Marketing Cowboy

Is Someone Calling You?

2009-11-11T07:48:00.000-08:00

Good morning. Today I want to share a few thoughts with you and
also tell you about a cool tool I think is going to be of great
interest to most of my readers.

Back in 1980-ish, a friend of mine, Meir Yedid, told me he was
going to make me famous -- relatively speaking, amongst
professional and amateur magicians. I'd been involved with the
art of magic and entertainment since I was five, so when Meir
said this to me, I smiled.

Meir reviewed my own magic trick creations and picked the one he
liked best, improved upon it, and started introducing it amongst
his professional magician friends. These included Harry Anderson
from TV's Night Court and David Copperfield. Both of these guys
liked my trick and offered to perform it and provide testimonials
for it. Meir started marketing it, and I've lost count how many
thousands of copies of this trick he has sold over the past 20
years. I've made a little change on it myself, but it's the
notoriety that I was after.

Meir then hired me to edit some lecture notes and books for him.
Over the next few years he published many publications, and my
name was always credited with the writing and editing. This led
to introductions to other magicians and magic dealers who needed
help with editing and writing. As a result of Meir's antics, I
was offered a column in a major magic publication, started
writing books for other performers and started developing some
level of status amongst my brethren. This led to web sites, too.

Recently, I had another friend ask for my help with managing
some church projects revolving around our hospitality ministry.
Our church is trying to become friendlier to guests in an effort
to bring people closer to their faith and to surround them with
loving friendship. It's a daunting task and I was asked to help
brand the effort. Somewhere along the way, I was asked to write
and ghost-write articles for our church publication. Then I was
asked to become a greeter. And now the church just voted me in as
deacon of the hospitality ministry for 2010. Imagine that. Business
followed soon after. Wow.

It's funny the way these things happen.

Someone sees something in you that you do not see for yourself.
And through their encouragement they bring the best out of you,
to benefit others, but also to prove something to yourself.

Some say it starts with a calling to do something based upon
your own unique talents and gifts. Others might say it is just
being open to lend a hand with something when a friend asks for
your help.

If you are stagnating in some part of your life, I ask you to
consider carefully if your friends have asked for help with
something, and you may not have responded to their call. This
could be the pivot point to finding your own "sweet spot" -- to
reversing a downward trend in your life -- to launching a new
career or exploring a hidden talent you never even suspected was
there.

Think about it, my friends. There's good stuff waiting to be
done, and you may be the perfect person for the job.

OK, nuff said. Now to the cool tool. I know many of you are in
need of a new web site for yourself and can not afford to hire a
pro (me) to design it for you. So here's a new tool called the
Amazing Mini Site Template that comes in several different
designs and colors, is fully customizable, and can transform your
present lackluster web site into something you can be proud of:

http://www.resellerproducts.com/amazing mini site template/

You may need to copy and paste that URL into your browser but go
take a look at it. For $27.00 you really can't go wrong and it
will positively make your site shine.

Until next time, listen to your friends when they ask for help.

OK?

All my best,

Steven

P.S.: Forward this to a friend by clicking the email below:

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Scam Alert: Facebook and Award Company Scams

2009-11-06T07:21:00.000-08:00

I usually don't write to you more than once a week unless I have
timely information to share with you. I need to tell you about
two scams that I've come across.

The first is a fake Facebook update email. The email looks legit
but it is an attempt to steal your Facebook login credentials and
eventually your identity. Do not click on the embedded link in
this email. The subject line will state: "New login system" and
then the body of the email will inform you of a new login
experience but you need to click the embedded link. If you view
the source code of this link, while it looks like it is going to
Facebook, it is actually going to a European hackers site with a
fake Facebook login screen. I am betting that once you land on
the web site it will also try to load malicious software to your
PC. Be forewarned. Similar emails are circulating for fake Outlook
updates. Don't click the links. Delete the emails and tell your
friends about them, too.

The second scam I came across is an attempt to sell you an award
for your business. Like Who's Who Worldwide, these types of
companies try to pass themselves off as legitimate companies
claiming to perform market research on individuals and
companies and then nominate you for an award. You are then
offered the opportunity to order a plaque or crystal award or
both. This week I received a "Best of Tulsa 2009" award for
Marketing Consulting. Yeah,right. The plaque was $79.00 and the
crystal award was $179.00 and I could buy both for $199.00. While
these types of artificial plaques and awards may give your
business some credibility, eventually someone, somewhere will
question it. The email accompanying my nomination was very well
done and included links to a mock-up of an award with my name on
it and a personalized press release with my company's name in it.
Very clever. All automated. I bet they make a mint. And they are
located in D.C. to help pass themselves off as a legit non-profit.

So watch out. There's folks out looking to rob you blind under
the auspices of being helpful. If something sounds too good, it
usually is.

Until next time,

Steven

I Got You Covered!

2009-11-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

Hey there! Today I want to focus in on the importance of image
-- specifically product image. I get asked to look at a lot of
web sites, and most are geared towards selling an ebook or software
product. In the majority of cases, there is either no graphical
representation of the product or a very poor one.

Now you need to put yourself into the buyer's seat for a moment.
Would you buy an ebook or software tool for $67.00 or even $27.00
(both popular prices) when the seller doesn't even show you what
the product looks like? Of course, not. You'd want to see a
picture so your mind you could see that the product is "real".

Now if the site did have a product image but it looked rather
amateurish, you might think twice before plunking down your
credit card. We like to see what we're getting before we buy it,
so while even a bad picture is bad, it's a step in the right
direction. Still, a bad picture fills the minds with doubts.

I am surprised, too, by how many software products or web-based
services rarely show a screen shot of the product or service.
It's only normal to want to see how easy a product or service is to use.

Well, over the years I have researched and purchased many
different graphical design tools for the creation of ebook
covers, software boxes, etc. Here's a new favorite. It's called
Box Shot 3D and you can read all about it and see a new design I
recently created for Shakeeta Winfrey (Oprah's cousin) right
here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/boxshot3d.htm

Box Shot 3D does things no other product image design tool does
like create a stack of hardcover or soft cover books among other
things. It creates very high resolution images you can use for
print projects, too.

Now the other product I really like is Quick Cover 3D. Like Box
Shot 3D you can create many different product images but it can
do it in batch mode. This means you choose a category like books or
boxes or DVDs and with one click it will generate 20+ variations
in under a minute. Quite an impressive feat. Read about it here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/quick3dcover.htm

You can also create excellent looking screen shots for those of
you marketing or promoting online services or software. So if you
are thinking about ways to spark your own sales, consider
purchasing one or both of these tools to create new and improved
product images for your web site and promotional materials.

Until next time,

Steven Schneiderman

Finding Your Sweet Spot

2009-11-02T09:51:00.000-08:00

How are you, my friend? I hope this email finds you and yours
well. Last time I wrote to you, I talked about planning for 2010
and I asked what you were going to do differently next year. Have
you given that serious consideration, and if so, please write
back to me at info@schneiderman.net to share those plans with me.

You know life happens -- it goes on around us whether we engage
life or not. So many people I meet are down-trodden and beat.
They are walking through life like zombies. In fact, I watched
Night of the Living Dead this weekend for Halloween with my wife
and son, and those zombies looked a lot like people I know. Empty
stare. That strange gait in their walk. People just stuck in a
rut, not achieving what they set out to accomplish, trampled,
ruined financially -- spiritually, emotionally, mentally,
socially dead.

If that's you or you know someone that sounds like, then let me
tell you there is hope.

That hope does not come in the form of an instant get-rich-quick
scheme. It is not about quick fixes and band-aids. It's not about
day dreaming or fantasizing or even visions.

It starts with finding the sweet spot -- or spots -- as the case
may be. Let me explain.

What turns you on? How would you prefer to spend your time? What
makes you happy? These are very important questions that need to
be answered in each of our lives. When you are able to answer
these questions honestly, you will be on the right path to
finding your sweet spot.

For me, it's spending more time with my wife and children. I
realize I am happiest when we are together laughing and having a
good time. If I could do nothing more than play rummy or Trouble
with them all day long, I'd be happy and content. Life would be good
if we could play Monopoly all day while eating munchies. Walking
though the park holding hands and sharing smiles would be
ecstasy. Flying kites, riding bicycles, doing school projects,
helping them to study before a test, going to a jazz concert,
working at church. All of these things are what make me happy so long
as we are doing them together as a family.

Now this is very different from the Steve of 20+ years ago. Back
then, young and single, I spent all of my time working, trying to
make as much money as possible, working by day as a director of
marketing and working by night and weekends as a marketing
consultant. I lived for the almighty dollar. I was good at this
and acquired wealth over time.

But it sure was lonely. Money does whisper secrets to you. Money
doesn't smile at you. Money doesn't hold your hand. Money doesn't
dig holes in the backyard with spoons.

Years later, even after I was married and started to create a
family of my own, I still was a workaholic and hell bent on
acquiring wealth and dying with the most toys. I would bet there
are times when I still seem this way to my family. They
frequently remind me I spend too much time on the computer. Shame
on me.

I hear some of you saying, "But you are just trying to keep a
roof over your family's head." And I suppose some of that is
true. But at the end of the day I am a workaholic. And I need to
be more focused on finding the sweet spot.

For me the sweet spot is a place where I am focused on one thing
and one thing only: what makes me truly happy and satisfied. And
for me, that place is with my family. It's a place where I can
let down my guard and be myself, be accepted and loved, and not
worry about anything else.

Getting to the sweet spot is quite another matter. It means
understanding exactly what I need to survive -- not what I want
or wish for. It means settling -- perhaps working less, doing
with less wealth -- so I can spend more time with my family.

Now this is not unattainable for me or you. It requires a
strategic plan with detailed tactics you will need to follow to
get to your sweet spot and be happy. It means recognizing what
you need vs. what you want. It means settling. It means staying
focused on the end goal and not all the little things that get in
the way along the road to searching for and attaining your sweet
spot.

So for me, it means understanding exactly how much money I need
to pay my average monthly bills, and working just the right
number of billable hours to pay those bills. For years I thought
I needed to die with the most toys. But now I realize none of
that is truly important to me. After all, I can't take it with
me.

I am now focused on trying to fill a half day -- 4 billable
hours -- every day. This is actually a much more attainable and
realistic goal than what I first imagined. It leaves me time to
get involved in my kids' school and after-school activities, it
leaves me time for the occasional lunch with my wife, a chance to
be involved with my church and community, and a chance to
breathe, relax and enjoy my family.

So there you have it: that's my sweet spot and my plan for 2010.

What's your sweet spot and what's your plan?

Do you need help figuring any of this stuff out and making it
happen? Maybe I can help. Email me at info@schneiderman.net.

Next time we'll talk about tactics ...

All my best,

Steven

P.S.: Please, please, please, forward this email to some friends
by clicking the link below:

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Planning for 2010 -- What Will You Do Differently?

2009-10-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

I trust you and yours are well. My family and I are just now
getting over the swine flu. After my son and I recovered, my
wife returned from vacation and got sick as a dog. My daughter
also came down with it. While my son and I had no fever, we felt
very fatigued and light-headed for 2-3 days. My daughter
developed a bad cough, and while no longer contagious and is back
at school, she is still coughing a bit. My wife developed fever
and a burning sensation in her sinuses, so the doctor prescribed
Tamiflu. The drug seems to work and my wife is almost back in the
saddle. The Tamiflu medication, however, was over $120.00! Wow!

As the end of the year nears -- hard to believe, I know -- it's
time to start planning for 2010. Gosh, I remember seeing the
sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey and thinking the year 2010 will
be so different from what it is today. It seems the world gets
older, but things, by and large, stay the same, except for the
economy which continues to wage war against those of us trying
to make an honest living.

This has been a very tough year for many people I know including
my family. I would estimate my revenue will wind up being about
25% lower than last year -- a significant drop for a self-employed person
-- and not something one can easily plan for. We've had to tighten
our belt and consider all sorts of things we never ever expected
to think about. We're still dealing with it ... but there is always hope
for a brighter tomorrow.

Knowing what you know now, having lived through a rough year,
what are you planning to change in your overall business strategy
for next year? In speaking with many businesses, managing cash
flow is a major issue. While income may still be generated, in
general, clients are taking longer to pay. This can break a small
company quickly. I remember when a former mentor had a client
sandbag $250K and it sunk his company in a matter of months.
What about you?

If cash flow is an issue, I have a strategic partner who may be
able to help you. He has many relationships in place with factoring
companies. These companies buy receivables and act as your
billing and collection agency in exchange for a small percentage
of your billable revenue. The benefits are many. First, you no
longer have to bother your clients about late payments. The
factoring company handles this for you. Secondly, you get paid
immediately upon presenting your invoice to the factoring
company. That takes care of customer service issues and cash flow
issues pretty quickly. If you'd like to learn more about
factoring and how it might help your company, please drop me a
line at info@schneiderman.net and I will have my strategic
partner contact you to discuss your situation and how this
service might improve your present situation.

If sales are an issue, you need to consider the quality of your
sales materials as well as your sales people. Can your sales
people recite a brilliantly compelling two-minute elevator pitch?
If not, it's time to write one and memorize it. Does your
marketing collateral and web site present clear features,
advantages and benefits to your prospects? If not, then it's time
to redesign and revise your sales copy. Make sure every marketing
tool you use is consistent with the overall message, too. Throw
away outdated materials and make sure everyone on the team knows
the pitch and how to access the latest and greatest supporting
marketing tools.

This is also the time to consider making an investment in a
coach or mentor to help you review your present situation and to
strategize for the future. Many economists agree that times are
likely to get tougher. Are you positioned for long-term success
despite the down-turn in the economy? What are your plans for
retaining your existing client base, looking for new ways to make
money from them, and to attract new prospects and convert them
into customers? If you keep doing what you did in the past, you
are not going to be successful and may find yourself out of
business in a year or two. You remember the definition of
insanity don't you: keep doing the same thing but expecting
different results.

Let me tell you about a client of mine. They are a small
software company. The founder and his right hand guy are
brilliant developers, and they have created an excellent product.
But after years of slow growth, they were growing disheartened.
They wanted to know why people weren't beating a path to their
door. Their product was easy to use, powerful, beneficial, and
well supported. It was also priced very competitively. So where
was all the business?

I came in to analyze their business. They predominantly used
their web site to sell their product. They knew a lot about their
market and wanted to share as much of that knowledge as possible
on their site. But all of that information merely confused the
first-time visitor and presented them with too many options to
click. They came there looking for a simple, affordable solution
and received a college education instead.

I also looked at their product. They sold it by allowing
visitors to download a free 30 day evaluation. This approach
usually works in software products and will typically convert a
number of prospects into cash paying customers. Their conversions
were not what they expected. As I looked at the web site and the
product, I determined 40+ points where the prospect would have to
make a decision to either continue or give up for one reason or
another. While the principles of the company were brilliant, they
lacked the distance an outsider can bring to the table, to see
the shortcomings of their present sales and marketing efforts.
Having a fresh pair of eyes to review the product and evaluation
process opened their eyes to new ways to simplify things.

As we started making changes to the product and the way they
were communicating with prospects, they saw their sales begin to
pick up rather noticeably. Soon we're launching a new web site
with a more contemporary design, new sales copy, and support
materials and product packaging.

Additionally, we're providing a general newsletter, and
automated email series for each version of their product. We also
co-authored ebooks for each version of their software that review
the top ten features and how to get started with their product --
quick start guides. We've worked on phone communications skills
and questions and attitude to help transform these brilliant
technical people into more capable sales people.

The combination of these changes came about because they
realized that continuing to do business the same old way they
always did would not bring about desired changes. They made the
investment in bringing in an outsider to assist them.

No doubt you are facing many of the same challenges, whether you
are an Internet Marketer or author selling digital products or
services through one or more micro sites -- or you are a small to
mid-sized company trying to maintain steady growth in the wake of
a dissolving economy -- I can help you, either on an hourly basis
or a short-term retainer for a few months.

Some people hire me for a few hours to simply review their
present situation and make recommendations for improvements.
Other seek my greater involvement, designing their sites and
product images, writing their sales copy, and mentoring them
through day-to-day sales, marketing and operations decisions. No
matter what level of involvement you seek, I pledge to do my best
to work within your budget and help prepare you for the difficult
year ahead.

But it starts with you. I can't make you lift the phone or send
me an email. You need to come to the realization that you need
some outside assistance now, and that you are tired of getting
the same old results. Click the link below to visit my new web
site and to learn more about my services:

http://www.schneiderman.net

Until next time,

Steven

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Swine Flu, Videos and Email Series

2009-10-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Hope all is well on your side of the screen. Yesterday, my son
and I got diagnosed with Swine Flu! Yeah, what I thought was a
sinus infection for him and plain old fatigue for me turned out
to be Swine Flu. The doctor said she'd seen enough people to be
able to nail it every time even without tests. Seems they started
testing everyone who walked through the door, and every test came
back positive! So the lab asked the doctors to stop the testing
and just assume they were dealing with Swine Flu. Because we have
an "uncomplicated" version of the illness, and we're past our
contagious period, we're just roughing it for a few days more.
Then we're going to get flu shots on Friday, so we don't
develop a secondary infection.

Since I don't have a coloring book and crayons to keep myself
busy, I figured I'd write a newsletter. I was checking out my
CoolToolAwards.com product review site and discovered that its
Alexa rating has dramatically improved. About a month ago it was
hovering around 145,000 and today it is hovering around 130,000.
Not sure why though I tend to make more money through my reviews
when the site's Alexa ranking is better.

No doubt by now you have heard about the grumblings online
regarding the FTC's decision to clamp down on review sites. The
FTC wants truth in advertising, and if the reviewer has received
a complimentary product for review or receives potential
affiliate commissions, they want you to add language to your web
site or promotional emails stating the facts. I've always been
upfront when someone has given me free product to review, and I
also think it is obvious when you click on an affiliate link as
opposed to a direct link. I'm not sure what this new law is going
to achieve, but the FTC says they just want to cut down on the
fake reviews being posted especially in blogs.

Folks have been inquiring how difficult it is to incorporate
video into your web site. There are really two ways to do this:
either through a webcam or a DVD camcorder. The benefit of using
a webcam is that it is much cheaper to buy a webcam and record
directly to your laptop or PC. It pays to use a high-end Logitech
camera with a quality megapixel chip as well as a good combo
headset with headphones and microphone. Here's some options:

http://www.learnonlinevideoproduction.com/equipment.htm

Of course, you will get better video results with a DVD
camcorder, but unless your camera has an external microphone
input the quality of the sound may be inferior. To record the
best possible video and audio, you will need a DV recorder that
records on mini-tapes. Most of these types of cameras have a line
in for an external microphone assuring you of quality audio. You
can purchase one used on eBay for around $400-500.

Once you have your video, you need to edit it. I use Pinnacle
Studio Ultimate 12. I find it does virtually everything I need
including editing out bad video, adding titles and transitions,
and adding background music. It's not terribly difficult to use
and will work with most top of the line Windows PCs. Here's a
quick review:

http://www.learnonlinevideoproduction.com/pinnaclesystems.htm

Once your video is edited, it needs to be converted to Flash.
Here, too, you have choices. You can use a tool to simply convert
videos from one format to another, or you can use a combo tool
that also creates the actual video player. You have many options
here. Among the best and easiest tools to use are these:

Instant Video Generator
http://www.learnonlinevideoproduction.com/instantvideogenerator.htm

This is among the easiest. You simply login to your account,
click record, speak into your webcam, and click save. The system
then converts your video to Flash and gives you some code to cut
and paste into your web page. At that point you are done. There
is a monthly recurring cost for this service, but for
technically disadvantaged, it may be worth it.

Video Web Wizard
http://www.learnonlinevideoproduction.com/videowebwizard.htm

This one is among my favorite tools for video conversion because
it converts videos and creates the video player, too. It's wizard
based, and you have the option of even creating players for
YouTube videos. Very easy to use and very powerful. It even
creates a web page for you and allows you to preview your video
player and video in the web page. You'll need to do some FTPing
and cutting and pasting, but once you've done it, you'll be able
to do it again and again.

FLV Producer
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/flvproducer.htm

This tool is one of the most popular video conversion/video
player creators available and has led the pack for years. It
provides many options for custom configurations and comes with a
nice selection of video players to choose from. One of the key
features this tool offers is the ability to automatically send
viewers of your videos to a URL of your choosing when the video
is over. This is good for promoting affiliate products or moving
people from a squeeze page to a sales page. You can't go wrong
with this one.

Media Menu Producer
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/mediamenuproducer.htm

This is a cool companion product which enables you to quickly
create a video player that will play multiple videos. Let's say
you have a course and you've broken it down into multiple videos,
or you have a bunch of video reviews of related products. You can
use Media Menu Producer to create a single player that will
display thumbnails of each video and allow the viewer to click on
those thumbnails to jump from video to video, kind of like
YouTube and other video sites. Definitely worthy of your
consideration.

With all of these products, there is usually some low level of
technical skill required. You should be able to hook-up a webcam
to your laptop or PC; you should be able to copy and paste some
HTML code into your web site; and you should be able to FTP files
from your laptop or PC to your web host account. None of this is
terribly difficult, but you may need some assistance the first
time.

So start looking at your web sites and ask yourself how you
could use video to enhance your site's sales efforts. Here's some
examples you can check out.

Designing Ebook Covers
http://www.designingebookcovers.com/flip/

I did this for a promotion I recently ran with another
newsletter. I'm using video to introduce myself and my ebook,
Designing Ebook Covers, and to convince people to subscribe to my
newsletter in exchange for a free first chapter of the ebook. Go
ahead and go through the process to see the steps required to
accomplish this bit of marketing.

Raise Fit Kids
http://www.raisefitkids.com

This is a site I did for a client to help promote their kid's
fitness program. We're using video here to introduce the program
and to compel people to subscribe to his newsletter in exchange
for hearing his top tip. Again, I encourage you to subscribe to
see the flow and the companion video and sales letter on the
other side of the promotion.

In both of these cases, we're using video as the chief selling
method. It's also important to remember that once subscribed,
there is an autoresponder series set-up to send out newsletters
for 10 weeks that continuously highlight the value of the product
and push people to return to the site to make the actual
purchase.

So my point here is that while using video is more compelling to
sell than mere text, you still need to have a text element
combined on the back end with an autoresponder series to keep
your product in top of mind position and to encourage people to
reconsider a purchase.

Understanding that not everyone has the gift of writing
autoresponders, I suggest a few tools for your consideration:

Follow-Up Email Creator Pro
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/business/followupemailcreatorpro.htm

This is a wizard-based tool which walks you the process of
creating a series of autoresponder emails. It won't necessarily
write them for you, but it provides you the ability to quickly
customize and generate a series of 21 messages. You simply answer
questions, fill in some blanks and click to generate the series.
Then you need to sit down and actually finesse the individual
emails, add links, etc. It's a good brainstorming tool and
considerably cheaper than hiring me to write a series of 10
emails for $750.00. Mine will be infinitely better and more
compelling, but you may want to give it a try yourself. Why not?
The price is right.

Marlon Sanders Push Button Email Software
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/business/pushbuttonemailsoftware.htm

Like Follow-Up Email Creator Pro, Marlon's product is a
fill-in-the-blanks type of survey that generates a series of
email messages. Marlon is an experienced copywriter and marketer,
so his questions tend to be a little more probing, and the
resulting series can be much stronger depending upon the time and
effort you put into it. Again, you need to remember that these
"writing robots" are only as good as the quality of the
information you put into them and the level of effort you put
into finessing and improving them.

Anyway, that gives you the ins and outs of implementing video in
your web promotions as well as some additional tools to consider
for creating your own email series. Remember, using video without
the series is not nearly as strong a marketing tactic as
combining video with email promotion. Build your list and then
follow-up. That's the key to selling ebooks, software or even
services.

I'm going to grab 40 winks to sleep off my Swine Flu.

All my best,

Steven

P.S.: If you have not done this yet, please click the link below
before you forget, and do your friends a favor by forwarding my
newsletter to them. They will thank you for it, and I do, too!

http://getresponse.com/forward.html?x=a62b&m=VhAV&s=BM46r&y=L&

Meatballs and Banner Ads

2009-10-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

Just got done presenting "The Ten Biggest Mistakes Businesses
Make with Their Web Sites" to my strategic partners, and it was
very well received. Normally, I spend about an hour going over
this content, but I had to compress it into 20 minutes -- about 1
slide a minute. I've reviewed this content in past newsletters.
If you think you missed this series, you can read it all on my
blog where I archive all newsletters here:

http://marketingcowboy.blogspot.com/

I've been working from home today and cooking. I love to cook
Italian food. Raised a Jew in NY and surrounded by Italians, I
eventually had to learn how to cook Italian food or be forced to
leave the neighborhood. It's been kind of nice to take a break
every now and go stir the gravy. Smells pretty good right now,
too.

I think it's important to love what you do and do it well. It's
also important to break up your day every now and then. The
cooking helped balance my day today. Other days it's simply
alternating graphical development and copy-writing so I don't get too
burned out by doing any one thing too long.

Today I received an email from a client who asked me to revisit
her sales letter and some changes she wanted to make. I reviewed
her changes, added some more of my own, and also created some
additional product images for her site to help make the sales
letter a little more compelling.

Some consultants might get annoyed when a client from a past
project requests changes months later. I look at as a chance to
improve things. It really doesn't take long to do. With a passage
of time comes distance and a fresh perspective. I saw some things
I did not see before and helped her improve them. Hopefully, the
combination of those changes will boost sales to a higher level.

Of course, there's the flip side of things: it may not be the
sales letter, it may be the medium of the info product. So many
people are racing to sell ebooks to capture some cash, but the
truth is you may be better served (and your customer, too) by
creating a series of videos instead of yet another all-text
ebook. This is especially true if you are trying to sell a
process or teach someone how to do something. If your ebook isn't
doing as well as you think it should, re-think the information
delivery method. Moving to an interactive medium such as video
also gives you a chance to bundle a text ebook and an audio, too.
Bundles sell for multiples of what an average ebook sells for. So
moving to video can not only boost sales but book profitability,
too.

A lot of people ask about Google AdWords and if it is a good
idea to promote their products this way. The short and the long
answer is I have done it for as long as 1 year. It did help me
promote the visibility of Ebookomatic.com, and after gaining 300
affiliates, I no longer had to promote it through Google AdWords
because I had 300 sites linking to me through their affiliate
links.

The way I handle promotion today and what I recommend to my
clients is to compile a list of terms you think people will use
to find your site. Then visit the sites in the top ten position.
Instead of trying to go head-to-head with them in either Google
AdWords or SEO positioning and spending a ton of money and time
on it, find a way to make these top ten sites into partners.
Invite them personally to become your affiliates. Offer free
product or service or content. I've converted many a competitor
into an affiliate this way. The approach works. Try it.

It also helps if you provide your strategic partners and
affiliates with good creative. By that I refer to banner ads and
text ads. Here's a simple tool you can use to create
great-looking banner ads very quickly and easily:

http://www.resellerproducts.com/easybannermakerpro2/index.htm

Let me know how that works for you.

Until next time,

Steven

P.S.: Please help me to help others. Think of five friends you
know who want to learn how to market their products or services
online and then click the link below to forward my email to them:

http://getresponse.com/forward.html?x=a62b&m=IDbh&s=BM46r&y=O&

You Can Do It!

2009-10-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

Good morning, folks. I hope this day finds you well. Another
swell Fall day here in Tulsa. Cool and sunny just the way I like
it. I've had a fascinating week. Every year in Tulsa, SpiritBank
holds an annual entrepreneurs contest for the best business idea,
plan and sales pitch. As a Strategic Partner of the bank, I was
asked to help coach three companies in the running for the
$30,000.00 award.

I got a chance to meet some really clever people with great,
commercial ideas. Each has great potential and tremendous passion
for what they have created. Any of them could be a multi-million
dollar business over the next few years. Last year's winner was a
company called Seeking Sitters and they managed to use their
award to launch a multi-state business that is raking in the
moolah.

You can do this, too.

The American Dream is far from dead; it's just been lying
dormant while people tend to their financial wounds from the
flailing economy. Anything is still possible if you have the
drive and conviction. Convince the right people that your plan
holds water and you might be able to find the initial seed money
to launch your dream.

Of course, the Internet still holds the greatest promise for
entrepreneurs because it has the lowest cost of entry for most
ideas. It's relatively easy to create a web site and start test
marketing without spending your life's savings.

Many of the people who cross my path are folks just like you who
either have developed a product or service or want to monetize
their passion or subject matter expertise. In most cases, you can
spend under $5,000.00 to get your presence online and begin test
marketing to target audiences.

I always say start local. So many people make the mistake of
trying to market to the world. You need to find your audience
first and then market to them in your own backyard. If you are
successful there, it is much easier to leverage local success to
regional success and then regional success to national success.
It is a step-by-step process.

Try to remember that regardless of what you may think, the world
is not your oyster. Everybody may not need your product or
service or information. There is a market for everything, and the
failure of most people is finding and understanding the needs of
that target market.

I can't count the number of times someone has approached me
without ever doing basic competitive analysis. Know who you are
competing against in your own backyard. Understand who they
market to. Look for commonalities and leverage differences. But
do gather the market intelligence and start locally the way these
entrepreneurs competing for the SpiritBank Award are doing. It's
the only way to succeed.

Now when it comes to web sites, I hear a lot of complaints from
people about the lack of visibility their sites get on the search
engines and about the general lack of traffic their sites
receive. If you look at these sites, it is usually
understandable. So many people try to do it themselves when they
have little to no experience or talent for either graphical
design or writing sales copy. While I understand the desire to
do-it-yourself and manage start-up costs, it's just plain stupid
to go down this path unless you truly know what you are doing. In
most cases you are wasting your time and money and setting yourself
up for failure.

For digital products such as ebooks, courses, software tools and
online services, there can be no doubt that compelling graphics
and copy are essential parts of a successful launch. When people
can not reach out and touch or see your product, you need to make
the intangible tangible. This starts with compelling graphics.

It used to be a simple 3D ebook cover or box shot did the trick,
but even these are evolving into more complex product shots
displaying not only an ebook, but audio, cd, dvd, and reports
in combination shots in an attempt to show depth and breadth of
product and sell at a higher price. This approach does work. You
can see some examples of these types of combo shots I have been
creating for clients here:

http://www.ebookcoverartist.com/home.htm

The more realistic and expansive the product looks, the faster
the prospect makes the buy decision. And that's what it is all
about: implanting the need to buy your product through compelling
graphics and sales copy. These combo shots take work, so be
prepared to pay significantly more for this type of graphical
design, but the investment should be worth it. If you need
something like this, drop me a line at info@schneiderman.net to
discuss your needs.

I know a lot of you write your own copy because you can not
afford to have someone else to write it for you. Here's a
suggestion: I can edit a lot faster than I write from scratch.
Send me your copy via email and for $150.00/hour I will read it,
edit it, and improve it. For short form letters (3-5 pages) I can
do this in about an hour. For longer letters or email series, it
will run about two hours. This could be an easy way for you to
improve things quickly. Again reach out to me via email at
info@schneiderman.net.

Keep on dreaming. You can do it. I know you can.

All my best,

Steven

Improving Your Lead Capture

2009-09-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

Good morning, folks, and I do hope things are looking up for you
wherever you may be. Fall has arrived in Tulsa: it's a brisk 60
degrees and sunny, and I do think leaves are beginning to change
color here and there. It's a pretty season and reminds us that
change is afoot.

How are you changing?

The one thing you can be sure of is change. It's all around us
and we inevitably change as a result. It's almost impossible not
to. Last week, I co-facilitated a round table discussion about
"What Keeps You Up At Night?" for SpiritBank. My table had people
from all walks of life ranging in age from late 50's/early 60's
to people in their late 30's/early 40's. Some were experienced
professionals and several were folks looking to start or grow a
new business started as a result of job transition.

Some were concerned with how to get a web site up and running
while others were more concerned about riding out the economy.
Other round tables discussed cash management, thinking out of the
box, marketing and sales. Across the board people were concerned
with handling and managing change, not just in the world around
them but also within the world inside their business.

Over the next few weeks, I would like to encourage you to
implement some changes in your marketing. Some of these changes
will challenge you technically while others will challenge your
mind. If you work with me, I believe you will see fruit from your
labors. You'll learn something, I assure you.

So let's get started, shall we? Let's start to implement some
changes.

The first thing I want you to consider is how you are capturing
leads from your web site. I had a client a few years ago who
spent $50K to get 250,000 unique visitors to their web site. I
cautioned them not to spend the money because their site was not
ready, but they did it anyway. They were very proud of the
results of their Google AdWords campaign. They did get 250,000
unique visitors.

But because they did not have a simple lead capture form in
place, they could not tell who these visitors were nor could
they contact them again in the future. That was $50K down the
drain.

What's your lead capture method? It amazes me how many sites do
not offer a newsletter subscription. All you need is a simple
form to capture the first name and email address of your
visitors. If you do not have this in place today, then your first
challenge is to add this to your web site.

Most HTML editors will provide a facility to create these simple
forms. The challenge then becomes how to manage a mailing list.
When someone subscribes to you through your web form, you must
send them a follow-up email asking them to confirm their
subscription. This is called double opt-in and it is part of the
Federal CAN-SPAM compliance act. While this can be done manually
it is best handled electronically using a third-party
autoresponder service. I recommend GetResponse for ease of use,
features and pricing:

http://www.getresponse.com/index/35884

Once you create an account, it is a simple matter to use their
wizard to generate the appropriate HTML code which you can copy
and paste into your web page.

Now adding the subscription button is only half the battle here.

You need to follow-up with your subscribers on a regular basis
with them. I am amazed by how many people who do have lead
capture mechanisms in place don't bother to stay in touch with
their subscribers. This defeats the purpose of capturing lead
information. You need to stay in touch at least on a weekly or
bi-weekly basis to maintain top-of-mind awareness.

Once again, you can email your list using Microsoft Outlook by
sending the email to yourself and then putting all of your
subscriber email addresses in the bcc: field. That will prevent
your subscribers from seeing the other subscriber email
addresses.

While this works, it is not practical. Promotional email should
arrive personalized. That is to say the subject line should start
with the subscriber's first name such as "Steven, An
Update from Steven Schneiderman." Doing so will increase your
email open rate. Additionally, the email should start with "Dear
Steven". And throughout the email, the text should be
personalized wherever it makes sense to do so. This helps build a
closer relationship with your subscribers.

Does this work? Absolutely. Over the years, I can't count the
number of times a subscriber has responded to an automated email
as if I had taken the time to write especially to them and them
alone. It also generates a steady stream of leads for me that
eventually turn into real business.

Once again, I recommend an autoresponder service be used for the
purpose of maintaining contact with your mailing list. Doing so
allows you to personalize emails on-the-fly and to manage
subscribe and unsubscribe requests in a completely automated,
hands-off fashion. The money you spend on an autoresponder
service will save you time and make you money in the long run, I
assure you.

There are some down sides to using an autoresponder service. If
you have an established list, you will need to import it into the
autoresponder service. Every legitimate autoresponder service
will insist on grooming your list and sending out a confirmation
email to your subscribers. This may seem like overkill since they
are already an active list; however, autoresponder services must
do this to maintain CAN SPAM compliance.

If you prefer to maintain your list on your own, but still want
a tool to help you deliver personalized emails in an automated
fashion there is another solution called GroupMail:

http://www.emailmarketingassistance.com/groupmail.htm

If you prefer to explore your autoresponder options, another
popular service is aWeber:

http://www.aweber.com/?26776

And if you do secure an aWeber account, I recommend you also get
this series of video tutorials that walk you through setting up
your account:

http://www.emailmarketingassistance.com/aweberunleashed.htm

For a corporate site that is selling products or services, it is
perfectly OK to have the lead capture form on the home page or in
a left or right column below the site navigation buttons. Just
make sure to offer a compelling reason to subscribe to your
newsletter. People will not subscribe out of the good graces of
their hearts unless your company, products or services are so
incredible that they just have to learn more. As a rule, you need
to offer them something of value -- a free report, a free
analysis, something that will encourage them to subscribe.

For a mini site focused on the immediate sale of a single
product, usually an ebook or digital software product, it is not
a good idea to add a subscribe form to your sales page. For one
thing, it encourages people to subscribe and abandon the site, so
in the long run while you may grow your list, you lose more sales.
For a mini site, you need to use a different tactic.

You need a squeeze page.

A squeeze page is a page that comes before the actual sales
letter or mini site. It's sole purpose is to build interest and
suspense through a very short, compelling pitch, and offers more
information if the visitor will subscribe. You might promise a
special report or other unadvertised bonus for subscribing. If
building a squeeze page seems challenging, I recommend this
product:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/utilities/squeezepagegenerator.htm

After they subscribe through the squeeze page, they are
immediately sent to the sales page. Now even if they do not buy
from you on their first visit, they have qualified themselves as
being a good prospect because they have subscribed. And since you
have captured their contact information first, you may now plug
them into your autoresponder and start sending them a sequence of
pre-written communications on a scheduled basis. This will
improve your sales conversions, too.

Many people are moving away from using text only on their
squeeze pages. To be more compelling, they are using audio and
video messages. If you want to de-mystify the creation of a video
squeeze page then I recommend you look at this:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/premiumvideosqueezepages.htm

And the easiest way to create and implement a pre-recorded video
on your web site is to use this tool:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/videowebwizard.htm

You simply import the video, choose your settings for your
player and then cut and paste some code and upload a few files.
Very easy to use, even for a novice.

OK, I fear I have challenged you enough today. Please re-read
this email and make some notes. Challenge yourself to visit each
of the products I have suggested and choose one to implement to
make your lead capture better than it is today. I urge you to
look over your site carefully to see how your lead capture
process can be improved and streamlined.

And don't forget. I am available by the hour to answer your
questions and mentor you through the process of change. If your
budget can not presently accommodate my services on a full-time
basis, reserve one hour of my time and we'll review as much as we
can within an hour. We'll look at your site and divide and
conquer until we get it to where it needs to be. Email me at
info@schneiderman.net.

Until next time,

Steven

Cool Tools and Hope for the Future!

2009-09-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon from T-Town. Steve Schneiderman here with a
weekend update about some cool tools I think you should know
about, but before I tell you about them, I wanted to share a
strange but funny story that took place around 1981 ...

I was hanging out in my apartment with two college buddies, Tony
and Caroline. This was back when I still lived in New York and
was teaching English as a Second Language at Queens College. The
three of us were horsing around with a Yahama keyboard my Mom had
recently purchased for my birthday, and suddenly Tony starts
breaking into a rhythm and blues tune only he starts singing
about "Going to Tulsa, Oklahome". None of us had ever been there
before, and this was more than 10 years before I would even
contemplate relocating to Tulsa. Really strange the way life
works, eh? Now I am coming up on my 51st birthday on October 3rd,
and almost 16 years since that fateful day when I moved from NY
to OK.

OK, on to the cool tools of the week:

Xara Extreme is an amazing fast and powerful graphics design
tool that is relatively low-cost compared to other tools of its
caliber. If you are an illustrator or designer you will love the
speed at which it renders 3D graphics on the least powerful of
computers. You don't need to spend a lot of money on high-end
software or lots of extra memory for your existing PC. Xara
Extreme is a very cool tool as is everything Xara makes. To see
samples and learn how to download a demo, please use this link:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/xaraextreme.htm

My Invoices & Estimates, Version 10.0 was recently released
and it is one of the best solutions for a consultant or small
business that wants to track their consulting hours or product
sales, track payments against those hours, generate
professional-looking invoices and estimates, and run revenue
reports of all types. I've been using this tool for close to a
decade and recommend the newest version. It's also dirt cheap.
Read more about it here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/business/myinvoicesandestimates10.htm

Lastly, if you run a small store, especially a game store or
liquor store, then Wolf Track Point of Sale Software may be just
what you need to streamline your business. It has an incredible
list of powerful features, but remains one of the easiest and
well-supported POS systems available on the Net. Starting at only
$20.00/month, you can also use Wolf Track at flea markets and
kiosks to accept credit card payments. It runs on Windows PCs and
will work with low-end keyboard/credit card scanners. Just add a
receipt printer and you are in business. Learn more about it
here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/business/wolftrack.htm

My thanks to those of you who took the time on Wednesday to
write to me about what keeps you up at night. I received several
well-thought out and very honest emails. Essentially, we are all
facing similar concerns during these troubled economic times.
Feelings range from regrets about decision or lack of decisions
made in the past to trying to figure out how to make it online.
I'll delve into these fears and concerns deeper beginning next
week.

Until then, remember that more now than ever before, we need to
be looking out for each other and be kind to each other. We need
to be supportive of each other and also remember that we're all
going through THIS together. Most of all, have hope. Without
that, we have nothing at all, my friends.

All my best,

Steven

Tired of Trying it on Your Own Yet?

2009-09-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon, folks. I hope you are enjoying your first day of
Fall. I recently discovered I have high-blood pressure. Ah, the
joy of turning 51. So in addition to new blood pressure meds, I
am also walking in the mornings. Today was a lovely morning --
nice and cool. I miss walking.

Back when I worked in New York City, I would walk at lunch time.
I am a devout people watcher and enjoyed studying different
people under different circumstances. Unfortunately, Tulsa does
not have sidewalks except for the downtown area where my office
is located. But out south where I live we simply have property up
to the curb and then the street. There aren't a lot of people to
watch at 7:30 am. With the exception of the odd neighbor (and
some of them are pretty odd) and a landscaping or sanitation
truck, there's no one around. Peaceful but a little creepy some
times.

I'm just walking briskly right now, trying to get my heart rate
up gradually, break a little sweat. In a few weeks, once my body
has gotten acclimated to exercise once again, I'll start to walk
a bit faster and then sprint every few blocks to really get the
old heart pumping. Hopefully, within a few months, I'll feel
better, my pressure will go down to normal, and I'll have more
stamina. But I realize it is a gradual process requiring an
investment on my part. Most of all, it will require time.

You can't expect overnight results from walking or running. If
you do, you could hurt yourself and be sadly disappointed. So why
then do people look to the Internet to make a living and
expect to become wealthy overnight? I suppose that's why so many
people are so disgusted with the Internet. They spent money on
courses and ebooks and tools, built their first web site, hung
their shingle out if you will, and got nothing for their time and
money in return.

But unlike physical exercise which can begin to show some impact
within the first few weeks, most people do not experience
positive results in their online marketing efforts. I know. I
receive many emails each week from disgruntled people asking me
what they are doing wrong, and by the way, can I fix their
problems for a nominal fee.

Years ago, I'm talking ten years, everyone was clamoring to buy
ebooks and courses from Corey Rudl, Armand Morin, and Marlon
Sanders. Those were the names you heard most. Today, it feels
like there are more Internet gurus than there are newbies. All of
these gurus sending out their latest "Buy Me!" email message to
the same lists. And then their affiliates kick in, and before
your know it, your email box is full of a dozen or more similar
emails all promoting the same offer, promising the same thing.

Now don't get me wrong. I have purchased a lot of these products
myself, and in some cases, have been given a copy to review. I
own the original Corey Rudl course and the multiple binders still
sit on the shelves in my home office. Right alongside the binders
from Marlon Sanders and others. I have read them. I learned a lot
and a lot of it was common sense. I also made some money through
promoting the best of these though I don't spend a lot of time
promoting them anymore. In fact, long-term subscribers know I
don't tend to follow the herd with tons of affiliate promotions.
I'd rather mentor you all through my own newsletter and work
selectively with those of you who can afford to do so like ...

I have a fitness client who asked me to write his sales letter,
his email series, and a press release. As a result of the press
release, he caught the attention of AOL Health and was invited to
become a member of their team. He started getting more traffic to
his site and sales began to take off.

I have a manufacturing client who asked me to write a press
release to promote his new company. The release got picked up by a
national trade journal and he also received over 800 unique
visitors to his site. He started to develop credibility and new
relationships which are helping his company grow.

I have a software development client who asked me to study their
product, redesign their site, write their sales letter and email
series, and guide them in their sales and marketing efforts. They
averaged 10 new clients over a six-month period before we met,
and now they are picking up 1-2 new clients each week, and we're
still implementing additional marketing tools.

Are you tired of trying it on your own yet?

Why not let me mentor you through the process? It doesn't
require a massive investment. We can communicate via email or
phone once or twice a week. You assemble your questions and I'll
answer them. I will direct you and keep you from going astray. I
will guide you towards assuming a more profitable position.

Of course, if you need more hands-on assistance, I can do that
if your budget can accommodate my fees. But we can start off with
an hour here, an hour there. I promise you will get your money's
worth.

Now here's the thing. There are only so many hours in a day.
Most of my time is spent working with larger clients on more
complex projects. I will clear 10 hours in my current weekly
schedule. That can accommodate ten new people or two new people,
depending upon how many hours they want of my time.

Are you ready to invest an hour with me? I will visit your site
and report back to you about my findings. We will talk for an
hour. I might be able to get you over the hump -- remove some
obstacles -- point you in the right direction -- prevent you from
going off-course -- stop you from making some major mistakes.

Let me ease the disappointment and frustration you have been
experiencing in your online marketing efforts.

Email me at info@schneiderman.net and include "Mentor Me,
Steve!" in the subject line. First come, first served.

Until next time,

Steven Schneiderman

Is the Internet Paved with Gold?

2009-09-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

Good Sunday to my friends. We went camping with the Boy Scouts
yesterday and had a blast watching the kids run around and fish
and play for 10 hours until they collapsed. Must be nice not to
have a care in the world, eh? Ah, if only we could do that every
day.

Since my last email, many people expressed interest in helping
out our son, Christian, with his Boy Scout fund-raising efforts.
Well, we've registered Christian with the Trails End Boy Scout
Popcorn web site, and you can actually order popcorn and candy or
simply make a donation to the military. Your choice. Here's the
link:

http://www.trails-end.com/estore/scouts/email_referral.jsp?id=2896569

As always, we appreciate your support of little boys raising
money here at home and our "Big Boys" overseas keeping us all
safe and secure.

Hey, what about those ACORN sting videos? Can you believe it?
Amazing.

I'll tell what else is also amazing, and that's how people
believe the Internet is paved with gold and how everyone feels
entitled to their piece of it.

Granted, it is easier to test market a product or service online
that it is to do in a brick and mortar world, but if it was that
easy to do, then we would all be millionaires and unemployment
would be a thing of the past.

The truth is it is not that easy to launch a product or service
online. There is much to know before you get started, and that
usually starts with performing some competitive analysis. One of
the best free tools for this is PPC Web Spy. This little tool
lets you peek behind who else is bidding on the same Google AdWord
keywords as you. Here's a quick review:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/utilities/ppcwebspy.htm

Once you get the lay of the land and understand who else is
trying to sell a similar product or service you can begin to work
on developing your features, advantages and benefits (F-A-B).

Then you can start working on your sales pitch. You need to come
up with a brand look and feel for your site -- a logo, a web
site, etc. Then you need to integrate an autoresponder to build
your mailing list, and then you need an email series to send to
them to them coming back to your site until they buy.

Let's assume you have the next great idea. What makes you think
that you can design a killer site and sales copy? I know, I know.
There are tools out there to help you, but if you have never done
it before, why would you assume you have what it takes to be
successful beyond having the kernel of the great idea itself?

I don't mean to burst dreams, bubbles, aspirations, but based
upon my 25 years of experience, there are brilliant idea people
and brilliant implementers, and usually they are two very
different types of people. It's the difference between being a
brain surgeon vs. trying to operate on someone's brain with no
experience. The patient is going to die, and if you don't believe
me, then your rose colored glasses may be in the way.

I meet a lot of people online who are trying to make a go of it.
While they may have created a unique software tool or written a
topical ebook, most haven't a clue what they are doing when it
comes to developing an online presence. I have watched many a
brilliant product creator develop the ugliest, most poorly
written web site in the world, and then they wonder why they are
not selling anything!

You want to do it yourself? OK, at least use the right tools:

Use Xara Web Site Designer to design your mini site:
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/xarawebdesigner.htm

Use eCover Software Pro to create a decent product shot:
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/ecoversoftwarepro.htm

Use Follow-up Email Creator Pro to create an email series:
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/business/followupemailcreatorpro.htm

Use GetResponse to manage your mailing list and send out your
email series:
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/services/getresponse.htm

That's probably a $200.00 investment total but it would be money
very well spent, assuming you have legitimate design and writing
skills.

But I warn you, it's not as easy as you think it is. Sometimes
it is far easier to come up with the great idea than it is to
sell it.

That's where someone with my 25 years of experience comes into
play. I can give you a turnkey solution: mini site design
including web page template - header - footer - buy button, a
series of great product shots, a compelling sales letter and a
compelling email series of ten messages. I can integrate it all
with GetResponse and either Clickbank or PayPal, and I can test
it and stage the site on my server or your web host. Totally
hands off solution for you, starting at around $2,000.00 PLUS I
will include either a review of your software product on
CoolToolAwards.com (which gets 2,000,000 unique visitors a year)
or publish your ebook on Ebookomatic.com. I'll even throw in a
press release and distribute it online for you and create a
squeeze page for you gather leads!

Here are some sample mini sites we're currently developing and
getting ready to launch:

Find Your Angel Investor
http://www.findyourangelinvestor.com

Raise Fit Kids
http://www.raisefitkids.com/final%20site/

MDFatLoss
http://www.mdfatloss.com/members/mdfatloss/adminpages/MDFatLossSales

That's a lot of work, but will try to work within your budget. I
realize times are tough right now. But shouldn't you have a shot at
your dream?

Let me help you. Give me a shout at info@schneiderman.net or
call me on my cell at 918-810-5233.

All my best,

Steven

High Impact Emails

2009-09-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

Howdy readers. Hope life is treating you well wherever you may be.

Today's message brings a short and sweet recommendation for you -- raise the level of your email communications. Now for long-time subscribers, you know how much I push the need for a good autoresponder and autoresponder series, and yes, I blatantly promote my copywriting services for this purpose, too.

However, today I want to focus on the design of your emails -- the graphical presentation -- what your recipient receives when they open your email communications. Are they staring at plain text or rich text with HTML and full-color layout and designs? Which do you assume gets opened more, plain text or HTML? Buzzer, please. The answer is HTML. Rich email messages with colors and photos and neat layouts get read more and convert more than plain text.

So how do you accomplish this if you are technically and designed challenge? I have the secret right here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/highimpactemail.htm

Read my review now. You'll be happy you did.

All my best,

Steve

Wants vs. Needs

2009-09-14T05:36:00.000-07:00

It's late and I really should be preparing for bed, so I am
ready to rise with my kids in the morning and get them ready for
school. Today I had the good fortune of watching my kids serve in
church as ushers and greeters, and they had their pictures taken
in action for our monthly church publication. Later, I drove my
son around the neighborhood in the rain so he could go door to
door to sell popcorn as a fundraiser for his Boy Scout troop.

As I watched my son in action -- he is only ten -- I smiled. He
has learned very well how to warm people up with a smile, to
speak about the benefits of his products, to make suggestions and
ask questions, to guide the prospect and qualify them, and then
hand them a pen and ask for the sale, "Which one would you
prefer, this one or this one?" Then he asks if they would like
more than one, and begins his upsell for the military donation.
Then he finishes with a "Thank you. The Boy Scouts appreciate
your support and so do our soldiers." Then he shakes their hands,
smiles and moves on.

He was picking up $65.00 orders left and right. A few years ago
he sold over $2000.00 worth of popcorn in the matter of a few
days, more than anyone else in his troop. While it's true my wife
and I solicit some orders through our jobs, the bulk comes from
Christian's salesmanship.

In a few months, it will be his older sister's turn. Alex knows
how to flash a smile and go for quantity orders. Girl Scouts have
it tougher since you have to sell a lot of boxes at around
$4.00/each to equal one tin of popcorn that sells for $50.00. But
she has done well in the past, too, often leading her troop or
coming in darn close to the top. She has her regular customers,
some corporate who will buy dozens of boxes. The kids do well,
and even though I have coached them, they are naturals.

As I watched my son today, I thanked God for giving me good,
healthy kids. Smart kids who stay out of trouble, wake up happy,
go to sleep happy, do well in school and serve their community. I
am blessed beyond belief. If I were to lose everything and have
to start all over again -- always a possibility in this day and
age -- I would still count myself a very blessed man.

But what I like here is that my kids have mastered the art of
the sale at an early age. This is an invaluable skill set. I meet
a lot of people who have good ideas for products or services they
want to sell online, but they do not understand the art of the
sale and will likely never make the first sale.

I also meet a lot of people who have great ideas for products or
services, but great ideas do not a business make. While it is
easy to set-up shop online and test market things, it is rare
that someone wakes up with an idea, launches a site and makes a
million overnight. It is very rare indeed. In this respect,
having a great idea and wanting to build a viable, sustainable
business around it is tied to understanding the differences
between wants and needs.

A pastor in church today reminded us of this difference and how
in the Bible it says God will provide everything you need. What
do you need? For most people, the essentials includes food,
shelter, clothing and perhaps transportation to do work. These
are the basics.

Wants are totally different. They are the things which we are
tempted to buy to quell something inside of us which tells us we
need it, when in truth we merely want it. For example, do we need
a Rolex watch or a Lexus? No, we don't. We may want it, but we
don't need it.

So when you decide to launch an online business, you better ask
yourself do people want my product or do they need it? Chances
are unless it involves food, shelter or clothing, people don't
need it at all. In fact, they may not even think they want it. So
your job is to use sales techniques to make them think they need
it, and then present your product as the solution they have been
waiting for.

If you don't understand the art of the sale the way my kids do,
then you may not be able to sell your ebook, your software, your
audio or video or your monthly subscription service for your
membership site. Unless you work with someone who does understand
the art of the sale.

During a recent update of my Case Studies, I laughed as I
reviewed some of the projects I have written about. Both as a
ghost writer for John Hostler and for my own clients, I have
written as a gay man selling an ebook about how to pick up men, I
have written numerous sales letters for health supplements and
diets and exercise programs, I have written about software
packages and ebooks about marketing and investing, and so much
more. The list goes on and on. Sales letters, squeeze pages,
press release, email series, direct mail campaigns, you name it.

Do you want my help or do you need my help?

Email me at info@schneiderman.net.

Good night, my friends. Stay well and be blessed,

Steven

2009-09-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hope all is well on your side of the keyboard and that my
U.S.-based subscribers had a peaceful Labor Day weekend. We spent
the time bicycle-riding and roller-blading and BBQing with
friends and family. Very nice time indeed.

All sorts of emails coming in with a variety of questions, but
most deal with how to make money online. I see a lot of people
getting involved with membership sites that charge you a fee and
then tell you to promote the same site to your friends and family
to earn "generous" commissions. Here's the thing with these types
of businesses: sooner or later you run out of friends and family,
and frequently you piss them off. I don't know anyone who has
made a dime this way so be careful.

Many others want to make millions with affiliate marketing or
reseller products. I've covered that ground in recent newsletters
and won't repeat my experience and advice here. You can always
visit my marketing blog to see past newsletters here:

http://marketingcowboy.blogspot.com/

I do think it takes some level of experience and investment to
make money with affiliate marketing. I am lucky in that I got
started early on with some very good products and services that
generate some fairly consistent income. Most folks who write to
me keep asking for an "insider" tip, and want to know if I can
tell them about something that's below the radar but is going to
become real hot soon. Here's one I think that has a lot of
potential. Watch the video by clicking on the link below:

Web Site Communicator
http://www.websitecommunicator.com/members/spidy/how-it-works.php

There's no doubt about it, though, if you want to make money
online you should figure out a way to monetize your experience,
knowledge and gifts. For instance, for me I've written a series
of ebooks about different topics where I am subject matter
expert: sales automation, ebook publishing, ebook cover design,
software and ebook product creation, forum marketing, search
engine optimization and review sites, etc. I've also created
online services to help others publish their ebooks and gain
visibility and an audience for their work. These products and
services bring in recurring monthly income for me with little to
no promotion or energy. That's true passive revenue.

Now the challenge with creating an info-product (ebook) is that
you have to do some competitive research to see what else is
already out there. Failure to do so may mean you've waste a lot
of time and money creating something for a niche that is already
saturated with products. Try to be original. Look to your own
life experience, education, hobbies and unique perspectives.

The next step is to create that product. I have taken months to
create some products and others I have done literally in a single
day. Many of you will be tempted to rush it, but I advise you to
invest your time wisely and create the best product possible. It
will pay you back in dividends.

Now once you have your product, you need a professionally
designed mini site with sharp, eye-catching graphics and a good
sales letter. Ideally, you should start with a squeeze page which
qualifies visitors, captures their first name and email address
and then provides them with some sort of digital download gift --
for an ebook it could be the first chapter in PDF format -- for
software it could be a free trial edition. In either case, you
can increase your capture rate by using an incentive that will
appeal to the audience you are trying to sell to. I also advise
you use a video welcome that shows you, your product and compels
them to subscribe to your list. After they submit their contact
info, you need to send them to your sales page which should be
well-written, compelling and also use video or audio.

Once you capture their info, you need to get them to confirm
their opt-in to your list and then start sending them a "drip"
campaign -- a series of emails that provides helpful information
and always pushes them back to your sales letter page. This
series should be sent out every week or so for at least 10-20
weeks. Eventually, they will either buy or unsubscribe. You can
also do occasional email blasts to this growing list about
related products and services which you can promote via an
affiliate link. This can create back end revenue.

Now if you have a product but are clueless about how to create
the mini site, write the sales letter, write the email series and
create product graphics, then you should reach out to me. As we
near the last quarter of the year, I am gradually filling up my
calendar. The fourth quarter (October - December) is the best
time to pitch products, so I urge you to email me at
info@schneiderman.net as soon as you can to start discussing your
specific needs.

In the weeks ahead I will send you links for some new projects I
have been involved which include an ebook on finding angel
investors and another which is a health and fitness program for
children and their parents. I designed the mini sites, wrote the
sales letters, the email series, created all the product graphics
and also helped set them up online and integrate the
autoresponders and ecommerce systems. Totally turnkey launch in a
box.

Until next time,

Steven

Beware the Domain Scammer ...

2009-09-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Fresh from a quick sushi lunch with my wife, I want to share the
musings of the day which include a reasonably good attempt from a
scammer to grab some quick cash from me, a new tool guaranteed to
make your marketing graphics more compelling, and a call for
Q4/09 projects.

First, no one was happier than I when I received an early
morning email from a gentleman named Mark Allen who was offering
to purchase my domain www.forummarketingmanager.com. All he
required was to see a recent domain name appraisal from either
SEDO.com or MACEZ.com. Honestly, I read it fast, and seeing an
opportunity for some quick cash, I replied.

Then while I was waiting for a response I started looking over
the email inquiry more carefully. The first thing I noticed was
the use of a GMAIL email address. If Mark Allen exists and
represents a legitimate company or domain brokerage, then his
email address should have reflected a company name. Strike one.

Then I started reading the email slowly, and noticed several
lapses in English. As a former college writing instructor I
immediately realized the writer of this email was not a native
speaker. He made grammatical errors more common in third-world
and mid-eastern countries. So Mark Allen wasn't from the U.S. or
the U.K. Strike two.

Finally, I entered the phrase "mark allen buys domain broker"
into Google and immediately came up with a scam warning here:

http://domainnamewire.com/

If you scroll down that page, you'll find this ass makes money
by approaching domain owners with a potential offer to purchase
their domain, but only if they can provide a recent appraisal
from one of two companies. Since most people have no sense of the
value of their domain name, a percentage might click on the links
to SEDO.com or MACEZ.com Mark Allen has conveniently included in
the email. I'm thinking he meant to include his affiliate links
so he could make a dime on the appraisal fee and never purchase
my domains. Strike three, you're out!

So guess what? If you are interested in purchasing any of my
domains or outright purchasing the exclusive rights to any of my
ebook or software products, you may look them over here:

http://www.milliondollarsites.com

I will entertain any and all serious offers. With 100 domains
to manage, I can't keep up with consulting and all of these
domains. Some of them get very respectable traffic.
CoolToolAwards.com ranks 150,000 on Alexa steadily (has been as
high as 42,000) and gets about 2,000,000 unique visitors a year.
My reviews on that site typically go to #1 or page 1 position on
the major search engines within three days about 60-70% of the
time. Substitute your affiliate links for mine and you could have
a nice passive income.

Other sites get a few hundred thousand unique visitors a year --
there's about a dozen that do this -- so if you have been seeking
traffic for a related site, then you could secure one of my
domains and redirect my traffic to your existing domain. Lots of
options. Take a look.

I am entertained by scammers. Older subscribers may remember I
own www.NigerianCopywritingSecrets.com and I have started an
ebook or two examining the strengths and weaknesses of scammer
emails. Someday I'll finish this project and sell it. I have
actually responded to many of these scam letters referring them
to other relatives and military personnel who write to me from
Nigeria about all of this money and gold that has been left to me
by rich uncles. It's quite funny to watch them try to keep the
dialogue going.

Anyway, there's a new tool in town that is guaranteed to make
your graphics leap off the page:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/killerabstractbackgrounds2.htm

Check it out. This is the second edition of Killer Abstract
Backgrounds and it is as good as the first edition and also
priced low. You definitely get your money's worth.

Subscribers are asking me if you can really make a living with
reseller rights for ebooks and software. The answer is probably
not, but I do it because it is like getting tools I need for
free. Let me explain. If I see an ebook or tool that I need (not
want), I buy it with reseller rights and if it is as good as they
say, I will do a low-key promotion to my subscribers. If only one
copy gets sold, I get my money back. On average I probably sell a
few copies of a few products each month. Even though it doesn't
make me rich, they probably generate $100 /month which is $1200
/year. As long as the reseller product is a quality product and
does not require support, this makes it very passive income. I
can use that $1200 /year to cover the costs of car maintenance
from my recent family trip to D.C.

Do you see how this works? Unless you have lots of marketing
experience, a solid cultivated mailing list, and a site that
pulls visitors in, chances are you won't make A LOT of money with
reseller rights products or through affiliate commissions.

But you can generate passive revenue with little effort and I'm
sure there isn't a person out there who can't use another $1200
/year. Times are tough and every little bit counts. If you've
been displaced or forced to take a job at a lower income level
but need more money, then affiliate or reseller marketing is a
natural way to augment and recover lost income.

So how do you grow a list? Well, one of the best ways I've seen
is by promoting this free service:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/services/easyvideoproducer.htm

In all honesty this was one of those things I signed up for and
forgot about. However, every day I receive emails stating new
people have signed up under me and they are automatically added
to my list. Then I just login to my free account, and once a week
I blast a copy of my newsletter to this additional list. It's
well over 120 subscribers and it's only been a few weeks. Free
service. Free list. Hands-off marketing. Open door to communicate
with the list. Gotta be stupid not to sign up for this one.

OK, last thing I want to hit this week is Q4 projects. Look at
your business and honestly ask yourself if everything is going
the way you envisioned it would go. Chances are business is off.
The economy has hurt everyone. I feel it, too.

Now if you have some time and money -- and how much will depend
upon what needs to be improved -- give me a shout and let's talk.
The introductory call costs you nothing and gives me a chance to
get to know you and your business more intimately. I can assist
you with web design, sales letters, email series, press releases,
graphics design and general marketing mentoring.

If nothing else comes of this call, that's fine. We got to know
each other better. But I'm betting that we can find a way to work
together, even with budget limitations. So if you are ready to
take the next step, drop me an email at info@schneiderman.net
today. First come, first served.

Until next time,

Steven

Ripped Off Again!

2009-09-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Good morning, friends, and thank you for subscribing to my
newsletter. This morning I am going to go on a rant about
something. There is a lesson or two to be learned for sure, so
listen carefully.

Several years ago, someone purchased a reseller product from one
of my sites. I forget the product, but it wasn't mine. It was a
piece of software I purchased with reseller rights. I offered the
buyer a full refund or a trade for another similarly priced product.

The buyer wanted to trade for a more expensive product of my own
and I declined to do so. I felt I was within my rights to make a
counter offer at a similar value or give him his money back. I
forget the lurid details, but the guy got so mad at me that he
told me he was going to pirate my product, Price Spinner, and
sell it himself with reseller rights to his 5000 subscribers of
his own list. He did it, and ever since there are dozens of
people illegally selling my product and pocketing 100% of the
revenue. The loss represents thousands of dollars and many wasted
hours trying to shut down all the sites selling my product without
my permission.

Today I learned of a French web site that is selling Price
Spinner. The whole site is in French including the video. My
developer and I are amazed. So many people selling the product
and we're not making a dime from it.

This isn't the first time this has happened. I mentioned not
long ago that I found my ebooks, Make Your Ebook Sell, and
Publishing with EbookoMatic available for sale on Amazon.com
under their Kindle section. Here, too, I am amazed by the gall of
some people to repurpose content across platforms for which they
have no right to do so. Publishing with EbookoMatic states on the
cover page that it is a free ebook, but that has not prevented
someone from trying to sell if to for $1.00 on the Amazon web
site. Make Your Ebook Sell is sold with reseller rights but the
copyright notice on the cover page also states the content may
not be published on another platform -- only as a PDF.

And Amazon has been of zero help. While they have someone
overseeing potential copyright infringement, they do not do their
job very well. I have found many other reseller titles repurposed
for the Kindle platform, and if there is a good intellectual
attorney out there, I think there is a great class suit waiting
to be won pretty easily.

At the end of the day, it is very easy to rip off someone's
product or intellectual property. Ebooks and software can be
purchased and then resold behind your back and you may never even
know it. Luckily, the young man in France understood that he had
done something wrong and he shut his site immediately under
threat of an international lawsuit. Also, he has put me back in
the hunt for pirates. He sent me a link to the site he purchased
my product from illegally. I'll deal with that guy next.

But it's time consuming and ultimately is a waste of time.

So why would you create a product of your own knowing full well
that you could and most likely will get ripped off by someone at
some time? If you do it right, you will make a few thousand
dollars on the initial sale of a new ebook or software tool with
reseller rights. But it fades fast as the super affiliates and
super resellers market your product to large lists. Soon the market
is saturated.

The real reason you create a product with reseller rights is to
build a mailing list. The first page of my PDF ebooks always
reminds people to register their copy for future updates and
bonuses. There is a link to my original site and when they
register for updates and bonuses, my list grows my another well
qualified name. To this day, while I do not sell any copies of
Make Your Ebook Sell directly, I receive a few new registered
emails each week. The single product has probably added 500
names to my list and the product cost me next to nothing to
create. A domain name and a mini site design. Everything else I
did myself. Nowadays, I would design my own site, so my only cost
is the domain name. $14.99 for a 500+ list of qualified repeat
buyers is a very good investment. I have paid $147 to run a
one-time ad in another marketer's newsletter and it generated
only a few dozen click-throughs, one sale, and only a few dozen
names added to my list. That's why I think creating your own
product with reseller rights is a great way to build your own
mailing lists. Don't be short-sighted. Think long-term growth of
your own mailing lists and repeat buyers and back end sales.

Until next time,

Steven

The Truth About Affiliate Marketing & Reseller Products

2009-08-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

I hope this email finds you and yours well, and that you are
having a splendid and blessed day. A recent email from a
subscriber asked me if affiliate marketing and reseller products
are still a viable way to make money online. The answer is most
assuredly "Yes" but you need to approach it realistically and as a
real business. Let me explain.

The best way to get into affiliate marketing is to find a
product that you need for yourself and see if it has an affiliate
program. Even if it doesn't, you may be able to approach the
creator of the product and work out a referral agreement.

Notice that I said find a product you like. I did not say follow
the pack and promote the same old thing to the same old crowd.
That will not work effectively long-term unless you change up
your marketing approach to differentiate your promotional message
from the next guy's.

I also strongly recommend that you purchase the product yourself
to make sure it is as good as it is advertised to be. Then and
only then will your referral be heart felt and genuine. And
that's critical to attract prospects and convert them to sales.

Most affiliate programs come with canned emails you can send out
to your lists. It is my experience that this does not usually
work well if there are hundreds of affiliates sending out the
same message to the same people as you are. I would bet that your
subscribers subscribe to many of the same lists, so this means
they will get hammered with the same promotional messages. The
only one who wins is the super-affiliate who gets the message out
there first.

So finding a good product that fills a need and buying it are
tantamount to your long-term success as an affiliate marketer.
You can't tell people who great a product is if you haven't used
it yourself.

This is the same advice for reseller products. Buy the product
first, then promote it.

Now with regards to reseller products, experience has proven my
investment always pays for itself in multiples of what the
original resale rights cost. So I purchase a product for $27.00,
you can bet your bippy (anyone remember the old TV series
Laugh-In?) that I will make back my $27.00 investment many times.

Will you get rich through affiliate and reseller marketing? That
depends upon many different things including the quality of the
product, how well you promote it with your well-written review,
how many others are promoting it with canned promotional text,
the price, the commission, etc.

Another thing you need to be wary of is the level of support
provided by the product creator after the sale. Typically, most
product creators do an adequate job of promoting their product or
service, but it has been just the opposite for me with reseller
products. Many times I have found myself on my own, having to
help a buyer find and contact the product creator for assistance.
So you do need to do your homework. Know the track record of the
person you are doing business with. Failure to do so may find you
having to refund many reseller product sales.

I first got started during the 1990's with affiliate marketing by
promoting products from Corey Rudl, Marlon Sanders and Mark
Joyner. I remember the thrill I got when I received my first
check for $60.00. I had no clue what it was for, when the sale
was made, which product ... but it was manna from heaven. True
passive revenue. There's nothing else like it.

Of course, you can't survive on $60.00 checks unless you are
receiving a lot of them every single day. Your own mileage may
vary, as they say, based upon your monthly nut and what you need
to live on. I would bet that most people who participate in
affiliate or reseller product marketing make very little money at
it.

In the early days of Internet marketing, it was not unusual to
find banner farms -- sites set up with nothing but affiliate
banners. This approach worked for very few for a very short time.
Now content is king, and your sites won't make many sales if you
don't have compelling content related to the products you are
promoting. That's why product review sites are best. The
CoolToolAwards.com web site reviews affiliate and reseller products
every month and makes money for me while I sleep. It receives
over 2,000,000 unique visitors a year, generates tons of
subscribers, and many commissions each month. You can learn my
secrets to creating a review site here:

http://www.rocketsciencerevealed.com

My earliest success was working with Armand Morin. Starting out
small, he released eCover Generator to the market about 10 years
ago. I was developing a similar product, but opted to pull mine
from the marketplace in favor of promoting his product instead. It
was more profitable for me to earn $33.95 on every sale of his
product than it was for me to complete development of my own
product.

Since then I have beta tested many of his tools and he even uses
some of my endorsements on his sites. He's come a long way since
those early days and is now a multi-millionaire. So here is the
other side of the affiliate marketing coin.

If you have a product or service of your own, affiliate
marketing can make you very wealthy by developing your own army
of super-affiliates. There are a select few product creators out
there who can release a product and in one day make a million
dollars as a result of their close ring of super-affiliates.
Often these product creators don't even promote their own
product. They simply turn it over to the expert affiliate
marketers and let them send the promotion out to their respective
lists. This has changed people's lives.

Back when I first launched EbookoMatic.com, I shopped for
affiliates to help me promote my instant ebook publishing
service. After a year, I had around 350 affiliates world-wide,
highly targeted and generating about 23% of my sales. That was an
enormous push for me, not just for sales, but because I had 350
sites promoting my service with invaluable back-links to
EbookoMatic.com. The search engines loved my site.

So, yes, Virginia, affiliate marketing and reselling other
people's products can be a very lucrative way to generate
supplementary income, but very few people I have met generate
enough to live on comfortably. Ultimately you need to manage your
affiliate marketing efforts carefully and critically, and make
sure you are focusing your energy and talent on the products
capable of generating the most money for you.

Several years ago I decided I needed a better system for
managing my own affiliate marketing efforts. I created My Affiliate
Marketing Manager. Click the link below to see how it can help
you with your efforts:

http://www.myaffiliatemarketingmanager.com

Until next time,

Steven Schneiderman

Best Mini Site Templates and Kapersky Internet Security

2009-08-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Hope this email finds you well on this wonderful
Tuesday afternoon. Today I am writing to you to
share reviews on two tools that recently crossed
my desk and saved me time and money. Perhaps these
can do the same for you.

The first is Best Mini Site Templates. Long-term
subscribers know I specialize in the development
of mini sites including the web site itself, the
accompany product shots for ebooks or software
boxes or CDs, and the sales copy. I may be the
only guy on the Net who does all three of these
things. One stop shopping.

Anyway, I'm working on these projects more and
more for displaced workers or "people in
transition" who are trying to make the jump from being
unemployed to being self-employed. To keep costs
down and to be able to turn these types of
projects around in an often aggressive time-line,
I've taken to starting with web page templates and
then customizing the look and feel accordingly.

Best Mini Site Templates is a great collection of
web site templates for mini sites. They not only
come with coordinated headers and footers, but
also with supporting graphical elements, and in
three versions for HTML. $7 script amd RAP
scripts. It's quite a collection and with the ability
to customize the PSD files, you can create virtually an
unlimited number of incredible looking sites.
Samples and full review are here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/bestminisitetemplates.htm

The other product I want to tell you about is
called Kapersky. I recently clicked on something I
shouldn't have, and it subsequently hijacked my browser
making web searches virtually impossible. I tried
in vein to remove it myself, and then spent a
fortune with an expert who also could not remove
it. They told me I had to reformat the drive and
reload the operating system. Over my dead body.

Another friend heard of my issue and recommended
Kapersky. I won't go into all the details here,
but it found the culprit and vanquished it in no
time at all. Full review here and, baby, it is
worth every penny. Check it out here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/utilities/kapersky.htm

Need a mini site and don't want to do it
yourself? Contact me for a quick quote. I can
provide the overall design, the ebook cover, the
site copy, and the follow-up email series. Let me
help you make more money.

All my best,

Steven

Back from Vacation

2009-08-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! Thank the Lord the end of the week
has arrived. I need a break. How about you? Having
just returned from a vacation to Washington, D.C.
and a horrific car ride to and from, I am now
ready to have some fun. Kids started school this
week, both in new school campuses, so lots of
excitement in the air.

Last time I wrote, I mentioned that I would have
some new tools to tell you about. Most of you
long-term subscribers know that I am a sucker for
cool graphics tools. I'm no artist but I look like
one because I have the right tools and know
how to use them to achieve the desired results for
my clients. Well, Max Rylski has released yet
another in his series of such tools called Killer Text 3.

Like previous editions of the same tool, Killer
Text 3 enables you to quickly and easily transform
plain text into killer text that practically leaps
off the page.

So what does this mean to you? It means your web
site graphics or ebook covers or even your print
ads can now be transformed into astonishing works
of art in seconds. You don't need to be a graphics
or software genius. You do need a copy of either
PhotoShop (7, CS, CS2 or CS3) or PhotoShop
Elements (which is around a $100 and a worthy
investment if you intend on selling anything
online long-term).

Anyway, with Killer Text 3 you simply load the
fonts and styles onto your PC and start typing.
Pick a killer font, a killer style and a killer
action, and you will be amazed by what you can
create. Learn more and see examples here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/killertext3.htm

Before I left on vacation, I also told you about
Easy Video Producer which is a free service that
enables you to record and create video messages
and video squeeze pages using a wizard that steps
you through the process in minutes. I can't
believe this guy is not charging for the basic
service. I see about 80 of you have already signed
up, but that means about 2400 of you have not
signed up.

Again, if you have a web site of your own or are
intending to create one some time soon, please
visit this link to get your account. There's no
catch and you will thank me for this later.

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/services/easyvideoproducer.htm

Another reason to join this service and then
become an affiliate is to build your marketing
list. Over the past month I have added a 100
people to my mailing list for nothing!

I'll have some additional tools of interest to
share with you in the next issue.

I recently completed some additional graphics
projects for Graham Moore including a collection
of report covers and CDs. You can see these
samples here:

http://www.ebookcoverartist.com/portfolio.htm

If you need some new graphics for your web site
or products, please drop me a line. I can usually
turn projects around fairly quickly and at prices
starting at $29.995-$49.95, you'll be hard pressed
to find this level of quality and experience at a
lower price.

I receive many emails each week about people
looking for low-cost solutions for web design.
Most of the time folks think they want and need a
full-fledged web site with all sorts of bells and
whistles when they really need a simpler, one page
design focused on selling and promoting a single
product or service.

These mini sites are a more economical approach
to online marketing, especially for people on a
budget and not willing to take chances on a more
significant investment. They can usually be done
for a few hundred dollars including the actual web
page template, graphical header and footer,
product shots and supporting images.

I'm currently working on several such products.
Some include short sales pitches and email series
to help sell the product and build a mailing list.
If you are in need of such services, I can either
write these for you, or if you prefer, I can
mentor you through the process at a lower price --
your choice.

Drop me a line and let me know what you are
working on. Happy to help where I can.

All my best,

Steven

If You Have To Do It Yourself, Do It Right!

2009-07-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon loyal subscribers and friends. I
hope you are well. We are preparing to get ready
for our family vacation to Washington, DC starting
this Saturday. We're excited. It's been a year
full of challenges on many levels, and we are
looking forward to focusing on fun with our
children.

Today I wanted to touch upon the topic of graphic
design and reveal some trade secrets of mine. You
know, people do judge a book or an ebook or a
digital product by its cover. They also judge your
site by its appearance. Experts agree you only
have a few seconds to grab their attention and
build credibility, and there's no doubt that
sharp, professional, compelling graphics are your
strongest ally.

So let's assume you've decided to purchase some
tools and create your graphics yourself. Where do
you start? Of course, you could buy templates and
clip-art and start there. Most people do. Of
course, since most people were not blessed with
the gift of graphic design, they wrongfully assume
that since the tools are available that they are
capable of doing it themselves.

Let me tell you folks, of the thousands of emails
I receive each year, most ask for my opinion of
their web site or ebook cover's look and feel, and
most look like they were designed by someone who
has no sense of design. Their home-made graphics
look so amateurish. In an attempt to save money,
they have actually damaged their ability to
generate future sales. Penny wise, pound foolish.
Whatever that means.

So, my advice to you is this: if you are intent
on doing it yourself, then do it wisely. You may
find that in the long-run it cost you more to do
it yourself than it would have to pay a professional
to do it right.

If you want to design an ebook cover, start
searching for other ebooks in your genre on Amazon
and study their cover designs. Make note of
colors, layout, fonts, size and position of title,
subtitle and author text. Look at how they use
graphic elements to enhance the look and feel of
the cover. Sketch out your proposed cover design
on a napkin.

Next assemble the elements. If you have a
graphics design tool, check your fonts for title
fonts -- big, bold and easily read as all caps. If
you have PhotoShop you can easily enhance simple
fonts to create eye-catching headlines or titles.

Check to see what you have in the way of
graphical support elements such as colored bars,
lines, circles, stars, badges, etc. There are many
graphics collection available online. Seek them
out to find exactly what you need.

Next, check for availability of royalty-free
photos. There are many online services that sell
great photos for a buck. Among the ones I use the
most, I recommend Fotolia which has a very good
search engine. Photos are available in a variety
of sizes, and it is free to join and create your
own account.

The last step is the most challenging: putting it
all together in your graphics program. After years
of putting off the purchase, I finally bought
PhotoShop 7.0 years ago. I have not upgraded. I
don't really need to as the older version was
available for under $100 and does more than I need
it to. Before that I used Paint Shop Pro which is
also an excellent product. Xara makes a number of
great low-cost graphics tools, too.

Once you have assembled it all I suggest playing
with placement of elements, enhancing the
background to make your title and images pop off
the page, and in different colored fonts. Play
with drop shadows and glow effects around text.
Eventually you will wind up with something that
doesn't look half bad.

Once your have created your 2D flat cover image,
you need to render it as a 3D image. You can spend
a lot of money on PhotoShop actions which look
real nice but some require you to own a more recent
version of PhotoShop and are limited in the number
of formats.

Here's my other well-kept secret. Quick 3D Cover
enables you to transform a 2D flat cover into
approximately 100 different 3D formats including
books, DVDs, CDs, spiral reports, business cards,
iPod screens, movie screens, envelopes, boxes, and
much, much more -- and for a fraction of the cost
of a set of PhotoShop actions.

Here's a list of reviews of recommended tools and
services:

Killer Text
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/killertext2.htm

Killer Abstract Backgrounds
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/killerabstractbackgrounds.htm

Web Graphics 2.0
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/web20graphicspack.htm

Super Easy DIY Graphics
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/supereasydiygraphics.htm

Fotolia
http://us.fotolia.com/partner/200909131

Quick 3D Cover
http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/quick3dcover.htm

And if you're throwing your hands up in despair,
drop me an email. I'll design your cover using
these very same tools, usually within 24 hours,
with minimal changes required, and for only
$49.95. Don't forget we do full site design and
sales copy, too.

Until next time,

Steven

Review of Easy Video Producer

2009-07-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

Greetings on this sleepy Monday morning. It's time to wake up and hit the road. Today I want to tell you about an incredible new online service I found that is destined to make your life easier if you are trying to market a product or service online.

This is one of those rare finds because it's a true zero-cost service that will provide you with a wealth of ready-to-use tools.

Easy Video Producer enables you to use your webcam to record videos, create landing pages, add a video player, add a lead collection form, and it has a built-in autoresponder.

Oh yeah, did I say there's no cost to use this service? I know this sounds too good to be true, so I wrote a lengthy review and included screen shots of the service in action here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/services/easyvideoproducer.htm

I'm telling you, Easy Video Producer is going to make your life much easier. It will save you time and money and make you much more productive. You'll also be able to create killer video landing pages with incredible ease. You will be amazed.

Don't have a webcam? That's OK because they are cheaper than ever before. If your PC or laptop didn't come with one, you can pick one up at your local electronics or office supply store.

Microsoft makes some very inexpensive models which work fine; they run around $50.00. If you want a top-notch, high-definition webcam, then the Logitech 9000 is the way to go. It runs around $100.00 and is worth every penny. It's the model I use.

I don't know how long Easy Video Producer will remain open to the public. I urge you to check it out right now before they start charging for their service. You'll thank me for this one! Go here now to read my review:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/services/easyvideoproducer.htm

Until next time,

Steven

Spiritual Gifts

2009-07-21T14:03:00.001-07:00

Good afternoon. I'm a week away from taking my
daughter to her Junior Leadership Conference in
Washington D.C. We're dropping her and then the
family and I will see the city until we've
overdosed on museums. Hopefully, I will not spend
a lot of time working on my laptop. All work and
no play make Jack a dull boy, so the saying goes.
Do you take your laptop on vacation or just
totally disconnect?

I've had an interesting week. Attended a half-day
Mens' retreat to investigate my spiritual gifts.
After answering a lengthy survey, my top scores
were in Administration, Leadership and Wisdom. Did
not come as a huge revelation, but did make me
think about how I am applying my gifts to help
others.

Obviously through consulting I am helping
customers, and I try through my newsletters and
blog entries to help subscribers and virtual
friends. I guess the question is how can I do
more?

Of course, extending my body of knowledge out
through Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Linked In
is a good start, and I've recently started
including links to my newsletters in all of these
distribution vehicles as well as through my two
blogs. Two blogs? yes, I maintain one for business
and one for pleasure. The business blog may be
found here:

http://marketingcowboy.blogspot.com/

The pleasure blog is for magicians. That's one of
those things I don't speak a lot about because it
has a limited and highly targeted audience. If you
have multiple areas of subject matter expertise,
you might consider creating some micro blogs for
different audiences. My magic blog for those who
are interested is here:

http://steveschneiderman.blogspot.com/

I do maintain a Facebook account here:

http://www.facebook.com/schneiderman

If you have not tried to secure your personalized
Facebook URL then you are missing the boat here.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, use this
URL:

http://twitter.com/sschneiderman

Does all of this social networking actually
accomplish anything? I'm not sure yet, but I am
giving it a whirl. I find most of the stuff posted
these days to consist of self-indulgent drivel. I
don't know about you, but I don't really care if
you are sitting in Starbucks having coffee reading
the morning newspaper.

Back to gifts.

When was the last time you really thought hard
about what your gifts are and how you were using
them? It certainly gives one a chance to pause and
think, hmmmmmmm.

At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself,
earning a living aside, is there a way for you to
apply your knowledge and experience to help
someone else pro bono. If that's a dirty word for
you, then you've probably read enough of this
newsletter ;)

It used to be a dirty word for me, but I've made
a concerted effort to make time daily to respond
to email requests seeking advice and help. Most of
these requests come from people younger or older
than I who are newbies online, often seeking to
earn a living online or to augment their income
from their day job. I've been doing both of these
things for years, so why not share what I know?
While many of these people have not been able to
afford my services at the time they first
contacted me, some have referred me to others or
returned to me in the future to pay me for my
services, so I think it does come back to you.

Interesting in taking a spiritual gifts test? I found
the identical one I took listed here:

http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/

Go ahead and try it. Even if you are not that spiritual
it might reveal areas of strength you may never have
considered.

I would also advise looking at low scores to examine
areas of your life you may need to work on and strengthen.

Until next time,

Steven

New Cool Tools

2009-07-17T13:40:00.001-07:00

Greetings folks. Steve Schneiderman here with a
few quick reviews and marketing tips. If you have
ever wondered why your web site doesn't convert
more visitors into subscribers or sales then it
might be the look and feel of the web page or the
lack of key elements required in an effective
sales page.

For instance, while a page may be plain or
colorful in its design, it still needs
well-written, clear sales copy. There has to be a
compelling headline which grabs your visitors'
attention and compels them to read on.

In addition, the landing or sales page should be
very clearly laid out in it placement of headline,
sales copy, etc. The page needs to contain certain
components such as a call to action and a
subscription form, a button to click on and more.

More and more, marketers are using video to
deliver their sales message, and a new product has
been released to help you create a
professional-looking video squeeze page. What's a
squeeze page? It's simply a short-form sales
letter designed to capture the first name and
email address BEFORE they access the main sales
page. This way, even if they don't buy from you
NOW, you can continue to market to them LATER and
hopefully sell something else to them in the
future. It's the perfect tool for list-building.

Premium Video Squeeze Pages from Max Rylski is a
package of professionally-designed landing pages
that contain all of the critical graphical
elements you need for a successful landing page.
He's taken all of the hard work out of the
equation.

Premium Video Squeeze Pages also comes with a
suite of tools which enable you to quickly and
easily customize the look and feel of the page to
match the rest of your site. Adding video and
links to your autoresponder service is as easy as
typing in a little information. Very simple.

Don't know much about design or using PhotoShop,
have no fear. He has included extensive videos
explaining it all!

You can learn more about this new tool here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/premiumvideosqueezepages.htm

Now let's get back to the plain sales page vs.
colorful sales page. This has been the topic of
much discussion by Internet marketers over the
years. Split-testing has often proven that simple
works better. I think that while this may be true,
the higher the price tag of your product or
service, the more a polished design is called for.

For instance, I see many ebook covers and
software boxes designed with very plain covers,
yet the asking price is frequently $97 or higher.
Would you be more inclined to buy a plain-looking
ebook or software tool if the cover was plain
black and white and looked amateurish in its lack
of design OR would you spend the money on a
product that had a MORE professional-looking,
colorful design? I think the latter.

I've said it before: people do judge an ebook or
software tool by the product shot. Colorful
outsells plain images every time. But what if you
lack the type of graphic skills required to create
that sophisticated product image? What really
makes the difference between a great product shot
and a poor product shot anyway?

I think the answer lies in the type of background
you use. Again, going back to the plain product
design, if you were to add some color or subtle
abstract graphic element to the background, it
makes the design more visually compelling.

Here's a solution to look at:

Killer Abstract Backgrounds, also from Max
Rylski, is a collection of breath-taking abstract
background images ranging from swirls to lines to
blobs.

You may customize these to any type of
color combination you like and then slide them
into the background of your ebook cover or
software box design, and instantly you have solved
the problem. Your product shot will look amazing.
I show an example here:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/killerabstractbackgrounds.htm

Check it out. You will be surprised by the subtle
difference. An abstract background grabs your
attention and transforms simple and dull to
compelling and "I gotta have it!"

Killer Text 2, yep - another Max product, is also
an amazing collection of fun fonts and styles that
will transform your product packaging, brochures,
web pages and headlines into eye-catching,
attention-grabbing words. You will love it:

http://www.cooltoolawards.com/software/multimedia/killertext2.htm

OK, time to run. Best to all. Talk to you again
next week!

Steven

Are You Reasonably Happy?

2009-07-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

Good morning, and I hope this day finds you well.
Been busy trying to stay cool and productive. I
have found that the two are sometimes mutually
exclusive. For instance, helping my wife in the
garden in 103 degree heat is not cool even though
it is productive. It occurred to me that we
frequently make mistakes like this. It is our
nature to try to do two things at once or to set
unrealistic goals for ourselves and then become
disappointed by the outcome.

Consider career goals: we seek to make more money
to be able to afford more stuff, but we find that
making more money also carries greater
responsibilities, pressures and frustrations.
This, in turn, makes life, in general, less happy
and our careers less satisfying. So we may achieve
our goal of making more money, but at what cost of
happiness?

There's a lot to be said about having money. I'd
rather have money than not have it. I've
experienced periods of great abundance and great
famine. I've been blessed with periods where I
made more money in a single year than most make in
a lifetime, and other periods where I did not know
where the next check was coming from.

At age 50, with two kids, a first and second
mortgage, and being self-employed, it's all about
managing cash flow. In this insane economy, it's
difficult to see revenue consistency long into the
future. There's so much unknown and we have so
little control over the events that impact our
lives.

For many, it is a time of panic and uncertainty.
After months of watching my own 401K and SEP
retirement accounts drop to below 40% of their
value, I am only now beginning to see some growth.
But with all of these talks of false bottoms in
the market, it's difficult to know what to do or
who to trust.

And so lately I have been considering the
Serenity Prayer written by Reinhold Niebuhr:

"God grant me
the Serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change,
Courage to change the things
I can, and the wisdom
to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardship as the
pathway to peace.

Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things
right if I surrender to His will;

That I may be reasonably happy
in this life,
And supremely happy with Him
forever in the next."

Whether you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc. is
not really a point I am trying to debate. Rather,
it is the difference between being "reasonably
happy" vs. "supremely happy".

What would it take for you to be "reasonably
happy"? For me, it would be consistent income and
work to pay the monthly bills and maybe put a
little away for retirement, the kids' college
education, and for emergencies. I want and need
love, too.

This is very different then when I was wrapped in
the corporate telecom wars in the 1990s. As a
fast-moving executive, I was tied into the
life-blood of the company, and as I worked around
the clock and traveled away from my family, I was
rewarded richly for my sacrifice. In those days,
it was all about passing "Go" as many times as
possible and seeing who could die with the most
toys.

The older I get and the more I live, the more I
place greater value in my family and in my faith
and hope for the future. I still work hard to pay
the bills, but I am focused more on being
"reasonably happy" as opposed to being "supremely
happy".

So how does this relate to you? Simple question:
what's your goal in life?

If you are self-employed as I am, where is your
focus? Are you setting realistic goals you can
achieve or are you constantly setting yourself up
for failure by mistaking dreams for goals? The two
are different. One is objectively possible if you
take the necessary steps to accomplish it. The
other is ether, unattainable and always out of
reach.

If you are employed (good for you!), are you
stuck in a rut where you are miserable or are you
hell bent on success no matter the cost? In either
case, you need to zero in on what you NEED to be
happy while you are here on Earth vs. chasing the
indefinable, impossible dream.

I'm not saying you shouldn't dream. I'm saying
beware of mistaking your dream for your goal. You
may be setting yourself up for failure.

Until next time,

Steven

P.S.: One way to be more successful online is to
invest in the appearance of your web site. Here is
a link to a number of graphics tools that I use
everyday in designing sites and product images for
myself as well as my clients:

http://www.resellerproducts.com/graphicsproducts.htm