Don's blog

Today marks Thanksgiving in the United States, and I'm writing this to remind you to take some time to reflect on the things you have to be thankful for.

Regardless of economic troubles or individual circumstances, each of us can be thankful for the life God has given us. And family and friends, either close by or across the world, are always a source of gratitude.

Thank you for the trust you've given me, shown by being on my list or reading my blog. I'm very grateful for that.

Got an e-mail message from someone I have—up until now—trusted, promoting a set of videos for the copywriting niche. The message was short and to the point, piquing my interest a little, but here's what he said about the sales letter for the product:

P.S. I know, the sales copy leaves a lot to be desired. You should have seen how bad it was before I did a quick edit on it!

Hey, some of us are paying attention here. If the sales copy for a copywriting product is bad, the product itself is undoubtedly worthless!

Seth Godin says it better than I.

Marlon Sanders, a contributor to my site, just sent out a message to his list, asking the question, "Which first? Build list or create product?" It's a great question, but I don't think he answered it adequately.

Let me see if I can help him.

Truth is, you need to be doing both. But which should you do first?

If you're starting from scratch—no product, no list—which do you choose to focus your energies on?

The problem is, if you're just starting out in Internet marketing, you don't have any credibility.

One of the toughest lessons for me to learn in life is that of ignoring "sunk costs." Sunk costs are costs that have been incurred and which cannot be recovered to any significant degree. As applied to me, sunk costs are money, time, effort, etc. I have spent in the past that can no longer be recouped.

Man, oh man! I am only 40 pages through Sylvie Fortin's new Internet Marketing Sins manifesto and I am sitting here thinking, "This girl has nailed it!" (Sylvie, by "girl" I mean, well... you know I mean no disrespect.) She's naming some of the worst tactics used in Internet marketing and calling them for what they are. I myself have called marketers who use these tactics "hacks."

I spent about 90 minutes on live chat with Host Gator today, trying to track down an inability to connect to my MySQL databases using a desktop application. (I use NaviCat, which makes accessing a database much quicker than using phpMyAdmin.) I was reminded again of why I like and recommend this web host.

In case you're not on Markus Allen's notification list, I wanted to let you know that this week's Stump Markus live podcast will be a little later in the day. He's testing a new time to see if more people are able to attend.

So Mike Filsaime's Review Crusher came out today, or, more accurately, was to come out today but was pre-released 4 days ago. (I'm not sure what kind of strategy Mike had in mind there or how successful it was.) The offer is now on hold. Several (okay, 87) refunded copies are still available; he says he won't be selling any more. Update: as of July 29, the offer is again active.

Please watch this video and join my campaign: