Only 38 Hours Left (No, it's not a sales pitch!)...

...Only 38 hours left in 2005 (at least in this time zone). It's been a year of learning for me, both in business and personally. As 2005 draws to a close, I can say that I am really happy with how everything turned out and where life and business are headed. Now, it's time to set goals for 2006.

A while back, I wrote an article about setting goals and shared it with one of my mailing lists earlier this week. If you missed that, I wanted to make sure you had a chance to read it. I hope you'll find the article useful and if you like it - feel free to share it with others. Reprint instructions are right on the page.

Setting and Achieving Your Business Goals: There's no time like the present to review the past year and make some solid goals for your growing business. Here are a few tips for setting and achieving those goals.... Click to read more.

A Happy & Prosperous New Year to You and Your Family!

Yowsers - The Backlash & Spam Accusations

I guess with all ideas - there are some who will hate it and some who will love it. I've received a LOT of email about the promo I sent out about the 25 free articles you can get from David Hooper.

On of the emails I received was from from Mitchell Allen saying he thought this was a horrid idea and you can read his opinions on his blog. I've also received several similar comments from others. Frankly, I was really surprised and here was my response to Mitch:

"I really appreciate your input, but I'm not completely sure I get your point. People have been using reprint articles for years (even big sites like MSN, Web Pro News & others do it all the time!). I've been doing it too and get great search engine traffic as you can optimize reprint articles for any phrase that you want. That's why sites like ezinearticles.com and the like exist - to circulate good content.

But realize, even though you can still rank well on search engines with reprints - search engines are not the end-all, be-all to your marketing. You have website visitors that find you through other channels. You have subscribers that never search on a search engine to read your content. There is so much space out there in virtual-land that most searchers on a certain topic will never see the same article twice.

Certainly, some will use it to spam, but I can spam with original content too. This article service was not created as a spam tool and the majority of people who use it, just want to get their content out there and to reach an audience of people who are hungry for the information. Those who are going to truly spam aren't going to take a bunch of text files and a spreadsheet and spam the net. True spammers are more sophisticated and have all the automated tools to publish their content to the web. They really don't need a service like this to meet their objectives. "

Personally, I have no control over spammers. One could argue that Google has the ultimate spam tool in Blogger - have you seen some of the horrendous blogs? But of course, we can't argue that successfully because that's not the way the tool was intended. Spammers will spam and they'll use whatever tools they can to do so...even ones that aren't intended to spam. Article Multiplier is offered as a mere bonus to the articles, but I still intend to use it. I have websites on similar topics that reach completely different audiences, so I will mix up the articles a bit to meet my objectives. If that's spam...so be it.

I use reprint articles (and I don't consider myself to be a spammer) to provide my visitors with the information they are looking for. It's erroneous to think that if I have a website about golf all my visitors will eventually find out about your golf website and they'll be subject to reading the same articles twice. Come on! The Internet is a massive place and you can search for days and keep learning new things.

And let's look at other people who publish or sell the same content. Who else is annoyed at Amazon for carrying the same content (via books you buy) as Barnes & Noble? How dare they?! And what about Napster and iTunes who have the nerve to provide the same songs to their users? Or what about the two city newspapers that publish the same stories? Or restauarants who serve the same spaghetti dish?

I know I'm being a bit silly now, but frankly, I am puzzled by all the fuss - and I'm not just talking about Mitch's blog entry. I've received quite a bit of commentary like this - Mitchell is just an unlikely scapegoat here. ;-) Certainly, the private label articles aren't for everybody...but heck, reprinting articles is nothing new and is a great way to circulate information.

Cool Offer - 25 Private Label Articles

I'd be amiss if I didn't tell you about this cool freebie being offered by David Hooper. You can get free 25 private label articles. Just follow this link.

Once you register, you'll be offered an additional 100 articles for $9....and you can continue your subscription month after month and receive 100 more articles each month. I immediately signed up when I saw it...it's a fantastic deal and we'll see how the quality keeps up from month to month.

I've seen plenty of membership sites offer similar articles for exhorbitant amounts of money. Nine bucks for 100 pages of website content is priceless. Yes, I use free content sites and can pick up as many articles as I'd like, but it takes time to sift through all the articles to find those that are worth publishing. With David's offer, he's taken the time to hire professional ghostwriters to produce a quality product. In addition, there's no byline to add. These articles are completely private label.

Anyway, do check out the free 25 articles. There's parenting, credit card, golf and other articles to start. You can add these to existing sites or use them as a basis to start a new content site.

Get your 25 free articles here.

EDITED TO ADD:

I just mailed out the information about the 25 free articles to my list. Lots of people are grabbing the freebie and a good number are signing up for membership. In addition, I'm getting a flurry of questions and many of the questions are similar in nature. I thought it would be a good idea to answer the questions here (and for the definitive answers, check David's website):

Q: These are articles you can use as your own?

Yes, but I wouldn't put your name on them because others will be publishing them too. They are just simply content to put on your site that don't require a byline and you don't have to give credit to anyone else for writing them. Instead of posting a byline at the end, you can make a product recommendation at the end. You can promote your own products or products through an affiliate link. Or you can also use the articles to gain subscribers to your newsletter.

Q: If other people use the same articles, wouldn't that be bad for search engines because of duplicate content filters?

I can only tell you things from my own experience. I have always used a combination of original articles and reprint articles and have had excellent search engine results. Also remember, you can make changes to the articles to suit your needs. Optimize them for different phrases and change the wording however you'd like. Remember - one of the bonuses David offers is the Article Multiplier that allows you to quickly modify articles.

Q: But is it really worthwhile, since other people will be publishing the same articles as me? Won't there be a saturation of articles out there?

At $9 per 100 articles, we can't really expect to have original content. I have a low-cost ghostwriter and I pay her $600 to get 100 articles..big difference. Again, you can modify the articles and the likelihood of every member publishing all the articles is not likely. For me personally, it's not something I'm concerned about.

Q: Can't I Just Get the 100 Articles + the 25 free? Do I have to keep paying month after month?

You can cancel anytime, so if you just want the first month, go for it. But if you see value in the first month's run of articles (there is some great stuff there), stick around. $9 is an amazing value for the time you'd spend searching article directories...plus you don't have to add anyone else's byline.

Also, don't think you can cancel today and come back in a few months to grab all the articles. The articles are posted for one month only. As soon as the next month begins, the articles from the previous month are removed. David is definitely rewarding the loyalty of members who stick around...plus, the monthly price will eventually go up as well. If you join now, you lock in your $9 price.

Again...you can pick up your 25 free articles here.

A Quick Favor Please - Promise It Won't Hurt

Here's what I sent to my newsletter list today (if you're not subbed...please fill out the box at the top right):

-------------

If you're like me, you're probably recovering from holiday
craziness. It was a wild weekend with 2 kids under the age
of 4. They were literally bouncing off the walls until they
finally crashed hard on Sunday night. PHEW!

I know this is a time when we're all preoccupied with our
own things and our own families, but if you've been doing
business online for a while, I have a favor to ask you. It
won't cost you a thing, but just a moment of your time.

And if you're new to this whole online thing, don't worry
because I have something for you. :-)

I've been reading all the questions my valued subscribers
have submitted to my FAQ (aliceseba.com/faq) and lately,
many of the questions have been from people just getting
started (or wanting to get started) online. It looks like a
lot of people gearing up to make 2006 their entrepreneurial
year. I think that's awesome and would like to encourage
people as much as possible!

I've answered a couple of these "newbie" questions and this
is how they apply to you:

1. If you've been working online for a while, it would be
nice to have your input on these questions too. It's great
to get different perspectives. We all have different
experiences and it's great to share them. That way people
can avoid our mistakes and emulate our successes.

2. If you're just getting started...just read the answers
and apply what you can to your business.

Here's the Questions:

--------------------

Q: I'm going to build my personal website after the holidays
and want to know what people are really looking for when
they reach a website. I want to be authentic but
professional.

A: http://www.aliceseba.com/peoplelookingfor.html

--------------------

Q: What are the first steps for developing an online
business?

A: http://www.aliceseba.com/firststepsonline.html

--------------------

It's the time of year to reach out and help...why not help
your fellow budding online entrepreneur? ;-)


Until next time,
Alice Seba
Your Friend & Partner in Online Success

I'm Blown Away - Thank You So Much Ladies

This has to be one of the best Christmas gifts I've ever received in my entire life. You may know that Kelly McCausey and I have a Internet marketing membership site that is just for moms. Well, without our knowing, some of our members got together to make a wonderful tribute the site. I was absolutely speechless when I saw it!

I even love the domain name - MomMastermindsRocks.com

Thank you so much all of you wonderful ladies - you make it all worthwhile.

Long Time Coming - Moving the Banned Site

You may remember earlier in the year, I told you about my malcolmsweb.com site being banned from Google. I decided to create a "revival project" idea for the site and received a ton of great advice and support...thank you so much. I even tried to get my site back into Google, but nothing happened.

By September, I realized that there were so many reasons to start this project all over again. That didn't mean scrap it and give it up...but make it better. So, I decided I made plans to move and improve the site.

I wanted to share the site with you, but understand that it's still a work in progress. I'm using Mambo as a content management system and I'm still working with Lynette Chandler to get it running the way I'd like it. I usually opt for HTML-based content sites because I like complete control over the look and function of the site (not to mention the SEO)...but I wanted this site to be very interactive and easy-to-manage -- Mambo allowed me to do this. Parents can submit their parenting tips and funny stories. Article writers have the opportunity for self-promotion and anyone is feel to leave a comment or question on the various content pages (but be warned spammers - we're watching you! hee hee). Plus, there's more fun stuff planned as we iron out the bugs and get things running smoothly.

Anyway, the site is now located at BabyAndToddlerVille.com - that's a mailing list sign up page as I want to collect as many email addresses as I possibly can. ;-) If you want to bypass that and get to the content, you just need to click here. As I mentioned, we're still working on getting things running smoothly. As the site gets indexed into the search engines and I continue with my promotion plans, I'll keep you up-to-date on how it's going.

And before I go, I wanted to say a big thank you to Lynette and Heather for their endless work on this project. I couldn't have done it without you!

What's This Gift from Google?

Today, a package arrived from Google via courier and it looked something like this:



It was a red case with the Google logo on it and inside were all these things. I recognize a mouse and some USB plug-type things. LOL - I was lucky hubby was home and I said, "What is this?" -- As you may know, technology often baffles me!

He explained that it included - a 128 MB USB hard drive, USB mouse, USB flashlight, a cool USB adapter or some-such that allows for up to 4 extra USB plug ins, extendable headphones and extendable plug in for my digital camera....and yes, all with the Google logo on it.

It was a really cool gift and it feels great to be appreciated. I've earned a bit of money for Google in the past year, so perhaps I deserved it. ;-) But I was even more surprised by the generosity and holiday spirit of Alexandria K. Brown the Ezine Queen. I'm an affiliate of hers and have generated some sales...but not in huge amounts - at least I don't think so. Yesterday, a Russell Stover fruit, chocolate and nut package arrived via courier (I don't have a pic because hubby already dismantled it).

So I want to say thank you for the opportunity to work with such great companies and your appreciation is very much appreciated. I think it's important to show thanks to all those who are very dear to us in making our online businesses a success and that's what I'm working on in the next few days.

You Really Can Buy Anything on Ebay

MS security flaw pulled from auction on eBay: Microsoft's crack team of counterfeit scouts must have been in for a shock if they were scouring eBay recently and came across a certain item selling for around $60.

One man's trash is another's free ticket: Danielle is no stranger to diving into dumpsters. "You'd be amazed what they throw away at Trader Joe's, it's like whole meals over there," says the young nanny from the Philadelphia area. But when she heard that the garbage outside Wendy's restaurants had free airline travel in it, "it just seemed too good to be true."

And you can also pay outrageous prices for anything on eBay:

Xbox 360’s Selling on eBay for $700 USD: Since the Xbox 360’s launch, Xbox’s have been selling on eBay one every thirteen seconds, and going for us much as $700 USD.

OUCH! And I thought the Tickle Me Elmo thing of a few years back was bad!

More...If They Mated

You may remember Jason "Profit" Moffat and his Internet marketing rap from a few months back. Well, he's at it again with another scary rendition of "If Internet Marketers Mated". Well, I'm off the hook this time. Visit Jason's blog to see what Michel Fortin & Sylvie Charrier's children would look like (I can't believe this is true!).

Multiple Blog Syndrome

Do you suffer from MBS (Multiple Blog Syndrome) or is your one blog already too much to handle? :-(

I hear ya.

Last week, I was devising a plan for a product relaunch (a la the great advice from Jeff Walkers Product Launch Formula course) and was thinking of adding another blog to my list. Right now, I have 5 blogs and a few of them are seriously neglected. So what am I thinking? I'm going to start another blog I'm going to neglect? I must be crazy.

Well, I realized that managing numerous blogs doesn't have to be complicated and I just need to get organized. It's simply a matter of scheduling when I'll post to each blog and having a pool of topic ideas. I've also enlisted the help of business partners and assistants for some of the blogs and we've created a schedule that will allow us to post interesting discussions regularly...so things will be changing for my blogs in the coming weeks.

Do you have a blogging schedule that could help you post regularly? Or does your blog software allow you to pre-schedule entries to publish on a certain date (WordPress allows you to do this).

More Ideas ==> I've written some blog topic ideas that you can use for your own blogs. I hope they'll help.

Click here to read them.