I Need Your Valued Opinion
I have been taking things pretty easy the last couple of days…
Last week Tuesday was my birthday (I turned 38 
) and I decided to take a couple of days off to spend some quality time with my family and to take a step back from my business to gain a fresh perspective on things.
I was planning to start working again yesterday morning but an electric sub-station close to my house exploded and that left us without electricity for the whole of yesterday and a big part of today…
Anyway, sometimes it is good to take a bit of a break from the pc!
I really need your opinion on something…
Let me explain…
It is not always easy to produce a high quality newsletter that will satisfy all the members on my list. Some members are, for example, mainly interested in getting information on PPC while other members may only be interested in getting information on affiliate marketing.
It is nearly impossible to write a newsletter that caters for everyone all the time, unless I start bombarding my list members with daily emails trying to cover everything under the sun, and that is not an approach I feel comfortable with.
My approach up to know has been very simple, namely to use my newsletter and blog to:
1. Provide quality free content.
2. Recommend good products that I have personally reviewed.
3. Stay in touch and help my highly valued list members.
Personally I think this approach has been working very well. But, I am always looking for new ways to improve what I am doing.
One of the things I would like to focus on more in the future is to post regular “how to” videos and audio messages on my blog. In some of these posts I may decide to promote a specific product, if I feel it can benefit my list members.
However, the majority of these posts will be pure content posts. In other words, posts where my only aim is to help my list members and where I do not stand to gain anything financially.
In case you are wondering… I love helping other people. Yes, even for free. Obviously I have a family to feed so I cannot only focus on helping people for free. But, even when I promote a product as an affiliate, my main criteria is not how much commission I can make but if I feel the product can really help my list members.
Fact of the matter is that there are many good products that can be obtained for free but there are also many good products that cannot be obtained for free. My aim is to recommend both paid and free products, on condition that they are really good and helpful.
I know there are many marketers that will never promote a product unless they can benefit from it financially. In fact, many marketers even publicly state that unless they can get at least an affiliate commission of $20 per sale that they will not even bother looking at the product. I don’t agree with this approach…
You see, I always believe in putting the interests of my list members first. I believe that in having an attitude of first of all helping people my business will outlast most other online business that only focus on milking people.
Okay, back to the above point about using audio and video…
I have added two posts recently (directly below this post) and would appreciate your feedback.
How To Find Your Own Voice Doing Online Marketing From Home
What I have done is to record and post an audio message of the post. My reasoning is that some people may prefer listening to an audio message instead of reading a post.
What’s your opinion?
How To Embed Audio In A Wordpress Blog
The most recent blog post I made (apart from this one) is a “how to” video. I know that some people are not crazy about listening to videos, especially long ones. However, I also know that many people prefer learning new stuff by seeing how it is done.
What do you think? Would you like to see regular “how to” videos? (By the way, I will keep the videos short, say between 2 minutes and 10 minutes)
Lastly, please let me know how I can help YOU. What type of information are you interested in (please be as specific as possible). Is there anything you don’t like from my email messages or blog that I can rectify?
I cannot promise to give you exactly what you want but I can promise that I will do my best to help you. I know that a large percentage of people do not even open up the email messages to which they have subscribed, and my newsletter is no exception. However, I am prepared to bend backwards to help the people that actually take the time to read my messages and blog posts. So, if you are reading this I would love to hear from you.
To YOUR Online Marketing Success!
Francois du Toit
P.S. Please simply post your comments to this message or feel free to email me. I do reply to all comments and emails.
Your Host Francois du Toit
March 18th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Francois,
Yours is one of my favorite Blogs and newsletters. You are always “there” to answer questions and bounce ideas off of, and it’s great that you are polling us, your readers, to determine which direction we would like to see your newsletter to go. In my opinion, you are doing a great job!
And yes, I would prefer audio and video to reading long posts. I must read the equivalent of “War and Peace” between Blog posts, newsletters, emails and my normal day to day study of affiliate and internet marketing. Nice change of pace to hear and see a video to be honest, a real time saver and easier on the eyes (more comprehension too on my side).
I am almost ready to launch on my project I shared with you a month or so ago. Typical delays, but expect me to keep you posted. By the way, do you and the family like to travel? You’ll like this one once I am ready, and the compensation plan is out of this world. Take care, thanks for giving a shit, and Happy Belated. I will be 38 myself in a few months. Talk soon.
matt
March 18th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Hi Matt!
Many thanks for your comments. I really appreciate it.
Yes, please keep me posted about your new project. I am really curious! I am not travelling as much as what I used to but I am planning to attend an internet marketing conference in Bali in June. Will probably write a blog post about it later this week… I think it is going to be a great event.
Wishing you all the very best!
Francois
March 19th, 2008 at 6:55 am
One of the few newsletters I like where products are not crammed down the throat.
How to videos are good but personally I can watch onlysmall sized videos due to the internet connection.
Would love to read/hear about how to develop a website to promote
affiliate products step by step with minimal budget.
Alternatively read/hear/see on how to develop your own product.
Thanks for asking.
primuskannan.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Hi Primus,
Thanks!
I realize many people can only watch small sized videos and personally I quickly lose interest watching very long videos… I will do my best to keep all videos short and may even provide transcripts when necessary.
I think you have made some very good requests…
1. A step-by-step guide on how to develop a website to promote affiliate products with a minimal budget.
2. How to develop your own product.
Let me give it some thought… It may be better for me to write a “how to” report instead of a blog post. Either way, I will keep you closely informed.
All the best,
Francois
March 22nd, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Hi Francois,
Yours is one of the newsletters and email that I actually read. You always seem to offer some good news for me. Thanks.
March 22nd, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Hi John,
Many thanks for your kind words.
All the best,
Francois