Author Archive
New WP Plugin coming
Posted by: | CommentsYou can safely ignore this post if you come across it.
Just want to check that a new plugin is working which I am soon to introduce.
If you want to see how it works properly, then take a look at:
http://movies.clarifywithben.com/movies/sdf-2
See you in a few days with the results 
Mike Filsaime VIP Mastermind Review + Bonus
Posted by: | CommentsI saw that this was coming, but details were fairly scant and therefore had no intention of letting you know about it.
However, when I woke up this morning, I received an email from Mike Filsaime about his latest mastermind which I think looks pretty damn good.
So much so, that I actually purchased!
Paypal Purchase
And generally if I purchase something, then I let you know about it also…
So, what does it involve and why did I join?
1. Subscription to an interactive email list.
What this means is that you will have access to every other single person who is a member of the mastermind. The nice thing about this, is that you know that every single person on this list has actually paid $1k which is a qualification which doesn’t happen on the majority of forums.
If you have a new product coming out or want to recruit JV partners from people that you KNOW are serious enough about their business to spend $1k then this would seem a great way to do it.
Also remember, that these are people who have shown that they are actively interested in internet marketing products.
2. A number of Mike Filsaime products
Includes:
- Evergreen Business System
- Profit Platform
- AffiliateDotCom
- Magic Cart Button (resale rights)
- Digital access to MDC Monthly
TBH, although this does have a value of over $2k, I probably would not have bought it just for this. I spent $500 just for the Evergreen Business System a few months ago, so if you don’t have that then definitely an added bonus. Affiliate Dot Com is also a really great product to have if you don’t have it already.
3. Personal One on One Time with Mike Filsaime
This really does have massive value if you want to spend time with Mike himself. Apart from the free lunch (!), there are extremely valuable ways which you could spend time with Mike.
I will probably use mine by persuading him to promote one of my products. With his massive list, he really could make you a lot of money just doing that. Last time he emailed for me, he made $13k of sales. If you are in the internet marketing space and have a decent product, just this thing alone really does make it a no-brainer.
Filsaime's Sales for my product
4. The Rolodex
A list of the top 100+ names (currently 121) in the industry. Not really sure how or if I will use this, but always useful to know who and how to approach if you want JV Partners. Glad to see that I made the list (!).
IMHO, this would have been far more use had contact details been there also or a form that you could enter a message and it would be mailed to them. The way that it is at current, you have to contact the VIP Concierge who will then introduce you.
5. New Industry Product Specials
Basically a discount on certain products. Once again, not overly of use to me but if you do buy a lot of products or are about to buy something and it is on this list, then this could save you money.
6. Email to Mike’s 6000 Affiliates
You get a chance to promote 3 of your products to Mike’s affiliates to get them to promote for you. In my mind, this is pure GOLD. I would easily pay $5k for this and infact have offered other large marketers this kind of money in the past if they would do this for me.
If you are in the internet marketing space, then this could literally catapault your career up a notch.
7. VIP Dinners
See 3. above, but only really useful if you do go to conferences which Mike does also.
8. Members Forum
Yet to be seen how this develops, but could either be incredibly valuable or next to valueless.
9. Two mastermind retreats a year
Ridiculously valuable. Even though I live way outside of the US, definitely worth the airfare for me to get there. See you there!
SUMMARY
In summary, if you are selling in the internet marketing space and have $1k, then IMHO you would be pretty mad not to buy this. I did…and didn’t even get any affiliate commission as it was my own purchase (if you are interested).
Obviously, we are different and have different priorities and businesses.
However, the parts which I will be placing an emphasis on and am sure that they will bring back my purchase many times are:
1. Subscription to the interactive mailing list
2. (If you don’t have Evergreen Business System, then buy it just for that)
3. Personal One on One time – (Hey Mike…here I come!)
4. Email to Mike’s affiliates – this is a MASSIVE benefit. Advise you to use it asap
5. Mastermind Retreat – EVERY time I go in person to a mastermind or a small conference it makes a massive difference to my bottom line.
So, what now?
If you buy through my link, then I make a commission. You won’t buy one if you buy through your own link, so I’ll offer you something that will make it really worthwhile for you.
Once you have purchased, be in touch at my helpdesk and you will be given my personal email address as well as my Skype username. I’m not going to say that we will talk for a certain number of hours or anything like that. But I want you to have the added benefit of being able to ask my opinion and brainstorm with me when you do want to.
To go and find out more, go to:
http://www.shmoozewithben.com/recommends/vip
Keeping it real in an unreal world,
Ben Shaffer
Helpdesk: http://www.replytoben.com
PS. I know that this is not my normal kind of product recommendation. That is because I am pretty sure that you will know whether it is for you or not. If you are in the internet marketing niche and want a step up and a boost in income then this is definitely a way. I did as have over a hundred others so far.
http://www.shmoozewithben.com/recommends/vip
Unusual, but kinda interesting
Posted by: | CommentsThis actually cheered up my day!
After a vacation, it can always
be a bit difficult coming back
to the office.
But I have just seen a video
salesletter which totally cheered
me up in some way.
Now, before you read further, I am
NOT saying that you should go and
buy the product.
I’m not even going to give you a link
to go and take a look at it.
Do a search for One minute commissions
and you will see it.
There is no way in a million years
that I would buy the product, but
I did find the video incredibly
interesting from a marketing perspective.
Firstly, it is NOT being sold on
Clickbank. Am not totally sure why,
but expect that even Clickbank would
not sell it due to the multiple misleading
statements in the video.
Things like false income claims, testimonials
and the such. Not judging here…just
saying.
So, the video does the normal kind
of thing that you would expect from
a GRQ (get r quick) kind of product.
It’s easy to use and do.
Other people have done it.
You don’t need any experience or
technical knowledge.
etc.
The testimonials though particularly
interest me.
I assume that the majority of buyers
will be men. The assumption is made
on my own experience of customers in
the MMO market.
Notice how the girls are pretty, and
the guys are everyday kind of normal
looks.
The first guy actually reminds me of
one of the characters from American Pie!
I think that the subtle message here is
that even if you are an average kind of
person you can still obtain the same
results as the pretty girls.
The overlying message of the testimonials
though is that not only can the product
creator do it, but that very ordinary kind
of people can do it like you or me.
And that many others have done it.
See how many times during the video she
says You and Me.
There is a great part where she says
something like:
“And I have the statistics to back it up”
She then gives very details and specific
statistics that in reality show absolutely
nothing about the product but sound very
convincing.
The kind of thing that you may want to
tell your wife if you are trying to
justify your purchase.
There is the standard:
Us Vs them.
The gurus suck
The gurus will con you
Don’t listen to what the gurus say
There is also the rags to riches story:
“This is where I used to live. This is
the kind of money that I am earning now.”
And then we come to the NEW:
This is what is working NOW!
This is a SECRET!
A couple of other things also stuck out
to me:
1. Look at the Facebook likes below the
video. I would be incredibly surprised if
they were genuine, but they definitely do
give a lot of social proof that other people
like it and therefore you are a bit silly
if you don’t.
2. At one point, she waters the flowers.
Not sure why I like that bit but probably
my favorite part of the video 
3. Rather than the usual $47, they are
selling it for $46. Perhaps saying that
it is CHEAPER than you would expect
The video finishes off by the rather
attractive young lady walking out the
front door and shutting it behind her
after giving a fairly strong call to
action.
I am pretty sure this is done to say:
“Click on the button below and come
and join me on the other side!”
Just to be clear:
I am NOT saying that you should buy
this product. I have not and will not.
However, as a marketing tool, there
are definitely some clever parts which
you can take away and use in a much more
HONEST way in your own marketing.
Let me know what you think below.
Keeping it real in an unreal world,
Ben Shaffer
Helpdesk: http://www.replytoben.com
Email Suicide
Posted by: | CommentsI think I first heard about email suicide from Mike Filsaime.
The idea is that you simply delete all of the emails from your inbox that have been sitting there for longer than a week and that you haven’t got around to acting upon yet.
I think that in a way it is slightly disrespectful to the person that sent you the email.
On the other hand, it is a way to refresh yourself.
Out of my control, my Outlook Express deleted my whole inbox last week which meant that I lost all of those emails which I had not got around to answering yet.
Have to tell you, it has increased my productivity as I am not procrastinating before dealing with something which by the fact that it has been sitting there for over a week means that I didn’t really want to anyway.
Not sure if I recommend that you do it on purpose, but does kind of feel good
On another note, if you are waiting for a reply from me then please email me again as you now know why I haven’t replied!
Keeping it real in an unreal world,
Ben Shaffer
AdSense income dropped?
Posted by: | CommentsUnless you are checking your stats regularly then you probably won’t even notice that your income has dropped for a particular site.
Sometimes you will see that it has actually gone down to zero.
The first thing to do is to check your web statistics. You may have installed Google Analytics or another tracking program. If you haven’t then you may automatically have something like AWstats installed.
If your stats are more or less the same, then you need to investigate further why this may be.
Some reasons it may be are:
1. There is an error on one of your pages which is not causing the page to display correctly.
2. Your site has actually been hacked. Ouch.
3. AdSense is no longer displaying on your site. Find out why. Perhaps the site has been banned or perhaps there aren’t ads which are targeted towards the content.
4. You have been hit by Smart Pricing. Not a huge amount that you can do, but are some steps that you can take.
The point really, is to make sure that you do keep an eye on all of your statistics and notice if anything changes. And then adjust as necessary.
Why do I mention this?
I recently noticed that the income on one of my sites that was earning about $15 a day fell to about $5 a day. Consistently.
There were no errors.
And hadn’t been hacked.
What I did notice though, was that AdSense was not being shown on the home page but was on the other pages.
The home page was a list of links to other pages in the site.
What I did, was to add a block of text which was targeted towards a particular topic and within 24 hours, the AdSense is showing again and the income is back up again.
About 10 minutes work for $10 a day ain’t so bad
Moral: Keeping an eye on your stats and if something changes for the better or for the worse, find out why. It’s not always due to the amount of traffic that is coming.
