Can't solve a problem? Then quit.

February 15, 2007

Now, before you jump all over me and call me a quitter, I'm not saying that you should just give up on the problem. I'm saying that you need to take a break.

Go for a walk, or go make some coffee, or watch a movie–anything that separates you from the problem at hand.

I read a book called "The Memory Cure" that talked about modern medicine's understanding of the brain and how it works. It turns out that just because you stop thinking about a problem with your conscious mind doesn't mean that your subconscious won't continue to work on the problem in the background.

Have you ever tried really hard to remember something, and it was "right on the tip of your tongue", but it just wouldn't come to you? And then, an hour later (or even the next day), when you had completely forgotten about what was puzzling you–BAM!–it jumps into the front of your mind?

We call that an "epiphany", right? The solution didn't just "come to you", not really. What really happened was that your subconscious mind kept working on the problem even when you stopped consciously worrying about it. But as long as your conscious mind is focused on the problem, your subconscious figures it's not needed and stays out of the picture.

That's not always good, since your subconscious has access to vast stores of your memory that you don't conscious pull from. Your dreams often show all kinds of images of things you've long forgotten–that's because your subconscious has access to all of that, while your conscious mind does not.

So if you can just let go of your problem consciously for a while, your subconscious will start to do its job and will quite likely solve the problem for you.

My $7 Secrets method came to me while I was in the shower. A method for fixing a security hole in the $7 Secrets scripts came to me while I was feeding my dogs. Both were actions completely unrelated to the problem at hand.

Your brain is a wondrous thing. To compare it to a computer is an insult to your brain. No computer comes even remotely close to the abilities that your brain has. So the next time you have a problem, let your brain do its job! Go focus on something else for a while. When you come back to the problem you will likely have better insight into how to solve it.

Posted by Jonathan Leger | Filed Under Blog | 30 Comments

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Filthy stinking thieves! Um, where?

February 13, 2007

Okay, I'm not naive. I know that digital theft occurs, especially in the Internet Marketing sector.

However, I'm revisiting my previously held opinion that theft is a huge problem (and by huge I mean in the order of 10% for digital products in the IM sector). Let me tell you why.

By now you've probably already heard of my $7 Secrets report. It comes with a set of scripts that let people setup and sell their own reports in a similar manner.

Well it turned out that there was a massive gaping security hole in the original scripts. It's fixed now, but it was there up until yesterday morning.

Now, from the time that I started selling the report until the security hole was plugged, over 5,000 copies of the report have been sold. Looking back through my records, guess what? I found virtually no instances of anyone exploiting the fairly obvious security hole.

What does that mean? Well, to me, it has two meanings:

1) People are generally honest and will pay for the products they want.

Yes, I think the majority of people are basically honest, and don't want to steal anything. Whether or not that honesty comes from principle or from fear of reprisal is known only within the individual, but the bottom line is they don't steal.

2) The dishonest people aren't very bright.

Doesn't this make sense, too? Have you ever watched any of those "reality TV" police shows? Aren't the criminals awfully stupid? Of course there are much higher level criminals who aren't so dumb, but those criminals aren't likely to be getting online to try and steal digital internet marketing products.

What all of this boils down to, at least for me, is a big sigh of relief. I don't fret over the thieves so much, and more especially now that I've found a great way to cut refunds to next to nothing ($7 Secrets).

In fact, I found out about the security hole, not because it had been exploited, but because somebody who bought the product was testing it out and discovered the hole. Rather than wait for a bunch of $7 Secrets-based products to come out so he could get them for free, he immediately made known the problem so it could be fixed. Again, a testament to people's general honesty.

Does this mean that you shouldn't protect yourself, or worry at all about theft? Of course not. Theft does occur, and taking simple steps can greatly reduce it from happening.

What it does mean, however, is that you don't have to be excessively concerned about theft in your efforts to sell your products online. Take the precautions, but don't make life so difficult on your customers or visitors that you "secure" your way out of a sale!

One example of how this happened was the attempts to secure ebooks by making them downloadable, installable software applications. All that did was cut out a significant percentage of people who use Macs or other Operating System platforms who now couldn't buy the ebook! Then there was the hassle of customer support from people who had trouble installing the software in the first place.

Besides, someone who is really dishonest will buy (or "borrow") your digital product, and turn around and sell it on eBay or on forums or other places. Having an extremely secure purchase and download system will not prevent that!

So strive to find the right balance between security and accessibility. Make it as secure as you can without sacrificing your customers welfare or purchasing experience. You will be rewarded for doing so!

Posted by Jonathan Leger | Filed Under Internet Marketing, Blog | 25 Comments

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Forums still have selling power.

February 9, 2007

With all of the new traffic methods that have come up in the past couple of years (especially Web 2.0, videos, etc) it's easy to forget about the old standards. It would be a serious mistake to forget about forum posting, though. My $7 Secrets launch proved that.

I never really visited the Warrior Forum much before, though it appeared in a few Google search results and I'd heard the name. I had an old account, though for the life of me I can't remember why I signed up.

Then I launched $7 Secrets, and a customer wrote in regarding a post made at the Warrior Forum. I went to check it out. Low and behold–the thread about my product had received 6,000+ views! I checked my sales, and it had launched hundreds of them.

Believe me, I will be much more active there now!

Another forum that did very well and made me lots of sales was Harvey Segal's ClickBank Success Forum. Hundreds of views and many, many sales from one thread.

I've also gotten reports back that my $7 Secrets is appearing "in all the forums"–how many does that mean? I don't know. But sales are still strong, with almost 4,800 to date (and hundreds more each day).

How to Post

Now, don't go out and start spamming the forums with posts about your latest product! That will just get you banned.

The best way to get a lot of traffic from forums is to actively engage in discussion on the various topics there, and have a very well-written link in your signature going to your site.

Yes, there's a lot of methods out there for getting traffic these days, but like I've said before: word of mouth is still the best one.

Posted by Jonathan Leger | Filed Under Internet Marketing, Blog | 32 Comments