I first want to highlight a couple of things BEFORE we get into the meat of this post…

This is a MARKETING blog. This post is going to be quite a bit about marketing.

There WILL be some techie stuff discussed as well, but, very high level. Hopefully not too techie to bore marketing folk to death.

I AM a UBER techie, who has been working with Linux since a couple of days after Linus released his very 1st kernel on the Internet in 1991.

I have been using Linux ever since for MANY different things. I DO use Windows for much of my marketing activities, as the software I use is not yet available on Linux.

Thank goodness for VMWare which allows me to run Windows on top of Linux.

Unlike Microsoft Windows, which has a couple of live “versions” out there, Linux has HUNDREDS of distributions, better known as distros in the Linux community.

Many of them are targeted at specific audiences and market segments.

Generally Linux is free, as the main part of the operating system, the kernel, is released under the GPL.

Some companies DO charge a fee, but, this is either for distribution costs, or, for support.

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Here we are in the third official week of 2009, and the Internet Marketing launches are coming thick and strong!

Don’t get me wrong here, I have no problem with big product launches which are promoted by every man and his dog.

It’s the nature of our business and comes part and parcel with Internet Marketing, especially since Product Launch Formula by Jeff Walker hit the streets a couple of years ago.

Internet Marketing is not the only industry that does launches though.

Here are just some examples of other industries doing product launches:

• Movies
• Cars
• Food
• Computer hardware and software

So, why then do I start off this post, sounding like I am about to complain about product launches?

Let me kind of answer you by asking a question…

Of all the launches in Internet Marketing you have seen since you have been involved in IM, how many of those products are still actively marketed and sold? How many are still being discussed even a couple of weeks after the launch?

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Money in the list?

There is the OLD saying: The money is in the list.

I agree with this wholeheartedly!

BUT, and you KNEW there was a BUT coming…

Most “gurus” tell you to give away free stuff to build your list. This generally works well, and if done correctly, you can grow quite a size-able list in a fairly short amount of time.

I still think there is a caveat to this bit of advice…

Let me explain by way of example….

Yesterday, a fairly big marketer, good friend, and mentor of mine, emailed one of my offers to one of his lists.

The list in question is over 50K in size, and he has built this up over a year or so period by giving away freebies. The list is very fresh, and gets marketed to very regularly.

So, the offer was for a VERY limited set of resell rights at $197 a seat. Not cheap, but, by no means expensive considering some of the BIG launches we have seen over the past couple of months.

The actual email copy was LONG, and had the link in it all over the place. The email itself was brilliantly written by said marketer. I read it top to bottom, and if it wasn’t my own product being sold, I would have bought, just from reading that email!

So, BIG list, well known marketer, GREAT email, great offer, reasonable price. What happened?

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Happy New Year 2009

Well, the new year is upon us already! It feels like just a couple of days ago, I was wishing you a happy 2008!

Let me start off then with one of my favorite new years wishes…

“May the BEST of 2008, be the WORST of 2009!“

Secondly, let me apologize…. This is a new theme, which I am still working on. I KNOW that in Internet Explorer the search bar pops down onto the title of the 1st post. In FireFox, it works 100%! IE is every web developers WORST nightmare!

Right, best wishes out of the way, and apologies out of the way. Now time to get on with the actual post, and let you know what lies in store for Imnica in 2009.

FIRST, a question if I may…

How was YOUR 2008? Did you accomplish everything you set out to do? Did you deliver on all you promises?

Well, I’ll be honest… We did NOT deliver on all our promises, nor did we do everything we set out to do!

Time for some honesty here…

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