LoudMac | Brian McLeod

Membership Site Overnight | Create Niche Membership Sites!

2008-12-24T17:57:00.002-05:00

If you've been thinking about starting your own membership site or continuity program but worry that it's too hard, too time-consuming, or just flat out too much work, you are in luck.

MembershipSiteOvernight.com makes it EASY!

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Apple really screwed the pooch on this one...

2008-12-19T20:21:00.003-05:00

I have been an Apple Computer customer and fan for the better part of twenty years.

Anybody who's been using Macs that long has surely found themselves scratching their heads about a thing or two along the way. Whatever. Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette.

All the same, Apple taking such a public dump on Macworld -- the veritable heart of Mac mania -- is remarkable enough to warrant this post.

The title links to a blog post on ZDNet that sums it up pretty well, IMO.

WTF?

Don Fleece is DEAD...

2008-12-14T02:56:00.001-05:00

Traffic Mysteries 2.0 - The Most Important Web Traffic Course Ever?

2008-12-12T14:06:00.001-05:00

I was recently tasked with creating the pre-launch video for Don Fleece's Traffic Mysteries 2.0.

I had NO idea what a FIRESTORM of controversy would erupt in the wake. Within hours of posting the video there was heated debate amongst some of the most influential marketers online.

See for yourself here: http://TrafficMysteries.biz

Instant Market Feedback: Ask500People.com

2008-10-05T23:32:00.004-04:00

By now, you surely agree that it's never been faster or easier to get yourself some instantaneous market feedback.

For many of us, PPC has always been a fast and cost effective way to measure new markets and test ideas.

Ask500People.com is a completely free and incredibly slick and easy to use user-generated opinion research site - somewhere between Yahoo Answers and Digg.

It's easier seen that explained.

Here's the link - Ask500People.com Instant Survey Tool

Check it out.

Doing Business In the "Culture Of Victimization"

2008-07-21T13:02:00.006-04:00

A growing undercurrent online is producing a wave of unreasonable demands which are very unhealthy to the overall marketplace, IMO.

The syndrome begins with a bizarre sense of entitlement exhibited by a customer or prospect and almost inevitably winds up with the words "rip-off", "scam", and the emotionally charged favorite, "victim" being hurled around and posted all over the web.

It truly IS a "Culture of Victimization" at work, and it is aggregated, propped up, radicalized and turbocharged by the unprecedented monetization of consumer advocacy.

Profiteering under the guise of "protecting consumers" is the scammiest scam of all time, and yet it flies right under the radar of righteous indignation every time.

No one likes being taken advantage of. Especially when you put so much trust in others to do the right thing...

Right now, you might think I was referring to consumers above - WRONG...

I was talking about business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers who are falsely and maliciously targeted with concerted public smear campaigns with the singular purpose of damaging their reputation combined with coordinated complaint sprees to regulatory agency and consumer groups - all because some customer goes bonkers.

It's a very, very serious problem.

At best, a business attacked in this way has 2 options, neither of which are good:

1) Ignore or purge, then maintain an ongoing damage control process
2) Litigate and spend a bunch of money you'll never recover because a turnip yields no blood.

Brand & Reputation Management have never been so crucial because the cavalry is NOT coming...

Selling More When "Business is really down..."

2008-07-18T14:08:00.002-04:00

This is a quick post about what to do when your customers or prospects blame the current economic downturn for poor sales. Typically, this comes in the form of an objection to your offer.

What's a marketer to do in the face of this looming economic uncertainty?

Simple...

You go back and dig down deeply into your existing resources then pluck out a brand new revenue stream - that's what...

If you have a "dead" file of leads that never converted, you have money in there...

If you have an old product or service that's almost reached the end of its useful life, you have money in there...

If you marketing collateral that has not been repurposed fully, you have money in there...

Change your approach, and you'll change your outcome. Keep throwing money at it the way you always have and you're in for a disappointment.

Try and move your expensive marketing processes (bulky direct mail pieces & expensive information collateral, lead-gen telemarketing, etc.) into more automated and cost-leveraged channels (email and autoresponder marketing, downloadable PDF's and streaming rich media, etc.).

Call it hedging your bet. Call it stretching your dollar.

Call it whatever you want...

The result is lower cost per sale and returning some of that "lost" revenue, using what you're already paid for and have available to you immediately.

I am certain that if you spend the next 5 minutes creating a list of all of your marketing resources, you'll have an "AHA!" moment...

Give it a try!

Why Are A Wise Man And A Wise Guy Opposites?

2008-07-01T23:12:00.002-04:00

Will Long Sales Letters Ever Die?

2008-06-28T11:46:00.001-04:00

Long Copy versus Short Copy - The Battle Immortal... It's like the Mac versus PC debate for copywriting... Read my special report and see why Long Copy will never die...

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Hiding Your Forced Continuities In Plain View

2008-06-25T22:16:00.002-04:00

Continuities are the flavor of the month in Internet Marketing circles at the moment.

Consequently, we've all seen a wave of emotionally charged discussions about the concept, as if continuities were a new discovery.

Nothing could be further from the truth...

Mostly, the uproar surrounds "hidden" or "forced" continuities - as in "I didn't know I was going to be charged..." or "The ____ was supposed to be free, but if I have to sign up for $39 a month to get it, then that's NOT FREE...".

Affiliates focusing too much on the freebies and marketers under-representing the "catch" seems to be the recurring theme where most of the major griping is concerned.

Fortunately or unfortunately (depending upon which side of the fence you market to) The Great Continuity Debate appears to be largely restricted to "marketers marketing to marketers".

Whatever your business niche might be, you should not let cynicism or clumsy sales practices discourage you from considering how continuities can exponentially increase your profits.

Continuities are an age-old and fundamental component of many, many marketing models - particularly in direct response television (infomercials) and household or consumer products.

How many times have YOU seen the spots on TV or in your weekly Parade insert in the Sunday paper where you buy the widget for cheap and then have to buy the stuff that makes it work on an ongoing (continual) basis.

The Swiffer is just such a continuity product. If you never buy the little rectangle wipes and bottles of cleaning juice, it's worthless to you (and to J&J).

NetFlix is a continuity service. Try it for a month for free then pay $20 a month. Simple.

Gevalia Coffee... The new Gillette razor handle that they just mailed me for free but only comes with one blade. All of these are examples of continuity products and none elicit the kind of mistrust or negativity seen in the "make money online" market.

Just think about how many continuities you encounter in every facet of your daily life - they are everywhere. So, don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Done properly, continuities are like nitro for your cash flow.

Here's where most marketers royally screw the pooch with continuity offers and bring down upon themselves a world of hurt:

1) Not properly disclosing the terms of the offer
2) Focusing solely on the freebie and not the back-end or continuity itself
3) Mishandling or failing to honor refund requests properly

Here's some tips on doing continuities the "right" way:

1) Make the buyer decide that they NEED the continuity, not try to get around it just to get the freebie.
2) Be absolutely explicit about the offer -– build the continuity INTO the offer, don't bury it.
3) Leverage the continuity to introduce related products/services and build community.

As always, I'd love to hear your take on the issue...

Psystar FrankenMac Is Back In The News

2008-06-24T12:16:00.009-04:00

A few months ago, a tiny little company called Psystar that just so happens to be based in a suburban Miami neighborhood right around the corner from my house created a HUGE national buzz by offering their own very inexpensive PC tower for around $500.

While that's hardly news by anyone's measure - what was different was that these guys were pre-installing MacOS X using some workarounds to circumvent Apple's restrictions for their operating system to run only on the PC compatible hardware that Apple manufactures.

The tiny little company was HAMMERED in the media for being a scam, for not being a legitimate business, on and on. Well, they're back in the news again on CNET and the results are going to surprise a lot of people it seems.

AMAZING DISCOVERY: Mystery Language Decoded!

2008-06-21T19:02:00.002-04:00

RapidWeaver 4.0 - The XsitePro for Macs

2008-06-20T16:12:00.004-04:00

If you're wishing you had a PC so you could run XsitePro, I have very good news for you. RealMacSoftware publishes a fantastic website creator of the same ilk called RapidWeaver.

I've been using RapidWeaver for about a year and, while it took small adjustment to the encapsulated method of creating and formatting websites, overall it is a GOD SEND.

Visit RealMacSoftware.com to learn more.