Frank Haywood

Dec

2007

How good is your password?

I just spotted this post about checking to see how secure you password is. I’m happy to say that all of mine are fine, but how about you? Are you using a weak password?

You should go read the post yourself but briefly, the author says that you can check up how strong your password is by using Google and what’s called an MD5 hash generator. All you need to do is generate an MD5 hash (there’s a link to do this on the site), and then copy and paste the hash into Google.

If Google returns your password by finding sites with the hash on, then you need to go change your password(s) NOW!

My thanks to the author.

Dec

2007

Rich Schefren’s Attention Age Doctrine – I don’t agree…

I wondered if there were other people out there that weren’t agreeing with Rich’s new reports, but I hadn’t come across anyone actually saying so.

While I was pondering how to start my thoughts on all this, I came across Sant Qiu’s blog and a post that pretty much sums it all up. There are so many marketers out there saying one thing and doing another at the moment, that I’m beginning to lose some respect for them, despite what their track record may have been.

I know as well as anyone that it can be difficult to become an authority in a particular niche, but I think Rich might have picked the wrong one here.

Here’s what I think, shoot me down if you like but until I hear, read or see definitive proof that I’m wrong, you’re not going to change my mind.

After over 100 years of direct marketing having a proven track record, and then being used in the new medium of the internet, it IS NOT going to be replaced by web 2.0 style marketing. The technologies may change, and there may be new mediums arise, but direct marketing is here to stay.

And I’ll say it now, clear for all to read…

Web 2.0 is a fad.

In 6 months or 2 years, or whenever, it will be replaced by web 3.0, or web extreme, or web dynamite, or whatever new term is thought up to describe the subtle changes that have arrived and become apparent.

I did think it rather funny (and ironic) that Rich was using direct marketing techniques to spread the word about his new reports, and then used double opt-in email gathering techniques!

Q. If web 2.0 is so good, why he didn’t he use those methods exclusively instead?

A. Because if he did, I wouldn’t have read his report, and probably neither would you.

Even while reading the report, I felt like I was reading a direct sales piece, just a very large sales letter. And there are whole chunks of it that just fly in the face of both logic and my own experience.

Example: page 25 – the whole of web 2.0 is on the winner’s side (good old right) and TV, radio and magazines are on the loser’s side (bad old lefty). That makes no sense. As I look at the habits of family and friends, they spend more time watching TV than they do on the internet – I’m an exception.

And the first thing they do when they get in the car is put the radio on – again I’m an exception.

Finally, I’ll just quickly mention the number of magazines shared between my wife and mother in law is scary! The paper recycling box is HEAVY when I put it out each week. People still like to read using traditional materials, and I don’t see that changing.

Then he moves into a comparison between sales and marketing, and how the sales guy is horrible, but describes the sales pitch as marketing. He then describes how now well known marketing techniques as becoming the authority in your niche can be used to make lifetime sales.

This is nothing new.

I could go on, there are other examples but I think you get the point. As a whole, it just doesn’t feel right in my gut.

Like Sant Qiu, I’m a fan of Rich – he’s done some good stuff. I’m not sure the Attention Age Doctrine is going to go down as his best though. A lot of it is just wishful thinking and for me at least is unconvincing.

Go take a look Sant Qiu’s post and see what he has to say.

Dec

2007

10 Tips To Get People To Promote For You

Just recently, I’ve had someone contact me about promoting their new ebook. I was impressed with something they’d done earlier this year as it was new and unique and quite a good read too. Something I was happy to let other people know about.

As far as I can tell, the new ebook is more of the same – ie it’s the same subject with more detail in it. And it’s more expensive. My curiousity was satisfied with the first product, and I don’t intend to buy more of the same as my existing knowledge together with what was in the first book enables me to fill in any gaps. Or so I believe.

That person has contacted me in no less than 3 different ways. And not ONCE was I offered a copy of their new ebook for review. And until I have read it I won’t promote it.

I could be doing them an extreme disservice here, but it just seems to me to be a case of them wanting me to either promote site unseen, or buy it myself. Well, like I said, from the sales letter it just seems to be more of the same, so it’s very unlikely I’d be interested in it. I may be wrong.

In complete contrast, I was sent an email two days ago by another person who I’ve promoted for before. They have quite an interesting product, something I’m definitely sure lots of people would want to know about (based on feedback I’ve had).

That person sent me a link to download it so that I can review it. They know I might say no because I have plans of my own in that area, and I’ve explained that to them. But I also think that I could work in that product too, as complementary to what I’ll be doing.

So I’ll be downloading it shortly and taking a look. If it’s appropriate, I’ll let you know. (That person is on my mailing list so they’ll be reading this, hopefully with a smile.)

The point I’m trying to make here is if you want something, then you have to give first. I’ve talked about the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) before – you always have to look at what you believe the other person wants, and take care of that need.

You have much more chance of getting somebody to do something you want them to do then. It’s a basic emotional principle.

Here’s something else that I know some people might find strange. I’ve promoted products for no better reason than I like them. I’ve not taken my “cut” I’ve just said they were worth buying.

Sure you might find what looks like a cloaked link, but that’s just me click tracking to see what learning I can get from it. You know the kind of thing, I want to know are people as interested in something like this as I am? Or am I completely on the wrong track?

Lesson: If you want affiliates and JV partners to promote for you, there are some simple but very effective ways of achieving it. Sure, they might take a little extra time, but it’s well worth the effort if you get that all important partner in your niche to promote for you isn’t it?

But the first thing to bear in mind is, even though you do everything right, they still might say no, for any number of reasons. Don’t get hung up about it.

One of my mentors (Tom Beal, a great guy – my wife’s met him and likes him, so I know I’m right about that) has a very cool saying:-

“Some will. Some won’t. So what? Next!”

How To Get People To Promote For You

1 – Make It Easy For Them

If you make your potential affiliates or JV partners jump through hoops to promote for you, you’re dramatically decreasing your chances of them doing it.

Think about it.

They’re very busy people. Even if they *want* to promote your product, there’s only so much attention they can give you and it.

If it’s too hard, they won’t bother. Example: Just recently I joined a giveaway which may well be my last. I spent several hours having to fiddle around with stupid stuff that shouldn’t have been an issue, and I had to send emails to get them to explain what they meant by certain wording.

I stuck it out, and finally got my product approved on their site. It should have taken me 30 minutes, no longer.

2 – Don’t Turn Your Affiliates Off

Another example: I saw something that I was quite interested in and that I thought would be a good thing to do. Again, because it wasn’t clear on the site what I had to do, I sent a nice email to the owner. I received a very terse email back saying “sign up here”…

Hmm, okay. So I signed up. Once I’d signed up I was directed to a page that was stunning in it’s “turn off” qualities. Paragraph after paragraph of being told they only dealt with people who met certain criteria (list size, expected number of promotions etc.) and that I may be rejected. Well that did the trick for me.

I was out of there!

What was the site owner thinking of? How many potential affiliates and sales had they lost because of their elitist attitude?

Don’t ever make this same mistake, no matter how special you think your product might be. 😉

3 – Be Flexible

Be prepared to offer things like 3-day or 7-day “specials”, or even in some cases your potential partner may ask if they can waive their commission in return for a further discount for their list members. Don’t turn them down if they ask for this, just make sure it happens somehow, even if it’s not in your normal site flow.

Make exceptions for those that ask. Even if you do a lot of work for them to set something up and they then don’t promote after all, you can re-use what you’ve done for someone else.

4 – Set Up A Wide Range Of Promotional Tools

This is almost part of #1, but deserves a mention all of its own.

Because people like to promote in different ways, make sure you have lots of different pre-done ads they can use. And make sure they can just copy and paste the relevant ad code and that if possible it also includes their affiliate ID. There are scripts that can do this for you.

Your pre-done ads should include (but not be limited to) email ads, text ads for forums and email signatures, Google ads, banners and other promotional graphics.

Again, make it as easy as possible.

5 – Offer Them Your Product Up Front

You’re approaching them remember? You Have To Give In Order To Receive. Don’t ever forget that.

Give them your product with no expectations. It doesn’t cost you anything unless it’s a physical product, and even then it’s only going to be a few dollars in shipping usually.

So give them your product without expectation. Make your email copy compelling so that they click through to take a look at your JV page. Then make your JV copy short and to the point, preferably with a 2 minute explanatory video. If they like, they’ll get back to you.

6 – Play At Your Own Level

The biggest mistake newcomers can make is to approach someone well known. How many people do you think do that every day? The larger marketers will only deal with people they’ve met, so unless you’ve gone to a seminar somewhere and struck up a friendship with them (and made them remember you), there’s zero chance of them even responding.

Find marketers or product owners at your own level. As you become better known, then it’s likely that they will too. Especially if you help each other.

If you’re pulling in customers from several different sources, and then sending them off to several other product owners, and they’re doing the same, YOU ALL WIN. I’ll write more about this another time.

7 – Don’t Ask Them To Ring You

It ain’t gonna happen. They’re way to busy to get involved with every time-sucking leech that only wants something from them. If you’re lucky and they’re in a good mood, they might write back explaining they don’t hand their number out to everybody that asks for it.

Some will have a phone number on their site. The chances are it won’t be them you get to talk to.

If, against this advice, you do decide to write to someone asking them to ring you, at the very least explain what it is you want to talk to them about. With details.

I regularly receive requests from people to “discuss a possible JV” with no details whatsoever. If I’m very busy, I don’t reply. I’m not being rude. Okay, I AM being rude, but when I have a lot on my plate, the last thing I want is distractions.

I usually have a lot on my plate, and I’m not alone in this.

If the distraction contains detailed information, then I at least feel the obligation to spend 10 minutes checking it out and writing a reply.

8 – Be As Personal As Possible

If there’s someone you really want on board, then make them a short and personal video (2-3 minutes) of you talking to them. This is incredibly powerful.

Even though the words themselves might be the same words you use for everyone else you do a video for, and you’re reading from a teleprompter, or have the script memorised, it doesn’t matter. The simple act of introducing the video with a direct “Hey! I’ve made this video for you John Smith. Yes you, John!” etc. really makes people sit up and take notice.1

If you received a video like this and the person sending it was friendly, personable and funny, wouldn’t you feel like you knew them? Wouldn’t you want to help a friend?

So in some cases (all if you have time), at least make a personalised page for them to sign up on, that refers to them by name.

Don’t over hype, respect people’s intelligence. (You should always do this anyway.)

9 – Remind Your JV Partner Or Affiliate

Once you have an agreement from them, remind them of it. Again, they’re just as busy as you are, and they might forget to do anything for you. If they say “yes, but not for a couple of weeks”, wait 12 days and then send them an email.

You’ll probably get “Oh dude, I forgot, I’ve been SO busy, I’ll sort something out for you this evening.”

10 – Don’t Let It Get You Down

Above all, if someone doesn’t promote for you, don’t get despondent. It doesn’t mean anything other than it wasn’t for them or they’re too busy, or they have their own plans in that area.

It’s not because they have anything against you. Usually.

Remember…

When all is said and done:-

“Some will. Some won’t. So what? Next!”

Nov

2007

What to do with that good idea

What do you do if you come up with a really great idea?

Do you just sit there thinking “oh, if only…”, or do you start looking at how to make it happen?

Taking action is the only thing that separates people who succeed from those that don’t. The people that really succeed in life have something in common. They start doing things first, and then try to work out the details later. As one of my friends says, “ready, fire, aim”…

Woody Allen pointed this out when he said something like, “80% of success is showing up”. What he meant was, the people who can’t even be bothered to try will never succeed. Well, of course not, but sometimes even the most obvious things need to be stated for you to notice them.

And trying to do stuff isn’t so hard either. All you need to do is decide you’re going to do something and then try to do it!

You’ll have problems. You may even fail completely on your first few attempts. It doesn’t matter, every failure is one step closer to success.

I remember reading that Thomas Edison failed hundreds of times to make a light bulb that could be used domestically. (He didn’t invent the light bulb, he improved on it.) When asked about his failures, he claimed that each one was actually a success because he knew he was nearing his goal. Which is an interesting thing to say in itself. It expresses a positive and persistent attitude.

If you can get into that frame of mind and hold it, and just keep working towards your goal no matter what, you will succeed.

It won’t happen overnight. It will happen eventually. I’m living proof of that.

It’s been a struggle for me. Technically very competent, but for years lacking in oomph to make things happen. So it’s taken me a while, and there are certainly things I could improve on, but every time I try something and even though I might fail, it’s still a success.

Because next time, I know how to do it better.

Have you started doing things yet? Or are you still just dreaming about it?

Make a plan. Today. Try to stick to it. Change the plan. Do what you can. Take action.

Just do something.

Nov

2007

7 Products In 7 Days – The Aftermath

Well, the final day of my marathon was reached yesterday and I, er, failed to create and set up 7 Products In 7 Days. I did 3 though.

I have 4 more lined up and with a bit of work I can get those out too, but it may be the new year now before I’ll have time to look at them.

In the process I learned something I’d like to share with you. It’s the kind of thing where you already know it, but you don’t really *know* it until you do it.

A bit like the difference between theoretical and practical.

For instance, I *knew* that I could create products very quickly, in a day easily, in just a few hours even.

And I *knew* that setting up a web page was a total pain in the butt, and took ages to do. But that part was in my blind spot. I knew it took ages to set up a web page properly, but my brain played a trick on me and I ignored it, instead concentrating on the product creation part.

Here’s 7 lessons learned and shared with you…

Lesson 1

What I should have done was give myself two days per product. The first day for actually creating the product, and the second day to set up the site to promote and deliver it.

That way I wouldn’t have felt so wiped out and feeling I’d missed something. And I wouldn’t have had to cut corners when doing all the associated set up work.

Lesson 2

The creation process can wipe you out. I had to drink a *lot* of coffee to keep my brain ticking over, and even so I found myself making mistakes. And let’s not forget that the creation process isn’t just limited to the product either.

I had to write the sales copy too and I really don’t think it’s that good. It’s just about good enough, but I’m not proud of it. Even so, it was hard to do as I was so tired.

Lesson 3

Autoresponders take way more time than you think they do to set up properly. I use:-

http://www.FrankHaywood.com/recommends/Aweber/

which is an excellent service. But parts of their interface leave something to be desired.

For instance, you would think that when setting up your autoresponder, they would have the links to your custom pages all on one panel wouldn’t you? No, they’re in 2 different places. By custom pages I mean, your “thank you” page and your “confirmed” page.

Having said that, I really like Aweber. Once upon a time, I would have recommended using a self hosted autoresponder, and in some cases that’s probably still okay for low volume niches. But for your main list, you need a service that can pump out thousands of emails to your subscribers without your host throttling them. (Many hosts do.)

And of course Aweber’s deliverablity is excellent because they work with ISPs to make sure your emails get through the filters.

Lesson 4

Setting up the flow through your web site takes A LOT OF TIME.

What do I mean by flow? Well, a (good) typical mini-site has a flow through it. Each page is designed to get the person viewing it to do ONE thing and ONE thing only, and that’s to take the next step.

And the flow can be different depending on what you’re trying to achieve, and what you think is the best for the product you’re trying to market.

I’ve studied this a lot, and tried out lots of different things, and the best general principle I’ve found is the site flow method I use on the SmartDD.com site.

This is a simple 3 step process to building a long term business asset (your mailing list), and also making some money on the way.

Step 1 – Get people to give their name and email address in return for something for free. This is text book.

(I see so many people failing to do even this tiny little very important thing. They offer a download and don’t even attempt to get an email address.

I believe the thinking is that the free ebook or whatever has their affiliate links in and they’ll make money through there. True, but dicey and inefficient. People read ebooks, and if they don’t click through that one time they read it, then it’s unlikely they’ll click later.

If you have them on your list, then you can remind them at a later date.)

Step 2 – Make the offer. Discount the price of the bigger associated item by a third or more.

Step 3 – Give them their freebie or purchase.

There are lots of different ways of creating your site flow, but the one above is probably the best.

I’ve actually 90% written an ebook called “Site Flow Secrets” a few months ago, which I was going to finish off and put out as part of this product creation exercise. I’ll still do it, but not right now as I have some other more urgent things I need to do. More on that in another post.

Lesson 5

Creating your web page can also take a lot of time!

I tend to do all my writing in a simple plain text editor, and then copy and paste it into the medium it’s being presented in and edit there. (This document is being written in my favourite text editor.) I just find it easier without any of the formatting clutter to distract me.

If publishing medium is a web page, then you either have to have a decent looking template you can use, or just go for something basic. I prefer to have a good looking page design created for me (it’s money in the bank, long term), and if time is a problem, I fall back to a basic layout.

That’s what I did for my first two products in this exercise:-

http://www.flipthisproduct.com/keywordinspector/ (opens in a new window)
http://www.flipthisproduct.com/ebooklayout/ (opens in a new window)

both with basic design, just a border round the copy. (At some point I’ll get a proper design done.)

But once you have the page design, it’s not so bad is it? You just paste the copy in, edit it a bit and you’re done.

Well… Yes… If you’re not using a script to control the site flow. Because you have to make sure the page has the relevant script variables embedded inside it at the appropriate points, and then of course you have to test it all out, tweak it, test it again, and so on.

It takes time.

Lesson 6

Don’t forget the support! Even with simple products like the ones above, you’re still going to get support questions. They eat into your productivity if you’re doing it yourself.

(This leads into a brand new product I’m having developed right now. It’s a support desk, integrated knowledge base, and live help system. It should be done in time for a February launch. Low cost too, unlike others in the same feature bracket.)

So you need some method of providing support, either by email or via a support desk. I’ve been using email and help blogs for a while now, but it’s just getting too much.

I’ll be moving to a single support desk (my own) instead in the new year. All the questions and answers will be in the knowledge base.

Now I know this will take time to set up, but long term it saves time because people tend to ask the same questions and some can’t be bothered to read the docs (in my experience). A searchable database is much better.

Lesson 7

Find somewhere you can get some peace and quiet! And clear your calendar!

It just so happened that during the 7 days we had one of our children ill at home for a couple of days, a hospital appointment for my wife, and me babysitting because my wife had to take her mother for a hospital appointment.

And *then* my wife having to disappear to spend a couple of nights at her moms as her mom became unexepectedly ill (now all better).

(We don’t think that last one was caused by the hospital visit, but you never know!)

AND my developer / partner Paul called me to tell me that the final pre-beta of SmartDD v2 was available for me to have a play with!

All these little things here and there contributed to slow me down.

Here’s the first of 2 tips for uninterrupted work.

If you want peace and quiet to write, and can’t get it at home, use your local library. My local library allows me to go book an hour slot on one of the PCs, and often I can get 2 or 3 hours there when it’s quiet, they don’t mind. They let me plug in my memory stick so I can save everything to there.

Or if you want to, you could save direct to your blog as an unpublished document, and then lift it from there when you get home.

And if you REALLY want peace and quiet to work, or maybe you need to create some videos, here’s the second tip.

Take a laptop, go find a cheap hotel and book a room with a desk. Tell reception that you’re there to work on a project you need to finish off and that you don’t want to be disturbed.

If necessary, book in as early as you can, work as late as you’re able, get a little sleep, and leave as late as you can the following day.

You probably won’t need to do that because you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can create a product when you get down to it.

Especially if you’re using a PLR (Private Label Rights) product. (More on PLR another time.)

Conclusion

In conclusion, I failed in my attempt to create 7 Products In 7 Days, but if I’d collaborated with somebody else, it would have been achievable. Maybe I’ll do that in 2008 now that I’ve learned the lessons above.

On the positive side, I created 3 products in 7 days, and proved to myself that creating and setting up just one product per week and really giving it a professional polish is easily achievable if you set your mind to it.

I’ll release the third product tomorrow. (I want to test the site flow some more.)

If you want to learn more about creating your own product and setting up a sales page, or if you have any questions, please leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.