Saturday, March 04, 2006
One Stop Web Support Newsletter #26 on Its Way
I've pushed up the schedule for the next newsletter by a week because a new ebook that I've contributed an article to has just been released. And while the ebook is in its first two weeks of release, the editor is offering $10 off the regular price.
Since I planned to review the ebook, "Ordinary People Can Earn Huge Web Profits" in the first newsletter after it came out, I wanted to make sure people got a chance to take advantage of the special launch price.
Beside the review, this newsletter also contains the following:
Jeff
I've pushed up the schedule for the next newsletter by a week because a new ebook that I've contributed an article to has just been released. And while the ebook is in its first two weeks of release, the editor is offering $10 off the regular price.
Since I planned to review the ebook, "Ordinary People Can Earn Huge Web Profits" in the first newsletter after it came out, I wanted to make sure people got a chance to take advantage of the special launch price.
Beside the review, this newsletter also contains the following:
- Article—Finding the Right Voice for Your Writing
- Review of "Make Your Net Auction Sell!"
- Special guest article by Derek Gehl—Test for Success: Learn the Top 12 Things to Test on Your Web Site (And How You Can Increase Sales by More Than 400%!), Part 1
- Success quote by P.T. Barnum
Jeff
Friday, March 03, 2006
The Next Step in Online Marketing
I've been talking for the last couple of months on my site and in my newsletter about the growing influence of video online. Hey, it's only going to become more prominent. Google now is getting into making online videos searchable. AOL is preparing to ween its members off of dial-up connections by raising the dial-up rates to the same as they charge for broadband.
The sooner you start using online video as part of your marketing arsenal, the further ahead you'll be of your competitors (assuming they aren't already way ahead of YOU with it).
The problem has been that good training in online video has been hard to find so far. But two guys that I've been working with more and more lately have finally come out with an excellent training course that you should check out.
The sample video I've put on my site is one of theirs. I got a kick out of the humor they inject into it with pop-culture references. I think it shows that promoting with video can be fun. And pay attention to the way they segue from video to their site (and an offer of some free, sample videos that can show you more about what video can do as a promotion tool).
Just so you're forewarned, the video will take you to their site when it ends. Go ahead and sign up for their sample videos. What with the way online marketing is going, you WILL be faced with the need to add video promotion to your marketing bag of tricks eventually. You might as well find out what it can do for you while you're still ahead of everyone else.
Check out the sample video on my site. (Unfortunately, I was unable to get it to work on my blog, but it works just fine on my site.) And consider how you could use video to set your business apart.
Jeff
I've been talking for the last couple of months on my site and in my newsletter about the growing influence of video online. Hey, it's only going to become more prominent. Google now is getting into making online videos searchable. AOL is preparing to ween its members off of dial-up connections by raising the dial-up rates to the same as they charge for broadband.
The sooner you start using online video as part of your marketing arsenal, the further ahead you'll be of your competitors (assuming they aren't already way ahead of YOU with it).
The problem has been that good training in online video has been hard to find so far. But two guys that I've been working with more and more lately have finally come out with an excellent training course that you should check out.
The sample video I've put on my site is one of theirs. I got a kick out of the humor they inject into it with pop-culture references. I think it shows that promoting with video can be fun. And pay attention to the way they segue from video to their site (and an offer of some free, sample videos that can show you more about what video can do as a promotion tool).
Just so you're forewarned, the video will take you to their site when it ends. Go ahead and sign up for their sample videos. What with the way online marketing is going, you WILL be faced with the need to add video promotion to your marketing bag of tricks eventually. You might as well find out what it can do for you while you're still ahead of everyone else.
Check out the sample video on my site. (Unfortunately, I was unable to get it to work on my blog, but it works just fine on my site.) And consider how you could use video to set your business apart.
Jeff
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Want to Know a Secret That Can Rev Up Your Copywriting?
Of course you do! Who wouldn't? We're all wired big-time with curiosity that compels us to strain for the forbidden knowledge that can solve our problems.
In fact, you're probably ready to strangle me right now because I keep withholding this secret from you. Well, here it is. The secret that can rev up your copywriting is...
secrets.
How so? Well, consider how you felt just now. I suggested I would reveal to you a major secret. Your mind went on high alert. "What is it? What is it? I need to know!"
The people who read your copywriting are wired exactly the same way. Suggest that you have some hidden information that can help them conquer a problem and their minds flip wide open until you reveal it to them.
You can present them with questions, like I did, that put their minds on alert for an answer. Or you can do it more subtly.
There are plenty of words that imply that you have insider information to share. I've used a number of them in this blog entry:
Jeff
Of course you do! Who wouldn't? We're all wired big-time with curiosity that compels us to strain for the forbidden knowledge that can solve our problems.
In fact, you're probably ready to strangle me right now because I keep withholding this secret from you. Well, here it is. The secret that can rev up your copywriting is...
secrets.
How so? Well, consider how you felt just now. I suggested I would reveal to you a major secret. Your mind went on high alert. "What is it? What is it? I need to know!"
The people who read your copywriting are wired exactly the same way. Suggest that you have some hidden information that can help them conquer a problem and their minds flip wide open until you reveal it to them.
You can present them with questions, like I did, that put their minds on alert for an answer. Or you can do it more subtly.
There are plenty of words that imply that you have insider information to share. I've used a number of them in this blog entry:
- Secret
- Forbidden
- Withholding
- Hidden
- Reveal
- Insider
- Discover
- Uncover
- Unlock
- Unmask
- Unveil
- Expose
- Unfold
- Lay bare
- Bring to light
- Tips
- Tricks
- Discovery
And any good thesaurus can give you dozens more words that have the same affect. By cloaking what you say in mystery (there's another couple of good words), you can turn a mind-numbing announcement into an attention grabbing revelation.
But what if you don't have a thrilling secret to reveal? Consider this. Anything that you know that your visitors don't is a secret to them. And the more valuable that information is to them, the more worthy it is of such a treatment.
Use this carefully, though. If you portray everything you say as a deep, dark secret, eventually people will tune you out like the story of the boy who cried wolf. But if you use it to focus attention on your most important points, you can tune people in to what you reveal to them in a powerful, compelling way.Jeff
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Why We Write Badly
You want what you write for your business to sound professional, don't you? We all do, but often in that desire, we accomplish nothing more than writing dull, detached, lifeless copy. Why do we do this?
When we set out into new territory, like writing copy for our business, we're painfully aware that our efforts are not going to be as polished as those who have written copy for years. We fear we won't measure up. So we retreat into writing detached, generic copy in the hope that we'll at least sound professional.
So we stick strictly to facts—no attempt to speak to our potential customers with any hint of our own personality, no attempt to communicate our own enthusiasm for what we're promoting. Just dry, emotionless facts and figures.
In doing so, we try to protect ourselves. If we display our inner selves out on the page and people don't respond, it feels like a slap in the face. It feels like they've rejected us personally.
But if we do nothing more than recite facts about the product and people don't respond, we can tell ourselves that people find the product lacking, not us personally.
Putting ourselves on the line, however, is one of the risks we take when we start a business. That business is not something detached from us, it's something we're pouring our hearts and souls into.
If we, who chose the products that we offer them, are not passionate about those products, why should they be? Being professional does not equal being stodgy and emotionless. Whatever you may think personally about high-profile business owners like Donald Trump, people are drawn to him because of his passion for what he does. He believes one hundred percent in what he does. You'd never see him write a namby-pamby listing of dry facts to try to persuade a potential customer.
Don't be afraid of rejection when it comes to writing copy for your business. I can guarantee that you'll get some. Be passionate, though, about your business and you'll find that you get acceptance as well.
Jeff
You want what you write for your business to sound professional, don't you? We all do, but often in that desire, we accomplish nothing more than writing dull, detached, lifeless copy. Why do we do this?
When we set out into new territory, like writing copy for our business, we're painfully aware that our efforts are not going to be as polished as those who have written copy for years. We fear we won't measure up. So we retreat into writing detached, generic copy in the hope that we'll at least sound professional.
So we stick strictly to facts—no attempt to speak to our potential customers with any hint of our own personality, no attempt to communicate our own enthusiasm for what we're promoting. Just dry, emotionless facts and figures.
In doing so, we try to protect ourselves. If we display our inner selves out on the page and people don't respond, it feels like a slap in the face. It feels like they've rejected us personally.
But if we do nothing more than recite facts about the product and people don't respond, we can tell ourselves that people find the product lacking, not us personally.
Putting ourselves on the line, however, is one of the risks we take when we start a business. That business is not something detached from us, it's something we're pouring our hearts and souls into.
If we, who chose the products that we offer them, are not passionate about those products, why should they be? Being professional does not equal being stodgy and emotionless. Whatever you may think personally about high-profile business owners like Donald Trump, people are drawn to him because of his passion for what he does. He believes one hundred percent in what he does. You'd never see him write a namby-pamby listing of dry facts to try to persuade a potential customer.
Don't be afraid of rejection when it comes to writing copy for your business. I can guarantee that you'll get some. Be passionate, though, about your business and you'll find that you get acceptance as well.
Jeff
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Why We Procrastinate
A person can waste an entire life on procrastination. And when it comes to pursuing our dreams, procrastination makes no sense. Why put off what we ardently want?
Let's look at it through the eyes of Taylor.
Taylor dreams of being able to fire the current boss and have true financial independence. Taylor want it badly enough to almost be able to taste it.
Taylor studies marketing and business techniques relentlessly. There is nothing Taylor wouldn't do to achieve success...
... except take action to achieve that goal.
There are so many preparatory tasks that Taylor keeps finding to do that there's never time to put the plans into action. There's never time to do carry out the strategies that Taylor so dutifully learns.
It's procrastination, pure and simple. But why? No one can say that Taylor isn't motivated. So why do the most important things—the things that actually build the business—always fall to last on the to-do list?
It's because Taylor never lets the dream become reality. Crazy? No. It's a matter of misplaced self-protection.
When you have a dream—especially a powerful dream like Taylor has—it can be a wonderful comfort to enjoy. You are free to see that destination coming together with no flaws or obstacles. It is a beautiful slice of heaven just waiting for that time, sometime in the future, when it will be all yours.
The moment you take steps to get to that destination, reality steps in. That absolute perfection gets tarnished by the fact that things don't naturally come together perfectly.
You find that something doesn't quite fit and you make adjustments. It's not perfect anymore. It sometimes leaves you at disconcerting dead ends.
That dream destination that gives you hope of something better becomes part of the daily struggle. Most people would rather plod through life with a dream that they only go through the motions of pursuing rather than risk it by making it part of their reality.
The dreams we have are really nothing more than seeds. And seeds have to die to do any good. Really. A seed has to die and start to decay before the real plant can grow out of it.
And in the same way, we have to be willing to plant our dreams in the dirt of reality. We have to be willing to let them get stained and let the fantasy of perfection and ease rot away before we start to see any growth into a real business. Only when we take action to make that dream part of our reality can we achieve real success in anything more than our imagination.
Jeff
A person can waste an entire life on procrastination. And when it comes to pursuing our dreams, procrastination makes no sense. Why put off what we ardently want?
Let's look at it through the eyes of Taylor.
Taylor dreams of being able to fire the current boss and have true financial independence. Taylor want it badly enough to almost be able to taste it.
Taylor studies marketing and business techniques relentlessly. There is nothing Taylor wouldn't do to achieve success...
... except take action to achieve that goal.
There are so many preparatory tasks that Taylor keeps finding to do that there's never time to put the plans into action. There's never time to do carry out the strategies that Taylor so dutifully learns.
It's procrastination, pure and simple. But why? No one can say that Taylor isn't motivated. So why do the most important things—the things that actually build the business—always fall to last on the to-do list?
It's because Taylor never lets the dream become reality. Crazy? No. It's a matter of misplaced self-protection.
When you have a dream—especially a powerful dream like Taylor has—it can be a wonderful comfort to enjoy. You are free to see that destination coming together with no flaws or obstacles. It is a beautiful slice of heaven just waiting for that time, sometime in the future, when it will be all yours.
The moment you take steps to get to that destination, reality steps in. That absolute perfection gets tarnished by the fact that things don't naturally come together perfectly.
You find that something doesn't quite fit and you make adjustments. It's not perfect anymore. It sometimes leaves you at disconcerting dead ends.
That dream destination that gives you hope of something better becomes part of the daily struggle. Most people would rather plod through life with a dream that they only go through the motions of pursuing rather than risk it by making it part of their reality.
The dreams we have are really nothing more than seeds. And seeds have to die to do any good. Really. A seed has to die and start to decay before the real plant can grow out of it.
And in the same way, we have to be willing to plant our dreams in the dirt of reality. We have to be willing to let them get stained and let the fantasy of perfection and ease rot away before we start to see any growth into a real business. Only when we take action to make that dream part of our reality can we achieve real success in anything more than our imagination.
Jeff
Monday, February 27, 2006
Life Is a Game Where the One Who Works the Most Hours DOESN'T Necessarily Win
I've been feeling the strain of working too much lately, trying to force my business growth to move at the speed I want. But as I say in the title, the one who works the most hours doesn't necessarily win.
I've started blocking off certain times as work-free zones. No more turning on the computer to do "just a few quick things" as my wife is getting ready for bed. Blocking off ALL of Sunday for family. I feel a certain amount of withdrawal, but it needed to be done.
It means that certain things, like the short e-report I was going to offer as a bonus to the ebook that my copywriting tips are featured in, is now officially off the table. But I'd rather take a little more time and make sure the report is everything I want it to be than rush it out there before it's ready.
But the hours needed to be put on a limit. What's the point of making a good living if you're doing it at the expense of making a good life?
Jeff
I've been feeling the strain of working too much lately, trying to force my business growth to move at the speed I want. But as I say in the title, the one who works the most hours doesn't necessarily win.
I've started blocking off certain times as work-free zones. No more turning on the computer to do "just a few quick things" as my wife is getting ready for bed. Blocking off ALL of Sunday for family. I feel a certain amount of withdrawal, but it needed to be done.
It means that certain things, like the short e-report I was going to offer as a bonus to the ebook that my copywriting tips are featured in, is now officially off the table. But I'd rather take a little more time and make sure the report is everything I want it to be than rush it out there before it's ready.
But the hours needed to be put on a limit. What's the point of making a good living if you're doing it at the expense of making a good life?
Jeff
© 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 Jeff Baas, One Stop Web Support
