I often wonder with these massive, hyped-upped product launches, whether it’s about the product itself or if it’s more about the actual launch process.

You know: you’re selling a PRODUCT, not a Launch.

I sense a trend in email lists. It’s almost like the list owner is slowly getting more and more annoyed at your lack of participation in clicking on his link to whatever crash-hot product launch is on for this week.

There’s major competition in getting that affiliate link - heck I get 15-20 offers every time one of these Product Launches roll out.

Over at The Warrior Forums there is some discussions of how email marketers are (or might be) going down the path of talking down to their subscribers in trying to get them to click on their link.

Check out this email sent to a subscriber…

That’s right, this email is a rant … and it’s
about you.

My part in this relationship is simple … I am
supposed to find the good stuff, and then share
it with you.

I’ve been doing that …

Then, it’s time for you to do your part in this
relationship … trust me, and go check out the
good stuff I’m telling you about.

The problem is, you’re not doing it… and it’s
starting to suck.

(source: Warrior Forums)

Now remember, this is an email sent from a list owner to one of his subscribers (well, he probably sent it to all his subscribers … whom I’m sure are heading to the unsubscribe button as we speak).

So What’s Going On Here?

Internet Marketers selling to other Internet Marketers or wanna-be internet marketers, and it’s that nifty little affiliate check that may come your way …. BUT, only if a prospect has used your affiliate link!

Let me throw out to you from my swipe file some lines. Could that be why some aren’t bothering to click. Maybe they’ve seen it all before.

servers crashed

only a few spots remain

Offer while stock lasts

Last Day offer

LIMITED OFFER!!

I work as less then 2 hours a day and earn up to $3,500 a day. Now, I will show you how I do it!

With the volume of visitors we are having lately, this special offer might not last much longer!!!!

So… do you want to reach your financial dreams? Or are you content struggling the rest of your life?

For only $197 $97 $67 $47 … $27
VERY SPECIAL LIMITED QUANTITY PRICE!

This is what it all has come down to: the internet marketing community imploding on itself in a haze of greed, ego and envy. But they’ll bounce back. There’s always a new sucker born every minute (sadly).

And that’s a shame for those of us with some semblance of morals and ethics.

~ ~ ~

BTW, I’m being bombarded today with so many cookie-cutter emails for the latest, greatest product (and hey, it might actually be good) that it’s laughable - these so-called marketers are too lazy to even do their own pitches. Are they so out of touch that they don’t realize how bad they look in their prospects eyes because most people are subscribed to more than one email list.

Because of the frenzy and greed, many people today will be cashing in quite a bit of their credibility chips with me - and most likely with many others.

Also, it’s probably gonna be a big day at AWeber as I suspect many will be unsubscribing from many lists.

Tags: internet marketing

Guest blogging has really taken off over the past year or so (reminds me I should try and get in on it!).

Most posts written by guest bloggers are useful because they are obviously trying to put their best blogging face on view to a new (and usually bigger) audience.

One guest post that struck me as perfectly done was a recent one on Skellie’s Anywired blog.

Notice that the guest blogger, Alexis Dawes, really gets involved in the conversation. She answers every comment respectfully and adds more insight.

She obviously understands and respects the fact that if a visitor has taken the time to comment that it shows she has reached them in some way and what better way to strengthen that growing bond than by spending a few minutes answering a comment.

I can just see that commenter leaving the blog happy and contented to have been heard and just as importantly, Alexis’s trust and credibility takes a positive leap forward in the commenter’s mind.

So if you’re going to do some guest blogging make sure you don’t just plant the post and head back to your neck of the woods waiting for the influx of new visitors. Hang around. Watch the comments. Get involved in the conversation.

Make your guest post remarkable by over-delivering.

Tags: guest blogging

• Biz Tips Blog’s 10 Reasons to Use Facebook for Business
  I’ve been slack at my own Facebook page - mainly trying to get the hang of it ie: for fun or business or mash it up! I think I’ll give myself 2 hours a week on Facebook and go the business angle.
• Common Craft’s Twitter in Plain English
  These guys do unique short video’s that explain things in “plain English”. They did it with RSS and now they’ve done it with Twitter. Very Nice.
  [via HomeOfficeWarrior.com]
• Computerworld’s Facebook vs. LinkedIn: Which is better for business?
  Everyone’s heard of Facebook and LinkedIn by now - the two most favored social networking sites that business are sizing up. But which one is the best for business. This long article tests them both and you’d be surprised with the result.
• ChiefHomeOfficer.com’s 7 Quick Tips to Avoiding Home Office Isolation
  Ah … isolation, the monkey on the shoulder of many a home business owner. Isolation can really kill off any motivation you have for your business and so it needs to be faced up to. Jeff Zbar provides us with 7 juicy tips to combat isolation - that Mastermind tip sure intrigues me.
• PRUnderground’s Why Do I Need a Press Release?
  If you’re a bit wary when you hear the words “press release” then this short piece is just for you. Change your mindset that press releases are only meant for big business. Far from it. And also change your mindset that press releases are meant only for the “press”.

With that, I bid you a very Happy Easter.

Cheers,
Martin Neumann
Publisher
KickstartPress

It seems that the team at WordPress is just about ready to roll out version 2.5 of the popular blogging software.

WordPress is the ultimate mini-CMS tool - it’s free, has a great community around it and it’s really been the foundation of my success online to this day - heck, I haven’t touched FrontPage in yonks!

But I’m a bit nervous about this release. It’s a big one - they’ve jumped from 2.3 to 2.5 and even though it’s just numbers, the fact remains it tells me many changes are on their way.

Aaron Brazell blogging at Technosailor is a WordPress junkie to the extreme, and of course he’s gonna write about this: 10 Things You Need to Know About WordPress 2.5

Two things that come to mind from reading Aaron’s post (he does include images which help): The new Menu Layout and the Flash Uploader for images.

Firstly, the Menu Layout. I simply don’t like it. Currently, all my menu items are lined up nicely next to each other and with a nifty plugin I simply hover over the main menu and a drop down appears instantly.

Seems to me they’re trying to dumb it all down by saying our testing shows that these are the main four menu items you’re using so that’s all we’ll place there - the rest we’ll place it somewhere to the right.

A cliche: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Secondly, Flash Uploader. This one I’m actually excited about. For one who uses images quite a bit on my blogs I still haven’t got it right in managing my images. I just wonder how it’ll handle 50, 100, 200 images.

All in all, Aaron’s post was a great insight into what to expect - he also hints that there will be many more smaller changes and new things added. Now I’m intrigued.

But … don’t expect me to install version 2.5 on any of my major blogs just yet - I’d be crazy to. No, I’ve got a few dead domains I can test it on.

No doubt I’ll be posting about my experiences.

Hey folks - Just a quick post to let you all know that KickstartPress is still on the go - despite some quiet times here.

When I finally settled down and decided that KickstartPress was a goer I brainstormed a checklist of things to do to get the blog up through to launch and all the rest (autoresponder, free report, other stuff that you’ll just have to wait and see…

Then I had to sort that checklist and tweak it a little. Why? It had 174 points to it - in other words, I really chunked it down into real bit-sized pieces.

And really, folks, from this experience that’s the only way to get any decent sized project done - my opinion, and obviously I’ll be having more to say on this matter - maybe even a few techniques I’ve pulled in from all places into my own little system (maybe a freebie for the newsletter members.

Anyway, I’m currently working on a Media Room - essentially a one-stop page about everything KickstartPress - from press releases to logo’s, to my ugly mug to a batch of quotable quotes and some audio. This is all for the media to use (if they wish) and that includes bloggers.

Finally, I’m playing around with my Free Email Newsletter - I think you might like it, take a looksee. Still some copy to clean up, but I think you’ll get the gist of it. BTW, sign up while you’re there!

• Startup Spark’s Five Steps for Small Business Owners to Survive Tax Season
  Having my own tax problems in the past, this one is timely. It’s always good to keep educated on tax issues - even if you outsource it.
• HomeBizNote’s Do Naps Provide Energy During Your Business Day?
  Gotta say I’m a big believer in the mid afternoon power nap. Like many others, my energy levels plummet in the early mid afternoon. A power nap gives me the zip to work a decent four hours at night.
• SmallBizMentor’s Do One Small Thing Every Day To Move Your Business Forward
  Big goals can really drag you down. I’m in the camp of breaking down goals into many little bite-sized chunks and doing one thing at a time. You’d be surprised where your business can be at after just one month of doing one thing each day to move your business forward.
• eMoms at Home’s Determine Your Goals to Acquire the Right Virtual Assistant
  Virtual Assistant has been on my mind lately (note: there’s a special report on this topic). For a one-man home business owner, and one that’s growing, I’m at the stage of seriously looking at hiring a virtual assistant and this post is a decent resource.
• Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans
  First thing: WOW! Reading this has truly given me so much food for thought that I’m almost bursting. This intelligent article offers a new way at looking at your niche, the long tail and making your mark in it. This is a must read!

UPDATE: 4 hours later and I’m happy - about 90% of the way there. Just a little tweaking still to do and I’m all set - see what three heads can do together from Melbourne to London to Fiji … God, don’t you love the shrinking world the Internet has given us.

I’ll probably do a review and write-up of GoToMeeting soon - impressive indeed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It’s late Sunday afternoon here in Melbourne, Australia. A very sort of lazy, hazy day - actually weekend - was had. Lazy is the key word here.

But it’s dusk now and I’m a night person and away I go…

So as the headline says Watch Your Step. Over the next few hours or so I’m (well we, actually) are going to be heavily messing with this site.

Personally, I’m not 100% happy with the design of the site, the logo and the general theme. I had a bit of input into it but it was an all-round effort. I don’t know … it’s a bit rough looking, too dark maybe. The fonts and tagline and colors just leave me feeling well … I don’t know!

So I’ve kindly grabbed my web designer and my business mentor (great guy!) together and we are going to fix this once and for all - a collaborative effort. Virtually put our heads together and come up with the goods.

Me in Melbourne. Designer in London. Mentor in Sydney (but overseas in Fiji).

So out come the online collaborative tools. I’ve kicked the tires of GoToMeeting for a while now (impressive from the trials) but tonight it gets a full run.

Now all I gotta hope for is that my broadband doesn’t muck up on me tonight (hint, hint Vodafone).

Remember, watch your step around here, we’re playing live.

Okay. So I’ve started a new online venture and it’s about 3 minutes old.

It’s gonna be young, vibrant, alive with a plethora of multimedia products rolling out that will bring in the riches for years to come … and I’ll live happily ever after. Yay!

But there was this little (annoying) niggle going on in the back of my mind. Was I aiming to be just another in a swarm of others? That question lingered.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Then the other night I was listening to an Audible aubdiobook I purchased a while back - it’s a pretty neat setup this Audible thing. The audio was something about finding your passion - 4 hours long.

And you know what? I got really into this thing.

Write down what excites you, what send chills down your spine, what animates you … that kinda thing.

“Give Yourself Permission to Explore”, says the nice lady on the audio. Okay. I do.

I reckon I’m a fairly creative person so I go to the extremes and jot down the lot. The Plan.

And then I go to bed.

Obviously, during my sleep, my mind went ape shit messing around with all the ideas cause when I woke up I had it. I got it.

My core focus was going to be how to be different in a sea of sameness, helping startups differentiate themselves.

So you now notice the header of this blog - it’s changed. The message is different.

Products are still on the agenda, it’s just a slight change in focus. I may just have found my passion.

Lets see where it heads.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Note: if you don’t get where the purple cow thingy comes in then well … you should! Google it.

Tags: purple cow

The issue that always brings out the two camps of thought: 1) love them, they totally work and; 2) disgusting, done buy sleazy marketers.

It’s a highly emotive subject: many people are vehemently opposed to them in any way, shape or form and you will never sway them.

And then there are those who stand by the long sales letter pitch.

Personally, I’ve tended to jump the fence to both sides of the argument. And that does me no good. Either I am for them or against them. Pick a side, you fool and stick with!

But I have a disclaimer of sorts (a lame excuse!). I used to run a blog called ePublishingDaily. This blog was all about creating and selling information products. It’s still there but it’s pretty much a dead blog until I decide what and where to go with it.

The point is: I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen beautifully crafted long sales letters for products that really deliver. I’ve also seen horrible sales letters using blatant trickery and still deliver the goods. And I’ve seen (the worst) the one’s where every trick in the book is used to produce horribly hyped up sales letters for shoddy products to say the least.

In my “welcome” post to this blog I positioned my publishing company pretty much in the anti-long sales page camp. Obviously it’s a marketing tactic. I can read the trends. I understand that more and more folks understand how the long sales page is used (and often times abused).

It’s a trend that’s growing and as the general web user becomes more web savvy (and they are), long sales pages will become less effective.

But back to the main topic…

One must remember, that we are all internet marketers - well, those that want to do business online.

Internet Marketers. Internet Marketing. Change those two words around. Internet Marketing into Marketing Internet. Polish it a little and you end up with Marketing on the Internet.

Those who bitch and moan and complain the loudest do so because they are in the “marketing on the Internet” industry. They’ve seen it all. They’ve become jaded.

But What Have They Seen

The fact of the matter is that …

long sales pages work on the RIGHT prospect.

Remember that: The Right Prospect!

And it even works more so to those that have not become accustomed to the long sales page - in other words hundreds, if not thousands, of different niche markets that has nothing to do with making money online.

We, marketers on the internet, have seen it all before. We understand the format and the way that a well planned out sales page hits those emotional triggers at just the right moments. The bold, red headline, the well-placed testimonials, the social proof (a big one), scarcity and so on…

The RIGHT Prospect Loves Long Sales Letters

The Right Prospect simply loves long sales letters. As they read they become more and more excited, they say to themselves “Yes, yes, that’s me” or ” Yes, that’s exactly where I’m at!”

The long sales page letter works because it brings the RIGHT prospect to a state of excitement, they have lived the sales page letter emotionally all the way, it’s been building. And when the call to action comes they can’t get their wallets out fast enough.

Phew! Got my own self into a state of excitement there for a minute.

My view on long sales pages is that if you believe you have produced the goods and can deliver on the promise then a well-crafted long sales letter works. I’d test the hype factor - which in fact I’m currently doing with various A/B testing methods in both long and short sales letters.

Why Am I doing this testing, which is costing me a decent amount of money? Firstly, pardon my French, but it gives me the shits when those who want to get into internet marketing won’t take out their wallets and buy products and/or services that will help them get there. This “I want it all for free” mindset puts me right off - you want to succeed, get the right tools.

Back to the testing. Why? I see the trends and I want to test them. I want to understand what the market responds to and boy am I getting some results to mull over.

Because who knows where the long sales pages will be in the future. Will they always work? Will there come a time when it reaches a sort of tipping point of no return?

I’m a firm believer in relationship marketing, in nurturing a community over time. Building trust, reliability and credibility. It takes time, but get it right and you have fans for life. And fans for life will buy from you over and over and over again - long sales letters or not.

Tags: sales pages, long sales pages

Blogging has changed!

Back in 2004 and 2005 talk about making any “real” money via blogging was often a taboo subject - not totally, but there abouts.

Blogs were meant to be a platform for free speech, to have your voice heard … and commerce was not going to ruin it.

Bah!

Thank God those days are over (well nearly).

Today, we have serious entrepreneurial bloggers looking to make not AdSense pennies but cold hard cash day-in, day-out. And it’s about time!

Traditional Internet Marketers are moving into the Blogosphere - with hiccups along the way (BlogRush - even IM guru’s need to learn the art of blogging). But the signs are there.

Brian Clark, writing over at his popular blog, CopyBlogger, has written a marvelous piece titled: Catablogging: Blog-Based Ecommerce and Affiliate Marketing.

Catablogging. Hmmm.

Deep thinking over a coffee and basically, that’s my model right here at KickstartPress.

Each product I produce - be it an eBook, Audiobook, Screencasts … whatever, will be surrounded by content.

Much like a mini-launch, ongoing compelling content (lots of it cornerstone) is the build up to a product release - no matter how big or small. And it continues from there.

It’s the perfect mix, in my opinion. You have a blog that you can develop into a conversational center surrounding your market, build a community and right from the get-go everyone knows the game plan: I’m a publisher selling my stuff. Enjoy the content but I’m here to market my products. I don’t mind if you don’t buy - means I’ve gotta change tactics.

My goal is to have 20 products in my “catablog” here within 18 months and surrounding each product will be a comprehensive set of content, discussion and general community involvement.

And that’s where Brian’s post hits home with me.

As Brian says…

Quality content and unique positioning are the only differentiating factors you’ll have when it comes to selling stuff that others are also selling. Start off creating some killer cornerstone content that applies to your niche, and build from there.

Brian links to a book written by a copywriter titled Catlog Copy that Sizzles - I’m off to purchase it in 3, 2, 1 and it covers various approaches to writing catalog-based copy.

Numbers #1 (naturally conversational), #5 (storytelling), #6 (All the Fact) and #7 (Informational/Educational) resonate with me the most strongly.

Now I know why one B.Clark is one of the most influential bloggers going around - and who’d a thought I was there when he first started his blog and saw his first “failed” attempt at a viral campaign only to go gangbusters from there.