4 Stealthy Sources Of Powerful Internet Marketing Intelligence
Copyright 2008 by Willie Crawford

In online marketing it is critical that you keep up with what is
going on in your industry. You do need to know  who is doing
what - and why they are doing it.  You do  need to take the
time to  research potential joint venture partners, products,
and competing businesses.

Here are four excellent tools and how to use them.

1) Internet Archive - Also known as “The Way Back Machine”
at http://Archive.org

There are actually many facets to this amazing site but the
feature  that I use most is the ability to look at  a historical
snapshot of  a website/domain.

There is a box on the site where you can enter any url, and it
will  show you “snapshots” taken of that website over time.

For example, if your were to enter my domain
“williecrawford.com”  you’d see be able to sift through actual
archived pages from my website between December 1998 and today.
Every week or two a new  snapshot of the site was taken and
stored in the Archive.org database.

That lets you confirm how long a website has been online
(provided it was archived), lets you see how a business evolved
over time, and  will even reveal to you things a marketer may
have been testing that perhaps didn’t work out.

I use this tool to confirm how long a site/person has been in
business.  I also use it to confirm how long a person has
actually been in a particular niche or discipline.  I use it in
deciding who to actually form business relationships with.

If you discover practices contrary to your own standards, or
that a potential business partner hasn’t been totally honest
with you, then  you  certainly want to proceed with caution…
or look deeper.

2) Google Alerts - At http://www.google.com/alerts/

You can set an alert to have Google notify you via email any
time that it finds a new occurrence of a term online (on a
webpage, blog, etc.)

I set alerts for my name, my product names, my urls, and
competitors’ names/products/urls.

Any time the system finds someone “talking about” the target
term, it  will send you an email (at whatever frequency you
specify)  notifying  you of the new finds.

Once a day, I get emails notifying me of where my target terms
has just  been discovered. This points you to places where you
are being blogged  about, mentioned in articles, discussed on
forums,  etc.

It could alert you to positive or negative publicity that you
want to  be aware of.

3) Tweet Beeps - Similar To Google Alerts, Only On Twitter.com

Found at http://tweetbeep.com/ I use Tweet Beeps the same way
that I use Google Alerts. Any time that my target phrases are
found in ANY Twitter posts, I get a notification.

That will point out to you discussions that you may want to join
for various reasons, to include “damage control,” thanking them
for a nice compliment, to answer questions about your product,
etc.

One creative way to use Tweet Beeps would be to ask those
“tweeting”  positive things about your product for testimonials,
or to become your affiliates.

4) International Association Of Joint Venture Brokers

Found at http://IAJVB.ORG, The International Association of
Joint Venture Brokers is a collection of joint venture brokers,
super affiliates,  product owners, publishers, and webmasters
who use the site to keep track of product launches.

The site is a database of upcoming and ongoing product launches,
live events, tele-events, and even free giveaways.

Members of the site enter their events into the database as an
easy way to  recruit new affiliates AND to let other members know
that they are “claiming” a given launch date.

Savvy affiliates search through the database looking for product
launches in  their niche.  They understand that when you know
about an upcoming launch a  month or more in advance, you can do
things to gain a tremendous advantage in  the search engines before
most other affiliates EVER hear rumors of the launch.

During many product launches, your potential customers often go
to the search  engines to see what reviewers have to say about a
given product.

Affiliates  who knew about, and obtained a review copy of a product
a month in advance,  will have their reviews listed at the top of
the search engines, getting sales  from people who are not even on
their lists… or have ever previously visited their websites.

Members pull up the listings of other launches planned in their
niche and use  that information to plan when they will do their own
launch.  This keeps them  from going “head-to-head” with big
launches that would otherwise drown out their own.

This also shows them launches that they could perhaps piggyback on.

They can  often get mention of their product INCLUDED in an upcoming
product, or they can plan on releasing their product just as the
commotion from a big  launch is dying down.

Perhaps your product does the same thing as product with a huge
launch planned,  but your product is cheaper. You could time your
launch to catch potential customers who have a heightened awareness
of the problem that your product solves, but who couldn’t afford
the other product.  You can sell to a lot of customers who actually
feel POWERFUL resentful towards the product that they wanted but
couldn’t afford.

As you can see good intelligence is extremely valuable. You
absolutely must  know what is going on in your niche. Fortunately,
with the above four tools, it’s  very easy.

——————-

Willie Crawford is an internationally-acclaimed speaker, author,
seminar and radio show host, and leading Internet marketing
expert. When not out fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, Willie can
be found sharing his 12 years of online marketing experience
with members of The Internet Marketing Inner Circle.
Join them at: http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com

My friend and mentor Jeff Walker has just launched
a limited release of his Product Launch Formula 2.1+

This is an updated version of PLF 2.0 so if you
purchased 2.0 you don’t need to buy it because Jeff is
giving you the upgrade for free.

Here’s only offering a maximum of 500 copies, so if you
are interested, you should check it out now. Chance are
that it will be closed tomorrow.

Product Launch Formula is where I learned many of the
tactics that I use in mapping out a product launch for
clients.  I charge $20,000 to plan/broker a launch.

I’ve known Jeff since 2003, and been watching him for that
long

A few people have asked me if I’m offering a bonus if they
get Product Launch Formula 2.1+ through me.

Yes, and it’s the best bonus that I can think of…

I just finished up 12 hours of recorded coaching where
I talked many clients through actually planning product
launches… some of which you’ll see in the next few weeks.

They each paid $697 to be on those calls.

You can read about that teleseminar series at:
http://williecrawford.com/JVTeleseminar/

I’ll offer you the recordings to those calls (in PDF and MP3)
plus supplemental materials I gave them..

PLUS a 1 year GOLD membership in The International Association
Of Joint Venture Brokers. You can read about IAJVB at
http://IAJVB.ORG

The Gold Membership allows you to list ALL of your launches,
events, etc., in the database where all of our members can
easily find YOU!

Fully 90% of the failed, or really poor, product launches that
I’ve observed in the past year happened for 2 related reasons:

A) Really poor timing. They were often at the same time as
another MAJOR launch.  IAJVB has a searchable database of
planned product launches designed to prevent that from
happening.

Our members enter their planned product launches into the
database and that puts many others on notice that they’ve
claimed those dates.

B) Not enough high-powered joint venture partners.

IAJVB is designed to solve that problem too by being a
place where our members, many super-affiliates, can search
for upcoming launches in their niches.

Ideally, IAJVB members find out about product launches as
much as 2 months in advance… and are able to plan way
ahead of their competitors.

So, check out Product Launch Formula 2.1+ and if it seems
right for you, order though my link, and then contact me
here:  http://WillieCrawford.com/helpdesk/

Just paste your receipt into a help ticket letting me know
that you want my bonus, and we’ll set you up with immediate
access to the bonuses.

My affiliate link is http://P-L-Formula.com
Willie

So, Are You an Information Marketer or a Fulfillment House?

Congratulations, you’re an information marketer. Maybe you’ve just developed your first product or maybe you’re an old pro who’s been at it for a while.

If you’re approaching your business the correct way you’re continually building your own information products empire in your area of expertise.

That means you’re producing books or manuals, or audio and video- based training materials. Maybe it’s CDs or DVDs. Doesn’t matter. The important thing is you’ve got a number of products you can promote via you speaking engagements, through your website, by joint venturing, or by any other number of methods.

Now let’s ask the tough question. If you’re having any degree of success you may now be wearing all of these hats (and more):

• public speaker
• marketer of your speaking services
• information product developer
• shipping clerk
• CD or tape duplicator
• binder assembler
• customer service manager
• order taker
• travel planner
• delivery person

So you’ve got to ask yourself which of these hats should you be wearing? Where should you be applying your time and efforts to maximize your business?

When you’re first starting out you probably should do it all yourself. You need to have an understanding of what is involved in producing and delivering your products to your customers.

But if your business is growing you’ll quickly find out that too much of your time is being spent on the mundane tasks - copying binders (or running to Kinko’s), duplicating CDs and labeling them, packaging things together, putting products in boxes, running down to the post office or UPS, etc. Which means you’re not spending your time where you get the biggest bang for your buck – sales, marketing, product creation and, for some, public speaking.

When is the right time to outsource your duplication and fulfillment requirements? Ultimately, you’ll have to decide when that time is for yourself. But what do you value your time at? $100 per hour, $200 per hour, more? Then how long does it make sense for you to be spending your time doing $10 or $20 per hour tasks? If you’re spending an hour per day running products to the post office that’s an hour you’re not investing in your real bread and butter. And what is your opportunity cost?

When you’re spending time working in your business rather than working on your business then opportunities will slip by without you even noticing them. There is a time when outsourcing your product duplication and fulfillment requirements makes sense - both from a time management and a financial standpoint. When is that time right for you?

————

Trying to do your own product fulfillment is Mistake #3 in Bret Ridgway’s course
“The 50 Biggest Mistakes I See Information Marketers Make.” How many of the mistakes are you making and what’s it costing you? For more info visit: http://cart.sfsbookstore.com/shop/cgi/tracker?shopID=7&adID=472

Perceived Value: What is it and Why is it Important to You as an Information Marketer?

In the information marketing world you’ll frequently hear the phrase “perceived value” uttered. Simply put, it means how much people think your product is worth. How you choose to package the information you’re selling will have a tremendous impact on how your customers perceive its value.

Let’s take a look at the relative perceived values of different products from lowest perceived value to highest perceived value. Keep in mind the content is identical regardless of the packaging.

Example 1: Single CD

Low —> Medium —> High

Paper Sleeve —– Jewel Case —– DVD Style Case

If the CD is a free lead generation tool or a bonus item then a paper sleeve may be your best choice. The price that you’re asking for the product will, to a large extent, determine what kind of packaging you want to utilize. If you’re giving it away you need to go bare bones on your packaging.

But, if the product is selling for $47, $97 or more than you need to dress up the package. It needs to be more impressive so a jewel case with full color inserts or a DVD style case with a full color outsert will be called for. Remember, the content is identical. You are influencing the perceived value of your content by packaging it differently.

Example 2: 100 Page Manual

Low —> Medium —> High

Saddle Stiched — Perfect Bound — Spiral Bound — 3-ring Binder

Again, the content is identical in each of the formats. But the public has been conditioned to equate the value of a perfect bound book with a $19.95 price or so you’ll find in your traditional bookstore. Put that same information into an 8-1/2” x 11” spiral bound document or a 3-ring binder then it appears to be more specialized knowledge and people are willing to pay more for it.

If you’re selling a multifaceted product that consists of many CDs and/or DVDs and some printed materials that going to have a ticket price of $497 or higher then you definitely want to stay toward the upper medium to high end of the perceived value scale.

How you choose to package the components of your information product is critical to how people will perceive its value. Be aware of the value scales above when you’re deciding how you want your product to look and make sure your packaging is consistent with what you want the perceived value of your product to be.

————

Packaging inconsistent with the selling price of your product is Mistake #18 in Bret Ridgway’s new course “The 50 Biggest Mistakes I See Information Marketers Make”. How many of the mistakes are you making and what’s it costing you? Visit http://cart.sfsbookstore.com/shop/cgi/tracker?shopID=7&adID=472 for more info.