Nothing is right for everybody.

But the System may be right for you.

In fact, attending this year’s System may be the best thing you do for yourself all year.

It could even be the best thing you do for yourself financially in your entire life. (It has [...]]]> Is the System right for you?

Nothing is right for everybody.

But the System may be right for you.

In fact, attending this year’s System may be the best thing you do for yourself all year.

It could even be the best thing you do for yourself financially in your entire life. (It has been for several people.)

How can you be sure if it’s right for you?

Invest some time is a straightforward, no-hype appraisal of who should – and who shouldn’t – attend this year’s System Seminar.

Download audio file (sunday.mp3)

Or click here to download

Are there still opportunities for the “little guy” in Internet marketing?

There sure are – and Rob Sieracki (sear AH kee) can prove it.

Rob works with our good friend Glenn Livingston to help take small enterprises with modest ad budgets and explode [...]]]> Rob Sieracki
How to make a small business hugely profitable

Are there still opportunities for the “little guy” in Internet marketing?

There sure are – and Rob Sieracki (sear AH kee) can prove it.

Rob works with our good friend Glenn Livingston to help take small enterprises with modest ad budgets and explode their sales online.

The results have been absolutely jaw-dropping. This is one of the most fascinating calls I’ve done in a long time and if you’re serious about Internet marketing I strongly recommend you drop everything to listen to it today.

Listen to the call here:

Download audio file (sieracki.mp3)

Or click here to download

From time to time, I like to open the phone line and take questions live – and let anyone who wants to listen in.

This is Part One of a three hour call-in session from two weekends ago that ended up going four hours.

No breaks, [...]]]> Part One: Call-in Day #1 with Ken McCarthy

From time to time, I like to open the phone line and take questions live – and let anyone who wants to listen in.

This is Part One of a three hour call-in session from two weekends ago that ended up going four hours.

No breaks, no screening – and no pitching. I answered the calls just as they came in.

We talked about:

- Long ad copy vs short ad copy…you may be surprised by my answer

- How to turn a one-time sale into multiple streams of ongoing income

- The real reason every business needs a blog – and how to set up your blog right for maximum promotional advantage

- What you need to do when your conversion stinks (Hint: Don’t give up)

- And a lot more

Enjoy!

Listen to the Part One here: (it’s aprox 1 hour)

Download audio file (part1callin.mp3)

Or click here to download

Call-in with David Rothwell and Ken McCarthy

Did you miss Perry Marshall’s recent $5,000 a seat Summit in Maui?

If so, all is not lost.

One of the hits of the Summit was David Rothwell from the UK and you can get some of his best stuff, right here, [...]]]> Conversion optimization with David Rothwell

Call-in with David Rothwell and Ken McCarthy

Did you miss Perry Marshall’s recent $5,000 a seat Summit in Maui?

If so, all is not lost.

One of the hits of the Summit was David Rothwell from the UK and you can get some of his best stuff, right here, right now, free.  David will be presenting at the System Club Members Only seminar, a special event for the alumni of past System Seminars.

David is one of the first marketers on Planet Earth to crack the code on Google’s new Conversion Optimization function which is what earned him a place as a featured speaker in Maui.

Listen to the call here:

Download audio file (rothwell1.mp3)

Or click here to download

Call-in with Ben Moskel and Ken McCarthy

We opened the phone lines to any and all questions about traffic, tracking and testing with a special focus on affiliate marketing.

System 2010 faculty member Ben Moskel generates over $1,000,000.00
a year in affiliate commissions.

Here’s his  real world, zero hype [...]]]> Affiliate marketing: The real deal

Call-in with Ben Moskel and Ken McCarthy

We opened the phone lines to any and all questions about traffic, tracking and testing with a special focus on affiliate marketing.

System 2010 faculty member Ben Moskel generates over $1,000,000.00
a year in affiliate commissions.

Here’s his  real world, zero hype discussion of what you need to really succeed in this lucrative business.

Ken

Listen to the call here:

Download audio file (moskel.mp3)

Or click here to download

We put so much free material out there, it’s possible to overlook some of the gems.

If you’re a copywriter or if copywriting is important to your business, make sure you listen to the interview with me, Drayton Bird and Bob Bly…

Three guys with [...]]]> Did you listen to the free Copywriting Master Class?

We put so much free material out there, it’s possible to overlook some of the gems.

If you’re a copywriter or if copywriting is important to your business, make sure you listen to the interview with me, Drayton Bird and Bob Bly…

Three guys with over 100 years of combined copywriting experience. You’re just not going to find this breadth and depth of experience anywhere else.

But don’t just take my word for how good this session was…

Ken

Did I get a chance to listen to the free Copywriting Master Class – heck I devoured  it!

I downloaded it directly to my Mp3 player, listened  to it a couple times before falling asleep that night  …and woke up to it playing over again in my ear the  next morning.

Whenever I get the chance to listen in on REAL pro’s  devulge their battle-tested secrets for improving  response… I’m all over it!

I’ve been on Bob’s list for ages and have purchased many of his info-products. Top-notch stuff! And Drayton is a total class act – and hilarious too.

Which reminds me… and this is something I’ve been  meaning to do for a long, LONG time… YOUR course,  “Advanced Copywriting for Serious Info-Marketers”  absolutely blows me away every time I listen to it.

Without a doubt, it’s easily one of the BEST courses  I have ever purchased on the subject in my life.

Heck, the first two chapters were worth the price of  admission!

Anyway, thanks for putting it out there.”

Best,

Dan Rollins

Direct Response Copywriter

CLICK HERE to access the free Copywriting Master Class

Perry Marshall was trained as an engineer and he brought his engineering mind set with him to his first System training.

The result?

Using the insights of the System as his foundation, Perry built the most solid, reliable, and thorough system for using Google AdWords [...]]]> Success is a system: Perry Marshall

Perry Marshall was trained as an engineer and he brought his engineering mind set with him to his first System training.

The result?

Using the insights of the System as his foundation, Perry built the most solid, reliable, and thorough system for using Google AdWords and other paid traffic sources you’ll find anywhere.

But AdWords is only the tip of the Perry Marshall iceberg.

Everything related to sales, marketing and business building can be reduced to a system. Learn how.

Listen to the audio of my interview with Perry below:

Download audio file (perry_0210.mp3)

Or click here to download

You’ve got a lot of choices when it comes to seminars and training programs.

Some folks think that all seminars are pretty much all alike.

They’re not.

We get a lot of letters like this over the course of the year. I thought I share one with [...]]]> It’s a jungle out there – choose wisely

You’ve got a lot of choices when it comes to seminars and training programs.

Some folks think that all seminars are pretty much all alike.

They’re not.

We get a lot of letters like this over the course of the year. I thought I share one with you.

What happens at other seminars…

“Dear Ken,

So in 2007, I started researching marketing in bookstores and on-line. That is when I discovered direct marketing. After a lengthy research, I narrowed down two seminars, yours and NAME WITHHELD.

…I decided to start out with NAME WITHHELD and SEMINAR NAME WITHHELD seminar. I want to be careful how I phrase this, because I’m sure NAME WITHHELD is an expert direct marketing copywriter. But I couldn’t have been more disappointed.

The first 30 – 40 minutes was about how great and successful they were, mixed in with lots of rah rah, cheerleading fluff. The next 20 – 30 minutes of their speech was a sales pitch to purchase their products (course, training, newsletter, coaching, etc.) where you could learn the real secrets of their success.

When NAME WITHHELD finally spoke on the last night, after about 30 minutes, attendees started clearing out of the room. I stayed and suffered through his accounts of how he charges $10,000 to $100,000 for a single sales letter he writes and other similar stories. It was somewhat akin to listening to a crusty, old man simultaneously relive the good old days and berate anyone who asked a thoughtful, intelligent question.

I learned far more from the free teleconference you just gave away than I did form the NAME WITHHELD conference which cost me $3,500 (seminar, flight, hotel, meals, transportation) to attend.

- Richard Rodriguez”

We thank Richard for being willing to share his experience.

Two points

1. We withheld the name of the seminar and seminar giver in question because I don’t want to be accused of attacking a competitor.

Frankly, though, I believe the world would be a better place if the “bait and switch” “pitchfest” seminar-givers would find another line of work. They’re doing a lot of harm to a lot of people.

2. We get letters like the one above all the time.

Fact of life: Starting around 2000 – 2003, the overall quality of seminars in general went into deep decline.

New people entering the business have little idea of standards and many veteran educators have embraced the “take the money and run” ethic that engulfed so much of our economy over the last ten years (Enron, WorldCom, Wall Street etc.)

There was a time – and it wasn’t that long ago – when you paid for a seminar, you got a seminar.

I’m old enough to remember those days…

…And I think those days were much, much better.

The current so-called state-of-the-art where prospects are promised the moon and then pitched to death with one random, half-baked sales pitch after another is a disgrace.

No pitching at the System Seminar

There’s nothing wrong with a speaker talking about options for future contact and involvement at the end of a solid presentation that delivers on its promise of offering real, substantial information.

But there is something very wrong with “new era” seminar presentations which are designed from the get-go to be nothing but not-so-thinly-disguised sales pitches.

Unfortunately, this has become the norm at most seminars today.

That’s why we do not allow product pitches at our seminars or seminar pitchmen on our faculty.

There is no pitching at the System Seminar because we believe…

When you pay for a seminar, you should GET a seminar!

Ken McCarthy

P.S. If your current financial situation does not permit you to attend the System, remember: there is more useful information in our free Pre-System faculty calls than there are in most paid seminars and products. Take advantage of them!

List of all the free training available from the System Seminar:

http://thesystemblog.com/welcome-to-the-system-faculty-interviews/

If you ask the average Internet marketer what the most important thing in Internet marketing is, most will say: traffic!

The gurus take [...]]]> Traffic is the easy part

If you ask the average Internet marketer what the most important thing in Internet marketing is, most will say: traffic!

The gurus take advantage of this by pushing one new loony traffic scheme after another.

Are they right?

Is traffic THE most important thing in Internet marketing?

Let’s take a hard look at this…because frankly, if you get this one thing wrong, it’s practically impossible to succeed.

So onward…

It’s called media buying

In the real world of marketing and advertising (as opposed to the make-believe one sold by the Internet gurus), advertising is broken down into:

* research
* creative
* media buying

RESEARCH is figuring out who to sell to, what to sell and how to sell it.

Smart companies invest in research BEFORE they commit time and dollars to running ads. This is the approach we teach at the System Seminar.

CREATIVE is creating the ads. Pretty straightforward.

MEDIA BUYING is the relatively simple and straightforward process of buying ad space or TV and radio time so that your ads have a place to run.

“Traffic” in Internet marketing is nothing more or less than online media buying.

Reality 101

A good media buyer can be worth his or her weight in gold.

They know all the outlets, they can negotiate good deals, they’re aware of “off radar” opportunities…

All good things.

But at the end of the day, it’s a mechanical function.

“Take this ad, put it here, pay this much…”

Here’s the bottom line:

Without a business model and an ad that works, media buys (including Internet traffic buys) are worth ZERO. In fact, they are worth less than zero because they cost you money.

It’s the business and creative strategies that make things happen – NOT the media buy and not the “traffic.”

Look at it this way: Without oxygen, you can’t fly a plane, so oxygen is, in fact, essential to flight.

But it’s the engine and the fuel that gets that plane off the ground.

Traffic is the oxygen. Yes, you need it, but traffic (like oxygen) is not exactly a rare commodity.

A winning creative campaign plugged into a business model that makes dollars and cents is the fuel and engine.

The ONLY way you’re going to get your plane (or your business) off the ground is if you’ve got an engine that works and fuel (business model + creative.)

It’s a jungle out there

So why do the Internet gurus rattle on and on about “traffic?”

Six months ago, it was Twitter. Twitter traffic was going to be the “solution” to every business problem… Now, apparently, it’s Facebook.

Give me a break! These people know they’re selling smoke – but they don’t care, so you need some tools to defend yourself.

Here’s a reliable guide you can use to dissolve the latest “traffic fad” junk the second it hits your inbox.

I recommend that you cut it out and paste it above your computer…

==========================================

Traffic + conversion = profits

On the one hand, if I can make the conversion work, I can make the traffic the pay.

On the other hand, if all I have is traffic – “free” traffic, social media traffic, SEO, whatever – and I can’t convert it profitably and on the scale it takes to build a business, I have nothing.

Traffic without conversion = ZERO

Conversion without traffic = POTENTIAL

Traffic + conversion = PROFITS

==========================================

What the heck is “conversion?”

Conversion is a term from direct marketing that means a “measurable response.”

In smart Internet marketing, EVERYTHING is about measurable response.

* An opt-in is a measurable response…

* A download is a measurable response…

* Watching a video is a measurable response…

*A click through is a measurable response…

*A sale is a measurable response…

Conversion is getting a prospect to take a specific action you want him to take that leads him closer to making a purchase.

The whole game – the WHOLE game – of Internet marketing is:

- Converting readers to clickers (click through)…

- Visitors to action takers (opt-in, download, buy).

Successful Internet marketers tracks these things.

Tracking tells them what media to get, where to get it, when to buy it and how much to spend.

Buying, or otherwise, acquiring traffic, without this information is flying blind.

The greatest conversion secret

There’s a group of people out there who are experts in the art and science generating maximum conversions.

They’re called….

<drum roll please>

Copywriters.

Copywriters are people who write ads (also known as “ad copy” which is why they’re called “copywriters.”)

These are the guys and gals who put the words on the page that inspire people to click… download…opt-in…and buy.

The surest method I know for getting rich is to connect a sound business model with a skilled copywriter.

But notice, please, that you need BOTH.

The world’s greatest copywriter can’t turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse.

Now, here’s something that few people realize…

Veteran copywriters from the real world – as opposed to make-believe gurus from the Internet world – are also VERY good at creating and
improving business models.

Why?

Because they’ve seen the inner workings of hundreds of businesses…they actually get “under the hood” and tweak the mechanics…and SEE the effect their work has on their client’s profitability.

Bottom line: If you want to improve your conversion (and profits), it’s COPYWRITING that you want to focus on NOT the latest guru-hyped
“traffic-scam-of-the month.”

Masters of conversion

These days it seems everyone and their brother is a copywriter.

That’s understandable because skilled copywriters are very well paid – for obvious reasons. They can actually make or break a business.

But calling yourself a copywriter and charging as if you were a copywriter is not the same as BEING a copywriter.

That’s why I’ve always taken great care who I endorse in the field of copywriting.

I’ve had three copywriters TOTAL speak at the System Seminar: Gary Halbert was one of them.

When I endorse books and home study courses, I talk about John Caples, Claude Hopkins, Vic Schwab, Eugene Schwartz, David Ogilvy, Gary Bencivenga -  and the real practitioners who acknowledge these giants – and that’s it!

Selective, very, very, very selective…

When the going gets tough, the tough get going

This year, at System Seminar 2010, we’re putting a special emphasis on copywriting AKA conversion AKA the fuel that makes the money-making engine run.

…So I’m bringing in two real giants of the field who have…never appeared at a System Seminar before…never appeared in the same venue before…and are rarely, if ever, seen in live trainings.

The FIRST GIANT has been writing ad copy and designing sales systems for as long as I’ve been alive: 50 years. (I was born in 1959 and that’s
the year he started his direct marketing career.)

He has worked with David Ogilvy, Eugene Schwartz, Joe Karbo (“The Lazy Man’s Guide to Riches.”)

In fact, he sold his massively successful direct marketing business to Ogilvy and then spent eight years teaching Ogilvy’s people worldwide how to do direct marketing right.

The SECOND GIANT has been writing ad copy and designing sales systems for over thirty years.

Along the way, he’s written over a dozen books on sales and advertising and is known in the business as “a copywriter’s copywriter.”

For decades, serious ad writers have hung on his every word, grabbing up his books as soon as they’ve come out and making sure they don’t miss his columns.

REAL heavyweights…with REAL verifiable track records…who work with REAL business…

Together for the first time ever.

You can get started right now

If you’ve read this far, you know two things:

1. Conversion is FAR more important than traffic or media buying tricks.

2. Copywriters are the world’s best converters.

Now, you can learn directly from two of the real giants of the field – and you can get started now with a free Master Class from the System Seminar.

Details:

http://www.TheSystemSeminar.com/masterclass

Enjoy!

Ken

If you follow the gurus, you’ll notice they’re very good at two things: 1) bragging about themselves and 2) [...]]]> Mobile marketing: realities and opportunities
Kim Dushinski, System Grad

If you follow the gurus, you’ll notice they’re very good at two things: 1) bragging about themselves and 2) bragging about the imaginary accomplishments of their promotional partners.

At the System Seminar, we brag too – about our graduates.

System Grads succeed.

They launch successful businesses, they build successful careers, and they even become leaders in the real world of Internet marketing.

In this interview, we feature one of these people, Kim Dushinski, author of the best selling guide “The Mobile Marketing Handbook”.

We talk about the impact the System had on Kim’s career and get insights into the fascinating and fast growing world of mobile marketing.

Listen to the audio of my interview with Kim Dushinski below:

Download audio file (dushinski.mp3)

Or click here to download