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Whew, I made it! And it’s simply no fun to take a red eye flight from SFO, let me tell you. But, like most time’s I leave for a convention, there was an immediate surge of productivity (even on the plane ride here).

First off, new versions of tweetdeck, hootsuite, and socialoomph are installed on my laptop(s), and my iphone, and blackberry where possible. I’m not big into social media (as I’ve told you previously, it’s a case of ROI), but I really threw myself into it for this week, to see what results may happen (if any). The Underground online seminar twitter feed hastag is #UG6, and my username is … MarketingCrazy.

This is the pre-day, but my head is already swimming with ideas. I wasn’t too psyched about this year’s pre-day, since it’s geared towards younger entrepreneurs, and I’m very, very, old (ok, so not THAT old. So far, I’m enjoying it far more than I thought I would, and even though there’s NOT a lot of meat (if any) in the presentations, there’s a ton of inspiration and stories that are truly motivating. It’s a pre-day … I came for the random piece of info, and so far, I’m very happy I did.

This hotel is great! It’s in a part of DC I have never been to, and I love the location and the rooms, and all the free perks (including pay once coffee - free refills all day!).  Expect me to be very wired …

My conference travel pack now consists of a: Macbook Pro 13′, a Thinkpad Edge (Red/AMD), my iphone, my crackberry, my flip camera and that’s it (isn’t that enough?). Shortly, I’ll be adding the Ipad to my road warrior arsenal as well as the latest Thinkpad X301 series when released.

Things are happening … If you’re here, direct message me at #MarketingCrazy on Twitter, or email to MarketingCrazy@gmail.com …

Ok, I had to share this! Hot on the heels of my post, Yanik Silver sends out an email blowing the lid off of what’s really going on at many supposed internet marketing conferences. Ok, so maybe not blowing the lid, as almost everyone knows this … but MAYBE you didn’t.

He says it better than me, so I’m going to reprint his email here (and put in my affiliate links to go to the seminar), but I really hope you listen. It’s so disheartening to see so many people go to seminars where the sold goal (aptly executed) is to get you to have an emotional buying response (over-riding your common sense), spend a lot of money at each speaker’s “presentation”, and leave (often) in more dire circumstances than when you came.

Here’s the scoop, direct from my email, to your ears and eyes (care of Yanik Silver’s hand):

Good morning Agent Evan:

I’m about to reveal confidential and privileged information that you probably won’t hear from anyone else (and I know some people definitely won’t like the fact I’m breathing a single word about this).

You see, I’ve been on the inside of a lot of seminars as a guest speaker and know
exactly how the ‘game’ works.

Here’s the deal: The host will invite a bunch of people to speak at their conference with two considerations in mind. #1 - How large their list is to promote the event and #2 - How well they can sell product at the back of the room.

For the most part (with very few exceptions) it’s true and here’s the other dirty secret…

Most speakers are not paid one thin dime to show up at these events. They have to pay their own pay for travel, hotel and meals. So before they even step foot on stage they are hundreds if not thousands in the hole. That means the only way for them to get compensated for showing up is to sell, sell, sell! Usually this translates to the fact they *have* to spend lots of time pitching their products and services. Really hammering the audience getting them to buy. Essentially their presentation is a thinly veiled commercial.

Why am I telling you all of this?

To show you yet another reason the Underground® seminar is different. I’m paying for the speakers to be there. I’m picking up the tab on their airfare, hotel and taking them out to some awesome dinners. They’re not there to sell you their products or services. (In fact, many of them have nothing to sell.)

Plus, I didn’t pick my speakers for their ability to fill the room. Many of them couldn’t
sell one ticket because their lists could give a flying fig about Internet marketing. I chose them strictly for the content they’d deliver to you for their real-world ventures.

—

http://www.UGOSeminar.com

—

Actually I’m so serious about delivering immediately useful content here - that I’m even putting up $10k of my own money. You get to vote for the speaker who gave you the most directly impactful information you can take straight to the bank. The winner is going to be awarded ‘Top Underground Marketer’ and they get a huge plaque. Plus they get a $10,000.00 check that goes to their favorite charity. (THEY sure don’t need the money!)

Now I can tell you one thing for sure - most of these guys and gals are super competitive. That means, they are going to go all out trying to outdo one another vying for “the crown” while you sit back and soak it all in.

Remember this event is not bringing in the same usual ”suspects”. I’ve managed to
uncover a secretive group of real-people making real money online *NOT* selling “how to make money online” info.

These ‘under-the-radar’ successes don’t advertise their accomplishments because they don’t need to nor want to. They are quite content to make their money “in the dark”  (while keeping their mouths shut and their secrets very close to the vest).

Look, it only takes one good idea to make this worth it for you. Don’t you think from a group of people selling $30 million online, all the incredible attendees and VIP guests you might pick up one or two new ideas?

My Internet buddies attending are coming here to learn NOT to socialize in the back-of-the-room like at typical seminars. And you can bet I’ll be taking tons of notes too.

http://www.UGOSeminar.com

February 3, 2010:

This is huge because you’ll save a full $1000.00 before the price increase but more
importantly the biggest bonus of all will vanish if you miss this deadline… When you sign http://www.UGOSeminar.com

Hopefully - I’ll see you there!

And that’s what he wrote me, and like he, I hope I see ya’ there….

Wow, can Apple market or what? I don’t have much time, but here’s my thoughts about the Apple Ipad, and while not a review of the device, I have to say …

Why did you have to, overnight, kill my Kindle and make it worthless? Why, Amazon, did you not innovate in TWO years after creating such an innovative device? Any Why (Amazon), did Kindle EVER have a keyboard? These questions may never be answered, as the game is over. Apple Wins.

They haven’t yet gotten to price, or connectivity, two very important aspects of the new device, but so far, I am very impressed with battery life (yay - but still does not have replaceable battery), games, screen, books, and portability factor.

The event is hot, and from a marketing standpoint, well - we could study Apple for a decade. However, remember, it boils down to exceptional products that are amazing. They market well, but their products also speak for themselves. Yes, there’s much we can learn here about marketing, but we have to create amazing, life changing products, first and foremost.

So, the Apple Ipad is unveiled … Back to the event.  More Soon!

Ok, following up on my last post, this should be titled, MarketingCrazy’s crystal ball, but it’s not. This, frankly, is coming so quickly - a lot of it is here already, regardless of whether anyone knows it.

And the fact is, very few people do know it. Prepare for Internet Marketing knowledge that will be commonplace in 2011, but for now, is cutting edge. Only three fortune tellings for now, as I’m off to the movies (all play, and NO work, not good - so here’s my work).

1) The Year of Universal Search screwing everybody up!

What is universal search? it’s when a search engine brings in items from other properties, and puts your organic search results (that you’ve spent years creating) toward the bottom of the page (yikes). It’s when, instead of 10 organic search listsing, there are only 5, below youtube videos, google news clippings, comparison shop and search engines, etc…). It’s the process by which a search query, on all major search engines, returns results not only from it’s organic listings, but from myriad (”universal”) locations.

Oh, and it hurts!  And it’s going to hurt you … unless, you can ->

2) Be Everywhere in 2010

I hate Web 2.0, as you know. Hated more in 2008 than now, but still - what a waste of time. Argh, so much time spent in front of the computer versus at the movies, or on a beach. However, if you were #4 in google for removing “soap scum” and are now not even on the first page below all the youtube videos, news clippings, facebook pages, yelp reviews, and other “universal search” items that are appearing above your hard fought for organic search listing, you’ll immediately see the need to be everywhere.

It just got a whole lot harder (or a whole lot easier, depending on your perspective) to snipe someone’s top listing, or lose yours. A well done Youtube video can take #1 search rankings away from you in a week or less. A well crafted yelp (or insert web 2 property, flavor of the day) review can easily knock you off your pedestal.

That being said, it also allows brand new people to get into the game, if they understand what a game changer this is, and know how to capitalize on it. Let’s pray they don’t (or at least don’t read this blog, since I’m going to pretty much give all that away).

3) Local Search is king, and all the Search Engines know it …

The direction of the world is local. Local this, that, and the other thing. I’m just getting my hands around this power, and work, that will be involved in the rapidly growing local search market. It’s huge and the tools coming online, including google’s own local search business center, are massive. Every search engine, and every SEO firm, are creating tools like mad to harness it - even me.

So, apart from me ranting about these changes, and how it’s going to actually require me to work to keep my dominating web presence in every niche I play in, what exactly am I recommending?

You mean, apart from the enormous amount of work it would require to “be everywhere”. Time to learn Youtube - it’s now the second biggest search engine behind google (yes, it’s #2, Google is #1). Time to learn Facebook and Twitter (and by learn, I mean have a presence there). Time to focus on your local search listings, and time to make sure your Yelp listing are truly up to snuff.

And yes, this is on top of (and in addition to, as well as relation to), Hubpages, Squidoo Lenses, etc … Why do I get the feeling I may have to work really hard this year? Darn it! I’m going to do that right after I get back from Hawaii …

Until then, what are your game changers? Write em’ below!

Also, take a look at our new MarketingCrazy Podcast and Online Business daily video show, http://www.MarketingCrazyMinute.com

Think you can’t do it? Think you can’t make 2k a day with no hands?

YOU ARE RIGHT!

But a good percentage of you might try anyway, right? Why is that? Never-ending hope? That’s rigth! Every day I am hounded by products that promise this (or that), with no work. Not just less work, but NO work.

For the newbies, let me cut to the chase - buy NOTHING, EVER that’s main selling point is that there’s NO work involved. Never, Ever, buy a single thing that starts that way. In fact, buy precious little that ANYONE is ever trying to sell to you on the internet …

Do those words confirm your worst fears?  That everyone on the internet is a scam?  Here it is, said by an internet millionaire, whom is sure as hell out to sell you something, confirming your worst fears. Pretyy scary eh? Yet, not scary enough, because…

That being said, many of you will purchase anyway, lord knows, I do.  I’m a spendaholic. I buy no less than a course or tool a week. I’m a true-bred US Consumer though. I get panic attacks if I’m away from Amazon.com 1 click orders for a day. I fear I may have become addicted to the purchase process of internet marketing junk…

So, now that I have come clean, and protected those internet beginner’s whom might listen to me in their quest for internet freedom and lifestyle, let me share a single golden rule!  This, learned from tens of thousands of wasted dollars …

If a product’s main selling point is its lack of work - it’s NOT for you.  It’s likely a scam.  Simple as that! Why? Well, simply put, if you really want to make money, you DO want to work.  We’re smart people - we realize that success does require work. In truth, we simply want to work smart - we’d like to save time, but we know there’s going to be a significant time commitment regardless of what we invest in.

So, where do you start? Where do you start if you really want an internet business? I wish I could give you a solid answer. When I look at the sheer amount of misguided information, to say nothing of the scams, fraud, and outright lies out there, I tremble for those getting started. Honestly - it’s not a path I’d like to tread. I’m happy I got my training in relatively early …

So what brought this rant of a post about? Well, the 10 offers in my box, each terribly similar to the last, each landing page well crafted (very well crafted), and an honest fear that … how can I break through that amount of noise? Honestly, how can anyone not willing to sell out, or honestly trying to stick by their principles EVER break through the sheer amount of hype-noise? It’s a scary marketplace not just for consumers, but also for the real internet marketing teachers, and business builders and consultants …

It’s a scary prospect, and one I will ruminate on as I buy my next course on how to make money without a website or a list …