I recently signed up for Frank Kern’s Mass Control 2.0 course.

Mass Control is a high priced Internet marketing product. Frank offers a 60 day guarantee with it. I am about half way through the guarantee period.

Today I got a box from the UPS man. It was from the San Francisco Cookie Company. I’ve never heard of the them. I didn’t order anything from them.

The contents of the box is pictured above.

I was puzzled.

Our son passed away a few weeks ago. We still get cards and stuff in the mail. At first I thought it was another sympathy gift.

But down inside the box, beside the cookies was a card. This gift was from Frank Kern.

Now I can think of some reasons Frank might have sent me a box of cookies.

• He’s sorry for our loss. If he knew about our tragedy, I have no doubt he would offer his support. But I don’t think he knows about it. Strike that reason.
• He’s a nice guy. I’ve been watching Frank Kern on the Mass Control 2.0 videos and he seems to be a nice guy. So maybe this is the reason. But I doubt it – not that Frank’s a nice guy – but that this is the reason for the cookies.
• He wants to make me feel bad if I think about sending his course back. Now we’re cooking. When Frank gives me something that I enjoy, by nature I feel obligated to return the favor. Especially when it was unexpected.By accepting this gift, I have put a psychological obligation on myself to return the favor.

This is a good marketing lesson in itself. Kind of a bonus lesson. Tasty too.

Could you think of a way to do a little something extra for you customers? Something unexpected and unadvertised?

It might just help you keep them.

Is Mass Control 2.0 any good? We'll see.

There is a group of “guru” internet marketers that are at the top of the money pile. If you’ve ever gotten on any email lists in this market, you’ve heard of them. They all promote each others stuff.

One of the biggie’s in this group is Frank Kern. His current project is Mass Control 2.0.

Well I took a leap of faith and signed on for Mass Control 2.0.

I used a link from another multi-millionaire Internet marketer – John Reese.

I did this because he was offering a bunch of his products as a bonus. This included both his Traffic Secrets courses.

The offer is probably over by now but here is the link to his bonus offer if you want to check it out.

I don’t even know what the main pitch for Frank Kern’s stuff was. It was all video based and my great 28k Earthlink dail-up connection doesn’t like video.

I do know that he was offering a 60 money back guarantee.

So I bit. I’m going to go through the course and see what’s what.

For $2000 it better be good stuff.

The good folks over at WPWebHosting are running a little contest. They want Wordpress stories. Giving away prizes for em.

I’m always up for some free stuff, so here’s my Wordpress story.

I started out building websites when I built the first site for my church. Like most sites back then, I did the whole thing in static html web pages.

As time went on I learned about content management systems. Build the templates once and then only add content after that. Sounded good.

The first CMS I used was pMachine. It was pretty good. But one problem it had was the control panel did everything in html. There were buttons for text formatting and adding pictures and links, but they put pMachine code and html into the editor screen.

This was OK for me, but I was looking for something that other people could use. Normal people that didn’t know html and didn’t want to learn about it OR SEE it.

I did several websites for local business folks. The same issues came up.

I switched to Expression Engine. This is a great system. You can do anything with it. But again, no visual editor.

So in my quest to build websites the business owners could add content to for themselves led me to Wordpress. While it started out as just a blog platform, it is now a very powerful CMS. It can be used for just about any type site.

There are hundreds of free themes. There are also many great premium themes you can get that will make your site have just the custom look you need.

I use Wordpress for nearly every site I build now. It’s so easy to set up and use, I just automatically reach for the old Wordpress file when it’s time to build a site.

I’m working on a site for a junk yard right now. Or is that a recycled auto parts store?

This blog hasn’t seen much love for some months.

Like most people that follow the Internet Marketing world, I have a “real” job and demands on my time. Life gets in the way.

So the blog sits.

But my wife and I recently had a major tragedy. One we will never really recover from. A complete life changer.

I need to shape some of those changes.

This event has caused me to do a lot of soul searching. My priorities in life have now changed. Greatly.

So, I plan to move this blog up the priority list. Not always at the top of the list – I have sites to build for other people that will take the top spot many times. But those will become case studies for this blog.

I do love Internet Marketing and helping local business owners use the Internet to grow their business.

I plan to concentrate more on what I love.

Life is too short for anything else.

Wordpress version 2.8 has just been released.

I have now upgraded 2 blogs to the new version. In both cases the visual editor for adding content to the site got screwed up.

None of the formatting buttons exist now.

This is very aggravating.

I can handle it on my own blogs, but on those for client sites, this is just not good. They don’t want to use the HTML editor.

I tried deactivating all the plugins. Still no visual editor.

Is anyone else having this problem?

In today’s post on Copyblogger by Demian Farnworth titled What a Cocky CEO Can Teach You About World-Class Blogging the guiding principles of former GE CEO Jack Welch are explored.

I used to work for Jack. No, he didn’t know I worked for him – but I did – at a small plastics plant.

This is going to come as a shock to you young folk, particularly you Obamians. You folks that have fallen for the nonsense about this being the second coming of the Great Depression. Get some history books already. This ain’t the Great Depression. Doesn’t come close.

For all of you that believe “we’ve never seen anything like this.” I have one thing to say…

Horse crap.

We saw it back in the 80’s. When Jack Welch was my boss.

Jobs were flying away faster than the snow flakes blasting past on the wind outside my window.

I remember  meetings featuring videos of Mr. Welch telling us how we had to be #1 or #2 in a market or we’d be shown the door.  He didn’t win many fans among the little people.

Times were tense. Uncertain. Scary.

But he made GE one of the top companies on the planet.

It’s all about focus. Concentrate on what you can win at and shit can the rest.

And that’s where most of us little people bloggers/Internet Marketers fall on our faces. Yes, I’m raising my hand as guilty here.

There are all kinds of programs and ideas. They all sound good. They’re interesting. You try to follow them all.

But you can’t.

It’s just too much stuff. You need focus.

That’s one reason I joined Brad Semp’s Cashmap Certified Developer program.  By being in this program, I am forced to focus and work on just one project. There is accountability to Brad and his team. Doing a good job has promised monetary rewards – that’s inspiration.

It’s just one way to reduce the mental noise and clutter.

Are there ways you get focused and reduce the noise?

Tags: cashmaps, focus

I’m on vacation.  

This means I am home in the evenings. It also means I got to listen to a Partnering Profits teleseminar live – for the first time.

Tonight’s guest was Rich Shefren. Rich specializes in doing joint venture partner deals. He’s done more millions of dollars in JV deals than probably even he can count.

Just a few quick take-aways from the nearly 2 hour call.

• Don’t be afraid. You probably know more than most about Internet Marketing. You only need to know one thing that your potential partner doesn’t. Rich Shefren was an unknown when he got his first deals.
• Focus on local business. Most of the small business people in your local community know they need to leverage the power of the Internet – they just don’t know how. They’d like to have someone do it for them. Be that someone.
• Route traffic through your pages. Try to structure deals so you control the traffic and the list. This protects your interests when questions of performance come up. It also lets you easily start over with a new partner when (not if) your deal comes to an end.
• Consider barter. Rich told a story about Jay Abraham trading consulting time for one of those $15,000 ROM exercise machines. You might not need an exercise machine but maybe you could use some printing or accounting or other work. I’m doing this right now with a local legal firm.

It’s time for me to fish or cut bait on Stomping the Search Engines 2. It’s time for them to charge me for the first month. I can cancel and avod the charge or let it ride.

First off, the subscription is for StomperNet’s monthly newsletter – The Net Effect. The SSE2 DVD set was a teaser to get me to sign up for the newsletter.

The original offer was the SSE2 DVD’s for just shipping and handling plus 1 month free trial of The Net Effect. After signing up for this offer I was presented a seemingly endless list of One-Time-Offers. I signed up for StomperNet Insiders’ DVD of the Month as well as the main offer.

Down through the years I’ve received many newsletter, both print and online. Newsletters from Dan Kennedy, Perry Marshall, Mike Fillsaime and even one about Yellow Page ads have come to my mail box.

Learned a lot from all of them (well, except for the Mike Fillsaime one). 

Right up front I will admit I signed up for this JUST to get the SSE2 DVD’s.

During my short StomperNet membership I got to watch SSE1 and it was very good, but a bit out of date. Going to Brad and Andy’s websites to compaire how they were when they made the DVD’s to how they are now showed many changes have been made. I wanted to see the up-to-date stuff.

Stomping the Search Engines 2 is jam packed. I have been slowly working my way through it. It’s a valuable resource. Getting it for the cost of shipping is a no-brainer.

And let me give some credit to the StomperNet folks. They were a bit slow getting the materials mailed out. I think a lot of people were smelling a trick, maybe keeping people from getting the newsletter soon enough to check it out before the billing date rolled around. 

This was baseless. They moved the billing date to 1 month after the package was mailed. I had plenty of time to read the newsletter and watch my monthly DVD too.

They also sent me a link to a page where I can cancel the subscription without the requirement to get through a “if you want bla bla bla press 2″ phone tag session.

Very straight forward.

So now the month is up. What about that newsletter?

First, the physical quality is amazing. The entire newsletter is printed on heavy-weight varnished paper stock – the kind used for nice brochures and the covers of magazines.

The printing is super crisp, but the small font size challanges my middle-aged eyes and my bi-focals. This does let them put a lot of info on the page though.

And there is a lot of info on the pages.  

Here is an article list (stolen from their website because I’m too lazy to type it out):

“It’s the Eyes That Buy: Web Design That Subconsciously Controls Your Visitor’s Actions”
by Andy Edmonds -

StomperNet’s Chief Scientist defines the literal, biological ways your visitors experience your site, teaching you how to capitalize on exactly what visitors REALLY see.

Your Result: Create or alter your web design in a way that is easy for the human eye to absorb and watch conversions SOAR!

“How to Interview an Outsourced SEO” 
by Jerry West -

Jerry teaches you how to properly ‘grill’ an SEO candidate: what to ask…why you’re asking it…and even what the right and wrong answers are! It’s almost as good as having Jerry screen your candidates for you.

Your Result: Find the competent SEO professionals in this crowded marketplace… and then put them to work on your site.

“The Keyword Heist Technique” 
by Dan Thies -

Find juicy traffic your competitors don’t know about, and get double the mileage from your typical keyword research efforts.

Your Result: Learn how – exactly – to spy on competitors and swipe their targeted, converting visitors for your own sites (and they won’t even know you did it).

“26 Things To Test” 
by David Bullock -

We said earlier that you can’t improve what you don’t measure, right? Well, once you measure, how do you improve? Simple. Test, test, test – then TEST AGAIN. Keep the winners, scrap the losers. Okay, great – so what do you test? Start here. Start with David Bullock’s cheat sheet list.

Your Result: Through simple tests, you’ll see small increases in conversion over time – but in the long run, the differences can be HUGE.

“Ranking on Page One” 
by Leslie Rohde -

Discover the relationship between content and linking and how search engines’ value that relationship. Understanding this simple subject can mean the difference between a page 1 result and not being indexed at all.

Your Result: We think the title of the article says it all!

“Shotgun! Enjoy Galactic-Size Content Distribution Without Ever Leaving Your Home” 
by Sherman Hu -

StomperNet’s resident super-blogger shows you how implementing a simple process in your content creation can exponentially increase the output AND distribution for your messaging.

Your Result: Create and distribute video, audio, and text content SIMULTANEOUSLY – work smarter, not harder.

“Twittering Your Way to Free Traffic” 
by Paul Colligan -

Twitter: it’s hot, it’s growing, and Stompers are getting FREE targeted traffic from it all day long. If you haven’t started with Twitter yet, consider this a primer.

Your Result: A virtual “click magnet” that works 24/7, and you can maintain (and GROW) it in a few minutes a day.

“Ultimate Video Article Marketing” 
by Mike Stewart -

Source, create, and master the art of online video, PLUS maximize traffic once you have your video “in the can.” If you’re considering adding video marketing to your business mix, this will get you started with minimal muss and fuss.

Your Result: Churn out videos with the greatest of ease, and do it with the simplest and least intimidating setup ever.

“Mad Skillz: We Haz Them – The Vision Mindset vs. The Process Mindset” 
by Andy Jenkins -

A little inspirational piece I wrote to share what drove me to start (and more importantly – keep WORKING on) – my first Internet company. I tried to be funny and inspiring, insightful and eye-opening, irreverent and thought-provoking. I’ll let you decide.

Your Result: An invigorating kick-in-the-butt when you need it most.

“Email Blastoff: Design Your Email to Make Your Customers Open, Click and Buy” 
by Audrey Kerwood -

Tackle this very accessible way to market your physical products through high-impact graphical HTML email campaigns. Lists are NOT just for internet marketing “guru” types.

Your Result: Get that list of prospects and turn them into buying customers – turn your customers into REPEAT customers.

“The Social Media Survival Guide: A Twitter Case Study” 
by Dave Taylor -

We told you Twitter was hot. Check out this interview Dave conducted with a successful online entrepreneur to find out exactly how she uses Twitter to maximize her business.

Your Result: Enhance your customer relationships using a tool most people think is a waste of time.

“Speed Matters” 
by Brad Fallon -

An insightful look into why the old maxim of “bigger” being “better” simply no longer applies. Now, a company of any size (even yours!) can clean up in a marketplace, just by being quicker on the draw!

Your Result: A new approach to your game plan will rev up your company…and your profits.

“Armor Piercing Emails: Deliverability De-Mystified” 
by Tom Ham and Colin Theriot -

Take a peek into how StomperNet handles deliverability issues for our own email campaigns, and get the nitty gritty on getting YOUR messages in the inbox, not the spam folder.

Your Result: 98+% Delivery Rates – we get ‘em, and tell you exactly how.

All the article are meaty, content filled and informative. I’ll give many of them a reread or two.

On the inside of the back cover is a Monthly Action Plan. This is designed to give you a nudge to putting the newsletter material into action. There isn’t much use in learning this stuff and then not using it. They give you a plan.

The StomperNet Insiders’ DVD

The videos on the Insiders’ DVD expands on the SSE2 videos – often referencing specific modules. 

I really liked the material about how to use Web2.0 sites like Squidoo and Hubpages to send traffic to your money site. Not just the general stuff you’ll find all over the place, but a detailed method for interlinking the pages for best results and a nice list of sites to use.

The Final Verdict

I haven’t clicked on the link to the cancel page. I don’t plan to. I’ll spend the $39.95 per month. I don’t even remember what the Insiders’ DVD is going to cost, but I’m going to keep getting that too.

It’s excellent material for an Internet Marketing Junkie. 

I just checked and the sales page is still up. If you want to check it out for yourself, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

http://stse2.stompernet.net/

I build websites for people occasionally.

My friends and family know me as an Internet geek. When they have questions about websites and making money online they come to me. 

I have a few projects in the pipeline now. I didn’t seek them out, they just sort of found me.

These include:

• A local service business needing to take their web marketing up a notch.
• An inventor with a product he wants to market.
• A college kid wanting to make some spare money.

I need a place where I can explain Internet Marketing concepts to them. A place I can send people with questions – where they can get detailed answers. 

So, I am beginning a series on doing business online. 

I’ll be starting at the beginning, with the basics, and working my way out.

Some of you – maybe most of you – will already know most of this. If so, I hope you’ll help our less experienced readers by sharing your knowledge in the comments.

If you would like to keep up with this series, please subscribe to my blog feed. You’ll get notified when new articles are added.

So let’s start at the very beginning…

The Ultimate Goal

You want to do something online that causes other people to give you money.

Simple concept. It’s in the implimentation where the fly gets in the sugar jar.

So, how do you get people to give you money online?

• Sell your stuff. This can be something you produce or products you buy for resell. 
• Sell your brain. Provide information for a fee. 
• Sell your services. Use the Internet to promote your service business. 
• Sell other people’s stuff. Sell the products and services of others as an affiliate and earn commisions.
• Sell advertising. Provide useful content and sell ads on your site.

These business models will often share common features and needs.  All of them will need to generate traffic to the selling websites for instance.

There are differences too. For example, selling as an affiliate doesn’t require you to actually collect the money yourself – the merchant does that and sends you your commission.

You aren’t limited to one of these models. They can be combined to increase your income streams.

We’ll look at each business model – advantages, requirements and resources – in future posts of this series. 

Back in July, Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz released SEO School, her ebook about – and this is a shocker – SEO.

It sold well. 

In August she pulled it from the market. This resulted in a summer long discussion on her blog, with lots of people whining because they didn’t get the book but really wanted it.

Lots of begging and pleading for her to sell the book again.

Well, for all of you that missed your chance, SEO School is back.

You can read my review of the book to learn the details about it. It’s a good primer on SEO. And SEO is what makes your website go.

NOTE: Yes those are indeed affiliate links. If you buy SEO School from my link I’ll make some money.

If you are one of those people that are bothered by the thought of someone making a commission when you buy something, I’m sure you can find SEO School by Googling for it.

If you don’t mind someone making a little money for pointing out useful resources to you – thanks.