by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author's note. Before commencing this article, set the mood. Go to any search engine and look for the theme song for the Sea Hunt television series. It's just the right tune to put you in the mood for high adventure on the waves... and under.
Remember the Sea Hunt television series which ran from 1958 to 1961? It starred man's man Lloyd Bridges as ex-Navy frogman Mike Nelson. Mike was an action kind of guy who signalled what kind of program it was right from the opening sequence. There, enveloped in its suitably bold, expansive theme, you saw the ever-ready Bridges pulling down his mask and jumping over the side; his trusty scuba equipment strapped firmly to his back, providing the necessary oxygen for his demanding deeds of derring-do in the undersea world we all wanted to see.
None of it --- absolutely none of it -- would have been possible without that scuba equipment, enabling Bridges to go beneath the surface and chase, flipper-powered, sea villains and marauders of every kind. Equally, there wouldn't have been a good vehicle for showcasing, too, the bevy of "Sea Hunt girls", with their sun-tanned looks and figure-hugging bathing suits, hot stuff for 1958. They didn't usually venture underwater, the better to stay aship shouting "Mike! Mike!" at regular intervals whenever his scrapping manly talents were called for.
The underwater world of Mike Nelson, its too little known but always eye-catching panoramas and astonishing vistas, was opened by one particular man's inventive genius. This is that notable man's riveting story, and his name is...
Dr. Christian Lambertsen, dead at his home in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, February 11, 2011.
Christian Lambertsen, born May 15, 1917 in Westfield, New Jersey had virtually every advantage life can provide. He was intelligent, blond with chiseled good looks, well educated (Rutgers University B.S. 1939; University of Pennsylvania, M.D. 1943)... with unlimited curiosity and the wherewithal to turn questions into practical applications. Most of all, however, he had been abundantly gifted with the desire to serve. It was the most important gift of all.
Lambertsen's first important invention was created in 1939 whilst still a medical student. World War II had just begun when he invented a revolutionary underwater breathing system. It was called "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus," shortened to scuba.
Before World War II, military divers wore cumbrous metal helmets that pumped breathable air through hoses tethered to boats on the water's surface. This "Lambertsen Amphibious Respirator Unit," (or LARU) let divers swim freely and steathily. It used pure oxygen and was a closed system. Equipped with a carbon dioxide filter, it enabled the diver to rebreathe the air he exhaled while underwater, which made the system bubbleless... and therefore invaluable for covert naval operations.
Predictably, the Navy turned it down, preferring their now grossly outmoded equipment and system with its tell-tale bubbles. Fortunately wiser heads prevailed. After Dr. Lambertsen demonstrated the LARU in the pool of the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. in 1942 to officials of the Office of Strategic Services (wartime precursor to the CIA), OSS jumped on the invention... and recruited its inventor, too. They never made a wiser decision, not least because soon-to-be Capt. Lambertsen didn't just invent this revolutionary improvement... he used it in covert operations just like the other brave men. Lambertsen, for instance, not only swam with but often lead the most dangerous of missions; attaching explosives to Japanese vessels off the coast of Burma in the last months of the war.
As a medical doctor, Lambertsen didn't have to go, but he did. "He wasn't someone to let someone else do it," recalled Walter Mess, who had been commander of a near-silent 85-foot vessel that ferried the divers, usually in the dark, within 2,000 feet of shore. "Sometimes they were recon missions, sometimes to bring back downed airmen." It was just the kind of work Mike Nelson would have jumped to do... only Lambertsen got there first. He had a way of doing that... For this important and dangerous work, Major General William J. Donovan, who knew a valuable man when he saw one, awarded him the Legion of Merit.
But Lambertsen was just getting started...
After the OSS was disbanded in 1945, Dr. Lambertsen arranged to demonstrate LARU to all the military branches. In 1948, when others were joyfully going home to Peoria, Lambertsen began training the Navy's elite underwater demolition teams, the precursor of the Navy SEALs, to use the system. Very likely, then, Lambertsen trained Mike Nelson, too. He was after all the Founding Father and well deserving of the Distinguished Service Award from the OSS Society, honoring former intelligence officers. Lambertsen was one of the best.
But, so early so inventive, the best was yet to come... usually emanating from his 40-plus year affiliation with alma mater Penn. Perhaps, amongst so many achievements, he was proudest of establishing in 1968 the Institute for Environmental Medicine, which has conducted multidisciplinary studies of oxygen toxicity, diving- related diseases and aerospace medicine. It was the fullest of lives, always grounded in service, worthy objectives set; worthy objectives met... and always with courtesy, self-effacement, and dedication to the welfare of others.
With Lambertsen's death, the fast-thinning ranks of World War II veterans, is thinner still. Did Lambertsen before the end see his special, unique, irreplaceable generation as the precursor of even better generations to come? Or did he bemoan, as many do, the selfish, me-centered millions who followed the vets... living comfortable lives based upon the sacrifices of their fathers, and mothers, too? Empirical, he must have wondered at what ensued and what was to come.
But let us conclude as we began: adventuring with scuba into the awe- inspiring, mesmerizing world of the seas, a world that Lambertsen did so much to reveal, not least by inventing the tools that made "Sea Hunt" possible and so exciting, too, though not perhaps as exciting as Lambertsen's own high adventure.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! For details on Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out Extreme Free Traffic
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Friday, 25 February 2011
What Kind of Online Marketer are you? A Dabbler or a Doer? Your Answer Matters.
By Sandi Hunter
Every day I talk to people who are trying to earn an honest buck in an online business. These are average people who come from all walks of life, from all corners of the globe. The common goal they share is the desire to earn money online in any number of online affiliate or reseller type programs. Although the goal is the same, the approach to making this happen is always different and so too are the results. I have outlined here the marketing approaches that I observe everyday, the ones that are effective and the ones that aren't. See if you recognize yourself in any of these examples.
The Dabbler.
The Dabbler's marketing approach involves putting a little bit of effort into this and a little bit of effort into that. This type of marketer will post a few blogs, send a few tweets, join a safelist or two and participate in a handful of traffic exchanges. This person has a basic understanding of what is required to market their online business. The problem is they simply won't commit to rolling up their sleeves, digging in and doing what is necessary to consistently promote and build results. They are too busy talking about it, planning it, and getting organized. The Dabbler sometimes doubles as an excuse-machine. They readily offer up reasons for not having completed the necessary tasks to build their business. Or, they easily assign blame to others for their lack of success. It has always puzzled me how it is so easy to find reasons for not being successful. What about all the reasons why you CAN be successful? The Internet offers burgeoning earning opportunities!
The Learner.
This type of marketer is a professional online student. They read continuously, watch videos, sign up for everything to get even more details and more help. They are so busy learning, and soaking up knowledge they never actually DO anything or apply what they learn. They are never ready to START applying what they have learned. They want to study more, take it all in, buy more books, take more courses. The Internet itself, and marketing strategies are constantly evolving. You will never know every last detail about marketing and when you think you are getting close, technology will change again. Stop with the learning and start with the doing! Everyday you focus ONLY on learning, is another day you have not made a dime. Dive in, get wet, start promoting your business, products and services - now - RIGHT NOW! Yes, there is much to learn about online marketing, never stop learning but be sure to never stop MARKETING.
The Sweat and Tears Syndrome
This marketer is the saddest one of all. They promote with a frenzied intensity in short bursts spending hours in all the wrong places, promoting all the wrong things. They furiously tap away for hours at their keyboard "working their business" late into the night for 2, 3 days, maybe a week or more. Their blog is bursting with good key word content, they've tweeted like a mad person, they've bought leads with great promises from a sketchy vendor that seemed to good to be true. Exhausted, they pause and wait for the results. When they don't get instant results, the sweat turns to tears. Frustrated they swear, stomp, tantrum and move on to the next greatest online money-making program ever - that is in pre-launch! The insanity begins again. This type of marketer has no patience, and leaps from one program to another, with no loyalty or commitment.
The Doer
The DOER is the marketer that SUCCEEDS! The DOER is the one who doesn't get caught up in all the details. The DOER is a courageous beast. They blunder, make mistakes, but carry on. They understand the sheer power of the web to market products to the world and to profit from their labour. They understand that with the right products and tools they can sell anything! The web is fat with buyers. DOERS understand that you MUST have patience, and MUST work a business constantly, knowing this means consistent promotion every day. DOERS accept that there will be frustrating times, failures, and obstacles on the path to success. The DOERS I know, aren't always the people you might expect. Many of the DOERS I know are average people, with very little sales or technical background. Their gift is that they are not afraid to try, they don't give up, they dig in and work hard. There are DOERS all over the world right now marketing their products, services, and affiliate programs in all corners of the web, turning a profit each and every day. This type of marketer has tapped into the right resources, training and tools, applies them consistently, setting realistic goals carrying a positive attitude.
Here is my advise to you as an online marketer on your way to success.
Every single day when you wake up, set a goal for yourself. Make your goal realistic and measurable. Post your goal on your computer, date it.
Initially your goal may be to simply find 5 great places to promote your business. Then your goal may evolve into actually posting your ads, product, service or opportunity to 5, then 10, 20+ sites each day. Once the promotion is is place, set goals for the number of sales each day.
As your business grows never lose your focus on that goal. Don't get distracted. Remember, at the end of the day you want to actually have made money! Tweeting, face booking, article submissions, and blogging HELP your business grow but are not direct profits in your pocket. Yes, promotion, networking and Search Engine positioning is important and you should work at this but it takes time to do this. Do not let these activities overwhelm you to the point where you forget to make money! Keep your eye on the prize.
Set a goal for a minimum earnings per day. Start off realistic. If you don't make that amount today, set a new goal for tomorrow. When you start making money, adjust your daily goals accordingly. For those of you who are new to online marketing you CAN make money every single day provided you have the proper tools and resources to do so and of course great products and services to promote. Just make sure you are the DOER described in this article.
I close with a quote from one of my favourite DOERS, Ray Kroc, McDonald's Corporation. "Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get."
About The Author:
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out Profit Monarch
Every day I talk to people who are trying to earn an honest buck in an online business. These are average people who come from all walks of life, from all corners of the globe. The common goal they share is the desire to earn money online in any number of online affiliate or reseller type programs. Although the goal is the same, the approach to making this happen is always different and so too are the results. I have outlined here the marketing approaches that I observe everyday, the ones that are effective and the ones that aren't. See if you recognize yourself in any of these examples.
The Dabbler.
The Dabbler's marketing approach involves putting a little bit of effort into this and a little bit of effort into that. This type of marketer will post a few blogs, send a few tweets, join a safelist or two and participate in a handful of traffic exchanges. This person has a basic understanding of what is required to market their online business. The problem is they simply won't commit to rolling up their sleeves, digging in and doing what is necessary to consistently promote and build results. They are too busy talking about it, planning it, and getting organized. The Dabbler sometimes doubles as an excuse-machine. They readily offer up reasons for not having completed the necessary tasks to build their business. Or, they easily assign blame to others for their lack of success. It has always puzzled me how it is so easy to find reasons for not being successful. What about all the reasons why you CAN be successful? The Internet offers burgeoning earning opportunities!
The Learner.
This type of marketer is a professional online student. They read continuously, watch videos, sign up for everything to get even more details and more help. They are so busy learning, and soaking up knowledge they never actually DO anything or apply what they learn. They are never ready to START applying what they have learned. They want to study more, take it all in, buy more books, take more courses. The Internet itself, and marketing strategies are constantly evolving. You will never know every last detail about marketing and when you think you are getting close, technology will change again. Stop with the learning and start with the doing! Everyday you focus ONLY on learning, is another day you have not made a dime. Dive in, get wet, start promoting your business, products and services - now - RIGHT NOW! Yes, there is much to learn about online marketing, never stop learning but be sure to never stop MARKETING.
The Sweat and Tears Syndrome
This marketer is the saddest one of all. They promote with a frenzied intensity in short bursts spending hours in all the wrong places, promoting all the wrong things. They furiously tap away for hours at their keyboard "working their business" late into the night for 2, 3 days, maybe a week or more. Their blog is bursting with good key word content, they've tweeted like a mad person, they've bought leads with great promises from a sketchy vendor that seemed to good to be true. Exhausted, they pause and wait for the results. When they don't get instant results, the sweat turns to tears. Frustrated they swear, stomp, tantrum and move on to the next greatest online money-making program ever - that is in pre-launch! The insanity begins again. This type of marketer has no patience, and leaps from one program to another, with no loyalty or commitment.
The Doer
The DOER is the marketer that SUCCEEDS! The DOER is the one who doesn't get caught up in all the details. The DOER is a courageous beast. They blunder, make mistakes, but carry on. They understand the sheer power of the web to market products to the world and to profit from their labour. They understand that with the right products and tools they can sell anything! The web is fat with buyers. DOERS understand that you MUST have patience, and MUST work a business constantly, knowing this means consistent promotion every day. DOERS accept that there will be frustrating times, failures, and obstacles on the path to success. The DOERS I know, aren't always the people you might expect. Many of the DOERS I know are average people, with very little sales or technical background. Their gift is that they are not afraid to try, they don't give up, they dig in and work hard. There are DOERS all over the world right now marketing their products, services, and affiliate programs in all corners of the web, turning a profit each and every day. This type of marketer has tapped into the right resources, training and tools, applies them consistently, setting realistic goals carrying a positive attitude.
Here is my advise to you as an online marketer on your way to success.
Every single day when you wake up, set a goal for yourself. Make your goal realistic and measurable. Post your goal on your computer, date it.
Initially your goal may be to simply find 5 great places to promote your business. Then your goal may evolve into actually posting your ads, product, service or opportunity to 5, then 10, 20+ sites each day. Once the promotion is is place, set goals for the number of sales each day.
As your business grows never lose your focus on that goal. Don't get distracted. Remember, at the end of the day you want to actually have made money! Tweeting, face booking, article submissions, and blogging HELP your business grow but are not direct profits in your pocket. Yes, promotion, networking and Search Engine positioning is important and you should work at this but it takes time to do this. Do not let these activities overwhelm you to the point where you forget to make money! Keep your eye on the prize.
Set a goal for a minimum earnings per day. Start off realistic. If you don't make that amount today, set a new goal for tomorrow. When you start making money, adjust your daily goals accordingly. For those of you who are new to online marketing you CAN make money every single day provided you have the proper tools and resources to do so and of course great products and services to promote. Just make sure you are the DOER described in this article.
I close with a quote from one of my favourite DOERS, Ray Kroc, McDonald's Corporation. "Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get."
About The Author:
Sandi Hunter is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out Profit Monarch
Thursday, 24 February 2011
How to get thousands and thousands of responses to your blog... and what to do when you get 'em.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Of course you already have a blog, right? You are, I mean, on the cutting edge of the Internet, yes?
Well, if you are still blog-less today is indeed your lucky day, because I am going to show you right here, right now how to use your blog to get not a few but a positive avalanche of the best prospect leads on earth. And the great thing is, you can start today, this very minute.
Now affirm and reaffirm this: when you're in business, running a business blog, the objective is and always will be to generate terrific prospect leads... and follow them up to make money.
It's easy to forget the objective when you're publishing a blog which can all too easily be seized by the shear joy and vanity of seeing your name in print. Folks, if you need lovin' and crave adulation get a dog. They give unqualified affection. But don't subvert the purpose of your blog.
Nothing sells itself, absolutely nothing.
I have amongst my marketing students some of the very brightest people around... and when they make a mistake, I know the pedestrian run of mankind and marketers are making it, too, in spades.
One of the most rooted errors of these folks is the pernicious, invidious notion that their blog and its contents will sell themselves; that what they are promoting and selling in their blogs needs no introduction, nor powerful words of recommendation; it's good enough on its lonesome.
In a word: rubbish! In two words: complete rubbish!
Dear friend, there is nothing in this world, not the policies and messages of presidents, popes, and sovereign kings; not the very finest example of the most potent of salubrious medications; not the safest swiftest modes of transportation.... absolutely nothing sells itself.
Once you have realized this essential truth of business, you enter a new, higher level of commerce and marketing... for you are now a puffer in the Great Age of Puffery.... and your daily objective is clear: to puff better, more artfully, more carefully, more successfully than any other puffers on this planet. He (or she) who puffs the most, the best, reaps the most.
Thus, say you intend tomorrow to publish a jim dandy article on some subject of note and significance. The duffer puffer, the one on the bottom of the marketing heap, merely publishes the article, with this unvoiced sentiment: "Here's the article. Make of it what you will. I can't be bothered to tell you why you should read it... perhaps I don't even know."
And some dare call this marketing.
Now, try this instead...
(puff the day before you publish the article.)
Tomorrow, you readers have an incredible gift coming. I persuaded internationally known author and commentator Dr. Jeffrey Lant to let me have, in advance of publication, his latest article. It details the truth about the relationship of Snow White with those with-it guys, the 7 Dwarfs. You won't believe what one of the most perceptive commentators around has discovered about Snow... and those Dwarfs. Can you say 'Happy.' You certainly will tomorrow...."
With these fast-moving words, you are keeping your audience, your present and future customers all, on the very edge of their seats. You want them in a pother of anticipation and excitement about What Happens Next. You, cleverkins, are ascending in the crucial business of puffery; selling the sizzle, not the steak. And you're frolicking all the way to the bank.
Remember, puffing is not something occasional or episodic. It is not merely one essential thing in marketing; it is the essential thing and it must be regarded accordingly... from this moment on. Let me make this point absolutely, crystal clear:
If you want to sell a product, you must puff it.
If you want to sell your service, you must puff it.
If you want a person to read your blog, you must puff it.
If you want that same person to read an article in that blog, you must puff it.
Get the picture?
A few more hints
Your puffs must appear prominently in your blog, at least 1 at the top of the first page.
They must be short, enticing, action oriented. They must radiate a single imperative message: Look at all you get, look how delicious it is, grab it, grab it now...'
Here's another example.
"Wow! I'm ecstatic to tell you that I've snagged another one of Dr. Lant's superb articles. Yesterday nearly 400 of you smarties emailed me with your thanks, congratulations, and sincere appreciation for his last insightful article. Now I've got another for you. Stay tuned... you'll have it in just HOURS. Make sure to email me at once with your reactions and compliments... it's another winner!!! You can reach me by email (email address here); cell phone (number here)... or land line (number here.) And I want to hear from each and EVERY one of you!"
You must get on with the essential business of puffing each and every day, without exception, that you want money.
And, I guarantee you, that as you improve in your puffery, you will improve your prospect responses, dramatically.
And your bottom line? Why that will improve, too, and dramatically so if and only if you follow up each and every response, as quickly as possible, with a special offer. In other words, thank the respondents, thank them as soon as possible... and always give them a thing (or two) which makes you money. Thus are you benefited as you benefit your fast-responding prospects.
There are many things, of course, which factor into consummate blog success. They include
* having good content, interesting, practical, timely;
* publishing according to a schedule, never missing a deadline;
* writing directly to your readers, always using "you";
* keeping every word of text short, peppy, upbeat,
* and, always and forever, every single day, puffing.
Because if you don't puff, if you do not encourage, recommend, admonish, excite, and motivate you are leaving the crucial act of marketing in the hands of those least able to discern for themselves what to do. That decision must be yours. You and only you must advance the necessary reasons for acting as you want them to act. That crucial aspect of marketing belongs to you... and you must do this every time you want results. Like today.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books.
Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out Profit Monarch
Of course you already have a blog, right? You are, I mean, on the cutting edge of the Internet, yes?
Well, if you are still blog-less today is indeed your lucky day, because I am going to show you right here, right now how to use your blog to get not a few but a positive avalanche of the best prospect leads on earth. And the great thing is, you can start today, this very minute.
Now affirm and reaffirm this: when you're in business, running a business blog, the objective is and always will be to generate terrific prospect leads... and follow them up to make money.
It's easy to forget the objective when you're publishing a blog which can all too easily be seized by the shear joy and vanity of seeing your name in print. Folks, if you need lovin' and crave adulation get a dog. They give unqualified affection. But don't subvert the purpose of your blog.
Nothing sells itself, absolutely nothing.
I have amongst my marketing students some of the very brightest people around... and when they make a mistake, I know the pedestrian run of mankind and marketers are making it, too, in spades.
One of the most rooted errors of these folks is the pernicious, invidious notion that their blog and its contents will sell themselves; that what they are promoting and selling in their blogs needs no introduction, nor powerful words of recommendation; it's good enough on its lonesome.
In a word: rubbish! In two words: complete rubbish!
Dear friend, there is nothing in this world, not the policies and messages of presidents, popes, and sovereign kings; not the very finest example of the most potent of salubrious medications; not the safest swiftest modes of transportation.... absolutely nothing sells itself.
Once you have realized this essential truth of business, you enter a new, higher level of commerce and marketing... for you are now a puffer in the Great Age of Puffery.... and your daily objective is clear: to puff better, more artfully, more carefully, more successfully than any other puffers on this planet. He (or she) who puffs the most, the best, reaps the most.
Thus, say you intend tomorrow to publish a jim dandy article on some subject of note and significance. The duffer puffer, the one on the bottom of the marketing heap, merely publishes the article, with this unvoiced sentiment: "Here's the article. Make of it what you will. I can't be bothered to tell you why you should read it... perhaps I don't even know."
And some dare call this marketing.
Now, try this instead...
(puff the day before you publish the article.)
Tomorrow, you readers have an incredible gift coming. I persuaded internationally known author and commentator Dr. Jeffrey Lant to let me have, in advance of publication, his latest article. It details the truth about the relationship of Snow White with those with-it guys, the 7 Dwarfs. You won't believe what one of the most perceptive commentators around has discovered about Snow... and those Dwarfs. Can you say 'Happy.' You certainly will tomorrow...."
With these fast-moving words, you are keeping your audience, your present and future customers all, on the very edge of their seats. You want them in a pother of anticipation and excitement about What Happens Next. You, cleverkins, are ascending in the crucial business of puffery; selling the sizzle, not the steak. And you're frolicking all the way to the bank.
Remember, puffing is not something occasional or episodic. It is not merely one essential thing in marketing; it is the essential thing and it must be regarded accordingly... from this moment on. Let me make this point absolutely, crystal clear:
If you want to sell a product, you must puff it.
If you want to sell your service, you must puff it.
If you want a person to read your blog, you must puff it.
If you want that same person to read an article in that blog, you must puff it.
Get the picture?
A few more hints
Your puffs must appear prominently in your blog, at least 1 at the top of the first page.
They must be short, enticing, action oriented. They must radiate a single imperative message: Look at all you get, look how delicious it is, grab it, grab it now...'
Here's another example.
"Wow! I'm ecstatic to tell you that I've snagged another one of Dr. Lant's superb articles. Yesterday nearly 400 of you smarties emailed me with your thanks, congratulations, and sincere appreciation for his last insightful article. Now I've got another for you. Stay tuned... you'll have it in just HOURS. Make sure to email me at once with your reactions and compliments... it's another winner!!! You can reach me by email (email address here); cell phone (number here)... or land line (number here.) And I want to hear from each and EVERY one of you!"
You must get on with the essential business of puffing each and every day, without exception, that you want money.
And, I guarantee you, that as you improve in your puffery, you will improve your prospect responses, dramatically.
And your bottom line? Why that will improve, too, and dramatically so if and only if you follow up each and every response, as quickly as possible, with a special offer. In other words, thank the respondents, thank them as soon as possible... and always give them a thing (or two) which makes you money. Thus are you benefited as you benefit your fast-responding prospects.
There are many things, of course, which factor into consummate blog success. They include
* having good content, interesting, practical, timely;
* publishing according to a schedule, never missing a deadline;
* writing directly to your readers, always using "you";
* keeping every word of text short, peppy, upbeat,
* and, always and forever, every single day, puffing.
Because if you don't puff, if you do not encourage, recommend, admonish, excite, and motivate you are leaving the crucial act of marketing in the hands of those least able to discern for themselves what to do. That decision must be yours. You and only you must advance the necessary reasons for acting as you want them to act. That crucial aspect of marketing belongs to you... and you must do this every time you want results. Like today.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books.
Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out Profit Monarch
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
The art of creating blogs that get results right from Day One!
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Blogs are in! Blogs are omnipresent! Blogs are the future of the 'net!
All true but what is a blog... and how do you profit from it?
Purists may offer a different definition (purists usually do)... but to me, the complete capitalist, a blog is and always will be about one thing: making money. Every day. All the time.
Let me say this another way because for far too many people blogs are an unbridled (and correspondingly horrifying) excess of vanity, self-gratification, arrogance, not to mention an avalanche of incredibly boring stuff and Things You Don't Want To Know. Yes, too many smart people use them as a cheap form of venting and therapy.
But (my recommendations in hand) you won't. You'll stay forever focused on the main chance: using your blog to generate prospect leads... and make money. Now... dig in. I am about to deliver an embarrass du choix for big blog bucks.
Train your readers to be responsive.
If you intend to use your blog to make money, you must train your readers to be responsive. Otherwise, you will dramatically curtail and limit your responses (and blog profits)... which is the exact opposite of what you want.
The Internet is, at its best, the best interactive tool in the galaxy. But what if readers don't understand that? Why, then, mon frere, you must remind them of their duty... you must remind them that yours is a fully interactive endeavor and that the responsibility of EVERY reader is -- to respond. Ensuring this result is your #1 objective.
A blog is NOT a standard newspaper or magazine... as readers must be told and trained to use.
Consider the case of your morning newspaper. It is packed with articles. How many do you respond to? Silly question, right? Periodical readers, except on the occasions they have a bee in their bonnets and write a Letter to the Editor, never respond to articles. They just read 'em.
But a blog is essentially different. You want to bring articles and information of interest and importance to your readers; you want them to respond. In other words, blog content should trigger a continuing stream of reader commentary... and help build knowledge about these readers as well as build the relationships that deliver business effortlessly.
Establish a confidential tone from the get-go
Your readers (whether they ever say so or not) will read your blog (as opposed to a million others) because you give them interesting copy that the rest of the world cannot deliver. It's not just that Enquiring Minds Want To Know: it's that these minds want to know things they cannot easily get anywhere else.
Thus your tone is everything: let the reader know that yours is a fresh, new, entirely compelling voice. The more you let them know that yours is an "insider" place, a locale of smart commentary delivered with wit, insight, good humor and progressive outlook, the better.
Always use the second person -- YOU! -- in your blog content.
Blogs are the most person-centered of media. Thus, you must always speak to your readers in the second person, that is with an explicit or implied "you" (the blog reader). This will immediately establish the right tone... and the right focus. Your readers must understand that you are writing to them, for them.
Whenever possible, too, use your blog as a means to speak to individual readers BY NAME, just like Ann Landers, the famous "gossip" columnist used to do, with such devices as "Special for Lola Mae in Seattle." You should regard each issue as incomplete that does not address some pertinent, personal comment to at least one reader by name.
Share (select) personal data and reflections about yourself.
Remember, blogs are, by definition, personal. That means you should share (some) personal information with your readers; asking them to share (some) personal data with you.
This policy, while establishing stronger and more enduring links with your readers, also has in it the seeds of embarrassment,discomfort, even disaster. Reason? It's easy to put things in your blog about yourself which are too personal, too intimate. And by the same token, your readers might share such things with you, for publication.
Actung! Cuidado! Beware! Think long and hard before you publish. Once you hit the send key, your thought and candid revelation belong to the world.
Ask especially for reader comment on all articles you publish.
The articles you publish in your blog may be, of course, on any subject you regard as significant. But blogs by business people should be about how to run such a business with such-and-such products for maximum profit. In other words, if you're selling automobiles... blog articles ("content") should be germaine to this topic, above all.
As you publish such articles, ask readers to comment. As comments come in be sure to use (and then later reuse) them. What people say in reference to your blog content is worthy of publication... and your comment.
Make sure that you request responding readers to include complete name, business name (where appropriate), email address, and phone. Remember, reader comments are not so much about the substance of the comment, as they are about getting the reader to respond, tell you what interests her, and provide complete follow-up details. This is absolutely essential.
Follow up blog comments and responses at once.
What more business? Following these steps ensures you will get a steady stream of the best prospect leads in the world... from people who already "know" you (or at least think they do), are interested in what you offer, and have provided you with complete follow-up details.
Thus, pick up the phone and call readers (now prospects) who respond to you... unless, of course, you have been the smartest cookie, given them your phone, and advised them to CALL you.
The telephone, you see, is essential for making your blog profitable for you. You must say and constantly reiterate the need to call you, as Jeanette McDonald sang, "I am calling you................ will you answer true.......? Get the picture?
Last words
Face it. Blogs are here to stay. People love 'em. Thus, the real question is: will you do the necessary to ensure that the time and money you invest in your blog pays off? To ensure that it does, implement these recommendations ASP... if not sooner. Then blog your way to profits that increase as fast as your list.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com . Check out Profit Monarch
Blogs are in! Blogs are omnipresent! Blogs are the future of the 'net!
All true but what is a blog... and how do you profit from it?
Purists may offer a different definition (purists usually do)... but to me, the complete capitalist, a blog is and always will be about one thing: making money. Every day. All the time.
Let me say this another way because for far too many people blogs are an unbridled (and correspondingly horrifying) excess of vanity, self-gratification, arrogance, not to mention an avalanche of incredibly boring stuff and Things You Don't Want To Know. Yes, too many smart people use them as a cheap form of venting and therapy.
But (my recommendations in hand) you won't. You'll stay forever focused on the main chance: using your blog to generate prospect leads... and make money. Now... dig in. I am about to deliver an embarrass du choix for big blog bucks.
Train your readers to be responsive.
If you intend to use your blog to make money, you must train your readers to be responsive. Otherwise, you will dramatically curtail and limit your responses (and blog profits)... which is the exact opposite of what you want.
The Internet is, at its best, the best interactive tool in the galaxy. But what if readers don't understand that? Why, then, mon frere, you must remind them of their duty... you must remind them that yours is a fully interactive endeavor and that the responsibility of EVERY reader is -- to respond. Ensuring this result is your #1 objective.
A blog is NOT a standard newspaper or magazine... as readers must be told and trained to use.
Consider the case of your morning newspaper. It is packed with articles. How many do you respond to? Silly question, right? Periodical readers, except on the occasions they have a bee in their bonnets and write a Letter to the Editor, never respond to articles. They just read 'em.
But a blog is essentially different. You want to bring articles and information of interest and importance to your readers; you want them to respond. In other words, blog content should trigger a continuing stream of reader commentary... and help build knowledge about these readers as well as build the relationships that deliver business effortlessly.
Establish a confidential tone from the get-go
Your readers (whether they ever say so or not) will read your blog (as opposed to a million others) because you give them interesting copy that the rest of the world cannot deliver. It's not just that Enquiring Minds Want To Know: it's that these minds want to know things they cannot easily get anywhere else.
Thus your tone is everything: let the reader know that yours is a fresh, new, entirely compelling voice. The more you let them know that yours is an "insider" place, a locale of smart commentary delivered with wit, insight, good humor and progressive outlook, the better.
Always use the second person -- YOU! -- in your blog content.
Blogs are the most person-centered of media. Thus, you must always speak to your readers in the second person, that is with an explicit or implied "you" (the blog reader). This will immediately establish the right tone... and the right focus. Your readers must understand that you are writing to them, for them.
Whenever possible, too, use your blog as a means to speak to individual readers BY NAME, just like Ann Landers, the famous "gossip" columnist used to do, with such devices as "Special for Lola Mae in Seattle." You should regard each issue as incomplete that does not address some pertinent, personal comment to at least one reader by name.
Share (select) personal data and reflections about yourself.
Remember, blogs are, by definition, personal. That means you should share (some) personal information with your readers; asking them to share (some) personal data with you.
This policy, while establishing stronger and more enduring links with your readers, also has in it the seeds of embarrassment,discomfort, even disaster. Reason? It's easy to put things in your blog about yourself which are too personal, too intimate. And by the same token, your readers might share such things with you, for publication.
Actung! Cuidado! Beware! Think long and hard before you publish. Once you hit the send key, your thought and candid revelation belong to the world.
Ask especially for reader comment on all articles you publish.
The articles you publish in your blog may be, of course, on any subject you regard as significant. But blogs by business people should be about how to run such a business with such-and-such products for maximum profit. In other words, if you're selling automobiles... blog articles ("content") should be germaine to this topic, above all.
As you publish such articles, ask readers to comment. As comments come in be sure to use (and then later reuse) them. What people say in reference to your blog content is worthy of publication... and your comment.
Make sure that you request responding readers to include complete name, business name (where appropriate), email address, and phone. Remember, reader comments are not so much about the substance of the comment, as they are about getting the reader to respond, tell you what interests her, and provide complete follow-up details. This is absolutely essential.
Follow up blog comments and responses at once.
What more business? Following these steps ensures you will get a steady stream of the best prospect leads in the world... from people who already "know" you (or at least think they do), are interested in what you offer, and have provided you with complete follow-up details.
Thus, pick up the phone and call readers (now prospects) who respond to you... unless, of course, you have been the smartest cookie, given them your phone, and advised them to CALL you.
The telephone, you see, is essential for making your blog profitable for you. You must say and constantly reiterate the need to call you, as Jeanette McDonald sang, "I am calling you................ will you answer true.......? Get the picture?
Last words
Face it. Blogs are here to stay. People love 'em. Thus, the real question is: will you do the necessary to ensure that the time and money you invest in your blog pays off? To ensure that it does, implement these recommendations ASP... if not sooner. Then blog your way to profits that increase as fast as your list.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com . Check out Profit Monarch
Monday, 21 February 2011
Autopilot Income Machines Review
Is Autopilot Income Machines a scam or is it real? Well I decided to get past my normal skepticism and gave it a shot. Rasheed Ali and Huey Lee seem like pretty nice and straight forward guys, but like most people I’ve been fooled before. So I conducted a somewhat biased experiment to see if Autopilot Income Machines could really make me money online, leaving no stone unturned.
Before I get to what I did, let me give you the run down of what’s in the program so you can get a better idea about it. Basically the program is a pretty comprehensive video training course complete with transcripts for those who like to read over watch video. It takes you through the simple technical skills you need to learn (this is very fast by the way) and then shows you how to take what Rasheed and Huey call “money pages” and get them online and ready to make you money.
That’s all great and everything but SO WHAT – right? Not so fast! The Autopilot Income Machines program then shows you some pretty neat and completely safe, free traffic tactics to get you ranked on the first page of freakin’ Google! Okay, that is where I thought they were full of crap, BUT after I saw the evidence I had to basically shut up and do it for myself. The course also goes into some advanced strategies, gives you a free software that sets up some of your pages for you and some other cool stuff that NO sane internet guru gives away for less than $997.
Truth is, I think these guys got knocked in the head in one too many street fights. Oh, forgot to mention that Rasheed is a former homeless guy and Huey grew up in a low income family so they’re a little out of the ordinary if you know what I mean.
Anyway, let’s talk about my devious and biased experiment. You see, the first half of the program wasn’t new to me. I know that stuff already. The second half of the program was what I loved the most… besides the advanced stuff. (WOW!) So I decided that I’d set up my OWN money page and throw a wrench in the program to see what happens. I followed the free traffic strategies to the tee and in 24 hours my new money page was climbing the ranks of Google. I watched in amazement as my page started ranking for keywords and getting traffic and a few sales to boot over the days and weeks that followed!
My conclusion is pretty clear. Autopilot Income Machines isn’t the prettiest or shiniest program out there, BUT what it lacks in guru hype, it makes up for in PURE RESULTS! I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend you pay close attention to every word Rasheed Ali and Huey Lee say. These guys deliver the goods and truly knocked it out of the park on this one! I give it my full 5 star rating. It’s a no brainer to put this into your money making arsenal. Most guys are just smoke and mirrors, but these guys are the REAL DEAL.
Overall Rating: 5 Stars
Ease of Use: 4.5 Stars
Effectiveness: 5 Stars
Training: 4.5 Stars (you still have to study it)
Support: 5 Stars
Price: $37
Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out Profit Monarch
Before I get to what I did, let me give you the run down of what’s in the program so you can get a better idea about it. Basically the program is a pretty comprehensive video training course complete with transcripts for those who like to read over watch video. It takes you through the simple technical skills you need to learn (this is very fast by the way) and then shows you how to take what Rasheed and Huey call “money pages” and get them online and ready to make you money.
That’s all great and everything but SO WHAT – right? Not so fast! The Autopilot Income Machines program then shows you some pretty neat and completely safe, free traffic tactics to get you ranked on the first page of freakin’ Google! Okay, that is where I thought they were full of crap, BUT after I saw the evidence I had to basically shut up and do it for myself. The course also goes into some advanced strategies, gives you a free software that sets up some of your pages for you and some other cool stuff that NO sane internet guru gives away for less than $997.
Truth is, I think these guys got knocked in the head in one too many street fights. Oh, forgot to mention that Rasheed is a former homeless guy and Huey grew up in a low income family so they’re a little out of the ordinary if you know what I mean.
Anyway, let’s talk about my devious and biased experiment. You see, the first half of the program wasn’t new to me. I know that stuff already. The second half of the program was what I loved the most… besides the advanced stuff. (WOW!) So I decided that I’d set up my OWN money page and throw a wrench in the program to see what happens. I followed the free traffic strategies to the tee and in 24 hours my new money page was climbing the ranks of Google. I watched in amazement as my page started ranking for keywords and getting traffic and a few sales to boot over the days and weeks that followed!
My conclusion is pretty clear. Autopilot Income Machines isn’t the prettiest or shiniest program out there, BUT what it lacks in guru hype, it makes up for in PURE RESULTS! I absolutely and wholeheartedly recommend you pay close attention to every word Rasheed Ali and Huey Lee say. These guys deliver the goods and truly knocked it out of the park on this one! I give it my full 5 star rating. It’s a no brainer to put this into your money making arsenal. Most guys are just smoke and mirrors, but these guys are the REAL DEAL.
Overall Rating: 5 Stars
Ease of Use: 4.5 Stars
Effectiveness: 5 Stars
Training: 4.5 Stars (you still have to study it)
Support: 5 Stars
Price: $37
Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out Profit Monarch
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
'Will you still need me, will you still feed me...?' Dr. Lant turns 64, and at last knows the answer to the Beatles' plaintive question.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Today I turn 64, having entered this life February 16, 1947. That makes me a certified Baby Boomer, a member in good standing of a petted generation that has touched, for good and ill, virtually everything on this planet, incising its deep mark far and wide.
We started life as heirs to creation; now we are the hair thinning, pounds packing, "I can beat the age rap and live forever" folks for whom the motto "been there, done that" pretty much summarizes things.
We have known everything (until we discovered that we didn't); loved many (until we discovered, later than our parents, the virtue of loving one); traveled everywhere, only to discover the beauties of the place and people we left behind... and now crave.
We have known many identities, many loyalties, many styles, more sounds, and often tragic insights into the human condition, sufficient to beat every band but one.... Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. (Released June 1, 1967).
I remember the day this album hit the streets. I was in Santa Barbara, California and my friends, each selected with a connoisseur's eye, had waited in an overnight line so that could be amongst the first million or so who purchased this latest effusion from the group to which we gave (mostly) unqualified allegiance.
As the happy possessors of this album made their excited way back to their ocean-side apartments, always more resort than dormitory, from now this window, now that emerged the sounds of the new rhythms we were hearing for the first time, assessing each tune with care, deliberation, and a practised ear.
At that moment I first heard the questions that compose "When I'm Sixty Four."
When I get older losing my hair Many years from now. Will you still be sending me a Valentine Birthday greetings bottle of wine... Will you still need me, will you still feed me....
The tune, as you must know if you are a member of my generation, is about a young man posing the question every young person in the grip of an early, unrelenting passion insists on knowing about his incomparable Significant Other: is what we have True, The Real Thing, Forever?
To find out, the young man queries his beloved, sketching out in the process a life lived in the backwater, with only the simplest challenges, joys, and triumphs:
I could be handy, mending a fuse When your lights have gone. You can knit a sweater by the fireside Sunday morning go for a ride.
The young man, still very much a boy for all his raging hormones, figures that if he offers so little to his equally youthful beloved and she accepts... why, then, she really does love him. So he sings of a vision of little joys, picayune pleasures, minor challenges... all redeemed, however, by... you., the inamorata of this catchy little number.
Sir Paul McCartney wrote this song at age 16, before there were Beatles, millions of screaming fans, and royal honors. He, like me, had to imagine that condition of life... and for him, like me, it was "many years from now."
Now "many years from now" has arrived... and the condition I could hardly imagine is the reality of my life. Having lived, I shall now exercise the privilege of age, sharing insights with you.
* Never forget the people who love you. They are the most important people of all.
Denizens of my generation were what my very stay-at-home grannie called "gad-abouts", going everywhere but to the people who counted. Recognize the importance of such people as early as you can; then hold them fast to you. They matter.
* Make each day a learning day.
Learning, as I may not have gleaned in the days I was ordered into the classroom, is the consummate privilege; an exercise subsidized by the community to turn you into a better person.
Now I am voracious in pursuit of my education, in love with knowledge and the thoughts and ideas of others who excite, inspire, and move me more the older I get.
* Make money early... then focus on more important things.
Money is important, desirable, useful. Thus, when young and in possession of your utmost energy, lunge for it with all your might. Then, having achieved life securing success, turn your energies to other, more significant things. For while money is necessary, it never defines the truly well lived life.
* Never allow yourself to be the sum total of your disabilities, defeats, disillusions and nothing more.
Life is punctuated by injuries, crises, losses, mayhem. But life, being life, is always more than these. Remind carping people around you; remind yourself to stop and perceive the amenities and benefits all around you, if you but take the trouble to perceive them.
I take that trouble, and grateful, too.
* Remember, no person is "self made". We all owe whatever success we have had to the assistance of others -- many others. Recognize them.
The words "self made" are regularly trotted out like a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, thereby suggesting that the individual rose alone, majestic. But the truth is, no one rises alone. We rise because of the sustained help and assistance of others, many others.
Take time to remember these "others", to thank and to venerate them, for they are the people who helped shape you.
* Take time to remember and savor the wonder of -- you.
It is easy to forget, and crucial to remember, that there has never been anyone like you before... and upon your passing, there will never be another to come.
Thus from time to time, upon such an occasion as this, pause and contemplate yourself, with wonder, bliss, awe. For you have helped shape not only yourself but a world of others. And you deserve all credit arising therefrom.
Today I shall allow myself the luxury of exulting in the marvelous creature I, along with so many others, have crafted. No false modesty, nothing abashed... just pure, unadulterated joy. For that is what turning 64 entitles you to and completely justifies, and I intend to make the most of it!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out The List Edge
Today I turn 64, having entered this life February 16, 1947. That makes me a certified Baby Boomer, a member in good standing of a petted generation that has touched, for good and ill, virtually everything on this planet, incising its deep mark far and wide.
We started life as heirs to creation; now we are the hair thinning, pounds packing, "I can beat the age rap and live forever" folks for whom the motto "been there, done that" pretty much summarizes things.
We have known everything (until we discovered that we didn't); loved many (until we discovered, later than our parents, the virtue of loving one); traveled everywhere, only to discover the beauties of the place and people we left behind... and now crave.
We have known many identities, many loyalties, many styles, more sounds, and often tragic insights into the human condition, sufficient to beat every band but one.... Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. (Released June 1, 1967).
I remember the day this album hit the streets. I was in Santa Barbara, California and my friends, each selected with a connoisseur's eye, had waited in an overnight line so that could be amongst the first million or so who purchased this latest effusion from the group to which we gave (mostly) unqualified allegiance.
As the happy possessors of this album made their excited way back to their ocean-side apartments, always more resort than dormitory, from now this window, now that emerged the sounds of the new rhythms we were hearing for the first time, assessing each tune with care, deliberation, and a practised ear.
At that moment I first heard the questions that compose "When I'm Sixty Four."
When I get older losing my hair Many years from now. Will you still be sending me a Valentine Birthday greetings bottle of wine... Will you still need me, will you still feed me....
The tune, as you must know if you are a member of my generation, is about a young man posing the question every young person in the grip of an early, unrelenting passion insists on knowing about his incomparable Significant Other: is what we have True, The Real Thing, Forever?
To find out, the young man queries his beloved, sketching out in the process a life lived in the backwater, with only the simplest challenges, joys, and triumphs:
I could be handy, mending a fuse When your lights have gone. You can knit a sweater by the fireside Sunday morning go for a ride.
The young man, still very much a boy for all his raging hormones, figures that if he offers so little to his equally youthful beloved and she accepts... why, then, she really does love him. So he sings of a vision of little joys, picayune pleasures, minor challenges... all redeemed, however, by... you., the inamorata of this catchy little number.
Sir Paul McCartney wrote this song at age 16, before there were Beatles, millions of screaming fans, and royal honors. He, like me, had to imagine that condition of life... and for him, like me, it was "many years from now."
Now "many years from now" has arrived... and the condition I could hardly imagine is the reality of my life. Having lived, I shall now exercise the privilege of age, sharing insights with you.
* Never forget the people who love you. They are the most important people of all.
Denizens of my generation were what my very stay-at-home grannie called "gad-abouts", going everywhere but to the people who counted. Recognize the importance of such people as early as you can; then hold them fast to you. They matter.
* Make each day a learning day.
Learning, as I may not have gleaned in the days I was ordered into the classroom, is the consummate privilege; an exercise subsidized by the community to turn you into a better person.
Now I am voracious in pursuit of my education, in love with knowledge and the thoughts and ideas of others who excite, inspire, and move me more the older I get.
* Make money early... then focus on more important things.
Money is important, desirable, useful. Thus, when young and in possession of your utmost energy, lunge for it with all your might. Then, having achieved life securing success, turn your energies to other, more significant things. For while money is necessary, it never defines the truly well lived life.
* Never allow yourself to be the sum total of your disabilities, defeats, disillusions and nothing more.
Life is punctuated by injuries, crises, losses, mayhem. But life, being life, is always more than these. Remind carping people around you; remind yourself to stop and perceive the amenities and benefits all around you, if you but take the trouble to perceive them.
I take that trouble, and grateful, too.
* Remember, no person is "self made". We all owe whatever success we have had to the assistance of others -- many others. Recognize them.
The words "self made" are regularly trotted out like a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, thereby suggesting that the individual rose alone, majestic. But the truth is, no one rises alone. We rise because of the sustained help and assistance of others, many others.
Take time to remember these "others", to thank and to venerate them, for they are the people who helped shape you.
* Take time to remember and savor the wonder of -- you.
It is easy to forget, and crucial to remember, that there has never been anyone like you before... and upon your passing, there will never be another to come.
Thus from time to time, upon such an occasion as this, pause and contemplate yourself, with wonder, bliss, awe. For you have helped shape not only yourself but a world of others. And you deserve all credit arising therefrom.
Today I shall allow myself the luxury of exulting in the marvelous creature I, along with so many others, have crafted. No false modesty, nothing abashed... just pure, unadulterated joy. For that is what turning 64 entitles you to and completely justifies, and I intend to make the most of it!
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out The List Edge
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Developing And Profiting From Your Golden House E-Mail List
Do you own a business with walk-in traffic? Then you're sitting on a gold mine
of mammoth proportions. All you have to do is gather customer names and email
addresses... then get organized so you can contact -- and profit from -- your
hot list on a regular basis.
1) Start collecting customer data at once
As I have pointed out for years, "the list is the business...and the business
is the list." Start building this all-important list TODAY.
Make it a point to ask ALL your customers for name, address, phone and e-mail
address. If you have employees, make sure they realize the importance of the
list. Show them how to request this information from all customers, thus:
"Mr. Smith, would you like to receive e-mails from us with tremendous discount
offers? Just fill out this brief form or give me your card with e-mail address."
Add this information to your list at the end of every day. Be consistent!
2) Start brainstorming hot offers today.
For your special "alert" list to work, you must present scintillating offers.
Start collecting them now.
Open a computer file and enter all your sales offers, always concentrating on
what made money. Squeezing the most dollars from your list is a direct function
of making offers that get your customers to stop in their tracks and head your
way!
Don't hesitate to "swipe" offers from other media sources. Your offer need not
be original to you. It just has to pull.
3) Develop a format.
Start with the subject line. It should read something like this: ANOTHER great
offer from (your name). Expires 5 p.m. today... so don't delay!"
Then entice!
"Just in... the most delicious golden pears you've ever tasted. Prepare to
pamper yourself... but act NOW. We only have a few! Drop by now.. and indulge
yourself!"
4) Unless you ship as part of your current business routine, make sure
recipients understand this is an in-store offer only.
You have twin goals here: first, you do NOT want to increase your work load by
starting a shipping department; second, you want to increase your in-store
traffic and resulting sales that come when customers drop in.
5) E-mail your offer at a regular time
Your goal, remember, is to increase in-store traffic and sales. Thus, e-mail
your bulletin about 1 hour before you're open. That way you'll have customers
at the door right away... just what you want.
6) E-mail your list at least once a week.
E-mailing regularly is key to your success. Select a day for your e-mail
special offer and adhere to it religiously.
But don't hesitate to e-mail two or even three times a week if you are
announcing great offers and value. Value and great offers determine how often
you should contact your list. Customers will be glad you contacted them... if
the value warrants.
7) Track the offers that work... and the ones that don't.
Over time you'll develop a cornucopia of proven money-makers which you can
profit from while merely copying, pasting and updating. In short fast, easy
money, just the kind you like!
7) Have fun with your list -- and your customers
Business is about relationships. About knowing your customers and them knowing
you. Use your "alert" list to do both.
Have in-house drawings... and announce the winners.
Compliment a customer on a stunning outfit... or a stunning smile.
Share a joke, a quip, a thoughtful line.
It's your personal messenger... have fun with it while you're making sale after
sale.
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out The List Edge
of mammoth proportions. All you have to do is gather customer names and email
addresses... then get organized so you can contact -- and profit from -- your
hot list on a regular basis.
1) Start collecting customer data at once
As I have pointed out for years, "the list is the business...and the business
is the list." Start building this all-important list TODAY.
Make it a point to ask ALL your customers for name, address, phone and e-mail
address. If you have employees, make sure they realize the importance of the
list. Show them how to request this information from all customers, thus:
"Mr. Smith, would you like to receive e-mails from us with tremendous discount
offers? Just fill out this brief form or give me your card with e-mail address."
Add this information to your list at the end of every day. Be consistent!
2) Start brainstorming hot offers today.
For your special "alert" list to work, you must present scintillating offers.
Start collecting them now.
Open a computer file and enter all your sales offers, always concentrating on
what made money. Squeezing the most dollars from your list is a direct function
of making offers that get your customers to stop in their tracks and head your
way!
Don't hesitate to "swipe" offers from other media sources. Your offer need not
be original to you. It just has to pull.
3) Develop a format.
Start with the subject line. It should read something like this: ANOTHER great
offer from (your name). Expires 5 p.m. today... so don't delay!"
Then entice!
"Just in... the most delicious golden pears you've ever tasted. Prepare to
pamper yourself... but act NOW. We only have a few! Drop by now.. and indulge
yourself!"
4) Unless you ship as part of your current business routine, make sure
recipients understand this is an in-store offer only.
You have twin goals here: first, you do NOT want to increase your work load by
starting a shipping department; second, you want to increase your in-store
traffic and resulting sales that come when customers drop in.
5) E-mail your offer at a regular time
Your goal, remember, is to increase in-store traffic and sales. Thus, e-mail
your bulletin about 1 hour before you're open. That way you'll have customers
at the door right away... just what you want.
6) E-mail your list at least once a week.
E-mailing regularly is key to your success. Select a day for your e-mail
special offer and adhere to it religiously.
But don't hesitate to e-mail two or even three times a week if you are
announcing great offers and value. Value and great offers determine how often
you should contact your list. Customers will be glad you contacted them... if
the value warrants.
7) Track the offers that work... and the ones that don't.
Over time you'll develop a cornucopia of proven money-makers which you can
profit from while merely copying, pasting and updating. In short fast, easy
money, just the kind you like!
7) Have fun with your list -- and your customers
Business is about relationships. About knowing your customers and them knowing
you. Use your "alert" list to do both.
Have in-house drawings... and announce the winners.
Compliment a customer on a stunning outfit... or a stunning smile.
Share a joke, a quip, a thoughtful line.
It's your personal messenger... have fun with it while you're making sale after
sale.
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., www.worldprofit.com where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out The List Edge
Sunday, 13 February 2011
An appreciation for the life and more innocent times of Gladys Horton, Marvelettes lead singer, dead at 66.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Author's note: To get yourself in the mood for this article, go to any search engine and find some of the tunes of Gladys Horton and her Marvelettes, particularly "Please Mr. Postman" or "Don't Mess with Bill." Kick off your shoes and remember Gladys Horton was all about a catchy rhythm and grooving at the soda shop with your main squeeze. Put on your head phones, close your eyes, and it's 1961. Gladys Horton, just 15 years old, is on top of her game...
To think of Gladys Horton, you must first of all remember her times. Dwight David Eisenhower still cast his mantle of security over the nation, although as Gladys' tunes hit the top of the Hot R & B/Hip-Hop Songs and the crucial Billboard Hot Singles, John F. Kennedy was getting himself nominated for President, spending daddy's money lavishly.
It was a time when good girls were expected to fight for their virtue in a known ritual that left that virtue intact... and their boyfriends exhausted. Good girls did.... but only after securing a tangible token of the boyfriend's affection. And it all occurred against a background of music, including that all important dance music... loud, raucous, catchy, blaring in every teenager's life.
Denizens from those mellow years like to call them innocent, romantic, simpler... and perhaps they were. But if you were a poor black girl from Inkster, Michigan they were anything but uncomplicated. For you had your way to make in the world with just your slender talent... and your one shot was a new record company situated on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit.
This was Motown, and though America didn't quite know it yet, this was about to become the most important place in the world for teenagers everywhere. It was ground zero for that frustrating, elusive beat that Motown executives needed and which they became so very good at finding.
Gladys Horton, in 1961, was in the right place at the time right. And, right from the get-go, she was lucky. She came as part of a quintet... but though Motown eschewed groups of 5, ordaining that only groups of 3 were welcome.... this day they made an exception and allowed this larger-than-usual group to audition before Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson. Gordy was looking for his first Big Hit... and he had a feeling about these girls.
They passed this audition... and this break proved to be their launching pad. So far... so good. A second audition was scheduled.
The second audition got down to the business of finding a song for the group now called the Marvels. Pianist William Garrett had a few ideas for a blues tune he titled "Please Mr. Postman." It was unfinished, only a few words, no music. That didn't matter. Motown was about to prove it knew the secret of spinning dreams (and money) from next to nothing. It's what made them great. Gladys Horton (and Georgia Dobbins who wrote their first song, although Garrett got the credit) helped show them the way...
"Please Mr. Postman" was the result. It was sweet, it was snappy, it had the right "good girl" message... and most important of all, America's teens could dance to it and let themselves go.
Gladys Horton and the soon-to-be-called Marvelettes began the high flying ride of their lives and, for this exceptional moment, they were living their dreams... while they relied on the unflagging energy that comes with youth... to show themselves to a nation that just couldn't get enough of these peppy girls, their simple message, and that beat, that wonderful beat. "Please Mr. Postman" was their elevator to heaven and for a while, that wonderful while, it took Gladys and the Marvelettes where they all wanted to go: up!
That was the good news.
The bad news, although they wouldn't know it for some time, was that that sweet little tune, their first record, was destined to be their most popular and biggest seller. In other words, the moment when life was sweetest would prove be a flicker, a tease. They had peaked... and they weren't even 17.
Still, they didn't know this yet and Berry Gordy and Motown remained committed to these girls... for a while. After all, they had delivered when he needed a hit and needed it Now. And so, in due course, there were 21 Hot R & B/Hip-Hop Songs and 23 Billboard Hot 100 hit singles. Of these hits 3 were Top 10 Pop singles, 9 were Top 10 R & B singles; their debut was #1 on both charts.
It was good... but it wasn't quite good enough. And, besides, there were the usual cat fights, personnel problems, and mistakes, including an embarrassing gaffe on American Bandstand in 1962.
None of this would have mattered had the girls had Talent, that elusive je ne sais quoi that no one can quite define... but which we all know when we see it.
A girl named Diana Ross had it... Gladys Horton didn't, quite. But without Gladys Horton and the 6 other girls who, at one time or another, were members of the Marvelettes, there might not have been a Diana Ross. Berry Gordy, after all, cut his teeth on them... Katherine Anderson, Wanda Rogers, Anne Bogan, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, Georgia Dobbins.... and Gladys Horton. They helped build a great empire that transformed American culture at a time of American greatness. Moreover, when all is said and done, they had a longer and more fruitful run than most of these fragile, evanescent girl groups and their boy group counterparts.
Now Gladys Horton is dead too soon of a stroke, January 26, 2011, aged just 66. But (some of) her music will live on. My favorite is "Too many fish in the sea." (Released 1962). It has legs... look it up... and dance! You won't be able to help yourself; your toes will tap...the true legacy of the Marvelettes... and Gladys Horton.
For more information, see Girl Groups, Girl Culture: Popular Music and Identity in the 1960s. Routledge; New Edition February 2007 by Jacqueline Warwick.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books and an avid art collector. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out The List Edge
Author's note: To get yourself in the mood for this article, go to any search engine and find some of the tunes of Gladys Horton and her Marvelettes, particularly "Please Mr. Postman" or "Don't Mess with Bill." Kick off your shoes and remember Gladys Horton was all about a catchy rhythm and grooving at the soda shop with your main squeeze. Put on your head phones, close your eyes, and it's 1961. Gladys Horton, just 15 years old, is on top of her game...
To think of Gladys Horton, you must first of all remember her times. Dwight David Eisenhower still cast his mantle of security over the nation, although as Gladys' tunes hit the top of the Hot R & B/Hip-Hop Songs and the crucial Billboard Hot Singles, John F. Kennedy was getting himself nominated for President, spending daddy's money lavishly.
It was a time when good girls were expected to fight for their virtue in a known ritual that left that virtue intact... and their boyfriends exhausted. Good girls did.... but only after securing a tangible token of the boyfriend's affection. And it all occurred against a background of music, including that all important dance music... loud, raucous, catchy, blaring in every teenager's life.
Denizens from those mellow years like to call them innocent, romantic, simpler... and perhaps they were. But if you were a poor black girl from Inkster, Michigan they were anything but uncomplicated. For you had your way to make in the world with just your slender talent... and your one shot was a new record company situated on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit.
This was Motown, and though America didn't quite know it yet, this was about to become the most important place in the world for teenagers everywhere. It was ground zero for that frustrating, elusive beat that Motown executives needed and which they became so very good at finding.
Gladys Horton, in 1961, was in the right place at the time right. And, right from the get-go, she was lucky. She came as part of a quintet... but though Motown eschewed groups of 5, ordaining that only groups of 3 were welcome.... this day they made an exception and allowed this larger-than-usual group to audition before Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson. Gordy was looking for his first Big Hit... and he had a feeling about these girls.
They passed this audition... and this break proved to be their launching pad. So far... so good. A second audition was scheduled.
The second audition got down to the business of finding a song for the group now called the Marvels. Pianist William Garrett had a few ideas for a blues tune he titled "Please Mr. Postman." It was unfinished, only a few words, no music. That didn't matter. Motown was about to prove it knew the secret of spinning dreams (and money) from next to nothing. It's what made them great. Gladys Horton (and Georgia Dobbins who wrote their first song, although Garrett got the credit) helped show them the way...
"Please Mr. Postman" was the result. It was sweet, it was snappy, it had the right "good girl" message... and most important of all, America's teens could dance to it and let themselves go.
Gladys Horton and the soon-to-be-called Marvelettes began the high flying ride of their lives and, for this exceptional moment, they were living their dreams... while they relied on the unflagging energy that comes with youth... to show themselves to a nation that just couldn't get enough of these peppy girls, their simple message, and that beat, that wonderful beat. "Please Mr. Postman" was their elevator to heaven and for a while, that wonderful while, it took Gladys and the Marvelettes where they all wanted to go: up!
That was the good news.
The bad news, although they wouldn't know it for some time, was that that sweet little tune, their first record, was destined to be their most popular and biggest seller. In other words, the moment when life was sweetest would prove be a flicker, a tease. They had peaked... and they weren't even 17.
Still, they didn't know this yet and Berry Gordy and Motown remained committed to these girls... for a while. After all, they had delivered when he needed a hit and needed it Now. And so, in due course, there were 21 Hot R & B/Hip-Hop Songs and 23 Billboard Hot 100 hit singles. Of these hits 3 were Top 10 Pop singles, 9 were Top 10 R & B singles; their debut was #1 on both charts.
It was good... but it wasn't quite good enough. And, besides, there were the usual cat fights, personnel problems, and mistakes, including an embarrassing gaffe on American Bandstand in 1962.
None of this would have mattered had the girls had Talent, that elusive je ne sais quoi that no one can quite define... but which we all know when we see it.
A girl named Diana Ross had it... Gladys Horton didn't, quite. But without Gladys Horton and the 6 other girls who, at one time or another, were members of the Marvelettes, there might not have been a Diana Ross. Berry Gordy, after all, cut his teeth on them... Katherine Anderson, Wanda Rogers, Anne Bogan, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, Georgia Dobbins.... and Gladys Horton. They helped build a great empire that transformed American culture at a time of American greatness. Moreover, when all is said and done, they had a longer and more fruitful run than most of these fragile, evanescent girl groups and their boy group counterparts.
Now Gladys Horton is dead too soon of a stroke, January 26, 2011, aged just 66. But (some of) her music will live on. My favorite is "Too many fish in the sea." (Released 1962). It has legs... look it up... and dance! You won't be able to help yourself; your toes will tap...the true legacy of the Marvelettes... and Gladys Horton.
For more information, see Girl Groups, Girl Culture: Popular Music and Identity in the 1960s. Routledge; New Edition February 2007 by Jacqueline Warwick.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books and an avid art collector. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out The List Edge
You can't please all the people, but you've pleased me. A bouquet to Google upon the inauguration of the splendid Google Art Project.
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
Something life enhancing happened just the other day, February 1, 2011 and, as so often, Google is the innovative source. That day Google launched Google Art Project, something so useful to this planet, it can only be called brilliant.
Google Art Project provides access to more than 385 rooms in 17 world-famous museums, including these gems: the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the National Gallery in London, the Frick Collection in New York, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Palace of Versailles in France.
The purpose of Google Art Project can be summarized in a single word: access. Access to some of the world's greatest achievements and the museums which house them for every electronically connected individual.
Google cannot be said to have invented the concept of online access to museums and their collections. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, for instance, offered such access to its world-class collection before Google, yet they applaud what Google has done, will be added to the mega-museum shortly.
But Google, being Google, had a grand vision that every art museum in the world and all their collections should be, in due course, included. They consider, and rightly so, the launch of Google Art Project as a down payment, an indication of what is to come, and of their commitment to this breathtaking notion.
Google uses the zoom feature to zero in on each aspect of a picture, just like Sothebys, Christies and other art auction houses have been using for some time. Again, Google is not the originator of this feature, which allows for microscopic high resolution viewing of featured paintings. They simply use it effectively. Selected works from each museum are given super-high resolution photographs. You can also see reproductions of more than 1,000 other works. You are also able to use Google technology to visit dozens of museum rooms in virtual tours.
Museum directors, art teachers, collectors such as myself, have greeted Google Art Project with pronounced enthusiasm. As well we might.
Few of even the most fervid art students and conoisseurs have been to all the museums in Google's first installment, much less had the leisure and the travel budget to peruse each work featured. Google Art Project, then, literally opens the world of art to everyone in a way that uses the best of the technology Google is famous for.
The time could hardly be better for this idea. Schools around the United States, around the world, are slashing art budgets and art teachers, too. Such ill-advised reductions open the very real possibility that fewer and fewer students (prospective museum goers all) would have even the basics of art education, yet another baleful consequence that comes as a result of the general assault on the humanities which is now such a feature of grammar and secondary schools curricula, and even at the proudest institutions of higher learning. For far too many, the arts and humanities are thought dispensable, unnecessary, elitist, and are therefore amongst the first casualties of budget cutting Neanderthals. These folks, devoted to restoring to themselves the pittance the humanities cost, are weakening not merely each student's individual education... but the very basis for a civilized life and all to save a few pennies.
Google Art Project is a welcome, and powerful, addition to the assailed humanities and its supporters, who need (as those of us fighting this struggle know) all the help we can get.
This being the case, you might suppose that everyone who believes in the crucial life enhancing features of the arts and humanities would welcome Google Art Project with hosannas and public thanks. But, of course, one aspect of those very arts and humanities is the occasional crankiness of certain of its members and their incomprehensible tendency to criticize, belittle, demean members of their own congregation, because that ally is not perfect in every way, as of course they are.
At the opening of Google Art Project the role of skunk at the picnic was performed by one Sebastian Smee, a member of the staff of the Boston Globe newspaper. "Call me a curmudgeon, but I remain underwhelmed", he wrote in his review of Google Art Project, published February 10, 2011. His reasons for attacking this major enhancement to existing arts education and for heartening the efforts of arts lovers worldwide?
Item: Google Art Project's interface is confusing.
Item: The choice of viewing possibilities is "arbitrary".
Item: Sure, Google allows you to zoom in and see every single brushstoke... but it's better if you see the works in person.
Item: Human vision is binocular, but digitized photography is not, hence available technology doesn't provide as good and complete a vision as the human eye.
The recherche Smee might be right on all these points (he isn't), but he seems to be a critic more interested in his elegant demolitions than praising Google and its Art Project, first for the idea itself, then for its useful implementation.
And here Smee goes seriously off the rails, a critic who misses the point.
First, Google has made clear that the Google Art Project is a work in progress. They have never said one should not strain every muscle and mortgage the homestead to go to Paris and dwell for a day or two in the Louvre (which by the way is not included in the first batch of museums.)
Google does not claim that its technologies supplant or obviate the work of museum curators, arts researchers, conservators or even collectors. They will still use X-radiography, infrared reflectography, ultraviolet illumination, laser scanning, and various examinations under raking, specular, and transmitted light. (With thanks to Smee for this list of technologies, techniques, and tools.) No,indeed.
For Google Art Project does not claim to be or even want to be the Most Important Thing in the arts. It is, instead, a useful tool, an intriging tool, and most important a developing tool with many changes and incarnations to come.
This means the most important thing about art remains what it has been since the concept of art was born: to see the work, to stand before an achievement in human history, and to think about what you are seeing and be glad such a glorious thing exists and is appreciated. The importance of this vital experience will never change and which Google Art Project augments so well.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books and an avid art collector. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out
Something life enhancing happened just the other day, February 1, 2011 and, as so often, Google is the innovative source. That day Google launched Google Art Project, something so useful to this planet, it can only be called brilliant.
Google Art Project provides access to more than 385 rooms in 17 world-famous museums, including these gems: the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the National Gallery in London, the Frick Collection in New York, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Palace of Versailles in France.
The purpose of Google Art Project can be summarized in a single word: access. Access to some of the world's greatest achievements and the museums which house them for every electronically connected individual.
Google cannot be said to have invented the concept of online access to museums and their collections. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, for instance, offered such access to its world-class collection before Google, yet they applaud what Google has done, will be added to the mega-museum shortly.
But Google, being Google, had a grand vision that every art museum in the world and all their collections should be, in due course, included. They consider, and rightly so, the launch of Google Art Project as a down payment, an indication of what is to come, and of their commitment to this breathtaking notion.
Google uses the zoom feature to zero in on each aspect of a picture, just like Sothebys, Christies and other art auction houses have been using for some time. Again, Google is not the originator of this feature, which allows for microscopic high resolution viewing of featured paintings. They simply use it effectively. Selected works from each museum are given super-high resolution photographs. You can also see reproductions of more than 1,000 other works. You are also able to use Google technology to visit dozens of museum rooms in virtual tours.
Museum directors, art teachers, collectors such as myself, have greeted Google Art Project with pronounced enthusiasm. As well we might.
Few of even the most fervid art students and conoisseurs have been to all the museums in Google's first installment, much less had the leisure and the travel budget to peruse each work featured. Google Art Project, then, literally opens the world of art to everyone in a way that uses the best of the technology Google is famous for.
The time could hardly be better for this idea. Schools around the United States, around the world, are slashing art budgets and art teachers, too. Such ill-advised reductions open the very real possibility that fewer and fewer students (prospective museum goers all) would have even the basics of art education, yet another baleful consequence that comes as a result of the general assault on the humanities which is now such a feature of grammar and secondary schools curricula, and even at the proudest institutions of higher learning. For far too many, the arts and humanities are thought dispensable, unnecessary, elitist, and are therefore amongst the first casualties of budget cutting Neanderthals. These folks, devoted to restoring to themselves the pittance the humanities cost, are weakening not merely each student's individual education... but the very basis for a civilized life and all to save a few pennies.
Google Art Project is a welcome, and powerful, addition to the assailed humanities and its supporters, who need (as those of us fighting this struggle know) all the help we can get.
This being the case, you might suppose that everyone who believes in the crucial life enhancing features of the arts and humanities would welcome Google Art Project with hosannas and public thanks. But, of course, one aspect of those very arts and humanities is the occasional crankiness of certain of its members and their incomprehensible tendency to criticize, belittle, demean members of their own congregation, because that ally is not perfect in every way, as of course they are.
At the opening of Google Art Project the role of skunk at the picnic was performed by one Sebastian Smee, a member of the staff of the Boston Globe newspaper. "Call me a curmudgeon, but I remain underwhelmed", he wrote in his review of Google Art Project, published February 10, 2011. His reasons for attacking this major enhancement to existing arts education and for heartening the efforts of arts lovers worldwide?
Item: Google Art Project's interface is confusing.
Item: The choice of viewing possibilities is "arbitrary".
Item: Sure, Google allows you to zoom in and see every single brushstoke... but it's better if you see the works in person.
Item: Human vision is binocular, but digitized photography is not, hence available technology doesn't provide as good and complete a vision as the human eye.
The recherche Smee might be right on all these points (he isn't), but he seems to be a critic more interested in his elegant demolitions than praising Google and its Art Project, first for the idea itself, then for its useful implementation.
And here Smee goes seriously off the rails, a critic who misses the point.
First, Google has made clear that the Google Art Project is a work in progress. They have never said one should not strain every muscle and mortgage the homestead to go to Paris and dwell for a day or two in the Louvre (which by the way is not included in the first batch of museums.)
Google does not claim that its technologies supplant or obviate the work of museum curators, arts researchers, conservators or even collectors. They will still use X-radiography, infrared reflectography, ultraviolet illumination, laser scanning, and various examinations under raking, specular, and transmitted light. (With thanks to Smee for this list of technologies, techniques, and tools.) No,indeed.
For Google Art Project does not claim to be or even want to be the Most Important Thing in the arts. It is, instead, a useful tool, an intriging tool, and most important a developing tool with many changes and incarnations to come.
This means the most important thing about art remains what it has been since the concept of art was born: to see the work, to stand before an achievement in human history, and to think about what you are seeing and be glad such a glorious thing exists and is appreciated. The importance of this vital experience will never change and which Google Art Project augments so well.
About The Author
Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., where small and home-based businesses learn how to profit online. Attend Dr. Lant's live webcast TODAY and receive 50,000 free guaranteed visitors to the website of your choice! Dr. Lant is also the author of 18 best-selling business books and an avid art collector. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out
Saturday, 12 February 2011
These Landing Page Mistakes will cost you sales! Know them. Avoid them!
By Sandi Hunter
A landing pages is a powerful way to generate leads for a product, service or company. Landing pages are a far more effective way of getting leads than promoting your website.
To get those leads your Landing page must adhere to these sure-fire rules of marketing. Here's what you need to know to get the maximum results from your landing pages.
Most Common Mistakes
1. Boring headline.
Your headline must POP off the page with motivating words that will get the viewer's attention. You want to get their attention then draw them in to keep them reading. Headlines should be bold, easy to read, colorful and make an IMMEDIATE eye-grabbing impact.
2. Too fancy.
Fire your designer if they rely heavily on graphics and flash. Even video is sometimes not appropriate. You do not need your landing page to match your website. Landing pages do not need to be animated, blinking, jumping or annoying. Simple is best. Your Landing page has one purpose, and one purpose only - to generate a lead. It should be colorful, eye catching and use compelling rich copy.
3. No focus.
Effective landing pages are focused. Focused on purpose (lead generation) and focused on telling the reader exactly what they get and why they need to act now. Don't include any reason for distraction on your landing page. Make your marketing message ultra-clear.
4. No Offer.
If you want to generate a lead you MUST include an offer. People don't give away their contact information unless you give them VERY good reasons to do so. Make your pitch, and make it a great one - something for free, include a bonus, an incentive - something of value.
5. Forgetting about who the Landing Page is for!
Your Landing Page is for your Viewers. Yes, it's to market your company or product, but the page itself is about the viewer, Yes, your potential customer don't forget this. View your Landing pages from THEIR eyes. Is is obvious what you are offering? Is your offer enticing? Is your page focused or it is annoying to the point of distraction. Respect the experience and impression of your viewers. Make sure the page is not too long, the fonts are appropriate, the graphics not overdone and your optin form is quick and easy to complete.
To conclude, here is an Easy 1-2-3 Formula for creating effective Landing Pages.
1. Start with a powerful benefit-laden attention-grabbing headline.
2. Follow with compelling copy that motivates ACTION. Here is what you get, here is why you need it, here is how to get it RIGHT NOW!
3. Optin Form. Conclude with an easy to complete, simple form requesting contact details, being sure to list the bonuses/offer included. If you can add a value to these bonuses it makes your offer even more appealing.
Final words: Everything on your landing page should focus and complement these things; simple theme-related graphics, well-written punchy copy, an irresistible offer, and an opt-in form. Your goal on a Landing page is get the lead!
About the Author:
Sandi Hunter, is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc., a Canadian company specializing in resources for small and home based business. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out The List Edge -> http://umamba07.tledge.hop.clickbank.net
A landing pages is a powerful way to generate leads for a product, service or company. Landing pages are a far more effective way of getting leads than promoting your website.
To get those leads your Landing page must adhere to these sure-fire rules of marketing. Here's what you need to know to get the maximum results from your landing pages.
Most Common Mistakes
1. Boring headline.
Your headline must POP off the page with motivating words that will get the viewer's attention. You want to get their attention then draw them in to keep them reading. Headlines should be bold, easy to read, colorful and make an IMMEDIATE eye-grabbing impact.
2. Too fancy.
Fire your designer if they rely heavily on graphics and flash. Even video is sometimes not appropriate. You do not need your landing page to match your website. Landing pages do not need to be animated, blinking, jumping or annoying. Simple is best. Your Landing page has one purpose, and one purpose only - to generate a lead. It should be colorful, eye catching and use compelling rich copy.
3. No focus.
Effective landing pages are focused. Focused on purpose (lead generation) and focused on telling the reader exactly what they get and why they need to act now. Don't include any reason for distraction on your landing page. Make your marketing message ultra-clear.
4. No Offer.
If you want to generate a lead you MUST include an offer. People don't give away their contact information unless you give them VERY good reasons to do so. Make your pitch, and make it a great one - something for free, include a bonus, an incentive - something of value.
5. Forgetting about who the Landing Page is for!
Your Landing Page is for your Viewers. Yes, it's to market your company or product, but the page itself is about the viewer, Yes, your potential customer don't forget this. View your Landing pages from THEIR eyes. Is is obvious what you are offering? Is your offer enticing? Is your page focused or it is annoying to the point of distraction. Respect the experience and impression of your viewers. Make sure the page is not too long, the fonts are appropriate, the graphics not overdone and your optin form is quick and easy to complete.
To conclude, here is an Easy 1-2-3 Formula for creating effective Landing Pages.
1. Start with a powerful benefit-laden attention-grabbing headline.
2. Follow with compelling copy that motivates ACTION. Here is what you get, here is why you need it, here is how to get it RIGHT NOW!
3. Optin Form. Conclude with an easy to complete, simple form requesting contact details, being sure to list the bonuses/offer included. If you can add a value to these bonuses it makes your offer even more appealing.
Final words: Everything on your landing page should focus and complement these things; simple theme-related graphics, well-written punchy copy, an irresistible offer, and an opt-in form. Your goal on a Landing page is get the lead!
About the Author:
Sandi Hunter, is the Director of Website Development at Worldprofit Inc., a Canadian company specializing in resources for small and home based business. Republished with author's permission by Usha Prabhakar http://TheRevenueBuilders.com. Check out The List Edge -> http://umamba07.tledge.hop.clickbank.net
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