How NOT to Find New Customers

I created another small ebook recently with a narrow focus. The purpose was to monetize some of my sites and as a test to see – is there a market for it or not?

Its been live about 1 month. I’ve put a total of about 30 hours into the site and marketing it. I just don’t have time to ramp it up at the moment. That said, it’s doing OK already. The first month it sold 22 times. I’m sure I can get it up to 100 per month without too much trouble. As of yet I haven’t given it a place in the daily agenda. I have a whole mess of other things going on and this ebook is getting about 3% of my time and thought. Within the next couple months I’ll focus on it – now? It’s just not a priority.

Now, here’s the funny part. I was contacted by some internet marketer that said he does this “full-time”. I think he thought that would impress me. Apparently this kid does IM. His name is Shane W.

I wrote him back this response to his letter to me…

Thanks for writing on the contact form.

What are some of your Thailand sites that the ********* Book would be a good match for?

Or, did you have something else in mind?

Thanks,

He wrote back…

I have a large number of small sites that might be suitable like http://www.**#*#*#*.biz/ -  ( this is an adsense play that I will be building out into an affiliate dating for someone like (some major advertiser listed here) in the coming months ) – there is nothing there really just a bunch of PLR articles which we will eventually drop away but we are slowly building PR and backlinks ( PR 3 and 238 links )

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However I would be more interested in looking at traffic that is actually seeking out advise on the subject that your book appears to deal with as you know the conversion rates for the “interrupt sale” is around 1%.

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I am sure you would be familiar with the concepts of microsites, highly focused sites that answer one focused set of questions, the opposite of sites like (major site listed) or (another site – not major) which are a “destination site”

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I would be interested in setting up a site that stands in front of the organic search traffic for the most popular term in that niche – I haven’t really thought about it too much yet but maybe

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Some keyword phrase appropriate for my niche     8,100

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Another keyword phrase  1,300

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Anyway I would like to have a chat with about the possibilities, the first thing to do is let me have a look at the book to see what we are selling.

Ha! Yeah, the first thing is to send you my ebook gratis so you can help me… Hmm. I wouldn’t say that’s really the first thing Shane.

Originally I wanted to give the guy a chance – I thought maybe he had a big site in my niche that we could run ads on. I was all for that. No, he wanted to apply IM 101 or 50.5 to my ebook and site, trying to get organic rankings for my top keys – which I can do myself. The fact that he was trying to do something with a .biz name was a good clue from the beginning of his email.

I had no use for what he was offering and no time to talk about it. I told him nicely I already had someone to do internet marketing for me. I didn’t tell him it was me – no sense getting into a discussion with him – I don’t have time to teach him anything.

I wrote back:

Hi shane,

I’m not interested because I already have someone helping me with IM. Thanks anyway.

This is where it gets ridiculous… I’m guessing this kid is about 19 and has less than a year of internet marketing time under his belt. I’ve just told him I have someone to help me with IM – and his response shows he’s pissed off at me for not understanding what miracles he can work. He attempts to put me down and in my place a number of times – and it’s just sad…

How could he have sat down and typed out this long response? The only possible outcome was to make me think he’s a total putz. He must have spent 10-20 minutes crafting this email… and instead he could have moved on to find someone that could actually use his service.

Anyway, here’s his response which I haven’t responded to. When I respond personally to idiots I tend to hit way harder than I should. I definitely wanted to share it with you though because the whole thing does have some comedic value to it.

Wow if you think that you only need one affiliate then you totally don’t get internet marketing. [1]

Is this your first ebook ? [2]

The whole point of being a vendor of an information product is that you can leverage potentially 1000′s of affiliates all around the world all driving traffic to your sales page, the more affiliates you have the more money you will make !!!

Its not that hard to understand its just like in the real world NO author would sign a deal with one shop or retail outlet to sell a book, one wholesaler ok but I wasn’t looking to take over your internet marketing just sell the book on a non exclusive basis alongside whatever efforts you have underway yourself.

To put the otherside on the table no professional affiliate would promote only one ebook or other offer either – that would be madness, do you know how many books you will sell on a project like this from say 10,000 visitors a month ?

I would go broke just selling your book – if you think this a some sort of exclusive arrangement I have over 50 websites all churning away making me and the vendors money, and the vendors have 100′s of other affiliates all doing the same thing for them.

That’s cool  [3] I will tell you one thing though the reason that I reached out to you is that I see opportunity with your book, not because I think everyone will want it ( I haven’t read it yet so how could I know that ) but because whoever is doing your internet marketing has no idea what they are doing and unless you engage with many others like me you will fail. [4]

I don’t say that with malaise or to be a prick [5]- I failed enough times myself over the years trying to sell stuff online before I worked out how it all works to know first hand what you are doing wrong and not reaching out to as many affiliates as possible to sell your book in unison is just one of the things that will kill your book. [6]

In a year when you have sold less than a 100 copies you can say I told you so. [7]

Good luck with the venture.

I’ll highlight in bold italics the parts I thought were priceless. Ok, wait – I’ll put numbers beside them and respond below…

1. I told him I have someone helping me to do IM – in his mind I just told him I have just 1 affiliate.  I guess I TOTALLY don’t get internet marketing. Lol. I’ve just been making a living with it for over a decade…

2. My first ebook? No Shane, that was in 1999 when I sold it on eBay. Sold the hell out of it too. I’m up to somewhere over 15 and less than 20.

3. This was great… Thats cool. This is what a child says when he’s been hurt. Rejection hurts, and apparently he wanted me to hurt too by the tone of his email. I laughed a lot, but no hurt. I do feel sorry for him though in some weird way.

4. I’m going to do my best to prove you wrong Shane – I will not fail!

5. But, he sure comes across that way. If he had some really great plan for my ebook – I’d overlook all his ass-monkey comments and go with him. Wouldn’t you? I love people to put me down and set me straight – so I can give my money to them and they can be my savior. I love that! Don’t you?

6. Ouch!

7. HA! This was the best -and I wonder how long it took him to think that up – and how long he looked at it before he hit send.

So, do you think I’ll be writing him back to find out all the wonderful things he can do for me?

I’m throwing Shane W_ _ _ _ _ _  in with the ebusiness idiots category for being clueless about nearly every single thing he tried to guess about me and this new project that literally just went live.

Not to mention the junior high response to rejection.

You’re Scared…

As I was going through my a new Adwords campaign I’m setting up for myself I realized that I was feeling a little stress – a little anxious.

The reason?

I want guarantees. For every single thing I do online I want to KNOW without a doubt that it’s going to work and that I’m going to get results that will give me more money. I don’t want to spend money without knowing I will get enough in return to make it worthwhile, and then I can optimize further from there.

Guess what?

That’s not usually the way it works. As I create a new campaign in Adwords or if I’m developing a new site or writing an ebook or doing a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g where I’m spending time and brainpower to do something I want to KNOW it’s going to work.

You’re probably the same.

Even though I feel anxious inside – nervous about spending money on Adwords because I don’t know if it will work or not – I move forward.

I think that’s the difference between me and a lot of you… between successful internet marketers and those that keep looking at us and saying – “Wow – are they LUCKY!”

We’re not lucky. Well, I know I’m not.

We just have come to grips with the idea that – we’re going to always feel anxious about spending money first – and waiting to see what the result is.

This happens every single project I do. There is never a guarantee that anything will work immediately or at all. I might lose the first $50. I might lose the first $500. I try to never lose more than $1,000 on a small project before I get going in the positive column… but, it happens too.

Get over the scared. Know that every one of us – Yaro, Jeremy Shoemaker, Frank K, etc… get nervous spending money before we’re making money. Once we’re making money – we’re pouring it in to the project because the more we put in the more that is made.

Know that the first step is almost always spending some of your own money as a test to see – does the project work or not. After refinement a really poor producing project might become a small winner. There’s a chance it still goes gangbusters and becomes a massive winner.

Get over the scared.

Push forward.

Keep testing. Hedge your bets – but keep moving forward. Some projects are destined to be losers. You don’t hear the top marketers talking about their losers often – there were MANY of them. Many, many more losers than winners.

Know that everyone has losers – and that most projects are losers to start with. Making them winners or cutting them loose is the next step but you must start with the first step.

Start your projects anyway.

Get over the scared.

Most Internet Marketers Are Selling Sea Monkeys

A great article over at Copyblogger today talked about how when you were a kid you saw this ad in the comic books and bazooka bubblegum wrappers?

They were said to dance, learn cool stuff and they had images of these things like something from Dr. Suess’s mind bouncing around all happy and carefree. There were families of them – all naked. I remember wondering – what do these things look like naked?

Every one of us from my era has looked at those ads as a kid and wondered – is this TRUE? Even as kids many of us were already skeptical enough after having bought the handshake shocker that was nothing more than a cheap metal spring-loaded windup toy that vibrated when someone grabbed your hand hard enough – but usually didn’t work at all.

Most internet marketers and salespeople today are selling a false dream. Really. I’m disgusted with what I see.

Sea Monkey Salespersons sell:

• a dream that never materializes
• too good to be true products or services
• using lies, deceit, tricks
• knowing full-well there is no real benefit to the customer because the product or service is either worthless or is only part of the solution – not the whole solution

I really think we should start jailing internet marketers selling junk. It’s a crime – especially in these hard times where people are looking online for solutions to help them and their family get out of debt and move toward something that is going to HELP, not hurt them.

When did it become OK, even “Status Quo” for salespeople to lie to people they’re selling to?

It’s been going on blatantly for a very long time. I think Sea Monkeys were out since the mid 1970′s. Think this ad accurately depicts what you get for $13+ dollars?

When does it stop being OK to lie in advertising?

Jonathan Mizel is Part of the Problem

In my opinion this guy’s way of speaking about sales is part of the problem. The problem with sales. The problem with internet marketing. The problem with America.

Sales and internet marketing has degenerated into nothing but a bold, selfish attempt to con as much money out of customers and others you interact with. The goal of this guy seems to be milking as much cash out of his customers as possible, and to teach you how to do it with your customers.

I’d never heard of this clown before yesterday when I received an email from AWEBER email list management company telling me about how great this guy was. I clicked on the link they gave which forwarded me to this page.

He calls his marketing system,

“A systematic process that sucks the maximum amount of cash out of each prospect.”

Sounds great, yeah, I want to suck all the cash out of anyone that comes to my site so I can be “successful”.

Prospects, as he calls them, are the people the rest of the world calls friends, customers, mom, dad and grandma.

I’m all for internet marketing and trying to sell something that benefits other people. This guy doesn’t appear to care what you’re selling – he’s only concerned with how much cash you can take out of your customers’ pockets and put into your own… here’s another quote.

“When this system came around, it really changed our lives. And, it will also change your life. I don’t care what you’re selling.”
– Jonathan Mizel, Autoresponse Seminar

and another,
“These are totally unique methods. I have not seen people reveal how to do this anywhere else. They have doubled and tripled our response. They squeeze more money out of these prospects.”

Yeah, well, while you’re squeezing the money out of our moms, sisters, brothers and friends I hope your satisfying whatever selfish need it is that takes you to any limit to con money out of your subscribers.

Alert to all Jonathan Mizel’s “subscribers”, “prospects”, and “customers”… his system is designed to make him a lot of cash at your expense. Does he care about what is being sold? His goal seems to be that he just wants to squeeze the last penny out of you.

Is this what sales people and companies are turning to? Major corporations sending people to seminars to learn how to pull the money from hardworking Americans’ pockets?  No wonder sales is so looked down upon.

Sadly, this is the state of America… yes, this is what America has slid into… the country where it’s OK to pit company and research teams against individuals with money to spend. It’s like survival of the fittest. Obviously a team, and INDUSTRY, of people all focused on how to systematically trick people out of their cash will beat a lot of individuals in this game.

What a sad game it is.

What happened to integrity? What happened to providing valuable products and services that people NEED and that can better their lives FIRST. That should be the main goal… shouldn’t it?

No, the main goal has devolved into shoveling some slop into a pile. Painting it different colors. Adding some sexy models… and selling the hell out of it. No matter what it is – if you can sell it – that’s the entire goal of some companies. Forget about value, that’s not even a consideration to many companies.

My idea about internet marketing and sales is different from this. If you don’t have something of value to sell – if you are not really trying to improve someone’s life with whatever you’re selling – then it’s junk. If you have any integrity at all, you can’t sell it because you won’t allow yourself.

Selling junk is not my style.

Apparently it IS the style of many companies in America though. You might know some.

As proof that some major companies are embracing this… you know who one of this clown’s top clients is? American Express.

Welcome to America… the land of the free greed. Go get yours even if it’s at the expense of other kind, considerate, clueless, or otherwise easily-led people.

That’s a really sick system and I’m avoiding all people that agree with sales systems like this one and I’m avoiding them at all costs.

Shouldn’t you too?

Disclaimer: Everything contained here in this article, and on this site is opinion. It’s strongly stated, but also strongly believed. If you have a problem with my opinion, change the constitution.

Update 6/10/09: It’s been an interesting week as several (5) of internet marketing groupies (the least eloquent among them, lets hope) of Jonathan have responded to this article.

One said, “You are well off track and should be silenced for ever.” And, my favorite… “What in the hell do you think marketers do? They sell product to whomever. Get over it.”

One accused me of writing the whole article as linkbait. Wouldn’t I have done better to choose someone with some notoriety? No, it’s just that the message of his system was shocking to me as I read it.

This groupie carefully crafted his comment and showed the full range of his intelligence…

“Just because you call someone a prospect doesn’t mean jack shit. It doesn’t mean that you instantly don’t give a rats ass about the person.

The problem with America isn’t guys like Jonathon. It’s guys like you who cast judgment on something you know nothing about.

Now show me a sales receipt from Mizel or shut the fuck up.”

Apparently this tool guy thought it doesn’t matter what someone says about their system… That’s not enough evidence to judge it. I guess? Not sure. Not putting any more time into it to try to get down to the same mentality and figure it out.

Jonathan too responded and let me know that the quotes I was seeing on the Aweber blog were from about 10 years ago. If that’s so, then I can understand that things change over time. I certainly have.

Jonathan also had this to say…

“There’s little room for people who hate effective direct-response marketing in the advertising/marketing industry.”

I’m not sure what he means by that. Does he think I want to join his groupie list? As in, “Vern, there’s not enough room in my camp if you don’t like the effective techniques I’m using here… pull it together chief, or I won’t let you jump on-board.”

Is he saying that any internet marketers have got to love all direct-response techniques so long as they’re effective?

Is he saying that internet marketers that don’t agree with sucking every bit of cash out of someone’s pockets – have no place in the advertising/marketing industry?

You’ll draw your own conclusions.

See – my issue isn’t with successful/effective direct-response marketing. It’s more about applying some limits to what we can do as internet marketers when talking to customers. There are many ways to be “effective” -  not all of them are agreeable to me.

This “anything goes” attitude, sucks – and personally, I think it’s morally criminal. The sales process can be influenced by hundreds of things. Is it right to go after people with an anything goes approach – no holds barred?  Bring out the psychological road maps and apply the pressure just where it’s needed to overcome resistance and create a sale?

Is this right? To me – no.

Jonathan made no mention about whether his ideas have changed during a decade of time passing. So – do some research to figure out his latest message if you’re interested in finding out where he stands today.

Oops, one more thing I just noticed… one of the comments came from someone writing from Jonathan’s same IP address, same night about 3 hours after Jonathan’s comment… I hope his wife doesn’t talk with that sailor mouth! lol… ok, I’m done…

Bellwether Reality bellwether09@gmail.com 66.8.164.127

Submitted on 2009/06/08 at 10:33pm Boohoo, did an internet marketer hurt your feelings? What a load of self-righteous bullshit. What in the hell do you think marketers do? They sell product to whomever. Get over it.

Internet Marketing Guru Shoemoney Gives it Away?

Shoemoney, aka: Jeremy Schoemaker announced recently that instead of releasing a book, he will offer a 12-week free internet marketing program filled with great content that he’s learned over the years.

If you’re not familiar with Shoe, he has an amazing 12-year history of internet marketing projects and he’s had some phenomenal successes.

I joined the program because, even though I know a lot – nobody knows it all. There are so many areas of specialization one can move toward and master online. Shoe and I are in different areas completely. For myself, I’m great at starting small – micro sites, ramping them up – and selling them. Shoe did really well with the ringtone market – he was killing it for years. Recently I met a guy that had whole websites dedicated to MySpace backgrounds. He was crushing it too.

You should join Shoe’s free internet marketing program too, just to see if there’s something in it for you. I’m going to guess that Shoe’s target audience – his visitors to his site, are different from my core visitors here at Inc. Answers. Here at Inc. Answers I want to give you the jump-start into internet marketing – taking you from no knowledge to mastery of whatever niche you decide to play in.

I’m guessing Shoe’s program won’t be basic enough for many people, but, join anyway and save whatever information you get for use in the future after you’ve learned a lot more.

Let me know how things are going after you’re into the program. I’ll share my thoughts as I go through it as well.

Sign up here >

Oh, here’s an interesting podcast at Yaro Starak’s site. It’s an interview he did with Jeremy about how he got where he is today. It’s a very interesting story. The download is 106MB but even with relatively slow connection I have it was well worth the effort to grab it.