A Critical Marketing Mistake

Bob: What are some of the biggest mistakes that you
see small businesses and entrepreneurs making when it
comes to their marketing?

John: I would maybe categorize it into one big giant
mistake that I see, and that's not having, or thinking, or
taking any time to figure out a marketing strategy. In
other words, what do you want the market, over time,
to believe about your company? What do you want to
be best known for? What do you want your brand to
stand for?

There is no unique value that they're offering. It's just
this message, then that message, then this message, and
maybe they sell a little bit. In fact, that's probably the
danger, because they actually have a little bit of success
- but long term, marketing is boring. It takes consistency.
It doesn't have to be the flash of the week. Truly the
people that win, in a lot of cases, stick a flag in the sand
and say, "This is what we want to be known as", and
they say it until they're tired of it.

Effective Lead Generation

Bob: What do you find to be some of the more
ffective lead-generation methods for small businesses?

John: Well, I'm going to give you an answer that may
not satisfy some of the listeners, because again I will
go back and say that marketing is not hard, but it takes
work. To me, a couple things are critical - starting with
consistency. No matter what it is that you're doing,
commit to doing it over and over and over again, for
a year, minimum.

If you're going to do a direct-mail program, mail it out
monthly, assuming we've targeted an ideal client list or
prospect list. Don't just do it once and say, "Well, that
didn't work", or, "Well, that was okay, but what can
we do next month?" There is momentum in consistency.

The second thing I would say from a principle
standpoint is to think in terms of lead generation from
multiple approaches - multiple pillars, as if you were
thinking a foundation.

People learn in different ways. They need to be
exposed to your message multiple times, and so when
I talk to people about lead generation, I always say,
"We need to have an advertising strategy, a referral
strategy and a PR strategy. Time willing, we're going
to do all three of those as quickly as we can, at the
same time."

Marketing Effectively with Blogs

Bob: Now I want to move on to a topic that I know a
lot of people are going to want to hear from you about,
because you've won so much recognition for your own
blog and you are a recognized expert in blogging. What
advice do you have on successfully using blogs for
marketing either products or services?

John: The thing I would say is look at it as just another
marketing tool. I know that when blogs really got hot
for business, there was all this hype about how it's going
to change the way you do marketing, and there were even
people claiming you were instantly going to get rich if you
had a blog.

And I would say just look at it with a strategic approach
in mind. It is a great tool to facilitate content creation and
distribution. It's a great tool to help educate. It's actually
a great tool to help you in your search-engine optimization
efforts. It's all just inherent in the way the software works
and the way that the search engines view blogs.

But I would really tell people, don't look at it as being the
silver bullet that's going to instantly transform your business.
Look at it as a way to pretty easily get some of the results
or get some of the strategy of creating content and educating
done.

And having said that, I'm not trying to discourage anybody.
I would say you most definitely should have a blog, in my
opinion, but don't look at it as the magic bullet.

Bob: Let me dig a little deeper into this topic, because I
know it as a topic that I get a lot of questions on from my
clients, plus I have this opportunity to pick the brain of the
leading expert on this, so I want to dig even deeper.

One thing you mentioned is that a blog can help you get
better search engine placement. Obviously we could talk
about that for hours, but can you give a couple of critical
points about that?

John: It really is mostly inherent in the way the software is
designed. Very quickly, blogs are content management
systems that every entry creates a database entry, which
is then pulled into a web page. So when you go to
someone's blog, you see maybe eight or ten listings. Well,
those are all pulled from a database. Nobody needs to
know, really, how that works. I just had to set that up so
that you understand a little bit of the software.

But what happens is every time you post an entry, if it's
five words or its 500 words, a new web page is created,
and that web page is optimized for search engines. Again,
you can do this yourself, but the beauty is the software does
it. So all of a sudden you have the ability to create, over
time, a hundred, a hundred and fifty pages, all perfectly
optimized, generally with an educational content, because
people typically don't blog posts on "Buy our new product
today." They typically talk about some aspect of the
industry or some aspect of their product or service.

So all of those factors combine to make the search engines
say, "Hey, this is something that we ought to pay attention
to", and when a company has on their domain or on their
website a blog, then the whole website benefits from that
search engine paying attention to it.

Now, the other aspect that we could spend a lot of time on
is that inherent in most blog software is this idea of an RSS
feed, and all that really is a tool that lets the search engines
know automatically when new content is posted, and then
it distributes it automatically out to them, too.

So there are a lot of things in the software itself that just by
having a blog and posting about once a week, you would
actually be better off than most websites are today.

Now, there's a lot more you can get out of it and should get
out of it by maximizing it, but from the search-engine
standpoint, that's a real big piece of the value.

Bob: Right. And just a point I want to clarify, if I
understood what you said, you don't really need to
understand the technical intricacies of an RSS feed if you
use a blog, because it's built into the blog to automatically
notify the search engines for you? Is that correct?

John: Absolutely. There are hundreds of blog
softwares out there, but certainly in the leading ten, 20,
30 of them, it's automated. You really don't need to
know how it works or why it works. Just know that it
will work.

Bob: That actually leads to my next question. There's
kind of a raging debate going on in the marketing community,
at least I've heard a lot, that there are kind of two camps in
terms of blogging software. One prefers software called
"Movable Type". Another prefers "Word Press".

A lot of marketing experts are claiming that Word Press
works more effectively with the search engines than
Movable Type. Can you contribute your advice on that
particular issue?

John: I don't blog with either one of them, so take that
with a grain of salt. What I have heard as well is that
they're both capable of doing anything that you want them
to do, or need them to do, or can do. I have heard that
Word Press inherently, particularly for the person that
doesn't know necessarily how to amplify the RSS feed or
do some of the little under-the-hood tweaks, Word Press
is I think a little more user friendly in that regard.

I do think that actually Movable Type is more powerful in
some of the things it can do, but again, that's can do by
the hands of somebody who really understands the
programming aspect.

Bob: So is there a specific software that you
recommend?

John: Well, I think, as you mentioned, Word Press
that can be downloaded for free at wordpress.org
is a great option.

I personally like, and this is one of those things in
the great software debate - you typically like the one
you know how to use and you've gone through the
learning curve. I personally like Type Pad. And part of
my reason for that is it is very easy to use, so when I
have people that I'm trying to get started that I know
maybe aren't very technically savvy, I'll lead them to
Type Pad. That's actually a hosted service that without
downloading, customizing, doing anything, you can
actually have a blog in five minutes.

***************************************

That's great advice and insight from John Jantsch. I
hope you enjoyed and benefitted from this short
excerpt from my interview with John.

Special offer on John Jantsch's complete
marketing course, "The Ultimate Small Business
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by Bob Serling

Zogby International has just released the results of a
poll they conducted and it is both disheartening and
shocking. And it holds a powerful lesson for marketers.

Here's a sampling of the results they discovered:

1. 75% of Americans can correctly identify two of
Snow White's seven dwarfs. Only 25% can name
two Supreme Court justices (and there are nine
of them, not just seven).

2. 57% could name the boy wizard of British author
J.K. Rowling's books - Harry Potter. Only 50%
could name the British Prime Minister - Tony
Blair.

3. 60% could name the fictional planet Superman
is from - Krypton. Just 37% knew that Mercury
is the closest planet to the son.

Wow! Are you as shocked as I am?

We could ponder why the average American (and
people all over the world, by the way) seem to have
little grasp - and even less interest - in the world
around them for hours. But regardless of why this
is occurring, if you don't take it into consideration
in your marketing, your sales and profits will suffer.

Suggestions for coping with this disturbing trend

If you think this trend is short-lived, or occurs just
among the younger generation, think again. I live
in the 8th largest city in America - San Diego. In the
10 years I've been here, the philharmonic orchestra
has shut down twice due to lack of funds. Only a
$50 million endowment from a local philanthropist
keeps it open.

Regardless of age, education level, sex or race,
people seem to be less interested in serious topics
these days. If you try to fight that, you can seriously
compromise the effectiveness of your marketing.

Here are a few things you can do to live with, and
even capitalize on this trend:

1. Keep your copy simple. Assume that your
prospect has a sixth-grade education. Many
do, and those that have a higher level of education
generally use language skills at about that
level (dude).

2. Avoid too much technical jargon. As wired as
people are these days, the majority of their
"wired" efforts are dedicated to various forms of
entertainment. Don't assume this technically savvy
time we live in equates to a higher degree of
intelligence. Simple sentences, simple paragraphs,
simple words work best.

3. Become a student of popular culture. Read the
comics. Read the sports page. Read the
entertainment section of your paper. These are
the areas where most people connect with each
other. You'll gain tremendous insight about society
in general, and the people who make up your
market in particular, by reading these sections that
reflect the true interests of so much of the
population.

4. Don't make the mistake of skimping on copy.
Online or offline, in almost all cases, longer copy
still does a more effective selling job. Just because
people aren't interested in more serious topics
doesn't mean they're any less devoted to the topics
they do pay attention to. The more you write about
a person's self-interest, the better chance you have
of making the sale.

Now, if only I could remember the names of those
other five dwarfs!

====================================

How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html

I hate to say "I told you so", but...

In May, CNET's business network and MarketingSherpa
conducted a survey to determine which types of marketing
are most productive for businesses. So what do you think
business executives listed as their Top 3 methods for
successfully bringing in more sales?

Pay-per-click? Nope.

Natural search? Negative.

Ezine marketing. Wrong again, bucko.

Cheez, kinda makes an online marketer feel trivial and
meaningless, doesn't it? But wait - it gets even worse
for the online gurus. Because here are the results of this
survey of sophisticated, technically inclined business
executives. Drumroll please...

The three big winners

Here are the winners, in order of preference:

1. Word of mouth
2. Conferences and trade shows
3. Editorial in print magazines

Wow! This completely aligns with what I've been telling
every marketer, business owner, or entrepreneur who
will listen for the past 4 or 5 years. Just because
technology is cool, just because all the so-called gurus
are selling you a bill of goods about the next hot
technological "magic bullet", doesn't mean it's true.

Look, I have nothing against technology and Internet
marketing. I have a strong Internet presence and plan
to maintain it. But I'd give my eye-teeth for a juicy
article in Inc Magazine, while I warily evaluate almost
every form of online marketing.

However, I still use many online marketing techniques
that work for my business. But the operative phrase
here is "that work". You see, I don't care whether an
effective marketing technique is online, offline, or
painted on the side of a barn. My only concern is
that it's effective.

So I strongly caution you to get past looking at the
economy of marketing online and focus instead on
what's most profitable for your business - both
online and offline.

One last important point

If you examine the Big 3 winners above, there's a
common, but hidden, thread running through them. The
hidden message is that most business executives don't
trust any type of marketing very much.

They strongly prefer the recommendations of trusted
friends and business associates, objective industry
experts' opinions, and materials they can check out in
a face-to-face situation.

Focus more of your marketing efforts on those areas
and you'll easily command a greater share of your
market.

====================================

How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html

by Bob Serling

Usually in this ezine, I give you answers about
marketing topics that are critical to your business. But
But today's issue is not about answers, it's about a
question. And hopefully, by asking yourself this question,
you'll come up with a powerful answer that will literally
alter the course of your entire life. I know it did for me.
So let's get right to it.

The question of a lifetime

Most of us question whether the career we're in is the
right choice. There have been dozens of books written
on the topic, most of which help you assess the skills
you have and then shoehorn them into a career change.

The problem with this approach is that it lacks gusto!
If you follow this logic, you'll simply end up with another
career that you're sick of five years from now.

The way to avoid this and really create the career you
want is to pull out all the stops by asking a truly life
changing question. Ready for it? Here it comes...

Ask yourself:

"If I was to win the mega-lottery tomorrow, what
would I do even if I didn't get paid for it?"

The answer you come up with is what you should
really be focusing on if you're looking to change
careers or add a second stream of income to your
life.

The question in action

I asked myself The Question of a Lifetime just last week.
Going into it, I thought I'd identify a powerful new
product idea I could market to my customers. Was I
ever in for a surprise!

Because I didn't censor my answer, even though I was
predisposed to coming up with the product idea I just
mentioned, my answer was altogether different than
what I thought. By letting my mind simply answer the
question without any censors or filters, the answer that
immediately popped up was, "Invent more toys".

Look, I really love helping people market more effectively,
and I don't plan to stop. But when I'm inventing toys,
it doesn't seem like work. Hours can go by, yet it seems
like minutes.

So I've committed to developing at least two new toys
each year. And simply by answering this question, I've
already kicked myself into gear. I have two appointments
to present new toy ideas in the next 45 days.

Hey, what could be better than getting paid to do
something you'd happily do for nothing?

by Bob Serling

A rose is a rose and a benefit is a benefit, right?

Not quite. You see, not all benefits are created equal.
For almost any market, there is a deeper seated benefit
that means more to your customer than all other benefits.
If you can identify precisely what that deeper benefit is,
you'll be treated to the tune of your cash register
(whether a real or virtual cash register) ringing
continuously.

The "deeper benefit" in action

Here's a real life example of the deeper benefit in action.
One of my target markets is consultants and trainers.
Just about every consultant and trainer would like to
add information products to their business as a way of
bringing in passive income.

When I recently sent an email offering my "Information
Products Master Course" to the consultants and trainers
on my list, I could have used a subject line featuring a
key benefit like:

"How to make thousands with information products"

That's a pretty decent benefit. "How to make thousands".
What consultant or trainer wouldn't want to do that?

But if you dig a bit deeper and discover what really
motivates your prospect, you can find the "deeper
benefit" that few prospects can resist responding to. In
this case, by doing my research, I discovered what
truly motivates consultants and trainers to want to add
information products to their product/service mix. Then
I used it to create a far more compelleing subject line:

"The secret to working less & paying yourself more"

You see, the vast majority of consultants and trainers
aren't making nearly as much money as they'd like to.
There are tremendous peaks and valleys in service
businesses. Sometimes they're turning away clients.
Other times, they can barely keep their doors open
for business.

So this subject line outperformed every other subject
line I tested because it combines the pain they feel
- working too much and not getting paid enough - with
a promise of overcoming that pain and achieving an
important goal, "paying yourself more". That's a tough
combination to beat!

How to uncover your "deeper benefit"

There are many ways to uncover the "deeper benefit"
that truly drives your prospects to action. One of the
best is to ask yourself:

"What keeps my prospect up at night? What is
so important to them, or so problematic, that
they lose sleep over it?"

Answer that question, use that answer to drive your
copy, and you're practically guaranteed greater sales.

====================================

How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html

by Bob Serling

It seems a lot more people are starting to heed my
advice to include offline marketing in their overall
marketing mix, particularly with the bizarre rules
changes Google has implemented this week with
Adwords. So let's take a look at a simple, extremely
effective testing procedure you can use to ramp up
the success of all your offline marketing.

Ready? Here we go...

A client called me last week in a panic, "The lead
generation letter bombed," he wailed.

"Bombed how?" I asked. I've been through similar
conversations with clients many times before, so I
know better than to buy into their panic.

"I only got 24 responses and of those, just 4 want
to set up an appointment. I was hoping to get at
least 10 appointments," he replied.

The key to all successful marketing is testing

One of the most valuable features of direct marketing
is the ability to test a variety of components to determine
what works best. Then you kill the losers and run with
the winners. But even though everyone knows they
should be testing, most people just give it lip service.

"How many different lists did you test to get your 24
responses?" I asked the client.

"Just the one. List rental costs are really high these days,"
he answered.

"I know they are, but your costs are much higher if you
test only one list and it fails. Then you've lost all your
money. If you test at least three different lists and just
one of them proves to be a winner, you'll generate
at least a year's worth of business from it, won't you?"
I asked.

"I'm sure that's true. I'm just always looking to save a
buck, you know," he answered. "But I'm not really
saving anything if I lose it all on one list."

Now he was starting to get the picture!

How to conduct multiple tests with the same mailing

"Now, let me ask you one more thing," I said. "Did you
test two different versions of your copy?"

I have to admit, I could have predicted his answer.

"No, I was in a rush to get this thing in the mail and
bringing in the business," he said.

Unfortunately, as I explained to him, he had missed
an opportunity to actually test six different packages
with just one mailing.

Here's how. First, you start with the three different
lists. Second, you split-test by sending 50% of the
people on each list one version of your copy, and
the other 50% a second version.

By doing this, you're actually testing six different
combinations. Your mailing costs are the same,
except for the additional rental fees for the lists.
But the difference in results are almost always
substantial.

Plus, it gets even better. Once you've found the
right list/copy combination, you can have your list
broker profile the successful list (or lists) against other
lists to find those that are the closest matches.

The likelihood of these profiled lists performing well
is far greater than any other lists. Once you test these
new lists, if they prove successful, you're ready to
roll out in style!

====================================

How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html

by Bob Serling

Last week, I did a limited attendance teleseminar for
just 100 people on creating and marketing information
products. One of the key points I make to people
interested in creating information products applies to
anyone in any type of business.

Let me give you a quick bit of background information.
The vast majority of clients that I work with - I'd estimate
at least 90% - tell me their main goal is to be a more
effective online marketer. This is a critical mistake!

Don't get me wrong, I have a strong online presence
myself. But the real goal of any business should be to
become an "effective marketer", NOT an "effective
online marketer".

The great "Online Marketing" myth

I don't know how this myth got started, but many people
think they can have an "online marketing business". Let
me clear this up for you once and for all - there is no
such thing as an "online marketing business". Online
marketing is merely one more form of media - just
as direct mail, space advertising, radio and tv are forms
of marketing media.

Let me ask you - would you ever say you want to have
a "television marketing business"? Of course not.
Companies who are savvy enough to make profitable
use of tv also use many other forms of media.

And this brings me back to the original point. FORGET
about being a successful online marketer. Focus instead
on being an effective marketer in whatever media are
most productive for your business.

Two real life examples

Here are a couple of excellent examples of what I
mean. You may have seen some of my emails talking
about how one of the people in my information products
mentoring program sold more than 9,500 copies of
his first information product right out of the gate.

How did he achieve this? By mailing a proposal to a
Fortune 500 company suggesting they purchase his
info product in bulk to provide to all their distributors.

He did not have a web site. Had he taken the time
to build a web site, build an ezine list and online
presence, it would have been a major distraction
that would have prevented him from hitting this
home run.

A second client, who already had an existing web
site, used my advice to change the strategic purpose
of his site. This resulted in an overnight increase in
response of more than 300%. It made good sense
to do this because he already had the infrastructure
in place.

Bottom line, it's counterproductive to predetermine
what marketing media to use. Only by understanding
your market and the best ways to reach them, will
you become the most effective, profitable marketer
you can be.

====================================

How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html

Regardless of whether you want to develop highly
profitable widgets, information products, new services,
or software, I'm here to tell you something that will
save you a lot of time, money, and heart ache...

The majority of "experts" have it all wrong!

Just thumb through any course or attend any seminar
for your market and you're likely to hear the same piece
of advice - it sounds good, but it's actually deadly. I'm
sure you've heard some version of:

To develop the most effective products, ask your
customers what they want, then create it.

If you buy into this conventional wisdom, you're likely
to be stuck with a major flop once you launch your
shiny new product. You see, it's rare that customers
really know what they want. If they did know, they'd
have already bought it!

Advanced product development made simple

So how do you go about creating an uneven playing
field when developing new products - a playing field
that tilts a huge segment of the market to you and away
from your competitors?

It's easy. Instead of listening to what people tell you they
want... listen to what they're complaining about! That's
where you'll really find out what people are dieing to get
their hands on.

How do you do this? There are two easy ways.

#1: Treat customer complaints like gold

Are you annoyed when you receive an email or letter
complaining about your product or service? Don't be.
There's a powerful vein of gold ripe for the taking
embedded in those complaints.

Keep track of all customer complaints and organize
them in categories. Once you see specific themes
popping up again and again, you have a golden
opportunity for creating a new product (or service)
or improving an existing product and bringing out
an updated model.

#2: Customer reconnaissance

Another way to find out what your customers are
complaining about is to visit discussion lists for your
market area. Yahoo groups has discussion lists for
any area under the sun.

Join these groups and find out what rubs people wrong
about your category of products. You'll find that people
are more than happy to post their laundry lists of
complaints in any given market. Here again, track
these complaints by category - then seize on
opportunities to create new products or improve your
existing products.

Just by following these two simple suggestions, you can
run circles around your competition when it comes to
developing highly profitable new products.

====================================
How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html

What is the most important book you've never heard
of - a book that if you only knew about it could
potentially make you wealthy?

It's the book that's hidden inside of you.

You see, based on over two decades of creating and
selling information products, and helping thousands of
people to successfully create their own highly profitable
information products, I know that everyone has at least
one blockbuster dwelling below the surface.

The problem is, most people don't believe this, or
worse, believe it but don't know how to unearth their
gem.

Let me give you a recent example of a "book inside
you" I helped a client uncover to demonstrate precisely
what I mean.

Is creating your own info product rocket science?

Creating your own highly profitable information product
is actually quite easy. But it didn't seem easy to a recent
client I worked with - a true rocket scientist who headed
up the team to successfully put the Mars Rover on the
Red Planet.

When he came to me, he wanted to create a book that
would show people how to make a few hundred dollars,
reasoning that it isn't really possible to make a million
dollars as so many get-rich-quick books claim. I told
him to forget it - that people want to dream big and
wouldn't waste their money on this concept.

He was dejected and told me that was the only idea he
had ever come up with for an information product. I
then asked him about his hobbies and interests, as many
people discover powerful topics in those areas. But
he didn't have any real hobbies!

How could he, he reasoned, when his entire life had
been consumed for the past 5 years heading up the
project for the Mars Rover. "I'm just an engineer with
a love of statistics, but nobody cares abour statistics
other than scientists," he said.

Follow the money

"Really? I asked. If you were to think about online
marketing, what areas require the highest use of data
and statistics? Because that's where we'll find the
real opportunities to make money."

"Tracking user activity on a web site and pay-per-click
marketing, which is a statistical nightmare," he replied.

"Precisely! And since there are already many excellent
tracking software packages, can you think of a way to
use your background to help people get substantially
better results with their pay-per-click marketing?"

"Of course, that would be child's play," he answered
in typical rocket scientist fashion.

And that's how a powerful new information product
was born. Simply by scratching a bit beneath the
surface to find that monster product that's dwelling
within you.

Now that you know what to do, your first step toward
discovering your own best seller, is to begin "scratching".

It's easy to do. Just follow the steps I just showed you
in this example. Examine your hobbies, work, special
interests, and any skills you have. But the trick is to dig
a bit deeper than you normally would, just like I did
with the rocket scientist. That's where you'll find that
hidden gem that could be worth a fortune.

====================================
How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html

by Bob Serling

Do genetics affect successful headlines?

Could it be that common traits passed down by our
ancestors can make or break your marketing?

Consider these simple questions:

1. What is your favorite color?
2. What time were you born?

The fact is, the way our brains are wired, there's
no way you can ignore answering those questions.
They trigger an immediate response whether you
like it or not.

Why? Because our lives once depended on it.
How do I start a fire to cook that mastadon? How
do I keep the sabre-toothed tiger that's chasing the
mastodon from making lunch of me first?

Our brains are wired to answer questions in order
to extend the life of the species. But this same
mechanism is automatically triggered whether the
question posed to your brain is life-sustaining or
something as simple as asking "What is your favorite
color?"

That's why headlines like the classic "Which of
These Mistakes do You Make in English" are
impossible to resist. Your brain won't rest until
it finds the answer. Conveniently, all you have to
do is read the ad to get relief.

So if you want to increase the success of any
ad, sales letter, or web page, try rewriting your
headline as a question. You'll be surprised by
how much this can increase your response.

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What's the secret I used to write a sales letter that
landed an agreement for a $25 million deal on the first
try? It's my simple copywriting "cheat sheet" that lets
anyone write high-profit copy quickly and easily. To
get all the details on how my "cheat sheet" works, click
here: http://directmarketinginsider.com/kcs.html

Let's talk quickly about traffic generation. It constantly amazes me that most people make the mistake of believing that traffic generation must center on online marketing techniques, since your web site is online. Bad move!

Some of the best traffic generation techniques are using offline methods to drive tons of traffic online to your site. I have clients who are using postcard mailings, space ads, and spot radio to generate huge, ongoing waves of traffic.

Now, in case you haven't seen the information on Traffic Jam Plus yet (this is the system that generated sooooooo much traffic it crashed my site twice in 10 hours), you can get a tour of the system at:

http://www.TrafficJamPlus.com

But whether or not you decide to check this out - I can't urge you strongly enough to begin exploring offline methods to drive tons of traffic online. It's the hottest tip I could give you on building your business.

I've been experiencing that like mad lately! The longer I market on the Internet, the more I discover that some of the most fundamental concepts of direct marketing are what work best. The problem is, almost all of these core concepts have been abandoned in favor of hot new technologies that promise to deliver the moon, but really end up delivering very little.

For example, seven months ago, when I launched my web site www.DirectMarketingInsider.com, I decided to abandon the prevailing advice touted by all the online marketing gurus and return to direct marketing fundamentals. So I designed a very simple site built around one core ingredient (an ingredient that I'll share with you at a later date).

I didn't pay any attention to the search engines or any of the tags, keywords, or other gobbledeygook that's supposed to work online. And the results absolutely floored me. This particular site produced nearly as much profit in the first few months as all my other sites combined produced all last year.

I'm not going to reveal everything I did to make this site a success here. I couldn't possibly cover it all in such a short space anyway. But I will give you this advice: if you want to make your web site truly profitable, rather than a drain on your bank account, go back and study the direct marketing classics. Read John Caples, Claude Hopkins, and Victor Schwab to start.

Then apply proven direct marketing principles to your site, rather than the latest technological wizardry, and watch the difference in your sales and profits.

It happens every time.

Is this good or bad if you publish an ezine? You may be surprised to learn that I look at it as a very good thing. You see, anyone with any common sense knows that an ezine has to be paid for some way - either through advertising or selling products. So if someone is sooooo offended when they receive a promotion that they unsubscribe, they are really telling me they would never be a qualified customer anyway.

Bottom line, I'd rather have 5,000 qualified subscribers than 50,000 "tire kickers".

One interesting point, though. Let's say you're a cheapskate who never wants to pay a cent for anything and only wants whatever you can get for free. If you were truly a student of direct marketing, you'd do yourself a greater favor by remaining on the ezine list and studying the promotions - often that's where the best lessons are to be found!

Your opinion?

I'm shocked that more marketers don't use these power-packed little demons on a regular basis. Unless you're marketing to large businesses, almost nothing beats the return on investment that postcards deliver. Here are some ways you could be using postcards to make your business more profitable:

1. Mail thank-you notes to your customers EVERY time they buy
something from you. No one does this. If you do, you'll build
tremendous loyalty and repeat sales.

2. Use them to offer a free or low-cost report. Then convert these
new prospects to buyers. Hint: make your prospects call a toll
number (they pay for the call) to request your report. This
significantly increase the quality of your leads.

3. Use postcards to draw traffic to your website. Offer them free
information - a report or white paper - but make them sign up to
get it. Yep, it will increase the quality of your leads and get
rid of the tire kickers.

If you aren't using postcards to promote your services, you should be. I've used them for years and they've never let me down.

The reason I put so little time into affiliate programs is that I much prefer to work with a small group of hand-picked joint venture partners for any product or service I'm offering. In my experience, both in my own business and consulting with many of the most profitable online marketers, affiliate programs produce very little real results. Only a small percentage of affiliates generate any significant volume of sales.

With joint ventures, you're dealing only with those partners you choose to do business with. This gives you two major advantages. The first advantage is that you pick your partners and know that you're investing your time in quality partners who will go the extra mile to sell your product.

The second advantage may be even more important. Joint ventures give you the ability to make sure that only the kind of people you want representing your product do so. If an affiliate is a whack job and gives their customers poor customer service or engages in questionable business practices, because they're selling your product, it could reflect poorly on you. And you'd never know it's happening.

For my money, give me 3 great joint venture partners instead of 300 mediocre affiliates.

What has your experience been with affiliates and joint ventures?