Yep – some people just want to pick holes in everything!

I’m with you on this one: nothing wrong with comparing two sites offering the same service. Nothing wrong at all.

Providing a comparative review of each is definitely very useful information. Actually, more useful than an article reviewing a single product.

Plus you get two possibilities of a sale

Cheers,

Martin.

But really I think they were getting at is that how can you put those 2 companies side by side. Direct competition. Well my thought is lets say you go in the store looking for what ever say Toilet Paper. The store carries many brands right? They are on the shelf side by side right? So whats the difference. Well maybe I am wrong but I am leaving it.

I want, like you, to provide my readers with information. I will only promote things I believe in.

I have to come by here more often. You have some good stuff here.

Thanks for making me think!
Jim
Jim Hardin´s last blog ..Nutritional Value of Passionate WordPress Blog Bread

Yes – I agree with your analogy of the group of friends at the pub, but the difference with social media is that you do have a choice not to read the tweet (or equivalent) and the option to block the individual if they’re persistent.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not for one moment suggesting it’s OK to push (spam) your ads in the social media. Not for one moment.

But the incident I referred to above (where I was slagged off) was not spam. I was answering a question with a link to good, relevant information. The recipient just got a bee in his bonnet and went crazy. And that’s not the only time I’ve had that kind of reaction

The problem is that people who have nothing better to do set themselves up as the spam police and decide (based on their own criteria) what is and isn’t spam. On one occasion (exactly the same as the incident I referred to above) the person even hash tagged my reply as spam.

Luckily the Twitter people disagreed with him because it didn’t have any impact on my account – but it could have.

Cheers,

Martin.

This is an interesting post, and raises a lot of questions about what’s the best business model to implement on the internet. There’s no doubt that the internet has changed people’s expectations of what they believe to be value.

Over the last ten years many local retailers have been forced out of business as their old customer base discovered the global market through the internet.

Not too long ago if you wanted a book you had a number of choices available to you, most involving going into a town centre and browsing bookshops looking for the best buy. Now you just type a search on Google and get an instant list of the cheapest places to buy a product, order it, and receive it within days.

I’ve been running my own online art store for a number of years. To begin with I sold on price, selling cheap. I decided I didn’t like the work involved in that stratergy and increased all my prices substantially.

My logic was, fewer sales at a higher price would cover the inevitable loss of custom. This proved to be the case. i’m not interested in dealing with people who always want something for nothing.

As far as internet marketing goes people have become spoilt with all the free content on the net, but if you build a list of people who trust you, you can still make money selling information and affiliate products.

It’s all about trust. Blogging, like you say is hard work, I have four blogs and I know the work involved. Like you I enjoy it but I also aim to make money from my efforts. If people are not happy with that then they can move on.

On social media though, I agree that people should not try to sell directly on these sites. The way I look at it is if I’m in a social gathering with a group of friends, in a pub for example, and one of them keeps pulling things from his pocket and asking everyone if they want to buy it, I wouldn’t be happy.

I think internet marketers will have to rethink their business models, we will have to become more subtle, more clever. The music industry had to change it’s business model when it couldn’t stop people from downloading music for free.

There’s a gap in the market for a new model. If I can come up with one I’ll run a course and make millions.

Long time no see, and Happy New Year!

I’m delighted you disagreed with me – although it was only over who created the rods! And, actually, I don’t think we disagree on that anyway – you just worded it better than me.

You’re 100% right, though, about never being able to please everyone and that point came out quite strongly in the comments on the CopyBlogger article.

I do agree with getting your readers to understand what your point is. I can’t remember where I picked it up, but in some email marketing article I learnt to make sure you have a promotional email early in your email autoresponder sequence, (like in the first 2 or 3 messages) because it conditions your subscribers to the fact that you’re in this for a business.

Then they’re less likely to unsubscribe when other promotional emails come later.

Cheers,

Martin.

And thanks for your article on CopyBlogger – it was a cracker!

Cheers,

Martin.

Cheers,

Martin.

Always Bumby Scott
Bumby Scott´s last blog ..Bumbys Preppy Wishes For The New Year