The Smart Marketer's Blog

Edit A Photo With FotoSketcher

2011-06-24T23:09:00.003+01:00

There was a time that if you didn't spend hundreds of dollars on photo-editing software, there was little you could do with your digital images.

Now it seems another dozen or so free apps spring up every week - good news for those without a bottomless wallet...

FotoSketcher is downloadable photo-editing software. With it you can perform the usual basic fixes; sharpen, adjust contrast, luminosity, saturation etc.

However, FotoSketcher goes a step further in converting images into a piece of art. Styles include painting, sketch and drawing.

FotoSketcher is 100% freeware.

Compatibility: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista and 7. No Mac Version.

Check Out FotoSketcher

Smart Marketer's Get 3 Free

2010-06-07T15:12:00.000+01:00

It's true!

You've heard the rumours, right?

You can get 3 Free copies of Mike Filsaime's MDC Monthly.

Best Internet Marketing Newsletter Click Here

Mike Filsaime is using a new way to spread the word.

He is not asking for any tell a friend of even an Opt-In.

No, it's much smarter than that.

He is experimenting with a new type of Social Viral Marketing that appears to get him backlinks to his site just for sharing the word.

Best Internet Marketing Newsletter Click Here

Remember, that's the road we're all on - building backlinks and getting our content out there.

This seems to be the truest form of Viral marketing I have seen yet. It uses social media and blogs to get the "news" out about something rather than Tell-A-Friends etc.

Kind of like a nudge from a friend to 'go check this out!'.

But the main thing I want to share with you is that you can get 3 Kick-Butt copies of his latest newsletter and you don't have to pay $89.00 to get it.

Just click the link below and it is yours Free!

Best Internet Marketing Newsletter Click Here

Even if you Think you are not interested in his newsletters (Which are pretty good from what I see) I suggest you give it a shot for 2 reasons...

1. You may be surprised at the quality.

And

2. Wait until you see how he is trying this new viral marketing.

Like I said, it's smart. Yup, Smart Marketing ;0)

Demand Quality Information and Forget the Hype

2010-05-20T21:56:00.000+01:00

Aspiring internet marketers are looking for quality information – and they deserve it. If you’ve spent anytime online looking for guidance on how to start and grow a successful internet marketing business, then you’re likely already aware that there is a lot of crud out there. Fortunately, there is a brand new product by Melissa Ingold of Internet Marketing Sweetie fame that offers more honest advice and business building tips and resources than any other product we’ve come across.

The Online Marketer Sweetie Course is designed specifically for people who want to start making money online. The course guides users through the entire process of getting started online and provides a step-by-step framework.

Melissa has made a name for herself by providing a wealth of business building resources to internet marketers and aspiring entrepreneurs around the globe. This newest product, Online Marketer Sweetie Course, take’s Melissa’s usual dedication to quality information and resources and ups the ante.

The Details

The Online Marketer Sweetie Course offers a complete package beginning with the main “getting started guide”. This guide walks aspiring entrepreneurs through the process of creating a business. It provides an honest look into the benefits and drawbacks of owning an online business. It also gives readers a comprehensive look at what they need to achieve success; including a home office, the right mindset, and family support.

From there, you’re able to utilize a number of worksheets, checklist and blueprints as you work your way through the process from conceptualization to completion. Every step along the way is presented clearly and completely. The worksheets and checklists ensure that no step is missed along the way.

The course also provides valuable mindset tools and resources including a brainstorming worksheet and information on visualization. Additionally, there is a collection of business building videos and a 39-page blueprint with screenshots. People learn differently and this attention to detail makes it possible for everyone to gain tremendous benefit from this course.

Many experienced marketers would have been grateful for the thorough and detailed information that is included in the Online Marketer Sweetie Course. It would have saved them costly mistakes, lost time and lost revenue. There’s a tremendous amount of value in doing something right the first time. This course makes it possible.

Final Thoughts
The Online Marketer Sweetie Course is jam-packed with everything a person needs to succeed as an internet marketer. And like the proverbial cherry on top of the ice cream sundae, the course also comes with several valuable bonuses.

If you’re tired of all the hype and plain old bad information, check out Melissa Ingold’s Online Marketer Sweetie Course. It's the refreshing combination of honesty and business building strategy and resources that aspiring internet marketers have been starving for.

WP Commerce - Smart Marketing with Wordpress

2010-05-01T20:36:00.001+01:00

Wordpress Software is one of the most powerful and user friendly content management systems (cms) an online marketer could wish for. It was first developed in 2003 and has since become one of the most widely used blogging softwares on the planet.

With Wordpress you have the ability to create anything from a simple blog to a fully fledged ecommerce website or even a multi-level membership site.

The possibilities are endless.

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Sidebar: I'm sure you get the irony of writing about Wordpress on a blogger blog ;0) To be up front, I've just been too busy - or too lazy - to switch platforms, lol.

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Due to its open-source nature, millions have developed themes, extensions and add-ons that are easily plugged in to any Wordpress installation.

Running Wordpress requires a pretty basic run-of-the-mill hosting account – PHP 4.3 and above; MYSQL 4.0 or higher and a server running on Apache.

The functionality of your Wordpress blog or website enables quick publishing; remote posting; permalink configuration; updating of social networks; collection of statistics; email subscriptions; Rss subscriptions; addition of keywords and tags to your posts and by using plugins, a whole host of supplementary operators to improve search engine rankings and user-friendliness.

However, due to the nature of the internet, you should always be security conscious. Hackers can’t wait to get their mitts on a website full of security holes and plant their malicious code, take over your blog or even delete all your hard work and get you thrown out of Google!

So what can you do to tighten up security?

Latest Version

Wordpress continually updates their software, plugging up security risks, fixing bugs and improving functionality and interface.

When you login to your admin panel you’ll be alerted of any available updates and WP have made it incredibly easy simply by clicking ‘update automatically’. Always backup your databases and information before any updates though – there’s always a small possibility of something going wrong.

Latest Versions of Plugins

As with your main WP installation plugins are often updated. By ignoring updates you could be opening your site to abuse.

Occasionally plugins are developed by someone who only has one thing in mind – creating a security hole in your site which they can later crawl through. They will eventually be deleted from Google – and so will your blog if you’re seen to be using them. I’ve had first hand experience of this and the result is not pleasant!

I must stress though, the vast majority of wordpress developers are honest and pose no threat to you.

Read through the code and check out reviews and forums of third-party plugins before you install them in the first place

Password Protect

Yeah, I know it’s an obvious one, but make sure you use strong passwords and change your passwords regularly.

Admin

All hackers know that the default admin login username is ‘admin’. Ok, so they may not have cracked your password yet, but simply changing ‘admin’ to a less usual user name you're doubling security! Why make it easy for hackers by giving away half the equation? Add as many layers of protection as you reasonably can.

Database Tables

Hackers want to access your databases, so make it difficult for them - don’t label your tables with obvious names.

We’ve only just scratched the surface of Wordpress Marketing and introduced some of the basic methods of security. Now you’re armed with some knowledge, the best way to learn more about using Wordpress is to install it and have a play around to find out what it’s capable of ;0)

Motives for requesting A Product Refund?

2010-04-23T13:39:00.001+01:00

Mr. X buys a new product and loves it (but doesn’t think he should pay for it) and instantly on delivery, he requests a refund and continues using the product – that’s theft.

Mr. Y buys stuff he’s disappointed and disillusioned with, he deletes it and moves on, without asking for his money back – that’s not smart.

The unscrupulous internet marketer loves Mr. Y and hates Mr. X. This marketer continues churning out his crap which hundreds like Mr. Y snatch up without so much as a whimper and the crooked internet marketer profits all day long (for now), while Mr. Y maxes out his credit cards and loses his shirt.

The conscientious marketer, on the other hand, takes precautions to manage Mr. X, like using remote file locking software, but isn’t so happy with Mr. Y either. This marketer wants you to complain!

What?!

If his product doesn’t live up expectations, he wants to know, he wants to improve - yes, he's in it for the long haul. Ok, so he’s still got a family to feed and a mortgage to pay, so I'd be lying if I said that profits don’t matter – but the fact is, this marketer doesn’t want to profit from your misery. He wants to earn his money honestly.

So what are justifiable motives for requesting a product refund?

I’m glad you asked…

1. False advertising
This is a biggy – there’s nothing worse than ‘forcing’ a sale by telling blatant lies.

You know the type of ad ‘100,000 hits in 24 hours with the push of a button’ or ‘become a millionaire in three weeks with two hours work a week’.

But most advertising is much more subtle. Protect yourself – read the small print before you whip out that credit card, or it could come back to haunt you. If it sounds too good to be true – it is!

2. The Product is Outdated
Incredible, but true, products are still being advertised (and marketers still happily pocketing your hard earned cash), long after they no longer work on more modern operating systems, or have been pulled from servers altogether!

If this is the case, attempts to contact the product creator will usually be fruitless. But all is not lost; you can still contact paypal or your credit card company to get your money back.

3. Usability
Not all software is as user-friendly as Windows (lol!), but a good product should be backed up with written and/or video tutorials to walk you through the complexities of your new purchase. Some have help forums buzzing with information and full of helpful folks just waiting for your questions.

If you've exhausted all avenues and still can’t make head or tail of the product, state this to the creator and you should get that refund.

However if, despite stating legitimate and acceptable reasons for a refund, the product vendor refuses or simply doesn’t respond to your request, don’t give up hope.

Most marketplaces offer a refund guarantee for products that were sold through them (e. g. Clickbank offers its customers a general refund policy of 8 weeks after the product purchase, for a vendor like PayDotCom you’ll need to contact the credit card processor like Paypal which has a refund policy of 60 days).

In all cases…
Clearly state the reason for your refund request;
Employ a friendly communication style – even if the product isn’t worth a dime, it won’t help your cause by insulting the creator;
Explain how you’ve made every attempt to use the product efficiently – attach screenshots or make suggestions for improving the product;

The vendor may lose you as a customer, but can benefit from your experience.

Play fair – as mentioned earlier, requesting a refund for a product you’ll continue to use is theft - Most marketplaces (Clickbank, PayDotCom) tolerate 2 or even more refunds, but after that you might not be able to purchase anything again through the specific company.

So go ahead – if its crap, doesn’t do what it says on the tin, is outdated or unusable, don’t be afraid to ask for a refund.

You’ll be helping the reputation and integrity of all serious, honest marketers.

Promoting Your Product - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 14

2010-03-03T12:00:00.083+00:00

This is the fourteenth and final part in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

If you’re creating Private Label Rights products, your number one market is likely going to be Internet marketers, so they can turn the product round, resell and earn money.

Keep that in mind when you’re thinking about promoting your products. So how will you market your product?

Endorse your Private Label Rights Product to your Mailing List

If you have a mailing list, (hint: building your list should be your highest priority, before product creation), this is the fastest way you can make money.

Your subscribers trust you (I hope!) and most likely think highly of your products or they would not be on your list in the first place.

The important thing to remember is to be honest and Never take advantage of their trust, because if your subscribers feel burned, they will lose trust and that will cost you, and your reputation, Big time in the long run.

Seek Out Joint Ventures with Ezine Publishers and other Online Marketers

If you don't have a mailing list of your own, and it sure takes time to build one up, this is a good alternative for you.

Look for other marketers who are selling similar products to yours, or who like to market resale rights/private label rights products, and approach them.

You'll easily find contact details on their websites, and if you reach out with a simple, direct, professional email you have nothing to lose.

Many won't help you, but don't give up. By creating quality products you can build your reputation and slowly establish powerful partners.

Approach Joint Venture (JV) Brokers

JV Brokers are middle-men who refer Joint Venture partners to your affiliate program.

If you are going to engage a JV Broker, your affiliate program must be 2-tier. For every sale made by their referred Joint Venture partner, you pay the broker 10-20% of the product price.

Paid E-zine Advertising and Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

If you have the money, buy advertising space in Ezines and reach thousands of targeted prospects.

Alternatively, there's PPC advertising, targeting prospects through the Search Engines. The trick to any sort of paid advertising is testing - if you don't know what's working, you'll be throwing money down the drain.

There really are an unlimited number of ways to market your Private Label Rights products (such as viral marketing, article writing, etc), but that’s an entire other topic and too much to cover here.

That wraps up our Private Label Product Creation Course. I hope you've found it useful. Please leave any comments, or tips of your own below. Thanks.

Create A Sales Page - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 13

2010-03-01T12:00:00.080+00:00

This is the thirteenth in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

The final step in completing your Private Label Rights product before marketing and making sales is to create a compelling sales page that explains the value buyers get from your product.

While this guide isn't designed to be a sales page copy writing clinic, there are a few points to keep in mind when writing and designing the page:

Start by making a list of the benefits buyers will gain from your product, and create a bullet point for each to include in the sales page. This will attract the largest number of qualified prospects to buy.

Use the greatest benefit as you main headline or focus of the page. Explain what problem your product will solve for people to encourage them to buy. While there might be many benefits, the number one problem should be the focus because it will convert the highest number of prospects to buyers.

Your headline is the most important part of the sales page because if it doesn't capture attention, you’ve lost the reader and the rest of the letter doesn't matter.

Make the page easy to read and use a logical flow in writing - present the problem and then explain how your product solves it.
- Write as though you’re talking to an individual and not a group. Even though thousands of people might read it, each one is an individual and he or she wants to know that you understand his or her specific problem.

Add testimonials for credibility. There is so much hype and exaggeration in online marketing today that you should offer proof to increase your readers’ believability and make more sales.
- If readers are not confident you’re being honest, they just won't buy.

Use a guarantee to improve conversions. Another way to induce readers to make a purchase is to offer a guarantee. By assuming all of the risk, buyers can feel comfortable that If they misunderstood or they don't think you've been entirely honest about your product, they can get their money back.

Create a 'thank you' page for successful purchases, so your customers can download your product and bonuses.

Keep the page simple and in the same style as your sales page. This is a good place to add a link or banner at the bottom of the page to another product or an affiliate offer.

Creating An Ecover - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 12

2010-02-27T12:00:00.074+00:00

This is the twelth in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

Creating an ecover is a critical step. With the information overload on the Internet today and the flood of offers everyone receives, you need to make your product stand out to make it sell.

You might have the best product in the world, but if it isn’t wrapped in a beautiful package your sales will suffer, period.

Any ecover is not necessarily a good ecover. If your image looks unprofessional or sloppy, people will assume the same of your product.

Take the time, or spend the money, on this step because it's a vital part of your success.

If you want to make your own ecovers, you're probably aware that Adobe Photoshop is the choice of many marketers and designers. But we don't all have photoshop - or the cash to lay out.

There are dedicated softwares which generate covers and software boxes with a few clicks, all you have to do is supply the graphics.

However, I recently came across a free online ecover generator, which produces extremely high quality images that don't bear the website's watermark (often not the case).

My Ecover Maker offers a comprehensive range of covers, cds, dvd cases and software boxes to suit almost any project...

Selection of the 20 Available Templates

There's a good array of backgrounds to pick from, or you can upload your own images. Then add text, images and other effects...

Check out My Ecover Maker

Branding & Securing Your Product - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 11

2010-02-25T12:00:00.034+00:00

This is the eleventh in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

Another option you may want to consider when you complete your product is whether to add security features and/or branding.

Security features include preventing people from cutting and pasting or copying any of the content. You can even prevent readers from being able to print it if you like.

Depending on the software you use to compile the product, the security features available to you will vary. Generally, the more expensive the program, the better security features it will offer.

But one thing to consider is the rights you are offering with the product. For example, if you are offering unrestricted private label rights to buyers, there is no point in securing the product because you need to provide an unsecured version they can edit anyway.

An alternative option to selling your product with private label rights, is to sell it as a brandable product. Branding allows you to offer resell rights to a product with simple tags placed in the document.

When readers read your copy, they see the tags specific to you - your name, your company name, website etc.

When someone is reselling it, they can rebrand it by opening a simple branding file and inputting their values for each tag - name, company name, website etc.

Then, simply by clicking “brand” the software changes all tags in the document to their info to make reselling a snap. It saves your customers hours of reading every word and deciding what they need to change.

Compiling Your Finished Product - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 10

2010-02-23T12:00:00.005+00:00

This is the tenth in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

Once you’ve completed the content of your product, the next step is to compile it, or basically wrap it up in a nice looking package. The most important consideration for any product is…

What format is MOST widely usable in the market?

In other words, you could create an ebook and sell your finished product as a Word perfect file, but that’s just not smart, because you’d be shutting out a huge portion of the market that don't own Word perfect. Or worst case scenario: they go out and buy it, then realizing they can’t use it, flood you with support and refund requests.

In general, the most effective format for an ebook is .pdf. The reason being, there are many free pdf readers available to everyone to download, for example Adobe Reader or Fox It Reader.

A pdf document will display anything created in that format exactly as you intended, in other words, it'll look the same to everyone - unlike web-based pages that display differently for each person, based on web browser, screen resolution, etc.

For audio files, the best format is .mp3 because the file size is small compared to other formats and .mp3s can be played on portable players like iPods as well as personal computers through Windows Media Player and other readily available software.

You can supply your customers with links to appropriate free software on your download page, as a courtesy. People remember sellers who are prepared to go the extra mile.

Create A Rights Page - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 9

2010-02-21T12:00:00.003+00:00

This is the ninth in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

Once you’ve created your product and made it look professional with images, clipart, screen captures, or whatever else the next step is to make a ‘rights’ page to let customers know in clear terms what they can and cannot do with the product.

In the online world, there is so much piracy and stealing of other people’s work it’s ridiculous. But, in some part this theft takes place because of lack of clear details about what users and customers are allowed, or not allowed to do with products.

I have purchased $1,000s worth of Internet marketing ebooks, software, guides,and other tools and often there is no mention of rights - or if there is, it’s at the initial purchase point, but there is no information included in the download or product delivery that spells it out.

Avoid confusion, protect yourself, and help everyone understand what they’re getting by including a “rights page.” Here is a sample, but you can create your own with whatever terms you like:

This Product Rights Statement Generator, By Tom Brownsword, is a quick and simple way get your Product Rights Page put together - and it's free to use.

Adding Visuals & Effects - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 8

2010-02-19T12:00:00.057+00:00

This is the eighth in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

After you have your content created, you can add a ton of perceived value and professionalism by adding images and graphics to your product.

'When you are adding photos, images, clipart, or other graphics, just make sure you use them sparingly and appropriately. Nothing looks worse for a product than a 'filler' graphic obviously thrown in to take up space that adds no value to the product.

If the visuals you are going to use don’t make sense, don’t use them.

Avoid loading up the product with so many images that it detracts from the content and the value.

Look at a magazine with articles for examples - you won’t find articles that are 90% images because readers would feel cheated at a of lack of value.

The articles will contain a lot of good information with images placed in areas where they help explain the story - if facts and figures are used visuals charts or tables can create a clearer picture. If you are explaining a complex or multi-step process, images or visuals can help make the point much easier when used to support your copy.

One of the biggest dangers with images is copyright laws. Products are floating around everywhere with images you can simply right click and save and then re-use, and people do that all the time.

WARNING: Many of these images are protected by copyright laws and you cannot use them unless you have permission or have purchased rights. So be careful when you decide to use anything you 'find' online.

This creates a big challenge because buying rights to images can be so expensive that they will eat up into your profits.

By using only trusted sources of stock images, where your rights of use for each image is clear, you can avoid copyright issues. Sign up is usually free and many offer 1,000's of quality images, clipart, animations and flash animations free. Most sites also offer more exclusive images and/or rights for a small fee.

Check out StockXchange, MorgueFile and Fotolia - to get you started.

Another fantastic way to add professional looks and also give clear examples is with screen captures. They are exactly as they sound - screens or web pages that you would see on your computer captured and saved as an image file.

It’s a great way of demonstrating exactly what you mean when explaining aspects of web sites or anything online.

Probably the best freeware programs I've come across for screen capturing is MWSnap. It allows you to capture almost anything and add effects, arrows, borders and text to create a very professional looking page.

Copy Writing & Content Creation - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 7

2010-02-17T12:00:00.001+00:00

This is the seventh in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

There are a few points to keep in mind when writing the copy or creating the main content for your product...

Write or speak in simple, clear language – you need to keep in mind when composing your product that unless you are marketing a book on astrophysics you need to convey your ideas in a way most people will understand.

You’ll probably have a wide audience from a variety of backgrounds and you want to make sure everyone who wants the info can understand and benefit from it.

Use an informative or humorous tone – when you’re speaking or writing, pay attention to 'how it sounds' to the reader. You do not want to come across as talking down to readers or sounding angry.

Your product should be enjoyable for others to go through, so read through it to see how it sounds or better yet ask someone else to read it for you.

Use fonts and colors easy on the eyes or audio easy on the ears – again you want your product to be enjoyable, fun, and informative for your customers.

Inverse fonts with white text on dark backgrounds or funky fonts that may look interesting, are usually hard to read and may annoy your readers. For audio, avoid loud music or volume changes that may be jarring to the ears.

Keep it simple.

Write and speak in small 'chunks'.

Another good point to keep in mind is to think, write, and speak in 3-4 sentence chunks and include breaks in between. Visually, it's much more manageable and easy to read and for audio it allows listeners to absorb and understand what you’re saying before jumping into the next topic.

Next: Adding Visuals and Effects

Choosing A Format - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 6

2010-02-15T12:00:00.001+00:00

This is the sixth in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

One important consideration is what format to use in delivering your product. While ebooks are certainly the most popular, depending upon the subject matter, content, and length of the product you may want to consider a few different types including ebooks, audio files/.mp3s, video files, or some combination.

Not only can a variety mix things up, but some topics are more easily delivered in different formats. Here’s a more complete explanation:

1.    The written word (e-books): This type of informational product is by far the easiest and least expensive to produce. This medium lends itself well to many topics and can even be used for some ‘how-to’ informational products and motivational products.

A well written e-book filled with relevant information sells well on the Internet. E-books can be sold at a much smaller price to the consumer than other kinds of products because there are no direct production costs….the investment is usually entirely the time of the author.

The only tools required to produce an e-book are a word processor, like MS Word and a Pdf converter, such as Pdf forge 's pdf creator. Alternatively, eWriterPro is a word processor and pdf creator all built in to one software - you can pick up a copy for less than ten dollars.

2.    The audio product: The audio informational product requires all of the same research as an e-book, but then it also requires production and distribution investment, as well.

The good news is that with today’s computers and the software available, recording audio is a fairly simple thing to do and the quality is as good, or almost as good as recordings made in sound studios.

Audio informational products are generally used for producing such informational products as those produced for motivation purposes, marketing, finance, and business.

Production, shipping and handling can be supplied by a fulfillment center. Alternatively, there are many desktop products now for use on your computer that can automatically generate audio files for you to offer as a digital download.

3.    The video informational product: This is the most difficult and usually the most expensive to produce information product on the market today. It;s also the most effective for many topics.

Unless you have the capability to make the video yourself, you will have to hire a videographer or at the very least you will have to buy or rent video equipment.

However, there are some informational topics that just cannot be created in any other way, i.e. action oriented themes like sports, dancing, learning to play a musical instrument, etc.

A fulfillment center can be hired in order to mass produce a DVD and distribute it. Of course, you can offer video products as digital downloads, which eliminates the need for a fulfillment center.

Again, as with audio, there are many products available for use on your PC that will create videos for you in a few mouse clicks.

Next: Copy Writing

Choosing A Title & Subheading - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 5

2010-02-13T12:00:00.001+00:00

This is the fifth in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

You might be asking - why wait until this step to create my headline and subheading? The answer is simple - you need the outline before the title so you know what your product really covers.

For example, if you want to write an ebook on email marketing and you think up the title “Profit Pumping Emails” and a subheading “email templates that will have your list subscribers opening their wallets” and then you create an outline and decide the best content you can create is a 6-step formula for how to capture subscribers and then follow up with email, the original title and subject don’t fit the content.

By making the outline first, you crystallize what you are providing for value, and then you can choose a title that fits.

Another important point about your headline is to make sure you take the time to write it so it sounds persuasive and creates interest and/or curiosity.

The title “How to write follow up emails” just doesn’t inspire people to grab for their credit card. On the other hand, “Creating follow up emails that suck up cash like a vacuum” just has a lot more power in it.

Use action words and words that create an image in the reader’s mind. Create a slightly longer subheading that explains your product in greater detail. For more help, browse Clickbank's top sellers and what their title’s look like.

Next: Deciding on Format

Creating Your Outline - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 4

2010-02-11T12:00:00.016+00:00

This is the fourth in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

Perhaps the most important step in the process of creating PLR info products is to develop a simple outline of exactly what your product will include.

This is key because it forces you to think through the entire product and make sure you have enough content, that it flows logically and will make sense to users, and that you have structure to follow when putting it together. Here’s an example...

Outline for Instant PLR Author:

I.    Intro: Why Create PLR Products
      a.    Huge demand = big profits

II.    PLR Product Creation as a Process
        a.    The system is key to maximizing profits

III.    PLR Product Creation Steps
        a.    Steps of the process
              1.    Decide topic
              2.    Create outline
              3.    Choose title & subhead
              4.    Decide format
              5.    Write copy
              6.    Add visuals
              7.    Create rights page
              8.    Compile finished product
              9.    Brand/secure product
            10.    Create eCover
            11.    Write sales page

IV.    Tools for Creating PLR Products
         a.    image sources
         b.    compilers
         c.    ecover creators
        d.    audio/video creators

V.    Marketing & Promotion
        a.    Ways to promote your product
        b.    Different sales strategies
        c.    Adding backend

VI.    Other Resources
         a. tools & products to help

So you can see the power of an outline. It is very clear what topics to cover to create a complete product. I know when it’s complete it will provide value to readers and it follows a logical pattern. I also know what areas I need to research and what areas I already know.

Next: Choosing A Title and A Subtitle

Pick Your Topic and Your Angle - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 3

2010-02-09T12:00:00.025+00:00

This is the third in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

By following this same process every time you want to create a new private label rights product, you can crank out winners every time that will line your pockets with cash!

The first step may seem obvious, but don’t be fooled. If you’ve seen any products about ebook creation, no doubt that choosing a topic is not a new idea to you. But there is more to it than that.

To pick your topic, there are 2 main points to keep in mind:

1) Pick something you are familiar with or are willing to research. No matter how eager people are to buy a product, you cannot create one that contains any real value if you lack in depth information or inside knowledge about it. If you don’t know, you can always research but keep in mind that will involve many additional hours.

2) Pick a topic that others are motivated to pay to learn more about. It’s not enough that people are interested in your topic. I’m sure an ebook about the different uses of Lima beans would be an interesting read, but it’s doubtful people will actually pull out their wallets to pay for it.

For the first point, you only know what you know. So it might make sense to start by determining which topics are hottest (and most profitable!). There is a trick you can use to find this out in just minutes...

Follow this link to download my secret keyword research weapon (it's free). Enter any search word or phrase to see how many searches are being done on a monthly basis and the competition you're facing - this is a great way to see how much demand and interest there is in a topic.

So, if you wanted to create a PLR product about say, fitness, a quick search shows that the search term “lifetime fitness” is twice as popular as “fitness training”. The most important aspect is the total number of searches - if a topic is only searched a few thousand times per month there is probably not enough demand to make it worth writing. On the other hand, 100,000 searches per month means you’ve got a hot topic.

Of course, this step only helps you determine how popular a keyword or term is - it still doesn’t mean that particular topic will sell. But start by finding a highly searched term then look into its selling power in a few ways:

1) Do a general Internet search for the topic and see what the top websites are. Are they selling information? What type? For how much? In what format? Are there plenty of paying advertisers? In this case, the more you find the better - marketers won't put up site after site for topics that don’t make them money and similarly, they won't spend hard cash on advertising.

2) Search on Clickbank and PayDotCom for your topic to see what information is being sold and in what formats.

Once you are sure there is a market and people will pay for your product, search to find as many information products on the subject you can, to see how they are presented and what angle each product takes.

It is very important NOT to just create a 'me too' product with exactly the same information - make the product your own by having a unique spin. You can add personal experience to the product to give it a unique touch, or combine multiple resources to create a more complete product than anything that is currently offered, or you can take a different approach in explaining it.

The bottom line is, you MUST offer some unique value if you want to author a winner and big time money maker!

Next: Creating your Outline

The PLR Process Map - Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation: Part 2

2010-02-07T12:00:00.009+00:00

This is the second in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

The first step in creating PLR products you can cash in on is to understand that product generation is a process - a process that can be followed again and again to crank out big time profitable products.

If you just sit down and start to write an ebook or record some audio, you will have a much tougher time creating something valuable and you may need to spend more time editing and re-editing to make it marketable. Further, when you’re ready to create your next product, you’ll always be starting over from scratch each time.

When you look at it like a process and you follow certain steps every time, you have a formula that can be used over and over to churn out profitable products that are very high quality.

Here’s an overview of the process and in the next article we’ll take each step in greater detail:

The PLR Process Map

Next: Pick Your Topic and Your Angle

An Introduction to Private Label Rights (PLR) Product Creation - Part 1

2010-02-06T21:17:00.004+00:00

This is the first in a series of articles discussing ways in which to profit from creating your own private label rights (plr) products.

You’ve no doubt seen all manner of products with varying rights attached to them. Often these products and the rights they include can be confusing. But it’s important to know the difference because they are NOT the same and you can get into serious trouble by violating copyright laws if you’re not careful.

Your understanding of the various ‘rights’ terms is equally important when it comes to creating and distributing your own products - you don’t give away more than you intend to by mistake, or experience weak sales because you didn’t use the right language when explaining your offer.

The basic rights you’ll most commonly come across, in general terms, are as follows. They each have variations, but this will give you an idea:

Unrestricted Private Label Rights – the most flexible of all rights and therefore most valuable. You can do nearly anything with these products including renaming, branding and selling as your own, editing, and bundling with other products in a package. You can also give them away, and you can sell or giveaway rights for others to resell, master resell, or private label. The danger with giving these rights is nothing prevents buyers from turning a product around and selling it the same day at ½ the price and stealing your sales.

Private Label Rights – similar to unrestricted in that you can rewrite, edit, and call products your own. But usually they have some limitations like only sell above a certain price and cannot give for free.

Master Resell Rights – Resell Rights, vs. Private Label Rights allow you to resell products but not edit them in any way. You cannot call them your own, you cannot add or edit the content. With Master Resell Rights, you can also give away the resell rights to others, and often you can give away the Master Resell Rights, allowing others to resell the resell rights.

Resell Rights – these are the weakest of all rights and therefore least valuable. You can only resell the product. You cannot change it in any way and you cannot giveaway or sell resell rights.

Why Create Private Label Rights Products?

I’m sure you’ve at least heard the buzz about Private Label Rights products, if you’re not already selling them for profit. There is a very good reason these products are so popular and sell like wildfire…

The #1 Challenge for Internet Marketers is to consistently generate new products and new content to promote and sell.

And why is it the #1 challenge? Because it is very time consuming and costly - you need the subject matter, knowledge, ability to organize your thoughts and write well, creativity to design graphics and ecovers, and the tools to put it all together. And, even with all that, it can take 20 full hours or more to create a top quality product.

So the reason is simple - if you can systematically create high quality ebooks and info products packed with useful information that look professional, you can cash in because marketers will literally beat a path to your door and beg you to sell it to them!

In the next article we'll take a look at how you can do it…

Creative Web Design: What's It All About & Where Do You Start?

2010-02-03T18:46:00.001+00:00

The importance of creativity when designing web sites, is central not only in the engagement of your visitors, but also in keeping them interested in your products or services and compelling them to come back for more.

First impressions are also the last impressions. Your target audience’s first impression is the front page of your website

Here’s a few tips on creating creative websites…

An overall impression of Professionalism with ‘About Us’ and ‘Contact Us’ Pages
About Us: Tell your visitors a little about yourself and your business – When was your business established? What country do you operate from? How has your business grown and what is your vision for future growth? Who are you - the brains and creativity behind the scenes?

You're proud of your business, right? So let the world know! A photograph will help promote confidence. Include an email address where you can be contacted, or a link to a Contact Form.

Contact Us: In addition to an email address or contact form, include your snail mail address and any other way you’re customers and prospective customers can get hold of you.

This could include a telephone number, Skype handle or another instant messenger, Twitter or Facebook, but email and snail mail at the very least.

Ask your visitors for feedback and make it easy for them to contact you and tell you what they love and hate about your site.

All pages on your website should contain links to each other and to your home page.

Make Your Website Attractive
Select your colours carefully, if you’re unsure stick to web safe colours. Avoid cluttering your web pages with too much information – you could put visitors off with too many choices.

Try to present your website with actions that flow from page to page in a natural order. At first sight you need to pique your visitors’ interest to continue further.

Comprehensive, but compact for quick loading
Optimize your images (discussed earlier in more detail), for faster page loading and keep background images to a minimum. Fancy background images make your pages more difficult to view, read and load distracting from the main focus of the website.

Content
Text should be clear and concise and neither too large or too small. As a general rule of thumb, dark text on a light background is usually easier on the eye. Fancy fonts may look nice, but aren’t necessarily available on every visitors computer and may be less legible than more traditional type.

Capitalizing text is effective to DRAW THE ATTENTION, but capitalization of every sentence is much harder to read. The same is true of bold and italicized text – don’t over do it.

ALWAYS check your content for spelling and grammar mistakes. Nothing says ‘unprofessional’ quite as readily as poor sentence structure.

Framing
The use of frames is a controversial subject. While frames have their uses, they can also make your website less attractive.

Of course, if web design isn’t your forte, there are thousands of free website templates kicking around the Internet.

These are three of our fave free template sources…

Open Web Design
Open Source Web Design
Free Web Site Templates

Something to say or know of an additional free web template source? Leave a comment below.

Charts & Diagrams, Analytics & Stats - Don't Ya Just Love 'Em?

2010-01-29T22:52:00.002+00:00

Marketers... We're analytical animals, testing, tweaking and testing some more and we love nothing better than graphical representations of all our collated data.

Visitor tracking apps, like google analytics and statcounter can give us some such stats in tables or graphs and they're good at what they're designed to do.

But, what about all the other vital statistics you've gathered? Can you comprehensively compare your results?

"Over 1 billion charts, maps, plots and diagrams are found in print publications each year - but only 40 million online. This huge discrepancy is a reflection of the complexity to create & publish charts online."

Craving more diagramatical information led to the creation of Chartle, claiming to offer "simplicity, ubiquity and interactivity." And in our estimation, Chartle lives up to it's bold claims.

Ok, so what can chartle do for you?

Bar Charts

Line Charts

Pie Charts

Plots & Diagrams

Business Charts

...and Maps

Chartle is very user friendly...

Choose the type of chart you want to make;

Input your data;

Change colors and background effects;

Save to your private gallery, or make public.

Optionally, embed in your webpage.

Check out Chartle - and here's an appropriate ending, lol...

Marketing Myth Busting! If You Believe You Won’t Succeed?

2010-01-28T21:35:00.001+00:00

If you were to believe all the Marketing Myths you hear and base your marketing strategies on them, you’ll be losing sales - fact. Now, that’s not good for you or your business, so I’m going to bust a few myths right here.

Marketing Myth #1
‘People Buy Products at the Cheapest Price they can Find’

If that was true then companies like Bang & Olufsen wouldn’t exist; cheaper brands would have long since put them out of business.

Despite the ease of research that the internet affords - buyers are generally lazy and don't undertake full research.

Even on eBay where it is far easier to check the relative prices of a product - people often buy a product at a higher price than they could. So what causes people to buy?

The most common buying triggers are:-

Confidence in the seller / brand
A high perceived value
Recommendations / word of mouth
Ease of purchase / NOT having to jump through hoops

Busting Marketing Myth #1

Establish your credentials - for example “We have over 20 years of business consultancy experience - so we know what works and what does not work in a business.”

Find ways of enhancing the perceived value of your product or service by adding extras or clearly demonstrating the value of it's purchase.

Make it easy to purchase and receive your product; don’t introduce unnecessary extra steps to the buying process, such as extra forms or complex payment methods.

Marketing Myth #2
'Offering your customers numerous different options will boost your sales'

When confronted with several options, most customers have difficulty making a decision. They often react by procrastinating - and going to a seller who offers a clearer product.

By all means add extras, up-sells or down-sells, (in fact you Should), just make sure you clearly state what’s included in the product and don’t offer options that not only confuse, but make your selling and processing more difficult.

The human mind works better when offered the two options "buy", "don't buy".

Busting Marketing Myth #2

Only offer one product - or product package per page. You can have a clear (and short) menu on each page to encourage multiple purchases.

If you have more than one option for a product or service - then give them different names and present them each separately. For example you could name different levels of a service ‘bronze’, ‘silver’ and ‘gold’. This is a widely used practice in internet marketing membership websites and proves to work well.

You should always aim at a small, easily understood product or service range. You should be able to explain each of your products in one or two sentences. If you can't do this - how do you expect your potential buyers to understand what they are buying?

Marketing Myth #3
'Everybody Needs My Product or Service'

Unfortunately, most people don't believe that they need a particular service or product. Obviously with items such as video games, your youngsters will try and convince you they really, really need one, but this is peer pressure that has been built up with millions of dollars. Much of this was spent on research into what there market wanted - and they got it right!

If you believe this myth then you also believe that you can succeed without doing much marketing or selling. Unfortunately, despite what some marketers tell you - it doesn’t happen that way.

If you ask any successful marketer, they may or may not be willing to admit a great deal of market research, testing and tweaking happened before they became successful.

Building a successful business is hard work - most of it devoted to finding potential customers and then matching them with your products and services.

Even if most people can use your product or service, you still need a marketing strategy to reach them and a persuasive sales message to close sales, because you can bet your bottom dollar that anywhere there’s a lot of potential customers, there are a high number of sellers.

Busting Myth 3

Do your homework - find out where your potential customers are, what particular needs and desires they have and what they’re seeking to solve these.

Look for a narrowly defined niche market where your product or service will solve a unique need of the customers.

Design your product or service to meet these needs.

Test, Change, Test, Refine, Test, obtain customer feedback and challenge your results.

Yep, unless you're a millionaire marketer, you'll find many marketing myths that you follow and potentially lose money on.

Ok, now it's your turn. Join the conversation below and get myth bustin'!

10 Webmaster ESSENTIALS You’d Be Wise To Remember

2010-01-11T21:19:00.001+00:00

It always amazes me how many webmasters don’t value the importance of a complete website backup (files and databases). They leave it to chance and good luck which poses a great risk to their online presence.

Can you relate to this? Read on…

Website backup is the most ignored of webmasters’ tasks, simply because there’s no immediate threat - until disaster strikes. Often, this task is delayed, avoided and generally regarded as a drag.

Many site owners just don't realize what’s at stake.

So before your website is wiped out by an unexpected server breakdown, hard disk failure, hacking, DDOS attack or some other nasty, let me share with you 10 Backup E-S-S-E-N-T-I-A-L-S you’d be wise to remember.

EXPECT the worst
Even the biggest and best webhosting companies can encounter problems; preparing for potential disaster will pay dividends later. The world wide web has never been so unpredictable. You’re simply ensuring the continuity of your online endevours.

SCHEDULE your backups
It doesn’t need to interrupt your busy timetable. Simply work out the most convenient time for you – maybe overnight when you’re away from your computer.

STICK with it
Just do it! Once you’ve worked out your schedule, keep to it. This is a tough challenge for busy webmasters, but the sooner backing up becomes a habit, the better.

EVALUATE your backed up files
After a while, test your backup files. A good backup can be tested by simply restoring it on another system. Evaluating your backup results from time to time is good way to check that you are keeping what you should keep - a complete and working backup.

NO Complacency!
After some time, your backup schedule may begin to slip; you’ll develop a tendency to forget and even intentionally miss it. Don't succumb to temptation.

TRASH it
Keep your backup process as quick and efficient as possible; dump unnecessary files, thus saving valuable space on backup mediums.

INSURE Yourself
A complete and up-to-date backup of all your important files and databases is your insurance policy for running an efficient website or service. No amount of cash can get you back online after an attack, without those all important backed up files.

AUTOMATE
If, like me, you’re a little lazy, consider installing and configuring software that generates fast and safe backups - without you lifting a finger. If your website is wordpress based, there are plenty of plugins that automatically backup at intervals of your choosing. There are also freeware utilities, for example Automatic Backup 2 Local that constantly monitor and backup files, with very little use of system resources. Automation is king! But don’t become complacent.

LIBERATE
Free yourself from the worries and anxiety of the unexpected. With your backup systems established, you can sleep soundly at night in the knowledge your websites are safe.

SECURITY
There’s nothing like feeling secure, just look how the insurance business has flourished over the years. But more importantly, your commitment to backup your files will not only save you from stress, humiliation, frustration, anger and guilt, but also inspire you with confidence because you know at the end of the day, your self reliance is well worth it.

10 Time Saving Tools for Web Professionals

2010-01-08T21:12:00.001+00:00

Successful Web Development and SEO calls for a range of tools to be effective. Most professionals use an assortment of desktop and web applications, some free and some premium.

But, simply by installing a firefox browser and adding some of the 1,500 + free extensions, you can eliminate the need for many of the other apps you’re currently flitting between.

Below are ten of my favorite extensions for web professionals - in no particular order…

HTML Validator

Validates web pages to the W3C HTML standards with a simple green check in the corner of the page if the page validates, a red check if it doesn’t, and a yellow exclamation point if there are warnings. It also includes an enhanced view of source code that allows you to see where errors are within the code.

Professor X

Allows you to view header information without having to view source code. The page “slides” down and Professor X shows you the contents of the page's head element, including Meta, Script and Style content.

The Smart Marketer’s ToolBar

The Smart Marketer's ToolBar is a suite of tools and resources, originally developed by us for us, as we simply wanted everthing at our fingertips! But we had many requests to install the toolbar in other webmaster's browsers. So here it is, available at no cost for anyone to install.

IE Tab

Fed up of swapping between Internet Explorer and Firefox when testing out a web page you’re developing? With IE Tab you can view Internet Explorer in a Firefox Tab.

FireBug

An advanced debugger console that lets you monitor your JavaScript, CSS, HTML and Ajax.

Codetech

Web page editor that has the feel of Dreamweaver. An amazing extension for anyone doing web design that doesn’t want to fork out a few hundred dollars for Dreamweaver.

SEO for Firefox

Pulls useful market research data right into Google's and Yahoo!'s search results, including Google PR, Age, links, Alexa rank, WHOIS, and more. It also adds a few helpful links to the top of the search pages, including Google Trends, Google Traffic Estimator, and the Overture View Bid tool.

AdSense Preview

Preview the Google AdSense ads that would appear on that page. This is incredibly useful if you are considering putting AdSense on a page and don’t want to go through the hassle of signing up for an account and putting the ads up just to see what type of ads will show.

Screen grab

Takes a screenshot of the webpage and saves it as an image file. This saves a ton of time compared to the method I used to use – take a screenshot and open Adobe Photoshop to crop the image.

Server Spy

Indicates what brand of HTTP server (Apache, IIS, etc.) runs on the visited site on the lower-right side of the browser.

So there’s ten of my faves. Why not add your own favorites in the comments below?

Cheers,
Steph.

6 Free Tools to Optimize Images and Improve Page Load Time

2010-01-07T21:35:00.003+00:00

It’s 2010 and most Internet users have made the switch to broadband, right? Wrong, there’s still a large proportion of the web’s population chugging along with a good old dial-up connection. This is certainly a large enough segment of potential visitors you need to take into consideration when designing your website, especially when it comes to the loading time of your webpages.

The text on your pages will generally be loaded in a very short time – even on a dial-up connection. The guilty party, when it comes to a slow-loading page is mainly due to larger images. It’s therefore very important to implement a subtle balance between use of imagery, size, quality and loading time.

It needn’t be a huge chore to optimize images and make sure pages load in the least possible time. Using image editing software, you can remove any unnecessary information in your images, thus in effect reducing the file size – without affecting the image’s appearance.

If you don’t happen to own the latest copy of Adobe Photoshop or other similar image editing software, there are plenty of great, free alternatives online.

Gimp is probably the most downloaded free alternative to photoshop, supporting the most common file types as well as special use formats. Gimp can be used for all types of processing and handling images.

Riot - Radical Image Optimization Tool – does a little bit more than some other compression software, including ‘in place comparison’, single or dual view, saving and optimizing Gif, Jpeg or Png with a simple user interface. Riot can be downloaded and has plugins available for Gimp and IrfanView.

If you’re using photoshop, saving an image as a Jpeg with a quality setting of 8 to 10 is good enough to preserve quality, while storing at a small file size.

A frequently used alternative is to save your image as a Gif file – image editing software trims away all the color information not relevant to your image, leaving you with the smallest file size possible. However, saving in Gif format will often compromise the appearance of your image.

Saving your image in Png format will result in the smallest file size and best quality.

There are also free tools that do the work for you.

SiteReportCard will compress any Gif, Jpeg or Png file with the click of a button, returning a variety of sizes and quality levels.

GifBot accepts uploads directly from your hard-drive, or enter a url and gifbot will return a list of all the images on that page. Results are displayed in Gif or Jpeg format.

Jpeg & Png Stripper is a downloadable app which, funnily enough, strips out any unnecessary metadata from Jpeg and Png files without any loss of quality.

Smush.it is no longer available as a standalone app, having been integrated with Yahoo!’s Yslow - a firefox addon requiring firebug installation – However, WP Smush.it is a plugin for WordPress, which runs every uploaded image through an optimization process, without any extra effort on your part.

It may take a little time to find the perfect balance between size, quality and page load times, experiment by saving to different formats and comparing quality and loading time. Your visitors will thank you when you get it right – especially those with a dial-up connection.