Web Savvy Content Generating Ideas That’ll Drive Free Traffic to Your Site

It appears that we are moving toward a more sophisticated economy.  About a year ago I watched a fascinating expose on how our education system MUST change.  It appears that we have been graduating from schools that are based on the Industrial Revolution production mindset.   The speech was given by Sir Ken Robinson, a man that was described as a “world-renowned education and creativity expert”. 

The premise of his speech was that basically, our education system was built to fuel factories with more warm bodies.  We had a factory driven, industry based economy and it was the civic duty of our leaders, government, and citizens to perpetuate it.

(If you are wondering why I am starting down this road instead of jumping right into the subject matter outlined in the title of this post, please stay with me.  I always want to tell you why you should do a thing before you go out and do it.)

Our Industrial Based Thinking Sucks

Anyway, we went to school, went from one class to another in lines, and with kids that were the same age as we were, and we were programmed.  Follow the rules, do what you’re told, sit at your desk, keep up or be left out, and DON”T BE DIFFERENT!!!

In the ‘60’s rebellion kicked in.  The “in” thing was dropping out and letting your hair hang down.  However, most of it was rather pointless.  As a matter of fact, some people could objectively look at the 60’s rebellion and call it another form of conformity, but that’s getting too deep.

Hence, the Industrial Revolution conditioning stuck and the education and labor system that we have become used to is still in place today. 

To see the video by Sir Ken Robinson on our industrial revolution school system click here:

The reason why I’m bringing this up is because our brains seem to think along the same business model/economic lines.  We still look at doing business the same way we were always trained:

Draw people to our site, try to sell them something, move on to another victim…er…customer or client, contact your previous prospects, try to upsell them something more expensive, and leave never to return. (Except when you want to sell them something else.)

People are catching on.  They know when you are merely looking at them like a piece of raw meat that you can suck the life from. 

Undercover Boss - The Bad Side of Things

The trouble with this business model is that there is a very high burn out rate, mainly because you’re just churning out CRAP. Even if you finally make a lot of money getting people to buy into your scheme, you’ll still have to fight like the dickens to keep replenishing your clients and prospects. 

And what kind of entrepreneur will you become as a result of this?

A perfect example of this was on a 2015 episode of the TV show, Undercover Boss.  Without going into too much detail, the show highlighted a seminar/real estate tycoon that was obviously a charlatan.  

He bragged about himself so much, you wouldn't believe it. He announced that if he died he’d want to be reincarnated as himself, because he was the “&%$#*” luckiest man on earth.  His claims were that he made about 40 million or so and was getting richer every day.  He charged attendees of his real estate seminar $43,000 per seat, for a 2 day session.

You should have seen the poor, deceived people he was fleecing.  Some of them looked like they were living out of their cars.  Some admitted that they were running up their credit cards to feed the beast.

(Not only that, but as the show was running, I was following the comments of people on Twitter about this show, and you wouldn't believe how hated this man was, especially by women.  The comments ran on and on and NOBODY had anything nice to say about him or his business.)

It was sad.

One of the reasons it was so sad, is because ANYONE COULD HAVE GIVEN THOSE POOR PEOPLE THE EXACT SAME REAL ESTATE INVESTING INFORMATION FROM AMAZON USED BOOKS FOR LESS THAN $20.00!!!! Actually, the information from the books would have been better than the info they would have gotten from HIS seminar. I guarantee it.

Why Am I Telling You This?

The reason I’m telling you all of this is because, your mindset has got to change!  

Gone are the days of merely taking people’s money and forgetting about them.  If you are just in this for the fast in and out, just be aware that people are becoming attuned to the fact that they are getting fleeced.  It’s little wonder why the term “Internet Marketing Guru” is now considered to be a negative term and the gurus are doing their best to distance themselves from that moniker.

People want to feel like they know you and they want to feel that they are a part of something.  They‘re sick and tired of being thought of as nothing more than a consumer that’s there to line somebody’s pocket with money. 

Consider a Facebook ad that looks like this:

Actual ad from Facebook- (URL removed). Apparently they were using Shutterstock’s pics without even paying.

Do you really think that anyone is going to feel connected to this, much less believe it?

The reason why I’m telling you this is because you are going to have to give, connect, respond, enrich, enliven, educate and HELP people if you really want true success.  And when you do sell them something, your product should be the best it can possibly be.  

You don’t want to cut any corners, and when you do sell somebody your wares or services, you’ll want to be extremely concerned that it is doing every single thing you said it would.

Hey, here’s a new concept:  After the sale, follow up and ask your customers how it’s working.

Generating Content – It’s Not Expensive to Give This Away

This brings me around to the subject matter at hand, generating content ideas.  The cheapest way for you to help people out and educate them about what you do, is to give them excellent, mind-blowing content.

 Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

• Cruise forums that are specific to your niche and read the questions that people are asking.  If you keep seeing the same question asked over and over again an excellent, FREE, well-written article will be something they’ll benefit from.

• If you have a list of people that have already purchased your products or services, ask them questions about what they thought the product lacked or helped them with the most.  This will give you fertile ground for subjects you can write about.  Make sure that you send this information out to people on your lists.

• Sit down and brainstorm a list of benefits that your product or service gives, as well as a list of problems that it solves.  Remember the color or size of your product isn't usually a benefit it’s a feature. Benefits are things that your product will do for you.

• Go on Amazon or eBay and look at products and services similar to yours. What benefits do you see vendors talking about the most? (NOTE: If you are rendering services, look at the books related to your services that are being sold.  Use the “Look Inside” feature of Amazon and look at the table of contents. There’s loads of ideas you can write about there.)   

Also, look at the comments sections of the products and see what people are complaining about the most.  That‘s pure gold for content creation.

Make a List and Create Your Programming

Once you have gone through these content generating ideas, use a calendar and make a schedule of the subjects you’ll be talking about on your blog, podcast or website.  Since I’ve already written a post about this, I won’t bore you by repeating myself, you can read it here:

Using a Calendar to Create a Content Schedule  

I hope you find this message enlightening and it has helped you in some way.  If you’d like to fire some ideas or comments at me please feel free to do so.  

Send them to:

Elmo033057@gmail.com

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

 (859) 797-9560

Getting Your Web Savvy Video Published Online To Generate a Flood of Traffic!

OK, now you are on your last step of creating and posting your first video on the Internet.  I am assuming that for now you are going to be posting to YouTube because it is probably the easiest way to get your video out there so you can get some traffic to your site or blog. 

(If you want to read the previous articles on this subject the links will be provided at the end of this post.)

The other reason why I suggest that you post to YouTube is because you’ll get success much quicker. You’ll be ecstatic getting your first video published online, so you’ll want to get more of them done.  Nothing will get a student more motivated to learn and do more than a successful experience. 

Getting Your New Web Savvy Video In Front Of the Right Audience

Once you have your video complete, you will want to get it in front of the right audience.  You can have the greatest video ever made and even win some sort of award for it, but if you don’t get in front of people that are hungry for the information that’s on it, your goal will be missed.

Utilize Social Media Channels

You can go to different social media sites and post a quick snippet of information about your video that you posted to your YouTube channel.  All you have to do is go to your social media page, write a brief introduction to your video and then copy and paste the web address of the video into the posting area of the social media site and hit “Enter”.    Magically you’ll see the actual video clip appear!

Screen Shot of social media channel:

You can use this technique on a whole boatload of social media sites like Facebook (in picture) Google Plus, Myspace, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.  You don’t even have to rewrite the posts and the links, you can just write the first one, copy it and paste it to the other sites.

Now, this is assuming that you've been cultivating and socializing with people that are interested in your niche and that may be interested in what you have to offer on these social networking sites.  If you aren't cultivating people that are interested in your business, then you’ll be wasting your time because if they aren't interested in your message it won’t even watch it.

Make Your Title Keyword Rich and Interesting

You need to do some keyword research to see what keywords people are interested in before you name your video and post it to the Internet.  The best way to do that is by consulting Google’s Keyword Planner.  

If you already have a Gmail account you can easily get an AdSense account and access the Keyword Planner.  This tool will allow you to check and see what keywords people are looking at and how much.  Ideally, you’ll want to get words or phrases that people are looking up but are underused. Once you have done your keyword homework you’ll want to include the words or phrase in the title of your video.

 Build Your YouTube Channel

I often forget this because it’s so obvious, but YouTube is a social media channel itself.  You can easily create your own channel on YouTube, trick it out with banners and backgrounds to make it look cool and start inviting people to it that may be interested in your videos.  

You’ll eventually find out that people that pop-over from Facebook and other sites also are into YouTube, and have been at least posting family or hobby videos on there as well.

Use Other Video Sites Too!

Once you get some experience using and posting to YouTube, you can now start to post to other video sites as well.  Almost all of them are very, very similar.  All you have to do is create accounts to them and post. 

Don’t Forget Your Blog!

Web savvy marketers should always post their videos to their blogs.  When I post a video to my blog, I always try to make it relevant to what I’m writing about.  Some people don’t even blog, they “Vlog” or create a video blog. Instead of writing, they will record a video and then post it on the Internet on a regular basis.  

The big problem with this is Google will usually rank your webpage based on the content that’s written on your site.  So a blog (or Vlog) that only has video on it will be much harder to rank than a blog that is well written.   The other problem I've seen with Vlogs are that they are usually poorly made and boring.  

When you consider the procedures we've posted in previous posts and the care you must take to make an excellent video, it would take a lot of time and effort to accomplish.

If you are interested in seeing how to post or embed a video into a blog, watch this video.  The procedure involves getting the embed code from YouTube for your video and placing it into the HTML code into Blogger.  Pretty much the same procedure with WordPress and other types of blog platforms.

I hope the series this week has helped you decide on whether or not you’ll want to use video to market your services or products with.  It’s really not that hard to learn and once you’ve made your first one the rest are pretty easy.

Here are the links to this week’s series on marketing with video. (In order of their appearance.)

1.       Web Savvy YouTube Traffic Generator

2.       How NOT to Create YouTube Videos

3.       What Type of Software Do I Need

4.       How to Make Web Savvy YouTube Videos

5.       You've Made Your Video, Now What?

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

"When it Comes to High-Response Copy - I've Got Your Back!"

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

(859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Using Offline Web Savvy Tactics to Generate Online Traffic

But First a little encouragement…

Let me tell you a little secret, I’m not a good blog writer.  I know that’s hard for you to believe, but it’s true. (I hope you can detect my genuine sense of humor too.)  I don’t sit down and write an outline and meticulously plan out what I’m going to say.  I usually have a general idea about what I’m going to talk about and then I spit it out.

So, if you’re starting to blog or write pages of content in order to get people to come to your site, take heart; you don’t have to be a blogging or writing genius to get started.  Just make sure you are writing coherently, concisely, and you’re sticking to your subject.  If you’re real bad at writing, then you may want to get a tutor.  You can find all sorts of them online.

The main thing is that you get started, no matter what.

I personally never studied grammar.  All through my eight plus years of college, I did tons of writing and my professors never complained a bit.  Other than my English teachers, I think that most of them didn't know all the rules of grammar and English either.  I still have problems with using commas in all of the correct places, but I can recall only once when someone told me I had used one wrong.

Using Offline Marketing to Get Traffic to Your Site

Once again, this is an easy thing to learn, you just have to implement it.  If you

are a regular, offline bricks and mortar business, then you should consider getting a website.  Today, most people, won’t take your business serious unless you have a website.  Just like the days before the Internet, people wouldn't take you serious unless you had a business card.

Having a website will drive business to your offline business and having an offline business can drive traffic to your website.

The lesson I Learned from A Catering Business

Years ago I used to build websites and show them how to market their businesses off and online.  I had a client that had a catering business and he wanted a website for various reasons.  Since I was designing and setting websites up for people, it was part of my services to help people market their businesses and give them some advice on how they could get more traffic to their site and business.

 

In this case, the owner had a pick up stand that people would come to and pick up their orders as well as a delivery service.  I told the owner common sense marketing stuff like:

·         When people come to your place of business, offer them a free cookie in exchange for filling out their contact information on a form.  Keep a database of clients and send them email newsletters as well as snail mail newsletters where you mention promotions, giveaways and contests that you are having.

• ·         Put your web address on your bags, cups etc. encouraging people to go there and leave their contact info in the opt-in box for a free chicken wing.
• 
  
• ·         Write occasional articles, leave recipes so that people will go to your site and somehow participate.
• 
  
• ·         Use social media sites to create a ravenous crowd of fans that’ll go to your site and refer friends.
• 
  
• ·         Put testimonials, maps etc. on the website to make it more appealing for people to come to and find.

Unfortunately, as common and common sense as these ideas were to a business, the owner did none of them, and has since closed his doors.  I’m not saying he closed because he didn’t use MY marketing ideas, but because he didn't use ANYBODY’S ideas…PERIOD.

The reason why this type of marketing (or any type for that matter) doesn’t work is because clients won’t try it.  Plain and simple.  I don’t think I’ve read a single Dan Kennedy marketing book wherein he hasn't mentioned the fact that people will tell him, “Well, that type of marketing won’t work in my business…” 

This type of marketing does take some money, some commitment and some patience.  You can’t expect overnight success in any type of marketing, ESPECIALLY INTERNET MARKETING!!!!

Speaking of persistence…

On my last blog post I told you how you can get the awesome New York Times bestseller, “Million Dollar Habits -- 10 Steps for Getting Everything You Want in Life” by Robert Ringer for FREE.  I’m only on chapter II right now, but it’s an excellent read so far. 

The best way I can describe the book so far is a very detailed, intellectual and almost metaphysical look at what makes a person successful.  Plus, Ringer’s stories that he uses to relate the ideas and concepts to you are very well written.  Not boring at all.

So if you haven’t gotten a copy of this great book, click on this link: Million Dollar Habits.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

To Your Success!

Mark “Elmo” Ellis

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

"When it comes to high response copy, I've got your back!"

 (859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

Portfolio Site: http://markelliscopyportfolio.blogspot.com/

P.S.  If you like what I've written or hate it, please leave a comment so I can tell you how wonderful or half-baked you are.

"Use This Well Known Google Tool To Create A Money Making Machine And Pull Ahead of the Pack"

How to Fill Out Your Calendar

In case any of you missed my last 2 posts, we are exploring a technique that a millionaire revealed in a conversation I was privy to.  It was not a short and sweet sonnet, so I've had to try to explain this whole strategy over the course of about a month. 

If you didn't get a chance to read my recollection of what I was told, you can read Part I - How to Set Up A Blog and Part II - How to do Research for Your Niche or Subject. 

How to Lock and Load Your Money Calendar

If you have gone through all of the steps I've written about in the last 2 steps, you should have already:

• ·         Researched and chosen your niche
• ·         Signed up for a blog (either WordPress or Blogger) account and formatted it
• ·         Researched topics you will be writing about using For Dummies, Amazon or eBay

By the way, if you don’t know how to set up a blog, I have an online video series you can watch here: Bloggingwith Google’s Blogger

Once you have set up your blog, it’s time to set up your calendar.  The reason why you’d want to use a calendar is so that you can have a series of articles related to your niche that are somehow logically connected to one and other.  Not only will a calendar connect your articles to each other, but you’ll be able to establish goals, set deadlines and be able to have a list of subjects that will make it so much easier to write about. 

Google’s Calendar – My Calendar of Choice

If you haven’t seen Google’s calendar it looks like this:

Google's calendar will allow you to color code different sections of your calendar, so it easy to view 

The reason why I like this calendar so much is because I can access it anywhere there is a computer with an internet connection.  Not only that, it updates the current date and time that you are on automatically.  Another thing that is pretty cool, is that you can color code different parts of the calendar so that it is visually easier to use.  So my marketing weapon of choice is Google's Calendar.

Now, if you don't want to do that, you don't have to.  Any kind of calendar will do, whether it resides on a computer or not.  

Creating Your Subject Schedule

Once you have your calendar picked out you will now return to Amazon (or eBay, or For Dummies.com) and look at the material you accessed using the technique in my last blog post and drilled down into your subject matter to find a niche, or even a niche of a niche.  (Once again, please read my last Blog post on: Finding a Niche to Make Money On.)

Once you start looking at the resource material or books you can start to use your calendar to fill out a schedule.  Actually, this isn't any different than making an outline.  Take a look below:

Subject: Social Bookmarking

Introduction to Social Bookmarking in Marketing
I.  Social Bookmarking 
A.  Why is it important to use it
   1.  How people use it
   2.  Why it is important to learn how to use it
   3.  Successful businesses that use social bookmarking
        a. Star Bucks
        b. Apple


So forth...

You want to fill in at least two months worth of subject material.   if you are having a problem using Google's calendar here's a Video on how to use it: 





The Reason for Doing This 

There are a couple of reasons why you will want to schedule like this.  First of all, there are a large numbers of entrepreneurs that put up a website and then drive traffic to it.  

Whatever means they use to drive traffic to their sites, the results are usually not spectacular.  One of the reasons this is so, is because webpages and sites that are static, usually don't get traffic.  What I mean by static is, they sit on the net, and usually the content stays exactly the same.  It doesn't change.  

Internet search engines have become very sophisticated in the last few years, and they demand that a site have at least 2 basic criteria:

1.  New, well written and focused content, and...
2.  relevant links coming in

At the end of the day Google loves fresh, original content and so do readers. Google also loves relevant, quality links to your site. So, if you are writing good content that people love, then they will link to your website from theirs.  

But, get real, if you have a crappy, static, site, chances are nobody will link to them, even if you ask.

If you would like to read more about this subject, then read this link by Michael Bluejay: Why I Won't Link to Your Site  This is one of the most brilliant pieces I have ever read on this subject.

Also, SEOBOOK has a great article on Blogging and SEO as well.

The main point is...

If you write well planned material that actually offers some high - octane content, you should have no problem eventually getting readers to your blog.  

in my next post, I'm going to show you how to get social media on your side, with an actual blueprint that you can use to get as many readers and possible prospects as possible.  

Until next time, God Bless!

Mark "Elmo" Ellis

Mark Ellis

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

"When it comes to high response copy, I've got your back!"

 (859) 797-9560

elmo033057@gmail.com

www.MarkEllisCopy.com

Portfolio Site: http://markelliscopyportfolio.blogspot.com/

7 Ways to Find Red Hot Niches That Prospects Will Jump On

The very first thing you need to do when creating an  information product is to just sit down and write your guts out.

That's right, grab your favorite computer chair, get out your laptop and start writing.  I would probably write for at least five straight days (taking time out for meals, of course) and just get it all out on paper.

 Then, after you have created your masterpiece, you should  probably print up about four....no wait....five thousand copies and start selling them, because everyone, and I mean everyone will want to buy your info course called,

"How to Raise and Race Gerbils in Your Bathtub for Fun and Profit!"

If Ed Wood were alive, he'd shake his head in amazement at your incredible accomplishment. (He was very easy to impress, at least that's the way he was portrayed in the movie.)

Unfortunately, this process is WRONGO- BONGO!

You missed a very important step and that step is: FIRST, FIND A MARKET AND TEST IT BEFORE YOU WASTE ANY TIME WRITING A COURSE NO ONE WILL PROBABLY WANT!

Think about it, if you create a product that has no appeal for anyone, you won't make a sale no matter how well written your sales letter is.  As a famous marketer once said, "If you want to sell hamburgers what's the first and most important thing you need?  A starving crowd!"

I love watching Shark Tank.  I never miss an episode and when reruns come on I watch the episodes again.  I don't believe that I am actually learning anything, but I love the show.   It always amazes me that a person will invest $500,000+ in  creating a product, only to find out that there is no market for it.

"I decided to craft clothing out of discarded apple peels." she says.
"I put $249,000 into this business." she says.
" I have $40 in sales" she says.

"For that reason, I'm out."  they said.

So,the first step in creating any product, whether it's an information product or something else is finding a market for it.

OK, Ellis, how exactly are we going to find out what there is a market for? Well, there are several different ways and they all require that dirty four - lettered word we all hate: WORK.  What type of work?  Research work, that's what kind of work.  There are a variety of methods you can use, but these are the one's I would recommend.

1.  Mailing List Websites -  Used to be you could go to the SRDS (Standard Rate and Data Service) to look up periodicals and what magazines that are popular to find out what topics people buying and in what  geographical area.  It also used to be that you could find the SRDS in public libraries, but good luck finding one, or at least one in the library that isn't outdated.

The SRDS has an online service but it is very expensive. Your best bet is to go to one of the many online direct mail list companies to look at how many people are buying magazines and other items under different categories.  Here are a few I would recommend:
Mailing List Finder - Loads of categories to drill into and see what people are buying and how many people have responded to different topics.

2.  Google Trends - With Google Trends you can take a look at what people are interested in over time by looking at search volumes that this search engine has aggregated.

3. Google Adwords Keyword Research - AKA Google Keyword Planner - This is probably the best way to poke around and check to see what's hot and what's not.  By plugging in key words t will tell you exactly what ads people have been clicking on so that you will have a good idea if YOUR idea is good enough to sell. It's free but you have to get an account with Google's email system to use it.

4.   Pew Internet - This site freely gives out all sorts of demographic information a marketer might use to find a hot niche to sell to or a product to create.  The downside of this site is that it could take you a while to find the data you are looking for.


5.  Clickbank Market Place - Clickbank is the premiere digital information marketing site on the Internet.  You can create an info product, then market it by getting and paying affiliates to sell your info product for you.  However, you can also go there and peruse the products made by other marketers.  The people that made these products have more than likely done the market research for you, so you should be able to at least find a category that is suitable.  However, don't forget that if there are tons of people marketing a particular subject, then you will probably have a lot of competition in that field.  On the other hand, if there is low competition, then that subject may not be in too high of a demand.

6.  Amazon - You can use Amazon to see what people are reading.  Chances are, if people are buying books on a particular subject, then there is probably a market for that subject.  In the search field on the left, click the drop down menu until you see "books" and then select it.  Next, we would click search and then on the right hand side you should see a list of resources.  Scroll down until you see "Department" and under that will be all sorts of categories for books.  You can explore these all you want and drill down into all sorts of categories.  TIP:  When you find a book or a set of books in a niche you are interested in, take a look at the comments made by people.  If there are a lot of good, well written comments on that book then there is apparently a lot of interest in that subject, otherwise why would anyone want to write that much about it?

7. Articles Base - You can peruse through bazillions of articles on this site and even take a look at the most read articles to see what hot topics there are.

There are a lot of other ways to do market research, but these are seven of the cheapest ways I found to look around and get ideas.  You could also do cheap online surveys, or create a free report to advertise on the Internet and then build a website for people download it from.  If you get a good response, chances are you have a winner.

Mark “Elmo” Ellis is a freelance writer, able to write compelling direct mail pieces, video scripts, brochures, and website copy that will grab the attention of your readers, reel them in, and get them to increase your bottom line.

If you want to learn more about how to write and use ad copy in your business, please click the link below and I’ll send you a free report on how to write more effective copy for your business.

Please send me a free copy of The Secret 7 -How to use advanced tactics in your adcopy to dominate your competition! 

You Can Laugh At Your Money Worries If You Follow This New Simple Marketing Trend.

Normally, most entrepreneurs are looking at shortcuts to success through marketing.  Everyone is looking for a shiny new object to bring in more business, and there seems to be no end to the number of “gurus” out there that will hawk a free report, or recent book telling you about a “new secret”.

In reality, there is nothing new under the sun, and the same exact principles that were used 40 years ago, will still bring home the bacon today. 

(If you missed my last post you missed the fact that you should get yourself a herd, tribe or a HIVE MIND COLLECTIVE as a proven way to get more sales, conversions or loyalty.)

The technology of communicating the message has changed but the formula for communicating the message is the same old, tried and true, which is why any really good advertising copy writers will study works by guys that earned their stripes years ago.

This is not to say that you should only learn how to write or use static sales letter pages.  I said the technology has changed not the actual messages.  For example, if you learned how to use it properly, you could easily use Youtube videos to market your business, and many people have done just that, to include myself.

As a matter of fact, just one of the many videos that I have produced, Facebook for Beginners has pulled in a whopping 19,000 views.  Having said that, I would like to point out that if you try to just slap together a thoughtless, unplanned and unclear message you will not get very many views or conversions on any level.

One of my pet peeves is a video wherein a person just gets on there and rambles on incessantly about their business.  These folks make these “marketing messages” while driving their cars, sitting at tables, etc.

You can usually tell that they put very little thought into these messages or that they did the entire production with their left hand. I could never really figure out why anyone would even watch a video like this, because it usually doesn't help you or tell you anything that you don't already know.

If the marketing message doesn't connect with the viewer, àclickß the viewer goes elsewhere. That’s the problem with all of this new-fangled technology is one click and you’re gone. 

It’s a little different with a highly crafted direct mail piece that you've got in your hands, but if that medium isn't crafted and formatted properly, it’ll wind up in the trash too.

So, what is this new-fangled marketing trend mentioned in the title? Well, recently Forbes Magazine unleashed its Top 10 Brand andMarketing Trends for 2014, and low and behold, mobile marketing should be optimized is number 9 on that list.

Trend spotters got this right several years ago when they accurately predicted mobile methods of accessing and using the Internet would go mainstream.  This means that when you design a webpage it has got to be optimized in a fashion that is acceptable to smaller devices than a laptop. 

Years ago, I used to build my own websites so I know how the process works.  However, as a down and dirty marketer, I learned that more complicated, sexy web design is expensive, harder to maintain and more difficult to make changes to. 

Don’t get me wrong, if you are Amazon, Zappos, eBay or any of the other online giants, you have a complex e-commerce site. I get it. However, if you are a mid to small time business, you may want to do the smart thing and have a Flash free, easy website that is easy to post regularly to. 

(Notice I am using WordPress and Blogger for my sites because they are easy to use, post new material to and if optimized properly, do fairly well in the search engines for the keywords you are targeting.  You can still have a single, stable sales page and if post articles regularly, you will get noticed by the search engines a little easier.)

My disclaimer on this advice is: I am not a professional web designer, although, I have a degree in Education Technology and have built professional websites for business and educational purposes.  I know that there are probably a bunch of web designers that are going to descend on me with all of their technical terms and wizardry, telling me how I should be hoisted up by my ankles and flogged until sunset for this bad Web design advice. 

However:  I am right, and never wrong, so there!

My point is, that if you are designing simple sites, or using WordPress or Blogger (which are already optimized for mobile formats automatically) you shouldn’t have to worry.  If you are hard-coding your own complex, Flash induced website, you will probably need to brush up on what the mobile marketing formats are and keep abreast of the trends in this area.

TIP: One of the ways you can always get people to come to your site in the mobile format is to create an app that connects to your website.  If you can put a regularly updated piece of information on your site then the app will connect to your page to access that particular information.  

You can always hire someone from an outsourcing site like oDesk or eLance to create your app for a very reasonable price. The trick of creating an app like that is that it needs to be conducive to your niche or business.  You don’t want a weather update on a site that has a comic book or cooking niche. 

They All Laughed When I Said I Could Write My Own Ad Copy....

But Then I Sat Down At the Word Processor and They All Kept Laughing

If you want to get a good start on writing your own direct mail pieces then I have a few recommendations that I would like to make this week.  I'm sure you'll appreciate some insight into what makes decent copy.  It really isn't rocket science, but it does require practice to get good at it. 

You can learn about how to play a good round of golf without getting to be as good as Tiger Woods.  So, at any rate, this information will probably help your sales pages convert a little better.

Of course, there will be those of you that are thinking, “My gosh, he’s going to put himself out of business telling us about a resource like this.  After all, if we learn to write ad copy for ourselves what will we need him for?”

If you know anything about good ad copyists you will know that we're a finicky bunch; we don’t work for just anyone.  The entrepreneurs we most like to deal with are people that are educated in what we do.  So, our way of thinking is that if you understand some of what it takes to be an ad copy writer, then you will actually be a much better prospect or client than the average Joe Schmoe.   

Another angle to this view is that once you actually try your hand at writing your own copy, you will see that it isn't as easy as you thought. 

I’ll never forget the first (and actually the last) time I went golfing.  It always looked so easy on T.V.

and even though I just knew it always looks easier than it actually is, I learned something very profound about the sport.  Knocking the crap outta the ball down the fairway was easy and fun.  Getting that stupid ball to do what you want it to on the green was another story.

So, go ahead, give it a try.  Take a course, read a few books and break out the word processor. Writing ad copy is cheap to try and you will probably learn a few things about the craft.  

The first person that I heard about writing ad copy for direct mail pieces was a guy named Dan Kennedy.   (Of course, this was when I first became a student of marketing.)  Dan has a great starter book that has been on the market for at least two decades called “The Ultimate Sales Letter. “ 

Dan Kennedy is a master marketer who has the distinction of being called “The millionaire maker” because he has helped a lot of entrepreneurs become millionaires in their businesses.  He has a huge following of successful entrepreneurs that he even calls it Planet Dan from time to time.

At least, that’s the buzz.

Dan Kennedy's Awesome Book

If you listen Monsieur Kennedy’s advice for very long, you will hear him talk about the importance of this type off writing – which is the ability to sell using your own words on paper and it is the reason why he decided to write the book, of course.

The book is laid out in plain, easy to understand language that will take you step by step through the process of writing advertising copy.  Not only does it give you excellent instruction, but it also gives you great illustrated examples of brilliant copy in a variety of situations. 

Anyway, “The Ultimate Sales Letter “is an outstanding resource and it will definitely get your feet wet in learning how to write your first sales letter, web site, video sales script or any other use you can find for this type of writing. 

It doesn't cost much and you can get it used from Amazon.com HERE ---> The Ultimate Sales Letter.