Medusa Wishes Internet Marketers a Happy Halloween

Don’t let the smile fool you…if you don’t have a great Hallowe’en, Medusa will turn you and/or your website into stone.

And if you have a great one, you might just keep Anakin Skywalker from turning to the Dark Side. Look at that smile…that is no Darth Vader.

Happy Hallowe’en to all and I’ll be back on Thursday with my Three Thoughts and a follow-up to last week’s Outsourcing Training.

Oh yeah, here’s Nemo enjoying some cereal (who knew he doesn’t eat fish food!) and his lobster companion. They won’t turn you or your website into stone, but want to say Happy Hallowe’en.

What Kind of (Internet Marketing) Monster Are You? Hmmm…

… a Witch (or Warlock)

You are deviously brilliant and a perfect manipulator.You somehow always end up getting what you want - without anyone knowing you’re working behind the scenes. Crafty and cunning, you can work your way out of any jam. And it’s easy for you to get people to do what you want, whether you’re working for good or evil. Your greatest power: Mind control Your greatest weakness: Making people your puppets You play well with: Ghosts

What Kind of (Internet Marketing) Monster Are You?

Wednesday Words from You: It’s Very to the Point

Here’s a nice email I received after the email I sent out on Tuesday:

—- START EMAIL —-

Alice Sweetie,

Just a short note to say thank you! Your information is concise and useful. It is simple, easy to follow, and most importantly, easy to apply to existing forms & documents I already have in place. As I read other documents, website and sales letters from others, I now see very clearly what makes good copy, headlines & keeps me reading. Or not.

I now have a clear objective on what needs to be changed within my own business, website & forms. I was looking at similar products concerning copywriting and am glad I choose yours. Very to the point which is what I was looking for. I will enthusiastically endorse & promote your courses.

Here’s to your Success, Cyndi Stout
Promoz Essential Products
Exceptional Service, On-Time, Guaranteed!
Authorized Dealer for “Kaeser & Blair Inc. *Since 1894*”
Visit Us Online: www.Promoz.com

—- END EMAIL —-

Well, definitely a big thanks to Cyndi. Not just because she likes my stuff, but I think it’s awesome when people take time out of their busy days to let you know. It makes it all worthwhile.

I know people are busy and I always strive to make my information easy to digest and as Cyndi commented, “concise and useful”. My goal is to always respect your time and to help you achieve success a whole lot faster. It’s great to know that I’m achieving those goals.

Sometimes It’s BETTER Than Outsourcing

Just sent this out to my subscribers…in case you missed it. I think it’s worth mentioning because I see questions about this kind of thing all the time.

————-

I’m just getting ready to release a follow-up report to last week’s outsourcing interview (I received some great questions after releasing it) and I hope to have that ready for you by Thursday. I’ll email you as soon as it’s ready.

In the meantime, I wanted to discuss another angle to “leveraging the work of others“. When it comes to outsourcing, you are paying someone else for their time spent helping you with your business. It’s perfect for specific tasks you’d like completed - whether it’s a one- time thing or on an ongoing basis.

But sometimes creating an actual partnership with another online business owner is the ideal situation. Whether it’s to create a website, a product, a membership site or a teleseminar, there are many partnership possibilities.

There a number of reasons why you might want to create a partnership. Here’s just a couple:

#1 It’s an opportunity to bring skills and resources together. Everybody has something to bring to the table. Whether it’s programming skills, copywriting skills, a large
mailing list or affiliate database…pooling those together can be a very powerful thing.

…and for people on a budget…

#2 It’s a viable alternative to traditional outsourcing. If you’re coming at this from a position where you’re willing to work hard, have some decent skills, but don’t have the funds to build a team…creating a profit-sharing partnership might be the ideal situation for yourself.

Whatever your reasons, I know a lot people have a lot of questions about creating partnerships and hesitate to get started before they have the answers to those questions.

Well, luckily Kelly McCausey & Nicole Dean have just launched “Easy Partnerships” which shows you how to benefit from and put together viable partnerships. They’ve even included an in-depth Q&A session with a qualified attorney to clear up some of those legal uncertainties as well.

If you’ve been wanting to explore the possibilities of partnerships, definitely check out all the details at:

-> http://www.easypartnershipsonline.com

They’ll guide you through the whole process from partnership ideas, finding and approaching potential partners, working together and more.

Tough Question Tuesday: What’s Your Entrepreneurial Achilles Heel?

We all have things we’re good at in business. Then there are things that we’re not so good at. If we’re smart, we outsource those things…but sometimes it’s not that simple. Our vulnerabilities might be related to our personalities or beliefs that might be holding us back.

According to Wikipedia, an “Achilles’ Heel” is “a fatal weakness in spite of overall strength, actually or potentially leading to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, metaphorical references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to their downfall are common.”

I have an Achilles’ heel for sure - I’m rather impulsive. When I saw The Aviator - the movie about Howard Hughes, I actually found myself relating to Howard’s business management style. Now, Mr. Hughes was pretty extreme and I swear I do NOT have a collection of milk jugs in my house, but when he wanted to do something…he did it. The interesting thing about this is that sometimes it’s a GOOD thing, but often it can bite you in the butt.

So what about you? What is your Entrepreneurial Achilles’ Heel?

Myth Crusher Monday - Dragon Naturally Speaking Can Produce Professional Transcripts

This Monday’s Myth Crusher is once again inspired by The Warrior Forum. In a recent thread, a member was disappointed with the quality of transcripts provided with an audio product. He said, “Every other word is ‘you know; or ‘like’ and, well, you know what I mean. You know?”

Now, I have no idea what the product is and how the transcripts were created…but it did get me to thinking of previous threads where people have claimed, “You don’t need a transcriptionist. Just use Dragon Naturally Speaking.”

I must say Dragon Naturally Speaking has come a long way since I tried to use it in 2004. It’s speech recognition has dramatically improved, it no longer requires voice training to get started and it can recognize more than one voice. But even though it may be very accurate in writing what you say - the reality is the way we speak (unless we’re professional speakers) may be digestible in audio format, but put that on paper and our stutters, ummm, uhs and so forth are painful to the reader.

A Garrie Wilson mentioned in the thread I linked to above:

“People should use [software like Dragon Naturally Speaking] for their intended purpose. To save *some* time then edit.”

I completely agree. Whether you use a professional transcriptionist to do things right from the beginning or get a proofreader/editor to go in after the fact…the point is, a human touch is needed. A professional transcriptionist can clean up all the extra words, fix grammar, catch errors and inconsistencies. I’m sorry, but no piece of software can do that.

Sweetie Saturday Winner: The 5 Original Articles Go to…

On the weekend, I posted a Sweetie Saturday giveaway for 5 Original Ghostwritten articles that resulted in a bunch of interesting perspectives on the use of ghostwriters.

I posted my opinions in the thread, but would like to reiterate and address some of the main concerns people have.

1. They have bad ghostwriter experiences. Whether the writing is bad, the person doesn’t complete the work, a bad experience with a ghostwriter seems to keep people from wanting to try again. I guess I can’t blame them, but I think it’s an obstacle that can be and should be overcome, no matter what bad experiences you may come across in your business. There are always people who misrepresent their talents and integrity…but there are so many more service providers that offer professional and worthwhile services.

2. They will lose their “voice”. Many say that part of the success of their business is in the way they communicate with their readers. Absolutely! I don’t think hiring a ghostwriter is an excuse to have someone else do the writing and forget about it. Working effectively with a ghostwriter means that you give her as much direction as you possibly can on what you want the finished product to be about. It also means that you go through everything and make adjustments for your voice, opinions and style. Your ghostwriter does the grunt work…you polish it up and make it exactly what you need, leaving you more time to focus on marketing and more profit-producing aspects of your business.

Anyway, if you want to learn more about working with a ghostwriter and overcoming some of the potential pitfalls, Mila and I have in-depth free guide on outsourcing your content. It’s completely free and you don’t have to sign up for anything to receive it.

So, I’d better announce the winner…

I’ve yammered on enough…let’s get to the business at hand…picking a winner for the giveaway. There were some great responses and I encourage you to read through the comments when you have a chance, but this week’s prize goes to Stan of MyOwnEzine.com who has a few creative writing talents of his own. He writes:

“I’ve never had the pleasure of working with a ghostwriter. I have never seen a ghostwriter. Some people say that they can appear in human form or as angels. I would prefer the angel version - to help with writer’s block, research, wording, composition, meeting deadlines and choosing appropriate subject material. Some survey somewhere says that nearly a third of the population believes ghostwriters are out there. And, probably one out of every four people say they have seen or felt the presence of a ghostwriter, especially around Halloween. But, who can believe in surveys!

All I know is that I dare not seek out a ghostwriter for fear of losing my meager wealth to those foolish apparitions of self-doubt, greed, failure, dishonesty, and a poor marketing plan. Once I overcome these ghostly apparitions, perhaps I can work with a ghostwriter. By then, however, it may be too late. My market may have succumbed to the brutish howlings of the ogre of competition!”

Guess he knew he’s get me with that Hallowe’en theme!

Congrats to Stan. Please email Mel at news @ internetmarketingsweetie.com with “Sweetie Saturday Winner” in the subject line. She’ll take good care of ya.

How To Write Compelling Web Copy

Q. Can you offer some advice for writing compelling web copy?

A. Compelling web copy has many business building benefits. It can keep your visitors glued to your site, cause them to become repeat visitors, generate traffic & increase your search engine ranking, and of course, it sells! There are lots of ways to make your web copy compelling but let’s look at five:

1. Conversations. Talk to your readers. How do you talk? When you speak do you use contractions? Do you use colloquialisms? Write like you talk and you’ll make a better connection with your readers.

2. Active words. Do you want to compel your readers to act or command them to act? Do you want your readers to benefit from your product or do you want it to change their life? Words have power. Find specific active verbs to paint your copy, to make it exciting and lively.

3. Benefit oriented. Typically speaking, readers don’t care about you. Nor do they care about your product’s features. What they care about is how they will benefit from your product. So make sure you sell benefits not features.

4. Language. Remember when writing your copy that you are writing for everday folks. Using large, technical words that are confusing will run your audience off because they won’t know what you’re talking about. Use words that people are familiar with and can connect to.

5. Emotions. We all want to feel smarter, richer, happier, thinner, more respected, etc. Use these emotions and emotional needs to connect with your reader. For example, “Do you feel paralyzed every time you have to go shopping? Do you hate trying on clothes? Does stepping in front of that three way mirror strike fear inside you?”

As I said, these are just a few of the many ways to write compelling web copy. For more ideas, visit the sites of successful internet marketers to see how they entice their visitors.
Further Resources

Copywriting Sweetie: Easy to follow course that teaches you how to write sales-producing copy

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