“…I am not sure about pursuing more complexity or automation of tweets.

Twitter seems to be strengthening their position against those methods of use.

Here are the current rules:

http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26257/entries/18311

Here’s an excerpt:

http://help.twitter.com/forums/10713/entries/42646

Best Practices

The Twitter Rules explain what behaviors are permitted on Twitter. In addition to these rules, we’ve included some tips below to keep your content relevant (and listed in Twitter search). We caution against aggressive behaviors and suggest that you stay away from:

* Repeatedly posting duplicate or near-duplicate content (links or tweets)

* Abusing trending topics or hashtags (topic words with a # sign)

* Sending automated tweets or replies

* Using bots or applications to post similar messages based on keywords

* Posting similar messages over multiple accounts

* Aggressively following and un-following people

Twitter may automatically remove accounts engaging in these behaviors from search (or even suspend in some cases) in order to ensure the best experience for everyone.

Ken, most of the things in the list above are things that socialoomph was created to do. Even hootsuite can be used to do some of them. I wonder if Twitter will at some point simply ban all twitter accounts that use these applications… do you think they might?

My answer:

Maybe not in the near future, but in the long run, if Twitter perceives this behavior as hurting their business, they might take a closer look at Twitter accounts using these tools and if their algorithm finds even innocent behavior that looks suspect they might, like Google, start pushing the delete button on accounts.

The fact that they are continuously clarifying their guidelines means they are seeing certain behaviors as problematic.

I think the answer is not to get so Twitter-obsessed that you need all kinds of crazy tools to use it.

Spend the vast majority of your promotion time marketing, not networking.

Marketing will kick up all the networking opportunities you can handle and make you money.

Networking, in contrast, may or may not lead to marketing results. Something you do to enhance your marketing, not a substitute for it. It’s the gravy of marketing. Not the meat.

That’s the one word that came up over and over again in the largest, open-ended survey of Internet marketers we’ve ever conducted.

We didn’t expect it.

Heck, we weren’t even looking for a “Word of the Year”, but it came up so often – in nearly one out of every five responses! – that we had to pay attention.

Unexpected, but maybe not so surprising

2009 was the year that every Internet marketer had to start “Tweeting” and “Facebooking” and learning 99 different Twitter and Facebook management tools.

I’m exaggerating, but only just barely. I read a blog post recently by an otherwise intelligent person who revealed her fifteen favorite Twitter management tools.

And she uses all of them.

This may be a good thing if you’re a professional Twitter consultant (yes, there are such things), but what about the rest of us?

For many years, I only needed two tools to make money on the Internet: FTP and an auto-responder.

Now, supposedly, it takes fifteen tools just to properly manage a Twitter account.

This can’t be good for focus – or for making money.

“Is social media dangerous to your wealth?”

I almost wrote an article with this title (still might) because social media has clearly become a problem for a lot of marketers.

So many folks have become so busy “building their brand” and “generating a buzz”, they’ve lost track that we’re in the business of selling.

That ugly four letter word: S-E-L-L.

Marketers don’t seem to want to use it any more.

It seems so crass, so…twentieth century.

Well, if selling is old fashioned, then call me a relic because the last time I checked, I can’t deposit brand or buzz in my bank account. I can only deposit dollars and dollars are generated by sales.

What to focus on

If you want to make money, here is my #1 piece of advice.

It hasn’t changed in twenty years.

I doubt it will change in the next twenty.

Focus on markets

For my purposes – and please read this definition closely because a lot of people screw it up:

A market is: “A collection of people who are already buying something, like what you plan to sell, who you can reach economically and with existing media.”

Every word in that definition matters and I hope you read it again s-l-o-w-l-y and give weight to every word.

There’s a fortune to be had it getting it right…and a fortune to lose in getting it wrong.

Learning a million and one groovy marketing techniques without having a market to sell into is like collecting and studying sex manuals without having a partner. Interesting, but not likely to produce much meaningful action.

So, if you don’t have a market, get one now and start doing something with it.

What to do with a market

Post relevant comments to forums and blogs…talk to people in the market…write articles that solve problems…create relevant reports…give your best material away in exchange for e-mail addresses…recommend good affiliate offers to your subscribers…source and/or develop your own products and offer them…track your results…get rid of stuff that doesn’t work and repeat things that do.

In other words, get cracking.

Less study and more action.

How do you build a list of prospects?

One bloody name at a time and the sooner you get started the better. Whining about how hard it is not going to make it happen any faster.

My mind boggles at the number of new “Internet marketers” I’ve met in recent months who twitter like rock stars – but have not collected a single e-mail address.

Focus on “traffic + conversion”

Eight years ago, when I came out of retirement to start teaching Internet marketing again, I was frustrated by all the looney marketing advice being dispensed back then that had seemingly fatally scrambled the brains of many of my students.

In exasperation, I blurted out:

“Forget all that garbage. There are only two things you should be focusing on: traffic and conversion. If you’re doing anything else, you are wasting your time. Traffic plus conversion equals profits!”

It seems so obvious now, but if you Google all the Internet marketing “how to” advice from back in 2002, you won’t find this anywhere. Heck, you’ll barely find it now – unless you’re at a System Seminar.

Some things never change

Here’s the weird thing: most Internet marketers still don’t focus on traffic + conversion.

But we do – every year – year in and year out. Relentlessly.

And that simple fact may be the reason we have more successful students than any twenty “gurus” combined.

It’s also why so many people who start with us as raw beginners – Perry Marshall, Lloyd Irvin, Howie Jacobson, Kim Dushinski, Ben Moskel, and many others – not only end up teaching on our faculty, but on the faculties of marketing seminars and conferences around the country (and world.)

Everything that’s taught at the System Seminar has to pass through the “traffic + conversion” BS detector.

If it doesn’t help you to get more traffic or help you convert your traffic better, we don’t waste your time or ours with it.

A special message for beginners

I consider a “beginner” anyone who isn’t making his full time living from Internet marketing, hasn’t cracked $100,000 a year in online sales, and/or can’t see the path to $1,000,000 a year in sales.

I know a lot of people don’t like to consider themselves “beginners”, but Internet marketing, the way we teach it at the System, is a reality-based business.

Know-how has zero value unless it’s being employed.

Yes, we’d love to see you at System 2010, but I’m even more interested in seeing you have a complete grasp of the foundation of our business.

The reality of Internet marketing

Internet marketing is a lot like plumbing. It’s 95% grit and 5% glamour. (The glamour is the part where you go to the bank.)

Too many beginners have been sold the idea that there is some special “magic” in Internet marketing that lets Internet marketers defy the laws of economic reality.

Sorry. It doesn’t work this way.

Internet marketing is a profession. It requires comprehensive knowledge as a foundation and then relentless action.

In my experience 99.9% of the people who think they “know” Internet marketing have holes in their basic knowledge big enough to drive several trucks through.

The proof of this is their incomes – or the lack thereof.

Hang in there

I’m not saying this as a put down. I’m saying it because it’s the reality I see.

Keep in mind I’ve been marketing online since 1993 – and before that I’ve been using direct marketing to make my living since 1984.

I have no way to prove this, but I think I’ve trained more successful Internet marketers than any living person.

I didn’t accomplish this by chasing fads or selling smoke. My “secret” has been that I insist on drilling the fundamentals.

The good news is this is a learnable business.

Further good news is the fact that the vast majority of people marketing on the Internet refuse to treat the business as a business.

That’s why every year we have new success stories to report.

Because most market places, crowded as they are, are full of dilettantes, which is a fancy word for “wannabes” – folks who like to play at it, but fade when serious people like System grads show up.

If Internet marketing has been a “dream” for you, here’s what I recommend for you in 2010…

FOCUS

If you’re a beginner…

Focus on firming up your fundamentals.

Make 2010 the year you’re going to treat Internet marketing like a business (95% grit and 5% glory.)

We’ve got a course to help. It’s both comprehensive and cost effective – and you can apply 100% of the cost to a System Seminar tuition.

It’s called System Smart Beginners. Click here for more information about it

If you’re a pro…

There’s only one Internet marketing training I know that focuses on traffic + conversion.

There’s a reason pros like Perry Marshall and Lloyd Irvin never miss a System whether they happen to be on the faculty of not in a given year.

This year, because of the extreme business challenges so many are facing these days, we’re drilling down even deeper than normal.

On the conversion side, we’re bringing in the truly big guns: Bob Bly and Drayton Bird. (If you don’t recognize the names, Google them.)

On the traffic side, we’ve got Timothy Seward (Google certified and advisor to numerous multi-million dollar a year online businesses); Ben Moskel, a seven figure a year affiliate marketer, and Greg Davis, a seven figure a year, CPA marketer.

All three have bought (or advised on the buying of) millions of dollars worth of Internet traffic – and tracked the results…selling real products to real people in real markets.

If you’re a pro, you should seriously consider joining us in Chicago this April 9 through 11, 2010 in Chicago.

If you already know you’re going to join us, registering before the end of this year will save you considerable money on your tuition. ‘

(Super “early bird” tuition discount deadline: December 31, 2009)

Click on this link for more information about: The System Seminar

Best wishes for the coming new year,

Ken

P.S. Focus.

What are you going to focus on in 2010.

If you’re an Internet marketer, I hope it’s traffic + conversion.

That’s what we focus on every year, this year more than ever at System 2010.

Click on this link for more information about: The System Seminar

Everything in Internet marketing seems to come wrapped in a ton of hype and BS and few appear able or willing to strip things down to their basics. And believe me, it’s no easier for me.

Finding a straight, concise answer about anything in Internet marketing is ridiculously hard whether you’ve been at it for 16 years or 16 minutes.

Twitter is a perfect example of this.

First, the news media made it look ridiculous.

Then, the Internet “gurus” piled on with claims that it’s really the most powerful marketing tool that’s ever been created – but only if you know the “right” way (their way) to use it…which they’ll be glad to teach you for an unreasonable fee.

Everything a serious-minded person needs to know about Twitter

1. Twitter’s popular and it’s been adopted by every major media outlet. A percentage of your customers use it. These facts alone signal that anyone who has anything to promote needs to use it.

2. Twitter is dead easy to use, both for publishers and consumers of information.

3. Twitter’s just another channel with its strengths and weaknesses. It contains no inherent magic. If there is “magic” in it, it comes from using it intelligently.

4. Twitter is not something to build a business on. Yes, it’s easy to “game” the system to generate large numbers of “followers” but, like 99% of the things taught by the Internet marketing fad pimps, this approach is a total waste of time.

5. Twitter is a truly great research tool and a great keeping-in-touch-with-those-who-want-to-hear-from-you-tool.

How to think about Twitter

1. Twitter is a web publishing platform. It’s a free way for people to set up their own easy-to-use web sites. It’s a stripped down version of a blog. (Some people accurately call Twitter a micro-blog.)

2. Twitter limits posts (”tweets”) to 140 characters – about the length of a headline or classified ad. You can say and do a lot in 140 characters. Ask any poet or copywriter. Get over it. Being limited to 140 characters is not an issue.

3. One of the key Twitter skills is to learn how to shrink a long address into a short one so you have more room to get your message across. Here’s the tool I use for that:
http://twtr.us/twtr.html

How to use Twitter

1. As a publisher, the most important thing to keep in mind about Twitter is to have a clear purpose and consistent public face for each of your Twitter channels (assuming you need more than one.)

For example, if your topic is investing in gold or ski resorts in the Alps, stick to the point. Don’t start ranting about completely unrelated issues, personal or global.

A little “personality” from time to time is fine, but too many off-point posts and too many fragmentary (and incomprehensible) posts of half a conversation are going to confuse and put off busy, serious-minded people (the kind of people who buy and get things done.)

2. A lot of people use Twitter for “personality” marketing. In other words, their posts are chock full of off-topic reports and obscure shout outs to god-only-knows-who.

If you think you’re a fabulously fascinating person and the world can’t get enough of the minutia of your everyday life, have at it, but I don’t recommend it.

3. What I do recommend is making sure that every post (or “tweet”) counts.

Somehow the mistaken idea has spread that Twitter is supposed to be a stream-of-consciousness medium, that whatever is on your mind at any given moment is fair game for a Twitter post. This is not communicating, this is a form of verbal diarrhea.

4. Craft your Twitter posts. Think about them.

Ask yourself: “Is what I’m about to post useful, interesting, on-topic, and in character?”

In other words, run your “tweets” through a filter, the same way you connect your mouth to your brain when you’re speaking.

I’m not saying that each and every post has to be a home run or that you have to agonize over every one, but unless someone is wildly in love with you, be aware random, off-topic, minutia gets old really fast.

How to get readers

The purpose of writing is to have readers.

There are two ways to get readers (called “followers” in Twitter):

1) tell everyone you know about your channel and send them to it (do this consistently) and

2) reach out on Twitter.

If you already have a large circle (you’re a celebrity, you have a big mailing list and/or you have a lot of traffic to your web site), it’s easy to build a big Twitter following fast. Just let people know about it (repeatedly) and don’t publish crap.

If you don’t have any of these things, you’ve got to do it the old fashioned way by reaching out to relevant folks.

Note the word “relevant.” One of the scams currently taught by the Internet marketing “gurus” is to randomly follow thousands of Twitter users. The idea being that some of them will reflexively follow you back and thus you will develop a large “following” and appear to be popular. Not a good idea.

Here’s a better idea: Follow people and info sources that you’re genuinely interested in.

How to reach out on Twitter – and how not to

It’s easy to find Twitter users who might like to be readers of your Twitter channel.

Click on the “find people” link on Twitter and enter keywords that are likely to turn up people and organizations that are in sync with what your Twitter channel is about.

For example, as a hobby (which also makes money), I run a jazz video web site.

After I let my list and site visitors know I have a Twitter channel, I went to the “find people” page and entered logical keywords for my niche: jazz, jazz club, jazz fest, jazz fan etc.

Then whenever I have some spare time, I “follow” another 100 channels in this category. Some will follow me, some won’t. I really don’t care. I only follow channels I’m genuinely interested in or people I’m very certain would find what I’m doing interesting.

One point: I don’t suddenly follow 1,000 or 10,000 channels overnight.

Why?

Two reasons: 1) because that’s not how normal people use Twitter and 2) Twitter doesn’t like it.

You may say – as many Internet marketing “gurus” do – who cares what Twitter likes? Well, there are two reasons:

First, you’re a guest on their service. Why not be a good guest instead of a greedy slob?

Second, you’re a guest on their service which means they can throw you off any time they want for violating their terms of service agreement.

Given how much totally bogus crap has been written about Twitter “how to” – much of which has become “common knowledge” – I recommend reading Twitter’s short, clear and very reasonable Terms of Service agreement.

You can read Twitter’s Terms of Service Agreement here

Summing up

Twitter is, in spite of all the hype and misinformation, definitely worth your time and attention.

It’s a great way to keep up with news on a wide variety of topics, to see what people are thinking and talking about, and to serve your readers.

The key is that writing for Twitter is like writing for any other medium.

Is what you are writing about interesting, useful, and/or entertaining? If it is, you can carve it on a rock and it will work. If it’s not, then neither Twitter nor anything else is going to help you.

Is your Twitter channel focused and consistent so people know what they’re going to get when they sign up for it and then get what they expect when they do?

It’s not rocket science and it’s not a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s just Twitter and my hats off to the creators for stumbling on this thing and making it available to the world. It’s a net contribution.

- Ken McCarthy

P.S. This year’s System Seminar will be in Chicago, April 9, 10 and 11.

For more info: The System Seminar

P.P.S. If you want to follow me on Twitter, you can do that here: Follow Ken on Twitter

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I also know Twitter is good for research and a handy way to see who’s active in a given niche and what they’re up to. But these are support functions, not put money-in-the-bank functions.

So then, how can Twitter become a cash producer?

The Secret

The same way every medium does it: by producing things that people find interesting, useful, entertaining or inspirational.

But, realistically, can you you really say anything worthwhile in just 140 characters?

I didn’t think so until I tried my hand at it.

Here’s what inspired me

At least once a week, I encounter someone who wants to learn or get better at copywriting.

Very often, they’re at the very beginning of their careers and all I can do is recommend a stack of real copywriting books by the giants (Hopkins, Caples, Schwab, Schwartz, Bird etc.) and urge them to read one or more of them.

But I realize that doesn’t help the person right now which is when most people, including me, want when they’re seeking help.

Help is on its way

I’ve thought about this a lot and decided the world needs a copywriting seminar that tells you everything you need to know about copywriting in 140 characters or less.

Much to surprise I was able to create one.

I’m deadly serious.

If you keep these 140 characters in mind you will always know exactly what to focus on when you sit down to write an ad or sales letter. You’ll also never waste another minute on gimmicks or BS advice that doesn’t work.

Sounds impossible, doesn’t it?

I tested this 140 character seminar on two very experienced copywriters and both gave it a double thumbs up.

It’s one of those things that might not seem like much to a beginner, but the more copywriting experience you have, the more you’re realize that the three-step process I lay out is the Holy Grail.

For myself, I’ve been writing ad copy for over 20 years and I’ve found these 140 characters valuable enough to put on an index card and post by my computer.

It may even be as powerful as my “traffic + conversion = profits” formula which has clarified Internet marketing for so many now-successful entrepreneurs, but only time will tell on that one.

So where is this seminar in a tweet?

On Twitter, of course.

Something you can use…in 140 characters or less:

http://twitter.com/kenmccarthy/status/5624862016

Ken

P.S. If you’re not a Twitter user, it’s a snap to register.

You need an e-mail address, a user name and a password and you’re on.

Posting is just like posting to a blog – only 100 times easier.

The interesting part is it allows you to easily follow writers you admire with the single push of button.

And that’s it. 90% of what you need to know about Twitter.

http://twitter.com/kenmccarthy/status/5624862016

- Ken McCarthy

P.S. This year’s System Seminar will be in Chicago, April 9, 10 and 11.

For more info: The System Seminar

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It doesn't really look like this…it's 1,000 times better

There’s always one day that stands out from all the rest. I think this Sunday was the day.

If you wonder why I live in Tivoli, NY in the summer and fall, this picture is my answer.

How did you spend your summer vacation?

What I thought was going to be “kick back and relax” summer turned into a travel and study marathon:

Vancouver, New York City, Maryland, London, Manchester…over 10,000 miles traveled and at long last…home.

Who benefits?

You do.

Here’s some freebies to get your fall season off to a strong start:

1. Free Google AdWords course

Three-time System faculty member Timoth Seward is giving away a complete basic training in Google AdWords.

http://www.smartbeginners.com/adwords/

2. Remembering Ken Giddens

Ken Giddens passed away four years ago this month and he is still sorely missed.

He was one of the bona fide pioneers of our industry and an inspired and generous teacher. For those who knew him, and those who didn’t…

Lessons and recollections from his friends and colleagues: http://thesystemseminar.com/kengiddens/audio.html

This was Ken’s first seminar talk. It was at the System Seminar in 2004.

Videos from System Seminar TV.com

Ken McCarthy, Greg Davis and Lloyd Irvin at Lloyd’s private gym

If you stick with anything long enough, life takes all kinds of fascinating twists and turns.

I was planning on a “kick back”, hang loose summer, but when you’re in the Internet marketing world you have to be prepared for pleasant surprises.

A couple of months ago Lloyd Irvin sent me a long text.

Lloyd is twice world champion in Brazilian Jujitsu and twice US champion in Judo and Russian Sambo. He’s also a heck of an entrepreneur and has interests in a number of areas including publishing, Internet marketing, and real estate. With a small, highly effective team he’s built a very successful business.

I’m proud to say that the System helped get Lloyd off on the right foot on the Internet, a fact he graciously shares with everyone who asks. In turn, he’s been an inspiration to me – and when Lloyd talks, I listen.

So when Lloyd sent me a long text raving about the breakthrough work of his colleague Greg Davis, I decided to waste no time, get on a plane and get myself to Maryland to see first hand what had gotten him so excited.

Long story, short version

Greg’s one of those guys who’s been working diligently for years on cracking the Internet marketing code. You know the routine…endless experiments. Some of them bomb. Some work, but not well enough to get excited about. Two steps forward and sometimes three steps back.

But he stuck with it and along the way he accumulated experience and KNOWLEDGE.

Greg was one of the early pioneers who bought clicks from GoTo when you could get keywords for a penny because no one else was smart enough to recognize their value.

Bit by bit, things started to click for him (pardon the double pun) and he watched his income grow until he got to the point that keeping his 9 to 5 job was not only no longer necessary, it was absurd.

Then through a combination of his own deep study and a few critical insights from Perry Marshall, Glenn Livingston, and Gauher Chaudhry plus mentoring from Lloyd (not-so-coincidentally all these guys have been System faculty members), Greg made a truly big breakthrough.

How big?

Wealth beyond your wildest dreams

Greg’s numbers are so big that I hesitate to say because a lot of people are going to have trouble wrapping their minds around them.

Let’s just say Greg nets in a week what a lot of people would be very happy to make in a good year – and he does it with bare bones overhead. And most importantly, it’s based on a formula that works over and over again. As long as there’s an Internet and people are spending money on it, this system will work.

Though you may be aware of some of the elements (PPC, CPA, affiliate marketing, tracking and testing conversion), I guarantee you’ve never seen this system before.

To help me keep up with all the info that Greg was willing to share with me, I brought System grad Ben Moskel who does over $1,000,000 a year in affiliate sales generated by pay-per-click.  The whole weekend we visited with Greg and Lloyd, Ben never put his pen down.  I swear at times I thought it was going to start smoking he was writing so long and hard.

The Internet marketing brain trust: Where killer Internet marketing ideas are born. If past is prologue, months, even years from now, the hot air “gurus” will be trying to peddle the leftover scraps from this weekend for thousands of dollars a pop.  If you were part of the System, you’d be getting it whole while it’s still fresh.  Left to right: Lloyd Irvin, Ken McCarthy, Greg Davis, Chris Chico, Ben Moskel

Chris Chico, another very savvy Internet marketer, was also invited to sit on in this very private two day session. Here’s a picture of the five of us together at the end of the weekend. We were visiting Lloyd’s training facility in Camp Springs, Maryland  just around the corner from Andrews Air Force base, right outside of Washington DC.

When he’s not running his chain of martial arts schools, publishing, training entrepreneurs, dealing in real estate, starting and growing Internet businesses, Lloyd trains UFC fighters.  It’s been a mystery to me how this one guy gets so much done. Then I met his team.  Sharp, smart and tight. If Lloyd ever gives a seminar on how to build and manage a world class team, all I can say is “Go!” I’ll be sitting in the front row.

OK, how does Greg make all this money?

I know what you’re thinking…”Glad you had a great time in Maryland Ken, but get to the money. The money.”

There are three levels to what Greg does:

Level One: Good, solid, old school affiliate marketing, the kind that can get anyone who applies themselves to the $500 to $5,000 a month level.

Level Two: Greg is a master of the tools, strategies, tricks and techniques of affiliate marketing.  No one knows everything – and Greg was wide open to learn from everyone at our private meeting – but when it comes to high level, deep KNOWLEDGE of how to shake the affiliate money tree, he’s got it – and that’s what got him to $500 to $5,000 a day.

Level Three: This is where Greg is at now. Again, for the reason I gave earlier, I’m not going to even talk about his current numbers, other than to say they make Level Two look sad and forlorn.

His years of effort, study and testing paid off and gave Greg a profound insight that “flipped” regular affiliate marketing upside down and turned it on its head.

Bottom line: A whole lot of what you’ve heard about the “right” way to do affiliate marketing is backwards. Yeah, it will work and it will make pretty good money, but if you want rock star money, crazy money that makes even Internet gurus gasp, you’ve got to enter into what I can only call Planet Greg, an alternate – and very profitable – universe.

And I’ll tell you straight up, most people are not ready for it.

They don’t have the necessary foundation of experience and knowledge to be able to execute what Greg is doing, let alone understand it.

Besides that, after looking at Greg’s system for two solid days, my advice to him was to put a padlock on it. No amount of money he could ever make teaching would ever compensate him for letting the cat out of the bag.

He asked me for my honest advice and that’s what I told him.

But the door is not closed…

Greg can definitely help you if you’re at the beginning of your affiliate marketing path (seeking to make $500 to $5,000 a month) or if you’re a pro who wants to leverage your current know-how into a lot more revenue ($500 to $5,000 a day.)

I can tell you from working with him for two days, he’s a masterful and generous teacher. It would be great to have someone like him inside the System circle teaching.

So, I took a shot and asked him if he’d like to come to London and present at our upcoming UK Intensive.

Think about how significant this is. I created the UK Intensive specifically to highlight UK Internet marketing wizards, but Greg is so extraordinary I decided to throw out my playbook out and ask him, a Yank, to teach.

After thinking about it a bit, he said “sure” so I’m happy to report that the first live public training given by Greg Davis in advanced affiliate marketing (traffic + conversion) will in London this September at the System UK Intensive. Will there be another? Who knows? I know the fact that this event is in London was a big hook for Greg and his wife.

The last I checked registrations are already a hair over 2/3 sold out and as you know, I’ve barely even advertised the thing. As the date gets closer and I get on the job, we’re be closing the doors on this one pretty quick.

I don’t care where you live. If you’re in Internet marketing and you’ve got a chance to spend some time with this guy: take it.

This development has been so sudden, we haven’t had time to include Greg in the description of the course, but here’s how to get all the info about the rest of the program.

http://www.systemintensive.com/uk

Best,

Ken

Ken McCarthy and Lloyd Irvin

P.S. The thing I’ve always admired about martial arts (real martial arts) is that it’s the ultimate No BS discipline. You can’t fake your way into it. You can’t rip off someone else’s work and present it as your own. You’ve got to personally stand and deliver and you can’t coast on last year’s or even last week’s accomplishments.

Lloyd just turned 40 this year. I’m going to be 50 in September, but I can still take him (in my dreams!) LOL

But seriously, the greatest satisfaction from teaching Internet marketing (real teaching, not “guru” prancing and posturing) is all the System grads who go out and do amazing stuff with what they learn and the many like Lloyd, who are gracious enough to turn around and give back.

That’s why there’s 1001 “dog and pony” Internet seminars and a million and one “flash in the pan” gurus, but only one System Seminar.

You see, we actually TRAIN our students to accomplish great things and many do and with this formula our circle and knowledge base just gets bigger and bigger, year after year.

You know the difference

If you’ve been to a System Seminar, you know what I mean. If you haven’t been and you’re in Internet marketing for real, you’ve really been depriving yourself.

The UK Intensive in London, England this September 26 & 27th is a great opportunity for you to get involved with real world,  high level Internet marketing, the kind that;s only dreamed about by most Internet marketers.  We’re limiting the group to just 79 attendees to keep it manageable and well more the half of the seats have already been claimed.

Participants at the UK Intensive will not only get the live training, they’ll also get the complete recordings of last year’s UK Intensive featuring direct marketing legend Drayton Bird (we’re still working to digest all the wisdom he shared with us last year) Plus they’ll also get the complete DVDs of System 2009 in Chicago (which alone sell for over $1,495.00 US.)

I want smart people at this event. If you’re smart, join us. We’d love to have you add to the power of our Master Mind.

Details:

http://www.systemintensive.com/uk

I’ve heard several savvy marketers, including Jay Abraham, mention it as the greatest scene in the Indiana Jones series.

Don’t peek at the answer. See if you can guess for yourself.

Hint: You can stop watching at the two minute mark. It takes place before that.

The answer (don’t peek!)

It’s the scene where Indiana Jones is confronted in a crowded marketplace by a sword master who clearly wants to kill him. The sword master goes through a complicated routine demonstrating beyond any shadow of a doubt that he is ready, willing, and most importantly able to slice Indy to ribbons.

It looks bad.

There’s no obvious way out.

Indy has bare-handedly fought his way through the bazaar, but all of his opponents up to this point have been manageable. The one face him now clearly is not.

So what does he do?

He casually pulls out a revolver and shoots his would be attacker dead with one shot. Problem solved.

Simplicity of action

It’s a beautiful thing.

Yet due to some quirk of the human mind – and we all have it – it’s one of the hardest things to achieve.

Very often, our “intelligence” works against us. We come up for more and more complicated methods and schemes and scenarios and neglect the obvious and the powerful.

The cure for this “disease” is not hard

The cure comes in two parts:

1. Realize the natural tendency to complicate things. In fact, count on it always being in play.

2. Repeatedly ask yourself these questions: Is there a simpler way? Is there a more direct way? Is there a way that uses fewer resources?

99 times out of 100, there’s always a simpler – and more powerful – way to do things. You just have to be disciplined about looking for it.

By the way, there’s more to the story of this scene and I heard it straight from the director Steven Spielberg himself…on the radio. (What? Do you think I know the guy?)

Spielberg originally planned an elaborately choreographed scene where Indy and the sword master fight it out: sword vs. whip.

The shooting schedule planned three full days to get the scene down which Spielberg estimated was going to cost $100,000 a day. This was in 1981 dollars when $100,000 would buy a three bedroom co-op apartment on New York’s Upper East Side.

The day of the shoot Harrison Ford showed up on the set sick as a dog. He’d had some bad food the night before. No way was he going to be able to work all day.

“I think I have an hour in me.”

If you’ve never been involved in large scale film production, let me explain what that meant…

Imagine around 100 highly paid craftspeople including actors, camera operators, sound recordists, electricians, lighting technicians, make up artists and stylists, wardrobe people, caterers, and the list goes on and on sitting around all day with nothing to do.

Shooting a big budget film is a lot like fighting a battle. You can’t deliver a bunch of troops and equipment to the front and then say “Gee, I think this will work better one hundred miles from here. Let’s just move everybody.”

So what did Spielberg do?

He re-wrote the scene on the fly…Abbreviated it down to the version we’re all familiar with over twenty years later…shot it in one hour…then gave the order to “strike the set” and got a three day head start on the rest of the movie.

They don’t teach this kind of thing in film school…or business school…but it turns out to be one of the most important skills there is.

No one can teach it to you.

On the other hand, no one can stop you from training yourself to act on this insight once you realize its power.

Ken

P.S. Speaking of keeping it simple and making fast, smart decisions, over the next year you are likely to be bombarded with dozens, if not hundreds, of get rich quick Internet marketing schemes.

The formula will always be the same:

ONE genius guru has found THE way to make tons of money effortlessly on the Internet, no experience necessary. Heck. You don’t even have to DO anything (other than send him money.)

Here’s some reality for you who are serious about making money on the Internet:

1. The Internet really is the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to money making. In fact, it’s one of the few sectors of the economy that’s thriving right now.

2. But it takes focused work and real know-how. Making money on the Internet is a profession and it requires serious training. You should immediately disqualify anyone who tries to tell you there’s a short cut. There are smart ways of doing things. There are state-of-the-art methods. But there are no overnight riches.
3. No one person has all the answers. The age of the know-it-all guru is over.

It will take access to a TEAM of specialists to help you build and grow your successful Internet-based business.

This is why from the beginning we’ve always taken a team approach to teaching at the System Seminar.

For example, at this year’s System – System 2008 – we had over twenty-five faculty members, each a world class expert in their field.

Some names you know, but others experts that simply don’t appear at other seminars.

Why?

They like our simple, no-nonsense, cut-to-the-chase approach to Internet marketing and they know it’s very hard to find anywhere else.
They trust that when they invest their time and their own hard-earned money to come to Chicago to our annual event, they’re going to come home with valuable, cutting-edge information that they can use in their own businesses.

This year, for the first time ever, I’m going to make the recordings of a System Seminar available to the world.

Right now, for a select group of smart buyers who recognize value and don’t need a lot of hype, I’m offering System 2008 at a special pre-publication price.

There’s more in this ONE package than in any twenty programs you’ll be offered elsewhere in the next twelve months.

Why not simplify your Internet marketing life and get ALL the information you need about Internet marketing from ONE, proven, reliable source?

Here’s what I’m offering.

This offer may be withdrawn at any time so if you’re at all interested, now’s the time to look into it:

http://www.thesystemseminar.com/2008/cds/

It’s a tool that makes it easy to analyze the search terms people are using to find your site. Here’s a video that explains how it works and why you’d want to use it.