Wizard Wisdom

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Dear Scott, Never let your standards slip... even by a little. “First thing it’s two minute, then four, then six, then the next thing you now, we’re the U.S mail.” - Chuck Noland, (Fedex manager) Cast Away "The coming year will be fun, adventure-filled and profitable for people who have their wits about them. A number of small business owners are positioning themselves to overtake their much larger rivals. Will one of these companies be yours" - Roy H. Williams Make sure you read, What to Expect in 2009. In this issue: Exponential Little Bits The Must Read Articles of 2008 by GrokDotCom What to Expect in 2009 Wizard Academy upcoming seminar: Fight the Big Boys and Win 20-21 Jan 2008 Exponential Little Bits Makers of miracles have magical little helpers. Is there a miracle you'd like to make? Would you like to learn the magic of the elbs? Elbs are Exponential Little Bits, tiny but relentless changes that compound to make a miracle. The power of an elb lies not in its size, but in its daily occurrence. For an elb to work its Exponential magic, the Little Bit must happen every day... every day... every day. Every day. Funny thing... When daily progress meets with progress, it doesn't add, it multiplies. To harness the magic of Exponential Little Bits you must learn to ask yourself, "What difference have I made today?" And never go to sleep until you have done a Little Bit to move yourself closer to your goal. But you must do a Little Bit every day, no matter how tiny the thing might be. Exponential Little Bits work both ways. They can lift you up or hold you down. There is much power in the ELBs. Start with a dollar. Double it every day for just 20 days and you'll have 2,097,150 dollars. But if you diminish each day's total by just 10 percent (a Little Bit) before the next day's doubling, you'll amass only 793,564 dollars. Diminish each day's doubling by 35 percent and you'll have only 56,784 dollars - a holdback of 95.83 percent. There's a line in Robert Frost's "Mending Wall" that says, "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down! I could say 'Elves' to him, but it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather he said it for himself." Is there a wall between you and your miracle? I could say how to bring it down. But I'd rather you said it for yourself. Roy H. Williams The Must Read Articles of 2008 by GrokDotCom Our friends and partners over at Future Now have just released their "best of articles " for 2008. The Future Now team have done their bit to help your business... now it is up to you to read, learn, and implement. Of course if you don't have the skill or time, Future Now can implement for you. January Marketing Lessons From Apple Testing Add-to-Cart Buttons: Stuck in the Middle With You 7 Tips for Boosting Web Form Conversions February Hidden Secrets of the Amazon Shopping Cart How to Prioritize Your Optimization How to Elf Yourself Out of Millions PayPal Should Go Undercover March Top 7 Tips for Optimizing Low-Traffic Websites Recession-Proof Your Online Marketing April 3 Reasons Your Visitors Don’t Convert to Leads How to Increase Shopping Cart Abandonment 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Using Flash May Tips From a Client Who Doubled His Conversion Rate How to Get Buy-in for Conversion Rate Optimization June Do Women Respond to “Free Shipping” More Than Men? Firefox 3: How to Convert Seven Million Visitors in a Day July What Your Bounce Rate is Trying to Tell You Tapping the Power of Social Media to Advertise to Women August 5 Simple Tips for Lead-Generation Sites Can An Image of a Pretty Woman Boost Conversion? September Why Rank #1 in Google The Difference Between Great and Average Copy Google Website Optimizer: Free Resources To Jump Start Your Testing October 14 Tools to Legally Spy On Your Competition The Ultimate Google Analytics Plugins, Hacks & Tricks Collection 7 Deadly Sins of Web Analytics November 33 Free Tools to Make Your Website Better 7 Ways to Win Over Reluctant Buyers Social Media Is NOT Media Understanding and Aligning the Value of Social Media Is Free Shipping a Must in this Economy? December Increasing “Qualified” Leads From Your Website No More Consulting Indigestion What to Expect in 2009 Ready to Play Leapfrog? By Roy H. Williams The coming year will be fun, adventure-filled and profitable for people who have their wits about them. A number of small business owners are positioning themselves to overtake their much larger rivals. Will one of these companies be yours? Not many years ago, General Motors and Circuit City were the dominant players in their categories. Today they’re both on their knees, having made the same mistakes: 1. They took their fingers off the pulse of the customer. When you believe your marketing pipeline will allow you to dictate what the customer will buy, you’re in danger of being leapfrogged. In 1960, General Motors sold nearly 60 percent of all new cars. Today, even though Chevrolet maintains 4,200 dealerships, Toyota sells more cars than all 5 GM brands combined through just 1,400 locations. LESSON: Having the right product is more important than heritage and convenience. 2. They quit taking risks. When companies achieve success, they usually quit innovating and become guardians of the status quo. But yesterday’s perfect processes are obsolete tomorrow. Vinyl records were replaced by 8-track tapes. 8-tracks were replaced by cassettes. Cassettes were replaced by CDs. And now CD’s are being replaced by MP3 players. The same is happening with business practices. LESSON: Success, like failure, is a temporary condition. Never assume you've arrived. The leaders are going into hunker-down mode. They’re cutting back their advertising, assuming that everyone else will cut back as well. When a leapfrogger sees a leader’s brake lights, he hits the accelerator. Are you beginning to see what I meant when I said, “fun, adventure-filled and profitable?” Here are the trends to watch in 2009: 1. Frivolous purchases are being delayed. We’re wearing our clothes longer and keeping the cars we’ve got. We'll buy what we need, but only after asking whether we really need it. 2. We're buying fewer things, but better things. More attention is being paid to quality. Only the poorest are choosing by price alone. Information is king. Details are power. This is good news for makers of better products. 3. “Sustainable” is a concept that will grow in power for at least 10 years. The lifestyle of the 80's and 90's was "upwardly mobile" and its leaders were marked by "conspicuous consumption." But the chosen lifestyle of the next generation will be "sustainable," meaning that we'll strive to live within our means and embrace practices that are environmentally responsible. Want to be a leapfrogger? Become one of the Magnificent Seven. I'll see you when you arrive on campus. Previous stories, just in case you missed them: Sending out a Flyer? 2 Factors You Must Understand How to Survive a Family Business A Bigger Threat to Your Business Than Recession 4 Methods to Sharpen Your Marketing Message A Closing Thought “So you failed. Alright you really failed. You failed… You failed… You failed… You failed… You failed… You failed… You failed… You failed… You failed… You failed… You failed… You failed… You think I care about that? I do understand. You wanna be really great? Then have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you’re still smiling. ” - Claire Colburn to Drew Baylor, Elizabethtown See you next week. Craig Arthur Wizard of Ads PS. Need help to attract more customers and grow your business? Australia Call (07) 4728 4866 or email craigarthur@wizardofads.com North America Call 308-254-2732 or email daveyoung@wizardofads.com Call 440-610-9746 or email tomwanek@wizardofads.com We will never try and sell you. You may punch us in the arm really, really hard if we do. Call or email to book a FREE alignment meeting. No obligation. No pressure. It is at this meeting we both decide if there is a fit between our 2 companies. It is only then can we explore your options. We will never try to sell you. Call (07) 4728 4866.

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