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August 1, 2003 
(c)Copyright Jeff Smith 2003
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Update From Jeff Hello again everyone, and welcome to all of our new subscribers. Advanced Warning! This is going to be a different issue today. It's been a rough week. Those of you who have lost people close to you will understand the focus of this issue. You see this week saw the final chapter to a very wonderful person - the wife of a very good friend of mine, someone I attended school with back almost 30-years ago, and most important - a mother of 2 beautiful children. Things like this shouldn't happen to anyone - let alone someone so young (she was 35) - at the prime of her life, when her children were such a big part of her life, and she theirs. After struggling with making sense of it all - some things you have to just let go of, deal with and move on. My very good friend now must fight through the incredible pain, the exhaustion of struggling through a long battle, take on the challenge of raising two children and carry on with life. I came across today's article and felt it was a fitting summary of how we all will face challenges in our life - business, health, relationships, finances, emotional, physical -- and yet we MUST move on. I would like to thank you all for letting me get this out of my system this week and I hope it helps you deal with whatever challenges you may have in your life right now. I was concerned this will be too negative for many of you to handle, but after writing and reading the article I included below - I think you will agree - life's challenges ALWAYS make us stronger in spirit. You will also find a very interesting interview with David Brown of http://www.invisible-popups.com/ who has released an Amazing software tool that invisibly links any visitors you send to a web page with the affiliate link to the product of your choice. That means, you can take one of the more popular affiliate programs and have every one of your visitors automatically, and invisibly tagged as YOUR referral so that if they purchase products, you will get the commission. David is an incredible, creative and capable software developer - he's moving on to other projects and intends to limit his product to ONLY 100 customers. It's an interesting read - check out the interview. Jeff jeff@infoproductcreator.com
Picking Up The Pieces of Your Life!by Caroline Jalango You know the feeling too well, you feel tired of everything, overwhelmed and helpless. You may be going through such trying times, you feel blinded. The feeling you have is almost like falling into a deep, dark bottomless pit or a deep slippery hole with no grip to support or help you up. You think you are walking on solid ground but before you know it, the ground gives way and you are slipping and tumbling. You have had enough of this roller coaster and now you want to get back on your feet and STAND strong. If you want to pick up the pieces of your life and move on, here are 7 tips to help you get started. 7 tips to help you get back on your feet.
1.Just be still If you just can’t seem to think straight and your mind is crowded with conflicting thoughts or questions whose answers you can’t provide...then its time to be still! There is amazing strength in stillness. Sometimes you just need to quiet yourself, be still in the moment and just be stuck. Why? Because you may not yet know what to do or you may not be in a state of mind to make decisions to take the next step. 2. Pray If ever there was a time to pray, this is it. Prayer changes things and belief in God can and will hold you up in such an amazing way when nothing else seems to work. Prayer has the power to give you a supernatural resolve to face a new day with hope for a better future. Prayer also calms you down, alleviates the stress and helps you see things more clearly. 3. Make a commitment to survive. If you seriously want to pick up the pieces of your life, you have to commit to the process of getting your life together and dedicate yourself to making it happen. Commitment means making a personal decision to vouch for your success and work for a better, healthier and well rounded you. It also means not surrendering to self-sabotaging attitudes, thoughts and habits that choke your will to pick up the pieces of your life. 4. Envision your future. As difficult as it may be, begin to work on picking up your life and to envision a brighter, victorious and successful future for yourself. See yourself overcoming the situation that you are facing and you surely will. See yourself surviving and you surely will. See yourself winning the game and you surely will! 5.Talk to someone. Don’t be afraid to share your feelings with people who you can trust. People want to help you and support you. A word of comfort, a reassuring hug or an appropriate piece of advice may be just what you need. Reach out to someone you trust and talk about how you are feeling, do not keep it all inside. Confide in trusted friends and family. Let out all the pain and the loss. It’s okay to cry and then begin to see life beyond the tears. 6. Get support. Get support from a coach, therapist, counselor, and friends if any. Join a support group, or a church group. People who are committed to your overall well being and progress will boost not only your morale but also restore your confidence and strength for survival. 7. Count your blessings. This may be a difficult thing to do, but the truth is that, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, there is always someone or something we are grateful for in bad times. Things could really be bad, but in the midst of that, blessings still abound. Dwell on those things that make you glad that you are still alive and not alone.
About the Author
"Making Money From Nothing....Creator of Invisible PopUps"Special Interview Excerpt - David Brown Today Still struggling with your product ideas? Find out from David Brown, creator of Invisible PopUps just how easy it really can be. David found a need, and solved it by creating a unique spin on a relatively old technology -- the dreaded popup -- to create a RED-HOT demand product. David's story of being unsuccessful creating products he wanted to create, followed by letting the market guide his Invisible PopUps product is a textbook example of taking the "guesswork" out of profiting from your own products. Did you know... Every issue of this newsletter, for the last year includes a blockbuster interview excerpt from some of the biggest names in online marketing. If you've missed some of our past POWER Interviews with the experts, then you'll want to hear what Joe Vitale, Yanik Silver, Marc Goldman, Damon Zahariades, Willie Crawford and many others are doing to create, and grow their own Infoproduct Empires. Check out our archives right here... http://www.infoproductcreator.com/ezine1.html Now, for this week's interview excerpt! Jeff [Question] Dave - thank you for agreeing to share your insights into creating and marketing your own products online. If you could, please take a few paragraphs to introduce yourself, your background and how you got your start marketing your own products online? David Brown [Answer] Jeff, thanks so much for inviting me to do this. To be honest, I'm STILL getting started marketing my own products online. But let me back up a bit and give you a little background. I never perceived the potential of marketing products online until October/November of 2002. Prior to that, I spent several years working with monkeys and apes in research laboratories (teaching them to use computers and such), in graduate school part of the time. Then in 2001, I dropped out of grad school (who needs a Ph.D. anyway?) and tried to get a job in the real world. Well, that was just at the time of the dot bomb, and there were no jobs. I spent 14 months job hunting, without a single interview. That taught me the importance of being self sufficient. That's when I realized I needed to get beyond the point of *needing* a job. I spent about another year seeking my path to independence before discovering the wondrous possibilities of internet marketing. That was about 9 months ago now. Since then I've been reading a lot of ezines and ebooks and experimenting to find out what will work for me. I've had some success with affiliate marketing. But I've created a couple of my own information products as well that failed miserably. And I understood why each time. Invisible Popups is my first successful product, and it helped that I had some learning experiences before that. My very first information product was a guide to web hosting services. I think it was a useful product, but not a good thing to try and sell. I finally wised up and decided to give it away for free. Anyone who wants a copy can get it at http://www.discountwebmarketing.com/webhosts/js.html Please forgive the web site. It was my very first one. Jeff [Question] You have an incredible new product that is hitting the market by storm called Invisible Popups. Where did the idea come from for that product and how did you know there would be a signficant demand for such a product? David Brown [Answer] Well, to tell you the truth, I wasn't entirely certain if there would be a good demand for it. There's nothing else quite like it on the market, and that can be very good or very bad. But I did enough research to believe that some people would be interested. The idea probably originated from reading internet marketing forums. I believe you mention forums as a great place to generate ideas in your Ultimate Information Entrepreneur's Idea Guidebook. I kept seeing discussions about how to protect affiliate commissions. At the same time, I had been thinking about what kinds of things I might be able to automate using software. I have some background in software development. So it was natural for me to go that direction. Then one day, an idea finally popped into my head about how to increase commissions. So I went ahead and created some software to automate this idea. And I tried to make sure it was easy enough to use that non-technical people could use it. It really came about from just listening to people talk about their problems. Jeff [Question] What has marketing your own products online meant to your life so far? What levels of sucess have you achieved to this point, and what do you think is possible in the next 1-2 years? David Brown [Answer] Well, since Invisible Popups hit the market, it's meant a crazy whirlwind of activity! But seriously, it means more freedom. And more money to do things that are important to me. And for me, marketing my own products gives me much more potential than just marketing affiliate products. In the 9 months that I've been marketing online, I've managed to build up some passive income for myself. And I'm very grateful for that. But it isn't nearly enough to replace the income from my job. In the next 1-2 years, I plan on being able to leave my job and never go back. Ultimately, my wife and I want to pursue some non-profit work with animals, but we need more time and money to do it. I certainly plan to continue developing more products. I have a few projects I'm working on right now. One of the great things about marketing products on the internet is that you really can see almost instant results. It just usually takes a while to get to that point. Jeff [Question] What series of steps would you recommend our subscribers take if they have an idea for a software product, but don't really have software development skills per se? David Brown [Answer] This is great question, Jeff! I'm glad you asked it. I think they should get in touch with me. ;-) Seriously though, I'm actually planning to write some articles on this very soon. But here are a few tips. First of all, you don't need to be a programmer to develop software. But it does help if you have a good understanding of computers. In fact, even if you know HTML, that will give you a much better understanding of how programming works.The reason I say this is because you have to communicate what you want to a programmer. And programmers often think in different terms than the rest of us. But it isn't necessary to know any programming at all. In a nutshell, here's what's involved in developing some software: 1. You need to write out a very specific description of what you want. You need to know everything that the software will do. You need to have an idea of what the interface will look like (the window that people interact with). What are the different components that make up the interface? What do people need to enter? What will the program produce? Every detail you can think of. 2. Then post a project on one of the freelance sites. I personally use http://www.rentacoder.com . I've gotten great work at great prices. The project description doesn't need to be extremely detailed. Just a general description of what the software will do. Once you get some bids, then you can provide more details to the bidders to narrow down your prospects. 3. In selecting a programmer, you should always check their feedback from previous projects. Always try to hire someone who has done several projects and has no bad feedback. There are exceptions to this rule, but this is a good rule of thumb. 4. When you get a finished product, test, test, test. Test every aspect of it. Try to break it. Have other people test it. Don't be shy about asking the programmer to change things. Even if it's just moving a button on the screen. And don't pay them until you're satisfied. 5. Once you have the software completed, then it's really all about marketing. But make sure you have several people test the software before you release it. You want to find as many problems as you can before it hits the general public. There's really so much more, but I can't go into all the details here. Know this though - you'll have to provide customer support. People always have problems with software. Always. The most important thing, I suppose, is not to feel intimidated. If you have a good idea, give it a try. Jeff [Question] Thank you for taking the time to share your great insights with our readers, let me give you the last word on any new or additional products you may want to mention. If you could also leave us with the top 3 things you would give as advice for someone who is just getting started marketing product online- that would be terrific. David Brown [Answer] Of course, Invisible Popups is my newest product. If anyone is interested in receiving my occasional newsletter, they can sign up at http://www.dave-brown.com/js.html . As I said, I'm planning to publish some articles on developing software products soon. Top 3 things for someone just getting started: 1. DO NOT try to market a product just because you *think* people will like it. Do your research first to determine if there's really a demand. People won't buy something because *you* like it. They'll buy it because *they* like it. And try to limit your investment of time and money until you know there's a demand. 2. Don't be afraid to get in touch with the big names in your market. People are people. They won't all respond to you. But the ones that do can boost your progress tremendously. 3. If you're really serious about making a good income online, then sooner or later you should attend a conference. Conferences have moved me along much faster than if I had just stayed in my home office reading ebooks and forums. 4. There are more than 3 things. Thanks so much for inviting me to participate, Jeff. Editor's Note David will ONLY sell 100 copies of his Invisible PopUps software and then it will be gone forever! You see, seems that some very high traffic sites can cause so much "invisible" hits to affiliate partner websites that David has decided to limit the number copies sold to only 100! There are only 3 poeple in this world that you can get this software from - here's where you can pickup your copy now -- and get your unfair advantage! Click here now to get your 1 in 100 copy!
** Can You Earn A Living Online Selling Other People's Products?" Everyone who knows me understands I think it's important to eventually create at least 1 of your own products to sell online. That said - there are many ways to generate income online...affiliate marketing -- or marketing other people's products is also a great way to bring in extra cash each month. The very best method I've seen so far is outlined in master affiliate marketer James Martell's Affiliate Marketers Handbook. I'll be very honest - this is among the top 3 eBooks I have EVER read on the topic of systems for making money online. It's a mix of beginner and advanced topics that will benefit anyone selling either their own or affiliate products online. I've already started implementing his system - so far my own product sales have gone way up, and entirely new niche-based site using affiliate marketing is on it's way this fall - thanks to James' Method. If you need a roadmap to follow - you won't go wrong following this one. James Martell's Affiliate Management Handbook! ** Finally! Here's How To Dominate Niche Markets It took me all of 10-seconds to know this product will put dollars in my pocket... And I wasn't disappointed! This brand new software INSTANTLY uncovers Niche Markets that you can easily dominate! In just a few minutes I knew the exact keywords that would bring in the most demand, have the fewest number of website competitors, and exactly how many Google Adword and Overture campaigns were running for that campaign. No more guesswork, no more trial and error. This software puts the exact niche markets that are both extremely high demand AND free of competition right in the palm of your hand. Finally! The biggest problem limiting people's success online is solved with this software. I will be using it everyday to plan my products, marketing, headlines, sales letters, Pay-per-click campaigns, search engine optimization and so much more... Check it out here... http://www.infoproductcreator.com/part/adwanalyze/ ** Not Impressed With This "Hot" Product I rarely write negative reviews about a product, but I felt compelled to let you know the good and bad about this one. Everyone seems to be pushing Keyword Site Builder - an automated system costing close to $200 that is supposed to magically create a 30-page site for you with the click of a button. That's the marketing, here's the real scoop! On the good side - this is not a bad keyword density and keyword optimization tool for search engines. It does a good job of following the many ever-evolving rules for where to place keywords, how to place them and how to link sites for maximum search engine attractiveness....BUT... On the not so good side -- 95% of the content was completely useless to my topic (and would be for most I suspect) -- so you save little time there. You must re-write most of the content and yet you have no instructions on why keywords are put where - so you have no idea if you can change it or not. Second - the selection of website design is very limited and...to be quite frank...UGLY. So you are in for professional web design or searching out templates anyway. The user interface to manipulate your page is far less than ideal - it is limited in function and did some pretty wonky things while I was working with it. My advice is that your money would be far better spent understanding the system behind such a tool so that you can design your own pages -- that's why I recommend learning the techniques behind proven successful affiliate marketers such as James Martell. It's the first product I've felt I HAD to return in over 1 year online -- two thumbs down. I'm also very disappointed in some of the biggest, most trusted names online who have chosen to push this product without obviously having used it to generate sites themselves. ** What A GENIUS Online Marketing Tactic! AdInjector Lets You Link Ads To Any File Format This one is way Cool!! Imagine being able to add an entry and/or exit popup to ANY file format - pdf, exe, doc, etc... Imagine giving away thousands of copies of your free eBook, Special Report, Newsletter - etc... and DYNAMICALLY updating the ads they see from your website! Doesn't even have to be an ad - it could be your new way of delivering your newsletter or other multimedia files while getting through the spam filters. Everyone will be using this software soon - you hear it here first... Check it out here... http://www.infoproductcreator.com/part/adinjector/ Have a terrific weekend Always look forward to hearing your feedback! mailto:jeff@infoproductcreator.com Jeff Smith http://www.infoproductcreator.com ATTENTION: There is only one way that you could be receiving this ezine, that is you, or someone using your email address, subscribed. There is no other way of being added to this list. We do not make this list, or your address, available to ANY other companies or individuals. We value your privacy. Although we work hard to make sure that all of the information in the Profit Secrets newsletter is accurately and genuine as possible, neither the publisher, nor the editor assume any responsibility for the accuracy or otherwise of the information presented. By reading this information, the Information Product Profit Secrets reader assumes all responsibility for an inaccuracies or other risks associated with the information within this newsletter. Jeff Smith Editor Online Marketing Secrets Revealed webmaster@inf oproductcreator.com http://www.infoprod uctcreator.com |