Early in 2007 Brad Fallon launched FreeIQ.com as the ‘marketplace for ideas.’ It was supposed to be the YouTube for information marketers – where you could, among other things, upload, show and monetize your videos.

It hasn’t been quite two years since the launch of FreeIQ, but if Google Trends for Websites is any indication… the site has never really taken off.

There could be a number of reasons for FreeIQ’s less than stellar performance. Perhaps the service has never lived up to its promise… perhaps there were some technical difficulties that hindered initial uptake… perhaps its selling proposition is unclear…

Who knows? I have no clue, as I’ve never used it. Then again, perhaps that itself IS a clue…

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Many Internet marketing ‘gurus’ and would-be gurus advocate automating as much of your business as possible. The idea - with which I agree - is to reduce the time it takes to accomplish various tasks whilst freeing you up to spend your time on activities where you can deliver the most value.

You can, however, automate some things too much, and customer service is one of those things. Actually, I would argue that good customer service is NOT, by definition, automated.

You tell me - if someone has a problem and they’re required to visit a specific website, register at a support center, log a support ticket, and then wait a day or longer for a response… is that really ‘good’ customer service?

It may be efficient. It may be effective. It may be the only manageable type of customer service you can deliver based on your current time constraints and limited resources. It may also be acceptable to your customers. But let’s not deceive ourselves into thinking it’s ‘good’.

Contrary to much of what I see advocated in Internet marketing circles, good customer service:

• is NOT entirely automated
• does NOT make it difficult for customers to contact your business
• does NOT make customers wait for over 24 hours to get a response
• is NOT the same thing as upselling
• IS about them, not you
• IS proactive
• IS responsive
• DOES take the burden off the customer’s shoulders
• DOES give the customers the answers they seek
• DOES deliver powerful insights and feedback
• DOES turn customers into evangelists

So while a support ticket system may well be appropriate for your business right now, consider raising your standards for when your business grows. At the very least, aim to offer ‘good’ customer service by having someone dedicated to speaking with, or emailing, customers when they call or email you with a problem.

Then again, you may wish to upgrade your customer service for another good reason. I’ll explain why tomorrow…

Following on from yesterdays Feature Article, let’s discuss five (5) ways you can build barriers to entry in your niche business.

1. Deliver quality - always strive to be better than everyone else.
2. Be unique - provide something that’s original and different.
3. Build a brand - build a strong connection between your name or your company’s name, your unique selling proposition (USP), and your products / services. Ultimately, you want people to think “valuable, quality products/services” whenever they think of you.
4. Integrate yourself personally into your brand - be recognizable as the person behind the brand. No one else can be you.
5. Protect your brand and business. Make sure you have the financial and legal resources to protect your brand and business. That means registering trade marks, etc and not hesitating if you see someone ripping you off. We were ripped off by two big companies a few years ago… but we didn’t have the $ to go after them. We suffered as a result.

Now, you can certainly take and benefit from these steps if you sell your own infoproducts… But what if your business is based on Adsense revenue or Affiliate marketing?

Let’s take each one in turn:

1. Adsense

If you churn out Adsense sites like everyone else… you’re vulnerable. Now, if you create 100s of these sites then sure, you may be able to make a significant amount of total revenue without getting a lot of competitors competing in ALL the same markets as you. Lots of eggs in lots of baskets, in other words. But any one Adsense site is at risk…

Unless, you don’t think of it as an “Adsense” site and position it as a “media” site. In other words, you think of the site like any reputable magazine/newspaper site. You provide quality, unique content, build a brand around providing that content, and sell advertising space (whether Adsense or otherwise) in order to generate revenue.

2. Affiliate

If all you do is put up the same sales letter webpages as all the other affiliates… then you’re not building a sustainable business. Instead of thinking of yourself as an “affiliate” position yourself as a “value added reseller”. Sure, sell other people’s products, but add value so that you in turn, can deliver quality, unique value, build a brand, and so on.

Of course, none of this means that you or any “guru” has to tell everyone everything you’re doing! You’ll naturally want to keep your most powerful strategies and techniques secret (unless you are paid megabucks to reveal them). This is because they are part of your competitive advantage and thereby contribute to your barriers to entry.

However, you should be able to tell people what business(es) you’re in without fear (and maybe benefit from the promotion)… (If you want to!)

Have you noticed that some Internet Marketing “gurus” are rather coy when it comes to revealing their non-IM business activities?

They’ll freely tell us about the effectiveness of various strategies and tactics… and they’ll tell us that they get much if not “most” of their money from non-IM niches… but they will not give us actual examples of how they’re using these strategies or tactics in their non-IM businesses…

So why are they so secretive? Why are they so “afraid” of us coming into their niche and competing with them?

Now, I’m NOT talking about keeping specific strategies secret, or keeping secret about a business that hasn’t been launched yet… I’m talking about keeping secret about an operational, profitable business.

I mean, in just about every industry, a successful business person will proudly tell you what business(es) they’re in. It’s no secret how people like Bill Gates or Richard Branson made their billions…

So why are these so-called successful IMers so afraid of telling us what business(es) they’re in?

(Remember, I’m not talking about all successful IMers - just some).

Well, here’s one big reason… and it’s NOT because they’re not actually running any non-IM businesses (I’m going to assume the best here).

This reason is also the reason why YOUR business is vulnerable, if you don’t do anything about it.

And it can be summed up in 4 words:

LOW BARRIERS TO ENTRY

Yes, the best thing about running an Internet business is also the worst thing - it’s relatively easy and inexpensive for anyone to compete in any market.

Compared to most off-line businesses, it’s easy to become an affiliate, to set up an Adsense site or to sell your own infoproducts. You don’t have to do everything yourself - there are plenty of resources and people to help. And the costs of establishing a website and marketing on the Net are also a fraction of those for an off-line business.

That means your competitors can do the same!

So, of course, it’s understandable to keep tight-lipped about your business!

But keeping secret does nothing to help you when the competition eventually finds you… after all, we all have access to keyword tools.

So what do you to build barriers to entry? There are at least five (5) ways to do so. I’ll explain them in the next issue of Kikabink News.

Did you listen to Rich Schefren’s teleseminar yesterday? If so, you and 6,999 others!

Rich Schefren may have been shocked at how popular his free teleseminar was, but perhaps it’s not all that surprising, given the ‘firepower’ behind the call. Several major players in the Internet marketing niche not only promoted, but also participated in the call. Namely:

• Yaro Starak
• Joel Comm
• Michael Cheney
• Tellman Knudson
• Mike Filsaime
• Willie Crawford
• Brad Fallon
• Frank Kern
• John Carlton
• Jeff Walker
• Liz Thompson
• Kevin Hogan

Rich Schefren opened the call by explaining that an entrepreneur’s success was NOT based on their knowledge, talents, assets, and so on.

These indicate a person’s potential, not their success. In fact, an entrepreneur’s success is based on their major constraint and the extent to which they overcome this.

In basic terms - just as you are only as strong as your weakest part, so too, your business (and you) are only as successful as your biggest roadblock.

Schefren then asked each of his guests what they believed had been the biggest constraints in their business careers to date, how they had overcome them, and what were the results.

There were some interesting answers given. Not all as obvious as you might think, but many which we could all probably identify with.

If you didn’t manage to get on the call, click here to sign up for the replay:

==> Click Here To Listen To The Replay Of Rich Schefren’s Teleseminar

Next week Rich plans to release a new, free report on par with his highly regarded ‘Internet Marketing Manifesto’. After that he’s planning a major product launch.

I can’t give too much away, but as an affiliate for this launch, I can tell you that Rich’s company, Strategic Profits, is expecting this to be the biggest launch in 2008… and possibly in Internet marketing history.

Now that’s a big call (forgive the pun).

In any case, devouring the free content and taking notes is a great education in itself, and this call with Rich Schefren is no exception:

==> Click Here To Listen To The Replay Of Rich Schefren’s Teleseminar

The 3rd critical skill you need for a thriving Internet business is unique to the online world.

Strangely enough, many Internet Marketing “gurus” brush over this skill as if it’s not important. Indeed, many of them emphasize that it’s a skill you DON’T need.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Possessing this skill can make all the difference in the world to how you generate traffic to your website… and even more importantly the extent to which you convert that traffic into optin subscribers or customers.

It is: website design.

Now before you insist that you, as the business owner or marketing manager, needn’t know a thing about website design, let me say this:

You don’t necessarily need to know how to construct a webpage… but you do need to know how one should be constructed in order to maximize conversions.

How else will you know to fire that “creative” website designer who is more concerned about a website that looks good… and to hire someone (like us) who knows how to design a webpage that SELLS?

How else will you know that one color scheme and layout is far more likely to convert traffic into customers than another?

How else will you know that the strategic placement of graphics, optin boxes, buttons and logos makes all the difference to your conversions?

Believe me, being skilled in website design - or atleast being skilled in knowing how websites should be designed - is ESSENTIAL.

I firmly believe that one of the best ways to learn is from other people’s mistakes… oh yeah, their successes too! That’s why I’m a big fan of ongoing education - continuing to actively seek knowledge, tools and skills you can use to enhance your business and life.

Part of that is finding one or more “gurus” (as in “teachers”) to learn from. But when it comes to gurus, it’s important to be selective. Why? Because, in my experience:

1. Only a few “gurus” are legitimate teachers with something of real value to offer. There are many self-proclaimed gurus who having nothing particularly original, innovative or powerful to add. Put it this way - if you went to the business section of your local bookstore and burned all but a handful of books, neither the world nor you would be worse off. Most of these authors regurgitate stuff that that only a few “thought leaders” - people like Jim Collins, Tom Peters, Steven Covey and Michael Gerber - have already covered. And don’t get me started on the Internet marketing “gurus” - in this niche the number of copy-cat, bandwagon jumpers is even more staggering.
2. When you do manage to find a handful of gurus worth listening to, you may find that while they share some viewpoints, they differ on certain details. If these particular details matter to you, it’s time to focus only on those gurus who you can relate to, and, for the most part, ignore the rest. Or ignore them as far as their differing views are concerned. Otherwise, if you’re continuing to listen to conflicting views, you’ll struggle to find the best path for you. Even worse you may end up doing nothing.
3. There’s only so much time in the day - and life in general - to put what one guru advises into practice, let alone what a few suggest. They all have their systems and exercises for you to do. Pick one or two and follow what they say. And then apply what you’ve learned by getting back to work!

Personally, I recommend being open-minded, whilst also retaining a healthy level of skepticism, when it comes to anyone or who proclaims to have the answers about what it takes to succeed in business or otherwise. Let them prove you right or wrong, as the case may be.