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Issue: August 2, 2003

"The Newbie's Mind Set To Making It Online"

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"Starting Smart"
The Ezine for the Online Marketing Newbie

August 2, 2003
Karl Augustine - Publisher

Subscribe Link:
http://startingsmart.9mistakes-online.com

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*Greetings...a quick thought, I hope all is well with you...
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Hello,

Welcome to this edition of "Starting Smart". I trust you had a great 2 weeks online.

It's been an interesting 2 weeks, to say the least.

It's been unusually hot here in Seattle, 90 degrees! I spent 10 years in Florida but never got used to the heat. In Seattle, the humidity is usually 50% - 60% but lately it's been 30%. So, I guess it's a dry heat but I'm still not tan.

Highlight of the last 2 weeks: When my wife came home from a 2 day trip to LA to visit family, I missed her. Yes, I'm a hopeless romantic.

Low point of the last 3 weeks: I got a double ear infection, whew! That was rough...I haven't had an ear infection since I was a kid. I had a 102 degree fever, head felt like it was in a vice, and skin felt like it was crawling-yuck! The vertigo was the strangest part. But, after a few doses of penicillin, I recovered nicely.

I had a "unique" experience since the last issue...it's regarding keyword ownership.

Uh, keyword ownership? Yeah, that's what I said too.

I got a call from one of the brokers who sells keywords…a strange experience to say the least. I had submitted my name and email out of curiosity to a web form, hence the call from the representative. The rep (we'll call her Ethel, obviously not her real name) and I talked for about a half hour. Ethel went over the "new" technology from the leading firm in the world for NLP (Natural Language Processing) and walked me thru the demo…at record speed might I add!

Ethel had all the sales lines like…"normally I don't have this much time…" and "that's a great keyword, hot topic, good choice…" and "you have a great website, I like you risk free offer" and on and on. I'm sure that type of sales talk, the energy Ethel had, and the pace she delivered her message most likely worked well for her...I'm guessing she made lots of sales.

From what I could gather from the "auctioneer type" sales pitch that Ethel gave me, was that there are certain keywords that brokers buy to sell to businesses. They use a certain technical infrastructure and sales channels via partnerships to implement their own technology onto a browser bar of IE.

The technical infrastructure needed to do this is costly and the sales channels include partnerships with software makers who have aligned themselves with Microsoft. So, when someone buys a software that works with the Windows OS and is a partner with the keyword brokering company, the user gets the ability to search via keywords on their browser. The software that allows the search for keywords in the browser is auto loaded into IE and looks like a small search field in Internet Explorer toolbar.

Supposedly there are millions of people who have this keyword search capability on their IE toolbar which makes owning keywords something special! If you are an owner of a keyword, and someone searches on that keyword via they keyword search tool embedded in IE, the only result they will get is yours.

Sounds good huh? Yep, but...

There is more than one company brokering keywords and they all have different channels of sales. So, if "keyword brokering company A" has a sales channel to implement their technology with "software company B" to go into IE, it doesn’t mean that all the software loaded into every IE toolbar to search keywords automatically supports the keywords you bought intellectual rights to.

Why not? Because if someone else bought that keyword via another brokering company, and that company used a different sales channel for implementation, the search results would come up for that keyword owner, not you. The IE toolbar would only support your keyword if the IE toolbar used had partnerships with "keyword brokering company A" and "software company B".

So, clearly there's lots of ambiguity to this and there was no way to drill down enough with Ethel to get the exact number of people who have the search mechanism on their IE toolbar for a specific channel...or, at least she wouldn't tell me, I kept hearing "millions" but nothing was prove-able.

Here's another factor to consider…
Why are big companies buying search words? Because they have the money and it is solid branding. And, because they want to be 1st! All are viable business reasons…but maybe not for the little guy due to cost. Sure, I'd love to own my business keywords for 1 year in an intellectual property agreement and look for a buyer, but I don't want to do it to the tune of 500-1250$. As a small business, I'd rather re-invest that money into my business.

Another and more important consideration…
When someone looks for something online and they type in a keyword into a search engine, do they really only want 1 result? Maybe, but I think not. Yes, the seeker of information may only look at the top few and find what they are looking for, but don't "info seekers" want choices? I know I certainly do. If I were looking for mortgage brokers and I went to an IE browser that had keyword search capability and I typed in "mortgage broker" and didn't like the looks of the one result I got, what would I do? I'd go to Google or search engine of choice...which is what I should have done in the first place.

I'm no expert, and Ethel had a good sales pitch, but, all in all, my vote still isn't in and the expenditure doesn't seem worth it. I'm no expert at this either, I'm sure companies like Coca Cola and Wells Fargo have bought ownership to keywords for a reason, Ethel just didn't make a compelling enough case for me to go for it.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that experience, maybe I'll buy some keywords at a later date.

All the best online, enjoy this issue...

Karl Augustine
"The Regular Guy"

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In this edition...
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*Have an ebook in you?
*Featured Article: "The Newbie's Mindset To Making It Online"
*Freebies of this issue - "Starting Smart Community Chest!"
*Get Interactive With the Publisher, me!
*Welcome New Subscribers! Help us grow!
*Copyright and Publisher Info

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Have an ebook in you?
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*The best ebook in a long long time...

Jimmy Brown's "How To Create Best Sellers Online". I'll make this quick since I sent a solo message the day I read this book. If you didn't get this book from the 1st message, get it now...

I read 2 weekends ago, A+ on all counts. Not much even needs to be said...don't think about it, just get it...this is truly a "no guilt, no buyer's remorse, nothing but I'm glad I bought it and would again" product.

Pure quality. I'm an author, I know...the best book of it's kind since I can even remember. Click ---> "Create Best Sellers" and get it before the price increases...it will.

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*Featured Article:
"The Newbie's Mind Set To Making It Online"

Since approximately 90% of all online businesses fail, what type of mind set does the newbie need to "make it"?

It depends on what the level the newbie is and what the newbie wants from the online business...one thing is certain, no matter the level or goal of the newbie, their mind set can either make or break them.

Before the newbie learns about FTP uploads, file saving, HTML editors, niche finding, advertising, list building, search engines, affiliate marketing, joint ventures, etc., he/she should take the time to get the right mind set before doing much else.

Why? Because starting and operating a successful online business from scratch is a journey that never ends unless the netrepreneur wants it to.

Newbies of all levels must remember that the online journey is exciting and arduous at the same time. The newbie's excitement level can spawn long productive learning/work sessions or result in lost time and money...both come with the territory.

Newbies who are computer literate, web literate, don't believe in overnight successes, and have a tremendous drive to make it work for the long haul still have challenges along the way.

One of the most interesting but amazing challenges is denying frustration. Frustration can be a result of a great many things...one of the most frequent reasons newbies get frustrated is they don't believe running an online business isn't easy. Believing there won't be lots of work involved or that a newbie can do what the experts do can make the newbie throw their hands in the air when they get partially along their journey.

Like frustration, the challenge of not knowing who to believe or where to turn can make the newbie feel unsure of him/herself. The seemingly endless products and services and tales of greatness can make the newbie seem lost with no clear direction of what to do next.

Thee are many challenges for the newbie and the mind set needed to make it online is one unlike any other.

The newbie's mind set should be built around these concepts:

Understand that this will take time, no matter what type of success stories they read online
Believe in themselves and start the journey with the assumption that they will see it through to the end
Understand that this is the only business that someone can make deep profits even if they have no education and have little money
Define a clear path from "idea to sale" and realize that flexibility in that path will be key
Always look at mistakes positively...mistakes must be viewed as learning experiences or tools in their toolbox of success
Understand that they must be "results driven" enough to utilize other successful people's examples and experiences
Never give up
Remember why they started their business in the first place when things get tough
Reflect on how they have personally grown as they get further along
Crave and dissect lots of information
Be sensible and realize that things are not what they seem
Be prudent with all expenditures
Realize that there will be many time when they have to make a hard decision and that those times demand a well thought out cost benefit analysis of each possibility
Give to get
Be humble and work smart
Realize we're all in this together, there are people who will help

But most of all, the newbie's mindset must be optimistic and perseverant. Without optimism and perseverance, the tough times seems tougher and the journey seems longer. Newbie's should focus on the end result as well as the path to that end result.

Be humble, work smart, keep it simple.

Karl Augustine
"The Regular Guy"

(c) Karl Augustine
http://www.9mistakes-online.com
http://startingsmart.9mistakes-online.com

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*Freebies of this issue

I am implementing a new feature for the next issue that will be password protected.

All subscribers will be "members" of the "Starting Smart Community Chest", a web page with free books, transcripts and software. I'll upload 1 new bonus per issue. You'll be given the password every issue for access to the Community Chest.

This issue's freebies

Dan Kennedy's "63 Killer Ideas" - pdf

The classic oldie but goodie, "Million Dollar Emails" - pdf

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In the news...

Yahoo News! beefs up. Read Chris Sherman's article here. http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/2239521

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Note to other online publishers, webmasters:

Feel free to use the article above on your website or in your publications. You are required to place the 'resource box' below after the article.

To get this article send an email to article4@9mistakes-onlne.com.

(c) Karl Augustine
http://www.9mistakes-online.com
http://startingsmart.9mistakes-online.com
"9 Deadly Mistakes To Avoid When Starting An Online Business". How much time and money have you wasted? For more time saving and money making tips, get your full copy here => http://www.9mistakes-online.com

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*Get Interactive With the Publisher, me.

NEW SECTION: If you have something you would like me to write about, send me an email and I'll choose the most common theme of the requests and write an article that will be published in upcoming editions of "Starting Smart"!

Send an email with your topic choice to: write-about-this@9mistakes-online.com

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*Welcome New Subscribers!

For those of you just joining, welcome!

Your time is valuable and I'll do my level best to make this "read" time well spent. I am just a regular guy, just like many of you out there...I stuck with it, and now am having a blast doing what I love to do. Keep a positive attitude and you can do just about anything....seems like old news, but it works and we all can use a little reminding now and then.

Please forward this ezine in its entirety to any friends or colleagues who you think may find it useful.

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*Copyright and Publisher Info
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"Starting Smart" is copyright 2003 by Karl Augustine.
No part of this publication may be reproduced
without consent from the publisher.

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