoting Websites which really weren't worth the effort or the expense. 

Amazingly, rather than feeling discouraged, I began to feel energized and excited. The more reading I did, the more intrigued and excited I became.

Long story short, I cancelled all my services, stopped advertising my sites and set about seriously investigating the ins and outs of setting up and running a successful online business.  For over a year I devoted eight to ten hours a day, each and every day, exploring every business-related nook and cranny I could find on the internet, subscribing to every course and ezine and devouring every book, e-book, report and newsletter I could lay my hands on.

At first I felt overwhelmed by all the information. There was just so much of it to go through, so much to learn and absorb, but before long my research took on a life of its own. In trying to figure out what I was doing wrong in running my businesses, I unintentionally stumbled upon something I loved doing! 

At some point it dawned on me that I had better start keeping track of all the valuable resources I was gathering or my efforts would be entirely for naught. And as long as I was going to all the trouble of researching and organizing all this information, I might as well make the most use of it by putting it all into a Website and offering it to others.

As I continued my online sleuthing, a pattern of began to emerge. Certain sites turned up on more and more of my searches, and it became clear to me (as I'm sure that it has become clear to most of you) that there is definitely a hierarchy of "sites that count" in the online marketing world. And these "sites that count" are predominated by a select "inner circle" of online "Marketing Masters," all of whom have experienced a remarkable degree of success in their online endeavors, and most of whom are more than willing to help others to follow in their experienced footsteps. 

Little by little, my original notion of offering an internet marketing resource coordination service expanded into the concept of a full blown, interactive, internet marketing information community, with a select group of established "Master Marketing Mentors" at its core. The result was my WebSuccessMaker Site, which still serves as an active "information and resource" hub today.

Once this site was up and running, I was getting a lot of questions about how to go about starting a business online. I noted that there were plenty of books and courses about how to conduct and promote an online business, but very few really detailed exactly how to go about planning one, so that got me thinking... and the thinking soon inspired me to act. Eight months later, I completed my "Plan To Succeed Online" master course, which is both an e-book and private website.

Then real inspiration struck. At the root of this inspiration was my sense that the marketing community was at loose ends in its search for novel and effective ways to reach new audiences with its products and programs. Everything that had been working so well - banner and ezine ads, search engines, pay-per-clicks -- all the usual, reliable methods were losing their steam. But no one had tried to actually bring websites to the people, rather than having people seek out the sites themselves.

To make a long story short, I surveyed my site visitors and asked them several questions -- and two of their answers determined my course of action. 

1. When I asked them whether they liked to read important material online or off, most said that they liked to print out important material and read it offline, so they could study and underline it.

2. When I asked them whether they tended to return and make purchases at sites they book-marked, most responded that they tended to forget about or lose track of book-marked sites.

These answers convinced me that I would be on the right track in creating the type of products that I envisioned creating. Products that would actually bring a select group of well organized and information supported "websites" to the desktops of all who were interested in learning about building a business online. What I didn't envision was the full scope of the project I embarked upon well over 2 years ago, blithely assuming the task would take me eight months or so. Clearly I bit off much more than I anticipated, but I hope you agree the results are well worth the effort for all of us!

So there you have it, my friends. The un-garnished, not very exciting, but true story of how the WebSuccessMastery Series and System came into being. Like many other marketers whose stories you'll learn in my books, I had to fail and fumble a bit before I found something at which I could succeed!

Best of Success,
"Dream... Believe... Persevere... Succeed"

Gail Buckley

http://www.websuccessmastery.com 
http://www.websuccessmaker.com 
http://www.ebiz-ebooks-togo.com 
http://www.plan-to-succeed-online.com 
http://www.aboutautism.com 
 

Copyright © 2004 Gail Buckley  All Rights Reserved