FREE – Download This Exclusive Interview With Drayton Bird: Secrets To Setting Up A Successful Business

FREE – Download This Exclusive Interview With Drayton Bird: Secrets To Setting Up A Successful Business

Rezbi:

The bottom dropped out of the economy, but it’s now picking up again. Your business went bust. All your clients’ businesses also went bust, so you can’t even write copy for them.

You have nothing except what’s between your head, and the only way you can get back into business is via the web — an online business.

You can use any means at your disposal, but you only have £200 to do it with. You can create your own product, or sell as an affiliate, or any other way you can think of based on the resources you have.

What would you do?

Drayton:

I would do the things I did in pretty much the same situation.

1. When I saw the internet was going to be huge – and that I was seen as a dinosaur – I built a website offering lots of free information about marketing. All that costs is a knowledge of WordPress – not money – and a knowledge of marketing. Again, freely available.
2. I sent out an e-mail to a list of marketing people offering helpful marketing ideas, free. I think I could offer those today without any list on the social sites. Costs you nothing.
3. I thus built a list - as you could, free. Then I offered to write copy for the people on the list.

I have done a few other things, but none cost any money

Rezbi:

Similar question to the first, except now you’ve been asked for advice.

The questioner is a 20 something graduate who left University with a degree, but no education. He’s been struggling to find work with no luck, so has decided to go into business.

Trouble is, he’s only got £200, but he can use any means, online or offline. And he’s got a year in which to get his business going and achieving some level of sustainable income.

He’s willing to do whatever it takes, including studying further to first get the required knowledge, and then starting the business. Or even side-by-side.

What advice would you give him?

Drayton:

1. The best time you will ever spend is not in trying to get going in business. It is in study.
2. It’s easy to give in to despair. Don’t. Learn. This gives you an incalculable advantage. Most people know too little.
3. Settle on something that really interests you. Most people don’t give enough thought to this
4. Be willing to give up a lot to pursue it. Few people make enough sacrifices.
5. Don’t just sit around thinking about it – most people just dream. Do it.
6. I would study:

a. New businesses that are doing well (not old successful ones)
b. How to write better — few people can do that at all well
c. How to sell face to face (get a job doing it)
d. How people are selling online

7. If I saw a business that was doing everything right, offer to work for a month free.

Sorry this is a bit vague — but the question is utterly impossible.

The best advice I can give is, don’t give up. I had a minor nervous breakdown when trying to get my first job in London

That’s just a taster. The rest of the interview is even better and I’m sure you’re going to love it. Personally, I haven’t heard Drayton go into this depth in any other interview, with anyone else.

Incidentally, this interview is so good, I was initially going to sell for $47.00. It’s that good.

It runs for 53:42 minutes. That 53 minutes and 42 seconds of pure meat. No fat. No Gristle.

And, in keeping with the spirit of this blog, and my desire to educate you without laying on you the burden of cost I decided, at the last moment, to give it to you for nothing. For now.

Just sign up below, or on top right, and you’ll also get “21 Free Tips For Starting And Running A Profitable Internet Marketing Business”…

Email Address

First Name

(Your information is 100% safe. No AOL, MSN or Hotmail emails.)

Oh, one other thing, please be patient. I’ll be sending you the download link manually. I hope you understand that’s by design. There’s too many scammers using false emails and not even a real sounding name to get the download and run off. This is just too valuable for that.

Best,
Rezbi
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

Why Small Businesses Are Suffering

Why Small Businesses Are Suffering

I first noticed Arfa Saira Iqbal on the Warrior Forum. I say ‘noticed’ because she’s one of the few people who have entered the world of marketing and copywriting and become a success in a relatively short time.

And in that time her writing has improved so fast I’m almost jealous. Almost.

Arfa has been writing for over 15 years, but only decided to turn it into a proper career since 2010.

She fell into copywriting almost by accident because she was unsatisfied with making menial amounts of money writing articles. Trained by a top UK copywriter, Arfa discovered copywriting and has never looked back. She now works as a marketing consultant with offline businesses to increase their online presence.

In this first article Arfa explains…

Why Small Businesses Are Really Suffering…

We’re officially coming out of a recession. I get that. And yes, business is slow for everyone, from the small corner shop to multi-million pound corporations. But it’s the small fish that have been hit the hardest, and there’s a very good reason why…

Most local businesses don’t have a clue how to market themselves. They rarely have any social media presence such as Facebook or Twitter, and as for an online presence, it’s usually a hit or miss affair. Mention direct response marketing, and their eyes glaze over.

Local businesses unfortunately don’t look at the bigger picture. They see their marketing efforts as something to bring in business when things are quiet, or when they want to have a sale.

When I first started freelancing, I was amazed at the number of local businesses who couldn’t grasp what marketing meant for their business. It was usually a case of ‘I don’t have a budget for marketing’ or something to that effect. This astounded me.

One business even went as far as to say to me ‘We don’t need to market – we’re only a small business,’ to which I replied ‘which is exactly why you need to market because otherwise you’d be non-existent!’

I’m not one to beg anyone for business, but the early months in my commercial career (before I started copywriting) were also the most eye-opening. Large corporations and SME’s understand the value of marketing.

Without it, you don’t exist.

Customers trickling in slowly to buy your wares isn’t exactly what small businesses want, but for some reason or the other, they seem content with it and find it hard to spend on marketing to ensure they stay profitable.

As one small business owner put it, marketing is expensive, and when things are tight financially, this is often the first thing that is affected.

Even larger businesses tend to cut their marketing budgets when the chips are down. But, this is perhaps the worst mistake you can actually make.

Done correctly, targeted marketing during tough times helps keep your cash registers ringing and helps businesses not only survive, but positively thrive as well. In short, responsive, direct and highly targeted marketing is the lynchpin which holds a business together.

Mention marketing to small business owners, and leafleting and small ads in the papers are about as far as they go. And some of these materials and ads are downright diabolical. Here’s one I got this morning: ‘New Spa Open!’ screams the headline.

And there was no call to action.

Who actually cares if a new spa has opened? A benefit driven headline and a clear call to action is the very least you expect on any promotional material.

Time and again, us marketers have witnessed the power of persuasion through words and how simple tweaks to existing materials can make a huge difference to response rates.

One of the first rules I learnt in direct marketing is that nothing (and I do mean NOTHING) leaves your business without a clear call to action. That meant trashing the hundred or so postcards I’d so lovingly had printed to promote my business.

And here’s another challenge for the small business owner. First it’s general offline marketing. Next is your online presence. But where is it?

It surprises me, nay shocks me even, how in this day and age, businesses can function without a website. Some business owners think that websites are expensive and difficult to maintain and that they have to be selling online to have a website in the first place.

Nothing could be further from the truth. There are some excellent free websites out there specifically geared towards businesses.

Take this site for example: http://www.gbbo.co.uk/. This website is aimed at getting British businesses online for free.

Everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) who has any type of business MUST have a web presence. Period. Living in the information age, it’s a cardinal sin for any business not to.

And then there are the social media aspects to it as well. Facebook and Twitter is all you really need, and both are free. It’s how you use them that matters.

And yet, businesses don’t even have the time to do this basic piece of social media marketing.

How are small businesses telling their customers they have new stock, or that they’re having a sale or a special promotion in store if they don’t connect with their customers?

Some businesses don’t even target their leaflet drops, wasting potentially hundreds or thousands of pounds in marketing materials that end up in the dustbin because it’s sent to the wrong post code area.

Like the new luxury clothing store that is being advertised in low income areas. Or the leaflets boasting the grand opening of a cheap takeaway being promoted in highly affluent areas.

No one is saying that businesses won’t receive any custom from these locations – they’re just not going to get the desired response rates from these places.

The majority of mailings are badly written, with no discernible benefits and no motivation to pick up the phone and call. And shock, horror, when they do have a number, you can never get hold of them. This happened to me not so long ago. I was looking for carpet cleaners in my area and each one I contacted for a quote was either busy, out on a job or unavailable. How about a website please where I can get prices so I’m not wasting hours on the phone trying to get hold of you?

And it’s exactly these frustrations as a customer and a copywriter which make me think that small businesses really are losing the plot. And with problems like these, it’s no surprise then that small businesses are suffering financially. And the sad thing is that they will continue to do so until they either learn their lesson or fold completely.

Arfa Saira Iqbal
Guest Contributor

———————

Arfa is a direct response copywriter and marketing consultant who specializes in the health and wellness niche. She works with clients all over the world to increase their online and offline presence. Arfa’s clients include Latitude Group, Impronto.org, Mercy Mission UK, Healthstation.tv and arganicaskincare.com. You can contact her via her website at www.arfawrites.com

What I Heard In Germany, From Behind Closed Doors…

What I Heard In Germany, From Behind Closed Doors…

“What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets.” – Andre Malraux

Weeks back, I promised you some secrets, as
heard behind closed doors in a four-day
copywriting seminar in Germany.

If you don’t mind, I’d finally like to make good
on that offer. Ready? Here we go… oh wait, to
refresh:

This was for a German information publisher and
I co-presented with the great Herschell Gordon
Lewis, David Yale, and Natalie Recke.

You’ll find a good mix of their secrets below,
all mixed together, plus a handful of my own.

So NOW, here we go…

** Copywriters should do more than write copy.
They/we should also get involved in product
development, picking lists, production, and
more. This way, your value goes up and your
business sense skyrockets. Plus, it could pay
more.

** Try paying off your headline promise in the
actual sales letter… but then teasing with
something much bigger. That is, if you offer a
compelling tidbit of info at the outset, go
ahead and give it away… but only when you have
something even more tempting lined up.

** What are the typical customer service
complaints with the product you’re trying to
sell? Don’t bury them — use them by addressing
each objection ahead of time, in your sales
copy.

** Don’t use “initial caps” in the subject line
of a selling email. What are “initial caps?”
Easy. They’re When You Stick a Capital Letter in
Front of Each Word. Why avoid this? Because it
looks too polished and salesy, not natural like
a regular e-mail.

** Here’s one you can safely apply almost across
the board: Specifics out-pull generalities. That
is, opt against the sweeping promise or other
copy, in favor of the unique details.

** Imperative also outsells declarative. That
is, don’t just tell them what is, tell them what
to do.

** Though, pay attention to what words you use
to urge action. When you say “Let’s do this…”
it’s friendly. If you say “you should do
this…” that sounds like authority. But if you
say “you must do this…” it might, but not
always, stir resentment and even resistance.

** One more: emotion out-pulls intellect. We buy
because a pitch makes us feel, not calculate.
But you know that — I hope — by now, yes?

** Here’s another insight that really stuck:
Remember, attention does not always translate
into action. In these days when marketers are
clamoring to get more Twitter “followers” and
Facebook “likes” for no clear reason, what
observation could be more relevant?

** Speaking of which, “Can’t Buy Me Love” said
four mop-topped philosophers musically, some
time back. How true… and trading online
coupons and similar for a social media “like”
falls in that same category. It’s a false
psychological statement.

** That said, there ARE ways to use social media
that seem smart. For instance, what about
“posts” and “tweets” that you share only with
your paid-up customers?

** How’s that work? How about “tweets” to
subscribers and past clients that build
excitement for upcoming events? Or “tweets” that
share details from a live conference, plus
upsells to the recording for those who couldn’t
attend?

** If you’ve got a subscriber-based product, how
about “tweets” sharing only the headlines of the
latest issue, to increase readership?

** All that said, the use of any direct response
tool has to figure out how much time and staff
it’s going to cost. For social media, for
instance, that means you want to run those
numbers early to figure out if it’s really worth
your while.

** Don’t fear social media, but don’t worship it
either. It’s just another communication tool,
which the masters will master and absorb.

** Selling to seniors? Don’t try to transform
them. Say, in so many words, you’re offering
what you’re offering “because you are who you
are… and you deserve this.” And by all means,
promise fast action.

** Writing your reply page? For the sake of all,
keep it simple and demand little. Your prospect
needs to be able to read it and understand what
you’re offering in 10 seconds or less, a way
that flatters his intelligence for ordering. And
you need to collect only the information you
have to have to make the sale and not one tidbit
more.

** Have a company website? Here’s a cool idea…
start featuring a customer of the month. Make it
real, pick someone your other prospects can
relate to, and let it highlight the benefit the
customer got from one of your products.

** Offer a toll-free number on your reply card?
Try testing without it. Offer a lifetime
guarantee? Try testing a “20-year Guarantee”
instead. And while you’re at it, use this phrase
wherever you can: “Free Shipping.”

There was, of course, so much more.

But that should give you plenty to chew on, yes?

John Forde
Guest Contributor

———————

Over the last 19 years, John Forde’s direct-response
copy helped generate hundreds of millions of dollars
and has won him several awards, including AWAI’s
“Copywriter of the Year.” John has also mentored dozens
of successful writers and regularly helps lead copy
training programs in Europe and the U.S. You can get
more of his insights on copywriting free from his
website: www.copywritersroundtable.com

The Downfalls Of Powerpoint

The Downfalls Of Powerpoint

Here’s something that could do more for you than practically anything I can think of.

It has given me free holidays all over the world – plus at least £250,000 in revenue.

Yet I never dreamt I could do it, let alone do it well.

Here’s a question to give you a clue:

What do you fear more: death – or speaking in front of an audience?

A few years ago a survey revealed that people preferred the former to the latter – they’d rather die than speak in public.

Well, I have now spoken in 42 countries.

But when I started I was more frightened than you could ever be. It took tranquillisers and alcohol to summon up the guts to face an audience.

Yet it’s hard to really get ahead without being able to speak or make presentations. (And a lot of those who have done well bore the pants off their audiences without knowing it).

So I’m going to give you a few hints about this subject.

They are prompted by something from an old colleague, Christian Digby-Firth.

Somebody has now done research that shows PowerPoint presentations do more harm than good – and literally put people to sleep.

Here’s what Christian sent me. It was written by someone else (who sounds quite pleased with himself, by the way).

We’ve all heard the phrase “death by PowerPoint” – that numbing feeling the brain suffers as confusing slide after confusing slide follow one another. I have to do a lot of public speaking, and am one of those lucky people who think on their feet, without being afflicted by terror. But I couldn’t help feeling that the good feedback I got from audiences wasn’t just because I was a brilliant speaker. I’m not.

The common factor between my own presentations and others which were far better informed, researched and presented, was that they used PowerPoint and I didn’t. Eventually, it dawned on me that PowerPoint really does ruin a good speech.

Why most PowerPoint presentations and speeches fail:

1. The audience is torn between looking at you and looking at the slide.
2. If you have lots of words on the slide, they’ll look more at them than at you.
3. Words are not as interesting or as memorable as pictures.
4. Most speakers start by talking about themselves or their firms – deeply boring to the audience (just as it is in copy or websites).
5. By the time they do start talking about benefits, the audience has given up.
6. Most presentations lack a logical structure – and are too long:
7. People worry more about style – delivery – than on content: what the audience will be able to do better as a result.

However, saying PowerPoint is utterly useless is just plain wrong. Words and pictures working together are more memorable than words alone, and PowerPoint is a great “crib-sheet” for you.

Well, if you’re not careful this is true, and some of the reasons are well put by a friend I learned a lot from called Andy Bounds.

Andy Bounds has just written a book called The Jelly Effect which you can get on Amazon. Ignore the fact that it quotes me: it is good, gloriously simple – and mercifully short.

There is a helpful hint indicated in the last of the points above. It is: worry more about the results of your presentation than the presentation itself.

And go to www.AndyBounds.com and watch Andy Bounds tell you himself in living colour. If you don’t learn a lot, I’ll be astounded.

(And in case you’re wondering, you nasty suspicious soul, no, he’s not paying me.)

Best,
Drayton
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

Every Time I Sit Down to Write a Sales Letter, Here’s Where I Begin

Every Time I Sit Down to Write a Sales Letter, Here’s Where I Begin

“Your offer can make a hero or a bum out of the finest, slickest string of words you’ve ever turned out.” - Eugene Schwartz

If I had a dollar for every copywriting “secret”
I’ve studied, heard, memorized, or forgotten over
the last nearly two decades… well… I’d probably
be broke.

A dollar isn’t a lot of money.

Frankly, those secrets that have amounted to
something — and not all of them do — have probably
parked, on average, several thousands or tens of
thousands of dollars into my account instead.

And for that, I’m eternally grateful. Especially
since most of those secrets were a gift from
somebody else.

But if there’s one “secret” I turn to more than any
other… and one I’d credit as the backbone of every
control I’ve ever written… can you guess what it
would be?

Nope, not the one about “writing good headlines” or
“knowing your customer.” Or the one about “always
write your pitch to someone you know.”

Though in the grand scheme, every one of those is
important. No, the one I use most is hardly a secret
at all.

WHAT MATTERS MOST IN EVERY SALES LETTER

No, the thing I start with… the thing that guides
everything else I’ll do, from the headline to the
proof to the sale letter’s “P.S.” copy… is the
simple, humble, often forgotten bit at the end…
the offer.

Let me back up a bit.

I’m sure you’ve heard before the little speech every
direct-response copywriter both receives and
delivers during his or her career.

It goes something like this…

In a direct-response business, three things make the
difference: Your list, your offer, and your copy.

Let me explain those terms.

The list, in case you don’t know, is the body of
people who will get to see or hear your pitch. In
the good old world of print mailings, that list
includes names, addresses, and maybe a little bit of
info like what they like to buy and how much they
like to spend, etc. Online, at the very least, it’s
usually an email address.

The offer we’ll focus on more in just a second. But
short and sweet, it’s what you’re selling and how
you’re selling it. As in, how much it will cost, how
it’s delivered, what guarantee or gifts come with
it, and so on.

And the copy, well… if you don’t know what “copy”
is at this point, you might need a more kid-friendly
kind of ezine (one with duller wit so you don’t put
an eye out)… but that’s what you and I are
supposed to write.

Even by the old logic, copy was/is the least
important of the three. Because without a good offer
or a good list to mail too, why bother?

However, copy was/is always the thing to focus your
energy on because it’s seen as the most flexible,
testable, and malleable.

But here’s the thing…

These days, what do many of us sell via direct
response marketing? Information products.

And if we’re not selling information products
directly, we’re often selling products backed by
company websites, email update lists, RSS feeds, and
more.

Point being that now more than ever, adding online
fulfillment to all or some of the products you’re
selling is now something you can do in a heartbeat,
without calling in the engineers, cranking up the
assembly line, or firing up the factory furnace.

That means offers can change just as quickly and
easily as headlines. And copywriters, not just
business owners or marketing execs, can suggest many
of those changes.

Bottom line: Offers have always mattered. A lot. But
now they may be much more important to your success
than they’ve ever been before.

The only slightly bad news is that a lot of
copywriters aren’t familiar with retooling sales
offers, simply because they haven’t done much of
that before.

The good news, however, is that learning how to
craft clever offers is not only something that’s
easily done… but it can be done in minutes.

And with huge results.

A BIG PAYOFF FOR NOT MUCH TIME OR ENERGY

Imagine. It can take you weeks or more to put the
polish on a perfect, brand-spankin’-new sales
letter.

And even then, it still might flop.

And then some punk comes along and adds the right
downloadable premium set… the right online
delivery mode or a deadline… or some audacious
guarantee or discount…

And suddenly you see your response rates jump
anywhere from 10% to 900%. Hardly sounds fair?

And yet, that’s what crafting the perfect offer can
often do. Granted, “perfect” is still elusive.

And no, you’ll never escape the need to come up with
fresh sales copy. And given that writing copy is
your job (or at least mine), that’s probably a
blessing.

Just the same, refining the offer before you do
anything else has a lot of benefits for you, the
writer.

And greater response rates are just part of the
benefit package I’m talking about.

For example, forget for a minute the most basic
truth that no sales letter exists that doesn’t have
an offer of some kind tacked on the back.

Instead remember what it is you’re forced to think
about when you write an offer in the first place.

When you answer that whole question, for instance,
of “what do my customers really want”… it’s in the
offer where you crystallize that answer into action.

When you consider what core emotion drives your
customer, you deliver in how you handle that
offer… by given your prospect resolution for those
powerful fears, desires, or other complex emotions.

When you consider what lead or what headline might
work, it’s that offer you’re aiming at — either
secretly, like the comedian who knows the punch line
to his joke, or explicitly, with a headline that
powerfully states what that offer might be.

Do copywriters ever start writing copy without any
idea of what they’ll offer in the end? Sure, lots of
them do. I have sometimes, too.

Usually because something else beyond my control
still needs working out, but the copy can’t wait any
longer for me to get started.

And yet, whenever that happens, I almost always get
the same scattered result. With copy that needs
thorough rewriting the moment the offer details come
through.

Iâ.’m thinking about all this, by the way, because I
just read through an advance copy of a new book by
CR friend and fellow copywriter, Bob Bly.

It’s called, precisely enough, “How to Create
Irresistible Offers: The Easiest Way on Earth to
Make Your Marketing Generate More Leads, Orders, and
Sales.”

No ambiguity there.

And in typical Bob fashion, it’s about as solid a
rundown of everything you can do to craft a powerful
new sales offer or spruce up a waning one.

Like I said, the book is just now coming out. So it
might be awhile yet before you can pick it up in
stores. And even longer before you’ll find it in a
library (remember libraries?).

I happen to know, though, that he’s going to release
it via a special deal via American Writers and
Artists Inc. (AWAI).

(I know because I just wrote a letter for them that
endorses it — and happily, because it’s that
thorough and good.)

You’ll get those details on how to order Bob’s book
soon enough. In the interim — and beyond — just
remember, when you don’t know where to start writing
a sales letter… go to the back and start from
there. I think you’ll be surprised at how handy and
lucrative a tip that will prove to be.

John Forde
Guest Contributor

———————

Over the last 19 years, John Forde’s direct-response
copy helped generate hundreds of millions of dollars
and has won him several awards, including AWAI’s
“Copywriter of the Year.” John has also mentored dozens
of successful writers and regularly helps lead copy
training programs in Europe and the U.S. You can get
more of his insights on copywriting free from his
website: www.copywritersroundtable.com

The Most Common Copywriting Mistake

The Most Common Copywriting Mistake


Drayton Bird explains the biggest, most easily fixed, copywriting mistake.
Best,
Rezbi
www.directmarketingcourse.com

Seven Steps To Creating A Successful Sales Message

Seven Steps To Creating A Successful Sales Message

Subscribers frequently ask a very important
question: “Ted, exactly how do you go about
drafting a successful sales message?”

In this writing I’ll reveal the steps I take, some
of which may surprise you.

Then I’ll show you an unusually short but
highly successful sales letter sent recently that
will illustrate all the key points.

The market is in German-speaking Europe. So,
all my copy is translated word for word into
German. I’ll show you the English version
before translation.

To create a winner in the health field, your copy
has to be really good. Your salesmanship in print
must outsell that created by the very best copy-
writers normally hired by other top nutritional
companies. Otherwise, you cannot succeed.

Clearly, you must begin with a terrific product
to have any chance of success. We are confident
our product is by far the best on the market.

Iis perfected, here is my step-by-
step procedure:

1. Outside research. You must really do your
homework. I study all the important scientific
studies done on other products on the market
formulated with Celadrin.

A very important step after you isolate the
benefits of your product is to answer what I call
the “So What” question. Explain and dramatize
emotionally exactly why this benefit is so
important to the prospect.

Tip: Don’t try to shortcut the preliminary research
process. Few copywriters spend the necessary time
on research. They are far too anxious to start
writing the copy.

2. Check out the competition. Look at how
competitors are naming and positioning their
products. Examine the product benefits they are
stressing. But as it is unlawful, do not copy their
claims. Just use them for inspiration and ideas.
And rise above what others are saying. Don’t
forget, ideas themselves are not protected by
copyright laws.

Remember, your Unique Selling Proposition
(U.S.P.) must be or at least seem different and
stronger than others in the field.

3. Create a product name that is appealing, easy
to remember, and therefore a great contributor to
the positioning of the product.

Tip: The product name is a crucial element in
any successful product. Most product names in
my view are weak and even boring. The biggest
sin in any part of the marketing process is to be
boring!

4. Create a compelling offer that includes at least
one attractive free bonus. In this case we’re
including a sample of the product itself.

5. Create a guarantee which completely takes
away the customers’ risk. (This guarantee appears
on the order form and is not shown here. It is an
unconditional 60-day money-back guarantee.)

6. Finalize the selection of the media. In this case,
here is what is being used:
(a) House buyers and inquirers mailing list (offline)
(b) House buyers and inquirers mailing list (online)
(c) Outside buyers lists of nutritional diet-related
and health-oriented newsletters and books

7. Write the copy. Now it’s finally time to prepare
the copy. The first thing I always do is to work on
what is responsible for 95% of the success–the
headline. It should contain a dramatic and
emotional promise.

The headline can be used both for envelope teasers
offline and subject lines online. Without a powerful,
provocative headline promise that you can prove in
the copy, you have zero chance of success.

Your correspondent,
Ted Nicholas

—————

“This article appears courtesy of THE SUCCESS
MARGIN, the Internet’s most valuable success and
marketing e-zine. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.tednicholas.com/

Social Commenting WordPress Plugins

Social Commenting WordPress Plugins

If you read my post last Thursday about the plugins I use on this site you may not be surprised to learn I like my plugins.

And with good reason.

Plugins are the reason why WordPress is the blogging platform of choice for most people.

They make life online so much easier.

Got people trying to spam your blog with links to dodgy sites? No problem: Install Akismet.

Want to make it easy for people to promote your blog to social sites, thus getting more traffic? Install AddToAny: Share/Bookmark/Email Buttons.

Want to cover yourself legally? Install WP Disclaimer.

Etc., etc., etc.

You get the picture.

There are different variations of plugins for each function.

And one such function is readers’ comments.

I use the Disqus Comment System on this site.

However, I just read a post by Neil Matthews on Problogger about a few alternative comment plugins.

What piqued my interest about the post is that it refers to somethings I’d seen on other sites, but didn’t know how they were done.

For example: Intensedebate gives you, the reader, the ability to login using your Facebook or Twitter account.

And when you comment using one of those accounts, the comment also automatically goes on that social site.

How cool is that?

I’ve just installed this plugin on this site but haven’t yet activated it. I’m going to test it on a different site first, just in case it messes things up.

I’ve also installed another plugin called Twitter Mentions as Comments.

Naff name aside, this is also a pretty cool plugin.

It goes through Twitter and checks to see if anyone’s mentioned your post. If they have, it pulls those comments and sticks them on your site.

Hey presto!

You now have more comments on your blog.

Of course, someone has to make those comments on twitter first.

And there’s a few more plugins Neil discusses on that post. So you might want to saunter over there and check it out.

Best,
Rezbi

Let Me Write Your Blog Posts For You?

How To Start Making Money With A Blog

How To Start Making Money With A Blog

If there ever was a free – or very close to free – business model on the internet, it’s blogging.

In fact, you can sign up with Google Blogger or a WordPress blog for nothing. It’s quick, too: You can be set up within minutes.

Then all you need to do to start making money is stick some Adsense ads on it. When your visitors click on the links, you make money.

You can also stick affiliate links in your blog. Then you write impartial reviews, and make money when they buy the product through your link.

And the good thing about both of these methods is that you really can make money without spending any. Once you know how to do it right.

What is Adsense?

Adsense is an advertising program run by Google.

When businesses advertise with Google, these adverts can be placed your blog – whether the blog is free or not.

Then, when someone clicks on these ads, Google charges the advertiser for each of those clicks. Hence why it’s also referred to as Pay-Per-Click advertising.

And, because the ad is on your site, Google pays you a small percentage.

Google’s charge for each click can be anywhere from 5 cents to a few dollars. So there’s potential to make a little extra cash, or quite a lot. It all depends on how serious you are.

I regularly make a small extra income from Adsense.

Keep in mind Google owns both Adsense and Blogger. So the two go well together.

All you need to do, to make money with Adsense, is to take the small code the program generates and paste it onto your blog.

Although there are some positions on your blog where you can get more clicks than others, it’s up to you to figure out the best place.

Over the last couple of years I’ve learned, through trial and error, the best places on my sites.

I’ll go into more detail about Adsense in a later post. (For my clients I do this for them – if that’s what they want – so they don’t have to).

Another thing: You can blend the Adsense ads so they look like part of your blog. Something like an advertorial in a newspaper so it looks like an article rather than an advert.

Also – and here’s why it’s important to have some keywords in your articles – Adsense usually places ads on your site which match the topic and content.

For example: If you have a site on languages, Adsense will probably show ads which offer language courses, etc.

You won’t see ads on that site for cars or aeroplanes as they tend to be irrelevant to the topic.

Best,
Rezbi

Let Me Write Your Blog Posts For You?

What Is Blogging And Why Should It Matter To You?

What Is Blogging And Why Should It Matter To You?

As a communication tool the internet is now the fastest way to keep in touch with friends anywhere in the world.

As an information tool, the internet is without doubt the richest source for researching more or less any subject you can possibly think of.

In short, the internet affects the lives of possibly the majority of the people in the entire world.

The internet can even be a used as a tool for expressing yourself in ways which were never before possible.

One way in which this is accomplished through the use of blogs.

What is a blog?

A blog is a medium through which we, personally, can express our feelings and air our opinions.

It’s a way of spreading news, and even gossip.

It’s a way of doing business and making a little extra cash.

It’s a way of venting our anger and frustrations in public.

It’s a way of telling others about the great new car we bought and how we feel about it as we drive down the highway with sunroof down, feeling the wind in our hair.

It’s a way of laughing at ourselves by telling everyone how we felt when the heavens suddenly opened up and let loose a shower of hailstones before we could get the sunroof back up.

And, it’s a way of having fun with our thoughts.

It’s an online diary… a weblog.

And All that from a small, almost insignificant looking website.

We can update as regularly as we like, or not.

We can add pictures and videos and all sorts of documents to it… and we can link to other sites from it.

And, hopefully if our information is interesting, other sites will link to it.

And it is for some, or all, of the above reasons that ‘blogging’ is so attractive to people everywhere.

Whatever the reason, it’s a way of making ourselves heard by others, specifically people who share our interests.

Blogs start out as simple websites and can be as complex as we want them to be… it’s entirely up to us.

We can stick news on them and make them completely information focused; we can talk about our hobbies… or… we can just try to be funny.

The point is to fill it with information people will want to read over and over, and keep coming back for more.

Now, while blogs are seemingly insignificant, they have grown to be more popular, attracting more attention, than large websites which are professionally designed.

How is that possible?

Well, for a start, blogs are usually focused on a specific subject and is continually updated, which means people will keep coming back.

Large websites tend to be more static and never changing.

Blogs also link to other sites which means there are usually more sites linking back to it.

And, when there are links to your blog from other sites, chances are better people will click the links from there to come to your site… even if it’s just out of curiosity.

That also mean your site receives more traffic than static websites.

And, if your site has more traffic, it ranks higher in the search engines.

If it ranks higher in the search engines, it is easier to find by people doing the searching.

Blogging, in short, has gone from being an online diary to a possible fully fledged business outlet, if that’s your aim.

So, whatever your reasons, blogging is something which can be utilised for any number of things.

Why not give it a try?

Let me know if I can help in any way.

Best,
Rezbi
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

This Is Insane

This Is Insane

Insanity and Genius

See that picture up there? It’s Drayton Bird.

Let me explain…

When Drayton sent out his latest offering last week I refused to promote it. (I don’t get paid for it, but that’s not the reason)

Here’s what I told him:

I’m not even going to bother to promote this one. You’ve gone off your rocker. If your list don’t grab all this before the end of today, I have only one thing to say to them… “Are you freaking crazy!” And you can tell them I said that.

But now I realise I’m being unfair to my readers. This is just too good to not tell you about it.

Look, I know you see this sort of thing all the time, so you’ve probably got your B.S. meter on high alert.

All I’ve got yo say to you is, go take a look.

And then if you think I’m giving you a load of crap, come back and tell me.

In Drayton’s words…

Have a look now – and if you know of a better genuine deal, tell me.

You have till tomorrow night – Sunday.

Once this weekend is over, so is the offer.

Go check it out now. I think Drayton must be going senile: Crazy deal.

And remember, I don’t get paid for telling you about this.

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

How To Get Free Traffic

How To Get Free Traffic

Free Rush Hour Traffic Video

Last week Jimmy D. Brown emailed the people on his list and offered to give them some free email coaching.

He said they could him any question about generating free traffic … and he would personally answer the top questions for ALL his subscribers to benefit from.

The response was overwhelming! Every time he checked his email, his inbox was filled with more questions.

What he did was to take the “top ten” questions and answer them in an insightful video.

The video is just over 50 minutes long and is the first in a series of “Rush Hour Traffic” videos.

You can watch it today (at no cost) by visiting: Free Rush Hour Traffic Video

I’ve just watched it and it’s full of information you can use right now.

NOTE: When he releases the next video this one will be removed, so please watch it now to ensure you get to see it.

In the video Jimmy answers questions like…

1) What is THE best way to get free traffic?

2) How can I get quality “buyer” traffic and not “useless” traffic?

3) How does the “little man” get those with big lists to mail for them?

Plus seven more!

Watch the video now and here are just a few things you’ll learn…

* 3 keys to using article marketing to get REAL results.

* 3 things you *MUST* do in order to get free traffic from ANY source.

* A couple of simple “tricks” for getting BUYERS instead of BROWSERS.

* The truth about viral marketing, SEO, backlinks and more.

* 3 case studies of “unknowns” (at the time) who got me to promote them – how they did it and how you can too.

Watch the video now at: Free Rush Hour Traffic Video

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

Don’t Know Your CPC From Your CTR, Or Your SEO From Your RSS? Check Out This List

Don’t Know Your CPC From Your CTR, Or Your SEO From Your RSS? Check Out This List

Don’t know your CPC from your CTR, or your SEO from your RSS?

Fear not; it’s very likely you’re not as alone as you may think.

Being a bit of dummy, I’ve decided to put together a list of terms even I can understand.

And if I can understand, I can almost assure you can, too.

Leaving out the absolute basic terms such as www, ISP and URL, I’ll list the less basic terms here:

• Web 2.0 This the basically the name given to all the different technologies and trends being bandied about on the net.
• RSS Short for Really Simple Syndication, this is an internet technology which allows you to receive notification of updates to a site without having to constantly visit it.
• Blog Short for weblog, this is a personal online journal where you can put down your thoughts… like an online diary open to the world.
• Cookie A small text file sent to a user’s computer by a website so the user can be used recognised if he visits that site again.
• Podcasting Simply put, this is series of audio or video files made available to users to view or listen to, particularly via mobile devices.
• Spam Commercial email sent out to users without them asking for it.
• Keyword A word users can type into a search engine to find certain products or services.
• SEO Search Engine Optimization is the process of making a site more visible on the internet, hence making it easier to find by user, such as by using relevant keywords.
• CPC Cost Per Click A way to pay for online advertising by being charged only when someone clicks on your advert.
• CTR Click Through Rate The number of people who click on a link when they see it.
• ROI Return On Investment How much profits are made or how much loss is avoided on a product or service.
• Social networking Various sites on the internet which allow people to get in touch, make friends and generally ‘socialise’ online.

Hopefully, this short list will make things a little easier on the web, but let me know if there’s anything else you feel should be on there.

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

Need Free Website Traffic Fast? Try This!

Need Free Website Traffic Fast? Try This!

There are some “go to” website traffic strategies that most successful internet marketers find themselves using over and over again when they need a boost in visitors to one of their sites.

One well known internet marketer tells of using some of them for more than a DECADE (yep, over 10 years!) and they continue to work with incredible results for him.

Others are “cutting edge” newcomers that are likewise driving people to his sites.

All of them come without a cost. Zilch. No budget. Free.

What’s even better is this:

They continue to pull in traffic for months and even years after he deploys them.

It’s true, long after the initial “spike” in traffic comes in visitors continue to see his promos that are in place and they continue to click on them.

And he continues to make money from them.

You can too!

Jimmy D. Brown has prepared a free subscription to his new Traffic Jam Newsletter at: Traffic F.U.E.L.

In the first issue you’ll learn “10 Ways To Get Other People To Send You Free Traffic”.

There is no cost for the newsletter subscription. It’s available a few paragraphs into the page.

While you’re there, check out his amazing Traffic F.U.E.L. membership site.

It’s a 12-month training program that teaches you how to get completely free traffic to any website you choose.

Two things you need to know about it up front…

1) If you join now you can lock-in at the introductory price, which is a SUBSTANTIAL savings. Once these charter memberships are sold, the price will almost DOUBLE, so now is the time to get in.

2) There are two “fast action” bonuses that are VERY LIMITED. These will be removed without notice, so if you arrive at the site and one or both of the boxes with their description in it are gone, it means they are no longer available.

At a minimum you should drop by and grab a free subscription to his new Traffic Jam Newsletter.

And unless you don’t want any more traffic to your website, you should grab a charter membership to Traffic F.U.E.L. right away.

All the details are at: Traffic F.U.E.L.

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

Tips on How to Create a Website Around Your Niche

Tips on How to Create a Website Around Your Niche

By Mari Yamada

Niche marketing is considered by many successful Internet marketers as a surefire way to create a good income online. Niche marketing is about finding a segment of a general market and then developing a solution that caters to the specific needs of that segment.

Creating a website around your niche is part of an effective niche marketing plan. Your site should focus on a specific topic and provide products or services that accommodate the customer’s needs. Below are some tips on how you can create a website to attract your selected market.

Building Your Niche Website

Choosing the right niche is critical to the success of your online business. You need to thoroughly research what people are searching for and buying. Make sure that the niche you choose is highly popular yet has relatively low competition. The larger the competition, the more difficult it is to rank high in search engines. On the other hand, if there is no competition at all, there may be no buyers.

There are online tools that will help you find profitable niches to target. Free keyword suggestion tools, such as Google AdWords Keyword tool and Wordtracker, will help you pinpoint the most popular keywords people search for. They also show the competitiveness of a keyword. The best niches will have a strong demand yet not too many competing websites. You will have higher chances of establishing a strong presence in that particular market.

Buying a hosting service from a web hosting provider is also an important point to consideration. There are free sites you can use to market your products or services but if you don’t own the site, there is always the risk of losing it.

The most popular hosting provider in the Internet marketing world is Hostgator. Another one I can recommend is HostMonster. Once you have selected a hosting provider, you will need to choose a domain name that relates to your niche.

Now that you have your hosting account set up, you need to consider what kind of a website you want. Do you want to have a regular HTML website, or do you want to have a dynamic, content management type of website? And, if you choose the latter – which I would recommend – what platform should you use to build on?

If I go into too much detail here, it’s going to send your head spinning, so to make things easier, I’m going to focus on the easiest, quickest and most popular platform, WordPress.

But isn’t WordPress for blogs?

Well, yes and no. It originally started out as a platform specifically for blogs, but in recent years it has evolved into a versatile and highly search engine friendly platform that can be used as a content management system, or CMS, as well.

It’s super easy to install, and the admin back-office is 100% newbie-friendly, which makes it ideal for new home business owners. The premium WordPress themes available at ThemesPeak, for example, even has extra search engine optimization built into the themes, so you don’t have to bother with that. With premium functionality, these themes focus on specific niches, so all the research has already been done for you. All you need to do is get it online.

The content in your website should contain the most effective keywords to target your niche. Offer interesting and useful information about your products. Write product reviews, purchasing guides and other useful content. You should have content that will engage your readers and convert them into buyers. The layout and visuals of your website should also appeal to your niche.

Another thing to consider when building your website is the kind of products you will be offering your customers. Affiliate products are highly popular because of their availability and they are generally easy to market. Needless to say, having your own product is the best strategy for long-term results, but this can come later on when you’re a little more settled in your business.

Once you’ve set up your products and content, you are ready to advertise your website. There are many ways you can promote your website. You can go for paid advertising. You can also use free advertising methods such as article marketing and social media marketing. You can create a link-building campaign to bring in more visitors to your site via forum marketing.

The key to success on the Internet, as in any business for that matter, is perseverence. As Jim Rohn once said, “Success is neither magical or mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”

A List Of WordPress Plugins You Might Find Useful

A List Of WordPress Plugins You Might Find Useful

These are the plugins I have active on this site.

Take a look at the description: It’s all self-explanatory.

To add plugins all you need to do is:

1. Point to ‘Plugins’ on the menu
2. Click ‘Add New’
3. In the ‘Search’ box type the name of the plugin (highlighted) and click ‘Search Plugins’
4. You’ll get a list of the various plugins available. Find the one you’re looking for and click ‘Install Now’
5. Click ‘Activate’

That’s it: You’re done.

If you have any problems with any, just deactivate it and delete it. If you still have problems, feel free to ask for advice in the comments.

However, if you read the simple instructions which usually comes with each plugin you should be fine.

Hope you find them as useful as I do.

AddToAny: Share/Bookmark/Email Buttons
Help people share, bookmark, and email your posts & pages using any service, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, StumbleUpon, Digg and many more.

AddToAny: Subscribe Button
Help readers subscribe to your blog using any feed reader or feed service.

Akismet
Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from comment and trackback spam. It keeps your site protected from spam even while you sleep.

All in One SEO Pack
Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog.

Calais Auto Tagger
Suggests tags for your posts based on semantic analysis of your post content with the Open Calais API.

Category Posts Widget
Adds a widget that can display posts from a single category.

cbnet Ping Optimizer
Saves your wordpress blog from getting tagged as ping spammer.

Conditional CAPTCHA for WordPress
A plugin that asks the commenter to complete a simple CAPTCHA if a spam detection plugin thinks their comment is spam. Currently supports Akismet and TypePad AntiSpam.

Contact Form by ContactMe.com

Copyright Proof
Digitally certify your posts to prove copyright ownership, generate copyright notice, and copy-protect text and images.

DB Cache Reloaded Fix
The fastest cache engine for WordPress, that produces cache of database queries with easy configuration. (Disable and enable caching after update).

Disqus Comment System
The Disqus comment system replaces your WordPress comment system with your comments hosted and powered by Disqus.

Easy Privacy Policy
Automatically adds a privacy policy page that includes an Adsense compliancy section.

Google XML Sitemaps
This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog.

Jetpack by WordPress.com
Bring the power of the WordPress.com cloud to your self-hosted WordPress. Jetpack enables you to connect your blog to a WordPress.com account to use the powerful features normally only available to WordPress.com users.

Ozh’ Admin Drop Down Menu
All admin links available in a neat horizontal drop down menu. Saves lots of screen real estate!

SEO Friendly Images
Automatically adds alt and title attributes to all your images. Improves traffic from search results and makes them W3C/xHTML valid as well.

SEO Slugs
Removes common words like ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘in’ from post slugs to improve SEO.

SEO Tools by SEO Automatic
Unique SEO tools for your visitors or employees to perform repetetive tasks efficiently, or to otherwise save time.

SEO Tools URL Checker Add-on (activate separately)
This is the SECONDARY plugin required for the SEO Tools URL Checker to function properly.

StatPress
Real time stats for your WordPress blog

TweetMeme Retweet Button
Adds a button which easily lets you retweet your blog posts.

What Would Seth Godin Do
Displays a custom welcome message to new visitors and another to return visitors.

WordPress Database Backup
On-demand backup of your WordPress database.

WordPress Duplicate Content Cure
Duplicate content cure is a very simple, yet effective SEO plugin that prevents search engines from indexing wordpress pages that contain duplicate content, like archives and category pages.

WordPress Importer
Import posts, pages, comments, custom fields, categories, tags and more from a WordPress export file.

WP Disclaimer
Users have to accept a disclaimer to register an account

WP OnlyWire Auto Poster
Autosubmits a excerpt of a posts to Onlywire when the post published

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com

Should You Consider Offline Marketing?

Should You Consider Offline Marketing?

Here is a question I’m often asked.

Question: Ted, I’m basically an online marketer.
Should I bother with marketing offline?

Answer: First, I love online marketing. It has
some terrific benefits including its low cost,
speed, and readily available statistics. But, while
tempting, I don’t allow myself to fall in love
with any marketing method to the exclusion of
any other. The decision should never be either
online or offline.

Nor should you ever exclude any other direct
marketing method to profitably reach your target
audience. You will limit your potential profit by
doing so.

There are many good business reasons for the
online marketer to also market offline. Here are
the most important ones:

Why you should consider offline marketing?

1. Fact – In the 15 countries other than the U.S.
with the highest rate of Internet usage, about 47%
of individuals have Internet access.

2. Fact – 53% of your market in those countries
would never have a chance to review your
message online.

3. Fact – The U.S. has by far the largest share of
Internet users. But 37% of the population is not
online. That’s over 110 million people!

4. Fact – Of those who do have Internet access,
they are offline the majority of the time. And
many are not as yet comfortable with online
purchasing. Therefore, there is a strong likelihood
they will not get a chance to review your message

5. Fact – Sales letters sent offline usually get a
much higher response than those sent
electronically. Four times the online response
rate is typical.

6. Fact – Direct mail to targeted lists can be a
bargain when carefully tested. You don’t have to
contend with the biggest cost in all other media
such as T.V., radio, newspaper and magazines–
waste circulation.

Direct mail is the most cost effective medium to
reach a list of people who have actually spent
money for a product like yours.

Conclusion: If you are not doing both online and
offline marketing, you are missing out on some
serious profits.

And just like online marketing, you can test
different strategies, many of them low-cost, to
see what works and discard the rest.

I can assure you of this. My largest and most
profitable clients utilize a combination of
online and offline marketing. And so should you.

** A simple, easy-to-follow offline strategy **

Of course, each product or service is different
with different dynamics. And there can always
be exceptions. But marketing is marketing.
The marketing strategy of nearly every product
or service can follow this same or similar path.

Let’s assume you have a product that is
moderately successful on the Internet or at
least breaking even.

You therefore have already identified and
captured a niche that, if the market is expanded,
can potentially make you a lot of money. You’ve
done the hard part – found and proven a market.

The quickest way to find out how wide and deep
your offline market potentially may be is to see
what other similar or competitive products are
being sold to your niche via other direct response
methods offline.

Every mailing list, magazine, and newspaper in
America that has captured a particular niche and
is for rent is contained in directories published
by Standard Rate and Data Service (SRDS). I’ve
sold hundreds of dollars worth of products to
mailing lists, magazines and newspaper audiences
I’ve found in SRDS.

Initially, I’d concentrate only in direct mail
tests.

SRDS publications can also be viewed as an
education in what’s hot and what’s really selling.
Some successful marketers read them in bed for
ideas! They can be found online at www.srds.com
or in any good library.

Here is a brief, short course on offline marketing:

1. Subscribe to Direct Marketing Magazine.

2. Find a good list broker. Nearly all of those
listed in Direct Marketing Magazine have good
reputations. They can be extremely helpful if you
simply ask for their assistance.

3. Determine how many potential lists are
available for rent that you can possibly target.

4. Ask your list broker to get you copies of the
control mailings that originally generated the
lists you are considering.

A. Look for lists and marketing approaches
similar to yours.

B. The ideal target customer for you is
someone who has bought a product within your
niche market recently. That is, during the last 3 to
6 months. These people are hot for products like
yours. Key point: Consider actual buyers’ lists
only. Not inquirers.

C. Prepare a killer sales letter using primarily
the same appeals which are working online

D. Select 2 or 3 of the marketing lists and do
a test mailing of 3,000 to 5,000 to each of these
lists. Note: You must carefully code each mailing
offer on the order coupon (for example:
Dept. 101) within your return address.

E. Once you have a mailing that’s profitable
on the front end, start to “roll out” carefully.
For example, go from 3,000 to 15,000; 15,000
to 50,000; 50,000 to 100,000; 100,000 to
250,000. Many of my mailings go to 250,000;
500,000; and 1,000,000 people. But they all
started out with small tests.

Of course, keep accurate statistics on each
mailing. This will enable you to accurately
project your future sales and profits.

Note: All first-world countries in which I’ve had
experience have an active mailing list industry
where you can arrange list rentals. In several
countries outside the U.S., to gain access on
available mailing lists for rent you can either
seek out a directory publisher or join a direct
marketing trade organization to get mail list
information.

Frankly, I’ve been asked to review and
comment upon the businesses of a number
of online marketers. I’ve been astonished that,
with few exceptions, the basis of important
decisions that involve statistics has been
extremely sloppy. And in some cases almost
nonexistent. Online marketing permits more
inefficiency because it’s cheap.

I’ve seen tremendous, unrealized business
potential in many online marketers’ businesses.
Some are like a rich goldmine just waiting to be
mined.

Offline marketing success requires much more
precision and accuracy. But the payoff can be
huge once you learn the ropes.

I can tell you this. For certain you cannot
succeed for long offline unless you are
meticulous in your strategy and execution.
But when you do it right, the sky is truly the
limit.

For more complete, step-by-step direct mail
procedures, check out my book, The Golden
Mailbox: How to Get Rich Direct Marketing
Your Product. Click on or copy and paste
into your browser:

http://www.tednicholas.com/golden-mailbox1.htm

As always, here’s to your increased Success
Margin.

Your correspondent,
Ted Nicholas

—————

“This article appears courtesy of THE SUCCESS
MARGIN, the Internet’s most valuable success and
marketing e-zine. For a complimentary
subscription, visit http://www.tednicholas.com/

Will You Allow Me To Write A Blog Post For You?

Will You Allow Me To Write A Blog Post For You?

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog.

And, if you’ll allow me, I’d like to explain why I feel my experience with blogging will be of value to you and your business.

I’ve been blogging for several years. Before that I was writing offline for several decades.

My works include …

… reports … letters … sales copy … landing pages … articles … emails … in fact, almost anything there is to write, I’ve probably written it.

You may be wondering whether or not I’m any good. And that would be a reasonable question to ask.

The answer is, I’m probably no better than any other top writer. In fact, there are plenty of others who are better.

If you’re a writer, the chances are you’re just as good.

And you’re probably just as enthusiastic.

Enthusiasm without knowledge is useless. Rezbi is one of those rare and valuable people – a genuine enthusiast who studies. He was hugely valuable to me in working on the promotion for EADIM. - Drayton Bird

However, I do believe I’ve studied the art and craft of writing to sell more than most.

I learned from some of the best marketers and copywriters of the past 50 years. These include…

Drayton Bird, Ray Edwards and John Carlton. I’ve studied courses by these same people, as well as Gary Halbert (specifically his course form 1996 – one of the best), Carl Galletti, Alan Forrest Smith, Eugene Schwartz, Ken McCarthy, Joe Sugarman, Matt Furey, and too many others to mention.

I’ve used everything I learned to write copy, articles and blog posts on several sites.

My successes have been grand. When I do well, I do really well.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had a few bombs. But that’s probably because I’ve written so much. The more you write the more chances you have at failing.

And that’s probably why I take on less clients now. So I can give my full concentration to each one.

In fact, when it comes to writing a sales letter I’ve been know to take up to two months to finish it.

Am I the same when it comes to blog posts?

Not at all.

You see, compared to a blog post, a full long form sales letter can be anything from 10 – 20 times as long.

To research material for blog post or article takes a lot less time.

In fact, if you look through this blog, you’ll find examples of my work which have taken anywhere from 30 minutes to two days to finish.

It all depends on the subject and the quality required.

When it’s for a client you can bet I’m meticulous. I take no chances there.

Like they say, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

And I’d hate to think someone else could come along and do better. I’m a copywriter, after all, and I suffer from the same ego problems as most good writers.

No way am I going to be outshone by someone else. Especially someone half my age.

Having said that, I’ve studied the classics; the old and the new. So I know what works… and what doesn’t.

You won’t see my trying to re-invent the wheel. Why bother when someone has already done the work for me?

I take the proven principles of writing and stick with them. With the principles discovered by the founding fathers of advertising and copywriting, that still work to this day.

That doesn’t mean, however, that I’ll stick to something even if it doesn’t work. You have to learn from your mistakes, or you’ll continue to make them.

It’s never been my ambition to write articles or blog posts or emails for others, I have to admit.

But when I started I realised I like the process of researching and writing them. And I like the constant interaction with different clients.

And I’m actually quite good at it.

I have to admit, I owe this in no small way to Drayton Bird.

Drayton would take a look at my articles – as I proudly showed them to him – and he would bring down a sledge hammer to my “brilliant” articles that would shatter my ego into a million pieces.

He forced me to be more diligent with my work; to pay more attention the detail.

So why do I think I can help you with your blog posts?

I’ve written so many, I’ve got a back for writing in a conversational tone.

Why does that matter?

Think about it: Do you prefer reading something where the writer seems to be chatting with you directly … or where he sounds like he’s got a pole up his Jackson?

Exactly. Same here.

If you want to speak to someone like that you can go find a lawyer. (Apologies to lawyers … not really).

And, like I said, I’ve studied almost all the great writers, old and new.

But, Rezbi, why are you looking to writing for blogs when you’re such a hotshot copywriter?

Good question.

I’m a lazy sod.

It takes 10 – 20 times as long to write sales copy as it does to write a blog post or article.

And, while the pay-off is a heck of a lot greater with sales copy, I’m not greedy. I just want what I need to pay the bills, my kids’ education and put food on the table.

Is that a good enough reason? I think so.

And that’s why I’ve written the letter you’re reading now.

So, if you’d like to have me write your blog posts, articles, or anything else, I’d be happy to.

What will it cost you?

I have to admit – and here’s where I’ll lose a lot of you – I’m not cheap.

But I’m also not as expensive as some, considering the quality you get.

I work on a retainer.

What does that mean?

It means you pay me a fixed monthly amount, and I write a top quality, world-class article for you each and every week.

I then submit those articles to social sites such as Twitter, Face book, Digg.com, Delicious, Google Bookmarks, Stumbleupon, and any others you might want.

I will also submit those articles for you to ezinearticles, goarticles and a couple of other of the major article directories. If you wish.

So what should you do if you want me to write your blog posts or articles?

You get in touch with my via email or skype and we both decide exactly what you want.

And, if I decide you’re someone I’d like to work with (that’s not guaranteed) …

We decide on the day of each week you’d like me to submit your articles or blog posts (this will depend on what is available).

You can choose the subject or topic of each article on a weekly basis. Or, you can leave that up to me.

You then set up a PayPal payment to my account and make the first payment.

I write the first article and submit it to your blog. I submit it to social sites and article directories.

And I do the same again the next week. And the week after. And the week after.

Until you tell me to stop. However, I doubt you will once you see the quality.

Okay, how much?

I know of at least one other copywriter who offer this service for $1,000.00 a month. And he doesn’t even submit to article directories.

Here’s my offer to you:

1. One top quality, world-class article for you each and every week.
2. Submittion to social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg.com, Delicious, Google Bookmarks, Stumbleupon, and any others you might want.
3. Submittion to article directories: ezinearticles, goarticles and a couple of other of the major article directories.

$500 per month.

That works out to just $125 for each top-notch, world-class article, submission to social sites and article directories.

How about a money back guarantee?

Sorry, but that’s not something I offer.

Why not?

The reason is simple…

It’s takes time to research a topic; gather the information; write the article and rewrite the article to get it perfect.

And I’m only looking to work with serious players.

I only work with people who are looking to succeed long term.

People who know quality when they see it.

So, if you’re not certain about anything at all, I’d prefer you don’t get in touch.

If you are someone who knows exactly what you want, send me an email: gnrezbi@gmail.com – subject: Blog Articles – or Skype me: icopywrite, and we’ll get started right away.

Best,
Rezbi

P.S. Once I’ve reached the maximum number of people I can work with, that’s it. I won’t accept any more. If you want to get in after after that you’ll haven to go on a waiting list. And the price will go up. that’s guaranteed.

A Ping List You Can Use To Promote Your Site

A Ping List You Can Use To Promote Your Site

Do you have a blog?

If so, you’ll want to send a ping each time you post an article to it.

If it’s a WordPress blog – like this one – it’s probably set to auto-ping every time you update it.

However, the default ping list may not be enough.

I use my own list, and you can use the same one.

In case you’re not sure how to, here’s how you change your ping list in a standalone WordPress blog:

1. On your menu tabs go to ‘Settings’.
2. Click ‘Writing’.
3. At the bottom of that page, under ‘Update Services’ you’ll see a box. It probably has one or two lines of URL. Most likely Pingomatic. Delete everything in that box.
4. Copy my list and paste it into the box.
5. Click ‘Save Changes’.

That’s it, you’re done.

Now each time you make a new post to your blog, it will automatically ping each and everyone of those URLs.

If your blog is a free one with blogger, and it’s not listed, get it listed in Google Blog Search. You can do that here: http://blogsearch.google.com/ping.

Here’s a good tutorial to ping your Blogger blog: How to Ping Your Google Blogger Blog Posts.

Hope that helps.

Feel free to add any you find useful and which you think might help others.

My Ping List

http://audiorpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC

http://blogsearch.google.ae/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.at/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.be/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.bg/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ca/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ch/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.cl/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.cr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.hu/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.id/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.il/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.in/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.jp/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.ma/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.nz/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.th/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.uk/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.ve/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.za/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.ar/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.au/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.br/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.co/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.do/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.mx/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.my/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.pe/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.sa/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.sg/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.tr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.tw/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.ua/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.uy/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.vn/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.de/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.es/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.fi/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.fr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.gr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.hr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ie/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.it/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.jp/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.lt/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.nl/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.pl/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.pt/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ro/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ru/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.se/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.sk/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.us/ping/RPC2

http://hamo-search.com/ping.php

http://ping.blogoon.net/

http://ping.fc2.com/

http://ping.feedburner.com/

http://ping.kutsulog.net/

http://ping.myblog.jp/

http://ping.namaan.net/rpc

http://ping.snap.com/ping/RPC2

http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

http://r.hatena.ne.jp/rpc

http://rpc.bloggerei.de/ping/

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

http://rpc.pingomatic.com

http://rpc.reader.livedoor.com/ping

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://rpc.technorati.jp/rpc/ping

http://rpc.twingly.com/

http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://wasalive.com/ping/

http://xmlrpc.blogg.de

http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2

http://zing.zingfast.com

http://zhuaxia.com/rpc/server.php

http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/

http://xmlrpc.blogg.de

http://www.zhuaxia.com/rpc/server.php

http://www.xianguo.com/xmlrpc/ping.php

http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/

http://www.weblogues.com

http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2

http://www.snipsnap.org

http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php

http://www.popdex.com

http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php

http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud

http://www.mod-pubsub.org/ping.php

http://www.lasermemory.com

http://www.imblogs.net/ping/

http://www.holycowdude.com/rpc/ping/

http://www.feedsky.com/api/RPC2

http://www.catapings.com/ping.php

http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://www.blogsnow.com/ping

http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php

http://www.blogsdominicanos.com/ping/

http://www.blogroots.com

http://www.blogpeople.net

http://www.blogoon.net/ping/

http://www.blogoole.com/ping/

http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2

http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php

http://www.a2b.cc

http://weblogues.com/RPC/

http://weblogues.com/ping/

http://wasalive.com/ping/

http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php

http://topicexchange.com

http://thingamablog.sourceforge.net/ping.php

http://syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://snipsnap.org/RPC2

http://signup.alerts.msn.com/alerts-PREP/submitPingExtended.doz

http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/xmlrpcping.aspx

http://rpc.wpkeys.com

http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://rpc.twingly.com

http://rpc.technorati.jp/rpc/ping

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://rpc.tailrank.com/feedburner/RPC2

http://rpc.reader.livedoor.com/ping

http://rpc.pingomatic.com

http://rpc.newsgator.com/

http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080

http://rpc.britblog.com/

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

http://rpc.bloggerei.de/ping/

http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2

http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/

http://rcs.datashed.net

http://r.hatena.ne.jp/rpc

http://popdex.com/addsite.php

http://pingqueue.com/rpc/

http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2

http://pingoat.com/

http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc

http://ping.wordblog.de/

http://ping.weblogs.se/

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://ping.snap.com/ping/RPC2

http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php

http://ping.namaan.net/rpc

http://ping.myblog.jp

http://ping.kutsulog.net/

http://ping.feeds.yahoo.com/RPC2/

http://ping.feedburner.com

http://ping.fc2.com/

http://ping.fakapster.com/rpc

http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc

http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc

http://ping.blogs.yandex.ru/RPC2

http://ping.blogoon.net/

http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/

http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/

http://ping.blogg.de/

http://ping.blo.gs/

http://ping.bitacoras.com

http://ping.amagle.com/

http://packetmonster.net/xmlrpc.php

http://newsisfree.com/RPCCloud

http://newsblog.jungleboots.org/ping.php

http://mod-pubsub.org/ping.php

http://mod-pubsub.org

http://lasermemory.com/lsrpc/

http://imblogs.net/ping/

http://holycowdude.com/rpc/ping/

http://hamo-search.com/ping.php

http://fgiasson.com/pings/ping.php

http://feedsky.com/api/RPC2

http://effbot.org/rpc/ping.cgi

http://coreblog.org/ping/

http://catapings.com/ping.php

http://bulkfeeds.net

http://blogupdate.org/ping/

http://blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://blogsnow.com/ping

http://blogshares.com/rpc.php

http://blogsearch.google.us/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.tw/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.sk/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.se/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ru/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ro/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.pt/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.pl/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.nl/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.lt/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.jp/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.it/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.in/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ie/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.hr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.gr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.fr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.fi/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.es/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.de/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.vn/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.uy/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.ua/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.tw/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.tr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.sg/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.sa/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.pe/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.my/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.mx/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.do/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.co/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.br/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.au/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.com.ar/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.za/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.ve/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.uk/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.th/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.nz/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.ma/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.jp/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.it/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.in/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.il/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.id/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.hu/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.co.cr/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.cl/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ch/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ca/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.bg/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.be/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.at/ping/RPC2

http://blogsearch.google.ae/ping/RPC2

http://blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1

http://blogpeople.net/ping

http://blogoon.net/ping/

http://blogoole.com/ping/

http://blogmatcher.com/u.php

http://blogdigger.com/RPC2

http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc

http://blogdb.jp

http://blogbot.dk/io/xml-rpc.php

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC

http://blog.goo.ne.jp

http://blo.gs/ping.php

http://bitacoras.net/ping/

http://bitacoles.net/ping.php

http://bitacoles.net/notificacio.php

http://bblog.comping.php

http://bblog.com/ping.php

http://audiorpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping

http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2

http://api.my.yahoo.com/ping

http://api.my.yahoo.co.jp/RPC2

http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

http://api.moreover.com/ping

http://api.feedster.com/ping

Best,
Rezbi
The Copy System
www.directmarketingcourse.com
www.hotbuttoncopywriting.com
www.commonsensedirectmarketing.com