This blog has now moved

This blog has now moved to Chris Mole Media

A funny video - if you work with clients you'll love this one

This video reminds me of experiences I've had when working with clients to design websites and write copy. It's worth taking a few inutes to watch it. You'll fall about laughing. And it makes a serious point, too :-)

New webhosting service with exceptional support

I have just launched a new web hosting service, with a special focus on offering personalised support to clients.

The service is for New Zealand customers and is priced in the mid-range, designed for serious business owners who don't want to take any chances with their websites.

I am leasing a server from a US company, which I have settled on after some very extensive research. This company is awesome, both in the quality and speed of its servers (I won't bore you with the technical details but they are among the best servers in the business, with more than 99.9% uptime over a whole year.)

If you're looking for a rock solid, reliable web hosting company, have a look at www.thesitemanagers.co.nz .

I have been offering web hosting privately to my clients for two or three years. But now I want to widen the service to other business owners.

I'm excited about the potential of this new service. Now it's a matter of marketing it ... and waiting for the orders to come in :-)

What good is a website without visitors?

During the past week, the truth has been brought home to me afresh that the best-looking website in the world, with the most persuasive sales copy, is no use unless people actually see it and read it.

I've had three people approach me in the last few days, desperate for help to get more traffic to their websites. These are all well designed sites, and the content is clearly written. The problem is, hardly anyone is visiting them.

One of these website owners has already spent a large amount of money on a Google Adwords campaign. But the cost of advertising was higher than the profits that resulted. So obviously, such advertising was not sustainable.

There's a perception among many small business owners (actually, among MOST small business owners, if my experience is anything to go by) that all they need to do is put up a website and sit back and wait for the visitors to come. The truth is far different.

Occasionaly, someone will strike it lucky. For example, a couple of years ago I built a website for a client selling kitset homes. At that time, there was a big demand for kitset homes in New Zealand and very few people selling them. Thus, my client's site got to the first page of Google within a few weeks. He was impressed by my 'marketing skills' and I was happy to take the credit. But subsequently, it hasn't always been so easy.

There are some basic principles of search engine optimisation that can help bring in free traffic from Google and other search engines. These are important. But in most cases, a website owner also needs to spend some time or money marketing their site, to see traffic and sales. This is what website owners need to understand.

There's a temptation when looking to have a website built, to go for the cheapest web designer. This is all very well. The end result may be okay in terms of design (if you're lucky). But the likelhood is, as many businesses have discovered, they will end up with a website sitting in cyberspace getting no traffic.

I don't have all the answers to this dilemma. But I've decided 2008 is going to be a year where I focus on helping website owners to get more traffic. This may come from paid advertising, such as Google Adwords, or search engine optimisation. Either way, it is going to cost the website owner something in terms of time and/or money. That's the reality. I can't mislead people by saying I can build them a website that will automatically start bringing in inquiries and sales and traffic, without some effort going into marketing the site once it's built.

So, in 2008 I will spend much less time building websites (I can outsource that to others who are just as good, if not better than I am) and more time on becoming an expert at Internet marketing. Because that's where the real need is right now.

A great little tool to make flash videos

I've been looking for a while for a simple piece of software that will let me put flash videos onto websites. I've finally discovered what I've been looking for. It's called Sothink Flash Video Encoder.

It's really simple to use and even allows you to crop and edit the .flv file. It comes with a choice of nice video players and the end result is really professional looking. Sothink Flash Video Encoder is amazingly user-friendly. You can convert a video into flash format, ready to put on your site, in less than five minutes.

I've tried other software for converting videos to flash, including some that have very persuasive sales letters, but they're not as good as Sothink Flash Video Encoder. It only costs US$45, which is a bargain for what it does. I've paid $167 and $147 for two other video-flash tools that aren't nearly as good.

Here's an example of a video I've just done using Sothink Flash Video Encoder. www.justtherightcurves.com.

Hype Is Dead. Education & Entertainment Now Rule

I've just read an inspiring and challenging e-book by John Reese, one of the world's top Internet marketers. It's packed full of vital information for anyone who is serious about selling anything online.

Here's a sample of what the e-book contains. Something I have felt strongly about for a long time ... that over-hyped sales copy has had its day in Inernet marketing.

Here's what John Reese has to say on the subject:

Hype Is Dead. Education & Entertainment Now Rule

The days of super-hype marketing tactics are over. They used to work well in the past but they are working less and less everyday. People are naturally more skeptical now. They don’t respond as well to hype. Yes, some people will still buy after they read some heavy hype copy but it’s becoming fewer and fewer consumers everyday.

The future of marketing is using education and/or entertainment

Advertorial style copy on the Web does a lot better than over-the-top copy – and the difference in success rates is continuing to grow. If you are selling something from a web page think about different ways that you can incorporate an educational story or “sidebar” of factual information that will actually deliver some value to your reader even if they don’t buy your product.

The legendary copywriter, Eugene Schwartz, used to market books by giving some of the best parts of the actual book away in the marketing itself. And it helped them sell like crazy. When you really think about it the psychology of this method is pretty obvious … the prospect is thinking, “if this free stuff is this good I can only imagine how good the actual product is.”

So you need to try to educate your prospects throughout your marketing process. This is the reason why you want to give away as much great content as you can. If they enjoy your free stuff they will be many times more likely to buy the stuff you sell. And this is a proven fact. People are also more bored than ever before.

We are constantly bombarded with advertising and marketing. It’s a real challenge to make your marketing stand out. One of the ways to do this is to make your marketing entertaining. Anything you can do to make your marketing a little bit more interesting and exciting the better it should produce for you because it will increase viewership, which typically increases response."

OK, there's a sample from John Reese's report. If you want to read the whole report, you can download it here: www.plainwords.co.nz/resources/rebirth.pdf

At last, a PRINT magazine for online marketers

If you're serious about marketing your business on the Internet, you'll want to sign up for a free copy of a brand-new Internet marketing magazine that comes out in a PRINT version. This has been long overdue. While email is great for sending out newsletters, there's nothing like a genuine paper and ink magazine that you can hold in your hands, sit down with in your favourite arm chair and enjoy a cup of coffee while you read it (or even take it into the bathroom with you).

Online Marketing Monthly launches on July 1, 2007. It's being published by Rick Butts and Nathan Anderson, two guys who know a lot about Internet marketing. This is going to be a must-have magazine for anyone in the Internet marketing business.

They're offering the first issue free. That's a great offer, which I didn't waste any time signing up for. I'm pretty sure I'll become a regular subscriber.

As the publishers point out, one of the signs that an industry has “arrived” is that it earns it’s very own magazine. It is evidence that the Internet marketing industry has reached a critical mass of readers, advertisers, news, and interest.

I recommend you go and sign up for your first free issue now at http://www.marketingtoolstoday.com/go/magazine