Winter Carnival..

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Two things...

The first weekend in March I will be away from this box for a few days as I travel up and over the mountains to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, for the Winter-Carnival of Magic.

Michael Finney and Jeff McBride are two of the scheduled performers/speakers at this years event. I hope to get enough information from each to put together a couple of interviews for eMagic Deluxe..

I have spoke with Oz Pearlman this week and he will be doing an interview also, as soon as I can get the questions together. Should be published in mid-March.

I would also like to thank Steve Pellegrino of MagicRants.com for his assistance in getting my humble blog 'out there'.

As some of you already know, I leave the heavy stuff for guys like Steve, and I concentrate on marketing-related items for magic-related sites. Actually, anyone can find a few tidbits here..

I'm not afraid to jump on a soap box from time to time and buck someone I feel is holding themselves up as a self-proclaimed 'expert'.

In 2001/2002 a few of the internet marketing 'big dogs' decided to put together a very expensive list of the top 250 internet marketers on the net.. Marketers were paying upwards of a thousand bucks for this 'secret treasure chest of marketing guru's".

Somehow, someone saw fit to include me, without my permission, and I was totally swamped with offers, joint ventures, propositions- you name it. I let the internet marketing guru's know exactly how I felt - and it wasn't grateful.

I was willing to sell a large ezine I had built from scratch to a publishing company in Washington DC, and turn my back on the experts.. but NOT before putting up a couple of websites letting everyone know what I thought of the people who betrayed my trust and exposed my 'secrets'.

See.. I have been known to 'pitch a fit' every now and again.... Stay Tuned

Load time..

1-Hit.com features a 'load time checker' that will give you a good idea of how long it takes your site to load. We all know that undue delays will cause visitors to leave like rednecks at a Puff-Daddy concert..

All you have to do is enter your url, and - shazam!
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Optimizing your web graphics is essential for keeping your visitors. If your page takes too long to load, due to un-optimized images, people simply leave your site before it is loaded! This way, you might miss out many sales.

For the technical webmasters: This tool only adds up all files included in your page. (the original file plus the size of .js, .css, .swf and images) It doesn't look at server speeds, server location, server load and off course the users PC speed. A site using a lot of JavaScript`s can easily delay the loading time by 10 seconds! The time calculated is an average time (4.35kb/sec)

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Again.. this is one of my favorite sites with a ton of free resources.. All sorts of Google-related checkers, ncluding Google activity and robot detectors..

Resolution

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No.. I'm not making a resolution. I'm tired of thinking about resolution. My primary website was created on my home computer, using a screen resolution of 800 X 600. That's not a problem. The problem arises when you view my site at any resolution higher than that..

Everything was left-centered and the picture-header did not extend to the right side of the screen. I had checked my website ( http://StreetMagic.info ) in several different browsers, including Mozilla, Netscape, and Internet Explorer. I had to make a few minor changes, mostly color-related, to make my site appear appropriate in all the browsers.

The one thing I didn't do was check it in different resolutions, and I should have..

There is no telling how many people have navigated away from my site because of it's uneven appearance in higher resolutions. All has been corrected as of today, but not before a lot of anxious moments..

If you have a site, I want to encourage you to go to -
www.travelinlibrarian.info and enter your url.

This site will allow you to see exactly how your site will appear in various screen resolutions. Don't do as I did and wait until you have fifty odd pages to decide to make the necessary changes...

Later...

7 Commandments of Marketing

You guys know that I am partial to marketing-related post... as no one else seems to be pointing magic-related sites in that direction..

Read this article please..

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~~ 7 Commandments of Marketing ~~

Commandment #1.
Use a Rifle NOT a Shotgun

Rifles leave a neat, clean hole where you point them. Shotguns scatter shot in the general direction you point them. Most failed marketing efforts are born in a scattered marketing message aimed at the world.

Let s say you were trying to sell a snowboard. To effectively sell a snowboard to a fifteen year old requires an entirely different conversation than selling the same item to his mother.

Therefore, commandment #1 directs us to segment our possible customers into different groups who share common concerns. If your product could be sold to a fifteen year old or a 40 year old, you d better decide who you are going to focus your marketing efforts upon for the greatest success.

Commandment #2.
KNOW Thy Customer Like Thyself

Following commandment #1, we selected a targeted group of people for our marketing message. Now, we MUST understand that targeted market as well as we know ourselves. We must crawl within their mindset. We must understand what they think about our product, what they want from our product, and the alternatives they have to our product.

Customers buy for their reasons, not yours. If you want to sell them your product, you MUST sell to their concerns, not your own. Every piece of marketing copy must FOCUS upon them. If you don t speak their language, you don t get their money.

Commandment #3.
Be PASSIONATE About Your Company & Your Product

Attitude is infectious.

If we are around upset people, we begin to take on that attitude ourselves. If we are with positive people, the same phenomenon occurs. Most people like to associate with enthusiastic people. And, most of us like passionate people.

If you aren't passionate about your company and your product, why should anyone else be? Commandment #3 means to show passion for your product by speaking and writing about it with enthusiasm. Talk about what your product can help people accomplish in their lives. If you can t work up enthusiasm for your own product or business, find another business or product.

Commandment #4.
Accept the fact that NO won't kill you.

In the process of running a business and selling a product, you will hear no more frequently than you hear yes (if you re doing it right). What? By doing it right , we mean you are TRYING things. Some work. Some don t.

Whenever you think of a new marketing approach, remember, the worst that can happen is they say no . So, try it! This is not a matter of life or death. This is a great experiment!

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. - Charles Darwin

Commandment #5.
Wear a CLOWN SUIT! It's hard to ignore!

The cheapest and easiest marketing in the world is free advertising. How do you get free advertising? Wear a clown suit!

Do something OUTRAGEOUS! Become news worthy. How?

When Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream first tried to expand to a nation-wide operation, it had trouble finding distributors. They determined the problem was that Pillsbury put out the word to all distributors not to work with Ben & Jerry's. Pillsbury's edict effectively blocked Ben & Jerry s from the services of the national distributors. What to do? Put on a clown suit!

Ben & Jerry's set up a one-man picket line outside Pillsbury headquarters. The picket sign read Who's the Doughboy afraid of? The result? National-wide FREE publicity on television and newspapers. Publicity they couldn't afford to buy.

In order to differentiate yourself from the crowd of competitors, you MUST be DIFFERENT! Design your own clown suit and wear it proudly!

Commandment #6.
NEVER Give Up!

Albert Einstein said, Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up .

In marketing, everything you do moves you forward. If one campaign fails, you are that much closer to the one destined to succeed. Watch others. Learn from others. Learn from your own mistakes. BUT KEEP GOING!

Commandment #7.
Always Be Closing

Always be closing is often referred to as the ABCs of sales . However, it also applies to marketing. The objective of marketing is to increase sales. Not to inform, educate, or entertain.

I repeat: The objective of marketing is to increase sales.

Therefore, this last commandment directs us to write all marketing copy with the sale in mind. Only information that moves a potential customer toward a sale is allowed in our marketing copy. How do we know what should stay and what should go in our marketing materials?
Read through it asking yourself one question... So what?

Another way of stating so what? is asking why should the customer care? You've been in business since 1972.
So what?

Your product folds flat.
So what?

You're a family owned business.
So what?

The alternative?

A) We have been in business since 1972 so you'll always know where to find us.

B) Since we are a family-owned business, you're always talking to an owner who can answer your questions and solve your problems.

C) Our product folds flat to save you valuable office space when not in use.

See the difference? Now you re talking about the customers issues - not yours.

There you have my seven commandments of marketing based upon 33 years of business experience. Commandment is defined as A formal pronouncement or rule .

Keep in mind and put into practice these seven commandments of marketing. When you do, your marketing efforts will result in the only true value of marketing increased sales!

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About the Author:
Michele Schermerhorn has over 30 years experience in the business world and over 12 years running her own successful online businesses. She is President of Online Business Institute Inc. (www.obinstitute.com) and regularly conducts free online seminars. Online Business Institute Inc. exists to Create Successful Online Business Owners One Person At A Time .

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New Issue of eMagic Deluxe now Online..

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Hi All..

Just wanted to let you know that a new issue of eMagic Deluxe Journal of Magic has been posted online at: http://streetmagic.info/eMagic17.html

Lot's of good stuff in there, including an article on how to deal with request for free shows, Michael Close freebies, Mac King free video & interview, and several free resources..

Check it out..

Blogs, Bosom's, and the Super Bowl

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My domain server is Godaddy. Seems that Godaddy has stirred up a hornets nest with it's Super Bowl ad featuring a young lady ( Nikki ) testifying before a committee of her elders, supposedly about decency on tv..

Bob Parsons, the owner of Godaddy, actually purchased two ads.. one to play in the spot where it was seen, and another to play just before half-time. Well, as Bob and his cohorts watched and waited on their second commercial, all they saw was an ad for the 'Simpsons'.

After frantic calls to FOX, they were informed that the NFL had instructed them to pull the second ad...

Bob has a very interesting blog, Hot Points, that details the entire process of getting ads approved for the Super Bowl. Of course, the blog covers many other topics as well... but this is the 'hot topic' right now...

The thirty second spot cost Bob a cool 2.4 million, per commercial. I suppose he's looking for a refund on one of those.. If you missed the commercial, you can see it on Bob's blog, as well as an extended two minute version...

Visit Bob and Hot Points at: http://bobparsons.com/