John Carlton’s Plodding Dinosaur Test

Seven Ways to Make Money with Your Web Site
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"Testing" is a dirty word to some people. And it shouldn’t be. It’s not hard to do, when you know the game.

     And what you learn - once you get the knack of passing all data through your Inner Salesman -- will be like adding jet fuel to your business.

     Remember: "It’s a mess to guess." Most business owners (and nearly all ad agencies) hate to bother with testing. They want to sit around and think really hard... come up with a brilliant solution or marketing scheme (preferably one that is "out of the box")... and then run with it.

     Dumb, dumb, dumb.

     For most people... including most business owners... their Inner Salesman is fast asleep. And flabby. Consider him a muscle that needs a good workout to get strong. And to get really strong, he needs special exercises and extra nutrition.

     Most of the questions (and ALL of the panicked emergencies) I get about marketing on the Web are a direct result of not having a salesman’s savvy. The poor guy’s snoring.

     Here’s a sample of recent emails: "How do I know what to charge for my product online? Should I price it at $49? Or $39?" "I’m not sure which pitch will work to my list. Should I be really aggressive, or should I act like a super-enlightened dude who doesn’t have to try very hard?"

     And my favorite...

"How Will I Know If What I’m Doing Is Working?"

     Big sigh from my end.

     Look, guys, it’s really very simple. Working the Web isn’t all that much different from working direct mail lists. You DON’T "know" how to price your product - you find out. You don’t "know" which kind of pitch will work - you find out.

     And you don’t "know" when you stuff is working (or not). You find out.

     So how do you land on a price? Well, if you have competition, see what they charge, and what they deliver for that price. Then, position yourself either higher, or lower, or exactly the same. And explain why you’re priced that way.

     Here’s what I have discovered about pricing. First, there is no difference at all between, say $49 and $39. There are "price cut-off points" in most people’s minds. In most cases, people won’t distinguish between $49 and $39 or $41, or $35, or $43 or anything else below $49.

     No. There seems to be a range there - anything above $20 and below $50 (if you adequately sell it) should be at least tested at $49. In the customer’s mind, it’s a hazy price range. If they will spend $39 for it, they will often just as quickly spend $49 for it. But they absolutely will not buy at a flat $50. For most people, $50 bucks can be "too much"... while $49 is just fine. (This works all the way down the line. Don’t price yourself at even numbers. Go down, even a penny, and take advantage of the unconscious discount. Thus it’s never $20, but $19.95. It’s $99, not $100. And it’s $1,499, not $1,500.)

     So don’t cheat yourself by coming up with dumb price points.

     This ain’t an exact science. That’s why we test. I’ve had clients who sold stuff at $35 a pop... who could not tell me why they had settled on that price. It just "seemed" like a good number at the time.

     So I told them to test a much higher price... and they were astonished to learn that a good percentage of their customer base would happily shell out $99 and more for the same stuff.

     And with the right kind of pitch, and by adding more value in the form of free reports or tapes or whatever... they could create a package around their $35 stuff... and charge up to $399 for it.

     But they never would have discovered this interesting tidbit... without testing. The lack of resistance to higher prices (when you’ve got something of honest value) is one of the biggest secrets to multiplying your wealth, and hardly anyone figures it out.

     Because they’re too lazy to test.

     But it’s really easy to test on the Web. Here are two different ways to monitor results:

     Web Test #1: If you’re getting a high volume of traffic to your site, you can actually test in "real time". Have your geek standing by (or learn how to use FrontPage software and do it yourself) and change the sales copy on your site while you’re monitoring results.

     This is an amazing opportunity for marketers. In direct mail, you have to wait until the mail arrives and the orders come in. That can take several days or weeks, even with first-class mail.

     With magazine ads you gotta wait months for total results... and there’s a multi-month lag between placing the ad and having it run.

     But online, testing results are nearly instantaneous. For impatient folks like me, that’s a huge bonus. No sitting around twiddling your thumbs. You can launch, test and refine a new campaign every 60 minutes, if you like.

     Amazing.

     Web Test #2: This one is much more primitive... and I believe I officially invented it.

     In fact, I am officially taking credit for it, as of today. Let’s call it "John Carlton’s Plodding Dinosaur Test". Cuz that’s what I am. I love to solve problems with basic, easy caveman tactics.

     It’s very simple. When you want to test your pitch, or anything in it... just get another URL.

     There are no rules against "knocking yourself off", you know. If, for example, you are currently hosting the site teachyourcattomambo.com, and your want to test price, or the "voice" in your copy, or the look of your site, or anything else... go to www.register.com or www.godaddy.com (or any of the other joints that register site names)... and get the alternative URL teachyourcattotango.com. Then open another account with whatever search engine you’re buying terms from, and go after the same market segment.

     And test away to your heart’s content. Not very elegant, but it works.

     But we’re not done yet. Now I want to reveal the big damn secret of quadrupling your profits from any online venture... that is STILL ignored by 99% of all Internet businesses. So listen up.

     The simplest way to add zeroes to your bottom line profits online... is to start using direct mail.

     Wow. I can hear tech-heads exploding all over the world.

     But it’s true. ALL of the savvy marketers I know who are Web-based... have also started incorporating the ancient art of sending real, live letters to their lists.

     They do this because it works like crazy.

     Other marketers I’ve talked to dispute the idea that direct mail could ever work for "their" lists. In each case I’ve seen, they sent out lousy direct mail letters, got lousy results, and considered the issue dead.

     So here’s the caveat: You still have to mail good sales letters.

     Which leads us right into our final tip today. A psychological tactic, stolen from street-wise salesman who can sell ice to Eskimos - you must have on your website, autoresponders (or direct mail letters) to get the huge results you crave.

     Street-savvy hucksters know that no con will work on an honest man. You need greed in the mix. In those 3-card Monte or shell games (which shell is the pea under?), the hustler always allows the mark to win at first. Then the bet doubles. The mark, thinking this is the easiest money he’s ever made, agrees.

     And suddenly that pea does magic acts. By the time the mark realizes he’s being taken, he’s lost a bundle.

     For the rest of us, it’s a reminder of the importance of appealing to the inherent greed in all humans. Many marketers put their customers on a pedestal, and refuse to get into the "gutter" with their competition offering blatant bargains.

     Big mistake. I love to do the "fire sale" ads, where some slight damage or mislabeling or tiny flaw has forced us to offer everything at dirt-cheap bargain prices. There are businesses all over the country who earn so much in their liquidation "going out of business" sales that they not only stay in business... but they routinely try to go back out of business so they can have that liquidation sale again.

     A furniture dealer I know sold so many couches with slight rain damage, that he punched a hole in the warehouse roof to keep the leaks coming.

     People like to get something for nothing, or at least get a better deal than everyone else got. It gives them a story to tell their friends. Makes them feel good about their prowess at finding bargains. And - most importantly - gives them "permission" to spend money on something they might otherwise put off buying (or not buy at all).

     That’s it for today.

[Via - MarketingRebelRant.Com]

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This is your life, according to Google

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Google's latest project is called Web History, and it offers registered Google Account users a chance to peruse not just their account history with Google, but one's surfing history. "Imagine being able to search over the full text of pages you've visited online and finding that one particular quote you remember reading somewhere months ago," explains Google's Payam Shodjai, product manager for Personalization. "Imagine always knowing exactly where you saw something online, like that priceless YouTube video of your friend attempting to perform dance moves from a bygone age. Better yet, imagine having this wealth of information work for you to make searching for new information easier and faster."

The data is available only when the user logs on with a Google account and password, the same account used for other Google services such as Gmail. In order to track web surfing information, the user must have the Google Toolbar installed in their web browser, and have PageRank enabled. The Web History feature can be turned off and on as you like.

Google Web History replaces the earlier "Search History," which only allowed users to look at previous web search queries and results. The new tool allows users to browse pretty much anything they've surfed on the Internet—from sites visited to downloads to search results, and also displays usage trends, showing which sites were most visited at certain times of the day. There's even a history of which Google AdSense ads the user has clicked on.

Google says that Web History data will only be available to the user signed in with his or her Google Account. The data collected is only used to "improve your search experience" and Google promises that this data will not be made available to third parties except in aggregate form or to comply with legal processes, as per their existing privacy policy. As such, the existence of Google Web History does not change anything in terms of what information Google is collecting from its Toolbar users. Indeed, any web site on the Internet can collect usage information from its visitors by the use of cookies and IP tracking.

Still, the fact that all this information is being collected in one easy-to-access place does have some people worried—what happens if a Google account is compromised? Some are concerned that Google's recent purchase of DoubleClick may cause the company to be less interested in user privacy and more interested in sharing their surfing habits with advertising partners, too. A straw poll in the virtual office shows that we're not really worried about the privacy angle, but strangely no one was eager to leave this on for a week, either.

[via arstechnica]

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Great Idea: Moonshine As A Business

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Before he moved to North Carolina in the mid-`90s, Joseph Michalek's New York buddies kidded him about coming to the land of moonshine and Mayberry.

Within months of arriving in Winston-Salem, he began to notice a glass jar quietly being passed around at bluegrass festivals and race tracks.

"I'd never seen nor tasted moonshine, but it was pretty obvious that's what it was," said Michalek, 38. "I was prepared for the worst, but I sipped it and it was delicious, much smoother than I expected. It had a hint of fruit in it; I'd never tasted anything quite like it."

What Michalek tasted was a moonshine "hybrid," which has grown in popularity in recent years at barbecues and ballgames throughout the Carolinas - usually offered from a friend's back-pocket flask. The corn whiskey infused with local peaches, apples, cherries or strawberries is sweeter and smoother than the 180-proof, clear liquor with a bouquet of paint thinner.

Old-timers call the fruit-infused liquor sissyshine.

"You'd be surprised at who's drinking that stuff too," said Arthur Black, a South Carolina peach farmer. "It ain't farmers in overalls; it's yuppies in places like Charlotte."

Michalek saw a business opportunity.

In 2005, he started Piedmont Distillers in Madison, north of Greensboro - the first legal distillery in the Carolinas since before Prohibition.

Michalek produces Catdaddy: Carolina Moonshine, which is being sold in more than 200 North Carolina ABC liquor stores and outlets in York County, S.C. Catdaddy is moonshiner slang for the "best of the best."

He won't divulge his startup costs or his sales, but it's now being sold in a half-dozen states. Last year Piedmont sponsored a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race car. Michalek works with four full-time employees.

He produces Catdaddy in small batches - 300 gallons, triple-distilled in a German copper pot still. A batch yields about 1,500 bottles, which are filled, corked and packaged by hand in Madison's former train station. A 750 milliliter bottle costs $19.95.

He says his liquor mixes well - he has recipes for a Moonshine Martini (Catdaddy, orange vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice and a splash of lime) and a Who's Your Daddy (one part Catdaddy and one part Irish Creme).

Real moonshine comes in two "flavors" - legal and illegal. The essential difference is one is taxed and one is not.

You can go into most any liquor store and buy moonshine such as Georgia Moon Corn Whiskey, Platte Valley Corn Whiskey or Catdaddy. The federal tax on a gallon of whiskey is $15.50.

It is legal to own a still; you can buy one online for less than $800. If you want to produce any alcohol in your still, you need a federal permit. Under the alternative fuels law, you can make up to 10,000 gallons a year of ethanol, which can power engines when mixed with gasoline.

"Yes, you can have a still, but it must be permitted and you can produce spirits for fuel use only," said Art Resnick, director of public and media affairs for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. "Let's make this perfectly clear: It's illegal to make moonshine, which is untaxed spirits."

Even if a person wanted to make moonshine at home and pay federal taxes, it's not that simple. It requires a federal distiller's license and is cost-prohibitive for anything other than a business.

On Michalek's journey to become a distiller, he says he gotten some curious looks as a "fast-talking Yankee with a hard-to-pronounce last name" asking questions about the production of moonshine.

"But I was interested in the high-grade premium stuff, and once people understood I respected the quality of their product, they opened up," he said. "They take a lot of pride in making good whiskey. It's truly becoming a lost art."

What Michalek learned was that he wasn't interested in the old-style, 180-proof stuff with enough "bite" to take the chrome off a trailer hitch.

"I don't see how anyone can drink that stuff; it should be illegal," he joked.

Catdaddy is moonshine, but it's not straight corn whiskey.

"It's flavored moonshine. A lot of homemade moonshine is fruit-infused, and our recipe is too, but we've added two more flavors to make it unique," said Michalek, who brought the proof down to 80 to make it smoother.

True to his craft, Michalek won't identify the three flavors he adds, other than to say it's a fruit with spices similar to vanilla and cinnamon.

Davis Clark of York, S.C., grew up on a farm and had his share of the old-style moonshine.

"But in those days, you drank what you could find; poor folks couldn't afford no `government' whiskey," said Clark, 63. "But here recently I've been seeing more fruit in the jars as the proof has been coming down. That's what the younger folks want these days. That old shine is like the folks that drank it - dead and gone."

---

MOONSHINE FACTS AND LORE

History: Moonshining dates 300 years to the Scots-Irish who settled in the Carolinas. Making moonshine originated in the Scottish highlands with farmers who used excess grains such as corn to ferment into liquor. The reason many of them came to America was high taxation on property, such as whiskey, and religious persecution.

A basic moonshine recipe calls for 5 gallons of sweet feed (grains such as corn mixed with molasses); one package of distillers' yeast; 5 pounds of sugar and water. It's basically mixed together with warm water and allowed to ferment for several days. The fermented brew is then filtered and run through the distilling process or the still. More moonshine drink recipes can be found at www.catdaddymoonshine.com.

Slang terms: White lightning, kickapoo joy juice, popskull, ruckus juice, mountain dew, happy Sally, hillbilly pop and panther's breath.

The name: The production and transportation of illegal or untaxed whiskey was done primarily at night.

A Web site on the history and lore of moonshine was done by a group of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill students in the mid-1990s for a cyber publishing class. Their description of moonshine's potency: "One drop will make a rabbit whip a bulldog." www.ibiblio.org/moonshine

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Negative Keywords And PPC

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Most people don't pay near enough attention to negative keywords. Or maybe they stick in words like "free" or "cheap" but usually that's not enough. Sometimes the total success or failure of your PPC campaign hinges on the proper use of negative keywords.

Here's an example - the keyword "soap." Here are the results you get from the Overture inventory tool:

Searches done in December 2006

Count Search Term

91393 soap opera

63090 soap

41891 soap opera digest

34895 soap central

21779 soap opera central

17220 soap making

13494 soap opera update

13439 cbs soap

12595 abc soap

7271 soap digest

6977 soap city

6794 soap dispenser

5608 soap opera weekly

5178 daytime soap

4974 handmade soap

4778 cbs daytime soap opera

4685 soap making supply

4629 soap dish

4525 daily soap opera update

4344 passions soap opera

4234 soap opera spoiler

4136 all my child soap opera

4099 young and the restless soap opera

3787 soap spoiler

If you're bidding on the keyword 'soap' and using anything other than exact match [soap] it's gonna be real, real hard to make this keyword work. If you sell soap related products, then the list you see here is actually more valuable in terms of the negative keywords it gives you (opera, digest, cbs, daytime) than the positive keywords (handmade, dispenser, dish).

So what you should do is bid this way:

[soap]

"soap"

soap

with negative keywords

-opera

-digest

-central

-cbs

-abc

-daytime

-passions

-children

....and you should go all the way down the list, plucking out as many negative keywords as you possibly can.

When you do that, your CTR on broad match and phrase match will go up, sometimes even double or triple. On a term like 'soap', broad and phrase match will probably not work AT ALL unless you have a very extensive list of negative keywords.

2-3 years ago on PPC, the name of the game was slinging a lot of mud against the wall and seeing what sticks. Today, less is more, and negative keywords are just the kind of 'less' that will sharpen your saw and make you effective.

One last thing: My bookstore book is out on the shelves now. If you give Amazon $16.47 and commit 10 minutes a day to reading The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords, then 30 days from now you'll be smarter than 98% of all Google Advertisers. Not only about AdWords, but all essential online marketing skills.

For a blow-by-blow explanation of the book, why we wrote it (hint:I'm a self-aggrandizing egomaniac), visit

Perry Marshall, perrymarshall.com

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New patent reform bill would streamline appeal process

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Congress is once again preparing to try and fix the US patent system. The Patent Reform Act of 2007 was introduced simultaneously in the Senate and House today. Sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in the Senate and by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) and Rep. Lamar Smith (D-TX), the bill is an attempt to update current patent laws.

The new bill is very similar to bills introduced in 2005 and 2006 that failed to pass. It would change the US patent system from its current "first to invent" system to the "first to file" system used in almost every other country. It would also make some changes to how damage awards are calculated in infringement cases.

Another significant change would streamline the process for challenging patents. Currently, anyone wishing to challenge a patent has two options: a lawsuit in a federal district court, or asking the US Patent and Trademark Office to reexamine a patent.

Neither of those two options work very well. Litigation can be prohibitively expensive, and the USPTO's reexamination process is sluggish and unwieldy at best. According to a copy of the bill seen by Ars Technica, the Patent Reform Act would establish a new, post-grant patent review process for disputed patents. During the first year after a patent is issued, anyone can file a "petition for cancellation" that would initiate a review of a patent. After the 12-month period, a review would still be possible, but more difficult to initiate.

Once a review has begun, the presumption of a patent's validity would be put aside for the duration of the review. A "preponderance of evidence" standard would be used to determine whether or not the patent should be upheld, with both parties allowed to present evidence. Once the review process has been concluded, the decision could still be appealed in federal court.

"If we are to maintain our position at the forefront of the world's economy and continue to lead the globe in innovation and production, then we must have an efficient and streamlined patent system to allow for high quality patents that limits counterproductive litigation," said Sen. Leahy in a statement. "This bill is an important step towards achieving that goal."

"High patent quality is essential to continued innovation," added Rep. Berman. "Litigation abuses, especially ones committed by those which thrive on low quality patents, impede the promotion of the progress of science and the useful arts. This is why we must act quickly—to maintain the integrity of the patent system."

Switching from a first-to-invent system to a first-to-file system would be a huge change for the US, and that section of the bill will be the subject of vigorous debate as it moves through Congress. Critics of first-to-file systems say that they inherently favor large companies with the resources to file for patents in a timely manner, while the first-to-invent method theoretically enables the actual inventor to get credit for and receive a patent on his or her original work, regardless of when it was filed.

In contrast, the changes to the patent review process should go down much easier. Most observers agree that the patent process in the US has some serious problems, and as written, the Patent Reform Act of 2007 would do much to fix it.

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I am a strong, enthusiastic advocate of direct marketing. For most businesses, small or large, direct marketing consistently delivers the best results for dollars spent. We need to begin with an understanding of direct marketing versus other types of advertising, promotion and marketing. Let's talk first a little bit about the others.

There is institutional advertising. This type of advertising is often intentionally used by big corporations and blindly copied by smaller ones. It essentially says to consumers and/or to stock holders here we are, here's who we are, here's what we do and we're nice guys but it never asks anybody to buy anything or to take any action. It's image building.

Some examples you're probably familiar with include the Goodyear Blimp flying over football games, the IBM TV commercial seen during the Sunday morning news programs and during some sports telecasts, most bank advertising, Time Magazine's signs in airports, this is all pure institutional advertising.

Advertising agencies, consultants and the media love to sell you this type of advertising because there is no possible way to measure its effectiveness. Is it working? Is it paying for itself? Who knows?

The next slightly more sensible approach is what I call 'Non-Measurable Response Advertising.' This type of advertising is trying to sell something but is still basically unaccountable for its results. TV commercials for a particular brand of car fall into this category. The intent of those commercials is to get you interested enough in that car to go to the show room but there's really no way to tell how many people who came to the show rooms this week we're influenced by those commercials.

Would they have come anyway as a result of the dealers own newspaper ads? Who knows? Many smaller businesses get trapped using this type of advertising. Appliance, record, clothing, department stores all run sales ads - here's what's on sale come on in. But they have no means of determining how many people became because of the ads versus how many might of come anyway or how many came from an ad in one media versus the same ad in another.

They can guess. They can take this weekend's higher traffic less last weekend's traffic and attribute the difference to the ads but it gets worse. They advertise the sale via the newspaper, two radio stations and flyers. How do you tell what works and what doesn't? Again ad agencies and the media like to sell this type of advertising because it's difficult for the advertiser to measure the results.

Another type of marketing is public relations and publicity. There are firms who you can retain to prepare press releases and articles about your products or services and your company and work at getting them placed at various media. These firms may also arrange interviews and talk show appearances. Although you can measure them by how much actual exposure they get for you it's generally difficult to then measure how much business came from the exposure. Also in this category is the sponsorship of everything from a little league team to an Indy 500 race car or a golf tournament.

All three of these types of marketing probably have some place in a businesses total marketing plan. It is my firm belief, however that these methods are grossly and deliberately oversold to clients by media and professionals because of there resistance to results measurement. It is also my opinion that most businesses, the owners of small businesses and the executives of large companies stupidly waste outrageous sums of money on these non-measurable marketing options.

I would much rather see money spent where the results can be definitively and accurately measured so the changes can be made to develop successful response levels for every dollar spent.

Dan Kennedy, http://www.dankennedy.com/

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http://www.MLMVideoGoldMine.com(206) 350-0765Attention All MLM / Direct Sales Distributors...Pop-Quiz: Why Do You Think The Google Monster Just Recently Bought Out A YouTube Giant For An Estimated Total of $1.65 *BILLION* Dollars? Give Up...?? Because Google Knows That 2007 Will Be The Beginning Of The All New Video Focused Internet! So The Real Question Is......Are You Going To...
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Article marketing tutorial. Internet marketing the "Bum Marketing" Way. www.bummarketingmethod.com
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http://www.mprivateresidences.com/

If owning a $2-million to $3-million home complete with tennis courts and a waterfront location in Cabo San Lucas sounds appealing, Calgary-based M Private Residences has a deal for you. Think of it as a time-share on a whole new level. "We specialize in the shared ownership of luxury vacation properties around the world," says co-president Paul Poscente. "The word 'ownership' is key and differentiates us from time-shares. Each investor actually owns an undivided interest in our properties and gets the luxury of travelling to those properties." In other words, this investment property doubles as a getaway home.

Currently, there are 12 luxe homes in M's stable. By the end of the year, there will be 13 homes in six countries. There are two types of shares: class A and class B. When the company was founded in September 2004, A shares were going for $340,000. They're now up to $465,000. Investors who go with the premium shares are entitled to 60+ days of time per year at any one of the homes, explains co-president Ken MacLean. They also pay $20,000 in annual dues for maintenance fees and elaborate concierge services. Class B shares go for $265,000, with $12,000 in annual dues, and allow for 21+ days of use per year. "You're allowed to book a month of time up to two years out," explains MacLean, "excepting Christmas and Easter, which is lottery-based."

Douglas Gray, a former real estate lawyer and author of 23 books, including Making Money in Real Estate, says M's business model is intelligent and eclectic. "They've taken the best of all the investment options out there and blended them into this opportunity," he says. "It's a natural evolution. It will be a good fit for a select group of sophisticated investors." So far, about 90% of M's clients are Calgarians, but the company is expanding east. As the number of investors grows, so does the portfolio. "For every six shares we sell, we buy a house," says Poscente. What's the latest location under review? A property in Italy with its own olive grove and vineyards. "In the morning, you go and test your grapes," says Poscente. "It's living the dream."

[Via Canadian Business]

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(More Super Bowl-related information at http://superbowlgame.blogspot.com)I attended this meeting of the San Francisco Chapter of the American Marketing Association on the invitation of my friend Beth. It is an informative and entertaining look at ads from the 41st Super Bowl game, and by ad and marketing professionals based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Super Bowl XLI was the third-mos...
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The Force that Controls You!

Figured I’d blog about something that made me feel all warm and nice inside. I’ve been getting lots of IM’s and emails from readers and members of WickedFire about how they read what I wrote on PPC Arbitrage, and how instead of just sitting around reading, they put it into play. Not only has it been paying off, nicely too, but it’s actually helping all of these smaller and medium sized webmasters get over the hurdle of “I want to make at least $2k a month on auto-pilot”. I promise, this is not a pitch for an ebook or some killer system to wealth and riches. This is actual stuff that is working. I have never charged a dime for any of the information either, and don’t plan on it!

How much is needed to be successful at PPC Arbitrage? Not a lot. Most of the guys doing it have created their site with AdSense or YPN, which took them a few hours, which is expected with your first site/page, because you’re not used to it just yet. But even so, a few hours of making a few pages on some information topic they don’t really know all that much about, slapping the contextual ads on there, and then driving traffic to it. So, aside for the work amount, the cost is so basic too. All you need to do is just prove it to yourself that at it works before you allocate a larger budget to the project. Typically, people will invest about $100 to maybe $300 at most. It’s up to you if you want to burn through that budget in a few hours, a few days, or a month. Most people let it run for about a week, and almost everyone sees results immediately. Sure, you may have to wait on a net 30 basis to get your check, but when you compare it to anything else, it overrides it so quickly.

Just to prove how goddamn easy and quick the ROI took, a friend of mine tested a small site for some weight loss drug called Hoodia. Put up the content, slapped the ads onto it, put some links to affiliate products as well, and that was it. He had already cleared $50 in profit within the first 20 minutes. He used some Tier 2 PPC traffic, which comes pretty quickly, especially for a topic like that. The positioning of ads was very creative, but everything stayed within the rules of Adsense. Again, he wasn’t doing this as a form of making cash for himself, it was strictly as a test to prove that what I said works, and does so very well.

Here’s another example. A friend of mine who happens to own a very large ad network, obviously doesn’t need to money, but likes to dabble in all sorts of interesting and creative ways to make money, put up an information site on mortgages and loans. Very popular and expensive topic, no need to tell you guys that. Typically clicks for it will cost about $9 on Adwords for almost every major keyword on the topic. He took traffic from one of the 2nd tier engines, Searchfeed I believe, pushed some traffic to it, and now, in month 2, he’s averaging $5k a month. Not bad at all. I think his total investment was a little over $2k for both months combined!

In the second example, my friend used a practice that I mentioned a few times to other people as a way to make even more money, or maybe convert the non-clickers of your ads into clickers, because again, that’s all you want them to do. You aren’t building it to make them come back time after time for updated information, because there will be none. All you want them to do is clickthrough to the advertiser who can either supply them with better, more accurate information, or a product/service that they are already looking for. So back on topic, using different forms of contextual based advertising and maybe tossing in some affiliate links on the sides is a good way to go. This way, if the user has no interest in your ads that they can tell are from Google (which aside for people within our industry don’t really notice this stuff like we do), they may click on something else. Perhaps you should add some Adbrite ads, or maybe something like Intellitxt or Kontera. Even Chitika ads can do well if it’s targeted to something in the shopping or consumer electronics area.

My point is, just because you’re making a site for something like arbitrage, doesn’t mean it has to look like it’s a MFA page (MFA - Made For Adsense). Spruce it up a bit with more ways to make cash, things to compliment the ads in ways that may not look like blatant ads, but can still drum up lots of clicks. Alright, you may not make $1 a click from it, but I’d rather make $0.15 a click instead of zero. You’ll see, it will hike up your profit margins.

In closing, I’m really glad people are using the advice I give, and not just making assumptions about it, or bashing it without trying it. I will always catch shit from people who disagree, and that’s fine, but 99% of those people who usually disagreed, never even tried it. Of all of the people who have tried it and failed, it was a minor failure and they usually go over where they failed and how, fix their mistakes, and poof, back on the horse they go, and into the ranks of success stories. So if you hit a snag, keep trying. We aren’t talking about investing a ton of cash here or something that you can lose your shirt over. It’s simple trial and error. Pick a topic, make a page/site, slap some ads onto it, spend $100 or so on some cheap 2nd tier traffic, and watch it go.

[Via Aojon.Com]

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Love's Good for Business

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Since Valentine's Day is this week, I was curious to see whether being in love helped entrepreneurs. Did romance give business owners and managers an energy boost, or drain their time and energy? When it comes to the bottom line, is it better to be married or single?

So I had my company conduct a survey of the readers of my email newsletter to determine the effects of love, marriage, and being single on their companies.

The conclusion? Fall in love or walk down the aisle and your bank account benefits.

Overwhelmingly, entrepreneurs reported that love was good for the bottom line, with 59 percent reporting positive financial effects.

In fact, entrepreneurs are upbeat about the effects of love and marriage in three of the four areas surveyed: finances, focus, and self-esteem. The only area in which entrepreneurs reported slightly more negative than positive effects from being in love was the impact on their time.

Better yet, pop the question this Valentine's Day -- it'll be good for business. Fully 82 percent of married entrepreneurs reported that being married improved their company's finances.

More than two-thirds of male respondents reported positive financial effects of being in love (69 percent) or married (68 percent) on their business.

Women, on the other hand, weren't quite as cheerful. Only a slight majority reported that being in love had a positive financial effect on their business (53 percent). However, three-quarters of women felt that marriage gave them a financial boost.

Perhaps this is a result of a buoyant outlook on life, with 95 percent of entrepreneurs indicating that being in love improved their sense of self-esteem in business. Marriage likewise improved self-esteem, although by slightly less -- 87 percent of married respondents got a heightened sense of self-esteem from having that wedding ring.

Happy marriages evidently lead to bigger businesses. Entrepreneurs with the largest businesses in the survey (21 or more employees) reported the greatest positive effects of being in love or being married.

Eighty-nine percent of entrepreneurs with larger companies said marriage had a positive financial effect, and 80 percent said being in love helped the bottom line. Sole proprietors were less upbeat: Only 59 percent said being in love gave them a financial boost, while 70 percent said marriage did so.

So take heart when you shell out those big bucks for Valentine's flowers and candy. The money will come back to you with a stronger bottom line!

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Marcus Lee migrated to Australia in 1988 from England, and within hours of arriving in the country had the idea of creating the "shinfin".

After 19 years of research, the Middle Cove resident and his shinfin will appear on ABC-TV's The New Inventors on April 25.

Mr Lee said the premise behind the invention was to develop a swimming flipper that strapped on above the ankle rather than over the foot.

"I was at the beach watching bodyboarders walking backwards, struggling through the water because they had these flippers stuck on their feet," Mr Lee said

"When swimming [with the shinfin], it takes the load off the foot, decreasing cramping and blisters, while taking stress and pressure off the ankle joint... You can walk around in them, climb ladders, or anything really."

After making about 50 prototypes, Mr Lee was awarded a research and development grant from the Federal Government, which paid for half the expenses. He also received a $25,000 grant from the Australian Technology Showcase.

"The New Inventors were able to contact me from there as the [Australian] Technology Showcase has a website listing who they have given grants to," he said.

The former Cambridge University engineering student has put his career as a mechanics and design engineer on hold to focus on selling the shinfin. "Through my website the business has been funding itself. I've sold a few thousand of them worldwide to the US, Canada, Europe and Asia as well as in Australia."

With sales picking up, Mr Lee said additional types of flippers, such as a smaller version for kids, had been put on the drawing board.

A former competitive swimmer, Mr Lee said he also hoped to market the fins as a swimming aid for the disabled.

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The first in a series of free coaching videos from business optimization specialist Stephen Pierce.
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While the vast majority of young franchisors would be happy if they were to open 100 franchises, for others, nothing short of world domination will suffice.

If you're someone with grander designs, you might well ask, “What does it take to become the next McDonald’s?”

Read more on entrepreneur.com.

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This report is designed for entrepreneurs, small business owners, independent contractors and anyone who needs to build relationships and develop leads or referrals in order to promote and increase their business.

The information in this report is given based on the assumption that YOU know your product and service inside and out and you have already defined your business goals and have somewhat of a business plan in order.

The next step would be to narrowly and clearly define your target market, your ideal prospect.

Some people believe that their products or services would be perfect for everyone. For example, Mary Kay Cosmetics - no offense to my MK friends or other people in the health industry who say 'anyone with skin' needs a facial or 'anyone who has stress need a massage. Then there are people in the home improvement industry who say, 'anyone with a house' needs my landscaping, my windows, my furniture or my loan, etc.

For most small businesses however (1-5 employees or even more), I don't believe this is the most effective way to try to generate new leads and customers. If you determine the right target market to fit your business, you figure out the best ways to reach them AND if you figure out the best message to reach them with you will be spending your marketing dollars wisely. Business owners who don't plan ahead to figure out who their target market is before they open their doors end up spending a whole lot more money trying to figure it out by trial and error and that's expensive.

Would you shell out $200 for a pair of shoes without trying them on? Plunge into a steaming bath without dipping a toe in first? Of course not-but people do the business equivalent every day. Many an entrepreneur has found out too late that nobody wants to buy hand-quilted Christmas stockings at $24.99 a pop, or that wealthy customers won't schlep to the unfashionable part of town for luxury stationery.

The irony: Conventional market research is expensive (corporations regularly budget tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for it), but no one needs it more than a startup entrepreneur. A couple of marketing blunders won't put a giant manufacturer out of business, but just one can sink an entrepreneur like a bolt of lightning.

Defining Your Target Market

Your "target customers" are those who are most likely to buy from you. Resist the temptation to be too general in the hopes of getting a larger slice of the market. Try to describe them with as much detail as you can, based on your knowledge of your product or service and how it will benefit them.

Step 1: Ask yourself some questions to get started

1. Are your target customers male or female?
Figure 75-80% of your target customers would be which? If it's split, narrow it down another way but more than likely you can narrow down the gender.

2. How old are they?
Give an age range of 10-20 years max, otherwise you might have two target markets. Remember, the marketing messages towards different age groups will be quite different most likely depending on your product or service.

3. Where do they live?
Is geography a limiting factor for any reason? Can you narrow it down to specific zip codes or counties? The larger the geographical area you choose, the more people you will find but the less likely you'll be able to afford to market to all of them so narrow it down and expand out later.

4. What do they do for a living?
You can get a mailing list by industry or profession and specific title for example.

5. What does their specific profession say about their lifestyle?
Is it very busy with little time to shop? Would they be likely to be familiar with the internet for their shopping, researching, news and event information? Would they be commuting more in their car?

6. How much money do they make?
This is most significant if you're selling relatively expensive or luxury items. Most people can afford a latte. You can't say the same of custom murals. Narrow this down to a specific range also and high enough that you will weed some people out or again, you'll have way too many people to afford to market to.

7. Are there kids in the household?
What ages might they be? How many would there likely be? What does this say about their lifestyle - are they carpooling, or soccer parents where they are rarely home? Do they possibly eat out a lot or have less 'family' bonding time? Or are they empty nesters where they might spend more time at home watching television or reading?

Step 2: Get specific

What other aspects of their lives matter? Here are some examples to think about, see how your target market compares or how you can get more specific with them.

* If you're launching a roof-tiling service, your target customers probably own their homes. In addition, they probably own homes with older roofs like shake roofs; you can get a list of homes by their age.

* If you're a realtor, you might be interested in targeting first time homebuyers in which case you might find them to be likely to live in apartments or rentals of which you can get a list of those too.

* If you're selling your own individual artwork but you can't create multiple paintings with the same picture, you may have to sell the unique pieces at local art shows rather than selling them online.

* If you're planning to open a custom-tailoring shop and need busy executives to come for three fittings, you may need to limit it to your local area.

* If you're a direct jewelry consultant needing women to gather for parties in someone's home, you'll want to go where many women meet like mom's groups, women's professional organizations, day cares or grocery stores.

* If you're a business or life coach and want to coach only over the phone then you'll most likely want to do more online marketing and make sure to have a really top notch website since that's mostly what people are going to see for their first impression. You can network locally too but the more 'known' you are in person, the more people will want to do business with you in person. Step 3: Keep your mind open to any information

Keep a list of primary research questions handy, such as:

* Who influences your customers and how? Spouses, neighbors, peer groups, professional colleagues, children and the media can all affect buying decisions. Look for hints that one or more of these are a factor for you.

* Why do they buy? Distinguish between the features and the benefits your product or service offers. Features describe what it is; benefits are what your customers get out of it. The latter is why your customers pay you. Are they looking for a status symbol, a savings in time or energy, a personal treat or something else?

* Why should customers choose you and not your competition? What can you offer that the competition doesn't?

* How do your customers prefer to buy? Many businesses benefit from the broader market provided by the Internet and mail order, while others do better with a physical presence. Don't assume you fall into one category or the other; customers may surprise you.

Step 4: Identify Your Ideal or Favorite Client

Think about your favorite client - who are they, name them, write down everything you know about them, their family status, age, sex, marital status, where they live, where they work, possible income level, their shopping characteristics.

* Do they like to use coupons or shop on certain days? ? Do they call you at the last minute to get something from you?

* Do they value your service/product? ? Is that type of client the most profitable type you have or the most non-profitable and you just like them?

Step 5: Determine their profitability to your business

Which type of clients will make you the most money, bring you joy and refer you tons of business? These are the types of clients you ultimately want, now where are they?

Ask Yourself:

* Who is the most profitable type of client? The one who will make you the most amount of money the fastest and with the least effort - do you like working with them? If not, you won't be totally happy with only this type of person, maybe you need a combination of the two.

* How often will they be able to buy or consume your product or service? If they can only possibly purchase your services every 10-20 years (getting a new roof for example), do you never market to them again after the sale or do you heavily market to them after the sale by every means possible for at least 1 year to get all the referrals you could possibly get out of them in that time?

* How likely are they to know others like them they can refer to you? Normally, very likely, in which case following up with them before, during and after the sale is huge - and if you don't ask for referrals in each stage of the sale continuously then shame on you.

* What is really important to them when it comes to your product or service? Not what you think they should know or like, but actually what they care about, like, ask for, thrive on, are passionate about, etc. These are your target market's "Hot Buttons" and these are what you should be addressing in your headlines, letters and marketing efforts at all times because these are why the client would choose to buy.

Defining your business' target market is absolutely critical to any small business. Everything you do in your marketing, advertising, design, publicity and networking will depend on who your target market is and what matters to them. Making decisions on your marketing and advertising without fully defining your target market or knowing them in depth could be detrimental to your business and you could be making some costly mistakes!

About the Author: Katrina Sawa, Relationship Marketing Expert, helps entrepreneurs and independent consultants build their database of clients and prospects, determine the best ways to market their business to their target market, teach them how to network, develop follow up systems, marketing and advertising plans and find ways to get free or low cost publicity which all lead to more customers and increased sales! Visit her at http://www.ksawamarketing.com/.

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Tonight I was questioned for taking a picture of one of the Aqua Teen Hunger Forces's marketing-gone-wrong campaigns. Here's the story.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04ZDrxWSl5Ehttp://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=36f461aa-7cf8-43d0-bc06-df5948a34060http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/01/aqua_teen_hunge.htmlhttp://cgi.ebay.com/aqua-teen-hunger-force-mooninites-ne...
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...Before you even meet them.

We're still talking about the three aspects that make for a successful marketing strategy and so far, I've identified the first two...the list and the offer.

Of course, he third stepping stone to direct marketing success is the mailing piece itself. If one is the list and two is the offer, then three is what we might call the packaging or the presentation of the offer.

In mailing development you will basically deal with copy, graphics and format. I want you to understand that it is not necessary or even necessarily advisable for you to engage the expensive services of graphic designers or ad agencies to create your direct mail pieces.

If you will make the format decision yourself, write the copy yourself and provide some graphic components yourself, all of which I'll help you with during our journey together, then you can have your piece prepared by a small store front printer and his typesetter.

An ad agency or graphic designer may charge you several hundred to a thousand dollars just to design a simple direct mail piece. Most small and medium size businesses do not need to incur such costs.

Let's talk first about format. There are two commonly used formats that will serve most of your needs.

One is called the solo piece. This is a single sheet, printed on both sides and half folded or folded in thirds to self-mail without an envelope. This is the most commonly used format by small business and the least expensive. If you watch your own incoming mail a little more closely for the next few days you'll receive several such mail pieces and can get an idea of the different things that can be done within the solo format.

Another solo format that is even simpler and less costly is a postcard or oversized postcard. This can be a very cost-effective way of communicating with your established customer list.

The other format is a more complex, sophisticated multiple piece mailing in an envelope. This is the kind used by Publishers Clearing House and the Reader's Digest Sweepstakes as well as many other direct mail marketers. Again watch your incoming mail for the next few days and you'll be able to collect some samples of this type of piece.

Usually this package is made up of #1 - a cover letter, #2 - a brochure or flyer presenting the main offer, #3 - a separate response device - a coupon to bring into the store or an order form to mail back and #4 - some extra sales piece - possibly a page of testimonials from satisfied customers or a flyer on the premium or bonus gift.

The theory behind this type of mailing is that the odds of something catching the reader's interest are increased proportionately by the number of loose pieces.

Your choice of formats can be governed by how much space you need to tell your story, cost and budget factors, who you're mailing to, and the dollar value of the response.

You then have to write the copy that will present your offer and tell your story. I've written all of my own advertising copy since the 1970's and have never had any formal education in advertising. I'm self-taught through studying the many excellent how-to books readily available and through practice. This is a very valuable skill and I urge most business people and entrepreneurs to develop the ability to write good advertising copy.

Dan Kennedy, http://www.dankennedy.com/

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If you want to know how to succeed at something, it's a good idea to talk to someone who already has. Renowned eBay powerseller Skip McGrath offers some helpful insights on how you can find product sources for your online business. Once you've determined what you're selling, where do you go to get the goods?

Sourcing with a Pro
According to McGrath, one of the best sources for products is local distributors because they're easy to find. Go to Liquidation.com and you can search by type. Just enter the word "wholesale" and your ZIP code and you'll get a list of manufacturers and wholesalers within 100 miles of that ZIP code. And under the company name, you'll see the kind of products it carries.

For traditional wholesale suppliers, like gift and merchandise manufacturers and overstock distributors, McGrath recommends several online sources:

* Liquidxs.com helps you find surplus branded merchandise and collectibles.
* Liquidation.com sells goods by the pallet-load.
* Google searches — type in the product name and the word "distributor" or "wholesale." You'll probably have to drill down to the third, fourth, or even fifth page to find real wholesalers; the first few pages are usually jammed with middlemen claiming to have wholesale prices.

Research the companies before you use them to make sure they are genuine wholesalers and not retailers.

"The rule in wholesaling is, the closer you can get to the manufacturer of a product, the better your price is going to be," McGrath notes.

Alternative Sources
Nearly every medium and large city in the U.S. has a merchandise mart or gift mart. They're like indoor malls where product manufacturers have their showrooms. You can see the products and pricing, and place orders. Once you've registered at a mart in person, some even have online sites where you can shop the market.

These marts aren't open to the public, and neither are the trade shows that come to your area. So to get in, you'll need the following:

* A sales tax number or a resale certificate.
* A business card or letterhead that shows you're a company.
* A commercial checking account — they may want to see a check in the business name.

The good news is, once you're registered with these marts, you'll likely get an invitation and tickets in the mail when trade shows come to your area, which saves you the trouble of registering for each one.

Close to Home
A rather surprising source of resale merchandise is eBay itself, McGrath confides.

"On eBay and all the other online auction sites out there, you can often find tremendous bargains."
Sometimes other sellers don't recognize the value of their goods, or they don't photograph them well or write a good title or description.

If you know your product market and take the time to present it well, you can turn over some amazing deals in your own backyard.

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Q: I'm trying to decide whether to go out on my own and start a retail clothing business.

With a lot of experience in my field, I know I can operate the business, but I have questions about what else is involved.

Is there a profile of what it takes to succeed?

A: The fact that you are looking for success criteria indicates a realistic approach to entrepreneurship. Many folks jump in with both feet and ask questions later.

Entrepreneurs are generally inspired by at least one of two factors — independence and financial gain. Independence is sought to take risks and escape from other people's direction.

Many seek a haven from corporate bureaucracy.

They want to be their own master, have a strong need for achievement and the freedom to make decisions.

In short, they want the freedom that they did not have as employees.

The motivation for financial gain is generally considered to be unlimited. Importantly, the gains that are possible in new businesses must be great enough to offset the high degree of risk.

Many entrepreneurs are so focused on escape that they ignore the unbalanced relationship between risk and reward and forge ahead in a high-risk enterprise without taking the prudent steps to minimize risk, e.g., preparing a good business plan.

In a Small Business Administration study, five characteristics were identified as the most important predictors of an entrepreneur's success.

•Drive is the most important attribute. New small-business owners can expect long hours, high stress and endless problems as they launch a business. The ability to maintain the necessary stamina should not be confused with the desire to succeed, although they are often interrelated.
•Thinking ability encompasses creativity, critical thinking, analytical abilities and originality.
•People skills are the ability to motivate employees, sell customers, negotiate with suppliers and convince lenders. Personality plays a big part in success in this area.
•Communication skill is the ability to make yourself understood. Part of this is the acknowledgment that muddled or abusive communications go unheeded.
•Technical ability speaks to the need for entrepreneurs to know their product and their market.
They must be experts in their field to operate their business with ease.

Finally, contact your local SCORE office and speak with a veteran counselor to get an objective assessment of your probability of success.

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http://www.idonowidont.com/

A diamond may be forever, but love and marriage sure isn’t.

With an estimated 50 percent of all marriages ending in divorce, a new Web site, "I Do, Now I Don't" is looking to capitalize on this more cynical side of diamonds.

Founder and CEO Joshua Opperman came up with the idea after his fiancee abruptly called it quits.

He explains:

"A few months into our engagement, I came home from a tough day at work only to find that my apartment was completely empty. All of her stuff was gone, and all that was left was the engagement ring lying on my table."

Ouch.

Rather then hopefully saving it for another woman, he went on an epic quest to "toss the ring back into the fiery chasm from whence it came." (OK, perhaps not, but I couldn't resist a Lord of the Rings reference.) Actually, he went back to the jeweler where he'd bought it three months earlier, but found he could only get 32 percent of its original cost.

What's a jilted guy to do? Turn his pain into profit, naturally.

Opperman created "I Do, Now I Don't" to help others unload their bitter reminders and offer a good deal to those who still believe in love. It's like eBay for the "take this ring and shove it" set. Engagement rings are posted, bid on and then sold to the highest bidder. Only rings with GIA, AGS or EGL grading reports are accepted for auction and the site pockets 5 percent of the final sale.

I'm not so sure a proposal that includes "Oh, and I got a great deal because the last owner of this ring was dumped" will go over well, but maybe he can put a positive spin on it. After all, actress Ellen Barkin recently proved that ex-jewelry can be trendy to the tune of $20 million.

One can only hope that the new ring bearers will have better luck.

The National Jeweler

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When skateboard-maker Sector 9 in San Diego decided to add a couple of bamboo skateboards to its product lineup, company managers thought they might appeal to a few environmentally conscious customers. But in less than two years, customer demand led the company to expand the line to four models, Sector 9 vice president and co-founder Dennis Telfer, 37, reports.

At press time, sales for the bamboo boards were projected to top $1 million in 2006. The bamboo skateboards are popular not only because they save trees, but also because “the boards are really durable and they’ve got a different look,” says Telfer, who co-founded the business with Steve Lake, 38, and Dave Klimkiewicz, 36.

As Telfer discovered, bamboo has more going for it than just being a fast-growing, easily renewable relative of grass. Bamboo is strong and has a tropical, exotic appearance that appeals to customers who are interested in the tiki-Hawaiian look or just seeking out something new.

Bamboo products--from kitchen cabinets to T-shirts--are finding an enthusiastic audience, entrepreneurs report. Just a decade or so after bamboo products, such as flooring, first began finding acceptance in the U.S. market, business owners say interest in bamboo has shot up fast.

Doug Lewis, 37, remembers how every flooring distributor in the Northwest turned away his bamboo flooring in the mid-1990s. Now they all have bamboo floors. Lewis, who co-founded Bamboo Hardwoods with David Keegan, 37, projects about $5 million in 2007 sales, more than half of it in bamboo flooring.

The Seattle company added custom bamboo kitchen cabinets to its offerings early last year. Bamboo Hardwoods also added three new retail stores to the Seattle area in 2006 to help educate customers about its products.

One of the company’s new showrooms is located inside Costco Home in Kirkland, Washington, one of two test-format stores for the warehouse-club giant. Lewis is hopeful that if Costco expands the home-furnishings concept, Bamboo Hardwoods might be able to add more showrooms inside Costco stores. Eventually, he envisions a national chain of bamboo flooring and cabinetry stores.

As environmentalists continue to popularize the idea of choosing nonwood building materials, Lewis expects bamboo flooring’s share of the hardwood-flooring market to grow. That market is expanding overall, too--the National Wood Flooring Association estimates 2005 wood-floor sales were just under $2.6 billion, and that’s projected to grow to $3.7 billion by 2010. Says Lewis, “I think the existing market for bamboo [can’t compare to] the size it will be.”

Another entrepreneur who’s high on bamboo is Mark Elwell, 48, of Bamboo Flooring Hawaii LLC in Honolulu. A longtime importer from Asia, Elwell switched to bamboo floors in 1997 and never looked back. Sales in 2006 were $2 million, but he expects sales closer to $3 million this year, as newly formed relationships with distributors begin to pay off.

Bamboo flooring has become so popular that Elwell says he’s expanded into new styles to offer something unique. One of his products is Tigerboo, a bamboo floor made of tiny bamboo strips in contrasting dark and light shades.

Elwell is experimenting with new bamboo products, hoping to take advantage of growing public interest. He plans to introduce a line of bamboo picture frames this year and has made custom frames, tables and guitars for customers including singer Jimmy Buffett.

One bamboo product that’s already caught on big is clothing, says Rich Delano, 38, owner of Bamboo Textiles in Brea, California. Delano began selling bamboo yarn and fibers imported from China in 2004 and found the super-comfy bamboo fabric won customers over fast. “They [like it] because it’s so soft, it’s natural and it’s something new,” he says.

From a $125,000 initial investment, sales at Bamboo Textiles are expected to range between $2 million and $3 million this year. Delano says his revenue is split in thirds--one-third comes from sales of yarn and fabric, one-third from churning out apparel for other designers and silk-screeners, and one-third from sales of his own apparel brands, Spun Bamboo and Bamboo Apparel.

He sells his own lines on www.spunbamboo.com in partnership with fellow bamboo entrepreneur Daniel Keesey, 42, of Ecodesignz in Gardena, California. Environmentally focused stores are snapping up the lines, which include menswear, womens-wear and baby items.

As a sideline, Delano bought up some 50 website names that involve bamboo. As the product continues to grow in popularity, he hopes to sell some of the undeveloped sites off at a profit.

Carol Tice is Entrepreneur’s “Tax Talk” columnist.

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By Kids For Kids Kicks Off 'Get Your Head in the Game' Maryland Sports Invention Challenge

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Stamford, CT (PRWEB) January 30, 2007 -- By Kids For Kids Co. (BKFK) announced today the official launch of its 2nd annual Maryland invention challenge, "Get Your Head in the Game." This year’s competition will uncover the best new sports or sporting equipment ideas dreamt up by Maryland’s youth. Winners will partake in an exciting awards ceremony in front of a roaring crowd at Camden Yards ballpark this spring. Winners can also expect to see their ideas become reality with the help of kid empowerment company By Kids For Kids.

The competition seeks ideas in the following categories: Aquatic Apparel/Accessories, Boards (water/snow/skate), Cycling, Equipment, Fitness, Ice/Snow/Winter, Off Road, Physical Education, Safety, Table Sports, Track & Field, Training, Weights/Cardio, Water Sports and more.

Entries must be submitted via the By Kids For Kids website at: www.bkfk.com/mdchallenge, no later than April 27, 2007 at 9:00PM EST. There is no entry fee. All kids currently resident in the State of Maryland, ages 5-19 qualify to compete. The judges will look to "marketability" as the determining factor in selecting the winners. "Originality" and "inventiveness" will also be important judging considerations.

Grand Prize winners (up to 10) will receive a $1000 US Savings Bond, a licensing contract from BKFK, patenting (if patentable) for the invention and an all-expenses paid trip to the awards event at Camden Yards. Additionally, winners will be invited to identify the teacher who was most supportive and inspirational to them on their personal inventing journey. That special teacher will be awarded a $500 US Savings bond and also attend the awards event.

Norman Goldstein, Founder and CEO of By Kids For Kids Co., commented: "I encourage all the kids of Maryland to let their imaginations run wild! You can create an entirely new sport, or invent something to make an existing sport better. BKFK will help the winners develop their inventions - and get them out onto the store shelves."

By Kids For Kids has discovered the State of Maryland to be fertile grounds for kid’s creativity. "Get Your Head in the Game" follows last year’s successful "Cool School Tools" competition where kids were challenged to create new school supplies. Furthermore, with the cooperation of the Maryland Board of Education, By Kids For Kids successfully has made the BKFK "Inventive Thinking" program available throughout the Maryland public school and library system. One of last year’s "Cool School Tools" winners, Brenda Santiago, accepted a special congressional award on behalf of By Kids For Kids for the implementation of the Inventive Thinking program.

The BKFK "Inventive Thinking" program, developed in collaboration with the US Patent & Trademark office, is the definitive guide that helps kids tap into their creativity and navigate the often confusing inventing process. The program can be downloaded free of charge from the BKFK website at http://www.bkfk.com

Sponsors of "Get Your Head in the Game," the Maryland sports invention challenge, include: The Baltimore Orioles, The Baltimore Ravens, The Daily Record, Tessco Technologies and Whiteford Taylor & Preston. Companies interested in BKFK sponsorship opportunities should contact Shirley Stone at: (845) 876-2194.

About By Kids For Kids
By Kids For Kids Co., a closely held corporation based in Stamford, Conn., is the leading global marketing, branding and licensing company dedicated to making kids’ ideas a reality. Their mission is to inspire, motivate and stimulate the innovative spirit within all kids. In addition to providing free support and educational resources to America’s children, BKFK provides entrepreneurial experiences for young inventors and supports the entire ideation through commercialization process. By Kids For Kids represents some of the most brilliant young minds in America.

For more information about By Kids For Kids, visit www.bkfk.com

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John Forrester
+1 (323) 702-3684
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Top 25 Personal Finance Myths

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Someone once said that if you were to make a list of your 10 closest friends and acquaintances and order your earnings and theirs from smallest to greatest, you'd probably find yourself somewhere near the middle. All that this means is that we are subtly influenced by our friends, even when we're not aware of it, especially in matters of money. Being somewhere in the middle is probably more comfortable for the average person.

If you are that rare person at the high end of the list, then you probably don't need to read this article. If you are not, then find out what's holding you back. There are hundreds of personal finance myths which are either misunderstood, taken out of context, or just plain incorrect. Here are our top 25.

General Perceptions

There are a lot of very general negative feelings and perceptions about money in several societies, built up over several generations.

1. I don't deserve to be rich.
   Why not? Intuition suggests that no matter which religion you follow, there are people who are successful and got there by honest means. What is wrong with that? Believing this myth cripples your willingness to be open to opportunities. Keep in mind that the government, Medicare, and other programs are not going to take care of you as much as you think.


2. Rich people are scum.
   Or greedy, selfish, uncaring, or whatever. It's just that the scummy rich are more played up in the media because it sells newspapers. Of course, the rich didn't get that way by giving away their money. At least not until they are ultra-rich like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and others who have donated to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. One principle you could live by is this: you can't help the poor if you are yourself poor. Idealism is romantic, but reality is more sobering. This is a variation of the belief that "money is the root of all evil." What the Bible really says is that "the love of money is the root of all evil" (Timothy 6:10). These are two wholly different things, but the misinterpretation causes some people, even whole societies, to shun money. Become wealthy, then start your own prosperity project and give away wealth to good causes of your choosing.


3. You have to have X dollars to be wealthy.
   Wealthy is what you think it is for you. Don't try to keep up with the Joneses. Keep things simple. CNN Money has 10 rules for building wealth. [via LifeHack] Key is starting early, or at least starting now. Compound interest takes care of some of the growth, but if you are not keeping up with inflation, then you are not building wealth.


4. Those with obvious material wealth must be rich.
   Experience suggests we humans get jealous or resentful for so many reasons, and witnessing someone's material wealth is often one of them. But don't be so sure that the neighbor with all the cool ATVs, skidoos, swimming pool, and latest car is actually wealthy (has liquid assets), or even happy. He/She could be deep in debt to maintain the facade.


5. Money makes you happy. Money makes you unhappy.
   Well which is it? Money does not have the power in and of itself to make you happy or unhappy. There are happy poor people and miserable rich people. More money does help with the bills, provided you know how to manage your wealth. But people with more money can also spend more than necessary and actually end up with less. Read this money sermon by Coty Pinckney for a bit of insight.


6. There's only so much money in the world.
   There isn't enough in the world for everyone to be wealthy. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Honest economists — yes, there are some — have said that there is more than enough money in the world for every single human being to live comfortably. Some people also believe that the Internet is the great leveller that will help redistribute at least some of the world's wealth, for those pioneers who participate.


7. Becoming rich is hard work.
   It can be easier than you've been told. Dr. Marsha Sinetar's book Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow is one of the best guides for an organic approach to wealth. It also does not have to be linearly dependent on your earnings. It does not mean you don't have to work hard and smart at it at first, but it doesn't have to be "hard" in the sense that it's not enjoyable. And eventually, it gets easier to build your wealth — once you've made your mistakes.


8. Working hard and saving your money makes you rich.
   These are components of becoming wealthy, but not by themselves sufficient. Saving is linear; investing increases your wealth. Jesus said to "multiply talents." This has been interpreted to mean that you should multiply your wealth. Do more than save. Start by having a small sum automatically deducted from your paycheck each pay period and deposited into a 401(K) or Roth IRA.


9. Earning lots of money makes you rich.
   Only if you actually save and invest it. If you spend it all, like some high-earning individuals, then you are not rich. Wealth is defined by liquid assets and investments, not how much you earn from a job. In fact, people who earn more money but have no plan for the so-called disposable income end up doing just that — disposing incoming. Some do it out of guilt of having "more than necessary", others because they feel they owe it to themselves to "have something nice", and still others to "keep up with the Joneses".


10. Pinching pennies is the way to wealth.
    Hardly. What this really does is set up an emotional enivronment of lack, causing you to miss out on opportunities to gain wealth because you become focused on every little penny. In fact, penny-pinching is actually one common catalyst of divorce.

Spending and Saving

It's been said over and over, but too many people are not clear on the concept: to build wealth, you have to save more than you spend. Once you gain the money, however, you can spend some and enjoy yourself.

11. Buying on-sale items saves money.
    It's that "use your coupons" myth in another form. What really happens is that the items you buy on sale are items you want, not need. It's even worse if you drive out of your way to buy it. A lot of people shop at big box stores on the premise that they are saving money, even if they drive miles there and back, spending gasoline and time. They also buy giant boxes of food items and sometimes end up eating more of it than "because it's cheaper" than they normally would have. Also remember that if you purchase a $100 item at half-price, you didn't just save $50; you just spent $50.


12. Two incomes are better than one.
    This is not always true, as two incomes often tempt or require you to spend more, resulting in less savings. If you do have two incomes in the family and can actually manage on one, save the excess instead of spending. That might feel like a bit of sacrifice, but you could always use the savings for a yearly family vacation. Saving then puts you into the frame of mind of realizing that you do not have to spend to show off luxuries now, bought on credit. Instead, you are paying because you can afford to, later, after your money has collected interest.


13. You need to earn more to save.
    Try this. What happens if you suddenly start earning less money in your job? You adjust, right? So save a percentage of what you make and set it aside somewhere. If you are undisciplined, have it deducted from your paycheck automatically into a 401(K) plan or Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account).


14. Saving is hard, and I don't make enough.
    What's hard is developing a bit of savings discipline. Sure, you need to sacrifice a little, but it's a question of what is more important to you. Annually, there are approximately 48 weeks of work for the average professional, or about 240 work days. On each of those days, if you are spending $4–6 on breakfast in the cafe near work, then ask yourself whether getting up 15 minutes earlier to have breakfast at home for about $1–2 is worth saving $3–5/day x 240 days = $720–1,200 per year. If it's not an inconvenience for you, what could you do with that money? If you want somewhere to save it, for easy access, you could try an online savings account. These give you more interest than a regular savings account, and they are more liquid than stocks or bonds. To give you a leg up, track your finances by using the right tools

Credit, Debt and Loans

Credit and debt seem to have the biggest collection of myths.

15. Debt is bad.
    Managed debt is actually good, and builds up your credit rating. On the other hand, credit card debt tends to be amongst the worst, so eliminate that first. Any debt where the cost is used to gain wealth (such as property or stocks) can be good if managed properly. But get the best rate you can find, not necessarily the first offered to you.


16. Co-signing a loan is no big deal.
    Tell that to all the ex-spouses or friends that got swindled, intentionally or unintentionally, by someone they knew. Think twice before you co-sign a loan, no matter who it is. Because legally, you are responsible for its payment if the primary signer skips out on it. And if it all goes bad, your credit rating will be affected (PDF, 2 pgs). Unfair but true.


17. Zero percent credit cards save you money.
    Of course they don't (always). They tempt you to spend more than you otherwise might have. If you don't make the payments on time, the interest rate you pay is probably higher than normal. And of course, we all know that misuse of credit cards (usually due to poor personal finance discipline in payments) results in a bad credit rating.


18. Zero percent car loans save you money. This is a variation of the last point, except that in this case you are probably paying the interest up front. That is, you could probably find the same car for less elsewhere, and the loan interest would be paid out over time. There are several other related myths, as the Triple-A points out, despite the popularity of zero percent car loans.


19. You must have a credit card to survive.
    Sure, some things just cannot be purchased without a credit card or an enormous deposit. But people got along without credit cards in the past and can still do so today. Though the advent of RFID-enabled contactless credit cards seems to be changing that, as there are some outlets including vending machines that are refusing cash. Nevertheless, it is still possible to live without a credit card, though it sometimes takes more effort to get by without one. Just make sure that what you want is something you really need.

Investing

Investing has its own slew of myths, often perpetrated by the uninformed or those who gave up after their first loss. Get your losses out of the way.

20. You have to earn Y% each year on your investment.
    Again, you have to define wealth and increase for yourself. What do you want out of your savings and investment? Money for a vacation? Money for retirement? Payouts every month? If the latter, go for a dividend-paying mutual fund or stock. If for a retirement, try an appropriate plan such as long-term stocks and funds in a 401(K) or Roth IRA. For short-term, liquid investments, try an online savings account. Though keep in mind that the latter, while relatively safe, are probably just keeping up with yearly inflation.


21. Property is always the best investment.
    Note that property can sometimes be a great investment if you already have wealth and know what you're doing. But if you can't afford the property and have to take out a large mortgage or even a double mortgage, you should think twice. Real estate debt is not always appropriate. Don't forget to factor in the property taxes, property insurance, maintenance, and all the other costs. Sometimes it actually is better to rent.


22. Property is always the best investment, part 2: it's an easy way to build wealth.
    If you have a residence and want to invest in additional properties, consider how much effort it will be to maintain them, including actual maintainance costs, property taxes, and the bother of finding reliable tenants. Unreliable tenants can destroy your property value, ruin your credit rating, wreck your wallet (in court costs) and generally sap your energy like a bunch of vampires (though tenants generally feel the same about landlords, thinking they are rich leeches). And a property management service costs money.


23. Property is always the best investment, part 3: mortgage is tax deductible, which is great.
    What about all the mortgage interest you are paying over time? What about saving more money first and starting with a smaller mortgage? This reduces your monthly payment, and you can invest the savings in mutual funds, stocks, or CDs (Certificates of Deposit). Sure, you'll be taxed on the capital gains, but do the math and you'll find that you'll be out ahead in the long run, not behind.


24. Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) works for all investments.
    DCA works best for market indexes (or stocks or funds that mimic them) because they work on the premise that an index will eventually recover, even if it takes a few years. A regular stock or mutual fund may not recover, so DCA is not always suitable.


25. A positive average return over several years means profit.
    Randy Carver gives an example of a client who had invested in a fund with a positive average over two years. In year one, the fund gained 100%. In year two, it lost 50%. Total actual gain for money invested at the start of year one is zero. But one magazine indicated that the average return over two years was (100-50)/2 = 25%. Averages for investing returns just don't work like that, and are meaningless when any negative returns are involved. What's worse, the fund took a management fee, and the investor actually ended up in year two with less than he started. Mutual funds are notorious for this sort of thing.

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