I was asked this week to review an affiliate program where you sell access to a “Lead Generation” software that uses search results to “harvest and extract content” from targeted websites. The software then takes that information and puts it into a “comma separated value” document you can open in Excel and manipulate. For an additional charge you can use their robocall phone system, which I assume makes those calls we all love to receive from no one we know.

So what’s the problem with this? It depends on your values as to whether you would want to use a tool like this.

When I program websites, I go to great lengths to make sure the email address of my client is not put on the site that makes it easy for software like I’ve just described to “harvest” (and that’s a word you don’t want to use with your Constant Contact or GetResponse representative) email addresses. Usually, if you want your email on the site, I’d program it this way: debra (at) syndicatingyourcontent (dot) com. This method delivers the email to you, but makes it impossible for the software to recognize this as an email address.

These programs look for the specific code and/or the email format. When they find the code they take it and that’s how you get so much spam. Spam is the reason why we try not to put email addresses, in a recognizable form, on your websites. Instead we use contact forms.

These programs also extract the content from your website. Your content can be used on fake websites that are built for the specific purpose of creating inbound links to the spammers sites and to feed off your keyword rich content. This is called “scraping”, and trust me, it’s not fun when someone scrapes your site and steals your content so they can make money.

Unfortunately I had to deliver the news to my friend that lead generation software used in this manner is not something I would advise anyone to invest in. Using software like this could hurt your business more than support your business. After all, if enough of us hit the “Report Spam” button on your email, your internet service provider (ISP) could stop you from sending email. Is that what you want?

In the next blog post I’ll share with you how you can make sure I don’t hit the “Report Spam” button on your email.

Product Funnel

Syndicating Your Content
Show Notes: March 28, 2011

You Have a Digital Product, Now What? [ 14:28 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (86)

In our previous episodes, The Digital Products Spoke of Your Social Media Hub, Where to Sell Our Digital Products, and Payment and Delivery Options, you learned what a digital product is, where to find or create ebooks and what type of rights you can offer in your product. You also learned how and where you can sell your digital product. We also covered how you can set up payment options for your product.

In this episode we’ll share some strategies for leveraging your business online using those digital products, and how you can fill your marketing funnel using digital products.

Syndicating Your Content
Show Notes: March 14, 2011

Payment and Delivery Options for Your Digital Products [ 15:02 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (18)

In our previous episodes, The Digital Products Spoke of Your Social Media Hub and Where to Sell Our Digital Products, you learned what a digital product is, where to find or create ebooks and what type of rights you can offer in your product. You also learned how and where you can sell your digital product. In this episode you’ll learn some tips on taking payments for your product and how to deliver it.

Sites Discussed:

E-Junkie
Payloadz
PayPal
Google Checkout
2CheckOut
Amazon Payments
TrialPay

Syndicating Your Content
Show Notes: February 7, 2011

LinkedIn, One of Your Social Media Hubs [ 15:07 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (27)

In previous episodes of Syndicating Your Content you learned about Creating A Social Media Hub and using a WordPress blog as the center of the social media hub.

In this episode you’ll learn what LinkedIn is and why you want to use it as one of your social media hubs.

Debra Simpson on Twitter

Syndicating Your Content
Show Notes: January 31, 2011

Twitter, One Spoke of Your Social Media Hub [ 15:06 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (32)

In previous episodes of Syndicating Your Content you learned about Creating A Social Media Hub and using a WordPress blog as  the center of the social media hub.

In this episode we spoke about:

• Choosing Friends
• Tweeting Regularly
• Being Visible
• Promoting Events
• Sending Traffic to your blog

Some highlights of our comparison of Twitter usage between 2009 and 2010 include:

• Users with 100+ friends have increased by three-fold to 21% since 2009.
• 22.5% of users accounted for about 90% of all activity
• 80% users have made fewer than 500 tweets
• Significantly more users are disclosing their location, bio and web information in Twitter profiles
• In looking at how long Twitter users have been on the service, one of the surprising discoveries was how many of people have joined this year. From January, 2010 until mid-August, 2010, new users accounted for nearly 44% of the total Twitter population. People who created a profile before January 2009 only accounted for 4.7% of the total population
• When it comes to number of friends that people have on Twitter, only 0.05% have more than 10,000, and only 2.05% have more than 1,000. The vast majority of users – 95.8% – have less than 500 friends
• 72% post updates related to their personal life, activities or interests. One in five (19%) say they post personal updates once a day or more
• 62% post updates related to their work life, activities or interests, with 12% doing so on a daily basis
• 55% share links to news stories. One in ten (12%) do this at least once a day
• 53% retweet material posted by others, with 18% doing so on a daily basis
• 52% send direct messages to other users, with 11% doing so on a daily basis
• 40% share photos with others, with 12% doing so at least once a day
• 28% share videos with others, with 8% doing so once a day or more
• 24% tweet their location, with 7% of users doing so on a daily basis

Syndicating Your Content
Show Notes: January 24, 2011

Blogging, The Center of Your Social Media Hub [ 14:02 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (33)

In this episode of Syndicating Your Content you’ll learn a bit more about using a blog as the heart of your social media marketing strategy.

As shared in our previous Syndicating Your Content episode, the RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication) is what takes your blog post and delivers it to the sites its been asked to deliver your content to, like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and your blog subscribers.

Previous Post in an ongoing series on email marketing and list building:  Marketing with Email

When you create email messages to send, do like the Boy Scouts and “Be Prepared.” If you take the time, you can really develop some great tools to help you in preparing a compelling email.

Marketing Tools

Folder – create a folder on your computer and in print form for “email marketing” and keep ideas you have for future campaigns there. Save favorite emails there you get from others, too, as inspiration. You can use these as templates to create your own unique messages.

Headlines – Start a Microsoft Word or text document where you list favorite headlines and ideas for future headlines. Check Google for sites that offer tips on creating compelling headlines.

PS – People like to head straight to this area first, many gurus say. So create a document in your email marketing folder with favorite “PS” remarks; special sales, freebies, etc.

Guarantee – Ditto with guarantees. Which guarantees are listed on items you’ve purchased recently? Use these as starters. They attracted you!

Reference Guides – Keep handy reference sites like Dictionary.com or favorite encyclopedias book marked in a special Favorites folder on your computer. Keep print editions available nearby, too!

With the right bunch of marketing tools gathered ahead, you can “Be Prepared.” Start gathering your arsenal for great email marketing campaigns.

Previous Post in an ongoing series on list building and email marketing: Constant Contact As Your Email Service

A popular way for companies to communicate directly with consumers today is to use email. One of the most popular email services is Constant Contact.

Email serves a variety of functions including sales promotions and being a means of education about products and services. Messages also can include branding with logos and / or tag lines, and they can offer direct response tools like reply links, emails, telephone and fax numbers.

Basic email message writing comes across much better with skill that can be learned. Main focus should be placed on the tone of speech and grammatical language in the body of the message.

Points which should be remembered for writing the email

• The subject line should be exciting, making the reader want to open the mail and read the further text.
• Keep the subject line brief.
• Make sure to include details about the sender to comply with spamming laws. Check Spamcop or other “anti-spam” sites in your favorite search engine for more info.
• Develop the body of the email; i.e. the message, with a good introduction followed by well-described paragraphs. Avoid hype and misleading readers.
• Use your email spelling and grammar check tools. And don’t “shout” or use all capital letters.

Practice and read emails that come your way. Learn to write messages that you’d like to receive and improve your communications.

Do you have some tips to share? Please feel free to comment.

Create Digital Products Webinar

How many times have you answered the same questions regarding the services you offer. What if you could turn those questions around, educating your potential client before they ask “those” questions?

One of the advantages of creating an informational product for your business is being seen as the expert in your industry, or field. A product can educate your potential clients on what you have to offer. So what is an informational product? It’s a digital downloaded document. That’s it.

If you’re ready to turn your website from a free-loader to a fee-loader, then this webinar is for you. On Wednesday, April 28, 2010 from 4pm to 6pm Pacific Time (7pm to 9pm Eastern Time) I’ll be holding an online, hands on, webinar on creating informational products.

In this powerful information-packed seminar you will learn:

• What information products are
• Why you need information products
• How you can create information products
• How to market and profit from information products

Here are some of the ways your business will benefit from information products:

• Create an ongoing passive income stream
• Expand your brand and credibility as an expert
• Enjoy benefits of being an author
• Have back of the room sales for seminars and talks
• Create products others can sell for commission with affiliate programs
• Build a product funnel; there are no limits

Click Here To Register

Seth Godin’s Tribes is an easy read and somewhat controversial. If you look at the Amazon reviews for his book, you’ll see many think it’s thin of examples of how his version of leadership can look.”>Tribes is an easy read and somewhat controversial. If you look at the Amazon reviews for his book, you’ll see many think it’s thin of examples of how his version of leadership can look.

The video is of a speech he gave in February 2009. It shares his views of tribes and leadership within tribes.

Let me know what you think by posting a comment. Do you have a tribe? Do you agree with Seth on building and leading a tribe?