Jason Calacanis, founder and CEO of the ‘human powered search engine’ Mahalo.com has posted another insightful article. This time he deconstructs the recent launch of Mahalo Answers (a must-see for anyone who sells information or services).

If you’ve been involved in the Internet marketing niche for very long, you’ll be familiar with Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula approach to launching products and services. Now let’s open our minds to how a hot Web 2.0 company does it…

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Courtesy of the folks at TechCrunch who look out for these things, here are a couple of nifty web services to help you when you encounter a site that’s down and want to know when it’s up again:

• NotifyMeWhenIt’sUp.com; and
• DingIt’sUp.com

In either case you just type in the website URL and your email address, and you’ll receive an email when the site is up again. So now you know what to do if when a server crashes during a big product launch!

Source: Robin Wauters, “Get Notified When Your Favorite Website Is Not Down Anymore”, TechCrunch, November 28, 2008

Yesterday I received a rather strange email. It was from someone who’d seen a comment I’d made on Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula blog a couple of years ago. The sender mentioned that he’d seen my comment and asked me to tell him the amount of sales we’d made from our product launch at the time.

Although I’d written that comment – and launched the product in question – in 2006 (I think), the product launch went well and I still recall the results we achieved. Moreover, since it was a simple question my first instinct was to reply with the answer. (There’s a psychological/marketing lesson in this… be sure to read my comment at the end of this article.)

But then it occurred to me that… I don’t even know this person! Here they are – a complete stranger – sending me an email asking me to tell them about my company’s financial results.

Now the story might be different if I went around crowing about how much money we made from the launch in question and someone was asking me to clarify or confirm my claims. (Although, even then, I might want to know WHO I was giving this information to!). But in this case I didn’t do anything of the sort.

I don’t know about you, but I was raised to believe that it was RUDE to ask people how much they earned.

Obviously, those in the Internet marketing and money-making niches have no problem telling all and sundry about how much money they supposedly make. In fact, they do so specifically to help sell their products. Such marketers are, in my opinion, fair game for questions asking for clarification – or proof of – their claims.

But since when was it okay to send people you don’t even know (and who do NOT make sales or earnings claims) how much money they make? Isn’t that just plain rude? Or has the Internet - or Internet marketing - created an environment where good manners no longer matters?

Okay, here’s the psychological/marketing lesson: if you ask someone a question, their first instinct is to think of the answer. Their second instinct is to tell you the answer. Hmmm… how can you use this in your marketing?

Okay, I admit it. I’m a cliche.

I grew up wanting to be a novelist… and a rock star. I’ve written several unfinished screenplays… I have the first draft of a novel sitting at the bottom of my desk drawer…

And when I started my Internet business with my husband in 1997 what I *really* wanted to do was to create an entertainment website!

(Actually, if you want a laugh, check out the initial incarnations of Weeworld.com at Archive.org. You can’t view much now - a lot of it was in the form of Flash movies – but there is still some sufficiently embarrassing content there…)

Fortunately, I am pursuing my no.1 passion now (business) so I don’t harbor any regrets. But as a marketer I’d be foolish not to see how entertainment is integral to many aspects of marketing (e.g. major product launches), products (e.g. DVDs) and events (e.g. seminars).

I’m guessing you also see the parallels which is why Todd Krieger’s recent article about ’social shows’ is a timely food for thought. In the article, Todd discusses the rise of social entertainment company Eqal and what it regards as the ingredients of a successful social show. The ingredients are as follows:

• Two-way initial distribution of the video content.
• Multimedia storytelling i.e. not just in the form of video, but also via Twitter, photos, messages, chat rooms, etc.
• Interactivity between the show and the community.
• A social community site as the show’s hub.

Hmmm… sounds like the right ingredients for a product launch… or a membership site… or many other kinds of products and marketing initiatives…

Today at 12 noon EST, Rich Schefren will release his latest report on the state of Internet marketing - ‘The Uncertainty Syndrome’ report.

If The Uncertainty Syndrome report lives up to the hype - and there’s been a LOT of hype (just check out the video on this page) - it should be a ripper of a read. And hopefully Rich Schefren will share a nugget or two… or three or four… or more… that we can directly apply in our Internet marketing businesses.

Make no mistake - The Uncertainty Syndrome is a precursor to another big product launch. Rich Schefren plans to introduce a brand new coaching program next week. But, unless I am sorely mistaken, the program will likely be cost-prohibitive for many people, so the free report may be the next best thing from Rich Schefren you can lay your hands on.

I think Rich knows his stuff - he is not only a ‘big picture’ thinker, but he is a keen strategist and tactician as well. I was mightily impressed with his previous reports and also had the pleasure of seeing him present at conference here in Australia last year.

As such, I’m an enthusiastic affiliate for the launch. So you’ve been warned! Having said that, I’ll be publishing an objective review - or as close to an objective review as is possible - of Rich’s report either tomorrow or Friday. Look out for it then.

In the meantime, sign up to get The Uncertainty Syndrome report as soon as it’s released by clicking here:

==> Click here to sign up for your free copy of The Uncertainty Syndrome

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

Anyone wonder why Google launched its new browser, Chrome, by leaking a comic book to an influential blogger?

Now, let’s not kid ourselves. What works for Google may NOT work for us. I might send a comic book about my new product to some blogger I know… but chances are it won’t be covered by just about every news outlet on the planet within 24 hours of release! Still, there are lessons to be drawn from the launch of Chrome that we might consider applying in our own marketing…

First of all, I should point out that Google didn’t quite mean to launch Chrome when it did. Writing in the Official Google Blog, Suncar Pichai said that Google “hit ’send’ a bit early” when it sent its comic book to blogger, Philipp Lenssen. Nevertheless, Google’s strategy all along appears to have been to send the comic book to Mr Lenssen, who runs Google Blogoscoped, a blog that has covered Google product launches since 2003.

Lesson #1: tell influential fans – ideally bloggers with nearly 50,000 unique visitors per day (which is what Blogoscoped gets according to Google Trends) – about your upcoming product launch. They will spread the word on your behalf and their ‘independence’ will give your launch greater intrigue and credibility.

Secondly, Google refrained from using some kind of flashy, multimedia presentation to introduce Chrome in favor of a comic book. Not just any comic book. One written and illustrated by Scott McCloud, the creator of ‘Making Comics’, ‘Reinventing Comics’ and the critically acclaimed ‘Understanding Comics’. Google was apparently attracted to Mr McCloud for his talent in using comics to explain technical content to non-technical readers.

Lesson #2: consider the humble comic book as a medium to explain complex ideas. Not convinced? As Mr McCloud points out in The New York Times: a comic is what tells us what to do in an airplane emergency.

Surely another attraction of using a comic book to explain Chrome was the novelty, contrariness and simplicity of doing so. Google seems to have this uncanny ability to zig when everyone else is zagging… but at the same time has always been about simplifying complexity. So while a comic book launch is rather different… it’s also very Google. Apparently Google is run by engineers, but I reckon their marketing is brilliant.

Lesson #3: be different – stand out from the crowd – whilst also staying true to your values.

Having said all this… did you actually read that comic? Or did you just go ahead and download Chrome? (Or did you ignore the hoopla altogether?)

Source: Sundar Pichai , “A Fresh Take On The Browser”, The Official Google Blog, September 1, 2008, Philipp Lenssen, “Google Chrome, Google’s Browser Project”, Google Blogoscoped, September 1, 2008, George Gene Gustines, “Archie and Jughead? No, Javascript”, The New York Times, September 7, 2008

Today it’s my privilege to share the steps Fabian Tan of Explosive Traffic System.com has used to build his list to over 19,000 subscribers in just 16 months… WITHOUT a major product launch or any joint ventures with major list owners.

According to Fabian, list building is his obsession and he’s spent countless hours poring over list building reports, traffic blueprints, and training videos. Better yet, he’s distilled what he’s learned into 10 steps that have consistently worked to bring traffic to his websites and build his lists.

Here are Fabian’s 10 steps:

Step 1 - Write and submit articles to article directories. I’m not talking the occasional article though. Fabian has 2,469 articles on EzineArticles.com alone!

Step 2 - Participate in highly trafficked forums in your niche(s). Create a signature file promoting your site and regularly post helpful content.

Step 3 - Contribute products to giveaway promotions. According to Fabian, this is an ultra-fast way to build a list.

Step 4 - Use the co-registration service offered by Get Subscribers.com to funnel leads straight into your autoresponder account.

Step 5 - Run a Google AdWords campaigns to attract traffic to your optin pages.

Step 6 - Run classified ads on Craigslist, eBay Classifieds, US Free Ads and Yahoo Classifieds.

Step 7 - Purchase the List Joe premium account. This enables you to blast an ad out to 3,000 subscribers every 3 days. Fabian says this is a great list builder.

Step 8 - Get in touch with potential joint venture (JV) partners and arrange a solo email swap. Your JV partners will send an email to their lists promoting your opt-in page, while you promote theirs to your list. Fabian reckons this is the fastest strategy to build a targeted, responsive list.

Step 9 - Create a blog at Wordpress or Blogger and post new content daily. Be sure to ping your new posts at Pingomatic to get instant search engine recognition.

Step 10 - Buy some ezine ads. Join the Directory Of Ezines and search for ezines that are related to your market. Continue to advertise in those ezines that continue to cost-effectively deliver subscribers.

What does Fabian say are his very best list builders? Co-registration (GetSubscribers.com), joint ventures and participating in giveaways. The latter two are more one-shot bursts of huge traffic, while co-registration is more of an ongoing, continual process.