Hey all:
So you've been writing away and sending messages. I am glad - it’s always nice when you get e-mails, especially ones from other information marketers seeking advice. As the guy who is dishing out the goods on information marketing tips and advice, it really forces me to do my homework, think, and research the answers to everyone’s queries.
Over the past months, I’ve been banking all of my e-mails in a file on desktop here at E-Wealth Daily and dug them out on the weekend to go over them. Some of the questions were pretty good and I thought I should compile a bunch of to share with you. These are all valid questions – ones that I think you should consider for your information marketing business as well.
Here goes:
--Q: Hey James. I just started my info marketing business and I create information about sports, specifically basketball. I am getting to a point in my content creation where I am expired of ideas. I am debating writing content that might border on, well, false information and exaggeration. What’s your take on this? I think I know the answer but thought I better check…
A. False information, be it in high school term papers or information marketing, is always a bad idea. Especially if you are selling it to the public, the proliferation of false information can potentially result in ugly legal ramifications that you can only conceive of. My uncle always said: “If you don’t know, don’t bull…”…wait. Well, you get the idea. In short, you can be creative, but make sure you are always truthful. If you are out of ideas, take a break and then do some research for new ones.
--Q: James, tax time is here. I have never done any filings for my information marketing business before. Help!
A. This question is very important. What I would suggest if you have never filed a tax return for your business is to collect all of your sales receipts of your information products, all of your receipts for things you have bought for your business, and find a good accountant. They can walk you through the process of filing taxes, show you what you might have to pay, what return you may be entitled to, and what you can write off as expenses. Finding an accountant is like finding a doctor: search out a bunch of them and find the best, but be sure they can take a new client.
--Q: My products have not been reaching my clients through the mail. ARRGHHH! I am mad and don’t know what to do.
A: Funny you should mention that. I sent a package a few weeks ago to a friend and it never made it to their place either. I know the postal service in this part of the world is pretty good. But I would suggest that if you have very important products to send like items customers have ordered, consider using a courier service. They offer insurance, are very fast, and will handle your products with absolute care.
--Q: Hey man, any health tips for information marketers?
A: HA! I thought I better include this one as your health is important. Like people who work in offices or drive truck, information marketers will spend a great portion of time sitting down, strapped behind a computer. There is little physical exercise there. That said you should always make time to get up and get exercise. Factor in daily running or walking into your work schedule. As well, do not get in the habit of eating poorly either. Snacking gradually over the day is actually good, but think about eating dried fruits and nuts over the chips and carbonated drinks. Health is an important discipline to consider in any job, and all information marketers should be aware of it.
At E-Wealth Daily, there really is no such thing as a stupid question. Feel free to send queries any time and we will respond with the best advice possible to make your business a success.
For more information, visit us here at the E-Wealth Daily.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
All You Need to Know About Docs — Tips on Creating the Best Info Marketing Documents
Dear Info Marketers,
An old colleague in the publishing world once told me about a trip he took to Mark Twain’s former residence in upstate New York. He talked extensively about seeing one of his writing idols’ home and the thrilled feeling he got exploring it.
One thing he talked with admiration about was Twain’s writing space. He got to see the room, desk, chair, and typewriter that Twain produced a large body of work from. He joked about how tough it must have been; all writers make spelling and grammar errors, and in the age of digital publishing and printing, the idea of re-typing whole pages on a typewriter to correct one error seems ludicrous. Mind you, my colleague joked, with the fear of having to do all that re-typing, I’ll bet he didn’t make too many mistakes!
Indeed. And who knows…it may have created a discipline and originality in writers of the past that we can’t even imagine of today. But that’s okay. Today things are different and we can use today’s technology to our advantage without sacrificing any quality at all.
Creating professional documents, whether they are newsletters, information products, or even e-mail messages, requires time and care on the writer’s part. But there are some great digital and non digital tools to help.
Here are some products I like:
--Scrap paper and a pen: No question about these as for my nickel in the jukebox, the old faithful pen and paper is still the best way to start creating documents. I always keep either a pad or folded bit of scrap paper in my coat pocket with a pen clipped to it whenever and wherever I want to jot down ideas or passages. I advise you to get into this habit as well.
--A voice recording device: This sounds pretentious, like the clichéd image of a screenwriter or mad scientist hidden away in some works space someplace, concocting crazy ideas. But a former colleague who often had trouble writing at the spur of the moment used an old tape recorder from his college days to record ideas he had while at home. He would play the tape back at the end of a week or random recording and transcribe the ideas he liked best. His success proved this method worked for him. It might also work for you if you have similar problems. As a bonus, many recorders now do not require tape and can be kept in your pocket like a pen, ready to use at a moment’s notice.
--Microsoft Word: I always thought this program was taken for granted by a great number of people today. But twenty years ago when my dad got our first personal computer, there was no program that you could access within minutes, and that had everything from font changing and table drawing tools, to text inversion and colour adding tools. Word has gotten me through many years of document creation and has been useful in so many ways. If you ever go to buy your first computer or laptop, make asking Is Microsoft Word on this? your very first question to the salesman.
--Adobe Acrobat: Adobe creates a lot of products for document and visual image creation/manipulations. I was fortunate in my former job to have been trained in it during a two day session. I learned how to create portable digital files (PDF) from scratch and how to transfer them electronically, over the Internet, etc. You can now download Acrobat from the Internet and I would advise you look into this if you wish to send out information products and documents electronically to your clients and colleagues.
--A Good Online Publishing Program: If you get or are already savvy enough with Internet publishing formats, invest in a good online publishing program. These programs come with an interface where you can transfer all the content from your existing Word documents onto and add the appropriate online markup to see how the pages will look online. They also come with an online publishing mechanism where, provided you already have a domain registered online, you can publish your pages immediately. We used to use Ultraedit programs before, but for personal use, Dreamweaver is a good investment.
The expression that it’s all in your hands truly applies to the information marketer that creates his or her own documents. The processes are cheap, accessible, and do not consume much time. Once you have your content and visual ideas prepared, you can literally sit down and create the documents you want and that best present you and your product to the world.
Take care and have a good week,
J.
An old colleague in the publishing world once told me about a trip he took to Mark Twain’s former residence in upstate New York. He talked extensively about seeing one of his writing idols’ home and the thrilled feeling he got exploring it.
One thing he talked with admiration about was Twain’s writing space. He got to see the room, desk, chair, and typewriter that Twain produced a large body of work from. He joked about how tough it must have been; all writers make spelling and grammar errors, and in the age of digital publishing and printing, the idea of re-typing whole pages on a typewriter to correct one error seems ludicrous. Mind you, my colleague joked, with the fear of having to do all that re-typing, I’ll bet he didn’t make too many mistakes!
Indeed. And who knows…it may have created a discipline and originality in writers of the past that we can’t even imagine of today. But that’s okay. Today things are different and we can use today’s technology to our advantage without sacrificing any quality at all.
Creating professional documents, whether they are newsletters, information products, or even e-mail messages, requires time and care on the writer’s part. But there are some great digital and non digital tools to help.
Here are some products I like:
--Scrap paper and a pen: No question about these as for my nickel in the jukebox, the old faithful pen and paper is still the best way to start creating documents. I always keep either a pad or folded bit of scrap paper in my coat pocket with a pen clipped to it whenever and wherever I want to jot down ideas or passages. I advise you to get into this habit as well.
--A voice recording device: This sounds pretentious, like the clichéd image of a screenwriter or mad scientist hidden away in some works space someplace, concocting crazy ideas. But a former colleague who often had trouble writing at the spur of the moment used an old tape recorder from his college days to record ideas he had while at home. He would play the tape back at the end of a week or random recording and transcribe the ideas he liked best. His success proved this method worked for him. It might also work for you if you have similar problems. As a bonus, many recorders now do not require tape and can be kept in your pocket like a pen, ready to use at a moment’s notice.
--Microsoft Word: I always thought this program was taken for granted by a great number of people today. But twenty years ago when my dad got our first personal computer, there was no program that you could access within minutes, and that had everything from font changing and table drawing tools, to text inversion and colour adding tools. Word has gotten me through many years of document creation and has been useful in so many ways. If you ever go to buy your first computer or laptop, make asking Is Microsoft Word on this? your very first question to the salesman.
--Adobe Acrobat: Adobe creates a lot of products for document and visual image creation/manipulations. I was fortunate in my former job to have been trained in it during a two day session. I learned how to create portable digital files (PDF) from scratch and how to transfer them electronically, over the Internet, etc. You can now download Acrobat from the Internet and I would advise you look into this if you wish to send out information products and documents electronically to your clients and colleagues.
--A Good Online Publishing Program: If you get or are already savvy enough with Internet publishing formats, invest in a good online publishing program. These programs come with an interface where you can transfer all the content from your existing Word documents onto and add the appropriate online markup to see how the pages will look online. They also come with an online publishing mechanism where, provided you already have a domain registered online, you can publish your pages immediately. We used to use Ultraedit programs before, but for personal use, Dreamweaver is a good investment.
The expression that it’s all in your hands truly applies to the information marketer that creates his or her own documents. The processes are cheap, accessible, and do not consume much time. Once you have your content and visual ideas prepared, you can literally sit down and create the documents you want and that best present you and your product to the world.
Take care and have a good week,
J.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Content Creation — Rules of the Road for Creating Your Content
Dear Information Marketers,
Back in my salad days, one of the freelance jobs I took was that of website writer. I created content for a few websites for a number of different businesses. From house siding suppliers to small business real estate firms to logistics information, I created the content for all of these websites, starting with a pen and paper and ending, for some of them, by adding HTML markup for it to be posted online.
Recently a friend asked me to redo the content of his company website. He gave me the URL and told me to take any information I needed from it. The company information was in fact there, but the content appeared to be written by a surrealist author, and was chocked with spelling and grammar errors. When I asked my friend about it he said, “Oh yeah, I just nicked some pages from some other websites and cut and pasted them together”
My heart skipped a few beats. We had to have a chat after that as my mate was a content thief.
Creating your website can be cumbersome, but it can be fun too. So much fun that you do NOT need to steal material from others. You need to be organized, but you can do it yourself.
Here are some techniques I use when doing up websites:
--Create an Outline: Like creating an information product, create a detailed outline of your website. Use a blank page of paper for every page of website content you are going to use. Some pages to consider are: About Us/Me, Mission Statement, Products and/or Services, Order Online, and Contact Us. As a rule of thumb, I create between five and ten pages of content for anyone website, depending on the company size.
--Writer your Content Carefully: You don’t need an MFA in creative writing to write your website content. You do, though, have to be thorough. Give some details about yourself, your company, a brief description of your products, and how people can get a hold of them. That’s it. I write my pages in longhand on scrap paper first, and then type them up later. If you are more computer savvy, feel free to type them up straight off, but be sure to edit them and print them off to see how the content looks.
--Keep Fonts and Letter Sizes Consistent: Put yourself in the viewer’s chair and always think about what you would like to see if you randomly landed on that page during a ‘Net surfing session. Keep your fonts consistent – I always use either Courier or Arial – and keep the letter sizes readable and attractive to your viewer.
--Have Graphics for your Products: For the E-Wealth Daily website, we took the graphic files of our product covers and compiled them on our Products page with a brief description of each. If you have graphic files for your products, do the same. It will look attractive to the viewer.
--Do NOT Plagiarize: People say that the Internet is so vast there can’t possible be people out to police it. Hogwash. A recent documentary I watched on a news program revealed that companies will hire detective-like personnel to scan suspect websites to see if plagiarism has occurred. If another entrepreneur suspects you have taken content from their site, you could risk serious legal penalties, and they might have a very good legal team. When in doubt, write it fresh. If that’s an issue, hire a copywriter. Either way, it’ll save a lot of potential hassle.
Websites were designed for information marketing. You are writing your own products right? If you can do that, you can writer your own content. It does not take too long, can help you test your creative juices, and is something you can show to people what a serious entrepreneur you really are.
More to come, so stay tuned!
Best,
J.
Back in my salad days, one of the freelance jobs I took was that of website writer. I created content for a few websites for a number of different businesses. From house siding suppliers to small business real estate firms to logistics information, I created the content for all of these websites, starting with a pen and paper and ending, for some of them, by adding HTML markup for it to be posted online.
Recently a friend asked me to redo the content of his company website. He gave me the URL and told me to take any information I needed from it. The company information was in fact there, but the content appeared to be written by a surrealist author, and was chocked with spelling and grammar errors. When I asked my friend about it he said, “Oh yeah, I just nicked some pages from some other websites and cut and pasted them together”
My heart skipped a few beats. We had to have a chat after that as my mate was a content thief.
Creating your website can be cumbersome, but it can be fun too. So much fun that you do NOT need to steal material from others. You need to be organized, but you can do it yourself.
Here are some techniques I use when doing up websites:
--Create an Outline: Like creating an information product, create a detailed outline of your website. Use a blank page of paper for every page of website content you are going to use. Some pages to consider are: About Us/Me, Mission Statement, Products and/or Services, Order Online, and Contact Us. As a rule of thumb, I create between five and ten pages of content for anyone website, depending on the company size.
--Writer your Content Carefully: You don’t need an MFA in creative writing to write your website content. You do, though, have to be thorough. Give some details about yourself, your company, a brief description of your products, and how people can get a hold of them. That’s it. I write my pages in longhand on scrap paper first, and then type them up later. If you are more computer savvy, feel free to type them up straight off, but be sure to edit them and print them off to see how the content looks.
--Keep Fonts and Letter Sizes Consistent: Put yourself in the viewer’s chair and always think about what you would like to see if you randomly landed on that page during a ‘Net surfing session. Keep your fonts consistent – I always use either Courier or Arial – and keep the letter sizes readable and attractive to your viewer.
--Have Graphics for your Products: For the E-Wealth Daily website, we took the graphic files of our product covers and compiled them on our Products page with a brief description of each. If you have graphic files for your products, do the same. It will look attractive to the viewer.
--Do NOT Plagiarize: People say that the Internet is so vast there can’t possible be people out to police it. Hogwash. A recent documentary I watched on a news program revealed that companies will hire detective-like personnel to scan suspect websites to see if plagiarism has occurred. If another entrepreneur suspects you have taken content from their site, you could risk serious legal penalties, and they might have a very good legal team. When in doubt, write it fresh. If that’s an issue, hire a copywriter. Either way, it’ll save a lot of potential hassle.
Websites were designed for information marketing. You are writing your own products right? If you can do that, you can writer your own content. It does not take too long, can help you test your creative juices, and is something you can show to people what a serious entrepreneur you really are.
More to come, so stay tuned!
Best,
J.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Oddities — The Strangest Place Where You Can Get Ideas for Your Info Marketing Business
Dear Info Marketers,
It's no surprise that some of the best discoveries came by accident. Scientists, inventors, musicians...there are deep volumes of stories about how great things were created purely by accident. For instance, it’s hard to believe that comical story of Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree, theorizing away on physics, when an apple hitting him on head gives him the sudden inspiration needed to come up with the three universal laws of motion. But then you never know where ideas come from or what things – physical or otherwise – can cause ideas to form in your mind.
As an information marketer, your whole career is dependent on ideas and I have written about where to get them in the past. You might get stumped on what to write about in your next newsletter or what new product to create. Do not worry as this happens all the time. You just need new inspiration. Funnily enough, like the ideas themselves, they can be always come from new and very unlikely sources. You just have to be alert to them and make a note them once they come.
I am fortunate to network with a lot of people, as well being able to conduct my own independent research. I pound the pavement and search things out that interest me in order to write more about this subject. Over my past months of research, I have chatted with colleagues and network associates. Here’s some places you might want to try to get new ideas for your information marketing business. And they are all pretty unlikely.
--The junk and used book shop: I was a scavenger of flea markets, junk shops, and used records shops as a teen looking for old obscure albums and books. I was also curious about life before I was on earth and what things looked like before I was alive. It was a great experience and I found later that when I began writing, some of the old ad page copy, magazine articles, and album jacket verbiage gave me fresh ideas to instigate my own word creation. As well, by examining old product ads in magazines, I began to be analytical about why certain products succeeded over time while others did not. This can be a good tool for you too. If you get stuck, take a walk around the mini mall or used centres for things that might provide inspiration.
--Completely unrelated information or trade magazines: A guitar player I was reading about once mentioned that he never listened to the same type of music he played. Never. Rather than crunchy guitars or psychedelic improvisations that his band performed, he preferred easily listening classics and even muzak (!) while at home, alone with his stereo. Why? It was completely the opposite of what he was doing. There was nothing to compete with and even the most banal piece of an elevator melody would give him an idea for a riff. A fellow info marketer confirmed this claim. If you are writing about personal fitness, get a copy of a model railroad trade. Or a kitchen and bathroom refurbishing magazine. Or a vintage soft drink e-newletter. Reading this unrelated information will give you an objective eye to see how these people work their information marketing business and thus give you new ideas for yours. Check the layout, columns, and what special information they are providing their clients.
--Cookbooks: I know what you are thinking: “What??” This sounds weird, but I include this from the advice of another very successful information marketing friend. His reason for scouring cookbooks was to see how you can take very bland materials and create something that looks and tastes sensational. My friend saw it like this: you take the raw ingredients of pen, paper, and word processor to create a hot newsletter. It’s that simple. He would even note the look of the recipe itself on the cookbook page, as what kind of type it used and what paper it was printed on. Again, it sounds so odd. But this guy had the success to back his claim up.
--Children’s toy shops: A dramatic theorist whose name escapes me once said that the only purpose of drama, be it tragedy, comedy, suspense, or horror is to free the unconscious. You are being entertained by the story and it is only later that you realize how profound the dramatic piece was. Children’s toys are supposed to do this too. Their odd characterizations and playful colours are to create a fertile imagination in the child’s mind. Even if the plastic baby doesn’t really talk, it does to that child playing house with it. This is the objective for you too. Your information is supposed to come across as informative and insightful without being deliberately so. Therefore, check out your local toy shops and see what imaginative possibilities are there to make your product that much more appealing in the eyes and minds of your clients. You don’t have to create the next action figure, but you have to make your product inspire action in your client’s mind.
Most of these idea generators are things we all take for granted when we are out and about in our daily lives. They aren’t fancy and are very common. But taking a closer look at them can generate ideas for success that you would never, ever expect otherwise.
See you next week,
J.
It's no surprise that some of the best discoveries came by accident. Scientists, inventors, musicians...there are deep volumes of stories about how great things were created purely by accident. For instance, it’s hard to believe that comical story of Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree, theorizing away on physics, when an apple hitting him on head gives him the sudden inspiration needed to come up with the three universal laws of motion. But then you never know where ideas come from or what things – physical or otherwise – can cause ideas to form in your mind.
As an information marketer, your whole career is dependent on ideas and I have written about where to get them in the past. You might get stumped on what to write about in your next newsletter or what new product to create. Do not worry as this happens all the time. You just need new inspiration. Funnily enough, like the ideas themselves, they can be always come from new and very unlikely sources. You just have to be alert to them and make a note them once they come.
I am fortunate to network with a lot of people, as well being able to conduct my own independent research. I pound the pavement and search things out that interest me in order to write more about this subject. Over my past months of research, I have chatted with colleagues and network associates. Here’s some places you might want to try to get new ideas for your information marketing business. And they are all pretty unlikely.
--The junk and used book shop: I was a scavenger of flea markets, junk shops, and used records shops as a teen looking for old obscure albums and books. I was also curious about life before I was on earth and what things looked like before I was alive. It was a great experience and I found later that when I began writing, some of the old ad page copy, magazine articles, and album jacket verbiage gave me fresh ideas to instigate my own word creation. As well, by examining old product ads in magazines, I began to be analytical about why certain products succeeded over time while others did not. This can be a good tool for you too. If you get stuck, take a walk around the mini mall or used centres for things that might provide inspiration.
--Completely unrelated information or trade magazines: A guitar player I was reading about once mentioned that he never listened to the same type of music he played. Never. Rather than crunchy guitars or psychedelic improvisations that his band performed, he preferred easily listening classics and even muzak (!) while at home, alone with his stereo. Why? It was completely the opposite of what he was doing. There was nothing to compete with and even the most banal piece of an elevator melody would give him an idea for a riff. A fellow info marketer confirmed this claim. If you are writing about personal fitness, get a copy of a model railroad trade. Or a kitchen and bathroom refurbishing magazine. Or a vintage soft drink e-newletter. Reading this unrelated information will give you an objective eye to see how these people work their information marketing business and thus give you new ideas for yours. Check the layout, columns, and what special information they are providing their clients.
--Cookbooks: I know what you are thinking: “What??” This sounds weird, but I include this from the advice of another very successful information marketing friend. His reason for scouring cookbooks was to see how you can take very bland materials and create something that looks and tastes sensational. My friend saw it like this: you take the raw ingredients of pen, paper, and word processor to create a hot newsletter. It’s that simple. He would even note the look of the recipe itself on the cookbook page, as what kind of type it used and what paper it was printed on. Again, it sounds so odd. But this guy had the success to back his claim up.
--Children’s toy shops: A dramatic theorist whose name escapes me once said that the only purpose of drama, be it tragedy, comedy, suspense, or horror is to free the unconscious. You are being entertained by the story and it is only later that you realize how profound the dramatic piece was. Children’s toys are supposed to do this too. Their odd characterizations and playful colours are to create a fertile imagination in the child’s mind. Even if the plastic baby doesn’t really talk, it does to that child playing house with it. This is the objective for you too. Your information is supposed to come across as informative and insightful without being deliberately so. Therefore, check out your local toy shops and see what imaginative possibilities are there to make your product that much more appealing in the eyes and minds of your clients. You don’t have to create the next action figure, but you have to make your product inspire action in your client’s mind.
Most of these idea generators are things we all take for granted when we are out and about in our daily lives. They aren’t fancy and are very common. But taking a closer look at them can generate ideas for success that you would never, ever expect otherwise.
See you next week,
J.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Watch Out — Avoid all of These Problems in Info Marketing
Dear Info Marketers,
Sorry to not update. Was away for Easter weekend. Lots of kids, chocolate eggs, food,...it was pretty fun.
My blog entries have all been about the recent bad news in the media. I am now going to address that some pitfalls that are to be absolutely avoided. These all come from a good friend and colleague, so feel free to take notes.
My colleague is a constant surfer. Both on the waves of a South Sea Island someplace and on the Internet when he isn’t doing the former. He’s hilarious: to look at him, you’d think he was just another globetrotting bum complete with dreadlocks and Aztec sun tattoos. It is hard to believe he is one of the most professional information marketers I have ever met. He is honest and his clients love him for the information he provides – travel and surfing tips – and he does very well as a result.
I get bi-weekly e-mails from him with CHECK THIS OUT written in the subject line. It usually contains a link to another information marketing site that is less than great. I saved all the messages he sent and went through them all. He and I both noted the big mistakes in all of the sites and think it’s high time we shared them with you.
--Over-investment in Certain Products: A lot of the sites and their respective publications are a lot like Hollywood epics: way too overproduced. There is obvious heavy expenditure in graphic design and oversaturation of content. You don’t need to do this. Keep your products looking simple, well constructed, and, above all, informative. Save your money and just do a good job.
--Plagiarism: my friend found one site with the phrase “…getting good travel tips is vital whether you are traveling in Thailand, Tennessee, Timbuktu…” and another with “…getting great travel advice is vital whether you are in Buena Vista, Benin, or Boston…”. Very similar, no? This is flat out copying and there are laws in place to prevent this. Be smart, avoid lawsuits, and create your own original copy.
--Scamming or Being Scammed: Some sites use coercion in their sites like “Be the First on Your Block…”, “Do This Now Or…!”, or other such methods to hook their clients in. You don’t need to. Be professional and use confident, meaningful grammar in your products to attract clients. As well, be wary of people who want to promote your product for hefty fees. One of the sites we saw were “endorsed” but a well known con artist who has since made his way to the Internet black list.
--Making Outlandish Claims: A lot of products claim the world. “See your bank account increase overnight…”, “Get the girl of your dreams every time…”, or even “Watch your cancer disappear…”. If your product can really do this, fine. You have likely received a Nobel Prize or Guggenheim Fellowship in the process. But if it cannot, don’t make the claim. Clients want results and if they don’t get them, they will take action to get financial results instead.
It should be noted that there are only a few sites out of the millions in existence that engage in the practices above. Most people are pretty professional. Regardless, use this list as a checklist to ensure you do not fall into any traps that might hamper your information marketing business from being the best it could be.
Take care and more to come,
J.
Sorry to not update. Was away for Easter weekend. Lots of kids, chocolate eggs, food,...it was pretty fun.
My blog entries have all been about the recent bad news in the media. I am now going to address that some pitfalls that are to be absolutely avoided. These all come from a good friend and colleague, so feel free to take notes.
My colleague is a constant surfer. Both on the waves of a South Sea Island someplace and on the Internet when he isn’t doing the former. He’s hilarious: to look at him, you’d think he was just another globetrotting bum complete with dreadlocks and Aztec sun tattoos. It is hard to believe he is one of the most professional information marketers I have ever met. He is honest and his clients love him for the information he provides – travel and surfing tips – and he does very well as a result.
I get bi-weekly e-mails from him with CHECK THIS OUT written in the subject line. It usually contains a link to another information marketing site that is less than great. I saved all the messages he sent and went through them all. He and I both noted the big mistakes in all of the sites and think it’s high time we shared them with you.
--Over-investment in Certain Products: A lot of the sites and their respective publications are a lot like Hollywood epics: way too overproduced. There is obvious heavy expenditure in graphic design and oversaturation of content. You don’t need to do this. Keep your products looking simple, well constructed, and, above all, informative. Save your money and just do a good job.
--Plagiarism: my friend found one site with the phrase “…getting good travel tips is vital whether you are traveling in Thailand, Tennessee, Timbuktu…” and another with “…getting great travel advice is vital whether you are in Buena Vista, Benin, or Boston…”. Very similar, no? This is flat out copying and there are laws in place to prevent this. Be smart, avoid lawsuits, and create your own original copy.
--Scamming or Being Scammed: Some sites use coercion in their sites like “Be the First on Your Block…”, “Do This Now Or…!”, or other such methods to hook their clients in. You don’t need to. Be professional and use confident, meaningful grammar in your products to attract clients. As well, be wary of people who want to promote your product for hefty fees. One of the sites we saw were “endorsed” but a well known con artist who has since made his way to the Internet black list.
--Making Outlandish Claims: A lot of products claim the world. “See your bank account increase overnight…”, “Get the girl of your dreams every time…”, or even “Watch your cancer disappear…”. If your product can really do this, fine. You have likely received a Nobel Prize or Guggenheim Fellowship in the process. But if it cannot, don’t make the claim. Clients want results and if they don’t get them, they will take action to get financial results instead.
It should be noted that there are only a few sites out of the millions in existence that engage in the practices above. Most people are pretty professional. Regardless, use this list as a checklist to ensure you do not fall into any traps that might hamper your information marketing business from being the best it could be.
Take care and more to come,
J.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
In the Event Off… — What to do if Your Product Fails
Dear Info Marketers,
Do you get tired of the bad news too? Job losses, the "new recession",… it never stops does it? Is it scare tactics or really true? And what are we gonna do?
Well, I guess to start, we have to be honest.
I like when people are honest with me. I really do. I have had coaches advise me to change the sport that I was in, cross country, to a sport that better suited me – rugby – after it was obvious I could not run as well as the other team members. I also liked it when the girlfriend of a landlord advised me to get a new place because, according to her, her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend was “no good” in any way. It saved me many future headaches and money problems. Hers too, it souned like (!).
That said I have to be honest with myself sometimes. You have to accept things not working out in all walks of life – relationships, school, and work. I have created products and product proposals that frankly did not pan out. The first one was tough to swallow and I went through the usual avenues of anxiety. But my boss was supportive and just told me to keep at it.
Part of having your information marketing business is knowing that certain things will fail. It just happens. I certainly hope it never happens to you, but if it does, here are some suggestions for action:
--Check the stats: You should always be sure you are right about something. If your product looks like it is a bust, verify this by looking at your sales figures and client subscribers. Numbers really do not lie. It’s good to monitor your numbers continually before they get out of hand and decrease beyond control.
--Accept the Inevitable: My flamboyant calculus teacher in high school used a lot of funny expressions, including the infamous “We’re beating a dead horse here, people!” when we couldn’t solve tough integration problems. As weird as it sounds, it applies to your business too. Don’t be a “dead horse beater”. Your product is failing and taking your business down with you. Cancel it, put its related files away, and move on.
--Make a Professional Notification: If you want to discontinue your product, fine. But make sure your clients know you are doing this. Compose a formal letter and send it out to all clients. Use language like “As off, product X will no longer be issued by [your company name] due to…” and “we thank you for your patronage and please direct all related queries to [your e-mail address]…”. You cannot go wrong with this and your customers will stick with you as they will know you are working like a pro.
--Hit the Books: You are going to need fresh ideas. Take the time you need to get some new ones. This does not necessarily mean homework either. Take a trip or holiday to let your mind relax so you can come up with new ideas for your information marketing business. Keep notes on them all and work each one out for its possibilities.
--Look at Resurrection Possibilities: Once you get new products going, go back to the ones that didn’t work and you had to shelve. Review them and if you think they have renewed potential, try revising them for future use. Some of my favourite performers like Richard Thompson and Warren Zevon have all been dropped from their record labels for many reasons, but they managed to get re-signed and still have great careers afterwards. Like your information products, they had “resurrection potential”.
Nobody likes to fail. But in the event that you do, you can always do something about it. Take the pro-active approach to your information marketing business and you will never really fail.
More to come so have a good week and stay tuned,
J.
Do you get tired of the bad news too? Job losses, the "new recession",… it never stops does it? Is it scare tactics or really true? And what are we gonna do?
Well, I guess to start, we have to be honest.
I like when people are honest with me. I really do. I have had coaches advise me to change the sport that I was in, cross country, to a sport that better suited me – rugby – after it was obvious I could not run as well as the other team members. I also liked it when the girlfriend of a landlord advised me to get a new place because, according to her, her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend was “no good” in any way. It saved me many future headaches and money problems. Hers too, it souned like (!).
That said I have to be honest with myself sometimes. You have to accept things not working out in all walks of life – relationships, school, and work. I have created products and product proposals that frankly did not pan out. The first one was tough to swallow and I went through the usual avenues of anxiety. But my boss was supportive and just told me to keep at it.
Part of having your information marketing business is knowing that certain things will fail. It just happens. I certainly hope it never happens to you, but if it does, here are some suggestions for action:
--Check the stats: You should always be sure you are right about something. If your product looks like it is a bust, verify this by looking at your sales figures and client subscribers. Numbers really do not lie. It’s good to monitor your numbers continually before they get out of hand and decrease beyond control.
--Accept the Inevitable: My flamboyant calculus teacher in high school used a lot of funny expressions, including the infamous “We’re beating a dead horse here, people!” when we couldn’t solve tough integration problems. As weird as it sounds, it applies to your business too. Don’t be a “dead horse beater”. Your product is failing and taking your business down with you. Cancel it, put its related files away, and move on.
--Make a Professional Notification: If you want to discontinue your product, fine. But make sure your clients know you are doing this. Compose a formal letter and send it out to all clients. Use language like “As off, product X will no longer be issued by [your company name] due to…” and “we thank you for your patronage and please direct all related queries to [your e-mail address]…”. You cannot go wrong with this and your customers will stick with you as they will know you are working like a pro.
--Hit the Books: You are going to need fresh ideas. Take the time you need to get some new ones. This does not necessarily mean homework either. Take a trip or holiday to let your mind relax so you can come up with new ideas for your information marketing business. Keep notes on them all and work each one out for its possibilities.
--Look at Resurrection Possibilities: Once you get new products going, go back to the ones that didn’t work and you had to shelve. Review them and if you think they have renewed potential, try revising them for future use. Some of my favourite performers like Richard Thompson and Warren Zevon have all been dropped from their record labels for many reasons, but they managed to get re-signed and still have great careers afterwards. Like your information products, they had “resurrection potential”.
Nobody likes to fail. But in the event that you do, you can always do something about it. Take the pro-active approach to your information marketing business and you will never really fail.
More to come so have a good week and stay tuned,
J.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Combination of the Two — Partnerships in Information Marketing
Dear Info Marketers,
Well after a sunny weekend it’s raining hard outside now. This is a bit hard to digest after a very nice weekend, but to be optimistic I guess it leads to the inevitable “April showers = May flowers” saying. Something to look forward to.
And speaking of which, I got an e-mail from a friend who was offered a partnership with a fellow info marketer who deals in the same type of information as him. I was very happy for this friend but he ended his message in a sort of blue mood by saying: “I don’t think I’ll do it. I am just not that optimistic, Burt. These things never pan out.”
“Not true”, I told him. My colleagues Michael Lombardi and Adrian Newman have succeeded for many, many years thanks to several carefully established professional and profitable partnerships. While they are not necessarily easy, they are born and nurtured out of a mutual need for both parties wanting to do the best.
The things you should consider that are the most important in information marketing partnerships are:
--Who can provide what: Just like planning a fishing trip or party with friends, you have to sit down and carefully divvy up each party’s responsibilities. Make a list of what goals you want to achieve and who can provide the necessary information to achieve that goal. Be as fair as possible and try to balance the scale so everyone is carrying their weight.
--What schedule to create: You might form a partnership with someone located a large distance away, and thus you can’t work side-by-side, in the same time zone, with the same release dates. Correspond regularly and create a schedule of when you are going to release your products and on what basis i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Consider where both partners’ clients reside and what release dates have worked best in the past.
--What compensation to provide: This is always tough as we always hear bad press about disputes over money. Whether it’s between big corporations or small businesses, these matters can get bad, especially if courts are involved. Thankfully they can be avoided. Here’s how: think about starting the partnership for free. That’s right, for free. No fees, just “You create this, I’ll do that, and we will put it out and see what happens.”. I know that this sounds odd, but it works. If things do not work off the bat, start again. When you are successful and see profits, start dividing them up in an equal fashion.
**This is no joke. Many of my colleague’s most successful partnerships started this way. They wanted to “test the waters” to make sure things would work. Thankfully they did, and both parties ended up with significant profits.
--Who gets the credit: Again, this is another matter that can get pretty sticky if not done correctly. Basically, remember the old adage that credit is due where credit is due. Whatever content is created, that person should get the credit for creating it. Crediting yourself of having the other party crediting themselves for something they had no hand in is wrong and, more importantly, illegal, with plagiarism being a frequently tried court case. You have to keep things balanced so each party is pulling there weight equally. If this scale begins to fall to a heavier side, then you have to stop and rework your plan so it is partnership workload is balanced.
--What to do if it does not work out: I am not one to tell people what they want to hear and should address the possible fact that you may or may not have a good long term partnership. But if you don’t, that’s ok. Provided you held up your end of the bargain in the most professional manner possible, you can, in the worst case scenario, walk away to form another partnership with a newly created portfolio of work. BUT hopefully it will never come to this. Partnerships are great and can help your business succeed to unprecedented heights.
Information marketing is great if you are very independent and enjoy working by yourself. But if the opportunity of becoming more successful with a partner presents itself, it is always worth considering. Find the right one, do your homework with them, go work on the common goal of success.
You will not be sorry.
More to come so stay tuned and have a good week.
Best,
J.
Well after a sunny weekend it’s raining hard outside now. This is a bit hard to digest after a very nice weekend, but to be optimistic I guess it leads to the inevitable “April showers = May flowers” saying. Something to look forward to.
And speaking of which, I got an e-mail from a friend who was offered a partnership with a fellow info marketer who deals in the same type of information as him. I was very happy for this friend but he ended his message in a sort of blue mood by saying: “I don’t think I’ll do it. I am just not that optimistic, Burt. These things never pan out.”
“Not true”, I told him. My colleagues Michael Lombardi and Adrian Newman have succeeded for many, many years thanks to several carefully established professional and profitable partnerships. While they are not necessarily easy, they are born and nurtured out of a mutual need for both parties wanting to do the best.
The things you should consider that are the most important in information marketing partnerships are:
--Who can provide what: Just like planning a fishing trip or party with friends, you have to sit down and carefully divvy up each party’s responsibilities. Make a list of what goals you want to achieve and who can provide the necessary information to achieve that goal. Be as fair as possible and try to balance the scale so everyone is carrying their weight.
--What schedule to create: You might form a partnership with someone located a large distance away, and thus you can’t work side-by-side, in the same time zone, with the same release dates. Correspond regularly and create a schedule of when you are going to release your products and on what basis i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Consider where both partners’ clients reside and what release dates have worked best in the past.
--What compensation to provide: This is always tough as we always hear bad press about disputes over money. Whether it’s between big corporations or small businesses, these matters can get bad, especially if courts are involved. Thankfully they can be avoided. Here’s how: think about starting the partnership for free. That’s right, for free. No fees, just “You create this, I’ll do that, and we will put it out and see what happens.”. I know that this sounds odd, but it works. If things do not work off the bat, start again. When you are successful and see profits, start dividing them up in an equal fashion.
**This is no joke. Many of my colleague’s most successful partnerships started this way. They wanted to “test the waters” to make sure things would work. Thankfully they did, and both parties ended up with significant profits.
--Who gets the credit: Again, this is another matter that can get pretty sticky if not done correctly. Basically, remember the old adage that credit is due where credit is due. Whatever content is created, that person should get the credit for creating it. Crediting yourself of having the other party crediting themselves for something they had no hand in is wrong and, more importantly, illegal, with plagiarism being a frequently tried court case. You have to keep things balanced so each party is pulling there weight equally. If this scale begins to fall to a heavier side, then you have to stop and rework your plan so it is partnership workload is balanced.
--What to do if it does not work out: I am not one to tell people what they want to hear and should address the possible fact that you may or may not have a good long term partnership. But if you don’t, that’s ok. Provided you held up your end of the bargain in the most professional manner possible, you can, in the worst case scenario, walk away to form another partnership with a newly created portfolio of work. BUT hopefully it will never come to this. Partnerships are great and can help your business succeed to unprecedented heights.
Information marketing is great if you are very independent and enjoy working by yourself. But if the opportunity of becoming more successful with a partner presents itself, it is always worth considering. Find the right one, do your homework with them, go work on the common goal of success.
You will not be sorry.
More to come so stay tuned and have a good week.
Best,
J.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Research and Development — Doing Your Homework for Information Marketing
Dear Info Marketers,
Ah spring. It’s raining outside as I write this. I always think this is good, as we are heading into a new season and this is just the buffer to pass through.
As I sit here and write this next message, I am surrounded by books, newspapers, and some messages I have printed off from my e-mail list. I try to keep up with new trends, business developments, and trends in the global economy. It’s true that you never stop learning, and you also never stop being in the world around you. That said it’s best to keep up with what’s going on.
I do this for a lot of reasons, but primarily it’s to help me provide ideas for both myself and all my readers. But like anybody, I get stumped. Not just for ideas to write about, but for information on information marketing. Period. This goes beyond advice as you have to find the right sources for all the legal, government, or reference material to keep you knowledgeable as to what applies to your business and how to make it stronger as a result.
Here are some important outlets:
--The Reference Library: I have written about the value of a local library in the past for its use of periodicals, books, and magazines for inspiration to your business. But suppose you are looking for a case study that was recorded for a failed product similar to you yours in order to read it and not make the same mistakes. Or you want to check an old edition of a book that might provide information to your business but is no longer in print. The reference library is designed for this. They archive everything and keep everything available to researchers, scholars, and journalists looking for specific information. You might have to travel to a city or university town where it is located, pay for a special pass, and do your research there as these libraries do not often allow things to be checked out. But all this can be worth it for the information you need.
--Government Websites: Everything on is on the Net these days. And this is good. If you want to know the new tax amendments for where you live or what regulations exist to ship your product overseas, you can get it off the Internet. Be sure to refine your searches according to municipal, state/provincial, or federal government websites and what regulations exist for where you live. It used to be that you had to travel to a government publication office to do this, but now you can access this information with your mouse and monitor.
--Accountants and/or Financial Advisor: Along with government websites, you might want to get in touch with, well, people who know about money. This sounds pretty blunt, but ask no objection that they are very helpful people. These people base their careers on keeping up with changing economic times and they can provide you with information on how to save or spend your money, where to invest, what to avoid wasting money on, and how to pay your dues correctly. Be sure to get referrals from fellow business people who trust certain professionals and interact with those who have a solid reputation.
--Legal Counsel: This reference is one I intentionally leave to the end of the list. But keeping a lawyer’s number close by is a good in case you get into that extreme situation where it is necessary. Lawyers are expensive and even getting an hour’s worth of counsel costs a few hundred dollars. However, this can be well spent if you are dealing with fraudulent associates, get injured, or have other problematic areas of your business. Only consult a lawyer if you absolutely need to and make sure you find one with a good reputation, perhaps on the advice of a colleague.
You are an information marketer. You need to provide information, and that entails getting it as well. A lot of it. Be sure to absorb or record any information that could be helpful to what you do and you will see your business thrive.
More to come. Have a good week.
Best,
J.
Ah spring. It’s raining outside as I write this. I always think this is good, as we are heading into a new season and this is just the buffer to pass through.
As I sit here and write this next message, I am surrounded by books, newspapers, and some messages I have printed off from my e-mail list. I try to keep up with new trends, business developments, and trends in the global economy. It’s true that you never stop learning, and you also never stop being in the world around you. That said it’s best to keep up with what’s going on.
I do this for a lot of reasons, but primarily it’s to help me provide ideas for both myself and all my readers. But like anybody, I get stumped. Not just for ideas to write about, but for information on information marketing. Period. This goes beyond advice as you have to find the right sources for all the legal, government, or reference material to keep you knowledgeable as to what applies to your business and how to make it stronger as a result.
Here are some important outlets:
--The Reference Library: I have written about the value of a local library in the past for its use of periodicals, books, and magazines for inspiration to your business. But suppose you are looking for a case study that was recorded for a failed product similar to you yours in order to read it and not make the same mistakes. Or you want to check an old edition of a book that might provide information to your business but is no longer in print. The reference library is designed for this. They archive everything and keep everything available to researchers, scholars, and journalists looking for specific information. You might have to travel to a city or university town where it is located, pay for a special pass, and do your research there as these libraries do not often allow things to be checked out. But all this can be worth it for the information you need.
--Government Websites: Everything on is on the Net these days. And this is good. If you want to know the new tax amendments for where you live or what regulations exist to ship your product overseas, you can get it off the Internet. Be sure to refine your searches according to municipal, state/provincial, or federal government websites and what regulations exist for where you live. It used to be that you had to travel to a government publication office to do this, but now you can access this information with your mouse and monitor.
--Accountants and/or Financial Advisor: Along with government websites, you might want to get in touch with, well, people who know about money. This sounds pretty blunt, but ask no objection that they are very helpful people. These people base their careers on keeping up with changing economic times and they can provide you with information on how to save or spend your money, where to invest, what to avoid wasting money on, and how to pay your dues correctly. Be sure to get referrals from fellow business people who trust certain professionals and interact with those who have a solid reputation.
--Legal Counsel: This reference is one I intentionally leave to the end of the list. But keeping a lawyer’s number close by is a good in case you get into that extreme situation where it is necessary. Lawyers are expensive and even getting an hour’s worth of counsel costs a few hundred dollars. However, this can be well spent if you are dealing with fraudulent associates, get injured, or have other problematic areas of your business. Only consult a lawyer if you absolutely need to and make sure you find one with a good reputation, perhaps on the advice of a colleague.
You are an information marketer. You need to provide information, and that entails getting it as well. A lot of it. Be sure to absorb or record any information that could be helpful to what you do and you will see your business thrive.
More to come. Have a good week.
Best,
J.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
