Keyboard to Bank Account!

Why are so many Twitter users badly behaved?

2009-10-03T12:17:00.000-07:00

I looked up the words badly behaved in the Oxford English Dictionary and found this:

badly behaved, adj.

DRAFT ENTRY Sept. 2008
Brit. /badli bhevd /, U.S. /bædli bhevd /, /bædli bihevd / [< BADLY adv. + BEHAVED adj. Compare WELL-BEHAVED adj.]

1. Of a person or animal: that (habitually) violates standards of proper or appropriate behaviour.
2. Of an object, phenomenon, etc.: having properties that do not conform to an expected, desired, or predictable pattern.

This definition discribes an unruly group of people... and many of them are Twitter users! Yes, I said it. I just don't see why so many Twitter users offer nothing, and I mean nothing, but links to tired affiliate programs without even so much as a bit of humor. Not so much as an interesting anecdote. Not even a comment on the latest current affairs.

You know who you are and I was really hoping to be entertained!

Seriously, though, I'm interested in being inspired to hear more of what someone has to say. Sadly I'm just not inspired as much as I want, or need, to be.

I'd love to hear your comments, criticism included, on this topic.

P.S. OK, so three guys walk into a bar...

5 (+1) great ways to increase traffic to your blog

2009-10-03T12:05:00.000-07:00

How to increase traffic to a blog is a constant question on the minds of many marketers with an online presence. Just about everyone (including my niece) owns a blog and many manage a web site, too.

If the improvement of search engine page rankings is the blogger's Holy Grail then far too many of us are wandering in the wilderness looking for it.
Tsk, tsk. It can get mighty thirsty out there.

Let's take a look at some of the methods we can use to find that chalice.

1. Blog directory submissions
Ping-O-Matic, Ping-O-Matic! I've long been in love with Ping-O-Matic. One-click submission to a double handful of blog directories is my idea of nirvana. Better yet, hit that Ping-O-Button after every post (you do post regularly, don't you?) and you've got traffic heading your way.

Listing with other directories, such as Blogflux, Blog Explosion and even, DMOZ, the open directory, will give you increased traffic through backlinking which, in turn, creates the improvement in page ranking your blog wants for Christmas.

2. Social bookmarking
Probably the most powerful of methods in creating that buzz are the likes of Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit, StumbleUpon and, of course, Twitter. As each of these sites revolves around building relationships within communities, the key here is to participate regularly and often. Oh, and it does help to actually have something to say!

My favorite tool of the moment is the ReTweet button you see on many blogs. If you like the content, clicking this button automatically creates a message relating to the post, which is then ready to send from your account. You only need click the submit button. Very cool!

Unsurprisingly, with such a huge number of visitors, these sites rank ridiculously well with Google, Yahoo! and MSN. So if your blog receives a plethora of backlinks due to the curiosity of the bookmarking and tweeting glitterati, your blog will no doubt rise well (just like a puff pastry!) in the page ranking stakes.

3. Article submissions
Certainly the slickest method of driving traffic to your blog, article marketing not only syndicates your work across uncounted free content sites but also defines you as an authority in your particular field. Nice for credibility!

Submitting articles is probably the most time-consuming activity of all the traffic-driving options I've seen but it truly is worth while. You can't submit any old junk, though. Article sites, quite rightly, demand a reasonable level of quality and won't put up with straight out self-promotion. But that's why it's called quality content, isn't it?!

After writing an article, your kudos comes in the form of a resource box. This is your authors bio' area and you can include a couple of live links to your blog or web site. So everyone who read's your article, wherever it's posted, will potentially see your site link. That's a lot of eyeballs.

Also many site owners, not having the time or inclination to write themselves, need articles for inclusion on their sites (unchanged and maintaining your author credit, of course). Your article is offered as free content by the article site you posted to. So site owners using free content articles attract many more visitors to their sites and create backlinks for your blog.

Take a look at these article submission sites:
www.ezinearticles.com, www.goarticles.com, www.searchwarp.com, www.usfreeads.com, www.articlecity.com, www.articledashboard.com, www.articlealley.com, www.bluearticles.com.

4. Free classified sites
Classified ad sites are extremely useful and shouldn't be over-looked. US Free Ads is a favorite of mine but also check these sites out:

www.craigslist.org, classifieds.yahoo.com, www.thefreeadforum.com, www.domesticsale.com, www.classifiedsforfree.com, www.adlandpro.com, www.classifiedads.com, www.citynews.com, www.theadnet.com, www.usfreeads.com, www.salespider.com, www.kijiji.com, www.rediff.com

5. Forum sites
One place to whip up traffic is through posting on forums relevant to your blog category. You can be very successful with this, especially if you get involved and become known in a forum. With a great content blog, you can't fail to gather a following.

Some forums, an example is the Free Ad Forum, allow you to place a signature in your profile. So by adding your blog link to your signature and replying to a bunch of postings, you'll get your blog link in front of even more people. Just a thought.

And in a category on its own is Z-List.
I've recently posted the Z-list on my blog and you, too, can use it to increase traffic to your site. Z-list has a viral effect and is an idea introduced by Mack Collier way back in 2007. Simply put, Z-list is a list of blog links, which you post on your blog. Everyone is encouraged to copy the list and insert their own blog details before posting to their blog. This creates backlinks for everybody on the list, thus increasing traffic.

Voila!

How to put the Z-list on your blog

2009-10-03T11:17:00.000-07:00

"I'm doing my part by spreading the link love! Find out how you, too, can share in the link love and get a little exposure for your blog..." ;o)

Welcome to the Z-list... again!
History

The Z-list was originally started by Mack Collier as a way of challenging two concepts -- the A-list of bloggers and the Technorati approach to ranking authority. The focus at first was on marketing blogs.

Starting with only five blogs, Mack encouraged other bloggers to take this list, add five of their own favourite blogs that don't receive a lot of "link love", and then publish it on their sites. This saw many blogs with great content but small readerships begin to make an impact on the marketing community's blogs.

In January 2007, the Z-list seemed to quieten down, but by then many of the sites on the list had rocketed up the Technorati rankings. But in early February 2007, the Z-list was picked up by another category of bloggers and the fun started again. By now the Z-list contained well over 150 sites and covered a number of category areas, it was decided by Becky Carroll, Sharon Sarmiento and Gavin Heaton to embark upon the task of categorising the list and providing short descriptions of each of the blogs listed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:
The width of my post column stops you from seeing the list in it's entirety, so you can also download the MS Word document from here.

Here's a link to the original z-list page. [ Just to make sure... ;0) ]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to put the Z-list on your blog

To put the Z-list onto your blog:
1. Click and drag from the top of the table to the bottom.
2. Copy it to your clipboard (Ctrl + C) on a PC
3. Create a new blog entry
4. Paste (Ctrl + V) it into the body of your post

The Z-list

The list below is the latest version. Add your own new blogs to this list and then publish it on your site! Thanks for spreading the link love!

Blog Name	Author	Location	Category	10 Word Description
Calico Monkey			Animation	Focuses on the ToonBoom software to create animation.
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together	Tammy Vitale	Maryland, USA	Art	Art-focused, including thoughts on the art that Tammy produces.
Woolgathering	Elizabeth Perry		Art	Looking, thinking, drawing, being
World Blog Collection	ugyen		Blog aggregator	Blog listings categorized by type; goal to add 1000 links in ’07.
Blogging Secret	Louiss Lim	Malaysia	Blogging	Part personal but mostly blogging related site.
Blogging to Fame	Divya Uttam	India	Blogging	All aspects of online business from SEO to usability and blogging.
Blog-Op	Chris Lodge		Blogging	How to improve your blogging by Chris and others.
Daily Blog Tips	Daniel		Blogging	Tips to improve your blogging from tools to design.
Mike's Money Making Mission	Mike		Blogging	Making money using free blogs.
One Reader at a Time	Bob Glaza		Blogging	One blogger’s experiment in building and engaging with online communities.
Ruminate this site	The Ruminator	Maine, USA	Blogging	Reviews blogs and sites so that we don’t have to.
SMogger Social Media Blog	Linda Bustos	Vancouver, Canada	Blogging	The ethical use of social media for bloggers and other web users.
SuccessCREEations	Chris Cree	Georgia, USA	Blogging	Blog Consultant bringing the twin passions of business and blogging together.
Successful Blog	Liz Strauss		Blogging	The legendary Liz Strauss, blogger extraordinaire and creator of the SOB award.
Troy Worman's Blog	Troy Worman	Jacksonville, USA	Blogging	Focus on writing, ideas and connections
Copywriter's Crucible	Matt Ambrose	UK	Blogging, Copywriting	The importance of copy in corporate blogging
Copywriting Tuneups	Eric Rosen		Blogging, Copywriting	How to measure reading effectiveness and why it is important in the blogosphere
Dipping into the Blogpond	Meg	Sydney, Australia	Blogging, Tech	Blogging about starting an Internet company in the Sutherland Shire.
BrandSizzle	Anne Simons		Branding	Broad and deep insight into the branding process.
Own Your Brand!	Mike Wagner	Iowa, USA	Branding	Blog to help businesses re-imagine their brands.
The Emerging Brand	Anna Farmery	UK	Branding	Corporate branding blog focused on leadership.
The Engaging Brand	Anna Farmery	UK	Branding	Using technology and marketing knowledge to improve business communications.
What is Brand?		Japan	Branding	Japanese readers/speakers? Anyone?
Presentation Zen	Garr Reynolds	Japan	Business	(Site in English) Tips for great presentations, marketing, and business communications.
Bob Sutton	Bob Sutton	California, USA	Business	Discussions of “jerks” in business.
Perspective	Niti Bhan	Asia	Business	Health, wealth and the freedom to choose. Archived blog. New one is jugaad (http://www.nitibhan.com/jugaad).
Ramblings from a Glass Half Full	Terry Starbucker	Connecticut, USA	Business	Views on business life.
Simplicity Mary’s Blog	Mary Schmidt	New Mexico, USA	Business	Business development, marketing troubleshooting
Funny Business	Scrambled Toast		Business commentary	Wide ranging discussion on business with a funny and pictorial approach.
Creative Think	Roger von Oech	California, USA	Business, Creativity	Fun Ideas to stimulate your creativity.
The Copywriting Maven	Roberta Rosenberg	Washington DC, USA	Copywriting	Marketing and SEO copywriting tips.
Brain Based Biz	Robyn McMaster		Creativity	Tips for stirring creativity in business.
Experienceology	Stephanie Weaver	California, USA	Customer Experience	How to create great customer experiences on the web and in the “real” world.
QAQNA	Tom Vander Well	Iowa, USA	Customer service	Business blog on call centers, quality assessment, and customer service.
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!	Tim Jackson		Cycling, Blogging	The irrepressible Tim MasiGuy Jackson and Co’s slant on bicycle marketing.
MineThatData	Kevin Hillstrom		Database Marketing	Tips for database marketing from the viewpoint of a DM wiz.
Design Sojourn	DT	Sydney and Singapore	Design	How to do good design and create clever products.
aialone	JT (Jon) Winebrenner	Canada	Design, tech	Design, innovation, as well as Jon’s cartoons!
Frozen Puck	Brock Skywalker	Canada	Eclectic	Making cool stuff with expensive toys
Africa Unchained	Emeka Okafor		Economy	Discussing issues and solutions in Africa.
Energy Blog			Energy Industry	News, information and updates on the Energy generation industry.
Movie Marketing Madness	Chris		Entertainment, marketing	Marketing with a focus on Hollywood. No info on About page.
gDiapers	Jason	Oregon, USA	Environment	Corporate blog discussing environmental issues.
Time to Budget	Mona Weathers		Finance	How to gain financial freedom by controlling your finances.
Soloride	Paul Sanchez	California, USA	Fundraising	A project raising awareness and funds for children with dyslexia and learning differences
Girls Swimsuits	Preety		Girls	The name says it all, new site, small archive.
Home Business Wiz	Barbra Sundquist	Canada	Home business	Collection of resources about home business.
Working at Home on the Internet	Joe Hauckes		Home business, Blogging	Home business entrepreneurs and making money from home
Kristie T	Kristie Tamsevicius		Home business, Online Money Making	Fun, mom-geared work-at-home tips and advice on making money on the net.
Asia Inspection Community			Industrial	Blog for Inspection Engineers based in Asia. Includes job board.
Employment Law Colorado	Peter Mullison	Colorado, USA	Law	Resource for employers and employees on Colorado employment law
Leading Questions	Ed Brenegar	USA	Leadership	Real life leadership, organisational tranformation and practical tips for leaders of all kinds.
Steve Olson	Steve Olson		Life	Chronicling one family’s quest for personal freedom.
Make It Great!	Phil Gerbyshack	Wisconsin, USA	Life coaching	How to take your life from good to great by focusing on relationships.
You Already Know This Stuff	Jodee Bock	Fargo, USA	Life Coaching	Reminding us all that what we need to know is already in our minds and hearts.
HolyMama!		USA	Lifestyle	Funny perspective on life from a stay at home Christian mom.
My Marrakesh	Maryam Montegue	Morocco	Lifestyle	Expatriate American with an eye for style, architecture and good living
Gangster Sonny			Mafia	Fascinated with all things mafia … from movies to weapons.
Talking Story	Rosa Say	Hawaii, USA	Management	Management and leadership, Hawaiian style.
Keyboard to Bank Account	Chris Anisere	USA	Marketing	Marketing tips and techniques for anyone interested in a web-income.
AENDirect	Aen Tan	Singapore	Marketing	Freelance art director’s view on creativity and advertising
Being Peter Kim	Peter Kim	Massachusetts, USA	Marketing	Personal insights from the depths of Forrester (note: this is his personal, not Forrester, blog).
BizandBuzz	Gianandrea Facchini	Rome, Italy	Marketing	Brand building and marketing from an Italian perspective
bizsolutionsplus	Lewis Green	Connecticut, USA	Marketing	A passionate and respected author, marketer and activist.
Blog Till You Drop!	Laurence-Hélène	UK	Marketing	Marketing, advertising, branding, blogging
Branding & Marketing	Chris Brown	Ohio, USA	Marketing	Designed for business professionals with an interest in branding and marketing.
Business Garden		France	Marketing	French readers/speakers?
Buzz Canuck	Sean Moffitt	Toronto, Canada	Word of Mouth	Passionate exponent of word of mouth from Canada.
Buzzoodle	Ron McDaniel	Ohio, USA	Word of mouth, Marketing	Creating buzz with word of mouth marketing.
Christine Kane	Christine Kane		Marketing, Music	A recording artist, Christine harnesses the power of community to reach her audience.
CKs Blog	Christina Kerley	New York, USA	Marketing	Clever strategies, the new best practices, and the smart marketers behind them.
Conversation Agent	Valeria Maltoni	Pennsylvania, USA	Marketing	Connecting ideas and people—how talk can change our lives
converstations	Mike Sansone	Des Moines, USA	Marketing, blogging	Known as the blogging yoda (for insight not looks), Mike is a conversation generator.
CrapHammer	Sean Howard	Canada	Marketing	Marketing using new media.
Customers Rock!	Becky Carroll	California, USA	Marketing, Customer Experience	Marketing the customer experience; its importance for businesses.
Diva Marketing	Toby Bloomberg	Atlanta, USA	Marketing	The Diva herself, aligning technology, marketing and branding for businesses.
Dmitry Linkov	Dmitry Linkov	Moscow, Russia	Marketing, Business	Everyday and business issues
Drew's Marketing Minute	Drew McLellan	USA	Marketing, Eclectic	Where strategy and passion collide
eSoup	Sharon Sarmiento	Alabama, USA	Marketing, Entrepreneurism	Productivity, marketing, web media, small biz development and other stuff entrepreneurs ought to know.
Flooring the Consumer	C. B. Whittemore	New Jersey, USA	Marketing, Customer Experience	Improving the consumer experience, particularly in flooring (carpeting)
Get Shouty!	Katie Chatfield	Sydney, Australia	Marketing, Planning	Digital strategy and thoughts on blogging.
Golden Practices	Michelle Golden		Marketing	Thoughts on marketing for professional services firms, including lawyers and CPAs.
Hee-Haw Marketing	Paul McEnany	Texas, USA	Marketing	There is no box. New media marketing strategy thrown together with a few cuss words and a dash of panache.
Hola! Oi! Hi!	Katia Adams	New York, USA	Marketing, Multicultural	Thoughts of a Brazilian newly arrived in the US with a marketer’s point of view.
Jeremy Latham’s Blog	Jeremy Latham	Vancouver, Canada	Marketing	A marketing-business oriented blog on website development.
John Wagner	John Wagner	Texas, USA	Marketing	News and views on marketing, advertising, media, PR and grass-roots communications
Kinetic Ideas	Wendy Maynard	Oregon, USA	Marketing	Marketing tips, ideas, strategies, and musings for small businesses.
Logic + Emotion	David Armano	Chicago, USA	Marketing	The intersection of marketing, brand engagement and experience design. How to turn your passive consumers into active brand participants.
Marketing Hipster	Cord Silverstein	Raleigh, USA	Marketing	Online oriented blog on marketing and web 2.0 tools.
Marketing Nirvana	Mario Sundar	USA	Marketing	How corporate marketers can leverage the web & social media for better results
Mindblob	Luc	Brussels, Belgium	Marketing	Using alien intelligence to follow the path of ideas as they come to life.
Multi-Cult Classics	HighJive		Marketing, Advertising	Musings on Multiculturalism in the Ad Industry and Beyond.
Nick Rice	Nick Rice	Kentucky, USA	Marketing, branding	Marketing strategy combined with creative thinking and design.
On Influence & Automation	Douglas A. Karr	Indiana, USA	Marketing	A marketing and technology blog
OTOInsights	Jeremi Karnell		Marketing	Corporate blog focusing on using technology to create and sustain customer conversations.
Pardon My French	Eric Frenchman	New Jersey, USA	Marketing	Online strategy and marketing with great case studies of real projects.
Pow! Right Between The Eyes!	Andy Nulman		Marketing	The importance of surprise in business
Purple Wren	Sandy Renshaw	Iowa, USA	Marketing	Tools and techniques for communicating life through print and images.
Servant of Chaos	Gavin Heaton	Sydney, Australia	Marketing	Gavin’s rant on the world of branding and storytelling.
Shotgun Marketing Blog	Chris Houchens	Kentucky, USA	Marketing	Musings on marketing and related ideas.
Small Business Blogging	Andy Wibbels	Chicago, USA	Marketing, Tech	Using web media to market your business
Tell Ten Friends	Jordan Behan	Canada	Marketing	Marketing using new media to make connections.
The Branding Blog	Martin Jelsema		Marketing	Branding principals, opinions and prejudices he's developed
The Experience Curve	Karl Long	California, USA	Marketing, Social Media	Social media and marketing from an experiential point of view.
The Instigator Blog	Ben Yoskovitz	Montreal, Canada	Marketing	Entrepreneurial focus on marketing, ideas and building your business
The Marketing Minute	Drew McLellan	Iowa, USA	Marketing	Expert insight into marketing and branding. And Drew loves Disneyland.
The Viral Garden	Mack Collier	Alabama, USA	Marketing	Mr Community leads the way in using technology to create conversation.
Two Hat Marketing	Steve Miller	Washington, USA	Marketing	Views on targeted marketing.
Unconventional Thinking	Mark Stevens	New York, USA	Marketing	The art and science of growing businesses
Viaspire	A biz blog—Viaspire		Marketing	Marketing and Communications consulting firm blog
Popcorn n Roses	TC Kirkham and Kim Brown	Massachusetts, USA	Movies	Movie industry blog with reviews and musings.
Current World news			News	“Breaking” news across a couple of categories. Small archive.
Choice at Your Fingertips			News, Blogging	News and tips for making money blogging. No archive.
Blogtrepreneur	Adnan	UK	Online Money Making	How to be an online entrepreneur and also build community!
Can I Make Big Money Online	George Brian Manty		Online Money Making	Tips for making money online including research, design and blogging.
Dosh Dosh	Maki		Online Money Making	Trying to source legitimate methods for making money online.
Internet Bazaar	Guhan Mathivanan		Online Making Money	Tips and ideas for making money online.
Kumiko's Cash Quest	Kumiko	Tokyo, Japan	Online Money Making	Trying to make money online and sharing the experience.
Million Dollar Experiment heads Down Under	Rob St George	New Zealand	Online Money Making	Can thinking positively make you a cool mill? Rob hopes so.
Money Spider		England	Online Money Making	An experiment to see if can make money writing, plus some tips.
Quest to make money on the internet		UK	Online Money Making	Currently up to £128, this site makes money by letting out its posting space.
Above Popular	Mark		Personal	Motivated to make the world a better place.
Critical Fluff	Jayniek	Maryland, USA	Personal	Ranks various things in life with mulligans, crabapples, and pineapples.
Forged Euphoria			Personal	Some sponsored links.
OrbitNow!	Troy Worman	Florida, USA	Personal	Miscellaneous musings
The Sartorialist			Photography, fashion	Photos of fashion on the streets, geared to inspire designers.
Bullshitobserver	Todd Anthony		Politics	Politics and commentary.
New Millenium PR	Andrea Weckerle		PR	Bringing business, branding, marketing and PR together.
The New PR	Ryan Anderson	Ottawa, Canada	PR	Public relations in the online world.
Carpe Factum	Timothy Johnson		Project Management	Blog that focuses on the things you need to do to accomplish things. Especially big things.
Work, in Plain English	Penina S Finger		Project Management	A design and marketing focused blog on project management. Interesting mix!
turned out	David Turner	Illinois, USA	Religion	Minister blogging to connect everyone with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Evolution...not just a theory anymore	Greg Laden	Minnesota, USA	Science, Religion	Creation vs evolution, commentary and archaeology by an independent scholar.
SEO Blog			SEO	New site on SEO and use of blogs to improve rankings.
Flee the Cube	ICesar	California, USA	Small Business	Starting up a small business in web design.
Community Guy	Jake McKee	Dallas, USA	Social Media	Online and offline community building tips and tricks.
The Social Media Marketing Blog	Scott Monty	Boston, USA	Social Media, Marketing	Blogger with a maniacal passion for anything related to new media / social media.
A Free and Decent Blog Host	Unfathomed_Psyche		Tech	Technology news focusing on blogs and blog software.
Billions With Zero Knowledge	Austin Hill	Canada	Tech, Business	Changing the world with little bits of knowledge
Connected Internet	Everton Blair	London, UK	Tech	All things to do with technology, mobile phones and gaming.
darrenbarefoot.com	Darren Barefoot	Canada	Tech, marketing	Tech news, writing and marketing
Deepak	Deepak		Tech	Focuses on the technology of the Internet and loves Google.
MapleLeaf 2.0	Mark Evans	Canada	Tech	Tech news stories relating to Canada
Scott Burkett's Pothole on the Infobahn	Scott Burkett	Georgia, USA	Tech	Musings on technology, IT management, and online community.
Small Surfaces	Gabriel White		Tech	Interaction design, user interface design, user experience, usability and social trends related to mobile devices.
TechBuzz	Thilak	Mangalore, India	Tech	Tech new and reviews written by 17 year old in India. Awesome.
Masey.com	Rob Masefield		Travel	Design and photography blog.
Through the Lenses	Jas	Vancouver, Canada	Travel, Photography	Travel/photography blog includes stunning shots and photography tips.
Travel And Vacation On Blog			Travel	Lightweight travel guide/destination information on selected cities. Needs more.
The Best Guides to eCommerce with Favor			Viral marketing	Viral marketing tools, memes and SEO tips.
Web Metrics Guru	Marshall Sponder		Web analytics	Web analytics, in particular for blogs
The Future of the Web	Jesse Skinner	Canada	Web Development	Use of new technologies for the web.
Social Media on the fly	Mark Krupinski	Florida, USA	Web media, blogging	Learning social media on the fly
Asyuu @ Forest		Japan		Japanese readers/speakers? Anyone?

"Niche Marketing On Crack" works like a recipe

2009-09-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

A while ago I read Andrew Hansen's "Niche Marketing On Crack" and loved every word of it. Not only does he break down, step-by-intriguing-step, the exact sequence to perform when selecting and marketing to a niche but he also explains precisely why each step should be taken.

Just like a recipe, it works perfectly every time.
How many books have you read which did exactly that? I doubt many.

But this is exactly the information I was looking for when I started internet marketing... and I couldn't find it for love nor money!

Understandably, the book goes into considerably greater detail than my explanation in my post, How to choose your niche for internet marketing. I've read many internet marketing books, from unknown authors to "gurus", but rarely does anyone make the issues involved so clear. I've never heard these same "gurus" lay out most of the techniques he employs the way he does. And, no doubt, with good reason. They're too busy using the same techniques to make money for themselves!

The most encouraging part of the book wasn't learning the names of secret tips and techniques, it was learning that Andrew's girlfriend's mother used the very same system to start making money.

Why encouraging?

Because "...she didn't know SEO, she didn't know about marketing, or traffic generation or affiliates or commissions, or sales letters or opt in forms or pop ups, or pop downs, or blogs, or niches, or backlinks or content, or social networks or videos or forums or ClickBank or PayPal or articles or site directories or conversion rates or click through rates or AdSense or AdWords or..."

So, look, if she can do it, anyone can.

To begin finding a niche and start earning commissions quickly, the best thing you can do is to click here for "Niche Marketing On Crack".

Something tells me you will thank me later!

Who said you can't turn a give-away product into income?

2009-09-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

After all, who doesn't love a free product? If something is really useful and it's free... I definitely want it!

And everytime someone feels the way I do and downloads your product, you've acquired a new subscriber. You can see the value of that subscriber is huge in 'down the line' sales potential.

So how does this work?

Create a give away book, email course or report. The attraction of a good, free product is enough for anyone interested to give you their name and email address in return for the product. So, let's say they join your

newsletter list. This can be gold: as long as you keep providing quality content to your list, you can insert paid product offers in your messages.

If your list likes your content, you will get orders from those offers.

And it gets better.

There are many more ways to earn income from the same giveaway product. If you produce an ebook, for example, make sure you include links to your sales pages and any related affiliate products you represent. When someone reads your book, they'll need resources to put the content to good use. By supplying those resources in the book, which include your affiliate links, you make money every time a reader buys them.

Hopefully, your product will continue to be used and recommended by other readers creating viral growth, so you'll make money into the future. This is great residual income because you've only performed the work once.

I've broken down the steps you should take to achieve rapid give-away product growth:

Use ebook publishing software or Adobe PDF to create your book or report. You must offer quality content to keep readers interested in what you have to say.

Include 'about the author' and your web site information.

Sign-up as an affiliate to products and programs related to your content. Include these links in your book or report.

Always use a quality book cover image. This will attract interest in reading further about your product. A glance is enough for someone to decide they are interested and first impressions count.

Create a squeeze page which collects name and email details BEFORE you give away the book. This is a key point because if you allow a reader to download the book immediately, then you've got... nothing! I believe in selling free products the same way as paid for products. Why should someone take the time to download and read your book? What's in it for them? Everyone needs to be persuaded of the value and benefits your product will bring to their lives. So create a squeeze page that sells your free book.

Drive traffic to your squeeze page with free book directories, free article sites, forums related to the content and email to your existing list.

Make a 30-second video promoting your book on sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Truveo etc. YouTube is great use of marketing because, if your video is fun, viral marketing kicks in when people start to watch it and tell others.

Use your free book to direct potential customers to your other, paid products.

Use your free book to attract affiliates. If you give them 100% commission on one of your other products and they give you access to ther email lists, you're winning big!

Now you've got a step-by-step plan for creating and marketing your own product. In time, this alone will help you grow your list and generate income... from work perfomed just once.

Get involved!

6 techniques of quality email marketers

2009-09-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

I love receiving great information by email. Anything that looks interesting, especially if I can put it to good use, becomes a must read.

But only if the message is well-structured and looks good...

Did you get that?

Even if the content quality is off the chart but the structure, formatting or readability aren't up to scratch... it

gets trashed. Pronto. I like professional.

Your readers are customers (they consume your information and you want them to continue reading).

Your message content is a product.

So, the former certainly deserves respect from the latter. Quality.

I've received all types of email that couldn't be opened, didn't show the images or included lines that went off the page, lines that were missing, broken links, terrible spelling, etc. And there's only one place for email like that, right? The trash bin. There's a potential buyer lost.

Use these 6 best-practice tips and you'll be marked out as a quality email marketer (they'll greatly increase your email click-through rate, too).

1. Never buy a list... always build your own

No matter how cheap. Spam complaints can kill your email marketing capability. Communicating with someone who hasn't asked for your information is such a 'throw enough at the wall and let's see what sticks' approach, it's pointless... particularly as you don't truly know their interest.

Building your own list may take a little longer but through judicious use of free offers, autoresponder services and useful content, you'll increase your list of readers rapidly. You've heard the term, "the money is in the list". It's true, as long as you have a real list of potential buyers.

2. Make your message stand out with your subject line

With so many messages, information and applications competing for attention on the desktop, don’t waste your readers’ time. Your recipient may only ever see your subject line before deciding to read your message or not, so you can’t afford to waste time. Get your message opened! Make sure that your email shows right away why it's worth reading.

Some marketers use a short table of contents to help recipients decide whether they should read on or not. If the email client (software) uses preview panes, which only show the first few message lines, you can see the purpose behind this choice.

3. Make sure everyone can open and read your message
Don't be seduced into sending HTML email. Just don't! Look, I know it looks great when it works but you can't guarantee it will look the same to all recipients. With everything from Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL, Windows Live/Hotmail, MS Outlook, Apple Mail, Opera and other email clients to cater for, is it worth the risk? In a word, no!

I absolutely hate it when HTML email is all over the page. Misaligned or non-existent images (image blocking is common) and broken links are the major culprits. This leaves your HTML message looking very un-professional. Plus you'll need to include a "click here if you can't see or read this message" link! In doing this, you've already accepted a certain percentage of your list won't be able to read your message. Hmmm. Maximize opportunity and don't allow 'slippage'.

4. Formatting is crucial to enticing people to read on
If your message isn't easy on the eye, forget about links being clicked. The best way to make certain all recipients get the same, readable message is to use Windows NotePad. I know, I know, it's a simple program... but that's the point. The clue is to have only ASCII characters (trust me on that one) and no more than 60 characters per line in your message (some say 55 or 65 but I find 60 is optimum).

What do you mean 'Word-wrap'? Seriously, that's a no-no. Lines stretch the page and make it look unsightly (in some email readers, text even disappears) and, worse, any links you entered in a word-wrapped line won't be linked. So be sure to enter your links in full, like this - http://www.yoursite.com. You'll thank me for it later!

Length of message is also a success factor. There are two schools of thought on this, though; keep it short (300-400 words), or make the message a story and go long. I prefer short and sweet. After all, if your recipient gets bored before you've convinced her to click a link for more information, you won't have a sale, will you? If you insist on going long, make sure it's a riveting story that emulates the long sales page. But I don't believe an email message is the correct medium for the long sales page. The message should make you want to read a sales page on a web site.

Plus, check everything; spelling, grammar and working links.

5. Focus your message on one product or service
A poorly focused message will almost guarantee your recipient doesn't respond at all. Offering a range of products in the same message actually defeats the object of sending it.

A potential buyer needs a well-thought out message, which gives a reason to click the link for more information with the call to action. You, the email marketer, can only achieve this goal by keeping the potential buyer's mind on one product.

Your message objective, then, is to provide information that will 'presell'. So when your recipient does click the link, she is in the best state of mind to receive the sales message... a focused state.

Also, putting too many links that lead to the same page looks... well, desperate. People know what a link is for. If they like what you have to say, they'll click. Generally, 2-3 is enough.

6. Get the contact frequency right
Frequency of contact can be a tricky area. Over-contact can lead to someone unsubscribing from your list. Under-contact can lead to someone not remembering who you are or why you are contacting them, because they've forgotten the reason they subscribed (and don't be afraid to remind them in each message).

"But, how many times do I need to hear from you?"

Here's a good rule of thumb when, a) offering a 7-day email course, clearly one message a day is expected (unless you've stated 7-part with a different frequency) and, b) sending a series of unrelated messages, setup your autoresponder to send one every day for the first three messages and after that 1-2 times per week.

Remember, most people won't buy from you until they've received at least 7 messages.

Think about your content and give special thought to this area.

Finally, test everything. Take a look at Campaign Monitor to get the latest statistics on email usage and trends.

Chin chin!

Part 3 of 3: Content marketing - What type of internet marketer are you? (or how to choose your online business model)

2009-09-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

We’re at the close of my three part guide on how to choose your online business model. In part three, I’m covering the reasons to be a content marketer. If you’ve contemplated the affiliate and product (or merchant) marketing areas, a valid question at this stage might be, “So why would I want to market content?”

In answering this it’s important to correct a common misconception.

Content marketing doesn’t mean selling content; it means providing content (which must be useful, quality information) to an audience you can later sell to. The intention of a content marketer is to engage the target audience in a dialogue or an interaction (for instance, blogs allow readers to make comments).

If your audience thinks you offer quality content and finds it useful, you build trust and loyalty. So when someone wants to buy a product or service related to your content area, chances are they’ll want to buy from you.

Want.

…think about that.

That’s the way major online players like Google and Yahoo! have done it. And look what they’ve achieved.

The ‘nothing to sell immediately’ concept really works: let’s explore why.

Part 3 of 3: Content marketing

The best part

Every time you distribute a newsletter, display an article, post to your blog, upload a video, send a mass email message, broadcast on internet radio, make an audio podcast available, tweet on Twitter… you are content marketing. And because you’ve probably been content marketing before you may have really considered marketing at all, you are already using this business model.

You may have nothing to sell now but you are talking to an audience. So ease of use definitely plays a part in selecting this type of internet marketing.

You’re already doing it.

However, many people believe that having ‘nothing to sell immediately’ isn’t a business strategy. And conventional wisdom agrees. “You want to buy what I’m selling now”, is how many of us understand business.

But, hold on!

The internet clearly changes that thinking.

Consider the process most internet users go through BEFORE the decision to buy is made:

Interest in a product to solve a problem
Get information from the web; read about it, watch video, listen to radio or podcasts (reviews, comments, recommendations, complaints) which is really the same as asking your family, your neighbor, a friend, your work mate or a specialist
Check for price/quality of service, etc.
Find a reason to buy now (usually well written copy which answers all the questions, solves the problem and provides a call to action)

And finally…

Pull out the credit card!

So what stands out here? Absolutely right: it’s the recommendation. The recommendation to buy comes in many different forms. But the fact that someone else had the same problem and it’s been solved is the key. So, you can now see why the content marketer wins trust and loyalty… and much faster than any other type of marketer.

Look, this is the same concept as having a product featured on Oprah! It’s the immediate availability of the internet that makes this so.

If you can create quality content… lots of it… and enough to make your audience return to your site, you become the specialist (see the process above). That’s a very powerful way to grow a target market.

Very powerful.

Your opinion has value.

Your opinion, of itself, is a product. People pay for premium content.

Your opinion is sought after and, if only by implication, the products you recommend are sold.

Bam!

The downside

So how long does all this take? The time it takes to build your audience can be considered a downside. And at first glance, selling your own product may seem incompatible with this business model. But the truth is… that really depends on what you are selling, doesn’t it? It’s perception.

I can’t think of any reasons to knock this business model.

I wouldn’t. It makes such sense.

Content marketing pros and cons

Pros

Builds huge trust and loyalty from your audience, Oprah-style
Valuable audience participation (you can easily and immediately take the temperature of your market)
You are not selling anything immediately (you are the specialist and friend, getting you very close to your audience, which is strong)
Valued opinion (builds credibility)
Your content, even when free, is a valuable product
People will pay for premium content
Generates inbound links (a crucial factor in search engine rankings)

Cons

Takes longer to build an audience (I think the trade-off in trust and loyalty is worth this)
Possibly issues with selling your own product (some people may be hesitant to buy a product they know you own)

In conclusion, this is a great internet marketing business model. The ability to create serious, multiple, passive revenue streams exists, right here. Whether you can make more money as an affiliate or product marketer is a moot question, I think, because a content marketer must incorporate something of the other two to make money. So this business model overlaps.

Also, you’ll realize that time invested is probably not the best criterion to use when comparing the three business models we’ve looked at. They all require a time investment.

Which one best suits you?

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this three part guide as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.

Be successful

Part 2 of 3: Product marketing - What type of internet marketer are you? (or how to choose your online business model)

2009-09-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

Continuing my three part guide on how to choose your online business model, in part two I’m covering reasons to be a product marketer (or merchant). You’ll remember, one of the questions I asked my friend was, “How important is keeping all the money to you?”

Hopefully, you can answer that with a resounding very. And there are many reasons why you should seriously consider this business model. Let’s go.

Part 2 of 3: Product marketing

The best part

I love the idea that you create a digital product, market it to as many affiliates as you can, they market it to everybody else in the digital world and you keep the majority of the money… which keeps rolling in even after you’ve forgotten about creating the product in the first place! Wow. Although this example is a little extreme, if you do it right, your experience as a product marketer should be something along those lines.

Everyone talks about the money being in the list. This is true. And if you have your own product, you’ve guessed it… everyone has to buy from you! Now that’s setting the foundation for creating a huge list. And even if you paid out more in commissions that you kept, you’ve got the list – which you can sell to again and again and again. If this is beginning to sound like too much of a good thing… remember, it is! This, in my humble opinion, is the holy grail of internet marketing. It requires work, but can be achieved like anything else related to having your own business.

Also, as your name recognition spreads, an increasingly greater percentage of people will buy your products because you are now recognized as an expert in your particular field. This is serious credibility on legs! And it also means people with very big lists will be interested in working with you as you’ve built a following and, most importantly, can be trusted to deliver quality.

It also stands to reason that the better your product, the more people will buy it. Ergo, the more money you’ll make. Product quality, therefore, should be your motto; especially if you want people to continue buying the same product way, way into the future. This is the beginning of multiple, passive income streams because, so far, all we’ve talked about is based on just one of your products. One! So imagine the hive of affiliate activity you’ll create and hordes of customers you’ll attract if you crank out a whole line of products. Are you impressed? You should be.

Importantly, making it easy for affiliates to sell your product guarantees passive income. Why? Because when you create all the marketing materials necessary for an affiliate to promote your product, pay a generous commission, provide solid technical support and offer a really good product, he or she will choose yours over your competition’s every time. And that’s the key.

The downside

Some people may point at how long it takes to create and launch your own product as a downside. The truth about this is, although time needs to be invested in a quality product… you only need to do this once. After the product has been created, marketing materials developed, the product site launched and affiliates start joining, you’ll find… there’s not a great deal left to do. So this downside is actually false. And as long as you produce a digital product (which 99% of merchants do) you have no inventory, no quality control and no storage costs. Isn’t this a great position to be?! :o)

Product marketing pros and cons

Pros

• You keep all the money!

• Affiliates do all your work for you

• You make residual income by selling the same product almost indefinitely

• Increases your credibility as an market expert

• Builds a huge list

• Creates your own brand

• Provides rapid business expansion

• Attracts joint-venture opportunities

Cons

• Time necessary for product research and creation

• Affiliate management (nix that, use ClickBank or a similar program!)

• Sales costs (you’d pay this anyway, irrespective of your type of product or how you sold it)

In conclusion… OK, OK, I’m sold! If you’re prepared to apply the extra research and planning necessary to creating your own products, this is where your time spent really pays for itself. Bravo.

Part 1 of 3: Affiliate marketing - What type of internet marketer are you? (or how to choose your online business model)

2009-09-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine recently asked, “Chris, what’s the best type of internet marketer for me to be?” I answered, “That depends on whether you prefer creating your own products, marketing other people’s products or marketing content. What are you best suited to? How important is keeping all the money to you? Do you consider being a merchant is a hassle? And these aren’t the only questions.”

He replied, “Look, I hadn’t thought about all that. Why can’t I just start selling something?” The truth is, at his stage, you can't just jump in without a bit of thought.

Thinking about this prompted me to ask a question of many people who are new to internet marketing but haven’t yet made the important decision: what type of internet marketer are you?

If you haven’t made this decision then you haven’t chosen a business model yet, which, as you will see, is fundamental to success because you need a plan. So before you start creating web sites, designing landing (or squeeze) pages, writing a blog, shooting a video or setting up your autoresponder to build email lists…

Stop!

But only for a moment.

And answer this question; are you an affiliate marketer, a content marketer or a product marketer (merchant)? What are the pros and cons of each? Are you particularly suited to any of these business models?

Use my three part guide to find out.

Part 1 of 3: Affiliate marketing

The best part

The best part about affiliate marketing is the minimal risk to your pocket and immediate start-up time. As you are promoting someone else’s product you don’t have to invest much to get started.

You don’t need to purchase, store, pack, ship, handle billing or maintain inventory for the product(s) you promote. These costs are all paid by the merchant so you simply have to concentrate on promoting the product. Your job is to ‘represent’ the merchant by driving traffic to a product web site or promoting the product to your email list for which you receive a commission. This is usually 30% to 50%, and can even be as much as 75%.

Sometimes, you can get started for nothing. Many merchants who produce their own products provide web sites, landing (squeeze) pages, banners and videos completely free. After all, when an affiliate makes money so does the merchant. You’ll place ads on a variety of web sites, post in forums, buy traffic (PPC or ‘Pay-per-click’), make videos, market to your list and use other methods to get the message out to the world. The amount of your involvement and level of sophistication you employ is up to you. Needless to say, the better a promotion system you create, the larger the list you build, the greater financial reward you’ll receive.

So your investment is time.

You can earn more money working with a merchant who offers a 2-tier commission plan. Many merchants now will pay commissions on your product sales plus another commission on the sales of anyone you recruit (who signs-up under you). So even if you don’t make huge, or any, sales commissions one month, you can still earn from your recruits.

The downside

On the downside, though, can you guarantee you’ll receive payment from the merchant(s) you represent? Are the products or programs they want you to market strictly legal – i.e. not scams? Can you sit back and continue to rake in the money from work done once? These are real questions you must ask if you are to be a successful affiliate. You should protect your affiliate business by asking these questions because it’s no different than any other type of business.

Luckily, sites like ClickBank, probably the largest affiliate-merchant network on the planet, allow you to join free and represent as many merchants as you like. ClickBank performs the very important functions of a) collecting money owed to you by merchants and, b) presenting you with a huge number of merchant opportunities all in one place. Working with ClickBank (or similar program) provides a very high level of protection for you, the affiliate. You get paid. You get a choice of merchants. You can do it all immediately. And it’s free.

Affiliate marketing pros and cons

Pros

Your own ‘work from home’ business
Little to no start-up investment
Don’t even need your own web site
No product ownership risk
Ongoing marketing costs, excluding your time, can be as low as zero
Represent more than one merchant program
Some merchants will also pay you on sales of other affiliates you recruit
If the product doesn’t sell well your only expense is promotion costs
Great foundation for becoming a merchant yourself

Cons

Requires a lot of effort and time (constant activity but no more than your 9-5 job)
Requires good marketing skills to set-up a successful campaign (but learn this as you go)
You don’t keep all the money (you’re paid 30% to 50% on average)
You don’t own the rights to the product (so you can’t make changes)
You can’t build a brand (although you can build loyalty from your list)

In conclusion, as you’ll probably agree, the pros far out-weigh the cons. Affiliate marketing can be very lucrative if you put in the time and effort but it won’t always give you a residual income. Look for opportunities that offer a residual income and you may have found the perfect career! And even better, this is all proof that knowing how to market someone else’s product gives you the experience to launch your own.

How to choose your niche for internet marketing

2009-09-23T01:06:00.000-07:00

The two questions I hear most from people new to internet marketing are, "how do I choose a niche market?" and, "what do I sell to that niche?"

Hearing those two questions for long enough prompted two better questions...

a) "does the niche I'm thinking of consist of people who are currently buying things online right now?"

b) "can I easily contact these online buyers and get them to buy from my web site?"

Admittedly question b) leads to another subject (which I'll deal with another time) but both questions put choosing your niche market seriously into perspective.

Everyone I know, or have heard of, that is half-way successful in their internet marketing enterprise has done it by targeting a particular market tightly. Your niche market will become your area of expertise; an area you'll specialize in so that you have a better chance of selling to people who want to buy a given item or group of items. You may want to place ads, write blogs, create web sites and even write articles about your chosen area of business. This involves you doing your homework first because a little research yields great returns. So this is the best way of going about it:

First find out what people are looking for. What do they want to buy most? Then sell the very thing which is being looked for most. I'll take you through the steps. And because the majority of internet marketers are affiliates (who direct traffic to other peoples products and earn a commission for each sale), I'll use the affiliate business model to explain how to choose a niche market.

1. Take your areas of interest and find popular search terms. If you wanted to buy something online, where would you search and what would you type? Start by accurately pinpointing the traffic number results of any search term. Let's say "apple ipod": if they are high this is a good indication of a profitable niche. I use SubmitExpress, Wordtracker, Google Trends and even Google Insights for Search to get keyword traffic popularity and geographic data (if you know the region where the searches are coming from you can get very funky with your marketing by localizing your target niche... but I'll save that for another day!).

2. Now you know which search terms are high ranking, find out what specific products and services people are buying. Go to ClickBank, probably the largest affiliate sales resource on the planet, and look for vendors who are selling products in the relevant niche (you can browse vendors in your niche category or enter your search terms). Write down a list of the top ten products. Go to Amazon and Google, enter your search term and write down the top ten listings for each site.

3. Look at the lists you've written down and you should see a pattern of the most popular products. Remember that although you've now found the items that sell most in the niche that pulls a great number of online searches, it stands to reason that you'll face more competition. But don't worry... that's where great copy comes in. I'll deal with writing great copy in another post.

So, there it is. That's the best way to determine your niche market and what to sell.

Use the comments box below and let me know how you did.

Happy hunting!

Marketing: it all started with 'Hot Wheels'!

2009-09-19T03:06:00.000-07:00

My introduction to marketing started at the tender age of eight, when I was dreaming of a new toy for Christmas. I had my heart set on a 'Hot Wheels' set and for only one reason: the person doing the voice-over for the commercial made owning it sound... so advanced... so exciting! I'd become a sophisticated eight year old by owning it! And in a heart-beat I was hooked.

And that is why people buy anything.

It's how we feel about what the object in question will do for our lives. Our emotions dictate the purchase decision. Nothing else. This tiny peek behind the curtain of understanding at such a premature age caused me to be involved in marketing, in one form or another, for most of my life.

Fast forward many more years than I'd care to remember and we are in the internet age, responsible for selling all manner of goods and services online. Where do you start? Answer the problem that your prospects have: help them anticipate what owning the thing you sell will do for their lives and they will soon become your customers.

How do you get people to buy your products? What's the secret to attracting people to your web properties and joining your email lists? The majority of marketers struggle online and need help. In the coming weeks and months, I'll show you how to choose your market, what product(s) to decide on, how to communicate with that market and what to say in your sales copy to turn your prospects into customers. I've learned from some of the best minds in the industry and I want to help you, too.

Until next time.