Need something to get your mind off of work? Looking to kill a few hours of time? Check out our list of the Top 50 Diversion Blogs of the year. They are the perfect solution to distract you from your business for a little while and kick back and relax. From travel blogs to sports, entertainment, health, and lifestyle blogs, it's the perfect list for any entrepreneur looking to get some balance in their lives. Enjoy!
1) TravelPod :
http://www.travelpod.com
TravelPod lets you share your trips using your own online travel blog. TravelPod was released in 1997 when it was introduced as the Web's first site to enable its members to create online travel blogs, revolutionizing the way people travel and share their adventures with the world.
2) Gothamist :
http://gothamist.com
Gothamist is the most popular local blog in New York. Founded in early 2003, Gothamist has been described by The New York Times as a "marvelous, not-to-be-missed Web site" that "reflects everything worth knowing about this city." Forbes described Gothamist as a "sophisticated, deliciously urbane city blog." Additionally, Gothamist has been several times for the annual Bloggie Awards. Traffic is currently at 4.2 million pages per month and growing.
3) Jalopnik :
http://jalopnik.com
Jalopnik is a daily automobile news and gossip blog for those obsessed with the cult of cars. Jalopnik will appeal most to those who know their clutch from their chassis, though the spec drawings of futuristic cars and "spy shots" of next year's car.
4) WebUrbanist:
http://weburbanist.com
WebUrbanist writers are interested in all things urban - from urban design to subversive art and strange architecture. They scour the net to find neat new stuff then boil that information down and pack it into an article with relevant images and links, as exhaustive as they can manage on a single subject area. WebUrbanist has over 500,000 unique visitors each month.
5) Gridskipper:
http://gridskipper.com
Formerly focused on the urban travel experiences, the new Gridskipper knows travel is an exercise in escape and leisure. From chronicling the stories, the people, and the places that make summer on the East End one of the greatest shows on earth to Miami, Aspen and the Alps, Gridskipper will fill you in on everything from the best new restaurants in Paris, to six new sneaker stores in Tokyo, to the best sex shops of Los Angeles.
6) Deadspin:
http://deadspin.com
Deadspin covers sports like no other. With an “unspoken agreement between all commentators to be as thoroughly entertaining as humanly possible,” Deadspin not only informs but entertains. With “thousands of unemployed alcoholics and sub-par college students reading this site every day,” Deadspin will not let you down.
7) AOL Sports:
http://sports.aol.com
AOL Sports provides up to the minute sports news on all of your favourites: NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, NASCAR and College. Offering team stats, scores and player updates from professional and college sports leagues, AOL Sports is your partner for online sports information.
8) Sportsline :
http://www.sportsline.com
CBSSports.com is at the leading edge of media companies providing Internet sports content, Fantasy sports and e-commerce. In addition to its flagship service, the company publishes the official Web sites of the NFL and NCAA Sports. Sportsline offers insights from a company on the inside.
9) Fanhouse:
http://www.fanhouse.com
With some of the most talented writers in the sports blog field, Fanhouse posts more than 500 posts each week, ensuring you up to the minute sports coverage. With over 60 big name bloggers, including Captain Caveman and Miss Gossip, Fanhouse has become one of the most popular sports blogs around.
10) MVN:
http://www.mvn.com
The Most Valuable Network was started December 31st, 2003 by Evan Brunell and Frank Palmieri. MVN is an independent sports media company relying on the volunteered time of people to blog about their favorite sports team or any derivation thereof. MVN also has a podcast network. MVN continues to aggressively explore what a sports blog network can do on the internet, and prides itself on being the first and largest sports blog network on the internet.
11) Veoh:
http://www.veoh.com
Veoh is a San Diego, California-based company which runs an Internet Television service allowing users to find and watch major studio content, independent productions and user-generated material. It was founded in 2003 and has since become one of the largest online video sites, with over 19 million viewers per month.
12) Perez Hilton:
http://www.perezhilton.com
Perez Hilton celebrity gossip blog is the source for Hollywood gossip, juicy celebrity rumors,
celebrity scandals, and the latest celebrity gossip. Visit PerezHilton.com to see Hollywood's Most-Hated Web Site!
13) TMZ:
http://www.tmz.com
The term “Thirty Mile Zone” originated in the 1960s, when due to the growth of location shoots, studios established a “thirty mile zone” to monitor rules for filming in Hollywood. TMZ reinvented the thirty mile zone and now serves as the Internet’s premiere address for entertainment news. TMZ offers the latest entertainment news, celebrity gossip, Hollywood rumors, and celebrity video and photo galleries.
14) Film:
http://www.slashfilm.com
Film was created in August 2005 as an alternative movie news and review blog. A member of the Internet Entertainment Writers Association, /Film has been consistently growing and gaining reviews from the likes of USA Today, CNN, BBC, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, IMDb.com’s Studio Briefing, The Orlando Herald, Wizard Magazine and more.
15) Radar Online :
http://www.radaronline.com
Pop, Politics, Scandal, Style. Radar Online offers fresh intelligence and the latest on everything Hollywood, politics, and scandal.
16) Stereogum:
http://www.stereogum.com
Stereogum.com, founded by Scott Lapatine in 2003, is a blog devoted exclusively to music. It has a constantly growing collection of new and exclusive MP3s, which are free and legal, so download away.
17) Just Jared:
http://justjared.buzznet.com
JustJared.com is the trend-spotting, hot online source for pop culture gossip, fabulous celebrity photo galleries and breaking entertainment news. An established internet presence since 2005, Just Jared, Inc. has grown rapidly, joining in 2006 with technology partner Buzznet Inc., and building a team of smart, savvy contributors dedicated to bringing you the latest news 24/7.
18) Cinematical:
http://www.cinematical.com
Much like its name suggests Cinematical brings you the latest on everything Hollywood. From trailers to movie reviews to clips, galleries, rumours and more, Cinematical has what you are looking for.
19) Dlisted :
http://www.dlisted.com
Dlisted.com was started as The D-List on January 23, 2005. Since then, this Hollywood-focused blog has only been growing popularity, thanks in large part to the fact that “it’s also updated like every five seconds.”
20) PopMatters:
http://www.popmatters.com
PopMatters is an international magazine of cultural criticism. Its scope is broadly cast on all things pop culture, and its content is updated daily, Monday through Friday. It provides intelligent reviews, engaging interviews, and in-depth essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, sports, theatre, the visual arts, travel, and the Internet.
21) Sweat365:
http://www.sweat365.com
Sweat365 is a new online media platform for everyday athletes. The online community provides members with the opportunity to interact with and learn from athletes all over the globe, as well as finding training partners with similar goals. Sweat365 provides a highly engaged and supportive community, as well as training tips and fitness tracking tools.
22) Wired Science:
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience
Wired's science blog provides you the most interesting news from the research world with insightful writing that helps you see what's exciting and what's at stake within the torrent of academic journal articles.
23) Delicious Days:
http://www.deliciousdays.com
“Everything Food.” Named one of TIME's 50 coolest websites of 2006, Delicious Days was started in 2005 by Nicky, a girl who loves to cook. It was her way to combine her passion for food with her day job, design and online business. It is now a mix of “ Munich, the wonderful Bavarian town we live in, our occasional travel experiences, cookbook reviews and to cut to the chase all things delicious.”
24) Medical News Today:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
Medical News Today is the largest independent health and medical news website on the Internet. Medical News Today is updated with more than 80 articles every day, 7 days a week - more than any other health news site. The site is divided into 106 medical categories/specialties allowing you to browse only the news relevant you. More than 2 million unique visitors come to medicalnewstoday.com every month.
25) Well:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com
Join New York Times columnist Tara Parker-Pope as she sifts through medical research and expert opinions for practical advice to help readers take control of their health and live well every day.
26) Inhabitat:
http://www.inhabitat.com
“Future forward design for a better world.” Inhabitat was started by NYC designer Jill Fehrenbacher as a forum in which to investigate emerging trends in product, interior and architectural design. Inhabitat.com is a blog devoted to the future of design, tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more sustainable future.
27) Ulysses Online :
http://www.ulyssesonline.com
Ulyssesonline.com is a personal website of Ulysses Ronquillo, offering personal insights to news, technology, podcasts, sports, music and travel. It has become one of the most popular websites on the Internet today.
28) Consumerist:
http://www.consumerist.com
The tagline for this blog is “Consumer Bites Back.” A tool for the consumer in ever commoditized world, the Consumerist blog offers the latest on corporate scams, directories of corporate executive contacts, and more. Find everything the responsible and proactive consumer need to know here.
28) Neatorama:
http://www.neatorama.com
Neatorama is a well-liked link blog, which features daily posts on science, technology, art, and odd news. Since the first post on August 9th, 2005, Neatorama has become extremely popular. Of the many special elements that Neatorama successfully uses are the longer Neatorama Exclusive Lists, often composed in cooperation with others
30) Dark Roasted Blend :
http://www.darkroastedblend.com
Started in November 2006 by Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend is one of the favorite destinations on the web for all things weird and wonderful, updated daily. Their in-depth articles in many fascinating categories make DRB a highly visual online magazine, bringing you quality entertainment every time you open your feed reader or visit their site.
31) Core77 :
http://www.core77.com
An industrial design wonderland, full of links, resources and hooky-playing designers, Core77 has served a devoted global audience of industrial designers ranging from students through seasoned professionals since 1995. Core77 publishes articles, discussion forums, an extensive event calendar, hosts portfolios, job listings, a database of design firms, schools, vendors and services.
32) Laughing Squid:
http://www.laughingsquid.com
Laughing Squid is an online resource for underground art, culture and technology from San Francisco and beyond. It is run by primary tentacle Scott Beale, who is also the publisher editor of the blog and is joined by the occasional guest blogger.
33) The Smitten Kitchen:
http://www.thesmittenkitchen.com
The Smitten Kitchen is 80 square feet of fourth-floor circa-1870 New York City walkup tenement building joy with a skylight on top. It has one counter, a small stove, a pot and pan rack, a marginally obsessive spice rack and a grapefruit knife with actual grapefruits on the handle. This blog is the result of that kitchen, bringing out recipes and more on a regular basis.
34) Serious Eats :
http://www.seriouseats.com
Fresh, hot, and delicious food content delivered daily. Serious Eats is a website focused on celebrating and sharing food enthusiasm through blogs and online community. Its unique combination of community and content brings together the distinctive voices of food bloggers, compelling original and acquired food video, and spirited, inclusive, conversations about all things food- and drink-related.
35) Trend Hunter :
http://www.trendhunter.com
TrendHunter.com was launched in 2005 by Jeremy Gutsche, an innovation expert who wanted to build a home for new business ideas and creativity. It is a multi channel explosion of cool that caters to social leaders, industry professionals, and relentlessly creative individuals. Trend Hunter is the world's largest community dedicated to trend spotting and cool hunting. It is a unique breed of insatiably curious people, constantly in search of the cutting edge.
36) Four Hour Work Week :
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog
Princeton guest lecturer and troublemaker, Tim Ferriss offers cutting-edge experiments in lifestyle design: outsourcing life, global travel and mobile lifestyles, doubling income while halving hours, and more. To date, his blog has been featured in the NY Times, Wired, NBC, and more.
37) PSFK :
http://www.psfk.com
PSFK is a trends and innovation company that publishes daily, provides consultancy and hosts events. It aims to inspire readers, clients and guests to make things better - whether that’s better services, better product ideas or a better way of living. Each month over 350,000 people from around the world read PSFK’s websites and newsletters for inspiration.
38) I Can Has Cheezburger:
http://www.icanhascheezburger.com
I Can Has Cheezburger is a site that gathers, organizes, tags, and captions the funniest and entertaining pictures of user-generated lolcats and lol (other animals) from the Internet. All pictures are made by the site’s users. Submit your own picture and be a part of the wildly successful lolcat phenomenon.
39) TreeHugger :
http://www.treehugger.com
TreeHugger is the leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream. Partial to a modern aesthetic, it strives to be a one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information. At TreeHugger you can find all you need to go green in their up to the minute blog, weekly and daily newsletters, weekly video segments, and weekly radio show.
40) Kotaku:
http://www.kotaku.com
Kotaku is the ultimate gaming blog, with in-depth news coverage, reviews, and expert analyses. Its readers are pop junkies who have chosen video games as their media of choice, and Kotaku satisfies their itches, while documenting the industry’s ever-increasing presence in television, film, and beyond. Churning out video game news over 50 times per day, Kotaku constantly accelerates the velocity of the hyper fast gaming world.
41) PostSecret :
http://postsecret.blogspot.com
PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. Since being launched by Frank Warren, it has become something of an Internet phenomenon. Send in your postcard and be a part of the movement.
42) Dave's Blog :
http://www.unknowngenius.com/blog
Dave’s blog offers useless ramblings of a former Tokyo gaijin recently moved to Paris, on life, happiness and the pursuit of the bizarre. Or, as its author likes to write, this blog is “chemically-enhanced neural rewiring on a semi-regular basis.”
43) Dooce:
http://www.dooce.com
Launched in 2001, this blog chronicles its author’s life from a time when she was single and making a lot of money as a web designer in Los Angeles, to when she was dating the man who would become her husband, to when she lost her job and lived life as an unemployed drunk, to when she married her husband and moved to Utah, to when she became pregnant, to the birth, to the aftermath, to the postpartum depression that landed her in a mental hospital. She’s better now...and blogging.
44) Global Voices :
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org
Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research think-tank focused on the Internet’s impact on society. Global Voices aggregates, curates, and amplifies the global conversation online – shining light on places and people other media often ignore.
45) 5 Minutes for Mom :
http://www.5minutesformom.com
Identical twins Janice and Susan are the founders of 5 Minutes for Mom. As busy moms themselves who love being online, they wanted to bring other moms a site that helps you get the most out of your time online, while you have fun, and find all the best places! 5 Minutes for Mom brings other mothers the best in blogging, shopping, parenting, and entertainment.
46) Gaping Void :
http://www.gapingvoid.com
In this blog, Hugh “cartoons drawn on the back of business cards” MacLeod entertainingly writes about marketing, advertising, Microsoft and the wine trade.
47) Pink Tentacle :
http://www.pinktentacle.com
Pink Tentacle is focused on all things design. From biotech, to drinks, to luxury, to vegetation, Pink Tentacle offers a smorgasbord of all things unique and design-oriented.
48) Shorpy :
http://www.shorpy.com
Shorpy, the 100 year-old photoblog, is Dave Hall’s blog featuring high-definition images from the first half of the 20th century. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a boy who worked in an Alabama coal mine and ironworks in the 1910s.
49) Funky and Creative :
http://www.funkyandcreative.com
A married mother of two is behind this blog, which details her love for arts, digital scrap that she creates, photos that she takes, and her own shopping sprees and travel tales. Keep up with her adventure through this blog.
50) Winelibrary:
http://tv.winelibrary.com
A leader in all things wine, Gary Vaynerchuk’s Winelibrary is the Internet’s first wine vlog. It presents Winelibrary TV, brought to you each weekday with new and exciting wines, news, and happenings in the wind world.
Hope you enjoy this post and if there's any blogs you think should have made the list, please add them to the comments at the end of this post.
Sincerely,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Nov 25, 2008
Nov 24, 2008
How to Use Yahoo Answers to Promote Your Business
This is a great post from Staci Wood at StartUpBiz and I was about to write an article about Yahoo Answers and stmble on this. This pretty much covers it so without further ado...
The Yahoo Answers community is a place to learn and share information. It’s where people like you and me submit questions, and other people – like you and me – answer them.
By visiting the Yahoo Answers site, answering questions, networking with other community members, and otherwise participating, you can develop and advance your reputation as an expert on particular topics.
In turn, your participation can help you attract more visits to your website and help you market and promote your business. Others may visit your site or connect with you because they noticed your answers, viewed your profile or clicked through a link to your site.Yahoo! Answers posts are indexed by Yahoo (and other search engines) for a long time, and can result in additional traffic.
Someone searching on a topic may find an answer that contains a link to a page on your Website, and through it visit your site.
Membership and participation in Yahoo Answers is 100% free. So if your small business is on a tight budget, Yahoo Answers can be a useful marketing strategy provided you are willing to spend the time to understand how to use it and to regularly participate.
Take a few minutes to set up a descriptive Yahoo Answers profile -- do not skip this step. Your profile does not need to be long, but make it count.
For instance, some people include their website URL right in the profile. Also, take the time to use an avatar (image). Answers and profiles with an image tend to get more attention than those without. Plus, taking the time to add an image shows you are seriously participating in the community.
Attach your email address and instant messenger address to your profile. This makes it easier for members to connect with you.
I recommend:
To get started, go to: Answers Yahoo.
For additional helpful tips, read: Marketing Your Site on Yahoo Answers.
Before you start answering questions, spend at least 30 minutes just reading. It will help you get a feel for the Yahoo Answers community and get off to a good start.
I recommend:
(1) Read the community guidelines first. That way you will learn what is considered acceptable -- and unacceptable -- behavior. Otherwise you could find yourself reported for abuse.
(2) Read other answers in the categories where you intend to answer questions. For example, you can review Resolved Questions to learn to recognize what makes an answer helpful. Pay particular attention to answers labeled "Best Answer."You earn points for visiting Yahoo Answers and answering questions. If your answer is chosen as the best answer to a question, you receive an additional 10 points and your answer will be elevated to the top of the page.
Visit regularly and focus only on a few categories that are relevant to your business or your website. By giving quality answers and being voted the best answer in your chosen categories, you may eventually become a Top Contributor (in up to 3 categories).
When you have achieved a Top Contributor status, you get an icon signifying you are a Top Contributor within the community. This icon is shown under your avatar and boosts your reputation within the community.
I recommend: Why I love Yahoo! Answers.
Remember that Yahoo Answers is also a community and you can network with other entrepreneurs, business owners, and prospective partners and customers. Connect with other members by becoming a fan of their answers or by adding them as a contact. Whenever fans or members of your community post a question, you will see it within your profile page and can respond to continue to assist them.
I recommend: How to Use Yahoo Answers to Promote Your Business.Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide:Target your efforts --
Focus on categories in which
(1) you are knowledgeable and have a good chance of your answers being voted "Best Answer," and
(2) you want to develop a reputation for having expertise. You can also perform keyword searches to zero in on specific topics.
Add value -- Do not answer questions just for the sake of trying to rack up points. If you have nothing to add, why waste everyone’s time?
Limit the links to your own website -- Feel free to occasionally link to resources on your own website or blog if they truly are informational and help answer the question. Such links will help drive traffic to your website. But don't overdo it, or you may be considered a spammer. Regularly link to OTHER sites and resources besides your own, too.
Give answers, not advertorials -- Answers that essentially say something like “Buy my book or hire my company to get the answers to your question” are nothing more than ads and violate the community guidelines.
Remain neutral -- Do not provoke members of the community by engaging them or the answers they have provided. Simply focusing on assisting others will lend credence to you as an upstanding member within the community.
Participate regularly, but in short intervals -- Obsessive posting may damage your reputation within the community. Besides, answering questions at Yahoo Answers should be but one component of a broader online marketing plan -- not your ENTIRE marketing plan.
Recognize others -- Vote on others’ answers when they are high quality. It’s a good way to make friends. Besides, it shows you are humble, by recognizing that others may have better answers.
Anita Campbell
Small Business Trends
Anita and Staci, thanks for the insightful post and I look forward to more.
Sincerely,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
The Yahoo Answers community is a place to learn and share information. It’s where people like you and me submit questions, and other people – like you and me – answer them.
By visiting the Yahoo Answers site, answering questions, networking with other community members, and otherwise participating, you can develop and advance your reputation as an expert on particular topics.
In turn, your participation can help you attract more visits to your website and help you market and promote your business. Others may visit your site or connect with you because they noticed your answers, viewed your profile or clicked through a link to your site.Yahoo! Answers posts are indexed by Yahoo (and other search engines) for a long time, and can result in additional traffic.
Someone searching on a topic may find an answer that contains a link to a page on your Website, and through it visit your site.
Membership and participation in Yahoo Answers is 100% free. So if your small business is on a tight budget, Yahoo Answers can be a useful marketing strategy provided you are willing to spend the time to understand how to use it and to regularly participate.
Take a few minutes to set up a descriptive Yahoo Answers profile -- do not skip this step. Your profile does not need to be long, but make it count.
For instance, some people include their website URL right in the profile. Also, take the time to use an avatar (image). Answers and profiles with an image tend to get more attention than those without. Plus, taking the time to add an image shows you are seriously participating in the community.
Attach your email address and instant messenger address to your profile. This makes it easier for members to connect with you.
I recommend:
To get started, go to: Answers Yahoo.
For additional helpful tips, read: Marketing Your Site on Yahoo Answers.
Before you start answering questions, spend at least 30 minutes just reading. It will help you get a feel for the Yahoo Answers community and get off to a good start.
I recommend:
(1) Read the community guidelines first. That way you will learn what is considered acceptable -- and unacceptable -- behavior. Otherwise you could find yourself reported for abuse.
(2) Read other answers in the categories where you intend to answer questions. For example, you can review Resolved Questions to learn to recognize what makes an answer helpful. Pay particular attention to answers labeled "Best Answer."You earn points for visiting Yahoo Answers and answering questions. If your answer is chosen as the best answer to a question, you receive an additional 10 points and your answer will be elevated to the top of the page.
Visit regularly and focus only on a few categories that are relevant to your business or your website. By giving quality answers and being voted the best answer in your chosen categories, you may eventually become a Top Contributor (in up to 3 categories).
When you have achieved a Top Contributor status, you get an icon signifying you are a Top Contributor within the community. This icon is shown under your avatar and boosts your reputation within the community.
I recommend: Why I love Yahoo! Answers.
Remember that Yahoo Answers is also a community and you can network with other entrepreneurs, business owners, and prospective partners and customers. Connect with other members by becoming a fan of their answers or by adding them as a contact. Whenever fans or members of your community post a question, you will see it within your profile page and can respond to continue to assist them.
I recommend: How to Use Yahoo Answers to Promote Your Business.Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide:Target your efforts --
Focus on categories in which
(1) you are knowledgeable and have a good chance of your answers being voted "Best Answer," and
(2) you want to develop a reputation for having expertise. You can also perform keyword searches to zero in on specific topics.
Add value -- Do not answer questions just for the sake of trying to rack up points. If you have nothing to add, why waste everyone’s time?
Limit the links to your own website -- Feel free to occasionally link to resources on your own website or blog if they truly are informational and help answer the question. Such links will help drive traffic to your website. But don't overdo it, or you may be considered a spammer. Regularly link to OTHER sites and resources besides your own, too.
Give answers, not advertorials -- Answers that essentially say something like “Buy my book or hire my company to get the answers to your question” are nothing more than ads and violate the community guidelines.
Remain neutral -- Do not provoke members of the community by engaging them or the answers they have provided. Simply focusing on assisting others will lend credence to you as an upstanding member within the community.
Participate regularly, but in short intervals -- Obsessive posting may damage your reputation within the community. Besides, answering questions at Yahoo Answers should be but one component of a broader online marketing plan -- not your ENTIRE marketing plan.
Recognize others -- Vote on others’ answers when they are high quality. It’s a good way to make friends. Besides, it shows you are humble, by recognizing that others may have better answers.
Anita Campbell
Small Business Trends
Anita and Staci, thanks for the insightful post and I look forward to more.
Sincerely,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Write And Submit Articles To The Article Directories Quickly And Easily
Connie Ragen Green shared this great post about how she writes articles to submit to the article directories and I wanted to share this with you. Once you get into a routine it gets easier and the traffic generated from articles are very targeted and permenent links to your website.
Many people write and submit one article at a time to the article directories. Others write many articles and then submit them all at once. There are many schools of thought on this matter, so I will simply explain how my process works. I have written and submitted more than 565 articles during the past 13 months using this method.
I make notes about what my articles will be about. I then make sure that each article has a point and teaches or explains some valuable information to the reader. My list of ideas for future articles stays next to my computer.
In the morning I take a look at this list and then write an article on the idea that interests me most. I write the article using Word and then save it to my hard drive in a folder that contains similar articles. I make sure to spell check and edit the article before saving it.Then I go to select all and copy while I am still in Word.
Next I go over to my account an Ezine Articles and go into my author's area. There I do a control v to paste my Word document into the area designated for it.
I give my article a keyword rich title, write an interest generating summary, and make sure my resource box invites them back to a place where the reader can get more information.
I submit the article and then log out of my account.
I do this regularly throughout the day when I am working at home. I have found this to be the fastest and easiest way to write and submit your articles. As I write each article I cross it off on my list.
I encourage you to use this method for writing more articles in less time.Hope this helps.
Travelling this journey with you...
Sincerely,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Many people write and submit one article at a time to the article directories. Others write many articles and then submit them all at once. There are many schools of thought on this matter, so I will simply explain how my process works. I have written and submitted more than 565 articles during the past 13 months using this method.
I make notes about what my articles will be about. I then make sure that each article has a point and teaches or explains some valuable information to the reader. My list of ideas for future articles stays next to my computer.
In the morning I take a look at this list and then write an article on the idea that interests me most. I write the article using Word and then save it to my hard drive in a folder that contains similar articles. I make sure to spell check and edit the article before saving it.Then I go to select all and copy while I am still in Word.
Next I go over to my account an Ezine Articles and go into my author's area. There I do a control v to paste my Word document into the area designated for it.
I give my article a keyword rich title, write an interest generating summary, and make sure my resource box invites them back to a place where the reader can get more information.
I submit the article and then log out of my account.
I do this regularly throughout the day when I am working at home. I have found this to be the fastest and easiest way to write and submit your articles. As I write each article I cross it off on my list.
I encourage you to use this method for writing more articles in less time.Hope this helps.
Travelling this journey with you...
Sincerely,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Nov 22, 2008
Generating Tons Of Social Media Traffic To Your Website For Free
I just wanted to tell you how excited I am about the Social Networking Directory! It has to be the biggest Web 2.0 resource out there. I mean I'm sitting here going through it and can't believe how many social sites there are!
There are over 3,000 sites in the Social Networking Directory. The best thing though... is that they ALL have a description about what the site actually does! I mean I've seen the books where people just give you links... but the Social Networking Directory not only gives you the description of each site, it has the graphic, tags, and the link!
I would like to recommend that you go and get it right now! It is FREE!!
Sincerely,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
PS. I get the most traffic to my sites through social sites, now I can add hundreds, even thousands of sites for backlinks!!
There are over 3,000 sites in the Social Networking Directory. The best thing though... is that they ALL have a description about what the site actually does! I mean I've seen the books where people just give you links... but the Social Networking Directory not only gives you the description of each site, it has the graphic, tags, and the link!
I would like to recommend that you go and get it right now! It is FREE!!
Sincerely,
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
PS. I get the most traffic to my sites through social sites, now I can add hundreds, even thousands of sites for backlinks!!
Nov 20, 2008
The Yellow Pages Of Social Networking--Free Social Networking Directory.
Ann from StartUpBiz posted a gem of a post with free classified ads that i wanted to share with everyone.
The only thing I would like to add is this Yellow Pages of Social Networking called the Social Networking Directory.
This book is massive and has something for everyone and the best part is it's free!
Without further ado, here's Ann...
Working at home and on the internet has become a growing trend. Many of us didn't know SEO, html, css, and even squidoo a short time ago, so foreign yet so familiar now.
Advertising and marketing our sites is how we draw traffic and ultimately and hopefully sales. We are also creating back links to our sites, that Google likes.
Advertising does not have to be expensive, in fact there are many ways to advertise for free. I'm all about free!
I've put together some free advertising resources that I hope you will have the opportunity to use!!Happy Advertising!!
USFreeAds.com Account Signup Required. You can post up to 10 free ads. Upgrades available, $9.95 per month upgrade for unlimited ads. You can use HTML and pictures with upgrade. Ads post for 40 days with a renewal option. Offers an Affiliate Program
ClassifiedAds.com Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting by country. No HTML or Pictures. Ads post for 30 days with a renewal option.
InetGiant Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML or Pictures. You can choose ad ons for minimal charges. Also offers Web Blaster and Ad Blaster for an additional charge. Offers an Affiliate Program. Ads post for 30 days with a renewal option.
Sales Spider Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting to a state and city. No HTML, you can upload pictures. You can "feature" your ad for an additional charge. Aslo offers a Business Center, email, forums. Ads post for 30 days with a renewal option.
Busy Direct Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 30 days with a renewal option.
Free Ad Space Smaller advertising site. Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. Add ons available at a minimal cost. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 6 months with a renewal option.
Hoobly Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML you can upload Pictures. You can choose premium for minimal charges. Ads can post up to 6 months with a renewal option.
Adland Pro Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting up to 255 characters. No HTML or pictures. Different upgrades available. Aslo offers a Business Center, email, forums. Geared towards affiliate marketers with resources and tools available.
US Net Ads No account required. Unlimited free ad posting. . No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 4 months with a renewal option.
Classifieds For Free Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting up to 100 words. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 14 days and are renewable.
Craigs List Account Signup Required. Ads posted to city only. Unlimited free ads. No HTML or pictures. Craigs List will not allow any links or websites posted or any duplicate ads.
Web Cosmo Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. HTML allowed, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 90 days and are renewable.
Pressmania Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 90 days and are renewable.
Ad Post Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting up to 200 words. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 30 days and are renewable.
E PageAccount Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 90 days and are renewable.
Free ClassifiedsAccount Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. HTML allowed, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 6 months and are renewable.
WebLeeg Free ClassifiedsAccount Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 60 days and is renewable.
Subblurbs Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 60 days and is renewable.
Flugpo Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures.Some of these sites will not allow an affiliate link, if you do not have a website that you are promoting or product with a landing page, you can use a Squidoo page to link back to.
Thanks again Ann
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
The only thing I would like to add is this Yellow Pages of Social Networking called the Social Networking Directory.
This book is massive and has something for everyone and the best part is it's free!
Without further ado, here's Ann...
Working at home and on the internet has become a growing trend. Many of us didn't know SEO, html, css, and even squidoo a short time ago, so foreign yet so familiar now.
Advertising and marketing our sites is how we draw traffic and ultimately and hopefully sales. We are also creating back links to our sites, that Google likes.
Advertising does not have to be expensive, in fact there are many ways to advertise for free. I'm all about free!
I've put together some free advertising resources that I hope you will have the opportunity to use!!Happy Advertising!!
USFreeAds.com Account Signup Required. You can post up to 10 free ads. Upgrades available, $9.95 per month upgrade for unlimited ads. You can use HTML and pictures with upgrade. Ads post for 40 days with a renewal option. Offers an Affiliate Program
ClassifiedAds.com Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting by country. No HTML or Pictures. Ads post for 30 days with a renewal option.
InetGiant Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML or Pictures. You can choose ad ons for minimal charges. Also offers Web Blaster and Ad Blaster for an additional charge. Offers an Affiliate Program. Ads post for 30 days with a renewal option.
Sales Spider Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting to a state and city. No HTML, you can upload pictures. You can "feature" your ad for an additional charge. Aslo offers a Business Center, email, forums. Ads post for 30 days with a renewal option.
Busy Direct Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 30 days with a renewal option.
Free Ad Space Smaller advertising site. Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. Add ons available at a minimal cost. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 6 months with a renewal option.
Hoobly Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML you can upload Pictures. You can choose premium for minimal charges. Ads can post up to 6 months with a renewal option.
Adland Pro Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting up to 255 characters. No HTML or pictures. Different upgrades available. Aslo offers a Business Center, email, forums. Geared towards affiliate marketers with resources and tools available.
US Net Ads No account required. Unlimited free ad posting. . No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 4 months with a renewal option.
Classifieds For Free Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting up to 100 words. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 14 days and are renewable.
Craigs List Account Signup Required. Ads posted to city only. Unlimited free ads. No HTML or pictures. Craigs List will not allow any links or websites posted or any duplicate ads.
Web Cosmo Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. HTML allowed, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 90 days and are renewable.
Pressmania Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 90 days and are renewable.
Ad Post Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting up to 200 words. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 30 days and are renewable.
E PageAccount Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 90 days and are renewable.
Free ClassifiedsAccount Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. HTML allowed, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 6 months and are renewable.
WebLeeg Free ClassifiedsAccount Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 60 days and is renewable.
Subblurbs Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures. Ads post for 60 days and is renewable.
Flugpo Account Signup Required. Unlimited free ad posting. No HTML, you can upload pictures.Some of these sites will not allow an affiliate link, if you do not have a website that you are promoting or product with a landing page, you can use a Squidoo page to link back to.
Thanks again Ann
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Get Paid To Generate Responsive Leads--Free Videos
Free Website Traffic Tips
Nov 18, 2008
Obama's Link Strategy Fuels Election Victory
By Sage Lewis
Without a doubt, Barack Obama creamed John McCain when it came to links. Yahoo Site Explorer shows nearly 2 million links to www.barackobama.com, but just over 900,000 links to www.johnmccain.com.
Let's look closer at these numbers so you can learn from them and possibly apply them to your own situation.
Look at the Landscape
According to data released by Rubicon Consulting, "Democrats are more active online than Republicans. Democrats are more likely to participate in online communities, and say they're more heavily influenced in their voting decisions by information they find online."
It's easy to see that the Internet is more friendly to liberals and Democrats just by perusing the leading headlines at Digg. As of the writing of this column, these were some of the top headlines in the world and business section:
898 diggs: Cavuto to McCain: You have no economic convictions
1,528 diggs: The Republican Party is dead
2,021 diggs: If Obama wins Virginia - it's over
For reasons I don't want to speculate on, liberal-leaning people favor the Internet, so McCain had an uphill battle to begin with. Obama's base was more saturated in the overall landscape.
Consider the Liberal Audience
If you have a product or service that caters to issues that Democrats care about, you'll probably have an easier time gathering interest and links than a business that serves a Republican audience.
To take this understanding a step further, apply it to other audiences. For example, more people search online for cars and houses than excavator parts. So, you would probably have an easier time garnering links to a site that offered interesting information or entertainment about cars and houses compared to excavators.
That's not to say you can't get links for an excavator parts Web site or a conservative issues Web site. They just might be harder to come by.
Also, remember that Obama's Web site was built for interaction and community since the beginning. I reported back in August 2007 how Obama was leading the social media revolution by having a larger Internet presence and a more energized base.
One of the most visionary, forward-thinking actions of Obama's campaign was hiring Chris Hughes, the co-founder of Facebook, to act as coordinator of online organizing within the Obama presidential campaign on My.BarackObama.com, the campaign's online social networking Web site.
Ultimately, they built a link strategy right into the core of their online strategy. Granted, they wouldn't have classified it as a link building campaign -- it was a social networking campaign. However, links are a direct product of a successful Web site.
They didn't say, "Now that we have a Web site, why don't we give people a place to participate?"
Instead, they said, "How can we make a Web site that continually energizes our supporters and becomes a major resource online?"
What This Means to You
Does your business or organization revolve around an issue people feel strongly about? GM's Fastlane blog has 140,112 links pointing to it. GM and the entire American auto industry is extremely interesting right now.
If your business is remarkably unremarkable, consider featuring an important aspect of your life -- a charity, a social group, or a hobby.
Don't start a link campaign after your Web site is completed. It should be built into the very design and fabric of the Web site.
The next time you redesign your Web site, ask your designer at one of the first meetings about a strategy for attracting people to link to your site. You'll have a significantly easier time building links this way rather than asking how you'll get links to your site after it's completed.
As a marketer, I love to watch presidential campaigns because they burn extremely hot for a very short period of time. There can be very few mistakes all the while making major risks and innovations.
And in the end it's life or death. One campaign wins and one campaign loses. We can all learn a great deal by studying presidential politics.
Join us for Search Engine Strategies Chicago December 8-12 at the Chicago Hilton. The only major search marketing conference and expo in the Midwest will be packed with 60-plus sessions, multiple keynotes and Orion Strategy sessions, exhibitors, networking events, and more.
Sage Lewis started his online marketing company, SageRock.com, in 1999 during a time when most Internet companies were failing. SageRock, however, has thrived under Lewis’ direction -- growing an average of 30% every year, while also being recognized as one of the top ten search engine optimization firms in the U.S. by a third-party resource in the industry, Marketing Sherpa.
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Without a doubt, Barack Obama creamed John McCain when it came to links. Yahoo Site Explorer shows nearly 2 million links to www.barackobama.com, but just over 900,000 links to www.johnmccain.com.
Let's look closer at these numbers so you can learn from them and possibly apply them to your own situation.
Look at the Landscape
According to data released by Rubicon Consulting, "Democrats are more active online than Republicans. Democrats are more likely to participate in online communities, and say they're more heavily influenced in their voting decisions by information they find online."
It's easy to see that the Internet is more friendly to liberals and Democrats just by perusing the leading headlines at Digg. As of the writing of this column, these were some of the top headlines in the world and business section:
898 diggs: Cavuto to McCain: You have no economic convictions
1,528 diggs: The Republican Party is dead
2,021 diggs: If Obama wins Virginia - it's over
For reasons I don't want to speculate on, liberal-leaning people favor the Internet, so McCain had an uphill battle to begin with. Obama's base was more saturated in the overall landscape.
Consider the Liberal Audience
If you have a product or service that caters to issues that Democrats care about, you'll probably have an easier time gathering interest and links than a business that serves a Republican audience.
To take this understanding a step further, apply it to other audiences. For example, more people search online for cars and houses than excavator parts. So, you would probably have an easier time garnering links to a site that offered interesting information or entertainment about cars and houses compared to excavators.
That's not to say you can't get links for an excavator parts Web site or a conservative issues Web site. They just might be harder to come by.
Also, remember that Obama's Web site was built for interaction and community since the beginning. I reported back in August 2007 how Obama was leading the social media revolution by having a larger Internet presence and a more energized base.
One of the most visionary, forward-thinking actions of Obama's campaign was hiring Chris Hughes, the co-founder of Facebook, to act as coordinator of online organizing within the Obama presidential campaign on My.BarackObama.com, the campaign's online social networking Web site.
Ultimately, they built a link strategy right into the core of their online strategy. Granted, they wouldn't have classified it as a link building campaign -- it was a social networking campaign. However, links are a direct product of a successful Web site.
They didn't say, "Now that we have a Web site, why don't we give people a place to participate?"
Instead, they said, "How can we make a Web site that continually energizes our supporters and becomes a major resource online?"
What This Means to You
Does your business or organization revolve around an issue people feel strongly about? GM's Fastlane blog has 140,112 links pointing to it. GM and the entire American auto industry is extremely interesting right now.
If your business is remarkably unremarkable, consider featuring an important aspect of your life -- a charity, a social group, or a hobby.
Don't start a link campaign after your Web site is completed. It should be built into the very design and fabric of the Web site.
The next time you redesign your Web site, ask your designer at one of the first meetings about a strategy for attracting people to link to your site. You'll have a significantly easier time building links this way rather than asking how you'll get links to your site after it's completed.
As a marketer, I love to watch presidential campaigns because they burn extremely hot for a very short period of time. There can be very few mistakes all the while making major risks and innovations.
And in the end it's life or death. One campaign wins and one campaign loses. We can all learn a great deal by studying presidential politics.
Join us for Search Engine Strategies Chicago December 8-12 at the Chicago Hilton. The only major search marketing conference and expo in the Midwest will be packed with 60-plus sessions, multiple keynotes and Orion Strategy sessions, exhibitors, networking events, and more.
Sage Lewis started his online marketing company, SageRock.com, in 1999 during a time when most Internet companies were failing. SageRock, however, has thrived under Lewis’ direction -- growing an average of 30% every year, while also being recognized as one of the top ten search engine optimization firms in the U.S. by a third-party resource in the industry, Marketing Sherpa.
Frank Tocco--Marketing Mentor
Nov 17, 2008
Getting PAID To Generate Leads That Respond To Your Offers
Getting PAID To Generate Leads That Respond To Your Offers
People in a network marketing business usually lose enthusiasm building their business because they either:
(1) Run out of leads
(2) Run out of money while trying to generate more leads.
A common problem with struggling marketers is paying for leads that are not responsive to the offer the marketer is promoting. Frustrated, the marketer gives up.
So, how do you generate responsive leads without going broke? Why, you get them to pay you of course. This is called a funded proposal system. In other words you get PAID to generate leads regardless if they join your network marketing company or not.It’s very simple. What network marketers want is more leads, and more cash.
A funded proposal system teaches network marketing prospects how to generate more leads and more cash - exactly what all network marketers want to learn all about.
People who use a funded proposal system are able to build a relationship with other network marketers - people already SOLD on the idea of network marketing and looking for a leader to follow.
Effective funded proposals position the marketer as a leader who provides solutions to a problem, in front of people who already have a need, a desire, and are actively looking for a solution to their problem. This targets a generic network marketing crowd.
This is a business about marketing pursued by people who have never marketed anything before. They need help by someone that knows what they are doing and will hold them by the hand to show them how it is done. The alternative would be for the networker to learn by trail and error, a very costly and frustrating course to take.With this in mind, a highly effective funded proposal would do well to attract network marketers if it teaches how to market products and generate leads.
Someone who has invested the time, money and effort to learn how to generate quality targeted leads has information that is of great value to someone just starting out in MLM and needs new leads to grow their business. Leads cost money unless the method used to generate leads also generates money. This is where the FUNDED part of a funded proposal comes in.
Your funded proposal needs to have three parts.
(1) A low-cost high volume retail product for under $50 that pays for your advertising and generates a constant source of MLM leads for you.
(2) A medium to high cost backend product that pays your bills and makes you money.
(3) A network marketing opportunity that creates long term, exponential, residual income and grows your downline organization.
You see, the average person can not afford to pay for the costs of marketing their business while they learn to build it, eventually spending themselves out of business with advertising costs before their business has a chance to grow into a profit. A funded proposal generates the needed cash flow to keep the expenses of advertising going until the business pays for itself.
Most people just advertise their network marketing business or website and hope someone joins, while a true leader solves peoples problems. People will always pay for solutions and convenience. So a good funded proposal makes network marketers lives easier or offers a solution to their most pressing challenges.
If they are willing to invest in your program (even if they do not join your network marketing company ), the system pays you a commission based on the sale. So not only are you getting great targeted leads of people interested in what you have to offer but, you get a generous income as well.
Tracy Hamilton, who I was having a discussion with on Home Based Business Forums is right when she says:I think that one of the benefits that you should look for in programs that offer the "funded proposal" strategy is... You want to find one that let's you brand Yourself.
Branding yourself as the expert in network marketing, or anything for that matter , is effective but only if you are an expert. Faking it will eventually be seen through and only hurt your reputation. Branding yourself is the way to go but pretending to be someone you're not is business suicide.
People would much rather be associated with honest people working together to build a business than dishonest posers.
We all have to start somewhere and following a leader makes good business sense. Just make sure that you give credit where credit is due if you're passing along information that you got from someone else.
For example, if you are copying something from a funded proposal that one of the leaders in that system shares with you and you copy it verbatum and just erase and add your name to it, that is not branding yourself. That is plagarism. It would be much better to give credit to the person.Branding yourself takes time and persistence. So dont stop and be patient.
Frank Tocco--MLM Mentoring
You may use this article to post on your blog or website as long as you do not change anything in the article including the links and full give credit to the author.Copyright © Frank Tocco 2008
People in a network marketing business usually lose enthusiasm building their business because they either:
(1) Run out of leads
(2) Run out of money while trying to generate more leads.
A common problem with struggling marketers is paying for leads that are not responsive to the offer the marketer is promoting. Frustrated, the marketer gives up.
So, how do you generate responsive leads without going broke? Why, you get them to pay you of course. This is called a funded proposal system. In other words you get PAID to generate leads regardless if they join your network marketing company or not.It’s very simple. What network marketers want is more leads, and more cash.
A funded proposal system teaches network marketing prospects how to generate more leads and more cash - exactly what all network marketers want to learn all about.
People who use a funded proposal system are able to build a relationship with other network marketers - people already SOLD on the idea of network marketing and looking for a leader to follow.
Effective funded proposals position the marketer as a leader who provides solutions to a problem, in front of people who already have a need, a desire, and are actively looking for a solution to their problem. This targets a generic network marketing crowd.
This is a business about marketing pursued by people who have never marketed anything before. They need help by someone that knows what they are doing and will hold them by the hand to show them how it is done. The alternative would be for the networker to learn by trail and error, a very costly and frustrating course to take.With this in mind, a highly effective funded proposal would do well to attract network marketers if it teaches how to market products and generate leads.
Someone who has invested the time, money and effort to learn how to generate quality targeted leads has information that is of great value to someone just starting out in MLM and needs new leads to grow their business. Leads cost money unless the method used to generate leads also generates money. This is where the FUNDED part of a funded proposal comes in.
Your funded proposal needs to have three parts.
(1) A low-cost high volume retail product for under $50 that pays for your advertising and generates a constant source of MLM leads for you.
(2) A medium to high cost backend product that pays your bills and makes you money.
(3) A network marketing opportunity that creates long term, exponential, residual income and grows your downline organization.
You see, the average person can not afford to pay for the costs of marketing their business while they learn to build it, eventually spending themselves out of business with advertising costs before their business has a chance to grow into a profit. A funded proposal generates the needed cash flow to keep the expenses of advertising going until the business pays for itself.
Most people just advertise their network marketing business or website and hope someone joins, while a true leader solves peoples problems. People will always pay for solutions and convenience. So a good funded proposal makes network marketers lives easier or offers a solution to their most pressing challenges.
If they are willing to invest in your program (even if they do not join your network marketing company ), the system pays you a commission based on the sale. So not only are you getting great targeted leads of people interested in what you have to offer but, you get a generous income as well.
Tracy Hamilton, who I was having a discussion with on Home Based Business Forums is right when she says:I think that one of the benefits that you should look for in programs that offer the "funded proposal" strategy is... You want to find one that let's you brand Yourself.
Branding yourself as the expert in network marketing, or anything for that matter , is effective but only if you are an expert. Faking it will eventually be seen through and only hurt your reputation. Branding yourself is the way to go but pretending to be someone you're not is business suicide.
People would much rather be associated with honest people working together to build a business than dishonest posers.
We all have to start somewhere and following a leader makes good business sense. Just make sure that you give credit where credit is due if you're passing along information that you got from someone else.
For example, if you are copying something from a funded proposal that one of the leaders in that system shares with you and you copy it verbatum and just erase and add your name to it, that is not branding yourself. That is plagarism. It would be much better to give credit to the person.Branding yourself takes time and persistence. So dont stop and be patient.
Frank Tocco--MLM Mentoring
You may use this article to post on your blog or website as long as you do not change anything in the article including the links and full give credit to the author.Copyright © Frank Tocco 2008
Nov 16, 2008
Tips For Bloggers .... More Visibility & Traffic
This just in from Michael Lemm...
For those of you with a blog - business or pleasure ..... here's some basic tips:
You should ping immediately after every time you update your blog with a new post. However, I'd not ping more than once a day.
BTW...I recommend using http://pingoat.com as your primary ping service.....and ping-o-matic as your secondary back-up. Pingoat has a larger coverage of blog directories they submit to.
I also suggest tagging individual post pages with a social bookmarking network like Stumbleupon or de.licious. Or use a multi-tag service like http://Onlywire.com.
You can also submit individual article pages to http://Digg.com right after posting them to your blog. Make sure you select an appropriate category and that the content is "newsworthy".
Also submit your blog articles to http://ezinearticles.com. This gets you more visiibilty from those who use your articles (with your author links) .... as well as more back links to your blog (put your blog url in your author box ... in text link format).
Basically ... Post an article to your blog .... then ping it with Pingoat .... then tag it with Onlywire ..... then submit it to Digg (http://digg.com) ..... then submit it to http://ezinearticles.com . Doing all of this for every blog post will get you higher search engine listings, back links, higher website page rank, and a ton of traffic if you're consistent with it.
The above is EXACTLY what I do. My blogs average 500+ visitors a day .... on a slow day.
[ see http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com and http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com ]
God Bless,
Michael
Thanks again Michael for your great advice.
Talk soon,
Frank Tocco--MLM Mentoring
For those of you with a blog - business or pleasure ..... here's some basic tips:
You should ping immediately after every time you update your blog with a new post. However, I'd not ping more than once a day.
BTW...I recommend using http://pingoat.com as your primary ping service.....and ping-o-matic as your secondary back-up. Pingoat has a larger coverage of blog directories they submit to.
I also suggest tagging individual post pages with a social bookmarking network like Stumbleupon or de.licious. Or use a multi-tag service like http://Onlywire.com.
You can also submit individual article pages to http://Digg.com right after posting them to your blog. Make sure you select an appropriate category and that the content is "newsworthy".
Also submit your blog articles to http://ezinearticles.com. This gets you more visiibilty from those who use your articles (with your author links) .... as well as more back links to your blog (put your blog url in your author box ... in text link format).
Basically ... Post an article to your blog .... then ping it with Pingoat .... then tag it with Onlywire ..... then submit it to Digg (http://digg.com) ..... then submit it to http://ezinearticles.com . Doing all of this for every blog post will get you higher search engine listings, back links, higher website page rank, and a ton of traffic if you're consistent with it.
The above is EXACTLY what I do. My blogs average 500+ visitors a day .... on a slow day.
[ see http://Best-MLM-Resources.blogspot.com and http://Broadband-Nation.blogspot.com ]
God Bless,
Michael
Thanks again Michael for your great advice.
Talk soon,
Frank Tocco--MLM Mentoring
What's The Fastest And Easiest Way to Attract Your Ideal Prospects?
This just in from Malika Duke at Better Networker...
My first thought when I read this question was: Fastest And Easiest Way To "Get" a Prospect is to club them over the head, drag them into you network marketing business opportunity meeting and steal their credit card...
But that's also the fastest way to jail too... so, assuming you are being ethical in your prospecting and recruiting lets go over the Fastest And Easiest Way to Attract Your Ideal Prospects instead step by step.
Step 1:
Brainstorm all the immediate benefits to your will get from your product or services. In or words know your product. Does it help your ideal prospect live longer, jump farther, cure athletes foot, get longer lashes?
What problem would your prospect be immediately looking to solve when they buy your product? It would be great to start with the solution the product or services provided for you or who you bought it for like a child or parent.
This is an important step because this is how you and everyone else goes shopping on the Internet. As a matter of fact that how we buy every thing. And I'll give you an example...
I have a client who is a health juice representative. The problem the health juice immediately solved for her was Chronic Constipation. She has lived with that problem for over 10 years and had thought she'd tried everything!
Step 2:
Research your suspicions. Use keyword search tools to determine the demand and supply of the "problems" and "solutions" you brainstormed in step 1.
I 'll go back to the example above of chronic constipation... That was a real *juicy* key word. Research revealed that the demand was high and healthy enough to invest time exploring variations and the supply was low. More importantly the other website that were providing information for that keyword left a lot to be desired.
That's good news for if the same is true for the problems your product and service solve.
Step 3:
Choose the media you'd like to deliver your content about your solutions. Having your own website and or blog has many advantages if you're looking to attract prospects online. There are several free and cheap ways you can do this but that's out side the scope of this article.
Once you have a website or blog up pick your media. Do feel comfortable speaking and recording your voice? Are you a natural in front of a camera? Do you prefer to write?
It really doesn't matter which you choose because you can always convert one for into another very easily and re-purpose your content so serve your audience who will learn in different ways. Some prospects will watch your videos, other will down load a speacial report, some will listen to an interview etc.
This particular client was in a financial position to higher a freelancer to turn her audio recording into text files and she delivers pages of articles and a special report about the issues concerning chronic constipation sufferers and the ultimate solution to their problems: her product...duh!
Step 4:
Go where your potential prospects are asking questions and seeking solutions for the problems you can solve with your product/service.
So, I advised my client to look in medical forums and health forums and participate in the conversation/wellness social networks and community forums. Look to see what kinds of questions potential prospects are asking and the quality of the responses they are receiving.
Another great place to check out is ehow.com and answers.yahoo.com.
Start answering questions and posting the valuable content you created that demonstrates to your potential prospect that you know what your talking about because of you are familiar with they problems and the *pain* of looking disparately for solid solutions.
Also don't be afraid to ask questions and start a conversation, discussion or even a group that is focused on helping this particular group of potential prospect.
Ah, yeah... I think that's it...
As long as you follow the above steps your potential prospects will start to take notice of you as a trusted adviser. Once you have that role established in their mind they will follow your links to your recommended product/service.
Regardless of how complicated setting this all up may seem to some people this is the basic formula for the fastest and easiest way to "get" prospects. It's also the way you will notice all the TOP Internet marketing leaders build their businesses now a days.
The point is to become one with your prospect. Discover how they think how they buy what promotes them to buy and present it in a way that they can get to know, like and trust you enough to take your deal.
Now, in the beginning, depending on your time and marketing budget you will choose to do some of these steps yourself or out source it to others who will do it for you.
Please notice I didn't mention to promote the specific name brand of your product or the company that you represent specifically. People rarely use that type of information to make a buying decision. If they wanted a name brand they probaly wouldn't have for you. It's all about your relationships.
Now how long will all this take? It depends on what point you are starting out, your tempement and how quickly you master each step.
If youd like to discuss a specific solution to your issue of getting prospects fast and easy, post your coments and questions here or email your favorite betternetworker in private e-mail.
*****Please Rate this article*****
Malika Duke
"The Business Savvy WAHM!"
Thanks Malika for your very insightful post.
If you have not seen the website BetterNetworker.Com yet, do yourself a favor and go there now to meet with like-minded, successful business builders.
Frank Tocco--MLM Mentoring
My first thought when I read this question was: Fastest And Easiest Way To "Get" a Prospect is to club them over the head, drag them into you network marketing business opportunity meeting and steal their credit card...
But that's also the fastest way to jail too... so, assuming you are being ethical in your prospecting and recruiting lets go over the Fastest And Easiest Way to Attract Your Ideal Prospects instead step by step.
Step 1:
Brainstorm all the immediate benefits to your will get from your product or services. In or words know your product. Does it help your ideal prospect live longer, jump farther, cure athletes foot, get longer lashes?
What problem would your prospect be immediately looking to solve when they buy your product? It would be great to start with the solution the product or services provided for you or who you bought it for like a child or parent.
This is an important step because this is how you and everyone else goes shopping on the Internet. As a matter of fact that how we buy every thing. And I'll give you an example...
I have a client who is a health juice representative. The problem the health juice immediately solved for her was Chronic Constipation. She has lived with that problem for over 10 years and had thought she'd tried everything!
Step 2:
Research your suspicions. Use keyword search tools to determine the demand and supply of the "problems" and "solutions" you brainstormed in step 1.
I 'll go back to the example above of chronic constipation... That was a real *juicy* key word. Research revealed that the demand was high and healthy enough to invest time exploring variations and the supply was low. More importantly the other website that were providing information for that keyword left a lot to be desired.
That's good news for if the same is true for the problems your product and service solve.
Step 3:
Choose the media you'd like to deliver your content about your solutions. Having your own website and or blog has many advantages if you're looking to attract prospects online. There are several free and cheap ways you can do this but that's out side the scope of this article.
Once you have a website or blog up pick your media. Do feel comfortable speaking and recording your voice? Are you a natural in front of a camera? Do you prefer to write?
It really doesn't matter which you choose because you can always convert one for into another very easily and re-purpose your content so serve your audience who will learn in different ways. Some prospects will watch your videos, other will down load a speacial report, some will listen to an interview etc.
This particular client was in a financial position to higher a freelancer to turn her audio recording into text files and she delivers pages of articles and a special report about the issues concerning chronic constipation sufferers and the ultimate solution to their problems: her product...duh!
Step 4:
Go where your potential prospects are asking questions and seeking solutions for the problems you can solve with your product/service.
So, I advised my client to look in medical forums and health forums and participate in the conversation/wellness social networks and community forums. Look to see what kinds of questions potential prospects are asking and the quality of the responses they are receiving.
Another great place to check out is ehow.com and answers.yahoo.com.
Start answering questions and posting the valuable content you created that demonstrates to your potential prospect that you know what your talking about because of you are familiar with they problems and the *pain* of looking disparately for solid solutions.
Also don't be afraid to ask questions and start a conversation, discussion or even a group that is focused on helping this particular group of potential prospect.
Ah, yeah... I think that's it...
As long as you follow the above steps your potential prospects will start to take notice of you as a trusted adviser. Once you have that role established in their mind they will follow your links to your recommended product/service.
Regardless of how complicated setting this all up may seem to some people this is the basic formula for the fastest and easiest way to "get" prospects. It's also the way you will notice all the TOP Internet marketing leaders build their businesses now a days.
The point is to become one with your prospect. Discover how they think how they buy what promotes them to buy and present it in a way that they can get to know, like and trust you enough to take your deal.
Now, in the beginning, depending on your time and marketing budget you will choose to do some of these steps yourself or out source it to others who will do it for you.
Please notice I didn't mention to promote the specific name brand of your product or the company that you represent specifically. People rarely use that type of information to make a buying decision. If they wanted a name brand they probaly wouldn't have for you. It's all about your relationships.
Now how long will all this take? It depends on what point you are starting out, your tempement and how quickly you master each step.
If youd like to discuss a specific solution to your issue of getting prospects fast and easy, post your coments and questions here or email your favorite betternetworker in private e-mail.
*****Please Rate this article*****
Malika Duke
"The Business Savvy WAHM!"
Thanks Malika for your very insightful post.
If you have not seen the website BetterNetworker.Com yet, do yourself a favor and go there now to meet with like-minded, successful business builders.
Frank Tocco--MLM Mentoring
Nov 8, 2008
Making Yourself Visible
Laura Sorensen blogged with a great question at BetterNetworker.com. Here it is with some comments from the community. By the ay, if you have never heard of Better Networker you should go there right now. It's where all the business leaders are hanging out online.
Click here to visit me there:
I am currently still obligated to a 40 hour per week job, while trying to build our business in my "spare time." In spite of that, I've spent numerous hours reading and building our personal web site. But I feel like there is too much information and I don't know how to priortize it.
I realize that there was no promise of "getting rich quick." What I want to know is, where does that break come between being awesome but "invisible" to being "Visible." I am by nature not a very patient person. But even one legitimate visitor to our site would be exhilirating at this point.
In fact, I took the advice of a Betternetworker email and posted my profile and a bunch of photos. I realize that most people that belong to this site have their own business to promote. What I am asking is, what has been the most effective marketing technique you have used and what is a realistic time frame to expect to get our first genuine prospect?
Frustrated and discouragedLaura Sorensen
http://www.mlm-travel-ventures-business.com/lsorensen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Laura,
I understand the frustrations of building a business when you're busy with work and family and after a long day you just want to relax. It's not easy but you're in good company. Everyone that has ever built a business has done it in their spare time after work.
You need to develope patience but more importantly, you need to be consistent. If you know "WHY" you're building your business it helps. The bigger your "WHY" and the more important it is to you, the more passion you will have to be consistent.
Winners fall in love with the process one goes through when they are striving to reach their goals. They fall in love with the effort it takes long after the excitement of building a business wears off. If you're too busy, maybe that's your "WHY", to have more free time. Only you can answer that question.
When you think about it, the only things we ever give our money to can be summed up in one word:
VALUE If omething is valueable to us, we throw money at it. We seek it out.
So if you are feeling invisible, then you need to seek value and soak it up like a sponge. If you're looking to build the kind of income that some of the leaders in Magnetic Sponsoring are building, you need to invest in becoming valuable to people looking for what you have to offer. There is no other short-cut way around it. Once you soak up all this valuable info, people looking will find you becaquse you will be what they are looking for.
Here's the formula for success:
BE
DO
HAVE
Find someone to mentor you that has what you want in life, resonates with you and is willing to mentor you. BE willing to pay the price.
Do what they have done and you will HAVE what they have.
Choose carefully and be willing to pay the price.
There's always a price. The price of procrastination is the costliest of all because if you don't get started building your own business, you will always be building someone else's, that is until they fire or down-size you. So don't give up and start learning how you can bring value to the table in a way that attracts what you want.
Sincerely,
Frank Tocco--MLM Mentoring
http://FrankTocco.blogspot.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laura,
I think you need to get a bit more specific with who your target is. You need to zero in on who you want that ONE legitimate surfer to be, and then you need to customize your content to build a relationship with that person.
Get inside their head, break them down, think about what they think about. If you have a very specific and clearly defined target, it will help you to analyze them in that way. Once you can figure out who they are, you can figure out where their virtual hang-outs are, and then you can figure out your way to get yourself next to them at those hang-outs.
Like Frank said, your WHY is important. Many people decide to market to people like them, or people that are like they WERE before finding whatever it is they are offering on their website. Then it is just a matter of getting inside YOUR OWN head and figuring out what it is about your WHY that makes it so important to you. What it is that makes you feel like you MUST have it. Market to those things, essentially market to yourself. Now your traffic is going to consist of people like you, or like you were before you "got it" and you're right there to help them "get it."
But the first step to marketing, in any industry, is to figure out WHO you are going after.
On a different note, it might be good for you to put that ad block under one full-width paragraph. Let the user start reading what you've got to write before they get distracted by the ads. I would recommend putting your first paragraph full-width, and then putting the google ads to the left of where the next paragraph starts, and finishing up with another full-width section under the ads.
People read top to bottom, left to right. If you put the ads in the middle of your content, they'll naturally be able to read through it better. If your first line of content goes half-way, then ads start on the right, they'll naturally continue reading along that line and run smack into the ads. Even if you have them to the left on top, they recognize the ads, make a conscious note to skip them, and then can continue easier. You definitely want your reader to identify with what you write first, and use your adsense ads after that.
I would maybe change the header to be an eye-catching headline rather than only the name of the site.
Sure, the name of the site is branding, but I'd rather catch someone's attention and keep them on the site long enough to do my branding elsewhere on the page.
Anyway, those are just a couple of technical things you might think about with regards to the page itself. I think you could tweak that page to really cater to a specific type of person, and then after that it is time to go find that person and pull them over.
Take care,
jM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Laura,
As you noticed targeting MLM Businesses as a keyword is not going to have your site come up any time soon.
If you want to get search engine visitors you have to make front page of the search engines and preferably top 3 listings. So you might want to at least start out targeting what they call "long tail keywords."
Long tail keywords are more specific and have less searches, but also have less competition so are easier to rank for. I don't know much about your business, but you might target people looking for "cheap travel to New Zealand" for instance. It might only get 6 searches a month but if you optimise a page on your site to that phrase then you could be #1 on the search engines and get all 6 of those people. Repeat this for 100 different long tail keywords and you are on your way to decent traffic.
Writing Articles might be a quicker way for you to generate more traffic. Write an article on "How To Make Money While Travelling" for example. Link it back to a page on your website optimised for that phrase and submit it to article directories.
Get involved in Forums or Social Sites where people are talking about travel and use your link in your signature and if you have good advice people will want to know more about you and what you have to say.
Post on your Blog daily if you can. Search engines rank you higher if you post consistently. It doesn't have to be revelational every day - just keep it fresh and optimised to your keywords.
Good luck.
Click here to visit me there:
I am currently still obligated to a 40 hour per week job, while trying to build our business in my "spare time." In spite of that, I've spent numerous hours reading and building our personal web site. But I feel like there is too much information and I don't know how to priortize it.
I realize that there was no promise of "getting rich quick." What I want to know is, where does that break come between being awesome but "invisible" to being "Visible." I am by nature not a very patient person. But even one legitimate visitor to our site would be exhilirating at this point.
In fact, I took the advice of a Betternetworker email and posted my profile and a bunch of photos. I realize that most people that belong to this site have their own business to promote. What I am asking is, what has been the most effective marketing technique you have used and what is a realistic time frame to expect to get our first genuine prospect?
Frustrated and discouragedLaura Sorensen
http://www.mlm-travel-ventures-business.com/lsorensen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Laura,
I understand the frustrations of building a business when you're busy with work and family and after a long day you just want to relax. It's not easy but you're in good company. Everyone that has ever built a business has done it in their spare time after work.
You need to develope patience but more importantly, you need to be consistent. If you know "WHY" you're building your business it helps. The bigger your "WHY" and the more important it is to you, the more passion you will have to be consistent.
Winners fall in love with the process one goes through when they are striving to reach their goals. They fall in love with the effort it takes long after the excitement of building a business wears off. If you're too busy, maybe that's your "WHY", to have more free time. Only you can answer that question.
When you think about it, the only things we ever give our money to can be summed up in one word:
VALUE If omething is valueable to us, we throw money at it. We seek it out.
So if you are feeling invisible, then you need to seek value and soak it up like a sponge. If you're looking to build the kind of income that some of the leaders in Magnetic Sponsoring are building, you need to invest in becoming valuable to people looking for what you have to offer. There is no other short-cut way around it. Once you soak up all this valuable info, people looking will find you becaquse you will be what they are looking for.
Here's the formula for success:
BE
DO
HAVE
Find someone to mentor you that has what you want in life, resonates with you and is willing to mentor you. BE willing to pay the price.
Do what they have done and you will HAVE what they have.
Choose carefully and be willing to pay the price.
There's always a price. The price of procrastination is the costliest of all because if you don't get started building your own business, you will always be building someone else's, that is until they fire or down-size you. So don't give up and start learning how you can bring value to the table in a way that attracts what you want.
Sincerely,
Frank Tocco--MLM Mentoring
http://FrankTocco.blogspot.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Laura,
I think you need to get a bit more specific with who your target is. You need to zero in on who you want that ONE legitimate surfer to be, and then you need to customize your content to build a relationship with that person.
Get inside their head, break them down, think about what they think about. If you have a very specific and clearly defined target, it will help you to analyze them in that way. Once you can figure out who they are, you can figure out where their virtual hang-outs are, and then you can figure out your way to get yourself next to them at those hang-outs.
Like Frank said, your WHY is important. Many people decide to market to people like them, or people that are like they WERE before finding whatever it is they are offering on their website. Then it is just a matter of getting inside YOUR OWN head and figuring out what it is about your WHY that makes it so important to you. What it is that makes you feel like you MUST have it. Market to those things, essentially market to yourself. Now your traffic is going to consist of people like you, or like you were before you "got it" and you're right there to help them "get it."
But the first step to marketing, in any industry, is to figure out WHO you are going after.
On a different note, it might be good for you to put that ad block under one full-width paragraph. Let the user start reading what you've got to write before they get distracted by the ads. I would recommend putting your first paragraph full-width, and then putting the google ads to the left of where the next paragraph starts, and finishing up with another full-width section under the ads.
People read top to bottom, left to right. If you put the ads in the middle of your content, they'll naturally be able to read through it better. If your first line of content goes half-way, then ads start on the right, they'll naturally continue reading along that line and run smack into the ads. Even if you have them to the left on top, they recognize the ads, make a conscious note to skip them, and then can continue easier. You definitely want your reader to identify with what you write first, and use your adsense ads after that.
I would maybe change the header to be an eye-catching headline rather than only the name of the site.
Sure, the name of the site is branding, but I'd rather catch someone's attention and keep them on the site long enough to do my branding elsewhere on the page.
Anyway, those are just a couple of technical things you might think about with regards to the page itself. I think you could tweak that page to really cater to a specific type of person, and then after that it is time to go find that person and pull them over.
Take care,
jM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Laura,
As you noticed targeting MLM Businesses as a keyword is not going to have your site come up any time soon.
If you want to get search engine visitors you have to make front page of the search engines and preferably top 3 listings. So you might want to at least start out targeting what they call "long tail keywords."
Long tail keywords are more specific and have less searches, but also have less competition so are easier to rank for. I don't know much about your business, but you might target people looking for "cheap travel to New Zealand" for instance. It might only get 6 searches a month but if you optimise a page on your site to that phrase then you could be #1 on the search engines and get all 6 of those people. Repeat this for 100 different long tail keywords and you are on your way to decent traffic.
Writing Articles might be a quicker way for you to generate more traffic. Write an article on "How To Make Money While Travelling" for example. Link it back to a page on your website optimised for that phrase and submit it to article directories.
Get involved in Forums or Social Sites where people are talking about travel and use your link in your signature and if you have good advice people will want to know more about you and what you have to say.
Post on your Blog daily if you can. Search engines rank you higher if you post consistently. It doesn't have to be revelational every day - just keep it fresh and optimised to your keywords.
Good luck.
Nov 6, 2008
Improving Your Email Deliverability Rate
For those of you who have never heard of Derek Gehl from the Internet Marketing Center then now is a good time to learn from him. He is truely one of the leaders in the internet marketing business and his lessons have helped me and many others to generate an endless stream of free and highly targeted website traffic.
This is a recent article from him that I wante to share with you to help you build your online business.
Without further ado....
...here's Derek.
Improving Your Email Deliverability Rate Can Help Keep Your Business Healthy During The Downturn! By Derek Gehl
As the economy continues along its unsteady path, many small business owners have been asking me what they can do to keep their businesses financially healthy over the coming months.
Lots of people are wondering if they should be investing in fancy new site designs, or boosting their pay-per-click budgets, or hiring high-priced SEO experts to help them get better rankings.
Now, while I'm obviously not against spending more money on these sorts of things...
... I recommend you start by leveraging the tools you already have, and make sure you're using them as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Take your email marketing, for instance.
Ensuring you have a smooth-running and reliable email marketing program is one of the surest ways to keep your business humming, without having to invest a lot of money!
I mean, think about it: what's the BEST way to keep your sales and profits up during a slow economy?
Build solid relationships with your existing customers, so they keep coming back for more.
And what's the ideal way to build those relationships?
And what's the ideal way to build those relationships?
Yep, you guessed it...
When you stay in touch with your regular customers -- and email them valuable information -- they'll quickly view you as a credible resource, an expert in your field, and most important, someone who's watching out for their best interests.
When you stay in touch with your regular customers -- and email them valuable information -- they'll quickly view you as a credible resource, an expert in your field, and most important, someone who's watching out for their best interests.
And they'll reward you with their loyalty (and continued purchases)!
Unfortunately, many business owners take their email marketing for granted, and pay little attention to it beyond what their next promotion will be...
... and meanwhile, the number of emails that actually make it to their customers' inboxes gets lower each week!
That's because legitimate permission-based email can often be mistakenly identified as "spam," and sent straight to customers' spam, folders... if it gets delivered at all.
It kind of defeats the purpose of using email for customer retention if none of your customers are getting the emails, right?
Fortunately, it's EASY to enjoy a high rate of deliverability with your email, if you understand a few basic spam rules.
So to make sure as much of your email is getting to your customers as possible, here are the TOP TEN things you MUST do to avoid having your email mistakenly labeled as spam...
Rule #1: Keep ACCURATE records of EACH person who subscribes
Having detailed records is just good business practice, but in the case of your opt-ins, it's critical.
So make sure you keep track of the date, time, referring IP address, and referring web page for EACH person who signs up, along with their first name, last name, and email address.
Having detailed records is just good business practice, but in the case of your opt-ins, it's critical.
So make sure you keep track of the date, time, referring IP address, and referring web page for EACH person who signs up, along with their first name, last name, and email address.
You can quickly and easily prove that you're definitely NOT a spammer if you have details to back yourself up.
Rule #2: Track requests to opt out, and remove these people PRONTO!
Once again, good record-keeping is the way to go. The CAN-SPAM act requires that you remove people who ask to opt out within 10 days of their request.
Once again, good record-keeping is the way to go. The CAN-SPAM act requires that you remove people who ask to opt out within 10 days of their request.
But why not play it safe? It's a good idea to implement your remove requests every couple of days, as well as before you do a new mailing.
Rule #3: Post your privacy policy on your website
Make sure you let people know that you will NEVER sell or trade their names and email addresses when they opt-in, and make sure you STICK to that!
Make sure you let people know that you will NEVER sell or trade their names and email addresses when they opt-in, and make sure you STICK to that!
There's a second benefit to posting your privacy policy clearly: you'll actually get MORE opt ins, because people will feel more comfortable sharing their information with you.
A clearly spelled-out privacy policy somewhere in your site, along with a direct link to it from your opt-in form, will go a long way in building credibility with your customers.
If you're unsure of how to write a privacy policy, I recommend you visit this site, where you can have one generated for you, automatically.
Rule #4: Make sure you're using reputable service providers
If you're thinking of hiring a third party to manage your email for you, or rent email lists from, make sure you investigate them thoroughly before you sign on the dotted line.
If you're thinking of hiring a third party to manage your email for you, or rent email lists from, make sure you investigate them thoroughly before you sign on the dotted line.
When it comes to the Internet, your reputation is only as good as the people who manage your email promotions for you, and you DON'T want to be hurt by someone else's bad behavior.
Rule #5: Use rental lists with care
Thinking of renting an email list for a promotion? Make sure you take the time to review the form that was used to collect those names and email addresses.
Thinking of renting an email list for a promotion? Make sure you take the time to review the form that was used to collect those names and email addresses.
Not only will you be able to tell if the people on the list have given their permission to the list broker to sell or rent their information, you should also be able to tell if the people on the list will be interested in your offer.
Rule #6: Use a REAL return email address with room to store bounce-backs and opt-outs
While every email you send should have an "unsubscribe" link it in (more about that in a minute), you also need to honor any unsubscribe requests that people send to your regular email address.
While every email you send should have an "unsubscribe" link it in (more about that in a minute), you also need to honor any unsubscribe requests that people send to your regular email address.
So make sure it's possible for people on your list to reach you through regular email, and also make sure you've got room in your inbox to receive the messages. There's nothing worse than an unsubscribe request that can't be delivered!
And while it may be tempting to respond to the occasional angry unsubscribe email you may get from a disgruntled subscriber, your best course of action is simply to delete them promptly.
Rule #7: Provide easy instructions for how to unsubscribe
EVERY email you send out MUST contain clear, simple instructions that tell people how to unsubscribe if they no longer wish to receive email from you... as well as a link they can click to unsubscribe automatically.
EVERY email you send out MUST contain clear, simple instructions that tell people how to unsubscribe if they no longer wish to receive email from you... as well as a link they can click to unsubscribe automatically.
This is NOT negotiable. Any email sent out without unsubscribe information is officially spam!
Rule #8: Provide your valid physical address
Each email you send out must contain your physical address.
Each email you send out must contain your physical address.
Consider creating an email template with your contact information in the footer, and then use this template for each email you write. You'll eliminate the possibility of accidentally sending out mail without this important detail.
Rule #9: Use a consistent "from" address
The "from" line in your email must be valid and accurate -- the name of your business, for instance, or your own name (provided your name is well enough linked to your business that your customers will recognize it).
The "from" line in your email must be valid and accurate -- the name of your business, for instance, or your own name (provided your name is well enough linked to your business that your customers will recognize it).
Your email address should also be clear enough for your customers to recognize. Some web-based email doesn't show the "from" line, so there needs to be another way for your customers to recognize you.
Rule #10: Use an authentic, non-misleading subject line
Nobody likes to be fooled or tricked, and deception is the WRONG way to earn your customers' trust and respect, so make sure your subject line is related to your actual messages.
Nobody likes to be fooled or tricked, and deception is the WRONG way to earn your customers' trust and respect, so make sure your subject line is related to your actual messages.
So if your subject line says Janet, three ways to save money, you need to make sure you actually are talking about that in your email, and preferably within the first few paragraphs.
Otherwise, your visitors will feel cheated, and that will hurt your credibility.
Email marketing is inexpensive, easily trackable, and extremely effective. And the reason it's so effective is that you send it to a highly targeted, selected group of people; your customers and subscribers who have a relationship with you and WANT to hear from you.
But even your legitimate mail can be snagged in the web of anti-spam measures...
If you follow these 10 simple rules, you'll have the best chance of getting your email delivered.
Keep your opt-in list clean, and your email promotions should be recognized for what they are... responsible opt-in email promotions, not spam.
Keep your opt-in list clean, and your email promotions should be recognized for what they are... responsible opt-in email promotions, not spam.
And that's the BEST way to continue to earn profits during the current economic downturn, without having to invest one additional penny!
To your success,
Derek Gehl
Derek Gehl
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