Review Of The SEO Book Training Program

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

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.

Seven Tips for Going Viral

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.

1. 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.


2. 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.


3. 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.


4. 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.


5. 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.


6. 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.


7. 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

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

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.

SEO Training Program From Aaron Wall

I have been ill all week with the creeping crud, but one thing I did want to mention before the weekend is that Aaron Wall of the SEO Book has changed his business model and is now selling a monthly membership for access to his SEO knowledge.

I was half way through writing a review of the SEO Book when Aaron sent the notice about this change. Given how good Aaron’s book is, I am sure that membership in The SEO Book Training Program will be well worthwhile. I plan on signing up for it and doing a review of it sometime in the next few months. In the meantime, you can click here to go check out The SEO Book Training Program for yourself.

Use StumbleUpon For Quick And Easy Traffic

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

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:

1. 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.

2. 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.
3. 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.

Poll Results - What web 2.0 site has given you the most free traffic?

Here are the results of my last poll:

What web 2.0 site has given you the most free traffic?

MySpace (35%)
Stumbleupon (35%)
Squidoo (10%)
other (10%)
Digg (5%)
Del.icio.us (5%)
Netscape (0%)

Total votes: 20

I was a little surprised by the results. I expected more votes for Netscape and less votes for MySpace. I am not surprised at all by Stumbelupon being one of the two top sites voted on. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, since one of my sites was getting really good traffic from MySpace before I ever signed up for a MySpace account.

Tomorrow I will have a new poll for you and I will be revealing a little bit about the offer someone made this past week to buy my blog. I will also share whether I took it or not…

The Power Of Word Of Mouth Traffic

I am going to talk about one of the best ways to drive traffic to your site for FREE…

A few years ago, when we started our Winter Olympics Blog (http://2006turinolympics.com/) one of the first things we did was tell just about everyone we knew about it. We also told them to tell their friends about it. That brought us instant traffic to our new blog. We also had a relative send the site out to a Sports list they are on. That brought instant TARGETED traffic to the site. Before getting any traffic from the Search Engines we were already getting a regular stream of traffic. Because many of the people we told about our blog were interested in the Olympics, they continued to come back as visitors.

So what if you don’t have that many people to tell about your website? How do you get free word of mouth traffic?

When you start your online business you should have determined who your target audience is. Once you have identified your target audience, you need to get involved with that community. Here is a step by step example of how to do that.

For this example, let’s say that you have a website/blog that is about coin collecting.

1. Search for forums about coin collecting, and other related topics (collecting antiques, investing, etc.) .

2. Look through the posts on those forums and decide which ones have the most people looking for the type of information you provide on your website.

3. Join as many of those forums as you can.

4. Start participating in those forums and provide valuable feedback on the forum. Don’t just blatantly advertise your site. Become a friend to people on the forums.

Repeat these steps with email lists from places like Yahoo Groups and Topica. Also, look for related blogs and give useful comments on those blogs (especially if you have your own blog). If you know other people who are part of a related community, let them know about your site and ask them to spread the word to their community.

This will spread the news about your site via word of mouth. It will give you FREE INSTANT traffic. Word of mouth traffic is a great way to launch a site or to drive new targeted traffic to your site.

Do any of you remember getting an email about the Interview with God?

Several years back I received the email about this site from more than one person. Everyone was forwarding this on (I even forwarded it to people). It was a very inspiring slide show (now a flash movie).

Well, a few years ago Yanik Silver invited the owner of the Interview with God to speak at the Underground Online Seminar. The owner revealed that he did not pay one penny on advertising. All of his traffic has been 100% FREE. And guess how much money he is making?

He makes about 3 million dollars a year from that site! All that money from one great idea and word of mouth traffic.

Word of mouth traffic can be great for your online business. Especially, when it spreads virally. Viral traffic is traffic where people like your site so much that they lead other people to your site without you having to paying any advertising costs. Word of mouth traffic that spreads virally is one of the best ways to get traffic to your site. That is what happened with the Interview with God, and it is also what can happen to your site.

How To Stretch Your Advertising Budget By Using Collaborative Advertising

Most small business owners, especially some of us work at home moms and dads, don’t have a lot of money to invest in advertising. That is a BIG problem, because advertising is one of the most important aspects of running an online business.

We all need to find ways to minimize our advertising budget, while still running effective advertising campaigns. Effective advertising brings people to your online business.

So how can you get the most advertising bang for your buck?

Well, one of THE BEST ways to dramaticly increase the potential impact of your advertising dollars is known as “collaborative advertising”.

“Collaborative advertising” is also sometimes referred to as an “advertising co-op”.

What you do is find a group of people who run similar online businesses to yours, but who don’t compete with your business. Then you create a business entity, where you pool your advertising budgets together. With this much bigger advertising budget, you can afford to advertise your products in places you wouldn’t normally be able to.

For a great example of collaborative advertising in action, click here to check out this article on a group of business women in Austin who started their own collaborative advertising group.

If you have a limited advertising budget, collaborative advertising may be just what your business needs.

Which Web 2.0 Site Gives You The Most Traffic?

I hope those of you in the States had a nice labor day vacation yesterday. To get back into the swing of things, I wanted to find out what web 2.0 social media sites have been giving you the best traffic.

Personally, the best traffic I have ever received from a social media site was when this blog was on the front page of Netscape for over a week. Probably second to that would be my stumbleupon traffic.

What about you?

Let me know by answering the poll below and feel free to leave comments!

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