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Thrandur from 4x4offroads.com
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 Posted: 02 Oct 2004 23:10 Post subject: |
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Great work Ken!
Since English is not my first language, I find this book very helpful (it WILL help in writing in any language). It will certainly change the way I think about writing content. The next to last chapter from SBI!ers in the field was uplifting, especially the notes from Jim and Fiona from Rent-a-villa-in-tuscany.com and Erwin from customerservicepoint.com.
The best part is that you have done so much to help people like myself who try and stay focused and build enthisiasm to keep the ball rolling. Being a programmer I know that FLOW and getting in the ZONE is important and I guess the same applies to writing.
I plan on renting FINDING FORRESTER  
Thrandur
www.4x4offroads.com
www.art-iceland.com |
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Natasha from mydreadlocks.com
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| Posted: 03 Oct 2004 03:10 Post subject: Great read... |
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It's like having a copy of "Nori's CliffsNotes"!
In the end though, it really is what Ken's always been advising...
http://sbitips.sitesell.com/text-template.html
...rounded out with some great grammar, writing and motiviational tips so that you don't have to worry about your site visitors looking like that last graphic on Page 86.
(Admission: That graphic alone sums up why I often hesitate to write in my spare time...until today)
By the way, seeing your own site referenced in the text helps to add a point or two. 
Thanks for another great read, Ken! |
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Vithal from cheapest-computer-hardware-software.com
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| Posted: 06 Oct 2004 14:10 Post subject: |
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Hats Off to Ken. Excellent book. It is a reference book for preselling. Read it twice before going to write your presell copy.
with warm regards
Vithal Pai |
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Colin from eazigoal.com
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| Posted: 06 Oct 2004 17:10 Post subject: Feedback |
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Ken
... (I don't know how to indicate speechless  )
There was zero hesitation in downloading MYCPS when I saw the link.
Ken, thank you Sir. This book has helped to me clarify something I've constantly been wrestling with: MWR and PREsell.
After downloading, I printed a copy and had it spiral bound. Then, with highlighter (for REALLY neat pieces), red pen (for very neat pieces), my favorite beverage of choice  (for enjoyment ), I settled down (beverage was tea).
And here is my take on MYCPS...
page 3: "In 'the real world', business people..." This is on the button, and something that doesn't seem to be realized by netrepreneurs. It's more a matter of 'Gimme the money', and that's it.
page 6: "Your teachers. Starting from..." and "Forget everything..." VERY apt. I've done some tests (in technical writing, for my own benefit), asking readers to give me "grammatically correct" feedback or comments. I very rarely received anything back.
page 7: "Write friendly, the way you talk (well, almost)." If your readers follow just this one piece of advice, they'll advance by leaps and bounds.
SIDEBAR 
I use a handheld tape recorder and "dictate" my thoughts into it. Then replay and tidy up (or cut out totally).
page 11: Tiny typo - "One warning -" "get around just find" Should be "fine" ?
page 16: First paragraph. I think we should write this down and paste it on the monitor!
page 18: Tiny typo - "Of course, it... you have to do know..." Should be "have to know your" ?
page 20/21: Great refresher from MYWS.
page 39: 2nd paragraph. I fight this regularly. Your comment is too polite, Ken: "It is so darn obvious..."
page 41: SIDEBAR - I love this piece of VERY REAL WORLD advice! As was drilled into us technical writers: "YOU don't count. YOU don't matter. YOU are invisible. It's ONLY about your reader!" (Or something along those lines).
SECTION 3 IS PURE GOLD! I will read and re-read this!
page 72: "Read your content out aloud..." I'd again like to mention using a tape recorder.
page 74: Aaaaa... Finding Forrester I can recommend this movie, not only for the writing part of the story, but it has a great motivational message.
page 81-83: Very neat, and to the point. Much better than reading a humungous volume on dancing particles.
page 82: Really neat example - short, sharp, and absolutely clear.
page 83: No. 11 - Magic!
page 111:  PURE GOLD! I learnt so much from Paul's words. (Highlighted and underlined).
SECTION 5 is for me the best part of this book. Learning what and how fellow SBIers do is what I love.
page 127: No. 1 of Erwin's comment - Great.
That is a nutshell is the value of MYCPS to me.
Thanks for another GREAT document, Ken. You get the Pullitzer, as far as I'm concerned (and I know I'm not alone).
PS. I am re-writing my Home page - I will certainly keep the old copy, as a reminder of how NOT to do it!
Best regards
Colin |
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Jennifer from translate-to-spanish.com
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| Posted: 07 Oct 2004 08:10 Post subject: Thanks for all the help |
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Hi Ken,
Your work is truly amazing. As easy to read as always!
Thanks again,
Jennifer |
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Trent from bigbearacademy.com
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| Posted: 14 Oct 2004 03:10 Post subject: WOW!! |
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Ken,
What can I say about MYCPS but "WOW. Ok I have to say it again, WOW! I never cease to be amazed at how much I don't know. 
And coming from a techy semi egghead who took 3 years of review prior to purchasing SBI then didn't follow any of your recommendations for the first 6 months, makes my 'WOW' have even more punch.
The thing is I read the action guide more than once, but I have been in school for web design, have a degree in computer engineering technology, and have ran several mildly successful offline business.
So, as you can imagine, I thought that I could reinvent the wheel. (Dumb attack on my part). I couldn't for it wasn't until I began to listen to what the action guide had to say then follow its direction that things began to move forward with my website (a current Alexa Ranking of 148,982)
It is not completely revampt, but I thought it was close. Until the release of the newest and possibly best nuts and bolts e-books you have released yet, MYCPS.
I have a descent site with growing quality content, but felt in the back of my mind that something was missing. Duh, MYCPS smacked me in the face with every page.
I have not been writing to my visitors but at them. I am a martial arts instructor and came at my website with the mentality of teaching and instructing from a seminar style (Which can be a bit cold).
What I should have done, and now I will, is approach my content pages as if I was in an intimate one on one or very small class setting.
When in a small and/or one-on-one class you spend more quality time sharing your knowledge with the student/s.
 This is what MYCPS has awaken me too.
Again, I have to say 'WOW' and Thank You, Ken.
MYCPS is about perfect.
I have set a schedule to re-read it at least once a week. And with a schedule that barely gives me 4-8 hours a week to create new content for my websites. This is a large time commitment, but I am building web business and sometimes quality takes time.
MYCPS has given me one more brick to lay in the foundation of my web business success. I may not finish first, but with the help of SBI, the site sell staff and of course the main man him-self, Ken, I will get there!
Thank You Again,
The Bear Warrior
Trent 'Kuma' Warner
www.bigbearacademy.com |
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Laurie from systars.com
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| Posted: 07 Oct 2004 09:10 Post subject: |
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Thanks Ken - this is the missing link to matching site content with the SBI essence. And a nice little kick in the butt to go back and review my own work!
You highlight two primary (yet usually over-looked) keys -
- positioning (your VPP v USP separation), and
- customer focus (the Google/Yahoo difference you so often point out).
P70, though jars. The example appears to talk 'at', not 'to' readers. After a start like that it will take some extra finesse to establish credibility.
Now I'll go back and re-read - your book and my site! Thank you!
Laurie
www.viral-traffic-machine.com |
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Vivi from danish-schnapps-recipes.com
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| Posted: 07 Oct 2004 10:10 Post subject: |
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Brilliant, educational and inspiring as always.
Normally I'm a fast reader, but because every word in your book - and other books for that matter - has value, it takes time to read, chew and digest it all. So I haven't red the whole book yet.
Hope to finish it this weekend.
Thank you Ken!
Vivi
Copenhagen, Denmark
www.danish-schnapps-recipes.com |
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John from aloteasier-dictation.com
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| Posted: 08 Oct 2004 07:10 Post subject: Thank you for MYCPS |
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This is the most valuable tool in the whole SiteSell store ...
... if, like me, you come from the corporate world and find it very difficult to adjust your writing to the "friendlier" world of smaller business on the internet.
I started reading MYCPS last evening expecting to speed read it like so many other publications but I found it so riveting that I put it down at bed time and read the whole book, every word, right through this morning.
Observation ... I'll do this again and again.
Here are a couple of first thoughts "up with which I have come"
Picking the right subject has to be THE number one consideration for my first SBI venture. It should flash in neon lights. I find it impossible to write passionately about subjects that are merely a passing interest. A passion is something which gets me out of bed in the morning - early - and inspires me to want to give it "one last go" before retiring.
One of the things I find helpful when writing a page is WYSIWYG. I use my own template which I prepared using MS Publisher but it can just as easily be done with MS Word or another word processor. All I had to do to create the template was copy and paste the graphics and spacers etc. from one of my existing SBI web pages. To write a page I fill in the text and graphics on the template as I go along. This is before I even begin to build the blocks in SBI.
I also use a recorder and sometimes voice recognition to "get my words down". It helps me to write as though I'm explaining something to a friend.
Finally, a request.
Please could you produce a one page set of bullets summarising the key points to remember when writing. I suggest that the page is not contained in MYCPS but is accessed via a link from the book. That way it can only be obtained once the book has been read cover to cover ... as it should be.
A huge THANK YOU for a superb book.
John |
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Larry from best-cat-art.com
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| Posted: 09 Oct 2004 00:10 Post subject: |
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Hi Ken,
"Blasted merchants! You send them traffic and what do they do? Let your visitors get away without buying, that's what they do!"
"Visitors huh! I wear myself out writing content, along they come, suck up the information like vampires and leave without spending a bean."
"Why the heck did I go and choose this niche? People interested in my topic just don't spend money, tightwads the lot of 'em! I should have chosen something else, drat!"
Guilty, yes I'm guilty of thinking all of those things at one time or another 
But then along comes MYCP and shows me the real reasons why I'm not enjoying quite the income I'd like...
... and it all boils down to me, me and my rush to grab that income.
Well, I have MYCP now, I need to do more than merely read it - I need to absorb it.
It is not a criticism if I say that you've told us most, if not all, of MYCP before, in the Action Guide, in MYSS, in the 5P Report, in SBI Xpress. In fact the message of MYCP is like a vane that runs through the meat of all your publications.
Why then have I been so blind to it?
I guess there is no profit in being to harsh on myself, what's done is done. But... It can be undone! A lot of work ahead, I need to go through every page of my site with a fresh pair of visitor focused eyes
Thank you Ken for publishing MYCP, another overdelivering product. Thanks also to all SBI'ers who contributed, I shall be scrutinizing and learning from your sites
All the best,
Larry. |
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Paulus from career-tests-guide.com
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| Posted: 10 Oct 2004 09:10 Post subject: Different Perspective Review for MYCP |
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Hi Ken,
I started reading MYCP 2 days ago and today is the second time.
IMHO if you disregard Sitesell brand, with a minor improvement, you can change the title into "Principles of Web Marketing."
Why the title? Here is my observation.
First,
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Building a business is all about building relationship
and ...PREselling is the online version of relationship-building
and ...PREselling warms up and builds trust and respect
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... trust and respect build loyalty. Finally, loyalty builds retention.
The concept of preselling to build visitors, and later customers, loyalty is fundamental for both offline and online business. For online business we learn the importance of retention from how high is our Conversion Rate and the cost of acquiring new customers.
Like the butcher and the hairdresser --which are offline examples-- we learn that in offline world we'll do business with someone we know personally. We like to do business with persons who knows our needs and wants and offer products or services even before we ask them.
The personal relationship with customers in the above examples once owned by small businesses now practiced by big corporations. To serve every customer personally a company such Amazon invested in very expensive and sophisticated Customer Relationship Management Softwares.
My point here, if big corporations enter personal relationship game then small businesses have to serve their customers better.
Second,
How can we serve our customers better?
With Content - Traffic - Presell - Monetize concept small business can defend the personal relationship advantage. Despite using high-end CRM softwares, as customers we don't communicate with a real person we know. Whereas small/home business owner communicates personally with customers and their customers know his/her voice and personality.
So with every improvement of personalization technology and much smaller target market/community small business still can win the value war against bigger corporation. Online we can achieve this by providing high-value-added content/information in the form of words. It's about what we offer or the main benefits.
Besides content/words, there are two additional differentiation we can apply to leverage small business position.
One is context or look and feel in your terminology. In consumer goods industry our site look and feel is like the packaging of the product --the content or words to be exact. It's about the way we offer
our target market. Our personalities and how we see our target market will color our contexts.
The other one is infrastructure or technology, facility and personnel as the enabler of words and look and feel creation. SBI with its features belongs to this differentiation category. And last but not least, we, as the subject of all creations, play in the center stage.
So... Have I given a complete body of knowledge to serve our customers better?
Nope. There are at least two additional ideas: marketing strategy and branding.
Marketing strategy is about how to win customers' mind share. In MYCP you taught segmentation and targeting at chapter 2.2. If many SBIers complain about low income site I suggest them to read and reread this chapter.
Segmentation and targeting are about developing market map and selecting which area to serve. We have to use our scarce resources wisely.
Once We decide the area to serve we can find and develop our positioning statement. Depending on our situation we can write our own USP or VPP. Chapter 3 covered how to leverage our USP or VPP with related domain name.
Now, Let's talk about branding. Your sub title How To Build Your Brand of One... remind us not to trap into commoditization. In a commodity market where supply and demand command price, we are the price taker. By branding we can command price since our brands free us up from supply and demand curve, we are the price maker.
To summarize my review, I'd like to see a triangle of brand - positioning - differentiation. Brand is a value we promise to deliver to our target market. Positioning is a strategy to direct your customers credibly. And differentiation is a tactic to integrate content, context, and infrastructure in the form of our offers to customers. All is almost well covered in MYCP.
Let's analyze Sitesell.com to get some evidences whether you preach what you teach. Sitesell brand promise is to add value by providing products and services to make sites can sell. Your positioning statement: Ecommerce for the rest of us --simple and effective ecommerce for everyone. Your differentiations: high value affordable contents with unique, easy to understand presentation, and supported by the high-powered SBI as your main infrastructure.
Again, although MYCP seems like about writing content that presell, IMHO with some polishing you can change your book title into Principle of Web Marketing. Don't get me wrong, I don't say Principle of Web Selling. |
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Conrad from relationship-helps-and-advice.com
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| Posted: 16 Oct 2004 18:10 Post subject: |
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Ken, I must tell you, you're brilliant.
You shocked my brain so deep into thinking mode that lightbulbs went off
in my head.
Youl, and the people (family) in this forum, with all their inputs/insights/ideas, have convinced me:
"If It Will Be-It's Up To Me"
Thanks so much and keep churning out this stuff for guys like me.
Conrad
www.relationship-helps-and-advice.com |
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