E-Biz Booster Blog - Web Site Development

Email Marketing Tips - Edition 6

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:32:00 -0700

Welcome to the sixth edition of email marketing tips on August 06, 2008.

Today we have only one post per category (almost). I purposefully assembled this carnival edition in order to eliminate unnecessary choices for you and get you to read the tips. But don't stop there, actually go out there, do it, and make more money from your efforts.

My absolute favorites are Gavin Ingham's and John Carlton's posts. Regarding John Carlton I have to confess I found his post. It's not that he found my email marketing tips blog carnival.

Anyway it does not matter, my goal is to provide value with this carnival. And I don't care how I get the content that I am featuring. I hope you appreciate it and I will continue to throw in content from top guys. John Carlton makes an announcement for email marketers at the end of his post by the way. That was another reason why I included this one here.

Did you feel that some some hands-on tips were missing here?

I felt that way. Therefore, I start featuring selected posts from AWeber's Blog. AWeber is a leading email marketing tools service provider. I use it personally and simply know their tips will work out for you. Could there be a better reason for including them. I don't think so.

Some readers wrote me they liked it whenever I throw in “third party content” that fits. There are many folks and companies who produce valuable content, but simply don't bother with Blog carnivals for whatever reason. Let's continue to take advantage of it.

Contact me to host an edition of this carnival on your Internet marketing related Blog.

Get your Blog more exposure!
It's easier than you might think.

Also submit your articles to this carnival.

Thanks in advance for your contribution.

We have a lot of categories today (as I said above), but only one or two posts in each. It's quite manageable. The categories are

Strategy
Tools And Services
Copywriting
Web And Email Design
Code Of Practice
Call For Participation

Let's rock'n roll…

Strategy

Gavin Ingham presents How to use email when prospecting posted at Gavin Ingham

John's comment: Good points, “Email is a tool and should be used to help you in your sales efforts. But email is also a weapon that can destroy your sales efforts if used not properly.”

Tools And Services

John W. Furst presents Review: Video Series - Email Promos Exposed! posted at E-Biz Booster Blog, saying, “My conclusion: Watch master marketer Michael Rasmussen,… Jump on board and learn how to use email marketing to bring in more money. Seriously!”

John's comment: “My humble post” - Learn from the successful.

Copywriting

John Carlton writes Who Gets Read posted at John Carlton's Big Damn Blog, saying, “‘One in four adults read no books last year (USA Today)’… There's a marketing lesson here… We've put together a KILLER Webinar on how to get emails delivered and read, which is going to be available soon in audio/visual format.”

John's comment: Especially watch out for the P.P.P.S. John will be announcing a KILLER Webinar on how to get emails delivered and read. You don't want to miss that!

Web And Email Design

Jordanv presents Pretty E-mails for All! posted at Connection Cafe.

John's comment: I wish Jordan had made a HTML template available that goes along with his tips. I also would note to be careful to add too many links to an email, it shouldn't look like a web site.

Andre Thomas presents 12 Web Copywriting Tips To Boost Subscriptions posted at Web Copywriting Tips And Secrets By Andre Thomas.

John's comment: Andre's advice goes beyond email opt-in forms. I highlighted: • Require as little info as possible; • Take away the “clear/reset button”; • Call Submit something else; • Don't enforce certain formats (e.g. with phone numbers)

Code Of Practice

AWeber's Hot Email Marketing Tips!

Do you love AWeber, too?

2008-08-04 Want To Double Your Blog Newsletter Readers? Here's The First of 4 Tactics That Helped Us

2008-07-29 The Ugly Truth About Buying Email Lists

2008-07-25 Social Proof Tool Boosts Landing Page Conversion 32.4%

2008-07-23 Hate Broken Links? Automatically Check Your Emails For Them With Link Checker

2008-07-22 Add a Web Form Footer To Share Your Privacy Policy, Announce a Free Bonus and More

2008-07-18 Asking Subscribers To Whitelist You: Is It Ever Too Late?

Call For Participation

John W. Furst presents We Want Your Email Marketing Tips Now posted at E-Biz Booster Blog, saying, “A more conservative headline would read something like, ‘Call For Submission!’. But that sounds pretty uninteresting, doesn't it.”

John's comment: Come on, do something!

That concludes this edition. Submit your Blog article to the next edition of email marketing tips using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our Blog carnival index page.

Contact me, if you want to host an edition on your Internet marketing related Blog.

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: If you like this edition, check out the previous email marketing tips - edition 5, too.

Technorati tags: email marketing tips, blog carnival

Copyright 2008 by John W. Furst. Some Rights Reserved. Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.5. - If you find this content on a site that is violating our copyright, please, report its URL to us. Thanks for fighting copy scrapers.

John Reese Buys The Entire Make Money Online Market

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:07:40 -0700

Traffic Secrets 2.0

If you are following the Internet Marketing community for some time, you certainly will have heard about John Reese and his Million Dollar Payday. I have previously written about massive Internet Marketing launches and John Reese's BlogRush widget.

He was the first one, who brought in 1 Million Dollars from a product launch in a single day. This was with his legendary product Traffic Secrets, which sold like crazy for 997.00 US$.

4 years later it's time for John to release a brand new product called Traffic Secrets 2.0, which will go live on

Tuesday, July 15, 2008
at 12:00 EDT (as in New York, USA)

You might have received a lot of emails from John's marketing friends talking about the product and you might also have seen all 3 videos John has released to promote his sophisticated course.

If not, here is the link to the 3rd video and you also find the links to the 2 previous videos there.

Traffic Secrets Video 3
(not an affiliate link)

In this 21 minute long video John Reese talks about

the power of software to generate traffic to your sites,
he gives tips for hiring programmers,
and he makes the actual offer

Again, John Reese breaks all the rules here. (We know he can afford it financially.) Let's talk about the actual offer, I don't mean about the content of the course (watch John's video to find out), but it's supposed to be a

state-of-the-art E-learning course that comes
physically shipped to you on
12 Cd-ROMs,
with workbooks,
other printed materials,
and a neat case that holds it all together. There's also
an online platform which allows to track your progress in the course,
online resources,
and a members only online forum, in which John's staff and himself will be active

But the killer is that John Reese sells this brand new course for less money than the original one. Here it goes:

Free updates to the course during its life-time (years to come)
No forced continuity
No limited quantity
Not a limited time offer
No up-sell offer, just one price
No first action bonuses
No false scarcity of any kind
One price: 397.00 US$

When you have watched the major launches this year, the price is the most surprising part in John's offer so far, and all the other aspects… I would say, John and his new company income.com don't follow Jeff Walker's famous Product Launch Formula (at least on the surface), don't follow Stompernet's advice on how to make online videos, .... They create their own set of rules.

Here is my comment that I left at John Reese's Blog:

Why retype it here, when I just can do copy & paste. It's my comment anyway.

Surprise, surprise!

When it came to the price, I also was stunned! **This is much more than a fair offer.**

As Peter Parks already pointed out here, you're going against the common marketing wisdom of all your dear guru friends and don't exactly apply Jeff's classic PLF, do you. ...guess you know that better than anybody else.

You set a signal! A really “generous signal” in those economically quite difficult times. You really prove that you're more interested in helping people out rather than optimizing short term profits. Of course another interpretation could be that you are trying to buy the entire “Make Money On The Internet Market” once and for all.

I wish you success with the launch, which it certainly will be cause the offer is sort of a no-brainer. I also wish all your future customers lots of success. You certainly give them a solid foundation with this educational product.

Yours John

Lately you could read about the importance of transparency in your marketing on John's Blog and he seems to walk his talk. He also mentions that Traffic Secrets 2.0 is the very first product of his new company and that more is to come in the future.

From that, I am tempted to reason that John makes a clever move to try buying the entire “Internet Marketing - How To Make Money Online Market” once and for all. Of course we know that this market is huge, and he couldn't buy the entire market, but he might get a major share of it now, making it harder for everybody else to compete in that market.

In marketing competition is not a bad thing at all, competition creates advance in all aspects and drives development.

I am curious to see, how other major guru marketers will react to this mass market approach strategy.

One thing I am missing so far in the offer (at last from the classic copywriting point of view) is the risk reversal part of it - the guarantee. Let's see what the actual sales letter will tell us on Tuesday. The free updates and product life-time access to the online resources will certainly help to keep return rates low.

What do you think?

Yours
John W. Furst

Email Marketing Tips - Edition 4

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:16:21 -0700

Welcome to the fourth edition of email marketing tips on July 09, 2008.

Actually I know we are one day late, but lets pretend we were on time.

I want to start and say a big

“Thank You”

to John Lenaghan, who volunteers to host one of the upcoming editions of this Blog Carnival on one of his Blogs. Great! I guess it will be the second edition in August.

Now, it's your turn!

Contact me and host an edition of this carnival on your internet marketing related blog.

Get your Blog more exposure!
It's easier than you might think.

Let's jump into the subject right away. Today we have 10 great Blog posts in the following categories strategy, copywriting, general tips, resources.

I especially like Marcus Hochstadt's article, he addresses a disease that's common nowadays.

strategy

Marcus Hochstadt presents Freebie Seekers posted at Marcus Hochstadt, saying, “Freebie seekers are everywhere. But did you know that they can literally destroy your Internet business success?”

John's comment: Fun to read and true in its core. Do you recognize those folks or even yourself (I hope not!) Time to change.

John W. Furst presents Squeeze Page: Straight or Reversed? posted at E-Biz Booster Blog, saying, “Is a reversed squeeze page better? Well, there is a way to find out and what is a reversed squeeze page anyway? (It's about getting more subscribers to your email list)”

Hey, that's my own post! Leave a comment below on this page or on the article's page. Be so kind.

Kathleen Gage presents Social Networking; A great resource or simply a waste of time? posted at Street Smarts Marketing & Promotions, saying, “It seems at every turn we are hearing about the ‘latest and greatest’ place to network and build market reach on the Internet. Regardless of the size of your business, there are likely things you could be doing to increase your market reach, but knowing which is the best for your particular needs can be a daunting task. Learn how to choose the best avenue for your social networking”

John's comment: Are you able to create additional email subscribers from Web 2.0 platforms? It depends. Read this post.

copywriting

Miss Copy - Rebecca Dean presents If you ever need a HILARIOUS REVENGE idea? posted at Rebecca Dean

John's comment: A nicely to read reminder: Your copy needs: market research, empathy, proof,… Even for your email campaigns and landing pages.

general tips

Terry Dean presents Internet Scams posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.

John's comment: Listen up, avoid what Terry is writing about in your own campaigns and Web presence.

Tip Diva presents Top Ten Tips - E-Mail Etiquette posted at Tip Diva, saying, “If Tip Diva receives one more forward noting that Bill Gates will pay her $1 for each person she sends the e-mail to, she's going to scream. If you are an ignorant inbox clogger, it's time to brush up on your e-mail etiquette for everyone else's sanity”

John's comment: Thanks Diva for writing this description above. unfortunately those tips are not a no-brainer for everyone.

John Lenaghan presents A Warning About Viral Optin Scripts posted at Internet Marketing Chaos

John's comment: Thanks for the warning. By the way, I personally don't like it at all, when my friends give away my email address.

Jordanv presents eNewsletters - Be Smart and Contribute to Your Constituents' IQs posted at Connection Cafe

John's comment: Some useful no brainer guidelines for your newsletter design.

resources

Terry dean presents Blogs You Can Use : Internet Business Coaching by Terry Dean posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean

John's comment: Some good resources. Terry checked them out personally. They are up-to-date and valuable.

Tammi Metzler presents Get your free grammar and punctuation e-course! posted at Writeassociate's Weblog, saying, “I am a copywriter and freelance editor, and my newly created blog will offer tips about copywriting and correct grammar and punctuation usage.”

John's comment: I guess I should take that course, too… I just signed up, will see…

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of email marketing tips using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Contact me, if you want to host an edition on your internet marketing related blog.

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: If you like this edition, check out the previous email marketing tips edition, too.

Technorati tags: email marketing tips, blog carnival

Squeeze Page: Straight or Reversed?

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:11:55 -0700

Did you ever hear the term “Reversed Squeeze Page”? Not too long ago, I was asked, whether a squeeze page or a reverse squeeze page performs better for generating opt-ins for a promotional type of email newsletter.

Of course my answer was,

“It depends!”

But let me start slowly here, tell you a bit about the history of squeeze pages and why using them at all is a good idea.

Squeeze Page History

The traditional squeeze page is said to be invented by Eben Pagan, who has become a perfect role model for the typical Internet marketing success story. Eben's original idea was to tease Web visitors with valuable information, but not giving it to them directly. Eben was the first one who asked for an email address in exchange (or the first one, who became famous for it).

Purpose Of A Squeeze Page

The point is, online marketers have learned — as direct response marketers have learned before them — not everyone who reads a sales message or advertising for the first time will buy the promoted product right away. You cannot just let them leave. The modern squeeze page on the Web resembles the post card attached in magazine ads. It's the same mechanism. The advertiser or Web site owner promises something that is useful for the readers. They will get it in exchange for their contact information.

Back then, when Eben had introduced this direct response concept on the Web, it seemed quite revolutionary and bold, because everybody thought all the information on the Web were free to access. Breaking that believe, made Eben succeed with his product in the dating niche.

It is reported that it takes 7 visits to a vendor's Web site on average before a prospect buys the featured product. An email list generated from a squeeze page shall make sure that the prospects indeed are there, back on the site, again, and again,… till they buy or opt-out. An email list makes its owner more independent from paid sources of traffic to their Web site. (Let's be honest here, even so-called “free traffic” costs money, unless one values time with 0.00$ an hour.)

Especially new online marketers forget the real purpose of their email list very quickly after they have started it. They very often fall back into the believe that those people want to hear from them. The truth is, when they signed up, they wanted the cure for their problem, otherwise they wouldn't have signed up to the list. They only care about what you have to say, what you have to write as much as it helps them to solve their problems. That's copywriting 101, isn't it.

That said, it makes sense to trade valuable information that helps your visitors with their email address. This allows you to stay in touch. That's exactly what the original squeeze page does.

After talking about the background of squeeze pages a bit, let's look what a squeeze page is

The Traditional Squeeze Page

A single Web page that offers specific, valuable information to a certain group of people, like an ebook “How To Get Rid Of Back Pain Forever”. It is important to drive targeted traffic to that landing page. In many cases this page will be the home page of a domain, like www.cureyourbackpainforever.com (That domain is actually a real one, parked at GoDaddy, not being used.)
The only 2 actions a visitor can follow are join the newsletter or leave.
The copy on a squeeze page shall be persuasive, create trust and highlight the benefits of opting in. Most marketers have started to incorporate audio and video messages to make the sale on their opt-in form. There is a strong call to action.
Some marketers even put opt-in forms in front of their sales letters. That means you cannot even buy the product before making the first step of giving away your email address.

Many people — consumers and business owners — feel that's going too far, they refrain from filling out such a from respectively refrain from using a traditional squeeze page on their sites. That brings us to the next step.

The Reverse Squeeze Page

It follows the same principle, but will allow the visitor to consume a chunk of free information, before they need to provide their email address. At the end of those messages, they will generally be told that there is much more free, valuable info in store for them, if they sign up.

Typically you would see it implemented like presenting a free report for download right away, or more recently a free video. At the end will be the call for action, “You like my info? Now, sign up to get more of it …”.

The difference between the reversed squeeze page and to a normal sign-up form on a Web page or a Blog is that the possible actions for the visitor are still very limited in case of a reversed squeeze page. It's about signing up or not signing up.

What works better

As I said in the opening, “It depends!”. You need to test it for your market, for your audience, for your traffic sources. That's the only way, you'll know.

You can always check what type of squeeze pages are common in your market and start out with that model, but you might find that squeeze pages are not so common outside the “Money Making Niche” at all. In that case just introduce them.

Yours
John W. Furst

How To Create A Mini Site That Makes You Money While You Sleep

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:45:45 -0700

Profits From Mini Sites

You will have noticed that I shifted focus towards email marketing, hence, the “Email Marketing Tips Blog Carnival”. However, email is a means of communication. Transactions like sales or sign-ups are done on Web pages.

There is a certain type of Web sites that is a perfect compliment for email marketing: Mini Sites.

I have just gone through Michael Rasmussen's

“Mini Site Profits Exposed” Video Series:
How To Create A Mini Site That Runs On Autopilot And Makes You Money While You Sleep!

Here's what I think

You can learn a lot from Michael's marketing!
- He applies almost any one-time offer, down-sell, and up-sell offer in this one promotion.
- Audio & Video (screen cam) are used very professionally almost on any page.
He doesn't stop there,… He even recruits affiliates at the same call. It's amazing.
…

Just in case you want to learn about the potential of Mini Sites. Michael Rasmussen's offer is the most complete offer to start with right now.

Mini Site Profits Exposed: Video Series
(affiliate link)

Yes, I admit it. That's an affiliate link up there. Why not?

I recognize the value in that offer. At a minimum you learn about effective online marketing. If you are really serious, you will take Michael up on one of his onetime offers, and get a huge value for a small one time payment. That's fair, isn't it.

You learn about online marketing even, if you don't invest money.
You get the chance to receive a serious, outstanding value for a small price.

Check out: Mini Sites Exposed - Video Series

That's my recommendation. I suggest you go there right away, but I also give you more copy to learn more about this offer below.

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: I am not just copying and pasting some sales copy and pretend I wrote it. That's not my style here on this Blog. However, you can find an excerpt (which is available for free as an affitiate marketing tool) below. Enjoy.

P.P.S.: More details about Michael Rasmussen's offer.

YOU'RE ABOUT TO LEARN HOW TO DO IT!

Michael Rasmussen has just released a brand new video course that will walk you through the process of creating a killer mini site from the ground up, and then he'll also teach you how to actually start making money with it right away and into the future.

If you've been looking for help with monetizing your mini sites, then this is exactly what you need. The best part? The videos are FREE! I'll tell you more about that later. First, let's talk about the videos themselves.

If you're in a hurry, you can just check the
videos out right now for free. Here's the URL:

Learn How To Do It

OVERALL QUALITY

It's important to note that these are online videos that you access from your web browser. Michael uses Camtasia Studio to create these videos, which is the premier software program for creating screen capture tutorials such as these.

The first thing I noticed when I hit the play button on the first video was the incredible production quality. These are NOT your ordinary screen capture videos. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen someone make videos that are this high quality before.

He uses beautifully created graphics to pass his wisdom along to you, and the sound quality is the highest you will ever hear in an Internet marketing product. They sound like they were recorded in a professional studio.

Michael explained to me that he was sick and tired of seeing all the low quality videos out there, and so he set out to create something different in order to raise the bar in our industry. I think that, when you see Mini Site Profits Exposed for yourself, you'll agree that he has succeeded.

Now let's move onto...

THE ACTUAL VIDEOS

Here's a brief summary of each video. Obviously it's impossible to list every single thing here, but I want you to get a feel for what each one covered, and how well it covered it.

If you're in a hurry, you can just check the
videos out right now for free. Here's the URL:

www.MiniSiteProfitsExposed.com

VIDEO 1 - INTRODUCTION

This videos introduces you to the entire course, as well as the teacher himself. You'll learn what you can expect from the course, and why it's structured the way it is.

Michael realizes that you may not have heard of him, and so he spends some time establishing his credibility with you by sharing some of his biggest successes. It doesn't come across as bragging at all. Michael explains that, in order for you to get value from the teachings, you need to have faith that the teacher actually knows what he's talking about. By the end of this video, you will have no doubt.

By the way, this is a good lesson for all of us product developers. If you want people to accept you as an authority on any subject, you first need to establish your credibility with the reader. That way he's willing to relax, and trust that what you're telling him is sound advice.

VIDEO 2 - THE BASICS

This video will introduce you to the basics of mini site marketing. This will set the foundation that all future learning will rest upon, so it's important to pay close attention to this one.

You'll learn:

What mini-sites are, and what makes them different from regular content sites.
Which businesses they work well for… and which ones they don’t.
The right mindset to have when it comes to creating mini sites as part of your online business strategy.
And the different tools you need to get started.

This was a great video, and did an excellent job of
kicking things off, and building the foundation for
the rest of the course.

VIDEO 3 - SQUEEZE PAGES

This is probably one of the most useful videos of the entire course. Every Internet marketer needs to build an email list, but how do you do it? What is the best way to capture the most opt-ins?

The answer is 'squeeze pages'. This video will teach you:

Why using a squeeze page is far superior to other opt-in methods.
The single most important thing you must include at the top of your squeeze page to skyrocket your opt-in rate.
The secret structure of a squeeze page, and why most marketers get it wrong (which costs them a LOT of money).
The most important to include in your opt-in process that will make sure that people actually receive your email.

After watching this video, you'll know everything you need to know to start building a massive opt-in list right away. This will probably be the first video that you 'take action' on. You'll be so excited about the possibilities, that I guarantee you'll go and create your own squeeze page right away.

VIDEO 4 - MINI SITE COPYWRITING - PART ONE

Nothing happens until the sales copy is written. Graphics alone will never sell a product, but sales copy alone WILL. This video begins to demystify the mysterious process of writing words that make people whip out their credit cards and buy.

Specifically, you'll learn:

Why you need to learn copywriting, even if you “hate to write”
What a compelling offer looks like, and how to tell the difference.
How to write an eyeball-grabbing headline that practically forces your readers to go through your entire page.
A simple trick you can use in your opening to make your reader want to learn more.

There is no skill that is more important to your success than the ability to write killer sales copy. Make sure you pay extra attention to this video, as well as...

VIDEO 5 - MINI SITE COPYWRITING - PART TWO

This video dives right into the individual components of a killer sales letter…

You want to learn more? There are actually 12 videos, which you can access for free. All you need to do is to register. So go ahead and check out Mini Site Profits Exposed right now, and see what all the fuss is about. I highly recommend that you upgrade to the deluxe
course as well. Here's the URL:

MiniSiteProfitsExposed.com

Got Your Dream Domain?

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:01:40 -0700

What's A Great Top Level Domain Extension?

A couple of days ago I have received an email from some gmail.com address saying,

“You own the domain SOMEDOMAIN.BIZ^(*) and we thought you might be interested in purchasing SOMEDOMAIN.COM, which we own. We offer it to you for US$ 195.00. ...”

(*) I obviously changed the real domain name into a fake one.

Why would I want to buy SOMEDOMAIN.COM?

A short list of reasons:

Well, the classic .COM top level domain extension has the widest recognition as Internet - Web - Domain among all other extensions.

Say “WHATEVER.COM” and almost everybody, who ever has browsed the Web, will know what you are talking about and how to get to your Web site. Some SEO (search engine optimization) specialists also claim, that .COM domains are treated favorable by search engines, especially Google. Although Google likes .ORG domains these days as well.
Many of the new domain extensions like .BIZ already have been heavily abused by spammers and have got a bad taste in the perception of anti-spam tools.

E.g. Whenever I am sending a newsletter from my FCON21.BIZ domain I am reminded by the SpamAssassin™ Score that emails originating from a .BIZ domain are penalized with some extra points into the red.

Obviously, when I registered this domain. I didn't really know what I was doing. But I'll stick with it for now.
Today you find all sort of commercial and non-profit sites both in the US and every other country in the World using the famous .COM extension. Use it, too.

When I originally bought SOMEDOMAIN I was looking for .COM, which had not been available at the time.

Will I jump on the deal?

No, for several reasons.

SOMEDOMAIN was not a good choice for a domain name anyway.
The latter point also seems to be proved. SOMEDOMAIN.COM is available for registration! (Would it be, if it were such a hot deal?)
The offer obviously came from some sort of spammers, who search the WHOIS database. They did not even bother registering the .COM domain at first. Probably they would, if I showed interest. Or they simply want to receive some cash via Western Union. (I'll never find out, because I don't react to spam.)

Above I have recommended the .COM extension, but what makes up a good domain name?

A Great Domain Name - Some quick rules

Is it unique and catchy?
Is it descriptive?
Does it convey the right image?
Is it memorable?
Can people type it without misspellings when they only hear it?
The shorter the better!

My SOMEDOMAIN example failed, because of high potential for misspellings that' why I don't bother registering it, and I also will let the .INFO and .BIZ versions of it expire.

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: I originally jumped on the bad SOMEDOMAINs, when GoDaddy had one of its frequent sales. At this time I was not aware of the advantages of .COM and I didn't have any clue about qualities of a good domain name at all. I mean FCON21.BIZ kind of is a remnant from this time, too.

Colour tools, palettes, schemes and theory - Thanks David Airey!

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:40:34 -0700

Just a quick post, but I thought I should share those wonderful resources with you. So far I did not get any complaints that I wrote some Web site development related posts lately. Okay, here is another one.

Graphic Designer David Airey wrote a post about resources for anything that has to do with colors.

Colour palettes and combinations
Colour theory
Colour tools

→ Colour tools, palettes, schemes and theory

I did not count them, but for sure there are more than 50 different links, each with a short description.

Wow, thanks David!

Now, there is quick release, if you have the “color block”... Check it out and bookmark it with your favorite social bookmarking tools.

Yours
John W. Furst

Templates and Themes For Serendipity - S9y

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:10:43 -0700

The number of freely available templates or themes is a critical ingredient for the success of any Blog software.

I have advertised Serendipity Blog software (s9y) and Garvin Hicking’s new book on Serendipity in my previous post. Today, when I answered a comment on my Blog, I actually got into thinking about the importance of templates, and decided to write this post about themes and templates.

S9y offers a great deal of flexibility and customization without the need to tweak the template code directly. The configuration and Plugin management via the Admin interface is straight forward and very flexible.
The use of the Smarty Templating Engine separates design and application code.

However, one main advantage of Wordpress... over s9y is the huge base of cool looking themes for almost any purpose. Most or at least many of them are readily available for free. A new blogger just picks any of the themes and is done! There are SEO optimized themes, AdSense optimized themes, etc.

I mean look at the following search terms. I added up the number of search results on the big three (Google, Yahoo, live).

free wordpress themes 34,700,000
free serendipity themes 2,470,000

We know, the bigger a community the faster it grows. Wordpress is ahead of s9y in terms of popularity more than just a short head. Anyway, I am a s9y fan and I'll tell you how to deal about s9y templates (it's not as scary as you might think of).

Let’s talk s9y themes straight

All official templates are available at the official Serendipity Web site. I have counted about 103 official templates or so.

You can either

reconfigure those,
modify them with Plugins,
edit the template files (PHP skills not required),
or start from scratch and design your very own template.

A good starting point are the “bulletproof” templates, which were created as template framework for designers. Start with your unique template from here:

S9y-Bulletproof.com

The Bulletproof developers' primary design goal was to create a template which can be base of any of the “classic” Blog layouts, in any popular browser, on any popular platform, without falling apart. Bulletproof makes great use of s9y's “theme options”, so users can now configure almost any desirable option using just the administration panel. There is almost no need to edit any of the template's core files for the most desirable features.

I hope that helps
Yours
John W. Furst

Serendipity Weblog Software - Finally it's in a Book

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:23:30 -0700

Did you notice that I did not write about Web site development related — more technical issues — lately? For a simple reason:

“The technical stuff on this Blog simply works!”
Long live Serendipity “s9y” Weblog software

That’s exactly how it should be, unless you are a developer, who deals with LAMP (*) issues on a daily basis. Since I am not a developer (anymore) my focus has shifted towards marketing and business related topics with occasional sidekicks to personal development.

Why do I want to tell you about Blog software today?

The reason is simple, the core developer Garvin Hicking released his new book on Serendipity only a couple of days ago.

“Congratulations,
Garvin!”

Why should you buy this book?

Let me give you a couple of reasons (in arbitrary order).

Because it’s the ultimate

“How to successfully cheat on Wordpress and get away with it guide”.
It feels good to have a hard copy in hand.
Only 5 hard copies are available for free. Sorry, purchasing is the only way to ensure you get a hard copy.
To improve your German skills.
To show appreciation for Garvin’s and the teams’ efforts. Yeah, they are real people.
Besides all the s9y issues on the surface, you might also get lessons of a great programming style and software design (if you are interested in that).

What’s in the book?

Lots of stuff — 750 pages — covering all technical aspects of working with Serendipity. No matter, if you are a s9y beginner or already an advanced professional user or developer. This book nails the facts. Actually you can check it out in more detail yourself, one chapter and the complete table of content (toc) is available online in German language. The toc itself has 18 pages! Okay, what's in the book in a nutshell.

Installation manual
User manual
Intro and guide on how to use
- Plugins
- Templates
Extensive documentation of the API (application programming interface)
Extensive Glossary

From reading through the free chapter, which deals with installation I can see, that Garvin is an accomplished technical writer. He certainly managed to put his experience from the support forum into the book and he knows who he is writing for. Great job, Garvin!

This book is available at amazon.de and Open Source Press. Find out all details at Garvin’s original blog post Serendipity-Handbuch

Only one disclaimer: The book is released in German language, Let’s hope that an English one will follow.

Why do I use Serendipity for my Blogs?

I am kind of an off-main-stream type of guy, and I always have been, but I based my decisions on facts not just believe. I mainly use Linux not Windows or Mac for example. When I was about to install my first Blog I said to myself, “What kind of software is out there”. I noticed a huge crowd following Wordpress, and I saw some excellent comments and ratings at my Web host panel for another piece of software: “Serendipity”.

So I checked them out both, and… Serendipity won my personal contest. I just checked out the latest developments and compared Wordpress 2.5.1. and Serendipity 1.3.1. Again, I will stick with Serendipity. Some reasons in arbitrary (again) order:

Easy installation even without Fantastico^®.
Most default settings are just fine, however, together with the variety of available plugins you can customize your Blog much more as opposed to a Wordpress Blog without diving through code.
Integrated media manager. No need to FTP an images, etc.
Plugins are centralized available. You install them via the Web browser. Upgrading them is damn easy. Click!
Bugs are fixed rather quickly.
Bob Parsons (President of Godaddy.com, Inc.) is using it.
Great community in which the developers are very active.
You can run several, distinct Blogs from the same installation and database.
Sophisticated multi-language capabilities.
Of course great multi-user environment.
Separation between PHP Code and Template files. No messing around with the PHP files. It uses the powerful Smarty Templating Engine. Many layout aspects can be controlled via plugins through the Admin interface anyway.
Rock solid programming, and database design, makes it easy for developers to extend the functionality.
The functionality is less dependent on the chosen templates as it is with Wordpress.
Never had troubles with it.

As with Windows versus Linux or Mac there are logical and emotional reasons that drive someones preferences.

I happen to prefer Serendipity, but also use Wordpress on other Blogs. That way I can benefit from both “Worlds”.

Yours
John W. Furst

(*) LAMP stands for the commonly used open source Web development platform based on Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, Perl or Python.

Master Google AdWords Like A Stomper

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:25:29 -0700

Master Google AdWords

Chances are, that you already have heard about one of the latest, and greatest

“Stompernet Going Natural Videos 3.0”

Since I don't blog much lately anyway, I quickly tell you what this is all about, give you the links and let you find out yourself.

If you are serious about making money on the Internet, you definitely don't want to miss this info. It does not cost you a dime.

Why do the guys from Stompernet give away such priceless info?

Why do they spend time and energy making all those videos? Well, Andy Jenkins from Stompernet is very honest about it. They are doing it to prove the tremendous value someone finds inside the Stompernet network. Why? Because they will accept new members into Stompernet shortly and reopen their doors. I am sure it will fill up pretty quickly. Even though, as you probably know, the membership fee in Stompernet is not cheap.

Anyway, you don't have to purchase anything. Just use their info for your advantage and it will be alright. So far there are 3 videos on the site.

Going Natural 3 Video Series

Adwords Triangulation Method (↑)

The hot info, the blue print for buying buyers instead of traffic with AdWords starts around minute 14. Yes, the Stomper videos are quite long, but bear with them and take notes. If you are not using Google Adwords at this time, you might want to reconsider.

E.g. one of the tricks is about setting up an AdWords split test in a way that you don't leave so much money on the table compared to the conventional method. …Interested?

The video is somewhat advanced and fast paced, except the lengthy introduction. If you are new to AdWords amd need to learn from scratch, I suggest you get Perry Marshall's free Adwords Email Course (↑), first.
Stomper Site Seer Intro (↑)
Stomper Site Seer: How To (↑)

The Stomper guys also give you a SEO analysis tool, which tells you where you should and could improve your site. Those videos are also packed with general and specific SEO advice. Check them out, too.

Update: Andy Beard wrote a forensic analysis report about SiteSeer in his post: “Stompernet Site Seer - Ripped Apart (↑)”

Actually you can download those videos in quicktime format to your harddrive and watch them over and over again. But I am sure it will be more valuable and time saving to take notes while watching the videos and stick with the action items you derive from those tips for your business. Tips are only as good as you use them.

That's the quick tip for now.

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: Now, I am heading back to the beach.

Great Tips For You - From SEO To Personal Development To Clickbank

nospam@example.com (John W. Furst) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:55:09 -0700

Rainbow over Puerto de la Cruz, Canary Islands

Right before the weekend I have some sound tips for you. I keep it very short, because everybody's time is very valuable. The tips are for the areas:

Personal Development
Search Engine Optimization
Getting Paid by Clickbank

I thought also, it is finally time to use that rainbow photo I had taken several weeks ago. It was sitting idle on my server for quite some time. Do you share my association between that rainbow and those tips?

Personal Development

You have heard it before, “One of the biggest problems with personal growth is, that you — yourself — might be the person who is standing in your own way.”

Aaron Potts writes about how to defeat that sort of self-sabotage.

How to Get out of Your Own Way (↑)

SEO for Wordpress Blogs

Stephen Miller wrote an excellent article about SEO for Wordpress Blogs. The post is quite straight forward, but also a good starting point for a serious newbie.

Some Wordpress SEO Thoughts (↑)

Clickbank pays with XACH and new Blog

Clickbank has started an official Blog. Something the community waited for a long time.

The following will especially interest my international members outside the USA who use Clickbank products or affiliate promotions as income stream. Get your Clickbank commissions transferred to your local bank account, in your local currency in days, not weeks. Forget the troublesome cheques in US-Dollars sent — and sometimes lost — by mail. Thanks to Andy Beard for blogging about those topics.

Clickbank XACH Bank Transfers & Blog (↑)

Enjoy reading.
Your feedback is welcome. Leave a comment here on this Blog.

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: Please, do some social bookmarking for the sites mentioned above, if you like a post. You know, I mean Digg, Stumble, Del.icio.us, Propeller, etc. Whatever is your favorite and appropriate to the content of the post. Thanks.