Internet Marketing Blog

I know I mentioned CAN-Spam in an earlier post ... but my dear friend, Abbie Drew, wrote a terrific article on the subject ...

"Are You Prepared for CAN-Spam?"
By: Abbie Drew, DEMC Editor


Well, I have great news to report. The federal CAN-Spam Bill
passed through Congress on Tuesday, 12/16/03, and President Bush
signed it into law. The CAN-Spam law became effective on January
1, 2004. This federal law pre-empts all state laws, making them
null and void.


We can put aside our fears about frivolous lawsuits from the
California law and stop worrying about the difficulties of trying
to comply with multiple state requirements. Now we just need to
follow the federal CAN-Spam law. Which fortunately, contains no
ability for individuals to file suits against email marketers.


What the CAN-Spam law does do is provide reasonable guidelines on
how to legally send commercial email. As a permission email
marketer, if your subscribers have double confirmed to receive
your messages, you are well prepared for complying with the law.


Before I review the main points of the law, there are a few
definitions to know. The first term is "affirmative consent"
which means a subscriber has expressly consented to receive your
messages, by taking an action. Currently, it is thought that a
pre-checked box on a form would NOT be deemed as "affirmative
consent."


The second term of importance is "commercial". A commercial
message is one whose primary purpose is to advertise the sale of
a product/service. An ezine whose primary purpose is to
disseminate information, therefore is not considered a commercial
message. Even though the ezine may contain ads if its primary
purpose is news - it is not commercial. Similarly transactional
or confirmation messages are not defined as commercial as they
review what has already been processed.


On the other hand, solo ads for third party advertisers to your
ezine list would be commercial.


Lastly the term "sender" means the persons who initiate the
message and whose product, service, or Internet web site is
advertised or promoted by the message.


The penalties of the CAN-Spam law, fines and/or jail time, occur
if you use abusive practices when sending email. To make sure you
do not accidentally violate the law here are the main points to
consider.


1) Do not falsify header information. Using a fake "From" address
or forging the source of your email messages is strictly
prohibited. Your "From" email address should be a valid, working
address. In addition, you do not want to tamper with the header
of your emails to hide who you are.


2) Do not use deceptive subject lines. You want to make sure the
subject line matches the content of your message. So be careful
with catchy subject lines that might trick people into opening
your message.


3) Do not harvest email addresses or use dictionary attacks to
create addresses. In addition buying addresses which were
obtained through opt out requests is prohibited.


4) Do not hijack resources to send email. Unauthorized relaying
of email or sending out your email broadcasts through 3rd party
machines without consent is prohibited.


5) Commercial email must have a working unsubscribe process.
Either a web link or return email address are acceptable for
unsubscribing. You have 10 business days to process
removal requests.


6) Senders of commercial email must honor removal requests. The
definition for "Sender" should be noted here. If you are sending
solo emailings for a 3rd party advertiser to your ezine list,
that advertiser as well as you are "senders". Therefore, you
should supply your advertiser upon completion of the emailing a
list of the "unsub" requests. Those "unsub" addresses should be
stored by the advertiser, as that advertiser must honor those
requests for no future mailings - even when sending to other
lists.


As the solo email advertiser, you'll want to ask for the "unsub"
addresses after any broadcast you send. Keep a database of these
"unsubs" and before emailing to any list have the list owner
eliminate any "unsubs" in your database from his/her list.


7) Include a valid physical postal address. Commercial email
messages are required to have either a postal street address or
PO box listed in the message.


8) Clear and conspicuous labeling as commercial. All commercial
email messages should be identified as an advertisement or
solicitation. This notification does not have to be in the
subject line. The notice simply has to be in the body of the
message and be an obvious label. (Exact wording and placement
were not specified.)


If a subscriber has given "affirmative consent" to receive
"commercial" email messages from a "sender" then it is not
necessary to label the message as an advertisement or
solicitation.


9) Clear and conspicuous labeling as sexually oriented. All email
messages containing sexually oriented material must be labeled as
such in the Subject line. The FTC will be supplying the label.


Again, subscribers that have given "affirmative consent" to
receive sexually oriented email messages do not need to have
their messages labeled as such.


As you can see from these highlights, it should not be difficult
to follow the CAN-Spam law. If you'd like to review the full text
of the law you can do so online at -
http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html .


The important points of consideration for permission email
marketers are keeping an updated unsubscribe list and proper
labeling of your messages. You might wonder - if an ezine has
been deemed to be non-commercial should you follow the
specifications for commercial email, such as including an
unsubscribe link and listing your postal address? My
recommendation is yes.


In reality the law does not prohibit the sending of unsolicited
commercial email. So you can email lots of ads to individuals who
have not given you permission, but I would not begin this
promotional tactic.


The wise course of action is to continue to follow best emailing
practices. This means getting double confirmation from
subscribers and having your ezine comply with the commercial
email regulations in the CAN-Spam law. Why should you take these
precautions?


Filters and ISPs have been affecting the delivery of our email,
not laws. The CAN-Spam law does not change the situation. In
fact, ISPs and email program filters are likely to become even
more strict with the email that actually gets delivered.


I expect with this new legitimization of commercial email, for a
time, there is going to be even more email competing for
attention in readers' in-boxes. To combat this, as we've already
seen, more and more people are demanding email filters control
the flow. Soon every email address will be protected by filters.


The only way for permission email marketers and publishers to get
our messages through, will be to have our "From" address "white
listed" by our subscribers. Without being "white listed" it's
unlikely our emails will be seen or read.


Of course to get your subscribers to "white list" you and to stay
"white listed" you are going to have to deliver great, targeted
content. And with the passage of the CAN-Spam law we can focus on
doing just that, providing the information our subscribers want.
We can continue to build our lists, develop relationships and
sell products/services to our readers. Yes, email marketing is
here to stay!


###


Originally published in DEMC E-Magazine - The ezine which
improves your small business' profitability through permission
email marketing. Discover how to make more money with less effort
by harnessing the power of email. Visit http://www.demc.com
to get your free subscription.

Mike "featured contributor for DEMC" Merz

Performing a link popularity check is one of the best ways to quantifiably and independently measure your website's online awareness and overall visibility. Simply put, link popularity refers to the total number of links or "votes" that a search engine has found for your website.

To download Jeff Alderson's free link popularity checker (in .exe format), click here.

Mike

Joining one or more of the better known Business Networking sites, like Ryze.com, is a great way to gain exposure for yourself, your business, and wares, while at the same time building a contact list of like minded individuals for potential joint ventures, and other business related interaction.

In addition to Ryze, I recommend Ecademy.

Both are free to join, with upgrades available ... but not necessary.

Mike

Big-ticket high-tech items and discount shopping topped consumers' 'hot' lists along with low-carbohydrate diets heading into 2004, according to the latest study by BIGresearch. Shopping at discount stores was seen as 'hot' by 80 percent of respondents, while 67 percent said so about shopping at dollar stores. Of 9,500 consumers polled, 84 percent said they considered plasma televisions 'hot' in 2004, while 80 percent said the same about picture cell phones.

"Most of today's consumers believe in buying certain merchandise at the lowest prices available, and discount and dollar stores provide ample opportunities to do so," said Gary Drenik, president and CEO of BIGresearch. "At the same time, consumers see value in such cutting-edge luxuries as the picture phone and high-end television sets."

Consumers said discount shopping stores were their first and foremost choice for women's, men's and children's clothing as well as toys and linens. Of those who labeled plasma televisions and picture cell phones as "hot," 28% shop most often for electronics at Best Buy and 23% do so at WalMart. Circuit City ranked third among those buyers at 10%.

Low carbohydrate diets were another 'hot' item among consumers; 72% of consumers thought so, while 28% disagreed. Brightly colored apparel was seen as 'hot' by 53% of those surveyed; 47% disagreed. Brightly colored housewares had 49% of the votes for 'hot' while 51% said no.

Research summary and stats courtesy of BIGresearch.

Mike

W32.Novarg.A@mm is a mass-mailing worm that arrives as an attachment with the file extension .bat, .cmd, .exe, .pif, .scr, or .zip.

When a computer is infected, the worm will set up a backdoor into the system by opening TCP ports 3127 through 3198, which can potentially allow an attacker to connect to the computer and use it as a proxy to gain access to its network resources.

In addition, the backdoor can download and execute arbitrary files.

The worm will perform a Denial of Service (DoS) starting on February 1, 2004. It also has a trigger date to stop spreading on February 12, 2004.

Click here to learn more about 'MyDoom.A', and how to remove it.

Mike

If you're a newsletter/ezine publisher ... or perform any form of optin, commercial email followup, you need to abide by the rules laid down in the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 ...

- Include a valid e-mail return address.
- Have a relevant subject line.
- Include a postal address.
- Offer the ability to unsubscribe & have the request processed within 10 days.

For more on the CAN-SPAM Act, visit:

http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/108s877.html

Mike

One question many have asked me is how to find topics and ideas to base potential ebooks on.

Jimmy D. Brown comes to the rescue, with this article entitled ...

Idea Hangouts: Where to Find Hot Product Ideas to
Use For Creating Your Next Best-Selling eBook

By Jimmy D. Brown of “How to Create Best-Sellers Online”

.........................

46,094.

That’s how many times I’ve been asked “Where can I find
hot product ideas to write about in my next eBook?”

Really. I’ve been keeping count. :o)

OK, so it’s probably not quite that many times, but you get
the idea.

I get asked that question a LOT.

And so, I’ve decided to share my favorite “idea hangouts”.
That’s right … “idea hangouts.” It’s been my experience
that there are specific places where hot product ideas are
always gathered. I call them “idea hangouts.”

*** Idea Hangout #1 ***

One of the “idea hangouts” that I’ve identified is
Amazon.com.

Amazon.com is the web’s largest bookstore.

It’s also a community center for new product ideas. I use
it as one of my top brainstorming resources. Again and
again I visit this site to come up with topics to write
about.

What makes Amazon.com so useful as a research tool for
getting new ideas is their searchable database of books.
There are thousands of great ideas lurking in there if you
just know how to use it.

And that’s what I’m here for. :o)

I’m going to show you how to find hot product ideas with
Amazon.com anytime you want.

It’s really a matter of three simple steps …

STEP 01 : >>> Decide Upon A Broad Category. When
brainstorming ideas, you must begin with a broad category
to work with. Some examples might be: weight loss,
marketing, dating, travel, baseball.

So, you need that ahead of time. Figure out a broad subject
that you know is popular (I.E. You know that losing weight
is ALWAYS going to be a popular subject, as is “making
money.”).

As an example for this article, I’m going to choose GOLF.

STEP 02 : >>> Search Amazon’s Database. After picking
your broad topic to research, it’s time to visit Amazon.com.

Specifically, you’re going to SEARCH their database of
books they are selling.

Upon arriving at their site, locate their SEARCH form. At
the time of this writing, it was in the upper left hand
corner of their main page. Pull the menu down and select
BOOKS from the options.

In the space provided, type in whatever broad category you
chose. I’d type in “Golf”. (You don’t need quotation marks)

If you did indeed start with a broad category, then hundreds
(or even thousands) of book listings should appear as a result
of the search.

STEP 03 : >>> Brainstorm Ideas From The Listings. Let the
brainstorming session begin! Now it’s time to look at the
books that are listed and write down as many possible ideas
as you can find.

Look for the different TYPES of books written about the
subject, identifying different THEMES, STYLES and
SUBCATEGORIES.

Let’s look at an example …

When I searched for “Golf”, I was able to immediately spot
dozens of great ideas. Here are a handful …

1. Becoming a better golfer. There are many golf books
available in this area, covering everything from “A-Z of Golf
Shots” to specific topics such as “Improving Your Short
Game.” There were lots of different themes from “learning
to break 100” to “shaving 10 shots off your score” to “7
shots that will change your golf game forever.”

2. Guides to Golf Courses. Again, we have many different
ideas here. Specific golf guides like “Florida golfing”,
“golfing in Tennessee” and “golfing the Robert Trent Jones
trail” appear, as well as books on “the best golf courses in
America,” “best kept secrets: great golf courses you’ve
probably never played,” and “golf vacation guides.”

3. Profiting from Golf. More ideas pour in with “opening a
golf repair business,” “becoming a golf retailer,” “learning
how to caddy” and “buying & selling used golf clubs.”
What about “running an online golf auction”, “organizing a
golf tournament for profit” or even “writing information
products about golf!”

4. Golf and Business. There are millions of dollars in
business deals negotiated on the golf course every single
year. And there are books available to teach folks how to get
it done. “How to negotiate business deals during golf
outings,” “Legal golf tax deductions for businesspeople,”
and “business seminars and golf: how to mix training and
fun for maximum profit” are just a few more ideas worth
exploring.

5. Golf Products. My, my, my there are so many ideas
floating around in here! Everything ranging from reviews of
the latest golf equipment to ratings of golf courses to
discounts on golf packages. Resource guides to finding the
best deals on golfing products, how to negotiate discounts,
and how to find the best products for your specific golf game
also come to mind as product ideas.

One Broad Category (Golf)
+ Amazon.com Searchable Database of Books
= 28 Potential Product Ideas

See how easy that was? I found TWENTY-EIGHT potential
new product ideas (and there were MANY MORE that I
didn’t mention in this article) from a simple brainstorming
exercise using ONE “idea hangout.”

There’s got to be a best-seller in that bunch somewhere.
And certainly with a little “mix -n- match” I can come up
with a hit product with these ideas.

Not bad, eh?

So, now it’s YOUR turn. It’s a simple system for coming up
with product ideas anytime you want.

Like right now.

.........................
Jimmy D. Brown is the co-author (with Ryan Deiss) of
“How to Create Best-Sellers Online”. Find out even more
“idea hangouts” and grab 7 F^REE already researched
product ideas at CreateBestSellers.Com

Mike

I picked up the rights to Niche Factors, by Jimmy D. Brown and Ryan Deiss.

Jimmy and Ryan are business partners, and both gentlemen ... I'm proud to say, are friends of mine.

But the reason I picked up the rights to Niche Factors was NOT to line the pockets of my dear, aforementioned friends ... but because I've noticed a sad trend in the Internet Marketing world ... a 'feeding frenzy' of cross promotions ... Internet Marketers solely promoting to other Internet Marketers, when the majority of Online purchases are made OUTSIDE the Internet Marketing 'box'! ... >sigh<.

J & R put together a great little list of strategies ... good enough for me to pull out my PayPal Business CC, and scoff up one of the reseller packages ... because I believe it's going to be a BIG seller, AND it speaks the truth ... in VOLUMES.

Think outside the box, people!

Seek out a niche market, absorb every bit of knowledge you can from it ... make yourself known within it, and stake your claim.

Mike

When promoting affiliate programs, a simple way to avoid showing your affiliate URL to the viewer is to either use cloaking software, like Jimmy D. Brown and Ray McNally's Affiliate Commission Booster, a meta refresh javascript, like the one below:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="refresh" content="2;URL=http://www.yoursite.com/newpage.htm">
<TITLE>Page has moved(/TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
whatever you want to write
</BODY>
</HTML>

(Save the above to HTML file, and name it what you wish ... hopefully, you'll be smart enough to make it enticing to the search engine spiders ... more on that in another post. ;)

The link produced by the above javascript enhanced file will now redirect to your chosen destination (unless the potential recipient has disabled javascript in their browser).

... or use a 301 redirect, if you have your own site ... and access to your host server admin panel.

Why hide the affiliate URL?

For some reason, many visitors avoid clicking on an obvious affiliate link ... why, I don't know, but it's a proven fact they do.

A simple way to hide the URL on a webpage, changing what they see on the status bar on mouseover (when a prospect puts their cursor over it), is to use the following customization to the standard link code:

<A HREF="http://youraffiliatelink" target="new" onMouseOver=" window.status='whattheyseeonstatusbar'; return true" onMouseOut="window.status=' '; return true">linktext</a>

I'll be back with more a bit later ..;)

Much success,

Mike

'Phishing' ... fraudulent email messages with return addresses, links, and branding which appear to come from major Online companies, designed to fool recipients into divulging personal information, are sometimes so authentic in appearance ... that it's estimated nearly 20% of recipients respond to them.

A site was recently recommended to me that will help you remain one of the 80% that don't ..;)

Anti-Phishing.org

Regards,

Mike "NOT gone 'phishing'" Merz

O.K. ... so a prospect visits your site, takes in your sales pitch ... but he/she is still not quite satisfied with your offer.

... so they leave. :(

Well, I'm going to show you a way increase your conversions ... read on.

Whether you're offering a product, service, or trying to build an opt in list, the following exit pop script will help convert prospects that would have left your site in the past, into customers and subscribers.

I know ... I know ... you hate pop ups. :P

But this may very well be the only pop up you need ... and one isn't going to kill you.

Give it a look see ...

-------
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!-- begin xitpop code
var exit=true;
function xitpop()
{
if (exit)
open('filenameofyourexitpop.html','','toolbar=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,location=no,height=277,width=437');
}
// end xitpop code -->
</SCRIPT>
-------

Cut and paste the code ... exactly as it appears (don't include the lines at top and bottom, though ...) in the HEAD area of the page you want the pop up to appear.

You may change the attributes (like height and width), and you must change the filenameofyourexitpop.html to the file name of the pop up page you wish viewers to see.

Now add this line of text to the BODY tag ...
------
<onunload="xitpop()">
------

Example:

------
<body onunload="xitpop()">
------

But here's the problem you'd run into if you used an ordinary exit pop ...

Say you'd like to offer a special discount to those leaving your site in an effort to convert them ...

The pop up would trigger, even if someone DID decide to purchase/subscribe at the original price/offer.

Once they view the pop up, they'll click on it instead ... and you'll lose the potential full conversion.

And if you've installed the pop up ON the order page, and the prospect has already committed ... they'll be pretty pi**ed to learn they could have received a discount.

But not with THIS script ..;)

Just add an onclick="exit=false" attribute to your order link (or any other link that should NOT generate the pop-up when clicked) ...

Example:

-------
<a href="secure-order.html" onclick="exit=false">Click here to order</a>
-------

Now the exit pop up will only trigger when a visitor leaves your site without committing ..;)

A few exit pop up content ideas:

- A major discount, or free trial.

- Freebie download or ecourse that requires contact info (name, email address, etc.) to access.

Give the aforementioned a shot ... a potential conversion is a terrible thing to waste ..;)

Mike

In an effort to increase the benefits of this blog, I've added a comment feature ... and will be archiving in a day or two.

Sorry if the last few posts seem to be a bit promotional, but I make my recommendations in an effort to provide products, services, and resources ... both free AND paid, that I feel you'd be interested in learning about.

Of course, now that I've added a comments option ... I'm sure you'll let me know how you feel ..;)

Catch you in the forums!

Mike

I've spent the last couple of days reviewing different Online contact manager software, in an effort to:

A) Find the best CM product to recommend to my clients ...

B) Find the best CM product for my ebiz, as I'm no longer happy with the software I'm currently using.

So far, my favorite is ProfitAutomation.com, which offers multiple autoresponders, a complete shopping cart, affiliate tracking, digital product delivery, and more ... at a price comparable to that of a hosting account.

I prefer having everything availble to me in one neat little package like ProfitAutomation, and was happy with the tools they provided (I signed up for the free trial, so I could offer a fair and accurate review).

Of course, I'll let you be the final judge ... if you're looking for an all in one contact management solution for your ebiz, take the free trial.

Mike

If you're in the Orlando, Florida area on January 16th and 17th of this month, you'll have the opportunity to help Internet Marketing expert Yanik Silver celebrate his 30th birthday ... that is, if you register soon enough.

Click here to register now.

Guests will include the likes of Corey Rudl, Marlon Sanders, and Jim Edwards ... just to name a few.

... and the cost is just a $50 donation to the Make A Wish foundation, per ticket.

So not only will you rub elbows with Internet Marketing elite, gain the chance to network with numerous others, and learn a thing or two along the way ... you'll also realize the satisfaction of helping those in need, to boot.

Give it a looksee.

Mike

I recently posted a participation request in my Forum entitled "I 'Mini Challenge' You!", which has garnered a lot of page views ... but not too many participants.

Basically, I believe that conquering 'mini challenges' in life, and in business, is a great way to break out of the comfort zones that stop us from acheiving things we desire ...

How about you?

Give it a looksee.

Mike "I mini challenge YOU" Merz

If you're looking to build business contacts ... and if you aren't, you should be, check out the Ryze Business Network ...

Ryze has grown to be one of the largest, and most admired, business networking communities ... and joining us (free, BTW) is a great way to expose yourself, and your offerings, while building the aforementioned contacts.

Mike

My dear friend Michael Rasmussen dropped a copy of his new newsletter publishing course, Ezine Marketing Magic, on me for review just before New Years Day ... and I just finally had the chance to check it out ..:P

Michael really did his research ... it's obvious that he put a lot of time and effort into this course.

Being relatively well known in this field certainly has it's perks ... I'm often sent complete courses and software for review ... but, of course, my reputation doesn't allow me to put my stamp of approval on just anything. ;)

This one definitely gets it, however ... if you're looking to start a newsletter or ezine, or if you have one ... but it's not quite going in the direction you'd like it to, I recommend you check out Michael's course.

As always, the best way to stay in touch with what's going on in my world, and that of my valued associates, is via The Internet Marketing For Newbies Online Community (IM4Newbies Forum, for short ..;)

Feel free to drop on by, anytime ... and interact with us for a spell.

I'll be back with more rants and revelations as they hit me ..;)

Mike

In regards to my last rant ...

Don't get the wrong impression, please.

It's not that I was annoyed with the posts by those seeking to 'make money Online' ...

On the contrary ... if one has the gumption to seek my advice, or the advice of others, I'll do what I can to honor their inquiries.

It's just the common consensus among many new to Online Marketing, that somebody is going to hand them the 'golden key' to Online riches ...

An expert or consultant can give you the tools to get started ... and advice along the way ... but it's up to YOU to make it work ...

It's YOUR business, and you must treat it like one if you want to succeed.

I gladly answer many an inquisitive post in numerous forums ... heck, that's part of my job! LOL

But what I give is advice, only ... I can't run your business for you (I have enough trouble keeping up with my own! ;) ...

Just wanted to make my statements a bit clearer to those that think I was bashing people for asking for advice ... it couldn't be further from the truth.

But advice ain't worth a plug nickel if you don't apply it ... and no $29.95 ebook is going to fill your mailbox and PayPal account with sales and commissions ... unless you do what it takes to make it happen.

In addition ... just like anything else ... Online Marketing has it's 'seedy side' ...

Those only out to make a buck off the unknowing newbie, with no desire to form a relationship with them ... sad.
That's why I recommend that anyone intending on doing 'the Online thing' seriously should take a step back and take in what's going on in their surroundings before diving into uncharted waters.

Catch you in the forums ... the water there is just fine. ;)

Mike

Oops! ... didn't get back as soon as I expected, with all the end of year legal biz. :P

Anyway ...

While cruising through the various eBiz forums I frequent (forum surfing on popular boards within your niche is highly recommended ... a great way to expose yourself, stay on top of things, find out what others like you are doing, looking for, etc. ... just, PLEASE ... read the forum rules before participating, lest you desire being flamed and blackballed ..;) ... what was I saying?

Oh yes ... while surfing the boards I ran across more than the usual number of "How do I make money Online?", and "I don't know where to start! ARRGGHH!" ...

I'll try to make this simple ...

Marketing Online is a BUSINESS ... not a GAME.

It requires the same planning, organization, research, testing, tweaking, tracking, and LEARNING, etc. so on and so forth, as it's Offline counterpart ... just a different medium, tis all.

There is no free lunch ... there is no magic bullet ... you will have work your a@@ off to be successful ... at least in the beginning.

But ... OH! ... how good you'll feel, once you 'get it'. ;)

If you don't have the bucks to pick up one of the more reputable 'how to' courses, jump on down to the public library and check out a popular title or two ... but regardless of what avenue you take, you have to work at learning HOW, before you can DO.

If you think Internet Marketing is a 'get rich quick' scheme ... sending out a few thousand SPAM, cut n paste content messages in between Online gaming ... you are in for one RUDE awakening!

Enough ranting for today ..;)

If you'd like to engage in, or sit back and take in, real ebiz discussions ... and learn how to do this Online thing the RIGHT way ... jump by my forum.

No, you don't have to buy anything ..:P

Just hang out ... or join, free, and participate.

Till next time ...

Mike

Happy New Year to all that have stumbled upon this page ..;)

As it is a holiday, I'm going to put off posting anything of interest until tomorrow.

Feel free to drop by the IM4Newbies Forum in the meantime.

Mike "back to the festivities at hand" Merz