Business is fun, I love the idea of creating value and making a quid for my efforts, it puts a smile on my face and spring in my step )

BUT

It's a jungle out there - Neil Asher

Make no mistake, it’s a jungle out there.

Money is a powerful motivator for people and there are people who will do anything they can to get money, specifically YOUR money.

There are basically 2 ways to win at business;

1. Be the best in your niche

2. Be the only one in your niche

Normally I talk about being the best in your niche, however once you get started you’ll quickly learn that there are plenty of other businesses who’ll stop at nothing to be the only one in that niche too.

As I said it’s a jungle out there, to survive you have to know how to fight when you need to.

Over my 20 years of business experience I have occasionally had to defend my business against attacks from competitors, I have found the best form of defence is invariably to attack back.

So here’s 5 simple ways to kill your competition in your niche.

advertise negative keywords

Report to ASA:

The Advertising Standards Authority is a simple tried and test strategy to give your competitors a headache.

99% of ads that companies run fall foul of the ASA’s guidelines, a cursedly glance at their site shows the extent of the battles that are fought between the major companies on the UK high street:

http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications.aspx?date=12/21/2011#results

From Tesco, sainsburies and Asda doing battle to Phones 4U.

A confident at the ASA admitted that 99% of their complaints where instigated by rival companies, making the ASA unwilling pawns in the battle for your cash.

So, first port of call is to report your competitors to the ASA.

Adwords Strategy

Google adwords is brilliant, I am still amazed how much money can be made from it so easily, and how few business owners utilise this simple but effective tool.

For all it’s good it can be used for battle too, here’s how;

No matter how good your business is you will get complaints, no matter how well you handle complaints the sad truth is that some people would rather go online and bitch about your company than come and talk to you directly to solve it.

Naturally as a business owner you do everything you can to mitigate these complaints but once they’re online they’re their for all to see.

Why not help customers find the negative reviews that your competitor so desperately wants to hide.

A very effective strategy is to place google ads on buying keywords and direct the traffic to the bad reviews online.

nasty huh… works VERY well.

It’s brutal in the big bad business world and it’s best you prepare yourself for attack so you can defend should you find yourself on the receiving end.

Write negative reviews

Naturally the adwords strategy won’t work if there are no negative reviews online, so why not create your own and post them to sites dedicated to bitching and moaning.

This is highly unethical, however I know this happens all the time.

Tripadvisor is at the heart of a VERY BIG ongoing legal battle with a group of hotels that have been targeted with negative reviews by competitors, the hotels can do F.A to remove these false reviews and their business is slowly being killed as a result.

Think this couldn’t happen to you?

Think again.

Instant search

You’ve seen Googles latest innovation with instant search, this is when Google sees what you’re typing in the search box and offers suggestions as to what you might like to see.

This is VERY easy to game.

I have used this on numerous affiliate sites to get keywords that i want to appear to appear,

quite simply it is repetition and diverse users that make a keyword show up in instant search.

If you get 10 people in 10 different locations (a location as defined by IP address NOT physical location) to search for “(business name) rip off” then lo and behold that search terms comes up in instant search after a few iterations of doing this.

then it’s just a simple case of having the domain name and doing very very simple SEO on it and you’re done.

Register web sites

So the instant search naturally you’ll want to make sure you register www.(your own business name)ripoff.com ASAP

There are MANY more ways, however for the next level it starts getting pretty gnarly and I’d rather not share those strategies publicly as I use them more often than I care to admit.

However, what i’ve shared here will kill 95% of attackers.

This is not a pretty fluffy post, I hope I’ve shook you up a bit.

Business IS fun, it IS rewarding and I believe it is a great vehicle for personal growth. I would however be doing you a grave disservice if I didn’t give you the whole picture.

I don’t know anyone else who does, do you?

Neil

P.S I welcome your comments on this post.

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Gary Halbert – Live at the System Seminar, San Francisco 2004 

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Bondi Beach For Christmas )

Well the year is coming to an end and we head off to Australia next weekend for a month.

So I thought I’d give you a special prez )

You know I love testing stuff (testing makes you £cash)

So here are the top 10 headlines of this year (by open rates)

at No 1 = A letter For You (From My Lawyer)

No 2 = Look Look Look!

No 3 = getting a divorce

No 4 = test e-mail V3

No 5 = do you make these dumb mistakes?

No 6 = Step By step facebook how to

No 7 = An Embarressing Confession

No 8 = Why you do the things you do

No 9 = Business partners wanted

No 10 = Geezer, you’ve gotta see this!

So there you go, my top 10 headlines for 2011 )

Give them a try in your business today

Neil

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The Master Of Archetypes - Carl Jung

Using archetypes to write compelling sales copy

Archetypes are recurring configurations that appear in myth, religion, folklore, fantasy, and dreams, as well as in art and literature. In addition to operating essentially at the subconscious level, archetypes recur universally in human experience: psychologist Carl Jung (whom you should study A LOT!) saw them as manifestations of what he called the “collective unconscious.” Archetypal criticism is one of several methods of reading a text. For example, one may trace the archetypes of death and rebirth, the search for the parent, the Promethean rebel, or the scapegoat in poems and short fiction.

Examples of archetypal literary figures, can be found at Understanding Literary Archetypes. This site also offers another explanation of these figures:

First of all, an archetype is a pattern from which copies can be made. That is, it is a universal theme that manifests itself differently on an individual basis. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung believed that these archetypes were the result of a collective unconscious. This collective unconscious was not directly knowable and is a product of the shared experiences of our ancestors. Jung believed it was:

Primordial: That is, we, as individuals, have these archetypal images ingrained in our understanding even before we are born.

Universal: These archetypes can be found all over the world and throughout history. The manifestation of the idea may be different, but the idea itself is the same.

Archetypes fall into two major categories: characters, situations/symbols.

Some common literary character archetypes include:
The hero, the tragic hero, the villain, the scapegoat, the outcast/wanderer, the Christ-figure, the trickster, the genius, the star-crossed lovers, the mother/goddess, and the fool/clown.

Some common literary situational/symbolic archetypes include:
Good, evil, the task, the quest, the initiation, or the loss of innocence.

Archetypal Colors

Color = positive (negative)

Black = power (death, mourning)

Blue = nobility, tranquility (depression)

Brown = Earth, nature (confusion)

Gray = neutral (passionless)

Green = fertility, renewal, wealth (greed, envy)

Orange = adventure, change (forced change, disruptiveness)

Purple = royalty, positive personal growth (injury)

Red = sex, love (sacrifice, taboo, humiliation, danger)

White = purity, wholesomeness, rebirth (emptiness)

Yellow = enlightenment (cowardice, illness)

Archetypal Images

Water = purity, cleansing, baptism

Fire = purging, tribulation

Seasons = spring is birth, winter is death

Heavenly bodies = moon is change, sun is power

Circles = completeness, wholeness, unity

Plants = Oak is strength, rose is beauty

Animals = serpent is evil, lamb is innocent, lion is strong

Wilderness = place of testing, place of danger

Numbers = 3 is a divine trinity, 7 is perfect or luck (hence why we end all prices in 7)

Archetypal Characters-Motifs-Situations

The Quest = a search for someone or something that will restore fertility

The Task = refers to a superhuman feat that must be accomplished

The Journey = sends the hero in search for some truth or information necessary to restore harmony

The Initiation = a situation where an individual comes to maturity

The Ritual = refers to an organized ceremony for entrance into a community

The Fall = describes a decent in action from a higher to a lower state of being

Death and Rebirth = a pattern that grows out of the parallel between the cycle of nature and the cycle of life

Nature vs. Mechanistic World = a situation that positions nature against forces of technology

Father-Son Conflict (or Mother-Daughter) = tension resulting from separation during childhood or from an external source

Hunting Group of Companions = willing to face any number of perils in order to be with each other

Loyal Retainers = function as noble sidekicks to the hero; duty is protection

Friendly Beast = These animals assist the hero

The Devil Figure = represents evil incarnate.  May offer worldly goods, fame or knowledge but for a price

The Evil Figure with the Ultimately Good Heart = a redeemable devil figure or devil figure’s servant who is saved

The Scapegoat = a victim whose death or demise, often in public ceremony, expiates some taint or sin that has been visited upon the community

Innate Wisdom vs. Educated Stupidity = some characters intuitively exhibit more wisdom and understanding that supposedly more learned characters

The Outcast = banished from the community for a crime (real or imagined); destined to become a wanderer

The Earth Mother = character is symbolic of fruition, abundance and fertility

The Temptress = characterized by sensuous beauty; may bring about a hero’s downfall

The Platonic Ideal = source of inspiration (either physical or spiritual) for the hero’s attraction

The Unfaithful Wife = married to a man she sees as dull or distant, who is attracted to a more virile or interesting man

The Damsel in Distress = This vulnerable woman must be rescued by the hero; may be used by an evil figure as a trap

The Star-Crossed Lovers = two characters engaged in a love affair which is fated to end in tragedy due to the disapproval of society, friends, family or the gods.

The Creature of Nightmare = monster, physical or abstract, who is summoned from the deepest, darkest parts of the human psyche to threaten life

By weaving these int your sales copy you’ll tap into the deepest part of your prospects brain. A great book to read on this is Man and his symbols by Carl Jung, it’s the best book I’ve read on this topic.

Neil

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