TCOBaG - kNow ThiNkIng AllOwEd

Okay, so I had a few questions/comments come in about using the ‘report as spam’ button.

Look, I know it’s easy, and sometimes you get that little ‘ooo, that’ll teach them’ feeling, or you really just are lazy and/or think ‘this is crap, I asked for it, but this stinks’ feeling, but you really need to use a little caution here.

Here’s a reply I made about this:

No problem marking real spam as spam, and if you did not ever subscribe, do not hit the unsubscribe button as that will only confirm to the spammers an active email address and most likely not remove you from the list. But if you subscribed, find the unsubscribe link and use it. If that doesn’t remove you with 48 hours, report it.

However, you really need to be careful in two ways:
1. If you’re forwarding other email addy’s to Yahoo! or gmail and report it as spam, the service provider is marking ‘your’ email as the sender. Just delete those.
2. If you’re not sure, don’t recall, then just delete.

gmail also uses user actions to ‘learn’ what’s spam. It’s not really new technology.

Bottom line is simple.

If you subscribed, do the ethical thing and unsuscribe. Give the system a chance to work for you.

If you did not subscribe, and you’re really sure about that (look at the bottom of the email message where most good, ethical email marketers often include such information for things like possibly your IP address, a date, time, from when you subscribed), then report it.

Also, regularly check your spam and trash folders for legitimate emails and ‘de-mark’ them. This will help train most of the better email service providers algorithms to act appropriately in the future for you, and sometimes for others as well.

Not that this is a new problem (major email service providers blocking access), but when it hits a publication as old, as reliable, and as stringent about promoting and proliferating proper email use, the little guys should take note.

I’ve certainly had my own issues with this, and even using gmail, and having Google filter it’s own Alerts, which I of course set up, confirmed, and send and receive through their very own system, end up where?

That’s right, in the trash or spam folder.
Randy Cassingham, of ThisIsTrue, just published this blog post
http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-yahoo_alert_trues_biggest_crisis_ever.html
about having 20,000+ subscribers through Yahoo! being blocked from them from receiving the email they asked for.

<sigh> Sad.

And also a wake up call, again, that we all need to be pushing subscribers to be educated about managing their subscriptions, and using (or preferably ‘not using’) free email service providers for subscribers.

If you read the post on his blog, you’ll see that the problem appears to stem from the lazy unsubscribers who just hit the “This is spam” button rather than using the unsub link provided in every issue.

What’s the recourse here? Complaining to the choir (other marketers, and those still getting their subscriptions) isn’t really going to do much.

Getting the word out through other newsletters and especially social media sites that your subscribers frequent though can help.

For now, you may be thinking, “Well, it’s not me, or my list isn’t that big yet, or there’s only a few Yahoo! subscribers” but even if they make up a small percentage, that’s still email not being delivered, email that puts you at risk of getting blocked by one of the major free email service providers and adding your name, website, url, and your business to a major black list.

Be responsible.

If you took the time to optin and subscribe, confirm that subscription, then have the decency to use the proper method for unsubscribing if that’s what you want to do. Or, be lazy, and fraudulent, and report every email you receive that you’re tired of getting as spam, and then see how long it take before all of your subscriptions disappear because you and others like you (oh yes, there are certainly enough idiots out there doing this, not just you) have taken the lazy, malicious way out… all the way out.
To me, that’s frightening.

To Yahoo!, wake up. Honestly, which do you think is worth more to you, the sludge of the earth subscribers who report legitimate email as spam, or quality content providers who give people a reason to use your service in the first place?

Doesn’t really take a genius or a calculator to do that math, now does it?
Be well, live well, die last.
Allen

TCOBaG: Time is Money, but Value is . . . ?

Time is not money. Money, I can make again But I do see the logic of this. What bothers me is this tendency to place a greater value on something because it takes up, needed, or requires more time to do.

Sometimes this might be the case, fine wine, diamonds, and large works of art, as well as scientific discoveries, research and development, and even things like great relationships. More time = better value.

One part that is not in the equation though is our desire to latch onto, hold on to sometimes at even detrimental costs, things simply because of the time that has been invested.

So, what am I getting at?

It is a dangerous trap to fall into, believing that value is directly proportionate to time spent.

Often we are just as bound to trying to hang on to something because we’ve invested so much time into it as we are to think that something we have is not worth much because the time it took to create it was so short.

Recently I had a discussion with a colleague who had just written his first book. I expressed concern over the value of including a certain portion and that others would likely not find it useful as well. He replied that it was interesting I’d mentioned that, especially since it was specifically brought up as a possible problem by the publishing house he is working with to release the book.

Then, he says, “But I’ve spent so much time working on that particular section, I really hate to give it up.”

Besides this being a common fault among writers, from amateurs to professionals, it is also a common mistake made by many in various walks of life and a wide range of situations.

He attached greater value to the ‘time spent’ than the overall value of the book he was trying to create.

He has chosen to ignore my suggestions, and now the suggestions of the publisher, and is likely to find his whole project looking for a new home, hopefully not just on his hard drive. All of this is because of his misplaced ideal of “time spent equals value.”

The same is true in reverse. Sometimes we think things created in a short time are not of as great an importance, or value, as those created over longer periods.

I’m reminded of the story of the man who went to the dentist for a tooth extraction after suffering in great pain for weeks. He arrived at the dentist’s office, was ushered into the chair
shortly afterwards, spent about 15 minutes with the dentist, the tooth was removed, and he was on his way.

When he received the bill, some $200, he called the dentist to complain. “I was only in your office less than 30 minutes! $200?”

To which the dentist replied, “Next time, I could take longer?”

The key is?

Value is in the result.

For all those who still think internet marketing is rocket science, it isn’t.

Back in the middle of October in 2004 I decided to do these 3 things. (I’ve always ‘done’ them, but not as consciously or on as regular a basis.) I had big plans that were stalling, sites that had leveled off, and was feeling a bit overwhelmed. I’m sure lots of people can relate to that, eh?

I’m also not sure exactly what or who made these things come to me. I read a lot, so I’m sure it’s not an original idea, just one that finally hit home with me and I implemented.

(Note: These are things outside of the add content, test headlines, etc types of things, that well, frankly, you just have to be doing on a regular basis.)

Here they are:

1. Do something every day that will make you more money or grow your traffic and business.
Just a few examples:
- add incoming links
- add a few more words to your PPC
- buy an ezine ad
- do a thank you exchange
- raise your daily limits for a campaign that’s successful
- add a new source of revenue to a content site
- from whatever the last resource you purchased, read/listen and implement one strategy

2. Do something every day that will save you time or money.
A few of my own examples:
- automate something
- add a new FAQ and answer to your site
- turn off your email software during your ‘working hours’ or at least for a while
- same for IC software
- set aside a limited time for your general email reading/answering
- unsubscribe from a newsletter that you’re no longer reading or finding helpful
- cancel recurring payments on a program you’ve been promoting unsuccessfully, or that you keep saying “I’m going to have to cancel that . . ”
- get software to do the stuff you’re spending too much time doing, ie link exchanges, AR, formatting etc
- make some ‘template’ emails for answers to your most generally asked questions
- make a notepad or text document containing linking information for your sites so you can quickly cut and paste from that when exchanging or requesting link exchanges with someone not using a script or not using the same script as you
- before you buy something, look at the folder full of ebooks you already have and see if you might not already have something similar, or maybe even the same one that came as a bonus with something else you bought
- pause or delete a PPC campaign that isn’t working

Okay, this could be a book by itself, but maybe you get the picture.

3. Help some one, any one, when there’s nothing in it for you but good karma. (This doesn’t have to be internet related.)
- give a thoughtful reply to a post asking for suggestions or help (leave out your affiliate links, cloaked and uncloaked/redirected whatever)
- answer (kindly) one of the many emails you get asking for information that’s clearly posted on your site, or that anyone with half a brain should know the answer to. Thank them for asking. (Limit one for sanity’s sake)
- help your neighbor fix his garage door
- email a webmaster with a piece of patched script or html code that you found broken on their site
- or a dead link

The key here is to do at least one from each of the three, trying to do them all will just put you right back where you were, overwhelmed, stalled, or worse hiding behind the excuse that you’re busy, you’re working all the time, but your business just isn’t growing.

I start the day with 1 and 2 and ask myself “What can I do today that will/should/could make me more money, increase my traffic, or help my business?” — and — “What can I do today that will save me time or money?”

I like to do these first since it makes the rest of my day Gravy.

Do Number 3 whenever the opportunity arises. It makes you feel good, trust me, and how you feel is directly related to how successful you are, especially in the eyes of the most important person you are dealing with, “you.”

I still have days, sometimes, where I don’t hit all three. But more often than not, I get them all, and the results have been great.

I also end my day by asking which things on the list I did for that day. A great re-enforcement and encouragement for continuing to follow through.

If my examples don’t fit your situation, you shouldn’t have to think too hard to come up with something that does fit.

Be well, live well, die last.

Allen Williams

The author is a professional educator, speaker and writer. You can see some of what he is up to by visiting :
http://www.linksnoop.com Article and Link Directory
or
http://www.PowerMeUp.com Personal and Professional Growth

Customers and Clients remain silent. Sometimes, you think, “surely there must be questions” but you can hear your hair grow in the void.

What do you think when there are no questions?

As a professional educator, conference presenter and speaker, I gotta tell you there are times when you are hoping for this, and there are times when you are sooooooo frustrated by a lack of feedback . . . aaaaaaahh

It’s not the questions after all. Why is that?

What we want as professionals, whether its internet marketing or knitting class, is feedback.

Questions are a form of feedback.

They tell us a lot about our market, target, customers or whatever:

Questions tell us first if there is sufficient understanding with which to formulate a question.

Hey, if you don’t get it at all, the best question you’re going to be able to muster is, “Huh?”

This is also useful feedback. It tells us either we’ve missed our market, the material is not clear, or the market for this product isn’t sharp enough to not need velcro on there shoes instead of laces.

But it’s still feedback, and it’s still valuable.

What about silence?

That’s feedback, too. Problem is determining what caused the silence. Again, there are a few possibilites, and a few we’ve not already covered.

1. They got it. (Could happen.)
2. They didn’t get it, at all. (Also possible.)
3. The audience just doesn’t give a hoot. (More likely than we as marketers want to consider)
4. The group is just tired, wants to go home, get the ‘free’ product you offered in return for their attention or whatever.

Now, which is the best reason? Who knows? Who cares?

How do we get some response so that there is a starting point?

Ahha young Grasshopper, you can move ahead in the class for asking the proper question.

Could it be that “Influence” has been translated into Japanese? Could it be required reading for realtors?

I’ve been reading Robert Cialdini’s “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” and it makes me feel sooooooo foolish

How many little triggers are there that set us to doing things, sometimes that we want/need/should do?

But how many are there that we are unaware of? that lead us off into the ‘land to be fleeced’? or at least into the land of susceptibility?

I was cringing when I read the passage about the realtors using ‘dump houses’ to set clients up for the houses they really wanted to sell.

Why was I cringing?

Because I recently bought a house, in Japan, and this technique may have very well been in play . . .

Our realtor was showing us houses we requested to see. We were looking for a new house, a certain size (two small but growing boys after all need a little room, so their parents don’t eat them

One day we asked him to show us a house, that wasn’t new, and next thing we know he calls and says there’s a house a little like what we’re in the market for and he can show it to us.

The house was 5 years old, and still occupied, which kept us from running for the car within 5 minutes of arriving.

I’m sure we weren’t that good at hiding our disappointment, and our agent helped us out of there fairly quickly. When we arrived at our car, he said there was another house not too far away, a little older, but that we might as well look at since we were in the neighborhood.

We looked at it, we loved it, we bought it.

It looked great then. (fact is, it looks great now despite the fact that we’re living in it and I’m not the yard master or best gardener in the neighborhood).

I still wonder though if this wasn’t a classic, show them something pricey and crappy first, then show them the thing you really want them to buy and it will look so much better.

In any case, I’m still happy we bought the house. Would we have been so easy to persuade to buy a 15 year old house after looking at only new houses? I think not

Johnny Cash, The Man in Black. Capital “T” for “the.”

What made Johnny Cash so memorable?

I’ve seen photos of him when he was a young man, I suppose he was sort of handsome in a rugged way.

Frankly, though I enjoyed his music (8-tracks from the pickup truck rides with my dad, I didn’t think of him as a great singer.

The songs were catchy, easy to remember, but there has never been a shortage of those kinds of singers, those kinds of songs in any genre of music, now has there?

So, what made Johnny “Johnny”?

We’re always being told to find your angle, you way, your USP. Separate yourself from the pack, the herd, do something everyone else is doing, but do it differently.

Johnny Cash was a perfect example for me.

Think about it.

He was a big guy, well over 6 feet tall, 200 pounds. Rugged, tough, low voice.

Guys liked that. Not the wimp.

But he was also very, very popular with women (fans that is, he was also famous for his devotion to his wife June and their family, another part of his persona).

Why? What was he doing? Was he the king crooner? Great moves like James Brown? Cutting edge of the country music world?

I say, no, no, and sort of.

Here was a man, talented man, yes, who sang about life, little things in life, and how life and love were bigger than any man, and doing it in a very straightforward, honest way that appealed to both men and women.

Men thought, hey, this is sooooo true, and I feel like this, but I often can’t just say that, or act like that. Kind of the ‘thanks for saying that for me’ and ‘thanks for the validation’ so I know I’m not alone.

Women thought, hey, this is sooooo true, and good to hear that men, even big, rugged ones, have big hearts, can hurt, know the value of love and life and family.

Then, he added that extra little bit, that rebel, Highwayman side and the black clothes.

No country singer had ever, still hasn’t unless you include someone like Garth Brooks who used much of this same ‘everyman’ approach to be one of the top selling artists in all genres, done that.

Marketing yourself, your site, your product, doesn’t need to be any different than this.

What you’ve got, others are offering, but they can’t offer it in the exact same way as you as an individual can.

Think about that. Find your ‘man in black’ angle, and you will find success.

In order to get started with your online business you need to know how much it is going to cost, how long you may have to wait to recoup that cost, and the cost of staying in business until that might/should happen.

So many times you see these ads for ‘own your own business for $10′ or ’start your own business for under $100.’

On the surface, this might look like a great deal, a bargain, a steal even, or more likely a ripoff

What do you need to consider before you make that jump?

You of course have to consider the initial cost.

Buying the program, or buying into the program has it’s fee.

If you’re setting up a website for this business, there are added fees you need to be thinking about and planning ahead for:

Domain registration: 8-10 dollars at most places. (Hint, if you’re paying more, you’re losing money for nothing)
Hosting: You can find a good host for around $10. (Hint, if you want a really good host, you’ll have to pay more, and yes, you get what you pay for. I recommend this Hosting Package. First domain costs 25 dollars a month, but you can add an unlimited number of domains to this account for just $5 more for each new site. Plus, you can earn on referrals.)
Advertising/PPC: You may need to pay to drive traffic to your site. (Highly recommended to at least get the ball rolling.

Also, there’s a time factor.

If you have a new site and you are expecting to get free, organic traffic from the major search engines, you might be in for a long wait. Waiting for spidering, waiting for indexing, then waiting for traffic to actually find you via the SE’s. If it’s a site promoting an affiliate product, you could wait up to 90 days to get paid for your first sale. There are ways to speed up parts of this process, but that’s another article

So, when you are considering a new online business, be sure to think about and take into consideration all of the other added expenses and time.

It’s really not that much different from buying a car. You have the price, the bottom line of what you have to pay to call that car yours.

Then there’s insurance, gas, sometimes parking fees, any additional items you might want or need added such as a CD player, or airbags or whatever.

And maintanance: tires, balancing, muffler repairs, windshield wiper blades, windshield wiper fluid even. Hey, water works sometimes and it’s fairly affordable, but it’s not always the best tool for the job, and just like in your internet business, you can find ‘free’ but it’s not likely to work as well, as fast, or bring you the outcome you’re after as quickly or as often as those things that you do pay for.

So, before you jump onto that ‘greatest business to hit the web this decade’, think about what it might cost you in upkeep in money and in your time.