It’s The Taking Part That Counts!…Right?

Once again it’s another post that relates to the great weekend I had, mainly just on Saturday! And guess what, I was bowling again, but this time it was in a triples competition! (3 people in a team really!) There were 4 groups overall, each with 4 teams. The winner o each section would go through to the semi-finals and then the final if they make it.

While despite losing our very first game, we battled through to the semis and just scraped through into the final. (At this time, I was just fortunate that I’d made it this far!) In the final we got off to a good start that built up over the 6 ends we played. Eventually we came out winners with the score being 12-6. What a day of bowls that was!

For starters, I never actually expected to make it into the semi-finals, let alone the final. It’s as I always say though, it’s the taking part that counts! And that is true; all I was there to do was take part and have as much fun as I possibly could! (I think I managed to do that!)

Now instead of just talking about my weekend, I thought I’d throw in something that is marketing related. I spent 10 minutes yesterday (Sunday) thinking about it, and could only come up with one thing.

So what would that be, and how in marketing is this related?! Well what I came up with was a JV Competition. (I’m being serious!) We all know that marketing is fun on its own, but to be able to make an appearance in one of these competitions would just help boost your business far! OK, let me explain how I see it!…

The taking part in a JV Competition counts, but if you came out better than you started, then surely you’re a winner?! You’re having fun to start with, and promote the product to your list as you really did enjoy its quality, but if your name made it onto the leader board…then you’d have more than just something to laugh about. This would be a HUGE promotion for you, and could result in even more. It’s nothing to be sniffed at in my books!

If there’s any new product launches coming up soon, then why not jump on board and see how well you can do. If you don’t manage to make it onto the board, then you’ll have always made some commission hopefully!

When big marketers check out the status page or the JV Competition and spot an unusual name on it, then they’ll be watching to see what you do next. They would hopefully go and read more about you, which has the potential to be massive. I’d probably faint if someone like Jim Cockrum, Kevin Riley or John Thornhill (In fact any well known marketer!) asked me to review one of their products or even asked if we could do a simple JV.

They have spotted your name, and for you, it’s probably the best thing that happened to you! I know that’s the case for one UK marketer, Lee McIntyre, when he made 3rd in a JV contest. So what’s stopping you?

Popularity: 44% [?]

Having An Introductory Price For 7 Days Only?

Let’s face it, whenever you walk into your local supermarket, more often than not your hit with a special offer. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be a supermarket! Whatever shop it is has a new product out on the market, and their giving you a deal if you decide to purchase within the first 7 days.

If we take Tesco as an example then they are always doing this, and we never think too much about it. However when it comes to a marketer offering a similar sort of offer, they always seem to get backlash for NO apparent reason!

This isn’t making much sense, and I see no difference.

I remember one occasion were Paula Brett released her Operation eBook, and John Thornhill made a blog post recommending it. (Why wouldn’t he, it’s a GREAT report!) He also mentioned a couple of times about the price increase after the 7 days. Well to cut a long story short, there was a sudden surge of comments coming from every part of the planet. It turned out into an interesting debate, and I think quite a few of us learned a thing or 2!

So WHY do us marketers decide to offer a new product at an introductory price? Well it’s quite simple if you think about it.

We are all about over-delivering, and providing quality to our subscribers/customers. If you can build on the relationship you have with your current subscribers, then they are more likely going to purchase further products and recommend them to their friends. Not to mention it might help you clinch that vital JV (Joint Venture) you have been longing to get.

If you recon that special offers are a scam, then what about ‘Buy One Get One Free’ or ‘3 For The Price Of 2?’ They are all an offer in their own way, and if you can offer a discount on your information product then why not?

When I go and register my domains, I search the internet for the latest discount coupon code. But why do that? We’re all out to grab a bargain from time to time, and if you really want the product then you’ll buy it. Whither you get the discount or not!

The next time you launch a new product, why don’t you think about offering an introductory price? At the end of the day, we’re just an online shop selling our products. Nothing much diferent than a shop in the high-street doing the very same.

(Have your OWN opinion, then post a comment expressing what you think!)

Popularity: 71% [?]

Always Remember To Back-Up Your Files!

This topic crops up more often that not, and we always seem to read about it every other day! So if you haven’t gathered what I’m talking about yet, then it’s to do with backing-up your files and folders.

I learned the hard way yesterday when I was working on my new blog theme! I was in the middle of editing the stylesheet and must have accidentally deleted most of it without ever noticing a thing! So I carried on as normal, and clicked the ‘Update’ button and then refreshed the screen (Ctrl + R) to take a look at the changes, and boy did they look a little strange this time!

So at first I wondered what on earth had happened and went back to undo the change I’d just made in the stylesheet. (At that point, I thought that changing the ‘padding’ had caused the problem!) I scrolled down and then it hit me, at least half the stylesheet was missing!

Sorting this problem was going to take me a good few hours, and possibly even more. I spent the time getting things back to normal (Although some parts still need work done on them today!), and I refresh the page once again hoping that things are back on track. But NO there was still a problem somewhere and I just couldn’t find it. I was almost ready to call the experts in because of it!

It got to the point were I had to start from the top, and work my way down. I remembered that I was doing something in the header.php file and so I checked there first. BANG! - I found the problem in 2 mins flat! It turned out that I had an extra </div> tag were I shouldn’t have. (Talk about bad luck?!)

The main point I’m trying to make is if I’d had a back-up, then I could have just re-uploaded that and been able to get on with my modifications. Instead I had to get this sorted. (While I’m here, the new theme will be with us pretty soon. It all depends on when I get it complete. HEHE)

I learned the hard way with this, but imagine if you lost EVERYTHING in your hosting account or even your Aweber signups! I can guarantee now, that it wouldn’t be a very nice sight!…

So spend 10 minutes now and go back-up your files and folders!

Popularity: 96% [?]

How Clean Is Your ‘Income Producing’ Office?

As we all know, the most important part of making your income online is by creating your own products right? Well I’d actually say YES and NO!

(Why you ask?)

Well I can phrase this several ways, but what about if I ask you this question… “What Do You Create The Products On?” Now that isn’t the only question I could have asked, but I hope you can see were I’m going with this?!

If it’s me, I feel that your computer plays a HUGE role in generating this income and it should therefore be kept in a good condition and not loaded up with what some people call junk. So most people will have a desk for their computer, that sits somewhere!

But were does that important desk of yours sit? For me at the moment, it’s kinda under the stairs as that’s the only place we have room for it! However, if I had my own way…then I’d have built myself an OFFICE in the attic/loft.

(Now onto the fun part!) How clean is your office? You would think that if it was nice, clean and tidy then you’d work harder. So if your looking at your office now, and don’t know were everything is…then you need to clean it out today!

My ‘office’ isn’t very tidy at all, but it isn’t very messy either! But what I really am after is a separate office with some units for me to keep all my important information in. (Another solution I might try is buying some plastic folders to put all my project ideas into!)

So if you currently don’t have an office-office then why not think about converting a small room in your house into one?! (I would do that, but then my younger brother wouldn’t have anywhere to sleep! HEHE) Plus I guess it’s also nice to leave ‘work’, were you can then go and relax on the sofa watching the TV and having something to eat.

When I do manage to grab my OWN office, then I’ll definitely tell you what the benefits are, but also if there is anything bad as well!

(That’s all for today and enjoy the rest of your weekend! I never knew I could write so much just about an office!…)

Popularity: 73% [?]

Have You Registered YourName.com Yet?

Once again it’s pouring down with rain here in the UK. Not to mention this cold that’s just hit me, but I’m not letting it stop me from providing my readers with information!

Now, you’ve maybe heard other marketers like John Thornhill or even Lee McIntyre talking about this from time to time. If you remember from that ‘interview‘ I had with John, he mentioned it there too.

When I first started out online, I really didn’t know were I was or what in fact I was doing. I searched eBay several times and I eventually came across PlanetSMS (John Thornhill) and started from there really.

The IMPORTANT thing I never did, was to register MarkMcWilliams.com - People will do searches on Google maybe even Yahoo looking for YOU! So after a bit of time, I eventually went to register Mark-McWilliams.com because the other one had been TAKEN!

Fortunately for me, MarkMcWilliams.com had been registered a few years before so it couldn’t be helped. However, I am on the lookout for when it does expire…cause I’ll be jumping on it like a hound.

The thing I’m trying to tell you is go register YourName.com domain today! Get a blog setup on it, then start typing away. If you know nothing about Wordpress, then you could always get someone to do it for you. Although, if you have cPanel then there is a program called ‘Fantastico De Luxe’ were you can install it from.

Back on track of things, you can use your domain and add a ‘recommends’ directory were you can create nice looking affiliate links. I mean, what’s better?

http://markmcw.smsdigital.hop.clickbank.net

http://www.mark-mcwilliams.com/recs/sms_mentorship

Come on, I hope you were going with the second link there!

I hope you’ve learnt a thing or two from this post today. And as always, if you need to know anything else…then just drop me a line in the comments below.

Popularity: 29% [?]

A Product Launch Isn’t All What It Seems!…

Well, as most of you are currently aware of. I’ll soon be launching my VERY first product! It’s called Support System Simplified, and now that I’m getting closer and closer to completion…it’s amazing how many tasks crop up that still need to be done! I mean, take a look at some of the things that come to mind this very minute…

• I still need to finish writing the report! - I know that I could have just left it as it was, however I’d rather do the updates and offer the buyer even more.

• Submit product for Clickbank’s approval! - Again, this is something that I had known about when I started…although you sort of forget about it during the product creation process.

• Setup the opt-in boxes and insert in the right place! - As you can imagine, I need to make sure that each list has been setup in the correct place. Otherwise there might be a few unhappy customers.

• Download page needs to be created! - I mean, how else would I get the product to the buyer? There’s also another way of using some software like DL Guard, were it sends the buyer to a secure download page.

• Contact potential JV partners! - This is important and is something that I’ll be doing very very soon. I hope to get some known names to promote my report one way or another!

Although knowing me, I’ll still have another 10 tasks on top of that to complete!

However, as a ‘newbie’ we all make mistakes…and I’m sure that when you started (or are at the moment) you made mistakes that you’d almost ‘laugh’ about now-a-days. It’s all a learning curve, but it will help me in the long-run as I continue my quest to become a full-time marketer!

I’m aware too that the ‘Clock Is Ticking’ so to speak. I’ve already had quite a lot of interest over on the Standing Start Profits forum were I’ve been interacting and actually been talking about my product. There are a few of the members that REALLY can’t wait for it…

I’d love to hear what experience you’ve gained from launching a product. But also from a ‘newbie’ perspective too. Just post your comments below.

Popularity: 21% [?]

A Quick Guide To Creating A Favicon For Your Site

After my post yesterday, a few people have come back to me and asked how exactly they create their own favicon too. So to help them out, and you of course, I’ve decided to blog about it! Let’s begin…

1. As with my logo, you can see that I has an emblem too. Well when I had my logo created, I asked the designer if they could supply me the emblem on it’s own too. As well with the actual logo. Any graphic designers would do the same I’d hope.

2. Once the files have been sent too you. It’s time to convert the file into it’s correct format. That is however unless your designer has already done this for you. It will never harm to ask though! The format for a favicon is .ico

To help you out with the process, I have found a very good converter that you can use online. It’s FREE to use and very easy to work with. So take a look today… http://www.htmlkit.com

In fact, you can convert any image you like into a favicon with that converter. Why not try that out for yourself…

3. With your file converted, you need to upload the favicon file to the folder of your site. Any FTP client will do the trick, SmartFTP or even FileZilla.

4. Next, you need to enter the following HTML tag to your site. Don’t worry, it’s really small.

<link rel=”icon” href=”http://www.domain.com/favicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />
<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”favicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />

Note: Don’t copy or paste this code direct from the page. Wordpress tends to mess up the little quotation marks when you do that.

The above code needs to be entered after the <head> tag, and before the </head> tag.

5. Upload your updated site.

Well, that’s it complete. Your favicon will now show whenever you visit your site, you’ll be able to see it in the address bar…or beside any of your bookmarks.

I hope you found this quick guide interesting and useful. As usual, I’d love to read any comments you leave…

Popularity: 25% [?]

Do YOU Have A Support Desk Or Just Use Email?

We, as marketer’s…are going to receive emails from time to time. But what do you use? A support desk, or just conventional email?

Here’s a question though, how many emails that have been sent to you, are caught up in the SPAM filters? My guess is that there will be quite a few! Imagine how many emails could possibly be from one person who is now wondering if your in fact ignoring them. It’s not something that I’d like to happen, it could ruin your reputation…then where do you go from there?

If only you had a support desk, all the communicating is done via that. There is now no way that emails are caught up in the filters, and for people to think that they have been ignored. A well know eBay powerseller has recently just aquired his own support desk, because of this very problem.

Not only is it better communication, but the whole ‘chat’ is stored. You can easily see what you and the other party have said previously. So, what are you thinking? Do you need to get your hands on a support desk now?…

Well, there’s some good news. I’m soon to release a report, well…it’s more a guide explaining how to setup your own support desk and customise it. More on this in the coming days though.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please leave them below…

Popularity: 19% [?]