Michel Fortin’s Copywriters Library

Response-Boosting Tips and Life-Enhancing Advice.

“Want to boost your response? Write killer sales copy? Attract qualified clients? Reach higher levels of success? Copywriters Library offers a variety of free teleseminars, books, recordings, reports, and resources to help you.”

These are from the front page of this great site;

• Gary Halbert Interviews
• Scientific Advertising – Claude Hopkins
• Power Positioning 10 Commandments – Michel Fortin
• John Carlton Interviews
• The Science of Getting Rich – Wallace Wattles
• Drop Your Goals – Michel Fortin

You have to check it out! “On this website you will find a variety of free books, reports, and recording made by some of the top copywriters, marketers, and entrepreneurs in the world.” These are the top folks in Internet Copywriting history!

Post from: EveryJoe

Michel Fortin’s Copywriters Library

This is simply from a snippet gleaned from the forum – the thread was filled with much more!

Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer

“This free tool will analyze your headline to determine the Emotional Marketing Value (EMV) score. As you know, reaching your customers in an deep and emotional way is a key to successful copywriting, and your headline is unquestionably the most important piece of copy you use to reach prospects.

Your headline will be analyzed and scored based on the total number of EMV words it has in relation to the total number of words it contains. This will determine the EMV score of your headline.

In addition to the EMV score, You will find out which emotion inside your customer’s your headline most impacts: Intellectual, Empathetic, Spiritual.”

Post from: EveryJoe

Analyzing Your Headline Text

Referencing the current results (subject to change) of the attempt to impose a PayPal only payment process on eBay Australia which eBay has been told by the Australian government it could not implement and the latest $63 Million fine by a French court for not properly policing the eBay site for counterfeits Dee reminded us;

eBay: In France – “today’s ruling is about an attempt by LVMH to protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice and the livelihood of law-abiding sellers that eBay empowers everyday.”

The ACCC in Australia to eBay: ‘‘consumers are in the best position to determine which service offers the best features… consumers are in the best position to decide which payment method is most suitable for them.”

eBay in France: “We believe that the overreach manifests itself through an attempt to impose, in France, a business model that restricts consumer choice through an anti-competitive business practice.”

Dee says: “Replace ‘in France’ with ‘in Australia’ and you’ve discovered eBay hypocrisy at its ugliest.”

Sorry folks, you still can’t have your cake and eat it too…

Post from: EveryJoe

Australian Cake Eaten In France – eBay Wants It Both Ways

H/T to Ina Steiner once again. As you read, notice that this was snuck into and hidden within, legislation without any of “us” knowing it! Thanks to Adam Brandon at Freedomworks.

Senate Housing Bill Requires eBay, Amazon, Google, and All Credit Card Companies to
Report Transactions to the Government

Washington, DC – Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd’s 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill’s managers without debate this week, would require the nation’s payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government.

Call Congress and Tell Them to Oppose The eBay Reporting Provision in the Housing Bill: 1-866-928-3035

FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey commented: “This is a provision with astonishing reach, and it was slipped into the bill just this week. Not only does it affect nearly every credit card transaction in America, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, but the bill specifically targets payment systems like eBay’s PayPal, Amazon, and Google Checkout that are used by many small online businesses. The privacy implications for America’s small businesses are breathtaking.”

“Privacy groups like the Center for Democracy and Technology and small business organizations like the NFIB sharply criticized this idea when it first appeared earlier this year. What is the federal government’s purpose with this kind of detailed data? How will this database be secured, and who will have access? Many small proprietors use their Social Security number as their tax ID. How will their privacy be protected? What compliance costs will this impose on businesses? Why is Sen. Chris Dodd putting this provision in a housing bailout bill? The bill also includes the creation of a new national fingerprint registry for mortgage brokers.

“At a time when concerns about both identity theft and government spying are paramount, Congress wants to create a new honey pot of private data that includes Social Security numbers. This bill reduces privacy across America’s payment processing systems and treats every American small business or eBay power seller like a criminal on parole by requiring an unprecedented level of reporting to the federal government. This outrageous idea is another reason to delay the housing bailout legislation so that Senators and the public at large have time to examine its full implications.”

Outrageous doesn’t quite cut it – Big Brother sounds and feels more appropriate. When the hell are we going to come to our senses??? When it’s too late???

Post from: EveryJoe

Bush Administration Wants To Track All Your Electronic Transactions!

Julia Wilkinson tells us the reason Seth asked rhetorically “Why are you not dating your prospects” is “to build communication with them; a way to differentiate yourself from all the other products on the proverbial shelf.”

That isn’t really new news. What he says next isn’t either but it is wisdom surely worth attention;

The other big question he had for the audience was “Is eBay a platform or a job?” As a platform, you can use it to “build something far bigger than you can imagine.

The key, he said, is to “do something remarkable,” which means “worth making a remark about.” The cycle, as it looks like in a diagram, is to “be remarkable, tell a story to your sneezers, they spread the word, and you get permission from them” to keep in touch with them via an e-mail newsletter, blog, etc.”

And the message to disenchanted eBay sellers might be to use your platform rather than depend on your job! Grow your platform into a newer, bigger platform rather than get stuck in a diminishing job. Do something differently…

He also advised people to pick something they have passion about, and advocated giving away ebooks for free to spread the word about your business. “Digital things want to be free,” he said, which brought another laugh, but Godin said tongue-in-cheek he didn’t think it was funny. “The enemy is not piracy, but obscurity.”

I love it! – “The enemy is not piracy, but obscurity.”

Post from: EveryJoe

Is It A Risk To Call Seth Godin Wise?

Developments In eBay Plan To Go PayPal Only

“The Australian IT website reported that eBay Australia sent a “strongly worded” letter this week to users warning that failure to comply with the new policy would result in an immediate removal of product listings and repeatedly emphasizing the deadline.”

After they told everyone that the date for implementation of the new policy would be pushed back to July. So, eBay feels powerful enough to countermand the Australian government though they had said they would work with the ACCC to come to an amicable solution.

Solution be damned – full speed ahead – we care not about your ACCC – height of obnoxiousness.

Post from: EveryJoe

Approaching The Height Of Arrogance!

Blogger arrests hit record high

“More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says a report.

Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.”

Those of us who currently have the freedom to write ought to remain grateful even in the face of the destruction of privacy laws, net neutrality, freedom of speech, etc. Try this on…

“More than half of all the arrests since 2003 have been made in China, Egypt and Iran, said the report.”

Arrested for blogging to expose “corruption in government, abuse of human rights or suppression of protests. They criticised public policies and took political figures to task.” Imagine? So that a select “few” can live a lifestyle of waste and opulence, without regard to humanity.

Crooks and Liars and HuffPo might want to pay attention to this;

“arrests tended to increase during times of “political uncertainty”, such as around general elections or during large scale protests.”

There’s a lawless administration somewhere that can’t be trusted… especially with the truth!

Post from: EveryJoe

Remaining Consistent – The Truth Hurts

The collective experience of 50 people aged 95 or older and what they would do differently were they to have the opportunity to live life over. They would;

1. Reflect More – “These seniors said they would take the time to think about what was going on and live their lives along well-thought-out priorities. They would contemplate the meaning of life, family, work and much more.” I can’t agree more. Well thought out priorities! Mine were always in disarray. The meaning of life, family, work and much more? To me, those are the priorities I had out of whack that needed to be put in their proper place. Today, no matter what anyone tells you or provides as an example – family first! Without family life loses a great deal of its luster! I believe today that when you put family first your spiritual life will fall into place, as will all else.
2. Risk More – “These wonderful aged human beings said they would have taken more chances in life. If they could re-live their lives they wouldn’t be so scared to take risks. They would have developed more courage to venture out of their comfort zones.” Fear is a thief! Comfort zones are not only thieves but killers too! Politically correct is a comfort zone…
3. Do things that would outlast them – “They wanted to know that their lives counted for something, that long after they left this world, somehow their impact would live on.” Leaving the world a better place than you found it ought to be a requirement for all, imho. In direct contradiction to today’s lawlessness and lack of conscience.

Thanks John…

Post from: EveryJoe

To Set The Course For Your Life

Another h/t to Ina at Auctionbytes for this news;

eBay Feedback Extortion Alerting Service

Which introduces AfterTheGavel.com. Dr. Ben Bishop, the founder, describes his site as

“A way for sellers to leave feedback about buyers to prevent problems. ‘Perhaps the buyer is trying to threaten the seller with negative feedback to try to extort a lower price,’ he said. ‘This is a mechanism for sellers to report that to other sellers so this buyer can’t go on doing this indefinitely, hopefully.’”

From the FAQ’s at the site itself;

“AfterTheGavel is for sellers to be able to manage risk for their online auction businesses. As the world of online auctions changes sellers need to know who they are dealing with as buyers as much if not more than buyers need to know sellers. AfterTheGavel.com will serve as a balancing weight to keep this information available to sellers.”

While this appears to be the founding basis;

Q: How can AfterTheGavel.com help me protect my auction business?

A: It has been a long held belief that when someone that is doing wrong is exposed they can be stopped. If you know there is a thief in your neighborhood you will lock your doors. The same is true online. If you know someone is a problem customer you can block them from doing business with you and causing you problems including ruining your seller reputation with unjustified negative feedback. All sellers even if they are not registered can search buyer IDs and find out if they want to block a buyer due to their history. That is fair and justified on the sellers part. Sellers can also leave feedback to warn other sellers. This will create a strong deterrent to buyers being unfair & unreasonable to sellers as it has always been.

Seems like a nice effort. I hope it becomes worthwhile.

Post from: EveryJoe

eBay Feedback Extortion Alerting Service

We’ll take a look at the third court determined legal standard, the Truncated Rule of Reason. There really isn’t much there yet its importance is just as great;

“The truncated rule of reason test is used in cases where the per se test is not applicable but where nonetheless “no elaborate industry analysis is required to demonstrate the anticompetitive character” of the restraint (NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma).”

I don’t want to neglect additional considerations or anti-competitive trade practices violators might engage in.

“There are two general categories of restraint of trade practices: vertical restraints and horizontal restraints. Vertical restraints occur when a company purchases or otherwise acquires control over another company that is either its supplier or customer. The controlling company is then in a position to impose various anticompetitive restraints on its former supplier or customer. Horizontal restraints deal with price-fixing agreements and are highly illegal. Similar to price-fixing agreements and likewise illegal are other practices such as “bid rigging,” boycotts, territorial impositions, and imposed minimum fee schedules.”

PayPal? Just a thought since IANAA…

Post from: EveryJoe

Restraint of Trade – The Truncated Rule of Reason and More