Neil Shearing’s Internet Marketing Strategies

And so another year draws to a close.

Was it a successful one for you? Did you achieve the 2006-goals you wanted?

I’m absolutely awful at setting goals. I like to jump from one interesting project to another every five minutes or less.

My New Year’s Resolution should probably be to set some New Year’s Resolutions.

But, regardless of whether you did or didn’t set any specific goals, you should still be able to look back at 2006 and ask yourself “did I achieve what I wanted with that year“?

I’m not necessarily talking about money… there are many other aspects to life than just income.

Did you treat your friends and family well?

Did you take care of yourself… mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physically?

Did you write that novel you’ve always been “meaning” to write?

Did you visit the places you wanted to go to, see the sights you wanted to see, meet the people you wanted to meet?

… or did you just let 2006 slide by, and wonder what happened to it when people started to mention Christmas back in October?

If you let 2006 slide by, was it because life threw obstacles at you that prevented you from achieving other goals? Or was it because you “slobbed out” in front of the TV when you weren’t at work?

Will you be doing the same in 2007?

Think about it. 2007 hasn’t even begun yet. As I type this, 2007 is still nine hours away… which means 2007 is like a pristine present… an unwrapped gift all on its own under the Christmas tree. You’ll be opening that gift at the end of today, whether you want to or not… so wouldn’t it be great to positively decide, right now, while the gift is still unopened, that you’ll make maximum use of the opportunities 2007 will bring?

Make your list… what is it you want to achive? A personal goal? A travel goal? A new house? Sacking your boss and starting your own business? Taking an existing business to the next level?

Write your goals down… and make them happen in 2007.

May I be the first to wish you a Happy New Year… slightly early.

(now go and make that list… )

If you’re subscribed to many Internet-marketer’s email lists, you’ll be getting bombarded with emails promoting “Pipeline Profits”, from two guys who “blew away” everyone at the Stompernet seminar with details of how they made “over a million dollars in 90 days” using a “forgotten” method. In fact, this is how Filsaime promoted it to his list…

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The two guys in this video just basically came out of “nowhere” and turned the entire Internet Marketing community upside down.

People usually say “Came out of no where” or “Overnight Success”…

…but the truth is they run Million Dollar Businesses for years and then one day someone asks them to speak and the next thing you know…

…people start totally flipping out.

Recently, when I was at SomperNet Live in November, these 2 “unheard of” guys spoke and totally left the room shocked, dumbfounded, and virtually speechless.

Want to know how they did it?
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Well, I’m not promoting it. (big shock! Unlike the Build An Empire promotion I did, I don’t know the guys behind this system)

And my “instinct” not to promote seems to be right because Eric Holmlund (who worked with Joel Comm on the Instant Adsense Templates launch) cut right to the chase and said at his blog that he tried co-registration and had a bad experience (you should read this!) with Co-reg lists which, he says, “you should avoid like the plague”)

Bottom line? The co-registration method is fraught with spam issues… you’ll be getting the name and emails for people who haven’t signed up at your website and will be emailing them offers. I can’t see how you can possibly expect people not to click the “report spam” button as a result of mailing them. Unless you have a very, very tolerant mailing list provider, your business will be shut down after either the first or second spam complaint.

I’ve never tried co-reg, and I don’t plan to.

In case you’re wondering, co-reg is when you sign up for something, like a free email account or a domain name, and are offered the option of getting other things for free such as newsletters, some coupons, a free trial etc etc at the same time. Your details will then be given (sold) to all the additional companies whose boxes you checked. Sometimes there aren’t even boxes to check, it’s just hidden in the terms of service that your info will be shared with “selected third parties”.

The Queen’s Christmas Message is a tradition here in Britain. Every Christmas the Queen reads out her message to Britain and the Commonwealth.

For the first time, the Queen’s Christmas Message is available as a Podcast. I’ve just downloaded it from iTunes, uploaded it to my iPod nano, and am playing it through an intempo active speaker system (a Christmas present!) that the ipod nano just “docks” into.

Wow. It’s not quite the same as watching the Christmas speech on the tele after Christmas lunch!

Apparently the podcast has become an instant hit, topped the download charts, and may become one of the most downloaded in Net history.

You can watch the speech online here, if you’re interested, but not into the podcasting thing.

I was checking out the Google Adsense blog and found a post from December 18th.. just a few days ago… where they show examples of using images next to their ads that are against their policy terms. Check out the examples… the image placements are exactly what a lot of Internet marketers have been recommending you do!

To quote from the blog post, “make sure that the ads and images are not arranged in a way that could easily mislead or confuse your visitors. For example, if you run a stock photography site with a catalog of thumbnail images, don’t line the ads up with the thumbnails in a way that could be misleading. Consider using a full border around your ads or changing your ad colors, for example.”

So, in a nutshell, you can’t make it look like the ads and the images are related.

What do you mean, you didn’t know Adsense sent out a newsletter!

Yes, they do. And you can read it online here.

I suggest you sign up for the newsletter. Especially if you’re earning money from Adsense. It’s important to keep up-to-date on what’s happening when your income is affected by any changes.

If you’re not, you should be. “One Time Offers” are basically upsells… you get someone to do something… opt in to your list or agree to buy a product. Once they’ve done that you show them an offer page and try to “upsell” them from the basic action they just took to a “better” offer (usually more profitable for you!)

The only difference between an upsell and a OTO is that the OTO is supposed to be a “once-only” offer. As with any marketing tactic, OTO’s can be overdone… especially when it’s a freebie being offered and you have to go through multiple “no, I don’t want the glorious offer” clicks to get to the freebie.

However, when they’re done right (offering something closely related to the original action and at great value) they can be a very useful mechanism for making extra profits. After all, how many times are you sold the “super size” version of something when you’re making a purchase? (or asked to try out the storecard… 10% off anything you buy with it today!)

Seriously though, I’ve had upsells on my main products for years and would guess they’ve made me tens of thousands of dollars in extra profit.

If you want an easy way to add a OTO to your site, check out this new service… OTOGoldMine
update: The server is back up. Everything’s working again

My friend Arun has written some “Fast Start Guides” for anyone wanting to know the basics about using Blogging, Press Releases and Adwords to grow their online businesses and online profits.

These reports are free, no-nonsense, clear and readable. They’re short and to-the-point.

If that’s how you like your information, head over to www.FastStartKits.com and pick up your free reports on Adwords, Blogging and Press Releases. They have plans to add several more guides on other Internet marketing topics, as reported by Arun:-)

Just in case anyone was wondering.

I haven’t disappeared. I’ve just been blogging and emailing a bit less often for two reasons…

1: I don’t like emailing people all the time. Being bombarded with email isn’t the way I like to hear from people, so I don’t do it to others. Of course, I know I can blog as often as I wish, and ramble away to my heart’s content, but recently I haven’t because of…

2: Chickenpox. Yes, my son came down with it two weeks ago, and my daughter came down with it a few days ago. Working from home can be quite testing with sick kids around, so I basically decided that I’m the boss, and my family comes first… so they’ve been getting my attention recently.

I will be working on a “year’s end” blog post… goal setting, that kind of thing… so stay tuned.

Huh?

Is this Joel’s blog now?

Nope. But in contrast to the tortuous efforts needed to get the “free” report I mentioned here, Joel’s done it a much slicker way… just visit this page, watch the Christmas message (and try to avoid looking at the background wallpaper!) and download the report entitled “Earnings Beyond Adsense”.

No email required, no confirmation, no authentication, passwords, hieroglyphics or secret handshakes!

Now which method are you going to use in your promotions? The one that gets good or bad publicity? Hmmm.

There’s a report being promoted by a lot of Internet marketers at the moment called “Give Pay Per Click The Finger”.

(Am I the only person to find the report’s title offensive? Perhaps it’s a phrase Americans aren’t concerned by… but I find it distasteful. It’s almost certainly part of the “viral” marketing scheme to use a “shock” title. Sigh.)

Well, anyways, I tried to get the report just to see what Keith Baxter says in it. I’d be interested in his comments on PPC, even if I dislike the report’s title.

But, what’s the HECK is with the long-winded sign-up process?

It’s a FREE report. I can understand asking for my email. I can understand asking me to click to confirm my email. But, after that, give me the freaking report!

But, noooo, that’s too simple.

I have to visit the website. check.

I have to put in my name and email address. check.

I have to choose a password. (why?). check.

I have to put in my activation code. (huh?).

I check my email.

I have to click the confirmation link in the email to get the activation code.

I click the link in the email and my browser takes me away from the “input your activation code” webpage to the “this is your activation code” webpage.

Now I want to get back to the “input your activation code” webpage. So I click “back” in the browser.

I enter my activation code.

Now I’ve been forwarded to the “referral contest” page. (Edit personal information to earn $1 for every person you send to us and $.75 for every person they send to us on your 2nd tier and $.50 for every person they send on the 3rd tier. So if you refer 3000 people to us that refer another 4500 people to us and they all refer another 10,000 to us, then I will send you $11,375.00!)

Where’s the FREAKIN free report?

Oh, click the link near the top. Right. Done that. Open the PDF. The 11-page report promotes Keith’s ModernClick.com service. Wow.

What do you think? Am I the only person to be annoyed at the report title, annoyed again by the long-winded sign-up process and then underwhelmed my the report itself?

OK, so I found this funny… a comment someone posted at this blog, which never went live because it’s automatically filtered out as spam.

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Good moning. Very interesting, really!
viagra
viagra
Don’t delete
–

“Don’t delete”! That’s so funny.

So, you guys who are spamming the blog with silly comments can stop whenever you wish. You won’t get links or traffic.

I’ve know Richard Grady for a long time. He’s a UK marketer who started out making a fortune selling on eBay, then decided to teach others how to achive the same success he’d experienced.

(You know what’s interesting? Generally, people without integrity don’t survive in business for long. That includes online business. Most of the people I have the highest respect for have been running their own online businesses for many years. Richard started in 1998)

How successful has Richard been? Well, he says…

“My online success was recognised in 2003 by the highly respected Internet Marketing Center’s ‘Secrets to their Success’ website. The site publishes interviews with online entrepreneurs every month so that their members can learn from them. It was great to have been approached by the IMC in the first place but what was even better was when they asked me to provide a second interview in November 2006!

At the time of writing, I am the ONLY person they have EVER interviewed twice!”

Now that’s credibility!

Back in 2004, Richard wrote “Making It Happen”, a series of audio CD’s detailing how he makes money online. The CD’s were a huge hit. Fast forward to 2006 and Richard has released a new set of audios called “Still Making It Happen” containing all the latest hints and tips from Richard… six hours worth of quality advice and information about making money running an online business.

Incredibly, he’s offering both sets of audios for just $37. I told him it’s too cheap, but he wouldn’t listen!

Check out the full details by clicking here

In this post I get to pull together two of my favourite themes… sneaky banks and Internet marketing.

If you’ve seen the ever-increasing hype surrounding new product launches in the Internet marketing world, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the “act now, or else” marketing tactic was only being used by the “guru” Internet marketers.

You’d be wrong.

I got an email this morning from my bank asking if I’d like to make a balance transfer at a special, *Christmas* offer where they waive the balance transfer fee (normally 3%)… and, get this, the offer expires at Midnight December 7th. That’s right, it’s a ONE DAY offer.

Here’s the email copy…

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Do you want to be full of the festive spirit and enjoy the festive season without the financial strains it may bring? For a limited time only, you can now transfer a balance* WITHOUT a fee being charged!

Complete a balance transfer before midnight on 7th December 2006** using our online banking service and the balance transfer handling fees will be waived.
***

Wow. Is that an “Internet marketing” tactic you recognise? Act now, or else (the price goes up, the offer sells out, we withdraw the offer, the sky falls in).

And the “catch” is (as far as I can tell) it ISN’T a “zero percent” balance transfer… so presumably they’ll waive the transfer fee, but charge you interest from the day the transfer takes place at your current card rate.

Did you assume it was a “zero percent” balance transfer? Silly you!

Depending on the amount your transfer, how long you take to pay it off, and the rate of interest you’re paying at the moment, you may be better off ignoring this one-day offer and actually going for the “standard” zero percent for 12 months (with a 2% handling fee).

I actually got a zero percent deal for nine months without a transfer fee from the same bank about a year ago. I put their money on my mortgage and, before the deal expired, paid off the card thereby saving a small fortune in mortgage interest.

So, thanks for the 24-hour “Christmas” offer, but no thanks.