Internet Marketing TEMPLE of Learning for Newbies » internet marketing

Decepticons of Internet Marketing

Gary — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:16:33 +0000

Hi,

I wasn’t even going to write this blog post but then it occurred to me…

… I haven’t had a good ole rant for a long time – like… almost a week! Plus, I’ve been holding off making a public statement and taking a stance on this issue for too long. And that just ain’t me. Nobody is ever gonna die wondering what I think about something I consider to be important. Those who know me well know that you can take that to the bank.

So, what am I cooking up today? Well, I just want to rave on about everyone’s favorite misery whinge at the moment and throw my 2 cents into the ring.

It seems as though Internet Marketers are forming up into TWO big opposing groups – those who wish to deceive and con versus those who don’t. I will call the former group the “Decepticons”, mainly because that is what they are mostly about – deceiving and conning.

Just in case you aren’t familiar with the concepts of the movie “Transformers”, here is the Wikipedia definition of a Decepticon:

“The Decepticons are usually depicted as the antagonists in the fictional universes of the Transformers toyline and related comics and cartoons, and the enemies of the Autobots.”

In other words they are the “bad guys.” So, moving along with this theme and relating it to Internet Marketing …

Decepticons will use false subject lines such as:

- “Notification of Payment Received”

That’s a real nasty because it tricks people – especially beginners – into thinking they have made a sale. So they eagerly open the email to see what the payment was for and then they get presented with some crap like: “Now that I have gained your attention…” Well, it sure gains mine – I start hunting for the UNSUBSCRIBE link straight away.

That deceptive subject line is bloody awful! I’ve even seen several experienced marketers use it. They should get a damn good kick up the a** for it.

Here’s another very “popular” misleading subject line:

- “RE: (and anything they type after that)”

This is designed to trick you into thinking that somebody is actually replying to you because that is the prefix given to ALL replies to emails that you send. Again, a trick – and a pretty moronic one at that. Why? Because the instant that you realize that the email isn’t personal you lose TOTAL interest and wonder who this putz is. Then you get annoyed that they would play such a trick on you and… UNSUBSCRIBE!

Here’s another commonly used Decepticon subject line:

- “Your Order Confirmation”

This is yet another trick to get you to open the email to see what the heck you are supposed to have ordered. When you realize that you have been conned yet again… yep… UNSUBSCRIBE!

Are you starting to see a pattern here? These Decepticons are SO bereft of talent that they have to resort to trickery and con-artistry to try to get you to open up their crap and then HOPE that because you did that you will either click on something that will take you to a sales page or an opt-in page to surrender your details for – wait for it – even MORE of their JUNK!

Now, here’s a particularly untalented Decepticon subject line that is doing the rounds FAR too often and is all the “rage” at the moment:

- “Your Order #RU256790843”

I can’t even believe how dopey this is and yet SO MANY would-be marketers are using it. Even worse there are so many fledgling marketers blindly copying this ridiculous ruse. It seems really strange to me that ALL of these deceptive subject lines all carry the prefix RU. Why not XT? Or ZBU? Nope. Monkey see, monkey do. (Give the chimp a peanut) They are ALL #RU. They might as well be #RU-anIDIOT. So, when somebody fools you in this way what do you do? Hint: Look above – it begins with U and ends with E!

There are several other “popular” Decepticon subject lines equally as misleading as these but I won’t bore you with any more. You have probably seen them anyway.

Do you like them?

I sure don’t. And it would seem that NOBODY else does either. But the dill-brains using them just continue to use them to build massive lists that are becoming MORE and MORE unresponsive by the day. Very soon anyone engaging in email marketing will have to have a list of 100,000 just to get 100 opens. And that 100 will be the greenest of green raw beginners on the planet. And when THEY wise-up they won’t be opening these emails either.

Rampant adswapping has caused this malaise. I’m not against adswapping. I think it has its place but so many people now are so feverish to build an enormous list that they will stoop to almost any level to fool people into handing over their name and/or email address. So, rather than be creative and tell the bloody truth, they resort to misleading people.

What the Decepticons clearly have NOT factored into their equation – quite apart from the rising percentage of people unsubscribing from virtually ANY email contact – is the MASS de-sensitisation of ALL those receiving these deceptive and highly misleading emails. Even after a relatively short period of time most people wise up and stop being fooled by them.

Like you, I am on 100’s of lists. I rarely unsubscribe – unless somebody sends me endless worthless junk that’s been around since the first moon landing OR they pound me mercilessly with far too many emails.

I was talking to a colleague the other day who found himself on a list where the owner began to barrage him with 4 emails per day and then ramped it up to 8. Yes! 8 emails per day – EVERY day! That is abusing the system if I have ever heard of it. What if everyone started doing that? No wonder autoresponders are becoming more expensive to use and are breaking down more often.

Some Decepticons also think they are pretty clever by hitting the space bar 20 or 30 times before they add the mandatory unsubscribe link too. Well, not only is that unethical and against the TOS of most autoresponders but also – how STUPID! Even a rank beginner can drag the scroll bar down to where it is hiding at the bottom of 10, 20 or even 50 folds of white space. Deceptive and… dumb!

When this is all said and done, there are still people out there in marketing cyberland who will send you GOOD information – not all of it demanding your name or email address on EVERY occasion. Some will point you to blog posts, some will just send free information and some… just a few, like me, will even send you the occasional NO opt-in pdf. But even when the honest and ethical people do these things the ignore rate and the unsubscribe rate is still very high because of what the Decepticons are doing.

It has almost reached epidemic proportions. In fact, I take that back. It has. It’s now a PANDEMIC. It hurts everyone, fills up everyone’s email account with tons and tons of useless junk and desensitizes everyone. And don’t expect it to stop any time soon. The ONLY time it will stop is when open rates are so LOW that the Decepticons finally realize that all they have been doing is sh*tting in their own nests OR stronger rules of the CAN-Spam Act are invoked.

What are your thoughts? What are the email subject lines and tactics that you detest the most? Have your say. In fact, RANT all you want. You can disagree with me if you want too. If you want to blast me, go ahead. Just be prepared for the return salvo. Seriously, say what you want. If you have a reasoned argument that disproves what I have said above then I will NOT censor you. I promise.

While I’m at it – here’s another PROMISE – I will NEVER send you a misleading or deceptive email subject line. I’d rather be creative than follow blindly the lead of the Decepticons. Plus I have too much pride in what I do to be so banal.

For me… I’ll be an “Autobot” any day of the week.

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Internet Marketing – A Cry For Help

Gary — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:37:16 +0000

This is a TRUE story…

Only the name has been changed to protect the identity of the person involved.

Let’s call the individual… “Mike.”

I think there is a really important LIFE LESSON here so I am going to reproduce EXACTLY what was said between me and Mike. Here is what happened so you know how this came about…

I sent some information to my list of subscribers and received several pretty nasty unsubscribe email messages. This was one of them…

From Mike:

“You have sent me pure junk since I signed up, I am not stupid and dont wish for you to attempt to make money off of me, greed is a sin.

If you want to help me then mentor me for free and help me earn an income, but I can safely assume that would be too much trouble and not the greatest of investments hey?”

My reply:

Mike,

Your comment would have to be one of the most ill-informed and disingenuous
emails I have received for quite some time.

Let’s take a look at a few things:

1 – You signed up for my Time in Motion ACTION Planner. That was FREE. Have you ever used it? Have you even read it?
2 – I have a MASSIVE amount of information freely available on my blog. It covers so many aspects of Internet Marketing. Have you looked at any of that?
3 – Also available on my blog – completely FREE are:

* The Perfect Storm – a writing manual
* Adswaps manual
* Copywriting manual
* Mindset manual <--- maybe you would benefit from that
* Twitter manual
* Power of Choice

And a bunch of other stuff – ALL FREE!

You say “PURE JUNK” – what, in YOUR opinion is PURE JUNK? Please tell me.

Also, HOW am I attempting to make money off you?

Mentor you for free huh? What ELSE would you require for free? Should I buy you a domain name, a website, build you a blog, buy you an autoresponder? You see Mike this all points to one thing – your rudeness and anger clouds your mindset.

I’m actually glad you have unsubscribed because with an attitude like yours you just don’t have what it takes to be successful right now. Waken up to yourself and stop thinking that everybody owes you something. And get out of your mind that everybody wants to take money off you. The only thing you have in your wallet is moths anyway because it’s VERY obvious that you wouldn’t pay anything to improve or educate yourself.

You cant expect help from people by being rude and abusive.

Have a great Easter and think about why you find yourself in this negative mindset because it is stopping you dead in your tracks. That little piece of advice is FREE too Mike.

Regards

Gary

Mike’s Reply:

Gary,

I have no shame to admit that you did accurately guess a few things right, I am a
man of honesty and can openly admit this.

1. I never actually received this book, but I can assure you that I have read hundreds of others.
2. Information is great. I can find information everywhere I look and even when I try to meditate.
3. Adsense costs money, A domain cost money, Twitter is useless if you dont have a website to promote, Choices can be limited, I dont choose to sit in for 5 days at a time, I have no choice I am too broke to leave.

I am angry, I am angry towards myself and God for putting me in this hell hole. I am angry because I keep loosing my job, I am angry that I cant leave my house, I am angry because I dont have no friends and by the looks of thing no future, I am angry that I have been suffering with migraines for 8 years now and cant find a cure, I am also angry that I am fighting a spiritual battle in mind that is making me feel suicidal, I want to change my life so much, but because of a peice of paper everytime I try to attempt to build something of value I cant do nothing with it.

Some of the most profound self help books I paid nothing for, and actually in all honesty its how I choose what to read. If someone is giving away a free book their intent is clear.

I dont sit around and do nothing, I have wrote 80 pages of a guide to help people also, but what the heck shall I do with it. I have no means of promoting it, forget all these free websites they are useless, the book is not great but when you have a thumping headache/pain in your head from the time you wake up to the time you go bed, then your creativity is kind of drained.

I will move into my positive mind and I hope soon, and when I do my life will change, but right now my negative mind is killing me. I have alot to do on this planet, and will succeed regardless of how weak and desperate I feel.

I am bankrupt at 23 and cant even afford to pay bankruptcy fees, I owe court money and have a distress warrant out for not being able to afford them, you try staying positive!

My reply:

Mike,

To be honest – I didn’t expect a reply from you. So, I give you credit for that.

None of what I said in my reply to you was what you call “an accurate guess” Mike. It sticks out like the proverbial Pit Bull’s OO’s.

Yes, from what you say below, you are going through stress. You are being challenged to see what you are made of. I have been through these times myself.

Lashing out at people is only gonna make things even worse for you.

Not EVERYBODY wants to take your money. But you have to pay your way in this world. Your bankruptcy is a result of poor decisions that you made and maybe some bad luck along the way as well.

Have you been to a doctor for this migraine? Try this: Figure out what side of your head the most pain is on. Left or right. Then take your opposite foot and press around the ball of your big toe until you find a spot that is REALLY painful. Press on that point with the tips of your fingers or thumb at the same rate as your heartbeat. Do that for 3-4 minutes. It’s even better if you can get somebody else to do it for you. It’s called shiatsu and it does work. I have helped dozens of people using this technique over the years but here is what I find – the ones who refuse to believe it cannot be helped. They say it’s all bullshit and they put up with their headache. Those who refuse to endure a couple of minutes of pain also put up with their headache. Their CHOICE!

Those who take the bit between their teeth and work through the TEMPORARY pain are the ones who get rid of their migraines.

You may also be allergic to food substances and additives. Try this: Write down EVERYTHING you eat and drink over the next week and record when you have the headache. Compare your food and drink intake with how you feel. I can tell you from experiences of my own that chocolate, tomatoes and cucumber are migraine foods for many people. It can also be the comination of food.

Mike, I want you to look very carefully at these two sentences you wrote:

“I am angry, I am angry towards myself and God for putting me in this hell hole. I am angry because I keep loosing my job, I am angry that I cant leave my house, I am angry because I dont have no friends and by the looks of thing no future.”

See the KEY word there? “ANGRY.” Yes, you are angry. And that is precisely why you keep losing your job. WHO in their right mind wants a perpetually angry person around them? Tell me that! What friends are you gonna attract when you are always angry? Gang-banger types, that’s who. Other ANGRY losers.

You will attract what you give out. And that is what you are “offering” the world at the moment Mike – anger. And I can tell you this too. All it will do is cause you MORE pain.

Being angry at God is a futile and senseless way to be Mike. He is TESTING you mate and you are proving to Him that you are unworthy of His help.

Learn to be more calm and reasonable.

I can tell you this – when I read your angry email the first time my initial reaction was “what a shithead.” Sorry, but that is what I thought. But I decided to email you to find out why you behave this way.

I believe that you have the capacity inside you to get out of your terrible situation. But… it MUST start INSIDE you. You probably have a hell of a lot more to be thankful for than some poor kid in Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Haiti. Start looking at the positive things in life instead of focussing on all the crap. And stop GIVING crap. Coz when you give it that is all you will attract. More crap, more grief and then more anger. Like a dog chasing its tail.

You ALREADY know that what I say is true because you also said:

“I will move into my positive mind and I hope soon, and when I do my life will change, but right now my negative mind is killing me. I have alot to do on this planet, and will succeed regardless of how weak and desperate I feel.”

But, if you keep lashing out at people in frustration – like you did with me – then all you are doing is suppressing your blossoming into the being you truly want to be. Therefore, your first challenge is to MODERATE your behaviour. Take your aggression out on a punching bag or at the gym – NOT on other people. That is what I do. I train EVERY day to release the crap that people (like you) throw at me for NO good reason. In fact, as soon as I get done finishing this email, that is EXACTLY what I will do. And I will be just a little bit better today than yesterday for doing that.

Finally, Mike, I can tell that you are educated and fairly intelligent simply by the way you write. You have ability over and above the average 23 year old. With a bit of training you could be very good at the written word. That also is quite obvious to me. I’m a very experienced writer and I can spot talent in just a few short sentences and paragraphs. Your sentence construction clearly tells me that you have talent. Use it!

I want you to have this: [POWER OF CHOICE] Please read it. You will see that the person in the story could be YOU! Don’t waste your life Mike. Life is too precious for that. Embrace all the good that you will find WHEN you look for it. It’s there mate. You just have to be LOOKING for it.

I’ve spent over an hour writing this Mike. That is time that I could have been using doing something for myself but I chose to GIVE that time to YOU. I sure hope you appreciate it. In all the thousands of people online that you could have abused, you chose me today. And I have invested time in trying to make you see where you are going wrong. Maybe God, in His mysterious way, made me do it. I don’t know.

Best Wishes

Gary Simpson
Internet Marketing TEMPLE for Newbies

Just in case you are wondering – the original information I sent was a FREE offer from another marketer.

OK. Over to you. Was I too harsh with what I said? Do you think I helped this guy or did I just make things worse? If I get a reply from him I will post it below. Tell me what YOU think.

PS: If you haven’t checked out Alex Jeffreys e-book then take a look. It costs NOTHING to look. The book is free and you can learn a few things from it.

===> ALEX JEFFREYS’ The Guru’s Nightmare – Time to Put the Horse’s head in the Guru’s Bed

Internet Marketing – Where Are You At?

Gary — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 07:51:47 +0000

Please bear with me here coz I think I have some information for you that you can benefit from…

Whether you love him, like him or loathe him one thing is CERTAIN – Alex Jeffreys is going to be a force to be reckoned with on the Internet for many years to come.

Oh, I KNOW you may be getting POUNDED mercilessly with emails about his latest coaching course and his pre-launch book called “The Guru’s Nightmare” and all the razzamatazz that goes with a major launch. But HEY – that’s the Internet. It happens. I get them all too! I get many 100’s of emails a day. I’m not immune to getting all manner of promos – day in, day out.

Well, here’s my take on it. You can get aggro, annoyed, peeved, saturated, poly-unsaturated… whatever. But, why not do the SMART thing?

What’s that Gazza?

Take ADVANTAGE of it all! Learn HOW he does all this stuff. Study it. See how it all goes together. Learn from it. Educate yourself. And a good starting point is to download his latest e-book and read it:

===> ALEX JEFFREYS’ The Guru’s Nightmare – Time to Put the Horse’s head in the Guru’s Bed

Yeah, I KNOW it has spelling mistakes. Lotsa people have told me that. OK. There’s spelling mistakes. He swears a bit in it too. The guy makes buckets of cash. So shouldn’t that give YOU hope?

Don’t let little things stand in your path.

Something else… you know what I have found over ALL the countless hours I have spent on the Internet? The ones who get the angriest and the most frustrated, negative and downright ABUSIVE are the ones who…

… are making NO money. And they take it out on the messengers – people like me.

All I have ever done is write a stack of e-books, reports, manuals, courses etc based on my own experiences and knowledge. Yet I still get comments like this when certain people unsubscribe:

“Hey, you thing who call yourself gary. Suck my A**!”

Nice huh? [That was word-for-word BTW]

I see that as a VERY frustrated and anguished cry for help. Abusive yes. Nasty yes. VERY nasty actually! Could I help a person like that? Maybe.

Then again, maybe they are SO aggro, negative and nasty that it just clouds their every waking moment. Maybe they are oblivious to OPPORTUNITY because of their internal anger and frustration.

SHOULD I help somebody like that? Would you?

There are SO many wonderful people in this world – people just like you who just want a bit of a clue and some information that will help them on their own online journey. And that’s what I TRY to do here… at this place I vicariously call the TEMPLE.

Yeah, I KNOW I crap on about things and do some crazy stuff and try to make people feel happy through laughter. Or make them roll their eyes north with some of the things I do and say.

Oh, I FEEL a philosphical moment coming on …

[PHILOSOPHICAL MOMENT]

In the overall context of all things past, present and future, life is really short. So why not have fun?

[END OF PHILOSOPHICAL MOMENT]

I see so many grumpy-asses in my travels and you know what? I actually feel sorry for these people because by their own volition they are having a stinking, miserable, loser of a life. Why? Huh? Why should that be so? It’s their choice.

Oh, and while I am on that very subject – CHOICE! See that e-book over there “The Power of Choice” ? Have a look. It’s just over there (on the left). IF you haven’t read that then you are REALLY missing out on some powerful stuff. I was on fire when I wrote that. I honestly believe I had some sort of divine power running through me when I penned that. [I do occasionally have my moments and that SURE was one of them...]

I won’t say any more about it other than to tell you that it has gone into over 40 countries (at last count – about 2 years ago) over the 8 years it has been available online and the comments I have received have been PHENOMENAL!

Anyway, I won’t detain you any longer with my musings. Except…

… soon I hope to have a product available that will teach you step-by-step how you can make your first HUNGE ($100) online. It’s a manual I have been slaving away over for the last 3 days. And no, it won’t be free. Sorry. But the last 7 e-books I have created HAVE been free. I don’t really wanna be known as the free-whore. I have expenses on the Internet too.

I reckon if I can show you step-by-step the best method of how to make your FIRST hundred bucks then that’s gotta be worth something. And then you can make another $100 and then another $100 and so on. So that’s DEFO gotta be worth something. You see, I talk to people a LOT and I get texts and emails [and carrier pigeon messages - only joking!] from SO many people who are SO frustrated because not only have they NOT made a hundred shmucks – they have made JACK SH*T! And they are frustrated and even embarrased about it. So, tell me…

… do you think a manual like that would be helpful to you and what do you think something like that should be worth? Be fair. I’ll take whatever comments (or emails) people tell me into consideration.

As usual, my Best Wishes to you,

PS: If you haven’t checked out Alex Jeffreys e-book then take a look. It costs NOTHING to look. The book is free and you can learn a few things from it.

===> ALEX JEFFREYS’ The Guru’s Nightmare – Time to Put the Horse’s head in the Guru’s Bed

Being Busy Does Not Equal Being Productive

Gary — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:52:49 +0000

Hi, maybe I can help you with something here… TIME MANAGEMENT. If you take a couple of minutes to read this I’m sure the ideas you will get will save that time MANY times over and make you FAR more productive.

Being “busy” can destroy your ability to get things done. Let me say that again…

Being “busy” can destroy your ability to get things done.

How many people do you know who are so busy being busy that they never seem to get anything worthwhile done? Does that describe you, maybe even just a little bit?

Being busy all the time, through necessity, is a curse. Being busy all the time, for the sake of it, is just sheer madness.

Continual busy-ness eventually leads to stress, particularly if results are minimal. You see, it will get to a point where something has to give way. It’s like filling a balloon with air. Eventually no more air will fit inside the balloon and it will do the only thing it can. It will burst.

It’s OK to have busy periods through each day, each week, each month and each year. However, you also need time to relax. Time to re-charge the batteries.

People who are continuously busy over long periods suffer from two main problems:

1 – they have difficulty saying “no” to anyone
2 – they have difficulty delegating tasks to others

Let’s look at each in turn.

First, those who cannot say “no.” I have a saying: “You can’t save the entire world.” No matter how good your intentions are, you cannot be everything to everyone.

Make a list of those who need and DESERVE your time. They are the ones you should give priority to. Anyone else comes next – if you have the time to spare.

A wise man once said, “work always expands to fit available time.” It’s true. But it is only true if you ALLOW it to happen.

You can always do the odd favor for someone on the odd occasion. Learn to say no in a nice way. Here is one such way: “If I get all my own work done, I will consider your request.” What does that really say? It says your work is important. If you get it done you will help. Naturally, if you cannot get it done you cannot help. It’s a soft way of saying no. Usually the asker will then go and find another person to ask.

By saying no you actually help other people to grow. Imagine if you always said yes to tying up your daughter’s shoe laces. If you never said no she would still be asking you to do it at twenty years of age. By saying no you make her learn to do it for herself. Remember the old saying about giving a hungry person a fish to eat versus teaching the hungry person how to catch their own fish to eat? well…

… there are some people in this world who not only want you to PROVIDE the fish but they want you to scale it, clean it, cook it and serve it up to them for dinner with a side salad. And if they don’t like it they will complain to you. Do you know those type of people? I do. We all do.

By saying no we can free up more time for ourselves and those who need or deserve our time the most. Do not become a slave to the wants and demands of others.

Turning to the second problem, delegation – learn to enlist others to perform tasks that they are better equipped, or have more time, to do.

If you run all over the place attempting to do everything yourself you will never have sufficient time to do anything properly. Delegation is the art of a true leader. The secret to successful delegation is to build the importance of the task into the mind of the person you are delegating it to. Then, when they do it, thank them and praise them sincerely for the things they did well.

Don’t ever think you are irreplaceable, PARTICULARLY at your employment. Somebody gave me a definition once of irreplaceability in the workforce. It went something like this: “Get a bucket of water, roll up your sleeve and thrust your arm into the water. Now pull your arm out. The time it takes for the water to settle back into position will be about the same time it will take to replace you!”

Learning to say no and being able to delegate will allow you to perform the tasks you really want to do and really need to do yourself at a much higher level of proficiency.

AL Williams wrote a book called “All You Can Do is All You Can Do But All You Can Do is Enough!” (ISBN: ). Catchy title, isn’t it?

In his book, Williams says: “Don’t worry about things you can’t change. Focus on making your part of the world better, because when they click your lights out for the last time, you can’t have any regrets.”

Like I said earlier – you can’t save the whole world. Don’t even try.

If you want to be more productive, try to re-organize the way you plan your time. You can do this by:

- making a list of things requiring your attention,
- prioritizing the list,
- doing essential things first, non-essential things last,
- after every third task, rewarding yourself in some small way,
- continuing to work your way through the list in sets of three.

At the end of the day review your list. This is important because it will allow you to see how MUCH you have done and achieved. I do this all the time! Achievement will drive you forward to more achievement.

So, now you don’t have to be busy, busy, busy and get little done. You can just be busy achieving what you want.

Best Wishes to you,

PS1: As usual, all comments and questions welcome!

PS2: Click on the banner below for some awesome free information on how you can improve your lifestyle:

Internet Marketing – Alex Jeffreys Las Vegas Seminars – January 2010

Gary — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:32:57 +0000

Well… the “Marketing With Alex 3.0” seminars were held on the 25th & 26th January 2010. And I have just gotten home after what seems like days on planes to get there and back. In fact, it WAS days from where I live in Perth, Western Australia! Was it just May and June 2009 that we were there last time? Gee – how time FLIES (a little pun – doesn’t matter).

Incidentally, I didn’t take my laptop overseas this time because of all the security issues with taking it in and out of the case and through those damn security scanners. That was both good and bad. Good that it saved me a bunch of time – bad in that I just looked and I have 3,172 unread emails in just 1 week! Heh… heh… but I do have a whole bunch of ones that say: “Notification of Payment Received.” NICE!

Back to the topic of my discussion… the Alex Jeffreys Internet Marketing seminars in Las Vegas…

Now, from memory, I think it was 26 people who attended the Marketing With Alex 2.0 seminars last time. Those “saddling up” a second time were Alex Jeffreys (of course), my good mate Garry Parkes (of course), me (of course – DUH!), Dean “Tatts” Holland, Dan “the Mothman” Briffa, Adam Spiel, Ross Carrell, Rob Brookes, JT Martin and Jit Uppal. Mike Ottman was supposed to be with us all a second time also but, unfortunately, due to family reasons was a last minute withdrawal.

This year, in addition to those mentioned above, we also had – in NO particular order (and I am SORRY if I have missed anybody out!) – Stephanie Mulac (a speaker), Rodger Hyatt (invited guest), Vance Sova, Josh Bartlett, Joe Fier, Matt “the Wolfman” Wolfe, Marc “the Magician” Milburn, Marcus “Pass” Passey (yes – he is just as bad in REAL life – LOL), Dean Oram, Brad “the Zombie” Burnie, David Walker (our new food CRITIC!), Paul Wilson, Graeme Ashe, Daylynne Starr, Sue Worthington, Guy Hague, Jed (Clampett) Lamont, Anthony Smits, Dan Tredo, David Chamberlain, Glenn (John) Wayne, Rex (Spielsy’s buddy), Randy Koehler (invited guest), Jacqueline, Kadir, Graham Sutherland, Jean Shaw (far more beautiful “in the flesh” – don’t get any nasty ideas – her hubby Malcolm was also there LOL), Steve “the Singer” (God, you are LOUD mate! – who drifted over from Mike Filsaime’s events), Erylynne and Karen Woodward. [Late inclusion: I inadvertently missed out Rob Bradley - sorry Rob!]

So, what a motley crew! As usual, most of the “activity” centered around the bar – instead of the New York, New York bar from last time, this year our “pick up” joint (and MORE on THAT later! – oh dear…) was the Kokomos Bar, diagonally opposite the check-in counter at the Mirage Resort Casino where most of us stayed. I am absolutely certain that some JV partnerships were “born” there – LOL! Er… and some “other” alliances. Most notably, Parkesy (formerly Saint Parkes – it’s only a joke folks…) and I seemed to be in the THICK of it and the prime targets for the “ladies of the night.” Undoubtedly they saw us two as the suavest, most debonair and most sophisticated of the Gangsta’s peeps. Or… maybe we just looked like desperados, or something. (I always seem to “attract” this unwanted attention… I wonder why? Hmm. No doubt her Royal Purpleness will offer something here… what’s the bet?) So, Parkesy, if ya don’t want the attention DON’T hang out with YOU-KNOW-WHO!

Anyway, I SWEAR one woman spoke to me in words and terms that NO lady has EVER spoken to me before. OMG! Anyway, without belabouring the point I think (after the shock wore off – like about 1 minute) I returned fire as good as I got without sinking to the level that our new found friend “Lisa” descended to (pun intended). If that was her real name I’ll walk to New Orleans – as the song goes – next time. If there is a next time…

Anyway… backing up the truck a bit…

I got to Vegas on Thursday the 21st coz I had the furthest to fly – Perth to Sydney, Sydney to San Francisco (16 hours with 13 of those right next to an overweight mumma – lay off the extra fries darls – with a kid that SCREAMED non-stop – the LITTLE DARLING!) Holey-moley! Everyone in about a 30 seat radius was affected by this kid’s stentorian, maniacal and RELENTLESS screaming! Eff-me! Oh… then from Frisco to Vegas (can you tell I’m a seasoned visitor to the “States”? LOL) another thing happened…

… after being dead-dog tired and worn out by young Hercules AND having two Japanese women throw their gutses up in the seats in front of me upon landing in San Fran – an EXTRA 2 hours was added to our trip from SF to Vegas coz the weather had closed in. So, TWO MORE hours just sitting on the deck on the plane waiting for McCarran (Vegas airport) to open. Like I said before – HOLEY EFFEN MOLEY! Just what I needed huh?

Well, I arrived in Vegas, caught a cab to the hotel. It was p155ing down with rain and the cabbie’s vehicle had about an inch of water in the back seat foot well. Jokingly (though he FAILED to see the funny side of it) I asked him if he had a complimentary snorkel and a pair of flippers for me – maybe that was why we went the LONG way and it cost me $30! AND my feet were soaked!

So, I did a quick name check with the Concierge desk and determined that I was FIRST in. Hey! I’ll take any small victory.

Now, I know you are all gonna wanna know about the seminars but they were the “official” bits. Oh OK. Here’s a real quick round up…

Alex Jeffreys – good opening, quick howdy-doody… enough said.

Gazza Parkes was “Master of Ceremonies” introducing all the speakers – a sterling job Mister Parkes but, what else would we expect?

Stephanie Mulac – two sessions – both of them fantabulous! Steph spoke about looking after your list and gave some excellent tips and advice. I was scribbling madly (as usual!). Thanks for the credos from the stage too Steph. Much appreciated what you said coz I did do a lot of that stuff that you mentioned. I can’t seem to help myself. LOL!

The Jitster – great info on list-building and adswapping. Well done mate!

Deano and Spielsy – awesome overview of their Turbo Traffic system.

Stephanie and Rodger Hyatt (both JV buddies of mine) offered excellent advice to so many people who had questions. Thanks you two. You both fitted in so well. I’m sure the MWA studeys appreciated all your answers.

Now – the IMPORTANT bits…

the usual trolling through the casinos, eating drinking, drinking, drinking – did I mention DRINKING?! And being silly (which I’m pretty good at), the Mike Filsaime “events” at the MGM and the Tao nightclub, groups of people wandering off and others asking: “where has (Insert firstnamefix) got to?” congregating, networking, BS’ing and generally getting to know each other a lot better. That last part is a really important factor IMO. And then… the HIGHLIGHT of the trip (again in MY opinion – and ONLY coz I orgasmized it)…

12 lucky dudes (me included) got to go to the Las Vegas shooting range where we fired all sorts of machine guns (a “grease gun”,” some crappy Swedish machine gun that jammed more than it worked – hope nobody attacks the Swedes in a hurry if THAT is the best they’ve got! – a DELUXE M16 and an MPK-5, I think, from memory) PLUS the Israeli made Desert Eagle .50 cal handgun – KA-BOOM! Ohh… watch all the videos we all took folks. They will be ALL over the net soon! How AWESOME was that guys? Huh? I SERIOUSLY wanna do that AGAIN!

Anyway, all too soon it was again all over red rover and we all departed Viva Las Vegas all pumped up and ready to create havoc.

I wrote this little round up on the last leg of my journey back home – Sydney to Perth. No screaming kid on that one. Thank you GOD!

As Elvis would sing: “Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire…”

PS1: Add your comments folks!

PS2: Pics and videos coming. I just wanted to get this post up quick.

PS3: Click on the banner below for some awesome information on how you can grab your lifestyle:

Self Improvement Giveaway 4

Gary — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:19:24 +0000

INTRODUCTION:

Stephanie Mulac, in conjunction with Rodger Hyatt and Gary Simpson (a-la-me!), is proud to welcome you to her 4th Self Improvement Giveaway. The giveaway opened for contributors on Friday 11th December 2009 and will stay open right up until the 5th January 2010 when the site officially welcomes members (ie people who will be invited to browse the event looking at all the gifts on offer). In many respects the event is like a giant electronic trade fair where exhibitors (contributors) get to show their wares to the public (invited members from ezines, newsletters and other lists). Thousands of members are expected to flood the site and they will all be eager to see what’s on offer for them.

EARLY INDICATORS:

In just the first 3 days of Self Improvement 4 (SI4) 554 contributors have already signed on to offer their personal development and internet marketing products for others to sample. And this number is rising steadily every hour.

OPEN TO MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC:

The public side of SI4 (ie when it opens to members of the public) will run from 5th January 2010 until 19th January 2010.

THE BIGGEST SELF IMPROVEMENT GIVEAWAY EVENT EVER:

SI4 is – WITHOUT DOUBT – the biggest self improvement giveaway event that has ever been staged on the internet. It’s also the most highly customized. Already contributors have expressed a lot of compliments over what they are seeing. The most common comments seem to use the word “unique” which is good because that was what was being strived for right from the start.

By combining the worldwide popularity of self improvement with the far reaching power of the internet and combining it all with internet marketing techniques SI4 offers very best of both worlds.

THE INSATIABLE WORLDWIDE APPEAL OF SELF IMPROVEMENT:

One only has to walk into any book store in any country to see how popular the subjects of self improvement, self awareness and personal development are. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry churning out hundreds of new books, audios, CD’s and other paraphernalia every year.

The names of eminent people in the industry such as Bob Proctor, Tony Robbins, Napoleon Hill, Rhonda Byrne (of “The Secret” fame), Og Mandino, Dr Norman Vincent Peale and the late, great Jim Rohn (who passed away only last week) and hundreds of other self-help authors and speakers grace the bookshelves of most top business executives. Is it any wonder that the business elite are where they are? They feed their minds while so many non-achievers only feed their stomachs.

WINNERS AND ACHIEVERS:

People from all walks of life who want to succeed are constantly searching for ways to do more, be more and consequently achieve more. And that is the cradle of self improvement.

WORDS FROM THE FOUNDER OF SI4:

Having run this event since its inception in 2006 Stephanie Mulac said,

“Every year my event just grows and grows. I’m not really astounded by its popularity because it really is a winning formula – combining self improvement with internet marketing. It’s become so popular that I can no longer run it all by myself. I simply had to enlist the help of other experienced people this year in Rodger and Gary. Both of them bring their unique talents to the giveaway, Rodger with his superior internet marketing skills and Gary with his copyrighting and self improvement background of some 20 years. So, between the three of us, we are well experienced and have all the bases covered.”

IT’S TIME NOW TO GET ACTIVE (OR JUST GET OUT OF THE WAY):

With 2010 just around the corner, what better time is there than RIGHT NOW to set yourself and your business up for future success? This event is a life-changing experience both for contributors and the public. Come and join Stephanie, Rodger and Gary and see for yourself. If you want to contribute a gift or gifts (there are upgrade options) then go to http://selfimprovementgifts4.com/go/1/jv NOW!

USEFUL SITES:

To visit the sites of your SI4 hosts please see the following:

Stephanie Mulac: http://www.infiniteevolutioncenter.com
Rodger Hyatt: http://im-source.com/rnr
Gary Simpson: www.motivationselfesteem.com/talk

PS1: Does anybody have any questions on this? (Oh BTW – Dee Ferdinand made that wonderful graphic header up the top there. His website is www.minisiteguru.com You’re a talent Dee!)

PS2: Click on the banner below for some awesome free information on how you can improve your lifestyle:

Sales Success – It’s ALL About the Marketing!

Gary — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 01:28:25 +0000

It doesn’t matter WHAT business you are in, what you are really in is a marketing business. You see, you can have the MOST WONDERFUL product in the world but if you don’t advertize it or market it properly then how successful are you going to be?

How often have you seen a really ORDINARY product sell 100’s and 1,000’s and even hundreds of thousands of units? And you wonder why! Look BEHIND the product and examine the marketing of it.

Remember those useless pet rocks? What about cabbage patch dolls? What about all that Tamagotchi junk? There are dozens of examples. But the marketing SOLD them through the roof!

So, how does that apply to you – the Internet Marketer? Here’s how…

… the GREATEST skill you will ever learn is HOW to market whatever it is that you are selling (or even if you are giving something away)! And that means advertizing – either word of mouth or by using a “script” in video or in audio production or in print (either on paper – ie newspapers, flyers, brochures etc) or electronically here on the Internet.

See that word “script” above? They are the WORDS that you use. Words are the method we use to convince somebody else to buy our wares. It’s how we fundamentally communicate with each other. And using those words in a compelling manner is called copy. Hence copywriting.

It has been said so MANY times by so MANY marketers that copywriting is the GREATEST skill you can learn to market ANY product. And there are only two ways you can do this:

1 – hire a copywriter (usually at some outrageous price) or
2 – learn to do the fundamentals yourself.

Make NO MISTAKE – being able to write compelling words is the SINGLE most IMPORTANT thing you can learn in marketing anything.

Having said all that – you can access a FREE copywriting e-book right here on this blog. Honestly, anybody who would pass up such an opportunity is simply NOT serious about Internet Marketing success.

Further, you can get really good at copywriting fairly quickly IF you are prepared to learn. It’s your choice. Ask ANY marketer and they will tell you the same thing. Oh yeah…

… every Internet marketer worth anything will utter the MANTRA “it’s the LIST.” Yep! But… HOW do you get people ON that list? You got it! WORDS!

So, there you have it. If you want to get good at Internet Marketing or offline marketing or ANY marketing then get good with using compelling WORDS.

PS1: What are your thoughts on this?

PS2: Click on the banner below for some awesome free information on how you can improve your lifestyle:

Internet Marketing Tips #10 – Gary Simpson

Gary — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:39:43 +0000

Hello fellow Internet Marketer!

Well, here I am again (surprise! surprise!) at the TEMPLE with yet another Internet Marketing tip. Now… despite my frivolous nature in this short 43 second video this really is a SERIOUS Internet Marketing tip. It’s something that I avoided doing for a long time. But now I’m on the job – just like I was on assignment there in Viva Las Vegas.

I was told to do this years and years before I finally understood the importance of it all. Duh me! For somebody who is supposed to be reasonably clever I was SO dumb with this. But I don’t want YOU to fall into the same dumb trap.

This could actually be the best Internet Marketing tip you will ever get. Don’t waste even another day missing out on this – coz every day you waste is just another day you will NEVER get back.

So, what is this wonderful Internet Marketing tip? Lights! Camera! ACTION! Roll that video!

PS1: Feel free to add any comments or ask any questions you may have about this subject.

PS2: Click on the banner below for some awesome free information on how you can improve your lifestyle:

MotivationSelfEsteem.com Blog is ONE Year Old TODAY!

Gary — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:45:31 +0000

Hi there,

Well today marks a milestone for this lil ole blog of mine. You see www.motivationselfesteem.com/talk is officially ONE YEAR OLD today! Yep, I started it up on the 27th of November 2008 after signing up to Alex Jeffreys’ Internet Marketing Course.

Since then I have turned this site into a POWERHOUSE of Internet Marketing information – most of which is FREE. Here are just some of the highlights along the way…

1 – Back then I was getting approximately 50 to 75 visitors a day. Today I regularly get 600 to 800 per day and have had many days over 900 and even 1,000. The biggest visitor number was last week at 1,310 visitors for the 24 hour period. That is high traffic!

2 – I went from having ZERO followers on Twitter to having some 27,000 followers now,

3 – My Alexa Ranking has gone from 5,179,210 on the 27th November 2008 right down to being in the top 100,000 websites in the world with a present popularity rank of 92,216 (and still falling like a stone) – and that is a significant achievement to be ranked 92,216th in the WORLD out of about 50,000,000 (50 million) websites!

4 – I have added content almost every week – this has drawn 3,573 comments in the 12 month period.

5 – I have also added many informational e-books to the blog to help people understand the concepts of copywriting, time management, adswapping, list-building, Giveaway events, motivation, inspiration, Twitter AND there are more to come!

6 – Added over a dozen educational (and sometimes funny and even raunchy) videos to make my points.

So, little grass-hopper… IF you think you cannot build a blog from scratch to the monumental level that you see right here, then THINK AGAIN! Sure, I’m a writer – and I can write the OO’s of just about anyone on the planet (I’m not kidding when I say that either – LOL!) – but do you know what has REALLY got me here? Let me tell you…

… sheer discipline, the will-to-succeed, self-motivation, educating myself and a host of other things but most of all… PLAIN HARD WORK! Even the BEST of the BEST in anything will NOT win if they do not use those traits. Laziness NEVER wins anything. Remember that!

You can do it. Do you want it bad enough? Well… do you? (I was gonna say “punk” – LOL!)

This blog is PROOF of what can be done in just 12 short months! Now go out and succeed!

PS: Click on the banner below for some awesome free information on how you can improve your lifestyle:

Internet Marketing Tips #9 – Gary Simpson

Gary — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:01:05 +0000

In my continuing series of Internet Marketing tips (brought to you from Las Vegas) I am offering you something pretty simple today. And yes, we are all GUILTY of doing this!

What is it? Roll the video and find out…

So tell me – are YOU guilty of that? And, please, if anyone knows what that bloody monstrosity in the background is then please tell me. I went in it but I still have NO IDEA what it is called. Help!

I hope you are enjoying this series of videos on Internet Marketing featuring various locations in and around Las Vegas. Gimme some feedback. (Coz if you like ‘em… there’s MORE!)

PS: Click on the banner below for some awesome free information on how you can improve your lifestyle: