An Easily Avoidable Internet Marketing Mistake

There are countless mistakes that any new internet marketer can make and many do. However, one of them is very common and probably the most easily avoidable of all. This one simple thing can be done the day you start your online business and failing to do it can have very negative consequences down the road.

So, what is this common mistake?

It is failing to register your own name as a domain name.

For example, my name is Trent Brownrigg, so I registered http://trentbrownrigg.com a long time ago to ensure I would own it and control it forever. But actually I made the mistake of not doing it until a few years after I started my business. I should have done it a lot sooner.

Even if you don’t plan to use the domain for anything, you should still own it. You can keep it parked, forward it to another site of yours, throw up one page on it and link to your other websites, or do whatever else you want with it. That part doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you own it.

Even if you are a newbie and don’t think anyone else would want your name as a domain, so you think you can hold off and register it later on. Don’t wait! You should still go register it right now.

You never know who might consider you an internet marketing expert and type it in assuming it is the domain to reach you at, or decide to register it themselves if they notice it’s available. You also never know when you might obtain “guru” status all of the sudden and then everyone will be trying to use your name. If the domain is available someone else will register it. Or even worse, one of your competitors could register it and use it to tarnish your reputation by pretending to be you.

Just the other day I happened to notice that a VERY well known internet marketer did not own his own name as a domain. Why he hasn’t registered it by now is a mystery to me. He should know better. So I registered it myself. Lucky for him, I happen to know him very well and am going to remind him of his mistake. If he wants it I will give it to him. But you might not be so lucky if the same thing happens to you!

Anyway, don’t make this easily avoidable internet marketing mistake. Go register your name as a domain right now. At least get the .com version because it’s the most important one to have. It’s probably smart to also get the .net, .org, and all the others but they are not quite as vital to own.

Why I Still Love Network Marketing

When I first started my online business back in 2003 it was with a network marketing company. At the time I didn’t know anything about internet marketing or network marketing but my sponsor in that particular company helped me along until I figured it out for myself. Had it not been for her I probably would have quit after a few months like most people do.

Anyway, I joined several more network marketing programs in the first few years of building my business. Some were great, some were alright, and some flat out sucked. Some didn’t last long and some are still around today. I did really well in a few of them and not very good in others depending on how well the program was set up and how much effort I put into promoting it.

There are plenty of bad apples out there but for the most part network marketing is a solid way to start your own business. You can earn an incredible living from it if you do it right. But for whatever reason as I got better and better at internet marketing and my online business became more successful, I strayed away from network marketing. I mostly stopped promoting the programs I was still in and quit joining new ones. There were even times when I advised people not to get into network marketing for various reasons. I guess you could say I forgot where I came from.

Now, it has been over 7 years since I joined that first opportunity that started it all. My online business has been doing incredibly well for a long time and I owe a lot of my success to some of those network marketing opportunities that I joined so long ago, especially the first one.

You might be wondering why all of the sudden I once again love network marketing? The reason is simple…

I sat back recently to take a long look at my successes and failures in my business up to this point, and re-evaluate the direction I want to take it in. When I did that I realized that I was still getting paid every month from network marketing programs I joined back in the early days of my internet business, even though I had all but forgotten about them. Obviously I always knew the money was coming in every month, but I didn’t really take notice of where it was coming from anymore.

I’m still a member of that very first opportunity I started with and have been paid by them every month since I earned my first payment almost 7 years ago. And that’s not the only one I still get paid from monthly for work I did several years ago. That’s what you call true residual income!

Not to mention the fact that I made a lot of friends from some of those programs that I remain in contact with to this day. I have even partnered up with some of them on other business ventures in the years since we met.

Network marketing often has a negative association attached to it that makes many people run away as soon as you start to talk about it. And in some cases there is good reason for that. However, it can also be great and very positive. With the right opportunity and honest effort on your part, you can earn a lot of money and meet a lot of great people.

Basically what I am trying to say, in not so many words, is to have an open mind about network marketing and don’t write it off before you even give it a chance. There are plenty of great opportunities out there and earning a residual income is definitely a real possibility.

Dedicated to your success,
Trent Brownrigg

P.S. – If you want to know the network marketing opportunity that I most highly recommend right now and am more excited about than any other one I have ever seen, you can find it here… Get Paid to Travel! It’s the only program I have joined in a long time but I evaluated it from every angle and came to the conclusion that I had to get in right away.

What I’ve Learned About Twitter

So, I’m still working on FourSquare, etc. BUT I have become active on Twitter. Today is day 15. I’ve gone from 7 followers to almost 300. Here’s what I’ve learned.

1. Twitter cannot be explained.

You really do have to learn by doing. I’ve looked at George’s Twitter account I don’t even know how many times and thought, “I don’t get it”. Now, I’m on Twitter, and I get it. I think it’s depleting my ability to focus for more than 45 seconds every time I log on but at least now I understand. So, if you’ve been putting off “doing Twitter” because you don’t get it, just go ahead and dive in. There are no Twitter police. No one’s going to yell at you for doing it wrong. Sign up, get an account and follow me. Then give me a shout, and I’ll follow you back. That’s the hard part. It gets easier from there.

2. There are people I won’t follow.

People who don’t have any tweets. People who write every tweet in a language other than English (no prejudice here, I just can’t follow you if I can’t read what you’re saying). People who regularly use language that will be a problem if my children are reading my Twitter stream over my shoulder, even though they’re not supposed to do that because it’s rude. If I go to look at your page to decide whether to follow you, and it looks like the script of a Quentin Tarantino film, I’m probably not going to follow you. People who refer to themselves as a “visionary”— no real reason. It just bugs me.

3. A quick method I use to determine who I’m going to follow.

When someone follows me, and I get an email saying that someone new is following me, I go to their profile and scan their tweet stream. If I get to the bottom of the page, and I’m not offended, that’s a good sign. But if I get to the bottom of the page and don’t see one thing I’d be interested in retweeting, that’s a bad sign. So, this is a lesson you can use to help you determine who to follow. It’s also a lesson in being someone that other people want to follow— be interesting. Or at least retweet people who are.

4. Hootsuite is my friend.

Hootsuite has been really helpful in being able to scan what’s going on with my Twitter account. There are a few things I don’t really care for. And I really need to do a bit more diving in. But, overall, it’s a necessary tool for me to be successful with Twitter.

So, that’s it. That’s what I’ve learned. For the most part. Any of you out there new to Twitter? Struggling with Twitter? Do you have Twitter questions? As we’ve established, I’m no expert. But if you leave a question in the comments, I’ll do my best to find the answer. And the most important question— have you followed me yet?