March 28, 2002
Table of Contents
Welcome
Quote of the Week
Administrative Stuff
Staff Editorial -
Big Brother II is Here!
Marketing
Tip of the Week
Guest Article -
You Are Being Lied To . . . And It's Costing You a Fortune
Parting Comments
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Quote of the Week
Ideals are like the stars:
we never reach them, but like the
mariners of the sea, we chart our course by them.
- Carl Schurz
Administrative Stuff
FREE EXPOSURE FOR YOUR
BUSINESS!
We want to give you an opportunity to gain free exposure for
your business! We are asking each of you to send us an email
and tell us about yourself and your business. We have added a
section to this newsletter where we spotlight your websites or
businesses so our other subscribers can get to know you and
possibly do business with you. We hope many more of you will
respond in the coming weeks. This is FREE EXPOSURE to THOUSANDS
of people! THIS IS VALUABLE so please act TODAY!
Just send your email to
mailto:mybiz@peakconsultinginc.com with
"Info on my business" in the subject line.
Staff Editorial
Big Brother II is Here!
by: Cary Christian
There is a new threat stalking
your business as you read this! You may or may not have been
victimized by this threat to this point because you can fall victim without
even knowing it. If you haven't been hit yet, chances are good that
you will be in one form or another.
I'm not talking about a virus or hacker attack. In fact, the authors of this
threat claim to have your best interests in mind. So just who or what am I
talking about?
We all hate spam. The Internet would be a much nicer place to work if there
were no spam. All it does is use up a tremendous amount of bandwidth and
aggravate us to death. I'm for getting rid of it. You're for getting rid of
it. The desire to rid the Net of spam is almost universal. But there are
right ways and wrong ways to do it. I want to update you on one of the wrong
ways.
Some ISPs have begun using software to filter your email as you send it and
before you receive it. The software works by comparing emails to a database
of words, groups of words and phrases, formats used in the email, and a
variety of other triggers that, according to the authors of the software,
signify the message is spam. The problem is in the definitions used and the
manner in which the software is being implemented.
A week or so ago a very well respected Internet marketer who would never
consider using spam was wondering why she had received only 4 emails the
entire week. She normally received hundreds. She found out this new spam
blocking software had been installed by her ISP. Included in the blocked
email were a letter from her sister regarding family matters, communications
from business associates, membership related materials and research
materials she had ordered and paid for.
She was unsubscribed from programs because her email address bounced, lost
business because people she was working with thought she had abandoned them,
lost subscribers, lost bids on jobs because they never got through, and
suffered embarrassment because budding business relationships were cut off
when she seemingly disappeared. Even emails to her ISP to try to resolve the
problem were blocked!
If you take a look at the types of things some of these spam blockers look
for, you will understand why these problems occur. Here are some
examples of things the software looks for:
> Talks about a check or money order.
> Contains a line longer than or equal to 199 characters long.
> Contains the words "print out and fax."
> Contains the word "amazing."
> Contains the word "profits."
> Discusses money making.
> Contains a toll free number.
> Talks about opting in.
> Talks about social security numbers.
> Incorporates a tracking ID number.
> Tells you to click on a URL.
> Asks you for your signature on a form.
> Link to a URL containing "unsubscribe."
> Microsoft FrontPage used to create the message.
> Message text is over 500 lines long.
And much, much more. Many of the business emails between our clients and us
would be blocked based just on the above. Email invoices and shipping
confirmations would be blocked. Sending an income statement to a colleague
would be blocked. Support emails to our clients, subscribers and others
would be blocked. Legitimate newsletters with double opt-in
subscribers will be blocked. Emails from affiliate programs you belong to
will be blocked. Payment notifications will be blocked. Safelists and
newsgroups will be dead. Sending requested information to your customers
will be impossible. You get the picture.
The real problem here is that people have decided spam can be defeated using
a list of words. This is just plain STUPID! Sure, some of the
items in the lists are found in spam. But many of them are also found in
everyday communications between people who have business or personal
relationships and want to send email to each other.
The bottom line is that this type of software does not work. The tasks
it performs are no different than the filters your email client provides. I
receive more than 10,000 emails a day but they do not create a problem for
me because I use my own filters. Everyone should. But an ISP should not be
implementing filters on the server side that give you no choice in what you
receive and what you do not. Especially without
telling you about it!
We are joining with other companies that do business on the Internet to
attempt to limit the damage these types of programs can do to legitimate
businesses. We hope you will join us, too. If you become aware of this
type of software being used by your ISP, please let us know. We plan to
contact all such ISPs to explain to them the types of problems they can
unknowingly create and to attempt to help them find a way to work around
these issues.
Please don't take this situation lightly. In the end, accomplished spammers
will find a way to beat this type of system anyway. Then, only legitimate
businesses will be harmed.
Copyright (c) 2002
Marketing
Tip of the Week
Always evaluate your marketing options based
on the cost per clickthrough and cost per sale. Track your marketing efforts
and know what you're getting when you spend your hard-earned dollars. Did
you know, for example, that using the pay-per-click engines and placing ads
in ezines are less expensive per click and per sale than hosting an FFA
page, purchasing guaranteed visitors, and purchasing so-called hot leads
from lead generation websites? Don't get too caught up in absolute cost.
You'll be wasting money in the long run.
Guest
Article You are
being lied to...and It's Costing You a Fortune
By Terry Dean
You are being lied to...and
it's costing you a fortune.
Receiving all the traffic in the world isn't going to help you if you don't
make sales when the traffic gets to your page.
A mistake that I see people make over and over again is to believe the hype
that it is easy to make money online...sign up for several affiliate
programs...put up a page...and then place free classified ads.
This strategy will not work. It does not work today. It will not work
tomorrow.
You cannot just join affiliate programs and try to generate free traffic to
them (not in the normal ways at least).
I have been interviewing some successful affiliates lately and have found
out an interesting secret...Not a single one of them (not even one that I
have found) just joins an affiliate program and puts up links or banners on
their web page.
Every one of them does something a little unique. One is a search engine
master and spends well over 40 hours a week learning all the intricacies of
the search engines. Another is a master publisher who publishes a quality
ezine every single day.
Still another model of success is becoming an expert at sending out articles
to ezines. You could also create a community atmosphere where people keep
coming back to visit through chats, forums, etc. Then, make referrals of
affiliate programs.
These types of affiliate techniques work, but what people have been
publishing as the easy affiliate opportunity just isn't true.
All of the top affiliates come up with some of their own ideas and lead
generation methods...and none of them rely on just placing a few ads here
and there. Nor do they just put up another banner on their web page that
nobody visits anyway.
If you want to be successful, find someone who is already successful and
model them.
HINT: Don't necessarily always do what they say. Find out what they are
doing and do that!
What are the successful Internet entrepreneurs doing?
They are doing one of two things:
1. Some of the successful entrepreneurs are creating products or finding
unique products to sell.
2. The rest of the successful entrepreneurs are building an audience.
Those are the only two ways to be successful on the net. Either sell a
product you control (and don't try to sell something people can find at the
local Wal-Mart store) or build an audience that you can contact over and
over again.
If you want success, you will fit into one of those two classes.
If you created an information, you are one of the unique product sellers. If
you publish a growing ezine, you have the audience.
If you got an exclusive on a new golf club, you are a unique product seller.
If you run a discussion board that has hundreds of thousands of visits a
month, you have an audience.
If you have a product, you just need to find people who have an audience and
convince them to become affiliates with you or buy advertising from them.
If you have an audience, you just need to become an affiliate with someone
and endorse their products to your audience.
These are the two hands of Internet success...
Please Note: Some people do quite well as both having ezines, forums, etc.
and also having their own products. They fit in both classes.
Is this article going to make some people angry?
It sure is, but I want you to stop and think for a moment. Can you find
successful people who don't fit in one of those classes?
You may say, "What about the search engine expert?" The answer is he has an
audience. He can generate free leads for ANY product anytime he wants.
Which class are you in? Do you have a product, an audience, or both?
If you don't fit into one these groups of online businesses, then you don't
have the right vehicle for online success.
It would be like trying to compete in a Nascar stock car race with a
bicycle.
You might be the strongest and fastest bicyclist that has ever walked the
planet, but no matter how hard you work you don't stand a chance in the
Nascar race!
Many of the Internet marketers I meet are just like that bicyclist. They
know they can do it if they just work hard enough, but they aren't using the
right vehicle for the Internet race.
Are you using the right vehicle?
-------------------------
Terry Dean, a 5 year veteran of Internet marketing, will Take You By
The Hand and Show You Exact Results of All the Internet Marketing Techniques
he tests and Uses Every Single Month Click here to Find Out More:
http://www.peakconsultinginc.com/nbt.htm
Parting
Comments
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