Who is Michael Cheney?

Short biographical profile

Interview with Michael Cheney

Insider Insights From Internet Marketing Expert Who Makes Thousands Every Week And Attracts Over Half A Million Visitors Every Year
 

Michael Cheney is one of the most-respected names in the field of Internet marketing. The chances are that you will already read one of his many, many marketing articles that are dotted throughout the web.

In this unique interview we gained insights from him on how he has managed to build up several successful Internet businesses that now earn him thousands each week.

Q. "Michael, thank you for taking the time to talk to us today. Firstly, can you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background and how you got started in Internet marketing?"

"Sure. My earliest experience with the Internet dates back to around 1993 when I first started experimenting with telnet that I guess was an early forerunner for the modern-day chat rooms.

And then around 1995 I first started getting into developing websites and marketing websites. I was at university at that point and I graduated and went to work for ExxonMobil one of the world’s largest oil companies.

After spending a couple of years in their IT division I’d had enough really and decided to go it alone and launch my own internet business.

I quit my nine to five job and set off into the world of Internet marketing.

Initially I offered consultancy for clients, provided Internet marketing training, that kind of thing. I also founded a website called Seniority.co.uk which is now the UK’s number 1 website for over fifties. So I had a few irons in the fire so to speak."

Q. "What made you decide to capture a your web marketing knowledge in a book?"

"Well, over the past decade I have learned a great deal about creating websites and marketing websites effectively and as I’ve gone along I’ve obviously kept notes on this for my own records and to help my consultancy customers.

But as time went on I realised that I had really in my hands an opportunity to help other business owners with the advice as well by putting it into a book format.

There are a lot of people out there who want this type of information without having to pay the higher consultancy rates and this is really when the concept for the Website Marketing Bible came about."

Q. "What questions do you get asked most often by business owners looking to be successful on the Internet and what do you say to them?"

"I guess really the most common ones are:

"How do I get top in the search engines?"

or

"How do I get found on the web?"

I get asked this every day and there are no easy answers. Normally what I would say is that although search engines are important they’re not the be all and end all. And generally speaking too many people focus on getting visitors into their website rather than actually spending time on creating the best website that they can.

That is - creating a website that converts as many visitors as possible into customers.

Success on the Internet doesn’t mean getting on the first page of a search engine or getting a lot of visitors. Success on the Internet means generating a lot of profit. And when people get drawn into the huge potential that the Internet can offer this is the fact that sometimes gets neglected.

So what I say to people that ask me ‘How can I get a high profile for my site?’ or ‘How can I get top in the search engines?’ is to only start looking at these issues once you have a website that you are totally happy with.

Everybody who has a site will be getting some amount of traffic. So, are you converting a high percentage of the existing traffic that you’re getting into sales?

If you’re not - then that’s where your time should be spent, not on actually getting more people in that are just not going to buy in the first place.

Obviously, once you’ve done that then you need to start look at marketing the site using search engines and also other techniques that can produce a better quality of leads. For example - reciprocal links, directories and other promotional techniques.

And these two ideas, of creating the best website possible and then marketing it as effectively as possible, are central to my philosophy on Internet marketing and central to what I’ve included in my book. You’ve got to have the best site and you’ve got to have the best marketing techniques – those are the two essential elements you need.

It sounds simple but so many people just focus on the second without realising that the first is equally as essential to success on the web."

Q. "Have you made any big mistakes in online marketing that other business owners would benefit from hearing about?"

"Oh yes! One of them is that initially I didn’t focus enough on the majority of visitors that came to my website yet weren’t immediately ready to buy from me.

There are many businesses that fall into the same trap and spend a lot of time and effort trying to capture the sales from visitors to their site that are right at the point of purchase but not on those visitors that aren’t ready to buy.

But if you do that, like I did, then you’re missing out on a big opportunity.

What would happen with my site is that, people would come to it, and yes I would generate some sales, but I wasn’t providing enough information or ‘hooks’ for the majority of people who weren’t yet ready to buy.

So they were coming to the site once and then disappearing. So that was a large mistake.

The other big mistake I made was not focusing early enough on the power of email and building a list of prospects and a list of customers’ email addresses.

This really is central to success on the Internet.

Developing a list of your prospects is like a goldmine. Once you’ve developed the list and you communicate with them you then get opportunity to sell to them. I didn’t realise and exploit that fact early enough, which was a mistake.”

Q. "There are so many courses and books out there on website marketing. What makes yours any different?"

"Well first off with The Website Marketing Bible - it’s my experience. I’ve been creating and marketing websites for 10 years so I’ve learned a lot of things in that time. I’ve also read a lot of marketing literature and bought countless Internet marketing products in my time.

I like to think of myself as a website marketing sponge – if there’s anything out there on the subject I make it my job to absorb it!

I’ve also tested thousands of different strategies on my own websites. Basically I’ve been there, done that and got the T-shirt. My sites now earn thousands for me every week.

The other key difference is that the Website Marketing Bible focuses on all aspects of website marketing. There are a lot of books that just talk about search engines or some that just talk about how to market your site on the web.

Whereas the Website Marketing Bible takes you through how to tackle the entire process from building your website, designing it then all the way through to marketing and all the techniques in between. I just believe there isn’t anything else out there quite like it.

Another key difference is that it’s not just something you read. There are exercises that I’ve created for you throughout the book that encourage you to think things through for your website, specific to you and take action. So it’s not just something you read and then file - it’s something you work through.

Another difference is the amount of time that has been invested in it. This is not a product that I’ve created in week or so. This has been over a year in production and has been collated from all the insights and strategies I’ve developed over the past 10 years.

Also I don’t sell anything in the book or bonus products.

The book or the bonuses do not contain affiliate links that earn me commissions. What you’ll see in some courses is that a lot of the material is just recommendations that send you off to a website where the author earns more cash for the referral. So you’re never quite sure of the merit of such recommendations.

The advice I offer is totally unbiased and independent. I’m not affiliated to anyone and don’t sell anything in the Website Marketing Bible."

Q. "You said that you have many online businesses that produce lots of profit for you – can you tell us more about this?"

"Sure. There are three main businesses I operate. One is Seniority.co.uk Limited – which as I mentioned is an online community for over 50s that generates revenue via advertising and sponsorship.

Another of my businesses is Magnet4web which is my consultancy business where we provide some one to one consultancy, website audits and Internet marketing training.

And the third main company I have is the Website Marketing Bible division, which is a business in its own right - selling and promoting the book, giving interviews, media appearances and so on."

Q. "What is your advice for people that are just starting out with marketing their website or maybe don’t even have a website at all yet?"

"That’s really two questions! For those that don’t have a website yet, believe it or not you’re actually in a very good position. Because you’re able to get all the information that you can to make sure that website is as good as it can be.

A lot of people that I speak to are in the position that they already have a legacy website that perhaps isn’t working for them and they’re reluctant to tear that down and start again.

Whereas with a blank canvas you actually have some advantages over people that already have a website established.

But the two main things I would focus on in either case, if you’ve just started marketing your site or you’re just thinking of developing a website, are targeted traffic and offering free information that’s very valuable.

With targeted traffic you need to sit down and write down a list of where your customers go online. Which other websites do you think they will visit? What other products and services will they interested in?

If you start to do this it will give you ideas for how you can actually market your website online. So that’s the first thing I would do – try and develop lists and ideas of how to attract targeted traffic rather than just any old traffic.

And the second is offer free information of great value. If you do this at the outset then your site will, to a small degree, market itself.

If you’re offering free information that people can access they’ll come back to your website, they’ll tell their friends about it, people will link to you and so on.

So those two things together will go a long way to giving you a great start."

Q. "What would you say to people that perhaps don’t have the budget to invest in products like your Website Marketing Bible and how they can get started with marketing their site?"

"Well there is a lot of free information out there. Some companies are falling over themselves to help you and give you snippets of advice. But you do need to take some of it with a pinch of salt. Not all of the information is of the same value and not all of it is actually accurate.

For my own take on this I offer a free 7-part training course called “Internet Marketing Made Easy”. Essentially I give this away to help people that are just starting out in this game - and obviously if they benefit from and enjoy the information they may come back to me at a later date to perhaps buy something.

But the point is, in this life I guess - givers always gain. Those who give the most generally gain the most and I try and adopt this philosophy with my businesses.

This part of the reason I’ve developed the free training course. I’m giving away a lot of free information, advice, reports, Ebooks, audio seminars etc. for free.

Because I realise that people may then come back to me for paid advice at such time that they need it."

You can take Michael’s free 7-Part training course “Internet Marketing Made Easy” (valued at $397) and learn more about
The Website Marketing Bible here.

Contact information for Michael Cheney


Website 

Websitemarketingbible.com

Email

Email contact

Products by Michael Cheney

Note! The following list isn't necessarily a complete list of all the products by Michael Cheney.

"Adsense videos" - NEW!

(This new course by Michael Cheney on how to skyrocket your Google Adsense earnings has caused quite a stir. I still haven't gotten the chance to review it. But I hope I soon will).

"The WebSite Marketing Bible" - Click here to read our review of this course!