Welcome to the Resource Centre
Thanks for reading the book and coming to this page, which contains a lot of additional resources to help you put into practice the ideas in the book.
My Expert Gold newsletter
First, if you’d like to keep in touch with my latest thinking and ideas, please subscribe to my newsletter Expert Gold:
Show Your Face
The Positioning Matrix, which I described in this chapter, is useful not only for your on-line positioning, but also in any other part of your business where you need to describe yourself, your products or your services. Here’s an audio program of me interviewing Matt Church about the Positioning Matrix:
Lead With Value
The process I describe in this chapter is very powerful, even though the strategy itself is very simple. You can watch a recording of a one-hour webinar I conducted, describing this process in more detail:
Invest In Reputation
Participation is important to build your on-line reputation, and the key is to make many small, regular contributions rather than a few large contributions. Of course, it’s not always easy to remember to make these small contributions, so I’ve created an e-mail reminder program to prompt you with ideas – just subscribe to it here:
Serve a Niche
In this chapter, I give you criteria for assessing your business, products and services. Here’s a free on-line assessment tool you can use (as often as you like) to assess any business idea, product or service. It uses these criteria (so you’ll find it familiar to use), and gives you specific advice for each of your responses.
The assessment tool has 16 questions, and will only take 5-10 minutes to complete. For each question, just choose the option that most closely matches your current situation. Fill in this form to start:
Give Them What They Want
One of the oldest on-line survey tools (and it’s still among the best) is Survey Monkey, which is ideal for doing the sort of on-line surveys I mentioned in this chapter for asking either a niche or the masses.
Watch this excellent video tutorial explaining how to use it to create a survey and send it to your participants.
Build Your Tribe
As I mentioned at the start of this chapter, your tribe consists of various groups of people (not just your customers). Of these, the affiliates are probably the most challenging group for most business owners to understand and manage – mainly because they are overly optimistic about its success.
You can download my e-book Reach New Markets here; it’s all about how to get started with affiliate programs effectively.
Make Connections
Many business owners under-estimate the power of an e-mail newsletter – particularly because e-mail is seen as an “old” Internet technology. However, your e-mail newsletter really is one of the most important marketing tools at your disposal, so it’s worth investing the time in it. One of the best e-mail management systems is MailChimp.com. You can watch a recording of a webinar I conducted about how to get started with MailChimp:
Set Buying Frames
All the framing techniques I described in this chapter are designed to help you write better sales letters for promoting products and services on your Web site. This is an essential skill, and will make or break your Web site’s success. You can watch a recording of a webinar I conducted about how to promote your products and services effectively – which goes through this sales letter process in more detail:
Deliver Experiences
As I mentioned in this chapter, it’s tragic that so many people might be abandoning your Web site at the very last moment – after you’ve done all the hard work, and just before they hand over their money. It’s very useful to check every step of your order process (for every product or service) to ensure you’re not giving people a reason to leave. Use this self-assessment survey (as many times as you like) to evaluate your order forms:
Action Plan
What People Say
“With its dog-eared corners and relevant strategies for changing the way we use the Internet, this book is unlikely to gather dust. If you are looking for a different spin on using the Internet to market your business, this book will give you a massive advantage.”
— Donna Hanson
“Want to know how to market yourself on the web? This book is ideal for anyone who is either starting out on the web, or who has been doing so for years.”
— Candy Tymson
“This book really excels, by putting all the technical advice into a context that's easy to follow.”
— Shelley Dunstone
"It cuts through the many ‘social media’ and ‘web’ myths and practically demonstrates what really matters on the ‘net’. This is the one book every entrepreneur and business owner must read to sustain and secure their future business potential."
— David Penglase
"This book is now my bible for creating an effective online presence. It is not just conceptual but practical, with easy to implement strategies. Great work."
— Jani Murphy
"There is so much hype and blather about social media and Internet marketing. Usually it's the same old cliches trotted out with little real application. The best thing about Perera's work is that it puts it all in a real business perspective. Great effort."
— Alan Hargreaves
"This book is exactly like my experience of Gihan: relevant, respectful, highly insightful and jargon-free. Anyone who is looking for a layman's guide to taking advantage of what the Internet offers businesses could gain much by reading this book."
— Ross Clennett
"This book cuts through the hype. It doesn’t speak geek - it talks to people about their business strategy online in ways that make sense and go to the heart of making the web work for you. In my twenty-five years of being in business, I'd be hard pressed to name a person that I’ve learned more from than Gihan Perera."
— Ann Rolfe
"Fast, Flat and Free has become my new reference guide for smart marketing of my business online - and also offline. This book is worth many multiples its cost, so I strongly recommend it to business owners. I especially recommend it to the self-employed who may not yet be big enough to outsource to specialists. (And I recommend it to 'control-freaks' like me who like to be informed consumers of other consultants.)"
— Matt Hern
"Brilliant book. Great simplification of the extraordinary complexity we face online today. Gave me 6 'must do's to implement. And I write books on a similar topic. Well worth a read, particularly if you are an author or a Thought Leader."
— Toby Marshall
"This is probably the best book on the integration of marketing and the internet that I have read. If you want to know more about social media, the internet and small business marketing, this is the book for you."
— Michael Harrison
"If you are online now or wanting to put your business online, then this book is essential. It cuts through to the issues that really matter to capture your customers and clients. A great book that has saved me so much time."
— John Highman
"I have been paying Gihan money every month for more than a decade, and regard him as integral to the success of my businesses. In this book he outlines everything anyone would ever need to know about being successful online."
— Ian Berry
"Gihan has an amazing ability to capture current issues and trends then simplify them for easy access, without losing any of the richness of the concepts. It's a must-read."
— Helen Macdonald
"Gihan, you have done it again. This is a wonderful book. I have been following your pearls of wisdom for years and you always make me think differently. Thank you for taking the time to share your insights and expertise."
— Keith Abraham
"Gihan always makes my life and work so much easier and 'Fast, Flat and Free' is yet again just another example. I love everything this book does!"
— Ian Hutchinson
"Hey Gihan, I've nearly finished reading your book and it's amazing. It has revolutionised my thinking, not only of my Internet business idea, but also of my 'real world' business."
— Melvin Yeo
"I must tell you, I'm not very happy with this book. I was hoping I could do a quick scan flip-through and then put it on the shelf with all the others. Now I realise I must . . . must . . . sit down and read entire this book with a pen in hand. And I will end up with a long to-do list that will be critical to the future of my business! This is simply brilliant stuff, and well written and well organised."
— Warren Evans
"Fast, Flat and Free is an excellent resource and essential reading for anybody serious about doing business online. I particularly liked the chapter on creating your positioning statement and market niche. Keep up the good work!"
— Peter Thorpe
