How to Promote Your Website Like a Brand

Branding at the individual, small or even medium level is a difficult endeavor. However, there are little excuses for inadequacies these days as Google makes it more difficult to rank with content marketing that isn’t “brand friendly” – that is, tactics that are one-off gray or black hat link building techniques.

Today, we must function as brands, and the reality is that although we imagine companies like Kellogg’s and SeaWorld as the behemoths of brand marketing – companies with lackluster websites but still the ability to generate links eight times quicker than us – we are very capable of reflecting a similar identity online due to benefits of miniature scale we can create for ourselves through the proper marketing channels that brands often experience and build on offline.

We’ve left behind the term “link building” and must instead focus on identities like “link development” through content marketing. If we build our businesses and link development competencies with the idea that we must build scale, we’ll be a lot more successful with our efforts because we will develop competencies.

What does this mean?

No more one off guest posting for links. Yes I am guest posting here, but I am doing so with the intention of building authority and referrals, and actually, the link matters little to me because I don’t do much SEO for my own blog. Hopefully some of you follow my blog or follow me on Twitter, which will create an audience that will multiply my future efforts online.

If I simply blog for a link, that effort is reduced. If you want to create scale (as you should), you’ll do similar. Yes, the link is valuable, and you should aim for a combinatory effect with your guest posting, but your sole intention should never be the link itself. In the new world of content marketing, it’s no longer a valid excuse.

Many brands have the benefit of content that serves itself, and only need to release it into the wild to see the benefits it can create online. Us small peons don’t, right? Well, the reality is that we do. We can’t ever be Kellogg’s or SeaWorld, but we can have the “publish” button that sites like SEOmoz enjoy – when thousands of eyeballs view their content all at once.

This comes from deliberate, long practice of developing audience through mechanisms like guest posting in the target markets our audience operates in. Constantly releasing great content online and then creating introductory “sticky” promotion elements will create the brand mechanisms others enjoy. What are these introductory sticky elements?

Twitter accounts – getting potential customers to follow usFacebook accounts – getting potential customers to like usYouTube accounts – getting potential customers to subscribe to usRSS feeds – getting potential customers to subscribe to usE-mail marketing – getting potential customers to subscribe to us

I say “introductory” because these allow you to remarket to your consumers for free – and are a few steps to the secondary, more powerful sticky element, SEO. If we guest post or do PPC advertising, if we never capture audience intent through one or more of these sticky elements, we lose the potential to scale, because our cost per acquisition continually rises.

This creates a negative brand efficiency if they do not, as customers, follow/like/subscribe to content they enjoy – as such an engagement is an introductory buy-in to your brand identity.

So this means your job, as a marketer, is not to initially think about how you might get thousands of sales, but how you will create the snowball promotion effect every time you release something online. Because if you do not generate that snowball, even if you create a viral sale effect, it will eventually become nothing.

Brands have that snowball effect – which is why every Apple event is covered and talked about once one word is leaked out – and why Six Flags can immediately touch thousands of eyeballs on their brand when a press release is opened up. They built it, but they had it bad compared us – they didn’t have the benefit of online, free promotion mechanisms to do it. They had to do it through high cost per acquisition activities like billboard, display and television advertising.

Build the brand snowball by:

Leveraging the maximum amount calls to action to social accounts on your sidebar, after blog posts, and occasionally, within blog posts, without appearing spammyMost often releasing content to interested markets asymmetrical to your own, such that they might have interest in future relevant content of yoursPromoting content through all social channels relevant to your own and not to channels where there isn’t much application (such as Pinterest for Daily Blog Tips)Creating memorable and brand-identifiable social accounts that are easy to type in, easy to find, and match the company sales mission across all available properties

As you build those accounts, you will begin to effect a real change in the search results, depending on your vertical. For example, SEOmoz, a now established “brand” in SEO, has the benefit not just of ranking well that being a brand provides, but also getting a higher clickthrough rate because of it.

It is likely a higher clickthrough rate is a positive signal to Google to actually rank you higher, which then gets you even more clicks – and more links, and so it goes. But that’s not where it stops to create a “snowball effect”. Obviously, hopefully you’ve now established some search result rankings, and some sales. From here, build on that efficiency and “snowball effect” by multiplying effort.

Do this by:

Signing up customers immediately for e-mail newsletters such that they can serve as content promoters even if they can no longer be upsoldImmediately leverage a secondary call to action such as “follow us on Twitter/like us on Facebook!” after they’ve completed a conversion eventCreating content that is good enough to be talked about through word of mouth, bringing new customers back to your website to then be pulled into future promotion efforts through social and email campaignsUsing rel=author where applicable to create brand identity/quick identification when potential customers use your services online

Hopefully posts like this can help push you to start creating your own mini-brand online. SEO isn’t dead, but I believe winning a competitive vertical by sustaining a business on one-off linking strategies truly is.

Ross Hudgens is the founder of Siege Media, a digital marketing consultancy. He frequently writes about SEO, digital marketing, and branding online.

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Interview with Zac Johnson: Internet Money Maker

Out of all the people I know online, Zac Johnson is probably the one who started making money on the Internet the earliest. He started building his first websites when he was 15, and by 2006 he already had a website pulling in over $30,000 per month (as you’ll see below).

On the interview below I ask him about the different websites he had over the years, the different business models he used and so on, so check it out.

Looking back I feel like I have been all over the place. My very first web site was just a fun site I created on the AOL members pages that was just a collection of my favorite sports, tv shows, music and everything else. Thinking back it was quite a fun time!

My first money making sites were Amazon.com and Free Stuff related. I first started making money in affiliate marketing through Amazon’s associate program where I would earn a commission every time I sold something through their site. I was focused on celebrity based sites and was getting a ton of traffic from the search engines for free, which I then pushed over to Amazon since I was pushing celebrity movies and books. I then came across an affiliate network that was paying on a per lead basis for giveaways, freebies and other deals. The payout was around $1 for someone to complete a free sign up form. I realized this was much better and easier then having to get someone to sign up and buy something from Amazon.

This was my real introduction to the power of affiliate marketing. I would then focus my efforts on creating my own free stuff sites while pushing offers from the ad networks, then building out my own contest sites and creating affiliate programs for my own sites through networks like Commission Junction.

After a few years in the free stuff and sweepstake niche I also had some nice success in the humor market. I had created a few sites that were getting a ton of traffic to them, mainly focused on adding funny pictures and videos to the site on a daily basis. I also had a greeting card site that did very well, which was built up of original flash ecards I had created for the site. When people would visit the site and send the ecards to their friends, they would be signed up to the site newsletter which I could monetize by adding a few free stuff related offers along with each ecard.

I’ve always loved creating sites and bringing content together. In 2006-2007 I created a MySpace resource site that was pushing some insane numbers and driving over 100,000 people through the site every day.

You can see a growing trend as I mention each site, and how part of the previous sites flow into new projects and ideas. Pulling everything together… I’ve also been very busy in the blogging world, mainly focusing on ZacJohnson.com and BloggingTips.com, which featured my successes/failures and stories from my years of running a business online. The end goal is to continue to provide quality content and inspire others to start their own web sites and businesses online.

The MySpace resource site was definitely the most profitable site when you focus on one individual site and revenue source outside of ad campaigns. There were days the site was generating over $30k a day in profit and it was just mind blowing the watch the growth of the site explode through viral marketing and being shared all over the place. This site went from being on a small shared server, to needing to be setup on it’s own rack of 16 Dell servers!

Again I would have to say the MySpace site was the most fun to run, simply because of the massive growth. I’ve never been a programmer or taken the time hire one and wait on them to create something for me. This meant I was creating everything on the site myself, which ended up being over 15,000 pages of pure HTML. Endless nights of content creation and exciting days of watching mind blowing numbers. Definitely a very fun site to create and have,

For many years I’ve always focused on running ad campaigns for the major ad networks. That industry is still doing amazingly well, but it’s not what it used to be. Sketchy networks, relying on payments and various other issues… it’s just not what I would like to focus on right now.

Instead I am more focused on the branding of my name and business, while also expanding out and creating some new sites. Blogging.org is an exciting new project that I am heavily focused and invested in right now. It’s a content generation site that connects site owners and those who need content with freelance writers who are looking to get paid to provide original and quality content. Be sure to sign up and check it out, it’s a pretty cool system.

The model is definitely already changing and more successful affiliate marketers are making the move from being just an affiliate, to creating their own brands, products and services… which is an excellent long term solution. Still, the barrier of entry to create a legitimate business on the internet is hundreds of multiples cheaper than starting a retail or local based business that is almost destined to fair. Blogging is definitely one of the best ways for anyone to get started and playing around with their own site without having to spend more than a few dollars a month on a domain name and site hosting.

Facebook is amazing and I believe it can work for virtually any business or lead gen offer. The amazing thing about running ads on Facebook is that you can target your exact audience. Everything from age, gender, location, interests and much more. Some targets are more costly and saturated than others, but so is all online advertising. In the end it all comes back to split testing and building campaigns that are heavily targeted to an audience and making your conversions work. Again… a very low cost entry to try it out and get started.

For anyone with a web site or blog, you are already probably well aware of how Google continues to penalize sites for their link building methods or content generation tactics. Some sites are getting hurt bad while others thrive. In the end you need to make sure you have a legitimate business that can survive without Google. Create a brand that people know and trust, and build a loyal following of customers of visitors who type your name right into the browser and completely bypass the search engines. At the end of the day, create a quality product that people actually want and need to use.

Zac is currently launching a new book, and he is giving away a blogging guide and a bunch of reports. You can download them for free here.

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Verba Volant, Scripta Manent

“Verba volant, scripta manent” is a Latin proverb that means “spoken words fly away, written words remain” (hey, if nothing else you learned this reading the post…). I find this proverb to be one of the most valuable ones in business situations.

As you might remember I am working pretty much full time now with software and mobile applications development. A couple of weeks ago we landed a project with an organization. The project involves developing a logbook app where the employees and associates of the organization will input data, and that data will first be saved into a local database and later synchronized with a central server.

When we had a meeting to discuss the project details it didn’t seem that complex, so we gave the client a fast turnaround time (30 days) and charged a moderate price. Everyone was happy, and we started the development.

Ten days or so into the project the client started calling us and requesting new features. We said those extra features were not requested during the initial discussion of the project. The client said they were. As you can see, spoken words fly away, and they did in the case.

Obviously we had a contract for the project, but we weren’t careful enough to outline all the features of the application and other small details.

We managed to accommodate both sides eventually, but it took many hours of negotiation and some extra work from our side. If instead of handling the whole thing verbally we had a project description written down with all the features and expected deliverables this problem wouldn’t arise in the first place.

And this principle applies to pretty much every endeavor you can image. Buying things, selling things, hiring people, getting hired, lending money, borrowing money, you name it.

Writing every single detail down on paper will take 30 extra minutes of your time upfront, but it might save you hours and big headaches in the future.

Verba Volant, Scripta Manent.

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The Absolute Best Way to Earn Money Online

When I started back in 2006, I was trying to find the best way to earn money online.

I was looking for quick-fixes, magic bullets and shortcuts. I fell for the get-rich quick schemes and everything else internet marketers had to offer.

It was my learning phase. I had to go through it to discover what truly worked and what didn’t.

The truth of the matter is that there is no magic bullet. There is no tactic that will skyrocket you to stardom and put thousands of dollars into your bank account.

However, there is a best way to earn money online, and in this article we’ll take a look at what that is. This is something I’ve learned from personal experience.

I’ve spent years falling flat on my face.

I’ve wasted thousands on bad training programs and coaching.

I know what doesn’t work.

But I also know what does, at least for me.

The problem today is selfishness.

Most people think about how they can make money, which is fair and makes sense. But that’s not going to bring you success.

Not true success.

I’m talking about success that fulfills you.

Anyone can make money, but what good is money without peace of mind and satisfaction? Because isn’t that what we’re all after?

It’s not the money we want, but the things money can buy. We want the freedom that money can offer, and you can get that, if you stop focusing just on yourself.

So what’s the solution?

The solution is to find a problem you can solve.

This is what I help my clients discover first, because when you focus on solving one problem, you almost automatically stand out from the crowd.

People know what you can help them with, which means that if they aren’t interested, they can tell their friends about you. You’ve positioned yourself in their mind.

And this is what it all comes down to.

If you want to build a sustainable online business, you have to solve a problem. Yes, you can expand your territory later, but if you’re just getting started, pick one problem.

Don’t just go for a blog on personal development, dive into one problem.

Need Examples?

Here are a few examples of problems in the personal development niche:

ProcrastinationFearStressInsomniaWorryingLife Purpose (Problem: not knowing what it is)DepressionAnxiety

I could go on and on.

If you focus on becoming the expert on one problem, good things will happen. You can build a whole empire around solving that problem.

And if you have multiple passions and interests, you can sometimes blend them together.

That’s exactly what I’ve done. I help people build a lifestyle business, so I blend together my skills in online business and personal development, because there’s more to business than just business.

Then you go out and get them.

If you want to become the expert on fear, start learning how to conquer fear.

Go out and overcome your own fears. You probably already have stories to share. But the easiest way to decide which problem to focus on is to look at your life.

What kind of life experiences have you already had?

What kind of skills have you had to develop naturally?

What fascinates you?

There are no obstacles. No excuses. Only choices.

Choose what you want to do, and then take action. Focus on solving one problem, because that is truly the best way to earn money online.

All the tactics and strategies come after that.

Henri Junttila is the founder of Wake Up Cloud, where he helps people turn their passion into a wildly profitable online business. If you want to learn more about how to build a successful online business, make sure you grab his free special report (audiobook included).

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Here’s How To Structure Mini 30 Day Bursts Of Activity To Focus Your Efforts Into An Income Producing Machine

Challenges can include (but not limited to) the following:

Corporate challengeTeam challengeIndustry challengeSelf-Imposed challenge

Watch the video below to learn a myriad of ways to prepare for a 30 day burst of activity.

As you know, I’m The Renegade Network Marketer, and that means I emphasize building a business that you own and control. This means building out assets that transcend what your network marketing company does or doesn’t do.

In this video I’ll discuss the following:

Does it help you develop your own assets i.e. blog content, email list, your offerDoes it help you remain in control of your business and in the drivers seatDoes it hinge around the fundamentals of marketing that builds on long term success

Plus, you’ll see how one person on my Renegade Team followed our “30 day blog challenge” to reach over 7K in sales volume.

Watch the video below to learn more about this:

Let’s get you started. Watch the video below. Use this portion of our training to get started.

If you have questions, ask them in the comments.

Happy New Year, and here’s a “Cheers!” to a productive start to 2012.

Ann Sieg is the CEO of 80/20 Marketing, Inc. She's the author of The Renegade Network Marketer, The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing & The Attraction Marketer's Manifesto. I'm inviting you to connect with me. I love feedback. All of it. So let's have an intelligent helpful conversation to help you become more profitable in your business. Leave a comment below.

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Content Topics and Ideas for Your Blog

Many times it is difficult to come up with new content for your blogs. You feel like you have written about everything you know about already. There is no new news or information related to your blog’s topic that you have not covered. Well, in order for you to keep updating the blog regularly like is needed you will have to get creative. Here are some content topics for your blog you may not have thought of:

1. Money – Did you know that two ounces of gold can cover a billboard? Writing about money is always a sure bet. Whether you cover making money, saving money or spending money it will be a hit. Everyone is concerned about the bottom line and how much cash they have on hand. You can make almost any blog topic fit into something about money, even if you have to stretch things a bit. Get creative and see what you can come up with that will fit your blog’s topic.

2. Pets – Did you know that tigers can be trained to use a litter box? People love their pets and love to read about other people’s pets. If you want readers to get involved in your blog all you need to do is bring up pets. Maybe you can show a few pictures of your pet doing something cute or a video of your dog chasing his tail. Have readers send in their own pet photos. Pets are almost as popular as children when it comes to wanting to show them off.

3. Fashion – Did you know that pearls can weigh up to six kilograms? The world of fashion is ever changing. From men’s watches to women’s shoes, you can hardly keep up with new trends. This means you always have fresh content and new things to talk about with this topic. Even baby carriages and phone accessories and be fashion trends, so think about your blog’s topic and see if you can make this fit.

4. Gross – Did you know that the average person swallows a litre of snot every day? The stranger and odder the fact, the more people will take the time to stop and read about it. Strangeness pays off big time. If you can find out something truly weird to post on in your blog’s topic then you will get increased traffic and comments, almost guaranteed. Plus, the weirder a post is the more likely it will be that you will have a one of a kind post on your site, and that can only be a good thing.

5. Crime – Did you know that people see better when they are scared? Crime and criminals are a hot topic. There is always something new happening to warn people about. From identity theft to school shootings to terrorists, crime is something that never goes away. Fear sells and you can use that.

6. Health – Did you know that humans are allergic to mosquito spit? Everyone is concerned about their health. From natural remedies to sleep disorders to Facebook addiction, health is something that can cross over into nearly any blog topic. The more facts you can find and references you have the better, so with a little research health can make for great blog posts.

7. Age – Did you know that sharks can live to be a hundred years old? Everyone ages and everyone wants to stop it. Talking about getting older and staying young makes for interesting and viable blog posts. You can give tips on everything from skin care to doctor’s appointments. Even vacations and brain games can be stuck into this flexible category.

8. Green – Did you know that a beaver can cut down two hundred trees every year? Protecting the environment and going green have been hot topics for a while now. If you can find ways to incorporate that into your blog you will be well off. Taking care of the Earth is almost universally accepted as a good thing, and can really give your blog a boost in the right direction and make you appear to be environmentally conscious.

9. Natural Disasters – Did you know that Japan experiences around 1,500 earthquakes every year? Natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunami’s are always good for a timely blog post. Even if you blog does not normally cover that sort of thing no one will question a break from the norm to cover something so big. This also gives you an opportunity to grab new readers who would not normally be exposed to your blog.

10. Cleaning and Organization – Did you know that cat urine glows under black light? Keeping things clean is universal. Everyone needs to stay clean and organized at the office and at home. From computer file cleanup to dusting the living room, you can offer helpful advice, tips, and programs to your blog readers. You can even help people to understand the importance of organization in their homes and businesses and how helpful it can be to their productivity.

11. Holidays – Did you know that turkeys can contain gold nuggets? The holidays make for great blog post topics. From Christmas to New Years to Independence Day you always have a holiday that is coming up. Share your traditions, favorite dishes, gift ideas, or decorating tips. Not only is it fun to write about, but it also brings in new readers and is great social media fodder.

12. Jobs – Did you know that diamonds are not all that rare? Though finding a good job seems like uncovering a diamond. Finding a job in this tough economy is something that few people seem to accomplish. You can help. Offer helpful tips on what to look for, how to dress, what to say and more. You can even offer tips on how to find freelance work or work from home. Jobs and employment is a hot topic right now and should get you some new traffic fast.

13. Psychology – Did you know that the two most common fears that people have are clowns and heights? Psychology is part of our lives in ways we do not usually think about. From ads to magazine covers, from television shows to the drinks we buy, we are constantly being exposed to psychology. Your blog posts can cover a variety of topics like: Why do you buy products? What is the most effective type of online advertisement? Why do some pictures make you happy?

14. Writing – Did you know that your body contains enough carbon to fill nine thousand pencils? Writing about writing seems insane at first, but think about it. Who are the majority of your readers? Other bloggers, of course. So if you can offer advice and helpful tips for them to use they will continue to visit your blog. Writers love to read about writing for some reason, probably the same reasons doctors read about medicine; to stay on top of the newest trends and discoveries. Take advantage of this and write about writing.

15. Diet and Exercise –Did you know that you weigh less going down in an elevator than you did coming up? People are obsessed with their weight. They love to read about new fad diets, what works and what does not. They love to read about exercise routines and work out tips. You can grab a huge market if you can integrate exercise and diet into your blog.

These are just a few ideas that could work for you. If you think outside the box you can come up with tons more. Do not keep rehashing the same old boring post topics. Come up with something new and fun to both read and write and get back into the swing of things. You and your readers will enjoy it.

Facts from: http://www.scienceworld.ca

This guest post is contributed by Debra Johnson, blogger and editor www.liveinnanny.com She welcomes your comments at her email Id: – jdebra84 @ gmail.com.

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10 Proven Ways to Generate Website Traffic

There are hundreds of ways to generate website traffic, but in this article, I want to cover some of the fundamental tactics.

These are ways that I’ve used in my business, and I know from personal experience that they work.

In the end, this is about building a blog and business that will be with you for years to come.

This is not about quick-fix strategies that get slapped by Google after a few months.

So let’s jump right into the first way, shall we?

1. Guest Blogging

The absolute first one for any blog is to do guest blogging, which means to write articles for other blogs and websites in exchange for links back to your site.

This is the tactic I’ve used to build my blog up to thousands of subscribers. I’ve built a business around writing for others.

To find guest blogging opportunities either check out the blogs you’re already reading, or go to your favorite search engine and type in: “niche + “write for us””

2. Forums

The next way to generate targeted website traffic is forums.

find big forums in your niche, and start contributing. Don’t promote your own website. Just provide value and be helpful.

So how do people find your site?

You put a link and a call to action in your signature, which is the part below all of your posts, just like an email signature.

Some forums don’t allow signatures, so make sure the forum you’re registering for does.

3. Blog Commenting

Then we have blog commenting.

Blog commenting isn’t the best way to generate website traffic, but it still works in getting some traffic to your site.

A big advantage of blog commenting is that it helps you connect with the site owner. And if you comment on dozens of blogs, people will see you everywhere, and they’ll get curious.

4. Article Marketing

Article marketing is something I’ve used to build up multiple passive income streams throughout the years.

I now prefer guest blogging, because it’s easier, but if you’re not ready to write for blogs with thousands of readers, I suggest you look at article marketing.

When I do article marketing, I only write for EzineArticles.com. I don’t bother submitting to hundreds of directories, because EzineArticles gives me the best bang for my time.

5. Interviews

When your blog starts growing, and especially if you can show people that you know what you’re talking about, you will get interviewed.

Interviews are great for expanding your reach and building links to your blog.

This tactic is more for bloggers who already have a following. But it can work for beginners if you’ve carved out your niche well.

6. Podcast

Starting your own podcast is a great way to expand your reach. I just started mine not too long ago, and the response has been fantastic.

There are millions of blogs competing against each other, but only a few hundred thousand podcasts at the time I write this.

And depending on which market you’re in, the numbers will vary.

Conducting a podcast is scary for most people, so they don’t do it. If you can push your comfort zone and do things other do not, you will stand out.

And you will generate traffic to your blog.

7. Video Tutorials

If you want to take things even further, you can start creating videos.

You don’t have to be in front of the camera. You could do PowerPoint, or Keynote, presentations and use software that records your screen, such as Camtasia for PC or Screenflow for Mac.

You could even repurpose your podcast into video, as long as you put in some slides or visuals to keep people interested.

8. Free Course

Another great way to generate website traffic is to create a free course.

Yes, a course that you give away. Make sure you do some keyword research before you create it. Pick a keyword you can rank for and then use the keyword in the title of your free course.

This will help you rank when people link to your course. The goal is to make the course so good that people want to spread it.

9. Proper SEO

You can’t forget proper SEO. I’m talking about both on-site and off-site.

Use keywords that your market uses. Pick ones that you can compete for when you write articles, create podcasts, and upload videos.

Google has made a lot of changes, but SEO is not dead. Google wants to rank good content, so help them find yours.

And remember to make it easy for the search engines. Use keywords that are relevant, and then get people to share your content.

10. Hard Work

Most people look for quick-fix strategies when it comes to generating more traffic to their website or blog.

But if there’s anything I’ve learned throughout the years of running an online business, it’s that this takes hard work.

And the more willing you are to put in the work, the more targeted website traffic you will generate.

I am living proof of this. I’ve never succeeded with the latest tactic. Instead I’ve slowly built up my online business.

And today I can do what I want, when I want and from where I want. I have the freedom I want. And I have control over my time.

Wrap Up

Focus on working hard instead of looking for a quick-fix, because that’s when you’ll start seeing real results with your blog and your business.

One of the big ones I left out of this article was social media, because I haven’t focused a lot of my efforts on it. Many of my articles have gone viral, but I still haven’t found a formula that guarantees results.

All I can say is to produce great content, work hard, and keep taking action.

If you do those three things, you will go far.

Henri Junttila is the founder of Wake Up Cloud, where he helps people turn their passion into a wildly profitable online business. If you want to learn more about how to build a successful online business, make sure you grab his free special report (audiobook included).

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Negative Target Fixation – Do You Have It?

You don’t love blogging the same way you used to.

Sure, it is hard work and it’s not always like dancing on the roses, but you are making it harder than what it is.

Instead of visualizing the success and happiness, you are falling into negative thinking, like: “I won’t succeed, because I’m good enough,” “Why should anyone listen to me and what I have to say,” or “Those other bloggers are ahead of the game, so it’s useless to continue.”

Ok, so maybe you have a bad day when you are thinking like this? Or if your mindset has been like this for some time, then I advise you to stop right now!

And no, not your blogging buy your negative thoughts, because they are ruining your every effort to become a successful blogger.

Have you ever heard about negative target fixation and what it means? If you haven’t then that that’s OK. In fact, I just learned the term myself just recently.

What it means is that when you focus on something negative, you’ll going to get it – even if you don’t want it. And let me quote Wikipedia for a perfect example of this:

“A motorcycle or bicycle will tend to go where the rider is looking; if the rider is overly focused on an obstacle, the cycle can collide with that object simply because of the rider’s focus on it, even though the rider is ostensibly trying to avoid it.”

The same thing is in your blogging: you are getting what you focus on. If you focus on diminishing your results or thinking that you are not going to make, then sure, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

Now, the question goes: Why would you want to focus on negative instead of positive? Is there a rationale behind this thinking?

Your negative mindset towards blogging can be tracked down to two things: lack of self-confidence and fear.

And before you start saying that “I’m not afraid of anything” or “there is nothing wrong with my self-confidence,” listen to me for a minute anyway.

The thing is that everyone has doubts, lack of confidence (at least times) and fear too, no matter how experienced blogger you have.

If you have just started out blogging, your fear is that no-one is listening to you (no visits to your blog). If you are a full-time blogger doing a product launch, your fear may be that no-one is going to buy your product and you are facing a financial disaster.

On whatever level you are, there is always going to be issues with self-confidence and there is always going to be fear, but how much you focus on them is going to make a difference in the long run.

This fear can be in just not believing in yourself. You are afraid that you’ll fail or that if the success comes to you, you won’t know how to handle it (which can lead you thinking that you’ll screw up somehow and you’ll still fail).

If you keep thinking these thoughts, then sure, blogging can become too hard. It’s raw, hard work anyways, but if your mind is focusing on the negative, you are making it double-hard – just for nothing.

We need a pat on our backs every now and then. We need someone telling us that “you’re actually a really good guy” or “in fact, you are doing great already.”

Well, what if no-one is saying those things to you when you most need it? Who is going to encourage you or making your feel better?

It’s going to be you!

Let me explain what I mean. So, even though it’s nice to get compliments every now and then, you can’t really control them and when they are given. If you are feeling bad right now, having a complement and self-confidence boosting comment is not going to help you if it occurs in 6 months from now.

So how to get instant compliments – right now when you need them?

You start writing a gratitude journal from this day on. Start putting down all the blogging victories that you had and all the things you felt grateful of. Eventually you have a book full of positive memories that you can get back to as soon as you start to dwell in negative feelings.

When you see what you have already achieved – no matter how big or small it is – you are going to feel good and you remember that you aren’t that bad after all.

Like I mentioned, we all need a pat on our backs every now and then and this is the way to get those “pats” on-demands, whenever we need them.

Negativity has no place in your thoughts and you can take these steps to move closer to your goals:

1. You’ll have to start from somewhere. First, of all, we have all started from somewhere – whether it’s you who have just started blogging or someone who is making 6-figures per year.

It’s helpful to remember that you keep this in mind, if you are putting yourself down unnecessarily.

2. Others have failed too. Another important lesson to remember is that you others have failed too. But instead of just dwelling on the past, they learn from them and move on.

The fact is that failing on something is the best teacher and while we are not trying to fail on purpose, it happens to everyone – no matter on which level of blogging you are.

3. Remember your past successes. Start a gratitude journal. Make a habit of writing it 5 minutes per day, by listing the good things that occurred to you.

You could be writing things like:

Someone gave me a positive comment on my postI was able to help other blogger promoting his/her postsI made my first dollar online

This is very simple stuff, but yet very effective. And what matters the most is that these experiences are your personal ones – not someone else’s. You made them happen and you deserve to be reminded on those positive things on a frequent basis.

4. Focus on the positive. When you keep making notes of positive things, you’ll start to appreciate more what you have achieved.

No matter if you are not that 6-figure blogger yet, knowing that you have done good things will help you when you start to feel down.

This positive feeling helps you to take action in the future too and you are not going to crash like the motorcyclist, who is focusing on the obstacle.

Instead, you can now get past the obstacles unhurt and you can keep on going strong.

By remembering all the small victories you had in blogging and writing them down, helps you to deal with obstacles later on your blogging path.

Focusing on negative things is useless and counter-productive: they just make your blogging journey harder than what it is.

Make a switch from negative views to positive by having a gratitude journal. Write down your successes and get back to that journal as soon as you need some “mental” pat on the back.

When you remember what you have already achieved and appreciate it, you’ll see your future a bit more positive than before.

Over to you: How do you handle obstacles in blogging? How do you make sure you are not paralyzed after failing – and start taking action again?

Timo Kiander, a.k.a. Productive Superdad, teaches WAHD superdad productivity for work at home dads. If you want to improve your blogging productivity, grab his free e-book, 61 Ways for Supercharging Blogging Productivity.

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Wanna Make Money Writing Online?

As you probably know freelance writing is one of the most efficient ways to make money online, as you can start right away, regardless of having a website or prior experience. The demand for online content keeps growing, so it’s also a profitable way.

That’s why we launched (Ali Hale and myself) a Freelance Writing Course a couple of years ago. Over 1,000 students already joined in previous editions, and the last edition of 2012 just opened its doors today.

The course runs for six weeks and aims to give you all the information and tools you need to start freelance writing online. Here are the six weekly modules:

1. Writing Productivity: If you want to make a living writing you’ll need to learn how to write efficiently and prolifically. This module gives you the tricks of the trade.

2. Building an Online Presence: If you want to freelance on the Internet, you’ll need to develop your online presence — setting up a website, learning how to promote it, and so on.

3. Writing for the Web: This module explains why the Web is different from other media (such as books or print magazines) and how you can adapt to the differences to produce top-notch work.

4. Finding Clients: A key aspect of making money with freelance writing is being able to find clients, and this module will help you with that.

5. Running a Writing Business: Running a business is tough, and this module aims to give you the tools and tactics you need to run yours efficiently.

6. Social Media: On the last module of the course you’ll learn how to leverage social networks like Facebook and Twitter to network with other freelancers and to find new clients.

Enrollment closes this Friday, November 9, so make sure to check it out today if you think it might be the right course for you. Click here to visit the course page, where you can check all the details (e.g., structure, price, bonuses) and join.

Sign-up to the Daily Blog Tips newsletter and you will be able to download the "Make Money Blogging" eBook for free (worth $47).You will also receive tips to improve your blog, strategies to make money and useful resources from around the web.

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50 Most Popular Websites on the US – September 2012

comScore recently updated its Media Metrix rankings, which list the 50 most popular (i.e., most visited) websites in the United States. The current edition is the September 2012 one.

As one could guess the top 5 are: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Facebook and AOL. Below you’ll find a compilation of the list that appeared on the Cnet blog:

Curious points in my opinion:

Technorati in the 28th position? Are they still around…?Federated Media, 17th, doesn’t own any online properties as far as know. They are an advertising network, so not really sure how the computations are being made.MySpace?Pinterest broke in the top 50 for the first time.

If you want to see the official announcement from comScore here it is.

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Why LeadPlayer is The Best Video Player for Bloggers – And How to Win A Copy

A few months ago I started hearing about a new video player for bloggers and website owners looking to grow their audiences. It’s called LeadPlayer.

First I saw Pat Flynn (from Smart Passive Income) blogging about LeadPlayer and why he started using it to play all of his videos. Then I saw Danny Iny from Firepole Marketing saying that he was moving his 184 videos as well, and a bunch of other bloggers and marketers followed.

Then I discovered that my friend Clay Collins was behind the product, and we started exchaing emails about it. Long story short we decided to run a contest here on DailyBlogTips. Clay will be giving away two licenses to LeadPlayer plus two HD video cameras (i.e., two lucky winners will get both the player and the camera). If you are interested, read on.

LeadPlayer is a video player with dozens of integrated features that help you generate more leads and convert more people into subscribers. For instance, you can easily add an opt-in box to all your videos and require people to go through it before they can access the videos. You can also easily insert calls to action, and if you already have videos on YouTube you can integrate them with LeadPlayer.

Clay created a bunch of tutorial videos explaining how you can use and benefit from LeadPlayer, here are some of them:

1. Increasing sales conversions
2. Increasing opt-in conversions and growing your list
3. Sending traffic to webinars, sales and promotions
4. Leveraging other people’s videos to build your list
5. Growing your business without being pushy

If you visit the LeadPlayer website you’ll see that people are having great results with it. For instance, some people have increase their conversion rate fivefold, others even increased page views and reduced bounce rate after installing the player (check the reviews page to see other testimonials).

Winners of the contest: I want to congratulate Nick Kizirnis and Satish Achar for winning LeadPlayer. We’ll be contacting you with information on how to pick up your prize.

I’m sharing LeadPlayer with you because I think that – if you’re using video, or planning to – LeadPlayer would be a great investment. And to give you some extra incentive, I’ve asked Clay if there was something he could offer to people who purchase LeadPlayer after reading this post.

Well, Clay decided to hook it up, in a huge way.

Clay has developed a video blogging course called “One-Hour Video Blogging”, that teaches you how to create a professionally edited video blog post… in 1 hour.

His course includes…

How to get a bumper created for your show for $5How to find and add music to your showExactly which equipment you should use (stuff you can afford!)How to incorporate (and cut between) live action, screen capture, motion graphics, and presentation graphics for MAXIMUM ENGAGEMENTHow to create videos that get YouTube viewers – and website visitors! – to subscribe to your listPlus some extra info about YouTube video optimization, for good measure

Clay is giving this entire course away as a free bonus for anyone who joins the LeadPlayer family before midnight on Friday.

Interested? Click here to grab LeadPlayer and claim your bonuses.

Sign-up to the Daily Blog Tips newsletter and you will be able to download the "Make Money Blogging" eBook for free (worth $47).You will also receive tips to improve your blog, strategies to make money and useful resources from around the web.

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Give Them A Reason To Follow You

I had a clear picture in my head of how it all worked and after years of relentless dream-building, goal-setting and near-financial disaster from my husband’s windshield business going under, I was ready to take it to the next level.

After someone became a lead on my website, all we did was sponsor them into the business. My downline was growing rapidly but it was still taking awhile to actually get the residual commission checks.

I knew that if I could make more money right away up front I could expand my advertising even faster.

So I went to the owner of the company and asked to do something that had never been done before.

Like many companies, this one had sales training courses and other material that it typically only sold to distributors who were already in the business. But I figured that if the free content I was giving away produced such a high quality lead, charging people for additional how-to information would create an even more qualified prospect for my business.

So I asked the owner if I could buy their courses at wholesale and re-sell them on my website at retail.
I’ll never forget the conversation.

They weren’t used to selling large quantities of these and I wanted to make sure that they could handle all the orders I was going to bring them. Because of the incredible results I had been getting so far, I knew people were starving for this kind of information.

Understandably the owner thought that it was all talk. With a little chuckle he replied, “Don’t worry about that part Ann. We can handle whatever you can bring us.”

What happened next floored me. . . along with everyone else.

I was getting close to 7,000 unique new visitors to my website every day and was taking over $75,000 in orders every month.

I expected it to go well, but not that well.

Now before you think I’m getting all “hypey” on you here, there’s a couple things you should know:

  To say that I was working more than full time on my business at this point would be an understatement.I had some help. I had been forced to hire a couple people just because of all the prospects who were calling and emailing me (TIP: easiest place to look if you’re in this situation is people already on your team or in your organization).

It got to the point where the company stopped posting my real numbers because I wasn’t doing it the way everyone else was being taught to do it, and they didn’t want people to ask what I was doing.

But the side effects were unavoidable. Word got around.

The only thing I was doing differently -and you can do this too- is offer people good how-to training material before you offer your primary opportunity. And when you’re just getting started, it doesn’t even have to be your content. You can use someone else’s.
Remember what I wrote in a previous post about your job is to become a producer and distributor of content? If not read that. Because content enables you to be a “rallying point” for people who need help (which is basically everyone).
If you don’t give people a reason to follow you, they’re going to follow someone else.

Understanding how to get people to follow you isn’t always obvious either. So if you’re scratching your head and saying to yourself, “Ann, this all sounds great, but … I don’t know how to get people to follow me,” just remember:
If you don’t give people a reason to follow you, they’re going to follow someone else. You can do that by creating and distributing content that is a perfect match for who your trying to attract.

In my free ebook, The Attraction Marketer’s Manifesto, I offer 133 different ways to create content that attracts interest in the forms of leads and new customers. Click the graphic below to get your copy.

Ann Sieg is the CEO of 80/20 Marketing, Inc. She's the author of The Renegade Network Marketer, The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing & The Attraction Marketer's Manifesto. I'm inviting you to connect with me. I love feedback. All of it. So let's have an intelligent helpful conversation to help you become more profitable in your business. Leave a comment below.

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A Little Copywriting Primer From The World’s Greatest Copywriting Teacher, David Garfinkel

David Garfinkel is a highly sought-after copywriter with an uncanny knack for distilling complex, core copywriting concepts and strategies into practical steps that anyone, regardless of skill or experience, can easily follow, apply, and duplicate.

It’s no wonder he’s known as “The World’s Greatest Copywriting Teacher.”

This is what you’re going to learn from this full 60 minute audio interview between myself and David:

How to make connections with other human beings (you might call them prospects).How to make a connection with people using the written word or the recorded word (video and audio), and all that that involves.How to make that connection involve action.

Quick Note About Getting Prospects To Take Action

You can connect with someone and have a feeling about it, but you’re never going to be able to help them or let them help you if someone hasn’t taken an action.

Action completes the connection.

It’s action that produces the live, real-time, in-person (or over the phone) conversation or personal email dialog.

Copywriting is ALL the things you do that lead up to the real-time or in-person connection.

You’re going to learn how to take the spoken language -the language we speak- and put that into written word (or spoken words). And don’t worry, it’s not essays or terms papers or business memos. It’s conversational and directed towards connection. Anyone can do it (that means you can!)

Ann Sieg is the CEO of 80/20 Marketing, Inc. She's the author of The Renegade Network Marketer, The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing & The Attraction Marketer's Manifesto. I'm inviting you to connect with me. I love feedback. All of it. So let's have an intelligent helpful conversation to help you become more profitable in your business. Leave a comment below.

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The Absolute Best Way to Earn Money Online

When I started back in 2006, I was trying to find the best way to earn money online.

I was looking for quick-fixes, magic bullets and shortcuts. I fell for the get-rich quick schemes and everything else internet marketers had to offer.

It was my learning phase. I had to go through it to discover what truly worked and what didn’t.

The truth of the matter is that there is no magic bullet. There is no tactic that will skyrocket you to stardom and put thousands of dollars into your bank account.

However, there is a best way to earn money online, and in this article we’ll take a look at what that is. This is something I’ve learned from personal experience.

I’ve spent years falling flat on my face.

I’ve wasted thousands on bad training programs and coaching.

I know what doesn’t work.

But I also know what does, at least for me.

The problem today is selfishness.

Most people think about how they can make money, which is fair and makes sense. But that’s not going to bring you success.

Not true success.

I’m talking about success that fulfills you.

Anyone can make money, but what good is money without peace of mind and satisfaction? Because isn’t that what we’re all after?

It’s not the money we want, but the things money can buy. We want the freedom that money can offer, and you can get that, if you stop focusing just on yourself.

So what’s the solution?

The solution is to find a problem you can solve.

This is what I help my clients discover first, because when you focus on solving one problem, you almost automatically stand out from the crowd.

People know what you can help them with, which means that if they aren’t interested, they can tell their friends about you. You’ve positioned yourself in their mind.

And this is what it all comes down to.

If you want to build a sustainable online business, you have to solve a problem. Yes, you can expand your territory later, but if you’re just getting started, pick one problem.

Don’t just go for a blog on personal development, dive into one problem.

Need Examples?

Here are a few examples of problems in the personal development niche:

ProcrastinationFearStressInsomniaWorryingLife Purpose (Problem: not knowing what it is)DepressionAnxiety

I could go on and on.

If you focus on becoming the expert on one problem, good things will happen. You can build a whole empire around solving that problem.

And if you have multiple passions and interests, you can sometimes blend them together.

That’s exactly what I’ve done. I help people build a lifestyle business, so I blend together my skills in online business and personal development, because there’s more to business than just business.

Then you go out and get them.

If you want to become the expert on fear, start learning how to conquer fear.

Go out and overcome your own fears. You probably already have stories to share. But the easiest way to decide which problem to focus on is to look at your life.

What kind of life experiences have you already had?

What kind of skills have you had to develop naturally?

What fascinates you?

There are no obstacles. No excuses. Only choices.

Choose what you want to do, and then take action. Focus on solving one problem, because that is truly the best way to earn money online.

All the tactics and strategies come after that.

Henri Junttila is the founder of Wake Up Cloud, where he helps people turn their passion into a wildly profitable online business. If you want to learn more about how to build a successful online business, make sure you grab his free special report (audiobook included).

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Zeek Rewards Re-opening In Europe?

Posted on 20 August 2012.

I saw a report over at our friend, Troy Dooley’s MLM Help Desk that Zeek Rewards may be re-opening in Europe.

Well, if you are a current Zeek member and this provides you with some hope, it really shouldn’t.

Europe is actually tougher on Network Marketing companies than the U.S.

Even Amway ran into some serious trouble there not long ago.

Amway has since been cleared but I have heard a number of Network Marketing company owners talk about staying out of Europe until the climate changes (not the weather climate, but the attitude towards Network Marketing).

Even if Zeek does figure out how to re-open in another country, you really need to know a couple of things, based on covering MLM/Network Marketing on this blog for nearly 9 years.

If it seems too good to be true (money for nothing), it is not only too good to be true, it’s probably illegal.Companies that go through stuff like this never come back.

I don’t like absolutes, so I’ll add this about the last bullet point…

Zeek’s reputation is gone.

Zeek’s CEO/President is gone.

If you want to impact your family and build residual income, find a stable company and work your butt off.

That is the secret.

Ty Tribble
MLMBlog Founder

Author of Double Your Income with Network Marketing 

Ty is an Internet Marketer, Blogger and Social Marketing Entrepreneur

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What Are The Daily Non-Negotiables For YOUR Business? (Here Are My Three)

My husband, Archie, and I started our blog in May.

We were new to the world of blogging and were looking for ways to get started right. We found a course based on recommendations from successful bloggers then started on our blogging journey.

Learning how to use WordPress to submit posts to our blog has been quite a process.

Lots of trial and error, tears, but fun times too! What excitement the day we published our first blog post! Woohoo! We were absolutely thrilled!

Since, we’ve determined that in order to grow our blog, there are just some things we CAN’T not do. We call them our “non negotiables” and today I’m going to share them with you.

One of our non-negotiables from the very first day of publishing was to post a blog post every day. This has to occur. No ifs, ands or buts!

Life has a habit of getting in the way sometimes doesn’t it? But you know what…

…It is all about choices too.

There have been times when we are so tired, or the dog is sick, or we just want to relax, or the kids need us, or the water pipes burst.

But, because publishing a post every day is a non-negotiable, these just become excuses. And excuses don’t count! So a post gets published.

Is it easy? No, sometimes it sure isn’t.

One day the post was published at 11:59 and 30 sec. Now that was cutting it close! But it happened.

We have now published a blog post for 116 days in a row.

Every day we comment and share on five to ten other blogs.

We truly read each post and then share it on Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites. We leave a good, well thought out and interesting comment.

We don’t write “good post” or “nice article.” Leaving a comment like that just shows the blog owner and your fellow readers (yes, they do read those comments) you don’t want to bother spending much time or thought on what you were reading.

We make it count, and making it count means being thoughtful.

QUICK TIP: Make sure you have a gravatar. You can get one at http://gravatar.com. This is important so that people can get to know your face, and “see you” commenting. Otherwise they will just know you as a little “box with no face”.

Commenting on other people’s blogs daily is a simple, yet it’s an effective way to build up trickles of traffic to your blog (that really begin to add up).

You will find that if you take the time to do this properly and leave good comments and shares, that people will reciprocate and do that for you on your blog as well.

We also make it a priority to reply to all comments made on our blog.

Following this process, we have seen a steady increase, starting with the number of comments and now we are seeing an increase in the number of shares as well.

Each day we make it a point to “meet” at least one new fellow blogger.

It is a real community and people reach out and help each other. We have made many new friends and more importantly, there is a sense of camaraderie, knowing we are bloggers too.

This is our way of adding in the “human element” for our business.

Our challenge for you today is to look at your non-negotiables, determine their value and take appropriate action.

If you don’t have any yet, this is a good time to establish some. Write them down.

Then, take action and implement your daily non-negotiables for your business.

Sigrid is a top up and coming MLM blogger. She's published a blog post for 116 days in a row. Little by little, she's turned a tiny trickle of traffic into a growing river, and it keeps getting better. Her dedication to the "non negotiables" is a model for even the gurus. A former microbiology laboratory technologist, Sigrid helps others make a business the perfect fit for their dynamic schedule. She is always finding new ways to help others achieve their dreams. Click the link below to visit her blog.

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Taskos – A Great To-Do List App For your Android

You are here: Home // Home Based Business // Taskos – A Great To-Do List App For your Android

Every good network marketer needs to make sure their To-Do list is being created but also the tasks are being completed as well.  In our busy lives (juggling family and business) having tools to help us is essential to make sure our home based business and family are both successful.

So I have been needing a better To Do List for my Galaxy SII since I wasn’t really in love with Google Tasks.  I have been using Taskos To Do List for the past couple weeks and I am very impressed.  The user interface is very clean and easy to use.  The app has quite a few features as well and best of all the APP is FREE!

Some of the features that it has:

Speech to Text supportSimple user interfaceGoogle Task SyncEasy calling from within the to do listAuto-complete support (contact, popular verbs etc.)Small Widget (1X4)Big Widget (3X4)Scheduled alertsEnhanced productivity methodologiesPre-defined CategoriesSet ImportanceEdit NotesEasy SortingTasks Sharing

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Make Your Site Faster with Google’s mod_pagespeed

As you probably know a couple of months ago Google announced that it would start taking into consideration the load speed of web pages when determining the its search rankings. In other words, the faster your page, the higher the chances of your rankings going up, and vice-versa.

Luckily for webmasters and site owners Google is also trying to help us to get there. This week one of its tools for this purpose went out of beta. It’s called mod_pagespeed.

Here’s how Google describers it: “mod_pagespeed is an open-source Apache module which automatically applies web performance best practices to pages, and associated assets (CSS, JavaScript, images) without requiring that you modify your existing content or workflow.”

Among other things it will:

Image optimization, compression, and resizingCSS & JavaScript concatenation, minification, and inliningCache extension, domain sharding, and domain rewritingDeferred loading of JavaScript and image resources

I still haven’t tried it, but when I get some free time I’ll install on my server and see how it works. Did any of you guys installed it already?

If you want to read more about the tool or watch a video about it check out the official announcement here.

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Success at Network Marketing

Success at Network Marketing

If you think you need to have a college degree or be technology gifted to have success at MLM, think again. This is one of the easiest ways to earn a nice residual income on your own time. Some earn a sizeable income, and never have to go to a “real” job again. It can be done; you simply need the right network marketing opportunity, focus, guidance, goals and determination. Just think, a year from now, your life could be very different, or you could be stuck in the same rut, longing to make a change.

Time is Money

When it is time to work, it is important that you are actually working. This is especially true if you are only doing this in your spare time while working another job. Your time is likely limited, so create a schedule and stick to it. You should avoid all distractions like cellphones and televisions during your scheduled work time as well.

Budget Your Finances

If you want to see success at MLM, you will have to learn to budget your money, especially in the beginning. If you have a couple great weeks, don’t blow all of your earnings on unnecessary things. Save some for when you have a lousy week; there will be time to splurge on shopping when you are better established, but even then, you should still put some money aside.

If you are jumping into network marketing fulltime, make sure that you have enough money to live on for a couple months. Otherwise, when funds start getting low and you are stressed about bills, the desperation will start to come through in your voice and presentation, which is very off-putting to potential customers and recruits.

Be a Sponge

You will never know everything about network marketing or the company you are involved with. This is a career where you will continue to learn something new for as long as you are in it. Keep in mind that market changes can demand new product and technologies as well. Read everything you can, go to seminars and listen to eBooks. If you are like most others, you will forget a lot of the basic points you learn in the beginning so one, two, five or ten years later, a little refreshing certainly will not hurt.

Target the Right People

You do not want to recruit just everyone you came in contact with. You want the people with a hunger for success. You want the ones who remind you of yourself when you first heard about MLM. Not sure how to tell the difference? Well, if they are avoiding your pitch or saying maybe in the future or telling you that they will think about it, you probably do not want them on your team. Why waste your time training people that won’t produce results for you.

Use the Right Selection

To ensure you experience success at MLM, you need to get involved with the right company. This will be one with a hot and beneficial product that offers a fair pay scale. It should not be a company that peaked years ago, or you will likely never move up far enough to see any amount of real success.

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Zeek awards by the Minister of Justice to shut down?

Posted on August 16th, 2012.

Well I hate to say I told you so, but kind of not.

Starting at 9: 22 p 16. August, here's what ZeekRewards.com looks like (click to enlarge):

Check out the clip below the article:

"Rex Venture Group, which operates the online penny auction site Zeekler.com and partners program Zeek Awards, is closed for undisclosed reasons, weeks remaining at its headquarters.

The company is best known for being the headquarters of the three characters, Zeek posted 803 w. Center St. in Lexington at about 4 pm on Thursday, the Agency said the Windows will be closed to visitors tells you "check the website for more information." 6: 22 PM, because there was no room available at Zeekler.com or zeekrewards.com.

Zeekler.com and zeekrewards.com were there from 9 pm.

The company also announced it is withdrawn for the upcoming "Red Carpet" event, on Wednesday. Notification shall be made zeekrewardsnews.com, it is also recommended to readers still in the control sites for more information about the available.

On Monday, the company also announced that the fees would not have any subsidiaries, Zeek, training, recruitment and leadership requires during "a few days" while the design is ongoing, according to the message zeekrewards.com. "

I've also heard, the company has at least one you drew attention to the State Attorney General.

Not looking too good Zeek and reps at this stage.  The more it is going to be.

Update August 17, 10: 36 pm Pacific:

The Wall Street Journal reported the SEC has Shut Down Zeek Awards

Ty Tribble
MLMBlog founder

The author of Double your income, network marketing

Ty is an Internet marketer, Blogger and social marketing entrepreneur

View the original article here

What Network Marketers Can Learn About Marketing From Tim Ferriss

Tim Ferriss, the #1 best-selling author of “The Four Hour Work Week” designed a product called BrainQUICKEN, which was a nutritional supplement to improve focus, memory and mental performance.

In his book he explains how he started out by marketing his product to student athletes, which at first glance seemed like it would be a good niche to go after. However, it proved to be too broad as no orders were coming in.

He “repackaged” his product and narrowed his audience even more to martial artists and powerlifters – minuscule markets compared to the massive student market – and sales took off eventually reaching as high as $80K a month.

Exact same product. Different target audience.

If you’re in the health and nutrition industry, use this example. The possibilities are endless.

Here are a couple examples:

The beauty of educational style marketing, and why you can benefit from it into your business today, is because it allows you to market your products to people with these health conditions on a mass scale using the Internet while staying 100% compliant with even the strictest company guidelines without getting into any trouble with the FDA.

If this is unclear right now how to do this, I cover exactly how to set up your own marketing pipeline that’s specifically tailored to your products in The Attraction Marketers’ Manifesto.

What About if You Have A Team Of People?
If your company has one main product, you can all market the same product, each taking a different angle. Or, if you have multiple products, you can do the same.

This is what my team and I did years ago with our health awareness seminars. As we started to grow, each of us began specializing in different areas. I started with digestive health and eventually others branched out into dental health and women’s health.

For example,

Traffic violationsDWI/DUICriminal actionsIRS auditsPersonal injuryDivorceWorkers compMedical malpracticeBankruptcy

I know of one person who makes a very good living online by marketing specifically to people with speeding tickets.
Targeting A Specific Niche Like This Is Not Mandatory To Get Started In Attraction Marketing, But…
Targeting a specific niche like this is not mandatory to get started in attraction marketing, but if you can begin identifying a certain group of people or a specialty that you want to go after, you will be light years ahead of where most network marketers are today.

People who are doing this now, and have stuck with it for awhile, are dominating!

Want to keep reading more of this information?

Download The Attraction Marketers Manifesto. It’s free.

Ann Sieg is the CEO of 80/20 Marketing, Inc. She's the author of The Renegade Network Marketer, The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing & The Attraction Marketer's Manifesto. I'm inviting you to connect with me. I love feedback. All of it. So let's have an intelligent helpful conversation to help you become more profitable in your business. Leave a comment below.

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How Is Your Touch Typing Going?

As you might remember back in 2009 I decided to learn how to touch type. Before that I used mostly two fingers to type, although I was not bad at it, with a speed of around 60 words per minute.

Here’s the post where I talked about making the switch: You Got to Learn Touch Typing

Looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made productivity-wise. In fact around six months after making the switch as I was already up to 100 words per minute (I wrote about that here: Update About the Touch Typing Experiment).

After that I stopped all types of training and just kept working normally. Then last week I decided to measure my typing speed again (using the 10 Fast Fingers website), just for fun. Check out the result:

With 115 words per minute I am pretty much twice as fast today compared to when I decided to learn touch typing. Also, you don’t need to type that fast. Even if you go from 40 to 80 words per minute you are doubling your typing productivity anyway.

Add up all the hours you spend in front of a keyword and you’ll get a bunch of free hours at the end of the year.

What about you, has your typing speed improved over the past years?

Sign-up to the Daily Blog Tips newsletter and you will be able to download the "Make Money Blogging" eBook for free (worth $47).You will also receive tips to improve your blog, strategies to make money and useful resources from around the web.

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Zeek Awards Update: North Carolina, the Minister of Justice civil investigation demand

Posted on August 17, 2012.

Our good friend MLMWatchDog was shut down the following update about Zeek prizes:

"North Carolina Attorney General Consumer Protection Division has done something to cause the website to shut down as a result of their investigation. The AG had begun a civil investigative demand, which rarely does not shut down the company. Temporary Restraing order usually AG (TRO) to lock the doors and close the trade. Proceedings of the Court of Justice of the AG's website, so that we do not know if will be closed the doors to the & is missing the URL address was part of the AG's Office, or a voluntary part of Zeek:. Zeek is emailed information. "

Here's a video update from our buddy Troy Dooley more than MLMHelpDesk (Troy's site has crashed probably because this story has created traffic!):

Ty is an Internet marketer, Blogger and social marketing entrepreneur

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Would You Read Your Blog?

Producing great content constantly is like wrestling a bear for 12 rounds without a bell. Earning a living writing requires most of us to churn out content from daybreak until after Jay Leno’s done counting sheep, and it’s really easy to lose the freshness that brought readers to our blog in the first place. So, how can you keep on producing stuff people actually want to read?

The key is to step back from your work, evaluate these elements in your blog posts and create something you’d click on if you saw it in an online search. If you’d enjoy reading what you wrote, chances are other people will, too. If you’re falling asleep before paragraph two, here’s where you can make adjustments.

The funny thing about titles is, if they don’t grab you by the collar, shake you silly and beg on their hands and knees to be read, the rest of the article is likely never to be seen. Readers are constantly bombarded with thousands more articles than they could ever read, so make the title truly stand out. Make them want to open the box and peek inside. Grab ‘em from the start or there’s no point in writing the rest of the article.

How can you do this? Here are several ways:

Ask them a question they’re dying to know the answer to. “Is your blog doomed to failure?”Offer them inside information about something they’re highly interested in. “What the best bloggers know about generating revenue.”Make a bold statement that contradicts everything they already know. “The top bloggers could care less if you read their posts.”

In other words, pull them into the article before they have a chance to think it through. Of course, you’ve got to back up your title with great content, but you need to get them in the door to begin with.

A great title gets you a click. That’s it. Your content is what will keep readers engaged in your writing. Don’t forget – there are thousands of other blogs out there begging to be read. Always deliver on the promises made in your title. If you’ve a

sked your reader a question or promised him an inside scoop in the title, he’d better get the goods in the blog post. Otherwise, you’ve lost credibility – and readership.

Is the information in the blog post valuable to readers? Will they learn something, have something to think about or be motivated? Or, is this just another post like thousands of others online – easy to forget and even easier to ignore next time? Make the blog post relevant to readers. Add value. This keeps them hooked, and brings them back for more.

And always read. Especially read about good writing.

I don’t mean the design of your blog, or the photos, colors, fonts and graphics. I mean the writing. But it’s just words! How can I make it any prettier? Ever looked at the front page of The Wall Street Journal? Now that’s intimidating! Column inch after column inch of nothing but a hard-looking read. Honestly, my college textbooks looked like the Sunday comics in comparison. Granted, it’s better than it used to be, but it’s still daunting for anyone who isn’t immersed in politics and finance.

Now take a look at USA Today. They usually cover many of the same news stories as The Wall Street Journal, but they’re presented in a breezy, unintimidating format. The paragraphs are short and sweet, broken up nicely by lots of pictures and subheadings. It doesn’t challenge the reader – it invites her along. Make sure your blog posts look fun and simple like Sunday’s funnies, not tough and intimidating like that big, bad bully The Wall Street Journal.

Remember, you’re just writing a blog post. It’s not an exhaustive analysis of the subject, just a snapshot of the current issues. Know when to shut up, or your readers will shut you up with a click to the next blog. Craft a good ending and let it go. See? Like this.

Christy Wilson is a freelance writer specializing in writing for small businesses, fitness blogs, health blogs, grilling blogs and other online writing. She attained her bachelor’s degree in Journalism/Mass Communications from Samford University with special focus on Public Relations.

Sign-up to the Daily Blog Tips newsletter and you will be able to download the "Make Money Blogging" eBook for free (worth $47).You will also receive tips to improve your blog, strategies to make money and useful resources from around the web.

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Zeek Rewards Shut Down By Attorney General?

Posted on 16 August 2012.

Well, I hate to say I told you so, but I kind of did.

As of 9:22p on August 16th, here’s what ZeekRewards.com looks like (click to enlarge):

Check out the snip from an article below:

“Rex Venture Group, which operates the online penny auction site Zeekler.com and affiliates program Zeek Rewards, has closed its headquarters for the remainder of the week for undisclosed reasons.

The company, known to most as Zeek, posted three signs on the windows of its headquarters at 803 W. Center St. in Lexington by about 4 p.m. on Thursday that stated the office will be closed, telling visitors to “check the website for more information.” As of 6:22 p.m., there was no further information available on Zeekler.com or zeekrewards.com.

Zeekler.com and zeekrewards.com were offline as of 9 p.m.

The company also announced it is canceling its upcoming “Red Carpet” event, scheduled for Wednesday. The announcement, made on zeekrewardsnews.com, also advised readers to continue to monitor its websites for more information to be forthcoming.

On Monday, the company also advised Zeek Rewards affiliates there would be no training, recruitment and leadership calls during “the next few days while planning is going on,” according to a message on zeekrewards.com.”

I’m also hearing the company has been drawing the attention of at least one state Attorney General.

Not looking too good for Zeek and  it’s reps at this point.  More as it comes in.

Update August 17th 10:36pm Pacific:

Wall Street Journal Reports That SEC Has Shut Down Zeek Rewards

Ty Tribble
MLMBlog Founder

Author of Double Your Income with Network Marketing 

Ty is an Internet Marketer, Blogger and Social Marketing Entrepreneur

View the original article here

5 Simple Steps to Taking Your Freelance Career on the Road as a Full-time Traveler

Getting paid what we’re worth, setting our own hours, working in our underwear: these are the icings on the freelance cake. But there’s something else that working for ourselves can provide us, something even grander than controlling our own financial fate.

Absolute mobility.

Full-time traveling is one of those big dreams many of us have tucked away in the mustier shelves of our mind, a goal perhaps attainable one day, but not yet, not now. Perhaps on some future date when we’ve accomplished this or figured out that, when we’re older, wiser, more retired…and less physically able to do it all.

I’m here to present to you the five simple steps in transitioning from your current title as Freelancer to your new one as World Traveler. Five years ago I made the transition myself, and have been living full-time on the road, with my family, ever since. It’s not as difficult as you might think. While I do like to envision myself a great web designer and pretty decent freelancer, I am in no way superior than you or anyone else in this world. The only difference is, I’ve taken the leap of faith (in myself), necessary.

The hardest part about transitioning to a life on the open road is figuring out how you’ll make a living while you do so. If you’re already a freelancer, you’ve sorted that part out for yourself, and can safely move on to the Five Simple Steps… Oh, and congratulations by the way. The fact that you were brave and dedicated enough to ditch your 9 to 5 to pursue your own career path shows that you’ve got exactly what it takes to be a world class traveler and an all around wonderful individual.

In the course of running Wand’rly Magazine, I’ve spoken with and interviewed hundreds of freelancers and entrepreneurs about how they make a living on the road. The two biggest qualms I’ve heard from those who would like to make a transition from fixed location living to absolute mobility typically have to do with their current search engine placement for their particular location and that their clients need to meet with them.

I struggled with both when I was first scheming up my four wheels on two lanes lifestyle. I can tell you now, after five years on the road, neither has been an issue.

Do me a quick favor, pop open a new tab in your browser and do a search for pittsburgh web designer. I’m not always the first result, but regardless of when you read this article, it’s safe to say that you’ll have seen my website by the time you hit number two. I’m not here to tell you how a one man band like myself managed to outrank even the big boy agencies in the home of the greatest football team on Earth, but suffice to say I don’t live in Pittsburgh, anymore, and I have no immediate plans to return there. The point is, I have great search engine placement in a particular city.

There is no deception at hand here. I’m a nomad, but the last place I lived was in Pittsburgh. I spent years blogging about the city, developing relationship with non-profits, businesses and individuals en masse, and donating my life to being part of my neighborhood. In short, I earned my position as a web designer there and if you’ve done the same, bravo. Nothing is preventing you from retaining that status. Just because you decide to make the world your home doesn’t mean you need to stop caring for, or blogging about or focusing your business on, your hometown.

I met with clients on a regular basis during my time in Pittsburgh. I always found it to be a bit of a time waster as most of what we accomplished during our face to face meetings could have as easily been reconciled with a few emails, a phone call at most. Near the end of my tenure as a fixed locationite I began charging clients for preliminary face to face meetings, and certainly for every “Let’s get together and hash this one out” kind of excuse to get out of their office and have me buy them a coffee.

The real truth? I’ve only lost two jobs in five years specifically from not being in the physical location. One of those potential clients was gung ho about supporting truly local business (which I had to commend) and the other simply wanted someone they could call into the office to do everything from hash out design ideas to help fix their printer.

Needless to say, I’ve had hundreds of jobs and nearly as many clients over the years. None of them have received a sub-par deliverable nor have I ever sat back and thought, “Gee willikers, I’d love to get into a good, long meeting today.”

Okay, I’ve gone on enough about why you should pursue your traveling desires as well as why you shouldn’t feel like it’s impossible. Without further adue, let’s proceed to the actual five steps so you can wrap this one up, get started on your game plan, and be living somewhere new tomorrow as often as you’d like.

Even travelers need a place to live. Many of us travel full-time in RVs (or a Volkswagen Bus), taking our homes with us wherever we go. This is my particularly favorite method of travel because it gives my family a sense of home, without requiring us to be stuck in one particular corner of the country.

There are more adventurous—and dare I say more illustrious—travelers who forego the whole idea of bringing their home with them. Entrepreneur Colin Wright lives in a new country every four months, renting some type of accommodation simply for the time period he’ll be there. Freelance writer Nora Dunn often has a home base for a year or so, say in Australia, and travels the larger surrounding regions. I know people who manage to stay in 5-star hotels for most of their traveling careers and others who tough it out in tents. None of them are millionaires, they just have different preferences, desires and abilities to work the system travel industry.

The best way to figure out what’s right for you is to take a few preliminary test runs. Go on a roadtrip for a week. Take a vacation to a single location. Go camping. Which of those did you enjoy the most? If it was the roadtrip, you might want to consider an RV. If it was camping…well, you get the picture.

And don’t worry, you’ll always be able to change up your style (after all, you’ll be pretty good at molding your life into what you want it to be by now). Most of us start off on whirlwind daily traveling adventures and find that we like slow travel, where you can truly experience a place from a perspective not so touristy, the most.

You know the web right? It’s that place where you can stream video, download movies and albums and hop into Google Hangouts and it’s always just there, ever presently WiFi in your home.

Well you’ll need to rethink how the Internet works for you now, and what you can expect from it while traveling. While high speed access is nearly ubiquitous in the United States, finding an open WiFi network is not always that easy. Many campgrounds, most hotels, coffee shops and libraries offer free WiFi, but it’s not always reliable.

The best way to ensure that you’ll be able to stay connected for both work and play is to take the web into your own hands. There are a few options for staying connected while being a technomad.

Cellular Connections. You get your Internet, either by tethering your phone or using an aircard, from one of the cell providers. Verizon is the most reliable, AT&T next and really both Sprint and T-Mobile will leave you disconnected anytime you’re 30 or 40 miles away from a major metropolitan area.Satellite. HughesNet is the popular one here. Your connection really only depends on your line of site to the southern sky. The more expensive method, but typically more reliable as well.

For a complete rundown on how you can set yourself up for premium success, check out this post from Technomadia that details all of the many ways you ensure you’ll never be without a connection.

Your next task will be to transition your home office to your new mobile lifestyle. For many of us, that means downsizing from a desktop to a MacBook Pro. For still others, they take it even further and work primarily from an iPad. Maybe your external backup drive gets replaced by a robust Dropbox account. These are all of the fun little decisions and experiments that make up the months leading up to and the first few months of the transition into your new lifestyle.

Sure, ditching your dual screens for a 15? laptop screen doesn’t sound like a dream to everyone. While you’re thinking about how that’s going to be a major lifechanger for you, though, think about waking up in a tiki hut in Bali or hiking the Grand Canyon today, the Rocky Mountains tomorrow or the fact that rent for a month in many RV parks is around $300. I think the dual screens will learn to live without us.

Even more important than understanding how your office will change though, is understanding how your work schedule will need to adapt around your travel schedule.

We all, as freelancers, need to be on top of our work. Keeping clients happy, meeting deadlines, invoicing, etc. etc. and so on. Once you give yourself the freedom to go anywhere, do anything, well, seeing the world can put a big damper on sitting in a van and typing away lines of code or doing yet another Photoshop adjustment. I highly recommend you give yourself a couple of weeks at least, if your budget can spare it, to just travel. Enjoy your new life, get settled into your new home on the road, figure out how the sewage pipe works on your RV or get lost in a new city. For me, in five years, the appeal of travel has never worn off. The initial feeling like I just had to do everything immediately upon visiting a new place, however, definitely has. So go out, take some time, revel in your new abandon. Don’t worry, though, you’ll slip into your groove and soon realize that the best way to explore new places is to do so slowly and at a pace where you can feel comfortable that you’re seeing the sites but geting your work done as well.

Now that you’ve seen just how traveling will affect your work schedule and availability, it’s time to discuss this with clients. Note though that many of the people I spoke with don’t ever tell their clients, or wait until it naturally comes up. There’s nothing that says you need to go out and broadcast to the world that you’re a digital nomad who is calling Alaska his home for the Summer and will be somewhere off the coast of Australia come spring.

You should, however, begin setting new expectations. If there’s a great cultural celebration going on all day why should you be sitting in front of your desk waiting for emails to come in when that same work could be done just as easily, just as well, later this evening? Be sure to make your clients aware that you’re not always going to be available at the drop of a hat, and of course try to plan in advance with people if you’ll be away from your connection for awhile, say, gone for a week hiking to the pyramids of Peru.

Okay, you’ve made your plans for shelter, Internet access and your mobile office. You’ve figured out where you want to go and told your clients when you’ll be “back”. What else is left to do? Surely you’ve forgotten something!

Well, assuming you’ve packed your toothbrush, you’re all set! Bon voyage, happy trails and don’t drink the water!

Nathan Swartz has been a freelance web designer since 2001 and a full-time traveler since 2007. He’s been featured on FreelanceSwitch, Webmonkey and Wired Magazine. He’s currently part of a Kickstarter campaign at Wandrly.me/kickstarter and, if you’re into the nomadic freelance idea yourself, would love your support.

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