“An Offer that isn’t too Good to be True” plus 1 more

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An Offer that isn’t too Good to be True Posted: 03 Jul 2013 08:43 AM PDT Recently, Darren shared an amazing bundle of blogger training available for just 72 hours. As someone who is very selective about what training and personal development I participate in I wanted to put my own perspective forward as to why I think is something very much worth considering. Blogging is hard It takes effort, commitment and determination. As a blog owner you need to master multitasking, a willingness to roll up your sleeves and get things done. You need to be able to cop your fair share of criticism and be willing to make peace with the fact that your To Do list will always be longer than time permits. Because blogging is hard, it’s a great opportunity for people to create products that make life easier. Some of these products would have you believe you can simply sit back and watch the page views, and profits, roll in. The copy is compelling, painting a picture of the vast green pasture on ‘the other side’. We all look at them and think… I must be doing something wrong if it’s all that easy! I better find out what. You put your hand in your pocket with high hopes. Sadly, more and more of these products are being sold exceptionally well but delivering nothing on their promise. Of course, it could be worse. And then there are the other products Why I particularly like about the latest collection of Problogger courses for bloggers is that they don’t prey on your dreams. It’s a collection of courses designed to make you a better blogger in a bunch of different ways. They are all very practical and real, and it’s refreshing to see. Unlike Darren, I don’t personally know any of the people behind these course. I do know Darren and he only has respect for those who truly deserve it – so some points are instantly awarded right there. But more importantly let’s look at the topics covered. Breakthrough Blogging I love that this course is aimed at people who have started a blog and then stalled. At one point or another we’ve all felt that progress isn’t what we’d hoped for. That we’re not moving forward, fast enough. This is when many people give up. Through this course if you can find the inner motivation you need to get to tipping point of your blog. This course is worth the $200 on it’s own! How to Connect with Anyone This might be more personal to me, but I envy people who seem to be able to network and connect in their sleep. I walk into a room of people simply hoping that someone will talk to me. It’s been said that your worth is driven by your network, and I this course could help me with that. It would be a lifelong weakness of mine conquered! Better Web Videos & Rapid Video Blogging We all started blogging because we like to write and like to share. Then, there was video to add to the mix and all of a sudden we were movie producers as well as writers. We can make videos I’m sure, but it takes too long and they lack polish. Both these courses change that. Videos done right and done easily — Yay!! Publish Your Book on Kindle 7 out of 10 of the questions I get asked are about getting an eBook published. I would have loved if this course wasn’t specific to the Kindle but you cant win them all! Knowing how to get your book on a Kindle is a major barrier and the rest comes pretty easy after that. Podcasting Postcasting was cool, then uncool, and now it’s cool again. There are some small but very important things you have to when you’re podcasting. I really like the post that was shared here quite recently and I know this course kicks it up a level. All these courses will: give you the motivational kick up the backside you probably need help you be a networking superstar see you producing great video content easily reduce the unknowns in publishing your eBook on the kindle … and if you’re up for it, get in on the podcasting resurgence. That’s a pretty good piece of personal development as a blogger! Typically, I keep my thoughts on these sorts of things to myself and Darren had already shared the deal. But this was one was too good to keep quite about — I couldn’t resist! It’s amazing value for the price. If you didn’t know Darren, you might think it sounds too good to be true, but he’s a generous guy. So go, check out the courses now! Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger An Offer that isn’t too Good to be True

5 Ways to Prepare Your Blog for Affiliate Selling Posted: 02 Jul 2013 08:13 AM PDT This a guest contribution from full time affiliate marketer, Nrupen Masram. Using your blog to earn a passive income through affiliate sales is something many bloggers aspire to. Isn’t it? But you won’t make money if you don’t get visitors to your site and you won’t get that consistent traffic until you have a blog worth visiting. There are lots of ways to generate affiliate sales through your blog but having affiliate products to sell is just a small part of the picture. This article will focus on five elements you should consider, before and after you sign up to any affiliate programs. 1. Become A Niche Expert If you simply focus on making affiliate sales, you’re likely to scare people away. When you do a search on Google for anything related to a particular niche, what are you looking for? Usually, you’re looking for expert. So, it follows on that if you’re an expert in a particular niche, you’re going to attract traffic. So how do you establish yourself as an expert? There’s more than one piece to this puzzle. You obviously need lots of knowledge about your niche. You need your own blog where you can share your knowledge and engage in discussion. Write plenty of content to educate people. Once people are comfortable with you as an expert and you’ve developed a community, you can start slipping in affiliate products in your blog posts. Nobody wants to be sold to all the time. They want to believe they’re making the buying decisions on their own so when you include affiliate links and products in your blog posts, you should aim to provide genuine solutions to common problems. 2. Create a Recommended Products and Tools Page  Word-of-mouth advertising is by far the best, strongest and most effective form available…and it’s free! Everybody’s favorite price. This is what you are trying to harness in affiliate sales and you can consolidate all your best product recommendations on one page. As you’re building your reputation as an expert, your followers will trust your opinions and a single page of recommendations allow you to recommend products outside of a blog post. Every time you recommend a product or tool, you’re putting your own reputation on the line and that’s one of the most valuable assets you have in business. Never recommend a product or service that isn’t good quality and never lie, say a product is good if it’s not. You only have to do it once to lose all the trust you have built up with many of your followers. You can also create your own tools and products and add them to this category if you have the necessary skills or are willing to outsource this aspect of your business in order to make even more money. 3. Write Product Reviews Product reviews are a great way to include affiliate links in a useful and educational blog post. Where possible, never write a review about a product you haven’t used yourself. If you’re going to make money this way, it’s best to truly know how well a product performs so you have be honest with your community. However, it’s not always possible to use every single product and so some reviews will be based on research and opinion. You must always write an honest, but positive, review of the product and have an affiliate link within the review that goes to the product. It’s critically important here that you don’t hide the fact you’re an affiliate. A lack of transparency may cost you the trust of some of your readers. There’s nothing wrong with making commissions based on reviews you have written if you’re honest about everything. 4. Build Your Own Mailing Lists A growing mailing list is key to long-term success in affiliate selling and your blog for that matter. However, just because somebody subscribes to your blog, it doesn’t give you permission to hit them with countless sales emails every single day. You’re smarter than that! Using an autoresponder (such as Aweber or GetResponse) will help keep in regular contact with your subscribers but you should vary the type of information contained within the emails. Regular newsletters give you the opportunity to share free articles, reports, ebooks and even free products sometimes. Your affiliate sales emails should be interspersed with these other emails so the people on your lists don’t feel like they’re always being sold to. This comes back to building relationships and rapport. Also allow your subscribers to provide feedback to make sure you know if you’re taking the wrong approach. Banner Ads  Banner ads can be effective but you need to consider the size and placement within your blog. Most affiliate products tools have a selection of banners you can use so test different ones to see which banners can give you the best results for your money. Avoid large banners and ones that have clashing colours  Remember that they’re merely one aspect of your blog design. They shouldn’t overtake everything else you worked so hard to design. Making money with affiliate sales can be very lucrative but it’s not as easy as waving a magic wand. It involves a lot of short, medium and long-term planning to ensure your business grows consistently and your income also grows. Never be afraid to change things to see if they can improve aspects of your business. You can always change them back if they don’t work. You’re the master of your own destiny (and your blog). Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. My name is Nrupen Masram. I started affiliate marketing after completing college and since year 2010 I am full time affiliate marketer. I sell both physical as well as digital products but mostly my income comes by promoting physical products. I am not millionaire marketer but I do earn full time online. I write about affiliate marketing on my blog http://NrupenMasram.com. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger 5 Ways to Prepare Your Blog for Affiliate Selling

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Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

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The Bitch is Back Posted: 03 Jul 2013 06:26 AM PDT Next week I will get into full-blown bitchiness about a specific topic, but this week I thought I touch of on a whole variety of things that need bitching about since my last post last fall.  Because let me tell you there's been plenty to bitch about. Did Danny Sullivan and Matt Cutts kiss and make up?  After Matt Cutts appearance at SES San Francisco last year, there is tons of speculation that Matt was trying to distance himself from Danny Sullivan, particularly since Danny was going pretty hot and heavy with his complaints to the FTC about Google and writing all kinds of negative articles about everything under the sun that he hated about Google. But at SMX Advanced last month, lo and behold Matt Cutts was there for his usual Q&A where Danny put him on the hot seat, although to be fair it didn't seem like the seat was all that hot this year.  So maybe things aren't all rainbows and unicorns between them.  Besides, it is nice to see Matt at a variety of search conferences as he did last year and I hope that trend continues this year, even though I am sure Danny would love to keep Matt Cutts an SMX exclusive. What is going on at Bruce Clay? Why is it that it seems like whenever Bruce Clay gets a very popular writer who loves to blog all things SEO and industry related, and gain a massive following, that they always seem to move on?  True, Bruce Clay is one of the biggest names in the industry, no doubt about it. But people like Lisa Barone had a huge following, and if I was Bruce, I would be working damn hard to hang onto those other faces of the Bruce Clay Empire rather than see them go to competitors.  Besides, Bruce Clay girls always make for entertaining PubCons. What the heck Blueglass? Although Shoemoney already tackled this one, Blueglass was supposed to be the best and brightest SEO company that potential clients were supposed to be elbowing each other out of the way in order to land Blueglass, instead of Blueglass going out of their way to get clients.  It all went down right before Blueglass X was supposed to take place, and apparently not all those potential attendees have gotten their money back.  And am I the only one that does a double take whenever I see Blueglass UK promoted or referenced all over the place? If I was the UK arm of that company, I would run as far away from the Blueglass name is possible to get some distance from that mess. SEOMoz is now Moz and they did what? In case you missed the news SEOMoz is trying to grow up a bit with the brand-new image and name – "MOZ".  Yes, very original. So how do they celebrate that name change? By deciding to go after a company called Doz with the trademark infringement claim.  Now, no one could possibly confuse the names SEOMoz with Doz.com.  So why didn't they do their own due diligence and discover that hey there was another company out there launching with a similar name (although there is a lot of he said she said with regards to who launched first and filed first, it appears we will see it all shake down in court).  Good thing they didn't try to rebrand themselves as SEO.com because then a whole lot of SEO companies would be screwed! Enough with the Google Glass already Yes, Barry Schwartz, we are all well aware of the fact you are drooling over everyone else that got picked to get Google Glass before you.  We get it, it sucks to be you.  But do you need to really incessantly tweet, blog and Google+ about the fact you haven't gotten a pair yet?  Trust me, if I was in charge of Google Glass, I would have bumped you to the bottom of the list just because of that.  And using animated GIFs on so many of those posts doesn't make you any cooler, just makes you look like you think you are still on MySpace. WebmasterWorld sold to the Ninjas Just about everyone was pretty shocked that Brett Tabke, owner of WebmasterWorld, actually sold the forums. He reigned over the forums with a very strong moderating arm that alienated many admins and moderators over the years (hit up any SEO gathering in the UK to hear all that gossip). So no one could believe that he actually decided to sell them. And if you missed the news, he sold them to Jim Boykin for Jim's Internet Marketing Ninjas empire. But yes, have no fear, your tax deductible trip to Las Vegas for Vegas Pubcon each year can continue, as Brett did not sell the PubCon side of the business. And speaking of the Ninjas Talk about a company that has gone from the little league of We Build Pages to big league fast.  They picked up some great company hires such as Chris Boggs.  They are well on their way to be what Blueglass could have been. As always, feel free to comment about topics you would like to see the SEOBitch treatment given to Looking for an SEO service that won’t get you banned?

4 Killer Money Making Tactics Even Buddhist Temples Use Posted: 03 Jul 2013 06:12 AM PDT Disclaimer: I meant no disrespect to any beliefs or religions when I wrote this, especially to the Buddhists. In fact, despite having been raised Catholic, I went to Thailand to seek Buddhism and completed a 7 day intensive vipasana meditation at Wat Mahadthat temple in Bangkok. The stuff I’m about to share is based on my personal experience, my personal beliefs, and my personal opinion. I have utmost respect for all faiths and philosophies around the world.   Hello from the Thailand, the land of smiles. (Well, that’s the marketing slogan anyway.) It’s been about 3 long fun, educational, scary, and exciting months since I arrived in Thailand (you can read about my Thailand inspired marketing ideas here, here, and here). But before I return back to the good ol’ US of A, I decided to make one last trip in Thailand to a city called Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya historical park is where I actually visited. According to Wikipedia, it was the “site of mass murder, rape and enslavement of Siamese people and destruction of the Ayutthaya city”. But of course, now it’s the site for mass tourism, rape of foreigner’s wallets, and enslavement of Tuk-tuk drivers and massage ladies endlessly asking if I want a freakin’ taxi and massage when they can clearly see that I am not interested… and who the hell wants a massage in 100+ degree weather in the middle of the street with no freakin’ A/C. Oh wait, I digress. I was trying to witty with the word play but it took a wrong turn. My bad. Yes, the even people in developing countries have figured out there’s more money in tourism then there ever will be in wars. One place I visited was a Buddhist temple called Wat Yaichaimongkhol   And if you ever visit Thailand, you’ll notice that Ayutthaya temples look quite different than the temples elsewhere. Ever watch old kung fu movies where a confused white guy is wronged somehow (his wife gets killed, child abducted, etc.) and he goes to a Shaolin monk to learn killer kung fu, only to learn more about himself and gets wise? Well, i feel like marketers should do the same. Except instead of learning the art of tiger crotch (or was it croutching tiger.. i forget), we can learn from these temple people on what they learned about “monetizing the traffic” over hundreds if not thousands of years.   1) Freemium It’s free to visit the temples, whether you’re a believer or a tourist. But, you want Buddha to “bless you” (by the way, Buddha is not god and he specifically said ‘do not worship me’), you’re gonna have to pay. In fact, there are plaque all over temples that say “give to receive”.. or “offering for good luck”. Yes, you can “buy” luck from Buddha as if Buddha has a factory making little trinkets of luck. Stupid? Hmm.. is it? You gotta ask yourself this… ever go to a (christian) church and say you gotta tithe.. or “give to the lord so that you shall receive”… or something like that? (In fact, Jeremy talks about how internet marketers can learn from religions.) Or better yet, ever watch people play Farmville or any of those time wasting games where you can buy virtual crap with REAL money? Yea, freemium works. Don’t believe me? Look at how much freemium game maker Zynga is worth. Yes, people.. that’s a “B” as in BILLIONS.   2) Micro payments trump lump sum Maybe the people running the temples saw informercials… or maybe informercial people visited the temples and copied it. Small payments are EASIER than lump sum. For example, if you visit the temples here, you’ll notice sometimes that there are ROWS and ROWS of donations boxes. Each one of them has description on the box: “temple utility bills”… or “feed the hungry”… or “build a new meditation center”. Some temples are more imaginative “for good luck”… “for good health”… “for prosperity”. And what’s at the END of these boxes? Correct – a cashier giving out change, so that you can get “luck” for each and every one of these categories. ( Who DOESN’T want good luck AND good health AND prosperity … etc). In another words, you can HAVE IT ALL. And you don’t even have to pay a lot… just a change here and there… 35-40 times. That’s all. The direct response marketers understand this: small monthly payments.   3) Make it easy to pay For some reason, every culture seems to like pyramids, not just Egypt. And Thai Buddhists are no exception. There was this one pyramid structure that was ultra hard to climb, but everyone, and i mean everyone, wanted to go see what’s up there. After a pretty arduous 1 minute climb (we’re talking 50-60% incline), i got to the top and saw this small room where there were more statues of Buddha.. and a little pit. What’s the pit for? No pun intended: to pour money down the drain. (i.e. donation pit) People seemed to be enjoying themselves trying to put coin in the middle of the hole. And of course, they dont’ want you to go ALL the way down to get change because they know once you go down, you ain’t coming back up. Solution? Volunteer cashier on top of the pyramd. (Actually it was an old white guy. I doubt he signed up to do this when he was seeking englightenment). Yes, make it EASY to pay. One click if possible.   4) Use psychology (Gamification) This is probably the most interesting one. (Actually this isn’t a Buddhist thing.. but more cultural thing.) In some temples, you’ll notice this container that contains these long sticks that look like little arrows. They’re called “lucky sticks”. The concept is that you shake it until a stick pops out. On that stick is a number. And of course, that number tells you the number to the pamphlet that explains what your “luck” represents. Like the donation boxes, they usually say some good stuff… like “you’ll be successful”… “you’ll find your true love soon”.. blah blah. But unlike the donation boxes, some of them are actually quite … i’ll say it.. fucked up. There was one that said “be careful as your decision might cause a grave harm to your future”. Seriously, who the hell wants to receive that? In fact, I’ve seen people actually get these foul predictions. So what do they do? Go back, spend another 50-100 BHAT, ($1.50 – $3 USD) and try again. In fact, they’ll keep doing it until they see something they LIKE. Crazy? Yes. More money for the temples? Hell yes. KACHIIIING.   ====================== OK… I made it sound like Buddhist temples were some kind of corporate money making machine. As with all man made religions that started out with good intent around true faiths, there are flaws and things that people can definitely criticize, especially for outsiders looking in. But I must admit, temples (like churches and synagogues) definitely do provide a sense of stability, serenity, and community. On top of that, they provide economic activity. Like the tourists that come to visit them.. or the construction companies that help to design, construct, and maintain them.. or the food vendors that come to sell the food to the believers who in turn donate to the monks. In the last 3 months in this foreign country called Thailand, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing interesting, funny, exciting, and scary things. An elephant tried to slap me once. A monkey tried to slap me once. No, i don’t know why these animals hate me so much. No, I’m not that korean guy Dr. Ken Jeong from Hangover 2. Anywho. And of course, meeting people, especially the Thai entrepreneurs who are creating value and, of course, jobs (like the founder of HomeCareSpot.com, who is literally creating jobs by creating connections between host families needing home care and international students around the world looking for home care jobs), had to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. As I leave Thailand in less than 24 hours, I just want to say “sawasdee khap” to the people who gave me the most interesting experience of my adult life so far. [Insert sappy song here]   PS: Do you like my posts? I am looking for opportunities to expand my guest blog or do public speaking on online marketing & lead generation (I run a solar lead generation company). You can read about who I am, what I do and my experiences on my personal blog. If so, please contact me. Trying to increase your Google rank that is like no other?

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