####################################################
From Chris Kilian, Stealth Promotions
Austin, Texas
email: chris@stealthpromotions.com
Welcome to the 48th Issue of Secrets for Success.
October 4, 1999
This is an opt-in newsletter, delivered this week
to web masters, marketers, and others seeking online
success. Your email address is protected and we will
never share your information with anyone.
Promise. Here is what we have for you this week.
####################################################
Contents:
1. Guest Article: 4 Evil Search Engine Myths
2. Useful Sites: Online Gold Mines.
3. Worthy Newsletters: Add yourself as a subscriber
4. Editor Ramblings
5. Links For Your Consideration: Great offers for you.
6. Guest Article: SELL WITH E-MAIL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A message from this week's sponsor:
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Put your classified ad or sponsor ad in front of our
readers, details: success-ads@stealthpromotions.com
Are search engines really the "ultimate" of web promotion tool?
I couldn't believe it. The other day I was reading a course written by
another new Internet marketing "guru" (It's funny - each of us thinks that
we were the first to perfect any marketing trick and we all refuse to
believe that it was really Al Gore, and not us, that invented the Internet -
so let me set the record straight: I invented the Internet, Internet
Marketing, Penicillin, and the Wheel. OK?) and he was proclaiming that
search engines were the ultimate Internet Marketing tool.
It just burns me up to think that there are some unsuspecting folks out
there being fed this information. If they ever learn what is wrong with
this approach it will only be after many hours of trial, error, and lost
profits.
If you're one of those unsuspecting folks who have been led down the dark
path of ignorance, please allow me to shed some light on this myth and a few
others:
(Warning: If you are getting good results from the search engines without
much effort - good for you. This advice probably won't tell you anything
new, and I am never one to argue with results. However, if you are
currently struggling with the engines and feel your business is in trouble,
this is exactly what you need. Remember, as I always say, the bottom line
is what works for you.)
Myth 1. "90% of all traffic comes from the major search engines."
Not true.
Foreverweb.com, for example, gets about 15% of it's traffic from search
engines. You see, we don't even really put much time or energy into search
engine positioning.
On the other hand, a friend of mine who is quite good at search engine
positioning gets about 87% of his traffic from the engines. He, however,
does not promote any other way. "The Engines" are all he does.
To put this in perspective - foreverweb.com gets about 9 times the traffic
his site does. So, with little effort (I'll show you what I mean in a
minute) we get almost the same amount of search engine traffic that he does
with hours of effort. Additionally, we have plenty more time to work on
other marketing efforts.
As you see, where your traffic comes from depends entirely on how you
promote. If you don't ever submit your site to the engines, you will get
exactly zero hits from the engines (unless they are randomly spidered).
However, that doesn't mean that your site will be a failure. Not by a long
shot!
Myth 2. "Search engines are the ultimate free marketing tool."
I really wish this were true. It would make the process of traffic building
much simpler. The truth is, if you spend your time obsessing over a top ten
position, you are going to get a lot of traffic. That is, traffic going
back and forth from the doctors office to treat your ulcer.
Even search engine gurus will tell you that your rank will go up and down
without warning. Getting a high rank is not a one shot deal - it takes
hours of time to maintain that position. Hours which, I believe, can be
better spent on marketing efforts which will give you longer lasting
results.
So, why put the livelihood of your business at the mercy of the search
engines? Engines which couldn't care less whether you succeed or fail.
Myth 3. "Submit your site to thousands of search engines."
There are *not* thousands of search engines. Period.
People are confusing apples and oranges here. In the strict sense, a search
engine can be anything that searches, but what is generally meant by "search
engine positioning" is "getting a high rank in the spider engines". That
is, the sites that "spider" your site to find the contents of your page (for
example: Infoseek, AltaVista, and Excite).
In this sense, not even Yahoo is a search engine. It is a "directory". A
directory lists your site based on human input (what you send or what a
reviewer writes), not on what a spider finds.
Software out there that will submit your site to "thousands of engines" is
generally saying "we will submit your site to thousands of FFA pages - and,
by the way, also to a few engines, directories, and awards".
The problem is that what and how you submit to each of these sites should be
done in a different way. (That is why the new 2.0 version of Swiss Army App
http://foreverweb.com/cgi-foreverweb/swa2.cgi?IM4474 handles spiders, FFAs,
and awards as entirely different entities. There are about 30 true search
engines, or "spider" engines and Swiss Army App submits to all of them.)
FFA submissions are generally very low impact types of promotion.
Especially when you are submitting to the same list of FFAs that everyone
else is. The only way we have had very successful promotion with FFAs has
been with "Free Link Finder" which goes out and finds a custom set of FFA
sites and submits your site to them one by one. This is far more effective
than spamming out your FFAs to the same list that everyone else has.
(Again, that is why the FFA submitter in Swiss Army App is part of the free
trial.)
http://foreverweb.com/cgi-foreverweb/swa2.cgi?IM4474
Myth 4. "Meta Tags will get you a high rank".
That is just patently false. Some engines don't even recognize meta-tags at
all.
The mathematical formula, or algorithm, used by the engines is generally
fairly complex. I promise you it is not based solely on the content of your
meta-tags.
Not only that, but even if you break the engine's code for a given day, your
listing must be written in such a way that it will look good. That is,
which listing would you click on:
widgets widgets golden widgets and gobbledygooks
widget (1942) last updated in the stone age, "here's a story about widgets
or
Fine Widgets, Widget Accessories, and Widget Services
Visit our site today and get a free 2nd bronze widget with the purchase of
every gold widget.
As you see, a listing that looks like the first example above will probably
not generate many clicks even if it is a #1 rank.
A great tool to see what your page will look like in the search engines is
the "Search Engine Snap-Shot" tool of Swiss Army App. This tool will show
you what the most popular types of spider engines will display when listing
your pages. It also shows you how to fix the appearance of that listing
when it looks bad (there is more to it than just the title and meta
description in some cases).
http://foreverweb.com/cgi-foreverweb/swa2.cgi?IM4474
Now, I mentioned above that I would show you an easy way to get a decent
rank in the search engines without much effort.
As you have probably already guessed, this is yet another feature found in
the new version of Swiss Army App. I have always held that one should
simply create a page which is generally search engine friendly and focus on
solid content. It's a really simply concept, but sometimes the job of
making your site search engine friendly is tough. The Search Engine
Preparedness Checker of Swiss Army App will run a number of checks on your
pages and let you know what you need to change in your site to make it more
search engine friendly.
http://foreverweb.com/cgi-foreverweb/swa2.cgi?IM4474
This is all we do here to prepare our sites for the search engines.
Literally. Now that we have a simple tool that will check the search engine
readiness of our sites for us, we are free to focus on marketing efforts
that have stronger, and longer lasting results.
Anyway, I just wanted to make sure you folks knew the "real deal" about all
of this search engine nonsense. There is just way too much mis-information
out there. Arm yourself with the truth, test things out for yourself, and
stop obsessing with the search engines.
Our company is just one example of a highly successful 100% Internet based
business that does extremely well without spending very much time worrying
about search engine positioning. If anyone tells you that's not possible,
you can now proudly and confidently tell them that they are "talking out of
their backside". And you'll be right :-)
All the best,
Mark
Mark Joyner
CEO, Aesop Marketing Corporation
*****
Article by Mark Joyner, of 1001 Killer Internet Marketing Tactics.
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Found a nice guestbook service free for anyone. Get yours
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We just added them to our own site for the "fun" pages
we have created. I think you will like them too.
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*My experiment with my third party suggestion service is having
great results. It take some time to learn the actual income from
having the free service which brings new traffic to my site on a
daily basis. They take a month to gather the previous month's data
before reporting. I started with them in mid to late August. There
were about 10 days of using their services. For that period of time
I am going to be getting a check for $174.98. I expect to literally
triple that income for the month of September, which I will know
the numbers for about a month from now. And it just keeps growing.
There is a two-tier affiliate program, and I would love for you to
be able to email with your results like a new affiliate did yesterday.
After 2 1/2 days, her income from this service was $35, $30 and $14.
That puts her on target to add a cool $1000 per month to her income.
Not bad. Not bad at all. Join us won't you? You are gonna like it.
http://stealthpromotions.com/af/mb.htm Sell Nothing. Earn Money!!
*Spedia stepped up to the plate this week with an announcement
that they are paying the about $.54/hour for the points they
award in their program. This puts them into the competitive
mix in a good way. They have supplemented their point generation
system by allowing members to opt-in for advertising. We will
keep working with them. The only problem with Spedia is it is
only two levels deep, you and your downline. Spedia's link is
listed with the other "surf/get paid" programs on my site. I really
encourage you to drop by and join up with any programs you may
have missed. http://stealthpromotions.com/pts-table.htm
*Meanwhile, DeskTopHorizons.com has risen from the dead. Suffering
from SPAM problems, the site was down for some time. We are glad to
see them back online, now if they would just release the ad-delivery
software so we could make some money like DeskTop Dollars. Their 2nd
version software is better, but has an annoying habit of needing to be
reassured of your attention by requiring a click now and then. Still
elsewhere, others are busy beta testing their software. Looks like
your monitor real estate will lots of competition just about the time
you get online to surf to all the shopping sites looking for those
perfect Christmas gifts. Will you be joining me and 100,000s others
getting paid for that time? Hope so. Get in the game by following the
links at http://stealthpromotions.com/pts-table.htm
*Finished reading the great materials from http://www.Traffic99.com/
which I must say is good stuff. Saved for the end of the materials
are some interesting interviews with some of the "known" online
marketers. Each one offers good insights into areas you need to
deal with as you prepare and work with your site online. The only
bone of contention I have with the whole course is some of the material
in the "search engine secrets" part. They spend time with techniques
that were used in ancient times (a year ago or more -- like the Dark
Ages in online time) that did work for a short time, but which have
since proven unwise to use even for experimentation because the search
engines are watching and banning sites using these techniques. With
spiders running loose from all the big engines, it just makes sense to
avoid any potential problems, because your page created just for X
search engine could be found by the Y search engine and you get kicked
off of the Y engine. Not smart. To their credit, they warn that some
engines do not accept/like these techniques. Better perhaps to keep
that material out altogether. Experienced marketers will know the
problems and skip these sections, and there is plenty of good reason to
get this material, even if you are experienced. I worry about the
newbies who might take too many liberties with suggested techniques.
Still overall, this course gets a cyber-thumbs-up from me, and I see
they are starting an affiliate program, as they should.
*Our little e-library continues to grow. Scouring the net and
several emails have added to the 50+ titles to make it over 60+.
Some of them may not be online for another day for you bean-counter
types, but they will be. If you see one or have one we have missed
we would like to know. We would also really appreciate your sharing
this resource with your contacts. Go get your share of some great
materials: http://stealthpromotions.com/e-library.htm
*Got a warning this week from someone warning me to NOT
open any emails with "Check This Out" in the subject of
the message. USUALLY, a virus, which is what this warning
talked about, requires an attachment at least and more often
an .EXE document. I do not believe this, but I am passing
it on to be safe.
5.#################################################
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Four ways to make email sales letters produce results.
By Terry Matson
ColoradoSoft, Inc
E-mail is one of the greatest selling tools ever invented.
It's fast, personal, and almost free. Here are some simple
ways to make your e-mail sales letters more effective.
1. Keep your letter short and action-packed. Few people
enjoy reading on a computer monitor. If your customer
opens your e-mail message to find it scrolls on paragraph
after paragraph, they will usually either delete it or save it
to read later (and never get back to it).
Try to pack your most important information into just three
or four short paragraphs. Let customers know they can
access your autoresponder or web site for much more
detailed information. That way those who want to know
more can get those details.
2. Start your letter with a headline or single-sentence
paragraph that clearly tells the reader what big benefit you
are offering them. Tell the reader how their life will be
improved when they use your product or service. Look for
ways that your offer will increase their income, give them
more time, make them look better, or help your reader have
more fun.
3. Make your letter as personalized as you can. This is the
great secret to good marketing and selling. You may need
to break your recipient list down into subcategories. For
example, if you have lots of firemen and lots of school
teachers in your group, you will do far better to send two
letters. One should speak directly to school teacher
interests while the second should approach things from the
firefighter's point of view. Many big-time ad campaigns
produce different commercials for six or more sub-groups
in their audience. Your e-mail sales letters can do the same
thing.
4. Whenever possible, use the recipient's name. Use their
name in the subject line, in the salutation at the beginning,
and later in the body of your e-mail sales letter.
Using "Dear Stephanie" rather than "Dear customer" can
easily double or triple sales. Your reader's ears perk up
when they hear their own name.
------------------------------------------------------------
Terry Matson is the founder and president of
ColoradoSoft, Inc., which publishes the award-winning
WorldMerge emailing program. This FREE program allows you
to send personalized email to your contact list with the click
of a button, and works seamlessly with your address book or
database program. Download your copy now at:
http://www.coloradosoft.com/associate-jump.cgi?ID=1035
Until next time-
Plan your work. Work your plan. Succeed.
Chris Kilian, Stealth Promotions
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There are now so many ways to be paid to surf the web.
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There is no reason you can't be in all programs.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trade links with us at
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Build more traffic to your site with a free
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traffic-building tools and get your own banner
seen. http://www.stealthpromotions.com/af/le.htm
Easy set up when you click "apply for classifieds"
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We love ya.
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more Traffic. http://websitings.com/rep/us.cfm?u=727092
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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All contents Copyright (c) 1999 Stealth Promotions,
except where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved
worldwide. Reprint only with express permission from
copyright holder(s). All trademarks are property of
their respective owners. All contents provided as is.
No express or implied income claims made herein --
your business success is always dependent on many
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Advertisers are solely responsible for ad contents
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Contact Information:
Stealth Promotions' Secrets for Success
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701 Capital of Texas South
Austin, Texas 78746
Phone: 1-512-330-0404
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