I am not Joe “social networker” nor have any pretension to be since I’m a perpetual late adopter/contrarian. In fact, I haven’t been on Facebook or Twitter meaningfully until the last month.

However, if I could go back in time to the early 1990’s and snare some of the prime virtual real estate like, wine.com, loans.com, etc. which eventually sold for multi-millions, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

Though that’s not gonna happen, there’s a lite version of this opportunity on Facebook that is wide open right now. [Read more…] about Facebook Vanity URL’s…Wide Open (For Now)

The following article about Joe Karbo is excerpted from an interview entitled, “The Creators” from the now defunct publication, The Capitalist Reporter, circa 1975.

But was the mail order magnate who penned The Lazy Man’s Way to Riches, himself lazy?

Here’s some rare info about this direct marketing legend.

The wonder is that Joe Karbo works at all anymore. He is the millionaire author, publisher and mail-order advertising salesman of The Lazy Man’s Way to Riches, after all. With more than 400,000 copies of the paperback sold in this country alone at $10 each – versus 50 cents per copy production cost – Karbo can afford to take it easy. Foreign markets now have begun to open up in a big way.

Karbo, 50-year-old son of a Russian Jewish immigrant who worked as a tailor in Los Angeles, now spends about half the year in LA, where he maintains a posh suite of offices overlooking the Pacific to tend to his various ventures that make him $300,000 a year. The rest of the time, he and the family (wife and nine children, although not all the kids still live at home) are at a sumptuous retreat in Washington State, about 50 miles south of Olympia – an ideal place to be, well, lazy.

The trouble is, Karbo doesn’t like being lazy. “The idea of being lazy is appealing, but doing it, or rather not doing anything, is not my idea of a way to pass the time,” he says. [Read more…] about The Lost Joe Karbo Interview…Was He Really Lazy?

Twitter.

Why do I need it and why do I care?

That’s been my reaction for the last two years.

I first heard about Twitter over two years ago when my friend Joe Orr told me about it at the System Seminar. That would be the closest I’d come to getting on Twitter until two weeks ago.

So, why did I sit on the sidelines for the last two years?

I guess I’m one part late adapter and one part contrarian. Plus, I just didn’t see why it mattered when I have healthy email and direct mail lists. That was my “case against Twitter.”

Well, I was pleasantly surprised to discover there’s much more to Twitter than I ever imagined and the traffic explosions to this site are proof of that.

As a marketer and copywriter, I see Twitter as both a marketing channel and a testing medium.

As a marketing channel, it’s ideal for these reasons:

1. Twitter is all about instant gratification. Send a tweet and within seconds, the Twitter universe is reading it.
2. Twitter appeals to the A.D.D. (attention deficit disorder) in all of us in this digital age because you have 140 characters max to craft your message.
3. Twitter creates the illusion of importance. A shopping bag lady on 6th Avenue can have thousands of followers by creating a free account using a computer at the New York Public Library.

And as a testing medium it’s fabalicious (made up word).

Craft your pithiest tweet or headline and plug in a URL. If it’s hot, you’ll see a stampede of traffic heading to the page — provided it’s one of your own sites with Analytics installed. If it’s not hot, you’ll see the tumbleweeds blowing by.

Besides getting an 800% spike in traffic in one day, I’ve been noticing traffic from diverse sources that I’ve never seen before.

These stats are from the first two weeks in May.

Facebook traffic? Never got much before.

Gizmodo…what’s that?

Ycombinator.com? Never heard of it, yet it sent 1,441 visitors in a day.

Twitter seems to set off little firestorms of traffic in the most unusual places. Yesterday, one of the About.com editors created a link to one of this site’s pages. Again, never had that happen B.T. (before Twitter).

Most importantly, the bounce rates, TOPs (time on page) and CTRs (click through rates) were very respectable.  Ditto for conversion to opt-in.

As a comparison, this site has appeared on the home page of StumbleUpon.com several times and the traffic has been about as untargeted as it gets. Bounce rates in the 90’s and 10 seconds time on the page.

Moreover, I’ve noticed the weekend traffic — the lightest of the week — has picked up by 50%.  Whether this will last over the long haul is anybody’s guess but the short term results alone are worth reporting.

Questions:

Here are some of my observations after being on Twitter for two weeks.

How important is it to amass followers?

It seems to me that the rules of quality list building apply here. Though a DM or email list is by no means a pure analogy to Twitter. I’d rather have a relevant, responsive list of 1,000 people who KNOW me instead of 100,000 random names or in this case, followers. Though unlike the direct mail world where there’s a cost associated with dead weight names, there doesn’t seem to be a downside to having meaningless followers in addition to relevant ones. Plus, it seems the sheer force of inertia kicks in at some point and the followers just keep coming. Take a look at Shaq or Ashton Kutcher on Twitter.

What about reciprocity?

You follow me and I’ll follow you seems to be the unwritten rule for most Twitterers because that’s what makes your list of followers grow the fastest. In my case, except for “follow spam” I follow in kind, those who follow me. But after two weeks of using Twitter, it seems clear that one needs multiple IDs to have a sane user experience. At the most basic, one marketing/business ID and one personal ID, though a pure marketer would segment each and every niche into separate ID’s.

Is it possible to effectively Twitter with all the spam tweets?

What’s true in the broader marketing world is also true on Twitter. 80% of the people usually get it wrong. A smaller percentage will be more or less on target. And a smaller percentage than that will win most of the marbles. Understand, I’m talking about using Twitter purely for marketing and lead generation.

My case in point are all the annoying direct messages one gets bombarded with after following another Twitter user.  Like:

• “I REALLY appreciate the follow. If I can help you with Klamath Falls Real Estate please let me know.”
  
• “Hi! Free travel advice.”
• “Get fit, both physcally AND financially.”

Never mind that I don’t know where Klamath Falls is, nor desire free travel advice — especially not free travel advice, nor wish to get fit “physcally” fit (his spelling, perhaps a combination of physically and fiscally?)

Of course, the deluge of messages are about how to get more Twitter followers and make more money or some combination of the two.

So, when a smart marketer sends a tweet, it tends to rise above the noise. The ones who do this consistently become the thought leaders.

And speaking of smart marketers, if you’re going to offer a free widget or a “Twitter trinket,” why not make it one with universal interest. Here’s a neat one that Malaysian marketer, Kenneth Yu, has put together called The Dark Side of Twitter.

Anyway, to wrap it up, in just two weeks, I’ve gone from Twitter apathetic to really appreciating the service and planning new ways to market using the Twitter channel.

Twitter may be headed to the moon with 17 million US visitors in April but there’s surprising evidence that a “Twitter-like” service called the Notificator was up and running in London in 1935.

Robot Messenger Displays Person-to-Person Notes In Public
Source: Modern Mechanix (Aug, 1935)

TO AID persons who wish to make or cancel appointments or inform friends of their whereabouts, a robot message carrier has been introduced in London, England. Known as the “notificator,” the new machine is installed in streets, stores, railroad stations or other public places where individuals may leave messages for friends.

The user walks up on a small platform in front of the machine, writes a brief message on a continuous strip of paper and drops a coin in the slot. The inscription moves up behind a glass panel where it remains in public view for at least two hours so that the person for whom it is intended may have sufficient time to observe the note at the appointed place. The machine is similar in appearance to a candy-vending device.

Now I approach a tragic epoch in my life. I was close to my limits in Grand Rapids. The offer from Lord & Thomas gave me wider recognition. Ambition surged within me, because of my mother’s blood. I became anxious to go higher.

But I had built a new home in Grand Rapids. All the friends I knew were about me. There I enjoyed prestige. I knew that in a larger field I would have to sacrifice the things that I loved most. [Read more…] about My Life In Advertising (Chapter 5: Larger Fields) Claude Hopkins

That contact with Mr. Bissell led to frequent contacts. Soon we entered the cold-weather season when my duties became heavy.

“I hear you are working hard,” Mr. Bissell said to me one day.

I replied, “I should work hard, for I have so many easy months.”

He insisted on the details, and he learned that I was leaving my office at two o’clock in the morning and appearing again at eight. Like all big men whom I have known, he was a tremendous worker. He had always done the average work of three men. So the hours that I kept gave him interest in me, and he urged me to join his office force. [Read more…] about My Life In Advertising (Chapter 4: How I Got My Start In Advertising) Claude Hopkins

Up to my graduation from high school my ambition was the ministry. I was an earnest Bible Student. The greatest game we had in our house was repeating Bible verses. We took turns, as in a spelling bee, going around the circle, until all dropped out save one, I was always that one. I had memorized more verses than anyone I met.

Often the minister dropped in, but he was no competitor of mine in a Bible competition. I knew several times as many verses. At the age of seven I was writing sermons and setting them in my father’s printing-office. Often in prayer-meetings I spoke a short sermon. Thus all came to regard me as a coming pulpit orator. I was made valedictorian of my class at school. My graduating essay was on ambition, and I still remember how I denounced it, how I pleaded for poverty and service.
[Read more…] about My Life In Advertising (Chapter 3: My Start In Business) Claude Hopkins

Father owned a newspaper in a prosperous lumbering city. The people had money to send, so advertisers flocked there. We smile now as we remember the ads. of those days, but we smile at the hoopskirts, too.

Most of the advertisements were paid for in trade. Our home became a warehouse of advertised merchandise. I remember that at one time we had six pianos and six sewing-machines in stock. [Read more…] about My Life In Advertising (Chapter 2: Lessons In Advertising And Selling) Claude Hopkins

This book is not written as a personal history, but as a business story. I have tried to avoid trivialities and to confine myself to matters of instructive interest. The chief object behind every episode is to offer helpful suggestions to those who will follow me. And to save them some of the midnight groping which I did.

One night in Los Angeles, I told this story to Ben Hampton, writer, publisher, and advertising man. He listened for hours without interruption, because he saw in this career so much of value to beginners. He never rested until he had my promise to set down the story for publication. [Read more…] about My Life In Advertising (Chapter 1: Early Influences) Claude Hopkins

Last week, I posted a 36 page PDF of Harvey Brody’s presentation on the tollbooth or toll position concept. Yes, it probably could have been condensed into half that number of pages and no, it was not a setup to sell you one of his products.

Here are eight tollbooths I came up with. The list could be expanded but it’s a decent starting place.

Review Site Tollbooths

Angie’s List (AngiesList.com) is a rating service for residential contractors, like painters, plumbers and repairmen, with annual memberships starting at $35. The beauty of this tollbooth is its content, like Amazon.com is user generated. But, unlike Amazon with its huge warehouses, inventories and distribution systems, there’s almost no overhead besides advertising and hosting. Angie’s list does somewhere around $30 million per year in revenue. RatedPeople.com, in the U.K is similar to Angie’s List. [Read more…] about Creating Your Own Tollbooth And 8 Examples

“This Man Must Lose 20 Pounds In 30 Days…

or he’s putting one of his most valuable, virtual assets on the auction block.”

Dear Reader,

I have until May 5th, 2009 to shed 20 pounds or this website gets auctioned off to the highest bidder on eBay.

Yes, I’ve been blogging for almost two years here about the topic near and dear to my heart — direct response advertising. And since this site ranks on the first page of Google for the term, marketing info, as well as a lot of other juicy terms, it’d be madness to relinquish it for a frivolous virtual wager.

Yet that’s what I’m doing…and there’s no turning back now. As a direct marketer, I’ve earned many loaves of bread based on the power of “instant improvement” advertising. So, now it’s time to show that I walk the talk as well.

I’ll be posting my stats daily as well as a few videos. Sorry, no gruesome shirtless photos…for now.

4-14-09

Plateaued at 219 for a few days. Am ramping it this week. Me doing morning push ups with some help from my little lads.

4-23-09

Been so busy with projects that I haven’t been able to blog about this accordingly.

215.6. It hasn’t been the breeze I thought it would be, but there’s no way in heck I’ll lose this site…so I’m confident I’ll shed 10 lbs in 12 days.

My strategy. 5 miles on the treadmill each day. Resistance training 4 times a week. No meals after 7:00. No simple carbs etc. I’ll have more to report soon.

05-03-09 3 pounds to go in 2 days. No time to talk. Off to the gym.

05-05-09 I came up short by almost 3 pounds. Back in the day, it would have been a breeze. Now, with three kids, a business and a 40+ metabolism, it takes more to pull off that kind of weight loss. Once I got below 210, I hit the resistance point.

3 measly pounds. Why didn’t I just do an all night run a la  Dean Karnazes? To say I haven’t built up that kind of stamina yet is an understatement. And I’m not into diuretics, diet pills or intense sauna sessions, so I never entertained going there…though any could have resulted in an extra few pounds lost.

But the bottom line is I’ve reinstalled the exercise habit. I’m 17 pounds lighter and have more energy, endurance and strength than I’ve had in recent memory. Moreover, even though I came up short, I don’t feel any likelihood that the snap-back effect will happen.

So what happens now?

In my book, a marketer’s word is his bond, so since I impulsively declared I’d put this site up for auction, if I didn’t meet my stated goal, that’s what’ll happen.  I’ll have more details, photos, etc to follow in the next week. Now…it’s back to work.

You can only be a contrarian for so long.

I’ve resisted Twitter for a l-o-n-g time. But now that I’ve joined the insidious little service, I want followers…followers…give me followers!

The very word sparks delusions of Medieval courts and jesters.

Back to work.

Here’s one of the most interesting info marketing offers I’ve encountered in a while.

It hails from ex-billionaire, now high performance coach, Bill Bartmann.  Despite the atrocious audio quality, the talk he gave several years ago at the Harvard Club is something all serious entrepreneurs should listen to.

It’s about how “doing the right thing” can categorically be the wrong thing, when you or your company are charged with financial impropriety.

Bartmann’s presentation is the third down under “Our Most Popular Talks.”

The business opportunity though intriguing isn’t really the point of this post. Briefly, It has to do with profiting by investing in “bad loans” and that’s interesting considering Bartmann made his fortune by revolutionizing the debt collection industry in the 1990’s, transforming it from a broken kneecaps business into a “kinder, gentler” industry.

This is the landing page one arrives at after a 60 minute teleseminar. It’s a concise, short-copy offer filled with bullets and interesting sub-heads like: “The Only Homeless, Bankrupt Gang Member Ever To Become A Billionaire.”

But it’s the testimonials he’s garnered that really get you to sit up and take notice: one from Mother Theresa, one from Muhammad Ali and one from a Supreme Court Justice.

Overall, a fascinating vat of proof.

Here’s an early 20th Century prospecting ad for Chicago Lawyer.

Ranks right up there with Ernest Shackleton’s lead gen for Artic explorers.