It was truly an honor to be there for her.

She allowed me to give back to a person who gave so much of herself, and to discover a part of her I never knew.

She was selfless until the very end. Even when in constant pain, as she struggled to swallow and drifted in and out of consciousness, she was still thinking of others.

She was always making sure she paid for any of her expenses, always asking about others, always stopping short of asking for help for fear she would be an imposition.

A huge thanks to Sylvie Fortin. My rock. My family’s rock. And my mom’s rock. Most of all, thank you mom for this gift. I love you. Always.

Lonely rivers flow, to the sea, to the sea. To the open arms of the sea. Lonely rivers sigh, “Wait for me, wait for me.” I’ll be coming home, wait for me!

R.I.P. Louise Olivia Quesnel Fortin 1944-2011 originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

It started when my mother decided to take some time off.

She’s 67 and retired now, but she still works for the school board as a secretary. Sometimes, she takes on part-time jobs and side projects during the evenings and weekends. And this, while helping my diabetic sister and raising two grandchildren.

Since my wife Sylvie owns Workaholics4Hire, some say I married my mother.

My mother is a fiercely loyal woman. Stubborn, strong, and selfless.

If any organization would ask her for help, she’d accept the job at the drop of a hat. My mother is one of the most caring and compassionate people I have ever met. Even to her own detriment, as you will soon learn why.

Nevertheless, my mother planned on staying with us for a week during her time off.

Back in 2008 when she went through breast cancer, she stayed with us while Sylvie, having gone through breast cancer herself, provided a powerful support mechanism. Plus, we spoiled her back then, so it’s no wonder our place was her idea of a vacation.

When I went to pick her up back in early July, I noticed how gaunt she looked. She confided in me that she hasn’t been feeling well lately. But she decided to chalk it up to exhaustion and stress.

I was worried. But I know my mom. And I know that making a fuss may prove to be counterproductive. She’s obstinate and proud. So fighting with her would only cause her to stop complaining for fear she would upset or bother those around her.

(This couldn’t be more evident than when she later confessed she had tolerated these pains and bouts of exhaustion since February!)

The next day or so, she was sleeping a lot. I know my mom, and I know she never sleeps that much. When my daughter Megan came to our office to tell us that “Nanny Louise” was vomitting several times in the bathroom, alarm bells went off.

We tried desperately to convince her to let us take her to a hospital. But all my mom wanted was to go back to sleep. That’s when Sylvie contacted a public service called Telehealth Ontario, which offers an on-call registered nurse.

The nurse told us we needed to get her to the hospital. It was serious. Dehydration, particularly during a major heatwave, is not something one takes lightly. But my mom stubbornly refused, pleading to simply let her go back to sleep.

That’s when Sylvie had the brilliant idea to hand her the phone to speak with the nurse, who tried to convince her to desperately seek medical attention.

Eventually, Sylvie’s constant prodding got her to reluctantly agree.

So we drove to the nearest hospital and, once they saw her, even though the waiting room was full, they took her in immediately to rehydrate her intravenously. It was that serious. We almost lost her then.

Little did we know that’s when a roller-coaster ride was about to begin.

After three days in the emergency ward, a series of scans and tests showed a growth in her gallbladder. “Gall stones,” she lamented, which she said she had before. Surgically removing the gallbladder was the only solution at this point.

So they moved her to a room in the surgical wing. We were told surgery would be in another week or so. So we visited mom every day to keep her company.

But something wasn’t right.

Mom has good days and bad days. But lately, they were more bad than good. Her deteriorating health worried the doctors as it indicated something else was going on.

More tests revealed she also had a ruptured instestine caused by the gallbladder being so inflamed. Thus, surgery would also require fixing or bypassing the ruptured intestine so she can eat and digest food again.

That’s when the doctor informed us she needed a hepatobiliary specialist (i.e., a gallbladder and liver surgeon), and they needed to transfer her to a different hospital to see him. Otherwise, the waiting time would have been several months.

(The administrative nightmare by being from another province — my mother is from Quebec and we’re in Ontario — is a whole other ball of wax from which I will spare you the sordid, brain-numbing details.)

Surgery kept getting delayed to allow for more tests. From ultrasounds to x-rays, CT-scans to MRIs, an endoscopic biopsy to a surgically invasive one.

Obviously, seeing my mom deteriorate in front of our eyes (she lost 30 pounds while being hospitalized), with no progress in sight, we were getting a little frustrated by how much time it was taking for surgery to happen.

But looking back, I now realize why.

After this battery of tests, our worst fear became reality.

My mother has advanced gallbladder cancer.

Not only that, they predict she only has a few years left.

I was in shock. I still am. Let me tell you, when the news came it felt like a truck hit me. We had just returned from the hospital when the doctor called us. I decided to rush back because I knew my mom wouldn’t want to be alone.

In fact, that night will be one night I will remember for the rest of my life. When we returned to the hospital, I saw my mother, sitting on a chair in the corner of the hospital room looking out the window, weeping.

This person who was the symbol of strength, staunchness, and humility, and who often kept her emotions to herself for fear of upsetting others, was crying. I will never forget that moment for as long as I shall live.

It hurts me just typing this.

Emotions aside, we still had this “surgery” we were anticipating for over a month, now. Finally, that day came. They told us to get ready, as she would be whisked into surgery within 24 hours. It was the longest 24 hours we’d ever had to endure.

The surgeon told us he would try to remove the tumor, but the main goal was to bypass the ruptured intestine blocked by the tumor, which would allow mom to eat again and regain some strength.

After the surgery, bad news turned to worse.

It looks like the cancer is more advanced than originally thought, and it seems to have metastasized to her liver and invaded other major organs. It was inoperable.

That’s when the doctor told us that she has months, not years.

We are still going to meet with an oncologist who will be the one giving us all the options. For example, chemotherapy, while seemingly redundant at this point as a curative measure, may be administered for palliative reasons to help reduce the pain.

There’s still hope. In fact, the doctor himself admitted she may have more time, since cancer is not his area of expertise. Only the oncologist will know.

So for the next few months, we will be taking care of mom.

She will be staying with us for the remainder of her life, and we have setup a special room for her so that she can be as comfortable as possible. Palliative care nurses will be visiting regularly to make sure she’s comfortable, too.

Trying to bring levity to such a sullen situation, Sylvie told mom who originally came to our house for a vacation: “Boy, do we sure know how to show you a good time, eh?”

Mom always laughs at that one. Which is actually Sylvie’s goal from this point on: “I plan to make her laugh every single day for the rest of her life.”

This reminds me of a speech by Jimmy Valvano, given just weeks before he passed away from cancer. The part I’m specifically referring to is at the 1:40 mark, where he says we should always strive to do three things each day: laugh, think, and cry.

And I can attest that, since mid-July, that has certainly been the case with our family.

I’ll keep you posted. As Sylvie always says, “there’s no expiry date stamped on your foot.” So we plan on living every single day as if it were her last. We all should. More importantly, it’s truly an honor to be there for her during this time.

Until you hear back from me, and before you start telling me all about your cures, recommendations, and alternatives to chemo and surgery, which I do appreciate, please keep this post from Sylvie in mind.

Make sure to hug your family and your friends. Tell them you love them. Because you never know, every chance you get might just be your last.

I love you, Sylvie.

And I love you, mom.

Live Every Day As if It Were Your Last originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

No, not a basics course and not something too advanced. And not any old training course teaching stuff you would expect to find for free online.

But a “Fortinized” WordPress training. A “how-did-he-do-that” course that shows you how, exactly, I tweak, optimize, modify, and monetize my WordPress websites.

Let’s just call it FortinPress.com for now.

It’s been on my mind for the last two years now. I was supposed to put one together with another marketer, but it never materialize for a number of reasons — being extremely busy being one of them.

I want to gauge your level of interest on this. I want to see if you would be interested. So here’s what I envision, what will be included, and the price point…

The course itself will be delivered over 4-5 weeks through a series of webinars.

I prefer live webinars because you get to see me do it, in front of you, live. I share my desktop with you, and you get to see what I do, how I do it, as I do it. You also get to see the innerworkings of my websites, warts and all, and any snags that appear, which is a perfect learning environment.

Here’s the tentative course synopsis:

1. Introduction and Examples

In this session, I will go over WordPress, how I specifically use it, how I turn it into a content management system (CMS), how I use it on my clients’ sites, and more. I will also give you a sneak peek at the admin areas and the tools I use.

2. Themes and Styles

I will go over theme tweaking, styles, and graphics — from making basic layout changes to more advanced modifications. When people ask, “Michel, how did you do this or that on this theme?” This session will answer that question.

3. Plugins and Functions

This session will focus on plugins — the plugins I use or recommend, and how to set them up. Not all plugins are usable out of the box. Some need tweaking. I will show how I set them up and offer a downloadable Excel spreadsheet of all my plugins and where to get them.

4. Tools and Shortcuts

In this session, I will go through some of my tricks and external (non-WP) tools I use to speed it all up. I will show you how I use Firebug, SEO tools, page speed tools, cheatsheets, social media integration, cross-browser tweaking, etc.

5. Money and Traffic

I’m thinking this may be something a lot people will love to know, and that’s how I monetize, market, and drive targeted traffic to my WordPress website. Without PPC or advertising. I will talk about list-building, content strategy, and social media integration.

6. Open Q&A Session

The final session will be an open question-and-answer session. This is where I will answer any and all of your questions related to the course content. If it takes an hour, I’ll take an hour. If it takes three, three it is. I want to take all the time needed to answer all your questions.

Bonuses

Not sure about this one, but I think a free trial to a one-month Success Chef University might be a good bonus. This is not going to be some forced continuity thing. If you like the free trial, you will need to re-subscribe to keep it going. Just sayin’.

Success Chef also includes the weekly Wednesday night classes and the derivative products, like List Whisperer, Marketing ESP, the Copy Doctor, etc.

Upsell

I do plan on offering an upsell. The reason I’m doing it is not entirely because I want to maximize sales, although that is obviously one of the reasons. But more important, I feel like this is one upsell people will actually ask for and buy.

What is it? It’s a private, one-on-one session with me.

This is an opportunity where the student can book a time with me, and I go through their website, theme, and plugins, and perhaps even web copy and strategy.

In it, I will review their setup, answer individual questions, and provide actionable recommendations. Perhaps even fix a thing or two while on the call, and implement a few tweaks right on the spot (within reason, of course).

Again, this is a tentative list. It might change, especially based on your feedback. All these sessions will be recorded and available online in a password-protected area.

The price point will increase once the sessions have been delivered and uploaded. I want to offer a lower price point before and while I deliver the course as a special introductory price.

My thinking is $297 is more than a fair price. I looked at other courses of this type, and $297 is actually on par or less than most.

The upsell will be $997 (total) for both the course and the full, one-on-one session. Considering that I charge $1,000 for critique consulting, and a minimum of $3,000 for any copy project, I think this price point is more than fair.

Now, you don’t have to choose the upsell.

You can buy just the main course for $297.

I only want to make the one-on-one session available to those who need more hand-holding and individualized attention.

But if you have a website right now, and you’re wondering how to tweak it but don’t know how, and if you prefer to save the hassle and expense — Mike Sigers said he was charged $2,500 to modify just one page! — this will certainly be a bargain.

So let me know your thoughts.

To answer a few of your questions in advance, let’s say I’m looking at next week as the launch, and the course will be delivered throughout July. Probably in the afternoons.

(However, if you choose the upsell, the one-on-one session can be booked at any time based on any openings on my schedule.)

All the sessions will be recorded and you will have access to the recordings. You can share your private session (if you choose the upsell) with a freelancer, partner, staff member, or designer, if you wish them to implement some of the things I recommend.

(Keep in mind, I will do a few tweaks for you, and do it live. This is only if the changes you need fall beyond the scope of our time together.)

Standing by and listening…

Want to Maximize Your WordPress Website Fortin-Style? originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

I wanted to simplify.

I wanted to get rid of the clutter and look crisper, cleaner, and more focused. The previous one had too many ads, messages, social icons, etc.

I loved the overall design and some of the main design elements from Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, and Darren Rowse. So I decided to emulate them.

I realized that they use Genesis as their framework, but I’m in love with WooThemes. In fact, I wanted a WooTheme theme because all my other blogs have WooThemes, and I love their framework, their sidebar manager, their built-in shortcodes, etc.

I wanted those features on my own blog!

Lastly, I wanted to re-introduce commenting, but with a twist. I once used Disqus, which I liked a lot. But I wanted more social media integration. Recently, LiveFyre came along with full social networking integration and some good reviews.

So this is it! But I need your feedback on a couple of things…

What do you think? I’m still tweaking it, and I not 100% sure I want to keep it like this, including the comments. Let me know in the comments.

What else do you think I should add or remove? If you look at the bottom footer section, there’s nothing (compared to last time where I had the most popular posts, etc).

Brian Clark and Chris Brogran have nothing, too. But Darren’s blog has a neat footer section. Ideas? Suggestions? Let me know in comments below.

New Blog Design Now With Comments originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

This webinar was a fireside chat, so to speak, where we touched base for the first time since hosting the now famous Copywriting Success System seminar in 2007 and since released on an eight (8) full-length DVD set.

As I promised, the webinar has been encoded and replay is available right now. I apologize for the tardiness as a client’s looming deadline demanded my full attention.

In fact, because I’m so late in bringing this to you, I’ll extend the offer made we made at the end of the webinar until May 31st, 2011.

Click here to watch this video (new window).

Check out the Copywriting Success System.

How to Sell in Tough Times Webinar Replay originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

Plus, that nasty little virus made its rounds with the entire family. I can’t remember who got it first, but it eventually affected my wife, who, as it turned out, had an entire evening planned for my birthday last week.

Sadly, we had to cancel.

But I feel a lot better now, and I had a wonderful birthday nonetheless. In fact, the cancellation was a blessing in disguise as it gave us an excuse to have an extra “date night.” Incidentally, of the many gifts I’ve received, this one was my favorite…

I love my kids.

P.S.: Remember, my wife and I will be speaking at BigSeminar 14, the big finale, in two weeks in Las Vegas. This is the last BigSeminar, so we hope to see you there.

Sick and Tired. Literally. originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

I also click “like” if I like them, or “star” if I want to keep them bookmarked for myself. I do this with articles and posts I come across that I find interesting and helpful, and that I think my readers or followers would find interesting, too.

But while doing this, I keep forgetting that my blog readers miss these.

So here are some of these articles…

1. 20 Best WordPress eCommerce Themes

If you ever wanted to setup an online store using WordPress, in a way that it doesn’t make your website look like a blog but like a full-fledged Internet retail store, this post provides some great examples. (Of these, eShop, by the way, is my favorite one.)

2. 13 Pure CSS Techniques for Creating JavaScript-like Interactions

This one is neat. Ever wanted to have javascript-like interactions on your website but without javascript? This article shares some of the best CSS-only ways to make your website dynamic and interactive, without any scripting.

3. 47 CSS Tips & Tricks To Take Your Site To The Next Level

CSS is a fantastic tool, not only for design but also to make your website appear the way you want it to, to make it cross-browser compatible, and more importantly, to make it convert like crazy. This article offers a ton of little tricks you can use.

4. 30 Fresh Icon Sets For Developers and Designers

Icons galore! If you need icons for your website, digital product, or software, this post offers a ton of them — most if not all of them are free to download and use.

5. 15 Uniform Payment Options Icon Sets for Ecommerce Design

Speaking of icons and online retail stores, this article provides a variety of payment option icons — from credit card logos to alternative payment methods.

6. 45 Fresh WordPress Tutorials, Techniques, and Hacks

As I’m sure you already know by now, my favorite CMS is WordPress. There’s so much you can do, and it isn’t just for blogging anymore. We’re using it with all our sites. Well, this article provides some fantastic WordPress tutorials and tricks.

7. 55+ Most Wanted WordPress Tips, Tricks, and Hacks

This is another WordPress tips and hacks post. However, it does offer quite a few different ones — some I really like and plan to use myself.

8. 40+ Effective Call-to-Action Buttons

Your call to action is one of the most important elements of your sales or marketing website. But designing an effective call-to-action button is just as important, especially if you test a lot and want to know which button creates the best conversion.

9. 35+ Essential Submit Button Enhancements

In addition to call-to-action buttons, the most prolific button online is without a doubt the submit button. Whether it’s for submitting content, making your site interactive, or getting a response, this article shares some neat submit button tips.

10. 50 jQuery Tools for Awesome Websites

Three years ago, I talked about how websites and particularly salesletters need to be interactive, dynamic, and personalized. Some scripts help you do exactly that. This one offers jQuery scripts you can add to any website for this purpose.

11. 30 Fresh AJAX Tutorials And Techniques

Same as the one above, but with AJAX. What I particularly liked about this article is that many of the AJAX tools it offers are helpful in commercial and sales situations.

12. 50 Fundamental jQuery Controls, Components and Plugins

Finally, this one offers a ton of jQuery plugins and tools that make a website more usable, friendly, and responsive. From sticky slideup footers — great for unobtrusive ads and opt-in forms at the bottom of the page — to collapsible panels and menus.

Nevertheless, I share quite a bunch of these articles on social media websites. If you want to stay on top of what I do share everyday, follow me on Twitter or on Facebook.

12 Awesome Resources For Design and Copy originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

First off, I’m trying a new experiment. I’ve decided to close and remove comments on this blog. Just to see what happens. Why? Here’s the thing…

When I post a new blog post, it will be crossposted to a few social networks. Some, by design with the help of a few tools and plugins. Others, by subscribers and readers who retweet, reblog, or trackback to my posts.

What I’ve noticed is, on these social networks — Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, Digg, and now with the new Google Buzz — my posts seem to incite discussions on these locations. Discussions I love to participate in, too, when I have a chance.

I want to harness that social media power and divest myself of the constant moderation of this blog. I feel that, since there are so many discussions taking place elsewhere, why not take advantage of social media and bring the discussions to the public instead?

I understand that I might lose somewhat, such as less comments mean less keyword-rich user-generated content, as well as less control over what is being said about my blog posts. But I think the benefits far outweigh these.

Plus, half of the comments I get, especially on older blog posts, are spam or pseudo-spam. (You know, those friendly, one-liner spam comments like that are so general or complimentary in nature, you know they are just fake.)

Also, some posts get so many comments (i.e., hundreds, in some cases) that they tend to slow down the loading of pages. Load-time is a huge factor in SEO these days, too.

So I’ve removed all the comments and trackbacks, and eventually I’ll be adding re-Buzz, retweet, and Facebook-share buttons at the bottom of my posts. (I’ll be adding and testing them in the next few days. Although I’m not sure, yet.)

I’ll also be removing the list of the 10 most recent comments at the bottom of this website. Not sure what I’ll replace them with, though. (Do you have an idea? If so, tweet me, Facebook me, or Buzz me with some ideas.)

Next piece of news…

After over a month of working behind the scenes, we’ve finally gave my wife’s flagship site, Workaholics4Hire.com, an extreme makeover and a complete relaunch.

And I do mean “extreme,” because it’s more than just the new design, which I did with the help of a base template. The copy and content have all been completely rewritten from scratch — personally by my wife. All of it.

(I’ve never seen her type as feverishly as she did since she wrote her controversial report, Internet Marketing Sins.)

More important, the business model and service offerings have also changed to reflect new demands, markets, trends, and economy. The biggest of which is the removal of rate markups and her company as an intermediary.

As the small Internet businesses’ leading purveyor of freelance services and work-at-home jobs, my wife wanted to simplify how services were offered, managed, and delivered. She wrote about it in this candid blog post.

We’ll see how things go. If you do have any comments, you know where to find me.

Changes, Relaunches, and Extreme Makeovers originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

Called “crowdsourcing,” this relatively new outsourcing technique — I say “relatively,” as the term may be new but the technique is as old as outsourcing itself — enables you to cull specific skills from the public at large.

Often, for little to no cost.

Whether you’re outsourcing already, planning on doing so, or just want to save time and money, this is for you. Crowdsourcing also allows you to bypass freelance bidding sites that can turn out to be expensive and risky, often with less than desirable results.

This two-hour training video is completely free.

In it, Sylvie exposes some of the best-kept secrets to get stuff done. Some of which have never been revealed until now. It was originally recorded from a private online webinar to our Success Chef students, but we’re making it available for the first time.

The video might be free, but you must register to watch it, as we highlight Success Chef University in the backend because that’s where the video comes from. However, you get immediate access to this video on the next page. You can unsubscribe easily, anytime.

Click here to watch this amazing video.

Crowdsource Your Way to Success originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

So we had a complete family photography session done by a local executive photographer, Luc St-Amour.

“Isn’t our family beautiful?” Says the proud dad.

(When you compare these to the photos from our wedding, you can see how much they’ve grown. Now I really feel old!)

There’s my wife, Sylvie Fortin. The blond is my daughter Megan Malette (24 years old). The redhead is my daughter Céleste Coley Fortin (20). The brunette is my daughter Paige Coley Fortin (17). Last but not least there’s my son, Tyler Coley Fortin (16).

(By the way, did you know Sylvie’s birthday is on Halloween? Don’t tell her I told you, but this year she’s turning the big 4-0! But no matter what age, she’s as beautiful as ever.)

Obviously, I couldn’t wait to share these with the world. I hope you don’t mind this little sneak peek into the personal life of “Michel Fortin.” Click the photos to enlarge.

The Fortin Clan Photos originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

I’m a big fan of disclosure. I believe in it. While I will make every attempt to disclose each time I make a recommendation on this blog, sometimes I can’t or I simply forget. So I’ve included an abbreviated form on the sidebar.

However, in an effort to be as clear and candid as possible, I’d like to post a more complete version, which highlights some of my relationships, the ways I am compensated, as well as the results I sometimes showcase on this blog.

Here they are…

• I occa­sion­ally make rec­om­men­da­tions on this blog, which include links to help­ful resources for which I get some kind of compensation. I either get a commission for each sale, or receive some form of remuneration, either financially or in kind.
• However, these rec­om­men­da­tions are based first and fore­most on their merit. I make them either because of their value, help­ful­ness, and qual­ity, or based on my direct or indirect knowledge of the author’s rep­u­ta­tion, track record, and level of exper­tise. No adver­tiser will ever influ­ence the con­tent on this blog.
• Some affiliate links are added automatically with the help of software, which linkifies specific keywords within the content dynamically. Others are added after the post is written. In other words, most affil­i­ate links are added inci­den­tally or sub­se­quently.
• Some links do not have any affil­i­a­tion or com­pen­sa­tion whatsoever, but are included for the same rea­sons expressed above. In other words, I add them based on merit. If I find them helpful and suspect that they may be of interest to my readers, I will include them, regardless of compensation or lack thereof.
• Without question, most testimonials on this blog highlight positive and sometimes extraordinary outcomes achieved under unique circumstances. Typical results are exceedingly difficult to predict or measure, as all markets, businesses, motives, and results are unique. Yours will be no exception.
• As with most training programs or information products, by their very nature all results are atypical. Such programs are not “one-size-fits-all” solutions as they teach a wide variety of systems and strategies. Therefore, it is impossible for anyone to predict how, or even if, you will use the information provided in your specific business.
• As with every business venture, there’s inherent risk. You even stand a chance to lose money. So please use discretion when making a purchasing decision.
• All testimonials and case studies are collected from people who have had personal experience with our products or services, and they have each submitted their kind words willingly, and without direct financial payment or compensation.
• In rare cases, such as with case studies, some students have received substantial discounts on our products in exchange for their honest review.
• Some endorsements are sent from paying clients who have initially hired us for our consulting services, and may not necessarily or directly reflect the specific products showcased on this blog. Some have become friends or partners in various ventures.
• Some of my endorsements of other people’s products are the result of receiving a free review copy. In some cases, I may be an affiliate. However, I do not receive any direct financial compensation for making such endorsements, and I only provide an honest review, whether as an affiliate or not, if I feel the product has merit.

As for my relationships:

• I own The Success Doctor, Inc., a copywriting agency and marketing consultancy, operated by partners Andy and Shawn Catsimanes. Many of our copywriters own and operate their own freelance copywriting and consulting businesses, as well as produce their own products to which I have links on this blog.
• My wife, Sylvie Fortin, and I own The Licorice Group, LLC, makers of a variety of training and multimedia products, such as Success Chef University, Marketing E.S.P., The List Whisperer, The Copy Doctor, In Your PJs, Marketers Board, and many others.
• My wife owns and operates Workaholics4Hire.com, Inc., a project management, customer support, and freelance outsourcing firm specializing in Internet marketing and online businesses. We share many of the same clients between our companies.
• Many of my testimonials come from paying clients, who have compensated me for my services and with whom I was instrumental in achieving many of the results showcased on this blog, including but not limited to: Armand Morin, Simon Grabowski, Frank Kern, John Reese, Stephen Pierce, Kirt Christensen, Ken Calhoun, and many others. Some of these individuals are now friends or partners in various ventures.
• The majority of my websites, including this blog, are hosted on a dedicated server at Pair.com. The majority of my domain names are registered through GoDaddy.com, with which my wife and I are authorized resellers.
• I am sent numerous books, information products, training programs, CDs, DVDs, and access to membership websites to review. If I choose to review them and post them on this blog, I’ll only review the ones I like or the ones I suspect you might like.
• Ads on this blog are for my own products, products my wife and I authored (either jointly or separately), or products of which I am an affiliate or reseller. I do not sell, rent, or exchange ads or text links from third-party advertisers on this blog.
• In the case of products of which I am an affiliate or reseller, they are selected because I purchased the products myself, I was involved in their creation, or I know their authors, and because I believe these products to be useful to my readers.

I will add more as I revise this blog post. It may be almost complete, but I believe this is a start in being open and candid so that you, dear reader, fully understand where I’m coming from and what’s involved when following any of my recommendations on this blog.

Disclosure Policy of The Michel Fortin Blog originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

(And want to pitch in for a great cause at the same time?)

Well, for a limited time, you can.

As a freelance copywriter and consultant for the better part of 20 years, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to critique, review, consult, and coach thousands of people and projects.

At first, I did it because it was my livelihood. But today, my wife and I own several, profitable businesses, and so I outsource much of it to our personally trained staff.

For this reason, I don’t do hourly consults anymore. When I do coaching or consulting, I give priority to my members and rarely take on new clients. If I happen to work with a new client, I do it mostly for fun. (But I also charge a minimum of $3,000 for it, too.)

Well, if you ever wanted to “rent my brains” for an hour, and for a fraction of that price on top of that, then here’s your chance. Plus, you’ll be helping an important cause.

One that’s particularly meaningful to me and my family.

As you probably know, both my wife and mother are breast cancer survivors. My wife was diagnosed just three days before our wedding, and was given just one year to live.

(That was three years ago!)

But her survival did come at a price. She had to run the full gamut of treatments: mastectomy (the surgical removal of her breast), eight months of grueling chemotherapy and radiation treatments, oophectomy (surgical removal of both ovaries), and more.

Last year following her lumpectomy, my mother lived with us for close to seven months while undergoing her own treatments, so we could take care of her, and drive her to and from the hospital for her own chemotherapy and radiation sessions.

So as you can see, breast cancer awareness and breast cancer research are causes near and dear to me and my family. And as you probably know…

… October is breast cancer awareness month!

So for the month of October, I’d like to propose something.

Something that might help you boost your response, build your business, crank out better copy, grow your list, or whatever, and help out a great cause at the same time.

Here’s what I’m offering. If you want to pick my brains for an hour, I’ll open my doors for a very limited time. We can do it over the phone, Skype, or the web using my webinar interface. It’s your call. Use your hour as you wish. Ask me anything you want.

Your investment for an hour of my time? $500.

That’s my going rate normally offered to my paying members only. Otherwise, you’d have to buy my intensive coaching program, which I offer for $10,000. Even copy critiques are a minimum of $3,000. Each. So $500 is quite generous.

What do you get? It depends on what you want…

• Want me to review your copy and make recommendations?
• Critique your marketing, selling, or blogging strategy?
• Take you behind the scenes of my blog and its plugins?
• Show you how I use blogs as salesletters and testing?
• Coach you on your freelance copywriting career?
• Consult you on how to grow your list or business?
• Learn how to outsource and optimize business tasks?
• Get fresh product ideas and product creation tips?
• Give you productivity tips and practical shortcuts?
• Or just shoot the breeze about anything for an hour?

It doesn’t matter.

Please note, however, I will be brutally honest with you.

I won’t sugarcoat or pussyfoot around. I will give you the straight goods, so be prepared to take it. If you’re only seeking approval and expect verbal pats on the back, this is not for you. I’d rather tell you straight up now, rather than surprise you when it’s too late.

There are no refunds with this offer, and you must book your appointment with me within 30 days following your payment. In other words, your call must take place within 30 days.

For example, at the time of this blog post, I have about 22 openings in the next 30 days. You can book your consult using a special online calendar, which will be open on a first-come, first-served basis. Additional times will be offered once they’re all booked up.

(Also, you are responsible for calling me. So be aware that long-distance charges may apply. You may also record this session for your own reference, if you wish. I won’t.)

People are raving about their consultations. In fact, Tony Ucello, an up-and-coming copywriter who got a “brain rental” consult with me, sent me this completely unsolicited and unexpected testimonial. Listen to what he has to say (click the button below)…

Now, here’s the deal…

I will donate 10% of your investment to my wife’s favorite charity, Avon’s Breast Cancer Crusade. That means, for every hour I consult, I will donate $50 to her favorite charity.

Remember, I don’t do hourly consults anymore. My time is valuable, as yours should be. So I’m only opening my doors for the month of October, through this special offer only.

If this interests you, then don’t wait. Click here to book your call.

Once successfully processed, I will send you the link to the special online calendar to book your call through. You can pick and choose among the openings available.

And remember, it’s first come, first served. So I imagine you’d best hurry before I must open additional times in the future, forcing you to wait more than 30 days. So book your “brain-rental” time with me now. Click this link or the button below…

Do it for yourself. Do it for your business. But above all, do it for a worthy cause. Reserve your spot now, and I look forward to chatting with you very soon!

P.S.: By the way, shortly after I posted this, someone asked me privately if they could record this session and turn it into a product. The answer is a resounding “yes!” Absolutely. In fact, I encourage it.

Brains For Boobs? originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

Some of the results are staggering!

In short, the more I increase the sense of security and trust, better the flow and ease of ordering, and project a more congruent and professional image, the more sales I make.

Since that post, some readers have asked me for some examples. I prefer not to reveal mine as they are proprietary. But I can say this…

One of the things that I’m starting to really like are ecommerce sites that are less “salesletterish” — i.e., less long-scrolling copy in a direct-mail format, and more clustered layouts that are reader-focused, commerce-centric, and action-driven.

They still use compelling copy and a solid response mechanism. If the user needs more details, a “more info” link then sends them to a typical, long copy salesletter. But these sites’ front-end are more action-oriented than they are scrolling-oriented.

I’ve decided to test this with our main website at Success Chef. I still use long copy. But I’ve converted the front-end into an ecommerce, multi-product, catalog-like format.

And the results are in…

Before I reveal them, let me explain something. I’ve been predicting the rise of such sites since The Death of The Salesletter years ago. My argument was and still is that the Internet is different. Different than TV, radio, and of course, direct mail.

When TV was first invented, we didn’t put direct-mail salesletters on TV, forcing our eyes to squint to read direct-mail letters line-by-line. It would be foolish to do so. So instead, we put commercials and particularly infomercials on them. Why? Because we can.

Well, it’s ditto with the Internet.

When the Internet first began, it was easy to put up salesletters online. The Internet was unlike TV. Text browsers with limited graphics were the norm. The web was regarded as an electronic version of the typical, direct-response salesletters we get in the mail.

But Web 2.0, multimedia, and social media have changed that, as they should.

The Internet is fast, dynamic, interactive, and multisensorial. Sure, we can and should use long salesletters, as this format is more appropriate in some cases. Sometimes, multimedia is better. Other times, long-scrolling text is better. But the difference is…

… The web is changing the way we find, digest, and act upon sales messages.

Case in point. The other day, a reader pointed me to an amazing weightloss website. I immediately fell in love with it! It’s fresh, clean, pithy, and very action-focused. But while the design may be enticing, the question is, does this sucker sell?

Apparently, according to my stats and a little digging, it does.

More and more WordPress themes, for example, are coming out that have this product showcase feature above the fold, with a more browse-and-buy look and feel. Take for example, this new theme from WooThemes.com or “Addington” from iThemes.com.

Back to my results…

In less than a week after posting the new design and layout, without any advertising, we’ve increased our conversions by nearly 400%. Granted, it’s still too early to tell. Plus, I’m still tweaking with the design and layout. Premature, but promising nonetheless.

Now, don’t think for a moment I’m discounting the power of using long copy salesletters, or suggesting that you should dump yours. Not at all. That wasn’t my intent with the “death of” white paper, and it certainly isn’t with this blog post, either.

Keep in mind, I still have long-copy salesletters for each individual product on separate landing pages, which I promote individually or if the user clicks on “more info.”

But this is the front page of the main website, which I’ve converted into a multi-product portal instead. And with it, I’m using this pithier, bullet-form, browse-and-buy ecommerce format with an above-the-fold showcase to feature our flagship product.

I simply wanted to share with you some cool ideas. The key is testing, because testing allows you to discover what your market wants. Let your market tell you what’s best for them. Not me, and certainly not you. They’ll tell you with their wallets, not their words.

What do you think? I’d love your feedback. Click here to visit Success Chef University.

Sales are the best indicators, of course. But in terms or readability, comprehension, and flow, I want to know if you like the new format. Does it confuse you or appeal to you? Is there something that pushes you away or draws you in? I’m listening…

By the way, while I was typing out this blog post, my beautiful wife, Sylvie Fortin, created this quick little video using this neat text-to-video website. It’s funny as heck! Enjoy…

If you can’t see the video, click here to go straight to the website instead.

Website Redesign Pulls in More Sales? originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

The bad news — for me, not you — is that, a week before leaving, I suffered a sacroiliac joint injury. It was likely caused by my bad posture related to my existing herniated discs, which as a result is causing agonizing sciatica.

For the first three days, I was completely immobile. It took me an hour just to get out of bed! Any slight movement would create shooting pains in my lower back, particularly in my buttocks, and would go down my leg with aches and a “pins and needles” feeling.

It’s excruciating. In fact, I almost backed out of the Austin trip. But being able to regain some mobility, I took a chance at the last minute. Luckily, the airline provided me with a wheelchair. Currently, I’m walking with two canes and a back brace.

Now, the good news…

As a result, I haven’t posted anything new in a while. But I do have a treat…

Just before my injury, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by SEO expert David Jenyns. David wanted to add it as a bonus to his product, “The SEO Method.”

I just got an email from David who said he decided to make the interview available for free because it was so good. That means you can go and download the MP3 right now, and listen to the entire, one-hour, unabridged recording. No optins or strings attached!

Until I get back to the office and back on my feet (literally), with David’s gracious permission I’m posting the link here for you. Go download the free interview here. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Sacroiliac joint dysfunction is hard to diagnose. It was a guess based on all my symptoms. Proper diagnosis requires several tests, including fluoroscopic x-ray guided injections, which I was booked to have upon my return to Canada.

Otherwise, if it isn’t, the sciatica may be caused by — and it’s the most common cause of sciatica — a pinched nerve and ongoing nerve compression caused by herniated discs.

Well, after attending the wedding last weekend, I was I utter agony.

Even my wife told me I looked “olive green.” So I decided to see a doctor near my hotel. He did a bunch of tests and finally confirmed — it’s not sacroiliac joint inflammation but sciatica caused by both herniated discs and degenerative disc disease.

Pain in The Butt Forces Free Interview originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

When we shared this with our platinum coaching group, a member sent this amazing “10-point ethics checklist,” which he and his employees use in his company as guidelines in defining if a marketing or business strategy is worth doing.

That list is nothing short of brilliant.

With his gracious permission, Darrin Clement allowed me to reprint it here for you. I urge you to read it. Go through it when you’re thinking about implementing a new marketing or sales tactic, or when you’re about to buy into one. It’s that powerful. Here’s the list…

1. The Golden Rule: Would I want people to do this to me?
2. The Fairness Test: Who might be affected and how? Is this fair to everyone?
3. The ‘What if everybody did this?’ Test: Would I want everyone to do this? Would I want to live in that kind of world?
4. The Truth Test: Does this action represent the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
5. The Parents Test: How would my parents feel if they found out about this? What advice would they give me?
6. The Children Test: Would I be willing to explain everything about this to my kids and expect them to act in the same way?
7. The Religion Test: Does this go against my religion?
8. The Conscience Test: Does this go against my conscience? Will I feel guilty?
9. The Consequences Test: Are there possible consequences of this action that would be bad? Would I regret doing this?
10. The Front Page Test: How would I feel if my action were reported on the front page of my hometown paper?

The 10-Point Ethics Checklist originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

Here are the rules.

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a post with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose five more people to be tagged. You also have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you. To do this, you simply link to their blogs so that they know you responded to their tag.

(You may include the above rules in your post so that the person being tagged knows them, too. You may also want to tweet your post to notify them on Twitter, too.)

Let’s start with things you may already know…

1. I’m a drummer in a band. I have been playing drums since I was 11 years old (that’s 30 years now). You can find out more about it here.

2. I was born with flat feet. Yup, in fact, they’re so flat that, when I go swimming and walk around the pool, my feet make sounds as if they were “suction cups.”

3. My father was an alcoholic and, for over a decade now, has been institutionalized with an alcoholism-related mental illness called “Korsakov’s Disease.”

4. I can sing a mean karaoke and play piano, too… But just by ear. I’m certainly no Chopin! And the songs I love to play and sing? Crooners. Yup, Sinatra, Bennett, Martin, Righteous Brothers, Buble, etc.

5. While working with a hair transplant surgeon in 1997, I lived in New York City, in downtown Manhattan. My apartment was about two blocks from Carnegie Hall.

6. While in New York, my friend owned the restaurant next door, which appeared in the movie “That’s The Ticket,” with Andy Garcia, Andy McDowell and Chris Lemmon (son of Jack Lemmon). (I was there when they filmed it!) My friend was also a systems analyst for a stock broker at the World Trade Center, on one of the upper floors. He called in sick on September 11th, 2001.

7. When I was around 18 years old, I used to have long, blond hair as a drummer in a heavy metal band (and we’re talking 80s metal, like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, you name it). Here’s an old picture of me when my hair was just starting to get long.

8. I absolutely despise turnip and get nauseous at the mere sight of the thing.

9. The most sensual, sexy, and attractive part of a woman’s body? Her brain. Having an intellectual conversation really turns me on. (Now you know why I married my Soul Mate, Sylvie Fortin. She’s a genius!)

10. I was into acting when I was young. I played in many school plays, and even won awards. My favorite one is the one in which I played Jesus Christ.

11. I’m a history buff, through and through. I love learning the history of cultures, languages, religions, and civilizations. Anthropology is one of my favorite subjects. I just love learning where we come from and how we became who we are.

12. I have a photographic memory.

13. I can say, “Hi, how are you? I’m good” in eight different languages.

14. I love Italian-American artists, whether singers or actors, like Frank Sinatra, Dino Martino (Dean Martin), Anthony Benedetto (Tony Bennett), Robert Deniro, Al Pacino, James Gandolfini, Nicolas Coppola (Nicholas Cage, who is related to Francis Ford, by the way), Jon Buongiovi (Jon Bon Jovi), etc.

15. I am a stockings man. Yes, I love a woman in stockings. When Sylvie puts them on before a night out, I need to ignore her or else we’d never end up going to where we were supposed to go.

16. When I was in elementary school, I had a huge crush on a girl. She loved the attention, but her best friend at the time took opposition to this, and kicked me in the testicles during recess once. (Talk about a “crush,” LOL!)

17. I used to love climbing trees. I once fell from a tree at about 20 feet high when I was just seven years old, which is why today I have degenerative disc disease and a stress-fractured spine (i.e., spondilolysis) as a result. I now walk with a cane most of the time.

18. My favorite meal of all time is spaghetti. I love pasta in all its forms, but spaghetti tops the list.

19. I am a hopeless romantic. I love fireplaces, wine, candles, and especially roses. (I love getting roses!) It’s my favorite flower. I have a purple rose tattoo on my right forearm that I’ve had since I was 19 years old.

20. My favorite drink, besides Starbucks Coffee (especially Sumatra) is Jamieson’s Irish Whiskey. Either on the rocks or with Pepsi.

21. When I was a kid (about 12 years old), I used to play a role playing game on the “pre-Internet” (a local BBS) called “Scepter of Goth,” which was much like Dungeons and Dragons. I had a 64K Radio Shack computer with a 300-baud modem. I was a high-level Barbarian Chieftain.

22. My nickname, which I had all my life, is Spike. At my last two high-school reunions, most people called me “Spike” and some didn’t even remember my real name.

23. Since falling from that tree when I was young, I have a deathly fear of heights. I don’t mind flying, but I hate air turbulence with a passion.

24. I wore glasses from a very young age until I was 35 years old, when I had lasik eye surgery. Now I wear reading glasses. (I know, I know… I’m getting old!)

25. Finally, I have a secret crush on Lea Thompson and Molly Ringwald. Yes, I’m a product of the 80s, LOL! A close third is Juliann Moore. (I guess it’s something to do with redheads, huh?)

So as my five chosen souls to tag are Ryan Healy, Jack Humphrey, Brian Clark, Clayton Makepeace, and John Carlton.

25 Random Things About Me originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

So I wanted to post an update and list some of my favorite plugins. However, it was cumbersome to pick and choose which ones I wanted to post about because there are so many. So I’ve decided to do something different this year.

Using a plugin that lists all the plugins in use on a particular blog (I’ll share that one with you in a moment), I managed to print a list of all my plugins in a single post.

However, the descriptions you will read are those of the plugin authors. Some of them are poor and insufficient. Others don’t explain how I use them specifically on this blog.

So I’ve also added a mini-description with additional comments to each plugin to explain why, how, or where I’ve used it on this blog. I sincerely hope this list is useful to you. If it is, consider it a Christmas gift from me.

There are 79 plugins used: 69 active plugins and 10 inactive plugins. Below is a list of all of them.

MichelFortin.com’s Active Plugins

Action Comments 1.0.5
Build your email opt-in list using blog comments. This plugin adds an extra signup box in the comments area, asking commentators if they wish to also join my email list.

Action PopUp 2.2.4
Show an unblockable exit pop-up on your blog. This plugin is what you see when you first visited this blog, where the pop-up (really a layer, not a window) opens up, and the background darkens to place emphasis on the pop-up box. (Much like lightbox or greybox, for example.)

AddQuicktag 1.5.7
Allows you to easily add custom Quicktags to the editor. You can also export and import your Quicktags. This plugins allows me to add common tags, like "U" (underline), "H1," "H2," "H3," etc to the post editor.

Add Sig 1.3
Add a custom signature to the bottom of posts with the author’s information. (This is the "about the author" section you see at the end of every post.)

Adsense-Deluxe 0.8
Place Google AdSense ads in your WordPress Posts. This plugin allows you to create blocks of texts or code (particularly AdSense), along with a quicktag added to the post editor for quick insertion. You can easily click to insert common blocks (such as AdSense ads) in posts.

Akismet 2.2.3
Akismet checks your comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam or not. You need a WordPress.com API key to use it. You can review the spam it catches under “Comments.” (This plugin is a must-have if you get a lot of comment spam.)

All in One SEO Pack 1.4.6.15
Out-of-the-box SEO for your WordPress blog. This is my favorite plugin, because it really ramped up my SEO and increased my rankings by re-formatting key meta-tags, header information, and title tags for specific (or all) pages and posts.

Anarchy Media Player 2.0
Plays mp3, flv, mov, mp4, m4v, m4a, m4b, 3gp, avi, asf and wmv hypertext links directly on your webpage. Adds buttons to the post editor for embedding swf movies including Google Video, YouTube, QuickTime, etc.

Angsuman’s Multi-Page Plugin 0.1
Adds button to post editor to enable a multi-page post. Essentially, I use this for parts of my blog where I post long pages. It breaks them up into multiple pages (which I can split based on word count), and adds a page navigation bar. Great for content-driven sections, like books, reports, and so on.

Audio player 2.0b6
Audio Player is a highly configurable but simple mp3 player for all your audio needs. You can customize the player’s color scheme to match your blog theme, have it automatically show track information from the encoded ID3 tags and more. Personally, I use it because I love the player’s appearance and flexibility of customization. For example, I use it with the Gary Halnert and John Carlton interviews on this blog.

Bad Behavior 2.0.25
Deny automated spambots access to your PHP-based website. This plugin alone kills two-thirds of spambots and comment spam attempts on my blog.

Batch Categories 1.4
Easily manage the mass categorization of posts that match various criteria. This plugin enables me to cull posts based on categories, sort them, arrange them, and mass-edit them in one fell swoop.

Breadcrumb Navigation XT 1.10.1
Adds a breadcrumb navigation showing the visitor’s path to their current location. I use this plugin primarily on archive pages, search result pages, 404 pages, and other sub-pages. (For example, take a look at my article archives page, where you see “browsing” at the top followed by the parent and child page links.)

Buy Me a Beer 1.4
Allow your blog visitors to buy you a beer by sending you money through PayPal. This is the plugin that allows readers to send me a tip. In my case, it’s "Buy Me a Coffee." I use it on the sidebar and at the end of every post.

Comment Approved Notifier 1.1
Send an email to your commenters when you approve their comments. Since all my comments are held in moderation, it helps to bring commentators back to my blog, especially if I responded to their comments or additional comments were made.

Comment Timeout 2.0.1
Automatically closes comments on blog entries after a user-configurable period of time. It has options that allow you to keep the discussion open for longer on older posts with recent comments accepted, or to place a fixed limit on the total number of comments in the discussion.

Dagon Design Sitemap Generator 3.15
Generates a fully customizable sitemap. This is not an XML sitemap (there’s another plugin that does this). It creates a visual web-based sitemap for easy viewing and retrieval, which I’ve placed on my archives page.

Do Follow 3.1
The Do-Follow plugin removes the nofollow attribute that WordPress adds in comments. This means that search engines crawling my posts will also crawl the links of my commentators, too. A great way to increase participation.

Exec-PHP 4.8
Executes <?php ?> code in your posts, pages, and text widgets. This plugin is pretty self-explanatory, but I use it particularly with split-testing scripts, adding specific codes, embedding videos and Flash players, etc.

Executable PHP widget 1.1
Like the Text widget, but it will take PHP code as well. (Same idea as the previous plugin and does the same thing, but it adds extra widgets for content in the sidebar, which is simply easier for me to manage.)

FAQ-Tastic 0.9
Create and manage FAQs. On my blog, I’ve listed a number of commonly asked questions, with my responses. Great for SEO purposes, too.

FeedBurner FeedSmith 2.3.1
Originally authored by Steve Smith, this plugin detects all ways to access your original WordPress feeds and redirects them to your FeedBurner feed so you can track every possible subscriber. The importance of this plugin is that is streamlines all feed types, from RSS 0.92, RSS 2.0, Atom, and others.

Feed Styler 1.07
Creates inline styles for feeds. For example, I use CSS styles in order to properly “float” and align my post icons (or "avatars"), as well as pictures, photos, or media I’ve added in my posts. This plugin allows me to extend those styles to my RSS feed, too. It is used mostly for positioning, as feeds don’t use or override CSS for styling.

FLV Plugin 0.1
Provides an easy way to insert videos created by "FLV Producer." This product, by my friend Tracy Childers, offers a variety of different players for FLV files.

Full Text Feed 1.04
Prevents WordPress 2.1+ from adding a more link to your website’s feed. This way, feed subscribers can view the entire post in their feeds without having to click on the "more" link. Also, by viewing the entire post in their feeds makes it easier to search for keywords and allows for better syndication.

Fuzzy Recent Posts 4.13
A WordPress widget that lists a fuzzy number of recently posted entries. I use this on my sidebar. Now, while doing this can be done easily with simple coding, the author customized it for me to have my links truncated at a certain character number. Makes it look better, rather than force-wrapping long links.

Get Recent Post 2.0
Gets the most recent post content or excerpt by category ID. Similar to the plugin above, but this one also fetches the content and/or excerpts, which are great for specific category pages (i.e., works much like the summaries on the index page, but allows you to do this to any other page, even the sidebar).

Google Analytics for WordPress 2.7
This plugin makes it simple to add Google Analytics with extra search engines and automatic clickout and download tracking to your WordPress blog. Definitely a must-have if you’re tracking visitor activity.

Google XML Sitemaps 3.1.1
This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and Yahoo! This plugin auto-generates sitemaps every night and submits them to Google. But the cool thing is, you can use the same sitemap it generates to submit them via Google’s Webmaster Tools, MSN’s Webmaster Portal, and Yahoo’s Site Explorer.

In Series 3.1.0 Beta 5
Gives authors an easy way to connect posts together as a series. You can use this for a specific series of topical articles. I use this plugin on reprints of entire books and special reports, such as Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins.

Limit Posts 1.1
Limits the displayed text length on the index page entries and generates a link to a page to read the full content if its bigger than the selected maximum length. This plugin is in large part redundant if you use the <!–more–> tag to create post teasers, but it’s useful when you forget to insert it.

Link Truncator 0.5
Truncates long links in comments to prevent overflows. Specifically, some commentators will add very long links in their comments. When this happens, it protrudes across the page. This plugin truncates the link and adds an ellipse at the end. Keeps comments looking clean!

Maintenance Mode 3.2
Adds a splash page to your blog that lets visitors know your blog is down for maintenance. Logged in administrators get full access to the blog including the front-end. (This plugin is useful particularly when I upgrade this blog.)

MBLA 0.42
Use avatars from services like Gravatar, and MyBlogLog in your posts, comments and pingbacks. For instance, if you check out the comment section of any post, some comments show people’s avatars or pictures in them. This is what this plugin helps to do with commentators who have a Gravatar or MyBlogLog account.

My Category Order 2.7
My Category Order allows you to set the order in which categories will appear in the sidebar. Uses a drag and drop interface for ordering. Adds a widget with additional options for easy installation on widgetized themes.

My Page Order 2.7
My Page Order allows you to set the order of pages through a drag and drop interface. The default method of setting the order page by page is extremely clumsy, especially with a large number of pages. (Same as the previous plugin, it lists the pages in the specific order I choose.)

Notify Members 0.2.2
This will allow your members to sign up to be notified of all posts or comments. When someone registers to my blog or posts a comment, they can be notified of all new blog posts, comments, or both, either blog-wide or per category. (This is handled on a per-user basis in the user’s profile area of the admin panel.)

Notify Users of Moderation 1.0
Passes moderated=true back if the comment was moderated. Specifically, this plugin opens up an alert box to notify recent commentators that their comments are held in moderation. This helps to prevent frustration or from posting their comments over and over, thinking that the blog "lost" their comment somehow.

Official Comments 1.1
Adds functions to distinguish authorized WP user’s comments. In the comment section on my blog, for instance, comments by me (or the author of the blog post) shows up as yellow, whereas the rest show up as white.

Optimize DB 1.2
Lets you optimize your WordPress database tables with one click. Simply, it helps to optimize my blog’s MySQL database from within the admin area.

Popular Posts 2.6.2.0
Displays a highly configurable list of the most popular posts. Requires the latest version of the Post-Plugin Library to be installed — see the next plugin. (On my archives page, this plugin helps me to list the five most popular posts.)

Post-Plugin Library 2.6.2.1
Does nothing by itself but supplies common code for the Similar Posts, Recent Posts, Random Posts, and Recent Comments plugins. (Works with “Popular Posts” above.)

Posts by Author 1.6
At the bottom of every post, this plugin adds links for that author’s last "X" posts (mine is set to five). It’s a great way to increase internal traffic within your blog.

Preserve Code Formatting 2.0
Preserve formatting of code for display by preventing its modification by WordPress and other plugins while retaining original whitespace and characters. Often, I want to post code and not content. This plugin stops WordPress’ texturize function (i.e., the way it publishes and stylizes certain characters) to garble up the code formatting.

Random File 1.5
Retrieve the name, path, or link to a randomly chosen file in a specified directory. This is my favorite plugin, because it’s the one that allows ads and affiliate offers to be displayed in between posts and at the end of posts. Essentially, I have a folder with HTML files, banners, text files with affiliate links, etc. This plugin will randomly retrieve them, which I can add wherever I want within my blog’s templates.

Redirection 2.0.11
A redirection manager, this plugin does a lot more than just manages redirects. It manages 404 errors, creates a redirect when a post slug (i.e., the permalink) has been modified, lists "bad" referrers, and more. I also use it to create "pretty" or shorther links for redirects to affiliate links and such.

Robots Meta 3.0.11
This plugin allows you to add all the appropriate robots meta tags to your pages and feeds, disable unused archives, and nofollow unnecessary links. If you understand the concept of “siloing,” this plugin is perfect for that. It also adds “index/noindex” and “follow/nofollow” options on the post editing interface.

Samsarin PHP Widget 1.3.2
A text widget with support for including PHP. Very similar to Excec PHP, but this one works better in some cases, especially if you use multiple sidebars.

Search & Replace 2.5
A simple search to find strings in your database and replace the string. I use this plugin when a certain website or link, which is used on multiple pages or comments, has changed. I can change it all in one fell swoop.

Search Regex 1.4.8
Adds search and replace functionality across posts, pages, comments, and meta-data, with full regular expression support. (I use this one more than the previous, because of regular expression support, which allows me to search using wildcards and such.)

SEO Friendly Images 2.3.1
Automatically adds alt and title attributes to all your images. Improves traffic from search results and makes them W3C/xHTML valid as well. Along with the other SEO plugins, this makes sure every image has both tags, based on criteria you set in the plugin options.

SEO Slugs 1.0
Removes common words like “a”, “the”, “in” from post slugs to improve SEO. It’s a perfect plugin for reducing post links to important keywords only. For example, if you have a post with a link like /this-is-a-great-post-on-SEO/, it reduces it to /great-post-SEO/.

ShareThis 2.3
Let your visitors share a post/page with others. Supports email and posting to social bookmarking sites. You’ve probably seen this at the top and bottom of my posts. It’s the link beside the small, green icons. You can click it to either bookmark it on popular social networking sites, or send the post to a friend by email.

Simple Tags 1.6.4
Simple Tags extends the native WordPress tagging system. It adds tag autocompletion, tag suggestions (from popular tagging networks by "sensing" your content), tag clouds, tag mass-editing, and more. In fact, it’s the plugin I use to list related posts at the end of each post.

Smart Link 3.12
Lets you write links as [link text->link url] (explicit link), or as [link text->] (implicit link). For example, if I know the slug for a page, I don’t have to type in the entire link to the page in the post editor. I simply "smart link" to it using [link text->slug], such as [click here for the sitemap->sitemap], which links to michelfortin.com/sitemap.

SRG Clean Archives 4.3
This plugin is designed to display your archive listings in a clean, uniform, single-query fashion that’s search-engine friendly on a dedicated page or in your sidebar. I use it on my sitemap page. I love it because it also lists the posts in chronological order and even adds the number of comments besides each link.

Subscribe To Comments 2.1.2
Allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry. It adds a checkbox in the comment area asking commentators if they wish to be notified of new comments to the blog post they commented on.

Text Control 2.0b1
Take total control of how your blog formats text: Textile 1+2, Markdown, AutoP, nl2br, SmartyPant, and Texturize. Blog wide, individual posts, and defaults for comments. (I use this primarily for testing, since some blog content uses code output that can be mistakenly munged by the WordPress default texturize function.)

the_excerpt Reloaded R1
This modification of WordPress’ template function allows the_excerpt(), which normally retrieves raw text only, to be customized, including HTML with images and code, and pulling a summary of the post content up to a custom word count.

Tidy Up 1.2
Runs an HTML Tidy on all posts and comments. HTML Tidy is a popular script that allows programmers and designers to check for code errors and "clean" their code formatting. But rather than using an external script, this plugin adds the functionality in the post and comments listings for quicker editing.

Twitter Tools 1.5.1
A complete integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account. Bring your tweets into your blog and pass your blog posts to Twitter. Again, another must-have, especially if you use Twitter like I do.

WordPress.com Stats 1.3.5
Tracks views, post/page views, referrers, and clicks. Requires a WordPress.com API key. While Google Analytics offers better reporting features, this allows me to see my stats, at a glance, on the admin dashboard when I login.

WordPress Database Backup 2.2.2
On-demand backup of your WordPress database. You can also schedule backups on a regular basis, from daily to monthly. It’s a must-have if you don’t want to ever lose your content should something happen to your blog or database. (I use it especially before upgrading my blog to a newer version, for example.)

WP-Ban 1.31
Ban users by IP, IP Range, host name, user agent, and referer URL from visiting your WordPress’s blog. It will display a custom ban message when the banned IP, IP range, host name, user agent, or referer URL tries to visit you blog. You can also exclude certain IPs from being banned. There will be statistics recordered on how many times they attempt to visit your blog. It allows wildcard matching, too.

WP-Cats 0.21
Ajax-y category controls added to the Manage Posts screen. For example, it adds the names of the categories a blog belongs to, along with "+" and "-" signs to instantly add or remove categories in a snap.

WP-PageNavi 2.31
Adds a more advanced paging navigation to your WordPress blog. Scroll down to the bottom of the front page, and you will see a list of page numbers to navigate through. The best part is, you can style and customize the text as much as you want.

WP-PluginsUsed 1.40
Display WordPress plugins that you currently have (both active and inactive) onto a post/page. In fact, it’s the plugin I used to create this list!

WP Comment Remix 1.4.4
Adds much needed comment functionality to WordPress. Essentially, it adds "reply" and "quote" links in the comments, which allows commentators to respond to other comments in a snap. By clicking the link, it automatically prefills the comment box with a link back to the original comment, along with the commentator’s name. It also separates pinbacks/trackbacks from your comments.

YLSY Permalink Redirect 2.0
Permalink Redirect ensures that pages and entries are always accessed via the permalink. Otherwise, a 301 redirect will be issued. Personally, I use this plugin because it automatically redirects older pemalink structures to the new ones, such as /%month%/%day%/%postname%/ (which is what I used to have) to /%postname%/.

MichelFortin.com’s Inactive Plugins

While these plugins are inactive, they are not necessarily unused. I often turn some of them on, albeit temporarily, for testing or tweaking purposes.

Action Optin 1.0.2
Display optin forms that submit in the background. In other words, using this plugin, the optin box refreshes dynamically without having to reload the page to open a separate "thank you" page, thus preventing any distractions.

Amazon S3 for WordPress 0.3.4
Allows you to retrieve objects stored in Amazon S3 and post them in WordPress. (We’re in the process of transferring all our in-house videos to Amazon S3. It’s the best investment we’ve ever made. And it’s cheap, too!)

Customizable Post Listings 1.6
Display Recent Posts, Recently Commented Posts, Recently Modified Posts, Random Posts, and other post listings using the post information of your choosing in an easily customizable manner. You can narrow post searches by specifying categories and/or authors, among other things.

FeatureMe 0.9
FeatureMe allows you to manage a featured entries list for your blog. For example, on the sidebar you see a list of posts I recommend. These are my staple, evergreen posts. It’s a great way to showcase them to your newest visitors.

Google Website Optimizer for WordPress 0.2
A plugin for integrating Google Website Optimizer into blog posts and pages. (As a rabid tester, I often use Google Website Optimizer to split-test stuff. This plugin is a bit clumsy though, so I often handcode my tests directly into my blog. I also use other testing scripts, so I don’t need this plugin all the time.)

Hide Dashboard 1.1
Hide Dashboard from non-administrators. Great for membership sites. I use this plugin when I have guest bloggers or editors accessing my blog. (But with the new customizable admin interface with WordPress 2.7, it’s no longer needed.)

Recently Updated Posts 0.3
Returns a list of the most recently updated posts. I used to use it, but it’s not really needed since I use Simple Tags plugin to list related posts instead.

Subscribe me 4.0
Adds a widget with feed subscription buttons. It’s no longer needed, as I use Share This plugin instead. Plus, I now use my own, customized code for the RSS and email optin box you see in various locations on this blog, as well as the feed and email subscriber count you see at the top-right section of my sidebar.

Where did they go from here? 1.4
Show “Readers who viewed this page, also viewed” links on your page. Much like Amazon.com’s product pages. This plugin is currently broken with WordPress 2.7. But normally, it would display a list of other posts readers have viewed.

WP-GreyBox 1.1.1
GreyBox can be used to display websites, images, and other content using AJAX — i.e., a popup box with the darkened background. All images in each post are grouped together into a gallery automatically. (I’m testing this with a variety of features.)

MichelFortin.com’s Plugin Wish List

Hopefully, this list was helpful to you. Granted, while it does include all the plugins I use, it does not list any of the hacks, personalizations, modifications, and codes I’m using. That would require an entire book!

However, I do have a wishlist of plugins I’d like to see developed. I could hire someone to do them, but I’d prefer them to be open source so that others can use them, too.

Here’s one of them…

Does anyone know of a WordPress plugin that would allow me to password-protect only a part of a post? Not the entire post. And not just “hiding it,” either.

The purpose is to password-protect only a section of a post, so that only email subscribers would get access to the “meaty” part. It’s a very cool way to boost signups, and I want to test it to see if they it does increase optins.

Some plugins do exist that offer some of this functionality. But the problem is, they are mostly for membership sites and come with a ton of other features I don’t need.

For example, this membership site plugin has that one feature. It password-protects sections of a post by surrounding it with [private] [/private] tags in the post.

That’s what I’d love to have. But again, I don’t need the full membership site. I only need that one feature. I never plan on turning this into a membership site, anyway.

Others have suggested to me PremiumCast.com and a few others, but again, they don’t offer this precise functionality and are mostly for membership sites.

Others have suggested to me PremiumCast.com and a few others, but again, they don’t offer this precise functionality and are mostly for membership sites.

If you know of such a plugin, please let me know or comment below.

WordPress Plugins Used On The Michel Fortin Blog originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

Here’s something that might interest you…

Computer programmer Robert Plank shares his quick and easy formula for writing compelling sales letters fast.

Sure, nothing beats knowing how to write great copy. But…

This painless formula will have your products launched and your websites up and running in less than an hour! (If you hate writing copy or don’t have time, or you simply need copy really fast, you’re going to love this.)

With the simple directions in his Speed Copy Secrets special report (Robert calls it “Fast Food Copywriting”), you won’t produce award-winning sales copy that takes months and months of painstaking work to write.

Instead, he gives you shortcuts that will enable you to consistently write satisfactory salesletters that are selling within a matter of hours… Guaranteed!

If you need copy real quick, this is perfect for you…

Check out SpeedCopySecrets.com right now.

Let’s go over some more reasons why writing your own copy is the best way for you to crank up your online income to the “full blast” setting.

Pain #1: Copywriting is as Expensive as a Broken Bone With No Medical Insurance!

How much money do you flush down the toilet every time you create a new product? Let’s make a quick total…

• Product creation: $500 to $1,500
• Sales letter graphics: $50 to $300
• Copywriting fees: $500 to $2,500
• Estimated total: $1,050 to $4,300 per product.

The above shows an “average” cost of $2,675 per product. Do the math: if you were selling a little $7 special report, do you know how many sales you’d have to make just to break even?

A whopping 382 sales, that’s how many!

(And remember, you have to repeat this with each and every product you sell. Let’s say you make five to 10 sales a week. It would take you up to a year to just break even on each and every product!)

Couldn’t you save a bundle if you knew how to do some of that yourself? You can, and I’ll show you in a moment. But if you’re in a hurry, go there now:

Check out SpeedCopySecrets.com right now.

Pain #2: You Never Get Exactly What You Want When You Pay Someone Else… There’s Always a Compromise

You have to spend the time explaining what you want from them, wait for them to come up with a sales letter, tell them that’s not what you want… wait even longer…

… And then repeat the process.

All the while hoping your copywriter doesn’t hike up his fees for the extra time spent.

Pain #3: You Get Excited About It — You Can Do It Quickly

A freelance copywriter is in it for the money and he’s not going to be as knowledgeable or as excited about the topic, so he’s going to drag his feet!

Because, let’s face it, you know the topic so well, you know what buttons to push and what benefits your market wants.

Here’s the exact moment computer geek Robert Plank realized he was a fast food copywriter, and why he suddenly had no choice but to explain how to be one.

He tells his full story at SpeedCopySecrets.com.

What you get with this Special Report:

• What’s a stairway conversation and how is it so important to the way your brain works?
• What small change to his business allowed him to launch 20 products in 2007? (Robert launched more products that year than I had in all his previous years of Internet marketing combined!)
• Why you want to be the copywriting equivalent of a McDonald’s fast food worker… and not an artsy-fartsy gourmet cook. (That’s death!)
• How the word “wait” could have serious repercussions for your business and your lifestyle for years to come.
• Robert Plank’s personal formula for copywriting: why fast food copywriting is a formula, not a skill, and why anyone can master it.
• How you can get your sales letter written in hours, not days or weeks, using the proven, time-tested 7-step formula Robert found to be so effective, he printed and tacked it up to his office wall.
• What one thing can weave your points together… that your high-school English teacher never told you. Robert admits he laughs at so many copywriters for forgetting this entirely!
• If you are on a time crunch, the one thing you probably should outsource. (It’s not what you think.)
• Get others to write your sales copy for you, for free, no strings attached whatsoever!
• How to split-test the bonkers out of your letters to get them evolving and responding to what your prospects want… not what you “guess” they want.
• Why you need to stay far away from “the obsessive tester” and how to avoid becoming one yourself.
• One thing to watch out for with price testing… that could actually lose you money, but is an easy stumbling block for conversion ratio junkies!
• Robert’s personal, never-before-explained secret to finding the best and most powerful phrases for your swipe file. For example, he found 60 killer phrases in about 10 minutes using this.
• Save your junk mail! How reading your junk mail will help you find the exact trigger that gets people tripping over themselves to buy!
• Why you absolutely, positively must go back to a 4th grade writing level to succeed. (And this even applies to computer geeks just like Robert!)
• The exact number of words you need in your sentences to have the optimum psychological impact. (Yes, sentence length does impact your sales!)
• Are you including videos in your salesletters? The maximum length of time your video should run. It’s a lot shorter than you think.
• Robert Plank’s ultimate writer’s block cure for bullet points. (Once he cracked it, this one idea kept him up all night writing mouthwatering fascinations.)
• How do you write that killer headline and why you should spend as much time on the headline as you do on the body of the copy!
• Top copywriters tell you you need multiple headlines — how to end up with 5 to 10 pages of headlines, so you know the exact one to choose for the perfect fit!
• The perfect blueprint to crank out sales letters on an assembly line… here’s a hint: it’s by having others interview you in a very specific way!
• How “the way” you present the problem and its solution in your sales copy could very well mean life or death.
• Integrate Parkinson’s Law, Natural Language Processing, and Time Travel for a copywriting method that just can’t be beat!
• And much more!

Let’s go over what you get in this incredible Special Report:

• Chapter 1: Explain the Problem and Provide a Solution
• Chapter 2: Follow a Formula
• Chapter 3: My Personal Formula for Copywriting
• Chapter 4: The Anatomy of Outsourcing
• Chapter 5: Split Testing
• Chapter 6: Build A Swipe File
• Chapter 7: Jumpstart Strategies
• Chapter 8: How Do You Write That Killer Headline?
• Chapter 9: Video and Other Gimmicks
• Chapter 10: Write the Damn Thing!

The contents of this special report are written just like a concise sales letter — you won’t find one unnecessary word in the entire manual!

I bought it, and I loved it.

Granted, learning how to write killer copy is still the most important skill you will ever learn in your business. But if you’re in a hurry or you want to avoid dishing out thousands of dollars for a decent copywriter, this special report is a fantastic shortcut!

Read the whole story at SpeedCopySecrets.com right now.

UPDATE: Last week I told you about Robert Plank’s product, SpeedCopySecrets.com, which I highly recommend.

While nothing beats learning great copywriting, this product is fantastic for anyone who wants to know how to come up with copy really fast that’s good enough to start selling with.

It’s also really good for non-copywriters and marketers who don’t want to take the time to learn how to write copy or pay an expensive copywriter to have it written for them.

So I’ve decided to record a quick review of Robert Plank’s SpeedCopySecrets.com. To watch, simply click on “play” below. It’s very brief (just a few minutes), but in it I go through the product and tell you what I like best about it…

Visit SpeedCopySecrets.com and get your copy today.

Computer Geek Discovers Speed Copy Secrets? originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

I want to give thanks to all my loyal subscribers and readers. But there’s another perfectly good and more important reason.

I need to make some room!

You see, I have 3,000 copies of one of my books in storage, and I need to get rid of them. Fast! So I’m fully prepared to give them away. For free. Let me give you some background first…

You see, last year I quietly released my new book on Amazon.com, entitled Million Dollar Marketing Secrets. In it, I was joined by 21 other fantastic marketers, consultants, speakers and business-builders.

(Other top copywriters have also contributed to this amazing book, including Ray Edwards, Clayton Makepeace, JP Maroney, Jason Moffatt, Shaune Clark, John Gilvary, Marc Goldman, Ryan Healy, Alan Forrest Smith, and many others.)

And, together we jam-packed this book with hard-hitting, actionable information on how to grow a business with marketing that really works.

No theory. Stuff that’s proven.

(And with today’s sluggish and uncertain economic times, this incredible book is more powerful — and more potent — than ever!)

Below are the pictures of the front and back covers, and I’ve also included a chapter table of contents further down this blog post. Also, you can see a picture of how my office corner looks like — the boxes on the right hold about 3,000 copies!

(Click on these pictures to enlarge.)

Problem is, while the book is fulfilled by a fulfillment house, as an author I have boxes of this book (about 3,000 copies) in storage for my own marketing purposes. I was initially planning on selling them at the back of the room at seminars.

I could have — and should have — tried to sell them online. But with my main business requiring so much of my focus and attention with my wife Sylvie Fortin these days, I simply didn’t have the chance.

So here’s what I’m prepared to do to make it really worth your while — and to help me deplete my stock so we can make room in our office.

I’m also going to sweeten the pot by making you a special offer!

1. First, join Copy Doctor today at a massive discount.

I’m prepared to give the same $300 discount I gave during my 10th anniversary special last year off the lifetime membership fee, which is normally $697. Yup, that means a lifetime subscription to Copy Doctor membership site for ONLY $397.

There are no other fees. No recurring payments. No hidden charges.

All you need to do is, when you checkout, use coupon code: 2126F.

That’s two-one-two-six-F. You’ll find the coupon field at the bottom of the order page. Once processed, the $300 will be automatically applied when you checkout.

But here’s something extra…

2. When you fill-in your Copy Doctor account details as you check out, make sure to add your postal address details on the order page. That way, I can mail you a hard copy of this book, Million Dollar Marketing Secrets, right away.

So not only will you get access to over 60 hours of training video and copywriting critiques from me, you will also get a copy of this stunning book with 22 top marketers sharing their best marketing secrets.

Again, it’s filled with tons of tips and tricks to boost your marketing, especially in the current economic climate. If you think you’ve been hit hard by threats of the recent economic downturn, then this book is perfect for you.

To give you an example, here’s the table of contents:

1. Never Sell Anything People Don’t Want To Buy: How to Tailor Your Marketing Message to Connect With Your Client’s Hidden Buying Triggers — Susan Adams (page 13)
2. e-Media Marketing: 9 Steps To Online Publicity
   – Tom Antion (page 21)
3. Free Sex! (aka: No Rules… Just Results): How To Break Away From Your Competitors With Outside-The-Box Marketing Tactics
   – Jack Bastide (page 31)
4. Million Dollar Networking Strategies: High-Leverage Secrets To Add Value To Every Moment Of Your Networking Experience
   – Andy and Shawn Catsimanes (page 41)
5. Stop The Hype & Hard Closes: Sell Even More With “Indirect Persuasion™”
   – Shaune Clarke (page 51)
6. Prove It! How To Harness The Power Of Testimonials To Increase Sales
   – Eileen Coale (page 61)
7. Baby Got Back-End: How to Reclaim 70% to 90% of Your Lost Profits by Harnessing the Power of Repeat Sales
   – Lee and Robin Collins (page 71)
8. Results-Driven Radio: 7 Keys To Making A Fortune Using Radio Advertising
   – Ray Edwards (page 81)
9. Conversational Selling Strategies: How To Get Prospects To Close Themselves
   – Ed Forteau (page 91)
10. The 10 Commandments of Power Positioning: The Proven, Simple And Profitable Alternative To Old Fashioned Prospecting
    – Michel Fortin (page 101)
11. Using Gift Cards To Grow Your Business: Can Gift Cards Really Be The Most Profitable Item You Sell?
    – John Gilvary (page 111)
12. Let Go & Grow! How To Do Less And Accomplish More In Your Business With Profitable Outsourcing
    – Marc Goldman (page 121)
13. Setting The Buying Criteria: How To Outmaneuver Your Competition And Convert More Prospects Into Customers
    – Ryan Healy (page 131)
14. Golden Handcuffs: How To Lock-In Customer Loyalty With Superior Service
    – Andy Jacobs (page 141)
15. Legendary Branding: How To Make Magic Through Every Touch With A Customer Or Prospect
    – Ben Mack (page 151)
16. Make Your Product’s Benefits Sparkle: 5 Steps To Connect Product Benefits With Prospects’ Most Powerful Response-Boosting Emotions
    – Clayton Makepeace (page 161)
17. Strategic Marketing Multipliers: How To Create Windfall Business Profits With The Power Of Leverage!
    – JP Maroney (page 171)
18. Monkey Bar Marketing: The Fundamentals Of Fun And The Art Of Playing — Jason “Profit” Moffatt (page 181)
19. The E3 Marketing Mindset: How One Transaction Can Make You Independently Wealthy For Life
    – John Nevo (page 191)
20. The Yellow Pages Dilemma: How To Face Your Competition Head-On, And Attract A Steady Stream Of New Business
    – Alan Saltz (page 201)
21. Your Company Name Here: How To Turn Freebies Into Profitable Promotions — Melanie Sibbitt (page 211)
22. Micro Budget Marketing For Maximum Profits: Proven Tricks That Create A Flood Of New Sales Without Spending Hardly A Bean On Marketing
    – Alan Forrest Smith (page 221)
23. Resources From Our Co-Authors: Books, Reports, CDs, Videos and More
    – Appendix (page 230)

This book contains 22 distinct, yet complimentary perspectives on the topic of how to grow a business with effective marketing. The ideas, techniques, principles and strategies contained within the pages of this book include:

• A little-known secret to outmaneuver the economy and make windfall profits year in and year out (this one tactic is particularly important right now!)
• How to develop a marketing message that connects with your best prospects
• 7 Essentials for increasing sales
• Turning ordinary ideas into extraordinary marketing
• How to get valuable attention for your business
• 9 Steps to online publicity
• How to brand yourself and your business
• Easy ways to turn freebies and giveaways into prospecting magnets
• How to cultivate the right attitude for profitable business networking
• Steps to sucking massive profits from your client list
• Where and how to use testimonials
• How to turn radio advertising into a sales booster
• A secret tactic to ignite your advertising response
• How to sell based on service — not price
• The trick for tapping prospects’ true buying motives
• How to create a systematic sales and marketing process
• Keys to placing your business at the top of prospects’ minds at all times
• How to incorporate gift cards into your marketing mix
• Key to generating big returns on marketing investment
• An underutilized marketing method that brings clients to you faster than ever
• How to get more out of your business with less time
• Insider strategies for yellow pages advertising
• How to have fun and make money too
• Strategies for creating a lasting business brand
• A simply way to stop prospects from price shopping
• How turn an average business into extraordinary profits
• And much, much more.

If you want to go further, we’ve included contact information for each co-author on the first page of each chapter. Each co-author is a recognized expert, and most provide additional services like consulting, coaching, copywriting, speaking, and training.

Plus, you also get special bonuses and offers!

Because, beginning on page 231 of Million-Dollar Marketing Secrets, you’ll find other resources available from our co-authors including: reports, newsletters, books, audio and video programs, assessment tools, and other training systems.

So won’t you help me celebrate my birthday and make room in my office?

Order today. Go ahead and become a Copy Doctor member at almost half price (for life!) by using coupon code 2126F, and I’ll send you a copy of this amazing book.

Click here for this birthday giveaway special offer.

You’re going to love it. And dare I say, you also need it now more than ever. But more important, you’re going to help me make some room in my overcrowded office so I can keep on focusing on the best birthday present ever… YOU!

EDITED TO ADD: Some people emailed me, asking, “What if I’m a Copy Doctor lifetime member already?” Well, I can’t give away the book because it wouldn’t be fair to those who took quick action during my previous anniversary special when I limited the offer.

However, I’m prepared to sell you the book to cover my costs. Simply PayPal me $20 at paypal@successdoctor.com, which will cover my cost of the book and the cost of shipping it to you (and keep in mind the book retails for $29.95) and include your postal address, and I’ll ship you a copy of the book. Click here to buy.

Fair enough?

Giving Thanks With This Birthday Giveaway originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.

It has shocked a great number of people, and it will make a lot of people mad. She’s also taking a monumental risk by speaking out like this. But she’s mad, too, and can’t take it anymore.

In it, she not only lashes out at Internet marketers who use stupid (and sometimes illegal) marketing tricks, but also consumers of Internet marketing products who perpetuate them — and what to do about it.

There are 15 sins in all. She will be covering five sins in each installment, and she’s currently working on the second. The first five sins are available right now.

This manifesto is free and there are no sales pitches.

There is an opt-in email form in order to notify you when each installment is available. And in it, my wife does offer some links to a few resources, including some of our own. But they are not necessary for you to read and benefit from this report.

Now, an important warning…

She doesn’t hold anything back. If you are squeamish or get offended easily, then please don’t download it. My wife uses very strong language not intended for younger audiences. So reader discretion is advised.

Click here to go download “Internet Marketing Sins.”

Are You Committing These Sins? originally appeared on The Michel Fortin Blog. Please visit to subscribe to it, or Tweet This.