Content Exchange in Info Marketer

Dear Info Marketers:

The road to success in any job these days is pretty long and hard. Just being educated or moderately experienced isn’t good enough – you have to often juggle different projects and sometimes you don’t get paid really well.

But let’s say things are looking up. You are now the highly experienced info marketer. Your info products are getting to people on a regular basis and as such the money is coming in on a regular basis. Things seem to have developed into that long sought after but highly devious phenomenon known as “routine”.

You take a sigh of relief. And the some change happens again in the form of a message that reads:

“…we would like to offer you a joint partnership with our organization through an exchange of information content…”

At first this seems like the best thing ever: an offer for you to join another organization based on their respect for your information creation skills in order to produce more profits for the two of you mutually.

Actually, it probably is one of the best things to ever happen to your business. Content exchange is a great way for you to broaden your professional horizons. You can create a good partnership with another company, get more exposure of your work, and thus get more clients to pay for your stuff.

But like any business deal in information marketing, content exchange should not be approached without some caution. By just exercising the slightest bit of philosophy, you can ensure that both the exchange and the partnership succeed to get both parties success they want.

It’s best to get on the Internet and/or the phone with the other party as soon as possible to work out the details of the content exchange. To be safe, it doesn’t hurt to do it up in writing in the form of a contract with both parties signing the agreement. Include how long the deal is tentatively going to last, how much content you are going to provide, and what compensation both parties should receive.
*NB: A lot of content exchanges are done for free. Two parties exchange content and then work out a percentage to pay the other person once profits are incurred from the exchange. Make sure you go over this with your partner and work out how much each person should get ahead of time.

Next, decide what content you are going to se in the exchange itself. It’s usually best to offer the stuff that is your best in terms of previous customer success or, at the very least, the stuff that you think represents both yourself and your business. As well, offer some introductory content to your partner’s website, introducing yourself to their client-base and explain your information goals for the future. Trademark your stuff with those little © or ™ symbols, with the name of your company and the year of the content’s publication beside it.

With the above in mind, do the same for your partner. Take their best trademarked content, post it on your website or in your mailings, with both an Internet link and mailing address to where they can be reached. It’s only good business that you extend the same courtesies to your partner that they would to you in this partnership.

Over time, monitor the effects of the content exchange. Ask yourself: are more people coming to check out my website? Have sales gone up? Is my partner seeing more business? What is working and what can be improved? These simple inquiries should only be done after a few months when some time has passed and there are figures to evaluate.

In today’s worldwide electronic market, content exchange can be the most potent asset to your info marketing business. On the Internet, any kind of exposure to your business is essential for its success. When a good content exchange comes along, work out the details with your partner, and then sit back and watch your success blossom!

It's that simple. And in info marketing, simplicity is key.

Come visit us here at the E-Wealth Daily.

Take care,

J.

Dear Info Marketers,

$$$$$$$$$$$.....

So…you’ve done the work and it’s been hard. The content, the processing, the distribution, everything. Now it’s time for your clients to ante up and deliver what’s coming to you.

El dinero…the green…those beautiful wads…whatever you call it, it’s still the same: money.

Say what you want about money, it’s always nice to get paid for something that you’ve really earned. Whether it was cleaning up that Amazon-jungle grade backyard in elementary school for five dollars an hour or closing a big sale for enough to make a down payment on a house, it’s all the same. You’ve been working to earn a living and now you can collect the fruits of your labors.

Getting paid in information marketing is a great feeling and something you can hang your mental hat on as accomplishment. I’ve written before about collecting payments and customers who may or may not be loyal in honouring their fees, so I will not dwell on such negative subject matter in this message. Instead, I will focus on the process of getting paid itself.

Payment should be an easy process, but like a lot of things these days, it’s changing. But this can be good if you are ready to adapt to some of the changes or just run with some of the older methods. Either is usually acceptable.

Here are some things to be prepared for in getting paid in info marketing:

--Do up an invoice: For tax and client receipt reasons, you should always do up an invoice. It should be a neat and well quantified chart which includes your client’s name, address, their account number with you, your contact info, and a chart showing what you provided them, a description of the service itself plus the fee you are charging. I would advise a digital program to do this on, as it can easily make your invoice look professional and easy to read. Personally, I use Microsoft Excel as I find it an easy program to create all the necessary columns and rows for this information. If you find another – i.e. the chart drawing mechanism on Microsoft Word – by all means use it.

--Be exact and professional: Nobody likes being charged for something they never bought. It’s important that you include only the necessary information when billing your clients and only that information. If you charge tax, do so, but only if you have the right credentials. When messaging your client, be polite and courteous but avoid small talk. Stick to the professional matters at hand no matter how close you are with them.

--Offer different methods of payment: Like I mentioned earlier, payment methods are changing. For a freelance web content job I did a year ago, I was paid online via Paypal. Back in my in-house publishing days, I did direct deposit through the publisher’s accounting department. Other times I have gotten an old fashioned paper pay check. Let’s be honest: it really doesn’t matter how to get paid, as long as it comes through. Find the best method for yourself and don’t be afraid to try the new online money transfers. I have found them to be very safe and secure.

--Keep all of your payment records: I have seen friends with their own business either misplace or discard their payment receipts. Do not do this EVER. Get in the habit of saving your receipts in a well organized binder or file folder. You will need them come tax time to give detail of your earnings and what you will have to pay the government.

An old colleague just got his first payment from a client for doing some customized wordworking, his life’s love and now profession. I’ve never seen him so happy. He knew he earned it and celebrated in style by taking his girlfriend out for a very nice night on the town. As an information marketer, you know you are entitled to such things too. Provided you are as professional in your payment collection as you are in your work, you will always bear that happy feeling of accomplishment when you get the cash you deserve.

Good luck!

Come visit us at the E-Wealth Daily, www.ewealthdaily.com.

Take care,

J.

Accessing Digital Archives for Info Marketing

Dear Info Marketers,

I got an e-mail from an info marketing buddy over the weekend. He’s really good at what he does and prides himself on going the extra length for his customers in providing them with the information they need.

He was really upset at his local library. For a long time, he had been using their stacks of old auto repair manuals for information in his weekly newsletters. But now things had changed.

“I couldn’t get at them this week,” he wrote. “They’re going digital with them.”

My friend is a bit older and not particularly savvy with computers. Luckily I had some advice for him that I can now share with you too. No doubt you are going to have to get some hard-to-find info at some point that is not available any other place but in a digital file someplace.

I bring some advice on digital formats from my past experience in both academic and professional areas. A few years back during my last year at school I had a job at the continuing education office digitizing old meeting minutes and records for the continuing education office. Later, I helped a local journalist oversee some digitizing of old 16 mm hockey game films. In both areas, I got to see large bodies of word and image content being compressed into small, portable, and long lasting files.

Why are people doing this? Simply because technology is allowing people to keep everything they create. It’s cheap, easy to store, and for many, good for the environment in not wasting resources. Now, likely for some of you, this is a whole new ball game as you haven’t ventured into these odd realms as I have. But that’s okay. Here’s how you can go about accessing those digital files for your info marketing business:

--Quiz your library staff: My bud, whose story I mentioned above, wound up going back to his library and the librarian was only too happy to tell him about their new digital archive. They were happy to help him access it and the only drawback being had to go to a bigger branch that is a twenty minute drive from his place. Quiz your library staff too. They are always in the loop about new developments in their materials and are usually pretty good about setting you on the right path as well.

--Check out universities, museums, and colleges: Big, well-funded post secondary and historical institutions are usually on the cusp of new technological developments, especially when it comes to the digital archiving of information materials. They often keep old newspapers on microfilm, old film reels on cassette, etc. Go check them out and you will be overjoyed at the amount of publically limited info you can now have access to. You might have to pay for a membership or to photocopy info that cannot be removed overnight, but believe me when I say it will be worth it.

--Check the web: One great thing about the Internet is that it has made a lot of things easily accessible without any charge. A lot of people are kind enough to post hard-to-get info online and you’d be surprised on what you can access – tech manuals, out-of-print material, tips and advice blogs, etc. – in just a basic organic search. Save yourself some cash and traveling time by doing thorough Internet searches for the specific information you require. Go through as many pages as possible and bookmark pages that are repeatedly helpful.

--Search out private collections and archives: I’m leery about this last bit of advice but I think it should be mentioned. Some people have invested their wealth in keeping private libraries and collections that, for a fee or favor, you can access for your own info marketing business. The only reservations I have about these institutions are how much they charge and how legitimate some of them are i.e. where they got their materials. But if you come across one in your searches, by all means check them out.

If you ever go reading about cultural landmarks that have been lost over time, it’s kind of sad. Often there was no way to preserve them and people almost had to get rid of them. Now that digital formats are available, you almost never have to waste anything that might be significant to your life and livelihood. Search out the forums you need for your information marketing career and use them to help your business flourish.

Come visit us at www.ewealthdaily.com for more assistance.

Good luck,

James Burt

Making the Pitch as an Information Marketer

Dear Info Marketers,

It's weird when you think about an idea or how someone else got inspired to do something.Ever walk down the street and see a building with really amazing architecture and wonder it was constructed? Wonder how your favourite actor seems to do whatever he or she does on the screen or stage so seamlessly? Ponder over some interesting scientific breakthrough?

In a world of man made creations, most of these things start with will power – that desire in people to want to do something great and rise to an amazing achievement.

Then comes the next inevitable question: “How much…?”

Like it or not, money matters. Whether trying to get a bridge built or networking to finance a movie production, costs are often the determining factor. Most people look at this with trepidation and it can only be assumed that some great potential dreams were not realized in the past because people let the dollars or lack thereof scare them away.

As an info marketer, don’t let this happen to you. If you’ve reached a point where you think your business deserves to get bigger but you lack the capital, take the plunge and seek out other funding sources.

How do you do this? You make the pitch.

In Hollywood, pitches are heard almost hourly. On Wall Street, I would imagine the frequency of pitching to be the same if not more. Some deals are made and many, many are not. In most cases, those who didn’t get their deal brokered suffered from a lack of preparation in getting ready for their pitch. The pitch is a process and there is a technique to it.

Here are some tips to go about pitching:

--Put together a portfolio or package: Pitching is a lot like job hunting. You have to make yourself look appealing to someone in order for them to make an investment in you. Do you have published information work? A trusted client list? A good resume with years of work experience? That’s all valuable coin in the pitching process. Put together a neat portfolio of your work and work history to bring to a pitch session where a potential investor can see what you have to offer first hand and the body of work you have to back it up.
* NOTE: This is where pictures really do speak louder than words. Whatever graphic material you may have, collect it together in a big a presentable portfolio to be shown at a moment’s notice.

--Know exactly what you want: Those throughout history who were most notable knew what they wanted and stopped at nothing to achieve it. Whether it was Madonna or Mao Zedong, these people knew what they wanted and worked hard to achieve their goals. Be the same. Outline your mission in your pitch and exactly how you intend to go about achieving your goals.

--Be presentable and polite: Like hunting for a job, pitching requires good etiquette on your part. Dress like a professional and use polite, simple language when meeting with a prospective investor. Be ready to answer questions and defend any arguments in a professional manner that you might encounter.

--Don’t stop till you get it: Rejection is a part of life. I don’t much care for it myself, be it from a girlfriend, investor, or whomever. But you cannot become dejected because one person did not like what you had to offer. Use any rejection matter you encounter as a learning ground for the next pitching session. You have to work to get what you want and it might take some trial and error along the way to do so.

Without struggle or desire, life is kind of meaningless. No one can shame someone who wants to go the extra step to realize dreams. Pitching for investment in information marketing is one way to realize dreams. Get out there and do the work you need to do in order to satisfy that need to succeed that dwells within you.

For more information, visit us here at the E-Wealth Daily website.

Take care,

J.

Markups and Info Marketing

Dear Info Marketers,

So, you think you are pretty smart? You know information right?

Question for you: What is HTML?

What? You don’t know? You live in the info age and you don’t know what HTML is…? Good grief!

I’m joking, and I now I will stop putting you down.

HTML is Hypertext Markup Language and is the code that is used for any sort of online published material, including websites, content, and graphic material. In more simple terms, it’s that tagging system with those odd and tags that make your content look the way it does online. To be absolutely truthful, I hadn’t much a clue as to it until I had to teach it to a former student who as taking a college course in computers. I had been using the Internet for seven years and had no clue as to what it was. I took the course material home and learned as much as I could on the fly to teach my student. It was a useful thing to learn and something I had to apply when I was working in the publishing field later on.

HTML is not the only markup available to people creating web material. More advanced ones like XML and XSL are now becoming the industry standard for people creating professional website material. With the proliferation of advanced graphic material and high tech content being put on the Internet, no doubt some of the older markups will come obsolete and Internet publishers will have to keep update with the changes.

Now I know what you are thinking: “Great Jimmy. But why should you care about these markups?”

Well, being an info marketer, markups can be useful to you, especially if you are going to build a website or post content online. Not only can you customize your websites the way you want, you will save bundles of cash in not having to hire a website designer to do it for you.

Here’s how you can utilize mark-ups in information marketing:

--Learn the basics: Most libraries have a good chunk of books on HTML and other markups. The Internet has loads of info too. Take some time at night or over the weekend to learn the basics of markup tagging. This help you understand what the language is and it can be learned very quick – I can attest to that!

--Create your own web pages: Follow the tagging steps and create your own web pages in Notepad, Microsoft Word, or a web editing program like Dream Weaver. It might be good to start with a basic system like HTML before using more advanced ones like XML. Be patient with this and be ready to use trial and error if you are unsure how you want your content to look online.

--Test them out online: Take your pages to your online publisher and/or hosting system and see how they look online. Most web publishers will let you see how they look first before making your site live so you can make the appropriate changes.

--Update regularly: When you update your website content, take the time to update the tagging as well. This will help you give your website a fresh look and practice your knowledge of whatever markup you are using.

Working with markups is a fun way to use your writing and design skills to help make your online material look appealing to your client base. You can become more Internet savvy and maintain your information skills all at the same time. Go and take advantage of it!

Take care and come visit us here at E-Wealth Daily.

Best,

J.

The Info Marketer Tech Pro

Dear Info Marketers,

Hope your summer is going well. I just spent the long weekend here in the Great White North on various patios relaxing with friends over good drinks.

Despite the rainy weather of late, I was happy to get out this past weekend with a good friend of mine for our annual burger lunch. There is a special restaurant we like to go to once a year in July and eat the special three patties, triple cheese, bacon, and fried egg topped burger while sitting in seats taken from old mini vans. Trust me: any restaurant lover should visit this place at least once in order to sample its truly well made and generously portioned food in a very unpretentious atmosphere.

In order to work up an appetite for our meal, my bud and I usually walk the whole twenty city blocks to the restaurant’s front door. As we headed off, I happened to look up and saw the sky going grey.

“Is it going to rain again?”

My friend reached into his pocket and said:

“Lemme check.”

He pulled out the very latest edition of the Blackberry mobile device. Within two seconds he had the weather forecast on the screen, complete with the whole weekend forecast. It said it was going to rain, so we got going as quickly as possible,

I’ve never pretended to be tech savvy. I was always late to adapting to cell phones, the Internet, web page markup, etc. But a lot of people like my friend are anything but. They know all the ins and outs of these devices and are able to give long explanations of them at a moment’s notice.

If you are one of these, count yourself lucky. If you are one of these and an information marketer, count yourself even luckier.

Creating information products about technical information is a very lucrative avenue for the information marketer. A lot of people are strapped with these new products – Blackberries, laptops, et al. – for personal or business reasons and are clueless on how to use them. You creating guides or how-to manuals are a great way for them to understand new technology while creating income for yourself.

If you decide you want to create technical based information products here are some tips:

--Keep your writing simple: Remember how oddly phrased and convoluted stereo or computer instructions used to be? Avoid any kind of jargon and big words when writing your products. Keep directions simple and only use correct terminology for the product components.

--Be thorough: Try and go through all the functions of whatever it is you are writing about. Think about all of the technology’s applications and how they are accessed by the consumer.

--Give trouble-shooting tips: It’s also a good idea to think about what could go wrong with your piece of technology. No doubt you are not the only one who has encountered viruses, shut downs, and programs fizzling out. Try and create content that provides advice for any foreseeable problem. Your clients will be happy to pay for this sort of extra advice.

--Use graphics: When I wrote a program guide for a previous employer, I was advised to use screen captures and graphics of the program. This was a good tip and my manual now had visual aids to help guide the reader along. Do the same. Incorporate graphic files into your content or at the publication stage to help give reference for what you are writing about.

Being a technical ace is an asset in just about every facet of modern life. Take advantage of what you know of new gadgets and gizmos and apply it to information marketing. Especially for guys like me who will pay for this sort of information, it will be well worth it for you in the end.

For more information, visit us here at the E-Wealth Daily.

Good luck and take care,

James B.

The Information Marketer Technical Ace

Dear Info Marketers,

Despite the rainy weather of late, I was happy to get out this past weekend with a good friend of mine for our annual burger lunch. There is a special restaurant we like to go to once a year in July and eat the special three patties, triple cheese, bacon, and fried egg topped burger while sitting in seats taken from old mini vans. Trust me: any restaurant lover should visit this place at least once in order to sample its truly well made and generously portioned food in a very unpretentious atmosphere.

In order to work up an appetite for our meal, my bud and I usually walk the whole twenty city blocks to the restaurant’s front door. As we headed off, I happened to look up and saw the sky going grey.

“Is it going to rain again?”

My friend reached into his pocket and said:

“Lemme check.”

He pulled out the very latest edition of the Blackberry mobile device. Within two seconds he had the weather forecast on the screen, complete with the whole weekend forecast. It said it was going to rain, so we got going as quickly as possible,

I’ve never pretended to be tech savvy. I was always late to adapting to cell phones, the Internet, web page markup, etc. But a lot of people like my friend are anything but. They know all the ins and outs of these devices and are able to give long explanations of them at a moment’s notice.

If you are one of these, count yourself lucky. If you are one of these and an information marketer, count yourself even luckier.

Creating information products about technical information is a very lucrative avenue for the information marketer. A lot of people are strapped with these new products – Blackberries, laptops, et al. – for personal or business reasons and are clueless on how to use them. You creating guides or how-to manuals are a great way for them to understand new technology while creating income for yourself.

If you decide you want to create technical based information products here are some tips:

--Keep your writing simple: Remember how oddly phrased and convoluted stereo or computer instructions used to be? Avoid any kind of jargon and big words when writing your products. Keep directions simple and only use correct terminology for the product components.

--Be thorough: Try and go through all the functions of whatever it is you are writing about. Think about all of the technology’s applications and how they are accessed by the consumer.

--Give trouble-shooting tips: It’s also a good idea to think about what could go wrong with your piece of technology. No doubt you are not the only one who has encountered viruses, shut downs, and programs fizzling out. Try and create content that provides advice for any foreseeable problem. Your clients will be happy to pay for this sort of extra advice.

--Use graphics: When I wrote a program guide for a previous employer, I was advised to use screen captures and graphics of the program. This was a good tip and my manual now had visual aids to help guide the reader along. Do the same. Incorporate graphic files into your content or at the publication stage to help give reference for what you are writing about.

Being a technical ace is an asset in just about every facet of modern life. Take advantage of what you know of new gadgets and gizmos and apply it to information marketing. Especially for guys like me who will pay for this sort of information, it will be well worth it for you in the end.

For more information, visit us here at the E-Wealth Daily.

Take care,

J.