Medusa Wishes Internet Marketers a Happy Halloween
Don't let the smile fool you...if you don't have a great Hallowe'en, Medusa will turn you and/or your website into stone.
And if you have a great one, you might just keep Anakin Skywalker from turning to the Dark Side. Look at that smile...that is no Darth Vader. :-(
Happy Hallowe'en to all and I'll be back on Thursday with my Three Thoughts and a follow-up to last week's Outsourcing Training.
Oh yeah, here's Nemo enjoying some cereal (who knew he doesn't eat fish food!) and his lobster companion. They won't turn you or your website into stone, but want to say Happy Hallowe'en.
Just a short note to say thank you! Your information is concise and useful. It is simple, easy to follow, and most importantly, easy to apply to existing forms & documents I already have in place. As I read other documents, website and sales letters from others, I now see very clearly what makes good copy, headlines & keeps me reading. Or not.
I now have a clear objective on what needs to be changed within my own business, website & forms. I was looking at similar products concerning copywriting and am glad I choose yours. Very to the point which is what I was looking for. I will enthusiastically endorse & promote your courses.
Here's to your Success,Cyndi Stout PromozEssential Products Exceptional Service, On-Time, Guaranteed! Authorized Dealer for "Kaeser & Blair Inc. *Since 1894*" Visit Us Online: www.Promoz.com
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Well, definitely a big thanks to Cyndi. Not just because she likes my stuff, but I think it's awesome when people take time out of their busy days to let you know. It makes it all worthwhile.
I know people are busy and I always strive to make my information easy to digest and as Cyndi commented, "concise and useful". My goal is to always respect your time and to help you achieve success a whole lot faster. It's great to know that I'm achieving those goals.
Just sent this out to my subscribers...in case you missed it. I think it's worth mentioning because I see questions about this kind of thingall the time.
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I'm just getting ready to release a follow-up report to last week's outsourcing interview (I received some greatquestions after releasing it) and I hope to have that ready for you by Thursday. I'll email you as soon as it's ready.
In the meantime, I wanted to discuss another angle to "leveraging the work of others". When it comes to outsourcing, you are paying someone else for their time spent helping you with your business. It's perfect for specific tasks you'd like completed - whether it's a one- time thing or on an ongoing basis.
But sometimes creating an actual partnership with another online business owner is the ideal situation. Whether it's to create a website, a product, a membership site or a teleseminar, there are many partnership possibilities.
There a number of reasons why you might want to create apartnership. Here's just a couple:
#1 It's an opportunity to bring skills and resources together. Everybody has something to bring to the table. Whether it's programming skills, copywriting skills, a large mailing list or affiliate database...pooling those together can be a very powerful thing.
...and for people on a budget...
#2 It's a viable alternative to traditional outsourcing. If you're coming at this from a position where you're willing to work hard, have some decent skills, but don't have the funds to build a team...creating a profit-sharing partnership might be the ideal situation for yourself.
Whatever your reasons, I know a lot people have a lot of questions about creating partnerships and hesitate to get started before they have the answers to those questions. Well, luckily Kelly McCausey & Nicole Dean have just launched "Easy Partnerships" which shows you how to benefit from and put together viable partnerships. They've even included an in-depth Q&A session with a qualified attorney to clear up some of those legal uncertainties as well.
If you've been wanting to explore the possibilities of partnerships, definitely check out all the details at:
Tough Question Tuesday: What's Your Entrepreneurial Achilles' Heel?
We all have things we're good at in business. Then there are things that we're not so good at. If we're smart, we outsource those things...but sometimes it's not that simple. Our vulnerabilities might be related to our personalities or beliefs that might be holding us back.
According to Wikipedia, an "Achilles' Heel" is "a fatal weakness in spite of overall strength, actually or potentially leading to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, metaphorical references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to their downfall are common." I have an Achilles' heel for sure - I'm rather impulsive. When I saw The Aviator- the movie about Howard Hughes, I actually found myself relating to Howard's business management style. Now, Mr. Hughes was pretty extreme and I swear I do NOT have a collection of milk jugs in my house, but when he wanted to do something...he did it. The interesting thing about this is that sometimes it's a GOOD thing, but often it can bite you in the butt.
So what about you? What is your Entrepreneurial Achilles' Heel?
Myth Crusher Monday - Dragon Naturally Speaking Can Produce Professional Transcripts
This Monday's Myth Crusher is once again inspired by The Warrior Forum. In a recent thread, a member was disappointed with the quality of transcripts provided with an audio product. He said, "Every other word is 'you know; or 'like' and, well, you know what I mean. You know?"
Now, I have no idea what the product is and how the transcripts were created...but it did get me to thinking of previous threads where people have claimed, "You don't need a transcriptionist. Just use Dragon Naturally Speaking."
I must say Dragon Naturally Speaking has come a long way since I tried to use it in 2004. It's speech recognition has dramatically improved, it no longer requires voice training to get started and it can recognize more than one voice. But even though it may be very accurate in writing what you say - the reality is the way we speak (unless we're professional speakers) may be digestible in audio format, but put that on paper and our stutters, ummm, uhs and so forth are painful to the reader.
A Garrie Wilson mentioned in the thread I linked to above:
"People should use [software like Dragon Naturally Speaking] for their intended purpose. To save *some* time then edit."
I completely agree. Whether you use a professional transcriptionist to do things right from the beginning or get a proofreader/editor to go in after the fact...the point is, a human touch is needed. A professional transcriptionist can clean up all the extra words, fix grammar, catch errors and inconsistencies. I'm sorry, but no piece of software can do that.
Sweetie Saturday Winner: The 5 Original Articles Go to...
On the weekend, I posted a Sweetie Saturday giveaway for 5 Original Ghostwritten articles that resulted in a bunch of interesting perspectives on the use of ghostwriters.
I posted my opinions in the thread, but would like to reiterate and address some of the main concerns people have.
1. They have bad ghostwriter experiences. Whether the writing is bad, the person doesn't complete the work, a bad experience with a ghostwriter seems to keep people from wanting to try again. I guess I can't blame them, but I think it's an obstacle that can be and should be overcome, no matter what bad experiences you may come across in your business. There are always people who misrepresent their talents and integrity...but there are so many more service providers that offer professional and worthwhile services.
2. They will lose their "voice". Many say that part of the success of their business is in the way they communicate with their readers. Absolutely! I don't think hiring a ghostwriter is an excuse to have someone else do the writing and forget about it. Working effectively with a ghostwriter means that you give her as much direction as you possibly can on what you want the finished product to be about. It also means that you go through everything and make adjustments for your voice, opinions and style. Your ghostwriter does the grunt work...you polish it up and make it exactly what you need, leaving you more time to focus on marketing and more profit-producing aspects of your business.
Anyway, if you want to learn more about working with a ghostwriter and overcoming some of the potential pitfalls, Mila and I have in-depth free guide on outsourcing your content. It's completely free and you don't have to sign up for anything to receive it.
So, I'd better announce the winner...
I've yammered on enough...let's get to the business at hand...picking a winner for the giveaway. There were some great responses and I encourage you to read through the comments when you have a chance, but this week's prize goes to Stan of MyOwnEzine.com who has a few creative writing talents of his own. He writes:
"I’ve never had the pleasure of working with a ghostwriter. I have never seen a ghostwriter. Some people say that they can appear in human form or as angels. I would prefer the angel version - to help with writer's block, research, wording, composition, meeting deadlines and choosing appropriate subject material. Some survey somewhere says that nearly a third of the population believes ghostwriters are out there. And, probably one out of every four people say they have seen or felt the presence of a ghostwriter, especially around Halloween. But, who can believe in surveys!
All I know is that I dare not seek out a ghostwriter for fear of losing my meager wealth to those foolish apparitions of self-doubt, greed, failure, dishonesty, and a poor marketing plan. Once I overcome these ghostly apparitions, perhaps I can work with a ghostwriter. By then, however, it may be too late. My market may have succumbed to the brutish howlings of the ogre of competition!"
Guess he knew he's get me with that Hallowe'en theme!
Congrats to Stan. Please email Mel at news @ internetmarketingsweetie.com with "Sweetie Saturday Winner" in the subject line. She'll take good care of ya.
Sweetie Saturday: 5 Original, Quality Ghostwritten Articles from All Custom Content
You’ve heard me talk about ghostwriting and how easy it is to get the chore of writing quality content off your plate many times and today I want to show you EXACTLY how easy it can be.
Up for grabs are 5 quality, original articles (400-600 words each) written by All Custom Content.
These articles are valued at $100 and I’m taking the cash out of my pocket to pay our writing team because I want to show you just how easily you can hand the task of writing off to someone else and not have to worry about what you might get in return. There really are quality writers out there who are more than happy to ghostwrite articles in your area of expertise.
Here are the details of the contest
1. Head over and have a look at All Custom Content to see what it’s all about and what others are saying.
2. Leave me a comment of 150-400 words below letting me know your answer to one of the following questions.
• If you’ve used ghostwriters in the past, why do you love working with them? …or… • If you’ve never had the pleasure of working with a ghostwriter, what’s holding you back?
3. Deadline is Sunday, October 28th at 10 PM PST. To find out what time it is right now on my side of the world (PST), click here.
4. I’ll announce the winner on Monday, October 29th. Good Luck!
Don’t forget, if you’ve got a product you’d like to contribute for an upcoming Sweetie Saturday, you can do so by clicking here.
Freebie Friday: Internet Based Family Site Builder
Here’s a freebie that’s been around for a long time, but maybe you haven’t checked it out yet. If you’re still toying around with the idea of getting your online presence started, then you MUST check this one out.
Ok, so this freebie isn’t totally free…you have to pay if you stay beyond the 10-day free trial, but it’s not often that you get to play around with the website builder or software to see if you like it. Besides, the Internet Based Family Site Builder is SO easy, the TIME invested to check it out is minimal. I promise.
It’s perfect for those just starting out with websites and those who just don’t want to mess with any complicated site building material, but still want complete control of their site instead of handing the task over to a designer. In 3 Easy Steps you can have your site set up and ready to go!
Here’s how easy it is to get started:
Then choose the name of your site. Your trial and paid version come with a free subdomain or you can use your own domain too. Click “Build Site” and you’re ready to roll. There are a few editors (software to add and edit content) to choose from, but if you’re not a techy of any sort, go for the “Word Style” editor and it’s just like editing simple word processing documents. SOOOOO easy.
The really nice thing is there is no software to download and all your upgrades are free as long as you’re an Internet Based Family Member…and we are constantly making new improvements and upgrades, based on user feedback.
The amount and quality of the features alone make Internet Based Family’s Site Builder worth more than you’ll ever pay for it. Check out just a few of them:
• Web Pages – Your web page can include up to 500 pages. You have over 1500 templates to choose from and 10 different text/image layouts to create exactly the pages you want. Want to customize your templates and layouts? No problem. Need more pages? Again…no problem. It’s a simple upgrade. • Photo Albums - Showcase your photos in our preformatted albums. Your photos are shown in thumbnail form and when clicked on show the photo in full size with optional title and description. • Multimedia – Add audio, video…even flash to your site in just a few clicks. • Message Boards – Interactivity with your visitors is great and almost a must have in the Web 2.0 world and a message is a great way to add it. • Mailing List/Newsletter – Keep in contact with your subscribers easily. • Redirects – Great for hiding those ugly affiliate links. • Press Releases – Easily format and organize your business news in one place.
To see the full list of features (there are tons more), learn more about the builder and sign up for your free 10-day trial, click here.
After my Three Thought's Thursday post on Staying Motivated to Work on Your Business, I looked at the calendar and realized all hope is lost for me. But that's the great thing about having your own online business...set it up right and you can afford to lose that motivation and focus for a little while.
I've lost focus because I'm a absolute nut for Hallowe'en. With Hallowe'en coming next week and Hallowe'en party weekend just a sleep away, I've gone all crazy.
Last night, I admitted on Twitter that I lost complete control of my PayPal debit card and my new puppy now has 5 Hallowe'en costumes. Here's the first:
Yep, you guessed it, she's the Red Ranger from the Power Rangers Mystic Force.
I still have a Freebie Friday, Sweetie Saturday (and it's a GOOD one!) and even a Silly Sunday planned for you over the weekend, but a word of warning, this gal is not herself. It's Hallowe'en!
Three Thoughts Thursday – Staying Motivated to Work on Your Business
I don’t know about you, but I sometimes have those days where I just don’t feel like getting anything done. Those are the days when I know I just need to take a day away…far, far away from the Internet, my computer and my business. Sometimes a day off is exactly what I need to relax and recoup for a day so that I can come back fresh and ready to get down to business again.
Days like this are normal, no matter what type of work you do, but what do you do when you find yourself like this more often than just a day or two out of every month or so?
Here are my Three Thoughts for Staying Motivated to Work in Business:
If you find yourself becoming tired of your business more times than you enjoy it, here are a few things that will help you to get (and hopefully stay) on track longer.
1. Only do the stuff you like and know how to do, outsource the rest. Honestly, why take the time to learn things like programming or web design, when you don’t have enough time in the day now? Stop stressing yourself and outsource those tasks that really consume your time and energy to the point of dread. This way they’ll get done instead of pushed to the back burner nagging at you all the time.
2. Don’t overload yourself and work on too many projects at once. I know this is a tough one for all of us, including me. Take your time and see a project through before starting a new one. Then cycle back around and make improvements as necessary on each of them.
The great thing is, when you focus on one at a time, that one project will probably be more successful than trying to work on 3 different things at once.
3. Make a schedule and plan your days in detail. I posted some tips on scheduling your day on last week’s Three Thoughts and this can make a world of difference.
I have never been one to be a highly-scheduled person. I didn’t make lists or keep a day planner…I wanted to just go with the flow. Well, with two kids, a cat, a dog, a husband and a house…PLUS a business, I can’t afford to be so happy-go-lucky. Scheduling has been a life saver for me.
Internet Marketing Definitions Update: IMAP, Master Resell Rights, PLR, Pop3, XHTML and more!
In response to user requests (THANK YOU!) some new definitions have been added to Internet Marketing Definitions. Expand your Internet Marketing vocabulary by clicking the links below:
It's been such a busy day that I nearly forgot about one of my favorite parts of writing the Internet Marketing Sweetie Blog - and that's Tough Question Tuesday.
Here's your question: Have you ever created an anonymous website, forum post, etc...and said/did things that you would never do under your own name?
If you just want to answer yes or no, that's cool. Or if you want to share details - even better! My answer is yes...and if you share, I'll share more details too.
If you're still on the fence about outsourcing or want to step it up a bit and aren't sure how...here's a great goodie for you today.
I've just released a 54-minute in-depth interview on Outsourcing (comes complete with transcripts if you can't don't feel like listening) that takes you from A to Z...so there are no more excuses NOT to outsource.
It's totally free...no need to opt-in, give your first-born or anything!
...at least not to me, please. You're better off spending your money elsewhere.
(And please, my objective is not to ruffle any feathers for anyone representing the company, but to share a viewpoint that many seem not to have considered. BTW - if you do use Send Out Cards, I do welcome ALL your opinions)
If you're not familiar with Send Out Cards, they're a simple-to-use service where you can easily send out cards (thus, the name) to friends, business associates, potential customers, etc.
From the website:
"You can send a printed greeting card with your message in Less than 60 Seconds.
* Choose your card * Write your message * Click send
SendOutCards prints it, stuffs it and mails it, all for less than a greeting card at the store."
They also offer wholesale, retail and distributorship (7-level multi-level program) memberships.And on the distributorship end, people are pushing this hard...and likely why I receive a card from a Send Out Cards rep at least once per week.
No, the cards don't say "Send Out Cards" on it. They're just easy to spot right away...the "handwritten" font is a dead giveaway.
My first card came from Marlon Sanders and when I first got it, I thought, "Wow...why is Marlon sending ME a handwritten card?"
Then I looked at it closer and clearly it was a printed card, rather than handwritten.
Then more cards came from other people. Some were nice cards to wish me a Happy Birthday (thank you!), some wanted to introduce me to another product and still others wanted me to join the Send Out Cards opportunities. And low and behold, all these people sending me these cards had exactly the same handwriting. ;-)
As a side note, Send Out Cards now has the ability to allow you to use your own actual handwriting, but to date, I've never received any cards like that. I'm thinking it would be a useful investment ($49 on the site at time of writing, from regular $98) for anyone using the cards.
Now, I don't want to upset anyone who has sent me a card because, I do appreciate it. However , if you've sent me any type of offer with a card from Send Out Cards, you can bet it likely found its way to the recycling bin without serious consideration. I DO read all the cards I get, but there's something about these things that scream insincerity to me...even though the message behind them may very well be sincere.
See, I'm an Internet marketer and I use a computer every single day. I am usually able to spot things like the computer-generated fonts. Believe me, I know that you don't have the time to actually handwrite every note or card you send out (neither do I!). But honestly, I'd be more receptive to a type-written letter and if it had your true handwritten signature - I'd see that as more sincere.
But that COULD just be me. I'm just sharing my opinion and if you're using the cards, I'd suggest:
> Consider your market: Are they receiving these cards frequently (ex. a website owner like me who receives a good number of JV and other offers on a regular basis)? Are they tech-savvy and able to see that it's simply a printed card? Will it matter to them?
> Test your results: If you're using the cards to generate new business or to encourage repeat business, test out your results. Sure, you may see results coming in from the cards, but it's possible your results could be even better with a different method.
Again, I'm sure Send Out Cards is useful in so many ways...I'm just giving you the other side of the coin from someone who really kind of loathes the things.
Myth Crusher Monday - You Can Take All People At Face Value (Forum Liars Revisited)
A while back I wrote a post about Forum Liars, where I cautioned people to be really careful about who they trust and when to be suspicious of certain claims people make. It's not always easy because if you're like me, you want to see the good in people. But I tell you, if my "liar-senses" start tingling, I no longer give anyone benefit of the doubt.
If you're a member of the Warrior Forum, you may have seen two liars outed on the weekend. The first was a woman claiming to be a lawyer who was giving out and selling legal advice. It was pretty bad. The second was a guy who, in my opinion, has ALREADY been outted at least 3 times, but people kept believing his lies.
In fact, in that post I mentioned above, I already mentioned that certain someone, without naming names. I figured whomever was a member of the Warrior Forum would know who I was talking about, so I didn't need to mention it.
(By the way: I don't think these incidents are necessarily any reflection on the Warrior Forum. It is a HUGE forum with so much activities and you've got all kinds coming out of the wood work. However, I do believe that in the case of the second guy, they should have taken some earlier action and I'm sad to report that at the time of writing this post, I don't think they've done anything.)
But back to the dude in question. In my previous post I wrote:
Over the weekend, there was a guy on a forum who claimed he made nearly 3 million dollars in the past year and he wrote a post to slyly promote an upcoming product/coaching product, or whatever undisclosed plan he had. He wrote it under the guise of just offering free information and he wasn't selling anything. However, he was collecting email addresses for additional information.
But we know people do that every day. Self-promotion is rampant and even though it irks me, it's not the real issue to me. It's the guy's income claim.
This is the same guy who, just a month or so prior, had trouble fulfilling some ghostwriting obligations he had made to the forum members. He said his writer took off with the money and now he was going to complete all the orders, but he needed time. Well, if I was a guy with nearly 3 mill burning a whole in my pocket, I'd either issue refunds or get some new ghostwriters on it.
Maybe that's just me.
What puzzled me is that people blindly accepted his claim...when his history was clear to see in his forum profile. And there were other posts in his profile to throw even more doubt on his claim, but the first doubt was enough for me.
And what puzzled me even more, is that some of his advice in the thread was half-decent. Why the over-bloated income claim? Most of the people on that forum are struggling just to make $50 or $100 per day...why go so overboard? Or better yet, why not tell the truth?
Well, here's part of the story, I didn't tell you. This person, who I believe to be a chronic liar who will do anything to cover up what he's done and try to win people back over to his side, sent me an email in response to my blog post that said:
Hello Alice,
I was hoping to catch you on the phone, but I left a message anyways. In any case, I wanted to personally talk to you in regards to your blog post and accusations against me. I know you didn't mention my name or website, and it has nothing to do with me being upset, however, it has to do with you not having the full story.
You see, after I stopped all my memberships, i had a staff of 12 people, including 3 writers. I had nothing for them to do, so I made a WSO for ebooks for them to write, the WSO did well. I gave each one an even allocation of books. While this was going on, I needed to travel for a while, business related as well as personal. I would keep in contact with my writers making sure books were done and sent.
Everyone worked at well except one writer, who kept continously lying to me, and I did not find out until i got back into town. This is when I made my forum post, just to rant/tell people about what happened.
I had no problems giving refunds, and I had to personally refund a lot of money out of my own pocket. However, a few books I wanted to complete by myself. Simply because customers were waiting a month and a half for a book, and I didn't want to just refund their money and give them nothing. So, in fact, I refunded money and delivered ebooks to them for free.
I personally was only able to get three done, but I had some warriors help that added to a total of 6 done out of the 11 left. I refunded the other 5, apologized and they understood.
Basically, I highly suggest you read into a whole story before you post about it. It was nobel and considerate of you not to mention names or websites, because honestly without knowing an entire story, it would be just plain wrong.
I have given proof of earnings to Richard Driver, Michael Tracey, Paul Short, and other moderators and administrators of the forum. I do not lie, it would be one hell of lie to make.
Futhurmore, I never originally had any website, Richard Driver came to me asking me to do a live seminar for the topic, if you look here www.theliveteam.com you can see he is a part of the project.
This is the Personal Message he sent me:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hey Steve!
Got a brain fart that you just might think is awesome
Let's talk.
Skype me at NAME REMOVED or it you want I can call you.
This is too A W E S O M E to waste time on.
Richard
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I then spoke to him on the phone about the idea.
In any case, I'm new to the Internet Marketing Communitty only around 6-7 months old. However, i have been making money online and offline for a few years and my big year in 2006. I never really expected things to turn into all this annoying and frusturating bad publicity, and quite honestly, if you were in my shoes I think you would understand as well.
Well, I'm not here to ask you to take down your post, because frankly, it is a good post and makes valid points, however, I'm not the liar here.
I hope one day, we could have a business relationship and understanding of eachother.
Thank you for your time, Steve Celeste
I never listened to the voicemail, but from what my assistant said it was the same polite tone and explaining everything. When I got his message, I briefly felt a twinge of guilt. What if I was wrong about him? But it soon passed and I realized what this guy is all about and so I never responded to him. See, this is how he operates. He's always very apologetic, has one excuse after another and then he wins over so many of the people upset with him. I did not want to play that game.
Then over the weekend, a new thread surfaces on The Warrior Forum entitled, "Where is Steve Celeste?" Seems that through his self-promotion on the forum, he did set up a membership site (CORRECTION: He set up a payment process for a membership site that did NOT exist and still doesn't exist today) and collected payments. It's now some time later and the members haven't received anything and are now complaining about not receiving refunds.
His posts on this thread include:
Excuses that he's been MIA because he's been working so hard on this product.
Public refunds of a few people, so it looks like he's taking care of business (much like he has done in the past)
Offers to PM information, or "call me if you want to talk on a more personal level" as he wrote to the Alicia woman on the thread...trying to look like he's approachable, yet further posts on the thread indicate he is still dodging people.
An excuse that a refund was delayed because he had to withdraw money from his bank account to add to PayPal.
So tell me, where is this millionaire's support staff that should be doing this work? Why isn't his PayPal account LOADED with cash because he makes millions with membership sites?
I don't know, but I think enough is enough. If you have any suspicions that someone isn't on the up and up, do your research and if you're not satisfied walk on by...VERY QUICKLY.
Sweetie Saturday Winner: Congrats Nicola, The At-Home Doula
As always, picking a winner for Sweetie Saturday is tough. But a decision needs to be made and this week's winner of the Natural Moms Business Guide is Nicola.
She's a certified doula who hasn't been able to attend births because she has chosen to stay home with her kids. She has been providing moms with post-partum support and wants to bring some of her expertise and support online.
Congratulations Nicola! To claim your prize, email Mel at news @ internetmarketingsweetie.com with "Sweetie Saturday Winner" in the subject line.
Silly Sunday: Zoobie The Internet Marketing Newbie
I guess this has been floating around YouTube for a while, but this is my first viewing of Zoobie The Internet Marketing Newbie. Watch as fast-food restaurant worker Zoobie desperately tries to make money online..."legitimately". There are only two episodes made of Zoobie and the official website claims that Episode Three is coming soon and features John Reese.
Double Sweetie Saturday: 14 Strategies for More Interaction and Reaction for Your Blog
As promised, here is the 2nd offer in this week's Double Sweetie Saturday and it is called:
"14 Strategies for More Interaction AND Reaction on Your Blog"
It's a 7-page guide that I put together to help you get more results from your blogging. We’ve all been told that a blog is a great relationship builder and can help you increase your sales. It can also be pretty fun. Most people get the fun part, but could use a little hand in building more relationships and have that translate into more sales. That’s what this guide is all about. It includes 14 easy-to-apply strategies that you can start using 15 minutes from now.
This guide is for YOU and by purchasing (not only is this low price only available for a limited time, the guide will only be for sale for a limited time and then it's GONE!) it, you also receive resell rights. This means you can sell it or add it to a paid product as a bonus. The only thing you can't do is give it away for free or sell the rights to anyone else.
You can get your guide now for a measly $10 and start making big changes on your blog.
Sweetie Saturday: One Free Copy of the Natural Mom Business Guide
This week is Double Sweetie Saturday and the first is a giveaway from Carrie Lauth, a.k.a the Natural Mama. Carrie has offered up a copy of her Natural Mom Business Guide to one lucky Sweetie.
The Natural Mom Business Guide is a complete tutorial for moms who want to turn their passion for natural life into a living on online. The winner will receive an ebook, instructional audios and videos and printable cheat sheets. To learn more about the guide and what all is included click here.
Here are the rules for this week’s Sweetie Saturday giveaway:
1. Head over and have a look at the Natural Mom Business Guide to find out more. Your natural lifestyle just might be a great way to work from home and you’ll find out everything you need to get started and make it successful with this package.
2. In the comments section below, post 150-400 words letting me know “How you would use your natural way of life to create an online business."
Just wanted to know I got your requests for a cross-blog conversation. I must admit the whole thing is very confusing to me, but Kelly is helping this thick head understand. I will get to it soon. This weekend is super packed with kids and adults birthdays, I can barely breath.
Freebie Friday: Content Creation Made Simple – Genius Ways to Use & Profit From PLR
If you’re like many online business owners who know the benefits of PLR, but seem to have tons of it sitting on your computer’s hard drive just waiting to be used, this week’s freebie is just for you. Mila and I have created a guide for you that tells you all about the many (and there are tons) of ways you can use PLR content to your benefit. You’ll find plenty of ways to make even just one tiny article do all kinds of good things for you and your business and the best thing…it’s allsooo simple!
Here are just a few of the key points you’ll find inside the guide:
1. What Is PLR Content?
2. Find Out If PLR Content is Ethical
3. How PLR helps in the following areas:
• Building credibility and expertise. • Relationship Building • Making Money
FAQ Update: Affiliate Marketer or Affiliate Manager?
I received a question from a reader, Dave Conrey, wanting to know if I was just starting out which direction on the affiliate marketing scale would I go first.
I’ve answered his question in the newest addition to the FAQ database. You can find out whether I would start as an affiliate who promotes other people’s products or create my own and why by clicking here.
Since we work from home, scheduling is essential in order to get everything done we need to in our business and our personal lives on a daily basis. That being said, we all know things don’t always go as planned, especially when you work from home.
Here are my Three Thoughts on Scheduling Your Day as a work at home business owner.
1. Plan your day the night before, so you know exactly what you need to do. Since you work from home, include all the personal stuff that needs to get done and schedule it in as well. I have a daily planner where I write the business stuff down in red and personal in blue, but put it all in the same place.
2. Give yourself more time than you think you need for each task. It ALWAYS takes longer when you want to do a job right. Especially if you happen to have kids at home, you’re bound to get interrupted at least a few times a day.
3. Forgive yourself if you don’t complete all your tasks. We’re only human after all and things come up. Just be sure to reschedule those things that didn’t get crossed off your list appropriately. Getting stressed out about it doesn’t help anyone.
Feel free to share your own tips. I’m sure we need all the organization help we can get!
FAQ Update: Site Critique & SEO Suggestions for Niche Sites
In addition to John Mignano providing a flu remedy, he also asked if I would take a look at his site for some suggestions. He has targeted a very wide market of audio ebook listeners, so he has some challenges ahead of him. I just added some suggestions to the FAQ that might be helpful to you as well.
Last week, while I was a little under the weather, my subscriber John Mignano of Audio Book Gift Shop sent me this remedy:
a.. 2 cups water b.. head of garlic c.. 1 inch fresh ginger root d.. 1/2 tsp cayenne e.. 2 sprigs baby dill f.. 1 bag black tea g.. juice of 1 lemon h.. honey Boil the water, and lower to a simmer.
Peel and crush the garlic & ginger root, and add to water. Add cayenne, baby dill, tea and lemon juice, and turn off flame.
Allow to steep for 5 minutes, and then take out all the stuff floating in the tea.
When it has cooled sufficiently, sweeten with honey (do not add honey to boiling-hot tea).
Drink both cups and have a stack of t-shirts waiting by your bedside when you head to bed! It's a good idea to get plenty of rest.
Don't let the Winter sniffles slow your business down this year. :-)
It's one of my favorite days of the year and I'm certainly not the only one. If you are looking to provide Halloween content and fun for your readers, here's a couple places to pick up some Halloween PLR:
- Easy PLR has a cool Halloween Article Pack on sale for only $5 => Grab the article bundle.
Create a recipe book just to say thanks to your customers, put the articles together into a report to build your list or put the articles on your site and drive traffic for affiliate & Adsense income. It's completely up to you.
Tough Question Tuesday: How Many Takes Does it Take?
When you take your photo for your website, how many times do you have to take it before you are satisfied?
When I was in Atlanta, some people said I look very different from my picture in my logo above and asked if I would update it. I had to explain that it would take a very long time before I could get the photo I wanted.
The process would be like this:
1. Get husband to take a couple shots. 2. I hate them all, so I take the camera and proceed to do about 20 self-portraits. 3. Sometimes I get lucky in those 20, but then more likely than not, there aren't any winners.
I suppose I could see a professional photographer, but I like to keep it casual and he or she would still have to do a bunch of takes before I'd be happy!
So how about you? Are you a natural model or simply easy to please? Or, are you vain/paranoid like me and do you need a million takes until it's done? ;-)
I really enjoyed and got a lot out of BigSeminar X, but one of my favorite parts when a few Mom Masterminds drove into Atlanta to enjoy a fun dinner and great conversation.
MIA: Ken Chandler (Lynette's husband joined us too) and Lynn Terry who didn't show up at the seminar. Where'd you go Lynn? We missed you!
It is so great to finally get together with these these ladies I've been talking to online for so long. And thanks for Tiffani for bringing her disposable camera...otherwise, we wouldn't have had any pics. Can you believe it?!
Internet Marketing Definitions Update: Dealdotcom, DupeFree Pro, phpBB, Bread Crumb Trail and more
In response to user requests (THANK YOU!) some new definitions have been added to Internet Marketing Definitions. Expand your Internet Marketing vocabulary by clicking the links below:
Myth Crusher Monday - I Can Learn Everything I Need by Watching, Not Buying
Here's something I'd like to call a "half myth". I often hear the advice:
"You can learn everything you need to know about Internet Marketing by WATCHING the gurus, rather than buying their products."
In fact, Kelly McCausey and I just talked about it on her 200th WAHM Talk Radio Show (congrats to Kelly!).
Here's how it came up:
Kelly asked me who I liked to learn from. I mentioned the usual suspects who really helped me take things to the next level (Armand Morin, John Reese, Michel Fortin, etc.). But then I told her that now I actually really love learning from other Mom Masterminds members. And it's not necessarily what they are saying or teaching, but what they were DOING. I loved watching those marketing minds at work and seeing what's really working for people.
But here's where the myth thing comes in:
I needed that core information from those great teachers I mentioned above to help me understand good marketing and to figure out the basics of what works online and what doesn't. Without that, I'd still be floundering trying to watch everyone else and possibly going down the wrong path.
...and I'm not exaggerating. When I first started out, I tried to follow some people that I thought were really successful and knew exactly what they were doing. Only to find out they weren't really making much money at all AND actually used marketing methods that could be detrimental to my business. I just had no clue!
If you're brand new to Internet marketing, I don't think you can watch gurus or anyone and figure out what's working and what's not. There are so many people online who are "faking it 'til they make it," and without the background knowledge AND experience, you won't be able to decide what's working or not.
So, if you're new...do yourself a favor. Get some core learning materials and start applying what you learn. As your experience grows that's when you'll truly be able to benefit from watching others and separating the wheat from the chaff will be so much easier.
Sweetie Saturday: Transcription Starter Pack for FREE!
Here's the first in the Sweetie Saturday guest offers. This one is made by Nell Taliercio ("The Answer Lady") and she has her Transcription Starter Pack up for grabs.
If you've been thinking and brainstormin' ways to earn an income from home, this may be the ticket for you. Nell takes you step-by-step through the process of finding and serving clients who need the in-demand service of transcription. You can find out more about her course at by clicking here.
Here are the rules for this week’s giveaway:
1. Find out what all you’ll get with your complete access to the Transcription Start Pack. You’ll find out that writing the spoken word can be very lucrative home-based work.
2. In the comments section below, post 150-400 words letting me know “Why you'd like to start providing transcription services."
