As many of you have already figured out, I’ve been out of my office and out of touch for several weeks because of family business.  Now that I’m back, I’ve been completely overwhelmed with advertising and information about a new product that came out over the summer called The Clickbank Code.

So… of course I started checking into it.

Stop #1:  The Sales Page

Strictly speaking, the first page you see when you visit The Clickbank Code is actually a splash page, but  I have to tell you that the splash page is really a work of art.

1. There is very little distracting information on the page, including minimal links.
2. The layout is professional and eye-catching.
3. Everything that you need to see is above the fold — You don’t have to scroll to see it.
4. It has an effective lead capture system.  You have to submit your name and email to see the next video.
5. The video on the splash page is engaging and plays automatically.

It was worth visiting the The Clickbank Code just so that I could take notes on the sales system that they’re using.  I love to see how other people are doing it and discover new strategies that work well!

If you’re new to the idea of splash pages or looking into creating your own splash pages, you should seriously check this one out.  It’s pure art… all the way down to the headlines, colors, graphics, etc.

Even the arrows work effectively.

Stop #2:  The Sales Page

As you can tell, I’m a big fan of the splash page… not as big a fan of the sales page.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a well done sales page full of the same professional graphics and videos.  I just thought it was a bit of a let down after the splash page.  Michael Jones, the product owner, claims that the conversion rate for the sales page is over 7%, so the sales page must work pretty well.

I may just have to borrow a few of the ideas here.

Bottom line:  I’ve visited both the splash page and the sales page and I still don’t have a really good idea if I’m interested in this product or not.

Stop #3:  Online Reviews

As you might expect, there are tons of “honest reviews” of The Clickbank Code available online.  The vast majority — 99.99% of them are candy-coated reviews designed to elicit affiliate sales.

That’s hardly a review at all!

Of course, there’s also the anti-reviews or “scam alerts” that are written to capture affiliate sales for other products related to The Clickbank Code.  Those aren’t particularly honest.

I still have no idea if this is a product that I’m interested in or not.  I’m certainly curious about the product, but not willing to pony up out of shear curiousity.  I honestly expect that the product is really just a re-mix of the same old information about Clickbank, SEO, PPC, etc.

But how can I find out?  YouTube!

Stop #4: Get A Sneak Peak

So my last stop is to check out the various YouTube videos out there that show sneak peaks of the product.  My goal is to get that “insiders view” of The Clickbank Code so that I can decide if it’s something that I’m interested in either buying or promoting.

After viewing the videos, I decided that I’d like to promote the product and see how it performs for me, but I’m not interested in buying the product at this time.  From what I can see in the videos, the majority of the information available in The Clickbank Code is stuff that I either already know how to do or currently use in my business.

I’ve been in this business a long, long time… there’s just not that much that’s totally new to me anymore. (Am I showing my age?)

But I do think there’s some really good stuff in The Clickbank Code for those who haven’t been in the game as long as I have.  That’s why I offer the best sneak peak videos that I could find for you below:

In the end, I can’t personally recommend The Clickbank Code because I don’t own a copy myself.  It looks very promising for those who aren’t making as much money as they’d like at Clickbank and I’m planning a PPC campaign around the product to see if it really lives up to that 7.1% conversion rate claimed.

If you want to check out the splash page or sales letter, here’s the link to The Clickbank Code.

If you own this product yourself, tell me what you think about it.

Is it worth the price?

I’d love to hear from you!

Post from: Arvada Yates at iMarketingWatch.com

If you'd like to get more answers to your online business and internet marketing questions, subscribe to Answers eMagazine now!

Clickbank Code Un-Review Plus Sneak Peak

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I came across a sales letter today that had a lot of sales page errors in it — so I created a video to show you why it’s important to do your research before you buy an internet marketing product from a self-proclaimed “guru.”

In addition, hopefully this sales letter mistakes video will show you what NOT to do when you create your own sales pages!

Post from: Arvada Yates at iMarketingWatch.com

If you'd like to get more answers to your online business and internet marketing questions, subscribe to Answers eMagazine now!

Sales Letter Mistakes Video

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Let’s face it, sometimes the really important part of a YouTube video that you want to share is somewhere in the middle… And who wants to waste time wading through an entire video to get to the really good stuff?

Well, there’s a really easy way to link directly to the middle of a YouTube Video within your website or blog.

All you have to do is add the following code to the end of the video URL:

#t=1m33s

This is basically saying that you want to link to a video at 1 minute (1m) and 33 seconds (33s) in.

That means that a video link would look something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ww1G-ZeYbw#t=1m33s

So here’s an example from my latest video, How to Ping Your Blog to Generate More Traffic. If you click on the link below, you’ll go right to the video on YouTube and the video will start at one minute and thirty three seconds in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ww1G-ZeYbw#t=1m33s

The only thing that’s kind of bad about doing this is that you can’t embed the video in your blog or website and rig it to play at the specified time.  I’ve been playing with it and can’t figure out a way to do it.

That means that you’re sending your visitors away from your website when you show them a clip… never a particularly good idea to send visitors away.

Still, there may be times when it’s very useful to know how to do this!  Enjoy!

Post from: Arvada Yates at iMarketingWatch.com

If you'd like to get more answers to your online business and internet marketing questions, subscribe to Answers eMagazine now!

How to Link to the Middle of a YouTube Video

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To a lot of people, ping your blog is like speaking a foreign language.  In fact, the whole idea of pinging anything is a little bit weird to a lot of people

So that’s why I created a short video to explain what pinging your blog means and how to set up your Wordpress blog to take care of the whole thing for you automatically.

After you watch the video, you may be interested in getting a list of all the ping services that are out there.  It’s a constantly changing list.  Some services go under, while others change their URL’s to keep up with the changes in technology.

For the most part, you really only need to use a few of the ping services in order to get the majority of the ones in existence because many of the big services inform the smaller ones as part of their ping.  (Hopefully that made some sense!)

Pingomatic is the largest of the ping services and automatically pings many others, so you should be sure to include that URL along with a few others to reach the majority of services.  Here’s my short list:

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://ping.myblog.jp
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://bblog.com/ping.php

If you have any kind of special interests that are outside of the normal blogging sphere, you may want to do a search for your topic + ping service to add those URL’s to your update services.

And if you’re looking for the long list, here’s pretty good one… but I can’t warrant that it won’t go out of date.  URL’s tend to change frequently.

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://1470.net/api/ping
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.feedster.com/ping.php
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://bblog.com/ping.php
http://bitacoras.net/ping
http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
http://blogmatcher.com/u.php
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt
https://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/pingPodcast
http://ping.amagle.com/
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc/
http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://ping.weblogs.se/
http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/
http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.britblog.com/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.newsgator.com/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.tailrank.com/feedburner/RPC2
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://rpc.wpkeys.com/
http://services.newsgator.com/ngws/xmlrpcping.aspx
http://signup.alerts.msn.com/alerts-PREP/submitPingExtended.doz
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.blogoole.com/ping/
http://www.blogoon.net/ping/
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1
http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://www.holycowdude.com/rpc/ping/
http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/
http://www.imblogs.net/ping/
http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php
http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud
http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php
http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2
http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/
http://xmlrpc.blogg.de

Post from: Arvada Yates at iMarketingWatch.com

If you'd like to get more answers to your online business and internet marketing questions, subscribe to Answers eMagazine now!

Ping Your Blog

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You probably never really thought about all the pre-selling tools that are available to today’s online entrepreneur, but technology makes it possible to connect with your potential customers in tons of new ways!

I’ve written about what pre-selling is before, so I won’t go into the details again.  Here’s a short definition to make sure we’re all on the same sheet of music:

In the online world, pre-selling is the art of warming up your visitors, building trust, and putting them in the frame of mind that they want to do business with you.

If you need a more in depth explaination, check out the article, “What is Pre-Selling?”

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s start talking about the actual tools you can use to pre-sell your visitors and turn them into customers.

Of course you already know that basic written content is one of the best pre-sellers.  In fact, you probably already write and distribute articles, load your website up with relevant content, and send your content out in a newsletter.  That’s kind of the “standard internet marketing” that everyone does.

So let’s think out of the box a bit and take a look at some of the pre-selling tools that you may not be fully utilizing…

Pre-Selling Tools

1.  Blogs

Well-done blogs go beyond the basic website and take pre-selling a little more seriously.  Generally speaking, blogs show a little more of the personality of the owner than websites do because they’re less formal, more spontaneous, and friendlier.

When you visit some blogs, you feel like you’ve entered the inner sanctum of the writer… this can be a great pre-seller when it’s done correctly!  A great blog that welcomes visitors with a smile can go a long way toward turning visitors into customers.

2. Reviews

It surprises me how few people take advantage of the great pre-selling power of writing reviews.  Keep in mind that I’m not talking about the kind of candy-coated reviews that claim every product is excellent and worth buying or the bogus reviews pre-written by merchants for affiliates.

I’m talking about buying a product and writing a genuine review of what you liked and didn’t like about the product.  Believe it or not, I often sell more of a product when I write a less than stellar review!

People appreciate and reward honesty.

3.  Commenting

I kind of lumped this one all together to mean several different things so this article wouldn’t be soooo long.

Any time you leave a comment on someone’s blog, on a forum, in a message board, at YouTube, etc., you are pre-selling youreself.  It pays to make your comments useful and timely because visitors will often follow the links in those comments to learn more about you.

It’s kind of like pre-selling them on YOU, inviting them to your little part of the world (your website), and then using other pre-selling tools at your disposal to pre-sell them on products that you promote.

4.  Newsletters and Ezines

Newsletters and ezines are a really great pre-selling tool because they give you the opportunity to build rapport with potential customers over the long term.  This long-term relationship with your subscribers allows you to pre-sell them on a wide variety of products and services over the lifetime of the relationship.

5.  Freebies

There are soooo many freebies that you can put together to pre-sell whatever you want to recommend to your visitors.  You can create ebooks, audios, videos, reports, ecourses, or just about any other freebie that you can think of.  Each free product that you create helps to establish a relationship with potential customers and increases your pre-selling potential.

6.  Podcasts

Podcasts are a great way to instantly build rapport with potential customers and establish an immediate relationship.  There’s just something about hearing another human voice, no matter what they’re saying, that establishes an immediate connection.  All you need to do to use this great pre-selling tool is to provide great information.

Just remember, it’s not a radio commercial!

7.  Videos

Just like podcasts, videos are also a great pre-selling tool.  Not only can visitors hear your voice as you’re helping them solve a problem (that ultimately leads to a product available for purchase), but they can also see either you or your visual props in the video to help solidify the message in their minds.

In addition, well-done videos go a long way toward promoting you as a professional who is credible… all worthy goals when you’re pre-selling!

8.  Social Networks

This is probably the most important pre-selling tool in your toolbox because of the very nature of a social network.  Pre-selling and social networks fit together like hand and glove.

In a social network like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, or Twitter you’re building a social relationship with others online… the very definition of pre-selling.  In other words, you become friends with others through these social networks, pre-sell them your products, and your “friends” buy the products that you’re pre-selling because you have an established relationship with them.

And that’s my short list of the best pre-selling tools available to online entrepreneurs.  If you aren’t taking advantage of these options, you really owe it to yourself to start taking a look at how you can integrate some of these pre-selling opportunities into your business… especially social networks.

If I’ve missed a really great pre-selling tool here, I hope you’ll let me know!

I can virtually guarantee your pre-selling success
with this one tool… read more.

Post from: Arvada Yates at iMarketingWatch.com

If you'd like to get more answers to your online business and internet marketing questions, subscribe to Answers eMagazine now!

Do You Use These Pre-Selling Tools?

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Recently I received this question from the Ask Arvada Question Line:

“How do you make an ebook from your own PC?”

I figured a video was worth a thousand words… so I created the video below to show you how it works step-by-step:

The Steps…

In the video I assumed that you would want to create an ebook that was in PDF format… which I highly recommend. PDF files can be read on any kind of computer, the reader is free and usually already installed on most computers, and it’s a format that most people are used to using.

Here are the steps that I lay out in the video for those who don’t want to actually watch it:

1. Create your ebook in Microsoft Word.
2. Print your document to Cute PDF Writer.  This is the program I use and I love it.
3. Open up Cute PDF and add your links and other enhancements.
4. Save your changes to the PDF file.
5. Open you ebook up in Adobe Reader and make sure it looks the way you want it to.
6. If you want to make changes, go back to Cute PDF and make the changes.
7. Get your ebook out there!

The whole process is surprisingly quick and easy.

If you have a program that you think is better than Cute PDF, please let me know.  I’m always interested in new and better products that make my life easier!

Post from: Arvada Yates at iMarketingWatch.com

If you'd like to get more answers to your online business and internet marketing questions, subscribe to Answers eMagazine now!

How To Create An eBook From Your PC

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I found someone who actually took the time to explain exactly how you can save YouTube videos on your own computer without installing any kind of software.

Okay, I know what you’re thinking… why in the world would I want to save a silly YouTube video?

For your Swipe File of course!

There are all kind of really good videos people put together that you can use as the inspiration for your own videos.  And the best part is that putting YouTube videos in your own personal swipe file is sooo easy.  Here’s the post that shows you how:

Save YouTube Videos

Quick and easy… just the way I like it!

Post from: Arvada Yates at iMarketingWatch.com

If you'd like to get more answers to your online business and internet marketing questions, subscribe to Answers eMagazine now!

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Complete hype.  You now that, but that’s what got my attention in the first place when I was browsing the Warrior Forum yesterday.

So of course I clicked on the forum post and found out that the post was meant to be sarcastic.  Then I started reading the responses from other Warriors and was completely appalled with the lack of integrity of some of the posters.  The video below is my rant on the subject:

And here is the Podcast of the video (so you can take it to the gym or something instead of being tied to the computer! )

And for those who don’t like audio/video (or the sound of my voice totally annoys you), here’s a rundown of what I had to say:

1.  If you want to make money online, you probably shouldn’t be in the internet marketing niche.

Internet marketing is used in every niche to promote websites, you don’t have to promote internet marketing in order to USE internet marketing.  In fact, every business on and off line is actually in the business of marketing, whether they realize it or not.

In my opinion, it’s much better to be a big fish in a small pond by applying yourself to a small niche rather than being a tiny fish in an ocean of competition… as you are in the internet marketing niche.

Real money is made online by everyday people who find a niche, completely dominate that niche, monetize that niche, profit from that niche, and then move on to a new niche and do the same thing over and over and over again.

2.  Long term income and longevity online comes from being original.

It’s not okay to copy other ebooks and rehash them to make your own product… but you can use other’s work as the inspiration for your own original products.

Rehashing old ebooks isn’t working as well for “gurus” as it used to because the online community is finally starting to wise up.  No one wants to pay $50, $60, $100 for a twenty page report that contains the same information that they could find online with a little searching.

3.  You can’t just throw in the towel when it gets tough!

If what you’re doing isn’t working, you’ve got to track it, analyze it, research it, study it, until you figure out why.  It just doesn’t make sense to repeatedly throw in the towel, start over, and move to something else when you don’t immediately make thousands of dollars online.

Proactive Steps You Can Take:

1. Track and analyze everything on your website so you can determine what’s working and what isn’t for your business.

2. Master a marketing strategy before you move on to another one. In article marketing, for example, you wouldn’t do five or six articles and then move on.  You’d need to do hundreds of articles over months before you could say that that marketing method doesn’t work for you.

3.  Realize that earning substantial revenue online takes time.

4.  Don’t be schizophrenic with your business. Make a plan, stick to your plan, and be consistent with your marketing.  You can’t jump around from idea to idea… you need to focus on one goal at a time.

5.  Find a mentor. Mentors can be extremely helpful in helping you fix whatever might be broken in your business.  In addition, if you can find a mentor in your niche you may be able to piggy back off them and become successful more quickly.

6.  Believe in yourself and don’t let yourself get negative. The world is full of people who try something for a week, claim it doesn’t work, and then tell everyone who will listen that the idea is crap.

Don’t let yourself become one of those people.  Those kinds of people spend their entire lives being victims and blaming others for why they aren’t happy and successful.  Life’s too short for that!

So that’s my big rant for today… what do you think?

Post from: Arvada Yates at iMarketingWatch.com

If you'd like to get more answers to your online business and internet marketing questions, subscribe to Answers eMagazine now!

“I know the secret to internet marketing!”

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