Sant Qiu’s Speed Profit Blog

The new year is here. A new fresh start. A new opportunity to set new goals… or achieve the old ones Typically now is the time when everyone who believes in making new year resolutions is making theirs.

Personally I’m a big believer in setting new goals each year. Though I prefer to think of it as new year’s evolution instead of resolution. ‘Resolution’ has the element of re-solving something that didn’t get solved in the past. While evolution means that you’re changing and improving.

It’s similar to the Japanese word ‘Kaizen’, which has become a huge management buzzword and philosophy behind popular concepts like Total Quality Management. It means continuous incremental improvements. (Side note: While the Kaizen philosophy is attributed to the Japanese due to their quality revolution while under the guidance of Edward Deming, I can’t help but find the resemblance of the words Kaizen to the Chinese word ‘Gai Zheng’. Their literal meaning: ‘Gai’ to change; ‘Zheng’ be right. After all, the Chinese had a strong influence on Japanese language when they started. Just thought it’s interesting.)

While I was thinking about the new evolution I’m planning for myself this 2008, I thought of the excerpt of an interview I watched of David Brandon, Chairman & CEO of Domino’s Pizza talking about his business philosophies.

He said, “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.” There is no such thing as staying the same. And I remembered a similar philosophy of life taught by a mentor, “Either you are growing, or you’re dying. There is no in-between.”

There is something liberating about thinking and seeing things in such stark black or white. There is no gray areas. No ifs. No buts. You either do. Or you don’t. You’re either progressing towards your goals, or regressing.

As you’re deciding on your new evolutions this year, have that clear black or white mentality. Either you want to do it and go all out to achieve it, or when you catch yourself thinking “I’d like to achieve that if…” scrap that goal and let it go. You don’t want it enough to make it happen yet.

And if that’s the case, be comfortable about it and let it go. Focus on the few evolution goals that you’re really passionate and committed to. It’s always better to complete the few important things that matter the most, rather than neglect everything by trying to do everything at the same time.

One of my evolution goals in 2008: While I’ve been wanting to start my online business, I’ve been caught up too much with my offline consulting work. Now, the start of the new year is a great time for me to finally start. I’ve put this as a priority and I’ll go all out. This is my ‘Year One’.

What is possible to achieve in one year online, starting from scratch? What do you think? Let me know your evolution goals too. Maybe I can help.

Happy Wonderful & Prosperous New Year!

Just in October, when I started this blog, I had the intention of cutting down my consultation services and focusing more on my personal projects, such as starting an Internet-based business. I definitely see the tremendous potential of the Internet.

That’s why despite my crazy schedule, I tried to kick start my blog a few months back… in vain. New businesses kept coming in. Which was a good problem to have. However, this severely slowed down my exploring the exciting world of Internet marketing.

But in October I decided enough is enough! I revamped my website and started this blog to share my profit strategies and start creating a brand awareness for myself and my company. I also posted some really valuable case studies.

Things were going well for a while. My blog traffic has kept on doubling. And I’m getting a lot of new overseas readers. I squeezed out time to post on this blog as often as I can. But little did I expect…

The blog actually brought in even more highly qualified prospects who are ready to do business with me! Instead of cutting down, I’m now swamped with prospects shoving their money at me.

For example, last week we received a few deposit checks like the one below.

Someone even gave me a $1,000 cold hard cash for a deposit! (By the way, for non-Singaporean readers, below is how a SGD1,000 note look like. I just love the feel of cold hard cash in my hands)

And I’ve just came back from closing another five-figure consulting deal. All of that in a week. With no advertising, no active promotion, no nothing. If you’re a regular reader of my blog you would know that I’ve not promoted my consultation services here at all. But that didn’t stop qualified prospects to seek me out. In fact, I’ve raised my fees twice this year, and I’m now considering raising them again.

NOPE! It’s NOT my intention to try to impress you. I’m sharing with you this to show you how important creating a strategic positioning is for your business.

When you’ve created a powerful positioning in the minds of your target market, like I did, it’s literally hard to stop them from coming to you.

Recently, in his Attention Age Doctrine 2, Rich Schefren talks about becoming a Maven in your chosen industry. In essence this is the same as creating a strategic positioning in your niche market. This is also what Jay Abraham is talking about when he talks about the strategy of preeminence. Or what Dan Kennedy promotes as your U.S.P.

All of those concepts are very similar and highly related. But if you boil down all these various sophisticated terms and concepts, at the end the core idea is about differentiating yourself.

How are you different from your competitors and the rest of the masses? If your differentiation is perceived as more valuable than the rest of the available offers, the profit floodgates will open up for you.

Don’t dismiss the critical importance of this! Deliberately and conciously take some time to create a strategic positioning for yourself. You will be massively rewarded for it.

I’ll probably rile a few people with this post, but I think I owe it to you, my readers, to post a truthful opinion on the latest Rich Schefren buzz. Just last week, Rich Schefren, the guru’s guru of Internet Marketing released his new Attention Age Doctrine 2.

In it he describes the increasing scarcity of attention prospects are willing to give to marketers. He also talks about the overwhelming ‘new wave’ of the Internet that is Web 2.0. He states that the future is in Web 2.0 (interactive websites such as blogs, social networks, forums, etc), and that the ‘old-way marketing’ is going to be dead.

I came across Rich’s work not too long ago. And I’m a fan and I think he provides tremendous value with his reports. More importantly I respect him as a very good marketer. He has strategically and successfully positioned himself as the guru’s guru.

BUT..!

Is what he presented in Attention Age Doctrine 2 really the case? Will Web 2.0 really overtake everything in Internet Marketing? Will traditional online marketing strategies really be left for dead?

Personally I don’t think so. While Rich’s presentation on the scarcity of attention is spot on, I have some reservations about the enthusiasm surrounding the whole Web 2.0 taking over the Internet theme.

And I’m not the only one doubting this. But let’s take a look at a few revealing things…

Rich released his Attention Age Doctrine 2 via his blog and email to his subscribers. He then drives all the traffic to an opt-in page, asking people to subscribe before downloading his doctrine. That is plain-vanilla traditional marketing technique, not some fancy Web 2.0 thing.

Granted that blogging is part of Web 2.0. But how effective is blogging as a marketer’s tool? Now, before you pro-bloggers get all work up about this, let’s listen to a few prominent pro-bloggers:

Andy Beard from Niche Marketing just wrote:

I Am Disappointed

Over the last 10 months I have been quite prominent in my support of Rich, but very few of my readers seem to trust me enough to give Rich an email address to download a free report…

RSS Readers Are Not Responsive

… I am honestly quite disappointed in how poorly responsive my RSS Readers are when offered free information from a source I trust.

Another very prominent pro-blogger I follow, Yaro Starak from Entrepreneurs-Journey commented:

Like you, I’ve been very disappointed by RSS response rates too and frankly, I don’t think RSS will ever replace email as much as I’d like it it.

RSS readers just don’t engage in the content the same way they do to an email in their inbox. That’s why I started building my email list to go with my blog and emails I send out ALWAYS outperform the posts I make to my blog.

You need to have the blog of course, but use all the efforts you are putting in here to attract traffic and get people onto a newsletter.

I’ve also just met up with my friend Alvin Phang of Gather Success and creator of Atomic Blogging: Step-by-step blogging system for newbies. He too mentioned that some of his secret strategies to his rapid rise in the blogging world that he revealed in Atomic Blogging is based on ‘traditional’ strategies as they are more effective.

Isn’t that interesting? This supports my earlier findings that traffic from social networks might not be as good in quality.

Another tell-tale sign: Just take a look at how often successful Internet Marketers blog. In general they (including Rich) blog much lesser in frequency compared to pro-bloggers. If Web 2.0 is really taking over, wouldn’t all of the big names be blogging more regularly?

Now, a sensitive question: Who do you think make more money? (I know the question is not specific and hard to compare etc, but I think you get what I mean)

But that’s not all. At the end of the doctrine, Rich also promotes his products. Doesn’t this sounds like traditional viral e-books? Isn’t what he is doing more like a traditional product launch strategy? By the way, there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it is an excellent strategy.

I think Web 2.0 is definitely an extremely important trend that marketers must pay attention to and leverage on. However, be very careful about just latching on to one idea (in this case that traditional online marketing strategies are going to be replaced fully by Web 2.0) and going to the extreme.

The ‘old’/'traditional’ principles of Internet Marketing are still working very well. This is because they are based on human nature, and human nature changes very VERY slowly, even though technology changes extremely fast. The best is to combine old strategies with new one, like what Rich has done, and not use them exclusively.

Again, I’m a fan of Rich’s work and I have a lot of respect for Rich. Just don’t get caught up with a new, ‘unproven’ idea and take it to the extreme.

Take care.

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I’m back from a short break. And in this post I thought of sharing something that my clients often ask me about: How did I manage to help them multiply their profits exponentially, usually with minimal expenses (even though I literally did it in front of them). They want me to EXPLAIN my strategies to them.

One of my ‘secret’ power tools I regularly use is the creation and development of a solid positioning. When you’ve created a strong positioning for your self/products/services, it’s like having a spotlight shine on you on the stage. All eyes are on you. Sure there may be other supporting cast members in the background with various degree of visibility. But when you do it right, you can be the lead act on the center of the stage.

The problem is…

Creating a positioning is a strategic move. It requires thinking and planning. However, most businesses are focused on  marketing activities such as advertising, distribution of flyers/brochures, telemarketing, etc; which are tactical activities. They often neglect to really think about the message (the strategic positioning) that those marketing materials contain. It doesn’t help that most tips and advice found on the Internet are focused on tactical activities. “Do this… do that…” etc.

This explains the proliferation of the ‘me-tooism’ in the marketplace. Everyone is trying to be like somebody else (their competitors, their mentors, their idols, etc). I know many gurus/mentors encourage the concept of modelling, which is to emulate the business/person you want to be like. Heck, I am personally pro modelling.

BUT… while modelling is an excellent method to improve, it’s a very bad strategy for marketing. If you are using this strategy you’ll just be ‘another one of them’. Just think about it. Which famous brand is well-known because they are like another business? Yep! A trick question.

Well-known brands are well-known because they are ‘different from’ not the ‘same as’! And yet, most businesses adopt the ‘fight fire with fire’ strategy to compete in the marketplace. For example, if their competitor introduces a new product/service, they will react by launching something similar. This is a ridiculous strategy! You fight fire with water, not fire!

Fighting fire with water means that instead of trying to do the same thing you do something different or unexpected. Carve out your own positioning and create your own niche. It is also a useful strategy to ‘steal their thunder’.

Let’s say you are in the beauty industry. If a competitor launches an oil-based anti-wrinkle product, instead of launching something similar, you can introduce a water-based one. And you then explain why water works better and (subtly) explain why other base ingredients (such as oil) is not as effective. Go the opposite direction.

This way you are seen as a leader and an innovator, not a follower.

Here’s a real marketplace example. There are hundreds of toothpaste brands. However there are only a few that have managed to create a solid positioning. You will notice that all of them have differentiated themselves from each other (even though in reality they are competing in the same market).

• Colgate Total: Complete 12 hour protection

• Crest: Fight cavaties

• Close-Up: Freshening Xperience (Freshens your breath. Their positioning is about getting people close together. They even have kissing tips on their website! That is congruency.)

• Ultrabrite: Whitens your teeth

As you can see, they each positioned themselves differently, solving different problems even though essentially at the core, they all help to clean and protect your teeth. Each of them have created their own spotlight so the target market can find them easily. Have you created yours? Or are you just ‘another one of them’?

This is the 3rd part of the “Profit Booster Case Studies” where I reveal my profit boosting strategies that brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars for my clients. Apply the strategies and you will get real bottom-line results… Guaranteed!

In this case study you will learn how you can easily apply my strategies to…

Secrets To Getting Advertising Worth Thousands Of Dollars & Achieving Expert Status Literally Overnight… Practically For FREE!

And NO, it’s NOT the same old create a ‘story-the-media-would-be-interested-to-publish’ strategies that don’t work.

Read this Profit Booster Case Study 4 here:

http://www.maneuvermarketing.com/blog/case-studies/

In it you will see:

• How I use my system to get FREE media coverage for ordinary folks and businesses
• The exact steps I used that have been proven again and again to work
• How you can create a powerful impact & buzz within your target market for pennies
• How you can use the system to launch your products
• And many more

As always, the case study is content-rich and shows you exactly how I implemented my system, not just some vague principles.

If you’re working on a shoestring budget, this case study can help you tremendously. I really believe if you just follow my steps, you will reap massive rewards.

You can read it here:

http://www.maneuvermarketing.com/blog/case-studies/

If you missed out on the previous Profit Booster Case Studies you can also read all of them at the link above. If you have any questions, feedback, comments and thoughts you can also post them there.

I’ve received quite a number of questions on the Profit Booster DVD Set that I’ll be releasing on 20 November, Tuesday. I’ll be answering your questions in a short FAQ on Sunday.

Meanwhile, enjoy the case studies and profit from them. Cheers.

I was checking out my stats of this new blog using WP Blog Stats plugin. The plugin is pretty good and it shows the number of views I received daily in a graph and the most popular articles I have.

I’m pretty happy to see that readers have increased consistently. In particular, the past couple of days views has skyrocketed. However, as I took a closer look at the stats I noticed something very interesting…

There were several really high spikes in the history of the chart. Curious as to what caused those spikes (so I can reproduce those in a more consistent basis), I checked out the articles corresponding to those high views. What I found kinda slapped me awake!

I discovered that the spikes were caused by articles that had… drum roll… ready for this? => Compelling Titles! <=

Frankly I was rather peeved at myself. After all I’m a copywriter who write copy that brought in big profits. I should know the importance of a great headline. Heck I just explained how important a headline is in the Profit Booster Case Studies. And yet I missed this!

The titles are equivalent to the headlines of the articles. And since subscribers might only read your titles in their email notifications, they might not be compelled to go to your blog and read the whole article if the title is weak.

To make sure that I made the right conclusion I check other possible variables such as content quality, time of posting the articles, social bookmarking activities, etc. And nothing else corresponds as clearly as the difference of the titles of the articles.

And the difference of viewers between a weak title compared to an engaging one is as high as 80%! That was a wake up call for me. Frankly, when I blog I’ve been rather lazy and just type in what came to mind at that particular moment. But now that I see the huge difference of just tweaking the titles, I’m convinced I can do much better.

Here are a few of title changes I just made:

From “Profit Booster 2: Boost Your Results By 300%” to “Boost Your Results By 300% – Profit Booster 2” (The first few words are generally more important so I put the benefit up front)

From “Profit Booster Case Study 1 Is Ready” to “How A Letter I Wrote  Raked In 5 Figures… And Growing“

From “I’m Revealing Specific, In-Depth Case Studies” to “Actual Campaigns That Raked In $100,000s Revealed In Detail For You“

You would agree that the revised titles are more irresistible, yes? The content is exactly the same. But viewership will definitely improve. Are you missing out on as much as 80% (or more) of your traffic because of weak titles?