Category Archives: Internet Marketing

Should You Upgrade To Firefox 3?

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A new update for the Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.16 browser has come out, Firefox 3, which promises several enhancements.

The question is whether you should take the plunge, especially since reviews like the one done by Cnet seem to give it a glowing review, mentioning spectacular increase in loading times. Firefox 3 sports a shiny Web 2.0 style user interface.

BUT if you’re a marketer and you use Firefox plugins in your daily work, you will want to hold off on the upgrade.

A number of my existing Firefox add-ons (ie plugins) were deemed to be incompatible with the new version of Firefox and I’ve lost the use of them (on my secondary machine).

Depending on the developer, it could be a few days or a few weeks before a compatible version is available.

If passing on the upgrade (for now) means that you will be able to do your work, it might be a better option for now.

Is Your Business Going To Survive The Economic Storm Ahead?

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One thing I’ve noticed in talking to peers and new internet marketers recently is that although both categories of internet business owners will build similar types of sites, the way they build their sites are radically different.

I’ve had experience in construction and I’ll use some building analogies here.

New marketers tend to build like houses (ie businesses) in a pre-fabricated fashion. They tend to use templates that a thousand other website owners are using, tend to use the same cookie cutter techniques that’re mentioned on blogs, forums, ebooks, (even high-end coaching programs), yet their results are below expectations.

What’s happened?

I call this the “DryWall” or “SheetRock” mentality.

drywall

When I lived in a rural Ohio, I rented a duplex for $275/month. The house was nothing to write home (literally) about, being a wooden frame with drywall (essentially a higher grade plaster-of-paris that kids use to make ‘clay sculptures’) on the inner and outer wall and with fiberglass stuffed in between as insulation.

In the summer, the heat went right through the walls as if they weren’t there. And in the winter, aside from the biting wind and the snow, we got almost the full effects of the cold Ohio winter.

How’s this relate to internet marketing?

New marketers will build their businesses like a pre-fabricated house – assemble a wooden frame, hammer some drywall together, slap on a quick coat of paint, and start doing business.

Although this might work well for some quick cash, it doesn’t Continue reading →

Do You Get A Gold Medal In The Business Olympics?

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Longevity is the name of the game if you want to be in business on the internet for the long term. With that, scraped content affiliate sites, blogs republishing RSS feeds verbatim, mashups recycling content from Wikipedia, can expect short term traffic, but seriously, who is going to go back to one of these sites?

It’s important to look at long-term strategies to get your business on a solid foundation. That is, if you don’t want to find yourself scrambling from one rock to another, as your “empire” sinks into the sand.

Let’s look at some ways to build up personal credibility, especially in the vastness of cyberspace, where a billion websites are calling out for attention.

credibility

Here are some essentials that every website should possess:

  • Background and Biographical information

At the least, you need an “About” or “About Me”, “About Us” or “About Andrew” / “About (insert your name)”. And having text like “This is an example of a WordPress Page” doesn’t count either.

People want to read and possibly do business with people they know. And “knowing” goes beyond a run-of-the-mill “XYZ Inc is a leading Fortune 500, Inc Hot 100 Tech Startup”.

Pfft. These awards carry some weight, but if you take a second to think about some of the leading tech companies like Dell, Apple, Microsoft, the names Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs come to mind. Personalization if not just a “strategy”, it should be the cornerstone of your success if you want to succeed online.

Going beyond a mention of yourself the person, going a little deeper to Continue reading →

Breaking Out Of The “One Trick Pony” Mindset

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Shawn Collins has posted the seminar track presentations from Affiliate Summit Boston at the Affiliate Summit Blog, providing a wealth of resources and information for those in affiliate marketing as well as internet marketing.

pony

Going through the various topics, it’s easy to add more tools to your marketing arsenal. At the same time, it will be prudent to avoid falling into the “one trick pony” pitfall.

What does this pitfall involve? Given that the content comes from some of the brightest lights in the internet industry?

Falling into the trap of seeing and then believing that a buzz technology, whether it’s twitter, seesmic, SEOQuake, or some other keyword, analytics or social media tool is going to transform your business.

Is one technology, or a handful of technologies or “tricks” going to transform your business? Continue reading →

Is Your Internet Business A Slave To Technology?

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I was talking to Andrea Yager earlier about the value of Twitter to marketers and whether it was “life changing”.

I think there’s certainly things that will be life changing, these include oxygen, water and food.

The litmus test of whether something is “life changing” is whether you could survive without the item before, and whether the absence of the item or service, means your business can continue surviving.

The definition is pretty loose, but I have a feeling that businesses can continue surviving without iPhones, MacBooks, Twitter or many of the new products and services out there.

So are businesses slaves to technology?

trapped

Rather than go into a philosophical discussion of whether your business will collapse without email, or if you lost the use of a cell phone permanently, here are some essentials for Continue reading →

Are Infoproduct Marketers Selling Their Souls In Major Affiliate Promotions?

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If you’ve been watching the info product space, you’ll know that John Reese is launching a new version of his Traffic Secrets course on Jul 15th.

So every info product “guru” has been mailing their list for the last couple of weeks, trying to warm them up and maximize sales conversions on launch day.

greed

In common with other high profile info product launches, this typically results in a bonus offering frenzy, where short-sighted list owners will offer the farm (including the kitchen sink and their next born) in exchange for a product purchase through their affiliate link.

Just for the record, I’m referring to the affiliate promotions, not the core product.

It can get a little ridiculous when someone is offering you $1,000 or $10,000 or even $25,000 worth of “bonuses” for purchasing a $397 or $997 product.

Granted many of these bonus products may be virtual or digital in nature with zero stocking and zero duplication costs, but I think doing a hype-y promotion of this nature takes its toll – and it will extract a higher price than the 50% or 75% commission you might earn – it will affect your reputation.

If nothing else, this is pretty incestuous and unhealthy.

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If you’re in the internet marketing or business opportunity niche for the long term, your reputation will Continue reading →