I just purchased a new piece of software by Jonathan Leger called Answer Analyst.  What’s it do? The user enters a keyword or keyword phrase, and the software goes out on the Internet, searching for the most common questions “real people” are asking about the topic.   Can you imagine how much easier this is going to make writing relevant content on your site, blog, or in articles?

As a major article writer and article marketing geek, I plunked down my $77 as fast as I could, and then took this baby out for a spin.

Am I happy with it?  You bet.

First, let me tell you WHY you want this

It you need content of any kind (articles, blogs, site, sales page) Answer Analyst will tell you exactly what your client/customer/consumer wants to know about what you do. (and this works even if you have an offline business)

For example, pretend you own a bricks and mortar “pest control” business and want to beef up your website with more relevant information so 1) your site will be found; and 2) you’ll get more customers.

. . . and now how it works

I entered “pest control” as a keyword phrase and within 3 seconds Answer Analyst popped out a whole list of questions, such as “is the landlord responsible for pest control”, and “what is biological pest control”.

But, as the Ginzu knife guy said, but wait, there’s more!

Highlight any of the answers being asked, click “Get Answers” and Answer Analyst surfs the net and pulls back information from other Websites about your topic. You can then save that info as part of your research, then write an article about it. At this point, not only do you know what info your customer wants, you have plenty of research material to write about it!

To Buy or Not to Buy?

I don’t know about you, but I’m constantly creating new content . . . not only for my own sites but for my clients as well. Having instant access to the questions people want answered about ANY TOPIC . . . and then having access to instant research is a no-brainer for me. I bought it this morning and it’s already saved me $250 of my own time in researching keywords and then researching the topics I need to write about. Probably the best $77 bucks I’ve spent.

Michael Port, author of Booked Solid and Beyond Booked Solid, is out with yet another winner – The Contrarian Effect – Why It Pays Big to Take Typical Sales Advice and Do the Opposite.

The premise of Port’s newest book (written with Elizabeth Marshall) is that old sales tactics (cold calls, high pressure sales, door-to-door sales) no longer work. What does? Person-to-person interactions. Sound more early 19th century in philosophy than 21st? You’re right . . . and it works.

In my many years online (I got hooked back in 1986 with DOS-based Compuserve) – I’ve witnessed the evolution of business on the Internet: the dotcom boom to bust, the crunch of big business finally getting into online sales, mass e-mails, spam . . . basically, doing business as usual.

With the advent of social networks, the Internet is returning to more people-to-people interactions – - and this trend is reflected is how people want to be “sold”. Instead of “big business” pushiness, consumers want businesses to recognize that they are real people with real needs, who want to be treated as individuals, not part of a mass spam, high pressure, pushy sales techniques.

If your business sales are on the downslide, pick up a copy of The Contrarian Effect – and see if you can shake your sales out of the doldrums.