Wednesday August 1st, 2007: Issue #828
Well, the Traffic Regenerator hoo-ha came and went and I have to put my hand up and tell you that even though I was caught up in the pre-launch hype, I haven’t yet bought it. (I still might, but I have some questions that need answering first.)
I was there at the opening, ready and willing to part with my cash for a program that, in my opinion, has great promise. But as I read the sales letter I just got more and more muddled and confused. And judging from my affiliate sales stats (almost non-existent) Kickstart readers felt the same way.
First of all they seemed to be selling a standalone version of the program for $97 - which was steep, but not excessive. However, on closer inspection, I began to realize that some of the really clever benefits of TRg are not in that basic version. To get the clever stuff, like the ability to put TRg on other people’s ClickBank sales pages, you have to buy one of the monthly subscription packages.
And that was where my confusion crept in.
Frankly, I thought the different options on offer were unrealistic and over priced.
I’m very disappointed. Traffic Regenerator is clever, but at its heart it is based on quite simple code - tracking the position of the mouse curser and triggering an action based on the mouse heading for the top of the page is quite trivial javascript.
A better option?
Fortunately, a keen-eyed Kickstart reader - Steve - has earned himself a bit of commission by telling me about a program from Mark Hendrickson that creates much the same effect, albeit in a very much simplified way.
Exit Grabber, which I bought first thing this morning and put on my site at http://www.kickstartdaily.com also tracks the mouse movement and puts up what looks like an on-exit popup just before the visitor leaves.
It is dead easy to use and works great - take a look at my page and see for yourself. I can’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be as effective as TRg.
I’ve not taken time to make the popup look particularly good yet - you can put anything in it that you want - but you can see the principle. And at just $47 for the program which you can use on an unlimited number of sites, it is very affordable.
http://www.urlnex.us/exitgrabber/
Once again I’ve proved to myself that it is far better to recommend products that I actually own and have tested, than ones that look good on paper.
#~#~#
Today’s Kickstart is going to have to be quite brief because Delia is about to drag me off shopping for our upcoming vacation.
I can’t understand the need to go out and buy a whole load of stuff to load up our suitcases with and lug halfway across the world. As far as I know Italy has shops - and they are probably a darned sight cheaper than here - so why can’t we just travel with the basics and buy stuff over there?
I know, I’m only a man and I just don’t understand. Hence we are trekking off to Bluewater Shopping Mall where I’ll drink far too much Starbucks coffee and Delia will hammer the plastic.
It keeps her happy, I suppose.
______________________________________________________
An Inspirational Thought
_______________________________________________________
If at first you don’t succeed.
Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for Vice President in 1920 but was beaten by Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. The following year he was struck down by polio and lost the use of his legs.
In 1928 he was elected Governor of New York and in 1932, President of the United States. He was re-elected President in 1936, 1940 and 1944.
In 1962, the owner of a chain of Ben Franklin hardware store franchises hit on the idea of opening discount stores in small towns. The executives of the Ben Franklin company rejected the idea flat out.
Sam Walton wasn’t deterred and, with his brother Bud, opened the first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas. They never looked back.
Charles Dickens dropped out of school at the age of fourteen, yet wen ton to become one of the most influential writers of all time.
The moral of these three stories is that success is there waiting for you if you really want it. You don’t need physical ability, you don’t need other people’s approval and you don’t need formal education.
All you need is to feel the desire to win burning inside of you.
###############################################
Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
Don’t keep it to yourself - send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
###############################################
_______________________________________________________
The Quote of the Day
_______________________________________________________
Dwight D. Eisenhower said,
“An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.”
_______________________________________________________
Today’s Power Thought
_______________________________________________________
In 1924 an English artist named William Wolcott visited a friend in his New York office. I don’t know why, but Wolcott got the sudden urge to sketch and asked his friend if he could use the paper that was on his desk.
‘That’s not drawing paper,’ said the friend, ‘it’s only ordinary wrapping paper.’
Wolcott replied that nothing is ordinary if you know how to use it and dashed off two sketches that sold later that year for $500 and $1000 - a huge sum in those days.
That is a great way to live - to be able to see the extraordinary in things that everyone else takes for granted.
We are all surrounded by a world of mundane items. Why not take a moment today to look at something really dull and try to find inspiration in it?
I once did a little exercise at a seminar where we each had 30 seconds to write down as many uses for a humble paper clip as we could think of. I don’t know what the final tally was, but between us all we found dozens of ways that that simple bit of bent wire could be used that had nothing to do with its intended purpose.
Playing a mental game like that is a great way to get your mental energies flowing.
Look around your desk, your office or your home - pick one dull, boring thing and open your mind to its hidden possibilities.
Incredibly, you’ll find uses that you didn’t even think you could imagine, but even more incredibly, the sheer act of thinking outside the box in this way will start to make all kinds of connections appear to you in all areas of your life.
And when that creative energy really starts to flow - watch out world!
_______________________________________________________
Fascinating Facts
_______________________________________________________
How words change their meaning!
The word sycophant, in modern parlance, means ‘a flattering parasite, an informer’. In less dictionary-esque speech, ‘one who sucks up’.
But the root of the work literally means ‘fig indicator’ coming as it does from the Greek sukon, meaning fig, and phantes, meaning ‘one who shows’. A sycophant was a person who covertly uncovered dealers in stolen figs and reported them to the police.