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May 7, 2008
 I exchanged a few emails today with a blogging buddy of mine. We were hypothesizing on a few things like SEO (Search Engine Optimization), organic traffic, buying traffic and the like. We were also speculating about a favorite nemesis of ours and wondering if he, in fact, actually made any money. We did both agree that he was a very good marketer.
Sometime later it hit me: some of these marketing guys are so good they could sell Crap-In-A-Box, literally. They do figuratively because some of what they sell is as useful (or is that useless?) as crap!
Who hasn't bought something that promised to be the next greatest thing and hours, days, weeks, months later discovered that it wasn't even close.?
I've bought products for use in this Internet Marketing/Business arena that I thought were awesome, well, good anyway, but they lacked a few things. So used them and put up with the poor design or bugs or whatever because they did what no other product would supposedly do. But, it dawned on me yesterday that maybe, perhaps, I'd been had on one product in particular. Taken. Used and abused. Just maybe the "need" that this product fills was completely fabricated, made-up and wrapped in make-believe proof. Could that be possible? I don't know. It's a hard thing to prove. I tossed this thought over to my blogging buddy and he agreed: it's definitely possible. If true, it means that the creator of this product sold crap, and continues to do so!
He's good. So good in fact that people clamored to get the next version of Crap-In-A-Box! Crap-In-A-Box The Sequel!
There's also the possibility that his product works. But I'm really starting to doubt that it does. There's also the possibility that his intentions were good and honorable and he just does not realize he's wrong. But I tend to think he knows he's selling crap to people who will, in all probability never use the software, or never realize that it fills a need that does not exist. Is this despicable? Not entirely because his product does actually help you do something, just not to the degree it's trumped up to, and in fact, the "magic sauce" that is the main selling point is not even necessary. So I guess it's half despicable if that's even a classification! Kind of like Larry on the old TV show Three's Company!
My point is that good marketing can sell almost anything. A good product does not! Let me say that another way: build it and they won't come... it doesn't matter how good it is... without marketing no one will buy it. The flip-side: put the right marketing behind it and you don't even have to build it and they'll show up. To those of us that actually like substance, these are hard concepts to take to heart but ones that we must learn to find success. |
If you're fortunate enough to create products or services with substance and you also have the marketing ability to sell Crap-In-A-Box, you'll be unstoppable!
Stay tuned until next time when we tie the Crap-In-A-Box analogy into our current Presidential race!
Until next time,
Fred
Posted by Fred on May 7, 2008 | Printer-Friendly
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May 1, 2008
 I read a great post today by Daniel Levis on Clayton Makepeace's Total Package site: It's My Birthday,
And I'm Mad As Hell ....
In this article Daniel rants about the state of things in Canada, the USA, as well as other areas of the developed world. He weaves in some good marketing observations and advice towards the end of the article. I say it's a must read.
I agree with his take on the state of things. We're in trouble. The mortgage crisis and the fuel price crisis have exposed the weaknesses in our economy to a lot of people who didn't see it before.
911:
Take a look back to 911 and the economic problems that were created and reverberated by that tragedy. Besides the horrible death and destruction, there were business and personal monetary losses felt by countless people not directly related to the tragedy. When 911 occurred, I was working at an Internet company that was seeking another round of investment and the new investor was scheduled to fly in that day. Obviously he never arrived, and his interest in investing never resurfaced. This was not an isolated case: I'm sure the same scenario happened to thousands.
The Perfect Economic Storm:
Perhaps 911 triggered some of the economic problems we're facing now, I don't know, but I do know that way too many people, and companies, are a gnats butt away from going belly up. We're living with an economic grenade in our pocket and the pin's been pulled. All it would take, in our current state, is another terrorist event like 911 to create the "Perfect Economic Storm". I pray it never happens. Sadly, we may even get there without it.
I often quote song lyrics on this blog (because I'm a songwriter myself) and one of my favorite singer / songwriters was the late Dan Fogelberg. Here's a song of his, from his "Windows and Walls" album (1984) titled "Gone too Far" that summarizes some of my feelings.
Gone too Far by Dan Fogelberg
World spinning out of control,
The odds diminish with every die we roll.
But we are still in the game,
If we should lose there's only us to blame.
Or have we gone too far,
Am I just wishing on a dying star?
Oh tell me, have we gone too far.
Look 'round you - what do you see,
Six billion people where there's room for three.
And so many mouths go unfed,
Oh Father give us all our daily bread.
Or have we gone too far,
Are we just wishing on a dying star?
Oh tell me, have we gone too far.
Each year we find newer ways,
To turn this planet into empty space.
So close now to zero ground,
We've got to find a way to turn it 'round.
Or have we gone too far,
Are we just living on a dying star?
Oh tell me, have we gone too far.
Or have we gone too far,
Are we just wishing on a dying star?
Oh tell me, have we gone too far.
What about Our Leaders?
To some extent, it doesn't matter who we elect: if the average person does not take more responsibility we're going to keep heading down the same dead-end street. If enough people make their wishes known, the elected officials will respond. When's the last time you wrote or emailed your elected officials and stated your position on an issue? Emailing, faxing, and calling are a lot easier than taking a bullet, having your legs blown off, or dying - all things that gave us the freedoms we take for granted.
We Don't "Deserve" Anything:
One of the things that burns me up the most, and Daniel touched on this in his article, is the current attitude of a large portion of the population that feel they deserve something. The only thing we deserve is the opportunity to achieve something by learning, working, and persevering.
Like a Rat in a Cage...
Unfortunately there are huge numbers of people caught in the middle. They're working hard and killing themselves like a hamster on a wire wheel in a wire cage: running and running and running and getting absolutely nowhere. We're trapped by the American Dream: get a job, get a car loan, get a mortgage, have a few kids somewhere in the sequence. Bam! The wire door slams shut and you're stuck. It's almost impossible to come out ahead. It takes incredible determination and hard work to break out of the cycle.
What's the Forecast? PAIN.
I say the storm is coming and we'd better prepare. If I'm wrong then great, we'll be fat and happy. If I'm right, those that prepare will still be fat and happy!
How do we prepare?
On the personal side by breaking the cycle as fast as possible. By creating income streams that are not dependent on your job. By reducing your debt. In short, by creating personal wealth. Like a drug addict, our society has become addicted to the quick fix. This is not a quick fix and unless you're prepared, it IS going to hurt.
One more thing, Do we actually MAKE anything in this country anymore?
What about businesses? Businesses constantly flush our future down the toilet to make the numbers look good today, or for this quarter, or for this year. They move production to Mexico, or India, or wherever and layoff, layoff, layoff to make the numbers look great. Do we actually MAKE anything in this country anymore? Until businesses stop treating profit like a football game it will never change. A football game is a contest with four quarters and when the clock runs out, the team with the most points wins the game. Life is not like that. The clock keeps ticking. When this quarter or this year is over, we still need to make a profit. That will not happen if we've raped the environment, screwed all the workers, disillusioned the customers, and gutted the factory to make a profit today. Wake up people, the clock's still TICKING!
Until next time,
Fred
Posted by Fred on May 1, 2008 | Printer-Friendly
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April 23, 2008
 When you see big launches that get picked up by the big names and sent out to huge lists, it's easy to feel like you'll never get there. It's easy to get frustrated, throw up your hands and say they're all snake oil salesmen.
How many of you reading this have purchased "secret reports" or the "end all, you can't possibly end up less than a millionaire if you buy this course" course?
How many of you have tried to follow those courses and how many of you have failed? Probably a pretty high percentage I'd bet.
There are only a few people that I'd buy a course from, and some of them are listed in my blog roll in the right hand column of this blog.
I'm sure some of the recent launches I've seen have quality products, and I'm also sure some do not. I ordered one last week because the sales letter/web page listed an item in the course that I wanted to know about... funny thing, after I got it, I couldn't find that item listed in the contents. Now it may be in one of the videos - I haven't' watched them yet - but since it was a major enough item to warrant it's own bulleted on the sales page, I would have thought it would be listed in the material and easy to find. (No, this was NOT Terry Dean's new course.)
So, what does this all mean?
It means you need to read my blog more and buy fewer products! Seriously, buying product after product does not help. You just get more and more overwhelmed and frustrated. When you receive an announcement or read a sales page for one of these product launches, you must realize that it was probably written by a very good copywriter, a copywriter who knows that you desperately want to get out of debt, create a bank account with lots of 0's and live the good life. They know your inner desires and wants and they know how to make you reach for your wallet.
Again, what does this all mean?
It means that instead of reaching for your wallet, you should study their work! It means that you should pick apart what is making you reach for your wallet and use it in your own copy. I'm NOT saying to plagiarize. I'm saying learn and incorporate. This will achieve two important things: 1) it will slow down your trigger finger on your credit card, and 2) it will teach you to write better copy.
In the second paragraph I mentioned product launches getting picked up by the big names and blasted to their huge lists. This is a big, big part of being successful in Internet marketing. Your list is and should be your focus.
How do you build your list?
At first it grows very slowly. My advice is to create a few items to give away in exchange for someone signing up for your list. These can be products or reports: something of value, not junk. My list started growing much, much faster after I did this.
A lot of advice is written on joint ventures (JV) as a means to build your list. There's nothing wrong with this, but its' not an easy thing for a new marketer to do. How many people with a huge list are going to promote a new Internet marketer's product? Most products from new marketers are probably not good enough to generate a yes. However, if you keep creating and working at it, after a while, you'll build some relationships and will work up to the point where you'll be able to have a product that other marketers will gladly promote to their lists. That's when YOUR list will really start to grow.
The two factors that these big launches have going for them is 1) their creators have big lists and good relationships with other bloggers and marketers so that their sales message reaches a huge, huge audience, and 2) they have really good sales copy. Sure, there are a lot of other smaller factors, but without these two they wouldn't be putting the big dollars in their bank accounts.
Do it for Free at First.
If you're just starting out and want to learn how to create a simple form to capture a name and email address, get my Interactive Web Scripting Course. It's free... if you sign up to my mailing list! It teaches several things, one of them is a simple way to start building a mailing list by having someone fill out a form and have their information emailed back to you. Later, when you start getting lots of signups, you can move this list of names to a paid subscription service like Aweber, or your own database. But for starting out, the most important thing is to quickly get a form on your site so that your visitors can sign up.
Until next time,
Fred
P.S.
I also ordered a script type product a couple of weeks ago that I'm not happy with. For those not in the know, Internet Marketing people call a lot of things "scripts". Being a programmer, I call a short, simple algorithm that does something like switch out an image on a web page a script. However, complete web applications are also referred to as scripts. Anyway, I'll probably detail my frustration in an upcoming post because I don't want anyone else to have to deal with these guys... I'm reserving judgment until I get the next response from their "support". Their support takes at least a day to get back to me and the first response took over a week... not the way to impress an already frustrated customer.
Posted by Fred on April 23, 2008 | Printer-Friendly
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April 17, 2008
 This is the 2nd blog post from a very special guest blogger: my maternal Grandfather: Clyde W. Kirkman (1915 - 1989). Please see the 1st article, Progress Never Begins for Any Man until He Substitutes Dreams and Talk with Action, for more information. The photo at left is from WWII, 1945; my Grandfather is on the left and his buddy Joe Melka is on the right. The photo was made in April 1945, in Germany, with a simple box camera just before the meeting or link up at the Elbe River between the U.S. and Russian troops.
One thing I find amazing is that this article is as pertinent and timely today as it was when he wrote it, probably 30 some or more years ago.
Have we Forgotten
Have we forgotten that it is a self evident truth that the strength and stability of a nation is in proportion to the character of its individual people? For no government is stronger than its people. A strong government depends on people who will work for what they want, people with tolerance, ambition, kindness, intelligence and good common sense.
In spite of this fact, the majority of the people in the United States are the kind who spend their lives expecting to be happy at some future date. They seem to be waiting for someone to come along and dump happiness and prosperity into their laps without them so much as turning a hand. These are not the kind of people we need in the world today.
We need people who will work for what they and their nation need and want, and who will do it today - now. Have we forgotten that real happiness - pure and complete happiness - lies not in trying to make our own selves happy but in trying to make others happy?
Have we forgotten that material pursuits, the quest for riches, and the desire for personal popularity, and the pomp of powers do not in themselves bring contentment? By the observation of present day morals and standards, it is evident that we have forgotten.
We have forgotten with the full realization that our greatest teacher, the history of our ancestors, proves that spiritual knowledge and practical application of spiritual qualities alone bring real peace and happiness. Yet how many families do you know that can spend one evening at home together, having no outside entertainment and be content with family fellowship? It is a pitiful few.
In spite of this fact we know that our nation and our government cannot possibly be any stronger than our family life.
Therefore, we must not forget that the need for clear thinking and a pure sense of direction has never been so urgent as now.
We must garrison our souls with pure and righteous thinking in the face of the dangerous and destructive doctrines that assail us from all sides. We must champion the cause of common sense and social stability, despite political dissension and claptrap. Yet we must be tolerant toward those who are victims of false standards. We must keep our spiritual investments sound and secure, although material power flaunts its defiant force and threatens social disintegration. We must cultivate more patience, good will, serenity, tolerance, sympathy and humility.
Have we forgotten that in simple thrift and economy, we must make our homes independent? Let us in frugal industry make them self sustaining. In sacrifice and denial, let us keep them free from debt and obligation. Let us make them homes of refinement in which we shall teach our daughters that modesty, patience and gentleness are the charms of a woman. Let us make them temples of liberty and teach our sons that an honest conscience is every man's first law, that his supremacy rest beneath his hat, and that no splendor can rob him and no force justify the surrender of the simplest right of a free and independent citizen. Above all, we must teach them the Bible, that book of books in which all the ways of life are made straight and the mystery of death is made plain. By these means we may confidently hope to save the world from dire calamity and erect a cathedral of life in which all men may find a peaceful habitation.
Have we forgotten that our history proves beyond any doubt that the simple things are really the great things in life? That back of the national capitol and above it stands the home, and back of the president and above him stands the citizen? What the home is, this, and nothing else, will the capitol be. What the citizen wills, this and nothing else, will the government be.
Clyde W. Kirkman
Posted by Fred on April 17, 2008 | Printer-Friendly
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April 16, 2008
 Terry's at it again. He's created a new internet business training product that he'll release next week. He's giving away a copy to one person. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment to his post as to why you should be the one to receive it. Terry is a good guy; if he was a cowboy he'd wear a white hat! His products are legitimate, as opposed to some out there.
Here's the link to his post: http://www.terrydean.org/contest-for-a-free-copy.
Get over there and leave a comment!
Until next time,
Fred
Posted by Fred on April 16, 2008 | Printer-Friendly
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April 8, 2008
 My son Walker (3 years old) has a DVD of construction / logging / building that he really loves to watch. He likes the logging segment best, he also really likes the big construction machinery segment that shows huge dump trucks, excavators, diggers, blasting, etc. He was watching it tonight, and I was watching him and his expressions: eyes wide and flashing as a huge hole was being dug for construction of a new skyscraper. I could tell he was planning what he was going to build... and it was going to be BIG!
Through The Eyes of a Child:
Walker dreams big: I mean big. He thinks he's Paul Bunyan! He walks around in our backyard with one of his toy chain saws or his wooden double-bit axe that his uncle made him, "chopping" down trees!
He has no fear: there's a Japanese maple in the front yard that he can easily climb up the first few limbs. He always wants to go higher and higher. A scraped stomach from sliding back down the limbs never deters him either. I hold him as he climbs as high as I can reach and he still wants to go higher (I don't let him though).
We Build Our Own Jails and they're Usually Invisible.
What does this have to do with business, online business, internet business, or marketing? Everything, and not just online either, this applies to offline as well.
For every year that goes by without achieving your goals and dreams, a little bit of those huge, lofty, innocent aspirations die. Each year you let "reality" creep in more and more until you are convinced that you'll never do what you wanted. And guess what? You won't.
I put "reality" in quotes in the preceding paragraph for a reason. Reality is YOUR perception of YOUR world, nothing more. Take a homeless person off the street who hasn't eaten in days, showered in weeks, or had any medical attention in years; put them in jail for a week and, unless they get beat up or abused, they'll probably be happy for the opportunity to get cleaned up, eat, and get some medical attention. Conversely, take a wealthy person living in a 4000 square foot home with two cars, health care, a family, and plenty of food to eat; put them in the same jail, and they'll spend their week stressed to the limit trying to get out. Reality is perception. It's easy to see in this case, not so easy in real life. The fact is, if you believe you'll never succeed you've imprisoned yourself just as strongly as if you walked into a jail and let those iron bars slam shut behind you.
Unless you're King Midas, the Status Quo Ain't Cutting It!
If you're an average Joe you have a busy life; too much debt and too much to do. Like a lobster being cooked who doesn't realize that the water is getting hotter and hotter, you don't see your goals, dreams, and aspirations getting smaller and smaller and farther and farther away. You have to work to stay focused and keep your dreams in front of you and keep them alive.
For example, when I was 16 I wanted to be a country music star: today I'm content to occasionally write a song and have a quiet moment to sit down and play the guitar. But that's OK right? NO! It's NOT! I don't necessarily want to be a "star" now, because I don't want to be away from my family for extended periods of time, however, I still want to walk out on the stage of the Grand Old Opry and sing! I still want to have Rhonda Vincent, Martina McBride, Alison Krauss, or another major star record my songs. I will continue to put forth an effort to get there, but more importantly, I believe that I can. That belief is important. When I was younger, I didn't believe that I was good enough and was fearful to try. But that gradually changed and now I know I am, I can, and I will. It's just a matter of time and perseverance.
This applies to anything and everything in your life. If you're not where you want to be then you need to get moving in a positive direction. This covers anything from relationships to careers to hobbies to health. Rocking the boat and stepping out of the status quo can be difficult. You may have fears to overcome. You may have relationships that must end before you can move forward. Just like cutting down a big oak tree with an axe, you have to start swinging, the chips have to fly, and you have to swing a lot. You need a good sharp axe, but you have to swing it and hit the tree... it won't cut the tree down without being put in motion.
Books like I've listed in the right column can help too... check them out! Here are reviews on three of them:
My Review of Joe Vitale's book "Zero Limits",
My Review of Terry Dean's book "Financial Freedom", and
My Review of Joe Vitale's book "The Key".
Turn Back Time and Turn on the Gas!
What dreams have you let slide that still flicker deep inside you like a pilot light flickering in the dark? What's stopping you from turning on the gas and setting your world on fire? Get back to the state of mind of an innocent child and dream like you believe that all things are possible: because they are!
Until next time,
Fred
Posted by Fred on April 8, 2008 | Printer-Friendly
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