Can I Make Big Money Online » Web Promotion

Main Street Marketing Machines Review

George Manty — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 18:24:37 +0000

Jill here. Obviously, George and I haven’t had time to review the entire Main Street Marketing Machines program yet because it’s HUGE! But we got an email that they’re closing the doors Friday at midnight (Pacific), so we wanted to update you on what we’ve looked at so far so that you can make a decision if you’re on the fence. Look, I like to procrastinate as much as the next person, but do not wait until the last minute if you really want to get in on this and don’t want to wait months and months until it opens again. You’ll kick yourself if you forget and don’t get signed up.

This is what we’ve discovered so far. No offense to Local Business Money Machine, which has been a complete blessing this past year and really helped us get off the ground and headed in the right direction, but this is a MUCH better program. Of course, it’s about three times as expensive, so that’s something you’ll need to take into consideration. But, especially if you’re a “newbie”, this program breaks everything down into very manageable chunks. And the videos are incredibly professional (what else would you expect from the guys at Traffic Geyser) and even entertaining.

In fact, this program is broken down so well, that I am going to try my hand at some of the technical parts of it. I’m going to create a landing page myself and see whether someone who’s technically capable but completely unpracticed can do this. I won’t get it done in time to tell you the results before the program closes, but the fact that I’m willing to even TRY is a testimony to this program. Keep in mind that when I graduated from high school, I asked that my parents give me a typewriter instead of a computer, and I usually tell people that “I eat breakfast and talk to people, and George does all the work.” Perhaps I’ll no longer be able to say that

What else have we discovered? We would have paid as much for the level of Traffic Geyser membership included as we paid for the entire Main Street Marketing program. So, even if you’re thinking about trying out Traffic Geyser, go this route instead. You’ll get not only the great video marketing training that Traffic Geyser includes but marketing materials for your new business; over 40 hours of video training by everyone from Mainstreet Marketing success stories (they really do tell you EXACTLY what they did to be successful, even role playing some of the client approach strategies they use) to Bill Glazer; planners; free report templates; fill in the blanks autoresponders… I really could go on and on.

Is this program for everyone? I would still say “no”. There are plenty of people who won’t implement the steps and won’t follow the program. If this is you (you know who you are), don’t buy this program. If you don’t like interacting with people, and you’re not willing to take on a partner who can handle the client interactions, this probably isn’t the program for you. I think, however, that it is appropriate for people with varying skill levels when it comes to internet marketing. You do need some degree of comfort with technology, in general. But if you’ve ever blogged at all or are comfortable with Facebook, then you should do fine.

Like Local Business Money machine, you’ll need some time to set aside for this. The Traffic Geyser trainings are pretty quick and easy. There are eight lessons in the Express Lane training. The longest lesson I’ve seen so far is about 15 minutes. Then there are assignments that go along with those, which I think will take a minimum of 30 minutes to a couple of hours. So, you’ll need around 15-20 hours, probably to get through those trainings. And then, of course, you’ll need to go through the Main Street Marketing steps. Plus, making the pages and acquiring your clients. In other words, don’t think you’re going to buy this and five minutes later start depositing checks in your bank account. But, really, if any of you HAVE discovered a system that works that way, you should contact George about writing for this blog because clearly you’ve found a way to make money grown on trees and a quick way to harvest it.

I do think that you should be able to get through enough training and start implementing the program and figure out whether it works within your 30 day trial. That is, of course, if you don’t wait until day 25 to get started. And that’s my recommendation to you. If you’re interested, buy the program. Work the program for the next 30 days (no excuses— just get busy). If you realize it’s not for you, there’s no way you’re going to do it, you haven’t even opened the files— for crying out loud, return the program! It’s risk free if you’ll just take that step if you aren’t using it.

So, in summary, are we abandoning Local Business Money Machine and switching to Main Street Marketing? No. We’ll do a hybrid of the two for our business model because we’re already making money with Local Business Money Machine. There is a lot of overlap in these two programs, as they both target Local Search marketing opportunities. However, there are some areas that are mentioned in less detail in Local Business Money Machine that we haven’t really pursued as much as we could have (including doing more direct marketing and, of course, video marketing). These are the areas where we’ll be using Main Street Marketing Machines. Do I think you can use Main Street Marketing Machines without Local Business Money Machine? Absolutely!! It’s a completely different model and will stand on it’s own with no problem.

So, take some time to think about it. Write down the pros and cons, where you want to be a year from now and whether your current path is going to get you there. Then, if you think this is a good match for you, buy it! I think you’ll be glad you did.

P.S. Oh, and if you have any questions about the program that you’d like answered before tomorrow, let us know. We’ll be checking comments for the next couple of days pretty regularly so that we can answer anything that will help you make a decision.

PPS. To get our Main Street Marketing Machines Bonus, please remember to use our affiliate link by clicking here. Then send an email to info @ mantywebdesigns .com with a copy of your receipt. Once we have verified that you purchased through our link we will contact you to set up a one hour phone consultation with us to answer any of your questions after you have used the program for at least 30 days. Also, we will follow that call up with an email to check on your progress.

Please, let us know if you have any questions about our Main Street Marketing Machines review.

Viral Marketing

George Manty — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:51:03 +0000

Hey… I just wanted to quickly tell you to go check out this great example of viral marketing my wife told me about by visiting our new blog:

http://mantywebdesigns.com/blog/2010/01/great-example-of-viral-marketing/

So, what do you think? Can you do something like this online? If so, then what are you waiting for?

Social Media Strategies To Light The Fire In Your Biz

Mike Stenger — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:45:00 +0000

So, if you read last week’s post, I talked about 3 Things You Must Know To Be Successful Online. If you missed it, head on over there because it’ll really get you ready for this week’s topic…Social Media baby!

By now, chances are you have a good idea of what Social Media is. Heck, last year it was called Web 2.0 and like Gary Vaynerchuck, the premier go to guy for Social Media branding says, “It’ll probably be called something different next year”.

In a nutshell, Social Media is just a fancy word for social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Friendfeed, etc., where you can engage and interact with your audience in a more personal and “social” way. It’s been around for several years now and frankly, it’s not going anywhere. I mean it when I say this and I can guarantee you that any business that doesn’t get into the new age of how business is done and continues to stick with the old school methods, is going to be toast.

Point blank, bottom line. There’s a lot of information out there on how to do Social Media right and then there’s people like me who love helping you profit from it. I’m extremely passionate about Social Media and over the course of reading up on a lot of different information, here’s what’s stuck the most…

If all you want to do is sell, you better change your mind…FAST! Social Media isn’t just about selling to and/or getting customers where they’re spending a lot of their time. It’s a lot more than that. It’s about getting into the conversation that’s happening and being there. Sometimes people need advice or help with this. Sometimes they need extra assurance before they purchase something. There’s a number of different possibilities and when you can engage and interact with them, they’ll look to you as a friend, an authority, someone they can trust over time.

If all you do is sell, you’ve already turned them off by just your first tweet or status update. Offer advice, be helpful, and sure, sell from time to time, but don’t stray from the fact that your customers want friends. And when you can be their friend and build that relationship with them, it’s hard telling how profitable it’ll become.

Post relevant, entertaining, and valuable information. You don’t speak politics to an infant, do you? Then find your niche or niches that you love, know about, and/or do work in, and post about that. There’s so many times where I’ve followed someone because I enjoyed their tweets about personal development and they start talking about this dirty scumbag politician. I guarantee you 98% of the people that pay attention to them could give a care less.

Now, there’s times where you post about other things, hopefully positive (Did I mention more than enough negativity can bite you in the butt?). That’s understandable and you should post here and there about other things because it gives people a better sense of your personality, a big factor in why people pay attention to you to begin with. However, when you get way off topic and stray far from your niche, it makes people start to change their minds.

Always stay true to your roots and make sure that you provide some sort of value in everything you post.

Transparency is the new disclosure. Most people can sniff out liars as well as a bloodhound can sniff out a criminal a mile away. Always be truthful and honest in your ventures and activities. There’s been so many people who could of got far in what they were doing but no, they decided to lie about things and worse of all, cover them up. Guess what happened? Things get exposed and when you get marked as a liar and someone who can’t be trusted, that sticks in people’s minds and is hard to get rid of.

By being transparent, you simply be who it is you are and just do you. You’re no one else. You’re not proclaiming yourself to be an expert, guru, master, or wizard. Let others decide who you are by your actions and what it is you bring to the table (jump back to valuable content). We’ve all heard the saying “The truth shall set you free” and it will. It’ll not only set you free but also help you build deeper relationships and make a lot more money in the long run.

Mike Stenger is a full-time online business owner who has a strong passion in helping others get results. You can find him here at his video blog where he frequently talks about business and life success strategies.

Sneak Peak At Our Houston Based Web Marketing Company

George Manty — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:40:05 +0000

Life has a funny way of forcing your hand. I’ve been playing around at this online thing for several years now and have made some decent money at it, but never really committed to it. I’ve talked about doing it full time. I’ve dreamed about doing it full time. But I haven’t been DOING it full time. Then a month ago I was laid off from my job as a JAVA developer. I spent some time putting together a resume and talking to recruiters before realizing I didn’t really want another job working for someone else. I wanted to work for myself. Full time.

So, after a series of events unfolded (which could be the focus of a later post), my wife and I decided to take the plunge and start our own business. So, I am very pleased to introduce MantyWeb Designs (www.mantywebdesigns.com), a full service web promotion and web design company. We will be specializing in helping local businesses with underperforming websites turn their websites into a valuable part of their marketing plan. I’ll be focusing on helping people increase traffic and improving conversion rates. My wife will be concentrating on sales.

While we are based in Houston, we’re available to help people all over the U.S. So, if you’re in need of assistance, contact me. You can leave all well wishes in the comment section.

Free Formula 5 MBA In A Box – My Quick Summary

George Manty — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:47:02 +0000

The other day I finished reading Stompernet’s free report called “MBA In A Box”.

Here is my quick summary of what is covered in MBA In A Box:

1. Raise the price of your product by 15 percent.

2. Increase the perceived value of your product.

3. Sell more to your existing customers.

4. Businesses fail because:
    A. Lack of vision.
    B. Lack of strategy to carry out vision.
    C. Lack of a system for marketing and sales.
    D. Lack of a system to monetize clients.
    E. Trying to do too many things (no systems to get things done).

5. Businesses succeed when:
    A. They have a strong value proposition.
    B. Continual stream of leads.
    C. Consistently and cost effectively convert leads to customers.
    D. Have a system to monetize customers.
    E. Operate efficiently.

6. Compound all five parts of the formula together to create a huge increase in profits.

I know that Formula 5 is based on solid business success principles because my business mentors have taught me the same strategies discussed in this report (and I teach them as well).

The full report goes into more detail about implementing Formula 5 strategies, but I thought a good summary would help you know what to expect when you check it out for yourself.

So, who should read the free Formula Five MBA In A Box report?

The report is best suited for online entrepreneurs who sell products and services. It’s not really useful for people who make their living (or intend to make their living) from affiliate marketing. It’s also not something that I would generally recommend to people who are absolutely new to Internet marketing (0-3 months experience— if you fall in this category, you should check out OnlineProfits.com). However, it is free and unless you have some sort of formal business training, then you will probably learn a thing or two about maximizing your online business profits by reading it.

If you want to read all the details of the report, you can download it by clicking here.

The Promotional Action Pack

Ryan Ambrose — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:11:58 +0000

Here in the next week or so I’m going to launch a new site. It’s a simple little squeeze page with it’s own free mini-report course, and I want it to be noticed as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the Internet isn’t like it is on television, where you put the site online and suddenly, it’s flooded with more traffic than it can handle.

I wish it actually worked that way, because my life would have been so much simpler.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t, and you have to promote your site like everyone else. The good news is that you can create your very own promotional action pack to do that. It won’t cost you a ton of money or take much time to create.

Here’s what you need:

Several articles related to your site: I had the luck of being able to retask a few of my older articles for this one, and now I have four ready to go. Once you have them, blast them with an article blasting service if you have the money. It’ll save you hours of posting them by hand.

A viral report: I’ve used quite a few of these, and will be making another one to drive traffic to my new site. Write a viral report related to your site, and add the link pointing to it. Once you do, other people must be able to find it so they can use it as a bonus for their purposes, and thereby distribute it for you. I put mine into distribution using the Butterfly Reports web site.

A video: These are the same kinds of video you find on YouTube. I make my videos with Sony Vegas, but choose whatever video maker works best for you. A simple slideshow video, or a narrated demonstration of something related to your site is what you need. Remember to insure your site URL is shown during the entire video, and pitched at the end of it.

Yes, it may take some time for you to get significant traffic to your new site. But you can get ahead of the game by assembling a promotional action pack in advance.

Seriously, how do you make a beautiful, sellable ebook? Find your answers today with The Ebook Walkthrough!

My name is Ryan Ambrose, and I’m one of the co-authors of Can I Make Big Money Online.

7 Secrets To Making a Viral Report

Ryan Ambrose — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:30:10 +0000

Among the other uses of the PDF ebook is the ability to drive traffic with it. If you know how to make a PDF ebook, then you can make its shorter cousin, the viral report.

While you can sell reports, the purpose of a viral report is a bit different. Viral reports are designed to drive traffic by trading content someone else can use for their ‘help’ in getting your links out to interested people. You do this by creating the report and letting others use it for free. When you do this, you should keep some things in mind.

First, you have to know where your report is intended to drive traffic. You want to write about a subject related to your site to prequalify the traffic, so don’t start writing until you know.

The average person has to look at an ad seven times before they respond to it. So when you write your viral report, focus primarily on advertising a single link. Put it in the footer, the title page, and at the end of your report at the very least. You can also put it in the body of the report, but be careful not to spam it.

While you want to give anyone who reads your report enough good information to earn their trust, they won’t buy the cow if they can get the milk for free. So when you write your report, keep the subject more focused than what you are selling on the site where you want them to go.

If you want to use the report to drive someone to an affiliate product page, make sure it’s about something related to the products on that page. You want interested and targeted traffic, not generic hits.

To make the report go viral, clearly state what you’ll allow someone to do with your report on the cover. Can they give it away? Sell it? Do other things with it? Also, make sure that you explicitly forbid them to alter it, or distribute it in any form but digital. If they do change the report, or distribute it physically, it defeats the purpose of using it to drive traffic.

If you have an affiliate program for the site where you intend to drive traffic, make your report rebrandable. Someone is much more likely to use it if they can make money from it and get free content than just to get free content alone.

Viral reports aren’t oversized sales copy. To make them work, they have to provide real information to anyone who reads them in a well-produced way. You also want them to be used by other merchants as list builders and bonuses for buying something else, which won’t happen if all you do with is just try to sell your own stuff in a PDF that looks like a spam site.

Viral reports are handy if you make them correctly, and know what you want to do with them before you write them. With a little preparation, you could be making viral reports that work for you.

Traffic Secrets 2.0 Is Officially Out

George Manty — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:34:44 +0000

Just a quick note to let you know that John Reese has opened the door to Traffic Secrets 2.0.

Traffic Secrets 2.0 covers traffic generation techniques like:

Social Media Marketing & Strategy

Advanced Content Syndication

Cutting-Edge Video Marketing & SEO

Leveraging Software & Widgets

Setting Up Automatic ‘Content Factories’

Building An Affiliate Army

And more.

What I found really cool was that those who buy Traffic Secrets 2.0 (at least for now) will receive the following…

LIFETIME UPDATES To The Course

Private Coaching & Mastermind Community

Web-based ‘Action Tracker’ Learning System

And more!

Once you buy your license to Traffic Secrets 2.0 you don’t have to buy it ever again. Even by the time that “Traffic Secrets 100.0” comes out you’ll have gotten all of the other versions for free. Pretty cool!

Traffic generation techniques continue to change over time so it’s great to know that you’ll be getting all the updated information and strategies for free. I am very excited about the free updates!

I am going to go buy my copy soon after I finish writing this post. You can buy yours by clicking here.

Inside Look At Traffic Secrets 2.0

George Manty — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 05:41:21 +0000

I just finished watching the third and final Traffic Secrets 2.0 video and it was VERY interesting. Not only does John give some great advice at the beginning of the video, but at the end of this new video John Reese reveals some great news about the price of his Traffic Secrets 2.0 course.

He also reveals (for the first time) details about why this ‘course’ isn’t simply a course like most have seen before.

You’ll have to watch the video to see how John is ‘raising the bar’ when it comes to Internet Marketing educational products. I was very happy to see what he is NOT doing with this release.

Click here to check out the new Traffic Secrets 2.0 video.

Free Traffic Secrets 2.0 Videos Are Very Cool

George Manty — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:06:19 +0000

One of my favorite Internet Marketing gurus, John Reese, has just released two free traffic secrets videos. I already use most of the techniques that John reveals in the videos, so I know they work.

Even if you aren’t interested in learning ways to increase your website traffic I still recommend that you check out the videos, because they raise the bar on what can be done with video.

Click here to see for yourself.

WordTracker For Free

George Manty — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 04:56:17 +0000

I wanted to let you know about this FANTASTIC deal I recently learned about.

WordTracker is now offering a free 7 day trial. That is really cool!

I occasionally use WordTracker for keyword research, because it can give you a lot of excellent information quickly. I will definitely take advantage of the free trial to find some good keywords to target on my next site.

If you have ever considered using WordTracker, then I recommend that you click here to try it out for free.

PS. Mom and baby are doing well and I expect to get back to a regular blogging schedule in July.

Standing Out with Favicons

Ryan Ambrose — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:57:33 +0000

Have you ever seen a site with a favicon? It’s that tiny little image to the left of the URL that also appears in your favorites list if you bookmark it. It doesn’t seem like all that much, but it could be useful to you. How? It could help your site stand out in the crowd, and on the Internet, with its millions upon millions of sites, standing out is an absolute must.

Plus, it makes you look good, and you’ve probably noticed that effect for yourself. You might have landed on a site with a favicon, looked up in the URL, saw the neat little picture, and suddenly had a much higher opinion of it. I personally love them, and take sites that have them more seriously just because of one nifty little image.

That’s why I added some of my own to both of my current web sites. I’ll grant that they’re not much more than colorful monograms, but they still do the job nicely. They’re not hard to install either, and you could even make your own.

So, how do you install a favicon on your web site?

1.) First, you make it, and you can do that at

RealWorld Graphics – Online Icon Maker

This site will also let you upload an image and change it into a 16×16 pixel favicon. I preferred that method, because punching them out by hand didn’t work as well as a picture conversion. Just remember that when you make your soon-to-be converted image, you’ll be reducing it to a tiny icon, and you’re going to lose a lot of detail.

2.) Name your image ‘favicon.ico’. The maker at the web site I gave you will do that, and save it to your computer besides.

3.) Once you get your desired favicon, put it in the root directory of your web site, and these tags just below the HEAD command in your HTML.

Don’t copy and paste these, but type them into your site’s HTML file with your site’s name instead. They’re formatted to display properly in HTML, and not to be put in a text file.

Putting both LINK commands covers multiple browser types.

4.) Make sure your favicon looks the way you want, and that it appears. IE7 gave me some trouble with updating the images if I downloaded new ones, but Firefox was more cooperative.

I put mine up recently, and I suspect they’ll require some optimization just like everything else. Still, I like the way they turned out, and recommend you adding your own.

Review Of The SEO Book Training Program

George Manty — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:56:40 +0000

What do I think about Aaron Wall’s SEO Book?

I have been meaning to review Aaron Wall’s SEO book ever since I interviewed Aaron last year. I am finally getting around to it.

First of all I want to say it’s REALLY, REALLY loaded with information! His ebook had over 300 pages and his training program has more information than his ebook ever had.

The SEO Book training program covers A LOT more than just Search Engine Optimization. In addition to SEO, the SEO Book covers:

Copywriting

Social Marketing

Website Usability

Website Monetization

Blogging

and more!

Aaron uses a combination of articles and videos to teach you how to rank high in the Search engines. He also teaches you just about everything imaginable about marketing a product or service.

Not only that, but the SEO Book has a private online community where you can ask and answer questions of both Aaron and other members of his program. The community really blew me away. I have been a member of many paid online communities and none of them were as good as the one that Aaron runs. The most amazing thing to me about the community is how active Aaron is in it. The last time I checked Aaron Wall had 2,799 posts (16.26 posts per day). If you want to get direct advice from Aaron then you should sign up soon, because I just don’t see how Aaron can continue to be so active on his forum and continue to take on new members. It doesn’t seem like a very scalable business model to me.

Anyway, if you are new to online marketing or you want a great place to learn about online marketing (especially SEO) then I recommend that you click here to join the SEO Book Training Program. It is one of the best deals on the Internet for beginners to learn how to make money online.

How Not To Ask For A Link Exchange

George Manty — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:47:13 +0000

Last week I got what I considered to be a hilarious request for a blogroll link exchange. In case you want to know how NOT to ask me for a link exchange, here is the email I was sent the other day (name of said person and sites have been removed):

Hi {find name of blogger and put here},

I am writing on behalf of the blog team at xxxxxxx, which runs the popular xxxxxxx Marketing blog.

We are hand picking a few really great blogs to add to our blog roll. If you’re interested in having your blog recommended on xxxxxx blog, please consider adding our blog to yours.

The name of our blog is xxxxxxxx.

Thanks!

I often get requests for links that I think are form letters. However, in this case it was an obvious form letter. I was laughing out loud when I read the line:

“We are hand picking a few really great blogs”

Really??? Hand picking???

If you ever handpick a blog to exchange links with, don’t start your email with:

Hi {find name of blogger and put here},

It kind of gives the impression that you weren’t exactly handpicking my blog.

P.S. My name is George.

How Branding Can Drive Traffic To Your Site

Monika Mundell — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:31:37 +0000

In last weeks post I talked about The Importance of Business Branding and how branding can help you to get more business and higher paying jobs. This week I wanted to follow up on that and show you ways in which your branding efforts can help to send traffic to your site/blog.

The obvious, most expensive option of traffic generation is to pay for advertising. Ads are commonly used for advertising purposes as we all know. Just think back on what I briefly touched on last week in regards to those annoying ads we often see on TV, or hear on the radio.

Generally small business owners shy away from spending top dollar for an advertising campaign, simply because they don’t have the funds.

So what can we do to get that coveted flow of traffic happening and how in the world is branding going to help with this?

Position yourself as the expert

This is actually easier said than done because first of all you will need some experience to pull this off. On the other hand I personally do not peddle products of which I don’t have a clue about. I used to, back in my online greenhorn days, but since then I have learned my lessons and stay true to myself and my experience.

It simply isn’t worth being a hypocrite.

But let’s assume that you are indeed an expert in your field. You have plenty of hands on experience and know your way around the topic. You’ve gone through failures and hardship and you know exactly what others think who first come into contact with your field of expertise, since you have been there before.

If that is the case, play it with all your might. Once you have the expertise you can do away with the humble hat and step into the limelight.

Now is your time to shine.

Just like in showbiz, much of the initial marketing message is lost on your readers. This is mainly due to the fact that most of us have an extreme short attention span. So play it up, garnish your “expertise” with colorful streamers, balloons and music.

Doing this will guarantee to bring you traffic!

It is in our nature to be associated with fame, success and the limelight. Why else are we so enthralled with soaps, Oscar nominations and what not?

After all, it is recognition we crave and what better way to be recognized than to be picked up by any media because of our association with ….(insert your favorite celebrity here).

Use your alternate ego

I bet most of us have an alternate ego within. You know, the voice that says no, when we say yes and the other way round. Since most of us are civilized people, our alternate ego is often “not so MR. nice guy”.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: my alternate ego is a mixture between Jennifer Garner in Alias and Buddha. Kind of like Ninja meeting eternal bliss. LOL

Recently we have seen an increased amount of bloggers who tell it like it is. They are sick of seeing blogging noobies get hurt and have made it their mission to change our views about Internet marketing and the whole make money online industry.

I tell you what. It works. This is branding in its rawest form and although some people are offended by this whole approach, I think it is simply brilliant.

Creating controversy amongst yes sayers always works. While we might be offended to start with, these controversies actually prompt us to think outside the box. If you are an entrepreneur, then you will agree that doing this can only broaden our vision and our knowledge.

I think it is suffice to say that this approach will not only get you noticed, but also funnel a ton of traffic to your site.

A word of warning: you will need a strong resolve to stay the course against all the onslaught of opposition that will no doubt come your way. After all, you will be swimming against the current pretty much alone. Especially when you first start out.

Branding works – get ready for action!

Branding in all its various forms will always bring traffic and business to you if done correctly. You can’t afford to be chopping and changing your brand after you are getting known around “town”. Yes, every now and then we all crave a make over, but before you take this step, ask yourself whether this will be beneficial to your brand or not.

Soft or hard, both work in their own ways

Whether you have a lot of money to burn and feel fine with paying thousands of dollars for advertising every month, to establish your brand, or whether you want to go the soft approach that takes more time but hardly any money is entirely up to you.

If you do take the soft approach, expect to spend a good portion of your time to network with others in your field. Whether this is via social networks, forums, clubs, membership sites or blogs, is irrelevant.

What matters most is that you dedicate yourself to your brand and build it block by block until the foundation is rock solid.

Have you got anything else to add? Please feel free to share your views and thoughts on this post.

About The Author
My name is Monika Mundell, and I’m the author of Freelance Writing. Learn more from me there.

Seven Tips for Going Viral

Ryan Ambrose — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:42:20 +0000

I just put a new web site on the Net this week. It’s not about making money online, so I won’t mention it here. It is, however, designed to go viral, and that’s what I’m talking about today.

image by Fleur Design

Yes, you can design a site to go viral. You can generate traffic through word-of-mouth and linkbaiting, and that’s how I intend to get most of my traffic to my new one. It includes some social techniques mixed with my lessons learned from the last two sites which sadly, no longer exist.

So that you don’t have to watch your best efforts go to waste as I once did, here are some tips to help you on your way.

Be unusual: The Internet is way, way to big for vanilla. Vanilla is everywhere. So, find a topic and either approach it from an unusual direction, be controversial, be humorous, but be different.

Make it a “.com”: I don’t care if your site is a company or not. When I say “Dot Com” to anyone, they know what it is, because the term is a pop culture phenomenon now. My last sites were “.net” because I was trying to be compliant, but it doesn’t matter. If you have to take a pencil and pad and hammer out URL’s until you can get something you can use with a “.com” extension, do so. It makes your URL much easier to remember.

Give it a catchy URL: Another big problem of mine I’ve since fixed, and again, if you have to go at it all day with a pencil and pad, invent a catchy URL. Catchy URL’s are preferably short and memorable in some way. To go viral, they should also be fun. “Google.com” is fun, and look what happened to them.

Make it interactive: In Web 2.0, it’s the only way to go. Blog comments, forum postings, and other forms of visitor interactivity are not only expected nowadays, but are a good way to keep your previous visitors returning.

If someone wants to social bookmark you, make it easy for them: Mass bookmarking programs, Feedburner Feed Flares, and other things exist so that if your visitors want to bookmark you on their choice of social bookmarking sites, they can. Find the mass bookmarking tool that works best for you, and use it.

Images: You have to have them, if only in your header. I’m still working on my site’s images, but you’ll need them in the end. And not just any image, but fun, unusual, or interesting images.

Respond to your visitors: Do you have a unique sense of humor, insight, or anything else that helps you stand out from the crowd? Use it to respond to your visitors. Write about their emails. Talk about their issues. They’ll tell their friends about how cool you are, and others will come to visit you.

If you’re designing a site from scratch and want to go viral, remember the tips above. You can get started on the right foot, and will help your advertising efforts go the extra mile with a little viral intent.

Viral Marketing With Video

George Manty — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:54:56 +0000

My friend, Ryan Shamus, just wrote a great post about using video to get viral traffic to your website or blog. Ryan goes into a lot of detail about the various ways you can use video to make more money. Ryan covers things like:

How to use YouTube to bring traffic to your website

How to create and edit your own viral videos

Ways to make a video viral

Video software tools to use

and much more.

You can check out his post by clicking here.

Easter Egg Hunt

George Manty — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:49:41 +0000

Before the weekend comes I wanted to let you know about this creative contest that Caroline Middlebrook is running on her blog.

This weekend Caroline is running a contest to find hidden easter eggs on her site. The more eggs you find the more entries you get into her contest. Ten winners will be receiving a free copy of her upcoming ebook on driving Stumbleupon traffic to your site.

Click here to learn all the details of her contest.

Use StumbleUpon For Quick And Easy Traffic

George Manty — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 04:32:26 +0000

I have experimented with a LOT of social networking sites and Stumbleupon is my absolute favorite social networking site for driving traffic to my blog.

Stumbling articles is pretty easy when you install the toolbar on your browser. It takes a lot less effort to get more traffic than other social networking sites. You don’t have to be a “top” stumbler to get tons of traffic from it and it doesn’t take a lot of time to be involved in the community.

So as not to re-invent the wheel I thought I would share some of the better guides I have read about using Stumbleupon for driving traffic to your blog or site.

My friend Maki wrote a really nice guide about using Stumbleupon. I recommend you check it out by clicking here.

Another friend of mine, John Wesley became a top stumbler early on and wrote about how he managed to do it. I think that you can follow his advice and become a top poster for quite a few social networking sites. In fact, I have friends using similar tactics to become top members of other social networking sites.

Search Engine Land wrote a good basic guide on getting traffic with StumbleUpon called 5 Tactics For Driving Traffic From StumbleUpon.

Terry Dean did some experiments with Stumbleupon traffic that you might be interested in and wrote a nice 7 step guide on using StumbleUpon for traffic.

I am sure you can find other information on how great StumbleUpon is for driving traffic to your site. If you aren’t already using StumbleUpon for traffic, then I strongly suggest you go try it out. You can even check out my profile and add me as a friend, by clicking here.

How Web 2.0 Can Ruin Your Life And What To Do About It

George Manty — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 02:30:24 +0000

Ok, so web 2.0 can’t, in and of itself, ruin your life but…

Web 2.0 has created an online environment that is designed to make us spend more and more time online, which in turn can ruin your life.

Spending A Majority Of Your Free Time Online Is Not Healthy

Errr… isn’t this a blog about making money ONLINE?

Well, yes but…

You can’t spend all your time online and then find time to exercise. You can’t spend all your time online AND cultivate a relationship with your kids. You can’t spend all your time online AND strengthen the relationship with your spouse and/or find a spouse. You can’t spend all your time online AND have a relationship with God. You can’t spend all your time online AND …. (you fill in the blanks)....

You need to have balance and spending too much time making “friends” online can make you unbalanced.

That said, Web 2.0 has it’s good points. As an Internet marketer, leveraging web 2.0 sites can be a great way to make money online, but it does have a cost.

What I Learned In 2007 About Marketing With Web 2.0

I spent a great deal of time in 2007 building online relationships using web 2.0. I would never want to give up the friendships I have made, BUT…

It hurt my off-line relationships with God, with my wife, with my kids, and it also hurt my health. It wasn’t just spending time with Web 2.0 that hurt me but also spending time reading email 10+ times a day. In 2007 I spent WAY too much time checking email. In 2008 I am going to significantly decrease the amount of time I spend experimenting with web 2.0 sites and on other activities like reading email. It’s just not worth it!

But Isn’t Web 2.0 The Best Way To Get Traffic Online?

Yes and No…

Leveraging Web 2.0 is one way to get good traffic to your site, however it is not the only way to get good traffic online. There are many other ways to increase your website traffic that can be just as effective as Web 2.0. In fact, you NEVER want to rely on only ONE form of traffic generation for ALL of your website traffic!. This is so important I am going to say it again:

You NEVER want to rely on ONE form of traffic generation for ALL of your website traffic!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that you should give up on Web 2.0. What I am saying is that Web 2.0 and other advancements in technology are making it increasingly easier to lose focus on what is important. What I am saying is that spending too much time on surfing the web, making web 2.0 connections, voting on your favorite sites, etc. can ruin your life.

So, what can you do to keep Web 2.0 From Ruining Your Life?

Here are three ways to prevent Web 2.0 from adversely affecting your life:

Schedule Your Online Time
Make sure you always have enough time for the most important things in your life by setting aside a certain amount of time each day that you can be online. First set aside time for the most important things in your life, like spending time with your spouse, kids, etc. Then with the remaining time set a schedule for your online time. Doing this will make you realize just how much time you are wasting on tasks that have no bearing to your emotional, financial, mental, and spiritual well being.

As Internet marketers, it is important that we schedule our time wisely. There is something called the 80/20 rule that you need to keep in mind when you make a schedule. The 80-20 rule (also known as the Pareto principle, the principle of factor sparsity, and the law of the vital few) basically says that, for most events, 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes. In online business this translates to statements like “80 percent of your profits comes from 20 percent of your customers”, and “20 percent of your efforts results in 80 percent of your profits”. Your goal is to schedule as much of your time as possible on that “20 percent” that creates the real profits in your business. Scheduling time to work on the things that actually make you more money is crucial to your success. With Web 2.0 it is easy to focus on the “social” aspects of being online and spend VERY little time actually working on things that make you money.

Focus, Focus, Focus
Web 2.0 is not all bad. After experimenting with social networks, you should find 1 or 2 (maybe 3 or 4) that you really want to focus on and forget about the other ones. When you focus on 1 or 2 social sites for marketing purposes you can become an expert at using those 1 or 2 sites for getting traffic to your sites. If you don’t focus on 1 or 2 sites, you will wind up spreading yourself too thin and not being able to make a big impact using any of them. Not focusing on 1 or 2 Web 2.0 sites for marketing purposes can be a total waste of your time.

Step Away From The Computer
Like I mentioned in step 1 you need to schedule time to spend off the computer. Just like you should schedule your online time, you should schedule time to do the things that are important to you. Otherwise you might rationalize spending more and more time online.

Take a step away from the computer and live your life. Do the things you enjoy, spend time with your family and friends. Don’t sacrifice a REAL life for an online one.

Final Thoughts

Would you rather have the most friends on MySpace or have a good marriage? Would you rather have the largest community on MyBlogLog or have a great relationship with your kids? Would you prefer to be a top rated Digger or have an online business that pays your bills?

If you spend too much time experimenting with all of the latest and greatest social networks you will find yourself spending WAY more time online in 2008 while making less money than you did in 2007. I don’t know about you, but I want to make more money online while working less, not less money online while working more.

Spending time using Web 2.0 to promote your business, make friends, and have fun can be very good, but spending TOO MUCH time in the Web 2.0 world can ruin your life and be bad for your business.