Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Building Your Equity with Others

Good day and I hope all is well on your side of the screen. It's
been insanely busy for me this past week with lots of new
potential projects. I have been very blessed. Considering the odd
state of the economy, Q1/2010 business is pretty much consistent
with Q1/2009. How has your business been impacted by the economy
and how have you evolved your marketing strategy?

As I have stated in previous newsletters, I don't do any
advertising any more; all of my business is chiefly through
referrals, repeat customers, and Internet-based leads. For years
I wondered how long it would take for my business to become
self-sustaining. That doesn't mean I am finding and winning the
business all by myself; it means new opportunities cross my desk
without me having to look for them. I'm thinking that the magic
number is about 3-4 years.

Within that time I have developed a certain mass of friends,
professional relationships, clients, prospects, vendors and
mentors. Certainly not an easy task, and it's only made possible
because folks genuinely like me and trust me. Earning and
retaining that trust becomes a full-time job. One way I do this
is to offer my assistance anytime someone has a question about
their business. I also use this newsletter, my blog, and my
social networking accounts in an ongoing way to stay in touch
with people and to do some goodness for others.

So what are you doing to develop this equity with others?

I see a lot of people using Linked In, Twitter and Facebook, but
I know of only one person who really works it (Hey Neil!). These
can be great tools -- free advertising -- solid networking tools
-- fantastic sources for prepping for cold calls or identifying
potential prospects and opportunities. If you are not using these
and other types of social networking to your benefit, then I
recommend you check out this cheap series of short reports:

http://www.resellerproducts.com/350socialmediastrategies/

Even though I have been using these tools for a while, I learned
a few things here and there that has modified my social
networking approach and helped to develop some new business
relationships and opportunities.

Speaking of new tools, I've posted a bunch of new product
reviews on my Cool Tool Awards web site. If you have not visited
this site before, I really recommend you do. I've been running it
for over a decade and it contains hundreds of product reviews. I
guarantee you will find some new cool tool that will make one
aspect of your life easier. Here's what's new:

Pitch Magic: A new turnkey service for creating sales letters
quickly and easily.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/services/pitchmagic.htm

Home Organizer: Two tools in one! One tool keeps your kids, pets
and elderly parents safe. The other tool enables you to brand the
software, give it away as a community outreach tool, and use it
to spread goodwill and develop greater brand awareness for your
company, product or service. They are a client, so contact me if
you want to talk to them.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/utilities/homeorganizer.htm

Desktop Icon Tray: This is a cool, inexpensive utility to clean
up your desktop in a fun, easy way.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/utilities/desktopicontoy.htm

Visual Slide Show: If you've visited sites and wondered how they
created those cool little slide shows, then you'll be amazed how
easy it is to develop your own in minutes.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/visualslideshow.htm

3D Ebook Shot: This tool enables you to develop animated videos
of your ebook cover or software box twirling around and bouncing. This is
a great way to grab your visitors' attention for your product.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/3debookshot.htm

Fast & Easy Video Squeeze Pages: This is a collection of
ready-to-go, professionally designed templates that makes adding
a video squeeze page to your site fast and friendly.
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/fastandeasyvideosqueezepages.htm

Also, we have some new ebook titles on my EbookoMatic.com web
site:

The God Secret by Charles DeShong & Adina Rasuceanu
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1555

Uncle Greg by Richard Carmichael (Free Ebook!)
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1554

How You Can Buy a Home With Poor or No Credit Using Lease
Options by Donald Tepper
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1552

OK, that's a lot of info for this week, so I'll give you some
time to digest it all and see you again next week.

All my best,

Steven

P.S.: As a marketing experiment, I would appreciate your help in
spreading the word about my newsletter. Click on the link below
to tell at least 5 friends about my newsletter, what you like
about it, what you like about me, and why they should subscribe
to it, too! I will measure the results over the next few weeks to
see how many new subscribers I get and I'll share the results
with you in a forthcoming newsletter about word-of-mouth
marketing.

http://getresponse.com/forward.html?x=a62b&m=FDNe&s=BM46r&y=s&

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

What Would You Do If You Had a Time Machine?

Good morning and I hope things are going well for you on the
other side of the screen. Last time I wrote to you, I presented
you with a low end option for developing an online sales
presence. Today, we wax philosophical ... here's the question --
if you had a time machine and could return once to the past to
change a decision you made or return to the future to see how
things will turn out for you -- which would you choose?

Looking at my own life, I can honestly say that while I have
done much good, I have also made some terrible choices -- from
personal behavior to financial decisions. From resenting people
and situations I was placed in to poor decisions on my part which
hurt others, there's quite a lot I would like to take back and
change if given the chance to do so.

From a business and financial perspective, I've been a poor
steward for wealth. Not that I wasn't generous in my giving, but
I came to believe that my success was all of my own doing -- an
immature belief if ever there was one. I also came to treasure
money and things more than people. So if I had a time machine and
could change my past actions, I might return to 1999 when
I had been given great wealth and change the way I used it and
taken less credit for my accomplishments. I also would have spent
less time working and more time with my family.

In examining my present day life, I -- like many people --
sometimes wish I could turn the clock forward several years to
see how things will turn out. Will I still be consulting 20 years
from now? Will I sell my house? Will my health deteriorate? Will
my wife and kids be happy and healthy?

We live in very turbulent times and very few of us have not been
impacted by the economy. Our personal wealth has shrunk, our jobs
and companies always seem to be in jeopardy, and life seems more
challenging now than it was 10 years ago. Some can't face the
pain of even getting out of bed in the morning and wish they
could just turn the clock forward -- not so much to see how it
will all end but simply to escape the present day pain.

But here's the thing to remember.

We don't have a time machine.

We can't dwell on and worry about the past because no matter how
remorseful we may be over our past actions and decisions, we
can't change anything.

We can't worry about the future either because there's precious
little we have any control over that could overly influence the
course of the future.

So the best thing we can do is to live one day at a time and
make the best of it -- each and every day.

Now, go do something nice for someone else.

All my best,

Steven

P.S.: I encourage you to share my newsletters with friends and
family. Please click the link below to forward this email now:

http://getresponse.com/forward.html?x=a62b&m=FpsC&s=BMayh&y=J&

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Simple Sales Letters with PitchMagic

Good evening. In the past few issues of my newsletter, I've been
focusing on attitude. If you approach business with a poor
attitude, it will beat you. It's simply a matter of time.
Hopefully, I've been providing you with some advice and tools
that will turn your attitude around. It seems to be working for
some subscribers and clients I've communicated with over the past
few weeks.

One of the questions I am being asked a lot is how to take the
plunge. Let's say you have an idea for a product or service. How
do you go about selling and promoting it online? Normally, I
would lecture you about the importance of hiring a good designer
and copywriter, but I also realize that most people can not
afford these types of services and even if they could, they would
prefer to keep start-up expenses low.

Gotcha.

I still think quality design and copy can go a long, long way,
but if you don't want to go down that path, and prefer to do it
yourself, here's a possible solution.

It's called PitchMagic.

If you want to be able to create a sales page quickly and easily
-- and never, ever touch HTML code -- then PitchMagic is probably
something you should look at. At its core, it is a low-cost
system that combines web site and product hosting with an
automated web page creator.

For a one-time $47.00 fee and then $24.95/month, you can use
PitchMagic to develop a sales page by dragging and dropping building
blocks into the desired sales letter format. For instance, you
could have a headline at the top, several sub-headlines with body
copy, a testimonial block, a closing block and then a buy button.
Once the framework for your sales page is created, you simply
start entering your sales copy.

You can upload your product image and a graphical header and
footer, and then you are pretty much done. You'll need a
Clickbank account, too. You also will need to upload your digital
product to PitchMagic so they can host it and keep it secured
away from online pirates.

The finished sales page looks pretty good. The imposed structure
is a good one if you can write well.

Of course, you'll need to write your own sales copy, create your
3D ebook cover, and design your header and footer graphics. That's
not part of the solution. You may still need to hire someone like me
to assist you.

Now normally, I'd probably approach this differently. As a designer
and copywriter, I would want more control over the sales process as
well as the design and copy process.

I'd start with writing the sales copy from scratch, developing
the graphics, putting it all together into a sales page, add a
squeeze page to capture first name and email address, integrate
it into an autoresponder to start sending non-buyers a series of
follow-up emails, etc. I think there is more art of the sale that
is required here, and PitchMagic only handles a portion of the
sales formula.

But it is a good start. Especially for newbies on a limited budget
who can write well.

If you'd like to learn more and see some screen shots, there is
a review here:

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

I hope this helps.

All my best,

Steven

P.S.: Please click the link below to share this with a friend:

http://getresponse.com/forward.html?x=a62b&m=FcFL&s=BMayh&y=P&

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Reality Check!

Good morning and may this day find you filled with hope for a
bright future. In my last newsletter, I talked about that little
voice you hear in your head from time to time -- you know the
voice, the one that calls you l-o-s-e-r? I received many emails
from long-term subscribers thanking me for that newsletter and
some asking me for additional advice about how to get out of the
rut they now find themselves in.

Let me tell you, I know a thing or two about ruts.

I've been through them financially twice in the past decade, and
emotionally and spiritually every day of my adult life! Let's
face it, living ain't easy, and neither is being a parent, a
spouse, a grandparent, a friend, an employee or an entrepreneur.

But here's the thing -- you can either let that little voice
talk you into believing you're a loser or you can tell it to get
behind you and then get on with your life. And you need to do
this every single darn day. It's the only way to survive.

Now I receive many emails from subscribers asking for advice
about how to make money online. They've heard the promises from
the online marketing gurus or from their friends in network
marketing that there's gold in them thar hills, and they want
their fair share.

Many of you have purchased the various ebooks and software tools
and services that claim to explain the formula for creating your
own successful money printing machine. And then you get
disappointed when it doesn't work.

Here's the thing you need to remember:

Not everyone has the same skill sets or gifts and talents to be
successful online.

That doesn't mean you should quit dreaming. By all means, dream.

But you do need to be realistic.

What do I mean? Most people don't know how to sell if their
lives depended upon it. So what makes you think you can sell an
ebook, or software tool, or membership site? If you have no
experience doing it before, why do you think you can be
successful doing it now.

True, believing in yourself goes a long, long way. But then
there's reality.

I think the biggest problem is balancing wish and reality. Most
of us wish we could be millionaires but the reality is most of us
will never be millionaires. Hate to burst that bubble :)

I get calls from retirees in their 70's and 80's who want help
publishing an ebook they think is going to be the next best
seller and allow them to buy an island to fish on the rest of
their lives. Not gonna happen.

I get calls from people who have new web sites they want to
monetize so they can live in splendor and put their kids through
college. Noble goals. But reality?

I know people who have been insanely successful but they are in the
minority.

So what's my message today? I'm not trying to talk you out of
pursuing a living online. No. But I am asking you to be
realistic. Maybe your energies would be better focused elsewhere.

Think about it. How many ebooks, courses, software tools,
memberships, etc. have you purchased over the past few years and
how much money have you generated from your investment and
efforts? If it ain't paying the bills, may I suggest that you
stop buying stuff and put a real plan together?

If you've been hopping from one network marketing company to
another, switching products every few few months as they cool
off, and gradually exhausting your immediate circle of friends
and family with your latest pitch, maybe, just maybe, it's time
to think harder about your long-term goals.

Last night at church, a sweet older man was telling a small
group of us about how he was carefully looking over his business
opportunities -- where he was going to make his investments and
how he hoped this was finally going to help him make some of his
dreams a reality.

This man is not a salesman. And products, no matter what they
claim, do not sell themselves. People sell products.

He is about to waste time and money and his efforts would be
better served elsewhere. Where, I don't rightly know, but he's
definitely setting himself up for failure and disappointment.

Stop.

Think about what you want to achieve.

Contrast what you want vs. what you need. Be realistic. Set a
definitive and achievable goal within X months you will generate
Y dollars.

Then carefully examine your strengths and gifts and talents and
start formulating a plan to monetize them -- rather than go out
and spend more money on the latest guru's ebooks, courses, tools
and memberships.

Life lessons are tough to swallow. I'm here to help.

Until next time,

Steven

P.S.: Do a friend a favor and forward this newsletter to them.

http://getresponse.com/forward.html?x=a62b&m=FPXj&s=BM46r&y=g&

Friday, March 05, 2010

Are You a Loser?

Good afternoon and I hope life is treating you well on your side
of the screen. Today I have an important question to ask you
that's going to require some brute honesty and much introspection.
Are you ready? OK, here we go:

Are you a loser?

Have you ever heard that little voice in your head that tells
you what a loser you are? That no matter how hard you try, that
you can never hope to win?

With the sad state of the economy and unemployment at all new
highs, it's easy to see why so many people, including myself,
have felt like a loser at one time or another.

I've a confession to make. For me, it starts every morning when
I wait with my kids for the school bus to arrive. As we're
talking about our day, I always look at our home's exterior with
a critical eye.

Mind you, when we moved in 1999 I dropped $150K on external
improvements, but 11 years later it still needs lots of work. To
most people I'm sure my house looks beautiful. It's 4500 square feet
on almost an acre of land on a corner lot with plenty of landscaping
and hundred year old trees. I should be grateful for what God has
given me, but I'm not.

Why? Because when I look at my house, all I can see are the
blemishes -- the areas that are in dreadful disrepair -- the wood
siding that has become rotten and needs to be replaced, holes from
woodpeckers that need to be patched, a leaky roof, a front porch that
needs to be painted, a front door that needs to be replaced, and so
much more.

I see all the bad things and hear the little voice say, "You are
such a loser! You can't even take care of your own house!"

It gets worse when I hang out with my kids in the upstairs
playroom. This is a room we have grown to love as a family, but
lately I've only seen the blemishes -- the cracked ceiling and water
spots from the leaky roof, the nails breaking through the sheet rock,
the stains on the carpet, and most recently, the dead 40 inch, 200
pound Mitsubishi TV that needs to be replaced. It stares at me
incessantly with its one square giant cyclops eye and says, "You are
a loser! You can't even afford to buy a new TV!"

That little voice gets old. But it sure is convicting -- if you
let it be.

The trick is to remember you are not a loser.

Times are tough. Disposable funds are hard to come by. It always
seems you have just enough -- just in time. And it's easy to only
see the blemishes -- in your house, in your business, and in your
personal life.

You are not a loser.

The key is not to let yourself get caught up in the negativity.
A challenge for sure -- but you can do it!

When that little voice in your head starts telling you what a
loser you are, remind yourself of the good things you have done.
Balance the score card and then tip it in your favor.

Now your sensitive spot may not be your house. It might be your
business. Perhaps you've gotten it started and taken it as far
as you can.

Or perhaps you thought you had a good idea for a product or
service, but you haven't been able to make a go of it.

That's when that little voice may be saying you are a loser.

Stop. Don't get caught up the in the self-defeatist attitude or
the misery.

Worrying and anxiety never solved anything, and feeling sorry
for yourself never added another day -- or dollar -- to your life
or anyone else's.

Step back and try to gain a new perspective.

If your business is causing you heartache, then ask yourself why
people are not buying from you.

Be critical but fair. Put yourself in the prospect's place. How
does your sales pitch compel them to learn more, to contact you
for more information, or to make the purchase?

What roadblocks are preventing your prospects from buying your
product or service?

Take it step by step. Walk yourself through the process. Are you
leaving doubts in the minds of your prospects? If so, how can you
remove the doubts?

For some web sites, it's not he message that's the problem. It's
the purchase process.

Do you make it easy for people to buy from you? For instance,
with my electronic publishing business, EbookoMatic.com, a
prospect used to create their account, then make the purchase through
ClickBank, and then return to my site to log in and begin using the
service. Not easy. I know because I tracked the number of people who
abandoned the process midway -- too long and too complicated. So I
made it easier. Now they go to the site, click one button to purchase
their membership with PayPal, and I set-up their account immediately
and send them their login info along with a personal thank you message.

For many other businesses, they never ask for the business. They
just pack their site with product and service info and they never
have a call to action: "Call (xxx) yyy-zzzz for more information
today!" -- "Click here to make your purchase now!" -- "Click here
to schedule a free appointment!"

None of this is rocket science and even the smallest of changes
like these can make a big difference to the success of your
business and profitability.

So the next time you look at your house -- or your business --
or your life -- and you hear that little internal voice call you
a loser, stop and gain new perspective. Remind yourself you are not
a loser. Remind yourself of the good things you have done and
accomplished. Then step back and look for the roadblocks and start
removing them.

You can do it. I believe in you.

And if I can help you in any way, shape or form, please feel
free to reach out by emailing me at info@schneiderman.net.

Until next time,


Steven

P.S.: I just found a really great collection of templates that
can help you to implement a video squeeze page fast and easy.
It's dirt cheap, high-quality and comes in hundreds of different
colors and designs. Check out the review here:

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


Schneiderman Marketing, LLC, 1811 South Baltimore, Suite 203, Tulsa, OK 74119, United States

Monday, March 01, 2010

Importance of Landing Pages & Automation

Good afternoon. Today was payday for my EbookoMatic authors, and
I decided to tell you about some of the new titles they have
published -- some are free downloads:

TOP SECRET BUSINESS HUMOR - The Immaculate Worthless Collection
by Thejendra Sreenivas
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1551

Growing Roses with Sherry 'n Margarita by V L Deighton & A M
Smith
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1550

THE CAVEMAN DIARIES - Some Raw Advice for Modern Executives by
Thejendra Sreenivas
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1549

TO HAVE MERCY, AND NOT SACRIFICE by Brenda Partington (Free
Download)
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1548

Secret Art of Japanese Stick Fighting by Gary Hinkle
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1545

Secret Buttons of the Hand by Gary Hinkle (Free Download)
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1544

Secret Buttons of the Hand by Gary Hinkle
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1543

Home Staging: 8 Things Every Home Seller Needs to Know Now by
Donald Tepper
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=1541

There are also a few titles that seem to be selling quite well
these days. With everyone losing their job or in fear of losing
their job, two titles have become very popular:

Fearless Networking by Ken Marsh
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=958

The WORLD'S FASTEST JOB SEARCH PLAN! by Paul Bowley
http://www.ebookomatic.com/publish/authorinfo.asp?EbookId=380

Paul has a number of other titles you may find helpful.

Some of you may notice that we raised the price of EbookoMatic
membership back up from $49.95 to $147.00. What's the result?
More memberships sold at the higher price than the lower price!
Kind of caught me by surprise. We also updated the home page to
make it more of a landing page and that seems to have increased
the number of weekly inquiries, to.

One thing you can learn from this ongoing experiment is the importance
of landing pages. When you have a deep site with lots of content,
products or services, it is easy for a visitor to get lost and never
even make a purchase. A landing page makes it easier for them to find
what they are looking for by limiting their paths through the site
and helping them to make some decisions. With our new landing page,
you can either Get Published, Learn More or Buy Ebooks. Simple, right?

I have another client who used to have a home page with over 40 links
on it. Then we sat down and redesigned the home page as a landing page.
Now you can find what you need and your choices are limited to Free
Trial and Buy Now. All pages are focused on making them choose a
well-directed path. Leads and sales have improved as a result.

Take a look at your site's home page. If you are wondering why you
are not selling more stuff, consider how many choices or paths your
visitor is forced to make. It may be time for you to simplify the
number of options they have. Give them 2-3 big buttons with clear
calls to action. Then move everything else into small textual navigation
at the bottom of the web page. It works.

If you don't know the story about EbookoMatic, then you might
find this very interesting. Back in 1999, ebook publishing was
becoming quite the craze. A firm in San Francisco called Fat
Brain was making a name for itself by helping the academic world
to create online versions of white papers, theses, dissertations,
and textbooks. They got acquired for $62 million.

The opposite side of the spectrum were comprised of mom and pop
sites that would edit your manuscript and create a PDF for you.
There was very little in the way of service and most looked
alike.

As a frustrated author, I saw a need for a turnkey service that
would enable anyone, anywhere, with either knowledge to share or
a story to tell, to publish and sell their work instantly. I drew
something out on a napkin and put it away ...

Then I started trying to promote a consulting service for
authors. It would be one stop shopping including editing, cover
design, site design, ecommerce, hosting, etc. But while many
authors contacted me, no one could afford my consulting rates.
Around that time a small software development and conversion firm
contacted me. They had visited my web site and asked if I ever
thought of automating the service. I took out my little napkin
drawing and sent it to them.

They told me they could have a prototype done in 3 weeks. When
they showed it to me, I was amazed. They had really improved on
my idea. At that point I made the commitment to start an online
business. We continued to add features for four years and then
stopped. Since then it has quietly been pumping out new titles --
over 1200 from authors from around the world -- over 550 authors.
I'm quite proud of the service because for some of these authors,
EbookoMatic is the only way they would ever be able to share
their work.

Of course, Ebookomatic will never make me wealthy, but I am
content with it serving a purpose, helping others, and generating
some passive revenue for me. One of the things I am truly proud
of is the fact that it is a 99% hands off business requiring
little to no human intervention. New members join, they publish
ebooks, people buy and download their ebooks, and the system
tracks everything. There's even a sophisticated back end system I
can log into from anywhere to address the occasional problem or
to generate productivity reports. I can tell you which author is
selling the most ebooks, which titles are the most popular and
even which genres sell better than others.

This is what true passive revenue is all about, but it's a
challenge to get the business model this well automated. If your
online business is not this automated, then you might be putting
forth a greater effort than is truly necessary. You may also be
eroding your profits. Something to think about.

If you need help with this type of development or the creation of
a killer landing page, we can most definitely help you.
We've been doing it a long, long time.

Feel free to reach to me anytime at info@schneiderman.net.

Until next time,

Steven

P.S.: Please pass this newsletter onto a friend who may be a
fellow writer or be looking for some online assistance.

http://getresponse.com/forward.html?x=a62b&m=Fl7g&s=BM46r&y=C&

Schneiderman Marketing, LLC, 1811 South Baltimore, Suite 203, Tulsa, OK 74119, United States