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Kickstart Today
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Tuesday June 16th 2009: Issue #1035
Kickstart Today is published twice a week for opted-in
subscribers only. Publisher: Martin Avis. Your comments are
always welcome – to respond to anything you read here, please
click ‘Reply’
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Greetings !
This edition of Kickstart is long – and it is all about tools. I
must admit I didn’t intend for it to turn out that way, but when
I sat down at my keyboard this morning it kind of wrote itself.
And if I’ve learned one thing in all the years I’ve been cranking
out Kickstart it is that when it goes off on one without my
intervention to just sit back and watch!
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did watching it happen.
#~#~#
One thing that every computer user needs at some time is software
that will compress or decompress files – or to use the more
popular term, zip or unzip.
Windows (both XP and Vista) has a pretty good zip/unzip facility
built in but every now and then you come across files that have
been compressed in ways that the Windows function can’t handle.
You see, there are lots of different compression formats apart
from the ‘normal’ zip files. For example, it is quite commonplace
to come across .tar files or .gz ones. Or how about .cab, .gzip,
.msi, .rar or .7z downloads. How do you go about decompressing
those exotic-sounding files?
I use a graphic designer for some of my work and he insists in
sending me the work he does in .tar format. It is a nuisance, but
that’s the way he works.
Another site I use at times provides me with really good public
domain material, but it is always downloaded as .gzip files.
The solution I’ve used in the past has been to buy the
grand-daddy of compression programs – WinZip. It handles pretty
much everything with ease and takes the nuisance out of receiving
odd format compressed files.
WinZip is great, but there is a price to pay. A pretty steep
price: It costs about 30 Euros (roughly $46) and then every time
they issue an upgrade, you have to pay again. And as the program
is currently on version 12, that can prove expensive.
I’ve accepted that situation because while there are free or
cheap alternatives, nothing really stacked up to WinZip.
Now though, things have changed. There is real competition on the
block and having tested it out for a few days, I’m sold.
FileSquasher is a new program that can compress or decompress
anything you throw at it in just about every possible format that
exists. It is easy to use and, more importantly, a lot more
affordable.
FileSquasher sells for a flat fee of just $27.95 – and that
includes free upgrades for life. No matter how many times they
issue upgrades, unlike with WinZip you will never have to pay for
them.
They even allow you to install FileSquasher on as many of your
own computers as you like.
If you ever download anything from the Internet I can guarantee
that at some time you will come across a file in a format that
has you stumped. When you do, you’ll wonder what that great
program was that Martin recommended!
But it does more than just unpack stuff you download.
We all have files on our computers that are sensitive: bank data,
medical records, personal information. Stuff that we need to
store, but which we would not want prying eyes to see.
FileSquasher allows you to securely encrypt such files behind a
password so that only you can read them.
I bet there are few government employees who have left their
laptops on trains who wish they’d had FileSquasher installed!
There are exciting programs you can buy that promise you riches
and interesting programs that fascinate. FileSquasher isn’t one
of those. It is one of those utility programs that sits on your
computer doing nothing until the day comes when you need it – and
then it is worth its weight in gold.
Now, it may be naughty of me to tell you this, but here is a
back-door trick to save you even more money.
When you go to the sales page at http://urlnex.us/filesquasher
don’t buy it straight away. Instead, type anything
(www.google.com will do nicely) into the address bar at the top
of the screen.
An alert box will pop up. Click on the Cancel button and a
virtual helper will pop up to offer you a discounted price. Click
the link in the virtual assistant’s message and you’ll save about
$5.
There – that’s even less commission for me!
#~#~#
Internet marketing is a profitable business. Of that there is no
doubt. In the last week alone I’ve made more than I ever earned
at the top of my profession in the corporate world in two
months!. (I wish I did that every week, but it happens often
enough to keep me living in a very nice house, with a lifestyle
we enjoy a lot).
I’d hate to sounds as if I’m bragging because the honest truth is
that I’m very uncomfortable talking about what I earn. I’m way
too British for some of the crowing that goes on. But I am
sharing this to illustrate that Internet marketing is a very real
business with very real rewards.
There are lots of ways to BE an Internet marketer, but at the
heart of what I do, and what most of my successful friends do
too, is writing.
In fact, when people ask me what I do for a living, I more often
than not simply say that I’m a writer. That raises fewer eyebrows
and generates less comments that trying to explain what Internet
marketing is about.
Writing is about words, and writing profitably is about keywords.
That may explain why I get so excited when I find new, powerful
keyword research tools like Keyword Research Pro -
http://urlnex.us/keywordresearchpro – that I’ve been talking
about lately. (By the way, you can still get my bonus when you
buy, but only for a couple more days. And don’t forget to use the
coupon code 20off to get a $20 discount.)
It also explains why I get frustrated when I hear people telling
me that they can’t write. You see, I know different. I know that
if I can do it – and make a darned good living from it – then
anyone with a reasonable grasp of English can too. I’m nothing
special – the only advantage I have is that I’ve been practicing!
Way back in 2001/2 when I got started, the stuff I wrote was
plain garbage. I had nobody to tell me the right way, the
profitable way, the effective way of putting words down. Nobody
told me that 3-500 words was more than enough. Heck, most of the
articles I laboriously cranked out were 2 or 3 THOUSAND words
long and hardly anyone read them! They were almost unreadable – I
look back and cringe.
Now, nobody needs to learn the hard way. You – yes you
– can write an article quickly, easily and
profitably with very little in the way of a learning curve.
My own $7 book – You CAN Write Articles – will give you a simple, easy-to-follow
grounding.
If you want to be an Internet marketer, learning to write
articles isn’t an option, it is a skill you absolutely need.
Earlier today I downloaded a series of four videos from a guy
called Shannon Herod that are collectively called ‘Affiliate
Article Mastery’.
The first video (over 20 minutes) is on keyword research. Shannon
uses the free Google Keyword Tool as his example, but Keyword
Research Pro would make what he teaches even easier! He shows how
to find the highly profitable long tail keywords that people use
when they are in buying mode.
The second video (over 25 minutes) is on article structure. He
explains about the elements in an article, why they are important
and the pitfalls to avoid. He then goes on to analyze a real
article to show exactly what he means. Even though I’ve written a
book on this, I learned something very useful in this video!
Video three (21+ minutes) in the series is about marketing your
articles. You’d be AMAzed how many people write an article and
then do nothing with it. Articles are fantastic for driving
traffic to your sites, or for creating valuable backlinks to
impress the search engines, but few people do it. Yet it is
really very simple and quick to do.
Shannon himself says that the second half of this third video is
the most valuable part of the whole course and I quite agree with
him.
The final video runs to almost 17 minutes and is called ‘Show Me
The Money’. Here is where it all comes together. Shannon explains
why he writes articles in the first place and then shows, with
examples from his own blog, how he uses them to drive traffic,
gain new subscribers and make money. All very good stuff.
A lot of ground is covered in these videos and a lot of great
tips and ideas are shared, so when you get to the price, it comes
as a huge surprise!
‘Affiliate Article Mastery’ is cheap, cheap, cheap!
I guess if I was a better wordsmith I should have said that it is
extremely competitively priced or something equally fancy, but
hey, it runs at just $17 – so who needs fancy!
http://urlnex.us/affiliatearticlemastery
#~#~#
Apart from my early education in learning how to write, the other
factor that turned my dream of being an Internet marketer into a
reality was getting people to read what I wrote! Yes, getting
subscribers is a real challenge to many people and is probably
the single most often cited reason why people fail. They just
don’t get enough people reading their stuff to make a difference.
Last week I mentioned that my own secret weapon in the early days
of Kickstart was a special kind of co-registration service called
SubscriptionRocket. It was fantastic and exploded my list from a
handful to several thousand in a very short time.
It worked by harnessing the power of other people’s websites. I
would agree to show ads for other people’s newsletters on some of
my web pages and in return I’d earn credits for having ads for my
newsletter on theirs.
It was easy to do – just a single line of code, simple and fast.
And oh, so effective.
Thankfully, by the time Subscription Rocket closed down due to
Troy Macdonald (the owner) having some personal problems, I’d got
a vibrant list of subscribers and a real business to build.
I was still very sorry to see it go.
Which is why I’ve been delighted to learn that Troy is back with
a new, even better version of SubscriptionRocket – this time
under the new name of ListCrew.
It is just as easy to use and from my tests so far (I’ve been
lucky to be invited to one of a handful of beta testers) even
more effective.
At the last count I have gained 39 new subscribers – with zero
effort on my part other than adding one line of code to my
thank-you for subscribing page. And new people are joining every
day.
If it is working this well with just a handful of beta testers,
imagine how all of our lists will explode when there are hundreds
or thousands of users!
Best of all, it is free.
Even better than free in fact, because for the launch period Troy
has done a deal with the creator of a first-class autoresponder
(AdTrackResponderPro) to give everyone who signs up with ListCrew
a free licence to this software that usually costs $197.
By all means go and take a look at the sales page for AdTrack
Responder Pro at http://adtrackresponderpro.com/ but don’t buy it
there!
The new ListCrew is going to launch on July 16th and you’ll be
able to register from July 1st. But I’ve agreed with Troy that
you can pre-register right now at http://urlnex.us/listcrew
You’ll get the link to download the autoresponder after the
launch date.
This is one of those programs where the earlier you are in it,
the better you will do. Make sure to pre-register right now so
you get the launch announcement the instant it happens.
#~#~#
Marketing 101 tells you that when you write a newsletter you
should never write about more than one product in any single
issue. The experts will tell you (or anybody within earshot) that
readers can only focus on one thing at a time and that talking
about two or three just confuses the poor souls.
I happen to think a little higher of my readers than that! I’m
sure you can choose between three products – or even choose all
three!
My job is to tell you about the good stuff I’ve found. Normally
I’m lucky to find one or two really good things to write about
each week – and often don’t even bother – but once in a while a
whole rash of good stuff makes an appearance together. I suppose
it’s the bus effect.
Well this is one of those weeks, so who am I to fight it.
#~#~#
After several false starts we finally managed to get to see Last
Chance Harvey with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. It is a
lovely film: funny, touching, thoughtful, sensitive and all the
good things you’d expect from a movie with those two superb
actors.
I have to say that some of the more emotional scenes that Dustin
Hoffman played were masterful and the chemistry between the two
of them was superb.
The cinema was packed full, but I was one of only three men in
the whole place!
It is a really good film and if you like a bit of RomCom with
more ‘mature’ players, this one is not to be missed.
#~#~#
To sum up today’s recommendations:
FileSquasher: for easy compressing and decompressing even the
rarest formats and securing the files on your computer. Don’t
forget the secret discount method!
http://urlnex.us/filesquasher
Keyword Research Pro: The best keyword tool on the market (and
already #1 on ClickBank). Last chance to get my special Kickstart
seed word pack bonus and a $20 discount.
http://urlnex.us/keywordresearchpro
Affiliate Article Mastery: Excellent series of four videos that
give a great insight into the whys and hows of marketing with
articles. Incredible value at just $17.
http://urlnex.us/affiliatearticlemastery
ListCrew: Free-to-join service that promises to get you a
constant flow of new subscribers – even if you have none to start
with! Join the pre-registration list at
http://urlnex.us/listcrew
Last Chance Harvey: It won’t make you money, but it will leave
you with a smile on your face!
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Recommend Kickstart To a Friend!
Don’t keep it to yourself – send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
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The Quote of the Day
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Winston Churchill said,
“We shall neither fail nor falter; we shall not weaken or
tire…give us the tools and we will finish the job.”
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Today’s Power Thought
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Feedback is the nourishment that makes us grow.
Good feedback is like a wonderfully balanced meal – it provides
sustenance for every part of us, makes us better at what we do,
stronger in our mind and happier in our spirit.
Bad feedback, however is like a bowl of gruel. It just about
feeds us, but provides none of the goodness we need to thrive.
Bad feedback is worse than none at all. Like a meal deficient in
vitamins, it can create more problems than if it was absent
completely.
Learn to encourage good feedback from those around you – by
giving great feedback to them. Teaching by example is your most
powerful tool.
Take every opportunity to show people that you appreciate what
they do – but if you don’t, find a constructive means of
explaining what they are doing wrong.
There is always some way to sweeten the pill!
Sometimes, the most dAMAging feedback that you can receive is not
from other people. It comes from inside yourself.
When everyone is busy and preoccupied with their own lives, it is
easy to imagine that their lack of feedback to you is due to
failings on your part.
Then the demon of self-doubt starts to nag at you.
If you are unhappy about a demon living inside your brain (and
who wouldn’t be?), why not allow an angel to dwell in there
instead? Learn to give yourself great feedback. Keep telling
yourself how good you are – and why.
In no time your soul will be bursting with well-nourished health.
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The Foolproof, No-Nonsense,
Kickstart Guide to Making Money Online
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*** Catch up with parts 1-30 of the Foolproof, No-Nonsense,
Kickstart Guide to Making Money Online at http://imkickstart.com
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Fascinating Facts
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A group of chimpanzees has been found in the wild that makes and
uses five different tools, in sequence, to get to their favorite
food – honey.
No other animal, other than man, is known to plan ahead like
that. (And in my experience, not all humans can either!)
@~@~@
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Products you may enjoy AND make money with!
by Martin Avis
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* ‘Unlock the Secrets of Private Label eBooks’ (Ideal for
anyone who is a member of the excellent PLRproEbooks site):
http://www.plrsecrets.com
* ‘You CAN Write Articles’ – Anyone can write articles to make
money online. This $7 ebook shows you just how easy it is.
http://www.youcanwritearticles.com
* ‘14 Days to Total Time Control’ – The book that will help
you control the time IN your life, so you can get on with having
the time OF your life. http://www.totaltimecontrol.com
* ‘Keyword LSI Spy’ My new script that lets you find the exact
words that the search engines love to see on your web pages and
in your articles – and a whole lot more!
http://www.keywordlsispy.com
#~#~#
Do you enjoy Kickstart Today? Please tell your friends!
http://www.kickstartdaily.com
Let me know what you think – about anything! To contact me,
please reply to this email and remember to put ‘Kickstart’ in the
subject line so that it doesn’t get filtered.
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Contact details
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Martin Avis, Longlands Rd, Sidcup, Kent,DA15 7LQ, UK.
To email, please reply to this message.
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