We’d only been in Genoa for 45 minutes. But we’d already been ripped off by a taxi driver, found our hotel room wasn’t ready, and I’d punched a kid in the face. Maybe I should rephrase that. We’d been ripped off by a taxi driver, found our hotel room wasn’t Read more…
I was re-watching Jaws last night. My favourite scene is the “fingernails on the blackboard” scene. That’s where we first see Captain Quint, and where he makes his pitch to the townsfolk: “Y’all know me. Know how I earn a livin’. I’ll catch this bird for you, but it ain’t Read more…
In his excellent new book, Overdeliver, Brian Kurtz talks about the “bogey.”
It’s a term he learned from direct mail genius, Dick Benson.
It means the lifetime value of a customer. And it’s one of the most important numbers in your business.
Why? Because it tells you how much you can afford to spend to get a new customer.
And how much you can afford to spend to get a new customer determines (more…)
When I first heard the phrase “start ups,” I assumed it just meant new businesses. But I soon realised I was wrong.
They meant tech businesses whose goal was to get funding and then be sold to a larger tech company.
I would listen as they explained their plans. They’d talk about getting “users.” They wouldn’t talk about “customers” – because no-one was paying them any money.
And that’s where my (more…)
A few weeks ago, Tex Gilligan was shot and wounded by one of his dogs.
According to the Las Cruces Sun News …
“Gilligan’s son, Mark Gilligan, said he wasn’t surprised to hear one of the dogs accidentally shot his father. ‘They’re kind of rowdy.'”
I can just imagine him saying, “Dad, if you don’t get rid of those dogs, one of them is bound to end up shooting you…”
But I get his point: (more…)
I had a strange experience recently …
A prospect wanted to hire me to write sales copy, but when I asked about his business, it made no sense.
He’d done some keyword research, found two B2B services that had high demand, and combined them into one website.
To respect his privacy, I won’t say which two services, but they seemed completely incongruous.
It’s like if I said, “I can write your sales copy … and I can also clean your office…”
You’d be (more…)
As I write this, there’s a book that’s selling for $229 on Amazon. That’s the lowest price; the highest price is $3,214.
I think I paid just over $100 for my copy. It was a bargain.
The book is Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz, who was one of the most successful copywriters of the 20th century.
It’s been described as “graduate school for marketers.” And most top copywriters – the ones that earn over $1m a year – say it’s the most important book you can read.
Now, I’m not going to suggest you buy a copy. Instead, I’m going to (more…)
I was listening to Tim Ferriss’ podcast a couple of weeks ago (one of my favourite podcasts). At the start of the show, he gave a pitch for one of his sponsors and I noticed he was using some powerful persuasion techniques.
In this post, I’m going to break down everything I noticed. But, before I do, here’s what Tim said in full:
“This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront and this is a very unique sponsor.
Wealthfront is a massively disruptive – in a good way – set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple and world famous investors.
It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and they now have (more…)
This is a true story. It happened around 10 years ago…
I was living in a highly-populated area of Edinburgh. One day, I noticed a Turkish barbers had just opened. I thought to myself, “He’ll do well. He’s got a big market to himself.”
A week later, what did I (more…)
You probably heard about last month’s ransomware attack on the NHS. And there was another attack across Europe this week.
I don’t know about you, but this stuff scares the crap out of me.
(Can’t the intelligence services figure out who these people are and send the SAS to visit them? It’s what they deserve.)
Anyway… that got me thinking and I realised that, compared to most website owners, I know a lot about site security. (Much of this was learned the hard way.)
So, to help you protect your sites, here are some tips for WordPress security:
#1: Don’t use Admin
When I set up a new WP site, I create a new user with admin privileges. Then I delete the user called “Admin.”