The Money Farmer goes whole hog!

As a Jew, I try to avoid all things piggish. But I don't think a porcine figure of speech crosses the line...:-)

I came up with the "Money Farmer" image because there are many ways to make money on the Internet, and successful marketers pursue several of them at the same time. Kind of like having fields of grain, smaller areas with vegetables, a fruit orchard or two, and some stock.

As good farmers we need to find our markets; till, seed, fertilize, weed, and harvest; rotate the crops; and always be aware of the weather - as well as of technology that can amplify our efforts.

We'll milk this metaphor for all its worth, skim the cream off, and share it with you!

Dave's Cool Little - what?

I feel a bit like someone who heard the child yell, "The emperor has no clothes!"

A few weeks ago, I got a powerful sales letter from Tim Knox and Dave Purves, promoting "Dave's Cool Little Store." It's a site on their server into which you enter your eBay and ClickBank affiliate codes, and voila! You're in business!

Now, to my embarrassment, I have to admit that my very first thought was: "Why would anyone come to my store? What makes it special? How can I set it apart from all the other identical stores out there?" I should have followed that thought to its natural conclusion.

But having been caught up in Tim's excellent copy, and figuring that since he's made a lot more money on the Internet than I had, I paid the $97.

My store - http://www.joelscoolstore.com - was set up quickly.

And then? Nothing.

I sent out some mailings. Nothing.

I looked around for people on the Web who were having success with their "cool stores." Couldn't find any.

Then someone (David Vallieres, I think) suggested "tuning" the meta keywords to a niche topic, and directing traffic there on that basis. I clutched at that straw, and did that. Nothing.

I just looked at a calendar: I just missed Clickbank's 60-day refund deadline by 3 days.

So I want to get at least a decent blog post out of this...:-)

Go to http://www.joelscoolstore.com. DO NOT click on the banner at the top, to buy one of your own. Or wait - go ahead and click on it, because their sales copy is worth learning from. Just don't buy, unless you know something I don't.

There are lots of ways to make a quick buck on the Internet. I suspect this project made a bunch of bucks for Tim and Dave. But to build a long-term, stable business, you have to have content, which attracts traffic; you build relationships with your customers, so that when you have something to sell them, they believe you; that leads, ultimately, to monetization.

The lesson for me: Pay attention to my instincts. Do things that make sense. This didn't; and doesn't.