Kelly McCausey of Mom’s Talk Network is going to shave her head on November 25th. She’s going bald to take a bold stand against childhood cancer! You can help her reach her fundraising of $5000 by making a donation direct to St. Baldricks Foundation. Click here to learn more: http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/participantid/473062
ShareI’m Published!
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
I had an article published today on Mentor Online Magazine. Just thought I’d share.
http://mentoronlinemagazine.com/2011/10/triple-t-thursday-is-fear-holding-you-back/
ShareWhat’s all the Buzz about Google Places?
Friday, August 5th, 2011
Google Places is KING of Local Search!
By now, anyone who knows anything at all about Internet Marketing has, at the very least, heard of Google Places. What you may not know is that Google already has your information, but it’s up to you to make sure it’s acurate, current, and that your page is optimized. …Continue Reading
ShareClone Your Blog in Under a Minute
Friday, July 15th, 2011
Hey! Everybody…I found this Great! tool for anyone who uses WordPress for Blogs or Webpages. You can make a backup of your entire site and then if you are hacked, you can re-deploy your site in a matter of minutes. This is an absolute necessity for anyone who uses WordPress. Check it out!
How to Start a Blog for Profit
Saturday, July 9th, 2011
An online presence is important these days for whatever enterprise you engage in. To connect with a wide variety of people there is no bigger forum than the Internet. If you are looking for a way to show off your expertise and also make a little money while doing it, consider starting a blog and using Affiliate and Blog Marketing.
Affiliate Blogger Pro is a great resource for learning the ins and outs of making Affiliate Blog Marketing work for you. Rosalind Gardner provides step-by-step instruction to setup and make money from blog topics about which you are passionate. It includes text & video tutorials as well as a community forum. I plan to implement these strategies into my own blog.
What is a Blog?
A blog is actually an online journal of sorts. With a blog you can upload daily posts about anything that you want. Some people create personal blogs as a way to keep in touch with family members. Pictures, videos and other information are uploaded so your loved ones are current with what is going on with you.
Here we are going to talk about business blogs. This is a blog that you begin to attract traffic in order to sell products or services. To be interesting to others, your blog will need to:
• Have updated content for visitors
• Be marketed to draw traffic
• Register with search engines so it can be found in the rankings
How to Start
If you are new to blogging, use a free blogging platform to get your feet wet. Sites like Blogger.com, WordPress.org, Blogspot.com and others offer free blogs to users. Depending on the site you choose, the themes and plug-ins (added features) will vary. Most will walk you through the process step by step so that you can be up and running in no time.
Before you start posting, decide what will be the theme, or niche of your blog. A jack-of-all-trades type of blog doesn’t do as well as one that is geared towards a certain niche. If you like crafts, that can be your niche. Create posts that talk about how to craft, what to craft, how to make crafting profitable and so on. Once you have decided on a path, it is time to create that great content.
How to Make Money
In order to make money with your blog, you need to have people visiting it. That is where marketing comes in. To draw traffic you have to get the word out about your blog. Tell all of your friends and family members that you are online with your blog for a start.
Any money-making venture will take place once you have built your readership with interesting posts. Then you can put into play a number of profitable additions:
• Google AdSense
• Selling Advertising
• Affiliate Marketing
• EBook Marketing
The simplest one to pursue is Google AdSense. You are using targeted advertisements to create revenue for your blog. You are paid per clicks on the ads.
There are other options where you can get paid when someone makes a sale on that website. That is more likely to happen when you join an affiliate program. Join affiliate program that work well with your website niche.
EBooks are short downloadable electronic books that you can create yourself and sell on your website. They can be on a variety of subjects but in order for them to sell, you must be able to offer new information to your customers.
Blogs can be used to build revenue. Start with your chosen niche and market your blog to find the traffic you need. Then, utilize these ideas to turn a profit.
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5 Keys to Creating Websites that Sell
Friday, July 8th, 2011
Your business website is essentially your storefront, business card and most significant marketing piece all rolled into one. How it affects your visitors and customers is then essential to your success. Provide a memorable experience and customers are sure to return time and time again. Let’s take a look at five keys to creating a website that sells.Key #1 Make your website interactive.As the internet continues to grow and evolve it’s becoming more important to create a community around your business. To accomplish this you want to engage your visitors and customers. This can be accomplished a number of ways. You can:
* Provide a forum
* Post surveys or polls
* Enable visitors and customers to review or rank items. For example a “How valuable was this article?” question and a scale of 1 to 5 stars or a ranking from 1-10.
* Offer a blog and inspire comments and feedback
* Host contests and sweepstakes
* Publish video and audio content as well as written content. This gives users another way to access you and your personality.
Key #2 Make sure your website provides value.
People go online for a number of reasons. They go online to research a potential purchase, to seek solutions for a problem they’re having and to be entertained. If your website provides all three; products, information, and entertainment then you’re in tip top shape. The good news is your content can provide both the information and the entertainment and when written well, can also inspire purchases. Here are a few ideas to provide value for your customers and prospects:
* How to articles, videos, and audio
* Tips articles, videos, and audio
* Case studies
* Workbooks and reports
* Interviews with experts
* Product reviews
Key #3 Make sure your website is easy to navigate.
It takes a visitor about 20 seconds to make a decision about whether they’re going to stay on your website or click away. If your site is laid out nicely, with products and services, information, prices, FAQs, and content easy to find then people are more likely to hang out – the longer they stay on your site the more likely they are to make a purchase or to return again.
To make your site easy to navigate consider:
* Keeping your site simple.
* Keep your pages uniform with the same options and appearance.
* If you have a lot of content, great! Use drop down menus and organize your content by topic for easier access.
* Offer a search function where users can search for products, services, or content topics quickly and easily.
* Provide a way for users to easily go back to previous pages. A back key is an option however if every page has the same options and drop down menus, including the ability to quickly return to the home page, a visitor will always be able to find what they need.
* Test your website’s appearance on different browsers to make sure every visitor has a good experience.
Key #4 Make your website easy on the eyes.
Ever visit a website and the text was so small or the colors so incompatible that you couldn’t read a word? Readability is critical to a selling website. Make sure:* Your colors are easy on the eyes,
* Your graphics aren’t distracting
* And keep formatting like underlining, bold and italics to a minimum.
* Spacing between sentences and paragraphs is adequate
* Font size is large enough for people to read and font is easy to read
* Your graphics aren’t distracting
* And keep formatting like underlining, bold and italics to a minimum.
* Spacing between sentences and paragraphs is adequate
* Font size is large enough for people to read and font is easy to read
Key #5 Give them a soft sell.People expect to be sold to and they’re looking for it – they’re wary. Instead of hitting website visitors with a hard sell, provide information, solve their problems and show them the benefits of your products or services. They’ll be much more receptive and appreciative.Creating a website that sells requires a structured approach and a desire to create the best experience possible for your visitors. Once you’ve created your website, consider testing it and asking associates, friends and family for their opinion.
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Name Cheap Domains for Less
Friday, July 8th, 2011
I recently started using Name Cheap to purchase domains for my client websites. I purchase the name and redirect the Name Server to my Fatcow Hosting account.
I simply create a new folder in my Root Directory on Fatcow and then go into my Domain Manager and set it up. If you use another Hosting service this may or may not work. But it works for me with Fatcow and as I mentioned in my last post, I have always received “Fantastic” customer service from Fatcow.
ShareFat Cow Hosting
Friday, July 8th, 2011
My website host is FatCow. I have been using them since 2001 and have always had fantastic customer support. Today I called and asked them about pointing my domain to the mini-site and they walked me through it in about 2 minutes. I can’t say enough about them.
Their cost is $56. for the first year, as of this posting. I’m not sure if it will go up for the renewal each year but they have a 2 or 3 yr. plan that would only cost $44. a year. Here is a list of what they offer:
- Unlimited Disk Space
- Unlimited Bandwith
- Unlimited Mailboxes
- Domains for $12.99 (unlimited sub-domains)
- $50. Google AdWords Credit
- $25. Yahoo / Bing Credit
- Blogs (WordPress & Joomla)
- Shopping Cart
- Integrates with Constant Contact (60 day free trial)
- Page Builders
- Shopping Cart
- Reseller / Affiliate / Referal programs
If you do decide to use them and don’t use the link above, if you mention that I referred you, I will receive a $10. credit on my account. The link is an affiliate link. 
