What I’m really asking is “are you a carbon copy marketer and to what extent is copying someone elses marketing blueprint benefitting or hurting your online business?”

I’m all for copying to a certain extent but as marketing estrodinaire, Jim Connolly and I discussed with the some weeks ago, following someone elses marketing blueprint can actually be detrimental to your business.

What was interesting from my conversation with Jim was that he has been in marketing for many years and then when he came online, what he did, was applied his knowledge of offline marketing, online.  This is an observation I had made many years ago from the “big guns” in Internet Marketing … most of them worked in marketing prior to making a living online.

Now, I’m not suggesting you give up your online marketing strategies to go learn all about offline marketing since I think perhaps the underlying success factor amongst those who applied their offline strategies online, had something that I believe many online marketing beginners miss ….

They have a real understanding of marketing

They know “how” marketing works … who their target market is, the mindset of their target market and what will make them buy and, they apply these basic principles to their online business.

One of the few things I remember from working toward my MBA, was just how “bad” it was to compete on price only and yet online, whilst subtle, many marketers compete on price!  Have you noticed that all the home study courses cost more or less the same.  Membership sites are popping up all over the place using the same price structure?

The value added bonuses are from the same circle of affiliate marketers and to get the bonus, you have to opt into their list?

If you want to be different, if you want to stand out from the crowd, it’s time to add some value to the products and services you provide.

I stopped competing on price a long time ago but the value I give goes way beyond building a blog.  As I explain to prospects, in the early days when I built blogs, this is as far as most of my clients went with their blogs … the first and last post, was the one I helped them write.

When I began adding value by focusing on building an online business using a blog, over 95% of my clients worked their blogs and made it work for them.

The difference … I stopped competing on price and focused on giving value. And for me, this meant increasing my prices, not lowering them.

The likes of Tesco supermarket make value mean “cheap” but we are not cheap!

We are providing a solution to people wants.  And do notice I said “want” and not “need,” since want is actually a far more powerful motivator than need.  This is why the likes of Tesco do well with their “value” range … they appeal to those people who think they need to cut on spending when in fact, most of them want to reserve money for their wants … going to the cinema, eating out, buying their child a new computer game.

So, how do you add value?

You have to be different?

How do you “be” different?

You have to be creative and, you can start this creative process by asking “how do I want people to feel when they consume my product or use my services?”  “What value can I add that my competitors are not providing?”  You can create your niche within a niche just by being different and therefore, even in a so say oversaturated market, you can compete successfully and win.

Until next time,

The biggest plus I learnt was how to write non hype copy.  If you were fortunate enough to have purchased Alex’s Copywriting Classics which, I believe is no longer available, you’ll have a idea about what I mean.  I even printed the copy Alex used to sell The Classics because the copy was so engaging.

But, my intention isn’t to go into copywriging in any depth here but to highlight some of the really important tips I learnt from Alex in terms of communicating on a daily basis whether through my blogs, email, sales copy or creating products.

• Stick to one point per email - oh, I’ve broken this one but each time I do, I pay for it
• when a full stop will do, there is no need to use exclamation marks
• In business conversations, more than one exclamation mark really is the equivelent of shouting at your reader
• Using more than one question mark is the equivelent of innappropriately challenging your reader and in my personal experience is the best way to lose good business colleagues
• Avoid captialising too many words to make your point.  This can have the same effect as over using the question or exclammation marks - underline gives a far better effect
• Avoid using blocks of capitalised and bold text since this really makes it difficult for your reader
• Use sub headings even in your emails to enable your reader to scan the text - guilty of forgetting this one too

It may not seem much, but just try improving on these seven points and watch your communication and business relationships improve.

Until next time,

Want to know the basics of SEO but confused about what is right, what isn’t and is Fred Blogs just trying to sell me something.

Well, there is no more need to guess or be afraid for that matter since Google have just published a basic guide on SEO for beginners.  Even if you’re not a beginner I suggest you go take a look especially if your advice came from a third party.  You never know when they might be wrong or, using clapped out old strategies - even if they did come from Google in the first place … many moons ago!

This is a snippet from the guide about why you should read it:

“Although this guide won’t tell you any secrets that’ll automatically rank your site first for queries in Google (sorry!), following the best practices outlined below will make it easier for search engines to both crawl and index your content.”

I’ve read the guide and even though I am a bit of a techie, there is just practical down to earth information that every marketer could utilise even if they don’t want to go down the full gourmet SEO route.  It’s an extra hours worth of work that could bring you lots more business … for free!

Go to http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com to get a free copy of the guide.

Best,

But darn it, I must have dozed and along came the email from Ryan Deiss, saying what I couldn’t have said better.

I’ve no doubt all the “NaySayers” are about to emerge from the woodwork, but I really do take my hat off to John Reese, for making such a huge decision.

I actually thought the email I received was spam when I first read it this morning and had to read it again.  And I’m sure John must have had many sleepless nights thinking “should I, should I not?”

But, I agree with Ryan Deiss on this one …

“Only a Grade-A, Status Quo Coward would chastise John or relish in the “failure” of BlogRush”
Whilst on a much smaller scale, I had to make a decision earlier this year to close down one of my membership sites.

It was fraught with issues right from day one - which incidentally started with choosing the wrong software - and then there was just one technical issue after another and eventually, the time investment just wasn’t giving me the desire I’d imagined.

In addition to all of this, WordPress 2.6 was released which rendered some of my videos outdated.

I know many would still have happily charged for outdated videos, but my conscience wouldn’t let me and eventually, I just allowed free access to my current members and I’m now rebuilding my membership site … so keep a look out.

Incidentally, if you are thinking about building a membership site, then you need to take a serious look at Stu McLaren’s WordPress Membership script.It’s especially made for WordPress and in my view, has many more features than membership sites that will cost you hundreds of dollars in membership fees each year.

I know you must all be fed up of the “Recession” emails going around, I know I am, but seriously, now is not the time to be looking for excuses to fail or pointing the finger at other people’s failures.  From the 1930’s recession emerged some millionaires who were opportunity seekers … will you be one of the millionaires that emerge from this recession?

I personally hope that John Reese provides some insights into the lessons he learnt from BlogRush since I would love to read and learn from his journey from its inception to the close of BlogRush.

If you don’t know what image advertising is, it’s what Coca Cola, Ford Motor Company and other large organisations do … they take every and any opportunity to get their logo in front of you and, they attach emotion to their logo by advertising their product in the happiest setting such as on the beach or work break time (Coca Cola and Diet Coke for example).

The problem with image advertising is it’s hugely expensive and the truth is, few companies using image advertising make a return on investment but yet, they still pour millions of dollars into advertising in this way.

If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur, be warned …

Image Advertising is Dangerously Expensive to the Longevity and Growth of Your Business

I know most people are not going to want to hear that because this is what they were taught in Business School.  I was too, so it’s not sour grapes!  My MBA taught me little about “real world” marketing and depite spending in excess of £10,000 ($20,000) to earn it, it cost me much, much more to learn how to marketing my business both online and offline.

But I’m going to reserve my spiel about what it cost me participate in Image Advertising and the BEST way for small businesses and entrepreneurs to approach marketing for my next blog post.  For now, I want you to watch Andrew Locks’s video and take note of his 21st Century methods for marketing your business.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised that you don’t need an MBA to market effectively.

Until next time,

I’m a big fan of Dan Kennedy’s marketing tips and when I first started online, I learnt some valuable lessons from him.  The one that really stuck in my mind is “be in charge of marketing your business.”

But what exactly does Dan Kennedy mean because if you’re a technophobe right, you don’t want to get your hands dirty or tied with website building, graphics or search engine optimization.

Well, the good news is, this isn’t what Dan Kennedy was referring to.

And, I’m going to use a real life situation here to explain my point and I hope after you read this short case study, you’ll be motivated to take control of your marketing.

I was speaking to someone a few weeks back who wanted to put some affiliate links on their site, but they had zero content on their site.  Naturally, I explained that putting up a banner with the affiliate link would be insufficient because to make money, they’d need traffic.

In short, it transpired that despite the fact that this person had been coached for 2 years, they didn’t have a clue about the process of marketing.

This person had thrown their hands up in the air saying they were not technical and in doing so had abdicated (and I do mean abdicated) their entire process of marketing.

Now, you’re probably asking the question “well what about her coach?”  Good question!  But here’s the rub … this person has changed their business model and online business so many times that I was not surprised that two years later, they had no content, no traffic and no business.

To me, it felt that in “deciding” that they were no good technically, they had outsourced everything technical (which is good) but also seemed to have adopted a mentality that you could make money online without traffic and without content.

Needless to say, I was very straight with them and suggested they go sign up to Ed Dales 30 day challenge so they could learn the process of marketing.

Even if you don’t “do” the techie stuff yourself, you need to understand that like anything else, there is a process to marketing.

If you fail to understand that process, you fail to understand marketing and you fail to be in charge of your business.  And the result … your business WILL fail.

With the casestudy I provided you with above, it wasn’t just the absense of content and traffic that was the issue, this person seriously missed the mark on how to get traffic.

I had one person say to me once “my blog’s been up for months now and not one person has signed up to my newsletter.”  Well the answer to that one was easy, “you have five articles on your site which are at best mediocre.”

And, I’m sorry if I offend the freebie seekers now, but learning how to do things properly online does not begin and end with gleaning “tid bits” from this site or that blog - here and there.  At some point, you’re going to have to SPEND SOME MONEY!!!  Did I shout!

I believe I did, but people really have to hear this.  None of us learned to read and comprehend grammar by picking up books and scanning them or reading a page from this book and another page from another.  Getting the whole picture is what what helped with comprhension.

So, if you want to be in charge of your business, you have to be in charge of your marketing and to do that, you’re going to have to learn the process of marketing.  The best way to learn?  Follow a step-by-step program.  If you find a free one then great and I do highly recommend Ed Dale’s 30 Day Challenge for starters.

You’d also do well to hire a coach or mentor who has done what you would like to do so they can show you exactly what you should be doing and, what to avoid.  Ask yourself the question, “how do I learn best,” and then find something that matches your learning style and stick to it.

Even if you outsource elemements of your online business and even if from day one, you have no intention of doing it yourself, understanding the process is going to turn you into a an intelligent and savvy marketer who will know the right questions to ask from the right people.

Until next time,

Just a few days ago, WebPro news wrote an interesting article about Google devaluing DMOZ and Yahoo links.

If you are using directory submissions or thinking about submitting your site to directories, this really is a must read and as always, I highly recommend that you pay attention to some of the comments too.

Like any linking strategy, my arguement is that natural inbound links as a result of good quality content is better than any other link-building strategy.  If you add up the time it takes to submit to directories, ask yourself the question, “how many articles could I have submitted or, how many blog posts could I have written or how many video and audio posts could I have created?”

I have not doubt that the Directory Submission debate will go on for many months to come, but my conclusion is that I would prefer to put my time and energy into something that’s going to fetch me some long-term gains, like article writing.

If you are interested in an article submission service with a difference, go check out AffSphere.

That said, there are those using better quality versions of the magazine style type blogs and for a number of reasons, I decided to give it a try.

My initial intention was the use the Revolution Theme and while the final decision hasn’t been made to ditch it just yet, someone recommended the One Theme and in a weekend, I put my blog back together again.  So, if you visited my blog over the weekend and it looked a mess, sorry!  The work needed to be done and I decided to build it on the fly.

There are some great features about Semiologic that I’ll miss and when they come out with their new magazine style, I may revert to Semiologic but for now, I wanted a few more elements such as a decent size video in the sidebar that I couldn’t do with Semiologic.

I’ve already been asked to do a review of the One Theme and just as soon as I’ve done my membership site which, uses the One Theme, I will do a full review.

What I can tell you right now is that if you want more control over your blog with a magazine style layout, I recommend you take a close look at the One Theme.

If I’m honest (which I am!), I don’t think it’s quite as sophisticated looking as the Revolution Theme … now don’t shoot me guys, this is just my humble opionion.  There are also some really cool features that I loved in the Revolution theme but the truth is, the more sophisticated the theme, the more coding required to get what you want.  The One Theme on the other hand will give you all the necessary features and more for creating a great looking blog in less time.  And, they are adding more new features with each release.

They may even knock spots off the Revolution Theme in time, “who knows!”

Oh, and you ought to go check out their video … these guys know how to create videos that sell!!

Look out for some new marketing tips videos from me in the future.

I’ve just been watching Rich Schefren on his 24 hour Ustream live incentive.  Personally, I just can’t turn it off - it’s great.  As I’m writing this, Rich is interviewing a copywriter, Clayton Johnson, and he said that if you focus on helping others build businesses, during a financial downturn, you can actually captitalize on this.

People are fed up of being laid off the minute there’s a hint of financial distress

People don’t want to be “in” on the Rat Race and so when laid off, many people look to starting up their own business.

These people are usually aware of the failure rate in starting a new business but, at least they can give 100% to their own business and walk out with 100% minus costs.  They’re not being told what skills they should have and what aspects of their biggest strengths are not required for their business - boy did I hate this when I worked in the corporate world.  When did these people suddenly become my maker?

Anyway, I digress …

The point I really wanted to make here is …

Just because there is a downturn in the economy, it is not the end of the world!

There is still enough money to go around to pay your bills, buy you a decent holiday, allow you to eat well, you just have to get that money from a new and different source.

It’s time to dig!

Pearls, diamond and gold are not found on the surface.  You have to dig for them and so long as you’re digging in the right place, you’re persistent and consistent, you have to strike gold at some point.

This is why the old saying is “hidden treasures.”

So, what’s the difference between Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Sir Allan Sugar and you?  Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Sir Allan Sugar are “diggers,” who refuse to give up digging.

So, how do you keep digging during a financial downturn?

If your online business does not focus on business building, then focusing on solving people’s problems will not diminish because of the recession.  People still want to know how to get rid of migrains, how to manage ADD, how to fix their PC etc.

And the great thing is, the Internet is termed “WWW” for good reason … it’s the World Wide Web, and so just because recession is prevalent in one part of the world, it’s unusual for it to be world wide.  So, get creative and offer your products and services to others around the world.  Information products allow you to do this.

I could make this a long post, but I highly recommend that you grab a copy of Rich Schefren’s report “The Entrepreneurial Emergency.”  In it, he will tell you the difference between having potential in your business brought about by your knowledge, skills etc versus what “constraints” you need to overcome in order to be successful.

This report is relevant no matter what business model you’re using to make money online and it really gets to the heart of why you should be focusing on business building and not on the website or blog which, are just tools to help you market and grow your business.

Get the report now, enjoy the read and, go implement.  Oh and for the sceptics - this is not an affiliate link … I just felt it necessary to share this great resource with you.

But do you know who your “time suckers” are?  And more importantly, do you know how to manage those “suckers!”  No pun intended - seriously! :-)  Just sounded good!

I receive the Coaching Compass newsletter from The Coach Training Alliance on occasions and today’s article was one I felt would speak to many of my readers as it did to me.

Apart from the effective time management element, the real question is whether you’re worth the value you provide and therefore, is your time worth more than you’re charging for.

Take a look at the article and make a decision today to value yourself more by beginning to value your time:

***********

Are You Undercharging?
by Kendall Summerhawk

The topic of money can make even the most confident entrepreneur start squirming in their seat. What we charge seems to get tangled up with how much we value ourselves.

Our sense of self-worth and our rates are in synch with each other. This is why it’s crucial to take a good, hard look at how we spend our time and plug up leaks in our “money bucket.”

If you suspect you undercharge here are a few pointers that will help:

As change experts and choice architects, we Professional Coaches face two fundamental challenges:

Tip #1 - QUIT WORRYING ABOUT GETTING IT RIGHT
Worrying about what to charge chews up valuable time and energy you could be devoting to getting more business or improving your packages. There is no such thing as the “right number” to charge. More worry will only zap your confidence.


Tip #2 - START ‘UPPING’ THE VALUE OF YOUR TIME
It’s tough to command higher fees if behind closed doors you’re doing tasks you can pay someone else to do. It can feel like a stretch to pay someone for support when you might not be bringing in that much yet but you have to start somewhere.

Tip #3 - PLUG THE LEAKS IN YOUR BOUNDARIES
Letting people steal your time is like throwing money out the window. Client calls that go over time… the person who calls you with the request they “just need a minute”… or letting yourself be interrupted while working on your business.

It’s okay to have some doubts or even fears about raising your fees. What’s not okay is to stop there. Once you start changing your inner relationship with money, you’ll find it easier and easier to charge what you’re worth…and get it!

Kendall SummerHawk, the “Horse Whisperer” for Business, is a leading small business expert, a Professional Certified Coach and an avid horsewoman. She is the author of the new program, How to Charge What You’re Worth and Get It! See below…

Basically, I’m asking the question because there seems to be so much controversy as to whether they work or not.

I know it takes a lot of time submitting to them and even as a member of PortalFeeder, I used their automated service which was still lengthy and time-consuming and I had to beg the question, is the time worth the effort?

Like anything else in this world, you also don’t get something for nothing.  What I found was that the better directories cost anywhere from $2 to $20 per year of just a few months.  And this is fine until you decide that you want to submit to a whole lot of them.

So as I said earlier, I want your comments.  Are Blog Directory Submissions worth the effort and worth paying for?

If so, should you just stick to using leading directories such as Dmoz, Yahoo Directory and Jayde?

Look forward to your response.

Ciao for now,

Well, I was one of the lucky people who received a review copy and now the storm is dying down, I wanted to give you my feedback on both the DVD course and their snazzy mag.

First off, for the “freebie seekers,” it’s FREE!  Yep, you read right … “Stomping the Search Engines 2″ and the Premiere issue of “The Net Effect”  are BOTH FREE!

The Stomper guys tell me it’s valued at $500 but the real value is only what you make of it and to what extent you implement what you’ve learnt.  Sorry guys, this course does not come with a Virtual Assistant. 

The DVD’s

As is always the case with videos put together by Andy Jenkins, the two DVD’s are easy to follow, they are fantastic quality and if you know nothing about SEO, you will do by the time you watch just a few of the videos.

If you don’t yet have a site and you’re getting stuck on how to structure it for maximum effect in the search engines, you really do need to get this course.  I spent months as a newbie trialing which structure would work best and, I wasted a lot of time trying to work out why certain people structured their site the way they did and analysing it against another marketer’s site.

Leslie Rohde tells you how you should structure your site and why you should structure it that way.

If you’ve ever wondered whether “linking” is a myth and why should you have it, Leslie busts this myth and tells you why a linking strategy is critical to the longevity of your business.

Recently, I’ve been reading articles with the statement “SEO is dead,” and often these are from people who have gained good ground in getting traffic via social networking sites and, those who use Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising.

Each of these have their pro’s and con’s but the biggest benefit that you have as an online marketer getting traffic via the search engines is that you are going to get Targeted Traffic and Brad Fallon explains how and why this should be the case.

From my own personal experience, I sell consulting services in the main and the majority of my clients find me via the search engines.  Why?  They were searching with the intention of buying.

What I liked about the DVD’s was that it made me realize more than ever that if you want to play “big” online, you have to use an integrated approach to traffic generation and, if you want free traffic, the reasons why you cannot dismiss search engine results.

The Net Effect

I only received my review copy of the Stomping the Search Engines 2 and The Net Effect on Saturday and to be honest, I had zero intention of looking at it because we were chilling for the weekend in preparation for my daughter’s return to School on Monday.

However, during a movie I was watching with my daughter (Stuart Little 2 - you can all laugh now), I started browsing the magazine and could not put it down.  And the trouble is, I do not read without a pen or highlighter in hand but my little girl would not let me leave the room!

So I had to sit there making mental notes of the pages so I could return to them later.

There is a lot packed in this edition and, not only is it well layed out, the paper quality is second to none and, the Stomper guys have practiced what they preach … they know how and where to add the visual elements to catch your attention so you don’t miss the important elements.  Good practice for writing your own copy.

I have to be careful about giving away too much here but I have to say Andy Jenkins article on The Vision Mindset Vs. The Process Mindset bought a tear to my eyes.

I hope Andy never reads this, but I always thought of Andy Jenkins as a bit of a “tough nut,” as we say here in the UK, and it wasn’t until last week when I was on a webinar with him that my mind started changing towards him.

Andy had a dream that many of us have … to retire our parents - EARLY!  I’ll say no more, but Andy Jenkins used this touching story to explain the powerful concept of having a vision mindset.  Enough said!!

But like I said earlier, there is a lot of content (46 pages in this edition) so, how do you keep on top of everything.  The Stomper boys got this one covered too.  For a start, some of their articles use a Q&A format which is great for people like me who don’t want to dig too hard to find what I’m looking for but the real gold is a the back of the magazine …

Your Monthly Action Plan …

It’s a kind of Précis of what’s contained in that particular issue of The Net Effect and, they tell you exactly what to do monetize your efforts having read the articles.  And, the way it’s layed out, you can pick and choose the areas that most apply to you and your business.  Brilliant idea.

So, what about the negatives of the program?

I’m not just saying this for saying it sake, there are none.  I wish I’d had this level of training when I first got started online because I know from experience that this is what gives you the confidence to make your online business work.  It’s the foundation that too many online marketers ignore and then wonder why they’re struggling online.

I learnt to play the clarinet as a young teen and when I arrived at my first lesson, I was expecting to play some jazz and I was greeted with playing scales!!  And, because I hated doing them so much, I didn’t really practice them and got through the concerts okay so didn’t bother.

And then as a young adult, I decided I wanted to play the piano.  Guess what my first lesson entailed?  You got it! Scales!  Now, because I wanted to play Jazz and Blues, my piano teacher explained why I needed scales and so I learnt them which helped my playing no end - I no longer play so don’t ask me!

I only wished my Clarinet teacher had explained the importance of scales when I was 11 years old.  perhaps I would have turned out to be a better musician!

Don’t be this ignorant with your online business.  I was never destined to be a concert Clarinetist so not too much lost in my view, but how about you?  Could a good foundation make a difference to you, your family and if like me you want to retire your parents, the joy of seeing them not having to work!

Get your free copy of Stomping the Search Engines 2 and The Net Effect if you want a solid foundation and, the best training in SEO.

Best,

Marketing Consultant to Solo-preneurs
and Business Owners Around the World
www.trishjones.com

What’s the point of traffic if you can’t convert them into sales right?

In terms of blogging and blog marketing, my main focus is helping people who already have an offline business get their business online.  So, the initial focus is on attracting more clients and, making more sales whilst we strategize for how to get passive income from information products, based on their service.

For weeks now, I’ve wanted to talk to you about one of the ways a client of mine is approaching blog marketing but, until now, I’ve had to bite my lip ….

Gavin Ingham of www.GavinIngham.com is a sales trainer and motivational speaker and since building his blog last year, Gavin has been consistently blogging and making his presence known online and then earlier this year after each show of Sir Alan Sugar’s “The Sales Apprentice,” Gavin sat down and wrote a review of the program for his blog.

In fact, I know that on one occasion, Gavin was so tired, he didn’t do the review but woke up to about 25 emails asking “where’s the review of last night’s show?”

Don’t you just love it when your readers beg you for more content!

Anyway, I digress … As a direct result of Gavin’s reviews, two of the Apprentices have been in touch with him about partnering on a project or two.  You can see Gavin’s post, The Return of the Sales Apprentice for more information.

The real point I want to make here though is that blog reviews extend beyond trying to make a quick buck from an affiliate product.

It seems to me that small business owners, entrepreneurs and independent professionals are still a little slow adapting to blogging and blog marketing.  It’s not seen as a serious business building tool by some and others just complain that they just don’t have time to blog - these are generally those that don’t have time to build their business either.

Now, don’t get me wrong, if you’re marketing online and doing great with the online strategies you’re implementing, then blogging may not have to be a serious consideration to you right now.  I will say however that I personally believe in the long-term, if your competitor is blogging and you’re not, you’ll lose out.

But back to my business of reviews …

I think Gavin’s approach of reviewing The Sales Apprentice program after each show was not only an excellent idea and credibility booster, indirectly, he was making more sales.  He’s a professional speaker and he’s selling himself essentially in selling his services.

But, he didn’t need to litter his blog posts with links to products or even his services.  He just provided an honest and frank review, gave away some great sales tips and not only do I know he has been booked for speaking gigs as a direct result of these reviews, he’s now been contacted by two of the apprentices theselves.

Dave Taylor of AskDaveTaylor.com told a true story last year of a lawer who didn’t have a blog but left a comment on Dave’s blog.  The comment was read by either a news reporter or authority in a large organization (can’t remember for sure) but the result was that he landed himself in a very high position job.

One comment and no blog but one helluva reward at the end … can’t be bad for a few minutes work.

So, what business are you in and what can you review to get some more exposure for your business?

Is it the last book you read?  Maybe the last ad you saw on TV, a seminar you attended or even a company review that would help your readers see you as a potential giant or even giant in your field?

As a service professional, you are seeking authority and credibility because people buy from those they know like and trust and I’ve proved over and over again that blog marketing works for getting clients and making more sales and isn’t just limited to selling $29 eBooks.

In my blog post  Easier To Sell A Product Than Your Services Online, I pointed out technically, it’s harder to sell your services online than a product … so many will tell you anyway but most of my clients are acquired as a direct result of my blog and, my services cost way more than the average information product that is launched online.

So, if you’re looking for more clients, if you’re looking to make more sales and if you’re trying to sell products, I highly recommend that you add blogging to your marketing mix sooner, rather than later.

To Your Success,

Blog Marketing Tips and Insights
www.trishjones.com

Today, I want to get into the product creation process and talk about ebook publising …

If you sell information online as a service provider in my view, one of the best ways of packaging your information is by publishing an ebook.

Why [tag-tec]Ebook Publishing[/tag-tec]?

Ebooks really help you establish credibility in your market and, because they’re digital, they can be distributed fast and, at minimal cost. They certainly have a higher perceived value than a business card and, by creating one ebook, you can create the foundation for a multi million dollar business as well as use it as a lead generator to attract new clients.

Even if you are sceptical of whether ebooks present a viable business model, I want you to watch this video of Eban Pagan, pen named, David DeAngelo and creator of the ebook “Double Your Dating,” explain how he went from zero dollars to millions with one this one ebook.

Still sceptical?

Whilst Eban Pagan doesn’t go into detail of what he did to create a multi million dollar business from one ebook, here are some suggestions for turning a $29 ebook into a profitable business:

1. Create an online coaching program teaching people how to implement the content in the ebook
2. Take that same coaching program and deliver via a teleseminar series … same content but different audience because depending on the topic (and I highly recommend “how to” ebooks), you might sell an online course for $497 but packaging an 8 week teleseminar series using the same information may command $1500 or more
3. Take the teleseminar and package it into a home study course that you can sell for $997
4. Take snippets from the ebook and create a $7 report - again, same target audience but different type of buyer … maybe for the director personality types of this world who want you to cut to the chase and just give them enough to implement within 60 minutes or less
5. Get your ebook published as a paperback or hardcover copy. By doing this, you’re creating a different avenue for distributing the same information
6. Create workshops around the ebook.

And, I’m sure the list can go on.

Christan Carter, Catch Him and Keep Him is another online marketer who has used this model successfully. I know, it’s dating again but, this subject is in popular demand!

Best of Success,

Today on Zoey 101 as their assignment, the class are asked to come up with a TV commercial for a new scooter called the “Jet X” and I learnt some important marketing lessons whilst watching that I wanted to share with you …

One of the developers from the Jet X company rides in on this super cool scooter and asks the class ”who want’s this scooter?”  And of course, they all put their hand up.

He then tells them that there are three things needed to sell a product:

1. great hair - a joke obviously
2. a great product - which he was very confident in and,
3. great advertising

But one of Zoey’s classmates is confused … she asks “don’t they have special people who get paid to do this kinda stuff, like make these kinds of commercials”

He said “that’s the point …”

“They Think They Know Teeneagers And They Don’t, But YOU Know Teenagers”

So now these teens are pumped because they want one of these which, they can win if their team comes up with the best TV Commercial and, the ad will be aired on TV.

So here’s what happened next …

The girls team up as do the boys but Logan, one of the classmates is loaned all the props for a movie set and even gets an actor for his commercial because his dad is a TV producer and he all but leaves his team-mates out because they know nothing about TV right?

As for the girls, they’re struggling.  They find out about Logan and his fancy equipement and complains to their teacher who gives them an important tip ..

“It’s Not About The Fancy Equipement or What You Put On The Screen, It’s About The Content”

Logan overhears this conversation which is when he introduces the oh so handsome Jeff Garrett, a celebrity spokesperson who will appear in their TV commercial and this of course make the girls even more upset and feeling they have even less chance now of ever owning a lovely pink Jet X.

I’m going to skip chunks of the program now and take you right to show time.

It’s the night before the viewing of the teams DVD movies and the boys have their professional cut movie whilst the girsl have nothing but some disasterous clips from about 20 different shoots and some uncut footage where the camera girl didn’t know how to turn it off.

Zoey decides she’s going to go through the entire video and cut and paste but by 7:00am in the morning, they still have nothing.

Everyone except Zoey is now in class watching the boys movie complete with great graphics, props - including the bikini girl since of course an ad for a motorized machine would be no good without the shapely blond right?

At the end everyone claps and the producer tells them well done.  But now the girls look embarrassed and Zoey hasn’t turned up so they start making excuses.  They’re about to say they have nothing when Zoey runs in with her DVD and puts it into the player.

She has put together a movie of the girls having conversations about what the Jet X means - freedom, go wherever you want whenever  you want, you look cool and will get noticed and it’s about being in control.

All of these clips are actually from the footage “camera girl” (not sure of her name) shot when she didn’t know how to turn off the camera but Zoey also included the clip that was scripted … the shoot of Zoey meeting her friend riding her new pink Jet X:

“Wow, is that a Motorcycle” (friend)
“No” (Zoey)
“Is it a scooter” (friend)
“No it’s a Jet X” (Zoey)

The screen goes black and in red text it says “did you get that?” Meaning, it’s not a motorcycle or a scooter, it’s a Jet X.

Now there’s silence from everyone except the guy from Jet X who can’t clap loud enough.  He says “oh my gosh, this is it!  This is exactly what we need,” but shocked Logan exclaims “you liked that?” To which the Jet X developer answered …

“Yours was entertaining, yes … for Hollywood.”

The girls on the other hand spoke to their audience - high school teens which is exactly what the makers of the Jet X were after and why they didn’t pay thousands to a company to create the add for them.

In wanting the best equipment, props and of course the Celebrity who would kiss the half naked girl, Logan lost the plot.  He forgot his audience and went for the “look good, sex appeal.”

Zoey and her team-mates on the other hand talked about what it would mean to them to own a Jet X - the freedom, looking cool and getting noticed etc.  And from whose point of view were they speaking?  Other High School teens like themselves … the target audience for the Jet X.

Both teams were given a Jet X for the purposes of the ad and had Logan and his team spoken to a dozen of his peers, he would have known that it was less about getting the half dressed chick and more about freedom and image that would sell the Jet X High School teens.

They may have overheard the teachers comment regarding it not being about the fancy equipment and what you put on the screen that matters, it’s the content, but in the end, Logan and his team did exactly the opposite and focused on look good rather than content.

What’s my point …

Before you go spend a penny on a product launch or even write the copy for your next product, give away some copies and ask for feedback.

Better yet, don’t even create the product until you survey your prospect users.

A blog post with a difference today but I hope you get the idea.

Why I’ve Changed My Stance On Publishing Full Feeds

I received a very nice email from one of my subscribers this evening asking why I had decided to publish only the links to my post rather than the entire article.  

My response was simple really … “I was experimenting” since I wasn’t sure which format gave the biggest benefit.

In truth, I had noticed that whilst I received way more trackbacks from suspicious sources when publishing full feeds, my RSS subscriptions increased.

For those of you who read my blog via RSS reader, you’ll be pleased to know that I’m going forward “Full Feed Ahead” from now on.

So, what changed my decision?

Two blog posts really, one from Marie Langer at http://www.marialanger.com/2007/01/31/full-text-vs-summary-feeds and of course, it wouldn’t be right to make such an important decision before going and checking the site of the “Mighty Blogger,” Darren Rowse.  I had already made up my mind prior to reading this blog post, but this was the clincher.

I’m satisfied that whilst there are some negatives to publishing full feeds, the benefits far outweigh them.  Since I don’t sell ads on my site at the moment, it’s not such a big deal to me to get people to the site but besides this, I’m of the opinion that when subscribers are ready, they will come!

If you’re a blogger and you’re either sitting on the fence about publishing full feeds or, you’re adamant that your subscriber just has to be satisfied with the Feed format you decide to serve up, it really would be worth your while checking out the above posts.

Best,

I suppose the question isn’s so much “Is Link Building Unethical” as much as it should be “Is It Acceptable To Google,” and the other search engines for that matter?

First of all, let me go over my history of using a three way linking strategy on my blog:

I was one of the early adopters of 3WayLinks back in July 2007 and in a few months, my blog went up from a PageRank 5 to a PageRank 6 and, as you can imagine, I was ecstatic! 

Weeks later, it went back to a PageRank 5 and after weeks of scrathing my head, I discovered that having moved my blog to a new server, I had forgotten to add the resource link to the bottom of my blog which displays all the sites I was linking to in the 3 way links network and, without my knowledge, I was kicked out of the network.

So, I thought, Google must think I’m playing games here … 170 links here today … 170 links gone tomorrow.  Of course it looks suspicious!  Even I would ban me!  Okay Google, don’t take that as red!

I of course added the link to the bottom of my blog, sent a support ticket to the team over at 3waylinks.net and I was now back in the network.

A couple of months on and my blog has now gone down to a PageRank 4!  It hasn’t been that low for what feels like an eternity.

Now, I’ve no doubt I’m going to get comments like “why should you care about PageRank” and, “PageRank doesn’t matter anyway.”  Well, you keep thinking that … it matters to me! 

But that aside, the only thing I could think of (and that’s not saying it’s correct) was my three way linking strategy.

What Is 3 Way Linking?

For those of you who may not know what a three way linking strategy is, it’s a system that uses a method of linking where site A links to site B, site B links to site C, and site C links to site A, like this:

Therefore, rather than one site benefitting from a one-way link, all 3 sites get what Google sees as a one-way link to their web site.

This also differs from the old reciprocal linking method, where site A links to site B and site B links back to site A, a strategy which Google seems to no longer value.  

The power of linking three ways is that Google sees each link in the 3-way link exchange as a one-way link
and gives it the same full ranking value of a one-way link.

So the story goes anyway.  And, I say story, not to discredit the validity of 3 way linking, but more to question whether this really is an acceptable strategy by Google.

Well, over the weekend, I spoke to a good friend of mine Srini Saripalli who had implemented a 3 way linking strategy to one of his blogs which, in a short period of time, lost it’s PageRank entirely.

So naturally, this not only got me thinking, it got me worried and so I searched the Internet for information on whether this strategy was good or bad and of course, you have the extremist on each end of the scale … those who bless the day 3 way linking was born and those who curse it.

But the most interesting site I came across was a page on … Google’s Webmaster Central.  Whilst the article is mainly in reference to paid links, Matt Cutts makes it clear that “Google’s official quality guidelines have advised “Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank.”

I personally now believe that 3 way linking is one of the very schemes Google is against since ethical or unethical, it is a scheme designed to increase your sites ranking or PageRank.

Now, I’m also going to say this …

“The Proof Is In The Pudding.”

Not a technical blog term I know, but had I not been slapped twice by Google, I would have had no cause for concern and, in the past when other sites were moaning, Google was loving me!

If you’re asking why my blog went to a PageRank 6 initially, I think my only logical explanation is this:

Google hadn’t caught on to the 3 way linking strategy I’d implemented back then and just saw each link as a one-way link.  It’s also interesting that my second “slap” followed shortly after I’d published my article about 3 Way Linking.  Did I hand it to them on a plate?  Did I expose myself to Google?  Who knows!

The Google Bots may not be that intelligent to spot the linking strategy but Google uses human eyes to spot violations of their guidelines too. 

Anway, yesterday, I cleaned up my blog.

I removing my blog from both three way link networks I had participated in and, I also removed the links pages on my site.

Not sure what the consequences of my actions will do just yet since Google may think I’m playing games again, but the view I took was “do it now and start building your site credibility with Google again.”

I understand there is a place at Google’s Webmaster Central where you can write to and ask specifically why your PageRank has decreased but I haven’t found it yet and have been looking for weeks.  If someone knows where the link is, I’d love to hear from you.

In the meantime, I’m sticking to practices that build my links naturally.  The tortoise won back then and he’ll win again!!

Joel Comm is giving away, for free, a 30 page “Twitter Secrets” report about the busines benefits of Twitter and how to use it.

You can go download it from http://www.joelcomm.com/free_twitter_report.html

Thanks to this report from Joel, I can soon remove those learner plates and become more of a pro at twittering.

Thanks Joel!