Internet Marketing – What’s New?

Here is my introductory diatribe from this week’s WebbyOnline newsletter. To get this in your inbox each week, just subscribe in the form at the top of this site.

Well, it’s May already. Unbelievable. It seems like this year just started. Doing a quick status check on things in my own business, I really think I am putting my eggs in the right baskets right now. One of the big things I am working on is putting MUCH more focus on marketing. More focus than I ever have, actually. And its almost embarrassing to say that, up through 2006, I really have not paid any real attention to the marketing aspect of my business. What a GROSS oversight on my part, and one that I am determined to preach about on WebbyOnline so that others don’t ignore it in their own businesses. The internet has exploded since I first started in this industry. And things change so fast. If I (and you) don’t monitor what is happening, market constantly, produce QUALITY products and stand out, I (and you) will get surpassed. There is just SO much competition out there, and all of us have such a wide variety of information to feed off of in our drive for success. Well, one of the big things I am doing is ACTIVELY feeding on the information that is out there, reading about the successful actions of others, and REALLY looking at my own business in terms of what I can do to market it.

Speaking of which, I had an opportunity present itself to me this last weekend and I took it. I mentioned it on the website, but my content management system, Miraserver, worked its way up the waiting list for a sponsored placement over at Hotscripts.com. It was a bit of an investment securing this spot. Not much in the scheme of things, however considering that Miraserver isn’t generating much in the way of cash these days, its still a lot. So, as I said on Webby as well as on the Miraserver site, one of my first projects is going to be to FINISH this program and release it as “final” version of 2.0. While I’m at it, I am going to be heavily documenting it so that the job of “Miraserver programmer” is one that is portable and not tied ONLY to me. The lack of that documentation coupled with the difficulty of third party programmers working with code they’ve never seen, is the CHIEF reason why this project has drawn out for so long. So, for any subscribers of this newsletter who are also Miraserver license holders, go check out that last link and feel free to email me with any questions. I should also mention that ANY users of prior versions of Miraserver can ALWAYS feel free to contact me for any support needs. I do go over and above in my efforts to make sure any Miraserver user is getting what they need out of my product.

Looking outward into the world of the internet, I see some stuff worth nothing. First and foremost, StomperNet is re-opening. In fact, it re-opened as of noon today. For those of you who don’t know (and not long ago, I would have been in that group), StomperNet is a membership website dedicated to internet marketing. And it isn’t just “a” membershp site. When it comes to internet marketing and those who take it seriously, StomperNet is THE internet marketing membership site. When it first launched, it made history as the largest internet product launch ever. It generated over $10 million in sales and they basically sold out and had to close down the ability to join. Today, they are re-opening for new members after having expanded quite a bit to accomodate the demand. So, its worth checking out. FYI, the program ain’t cheap. This thing costs $797 per month, which puts it at #1 for the most expensive membership site I have ever laid eyes on. That said, as one who has reality with the money-making potential of the internet, this thing could very well be worth your money. I have not personally tried it. Just passing it on.

Also on the internet marketing front, John Reese is another big name in the field. He is also the author of the Traffic Secrets course I recently picked up. His latest gig is the creation of yet another new internet marketing resource, Income.com. Now, the site is not yet launched, however he did JUST post a new blog on the site. And, true to form for a marketer like Reese, he launched his new blog by publishing a white paper entitled The Rebirth of Internet Marketing. Its a good read with a lot of good information. And, there you also have an application of my tip of the week (below) and the reminder which led me to issue this week’s tip in the first place. Reese provided content and he over-delivered. I mean, the thing is free and its 53 pages of info. Now, its not textbook reading. Reese tends to write very conversationally, but that story-telling approach is one of the powers of his copy.

Chris over at Website Publisher Blog has published an open letter to Tribal Fusion. I think this is a good letter. I work with Tribal Fusion over at PCMech, and I have two major complaints about it. (1) Their ads are poorly targeted and poor quality in many cases, (2) their interface is just plain annoying. Not long ago, I was approached by them to use their interface as the primary ad server for my domain. There are some plus-points to that, considering their ad system is superior to the one I use. However, they would give preference to their own ads and all of my ads would be filler. That’s not what I want, especially considering I would be losing out to stupid “punch the money” ads! Chris’s point is perfect: Tribal needs to provide more control over the ads to it’s publishers.

And to sum it up, here is a post by Andrew over at Web Publishing Blog which echos my thoughts exactly. It is your Million Dallar tip of the day.

Like what you read?

... then take the next step. Register for the 30 Day Blog Transformation Challenge. TRANSFORM your blog by perfecting your writing, optimizing your design, and learning how to optimize the marketing funnel.
Click to Learn More ... or...