Colorado just killed thousands of small businesses whose revenues are based on affiliate sales. They follow on the tail 3 other states with similar laws in place already, and 14 more states nipping at their heels. Here’s why, whether you are an affiliate, or you run an affiliate program, you need to know how this rabid pack of looters can do serious damage to your business, maybe even kill it all together.

Amazon first to fight back . . .

When Colorado passed this new onerous tax law, they forced Amazon’s hand. With one of the world’s largest affiliate programs, Amazon had learned from their experience with New York state when NY passed an Affiliate Nexus Tax. Amazon immediately notified every affiliate in Colorado that they were canceling their affiliate referral program in the state.

Basically they called Colorado’s bluff (CO didn’t think they would ever do what they did) and in the process they took a stand for us all.

You see, New York, along with North Carolina and Rhode Island have enacted laws saying that if a retailer runs an affiliate program with referral payments, that’s enough to trigger tax collection requirements. It has to do with “nexus”, which we’ll get to in a minute.

California, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, New Mexico, Vermont, and Virginia are among those states with similar measures currently pending; in Virginia, one chamber of the state legislature has approved the bill.

The law is called the Affiliate Nexus Tax, AKA the “Amazon Tax” for Amazon’s ongoing legal battle with New York state on the unconstitutionality of the law. It’s the latest in a series of efforts to increase taxes by eliminating the long-standing “physical presence” standard and replace it with a nebulous, arbitrary standard of “economic presence.” Physical vs. economic presence is HUGE when it comes to nexus.

But the fact that Amazon has deep pockets and is able to fight this is a help to us all — affiliates and business owners with affiliate programs alike.

The deadly danger of the Affiliate Nexus Tax

Aside from the unconstitutionality of these laws, the ass-backward logic of raising taxes on the businesses on whom the recovery depends, and the over-reaching of states beyond their borders; the most pressing concern you need to have is the language these new tax bills use.

Common language from the bills includes:

A person with no physical presence in the state is presumed to be engaging in business in the state if:

1. that person enters into an agreement with an in-state resident under which  the resident, for a commission or other consideration, directly or indirectly  refers potential customers, whether by link or an Internet web site, to that  person; and

2. the cumulative gross receipts from sales by that person attributable to  referred customers by all residents with such an agreement are greater than $10,000 during the preceding 12-month period.

(To get the full story on this business-killing new tax scheme, I suggest you read the executive summary report on the Affiliate Nexus Tax / Amazon Tax put together by the TaxFoundation.org.

If you’re an affiliate . . .

As an affiliate, at first glance you may think; “Well $10-grand, that won’t affect me.”

But whoa! Hold on there! That’s EXACTLY what these looters want you to think. Take half-a-minute to think about it and you quickly see that $10,000 equals just a little over $800 per month. That’s $200 per week!

Doesn’t that change your perception a little?
Starting to see how this could impact you now, not just “the big guys”?

On the flip side . . .

I can tell you that as an owner running an affiliate program, we are watching this VERY closely. I’m waiting for a final decision from our Corporate CPA right now on whether we should risk the wrath of these looting states, or play it safe and immediately cancel affiliate programs in states where these laws are passed.

If you are running an affiliate program, you need to be aware of what potentially can come your way with the Amazon Tax. For one, out-of-state businesses are required to collect sales tax based on where the customer is located under the Affiliate Nexus Tax. So each retailer, no matter how large or small, must track 8,000+ sales tax rates and bases. Further, these constantly change and (contrary to common assumptions) are not aligned with even 5-digit zip codes, let alone 9-digit zip codes.

Nexus shmexus — it’s about taking your hard-earned money

States are coming up with their own rules on what creates a “nexus” in their borders. And desperate for money, they are reaching further and further to try to make that definition fit their looting ways. For example, CA is about to start claiming nexus if you hire an independent contractor (and that could be a lawyer, CPA, coach/consultant, virtual assistant, you name it) from CA.

Once you have nexus in a state, you then have to be set up to collect and pay sales tax in that state. And CA is going even further in claiming they have rights to tax your income as well. (But that’s another law and a whole another post on it’s own.)

What you need to do to protect your business

Simple! Pay attention and get involved. Far, FAR too many business owners say “Ah politics, I don’t have time for politics.” Well this is a perfect example of why ignoring what goes on in Washington and in your state capital will reap a whirlwind of looters and moochers banging on your front door.

If you live in one of the four states where an Affiliate Nexus Tax has passed already (New York, Colorado, North Carolina and Rhode Island) — contact your state representatives, state senators and governors office. Let your voice be heard.

Ditto if you live in one of the seven other states (California, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, New Mexico, Vermont, and Virginia) that have legislation pending in in process already.

Then — monitor the news so you can stay on top of your State representatives too. This is where Google Alerts would come in handy. Just go to Google Alerts, sign up for a free account, then enter your alert terms “affiliate nexus tax + (your state)” and “Amazon tax + (your state)”. So your alert search term if you lived in California would look like “Amazon tax + California”, without the quotes. You can choose to be alerted to news immediately or once per day.

History is overflowing with the results of political apathy. the most notable recent lesson being Nazi Germany where Pastor Martin Niemöller famously said:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Don’t be that person. No one is going to stand up for you. In fact, in this increasingly anti free-market environment that we have to do business in, you’re more likely to have moochers standing up and cheering as the looters take what you’ve worked your butt off for.

What does your entrepreneurial spirit tell you?

Since the founding of our country businesses could always ply their trade across state lines. Today, with the internet, even the smallest businesses can more easily reach across geographical borders to sell their products and services in all fifty states.

But now that business is increasingly being exposed to oppressive tax compliance and liability risks in states where they merely have “customers”, NOT a presence — they will be less likely to expand their reach into those states. And that will further hurt they economy, not help it.

How will this impact your business?

What are you going to do about to stop it or reverse it?

Shout out your thoughts in a comment below.

And pass the link to this post along. Tweet it, Facebook it, DIGG it! Our voices must be heard if we are going to reverse this tide and preserve our liberty and entrepreneurial freedom.

John Paul Micek is founder of RPM Success Group ® Inc., the leader in software, systems & strategic coaching to double your bottom-line in under 12mos in the New Economy. QuanSite New media marketing software is one of those resources. He is author of the first published book on New Media marketing, the best seller Secrets Of Online Persuasion.

Join Coach Deb as she is the guest on David Cooper’s Internet TV show from the Hopes, Goals & Dreams Studio in Nashville, Tennessee.

7:58 pm CST
8:58 pm EST

Here’s a quick video with Coach Deb & David Cooper in the studio talking about tonight’s LIVE Broadcast’s Topic: Profit with Social Media!

Spread the word, invite your friends, Retweet this link invitation out, because the normal fee for this Webcast has been waived and it’s now easier than ever to join Coach Deb. There are no reservation signups – just go to the following page & have this link open 10 minutes before the show goes LIVE, and that’s where the Broadcast will stream directly to your computer!

“Click here to watch LIVE WebCast with Coach Deb and David Cooper”

(No registration or sign up needed)

PS: Spread the word! and Profit with Social Media!

QuanSite members getting the most from this New Media online marketing software are a smart bunch. They know all about the power of online video and how it can create surging streams of qualified and motivated visitors, deepen connection with your followers, advance trust and boost sales. If you’ve got an  eagle-eye you may have already spotted an improvement to the QuanSite Mega Video Blaster module in the past few days.  We’ve made a few changes that will make it even easier for you to market with New Media and engage your Tribe with online video.

Here’s how we’ve made things even better . . .

The QuanSite Mega Video Blaster is Smarter!

Many of you have been actively leveraging video to build your brand, increase rapport and trust, and make more money using your QuanSite software.  If you’re not familiar with the power of the Mega Video Blaster built into the New Media Dominator module, here’s a brief overview:

• Upload your video through your QuanSite Admin panel
• QuanSite takes your uploaded video and  automatically converts it into a universal online format
• Then the QuanSite software automatically creates your branded player on your site
• And the New Media Dominator even automatically syndicates your video to the top 12 video sharing sites at the same time to create more channels of targeted inbound traffic if you like.

The thing is it just wasn’t as fool-proof as it could’ve been. A few of our members ran up against some challenges when trying to use the Mega Video Blaster module.  Many of the errors were minor, stemming from an improper format for your video file name or trying to use an unsupported file type.  And while our Customer Support team would help resolve errors, we decided to add a few new features to the Mega Video Blaster that would help eliminate the frustration some members experienced when using the wrong file type or naming format.

So our crack programming team went to work. We took a look at the two main challenges faced by members when using the Mega Video Blaster module and came up with the solution.  Now you’ll never be faced with an error due to the wrong format for your file name again!  Once you upload a video to your EZ-SEO home page, any blog post, or your Marketing PRO pages using the Mega Video Blaster, your file name will be instantly converted in to the correct naming format.  No need to worry about spaces in your file name, just upload your file and the Mega Video Blaster module takes care of the rest.

But we didn’t stop there . . . we’ve made the system even smarter!

Another common challenge was trying to upload an unsupported file format.  We know how frustrating it can be to upload a file, wait for it to convert, only to find out it failed due to the file being an unsupported video format.

Your Mega Video Blaster module now displays the supported file types right on the same screen where you’ll be uploading your videos.  Plus, if you accidentally upload an unsupported format, the Mega Video Blaster will alert you right away and will not let you proceed with the upload.  Pretty neat, huh?

Keeping those Black Swans at bay . . .

Whenever we release a new feature or make changes to an existing feature, we take a close look at how the entire QuanSite system is running as a whole.  We’ve had a tremendous increase in new members recently and the time has come to restructure our nameservers to proactively anticipate disruptive “Black Swan” events and provide more stability now and as we grow.

In fancy “tech-speak” a nameserver is the server that’s responsible for translation domain names into IP addresses.  So basically, it takes your domain name (eg. BOSSstreet.com) and converts it into the numeric format that’s used by machines, known as an IP address. If your nameserver is down, your site is not accessible. And in the case of a powerful system like QuanSite, that could mean a large number of members sites being inaccessible.

It’s a highly improbable event. But where most companies think the world is full of white swans, I make sure we’re always doing eveything possible to be prepared for those damn Black Swans. (BTW – If you haven’t yet read The Black Swan by Nicholas Taleb, I strongly recommend you do and do it quickly. The entrepreneur who “gets it” has a tremendous advantage in the New Economy.)

If you registered your QuanSite to use with an existing domain (one that you had registered at GoDaddy or Name Cheap or another domain provider), you had to make a change to your domain name servers in order to point them to the QuanSite nameservers when you first registered your account.

In order to improve stability, we’ve made a change to how those nameservers are configured and have added two more to provide even greater stability.

What this means for you

If you purchased a domain at the same time that you placed an order for your QuanSite, you don’t need to change anything.  The change has already been implemented by our technical team.  There’s nothing for you to do.

But — if you designated an existing domain that you registered through GoDaddy, Name Cheap, Enom, etc., to be used with your QuanSite — you will need to log into your domain host (eg. GoDaddy account) and make the following changes to your nameservers.  You must now register four nameservers as follows:

Nameserver 1: ns1.rpmmauka.com
Nameserver 2: ns2.rpmmauka.com
Nameserver 3: ns1.quansite.com
Nameserver 4: ns2.quansite.com

For your site to be running live on the QuanSite software you already have Nameserver 1 and Nameserver 2 set.  All you’ll need to do is ADD Nameserver 3 and Nameserver 4 and save your changes.

Quan talk . . .

If you have any questions or need help with updating your nameservers, please let us know on the QuanSite Support Desk and we’d be happy to help you!

And let us know what you think of the improvements. Even if it’s just a kudos or shout out, the programming team would love to hear it. They’re locked away in a dark underground cavern so they don’t get much sunshine or human interaction. LOL!

In part two of this New Media Marketing series we looked at three more profitable precepts of marketing with the 5-Channels of New Media: blogs, online video, podcasts, social networks and social filters.

They were:

If you missed the first article and want the full details on the first five profitable precepts you can get all the juicy details here in Part One and Part Two.

Here are the next three profitable precepts for marketing with New and Social Media.

#6. Participate, comment and converse in context

If you enter a conversation on a blog or in a Social Network, take the time to find out what’s being talked about so you’ll have a better chance of successfully contributing. I know this sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed at how many well-intentioned entrepreneurs I see all excited and fired up about their product or service treat EVERY interaction online as a chance to mention what they do.

Instead, observe your target audience. Remember your Tribe’s wants, needs and desires. What are they looking for? How can you solve a problem, meet their needs, or remove pain? Remember — people buy YOU before they buy what you’re selling.

Contribute in context. Make sure your comment adds to the conversation in some meaningful way. Don’t just say, “Oh yeah, I wrote an article about that on my blog, go check it out.” This is the fastest way to break rapport and ruin relationships in the online community. Your comment is your opportunity to prove that what you have to share is valuable – the more valuable, the more likely people are to check you out further.

#7. Content that counts is linkable

If you post any type of content (written, audio, images, video), people need to be able to reference it on their blog with a permanent link for all of your content.

QuanSite software takes care of this automatically. However, as you create new content, it needs to be searchable, and able to be indexed and referenced. There should be no “rotting links.” This happens when a site posts an article then moves it to an archive. The original link changes with no auto-forwarding feature, or worse, you get a “404 error: page cannot be found.” These annoying things stop the new-media marketplace from working properly, and stop your credibility almost immediately.

#8. Assume that readers will enter your site from any page

Old-school Internet thinking: Put up a Website or sales page and visitors will come to your site though the home page and then spider out into those other pages.

Today, your search-engine rankings come from the keyword-rich content in your QuanSite business blog module. When people visit your domain coming from a regular search engine, they’re could land on any post or page on your blog.

E-mails, tweets or poss on Social Networks can reference you. Other blogs can reference you. If that happens on a post that went up three weeks ago, there may have been a dozen posts since then, so they’re now entering your site through the archives section.

Think about what your blog site looks like: how it is structured for name capture? Does it take the conversation to the next level, and making the relationship with your readers even more personal?

Successfully marketing in the New Media Marketplace requires a different mindset. These profitable precepts are simple, but by using them along side persuasion triggers and solid conversion principles you’ll see your online marketing results soar.

In the fourth and final part of this profitable precepts series we’ll cover participation on individual pages; along with testing and tracking.

John Paul Micek is founder of RPM Success Group ® Inc., the leader in software, systems & strategic coaching to double your bottom-line in under 12mos in the New Economy. QuanSite New media marketing software is one of those resources. He is author of the first published book on New Media marketing, the best seller Secrets Of Online Persuasion.

In part one of this New Media Marketing series we looked at the first two profitable precepts of new media marketing with the 5-Channels of New Media.

They were:

1. Be a market thinker, not a product pusher
2. Participate and profit without becoming an evangelist

If you missed the first article and want the full details on these precepts and discover how you’re in danger of being hacked to pieces by a hoard of midget Ninjas if you ignore them — you can get all the juicy details here in Part One.

Speaking of midget Ninjas, a few of our coaching clients emailed me asking me to explain where midget Ninjas come from. (Come on guys and ladies, it’s OK to post your comments here instead of emailing us. ) Anyway, as far as midget Ninjas, I know most come from a remote island chain in the Western Pacific. But if I were to reveal the exact location of that island, I’d be sealing both your and my fate at the same time.

Within minutes, a midget Ninja that’s been hibernating at the back of your refrigerator behind that 3 gallon jar of olives from Costco would awaken to snuff out your life. I don’t want that to happen to you or me, so unfortunately we’ll have to keep the midget Ninjas home location a mystery.

But what I can share with you today are three more profitable precepts of marketing with New and Social Media.

#3. Connection is key

A conversation can occur one-on-one. Or as we’re talking about here, one-on-one x 1,000, one-on-one x 10,000, or even more. Seth Godin predicted this trend of leveraged marketing back in 1999, and most companies STILL haven’t gotten it. Marketing is permission; it’s not interruption.

Interruption marketing (the way old-school advertisers and mass marketers are still trying to do it) doesn’t work anymore. Marketing is permission and permission is only gained after engaging and listening. If you haven’t read it already, Permission Marketing is a great little book where Seth explains this all in more detail.

Once a conversation takes place, a relationship is formed. You nurture that relationship and you build rapport. That rapport leads to trust, and eventually to influence and persuasion. Not influence and persuasion in the way those terms have been bastardized by political correctness, but in a good and healthy way that exists in any relationship.

#4. Understand and honor the wants, needs and desires of your Tribe (target audience)

Your ideal audience of prospects and clients is dying to tell you what they want. But if you don’t know exactly who they are, you can’t use new media to make marketing easy.

Take the time to sit down and define your ideal customer. And don’t just focus on the typical demographic descriptors. Look at psychographics and emotional wants, needs, and desires. Draw as complete a picture as possible and finding members of your ideal audience already gathered together will be a comparative “breeze.”

This is just good solid Marketing 101. But it’s surprising how many business owners don’t have a clear and specific description of who their target market is.

#5. Listen, learn, observe and adapt

There are two types of listening and observing:

Active listening is like being at a party: you’re interacting and you’re engaged. This type of listening is where you build build rapport and trust.

Passive listening is like being behind the glass of a focus group: you’re observing the market or your target audience from a distance. This type of listening is where you can discover the specific hopes, fears, wants, needs and desires of your Tribe. What just a few years ago large corporations paid $10,000 to $20,000 for a day with “focus groups” you can now get for free with a plan and the knowledge of where to look in Social Networks.

Both forms of listening are necessary in the New Economy. And both are easier than ever before because the New Media Marketplace is so connected, dialog is so active in social networks, and search engines are so well adjusted to the new LIVE nature of the Web.

In the next installment we’ll take a look at the profitable precepts of marketing with New and Social Media that have to do with participation, conversing in context, and linkability.

John Paul Micek is a co-founder of the RPM Success Group ® Inc., the leader in software, systems & coaching to double your profits in 12mos or less in the New Economy. QuanSite New media marketing software is one of those tools. He is author of the 1st published book on New Media marketing, the best seller Secrets Of Online Persuasion.

Well, the winner of the first Zero-to-Quantastic Site Optimization Contest contest should be proud. She not only won the $400+ prize package by taking action to make BIG improvements on her QuanSite reaping BIG results for her business. She laid out a how-to road map for you to follow and proves to you through a very impressive case study what’s possible when you take action and put the power of QuanSite to work.

And the winner is…

All the Aussies in the house shout “Ozzie-Ozzie-Ozzie, Oi-Oi-Oi!” It’s Karyn Clarke of Sydney Australia!

Karyn is the 1st Place winner of the $400+ prize package including a cool new 8 Gig iPod Nano, incredible Bose In-ear HD Headphones, a signed copy of Secrets of Online Persuasion and Twitter Revolution, PLUS one month of her QuanSite software membership paid for by us.

The Runner-up is Judy Zavislak who wins the $140 prize package for herself; including a signed copy of Secrets of Online Persuasion and Twitter Revolution, and one month QuanSite software membership paid by us.

Congratulations to everyone who entered the Zero-to-Quantastic Site Optimization Contest contest. if you used the contest as motivation to improve your business by improving your QuanSite and if you took action and stopped procrastinating — you’re a winner no matter what the results.

WATCH FOR IT! The next contest will be starting soon! You could be the next winner!

What you can learn from the amazing results of the winner . . .

Karyn’s results are nothing short of amazing. But honestly — ANY QuanSite software member can do the same. If you take focused action and use the QuanSite New Media marketing system the way Karyn did it’s within your reach. The following case study will be an inspiration to hundreds of entrepreneurs I’m sure.

The Site Optimization case study

Here’s the case study on Karyn and her site hubsitebuilder.com will show you what you can do when you put your QuanSite to work for you.Keep in mind as you review every word, stat and image below; that Karyn was new to the QuanSite system and unleashed it’s power to accomplish these results in less than 30-days!

And most AMAZING (and this should be a BIG inspiration to you) . . . Karyn is a 61-year old grandmother with no technical experience and who admits to initially stumbling over techie terms when she first started working with clients.

Jeesh! I’m excited to get rolling into this case study myself!

The kick-off; Karyn prepared effectively

• She took an account of where she was at so she had an accurate picture of her starting point (Click Here to see Karyn’s “before” videos of her QuanSite)

• Karyn laid out a plan and set the targets she wanted to hit in the 30-day Site Optimization contest. This is AWESOME! Click Here to see how Karyn set herself to successfully follow-through and take serious action by setting clear specific targets for herself. (PDF opens in new window)

• In her contest submission essay, Karyn clearly defined the vision for how her QuanSite site optimization related to her business goals and what it would do for her long-term business growth.

The amazing results . . .

BEFORE

- Karyn began the contest with NO notable ranking for her targeted keywords.

Click Here to see the thorough review of the keywords important to Karyn and the pre-contest results

- She had NO videos online.

- Before the site optimization contest her Alexa ranking was lower than 3.5-million.

Ranking number 3,576,615 out of all sites on the Web for traffic is actually not bad at all. BUT wait til you see what Karyn accomplished with the QuanSite New Media marketing system.

AFTER

At the end of the 30-day Site Optimization Contest Karyn had achieved incredible Search Engine ranking results. Especially when you consider that she completed less than 1/2 of the new content she had planned on creating.

QuanSite delivers an AMAZING 1,000% Google 1st page ranking improvement — literally!

Karyn used her QuanSite New Media marketing software to go from Zero page-one results to 6-out-of-11 positions on page one of Google!

What you see above is EXACTLY the type of result that should have you jumping for joy. As we’ve proved with our own sites, and as many of our established QuanSite software members have proven — in many niches, the QuanSite New Media Marketing software makes it possible to get top search engine rankings without tons of content or posting every other day all year long.

Results like these just takes knowing:

• The wants, needs & desires of your Tribe (target audience)
• What keywords work to attract qualified prospects
• And the QuanSite New Media marketing software working for you.

And in case you think those results were just a fluke — Click Here to see more proof from Karyn’s screenshots. (PDF opens in new window)

Did you click that last link?

Pretty amazing isn’t it?! She went from having only 2 page-one Google search engine results to 20 page-one results! That’s a 1,000% improvement!!! WOW!

Alexa ranking improves an INCREDIBLE 412% in less than 30-days!

As you saw in the screenshot above, Karyn began the contest with an Alexa ranking of 3,576,615. Take a look at what she ended the contest with below.

Pretty impressive right?

Boosting conversions to grow your Tribe

As you saw in the “before” screencast of Karyn’s QuanSite above, she had not customized her home page and she had nothing in place to build her prospect list.

Now she has a powerful, client-focused home page that motivates qualified visitors to take action with a great free report. Take a look below.

QuanSite EZ-SEO Home Page

Optimized Business Blog Module

And the blog area of Karyn’s QuanSite improved from a business building standpoint as well.

As you see from the screen shot below, she has a number of key things working for her — most importantly that free report offer and list-builder.

Karyn’s Biggest Ah-Ha Moment

Here’s what I thought was really cool about Karyn’s follow-up report. By working with the QuanSite system to win the contest she discovered a feature that truly got her excited. Here’s what she wrote in her own words.

This is just one of the dozens of simple yet truly effective and time-saving SEO and site-management features built into the QuanSite New Media marketing software. QuanSite has so much traffic-generating and conversion-boosting power built into it that it seems impossible sometimes to be able to explain it all.

What are your take-aways?

I’ve just got to ask you this; if a 61-year old grandmother with no techie knowledge can achieve these results with the QuanSite New Media marketing system on her side, what can YOU do? I’ll tell you this, Karyn has certainly inspired me.

• How has Karyn inspired you to action?

• What specific actions are you going to take with that inspiration?

• What ideas have you taken away from this case study that you can use in your business?

Share your answers, kudos for Karyn and other thoughts in a comment below.

The next Zero-to-Quantastic Site Optimization Contest

This case study is EXACTLY why we’ve created the Zero-to-Quantastic Site Optimization Contest. It’s also why we’ll be running this Optimization Contest on a regular basis.

Watch your email for your invitation to the next contest coming soon! It could be YOU in the winner’s circle next time.

When marketing with the 5-Channels of New Media: business blogs, online video, podcasts, social networks and social filters — there are some precepts that you must follow. Similar to advanced practice in secretive martial arts; If you break these precepts you’ll die a horrible painful death being ripped apart by a gang of midget Ninjas!

OK, so they aren’t really precepts in the true sense of the word. They weren’t written in stone by the finger of God. You won’t be struck down by lightning if you break any of them. And it’s likely you’ll escape the wrath of those pesky midget Ninjas.

Seriously though — much of what you’ll read about New Media Marketing is laced with personal opinions and common practices positioned as so strongly as rules that you’d think they were commandments.

Now don’t get me wrong, some rules are good (and necessary) in many areas of life. But very often in business and marketing rules do nothing but hinder creativity and create a herd of mediocrity. Sometimes, to spark creativity, you just have to poke fun at the “rules.” Remember that “industry norms” make you normal, and in the New Economy — average is death. Profitable precepts make you stand out and move you to the top of the pile.

The only rules worth remembering are the ones that help you NOT to break rapport with your ideal audience

When you’re getting started marketing with New Media, the only rules worth remembering are the ones that help you NOT to break rapport with your ideal audience. And the only guidelines worth following are those that help you develop the right mindset for Marketing with New Media. A mindset that helps you focus on people, participation, and persuasion.

Marketing success through failure

One piece of advice my Dad gave me when I was 12 has always stood out for me over the years, “Don’t just learn from other people’s success stories. You’ll learn more from other people’s mistakes, so you won’t have to make them yourself.”

When it comes to online persuasion and influence, there are things you can learn from the success and failures of other business owners. This is what will give you a huge edge over your competitors who don’t know any better.

Now I’ve made a lot of mistakes before I came up with these ten precepts as a primer for New Media newbies. Over the next few posts, we’ll take a look at these ten profitable precepts for successfully marketing with New Media.

These guidelines come from over 12,000 hours of research and testing with our coaching and consulting clients and QuanSite members, as well as our own personal experiences. If you break them once, you may not get caught. If you break them over and over again, you’ll feel it where it hurts – your profits…pocketbook…ego — or all three!

Let’s get started with the first two New Media marketing precepts since they’re the easiest to follow:

1. Be a market observer, not a product pusher

This means you are going to be part of the marketplace without being engulfed by it. The goal is to look for problems people have and solve them.*

Contrast that with the typical salesperson or traditional interruption-type advertising campaign. They’re all about pushing a product or service, with no regard for the end user. The focus is on one more sale. Like a crack dealer pushing a temporary high for a quick buck, these product pushers have no regard for the long term satisfaction of their clients and customers.

The market leader defines his or her ideal audience, then looks to understand, interact with, and ultimately deliver what people in that ideal audience want, need, and desire… persuasively, without ramming another offer down your throat.

(*Note: Ultimately to maximize persuasion, positioning and profits; this means becoming a leader using the principles of Tribal Seduction. Something you’ll be learning lots more about here.)

2. Participate and profit without becoming an evangelist

Observe, participate, and leverage the new media marketplace without getting caught up in the hype or the technology. You want to always stand guard at the door of your mind while participating. But don’t follow the Social Media crowd who blathers on endlessly about New Media this and Social media that . . . it gets old real quick.

Many evangelists tend to be hammers and, therefore, see every problem as a nail. When’s the last time you had a pleasant experience with a self-admitted street evangelist? You get the point, right?

Just like any other idea or technology, when enough people get going in a line, it’s just like a flock of sheep headed back to the pen. You need to stay outside of that herd mentality. If you enjoy using New Media channels and they work for you and your business, great! But share your excitement by example, not by evangelism.

It’s like a saying I remember one of my old pastors using; “Preach the gospel and sometimes use words.” Constantly innovate using lateral (instead of literal) thinking, and keep an independent mindset. You’ll win more fans and profits, and have more fun in the process too.

In the part two of this series we’ll reveal two more profitable precepts of marketing with New Media that will help you connect with your ideal audience… even if they’re a bunch of midget Ninjas. … Hey! Where’d those damn midget Ninjas come from again!?

John Paul Micek is a co-founder of the RPM Success Group ® Inc., the leader in software, systems & coaching to double your profits in 12mos or less in the New Economy. QuanSite New media marketing software is one of those tools. He is author of the 1st published book on New Media marketing, the best seller Secrets Of Online Persuasion.

WOW! The last 30days flew by fast and the QuanSite site optimization contest wrapped up yesterday on the 25th. While some people got caught up in day-to-day distractions — there were stand-out entrepreneurs who took action and made big improvements in their business by improving their QuanSites.

Of notable progress among the contestants who properly entered are (in alphabetic order):

- Karyn Clarke
- Mike T. Nelson
- Rebecca Pulliam
- Judy Zavislak

As per the Zero-to-Quantastic Site Optimization Contest guidelines we’ll be thoroughly reviewing before screen-shots, goals, essays and the final results of all properly submitted entrants. After 30-days of effort it’ll be exciting to determine and announce the winner and runner-up on Thursday January 28th!

Congrats to everyone who entered and used the contest as the motivation to improve your business by improving your QuanSites. If it helped you take action and stop procrastinating — you’re a winner no matter what the results.

Watch for the announce the winner of the $400+ prize package including the 8Gig iPod Nano and Bose headphones on Thursday January 28th.

OK, I admit it. I’ve been dumped because of a date or two in the past. Sometimes it stings more than not having a date at all since you get your hopes up. That’s when a date leaves you lonelier than if you never had one to begin with.

Well, it’s the same thing with your site. Having a date on your blog posts can actually kill your chances of winning over that ideal prospect or client. And by having that date showing you end up lonely and with less money in your pocket to boot!

Follow me here and you’ll see how this relates to you and the latest upgrade to the QuanSite online marketing system.

Watch & learn how to fix the bad date blues

About the NEW “Hide Date” feature in the QuanSite Business Booster Blog Module

The upgrade for the “Hide Date” option has been applied to all QuanSite member sites. The setting for it is in the general site setting area, there’s a check box at the bottom of the page to hide the date. To hide the dates on posts and pages in your QuanSite Business Booster Blog Module, simply check the box next to the words “Hide Date” and hit the save button.

That’s it! Wallah! You avoid pre-framing visitors negatively with older dates showing in your QuanSite Business Booster Blog Module. And more importantly — no more getting dumped because of a bad date.

The Hide Date feature is working great on all stock and modified QuanSite site skins*. If you have a completely custom skin on your QuanSite, we might need to make a small change to the skin files for you. So if you activate the “Hide Date” option and the date still shows, just submit a support ticket and we’ll go in and make the change manually for you.

And as far as your archives — the cool thing is that the Hide Date feature DOES NOT affect the archives function. The post archive and links to the different months in your Business Booster Blog module will still be there and still display chronologically.

* Note: There’s one skin where hiding the date was out of the question as it’s an integral part of the design. That is the Zinfandel skin. The year is not showing though, just the month and day.

Talk back & let us know what you think

The QuanSite team is continuously hard at work improving the software to make it more effective for entrepreneurs like you. The NEW Hide Date feature is a simple, elegant and oh so powerful example.

• What’s your opinion on the idea of getting dumped because of a date on your site?
• Have you ever let a date on someone else’s site pre-frame you in a negative way?
• What do you think of the new Hide Date feature?

What do you think? Share your thoughts now in some intellectual graffiti in the comment area below.

Other Relevant Posts in This Series

1. The Power of You: Keys to Persuasion and Profits in the New Media Marketplace (Part 1)
2. The Power of You: Keys to Persuasion and Profits in the New Media Marketplace (Part 2)

In part one of this article, we examined why old-school interruption style marketing is dead, especially online. We looked at one cause of the demise of interruption style marketing, the “Delusional Coma”. Then we showed how you can reverse that common online marketer disease and use it to your advantage with the Tribal Seduction Formula; CHARM™ (Captivate – Hook – Advance – Reinforce – Motivate).

As you read through part two, you’ll quickly see how to transform the challenges of marketing and selling online into big advantages for you.

Let’s get right to the second major cause for the death of interruption style marketing…

Reversal #2: The waves and the weather

In the regular off-line world, weather is simply a set of meteorological conditions we experience in any geographic area. The marketplace is no different.

If you were to assume the conditions of the online marketplace are the same as last year, that would be just as silly as crossing the Rocky Mountains in January without checking the weather forecast. Don’t try this at home kids… either one will lead to injury or death!

Today’s online marketplace is a new world thanks to the influence of New Media and Social Media. And this is a big problem for many marketers.

Old school marketers resistant to marketplace changes are like Eskimos building igloos in Hawaii. They can be the best at what they do, but continue to rebuild what won’t work in this new online environment.

Three years ago a shift in the mainstream marketplace began like tiny waves lapping away at the shoreline. Today, those changes have become a tsunami of change sweeping across the business landscape.

That tidal wave of transformation is powered not so much by New Media itself but by the illusion of control that New Media gives to the “man or woman on the street.” (Yes, it is an illusion, and we’ll be discussing in detail how you can covertly harness and benefit from this sociological fact as time goes on.)

The reality of the marketplace is this; the “average Joe and Jane” have grabbed their surf boards and are freely riding the waves of the New Media marketplace. They “get it.” The ones sitting on the shoreline watching in fear are small business owners, marketers, and sales professionals.

Some eager marketers do dive in. They doggie-paddle furiously, trying to peddle their wares using New Media channels with old-school marketing tactics. But as they flail about in the fast moving waters, they’re caught up in hidden rip-tides and swept away very quickly. Their videos, posts, podcasts, and entire web presence flounders as the marketplace pummels them like a 40-foot wave on a black-flag beach day.

There are only so many more days they can crawl back up on the beach of constrained thinking and return to poorly veiled versions of their old tactics. Soon the rising tide consumer control will swamp the beach, and their businesses. Trust me — you DO NOT want to join them.

So how can you dive in to the New Media marketplace and not get swamped?

Well, there is the obvious — following along, engaging, and making connections here at QuanSite.

But the most important action you can do is to grasp this simple persuasion mindset:

People buy WHO you are, NOT what you are selling.

Re-read that and let it sink in for a minute.

No matter how good you are at what you do in life, it’s not as important as who it is you are.

Once you grasp that mindset, get out into waters of the New Media Marketplace. Don’t wait until things are perfect or the timing is right. Get out there now!

There are three ways for you to start applying this new mindset to earn a heck of a lot more profits (and make it easier too.)

1. Find the influence leaders (those who gather Tribes of raving fans in social networks, blogs, podcasts, online video, and even off-line on specialized cable channels). Observe who these people are, what they do, and how their fans respond.

2. Start interacting to establish your online persona and brand.Scott has a great series filled with lots of tips and strategies for networking in online communities. And Deb has a great video series on how to harness the power of MySpace and its’170-million+ members.

3. If you’re the sharp marketer I know you are, (and yes I know that you’re a savvy person because you’ve read this far,) then building a true “Web presence”, not just a Web site should be tops on your list too.

“Web site” vs. a “Web Presence”

A Web site sits there and you work for it. You drive the traffic, the content is only seen by people who come to it, and it is a one-way channel.

A Web presence on the other hand — it lives and works for you… 24-7-365! Add content to different New Media channels and each channel will work for you, bringing people from targeted Tribe to you. You can use individual channels like blogs, podcasts, online video and social networks combining them on your own with list-building and conversion sites. OR you can use a complete integrated Web presence builder like the QuanSite New Media marketing system.

No matter which route you start with, remember the Tribal Seduction mindset of “WHO is more important than WHAT.”

Don’t worry about finding people succeeding in online persuasion in your niche. It’s actually an advantage to model ideas from outside your niche or industry. Just start out with two or three of the most popular shows, sites, or personas for each channel and follow them regularly.

When you do this you’ll begin to see the “Who you are, not what you’re selling” principle at work. And as you learn more, you’ll be able to put it to work for you.

You can use both the Delusional Coma and the Waves and Weather to your advantage. These two factors are working together, and they’re changing the rules for marketing online.

No longer can you just be a Marketplace Molester, “info-product” pusher or List Pimp

It’s true both online and off-line, (unless you want to work 4-times as hard for a fraction of the results.) The big bucks and the big fame are being garnered by those who use the Tribal Seduction Formula of CHARM to continuously move people to higher and higher levels of seduction.

If it’s not obvious to you yet, it will become crystal clear as we begin to reveal more of the Tribal Seduction mindset needed to win friends and influence people in today’s marketplace.

As we roll into Tribal Seduction strategies, and various studies or commentaries on online marketing strategies that work with people (instead of using them) — you’ll see how you can win where yesterday’s gurus are faltering.

John Paul Micek is a co-founder of the RPM Success Group ® Inc., the leader in software, strategies & coaching to double your profits in 12mos or less in the New Economy. QuanSite New media marketing software is one of those tools. He is author of the 1st published book on New Media marketing, the best seller Secrets Of Online Persuasion.