Sales from the EDGE
Back Issue #055
Back to Back Issues Page
Sales from the EDGE Issue #055
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Sales from the EDGE
Cutting Through The Clutter
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From time to time, the EDGE publishes important updates.
Sent ONLY to SiteSell product owners, the EDGE cuts through
the "white noise" of Web selling, covering only the
important developments that you NEED to capitalize upon.
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July 22, 2004
Issue #055
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SiteSell Value Exchange
If you have NOT yet submitted your site,
you're letting Search Engine rankings go
to your competitor. There's no charge...
http://value-exchange.sitesell.com/
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
o NEWS FROM THE SITESELL EDGE...
1) Things Are Looking "Bright" For "Mail"! :-)
"Deliver My Mail" Works. We Just Proved It!
Protect *YOUR* Business... and Help Others, Too.
2) "What I Did On My Summer Vacation"
3) "I Quit My Day Job!"
--
o FEATURED ARTICLES...
1) What Nori Did On Her Summer Vacation...
Something For *YOU* To Think About
2) Anguilla Is A Metaphor...
Understand This Metaphor and
Build YOUR "Brand Of One"
3) A Letter from The Person Who KNOWS SBI!
Better Than Anyone I Know... And It's NOT Me!
**************************IMPORTANT*************************
Filtering software may prevent you from receiving some
important SiteSell communication. To ensure that you never
miss an e-mail from us, please follow these tips...
http://www.sitesell.com/whitelisting.html
To ensure that YOUR customers/leads/affiliates/readers never
miss an e-mail from YOU, get the free "Deliver My Mail"...
http://deliver-my-mail.sitesell.com/
============================================================
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NEWS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PREAMBLE: The "summer vacation articles" (below) were first
published for Site Build It! owners in SITE BUILD IT! Xpress
(SBI! Xpress). Readers of the EDGE rarely receive the
information provided to SBIers.
Filled with timely tips, SBI! Xpress is designed to be the
up-to-date "power supplement" that helps SBIers wring the
most out of Site Build It!. There are no back issues -- we
summarize ALL IMPORTANT INFORMATION into the various SBI!
HQs, why eliminating dated material at the same time.
BYE-BYE, info-overload. *We* are the ones who read, sift,
judge, and distill "the nuggets" down to the right advice,
information, and strategies.
It's all part of the overall SBI! policy... you should not
have to focus on anything that has to do with technology.
Not even keeping current. Xpress does its part by reducing
"info overload" to the small amount of key info that must be
known and that is integrated into tight HQs that deliver
only the current, important info in each field.
That said, the "summer vacation articles" received
phenomenal feedback. They are evergreen and apply to all.
They are my post-vacation "meanderings"... but they do seem
to have struck a chord.
So I thought I'd share them with you. They did indeed hit
home with the person I think who "gets" SBI! better than
anyone I know, so I've added an article written by him which
did not appear in the original SBI! Xpress.
Enjoy. And enjoy your summer. :-)
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Things Are Looking "Bright" For "Mail"! :-)
"Deliver My Mail" Works. We Just Proved It!
Protect *YOUR* Business... and Help Others, Too.
Good news. BrightMail dropped their "win a camera" contest
within days of our launch of the program. So MANY people
must have entered. See the update about this at...
http://deliver-my-mail.sitesell.com/deliver-my-mail-5.html#SEND-FALSE-POSITIVE-TO-BRIGHTMAIL
Dropping that contest substantiates our message.
And even BETTER news... it's too soon to be sure if it will
stick... but we've been "unblocked" by BrightMail for almost
a week now. Hotmail and all major ISPs now deliver our mail!
See this update at...
http://deliver-my-mail.sitesell.com/deliver-my-mail-6.html#UPDATE
How does this impact the class action suit?...
http://deliver-my-mail.sitesell.com/deliver-my-mail-7.html#UPDATE
--
BrightMail's elimination of their contest proves that we
made our point. And it's a shame that they never once
replied to us directly about blocking our mail, even when we
complied with their requests to submit sample mail. But...
We're unblocked and that's what counts... in the short run.
But the MEDIUM and LONG runs are FAR more important...
"Deliver My Mail" remains one of SiteSell's most important
initiatives. If you missed the last issue of the EDGE,
please, PLEASE take the time to review it now...
http://www.sitesell.com/edge/backissues-054.html
I can't stress how critical it is for you to be up-to-speed
on this issue. It's a problem that is going to get worse
before it gets better -- be ready to deal with it.
The Deliver My Mail program provides a FREE, comprehensive
way to manage your business through the labyrinth of e-mail,
spam, and anti-spam. It has two components...
1) The Web site
http://deliver-my-mail.sitesell.com/
This site is the "Ultimate Guide To Spam And Anti-Spam
Management." Every business needs this information. Those
who do not implement its recommendations will suffer.
The information in here is invaluable...
o How to take fair but effective counter-measures
o The actual documents and technology to implement
o What you need to do to STAY out of trouble (info
here that you'll read nowhere else)
o The 6 advantages of using Confirmed Opt-In -- this
is no longer a "should do" to please anti-spammers
-- it's just plain good business now
o Special considerations for sequential autoresponders
o Sanity test to the major ISPs and mail services
o Bonded services -- worth it?
o Monitoring blacklists
o Converting to Web- and form-based systems/functions
o What to do if you ARE filtered
o How to back down the no-whitelist, stonewalling ISP
o Stronger counter-measures
--
2) The "Deliver My Mail Package"
What should YOU do when you become a mere statistic in the
eyes of ISPs and filter services... a "false-positive"?
We here at SiteSell have already done it. And we're giving
it all to you...
http://deliver-my-mail.sitesell.com/
Implementing these preventions and counter-measures (if
needed) will save you countless hours of research, of
wondering, of worry, and of execution. And please note...
Deliver My Mail delivers more than just your mail. It
delivers on all the major goals outlined above. It has
several response levels, and is easy to use.
The information and templates are worth hundreds of dollars.
But we don't want to profit from spam-related issues...
the goal is to share our hard-learned lessons with you...
Free.
Follow the Deliver My Mail advice, and use its templates.
You'll be up and running in no time, with understanding
customers who are on your side, your credibility stronger
than ever, customer support volume reduced and with OPEN
lines of communication via e-mail to your customers intact.
If your audience (or you!) take subscriptions to an e-zine,
sell anything, use forms, have affiliates, the "Deliver My
Mail" program will reduce your ongoing pain of being
filtered by 99%. It will bounce responsibility back to the
ISPs, and even to the filtering services, where it belongs,
and put extra pressure on the bad ones who won't whitelist
and who don't tell marketers "why".
*********************MOST IMPORTANTLY*********************
"Deliver My Mail" works. We just proved it for a second
time. It first worked against Hotmail months ago. And now
it has worked with the largest e-mail filtering company in
the world. So do YOURSELF two favors with this effective,
FREE information site and download package...
1) Use it yourself. One day, you'll thank me. Guaranteed.
2) Tell your friends about it. They'll thank YOU.
*********************MOST IMPORTANTLY*********************
"The Collateral Damage of Anti-Spam" is the most important
AND overlooked story in e-commerce today. If you're not
prepared TODAY, you'll be sorry TOMORROW. This is the only
information and product of its kind on the Net. And...
We have just proved, in real-time, that it works... our
customers were totally on our side. They complained to all
the right places and backed us 100% -- they were angry at
the right parties... those who blocked mail THEY wanted.
Bottom line...
The motive of "spam-busters" to block spam is good.
The model is flawed. Not just BrightMail, all of them.
They need to fix their models, be more responsible and
responsive to the "dolphins caught in the tuna net," and
specifically, they MUST allow WANTED mail. When a customer
tells an ISP "I want that mail," it must be delivered.
-----SIDEBAR------
Think about this -- if BrightMail was doing
to REAL (offline) mail what they unilaterally
did to our e-mail, they'd be in jail. It's
only common sense that you CANNOT block
e-mail that someone wants, especially when
they specifically ASK for it.
-----SIDEBAR------
Until that happens, do yourself and everyone you know and
reach a great, big favor...
http://deliver-my-mail.sitesell.com/
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"What I Did On My Summer Vacation"
Remember when we were kids, on the first day back to school?
First assignment of the year? Write an essay...
"What I Did On My Summer Vacation"
Remember that?
Well, we just returned from ours, in Nova Scotia, which is a
Canadian province on the Atlantic Ocean. And my younger
daughter, Yuki, hit me with a very simple question. It got
me thinking in all kinds of directions.
Let me sidetrack for a second, by showing you my default URL
every time I open a new browser window...
http://www.sitesell.com/hirtles2004.jpg
It's my third year of updating that view. It help keeps me
calm, during the craziest, and most hectic days...
It's the view of Hirtles Beach, from 8 acres of land that
our family owns on the south coast of Nova Scotia. We'll
build a house right from this viewpoint... one day... when I
find the time... Ha! Ha! Ha! But that's not the point.
See that little white house in the far left corner? Well, a
wonderful 73 year-young man and his son spent the last 18
months renovating it. It now looks like this...
http://www.sitesell.com/hirtles-house.jpg
Humor me. We're getting to the point :-) ...
Hirtles Beach has to be one of the nicest places in the
world to "veg out" (in the SUMMERtime!). Yet no one has
ever heard of it. Naturally, if you look up "Hirtles Beach"
or "Kingsburg" at Google, you'll find some local sites.
But that's not the SBI! way. No one looks for these words,
since they don't know about them. If they did, they'd
already be renting a house in or around this area!
Yes... people do discover Hirtles Beach and Kingsburg "in
the REAL world," just by PASSING BY. By then, it's too late
for local renters to land a juicy 2-week booking.
And THAT brings me to Yuki's question...
"Why not do a nova-scotia-beaches.com site, like Nori's?"
Why not indeed? Yuki is a bit young, having just turned 13.
Her writing skills need an extra year. But by next summer...
"Go to it, Yuki."
There are lots of charming houses on the beaches in that
area. And there are several nice, competent real estate
agents, with sharp, expensive sites... that get no traffic
(but they sure are excited that their site can be found when
you search for "Hirtles Beach" or for their own name!).
None of them "get it."
Get what?
C-> T -> P -> M
Content -> Traffic -> PREsell -> Monetize
Travel sites are a huge opportunity, no doubt about it. But
the lessons to be learned here remain true for every small
business niche.
Sometimes, I'm not sure if SBIers consistently score in the
Top 2-3% because they basically become so much better than
everyone else.
Or is it because everyone else is doomed before they start?
A bit of both, I think. :-)
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"I Quit My Day Job!"
Yup. Another one. Since we've been following Marc Liron's
progress almost month-by-month, here's HIS latest update...
http://www.sitesell.com/case-studies/webmaster-marc.html
************************************************************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~FEATURED ARTICLES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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What Nori Did On Her Summer Vacation...
Something For *YOU* To Think About
Well, Daughter #2 started this thread with her question.
Let Daughter #1 continue it. What did SHE do this summer?
Absolutely nothing, so far, and not just "this summer" when
it comes to her SBI! site. She has put zero hours into her
anguilla-beaches.com site for the past 10 weeks because...
o she was studying for exams
o she was writing exams
o she was on vacation with the family.
Excuses, excuses! ;-) Despite that inactivity...
1) She earns in the ballpark of $500 per month in Google ads,
totally passive income (approximately -- I don't want to run
afoul of Google's disclosure rules!).
2) She just earned another $3,000 commission for a house
sale in Anguilla (from the real estate agent she recommends).
3) She earns hundreds more from villa rentals.
4) Referrals to other local businesses are starting (ex.,
boat operators and direct referral to our favorite villa,
a wonderful hotel, etc.).
5) Amazon and Priceline kick in some pocket change.
Take a look and see how many ways a 15 year-old is already
monetizing her Web site...
http://anguilla-beaches.com/
--
Yes, even when she's too busy to give her business a second
of her time for 10 weeks, her business rolls along. Over
the next six weeks of her "summer off," she'll make up for
her the past 10 weeks of inactivity by...
o adding more content, gearing up for fall and winter
o launching her store (drop-shipping for local artisans)
o adding more local referrals (ex., rental car, villas)
o and, if she has time, split off the real estate section
into her third site (anguilla-real-estate.com).
--
There are lessons here...
1) The momentum and sustainability of the CTPM model is
tremendous. It builds and builds and BUILDS. And it lasts.
It does not stop when you stop paying for PPC advertising,
for example. It does not stop when you stop sourcing
products for eBay. It's more like that EverReady bunny...
it just keeps on going. :-)
2) Nori works steadily at her site, an average of two
hours/1 good page per week... more in summer, less when she
is especially busy during the school year.
3) It took a couple of months for the first visitors to
start, and months more to build, but this is becoming a
long-term, lifelong income stream if Nori wants it to be.
4) There is no limit to how big Nori could grow this, or in
which possible directions it could go. If she was an adult,
she would have taken the plunge and decided to quit her
day-job months ago, and moved to Anguilla. I can see Nori's
headline in a future EDGE now... "I Never Had A Day Job!"
--
Both daughters came to the same conclusion, and so have I...
Travel + real estate = high opportunity.
The average real estate agent is just too busy to build a
proper site themselves. They don't know about SBI!. So
what do they do? Yup...
The same thing that Dr. Burch, the SBIer dentist from
Mountain View, California, explains...
http://www.sitesell.com/case-studies/local-business-john-aev.html
They spend $10,000 on boilerplate sites that get no traffic,
just like Dr. Burch's dentist friends. But they feel good
and smart... because they "have a site."
THAT raises an opportunity for anyone, including my younger
daughter, Yuki. Nori has capitalized upon this well. Her
real estate agent-now-friend in Anguilla is delighted to pay
her thousands of dollars for every sale. Heck, that's a sale
she would not have had. Sure...
She DOES have a site that was developed by a "professional."
And naturally, about the only traffic it gets is from people
who see the URL on her business card!
Like my other daughter, Yuki, who knows Nova Scotia,
EVERYONE knows a lot about some place in the world... it
might be your favorite vacation spot or the place you live.
I am simply amazed that we do not have a higher percentage
of our sites focusing on the tremendous monetization
potential of "travel sites." Especially when I see how well
other folks, like Fiona McCardle and Jim Andrew with
rent-a-villa-in-tuscany.com, do with travel/rental sites.
Travel sites are a great idea.
Think about it. Tell a friend about it.
And, if travel is not your bag, let me repeat...
The lessons to be learned here remain true for every
small business niche. Here's what I mean...
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Anguilla Is A Metaphor...
Understand This Metaphor and
Build YOUR "Brand Of One"
Anguilla is an island in the Caribbean.
Anguilla has also become a metaphor...
--
1) Every body of knowledge is "an island." Mark Liron is
an expert in the "island of XP." Elad Shippony masters the
"island of children's birthday parties." Others know a lot
about RC cars. And on it goes.
Whatever YOU know about, apply C-T-P (and then "M")...
http://ctpm.sitesell.com/
--
2) Nori followed CTPM. Now, she's a mini-celebrity in
Anguilla. Yes, literally.
Restaurant owners refuse payment. Her favorite clothing
store gives her clothes! She was interviewed by the big
local TV talk show. Tourists point at her. One even asked
for her autograph! I was amazed... she was shy, but you
could also tell she was pleased.
Yes, I'm bragging a touch...
But think about this. Isn't this what Marc Liron does with
his site? Or what Marney Makridakis does with her site,
ArtellaWordsAndArt.com? It's all about becoming a celebrity
on your own island... your island of knowledge.
--
3) Do CTPM and you will have successfully built your...
"Brand of One."
Remember, *YOU* have no brand. Amazon has a brand. Google
has a brand. YOU must build one. And there is only one way
to build your "Brand of One."
CTPM.
THAT is what builds the core for a long-term, ever-growing
business with sustainable profits and true equity.
--
4) In your "REAL world physical island" that I'll call your
neighborhood, you have a baker, barber, tailer and grocer.
Each builds a relationship with you through a pleasant
hello, good value, and a smile with the "have a good day."
It's called building a relationship with your customer.
PREselling is the online version of relationship-building.
Nori, Marc, Jim and Fiona, and Dr. Burch all build
relationships by PREselling. Did you know that Dr. Burch's
new customers will travel 50 kilometers to see him? Before
his site, all his clients came from within a 10 km radius.
THAT is the power of PREselling.
People WANT to do business with you.
Go to it. The world is your oyster, just waiting for you
to capitalize upon "your Anguilla."
http://passion.sitesell.com/
***********************************************************
And THAT wraps up the post-vacation philosophizing. The
next time you hear from me, it will be to launch "Store Build
It!." This is, quite simply, going to be the most powerful
combination of CTP and best-in-world store-selling online.
We're in final testing (final-final, actually!). If all
goes well, Store Build It! could be out by next week!
Fingers crossed! :-)
***********************************************************
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A Letter from The Person Who KNOWS SBI!
Better Than Anyone I Know... And It's NOT Me!
By Judd Burdon
http://question.sitesell.com/
http://www.sitesellexperts.com/
INTRODUCTION BY KEN
Judd heads up the group of SBI! owners who answer questions
from visitors to the site at this URL...
http://question.sitesell.com/
His ultimate hope is that you buy SBI!, of course. But he
does not "SELL." That is NOT the SiteSell philosophy.
Judd listens carefully, better than anyone I know. Then he
explains how SBI! meets the needs of the user. If it does
not meet their needs, he tells them so. He totally knows
SBI!, and understands what people need -- so all he does is
connect the two... if they don't connect, he says so.
Here's some info about Judd...
http://www.sitesellexperts.com/judd-burdon.html
Judd now has assistants who screen out the non-serious, the
"brain-suckers" who just want free consultations, etc. He
has to do this because it has been hard to keep the team of
SBIers up in numbers. Since they are all SBI! users, they
tend to start making too much money and drift away.
The price of success! :-)
But Judd is VERY special. I can't afford to lose him, so
I made him an offer he can't refuse (horse's head excluded).
With that intro, Judd sent me the following note after
reading my "vacation articles" in SBI! Xpress. I thought it
was brilliant and wanted to share this with you.
Here's Judd.
------------------------------------------------
Hi Ken
When I read your article "What I Did On My Summer Vacation"
about building a site on Nova Scotia Beaches, it dawned upon
me that you were right - your articles are actually
parables. The lessons to be learned here remain true for
EVERY small business niche - every "island of knowledge."
You know, one of the most common issues I see when people
call is that they think they know nothing. Or they think
that their knowledge is of no value, or that others are
probably already doing their idea. It's like they are in a
haze and can't see clearly enough to even decide how or even
whether to move.
Compare those types of people with the ones who "get it" --
their eyes pop open right away and this group runs with SBI!
full-blast and succeed, like your case studies at...
http://case-studies.sitesell.com/
You already know, of course, how SBI! has changed my life,
well before I accepted your offer to come aboard...
http://www.sitesellexperts.com/judd-sbi-story.html
But here are a few of "my own" case studies, folks who
originally chatted with me, unsure of how to proceed, or
whether to proceed:
http://www.sitesellexperts.com/jerome-sbi-story.html
http://www.sitesellexperts.com/larry-sbi-story.html
http://www.sitesellexperts.com/dave-dutton.html
http://www.sitesellexperts.com/rob-sbi-story.html
Ken, there is nothing "special" about these people, and yet
there is EVERYTHING special and precious about them. What I
mean is that they really are "anyone." But they bring with
them motivation and a desire to win - an intention to win.
And then they simply went about and did it.
The beauty of SBI! is that there are millions and millions of
folks with the "BAM" you talk about.
-----KEN'S SIDEBAR-----
BAM = Brain And Motivation
-----KEN'S SIDEBAR-----
But "regular Web hosting" (or "old-fashioned hosting") simply
makes it impossible. And here's the shame of it all...
You know how so many Net marketers are criticized for their
too-hypey, get-rich-quick copy? Well guess what, Ken? The big
companies are the same. They just do it while working in their
Ivory Towers, in their $2,000 Gucci suits.
You know what I mean...
"Get a site up in minutes."
"Easy as 1-2-3 and your site will be up."
"Your store could be selling in 24 hours."
Baloney. There is simply no such thing as GET RICH QUICK. No
matter how good the copywriting, you're a sucker if you
believe it. And yet so many small businesses "put up a site"
and then - it's a slow, painful e-death.
Not us... CTPM works. It builds the foundation, upon which
monetization becomes more and more lucrative. But it takes some
time and effort. That's why people with BAM win. They put in
the time. They reap the rewards.
But I'm really getting off-track here.
-----KEN'S SIDEBAR-----
That's OK, Judd, the message is bang-on! :-)
-----KEN'S SIDEBAR-----
Back to the lessons of your articles...
Anyone can literally build a site with SBI! on any idea,
passion or "island" of knowledge - and earn money with it.
Period. Here's THE perfect example:
I received a call earlier today from a lady on the SBI! toll
free phone number. She bought SBI! one year ago but has
done nothing with it. I asked "why" and she said, "Because I
still do not know what to build my site about."
Now Ken, I have a problem. You know that I don't have time
to do consulting - that's not my job. (I must admit the
only part of my job that is depressing is when people take
my time until I finally realize all they wanted was free
consulting.) But this lady was so sincere and in such pain,
that I wanted to help.
I *KNOW* there is ALWAYS something someone knows - even
though she still didn't know it. The Action Guide is great.
It asks and probes with all the right questions. But I
guess she just blanked out on herself.
It is always best to build a business on something that you
know and understand. Some folks can research and "become
experts." But for most people... you simply build a more
professional business if you know and love your material.
"REAL" content rings true to the visitor -- when Content and
PREselling are strong, you simply can't fail.
So, let me continue. I asked her if she had any passions,
hobbies or something of interest to her.
She said "NO."
Anything in her current job, past job, etc.?
Do you love any particular kinds of magazines or books?
(I love that question for uncovering interests.)
"No."
"No."
"No."
"No."
It almost sounded like she was determined that the
answer was going to stay "no." ;-)
I knew that she must have some knowledge that is in demand
so I popped the question...
"Anything going on with the family or kids."
Pause.
Pause.
Ah-ha. "What?" I asked.
"Yes".
She is a mother and has raised 2 children. Her teenagers
had problems - no need to get into all the details. But she
had worked hard with her kids and learned a lot about these
areas. So I asked her...
"Are you the only Mom on the planet with these problems?"
BINGO!
Lights went on.
"You mean I could do a site on that?"
Well, one light went on. So I tried to light the rest of
the house that it is our brain.
She has knowledge, passion. Others need what she knows.
She could definitely build a site that helps other mothers
deal with their troubled teens. As always, it's all about
CTP - and there's loads of good content opportunity, with
reasonable demand and lowish supply.
The Monetization, afterwards, would be easy. She could sell
"prime info" in e-books, affiliates to suppliers, Google
AdSense. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Her new site would be generating $500 to $1000 per month
just on the above ideas -- in a matter of 5 to 6 months.
Now that does not sound like a lot of money for 6 months
work, say 5-10 hours per week.
But it's the base.
-----KEN' SIDEBAR----
So many people want to reach my daughter's
level and prominence in a month. I'm
sorry...
The real world, the business world, does not
work like that. SBI! eliminates all the
barriers (tech, brainstorming, research,
Search Engine mastery, etc.), but you still
have to BUILD your business. When you do,
you'll have a real, growing, breathing
business that snowballs and earns you more
and more.
But you have to put the effort in. SBI!
merely reduces that level of effort, and
takes away the barriers that would block all
but the very smartest folks. SBI! truly lets
BUSINESS people succeed.
Nori took two years to get where she is, but
she only worked about 2 hours per week on her
site (1 good page per week). An adult working
7-10 hours per week should be able to reach
Nori's level in 6 months, but it still takes
6 months! No way around that. This is REAL
business.
But remember... once you start to grow, it
just seems to keep piling on. More and more
content builds more and more traffic. More
and more links to you. It all just cascades
and grows. You find one good monetization
model. Then another. And now..
Nori's adding a store. I never dreamed that
she would open an online store... at the age
of 15.
But you have to be persistent and willing to
build. Heck, we've been working non-stop at
SiteSell for 6 years now. And it, too, just
keeps building and building and building.
I hate to be rude, but...
If you're not willing to pay the price of
work, you're looking at the wrong monitor.
Stick to TV -- you'll be happier because "Get
Rich Quick" will only disappoint you over and
over. And if you ARE working hard and
failing, get Site Build It!. It is the
missing ingredient.
And what if you work hard at SBI! and still
fail? Not very likely, but Judd brings up
some good points a bit later. So let's leave
him to pick up the thread, first, about the
woman who didn't know where to get started.
-----KEN' SIDEBAR----
Guess what? The caller told me that this is amazing and a
wonderful idea. She is going to dig back into it and MAKE
IT HAPPEN.
Ken, I do my best to explain this to everyone I speak to on
the SBI! "Have a Question" site...
http://question.sitesell.com/
It is really amazing to see the people who really get SBI!.
They grab it by the horns and really take off - just like
you say. I can hear it in their voice.
I have an idea for the others, for all SBIers actually. How
about a forum where they could bounce off each other and
pick up the kind of key help that I just provided?
-----KEN' SIDEBAR----
Great idea, Judd! You read my mind.
This is already in development and set for
launch right after Store Build It!. Just
FYI, here's the tentative set of forums...
Brainstorming
Finding The Right Niche For YOU ***
Adding To Your Master Keyword List ***
Interpreting Supply & Demand ***
Site Building
SBI! SiteBuilder Tricks and Techniques ***
Using Templates ***
Graphic Resources ***
Integrating 3rd Party Resources ***
For Tech-Types
HTML ***
Javascript ***
Site Design Tools (ex., DreamWeaver, FrontPage, etc.) ***
Graphic Tools (ex., PhotoShop, PaintShop Pro, etc.) ***
Audio, Flash, Other ***
Writing to PREsell
Creating Quality Content ***
Finding Your Voice ***
E-zines ***
Building Traffic
Google ***
Yahoo! Search ***
MSN ***
AOL ***
Jeeves/Teoma ***
Other engines ***
Directories ***
Pay-Per-Click/Google AdWords ***
Monetizing
Infopreneur
Using AdSense ***
Affiliates ***
Referrers/Finders ***
Selling Goods and Services
E-goods Creators/Sellers ***
Membership Sites ***
Hard Goods Creators/Sellers/Drop-shipping ***
Sales and Rental Agents ***
Service Businesses ***
Other Monetization Models
Existing Online Businesses/E-commerce Sites ***
Network Marketers/Multi-Level Marketers ***
Net Auction Sellers ***
Local Offline Businesses ***
Web Professionals ***
Best-of-Breed E-commerce Resources
E-goods ***
Hard Goods ***
PayPal ***
Other Payment Methods ***
Store Build It!
??? TOPICS
Reselling SBI!
5 Pillar Affiliates (all affiliates)
Online ***
Remote Offline Orders Program ***
5 Pillar Affiliates (SBI! owners only)
Buzz Program
Buzz Program (SBIers only) ***
The Coffee Shop (Idle Chat, Gossips, and Rumors)
-----KEN' SIDEBAR----
It's a shame for those visitors to the SBI! sites who don't
"get the message." What a loss as they doom themselves to
old-fashioned Web hosting, often (believe it or not!)
because their Webmasters are stuck in their old ways of
doing things. Folks really should use our Webmasters if
they don't have time to do it themselves...
http://directory.sitesell.com/
I can only tell you how happy I am working from home on my
SBI! sites. I guess I just understand SBI! and how it works
-- not bad for a 25 year old ex-asphalt-paving guy ;-)
-----KEN'S SIDEBAR-----
I call Judd...
"Asphalt Man to Digital Man"
-----KEN'S SIDEBAR-----
I also want to share my own parable with you - I call it
"Light in a Window". (People have told me that it has
helped them to understand better what they are really trying
to achieve.)
A few nights ago we were driving home from dinner. It was
late and I saw a light in the upstairs window of a
neighbor's home. It caused me to stop and wonder.
See, not that long ago my window light in my basement office
was also burning late into the night. I wondered if my
neighbor's late nights were being fuelled by the same
passion that had been fuelling mine only a couple of years
earlier. My desire to create a better lifestyle and escape
a job that I had been unhappily trapped (asphalt business)
in for years kept my window light burning late into the
night.
I had just begun my own business. It started small. It was
unfamiliar. I was searching for ways to build my small
Internet Business into something that would someday give me
freedom from having to work for someone else. Freedom from
having to commute. Freedom from having to work long hours
for what someone else thought I was worth. Freedom to have
fun. Freedom to travel. Freedom to spend time with my
family and Freedom to ultimately smile.
I wasted a lot of time with more than I care to tell you.
And I kept slogging asphalt. And hating it.
But all the hard work and false starts, all the nights of
burning that midnight oil paid off when I discovered "Site
Build It." It included absolutely everything for me to
build a successful online business, and the day came when I
was able to make that change in my life. My small online
business grew to replace my corporate paving income, and I
now spend most of my time doing what I love to do - helping
people make the same discovery I did.
Helping them to freedom. As you say, Ken...
"A life of passion."
I wondered, as I pulled into my driveway, how many other
window lights were being fuelled by someone's desire to
change their lifestyle and work with knowledge that they
had. And then I thought about the "two kinds of flickering
screens" that exist in this world.
Some people, frankly, are simply better off watching
a different flickering screen - the TV. Yes, everyone
WANTS more. But most are not willing to REALLY do
anything about it. They try this, they move to that,
but they quit at the first obstacle.
And then there are those who simply decide...
"I will win with SBI!."
The barriers are gone.
If you bring BAM, you MUST succeed.
I don't know many people who have worked hard at SBI! and
failed. But it does happen, usually due to a mistake caused
by not following the Action Guide.
A sad case the other night... someone registered a domain
right away and then refunded. Since you only register your
domain name (THE perfect domain name) on DAY 5 of the SBI!
process, he obviously had not followed the Guide but just
"jumped in" and ignored all instructions.
Then he e-mailed me and said that "SBI! couldn't meet his
COMPLEX needs." Heck, if you can't follow the Action Guide,
I'd hate to think of that person trying to succeed at
something COMPLEX.
Because SBI! is as SIMPLE as it can be.
Not easy.
Simple.
Business is not easy. It takes some work. But if the user
supplies that, AND follows the Action Guide, s/he simply
must succeed. Folks looking for "quick and easy" money will
be happier with the flickering screen in the living room.
The rest of us? The people I talk to, who are willing to
bring BAM to the table, thank you profoundly for SBI!. They
toil, with passion, in front of the flickering screen that
is building lives they WANT and LOVE to lead.
-----KEN'S SIDEBAR----
Wow! Thanks so much, Judd.
My favorite quote on the prime importance of
DETERMINATION, ACTION, and PERSEVERANCE....
Nothing in this world can
take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common
than unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius
is almost a proverb.
Education will not;
the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
-- Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933)
30th president of the U.S.A.
Back to Judd...
-----KEN'S SIDEBAR----
Yes, Ken. Your daughters, Nori and Yuki are right. Or I
should say that your "vacation ramblings" that Yuki started
in your mind were spot-on. The lessons that we can all
learn from anguilla-beaches.com and Yuki's idea for a
Nova-Scotia-Beaches site are far bigger than travel sites.
Everyone has an "island of knowledge." Even that Mom with
the troubled teens.
Even me - Asphalt Man who now has four profitable sites.
My life is changed forever. I could quit sitesell.com
(I'd never do that -- I love this too much), erase ALL my
sites, move to Bora Bora tomorrow, and I *KNOW* I could
start another successful online business that would more than
support me and my family.
Now THAT is freedom.
All the best,
Judd Burdon
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(c) copyright 2004 SiteSell.com
Hudson, Quebec
Canada J0P 1J0
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