12 minutes that can turn your economic outlook upside down
Now the question is, how can each of us enact something of a gift economy in our business? Is it possible? Or just a marketing gimmick?
I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments box.
Download the Interview with Mark Silver of Heart of Business (MP3, 14 MB)
“If I raise my prices, I’ll feel greedy. Or no one will hire me. And what if I’m not that good?”
“If I lower my prices, I’ll feel defeated. I’ll attract the wrong sort of client. But what if that’s the only way to get business?”
I’ve struggled with pricing for much of my business career. For some reason, money has always been a fraught subject for me. (Not sure why – I grew up comfortably middle class, had some nice stuff, and went to an expensive college.)
And when it comes to pricing, all my issues bubble to a rolling boil.
So I was delighted to explore the topic of pricing – and other business issues – from a spiritual perspective with my new friend and teacher, Mark Silver. Mark runs a training company called “Heart of Business,” and he’s a master at putting the nuts and bolts of business into a truly inspiring context.
We talked for an hour last month. And today I got around to editing and uploading the audio.
If you’re squeamish about concepts like “heart” and “The Divine,” this interview might be a bit of a challenge. Even so, I urge to you keep an open mind and give a listen.
Here’s that download link again.
If you want more from Mark, visit HeartofBusiness.com.
Turned on or turned off? Inspired or confused? Got a different philosophy? Let me know what you think in the comments box below.
A reader who just joined the Vitruvian Way Café just asked a question on the forum about how to target pages on the Display network. Nobody is searching for keywords, so how do you tell Google on what pages to show your ads?
My forum reply:
For Display campaigns, you can target pages in many different ways. The most basic is to select keywords. Then Google goes out and finds pages in the Display network that contain content about those keywords. You know when you do a search and you see something at the top about “35,000,000 results in 1.09 seconds” – some of those pages run AdSense, and your ads will appear on some of those.
You can also select pages on the Display network directly, by adding them to “managed placements.” If you like the way a site is performing for you, add it to managed placements so you can be assured of continued exposure. Also, you can adjust the bid of a managed placement, but not for a keyword-triggered automatic one.
There are other ways to target pages on the Display network, like audiences (a particular demographic plus interests, whom you can show ads to even on pages unrelated to the subject of your ad). In the screenshot below, I’m targeting people whom Google has identified as being fans of martial arts movies. They’ll see my ads even if they’re on a site devoted to iPad cases or workflow software.
And topics, which cover broad subject areas. For example, you can select the entire Arts & Entertainment topic, or drill down into Movies, then Action Movies, then Martial Arts movies. In the following screenshot, I’m targeting pages about martial arts movies.
One of the benefits of using Audiences and Topics is the powerful metrics you can get quite quickly and cheaply, which you can use to improve any Facebook advertising you might be doing. (You can also do it in reverse, using Facebook ads to identify strong veins of interest in the Google Display network.
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Want to ask questions and get answers directly from the authors of Google AdWords For Dummies and our team? Join the Vitruvian Way Café. Free for 49 days, and no credit card required to join.
I’m a new-age-y kind of guy, so it’s not surprising that a lot of the people who gravitate to my marketing advice are what you might term “holistic practitioners.”
Folks who do massage therapy, counseling, reiki, permaculture, shamanic work (like my wife), body therapies, life coaching, and all sorts of similar things.
And I give these folks all I’ve got, but I’m not an expert at marketing a business like that. My one attempt, in 1990, was to get certified as a massage therapist and drag a portable massage chair to the front desk of a Merrill Lynch office in Plainsboro, New Jersey hoping to land a lucrative corporate contract.
But my friend Tad Hargrave is such an expert.
He and I had a delightful conversation a couple of nights ago about the challenges holistic practitioners face (both external and internal) as well as the mistakes they typically make in response to those challenges.
At one point I was struck by the similarities between holistic practitioners and wannabe online marketing millionaires. On the surface, I can’t think of two groups less similar to each other. (OK, so maybe Twilight and Chuck Norris fans.)
Yet the underlying dynamic of desire, hope, come-on, failure, and attribution of blame are virtually the same.
Here’s the conversation for you to download in mp3 format.
There’s one fairly annoying section where Skype and the South African internet conspired to make Tad sound like a bad robot, but if you just do some alternative nostril breathing during that short section you’ll get through it fine.
Oh, and at the end of the call Tad talks about a telecourse he’s offering that starts tomorrow. So if the first few minutes of the call speaks loudly to your current situation, make sure you listen all the way through to grab one of the remaining slots.
And if you want to check out the offer straight away, you can go here: http://sixweek101.eventbrite.com/
(Note the non-affiliate link – I’m doing this strictly for the karma points :)
A reader asks:
Hi! Enjoyed the dummies book. The current platform for my [moving company] website is a little difficult to navigate. If I make my blogger page a part of the website, will Google still count this as making daily updates to the website? Or does it look better if daily updates are being made to the home page? Should I try to have the first few sentences from the blog appearing on the home page with some kind of feed?
My reply:
Cliffhanger? Keep reading…
This article was originally published in Fast Company.
Take a deep breath. Engage parking brake. Turn ignition on. Shift into first. Disengage parking brake. Clutch up. Gas down. Sputter sputter. Cough. Lurch. Die.
So goes the first 15 minutes of my driving lesson yesterday, the one where I find out how hard it is to work a manual transmission. Mia, my wife, sitting beside me and patiently reminding me not to grind the gears, is wondering if we’ll ever move from this spot. Possibly wondering what’s more dangerous: this, or skydiving?
Cliffhanger? Keep reading…
Right-click to download this video to your computer
Do you ever get overwhelmed by AdWords?
All the techniques, all the networks, all the settings, all the tricks and strategies and best practices.
And they’re constantly changing, aren’t they? What was a best practice in 2010 is illegal in 2011, or outdated, or just plain stupid.
While I would love to tell you that AdWords is actually quite simple, I can’t.
While I would love to tell you that you can read a 20-page ebook and compete with the best of the best, I can’t.
While I would love to tell you that the latest under the radar trick will get you tons of leads and sales at half the cost per click you’re currently paying, I can’t.
After all, I’m the guy who makes a living writing 400+ page books on the topic. And my agency runs AdWords campaigns that require dozens of hours per month of expert attention and optimization. If we could work less and get the same results, we sure would!
But here’s what I can tell you: most advertisers don’t understand the true power of AdWords.
They don’t know what Search really is.
In other words, they don’t have a feel for the fundamentals.
Most advertisers (and agencies, from my experience) treat AdWords as a technically complex series of pipes, in which marketing messages travel from the merchant to the searcher. They don’t realize that the AdWords machine is the least important part of the equation.
It’s like taking a huge, strong guy and trying to turn him into an offensive lineman in football. You could teach him blocking techniques. You could have him memorize the playbook. You could explain every single rule and infraction and penalty. But if he doesn’t understand that the big goal of the offense is to score touchdowns, he’s not going to be an effective lineman.
Regardless of his skills, and regardless of his strength, and regardless of his knowledge of the playbook and the rulebook.
In fact, until he understands the big picture, teaching him the technical skills and strategies and rules will be excruciatingly slow, difficult, and ineffective.
I don’t feel like writing a really long sales letter teasing you by talking about the AdWords fundamentals and not telling you what they are.
So here they are:
Not complicated. Not technically challenging. Nothing you need to memorize to pass the AdWords Qualified Individual exam.
Just the three key concepts that separate the AdWords success stories from everyone else.
And once you understand these three concepts – not intellectually or theoretically, but practically and experientially – then all the technical details fall into place.
I’ve taught Checkmate to about 3500 people in the entire world, through Camp Checkmate events, workshops, webinars, private consultations, and the Checkmate home study course that I’m about to ram down your throat on this page ;)
When I share it with students, the responses vary from “I can’t wait to implement this” to “I feel like I’m finally meeting my customer for the first time.” And once they implement, they see the vistas and opportunities opening up as soon as the first results come in.
When I shared Checkmate with Perry Marshall, his response was, “I wish I’d thought of it.”
When I shared Checkmate with Glenn Livingston, his response was, “This is awesome. Let’s do a teleseminar.” (Thanks to Glenn, the method grew larger than a fill-in-the-blanks table in a Word document on my hard drive.)
When I shared Checkmate with the legendary direct marketer Drayton Bird, his response was, “ I’ve seen many people around the world try to teach people to sell things. Howie enables you to do this supremely well, in a way which is almost childishly simple, but hugely effective. You should give him a shot.”
Like I said, Checkmate is the fundamentals part. But it’s more than that. Checkmate is also a method that allows you to write better ads than you’ve ever written before in about 30 minutes.
It isn’t magic. But it helps you access knowledge and insight and intuition that you may not have realized that you already possess.
What You Get With CheckmateCheckmate Fundamentals
Ever buy a home-study course and get overwhelmed? The quick start guide shows you, step by step, how to get the most out of Checkmate in the least time. You’ll be writing awesome ads in a couple of hours by following these simple steps. |
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The Checkmate Matrix
The Matrix is a one-page blank table that’s the heart of the Checkmate method. You’ll use the matrix again and again to insert yourself into the sweet spot of your market for any given keyword. At first, you’ll complete a matrix in about 30 minutes. With a little practice, you’ll get it down to 5.
Part 1: Checkmate Revealed
Crash Course Review
Simple two-page fill in the blanks quiz to keep you focused on the most important concepts and skills. Complete this review as you read and/or listen to the Crash Course. (Comes with answer sheet – but no peaking ;)
Part 2: Checkmate in Action – Example, Analysis and Coaching
Live Coaching in 3 Diverse Markets:
6 easy-to-complete tools that lead you to finding your unique Checkmate Voice, as well as the Tools “Personal Trainer” (step by step instructions to complete the tools)
The most powerful and overlooked ad writing technique is what I call “voice” – the way your prospect hears your ad in their head as they view it. The 6 Checkmate Tools allow you to put an attractive and unique voice into a 4 line pay per click ad that speaks directly to your customer. It cuts through the clutter of the page and makes your ad stand out like new white shoelaces under black light.
Bonus: The 7 Levels of Persuasion
There are 7 levels of persuasion that marketers use to convince prospects to buy. The 3 highest and most powerful levels are rarely used, and used correctly even less often. Discover them in this bonus recording.
Usually, when you read that line in a sales letter, you know you’re about to be subjected to a “value build” – where I tell you how much every component is worth (usually ending up with a total of $24,875 or some such number) and then reveal the actual price to be many orders of magnitude lower (only $3997!).
I’ve done that in sales letters. It works pretty well, too. But not today.
Inspired by my friend Tad Hargrave of Marketing for Hippies, I’m actually serious when I ask how much you would pay. Because when you give me your answer, I’ll respond by saying, “OK, it’s a deal.”
Checkmate, the home study course, has sold for $467 or $497, depending on whether you wanted all the goodies.
As an experiment, I’m offering a sliding scale on price designed to make price a non-issue.
You can pay any of the following amounts and get the entire digital Checkmate course (eliminating the production and mailing of a manual and CDs allows me to offer a full range of pricing options):
$37 $97 $177 $247 $497
It really makes no difference to me which one you choose. You have to pay something to complete the energetic exchange, but the amount is up to you. After all, different people have different abilities to pay, and depending on what sort of business you have and what level of AdWords you’re playing at, the information in Checkmate will have different value to you.
And of course, whatever you pay, if you aren’t happy with the product, you get a full refund (of the amount you paid, not any other amount ;)
This offer feels very good to me. I hope it feels accessible and risk-free and good to you to.
Were you wondering about a catch? I mention it in the video above, but I’ll spell it out here.
I believe that once you discover and begin implementing Checkmate, you’ll want to experience it in a group setting, with my guidance. So within the next two months I’ll be letting you know about a Virtual Camp Checkmate (that will also be offered on a sliding scale).
You’re much more likely to join an interactive Checkmate group if you own and use the Checkmate home study course. So that’s my hidden agenda. (Oops, not hidden anymore.)
(In my best car commercial announcer voice) You must act now to get this incredible deal. Quantities are limited.
What? No they’re not!
But you do have to make up your mind relatively soon. As I said, this is an experiment. I reserve the right to stop it at any time if it doesn’t feel right.
And as an added incentive for quick action, I’ll hold a bonus webinar on November 30 for everyone who’s signed up by then. The topic: The Magic Shortcut Called “Last Ad Standing.” (I’ll share a Checkmate shortcut that you can use to write great ads when you don’t have time to do full Checkmate.)
Ready to get started?
Click the amount you feel comfortable paying to head to the checkout page.
| $37 |  |
| $97 | |
| $177 | |
| $247 | |
| $497 | |
Want to read more? Here’s the original Checkmate sales letter – but come back here to order if you don’t want to pay full price.
This post was originally published in Fast Company. Not that I’m bragging. Much.
The van driver rolled down his window and called me over. “I’m sorry I didn’t pick you up earlier–the ladies in the back wouldn’t let me.”
“That’s OK. I wouldn’t pick me up, either.” The ladies smiling, grateful to be let off the hook.
“No, I hate to pass by without helping, since I did so much hiking in my day.”
Here in South Africa, my family and I are getting used to relying on the kindness of strangers. With no car (yet), no contacts, and frequently no clue, we’ve gone from reluctantly accepting assistance to actively sticking our thumbs out, soliciting it.
Particularly when it comes to transportation. We’re about two miles up a mountain from the nearest mini-mart, and three-hour shopping trips for a cartoon of eggs, two onions, and a Cadbury Turkish Delight are getting old.
So I’ve taken to thumbing it as soon as I hear the infrequent rumble of a vehicle engine behind me. And in so doing, I’ve discovered a few things about human nature that make me a smarter marketer.
Cliffhanger? Keep reading…
This article was originally published in Fast Company.
Last Wednesday morning my 12-year-old son and I accidentally climbed a nearby mountain called Sunset Peak. Elan and I meant only to walk up a little way, scouting the thing out for a possible climb on Saturday. But two hours later, we were at the top, thirsty, out of breath, and delighted. What happened? Why did we abandon our plan of a short leisurely stroll in favor of a hard and demanding hike?
Cliffhanger? Keep reading…
Do you have too much time and not enough to do?
If so, you can stop reading this post right now. I don’t wanna hear about it ;)
If, on the other hand, you’re as overwhelmed as the rest of us, you’ve got to listen to this.
My good friend, former boss, and current cahoots-er Peter Bregman has just written a fantastic book about how to get things done.
And if you’re wondering, it’s not like the other time management / productivity books out there. This is a system that doesn’t require you to adopt an entirely new set of habits, buy fancy software or filing equipment, or spend all day managing your time. Peter’s book is called 18 Minutes because that’s your entire time investment per day – 18 minutes that can buy back at least three hours of productivity each day (at least in my experience).
Peter didn’t write the book as a professional time management guru. Instead, he was frustrated by his own tendencies to get distracted, to focus on the minutiae, and to let day after day get away from him. He started exploring, experimenting, and keeping track of results. The end result was a system that worked so well for him that he began sharing it with his friends and colleagues and clients, who began sharing it with their friends, colleagues and clients. The book is just the outcome of this viral spiral of common sense and uncommon wisdom.
Listen as Peter and I chat about how he came to write 18 Minutes, what he sees as the shortcomings of most other time management systems, and how to implement 18 Minutes in your own life. You can click the Play button below to listen online or click here to download the mp3 for later.
Join Peter’s email list to get access to the 6 Boxes tool and the 18 Minutes Daily template that we talked about in the interview. Just look for the “Stay in the Know” section below Peter’s headshot.
What do you think? Brilliant? Crazy? Eh? I love feedback of all kinds. Join the conversation – please share your thoughts in the Comments box below.
Howie Jacobson, PhD., is the author of Google AdWords For Dummies, available on every continent (except Antarctica) wherever fine books, overpriced brownies and cheesy calendars are sold.