1. Five Ways to Get Your Customers to Buy From You Again and Again
Selling a front-end product doesn't leave room for much profit. That's why you need your customers to buy from you again and again. And that's why you need to develop a backend system....

2. How to Create a Huge Keyword List
You may hope people are searching for a particular word but in reality no one is. So you need to find out what keywords people are actually searching for....

3. How to Deliver Value One High-Priced Product at a Time
Think of your backend system like a funnel: you can pour a lot in the top, but it filters down to a focused point. That focal point is you. You are your most expensive product and should charge a premium price for one-on-one time with you....

4. The Viral Power of the One Time Offer
Although a One Time Offer is a great sales tactic, it does not always have to be a sales message. As a matter of fact, you can use it to generate even more traffic. Instead of redirecting your subscribers to a OTO page for a product purchase, appeal to the same sense of urgency by offering additional bonuses if referring three friends....

5. Find Your Fortune by Following Up with Your Customers
The more opportunities your customers have to buy from you, the more money you are going to make. So you must follow-up with your customers. Don't become so preoccupied with driving fresh traffic to your site that you ignore the traffic that's going to make you money: the people already in your system....

6. The One Thing You Must Develop For Your Business to Thrive
In order for your business to thrive, you must develop a backend system. In other words, you need to have more than one product or more than one version of your product to sell....

7. Three Ways to Motivate Your Prospects to Buy Immediately
One Time Offers convey a sense of urgency to your prospects and motivate them to buy immediately. When done correctly, these offers have a high conversion rate....

8. Should You Hire an SEO Expert?
Because there are so many factors to consider in the search engine game and because search engines are constantly changing the rules about optimization, you may want to hire an SEO expert. Only you have to be careful who you hire....

9. How to Motivate Your Prospects to Buy NOW
The trick with the One Time Offer is to write persuasive, effective copy. And you're appealing to different types of emotions depending on where you use your OTO. When done correctly, these offers have a high conversion rate....

10. Five Ways to Increase Your Rank in the Search Engines
How high your site ranks in the search engines depends on how well your site is optimized with keywords, your PageRank and your content. But those aren't the only ways to increase your rank. You can do five more fundamental things to also boost your standing on results pages....

11. Is the OTO a Gimmick or a Useful Selling Technique?
In its strictest sense, the OTO is available once, then disappears forever. This kind of offer works in retail stores and online stores alike. It works because it has a strong emotional appeal and creates a sense of urgency within the customer....

12. Get Your Site Ranked High in the Search Engines with Great Content
The main objective of the search engines is to rank the sites with the best and most content at the top of their results pages. So you need well-written content, and a lot of it....

13. How to Optimize Your Web Pages with Keywords
Once you have a massive list of keywords, know that people are searching for them and have decided which ones to target, you have to incorporate those keywords into your pages. In other words, you have to OPTIMIZE your site....

14. How PageRank Determines Your Search Engine Rank
PageRank is one of the critical factors that contributes to how high your website is ranked in the organic search engine results. Basically, a page can be assigned a rank of 0-10. This is the scale Google uses to measure the importance of the page....

15. Attract Search Engine Traffic by Using Targeted Keyword Phrases
As a general rule, the more specific the phrase, the more targeted the traffic will be. Those who type multi-word keywords phrases are ready to take action. This is who you want to reach. This is who you want to find you in the search engine results pages....

16. How to Get Targeted Search Engine Traffic
If your site is the best match for a particular keyword, the search engines want to list you at the top because that makes them look good to their customers. To receive that top honor, though, you must optimize your site according to their rules....

17. Why You Must Understand the Power of Keywords
Understanding the power of keywords in the search engine game is critical. These are the words your customers are searching for, so these are the words the spiders are crawling your site to find. Basically, everything dealing with SEO starts with keywords and expands from there....

18. Don't Let Yourself Get Trapped by These Co-Registration Hazards
Co-registration leads are legitimate and profitable, but some of these type leads are worth more than others. The lesser-quality leads result in higher opt-out rates than leads you find through other sources, so here are some things to look out that detract from the quality of your co-registration leads....

19. How to Build a Mammoth List from Scratch in Minutes
Do you know how to get thousands of fresh leads each month? If not, it's time for you to learn about this well-kept secret called co-registration. Co-registration allows you to build a massive list in a short amount of time for minimum costs....

20. Your List Will Only Grow if You Have Great AIM
You need great sales copy and enticing offers to persuade people to sign-up for your newsletter via a co-registration page. Which is why you need proper AIM: attention, interest, motivation....

21. Don't Miss Out on These Co-Registration Wonders
So without a sizeable list, the quality of your list doesn't mean much. In other words, you need a HUGE list. And co-registration is all about getting you that huge, targeted list quickly and easily....

22. 7 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Site
Converting traffic that arrives at your site into sales is the goal of every Internet marketer. But if nobody knows about your site, you have no traffic to convert. So driving traffic to your site is the first and vital step to Internet marketing success....

23. The Nurturing Process that Puts Money in Your Pocket
Building a large double opt-in email list with co-registration is the easy part since it's all done on autopilot. The harder part is creating a highly responsive list because it requires a little effort on your part....

24. How to Keep Your Email List Growing with Co-Registration
You can use co-registration to build a huge list in a variety of ways. By utilizing these methods, you can keep your list growing daily....

25. The Traffic Power Keeps on Multiplying with Article Marketing
The resource box that tells the reader about you and includes a link back to your site is just the starting point for ways you gain traffic through article marketing....

26. Discover Unlimited Traffic Power
You can attract traffic by feeding people's thirst for knowledge. All this tactic requires is that you write high quality, informative articles....

27. Seven Steps to Creating a Contest that Generates Massive Traffic
You can generate massive traffic to your site by hosting a contest. But once you decide what kind of contest you want to run, you need to know how to make it happen. So I've listed some steps that, if followed, will help you run a smooth contest and generate an abundance of traffic to your site....

28. Positioning Yourself as an Expert Author--Even if You're Not a Writer!
If you don't know how to write articles, you don't know what to write about or you think you can't write, keep reading anyway! Article marketing is too important to your business to ignore its traffic-pulling potential....

29. The Three Magic Words That Turn Your Site Into a Traffic Magnet
All you need to say are the three magic words: "You can win!" With these words, your site will be instantly transformed into a traffic magnet....

30. Attract More Traffic with These Ten Tips
Competition is a great traffic tactic because people love to participate in contests. The types of contests you can implement are limited only by your imagination. Just be sure to run contests that are relevant to your business....

31. Let Your Prospects Know Why They Can't Live Without You
What sets your business apart from the competition? Why are you unique? Not knowing the answers to these questions makes driving traffic to your site ten times more difficult than it should be. Which is why you must learn to develop your own Unique Selling Proposition (USP)....

32. How to Entice Visitors to Your Site
Utilized correctly, coupons have the potential to boost your sales and bring tons of visitors to your site. Here's a list of ways you can motivate people to come to you through the use of coupons....

33. How to Develop Your USP
How do you determine what makes you different? If you don't know, this article will help you discover what is unique about your business. Once you understand your USP, you can position yourself to drive tons of traffic to your site....

34. Bait Your Prospects with the Lure of a Discount
Today, 76% of Americans of all age groups and income ranges use coupons. Only they're not just used for groceries anymore. Coupons exist for shoes, clothes, electronics, books and more. So many coupons exist because they are powerful marketing tools....

35. How to Invest in Quality "Virtual" Real Estate
The most powerful integration marketing tactics take advantage of all the possibilities and places available to advertise your products. So work with your JV partners to find quality real estate for both your front end and back end products....

36. How to Create a Successful Sales Path
To understand how to best promote your products to your prospects, you need to first grasp the basics of a customer path. Having a short path limits real estate, but a well-developed path takes full advantage of the virtual possibilities....

37. The Secrets of Seamless Integration Marketing Strategies
Knowing where to look to integrate your marketing with your partners is the first half of the equation. Knowing how to attract partners is the second. And attracting the right partners involves five steps....

38. How to Attract the Right Joint Venture Partners
After you ask those you already know within your personal network about possible joint venture partners, research your competition. Look for people in your market whose products would complement yours and your products would complement theirs....

39. The Pitfalls of Joint Ventures and How to Avoid Them
Like most marketing strategies, Joint Ventures aren't without some risks. Some of these risks include wasting your time, achieving no significant results and the loss of your credibility. Still, the rewards far outweigh the risks if you understand the main pitfalls of Joint Ventures and how to avoid them....

40. How to Create Consistent Cash Flow for Long-Term Success
Joint Ventures are the most powerful form of marketing leverage accessible to you, but if you don't understand how to maximize that leverage, both you and your partners will be leaving a lot of money on the table....

41. 7 Reasons You Should Joint Venture
Bringing massive targeted traffic to your site is the big benefit of Joint Ventures, but JV's actually do seven major things for your business....

42. How to Get Your Competition's Traffic
A simple, quick way to generate a lot of traffic to your site in a short amount of time involves partnering with your competition through a Joint Venture. It's a time-tested, powerful way to grow any business....

43. Secrets to Attracting Repeat Visitors
To attract repeat visitors, your site must contain valuable information. Otherwise you won't get noticed and will provide no incentive to bookmark you. Engage your visitors with a well-designed site that stimulates their mind from the moment they scan your content....

44. Using a MasterMind to Supercharge Your Business Growth
To put a traffic-generating MasterMind team together, you need to choose the right people, establish guidelines for your group and meet on a consistent basis....

45. How to Create a Site that Keeps Visitors Coming Back
Marketing research has shown that prospects need to be exposed to a product or concept an average of seven times before buying. That means that the majority of visitors to your site are not ready to become paying customers the first time they visit your site. So you need to keep your site active by constantly adding new content....

46. How to Get Repeat Business Via Bookmarks
When people visit your site for the first time, you want to give them a reason to BOOKMARK your site. You then become a favorite and increase your chances for getting repeat traffic from that same prospect....

47. Multi-variate Testing Made Simple
Even an amateur with no technical savvy can have a multi-variate test set up within a matter of hours. Also, having everything on one page rather than sending traffic to different pages actually simplifies the testing and tracking process....

48. Five Effective Ways to Generate Traffic
Driving traffic to your can be exciting. On the other hand, it can also be depressing if that traffic doesn't convert. Then you're left with a website, lots of products and no money. But if you follow the variety of tactics outlined in this article, you'll experience the excitement of watching your business explode and the joy of seeing your bank account grow....

49. Multiply Your Results with MasterMinds
Considering the bigger picture, can you succeed online alone? Yes, of course. But do you have to? No! Your journey to success will be much faster, easier and more efficient if you find a way to tap into the experience and knowledge of others....

50. Key Benefits of a MasterMind
Advice. Inspiration. Counsel. Encouragement. Insights. These are just some of the things you get when you are part of a MasterMind Group....

51. How to get Targeted Traffic from Amazon
Your prospects are looking for information, and Amazon is one place they turn to in order to find that information. And when you become a book reviewer, they can find you along with a link to your site....

52. How to Improve Your Conversion Rates
Once you drive prospects to your site, you need to be able to convert them into customers. So here are some tips to help you increase your conversion rates....

53. Seven Things You Need to Know About Testing Your Web Pages
You need to learn what persuades people to buy from you once they find your site. The way you learn is to test. And here are seven things you need to know about testing in order to obtain the best results and improve your conversion rates....

54. Understanding the Value of the Taguchi Method of Testing
The most sophisticated level of testing is a multi-variate form of testing that utilizes the Taguchi Method. Marketers have learned that while an A/B test might create a 5-10% improvement, a Taguchi test could provide a 15-45% improvement. In some cases, Taguchi tests have doubled or tripled conversion rates....

55. How to Choose the Right Elements to Test
When testing your web pages, your job is to determine which factors you think are most critical when it comes to a buying decision with your visitors, so you need to pick elements that have the most influence in the conversion process. You could think of just enough elements to plug in to the test on your own, but you probably won't see a significant improvement if you do that....

56. How to Improve Your Conversion Rates with Multivariate Testing
With multivariate testing, you are able to isolate elements on your web page, determine which ones matter and which combination of elements work best together to improve your conversion rates....

57. Ten Tips for Testing Your Web Pages
The only way to know that you are using the right words and elements on your pages (like font style and background color) to convert the maximum amount of traffic is to test, test, test. By trying different options and tracking what gets the best response, you find out what works. To run effective tests, follow these ten tips....

58. How to Easliy Craft Headlines that Sell
Your headline exists for one purpose and one purpose only: get your prospect to read your copy. That's it. All you want your headline to do is grab attention and keep the reader reading....

59. How to Conduct an A/B Split Test
Writing one sales letter and running with it-even if you think it is the most brilliant sales letter in the world-is unwise. Because that leaves you with no way of knowing what might convert better. The only way to know that what you are doing is working is to test, test, test. You find out by trying different options and tracking what gets the best response....

60. Testimonial and Guarantee Secrets that Sell More
Regardless of the persuasion power of your copy, the reader knows that you are the one endorsing your own product. But if you're in the middle of reading an advertisement, then a friend calls up and tells you how great that the competitor's product is, which product would you be more likely to buy?...

61. Copywriting Conversion Secrets
Copywriting is basically you having a conversation with your prospects about who you are, how you can help him, what you offer and how he can get what you offer with zero risk on his part....

62. Order Form Secrets to Help You Sell More
When you get to the end of your sales letter, you might be tempted to think that the hard part is over, that the selling is done. But that's not the case considering the foundation of your entire letter is the form that comes at the end. If you just throw something together here, you'll lose the sale you've worked so hard to gain....

63. The Marketing Metric that Drives Your Business
Driving traffic to your site is an important part of your online business, but having lots of visitors does not necessarily equal lots of sales. It's knowing how to convert those visitors into customers that adds money to your bank account....

64. Easy to Implement Copywriting Secrets
Whether you write your own copy, hire someone to write it for you or use copywriting software, you need a basic understanding of what great copywriting looks and reads like. This is true in both the online world and the offline world. Good copywriting generates sales; great copywriting creates wealth....

65. How Much are Your Customers Worth?
The lifetime value of a customer is measured by the value a customer brings to your business throughout that customer's entire relationship with you. It's the monetary value your customers bring to your business over a period of time. In other words, you need to know how long your customers stay with you after that first sale....

66. How to Generate Sales with Squeeze Pages
The first rule of Internet marketing is simple: capture information! You want a name and email address for your visitors so you can follow-up with them. If you take your visitors straight to a sales page, the chances of converting those visitors into customers is extremely low....

67. Ten Reasons Why You Must Track Lifetime Value
Attracting new customers costs more than retaining customers or bringing a past customer back into your lifecycle. So once you have your customers, you can't afford to let them leave without doing everything in your power to increase their lifetime with you. Knowing your average lifetime value does 10 great things for your business....

68. How to Sumbit a Press Release
In the offline world, a press release brings you traffic when a news source like a paper, magazine or radio station picks up your story and publishes it. In the online world, a press release brings you traffic when you submit your release to a distribution service. But to gain traffic from this tactic, you need to know how to submit a press release....

69. Five Tips for Recording Your Podcast
To maximize the traffic-pulling power of your podcast, consider these five tips before you start recording....

70. Create Buzz for Your Website with a Podcast
A good podcast creates buzz. When your RSS subscribers constantly get new information that improves their lives, and they receive that information in a variety of formats, they start talking to their friends. Then their friends subscribe to your RSS feed and tell their friends. And so on....

71. Start Your Own Podcast Now
Creating a podcast is easy and simple as long as you have valuable information to share and the proper tools to record yourself with. And contrary to what you may believe, it doesn't require hours of preparation and rehearsal....

72. The Traffic Generating Power of RSS Feeds
With an RSS subscription, the subscriber comes to you. And the best part is this: your RSS feed will NEVER get blocked, filtered or flagged as spam. It ALWAYS gets through to your subscriber....

73. Using Your Voice to Generate Traffic
In the ever-changing world of Internet marketing, you must adapt your marketing strategy as the web evolves. Or you won't survive. Today, users increasingly expect a multi-media experience that includes print, audio and video. Not only do they want to read your expert information, they also want to hear your voice and see your face as you deliver the information they crave....

74. Unleash the Massive Traffic Potential of MySpace
"A place for friends." Simple yet powerful, this motto describes the appeal of MySpace. It's a place for you to be a friend and find friends. It's a place for you to build relationships with likeminded people. It's also a place to market your website for free....

75. The Five Ingredients of Every Great Press Release
Online press releases are fabulous, free traffic generators for your Internet marketing business. But to generate traffic, you must first get your press release noticed by the media. Unless you know what ingredients to include in this one-page statement, you won't be able to persuade the media to publish your story....

76. How to Generate Targeted Traffic Using MySpace
MySpace is "a place for friends." People sign up looking for friends who are interested in the same things they are interested in. If you share their interests and have information products or services that can enhance their lives, it's your duty as their "friend" to let them know about you....

77. Combining the Ingredients to Create a Great Press Release
The ingredients of a traffic-generating press release are useless unless combined in a specific way. So once you have a newsworthy story told in the third person using facts, figures and quotes, you need to put it in the right format....

78. How to Convert MySpace Comments into Traffic
As an Internet marketer, you should know how to take advantage of every free source of traffic available to you. One such source is the popular social networking site, MySpace....

79. Using the Power of the Press to Generate Free Online and Offline Traffic
Want a free source of traffic that also establishes instant credibility for you? It may sound too good to be true, but it's not. That's the power of a press release....

80. Make Your Space on MySpace Attractive
Being a great friend on MySpace is the best way to make your space attractive and thus drive traffic to your site. And you become a great friend by posting pictures, grabbing attention with your headline and making your About Me section entertaining....

81. How to Create Your MySpace Account
Before you can start leaving comments that link to your website, you have to grow your network of friends. Before you grow your network of friends, you have to find friends to invite. Before you find friends, you have to make your space attractive. Before you can make your space attractive, you have to register your accounts....

82. How to Locate Your Target Market on MySpace
After you set up your MySpace account, you need to find friends in your niche to market to. The good news is that you can easily locate your target market....

83. Why You Need to Claim Your Space on MySpace
All great marketers do one thing well: build relationships. Obviously the best way to start building relationships is with personal, face-to-face networking at conferences, seminars or workshops. But with the Internet and the rise of social networking sites such as MySpace, you no longer have to leave the comfort of your home to meet hundreds of like-minded people every day....

84. Ten Tips for Maximizing Affliate Traffic
Once your affiliate center is filled with products, promotional tools and AFFILIATES, your site should start experiencing increased traffic volume. And here are ten things you can do to maximize that volume....

85. How to Attract Affiliates via Directories
Manually searching for partners isn't the only method of recruiting affiliates. You can also attract them to you through affiliate directories or ads....

86. The Seven-Step Formula for Writing to Prospective Affiliates
Like any good product, you need great copy to persuade your prospects to join your affiliate program. Remember, though, that this isn't a generic sales letter. When you contact prospective affiliates, you need to tailor the letter to each particular person. You can do so by adhering to a specific format....

87. How to Educate Your Affiliates
Never assume that just because affiliates join your program that they know how to market and sell. In reality, the majority of them will have no marketing knowledge or experience, so they are looking for direction from you....

88. How to Recruit Affiliates
Setting up your affiliate center with various promotional materials is important, but unless you build upon that foundation and actually recruit people to join, you won't see any new traffic to your site via affiliates. It's the same with any product. If you don't market it, you won't make any sales regardless of how amazing the product is....

89. The All-Time Best Traffic Source
Do you know what your number one source of traffic should be if you want to experience massive success as an Internet marketer? It's affiliate traffic!...

90. How to Create a Profitable Affiliate Program
Your affiliates are in the Internet marketing business just like you are. And like you, they can only stay in business if they are generating cash. So be generous. The more money you help your affiliates earn, the more profit you'll see on your own bottom line....

91. How to Get Your Affiliate Program Noticed
Your potential affiliates are trying to decide which programs to join and how to differentiate one from another. So how do you differentiate yourself and make your program attractive? You set it up in a way that gives you an edge over the competition....

92. Seven Ways to Find Affiliates to Promote Your Products
Having an affiliate program is a great way to generate targeted traffic, but you have to know how to find affiliates to promote for you. Here are seven ways to do just that....

93. How to Create Your Affiliate Center
Developing, maintaining and constantly improving your affiliate center is crucial to your online success. This must become your TOP MARKETING PRIORITY and remain your TOP MARKETING PRIORITY for the duration of your business....

94. How To Submit Stories to Digg
Submitting stories to Digg is a simple process. The first thing you have to do, though, is sign up for a free user account. Once you choose a username and password and confirm your email address, you're an active member and ready to begin the submission process....

95. Your Blog and the Digg Traffic Cycle
The best place to send Digg traffic to is a blog. Blogging gives you a quick and easy way to publish your ideas. Millions of people can then read and respond. In essence, blogs create open conversations between you and your audience....

96. How to Effectively Use Digg
When you see a crowd at a store, doesn't that make you wonder what the commotion is all about? That's how stories on Digg become popular: they attract "crowds" in the form of Diggs....

97. Using Digg to Drive Traffic
If you're not familiar with Digg, it is an interactive social news service. All the articles posted on the website are submitted by the online community. People such as yourself decide what the real news of the day is by voting for or "digging" online articles. Articles rewarded with "Diggs" by readers become popular....

98. How to Create a Traffic Hub with Your Blog
Think of your blog as a hub for your online traffic. Just as airlines have hubs in major cities to expedite their flight traffic, you need a hub on the Internet to expedite your online traffic....

99. Making Money with Your Blog Traffic
Your blog is your traffic hub. In other words, it shouldn't be the final destination for your visitors. By giving them other places to go and other things to do, you direct them to places where they have the opportunity to spend money buying your products....

100. How to Create a Viral Blog
It doesn't matter which blogging service you choose. The important thing is to pick one and get a blog started as soon as possible. But unless your blog posts contain a combination of certain components, you can not and should not expect it to become a viral blog....

101. The Three Keys to Blogging Success
While you don't need to understand the software that creates your blog, you do need a basic understanding of how the blogging system works. The three main things you need to know about are RSS feeds, pinging and trackbacks....

102. The Top Ten Reasons You Need a Viral Blog
Blogs enhance your reputation and attract traffic in ways other types of sites cannot. As an online marketer, you need to know why blogs are important to your business....

103. 3 Ways to Position Yourself as an Expert
The only way to succeed in business is to specialize. So you choose a market you can dominate. This article shows you three ways to establish a dominant position in your niche....

104. Increase Your Traffic By Increasing Your Expert Status
In this article, we'll explore four ways to position yourself as an expert and thus drive massive traffic to your site....

105. How to Gain the Trust of Your Prospects
To succeed in business, you need to be able to deliver your knowledge and help your customers trust you as an expert....

106. How to Pick a Niche Market You Can Dominate
In business, you only want to play in a niche market you can dominate. To find that niche, you must first look within yourself....

107. Why Experts Get Paid More
Do you have to be a high profile celebrity to be an expert? NO! You simply need to know a lot about a little bit....

108. Triple Your Traffic with One Easy Step
In theory, viral marketing is done by getting one 'happy customer' to tell their friends, who in turn tell their friends, who in turn tell their friends and so on. The problem, however, has always been figuring out a way to actually get this phenomena to happen systematically....

109. Squidoo Your Way to the Top of Search Engine Rankings
One social networking site that is quickly gaining popularity is Squidoo. The idea behind this site is to give people what they want. What many people don't realize about Squidoo is that its linking preferences fly in the face of conventional SEO teachings....

110. Free Traffic With Web 2.0
Free targeted traffic. If that's not your idea of a goldmine, you shouldn't be in the Internet marketing business. And getting free targeted traffic has recently become even more powerful thanks to the help of Web 2.0....

111. How to Effortlessly Attract More Customers
With the abundance of information available online, your customers don't know how to decide whom to trust. So your job is to grab their attention and help them trust YOU. The simple way to do just that is to become an expert....

112. Why You Must Become an Expert
Power in business comes from the position you hold in the mind of your customer. The ONLY way to gain that strong position is to specialize....

113. How to Become a Recognized Authority in Your Field
Being an expert doesn't necessarily mean that you know more than anyone else. It does mean that you know how to clearly explain a detailed, step-by-step process or system to a targeted audience....

114. Using Video to Generate Traffic
When you upload your videos to a video hosting like You Tube, they will give you an opportunity to enter in a title and a description for your video. This step is of vital importance to getting your video to show up in the results when others are searching. If you don't have a good title and description, chances are your video will just get lost in the masses....

115. How to Use Video to Generate More Sales
The beauty of video is that people get the chance to see you as a 'real' person. And that is attractive to buyers....

116. Viral Marketing with Online Video
Arguably, the best way for you to market your business is to have someone else do it for you for free, over and over and over again! To many marketers this may sound like just a 'dream' but it happens everyday via 'word of mouth marketing.'...

117. How to Get Your Videos Passed Around
Humor is the number one way to get your video passed around. If you can't be funny, consider being shocking....