Internet Marketing 101

May 16th, 2003

Hey y'all;

Well once again a new week draws to a close. Seems like I just wrote the newsletter yesterday for last week...grin...

Must be a sign of my age kicking in. Read that as "getting old"..grin..
Before we know it, a new year will be upon us, just mark my word.

May 6th, 2003 we lost a fellow marketer and internetpreneur who has freely shared and helped thousands on the internet. Jim Wilson of SearchEngineForums.com, JimWorld.com and who published Virtual Promote Gazette passed away after extended health problems.

His sites will continue to help thousands as they will be maintained by his family and friends. Be sure to pay them a visit for some great tools, forums and help for your marketing and promotion.

I remember back in early 1999, Jim mentioned a ezine I use to publish, in his newsletter. I received 300+ subscribers that day from his nice comments.

He has helped many and will be sadly missed.

In our neck of the woods here, June Carter (Cash) is also in critical condition at a local hospital from heart problems. She is the wife of country singer Johnny Cash. [Update: She passed away and will be sadly missed by family, friends and fans.]

It's saddening to look back at the many friends and love ones that have passed on before me. It makes me realize just how indefinite life is. Unfortunately how many times do we put off saying or doing something special for someone in our life and then suddenly it's too late?

How many of us have and are putting off things in our life right now that we should be doing? In the event something happens to you, have you made arrangements already so your loved ones don't have to struggle with grief as well as trying to find important papers and so forth?

Is your life in order spiritually and legally?
Have you told that someone in your life a simple phrase like "I love you" lately?

Yeah I know, "Geeessh Gary such depressing thoughts"

Hey folks I'm not trying to be depressing, but rather throw out a wake up call.

Tomorrow may not come, I think many people tend to look upon life as:
"There is always tomorrow." Worse yet many just don't think about it period.

In the same respect, how many things are you putting off in your marketing and business efforts?

Are you writing that new article and submitting it?
Are you following up with your potential customers?
Are you visiting the forums and interacting with other peers in your business?
Are you doing the primary daily task we should all be doing in our business?

Ok so you ask Gary "What is the primary daily task?" .

The primary one is promotion. Think of it this way:

"No Tell, No Sell".

OR are you sitting there saying, "I'll do it tomorrow". Funny thing, huh!
Tomorrow may not come.....

Hmmm, food for thought, don't put it off, your business may die a slow death without you really realizing it is happening. Then suddenly it's just gone.

Ok, so let's move on.
Another thought as I write this comes to mind which is master mind groups.

As you know, well maybe not if you are new to this newsletter, I'm big on building friendships and relationships in my business.

To give you an idea, I got my phone bill this week and it was $150+ just for the calls I made to other business people just to touch base and talk with them last month, that doesn't include the rest of the phone bill.

I have mentioned master mind groups in the past briefly, currently I have two that I regularly join and I'm working on creating a couple of more.

If you don't know, basically a master mind group is a group of people that get together and brainstorm, offer support, and strive to help each other with their business. This could be in person or by phone.

Just from these chat sessions I get more ideas and suggestions than I can even describe to you. I urge you today to start setting up a group of people you can brainstorm with.

Let's look at how you can do this.

1. First you need a conference call bridge, yeah I know you are saying "But, but Gary, that costs money".

Actually just search in the search engines for conference call services and you will find several services that offer a free service.

Better yet one is:
http://www.mrconference.com/
(No, this is not an affiliate link.)

You can have up to 30 callers in one room for free. The only cost is the local long distance charge to each person. With many long distance rates running as low as 4 or 5 cents a minute then a 30 minute call costs a whole $1.20 to $1.50.

I don't mean to sound cruel, but if you can't invest a buck fifty in your business then you need to consider waiting to go in business until you can.

Face it folks, it does take at least "a little money" to run a business.

Trust me you will get much more than your $1.50 from ideas, suggestions and help from your peers in the group.

2. You need to get the group together. Choose business people and friends with similar business interests. Email or call them and invite them to join your group. Don't make the group too big. Four or five people is a good size.

3. Set up a regular time to meet, be it weekly, twice a month or even monthly.

4. Strive to setup an agenda for each call. Maybe focus on a problem from each member of the group by taking turns.

5. Try to set a time limit. Since many people have very busy schedules, try to respect each other and the time limits. This is hard to do though.

Well that's about it. Take the above 5 steps and get to it. You will be amazed as the calls progress, at the help, ideas, and support that can come from such a group.

By the way:

DON'T wait till tomorrow to do it.
It may not come!
:-)


Send me your comments and/or marketing questions please:
comments@InternetMarketing-101.net


Comments about the May 9th Issue:
-----------------------

Gary, Really enjoyed this week's newsletter. I'm so glad I got a chance to join you guys.

David H.
-----------------------
< It was great meeting you at the Pensacola workshop as well. I'm already missing the palms trees..grin...
Thank you for your comments!
Gary>


Please send your questions and comments to:
comments@internetmarketing-101.net


=======================
Keyboard Tip:
Ever need to show the copyright or trademark symbols in your email or text based newsletter?

Well then just hold down the Alt key and press 0169 then let up and you will get the © OR press 0174 and let up the Alt key, and you will get the ® symbol.

Depending upon your email software though, the above symbols may not appear right, so it is software dependant, though it should work with most email and text editor software.

Heh, heh, the best way is to find out is just try it...grin...
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See y'all next week, same day, same place!

Thanks for joining me and my rambling!



PS: Send your comments and/or marketing questions to:
comments@InternetMarketing-101.net

Let me know if it's ok to use your comments or questions in my newsletter.

If you would like a copy in article form to run in your newsletter just let me know...grin...

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