Write Right Already!

Write Right Already!
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg

Being in the Internet marketing industry, I see and awful lot of ad copy, splash pages and sales letters every day. I am on the mailing lists of many popular gurus, and get email from them all. The one thing I have discovered is that not only do novices stray from the preaching of these so-called gurus, when advertising and creating web pages, but they themselves do not follow their own advice. What's up with that?

What do I mean by that statement?

I am completely amazed at how many sales letters, and sales pages consist of sloppy copy; grammar and spelling errors abound; even on the pages created by these gurus! There is no excuse for this. They keep telling people to proofread their own copy before making it public; then they turn around and tell you to use the pre-written copy they've created, and even provide site pages with sales copy on them that is disgraceful. And, they claim to be pros!

This is not rocket science folks! It takes the click of a button to use SPELL CHECK, and it takes less than 30 seconds to do, but for some reason people just don't do it.

Sure, people make mistakes, I know that I do, but if they happen to be people who are in the business of telling others the right way to do things, those mistakes should not occur. Especially not with the frequency that they do.

I visited a site, just moments ago that had me laughing. So, I am going to pick it apart right here; and no, I am not going to link to the page.

This page is an invitation to joint venture with Scott Case. And this is the first mistake I found: In the second paragraph he implies that he is two people. "My name is Scott Case. Your friend Scott Case and I..." Forget the bad grammar, is he advertising a multiple personality disorder, or what? He does it again in another paragraph: "Here's what this is all about. My name is Scott Case. Scott Case and I've just created a smoking hot new JV that is going to grow your email list like crazy!"

He reintroduces himself, like you may have forgotten him between paragraphs two and four.

Further down the page, he claims this offer is the biggest JV of the New Year! Doesn't he own a calendar? For pity's sake, it is almost October! What year is he talking about?

"These promos are skillfully crafted by our highly paid copywriters for maximum response... so you get the most bang for your effort." I certainly hope that the pre-written promotional copy hasn't been written by the same person who wrote this page.

Here's another instance of bad grammar: "It's unfortunate, but many of the top marketers aren't willing to Joint Venture with someone who's got a small list, because they either don't have the time, and they don't want you to compete with them."

It should be written as follows: It's unfortunate, but many of the top marketers aren't willing to joint venture with someone who has got a small list; because, they either don't have time, or they don't want you to compete with them. What this translates to is that the big guys have bigger fish to fry, and they don't want to waste time with small potatoes.

Or, how about this one: "This is an invite-only deal..." I believe the correct word is invitation.

This program is supposed to grow your list with lightening speed, and have these big name marketers flocking to you to do other joint ventures with them. Yeah Right! Who is he trying to kid? Penetrating the inner circle of gurus, and getting them to joint venture with you is not that easy. These guys have spent years to build their lists to the massive proportions that they've become, and if you don't have a list that even resembles their numbers, they will not likely be contacting you for anything, except to sell you some more of their stuff.

So, not only do I find the claims made on this page to be hype, but the presentation of the content is downright dreadful too. I don't know about you, but I'd prefer to do business with someone who at least appears intelligent enough to use a spell/grammar checker and to make coherent statements. Nothing personal, Scott.

Don't get me wrong... Scott Case isn't the only marketer that has this problem; Oh no! Many of the big name marketers fail here too. I even contacted Russell Brunson's support desk, to let them know that the copy I read was rampant with mistakes. The reply I got from the Help Desk was shocking. It went something like this: We do not have the time to proofread our web site content, or correspondence/sales material, and to hire out for it to be done is too expensive.

What?

I don't have the time to make sure I don't look like and idiot?

Me, multi-millionaire, Internet guru, can't afford to outsource?

I thought he was a big fan of outsourcing. Was that just a sales pitch, or perhaps I am thinking of someone else? At any rate, what does this tell you about the people you are giving your money to?

Think about it.

Copyright © 2008
The Trii-Zine Ezine
http://www.ezines1.com/triizine

About the Author:
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. EST 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276


Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse, ISBN: 978-0-61516405-2
Co-Owner: Internet Marketing Mavens
http://internetmarketing-mavens.com
Keywords: writing, copy writing, gurus, grammar, spelling

Inexperienced Internet Marketers Need Professional Help

Chasing the Marketing Tail
© 2008 Internet Marketing Mavens

It seems that everyone has an opportunity to promote. A home business that will provide financial freedom, time freedom... But what we really have here is this: millions of people running around the Internet, like chickens with their heads cut off; spending more money than they are making. More importantly than that, they are wasting way too much time. Time that their business opportunities claim they'll have more of.

Some, probably most, of these would be entrepreneurs spend every minute of free time, pounding away at their keyboards, or on the phone, trying to market their opportunity. End result... LESS FREE TIME available for having that fun. If one were to really consider this, it would be obvious that this wonderful business opportunity is stealing their free time, not providing them with more of it.

The saddest part of it all is the fact that 95% of these folks are getting nowhere. Why? Because they are inexperienced marketers. It is that simple.

Promoting a business, or anything for that matter, requires knowledge in marketing. It is not just about placing classifieds, spamming your favorite forum friends, or reading/buying the newest sure thing to come along. To promote anything you must have knowledge in marketing.

For example: I'm driving along and hear a strange sound coming from my car. Am I going to stop and rip the engine apart to see if I can locate the noise (problem)? Of course not! I am going to seek out a mechanic, a professional, to diagnose the problem and fix it. Why? Because doing it myself would be a tremendous waste of my time! I don't have the knowledge required to do it myself. I will take the car to someone who knows what they are doing, and pay them to fix it because even though it will cost me some money, it will save me time, and it will be done right. Doing it myself would most likely end up costing me more in the long run anyway, due to my lack of knowledge. Furthermore, while the car is in the shop being repaired, I can go do something else; something more enjoyable than tearing my engine out along with my hair.

The same concept should be applied to running a business. In the brick and mortar world, accountants are employed to keep track of finances, secretaries are hired to take charge of paperwork, and field phone calls, and advertising agencies/professionals are hired to take care of marketing.

For the home business hopeful, accounting, word processing and other software have eliminated the need for the employment of the accountant and secretary, but not the marketing team.

The Internet marketing gurus that shout from the rooftops about basking on this beach or that one, are basking because they employ others to run their businesses for them. They've got programers to create their products, help desk staff to handle inquiries, and affiliates to sell for them.

The 95% failure rate for Internet marketing opportunities is not surprising at all, since 95% of the people doing it don't know how to do it right. They lack the knowledge and experience. They also lack the understanding of the value of outsourcing what they don't know to professionals who do.

Keywords: marketing, Internet marketing, Internet marketing professionals, business, opportunities

Responsible Email Marketing?

Phoney Baloney Subjects
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg

Let's call a spade a spade here, shall we? I've written about misleading subject lines in email solicitations before. However, I don't think that the word, 'misleading' does this sleazy marketing tactic justice. I've made a reputation for calling 'em as I see 'em, so I'm going to call them what they really are... PHONEY, BOGUS, I WANT TO GET YOUR MONEY, subject lines. Not to mention illegal as the day is long.

Now, the CAN-SPAM ACT was enacted in 2003. If you've been an Internet marketer for any time at all, there is no excuse for not knowing about this law. Any responsible marketer online complies with the provisions of this act, or so you'd think. (Even an idiot would want to be in compliance, with fines being up to $11,000 per violation.)

The CAN-SPAM ACT (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) states:

"..It prohibits deceptive subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.

...Your message must contain clear and conspicuous notice that the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial email from you. It also must include your valid physical postal address."

Today I opened an email from, the Responsible Marketer, or so he calls himself, that had the subject line, " Notification of Payment - You just earned $1,000.00." Mind you, I only opened it to see who it was from, and what they were pushing, as that is what I do... investigate things.

The sender's tag line is, "The Responsible Marketer." So, when I skimmed through the email and saw what I was being spammed for, I decided to check out the person who sent it. After all, "The Responsible Marketer" is breaking the law here.

Rather than turn him in, and get him into a whole lot of trouble, I decided to use him as a prime example of how not to market using email. Although, I don't know him, and he could be a very nice guy, he is not responsible in his marketing tactics.

His name is Kevin McNabb, and he uses the veretekk autoresponder to send his SPAM. (Veretekk is another article all together.)

What is he pushing? LawnChair Millionaire, of all things.

Now, I don't know if this is his creation, or a pre-written solicitation, but here's the opening line:

"First join, then read my e-mail. TIMING IS CRITICAL!!" Yeah Right! I really like that; email messages have been flooding my inboxes, coming from everywhere, promoting this program. How the heck can timing be critical? Is it on the verge of saturation, so get in quick, so you can lose your money right away? Give me a break!
(I didn't bother reading the rest of it.)

I wonder what he'd do if I responded by giving him my PayPal email, and telling him he can put my $1000 there? He did state that I earned $1000. Then he should send it to me... right?

Perhaps the CAN-SPAM ACT should be modified a little to allow people to collect on such bogus subject lines. If you promise money, you gotta pay it, regardless of whether or not the receiver joins your program. Something like that would probably make spammers sit up and take notice. Perhaps it would also make irresponsible marketers more responsible. In a perfect world... maybe.

If there is anyone out there who has not taken the time to learn the laws of email marketing, please do so NOW. Losing what you've got right now, just to grab a few dollars in affiliate income is not worth it. And a single violation could cost you your child's college education, your car, or even your home.

And Kevin, if you read this... get with the program!

Copyright © 2008
The Trii-Zine Ezine
www.ezines1.com

About the Author:
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. Serving online professionals since 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276
http://www.ezines1.com/triizine
http://www.ads-on-q.com/intro
Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse http://stores.lulu.com/triizine
Internet Marketing Mavens
http://internetmarketing-mavens.com
Keywords: email marketing, spam, CAN-SPAM ACT, Internet marketing

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