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Playstation
3 Has Been Played Out
By
Charles Delvalle
In
a recent issue of ETR's Investor's
Daily Edge newsletter (formerly Money
Insight), I wrote about Sony's new video game console
- Playstation 3 - and how it's been running into some major
production snags. Well, it appears that Sony's production problems
may be the least of its concerns.
You
see, each Playstation 3 console costs close to $800 to make.
But it costs much less to buy one. This means that Sony absorbs
a $200 to $300 loss every time it sells a PS3. So how does
Sony expect to make money? By selling console licensing rights
to video game developers.
But
a recent BusinessWeek survey shows that many major
game developers are shifting resources away from the new Sony
platform in favor of Nintendo's and Microsoft's latest creations.
One of the largest game developers in the world - EA Games
- is part of that move away. It has demoed only one game for
the PS3, while showing off six new Nintendo titles.
So
avoid Sony if you're looking to cash in on the new video game
cycle. Instead, invest in video game developers that have large
cash reserves and very low debt. Electronic Arts is one that
qualifies.
"McDonald's
begat an industry because a 52-year-old mixer salesman
understood that we don't dine - we eat and run."
-
Time magazine
Super-Search
Me
By
David Cross
In
case you didn't hear about it, AOL released data on the search
queries of over 650,000 of its users, igniting fears that the
queries, though anonymous, included personally identifiable
information. AOL admitted that it was "a screw up," as
reported on the BBC News website.
Anyone
who runs an online business can learn two valuable lessons
from AOL's faux pas. The first lesson is that you should never
violate your clients' privacy, though that may involve performing
a security audit to find any holes in your system. The second
lesson - which you can start benefiting from immediately -
reveals a powerful clue about human behavior when seeking out
information on the Internet.
"The
data file had information on 19 million [search] queries," the
BBC reported, "And included information on what search
terms were used, when the search was conducted, and whether
the user clicked on any of the results."
I
saw the data. The searches in themselves are not very interesting
and do not differ much from what you can find at Google Zeitgeist
(which shows search trends and patterns). And unless you are
a data miner, how would you wade through 19 million search
queries from 650,000 people and make sense of them anyway?
But
what these search queries do show are the footprints
people left when using the Internet - what they were thinking
about at the time and what actions they took. If you look through
some of the data, the pattern that starts to appear is not
what people are searching for but what people
are clicking on ... sometimes going through
to the fourth or fifth page of search results and beyond to
find what they want.
Understanding
what your customers want or desire is the key to being a good
marketer. For only then can you start to fulfill their needs.
Take,
for example, Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's. Kroc understood
that people don't come to McDonald's to dine at leisure but
to grab and go. In fact, I once heard that he coined a "brand
mantra" for McDonald's that he called "The Three
H's": People are Here ... they're Hungry ... and they're
in a Hurry.
We
can apply this perfect understanding of human behavior to Internet
users - especially to people using search engines to find information.
Why
People Say No
Going
back to what we can learn from AOL's recent blunder, what seems
obvious to me is that the links people click on are those that
appear to provide the information most relevant to their specific
search queries. Looking deeper into the data and behavior,
you can see that a person would click a link, only to return
to make the same search query again ... and then click on a
different link in the same set of results.
Why?
Because they're Here, they're Hungry, and they're in a Hurry.
The
Web page a person lands on after following a scent trail from
a search query (the "landing page") must quickly
answer the search query they typed in. By "quickly," I
mean in a few seconds - 10 to 20. And studies confirm this.
Internet users don't read, they scan for information.
They don't dine, they eat and run. And if you don't
provide what they're looking for, they'll bail out and look
elsewhere.
So
... how can you use this information in your own online business?
Given
the extremely limited time you have to capture an information
seeker's attention, here's how to do it:
1. Make
sure that the title of every one of your Web pages describes
- accurately and at a glance - what the page is about. The
title is what appears in search engine results as the blue
underlined text people click on, and it is presented in the
code of the Web page as the TITLE HTML tag.
2. Make
sure the description of the page gives an accurate, short
summary of what the page is about. This will appear underneath
the clickable title link of the page in search engine results.
This is often taken from the DESCRIPTION META tag hidden
in the HTML code of the relevant Web page, though sometimes
it is taken from the first paragraph on the Web page.
3. Your
landing page must be easy for a person to skim-read at a
glance, and it must convey your main idea in a few seconds.
This does not mean that your landing page has to be comprised
of only 15 seconds' worth of text, but you must break it
up into headings, bullet points, and bold text to aid your
reader.
Finally,
try to understand what a person who finds your Web page for
the first time might be thinking or feeling. Using several
search engines, type in keywords related to your products or
services. Look at how your Web pages appear in the search results.
Do they - at a glance - answer your search term and entice
you to follow through? Does your landing page continue where
the search results left off? Does it answer your search query?
Is the information you provide relevant to what a prospective
customer may be looking for?
When
I looked at the AOL search data, it was clear that some links
don't get clicked on. This means that the person doing the
searching thought the clickable title and short descriptive
text were irrelevant to their search term. When a person clicks
through to a Web page only to return to the search engine results,
it means that the Web page they landed on did not provide what
they were looking for.
Short
Copy Is Best, Except When...
Naturally,
there is an exception to every rule. Here's the exception to
this one. You don't eat every meal at McDonald's. And not every
communication is read in haste. If I were to write letters
to my family in the same way as I'm suggesting you should write
a website landing page, it could come across as impersonal.
And
there are times when an e-mail or Web page is best expressed
as fully as possible to convey the message. The typical online
promotional campaigns of all the businesses I consult with,
for example, often run to 10... 15... even 30 pages. This breaks
every guideline I just mentioned, yet they do very well.
How
do I explain the contradiction? Because these companies have
tested short versus long copy, and the results are quite clear.
Both short and long copy have their place.
If
you are selling a high-ticket product or service, you need
to spend time describing the benefits and details as clearly
as possible. So in this case, longer copy generally works better.
(AWAI's copywriting
program is the best way to understand and
get started in this style of "direct-response" marketing.)
You
also need to consider the placement of the text, including
the action you want a person to take, when deciding whether
it should be long or short and whether the "usual" guidelines
on writing for the Web should apply. Generally speaking, people
arriving from search engines aren't inclined to wade through
reams of text. But if the message you wish to convey cannot
be expressed in fewer words, try writing a short introduction
... and then presenting the longer idea. Or try linking through
from a short to a longer article.
Any
good marketer tests ideas and assumptions constantly, always
evaluating the results and refining the approach. The Internet
makes this task much easier.
Today's
Action Plan: Look carefully at your Web pages to
see if they fit the 10-to-15-second rule ... and test my "writing
for the Web" guidelines. Set up a tracking or analytics
program on your website and e-mails. (You can try Google
Analytics for free.) Then ask someone who has never visited
your website to perform a simple task - maybe sign up for
your e-mail newsletter or find a specific piece of information
on the Internet. (Tip: Don't offer any verbal or visual clues.)
If it takes more than 20 seconds for your friend to perform
the task, you need to spend time improving the readability
of the information on your website.
[Ed
Note: Learn more of David Cross's strategies for marketing
your online business at this year's Bootcamp: "Making
a Fast Fortune on the Information Revolution."]
* Highly
Recommended *
An
Exciting Opportunity To Take Advantage Of A Trillion-Dollar
Industry
Of
the many paths to wealth, there is only one that Michael Masterson
most consistently recommends to his closest friends and relatives.
It
has all the advantages you want if you're starting from scratch:
simplicity, privacy, an extremely low entry cost and a huge
and growing potential for wealth building.
What
am I talking about? Michael
himself explains here.
-
Patrick Coffey
One
Cost of "Health" Care You Can Skip
By
Al Sears, MD
Every
month, doctors write over 12 million prescriptions for cholesterol
drugs. That adds up to almost $30 billion spent every year
in the U.S. alone on something that enjoys one of the highest
mark-ups of anything on the planet.
Have
a look at the numbers (as reported in Life Extension magazine):
|
Company
/ Drug
|
Retail
Cost of 100 pills
|
Cost
of Ingredients
|
Profit
|
|
Pfizer
/ Lipitor
|
$272.37
|
$5.80
|
4,696%
|
|
Merck
/ Zocor
|
$350.27
|
$8.60
|
4,072%
|
And
here's what the drug companies really don't want you
to know: You can protect your heart health without paying a
dime.
Here
are just two ways that I mention in my book The
Doctor's Heart Cure:
Simplify
Your Life: The Benefits of Lightness
By
Michael Masterson
With
K's patient help, I spent two hours cleaning out my closet
in our Nicaragua casa. I'd been putting off the job for two
reasons. First, I prefer K's advice about what should go and
what should stay. And second, because getting rid of old clothes
doesn't feel like progress.
But
after unloading about 15 pairs of pants, 30 shirts, and a dozen
pairs of shoes, I have to report: It felt good.
It
felt good to give all those good clothes to other people who
will put them to immediate use. It felt good to make my getting-dressed
decisions easier. And it just felt good, in some primal way,
to lighten up.
They
say the two best days of a boat owner's life are when the boat
is bought and when it's sold. That's partly because the actual
experience of having a boat, with the inevitable mechanical
problems and constant upkeep, is never as good as it seems
in anticipation. But it's also because there is a simple, natural
pleasure in giving things up.
I've
always been happily surprised to relearn the life lesson that
getting rid of things is almost as much fun as acquiring them
in the first place. The cycle is endless:
The
next time I go to Nicaragua, I'll have but six pairs of pants
to choose from, a dozen shirts, and five pairs of shoes (one
pair of hiking boots, one pair of riding boots, a pair of sandals,
a pair of dress shoes, and a pair of sneakers). Ah, the simplicity!
At least for a while...
The
Gift That Keeps On Giving...Paychecks?
I
have to admit that at first, I was opposed to the idea of giving
away access to our latest teleseminar with Commercial
Real Estate expert Toby Unwin. For one thing, our first
teleconference with Toby completely Sold Out. For another
thing, there are thousands of subscribers who have paid good
money for the privilege of listening in on the secrets to generating
income for life and securing an early retirement with just one
deal in commercial property.
But
fortunately I gave in, and we offered access to the call absolutely
FREE to all ETR readers. I say fortunately because the Live
broadcast yesterday went incredibly well. Toby has a
surprisingly simple and systematic way for everyday people
to break into the lucrative commercial real estate market,
which he was extremely forthcoming with. He didn't hold
back anything, and it made for a very informative and motivational
call.
Don't
worry if you missed yesterday's call. Since response
has been so overwhelmingly positive, we've scheduled a one-time
only Rebroadcast. I have a limited number of conference
lines reserved, so please make sure you reserve
your space now, and listen in as Toby reveals
how you can generate income for life off of one single deal.
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Ready
to trade in your morning commute and conference calls for extended
vacations and margaritas?
Then
it may be time for you to jump head-first into commercial real
estate. It's easier than you think…no need to have experience,
cash or credit. In commercial real estate, the bank qualifies
the property, not the person. Not only that, you can
often structure your deals so that you get fat checks at
closing.
Commercial
real estate expert Toby Unwin was recently our guest during
a one-hour teleseminar where he shared his secrets for finding
and structuring deals. He explained in very simple terms why,
in commercial real estate, it's actually possible to make enough
income to retire off of just One Deal.
We'll
be airing a one-time-only rebroadcast of this Sold-Out call,
and we have a very limited number of FREE spaces available.
Don't miss out on your chance to retire early - reserve
your FREE place now!
-
Will Bonner
Word
to the Wise: Toothsome
"Toothsome" means
pleasing to the taste or desirable in some other way.
Example
(as used by Jon Wertheim in Sports Illustrated): "The
myth, which [Anna] Kournikova herself often takes great measures
to perpetuate, is that she is an imposter on the WTA Tour,
a toothsome starlet who simply uses the tennis
court as a catwalk."
