Interview with Michael Bombard a Unique Niche Marketer By Cort McCadden May 10, 2006

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Cort: If you are interested in Niche Marketing then I have a young man from Canada with us today, Michael Bombard, who has created a niche site on a unique and safe system of Day Trading.

Michael, I know that you are one of the new "hotshots" in Internet Niche Marketing; however I would like to know what you did before your Net involvement. When was this? What got you interested in the Net?


Michael: Haha, "hot shot" huh? I wouldn't go that far, but thanks for the ego boost ;-)

As crazy as it seems, I was working in the construction industry as a scaffolder before the Internet caught my eye sometime in 2001. I would have been 21 years old at the time.

Construction probably couldn't be more unrelated to running an online business, but I've always had a passion and interest in doing big things with my life, and that wasn't going to happen slaving away for $20/hr as a construction worker.

The answer was to start my own business, and the Internet
seemed like the path of least resistance to reach my goals.


Cort: Did you see the value of Email Marketing almost immediately after it appeared? What made you get involved with Email Marketing?


Michael: Oh, definitely. Although things have changed A LOT in the last five years or so, email marketing and list building has always been a huge part of my marketing strategy.

The study of effective direct marketing teaches us a few important lessons that apply to the Internet and email marketing- for instance:

-The money is in the list, whether that means your customer list or list of potential customers (ie. subscribers, leads, etc).

-Give value first, then ask for the sale. Email marketing makes this incredibly easy.

-The easiest person to sell to is someone you already have a
relationship with... someone that knows, likes and trusts you.

In the case of email marketing, it gives you the opportunity to build relationships with an almost unlimited number of subscribers over a period of time, greatly increasing the likelihood of them spending money with you.

And what's more, you can tap into this relationship on an ongoing basis by recommending more products to your list. A well nurtured list becomes your own little automatic cash machine.


Cort: Good points for all of us to remember. What are you doing to avoid the ever present spam filters from putting your email in spam folders? Are you considering using PDF files to send your ezine like I have started to do?


Michael: Probably not as much as I should, but I find that if what you're offering to your subscribers has value, a large percentage are willing to take a few steps to make sure they'll receive your email.

That can be a simple as just asking them to white list your domain or clear you with their service provider.

It also helps to make sure you're with an autoresponder or list management company that has good relationships with the ISP's. This can be the difference between as low as 30% to as high as 95% of your emails getting delivered.

I haven't tried offering my emails in PDF form yet, but that
sounds promising. It's definitely worth testing.


Cort: What are your feelings about Plain vs. HTML Email Marketing? What about the Audio and Visual Email?

Michael: I personally stick to plain text email, as HTML seems to get filtered more often. But then again there's behemoth companies like Agora who use mostly HTML formatted emails and are set to do around $100,000,000 in sales online this year.

As for audio and video emails, I think these are the wave of
the future, especially as more and more people are gaining the ability to view these mediums.

I'm actually heavily looking into video at this time, as nothing appeals to your customer's emotions like video can. Just look at the success of TV infomercials for proof of this. Everyone is guilty of watching them... they grab you by the throat and demand attention on so many levels text alone just can't compare.


Cort: What have been your biggest successes in your business and why? Failures? What would you do differently if you could do things over?


Michael: My biggest success in my business so far has probably been the move away from the "Internet marketing" market and into other more profitable markets and ways of doing business, like day trading.

I admit, I was stuck selling to the "Internet marketing" market for the first few years of my business career, and it was my biggest mistake hands-down.

I see most people make this same mistake when they start out online... they get trapped in a never-ending cycle of Internet marketing BS and never escape. Sadly, most of those people also fail over and over to make any substantial money online and end up quitting, often times calling the Internet a scam. It's a shame.

Another of my biggest mistakes was lack of focus. It's simply impossible to become good at every aspect of marketing online and running a business, so it's important to find the things you ARE good at, focus on them and if you can, hire out the rest or partner with someone who is good at it.

If I could do it all over again I wouldn't do too much
differently, as I'm a strong believer that you learn more from your mistakes than you ever do from your successes. On that note, I'll say if I could do it all over again I'd fail faster.


Cort: What would be your advice to Internet newbies concerning Email Marketing?


Michael: Model success.

The most successful businesses on line all focus on building
lists and nurturing relationships with their potential customers.

Watch what these business are doing with their email marketing and how they're doing it. If what they're doing fits with your market, model their success.

Cort: Thanks, Michael!

Michael is going to provide for you a copy of his newest Special Report on how a 26 year old ex-construction worker was able to go from flat-broke to pulling-in thousands weekly on the Internet. I have read this report and it was what got me interested in Michael.

Get your copy now at:
http://www.daytradetycoon.com/demc


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Cort McCadden also known by his real name Hugh Simpson is a former consumer investigative reporter for Post Newsweek TV and the co-founder of the website http://www.moneywiselife.com and the new blog http://moneywiselife.blogspot.com where he shares up to date consumer awareness tips for especially seniors since he has reached 60 this year. He is also an emergency preparedness consultant and he encourages you to download the FR** Emergency Preparedness Guide at http://www.usprepared.com offering tips for preparedness on both man made and natural disasters.

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