Since the new year is right around the corner, bloggers and marketers alike are posting their predictions as if a psychics convention has come to town.

So in keeping with that tradition, I’d like to post a few of my own. But unlike those who post their predictions in point form, I won’t make a specific list but rather share with you some of my thoughts.

(Near the end, however, this post will culminate in what I believe will be three major trends to watch out for and dive into, if you want to make some serious money in 2008 and beyond.)

First off, let me state that you may or may not agree with me on these. But something is definitely going on right now that points to these three trends. All the clues are pretty evident, and you’ve probably seen some of these yourself.

What I’m talking about is…

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With spam incessantly inundating our inboxes and people’s attention spans constantly shrinking, some have claimed that email marketing is on the way out.

I say “nonsense.”

In fact, it’s because of those very reasons that email marketing is now stronger than ever before. I personally know of some marketers who have made literally millions of dollars with email marketing alone in recent weeks.

I’m talking about legitimate, law-compliant, optin email.

Remember, the most common use of the Internet is still email — not instant messenging, social networking, or browsing websites. It’s often the very first thing people do when they log onto the web.

Granted, the biggest stumbling block is to increase your “open rate” (i.e., the percentage of people who actually open your emails). And to do so you first need to get your emails delivered and overcome overzealous spam filters.

But once they do reach your readers’ inboxes, the most important step in getting your messages through to your audience is with good copy. And like a good headline in sales copy, it all starts with the subject line.

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Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins is a timeless classic written many years ago but a book whose powerful principles still ring true to this day.

It contains 21 chapters of timeless strategies you don't want to ignore in your advertising and marketing efforts.

In fact, David Ogilvy once said: "Nobody, at any level, should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times."

I highly recommend that your read this book, which is brought to you free, before you spend any money on other copywriting books.

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The Science Of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles is a timeless classic written many years ago. Over a century ago, in fact.

But it's a practical, step-by-step guide whose thought-provoking principles and strategies, though they were written in 1910, are still very much applicable to this day. And probably more so.

I'm a firm believer in the idiom that you are what you think. And this book drives that point home. So I highly recommend that your read this book, which is brought to you free on this website.

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Scarcity is a tactic often used in copywriting to create a sense of urgency and convince the “on-the-fence” customer to make a purchase decision. Above all, the goal is to prevent prospects from procrastinating.

As online consumers become wise to these direct-response copywriting tactics, one question often arises:

“What about digital products and electronic downloads, like ebooks and software? How can you create a sense of urgency for something that, in itself, is limitless (or perceived as such)?”

Here’s how to use scarcity selling effectively with digital products:

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Thanks for being patient with me. I haven’t posted in a while because of something that happened last week.

You see, my blog was hacked (not by a person but with malicious code that creeped into my blog), and as a result I was blocked by Google. I’m sure you’ve heard about it, as people talked about the news.

How did it get blocked?

Whenever my site(s) came up in Google, there was a “this site may harm your computer” warning. And when people clicked on my link, it lead them to a Google error page preventing people from accessing my site.

Apparently, Google checks its indexed pages against a database of “known offenders” (at StopBadware.org, which is similar to many IP blacklists for spam), and turned all my listings on Google to unreachable.

So my site wasn’t banned. But the worse part was, Google not only blocked my site but also displayed a dire warning that my site was malicious! (You can only imagine what kind of damage this can cause to someone’s reputation.)

But that’s not all…

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