Although Smith apologized for his error — I am not so sure he made one. He was quoting a source that he trusted. He was quoting a source that he believed to be in the loop.
Bloggers are NOT journalists — nor should we aspire to be.
CNN, NY Times and many other media companies spew lies and half-truths all the time, and you rarely see an admission of guilt.
Hell they won’t even admit that they are liberally biased!
Online sales letters are dying a painful death — and they are taking a few marketers with them.
Last night I was reading Michel Fortin’s white paper on the “Death Of The Salesletter” for the third time.
And I know he is right.
Long, scrolling copy is dying.
Prospects aren’t reading it — and most of all, they aren’t buying it! They aren’t buying the pitch or the product.
So what is working?
Conversations.
The super successful, mega-product launches that you are witnessing are not sales — they are conversations! Conversations between marketers and their rabid following.
Did John Reese need a killer sales letter in order to sell Traffic Secrets?
No. He had proved he was the king of the Internet prior to the product release. He had created so much anticipation with his blog and videos that people were lining up in droves and crashing his server PRIOR to launch!
(And he is doing it again with his newest blog in the run-up to the Income.com kick-off.)
Did Brad Fallon and Andy Jenkins need to use a sales letter when launching StomperNet?
No. They had proven that their network was going to dominate search engine optimization (SEO) with their videos.
And the tool they used to create a feeding frenzy?
A rabid following of customers and readers is critical to your ongoing success. And I am NOT talking about having a list. Every marketer has a list. Your relationship has to be deeper than that or you will be left behind!
You’re going to have to quickly learn to master blogging, audio, video and email.
Failing to embrace these tools may well lead to your downfall as a marketer — and there are other marketers circling overhead like buzzards wanting to pick at your carcass.
- Don’t give too many choices. If you’re creating “how to” materials, you might want to recommend certain products for the job. For example, if you’re talking about how to set up an autoresponder, you’re more likely to sell more by just telling your reader which autoresponder to sign up with than if you give them choices.
Internet searchers don’t usually respond well when given too many choices, especially on products they aren’t that familiar with. If they’ve never set up an autoresponder series, they won’t know how to compare services. Tell them what you recommend and go with it.
I take that one step further.
I tell them… order them to take an action.
Step 1. Sign-up for this.
Step 2. Get that.
Step 3. Do this.
When you tell them EXACTLY what to do — they will. Don’t be afraid. If it is a great product that you personally use — tell them. Save them the hassle of having to research things — or find out via trial and error.
Speed is a powerful weapon — especially in marketing and making mon~ey.
In fact, the tempo of your writing determines your income. That is why it is critical to be prolific.
Let me explain…
Your content is intellectual property. It is something that has value and goes immediately into your asset column!
Why?
Because it can be sold or traded.
In fact, during my divorce my ex-wife sought the rights to all my products and books. She knew how much money I was making with them, and wanted that immediate income.
So what should you be doing?
You should be writing everyday. I know that Dan Kennedy and Stephen King write first thing in the morning, upon waking up.
My routine is gym, shower, write! And you should find your routine too.
Your goal?
To write one 400-800 word article a day. And write it, with an eye towards creating evergreen content that is both proven and principled.
What do I mean by when I say: “evergreen content”?
Well imagine if you wrote the book titled “Windows95 for Dummies”. How long do you think it would be before the information in that book would be obsolete and worthless?
Amazingly, the book was outdated when it was published in March 1997! Which explains why Amazon.com has 374 copies in stock for $0.01!
On the other hand, evergreen content can recycled, repackaged, reslanted or repurposed.
What does that mean?
Recycled means reusing a piece of content. For instance this article you are reading now will be posted in my newsletter; in my blog; on an RSS feed; and in an article database.
Same piece of content. Four different traffic streams.
The repackaging of content has been catching on with information marketers.
What is it?
Taking content from one form and turning it into another.
For instance, you have probably bought a product or two, where someone recorded an interview and then just had the thing transcribed into a book, report or manual.
That is an easy way to create a kick-ass product.
In fact, that is how Jeff Paul created his product “How to Make Mon~ey Quick and Easy, Sitting At Your Kitchen Table In Your Underwear!”
Here are some examples of how to repackage content…
written word –> audio
video –> written word
video –> audio
audio –> written word
It can also be…
DVD –> videocast
recording –> podcast
Get the idea?
Later this afternoon, I will tell you about repurposing and reslanting your content. Both are VERY profitable — so be looking for Part II in your inbox later today!
I have used these exact same tactics, the past few weeks to create four new products (and websites) and re-vamp a fifth.
They Will Follow Orders! - March 1st, 2007, 00:11 am
I saw Alice Seba’s point out four ways to make more money with affiliate programs. I do agree with this point she made…
- Don’t give too many choices. If you’re creating “how to” materials, you might want to recommend certain products for the job. For example, if you’re talking about how to set up [...] - read on
Speed: Increase The Tempo Of Your Writing For More Profits! - February 28th, 2007, 14:49 pm
By definition, speed is rapidity of ACTION.
Speed is a powerful weapon — especially in marketing and making mon~ey.
In fact, the tempo of your writing determines your income. That is why it is critical to be prolific.
Let me explain…
Your content is intellectual property. It is something that has value and goes immediately into your asset [...] - read on
CraigsList Marketing - February 23rd, 2007, 17:15 pm
I ran across a forum discussion concerning affiliate marketing on CraigsList.
The question?
“How do you market on Craigslist without being banned?”
There is an aggressive “anti-capitalist” flavor to the website — which only makes sense when the company is headquartered in liberal San Francisco. They ban most ads that link directly to ClickBank.
My advice?
You NEVER [...] - read on
Profiting From Videos - February 23rd, 2007, 16:28 pm
Have you heard of Nerissa Odin “The Video Queen”?
She is Joe “Mr Fire” Vitale’s significant other — and she has come out with a sweet piece of software that allows the layman to embed any kind of video into a webpage in just a few easy steps.
But that is not all. The software also [...] - read on
Inside Look At The Feed Market - February 23rd, 2007, 15:26 pm
There is a great article over at FeedBurner on how RSS feeds are being accessed by your readers — and I was surprised by the results. It seems that Google Reader is quickly becoming the reader of choice.
[URL: Burning Questions • FeedBurner’s View of the Feed Market ]
- read on
Did You Know? - February 23rd, 2007, 15:24 pm
Here is a video that will make you think.
Highly recommended.
- read on
Do You Have Crabs? - February 22nd, 2007, 17:03 pm
“Why doesn’t the store owner put a cover on those?”
My cousin pointed at a bucket of crabs that was sitting on the floor. She is visiting from San Francisco, and I decided to take her to the Asian food market to get some fresh ingredients for dinner.
“You don’t need a cover on crabs, if [...] - read on
WallStrip Has The Right Stuff - February 22nd, 2007, 13:11 pm
Wallstrip is a relatively new company that is making waves in the financial news sector. As The New York Times says: “It’s Squawk Box meets Saturday Night Live.”
I think that description is dead on.
And you need to take a peek at this video I snagged from YouTube. It features smokin’ hottie Lindsay Campbell [...] - read on
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About Jason Cain
Information marketer. Marine sergeant from 1986-1992. Former cop in Honolulu. Making money with a blog since 1999.
