Elite Retreat and business education...

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I_like_cock

I_like_cock

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Jul 27, 2006
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I know a lot of you don't want to pay $5k + probably another $2K in travel to go to the Elite Retreat. Personally, I don't think you should either.
It seems like everyone wants to learn the advanced strategies in Internet Marketing... but what you really need to learn is the basics... the fundamentals. You may not believe this but I feel the fundamentals in this game are MARKETING principles. Not how well you can design a site... not if you can write a script... not if you can find a good PPC niche... Elite Retreat might teach you a new trick or something but it's not gonna teach you the principles you need to succeed in this BUSINESS.

So you anyone who wants to make a BUSINESS out of this spend $100 or so and go to Amazon and pick up these used books. Trust me the value of reading these books will be 1000 times more valuable to your business education and life than a 3 day or so retreat with some so-called gurus.

1. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy
- This book totally helped me get my businesslife and productivity in order. It's a short but effective read. I have the 21-step summary posted next to my desk.

2. The Power of Concentration by Theron Q. Dumont
- As with most of the books I have listed here, me explaining how good they are will not do them any justice. This book really helps show you how to process your ideas and follow through with them.

3. Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill
- A must read for any entrepnuer.

4. The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
- A great followup to T&GR.

5. The Lazy Man's Way to Riches by Joe Karbo
- A read this book in college off a recommendation. I still use the principles inside it today.

6. Seven Steps to Freedom II: How to Escape the American Rat Race by Benjamin D. Suarez
- If there is 1 book you should get out of this list THIS ONE IS IT! It's THE DIRECT MARKETING bible. Reading and absorbing this book will teach you principles that you will use in every aspect through your business life.

7. The Street Kid's Guide to Having It All by John Assaraf
- Similar to "The Magic of Thinking Big"... it helped me realize I can rely on my talents to succeed.

8. Tested Advertising Methods (Business Classics Series) by John Caples and Fred E. Hahn
- Bread and butter marketing principles

9. Instant Cash-Flow: How to Jump-Start Your Cash Flow by Mark G. Nolan
- This is probably out of print and hard to find now but Mark Nolan is an absolute marketing genius

10. Making Money With Classified Ads by Melvin Powers
- Great book! Still effective today. This will help with PPC ads.

11. Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins
- Probably the greatest advertising book of all time. This ebook is all over the web

12. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
-Another book like "Eat That Frog" with more in depth principles.

13. Advertising Magic by Bryan Keith Voiles
- I refer to this one as the copywriters bible. I've learned sooo much about ads from this book.

Notice not 1 PC, computer, hacking, or technology book is listed here.

I even have attached a pic of them on my bookcase if you asshats don't believe I didn't read and swear by these books listed.

booklistsh6.jpg


And to those of you who say, "I don't need this shit I like to think out of the box" my response couldn't be better than this post:

The Angry Marketer Diaries » The Box Conundrum…

If this post offends anyone then so be it.

PS - I might seem like a big douchebag drunk but I do know a little what I'm talking about.

PSS - It's soooo hard to rank for viagra. Keep on thinking that way, suckers. :action-smiley-052:
 
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Thanks for that list ILC! Been looking for some decent books lately. I picked up Seth Godin's "Small is the new big" before Vegas, and while it has some fun stories and things that make you go hmmm... it was lacking somehow. Guess I should've got his "Purple Cow". :D
 
Note sure where your going with this Mr.Cock... but this
Not how well you can design a site... not if you can write a script... not if you can find a good PPC niche
Click to expand...
is what "Internet Marketing" is all about.

Design....... sites that convert traffic into cash.
Write Script..... makes small projects into large projects..... automation.
Find PPC niche.... keyword research, feeling out the competition.


Odd direction, I hope I missed the point.
 
Wait.... hold the punchline.!@

You just wanted to say "Elite Retreat" one more time eh?

Thats a whole lot of words for just trying to plug that in...

hmm.
 
I think he's saying "If you don't have a grasp of basic busines, marketing, advertising, then your technical skills are only going to take you so far."

Just what I got out of it, and personally I totally agree. You can be a programming god, and a marketing moron. I know, I used to work with lots of those guys. They didn't have a clue what marketing or advertising was, but they could code applications that would make your head spin.

Reminds me of a story of a Navy admiral. Everyday this admiral would go into his stateroom, open his safe and read a piece of paper in the safe. Finally, upon retirement, as he was clearing out his stateroom his XO asked him what was on the piece of paper. So, the admiral handed it to him. On the paper it said "Port = Left / Starboard = Right". The admiral understood how important the basics are.
 
bobby you are fucktarded!
ILC - I did not know you could read! and did not think you were the type to read the books in your list.
 
The best education is experience. One book is great to build a foundation, after that your reading another way of saying the same thing.
 
eduardoM3 - the problem with that statement is that you have to read a lot of shit to get all the good stuff!
 
Hey cockster, good list.

While everyone is in the library or borders pilfering those titles, here's a couple more good ones:
1) Rules for Revolutionaries by Guy Kawasaki (some interesting marketing ideas, especially if you've low/zero traffic).
2) The First $20m is Always the Hardest by Po Bronson (who has some pretty good free reads at his site such as: The Tao of Money
and for the sex tourists among you: Club Med.

i concur that the internet is just a channel, just like a billboard, a tv ad, or a brochure. if you don't have the fundamentals of a sound business strategy, a congruent campaign and follow up, your prospects are limited.

PS: the angry marketer is too angry to do decent traffic gen apparently.
my static content sites get more traffic than him.
oh well.

I_like_cock said:
The Angry Marketer Diaries » The Box Conundrum…

:action-smiley-052:
Click to expand...
 
Which one of those books would be the best to help learn to write pre-sell copy for affiliate offers?
 
EduardoM3 said:
The best education is experience. One book is great to build a foundation, after that your reading another way of saying the same thing.
Click to expand...

Read and test, every day. Experience is what tells you if what you read is bullshit or not.
 
Which book is best if you wanna learn writing salesletters and reviews that makes people want to buy? or just generally just wanna make people buy. Some book with that kind of psychologic things?

EDIT: Maybe andrew wee just answered my question.

EDIT: what's "So's books" ?
 
So's books = So is books, though the correct grammatical form is "So are books" or "Likewise, I'd recommend books by..."

Ok, here is the dirt.
I like books by Thomas Harris, which i think are more important than the copywriting books.

I have a background in psychology, so it helps me understand a person's personality and buying impulses (eg. "psychographics").

So my approach to affiliate marketing tends to be profile-based, rather than product-based.

what's the difference?

a product-based affiliate marketer, will push ringtones.
and maybe some cell phone related offers to the prospects.
and maybe on an opportunistic basis, a zip submit or an ipod offer.

----
on the other hand, a psychographic approach tends to look at the prospect as a human being and i try to understand their needs, desires and wants.

here's where thomas harris comes in. Tom writes the "Hannibal Lecter" series of books. and if you read the books, it's more comprehensive than 'silence of the lambs' or 'hannibal'.

remember where hannibal is talking to clarice starling (the jodie foster character) and he thinks like the buffalo bill serial killer.

"What are his wants? where would he go? how would he act?"

So the psychographic approach might take a senior citizen....
ok...he's in his mid to late 60s.
what would he be interested in?
diet: something healthy: low cholerterol, low salt....maybe a nutrititon type CPA or affiliate mktg offer would appeal to him.

health: what are his health concerns? hair loss? weight loss? maybe organic food? .... what are the types of CPA offers which would appeal to him?
would he suffer from low back pain? maybe he wants to quit smoking?
would he like some levitra/viagra to go with his fries?
what're the types of offers which would go with that?

hobbies: does he play golf? would he stay in 5 stay hotels? which hospitality affiliate network would be good for that.?

---
so you might be wondering... does all this mean anything?

some affiliate marketers might create a ringtone site and see each visitor as a $20 conversion.

on the other hand, i'd create a content site and see each prospect as a potential $500-$1000 worth of conversions (the "lifetime value of a prospect"). This number of dervied from a combination of probably 10-12 CPA/affiliate marketing offers in the range of $10-100 each.

the approach I use tended to take longer in the intial part...and i've heard that it takes "too much effort" and is a "pain in the ass" to do.

i look very much at the long tail of marketing and stuff that I've set up 5 years ago is still generating me income today. and the branding and credibility from those efforts has given me the option of doing business consulting on a number of occasions.

so i think leverage is not just a simple matter of using blackhat/emotional copywriting to draw massive traffic for a blip on the radar, but rather being able to create compelling, magnetic, hypnotic sites that will generate passive income and give you the option of disappearing for 3-6 months at a time if you want to.



Juicify said:
Which book is best if you wanna learn writing salesletters and reviews that makes people want to buy? or just generally just wanna make people buy. Some book with that kind of psychologic things?

EDIT: Maybe andrew wee just answered my question.

EDIT: what's "So's books" ?
Click to expand...
 
if you are serious about really wanting to know the fundamentals about marketing, then this is the one and only book you need to read:

Author
Book Title
Edition
Publisher
ISBN
P. Kotler
Marketing Management
11th
Prentice Hall
0130336297

i tend to stay away from the books with the fancy titles as they are mostly a bit trendy but not really fundamental. most of the stuff they print in "stylish" business books you can read anyways read for less (and ina more time-efficient shorter version), if you e.g. subscribe to harvard business magazine.

but to know the fundamentals enables you to get on any new topic and band wagon in a very short time, as any new concept is almost always just a variation of a since long known method ;)
 
Nice List ILC!

The core of marketing is understanding WHO you are selling to. Testing, Analyzing and Copywriting and would fall under that.

It's easy for a hacker or geek to get into internet marketing, because they understand the testing and analyzing concepts. Also, most of them know how to create website/blog and fill it with ego and attitude. Little did they know that by putting their attitude online, they were starting to build their own brand. Jon and Shoemoney are perfect examples of self-branding (although I know they have a pretty solid base of basic marketing too).

As far as "breaking away from the day to day", I'd recommend adding these books to any marketers repository...

FLOW: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - this has been a best seller for decades, but because it requires some major life changes most people buy it but never practice it.

Born To Win by Muriel James and Dorothy Jongeward - Another classic that everyone should read at least once.

When Good isn't Good Enough by Ron Willingham - This book is one of my favorites. It is mostly about conditioning your brain to build new patterns/habits in your life. It was so good that my university bought out all the remaining copies when it went out of print and made it required curriculum (I'm very glad they did). I think you can still find some used ones out there.

Rich Dad Poor D.... ha ha GOTCHA (Nothing against Robert K, but his books are 90% inspirational stories, and 10% meat. I still like them, but wouldn't say they are required reading.)

Did anyone attend the roundtable sessions at ASW? One of the sessions was "From Hobby to Full Time Income" or something like that and the whole conversation was about changing your mindset. It was run by the guy who is building ShowMeHowToDoThis.com and was great for all levels of marketers.
 
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