Another neat idea from Greg Watson. He has written a Guide to dosing
strategies and wants to offer it for $4.95. The cool part is that he
wants the proceeds to go to whatever forum the person came FROM, not
himself. He wants to test it with the AGA forum.
All we have to do is create a sticky with a link to the page he says
(see within). The page will have our e-mail address embedded, and
proceeds will go to our Paypal account. You can test this if you want.
If we do this first, it may mean increased traffic to the AGA forum, and
a boost in membership. That would be good. Of course, eventually he will
offer it to all the forums, but at least we would have the notoriety of
being first.
I think it would be a good idea if it's a good article. Notice the
Dennis Dietz mention within the text -- I think he has already sent this
to Dennis for editing.
He has also asked if I will edit it. I have said yes, if I get a credit
line with my name and Senior Editor, The Aquatic Gardener.
He wants to know soonest.
I officially move that we do this.
Cheryl
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: FW: Greg Watson - new project
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2007 15:48:17 -0600
From: gw <gregwatson@gregwatson.com>
To: <cheryl@rightstuffwebsites.com>
Cheryl:
Thank you for all of the help you always provide ... I have a new
project I am working on, but for background, I'd like to share a common
email message I get essentially every single day:
>>I've read all of the forums and everyone says to go to you but I don't
know what to do.
>>I have a 100 gallon moderatley planted tank. I currently have no co2
but will be getting
>>it in a month or so. I was told once I go co2 to ditch the seachem
line and go your fert
>>way. I am sure it should be simple, but nothing makes sense. Do you
have some kind of
>>dosing schedule or what specific ferts I need or equivilents to
Seachems ferts. I
>>know I am asking alot but your help will provide some purchases. I am
a complete
>>newb so bear with me. Thanks for your help and patience
I get these kind of email messages every single day ... many (if not
most) of these email messages are from people who are mixing and
matching different concepts from different threads from different forums
... and often by the time they get to me, they are confused and
overwhelmed.
I have a couple special requests for you ... first, I want to ask for
your help on a new project that I am working on. I have written a
preliminary (very preliminary) draft of a new eBook:
Greg Watson's Guide to Dosing Strategies ...
I get 10-20 emails a day asking for help ... in most cases its because
they read a thread in a forum where someone said get your ferts from
Greg Watson ... the typical email says "what do I need to buy" ... and
my traditional response is what dosing strategy do you want to follow
<grin>... and I usually send them back to their "favorite online planted
aquarium forum" with the recommendation to read about the various dosing
strategies that are popular there and choose one that makes sense to
them and matches their lifestyle ...
(There are lots of "right ways" to do things ... the Estimative Index
may be popular (its my personal favorite), but if you hate doing water
changes, you are doomed to failure - so it is very inappropriate for
someone who hates water changes to be told to follow that method when
there are other alternatives that are probably far more appropriate ...)
The second type of email that I get *all* the time is from those
individuals who are just overwhelmed by all of the different threads,
topics, and forums out there, that they just can't sort through all of -
what to them - is noise and what seems like contradictory information
...
Thus I am writing a "Guide to Dosing Strategies" - The goal is twofold -
and if you can help me, I would appreciate it in one or two of two
different manners ...
* My "First Goal" - is to give novice aquarists who are just
starting out a simple guide to different dosing strategies with the goal
of helping them choose a dosing strategy that is right for them.... So I
would appreciate it if you could read the first draft and offer a
criticism, critique, feedback, or edits to it ... If you would be
willing to help, I could send it to you in either a PDF format or
Microsoft Word format or both ...
* There are a lot of great online planted aquarium
resources out there ... but every day, I get emails from people just
starting out that are overwhelmed by all of the noise, clutter, of what
seems like contradictory information that is out there ...
* I would like the guide to help people understand that
there are more than one right way to do things, that you simply need to
choose a dosing strategy that is appropriate for you and stick with it
consistently week after week rather that "flitting" from one strategy to
another to another ... you would not believe the number of email
messages I get each week where someone tells me that they tried this
strategy this week, then they tried another strategy the next week, and
then they tried another strategy the third week ... and now they don't
know what to do ...
To you ... that may sound silly ... but it is all too real ...
* Second ... I would like to discuss my financial goal for the
eBook ... I don't have any personal goals to make any money personally
from this guide. But people usually will pay attention to something
that they had to pay for ... it brings credibility ... so I have built a
website that allows us to not pay me, but instead to send the paypal
payment for the eBook directly to individual clubs or forum owners ...
those are the people I want to financially support ...
So for example ... if we assume that your email address is the paypal
email address for the AGA ... and we posted a link to Greg Watson's
Guide to Dosing Strategies
<http://www.aquaticplantnews.com/index.php?e=cheryl@wilstream.com> ...
payment would be made directly to the AGA paypal account (not mine) ...
go ahead and click on that link and it will take you to my new website
... then if you click on the Buy Now button to order the eBook, you will
see that it should take you directly to a PayPal screen that sends the
payment to you (or at least your ddietz email address), not to me.
What I would like to do ... is have forum administrators create a Sticky
promoting the eBook "Greg Watson's Guide to Dosing Strategies" on their
forums with their link (which pays the money directly to them), so that
novices can have an "authoritative" guide that can help them choose a
dosing strategy that is appropriate for them - and the forums have just
received a direct contribution to them.
What I would like to discuss with you ... is who and how to approach the
AGA about this idea ... and testing it with you guys right now before I
roll it out to other forum administrators ... and I think this may be a
way to funnel more money directly to AGA ...
What thoughts do you have? Comments, Opinions? I'd like to roll this
out this next weekend ... so I am kind of in a rush and any help or
introductions you can provide would be greatly appreciated ... the guide
is in its current *draft* mode and will continually be updated over time
... and people who buy it once will be able to have access to updates
for free as the guide gets updated ...
If you would be willing to help me edit it ... offer comments, critiques
... that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Greg
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