Thanks once again to everyone for their tremendous feedback on
the StomperBlog – if you missed yesterday's post detailing the
COMPLETE contents of "Stomping the Search Engines 2″ you can
find it one post back.
Now, onto today's business.
I want to tell you about something we've been working on for
awhile here at Stomper World Headquarters. It's a physical,
monthly, printed journal that we've begun publishing and will
make available to the public starting next Wednesday.
As I said, we sent out tons of press copies, and I'm holding
the first proof of the public version in my hands RIGHT THIS
SECOND.
It's beefy, 45 pages, full color, and I can count the number of
ads on one hand – meaning this thing is almost 100% content.
I'm going to tell you exactly what's in store for you in the
first issue of "The Net Effect" – but first, I think it would
be a big help to tell you WHY we think the world needs
something like this.
When people join StomperNet, we try to get an idea of where
they are in their business, what they've done, and what they
feel has been holding them back.
The #1 roadblock is always what Brad Fallon calls "Paralysis by
Analysis" – too much research and reading and learning; not
enough actual DOING STUFF to make you money.
We think part of that reason is because the very tool we use to
conduct our businesses is probably the most distracting thing
on the planet: the internet.
So in order to get you away from that great big distraction
machine, but still TEACH you the stuff that WE know YOU NEED to
know.
That's why we've got it boiled down, distilled, and printed up
in a monthly action plan that you can absorb AWAY from your
computer, so when you sit down at the keyboard, learning time
is OVER and it's time to take ACTION!
The whole idea of "The Net Effect" is about ACTION – that's why
every single issue will have a summary page – an ACTION check
list that you can tear out and hang near your desk. Just go
through each item step by step each month and scratch it off.
I don't think we can make it any easier (and we had a lot of
really smart dudes spend a LOT of time trying to).
But I said NO HYPE for this one, so I'm going to stick to the
facts. Here's the Table of Contents for Issue 1 of "The Net
Effect":
"How to Interview an Outsourced SEO"
by Jerry West"The Keyword Heist Technique"
by Dan Thies"26 Things To Test"
by David Bullock"Ranking on Page One"
by Leslie Rohde"Shotgun! Enjoy Galactic-Size Content Distribution Without Ever
Leaving Your Home"
by Sherman Hu"Twittering Your Way to Free Traffic"
by Paul Colligan"The Ultimate Video Article Marketing"
by Mike Stewart"Mad Skillz: We Haz Them – The Vision Mindset vs. The Process
Mindset"
by ME, Andy Jenkins"Email Blastoff: Design Your Email to Make Your Customers
'Open', 'Click' and 'Buy'"
by Audrey Kerwood"The Social Media Survival Guide: A Twitter Case Study"
by Dave Taylor"Speed Matters"
by Brad Fallon"Armor Piercing Emails: Deliverability De-Mystified"
by Tom Ham and Colin Theriot
No matter what aspect of your business you're currently focused
on, there's nothing in that list of articles that won't start
making you MORE money TODAY.
You notice something else? EVERY single one of those articles
is written by StomperNet faculty… Okay, the last one isn't,
but that one's written by our chief copywriter and our VP of
Partner Enrichment – you're reading this email now, so they
know what they're doing. 
So this is the same extreme quality of content that goes into
our $800 a month StomperNet membership program, and the content
is coming from the same world-class experts we trust to teach
our elite members.
That content is cropped, chopped, and distilled down into
simple, ACTIONABLE steps – and we're going to ship it out every
single month.
It's really "Concentrated StomperNet!"
Take it with you on the go, or just keep it nearby your desk so
you can train yourself to WORK when you're on the computer, and
overcome the paralyzing effect of "too much information".
BUT REMEMBER, we're ironing out the details on our offer -
you're going to be able to get "Stomping the Search Engines 2″
and "The Net Effect" TOGETHER for an unbeatable offer.
More on that tomorrow.
In the meantime, keep an eye out for reviews cropping up on the
web – they're coming fast and furious today.
Talk again tomorrow,
~Andy Jenkins
P.S. We don't open the cart on this until next Wednesday, but
if you want to check out the classy countdown page we have set
up and get it bookmarked ahead of time, you can find that
here. We've got a description of "Stomping the Search Engines
2″ up there now for your reference, too.
Welcome to part 2 of our "Under the Hood" series, where we're talking
this week about some of the most potent marketing and business strategies
being used in our industry today, and how YOU can use them in YOUR
business, starting today.
Today, we want to talk about e-commerce and how it pertains to that dreaded
word we keep hearing here in the U.S.: Recession.
You may have noticed in our Going Natural series and case study videos,
we're primarily talking about the success people have when applying our
Traffic and Conversion strategies to e-commerce stores.
That's not just our members, but even Brad Fallon and I are primarily
focused on e-commerce businesses. That is, businesses that sell
PHYSICAL products online, which are then shipped to paying customers.
So why do we love e-commerce so much, and what does that have to do
with the impending U.S. economic recession?
Let's look at some numbers. Bad ones first…
Gas prices are at an all time high. So much so, that rather than fill
up when they need to, incidents of people running out of gas WHILE
DRIVING are up 400%.Food prices are climbing drastically. Restaurants are altering their
menus to stay profitable, and grocery stores are having to scale back
on variety because people aren't buying as much.The U.S. Department of Labor says that over 80,000 Americans have
lost jobs so far THIS YEAR. And it's not confined to any particular
industry – cutbacks are happening across the board.Bankruptcy filings are up 50% this year, and of course you've
heard about the skyrocketing foreclosure rate nationwide.
It's nothing you won't see if you watch any major news network for 10
minutes or less.
It's a fact that many real world, brick and mortar businesses are
having to face.
The high gas prices keep people from driving around to spend money. The
higher energy costs mean a lot of families don't have enough in the budget
to spend on much of anything except bills. Less consumer spending
decreases demand, so production of new goods is scaled back. That means
fewer employees are needed, and that leads to layoffs.
Downward spiral, right?
But let's take a look at how VIRTUAL e-commerce stores are doing in this
so-called recession…
MILLIONS of new online business
were started in 2007.
Online shoppers are WEALTHIER than the average consumer. I mean, you
need a thousand dollar piece of equipment (your PC) to even participate,
and that's an indicator that online shoppers are going to have some
disposable income.
And because of that higher income rate, those folks are going to be more
resistant to any downturn in the economy.
So we're already talking about a customer base that ISN'T quite feeling the
huge pains we hear about on the news.
Meaning, even the folks that are LESS affluent are using the web
to shop… Why?
It may seem counter-intuitive, but consider – fuel prices are now so high, it
actually seems like a SAVINGS to have something shipped to your door
than to have to drive around to go get it yourself. And there's so much
"Free Shipping" to be had from Online Merchants….
E-commerce ALREADY had a ton of advantages over retail:
- no crowds
- easy comparison shopping
- lower prices
- home delivery
- shop any time, day or night
The list goes on.
Okay – cool – that's my take on it. So what?
Wait….
The gigantic and well respected Forrester Research says that:
"E-Commerce is projected to continue its double-
digit, year over year growth rate in 2008 and beyond."
What are the ACTUAL numbers there? How much are consumers REALLY
going to be spending online in the near future?
2008: $204 Billion
2009: $235 Billion
2010: $267 Billion
2011: $301 Billion
2012: $334 Billion
Add that up. In the next 4 years, over $1 TRILLION dollars are going to be
spent online by consumers – and that's over $130 Billion in GROWTH.
The fact is, if you want to make a lot of money in the next few years, there's
a LOT of cash about to be poured into a DRASTICALLY underdeveloped
marketplace.
That's why we think e-Commerce is the way to go for the SERIOUS online
entrepreneur. Whether you're starting out, or diversifying your businesses,
you need to consider this.
In our own case studies, we've shown it doesn't HAVE to be the big-time
super slick guys in suits who get wealthy off this trend. It CAN be the single
mom working two jobs, it can be the disabled retiree, it can be the struggling
personal trainer.
Forget that – it HAS BEEN those sorts of folks!
The barrier to entry is still extremely low for online business, and that is
good news for me AND you.
BUT… you need to pick the RIGHT kind of products. Even though
spending is going to rise, there are some things people just AREN'T buying
online.
It used to be extremely difficult to find reliable product sources, especially
ones that were flexible on shipping. That's a big concern for a small time
operator. If you're working out of your basement, you don't want to have to
order a cargo container worth of product to warehouse in your garage,
you know?
Before long, company formed to serve that need, and World Wide Brands
became like a catalog of catalogs for product sources. Whether you needed
to buy a ton of products up front or just needed to drop ship one piece at a
time – no matter what the product – if you wanted to sell it, WWB could
hook you up with a SOLID supplier. No factory middle-men, and no 2nd
tier resellers.
The reason I'm telling you about them today is that they've put together a
video series about how people can get started with e-commerce
starting today.
And they've taken a page from our own playbook, and they're giving the
whole video series away for f'ree!
StomperNet LOVES what WWB has done for us and our customers
ALREADY over the years, and we have nothing but the highest hopes for
what they've got in store with these videos.
I've already watched the first one myself – in fact, I may have spoiled a
little bit of it for you so far with my article here…
But at about 3:00 minutes in, Chris Malta (CEO) and Robin Cowie
(President) are going to tell you exactly how you can get in on the
ground floor in the one economic sector that's GROWING while everything
else seems to be shrinking.
Coming up tomorrow in Part 3 of our "Under the Hood" series, we're going to
talk about "Moving the F'ree Line" and we're going to answer some of the
BIGGEST questions we've gotten about the StomperNet launches, and how
you can build a SUCCESSFUL business even though you're giving away
your best stuff for f'ree.
Until then, keep Stomping!
~Andy Jenkins
