Very little NEW on the internet...

I've been sorting through old files in my archives drawer and have made the same discovery over and over again in one form or another.

A lot of folks thought the 'WOW factor' and the 'buzz' was the current in thing a short while ago. Well, I have just been looking at an article announcement titled "Add "WOW!" to create a buzz!" Date of article: July 12, 2001. Yeah, 2001! About the right timing...things often go around in 7 year cycles. They even made a movie about it years ago called "The Seven Year Itch".

Most of the new discoveries regarding promotion and so forth are just re-cycled offline info from years back. Putting a twist on things was common and, to a certain extent expected, if you offered something different back-when. Then it was called 'finding a new use for things'.

So, the next time you get the big rah-rah from some guru or wannabe, stop and consider just what you might be paying for. It may not be as revolutionary as the hype would lead you to believe.

Sandi Bowman

Sandi,

Thanks for revealing that Nothing is really new after all.

Years ago, back when the TV show The Site with Solidad O'Brien was still going, they revealed that the Internet was becoming so big They had to launch Internet 2.

We've been informed of 1st Generation, 2nd Generation and 3rd Generation websites. Indicating an Upgrading of possibilities. From Basic HTML sites that looked like a long letter (1st Gen - e.g. Jim Straw's website www.businesslyceum.com) to websites with headers and side menues (2nd Gen e.g. Hotsheetcity www.hotsheetcity.com) to websites with PHP Menues out the wazoo and surfer interaction (3rd Gen e.g. Amazon www.amazon.com ebaY www.ebay.com Motely Fools www.fool.com IBM www.ibm.com Microsoft www.microsoft.com and so on)

And through it all there has always been Ways for people to interact with the website and with each other. There has always been video/audio download. Remember Mike Enlow's video rant many moons ago about there being more people selling info on how to make money on the internet than people actually making money on the internet? But now this type of thing has a new buzz word - Web 2. Which defies clear definition and means just about whatever you want it to mean - unlike words we instantly know like Car, truck, TV etc.

Yonks ago the Offline guys were telling us... write a report, run lead generation ads, send a sales letter.

This turned into the 4 Step Online Cash Machine...
1: Write a report
2: Create a sales letter webpage that sells it.
3: Plug in an order/payment service - paypal, clickbank
4: Runs ads in ezines advertising the website.

Ages ago we heard... take a report, create an audio around it (even of just you reading the report - or do an audio and then add a transcript of the audio). Now you have a more valuable package. Add a video of related stuff and it's even better.

John Reese says the same thing in essence... offers it on CD... and people are blown away.

The Templar Knights used to offer Pilgrims clay tablets. The Pilgrim would make the journey to the Holy Lands and each Hotel Stay would be written onto the tablet by the inn keeper. The Knights would reimburse the inn keeper. And when the Pilgrim came back, they would pay the Knights what was on the tablet plus an additional amount. Today, we call these things Credit Cards.

Yes, Sandi. There isn't anything new. Not really. BUT, not everyone has lived through those past moments. Not everyone knows of those old Gurus revealing those old techniques. And when they see Johnny Come Lately Self Proclaimed Guru talk about stuff, that stuff is New, To Them.

Michael Ross

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Sandi Bowman

I've been sorting through old files in my archives drawer and have made the same discovery over and over again in one form or another.

A lot of folks thought the 'WOW factor' and the 'buzz' was the current in thing a short while ago. Well, I have just been looking at an article announcement titled "Add "WOW!" to create a buzz!" Date of article: July 12, 2001. Yeah, 2001! About the right timing...things often go around in 7 year cycles. They even made a movie about it years ago called "The Seven Year Itch".

Most of the new discoveries regarding promotion and so forth are just re-cycled offline info from years back. Putting a twist on things was common and, to a certain extent expected, if you offered something different back-when. Then it was called 'finding a new use for things'.

So, the next time you get the big rah-rah from some guru or wannabe, stop and consider just what you might be paying for. It may not be as revolutionary as the hype would lead you to believe.

Hi Sandi,

Thanks for sharing that, I agree... You're right! A lot (in marketing) is really the same stuff...

However, there are "new" things, usually to do with technological advances...

For example, online video. Michael Ross is right (for example) that online video has been around a long time. But what has changed is the ease of putting it online (such as via YouTube). Also, many people have faster connections, so lots of people can view it, and not just a select few with super-fast connections...

Most online video is still pretty low-resolution. Undoubtedly, over time, more and more online video will become "high-res", and more like the images on your television than the "grainy" quality it is now...

I believe "web conferencing" will also become more common. Yes, there is web conferencing software now, but the software I know of is aimed at corporations and is very expensive. The software I know of combines multiple web-cam video, audio, a "whiteboard"-like device, as well as "instant-messaging" like capabilities, along with the ability for one person to be a "moderator" (and activate or de-activate people's microphones) to avoid mayhem.

I have no doubt low-cost web conferencing software will appear, and we'll have "web conferencing" and "web meetings" for the masses. (Where multiple people can easily communicate with each other via video, and collaboration over distance will just become easier and easier...)

There are other innovations too. Facebook, for example, is a new phenomenon. In my own investigations, it seems almost everyone under 25 is on Facebook! When you explore it, it really is a pretty good "networking" tool, in that it makes it very easy to keep in touch with "acquaintances". You meet someone once, find them on Facebook, and you can easily stay in touch, get updates on their interests, etc.

Talking about Facebook, one guy (in his late 20s) once remarked to me that Facebook was creating a nation of "show-offs"! All these under-25s have their Facebook pages, "showing off" their hobbies, interests, funny quotes, embarassing pictures, etc. People in their early 20s and younger are no longer used to keeping all this "private"! So there could be cultural changes happening as well as result due to this...

Marketing via Facebook, though, is still in its early stages...

Just some thoughts!

Cheers

Dien

[GordonJ]

The biggest ONLINE opportunity is...

the opportunity to WASTE your time.

And today, even more so than in 1998, with all the "socializing" opportunities...there is even more chance to waste time, spin your wheels, get distracted, etc. etc.

Dien and I set this forum up to fill our personal desires to have a place that could discuss a wide variety of topics, with a major focus on Entrepreneurship and a minor on WHATEVER. I feel we have accomplished that and it has been a pleasure to see Dien Rice grow as an Entrepreneur and to test and explore many things. I personally enjoy reading the Hidden Business Ideas Letter and also the Entrepreneur's Hotsheet.

Back in 98 there were many "business" forums, most have disappeared. Some are still going strong, others have been put behind closed doors with membership and subscription sites and BLOGS have seemingly taken over the net, although, I'm personally hard pressed to find FIVE blogs that I care about. HARD PRESSED. I am sometimes at conflict with my own opinions, why care what someone else thinks? AHhhhh.

And for this:

Originally Posted by Sandi Bowman

Most of the new discoveries regarding promotion and so forth are just re-cycled offline info from years back. . It may not be as revolutionary as the hype would lead you to believe.

Sandi Bowman

I agree Sandi, ask one of my friends, Jim Staw or Harvey Brody, both of whom have been around a half century in their businesses...IF they have seen some revolutionary NEW discoveries regarding promotion...and I'll bet you a doughnut both would laugh at such a thought.

My Internet tank is full. I find myself wanting less and less of the Internet, and to that end have removed myself from many, MANY lists, especially the lists of the Internet gurus and Internet Marketing Crowd. My very biased OPINION is that far too many of them are, simply put, full of crap.

And the crap has gotten above my waders...I choose less Net, more REALITY. There was a time when I might spend a full work day ONLINE, and now it is barely an hour a day...and that seems like too much.

Our world in America has come down to ONE thing...

ADVERTISING. Or promotion, if you prefer. You can either join in or stand aside. The reason MS even wants Yahoo? ADVERTISING.

How did GOOGLE become the 400 pound gorilla? ADVERTISING!!

HOW can aol, et al, be saved? ADVERTISING!!!

And that is, SPINNING as our politicians do... and I have a conflicted feeling about it...

One one hand, perhaps, stupid people get what they deserve when they fall for the latest scam, buy the latest LAZY product or succumb to immediate gratification...

YET, people should not be allowed to get away with just saying anything they want, especially while taking people's money, without some repercussions.

OF course, the Internet is just a tool, and you can use it as you want, and if you are disciplined and FOCUSED, it is the greatest tool ever created for the small guy to play on a level field and to prosper beyond belief.

For those less FOCUSED, without a good FOUNDATION to build on, and without a FRAMEWORK to work around...they could be doomed by the strongest evil unleashed from Panora's box ...

HOPE.

Gordon Jay Alexander