Marketing the Lazy Way

Increasing Traffic With Article Marketing

2008-05-29T10:12:00.001-04:00

Article marketing is the most effective method of increasing traffic without any cost involved. Articles can be used for almost anything on the Internet from social networking sites to blogs and each one can contain a one or more links to your main website. Many places accept articles without any charge but they should be sites with a good...

read more | digg story

Cash Gifting Programs and The IRS

2008-05-28T17:08:00.001-04:00

This article explains in plain language what is appropriate and legal in the hottest program on the net today, Cash Gifting Programs. Do they work, are they viable and most importantlyhow does the IRS view them.

read more | digg story

The Wealthy Blogger : Live To Work Or Work To Live?

2008-05-27T21:15:00.001-04:00

A good plan for taking a little "self time" while climbing to the top.

read more | digg story

Qassia - Free Authority One Way Links

2008-05-27T10:53:00.001-04:00

Qassia is great because you get credit for sharing your intelligence and content. The more credit you earn, the better your websites will rank. And you get a backlink to your website for every intel you add - only Qassia gives you unlimited quality backlinks.

read more | digg story

Casino Mogul Hosts Wounded Soldiers In Vegas

2008-05-26T18:39:00.001-04:00

The soldiers-turned-high rollers took a private jet to Las Vegas over the weekend for an all-expenses-paid getaway with all the perks normally saved for casinos' richest regulars. They were greeted at the airport by Wayne Newton, chilled backstage with the guys from Blue Man Group and hobnobbed with Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino mogul

read more | digg story

A Complete Internet Health Business In A Box

2008-05-16T06:58:00.001-04:00

This program has been designed to help Diabetics, Arthritics, Obese and Overweight find help setting up their own business on the net and teaching them how to get healthy at thesame time. Make Money And Lose Weight. Best of Both Worlds.

read more | digg story

'Dang-it-Dolls' help troops with stress

2008-05-15T06:35:00.001-04:00

A South Carolina grandmother has become a sensation among stressed-out U.S. military men and women around the globe by sending the most incongruous of gifts: pliable, google-eye dolls.

read more | digg story

Ten Top Strategic Internet Marketing Tips

2008-05-14T09:10:00.001-04:00

In order to make your website profitable, you have to draw in customers. To bring in customers, strategic internet marketing can do the job.

read more | digg story

Ask and You Shall Receive

2008-05-13T21:05:00.001-04:00

This article outlines generating tax free income on the internet. Basically, you have to drive traffic to your site to get visibility. Gifting programs are tax free ways to generate income. They Have been around for years and work very well. They are legal, just look at IRS Publication 950. http://www.irstaxfreemoney.com

read more | digg story

Survive The Debt And Come Out On Top

2008-05-12T20:58:00.001-04:00

If you're in way over your head in debt, you need to make some changes and get some help. This article explains how a debt management plan may be the first step on the path to financial peace of mind.

read more | digg story

How To Make Money For Free Online

2008-05-12T17:13:00.001-04:00

4 quick and easy ways to generate some extra income online without having to spend thousands on bogus products.

read more | digg story

Great Article By Clayton Makepeace

2008-02-12T10:22:00.000-05:00

"There will be good days and bad, which means that some days I may be cranky and some days really cranky!"

- Peter Jennings

How to Conquer Your Greatest Creativity-Killer

By Clayton Makepeace

Despite all the great things going on in my life, I began feeling a little down in the dumps last week.

That's not good. For creative folks like me - and for all marketing pros - depression can be a career killer.

When you're depressed, your energy flees, your focus fuzzes up, your creativity goes AWOL - and if you don't do something about it (and quick!), your income craters and your reputation and career chase it right down the tubes.

In short, depression is one of the costliest business problems any of us ever deal with!

Conversely, the ability to identify and neutralize depression quickly are two of the most valuable skills any entrepreneur or marketer could possibly acquire. They empower you to add scores more productive and profitable hours, days, and weeks to your year.

In my experience, depression comes from three places...

1. Too many drugs, so little time

When I say "drugs," I'm referring to my three personal favorites: (1) Grey Goose, (2) Starbucks, and (3) Marlboro Lights.

Once upon a time, I could pretty much party for 48 hours straight and never pay the piper. I could do Friday and Saturday at Sloppy Joe's, ride the 14 or 15 hours home from Key West, and still show up for work bright and bushy-tailed first thing Monday morning.

These days, not so much. My 54-year-old body demands at least 72 hours to get over a weekend like that. And it puts me through a period of pretty intense chemical mopery before my wife, friends, total strangers, the local constabulary, my lawyer, and my creative muse begin speaking to me again.

Goes without saying: Losing 72 hours of creative time each week would make it nearly impossible for me to continue living the comfortable life to which I've become accustomed. And so I've been forced into a life of relative abstinence - punctuated, of course, by the occasional not-so-graceful swan dive off the wagon at vacation time.

Caffeine and nicotine are something else altogether. I can't walk, speak, or think until I've had a couple of mugs of Joe in the morning. Problem is, it's 2:00 p.m. before I know it, and by then, my get-up-and-go has got up and skedaddled.

And of course, it's even worse if I'm inhaling nicotine - an infamous depressant - with all that coffee.

What's the solution? The dreaded "M" word: Moderation.

On the plus side, there is a mood-brightening drug I can't recommend highly enough - one that I absolutely hate getting.

I'm talking about endorphins. You get them by doing exercise: swimming, walking, running, that kind of stuff.

Work out for two weeks in the morning before you go to work, and you'll be absolutely amazed at how much happier you are, how much more productive you become, and how much more moolah you rake in!

2. Lies your brain tells you

Has some terrible thing happened that gives you the right to be depressed? The promotion you just knew would make you a gazillion bucks flopped flatter than a flapjack? You're broker than a sailor after shore leave, and the bill collectors are calling non-stop?

Hey - I've been there. It sucks.

But it doesn't mean you have to suffer from depression-related brain-block, too!

The fact is, you get to choose how you feel in response to just about anything that happens to you.

See, everything that happens to you passes through a little "belief filter" in your brain - a conviction you've come to hold about yourself and/or the world around you.

These filters can be positive - as in "I'm brilliant," "I'm a winner," "I always come out smelling like a rose"...

... or they can be negative - as in "I'm a dope, a fraud," "I'm a loser," "Everything I touch turns to crapola."

Here's the golden key: Nearly all the belief filters we have are utter nonsense.

The objective truth is, nobody is always a winner or a loser... creative or dull... brilliant or a dunce.

So the next time depression has you creatively hog-tied, try this...

First, identify the negative thought that triggered your lousy mood.

Then, ask yourself, "Is that thought valid?" (99.9% of the time it is not!)

And then ask yourself, "Is the belief filter that triggered that negative thought valid?" (Again: Almost never.)

Finally, ask yourself, "How should I change that belief about myself and/or the world to bring it in line with reality?"

You'll be amazed at how quickly even the lousiest mood evaporates in the blinding light of the objective truth.

3. Self-obsession

I learned this simple fact of life many years ago - and re-learn it all the time. In fact, you could say it was my guiding principle for launching The Total Package e-zine last year.

The simple fact is, when my focus is on others' well-being, I'm happier.

Conversely, I notice that when I'm trying to find things that will make me happy - new toys, vacations, etc. - I'm actually less happy.

So where's your focus? Are you obsessed with your own feelings and the state of your life? If so, there's a good chance those feelings are not positive ones.

Try doing something to improve someone else's life today. You'll be amazed at how quickly your mood lifts!

[Ed. Note: Clayton Makepeace has spent the last 35 years creating direct-mail, Internet, and print promotions that have sold well over $1 billion worth of products. Plus, as a direct-marketing consultant and copywriter, he's helped four major direct-marketing firms at least quadruple sales and profits to well over $100 million per year each. Clayton publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package (www.makepeacetotalpackage.com) to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Check it out.

Guest Post - Patrick Coffey - Early To Rise

2008-02-08T09:10:00.000-05:00

How to Get a Bunch of Useless Traffic to Your Website

By Patrick Coffey

The Internet has been buzzing with praise for "social media" as the way to drive traffic to your website. By "social media," I'm talking about sites that (1) allow you to submit content and (2) allow other people to comment - and even vote - on it. The higher they rate your submission, the more exposure you get, with lots of people clicking on your link.

But today, I'm going to show you that this massive traffic isn't all it's cracked up to be.

So far, some of the major players in the social media world are:

Digg - digg.com

Stumbleupon - stumbleupon.com

Sphinn - sphinn.com/

Reddit - reddit.com

Del.ico.us - del.icio.us/

Myspace - myspace.com

Facebook - facebook.com

These sites - and dozens and dozens of others that I'm sure I'm forgetting - have quickly become behemoths in the online world. In fact, many of them are getting even more traffic then the all-powerful Google.

At first, this might seem like an online marketer's dream...

"If I could only get my article or blog post on the home page of Digg or Stumbleupon, my site will be flooded with traffic."

It's easy to see why so many marketers are foaming at the mouth over the idea of tapping into all that traffic. But real online marketers understand that traffic does not mean anything without conversion. In other words, if you can't turn your traffic into sales or e-mail sign-ups, it's pretty much useless.

You may have heard of website traffic referred to as HITS. I'm sure you've been to websites that have a little counter at the bottom that tells you exactly how many HITS the site has received.

Well, this is my definition of HITS: How Idiots Track Success.

Just think about it. What should you really care about? How many people visit your site? Or how many people buy from your site?

Now you might be thinking, "Patrick, how do you know the traffic you get from social media is useless?"

This thing is, Alexis Siemon, ETR's resident Search Engine Marketing Specialist, has been experimenting with trying to drive traffic via social media channels.

You can see how this is done by looking at the funny little logos at the bottom of each Early to Rise issue. These logos allow you to submit our content to various social media sites. And they have been helping us get "free" traffic. Through some trial and error, Alexis was able to help our natural health e-letter site get a boatload of traffic from Stumbleupon. In fact, in the last month, one page generated over 28,000 new visitors.

When I heard this, I thought it was great news. You see, when we get traffic from outside sources, we can generally convert at least 10 percent of it into e-mail sign-ups.

So how many of these 28,000 social media visitors do you think signed up for our natural health e-letter?

500? 1,000? 1,500? 2,800?

No! Try 80. That's a conversion rate of just over 0.2 percent.

Compare that to the conversion rates we're getting from search engine optimization (SEO), e-mail marketing, website advertising, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and even direct mail. I've seen traffic from these sources convert to e-mail subscribers at rates of up to 50 percent.

That's not the only reason I say social media traffic isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Recently, several of the top marketers here at Early to Rise and I went to the Webmasters World Conference in Las Vegas. We wanted to learn directly from many of the world's top search engine marketers and see what they made of all the buzz surrounding this supposed traffic goldmine.

When I looked at the schedule, I was excited to see a panel discussion titled "Monetizing Social Media Traffic." After all, isn't making money the point of getting website traffic? So we all attended this session with great anticipation...

The consensus of the panel was that it's difficult to monetize social media traffic. For whatever reason, this traffic is resistant to advertising and tends not to stay on the site very long. In fact, it appeared to them that one of the only ways to monetize this traffic is by using a CPM (cost per thousand) advertising model. This is where you sell ad space on your site and charge the advertiser based on the number of people who see their ads. Certainly not a good model for those of us who run direct-response websites - because not only are these visitors not buying from us, they're also not clicking on our advertisers' links.

Even worse, this heavy influx of traffic can put a strain on your hosting servers and cause your site to crash. So you have a bunch of people visiting your site who don't buy, don't subscribe, and wind up crashing your server. Talk about turning your social media traffic dream into a nightmare.

But I don't want you to think social media is all bad. Of course, we are delighted to allow our readers to share ETR articles that they think are good. And we are very grateful that, in one case, 80,000 people read our extremely valuable content as a result of this free traffic.

Many of the top stories on Digg and Stumbleupon get picked up by blogs and other websites. And when an article from your site is being bounced around the Internet this way, you'll get inbound links from various sites. These new links help you get direct traffic from the linking sites. Plus, they help you with search engine optimization, which can, in turn, lead to more converting traffic and more subscribers.

At Early to Rise, we will continue to test social media and use it as a link-building tool. But if you're looking to build your online business, it's better to focus on the proven direct-response marketing methods we've been telling you about. Don't be afraid to pay for traffic through e-mail list rental, text-link ads, and pay-per-click advertising. These methods might cost a little bit of money... but you'll be attracting targeted visitors who will buy from you.

[Ed. Note: Patrick Coffey is ETR's Internet Marketing Director. He is also a contributor to ETR's Internet Money Club, which shows you how to build an online business within the next 12 months. The Club's membership was 100% filled last month - but we've just opened up a handful of slots for a very limited time. To check on availability, click here.]

Adsense Tips To Make Money Easily

2008-02-07T11:57:00.000-05:00

Google ad sense has dominated the internet discussion groups, newsletters and various affiliate programs that can be purchased through resellers such as Click bank. Everyone is saying how profitable they are - showing such things as copies of checks and statements from various affiliate resellers. One thing for certain, it seems as if Google ad sense has dominated the internet marketing groups and is now considered a very simple way to make money from your home while you are asleep!

So the question becomes, how do you make money using this program? Obviously you have to have ads placed on your web page that get high traffic for sought after key words. This can be quite lucrative, however is more difficult than can appear at first. There are advertisers that are paying as much as $10.00 per click for an ad on google. So in a nutshell the higher the cost to the advertiser, the higher that you will be rewarded for having that ad on your site.

For newbies, they really have not understood what the appeal to having advertisers all over their site with their main idea buried in there somewhere. Once they finally figure out that those little ads promoting someone else actually brings in money, they are swallowing their pride more easily. Not to be rude or brunt, but obviously, it is alot easier to to pay for groceries with actual cash rather than having to get food stamps and starving just because of pride not wanting advertisers on their web site.

So what can be done to use Ad Sense to its fullest ability? Actually there are 2 major factors that come in to play and here they are:

1- Seek out the high traffic web pages on your web-site. If you look back I am certain that many of your visitors are taking advantage of your freebies such as free reports or free software or various ebooks that you are offering at low cost or for free. You are doing it correctly and generating a high click through rate. This is very important to getting good advertisers on your site.

2- You can put Ad Sense links on the less effective or loss leader web pages. This is kind of a trick, however can save you a lot of visitors in the long run. You essentially will capture or at least have a chance to hang on to that visitor by letting that customer click on one of your ad sense ads and get some income coming in to you.

When you master these two tricks, you can actually get a good flow of money with minimal effort. Well you ask, how do I generate the traffic in the first place? There are 3 ways that I am aware of that work really well. First - pay for it by creating an ad word advertisement, Secondly - pay for it by using a good CPM (CPM=Cost per thousand) email mailer promoting your site and lastly by free article submissions or mastering SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

When using the above tactics, you will not only notice the extra cash flow, you will be rewarded when just giving out free information to enquiring minds. You can also send your visitors to an affiliate link or sales page that offers a product that will also put money in your pocket.

With google ad sense and a little thinking outside the box, the possibilities are endless.

If you can follow directions and want to discover how to make serious money easily at home, even when you are sleeping or at your kids ballgame, check out http://www.officiallyworkathome.com Find 1674 free Red Hot Tips like this one at http://www.searchredhottips.com absolutely free of charge. (c) Scott Bradley - 2008

Really Good Info Even If You Are A Pro

2008-02-05T10:14:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased a book that is in very limited supply. It was the greatest book that I have ever read on creating an income on the web. I strongly urge anyone that is thinking of creating an income on the web to read it. Here is the link http://www.affiliatesden.com/sites/36649.htm

I have discovered there are very few resources that actually cut through the garbage, take you by the hand and actually tell you what to do and what traps to avoid. This is one of those books.

In this book, it gives resources that you can only imagine. I discovered this list of links through this book and I thought I would share it with my readers. Yes there could be a broken link or two, however the majority of them should work for you.

Like I said, it can come in handy for anyone trying to create an income on the web.

I have checked out this list and it really is great. Enjoy.

Idea Generation
http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_500
http://www.amazon.com/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/earlyadopter/browse.htm
lhttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...se/-/599858/
http://hot.aol.com/hot/hot
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
http://www.ebay.com/
http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/hotitems.pdf
http://pulse.ebay.com/
http://www.ehow.com/
http://groups.google.com/
http://news.google.com/
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html
http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/searchtip.html
http://www.lulu.com/
http://50.lycos.com/
http://www.magazines.com/
http://www.mediafinder.com/
http://www.meetup.com/topics/
http://www.mrmagazine.com/home.html
http://www2.shopping.com/top_searches
http://www.trendsetters.com/
http://www.trendwatching.com/
http://buzz.yahoo.com/
http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Hobbies/
http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_...+bubble+boom
http://www.thehobbyportal.com/
http://www.43things.com/zeitgeist/r...opular_goals
http://en.wikipedia.org/

AARP.org/boards/The Keyword Bible...

http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Hobbies/

http://www10.shopping.com/cdi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://answers.google.com/answers/

http://www.allexperts.com/

http://pages.ebay.com/marketplace_research/

http://pulse.ebay.com/

http://labs.google.com/sets

http://www.magazines.com/

http://www.whonu.com/

http://www.google.com/trends

http://answers.yahoo.com/;_ylt=AswD...Yt9pfukezKIX

http://www.seobook.com/archives/001465.shtml

Tools and Software

http://www.skype.com/

http://www.rssreader.com/

http://ipodder.sourceforge.net/

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

http://www.camstudio.org/

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/wi...default.aspx

http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage2.shtml

http://nvu.com/index.html

https://secure.hello.com/how_bloggerbot_works.php

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

http://www.openoffice.org/product2/writer.html

http://www.pagematic.com/faq/ws_ftp.html

http://www.hotrecorder.com/index.html

http://www.keyword-toolkit.com/pcversion.php

http://www.pamela-systems.com/products/

http://www.pdfmachine.com/

http://www.primopdf.com/

http://www.copyscape.com/

http://www.coverartguide.com/index2.htm

Research Tools

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/index.htm

http://www.masteringadwords.com/res...matching.htm

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox

http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1

http://www.grokker.com/

http://www.groundbreak.com/graphics2.html

http://www.ultraseeker.com/keywordfilter/

http://www.keywordlizard.com/

http://www.moneyclicking.net/micro-...-calculator/

http://www.nichebot.com/

http://www.backpackit.com/

http://www.merchantflycatcher.com/index.php

http://www.thesitewizard.com/wizard...ckform.shtml

http://undiesopensource.com/images/flycatcher.gif

http://search.rightnow4you.com/

http://market-research.rightnow4you.com/

http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/rc/srch/

http://inventory.overture.com/

http://uv.bidtool.overture.com/d/se...ols/bidtool/

http://www.google.com/

http://www.technobloggie.com/google...stimates.php

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...se/-/283155/

http://www.technorati.com/

http://findaniche.biz/

http://www.golexa.com/

http://www.galaxy.com/info/voyeur.html

http://ilectric.com/logs.shtml

http://www.metaeureka.com/voayer.shtml

http://www.metaspy.com/info.metac.spy/metaspy

http://search.oznetwork.com.au/cgi-...=recent_hits

http://search.store.yahoo.com/OT?

http://www.wordtracker.com/keyword-...ch-guide.pdf

http://www.wordtracker.com/keyword-...h-guide.html

http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/

https://adwords.google.com/select/K...ToolExternal

www.adbrite.com/mb/dir.php?

Product Creation

http://www.contractedwork.com/

http://www.copylaw.com/forms/forms.html

http://www.elance.com/c/static/main...&module=home

http://www.guru.com/

http://www.imconferencing.com/

http://www.lulu.com/

http://www.rentacoder.com/RentACode...or+Buyers?

http://voice123.com/

http://www.voicemodels.com/

http://search.yahoo.com/cc/

Blogging

http://www.blogger.com/

http://www.feedburner.com/

http://www.pingomatic.com/

http://www.weblogalot.com/ping/

http://my.yahoo.com/

Google Accounts

http://adwords.google.com/

https://www.google.com/adsense/

http://answers.google.com/

http://www.gmail.com/

Sales Letter Writing

http://www.thirtydaychallenge.com/d...terredux.pdf

http://www.marketingrebel.com/

http://www.tipspal.com/undies/sausagemaking.zip

http://michelfortin.com/

http://www.adsecretsrevealed.com/

http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/

http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com...archives.htm/

http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com...pe_pitch.htm/

http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com...pe_pitch.htm/

http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com...ark_side.htm/

Photo/Clipart Sources

http://www.bigfoto.com/

http://www.dreamstime.com/

http://www.flickr.com/

http://www.freeimages.co.uk/

ttp://geekphilosopher.com/MainPage/photos.htm

http://www.imageafter.com/

http://www.istockphoto.com/

http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/

http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/

http://www.morguefile.com/archive/

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/

http://www.openphoto.net/

http://pdphoto.org/

http://www.pixelperfectdigital.com/index.php

http://www.stockvault.net/gallery/

http://sxc.hu/

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/

http://www.fws.gov/pictures/

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://yotophoto.com/

http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/

http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/

http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/

http://www.fws.gov/pictures/

http://nces.ed.gov/globallocator/

http://www.firstgov.gov/Topics/Refe...raries.shtml

http://www.imconferencing.com/

http://cooltext.com/

Article Content/Submission

http://www.thirtydaychallenge.com/f...920&posts=14

http://www.ezinearticles.com/

http://www.goarticles.com/

http://www.isnare.com/

http://www.article-dir.com/

http://www.articlewarehouse.com/

http://www.certificate.net/wwio/index.shtml

http://www.articlecity.com/

http://www.netterweb.com/

http://www.webmasterpaste.com/freearticles.html

http://www.arcanaweb.com/resources/...ctories.html

Music Sources

http://www.cssmusic.com/

http://www.dawnmusic.com/home.html

http://www.flashkit.com/loops/

http://www.freshmusic.com/

http://www.music2hues.com/

http://music.podshow.com/

http://www.musicbakery.com/

Further Resources

http://www.90dayproduct.com/freestuff.htm

http://www.firstgov.gov/

http://www.firstgov.gov/Topics/Refe...raries.shtml

Domain Registration/Hosting

http://underachieving.ecoms.com/

http://websmartcentral.com/undies.php

http://mapname.com/savdom695.htm

http://www.namecheap.com/

http://www.godaddy.com/

http://www.netregistry.com.au/

http://www.hostingbay.com.au/

http://www.whois.sc/domain-explorer/

http://www.nameboy.com/

http://www.businessbrainwaves.com/muvee.html -

slide movie creatorTrends

http://www.trendcentral.com/

http://www.daypop.com/

http://www.blogpulse.com/

ttp://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html

http://buzz.yahoo.com/

http://www.smallbusinesses.blogspot.com/

http://www.trendwatching.com/

http://endgadget.com/

http://www.gizmodo.com/

http://www.llrx.com/features/giantleaps.htm

http://www.43things.com/

http://www.craiglist.org/

Public domain sources:

http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/ndlmps.html

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/oahtml/oahome.html

http://lcweb.loc.gov/spcoll/full.html

http://www.alibris.com/

http://www.abebooks.com/

http://www.bookfinder.com/

http://www.a2zcds.com/ - offering reseller program sellling cds

Some great handwriting fonts:

http://www.free-fonts.com/handwriting_fonts.html

A list of removal tools for various worms and viruses:

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/tools.list.html

Check Out G Allan Roberts

2008-02-04T09:43:00.000-05:00

My good friend and mentor has some really neat posts that are free and good news to all newbies starting up on the internet.

Learn the basics of internet marketing.

Check out what he has to say at http://gallanroberts.com

Guest Post -- Clayton Makepeace

2008-02-04T09:41:00.000-05:00

The Triumph of Hope Over Experience
By Clayton Makepeace
Companies that are experiencing declining results in the mail now appear to be eager to repeat those failures online.
They attract new subscribers by offering a "free report" in paid ads and PPC (pay-per-click) efforts. Then, once they've captured their prospects' e-mail addresses, they direct them to a high-hype landing page.
At their very first contact with a new subscriber, these companies prove that they're not to be trusted.
RESULT: Conversion rates stink.
But what if, instead, they offered a free report and then actually delivered a report and not a pitch?
And what if the report was packed with useful, actionable information and advice?
And what if there was not even one whiff of an offer in the report?
How would the company's new prospects feel then?
... Like they'd found a friend, an advocate they could really trust?
... Like they couldn't wait to hear from the company again?
... Like they had an obligation to jump at any offer the company made to them in the future?
And I'd wager their open rates and click-through rates would double or even triple.
Would they convert many of their new leads to customers? I think they'd be looking at a veritable sales explosion.
And their customer lifetime value? Off the ever-lovin' charts!

[Ed. Note: Clayton Makepeace has spent the last 35 years creating direct-mail, Internet, and print promotions that have sold well over $1 billion worth of products. He publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package (www.makepeacetotalpackage.com) to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits.]

How To Create A Mailing List

2008-01-22T15:27:00.000-05:00

Hi folks, I wanted to let you in on a super video that I just finished watching by Frank Kern. If you don't know who Frank is, he actually wrote most of the copy for the greatest product launch on the web, Stomper net. His video is at http://www.officiallyworkathome.com I really recommend listening to his video it is filled with ways to create a list and is quite funny as well.

He goes over how to set up a list and why you actually need a list. He starts with the fundamentals; 1- Target a market that actually buys, 2-market to folks that want what you are selling, 3- Be sure to provide value and not just hype.

Next he goes over how to choose a market using the standby http://www.clickbank.com/. He then uses Google to find out if the topic has advertisers and makes sure that it just isn't some passing fad.

One basic rule of thumb that he uses is to make sure that folks want what you are trying to sell. He says that nothing happens until the sale is made. What is the market buying now? Where are people advertising to sell material? What has been on the market for a long time? Be sure you don't fall into the age old trap of trying to make it better. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

When you get a list of leads or subscribers, one thing you will be certain of, they won't buy from you the first time. Most of the time if you get a 2 to 3% return off your initial list, you have hit it well. That means that for every hundred folks you mail out to, 2 to 3 will purchase something from you, 97 to 98 won't. yet don't dispair, you still have the list and you can mail them again for another product, or the same product that is shown in another light.

Remember, quality is what counts. If you try to sell garbage, you will get many folks that unsubscribe very quickly. If you, on the other hand give away free reports or other cool stuff to your list, they will respect you. Remember people buy from folks they know and trust, not a slick hyped up sales pitch.

He specifically goes over the mechanics of building a list which is outlined as follows:

1- Get Traffic 2- Send that traffic to a landing page 3- Get them to join your list 4- send them free stuff for joining that list or send them to a sales page where they purchase from you. According to Frank, It is just that simple.

Most folks get hung up on step number one - Get Traffic. Frank says that is easy, there is basically 2 ways to generate traffic; Buy it or have a JV (joint venture) with someone who has a list already. When buying traffic you can use, Adwords, Yahoo Paid Search, Banners, Mail Drops and reputable List Brokers.

I have started a list for this blog and useful tips. I have signed up for a program that offers a bunch of good stuff for marketers: www.thesecretpays.com/scottb I hope that you will take time to see what the program is. I did a bunch of research for this program and it has the most to offer for as little out of pocket that it takes. Remember, everything is not free, if it sounds too good, it probably is. That is from the skeptic that I am.

Well enough of my ranting, remember to check out Frank's free video here is the link again: http://www.officiallyworkathome.com

Scott

feel free to email me: scott.bradley77@gmail.com

Advice from a Marketing Pro

2008-01-18T09:26:00.000-05:00

I have been reading several emails from mailto:GAllanRoberts@superiorimageusa.com for some time now and it caused me to be curious if he had some answers for this newbie.

The following paragraphs are my "conversation" with him:

I have been reading your emails for some time now and I have a few questions. I am a brand new newbie. I make no bones about it, I guess I have bought over the past year 10 to 15K of stuff. It seems as though everyone has a different idea. Know what I mean? It is kind of like I am a deer sitting in the headlights almost afraid to make a move. I am sure you know the feeling.

I have one question. Is there a way for someone to start marketing on the internet with very little money down? I guess you get this question all the time, however I am not literate with making web pages and I guess I am looking for a way to make a buck but just do not know where to start.

You probably get these type of questions all the time, however I really am interested in your answer. I guess the main reason I am writing this to you, I read your email post about sleeping on the couch and it got me interested. Thanks,

Here is the response:

I know what you going through I have been there too. I have spent over $70k in informational products over the last 2 years. Think of it as in an investment... Once you invest in yourself no one can take that away from you.

"On the far side of complexity is simplicity"

Sometime you have to about things the hard way to figure out the easy way. In last 15 days all the peices of the puzzle have come clear to me and I know how to put the puzzle together. You are experiencing the same thing...

It's going to come together, you just missing pieces of the puzzle. I can help you fill in the blanks.
The best way to get out of "the deer in the headlights" or analysis paralysis, is take action.

"Sloppy success is better then NO success"

Forget about not understanding how to do something everything can be done for you at low cost. YOU need to have the idea... Who are you? What do you want people to know? What is your unique abllity? Focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses.

Here is an Action plan that will create a $15,000 a month income for you in the next 12 months... If you take action.

1. Determine the niche or the direction you want to go... (I can not do this for you)

2. Write articles about your interest. Between 250 - 350 words. Use a simple opening paragraph... and 7 one to two sentence bullet points.

3. Post a Blog (I would create one hosted on your own URL and hosting using ww.wordpress.org see mine http://www.gallanroberts.com/)

4. Post your articles to ezinearticles.com, back link to your opt-in page. (again host plan... I can help)

5. Post daily to your blog and weekly to the article directly.

6. In about 30 days conbine articles into an ebook and a free giveaway. The book is going to have a link to get you paid affilate commissions.

7. Continue step 5. Create your own CD product. (again I can help) sell it FREE, $10, 15 etc.

8. Do this for about a year. Then create a package with all your training CDs as one package or home study course.

STOP...

First, do step 1 then 2. then 3. then so on... Do you see how each action builds on the next?

Do not worry if you do not know... focus on what your do know.

I hoped that helped...

I would enjoy talking with you...
Let's set up a time to talk...
Saturdays are good for me...
2:00 PM EST or 7:00 PM EST (better for you)

Warmly
G Allan Roberts

Inspiration

2008-01-16T09:22:00.000-05:00

Today, I thought about writing another saga regarding my quest to make money online, however when checking my email, I came across a rather unusual post about one person overcoming any obstacles placed in their way. I really recommend that you check out the following Utube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qTiYA1WiY8

This video made me forget all of the trivial problems and frustrations that build up during our daily schedules. Please enjoy it.

N2golfin

Started An Experiment

2008-01-14T16:48:00.000-05:00

Hi again, its Monday and I have spent today researching exactly how others claim to make money on the net. One of the biggest tools that I have found is Adwords and Adsense. These are both advertising advenues for Google. In some of my research I found a marketing letter that I thought was written terribly http://snipurl.com/1xfxs but somehow through all the hype and egotism, it made sense so I decided to give it a try. I put the link in the blog if you want to check it out.

I signed up for a webpage http://snipurl.com/1xg04 $5.00 per month for 3 months and then it goes up to $9.95 per month. I get 3 free domains, hosting of 250GB and numerous other benefits. I know this sounds like a sales pitch, however the one thing that impressed me was the customer service.

I don't know anything about setting up a web-page or hosting one. I called the customer support line for 1and1 and low and behold it was a foreigner who answered and I couldn't understand her. I immediately hung up and called back. This time I got a gentleman named Vincent (He was American, or atleast he had an American accent.) he spent literally hours with me on the phone until my website was set up. http://www.iwantlazywork.com I was really impressed and in fact asked for his supervisor so I could praise his hard work.

Well here is where the fun part comes into play. I am in the process of promoting my site to see if in fact I get visitors. I have signed up for stumble on it and will also get digg it.

Will keep you posted.

Update

2008-01-13T11:48:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's me again, I wanted to let other newbies in on what I have done. I heard that you can earn income by using Google Adsense on your webpages. I have just signed up for an account, they said that they would be back in touch with me via emaiol in the next 24 to 48 hours. Once I have the publisher's id, I can then start adding AdSense ads to my webpages and blog post. Will keep everyone up to speed. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I am a very untrusting soul when it comes to claims of making money on the internet. I will however through this blog, let you the reader know exactly how much money I am making and if it works or not.

My First Attempt

2008-01-13T11:09:00.000-05:00

Hello, and welcome to my attempt at Blogging. I am a 48 year old man who has heard so much about blogging that I have decided to make a stab at it. I have always heard that everyone wants to have something for nothing so I thought it was appropriate to name the blog, I want lazy work.

I have tried several schemes in the past to make money on the web, however, I guess that I am gullible. I will keep folks posted on my new attempts at this.

Thanks for reading... n2golfin