Success.

How do you attain it?

In any field, there are about half a dozen things that really matter. Mastering them takes time and focus, but it’s usually not too hard to figure out what the essential elements are.

Pay attention to what people who are successful in the field you want to succeed in actually do. Not what they say they do, but what they really do.

Be smart enough to listen to the practitioners who tell you straight and be very wary of the ones that tell you all the answers are contained in their latest “Launch.”

While it may be true there are only a few things you need to do well in order to succeed, there are a countless number of ways to screw up and that’s what this article is about: screwing up.

The facts of life

Very, very few people are on the receiving end of either incredibly good or incredibly bad luck. Some things go our way. Some things don’t.

When we fail, it’s because we do ourselves in.

There are two basic ways to do yourself in:

1. Failing to invest in yourself

2. Tangling your life up with people who bring you down

Let’s look at these two mistakes in detail

1. Failing to invest in yourself

I’m NOT talking about buying an expensive “mentoring” program from some telemarketing boiler room.

I’m talking about simple things like not making the time and effort to uncover your real interests and talents…

…Not reading and taking relevant classes

…Blasting huge amounts of time in unproductive activities like watching TV

…Not making the effort to reach out and develop colleagues who share your interests and values

…In short, not taking the time you have on this earth seriously.

All this comes under the umbrella of not investing in yourself.

Screw Up Method #2...

2. Tangling your life up with people who bring you down

A second and very reliable way to screw up your life is to bring people into it who screw it up for you.

I’m not talking about the so called Law of Attraction.  I’m talking about letting people into your life who screw you up and letting them stay in your life to screw you up another day.

There are a lot of good, hardworking people who take themselves down this way.

How do you get around this one?

When you’re in the middle of it, it can seem the most baffling problem there is.

You might ask yourself:

“Aren’t the people who come into my life a matter of the luck of the draw?”

“Don’t we need people in our lives to have full lives?”

“Don’t people sometimes trick us by presenting themselves as being one way and then turn out to be exactly the opposite?”

Yes,  yes, and yes, but…

The luck of the draw

There is definitely a degree of randomness about the people you meet.

On the other hand, I believe that people who think that you attract who you meet by some mystical force are wrong.

You “attract” whoever happens to be on a collision course with you. That being said what you DO with this accidental event is ENTIRELY up to you and that definitely is an expression of what’s going on in your mind.

Rather than talk about the “Law of Attraction” when it “attracts” the wrong people into your life, it should really be called the “Law of Stubbornly Turning What Could Have Been a One-Time Meeting into an Ongoing and Painful Soap Opera.”

If meetings are random, it’s best to keep moving until you find the right folks: partners, vendors, employees, colleagues, mates, buddies  (fill in the blank.)

The right one, not the one right now. Big difference.

But people need people, right?

Yes, in the long run, but if you want to solve all your people problems now and forever and reliably nip future ones in the bud fast, tattoo the following somewhere where you will never forget it:

“It is infinitely better to have no person in my life than it is to have the wrong person in my life.”

First, the wrong person will drain you and make your life miserable. No fun.

Second, the wrong person will mess you up so much that even if the right person were standing right in front of you with a flashing neon sign over their head, you stand the chance of being too worn down and/or tied up in knots to even notice.

Is is really that hard to tell people who are good for you from those who aren’t?

If you’re scrupulously honest with yourself, you will probably admit that it’s really not that hard.

The “bad seed” who caused you so much grief probably telegraphed his or her massive f*cked-up-ed-ness (a technical term) virtually from Day One, but you didn’t see, or to be more accurate…you didn’t want to see because…

You were not operating from this ironclad principle:

“It is infinitely better to have no person in my life than it is to have the wrong person in my life.”

You needed an employee. Someone put on the charm and nodded a lot during the interview. You hoped for the best and hired them.

You were in a rush to get a vendor and you took the first one who answered the phone.

You had to have a partner to help you with the burdens of your business and…you get the idea.

And you took the person on, let them embed themselves in your life, and you got what you got.

Jean-Paul Satre said: “Hell is other people.”  If you don’t know the deep truth of that statement, you’re one lucky person.

How to steer clear of the bad ones

First, make sure that you’re operating from the principle: ”It is infinitely better to have no person in my life, than it is to have the wrong person in my life.”

Second, believe that all God’s creatures are worthy of love and respect and treat them accordingly.

Three, know beyond any shadow of a doubt that at least nine out of ten of the people you encounter in life will have major HIDDEN competence, reliability, and/or  integrity issues. A small percentage will be flat out mentally ill and a percentage of that number criminally so.

Let me put it another way, when you meet a new person, they are 900% more likely to become a problem for you than a boon if you let them into your life.

As if that’s not a grim enough statistic, consider this:  Some of the very worst people come in the very nicest and most pleasing packages. They’re masters at creating “positive first impressions.”

They can also be very good at projecting “sweet , harmless and innocent.” It’s part of their pathology and modus operandi.

We’re social creatures

Normal human beings love to bond, they love to make new friends, they love to fall in love.

That’s great, but here’s a suggestion:

You can just as easily bond, make a friend and fall in love with someone after you’ve checked them out as thoroughly as you can. Fireworks, good times, charm alone are never a good reason alone to open the door to someone.

The next time you find yourself getting all excited about someone new ask:

1. Is there a big gaping hole in my life for this kind of person? (Be honest.)

2. Am I methodically overlooking flaws in this person and dreaming I’ve found a winner based on zero information, or worse, my own vivid imagination? (You don’t have to be asleep to be dreaming you know.)

3. Am I putting myself in a position where this person can do me harm before doing a thorough examination of their character? (which is easily determined by: a) watching how they act and b) checking their track record)

What’s that old saying? “Trust everyone, but cut the cards.”

And never, ever underestimate the harm the wrong person can do to your morale, your energy level, you bank account, your reputation. The downside is often much bigger than you think.

Trust and verify

First, know what your bottom line is. What you really want and what you won’t accept.

I’d say that competence, reliability and integrity are three good places to start.

Lack of integrity should be an instant deal killer.  Lack of reliability is its cousin. Lack or reliability in small things telegraphs lack of reliability in big things.

When you see signs of these two things cut and run. There is no possible way you can win in any situation with a human being who is reliability and/or integrity challenged.

As for lack of competence, if you really think you’ll be happy endlessly picking up the slack for an employee, a partner, a vendor, a mate etc. who lacks competence in areas that matter to you, have at it. It won’t kill you, but it probably will get to be old faster than you think.

People change, right?

Generally, people do not change, unless it’s for the worse.

The employee who showed up late the first day and had a reason he had to leave early is just going to get worse and worse.

The date who whips out his or her cell phone at dinner to take a long call will find newer, grander ways to disrespect you in the future.

The colleague who takes and takes and never quite gets around to giving back will find ever creative new ways to extend the trend until he’s bled you dry and kicked you to the curb.

So don’t expect that it will ever get better than it is right now – with this particular person.

What you see is what you get and if it’s bad now, it will probably get worse, much worse.

It’s not all bleak – in fact, the future is quite bright

Some may say I have a negative outlook because I’m recommending you take a long, hard look at negative things.

These same people might accuse of me of failing to use positive thinking.

I accept these accusations because I believe that mindlessly parroting positive thinking principles can be the most dangerous thing in the world.

Parroting positive thinking keeps people in bad situations, hoping that the situation will get better just as it propelled them into the bad situation they never should have gotten involved in in the first place.

Instead of being “parrot positive” be truly positive.

Know that “it is infinitely better to have no person in my life than it is to have the wrong person in my life” – and that you’ve got the strength to wait as long as it takes.

Know that all God’s creatures are worthy of love and respect and treat them accordingly – and use your God-given judgement to weed out trouble-making people from your life before they become a problem for you, or, failing that, as soon as you realize you’ve made a mistake.

Finally, know that in spite of the super abundance of trouble-causing people, the world is full of human gems. One out of ten, give or take.  And among that number, some truly amazing ones. Not perfect, but decent, honest folks you can rely on and will even surprise you by going beyond what you could ever reasonably expect.

They exist and there are plenty of them…

…If you will take the time to look…

…If you will take smart steps to avoid and eliminate negative entanglements that are wearing you out and…

…If you will value yourself, your time and your energy enough not to randomly hand it over to unsuitable people just because they happened to cross your path at the same moment you happened to think you needed someone like them.

Success really is for the taking.

Invest in yourself and have high standards for the people you allow in your life and you’ll be improving the odds for your success exponentially.

You’ll also have a whole lot more fun along the way.

- Ken McCarthy

P.S. If you found value in this, consider sharing it with friends and colleagues.

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We end the decade today.

If you’re wondering what the next decade is going to bring for Internet marketing, consider this:

At the end of the last decade…

* Dotcom stocks were heading straight up in one of the biggest orgies of manic stock buying the world has ever seen

* Banner ads were selling at massive (and irrational) premiums

* Pay-per-click advertising (then offered by just one company, GoTo.com) was considered an oddity

* Yahoo was the 800 pound gorilla in Internet media

What a difference ten years can make

Today:

* The NASDAQ still hasn’t come even close to recovering its Year 2000 heights

* Banner ads are sanely priced

* Yahoo appears totally hopeless

* Pay-per-click advertising (mainly in the form of Google AdWords) has taken over the world

Crazy times

I was there ten years ago.

Actually, I was there seventeen years ago (1993) when I started making my first tentative experiments online. I had the once-in-a-lifetime thrill of witnessing and participating in the birth of a new medium.

But all was not sunny in Internet Land.

By 1998, I reached a point of total bafflement at what was going on in San Francisco and Silicon Valley in the Internet industry I helped pioneer.

People I knew to be hopeless idiots and in some cases outright scammers were being helped by New York investment banks like Goldman Sachs to loot billions of dollars from the stock market by selling shares in companies so loony that they defied belief.

That year, the fall of 1998, I voted with my feet, said “bye” to the Bay Area digerati crowd (who thought I was nuts) and moved back east to the sleepy, beautiful and then low-priced Hudson Valley to wait for the inevitable.

A year and a few months later, New Year’s Eve 1999, I watched in amazement as Internet shares that were already insanely priced went straight up.

Then it all fell apart

By the end of 2000, Internet companies were vanishing in droves.

Companies valued at hundreds of dollars per share were selling for pennies…if they were still in business at all. And as the months progressed, the implosion became more and more severe.

When I went back to San Francisco in 2003 after having been away for nearly five years, it was like a neutron bomb had hit the place. The buildings were still standing, but the people – and the companies – were gone.

In the middle of the wreckage, I did something that a lot of people thought was crazy. In 2001, I started working on a new Internet marketing training. In 2002, I launched it.

It was called the System Seminar.

The turn around

I created the System Seminar with a simple premise…

In spite of the crash of bogus Internet companies, the Internet itself was as solid as a rock – and it was going to grow, this time for real.

How could I be so sure?

For the same reason, I was willing to risk substantial time, money, energy and my reputation for sanity by putting on the first web marketing conference ever (November 1994, San Francisco.)

This time around though, things were going to be different.

The big change

The big change – and we built it right into the very first System Seminar – was that Internet advertising was going to be based on careful calculations of ROI (return on investment.)

In a way, this was nothing new. Old school direct marketers have been tracking the profitability of their ad buys for decades.

But this was a brand new concept to many on the Internet.

It’s hard to believe now, ten years after the fact, but it’s true. Before the System Seminar, only a handful of scrappy Internet entrepreneurs were tracking anything besides “hits” and the cost of banner ads.

I’m not going to take credit for the massive sea change that’s taken place in the last ten years

But I will take credit for being the first to put it on the line to teach this approach as the only one that makes sense for Internet marketers when nearly everyone else was still talking about “branding” and “mindshare.”

The big change – Part Two

In 2002 (2001 actually if you count our early beta trainings), the System Seminar was the only place on earth where you could learn an integrated approach to Internet marketing…

…One that combined smart online media buying and careful results tracking with “old school” smarts like direct response copywriting and list management.

From the very beginning, our focus was on pay-per-click. We even mentioned Google AdWords at our first seminar, even though it had only just launched and no one really understood how it worked yet.

Fast forward a few years and two of the attendees at that first System seminar (both then total PPC “newbies”) wrote what have become the two definitive books on the subject (See Perry Marshall’s “Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords” and Howie Jacobson’s “Google AdWords for Dummies.”)

Thanks to its PPC revenues, some say that Google is poised to take over the earth.

Not so fast Google

Here’s what absolutely won’t change in the coming decade:

* The Internet will continue to be a central part of hundreds of millions of people’s lives. If anything, it will become even more central as the Internet solidifies its position as the “central switching station” for all media: text, audio, video, buying, selling, communicating, chatting, gossiping etc.)

* Consumers will continue to seek VALUE in their purchases and if my crystal ball is working, they will be even more militant about getting value for their money in the years to come.

* Advertisers – the ones who are going to survive that is – are going to become even more sophisticated about tracking their results and making sure they get the best possible value for their money.

What this is going to look like is smart Internet marketers diversifying away from Google AdWords.

AdWords will continue to be an important part of the mix, but anyone who is not taking energetic, aggressive steps to free themselves from dependence on Google for their traffic is going to have cause for regret.

Strategy for System 2010

I’ve been writing ad copy since I was in high school and started paying the rent with my efforts back in the mid 1980s.

I am a serious student of the game.

Copywriting is the switch that turns raw traffic into money.

I don’t know how to state it forcefully enough but here goes: Traffic is worthless without masterful conversion and conversion is just a fancy word for ad copy, so in a very real way the whole game of Internet marketing boils down to copywriting.

In all the noise about Twitter, Facebook and other “mindshare building tools” a lot of internet marketers have lost sight of what matters in Internet marketing.

To bring us all back to reality in 2010, I’m bringing in two Big Guns of the copywriting world to System 2010 – both multi-decade veterans who write real ad copy for real companies selling real products to real people. Both master teachers…

But don’t take my word for it. They’re both published authors with their books continuously in print: Bob Bly from the US and Drayton Bird from the UK. Google them.

The other piece of the puzzle: traffic

Great copywriting, as important as it is, is not enough.

You need the second part of the equation: traffic.

I’m a big fan of SEO, article marketing, JVs, viral marketing and all the other “free” ways you can drive traffic on the Internet. Over the years, we’ve offered scores of trainings and master classes on these subjects.

But none of these methods can hold a candle to the simple, reliable method of simply buying the traffic you need.

If you want to maximize your potential on the Internet, buying traffic is where it’s at.

Here’s why:

Buying traffic lets you turn on the traffic you need right now, not weeks and month from now.

If you’re already a traffic buyer you already know that Internet traffic is the Eighth Wonder of the world.

You can buy a little, test it, amplify what works and turn off what doesn’t.

It takes skill, know-how and paying attention, but knowing how to buy Internet traffic comes as close to money-on-demand as anything on earth.

Why it’s so hard to get good information about traffic buying

Two facts:

1. There are no “old” traffic buyers. Not yet, anyway.

Most of the traffic sources that matter today (like pay-per-click) weren’t even around ten years ago.

2. People who are good at traffic buying generally don’t teach.

Traffic buying is a demanding and lucrative specialty. Taking time away from the main event to teach it to others is not something most traffic buyers ever think of doing, let alone are willing to make the serious effort to do.

That’s where the System Seminar has a major leg up over every other Internet marketing training.

Just as people like Perry Marshall and Howie Jacobson were motivated by their experience as System Seminar students to document and share what they learned about AdWords, the new generation of System-inspired Internet marketers is ready and willing to do the same with what they’ve learned about the nut and bolts of buying traffic today…in 2009, soon to be 2010.

Our System 2010 traffic faculty

For the first time ever, we’ll have traffic buyers on this year’s System faculty who have spent (and continue to spend) and track millions of dollars of their own money on Internet ad buys: Greg Davis, who specializes in high volume mass appeal consumer offers and Ben Moskel who specializes in a highly competitive niche where traffic costs are at a premium.

Both are real-world experts in uncovering new traffic sources, testing them, and figuring out how to make them pay. Their knowledge is not theoretical – and you won’t find it in any book or course. It’s based on the market as it is right now.

To round out our faculty, Google-certified Timothy Seward of ROI Revolution who guides the purchase of tens of millions of dollars a year in traffic for over seventy companies, will share his perspective on what’s working today, where things are headed, and what it takes to maximize the profits of an Internet business.

Steal this seminar

If you’re reading this before January 1, 2010, you have the chance to get all this cutting-edge knowledge at a bargain basement price.

Every year, we make the System Seminar available to people who can make an early decision to get a bargain price.

If you’re an Internet marketer and you’re already buying traffic for your business, System 2010 will be some of the best time and money you’ve ever spent.

If you’re looking to make the leap into Internet traffic buying, System 2010 will:

a) show you what’s really involved (no sugar coating),
b) cut months if not years off your learning curve, and
c) help you get where you want to go faster without making expensive mistakes.

The fact is one wrong move in traffic buying can easily cost you several multiples of the price of System Seminar 2010. (You may even be making an expensive traffic buying mistake right now and not even realize it.)

Our traffic buying faculty has already made most of the big, dumb, expensive mistakes so you don’t have to.

Even more important, they’ve dug up traffic sources and refined tracking methods that are practically guaranteed to improve your bottom line.

Early Bird Registration Deadline: December 31, 2009

How much for this hard won, can’t-be-found-anywhere-else knowledge?

For the multi-decade experience of two master direct response copywriters with hundreds of campaigns each under their belts…

For the rough and tumble know-how of two master multi-million dollar traffic buyers…

For the insights of one of the sharpest Internet campaign advisors in the business, certified by Google…

And for the insight of yours truly, the guy who’s been at this now for seventeen years, consistently finding you the right people at the right time for your next right move?

Check it out.

You may be pleasantly surprised at how affordable all this is when you’re an early bird.

But do it by midnight December 31, 2009.

Details:

http://www.TheSystemSeminar.com

Ken

P.S. Happy New Year!

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True story…

I was once interviewed my someone (a serious marketer) who before he started the recording asked if it was OK if he mentioned John Caples.

“Of course!” I replied. “Why do you ask?”

His answer was one of those things that initially shocked but did not surprise me…”Because half of the Internet marketing ‘experts’ I interview these days won’t let me mention anything that they can’t earn a commission from.”

That, sadly, sums up the state-of-affairs in much of what is called Internet marketing “education” today.

It’s a jungle out there. Choose your advisors wisely. Some have a vested interest in you not knowing what’s going on.

Be all you can be. Read.

Whether you’re the rawest new beginner or a seasoned pro with years under your belt, there are two things you need to know about Internet marketing:

1. Internet marketing is direct marketing
2. There is a gold mine of information on the subject contained in the many excellent books real marketing experts have written over the years

I know of no better way to accelerate your progress while at the same time improving your BS detector than to read – and continuously read – the books I call the Classics.

The secret, “they” hope you never find out

I try to spend at least 15 to 20 minutes every day going over one or more of these books.

It may not seem like much time, but it adds up.

Just 20 minutes a day is over two hours a week which is over 100 hours a year. That’s a brain changing (and life changing) chunk of time. I’ve been doing it for over twenty years myself.

As I’ve told all my students since Day One and repeat at every System Seminar: “Soak your brains in these books.They will change your life.”

You can do this – and why you should

This list could be much longer, but ten is plenty. In fact, any one of these books has the power to be life changing for you.

No matter what your budget of time and/or money, you can afford this “program.” In fact, I’d say nobody, no matter how much they already know, can afford not to do it.

The most successful marketers I know are invariably the most serious readers – and the very best ones never stop.

My Top Ten Reading List

1. My Life in Advertising – Claude Hopkins
2. Tested Advertising Methods – John Caples (Fourth edition or earlier)
3. How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling – Frank Bettger
4. Scientific Advertising – Claude Hopkins
5. How to Write a Good Advertisement – Victor Schwab
6. My First Sixty Years in Advertising – Maxwell Sackheim
7. Secrets of Successful Direct Mail – Richard Benson
8. Breakthrough Advertising – Eugene Schwartz
9. The Robert Collier Letter Book – Robert Collier
10. Common Sense Direct and Digital Marketing – Drayton Bird

While some of these books are hard to find, many are readily available in low cost editions.

Reading just one will make your year. Making them a part of your day will change your life.

The real secret of marketing success

Successful marketing comes from developing a way of thinking.

It’s not a the result of a bag of tricks and it’s certainly won’t come from a “coaching” program sold out of high pressure telephone boiler room.

Success is largely a do-it-yourself process.

It helps a lot if you have someone close to you who can show you the ropes. I didn’t. So I read.

By reading, I gradually found the real experts who knew what they were talking about.

I’m not saying I never went down a wrong path or was never fooled by a personable con artist. I have been. Plenty of times. But because of these books, even in the worst of times, I’ve always had a reliable rudder which has kept me on course.

Be all you can be. Read.

Best,

Ken

P.S. Our annual System Seminar is rooted in the direct marketing classics.

This year, we’ll be meeting April 9 through 11 and as has been true for the last five years our meeting will be in Chicago.

I picked Chicago as our annual “headquarters” because the Chicago area has the biggest concentration of direct marketers in the world. More even than New York.

It’s the place Claude Hopkins and Maxwell Sackheim, the guys who practically invented direct marketing, cut their teeth.

You can read all about this year’s faculty and the subjects we’ll be covering here: Click here for more information

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The first book I ever read about advertising was David Ogilvy’s “Confessions of an Advertising Man.”

One of the smartest things I ever did in my life was to take Ogilvy’s advice to read Claude Hopkins’ book “Scientific Advertising” at least seven times.

I did – and many more times than that. I still read it along with Hopkins’ autobiography “My Life in Advertising.”

Now there’s a brand new – and excellent – biography of David Ogilvy written by long time colleague and Ogilvy & Mather adman Kenneth Roman: “The King of Madison Avenue”

There’s so much of value in this new bio – but here’s one gem.

Here Ogilvy describes his company Ogilvy & Mather:

“..the most precious asset we have is probably our ETHOS – the spirit which binds all our offices together all over the world (Note: O&M had over 100 offices.) It embraces:

Intellectual honesty – with our clients and with each other
Thoroughness – as opposed to superficiality
Professionalism – in everything we do
The emphasis we place on character – in choosing people for key jobs
Pride in O&M – tempered by unrelenting discontent with our shortcomings.”

I like all these Ogilvy principles, especially the last: “Pride…tempered by unrelenting discontent.”

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

If you’re giving it your all and you’re working to the highest possible standards, you should be proud of your efforts.

But if you’re smart and you intend to continue succeeding year after year, you’ll realize that best is still yet to come and you’re only really just getting warmed up no matter what success you’ve had.

Technique is important, but it can’t replace this kind of deep-in-the-bones dedication to doing things right.

In that spirit, I’m happy to say that 2010 will mark our sixteenth consecutive year of offering fundamentally sound, cutting edge, and principled training in Internet marketing.

This year, Drayton Bird, a direct marketing pro with over forty years experience will be joining us in Chicago as a featured speaker at System 2010.

Among other things, Drayton is an alumnus of Ogilvy & Mather.

Drayton sold his UK direct marketing agency to O&M, became one of their key DM executives, and was the person Ogilvy entrusted with teaching direct marketing principles throughout the agency’s 100 + worldwide offices.

Details about the event

For more information about System Seminar 2010, Drayton Bird and the rest of our faulty: Click here

Ken

P.S .If you’re reading this before December 31, 2009 and you intend to join us in Chicago, please note that the super “early bird” tuition discount deadline offer expires December 31, 2009.

For more information about System Seminar 2010: Click here

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The word of the year for 2009 for Internet marketers was: FOCUS.

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

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Can you really condense a seminar’s worth of copywriting advice in just 140 characters or less?

Seven marketers took a stab at it. Here’s what they posted to Twitter in the order they posted.

Some good stuff!

“Only 3 things matter in copywriting: The reader starts reading, he keeps reading, he takes the action you want him to. That’s it.”
- Twitter.com/KenMcCarthy

“Good copy offers relevant benefits with every reason to grasp them; what you miss if you don’t; dispels disbelief and stays in the mind.”
- Twitter.com/DraytonBird

“Copywriting: the art of using words to create first interest, then action.”
– Twitter.com/ShelHorowitz

“Who Am I, What Do I Have, Why Do You Need It, Here’s How You Can Get It Fast!”
- Twitter.com/ChefMarkGarcia

“Get his attention by meeting and stimulating the interests (already on his mind) and meet his desire with an irresistible offer”
- Twitter.com/Andy_Moose

“Get clear on what counts, create, wait, edit, test, keep what works, do it again.”
- Twitter.com/Adriel_Brunson

“Copywriting is: Getting attention and keeping it long enough that the reader takes your desired action.”
- Twitter.com/Healymonster

“Copywriting is conclusively proving that you offer the best solution to the prospect’s problem so they act NOW”
- Twitter.com/shaunoreilly

“Copywriting is discovering what people want & showing them how to get it (in print). It’s not “original” but works for me ;0)”
- Twitter.com/bensettle

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Here’s what I mean by copywriting made simple…

A copywriting seminar in just 129 characters (as posted to Twitter):

“Only 3 things matter in copywriting: The reader starts reading, he keeps reading, he takes the action you want him to. That’s it.”

When I posted this last month, I challenged my copywriting colleagues to come up with a more concise set of instructions for writing great copy.

Maybe, they’re holding back because so far no one’s even tried to beat it.

The difference between a pro and and amateur

When it comes to writing ad copy (or any kind of writing really), the difference between an amateur and a pro is this:

A pro understands how vitally import Steps One and Two are in this Three Step process and never takes them for granted.

It’s the mark of an amateur to obsess over Step Three (getting the action you want) exclusively.

Dealers in half-baked copywriting advice count on this.

They load beginners down with masses of “gee-whiz” tricks and techniques (for an unreasonable fee) and then leave them to flounder in the swill. Their hope being you’ll give up and hire them – for yet another unreasonable fee.

Don’t give in – If you focus on the right things, you too can write great ad copy

Getting down to the business of asking for the order (Step Three) is important, but without getting the first two things right, you’ve got nothing.

Beginners don’t get this.

Beginners believe – and they are encouraged to believe this by bogus “gurus” – that copywriting is a matter of learning a long list of manipulative “tricks.”

They’re further misled to believe that copywriting is about being clever and creative and smart (and sometimes even devious.)

Here’ what it really takes

To be a successful copywriter (or to write good ads for your own business), you need to be as creative as a plumber.

No more, no less.

You need to know how to diagnose problems (sales problems), what tools to use and when, and how to link all the pipes (sales processes) together so that the water (prospect attention and action) flows in the direction you want it to flow.

Until you master the art of catching and holding attention – and then guiding action – nothing else will make a difference in your sales.

Simple?

Yes it is simple, but to hit the right target someone has to point you in the right direction from the start.

Does it really matter?

I don’t know how important copywriting is to your business, but I can tell you this:

The difference between understanding the process of creating great ad copy and being lost in a maze of bewildering advice is the difference between struggling and making real money – sometimes incredible money.

(In my case, I doubt I’d have 1% of the money I have today if I hadn’t learned how to write ad copy. It can be that important.)

If copywriting is important to you and you’re frustrated with the copywriting services and trainings you’ve encountered so far, I created a course especially for my System grads which covers this topic.

As far as I know, there’s nothing else like it.

Details here:

http://www.kenscopyclinic.com/

- Ken McCarthy

P.S. If you’ve read this far, think of all the things that had to happen to get you to this point.

1. You had to see the subject line in the original e-mail and be motivated to open it.

2. You had to actually read the e-mail and continue reading it to the point where you saw the link.

3. You had to be motivated enough by what you read to click on the link and start reading this article.

4. Then what you read there had to be interesting enough to keep you reading to this point.

5. In order to get you to this point, I had to: a) catch your attention (get you started reading) and b) hold you attention (keep you reading) all the way to this point.

THAT’S 90% of copywriting and once you learn how to do that, the selling part becomes much, much, much easier.

Details on how you can learn to do this consistently – in any industry, selling any product, and under any market conditions here:

http://www.kenscopyclinic.com/

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So many Jim Rohn quotes to choose from but here are a few I find myself going back to again and again.

These quotes might be particularly useful to Internet marketers and marketers of all kinds. I’ve added commentary to each one to help

Be original

“Don’t borrow someone else’s plan. Develop your own plan and it will lead you to unique places.”

My comment: This is why I don’t sell or promote so-called “businesses in a box.” Even if they work, and they rarely do, they practically guarantee mediocrity.

(more…)

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I just received news of Jim Rohn’s death today.

Jim Rohn had an absolute genius for simplifying life and success. Barely a day goes by when I don’t think about one of his aphorisms.

If you know his work, you know what I’m talking about.

If you don’t know his work, by all means check it out.

Here’s a good place to start:

Jim Rohn remembered in death

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Why is it so hard to get practical advice on using Internet promotional tools?

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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