We can't seem to get enough

From the outset I want to say I am probably going to offend some people in this article. I am simply fed up with the lying and pretending that goes on with marketers online.

And I’m not just referring to the little guys either.

Sure there are plenty of them, but it’s some of the big guys that are the biggest promoters of the bull.

See, before I joined the online scene I had been reading material by people like Jay Abraham, Stephen Covey (self-help), Bryce Courtenay, Michael Hewitt-Gleeson, Allan Pease and Michael E Gerber. Oh and an awesome crew based in Brisbane called The Results Corporation.

My association to the word “marketing” was based on things like testing, research, honest appraisal of the current marketplace, asking questions, utilizing untapped resources, and creative ways of finding people that want what you have to offer.

So now shift to the online arena and everyone seems to think they’re into marketing!

Anyone can and does setup shop as an “expert”. This hasn’t just watered down the (in my mind) established traditional marketing concepts but rather redefined marketing to mean something along the lines of “sell as many products to as many people as possible for as long as you can, with as little effort as possible”.

The internet has created a mad rush of half competent “entrepreneurs” with dollar signs in their eyes and only one aim: To get more followers and/or subscribers that they fleece for cash . The money is in the list, etc etc. So get the list happening asap and start selling them stuff right now regardless of the quality.

As a result I see a few major mistakes being committed over and over again:

1. Outright lying – If every sales page out there is for real then there are thousands of millionaires sharing their “secrets” just because they want to give something back. If they work so damn well, why are they selling a program to me that shows me how to do it?
2. Selling to everyone – The most extreme practice of this is spamming, but at least spam is obvious. The bulk of pretend marketers fit into this category and typically don’t care who you are but only if you have seen their sales page. Which leads me to…
3. Long drawn out sales pages – You know the ones. Three miles of sales copy, loads of really over-ripe testimonials and lots of guarantees with motivating phrases like, “This price will only last today” and “You will not see this offer ever again” blah blah. Sure a lot of these sales pages do work. But does the product work?
4. Over promise, under deliver – Building something up to be “the turnkey solution to all your money worries” should set off alarm bells for any sane person. More like Turkey!
5. More is better – Giving someone a lot of information is less and less being seen as a great thing. But wait… If you buy now I’ll throw in these three other free products you will have to sift through to find the gems. Thanks but no thanks.
6. No follow up – the second you buy a product you get absolutely zero follow-up that makes sure you get full value. Wouldn’t it be a novel idea to use an auto-responder to follow up and spread the program out into digestible pieces instead of to try to sell you the next thing.

Think About it!

As I see it there are six different categories of marketers online:

1. The real deal – These people are the right stuff. These are the astronauts of Marketing that blaze the trail and continually try to teach us that there is no “secret” but rather principles that can be learned. They give out unbelievable value for free and even better value in their products. Some examples? Seth Godin, Anthony Robbins, Frank Kern.
2. Humble learners – Honest people like you (hopefully!) and me that are in the process of understanding and applying the real principles of marketing and selling. They apply themselves in a sequential manner and are constantly open to new information. Hopefully imparted by the first group.
3. The big deceivers – These are the early adopters that managed to get in early enough to build a big enough list that they really can make enough money to make some of the promises they make, but their products are sub-standard and as a result they have to keep bringing them out and pushing them on to you and me. Either that or they are people that stumbled on a quick way to make cash that only lasts on the short-term.
4. The positive self-helper – These people essentially repackage the works of the new-age or self-help crowd (some of which do the same!) in conjunction with some product or service. They rely on the fact that most people are pretty uneducated and think that being positive alone or using “The Secret” is going to suddenly make you buy their stuff. Yes, it’s better to be positive but in most cases these people sell the illusion of transformation instead of a consistent learning process.
5. Lowly pretenders – These people setup shop and will do anything to appear to be successful in order to sell you something. These people may appear to be pros, but reality they are probably having trouble paying for their electricity, or they will be paying off that Porsche for another 10 years.
6. The rank amateur – These people don’t even attempt to hide their lack of understanding and instead of admitting their ignorance they go on as if we can’t tell. Need I say more?

People in the last four on this list are probably well meaning, but at every step you should exercise critical awareness and use it as a chance to observe what works and what does not work in the real world.

Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change.

Stephen Covey

1. Get real with yourself and engage some self-awareness.
2. Admit when you don’t know something – Admission of ignorance is the first step in your education.
3. Tell the truth
4. Share what you do know in a real, caring way
5. Draw on your untapped or unrecognized skills and resources. Write them down and start developing them.
6. Associate with greatness and quality. Have a strong standard for what that means.
7. Don’t settle for less
8. It’s easier to sell something with integrity if you really believe in it. Remove anything that does not make you feel proud.
9. Tell your story honestly.
10. Survey your followers and or subscribers and ask them what their concerns and fears are. Be interested in them and their world.
11. Develop multiple pillars of success. Smart business people know that you need many different ways to attract business and customers.
12. Articulate or at least develop a USP or Unique Sales Proposition. Read more about this here.
13. Develop a mission statement that drives you emotionally to tap into your best. Read more about developing a mission statement.

I’m sure there are more but the underlying shift here is from quick-fix to a principle centered awareness. As long as you have a desire to rush the process and fast-track or control success, the more ineffective you become and the less you are able to respond to the signals and realities of your chosen marketplace. e.g.

• The Rupert Murdochs and Bill Gates of the world that think the internet can be monopolized.
• Journalism that under-utilizes social media
• Musicians that refuse to give any music away online.

So take the time to think clearly and discover the needs and desires of your audience/customers, then engage with them. They will thank you for it!

You are surrounded by simple, obvious solutions that can dramatically increase your income, power, influence and success. The problem is, you just don’t see them.

Jay Abraham

Even more interesting to me is if you could share some real world experiences that add to the conversation.

To the rise of True Marketing!

“The entrepreneur builds an enterprise; the technician builds a job.”

Most businesses don’t work because the people that start them don’t know what they are doing. They know how to make widgets, or install plumbing or create a website but have no idea how to create a business that works.

Michael E Gerber is the author of the best selling book, The E-Myth. He has been working with small businesses for over 30 years and challenges us to start reviewing the way we think about what we do and what our roles are.

An entrepreneur studies the marketplace and asks good questions:

• Is there a need for what I have to offer within this area or if it’s online is their a genuine need for what we have to offer?
• How would I need to make my product or service in such a way as to be original and in demand?
• What are the frustrations and problems that my customers experience?
  

These are the questions that an entrepreneur must ask and they are vital to framing your goals within a context of reality and actual demand.

Most entrepreneurs are merely technicians with an entrepreneurial seizure. Most entrepreneurs fail because you are working IN your business rather than ON your business.

There are 3 main roles in a healthy business. All are necessary, but the key is to get them working in synergy.

1. Entrepreneur – Ideas, strategy and vision.
2. Manager – Reaching goals, hiring and firing, keeping standards, following the plan.
3. Technician – Doing the work, making the widgets. Creating and distributing the products or services.

If you work alone or in a small business the challenge now is to move between these distinct roles so as to get the benefit from each way of thinking and being.

How does this all fit into your marketing strategy? The true spirit of entrepreneurship is to create a solution that solves all the problems and answers all the questions and concerns of your customers. The more confusion you can cut through, the more simple you can make it, the more elegant your product, the more your customers will appreciate you. And by default, how many others they tell in the process.

What are the take-home points from Michael E Gerber’s presentation?

• Invest in documentation and training – This allows you to create a structure that can be replicated and therefore refined. Even if you work only for yourself, you can begin to separate the roles of technician, manager and leader.
• Create a strong business ethic – Part of what makes great businesses is that they have a special way of going about things. It may be a specific  standard or process. It may be a specific packaging with personalized attention. Whatever it is that delineates you from your competitors, do it with commitment and certainty.
• Be objective and start gathering feedback – If you have been doing it doing it, working hard and not looking down the road, feeling that soon it will all happen, perhaps you need to review your strategy. The technician is by its nature enamored by the “work” part of the job and wants to keep going, and going and going… Begin to gather feedback from customers. Create a rewards program for the ones that really take the time to interact and share with you.

E-Myth and Business Development expert Michael Gerber

The entrepreneur is our visionary, the creator in each of us. We’re born with that quality and it defines our lives as we respond to what we see, hear, feel, and experience. It is developed, nurtured, and given space to flourish or is squelched, thwarted, without air or stimulation, and dies.

Michael speaks about being a learner and always growing

“If your thinking is sloppy, your business will be sloppy. If you are disorganized, your business will be disorganized. If you are greedy, your employees will be greedy, giving you less and less of themselves and always asking for more.”

Micheal E Gerber

Official Website

http://michaelegerber.com/

More YouTube Videos

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michael+e+gerber&search_type=&aq=f

By itself it has no value except as a way to facilitate change or sharing in some way. To the degree that we get clear on ourselves and our purpose we can create a website that succeeds.

This will help you to see your website through the filter of one of the most important self-help programs ever created. Stephen R Covey, the author of The Seven Habits of Effective People, is one of my personal heroes.

By that I mean that he is both humble and deeply inspired to empower and educate people about the things in life that are truly important and  constant.

“There are three things in life that are constant. Change, Choice and Principles.”

Stephen R Covey

If you have not heard of the book and his work, I highly recommend his books and teachings. Learn more about Dr Stephen R Covey.

Stephen Covey on Choosing Success

So here I re-interpret The 7 Habits through the filter of creating and developing a website:

Habit 1 – Be Proactive

A good website takes the initiative and does not wait for the ok from the world to start or beg for any kind of special treatment. It is driven by a passion and sense that we can create our own destiny.

In a sense it means to be focusing on empowerment and drive. That ethic will filter into everything it represents whether it is a personal blog or a company website. The presentation, content and tone will be clear, unapologetic and confident.

Habit 2 – Begin With The End In Mind

Once you know where the site is going you can design it to suite that aim. Most people do it the other way around. i.e. Make it look cool and then hope that it fulfills the vague plans you may or may not have.

This means you avoid complacency and always look to improve and develop your site. It also suggests knowing who your audience is and not trying to appeal to everyone.

Habit 3 – Put First Things First

This means having the courage to put aside petty desires and whims and place your emphasis on what tells your story and/or communicates to your visitors most eloquently.

An obvious hierarchy, without any extra baggage means that your site will signal clearly what it is and who it is for.

Your site will be easy to read and have clear navigation with a minimum of flashy graphics and unexpected pages and/or pop ups.

Habit 4 – Think Win/Win

The spirit of Win/Win is vital to the success of any website. If you enter into your web project only thinking of what you want, it will come across as being self-absorbed small time and in a word, boring.

You must be able to provide some tangible benefit to the reader and provide solutions to their perceived problems. At the very minimum your site should be entertaining.

Habit 5 – Seek First To Understand and then to be Understood

Create a dialogue in which your visitors are encouraged to submit comments and suggestions. Be open to criticism and feedback.

Poll your visitors and give them incentives for doing so. This information is vital and if taken on board will endear your visitors to you. Once you understand your visitors views and concerns you can edit and refine you copy and site taglines to speak to these issues.

If your site visitors feel understood they will automatically be open to you and your message.

TIP: Create a free download that provides a simple solution to some of their main fears and or concerns and people will begin to think of you as a trusted adviser.

Habit 6 – Synergize

Together with your growing tribe you can work on soving your primary problems in a more elegant way than if you did it alone. Ask for involvement and input. Some may give useful criticism. Others may interact more often and passionately. These people are going to share your message with friends as well as help you grow.

It’s more fun working with a team that includes your customers anyway.

Habit 7 – Sharpen The Saw

Take time out to leave the computer and live! Breathe and stretch. Open your mind to new possibilities and options. Go for a run and listen to inspirational music or audio books. Watch Ted.com and draw in their spirit of innovation and discovery.

This new fresh you will bring more life and passion to the project. It will be there when you get back anyway and you will feel so much better for it. You could also remind your people and customers to do the same thing!

How do you see these principles or habits apply to the process of creating a successful web presence?

Take the time to think and process how you might be more effective right now.

The internet is awesome obviously. The abundance of information in such an accessible form is transforming our world and our ability to interact with one another.

But, we’re now left with an ongoing challenge in filtering that information. Most of the Social Networking websites, like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are giving the humans a way of filtering and being more in control of the way that we take in information. This is good.The brain can only take so much data and it goes into overwhelm. Some people’s threshold is obviously set higher but we either learn ways of organizing and prioritizing the data stream or we give up and/or go nuts! (wanna be geeks like me should know  )

So when someone publishes a list of “30 Plugins for Twitter on WordPress”, and I get no recommendation or advice on the application of the plugins I am left to have to do all that work myself. I am grateful for the list don’t get me wrong, but it also means more work.

That’s one reason why software does so well. It repackages the interface so as to give us more control and a different way to create as well as interact with information. Firefox is not just a browser. It’s a way to make things happen on the web that is distinctive. The add-ons give you more control over your experience.

I see the growing demand for 2 things:

1. Trusted Sources

We need to have trust in the source of the information.

Brands like BMW and Rolling Stone magazine obviously have an established trust for their customer base in being able to deliver a reliable experience and proven track record.

Media on the other hand started with radio then TV, Cable and now the internet has spawned a massive industry of both companies, entrepreneurs and web-geeks. Now anyone can publish at the very least their own blog and at the most, a fully fledged empire and/or following.

Trust suddenly becomes a BIG issue in this environment.

So what do we look for to get a sense of trust online ?

• Consistency and Simplicity – We feel more comfortable if we are doing the moving and choosing. Flashy ads and pop-ups are jarring and add to the manic nature of the web. Strong headings, open space and consistent elements such as header and sidebars are important anchors that keep your visitors comfortable.
• Faces and Videos – If we can see you we can assess you quickly. Having a good professional photo of yourself is a must and a video is even better.
• Branding and Credibility – The repeated associations created by how an individual or company is represented both on their front and in the public eye. As consumers we evaluate everything very quickly and try to decide whether it is useful to us or not. Quality content is key here. It is easier to sell anything, especially ideas, when something is presented cleanly and concisely.

2. Control Over Our Experience

In an information saturated market, we crave control.

The rise of the iPhone has shown us that you can have both control and creativity in a hand held device. The iPhone apps give you the ability to choose and customize your experience to suit your habits and needs.

Twitter is a great example of this. Limiting the characters to 140 means that it can all fit into a single mobile phone text message, thereby aggregating someones activities in a more convenient way.

What do we need to be in control of the technology?

• Interface – The hardware and software we use to communicate with the world and our friends, needs to be familiar, clean, and visually accurate. A sensible, logical merging of human intention and physical devices and/or software is important. Again the iPhone would have to be a great example of this.
• Training – The best interface in the world still requires a learning process. If you take the time to learn something thoroughly it will pay off in productivity and responsiveness. Here we also look for people we can trust to simplify the process. e.g. Video Training sites have gone crazy recently.
• Accessibility -  As we travel and things change we seek a consistent way to stay in touch and/or maintain our business. Technology needs to adapt to suit this change, or be functional in different environments.
• Systems Organization – The more time we take to think and prepare ourselves for activity the more effective and unstressed we can afford to be. The important distinction is that we should be efficient with things and effective with people. Never confuse the two.
• Scanning – We are always brushing over headlines and images asking ourselves. “Does this solve my problem or make what I am doing easier?” We are all basically self-serving and tuned into a radio station called, WIIFM. What’s In It For Me.

In Summary:

We’re all riding the wave of information just by being online at all. Most people are overwhelmed by the sheer tsunami of data that can easily confuse and even offend at times.

Some people however, take it upon themselves to filter it in a special way that makes us go, “Aha! This is for me.”

Great Example: http://www.squidoo.com

Created by the great Seth Godin, Squidoo focuses peoples attention with the idea of Lenses covering one particular topic to a page, thereby focusing your attention and increasing user control.

So when you are out there communicating with the world, whether on your mobile or writing your next blog article, remember to filter out the useless and extraneous so that we can get the real stuff and decide if we want to proceed from there.

Whether we stick around and become friends or just wander away, never to be seen again, we’ll appreciate the effort you made to make it easy to decide.

Happy Web Travels!

His approach is simple and sensible and reminds us that social networking is about making friends and if you have something to “Sell” it should come up casually and naturally rather than being a obsession that turns people off.

Perry Belcher demonstrates how YOU can use social media in business without being a jerk.

Shelfari is a sharing site that allows you to create a slick looking bookshelf with pop-up information, and buy now links that use your Amazon afilliate ID.

The great thing is that apart from this, Shelfari is a great looking website that’s fun, and it gets you excited about books, both the ones we’ve read and yet to discover.

To create your own bookshelf, with Amazon commissions you will need to:

1. Create an Amazon account here: http://www.amazon.com

2. Joint the affiliate program here: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/landing/main.html

3. You will receive an Amazon ID that will look something like: astrorecor_20

4. Create an account at Shelfari here: http://www.shelfari.com5. Create a list of books that you want to display:

To do this you will have to browse Shelfari and designate categories for them. The rest of this guide assumes you have already done this.

After logging in to your account, go to Home nav at the top and select My Shelf.

Next find the Shelf drop-down and select List View.

This will open a list view of all the books you have selected that will look something like this:

6. Start creating the widget here: http://www.shelfari.com/widget

Choose the Javascript widget for the most options and uses.

Select a list from the menu.

Click the customize your widget button,

Select the sort order for the books and enter your afilliate ID.

Click Save and Continue.

7. Copy the code Shelfari gives you into your website so that when published it will render your beautiful bookshelf.

WordPress users: Switch to HTML mode in your Edit Post screen, paste in this code and then press Update Post. If you switch back to Visual mode it will mash the code and it will not display properly on the front end. i.e. do this last.

When you update the books on a particular list it will automatically change the ones in the widget.

And this is what it all looks like:

I recommend pasting this code into a simple text doc to keep it for later. This code can be entered anywhere on the web where Javascript is allowed.

Here is the video Screencast just in case you just have to listen to my voice and SEE how to make this happen.

Shopp

What It Does: Allows you to sell both shipped and digital products or services from your WordPress website. It offers a variety of different payment gateways to suit many nationalities and requirements. All major gateways such as PayPal are supported.

Who Needs It: Anyone that wants a serious e-commerce business.

Link: http://shopplugin.net

Author: Jon Davis

After much searching and in some cases praying,

Shopp e-commerce plugin wins the WordPress e-commerce wars! (In our humble but well informed opinion)

In the browser wars just after the rise of the internet, Microsoft managed to intimidate their way to the lead briefly. But the damage was done and they went on to become market leaders (obviously).

Fortunately on the internet their will always be healthy competition, and we have innovators such as Mozilla and most prominently Apple.

So here we have a Mac user creating software for WordPress. Yay!

Here are some of the main features:

• Smoothly integrates into the WordPress 2.7 interface.
• Very efficient code means a swift buying experience for your visitors.
• Flexible setup and product display options.
• Sell digital and shipped products together.
• Good support and upgrading options.

He defines it as:

The art of telling a story to a consumer that they want to hear, that lets them persuade themselves to buy something. Inherent to that story:

1. You have to have something they want. You must not force it on them.
2. You have to be authentic. Tell the truth.
3. Your story has to be so remarkable that people want to tell your story to others.

Remember, we have so much choice today that permission marketing is just the beginning of your strategy.

The nature of the web has ubiquitized products and services. What you provide must serve a real need in your audience but also have that special quality that shows a deep regard for elegant solutions.

Take the new Apple MacBook for example.

Apple MacBook

Never before has there been a portable computer so remarkable. Read more about the new MacBooks here.

Seth is a fantasic teacher and an innovative marketer with some very relevant ideas that reflect the general state of what it takes to make an impression in the current marketplace. Enjoy!

If you’re selling something or promoting yourself online and you’re not using video, you’re crazy. The number of visitors to video sharing sites is growing at an incredible rate with some focusing only on training and learning. e.g. www.Sclipo.com only allows web training and learning videos.

In addition, if you only upload videos to YouTube you may be missing a lot of potential traffic as well. To read some valuable video research go the video research page on TubeMogul. (new window)

TubeMogul allows you to upload one video, with a title, description and tags, and then publish it to many video sharing sites with one click.

As well as allowing one click publishing TubeMogul can track all your movies across all the sites and show your statistics as well.So here are the steps you need to take in order to start drawing more targeted traffic to your website and your product or service:

1. Create a video! – This is probably the biggest step but for the purpose of this article we are going to assume you have already done that. Just briefly here are some suggestions: Make it succinct, professional, edited or planned, insert you web address at the beginning or at the end of the movie (or both) and make it provide some clear benefit or entertainment at the very least.

2. Sign up with all the main Video sharing sites including TubeMogul - Use your domain email address i.e. greathotpants@gmail.com and create accounts with all these sites.

HOT TIP: use the same email address, username and password and let Firefox save them in your browser.

HOT TIP 2: If you already have accounts with YouTube or other video sharing sites you are still better off creating new accounts because it makes for a more focused channel when people visit your profile page. e.g. We create video training for WordPress and other web technology.

If you don’t create accounts with all these sites, TubeMogul can upload to the ones you have missed later anyway.

Here is the list of the sites and sign up links (open in new windows):

• TubeMogul.com – Main account for this video marketing campaign.
• YouTube.com – The number one video sharing site. Open season.
• Yahoo.com – Another big one. No limits on content.
• MySpace.com – Also a huge social networking site.
• MetaCafe.com – Another video sharing site.
• GoogleVideo.com – The big guys have this one too!
• Revver.com – Good high quality video sharing site.
• AOL.com – Aren’t microsoft involved? Oh well…
• DailyMotion.com – Good quailty encoding site.
• Blip.TV – Cool widescreeen format and player choices.
• Veoh.com – TV and Video sharing.
• Vimeo.com – Yet another…
• Viddler.com – What is this. Fiddler with a V?

The following video sites are for special content such as web courses and training etc. You will need to check them out individually and see if they suite your content. Also TubeMogul requires a quick appplication to be able to publish to these sites as well.

• Sclipo.com – Broadcast your skills. DIY and How To videos.
• HowCast.com – A How TO video site.
• 5min.com – Instructional and DIY videos.
• Crackle.com – Indie TV Shows.
• StupidVideos – This one explains itself…

There is one site that deserves an honorable mention because it is so socially relevant. This site doesn’t show up on TubeMogul. Its a site initiated by Al Gore to allow the public to create and share topical documentaries with the world. I have found it to be a wonderful form of communication and learning. Visit the site at www.Current.tv

3. Upload your video to TubeMogul – Here you select the file and while it is uploading you can enter the Title, Description,Tags and select a category. Here it is useful if you have done some keyword research that potently describes your video and what it is about.

HOT TIP: Make the title and the description compelling and succinct and rememeber to put your website link in here too, including the full url like so; http://effectiveclassywebsites.com/ Once your video has uploaded you will need to click UPLOAD then choose a thumbnail to proceed.

4. Enter your username and passwords for all the accounts we have created – Remember to get TubeMogul to save all your details for the next video upload. Press LAUNCH!

Now we have absolutely maximized the exposure and effect if your video marketing. The only other thing we need to do is visit the actual websites of our video accounts and complete our profile information so that there is something that invites them to take action!

Some tips on Video settings.

When you export your movie ready for uploading here are some settings to get the best quality possible.

• Keep video length under 10 min. 2-3 min videos are the most viewed.
• Put your web address at the end and at the beginning if you feel it works.
• 640 x 480 pixels
• 30fps
• MP4 Quicktime file using H.264 or (DivX, Xvid) format.

How To Make YouTube Videos Look Great – from Squidoo.com

Good luck and have fun getting your videos out there!

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