ADLANDS'
DIGEST
A
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of
16,988 subscribers
on
web marketing and promotion
supported
by AdlandPro World's Classifieds
at
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Bogdan
Fiedur, Publisher
mailto:
Bogdan@softfornet.com
Vol.
1, #165, Mar 26, 2000
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=======================ADVERTISEMENT=====================
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Topics in this issue:
Sponsor Message
Word from Publisher
Success Story
=====================
C o n t i n u i n g D i s c u s s i o n s (1)
=============================================
1.)Why Bother Giving Away Free Stuff?
~ Melanie
N e w P o s t s (3)
==========================
1.) Tony
~ Giving away free stuff
2.) Oscar White
~ Clubs and Message Boards Are A More Effective Way of Advertising
3.) Richard Hill
~ E-commerce solutions
A l e r t S e c t i o n(1)
=======================
1.) Tammie Perrett
~ SCAM Opportunities - Beware
Site Review Responses (0)
==========================
Site Review Requests (0)
===========================
G u e s t A r t i c l e (1)
================================
I Haven't Made My $100,000 Yet Part Time. When Am I Going To Make Money?
By Ross W Reyman, Jr.
G u e s t A r t i c l e (2)
================================
GROW YOUR BUSINESS BY CREATING COMMUNITY
By Paul -the soarING- Siegel
Joke of the Day
===============
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----===(*)===-----
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
================== Word from publisher ====================
Greetings All
Welcome 195 new subscribers who joined list since last mailing.
----===(*)===-----
In last issue Jessie Coughlin asked for Alert section in Adland Digest.
It prompted me to send out the digest a bit earlier than planned.
This might seem very paradoxical but this Digest was promoting
SCAM for about 6 months. I have to admit that after receiving letters
during last week from people who purchased promotion packages
from PIYB either advertised here or on AdlandPro site.
This is almost unthinkable that after cashing thousands of dollars,
PIYB suspended their operation, stopped responding to customers
requests to refund money and on top of that is redirecting any traffic
coming to their site to http://www.cardservice.com/
I'm learning that Cardservice International was acting on behave of PIYB
previously and processed all their credit card transactions.
What I can advice to anybody who purchased any services from PIYB
due to advertising on my site or Adland Digest, that you call your credit card
company and dispute the transaction. You paid for the service which
never was provided to you.
Today I also received letter from one of the advertisers who filed formal
legal complaint with the Attorney General of Illinois, Jim Ryan
Here below is portion of his letter.
<---------------------->
I have filed formal complaint with the Attorney General of Illinois, Jim Ryan,
and his office is pursuing investigation, hopefully preventing them from
operating in Illinois again. In your newsletter, if anyone is interested, they
can file consumer complaint with Jim Ryan's office by calling the Chicago
Area office at (312) 814-3000 and requesting a consumer complaint form
via mail. Mr. Ryan's office is very efficient and will mail the form promptly.
<------------------------->
I'm sure that my response here to this problem can't fix all of the disappointment
caused by choosing PIYB offers advertised here, but you should remember that
credit card companies are on your side, and if there is any customer complaint
against merchant, it will be ruled against them most of the time, particularly if
merchant doesn't have customer signature.
B.F.
----===(*)===-----
Send your Success Story for Adland Digest success story
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and read about rules and guidelines.
Winners of the first, second and third place will be linked from each
AdlandPro Free World's Classifieds page throughout the next year.
Exposure obtained from this promotion can be tremendous amount of
traffic to winners of this contest.
AdlandPro receives 4,000 visitors with 20,000 page viewings daily.
Link to this page will be displayed 7,320,000 times during coming year,
not taking into account any traffic growth.
See this link for previous success stories.
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==========S u c c e s s S t o r y=============
From: "A.L Haines." <alhims@excite.com>
I started on the internet marketing scene about 3 1/2 years
ago. I began by creating my own music website on my favourite
band, Lynyrd Skynyrd. http://www.cgocable.net/~rhaines
Like so many others, i must have joined about 20 affiliate
groups and slapped a zillion banners onto those pages
and anxiously awaited my fortune to begin it's arrival.
And waited and waited........
Would you believe I actually thought my counter was broken!!
I had only gotten 41 hits in two weeks, so i was quite
discouraged and started searching for new options.
( As i look back, i realize those first pages were pretty
awful, to say the least.)
I needed someone to show me the ropes and began my next
journey into the marketing arena where i met up with a
site that had a "FREE Marketing Course"
I signed up immediatley.
The person who responded began explaining everything in
gigantic e-mails and had me so convinced i almost sent
my money. luckily my wife intervened before this occured
I was so convinved AND confused about everything, i almost
gave it all up.
(PLUS it seems the course also entailed recieving over 3000
e-mails from other members, who all tried to sell me something
over a 2 week period. Deleting e-mails all day was not
what i wanted to be doing.)
What to do? I Started looking again with the hope it would
be different this time.
Bogdan, i got lucky. While Surfing looking for that chance of
a lifetime i stumbled onto what has become my Major producer.
EVERYONE has heard of Foreverweb. If they haven't, they are
obviously newbies to internet marketing.
I subscribed to the "1,001 Killer Internet Marketing Tactics"
course and began my quest.
http://www.roibot.com/kt.cgi?IM9582_campaign
As soon as i joined, i knew i had made the right decision,
because, they sent the information in an easy to read
newsletter format that wasn't cluttered with a zillion
different advertisements adorning the pages.
Each e-mail i recieved was on precise & focused on the topic
and has never strayed from that procedure yet.
It made it very easy to understand & concentrate on what they
were saying & the coaching techniques actually MADE ME think
about what i was trying to tell my visitors.
My advertisement writing skills were terrible but i must have
learned something because i sold 6 items my first month !!
I was elated and eagerly awaited their next Killer Tactic
to arrive. I STILL DO !!
They solved that quite easily with Hynotic Writing Tips.
http://www.roibot.com/hw.cgi?IM9582_campaign
One more thing i'd like to add is i used one of their ideas and
started an opt-in e-mail club, which has blossomed quite well in
it's brief existance and is growing rapidly. It supplies
marketing tips and tricks i've learned & articles from
very influential marketing "Guru's" it's sure to become a
major success for me.
Small Business at Home Group newsletter
http://smallbusiness.nethop.com
mailto:sbahg-subscribe@topica.com
It's working so well, i made a second group and it's membership
is steadily increasing daily as well.
AdSwappers (my other club)
http://members.theglobe.com/ALHIMS/index2.html
They also have an exceptional little program to ensure
you keep track of everything, called Affiliate Asstistant.
This little diamond is well worth $27.00 anyday!!
http://www.roibot.com/a.cgi?IM9582_campaign
Anyone wishing to better their Internet Marketing Skills will
benefit GREATLY by joining the Aesop Foreverweb Team.
The support will totally AMAZE YOU, and the commission
cheques arrive exactly when they said they would.
Well thats my mini story Bogdan, i presently earn about
$800.00-900.00 a month for 8 hrs of work promoting each week.
Not a fortune yet, but my bills are all paid!!
Thanks for the opportunity to tell my story,
Sincerely,
A.L Haines
Oakville, Ontario
Canada
My Motto; "Success is what YOU get out of it"
***********YOU can own an online CASINO site NOW!***********
YES YOU CAN & the profits from this site are staggering.
*****Yeah, but how much? Less than dinner and a movie.*****
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==========C o n t i n u i n g D i s c u s s i o n (1.1)=============
From: "Melanie" <privateye@investigative.on.ca>
Subject: Why Bother Giving Away Free Stuff?
In the last issue Adrian Elman wrote.:
>I launched our new site at http://www.int-resources.com/main.htm
>one week ago. Sales went berserk! I have not made less than
>$1000 a day since and it's climbing. Please note that there isn't a
>freebie in sight and so the people visiting are those that have
>money to spend.
____________________________________________________
I went to this site to see what appeared in my imagination must be
wildly successful. To bad I couldn't view it.
See - it requires flash. I won't download flash. I won't download
ANYthing that is required to view some website! What is wrong
with this picture?
1) no one with web t.v. or probably aol is going to get in
2) When I tried to hit the tiny link that says - "see some non-flash
content - it didn't go anywhere
3) the site then perma froze up my browser.
4) A lot of people resent having to download anything to view some
content - Especially sales. You lose a lot becasue of it.
I run a new Pentium 500 with IE 5 so i don't imagine it's MY stuff! :}
ANyway-point is I couldn't see your site. Maybe I'd have bought
something in there IF I could have seen it - oh well..........
And free stuff thread - Don't kid yourself - IF your free stuff is Really
great - they then KNOW your paid for stuff is DYNAMITE! It works.
All the best - Melanie
-------------------------------------------------
Investigative Resources for Everyone
Website: http://investigative.on.ca
email: Privateye@Investigative.on.ca
-------------------------------------------------
======================N e w P o s t i n g (1)========================
From: "Tony" <t.spark@talk21.com>
Subject: Giving away free stuff
Hi Bogden, what am i doing wrong?
On my site i offer people 'freebies' in order to get their
e-mail addresses to build up the subscriber lists to my e-zine.
I run a site dedicated to horse racing and gambling fans at
www.racing-online.co.uk. Only about 10%
of the visitors
actually request the free systems and regular updates i offer.
How can i increase the reader's interest in what i am giving away?
Keep up the good work.
Thanks,
Tony
======================N e w P o s t i n g (2)========================
From: "Oscar White" <oscarw032@hotmail.com>
Subject: Clubs and Message Boards Are A More Effective Way of Advertising
When I began my journey in internet marketing, one of the first things I
learnt was search engines is the most effective way of reaching your
potential customers. I learnt what meta tag is about and got an awareness of
the important points for good ranking by the search engines. I've been told
Classifieds and Links are important too.
Unfortunately many link sites are of poor quality. The font size used is so
small and there are too many links on the page, one even does not want to
look at it globally, let alone trying to find something useful among them.
Who would like to spend their time that way? And who would want to tire
their eyes that are already tired looking at the computer screen? The best
links site I discovered in my search up until now is
http://www.FantasticLinks.com
Here each link is salient thanks to the rows in different colours.
So far I didn't get anything by means of Link Sites. Classifieds allows you
to get responses occasionally (and mostly confirmation messages together
with opportunity offers from others), but I recently realized that clubs and
message boards are incredibly effective in reaching people. The members are
there, posting their own messages and reading yours, and responding to the
messages which they find interesting.
Speedline Club's message board is a great place for people that want to
build their downline. You get responses to your post within one day and
there are many posts that ask for some information you might send. I would
strongly advise fellow entrepreneurs to be a member to this club:
http://www.speedlineclub.com
I wouldn't like to make a long list here. Most of you must have already
heard about egroups.com. But I can't pass on the globelists; I got important
responses from Moneyworks club.
I need to reach as many people as possible for a MLM project at hand.
I'm a bit tentative about using Bulk Mail since I'm inexperienced in that and
I wouldn't like to risk my account. It appears that it takes a lot of time too and
increases your online expenditure. I've been trying Planetall instead. I found a
Business Opportunities group there, and have been increasing my connections
with people sharing the same interest everyday. Do you know of any other
alternatives that will enable me to find safe email addresses that I can
write to about my email-based MLM project?
Regards
Sencan Topaloglu
======================N e w P o s t i n g (3)========================
From: "Richard Hill" <rfha@bellsouth.net>
Subject:E-commerce solutions
There are a lot of netizens out there who either already are selling online, or who
want to. One very major problem for many online entrepreneurs is getting a merchant
account. This can cost from a few hundred, up to several thousand dollars (if you
get stuck in a hardware/software lease). And for those willing to pay these rates,
many cannot qualify because of debt problems, divorce, bankruptcy – or they just don’
t want the hassle.
If our brave merchant overcomes this hurdle, there is often the problem of having a
shopping cart that will automatically interface with the merchant account. Having
that account won’t do you a lot of good if you have to manually re-enter information
from a html form – your customers want immediate approval and a receipt. A cart
can
cost from a few hundred to several thousand dollars as well. The cost mounts…
Let’s
not forget about the cost of encryption enroute and back from the bank, either.
CyberCash, I-Bill, IC Verify, all involve costs.
You will also need to have a secure server and a certified secure site certificate,
like those from Verisign and others. This process involves further checks on you and
your business, including a Dun and Bradstreet rating.
And then there is the matter of the time to get all this going – it might be days, it
could be months – depending on you, the merchant bank, the cart folks, your ISP, the
data encryption software folks…. Believe me, it can go on, and on, and on.
Been
there, done that, got the t-shirt!
There is another answer, however, that is very fast, inexpensive and reliable.
Shoppers World, Inc., through their site at www.shopkeeper.net,
offer free setup for
up to 10 products, free shopping cart and low cost transaction processing. You can
be up and running the next day. You simply fill out a form when you order the
service identifying the products, prices and shipping costs (if any) and you are off
an running. There is no long-term contract – everything is month-to-month.
It costs
just $20 per month and 12.5% of the transaction amount (most folks just adjust their
prices accordingly).
You can get all the details at www.shopkeeper.net/mcs.htm
and be online tomorrow….
Good selling!
Regards,
Richard F. Hill
--------------------------------------------
Shoppers World, Inc.
2655 North Ocean Drive, Suite 300
Singer Island, FL 33404
561-863-5458 (9-5 EST, M-F)
-----------------------------------------------
================ALERT SECTION=======================
From: Tammie Perrett <bpsolutions2000@yahoo.com>
Subject: SCAM Opportunities - Beware
After reading the 'Harvard' article I felt obliged to
share with you the dealings with PHOTOCASH.COM &
PHOTOWEALTH.COM I have investigated these companies
after receiving no reply after giving up my $45US.
What a sucker. They have addresses almost side by
side, in a town called Idylwild. My informant's child
goes to school with guys kid. He offers a double your
money back guarantee. Be warned - if a site doesn't
have a REAL live person at the end of that phone
number - DONOT give them your money. Also be wary of
those who will only accept CASH or INTERNATIONAL MONEY
ORDERS as these cannot be cancelled and try and track
down an international bank draft after it is drawn -
forget it. Take it from a struggling single mum who
got sucked in big time. If someone can let me know
who to contact to have their domain names & contacts
blackbanded let me know.
Tammie Perrett
solutions@pacific.net.au
---------------------------------------------------------
Get ALL the tools you need to supercharge your business NOW.
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--------------------------------------------------------
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===================G u e s t A r t i c l e (1)=====================
I Haven't Made My $100,000 Yet Part Time. When Am I Going To Make Money?
By Ross W Reyman, Jr.
ABC News carried a story of a man who was selling his 3-year-old Internet
business for 3.2 million with stock in the company that was buying. He
stated, " I want to do something else with my life. I just graduated from
high school and want to have time for college activities and have a full
social life. Besides I can invest and do my thing."
We have all read these stories. College students in a small room started
Yahoo. We read and at least hope that we can do something ourselves..
So many who read these things want a miracle? Ads for Internet opportunities
tell of that at least 100 thousand, at least a better home with a new BMW in
the three car garage. After all Bill Gates, and the person selling you the
opportunity made it.
Here are some things that must be considered to live a real life on the
Internet.
1) MOST BUSINESSES ARE UNDER CAPITALIZED. Only about
2% of all SMALL
businessmen are still in business 2 years after they start. Why should it be
any different on the Internet? The biggest reasons for failure is not enough
money. After you buy your computer equipment, you need about $400 to start
at least. Yes, there are those who started with less who made it. Ruth
Townsend of Cortland, New York started with free ads
(http://www.lifestylespub.com/). It is being
done all the time. But only a
few make it. But the Internet business cost considerable less to start than
the hundred thousand needed to start most businesses.
2) LACK OF TRAINING. Some men and women think that owning a computer is the
key to success. The computer age is still just starting. We are the silent
movie stage. We need to learn and learn more. Take one course at a time at
your community college. The way computer science of going, we will always be
in need for more training. Spend at least an hour per week learning
computers, business skills. Admit that you don't know everything. When you
find something that you don't know, go to people who will help you. One site
has some courses about the Internet at http://www.sonic.net/~rwreyman/
Use
other people's energy.
3) NO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN GOALS AND COMMITMENTS. A goal and commitment are
not the same. To sell 50 ads is a goal. To be committed to making the sales
is hard work. Give yourself some slack, but don't let yourself slack off.
Make realistic goals and work towards it. Did you know that most fortunes
are still made one step at a time? Carry out one step at a time with
commitment. Make bit size portions and win one step at a time.
4) NO GOALS AT ALL. Define what you want. One my early advertisers didn't
want to be on the Internet, but wanted to be a weekend artist. He has the
talent, too. Do you really want to be an Internet marketer? Write down your
goals and the keep them in sight. Do check them daily. Some days you will
have holes in your plan, but by daily glancing at them, you will eventually
think the holes full. One goal that successful businessmen always have is to
take a percentage of their earnings and reinvest it. If you spent $100 to
take $200, pyramid with $150 to make $300. Plan your strategy.
5) TAKE TIME. In Mail Order that I came from, experts said that it took
about a year to learn that trade. I believe that it takes the same on the
Internet. Make a learning period first. Learn as much as you can. But unlike
mail order, I believe that you must continue to learn. I got an email from
someone in New Zealand once that outlined my mistakes. And told me that I
must change because in so many words he was an expert. There is no total
expert in this business because both technology and practice is still
growing. The persons who think he or she is an expert will eventually run
out of the expertise that he had because it will have changed.
The Internet is still as land of opportunities, but you must be realistic
and then work hard. Some will disagree with me, but I believe that one
should try until you get it right. Where else can you start a business with
$400 or less and have a chance to make it. Sound unpleasant, but some will
have to invest that $400 and about the third or fourth $400, he will make
it.
--------------
Ross Reyman is owner of Entrepreneur 2001 Online Magazine. He is also owner
the largest freebies site for Internet businessmen that contains free ads,
moneymaking, and freebies such as computers, money and others at
http://www.sonic.net/~rwreyman/ He will try
to answer short questions from
his Internet addresses.
===================G u e s t A r t i c l e (2)=====================
GROW YOUR BUSINESS BY CREATING COMMUNITY
By Paul -the soarING- Siegel
How can you grow your business when your business environment is being transformed
under your eyes? The old Industrial Age, with its emphasis on mass production and
mass print, radio and TV advertising, is no more. It has
been replaced with the Learning Age, which emphasizes services and the use of the
Internet to grow individual relationships.
Before, we did forecasting, long range planning, and product development. Today,
because of constant change, it makes no sense to do long range planning. Instead, we
must concentrate on making the company adaptable to cha
nge. The best way to do this is to create a community.
WHAT IS A COMMUNITY?
A community consists of people getting involved for a common purpose. A common
purpose provides cohesion. But it's not enough to make a community. It's the degree
of involvement that matters most.
Think of people watching a movie at a movie house. They come temporarily, for a
common purpose. But, you will surely agree that attendees are not part of a
community. Similarly, AltaVista, EBay, and other popular Internet
sites are not communities.
If the auditorium were used for a prominent speaker, an Olympic planning committee
meeting, a political convention, or a charity fund raiser, these are more likely to
be called communities. Especially, the latter, because
of the greater degree of involvement of participants.
The following are the major characteristics of the four levels of community on the
Internet, from the weakest to the strongest:
1 - INTELLECTUAL DISCUSSION - Forums and lists, where people discuss ideas or people
they are interested in.
2 - PRACTICAL DISCUSSION - These may be lists or hubs where the exchanged information
has practical use. Included here are product-oriented lists which help members use
the given device or software better, such as Excel-l
(EXCEL-L-Request@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM);
lists which expedite referrals, such as
Consulting Tools (http://www.referrals.com); and
hubs which expedite linking, such as
Chemdex (http://www.chemdex.com).
3 - ACTION - A group gets together in order to do something. Two excellent examples
are the Linux Open Source group, which designed, wrote, critiqued and modified the
Linux Operating System (http://www.linux.org); and the
Cooperative Business Bookstore (http://www.capital-connection/bsbookstore.html),
where several authors got together to sell their wares cooperatively.
4 - EMOTION - A greater binding factor than either discussion or action is emotion.
People who are emotionally involved in what they do make a powerful community. A good
example is the alt.support.cancer Usenet group, whe
re members offer emotional support to help members cope.
HOW TO BUILD COMMUNITY
To build a community, you need first and foremost, a helpful and cooperative
attitude. Among the techniques are:
1 - CHOOSE YOUR MEDIUM - You may use a website forum, a newsletter or an email
discussion list. Both the forum and list require more active participation and thus
are better vehicles for building a community than the news
letter. Get to understand your chosen medium. Give your group a meaningful and catchy
name.
2 - ENTICE LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE TO JOIN - Get people to subscribe from your site by
setting up a simple subscription form. Enter the name of your group into universal
directories and search engines, plus directories devoted
to discussion groups. Also, exchange reciprocal links or reciprocal ads with others
who have similar groups.
3 - ENCOURAGE DISCUSSION - Maintain interest and stimulate excitement. Forbid blatant
selling and caustic personal exchanges. Maintain your focus on a specific subject
area, and don't allow members to wander off course. O
ffer suggestion, present controversial ideas for discussion, and compliment members
who offer good posts.
4 - INTRODUCE COOPERATIVE ACTIVITIES - To gain greater involvement, try to get
members to do something. At the very least get them to spread the word about the
group. Encourage members to request help, and for other membe
rs to provide the help.
5 - BUILD EMOTIONAL SUPPORT - Unless your group deals with emotional problems, this
is difficult to do. But it's worthwhile trying when an emotion-laden situation
arises. Whenever possible, try to build empathy among memb
ers.
ADVANTAGES FOR SMALL BUSINESS
Small Business can build community easier than Big Business. Big Business is
encumbered by big markets and mass audiences. It's hard to see how they may get all
those people to relate to each other in a community. Small B
usiness deals with smaller audiences and is skilled at developing client
relationships.
Here are 3 important advantages of creating online communities:
1 - INCREASE YOUR CREDIBILITY - Moderating a group, if skilfully done, will
demonstrate to members your professionalism, your mastery of the subject, your
reliability, your willingness to help, your scrupulous privacy pol
icy. Members wil get to know you well enough to trust you. Such trust is worth a
fortune.
2 - DEVELOP LOYALTY - You are daily in a position to demonstrate what you can do for
your clients. You learn about their problems and support solutions.
3 - GAIN NEW BUSINESS IDEAS - A community discusses all sorts of things you'd never
dream of on your own. Someone may have a problem which stumps you, but which another
member has the answer to. Another may have a problem
that can not be solved with current technology and a member of
the group suggests innovations which may prove a boon to your
business. You may also use the group as a sounding board for
innovations of your own.
SUMMARY
On the Internet visitors, not vendors, are in control. The best way to
entice them to do business with you is to bring them into a
community devoted to discussing and solving problems of mutual
concern to them and to you. A good community will bring
credibility, loyalty and new business ideas with which to grow your
business.
-----------------------
Paul is an Internet marketing consultant. He is the manager of the
Learning Fountain Network, which features Learning Fountains:
websites that influence visitors by helping them learn; see
http://www.learningfountain.com. He is the
moderator of
LearningFOUNT, a discussion list on Business Problem Solving
and Community Building; to subscribe, send a blank email to:
mailto:subscribe@learningfountain.com.
Because of his
performance on the platform, he is called Paul "the soarING" Siegel.
======================Joke of the Day=====================
Taken from Joke a Day
My grandmother, who lived in Tucson, was well-known for her
faith and lack of reticence in talking about it. She would go
out on the front porch and say, "Praise the Lord!"
Her next door neighbor would shout back, "There ain't no
Lord!"
During those days, my grandmother was very poor, so the
neighbor decided to prove his point by buying a large bag of
groceries and placing it at her door.
The next morning, Grandmother went to the porch and,
seeing the groceries, said, "Praise the Lord!"
The neighbor stepped out from behind a tree and said, "I
brought those groceries, and there ain't no Lord."
Grandmother replied, "Lord, you not only sent me food but
you made the devil pay for it."
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