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.

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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!

Online business owners often feel that they have to do everything themselves in order to make money online.  The reality, what they really need to learn is what tasks they need to accomplish themselves and what tasks they should outsource.

Trying to do everything yourself actually prevents you from making money in your online business.

Although it may be a little scary at first, outsourcing less important tasks is really important to your online success.  That’s why I’ve put together a list of the top 3 reasons why online businesses should outsource.

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It should be no surprise to you that the best way to learn about internet marketing is to watch and learn from what others do… this is where the swipe file comes in.  A swipe file is simply a file or collection of marketing messages, headlines, techniques, etc. Essentially, whenever you see an example of great marketing you add it to your marketing collection.

Before The Internet

Before the internet, a swipe file would contain a bunch of direct mail marketing pieces, newspaper ads, postcards, etc. all kept in a box or file folder.

Today you can still have a file folder full of those kinds of things, but you should also consider starting a digital collection where you can put great examples of email marketing, ezine ads, headlines, digital sales letters, etc.

You can even put an expert’s entire profit funnel in your swipe file if you watch them long enough.

Some of the best marketing messages that I’ve seen were only presented in an online format… especially sales letters!

I have my own digital swipe file where I save email messages, article resource boxes, sales letters, great headlines, and other promotional materials that I think are really good.

I keep my digital swipe files on thumb drives.

Remember, a great marketing piece doesn’t have to relate directly to your chosen market to be useful to you… so save any marketing piece that works, regardless of the product.

No Copying!

A Swipe File IS NOT For Copying.

Before you get the wrong idea here… keep in mind that a swipe file is not intended to be a file where you store materials that you are going to copy later.   That would be a HUGE no no.

You should think of a swipe file as a place to store materials that you can use later to generate your own marketing ideas and strategies.

Thumbing through a collection of marketing materials will likely bring on a flood of ideas for how you can position, write about, or promote your own product… and that’s why you should create your own collection! Remember, you’re just looking for inspiration.

Don’t just save the materials from the big companies either… some of them use terrible promotional materials!

In fact, you’ll find some of the best marketing and promotional materials are written by little known people who have really taken their time on each and every piece.

You’ll also find a lot of great marketing fodder by watching what the ‘gurus’ do.  Some of them are very, very good at what they do… that’s why we think of them as ‘gurus!’

By The Way…

If you’re really interested in simply copying other people’s campaigns and using them, you really should check out CopyNProfit.  I haven’t tried it myself yet (although I plan to review it in the near future), but it seems to be getting really good reviews.

If you’ve already tried it, I hope you’ll take the time to post your comments about the program so others can benefit.

Your headline is a critical component of any marketing piece you create, whether it’s a sales letter, brochure, article, or anything else you use to promote your business.  That’s why it worth spending some time working out the perfect headline for your promotion.  After all:

• A headline must capture the attention of your prospect.
• A headline must tell your prospect what’s in it for him.
• A headline must deliver a complete, immediately understandable message.
• A headline must pull the prospect into the copy… compelling him to keep reading.

In essence, a headline should motivate your prospect to respond.

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Ch…ch…ch…changes! As you have probably noticed, iMarketingWatch.com has a completely new look!

Although several people warned me not to change our look and feel when the blog is soooo new, I just had to do it. I never liked the stuffy corporate/business feel of the old layout… it just wasn’t me.

I wanted something that more accurately captured my personality, showed a little energy, and looked sharp at the same time. Hopefully I’ve managed to accomplish all of that!

Advice I Received…

It really surprised me the other day when I received several comments on Twitter that blog skins and themes really don’t matter. Here’s one comment:

“I spend a lot of time on themes, yet I’m not sure it always matters. Content first baby!”

Although I agree that content is definitely first in a blog, I still think the overall look and feel is important too. In my experience on other blogs and websites, the look and feel of the website contributes significantly to the ROI and conversion rate. In addition, it helps to brand you in your niche, gives your website a distinct personality, and encourages repeat visitors… and who doesn’t want that.

Believe it or not, I had someone else on Twitter suggest that I should just find a blog I liked and copy it!

Obviously, I didn’t follow that one… this blog is completely custom.

More Planned For The Future…

I’ve got lots of plans for the future of this blog… but I’m trying to take it one step at a time, think before I leap into new things here, and take my time to develop it. I’d really like to make this much more of a visitor driven blog. In other words, I’d like to add features you want, add content you’re looking for, and provide the information you really want.

So let me know what you think about the changes I’ve made so far and feel free to tell me what you’d like to see in the future.

I look forward to hearing from you!