BeBiz
This
link goes to the sellers description and order page. It opens
in a new window.
This
is a new system developed to help you systematically start
up your niche Internet Marketing Business. At this writing
it is not yet being sold. I believe it will be priced around
the $197 mark. Not outrageous.
It's
a software all-in-one package for analyzing and starting a
business, step-by-step. You check off each step as you perform
it.
Starting
Monday April 21, 2008 (See below) there is
an interesting set of videos I will be following wherein Derek
Gehl plans to start up a niche business from scratch on camera
-without using the resources of his company, so that he can
show it can be done by anybody. He rightly says he will have
to show a profit for it to be a successful challenge.
Here's
the teaser I got Saturday April 19:
"In this free video series, I'm going to PROVE that absolutely
anyone can start an Internet business in just 4 days flat,
using four basic but extremely powerful principles. And I'm
going to do it by actually building an Internet business from
scratch, right before your very eyes!"
Update
4-21-08 I
just watched the first video. First I was pleased that the
video was not as directed and edited as I thought it might
be. The process looked genuine enough as Gehl spend about
12 hours finding a niche, He rejected several ideas and showed
the painstaking work it takes.
I
was glad to see he didn't sugar-coat the amount of work involved.
The
BeBiz software reminded me a little bit of Marlon
Sander's Marketing Dashboard. In fact, it even uses the
dashboard name in the software, suggesting Gehl had that in
mind when he wrote it.
The
keyword analysis tools were nice, although I don't think they
were quite as powerful as another product Keyword
Elite, which I own and love.
One
area I thought might be a problem for some people is in interpreting
the results they're looking at as they go through the steps.
BeBiz certainly gives you the numbers, such as the Pay Per
Click competition and costs, but it takes a trained eye to
interpret them correctly. This is something you can't just
teach once and expect expertise. It takes practice, and frankly
probably a few failures before getting the hang of it.
If
you don't have some of the other tools to use such as Keyword
Elite, then this might be a helpful piece of software. It
certainly has the whole array of tools rather than just a
single tool such as Keyword Elite - so in that respect it
might be a better value for your dollar. The
step-by-step approach may help you stay on task and operate
in a systematic manner, That in itself may be the most redeeming
and valuable service it provides. I don't want to downplay
the power of that.
The
blurb at the end talks about being one of the first 250 in
a private tutorial group. I'm a little bit leery of that,
because I have heard from some coaching students of the IMC
that were a bit disappointed with the way they got dropped
even if the promised results had not been achieved yet. I
don't think the BeBiz software is bad, though. It will certainly
help many people achieve their first real paying business
where they have failed before.
Update
4-22-08
I
did just a little research. In yesterday's video Gehl registered
the domain for his challenge. So I wondered just how real-time
the videos are. The domain he chose was "mountainbikerepairtipe.com"
If it was registered weeks ago then I would know he had spent
more time building the site than he was letting on.
I
looked up the domain name on Whois.org, and was surprised
that it was registered on April 16, 2008. So that was only
5 days earlier than the day the video was released. Fair enough.
At least we know he has not been already building traffic
for the past month or something off of the videos. I was impressed
with his honesty in this case.
However,
it also occurs to me that since many hundreds or even thousands
of people are watching these videos through the population
of marketingtips.com and these videos, that some will purchase
it just to see what it is like as part of their research.
His traffic stats will not be realistic. In other words, he
is going to artificially get traffic built-in from his vast
base of IMC customers that you and I would not have.
He
bought the domain name through Dotster.com (he didn't tell
us earlier how to choose a registrar) and the fact that he
is hosting it on his own servers means he is not really showing
us how it will be when we do it ourselves. The newcomer needs
guidance in finding a registrar and choosing a hosting package.
Maybe he'll cover that tomorrow - I'll wait and see.
Now,
on to the video itself. I was certainly impressed with the
copy writing portion of the software. It is, I think better,
and more powerful than his earlier similar product 60-Second
Salesletters. I liked that product as well, but it didn't
have the very nice editing feature this has.
Trust
me on this one - if you aren't an expert copywriter, you need
something like BeBiz or 60-Second Salesletters to write really
powerful copy. Writing great copy is almost a science (see
Scientific
Advertising by Claude Hopkins [link goes to a free pdf
copy of the book]).
If
you can swing BeBiz I think it will pay for itself in the
first sales letter you write, unless you're very good at it
on your own.
So
far I am recommending this package - if you don't already
own similar products. If yo have a good keyword research tool,
and a good copy writing software then you have what you need
so far. Otherwise it is a nice tool. If you need just the
regimented step-by-step check-off approach, then as I mentioned
yesterday you might consider Marlon Sander's Marketing Dashboard,
which is about 25% of the price of BeBiz.
But
if you bought BeBiz I would say you've made a good purchase.
Update
4-23-08
Today
Gehl covered using BeBiz to build a Web site. I was pretty
impressed with the built-in template system. It was obvious
he did more work on the header graphic than many of us know
how to do on our own.
I
wondered through the entire movie when he supposedly built
the product itself. He finally explained at the end that he
has not built a product yet. He would test the market first
and build the product only after some sales - to see if there
was enough demand. He would refund the money of any buyers
at first.
I
also wondered about a few of the more technical aspects. For
example, he did not mention whether BeBiz could handle dynamic
HTML, Javascript, asp, and other higher-level content. However,
he correctly pointed out that a sales site should be simple
- with no fancy stuff.
On
the other hand, it always amuses me when marketing experts
say that, but when you go look at their own pages they're
filled with asp, javascript, xhtml, etc. If you look at the
source code for marketingtips.com you'll find it has most
of those code types.
He
mentioned that it is capable of private membership pages,
but didn't mention how that is accomplished. If it uses javascript
then it may well not hide the password. Most javascript membership
scripts don't attempt to hide it at all. Rather it should
be done through your host's control panel.
He
mentioned that you could set up a subscription form, but then
that it is to be plugged into your own mail package. In other
words, it doesn't appear to have a stripped down version of
Mailloop
built in. I thought that was unfortunate.
Again,
there is a lot of good functionality in BeBiz, but I wish
there was a little more - like a mini Mailloop and mini Assoctrac,
if it truly is to be an all-in-one package.
I
liked the Web page builder in it much better than XSitePro
- which I mentioned in my newsletter GuruNuggets as having
returned it for it's many bugs.
Oh,
one more very important thing I should have mentioned a long
time ago - Only during this 4-day set can you get two free
products with BeBiz. He's giving away the 2008 version of
Insider Secrets (Sells for $195 and HIGHLY recommended) and
eBook Pro (Sells for $197 and not as highly recommended) -
when you buy BeBiz this week.
So
if you were planning to buy Insider secrets anyway, then you
really ought to get BeBiz now and get al three products for
the same price.
However,
I'm not trying to just make a sale here. IF you do not plan
to ever buy Insider Secrets, then you'll have to decide later
whether BeBiz has functionality you want to use, or whether
you want to do those functions on your own with the other
packages I've already mentioned in the first two days.
So
please hurry if you want to get all three products for one
price. That is truly a very short term opportunity. To get
it you'll have to sign
up for the rest of the videos to get the special purchase
link.
Update
4-24-08
There
was a lot of excellent free training in today's video. Less
was dedicated to the BeBiz software.
The
first half or so, Gehl covered techniques for preparing for
good organic search engine optimization. It was basic stuff
for the seasoned marketer, but had some good specific hints
for the beginner.
The
second half of the video was dedicated to how to set up a
pay-per-click campaign. It was very good information. Of course
it didn't go far enough. The purpose was to show you that
BeBiz has some general keyword research capability. It isn't
stellar. I would far prefer to use Keyword
Elite. However, it does give basic search numbers.
I
was disappointed that it does not give R/s Ratios, KEI indexes,
or PPC competition information. The beauty of Keyword Elite
is that you can actually see what your PPC competitors are
bidding on, cost of bids, and their ads. MUCH more powerful.
But,
for an all-in-one package, Bebiz does come in ok, considering
the number of functions you get in one package (step-by-step
dashboard, keyword research, ad copy writing, Web building
templates, SEO hints, etc).
I
should also point out that Gehl made it look MUCH easier than
it is to run a successful pay-per-click campaign. It takes
a great deal of learning, and experience to keep from losing
your shirt. I VERY VERY HIGHLY recommend Perry Marshall's
Definitive
Guide to Google Adwords if you even think
of doing PPC advertising. It is an art and a science both,
and you will fail without training and lots of practice.
But
most of Gehl's pointers in this video were true, and consistent
with some of the concepts Marshall teaches.
Now
it will be about a week before Gehl's next video, where he
will show us his PPC results. I'll really be looking forward
to that. Come back in about a week to see my
comments on that.
Again,
I suspect his traffic numbers and sales will both be skewed
by the fact that you and I and thousands of others will see
his site just because of this BeBiz campaign. The numbers
are artificially inflated.
Until
later , here
is the link for the videos. I recommend you watch them
with me and get it now if you're interested in the short-term
special.
BeBiz
This
link goes to the sellers description and order page. It opens
in a new window.
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