Focus On Significance - Not Success

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"The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance - and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning."

Oprah Winfrey

 

 

Be a specialist

At school you had been taught that you needed to know as much as you could about all kinds of topics that you were probably not even interested in (e.g. for me the horrors were math and physics…). It would not have made sense to have been focused on just one of these subjects because if you had done that, you would not have made it to the next grade.

In Internet marketing it all is a little different. Here, you should NOT try to be the 'Mr. or Mrs. Knowitall' but the specialist, the go to guy/gal, in ONE area of Internet marketing. This can be e.g. an SEO expert, the software developer, a Google Adwords specialist or a copywriter or more recently, the Web 2.0 guy/gal.

Personally, I would brand myself as the software developer since that is where my expertise is. But more recently, I have also become very experienced in creating VRE (virtual real estate) websites using Wordpress so I can also say that I am a blogging specialist.

Whatever it is that you do, make sure you learn as much as you can about your area of expertise. Strive to become the best you can be. Just like a doctor or a lawyer learns everything he can about his medicine or laws, you need to do the same in your area.

And it never stops. If you have a passion for something, you will like it to learn more and more about it in order to become the best.

Give me crap and I’ll let others know…

Personally, I love to educate myself about all the new ways of making money online (this is a treat of all the top Internet marketers – they never stop educating themselves!). I am the kind of guy people want to have on their lists because I am constantly buying their stuff – presupposed it’s not just rehashed material (and if it is, I'll get myself a refund).

As long as I am getting at least one good idea from a product which can make me more money when implementing it in my own business, I won’t be asking for a refund. But give me crap and not only will I be asking for my money back but I’ll let my list know about it as well so they can avoid it and not waste their hard earned money…!

Focus on one project at a time

When I was attending the Internet Millionaire’s Bootcamp in London in October of 2006, Mike Filsaime said something on stage that I’ll never forget: “You need to focus on one project at a time”. Even though it sounds so simple, most people do completely the opposite.

Focusing on one project at a time will bring you income much quicker than trying to get multiple projects finished at the same time – something which can almost never be achieved. So the key to success is just to focus on the one project that will be bringing you the greatest revenue within the shortest amount of time.

You know, even I, as a very experienced Internet marketer, sometimes made the mistake of wanting to achieve too much at the same time. Instead of working on one project until it was finished, I was trying to handle 3-4 projects at a time. And the result was that nothing got finished in time and my income was suffering from it. Because not being able to finish a project means less income.

In Internet marketing, you better come up with new products quickly because you will soon be forgotten if you don’t. You must be the innovator, the one who is coming up with new, helpful products that your subscribers and customers want to buy from you.

(For example, that's why I relaunched my Niche Content Websites - membership site because I saw that my business wasn't different enough from the businesses of others who were selling the same kind of products. I wanted to get a better USP - a unique selling proposition which was better than most of my competitors by selling UNIQUE websites to people who are interested in making a living from niche type of VRE websites. This has become the solution for people who can't design their own websites or don't know how to implement monetization modules - now everything's done for them…!)

If you don’t know what they want, ask them! Your products must become the solutions for their problems.

Outsource everything you don't want to do yourself

And you don’t even have to create these products yourself. That’s what outsourcing is for. No one is expecting from you, if you e.g. have a great idea for a software tool, that you need to create it yourself. Just hire someone on Elance.com or ScripLance.com, tell him or her what you want to have done, and they’ll do it for you – at a very reasonable price.

For example, I had my AffiliateTurbo software programmed by a programmer which I found on ScriptLance. I paid about $400 for it and I made more than $10,000 from this tiny investment. And the same was the case with my Blog Promoter software. (in the meantime, I’ve sold both businesses for several thousands of $$… they simply were too work intensive as they required a lot of updates on an almost daily basis).

By knowing what you want to achieve and what your goals are, you'll actually get there much quicker. You simply need to be the one who plans it all - it's not necessary that you are doing everything yourself. And all the steps which are needed to get there, will fall into place almost automatically.

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(This article is an excerpt from my Revenue Blueprint ebook. If you liked the article, then why not get yourself a copy of the complete works at http://www.revenueblueprint.com/ ?)

Tags: adsense, adwords, affiliate, ebook, google adwords, internet marketing, mike filsaime, seo, seo expert, vre websites, web 2.0, websites

Review Of Michael Cheney's Traffic Videos

And here it comes: Another review. Seems that every week there's another product launch being supported by hundreds of top marketers. I am one of his partners as well but you know I never recommend products which I haven't tested or read myself. So I got access to the site earlier already and have been able to view ALL of the videos which buyers are getting…

Here's my take on Michael Cheney's latest product called "Michael's Traffic Videos". There are about 50 videos which cover the following topics:

Section 1: Online And Offline Press Releases (5 videos)

The first 5 videos cover strategies for getting traffic from press releases. Michael tells you what to do to get traffic from offline advertising, too, by placing ads in newspapers. And although he explains step by step what to do, he's not giving any REAL examples that he's successfully been using these tactics himself or that someone else has used them with success. I seriously doubt that he's using this kind of strategy for himself (at least not those offline ads). While this section is giving a good overview what can be done, it's just that: An overview. The lessons are done in text/drawing format while he's explaining the steps.

Section 2: Affiliate Traffic (2 videos)

I like the fact he's mentioning that this is one of the most important strategies for getting consistent traffic because I know it's true. It's the strategy I am using the most too and one that is working the best for me to get traffic to my various websites. If you're asking me, it's his most effective strategy too because as you can see with his launch today: When affiliates are getting very high commissions, you can almost be certain that you will get a very active army of affiliates and that thousands of emails are being sent to promote his latest product.

The negatives about this section: While he's telling you everything about WHAT to do with these affiliates and how to make them work for you, he doesn't go into the details about HOW you should be approaching or getting them in the first place.

My questions after watching these videos still would be:

a.) Where do I look for affiliates?

b.) What are the most effective strategies for convincing website owners to become your affiliates?

c.) How can this be automated (if you're recruiting hundreds of website owners, this can take days)?

d.) Should software be used at all?

e.) What would I write to them? Or should I call them by phone or Skype?

And not to forget that in order to get affiliates, you need to have your own product, first… The course is not about product creation so you need to be knowledgeable about that part already.

Section 3: Social Networking Traffic (2 videos)

He's listing the major social networking sites and is giving you the main benefits of using them. The second video is pretty good as he's giving you the main specifics your page or site needs to have in order to profit from these social networking websites. Moreover, he lists what kind of content is getting response for your marketing messages and how you need to behave to get the most out of it. But again, no real life examples given… No details about how to get in, how to add friends or contacts, specifics about how many friends to add, what tools to use etc. This section is too basic to be of any real value. It's text/drawing based.

Section 4: Blogging Traffic (5 videos)

Well, what I like about this section is that it is entirely devoted to Wordpress, my favourite blogging system. Basically, he's setting up a Wordpress blog and then he's modifying it a little bit to personalize it. And one video tells you that you should set it up to blog and ping. What I didn't like here was that he didn't show how to change the permissions for one of the files he was modifying. It was like "if you don't know how to do it, ask your provider". This is a bit strange as it would have taken just a few seconds to show this in his FTP software.

Positive is that he tells you that you need to modify the links (URLs) to make them search engine friendly. Moreover, he shows you how to add a subscription form to the sidebar of the Wordpress blog so you can get opt-ins. Finally a series of videos where he actually shows you how to do things. Bravo! I wish, there were more videos included in this course with that kind of details. If you've never set up a blog in Wordpress, this section is for you and comes highly recommended by me. The whole section is a doer section this time rather than the other text/drawing type of videos which are more theoretical.

Section 5: Video Traffic (2 videos)

This again is a doer section. Michael's showing you how to prepare videos for sites like Google Video or YouTube.com and also gives a recommendation for a free software that you can use to create your very own first videos. And it's not Camtasia or Camstudio but nonetheless very effective and quick in creating the videos in a format that can immediately be uploaded. Moreover, he's telling you what equipment you need in order to be able to record your speech while you're showing stuff on your screen. So basically, these are screencam videos. He's not showing you the videos where people are "acting" in front of a camcorder or the like.

The second part is all about the upload process and how to use descriptions and keywords to get the most targeted visitors who will in turn be visiting your sites if you're doing everything right. Good section for people who want to try out marketing by using video. I don't know why he's recommending a certain service for uploading these videos to multiple video sharing sites. It has a high monthly fee but I know there are at least 2 different software tools available on the market that can do the same thing for the price of a one time software purchase.

Section 6: Repeat Traffic (3 videos)

I liked this section the best because it showed me what I am doing wrong on my sites: I'm not having enough interaction with my visitors (apart from my blogs). He tells and shows you what is needed to get repeat traffic to your websites. This section is recommended even for advanced Internet marketers as I am quite sure that a lot of people have been creating their sites in similar ways like I have been doing in the past. Learning how to get your visitors to interact with you and actually providing real content for YOUR sites, is invaluable and a lesson I have learned well now. Thank you Michael for reminding me of it! Most importantly, in this section he is giving you real life examples of websites which are employing the tactics Michael is recommending. That's another reason why I give this section an A+!

Section 7: Pay Per Click Traffic (3 videos)

Nothing really new in this section (if you have bought guides like Adwords Miracle, Affiliate Project X or Day Job Killer in the past) but nevertheless it covers some very important factors. If you are applying these basic principles which he's showing you in his videos, you are guaranteed to get much better results than people who don't know what they're doing when it comes to using Google Adwords. Not a long section but an important one to get quick traffic to a new site. 3-4 great tips there - for newbies -.

Section 8: Search Engine Traffic (6 videos)

The very basics of search engine optimization are covered here. He's mentioning the most important factors for getting a high ranking in the search engines and he uses his text/drawing techniques again to make them easy to understand. This section also covers the topic of keyword selection and why it's so important to use the right keywords. He tells you which ones are better than others and why.

Best of all, he explains and shows you the basics of a standard web service for keyword research that you need to be a member of if you want to get the best keywords for great natural search engine results. If you're not too familiar with search engine optimization, I would recommend this section as it covers the things you need to know and also shows you which service to use to get relevant keywords for your site (personally, I made my own screencam video about this service 4 years ago already for my "Web Money Marketing Videos" monthly membership site where I showed people how to use certain Internet marketing tools - and this keyword service is still effective in bringing people the best keywords up until today).

Section 9: Link Traffic (6 videos)

This section goes into the details on why you need to get as many links as possible to your site (see, I told you this already here … , too) for great search engine results. In this section, he explains exactly how to structure your links page by doing his text/drawing presentations again. But, unfortunately, he doesn't show you how to add these links to your sites in a live example. This also means that you're not being given the specific pieces of software or scripts that can automate a lot of the work like ARELIS reciprocal links software which you can download for free (trial).

He is giving a specific example of a good and relevant link partner which is doing the recommended things so the links page benefits the website owner and you as the link partner.

Section 10: Articles Traffic (6 videos)

Writing articles has always been one of the most effective techniques for getting recognized as an authority and for getting lots of direct or indirect traffic. The first video is explaining what benefits you are getting from writing articles. And these are a lot of benefits… Some marketers are doing nothing else than writing articles to drive traffic to their sites. This has become very popular as the so called "bum marketing method".

Videos 2 and 3 teach you how you can write your articles and how you need to structure them so they'll be effective in driving traffic to your site. Not only that but he's giving you different ways of having these articles created - not just by typing the text directly into your Notepad or MS Word. Specific types of software and services are mentioned which can make the whole process a lot easier and quicker for you.

Video 4 is about how to structure your bio (author) box for your articles. Only effective bio boxes will bring you direct traffic.

The last 2 videos are about how you actually submit your articles to the various article directories. In video 2 Michael shows you the whole process for one popular article directory. He also mentions how often you should be doing this.

Section 11: Viral Traffic (2 videos)

The first video is just an overview about viral traffic and in my opinion a little too general (benefits etc. - those should be known by most - even newbies). It's a text/drawing video again. The second video is much more to my liking as he's showing a bit about how to put all of this into practice using a new script by Mike Filsaime called Viral Friend Generator .

My conclusion:

First of all, let me point out that it is not a bad product at all - if you're new to all of this traffic stuff and haven't been able to drive at least 100 visitors a week to your site(s). And that's why the course will be a great help for giving newbies a good overview as to WHAT and WHY something needs to be done in order to get traffic. This is something the video course does pretty well.

Most videos are mainly giving an overview about the various methods for getting traffic. What's missing in most of them are real life examples of HOW these methods are being used, what software tools are needed to put the things from the videos into practice and generally more proof that these are the methods that are working for him right now.

I'm rather getting the impression that he's been putting together the most effective traffic strategies in general so people might think he covers it all. In my opinion, though, he would have done better by focusing on just two or three of the strategies and then DOING exactly what he's been mentioning in the videos because that is a major shortcoming of many of the included videos (not of all videos, though…).

90% of the videos consist of text, his explanations and his drawings where he's explaining the sections. While this can be effective to remember what needs to be done, I guess most people still would have problems putting everything into perspective and knowing HOW to do it and what tools to use to get it accomplished.

Should you buy Michael's Traffic Videos?

That depends. For beginners, generally speaking "yes" - I am quite sure that you will discover quite a few gold nuggets in them. These videos are really good in giving you an overview and telling you WHY you should be using the techniques or why they work and in some videos he's even showing you WHAT to do. I am recommending them if you're a "newbie".

For an in depth step-by-step plan, 75% of the videos are too general in their nature and would leave people clueless as to what to do or HOW to do it (e.g. the affiliate section or the social networking section). And for advanced Internet marketers, the videos are not recommended at all. You would not find anything new in it if you've read several ebooks on these topics already.

==> Nevertheless, the videos are giving you the best techniques for getting lots of targeted visitors - so if you want to refresh what you already know, it's quite good for that as well.

If you're a newbie or you somehow think that you will get some nuggets out of it and you want to buy Michael's Traffic Videos, I have a very special bonus for you: I will give you the answers to questions where the videos are leaving you standing in the rain. In other words: If you want to use a technique and you still got question on how to put these techniques into practice or what tools to use, I will be giving you the answers in personal Skype sessions (up to 30 minute per buyer) or by answering these questions via my helpdesk.

An Internet Marketer of that caliber like Michael Cheney probably would not have the time to do this for each buyer individually. So that's where I come in. I guess, this will help you more than piling up the bonuses.

I hope, my review was helpful to you. Just leave a comment here so I know what you think about it ;-)

Tags: adsense, adwords, affiliate, affiliate project x, affiliates, day job killer, ebook, google adwords, internet marketing, internet marketing tool, mike filsaime, product launch, search engine optimization, search engines, traffic, websites

The death of Internet marketing…?

Remember the hype about "The Death of AdSense" a while ago? Of course, we now know that this guy was just a search engine spammer and couldn't cope with the changed SEO algorithms…

So what are we to think when Mike Filsaime releases a free report called "The Death of Internet Marketing"?

FREE REPORT: THE DEATH OF INTERNET MARKETING

At first glance, I thought Mike was going to give away this report and then try to sell me something by displaying an OTO after my opt-in.

Guess what?

I was wrong!

Mike has put together an incredibly thoughtful and content-packed report which he really is giving away for free…

… and no, there is no sales pitch!

I recommend you take a break from whatever it is you are doing if you can and get access to this report now:

DOWNLOAD THE DEATH OF INTERNET MARKETING

Your friend in success,

Detlev

P.S.: I read the report and I must say that I completely agree what Mike says about the hype and the product launches "overkill". And he's revealing some of the insights from his now famous Powerpoint presentation which he did in London.

Tags: adsense, internet marketing, mike filsaime, product launch, seo

The missing key to your Internet marketing success

If you're like me, you're probably living and breathing Internet marketing and you've tried many things to "make it finally work" for you.

I know exactly where you are because I have been there, too! There are just so many options that you don't know where to start.

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ARE YOU SUFFERING FROM INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
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Making that step, finding your personal start is not easy. Not just in each individual "niche" in Internet marketing like selling digital products, creating niche websites and do affiliate marketing or building Adsense sites.

You feel paralyzed and frustrated because every week some guy or girl, maybe a lot younger than you, is telling you, how many thousands of dollars he or she made. And yet, you still have to find your own way to hold that first commission check in your hands. A feeling which would confirm that you've finally accomplished something and that you are not just daydreaming about making a living online.

What is the factor that makes Internet marketing work for "the gurus" and even some of the newbies but not for you even though you've read all the books and "been there, done that"? Is it really just knowledge?

Believe me, I have been asking myself this question time and time again. Yes, I am already "quite successful" as some people would call it as I am already fulltime for more than 3,5 years.

It took me a very long time to get into the category of marketers who are making their living online. Back then, it felt like an eternity…!

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TAKING THE HARD WAY TO SUCCESS
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It was not always easy to get there…

  • I've also had my months in which I could barely pay my rent.
  • I've also had years where I couldn't afford it to go on vacation.
  • I've also bought dozens or maybe even hundreds of ebooks which promised me an "instant way to Internet marketing riches".
  • I've also accumulated a lot of debt on my credit card account because I bought every ebook and software that seemed to be quick solution.
  • I've also been burned by MLM schemes and scammers.

But I have found my way and I have a solution for you, too…

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WHAT IS THE WAY OUT OF THIS DILEMMA?
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Let me tell you the truth, you deserve it.

===> THERE ARE NO MAGICAL SOLUTIONS WHERE YOU JUST HAVE TO PUSH A BUTTON AND GET RICH "OVERNIGHT"! < ===

Like in any other business, you actually have to WORK to make it happen - even though you probably don't want to hear that. If you don't want to work then an Internet business isn't for you.

And you may have heard it many times from others already but I am going to repeat it: Just reading all the stuff won't make you a penny.

You have to take ACTION, no matter which area of Internet marketing you are in right now.

Try new things. Go new ways. Make your mistakes.

The more mistakes you make, the quicker you can achieve your goals.

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You need to have a VISION:
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- Where do you want to see yourself in 5 years from now?

Start with the end goal in mind and work your way backwards.

Which steps are needed to get there? Complete these steps one by one. If you know what it is that you really want, it will become much easier to get there!

e.g.:

Do you want to sell digital products?

Do you want to sell physical products?

Do you want to create a membership site?

Do you want to build websites for Adsense income?

- Which of these do you REALLY want for yourself?

Yes, you can make tens of thousands of dollars by sending out one email. But not before you have invested your time, your resources and your sweat to let this happen. The big guys did not get to that point in a week or two, either.

Even though they sometimes make you believe it…

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They took their time to BUILD THEIR BUSINESS
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What is needed to make a fortune "overnight"? You know, the one where you can send out the email and make yada, yada, yada.

Let me summarize for you what "overnight" in reality means:

  • You need to come up with a great idea for a product and you need to know if there's a demand for it.
  • You need to create the product (either your own or one that you have private label rights to and which isn't being sold by hundreds of others already) - starting with an affiliate product is not recommended at this stage.
  • You need to build a big list of people who are interested in what you have to offer.
  • You need to win their trust by giving them great content or a great resource like a membership site or a piece of software that makes their life easier.
  • You need to build a website which sells the product.

Building a website includes:

  • Having a web editor and being able to use it (e.g. FrontPage or DreamWeaver)
  • Writing a salesletter
  • Getting testimonials
  • Getting professional graphics done
  • Implementing a payment processor like Paypal, Clickbank or a shopping cart solution
  • Installing an affiliate tracking system
  • Installing a helpdesk software

Making the sale to your list includes:

- Knowing how to use autoresponders

- Knowing how to use tracking software

- Knowing how to write profit pulling emails

- Knowing what subject line to use

- Knowing what time to send it

After you have done all of the the above, you will probably be able to make a lot of sales to your list - depending on the list size and responsiveness of your subscribers. Then your "overnight" day has finally come. It can take anywhere from 3 months to 1 year or more to get to that point.

Once that step is completed and you have done some followup emails to your list as well, you need to contact potential JV partners to multiply your efforts. You can only make so many sales to your own list. Because, it will soon be saturated and you need more prospects…

You have to realize that an online business means work as well. Not pushing some buttons or joining the latest pie in the sky MLM scheme with "automatic spillover".

I told you in one of my latest emails that I would reveal some very powerful strategies which I learned from Stephen Pierce and Mike Filsaime at the Internet Millionaires Bootcamp in London. Unfortunately, there weren't too many comments in my blog that anyone had an interest in it. So I won't write it down myself…

But I am going to do the next best thing. I've just finished reading an incredible ebook which details exactly why most newbies or even intermediate Internet marketers fail to make any substantial money. The author, Dennis Becker, is not quite a newbie but he failed to make a good income for a long time.

In fact, the author was at a point where he was completely burned out and he had tried so many strategies but still got nowhere. Until he discovered WHY he was failing at everything he did.

It's only a few months ago that Dennis stumbled upon something very powerful. He had an A-HA moment which turned everything around for him. He used almost the same strategies and principles Mike Filsaime and Stephen Pierce taught at the Internet Millionaires Bootcamp. And he reveals the 2 controlling influences for success not just in Internet marketing but in life as well.

His strategies are so simple and yet so powerful, they made Dennis over $38,000 in 2 months. And let me tell you that by applying his strategies, you WILL definitely make money, too (probably not that much because as Dennis pointed out in his ebook, it was almost by "accident"…).

This ebook is affordable to anyone (it's not even near the usual $97) and if you're not getting a copy, you are really missing out - at least that's what I would feel. It is not so much about the WHAT you are selling or doing but about HOW you are doing it and why you are not making a big progress.

Click below to find out how he turned his fate around:

===> Dennis Becker's Success Principles laid down in his ebook "5 Bucks a day"

I told you, I would do the next best thing. If within the next 48 hours, you secure yourself a copy from the link above, I'll send you the download link for the Powerpoint presentation which Mike Filsaime did at the seminar in London.

This presentation has all the secrets included which I learned there! These are very powerful principles about HOW to build your online business the right way. Knowing them will make you a better marketer and can mean the difference between making $1000 a month and $25000 or more a month…

Email your receipt to detlev AT turbobuddy.com and I will personally send you the link.

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Tags: adsense, affiliate, affiliate marketing, clickbank, ebook, internet marketing, mike filsaime, stephen pierce, websites

Back from London - Stories, Photos and Facts about IM Bootcamp 2

I'm back from London. As expected, I had a blast there and also met my good friend from the UK again, Stewart Alexander. Here's a picture where I fetched him from the main Tube station Hammersmith which is located just a few blocks away from the Novotel complex where the whole seminar took place:

But now, I want to show you some more pictures which I had taken that weekend. The next pictures were directly taken at the seminar location in the Novotel conference center.

First of all, one picture which was taken on Friday evening when the first attendees met some of the speakers. I had my camera ready as well so here is one of these shots:

That's Mike Filsaime in the middle and to the left of him, you have Frank Garon, organizer of the whole event: He was celebrating his 10th year of being fulltime as an Internet marketer. That's also the reason why this event was free. So it was a kind of customer and subscriber appreciation event as well.

A picture of Willie Crawford and me. I met him on the first day of the seminar and talked to him about the promotion he did for my PromoBuddy software.

I couldn't get a picture with all of the speakers (you can imagine that they were surrounded by lots of "seminar groupies"…) but here are some other pictures where I had the chance to get one:

That's a picture of Ted Ciuba and me. Ted is one of the organizers of the World Internet Summit which is taking place in the UK, Australia and the US once a year.

And of course, you will recognize the guy who is standing next to me. Well known for having made more than a million dollar within 24 hours, this is Stephen Pierce.

Tags: adsense, frank garon, mike filsaime, stephen pierce

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