Palm Pixi Plus Verizon Cell Phone - No Contract

3G-enabled smartphone with intuitive Palm webOS platform, touchscreen and full QWERTY keyboard; easy integration with Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and more GPS-enabled for turn-by-turn directions; can be used as a 3G Mobile Hotspot for up to five Wi-Fi connected devices 8 GB internal memory; 2-megapixel camera/camcorder; Bluetooth stereo music streaming; Wi-Fi-enabled Up to 5.2 hours of talk time, up to 350 hours (14.5 days) of standby time The thinnest Palm mobile phone yet, the Palm Pixi Plus for Verizon Wireless is a smartphone that's designed to be easy to use and light in your pocket. In addition to high-speed connectivity on the fast and reliable Verizon Wireless 3G network, the phone's memory has been doubled to 8 GB and it comes with a built-in 3G Mobile Hotspot that can be shared via Wi-Fi among five devices--laptop, another phone, MP3 player, and more. The phone's full QWERTY keyboard puts it all at your fingertips, and the multi-touch screen lets you move back and forth between open applications using natural gestures. The unique removable back cover is rubberized, making it scratch-resistant, slip-resistant and durable. With Palm webOS, you can keep multiple activities open and move easily between them--like flipping through a deck of cards, using natural gestures. This allows for easy movement between messaging and e-mail or searching the Web while listening to music, and items are rearranged simply by dragging them. Palm's webOS interface brings together the most important information from your phone, at work or on the Web, into one logical view. In addition to linking information from Google, Facebook, Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and LinkedIn, Palm Pixi Plus adds Yahoo! integration to Palm Synergy, What's included in the box: Palm Pixi Plus handset Battery AC charger micro USB cable quick start guide gesture guide

Price:

Click here to get it from Amazon

May be this site can give you other view

Check it out!

Read more »

HTC Inspire 4G Android Phone (AT&T)

March through your day with confidence by keeping the HTC Inspire 4G Unlocked GSM Cell Phone by your side. Make an endless number of phone calls and access emails, text messages and more with one or two clicks via the larger-than-life 4.3-inch touchscreen display. With an 8-megapixel integrated camera, you’ll be able to capture such stunning pictures that will leave everybody speechless at its infinite high-quality capability. Enjoy fun camera features like the dual-LED flash and Face Detection to help you get that perfect shot!

Price: $499.99

Click here to get it from Amazon

Read more »

HTC DROID INCREDIBLE 2 Android Phone (Verizon Wireless)

Socialize with a sense of style The Droid Incredible 2 by HTC is ready to party. Its sleek, all-black design will get looks, and front and back cameras can help capture a scene, start a conversation, or snap a self-portrait. You can record the night's most memorable moments in 720p HD video for sharing later. A phone that's designed around you HTC SenseTM lets you do more in fewer steps with a friendly experience that brings everything you care about right to the surface. You can easily make your phone your own and put everything exactly where you want it. FriendStreamTM pulls together all your friends' Twitter,TM Facebook,® and Flickr® updates in one place. Here's an idea: Choose a People widget that lets you see everybody's latest updates and messages right on the home screen. You can also select a compact People widget that just shows their profile pictures. Worth watching - and listening to Your music and movies look and sound great on a 4-inch super LCD screen with SRS WOWTM HD surround sound. Get access to unlimited songs through V CASTTM Music with Rhapsody or tune in to the expert DJs on Slacker® Internet Radio. V CAST Video on Demand gives you on-the-go access to more shows and movies, including those available from BLOCKBUSTER On Demand.® Invite friends to your own private Hotspot Your phone turns into a 3G Mobile Hotspot, for up to five other Wi-Fi®-enabled devices. That just might make you more popular than ever. Call anyone, anywhere - no matter where you travel The global-ready Droid Incredible 2 by HTC will keep you connected from Lima to London.

Price: $599.99

Click here to get it from Amazon

Read more »

The 5 golden rules of expectation management and why you can not ignore them

You may recall a few weeks just before Steve Jobs passed on, Apple stock dropped a good few percentage points.

It wasn’t because of Steve’s death that brought the valuation down (it was factored into the stock market years ago when he first began to get sick), it was because the market expected something and then didn’t get it.

Each year Apple holds a conference. Every event is exciting because of new product announcements, usually revealed during the CEO presentation, which before his death, was always handled by Steve.

The speculation this time around was the expectation of the announcement of the iPhone 5. Unfortunately for Apple’s stock, instead of the iPhone 5, they received the iPhone 4s, an upgrade to the phone already on the market. The industry was less than impressed with this and thus stock was sold.

Only Apple insiders will know how much Steve’s pending passing impacted what announcements they made at that particular conference. Maybe they didn’t want to release a big announcement like a completely new iPhone knowing that Steve was going to die soon. Then again, knowing when someone is going to die is not easy to plan for in your schedule.

Whatever the case, the market expected something and got something else. Disappointment was the result.

I remember one of the very first pieces of advice I gave to bloggers when I first started my blog tips newsletter. I was often asked -

How many blog posts should I write each week?

My typical response was as many as you can, aiming for one per weekday during the start-up phase of your blog. To be truthful, I don’t think it is possible to provide too much good content. The restrictions usually come from people’s abilities to keep producing. The challenge is figuring out what you can maintain and whether that will be enough to make your blog a success.

The key point I passed on was to manage the expectations of your readers. Humans are very much pattern based. We form habits easily and don’t like disruptions to what we become used to.

If readers learn from you that you will publish something new every day, they will visit every day looking for what is new. If you publish every day then start doing it once a week, inevitably disappointment will be the result. It’s important to find a balance and then stick to it.

Early in my blogging I stuck to one article a day and I had no problems doing so because I had so much to write from all my previous experiences, and the time to write it. As my blogging matured I slowed down my writing schedule, publishing three articles a week on average. Eventually I dropped down to one per week.

When I transitioned I did it slowly. I didn’t publish five articles in one week, then only one the week after. I slowly adjusted so not to make any “bumps” in the road disrupting my passengers.

While blog post frequency is important, it’s not nearly as critical as managing expectations when it comes to product delivery. Let’s take a look at how expectations matter in this area of online business…

When people are paying you money for something and they don’t get what they expect, that’s when they reach for the refund button.

Gideon Shalwick and I were talking about one of his recent product launches. He mentioned that despite making it very clear that this particular product was going to be released sequentially and you would not get access to everything up front, some people bought expecting everything immediately, and consequently sent him emails asking where the rest of the content was.

Gideon and I both use and teach a system of sequential content delivery (usually in an online course model) because it allows you to get to launch quicker. You don’t need to have the entire product ready to go from opening day, you only need the first lot of content. From there you stay one step ahead of your members, creating the next module or lesson the week before they are due to receive it.

I use this exact method for all my programs and it works well. Gideon also uses this method with great success.

So what went wrong this time? Communication wasn’t quite clear enough. Despite telling people that it was a course delivered over a period of time, a few people still expected to have the entire course available to them from day one, rather than receive it sequentially.

This highlights the key challenge with managing expectations. You may think you are clearly outlining what to expect, including clear descriptions of what is going to happen and how things will be delivered, yet it won’t necessarily be enough. Some people will make assumptions and not read your explanations, and then be disappointed when they don’t get what they expect.

So what can you do to minimize the chance of mis-communication and manage the expectations of your customers? Read on and find out…

The challenge when managing expectations comes down to two variables -

CommunicationPreconceptions

To make things especially challenging, each person has different preconceptions based on their unique experiences. If they took an online course and paid a certain price to receive certain information, they are very much using that experience as a benchmark for what they expect from you if they buy your course.

To make things worse, we aren’t even necessarily comparing apples to apples. Someone may become your customer with their benchmark for preconceptions coming from what they studied at university or college in the offline world. In this case they are comparing offline academic training to your online course. Hardly an adequate comparison, but unfortunately impossible for you to control.

Everything including price, format, content, style, length, level of difficulty, to even simple things like what font is used on your webpages, comes with baggage. What people expect is based on what has come before.

The difference between what they expect and what you deliver will determine your level of attrition, and whether what you put out there gains traction and succeeds or disappoints and flops. Success really comes down to understanding what people want and making sure they get it exactly how they expect to get it.

Expectation management isn’t just about you avoiding damaging errors, it also represents a fantastic opportunity. The most successful products, blogs and even businesses succeed because they exceed expectations in unexpected ways.

If “normal” is standard and you deliver something so much better than normal, you win. Taking Apple as an example again, one of the reasons they have done so well is their operating system is so much more reliable than the main operating system that people use – Windows.

Windows, while a capable operating system, has many issues that people have come to accept as normal. The fact that the “blue screen of death” was so common in earlier Windows versions that it became a running joke, demonstrates how much people’s expectations had dropped, to the point where consistent errors were considered normal. This was certainly not desirable, but accepted enough that people continued to use the operating system even with the obvious flaws.

Enter Apple OS.

Apple’s operating system had some obvious improvements. It was simpler and it was “cooler”, but I suspect the main reason people were so impressed was because it worked without the errors that Windows had. No blue screen of death. No viruses or need for virus protection and no regular frozen screens. These things were considered “normal” for computers running Windows, so when something came along that lifted the standard to just “error free” that’s already a vast improvement, exceeding expectations.

I noticed something similar to this when it came to providing customer service in my businesses. Thanks to the proliferation of online companies that are so big and so reliant on using FAQs as customer service, simply having someone respond to an email is better than normal.

Ever tried to contact Paypal or Google via email? Yeah, not an easy thing to do. You tend to get the runaround, redirections to help pages or bulletin boards that no one on staff ever responds to.

I understood that when dealing with customers, people love having an email they can send to get help from. They also love it when the email they send is replied to (go figure!). What is interesting is that the email reply doesn’t need to necessarily solve their problem, it just needs to be some kind of acknowledgement. Someone saying we know you exist and have this problem and we are going to help you.

That’s why for all my products I’ve used a simple email address as the main method of support. By doing something you think should be “normal” – responding to emails, my customer service stood out.

There’s a lot you can immediately apply to your business from the ideas presented in this article. Here in my opinion are the most important applications:

Expectations are based on what has come before. Because of this it is important you have an awareness of what is accepted practice in your industry and how you can do better. Review how people currently solve the problem your business solves, and find a better or unique way to do it. Sometimes just being more reliable or simpler than what is currently accepted, even if the outcome is the same, can be enough.Don’t assume everyone knows what is going to happen next. Managing expectations is about saying what the customer will experience after they buy from you, or what people will receive when they join your newsletter, or pretty much any variable where you present something and invite people to participate. Review how you describe what people will receive and ask yourself if you have done a good enough job explaining what is going to happen next.When feedback starts coming in from your audience/members/customers, it probably points to a difference between what you said was going to be delivered, how that was interpreted, and then what was delivered. This kind of feedback is incredibly valuable because it challenges your assumptions and spots your weaknesses. Don’t ignore it, but also be careful not to assume one piece of feedback represents the majority. You can never be certain, so collect enough data before making any changes.If you are looking for new industries to break into, look for markets where the current businesses, either due to laziness, or a lack of competition, or bureaucracy, have set standards that can easily be improved.

Richard Branson is fantastic at doing this. He finds markets where expectations are kept low because all the current options do things the same (inferior) way. Virgin enters the market with a more valuable/better/more exciting option to stir things up, and often in a short period of time is a market leader or significant player. Don’t be afraid to highlight your strengths by pointing out the competitions weaknesses. This works for politicians all the time.

Your goal as an entrepreneur is to identify a need, present an offer using the language your target market uses, make sure the offer is delivered how people expect it to be, and then go to work finding more customers. It’s important to manage the offer and deliverability of that offer, otherwise any marketing you do is wasted.

Do this wrong and it’s like spending money to buy traffic consisting of people who want to buy a new motorcycle, when you sell new scooters. The difference may be considered subtle, but I doubt a person wanting a new motorcycle will be happy when a scooter turns up.

Despite all this emphasis on managing expectations, it’s important to be relaxed about the process. We are dealing with the greatest variable ever – human beings – so if you are seeking a perfect understanding of what people expect, you will forever be frustrated.

Needs change. Markets evolve. People wake up in the morning wanting something different from the night before. If you attempt to anticipate all of this you will drive yourself crazy.

All you need to do is know enough and explain enough to keep customers happy, or keep your email list or blog growing, or meet whatever goal you have. There is always room for improvement, so know what is “enough” for your own needs.

In other words, manage your own expectations before you begin managing those of others.

Read more »

How to the best on everything you do

"Be the best – at everything you do"

Every single time I've said this to someone, they come back with an argument:

"But how can I be the best in the world at everything?" "Or even anything?"

I then explain and clarify:

"I never said 'best in the world'." " I only said 'be the best'."

So, what's the difference?

One is comparing yourself with everyone else in your universe, and engaging in a futile struggle to be 'better' than them. The other is within only looking at yourself - and asking "Did I give it my all?" "Could I have done more?"

Look, in the ultimate analysis, there is only so much you, me, or anybody else can do we all come with our built-in limitations, restrictions and boundaries. No. matter how eager and determined he high jump is, a man without legs cannot win the world competition, and a lady without eyesight can't shoot brilliant world class photographs.

But d ' you know what matters? Not that you do better than everyone else, but that you do as best as YOU can. And that's within reach of every single one of US.

How many times has this happened to you before?

You hardly prepare for a test, but score the highest in your class - because the others studied even less than you.

You delivered a barely adequate project, but were warmly praised by the boss - because the others were not even on schedule.

You uploaded a bare-bones draft of your new ebook, spelling and grammar mistakes galore, just because you were too bored to correct and edit it - and anyway made a barrel-load of sales.

We have all experienced situations where simply being "good enough is good enough".

And, sadly, many of US have settled for that standard.

Why strive for excellence when 'barely good' is more than sufficient? Children adopt this paradigm at school. Adults at work. And many of US do even around the house, or family in our lives.

Yet, in an over-crowded marketplace where everyone is screaming for attention and an audience, there is one thing that overwhelms and dominates - and that is EXCELLENCE.

Being the best is what you can take to the bank!

When you walk into a bookstore, which books do you see in the front display rack? Nine out of ten will be written by best selling authors titles, names that you are already familiar with, and whose other books you have probably read before.

On the poster of a blockbuster movie (or when the opening credits play), who gets top billing? The famous superstar whom audiences love and rave about.

It's the same everywhere. Authority charms crowds.

And broadly speaking, the authority these people wield comes from being the best in their field. You know James Patterson or Stephen King as the best novelists in their genre. You know Johnny Depp or George Clooney as the best Hollywood actors. You know Venus Williams and Roger Federer as top tennis stars. You know as brilliant scientists Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking .

These are folks who are at the top of their game. The very best.

And that's a good reason to strive to be the best.

But… but… but didn't we just talk about how hard it is to be the best at anything? So how can you strive to be the best at whatever you do?

"We are what we repeatedly do excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."- Aristotle.

Habits are tough things to establish - or change. It takes repetitive and intentional action. If you want to create a habit of waking up earlier in the morning and reading for an hour, then you must intentionally set your alarm for an hour sooner, act when it goes off, force aufpeppen eleven out of bed and sit down with a book. And you must do this repeatedly, over and over again – until it becomes almost automatic.

That, in essence, is so how you become the very best at anything you do.

You start deciding to give it your very best by intentionally. You follow up on that intention by making sure you put the right kind of focus, effort and energy into it and you remain consistent with that attitude for as long as it takes for it to become a habit.

And then, suddenly, you'll discover that "doing your best" has become a habit! A part of YOU.

Let's face of it we're never going to be excellent or top-class or brilliant at everything. Even Einstein couldn't find his way to the neighborhood grocery store! (He said, famously, "I don't clutter up my mind with trivia!")

Anyway, we don't need to be the best at everything - just the things that really matter. And those will vary from you to me to someone else.

There are two keys to making sure that you do your best at what counts or matters to you:

The thing you decide to give your best to must be within your capacity to carry out. If you read on inspiring tale about heroes who conquered Everest, and state with passion and fire that you are going to attempt to scale the world's highest peak too - but you have never even tried trekking up that tiny hill in your town - well, let's just say you've got a long, hard climben ahead of you!

But if it's something you already do, or are capable of doing, and you just haven't thought about putting in your very best effort to execute flawlessly, then that's an ideal place to begin. Intent. Practice. And soon, it becomes a habit.

Pick on area or activity or niche that you can dominate by focusing on being the best, and you could soon establish a beach-head that no competitor can storm. Your effort to do YOUR best to end up making you THE BEST of all!

The other factor that makes it easier for you to do your best is to have passion for the job. Ask a fan of world war history if they want a copy of Winston Churchill's six-volume account of WW2 (4,736 pages!) - and they'll jump at your offer! That's passion at play.

The enormity of the task, the challenge of getting it done, the hardships along the way – everything fades away into the darkness when the brilliant light of passion is shone upon it.

Bringing passion to whatever you do is a guaranteed way to make sure that you give it your best shot. So you can select only those things you're passionate about - or you can become passionate about anything you want to be the best at. Either way works.

Make this a simple challenge you set yourself for this week. Pick a task. Anything. It should meet the two conditions - you should be able to do it, and it should be something you're passionate about.

Then set out with the conscious intention of putting your best into it practice it over and over again, until it becomes second nature. Then come back and tell me how it feels to be the best!

Remember, authority system from being the best at what you do.

And excellence is a habit.

Be the best you can - always!

Read more »

A day in the life of a professional blogger

Blogging has been a life changing experience for me and while it has given me a lot of flexibility in regards to my schedule, it’s hardly a case where I don’t work anymore.

A lot less things make me angry than they used to – I guess that comes with being able to sleep in if I need to and getting to come and go as I please helps as well. But one of the things that still irks me is when people make a comment to me, which suggests that because I don’t go to an office or have a conventional 9 to 5 job where someone gives me a paycheck, they seem to think that I don’t work.

While I think the world might be a better place if I didn’t have to work, me not working these days just isn’t reality. The fact is: I work plenty and some days and times are so busy that I don’t leave my house for several days at a time.

While I know everyone has dreams of the freedom that their blog can give them, and I know a lot of people have a lot more freedom than I have, here is the reality of what my typical day is like.

When I get up in the morning the first thing I do is look at my live stats. I don’t look to see how many visitors are at my site. Thankfully at this point I am a little past counting traffic.

I look at the live stats because I know if I see a zero or a number close to it, or even a single digit number or a low double digit number of the number of people currently at my site, then I am probably having a big tech issue. My site or a part of it is down, which would mean it isn’t going to be a great day.

I was never a tech person so hosting is all still sort of a puzzle and a mystery to me. The thing I know most about hosting is it used to cost me less than $10 dollars a month, the last I looked it is several thousand dollars. This is one of the necessary expenses and while people say, “if the cost is going up you are doing something right,” personally, I would rather put the money towards a Maserati.

By this time hopefully I have rolled out of bed and am into my first cup of coffee. If any of you have ever checked out my site, I do a video every morning from my living room, and you can see the view from my window.

In any event, at least at some point during this cup of coffee I look out the window, I can see people waiting for the bus to go to work, the shuffling of the city, and of course the awesomeness of Lake Michigan, and I remind myself of how grateful I am for the life I have. I also take a good long pause to remember how I got to this point, unfortunately this never seems to last long enough.

By the time I am three sips into that first cup of coffee I start going through the email, something I do several times a day, if not more. I don’t like it when I send people an email and it takes them days to respond, I like it even less if it is something I am paying for.

I address my paying members emails first if I can sort them out, then I look for names I recognize and finally opportunities. I also get a lot of email regarding money, either money I owe or people owe me. I don’t spend too much time on most of these.

At this point, if the sun is coming up, I do my daily video. Some of these videos are longer than others, most are about three or four minutes which is still probably too long.

I never write a script, I rarely do retakes, and if you haven’t noticed by reading this, I haven’t been out of bed longer than a few minutes. Some days it looks like it, others not so much. I am usually pretty grateful on those “not so much days” and I noticed if I keep my hair shorter I have a better chance of those days happening.

I do one take of the video, convert the file on my computer using Sony Vegas, and then upload it to YouTube. Everything else is automated from there.

At this point there are several ways which my day can go and I will give you a quick peek into each of them.

One of the ways it goes is I start writing, actually as I write this article this is one of those days and this is the first thing I am writing.

It doesn’t take me long to write and the article you are reading took me less than 30 minutes. I know writing takes some people longer than others and for some it’s a real challenge. I can give some advice here, but in reality, everyone can do some things naturally. For some people it’s play basketball or the guitar, for me it’s writing.

I was told at a young age I was a good writer. I have spent the rest of my life trying to figure out what that means, but thanks to the wonderful world of the Internet I have come to understand at least part of it is that I write stuff that other people want to read.

For me writing just flows, like if I were having an easy conversation. I can always tell when I read something written by someone who has struggled and maybe that’s what separates better writing from writing which isn’t as good. Better writing has a flow to it, it is seamless and it reads as effortlessly as it was for the person to write it.

Writing that doesn’t come across that well tends to be choppier with less flow, like the writer had to stop and think about every sentence, and it gets worse, every word. I don’t use a ton of punctuation and my grammar is questionable. Even with spellcheck my spelling stinks, neither of those things make much difference when it comes to good writing or what the world finds they like to read. That’s about all I can help with there and if I knew more I would gladly share it.

On other days the phone starts ringing early. The calls I get are usually from people who are interested in doing some sort of joint venture or have a great way to make money. I get calls from friends of friends who want to write for the site.

If it’s really a day I can’t get off the phone, I get a few calls from realtors asking me if I have considered buying a new house, a call from a salesperson who has helped me at a store recently telling me about something new and fabulous (and probably expensive) that I might be interested in, or just a poor telemarketer who has caught me on a bad day.

Lately, I have been getting a lot of calls from my lawyer (yes, he bills me for these as well) because I am involved in a trademark infringement lawsuit. I can’t talk too much about it as someone is using a name all too close for comfort to my site’s name and I am suing them.

However, I can say if your blog is your business and you plan on making a living off of it, stop reading this article for a second, and either go to a legal site or call a lawyer or call your friend who is a lawyer and own your name.

You may be using someone else’s and you will owe them all of the money you make or someday someone might come up with a great name for their new business that just happens to be the same one you came up with years earlier.

As I mentioned I get a lot of calls about joint ventures and things of that nature. I can’t complain too much about it as much of it is my own doing. I never say no, well at least it’s rare, right off the bat without hearing it out. I can usually come up with a creative spin on just about anything where I can see it could be advantageous for me to give it a try.

What I can’t do on the fly is compare it to everything else I have going on and see if it is valuable enough to dedicate the time now or ever to make it work, this requires at least some thought.

I have some pretty strict parameters when it comes to the joint ventures and other new income streams.

I will not do anything that even sounds like a get rich quick scheme.

I know people can make money and make it fast that way, but at this point I have already built a business, not just a blog or a website, but a real business that makes real income, pays real taxes, and affords me lots of real good things.

I can’t risk my reputation on anything questionable no matter what the financial rewards are, and I can’t be so far removed from my core business that the new project would damage what I already have.

Money is great and my favorite part of making it is giving it to charity, but I won’t jeopardize my business on something that would take up most of my time and efforts. In a lot of these cases the money would be going to someone or something else.

I work hard on anything I do, I know other people work hard as well, but there are different definitions of what that means. To keep this part short:

Be careful.Look at everything as thoroughly as possible.Learn how to say “no”, I end up saying it most of the time.Don’t be a hero and need to be the smartest person in the world, get a lawyer to read through it.

Some days I like to talk to the people who write on the site, to be honest I don’t do this enough. I never call or write to tell them that they have or are doing a great job. This is an area I am lacking.

What I do is I call our agencies and handle all of the financial opportunities I discussed previously, so they can make the most effort from their efforts. I don’t walk them through every piece of it and I don’t think they fully understand what it takes and what goes on, but they at least know it’s something, as they get paid every month.

When I was in the work force I always hoped that my boss would fight to get me the bigger raise or bonus, I try and be that person for my people, and I can honestly say that I am.

I have a tech guy who helps me with just about everything tech on my site. I refer to him as my “tech guy” most of the time. When we do conference calls with people who are trying to upgrade my tech stuff or buying a product we need to integrate into the site, he is referred to as my “tech consultant”.

Either way sometimes we talk often, sometimes not as much. He has other clients as well, but less and less so, he just has a few people like me, which is all it takes for a good tech person to make a pretty good living. One thing I have figured out, I would rather have him working on my stuff than talking to me on the phone, we both get a lot more done.

Regardless of how the day starts out it usually fills in and flies by. There are a few other things I try and do every day…

First, I try and go for a run. As I am getting older my body hurts a little more with each of these, so I have cut back to about five days a week, but it at least gets me moving and out of my chair.

I don’t have too many websites I read or visit, there just isn’t enough hours in the day for that and most of my time is spent doing things that are going to grow my business. I will say that every day I visit the Blog Mastermind forums. I visit the forums because it reminds me of things I used to do when I was first starting out that I may not pay enough attention to now. It’s also a great resource to give me new ideas.

I like to help the new bloggers, so they don’t spin their wheels with ideas that have been tried and don’t work or point them in the right direction by telling them what worked and didn’t work for me and why.

The only problem I ever have is people feel the need to email me or private message me to ask me questions, it doesn’t make much sense. The whole idea of a forum is to spread knowledge to more than one person at a time, why would anyone think it is easier for me to answer the same question over and over again individually or that I have time to do so? It’s definitely something people should consider.

A lot of the things I mentioned above I do throughout the day. I also do other things for example,

I have a radio showI do guest spots on radio showsI host weekly chats for my premium membersand of course take a few vacations here and there, which I have to say have gotten a lot nicer since I started this whole blogging thing

My goal for the upcoming year is to take on more staff to relieve me of some of the day-to-day operational things.

I would also like my staff additions to be people who bring something to the table as far as new ideas to grow the business and for the identity of my site to be less “Mitch’s Website”, and more the Sports Chat Place.

As a far as traffic and money, that is all just a byproduct of everything else. With some more hard work and a continuation of assembling the right team maybe less work and more play is in my future.

Read more »

How I generate new email subscribers in one year 100.000++

Error in deserializing body of reply message for operation 'Translate'. The maximum string content length quota (8192) has been exceeded while reading XML data. This quota may be increased by changing the MaxStringContentLength property on the XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas object used when creating the XML reader. Line 1, position 9010. Error in deserializing body of reply message for operation 'Translate'. The maximum string content length quota (8192) has been exceeded while reading XML data. This quota may be increased by changing the MaxStringContentLength property on the XmlDictionaryReaderQuotas object used when creating the XML reader. Line 1, position 9160.

Impossible? I did it in 11 months and 9 days with a niche site that solved a problem, but didn’t get a ton of traffic.

The traffic I did get, subscribed, purchased, and told their friends that were looking for similar information. Magic? No. Marketing.

Due to a non-disclosure agreement I signed after I sold the site, I can’t tell you the name of it, but I can tell you that it was in the internet marketing niche. To be more specific (and about as specific as I can get) it covered a common concern amongst marketers – how to increase traffic.

I had approximately 40,000 unique visitors a month, and I ranked on the first page for each of my four targeted key phrases, as well as a few that I wasn’t targeting.

As far as traffic generation, it was almost entirely search engine optimization.

I posted 118 posts within the first six months, and then didn’t add another post for the entire 14 months I owned it. I worked on bringing those posts to the front page of Google, and succeeded on quite a few of them. The niche was highly contested, but the keywords I was using weren’t. They were searched for a lot, but not marketed to nearly as much. Sadly, it’s harder to find these niches, but they still exist.

Although about three percent of the subscribers were RSS subscribers, the vast majority of them signed up to my AWeber opt-in to download a free book that covered their specific problem – traffic generation.

The book was outlined by me, and then written by an outsourcer for $900 in about three weeks time. Total amount invested in the site was roughly $1,500. Each time I sent out a mailing, I made an average of $844.

I sent one mailing each week with information about niche selection, traffic generation techniques, and how to monetize your existing traffic. The blog itself was almost entirely passive after six months. I didn’t write another article for the blog other than the occasional outsourced article for article marketing purposes. Not one appeared on the blog.

Here’s where a lot of marketers go wrong. I know many of you are saying to yourself, why didn’t he make a course? Why didn’t he charge $27 or $47 for the info each month and sit back and passively create income? Well, the problem with courses is that you have to maintain them.

As anyone that has ever created a course will tell you, getting members is the easy part. Keeping them happy, or keeping them from ripping your content and then leaving is a much different animal. Although I didn’t make anything on the front end, I did gain a subscriber, and I could market to that person indefinitely, assuming he didn’t unsubscribe from the list.

On the back end though, I pitched everything from products to hosting and even grew a nice base for my consulting business. I pulled in well over six figures in the 14 months I owned the site (and even more on the sale), even though on paper I was only showing about $3,400 each month (from the list). Some of the commissions were recurring, and I still get the random check here and there even though I sold the site two years ago for a tidy sum. The additional cash came from the affiliate links within the book itself.

Now here’s how you replicate my success…

Traffic generation is something that most of us have struggled with at one time or another. The niche was ripe for those looking to boost traffic numbers. A blog, a pop-up opt-in, and a few teaser posts were all it took to start generating leads. It was only about a month in before I had to switch to the next pricing bracket on Aweber.

If you solve a problem, you’ll always have business. I made quite a name for myself by generating traffic to new web properties, so a lot of the initial promotion was word of mouth. I didn’t do much for the next few months before my SEO efforts started to kick in. I was achieving month over month growth by helping people with one of the most common problems online. You can do the same, if you find a problem, and then solve it.

I’ve read on countless blogs that say you should avoid monetization until you have a substantial base of readers. Not true. I had the opt-in from the day I added the first post, and the random Google Adsense ad here and there to pay me for each click. The Adsense didn’t make me a ton of cash, but it was a nice bonus to the money the list and the book were generating.

On my first few blogs, my biggest regret is that I didn’t start to build an email list earlier. The gold is in the list, but I didn’t learn this until one of my many conversations with Yaro.

Whether you plan on mailing your list every day, or once a year, be consistent. Once you pick a frequency, that’s what you need to stick with the entire time you run your list.

Some marketers are advocates on posting sporadically and waiting until you have your best content to send out a mailing. Wrong again. The content should always be solid, but the more you mail your list (without going overboard) the more you begin to “train” them to open your emails. Provide value and they’ll always be happy to read whatever you send them.

Not only will they read your material, they’ll start to trust your opinion and that’s when the cash really starts rolling in.

The biggest single bump in my subscribers came when I decided that over the course of one month I’d do a cross-promotion with several marketers in my niche. They marketed my free ebook to their list, and I pitched their product of choice in theirs. Subscribers poured in.

Did I mention that I averaged a profit of 44 cents on every person that signed up for my ebook? This isn’t income made from the list, this is strictly from clicking on affiliate links within the book.

Not only did I cross-promote, I also had an option that allowed anyone downloading the ebook to tweet it to their friends for a free month’s worth of hosting (I was paid if they renewed after the free month via affiliate commission), and an additional PLR ebook on search engine optimization. Not a bad way to kill two birds with one stone. Tweet, Tweet.

Teaser content – in my opinion – is underutilized. I used it on approximately 25 percent of all posts. My best tips weren’t given away for free (or, without signing up for free to my list), but cut off just before they got to the “meat” of the article. I’d write a catchy headline that was guaranteed to pique curiosity, write 250 or so words leading up to the big secret, and then place a link telling them that they can read more if they sign up for my newsletter. Once they did, it gave them the password to read the rest of the post.

I implemented this in month three, and saw roughly three times the growth I had seen the previous months.

My last tip is probably the most important. Instead of selling that product of yours for $97 one-time, why not sign up a customer that you can market to for life?

I gave away my best material to my list and then gained people that were so happy with what I gave away for free that they couldn’t wait to see what I was going to offer when they actually had to pay. Selling a product to a new customer – in my opinion – is short sighted.

Acquire the customer, build the relationship by giving them valuable goods for free, and then pitch your products, or your friends’ products to them. If you pitch to them before adding them to your list, and they don’t bite, you’ve lost them for good. If you have them on the list, and they don’t bite, you’ll get another chance next week. See how this becomes way more valuable than a one-off customer?

Long story short, I sold this site in 2009 because I didn’t feel I was able to add any value to the newsletters anymore (I was running out of top-notch content), so I turned over the keys to someone that was hungry to keep it going.

I sold the site, the product, and the list for a great deal of money (still my biggest site flip) and although I didn’t get to keep the list, I made over $1,800 a month from it (on top of the sale price) for about a year after that. I’m still bringing in roughly $4,000 each year on a list I haven’t seen for over two years. Recurring commissions… not bad, huh?

So, my quick summary for the day is – don’t always pick the low hanging fruit. Sometimes by giving up money upfront, you are making yourself more in the long run. Big business calls this a loss leader. I call it smart marketing. What say you?

Read more »

Unternehmer-Journey.de Neues Design

AppId is over the quota

Wie Sie feststellen werden, wenn Sie dies lesen, auf der http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/ Website mit einem Webbrowser, haben wir unser neue Design nur aktiviert.

Es gibt so viele neue kühle Eigenschaften in diesem Layout, dem möchte ich Ihnen erzählen, aber für jetzt konzentrieren wir uns auf die Fehler zu beheben und polieren die neuen Seiten.

Jetzt haben wir eine live-Version Dieser Prozeß beschleunigen sollte, und ich vermute, in den nächsten zwei bis drei Wochen, die alles 100 % arbeiten sollten.

In der Zwischenzeit können Sie vor Ort Störungen, zufällige Bits Umlauf oder andere Anomalien. Wir schätzen Ihre Geduld, während diese Umstellung abgeschlossen ist.

Zögern Sie nicht, ein Graben um die neuen Features zu haben.

Ich muss bald weitere Updates!

Read more »

You can't control what people think so how to control your brand?

Recently I returned to from a trip to Holland visit my in-laws and the rest of my husband's family, who live there. We had it since shortly after we married three years ago, were so we by a visit.

Because a while has been completely since we, I forgot the reaction went, we get from people when we go to the Netherlands. It has me thinking about the impact of perception and what causes that a person to make and share perception of someone or something.

Here is what think me. If we mention someone, that we are or have been only to the Netherlands, we get a funny look, a bit a push push, wink wink and a kind comment on Amsterdam and "Coffee shops" (i.e., accommodation can buy and smoke marijuana!). This happen almost every time in the years would, and I was always surprised, because too, which I had made this a very different Holland was, know and love.

Sure, there are coffee shops and a red light district in Amsterdam, Holland's largest city, certainly, and I've seen even them, but when I went to the Netherlands, would I spend my time with my relatives, where she, in a small town about an hour south of Amsterdam life.

We would our shopping along the small canals in the picturesque city of Delft, known for its beautiful ' Delft blue pottery, drinking tea, in small cafes at the historic site, some of the world's best cheese and riding enjoy our bicycles next to green pastures, along with the rest of Holland time.

Never time in coffee shops, which went to Amsterdam smoking marijuana and never spent my relatives and friends of my husband either now only a tourist Mecca for visitors from all over the world determines the Anne Frank House or the Van Gogh Museumto visit. In fact, most people have and run of the Café, and red light district are not on all Dutch - they come from abroad, usually osteuropà ¤ ischer, and can speak hardly a word of Dutch itself.

The real Dutch, for example, my in-laws, would be surprised that the reputation of the country is almost exclusively on this very small percentage of its existence, rather than its stunning tulips, windmills, the the countryside, exciting cities such as Rotterdam and the Hague, point and iconic 'Appel TAART' (Apple Pie).

Coincidentally, classical musicians, and how to determine public perception, what he has paid spoke my blog colleagues and new friend, neroli Makim, recently about perception, the determination of their article, "If the perception determines your salary, what you are (really) value?", and also a very good example of one of the world's largest.

There is no doubt that influence perception, what people spend time and money when, and how much, but I wanted to discover why people formed a certain opinion or how she developed over a different perception.

Many companies and individuals give great effort, all with good intentions promote a specific image or idea about yourself. Since in many cases, if promote is not in a certain way, it openly, you leave for your audience to make their own opinions, or the perception of you, and it can be not favorable. If you have a part in the formation of own perception does not, then it's everybody's game!

However also promote themselves, it is sometimes a completely different perception, that leaves a lasting impression. For example, pitch the Netherlands Tourism Board , the architecture and history of towns and cities of the country's nature and culture, and places of interest such as parks and museums.

If I the tourism Web site for the Netherlands to visit I see a lot of pictures of tulips and windmills, and of course Dutch clogs. No doubt there would be a small mention somewhere on the site, that it is possible to visit cafes and smoking marijuana include, but this is certainly not at the heart of the advertising copy or the Web site itself. So, if this is the case, why then thinks everyone immediately the red light district of when you mention Holland?

Sex sells, like sensationalism and controversy. And safely, the Dutch tourist board in any case will not call on what effective only a very small part of the country reality, so like the rundown of his abdomen so deeply stuck in the minds has built?

Simply be because sensationalism and controversy are rather spoken are improve. Holland is one of the few places in the world, a notorious red light district has, and so this is something unique. Everyone knows someone who knows someone, who went and saw something on television or the Internet.

It is interesting, because the people who talk to Holland itself about the windmills, the museums, the bikes. Those who still are not fixated on the drugs.

How can you ensure that what, when it comes you or your company, is recalled or spoken in fact the truth or is desirable?

Now, you can never be sure 100%, but here are some tips for you on the right track:

Anders, be unique and perhaps somewhat controversial (if it is suitable for your brand, company, and/or customers). Try what is interesting is you are in your organization from the outside to the inside, and work, or differences. Then focus on it!Remember, think the importance of promoting the word of mouth. Make it through the use of social media to spread support customers/members about you speak of, and the word, by working them something of interest to talk like an exciting event or an offer for you.If you go to great lengths to deny, a rumor or promoting a part of your business and the reputation you don't believe that the focus should be, are only fuel on the fire, throw you. Let it die down alone. Focus on what you want instead, is.Remember, you can not control exactly what is said about you. The best, what you can do that, is unforgettable in a positive way or one, at least the curiosity of the public to raise that. In all the noise and confusion of daily life in itself is an achievement.

Read more »

What You Will Get On Sony Ericsson Experia AT&T

A full-featured Android mobile phone, the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY 4G for AT&T is also the world's first PlayStation certified smartphone--providing the ultimate mobile gaming experience. Get your game on with the high-res 4-inch multi-touch screen and slide-out game pad, which reveals a directional keypad, dual analog touch joystick, two shoulder buttons, and the four iconic PlayStation symbol keys--circle, X, square, and triangle.

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3G Tablet PC 7-inch CDMA (Sprint)

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.5 x 4.7 inches ; 13.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• ASIN: B005NU0200
• Item model number: Galaxy BBSPHP1TAB

Product Description

Enjoy a rich, brilliant viewing experience wherever you roam with the Android-powered, 3G-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab mobile tablet for Sprint--a powerful, entertainment device ideal for home or on the go. Weighing just 1 pound, it features a vibrant 7-inch touchscreen display with 3D-like graphics, speedy 1 GHz processor, and the Android 2.2 operating system--all in a sleek and compact form factor. The Galaxy Tab includes a 3-megapixel rear camera as well as a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chats (see larger image). In addition to fast 3G speeds from Sprint's high-speed EV-DO network, you'll enjoy GPS navigation capabilities for accessing the optional Sprint TV video-on-demand with full-motion video and vivid sound (see more details on optional services below). The Galaxy Tab is also a great choice for a cellular audio player, with access to the Sprint Music Store for over-the-air downloads as well as the Sprint Music Plus service, which enables you to purchase a bundle of song, ringtone, and ringback tone. With integrated Google technology, the Galaxy Tab brings one-touch access to the popular Google mobile services millions use every day, including Google Search by voice, Google Maps with Street View, Gtalk, YouTube, Picasa, and contacts/calendar synchronization. Through Android Market, you'll get access to thousands of useful applications, widgets and fun games to download and install on your phone, with many more apps being added every day. The Galaxy Tab offers full support for Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for accessing Flash-enabled websites, watching video and playing games, and with built-in support for ultra-fast Wireless-N Wi-Fi, the Galaxy Tab's portable screen is ideal for watching the latest movies and entertainment. And with built-in mobile hotspot functionality, the Galaxy Tab also allows up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices--including laptop, camera, music player, video player, or any other Wi-Fi-enabled device

Product Features and Technical Details

Product Features

• Android 2.2-powered mobile tablet with 7-inch touchscreen; 3G Mobile Hot Spot connectivity for up to 5 devices
• Rear 3-MP camera for photos and video; front-facing 1.3-MP camera for video chats; 2 GB internal memory plus included 16 GB microSD card
• Ultra-fast Wireless-N Wi-Fi; Bluetoothe 3.0 connectivity; multi-format digital media player; access to Sprint TV and Sprint Music Plus
• Up to 13 hours of battery power from 4000 mAh battery; released in November, 2010
• What's in the Box: Galaxy Tab, rechargeable battery, charger, 16 GB microSD memory card, quick start guide

Dimensions

• Size (LWH): 7.48 inches, 0.47 inches, 4.74 inches
• Weight: 13.6 ounces

Read more »

Samsung Officially Launches Galaxy Nexus for Google

It has been quite sometime since the initial Nexus phone from Google first came out. Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to make its mark in the smart phone market and was gone before it was able to take off. But one thing came out of it that has really caught quite the attention that Google may have expected- the Android OS. And now that the Android OS has made quite a dent in the smart phone market, Google may have decided that it may be time to resurrect the Google Nexus smart phone. And recently, it just did. Google and Samsung have just officially launched the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the next generation Google Phone, if you put it that way. Samsung provided the hardware tech while Google took care of its operating system. The new Samsung Galaxy Nexus comes with a 2GHz dual core processor, 1GB RAM, 16 or 32 GB of storage, and a 4.65 inch HD Super AMOLED touch screen display.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus will also come with the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS with new features like face control, voice dictation, better user interface, improved multitasking, NFC support and a host of other enhancements from its previous version. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is expected to be available sometime in November. No pricing details have yet been provided by both camps.

Image Source: Google

Read more »

Blogging and SEO - A perfect Small Business Internet Marketer Match

Blogging and SEO - A perfect Small Business Internet Marketer Match

It has become pretty obvious that blogs have been become an important part of marketing for almost any type of online business. They are unmatched resources when it comes to connecting with customers and potential customers.

But, there is an additional benefit that shouldn't be over-looked: there impact on your Search Engine Optimization efforts. Blogging can greatly enhance any websites natural search results through regular postings, and natural keyword placement. There in fact is no stronger way to market ones website for free than by blogging with natural keywords.

Similar to article marketing, posting daily blogs with the keywords of your business included can have remarkable effects on the ranking of your site in any given search engine, and thus net you more traffic. One key to gaining more traffic from keywords is to use 'niche' keywords. These are keywords or keyword phrases that may be searched for less often, but that have less competition. This means you may be able to rank much higher for these keyword. An example: The keyword term "baseball" is certainly searched for often, but there are millions of websites optimized around this keyword. However a keyword phrase like "Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz news" would have fewer competitors. The longer keyword also increases the likelihood that your blog contains exactly what the visitor is looking for.

Getting picked up in search engines can lead to increase volumes of traffic heading to your site every day. There are top keyword placers that use blogs to retain huge amounts of daily traffic to their sites just by integrating a variety of niche keywords into their posts. The amazing thing about blogs is they are often picked up by the search engines almost as quickly as one posts to it, which makes it an even more powerful tool for SEO purposes. Our experience has been that blogs that take advantage of Google's Blogger or Wordpress are quickly indexed.

Another way blogging can help your site's search engine ranking is by the quality score. Most search engines, including Google rank sites with a quality score, the more unique, user provided content, the higher it appears the quality score becomes. If a website is just a sales page, and a few pictures, the quality score will most likely be low. But if a site has a blog on it, with fresh, daily posts, the quality score becomes much better, and thus the site gets ranked much higher when people are searching for your niche, or keyword terms.

If you haven't considered a blog for the pure marketing aspect of it, it's probably time you considered it from the SEO perspective. You've got nothing to loss but website visitors.

Read more »

Affiliate Is Not A Dirty Word

When I first started out on my journey to become a successful Internet marketer I used to wonder about all the advertisements I came across that begged me to join an affiliate program. They made huge claims about how much money I would earn if I joined them so I just ignored them. That is until I started to understand more about affiliates and affiliate programs.

WHAT IS AN AFFILIATE?
An affiliate is someone who promotes other people's products or services. When you become an affiliate you have a money making business opportunity but you have none of the worries or expenses of a typical business. You'll never have the bother of dealing with processing or shipping an order or be involved with customer care. You will however receive money for your promotional efforts. When someone purchases a product or service through your efforts you receive a commission on the sale. All you have to do is promote and wait to receive your payment cheques.

WHERE DO I FIND AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM?
There are literally thousands of affiliate programs to choose from. Many of them will tell you that you will earn thousands and thousands of dollars per month if you join them. They will state all the amazing benefits to you and how new and fabulous their particular product or service is. I'm sure you have seen these advertisements everywhere on the Internet. If you type in affiliate programs into your search engine you will see what I mean. You will also just come across them as you are surfing.
It can be quite over whelming to make a choice.

HOW DO I DECIDE WHICH AFFILIATE PROGRAM IS FOR ME?
There are three approaches to choosing the right program for you.
Choose something that has a high demand
Choose something that you have a passion for
Combine the above two points so you will have a product that is in high demand and you are passionate about it.

I personally think a combination of these approaches is the best.
If you choose something that is in high demand then there will be a market for the product or service. It is essential to have a market otherwise you will find that no one will be interested in buying from you. The down side here however is when there is a high demand there is also a lot of competition.

If you choose something you are passionate about then you'll have more fun and you'll be more passionate about what you are promoting. When you have something you can put your heart and soul into you will generally do better than if you are promoting something you don't care about or know nothing about.

Make a list of what you are passionate about. Then do a search on the key words to see how many other people have this same interest. You can do this by using a key-word search. www.goodkeywords.com offer free software you can download. Use this to search for the information. Just type in the key word and see how many results come up, i.e. how many people searched for those word over the last month. Then use your search engine to locate your affiliate program.

For example my personal primary interests evolve around living a better life. This means I am interested in health, wealth, developing better relationships and emotional and spiritual well being. Because I have these fundamental desires I searched for an affiliate program that helped me to attract more of these things into my life.

You may decide to go with just one program. The ideal situation would be to find one program. Understand how it works then branch out to include a few more that connect to your primary interest. Once you've understood what's involved in promoting your primary program it will be only a little more effort to hook up with other programs and start increasing your monthly cheques! You may also find that as you go along you will need to buy a few things for example, web hosting and domain names. You may then see the value of adding these services to your affiliate list too.

For example once I found my primary program I realised I had to advertise in order to get customers. I also discovered that I really did need my own website even though I had acquired several free ones when I joined my affiliate program. So I learnt all about web hosts and domain names and website design. As I went along I picked up a few more affiliate programs. After much trial and error I came to develop an understanding of the concept of organic search engine optimisation. I loved the whole concept so I added this to my list of programs too. I have also developed a deeper understanding and appreciation for how Internet business works.

HOW DO I MAKE AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM WORK FOR ME?
The big thing is PROMOTION. You will need to promote your affiliate products or services. When you join an affiliate program you will usually be given one or more free websites and some links and banners. When someone clicks onto the links or banners and purchases the product or service you will receive a commission. This is how affiliate programs work.

Regardless of which program you are involved in, advertising and promoting your links and banners will become your number one priority!
If you are not prepared for this you will not be successful.
It is that simple.
There is no way around this.

The best way to do this is by becoming educated in the right things to do.
You have a choice of paying for advertising or not paying for advertising.
A great place to start is with understanding how organic search engine optimisation works and how to get it to work for you. This method of advertising is time consuming to get set up if you do it manually but once your done it will provide you with an endless source of free targeted traffic to your website. There are soft-ware programs you can buy that will get you set up if your short on time.

Unfortunately the truth is that 95% of Internet entrepreneurs make no money. There are lots of reasons for this. Some of the more serious and common reasons are that many people just don't understand how to promote. Many still don't even realise that they have to have their own websites. Many spend more money than they are comfortable with because they head down the road of paid advertising and they aren't in a position to afford this.

My best advise to you is that you enjoy your affiliate programs. Get your own website. Learn about organic search engine optimisation and spend your money wisely.
I hope this article will help position you for great success with you Internet marketeering

Read more »

Web Site is No Longer Enough in Blogging

Whether youare starting up a new web site aimed at bloggers or
whether you are looking to make your existing blogging
site more distinctive, the key to building and
maintaining a site that will capture the interest and
attention of the blogging community is finding your
niche. If you can fill a unique need in a way that no
other web site does, you'll be able to build a lasting
readership among web surfers. Once you have
discovered a niche, you will still have a lot to do, but
finding your place in the blogosphere is the place to
begin.

Every great blogging web site starts with a great idea,
and you can't build a successful site that will last
without one. There are many great sites aimed at
today's bloggers, and competition for the attention of
this growing demographic is fierce. To make your
blogging web site stand out from the pack, you will
need to offer something that no other site is currently
offering, or you will need to do the same thing that an
already popular site does but in a more impressive or
valuable way.

One way to discover an ideal model for your blogging
web site is to look at the sites that have successfully
captured a blogging audience already to determine if
you can appropriate some of their strategies to help
realize your vision. Of course, you will also need to add
a unique flair to your project in order to stand apart
from your competition. Many people agree that the web
sites that do the best in today's market are the sites that
have the most personality. The fiercely individual
surfers who are bloggers are a demographic that
responds especially strongly to personality, so consider
how you can give your site a unique and attractive
feeling by lending your own voice and sensibility to
your site's design and content.

Once you have a great idea for your site, have
pinpointed a special niche that you are well equipped to
fill, and have infused the site with personality, the next
step is figuring out how to get the word out to bloggers.
In the long run, a great idea just isn't enough to propel
your blogging web site to success. You will need to
draft a smart and realistic marketing plan in order to
draw readers to your site. Once you hook a blogger,
your great content will keep them coming back, but it is
vital to get that first glance or your site won't have a
chance to shine.

Read more »

12 Reasons to Market With Postcards

If your marketing activity doesn't include postcards, you're overlooking a highly effective and very low-cost sales tool. Here are 12 of the many reasons postcards should be part of your marketing program...

1. Postcards Work for Any Business

Postcards can produce all kinds of sales activity for all types of businesses. For example, they can produce web site traffic for online marketers, floor traffic for retail stores, sales leads for direct marketers ...and just about any other type of sales activity a business wants.

2. Designing Postcards is Simple and Uncomplicated

Designing an effective postcard is not complicated. It can be as simple as printing your best small ad on a 4 x 6 card and sending it to a list of potential prospects. Postcards usually work best when the message is brief and the postcard looks at first glance like a message from friend.

3. Printing Postcards is Easy and Inexpensive

You can print postcards with your own computer for about 1 or 2 cents each ...or have them printed professionally for about 4 to 8 cents each.

4. There's a Special Low Postage Rate for Postcards

You can send any quantity of postcards by First Class Mail in the US for only 23 cents each. The only requirement is that your postcards must be at least 3 1/2 x 5 inches but no larger than 4 1/4 x 6 inches.

5. Postcards Nearly Always Get Read

Because postcards are delivered "ready to read", almost everybody will read it - even people who usually throw out other types of direct mail without opening it.

6. Postcards Produce Fast Results

Because postcards are simple and easy to use - they produce results fast. You can mail postcards within a few days of deciding to use them ...and you'll start getting sales activity 2 or 3 days later.

7. Postcards are effective for Generating Web site Traffic

One of the most effective postcard formats simply lists a few benefits of a product or service on the card and tells the reader to where they can get more information. This makes them ideal for generating traffic to a web site.

8. Postcard Multiply Themselves

Postcards are like small billboards - and they are easy to handle. They often get saved by recipients or passed on to others ...providing additional exposure of your advertising message.

9. Markets Can Be Precisely Targeted With Postcards

You can accurately target your best markets by sending postcards only to mailing lists of prospects likely to be interested in what you're offering ...and who also have a history of acting on offers that interest them.

10. Postcard Marketing Results Are Easy To Measure

Postcards normally generate over 90 percent of their total response within 7 to 10 days. This enables you to quickly and accurately evaluate the results of a postcard campaign.

11. Postcards Put You in Control of Your Sales Activity

You can quickly boost (or reduce) your sales activity anytime you want by simply regulating the number of postcards you mail and how often you mail them.

12. Postcards Conceal Your Marketing from Competitors

Most advertising uses mass media where your competitors hear or see what you are doing - and copy it. Postcard marketing is personal. Only you and your prospects are aware of what you are doing.

Postcards may be one of the best kept secrets of modern marketing. They're highly effective, very low-cost, simple to use ...and they work for any business. You're overlooking a profitable marketing tool if don't use them.


in Article Marketing

Read more »

10 Critical Press Release Writing Tips

1. Start strong: Your title and initial lines should briefly and directly convey what you want to say. Include the "who, what, where, when and why" in the lead of your press release. The remaining part of your press release should include supporting facts and examples.

2. Make it easy for the media: Some media agencies and journalists will grab your press release and carry it in their publications with slight editing or no alteration. But even if it's not used word for word, journalists may use it as fodder for other stories or to create their own story ideas. The more information and details you include, the less work the media has to do.

3. Think like the reader: Your press release should be able to keep the reader's interest. Put yourself in the reader's shoes. Would you want to read your press release?

4. Make it relevant: Try to point out real examples to support the message you want to communicate. Show why your information is important and how it benefits the reader. If your release isn't newsworthy, don't expect anyone to read it.

5. Support your story with real facts: Facts make your point stronger and tell the journalist you've already done much of the research for them. If you pull facts from other sources, make sure you attribute them. Avoid fluff and add-ons. And never make anything up. If content seems too good to be true, tone it down or you could hurt your credibility.

6. Include company information: The press release should conclude with a short description of your company, including where your company is based, what products and service it provides and a brief history If you are creating a press release for more than one company, provide information for all the companies at the end of the release. Also include contact information, both phone number and e-mail, for each company's spokesperson.

7. Be concise: Avoid using superfluous adjectives, extravagant language, or unnecessary clichés. Get to the point and tell your story as directly as possible.

8. Get permission: Companies can be defensive about their name and image. Get written permission before including information or quotes from officials or associates of other companies/organizations.

9. Avoid exclamation points: The use of exclamation points may hurt your credibility by creating unnecessary hype. However, if you have to use an exclamation point, use only one! Not several!!!

10. Avoid industry jargon: The harder your press release is to understand for journalists and laymen, the less likely it is to be picked up. A limited use of industry terminology is ok, if you're trying to optimize the news release for internet search engines.

Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for http://www.1888PressRelease.com, the premier website to Submit Free Press Release for any announcements including launching of new product or services, new website, announcing new hires, sponsoring a special event or seminar and more. His articles can be found at http://www.1888articles.com/author-paul-wilson-7.html.


in Internet Marketing

Read more »

8 Ways To Make Your Ads More Effective

I don't know everything and if I have learned one thing about doing business on the Internet it is that the more you learn the more you don't know. However, I have been doing business on the Internet since 1999 and I've managed to carve out a successful enterprise for myself with several profit streams. The largest percentage of my marketing and promotional efforts has been conducted through one simple method-Ezine Advertising.

These are the 8 important lessons I've learned regarding Ezine Advertising and Marketing Success:

A common mistake many advertisers make is to attempt to do too much, or rather sell too much, in one ad. Sure you have lots of great products but you can't sell them all in a few lines-at least not individually. Instead focus on the benefit your customer can achieve from all your products and promote that! People are much more likely to click on a link that BENEFITS them than a link that promises to sell them something.

For example, "Help your child reach their maximum potential" instead of "Try our many reading, writing, math, shapes and colors programs"

More importantly, tell the customer "what your product or service is going to do for him."

It is important that you identify your Unique Selling Proposition before you begin your advertising program. This will determine which Ezines (or markets) you target as well as what you should include in your ad copy. Who will be interested in your product and why? What benefits does your product offer them?

Don't go for the sale in your ad! You are at a disadvantage because you can't list all your products' wonderful benefits in the space allowed. Also, there is only a small percentage of any Ezine audience that is ready to buy your product at the exact moment they view your ad. Yes, maybe they should be, but most people today live in the moment and if this isn't the time they want to buy then they aren't going to buy, end of story.

But it doesn't have to be the end of the story. If you go for the soft sell approach your target consumer is much more likely to click on your link and then you've got the chance to go for the hard sell-again and again!

Here's an example. I'm selling a product called the Preschool Prep Power Pack. It's an educational CD for preschoolers. Now I could go for the hard sell in my promotion and I would make some sales but a lot of people who really might be interested won't even look at my site and product. However, I've chose to go the soft sell approach. Instead of selling my product in my ads, my ads offer two FREE items. I offer a free newsletter (Preschoolers Learn More) offering tips about preparing preschoolers for kindergarten. This is my target market for my product. The folks who subscribe also receive a free ABC-123 coloring book. Why wouldn't the parent of a preschooler subscribe, right?

But what's in it for me as a business person? A lot! Think about it. I now have the freely offered contact information for my target market. Now I can regularly email them information about my product. I'm confident they will buy eventually because my product provides a solution to something that concerns them-or they wouldn't have subscribed in the first place!

Another common mistake is not giving your ad campaign enough time to work.

Studies show it takes prospects an average of seven exposures to your promotion before they take the bait. Even after they have clicked through to your site visitors may need to visit your site as many as three times before they buy from you. So make sure you keep that offer in front of them. That means it may well pay to take the long-term package versus a one-shot ad.

People run through their emails rapidly and delete things they wish they hadn't. Make their wish come true! Give them a second, third, fourth chance. The formula is--when you're sick and tired of it, the public is just beginning to hear it.

Just because you've bought ad space doesn't mean you have to utilize every pixel or character-space. Short, punchy lines that do not use up every available space are more effective. Think about the reader scanning down the page or screen. What will catch their eye and make them stop scanning and actually read? White space is your friend so don't squander it. Use it to set off your important message.

Make sure you apply the same principal to your urls and e-mail addresses as well. Nothing can make an ad look more cluttered than giant web addresses with a complicated string of numbers and letters. If you have to use an address like that (perhaps for your affiliate code, for example) then it might be wise to use a redirect. There are numerous free services out there (http://snipurl.com for exmple) although perhaps it might be a good idea to use a page from your own web site with a redirect programmed in

USE YOUR HEAD

Your headline is the most important part of your ad. This is usually the line that determines whether the skimming reader will stop or skip ahead.

Some of the proven headline formulas include:

1. Ask the reader a question: "Are you worried about filing your
tax return this year?"
2. Tell the reader how to do something: "How to buy a
car without getting a lemon."
3. Provide a testimonial: "Big Al saved me $200 last month. Thanks, Cindy Lou from Paducah, Kentucky."
4. Make a command. Turn your most important benefit into a commanding
headline. "Stop rushing through life." "Make more money this month." "Feel better about yourself."
5. Important news makes a good headline. "Max Electronics just went international!"
6. Start the clock: "Buyers who act before midnight Tuesday will save an extra $50!"
7. Give the reader something free: "Free whatsit for the first 100 visitors!"

DON'T FORGET TO TELL THEM WHAT TO DO!

It sounds almost ridiculous, but simply giving clear, specific directions about what you want the reader to do can increase the response to your ads.

Click here to find out more: http://whatsit.com

Subscribe by emailing subscribe@whatsit.com

Visit http://whatsit.com today to save!

SET YOUR BUDGET

One of the most difficult things to decide for any business person is how much money to spend on promotion. There really is one simple way to determine the answer. How much is a customer worth to you? That tells you a great deal about how much you can afford to spend on advertising.

The simple formula to calculate the net worth of a visitor is: Net Profit divided by Conversion Rate.

First, what is your net profit on an average sale? Let's say $10 to make it easy. (Hey, I'm an English professor, I need to keep it simple!)

Then consider what your conversion rate is for visitors to become customers. Let's say one visitor out of 50 becomes a customer. (This makes your conversion rate 50 as you need 50 customers to make a sale)

With this example, a visitor is worth $0.50 to you. ($10 divided by 50)

So if you spend $100 on an advertising campaign that draws in 1000 visitors then you made $400 on that campaign.

SET REALISTIC GOALS

This issue is really about control. Yes, if you could control things that you would have a high sell through but that isn't always going to happen. In fact, for most advertisers that isn't going to happen. However, if your goal is to capture customers then you are much more likely to match your goal or even exceed it. And in the end a customer is worth a lot more to you than a sale because a customer can represent many sales over years to come-sales that were fairly easy to achieve.

As frustrating as it may be, advertising is usually about long-term versus short-term benefits. Your ad simply serves as a lure to draw people into your site or long-term promotion. Once you've pulled them in then you need to sell them. So it is not really fair to judge an ad campaign on simple sales.

The success of an ad campaign should be measured by one or two elements only-first, how many people followed up on your offer (click-through rate) and second, how many of those visitors were you able to convert into customers (conversion rate).

Over time you will be able to judge where the weak link in your chain of customer creation exists and work to fix it.

Low click-through rate? Then it is probably your offer. You are not giving readers enough incentive to follow through. What is in it for them to click on your offer? Remember you are selling benefits!

Low conversion rate? Then perhaps you are not attracting the right sort of visitor. Target your incentive (the free offer, for example) to match your target audience. See my example in SOFT SELL.


in Internet Marketing

Read more »

5 Keys to Capturing Prospective Buyers

Spring has sprung. The birds are singing as they busily build nests and do their mating dances. Yeah, it won't be long before the flowers bloom, and grass starts growing. You know what that means...grass needs mowing. When you parked the riding mower last fall, you knew that it would be a miracle if you could get it through another summer. You're going to need to replace old "Betsy" sooner or later, and start thinking about the features you want the next mower to have.
Well, you haven't tried starting the old mower, but hey, it's raining cats and dogs outside. With nothing better to do, you head for the mall and find yourself among a line of shiny lawn mowers with a wide variety of prices and features. What are the advantages of each one compared to the difference in costs?

Yep, not every customer that walks through your door is ready to make a purchase. Maybe they're still in the "thinking about it" stage. Yeah, when you think long enough, you usually talk yourself into doing it. That's why it's important to treat every customer's question with respect. You never know when a properly answered question will lead to a sale.

Here are some tips to keep in mind for effectively answering customer questions:

1. A Question is the Sign of a Potential Sale.
Yeah, if a customer is taking the time to look you up and ask questions, you're dealing with a high level of interest. Don't take it lightly. A prompt and quick response laced with the added benefits of the product will go a long way toward closing a sale.

2. Make it Easy to Ask A Question.
There's nothing more frustration than having a simple question and having to move heaven and earth to get an answer. Make it easy for your customers to ask questions. Make your website question friendly and include a phone number with all of your sales material.

3. Organize - Set up a Frequently Asked Question File
What questions have you emailed answers to sixteen times this week? Keep a file with those repeat questions. You'll be able to copy and paste the answers into responses. Hey, your customer will be happy and you can spend time doing something else. Everyone wins!

4. Get Back - Quickly
How many times have you shopped around while waiting for someone to get back to you? Yeah, it's easier than ever on the web. Customer attention spans are ever shortening with the vast global competition at their fingertips. Don't dilly dally - get back to them pronto!

5. Make Every Question a Sales Opportunity
When someone asks you a question, you've got their attention! They're waiting for an answer that is important to them. Yeah, it's the perfect opportunity to expand your response to include benefits of the purchase.

Questioning customers wear a badge that says, "Buyer on Board!" Read it and pay attention. Often a little nudge will mean a sale to tally at the day's end. Think of it like this...learning to effectively answer customer questions is a low-cost and effective way to boost your profits this year!


in Marketing

Read more »

7 Pointers about Web Design

In order to master the art of web design, designers must follow the subsequent pointers:

1. Web designers are marketers per se. Web sites are all about advertising products, ideas and services. Thus, a web designer has to understand the mindset of marketers in order to create a design that sell.

2. Read, read and read. We do not experience everything. Thus, our tendency is to learn from others. Reading web design books, newsletters and tips are pretty valuable since they can save you time and effort. Basically, books are more conclusive than newsletters and tips however, they are for free and mostly updated.

3. Narrow down your target market. You cannot please everybody same thing that you cannot be good at everything. Thus, this fact calls for the narrowing of your target market. Even in the interface of the so-called web design, a designer cannot claim that he is an expert at anything or everything about the needs of a website. It is better to pick a certain audience and try to be good at catching their attention, preference and choice. This practice allows you to be best at a given area thus developing expertise.

4. Answer your target audience's needs. In order to answer the visitor's needs, web designers must know what kind of visitors his site is welcoming. Do they belong to the younger generation or otherwise? What do they want from your site? Are these information, details and pleasures in your site in order to get their undivided attention and loyalty? Bear in mind that colors, font size, style of graphics, contents and the entirety of the site affects viewer's decision and choice.

5. Know the basics of SEO and copywriting. Though Search Engine Optimization and copywriting are not directly related to designing, still, designers must have basic knowledge about them. This is because web designing is intertwined with marketing, use of keywords and visibility.
Aside from that, designers must also have knowledge of the programming basics. If not, the tendency is waste time or to create a mediocre or unsatisfactory design to the detriment of the sites.

6. The primacy of functionality. If ever you are faced to make a decision between a web site's aesthetic form and its functionality, you have to be firm in upholding the latter. Not everything that is pretty is 'saleable'. Besides, you don't create web sites for the sake of making it nice-looking.
Above anything else, the site must be functional so as to cater to every visitor's wants and needs. Appearance is a means to catch visitor's attention nevertheless, it is not the end. If a designer prioritizes appearance alone without considering its primary consideration the web site's marketability will suffer.

7. Know when to break the rules. Rules are only guidelines, if you feel that the rules are inappropriate for a certain creation follow your heart's desire and venture on an experimental adventure.

Read more »