APD-Marketing Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the July newsletter.

I am going to be a little “dark” this month. Why? Well, if you believe what is being written dark times are with us, particularly if you live in the U.K, although I understand it’s not a bowl of cherries over the pond in the U.S either.

Why is this?

Well here in the U.K it’s simply that the outgoing Labout government have spent hundreds of billions of pounds that they simply didn’t have! That has left the Tories holding a baby they may well come to wish they’d never got to hold because they now have to administer the nasty medicine!

However, despite the fact that I try to stay “a political”, I know this needs to be done otherwise the U.K would simply implode like Greece.

It is interesting though that a Government is allowed to first of all sell the family silver, then borrow more than it could ever hope to pay back in the lifetime of three parliaments let alone one and get away with it. If you or I did something of such magnitude it would be called theft or fraud. This is why I stay out of politics…it makes me angry!

Oh, and then…Labour have the gaul to sit on the opposition benches and slag off the Tories for making the cuts. Why is there not a “no party” option when it comes to politics? Perhaps the time is ripe for something new and different, like…an Honesty Party - I just can’t see it though! Having said that I honestly believe Tony Blair came to power with good intentions, but got corrupted along the way. I think the same of David Cameron, but he has one hell of a task in front of him.

But, the bottom line in all of this is that Governments are not actually producers. All they do is spend money that they have taken (some may say stolen) from us by way of tax. Could it be different if Government were removed, tax was abolished and we just paid for all the services we needed directly? I think business would probably make a far better job of providing!

And there’s the rub, the point of this summer, sunshine filled newsletter!

All of the spending cuts will damage the economy. However, having 56% of the productive workforce working in the public sector being unproductive and supported by the productive 44% in the private sector was NEVER sustainable over any length of time…I just cannot understand why Labour think this is possible. The U.K would have crashed and burned if Labour had won the election.

However, what now needs to be done will likely make the Tories so unpopular they will never get elected again for a generation…leaving the door open to Labour to pull the same trick again 5 years down the line.

O.K, I’ll get off the soap box now :>)

As a small business owner what does this mean for you? How does all this information translate to what you need to do?

Well first up, as much as the current course of Government action is needed, the Government are not going to come along and bail you out if you get into trouble. So, it’s up to you! This is a subject I have talk about on many ocassions, the need for you to take responsibility for yourself and your actions. This is more so than ever today.

Why? because business is tight. People are cutting costs like never before and selling anything is going to be more difficult. You have to be the best, you have to shine out from the crowd.

This was brilliantly illustrated this week when we had an estate agent round to value our house.We were elaying a tale of woe from when we brought this house 4 years ago. There was one realtor who used every underhand tactic he could to try and grab our purchase for himself and then when all parties refused he tried to undermine the sale by gazumping.

Outrageous business practices. We were told, with some glee, by two local agents they had gone out of business.

You see, people have got wise, and if they are going to part with their precious money, they not only want the best goods or servcies, they want a keen price and a great overall package. You have to provide that to prosper…you should anyway. Offer outrageous service, be the best you can be and offer the best products and services - end of!

It’s time to stand up and be counted!

So, don’t complain about how dark it is and bemoan the fact you can’t see what’s going on. Put a light on! Do what Winston Churchill did in those dark days. He lit a candle of hope and everyone followed it. Do the same and you will prosper, be a champion in your market.

It is absolutely vital that you join me in a stand against all the negative that is going on! You and I need to stand up for the Entrepreneur, we need to stand up for freedom and business, we need to stand up against the “sheep” who are paralysed by the situation and retain our hope and positivism!

We need to take action - massive action!

Most of all, you and I need to retain faith and belief in our own ability! Our ability to drive our businesses forward no matter what! This is your life and your business and you live (or die) by your own eforts. This is the beauty of having and running your own business as opposed to being a wage slave in someone else’s pocket. Sure, sometimes it’s scary, but Oh, how good does it feel when you win! How good does it feel to se your inbox full with orders, how good does it feel to go shpping on a Monday morning when all the sheep are at work…how good does it feel to do what you want, when you
want and to live life on YOUR terms.

Recognise what is good in yourself and encourage that in others, be a beacon of hope! This will cause a ripple effect as you make contact with more and more people. Have the absolute joy of knowing that YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE - For the better! There is without doubt no better feling of satisfaction than this!

I genuinely hope that this rousing little “speech” will help you go out and be the best you that you can be. To go out there and despite it all make a diference so that you and your family can prosper no matter how dark it gets.

Did you know that cosmetics giant Clairol was born during the great depression? A certain huge coffee company was also founded at the same time.

If you do need an injection of positivism, then get my Life Mastery System, it showed me the way, it can do the same for you!

Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do it, because I’m here to tell you, and the weight of proof says, that YOU can.

I believe in you! Go do it!

Have fun and make money!

Cheers now

Derek

Hello and welcome to the APD Marketing May newsletter.

The weather has been brilliant here in the UK up until a couple of days ago…and we are being promised a really warm summer. So, on that note of optimism, I thought I’d write about goals this month.

Before I get started properly, it’s interesting to note that Lee and I set ourselves some serious “big hairy audacious” goals when we planned out our new product Instant Social Traffic Formula. After all, you might as well go for it. Think about it, if you set BIG goals and just miss, you still achieve something very worthwhile.

Set pathetic little goals and miss, well…what’s the point? You might as well go for it!

Anyway, we’ll be going into pre-launch in a couple of weeks. I know Lee was working on the pre-launch sign up yesterday, so why not get along and get yourself on the pre-launch list.

Instant Social Traffic Formula

What’s it all about?

Page ONE ranking on Google…overnight!

Yep, we’ve tested the system and it’s come up trumps every single time.

Do have a look, this is very hot…AMAZING stuff!

Instant Social Traffic Formula

So, let’s talk about goals! Did you know that only 5% of people actually have written goals?

Did you also know that 5% are all in the top 5% of earners (US based figures). Come what may, the message is clear…if you want to succeed you simply have to have goals set and written down.

Now I know that “life” gets in the way. But having your goals set in stone, written down and ideally backed up by picture “proof” will move you towards those goals much more quickly.

You may well have heard that doing this “tricks” your subconscious mind. This is indeed what happens. For my part I really couldn’t care a jot how it works as long as it gets me to where I want to be!

So whatever your particular goals are, be it a new car, getting out of debt, running a marathon, or simply that luxury holiday in the Maldives, you need to be completely focused on them.

Now having set your goals, it’s no secret that they can be a little awkward to keep focused on and working towards. Some days it all seems too much and you will shirk the task, and maybe need a little motivation to keep moving forward. But you must try your hardest to keep your goals in focus…because if you do the outcome is so worth it!

So, having accepted that you need goals, I am going to offer some help on how you can keep the fire to achieve your goals burning. Because if you don’t have a consuming desire to achieve them, you’ll fail. Plain and simple.

There will be days when it is that “burn” that drives you on through what might seem insurmountable obstacles. Without that burn you will fall at such obstacles!

When I first started online I failed so many times I lost count. But I just was not going to be beaten. I kept my goals in clear focus and they drove me on.

How do I “manage” my goals?

I have a scrapbook with one page dedicated to each goal. I have a heading with the goal and then I have as many pictures as I can find to reinforce the goal, make it real in my mind’s eye.

Now you may think “what a load of old mumbo-jumbo”. OK that’s fine. But let me ask you two questions.

Firstly, do you have written goals? If the answer is yes, great, you are on your way to where you want to be and further forward than 95% of the population.

If not, is your life where you want it to be? Ouch, tough question. Answer honestly!

And, finally, before I get into how to maintain that burning desire, remember success is a journey not a destination. Always keep that in mind…and enjoy the journey.

There will be times when it seems so dark you don’t know where to turn. But if you keep that burning desire and focus on your goals and enjoy the experience, you WILL get there.

So, how do you maintain that burning desire? Here are five steps that have helped me maintain focus and achieve many of the goals in my life. I hope they can do the same for you.

1. Pick the Right Goal. O.K Derek, specialist in the bleedin’ obvious! But is it? Do you really, truly know what you want? If you’re not passionate about the goal you set, you won’t have the burn and you won’t achieve the goal! I could never get passionate about knitting so it’s pointless me setting a goal to knit a jumper, because it isn’t going to happen!

How do you know if you’re focused on the right goal? The answer to this depends on you as a person, but the following test will give you a very good idea:

• If money didn’t exist, would you still do it? (a good example to apply this test to is your job - would you still do your day job if money was not an issue?)
• Are you already working towards it in your life?
• If I gave you $20m right now would you still do it?

The last question really gets to the crux of the issue. You see many goals are simply a desire for money and are nothing to do with the actions needed to build financial independence.

In itself, money won’t make you happy. Remember it’s a journey and you have to enjoy it…it’s the process of getting there that you should enjoy. If you answered no to any of those questions then you may need to have a re-think. It’s important to get this right.

2. You Can Do It. Some people will tell you how much they would love to achieve their goals, and how amazing it would be. Others run away at the first mention of the word goals. Some will tell you how wonderful it would be to achieve their “true purpose”.

So why is it that most people just don’t do it?

The only answer I can come up with is that quite simply most people either don’t truly believe they can achieve their goals or don’t believe in their goals. So, and this really hurts me, they don’t bother to try. Maybe “the system” knocks it out of them, maybe it’s fear. I don’t know, but I find this horribly sad when really, it’s so very easy.

I can’t remember who said this but “all we have to fear is fear itself”. This is so true.

It may well have been my own limiting beliefs that caused my early failures online. In fact I’m sure it was! I had to change my belief systems and I did that through goals and proof.

I think it was Tim Ferris that said (in the 4 Hour Work Week), “Get out of your own way.”

You are the only one holding you back. You can do it. You can achieve every single goal you set. I’ve done it many times, use me as proof if you like! However, you must truly believe. When this belief becomes part of your fabric it will act as a catalyst for generating that burn I talked about earlier.

3. Build Proof Through The Success Of Others. I mentioned proof in the last section. In 99.9% of cases, someone has already done what it is you wish to achieve. Find them!

Find out how they did it. Find out what they used to achieve it. What helped them along the way? Can they help you / mentor you. Can they show you proof? These are crucial questions that you need to answer. They will offer valuable insight into your goal and…provide proof that it can be done!

Not only will this provide practical help in getting YOU to your destination, but by seeing the proof, you will then know for sure that you can do it too.

When I made the quality decision I was going to become an Internet marketer, I found mentors and followed people who had done what I wanted to do. OK, it took me a while to find my trusted people, but I simply copied what they had done. Simple, but outstandingly effective :>)

4. Find “Soul Brothers” On The Same Journey. When you are experiencing “times of trouble”, it is a great comfort to have people who understand your issues and who you can share with. It is helpful if you can find and talk to people who have overcome your particular problem.

I’ll use the Internet marketing example again. There is so much to learn when you first get started. I found some really helpful forums like the Warrior Forum and the sadly departed Adwords Excellence.

I overcame so many problems with help from the people in these forums. Indeed, I met my business partner Lee Brooker at Adwords Excellence. We started out just helping each other out where one of us had a skills gap. We quickly came to realise we had complementary skills and formed a partnership

That partnership has moved both of our businesses so much further forward than we would have got on our own!

Finding others on the same journey will give you a yardstick to measure your own progress and keep you encouraged to stay on track.

5. Become “Goal Aware” Simply put, make sure you are aware of and can ‘home in’ on things that will help you achieve your goals. To give you an example, if you are reading a book relaxed on the sofa and your son is playing away in the background, you would be able to maintain concentration.

However, if an angry mountain lion were to burst into the room, it would definitely attract your attention and evasive action would be instantly taken (well, I would hope so anyway).

So, we naturally focus on things of high importance to us. This “response mechanism” can be trained to help achieve your goals.

How do you do this? You’re probably not going to like the answer, in fact I can hear you groaning already…visualization! For at least 5 minutes during your day you should visualize your life as it will be with all of your goals achieved.

I love my visualization as I find somewhere quiet and drift away into my own little dream world of sun, sea, and a few other s’s! I feel that sun on my back, I feel the warm sand between my toes and I splash around in the cool crystal blue sea.

This really “turbo charges” and brings the goals to life. It tells my subconscious that these goals are important. And, it’s also why I use pictures to bring the goals to life. And, once the subconscious has “got” the message, it will drive you on to achieve your goals.

So, I know all this stuff about goals and visualization might sound a bit “wishy washy”, but…ask any successful person about goals and I bet you every last one of them will have set, written, picture-backed, visualized goals.

Why? Because when they do this…they achieve ALL of their desires!

You must have clearly defined goals backed up by the techniques I have given you here.

If you’re still sceptical, try to suspend that disbelief and commit to giving it a go for three months and see what happens!

I remember once writing some goals down and then losing or forgetting about them. One of the goals was to get an Audi Quattro 2.8. As I said, I totally forgot about those goals. I was having a clear out some four years later and found them.

I was amazed when I read that goal because…sitting on the drive was that Audi Quattro 2.8. I didn’t even get a picture or visualize, yet I still achieved the goal! The power of the subconscious is truly amazing!

Moving on, enough of the wishy-washy stuff for this newsletter :>)

You may be thinking, come on Derek, what about all the hard edged money-making stuff?

Well, I haven’t forgotten that! I have taken to publishing all of the “nitty-gritty” “how to” stuff on HubPages, so…since the last newsletter I have published the following “how to” stuff. It’s all free so please go enjoy!

7 Steps To Easy And Prolific Internet Product Development

Do You Have The Millionaire Mentality?

5 Steps To Internet Marketing Success

Why Most People Fail At Internet Marketing

There’s enough “how to” stuff there to keep you going for a while. If you like the Hubs, please give me a “thumbs up” and leave a comment.

Well, that brings another lengthy newsletter to a close…I do like to make sure I give you great value!

Until next month, set those goals and go for it!

As always, to YOUR success

Cheers now and have fun!

Derek

APD Internet Marketing

Turn Time Into Money

 Hello and welcome to the April newsletter.

I thought long and hard on what to talk about this month, as without being too obvious…there is one hell of a lot of shit going on “out there” at the moment.

This recession is now becoming the topic of choice almost everywhere you turn.The doom and gloom merchant media are having a “field day”!

It’s time to shake out of it! Yep, things ain’t so good if you believe what’s being written, but…I have some interesting insights for you this month, along with a damn good dose of kick ass positivism.

Are you ready?

Good, them jump aboard because it’s gonna be a lot of fun!

First up, an observation.

I made a quick jaunt to New York a couple of weeks back. Just for a weekend of shopping and fun, weather was awful, but the Big Apple was true to form, it never slept and I didn’t much either.

So, it was a good job I was able to have a good sleep in the first class on the way back (those “cubes” are brilliant).

And, as I was about to doze off, something struck me. New York was as mad as ever. People were flying around enjoying themselves at the shows and spending money in the numerous shops. Bloomingdales was heaving!

Then there was the first class cabin I was in – full. 30 odd seats at $2,500 a pop…sold out, no room.

Business class and even economy plus – full up.

Economy, spaces!

That got me thinking a little bit more, just the first class cabin paid around $75k to travel. So what?

Well, think about it…There is money about! A lot of what is being written and peddled in the media is complete and utter crap!

Yes, I know some people are hurting, but when I think about it, most of the people that are hurting are doing so because of their own bad decisions!

O.K I know you’re thinking Derek is being a bit harsh here, a bit controversial. And, I have written about the “banking crisis” because I have some insider knowledge from the financial markets, but that is to help you understand.

You see…it is all about perception. Remember way back in August 2007 I warned you it’s how you react to what happens that is the key, not what is actually happening or indeed has happened.

There is money out there. The Internet is booming (go back and read last month if you’re not sure about this) and people are making a bundle online. I have some recruitment friends (yes recruitment) who have just raised £3.5 million for a new online project.

Sadly, I had to endure a drive around the M25 (London’s orbital motorway) on Friday, it was chaos. People were rushing around all over the place, it’s the same in the rush hour, it’s a crowded and as busy as ever.

So, what about perception?

Well, if I hadn’t noticed that first class was bursting at the seems and that economy was half empty…I might well have not noticed that all the crap that is currently being written about the recession, is just that…crap!

There is money about lots of it. However the media are battering us into believing it really is financial Armageddon out there.

And guess what?

If you keep reading day after day and seeing it day after day on the TV news “there’s no money”, “we’re all doomed”, “it’s financial meltdown” blah, blah, blah…you are going to start to believe it.

In fact you start to focus on that negative “no money” scenario, guess what…you’ll get exactly what you focus on…no money.

It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You see you have to get your mind right. If you’ve read my stuff regularly you will know that I think you have to base your thoughts in reality. In understanding reality, making rational choices and then taking massive action to make your plans, well, a reality!

Indeed, my Total Control product shows you in fine detail how to control time and money and build systems of cash production in simple, easy to understand step-by-step detail.

But, if you are totally focussed on having no money no matter how much you try you will not generate money!

I heard it called “stinking thinking”, that made me laugh. It’s so very descriptive!

I remember last summer at the Andrew Reynolds bootcamp Pat Mesitti told a story about a boxing world champion (from recent years) who had earned $400 million in a glittering career.

However, just a few short years after retirement he was in and out of jail, flat broke and filing for bankruptcy.

He had allowed $400 million (and some) just slip through his fingers. How?

Drink, drugs, hangers on? Whatever, he didn’t have the “millionaire mentality” so…he ended up with what he thought he was worth – nothing!

You do have to believe you have both the ability to earn the money and the mentality to deal with it (successfully). If you want to be wealthy (wow, doesn’t that sound good…I am wealthy!) that is what you need to focus your thoughts on.

Not the poor stuff, no money clap trap that is being peddled by the doom and gloom merchants!

You simply have to get your thinking right. Now I am not going to give you a load of fluffy PMA here (there is far too much of the “feel good” stuff around), but I am going to refer you to a few books that offer true values in this area.

First up, if you don’t know how to deal with money, you MUST read “The Richest Man in Babylon” by George S Clason. ISBN 0-451-16520-9. I believe this may be available for free download on the Internet now, if it is, get it – urgently. If you can’t find a download, buy it anyway!

This book will cost you a few bucks but is worth millions. Quite simply, this book will teach you how to deal with money. Total Control will teach you how to break money making situations down and use them to your advantage and turn time into money. “The Richest Man in Babylon” will teach you how money works at a very basic level. This book should be high school reading…if it was the media wouldn’t have anything to talk about right now :>) - Oooo, more controversy, we are going for it this month!

Secondly, you need to know how the minds of the great entrepreneurs and multi millionaires work. The best book by far is “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. The great Dale Carnegie charged young journalist Napoleon Hill to find out the common traits of highly successful people.

“Think and Grow Rich” took Napoleon Hill many years of researching and interviewing the most successful people, the book is a distillation of what he found out. It is a must read.

It is available in the free download area of the main APD site. Click the link below to get your copy

Free Money Making Information

One of the main reasons people fail is fear. Most fear is fear of the unknown, going outside of your “comfort zone”. The only way to get rid of this (irrational) fear of the unknown is to do the thing you fear!

“Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway” is a great book by Susan Jeffers. I found this book a great help when I was first starting out in sales and I found talking to people a bit awkward. If fear is stopping you, read this book. ISBN 0-09-974100-8

And finally, be happy! Success is a journey, it’s not a destination. If you are not going to enjoy the journey then there is very little point.

It brings me back to a point I made last month, particularly with Internet Marketing. It’s a proper business and there is stuff you need to learn, a set of key skills. You also have to work at it once you have learned those skills. It is a proper business not a get rich quick scheme.

Although funnily enough I heard a story from the Vancouver Internet Summit which suggested that people looking for a business opportunity love all the hype!

This particular speaker said he gave 90 minutes of hard money making content whilst on stage and then sold virtually no product afterwards as he “gave it to the audience straight”.

However, some Guru’s stood there and spouted 90 minutes of fluff and hype and they sold by the bucket load.

Why is it that the “Biz Opps” buyers seem to be suckered by hype? Mind you, I tried a no hype approach on a couple of recent referrals and my figures were well down on my usual more “in your face” approach.

How brutally honest can I be with you?

But, I want you to be under no illusion; you cannot buy a $47 eBook or $167 video course, know it all and get rich in 3 days!

So, be prepared for a journey, enjoy it and be happy. I know there will be times when you feel like giving it all up and packing in. However, it’s the people (like you) that keep going when it gets tough that succeed.

I had so many set backs when I was starting out online, but I just kept getting up (I am a dogged old so and so). After all, you only have to get up one more time than you are knocked down to win.

So, enjoy the journey and be happy. You’ll be surprised at how others react to you if you are a happy individual.

The book “Being Happy” by Andrew Matthews is a wonderful guide to being happy on your journey.

I picked up this little ditty in 1988 and it has been a constant companion. It has brought me so many benefits and helped keep me happy in some dark times. I highly recommend you have a read. ISBN 981-00-0664-0

One last thing, I have re-hashed the Write for Riches product somewhat. I’m “experimenting” with Google at the moment (don’t tell them). Go have a look as I reveal some “Copywriting Secrets” and there’s some great free copywriting info for you there!

You don’t need to sign up as you get all the info that people of the Write For Riches list get, but if you want the MP3, email me and I’ll send you a link. I am just so good to you! Who else gives you all this great free stuff??

O.K, that’s it for April, I’ll be back in May with more rantings to help YOU get rich!

Go for it…as always to YOUR success

Cheers now, and…have fun!

Derek

Hello and welcome to the March 2009 issue of the APD Marketing newsletter…the first to be truly, properly Blog based!

Yes, here we are on the new all singing all dancing APD Newsletter Blog and I have to say I am rather proud of it. No, I don’t think the picture is particularly flattering, but it is me!

Just as an aside, the (full) picture was taken on our Mallorcan break in September last year – I was standing on top of a thousand foot cliff with very little behind me at the time, hence the slightly worried look and false smile!

Anyway, on with the fun as this is the first Blog based newsletter I have a real blockbuster for you this month! Loads of great content.

First up, our dear friend Google!

“What are they up to now”? I hear you cry.

It seems our dear friends at Google have had a bit of a hissy fit and have started slapping people around again. I’ve heard stories of existing campaigns that have been running at 5-10 cents per click suddenly being told that Google don’t like their landing pages any more and slapping them up to $10 a click – ouch!

As it happens I’ve had most of my Adwords campaigns shut down for the last month as I’ve been trying to develop a new “free” traffic system and wanted to see what happened if I just relied on that.

So, I don’t have any first hand experience of this, but I will do some research and let you know what I find out.

I’ve also heard that Google is about to flush out the search results. They believe there is too much crap (for want of a better word) at the top of the search results.

The message is that if they don’t consider you totally and utterly relevant, you are gonna get purged! As I understand it from the index all together, not just from the front page!

I heard one Guru describe this as Google throwing all of their toys out of the pram and running off all upset and indignant, telling the entire marketing world it’s their ball and they don’t care if we don’t want to play.

In essence, Google is prepared to turn away millions in advertising revenue for the sake of quality relevance (the quality of course being totally determined by Google and Google alone!)

As far as PPC on Adwords is concerned, this means yet more hoops to jump through to ensure you meet and satisfy Google as to the relevance and quality of your landing page. On the surface it does seem that Google is trying to eradicate the sales landing page.

Personally I don’t think this is the case, but I do think they have set some very stringent guidelines that are quite harsh if they are slapping Internet marketers who have a long and stable PPC history on existing, long running campaigns.

Bearing this in mind, it makes your search engine optimization strategy even more important.

So, this month I am going to give you a basic guide to on page SEO.

Just before I get started on SEO, I want to “de-mark” the difference between free and paid traffic. Yes, you can buy instant traffic with Pay Per Click through Adwords, YSM etc.

However, you need a long-term traffic strategy and that is what Search Engine Optimization brings you. It’s true, PPC traffic is instant, but it that’s it. It sees your ad clicks, looks (if you’re lucky) and goes away again, and in 95% of cases never returns!

Getting your on-page SEO right ensures a steady flow traffic long-term traffic and that’s why it is such an important part to your marketing strategy.

The first thing you need to do is identify the keywords and keyword phrases you want to optimize around. This is vitally important, and you can only optimize a page around one root keyword!

Then you need to build content pages around those pages. Remember, and this is the most vital point - Content is KING, it’s what the Internet is here and Google lives for!

There seems to be this mystique around SEO. People seem to think it is this great mystery that you have to be a rocket scientist to unravel.

What a load of bull! I’ll tell you here and now, it is NOT as difficult as you have been lead to believe!

Once you understand how it’s done! You can have a page “SEO’d” in less than five minutes! I know…you’re sitting there thinking, “Yeah, come on then smarty pants – show us”!

O.K, I will :>)

This is a quick checklist of the main things you should do to optimize you content pages.

1. Your Title Tag should include the buying keyword – easy enough?
2. Use headline tags (H1, H2, H3) these should also include the buying keyword. Make sure you use at least ONE headline tag – always.
3. Your images should have “alt tags” with the description afforded by this tag containing the buying keyword.
4. Now this is important, your first paragraph of each page must include your buying keyword.
5. Each page should be roughly 500 words.
6.You should aim for a keyword density of around 3-5%. That’s 5 times in every hundred words or 25 times in a 500 word article :>) (I’ve got GSCE Maths you know).
7. Throughout the page you should make the keyword (or phrase) a mix of bold, italic and underlined.

So, this is a guide to the basics and some of the easiest and yet most important areas of SEO, it is by no means a definitive guide. To be honest SEO is like a diminishing returns graph. As you get deeper in and apply more and more complicated and advanced techniques, the level of benefit you attain decreases massively.

So, once you are past these fundamentals, the incremental effect is far less.

This guide it is more than enough for your content websites and will allow you, over time, to build decent levels of traffic from the Search Engines - for free!

And, by optimizing your websites in this nature, it will provide a positive knock on effect for your PPC activities, so not only will you benefit from greater levels of free traffic over time…you will also see

1. A better Adwords Quality Score
2. CPC lowering
3. A better CTR
4. Higher ad positions

So, to finish off, say you have completed your research and found 5 buying keywords for your niche. You then need to create five separate landing pages each of which focuses on a different one of your chosen keywords.

Then optimize each page as described above.

Having completed those simple tasks, in time, traffic will start to flow from the search engines! If you do this correctly, over time, you will begin to see more and more traffic from search engines than you do from your PPC efforts!

The end game of this is to try, over time to make your free traffic exceed your paid traffic without spending a penny more! In effect you get double traffic for the same money!

This is simple, easy to implement, good SEO practice at the most basic level. There are many products that go into SEO in far more depth, but, to be honest, for the purposes or Internet marketing, this is more than enough to get loads of traffic flowing to your landing pages.

I’ve even made a video for you to show you how to do these simple techniques, you can view it below.

A Guide To On Page SEO

I have heard it said that this seems like an awful lot of work! However, I have said many times, too many people think they can read a $27 eBook and make millions.
Internet marketing is like any other business; it takes time and effort on your part if you want the success.

As a little added bonus for this first Blog based newsletter, I’ll give you an incite into what it takes.

You see there are two types of people in this world.

The Whingers and the people, who go and do it, take action.

Which category do you fall into?

The Whingers think it’s everyone’s fault but their own.

They whinge, they whine, they complain, they bitch and they moan. They probably do lots of other negative things as well. I’m long gone at the first sign of whinging!

They strut around and act like the world owes them a living.

Everyone is out to scam them.

Internet Marketers who work hard to develop great products should give them everything free! Maybe if they succeed they might hand over some money.

These people have a victim attitude about life. They do NOT take responsibility for their own actions. And, when they do buy a product and don’t have the persistence to see it through and jump ship to the next fad, it’s the fault of the product or person who sold it to them.

It’s never their fault!

In my humble opinion people like this are VICTIMS of themselves! QED!

If this is YOU, you do need to change your thinking NOW if you want to be successful.

I think I said to you once before I did Amway when I was very young. There was a great guy called Bill O’Brien that used to call this sort of attitude “stinking thinking”.

If you suffer, you need to change…if you want success.

On the other hand, there are others who take responsibility for their actions, they are proactive and go out and make things happen.

They are positive, happy and a joy to be with. They say, “If it is to be, it’s up to me”!

They take action and if it goes wrong, get up, dust themselves down and go at it again! They learn from their mistakes and come back stronger for it. They also (and this is very important) realise it is their responsibility.

They don’t blame other people, they realise the outcomes are directly related to the actions they took and there must be a logical reason if things didn’t work out as expected.

In the society in which we live, where most do expect everything presented to them on a silver platter, in this instant gratification society, this type of thinking requires a quantum shift for many people.

It’s everything Napoleon Hill talked about in “Think And Grow Rich”, the principles still hold true today, and if you need to address your thinking, then you can get a free copy courtesy of APD on the Free Download Page.

So, if things don’t go right in your life or business, there is only one person to blame – YOU!

My apologies if that offends, but by now you should know I tell it to you straight!

Of course the flip side to this is…that if your responsible for things going wrong, you can easily put them right!

If you need to lose some weight, you can make the decision to go to the gym, or take up squash or go for a jog!

Hey, I had my third knee operation in as many years four months ago, but I was back on the squash 11 weeks after the op. I was back playing football (soccer) and going to the gym. My body hated it at first, but gradually the fitness is coming back.

If I can do that at 50 and still play in the top 10 of my club’s leagues (with two very dodgy knees), you can too!

If it’s the business, get out and do some more.

Put a new Adwords campaign out, try some variations on the ad content, add some new keywords. Write a new article and publish it at ezinearticles. Put a new affiliate promotion up, build a new landing page, do a product review.

The answers are within you; this is the best advice I can possibly give you. If you want it you can have it.

You can have the big house with a pool, you can have the exotics holidays, the mobile lifestyle, the fast cars…even the yacht.

It’s up to you! As Nike say….”Just Do It”.

Thank you for reading; I hope you have found this newsletter useful. I really want to hear what you think so drop me a line.

Derek@apd-marketing.co.uk

As always…to YOUR success.

Cheers now and, enjoy the ride!

Derek

Internet Marketing from APD

Turn Your Time Into Money

Learn Copywriting

If you feel someone else would benefit from this information, please feel free to pass it on!

Hello Again and welcome to the October 2008 edition of the APD Newsletter.

There’s an awful lot to talk about this month…on a number of varying subjects so it will be a bit of an unusual newsletter this month in that it will be a bit of a “mish mash”. I hope you will still enjoy my monthly missive though!

First up, I’m sure you will know that in the past I have been a “champion” of Stewart McKay at Adwords Excellence. I was hugely sorry to see the site disappear in September.

I haven’t been able to contact Stewart via Skype, email or ‘phone for 12 weeks now. I sincerely hope that Stewart is O.K and it is just that he has decided to “take off” in a new direction. There is no doubt he had become a trusted and respected mentor for me.

I know Stewart is a reader, and he hasn’t “unsubscribed, so if you’re out there Buddy, I’d like to record a very public thank-you and I wish you all the best.

If anyone does know what Stewart is “up to”, I would really like to know.

Moving on.

I decided I’d had enough of the British weather so, as it was Alison’s birthday, I decided to buy her (and me of course) a week away in the sun.

We went up and spent an amazing week in a very remote corner of Mallorca. You can do these things on a whim if you make your living online and are not beholden to “the boss” :>)

We had a week of beautiful weather, stunning scenery and outstanding food and wine!

It really was just “what the doctor ordered” in view of the summer we have had here in the U.K!

However, just one week away caused huge stress in the business!

If you purchased Dominating Clickbank 2 through my link you will already know about the technical woes I suffered!

If you didn’t…why not? Seriously though, if you have been wondering about DCB2, I’ve now had a chance to have an in depth look at the product and you can read my full review at…

www.apd-marketing.co.uk/dcb2review.html

Anyway, back to the story! First up my mobile failed to work in Mallorca, so that got me off on the wrong foot. Then my laptop decided to follow suit…so I had to find an Internet café and in such a remote spot it was not easy I can tell you. Then, as if to add insult to injury webmail decided to fail as well!

All that made managing the Dominating Clickbank 2 launch very awkward indeed!

They say things happen in “threes”, however, when I got home, and tried to log on, guess what? No Internet! It turned out BT had an “Internet outage” in St Albans that lasted nearly 48 hours. As if that wasn’t enough, when I finally got back online, I found ALL of my websites down!

I was beginning to think someone had something against me…and that someone must have been a powerful person (or Being)!

So, what’s the point of all this?

It’s simply this. Things will go wrong, planes fall out of the sky, trains crash and so do computers. It’s a fact of life. O.K, what I experienced was certainly a little out of the ordinary. And, I’ll admit I didn’t just take it all calmly, I did have a little rant here and there!

However, when things go wrong like this, as they are want to do ccasionally, it’s all too easy to just “roll over and die” – give up. It’s all too easy to blame someone else and rant down the ‘phone at BT or whoever.

However, think about it, what purpose does that serve?

If you were to devote that energy to solving the issue rather than trying to “fight against it” then you are likely to get a far speedier resolution.

And…sometimes there is nothing you can do other than “take it on the chin” and just get on with life.

It’s not what happens…it’s how you react to it that makes the difference. In situations such as these, I always ask myself the same question, which is…

“Is this situation life threatening”? I don’t think I’ve ever answered “yes”! In some situations where huge stress is concerned, the answer may be “only if I let it be” :>)

However, the bottom line is, just get on and do the things you can have an effect on and leave alone the things you can’t and don’t stress if you cannot change the thing!

I have to admit, it took me years to get this right, and I still don’t have it completely licked. Which sort of leads me into the next situation that I can’t do much about…

The financial markets! Oh Boy!

O.K, I’m admitting here and now, I really didn’t see the extent of this crisis coming.

In the great scheme of things this is still a ripple, but as I said recently, it is now a far bigger ripple that I originally thought it was going to be. In fact, it may turn out to be a little bit more than a ripple, but we won’t know that for a few months yet.

I remember talking to the IT head of an exotics desk about three years ago and he told me his particular bank were making hundreds of millions on derivatives. Even he, who had been in banking for 10 or 12 years, was astounded at the level of profits.

He said to me then, “if we are making all this money, someone MUST be holding the opposite position…I’d hate to be around when this lot unravels”.

That is exactly what’s happening now!

I have told you before how this mess came to pass, so I won’t go into that again, but…the question I was asking my old City chums today, was “how deep does the rabbit hole go”?

Nobody could give me a definitive answer!

However, shares on the FTSE have had their worst day ever and the index is at a five year low. Billions have been wiped off the value of British companies, and it’s the same the world over.

There has been a series of bank failures and rescues all around Europe in the last week. The idea that this is solely a U.S problem has been completely blown out of the water!

There has been confusion among the governments of the world as to what needs to be done, although it does appear a semblance of coherence has come out of Europe tonight with the leaders joint statement that they will do “whatever is necessary to maintain the stability of the banking system”.

So, just how deep does this nasty rabbit warren go?

My guess is pretty deep. One of my contacts described what’s happening now like “a game of kerplunk”! What a brilliant analogy!

When I asked what chance all of the marbles falling through? I was told 50/50.

Now, I personally don’t believe all the marbles will fall through, but some already have and others inevitably will.

So, practically…

First up, the major U.K banks all took refinancing positions late last year and everything points to the majors in the U.K being safe.

As far as any further major bad news in the U.K, my belief is that it is unlikely. After HBOS and Bradford and Bingley being taken over and nationalised, the view is that is the end of the seriously bad news in the U.K.

As far as the U.S is concerned, it’s my view was that most of the really bad stuff has happened, but that there are still quite a few smaller American banks that are “exposed”. Expect further rationalisation and maybe a couple of smaller failures.

We can expect major redundancies in investment banking. Indeed, UBS announced job cuts of 2,000 this week and with a huge swathe of Lehmans wiped out that accounts for another 2-3,000 jobs. Expect more of this in investment banks worldwide.

Of course, I don’t expect anyone to shed any tears as it is certainly true the banks are the architects of their own downfall by lending ever deeper into the sub prime and then cutting up the CDO’s (collateralised debt obligations – mortgage back securities to you and I) into more and more complex derivatives, futures, swaps, options etc.

The relentless pursuit of ever-higher profits at any cost is completely to blame!

However, the Bank of England has £40 billion standing by. This will be used to inject into the banking system to try and “free up liquidity” (so that loans and credit become available again at reasonable rates).

But with a country (Iceland) to all intents and purposes bankrupt, that £40 billion may not be enough. Iceland’s banks have borrowed £180 billion betting on interest rates and financing Icelandic business expansion against a GDP of just £80 billion. In other words they have borrowed over twice the value of the entire country and gambled it!

I heard it said that if Iceland had to actually pay this “bill”, tax would have to go so high that the average family in Iceland would not even be able to afford a fish finger per week after tax!

In case you weren’t sure about this…this is not good news! Icelandic banks are certainly intertwined in U.K business on the high street (Hamleys, Oasis), even in the Premier League with West Ham United (no wonder they didn’t buy any players in the transfer window).

One thing I couldn’t get information on today was the exposure British banks have to Iceland, but there are strong links between Iceland and the U.K. It is possible that this issue could still come back to haunt U.K Banks.

Government is now sure to get much more involved in regulating what is being seen as this wholesale gambling by the investment banks. However, there is a view that the U.S government has a lot to answer for by way of the Sarbannes Oxley legislation.

If you are not aware of what this is, it is a set of accounting legislation that U.S banks have to adhere to. As most investment banks are global organisations, it was pretty much adopted throughout the world of banking.

It has had a particularly nasty effect in investment banks.

In short, this legislation states that any financial institution can only put assets on their balance sheet at market value and herein lies the rub!

This is why Merrill Lynch had to be brought out before it collapsed.

Their mortgage-backed bonds were trading at 22 cents on the dollar so that is what had to be entered on their balance sheet.

In actual fact, it has been proven that, despite the wretched news in the U.S property market, the actual default rate on home loans will finally shake out at 20-25%.

So, in effect, these bonds were really worth 75 cents on the dollar. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that is one hell of a “hit” to take.

This same situation pertains in most of the investment banks, and is a major
contributor to the ongoing “crisis”.

If world (U.S) governments just relaxed the Sarbannes Oxley rules to allow banks to put something like the true value of their assets on the balance sheet, this entire “crisis”, I won’t say could have been avoided, but would have been far less severe!

So, a simple rule change by government could have saved the tax payers of the world billions of dollars.

Yes, ultimately it is you and I who will foot the bill.

It has been suggested that government should bail out the small and medium sized businesses that are suffering rather than the “fat cat” bankers, and I have some sympathy with that view.

However, we need the banking system and everything is provides to “oil the wheels” of the now global economy. It is, though, my view that the bankers have been allowed to get away with far too much in the pursuit of ever increasing, never-ending profits.

That will change and far tighter regulation will be put in place, but government (the world over) really needs to take a look at itself as well. I can’t believe they have missed the point so “obviously”. It does make you wonder if there’s not an alternative agenda – seriously?

So, what does this all mean for you? In the short term I have noticed that job vacancies are starting to dry up and figures from the high street and services industry look pretty awful at the moment.

Redundancies are starting to hit the headlines!

This is a very recent trend though, job vacancies, the high street, restaurants and the like have held up remarkably well until the last couple of weeks.

The Western World will dip into recession for sure. And there will be job cuts and things will not be too bright for the next 12-18 months. Only you know how exposed you are, but I would suggest you should have at least 9 months living expenses stashed away by way of savings if you are still working as a wage slave!

If not, you are exposed to at least some degree at the moment. Sorry, but there ain’t such a thing as a safe job at the moment.

The level of recession in any given country will depend on the level of household debt in that country – the U.K and U.S are not best placed in this league!

It was also interesting to note that one contact I met suggested that the government may be actively engineering a period of inflation to help wipe out some of the “value” of the extensive debt and build some equity in house prices again.

It’s true inflation would help reduce the debt burden and the true value of mortgages and make household finance more manageable, but the effect on savings and industry would be far worse than those “beneficial side effects”.

My belief is this is in the realms of “conspiracy theory”. If there is even a grain of truth in this…it is a hugely dangerous strategy.

The other thing you will notice is that 0% finance will quickly dry up. We have already seen casualties in the furniture business and this may well extend into car dealerships. But these companies raise their capital (and then sell the debt) on the markets and that funding just won’t be there any more.

Come what may, I believe 12-18 months down the line things will have stabilized, the (large) ripple will have passed and the economy will settle down and start to grow again. Slowly at first, but it will “bounce” back.

But, do make sure you are prepared for what could be a bumpy ride for the next 9-12 months. As I said up front, how bumpy, well, people couldn’t really tell me today as they simply don’t know. If I do get any further information over the coming weeks, I will get it out to you straight away.

But…it is important to remember, when all is said and done…it’s not what happens, it’s how you react to it!

I know I am beginning to sound like a scratched record here (for those who can remember records), but…now really is the time to make sure you protect yourself and your family by getting your online business up, running and profitable.

The information I provide through the APD main site can help you do that, so use it to get yourself started, move yourself forward and make sure your destiny is very firmly in your *OWN* hands!

The high street is starting to suffer, but sales online continue to grow…it’s the only place to be! Niche markets in areas such as health, hobbies and self-improvement continue to pull record profits.

Make sure you get your slice of the ever-expanding pie – you have no excuse and…you know it makes sense!

Just before I go, I have been on a mission to get the main site seriously upgraded with loads of new information since I got back from holiday. There is new “free stuff” for you to download, new APD products and quite a few new product reviews.

If you haven’t dropped by recently, do re-visit and have a look.

As always, if you have any questions drop me a line at   derek@apd-marketing.co.uk

And finally, finally. Please excuse any typos or spelling mistakes in this edition. I’ve sat down and written this long piece on the markets straight after getting in. I usually ask Alison to proof, but I wanted to get this important information out to you A.S.A.P.

O.K, that’s it for this month, a bit of a gloomy newsletter I know. However, you do need to be aware of how this situation will / possibly could effect you. And, you need to think about how you are going to deal with any curve balls that come your way.

I promise to get back to more positive stuff next month with a newsletter full of solid online profit pulling information!

Until then, as always…

…to *YOUR* success.

Cheers now…and have fun (you might as well!!!)

Derek

www.apd-marketing.co.uk

Blogging For Profits

P.S – If you know of anyone who you think would benefit from this newsletter, please
feel free to pass it on.

P.P.S – If you want to use any of the information in this, or any of my newsletters of
on your own website, in your own ezine or newsletter, you are free to do so, but
please do add my resource box – thanks.

Hi and welcome to the August 2008 APD Newsletter.

Wow, August already, and for those of us in the U.K summer still hasn’t really
started! Now if ever there was a reason to get your own auto pilot income business up
and running and profitable (so you can run it from beside a Spanish beach)…surely
the British weather has to be a major motivator!

O.K, if you’re not reading this from somewhere in the U.K, you might need to find
other motivation, but for Brits…I would suggest the weather is one of the best
motivators around. Most of my leisure time this summer has been spent in this green
and pleasant (and very wet) land, but I am now at breaking point so I’m off for some
sunshine in a couple of week’s time!

Anyway, enough of my weather rants, back to business as I take a further look at
some of the ideas that came out of the Andrew Reynolds bootcamp a few weeks back.

http://www.cash-on-demand-workshop.com/bootcamp/

I know many of you took up the DVD offer (link above) and I know you’ll be starting
to reap the benefits, but do still read this newsletter as I’ll be highlighting areas of
special interest.

One area that came through loud and clear was regards product development. I have
to admit I was cringing when I heard this! This was me when I first started!

Most people who are looking to develop a business, be that online or traditional,
develop the product first and then look to market it…wrong!

The first thing you MUST do is find a hungry market…before you do anything else! I
know I’ve said this before, but it still amazes me the number of people who approach
me with a product they have spent years developing without doing a scrap of research.

It seems blindingly obvious to me now, but when I think back…I had my idea and I
was totally blinkered. The rose-tinted glasses were on and my product was the best
thing out there and was going to sell by the thousand.

My first experience of this was as a very young and green twenty something. I spent a
fortune getting a range of sepiatoned photographic prints made up and expertly
framed. I then spent a lot more buying a stand at a huge craft fair which ran over three
days in Milton Keynes.

I then sat there on the stand for those three days and sold….wait for it…

TWO pictures. Did I learn my lesson?

Of course not!

When I first went online I read all of the books, watched a load of video tapes and
proceeded to get it wrong again.

Now I have learned my lesson. If I have an idea, I research the market first.

I look for competitive products (these are good by the way), I look for forums where
the subject is discussed, I do Google searches, I use keyword research tools to find out
how many searches are being done online. I look at the magazine racks…in short, I
make sure there is a market before I even think about launching a product.

And, when I first test a market, I do it as an affiliate. I find a product in that market on
Clickbank and I promote it. I set a small budget and I test ad variations and I see if I
can make money.

If I can make money in the niche, then…and only then do I look to develop my own
product.

As it happens, watch this space on this subject. A good friend of mine has developed a
product and I am going to teach him how to market online. At the moment he knows
nothing…and I mean nothing! Adwords got a completely blank look from him! So, I
am going to show him, top to bottom, how to go about marketing online.

Did he do his research? No, he didn’t! However, he was very lucky as he had picked a
very, very hungry market. As soon as he showed me the product I knew. There are
rare occasions when you do just know. And, when I did the online research it did
confirmed what I thought, so…we’ll be sitting down in the next couple of weeks to
market this product.

I’ll be filming the entire process and I’ll be making it available…this will be one you
won’t want to miss!

Anyway, the point is simple…before you spend anything on product development (be
that your time or money) make sure you KNOW for sure that there is a hungry market
waiting to buy.

One of the other things that I got at Bootcamp was a massive injection of positive.
Now, normally I am the most positive person around. Many people have been known
to hate me as I’m one of these annoying people that wake up in the morning and start
flying around at 100 miles an hour, singing and generally being noisy.

However, every now and then it is good to get a new injection of positive to keep you
on the right track and motivated. With the best will in the world, even positive people
sometimes have the odd dip here and there and…there is nothing like an influx of
positive input every so often.

Pat Mesiti was the PMA guru for the weekend…a real bundle of Aussie energy!
Hyper doesn’t describe him, but what great ideas he delivered…I’ll cover just a
couple of the main themes.

In short he said that if you want to have the money, lifestyle and everything that goes
with having a successful business, then your mind has to evolve to the level where
you can deal with wealth.

He cited the example of a very famous American heavyweight boxer who earned over $400 million during his career but was now flat broke and in and out of prison.

$400 million blown on nothing!

The essence of this is that you have to control your own attitude to life and show the
discipline needed to grow and develop with your business.

You do this by making sure you read and watch the right stuff, and set goals and
priorities for yourself.

For example, if you want to build a lifestyle for yourself where you have numerous
autopilot profit streams and you need to learn, say Google Adwords, to help generate
profits…would you give up the “game on TV” to learn what you need to learn?

I talked last month about going that extra mile. I’ve talked before about sitting there at
9pm on a Friday night writing this newsletter. I gave up a weekend to be at Bootcamp.

In short…I have my priorities right and it’s why this week I have spent a day out with
my eldest son, I’ll be off for a luxury week in Spain soon, I’ll be spending three
weeks in Vancouver soon and I got up at 9am this morning and walked the three yards
to “work”!

You see I took the hit a few years back. I put in the hard work, I got my mind focused
the right way and I did what it took to get me to where I am now.

What else did I do to get here?

I set goals. I know, I can hear the collective sigh from here “Yeah, we all know about
goals”.

Do YOU have your goals written down? Do you even have any goals set?

Every positive mental attitude book, DVD or CD will tell you the most successful 5%
of the population are those with written goals! It’s true so please get your goals
written down…ideally with pictures to support.

Andrew did a brilliant session on goal setting and it was an area I had let slip a little
(at least I’m honest with you).

However, after Bootcamp, I was re-invigorated and have re-set and massively
“upped” my goals.

You see…it’s that injection of positive again!

As it happens, Andrew still has the bootcamp DVDs available, and if you haven’t got
yourself a copy yet, I seriously suggest you invest. Click on the link below…

http://www.cash-on-demand-workshop.com/bootcamp/

Invest in yourself, was one of Pat’s main themes. If you want success and you haven’t
got it now, then it follows you will need to do something different in future to get you
to where you want to be. Simple stuff.

Investing in the “right stuff” for yourself (and your loved ones) is one of the main
support pillars of all successful people!

I’ve got some really interesting stuff coming up for you during the course of the next
month, so you will hear from me a little bit more often over the coming weeks, but it
will all be designed to help you really move your business and life to where you want
it to be.

So, stop making excuses and just “DO IT”…start doing something to secure your
financial independence and future lifestyle…NOW.

http://www.cash-on-demand-workshop.com/bootcamp/

O.K, that’s it for now, do read this newsletter again and think about what you really
want. Final word…I am nothing special, I spent 20 years as a recruiter (it pains me to
think about it now)…if I can do it – so can YOU!

As always…to YOUR success.

Cheers now, and have fun!

Derek

Internet Marketing from APD

267 Information Product Ideas

If you feel anyone else would benefit from this information, please feel free to pass it on.

Hello and welcome to the MARCH 2008,  yes you read that right, the March edition of the APD
newsletter.

I remember writing, back in the July 2007 edition about time slipping away, I quoted that famous Pink Floyd song “Time” (funnily enough)…”and then one day you find, ten years gave gone behind you, no-one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun” and all that.

Well…it’s a subject I am going to return to this month albeit with a slightly different slant.

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s March, a quarter of this year has nearly gone already. It’s nearly
Easter and the clocks “go” in a few weeks, yes, the light nights will be back – let’s hope the
weather obliges as well!

The speed at which time now flies by never ceases to amaze me, OK, I know I’m beginning to
sound “old” here! But, as I move towards my big 5-0, I am convinced beyond all doubt that time is going more quickly. Perhaps it’s just that each second that passes is a (rapidly) decreasing percentage of the time I have left, I don’t know, but it’s flying by!

It only seems like Christmas was a couple of weeks ago!

If you have children you will know and relate to how quickly each school year passes. Sadly, my youngest is going to be leaving school in June – ouch!

It will be Easter in 3 weeks and then it will be time for your summer holiday and the kids will be
another year older – and so it goes!

So, what’s the point to this little ramble?

Well last weekend I was at a post football match “lads night out” (yes, OK, I know the term “lad”
can only be very loosely applied) but you know the thing, a few beers after football and a curry – a great institution isn’t it? Anyway, one of my friends was whittering on about his grandiose
retirement plans.

He was babbling on about how he had a world cruise planned and he was going to buy a top of
the range sports car and retire to that big house in the country…when he was 60. He’s 48 now.

I didn’t mean to take the wind out of his sails quite so violently, but when I pointed out that he may not live to 60 (a bit morbid but true, we really don’t know what might happen tomorrow) he was stunned. I then suggested that if he had things he wanted to do then why put them off if he could do them now? He just didn’t have an answer and sat there in a stunned silence!

Now I’m going to tell you a “home truth”, and it’s one that is probably going to make you feel
uncomfortable – sorry about that.

Most people put off doing the things that they really want to do and actually get on and do those
things that they feel they should to do. So, you get around to doing little things like your tax return (because you get told off by Big Brother if you don’t) but do you ever get around to the bigger ones? You know the dreams, the things that you really, deeply love to do? The things that you really WANT to do. Like…starting your own business.

Now don’t’ feel bad because this “intertia” has been programmed into you by society through peer pressure. You know this is true. What happens when someone asks you “what do you do?”

You immediately trot out the “oh, I’m an accountant” line. Most people do, like the compliant little sheep they are. This is what we are programmed to do.

Something like starting your own business is actually something you don’t have to do. In fact,
after three false starts, I very nearly didn’t start mine for that very reason. And…it’s outside of the norm. It’s different. How can you possibly earn as much as an accountant if you work 20 hours a week from home?

I sat for years (yes really) thinking about it and talking about it but never doing it, meanwhile I
made my employers very rich in return for a pittance of a salary. I reckon I used to earn about
15% of the GP I made for my employer. Is that fair for my damn hard work? Now…it’s 100%
mine, all mine! That is a lot fairer if you ask me!

So the message is simple, if you are going to start your own business do it now, today, don’t
waste any more time, it slips away at an alarming rate! All too soon you will turn round and those 10, 15 or 20 years will have gone behind you and you will be exactly where you were!

If you’re not prepared to do what it takes, then decide that you are not interested in that plan and stop deluding yourself and wasting your time. You will save yourself an awful lot of stress, I know.

If you keep kidding yourself you will come to regret your own lack of progress ever more and
even more. You will come to resent yourself. So, if you would feel much happier and better about yourself in a day job, make that quality decision and get on with it. Alternatively make that quality decision and give it everything you have got.

You may feel I am being overly harsh on you here, however, I believe it is best to be straight and to the point. If it’s not for you, fair enough, take a different direction. There is nothing wrong with that.

We all need to bit of motivation and pointing in the right direction occasionally, so having beaten you about a bit, I am going to offer you an “olive branch”!

My brother-in-law was over from Canada a couple of weekends back and he brought with him a
copy of a book that you have to read. If you want to make your own business really work, and
more importantly, have the time to enjoy it (which is really what we all want), you simply must
read this book.

The book is called “The 4 hour workweek” by Timothy Ferriss. It’s been flying off the shelves in
North America and is released in the UK on 3rd April.

Basically, the book’s philosophy boils down to this…

If you manage your time, your goals, and your priorities effectively, it’s relatively easy for you to generate a comfortable, full-time income working just 4 hours per week. Indeed, Tim clearly demonstrates how he earns between $50-60k per month working just 4 hours a week.

Goodbye trying to fit your social life around your 9-to-5 job, and hello freedom and prosperity! Welcome to the world of “The New Rich”.

Seriously though surely this is what you want…or you wouldn’t’ be here – right?

No wonder this book’s become an instant best-seller.

However, since its release, Tim has come under some fire from prominent “business people” who are whinging that designing your ‘ideal lifestyle’ of minimal work and maximum play is not that simple… that it takes YEARS of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears to make that happen.

You see back to what society thinks should happen and the pressure to conform!

But I beg to differ!I’ve known many people who have started their own money-making
Internet businesses from scratch.  And I can tell you for sure that the success people like us have achieved did NOT come as a result of how much time we’ve spent working on our businesses, but what we’ve DONE with the time we’ve spent. Yes, there is a learning curve, and there is an investment, but…

Someone with clear, precise goals and a step-by-step action plan will accomplish far more in just one hour than someone who is bogged down with information overload and paralysis of analysis will accomplish in an entire (long) day.

So, my recommendation to you is get “the 4 hour workweek” and be amazed at what you can do
to change your life. It does brush over some areas like the use of Adwords, but the basic message is clear.

The bottom line is that this book should be a bible for all aspiring Internet marketers and lifestyle designers. And, using it you too can design your own life.

No affiliate links, just a recommendation to get the book as soon as you can. I devoured it in one day, it’s scintillating!

One more thing before I wrap up this month. I’ve been watching Andrew Fox and his Affiliate X
Factor pre launch carefully this last week and a half. This is a really fine example of pre-launch
marketing. He’s also giving away some really interesting insider tricks pre launch (the product
goes live 20th March). As it happens, I’m testing one of the techniques over the weekend!

If you haven’t already been following this and you’d like to catch up then click on the following
link…  (Edit 2009, sorry link is now gone as pre sale is finished, you can still get the pre-sale info in the Affiliate X Factor product itself)  it’s an object lesson in the art of the pre-sell and worth it just to see how Andrew goes about things.

OK, that’s it for this month, I’ll be back in April with more great information.

Until then, any questions drop me a mail.

As always…to *YOUR* success.

Cheers now…and have fun!

Derek

Internet Marketing from APD

Check out our Internet Marketing Information Blog

Dear,

Welcome to this bumper, 2007 festive edition of the APD Newsletter, what a treat I have in
store for you today!

Firstly, I’d like to say a huge thank you for all the positive comment I’ve received on
Total Control. I am truly humbled that it has already helped so many people start to
realise their potential. Yes, it really is that quick and easy to implement and I am
getting stories every day from people who have achieved a real “quantum shift” in
their thinking. Phrases such as…

“It feels like I’ve taken the blinkers off.”

“How could I have been so blind not to have seen all this before?”

“I can’t believe what an incredible difference this has made to my business. For the
first time, I really know where I am heading and I know what the end result will be.”

This is making a difference to people’s ability to earn serious money and I am
absolutely delighted. It’s the reason I do this!

So, if you haven’t had a look….

How To Control Time And Money!

So…here it is, Merry Christmas. Actually, I think I said that last year, but there is no
denying ‘tis the season to be jolly.

However, having watched the news this week, you wouldn’t think so, would you?
There’s the normal “bad” stuff, like teachers being put in prison for erroneously
naming teddy bears and politicians being taken to task over financial irregularities
(tsh, tsh). But…that’s not what I’m talking about here.

I’ve been listening very intently to the financial news this last couple of weeks. What
alerted me was one of my old City clients who I keep in touch with. We were just
having a chat and he told me that he thought “this sub prime crisis has a much longer
tail than anyone is letting on”. In other words, we haven’t heard the last of the bad
news on the financial front.

Another thing that really grabbed my attention last week was filling up the car. The
money counter was going round faster than the petrol delivered counter. I almost
dropped the hose! I’m old enough to remember a pound a gallon, and now we have a
pound per litre. That means a gallon now costs £4.55 (it’s 4.54609 litres to the gallon,
in case you wanted to know).

Two issues here. Firstly, if the sub prime crisis is going to rumble on and there are
more big losses to come, there will very definitely be an extended credit crunch that
will very definitely affect the UK. No doubt about it.

I think we might be seeing an early result of this in the delayed Virgin take over of
Northern Rock. I did hear that one of the main backers of the Virgin bid has pulled
out. That may well leave Northern Rock high and dry, and if that happens, it will be a
big blow to the economy.

If the economy and financial markets do start to “slide”, I don’t think the Bank of
England will reduce interest rates. That will cause house prices to tumble and that
nasty spectre of negative equity will arise again. There will be all sorts of other
negative effects on the economy.

For a start, people will not be able to raise funds against the (lack of) equity in their
houses. This is what has fuelled the spending frenzy over the last five or six years as
house prices have soared.

Many people are coming to the end of their “deals” on mortgages. They will not be
able to get such good rates. Any customer less than “prime” will just be unable to get
access to funds.

Plus it will keep money out of peoples’ pocket’s as they have to juggle with continued
higher mortgage payments.

But what makes this all so awkward for the Bank of England is inflation. The problem
is clearly demonstrated by that nasty petrol price shock that I got. The retail price of
petrol has risen quite a bit in the last six months, after all it’s nearly $100 per barrel on
the open market now.

Have you also noticed your weekly food bill recently? I have! It’s gone through the
roof.

With mortgage rates higher, inflation going up, all of a sudden, we don’t feel quite so
rich. And…in real terms, we are not.

However, because inflation is rising and the economists reckon it will break the magic
2% figure next month, the Bank of England will not cut interest rates because it is
bound by its agreement with the Government to keep inflation below 2%. Having said
that, Tesco has just today questioned the Government’s inflation figures, saying its
internal figure is just 0.8%. Tesco are putting pressure on for an immediate cut.

Interest rates are the way the Bank contains inflation and sadly Tesco’s figures are not
what the Bank go by!

So, mortgages remain expensive, food and petrol prices remain high, house prices
start to fall and with more bad news every day, the feel good factor is quickly
evaporating.

The monetary committee sit tomorrow. It will be very interesting to see if they bear
up to the pressure for a cut. Even if they do cut, it is still my view that it’s not looking
good for 2008 at the moment. Bah humbug!

Poor Gordon, he’s only just come to power and he’s already staring down the barrel.
And, to add insult to injury, some naught party members have been doing very
naughty, not allowed financial things behind his back…allegedly (that’s allegedly
behind his back). Well, that has certainly cheered us all up! Happy Christmas Gordon!

Seriously though, you could be forgiven for thinking that I am being the harbinger
doom (and gloom) instead of festive cheer and goodwill. Indeed, it was only a couple
of months ago I was talking about not listening to the doom and gloom merchants.

Indeed, I very definitely stand by the comments I made. I am merely telling you what
I think will happen in 2008 on the financial front.

Those comments were related to how you react to bad news in your own life and
business.

And, therein lies the crux of the issue. You see, as far as I can tell, bad times are a
coming. Now, I do suggest you go back and read the August newsletter again. Having
done that, I have one thing to say to you.

With what looks to be looming it is more important than ever that you have your
destiny in your own hands. That means your own business, up, running and making
money for you. Not for anyone else, but for you and your family.

If you’ve read my stuff previously you know I’m a great believer in that if one door
shuts, another opens. The word on the City “street” this week is that the smart money
is going abroad. Four or five years ago China was the place if you wanted big returns.
But, now China is in the second phase of its economic development. It’s become
much more expensive to open a business in China. So, the smart money is moving.

As we move towards economic slow down in the West, the smart money is going to
go to the next rising star of Asia. I suppose you’d like to know where that is wouldn’t
you?

OK, if you’ve got money to invest and KNOW what you are doing, and only if those
two things are in place. Invest in Vietnam. All the major corporations are throwing
money at it, there is a massive internal investment program and it now has all the cost
advantages that Russia, India and China had before it. It is ripe for massive and
explosive growth. You heard it here first.

Keeping in touch with some of my old City chums does have its benefits!

However, for us mere mortals, there are certain things you can and should do to make
sure you are safe and protected, and indeed making big money in 2008.

With this in mind there are a number of things I would like to tell you by way of my
Christmas present to you. Ahhh!

Firstly, once we get past about the 10th of December, industry in this country grinds to
a halt. I love a party, but I think we take it a bit too far in this country now!

However, that does mean that you’re likely to have about 25 days that you can use
“more for yourself”. I know if you’re in a day job it’s not possible to use 100% of the
time for yourself, but take what you can and use it for your own ends.

To prepare, learn, whatever it is you need to get your business really firing in 2008.
Look after number 1, ‘cos sure as eggs is eggs, the boss won’t look out for you!

If you’re already running your own business take advantage of the slow down to plan
in detail what you are going to be doing first thing in the new-year. Make sure you
have everything ready for a big launch on January 2nd

If you’re in a day job and you want to protect yourself by running your own show, use
the time to learn and prepare. You’ll have time off over Christmas, use it wisely. I’m
not suggesting sitting at the PC all through Christmas Day, but there is a lot of time
wasted over the festive period.

The idea? To hit the ground hard and running on Tuesday 2nd January. To a man (and
woman) everyone is totally pissed off at having to go back to work. So, it is prime
time for business opportunities and the make money market. It is prime time for
anything to do with changing job. It is prime time for booking holidays. It is prime
time for anything that makes people feel better.

It is also true that if the economy does slow down, the market for making money
products increases (almost in direct proportion).

So, be prepared for this and make sure you are positioned correctly for January the
2nd!

My second present to you is a new totally revamped APD website. Boy, am I proud of
this!

The main APD site is a now a dedicated centre of excellence for those who want to
make money online.

Please go and have a good look around…

www.apd-marketing.co.uk

(Editor note March 2009…it’s just been totally revamped again!)

Every single product that I use in my business is not only listed but reviewed –
honestly. You’ll get the inside track on all of the best on line marketing products as
well as the usual free stuff.

The free business start up course is still there as are all the back issues of the
newsletter in a new easily downloadable format.

There is loads of content that you can use to help you get started building your own
website (please do give me the courtesy of a link back to the APD home page if you
use my stuff though – thanks).

If you have any questions email me. I’ll do my best to answer you as quickly as I can.
I desperately want 2008 to be YOUR year. When many around are wilting under the
pressure I want to see you rising to the top.

I have to say, I have just learnt so much in 2007 and have really pushed my business
on. The tools and products reviewed on the site are the way in which I did it. You can
do it too! Why? Well, I’m nothing special. Three years in a bank, eight in an oil
company (that’s how I knew the litre to gallon conversion figure – sad isn’t it?) and
more years than I care to remember in recruitment.

The message? I am nothing special. I have a girlfriend, two ex wives and three kids.

If I can do it…you CAN too.

What’s stopping you? Hey, another tough question, but seriously…think about it. You
wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want something better, something different, something
more. What’s the “burn for you? Is it the money, the lifestyle, the freedom or the
ability to do what you want, when you want…in style.

For me, it’s the time I gain, to spend with family and friends. That’s why I do it.

That’s what it’s all about my friend. The life you want to lead.

So, please (I’m not past pleading), take the bull by the proverbial horns and get out
there and make it happen.

So, my final word for 2007. My very first newsletter talked about paralysis of
analysis, information overload. I understand that, believe me, it held me back for
many years.

What I have done is strip everything down to its bare bones for you. I’ve not only
recommended every single product I use, I’ve also told you how I use them all as
well.

So…I have undertaken all of the analysis and presented you with a clear path to
online success.

As a loyal subscriber, I’m offering to answer your questions on email to help you
along the way. I’ve already done this for quite a few of you reading now. If I’ve
helped you, please let me know so that I can tell others.

That is my Christmas present to you. I hope you will accept it with open arms and use
it. Not just today (and cast it aside like a pair of Christmas socks or pack of unopened
handkerchiefs), but on an ongoing basis. As an added tool in your bid for success.

So, that’s it, there is no more for 2007. Of course I’ll be back in January with the
usual missive and I promise not to bang on about new years resolutions and goal
setting. Well at least not in the January issue anyway :>)

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the APD newsletter over the course of the year,  and
that it really has helped you along. As it is Christmas, to finish up, I thought I’d really
lighten things up, have a bit of a laugh.

My first attempt at an online business was back in 1999. With a good friend, I started
an online horse racing tipster service, called Burlington Bertie. Sadly it faded into
obscurity as my partner (who provided all of the tips) went off into the murky world
on texas hold’em poker.

However, I was looking through and clearing out some of the old “Bertie” files
yesterday and came across this little lot.

To give you a bit of background, each month, we used to send out a newsletter called
“Off The Rails” (quite natty, eh?). And…not really being a serious business (or so we
thought at the time), we used to indulge in a bit of fun each month with a “Fun”
section in the newsletter.

Colemanballs were always a great favourite of our subscribers back then. So, from the
archive files of Burlington Bertie, here are a few of my favourite “Colemanballs” to
provide a bit of light relief this festive season.

These two horses have met five times this season, and I think they’ve beaten each
other on each occasion – Jimmy Lindly

This really is a lovely horse…I once rode her mother - Ted Walsh

This racecourse is a level as a billiard ball – John Francombe

Jockey Tony McCoy was in his usual position of holding a large lead coming up to
the post, prompting Winning Posts Steve Machin to commentate as follows…
Tony has quick look between his legs and he likes what he sees.

And, as they’re Colemanballs, we have to have a couple from the late great David
Coleman himself…

Moses Kiptanui – the 19 year old Kenyan who turned 20 a few weeks ago.

And…his all time classic when introducing Match of the Day in the days when it
followed Fanny and Johnny Craddock

And for those of you who watched the last programme, I hope all your doughnuts turn
out like Fanny’s.

To close, probably my favourite. From cricketing legend Sir Viv Richards.

The West Indies were playing a county match prior to the test series and an
(unnamed) county bowler had Viv playing and missing a few times. The mistake the
unfortunate bowler made was to sledge the great Sir Vivian. Foolishly he piped up,
“Hey Viv, it’s red and it’s round”.

A steaming Richards slammed the next ball into another postcode and told the bowler
“you know what it looks like -go fetch it”

Quality!

On that note I will bid you a happy and peaceful Christmas and a hugely prosperous
new year.

My very best wishes to you and your family.

As always…to *YOUR* success

Cheers now, and have fun (after all, it’s Christmas)

Derek

Internet Marketing from APD

Hello and welcome to the thirteenth issue of the APD Newsletter. How lucky is that? I can’t believe it was November last year that the first issue was published and here we are a year later, still going strong.

I have to say it has been a breakneck year. I have learnt so much about making money online during these last twelve months. And…it has been a good year! The business is now firmly entrenched and if I’m honest it has only really been this last year that we have started to get a lot closer to where we wanted to be.

So, as we near the end of another year…how much progress towards your ultimate goals have you made?

Ouch, it’s another one of those horribly awkward questions I like to ask you. What have you done this year to get out of…The day job? Debt? The UK? Your rut?

OK, I’ve asked you the question, now I’ll give you a fact.

Did you know that, and I hate to say this, but…the majority of people who fail to succeed in making money online, or indeed in life, do so because of one very common trait?

Quite simply they DO NOT TAKE ANY ACTION!

I find this so sad but it is without doubt the number one reason why the majority of people never make a single penny online. They take no action because either:

They’re scared to, or…

They get totally paralysed by the overload of information (I did a piece on this in the very first newsletter if you want to have a look, November 2006) – paralysis of analysis.

So, procrastination sets in and before you know it, …the opportunity is lost forever!

Is this you?

Having said that, I totally understand if you are in this situation. I spent most of my first attempt at Internet Marketing back in the late 90’s doing exactly this. However, there comes a time when you just have to take an “educated” risk, when you just have to go out there and do something.

Maybe you’ve been burnt before? Just in case you were wondering if this only happens to you, no…it doesn’t. It’s happened to everyone. You, me, my mum, John next door! It’s not the fact that you get burned, it’s how you react to getting burnt that’s important.

I remember once being told that it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down. You just have to get back up and carry on. Yes, it helps you to learn from the mistakes, and…you only need to get up one more time than they knock you down to win!

Yep, you’ve guessed it, I have been burnt countless times but it never stopped me getting back up, dusting myself down and putting myself out there again. I’ll tell you what… It makes it so much sweeter when you do win!

And, if I hadn’t kept putting myself on the line, where would I be? Do I really need to answer that? In a day job bored stiff making money for someone else, bankrupt, sponging off of my mum, it could be any of these.

So, think about this and make a pact with yourself that you are not going to let a few setbacks stand in the way of your success. Are you? Your success is far too important! Do a bit of daydreaming…what would an online business making, say, £10k per month, mean to you and your family? Play with this idea!

Oh, and enjoy playing with it. See it, feel it, touch and taste it.

You’ll find it very motivating.

Maybe you don’t really BELIEVE you CAN be a success?

Well, I’m here to tell you that I am nothing special. I worked in a bank for three years, an oil company for eight and in recruitment for more years than I care to remember. So, if I can do it, you can do it too (your boss won’t tell you this, by the way).

Whatever you do - at least MAKE A DECISION and run with it! Get something done to secure your future. And…it doesn’t matter if it’s not 100% right to start with, just DO SOMETHING.

You can learn exactly how to do it once you’ve got at least something done! So, make a second pact with yourself. That you are going top put yourself on the line and LEARN what you need to learn to achieve success.

I said that I’d learnt an awful lot this last year and so I have. And, you are going to benefit from what I have learnt. To that end, I am planning to totally revamp the main APD website (again) over the next month or so and make it a “make money online” centre of excellence.

In fact, the project is already underway! I’ll be reviewing and recommending all of the tools and products that we use to make money online. I’ll also be putting up more free information on how to succeed online.

Keep watching - these are exciting times.

And, talking of exciting times, I’ve got something new for you this month. I know I have really banged on at length about product ideas over the last two months, so here’s a rich source of products for you. And…they’re all free.

The following link is a free source of PLR products. This means you can re-brand them and sell them either as they are, or alternatively you can re-write, merge and generally use as you see fit.

Go and have a look…
www.apd-marketing.co.uk/apdrecommendsplr.html

I also made a new purchase last month, and it’s the first time I’ve brought something from Michael Green’s extensive library. If you have PLR products to play with, then you should take a look at Michael’s 20/20 Challenge product.

Michael is without doubt one of the UK’s most successful online marketers. He’s built a huge business over the last six years so he’s certainly not a newbie! However, despite his success, he only works part time! (Oh joy!)

I’ve been watching his products for a while now and what I like about him is that he creates products which are easy to use…but work! Indeed his latest is very special indeed. Quite simply, it is a system that promises to teach you how he made $20,000 in 20 days. The outline and daily action plan are excellent – it’s great stuff. Follow the instructions, and if you do follow the instructions…it does what it says on the box!

The instructions are detailed and ideal for someone who is just starting out online. So, if you really do want to get online and make some money, this is the place to start. Go and have a look…or ready my review.

Derek’s Review of the 20/20 Challenge

Incredibly, Michael makes a guarantee that if you fail to make $20,000 in 20 days after following his plan, he will refund every penny of the cost of the course. You can’t get much more confident than that!

The product has only just been launched, meaning that you can buy it at a huge discount if you’re quick. The price is rumoured to double shortly and I’ve seen Michael Green do this before, so it won’t be an idle threat!

What would you do with an extra $20,000 in your bank account in few short weeks’ time?

Have another daydream, only this time, you really do have the chance to make it real!

I promised to lighten up this month. Hopefully I have achieved that, although I see my old banking friends have been suffering a lot more pain this last month. I can’t believe some of the stories coming out of the City! But, hey, if you want to insulate yourself from all of that and keep your destiny within your very own hands, then what I’ve given you this month is an ideal way to do just that!

Now, go for it. Don’t just read this newsletter and file it away, take the information and take action on it. Go on, you know it makes sense!
Well, that’s it for this month, with just one more edition left before Christmas (agghh, I said it!).

I intend to make December’s issue a bumper edition with lots of extra value that you can digest (along with the turkey and vast quantities of alcohol) over the festive break.

So, if there’s a subject you would like covered or a question you need answering next month, mail me and I’ll do my best to come up with what you want.

Have a great November, and, as always, have fun.
Cheers now

Derek

Internet Marketing From APD

Build Your Own Website

What Do You Believe?

Hello from Vancouver! We’re just at the end of our time with family over here and I have to say we have had a brilliant time. We climbed to the very top of Whistler Mountain (what an amazing 360 degree panorama), spent
a couple of days in Seattle and also went white water rafting.

I have to tell you that is one hell of a buzz! I highly recommend it if you haven’t had a go. It was my first time, it pushed my comfort zone that’s for sure. But when you push your comfort zone, that’s when you sample the
real spice of life.

Just as an aside…when was the last time you pushed your own personal envelope?

Anyway, it’s been just fantastic to spend quality time with family as well. It’s so great to be able to do the important things in life!

So, we’ll be on our way back home soon, and whilst we have had a superb, exciting, relaxing and indulgent holiday, I am looking forward to getting home.

While we’ve been here, it has been very interesting to see and hear the news from a North American perspective. The power of suggestion that the American media use is very strong, stronger than the UK in my opinion. And, it therefore seems North America is more open to the suggestion of the media. Now, I know we have a habit of doing the same in the UK as well, although I’d like to think we challenge things a little bit more, but…the subject did get me thinking!

And, the article that got me thinking on this subject was the news on the US mortgage market and how the property market in the US has collapsed and the credit markets are looking dodgy because of that and how that may well knock on to the Bonds markets and…all of a sudden the entire economy is looking like it’s going to collapse.

Now, being in Vancouver the news there seems to have a heavy US bias, so I’ve been able to see this close up.

But…the question I want to ask is “do you believe what you read (or hear or see)?” You see, all this bad news is a real threat to you. Not because of what’s happening out in the markets, but because of the effect it may well have on YOU! The markets, the big corporations and such like will make
money regardless of the general economic situation. They’ll just make the money in different ways depending on the different conditions that exist at any given time.

But, because the media is now full of scare stories, everyone picks up on it and all the negative “chatter” starts and all that “bad news” turns itself into a self-fulflling prophecy! Before you know it everyone is telling you how bad the economy is. How poor Fred down the road was laid off and had his house repossessed by that shark bank. How the corner shop has closed after 75 years trading, oh it MUST be bad.

However, this is not the real threat to you or your business. It’s the doom and gloom merchants that so enjoy (and yes that is the right word) peddling all this bad news.

Let them get into your head and it will be bad news for your business!

The reason for this is simple. If you believe it, it will come to pass.

Studies of advanced thinking clearly show this to be true. Numerous studies have shown that people who believe they are good at something are indeed good at it. Think back to the school disco. The people who think they are attractive to the opposite sex are more successful in attracting the girl or boy. People who believe they are good leaders turn out to be so.

The ultimate manifestation of this is in drug trials. I’m sure you know what happens. People are told a new drug has been developed that cures a given ill. To test the drug some people are given the drug, others a sugar pill – known as a placebo.

The really interesting thing is that some of the placebo patients get better.

It’s called the “placebo effect” and the only explanation for their recovery is that they BELIEVE they have taken the drug.

If that does not clearly demonstrate the power of the mind I don’t know what does! The implications of this are quite staggering. Just think about it.
What effect do you think the bombardment of bad news might have on you? Or anyone come to that. If you surround yourself with bad news media and people who constantly moan about how bad things are, sure enough, you will come to believe it. It will sow a seed of negative doubt in you that will grow and go on to possibly destroy all your hard work and tear down all of your achievements.

This happened to me in the recruitment business after 9/11. There were so many (perceived) negatives in the market. Sadly, I believed the press and watched my fortune disappear down the bad news tubes. Now I look back on it, if I’d just kept my head, looked for the new opportunities created by the situation, and kept working instead of taking my eye off the ball, I would easily have got through.

It’s a hard lesson to learn.

So, don’t blame the government, the media, the economy or whatever. It’s not any of those things that will bring you down, it’s YOUR thinking that will undo you if you believe all the negative claptrap. If you allow yourself to be sucked in and believe what you think you should you will only have yourself to blame!

When all is said and done, if you have the right business model, really understand your market and control it rather than the other way round, you can ride any economic waves that come along. Interestingly enough,
the media would have us believe each economic wave is a huge tsunami, when in actual fact they are merely small ripples in the great scheme of things!

So, remember, the power is in the belief itself. I can’t remember who said this, but this is so powerful…

“all we have to fear is fear itself”.

Many (and I mean many) years ago, I did Amway. I didn’t do very well,
but I was young! Anyway, they had a great support system of positive tapes (that’s how long ago it was) and books. I always remember one of the senior people talking about this subject. He always talked about having loads of positives around that would build a “Neg Shell” to protect you from all the doom and gloom merchants – what a great idea!

Yes, I know there will always be bad news, but… we defnitely live in good times. It’s less than sixty years since we lost rationing in this country. In 1962 the world stood on the edge of nuclear oblivion.

But…thankfully opportunity is everywhere now. The Internet continues to transform our world and lives…and provides many of these amazing opportunities.

So, forget what the media would have you believe and get out there, put yourself on the line and win.

But, remember, it’s up to you what you think and believe. Your mind runs your life, so look after it, feed it the right stuff and use it wisely.

OK, that’s it for this month. We now have ten hours on a plane. Some might look at that with some trepidation. Not me, it’s still part of my holiday! I’ll have a beer in the departure lounge, do some shopping, then watch a couple of flms and do some reading on the plane. It will be positive stuff to charge me up for getting back into the business “big-time” as soon as I’m back home.

And…jet lag? Pah, all in the mind!!!

As always…to *YOUR* sucess

Cheers now and have fun.

Derek

www.apd-marketing.co.uk

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