ProBlogger Christmas Eve Party – Save This Date
OK – last year I did an impromptu ProBlogger ‘Christmas office party’ on Christmas Eve. It basically involved me drinking beer and eating some chips sitting in front of a webcam while Twitter followers dropped by to say G’day. We did a bit of Q&A and had some fun for an hour or so.
This year I want to open it up to everyone and give you a little advanced warning.
This year I’m going to do it a little earlier in the day (I’ll swap out beer and chips for coffee and a muffin) and it’ll be on at 9am this coming Thursday Melbourne time.
This will make it:
- 2pm Wednesday in Los Angeles
- 5pm Wednesday in New York
- 10pm Wednesday in London
- 6am Thursday in Singapore
- 3.30am in New Delhi (sorry friends!)
I’ll Tweet out a reminder in the lead up and when we start but it’ll be at the ProBlogger Show channel on Ustream.
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
ProBlogger Christmas Eve Party – Save This Date
December 22, 2009
Tags: Christmas, Christmas Eve, melbourne, ProBlogger Show channel, Tweet, Twitter Posted in: Uncategorized 
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Five Efficient Tips on Facebook Marketing
As you may be aware of, Facebook is one of the most popular website focusing on social networking. It serves as one of the avenues that online marketing people make use of to produce their leads. Facebook serves as a tool that you can make use of to connect to various hierarchies in the online society. The tool provides you with different features like the Facebook Wall to express yourself. You can upload your image and keep in touch with other through Pokes. Through networking, Facebook marketing allows the online marketers to find interesting leads.Facebook is one of the websites having a lot of traffic into it. You should be prepared to manage the traffic that you obtain through Facebook marketing. Facebook is a very powerful tool in internet marketing. Here are some tips for effective Facebook marketing.
You will need to create a profile for yourself, to be able to begin a Facebook social network. Similarly, you will be able to add only people who have a profile in it. Others may not be able to add you if you do not hold a profile. Similarly, your profile should be a complete one, to be able to attract others’ interest. Also, do not use nick names or company name; try and give your own name in your profile.
Next, you can try and host an event. Then, you can post it up in news feeds of the site. If the news you have posted is of interest to others, you will start gaining interest of others in your network. Further, you will be able to boost your service or your product. You may even gain new visitors if people in your network recommend you to others.
You can now try to let others know of your lifestyle, like what you do and how you operate. Further, you will definitely need to invite your friends into your network, as this will help you to promote your business through them.
You can post articles that focus on news in your Facebook site. For instance, if you are trying to market a product or a service, you can post the latest news regarding it in your site. But, the article you post should be strong in knowledge and information. If your article is knowledgeable, it is sure to attract a good amount of targeted traffic into your site. People who visit your site in this way will be interested in your products and services also.
Further, you can identify others who deal with almost same business as yours, and you can post comments on their area of the network. This will certainly help you to build stronger rapport in your network, and the number of your visitors will increase tremendously.
December 22, 2009
Tags: Facebook, Internet marketing, Online Marketers, online marketing people, online society, social network, social networking, stronger rapport in your network Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Closed
Feature Content Area Added to ProBlogger.com
This is just a short note to update readers on ProBlogger.com – the ProBlogger Community area.
In the last 24 hours I’ve added a new area to the forum area where I’ll be releasing monthly ‘featured content’.
Each month I’ll be releasing a podcast interview with a successful blogger – looking at how they got started, how they got their break, how they keep creating compelling content, how they monetize their blog and more.
Each of the interviewees will be given a membership of ProBlogger.com and invited to come and interact with our readers in the weeks following the podcast release.
The first interview is now posted – it’s with Gala Darling from Icing.
Gala has built her blog and associated freelance writing into a business over the last couple of years. In the interview we cover all of the topics mentioned above plus we look at a new monthly podcast that she’s successfully started as a way to monetize her blog.
This interview is a little over 30 minutes – others will be around this length/depth and longer.
Future interviews will be with a variety of bloggers from different niches and with different areas of expertise.
ProBlogger.com is a paid subscription area and currently has around 2300 paid up members from a large variety of niches and levels. Join us here.
PS: Members also currently receive 50% off the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook.
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
Feature Content Area Added to ProBlogger.com
December 22, 2009
Tags: Gala Darling Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Closed
Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
I just finished Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Robert Cialdini, Noah Goldstein, and Steve Martin.
The reason I picked up the book is that Cialdini is my favorite author, and I’d say his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, is the best business boook out there – one that every marketer should have in their library.
As you can tell from the title, the book is broken into 50 mini-chapters of practical tips and tricks on being more persuasive in your business.
That makes it really easy to digest the quick lessons when you have a spare moment.
And what other book mixes references to Britney Spears, the Smurfs and Sex and the City with academic concepts like loss aversion and the scarcity principle?
Robert Cialdini will be delivering a keynote address at Affiliate Summit West 2010, taking place January 17-19, 2010 in Las Vegas.
Video: Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins
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December 22, 2009
Tags: Britney Spears, favorite author, Las Vegas, Noah Goldstein, Robert Cialdini, Shawn Collins, Steve Martin Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Closed
11 Ways to Gain Clarity
I’m sure you’ve read that clarity and focus are important qualities for success. Decide what you want, and then pursue it with passion and energy.
But what if you’re feeling uncertain and don’t have a lot of clarity about your future direction? What if you can’t decide what you’d like to do next? This is a common problem, especially for today’s 20-somethings who are growing up in a world of unprecedented change.
Fortunately there are many actions you can take and mental adjustments you can make that will help you shift from uncertainty to certainty.
Here are 11 tips for infusing your life with more clarity:
1. Assume 100% responsibility for your own level of clarity.
Many people assume that clarity is something that will arrive in good time if they simply wait patiently. Others feel stunted that they aren’t gifted with the same degree of clarity as others. The common pattern is that clarity is seen as something that is bestowed from the outside in, that it’s something God, the universe, or the world at large has the power to grant you — or that it’s an accident in some way. Some people get lucky; others don’t.
These attitudes are pointless and self-defeating.
Clarity isn’t something that arrives from outside of you. Clarity isn’t a matter of luck either. Clarity is what you create for yourself.
Clarity is a decision.
Whatever degree of clarity you’re experiencing right now is what you’ve decided to create. Not deciding still counts as a decision; in that case it’s the decision to remain uncertain.
The word decide comes from the Latin decidere, which means “to cut off from.” To make a decision, you must cut away other potential directions. If you remain open to lots of different directions at the same time, you get confusion and fuzziness. When you commit yourself to one specific direction, clarity is the natural result.
It’s wise to remain open and responsive to what comes your way. Don’t be so rigid as to ignore what’s coming to you. But neither be so “open” that you succumb to wishy-washy indecision. Be like a ship captain who sets sail with a specific destination in mind, while keeping a keen eye on the wind and waters during the journey.
Now it’s entirely possible that you may not be very good at creating clarity yet. You may in fact be very good at creating confusion and uncertainty for yourself — and have a long track record to prove it. That’s okay for now, but take it as a given that you’re the one who’s creating your current level of clarity. No one else is doing it to you — not God or the universe or your friends and family or your boss or your spirit guides or the Law of Attraction.
Furthermore, realize and accept that if your current degree of clarity is to improve, then you must actively make some changes. Endlessly pondering why you don’t have clarity will only perpetuate confusion, so that’s a bad habit you can drop immediately.
If you want more clarity, then it’s time to treat the generation of clarity as a serious undertaking that’s entirely 100% your responsibility. It’s not going to happen unless you make it happen.
2. Stop creating the opposite of clarity.
Some thoughts and actions lead to increased clarity. Other thoughts and actions have the opposite effect.
If you want to experience more clarity, you must disengage yourself from that which has an adverse effect on your clarity.
Clarity-reducing patterns include:
- Hanging out with fuzzy, unfocused people who are drifting aimlessly with no direction
- Living with people whose goals and values are in conflict with yours
- Distracting yourself with excessive TV, web surfing, video games, or other time-wasting habits
- Numbing your mind and emotions with junk food, alcohol, or other addictions
- Overstimulating yourself with caffeine (which for many people leads to racing thoughts)
- Whining about your lack of certainty or complaining that you don’t know what to do
Clarity-boosting patterns include doing the opposite of the above:
- Hanging out with clear, focused people who can tell you their purpose and direction
- Living with people whose goals and values align well with yours
- Feeding your mind with inspirational and motivational material like quality books and audio programs
- Eating healthy, unrefined foods (especially fruits and veggies, fresh juices, and smoothies) that keep your mind sharp and alert
- Avoiding stimulants that cause swings in your thoughts and emotions
- Thinking about your goals and the next actions you can take today
If you find yourself surrounded by people and circumstances that leave you feeling dizzy and confused, drop those elements from your life, and give yourself the space to create and enjoy the clarity you seek. Spinning in circles is unproductive.
3. Harvest and apply the clarity lessons from your past.
Notice that your level of clarity isn’t the same at all times. At some points in your life, you’ve been very clear. At other times you’ve been extremely uncertain.
Take a moment to review those times when you’ve been at one extreme vs. the other. See if you can identify some of the causal factors on both sides.
Notice which factors lead to reduced clarity, and do less of them. Also notice which factors lead to increased clarity, and do more of them. This sounds childishly simple, and it is, but chances are that you aren’t applying this idea as well as you could. Humor me, and give it a try. You’ll be amazed as the a-ha moments that can be gotten from a quick review of your past patterns of clarity vs. fuzziness.
For example, do you feel clearer and more certain after taking the time to write down your goals? Do you feel fuzzier after having a conversation with someone who’s always nagging you to change in ways you disagree with? If so, then do the former more often, and do the latter less often.
4. Use visualization to create the vibe of clarity.
Either you feel clear and focused right now, or you don’t.
You may assume that your external reality has to be a certain way in order for you to feel clear and focused. Having all your ducks in a row may make it easier to feel clear, but you can also use your imagination to create the feeling of clarity.
Clarity is more than just a feeling. There’s an emotional state associated with it, but it’s more than that. Clarity is a certain vibe. When you’re really clear, you can sense that vibe through every cell of your being. Your mind and emotions are centered. Every part of you is on the same page. There’s no doubt or uncertainty. This is a powerful state of being to experience.
Sit quietly for a few moments and imagine what it’s like to hold the vibe of total clarity. Imagine what your surroundings would look like if you were really clear about your direction in life right now. Imagine the people and circumstances that would be in your reality. Imagine how you’d dress, how you’d move, and how you’d communicate with others. Paint a vivid picture of a reality — any reality — in which you feel crystal clear about your direction in life.
What matters isn’t the specific visualization you create. What matters is the vibe you experience. You can imagine yourself as an ancient Roman conqueror as long as it helps you hold the vibe of clarity. Do this for at least 10-20 minutes per day until the clarity vibe feels normal and natural to you. The more you practice holding this vibe, the more clarity you’ll bring to the rest of your life and to all the decisions you make.
For more on this visualization process, read the article How to Visualize Your New Reality.
5. Ask for help.
Help is available when you need it, so take advantage of it. Ask someone who’s clear about their path to assist you.
The quality of help you receive will vary depending on the source. For example, an experienced counselor like Erin may be able to help you gain clarity quickly, while an enthusiastic but inexperienced friend may create more confusion than certainty. Also, consulting with an unbiased outsider is usually more beneficial than asking for help from someone who’s personally invested in your situation.
Bear in mind that you’re still 100% responsible for your level of clarity. Use counselors, coaches, and advice givers as a resource to help you see the big picture, but don’t give your power away to them. If you try to give your power away to such people, hoping they’ll tell you what to do, it will backfire. A good counselor can help draw out and validate a path that’s right for you, but s/he cannot create a path for you. Creating the path is your responsibility.
6. Put your goals in writing, and review them daily.
This is a well-known habit of success, yet its practice remains inconsistent for most people.
As soon as you write down your goals, you’ll experience a boost in clarity. And each time you review your goals, you’ll gain more clarity.
Writing down your goals pushes you to make them clearer and more precise. It’s easy for a goal to remain fuzzy when it’s only in your mind, but if it’s stuck in your head and you can’t even write it down, it’s more of a fantasy than a goal. Putting your goal in writing is the first key action step toward making it real.
How many times have you imagined a sexual fantasy for instance? And how many of those did you commit to writing as an actual goal or intention? Which ones are more likely to manifest? Whatever you’d like to keep as fantasy, leave it in your imagination. But whatever you’d like to experience in physical reality, put it down in writing.
Keep drilling your goals into your subconscious mind by reviewing them daily. Imagine your written goals as physically real — not fantasy — and soon your internal resources will be aligned with making those goals come to fruition. It takes a while to condition the subconscious through repetition, but if you persist with this habit, you’ll begin to notice subtle shifts that bring your goals ever closer.
Jack Canfield recommends the practice of writing your goals on index cards, one goal per card. Then flip through the cards and imagine each goal as real when you first wake up in the morning and again before you go to bed. This is an excellent habit to install.
7. Accept that any goal is better than no goal.
When asked to take a few minutes to write down some goals, certain people love to whine, “But I don’t know what to write down. I don’t know what my goals are.” In that case you can write down, “I want nothing!” If all you have is a blank page — or no page at all — then your goal is nothing. That’s what you’re asking for, so that’s what you’ll receive.
The people who whine that they don’t know what to ask for are really saying, “I want nothing. I can’t think of any single thing I want. So I’m asking for precisely nothing.”
Sounds pretty foolish, doesn’t it? It is foolish!
Surely you can come up with something to ask for that’s better than nothing. Ask for a nice dinner. Ask for an extra $100. Ask for a new friend. Ask for a nicer phone. Anything is better than nothing.
Imagine asking a child, “What do you want for Christmas?” and hearing the response, “I’m content with what I have. Please don’t trouble yourself on my behalf.” Now that would be a rare child indeed. Some might say that such a child is enlightened. I’d say that such a child was drugged. Even a dog is capable of expressing what s/he wants, including a neutered dog.
Don’t pressure yourself into trying to come up with the perfect list of goals. You’ll never get there. Just write down some items that appeal to you, such as new experiences you’d like to have. Start with the goals that are easy for you to desire. Is there someplace you’d like to visit? Some activity you’d like to try? Someone you’d like to meet?
As you get into the habit of setting and achieving goals, better goals will come to you. Don’t worry so much about changing the world if you’re still new to goal setting. Focus on some appealing but smaller achievements first, and as you get good at achieving those goals, continue to expand your goals in new directions.
8. Crystalize your goals.
At first you may write down a goal like, “I have a job I enjoy.” That’s an okay place to start, but it’s not a very powerful goal because it’s so fuzzy. Your mind will have a hard time locking onto it and taking action.
As you review your goals, try to lock them down and make them more specific.
For example, instead of asking for a job you enjoy, you could say, “I make a living creating movies.” That’s a positive step towards greater specificity.
Then as you think about that goal, you may progress to, “I enthusiastically earn $100,000 per year writing, producing, directing, and distributing independent short films that uplift, motivate, and inspire people to find their passion.” That goal is much clearer still.
Clear written goals help you stay focused. Fuzzy goals leave you feeling uncertain.
There’s no need to add superfluous details that are irrelevant to you, but if you can be more specific about what you truly want, it will help you achieve your goals faster, partly because clearer goals are less prone to procrastination. It’s too easy to procrastinate on a goal when you can’t figure out what the next step may be.
9. Pay attention to the path, not just the end result.
Sometimes the way you achieve a particular goal is more important than the goal itself.
When I started college my second time, ostensibly my goal was to earn my degree in computer science. That was an important goal for me, but it wasn’t very motivating by itself. The first time I pursued that goal, I failed miserably and got expelled from school. The thought of spending 4 more years in school to get a degree was demotivating, so I triple-majored in poker, alcohol, and shoplifting instead.
A year later when I started over as a freshman, I altered my goal to be, “I graduate with a computer science degree in only 3 semesters.” Now that goal inspired me! Challenging myself in that way was even more inspiring than the degree itself. I could have majored in psychology instead of computer science, and the goal still would have excited me.
Would your goal be more inspiring to you if you found a way to achieve it faster? With a partner or a small team? While traveling? Without spending a dime?
When a goal is too straightforward, it can become demotivating because the action steps may get tedious and repetitive after a while. But if you can spice up the process used to achieve the goal, you may discover some newfound excitement.
Sometimes it’s fun to take the scenic route.
10. Stick with one primary goal at a time.
If you have a lot of goals, it’s easy to fall into the trap of jumping around between different goals and making little progress on any of them. If you want to actually achieve a goal, focus on one key goal single-mindedly until it’s achieved. Then move on to another goal. This is what top achievers do. Having too many competing goals will simply scatter your energies.
It’s great to have a big list of goals, but which of those goals is most important to you right now? Which one do you want to achieve first? Make that goal your primary aim, and focus on its achievement. When you can work on that goal, do so. Work on other goals while you’re waiting for responses from others or if you simply need a break from the first goal.
What if you have a really huge goal that will take many years to achieve? Same rule applies. If that goal is truly important to you, then center your life around it. Otherwise you’re unlikely to sustain the kind of momentum needed to make it a reality. If that’s too much for you though, you can scale back your goal to something more manageable. Set a subgoal to achieve, but realize that if you do other things between those subgoals, you’re delaying the end result of your primary goal. That’s perfectly fine if you’re still making good progress and enjoying the process. The final result isn’t the only thing that matters.
When you look back on the previous year, do you see a track record of massive progress toward your primary goal? If you aren’t satisfied with your current rate of progress, then you’ll need to make some changes to avoid repeating the same pattern next year. There’s no honor in having a big goal on your list if you aren’t making serious progress towards its achievement. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that setting a big goal is the same thing as achieving a big goal.
11. Explore and experiment.
Sometimes it’s tough to set a clear goal because you don’t know what you’re getting into. In that case you can experiment in order to gain clarity about the goal space you’re exploring.
When I worked in the computer gaming industry, one of the major chicken-egg problems was that you didn’t really know what game you were trying to build until you were already well on your way to building it. Very rarely could you write out a complete design on paper and then implement it. That simply never happened for larger projects. Too many important design decisions had to be made along the way; otherwise golden opportunities would be missed, and the final product would fall far short of its potential.
Much of the time, a small team would develop a prototype that would demonstrate some interesting gameplay dynamics, and then they’d play around with it to see how they might develop it into a commercial product. Funding would typically occur in stages, with one or more rounds of funding to create the experimental prototype and demonstrate key features, followed by additional funding to staff up with a larger team and create the final product. The final goal, i.e. defining exactly what kind of game was being created, often didn’t became clear until the project was well underway. This process made sense for the designers, but it often drove the publishers and marketers nuts, so typically the production team would document more certainty about the specs and the schedule than was realistic, so as to make their financial backers more comfortable. Nevertheless, this design-as-you-go process led to the creation of some very innovative games (which inevitably went over budget and were released a year or more behind schedule).
Doing what you’re already doing won’t give you more clarity. Thinking about what to do next and writing down some goals can certainly help, but that isn’t always enough. Sometimes you have to get moving first before clarity can be achieved. You’ll enjoy more clarity when you’re in motion than when you’re standing still. A pilot has better visibility from the air than from the ground.
At the end of 2008, I blogged that intimate relationships would be my primary personal development focus for 2009. I shared my uncertainties about my marriage and my future relationship possibilities. I didn’t have a clear goal at the time, so I picked a new direction to explore that I felt would help me gain clarity. That direction was a bit controversial for some people, especially the religious folks, so I took flak after blogging about it, but I stuck with the decision. In retrospect it was definitely the right course for me, and 2009 became a year of extreme growth and change in my personal life. I’m immensely grateful that I didn’t settle for maintaining the status quo.
This has been a challenging exploration, sometimes an emotional roller coaster. But I don’t see how I could have learned what I needed to learn any other way. One thing I discovered is that I really enjoy new connections that are fresh and exciting, yet at the same time, I also enjoy the stability of grounding connections like spending time with my kids (who are sleeping over at my house tonight). My next challenge is to find the right balance between these two aspects of my relationship life instead of swinging the pendulum too far one way or the other. New goals are now emerging, goals I could not have verbalized a year ago.
When you’re stuck in a state of ambivalence, do whatever it takes to break the impasse. Do something radically different than what you’ve been doing. For example, if you know your current job is unfulfilling, but you don’t know what kind of work you’d enjoy, then quit the unfulfilling job immediately, and do something completely different for a while. Don’t expect to get it perfect on the first try. Go out and rack up a string of failed experiments, and you’ll be much closer to figuring out what you truly love.
Some people will judge you harshly for undertaking such an exploration, but their reactions have little to do with you. They may be upset because you’re reminding them that they haven’t been learning and growing as much as they could be. Or they may be upset because you’re interfering with their sense of certainty; they thought they had you all figured out, and then you throw them for a loop. Or they may just be having a bad day. Regardless of the reason, don’t let fears about other people’s reactions hold you back from conducting your own growth experiments. If I can handle all the sardonic silliness that other bloggers feel inclined to publish about me, then surely you can handle your friends and family thinking you’ve gone off the deep end for a while. Just remember that every person who takes issue with what you’re doing is really saying, “I care about you enough to invest my time in you.”
Don’t wait for clarity to come to you. You’re responsible for creating your own clarity from within. If you lack clarity, then get busy creating it. If you can achieve clarity by doing written exercises from the comfort of your home, great. If not, then leave your comfort zone behind, go outside, and explore what’s out there!
Achieve new breakthroughs in your habits, career, finances, relationships, health, and spiritual development. Register now to attend the transformational 3-day Conscious Growth Workshop in Las Vegas, January 15-17, 2010.
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© 2009 by Steve Pavlina.
December 22, 2009
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Aweber Makes a Statement About Their Data Being Compromised
As a quick update to my post over the weekend about Aweber’s system being compromised and spam emails being sent out to those that subscribe to Aweber lists – Aweber have today released a statement acknowledging the problem and talking about what they have done as a result of it.
A quick summary:
- They’re putting it down to vulnerabilities in two third party software systems that they use.
- They’re saying that the hack was limited to areas where subscriber email addresses were stored.
- They believe that the attack was done but an ‘overseas organised group’.
- They state that no other information was taken including information about customers accounts or affiliates accounts.
- They say that Aweber’s system was not used in the spamming and as a result deliverability rates have not been impacted
- They’ve closed the vulnerabilities.
Of course the reality is that while Aweber customers own details and information have not been compromised (this is a relief) – our lists have. While there’s nothing that Aweber can do about this now – the reality is that we as their customers do have to live with the knowledge that our readers, those who trust us with their details, are now getting spammed and that this spam could continue indefinitely.
While I understand Aweber’s statement, feel sorry that they went through this, am happy that it’s not as bad as it could have been and know this stuff happens – I do have some mixed feelings on this:
- Firstly I’ve got over 333,000 subscribers who have potentially been receiving spam in the last few days. This makes me feel ill and embarrassed. I’ve fielded many many emails in the last few days from angry and confused readers. While not all will realize why they’re being spammed now some who have set up specific addresses for my newsletters have – and they’re now angry and have a damaged view of my brand (and some have unsubscribed*). If you’re one of these subscribers – I’m truly sorry – I wish there were something that I could do except suggest you mark the spam as spam and/or resubscribe with a new email address.
- Secondly I’ve been actively recommending Aweber for a year or two here on ProBlogger. I personally want to apologise to my readers who have acted on that recommendation who have been impacted by this. While by no means is it my fault that there was this flaw in Aweber’s system I acknowledge that my genuine recommendation has led to these implications.
I think Aweber has an amazing service. They’ve become an integral part of my own business, have always given me amazing service and I will continue to use them. However I guess I wanted to also acknowledge to others hurt by this that I’m sorry for my part in it (indirect or not).
While Aweber does not apologise in their statement (I guess the lawyers might have had a part in that) I certainly want to express my sorrow for this event to those of you impacted by it.
Update: Aweber have since updated their statement to express that they’re sorry.
There is no perfect system. Over the years my own sites have been hacked (as have many many successful businesses). It is just a pity that this particular instance has impacted so many people.
* as I’m about to hit publish on this I thought I’d check out how many of my subscribers have in fact unsubscribed over the last few days. What I found in the reports section was very odd – for the last 3 days Aweber is reporting that not a single person has unsubscribed from my lists. The blue part of the chart is the unsubscribers – you’ll see in the last three days it is not there at all).
This is bizarre – in the last month of the stats there has not been a single day that I’ve not had someone unsubscribe – in fact I can’t remember a day that there wasn’t at least 10 for much longer than that (it’s just a natural part of having a list of the size that I do) – to have 3 days in a row with no unsubscribers is very very odd. Hopefully it’s just a glitch!
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
Aweber Makes a Statement About Their Data Being Compromised
December 21, 2009
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FeedFront Magazine Issue 9 Now Available
The ninth issue of FeedFront, the official magazine of Affiliate Summit, is at the printer and it will be hitting mailboxes in early January 2010.
Issue nine of FeedFront will also be distributed at Affiliate Summit West 2010.
This issue of FeedFront Magazine includes The Importance of Branding in Affiliate Marketing by Rae Hoffman, How to Recycle Your Affiliate Blog Content by Justin Premick, and FTC Endorsement Guidelines by Gary Kibel.
Also, people to follow on Twitter, affiliate marketing statistics, and the program for Affiliate Summit West 2010.
Issue 9 of FeedFront can now be viewed online, downloaded, and printed from Scribd.
Get the FeedFront RSS if you’d like to get all of the articles as they are published to the feed.
If you haven’t subscribed, you can get the magazine for free at http://feedfront.com/free-subscription/.
Also, become a fan of FeedFront on Facebook to see past issues, covers, etc.
This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins
Read and comment on FeedFront Magazine Issue 9 Now Available
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December 21, 2009
Tags: Facebook, Federal Trade Commission, FeedFront, Gary Kibel, Justin Premick, official magazine, Rae Hoffman, Shawn Collins, Twitter Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Closed
The Internet Marketing Tools that Make Money for You
Internet marketing is a good way make a living online. Through Internet marketing, you can promote affiliate products, sell freelance service or market your website; and in return you can make even more money than you make from your job. But Internet marketing has more competition so you need to be more creative and hardworking.There are various tools for Internet marketing. These are the tools that can help you market your products successfully. Below are some of the Internet marketing tools available today:
Blog
Blog is one of the powerful Internet marketing tools that most of the online marketers are suggesting these days. Blogging will not cost you anything and it can potentially generate targeted traffic to your page for long term. Starting a blog is free using the blogging platforms like Blogger and Wordpress. Then you can introduce yourself, let other know what you are doing and start posting useful and interesting content that your targeted prospects are interest on. Keep updating your blog with good content to build traffic and creditability.
Once you have blogging for some time, your readers and visitors would have known you and you may then write blog posts about your products or write reviews on the affiliate products that you want to promote to your blog visitors.
Article
Articles are another great way to get exposure for anything that you want to market online. The process of using articles to market your online business isn't complicated. You start by writing informative articles or 'how to' articles that are relevant to your product or business, include your website link in author bio of each of your articles and submit them to online publishing websites.
Your articles mustn't be written like sale pitches because the online publishing websites and article directories will not accept them. Make your articles easy to read, straight to the point and give some value to the readers. This will make the readers interested to click on your website link to find out more good information from you or know about your offer once they have finished reading your article.
Forum
Whatever product or service you are trying to sell online, there will be forums that are discussing topics related to what you are offering. The forums might not talk about products but what they are discussing and posting have a relation to what you are selling. For instance, say you are promoting online games and they are forums that discuss about how to play online games, the strategies they can use and so on. These forums certainly related to your products. The members of the forums are your potential customers. The question is how to direct these potential customers your site to buy your game products?
Participation is the answer. Joining and participating discussion in the related forums will enable you to establish an image in the forum communities. The key to building a good image in the communities is to contribute useful and valuable information that the members are looking for. Always be helpful in the forums and sharing good tips will gradually build up your name.
Add your website links in the signature line. Since you are providing valuable information frequently in the communities, the members who read you messages will see your link in your signature and probably follow your link to check out what you are offering or to get more useful information from you. So another free targeted traffic source to your business website.
December 21, 2009
Tags: affiliate products, Author, Internet marketing, Internet Marketing Tools, Online, online games, Online Marketers, online publishing websites Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Closed
How To Increase Traffic 30% in a Week
This morning I glanced down at the Alexa traffic indicator for ProBlogger in my Firefox browser and noticed that in the last week I’ve had a noticeable upswing in traffic to ProBlogger.
At first I couldn’t think of why this might have been. In the last 7 days none of my posts have gone viral around the web – no big site has linked up – nothing much has changed.
I clicked through to Aweber to see if the chart there was any different. It similarly showed an upswing in traffic.
Perhaps it is just one of those Aweber ‘glitches’ that happens every now and again – so I checked my site metrics and the same upswing was reflected there. Traffic was up a bit over 30% on normal over the week.
I dug down further to see which post drew in all the traffic thinking that perhaps one went viral while I slept one night and then returned to normal – but there was nothing abnormal. All of the posts in the last week had normal kind of traffic – hmmmm.
As I continued to ponder I realised that the upswing wasn’t due to any one post – it was simply due to the fact that last week I posted 13 posts instead of my normal 7-8. The increased number of posts wasn’t a strategic move – it was just that there were more stories to cover during the week with a few breaking news stories.
I guess the take home lesson is that an increase in posting frequency can lead to an increase in traffic.
Of course it isn’t quite as simple as just doubling your posts and seeing an automatic increase in traffic. A few things to keep in mind are:
- This will be more the case for a site with existing subscribers than a new one – increased numbers of posts means your subscribers are being presented with more options for things to read – increasing their chance of finding something that fits their needs.
- Of course increasing your post frequency too much and too quickly can annoy some of your subscribers. Keep in mind that when I surveyed readers on why they unsubscribe to blogs that the #1 reason given was too many posts.
- The key is to keep your posts relevant, on topic and useful. If you do want to increase your post levels you probably should also do it a little gradually. I got away with 13 posts last week instead of 8 like the week before but if I’d posted much more than that in the week I’m sure I would have got some push back from readers. Don’t suddenly decide to be like some of the big tech blogs and push out 20 posts in a day unexpectedly!
Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.
How To Increase Traffic 30% in a Week
December 21, 2009
Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Closed
Official Affiliate Summit West 2010 Party List
Missy Ward is compiling a list of the parties and special events taking place at Affiliate Summit West 2010 next month in Las Vegas.
The most busy night for parties at Affiliate Summit is typically the Monday. This time around, we’ll be counter-programming the Monday parties with an alternative.. the Affiliate Summit Trivia Tweetup.
Check out the list at http://missyward.com/2009/12/18/parties-and-special-events-during-affiliate-summit-west-2010-asw10/ and keep checking back for updates.
This post originally appeared on the Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn Collins
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December 20, 2009
Tags: Affiliate Summit, Affiliate Summit West, Las Vegas, Missy Ward, Official, Shawn Collins Posted in: Uncategorized Comments Closed