Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Don't know what these are.  I will spend a few minutes reviewing the sites.  One is Moz.  The other is Source-Wave.com.  That second one looks like a guy scamming people.  Already don't trust it.  

Friday, October 23, 2015

Adam, you probably would excel at a dog story. A man is on a jogging trail, hears whimpering in the bushes beside the trail, and finds a dog with a bloody head injury. He calls the number on the tag; someone picks up the phone but immediately hangs up, and doesn't answer repeat calls. His vet treats the injury, and says it looks like a bullet crease. The ID chip provides the address, and the next day he drives the dog across town, but on approaching the house he sees several police cars and an ambulance. A shrouded body is being wheeled out on a stretcher. Knowing that he has a couple of unpaid speeding tickets, he doesn't want to speak to the police, but he has to see what's going on. He gets out of his car with the dog in his arms and mingles with the gathering crowd of onlookers. Just then, a burly, sour-faced police detective passes near his position and the man feels the dog stiffen with a low growl, teeth bared and fur bristling...
Presentation hacks with PowerPoint. Check out her website.  Her site is called Power Point Spice.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

These are people who advertise on Fiverr to post "reviews", whether favorable for your product or negative against your competitors' products.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/shopping-and-consumer-news/11939070/Amazon-sues-more-than-1000-people-over-fake-reviews.html 

The poor "genuine" reviews on Amazon are bad enough - meaning bad ratings where the buyer was disappointed because they didn't bother to read product descriptions, they use products for purposes they're not designed for, etc. "I thought this would be bigger", when the size is clearly provided in the listing. "Expected a longer book" when the number of pages is clearly shown (or "this book is too long!"). "This book is for beginners" which you can clearly tell from the description, and that kind of thing. One reviewer even said "A wonderful product at a fabulous price" with no other critical commentary, and then they only gave it 3 stars! 

Then there are 5-star ratings where people say "I just got this doohickey/book and I haven't actually used/read it yet, but I think it will be wonderful."

These people ruin the value of the rating system just as much as the review-peddlers do. No matter what the "average number of stars" is, you have to dig into the reviews individually to assess their validity.


*****************************************************

Since my partner is the one I spoke about last week and Bill did an article on her (sort of), I thought I'd ask her what she thought.

Here's what she said...

Reviews boost your rankings and if you have ALL the other parts in alignment (Good Product Title, Good Features [bullet points], a Good Product Description, and proper Product Photos), you can get your product on the first couple of pages for certain keywords. So when a visitor searches for a product using certain keywords, it's to your advantage to have believable reviews so they "pull the trigger" and purchase your product.

How you get reviews is a whole other story. Just for your info, yes... you can buy reviews from certain companies (besides Fiver) that have a group of people who will purchase your product (usually for a reduced cost or very encouraging sales price), try it out, and then through their Amazon account will write their review. In fact, there are individual people who make their living doing this and Amazon actually acknowledges them and don't have an issue with them at all.

The folks involved in the Fiver issue were just stupid and Amazon decided to make then an example. And in my opinion, it was a good idea they did.

When my partner listed her pet product, she knew she needed at least 25-30 reviews to really gain momentum in her sales. So, she first went to family and friends who had dogs and would purchase and then review the product... for real. She did nothing else.

I think she now has around 90 reviews, most of which are 4 and 5 star. YES, there will always be some people who aren't satisfied with anything. But here's the thing... early on, my partner had some issues with the flashlight part of leash. It seems that for the 9 LED light to get powered properly, the batteries had to be put in just right. About 1 out of every 50 leashes sold had a flashlight that didn't turn on. What did my partner do?

First, she contacted the Chinese manufacturer and told them about the issue. They started right away redesigning the battery chamber. She also had the manufacturer send her replacement lights for free and then when an Amazon customer replied to one of her automated emails sent to the buying customer that the light wasn't working, she personally shipped out a replacement. Often, this won her big points with the customer and some even ended up in very positive reviews. Nice.

So... now she has 4,000 leashes in route to the US via boat to get ready for the Christmas buying season. She as also added two more branded products that seemingly go with the leash and are a no brainer for a customer to buy as an add on once they buy the leash.

Here's the REALLY interesting thing she's done so far...

She has taken all her profits and re-invested them in more inventory and other products. Remember... the money to scale your product line has to come from somewhere. And in keeping with her goal of have about 10 related products each selling about $10,000/month, I think she's on track to do this by the end of next year.

With an average profit margin of at least 50%, including all the fees she must pay with some advertising. Not bad. That's about $600,000/year in profit, of which I'm sure she will take part of to continue to add more products and scale her business.

And this... all in about 2-3 hours per day, very part-time. WOW!
Eben Pagan on creating an online business.  Website is almost the last thing you create, not the first thing. First, create a book.  Then create a DVD course.  Then create your website to sell, feature, display, and highlight your digital products.  Get that?  The website is not the end all, be all: it's only a selling platform.  That's it.  Clients are looking for books and video--your website is where those things should be located.

1)  Write pdf book.
2)  Test the price: charge a higher price just to see what happens.
3)  Create an opt-in page at your website where you sell/house your pdf book and build a client list.
4)  With this client list, organize a seminar.  Videotape the seminar.  Produce an audio.  Sell the audio that people can listen to in their cars.
5)  No digital product, no online business.

http://www.audible.com

Don't choose your niche, target your niche.

Is our prospective customer motivated to buy?

Are they out looking for solutions?  Are they motivated?

Are they having a hard time finding the answer?

These questions narrow your audience.

If the customer is already sold, you don't have to use a series of high pressure marketing tactics.

You narrow your niche and you go after fewer people.

Why would you go after fewer people?  You actually do better when talking to a more specific audience.  "Dating Advice to Men" not for the overall population but just for men.

Identify the knowledge you can put into a digital product.

What is it that you're great at that you wouldn't have guess that people wouldn't pay you how to teach them?

What's the big insight that you learned to go from failure to success?

Identify what you're great at, remembering your story, and market your niche right.

Our self image gets in the way of getting started.  Something or someone who shows us, we still need a pathway through our fear.  What is that pathway?  Simple mental practices and processes that can shift your energy to

Inner Game stuff.  Breaking through limiting beliefs or blocks.  Free yourself from specific insecurities that hold you back from the success that you can earn.

Let the product do the work for you . . . .

When you take your big idea and teach it to others in your own digital product.

Digital Products:

1)  Literary Reviews.
2)  On the ins and outs of teaching.
3)  How to be responsible at your workplace.
4)  
I contacted you last month after finding your resume on ziprecruiter.com about potential job openings Farmers Insurance in the Sherman Oaks area . I haven't heard back yet, but I wanted to follow up and see if I can provide you with some additional information about our company and some of the positions available. If you are no longer looking for a new position, or are not interested then simply click the unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email.
The Traditional Agent program provides you with a high commission percentage in the first 2-4 months, followed by $2,500 a month + commission, in addition to training, support, and a place to work.
We also offer other ways to become an agent if you have 50k in assets. This path offers you the opportunity to take over an existing agency, rather than starting from scratch. You can start with anywhere from a few hundred to seven hundred policies.
If you’re bilingual and speak one of the following eight languages: Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Hindi, Tagalog and Vietnamese, then you are eligible for an additional signing bonus.
If you’re interested in this position please give me a call at (818)-990-8228 and we can set up an interview. If you are no longer looking for a new position or are not interested you can click the unsubscribe button under my signature.
Thanks again,
Ben Battle
Recruiting Manager
Farmers Insurance Group, District 56
16600 Sherman Way Suite # 270
Lake Balboa, CA 91406
License Number: 0K09306
Fax: (818) 990-4367
Visit our district website

Ben Battle.  Hello.  Was not in.  I left a message at 6pm on Tuesday evening, October 20, 2015. From email dated September 26, 2015.

Friday, October 16, 2015