Derek Gehl, The Candid Internet Marketer

The power of good copy

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:35:14 -0800

I was riding my bicycle home from work the other day (I know, how very health conscious of me! ;-) when I noticed a sign on a soccer field that made me laugh.

Here's what it said:

WARNING!
Alarm will sound 10 seconds before water cannons start
Get off the field!

Here's a good example of how powerful great copy can be.

After all, what's more likely to get you running off the field once that alarm starts -- the threat of being blasted by water cannons... or sprinklers?

Take some time to review your own copy. Are you using strong, exciting verbs and nouns to create the most attention-grabbing, compelling copy possible? If not, maybe you should work on polishing it.

After all, if your copy is boring, your revenue numbers will most likely be boring, too.

On the flip side of that last blog post...

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:28:03 -0800

In my last blog post, I talked about a business that's been run into the ground, thanks to lousy customer service.

Today I want to look at a business that goes out of its way to earn customers for LIFE.

This came up in a conversation with some friends who all live in the same neighborhood. One friend was complaining because the last time she went to a well-known coffee shop, she was told she couldn't sit at one of their outside tables, because she hadn't made a purchase.

Her husband had bought a coffee from the shop... and so had her mother, who was in town visiting. But because SHE hadn't bought anything, she was told she wasn't allowed to sit at the table with the rest of her family!

Okay, so that was another example of horrible customer service. See how I worked that in? ;-)

The conversation soon turned to other coffee shops in the neighborhood. One in particular kept on being praised for its GREAT customer service.

One of my friends said he went to that coffee shop and wanted to order a nanaimo bar to go with his coffee.

(A nanaimo bar is a kind of chocolate square, in case you don't have them where you live.)

Unfortunately, the shop was sold out of nanaimo bars that day. When my friend mentioned how disappointed he was, the owner of the store walked out of the store, went to the bakery across the street, bought a nanaimo bar there -- and then came back and gave it to my friend free of charge!

Needless to say, that coffee shop now has a customer for life. PLUS they have a walking, talking advertisement in my friend, who raves about them and tells the nanaimo bar story whenever coffee shops come up in conversation.

There were probably eight of us who were involved in that conversation that day. And I promise you, all eight of those people will NEVER buy anything at the first coffee shop again... but they'll frequently go to the coffee shop with the owner who gave away the free nanaimo bar.

And -- what's more -- they'll tell all their friends to go there, too.

That's pretty good for a two-dollar investment on the owner's part, don't you think?

How to run a business into the ground

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:46:50 -0800

The other night I was having dinner with some friends of mine who were raving about a new shopping plaza that had been built near to where they live.

As they spoke, I couldn't but wonder what effect the new shopping center would have on the smaller, older grocery/liquor store that had long been in their neighbourhood.

"That place?" my friend said with a tone of disgust, when I mentioned it. "We haven't shopped there in years!"

I was surprised to hear that because I knew he and his wife used to go shopping at that store at least once week.

So I asked him why he stopped.

Well, it turns out the store had been bought by new owners, who had driven it into the ground.

Not by poor management or lack of decent product to sell -- but by POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.

My friend's wife told me about how she'd once gone in there to return a bunch of plastic water bottles for deposit -- something the old owners had always welcomed her to do.

The new owner on the other hand, pointed to a sign that said, "No Pop Bottles" and yelled at her saying, "Can't you read the SIGN?"

"Yes," she replied, confused and ashamed, as other shoppers turned to stare at her. "But these aren't pop bottles, they're water bottles."

"Same difference," the owner snapped.

He reluctantly took the bottles anyway and gave her the money, but not without telling her, "I'm doing you a FAVOR, you know."

Well, wouldn't you know it, a small neighbourhood store that had once been a local hangout selling over $1 MILLION a year in alcohol alone (according to my friend, who handled the business's insurance at one time) is now a virtual ghost town.

A parking lot that was once crammed with cars now stands empty.

And not because a bigger, shinier shopping center moved in down the street, but because the owner forgot the number one rule of doing business:

TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS RIGHT.

How about you? Do you have any customer relations nightmares you'd like to share?

Here's your chance to vent!

How'd you like to make $1000s simply by posting videos online?

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:08:14 -0800

Here's an interesting tidbit for anyone who has a video camera...

I was just checking out different video hosting sites for a newsletter I'm working on, and I noticed that a lot of the videos posted on www.metacafe.com had a little "Producer Rewards" graphic beside them.

I clicked on one of the graphics to discover exactly what a "Producer Reward" was. Turns out that if you agree to let Metacafe licence your video, they'll pay you $5 for every 1000 impressions (in other words, for every 1000 people who click on the video and watch it).

It doesn't matter if it's spontaneous or scripted -- if it entertains viewers, Metacafe will reward you for it.

When I read this, my first question was, "Yeah, but can you actually make decent money doing this?"

Well, it turns out that Metacafe's top earner has made over $62,000! Not a bad chunk of change, don't you think?

I'm sure it takes a while to earn that kind of money on a site like Metacafe... but if making videos is your hobby, you may as well post them on Metacafe and see what happens.

After all... even if you only end up making a couple thousand dollars -- that's still a trip to Mexico!

Will you be my Facebook friend?

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:12:52 -0800

I recently started a Facebook group -- called "Derek Gehl's Internet Marketing & Web Entrepreneur Group" -- and I'd love for you to join it. My goal is to build the biggest group of online entrepreneurs in the Facebook community.

EVERYONE is welcome!

We'll be discussing important Internet marketing topics such as: search engine optimization, web page design, social networking and "Web 2.0" -- and much more.

If you are passionate about building businesses and making money on the Internet, you want to be part of this group!

To join my group, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17874272696

See you on Facebook!

A quick email question for all you marketing whizzes out there...

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:09:18 -0800

Which is the most effective FROM: address to include on all the newsletters and promotional emails you send to your list ?

yourname@yourcompany.com
info@yourcompany.com
sales@yourcompany.com

Leave your answers -- and your reasons why -- in the Comments section!

You'll discover the answer in next Monday's issue of the IMC Insider... so keep your eyes on your inbox and make sure you read it!

Blogging 101

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:41:05 -0800

These days, blogging has become a staple part of many online businesses. Yet I still get regular questions from my students and Internet Entrepreneur Club members asking, "why do I need a blog?"

At first glance, a blog is really just an online journal that displays a series of posts, displayed in chronological order. These posts are typically written in a conversational, informal tone, and don't contain any overt advertising messages.

So if you sell widgets on the Internet, why the heck do you need a blog? What value is it going to add to your business, aside from being one more thing to put on your "to-do" list?

Let me answer that for you! Here are the two main reasons you need to have a blog as part of your online business:

Reason #1: Blogs add personality to your business!

The Internet is an extremely impersonal business medium, and any opportunity you have to give your business some personality will increase your sales.

Fact: People like to buy products from people (not machines!).

If you use a blog to give your business a "voice," your customers will get a better sense of who the guy or gal behind the business really is. That'll help you build a stronger relationship with your customers -- and that will improve your sales!

Just remember: Your blog should not be written in fancy business lingo! It should be extremely conversational and personal.

Your readers should feel as if you're speaking directly to them -- sharing personal stories, useful tidbits of information, your thoughts on new developments in the industry -- whatever your readers will find useful and informative.

Also, your blog posts don't have to be long articles! In fact, you'll be better off if they're not. Most popular bloggers keep their posts to 400-500 words maximum, and many of their posts are often much shorter.

Reason #2: Blogs help you get listed in Google quickly!

The 'Net's top search engines love sites that have new, original content being added on a regular basis -- and that means they LOVE blogs.

We have run numerous tests with different blogs in different industries -- and time and time again, we've found that a properly optimized blog post can show up in Google's top 10 listings in less than 10 days!

For examples of these tests, please go to www.marketingtips.com/trafficsecrets

Personally, I jump on every opportunity I come across to capitalize on free traffic from Google. You should, too. And right now, blog are one of the easiest ways to legitimately explode your free traffic numbers.

Of course, I have only scratched the surface of blogging here. In order to create a truly effective "e-commerce" blog, you need to understand the finer details of setting up your blog and optimizing it for the search engines.

That's why we created the definitive guide to building a blog that does the best job of building a strong relationship with your customers and driving tons of prequalified visitors to your salespage. For more info on this guide, click here now!

And remember, if you ever have any questions never hesitate to send us an email or give us a call. We are here to help you succeed!

All the best...

Derek Gehl, your guide to Internet success ;-)

The Internet's Dirty Secret?

Thu, 06 Sep 2007 08:16:31 -0800

I just read an interested article on iMedia.com that I thought I'd share with you. Its focus is all the free services available on the Internet today -- and its conclusion is that when you're talking "free," sometimes you get what you pay for.

I think the article makes a lot of interesting points. Of course, if you're just starting out online and don't have a lot of extra funds kicking around, using free services is a great way to get ahead without going into debt.

Just make sure you read the fine print of your user's agreement! You don't want to get sucked into a free service that doesn't give you what you need -- and then makes it almost impossible for you to switch to another service provider.

You can read the article for yourself here: www.imediaconnection.com

I'd love to hear your thoughts on it!

Make sure you read next Monday's IMC Insider!

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:43:48 -0800

It's going to feature an article from a special "guest expert" (a VERY successful online entrepreneur who's made a huge name for himself in the Internet marketing world).

He's going to have a lot of useful information to share (especially for you newbies who are still looking for something to sell online).

So make sure you keep an eye on your inboxes Monday (August 27th)! You're not going to want to miss this next issue.

Cheers,
Derek

The top 5 reasons to open an eBay Store

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:40:36 -0800

Since we had such a phenomenal response to the brand new "Insider Secret's To Selling on eBay" training system we launched last week, I thought it only appropriate to share a little bit more eBay wisdom to help you start making more money online.

[For more info on how you can test drive one of our powerful new eBay training systems -- for the price of a song on iTunes! -- go to: www.auctiontips.com/profit-system-trial]

One of our readers, Frank, recently wrote in with the following question about the world's largest marketplace:

"I've been selling on eBay for approximately six months and have raised my profits to $1,000 each month. My question is, should I do an eBay Store and will it reduce my monthly costs?"

Here's the answer, Frank: Yes!

(I love easy questions like this. ;-)

However, lower listing fees isn't the only advantage an eBay Store can offer. Today I'm going to share my top 5 reasons why anyone who's serious about selling on eBay should open a store as soon as they have a steady supply of products to sell.

Here they are...

Reason #5: More flexibility = more opportunities to sell in the format your buyers like best

Just because you have an eBay Store, it doesn't mean you have to stop putting your items up for auction! An eBay store allows you to put your products in front of people in a variety of different ways.

My recommendation is to list 80% of your items in your store and 20% as auctions in order to drive more visitors to your store.

Reason #4: More automation = more free time for you!

With an eBay store, it's far easier for you to automate daily chores such as relisting unsold items, asking for feedback, and keeping track of your inventory. The more you can automate your business, the more time you can spend growing it -- and multiplying your profits!

Reason #3: More communication with buyers = more chances to sell to them in the future

When you have your own Store, eBay makes it easy for you to stay in touch with your bidders and customers, by allowing you to create your own store newsletter that eBay will send out on your behalf.

All you have to do is add a link at the top right corner of your store page that says, "Sign up for store newsletter" -- and then eBay will automatically send people notices about your latest specials and products for sale.

It's a great way to put your products right in front of your best potential customers... and encourage them to buy!

Reason #2: More exposure = more traffic

Unlike your regular auction listings, your eBay Store homepage -- as well as your store category pages and any custom pages you create -- doesn't disappear once your seven-day auction is over. It has a constant presence on the Web.

And that means those pages can get indexed by the search engines!

So not only will a store help you get tons more exposure on eBay itself, you'll also be able to put your products in front of a huge number of off-eBay shoppers, as well.

Reason #1: Lower eBay fees = more profits

As I said at the beginning of this article, when you own an eBay Store, your listing fees are way less expensive.

Just how much will you save? Well, if you run a regular auction for an item that costs $24.99, it'll cost you 60 cents to insert your listing. But if you have a store, that same item will cost only 5 cents to list! That will add up to huge savings once you start listing a large number of items.

The final value fees are also considerably lower. For example, you have to pay 10% of the total value for every $24.99 item you sell through a regular auction. But when you own a store, you only have to pay 5.25% of the total value.

And money saved = more profits for you!

A basic monthly eBay Store subscription costs just $15.95 -- so if you're selling 20 or more products a month, you'll definitely find it worth your while.

I hope that helps, Frank! Keep in touch and let us know how you're doing with your eBay business.

And for anyone else who would like to know more about how to achieve financial freedom selling in the world's largest marketplace -- while working just a few hours a week -- please visit:

www.auctiontips.com/profit-system-trial

And the winners are...

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:48:04 -0800

Last week I invited you to enter a contest celebrating the completion of my latest training system, "The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay." It's a brand-new eBay success system that will revolutionize the way people make money on the world's largest auction site.

Well, I have been absolutely blown away by your response!

By the time the contest closed at 12:00 a.m. Monday August 13th, 1121 people had entered the draw. Wow. Clearly a lot of you are eager to cash in on eBay's amazing profit potential!

But unfortunately, I can only choose three winners. And these lucky people are... (drumroll please):

June Bowker
Richard Winder
James Garvin

Congratulations to the three of you -- I hope you make the most of your eBay success systems!

(As I said in my last post, these success systems are based on the proven six-step profit system my in-house eBay experts have been teaching people for years. And many of their students have started making $1,000 to $10,000 a month, within a matter of weeks.)

I look forward to hearing about the success that June, Richard, and James are able to achieve on eBay in the near future.

And for the rest of you -- if you're all fired up to start selling in the world's largest marketplace, know that my brand-new eBay success system will be released to the world in just a matter of days.

Soon you can have its powerful, never-before-released secrets working for YOU, as well!

Contest: Win an eBay training system!

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 17:14:04 -0800

Are you feeling lucky? Because it's contest time!

My team and I are busy putting the final touches on our revolutionary new eBay success system, "The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay." (I don't want to tell you too much about it right now, but I will say it's going to have a HUGE impact on the way people sell on eBay!)

We have a limited amount of stock that we'll be releasing next week...

... But I want to give three lucky students the chance to get their hands on this amazing new profit system before anyone else -- absolutely for FREE!

All you have to do to enter my "eBay success" draw is leave me a comment telling me why YOU would like to be one of the three lucky winners.

That's it!

(Only one entry per person -- and please limit your comment to 250 words maximum.)

This contest will be closed at 12:00 a.m. August 13th. That's next Sunday at midnight.

The names of the three winners will be randomly drawn on Monday morning (August 13th, 8:00 a.m. PST) and announced in the next issue of my "IMC Insider" newsletter, which will go out later that day.

Make sure you keep an eye out for it!

So if you're keen to achieve incredible wealth in the world's largest marketplace (We're talking 241,000,000 registered users who are PSYCHED to spend money online!), then click on the "comments" link at the bottom of this post and leave me a comment right now!

Choosing a new web host? There are certain things you need to know

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 12:48:38 -0800

If you're just starting out and looking for a web host, be aware that there are certain questions you need to ask. Choosing a host is a very important decision, and before you make it you need to talk to the host -- as well as people who have used that host -- and find out the following:

Do they offer secure server capabilities? This allows private information like credit card numbers to be sent through your site without fear of interception. Most people won't purchase a thing online unless they know they're ordering through a secure server.
Do they have FAST servers? The quickest way to lose visitors -- and therefore customers -- is to make them wait too long for your web page to load! Your host should have at least a T3 connection to the major Internet backones.
How much space do they provide? Make sure they provide enough space for you to grow your site over time. Ten gigabytes is a good target to shoot for (it might seem like a lot now, but if you build a complex site over time, you'll be happy for the extra space.)

Also, if you're planning to offer downloads of eBooks, software, or other large files, make sure there aren't any unreasonable restrictions on bandwidth.
Do they offer a web-based adminstration interface? This allows you to manage your server easily via the Web.
Do they give you access to your raw server logs? You need to access your logs in order to analyze your web site traffic -- and that's essential information you can't live without!
What's their downtime? The answer needs to be as close to zero as possible.

Your web host needs to be up and running 99.9% of the time. There's nothing more frustrating than having your web site go down in the middle of a new marketing campaign. After all, every second it's down means lost profits for you.
Do they make you sign long-term contracts? If so, run away! Long-term contracts force you to give up a lot of flexibility -- and if something ever happens, you might not be able to make the switch to a new web host when you need to.

The host I personally recommend to my clients is www.1and1.com, because I'm familiar with their service and believe they offer good value for the price they charge. However, any host that gives you good answers to the questions above is probably worth considering.

Happy "host-hunting"!

July is "Make Your Dreams a Reality!" month

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 07:58:15 -0800

Attention 'newbies' -- I'm officially declaring July "Make Your Dreams a Reality!" month.

I've been getting a lot of comments recently from Internet marketing beginners who feel like they're stuck in quicksand and just can't seem to get their business moving forward.

You're telling me things like...

"I have no clue what to sell!"
"Keyword research is a mystery to me!"
"I don't know where to get started and I'm suffering from information overload!"

Well, I'm here to throw you a rope and get you on to solid ground.

For the entire month of July, I'm going to make an extra special effort to send you newsletter articles and educational emails that speak directly to the needs of all you beginners out there. (But there will still be lots of useful info for all you advanced entrepreneurs, of course.)

So if you're struggling to get started, watch for my emails this month! I'll be sending you a TON of information that will demystify the whole online business-building process and slash through the overgrown jungle of marketing mumbo-jumbo that's preventing you from clearly seeing what you need to do.

Oh, and one more thing -- make sure you...

...mark July 18TH on your calendar!

My team and I are working on a really exciting project that's going to help you overcome the challenges all "newbie" Internet marketers face when they're first starting out. I can't tell you anything about this project right now because it's still in the planning stages -- but it's something we've never done before and I think you're going to love it!

In the meantime, if you're a beginner and haven't yet shared your specific challenge with me, tell me about it. The more my team and I know about the problems that are holding you back, the better we can help you solve them.

And if you consider yourself an "advanced" Internet marketer, why not give something back to the community by offering the beginners the benefit of your wisdom? What were the big problems YOU faced when you were first starting out -- and how did you overcome them?

Please share your stories ;in the comments section.

Let's work together to make ALL our dreams a reality!

Share your biggest challenges -- and let's work together to solve them

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 07:46:19 -0800

Do you want me to help you solve the challenges you're currently facing with your business?

Then you need to TELL ME WHAT THEY ARE.

Just leave me a comment and tell me what your biggest challenge is right now. Is your site not getting any visitors? Are you getting lots of visitors, but no sales?

Let me know and I'll do whatever it takes to give you the information you need to solve that problem and get your business back on the fast track to online success.

Thomas Edison once said, "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

You may be experiencing some challenges right now... but you don't know how close to success you are.

Let me help you find out!