David Leigh

Stompernet opening its doors again

david — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:34:59 +0000

Unless you’ve been living on Mars for the last few weeks, this won’t be news to you, but I’ll say it anyway: Stompernet is taking on new members.

As usual they have some well produced videos, but my experience with them is that they don’t really deliver on all their promises and are far too corporate. If you do want to join then go join through Ed Dale’s link as you get Immediate Edge membership and some other cool stuff thrown in too.

And if you are an absolute beginner to internet marketing then neither of these is for you - join the Thirty Day Challenge, which is FREE.

Learn how to sell online from the masters… for FREE

david — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:02:26 +0000

I could explain. But then I was up until 3:30 a.m. finding out about it myself, so will let Ed Dale explain as best he can. Click the play button below to find out more.

Sound like something you’d like to do?

Click here to sign up for the Thirty Day Challenge 2008.

Stand by for the Thirty Day Challenge 4!

david — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:55:39 +0000

OK, it’s that time of year again, the pre-pre-season for the Thirty Day Challenge. Last year’s challenge was an unqualified success with 100,000 or so signing up for the daily lessons in August.

This year will be different - naturally, as there will be new techniques and new stuff to try - but to help you make the most of it you should sign up now.

What is it????

Oh, I haven’t said. If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to sell online, then this is your chance. It is FREE, you won’t be pitched, it is 100 percent educational.

Since you don’t have to risk anything, what are you waiting for? Sign up for the Thirty Day Challenge now.

PS if you follow the links above, make sure you click on the video to find out more.

Review of Immediate Edge

david — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:31:53 +0000

Finally - I’ve done a proper writeup of Immediate Edge, so if you’re considering it but unsure whether to go with it or not take a read.

What is marketing?

david — Sun, 11 May 2008 09:49:13 +0000

One of the problems with “marketing”, and the reason for so many definitions is that different people mean different things by it. The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as “the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably”, which being an offline marketer in my previous life I agree with.

Typically marketers break down “marketing” into the elements of the marketing (or tactical) mix, often known as the 4Ps:

Product
Price
Place (Distribution channel - in info marketing this is the website)
Promotion (Marcoms)
- Advertising (PPC, SEO, sales pages)
- PR (pre-selling, press releases, article marketing etc)
- Sales (telemarketing, field sales etc)
- Word of mouth (viral marketing)

In service industries there are 3 more Ps that are often used (the extended marketing mix):

People (any person involved in the process, including customers)
Process (the process involved in buying a product from the customer’s point of view)
Physical evidence (branding, packaging, web design etc)

What many people mean by the term “marketing” is promotion, or marketing communications (marcoms). This is the process of actually getting the marketing message to the target market segments through advertising, PR and sales.

However, the main thing is to follow the right process, which is to identify a specific want or need; how to satisfy that want or need; identify and understand the strengths and weaknesses of the competition; and identify what you can do better or different.

Dan Thies on Google AdWords - forget EVERYTHING you know!

david — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:17:00 +0000

I’m most of the way through Stompernet’s latest video, the first of their Going Natural 3.0 series and blown away. Presenting the story of how Brad Fallon’s multi-million dollar business was blown away when it was dropped from Google’s organic listings and how Dan Thies headed up new research into AdWords to save that business from certain catastrophe, this is a really fresh look at how the AdWords game has changed and what to do in 2008.

One of the tools mentioned - in fact the only tool so far - is Microsoft’s Commercial Intent tool, which has yielded some surprising tools for one of my niches.

In fact, I’m going to see what happens if I use it to screen keywords in the Thirty Day Challenge/Immediate Edge niche research stage, as it may help identify really strong keywords that are off the radar at the moment.

Anyway, go and watch the video, if you’re doing PPC then you won’t regret it.

Marketing the way the internet works - or why I hate OT

david — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:38:52 +0000

During the 30 Day Challenge, Ed Dale was fond of comparing internet marketing to American Idol. The theory is simply that the aim of American Idol is to sell the audience the record that they want to buy and to do that the audience votes each week to knock one contestant out.

This whole idea originated - I believe - in Spain with Operacion Triunfo some 6 years ago or so, and at least one singer from that first series went on to great things. Although he didn’t win, David Bisbal won at least one Grammy a few years ago.

However, it is interesting to watch both American Idol on UK television and Operacion on Spanish TV at the moment. While American Idol is nice and slick and lasts a maximum of 90 minutes, Operacion Triunfo is a bloated monster. To continue the internet marketing analogy, if American Idol is marketing the way Ed Dale tells us in the 30 Day Challenge, Operacion Triunfo is one of the spammiest sites going, with poor content and popups all over the place.

While it started on TVE, it moved to Telecinco for maybe its third season, but Telecinco is such a poor TV station that I’m not even going to link to its website. NO!

In fact Operacion Triunfo is so bad I can barely force myself to stay up and watch it with liquid relaxant in hand. Here is why I hate Operacion Triunfo:

1. Everything on Telecinco runs late and that drives me mental. I’m not talking a few minutes, I’m talking 20 minutes minimum, often more, and no explanation, no apology and no update on their EPG.

2. There are so many adverts it just isn’t true. Between the last program starting and OT starting there are 20 minutes of ads. Then it starts with the intro for 2 or 3 minutes. And then we have… 20 minutes of ads. At this point the will to continue living starts to escape.

3. All the singers do their bit, with numerous ad breaks in between. And at the end we hear the judges… but by this time I can’t even remember who sang what - and neither do I care. American Idol has it right, sing, criticism, next…

4. I’ve long advocated that OT should theme the songs, so you can compare the different contestants better. On American Idol I was pleased to find they do that. On OT you can have an English language rock song against some crappy fusion flamenco - how do you compare that?

5. On OT the judges and the contestants all have a say in who gets knocked out, as well as the audience. That isn’t marketing like Ed Dale says, let the audience decide what they want.

6. The main program is 3 hours, which is just too long! After that it continues with the contestants being interviewed, answering text messages, etc.

OT needs to adapt, it has remained pretty much the same since that first series, which was massively popular in Spain. However, audiences have declined each year, the contestants get worse and worse and the adverts seem to go on longer and longer.

You think I want to watch it? A definite thumbs down.

Technorati Tags: ed dale, thirty day challenge, 30 day challenge, american idol, ot, operacion triunfo

Amazing tools from Immediate Edge

david — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:56:00 +0000

This weekend Dan Raine and Ed Dale have announced some amazing new tools for members of the 30 Day Challenge, which I would urge you to join if you are remotely interested in online marketing - and it’s completely FREE. The tools, which have been a few months coming, are designed to cut out the tedium of social bookmarking by doing it all for you automatically and will save a ton of time.

At the same time they made an enhanced version available to members of Immediate Edge and another great reason to join.

All in all 2008 is a great time to be an internet marketer - I’ll see you inside the 30 Day Challenge or Immediate Edge.

How to stop YOUR video content being ripped off

david — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:36:41 +0000

I’m not sure if it was during Ed Dale’s video course on Immediate Edge, but some time ago I published video on YouTube for one of my niches.

I was a bit pissed of a couple of weeks later when I found that someone had taken my video, removed my website address from the end and added their own. I asked them to remove the video and reported it to YouTube.

This is his reply:

I’ve removed the video. I hereby apologize for my actions. No hard feelings buddy?

Let me know if everything’s good now.

God Bless,
Kelvin

God Bless? Are you kidding me you scumbag? Everything is NOT good and I do have hard feelings. Ripping off other people’s content is not good.

OK, now I have that out of the way, I’ll tell you the moral of the story:

Always include your branding on every frame of video you submit.

Technorati tags: immediate edge

Latest at the Immediate Edge

david — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:34:31 +0000

Dan Raine and Ed Dale have been busy lately with the Immediate Edge, their $97/month coaching program. After a pause in Ed’s video series we’ve had a ton of new content focusing on tactics, including the usual newsletter. There has been a slow down in info on 2 specific strategies, which is a pity though, but I guess it’ll come soon. Also, we get to watch over their shoulders as the 2008 30 Day Challenge is prepared for launch, providing a great basis for a viral campaign.

Although Immediate Edge isn’t for everyone, it makes a refreshing change for an internet marketing program to be non-US based, which gives a slightly different perspective on things. If you’re serious at improving your internet marketing skills, at least take a look at Immediate Edge, and with a money back guarantee you can’t lose out if you decide it’s not for you after a couple of weeks.