Anyone who keeps up with my seminar listing site – Internet Marketing Seminars in the UK – will have been aware that this past weekend Robert Puddy held a seminar in Bristol.

If you weren’t aware, and now wish you had’ve known, then make sure to bookmark the site so you don’t miss future events.

Robert managed to pull in a load of expert speakers from both the UK and also across the pond.

Aside from the speakers he also managed to attract a lot of VIP experts who were generous with their time (and in some cases their hotel bar bills) in the evenings and between presentations.

I’ll do a full review in due time as I managed to catch every speaker and hotseat session and make plenty of notes.

In the meantime, here’s a quick rundown of who spoke and what they spoke about:

Donna Fox: Donna did two sessions as well as the introductions for each speaker. Her first session was a kind of motivation session, encouraging the attendees to think about what they wanted to achieve from the event. The second session was entitled “Internet Marketing for Muppets” and as you can no doubt imagine it covered some IM basics.

Robert Puddy: Bob spoke about his membership site process, something he calls “Login Frequency Marketing” which involves using integration points on membership sites – so-called “dead” real estate that many neglect to use.

Omar Martin: Omar, on his first trip to the UK, gave a presentation which showed exactly what he’d been through in his career that led him to internet marketing and the 6 figure business he now runs.

Martin Avis: Well known for his “Kickstart” newsletter, Martin gave the audience a great run-down of how he works just a couple of hours a week writing, yet draws in a very impressive income from a small subscriber list. Takeaway thought from his presentation was – you don’t need a massive list to make a great living online.

Simon Leung: Previously a Google employee, Simon is now a leading expert on Google and so his presentation gave us the 10 secrets that Google really doesn’t want us to know.

Jonny Andrews: A real character, Jonny shared how he went from living in an office in his former workplace (without his bosses finding out) to selling very high ticket (tens of thousands of dollars) products.

Ambar Hamid: Ambar works with big businesses and shared his process for going from no sales to big sales in the quickest possible time.

Sterling Valentine: Another speaker who was enjoying his first trip to the UK, Sterling went into detail about how he became an “overnight success” starting from absolutely nothing.

Jani G: Jani’s a UK marketer who specialises in promoting launches and getting into the top 10, and higher, in JV contests. His full name is Jani Gaffhor and he covered his methods for making big profits from a tiny list.

As I said, a full review will follow.

One thing I can say is that travelling First Class with Virgin Trains is excellent, especially when you’re the only customer in the carriage!

Robert Puddy is holding his annual UK internet marketing seminar in Bristol on the weekend of the 7th, 8th and 9th of May 2010.

This annual event is one that I’m always happy to promote because I know first hand how beneficial it is to attend.

Seminars can be a very difficult sell because people simply don’t realise their worth until they’ve actually been to one. It’s much easier to sell a ticket to someone who’s already attended an event because they know how valuable seminars can be.

So, here are 13 reasons why I think you need to book your ticket to the LFMpire seminar now and get to Bristol for the 7th May:

1. No one is successful as an internet marketer when working completely on their own, it’s a team sport. Look at any of the big marketers, the ones who pull in a lot of money, they all work with friends. You find these friends by going to events and meeting people

2. A ticket for the three day Bristol LFMpire seminar is just £67 at present, which is a bargain

3. Robert has attracted many excellent speakers across the pond in the past and this event is no different. You’ll hear from Donna Fox, Johnny Andrews, Simon Leung and Omar Martin plus from the UK there’s Martin Avis and Robert Puddy.

4. Getting away from distractions will leave you free to concentrate on your business for three days – when was the last time you could do that?

5. You’ll meet lots of people who understand what it is you’re trying to achieve online

6. No matter how experienced you are, you’ll learn something – probably from the speakers but don’t be surprised if one of your fellow attendees gives you some great, useful information in the bar one night

7. If you’re looking for joint venture partners, marketers you’ve met ‘in the flesh’ will be far more likely to JV with you than someone you’ve only spoken to on a forum

8. When someone’s had a drink, they often let their defenses drop a little which basically means they tell others things they wouldn’t usually. Gossip, stories, promises, hints, tips, secrets; they’re all shared late on at an event. If you’re not there, you’ll never know.

9. I won’t namedrop but I’ve spoken to plenty of big names one-on-one at events and now they know who I am, answer my emails and often help me if I need it. All this from spending ten minutes chatting over a beer once at an event.

10. The hotel is big, comfortable and inexpensive. I’ve booked a room on B&B rates for £55 per night. Compare that to one event I attended – it was in a hotel that cost me £170 (ex VAT) for the first night without breakfast…

11. I’ll be there… but seriously, you’re reading this blog and now know I’ll be at the event. You regularly read emails and blog posts from other marketers, some of whom will be in Bristol in May. It’s surprising who turns up as an attendee but doesn’t advertise the fact they’re going.

12. You’ll get to meet Robert Puddy and experience his unique sense of humour

13. You’ll get a lovely badge with your name on it!

So step out of your comfort zone and get yourself down to Bristol.

By the end of the Sunday you’ll be kicking yourself for waiting so long to attend an internet marketing seminar.

Tickets are still available from the website at just £67 for the entire weekend:

http://www.lfmpireworkshops.com

Andy Shaw’s book “Money for Nothing and Your Property for Free” was a big hit in the business opportunity world when it was launched back in early 2007. The book was relatively cheap at £20 or so and it described, with great excitement and optimism, how anyone could make money through buying residential property.

Many people, including myself, thought the ideas were wonderful and that Andy was an extremely successful property investor who was willing to share his secrets for a small fee via the book.

Of course, there was more expense. The book only gave a general overview of the methods. For detailed instructions you would need to spend more with Andy and Greg.

Buying the book automatically enrolled you in a monthly membership site for which subscription rates were £40 per month. Then there were seminars which came with a ticket price of £5,000+ (allegedly) and also a scheme, costing £35,000+ which promised to set buyers up with 6 properties over 5 years.

In reality the book was just the top of the funnel and Greg and Andy’s main aim seemed to be getting people onto the program costing £35k.

I met both of these property investing experts at a seminar in Birmingham in April 2007. Andy insisted on drinking Bellinis all weekend, which cost a fortune and therefore I imagine made him look rich. Greg spoke loudly about the problems he and Andy had faced in driving “the Bentley” up the motorway.

They were nice people, friendly to all the attendees and willing to share tips and advice to anybody who asked. I wasn’t surprised when they spoke on the Saturday and wooed the 100 or so people in the room. At the end of their presentation they simply stated that if anyone wanted to know more they should just buy the book. Every other speaker that weekend went to great lengths to sell some expensive special offer but these two didn’t, they just mentioned in passing that everyone should buy the book.

Several months later I learned that they had held a small seminar with 30+ people attending and providing video testimonials as to how great the material was. I recognised several faces from the Birmingham seminar. I guess they had gone ahead and bought the book then gone through the funnel to the £5,000 seminar part.

Next was the £35,000 part of the funnel – which brings us up to the present day.

According to reports, things have soured a little…

“Greg Ballard is in Brighton bankruptcy court on 14 December and Andy Shaw on 21 December“

To learn more, check out Maria Davies’ blog:

Passive Investments – Greg Ballard & Andy Shaw Latest…

On reading more it struck me that some of the people I recognised from the testimonial videos may well be contemplating a huge loss at the moment.

One I remember had been sat with Greg in the smoking area as Greg suggested he remortgage his mother-in-law’s house to release funds to start investing in property.

I just hope he had second thoughts after the seminar and stopped short of taking Greg’s advice and using the money to fund the 5 figure investment with Passive Investments.

This year’s “UK Gold Event” is being held in Haydock, Lancashire from Friday 18th September to Sunday 20th September 2009. Speakers will include Neil Stafford, Neil Travers and a specially picked team of speakers from their membership site – ordinary men and women who have made a fortune after learning from Neil and Neil.

The event is no ordinary internet marketing seminar but your chance to listen to and meet a group of successful people and learn from some of the UK’s leading Information Marketing Experts in a private meeting.

The ‘Two Neils’, as they are known in the IM world, promise that their event will get you focused on building your business with the very latest online techniques. There’s no fluff and no pitch-fest – just excellent, solid, money making information.

In fact, here’s how powerful the event is.

Just last year one delegate sat in the small audience and listened hard to what he was being told. He then twigged onto an idea for his fledgling business and went away and focused on that idea.

I’ve been told that this attendee is going to be back this year – as one of the specially chosen speakers

The reason?

Because he made a ton of money and he has promised to reveal exactly what he did and how he changed his life around inside 12 months.

His success is a direct result of applying A.L.F.I.

This is the secret UK Gold Event Success Formula:

Attend, Listen, Focus, Implement = Money.

Grab a seat and start applying A.L.F.I. in your business:

Internet Marketing Review UK Gold Event September 2009

Neil was also kind enough to give a special discount for readers of the Biz Opps Blog.

Use the link below to receive £500 off the ticket price and still claim all of the bonuses including the full DVD set of last year’s event which he’ll send to you within 48 hours.

Internet Marketing Review UK Gold Event September 2009

Please note: Discount is valid until 31st August 2009 ONLY

I still remember the first time I was really sucked in by a sales letter.

It was in 2003 when I got a mailing I’d requested from Vince Stanzione for his spread betting course.

I received a large envelope full of sales material and read it over and over again. After a week or so I sent off the money (£297) for the course and looked forward to receiving my new product.

The sales letter had certainly done its job. It had sold me superbly and coaxed me into spending more than I ever imagined I would on a home study course.

That whole experience led me into the business opportunity world and resulted in the creation of this blog and my main review site, BizOppsUK.com.

In the 6 years since I read that first mailing piece, I have read hundreds of sales letters.

Most have been mediocre, some terrible and a select few have been excellent. However, in many of these sales letters there has been one common theme – the copywriter exaggerating the truth somewhat.

Plenty of sales letters contain a story to hook the reader in and I guess you could say that some copywriters, as my friend Sam would say, “don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story“.

I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago after viewing a website for a Clickbank product, a successful one, which had been created by somebody who I often see at seminars. He’s a great bloke and we tend to catch up over a few beers each time we bump into each other.

This sales letter was telling the story about how my seminar friend had become a successful internet marketer.

Apparently, after listening attentively at a seminar a couple of years ago, he found a secret group having a mastermind session and gatecrashed their little gathering. After that meeting he had all the knowledge he needed to get started on his way to becoming a marketing superstar.

A great story, no doubt, but slightly different to the version of events that I recall.

My recollection of that seminar was that this particular fella was usually found sat on the back row with myself and several other semi-successful marketers, watching (and picking holes in) the various presentations and pitches (taking the mickey, basically).

When we weren’t in the seminar room for the scheduled presentations, we were at the bar.

The only “mastermind” session that I remember from that particular seminar was the downing of shots at the bar and the drunken arguments in the smoking area.

Perhaps the most successful marketer who was there (one who you would imagine would be in a mastermind group) was more interested in drinking than masterminding and we usually found him slumped over the bar come breakfast time. I don’t think he surfaced from his room unless there were other marketers at the bar.

Don’t get me wrong, the Clickbank vendor telling the story is successful and well worth listening to, but the events were slightly different to the professional sheen he put on the story in the sales letter.

The other story that didn’t quite ring true got me into a bit of trouble with one successful UK marketer.

This particular fella had written a story about a chance meeting with a millionaire who then basically taught him everything he knew.

Unfortunately in my review of this marketer I told a different version of events – one I had gleaned from a talk the marketer gave at one of his seminars.

At the seminar he said that he had been chasing the dream for years, attending lots of different events and paying for all kinds of mentoring packages when one day it just ‘clicked’. In the sales letter he told this completely different story that clashed with the truth, as I understood it.

Obviously this caused problems. Customers would see his sales letter, decide to do some research and come across my site. On my site I told a different story (don’t forget, the one he told in front of a camera i.e. a primary source) and so these customers became confused and confronted him.

The first I knew of it was when I received an email basically saying “what the &%#@! Please take that stuff down ASAP you’re confusing my customers!”

So much for the down-to-earth, honest, ex-minimum wage slave!

Of course, telling lies in a sales letter can get you into a lot of trouble if you step over the line.

Adding a couple of little white lies to a sales letter is usually considered fine, probably to be expected but once you start creating fake Clickbank screenshots or faking testimonials then you’re into fraud territory.

Sadly I’ve seen plenty of those types of sales letters too and I’m sure they’ll keep on coming…