coffee shops with free internet

Derek Gehl, The Candid Internet Marketer
"Insider secrets" for growing your Internet business from Derek, CEO of the Internet Marketing Center (www.marketingtips.com). With his team of Internet marketing specialists working around the clock in his testing labs, plus his far reach into the secret world of Internet millionaires, Derek has become world renowned for his ability to accurately predict "the next big thing" in Internet marketing. This blog allows you to follow Derek in his travels around the world, giving you personal insight into how he's grown IMC to over $50,000,000.00 in online sales -- and how he's helped 1,000s of REAL PEOPLE build successful Internet businesses of their own, with incomes of $250,000.00 to $1.5 Million and more per year!

• The power of good copy
  I was riding my bicycle home from work the other day (I know, how very health conscious of me! ;-) when I noticed a sign on a soccer field that made me laugh.
  
  Here's what it said:
  

  WARNING!
  Alarm will sound 10 seconds before water cannons start
  Get off the field!

  Here's a good example of how powerful great copy can be.
  
  After all, what's more likely to get you running off the field once that alarm starts -- the threat of being blasted by water cannons... or sprinklers?
  
  Take some time to review your own copy. Are you using strong, exciting verbs and nouns to create the most attention-grabbing, compelling copy possible? If not, maybe you should work on polishing it.
  
  After all, if your copy is boring, your revenue numbers will most likely be boring, too.

• On the flip side of that last blog post...
  In my last blog post, I talked about a business that's been run into the ground, thanks to lousy customer service.
  
  Today I want to look at a business that goes out of its way to earn customers for LIFE.
  
  This came up in a conversation with some friends who all live in the same neighborhood. One friend was complaining because the last time she went to a well-known coffee shop, she was told she couldn't sit at one of their outside tables, because she hadn't made a purchase.
  
  Her husband had bought a coffee from the shop... and so had her mother, who was in town visiting. But because SHE hadn't bought anything, she was told she wasn't allowed to sit at the table with the rest of her family!
  
  Okay, so that was another example of horrible customer service. See how I worked that in? ;-)
  
  The conversation soon turned to other coffee shops in the neighborhood. One in particular kept on being praised for its GREAT customer service.
  
  One of my friends said he went to that coffee shop and wanted to order a nanaimo bar to go with his coffee.
  
  (A nanaimo bar is a kind of chocolate square, in case you don't have them where you live.)
  
  Unfortunately, the shop was sold out of nanaimo bars that day. When my friend mentioned how disappointed he was, the owner of the store walked out of the store, went to the bakery across the street, bought a nanaimo bar there -- and then came back and gave it to my friend free of charge!
  
  Needless to say, that coffee shop now has a customer for life. PLUS they have a walking, talking advertisement in my friend, who raves about them and tells the nanaimo bar story whenever coffee shops come up in conversation.
  
  There were probably eight of us who were involved in that conversation that day. And I promise you, all eight of those people will NEVER buy anything at the first coffee shop again... but they'll frequently go to the coffee shop with the owner who gave away the free nanaimo bar.
  
  And -- what's more -- they'll tell all their friends to go there, too.
  
  That's pretty good for a two-dollar investment on the owner's part, don't you think?
  
• How to run a business into the ground
  The other night I was having dinner with some friends of mine who were raving about a new shopping plaza that had been built near to where they live.
  
  As they spoke, I couldn't but wonder what effect the new shopping center would have on the smaller, older grocery/liquor store that had long been in their neighbourhood.
  
  "That place?" my friend said with a tone of disgust, when I mentioned it. "We haven't shopped there in years!"
  
  I was surprised to hear that because I knew he and his wife used to go shopping at that store at least once week.
  
  So I asked him why he stopped.
  
  Well, it turns out the store had been bought by new owners, who had driven it into the ground.
  
  Not by poor management or lack of decent product to sell -- but by POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.
  
  My friend's wife told me about how she'd once gone in there to return a bunch of plastic water bottles for deposit -- something the old owners had always welcomed her to do.
  
  The new owner on the other hand, pointed to a sign that said, "No Pop Bottles" and yelled at her saying, "Can't you read the SIGN?"
  
  "Yes," she replied, confused and ashamed, as other shoppers turned to stare at her. "But these aren't pop bottles, they're water bottles."
  
  "Same difference," the owner snapped.
  
  He reluctantly took the bottles anyway and gave her the money, but not without telling her, "I'm doing you a FAVOR, you know."
  
  Well, wouldn't you know it, a small neighbourhood store that had once been a local hangout selling over $1 MILLION a year in alcohol alone (according to my friend, who handled the business's insurance at one time) is now a virtual ghost town.
  
  A parking lot that was once crammed with cars now stands empty.
  
  And not because a bigger, shinier shopping center moved in down the street, but because the owner forgot the number one rule of doing business:
  
  TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS RIGHT.
  
  How about you? Do you have any customer relations nightmares you'd like to share?
  
  Here's your chance to vent!
• How'd you like to make $1000s simply by posting videos online?
  Here's an interesting tidbit for anyone who has a video camera...
  
  I was just checking out different video hosting sites for a newsletter I'm working on, and I noticed that a lot of the videos posted on www.metacafe.com had a little "Producer Rewards" graphic beside them.
  
  I clicked on one of the graphics to discover exactly what a "Producer Reward" was. Turns out that if you agree to let Metacafe licence your video, they'll pay you $5 for every 1000 impressions (in other words, for every 1000 people who click on the video and watch it).
  
  It doesn't matter if it's spontaneous or scripted -- if it entertains viewers, Metacafe will reward you for it.
  
  When I read this, my first question was, "Yeah, but can you actually make decent money doing this?"
  
  Well, it turns out that Metacafe's top earner has made over $62,000! Not a bad chunk of change, don't you think?
  
  I'm sure it takes a while to earn that kind of money on a site like Metacafe... but if making videos is your hobby, you may as well post them on Metacafe and see what happens.
  
  After all... even if you only end up making a couple thousand dollars -- that's still a trip to Mexico!
• Will you be my Facebook friend?
  

  I recently started a Facebook group -- called "Derek Gehl's Internet Marketing & Web Entrepreneur Group" -- and I'd love for you to join it. My goal is to build the biggest group of online entrepreneurs in the Facebook community.
  
  EVERYONE is welcome!
  
  We'll be discussing important Internet marketing topics such as: search engine optimization, web page design, social networking and "Web 2.0" -- and much more.
  
  If you are passionate about building businesses and making money on the Internet, you want to be part of this group!
  
  To join my group, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17874272696
  
  See you on Facebook!
  

• A quick email question for all you marketing whizzes out there...
  Which is the most effective FROM: address to include on all the newsletters and promotional emails you send to your list ?
  • yourname@yourcompany.com
    
    
  • info@yourcompany.com
    
    
  • sales@yourcompany.com

  Leave your answers -- and your reasons why -- in the Comments section!
  
  You'll discover the answer in next Monday's issue of the IMC Insider... so keep your eyes on your inbox and make sure you read it!