Category: Guest Articles

Articles from successful expert internet marketers.

  • Are You Down with the Clowns?

    Intro by Donna Knight
    This is an article from controversial internet marketer Jo Han Mok. His copywriting style is a lot like Gary Halbert’s. It’s raw, tough-talking and sometimes funny. If you’ve been in internet marketing circles long enough, you’ll recognize the clowns he’s talking about. Don’t let his somewhat offensive manner of speaking keep you from taking his main message to heart though. He’s right. The most successful people online (and off) really do exhibit the behavior he mentions. The clowns may seem successful for a little while then they suddenly disappear, never to be heard from again. For more information, read on:

    >From the desk of Jo Han Mok
    9/13/2005
    MEMO: Sales Avalanche

    Hi Donna,

    I think you’ll find today’s email rather interesting.

    You see…

    I often get lots of subscribers asking me how it is
    possible for me to consistently get such startling
    reponse rates.

    This is usually the case after they have done some JV
    with a supposed big name marketer claiming to have a
    billion people on his opt in list, and the clown pulls
    in only 3 sales.

    SO the big question is, how do you not fall into the
    trap of becoming a ‘clown’ like our friend above?

    Here are a few pointers.

    Power Pointer #1: It’s NOT the size

    Despite what women say, size has nothing to do with
    it. I don’t care how many people you have on your
    list. I rather have a list of a 1000 people who have
    spent at least $97 than a list of 3 billion people who
    have not spent a dime with me.

    Power Pointer #2: Give MORE value

    Majority of Internet Marketers fall into this
    category. Every email is a pitch. Buy this, then buy
    that. Let me promote anything under the sun. Doesn’t
    matter if it’s garbage, as long as I get my
    commissions. It’s easy to tell when a marketer is
    desperate. Usually you’ll get a flurry of emails that
    will telegraph something like “Hey you know I sent you
    an email yesterday to buy widget X. Guess what? Here’s
    widget Y and it’s better than Widget X”

    It’s everything or anything. Some thrashy fire sale,
    some crap software, the newest niche formula, blah
    blah.

    Leave this to the amateurs. Probably aside from
    sending emails to their list, they have no other means
    of making dough online.

    Don’t, for the love of mother mary fall into this
    trap.

    I’ve been there and done that when I started out. The
    money is crap.

    If you wanna squeeze MAXIMUM profits from your list,
    you gotta give. Give more, and learn to ‘hold out’
    from all that pitching.

    If you’re skeptical try it. Give nothing but your very
    best content for 4 weeks straight and throw in a pitch
    on the 5th, see what happens.

    Most probbaly, people will already be BEGGING you to
    sell them something in the 3rd week.

    Power Pointer #3: Focus

    If you want to make the most number of sales you
    possibly can, do it the PRO way and focus.

    Concentrate on ONE product, and have a CONGRUENT
    message.

    Marketing bozos on the other hand will have a ‘buffet
    spread’ of 72 hour specials alongside with an exlusive
    ‘buy my ebook and you get my mother as well’ type of
    offer.

    When people are confused, they DOn’T buy.

    If you get a poor response intially, try to ‘tweak’
    your offer and your marketing mechanisms and see what
    happens.

    Very often, it could be due to one or more variables
    that you can ‘fix’. For instance, it could be the
    ‘look’ of the piece, the ‘qualifiers’ in the copy, the
    price point yada yada. It could be anything, but
    unless you test and monitor your results, you wouldn’t
    know.

    And last but not least, don’t imitate.

    DARE to be different.

    If you have your own unique spin on things, do it.

    Screw those who don’t like you, and go with your
    heart.

    You can stand your ground and you don’t need anyone
    else’s permission.

    I’ll give you an example.

    Most ‘bozo’ marketers online are followers.

    They see a ‘fire sale’, they come up with a ‘fire
    sale’.

    They see a ‘source code blowout’, they come up with a
    ‘blowout’.

    They see a ‘Private lable package’, they come up with
    a ‘Private Label Package’.

    They see a ‘Content Publishing system’, they come up
    with a ‘Content Publishing System’.

    Yet if you look at them and ask yourself what they
    ‘REALLY’ do, there’s only one answer. They’re anything
    and everything that makes money.

    That’s cool, but where’s your business longevity?

    Where’s your ‘identity’?

    Where’s your ‘brand’?

    How are people EVER gonna relate to you?

    I hope all this is making sense to you.

    It’s a long email laced with sarcasm and some dark
    humor but I’ve been keeping this stuff to myself for
    far too long.

    Time for you to know, and if you dig what I had to
    say, do every marketer on this planet a favor and
    forward it to any other marketers you know.

    The ‘little guy’ CAN succeed!

    Jo Han Mok
    Midas Touch Marketing

    P.s. Don’t take my word for it though. Just look
    through the emails you get in your inbox and see
    if what I said is true.

    P.P.S. You have full permission to reprint this
    article as long as you credit it to me ok? : – )

  • Create Your Own Online Marketing “TV” Station

    Here’s an interesting article from Jim Edwards about the start of the convergence of the internet and television. If this is really going to happen, it’s definitely in very early stages, but it’s always a good idea for online marketers to be on the lookout for new marketing media.

    -Donna Knight

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    Create Your Own Online Marketing “TV” Station

    – by Jim Edwards

    © Jim Edwards – All Rights reserved
    http://www.thenetreporter.com
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    It will happen! TV and the Internet will eventually merge into one giant multi-media “melting pot” that includes everything from live footage and old reruns to garage videos posted by your next door neighbor’s kid. Just like cable TV fractured network TV, the Internet will enable everyone with a voice, a video camera, and something to say to fracture cable TV even more. But the real TV revolution on the Internet will only happen when marketers stop trying to copy TV, with its commercials and outdated modes of revenue generation, and start copying the “pay-per-view” and “infomercial” models.

    One company at TVexe.com has started offering television broadcasts from around the world via Internet streaming. The free software (with optional one-time $25 upgrade) allows you to stream TV feeds from around the world to your desktop through a broadband connection. The picture rates a “C+” on the quality side, but, just like Internet telephony 6 years ago, you can expect the quality to improve quickly. If they can keep costs down long enough to figure out how to make money, this company will likely succeed because they provide programming that’s virtually impossible to get anywhere else.

    But, for the rest of us “mortals” who want to stream our images, video, and audio across the Web, trying to provide “live TV” broadcasts spells the kiss of death in both time and money. For the vast majority of companies doing business online, it will prove virtually impossible to get a meaningful number of people to show up to a website at “8:00 P.M. Eastern” for tonight’s live “TV” broadcast. But what will work online is adopting the “pay-per-view” model found in hotels where you watch the program you want, when you want. Offering website visitors video content they can download, start, stop, play, pause, and view on their own schedule holds the key to online “TV” success. I hate to make this overly simplistic, but bottom line: an effective online “TV Station” only needs a basic website and the ability to allow “viewers” to download or stream video files.

    All of us get two basic options when it comes to creating content to deliver from our “TV Station” website. First, you can do “screen capture” video, which combines video of the action taking place on your computer screen with your voice as narration, to create excellent instructional content. You then allow viewers to download this “TV program” from your website either free or for a free. Two programs enable you to do this quickly and easily: “Screen Cam Generator” from http://www.ScreenCamSoftware.com and “Camtasia” from http://www.TechSmith.com.

    Your second option involves using full-motion video, either from a web-cam or a camcorder. The content most easily gets published online either as a WMV file (Windows Media Video) played with Microsoft’s Media Player, or FLV file (Flash Video) played with the free Flash “plug-in” found in most Web browsers.

    Regardless of which option you choose, remember: unlike traditional TV, successful models of “TV-style” content online will empower the viewer to watch when and where they choose.


    Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the
    creator of an amazing course that will teach you step-by-
    step and click-by-click how to finally create your own
    money-making mini-sites…

    -=-=-==-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    “Finally! A Quick and Easy Way For YOU to Painlessly Set Up
    Your OWN Moneymaking ‘Mini’ Websites… Without Being a
    Computer Geek, Buying Expensive Software, or Paying
    Outrageous Fees To A Webmaster!”

    Click Here => http://www.MiniSiteCreator.com

  • The 5 Reasons Why You *Must* Get Into the Software Industry Today

    by Mike Chen

    No matter what industry you’re in, it’s absolute vital that youeither sell software or offer free software to your customers.

    By the time you are done reading this article, you willunderstand why.

    1. “It’s the Product, Stupid”

    No amount of marketing “how to” is going to make up for not having a killer product.People are sick of being told how to do it. They want somethingthat will “do it” for them.Software does just that … It *does* things for people.Stop trying to sell “how to” and start selling instant solutions.That’s where the real money is.

    2. Downloadable Viral Marketing Tools

    OK, so you don’t want to sell software. Fair enough.You’re crazy if you don’t use software as a viral marketing tool.Many of the largest lists o­n the Internet were built using freesoftware downloads as an enticement for subscribing.You can easily add viral twists to these tools and beforeyou know it hundreds or even thousands of sites could beoffering your free software – becoming virtual newslettersubscriber magnets.What if you created just o­ne new tool like that a week?How big would your list be inside of 6 months?

    3. Create Value-Added Customer Helper Apps

    What if you were to create applications that simply added value to your existing products and services? How much higher would your customer satisfaction be if you created various software tools to teach, train, support, or otherwise help your customers? How many more sales would that added customer satisfaction generate for you without any additional effort year after year?

    4. Upsell Products

    As you probably know, selling new products to existing customers is the easiest way in the world to make money.It’s 5 times easier to sell to an existing customer than it is toacquire a new o­ne.Why not create new products using “Make Your Own Software” and sell them to your existing customer base?Instant profits.

    5. Highest Profit Margins in the World

    Electrons are free. If you’re selling an instantly downloadable product, your product fulfillment costs are virtually nil. Plus, in the software industry there is no inventory to manage,so it’s probably the easiest business in the world to manage aswell.

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    Mike Chen was o­ne of the pioneers of the software security industry and is a widely respected Internet Marketing expert. Mike’s newest product, “Make Your Own Software,” allows even those who don’t know a single line of code to create software programs instantly.

    EDITOR’S NOTE: “Make Your Own Software” has my highest rating. http://www.makeyourownsoftware.com/main.art
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