E-Biz Booster Blog

Okay, here is the post I procrastinated for a long, l o o o … o o n g time.

Please, don’t ask me, why I finally got moving and finished it today. It’s certainly not the sunshine and beach weather that prevented me from doing this earlier. If it were, I wouldn’t get anything done at all. We have dream weather here a lot.

However, if you insist asking, I will respond,

“It was Frank Kern. He is guilty of having me finish that post.”

You might or might not know who Frank Kern is. He is one of the most successful email copywriters and business strategists in the Internet marketing community. Many call him a guru. Last week Frank launched his latest product, an interactive e-mail list building training program. The launch strategy was interesting to watch. It gives us a hint regarding the very old question:

“Single Opt-in or double opt-in?”

But first things first.

E-mail solution providers and to some extent law makers… → Continue reading:

When you get stuck, you have two options.

• Do something.
• Do nothing.

Check out this video.

It made me laugh out. Before you call them idiots, think about… metaphorically most people are a bit like this when it comes to life.

Rich Schefren outlines the right fuel and a strategy that gets you back on track with your business growth.

What Single Trait Separates…
The Winners From The Losers?

THINKING!

Winners Spend Time Thinking

Are You Spending…
More Time Learning Than Thinking?

WHY?

Get To Work!

Check out Rich's post if you want to learn more:
Business Growth… Fueled By The Power Of Thought! (↑)


Yours
John W. Furst

I joined the discussion on Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian’s blog quite late, but since I gave it some thought, I decided to share my response with you.

In mid November last year Dr. Mani published a list with his predictions about what will be IN and what will be OUT in 2010 (↑).

The first item on his list

1.) Email Is OUT, Social Media Is IN

I am buying the second part of his statement immediately, but “Email OUT”?

I had to think about it a couple of seconds longer than usual, ’cause a couple of respectable experts like Chris Brogan (↑), Warren Whitlock (↑), and Willie Crawford (↑) already had left comments on Dr. Mani’s blog post.

Here is the re-print of my reply:

I don’t think email is OUT in 2010.

I rather would say, we have to use and nurture email marketing differently than in the past.

A strong email list is still an asset, like your website. I hope you have purchased your own domain.

Who owns—and most importantly who has jurisdiction so to speak over—your social media profile?

The inherent benefit of email is it’s independence from any given email marketing service provider on the sender side. Maybe the Google Wave protocol will push email type communication into this century and at a same time allow a merger with social media. I am looking forward to it. Maybe in 2011, 2012.

What’s the deal with email marketing in 2010?

You would be crazy to stop building an email list. But on the same token you would be insane not building your social media presence.

In case you are sitting on the fence and don’t know whether you should put the subject email marketing into the IN or the OUT bucket. Think about why businesses are complaining. You hear two main reasons:

• Low open and response rates resulting in less sales.
  
  
• Deliverability problems.

Now ask yourself or your team a couple of questions and revisit the response rate issue. For sure you will find a couple of areas where you can improve.

• Is my aging email list outgrowing my content, my offers?
  
  
• Do my offers mature in-sync with my subscribers?
  
  
• Am I (trying to) milk my members or am I graduating them?
  
  
• Does my offer evolve over time and stay fresh and state-of-the-art that it appeals to new subscribers as well.
  
  
• And now probably the most important question: Am I sending brochures, pitches, or am I building a relationship with that person who reads my email message. (Hint: Even outside of internet marketing consumers already can smell automated follow-up messages.)

One kind of email marketing campaigns did especially well in 2009. It’s called customer reactivation. But that is just one tactic that worked.

Maybe your email marketing activities need that sort of a botox treatment. (LoL)

Lots to think about.

Don’t dump your e-mail opt-in box, yet.


Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: [Admittedly I have procrastinated (check out the edutaining video) with this blog post for some time.]

Once again Seth Godin has bet the farm and seems to have won, already. (Probably not the farm, but you get the point, don’t you.)

He decided to bypass the traditional act of sending out dozens of review copies of his latest book to journalists of main stream media. The book title — you might have heard about it already — is

Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

Instead he sent preview copies to people who care, members of his tribe.

As a result the Internet is already flooded — in a good way — with blog posts, tweets, videos, … all sorts of real world testimonials about how much they love the book.

Is there anything else that could help sell the book better?

I do not think so.

Are You Indispensable?

What type of people are indispensable in those difficult times, in which we are very close to the edge economically and environmentally.

I have assembled variations of short excerpts and thoughts from many conversations between Seth Godin and his readers who have received a preview hard-copy of Linchpin: Are You indispensable?.

101 Reasons For Personal Change

Now I have promised to give you 101 reason why you should change. Well, what about this,

“Imagine you could be one of the persons described here. Wouldn’t that be enough reason to change?

Here is the secret, You can!”

→ Continue reading:

I joined the discussion on Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian’s blog quite late, but since I gave it some thought, I decided to share my response with you.

In mid November last year Internet infopreneur, author and social entrepreneur Dr. Mani published a list with his predictions about what’s IN and what’s OUT in 2010 (↑).

The first item on his list:

Email Is OUT, Social Media Is IN

I am buying the second part of his statement immediately, but “Email OUT?”

→ Continue reading:

Seth Godin does not exactly have the reputation of writing How To books for dummies. And his latest book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? (↑) — to be released on January 26, 2010 (audio book on February, 9) will not be an exception.

Let me talk a little bit about this amazing book. I also had the honor that Seth answered me a couple of questions about the book. All here in this blog post. Stay tuned.

Update January 12, 2010:
Review of the whole book by Becky Blanton
   …and even more reviews by my friends from <Triiibes.com>.

→ Continue reading: