Standing Out From the Sea of “Me-Too” Competitors Online

Issue #2218

• WEALTHY: Before you invest in ETFs, know this… (Rick Pendergraft)
• HEALTHY: 5 ways to beat shoulder pain (Dr. Bill Stillwell)
• WISE: Geoffrey Bock in Internet marketing

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

• How to break out of the "same-old, same-old" mode (Yanik Silver)
• The best place for your "click here to buy" button (Will Newman)
• It’s Fun to Know… about increasing realism in video games
• Add "slaver" to your vocabulary

== Highly Recommended ==

“The Broke, Lazy Man’s Way to Quick and Easy Internet Riches…”

Today, it seems there’s no shortage of ways to make money online. Problem is, some of these programs can be pretty complicated.

I hate complicated… I like quick and easy.

Well, right now… this very minute… there are 3 people in the world using an almost secret method that is just raking in the dough, day in and day out.

They’ve allowed us to take a peek, and we’re gonna spill the beans on what we saw.

For example, how one fellow took $10 and turned into a $500,000 empire.

This method is so simple and so effective, it’s almost scary.

Click here to read on…

- Patrick Coffey

Not All ETFs Are Created Equal 

By Rick Pendergraft 

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are the hottest thing to come down Wall Street in quite some time. In the last two years, the number of ETFs has practically exploded. There are now over 350 ETFs for investors to choose from.
 
ETFs offer a lot of advantages over mutual funds and stocks. But there are some issues that investors should be aware of before investing in them. The first and most important is whether or not the ETF is weighted. What "weighted" means is that the ETF’s portfolio is concentrated on two or three stocks rather than being spread across 10 or 15 stocks. 

Some ETF families are more prone to heavier weighting than others - the HOLDRs Trust group of funds, for example. On the other hand, the iShares group of funds tends not to be so heavily weighted. 

The following table shows the Biotech HOLDRs Trust and the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Fund and their top 10 holdings. As you can see, the BBH is heavily weighted in three stocks (Amgen, Genentech, and Gilead Sciences). These three stocks represent 74 percent of its value. Meanwhile, Amgen is the only stock in the IBB that represents more than 10 percent of the value of the fund. 

Sometimes, you do want the heavier weighting. Let’s say you are bullish on the biotech sector as a whole, but particularly bullish on AMGN, DNA, and GILD. In this case, you’d be better off buying the BBH. But if you are bullish on the sector as a whole but not so fond of those three companies, you would be better off with the IBB. 

Fact is, it doesn’t matter whether you prefer a disproportionately weighted fund or a more equally weighted fund. Just remember that all ETFs are not created equal. You should always know what you are getting into before investing your money.

[Ed. Note: Rick Pendergraft, a two-time winner of the "Top Trader" award at Schaeffer’s Investment Research, is a contributor to ETR’s free e-zine, Investor’s Daily Edge. Learn how to protect your portfolio and multiply your money - in any market - by clicking here.]

 "The question last Christmas was, if you put up a website will people come? And sure enough they came…. Now we’re in a post-revolutionary environment. Retailers in cyberspace are going to work very hard to differentiate themselves."

Geoffrey Bock

Standing Out From the Sea of "Me-Too" Competitors Online

By Yanik Silver

Nearly everyone I talk to wants to know the big "secret" to success online. They want the next Internet marketing tactic, strategy, or quick fix. But that’s usually not the critical factor.

I’ve found tremendous success by putting a "spin" on successful models. In fact, I find it better to work with two or three successful models and pull them together. If your product/service is simply a "me-too," there is no point in being in the marketplace. You have to bring some point of differentiation to the table. (And it definitely cannot be just price.)

When I created Instant Sales Letters in 2000, there were all kinds of other sales letter templates out there. But there was nothing that really let you "cut and paste" to create a sales letter easily. People would rather be handed the fish than taught how to fish - which is why I’m a firm believer in giving them the "fish" anytime I can. That’s what I did with this product to differentiate it from similar products already available.

Another example is my Apprentice Program. (Yes, well before Trump’s!) There were a whole lot of mentor/protege programs floating around - but, once again, I decided if I was going to do one, I’d do it in a way that differentiated it from all the others. I wanted to keep the numbers small and personal. I wanted to have a big impact on the apprentices I accepted, and get people to take action or rise to new levels if they were already successful.

The big twist was that I’d give my apprentices one of my ideas out of my idea journal, and they’d be allowed to promote (if appropriate) to my list and my affiliate list. We’d jointly share in the profits, with them keeping 78 percent and me getting 12 percent of the gross sales. This program was so good it was overbooked almost immediately.

One more example is my "Underground Online Seminars." (UndergroundOnlineSeminar.com)

There are more than enough Internet seminars going on all over the place. Some good. Some not so good. It’s tough to create a stir - which is why I didn’t want to do another "same-old" Internet seminar.

My hook was to bring in "underground" and unknown speakers who were really making it online. I took that "underground" unique selling proposition (USP) all the way, even making my promotions "spy" themed to stand out. Sure, some people e-mailed us and said it was silly. But a lot more people got into it because it was so different. And it worked! The first two Underground Online Seminars were completely sold out weeks before the events took place.

So your job is to make your product/service stand out and give people a reason (hopefully a big one) to buy from you. One logical way of doing this is to make a spreadsheet of what every competitor is offering and how they are positioned in the marketplace. Look for their offers, their headlines, their pricing, their guarantees, their USPs, etc. Then decide where you can leverage a point of differentiation.

This gives you a precise way to find "gaps" in your competitors’ marketing efforts. And the bigger the gap or the more you can show people how your offer is different, the better you’ll do.

It’s easy to be another "me-too." But why would a customer buy from you if there are multiple companies offering the same benefits?

Frankly, there aren’t many niches where nobody is selling anything. And if you do find such a niche, that’s probably an indication there’s not much of a market there. In most cases, you’re going to find competitors - and that’s a good thing. It means there’s money to be made by selling something similar.

The challenge is to make your product or service different and unique. Here’s a quick summary of how to do that:

1. Become first at something in a proven market. This is easier said than done, but still possible. Obviously, you couldn’t be the first site to sell flowers online - but as BestTropicals.com, you could be the first to sell Hawaiian flowers exclusively.
2. Take several successful business models and products/services, and combine them. This is one of my favorite methods.
3. Take an existing successful product/service and add a twist to it. My Apprentice Program is a good example of that.
4. Give it a new name. I’ve done this many times with products I’ve licensed that have seen better days.
5. Change the location. If you see a successful business model, it can typically be transferred to another location, format, etc. A good example of this is the way Steve Pankhurst developed friendsreunited.co.uk. He saw a site in the U.S. that was doing very well by making it possible for people to track down friends, etc. (probably Classmates.com) - and he couldn’t believe they hadn’t expanded the service to the UK or beyond. So that’s what he did. Since its launch in 1999, Friends Reunited has become one of the most popular websites on the Internet, attracting over 19 million members.

Don’t think every great idea or website has already been created or done. That’s the attitude of losers! Today, you’ve got even more opportunities, because the Internet has become an established commerce model and more and more people are comfortable making purchases online. This truly is the best time in the world to start or grow your online business.

[Ed. Note: Yanik Silver, an expert on creating money-making websites, reveals one of the most profitable "hidden" Internet income opportunities around in the Secrets of Easy Internet Money teleconference series. Check out his simple, fill-in-the-blanks sales letter designed to sell any product or service here.]

== Highly Recommended ==

Are You Too Busy Chasing the Markets to Make Any Real Money?

Why spend hours upon hours chasing the “next hot stock” when you can buy just one ETF each month and beat the market by 50%?

Chasing the market and buying and selling on a whim isn’t investing. It’s gambling. Besides, there is a far more lucrative way to make double-digit gains month after month. Want to get rich the lazy investor’s way? Click here to find out how!

On the Web - Make Responding Easy… but Test!

By Will Newman

When you’re setting up a website, the best place to put your "Click Here to Buy" button (the link to your order page) is not necessarily just at the end of your sales copy. Though that may be your first impulse, there are some specific times when it makes sense to sprinkle the "Order Now" buttons throughout the copy.

Agora, AWAI, and other Web marketers have tested this extensively. They’ve found that order buttons at the bottom of the copy do better than buttons scattered throughout… for acquisition pieces (where the prospect does not know the company or its products).

But for backend pieces - copy that is selling products to prospects who know the company - multiple order buttons can be very effective.

For this type of copy, consider putting the first response button shortly after you’ve introduced the name of your product. Then add response buttons throughout the rest of the copy. Not so many that they’re distracting, but enough to make it easy for your prospect to buy.

My experience has been primarily with a company that was targeting "opt-in" lists (people who had chosen to receive e-mails that brought them to the website). In this case, the multiple order buttons pulled good results.

However, one group of prospects that didn’t know the company also responded well to the multiple order buttons. They had gotten to the website through links from other sites.

These were, essentially, acquisition prospects - so why did this strategy work with them?

Who knows? But the inconsistency brings up a most important point: It’s easy to change Web copy - and inexpensive. So when in doubt… TEST!

[Ed. Note: Will Newman is the editor of AWAI’s The Golden Thread online newsletter - a free weekly alert loaded with writing and marketing secrets, tips, and insights.]

How to Treat a Painful Shoulder

By Dr. Bill Stillwell

Shoulder pain is one of the most vexing orthopaedic problems. That’s because the shoulder is involved in many, if not most, upper-extremity functions.

Whether you’ve bruised it or abused it, a shoulder injury can be really painful and disabling. After the initial acute period, you have to get it moving. But first, you need to let it rest - and that’s not so easy.

Here’s what I recommend:

1. Place the arm in a shoulder immobilizer, and keep it there. This is more than just a sling, which provides upward support. It also has a strap that wraps around your body to prevent rotational movements. If all you have is a simple sling, wrap an elastic bandage round your arm and sling to do the same thing.
2. Apply ice or a cold pack - 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off. If the pain is chronic (over 48 hours since the onset), try moist heat for 20 minutes, 4-6 times a day.
3. See your doctor, as soon as you can. A painful shoulder can be caused by many things. You need a thorough evaluation, including x-rays, to know its source. Your doctor can also prescribe anti-inflammatory medications, which will help reduce local inflammation and pain.
4. Sleep in the shoulder immobilizer, but with a pillow, placed lengthwise, beneath your shoulder, arm, and elbow. This will support the shoulder and prevent stretching of the tender tissues. It will also discourage you from rolling onto the painful joint during sleep.
5. Be a patient patient. These injuries take time to heal, but need a balance between rest and exercise once the initial pain is resolved. That’s another good reason to consult your doctor.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Bill is William Thomas Stillwell, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at SUNY, Stony Brook. He is CEO of Dr. Bill’s Clinic Inc.,and author of How to Eliminiate Knee Pain - Once & for All!]

It’s Fun to Know: Should Video Games Be This Realistic?

You have thousands of better things to do than parking yourself in front of the TV or playing video games for hours. (Developing a financially valuable skill, for example, or putting in extra time to get ahead at work.)

That said, check out this example of the extremes hardcore gamers will go to: A company has modified a vest to deliver blasts of pressure to the wearer to simulate being shot or experiencing G-forces in flight-simulator games. (The vest was originally designed to allow doctors to examine patients remotely.) Government approval is pending.

(Source: Popular Science)

== Highly Recommended ==

Put Thousands of Extra Dollars Into Your Bank Account Every Month

21 percent of adults surveyed said a lottery would be the most practical strategy for accumulating several hundred thousand dollars, according to a recent survey of about 1,000 Americans by Opinion Research Corporation.

Don’t fritter away your life away waiting to win the lottery. It ain’t gonna happen.

If you’d like a much more reliable new source of income - a way to put thousands or even tens of thousands of extra dollars into your bank account every month, we’ve found a formula that has worked over and over again.

If you’d like to spend the rest of your life the way you deserve to, you owe it to yourself to look into this opportunity.

- Patrick Coffey

Word to the Wise: Slaver

To "slaver" (SLAV-ur) is to slobber or drool. The word is probably of Scandinavian origin.

Example (as used by Meera Syal in Anita and Me): "Two ancient, lopsided wooden signs declared NO TRESPASSERS! and BEWARE OF GUARD DOGS! The latter featured a slavering Doberman frothing at the mouth."

[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker … build your self-confidence and intellect … increase your attractiveness to others … just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR’s new Words to the Wise CD Library.]

Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2007