Forging relationships with bloggers and Internet Marketers outside your niche is valuable. Let me take an example to illustrate this point. Let’s assume that you have a blog providing WordPress tricks and tips. You recently developed a WordPress theme and actively promoting it in your niche. Since you have been blogging about WordPress you have a good reader base to sell your product.
But, one issue that you might face is the fact that your readers are already well informed about WordPress. They know about all the other cool themes that exist in the market. This means you have to provide lot of reasoning on why people should buy your theme over others. Since you are in a competitive niche selling becomes more challenging.
Apple’s launch of the iPad tablet did not impress many of those who have been eagerly waiting for this device. This device, now dubbed the “Giant iPhone” did not bring the same level of excitement that iPhone brought when it was launched a couple of years ago. The iPad lacks a number of features making the device look very ordinary. Apple had an opportunity make this device extraordinary, but they missed that chance.
Here are the 8 most important features missing in the iPad:
- No SD Card Reader!
- No USB Slot!
- No Multitasking – iPad does not allow multiple apps to be executed at the same time (a $250 net book computer can multitask with ease).
- No HDMI Port – You cannot directly connect the iPad to your big screen TV to watch movies.
- The iPad does not support true HD. The aspect ratio of the display is 4:3 instead of the newer 16:9 ratio.
- No GPS – The iPad does not have a stand alone GPS system. It only has 3G assisted GPS.
- No Built In Camera – A video camera would have made the iPad an ideal device for video chats.
- No Cellular Voice – The top-end iPad with built-in 3G will only support data, there is no support for cellular voice.
I am not suggesting that that Apple should have incorporated all of the above features. But, adding a few of them could have definitely made the iPad more attractive and exciting.
Roots is a popular Canadian clothing company. Recently,I bought a sweater for my daughter at Roots. The sweater was packed inside a custom made roots bag that had the following text printed on its cover. I enjoyed reading it and I would like to share it with you.
- Find Love
- Find Happiness
- Find A Career
- Find Knowledge
- Find Balance
- Find Your Fears
- Find Change
- Find Peace
- Find Time
- Find Respect
- Find Honour
- Find Growth
- Find Life
- Find Leadership
- Find Your Heart
- Find Energy
- Find Choice
- Find Self Confidence
- Find You
- Find A Vision
- Find Creativity
- Find Achievement
- Find Mindfulness
- Find History
- Find Freedom
- Find Strength
- Find Action
- Find Willpower
- Find Today
- Find Someone
- Find Your Inner Voice
- Find Power
- Find Moments
- Find Opportunity
- Find Hope
- Find Kindness
- Find Nature
- Find Health
- Find Roots!
More and more bloggers and Internet Marketers are now venturing into affiliate marketing. If you promote affiliate products and services in your blog it is a good idea to conceal the affiliate links from your readers.
Exposing your affiliate links can cause you the following problems:
- Affiliate links are usually long and ugly! Some people do not have trust in such long and complex links. Therefore, it’s a good idea to hide the long affiliate link with a short user friendly link.
- Affiliate links may expose private information such as Login IDs causing a security concern.
- Readers are sometimes reluctant to buy from affiliate links, because, they feel they are paying a higher price.
- If an affiliate link changes, you have to make the change in all the pages where the link was used. This creates a maintenance nightmare.
- Displaying affiliate links increase the possibility of link hijacking where someone tries to substitute your affiliate id with theirs and steal your commissions.
So it is very import to conceal your affiliate links behind a short link that is more user friendly.
In the next post I will provide you with 4 different methods to hide your affiliate links. So stay tuned.
What it takes to become a successful entrepreneur? Lately, I have been thinking about what kind of values we should uphold to become successful online entrepreneurs. During my thought process I came up with the following 4 core values:
1. Excellence
Excellence refers to the quality of the products and services you offer. If your products and services are of low quality you might still get away by making some quick bucks. But you will not be able to retain your customers for a long period of time. Remember, it is easier to sell to a customer who has already bought from you than selling to a customer who comes to you for the very first time. By providing quality products and services you add value to your customers.
2. Innovation
As an online entrepreneur you need to be innovative in what you do. You have to bring fresh ideas to the table. Without innovation it is very hard to be in a given market or industry for a long time. Innovation allows you to excel in your industry and venture into new markets.
3. Integrity
As an online entrepreneur you should have integrity in how you conduct your business. Building trust and relationships are key for online success. This means you have to act with integrity with your customers and peers.
4. Velocity
Last but not least, velocity is very important to your success. What is velocity? Velocity is the ability to execute your plans within an acceptable timeframe. Many entrepreneurs often fail because they deliver a great product or service too late. Quick execution of ideas is very important in the Internet Marketing world. If your timing is poor you are more likely to miss your target.
These are the core values that are most important to me as an Online Entrepreneur. What other values matter to you the most?
If you want to boost your productivity while browsing the web then you must definitely try Quix. Quix is a cool app that allows you to do many functions by typing simple commands. To install Quix on your browser head on to quixapp.com and drag the Quix App button to the bookmarks toolbar in your browser. Doing this will create a Quix button in your browser’s toolbar. Quix is supported in all major browsers. Once you have installed Quix you can click on the Quix button. Doing this will bring up a popup window with an input field where you can enter your command. For a list of quick features, enter the command “Help” in the input field.
Quix has many built-in commands that can be used to quickly access a web resource. For example, typing “w” will bring you the Wikipedia search page. Typing “Amazon” will take you to Amazon product search page. Typing “bitly” will invoke the bit.ly URL shortening service.
Quix commands are grouped under the following categories:
- Basic commands
- Social commands
- WordPress
- SEO
- Webmaster
- Quix Commands
- Analytics
- URL Shortening
- App Integration commands
- Mac Integration commands
You can also use Quix to create your own custom bookmarking commands. Quix was created by Joost de Valk of yoast.com
Give Quix a try. You’ll love it!
If you answered “Yes”. Good for you!
As a blogger or Internet entrepreneur you need to be results driven from day one. Because seeing results will keep you motivated to continue working on your projects until you achieve your goals. Imagine being on a fitness program or a weight loss diet and not loosing any weight! How would that feel? Will you continue that program or diet? No. Even if someone promises you that you’ll see results by end of the year, you will probably not follow the program or diet. This is because you did not see any immediate results or outcome.
Being results oriented is good because it motivates you to continue working on your projects. Although small, the initial results will give you validation that you are heading in the right direction. So as a online entrepreneur you have to start taking action from day one. Build your email list from day one. Start monetizing your site from day one. Start socializing on social networks from day one. Build affiliate products from day one. Build quality content from day one.
Do not put off things for a later time. Do not have the mindset of taking action once you have a mature blog or product to offer. Start taking action right now, although your initial results will be minimal it will give you the motivation to continue your work. Loosing a few pounds early in the diet can be a great motivating factor to loose 50 pounds later on. If you do not have any results or outcome, you will most probably give up soon.
So set your goals and take action today!
Photo Credit: gmayster01 …. On …. Off ….Busy’s photostream
Today, I am publishing my first eBook titled “How to Make Money from a Mini website”. This eBook is a compilation of blog posts that I wrote at this blog. In this eBook I provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to make money online using Google AdSense and Mini Websites. I sincerely hope that you’ll find this eBook useful and will be able to benefit from it. Please pass this eBook to your friends who are interested in making money online.
To Your Success.
Aaron
As a Blogger or Internet Marketer you may be interested in upgrading your skills by following a paid training program or joining a paid forum. The Internet is flooded with countless training courses and choosing the right program can be tricky.
In this post I present to you the best paid training options for Bloggers and Internet Marketers. Each program is more suitable for a specific group of people (with different skill levels).
As and when I discover a great training program, I will add the program details to this page. So please check this page for new updates.
1. 31 DBBB Workbook
The workbook that makes you to take Action and Succeed!
31 Days to Build a Better Blog (31 DBBB) is a workbook created by professional blogger Darren Rowse. Back in 2009, Darren ran a 31 day challenge at his blog problogger.net. The idea behind this challenge was very simple. Each day Darren would teach you a topic and also give you an activity forcing you to learn more about that topic. The reader response for this program was phenomenal. Over 13,000 people participated in the challenge. Due to the immense success of the program Darren decided to create a workbook based on the program. The outcome is a 94 page workbook that provides you with precise steps on how to improve your blog in 31 days (doing 31 different types of improvements to your blog).
Each day’s activity in this book is independent of the other. You can learn each topic and do the requested activity in your own phase. This book is great if you do not have the time to sit and read through an entire book. It is also great for people who like to learn new things one piece at a time and for people who like to learn in a random or ad hoc fashion. Each chapter in this book also contains valuable links to materials from other Bloggers and Internet Marketers.
31 DBBB is must have companion if you are serious about growing your blog. The workbook appeals to both novice and advanced bloggers. Novice users will learn the basics of creating a successful blog while advanced users will find practical ways to over come bloggers block and experiment with new methods that they haven’t tried in the past.
Remember that over 13000 bloggers participated in the challenge program and this book contains the best ideas and concepts that came from the challenge program. Darren has done all the hard work for us in compiling the workbook. All you need to do is to buy this book and follow each activity on your own phase.
Training Type: Workbook
Price: $19.95
Skill Level: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced
2. Online Profits
The most comprehensive training program for new and upcoming Internet Entrepreneurs
Online Profits is a very comprehensive training program for folks who are new or upcoming Internet Marketers. The program is conducted by top Internet Marketer and Blogger Daniel Socco of DailyBlogTips.com.
Online Profits covers A-Z of Internet Marketing. The program is only offered once a year and is limited to 300 members only. Members get free access to extensive teaching materials and free resources (such as WordPress themes and SEO tools etc). The teaching material is provided in mixture of text, video and audio formats. Registrations for the year of 2010 starts on 18 January 2010. The registration will be only available for 5 days or until the number of students enrolled reaches 300.
The course fee is $98 per month. The program runs for 4 months. The total cost of the program is $392. If you pay the full fee for the program in a single instalment you will get lifetime access to the program.
For more details on Online Profits read my post titled Treat Yourself with a New Year’s Gift. Join the Online Profits Training Program!
Training Type: Online Members Only Course
Price: $98 x 4 months
Skills Level: Beginner, Intermediate
3. Beyond Blogging
Learn from 15 world class Bloggers and Internet marketers
Interviews and case studies are great way to learn. This is why both of these techniques are extensively used in MBA programs.
The Beyond Blogging book uses both interviews and case studies to teach you how professional bloggers and Internet Marketers are making money online. The Beyond Blogging eBook was created by top bloggers Mike CJ and Nathan Hangen. The authors use case studies and interviews with world famous bloggers to show how you too can become a successful blogger. Instead of just rehashing the interviews the authors show you how to apply the lessons learned from the interviews for your own success. This information is provided in the section titled “The six figure blogging blueprint” which sums up all the lessons learned from the interviews and case studies.
The book is filled with 200 pages of information giving you insightful details on the secrets for success. The professional bloggers featured in this blog includes Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, Chris Garrett, David Risley, Penelope Trunk, Chris Guillebeau, Brian Clark, Shama Kabani, Darren Rowse, John Chow, iJustine, Jonathan Fields, Steve Pavlina, Michael Dunlop, and Pete Cashmore.
If you are the kind of person who wants to learn through real world experiences then this book is right for you.
Training Type: eBook
Price: $47
Skill Level: Intermediate, Advanced
4. Blog Masters Club
Blog Masters Club is premium training program by no nonsense blogger David Risley. David is an A-list Blogger and Internet Marketer. He is very energizing and is a very hands-on type of person who loves to achieve goals by taking real action!
David’s argument is that bloggers and Internet Marketers fail to understand each other and combining these traits one can be highly successful.
Blog Masters Club is private limited members only program. Teaching resources are provided in Audio, Video and Text formats to suit your learning style. The program also has a forum that allows you to interact with David and fellow students to get your questions and doubts answered.
The training program is comprised of 16 Modules. Topics covered in these modules include:
- How to increase the production of your blog and manage time effectively and efficiently
- Picking the right market
- Manipulating and tweaking WordPress for your needs
- The art of persuasion and compelling your users to take action
- Leveraging the power of social media to make more money
- Driving traffic to your blog
- Search Engine Optimization
- The art of creating effective videos for and drive traffic to your blog
- How to monetize your blog
- How to build a business around your blog
- Email list building
- Creating joint ventures in your market
- Creating recurring revenue streams
- How to outsource
This course is ideal for people who know the basics of blogging and Internet Marketing. If you do not have the very basic knowledge of blogging then Online Profits is a good choice.
Training Type: Members only online course
Price: $97 * 6 months
Skill Level: Intermediate, Advanced
Watch this space for more training programs as and when they become available!
To Your Success
Aaron