“The secret to making a good living from infoproduct marketing is having multiple streams of passive income. Yes, some people make a million bucks in one day. Some gurus have five- and six-figure days consistently. Home runs are nice, but you can build a very solid business with a string of base hits.

Find a problem and sell the solution. Then find another one. Do this enough times, and you’ve got multiple streams of passive income.” – Your Portable Empire, page 130.

I always like going to the first-ever of a seminar or conference series.  There’s something special about the energy that first time.  This one was no exception.

One person remarked to me that she saw more networking going on in one evening than had taken place in the last two years of a local group she’d been going to.  I agree, except for some reason, “networking” sounds cold to me.  It was more like meeting friends.

It could be that a lot of the ease of meeting people had to do with us knowing each other from the Earn1KADay forum.  But that wasn’t all of it, because there were several people who’d never been to the forum.  Of course, I think most of them will be joining soon.

I followed a few simple rules of thumb to make the summit a success for me:

• Don’t just hang out with the first couple people I meet.
• Don’t be shy, walk up to people I want to meet and introduce myself.  Invite myself along on outings.
• Try hard to remember and use names.
• Be helpful.

It worked.  I met so many great people, and made some contacts I just know will become fast friends and business partners as we move forward.

Let nobody bribe you away from being yourself. You are going to make money, and as soon as you do, others are going to see you have what it takes. Fine! — but this is the point at which many a man loses himself. Having build himself from within himself, and having thus attracted attention, he yields to a “big opportunity” to stop building his own wealth and peace of mine, and ties himself to another’s business.

Technorati Tags: napoleon hill

I unreservedly recommend this book, which breaks things down so much more cleanly and in a much more organized manner than my other favorite copywriting book, “Call to Action”.

As an example of how straightforward she makes the topic, here are her:

Three Fundamental Rules for Writing Web Copy That Sells

• Rule 1. Don’t Make Your Website Look Like an Ad
  
  “Your website should provide the solid information that your prospect is looking for, and it should have an editorial feel to it.”
• Rule 2. Stop Readers Dead in their Tracks
  
  “Fact: If your website is little more than an online brochure for your business, then your website is a very weak selling tool.”
• Rule 3. Capture Email Addresses.
  
  “The odds are low that people will buy from you the first time they visit your website. After all, they don’t even know you.”

Technorati Tags: marketing, Maria Veloso

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> As part of my preparation for launching eBookTribe, I’ve been reading the excellent book “Web Copy That Sells” by Maria Veloso.

I unreservedly recommend this book, which breaks things down so much more cleanly and in a much more organized manner than my other favorite copywriting book, “Call to Action”.

As an example of how straightforward she makes the topic, here are her:

Three Fundamental Rules for Writing Web Copy That Sells

• Rule 1. Don’t Make Your Website Look Like an Ad
  
  “Your website should provide the solid information that your prospect is looking for, and it should have an editorial feel to it.”
• Rule 2. Stop Readers Dead in their Tracks
  
  “Fact: If your website is little more than an online brochure for your business, then your website is a very weak selling tool.”
• Rule 3. Capture Email Addresses.
  
  “The odds are low that people will buy from you the first time they visit your website. After all, they don’t even know you.”

Technorati Tags: marketing, Maria Veloso

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-10-web-copy-that-sells.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-9-10-tips-to-help-you-become-an-expert.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-9-10-tips-to-help-you-become-an-expert.html#comments Wed, 07 Jun 2006 14:11:00 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-9-10-tips-to-help-you-become-an-expert.html Todays gem is from
“Never Eat Alone : And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time” by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz.

This is the best self-marketing and networking book I’ve ever read. Actually I bought it twice. The first time was an Audible book, which I listened to with full attention for the whole unabridged 12 hours (in the car, of course). The audiobook was so good that I had to by the hardback, so that I could take notes and properly quote it for this blog.

In this gem, Ferrazzi shares his 10 tips to become a sought-after expert. I’m going to give his titles verbatim, and paraphrase the details.

1. Get out in front and analyze the trends and opportunities on the cutting edge – Identify the movers and shakers, meet them of possible and take them to lunch, read their newsletters, learn from them.
2. Ask seemingly stupid questions – Question the unspoken bases that people are using for their understandings. This is how breakthroughs are made.
3. Know yourself and your talents – Work on your talents and let others fill in your weaknesses.
4. Always learn – Read books and magazines, take classes, talk to experts. I’d add to this list, “write a blog on the topic”.
5. Stay healthy – don’t burn out, take vacations, do things to nourish your spirit.
6. Expose yourself to unusual experiences – Learn things out of the mainstream, to spark creativity.
7. Don’t get discouraged – Passion keeps you going through inevitable hard times.
8. Know the new technology – If you can’t then adopt a geek who’ll help you.
9. Develop a niche – start small and expand, don’t take on the world at once.
10. Follow the money – you can’t make money if there is none to be had in your chosen area.

Technorati Tags: Ferrazzi, never eat alone

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> Todays gem is from
“Never Eat Alone : And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time” by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz.

This is the best self-marketing and networking book I’ve ever read. Actually I bought it twice. The first time was an Audible book, which I listened to with full attention for the whole unabridged 12 hours (in the car, of course). The audiobook was so good that I had to by the hardback, so that I could take notes and properly quote it for this blog.

In this gem, Ferrazzi shares his 10 tips to become a sought-after expert. I’m going to give his titles verbatim, and paraphrase the details.

1. Get out in front and analyze the trends and opportunities on the cutting edge – Identify the movers and shakers, meet them of possible and take them to lunch, read their newsletters, learn from them.
2. Ask seemingly stupid questions – Question the unspoken bases that people are using for their understandings. This is how breakthroughs are made.
3. Know yourself and your talents – Work on your talents and let others fill in your weaknesses.
4. Always learn – Read books and magazines, take classes, talk to experts. I’d add to this list, “write a blog on the topic”.
5. Stay healthy – don’t burn out, take vacations, do things to nourish your spirit.
6. Expose yourself to unusual experiences – Learn things out of the mainstream, to spark creativity.
7. Don’t get discouraged – Passion keeps you going through inevitable hard times.
8. Know the new technology – If you can’t then adopt a geek who’ll help you.
9. Develop a niche – start small and expand, don’t take on the world at once.
10. Follow the money – you can’t make money if there is none to be had in your chosen area.

Technorati Tags: Ferrazzi, never eat alone

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-9-10-tips-to-help-you-become-an-expert.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-8-book-yourself-solid.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-8-book-yourself-solid.html#comments Tue, 30 May 2006 14:57:24 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-8-book-yourself-solid.html Todays gem is from
“Book Yourself Solid : The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling” by Michael Port. This book is primarily for service professionals, looking to get more business than they can handle. With a little mental wrangling, most of the book is extremely relevant to any sort of marketing.

This quote is from one of the earlier chapters in the book, and I wanted to share it because I think it says very plainly a rule of thumb that so many companies ignore to their own detriment. For example, my last employer, Via Training. They never turned down a job. They tried to be everything to anyone, never focusing, and certainly never even think of dumping a paying client. They should have. If they had, I’m absolutely certain they wouldn’t have had to trim the company by the 30% they did last month.

Why have clients, or anyone else for that matter, in your life who zap your energy and leave you feeling empty? In the first year of being in business on my own, I cut 10 clients in one week. It wasn’t easy. It required a major leap of faith, but the emotional and financial rewards were astonishing. Within three months I had replaced all 10 and added 6 more. Not only did I increase my revenue, I felt more peaceful and calm that I ever had before, and I enjoyed my clients and my work more.
[...]
If you’re struggling with the idea of pruning your client list, keep in mind that it’s for your client’s benefit as much as it is yours. If you’re feeling empty and drained, or frustrated and dreading the interaction with the client, you’re giving that client far less than your best, and it’s both of you who are suffering for it. You owe it to these clients to refer them to someone who can, and will, do their best work with them. If you are working with people with whom you do not do your best work, you are out of integrity.
pp. 5-6

Technorati Tags: Michael Port, marketing

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> Todays gem is from
“Book Yourself Solid : The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling” by Michael Port. This book is primarily for service professionals, looking to get more business than they can handle. With a little mental wrangling, most of the book is extremely relevant to any sort of marketing.

This quote is from one of the earlier chapters in the book, and I wanted to share it because I think it says very plainly a rule of thumb that so many companies ignore to their own detriment. For example, my last employer, Via Training. They never turned down a job. They tried to be everything to anyone, never focusing, and certainly never even think of dumping a paying client. They should have. If they had, I’m absolutely certain they wouldn’t have had to trim the company by the 30% they did last month.

Why have clients, or anyone else for that matter, in your life who zap your energy and leave you feeling empty? In the first year of being in business on my own, I cut 10 clients in one week. It wasn’t easy. It required a major leap of faith, but the emotional and financial rewards were astonishing. Within three months I had replaced all 10 and added 6 more. Not only did I increase my revenue, I felt more peaceful and calm that I ever had before, and I enjoyed my clients and my work more.
[...]
If you’re struggling with the idea of pruning your client list, keep in mind that it’s for your client’s benefit as much as it is yours. If you’re feeling empty and drained, or frustrated and dreading the interaction with the client, you’re giving that client far less than your best, and it’s both of you who are suffering for it. You owe it to these clients to refer them to someone who can, and will, do their best work with them. If you are working with people with whom you do not do your best work, you are out of integrity.
pp. 5-6

Technorati Tags: Michael Port, marketing

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-8-book-yourself-solid.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-7-attractor-factor.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-7-attractor-factor.html#comments Mon, 22 May 2006 05:55:38 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-7-attractor-factor.html This Marketing Gem comes from Joe Vitale’s great book,
“The Attractor Factor : 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) from the Inside Out”. The book is about how to attract wealth into your life. It is an expansion of an older book titled "Spiritual Marketing".

That’s when I first learned about the concept of levels. That is, people tend to stay on the same level of business or social status. When they meet friends, it’s usually in their circle of activity, whether church, work, school, or some club. As a result, they rarely get out of the level they are on.

That’s not bad. You can stay on the same level you are at and do well. But if you want more, or if you find yourself starving on the level you’re on, you’ll need to go up a level or two.

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> This Marketing Gem comes from Joe Vitale’s great book,
“The Attractor Factor : 5 Easy Steps for Creating Wealth (or Anything Else) from the Inside Out”. The book is about how to attract wealth into your life. It is an expansion of an older book titled "Spiritual Marketing".

That’s when I first learned about the concept of levels. That is, people tend to stay on the same level of business or social status. When they meet friends, it’s usually in their circle of activity, whether church, work, school, or some club. As a result, they rarely get out of the level they are on.

That’s not bad. You can stay on the same level you are at and do well. But if you want more, or if you find yourself starving on the level you’re on, you’ll need to go up a level or two.

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-7-attractor-factor.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/using-aweber-on-the-joomla-cms.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/using-aweber-on-the-joomla-cms.html#comments Mon, 22 May 2006 05:37:37 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/using-aweber-on-the-joomla-cms.html I’ve written an AWeber plugin for the Joomla CMS. If you want it, go to my programming blog and download it.

Joomla is a wonderful CMS, by the way. Now I just need to figure out how to make it more search engine friendly.

Technorati Tags: joomla, aweber

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> I’ve written an AWeber plugin for the Joomla CMS. If you want it, go to my programming blog and download it.

Joomla is a wonderful CMS, by the way. Now I just need to figure out how to make it more search engine friendly.

Technorati Tags: joomla, aweber

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/using-aweber-on-the-joomla-cms.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/profitable-ebook-surge-coming-soon.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/profitable-ebook-surge-coming-soon.html#comments Wed, 17 May 2006 05:34:24 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/profitable-ebook-surge-coming-soon.html Google Books is preparing to sell access to books. Wow! Better get ready, info product authors.

How this will work is that Google will enable people who find your book via search to instantly purchase access to it. So, begin preparing your ebooks on how to drive organic searches of your ebooks right away. It is an obvious, enormous wave of potential surging toward all of us.

Google will be acting as the broker, enforcing DRM, and extending the reach of ebooks. As usual for the Google crew, this will completely change the game. I think this is being completely overlooked by most infoproduct developers. Yes, Google appears to be targeting print-book publishers, but there is no reason at all that this won’t work for us too.

Gentlemen, start your planning!

Technorati Tags: google, ebooks, google book search

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> Google Books is preparing to sell access to books. Wow! Better get ready, info product authors.

How this will work is that Google will enable people who find your book via search to instantly purchase access to it. So, begin preparing your ebooks on how to drive organic searches of your ebooks right away. It is an obvious, enormous wave of potential surging toward all of us.

Google will be acting as the broker, enforcing DRM, and extending the reach of ebooks. As usual for the Google crew, this will completely change the game. I think this is being completely overlooked by most infoproduct developers. Yes, Google appears to be targeting print-book publishers, but there is no reason at all that this won’t work for us too.

Gentlemen, start your planning!

Technorati Tags: google, ebooks, google book search

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/profitable-ebook-surge-coming-soon.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/topgamblingblogs-is-up.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/topgamblingblogs-is-up.html#comments Tue, 16 May 2006 14:18:24 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/topgamblingblogs-is-up.html After more hours of work than I care to share, I’ve posted Top Gambling Blogs. This is my first pure content-for-adsense play. I have another 3 similar blog sites queued up to receive a similar treatment.

The idea is that every month, I will list and track the changes in ranking for the top 25 gambling and poker blogs. I get this information through a multi-step method, which I have (mostly) scripted nicely in Python.:

1. Get the URLs for blogs listed in the first ten pages of results for "gambling blog" and &quot:poker blog" on Google, Yahoo, and Alexa.
2. Strip all obvious garbage results
3. Pull Alexa ranks for all of them
4. Pull Technorati inbound links and inbound blogs for all of them.
5. Sort them properly.
6. Test each link, throwing out spam blogs and non-blogs, until I’ve pruned the list to the top 25.
7. Write short descriptions for each blog.
8. (next month) Track ranking changes from last week.

It took a while, but I really like how it turned out. I think it is valuable, not spam, and might actually get linked well.

Technorati Tags: adsense, poker blog, gambling blog, casino, ranking

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> After more hours of work than I care to share, I’ve posted Top Gambling Blogs. This is my first pure content-for-adsense play. I have another 3 similar blog sites queued up to receive a similar treatment.

The idea is that every month, I will list and track the changes in ranking for the top 25 gambling and poker blogs. I get this information through a multi-step method, which I have (mostly) scripted nicely in Python.:

1. Get the URLs for blogs listed in the first ten pages of results for "gambling blog" and &quot:poker blog" on Google, Yahoo, and Alexa.
2. Strip all obvious garbage results
3. Pull Alexa ranks for all of them
4. Pull Technorati inbound links and inbound blogs for all of them.
5. Sort them properly.
6. Test each link, throwing out spam blogs and non-blogs, until I’ve pruned the list to the top 25.
7. Write short descriptions for each blog.
8. (next month) Track ranking changes from last week.

It took a while, but I really like how it turned out. I think it is valuable, not spam, and might actually get linked well.

Technorati Tags: adsense, poker blog, gambling blog, casino, ranking

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/topgamblingblogs-is-up.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/cbprosense-adsense-competitor.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/cbprosense-adsense-competitor.html#comments Tue, 16 May 2006 04:46:41 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/cbprosense-adsense-competitor.html CBprosense is a fascinating idea. Instead of using Google to display ads based on the keywords on your site, you use their system to display links to ClickBank products.

Since CB products generally earn $15-30 per purchase, this could very well be hugely more profitable than AdSense for me. I’m going to give it a try on my most heavily-hit site, Invisible Castle. That site gets 300-500 uniques a day, yet makes very little from Google.

I’ll be sure to report back here how well it converts for me, assuming their TOS let me.

The system has several modes once you have signed up a site. The one I’ll try uses direct keywords. It can also spider your site looking for keywords. They say that it is compatible with Googles’ Terms of Service, but for now, I’m going to run it alone.


Technorati Tags: ClickBank, ebooks, adsense, adsense competition

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> CBprosense is a fascinating idea. Instead of using Google to display ads based on the keywords on your site, you use their system to display links to ClickBank products.

Since CB products generally earn $15-30 per purchase, this could very well be hugely more profitable than AdSense for me. I’m going to give it a try on my most heavily-hit site, Invisible Castle. That site gets 300-500 uniques a day, yet makes very little from Google.

I’ll be sure to report back here how well it converts for me, assuming their TOS let me.

The system has several modes once you have signed up a site. The one I’ll try uses direct keywords. It can also spider your site looking for keywords. They say that it is compatible with Googles’ Terms of Service, but for now, I’m going to run it alone.


Technorati Tags: ClickBank, ebooks, adsense, adsense competition

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/cbprosense-adsense-competitor.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/email-aces-is-a-very-nice-autoresponder.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/email-aces-is-a-very-nice-autoresponder.html#comments Fri, 05 May 2006 06:11:08 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/email-aces-is-a-very-nice-autoresponder.html Reading internet marketing books and forums, I am constantly told to build a list. “Build a list! Now!”

I am pleased to report that I’ve set up my very first autoresponder. I’m finally convinced that I need to learn how they work and to start building a list of my customers.

Email Aces

I’m using Email Aces to run my campaigns. They have a stellar rep at the equally-great Warrior Forum, and from what I’ve seen so far, they earn that reputation.

I was fairly nervous for some reason, before I created my first autoresponse campaign, but they made it quite straightforward for me. I went from never having created anything like an email campaign, to having my first multi-email sequence all set up with trackers, double-opt-in, and email content in about an hour. That’s impressive.

Technorati Tags: autoresponder, emailaces, email aces, email marketing

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> Reading internet marketing books and forums, I am constantly told to build a list. “Build a list! Now!”

I am pleased to report that I’ve set up my very first autoresponder. I’m finally convinced that I need to learn how they work and to start building a list of my customers.

Email Aces

I’m using Email Aces to run my campaigns. They have a stellar rep at the equally-great Warrior Forum, and from what I’ve seen so far, they earn that reputation.

I was fairly nervous for some reason, before I created my first autoresponse campaign, but they made it quite straightforward for me. I went from never having created anything like an email campaign, to having my first multi-email sequence all set up with trackers, double-opt-in, and email content in about an hour. That’s impressive.

Technorati Tags: autoresponder, emailaces, email aces, email marketing

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/email-aces-is-a-very-nice-autoresponder.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/different-profits-for-different-sites.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/different-profits-for-different-sites.html#comments Tue, 02 May 2006 05:48:02 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/different-profits-for-different-sites.html I’ve been tracking my Adsense profits every day for weeks now, at the suggestion of several people on the forums. I’m not sure if this is what they were hoping I’d notice, but the single biggest thing I’ve observed is that the niche of each site strongly influences profitability.

Let me emphasize that point again. Strongly! First, click through. One blog has a CTR averaging literally 25 times the CTR of a web app site I run. The EPM is likewise 20 times higher on that blog. So, the web app which gets thousands of hits a day earns less than a tenth of what the blog which only gets a couple hundred hits at best.

I guess I know which one I should be spending time boosting!

Technorati Tags: adsense, earnings analysis

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> I’ve been tracking my Adsense profits every day for weeks now, at the suggestion of several people on the forums. I’m not sure if this is what they were hoping I’d notice, but the single biggest thing I’ve observed is that the niche of each site strongly influences profitability.

Let me emphasize that point again. Strongly! First, click through. One blog has a CTR averaging literally 25 times the CTR of a web app site I run. The EPM is likewise 20 times higher on that blog. So, the web app which gets thousands of hits a day earns less than a tenth of what the blog which only gets a couple hundred hits at best.

I guess I know which one I should be spending time boosting!

Technorati Tags: adsense, earnings analysis

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/different-profits-for-different-sites.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/gems-from-the-classics-2.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/gems-from-the-classics-2.html#comments Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:55:55 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/gems-from-the-classics-2.html
On Another gem from “Grow Rich! : With Peace of Mind” by Napoleon Hill.

This one is particularly appropriate today, since it is my second-to-last day at my current job.

A job that is past opens a new door to the future. Suppose you have lost your job through no fault of your own. Suppose, then, you nurse a great resentment and a festering hatred of your former employer who was so unjust to you.

[...]

What if you are questioned about your former employer? Say noting bad about him! What was bad must always stay in the past and never be allowed to hinder the future.

Jobs also seem to be favorite spots in which to grow grudges. Of course you have rights and it is no part of success or peace of mind to allow yourself to be stepped upon. Many little scratches in human relations, however, are nothing but that, just little scratches, and need not be reacted to as though they were deep wounds.

[...]

But a nursed grudge is a viper in the bosom. It is a treasured negative, and you not only let it take away your peace of mind, you also encourage the formation of ulcers and many other ailments which the mind can inflict upon the body. Close the door!

It is wonderful and gratifying to see how the habit of closing the door upon the past becomes one of the greatest of sustaining habits. It helps you take possession of your own mind and condition it for the attainment of any purpose you desire.

-p.30

Technorati Tags: napoleon hill, peace of mind, personal development, self help

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]>
On Another gem from “Grow Rich! : With Peace of Mind” by Napoleon Hill.

This one is particularly appropriate today, since it is my second-to-last day at my current job.

A job that is past opens a new door to the future. Suppose you have lost your job through no fault of your own. Suppose, then, you nurse a great resentment and a festering hatred of your former employer who was so unjust to you.

[...]

What if you are questioned about your former employer? Say noting bad about him! What was bad must always stay in the past and never be allowed to hinder the future.

Jobs also seem to be favorite spots in which to grow grudges. Of course you have rights and it is no part of success or peace of mind to allow yourself to be stepped upon. Many little scratches in human relations, however, are nothing but that, just little scratches, and need not be reacted to as though they were deep wounds.

[...]

But a nursed grudge is a viper in the bosom. It is a treasured negative, and you not only let it take away your peace of mind, you also encourage the formation of ulcers and many other ailments which the mind can inflict upon the body. Close the door!

It is wonderful and gratifying to see how the habit of closing the door upon the past becomes one of the greatest of sustaining habits. It helps you take possession of your own mind and condition it for the attainment of any purpose you desire.

-p.30

Technorati Tags: napoleon hill, peace of mind, personal development, self help

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/gems-from-the-classics-2.html/feed 1 http://marketerseye.com/2006/gems-from-the-classics-1.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/gems-from-the-classics-1.html#comments Tue, 25 Apr 2006 12:40:27 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/gems-from-the-classics-1.html
On The Warrior Forum, one suggestion was to read and learn from the classic sales and personal development books. Taking the advice, I dove right into “Grow Rich! : With Peace of Mind” by Napoleon Hill. It really is a great book, and I can see that so much modern “self-help” got its start with this one.

One paragraph from the book really spoke to me as a marketer and a budding entrepreneur. It speaks directly to motivation & money-guilt in a refreshingly direct manner.

Is there a definite connection between being wealthy and having peace of mind? There is a connection, but it is not absolute. There certainly are poor people who have peace of mind; but they are far more rare than folklore would have us believe. You need not be a millionaire, but without sufficient money you are cut off from much in life that sustains the spirit. If you are continually worrying about where your next meal is to come from – when you’ll be able to get your shoes repaired – how you are going to pay your dentist bull – how many more years your how can go without paint – you have no peace of mind. If your lack of funds forces you to live in a shabby neighborhood so that you constantly worry about the influence upon your children, you have no peace of mind. If you cannot occasionally buy and cherish something that is beautiful – if you cannot afford a vacation you really enjoy – if you cannot partake of a motion picture or a stage show which you know is very much worthwhile – your mind does not have the chance to satisfy itself. Money brings much good into your life and much that nobody should have to do without.

Technorati Tags: napoleon hill, personal development, peace of mind

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]>
On The Warrior Forum, one suggestion was to read and learn from the classic sales and personal development books. Taking the advice, I dove right into “Grow Rich! : With Peace of Mind” by Napoleon Hill. It really is a great book, and I can see that so much modern “self-help” got its start with this one.

One paragraph from the book really spoke to me as a marketer and a budding entrepreneur. It speaks directly to motivation & money-guilt in a refreshingly direct manner.

Is there a definite connection between being wealthy and having peace of mind? There is a connection, but it is not absolute. There certainly are poor people who have peace of mind; but they are far more rare than folklore would have us believe. You need not be a millionaire, but without sufficient money you are cut off from much in life that sustains the spirit. If you are continually worrying about where your next meal is to come from – when you’ll be able to get your shoes repaired – how you are going to pay your dentist bull – how many more years your how can go without paint – you have no peace of mind. If your lack of funds forces you to live in a shabby neighborhood so that you constantly worry about the influence upon your children, you have no peace of mind. If you cannot occasionally buy and cherish something that is beautiful – if you cannot afford a vacation you really enjoy – if you cannot partake of a motion picture or a stage show which you know is very much worthwhile – your mind does not have the chance to satisfy itself. Money brings much good into your life and much that nobody should have to do without.

Technorati Tags: napoleon hill, personal development, peace of mind

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/gems-from-the-classics-1.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/making-some-money-now-to-boost-traffic.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/making-some-money-now-to-boost-traffic.html#comments Mon, 24 Apr 2006 05:28:59 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/making-some-money-now-to-boost-traffic.html I spent last week retooling most of my web properties to include ads. It paid off! I’m quite pleased with my first week earnings, and now I’m thirsty for more. I’m going to start focusing on building my traffic more quickly.

Paul Stamatiou has taken the time to write up his tips to boost blog traffic, and I’m going to be implementing and testing them across the board on all my sites. In summary, they are:

• Usability
  
  The site should have style, according to Paul. This article suggests otherwise, that fast-loading ugly sites sell equally as well. I’m going to have to split-test this. I do plan to make sure that every site has an easy way to contact me and to find out more about me.
• Content
  
  Stay away from reblogging, have a strong sense of your site focus. This article notwithstanding, I think I do a very good job with this already. It is just so boring to add a “me too” voice to every thing, just for the sake of adding posts. Every site of mine is focused on something that interests me. In fact, I think the focus makes it easier to come up with topics, not harder.
• Technorati
  
  Use Technorati to tag posts. I do this on every blog, and it nets a fair number of hits, especially for current hot-button items.
• Blog Rings & Networks
  
  I’ve written about this on my article 5 one time site promotion tips that pay off big. I try to make my sites as easy as possible to find when you are searching for things I’ve written about. Adding myself to such sites as IceRocket makes this ever more straightforward.
• Use FeedBurner
  
  Make it easier for people to subscribe to your feed, and for you to track how many are subscribed.
• Use a dedicated domain name
  
  I already do. I’ve never been tempted by the free services. I’m just too addicted to control. It is so easy to set up a hosting account! Use the signup code “ZEFAMILY25″ and get $25 off any subscription to Dreamhost. Last time I looked that makes the minimum price about $30 per year for the basic fully hosted acount. Dreamhost will even install Wordpress for you.
• Learn about your readers
  
  Use stat tracking packages to do this. Paul likes Mint for this, but I just use AWStats, which I think may be more accurate, since it is server-side. You need a fully-hosted environment for that, of course.
• Try to get linked on popular sites
  
  He suggest trying to get linked on sites like del.icio.us or Digg. Really any a-list link will help immeasurably.

Technorati Tags: blogging, traffic boosting, advice

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> I spent last week retooling most of my web properties to include ads. It paid off! I’m quite pleased with my first week earnings, and now I’m thirsty for more. I’m going to start focusing on building my traffic more quickly.

Paul Stamatiou has taken the time to write up his tips to boost blog traffic, and I’m going to be implementing and testing them across the board on all my sites. In summary, they are:

• Usability
  
  The site should have style, according to Paul. This article suggests otherwise, that fast-loading ugly sites sell equally as well. I’m going to have to split-test this. I do plan to make sure that every site has an easy way to contact me and to find out more about me.
• Content
  
  Stay away from reblogging, have a strong sense of your site focus. This article notwithstanding, I think I do a very good job with this already. It is just so boring to add a “me too” voice to every thing, just for the sake of adding posts. Every site of mine is focused on something that interests me. In fact, I think the focus makes it easier to come up with topics, not harder.
• Technorati
  
  Use Technorati to tag posts. I do this on every blog, and it nets a fair number of hits, especially for current hot-button items.
• Blog Rings & Networks
  
  I’ve written about this on my article 5 one time site promotion tips that pay off big. I try to make my sites as easy as possible to find when you are searching for things I’ve written about. Adding myself to such sites as IceRocket makes this ever more straightforward.
• Use FeedBurner
  
  Make it easier for people to subscribe to your feed, and for you to track how many are subscribed.
• Use a dedicated domain name
  
  I already do. I’ve never been tempted by the free services. I’m just too addicted to control. It is so easy to set up a hosting account! Use the signup code “ZEFAMILY25″ and get $25 off any subscription to Dreamhost. Last time I looked that makes the minimum price about $30 per year for the basic fully hosted acount. Dreamhost will even install Wordpress for you.
• Learn about your readers
  
  Use stat tracking packages to do this. Paul likes Mint for this, but I just use AWStats, which I think may be more accurate, since it is server-side. You need a fully-hosted environment for that, of course.
• Try to get linked on popular sites
  
  He suggest trying to get linked on sites like del.icio.us or Digg. Really any a-list link will help immeasurably.

Technorati Tags: blogging, traffic boosting, advice

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/making-some-money-now-to-boost-traffic.html/feed 1 http://marketerseye.com/2006/great-forums-i-use-for-help.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/great-forums-i-use-for-help.html#comments Sat, 15 Apr 2006 07:15:31 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/great-forums-i-use-for-help.html My top five favorite forum sites for marketing and such:
• Warrior Forum – A marketing based forum, refreshingly likely to give real help and examples instead of constantly telling people to learn it for themselves. It has a couple innovative features, including “buy a warrior a beer”, and “Special Offers Forum” where you find discounts “especially for warriors”.
• Digital Point Forums – Huge and active. This site is a daily read for me. It covers SEO, Adsense, Marketing, General Business, and has a funny underground section.
• Abestweb – “Where the affiliate community comes together”. Focused on affiliates, with great threads such as which affiliate programs actually pay out what they owe, and which ones have “problems”.
• WebHostingTalk – Talks about hosting and all the issues around that. Excellent thoughts and breaking information from people who’ve been around a long while, and who know what they are talking about.
• Fat Wallet – This is a “deal site”, where people who get a kick out of marginal deals come to play. If you are fast and lucky, you can find some incredible deals from this site. I use it more to see which was the deals are falling right now. New stuff shows up here very fast.
by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> My top five favorite forum sites for marketing and such:
• Warrior Forum – A marketing based forum, refreshingly likely to give real help and examples instead of constantly telling people to learn it for themselves. It has a couple innovative features, including “buy a warrior a beer”, and “Special Offers Forum” where you find discounts “especially for warriors”.
• Digital Point Forums – Huge and active. This site is a daily read for me. It covers SEO, Adsense, Marketing, General Business, and has a funny underground section.
• Abestweb – “Where the affiliate community comes together”. Focused on affiliates, with great threads such as which affiliate programs actually pay out what they owe, and which ones have “problems”.
• WebHostingTalk – Talks about hosting and all the issues around that. Excellent thoughts and breaking information from people who’ve been around a long while, and who know what they are talking about.
• Fat Wallet – This is a “deal site”, where people who get a kick out of marginal deals come to play. If you are fast and lucky, you can find some incredible deals from this site. I use it more to see which was the deals are falling right now. New stuff shows up here very fast.
]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/great-forums-i-use-for-help.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/why-i-study-marketing.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/why-i-study-marketing.html#comments Sun, 09 Apr 2006 20:18:56 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/why-i-study-marketing.html I spend a lot of time reading and thinking about Marketing and site design. It is not natural for me yet, and I have an immense amount to learn.

a lot of programmers might not spend as much time, since the topic seems so simple. That’s exactly the point, it is simple, so it is hard to understand all the ramifications. The guys in Call To Action put it much better than me:

As Allen Weiss explains in his article, it’s hard to really understand simple ideas. In fact, it’s often harder than remembering complicated ideas. With complicate ideas, like those in mathematics, software coding, and finance, we tend to really “get it” because we spend so much time trying to understand the ideas.

With simpler ideas we tend to spend little energy (often because we think that it warrants little energy to understand) and often mistakenly think that we understand something because it appears to be simple.

In a lot of ways marketing is simple. For example, the basic ideas behind branding are actually very few. Still, people like to see these same ideas presented in thousands of different ways. People want thousands of different examples that expose the same basic idea — isn’t this a waste of time and money?

The reason for this seemingly strange inefficiency is that marketing is based on tacit know-how. Tacit know-how is difficult to write down and can only be learned by doing. Learning to play an instrument is based on tacit know-how, as is learning to cook and virtually every other practice that requires reading/learning and then doing (many, many times) before you really understand it.

- P.41

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> I spend a lot of time reading and thinking about Marketing and site design. It is not natural for me yet, and I have an immense amount to learn.

a lot of programmers might not spend as much time, since the topic seems so simple. That’s exactly the point, it is simple, so it is hard to understand all the ramifications. The guys in Call To Action put it much better than me:

As Allen Weiss explains in his article, it’s hard to really understand simple ideas. In fact, it’s often harder than remembering complicated ideas. With complicate ideas, like those in mathematics, software coding, and finance, we tend to really “get it” because we spend so much time trying to understand the ideas.

With simpler ideas we tend to spend little energy (often because we think that it warrants little energy to understand) and often mistakenly think that we understand something because it appears to be simple.

In a lot of ways marketing is simple. For example, the basic ideas behind branding are actually very few. Still, people like to see these same ideas presented in thousands of different ways. People want thousands of different examples that expose the same basic idea — isn’t this a waste of time and money?

The reason for this seemingly strange inefficiency is that marketing is based on tacit know-how. Tacit know-how is difficult to write down and can only be learned by doing. Learning to play an instrument is based on tacit know-how, as is learning to cook and virtually every other practice that requires reading/learning and then doing (many, many times) before you really understand it.

- P.41

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/why-i-study-marketing.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-6-no-bs-wealth-attraction-for-entrepreneurs.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-6-no-bs-wealth-attraction-for-entrepreneurs.html#comments Wed, 05 Apr 2006 12:49:20 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-6-no-bs-wealth-attraction-for-entrepreneurs.html This book is full of quotable sections, that’s the great part about reading books written by professional speakers. My second gem from “No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs” (Dan Kennedy) is from his chapter titled “Passion.” It is a welcome counterpoint to the oft-heard “alternative wisdom.”

“There’s Also a popular metaphysical idea – don’t pursue money, pursue passion. Pfui. [...]

The very unbusinesslike arrangement would be: passion, purpose, market, market demand, money. Pursue your passion, indulge your purpose or mission, with no regard for a market or market demand, and hope to attract wealth. I again say to you that hope is not a strategy.

The business arrangement would be: market, market demand, purpose, passion, money. Identify a viable, preferably underserved market, determine market demand (what it wants most and will pay for), then align your purpose, and do something for the market that you can feel passionately about.”

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, dan kennedy

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> This book is full of quotable sections, that’s the great part about reading books written by professional speakers. My second gem from “No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs” (Dan Kennedy) is from his chapter titled “Passion.” It is a welcome counterpoint to the oft-heard “alternative wisdom.”

“There’s Also a popular metaphysical idea – don’t pursue money, pursue passion. Pfui. [...]

The very unbusinesslike arrangement would be: passion, purpose, market, market demand, money. Pursue your passion, indulge your purpose or mission, with no regard for a market or market demand, and hope to attract wealth. I again say to you that hope is not a strategy.

The business arrangement would be: market, market demand, purpose, passion, money. Identify a viable, preferably underserved market, determine market demand (what it wants most and will pay for), then align your purpose, and do something for the market that you can feel passionately about.”

Technorati Tags: entrepreneur, dan kennedy

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-6-no-bs-wealth-attraction-for-entrepreneurs.html/feed 0 http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-5-no-bs-wealth-attraction-for-entrepreneurs.html http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-5-no-bs-wealth-attraction-for-entrepreneurs.html#comments Wed, 05 Apr 2006 03:18:01 +0000 Eye http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-5-no-bs-wealth-attraction-for-entrepreneurs.html I just finished reading my latest marketing/entrepreneur book, “No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs”, by Dan Kennedy. This is the first book I’ve read by him, and I am impressed.

He certainly didn’t offend me, though it seems to me that he prides himself on being blunt and usually offending people in some way. That’s OK, I’m hard to offend. In fact, the quote I’m sharing in this post is one of his more-likely-to-offend.

“If I wake up three mornings thinking about you and I’m not having sex with you, you’ve got to go. P. 160

I think that sums up one part of the attitude he displays in this book. You have to be clear in vision, you cannot be scattered, or allow others to distract you, or to "vampire" your time.


Technorati Tags: dan kennedy, time vampires

by Eye Leave A Comment
©2010 Marketer's Eye. All Rights Reserved.
]]> I just finished reading my latest marketing/entrepreneur book, “No B.S. Wealth Attraction for Entrepreneurs”, by Dan Kennedy. This is the first book I’ve read by him, and I am impressed.

He certainly didn’t offend me, though it seems to me that he prides himself on being blunt and usually offending people in some way. That’s OK, I’m hard to offend. In fact, the quote I’m sharing in this post is one of his more-likely-to-offend.

“If I wake up three mornings thinking about you and I’m not having sex with you, you’ve got to go. P. 160

I think that sums up one part of the attitude he displays in this book. You have to be clear in vision, you cannot be scattered, or allow others to distract you, or to "vampire" your time.


Technorati Tags: dan kennedy, time vampires

]]> http://marketerseye.com/2006/marketing-gem-5-no-bs-wealth-attraction-for-entrepreneurs.html/feed 0