I am writing this post using Windows Live Writer 2009.  Normally, I write WordPress posts in Firefox using the admin interface inside of WordPress.  That is not the best environment sometimes – especially since you have to be online to use it.

I looked at these type of desktop-based web publishing tools a couple of years ago and they were not great.  I’m looking again because I noticed that Microsoft released a version of Live Writer for 2009 (I guess I missed it).

First task will be to insert a picture of this window.    I’ll do a screen capture and jam it into the post right here.

Cool – that worked well (at least here in the editor).  I was able to load a GIF, resize it and place it in the text.  There are image editing choices and the like available.  Looks promising.

Spell checker works as expected.

I am able to insert a hyperlink to the download location for Windows Live Writer without any trouble at all (as expected).  One neat thing is that it will allow me to link to previous posts, which is something that you should always try to do.   It even lets me set the link to nofollow.

Surprising, there is a preview tab – and it knows what the post will look like on my blog.  Check out this screen shot:

Wow – for a 5 minute review I am pretty impressed with the ability to create a draft.  Now I will hit the publish button and see what happens….

TaDa!

That just worked.

One thing that I see in here that I like is the ability to insert a table.  Here is a table of projected revenue for the MasonWorld Empire for 2010.

Neat.  Might have a keeper here.

What do you use to write your posts?  Leave me a comment and let me know.

The economy in Dallas, Texas has been pretty robust up until now.  But this week, it was pretty rough, with large companies in the area (and more nation wide) announcing layoffs.

On Monday alone, companies across the employment spectrum announced tens of thousands of job cuts in the U.S. and around the world, a stark sign that businesses are enduring a painful, protracted downturn.

Texas Instruments said it will cut 3,400 jobs due to slumping demand. The Dallas-based company said Monday it will slash 1,800 jobs through layoffs and another 1,600 through voluntary retirements and departures.

Nationally, Monday's toll also included cuts at Caterpillar, Sprint Nextel, Home Depot and others.

All of this made me wonder if people have a backup plan, and if so what it is?  I mean, if you are an employee at at great company but suddenly you are without a job, what can you do?

The answer is "not much" if you wait until it happens to prepare.  But, if you act before it happens, you can do a lot to prepare.

• Establish an emergency fund.  Experts say that you should have six months of living expenses in the bank for use in emergencies.  That sound like a small fortune, and it is.  It should, however, be the most important part of your financial plan.
• Drive debt to zero.  Impossible for some to imagine in this economy, I know.  But in bad times, it's servicing debt that can really kill you.
• Diversify your income.  Start thinking about how you can be building residual income from another source (like online business, for example).

How can you do that last one?

I mean really.  How?  Ask Colleen Slater.  She has one crazy story.  Her ex-husband stole her kids and she needed money to get them back.  So she build a huge internet marketing empire to pay the legal bills -- working only a few hours each night.

So, think about your backup plan.    In this economy, you may need it.

On a whim I bought Matt Callen's SimplyPLR product tonight to see what it was all about.  Basically, the product is a membership site that delivers 225 limited distribution Private Label Rights articles each month.  The articles are delivered in two formats -- normal text files and "spin ready".  The membership site is hooked up to the free spinner at ArticleApps.com -- which gets you 12 versions of the spun articles at a time.

There is also a cool automatic blog posting feature that will allow you to post to your blogs automatically using the XLMRPC feature present in WordPress and other popular blogging platforms.

I am pretty impressed by the slick nature of the user interface inside the membership site.  Also, I am totally impressed with the quality of the articles that I reviewed (just a few at random so far).  Pretty quality stuff.  The spun articles are high quality as well (mostly spinning complete sentences).

Here is an example of a couple of paragraphs out of a spun article titled "Enterprise Rental Cars:

Some people don't own an automobile. Even in America it's a fact. Many times people own cars but aren't at home and thus need temporary wheels. It's rental cars to the rescue when people don't want to put wear and tear on their car, or need a car for another reason. Enterprise is one of the most popular auto rental businesses. That's because Enterprise car rentals are not overly pricey, they're generally in good shape, and Enterprise will even pick up the renter from home, from the office, or from the airport.

Enterprise has many locations all over the nation. Compact cars, full size cars, sedans and coups are all there for the taking. There are even luxury cars and convertibles for rent. Why not take advantage of the sun and weather especially when it can be expensed? They even have cheap rates. A weekly rental for under $300 can be a great deal. Do the math on this one. Use public transportation for the daily commute. When cars are about $20 per day, on the weekends, run errands. All the car needs are then taken care of for about $60 weekly. Even a car lease can't match the value of $3500 a year for auto use.

And here are those same 2 paragraphs out of another spun version of the same article.  You can tell the article is similar, but it is very unique compared to other spun content that I have seen.

Not everyone owns a car. It may seem impossible, but it's real. There are also people who have a car but travel to different cities where they'll need a car. Whether it's for a trip near home over the weekend, running errands that can't be done via public transportation, or getting around while 1000 miles away from home, that's where rental cars come into the picture. And one of the companies people choose most often is Enterprise. these cars are reliable, cheap, and Enterprise will pick people up from home, the office or at the airport.

Enterprise has many locations all over the nation. They offer a variety of cars from sub compact all the way up to SUVs. Some even offer sporty convertibles. Life is short, why not live a little? They even have cheap rates. $300 for the week is a real bargain for a car. Get out the calculator. Use public transportation for the daily commute. When cars are about $20 per day, on the weekends, run errands. For about $60 a week all the car needs are fulfilled. Once price, insurance and all the other car costs are taken into account, under $3500 for a rental year is a lot less than owning.

All in all I am very impressed with this the Simply PLR membership site after looking around for about an hour.  Each month there are articles on topics chosen by Matt's team.  You do not get to choose the topics, which is the only downside that I can see to this site.

Still, if you are paying $47 a month for this site and you are getting 225 spin-ready articles (15 topics) each month, that is only $0.21 per article.  That's crazy cheap.  Let's say you build a website from each article pack using a tool like Firepow.  Now that would be cool.  You could easily build 15 sites a month with Firepow and SimplyPLR in combination.   I may do that this month.  Do that for a year and you would have a small blog empire.  Then you could use the spun versions for marketing through article directories (they don't generally like PLR, but this stuff looks really unique to me, especially if you spin and then rewrite a little).

All in all, I recommend this if you are looking for PLR.   Matt Callen's SimplyPLR is a class act.

Regards,
Mark

Announcing First eBook Now

An eBook about creating your first eBook.

Since last Thursday, I have been blogging like a madman about the importance of lists, and how I have changed my entire list strategy based on Josh Spaulding's New Age Email Marketing Report.

This caused me to start work on an experiment with $7 Secrets (which I described Saturday).  Yesterday, I demonstrated how you can build you list using other people products (Master Resale Rights).

As we discussed yesterday, that can work great, but what works best (in my opinion) is having your own products.

So, I am happy to announce a product that will help you with your journey to build your own information marketing business.

First eBook Now

You Need Your Own Products

If you look at all of the really successful email marketers, they have their own products.  It's a very satisfying thing, really.  You create something that has real value - something that helps people.  Then you sell it at a price that leaves people delighted with their purchase.  What could be better?  It's the true definition of win-win.

The customer gets a great product.  What do you get?  You get the sale, of course.  But you get something much more valuable -- you get the trust of a happy customer.  You can work to grow that trust and provide more to that customer by using email lists to stay in touch with them.  You can sell them other products that they need (and that you also value), increasing the investement in your relationship.  In the end, everybody wins (especially the customer).

You Have To Start Somewhere

The thing is, if you look at these guru email marketers, they all have tens (or hundreds) of thousands of people on their lists and dozens of huge products.  How in the world can you compete?  Simple answer:  don't compete.  Start small and build from there.

See, I believe that everyone has at least one good eBook in them.  Probably more.  The thing is, people are reluctant to start.  Either they don't know how to start or they are afraid to fail.   Either way, they forget that the longest journey begins with the smallest step.

Take A Small Action Today

Are you interested in starting your own information marketing empire?  Why not take the smallest step today?  Check out my latest eBook -- I wrote it for you.  It gives you a great overview of how to get your first eBook off the ground, and includes information about everything from finding a topic to outsourcing a salespage.  If you have ever wanted to get started, this is the resource for you.

The best part -- it's only $7.   Get First eBook Now! today.  You'll be glad you did.

Regards,
Mark

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been looking at FirePow as I work on building out my niche sites.

One of the things that I immediately started hearing from people was concern about the price of the FirePow subscription.

I talked to Andrew Hanson about the cost, and he immediately reminded me that it was about return on investment (ROI).  His argument is, quite simply, that you can make your money back many times over by using the tools in FirePow to create a blog empire.

"I get that," I said.  "But money is money." It's fine to say that in the near future, FirePow will pay for itself, but it is still expensive.  It still costs money RIGHT NOW.

So, Andrew responded by offering a discount coupon for MasonWorld.com readers.  For now, if you sign up for FirePow using my link, you can get a whopping $25/month off of your bill.  That's right -- I am offering you a $300/year discount on Firepow.

Use FirePow discount coupon code "mason".

Andrew did not say how long he would be able to offer that deal, and I have not finished my evaluation -- but I did not want to wait.  If you were considering FirePow anyway, I wanted you to have the discount now.

Regards,
Mark

P.S.  I am very impressed with FirePow so far.  If you have questions about FirePow, feel free to ask them here.

I have been working on sales copy a lot lately, so I thought I would post a useful summary of the 15 most important elements of a sales page. This list is adapted from an excellent two-hour lecture presented as part of Aaron Aaber's free mentoring course over at FullTiltBlogging.com.  The audio lecture and the presentation slides are available for download as one the member benefits at LifeFoc.us (Aaron's membership site). In this post, I'll be telling you what the sales page items are. If you want to know how to implement them effectively, you have to talk to someone like Aaron (I am just learning - albeit quickly).

15 Key Sales Letter Components

First, you need to get the prospect's attention. If you cannot command your visitor's attention, they are not going to read your sales copy, and they will not buy. If a qualified prospect does not buy, you have failed. It is as simple as that, and the headline section is critical because almost every legitimate prospect that visits your site will take time to scan the headline. The pre-headline, headline and sub-headline work together with the attention device to get your prospect to read on below the fold. You want to grab their attention, promise them something, or encourage them to read further.

• Pre-Headline. This is that little sentence or two at the top of the sales letter prior to the headline. It is usually a statement that draws the reader to the headline (or motivates the headline in some way). This part is optional.
• Headline. Big font. Often red. Hard to miss. This component is critical to capture attention. Think front page of the New York Times. Note that this headline is almost always in quotes.
• Sub-Headline. Again an optional part that comes after the headline and can serve as the punchline to the headline.Attention Device. Simply put, the purpose of the attention device is to get your reader to read the rest of the copy. It can be part of the headline or stand alone. Often, it comes in the form of a warning, a statistic or an implied story (the story is usually delivered in the body copy below the fold).

So, here is an example:

Ready to finally build your own AdSense Empire using WordPress?

"Warning: The Amazing New Niche Site Themes For WordPress
Will Cause Your Puny AdSense Earnings To Soar"

You May Need To Hire A New Accountant.

Anyway, you get the idea. I am not the best copy writer in the world, but above you can see a pre-headline, a headline, a sub-headline and an attention device in the headline.

The Body Of The Sales Letter

The body of the sales letter needs to breathe and flow. You need to draw your prospect along as they read -- make them want to get to the next part. Tell stories. Break up paragraphs. Seduce your reader.

• Introduction.  Let the prospect know why you are and establish credibility. You can be an expert or have relevant experience documented here. I like the way Jon Leger does this -- he simply lists the great products he has launched before.
• Statement of Problem. If you have a product, you need to be solving a problem with that product, or you will not sell it. Simple as that. Why does your prospect need your product? If they do not know that they need your product, you will have to educate them here.
• Destroying the Old Method.  Take down existing solutions so the prospect can see your solution as the uniquely best option.
• Value Building (Bonuses and Testimonials). Prospects buy when the value excedes the price. What is the value of your product and bonuses. Testimonials can help to show value (and also to reduce risk). There are many ways to build value.
• Price Drop. This is almost a cliche in Internet Marketing, and is done incorrectly most of the time (including in my own sales letters). Aaron has some proprietary and very unique views on how to do this properly. Out of respect to Aaron, I will not reveal them here. Suffice it to say that you need to do more than cross out a wild price of $1997 and put $27 next to it.
• Why This is So Cheap.  Make sure that your deep discount is well justified, otherwise your prospect will think there is a catch. For example, if I offer you a brand-new iPod for $10, you will assume it is stolen.
• Reason for Offer. Why are you making this particular offer today. Urgency can go here (Act Now!)

Getting The Order

OK -- finally it is time for the sale. Just a few things left to do.

• Risk Reversal.  You need to offer an iron-clad money-back guarantee. Convince the prospect that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
• Closing.  You must ask for the sale. Call to action is a critical part of any sales letter. Do not leave the prospect guessing what you want them to do.
• PS.  Use the PS to target people who skipped the sales copy and headed to the bottom of the page to see the price. Summarize the offer and call them to action right there in the PS.

Next Steps

Writing sales copy is probably the most challenging part of Internet Marketing. Each of the 15 items above can be expanded into a full course, so I am really only scratching the surface here. Again, thanks to Aaron Abber for allowing me to summarize one of the many cool courses that you get as a member of LifeFoc.us.

Do you have any questions about sales letter copy? Drop a comment and ask me. If I cannot answer, I will ask Aaron to drop by and pontificate.

Regards,
Mark

I thought that I would take a moment this morning to welcome myself back from vacation. I just returned from a great few days in Galveston, Texas. Now admittedly, Galveston is by no means the most beautiful beach in the world, but it is really close to my parents. We actually stayed at Moody Gardens, which is a cool resort complex on the back side of the island. The complex includes an aquarium (complete with Penguins), a rain forest, an IMAX theater, a water park, and a man-made beach. Really neat. As fun as it was, I think it is better to stay closer to the beach (especially from the point of view of my children).

Before I left, I intended to get several posts queued for release during my vacation using the cool "future post" capability found in WordPress. If you are not familiar with this neat feature, drop me a comment and I will post a tutorial on how to use it. I think it's pretty obvious, but I am happy to help if I can.

Well, I obviously failed to get posts scheduled for release. I got completely distracted with other projects that I am currently working on and will be discussing here this week. Some distractions include:

• New Experiment with Jonathan Leger's 3-way Links Product. I'll be blogging about this in the near future, but basically this is a subscription-based service that gives you one-way back links. Your subscription allows you to get 250 one-way back links per site for 50 sites. On the sites that I am testing, I am seeing immediate results for targeted keywords. More on this later.
• Redefining the MasonWorld Roadmap. It's mid-year 2008, and I a revisiting my "Internet Empire" goals to be completed by the end of the year. I have a much clearer idea of my long-term goals now, so I will be sharing those with you as well.
• Continuous learning. I have also been participating in 2 mentoring/coaching programs. I work with Josh Spaulding for learning related to SEO and traffic, and I work with Aaron Abber for learning related to direct response internet marketing (email lists and products). Cool thing is that both guys actually know a lot about both topics, so there is a llot of synergy. My goals for 2008 include having several profitable adsense and affiliate sites, as well as a couple of product launches.
• Speaking of product launches, I will be launching my first product at the end of this month (target launch date is June 30). I have developed some niche adsense themes for WordPress that are designed for high CTR mini-sites, and will selling them along with a subscription for future themes and an install service. More on this as the launch date approaches. There will be a very generous affiliate program, so stay tuned.

By the way, one thing that I missed while I was on vacation was Aaron Abber's weekly mentoring class teleconference (mentioned above). This a very cool thing each week that I always look forward to (Aaron is entertaining in addition to being well qualified to present the class materials.) There are lots of cool things on Aarons blog for free (in addition to his free mentoring program). One of my favorites is his humorous 101 Ways to Grab More Blog Subscribers. So if you want a laugh with a bunch of great ideas mixed in, check that out.

OK -- that's all for now. Look for more sunstantative posts from me later this week.

Best regards,
Mark

Last week was an exciting week. My neighborhood was hit by a tornado that knocked out power and satellite, I celebrated a birthday (I feel old) and I was kidnapped by my wife and taken to an exotic hotel location without my laptop. Working on Internet Marketing without electricity, an internet connection or a laptop is really challenging. Luckily, my BlackBerry was not impacted by this weekends events, so I was able to stay connected.

Over the weekend, I was able to get started in Josh Spaulding's coaching program. Josh is an article marketing and SEO expert (currently ranking on page 1 in Google for make money online), and a really nice guy. When I first got started in Internet Marketing, I became interested in Adsense, and quickly learned that there were guys like Garry Conn that had as many as 100 blogs -- many of which were making money from Adsense. In my research on this topic, I ran across Josh's eBook called Article Marketing Domination and his free eBook Easy SEO. Recently, Josh published another free eBook: $5 Mini-Site Formula. This book was about exactly what I wanted (needed) to know when I started last November.

The MasonWorld Roadmap

Reviewing that eBook has made me rethink the 2008 Roadmap for the MasonWorld Internet Empire. Basically, I have been thinking about what I want to get out of my Internet Marketing hobby. I started this effort in Nov 2007 with some similar goals, but I am continuing to refine them (December seems like an internet lifetime ago).

On this pass of goal setting, I came up with several key overriding concepts:

• Have fun. This is easy, since I am facinated with the internet and technology
• Learn something. This easy. I knew nothing about internet marketing when I started.
• Add some value. Whatever I do, I am not really interested in just "taking" and leaving nothing behind. A good example is this website. At the end of 2008, I would like to be able to point to this site as a valuable resource that people can use.
• Generate revenue. I actually struggled with this. I am not really in this for the money since I have a great day job (as I have mentioned a thousand times). Still, it seems like the measure of success in Internet Marketing is revenue. So, I am making this the lowest priority goal

Of course, there are some constraints:

• Limited time. I am only allowing myself a coupleof hours a day (max) to work at this hobby. My family and my real job come first (in that order).
• Limited funds. I could choose to spend $4700 on an eCourse or something like that. I am sure I could get great results that way. But, I am determined to do this the "hard" way on a limited budget.
• White Hat. I am still not interested in Black Hat techniques. However, I do see that sometimes it is a little hard to tell the Gray stuff from the White stuff.

With this as a framework, that left me with the question of what to try to accomplish in 2008.

Approaches and Goals for 2008

I am currently planning to have the following completed by the end of 2008. Of course, I plan to blog about everything that I learn in the mean time.

• Grow the MasonWorld.com Internet-Based Marketing blog
  • Post 3 times per week about my Internet Marketing experience
  • Grow RSS readership through great content generation
  • Grow email opt-ins through bonus content
  • Add a modest monthly podcast
  • Build a valuable brand with great content that people want to read
• Build three niche information sites
  • Launch 3 new sites with the $5 per day formula
  • Use article marketing to promote the sites
  • Use the Coaching With Josh resources to achieve $5/day in Adsense revenue
  • Work with a great developer to build a killer niche site WP template
  • Consider a plan to grow those sites to something more in 2009
• Build 3 Affiliate Product sites
  • Launch 3 new/existing sites (Elvis will be one of them)
  • Use article marketing to promote the sites
  • Consider a plan to grow those sites to something more in 2009
• Create my very own information product
  • Identify a niche (IM may be the first one)
  • Create an information product (Niche site case study how-to maybe?)
  • Promote and sell the product (or give it away)
• Create and release one report for Butterfly Reports

That's already way too much for 2008, given that I am working on this part time.

So, tonight I am planning on working on article marketing for my new niche sites using Article Post Robot. I bought this tool several weeks ago. I will post about my progress on Wednesday (my next scheduled post).

Best regards,
Mark

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the problem of being a "Jack of All Trades and a Master of None." In that post, I talked about how challenging I found it to work on Internet Marketing (IM) part time. IM can be all-consuming. I complained in that post that I had not actually "finished" anything. That post was written at 32,000 feet over the pacific ocean on the way to Hong Kong and eventually to Singapore. I guess the air in the passenger cabin must have been thin, because in the same post where I was complaing about how busy I was, I also argued that I should buckle down and increase my post frequency. Go figure.

Garry Conn Warns of Blogger's Demise

Last night, Garry Conn brought all of this back into focus for me with his outstanding post entitled "Is Making Money Blogging Killing You?" In his post, Garry argues that blogging for dollars is a cut-throat competiton, and that it can totally consume you. He compares the blogging mindset to six-man chess, and argues that this 24-hour-a-day competitive lifestyle can impact your relationships, your health, and your mental state. I often say "Blogging Ate My Brain." I think that is what Garry is talking about. To make matters worse, I am not making money blogging. I am not trying to build a blogging empire. I have other plans, and the blog (which I love) is just a small part of the revenue strategy. So, why in the world do I want to redouble my blogging efforts? Answer -- I don't.

Really, Garry makes the strongest of two arguments for a reduced post frequency on MasonWorld.com. Garry's argument is that when you are building readership, you need to allow enough time for people to find your post. Based on my experience on this blog, that is at least two days. The other strong argument has to do with my long term business plan for my internet marketing hobby. Long term, I am interested in getting onto the information marketing end of the internet marketing business. Josh Spaulding warned in a post about information products last November that you need to be careful not to spend too much time blogging when your business plan tell you to work on other things.

MasonWorld Business Plan

So, what is my "business plan?" Well, I plan to have this blog as a resource for people coming after me. It is a journal of my experience. It is not intended to be a big profit center. I am experimenting with four "niche super-sites." The public example of these is the "Elvis Site." These niche super-sites are sites that are more than just MFA (made-for-adsense) sites. They are inteded to contain valuable information, market affiliate products, have user formus, etc. I intend to create and market information products (although I have not identified my ultimate niche yet). I can say that I find viral reports interesting, and I have been checking out Butterfly Reports. I am not sure where that will lead. What I really want is a solid product like Article Marketing Domination -- but not necessarily in the IM niche.

Ultimately, Garry Conn is right on the money -- If you are not careful, blogging will kill you and your business plan.

New Post Frequency

So, effective immediately I am changing my post frequency to Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I will try to post in the morning on those days. In the mean time, I am planning on increasing my efforts on other core businesses. That will give me even more to write about -- which will be great. Look for those musings here in the coming weeks.

Best regards,
Mark

Most Internet Marketing gurus talk about the great lifestyle that is possible with web-based businesses. You can work when and where you want. You can "make millions from a hammock on the beach." That sounds really cool. Interestingly, I was even able to find a list of the top ten beaches with WiFi access. I'm not sure about all this lifestyle stuff. All of the IM guys and gals I know are working 18 hours a day.

I'm personally coming at this Internet Marketing (IM) thing from a different angle. I already have a cool day job that I like as an engineer at a big technology company. One of the really great things about having a day job outside of my Internet Marketing hobby is the potential for exposure to cool stuff. As I mentioned last week, I was in Asia on "day job business." Last Friday night I was able to go eat at a restaurant in Clarke Quay, Singapore called Jumbo's Seafood.

Clarke Quay is "historical." It's a riverside quay located within the "Singapore River Planning Area" upstream from the mouth of the Singapore River and world famous Boat Quay. Clarke Quay was named after Sir Andrew Clarke, Singapore's second Governor. (A quay is a structure built parallel to the bank of a waterway for use as a landing place - I did not know that.)

I had a signature dish for the area called Chile Crab. Totally outstanding, and highly recommended. Served best with Tiger Beer (local to Singapore). Tiger beer is nice and crisp with an easy finish. Like all alcohol in Singapore, Tiger Beer is very expensive.

I am told that restaurants all over Singapore have chile crab on their menus and that it is considered one of Singapore's national dishes. The crab that I had was a beautiful whole crab awash in spicy chile sauce. I've eaten food all over the world, and I would put that chile crab up against any seafood anywhere.

This was my first visit to Singapore, and it was not what I expected at all. Most Asian cities that I visit are wonderful in some distinctly Asian way. This city is wonderful in every sense of the word. It is a multicultural city heavily influenced by China and Great Britain. It is clean and safe. There is a ton of shopping and amazing food. The people there are nice, and all the signs are in English (my Mandarin is horrid).

I was able to stay in a wonderful 5-star hotel in the financial district. This got me to dreaming. What if I really hit it big and created a massive online empire? Then I could hang out in Singapore and eat Chili Crab. At that moment -- right at the second that I was imagining being bought by Google -- my BlackBerry started ringing and there was someone in the U.S. that wanted to complain about the latest crisis at work for $3/minute in international roaming charges.

That brought me back to earth. At least a got a blog post out of it. LOL. I can't wait to go back to Singapore.