Beware the Domain Scammer ...

Fresh from a quick sushi lunch with my wife, I want to share the
musings of the day which include a reasonably good attempt from a
scammer to grab some quick cash from me, a new tool guaranteed to
make your marketing graphics more compelling, and a call for
Q4/09 projects.

First, no one was happier than I when I received an early
morning email from a gentleman named Mark Allen who was offering
to purchase my domain www.forummarketingmanager.com. All he
required was to see a recent domain name appraisal from either
SEDO.com or MACEZ.com. Honestly, I read it fast, and seeing an
opportunity for some quick cash, I replied.

Then while I was waiting for a response I started looking over
the email inquiry more carefully. The first thing I noticed was
the use of a GMAIL email address. If Mark Allen exists and
represents a legitimate company or domain brokerage, then his
email address should have reflected a company name. Strike one.

Then I started reading the email slowly, and noticed several
lapses in English. As a former college writing instructor I
immediately realized the writer of this email was not a native
speaker. He made grammatical errors more common in third-world
and mid-eastern countries. So Mark Allen wasn't from the U.S. or
the U.K. Strike two.

Finally, I entered the phrase "mark allen buys domain broker"
into Google and immediately came up with a scam warning here:

http://domainnamewire.com/

If you scroll down that page, you'll find this ass makes money
by approaching domain owners with a potential offer to purchase
their domain, but only if they can provide a recent appraisal
from one of two companies. Since most people have no sense of the
value of their domain name, a percentage might click on the links
to SEDO.com or MACEZ.com Mark Allen has conveniently included in
the email. I'm thinking he meant to include his affiliate links
so he could make a dime on the appraisal fee and never purchase
my domains. Strike three, you're out!

So guess what? If you are interested in purchasing any of my
domains or outright purchasing the exclusive rights to any of my
ebook or software products, you may look them over here:

http://www.milliondollarsites.com

I will entertain any and all serious offers. With 100 domains
to manage, I can't keep up with consulting and all of these
domains. Some of them get very respectable traffic.
CoolToolAwards.com ranks 150,000 on Alexa steadily (has been as
high as 42,000) and gets about 2,000,000 unique visitors a year.
My reviews on that site typically go to #1 or page 1 position on
the major search engines within three days about 60-70% of the
time. Substitute your affiliate links for mine and you could have
a nice passive income.

Other sites get a few hundred thousand unique visitors a year --
there's about a dozen that do this -- so if you have been seeking
traffic for a related site, then you could secure one of my
domains and redirect my traffic to your existing domain. Lots of
options. Take a look.

I am entertained by scammers. Older subscribers may remember I
own www.NigerianCopywritingSecrets.com and I have started an
ebook or two examining the strengths and weaknesses of scammer
emails. Someday I'll finish this project and sell it. I have
actually responded to many of these scam letters referring them
to other relatives and military personnel who write to me from
Nigeria about all of this money and gold that has been left to me
by rich uncles. It's quite funny to watch them try to keep the
dialogue going.

Anyway, there's a new tool in town that is guaranteed to make
your graphics leap off the page:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/killerabstractbackgrounds2.htm

Check it out. This is the second edition of Killer Abstract
Backgrounds and it is as good as the first edition and also
priced low. You definitely get your money's worth.

Subscribers are asking me if you can really make a living with
reseller rights for ebooks and software. The answer is probably
not, but I do it because it is like getting tools I need for
free. Let me explain. If I see an ebook or tool that I need (not
want), I buy it with reseller rights and if it is as good as they
say, I will do a low-key promotion to my subscribers. If only one
copy gets sold, I get my money back. On average I probably sell a
few copies of a few products each month. Even though it doesn't
make me rich, they probably generate $100 /month which is $1200
/year. As long as the reseller product is a quality product and
does not require support, this makes it very passive income. I
can use that $1200 /year to cover the costs of car maintenance
from my recent family trip to D.C.

Do you see how this works? Unless you have lots of marketing
experience, a solid cultivated mailing list, and a site that
pulls visitors in, chances are you won't make A LOT of money with
reseller rights products or through affiliate commissions.

But you can generate passive revenue with little effort and I'm
sure there isn't a person out there who can't use another $1200
/year. Times are tough and every little bit counts. If you've
been displaced or forced to take a job at a lower income level
but need more money, then affiliate or reseller marketing is a
natural way to augment and recover lost income.

So how do you grow a list? Well, one of the best ways I've seen
is by promoting this free service:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/services/easyvideoproducer.htm

In all honesty this was one of those things I signed up for and
forgot about. However, every day I receive emails stating new
people have signed up under me and they are automatically added
to my list. Then I just login to my free account, and once a week
I blast a copy of my newsletter to this additional list. It's
well over 120 subscribers and it's only been a few weeks. Free
service. Free list. Hands-off marketing. Open door to communicate
with the list. Gotta be stupid not to sign up for this one.

OK, last thing I want to hit this week is Q4 projects. Look at
your business and honestly ask yourself if everything is going
the way you envisioned it would go. Chances are business is off.
The economy has hurt everyone. I feel it, too.

Now if you have some time and money -- and how much will depend
upon what needs to be improved -- give me a shout and let's talk.
The introductory call costs you nothing and gives me a chance to
get to know you and your business more intimately. I can assist
you with web design, sales letters, email series, press releases,
graphics design and general marketing mentoring.

If nothing else comes of this call, that's fine. We got to know
each other better. But I'm betting that we can find a way to work
together, even with budget limitations. So if you are ready to
take the next step, drop me an email at info@schneiderman.net
today. First come, first served.

Until next time,


Steven