March 2002

Case Study
Michael Stahl

Before I attended Tom's Butt Camp training I was what you could call "technically challenged." I really had no idea how the internet worked in terms of marketing, search engines, keywords, rankings, e-books, e-zines and list-serve companies. At the time I had a small website with a few pages that I typically had to wait weeks or months to get changes on from a webmaster.

After Tom's training, within weeks I had added dozens of new pages to my site by myself and discovered a newfound freedom with the ability to make instant changes on my own. I also got the number one ranking in the keyword "central florida motivational speaker" on Alta Vista - within two weeks!

Before I took Tom's training, I had a small list for a weekly e-zine of less than 200 subscribers. I had no idea how to build the list. Within a year after his coaching I had more than 5,000 people on my list and after two years I have more than 10,000.

I have written three e-books and now sell them from my main personal website http://www.michaelstahl.com . In addition to that website I created and put online a new website at http://www.academyofsuccess.org . I had a big set back with this site because in the beginning it was designed specifically for Yahoo based on Yahoo's long standing practice of being a directory which lists sites pretty much alphabetically. It still is an awesome site, but it didn't get the big burst of Yahoo traffic that I was expecting. One thing Tom taught me was that the Internet is a rapidly changing entity and you need to be able to change quickly with it to maximize it's potential. 

The saving grace with the above sites is that, other than my time (and I spent a lot of time building these sites) I never would have been able to even think about making changes to my own website before Tom's training. Now I have well more than 100 pages on my personal website and nearly 300 pages on the academy website. This would have cost me literally tens of thousands of dollars had I hired a web designer to do all of that work. Now I have two really awesome sites that I can be proud of which sell products (not as much as I'd like) and are great credibility for my speaking business. 

In my case I haven't racked up the product sales like Tom has. My claim on the Internet so far has been in "cost savings." I would have never been able to have the good looking and credible sites had I had to pay for all the pages. The sites really help promote the credibility of my speaking business and save me quite a bit on sending out press kits.

The academy website has the number one alphabetical listing on Yahoo at...

http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and
_Services/Health/Mental_Health/Personal_Growth/

Overall I feel much more confident in my approach to electronic marketing and have come light years from where I started. There is no doubt that to be successful at electronic marketing you have to work very hard but the rewards can be great. 

Tom just got off the phone with me and demanded that I come to his ButtCamp again when he visits Orlando in a few months. (Regular Butt Camps are free forever for graduates ) He wants me to get the updates and and changes that have occurred in the Internet and he wants to talk to me about improving my sales process to significantly improve the sales of my products.

Michael Stahl is a professional speaker and certified black belt in Tae Kwon Do who focuses on teaching organizations and individuals how to "Focus Your Power." His programs give audiences the practical know-how and the motivation to decrease marketing costs, increase sales and overcome burnout. He can be reached through his business website at http://www.michaelstahl.com  

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