Business
First Editorial Prevent
Disaster or Meet it Head-on
The Third Degree Interview
Theresa Cahill, a.k.a. "The Wiz"
Center Stage with
Tom LeBlanc, Home Entrepreneur's home entrepreneur
Guest Writer, Not Ghostwriter
A shameless plea for article contributions
Random Ramblings and Miscellaneous Musings
Business "Shakeouts"
Write Thinking Ten
Reasons Why (some) People Dislike Reading On-line
Preview of coming distractions A
glimpse into the future
Business
First (Editorial)
Prevent
Disaster or Meet it Head-on
by Phil Hanson
As
economic opportunities (jobs) disappear from manufacturing sectors
of our traditional industrial-based economy, people flock to
the Internet in hopes of finding, or creating, sustainable livelihoods
and financial stability in the emerging information-based economy.
Perhaps you are one of these people.
Yes,
opportunities for employment and economic gain do exist on the
Internet. In fact, the 'Net's full potential for conducting
business on-line has yet to be tapped; e-commerce is still in
its infancy. However, before you rush to open your e-business,
you should be aware of some of the hidden pitfalls that lie
in wait for complacent, unsuspecting Internet entrepreneurs.
What you don't know can (and probably will) hurt you.
The
Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings section, in odd-numbered
issues of Petey's Pipeline, addresses potential problems that
can derail your on-line business. By educating yourself, now,
you can prepare your business to meet the challenges and the
dangers that lurk in the not-too-distant future.
The
premiere edition of Petey's Pipeline introduces the first installment
of Random Ramblins & Miscellaneous Musings and part one
of a series devoted to the coming e-commerce shakeout. Learn
what you need to know to protect yourself and your on-line enterprise.
Don't
wait for disaster to take you by surprise! Be prepared to meet
it head-on, instead.
The
Third Degree
Interview
with Theresa Cahill
by Phil Hanson
We
couldn't think of a better interview subject, to kick off our
premiere issue, than Theresa Cahill, owner of My
Wizard Ads and publisher of TheWizWorld MRC Newsletter.
Ms. Cahill, through her philosophy of "people helping people
to succeed," has helped countless Internet entrepreneurs.
Her gracious consent to do this interview gives us an opportunity
to implement our own philosophy — what comes around goes
around — and we do so now, without hesitation or reservation.
Petey:
Did you have any particular education or training that prepared
you for writing, or is yours an inherent ability?
Cahill:
Your question is phrased in such a way that, first, I need to
say, "Thank you!" What a lovely compliment.
In answer, I guess the fact that I truly love to read helps
me to write. I write by ear, not by training. Other than knowing
that a noun is a person, place, or thing, I don't know the technicalities
of writing, so don't ask me. I can't tell you why, but I just
seem to know how to do it. My dad claims to be the same way.
When we both want the "real" reason, we ask my sister.
Petey:
You have a number of articles archived on the My Wizard Ads
Web site, so you obviously spend a good deal of your time writing.
At what point in your life did you develop a passion for writing?
Cahill:
I've wanted to be a writer all of my life. I can remember, when
I was around the age of ten or so, writing lots of poetry. I
even had my sister do water colors, thinking I could get them
published. From time to time I still give it a shot.
In fact, I wrote two children's stories a few years ago, only
to discover how difficult it is to get anything published if
you're not already "someone," or if you don't have
the cash or the pull to make it into print.
That's the beauty of being on-line! The "simple" process
of creating e-books has provided me with a way to get published,
with no rejection slips! By electronically creating my Step-by-Step
series (of which only one volume exists, so far), I've sort
of realized my dream. I have three other e-book ideas floating
around inside my head, with about half my ideas existing on
paper. And, I still think I have a Steven
King novel, of sorts, inside of me.
I'm so nuts about writing that I used to literally take pen
to paper and edit (read "slash") the living daylights
out of junk mail (oops, marketing material) that arrived via
snail mail! If you have the time and need a laugh, just read
some of it! Nine times out of ten it's awful. I actually had
dreams of sending it back to the original creator and charging
money for the rewrites! I truly thought about turning that into
a business of some sort, as it's certainly needed. Who knows?
I still might.
When we first moved to Nevada, the local paper drove me up a
wall with headlines that made no sense and paragraphs that were
so grammatically challenged that my brain would melt. Again,
with pen to paper I'd edit them until nothing of the original
was left. I realized it was becoming a bit of an obsession,
along with being extremely time consuming, so I quit—there
really was no hope! Now, we just laugh over the mistakes and
hope that not too many people read the darn things.
Petey:
You're working on your second decade of marketing. How much
of that decade plus have you spent conducting business on-line?
When did you go on-line for the first time?
Cahill:
My first introduction to being on-line was in San Diego back
in the very early 90's. While I'd been in marketing of some
sort or another since about 1980, the Internet became mine via
AOL (didn't we all start there?) about then. I did not jump
into the marketing community at that point, though. My first
discovery was a rash of electronic bulletin boards, particularly
game site bulletin boards. My son was 3 at the time (he's now
12) and already developing a passion for video and computer
games. With little money for much else, the little 386 computer
and its modem provided a lot of entertainment!
While I have extensive computer skills and a solid marketing
background, I didn't change my focus to marketing on-line until
around 1998, or so. Initially, I had absolutely no idea there
was even such a thing as an affiliate program. Playing games
at pogo.com was my passion. Then, one day, someone mentioned
(you're not allowed to, but this person sneaked it in) AllAdvantage.
Remember that little surf bar? Earn a penny, or so, per hour
just by keeping it "green?" And that started everything.
By the time I'd worked my way through those types of programs,
plus the paid-to-read e-mail programs and the fly-by-night matrix
programs, a year-and-a-half had gone by! I'd joined over 300
programs and several major downline groups, producing a grand
total of about $100 for my efforts!
With the lectures from my hubby getting worse and worse (and
he was right!) about spending from dawn to dark but earning
nothing; and with the house falling to ruin, I decided, in disgust,
to create my own web site; thus, TheWizWorld.com
was born. My other passion, at the time (besides wanting to
prove I could make money on-line), was the "strange &
unusual," so the site centered on the paranormal, with
a bit of Web site resources thrown in.
My first "newsletter" was my announcement to about
13 friends in my address book asking them to go check out the
Web site. I threw in some "weird stuff" to make it
interesting, and my e-zine was born!
After a year or so of strange & unusual, and a largely unresponsive
mailing list, I decided to totally revamp TheWizWorld.
Out with the "strange & unusual," and in with
good marketing resources and a "people helping people succeed
online" approach.
Personal name branding—the "why you know the Terry
Dean's of the world"—and achieving it for yourself
is the primary focus of the site, now.
And I just love it! If you get the chance, read the current
and back issues in the archives. My subscribers provide all
of that, other than a bit from me now and then! These are people
with a good understanding that personal name branding DOES work
online!
Petey:
What word processing software do you use?
Cahill:
For basic stuff, I've downloaded a free program called Texit.
It's like Notepad and Wordpad, with slightly more features.
I was a "Word Perfect only" person at one time, but
since I don't want to spend that kind of money, I've opted for
the Student and Teachers Edition of Office. I will, when pushed,
open and use Microsoft Word, but Word doesn't always do everything
as easily or as well as Word Perfect does, and some things it
won't do at all.
Petey:
Do you do your own Web site design and construction, or do you
hire professional design services?
Cahill:
When I started, I knew absolutely nothing about coding in HTML.
But, I did find numerous Web sites whose looks I liked and I
soon learned how to view source with the best of them to see
"how d'ya do dat?" by looking at the code.
Every bit of code at My Wizard Ads and TheWizWorld,
along with my Step-by-Step site and sales letter, and
my own domain name Web site theresacahill.com (there's not too
much there, yet), has been hand coded by me. I admit it! I'm
a control freak!
Actually, from 1980 to 1991 (and to this day), my forte was,
and is, desktop publishing. Web site design is just a matter
of finding out "where did they hide the keys this time?"
I really enjoy doing it because I am picky. If I want spacing
"just so," I will get it "just so."
The downside is, and might always remain, my lack of any graphics
talent. Stick figures are fine, but anything else? That's the
reason why most of my banners are text ad banners!
I also don't know any real programming, so PHP, Java script,
etc., come from either free or paid-for Web sites, and are typically
installed for me by a very good friend.
I did, however, purchase two (huge!) books on PHP programming—a
beginner's guide and a professional's edition. My goal is to
teach myself some of it this year—if I can make the time!
Petey:
The Internet continues to evolve. On-line business strategies
that worked so well, yesterday, often don't work at all, today.
Because of this constant state of flux have you had to change
your focus to keep pace?
Cahill:
I wish I had a truly earth-shaking answer for you, but the answer
is... no. While I do keep my eyes open for new ways to advertise
and for opportunities to learn new strategies, the gist of my
own success centers on helping others advertise, and, of course,
advertising my own businesses.
Even two or three years later, there are still those "here
to stay" methods that just can't be beat. The first is
e-zine advertising! Even with all the mailing wars going on,
newsletters and e-zines will continue to be a mainstay of the
marketing community. Even those who are interested in things
other than marketing join mailing lists. And, inside most of
those mailings are the traditional six-to-ten line ads. Of course,
with the advent of HTML mailing list publishing, they just get
prettier and prettier, too.
Search engine ranking still remains high on the list of what
to do and how to get it done. Good, solid meta tags and someone
who knows all about the changing world of (search engine) spiders
are worth their weight in gold. This may sound like a shameless
plug, but stop by My Wizard Ads and click on the meta
tag services to have your own domain tags checked. Tons of traffic
comes my way via searches.
Petey: Do you hire employees or have partners that help
you run My Wizard Ads and TheWizWorld MRC Newsletter,
or do you run a solo operation?
Cahill:
Ah, the truth will out! Both My Wizard Ads and TheWizWorld
MRC Newsletter are "family owned." However, the
truth be told, these little fingers of mine do all the work.
Again, we head back to that "I'm a control freak"
message above. I've always had a problem delegating—even
back in my freelance consulting days. Sometimes it's just easier
(and faster) to do it myself.
My e-mail replies sometimes use the word "we." It's
my acknowledgment that, because of our family structure, I'm
able to stay home and give this "make a living in your
pajamas" a go.
The other truth is this is really MY passion—a one-woman
operation—and no one else here seems to want to get too
involved.
We do, all of us, bounce ideas around on occasion, but the day-to-day
grind (and beyond) is left completely up to me.
Petey:
What gave you the idea to start an e-zine advertising co-op?
What difficulties (if any) did you face when you first started
your on-line businesses?
Cahill:
I started the co-op out of basic self-defense! No, really, at
the time of my first e-zine I was swapping ads with about 150
publishers. This alone was creating a whole separate issue each
week. Then, the thought occurred to me to ask these same publishers
if they'd like to co-op with me. A little less than half of
them took me up on the offer and My Wizard Ads was born.
Petey:
Do you have a favorite mentor, someone who was particularly
helpful in getting your business started?
Cahill:
I owe everything to Seqkat of Village
of Tidbits.com. About three years ago, when my first
e-zine was at about 400 subscribers, I wrote her and asked,
"when can a publisher start attempting to sell their advertising?"
She said, "Now!" and told me how to go about doing
it. Since then, I've been happily selling advertising in some
way, shape, or form. In fact, Seqkat has an e-mail course to
start publishing and it's a good one. She's the best!
My second mentor, though he doesn't think of himself in that
way at all, is Raymond McNally of RTD
Websolutions.com. He's a wealth of information and happy
to help, anytime! He's a busy guy, and he has a great attitude
that the Web is big enough for all of us. Raymond's been marketing
online for a little over 4 years (I could be off by a year,
or two) and he doesn't hesitate to share what he knows.
Petey:
Are you a "home entrepreneur" or do you maintain an
office away from home?
Cahill:
Everything I do in based out of my home and, yes, I do sit here
in my pj's, sometimes.
Petey:
If you're surfing the Web and an article or advertisement catches
your eye, what is it about that article or ad that motivates
you to read it?
Cahill:
My primary interest and reason for reading any article is to
discover new methods for increasing traffic to a Web site. Articles
on search engines, meta tags, how to get listed, writing and
where to post, etc., are my favorites.
That
said, the eye-catching part proves the marketing experts are
right—make your headline unique. Grab my attention. Tell
me WHY, and what I'll be missing if I don't stop, right this
second, and read more.
With
so many pages out there, you shouldn't rely on typical ads supplied
by program owners if you can come up with better ones of your
own. I look for ads and sales pages that truly sound like someone
knows what they are talking about and I'm impressed when they
take the time to think up clever ways to tell me.
Petey:
There are numerous articles that claim people don't like to
read on-line. What do you dislike most about reading on-line?
Cahill:
Actually, I don't like to read on-line. I'm a "hold it
in your lap, coffee and snack" type of reader. There just
can never be something that replaces reading real pages—certainly
not a computer screen!
I think it's a few things, like no matter how hard you try you
can't get the lighting just right on a monitor. There's the
eyestrain! It's impersonal! It's work! I think this sort of
covers it for me. It's a personal choice but, like I said, I
just prefer holding a book (or printouts) in my hands.
That covers my feelings about reading on-line, but I think there's
another issue here. You said that articles claim people don't
like reading on-line. Maybe the truth is more along the lines
of people won't take the time to read on-line.
With so many Web sites hoping to entice you away from your money,
not reading beforehand is a true danger. There's a difference
between reading an e-book for information on-line and reading
(or not) a Web site prior to whipping out the old credit card.
My suggestion is to forget the impulse buy. If you don't have
time to read, bookmark the site; then, write yourself a note
explaining why you want to go back to the Web site. Plan your
purchases for when you do have the time to read about, and comprehend,
what you are buying. It's common sense.
Petey:
Can you tell us a little bit about the interactive nature of
TheWizWorld MRC Newsletter and how it works to build
your subscriber list?
Cahill:
I guess the reason why TheWizWorld MRC works so well
is that subscribers are given a clear understanding of the e-zine's
purpose—which is to build one's personal name branding.
That said, I offer sub-themes in each issue by asking a question
and asking for input. All who submit include a signature file
as their "ad." It's free advertising for them; people
get to know who they are and they're able to establish some
true "'Networking."
As for building the list, I know all sorts of methods to grow
a big list, quickly, but I've opted not to do that with the
new TheWizWorld. This time around, no one is automatically
subscribed. They must first visit the Web site and take a look
around, then decide for themselves if it's the right one for
them. Of course, there's a subscribe link on every page.
The list is growing slowly, but surely. And, now, I know that
everyone on the list truly wants to be there in the first place.
Petey:
Your article about the dangers posed by Habeas Corp. certainly
caused a stampede to sign the petition at OMPUAC.
Do you have any additional thoughts about Habeas that you'd
like to share?
Cahill:
I never thought, in my wildest dreams, that something like this
could, or would, affect the 'Net. I still sit hear shaking my
head that it's come to this at all.
I think what most people are missing is that their fundamental
RIGHT to use the 'Net is changing, and that it's being changed
for them, without their asking.
I don't think most people understand that they're giving up
a basic right and I fear they won't know that it's been stolen
from them until it's too late.
Though many articles detail every little bit of information,
I believe some have fallen short by conveying too much. Strange?
Yes. But, with the information overload out there already, sometimes
straightforward and quick is the best.
I hope my article has done that...!
Petey:
Do you have any predictions for the future of the Internet?
Cahill:
Wow, I wish I did... I'd be a truly rich woman. Seriously though,
I believe that e-commerce will continue. I believe newsletters
and e-zines are here to stay because publishers love to publish.
I believe people will always have something they'd like to share
with, or advertise to, their fellow man or woman.
What I think would be great is something along the lines of
flash technology, only taken a step further. Sort of like turning
the computer into a free-flowing television set for presenting
material.
I remember way back, when I logged onto the 'Net for the first
time, I was sort of disappointed. I was expecting more audio/visual,
I guess. However, I must confess; it's only once in a blue moon
when I even turn my speaker on, now.
Anyway, about predictions? If I have any, you'll be the first
to know.
Copyright
© 2003 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Center
Stage with Tom LeBlanc
Beginning
with Issue #2, Tom ferrets out the best resources, products
and services available to Internet entrepreneurs and targets
them for evaluation. Then, he brings them center stage so you
can evaluate them, too. Look for Tom's brief report to appear
in even-numbered issues of Petey's Pipeline.
Tom
LeBlanc is a licensed physical therapist, published author,
home entrepreneur and 'Netrepreneur. His Web sites include Home-Entrepreneurs.com
and Transition-Home.com.
Guest
Writer, Not Ghostwriter
Coming
soon!
Like
to write articles? Want to sound off about something you read
in Petey's Pipeline E-zine? Send articles or comments to the
editor: editor@perfecttext.com. The best ones get published.
No payment at this time, but a good way to promote yourself,
your Web site, or your business, in Petey's Pipeline E-zine.
Random
Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
Business
"Shakeouts"
by Phil Hanson
To
fully understand why sweeping changes are now in progress, we
need to examine some interesting parallels between the old economic
paradigm and the new. Because the past is a great teacher (we
ignore its lessons at our own peril), a few brief history lessons
yield our most important clues.
The
smokestack economy began with the steam engine. The information
economy began with computers.
Transportation
was, literally, the prime mover of the industrial-based economy,
just as communications are the prime movers of the emerging
information-based economy.
Industrial
production demanded transportation of all kinds to deliver raw
materials, production workers and manufactured goods to their
various destinations. The manufacture of ships, trains, trucks,
automobiles and airplanes created new industries and new transportation
networks.
The
information economy demands all kinds of communications technology
to deliver statistics, specifications and other raw or processed
data to their various destinations. The manufacture of computers
and computer software, fiber-optic and microwave components,
launch vehicles and orbiting satellites has created new industries
and new communications networks.
So
much for background. Now, let's take a look at how a shakeout
works. For our example, let's use the transportation industry,
as it has a correlation to Internet commerce. The Internet is
to e-commerce as transportation networks were (and are) to the
industrial economy.
Before
trucks began replacing rail cars as the primary movers of transcontinental
and interstate freight, trucking was a wide-open industry. There
were few restrictions on which truckers could haul which products;
there were no hauling rights, no weight limits and no safety
regulations.
It's
not surprising, then, that the first round of shakeouts affected
fly-by-night operators the most. Those who earned bad reputations
in their business dealings soon found themselves out of business.
The
next round of shakeouts came when state and federal governments
imposed strict regulations on the trucking industry. Regulated
freight and freight rates, hauling rights and other restrictions
put the squeeze on independent truckers, to the benefit of the
larger companies.
Rising
fuel costs and taxes took their toll on companies both large
and small and were directly responsible for a third round of
shakeouts.
A
fourth round of shakeouts occurred with deregulation in the
early 1980's, which had almost the opposite effect of regulation.
Now, large companies suffered as independent truckers rushed
to fill the void.
Saturation
caused a fifth round of shakeouts when many independents—due
largely to indiscriminate competition for available freight,
increased costs and lower profit margins—began to fail.
This
hasn't been a definitive analysis of why trucking companies
(or any other companies, for that matter) fail, nor was it meant
to be. I've cited only the most obvious reasons here because
their analogies either now exist, or will soon exist, in Internet
commerce. To put it another way, you can't tell where you're
headed if you don't know where you've been.
Copyright
© 2003–2005 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
=================================================================
Next,
in Part 2 (issue #3), we'll examine some recent or current events
to get a better sense of what the future holds in store. In
the meantime, if you have ideas, opinions or commentary of your
own regarding this subject, why not share them with Petey's
Pipeline readers?
Submit
your thoughtful, thought-provoking comments to editor@perfecttext.com.
=================================================================
Write
Thinking
Top
Ten Reasons Why (some) People Dislike Reading On-line
by Phil Hanson
According
to conventional wisdom, people hate to read on-line. While I
can't claim to speak for everyone, I can give a fairly
accurate accounting of the reasons why I dislike reading
on-line. I'm only assuming that there are other people who share
my dislikes.
One
thing's for certain; when I encounter a Web site that displays
any of the following errors on its pages, I can't click off
the site fast enough. Of course, I'm only assuming that
there are others who do the same.
1.
A too small font size, which makes reading difficult and results
in eyestrain.
2. Distractions caused by flashing, blinking or moving text
or objects in close proximity to the text being read.
3. Low contrast between font color and the background color
against which it appears, which renders text nearly invisible.
4. Too much clutter, which causes confusion and competes for
a reader's attention.
5. Having to scroll the page sideways to read lines of text.
6. Poor spelling.
7. Grammatical errors.
8. Factual errors.
9. Structural errors.
10. Failure to observe style conventions.
When
you develop written content for your Web pages, it's to your
advantage to address the above-mentioned deficiencies by doing
a careful proofreading before you upload the content
to your domain server.
When
you eliminate as many excuses for not reading on-line as possible,
more people stay on your site for longer periods of time. When
you increase your site's "stickiness" you improve
your chances for making sales.
Copyright
© 2003 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Preview
of Coming Distractions
In
the next issue, Tom LeBlanc takes center stage and points
us to a cool little Web site with some cool offerings, Write
Thinking reveals a handful of the most common writing errors
and the ghost hunt for guest writers continues. See you in two
weeks.
Disclaimer
The
articles appearing in Petey's Pipeline E-zine are based on information
believed to be true at the time of publication.
Neither Perfecttext.com, Petey's Pipeline E-zine nor their publisher
assume any liability or responsibility as to the accuracy or
efficacy of any information, products or services that are submitted,
advertised or rendered by contributors to Petey's Pipeline E-zine.
While we make every effort to screen out scam artists and bogus
offers, you should still do your homework. Caveat emptor!
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