I am working on my new ebook and class — eMail Marketing The RIGHT Way. I will

be presenting the class at TNNA in January 2008.

In the course of my research, I found this fun and informative video:

One of the biggest barriers to Online success is applying Offline reasoning to Online situations– incorrectly.

Online marketing (and selling) is very complex and all of us are looking for ways to decipher its complexity. One tempting method is to look for parallels between the Offline and Online worlds and then apply that Offline reasoning to Online situations.

Now, as a former Theater Scene Designer, I was trained to use metaphor as a problem solving tool. Comparing apples to apples can be very effective, but in many cases, applying Offline reasoning to Online problems is more like comparing apples to screwdrivers.

What brought this to mind was hearing (third hand, I will admit) about a company that is planning on selling digital products online. OK… that is good. I sell digital products online and know that it is a viable business model.

What concerned me was hearing (again, third hand) that this company did not plan to show the book pricing until the item is added to the shopping cart.

As it was explained to me, the reason was that they were following the example of “real books” whose pricing is located either on the back or inside the front jacket, so viewing the price requires a little work.

Hmmmm… OK, let’s think about this…

I see this as faulty logic for three reasons. (Truth be told, I quit looking after these three, because I had other things I needed to do. LOL)

My thoughts —

Problem #1 - Following the example of “real books” only works if you understand WHY it is that way and your product and its selling mechanism are the same as “real books”.

With real books, putting the price on the back or inside the front jacket encourages the shopper to pick up the books. Many times this leads to looking more closely at the book, opening it and reading an excerpt, looking at the table of contents, the index, or, better yet, any illustrations.

The potential customer is interacting with the book, building a relationship with the book, and once that happens is more likely to want to give it a good home (meaning purchase it, for any of you poor souls who are not *book people* … smile…)

With a digital product, displayed online, this won’t happen…

While a digital product may have the same intellectual content as a physical printed version, the differences in its physical manifestation – it is a file on a computer, not a physical book– make this an excellent example of comparing apples to screwdrivers.

Problem #2 - Pricing on digital products can vary greatly.

With a physical product, it is easy to guess a ballpark price.

I don’t expect to pay the same for a beat-up second hand paperback book as I would for the newest, large, lavishly illustrated and beautifully printed coffee table book.

Pricing digital products is much less obvious. Often it is difficult to separate the issues of physical creation and manufacturing costs from the value of the intellectual property that the digital product contains. As a result, it is very difficult to predict accurately what the product cost will be.

Problem #3 - Online purchasers are wary about being taken advantage of or scammed.

Many folks are not aware that it is safe to back out of a purchase even after you have products in an online shopping cart.

Many are afraid that simply starting the transaction will commit them. Will they be willing to start the process, simply to find out the price? I doubt it!

One of the most important elements of successful online selling is creating customer comfort and trust. For that reason, it is important that an online merchant provide open and comprehensive information about a transaction BEFORE the transaction begins. This includes information such as a detailed description of the item, photograph of the item (if applicable), the format/size of the item, shipping charges, exactly how the transaction will take place AND the product’s price!

I believe that asking the customer to start the transaction before establishing the price is a poor marketing strategy.

Thinks of how differences between countries and cultures can affect business. In some parts of the world, black is the color of mourning, in others, white is worn to honor the dead. To someone wishing to show proper respect, wearing the wrong clothing can send a disrespectful message nonetheless.

There are many knowledgeable Offline business people who are moving Online and bringing with them a wealth of knowledge and breadth of experience from which all of us benefit.

The danger lies in NOT recognizing that Online is a very different universe than Offline. It is important to learn about this new Online world before incorrectly applying business principles from the old Offline world.

Sharing the Road to Success,

Tink

Today is another WordPress day, in part because WordPress is a VERY important tool for savvy online marketing and because I want to tell you about a new WordPress Tool.

<<<WordPress Tip>>>

Do you understand the difference between Posts and Pages when using WP?

Let’s start at the WordPress Glossary — another VERY good Tool, btw!

http://codex.wordpress.org/Glossary

*Quoted from the WordPress Glossary*

Post

An individual entry of content into a blog, or the act of uploading a new piece of content to the live blog site. Posts can be edited after they are published, if necessary or desired.

Page

A Page is often used to present “static” information about yourself or your site. A good example of a Page is information you would place on an About Page. A Page should not be confused with the time-oriented objects called posts. Pages are typically “timeless” in nature and live “outside” your blog.

The word “page” has long been used to describe any HTML document on the web. In WordPress, however, “Page” refers to a very specific feature first introduced in WordPress version 1.5.

*Quoted frome the WordPress Codex*

Pages, or WordPress Pages are like Posts, except they can do much more than Posts, and they live outside of the normal blog chronology. You can use Pages to organize and manage any amount of content. Pages were added as a new feature in WordPress 1.5.

What is a Page?

Posts are time-oriented objects. You write them at a specific time, and that time defines their context.

Pages, on the other hand, are most often used to present information about yourself or your site that is somehow timeless - information that is always applicable. For example, you might write a Post describing what you did or thought on a particular morning (”Breakfast was good”), but on a Page you might write something whose context is less time dependent (”This site is about breakfast”).

Of course, this is your WordPress; you can do whatever you want with it and its features. Pages can be used to present any information you want to live “outside” your blog. Experiment and be creative. And, as always, have fun doing it!

Some examples of Pages to create on your site may include, Copyright, Legal Information, Reprint Permissions, Contact Information, About Me, About Site, Accessibility Statement, among other things.

In general, Pages are very similar to Posts in that they both have Titles and Content and can use your site’s Presentation Templates to maintain a consistent look throughout your site. Pages, though, have several key distinctions which makes them quite different from Posts.

Pages in a Nutshell:

What Pages Are

* Pages are for content that is less time-dependent than Posts.
* Pages can be organized into pages and SubPages.
* Pages can use different Page Templates which can include Template Files, Template Tags and other PHP code.

What Pages are Not

* Pages are not Posts nor are they excerpted from larger works of fiction. They do not cycle through your blog’s main page, nor can they be associated with Categories. (Note: You can include posts in pages by using the Inline Posts Plugin (http://aralbalkan.com/wordpress/).)
* Pages are not files. They are stored in your database just like Posts are.
* Although you can put Template Tags and PHP code into a Page Template, you cannot put these into the content of a Page and expect them to run. (Note: You can achieve this by using a PHP evaluating Plugin such as RunPHP (http://dev.wp-plugins.org/wiki/RunPHP). See also the list of Posts Formatting Plugins.)

*end Quote*

Why it is important to distinguish between Posts and Pages

One important difference is that Posts get scanned by the Search Engines several times (as a single post page view, within categories, tags, archives, and other multi-post page views)

A Page gets scanned ONCE.

If you have important content on your Blog in the form of Posts, there are a number of effective ways to promote the content.

• Use a Plugin that features your most popular posts
• Use a Recent Posts Plugin to show your recent work
• Use a Related Posts Plugin to group posts by topic/content
• Use a Plugin that allows you to showcase specific posts or pulls them from the Archives ( These are only visible to those visiting your blog. They do not add the posts to your blog’s feed.)
• Manually link from new posts to older posts, creating useful resources for you visitors
• Create a Google SiteMap

Here is a good source information on this type of Plugin:

Lorelle on WordPress

<<< WordPressTool>>>

I just bought rights to a new software called WordPress Secure. It’s simple to use, well documented, and it adds a really neat extra layer of protection around your WordPress Admin section:

Click here to read the sales page for WP-Secure

If you’re nervous about your blog being hit, you’ll want this!

Do a search on *my blog was hacked* — I did one last week and got 3,230,000 responses! YIKES!

This software strengthens your WordPress Admin access, and is independent of what version of WordPress you are using. This is a good thing since it means you don’t have to worry about whether it will work with an update. This also means that it is effective against Zero Day Exploits. (Zero Day Exploits are exploits that come out the same day that a new version of software is released.)

It is NOT appropriate for Blogs with MANY users… sorry!

It doesn’t solve all WP security issues, but it does do a nice job with the Word-Press Admin section.

The script requires a Linux based Apache web host (nearly all are Linux based)

It comes with:
An Installation Video
A Special Report discussing other WordPress Security issues.

YarnAndThreadRetailers.com members and YarnAndThreadRetailers.com members get personal usage rights for FREE. This means that you can use it on as many of your own blogs as you wish — but they MUST be YOUR blogs.

Marketing Edge Newsletter subscribers get personal usage rights for $10.00 if they use the Coupon indicated in the September 20 Marketing Edge Newsletter.

Everyone else gets it for $12.

If any of you are web masters working with blogs and you would like to make this available to your clients, Resell Rights/Distributor Rights are $15.00.

Also, please note that my license sets strict guidelines for the pricing and rights on the software that I am allowed to sell.

As I stated earlier, WordPress is an excellent online marketing tool and becoming more effective and easier to use, day by day!

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

In this issue of the Marketing Edge Newsletter, I will be discussing a little about Web 2.0

Web 2.0, in simple terms, refers to the evolution of web sites into interactive sites where visitors participate, rather than just reading. A Blog is a good example, because it gives you the option of allowing guests to leave comments.

<<<Web 2.0 Tip>>>

One of the most powerful Web 2.0 tools for Online and Offline Businesses is the *Testimonial*.

Testimonials convey social proof and can go a long way toward creating and maintaining customer trust and loyalty. While I am leaving methods for acquiring good testimonials for another day, let’s take a minute to look at a good way to implement the Testimonials you already have!

Interestingly enough, in this age of specialized software, someone has created a nifty tool for dealing with Testimonials.

<<<Web 2.0 Tool>>>

EZ Testimonial Manager is a product for doing just that.

Now, obviously, it is possible to manually add testimonials to a web site, but EZ Testimonial Manager offers some options that will help your site take advantage of Web 2.0

EZ Testimonial Manager is a valuable tool if you are willing to take the time to develop a strategy for promoting and encouraging testimonials and comments from your customers.

EZ Testimonial Manager comes in two flavors and most of you will probably be fine with the Lite Version.

<<<Marketing Edge Newsletter Subscribers ONLY>>>

Remember to read your Marketing Edge Newsletter email. I provided a link for a WordPress Plugin that will allow you to put Pop-Ups and Page Curls on your WordPress blog.

David is offering a Special Price for this valuable plugin. I don’t know how long he will be offering this deal. My current plan is to get my copy installed an running on a couple of my blogs this weekend! LOL

Also, get the Free Download for the Marketing Edge InfoBar Generator. The Marketing Edge InfoBar Generator will allow you to add an InfoBar (and Link) at the top of the page for a web site.

See it in action here:

http://surviveandconqueronline.com/

If you aren’t a subscriber and you want a copy of the Marketing Edge InfoBar Generator, click HERE.

Also, I am starting to prepare for the TNNA CLasses I’ll be teaching in January. I will be asking ME Newsletter Subscribers for input and questions on those topics. If you want to participate, sign up for the Marketing Edge Newsletter.

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink

This issue of the Marketing Edge Newsletter has a neat WordPress Tip and a nifty tool!

<<<WordPress Tip>>>

One of the nice changes with WordPress 2.1 is a modification regarding the *more* tag. You are now able to customize the text for the *more* tag, without needing a Plug-in.

Write your blog entry as usual, add the break where you want it, then switch to the code editor (if you’re using WYSIWYG), and add the text you wish to use for the extended entry link after “more” — just make sure there’s a space after the word “more”.

Example: <!--more Click HERE to see the rest...-->

When you publish your blog entry, instead of (more…), the reader will see “Click HERE to see the rest...”. That’s all there is to it, but bear in mind this tip will only work for WordPress 2.1 and above.

<<<Nifty Tool>>>

The Marketing Edge InfoBar Generator will allow you to add an InfoBar (and Link) at the top of the page for a web site. Here is an example:

http://surviveandconqueronline.com/

Note the message:

Understand the Difference Between Protecting your Business and Backing Up your Business! Click HERE to find our more…

It provides a link to my *Disaster-proof Your Online Business* Info Product. I have also customized with my web site FavIcon. It is pretty easy to use. You can put ONE per web site and at this time, it doesn’t work on Blogs.

For more information about how this works, take a look at the How To Instructions I wrote.

Marketing Edge InfoBar Generator How To

Marketing Edge Newsletter Readers were sent a link to a FREE download.

For those who aren’t ME Newsletter subscribers, the Marketing Edge InfoBar Generator is available for just $4.95. Click on the PayPal link below for an instant download.

Marketing Edge InfoBar Generator

$4.95 Instant Download

Be sure and sign-up for the Marketing Edge Newsletter is you haven’t done so already and take advantage of the FREE 12 part ecourse!

I am looking for testimonials regarding the *The Magical Formula for Online Retail Success*. Your testimonial will go on an information page about the eCourse, and will include a reference to your business and web site. If you would like to offer a testimonial, email me at tink @ marketing edge for yarn and thread.com (please remove ALL spaces!)

Sharing the Road to Success!

Tink