Internet Guru’s and What They Do

Internet guru’s are a dime a dozen these days. I know because I think I must be on all of their email lists. What can I say, I’m a glutton. I think at the beginning I thought I might miss something big but I found out that the truth of the matter is that with the exception of a “very outstanding” few many of them don’t really have that much to offer.

But they do make noise. One “guru” in particular seems to make a lot of noise. I get emails from this guy all the time and I must admit that at first I was intrigued.

So intrigued in fact that I checked him out.

Turns out this guy has had great success! He’s had great success in selling to just one crowd, the Internet Marketing crowd. But he teaches about niche marketing and having success with many different crowds.

And unfortunately, he hasn’t had any success in any other niche.

He’s asking for my money to teach me something that he has never experienced so how does he know??
(geez, if he just learned it from someone else who “actually did it” then maybe I would rather learn from someone who “actually did it” too!!)

He’s had success at being an “Internet Guru” but he hasn’t had any success at marketing on the Internet to the average person.

Now I have heard that the Internet Marketing crowd is a hungry bunch. Heck, I’ve been part of that bunch and I know that I’ve been hungry at times….

but the fact is that I don’t want to learn about Internet marketing from someone who has never marketed on the Internet!!

Don’t say to me “Do as I say not as I do”.

I’m saying to you “Do what you say you Do!!”

And that’s what I think about that!

P.S. The Internet Marketer I spoke of has never earned any of my money…I hope he hasn’t taken any of yours either!

Remember This About SEO

What do you do when you are looking for something specific online?

Of course, you do what everybody does! You put a search into a search engine and see what shows up.

That is why Search Engine Optimization can be such a successful strategy for Internet marketers. If you can improve the volume and quality of traffic to your website from “natural” or “organic” search engine results you are much more likely to find success than from any other strategy. Online traffic is King. Big traffic, big sales. No traffic, no sales.

There are many SEO techniques and tips that can help you please the search engine but it may help to remember who your real customer is.

A problem that often happens when webmasters try to optimize for search engines is that they write for the search engine and they forget that search engines don’t actually read…people read. So even as we are thinking about optimizing our sites for the search engines we need to remember that the real customer, the real reader, and the really important factor that we need to write for, focus on and ultimately please is the people.

Back at the turn of the century (that would be around the year 2000 to 2001) there was a so-called “guru” who claimed to have all the answers when it came to optimizing for the search engines. His theory was something like this. Start with “keywords” and work on “keyword density”. Make your article exactly 4 paragraphs long and make sure that your keyword shows up exactly 4 times in every paragraph.

Well, I think it actually worked for awhile but not for long. Thankfully, the algorythms changed. The problem is that nobody wants to read something that is so contrived. Real people are reading your site and if you do happen to show up on top of the search engines but your site is total crap it still means “No Sales”.

So there is much more to it than keyword density but I will have to save the details for a later post (or posts).

Remember the real customer is not a search engine but a human being. Treat your website accordingly.

Make Money Blog

Blog - a shortened term for web log.

Not too long ago the word didn’t even exist. Now blogs are everywhere, a force to be reckoned with. There are online diaries, political discussions, personal blogs, family blogs, corporate blogs, question blogs….in short, anything that anyone would like to discuss can be blogged about.

And that gives all of us a great opportunity if we know how to promote our blogs. If you are an affiliate marketer who wants to advertise via blogs, or if you are a writer who gets paid to blog for a specific company or firm, or if you are just an individual looking for your fame and fortune through the medium of blogging (think Perez Hilton) then here are some tips to help you navigate through the process of promoting your blog.

1. First off, I’ll start with the obvious. Because we all know that what is obvious is not always obvious ;).
Write on your Blog.
Post on your Blog.
Pay attention to your Blog.
Frequently.
Or at least develop a plan for posting frequency. Some bloggers post new posts multiple times a day and some bloggers post once a week or so.
It does not matter how often you post as much as it matters that you do post.
There is no way a blog can grow if there are no new posts for months at a time.
(see, I told you it was obvious!)

2. Subscribe to RSS feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS allows the people who like your blog to get automatic updates and to stay informed about the latest posts on your blog.

3. Take advantage of Blog directories. These sites can help increase your page ranking because your blog is tagged with other relevant blogs on a certain search result. Some of the well established blog directories on the web that you should check out are Blogopedia and BlogCatalog.

4. Take advantage of social bookmarking. There are many, many sites available to help you get more traffic for your blog. Stumbleupon, Digg, de.li.cious, Mixx, Propeller, Kirtsy, and more. Take a look around you’ll find the ones that will work for your blog.

5. Use SEO strategies. Bottom line is that one of the best ways to get traffic to your site is by targeting the traffic from search engines. Learn what you can about SEO and apply it. It will pay off in increased traffic.

6. Use video. Make a video about your blog and put in on Youtube. You’ll have fun and you might just get more people interested in reading what you have to say on your blog. Everybody enjoys putting a face on the information they receive.

7. Get involved with the blogging community. People in the blogging community tend to work together so get involved. Read other blogs and post comments and if you find something great on another blog put a link back to it on your blog. Submit your work to Blog carnivals. You can also join discussion groups and forums. Put links to your favorite blogs on a blogroll. Make friends out there in the blogosphere. You’ll enjoy it and it will help you build your own blog.

And of course, this list is not all inclusive. There are a number of things you can do to promote your blog. Guest postings, contests, participating or implementing tagging games among other bloggers…there are a million creative things you can do to promote your blog.

The main thing is to remember to have fun, remember your purpose in blogging and enjoy the journey!

Full Circle Affiliate Marketing

My wife and I have been working full-time on the Internet since 2001. I knew that there was a way to make some money online and that was where I wanted to be. I started out just thinking it would be nice to bring in $3000 a month.

Well, it didn’t take too long and I was making that $3000.00 a month and it didn’t take too long after that to double, triple, quadruple my income and even more.

It’s a great ride, this Internet marketing gig. I love it. Of course there are the ups and the downs. I started back in the day with affiliate marketing working with Clickbank, Commission Junction and others. I did quite well but soon I was inspired to move on to Google Adsense. That was back in the “glory days” of Adsense. You ever hear that old song…

“Those were the days my friend, I thought they’d never end, to sing and dance forever and a day,
This simple life we choose, we simply win or lose, those were the days, oh yes, those were the days!”.

Ah reminiscing! Those were the days! Days of $2000.00 and $3000.00 a day. I love to remember the biggest month I ever had with Google Adsense. It was $47000.00. Oh, happy days!

But everything changes. Google Adsense went from a viable, money-making opportunity to an exercise in frustration…..seemingly overnight. I still see people fighting that battle today. But unfortunately, the opportunity has changed. Adsense is just not a viable and reliable source of income anymore.

But all is not lost. I’ve sold my own products. I’ve sold private label rights. I’ve sold public domain works. I’ve checked out and been involved in some great business opportunities. And the fact is that I’ve made money with all of them. I just want to make more and more money!

I’ve learned. I’ve learned about back links and SEO. I’ve learned about merchant accounts and building lists. I’ve found things that I want to try that I haven’t yet and I’ve found things that I wouldn’t ever want to try. I’ve learned the basics of what will work and what won’t work. I’ve shared my knowledge with others and they’ve shared their knowledge with me. I have found some of the best friends I’ve ever had yet most of them I’ve never met! (in person that is!)

And I’ve learned that the Internet is constantly changing, constantly expanding and constantly offering new opportunities.

I’ve now come full circle and I’m happily back to where I started. Affiliate marketing is still a viable and exciting opportunity and I plan to take full advantage of it.