As I mentioned in the last issue of ShopT@lk, I was going to be in Atlanta, GA, at Armand Morin's Big Seminar but making a quick side trip one day to The Masters. Well, I went!

Walking around at "The Masters" golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia, recently with my father was a lifetime dream come true. As a moment in time, it was amazing but it was definitely a reward from years of labor. (Although, after wandering around in muddy wet pathways for a day, watching golf on television might be the better way.) I'm proud to have built a business that serves you, your business and your loved ones while allowing me to help my family and my employees' too.

To be honest, it made me smile when reflecting on the journey to this point. Often, you might hear about the "Internet lifestyle". What exactly is that?

Well, the get-rich-quick scammers want you to think it's like winning the lottery. While others extend the hyperbola with "make money while you sleep". There is some truth to this AFTER of a lot of hard work. I propose that it's more about freeing up your time and reducing your costs and heavy workloads then the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or that super-fast track to riches.

There are examples of individuals who have achieved financial freedom through a pure, automated online enterprise. However, the majority of the time, it's a hard working professional, or entrepreneur, like you, or a small business, smartly applying the power of the Internet to their existing 'traditional' business model. So to you, I want to say, “Congratulations on your intent to succeed and your continued efforts!”

To help you get where you want sooner, we offer multimedia based training and education to support your use of our complete online marketing and ecommerce systems. If you haven't visited www.ShoppingCartTraining.com you must. You have my personal guarantee that it'll help you experience some pleasurable form of an "Internet lifestyle".

Create your own precious memories and "Masters" moments, as you reap the benefits of your concentrated energies and focus to make your life easier and more enjoyable with the power of the Internet.

This month's merchant is a music booking service that provides entertainment for parties, weddings, and company events. The spotlight is on Great Live Music.com run by Donovan Kovar. About 2 years ago, a magician friend named David Farr referred Donovan to 1ShoppingCart and showed him how to use his "Amazing System" to increase the effectiveness of his own bookings.

With sensitive venues, such as weddings and corporate work, it's important that the clients be constantly reassured and made to feel well cared for so that they don't worry. There are also many things that need to be coordinated for events like a wedding reception and they need a way to remember 'what to do' and 'when'.

At Great Live Music, Donovan developed a comprehensive autoresponder (AR) series to address the most common and important issues, while coordinating these messages with Alternative Message notifications that he sends to himself. This allows him to effectively manage the communications between his company and his clients at one time and with less effort. Donovan raves about this one feature, "I don't know of any other systems out there that have this type of functionality."

He adds, "We now have 24 specific ARs just for our wedding clients." He groups and organizes them by putting a *W* in front of each one for "weddings" followed by another letter A-Z (to keep the sequence in order), followed by the name of the action/message that the auto-responder conveys to him and his own 'to do.'

Below is Donovan's the list with the headings of this powerful, step marketing AR series:

W - *A* - Weddings Page - Contact Form

W - *B* - Leads - marker

W - *C* - Wedding Letter

W - *D* - Wedding Letter-w/Travel Fees

W - *E* - Starting Wedding AR Series

W - *F* - $500 Deposit Request

W - *G* - 2nd Deposit Request

W - *H* - $500 Deposit Received (auto request for booking info)

Here is own more detailed explanation of each step in his AR series and how he automates the booking process using the list above as his map:

W - *A* - Weddings Page - Contact Form

When a prospect fills out my online form requesting more information,

an email is sent to me letting me know which part of our website the lead has come from (weddings are different from other types of events) and what I should do next.

W - *B* - Leads - marker

I subscribe the lead to this "marker" to group all wedding leads together if I want to search for them that way. This also helps me keep track of when I began communicating with this person.

W - *C* - Wedding Letter

I subscribe the lead to this sales letter once I determine if it is appropriate to their inquiry. This AR series sends out 3 messages over 2 weeks following up with more info and testimonials about our services and a call to action.

W - *D* - Wedding Letter-w/Travel Fees

This is a variation on the letter above which I use alternatively to send to people outside of our normal traveling distance. It saves me the time of having to explain our traveling policy and prices to everyone.

W - *E* - Starting Wedding AR Series

This is the AR I subscribe the prospect to when they say they are ready to hire us. It explains that I will be walking them through the entire process, with a series of emails, designed to address all of their needs.

A series of questions and prompts (spread out over time) is far less overwhelming to the client than a huge list of information that's delivered all on day one (after reading this, I'm going to continue refining this system by combining ARs *E* and *F*).

W - *F* - $500 Deposit Request

This message thanks the client for choosing us and provides a link to our secure online server (1ShoppingCart) where they can make their deposit to initiate the booking process and guarantee entertainment for their event.

This series also sends a message to me after 5 days reminding me to follow up with the new client by subscribing them to the next series if I haven't yet received the deposit.

W - *G* - 2nd Deposit Request

This prompts the client again, worded a bit differently, and reminds me to

follow up if action isn't taken within a specific time.

W - *H* - $500 Deposit Received (auto request for booking info)

This AR series is triggered automatically when the client makes the deposit with their credit card. The email that's sent to me gives me a detailed list of pertinent information (event location, time, date, etc.) using the custom fields from the online form that they filled out. This message also gives me a complete list of actions to execute for this client specifically, which I print out and check off as I complete them.

The client also gets a message thanking them for their deposit and asking them the first series of questions, and letting them know what's next. I will also receive an alternate message in 7 days reminding me to follow up with the next AR series (you guessed it, *I*) if I haven't heard back from them yet.

This process goes on all the way through to *Z* which thanks the client again and asks for a testimonial and references.

By using 1ShoppingCart to automate the process, I am far more confident that everything is being managed properly and I have much more time to work on my other endeavors.

Any business that is communicating with many customers and leads can

benefit greatly by using 1ShoppingCart to automate, it's the wave of the future in my opinion and it will only proliferate as time goes on.

To research this AR series, you can visit: www.greatlivemusic.com/weddings

Donavan Kovar runs www.GreatLiveMusic.com. You must get a first peek at his soon-to-be-released Automation Process Special Recipe. It completely lays out his automation process in full detail using a 1ShoppingCart system. Just send him an email with "1ShoppingCart automation recipe" in the subject field to mailto:24-7-sales@earthlink.net and he’d be happy to send your complimentary copy immediately upon publication.

How can I protect myself from fraud online?

According to figures, U.S. businesses alone lost more than $500 million (USD) to Internet fraud in 2003. To help you prevent your company from becoming the victim of online fraud, there are several preventative measures within your ShoppingCart system that you can take advantage of. They are:

CVV2 Support - You can turn on the credit card CCV2 support. This will require that your customers enter their credit card security number on the order form. This measure will help to ensure that fraudulent orders are more likely to be declined.

Security Image Verification – Script fraud is a common type of Internet fraud and occurs when an individual has created a software program that places orders online using randomly generated credit card information. The security image verification feature has become an internet standard method to combat this type of fraud. Essentially, this measure consists of an image of random characters that your clients will need to re-enter in a field as they see them. A computer program cannot read the characters in the image and cannot therefore place an order.

Duplicate Order Filtering - You may define an amount of time where duplicate orders will be treated as an update rather than a new order. A duplicate order is any order for the same total with the same credit card and email address that is placed within the time frame that you specify. As a default the system is set to 24 hours.

IP Blocking - You have the ability to block any IP address that you feel is placing fraudulent orders with your business. You can do this from the order details page (just click on the client’s name in your ‘Orders’ list to open this page) and then you’ll see a ‘block IP’ link in red to the right of the IP address. You can also block IP’s, and control this module, from the ‘IP Block List’ page.

Where can you find the first three fraud protection measures? Just click on ‘Cart Setup’ in the main menu of your account (down the left hand side of the screen), then click on the ‘Advanced’ option in the submenu below this.

Again, the ‘IP Block List’ page can be opened from below the ‘Orders’ button on the main menu of your account.

You might also check with your Online Gateway (Credit Card Processor) to see what additional Fraud Protection options they offer.

Writing e-Courses: Is Yours Really Working?

The lure of choice to get visitors to websites these days is to offer e-courses. After reading and analyzing 253 e-courses over a six-month period for my teleprogram:"e-Courses: Writing Them so they Attract," I came away with what can make or break the success of an e-Course as well as templates that didn't work and those that did.

The results are in: Ninety-five percent of the ecourses were a lot of hype with no substance. They ranged from four to nine emails, with seven being the average.

The first two emails told me what they were going to share with me and got me excited about what was still to come. The third was usually a free ebook, written by someone else who had already given it out free on the Internet. More often than not telling the reader how much the ebook is "supposedly" worth. About 80% were already available free on the Internet sometimes a year or more earlier. Sixteen percent of these had the same content with a title change to make it seem new. A whopping 28% of them had material as old as ten years and they didn't even change their copyright date. Talk about recycling -- give me a break.

When I was reading them, I felt like the old ladies on the burger advertisement ten years ago staring at the hamburger bun asking, "Where's the beef?" The worse part was I could envision the mistrust it was creating in the marketplace for future ecourses that "had the beef."

My patience fizzled around the third or fourth e-mail. I suspect most of their readers did as well. For analysis and learning, I pushed ahead to emails four, five, six and seven. Seventy-one percent of all the emails had a poor value/advertising mix. The average had a 60/40 formula (60% advertising or marketing and 40% value).

Many ask the reader to buy the "full" ecourse on that topic. Since the first ecourse didn't offer anything I found myself wondering if zero multiplied by zero would add up to more than zero? It only took me one hand too!

If you want people to buy more of something you need to offer, "double beef patties with special sauce, lettuce, tomato on a sesame bun" and a choice of fries.

Here's how to beef-up your ecourses with a side of fries:

Write them in a conversational style that lets the reader get to know you. Readers want to understand what they are reading. Write them at an 8th grade level, just like any newspaper. Omit the hypnotic phrases and subtle commands the sales copy gurus recommend.

Include new and innovative ideas -- thinking that is "outside the box." It isn't necessary to give away the store, but you do want to let readers know that you know your stuff.

If you material is six months or older, take time out and review it. Add new thoughts and rejuvenate it. Show how you have evolved. If you don't, there will be a disconnect between the ecourse and other material you have written currently or if they call you. The material will be the old you and the other will be the new you.

Create visualizations of your concepts so that the reader will understand how to use them in business. If you write the visual out and there are directions on how to do something, first test those directions out.

Include resources that are specific and inclusive -- not just limited to your affiliations. The reader is not daffish; they can see when something you recommend is also listed in the resource area as an affiliate link. One or two affiliates' links, offered after building trust, are fine, but let the reader know the truth. If the link is helpful, your clients will not mind it if you are splitting the fee. You just gave them the beef with a side of fries.

e-Courses are designed to build relationships, to give value, and not to make a quick sale.

Ask for feedback from the reader in the third or fourth e- mail and again at the end. Always allow them the option to submit anonymously. Make their feedback as comfortable and easy to submit to you. More importantly, listen to it when it comes. One feedback is worth ten future subscribers.

Offer inspirational dialogue to keep your reader moving along and feeling empowered about spending the time reading the ecourse.

At the end of each e-mail, explain what's coming up and how it will move them toward what they are trying to accomplish.

e-Courses are designed to build a relationship, build value, and not make a quick sale. Until someone takes out their credit card and buy something from you, the words are just like air.

Statistics say that the two main reasons people come to the Internet is to communication quickly and to research information. If you give those seekers solid, valuable information, they will come back. The telephone and the reception desk are not the only places where "moments of truth" occur. Your ecourse is your moment to make a first and lasting impression. Don't dangle a carrot on a stick -- give them the "beef."

By Catherine Franz, a Business Coach, specialized in writing, marketing and product development. Newsletters and additional articles: http://www.abundancecenter.com
blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

Did you know that you can clear your shoppingcart each time the customer adds a different product?

Often, merchants want to offer a package with 3 different levels of service, bundles, packages or choices. A challenge develops when the customer adds each product just to "look at it". Then there are several products listed in their current shopping cart for checking out.  To prevent this, you may add &clear=1 to the end of each product link.  With this ‘clear command’ on the link, the shopping cart is cleared, and the one, single product selection is added!