04 Mar 08 Jeremy Shoemaker, guy who makes over 100K with Adsense!
This is a story about ordinary guy from ordinary city who nowadays makes over 100K $ per month… It’s unbelievable, but it’s truth! He really inspires me, guys!
In the 1980’s, Jeremy Shoemaker’s mom purchased an Apple IIc. Schoemaker found it amazing! He began to write simple programs on the Apple, mostly consisting of repeating test messages that said, “My mom is cool.”
1995-Schoemaker was an appliance salesman at Sears when a customer offered him a job at an ISP in Moline, IL. He was known to have “computer skills” as he spent most of his free time at work playing games. “I knew nothing about the Internet and had a very limited knowledge of computers.” The ISP had only Linux based terminals so Schoemaker had to quickly learn system software, web server management and mail system management.
Schoemaker compares those early days of educations to a “karate kid experience.” “I thought it was all pointless hard work, but in hindsight, I could see that over the course of two years, I had gained the foundation of a very useful skill set.” He also witnessed the birth of the Internet. Working at the ISP also demonstrated to him how much money could be earned in a number s game with a market place as big as the Internet.
He left the ISP and went to college at a time when there was no such thing as spam or phishing schemes on the Internet. In college, Schoemaker founded his first business making Macintosh gaming sites. Those early sites became very popular and allowed him to practice his skills, focus his talents and avoid ever completing a college degree.
“I didn’t go to class much and instead was taking calls from companies wanting to advertise on my site. All these places had newly created on-line advertising budgets. With on-line advertising, they could see instant and direct returns from their advertising dollar.”
“With the help of my wife and her stable income as a physician, I was able to make a break from corporate life and start ShoeMoney Media Group.” From the company’s inception, Schoemaker has embraced the mantra, “prioritize potentially profitable projects.” He is constantly generating new ideas for sites, programs and marketing, channeling energy into those that truly have the potential for long-term traffic and revenue.
Popularity: 4%
02 Mar 08 Most stupid marketing trick on Ebay ever!
A guy selling nothing on eBay is promoting it as the dumbest eBay auction ever. Since the idea isn’t new (nothing has been sold on eBay before, as even he admits), it may just live up to the claim. The seller writes:
Rather than put up some arbitrary item that’s worthless and intangible, I figured I’d just put up something of equivalent value: nothing. You are bidding on absolutely nothing. I won’t send you anything if you win the auction. Shipping on this particular item is free. I will send you exactly what is described here, including no item and no packaging.
What gets me is that he then becomes all fussy and uptight about possible hoax bids. As if he would actually have something to lose if a hoax bidder won the auction.
Popularity: 18%
29 Feb 08 9 Crazy Marketing Tricks
Here are 9 most powerful marketing advices ever. Many successful compaigns in whole world follow them with pleasure! Let’s start:
1. Stage a protest for “good customer service.” Imagine what would happen if you had picketers outside your place of business with picket signs that read something like, “We’re protesting good customer service at this location!” or “This place is full of nice people interested in customers!” First, you’ll get noticed. Second, you may get coverage by the local media.
2. Conduct a random act of kindness. Pay the toll for the car behind yours and ask the toll collector to give your business card to them, telling them you paid their toll. Sure this is a crapshoot, but it’s imaginative and you never know who might be on the road. It’s a low-cost guerrilla marketing tactic that has imagination written all over it.
3. Nominate yourself for an award. Look around the internet. Ask your local chamber of commerce. There are many awards given by many organizations that accept self-nominations. Once you’re nominated, publicize it with a press release. Prospects love “award winning” people and businesses.
4. Award a “Customer of the Month” award and have many, many winners. Customers like attention, especially if they’re in a special group. Award a plaque or certificate; these won’t get thrown away and will remain at your customer’s place of business as a reminder of their relationship with you.
5. Tie yourself to a news event or current event covered by the newspaper. Find a news story and issue a press release to publications, radio stations and television stations, offering yourself as an expert to comment on a related subject. It’s one of the best ways to get free PR. Remember to use your imagination here. Just watch the news and do a reverse analysis.
6. Provide special attention to trade-show attendees the night before a trade show you’re attending. Stand out from the crowd at trade shows by hanging door hangers on hotel room doors at designated trade-show hotels, offering a hook and an announcement or a special offer. Leave bags of candies, aspirin, insole pads for shoes or maybe a cloth carry bag to collect trade show information in. Your competition isn’t doing this. You’ll stand out, you’ll be noticed, and you’ll definitely be thanked if you put yourself in front of your prospect again.
7. Hold a wacky contest. The beauty of contests is threefold. You can announce the contest to your prospects, customers and the media. You can then announce the winners to the media and hopefully get press each time. Have multiple winners to delight multiple customers. Contests can be fun, wacky and imaginative: a messy desk contest, ugly tie contest, pet/owner look-alike contest, etc.
8. Create a funky holiday. Today is “Orange Hair Day,” or “Wear Army Fatigue Day,” or “Give Ice Cream to a Friend Day.” These are made up and from a brainstorm session. Your holiday that cross promotes your business, service or products is only limited by your imagination. Don’t forget to publicize it, announce it, market it over and over, and have fun with it. You’ll get noticed and people will grow to expect it if you do it on a frequent basis. Plus it’ll make so much fun to everyone in your company!
9. Create a unique association. This is a little bit more of an undertaking, but imagine appealing to a target group, getting members, receiving paid subscriptions, offering a set of benefits, and being at the center of attention. Many associations have been created with this in mind and to market a business. Get creative here.
My friends, it’s a good suggestions for succesful business compaigns. I only advice you to try this and you’ll not be disappointed! See you soon with fresh marketing news and tips.
Popularity: 8%
Tags: Marketing, Sales, tricks
20 Feb 08 Marketing, Branding, Public Relations and Advertising
Deborah Schultz has one of the best graphics I’ve ever seen up on her blog (courtesy of Brand Identity Guru), explaining the difference between marketing, branding, public relations and advertising far better than anything I’ve run across. This puts quite a few things into perspective:
Notice several things…for example, marketing is represented as nothing more than a less-annoying version of advertising. However, the one thing that jumps out at me is this…notice how branding and marketing are very similar. The only difference is who holds the opinion.
This goes back to what I’ve said before…lead your customers to form an emotional connection with you, and before you know it they’ll be telling you how great you are.
Instead of the other way around.
Popularity: 15%
Tags: advertising, branding, Marketing, public relations
18 Feb 08 Don’t Miss The Affiliate Marketing Bus
While not right for everyone, there’s one method of marketing on the internet that is
overlooked by many…affiliate marketing.
One of the more prolific ( and most successful) affiliate marketing systems available today is the one from Amazon.com. In your travels around the web, I’m sure you’ve seen something like the bar to the right more than a few times.
This has turned into a very successful marketing tool for Amazon, because the legions of people spending time, money and effort promoting and marketing their products only get paid when a sale is made.
“Sure, Dave,” I hear you saying, “I already know all of this. What does that have to do with me?”
If you’re not using affiliate marketing with your online business, you should. And if you don’t think your online business is compatible with affiliate marketing, you haven’t spent enough time “outside the box” while thinking it over.
If you sell a product (as Amazon does), then affiliate marketing seems obvious, but if you sell a service you can still take advantage of the power of affiliate marketing, because what you’re really selling is your expertise.
So why not write an ebook in your area of expertise?
This isn’t the frightening prospect you think it is. True, you may want to hire a professional writer to put your knowledge into the proper form, but it will take less time than you think, and accomplish several things:
- It will increase your standing as an “authority” in your field.
- It will lead people to your website that might not otherwise find it.
- It will lead to an additional revenue stream!
When it comes time to start up your affiliate program, there are services available that take care of the process for you, with Clickbank being one of the largest. After that, you can also let your present customers know through your regular email newsletter that an affiliate program is now available, giving them the opportunity to make money while promoting your product.
This can lead to an increase in sales, because the best salesperson you can have is a satisfied customer.
Here’s my question for you…have you used affiliate marketing, and what were your results?
Popularity: 10%
Tags: affiliate marketing, email newsletter, Sales
15 Feb 08 Don’t Forget To Ask For No Sale
The car salesman sits behind his desk, fresh from yet another meeting with the sales manager. As he slides the “four-square” worksheet across his desk toward you, you have no interest in what’s written there, and tell him…for the twelfth time this hour.
“Okay, what would it take to get you to buy today? Right now?” he asks.
“Nothing. I told you I was just looking; I’ll be in the market in a few months, but there’s nothing you can do or say to get me to buy today.”
“I’ll be right back,” he replies, standing up and starting for the door, “Let me see what I can do for you.”
“I’m just looking!” you shout at his retreating back to no avail, knowing he’s not going to stop trying to force you into a decision you’re not going to make.
Have you ever been in that situation? Something similar, I’m sure, but not that exact situation. When you’re “tire-kicking”, you don’t wind up in a price-battle with the sales manager. And if you did, you would not leave with a good impression of the dealership, and wouldn’t be likely to bring your business there when you are ready to buy.
Of course, a high-pressure sales pitch has its place and can be very successful. But long-term potential lies in fostering a relationship with your customers.
Now, if the salesman had been helpful after establishing that you’re truly not going to buy today, giving you information you want, showing you what you’re interested in, and finishing up by saying “We run some special deals from time to time; can I call you the next time we’re in a tight spot? At that point, I can get the sales manager to cut you one heck of a deal.”
This isn’t a perfect analogy…few (if any) are. But here’s my question for you…in your marketing plan, are you trying to force your website visitors to make a purchase now, or trying to make sure that you sell to the people that are ready to buy, and position yourself to sell to the people that are going to buy later?
“Used car salesman” has become a clichéd personality type, and not in a good way. Don’t spend your marketing efforts trying to “slick” someone into making a purchase they don’t want to make…help them realize that you have a product or service they need.
With your online business website, provide useful information to visitors, make the experience enjoyable for them, and don’t forget to offer easy, highly-visible ways to collect their information so you can stay in touch with them. Don’t continually pressure them to make a purchase now now NOW.
Or the next time you come back from the sales manager’s office, the customer will be long gone.
Popularity: 14%
Tags: high pressure sales, relational sales
13 Feb 08 Keep Selling Them After They’re Sold
Your best potential customers are the ones you already have.
Everyone knows that repeat business can be a big key to success, but there’s another aspect of your customers you need to keep in mind…the best marketing you can receive is a current customer recommending you to their friends, family and co-workers.
I’m not talking about multi-level marketing…while many make a nice profit with that business model, talking your Great Aunt Mildred into buying her laundry detergent from you (no matter how much her clothes may smell) isn’t the point. What I am talking about is your customers selling your business for you to others that trust them.
Seth Godin wrote a very interesting book on marketing called “Unleashing The Ideavirus” (which you can download as an ebook for free from Seth here; I heartily recommend reading it), where he refers to people that effectively spread your message “sneezers”, which leads to a very valid point:
Make it easy (or even profitable) for people to “sneeze” for you.
This can range from a discount coupon your current customers can pass along to others, a discount on referrals, an affiliate program that pays for every sale someone makes for you, or even free products for those that refer paying customers.
What you provide may be the best thing to come along since squirt cheese in a can, but you’re not going to see your product’s full sales potential until you motivate your customers to join your sales force, and make it easy for them to do so.
Don’t forget to appeal to the “what’s in it for me?” instinct that your customers have, and you’ll see what’s in it for you…and possibly even your Great Aunt Edna.
Here’s the question of the day…do you not only make it easy for your customers or subscribers to market you, but give them an incentive to do so? If so, what results have you seen?
Popularity: 7%
Tags: referral sales, sneezers
