What are your dreams? Are they coming true for you? Have you put them on hold with things that life puts you through?
I read an article today. It makes you think about the dreams that you have and if you are living them or not. It talked about five things:
1. Clear your mind and dream BIG.
2. Be true to who you are.
3. Pull the trigger and "dream surround."
4. Invest in your dream.
5. Write your story.
To go through them one at a time:
1. Clear your mind and dream big.
Go after your dream it is never to late, as long as you are breathing you can still go after your dream. Dream BIG. It is time for you to do something about the dream that you have. Maybe you put things on hold to take care of the family. The children are grown, is it time to think about your dream? Maybe you have lost your job. That could be the best time to go after your dream. You need a change of direction why not got toward something that you enjoy. Do you have a hobby that makes you happy? Could that be turned into something that could bring in an income for you and make you happy and fulfilled at the same time? Think about it. What do you really want to do?
2. Be true to who you are.
If you love to bake cakes, why are you out there as a nurse? Go for what you love. Maybe do both for a while until you can do the cakes full time. Be true to who you are. Find the thing that will help you to be happy and fulfilled in life. You do not want to get to the end of your life with nothing but what if I had done that differently? What would have happened if I had gone for that dream or goal and not let fear stand in your way? What if is not a good way to live. Give yourself the chance to do those dreams, so that you do not have the WHAT IF'S.
3. Pull the trigger and "dream surround"
Pull the trigger means to go do something about your dream. Take a class. Learn more about what you want to do. Next surround yourself with the things that can help you do your dream. If you want to do oil panting. Get the supplies that you need to do the oil painting. Take the classes that can help you learn how to do oil painting. Get books that talk about how to do oil painting.
Now is the time to do something about your dream. Pull the trigger and "dream surround".
4. Invest in your dream.
Invest you time, invest your money. Now is the time to do something to move the dream forward. One step at a time. Be working at it a little every day. Soon it will be a reality for you not just a dream any more. Do not let fear stand in your way. Use the fear to help you to move forward not to stand still and do nothing. Things get better the more that you do them. Keep doing and going.
5. Write your own story.
Where do you want to be. It is time for you to tell the world how you are and what you want to do. It is time for you to go after your dream. If you can dream it it can become yours. Write it as if it has already happened. You can see it in your mind your can see it in your life. Go for your dreams.
Now if you want to read the article go here . It is a good article. It is talking about classes to learn to do decorating and staging of homes but these things can be put to any interest that you may have. Now is the time to do. Do not wait for someday that never comes, go do it now. When are you going to get another chance. They do not always come around again. Go for it.
post by
Daniel and Deanna "marketing unscrambled"
Friday, January 20, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
What is it to do Property Preservation of foreclosed homes.
There is a great need for people that do Property Preservation of foreclosed homes. With the great number of foreclosed homes that we have now. They need to get back on the market a quickly as possible. That is where these people come in at. They do things like change locks to secure the property.
During the lock change and after the locks are changed with the keys in the door.
They take care of the pipes in the house by draining out the water and blowing the lines out with an air compressor so that the pipes do not freeze and break. That would damage the house.
They add RV anti freeze to all the sinks, toilets-bowls and tanks, shower/tubs, drains, drain the water heater.
They also take care of the outside of the house. To keep the yards looking good as well. Like the photo above where they are cutting back the weeds in the back yard. Mowing the lawn front and back.
They haul away the trash that is left behind in the house. They keep the property looking the best that it can be so that it can sell. Sometimes they even fix things with the house.
It is a needed service to the banks and to the area that these houses are in. It helps to keep the area from looking run down when the houses are empty.
Posted by
Daniel and Deanna "Marketing Unscrambled"
They take care of the pipes in the house by draining out the water and blowing the lines out with an air compressor so that the pipes do not freeze and break. That would damage the house.
It is a needed service to the banks and to the area that these houses are in. It helps to keep the area from looking run down when the houses are empty.
Posted by
Daniel and Deanna "Marketing Unscrambled"
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
"Doom or Boom" by Alan R. Bechtold-a must read it you are selling things online.
This is something that you should read and share with others that
you know. If you are trying to earn money online. You need to read
this for yourself. It is written by Alan R. Bechtold and he has given
his ok to share this with others. It needs to be done as it is, no changes to it.
Can You Handle the TRUTH?
Doom or Boom
– It’s Your Choice!
--- Ten Internet Marketing Truths
No One Is Talking About…
and How to Live With the Truth
Once You Know It –
by “Uncle” Alan R. Bechtold
1
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Generalities are unavoidable, but they
can also be dangerous. When generalities are perceived as black-and-white
“rules,” they can always be disproved. Nothing in this report should be
construed as a generality, although much of what I’ve written here could
be mistaken as such, if it’s your goal to disprove what I’ve written.
A lot of Internet marketers will be upset with me for writing this report.
They’ll do everything they can to discredit what I’m revealing to you here,
because their livelihoods depend on you not knowing what I’m about to
divulge. Their first line of attack will be to go after any generalities I’ve
put forward, pointing out the exceptions. That’s ok with me.
Don’t fall for it!
Entire contents Copyright © 2011, by E-Media Moguls, LLC., P.O. Box 367221, Bonita
Springs, FL 34136. Contents may not be copied without written permission of the
publisher. Permission is granted to redistribute this document freely, so long as the
contents remain unchanged in any way.
2
Holy Crap, Tonto – the Wild West Has Exploded
Things have changed dramatically in the online marketing arena – and not in a good way.
Sales are dismal and don’t seem to be picking up much. Even worse, credibility is in the
crapper.
Sadly, very few people are willing to talk honestly about it.
I’m not writing this to discourage you. Far from it. The purpose of this report is to arm
you against what’s going on right now, to prepare you for the future. You honestly have
little hope of succeeding online if you don’t go into it knowing the truth. This
unwillingness to speak openly about the problems Internet marketing faces today is only
perpetuating the difficulties you’re facing with your own success and it has to stop, so I
wrote this report to get the ball rolling in the right direction, for a change.
The problem is…
The Truth Can Be Painful…
People are making money online, even in these tough times. Some are making lots of
money. A few are still making millions. But, there are decidedly fewer people making
millions than ever before. Most likely, they’ve also been in the market a few years
already, if they’re still making serious money in the online marketing industry. Even so,
the people who are still pulling in the biggest money in the online marketing business
today are also most likely making a lot less each year than they used to. Despite what
they might tell you, they’re also most likely working harder to make what they do make
today, and spending a lot more money to keep it coming in.
Most of these same people are, whether they know it or not, also doing things to keep
pulling in those dollars that are certain to continue the dwindling returns -- for them and
for you.
My advice: they’d best hang on to the money they’ve already made. Things are only
going to continue to get worse for them, if they don’t listen up and make the changes I’m
going to reveal to you in this report.
Sadly, many of the people raking in the “big dough” in the Internet marketing arena today
are also a major piece of the problem, because they’re not telling you the whole truth.
Why should they? Telling you the truth would reduce their revenues even more
dramatically.
I’m writing this report to tell you the truth, because I’ve honestly got little to lose if I do.
Except for my blog, I essentially left the “IM market” early in 2011. If what I tell you
here can help skim the scum off the Internet marketing pond a bit and clear the way for
you to succeed, it might actually help me as it helps you.
3
Who Am I?
It’s extremely important that you know who I am before I get into the ten truths you must
know. It will help explain why I’m compelled to tell you what you really need to know,
consequences be damned. It will definitely show you how I know the real story behind
what’s going on.
I’m a writer, publisher and marketer with more than 30 years of experience and some
huge successes along the way. I’ve been publishing and marketing online since 1984,
when I started syndicating a computer news service to operators of the independent local
dial-up computer bulletin boards (BBSes).
That was ten years before the Web was publicly accessible. I was, quite literally, one of
the very first people on earth to make money selling information online.
In 1995, the advent of the Mosaic Web browser made the Internet widely accessible and
navigable for the first time. It virtually wiped out the news syndicate I was selling to BBS
operators at the time, not to mention the monthly trade journal for BBS operators I
published and the trade show for BBS operators that I’d just launched.
Deep in debt, my business on the ropes, I tried to move my business to the Web, with
mixed results. The audience I’d built felt I was betraying them for the Web. The Web
audience I needed to continue looked upon me as “a BBS guy.”
Along the way, I’d hooked up with a publisher of business opportunities who had a large
base of customers in need of Websites to help them sell his programs. We got together
and started selling them the sites they needed and between 1996 and 2001, we sold more
than 12 million dollars’ worth.
I learned a lot about direct marketing from my partner during that time. I applied what I
learned to everything I’ve done, online and offline, ever since.
My life turned around, I then went through a tumultuous and unexpected divorce that
nearly broke me. Once I had it mostly behind me, I moved to Florida, to re-establish my
life and re-build my business on a more solid footing. I continued working with my
partner in the opportunity business, but I also started re-focusing my efforts back to
publishing, as it applies to building businesses. This resulted in the release of my EPublishing
Marketing Mastermind, E-Publishing Marketing System and The Franklin
Guild, a new mastermind updating the E-Publishing Marketing Mastermind.
May, 2008, saw the release of my first “traditionally-published” book, Will Work for
Fun: 3 Simple Steps for Turning Any Hobby or Interest Into Cash,” from John Wiley
Books. I also worked with an accomplished PBS producer to release a full-length movie,
The FUNdamental You, that was based on an important segment of the book.
4
I want you to understand I’ve been at this stuff a long, long time. I’ve seen it all and done
it all – three times. I didn’t get the t-shirt, so I printed my own.
My history is important to what I have to reveal to you for a number of reasons, some
obvious. Keep in mind I was a writer/publisher who, after several years of growing
success, was lured into the business opportunity market where I struck gold in a big way,
thanks to the help of a joint venture partner who knew what he was doing in his market,
had a large audience in need of what I could offer them. He eagerly pushed what I had to
sell them and life-altering profits were the result.
After I moved to Florida, I tried to duplicate what my partner was able to do, with mixed
results, but never the kind of results he could get. I would occasionally hook back up with
him to make an offer to his list and sales flowed in. When I tried it on my own, it was
usually less than spectacular.
After a while, I came to the realization there was one thing preventing me from making
the kind of huge money in the business opportunity market on my own that I made when
my partner did the marketing: integrity.
I’m on the way to re-building my business the right way. It wasn’t easy. I had to first
discover the truths I’m revealing to you in this report to get it right, even after all my
years of experience. But it’s now working and I’m on my way.
This process also involved a lot of trial-and-error, and more than a little financial pain.
I’d like nothing more than to help you avoid this because, when you grasp the truths I’m
about to reveal, you’ll prosper like never before.
The question is…
Can You Handle the Truth?
No more beating around the bush. Here it is:
I’ve already said there are still people making lots of money online. I’ve also pointed out
that things in the “online marketing world” aren’t what they used to be, and even those
people still making lots of money are most likely making far less than they used to, or
they’re working three times harder to make half as much.
Yet, most of these people won’t tell you what I am about to, because most of them make
the lion’s share of their money selling you information about how to make money. To do
so, they based their credibility almost entirely on the fact that they make so much money.
They know they couldn’t continue to sell you their make-money products and
information if they admit their sales are down! In fact, many will say they’re having their
best year ever -- in spite of the economy, and they will proceed to say they’re thus
qualified to show you everything you need to see similar results.
5
Truth ONE:
“I’m having my best year ever” is almost always an outright lie. The economic downturn
we’re seeing now is responsible for much of the downturn I mentioned in the opening of
this report. It’s affecting almost every business in many ways. Usually, the business
opportunity market actually takes an upswing during economic downturns. I’ve been
through several in the decades I’ve been doing this and it’s always been that way before.
Not this time! This economic downturn has been so deep and so prolonged, it’s drained a
large portion of the market for business opportunities of the resources they used to tap to
buy something that might help them make their situation better…even if they’re
convinced they need it and can’t live without it.
Don’t get me wrong here. There are some people honestly making more money than ever
before. Usually, however, it’s newcomers to the scene who were fortunate enough to fall
under the wing of one or more of the marketers who’ve been online more than a couple
of years and still have some clout, but there are some.
Remember what I said about generalities. I’m here to tell you the truth, so you can fit
your own answers into the puzzle and finally start getting ahead, but there will always be
exceptions to every point I make.
Just remember that an exception, by its nature, is a minority.
So – the current economic downturn is hurting everyone, online and offline. If someone
says they’re doing better today than ever before, things were either horrible for them
before and now they’re not as horrible, or they’ve been lucky enough to tap some of the
few in the business who are still doing well enough to help them sell more of what they
have than they did up to that moment.
Either way, most everyone in online marketing would actually be doing even better if the
economy wasn’t so completely in the pits right now. Statements that someone is doing
“better than ever before,” should automatically put up a red flag for you.
I know what you’re thinking: “Online marketing isn’t all just business opportunities.”
You’re right. It isn’t.
There are people who sell real-world products and online business-building tools and
systems that can actually help sell those products. Those aren’t business opportunities
and some of them seem to be doing well – right?
6
Truth Two:
Most of the online business-building tools and systems being sold today are still
positioned like business opportunities – or they’re being sold as “solutions” that make the
business opportunities currently being sold work “better.”
Are there any real online marketing systems available today? Absolutely. Google,
Facebook, LinkedIn and Clickbank, for example, are genuine online marketing tools you
can use to sell whatever you wish and build a business doing so. But, they’re not really a
part of the industry I’m talking about here. They’re a solid part of your solution…but
we’ll get back that in a bit.
Unfortunately, most of the online business-building tools and systems being sold by socalled
“online marketers” today are either totally ineffective by the time they offer them
to you, or they never really worked well to begin with.
It’s sad, but true.
It makes sense. Would someone who sells real-world products online and makes most of
their money doing it sell you a system that could enable you to compete with what they
do to make money? Most likely not.
7
Truth Three:
Most of the Internet marketers selling business opportunities and online marketing
systems today do not make the bulk of their money using the opportunities or systems
they’re selling you. Most of them make most of their money selling you business
opportunities and systems!
This is especially true for the people selling those ever-popular “we-do-it-all-for-you”
business opportunities and marketing systems that you see all over the Web today. You
know – “Just send us X dollars and we’ll make you thousands in return, doing everything
for you.”
Ask yourself – how can this be? If these people can make the kind of money online using
their own systems they say they do, why in the world would they do everything for you,
in return for a few measly hundred or even a thousand bucks or more?
The truth is, they wouldn’t…unless those opportunities or systems don’t work or have
stopped working for them.
Most business opportunity and Internet marketing systems you see being sold on the Web
these days are primarily sold by people who make their money selling business
opportunities and Internet marketing systems. They don’t make their money doing or
using what they sell, even though they’re more than happy to sell them to you.
It surprises me that more people don’t know this instinctively without having to hear it,
because it’s simply common sense. If they do work, why would they sell it?
I apologize for dishing up so much harsh reality at once here, but this is very important
for you to know.
This leads us to our fourth truth…
8
Truth Four:
So many people are now selling business opportunities and Internet marketing systems
parading as business opportunities that the creditability of the entire Internet marketing
industry, as a whole, is at an all-time low.
Much as I hate to say it, there’s now a dark cloud hanging over Internet marketing in
general, and it’s been brought on by many of the very people selling you what you feel
you need to make money in the same market they’re in. Imagine how much harder this
makes it for you to succeed, if what you’re selling is something that was sold to you…to
sell to people who want to succeed with Internet marketing, too.
Unlike the economy, which we can hope will improve eventually, this is a selfperpetuating
problem. People sell you a business opportunity or Internet business
marketing system that’s ready-to-roll, hands-free, “we-do-it-all-for-you” and, what does
that opportunity or system set you up to sell? An online business opportunity or Internet
business-building or marketing system that gives people who buy them the chance to sell
the same thing!
This has been going on for so long enough now that it’s amazing to me how anyone can
still try to sell any of this stuff any more. But, they do.
This is one reason why, early in 2011, I announced my own departure from the Internet
marketing arena as a whole. I was disgusted – and frustrated trying to “punch through” all
the false noise in the market.
Time for our next truth:
9
Truth Five:
There are a lot of Internet marketers today who aren’t selling regurgitated junk. These
people sell serious training courses and business-building tools that really work, but they
are also all generally seeing diminishing returns, because people today are learning to
look at Internet marketing itself as slimy.
This creates a downward spiral. To battle it, the business opportunity segment has
escalated their outlandish claims, screaming louder in their headlines and sales copy as
the market deteriorates. The more outlandish it gets, the more people are skeptical about
the entire industry.
This is not helping you, whether you’re the pinnacle of integrity or not.
Disappointed? Good! You should be. No one likes finding out they’re being lied to on
such a massive scale. It’s worse when you realize that those lies are hurting you on all
levels, too.
But -- admit it – you had a strong suspicion this was the case, didn’t you?
But -- there is a light at the end of this tunnel and the good news is it isn’t a train heading
your way.
10
Now For The Upside…
I’m sure you’re wondering what the upside to all of this could possibly be. After all, I did
promise you my goal wasn’t to discourage you. I meant what I said. You might be
disappointed at this point, but that’s ok. Just don’t get discouraged. That’s not part of my
plan here at all. I want, instead, to encourage you to seek the truth, because that’s how
you’ll thrive. Especially today. I don’t want you to give up…but I do want you to go into
this whole online marketing thing with your eyes open and your hand firmly over your
wallet, so you can survive with some solid chance of success, whether you’re interested
in the Internet marketing business to help other Internet marketers or to market real-world
products and services.
I realize, so far, it probably sounds like doom-and-gloom all the way. However, we’re
finally heading into the boom part of this report, so definitely keep reading.
There are five more truths you need to know. These are the keys, the light guiding you on
the path to overcoming the Catch-22 that is Internet marketing today as I’ve just outlined.
11
Truth Six:
The Internet marketers selling the stuff I’ve covered in this report are, for the most part,
doomed to diminishing returns. It’s already happening and it’s not going to get better for
them – or for you, if you continue to follow them and buy into the escalating schemes
they’re coming up with. I hope you can see that. This is actually good news, despite how
it might sound.
One after another, the bulk of Internet marketers we’re still seeing today will slowly give
up selling their worn-out worthless scams and move on. This has already started. If you
haven’t noticed, there have been a lot of “big” names in the industry announcing their
“retirements” or switching to other markets over the past year or two.
I got so disgusted with it all I left the market, for the most part, too.
Will they all go away? Never! Some have made so much money and continue to make
plenty, even though it’s considerably less than before. Some of them will never give up.
Internet marketing is pretty cheap, when compared to direct mail and other forms of
advertising. As long as there are profits to be made, some will continue to hammer it, just
like all those scam emails that clutter up your junk folder.
New players will also step in to take their places. But, the diminishing returns will
definitely help clear out the market, making more room for the real marketing experts
with truly helpful services and products who are struggling so hard to be heard right now.
This is good! But – it’s going to get even better.
12
Truth Seven:
There is a new “age of transparency” that’s just starting to swell. It will soon take care of
the rest.
I wrote about this on my blog. The new book, How: Why HOW We Do Anything Means
Everything, by Dov Seidman, builds nicely upon my Total Transparency Marketing
theory that I first proposed on my blog.
It’s here and it’s real.
Social media and networking has taken over the Internet in a big way. Like never before,
people can check out offers before they buy, by simply bringing up a browser and
searching. Or, they can simply pop into any number of social networks and ask their
contacts there for a recommendation.
If you don’t think this will have an effect on the kinds of online business opportunities
and online business-building systems I’ve been talking about in this report, think again. It
already has.
Direct mail was a huge step forward over door-to-door sales, because you never had to
hear a “no.” Just write your sales pitch, mail it to the right list, sit back and watch the
orders come in. You only heard from people who said “yes.”
Most people selling in the Internet marketing arena today got started when the Web was
little more than an extension of direct mail, with static Web pages displaying long-form
sales letters, capable of generating orders much faster and far less expensively than direct
mail. Online marketing started out as a one-way street, just like direct mail. You pushed
your sales message to as many people as possible and they either bought or didn’t buy.
Today’s age of transparency connects the buyers you’re trying to reach online with one
another in ways we never could have imagined just five short years ago. Not only can
prospects and buyers interact with you – they can also reach out to thousands or even tens
of thousands of other people, telling them all how their purchase went and how they feel
about what they bought, and/or the quality of service they received from you.
Today’s socially connected Internet has made certain that online marketing – indeed, all
marketing -- is no longer a one-way street. It’s never turning back.
Internet marketers have been doing everything they can to circumvent this. Product
launches seem to be their current favorite method, although I’m certain it won’t be the
last that we see.
Surely you’ve seen them. There have been a multitude of product launches, including
massive launches selling systems that teach or enable you to do your own product
launches. They can be powerful sales motivators and, in and of themselves, they are a
13
legitimate way to make a great number of sales all at once, if you’re willing to dig in and
do the serious preparatory work required to properly set them up.
But – launches are also an excellent way to sell junk, especially in the age of
transparency we’re now entering.
In a product launch scenario, everything prior to the actual release of the product is
designed with one goal in mind: to build anticipation and a waiting list of eager buyers
who will, ideally, purchase the product or service being offered on the day the doors first
open.
Done correctly, with plenty of marketers pushing the same launch, launches can result in
a sales frenzy not unlike the moment the doors open on popular department stores on
Black Friday.
Usually, launches are designed to generate the bulk of the resulting sales within the first 3
– 7 days of opening. If someone launches a new product or service this way, they can
easily generate hundreds or even thousands of orders all at once, then close the doors to
new orders, long before anyone has had time to properly try out what they’ve purchased
and start telling other people on the new socially-connected Internet what they really
think of what they’ve purchased.
When you sell quality “real-world” products and services, you want and hope for
reviews. The music, movie and game industries mail out advance copies to reviewers,
hoping they’ll like their latest offerings and write a good review, but also willing to take
their knocks if it doesn’t work out that way.
Most Internet marketers like those I’ve been discussing here utilize launches to
circumvent the review cycle, effectively shutting off the socially-connected Web.
A properly-executed launch can kick-start a marketing campaign for a quality product, as
well as one that’s pure junk. Positive reviews following a launch will only escalate sales
and help them continue long after the initial opening. Most of the launches of junk
products and services, however, include a manufactured closing date or an artificial
number of copies they’ll sell – then they close the doors.
It doesn’t matter how socially connected you are, what’s the point of reviewing
something that’s no longer available?
Ask yourself this question: how many “copies” of a digital product are there really? Why
would someone limit the number of digital copies of something? For the most part, they
do it because they’re afraid of what people will say later. They know the result, once
word gets out, won’t be pretty. They don’t want word to get out that the product doesn’t
live up to the hype during the build-up before they’ve sold as many as they can.
14
Truth is, the new age of transparency is going to take out a lot of people. Launches might
forestall the inevitable for some…but not forever.
However…there is a silver lining to this cloud, beyond helping to wipe out more of the
junk.
15
Truth Eight:
The new age of transparency now taking shape can be your best friend and make you a
lot of money -- the right way, the way that keeps the money coming in and building for
years and years. It can, in fact, be your vehicle to success with online marketing, in spite
of all the doom and gloom we’re still seeing on so many fronts.
But – and there’s always a “but,” isn’t there? – you must first carefully read and
understand the previous seven truths. Realize you can’t believe what you’re being told.
Understand that the Internet marketing industry (especially some of the biggest players in
the field), for the most part, is selling hope with hype. Understand that they are a large
part of the problem, not the solution.
Use the process of elimination and study what remains. The chaff will be cleared from
the wheat and you’ll be free to grow.
These truths, then, will prepare you for the final truths, the ones that will carry you far
beyond where the first seven have left you. They will pave the way to the solution I wrote
this entire report to reveal to you.
As Truth 8 states, the new age of transparency can be your best friend, but only after
you’ve thoroughly digested the first 7 Truths I’ve revealed.
Here’s how:
Sell YOU!
Yes. It sounds simple, and it is, if you do it correctly. But, simple is not always the same
thing as easy. I’m sorry if it isn’t “push-button easy,” but I honestly don’t believe you
have any choice, if you’re serious about succeeding.
I’ve stressed the importance of the first Seven Truths, because you have to be able to
withstand the new transparency to benefit from it. This means you can’t get away with
selling schlock products and services to unsuspecting dupes, just because there seems to
be profit in there – even if there still is.
You have to get the “business opportunity” mindset out of your system and sell real
products and services to real people in a way that will make them eager to tell their
networks of friends and associates about you and buy what you sell.
The good news: it’s easier to get a positive “buzz” going for you and your products and
services than ever before, thanks to – the new age of transparency.
In the “days of old,” before there were blogs and social networks, when the Web was still
one-way, you could sell only the very best products and services and provide customer
service second to none, then still wait months or even years to build the kind of top-notch
16
reputation that, today, you can build today, playing into the new age of transparency,
within just a few days or weeks.
The same situation that enables people to tell thousands of people they think you’re
selling crap can also work to your advantage, because it’s also so much easier today to
tell thousands of people that you’re one of the rare few – one of the “good-guys” and
someone to trust.
People love sharing. Social networking is an outgrowth of that. But, they love sharing the
bad and the good – if it’s easy to do so.
But, you have to focus your marketing on pull, not push. You have to present a face to
the public that amplifies the fact that you represent quality and integrity. You can’t
simply tell people you’re the best. You have to be the best. You have to sell you – not
what you sell.
How you conduct your business, then, is far more important than ever before. Possibly far
more important than what you sell.
Stick to products you’ve created yourself, or ones that you’ve purchased yourself, that
you know offer real value. Then sell them with your own story.
You can’t count on long-form hype-filled sales letters to do the selling any more. Instead,
you need to build a relationship with your audience, enable them to make the decision to
get on your list, and over-deliver like hell, so they become your marketing by telling their
network of friends and contacts…pulling business to you, rather than you constantly
trying to push it in.
What’s the best way to set this “pull” in motion? That brings us to…
17
Truth Nine:
The most powerful marketing tool in the new age of transparency is … information.
It’s always been true that the more you tell, the more you sell. Today, however, it’s even
better. Today, the more you tell, the more other people will tell their networks about you.
This makes information the most valuable marketing tool you can employ -- but it can’t
be the hype-filled “blind offer” salesletter-parading-as-an-ebook information of the days
of direct mail and static Web sites. Far from it. Instead, it must be packed with value, as if
it was an information product you would ordinarily sell by itself.
To kick your online business out of the doldrums and prosper from pull marketing in the
future, create quality information. This can be video, audio or text. It doesn’t matter. Just
make sure it’s something you could easily sell for $5, $10 or even $20 in the “old days.”
Make sure it’s truly useful information your audience can consume and benefit from all
on its own. There should be no intentional holes or important steps left out, forcing your
audience to “buy or fail.”
It must stand on its own merits.
Then, to brand yourself and cement the bond you need to build with your growing
audience, the information you create should also include you.
Always work something personal into your information -- your own slant on how things
are done, your unique sense of humor, how the information applies to your life. Give it
your personal touch.
This brands you and makes you unique, even if you’re selling products sold by other
people. It makes online affiliate marketing profitable, if you make sure the products
you’re selling are of good quality, providing value and customer care that’s above-thenorm.
It helps you sell anything today and it will help you even more in the future, as the
new age of transparency spreads.
Information is also one of the best ways I know to turn the social networks and
networking you do into powerful extensions of your list-building and sales efforts. Just
create valuable information, then point your social networks to it every time you release
more.
It can be a blog, a special report, a video. It doesn’t have to be long. It just has to be
valuable.
This also sets things up to so you can start easily creating your own products. As you
build your reputation and your list by becoming a trusted source of information, you’ll
also find that you’re creating information for marketing that can also easily be turned into
information products you can sell.
18
Blog posts can, over time, be collected into reports and e-books. An email newsletter can
be compiled into a course. Product reviews based on your own actual experiences with
what you’re reviewing -- as opposed to the fake reviews so many idiots online today tell
you to write -- can be collated into a compelling catalog.
I said earlier that you have to pour it on, leave nothing out and provide real value, even if
the information you create is being given away free to build your reputation and list. I
told you to leave nothing out, making certain there are no intentional holes in your
material. That doesn’t mean you can’t take your free information and build upon it,
adding depth and further real-world experiences of your own, to turn it into a saleable
product.
You could also for example, interview experts on the subjects you’ve written about, wrap
that additional information into related stuff you’ve given away previously, add some of
your own updated experiences and release it as an updated expanded information
product.
The possibilities are endless, and information will always be the most valuable thing you
could sell. All it takes is a bit of imagination.
Information products can be created quickly. You can spend as little or as much as you
wish to put them together. As digital products, you can also produce and deliver them at
no cost. Your buyers also get the added satisfaction of receiving what they’ve purchased
instantly, at a time when consumer patience is at an all-time low.
To add value, increase your catalog and expand your market, you can also produce
physical versions of your digital information products, such as CDs, DVDs and books.
Then there’s the entire world of Kindle and other e-readers exploding on the scene that
enable you to take your information to the general public in a huge way, competing with
major publishers and leaving the Internet marketing world behind.
But…there’s still one more truth you have to deal with…and it’s a biggie, the one truth
responsible for bringing more budding entrepreneurs in the online world to a screeching
halt than any other.
And, if you let this one stop you, it’s no one’s fault but your own:
19
Truth Ten:
Building a successful business online or offline requires work and time.
Read it again and again, until it sinks in.
Ask yourself these questions: How much real work have you put into your business
dream? How long have you applied yourself to doing that work?
For many, this is the harshest reality of all. It’s also the one truth the Internet marketing
crowd I’ve discussed here plays against you time and time again. Fortunately, it’s also a
double-edged sword…a truth that can hold you back or catapult you forward.
But, it’s entirely up to you to turn it to your advantage.
In a world where everyone is looking for the easy way to riches, buying junk that
promises push-button wealth while lying on the beach, you’ve got a solid advantage if
you know such promises are just so much hogwash and, instead, apply yourself to doing
the work and following the steps, exhibiting the patience to keep it up until you see the
success you dream of. It will skyrocket you to the top of the heap because so few people
are willing to do it!
How much work and time is involved before you realize your dreams is, of course, a
variable. If you have loads of money, you can hire people to do most of the work for you.
The Internet makes it easier and cheaper to hire outside help with your efforts than ever
before. The more money you have, the more work you can hire out and the less time it
will take to achieve your goals.
That is -- depending on what your goals are.
Are you dreaming of wealth overnight? You might need massive money tomorrow – but
this is a pipe dream that’ll pull you down every time, especially in today’s new age of
transparency. Almost every “overnight success” I know of -- in the Internet marketing
industry or in any industry, for that matter -- took months or years of struggle and trialand-
error to bring about.
Yes, the lottery is an exception. There are, indeed, millionaires and multi-millionaires
created overnight in the lottery. But, it’s always wealth that was built on the backs of
millions of other people who pitched in $1, $5, $10 or more again and again, to build up
the pot, so one or just a few lucky winners could win it.
This lottery mentality, however, is what the worst of the business opportunity and online
business-building tool marketers play on heavily, to suck you in. However, they didn’t
make it “overnight” to get where they are. Usually, they built their apparent overnight
success on the backs of – you guessed it – hundreds or thousands of people throwing
money into the collective pot they were eventually able to scoop up for themselves.
20
Get the lottery mentality out of your head. Realize building a real business capable of
taking you to your dreams requires effort. Be patient and keep at it. Don’t give up.
This is the only formula for success I’ve ever seen that never fails.
21
Bonus
Unadvertised Truth Eleven:
The work involved building a real business, geared for success in the new age of
transparency, is far easier than you might think. It’s definitely less expensive. When you
seek qualified help, it can also take you a lot less time to get things rolling so you’re
seeing the kind of profits you’d like to see.
I wrote this report to help you. That should be the ultimate goal of everything you do in
your business. Focus on helping people and you will be rewarded.
If you’d like some qualified help putting information marketing and products together the
easiest, fastest way possible, I’ve made myself available at no charge. Just visit my blog,
Uncle Alan’s Info-Publishing and Marketing Portal, at
http://www.InformationPublishingPortal.com. I’m constantly digging up useful ideas and
tactics to ease your burden and I practice what I preach, holding nothing back.
When you work directly with other people who share your passion for online business,
things can happen quickly. This provides you with not only the information you need, but
help applying it to your own goals. That’s why I also launched a special forum on my
Info-Publishing and Marketing Portal, The Info-Publisher Ink-U-Bator, where you can
interact with the other Portal readers, exchange ideas and work together. It’s free, too.
Just log into the Portal and click the Ink-U-Bator link at the top of the home page, then
register.
22
SUPER Bonus
Masterminding is invaluable. When you join forces with a dedicated group of likeminded
individuals who share your goals, the sky’s the only limit on what you can
achieve. Not everyone needs or is ready for a mastermind. But if you are, I’ve put one
together for you that could just be what you’re looking for. It’s a special level of the Info-
Publisher Ink-U-Bator that gives you access to several very important private membersonly
sub-forums.
In the Info-Publisher Ink-U-Bator Mastermind, members work closely with one another
to provide access to our various talents, put together cross-promotions to help build all of
our lists, collaborate on projects we can all benefit from producing, participate in “hotseats”
where we all critique each other’s individual projects and add our own individual
insights – and much more. Members also have direct access to me in the Mastermind
forum, by email, and during live Q&A sessions, where I provide advice on how to
proceed.
Yes, I have something to sell you here. The MasterMind isn’t free. But, I believe I’ve
made this level of help more affordable than most anything else like it you could find.
Because you read this report, I’ve also put together a special offer to make it even more
affordable for you.
Get all the details here: http://www.InformationPublishingPortal.com/IUBMM
I wish I could make my MasterMind forum level free, too. But, I’ve committed a
considerable amount of my time and energy to helping the members at this level and
there is simply no way I could affordably do it for free. I have to eat, too.
If you agree I’ve helped you with this report and believe I’ve proven to you that I can
help you specifically, then I would love to have you join us. Despite the “doom and
gloom” truths stated in this report, there are a lot of other people online who can provide
you with the specific help you need, too. I’m not about to tell you my way is the only
way and everyone resonates with and works best with different people.
Just keep the truths I’ve revealed here in mind. Do your due diligence, select someone
you can trust who you feel is qualified to help you publish in the new age of
transparency, and you should do fine. I won’t be offended if you don’t join, so long as
you succeed.
23
In Conclusion…
I hope this report has helped you see the way through a growing maze of confusion that is
Internet marketing today. I hope you agree this report is a good example of the kind of
new age of transparency publishing I’ve been talking about. Let me know what you think
at http://www.InformationPublishingPortal.com
If you think this report could help someone else, by all means feel free to share it. The
report is copyrighted, but the copyright gives you the right to share the report any way
you wish, as long as you don’t alter it in any way. Post it on your blog. Send it to your
email list. Put it on your Facebook page. Help me spread the word any way you can. Just
don’t sell it.
Send it to enough people and – who knows? We could just help a lot of people together!
24
you know. If you are trying to earn money online. You need to read
this for yourself. It is written by Alan R. Bechtold and he has given
his ok to share this with others. It needs to be done as it is, no changes to it.
Can You Handle the TRUTH?
Doom or Boom
– It’s Your Choice!
--- Ten Internet Marketing Truths
No One Is Talking About…
and How to Live With the Truth
Once You Know It –
by “Uncle” Alan R. Bechtold
1
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Generalities are unavoidable, but they
can also be dangerous. When generalities are perceived as black-and-white
“rules,” they can always be disproved. Nothing in this report should be
construed as a generality, although much of what I’ve written here could
be mistaken as such, if it’s your goal to disprove what I’ve written.
A lot of Internet marketers will be upset with me for writing this report.
They’ll do everything they can to discredit what I’m revealing to you here,
because their livelihoods depend on you not knowing what I’m about to
divulge. Their first line of attack will be to go after any generalities I’ve
put forward, pointing out the exceptions. That’s ok with me.
Don’t fall for it!
Entire contents Copyright © 2011, by E-Media Moguls, LLC., P.O. Box 367221, Bonita
Springs, FL 34136. Contents may not be copied without written permission of the
publisher. Permission is granted to redistribute this document freely, so long as the
contents remain unchanged in any way.
2
Holy Crap, Tonto – the Wild West Has Exploded
Things have changed dramatically in the online marketing arena – and not in a good way.
Sales are dismal and don’t seem to be picking up much. Even worse, credibility is in the
crapper.
Sadly, very few people are willing to talk honestly about it.
I’m not writing this to discourage you. Far from it. The purpose of this report is to arm
you against what’s going on right now, to prepare you for the future. You honestly have
little hope of succeeding online if you don’t go into it knowing the truth. This
unwillingness to speak openly about the problems Internet marketing faces today is only
perpetuating the difficulties you’re facing with your own success and it has to stop, so I
wrote this report to get the ball rolling in the right direction, for a change.
The problem is…
The Truth Can Be Painful…
People are making money online, even in these tough times. Some are making lots of
money. A few are still making millions. But, there are decidedly fewer people making
millions than ever before. Most likely, they’ve also been in the market a few years
already, if they’re still making serious money in the online marketing industry. Even so,
the people who are still pulling in the biggest money in the online marketing business
today are also most likely making a lot less each year than they used to. Despite what
they might tell you, they’re also most likely working harder to make what they do make
today, and spending a lot more money to keep it coming in.
Most of these same people are, whether they know it or not, also doing things to keep
pulling in those dollars that are certain to continue the dwindling returns -- for them and
for you.
My advice: they’d best hang on to the money they’ve already made. Things are only
going to continue to get worse for them, if they don’t listen up and make the changes I’m
going to reveal to you in this report.
Sadly, many of the people raking in the “big dough” in the Internet marketing arena today
are also a major piece of the problem, because they’re not telling you the whole truth.
Why should they? Telling you the truth would reduce their revenues even more
dramatically.
I’m writing this report to tell you the truth, because I’ve honestly got little to lose if I do.
Except for my blog, I essentially left the “IM market” early in 2011. If what I tell you
here can help skim the scum off the Internet marketing pond a bit and clear the way for
you to succeed, it might actually help me as it helps you.
3
Who Am I?
It’s extremely important that you know who I am before I get into the ten truths you must
know. It will help explain why I’m compelled to tell you what you really need to know,
consequences be damned. It will definitely show you how I know the real story behind
what’s going on.
I’m a writer, publisher and marketer with more than 30 years of experience and some
huge successes along the way. I’ve been publishing and marketing online since 1984,
when I started syndicating a computer news service to operators of the independent local
dial-up computer bulletin boards (BBSes).
That was ten years before the Web was publicly accessible. I was, quite literally, one of
the very first people on earth to make money selling information online.
In 1995, the advent of the Mosaic Web browser made the Internet widely accessible and
navigable for the first time. It virtually wiped out the news syndicate I was selling to BBS
operators at the time, not to mention the monthly trade journal for BBS operators I
published and the trade show for BBS operators that I’d just launched.
Deep in debt, my business on the ropes, I tried to move my business to the Web, with
mixed results. The audience I’d built felt I was betraying them for the Web. The Web
audience I needed to continue looked upon me as “a BBS guy.”
Along the way, I’d hooked up with a publisher of business opportunities who had a large
base of customers in need of Websites to help them sell his programs. We got together
and started selling them the sites they needed and between 1996 and 2001, we sold more
than 12 million dollars’ worth.
I learned a lot about direct marketing from my partner during that time. I applied what I
learned to everything I’ve done, online and offline, ever since.
My life turned around, I then went through a tumultuous and unexpected divorce that
nearly broke me. Once I had it mostly behind me, I moved to Florida, to re-establish my
life and re-build my business on a more solid footing. I continued working with my
partner in the opportunity business, but I also started re-focusing my efforts back to
publishing, as it applies to building businesses. This resulted in the release of my EPublishing
Marketing Mastermind, E-Publishing Marketing System and The Franklin
Guild, a new mastermind updating the E-Publishing Marketing Mastermind.
May, 2008, saw the release of my first “traditionally-published” book, Will Work for
Fun: 3 Simple Steps for Turning Any Hobby or Interest Into Cash,” from John Wiley
Books. I also worked with an accomplished PBS producer to release a full-length movie,
The FUNdamental You, that was based on an important segment of the book.
4
I want you to understand I’ve been at this stuff a long, long time. I’ve seen it all and done
it all – three times. I didn’t get the t-shirt, so I printed my own.
My history is important to what I have to reveal to you for a number of reasons, some
obvious. Keep in mind I was a writer/publisher who, after several years of growing
success, was lured into the business opportunity market where I struck gold in a big way,
thanks to the help of a joint venture partner who knew what he was doing in his market,
had a large audience in need of what I could offer them. He eagerly pushed what I had to
sell them and life-altering profits were the result.
After I moved to Florida, I tried to duplicate what my partner was able to do, with mixed
results, but never the kind of results he could get. I would occasionally hook back up with
him to make an offer to his list and sales flowed in. When I tried it on my own, it was
usually less than spectacular.
After a while, I came to the realization there was one thing preventing me from making
the kind of huge money in the business opportunity market on my own that I made when
my partner did the marketing: integrity.
I’m on the way to re-building my business the right way. It wasn’t easy. I had to first
discover the truths I’m revealing to you in this report to get it right, even after all my
years of experience. But it’s now working and I’m on my way.
This process also involved a lot of trial-and-error, and more than a little financial pain.
I’d like nothing more than to help you avoid this because, when you grasp the truths I’m
about to reveal, you’ll prosper like never before.
The question is…
Can You Handle the Truth?
No more beating around the bush. Here it is:
I’ve already said there are still people making lots of money online. I’ve also pointed out
that things in the “online marketing world” aren’t what they used to be, and even those
people still making lots of money are most likely making far less than they used to, or
they’re working three times harder to make half as much.
Yet, most of these people won’t tell you what I am about to, because most of them make
the lion’s share of their money selling you information about how to make money. To do
so, they based their credibility almost entirely on the fact that they make so much money.
They know they couldn’t continue to sell you their make-money products and
information if they admit their sales are down! In fact, many will say they’re having their
best year ever -- in spite of the economy, and they will proceed to say they’re thus
qualified to show you everything you need to see similar results.
5
Truth ONE:
“I’m having my best year ever” is almost always an outright lie. The economic downturn
we’re seeing now is responsible for much of the downturn I mentioned in the opening of
this report. It’s affecting almost every business in many ways. Usually, the business
opportunity market actually takes an upswing during economic downturns. I’ve been
through several in the decades I’ve been doing this and it’s always been that way before.
Not this time! This economic downturn has been so deep and so prolonged, it’s drained a
large portion of the market for business opportunities of the resources they used to tap to
buy something that might help them make their situation better…even if they’re
convinced they need it and can’t live without it.
Don’t get me wrong here. There are some people honestly making more money than ever
before. Usually, however, it’s newcomers to the scene who were fortunate enough to fall
under the wing of one or more of the marketers who’ve been online more than a couple
of years and still have some clout, but there are some.
Remember what I said about generalities. I’m here to tell you the truth, so you can fit
your own answers into the puzzle and finally start getting ahead, but there will always be
exceptions to every point I make.
Just remember that an exception, by its nature, is a minority.
So – the current economic downturn is hurting everyone, online and offline. If someone
says they’re doing better today than ever before, things were either horrible for them
before and now they’re not as horrible, or they’ve been lucky enough to tap some of the
few in the business who are still doing well enough to help them sell more of what they
have than they did up to that moment.
Either way, most everyone in online marketing would actually be doing even better if the
economy wasn’t so completely in the pits right now. Statements that someone is doing
“better than ever before,” should automatically put up a red flag for you.
I know what you’re thinking: “Online marketing isn’t all just business opportunities.”
You’re right. It isn’t.
There are people who sell real-world products and online business-building tools and
systems that can actually help sell those products. Those aren’t business opportunities
and some of them seem to be doing well – right?
6
Truth Two:
Most of the online business-building tools and systems being sold today are still
positioned like business opportunities – or they’re being sold as “solutions” that make the
business opportunities currently being sold work “better.”
Are there any real online marketing systems available today? Absolutely. Google,
Facebook, LinkedIn and Clickbank, for example, are genuine online marketing tools you
can use to sell whatever you wish and build a business doing so. But, they’re not really a
part of the industry I’m talking about here. They’re a solid part of your solution…but
we’ll get back that in a bit.
Unfortunately, most of the online business-building tools and systems being sold by socalled
“online marketers” today are either totally ineffective by the time they offer them
to you, or they never really worked well to begin with.
It’s sad, but true.
It makes sense. Would someone who sells real-world products online and makes most of
their money doing it sell you a system that could enable you to compete with what they
do to make money? Most likely not.
7
Truth Three:
Most of the Internet marketers selling business opportunities and online marketing
systems today do not make the bulk of their money using the opportunities or systems
they’re selling you. Most of them make most of their money selling you business
opportunities and systems!
This is especially true for the people selling those ever-popular “we-do-it-all-for-you”
business opportunities and marketing systems that you see all over the Web today. You
know – “Just send us X dollars and we’ll make you thousands in return, doing everything
for you.”
Ask yourself – how can this be? If these people can make the kind of money online using
their own systems they say they do, why in the world would they do everything for you,
in return for a few measly hundred or even a thousand bucks or more?
The truth is, they wouldn’t…unless those opportunities or systems don’t work or have
stopped working for them.
Most business opportunity and Internet marketing systems you see being sold on the Web
these days are primarily sold by people who make their money selling business
opportunities and Internet marketing systems. They don’t make their money doing or
using what they sell, even though they’re more than happy to sell them to you.
It surprises me that more people don’t know this instinctively without having to hear it,
because it’s simply common sense. If they do work, why would they sell it?
I apologize for dishing up so much harsh reality at once here, but this is very important
for you to know.
This leads us to our fourth truth…
8
Truth Four:
So many people are now selling business opportunities and Internet marketing systems
parading as business opportunities that the creditability of the entire Internet marketing
industry, as a whole, is at an all-time low.
Much as I hate to say it, there’s now a dark cloud hanging over Internet marketing in
general, and it’s been brought on by many of the very people selling you what you feel
you need to make money in the same market they’re in. Imagine how much harder this
makes it for you to succeed, if what you’re selling is something that was sold to you…to
sell to people who want to succeed with Internet marketing, too.
Unlike the economy, which we can hope will improve eventually, this is a selfperpetuating
problem. People sell you a business opportunity or Internet business
marketing system that’s ready-to-roll, hands-free, “we-do-it-all-for-you” and, what does
that opportunity or system set you up to sell? An online business opportunity or Internet
business-building or marketing system that gives people who buy them the chance to sell
the same thing!
This has been going on for so long enough now that it’s amazing to me how anyone can
still try to sell any of this stuff any more. But, they do.
This is one reason why, early in 2011, I announced my own departure from the Internet
marketing arena as a whole. I was disgusted – and frustrated trying to “punch through” all
the false noise in the market.
Time for our next truth:
9
Truth Five:
There are a lot of Internet marketers today who aren’t selling regurgitated junk. These
people sell serious training courses and business-building tools that really work, but they
are also all generally seeing diminishing returns, because people today are learning to
look at Internet marketing itself as slimy.
This creates a downward spiral. To battle it, the business opportunity segment has
escalated their outlandish claims, screaming louder in their headlines and sales copy as
the market deteriorates. The more outlandish it gets, the more people are skeptical about
the entire industry.
This is not helping you, whether you’re the pinnacle of integrity or not.
Disappointed? Good! You should be. No one likes finding out they’re being lied to on
such a massive scale. It’s worse when you realize that those lies are hurting you on all
levels, too.
But -- admit it – you had a strong suspicion this was the case, didn’t you?
But -- there is a light at the end of this tunnel and the good news is it isn’t a train heading
your way.
10
Now For The Upside…
I’m sure you’re wondering what the upside to all of this could possibly be. After all, I did
promise you my goal wasn’t to discourage you. I meant what I said. You might be
disappointed at this point, but that’s ok. Just don’t get discouraged. That’s not part of my
plan here at all. I want, instead, to encourage you to seek the truth, because that’s how
you’ll thrive. Especially today. I don’t want you to give up…but I do want you to go into
this whole online marketing thing with your eyes open and your hand firmly over your
wallet, so you can survive with some solid chance of success, whether you’re interested
in the Internet marketing business to help other Internet marketers or to market real-world
products and services.
I realize, so far, it probably sounds like doom-and-gloom all the way. However, we’re
finally heading into the boom part of this report, so definitely keep reading.
There are five more truths you need to know. These are the keys, the light guiding you on
the path to overcoming the Catch-22 that is Internet marketing today as I’ve just outlined.
11
Truth Six:
The Internet marketers selling the stuff I’ve covered in this report are, for the most part,
doomed to diminishing returns. It’s already happening and it’s not going to get better for
them – or for you, if you continue to follow them and buy into the escalating schemes
they’re coming up with. I hope you can see that. This is actually good news, despite how
it might sound.
One after another, the bulk of Internet marketers we’re still seeing today will slowly give
up selling their worn-out worthless scams and move on. This has already started. If you
haven’t noticed, there have been a lot of “big” names in the industry announcing their
“retirements” or switching to other markets over the past year or two.
I got so disgusted with it all I left the market, for the most part, too.
Will they all go away? Never! Some have made so much money and continue to make
plenty, even though it’s considerably less than before. Some of them will never give up.
Internet marketing is pretty cheap, when compared to direct mail and other forms of
advertising. As long as there are profits to be made, some will continue to hammer it, just
like all those scam emails that clutter up your junk folder.
New players will also step in to take their places. But, the diminishing returns will
definitely help clear out the market, making more room for the real marketing experts
with truly helpful services and products who are struggling so hard to be heard right now.
This is good! But – it’s going to get even better.
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Truth Seven:
There is a new “age of transparency” that’s just starting to swell. It will soon take care of
the rest.
I wrote about this on my blog. The new book, How: Why HOW We Do Anything Means
Everything, by Dov Seidman, builds nicely upon my Total Transparency Marketing
theory that I first proposed on my blog.
It’s here and it’s real.
Social media and networking has taken over the Internet in a big way. Like never before,
people can check out offers before they buy, by simply bringing up a browser and
searching. Or, they can simply pop into any number of social networks and ask their
contacts there for a recommendation.
If you don’t think this will have an effect on the kinds of online business opportunities
and online business-building systems I’ve been talking about in this report, think again. It
already has.
Direct mail was a huge step forward over door-to-door sales, because you never had to
hear a “no.” Just write your sales pitch, mail it to the right list, sit back and watch the
orders come in. You only heard from people who said “yes.”
Most people selling in the Internet marketing arena today got started when the Web was
little more than an extension of direct mail, with static Web pages displaying long-form
sales letters, capable of generating orders much faster and far less expensively than direct
mail. Online marketing started out as a one-way street, just like direct mail. You pushed
your sales message to as many people as possible and they either bought or didn’t buy.
Today’s age of transparency connects the buyers you’re trying to reach online with one
another in ways we never could have imagined just five short years ago. Not only can
prospects and buyers interact with you – they can also reach out to thousands or even tens
of thousands of other people, telling them all how their purchase went and how they feel
about what they bought, and/or the quality of service they received from you.
Today’s socially connected Internet has made certain that online marketing – indeed, all
marketing -- is no longer a one-way street. It’s never turning back.
Internet marketers have been doing everything they can to circumvent this. Product
launches seem to be their current favorite method, although I’m certain it won’t be the
last that we see.
Surely you’ve seen them. There have been a multitude of product launches, including
massive launches selling systems that teach or enable you to do your own product
launches. They can be powerful sales motivators and, in and of themselves, they are a
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legitimate way to make a great number of sales all at once, if you’re willing to dig in and
do the serious preparatory work required to properly set them up.
But – launches are also an excellent way to sell junk, especially in the age of
transparency we’re now entering.
In a product launch scenario, everything prior to the actual release of the product is
designed with one goal in mind: to build anticipation and a waiting list of eager buyers
who will, ideally, purchase the product or service being offered on the day the doors first
open.
Done correctly, with plenty of marketers pushing the same launch, launches can result in
a sales frenzy not unlike the moment the doors open on popular department stores on
Black Friday.
Usually, launches are designed to generate the bulk of the resulting sales within the first 3
– 7 days of opening. If someone launches a new product or service this way, they can
easily generate hundreds or even thousands of orders all at once, then close the doors to
new orders, long before anyone has had time to properly try out what they’ve purchased
and start telling other people on the new socially-connected Internet what they really
think of what they’ve purchased.
When you sell quality “real-world” products and services, you want and hope for
reviews. The music, movie and game industries mail out advance copies to reviewers,
hoping they’ll like their latest offerings and write a good review, but also willing to take
their knocks if it doesn’t work out that way.
Most Internet marketers like those I’ve been discussing here utilize launches to
circumvent the review cycle, effectively shutting off the socially-connected Web.
A properly-executed launch can kick-start a marketing campaign for a quality product, as
well as one that’s pure junk. Positive reviews following a launch will only escalate sales
and help them continue long after the initial opening. Most of the launches of junk
products and services, however, include a manufactured closing date or an artificial
number of copies they’ll sell – then they close the doors.
It doesn’t matter how socially connected you are, what’s the point of reviewing
something that’s no longer available?
Ask yourself this question: how many “copies” of a digital product are there really? Why
would someone limit the number of digital copies of something? For the most part, they
do it because they’re afraid of what people will say later. They know the result, once
word gets out, won’t be pretty. They don’t want word to get out that the product doesn’t
live up to the hype during the build-up before they’ve sold as many as they can.
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Truth is, the new age of transparency is going to take out a lot of people. Launches might
forestall the inevitable for some…but not forever.
However…there is a silver lining to this cloud, beyond helping to wipe out more of the
junk.
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Truth Eight:
The new age of transparency now taking shape can be your best friend and make you a
lot of money -- the right way, the way that keeps the money coming in and building for
years and years. It can, in fact, be your vehicle to success with online marketing, in spite
of all the doom and gloom we’re still seeing on so many fronts.
But – and there’s always a “but,” isn’t there? – you must first carefully read and
understand the previous seven truths. Realize you can’t believe what you’re being told.
Understand that the Internet marketing industry (especially some of the biggest players in
the field), for the most part, is selling hope with hype. Understand that they are a large
part of the problem, not the solution.
Use the process of elimination and study what remains. The chaff will be cleared from
the wheat and you’ll be free to grow.
These truths, then, will prepare you for the final truths, the ones that will carry you far
beyond where the first seven have left you. They will pave the way to the solution I wrote
this entire report to reveal to you.
As Truth 8 states, the new age of transparency can be your best friend, but only after
you’ve thoroughly digested the first 7 Truths I’ve revealed.
Here’s how:
Sell YOU!
Yes. It sounds simple, and it is, if you do it correctly. But, simple is not always the same
thing as easy. I’m sorry if it isn’t “push-button easy,” but I honestly don’t believe you
have any choice, if you’re serious about succeeding.
I’ve stressed the importance of the first Seven Truths, because you have to be able to
withstand the new transparency to benefit from it. This means you can’t get away with
selling schlock products and services to unsuspecting dupes, just because there seems to
be profit in there – even if there still is.
You have to get the “business opportunity” mindset out of your system and sell real
products and services to real people in a way that will make them eager to tell their
networks of friends and associates about you and buy what you sell.
The good news: it’s easier to get a positive “buzz” going for you and your products and
services than ever before, thanks to – the new age of transparency.
In the “days of old,” before there were blogs and social networks, when the Web was still
one-way, you could sell only the very best products and services and provide customer
service second to none, then still wait months or even years to build the kind of top-notch
16
reputation that, today, you can build today, playing into the new age of transparency,
within just a few days or weeks.
The same situation that enables people to tell thousands of people they think you’re
selling crap can also work to your advantage, because it’s also so much easier today to
tell thousands of people that you’re one of the rare few – one of the “good-guys” and
someone to trust.
People love sharing. Social networking is an outgrowth of that. But, they love sharing the
bad and the good – if it’s easy to do so.
But, you have to focus your marketing on pull, not push. You have to present a face to
the public that amplifies the fact that you represent quality and integrity. You can’t
simply tell people you’re the best. You have to be the best. You have to sell you – not
what you sell.
How you conduct your business, then, is far more important than ever before. Possibly far
more important than what you sell.
Stick to products you’ve created yourself, or ones that you’ve purchased yourself, that
you know offer real value. Then sell them with your own story.
You can’t count on long-form hype-filled sales letters to do the selling any more. Instead,
you need to build a relationship with your audience, enable them to make the decision to
get on your list, and over-deliver like hell, so they become your marketing by telling their
network of friends and contacts…pulling business to you, rather than you constantly
trying to push it in.
What’s the best way to set this “pull” in motion? That brings us to…
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Truth Nine:
The most powerful marketing tool in the new age of transparency is … information.
It’s always been true that the more you tell, the more you sell. Today, however, it’s even
better. Today, the more you tell, the more other people will tell their networks about you.
This makes information the most valuable marketing tool you can employ -- but it can’t
be the hype-filled “blind offer” salesletter-parading-as-an-ebook information of the days
of direct mail and static Web sites. Far from it. Instead, it must be packed with value, as if
it was an information product you would ordinarily sell by itself.
To kick your online business out of the doldrums and prosper from pull marketing in the
future, create quality information. This can be video, audio or text. It doesn’t matter. Just
make sure it’s something you could easily sell for $5, $10 or even $20 in the “old days.”
Make sure it’s truly useful information your audience can consume and benefit from all
on its own. There should be no intentional holes or important steps left out, forcing your
audience to “buy or fail.”
It must stand on its own merits.
Then, to brand yourself and cement the bond you need to build with your growing
audience, the information you create should also include you.
Always work something personal into your information -- your own slant on how things
are done, your unique sense of humor, how the information applies to your life. Give it
your personal touch.
This brands you and makes you unique, even if you’re selling products sold by other
people. It makes online affiliate marketing profitable, if you make sure the products
you’re selling are of good quality, providing value and customer care that’s above-thenorm.
It helps you sell anything today and it will help you even more in the future, as the
new age of transparency spreads.
Information is also one of the best ways I know to turn the social networks and
networking you do into powerful extensions of your list-building and sales efforts. Just
create valuable information, then point your social networks to it every time you release
more.
It can be a blog, a special report, a video. It doesn’t have to be long. It just has to be
valuable.
This also sets things up to so you can start easily creating your own products. As you
build your reputation and your list by becoming a trusted source of information, you’ll
also find that you’re creating information for marketing that can also easily be turned into
information products you can sell.
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Blog posts can, over time, be collected into reports and e-books. An email newsletter can
be compiled into a course. Product reviews based on your own actual experiences with
what you’re reviewing -- as opposed to the fake reviews so many idiots online today tell
you to write -- can be collated into a compelling catalog.
I said earlier that you have to pour it on, leave nothing out and provide real value, even if
the information you create is being given away free to build your reputation and list. I
told you to leave nothing out, making certain there are no intentional holes in your
material. That doesn’t mean you can’t take your free information and build upon it,
adding depth and further real-world experiences of your own, to turn it into a saleable
product.
You could also for example, interview experts on the subjects you’ve written about, wrap
that additional information into related stuff you’ve given away previously, add some of
your own updated experiences and release it as an updated expanded information
product.
The possibilities are endless, and information will always be the most valuable thing you
could sell. All it takes is a bit of imagination.
Information products can be created quickly. You can spend as little or as much as you
wish to put them together. As digital products, you can also produce and deliver them at
no cost. Your buyers also get the added satisfaction of receiving what they’ve purchased
instantly, at a time when consumer patience is at an all-time low.
To add value, increase your catalog and expand your market, you can also produce
physical versions of your digital information products, such as CDs, DVDs and books.
Then there’s the entire world of Kindle and other e-readers exploding on the scene that
enable you to take your information to the general public in a huge way, competing with
major publishers and leaving the Internet marketing world behind.
But…there’s still one more truth you have to deal with…and it’s a biggie, the one truth
responsible for bringing more budding entrepreneurs in the online world to a screeching
halt than any other.
And, if you let this one stop you, it’s no one’s fault but your own:
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Truth Ten:
Building a successful business online or offline requires work and time.
Read it again and again, until it sinks in.
Ask yourself these questions: How much real work have you put into your business
dream? How long have you applied yourself to doing that work?
For many, this is the harshest reality of all. It’s also the one truth the Internet marketing
crowd I’ve discussed here plays against you time and time again. Fortunately, it’s also a
double-edged sword…a truth that can hold you back or catapult you forward.
But, it’s entirely up to you to turn it to your advantage.
In a world where everyone is looking for the easy way to riches, buying junk that
promises push-button wealth while lying on the beach, you’ve got a solid advantage if
you know such promises are just so much hogwash and, instead, apply yourself to doing
the work and following the steps, exhibiting the patience to keep it up until you see the
success you dream of. It will skyrocket you to the top of the heap because so few people
are willing to do it!
How much work and time is involved before you realize your dreams is, of course, a
variable. If you have loads of money, you can hire people to do most of the work for you.
The Internet makes it easier and cheaper to hire outside help with your efforts than ever
before. The more money you have, the more work you can hire out and the less time it
will take to achieve your goals.
That is -- depending on what your goals are.
Are you dreaming of wealth overnight? You might need massive money tomorrow – but
this is a pipe dream that’ll pull you down every time, especially in today’s new age of
transparency. Almost every “overnight success” I know of -- in the Internet marketing
industry or in any industry, for that matter -- took months or years of struggle and trialand-
error to bring about.
Yes, the lottery is an exception. There are, indeed, millionaires and multi-millionaires
created overnight in the lottery. But, it’s always wealth that was built on the backs of
millions of other people who pitched in $1, $5, $10 or more again and again, to build up
the pot, so one or just a few lucky winners could win it.
This lottery mentality, however, is what the worst of the business opportunity and online
business-building tool marketers play on heavily, to suck you in. However, they didn’t
make it “overnight” to get where they are. Usually, they built their apparent overnight
success on the backs of – you guessed it – hundreds or thousands of people throwing
money into the collective pot they were eventually able to scoop up for themselves.
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Get the lottery mentality out of your head. Realize building a real business capable of
taking you to your dreams requires effort. Be patient and keep at it. Don’t give up.
This is the only formula for success I’ve ever seen that never fails.
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Bonus
Unadvertised Truth Eleven:
The work involved building a real business, geared for success in the new age of
transparency, is far easier than you might think. It’s definitely less expensive. When you
seek qualified help, it can also take you a lot less time to get things rolling so you’re
seeing the kind of profits you’d like to see.
I wrote this report to help you. That should be the ultimate goal of everything you do in
your business. Focus on helping people and you will be rewarded.
If you’d like some qualified help putting information marketing and products together the
easiest, fastest way possible, I’ve made myself available at no charge. Just visit my blog,
Uncle Alan’s Info-Publishing and Marketing Portal, at
http://www.InformationPublishingPortal.com. I’m constantly digging up useful ideas and
tactics to ease your burden and I practice what I preach, holding nothing back.
When you work directly with other people who share your passion for online business,
things can happen quickly. This provides you with not only the information you need, but
help applying it to your own goals. That’s why I also launched a special forum on my
Info-Publishing and Marketing Portal, The Info-Publisher Ink-U-Bator, where you can
interact with the other Portal readers, exchange ideas and work together. It’s free, too.
Just log into the Portal and click the Ink-U-Bator link at the top of the home page, then
register.
22
SUPER Bonus
Masterminding is invaluable. When you join forces with a dedicated group of likeminded
individuals who share your goals, the sky’s the only limit on what you can
achieve. Not everyone needs or is ready for a mastermind. But if you are, I’ve put one
together for you that could just be what you’re looking for. It’s a special level of the Info-
Publisher Ink-U-Bator that gives you access to several very important private membersonly
sub-forums.
In the Info-Publisher Ink-U-Bator Mastermind, members work closely with one another
to provide access to our various talents, put together cross-promotions to help build all of
our lists, collaborate on projects we can all benefit from producing, participate in “hotseats”
where we all critique each other’s individual projects and add our own individual
insights – and much more. Members also have direct access to me in the Mastermind
forum, by email, and during live Q&A sessions, where I provide advice on how to
proceed.
Yes, I have something to sell you here. The MasterMind isn’t free. But, I believe I’ve
made this level of help more affordable than most anything else like it you could find.
Because you read this report, I’ve also put together a special offer to make it even more
affordable for you.
Get all the details here: http://www.InformationPublishingPortal.com/IUBMM
I wish I could make my MasterMind forum level free, too. But, I’ve committed a
considerable amount of my time and energy to helping the members at this level and
there is simply no way I could affordably do it for free. I have to eat, too.
If you agree I’ve helped you with this report and believe I’ve proven to you that I can
help you specifically, then I would love to have you join us. Despite the “doom and
gloom” truths stated in this report, there are a lot of other people online who can provide
you with the specific help you need, too. I’m not about to tell you my way is the only
way and everyone resonates with and works best with different people.
Just keep the truths I’ve revealed here in mind. Do your due diligence, select someone
you can trust who you feel is qualified to help you publish in the new age of
transparency, and you should do fine. I won’t be offended if you don’t join, so long as
you succeed.
23
In Conclusion…
I hope this report has helped you see the way through a growing maze of confusion that is
Internet marketing today. I hope you agree this report is a good example of the kind of
new age of transparency publishing I’ve been talking about. Let me know what you think
at http://www.InformationPublishingPortal.com
If you think this report could help someone else, by all means feel free to share it. The
report is copyrighted, but the copyright gives you the right to share the report any way
you wish, as long as you don’t alter it in any way. Post it on your blog. Send it to your
email list. Put it on your Facebook page. Help me spread the word any way you can. Just
don’t sell it.
Send it to enough people and – who knows? We could just help a lot of people together!
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