BWMagic's List Building Newsletter
(Special RSS Edition) March 13 - 2005
Warm welcome to all new subscribers!
******************
Contents
******************
o Mikey Goes to College
o 5 Deadly Ad Testing Mistakes
o RSS Feed for SiteBuildIt
o RSS Podcasting and Broadcatching
o Feature Article - RSS And The Billion Channel Internet!
******************
========================
o Mikey Goes to College
========================
Just a Mouse Click Away
When I first got access to the internet
I could hardly believe my eyes... all
this subject matter...ready to be devoured.
Studied, dissected, digested and absorbed - so
much information. And all there for the
taking.
The delouse of information and sites were extremely
overwhelming at first, until I got a handle on the
different sections.
Coming from a slight art background, I emerged
myself headfirst into the muck.
Artists are trained to observe, record, digest and
regurgitate their findings into a new creation - maybe
that's a little too graphic - but you get the picture.
From the start, what interested me most, were the
communities that were instantly formed - drawing
members from all corners of the globe. These communities
formed around a certain topic, or subject of interest.
The village square was replaced by messages boards, forums
and chat rooms.
One of the first communities I examined in some
detail was a free online gaming site - members chatted
as they played different games: slots, bingo, cards, etc.
Of course, it was the people that made it interesting,
different perspectives from all corners of the world.
The wealth of knowledge gotten from studying this
community is sometimes underestimated by many. Most
dismiss it as a bit of harmless fun on the internet.
However, thru the right eyes - it can be so much more than
just a bit of fun. So much more.
The group dynamics, the social interaction, and
even the political viewpoints - all make interesting
material to be examined.
One of the most interesting groups that I am presently
studying, interacting with and also having a bit
of fun! Is the online marketing community connected
with Instant Buzz.
This site and community was started by a twenty year old
kid named Mike Chen and Mark Joyner. It offers free
advertising for your web sites or the products you're
marketing. It mainly works by members exchanging
text ads thru the Internet Explorer toolbar while they
surf. It's automatic and surprisingly very effective.
Actually, Mike Chen is going to college in the fall and
has recently sold the Instant Buzz to a different
marketer - Mike Filsnaine. The jury is still out on
how this will affect the community - sometimes when
a new owner takes over - it's game over. But we
have to wait and see.
Instant Buzz has a very active forum community - it
very quickly moved up the alexa ratings and now stands at
787. Posts submitted to this forum always brings in
very good traffic - actually for me, traffic from the
forum has been more responsive and frequent than from
the toolbar ads.
But it's the interaction, communicating, and contact
building that's the most interesting. Achieving a sense
of community in the wired medium is not easy - it takes
a lot communication, give and take - but most of all, a
sense of belonging to the group or club dynamic.
And like any group or community you join - you end up getting
much more from it than what you give to the group.
It's no wonder, that some of the most effective marketing
groups working the net - belong to these community
club-like settings - a couple that readily come to mind are
the Warriors Forum, run by Allen Says and the Entrepreneurial
Success Forum run by Anthony Blake.
Or the new blogger's professional association that's just
forming around Paul Chaney. This one offers some great
opportunities - RSS and Blogging is just breaching the
mainstream.
As more and more companies start or hire bloggers as
legit marketing PR additions to their advertising budgets
- commercialization of RSS/Blogs is not a bad thing for it will
provide a more stable base for bloggers and also provide
another online community worthy of serious study.
Collectively, these groups can be a powerful resource
offering new ideas, innovations and a knowledge base that
can be easily drawn upon in time of need.
In my opinion, these communities make up some of the most
interesting fabric the internet has woven in its short history.
Others may disagree, but they would have to admit these
communities offer some of the best 'human' resources and
the best 'data' reference collections on the web.
Resources that no doubt, will be used and drawn upon by countless
internet users in the years to come. Our collective intelligence
neatly packaged and readily accessible to everyone.
Now do yourself a favor - Go Explore! Go back to college!
It's just a mouse click away.
===============================
o Podcasting and Broadcatching
===============================
Podcasting is ready to catch on with RSS
users and I will have an article on this subject
as well as Broadcatching next week.
Podcasting as defined by Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
("Podcasting" is making audio files (most commonly in MP3 format)
available online in a way that allows software to automatically
detect the availability of new files (generally via RSS), and
download the files for listening at the user's convenience.)
It joins together the two words Ipod and Broadcasting.
It's basically an audio magazine subscription, you download and listen
to these files on your own time. The popularity of Ipods could
make this a very popular way to get your message across.
Broadcatching, is somewhat more complicated but similar - you
receive a webcast or netcast thru RSS feeds. Real potential here
for the Billion Channel Internet. (Read Article Below)
Broadcatching is still in the forming stages with BitTorrent and RSS
combining to form a webcasting system - more like a TiVo system
for the web. (Big money in there somewhere for the one who sets
this baby up!!!)
==============================================
o 5 Deadly Ad Testing Mistakes by Mark Joyner
==============================================
This is a free PDF download (aff. link) from
Mark Joyner. Like him or hate him; in or out
of Internet Marketing - Mark Joyner is still the
'grand old master' flexing his muscles - he's
a major force behind Instant Buzz.
For those new to web marketing - Joyner was one
of its first major players, many of the marketing
techniques around today were pioneered by him.
A few years ago, he supposedly left the marketing
arena and he sold off all his 'source code' (stuff
that dreams are made of, baby) - Mike Chen was one
of the people who bought all this code. Producing
products/programs such as 'ScreenBlaze', 'Make Your
Own Software' and 'Instant Buzz'.
As mentioned above, Mike is going back to college and
has sold 'Instant Buzz'. He also has a major product
coming out around the 18th of March.
The link above is a pre-selling technique by Joyner and
Chen for this new product which will only be on the market
for two weeks. This pre-selling activity in my opinion, is
amounting to a 'marketing masterpiece or stroke'!
If you haven't seen it yet - try this affiliate link
and see it you can solve the puzzle.
Marketing PuzzleOr download the free PDF file here:
5 Deadly Ad Testing Mistakes by Mark Joyner===========================
o RSS Feed for SiteBuildIt
===========================
This feed provides some good info on marketing
on the web. Lessons, mistakes, marketing tips,
etc. from the Web's #1 small business e-commerce
company, SiteSell.com.
Just go to this
url and click on the RSS orange button
and add it to your favorite reader or aggregator.
==========================================================
o Feature Article - RSS And The Billion Channel Internet!
==========================================================
The more I use, research, and study RSS - the more I believe
that a billion channel internet (each website a different channel)
is very close to becoming a reality. Podcasting, broadcatching,
webcasting...are all pointing the way to a slightly different web
than what we're used to. One that reaches out to us, more pro-
active, more assertive...
You can read more here:
RSS And The Billion Channel Internet.
And in case you missed Rok Hrastnik's book on RSS last
week I am posting the link again. So if you're looking
for that 'ultimate reference guide' on RSS - get this
ebook. The author will be updating this resource as
the world of RSS evolves...
Click Here to check out Rok Hrastnik's
Unleash the Marketing and Publishing Power of RSSHave a great week.
Regards,
Titus
www.bizwaremagic.com
Change your thoughts and you change your world.
Norman Vincent Peale (1898 - 1993)
P.S. If you find this Newsletter helpful or mildly amusing
- why not tell your friends and online contacts about it.
Just point them to this blog. Or if you know someone who's
curious about RSS and Blogs and would like to know more
- just point them to this link:
http://www.bizwaremagic.com/blogTo Put RSS On Your Site Within Minutes - Visit This Link:
RSS and Blogging Guide
