Five on Friday, Issue #10

I’ve read some really great posts lately and felt it was time to share a few of them with you.

Billy Mays Marketing Magic – by Rich Schefren

Turns out, Rich is a big Billy Mays fan, and has been studying his work for some time.

In this post, Rich pays tribute to Billy Mays by outlining the five key sales process steps Mays used to pick and pitch winning products.

Warning: This is a MASSIVE post, complete with YouTube videos of Billy Mays’ infomercials. You can learn a lot here.

How to Manage Information Addiction – by Ricky Breslin

Ricky is an amazing marketer and probably knows more about how to run a successful online business than 98% of the gurus out there.

So I like to pay attention to what Ricky writes about.

In this post, he shares the two questions that all successful “information addicts” ask themselves.

He then outlines a 5-step process for distilling information down into usable chunks that can be easily accessed at any time. Definitely worth reading.

#1 Most Powerful Email Marketing Strategy: The Maze – by Perry Marshall

When I was competing to be Perry Marshall’s Content Czar (I lost, by the way), I went through a lot of his material, particularly autoresponder stuff. And “The Maze” was one of those concepts that was new to me — but made a helluva lot of sense.

If you write autoresponders… or you know that you need to create one… check out this post. It’s light on detail, but quickly explains the big idea behind “The Maze.”

What Will Ring the Cash Register Today? – Terri Levine

What questions do you ask yourself every day? Are they getting you what you want out of life?

In this post, Terri talks about the unique power of questions, plus one question in particular that she suggests asking on a regular basis. It is a question that’s contributed a healthy amount of income to her bottom line.

New Internet Sales Tax Laws Causing Major Issues for U.S. Merchants and Affiliates – by Lynn Terry

Not only does this post shed light on new tax laws states are trying to enforce, but also on how merchants are reacting.

When I first caught wind of this story — particularly the Amazon vs. Hawaii story — I wrote about how Amazon was “hitting them where it hurts” by cutting off all affiliates in Hawaii.

So while I hate to hear about the government trying to create new tax laws (or enforce tax laws in new ways), the silver lining is this: big merchants are fighting back.

Enjoy!

-Ryan M. Healy