Gary H. puts the "smackdown" on Internet guru's!

> I thought the article was a great read - and
> well worth discussion both as a 'newsletter'
> and as a 'sales letter'. The only thing that
> really bothered me was his rant about the
> "experts" and their Alexa Ranking.
> Most people are well aware that an Alexa
> Ranking bears no truth as to actual traffic
> or profit.

Hi Lynn,

I agree with you. I was also bothered by his rant on the "experts"... and how he justifies it with traffic ranking.

As Gary Halbert would undoubtedly know, in direct mail terms, it's not how many people you are mailing your letters out to, but also the QUALITY of your list - how well it is targeted for the product you are selling.

In internet terms, it's not just the AMOUNT of your traffic, but also how TARGETED that traffic is for what you're selling. Lots and lots of untargeted traffic does not necessarily turn into profits. OF COURSE Gary Halbert already knows this...

Because of that, in reality, the traffic rankings are almost meaningless - because it depends on what business you're in. Amazon.com had a number 7 ranking in traffic, according to the Alexa list. Yet Amazon.com is still losing money. (You can check this up because Amazon.com is a publicly traded company - look up "AMZN" on a site like http://investor.msn.com .)

This is not to take anything away from Gary Halbert's own achievements. I think his "Nancy" letter is still the most-mailed letter in direct-marketing history. You can read it here...

http://www.sowpub.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl?read=6751

As I said, Gary already KNOWS this stuff...

I only know something about some of the names on his list. But what I do know about some people on that list is quite impressive. I can't vouch for everyone, but several on that list really are experts at what they do.

I know some people bad-mouth Gary Halbert online - something I totally disagree with. He's a marketing master, and his newsletters are a MUST-READ. But... it also goes the other way. Many of those with those "low" traffic rankings are in-fact getting highly TARGETED traffic for what they're promoting.

And much of their promotion is done through "email" anyhow (through their own "opt-in" lists) - so may not show up on the the traffic rankings until they make a sale.

- Dien Rice