Here is one of my most recent projects. As many of you know I have been in involved with the golf industry for many years. Most of my work there has revolved around Golf Improvement and Training with my business partners Steve Bann and Dale Lynch from the International Institute of Golf in South Carolina - coaches to Geoff Ogilvy, Stuart Appleby, Matthew Goggin, K J Choi and many other leading players

I was also the founder of golf.com.au way back in the 90s - yes Australia’s original golf website. I have never been happy that we have devoted enough time to this site, since it is such a prestigious domain name - with a lot of authority on Google and deserves a lot of focus as a result.

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to devote some serious energy to this site and really build out a strong business model - probably based on advertising revenue. Yep another large project…sigh!

However, I also decided that we needed a fun site that did not focus so much on golf improvement and would provide entertainment for golfers of all levels. The result was TwitrGolfers - a community site with strong focus on Social Media - Twitter in particular. Check it out at TwitRGolfers…I am really happy with how it is progressing.

But....I don't know the man!

This one blew me away! A link sent to me by Gary Halbert….a highly respected copyrighter with a great sense of humor.

If you are having trouble with Telemarketers then, why not give this strategy a try….hilarious!. Click on the Video below.

Online marketing at its finest…..whether you are an American Idol fan or not, you cannot help but be amazed at the guts of this young guy - David Cook. He took a song from a totally different type of artist/genre and turned it on its head. A great example of the combined power of traditional media (Television) and new media (YouTube) in potentially launching a career.

Turn your speakers up to 11 and enjoy!

I promised to show you some examples of successful lead generation sites. The first two are from our Pure Golf Training business in which we partner with leading golf coach, Steve Bann to deliver golf training products and services worldwide. Both of these lead generation sites convert at better than 40% visitor to sign-up ratio:

The Golf Improvement Cycle

Free Golf Lesson

In a few short months we managed to generate over 10,000, well qualified, leads in the golf niche - mainly US. Canada and Australia. Many of these have now converted to paying customers. The key has been to deliver quality content in the form of video/free download etc in exchange for visitor contact details.

The other one I would like to show you is my own site (hopefully not too much shameless self promotion

TheOnlineSalesManager

This is a brand new site - so no stats as yet. However, I have used this particular eBook download with great success on previous sites so…fingers crossed it will convert well.

“Leads are the lifeblood of selling” - Jeffrey J.Fox, bestselling author of Secrets of Great Rainmakers.

Back in 1763, Josiah Wedgewood, of Wedgewood Pottery fame, was generating leads for his pottery business based on “word of mouth” referrals. He had convinced Queen Charlotte to let him name the line of pottery she purchased “Queens Ware”.

That was enough for him to set up one of the most effective lead generation campaigns in history via his own paperwork and stationery. Now Josiah would have shuddered at the term “Lead Generation” back in those days - but that is exactly what it was.

Fast forward to 2007

NEWSFLASH: ” The New York Times is to axe 500 staff members as a result of falling circulation and a slump in ad revenue as more readers turn to the Internet for news”

” For the first time the consumer is boss, which is fascinating, scary and terrifying because everything we used to know will no longer work.” - Kevin Roberts, CEO Saatchi and Saatchi

“I believe today’s marketing model is broken. We’re applying antiquated thinking to a new world of possibilities” - Jim Stengel, Proctor and Gamble

But the one thing that has not changed is the insatiable demand of the business world for quality leads. There is no doubt that Small/Medium Enterprises, in particular, are willing to spend money on lead generation. They are not so sure about “branding”…and who could blame them?

How does a small business measure the ROI on brand recognition - but that is a bigger discussion for another day.

So, just how does the small/medium business of 2008 generate leads?

It’s not so hard really. One powerful model, that few businesses have cottoned onto, is to combine the proven muscle of traditional media (e.g Radio/TV/Newspapers) with the proven conversion power of a lead generation website (or more accurately a “Minisite”)

The trick is to drive massive traffic (via either traditional media or search engines) to a website that does nothing but build a database of prospective customers. The job of the website is NOT to sell a product (at least not in the first instance) - but rather to sell the consumer on the value of exchanging his contact details (usually first name and email address) for information that will go some way towards solving his problem.

Done properly, that “exchange of value” will give the business owner the right to maintain contact (via email or even snail email) and build a relationship with the consumer. The sale comes later.

Just like Josiah Wedgewood did with his paperwork and stationery in 1763, the business owner of today can build up a relationship with the prospective customer - leading eventually to a sale.

That is the essence of Lead Generation in 2008.

Wouldn’t Josiah have loved to have had these tools at his fingertips?

In Part 2 (tomorrow) we will have a look at some effective lead generation websites.

You heard it here first!

We have had the pleasure over the past few weeks working with AFL Coaching Legend, Denis Pagan in the launch of his new website - Teams At Their Best

This is Denis’s first foray into the world of the Internet but it was enough to grab sporting headlines in Melbourne’s Herald Sun last Thursday. Associate Editor, Mike Sheahan has already coined the phrase “Denis.com” to mark this unexpected move from an AFL Coaching icon.

Check out his Fox Sports Review here - Denis.com

In essence, Teams At Their Best is all about coaching the coaches. The target market is coaches and teams in all sports at all levels.

This is an exciting project for us…..you can watch the progress at www.TeamsAtTheirBest.com

“The Hog”

The old irreverent “Hog” is still a force to be reckoned with in golf. Originally a resident of the bar at the old Golf.com.au website way back in 1995, the poor old “Hog” has been unceremoniously dumped to make way for the Golf.com.au brand new politically correct approach to the ancient game of golf - how unbelievably boring! Not to be outdone however, this Old Hog has reappeared in a website all of his own.

The Hog Blog.

Sure enough he is just as offensive as ever - but least he can’t be kicked of his own website!

Check out The Hog - but leave your golf etiquette behind.

 

I just had to include this article. What a great insight into the music industry.

The Problem With Music by Steve Albini

Whenever I talk to a band who are about to sign with a major label, I always end up thinking of them in a particular context. I imagine a trench, about four feet wide and five feet deep, maybe sixty yards long, filled with runny, decaying sh!@. I imagine these people, some of them good friends, some of them barely acquaintances, at one end of this trench. I also imagine a faceless industry lackey at the other end holding a fountain pen and a contract waiting to be signed. Nobody can see what’s printed on the contract. It’s too far away, and besides, the sh!@ stench is making everybody’s eyes water. The lackey shouts to everybody that the first one to swim the trench gets to sign the contract. Everybody dives in the trench and they struggle furiously to get to the other end. Two people arrive simultaneously and begin wrestling furiously, clawing each other and dunking each other under the sh!@. Eventually, one of them capitulates, and there’s only one contestant left. He reaches for the pen, but the Lackey says “Actually, I think you need a little more development. Swim again, please. Backstroke”. And he does of course.

Thank you Steve.

And of course that is the reason bands like the Arctic Monkeys choose to bypass the whole system and promote their music via the Net.

Those long summer nights in Ireland. Radio Luxemburg and Van Morrison. The distant sound of the Orange Lambeg Drums. The little stone cottage built by my great, great grandfather over three hundred years ago. That was Ballyknock. That was my home.

The old stone walls stood during the great famine and through much hardship and suffering. My grandfather, one of seven sons, stayed at home whilst his two elder brothers sailed for St Louis to find fortune and support the family.

They came home, minus the fortune. They gathered around the open fire and told their stories. They became my friends.

The Internet was still thirty years away. In Ballyknock it might as well have been three hundred years away. We didn’t care. Life was simple. There was little to fear - so long as we stayed out of Limbo, Purgatory and Belfast during the “troubles”.

And then it all changed. The old generation passed on - almost in a blink.

We arrived in Melbourne in 1968. Four years later the news came that the old cottage had been demolished. Ballyknock and the long summer evenings were a distant memory.

Fast forward to 2006. An aimless search on Google finds a trace, just a glimpse of the old Ballyknock. There should be more. such a rich history, all those generations. Couldn’t help myself. Logged onto GlobeVista to see if anyone had stolen www.ballyknock.com. Couldn’t believe my eyes - it was available! My childhood reality at Ballyknock was long gone. But now I had a chance to recreate some of those memories on the net.

And that is the plan. Time to dig out the old photos and get Ballyknock online. The old stone cottage has gone but Ballyknock wont be forgotten.