InfoMarketer Ed Rush - Interviewed
An Interview with a Successful Internet Marketer and Combat Flyer
Ed Rush responds to interview questions with an easy deference. Then he relates what he did before he became a successful Internet force. He flew F18s in combat.
What does it take to become a successful Internet marketer?
A good start in the quest for an answer would be to check out someone who’s already achieved it.
Ed Rush is a Marine Corps fighter pilot, author, and info-marketer. His Fighter Pilot Performance for Entrepreneurs program teaches small business owners Top Gun strategies for accelerating productivity, profits, and peace of mind. He can be found at www.FlightPlanToWealth.com. Ed has now grown four Internet businesses and was recently interviewed for Chatwise by Ari Galper.
The first thing that hits you when you listen to Ed Rush talking is the understated tone of his voice. With softly spoken words, Ed responds to the interview questions with an easy deference that fools the listener into thinking that maybe he's just an average Joe who managed to hit the right buttons at the right time. Listen a little longer and you start to understand that the easy-going approach stems from confidence and control.
Training Is Key to Success, even for the Internet Marketer
Talking about the Top Gun movie, he says - “The characters Maverick and Gooch are supposedly gifted in all the things they do. It’s all a load of baloney; it’s actually the guy who trains well that does well.”
Ed learned the values of training, procedure and methodical approach as a flyer and applies the same techniques to marketing.
On moving from full time defense flying to reservist, Ed decided to write and sell an ebook on the subject of Fighter Pilot Tactics. The product was aimed at gamers, but national security regulation concerns intervened so the subject was changed to How to Become a Candidate for the Job of Fighter Pilot.
The Masters of Marketing Have Much to Teach
The product started to sell and Ed took a look at methods of improving his advertising and presentation. To achieve this he studied acknowledged experts in the field of marketing. From Perry Marshall he learned the value of viral techniques and from Joe Sugarman the value of testing every aspect of a marketing campaign. Along the way he also discovered the value of online chat and interfacing with the potential customer.
A continued learning curve led to improvements in the website and advertising copy and recognition that the best way forward appeared to be experimentation and testing. To assess the level of click traffic on a potential product, Ed’s preferred method is to ‘buy a bunch of clicks’ and test it. As he says – “there’s nothing like real life, flesh and blood people with their finger on the button”. This method also works for keyword and key-phrase testing and Ed undertakes this basic testing as a preliminary, placing it before product launch.
Testing and Revision Are an Essential Part of Marketing Strategy
Of course testing continues after launch; even if the product is going well, marketing copy and keyword selection can always be improved. First attempts rarely produce the best or most enduring results. Ed relates the tale behind the first Google ad for his Fighter Pilot Productivity site. With the line - "Learn the secrets the government doesn't tell you about how to become a fighter pilot" - he thought he had a winner. While it did, and still does, generate click through it performs at only around thirty percent of later editions.
Membership and Continuity – Be a Farmer as Well as a Hunter
While he knew the theory behind continuity strategies, Ed didn't take the plunge of introducing membership until he had two successful sites running and earning. When he finally created members-only functionality, he upgraded both sites simultaneously and doubled his business inside one and a half months.
