What's Social Proof Got To Do With It?

You may be familiar with the term, "social proof". But what is it? It is a very powerful psychological trigger that can really influence the way people act.

For instance, have you ever gotten off a plane in a strange airport and then just sort of followed the crowd to the baggage claim? And done so without really looking at all the signs... just followed the herd? Now, if I only had a dime for every time I did that (blush).

If so, you were acting on "Social Proof" - everyone else was doing something, and you followed right along.

Every day, in many many ways... we all react to Social Proof. It is built into our genetic make-up. This is powerful stuff. And it can add serious power to your marketing.

If you want to learn how some of the "top dogs" use social proof in their marketing, there is a free teleclass coming up on this exact topic. You can get the details here:

http://www.productlaunchformula.com/prelaunch

The call is completely free and includes some of my favorite and most inspirational "top dogs". Register to listen in to: Jeff Walker, John Reese, Jason Potash, Frank Kern, Jim Edwards & Yanik Silver.

FAQ Update

Heya...since I've been rude and ignorin' ya (sorry!), I thought I'd stop in and get you up-to-date with what's up at the FAQ. Here's what's new:

• Can I Edit Web Pages Live on My Server? (for FrontPage users)
• Can I Use Articles for Product Launches?
• How Do You Make Those Pop-Ups That Look Like Post-It Notes?

I'll work on getting some more questions answered this week. Until next time.

Move Over Cosmo!

Last week, I was pretty excited to receive my first issue of the WC News, a printed newsletter just for work at home moms....a project from Kelly McCausey. While Nell Taliercio read hers in her bathtub, I took mine to the gym. It was a refreshing change from my usual gym reading diet of Cosmo and Blender magazine. ;-)

I love getting printed information on marketing that is relevant to the way I do business. There's lots of great marketing books out there, but I love to devour anything that is up-to-the-minute info and is mom and/or Internet marketing related. And it's so much better when I can get away from the computer and just enjoy the good reading.

I already receive my monthly Reese Report from John Reese and I was so glad when Kelly came out with the WC. But now, I'm done all my reading for the month. BUMMER! So, it finally inspired me to finally get my subscription of Revenue magazine. I now eagerly await my first issue.

If you're a mom (or even Dad) with a home business, definitely grab a copy of Kelly's publication (it's dirt cheap!). And hey, be sure to give me your recommendations for any Internet marketing publications you subscribe to. I want MORE!

The Update on MalcolmsWeb.com

Argh...I'm up past my bedtime because I'm thinking about this one. Thinking really hard. So, I thought instead of pondering alone, I'd share my thoughts with you...since I promised you an update anyway.

I'm talking about the MalcolmsWeb.com Revival Project that I embarked on after the site was banned by Google. FYI - the site is still not listed in Google. However, every few weeks or so, it gets a cache of the home page and then it drops it again a few days later. Enough about Google. Let me share what's been happening on this project.

In order to generate more non-Google traffic, with the help of my assistants (Thank you!), I've been adding original content, distributing articles and we also did a couple press releases. The results have been half-decent. Adsense income is up over 30% from June...and traffic is up about 2000 visitors per month. Not a huge deal, but I also haven't put as much work into it as I could. I also need to make sure this all fits into my semi-retirement plan (which is going very well by the way...except tonight when I can't seem to get to sleep!)...but really...

I guess I've been holding myself back.

Over the past 3 years that I've owned the site, I've learned quite a few things that generate extra viral traffic to the baby and toddler site, but I dropped a lot of them along the way. I dropped them because they were time-consuming. Now that I understand more ways to automate things (or...err...at least my programmer does - Lynette doesn't take new clients, but she has a great newsletter you'll be interested in), I'm ready to give some of these things a go again. This includes accepting article submissions, sweepstakes, coupons, etc. I have a bunch more things up my sleeve, but I'm not quite ready to share them yet.

I thought about adding all these things back onto the malcolmsweb.com domain, but I realized it might be time to start fresh with a new domain because:

1. Google hates this one. Even though it's possible to live without Google, it's much sweeter to have the almighty search engine on your side. ;-)

2. This domain name is actually quite personal. It's also difficult to spell and remember. Malcolm is my son's name (he celebrated his 4th birthday earlier this evening, by the way). If I want to really grow the traffic and exposure, I'd like to use a more memorable and appropriate name.

3. The site is an organizational mess. I've gone through this with internetbasedmoms.com already and I'd rather not go through that again. I created both malcolmsweb.com and internetbasedmoms.com when I had NO CLUE what I was doing with websites. Articles and content are all over the place and it's tough to make your way around to all the content. I've resisted changing internetbasedmoms.com because the SE traffic is good and there are so many incoming links to the site...and the site is just too darned huge to mess with. However, I can risk starting over again with malcolmsweb.com since the site isn't as large and well...as I already said, Google hates it.

I hope you don't find my report to disappointing thus far. I asked you to give me a few months to report some results to you and it's now been 2 months since I said I was embarking on this project. I really want to do this the right way, so I'm taking some time to restructure everything. I want to make the most of the great content at malcolmsweb.com and to re-introduce some old ideas in a more efficient way.

So, I have a question for you. I am not a fan of "giving-up", but I'm also not a fan of throwing more time and money at some that can be done a whole lot better. Is there something you've been working on that could be a whole lot better if you step back, re-organize and create a new plan?

Free Mini-Site Goodies

I've shared some "How to Mini-Site" info with you in the past and still continue to receive lots of questions about mini sites. I've answered some on my FAQ, but I wanted to share a totally free resource with you.

Iszuddin Ismail aka "Kidino" has put together some videos, templates and a bunch of expert interviews in his free membership site. You'll even see some information on using press releases for your mini-sites there as well.

Click here for free access: DIY Mini-Site

Now, This is How to Help People in Need

As we all know, Hurricane Katrina has caused an unbelievable amount of destruction in the U.S's Gulf Coast. Even though, the hurricane has passed, there's still many people without food or shelter.

Fellow Internet marketer, Greg Rozsa, is trying to help as many people as he can. Along with his friend, Jeff Little, the two are going to be distributing as much food and water to those in need. Greg has started a fundraising campaign that will allow 100% of the donations to go directly to helping those in need.

Firstly, I'd like commend Greg and Jeff for their selfless efforts and for trying to make a real difference. I'm so proud of you for taking time away from your businesses and families to help others.

Secondly, I'd like to tell you that these gentlemen are contributing a great deal of their own money, but could certainly use some additional funds to make the most impact. I just made my contribution moments ago. If you'd like to do the same, please go to:

http://www.helpwithkatrina.com

Also, if you are involved with any relief efforts or want to share some thoughts, please feel free to post them in the comments area.

And finally, if you're a bit skeptical about contributing to a privately run fundraising campaign, I hope you'll read today's letter from Gary Halbert. Once you've read that, you'll see why finding people with big hearts, just like Greg and Jeff, is just what we need. These are the people who can make the most difference.