Social media and the word “marketing” used together in the same sentence has become a subject of controversy, confusion and profiteering. This post is part 3 in a series dedicated to helping everyone understand social media based on actual tested results as they apply to marketing.
read more | digg story
Popular Posts
Friday, 29 August 2008
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Twitter times 20 - HelloTxt turns tweets into status updates
I never understood the appeal of Twitter -- until last week. I suddenly had a "Twitpiphany," and now have become a rabid, enthusiastic user. A newish online site called HelloTxt magnifies that by 20. One Twitter post, and your message can automatically go to Facebook, MySpace and 20 other sites as "status updates."
read more | digg story
Zara' Note: another marketer sees the light! - use the force wisely though!
read more | digg story
Zara' Note: another marketer sees the light! - use the force wisely though!
Pitfalls to Avoid When Designing Web Forms
Many web forms are broken, usability-wise. Knowing these problems can make you avoid them when you design your own web forms, so here are some recurring usability pitfalls.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Video library software, internet marketing, web development
Using our 15 years experience in developing content management systems and skills from all our disciplines - usability, navigation, on site search, search engine optimization, communications and eMarketing we created a truly feature rich self-managed system. Read more..
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
10 Firefox add-ons for better browsing [Slideshow]
If you love Firefox, you'll love these 10 extensions that will make browsing the Web even better, everything from photo viewers to Flash blockers to a Coverflow-like system for your bookmarks.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
A Webmaster Tool Kit - on a mobile phone
This is the second of 5 mobile versions of blogs using winksite - no phone required - but it is primarily designed for phone use - this example is for 'a webmaster toolkit' a blog aimed at Internet Marketers and Webmaster type folk - that have been on-line a few years or more - and still love it!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, 23 August 2008
51 Top RSS Button For Your Blog | Jobs, Career and Money
free RSS buttons to put on your blogs/websites etc.freebie I came accross while looking foe rss icons to use on a wordpress blog
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Friday, 22 August 2008
Mayor shuts down home produce stand operated by kids
Clayton, California Mayor Gregg Manning is punishing two little kids for taking the initiative to sell their own garden produce from a card table in front of their house.Zara's note: example of what happens when recession sets in - the capitalists (as me mother would say) start cannibalizing their kids - and I'm talking about the mayor here, not the parents!
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Google calls itself a "data-harvesting octopus"
When you search Google Germany for "google rss feed," the top result will point to the German Google Reader service - with a title that can be roughly translated to “RSS reader of data-harvesting octopus Google” (“RSS-Reader der Datenkrake Google” - the word “Krake” is typically used negatively).
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Real 100 Mbps mobile broadband to hit in two years -- GSMA
The GSM Association (GSMA) predicts the rollout of Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband that delivers actual speeds of up to 100 Mbps in Japan and South Korea by 2010, Europe by 2012 and the U.S. by... well, he didn't say.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier Rebuild Webcam up and Running
Weston Mercury Newspaper and the Grand Pier Owners have set up a webcam for people interested in watching the clearing of the burnt out wreckage and rebuilding of the 1930s Pavilion that caught fire on 28th July this year 2008.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Is there any return on investment in social media?
How can we produce awareness that will produce a positive return on investment for time and/or money spent in social media? In other words … How can we produce a positive cash flow by utilizing the seemingly limitless prospect base that is having millions of conversations about millions of things every day?
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Microbattery built by viruses
MIT researchers made progress using viruses to assemble microbatteries that are half the size of a human cell. Paula Hammond, Angela Belcher, and Yet-Ming Chiang and colleagues have already used the viral assembly method to make a battery's anode and electrolyte
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
U.K. outfit woos SMEs with servers direct - Network World
It's a far cry from Amazon, but an emerging Yorkshire-based company claims to be breaking new ground in online SME sales.Servers Direct is a Web site-based business that delivers servers and associated support services to small and midsized businesses
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Apple blames scorching iPods on battery problem - Network Wo
Apple is blaming a problem with overheating iPods in Japan on faulty batteries, the company said in a statement Tuesday.In response to reports that Japan is investigating incidents of iPod nanos getting hot enough to scorch paper placed nearby,
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
Monday, 18 August 2008
Where To Find Public Domain Works (USA)
Where To Find Public Domain Works
The third most popular question about the public domain (what is the public domain and
how can I make money from the public domain are the top two) is:
Where do I find public domain works?
As you know by now, the public domain is essentially a huge network of copyright-free
resources that are literally at your disposal to use as you wish (within the bounds of law, of
course). The real kicker comes in when some newbie first hears about the public domain,
fires up Google (insert your choice of search engine here) and types in ‘Public Domain’ (or
the more refined searcher may type in: ‘where to find public domain works’). The answer?
I’ll save you the trouble. A jumble of listings that tell you bits and pieces of the story. Most
of them don’t have any public domain materials in them at all.
When searching for public domain materials to use in your business, try using the
following top 10 internet resources for this task:
1. The Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/
The Library of Congress is perhaps the greatest reference resource on the Internet,
and as such is a goldmine for public domain works.
2. Free Online Books from UPenn http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ - A large
collection of free online books that you can use immediately.
3. Virtual Theater http://www.vl-theatre.com/list4.shtml - An online repository of free
plays that you can use.
4. Literature.org http://www.literature.org/ - THE literature website on the Internet. You
can find all sorts of classics here. Who knows, maybe you could open a publishing
house for old philosophy texts.
5. The Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/ - A digital library of Internet sites –
includes audio and video resources as well.
6. Ibiblio.org http://www.ibiblio.org/ - A self-proclaimed public’s library and digital
archive. Links to other public domain resources as well as an excellent collection of
resources as varied as Arts, Geography, History, Language, Science and a lot
more. A must-visit public domain resource.
7. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/div/books/ - A virtual library on the
Internet. Very extensive public domain resources.
8. Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/ - A de facto leader of the public
domain movement, this is a huge collection of online public domain works. The
books can be easily downloaded, and despite what Internet marketers might tell
you, this is a top-notch resource.
9. Wikipedia – Public Domain Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_resources - Wikipedia is free,
reader-maintained encyclopedia. As such, it has a fantastic list of public domain
resources (And I’m indebted to this list to help provide many links in this book).
10. SearchGov.com http://www.searchgov.com/ - Helps you search all .gov
(government) websites for the topics of your choice.
About Ian del Carmen:
Ian del Carmen is the president and CEO of Fireball Planet Corporation.
Check out his blog at http://IanDelCarmen.com. Or visit Fireball Planet at http://FireballPlanet.com
Disclaimer:
The authors and publishers of this information and the accompanying materials have used their best efforts in preparing this article. The author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this article. The information contained on this page is strictly for educational purposes. Therefore, if you wish to apply ideas contained in this article, you are taking full responsibility for your actions.
The third most popular question about the public domain (what is the public domain and
how can I make money from the public domain are the top two) is:
Where do I find public domain works?
As you know by now, the public domain is essentially a huge network of copyright-free
resources that are literally at your disposal to use as you wish (within the bounds of law, of
course). The real kicker comes in when some newbie first hears about the public domain,
fires up Google (insert your choice of search engine here) and types in ‘Public Domain’ (or
the more refined searcher may type in: ‘where to find public domain works’). The answer?
I’ll save you the trouble. A jumble of listings that tell you bits and pieces of the story. Most
of them don’t have any public domain materials in them at all.
When searching for public domain materials to use in your business, try using the
following top 10 internet resources for this task:
1. The Library of Congress - http://www.loc.gov/
The Library of Congress is perhaps the greatest reference resource on the Internet,
and as such is a goldmine for public domain works.
2. Free Online Books from UPenn http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/ - A large
collection of free online books that you can use immediately.
3. Virtual Theater http://www.vl-theatre.com/list4.shtml - An online repository of free
plays that you can use.
4. Literature.org http://www.literature.org/ - THE literature website on the Internet. You
can find all sorts of classics here. Who knows, maybe you could open a publishing
house for old philosophy texts.
5. The Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/ - A digital library of Internet sites –
includes audio and video resources as well.
6. Ibiblio.org http://www.ibiblio.org/ - A self-proclaimed public’s library and digital
archive. Links to other public domain resources as well as an excellent collection of
resources as varied as Arts, Geography, History, Language, Science and a lot
more. A must-visit public domain resource.
7. The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/div/books/ - A virtual library on the
Internet. Very extensive public domain resources.
8. Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/ - A de facto leader of the public
domain movement, this is a huge collection of online public domain works. The
books can be easily downloaded, and despite what Internet marketers might tell
you, this is a top-notch resource.
9. Wikipedia – Public Domain Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_resources - Wikipedia is free,
reader-maintained encyclopedia. As such, it has a fantastic list of public domain
resources (And I’m indebted to this list to help provide many links in this book).
10. SearchGov.com http://www.searchgov.com/ - Helps you search all .gov
(government) websites for the topics of your choice.
About Ian del Carmen:
Ian del Carmen is the president and CEO of Fireball Planet Corporation.
Check out his blog at http://IanDelCarmen.com. Or visit Fireball Planet at http://FireballPlanet.com
Disclaimer:
The authors and publishers of this information and the accompanying materials have used their best efforts in preparing this article. The author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this article. The information contained on this page is strictly for educational purposes. Therefore, if you wish to apply ideas contained in this article, you are taking full responsibility for your actions.
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Online Video - The Next Frontier?
Interesting video - worth watching if you are a webby person! - pro youtubers too :)
In memory of Weston Grand Pier
Zara's Note:
The picture's in the last half of the video were taken by me 4 days before the pier burnt down, I had been going there to take my annual walk around and get photos of the building from all sides, and I remember being please that I could get further down the pier at the back as it wasn't blocked off, which is how I got a better picture of the back of the pier.
The morning I first saw the pier towers engulfed in flames, I had a little flutter in my heart, and an emotion of sadness like I was watching the end of an era/ a piece of time fade away. I tried getting up to the soverign center par parks to get some better pictures but they were still closed off on the top levels - so I went home instead.
I didn't get the urge to take my video camera and live record it like many others did on their phones, the fist thing I thought of was my digital camera - I took 8 or 9 photos then went home, event recorded. Maybe it's because with a camera taking stills, it's just a moment caught on camera rather than the whole thing, I prefer it that way - maybe that means I am a photographer at heart rather than a video person, who knows ? - rather like a painting captures a moment of emotion and traps in on a canvas and it doesn't leak off the page, contained.
Anyway...just an update I forgot to add.
zara
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Big foot found ! Georgia Naylor says
Ah, sorry, I lie, just browsing google trends, seems a bigfoot corpse has been found somewhere!
this forum >>> has a link to it as it's via associated content - which might be associated press so i ain't quoting from them incase they charge me!
http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=85989&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
Interesting that the top entry (on google) for this is from a web search company.... maybe it i a "viral" search ? - I wonder how much they paid to learn that trick?
this forum >>> has a link to it as it's via associated content - which might be associated press so i ain't quoting from them incase they charge me!
http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=85989&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
Interesting that the top entry (on google) for this is from a web search company.... maybe it i a "viral" search ? - I wonder how much they paid to learn that trick?
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Uncle Sam Cracks Down Online! (read this or weep!)
Click Here => http://www.weblawclinic.com/a/a.cgi?gr8gift4u
Zara's Note: this article is worth reading again in light of Your Travel Biz going down the pan - sounds like their affiliates were treated like idiots so they rebelled - this should be warning to all potential CEO's that think they can palm off any old rubbish on their customers and ALWAYS get away with it - never underestimate the intelligence of your associates or the power of the law if you use a massive MLM structure as your business model to extract cash from them!
In a move that rocked the online world and left many Internet marketers shaking in their boots, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initiated a sweeping crackdown on
what they termed "Internet Scammers" and "Deceptive Spammers."
The FTC, along with state and federal officials, filed numerous criminal and civil law enforcement actions and froze the corporate and personal assets of some defendants.
According to the FTC, they went after a wide array of deceptive schemes and illegal scams including auction fraud, illegal sale of controlled substances, bogus
business opportunities, deceptive money-making scams, illegal advance-fee credit card offers, and identity theft.
In other words, Uncle Sam gave notice that people can no longer treat the Internet like the Wild, Wild West!
I welcome this long overdue crackdown on Internet evildoers.
For years, honest business owners suffered because Internet scammers caused consumer fear and reluctance to conduct business online.
As the government cleans up the back alleys of the Internet, consumer confidence will rise and sales will increase.
However, as with any crusade to bring about law and order, innocent businesses stand a real chance of getting caught in the crossfire.
Let's face it, if you get named in a lawsuit by the government - even if you're innocent -you'll still lose a lot of time, energy, emotion, and money defending yourself.
If you operate any business online, or plan to set one up,the following guidelines should help you avoid problems.
** Always Tell The Truth
Actually, this basic lesson from your Mom ranks the best way to avoid all kinds of trouble! "The truth shall set you free" ranks just as appropriate in the online world as in the offline world.
In fact, in the light of recent events, the truth might actually keep you out of jail!
** Avoid Outrageous Claims
Don't make outrageous claims you can't substantiate.
A big difference exists between good copywriting (salesmanship in print) and making claims that no sane person, or at least the average person, could ever achieve.
It's one thing to tell people you can show them "how to get thousands of hits to their website." It's quite another to say you will "show them how to get 10,000 hits to their website by tomorrow and make $15,000 this weekend."
** Turn the Tables
Look at what your business promises and actually delivers from the standpoint of a consumer.
Would you feel happy or sad once you did business with yourself?
Would you feel like you got your money's worth, or would you feel like you'd been held up at gunpoint in the middle of the night in the mini-mart parking lot?
Your gut answer to that question will go a long way toward keeping you out of trouble with the government.
Sort of funny how the "Golden Rule" of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" keeps cropping up in life as a way to consistently avoid trouble and heartache.
===============
Jim Edwards and Bruce Safran are co-creators of "The Online Marketer's & Website Owner's Legal Information Clinic" -- the authoritative guide to protecting yourself and your website against needless harassment, lawsuits, and other legal problems.
"Discover The TRUTH About Why the FTC or other Law Enforcement Agencies will "Raid" your Internet Business...and What YOU Can Do To Prevent It!"
Click Here => http://www.weblawclinic.com/a/a.cgi?gr8gift4u
Zara's Note: this article is worth reading again in light of Your Travel Biz going down the pan - sounds like their affiliates were treated like idiots so they rebelled - this should be warning to all potential CEO's that think they can palm off any old rubbish on their customers and ALWAYS get away with it - never underestimate the intelligence of your associates or the power of the law if you use a massive MLM structure as your business model to extract cash from them!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Uncle Sam Cracks Down Online!
- by Jim Edwards
(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Uncle Sam Cracks Down Online!
- by Jim Edwards
(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
In a move that rocked the online world and left many Internet marketers shaking in their boots, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initiated a sweeping crackdown on
what they termed "Internet Scammers" and "Deceptive Spammers."
The FTC, along with state and federal officials, filed numerous criminal and civil law enforcement actions and froze the corporate and personal assets of some defendants.
According to the FTC, they went after a wide array of deceptive schemes and illegal scams including auction fraud, illegal sale of controlled substances, bogus
business opportunities, deceptive money-making scams, illegal advance-fee credit card offers, and identity theft.
In other words, Uncle Sam gave notice that people can no longer treat the Internet like the Wild, Wild West!
I welcome this long overdue crackdown on Internet evildoers.
For years, honest business owners suffered because Internet scammers caused consumer fear and reluctance to conduct business online.
As the government cleans up the back alleys of the Internet, consumer confidence will rise and sales will increase.
However, as with any crusade to bring about law and order, innocent businesses stand a real chance of getting caught in the crossfire.
Let's face it, if you get named in a lawsuit by the government - even if you're innocent -you'll still lose a lot of time, energy, emotion, and money defending yourself.
If you operate any business online, or plan to set one up,the following guidelines should help you avoid problems.
** Always Tell The Truth
Actually, this basic lesson from your Mom ranks the best way to avoid all kinds of trouble! "The truth shall set you free" ranks just as appropriate in the online world as in the offline world.
In fact, in the light of recent events, the truth might actually keep you out of jail!
** Avoid Outrageous Claims
Don't make outrageous claims you can't substantiate.
A big difference exists between good copywriting (salesmanship in print) and making claims that no sane person, or at least the average person, could ever achieve.
It's one thing to tell people you can show them "how to get thousands of hits to their website." It's quite another to say you will "show them how to get 10,000 hits to their website by tomorrow and make $15,000 this weekend."
** Turn the Tables
Look at what your business promises and actually delivers from the standpoint of a consumer.
Would you feel happy or sad once you did business with yourself?
Would you feel like you got your money's worth, or would you feel like you'd been held up at gunpoint in the middle of the night in the mini-mart parking lot?
Your gut answer to that question will go a long way toward keeping you out of trouble with the government.
Sort of funny how the "Golden Rule" of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" keeps cropping up in life as a way to consistently avoid trouble and heartache.
===============
Jim Edwards and Bruce Safran are co-creators of "The Online Marketer's & Website Owner's Legal Information Clinic" -- the authoritative guide to protecting yourself and your website against needless harassment, lawsuits, and other legal problems.
"Discover The TRUTH About Why the FTC or other Law Enforcement Agencies will "Raid" your Internet Business...and What YOU Can Do To Prevent It!"
Click Here => http://www.weblawclinic.com/a/a.cgi?gr8gift4u
Brown Sues to Topple YTB
LOS ANGELES--California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced a lawsuit against YourTravelBiz.com for operating a "gigantic pyramid scheme" Zara's note: This action should be a BIG wake up called to all those MLMers that bitch about 2 tier affiliate marketing - 2 tiers / revshare wins again - MLM loses big time - you can cut the crap copy now, and go home, more than 2 tiers is highly likely to be following the "pillar in the community" that WAS YTB - this could open the floodgate for others to bring similar bogus MLM's to light !
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
THE 1000 dollar iPhone app, that does NOTHING
This proves that there is allot of suckers out there, this app is only for the rich, famous and stupid people.
Zara's note - if a bloke wants to charge people $1000 for a digital picture why not ? - art galleries are full of abstract art - are apple saying the developers aren't intelligent enough to justify the price of "art" or what ?On facebook they only charge you a dollar for a digital picture - it's still a dollar if 1000 people buy a $1.00 app. doesn't that equal the same thing ? . - what if they'd only charged $50 - how much is a digital image worth then ? - be interesting to follow this item
read more | digg story
Zara's note - if a bloke wants to charge people $1000 for a digital picture why not ? - art galleries are full of abstract art - are apple saying the developers aren't intelligent enough to justify the price of "art" or what ?On facebook they only charge you a dollar for a digital picture - it's still a dollar if 1000 people buy a $1.00 app. doesn't that equal the same thing ? . - what if they'd only charged $50 - how much is a digital image worth then ? - be interesting to follow this item
read more | digg story
Monday, 11 August 2008
How to Write an Ebook
How to Write an Ebook by Stelios Eleftheriou
The hardest part of writing is the first sentence.
When you look at the whole project, it seems like an impossible task.
That's why you have to break it down into manageable tasks. Think of climbing a mountain.You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?
There is only one way to climb a mountain - step by step.
Now think of writing your ebook in the same light. You must create it step by step, and one day, you will take that last step and find yourself standing on the
summit with your head in the clouds.
The first thing you have to do, as if you actually were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead of climbing gear, however, you must organize your
thoughts. There are some steps you should take before you begin. Once you've gone through the following list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your
ebook.
Beginning Steps to Writing an ebook
First, figure out your ebook's working title. Jot down a few different titles, and eventually, you'll find that one that will grow on you. Titles help you to focus your writing on your topic; they guide you in anticipating and answering your reader's queries.
Many non-fiction books also have subtitles. Aim for clarity in your titles, but cleverness always helps to sell books ? as long as it's not too cute. For example,
Remedies for Insomnia: twenty different ways to count sheep. Or: Get off that couch: fifteen exercise plans to whip you into shape.
Next, write out a thesis statement. Your thesis is a sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are
addressing and how your book will solve that problem.All chapters spring forth from your thesis statement. Once you've got your thesis statement fine-tuned, you've built your foundation. From that foundation,
your book will grow, chapter by chapter.
Your thesis will keep you focused while you write your ebook. Remember: all chapters must support your thesis statement. If they don't, they don't belong in your
book. For example, your thesis statement could read: We've all experienced insomnia at times in our lives, but there are twenty proven techniques and methods to
give you back a good night's sleep.
Once you have your thesis, before you start to write,make sure there is a good reason to write your book. Ask yourself some questions:
* Does your book present useful information and is that information currently relevant?
* Will you book positively affect the lives of your readers?
* Is your book dynamic and will it keep the reader's attention?
* Does you book answer questions that are meaningful and significant?
If you can answer yes to these questions, you can feel confident about the potential of your ebook.
Another important step is to figure out who your
target audience is. It is this group of people you will be writing to, and this group will dictate many elements of your book, such as style, tone, diction,
and even length.
Figure out the age range of your readers, their general gender, what they are most
interested in, and even the socio-economic group they primarily come from. Are they people who read fashion magazines or book reviews? Do they write letters in
longhand or spend hours every day online ?
The more you can pin down your target audience, the easier it will be to write your book for them.
Next, make a list of the reasons you are writing your ebook. Do you want to promote your business? Do you want to bring quality traffic to your website? Do you want to enhance your reputation?
Then write down your goals in terms of publishing. Do you want to sell it as a product on your website, or do you want to offer it as a free gift for filling out
a survey or for ordering a product? Do you want to use the chapters to create an e-course, or use your ebook to attract affiliates around the world? The more you
know upfront, the easier the actual writing will be.
Decide on the format of your chapters. In non-fiction, keep the format from chapter to chapter fairly consistent. Perhaps you plan to use an introduction to your chapter topic, and then divide it into four subhead topics. Or you may plan to divide it into five parts, each one beginning with a relevant anecdote.
How to Use ebooks for Marketing and Promotion
There are innumerable ways to use ebooks to promote your business and drive quality traffic to your website. Once posted on your site, you can turn them into a daily course, which brings your customer back to read the next chapter. You can use them as a free gift for making a purchase or for filling out a survey.
Put your ebook on a disc, and you will have an innovative brochure. Blow your competition away by inserting the disc into your sales packages.
The most effective marketing products are those that are unique. Copyright your ebook, and immediately, you have a powerful tool that you, and you alone, can
offer to the public. People will have to visit your site to acquire your ebook, which increases the flow of quality traffic and the potential of sales and affiliate contacts.
Make sure that you keep your ebook current. Update it frequently as the market and trends change. Add new
advice and techniques to show your prospects how your goods or services can enrich their lives. By constantly keeping abreast of new trends and techniques, you can continue to see profits from your ebook for years after your original creation.
Another phenomenal advantage of ebooks is that you can test their marketing potential without putting out hardly any cash at all. You can even produce an ebook one copy at a time, each time you receive an order, eliminating the need for storage and inventory. By this method, you can gauge the saleablity of your ebook, and make adjustments as necessary until the orders start pouring in.
Ebooks allow you to learn about your market and customer habits and motivation
over a period of time, without risking your precious financial resources. They also provide you with an invaluable way to gather marketing information, which you can use in many different facets of your business.
Use your ebook to discover what the specific goals and problems are in your specific industry. Then figure out how to solve these problems, and publish an ebook with this invaluable information. This will increase the value of your business, upgrade your reputation,and get you known as an expert in your field.
You can extend the value of single ebook by breaking the book down into chapters for a serial course, into special reports available on your website, or into audio or visual tapes. Ebooks can be broken down into several different promotional materials by excepting some of the articles and using them to promote your product.
You can include a catalog in your ebook to promote all the products or services you sell. You can include a thank-you note for reading your book and an invitation to download a trial version of your product. Or you can include a form for your audience
to contact you for further information or with questions, thereby building your business relationships and your mailing list.
Using ebooks in this manner helps to cut the cost of individually producing separate promotional materials. You can use a single ebook to entice new prospects and
to sell new products to your current customers.
No other medium has this kind of flexibility and ability for expansion. Think of your ebook like a spider spinning a beautiful and intricate web. Now go and create that web, and see how many customers and prospects you can catch!
------------------------------------------------------
Do you like downloading resell rights for free?
Then download this $297 niche marketing, master
resell rights package, while it's still available!
http://cbglobe.com/free-niche-ebooks.htm
Zara's note: i like some of this guy's visions for what the eBook can be - ebooks still need some sort of big image makeover to be cool with the coolcats, i.e the one's that think they are cheap and tacky - they just need a new cherry on top is all! the 'cake' foundations of the idea of them is fine - higher quality content is the missing ingredient - to much shoddy marketing bumf and dead banner urls.
Kindle is there and flexible monitors (you can hold like a book, in bed) run by wifi have got to be in the labs - so the digital reading of books - WILL NOT disappear, true people will watch more videos and TV and stuff on-line, but I'd happily read a "flexi book" in bed if I can't be arsed to type anymore for the night.
The hardest part of writing is the first sentence.
When you look at the whole project, it seems like an impossible task.
That's why you have to break it down into manageable tasks. Think of climbing a mountain.You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?
There is only one way to climb a mountain - step by step.
Now think of writing your ebook in the same light. You must create it step by step, and one day, you will take that last step and find yourself standing on the
summit with your head in the clouds.
The first thing you have to do, as if you actually were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead of climbing gear, however, you must organize your
thoughts. There are some steps you should take before you begin. Once you've gone through the following list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your
ebook.
Beginning Steps to Writing an ebook
First, figure out your ebook's working title. Jot down a few different titles, and eventually, you'll find that one that will grow on you. Titles help you to focus your writing on your topic; they guide you in anticipating and answering your reader's queries.
Many non-fiction books also have subtitles. Aim for clarity in your titles, but cleverness always helps to sell books ? as long as it's not too cute. For example,
Remedies for Insomnia: twenty different ways to count sheep. Or: Get off that couch: fifteen exercise plans to whip you into shape.
Next, write out a thesis statement. Your thesis is a sentence or two stating exactly what problem you are
addressing and how your book will solve that problem.All chapters spring forth from your thesis statement. Once you've got your thesis statement fine-tuned, you've built your foundation. From that foundation,
your book will grow, chapter by chapter.
Your thesis will keep you focused while you write your ebook. Remember: all chapters must support your thesis statement. If they don't, they don't belong in your
book. For example, your thesis statement could read: We've all experienced insomnia at times in our lives, but there are twenty proven techniques and methods to
give you back a good night's sleep.
Once you have your thesis, before you start to write,make sure there is a good reason to write your book. Ask yourself some questions:
* Does your book present useful information and is that information currently relevant?
* Will you book positively affect the lives of your readers?
* Is your book dynamic and will it keep the reader's attention?
* Does you book answer questions that are meaningful and significant?
If you can answer yes to these questions, you can feel confident about the potential of your ebook.
Another important step is to figure out who your
target audience is. It is this group of people you will be writing to, and this group will dictate many elements of your book, such as style, tone, diction,
and even length.
Figure out the age range of your readers, their general gender, what they are most
interested in, and even the socio-economic group they primarily come from. Are they people who read fashion magazines or book reviews? Do they write letters in
longhand or spend hours every day online ?
The more you can pin down your target audience, the easier it will be to write your book for them.
Next, make a list of the reasons you are writing your ebook. Do you want to promote your business? Do you want to bring quality traffic to your website? Do you want to enhance your reputation?
Then write down your goals in terms of publishing. Do you want to sell it as a product on your website, or do you want to offer it as a free gift for filling out
a survey or for ordering a product? Do you want to use the chapters to create an e-course, or use your ebook to attract affiliates around the world? The more you
know upfront, the easier the actual writing will be.
Decide on the format of your chapters. In non-fiction, keep the format from chapter to chapter fairly consistent. Perhaps you plan to use an introduction to your chapter topic, and then divide it into four subhead topics. Or you may plan to divide it into five parts, each one beginning with a relevant anecdote.
How to Use ebooks for Marketing and Promotion
There are innumerable ways to use ebooks to promote your business and drive quality traffic to your website. Once posted on your site, you can turn them into a daily course, which brings your customer back to read the next chapter. You can use them as a free gift for making a purchase or for filling out a survey.
Put your ebook on a disc, and you will have an innovative brochure. Blow your competition away by inserting the disc into your sales packages.
The most effective marketing products are those that are unique. Copyright your ebook, and immediately, you have a powerful tool that you, and you alone, can
offer to the public. People will have to visit your site to acquire your ebook, which increases the flow of quality traffic and the potential of sales and affiliate contacts.
Make sure that you keep your ebook current. Update it frequently as the market and trends change. Add new
advice and techniques to show your prospects how your goods or services can enrich their lives. By constantly keeping abreast of new trends and techniques, you can continue to see profits from your ebook for years after your original creation.
Another phenomenal advantage of ebooks is that you can test their marketing potential without putting out hardly any cash at all. You can even produce an ebook one copy at a time, each time you receive an order, eliminating the need for storage and inventory. By this method, you can gauge the saleablity of your ebook, and make adjustments as necessary until the orders start pouring in.
Ebooks allow you to learn about your market and customer habits and motivation
over a period of time, without risking your precious financial resources. They also provide you with an invaluable way to gather marketing information, which you can use in many different facets of your business.
Use your ebook to discover what the specific goals and problems are in your specific industry. Then figure out how to solve these problems, and publish an ebook with this invaluable information. This will increase the value of your business, upgrade your reputation,and get you known as an expert in your field.
You can extend the value of single ebook by breaking the book down into chapters for a serial course, into special reports available on your website, or into audio or visual tapes. Ebooks can be broken down into several different promotional materials by excepting some of the articles and using them to promote your product.
You can include a catalog in your ebook to promote all the products or services you sell. You can include a thank-you note for reading your book and an invitation to download a trial version of your product. Or you can include a form for your audience
to contact you for further information or with questions, thereby building your business relationships and your mailing list.
Using ebooks in this manner helps to cut the cost of individually producing separate promotional materials. You can use a single ebook to entice new prospects and
to sell new products to your current customers.
No other medium has this kind of flexibility and ability for expansion. Think of your ebook like a spider spinning a beautiful and intricate web. Now go and create that web, and see how many customers and prospects you can catch!
------------------------------------------------------
Do you like downloading resell rights for free?
Then download this $297 niche marketing, master
resell rights package, while it's still available!
http://cbglobe.com/free-niche-ebooks.htm
Zara's note: i like some of this guy's visions for what the eBook can be - ebooks still need some sort of big image makeover to be cool with the coolcats, i.e the one's that think they are cheap and tacky - they just need a new cherry on top is all! the 'cake' foundations of the idea of them is fine - higher quality content is the missing ingredient - to much shoddy marketing bumf and dead banner urls.
Kindle is there and flexible monitors (you can hold like a book, in bed) run by wifi have got to be in the labs - so the digital reading of books - WILL NOT disappear, true people will watch more videos and TV and stuff on-line, but I'd happily read a "flexi book" in bed if I can't be arsed to type anymore for the night.
Site Admin Updates
http://niches4u.blogspot.com/2008/08/click-bank-directory-of-digital.html
Okay, okay where's my news channel already! ? - well I've been juggling things about in my head again.
To me - here is what I have been doing and what i need to get around to
doing:
just registered some info. domain names for my blogs, need to orward them to blogs - need an article on why I've gone down the info route - other than the price!
also To do then -
do a tutorial article about setting up a website hosting solution for your website - do this via ustream, download, edit and reupload to youtube (can insert step by step slides then.
sort out commission junction and side panels - ummm - run out of uideas for the minute - add more when brain switches back on.
Okay, okay where's my news channel already! ? - well I've been juggling things about in my head again.
To me - here is what I have been doing and what i need to get around to
doing:
just registered some info. domain names for my blogs, need to orward them to blogs - need an article on why I've gone down the info route - other than the price!
also To do then -
do a tutorial article about setting up a website hosting solution for your website - do this via ustream, download, edit and reupload to youtube (can insert step by step slides then.
sort out commission junction and side panels - ummm - run out of uideas for the minute - add more when brain switches back on.
Are You An Ugly Network Marketer?
Hey - there’s a sad fact within this industry:most network marketers are really uglyNow, the good news is that I’m not talking about looks here. If I were, I could probably expect a bunch of hate mail or…
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Google: We Still Haven't Made Anything From YouTube
Google: We Still Haven't Made Anything From YouTube, Postini. But DoubleClick Is A Cash Machine by Peter Kafka
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Cloned dog owner revealed to be "Mormon Sex Slave" kidnapper
Bernann McKinney, the woman owner of the 5 cloned Pit-Bull puppies has been revealed by British media to be Joyce McKinney, a former Miss Wyoming and the 1977 fugitive rapist and kidnapper of a Mormon missionary. Kirk Anderson was kidnapped by Joyce at gunpoint and she handcuffed Kurt to a bed for 3 days and repeatedly raped him.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Defcon's Hackers TURN OFF pacemaker remotely!
The Defcon conference is the wild and woolly version of Black Hat for the unwashed masses of hackers. It always has its share of unusual hacks. The oddest so far is a collaborative academic effort where medical device security researchers have figured out how to turn off someone’s pacemaker via remote control.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Marlon Sanders article from consumer to producer
How to Go From Being A Consumer Of Internet Marketing
Info Products To Being A Producer And A Promoter Of
Products, Which Is Where The Action And The Money Is
By Marlon Sanders
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Info Products To Being A Producer And A Promoter Of
Products, Which Is Where The Action And The Money Is
By Marlon Sanders
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Today's the day, you know.
The day the magic bullet ends.
I'm not here to sugar coat things.
To candy coat his business and sell you sandcastles, dreams
and illusions of an easy life that doesn't exist.
Here's the truth:
The money is in producing and promoting products, NOT in
consuming "how to" info products.
Having said that, last year I spent $37,500 consuming ebooks,
courses, teleseminars and so forth on marketing.
In other words, I AM a consumer.
But dominantly, I'm a producer and a promoter of products.
My job in life is to come up with new products that create
value for my customers and to promote them to the best of
my ability within the time and money constraints I decide
on.
"Marlon, I have SPENT a small fortune. I have BEEN in
coaching programs. I have BOUGHT the course. How come I'm
NOT making any dough?"
Answer: You're consuming. But are you PRODUCING and PROMOTING?
And are you doing it more than ONCE? Are you out there playing
the Game every day?
Let me explain...
The problem I see a lot of people have is they consume,
consume, consume. But NEVER cross the bridge to creating,
producing and promoting.
Fundamentally, you ARE a creator. It's a law of life. You
don't get money from others until you create or possess
some sort of value they want and are willing to exchange
for.
The thing that STOPS a lot of people from becoming a producer
and a promoter is FEAR of getting it WRONG! You want it
all to be perfect, to be right, to NOT make mistakes.
Well, you can throw that out the door right now.
No matter how many courses you buy, you WILL make mistakes,
you WILL waste time, you WILL waste money. Then why do I
buy info products? Because I hate learning curves.
I hate figuring things out the hard way. I like doing it
the easy way.
But people get stuck there also. This program sounds good.
Then the next one sounds better or even more perfect.
Let me tell you what I've found -- there's often a difference
between what is SAID and what is DONE. Meaning, people tell
YOU to do one thing while they DO something else.
You'll notice most Internet marketing teachers DO things
in their promotions they don't teach. That's because they
feel they need to 1-up their customers.
They need to have audio tricks, podcasts tricks, video tricks
that are PROOF they have superior knowledge and skill.
When you go, "Wow, that was cool! How did they do that?"
When you say that, you can pretty much bet you'll never find
out.
I have an issue with that. If I pay you to show me then you show
me something entirely different, yeah, I have a problem with that.
Show it, reveal it, teach it or shut the (#_$ up!
I see a LOT of teachers who have huge, massive results. Which is
totally awesome. And their products are great theory. But they
NEVER reveal their secrets. They never really teach YOU how to
do exactly what THEY do.
They have the cool pdf's. They have the cool videos. They have the
trick blog graphics. Their video streams perfectly. They have
hotshot designers. They have awesome video editors. They have great
writers.
But they never tell you WHO these people are. Or HOW to create the
PDF graphics. Or how much they PAY the writers or video editors.
Or where and HOW they hired them and HOW specifically they manage
them.
Personally, I think it's a crock. They teach one thing and DO
another. And everybody acts like it's all so great what they're
teaching. Don't you WONDER exactly how they get their PDF's
distributed by everyone under the sun? Or how much they paid to
get that video edited. Or WHO did those killer graphics? Or
what the squeeze page really LOOKS like that built that 100,000
list?
Or whatever the case may be. I'm just saying I think you deserve
more.
Anyway, my goal is to "out" many of these methods. At least the
ones that have to do with promoting. You know, some of the real
tricks about how you do the cool podcasts, videos, pdf's, etc.
You know those trick PDF's you see with cool graphics? They're
probably done in Adobe In Design. But you can ALSO do them in
Power Point or Photoshop Elements if you know how.
You know those totally cool video effects? Probably done in Adobe
After Effects. Which is not too hard a program to learn, although
it isn't for newbies.
I think the test of a guru is NOT how tricked out THEIR list, PDF's
or whatever is. It's do they empower YOU to go and do thou
likewise?
Or are they just building their own little kingdom and keep the
secrets to themselves? Like HOW do you get trick graphics like that
on your blog? Who did them and how much did you pay?
Or HOW do you shoot video that looks that good? Or how did you get
those cool graphics on there? Where did you buy those sound
effects?
Now WHAT did that squeeze page look like exactly and HOW exactly
did you get those 200,000 emails on your list?
Whose empowering whom?
Who is performing MAGIC TRICKS and illusions, CHARGING you for the
secrets then NOT taking you back stage and teaching you some lame
basic sleight of hand trick?
This is about YOU.
I want to encourage and empower YOU to become a creator, producer
and promoter.
I want YOU to have cool pdf's, cool videos, cool podcasts, cool
web graphics. I want YOU to build that nice cash cow list.
Can you TALK? If you can, start doing podcasts as soon as you
can, even if no one is listening. At least you can post your
podcasts on your blog and send them out to podcast directories.
Create and send audio postcards to whatever list you have.
Don't have a list? Create AUDIO something or the others that
you GIVE away on a squeeze page to GET subscribers.
Can you WRITE?
Then get busy. Spend 30 minutes or 1 hour a day writing. "But
Marlon, I can't type!" I just talked last weekend to a best-selling
author with many books who types with TWO fingers! No bull.
So if you can write, get your blog up and start doing posts.
Write emails and sends them to your list. Don't have a list? Write
a free report, promote it and you'll HAVE a list.
Now, if you can't write and can't talk, you better get a business
partner or get REALLY good bidding out jobs on elance.com!
Here's my simple point:
You've gotta find ways to COMMUNICATE with your target audience
and get it going. You get better by DOING. Become a compulsive
DOER. You've got to add DOING to your LEARNING.
And the first step to doing that is to get over the fear of NOT
doing it right! The way you DO it right is by getting started
and DOING. Then, when you get stuck or make mistakes go back to
your info products and get help. Or go to a forum and get help.
The money in this business is made by creating, producing and
promoting.
You ARE a creator by design. If you have kids, you're a creator.
If you sing or speak or write, you're a creator.
Your creations do NOT have to be perfect. Few are.
They DO have to be something others want to exchange money for!
That's the criteria. Will others PAY for your creations? If
not, get better at it or create something else. And get better
at the promoting of your creations.
The best artist does NOT make the most money. The best promoter
makes the most money.
Now, a LOT of Internet marketing includes web design. You need
PAGES on the web. Those pages have TWO things -- design and COPY.
If you can ONLY learn ONE, learn to WRITE COPY! But I'd advise
you to get decent at both. It gets really frustrating if you can't
do any web design yourself.
But it gets really EXPENSIVE if you can't write any copy yourself.
I love graphic design. I really enjoy mucking around with Photoshop,
even though I'm not that good at it.
What I AM good at is writing copy.
So if you can ONLY learn one skill, learn to write copy. Or, if
you can't write good, learn to sell on TELESEMINARS. Good enough.
Lots of people in this business make great livings pitching products
via teleseminars.
My friend, this is NOT a complicated business in terms of strategy.
1. You target people who are likely to buy and have the money to
buy.
2. You offer them something VERY appealing for free to get them to
identify themselves as potential buyers.
3. You make an irresistible OFFER to get them as a first time
customer and build trust.
4. You SELL them more by sending emails that sends them to podcasts,
video, screen video, webinars or teleseminars.
Let's be honest...
The FUN part of this business is learning.
The DOING part gets frustrating. It's a technology business.
Servers go down. Autoresponders muck up. Software NEVER integrates
like it's supposed to.
There's a learning curve anytime you wanna do something new.
But THAT is where the money is also.
What I do for money pretty much is remove the learning curve. Take
the pain out of the learning curve.
Anytime there's pain, there's money.
But the money is in being a PRODUCER and a PROMOTER.
The challenge is to overcome the PAIN of things not working, of
NOT knowing which product to produce or hot button to put in the
headline or email to write.
And you'll NEVER know for sure. Gurus don't know. Don't kid yourself.
They ACT all certain because people want to buy CERTAINTY.
But they aren't certain.
There ARE no definitive answers. NONE! Business and life isn't a
connect-the-dots affair. It's not the real world.
Real world is you struggle with decisions. Real world is you aren't
sure. Real world is 7 things don't work and 3 DO work.
And if you never do the 7 the don't work, you'll never find the 3
that do.
Most people struggle under the illusion that gurus make all 10
things work.
Wrong.
Don't care who the person is. The law of life is 7 things don't work
and 3 things do. I could cite research done on something like 10,000
projects or experiments that validate this.
To sum up:
1. The money is in producing and promoting, not consuming
2. Consuming helps you shortcut learning curves
3. You'll make mistakes and get it wrong. Live with it
4. You'll never be certain
5. When you ARE certain, the rules change
6. You have to try 10 things to find the 3 that work
The people who succeed overcome the pain of doing.
That's the BIG secret.
They execute. Period. End of story. They do 10 things for everyone
else's 1 thing. But that's also where the THRILL is. There's a
certain THRILL in the doing. A certain adrenalin. A certain
excitement.
You don't get that sitting on the sidelines. You get THAT playing
the game. You gotta get IN the game and PLAY the game to win.
You get IN the game the moment you start producing and promoting.
And at first, you'll probably do it wrong. You'll get it wrong.
You'll choose a bad target market or a dumb product idea.
It's just the way the game works.
You get BETTER at the game by playing. You can READ chess books all
you want. But you'll NEVER be a great chess player till you pick up
a board and get your king captured and you kick yourself over making
a dumb move.
The thrill, the excitement is in the PLAYING. And also the mistakes,
the pain, the learning. You don't get one without the other.
Now, my new Promo Dashboard takes as much as the learning curve out
of the way as I could. It helps you avoid as much of the pain as
possible.
The purpose of the Dashboards is to HELP you execute. There's still
holes or things we overlooked. I try to cover everything. But
there's always something you forgot or didn't put in.
You'll still screw up or get stuck on this or that. I'm gonna have
a 60-day forum on Promo Dashboard to help out some.
Yet, this is the process. This is life. It's not all connect-the-
dots.
It's more like "be uncertain, not know, do anyway, make mistakes,
do more, some works, do more of that."
That's reality.
The thing that gets you buy is passion and a love for what you
do. If you don't love it, if you aren't passionate about it, you
have a long row to hoe.
If you produce and promote like crazy in this business, sooner or
later, the tide will turn your way.
That is what I believe.
Marlon
P.S. I meet people on seminars, get a lot of blog posts, etc.
from people who say, "Marlon, I loved this or that Dashboard or
I loved Amazing Formula or used Push Button Letters."
Or, "I saw you at the seminar and boy were you funny!"
And I love positive feedback. But if you really wanna put a smile
on my face, then this is it: "Marlon, you gave me that push I
needed to make the transition from being a consumer to a producer
and a promoter. Here's what I'm producing or promoting TODAY!"
I didn't say you had to make a zillion or whatever. But that you
get it and that you're producing and promoting, THAT is the thing.
If you do that, then LEARN and increase your skill, do it and do
it and get better at it .....
See, THEN the bux come.
THEN, your ship comes in.
A lot of people want a magic wand they wave and money comes in
the door. They want a magic bullet. The magic system that
can't fail.
My friend, there isn't one. Stop looking. Seriously.
The magic is in YOU taking action, and producing and promoting.
THAT is when the good things happen.
As soon as you get a system up and running, you can HIRE people
to run it for you like I do.
That is when the "lifestyle" kicks in. That's when the "lazy"
part kicks in.
But you gotta get in the Game and get things running first.
THEN you hire people and farm out your systems.
That's how I've not worked a lot in years. I got a system
up and running and then hired virtual assistants and recently
a few employees.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Marlon Sanders is the author of "The Promo Dashboard."
If you want to see it, go to promodashboard.com.
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Monday, 4 August 2008
Appreciating Difficult People - Ecademy
Most of them explain why these people appear to make things hard for you and suggest ways of making these people more pliable. However, have you ever thought about how these ostensible "saboteurs" could actually benefit you?
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Here's How To Make Internet marketing Work For You
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Why You Do NOT Need 1,000 Power Points And Pages Of Flow Charts
And Systems, And Why I Believe You Should Learn To Do Things
Yourself Before You Outsource, By Marlon Sanders
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hello,
Let's cut through the bull, the smoke, the mirrors and talk
about ALL you really gotta do to make it in this business.
There are SO many programs, systems, approaches and so much
pitching, posturing, promising and claiming, people lose sight
of the simplicity this business.
Folks, you GET people on your LIST and you SELL them! That's
it. Stop over-complicating.
How do you GET people on your list? You give 'em something
free they just gotta have. How do you sell 'em? Guess what?
You send SALES pitches via email that go to audio, video and
so forth.
This is a SALES game. We SELL people for a living. It's NOT
complicated in that sense, although execution can be a
challenge.
Forget all the complicated nonsense you've heard. You GET
people on a LIST and you sell 'em.
You don't need 1,000 Power Points to know how to do that.
You don't need 10 or 20 staff and buildings and offices!
You need an autoresponder, and something FREE and a way
to ADVERTISE it. Come on. It ain't rocket science. Get
'em on the list, find out what they WANT. SELL!
Sorry that isn't sexy or "sophisticated." Now, later,
if you're like me and don't wanna work much, yeah, you
can hire a customer service person and a webmaster.
For 7 or 8 years I used Lisa in Canada. You can do that too
after you have the money. The ONLY reason I have an office
now is I have aspirations of growing a bit bigger.
There are people who have a hidden agenda to take what is
at heart VERY SIMPLE and make it endlessly complex so
you'll buy program after program after program.
Which is fine IF you're at the level you need those things.
I contend you FIRST need to learn a few simple things about
how to GET people ON your list then SELL 'em.
And you do NOT need a team of 20 outsourcers to do that for
crying out loud. Seriously, you don't.
You know the Power Point slides showing you the 1,000 things
you gotta do in this business?
That's bull. I'm sorry. It's TRUE at a certain level if you
WANT to grow big and have 10 or 20 or more employees. And
yes, systems are good, even for small businesses.
With all due respect to my peers, you don't need to do all
that stuff. You just flat out don't.
You need to do a FEW of 'em. Not 1,000. You advertise or
promote something free. You have people sign up for your
list on your autoresponder.
You write emails and send.
You have conversion audio, video, blogs, etc. Yeah, if
I can convince you that 1,000 things are necessary and you
need endless people and systems to DO those 1,000 things,
I can SELL you a LOT of products, seminars, coaching, systems.
There is NOTHING wrong with coaching programs and seminars.
I think they're GREAT. I should do 'em but don't. However,
for you to feel confused and overwhelmed and think you
can't do this business without 'em?
Come on! Get real. Those things are great IF you have the
time and money.
But I know people who do $100,000 a month and have ONE employee.
I have another friend who does $100,000 a month and has I
think 1 full time and 2 part time.
You need someone doing customer service. You maybe need
a part time webmaster and later a full-time one. If you
want to grow bigger, you can later have a product creator
or an affiliate manager.
But at FIRST, you got few sales. You don't NEED the service
person until you're rocking and rolling. The webmaster?
You do stuff yourself. Please. Or, in a pinch, you
outsource to one of the inexpensive and talented graphic
designers.
I've had people tell me they've been in 2 or 3 coaching
programs or bought $40,000 of products and they're so
confused.
OK. Let's clear up that right now. This is going to sound
a little "preachy" or hard core. I'm the original Marketing
Evangelist, so what I can I say?
Step one: Get people on your list
Step two: Send emails
Step three: SELL
Which part of that equation is confusing? See what I'm
saying? THAT's what you do. THAT's ALL you do. Everything
else is fluff.
Well, how do I get people on my list? Try advertising and
offering something HIGHLY attractive for NADA. Try that.
Where do I advertise?
Where the people hang out! Blogs, forums, web sites.
Seriously, where ELSE would you advertise? On ships?
On the sky? See, this is basic logic.
What kind of ads do I run?
Ummm, ads that offer something FREE, maybe?
Banners or text? Both if they work.
What about affiliates? Yeah, they're good too.
What do I sell?
Uhhh, products people wanna buy. Either yours or other
people's. You got two choices -- create your own or sell
others.
Since back when I was marketing on AOL and Compuserve offering
my little FREEBIES through classified ads. The GAME was the
same! People were doing TELESEMINARS back then! And even doing
them on autopilot.
Yes, it's true.
What if people don't buy? Employ the full arsenal of audio,
video, PDF's. And raise your copywriting ability or hire
better writers.
I have a "conversion formula" that is gold. But I won't teach
it for free.
Here, let me spell it out step-by-step.
1. You gotta know WHO you're targeting and HOW you're gonna
reach them. That means knowing the blogs they read, the forums
they go to, the web sites they read, WHO they look to for
advice and who has the lists (potential affiliates).
Do NOT freak out if there are others selling in your niche
or market. This is a GOOD thing. It shows there's money.
And it gives you joint venture partners.
2. You gotta have a HOT FREEBIE that people will crawl over
broken glass to get their grubby little hands on!
People say all the time, "I can't get anyone to join my list."
Well, guess what? You don't got a freebie, or your folks
don't want it! That could be due to the freebie itself OR
to the presentation of the freebie.
There is a thing called "signaling value." Actual value
is NO more important than the signaled value. You signal
value through your graphics, words, and social proof.
Presentation is everything.
Your headline and bullet points have a BIG influence on
whether or not people join your list.
I'll repeat: It isn't enough anymore to JUST ask people
to join your email list. You have to GIVE 'em something
very enticing for doing so.
If they don't join, isn't it rather obvious the problem
is your freebie wasn't enticing enough, either due to
the freebie itself or the presentation?
Part of this process includes having a THANK YOU page
and a CONFIRMATION email that are effective and get people
to confirm.
3. You gotta send out emails that send people to
"conversion pieces."
Now, in "Amazing Formula" I originally told people to
just send emails. The game has changed. Now those emails
have to send people to selling tools like podcasts,
pre-recorded videos, live streaming video, PDF's, screen
capture video. And you need to incorporate Twitter and
even Facebook or Ning (Ning.com).
That WHOLE formula is explained graphically and in more
DETAIL at: http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FqBHn&m=J.5QbFpZ1Dr&b=SPDdpM_ElOTjy2uaeifVSA
That page is in and of itself an example of what I just
described. Here's another page that personifies the
process. A podcast I call "the pizza cast."
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FqBHn&m=J.5QbFpZ1Dr&b=jV5QBON_zKPgYm8g3I_kbQ
Here's another one I did for this project:
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FqBHn&m=J.5QbFpZ1Dr&b=ARtJ0Tur7JfzxK.gOCZz2w
Here's the thing: Creating screen video, podcasts,
pre-recorded videos, PDF's. All those things have
learning curves. And a LOT of marketing is literally
just about overcoming the learning curve of the tools.
The FIRST time you do any of those, it's new, different
and uncomfortable. I HATE learning curves. Which is why
we do the Dashboards to begin with.
A lot of people don't get this.
I can NEVER teach you every little thing. It's NOT about
that. It's about overcoming the 70% or 80% or even 50%
of the learning curve FOR you.
I've found once you "get it." Once the initial FEAR is
gone. Once you feel oriented, you can learn the rest
yourself pretty easily. It's just getting over that
initial HUMP.
There's always going to be learning curves. You'll never
have every little detail figured out for you.
But once you know the little tricks and secrets of
turning video into flash, stickin' it on a web page and
linking to it, doin' your podcast recording with Audacity
and turnin' it into flash with Sonic Memo.
Once you can do your screen recordings in CamStudio or
Camtasia then add some music in the editor, add a title
frame then save as the "right sized" flash file, so it
streams well, you're 90% of the way there.
This is what I've found.
One thing a lot of beginners don't get is you have to learn
to OPTIMIZE your graphic images (jpg's or gif's) and your
flash audio and video so the file sizes are SMALL.
For example, this video was 8 meg:
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FqBHn&m=J.5QbFpZ1Dr&b=SPDdpM_ElOTjy2uaeifVSA
A beginner that didn't know the tricks would've had something
30 or 40 megabytes that didn't stream. In other words, viewers
would get that herky jerky motion.
Oh, and you see that turning CUBE at the beginning and the
rockets that fire? Normally, that would increase your file size
too much. But NOT when you do it right.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Marlon Sanders is the author of "The Info Product Dashboard."
If you want to create your own info products, go to:
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=FqBHn&m=J.5QbFpZ1Dr&b=AqP7CNSqfHkIuRXrqtT5gg
Researcher reveals Twitter 'follow' bug
According to a security researcher attackers can exploit a bug in Twitter to force victims to follow the hacker's account. According to Aviv Raff, the Twitter vulnerability could expose users to malware-hosting Web sites. Raff added that the Twitter security team was notified on July 31st.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)