Today is the first in a series of 25 articles that may just be some of the most important you will ever read. In going back over my 7 plus years of marketing online, I have come to realize that there are a number of things that have contributed to my success. And of these things, there are 25 that I feel are absolutely critical to success. I am going to start off with the bottom of the list and work my way to the top...kind of like those musical countdown shows. Don't you just love them? Anyway, we kick this series off with number 25 which is developing a positive attitude. Yeah, I know...e

I have absolutely NO doubt that this article is going to strike a lot of raw nerves. The truth usually does hurt. In this case, the truth has to do with a lot of smoke and mirrors that some, not all, but some Internet marketers use to create the illusion of success and wealth. And the smoke and mirrors that they use cover a wide variety of things. This article is going to touch on a few of them. Warning, this is going to shock some and come as no surprise to others. Read at your own risk. Let's start with one of the oldest sales tactics in existence...proof of income. You've all seen the sc

The Internet marketing community is a strange animal. For some reason, many people in it seem to think that you have to offer a refund period where the person can get their money back if they ask for it within a certain amount of time and if you DON'T offer it, you'll lose sales. Says who? Please don't start quoting me a whole bunch of meaningless stats. Not interested. Truth is, you don't have to offer any kind of a refund on your product IF your product is really something of true value. I'm going to give you an example of what I'm talking about. A week or so ago, my daughter,

In our last installment of email marketing tips, we began a discussion of subject lines and their importance in getting prospects to open your emails. We focused primarily on the benefit type subject line. In this installment, we're going to cover more subject line strategies that I am sure you will find quite effective if used properly. Another subject line that is quite effective is the scarcity line. Now let me start off by saying that I in NO WAY condone false scarcity. If you're going to say you're only selling X number of units of your product, you damn well better mean it. Otherwise,

As an affiliate, did you ever go to the Clickbank marketplace one day, not see a product listed and then the very next day, you see it at the top of the marketplace with some insane gravity of like 500? Did you ever wonder how that happens? Well, you can stop wondering. This article is going to blow the lid off of those inflated gravity numbers. I know there's going to be a lot of vendors who are not going to like this article one little bit. The first thing the vendor does is he goes to the marketplace to see what's selling. No sense creating something REALLY new when there is stuff out th

In our last installment of our series on home business foundation, we went over your product or service. In this installment, I want to discuss something that a lot of people neglect. It may very well be the most important part OF your business. Without it, it doesn't matter how good your product is. I'm talking about customer service. There are quite a few variables involved in customer service. One of them, and a severely neglected one, is the method by which the service itself is delivered. Today, we have quite a few ways for customers to get a hold of us, outside of traditional telep

Viral marketing...some people just don't get it. I can't tell you how many times I see the same question asked again and again. "How can I get my site to go viral?" Maybe you yourself are wondering how to start a viral campaign. Well, while I can't possibly cover everything involved in viral marketing in the space of an article, I can give you some ideas that will get you on your way. For starters, and this is probably the most important thing, you have to have something WORTH going viral. I hate to say this, but a blog with photos of your pet cat isn't going to do it. It has to be so

I loved "The Wizard Of Oz." "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" They just don't make movies like that anymore. And it seems that they don't make informational products like they used to anymore...or do they? I guess it depends on who you ask. And therein lies the problem when you hear people say, "That product is great" or "That product sucks." A lot of it is subjective. Oh yeah, I know, somebody puts together a two page PDF that says to do keyword research and put up a blog isn't going to get my vote for product of the year. But good and bad, in most cases, is quite subjective.

This article was inspired from a thread at a particular forum that I attend by a friend of mind by the name of Rob Howard, where members were essentially complaining about the increase of advertising costs for getting their offers in front of other members. Needless to say, it became one heated debate and is still going on as I type this. And then it got me thinking. Life isn't fair. There, I said it. Sometimes life just kicks you right in the teeth. Well, you have two choices when that happens. You can sit around and complain about it OR you can do something about it. Personally, I p

This is an article that is not going to go down well with some folks, especially if they're customers and live by the saying, "The customer is always right." Take my word for it...the customer is not always right. I'm not going to out anybody here (that would not be cool) but I am going to give some general info that you can take however you like. I think, as a marketer, you will understand where I am coming from. Let's take what I am sure you are going to agree with, a simple example of a customer buying a $47 ebook on PPC advertising. The book goes over the basics of keyword research, ad