Using Your RSS Feed to Drive Traffic Back to Your Site
I’m sitting here realizing that there are a number of blogs out there that have repurposed content from one of my blogs on their site. Without asking my permission and without giving proper credit.
In most circles, this would constitute some serious plagiarism charges and would make most people really mad.
But not me, and it shouldn’t really bother you, as long as you’re taking the right steps to combat the content scraping menace.
Why, o fearless reader, do I not fret when someone reuses my content on their own blogs, surrounding said content with Adsense ads and affiliate links?
Because I’ve got my own links in my feed.
Suddenly, it’s no longer an issue of content scraping. Now, I have someone else providing links back to my blog, or a product, or one of my own affiliate links.
Do you think I really care that they are reusing my content without my permission?
Nope. Nada. Zilch.
They’re promoting whatever I’m promoting and I’m not having to lift a finger to do it. It’s just like having a great bio box in an article that you submit to any of the major article directories. If people want to use the article, they have to include the bio box.
If people want to scrape my RSS feeds, then they’re going to have to take all the links to the best computer podcast and my Internet Marketing and Podcasting blog, which you just happen to be reading right now.
So go ahead, all you content scrapers and swindlers. Reuse my content. Give me some more links back to my stuff. I don’t care.
We’ll both get some benefit out of the deal. I’ll just be the one that sleeps better at night.
a2a_linkname=”Using Your RSS Feed to Drive Traffic Back to Your Site”;
a2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/05/12/using-your-rss-feed-to-drive-traffic-back-to-your-site/”;
Seems like a good idea to me… I think I’d do a good job.
Thanks to Paul Colligan and Michael Geoghegan for their encouragement in heading in this new direction…
a2a_linkname=”It’s Official…I’m running for President”;
May 4th, 2006 at 8:03 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/07/24/its-officialim-running-for-president/”;
I’ve been dreaming of this day since I bought my iPhone last year. I always thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to blog about anything I wanted to at any time right on my iPhone to any of my Wordpress-powered blogs…”
That day has finally arrived, at least for me.
I’m right in the middle of downloading the new app right now, direct onto my iPhone, so first impressions will come a little bit later today. Hopefully, this will make things a lot easier to update more often and put up those short little posts as I go throughout the day.
I’m pretty pumped about this myself, but how about you? Are you an iPhone owner that operates a Wordpress-powered blog? Will you make use of this new app?
Read more about the app here at Weblog Tools, or download it direct right here and then sync up with iTunes.
a2a_linkname=”Wordpress iPhone App is now LIVE and ready for download”;
May 4th, 2006 at 12:49 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/07/22/wordpress-iphone-app-is-now-live-and-ready-for-download/”;
Here’s a new weekly feature for all of my readers, especially those of you that are on the lookout for some good deals on a new computer for yourself or someone else.
We’ve partnered with HP to bring you some exclusive deals that you can take advantage of as a PikeMall Tech reader, plus I’ll give you my opinions on the computers that are being featured.
Firstly, here’s the big deal of the week through July 24 (or until supplies run out!). Save $500 off the purchase of a customized HP Pavilion Notebook PC configured at $1399 or greater! Use code NB4513. Don’t forget to use that coupon code, otherwise you’re not going to get your deal. Remember, this coupon is good for ANY customized HP notebook, so you’ve got the pick of any size and style that you like. Lots of good pickings to choose from.
Next up,Save up to $249 instantly on the HP Pavilion dv6700t Customizable Notebook! Here’s some of the lowdown on the dv6700t series of notebooks from HP. The dv6700t features options including Intel Core 2 Duo processors so you know you’re getting the most computing power for your money. Options also include a Blu-Ray disc player and up to 4GB of RAM to help you chug through your applications, including the power hog that is Windows Vista. 15.4″ screens are standard on the dv6700t series, yielding you a weight of about 5.6 lbs. Not as easy on the frequent traveler as a smaller notebook, but still very portable and packed with power.
These are just two of the great deals that you have access to as a reader of PikeMall Tech. If you’d like to get more deals delivered right to your inbox, just head on over and subscribe to PikeMall Tech. You’ll get updates delivered right to your inbox, and don’t worry. I hate spam just as much as you do and I’ll never give your email address away.
a2a_linkname=”This week’s deals from HP - Desktop Computers and Laptop Computers”;
May 4th, 2006 at 9:40 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/07/20/this-weeks-deals-from-hp-desktop-computers-and-laptop-computers/”;
Most Internet marketers understand that having mini sites is the fastest and easiest way to make money online. They don’t require a lot of time, energy, or
money to set up, and once you’ve got one up and running, you can sit back and just collect money from all the sales you’re making.
At least… that’s how it’s supposed to be, right?
The truth is that mini sites really ARE easy to set up. They really DON’T require much time, energy, and money to set up. So why is it that so few people actually make money with their mini sites?
The answer is that they never learned how to actually turn their mini site into a profitable moneymaker that runs completely on autopilot. The good news is…
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YOU’RE ABOUT TO LEARN HOW TO DO IT!
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Here’s what this is all about: My colleague Michael Rasmussen has just released a brand new video course that will walk you through the process of creating a killer mini site from the ground up, and then he’ll also teach you how to actually start making money with it right away and into the future.
If you’ve been looking for help with monetizing your mini sites, then this is exactly what you need. The best part? The videos are FREE! I’ll tell you more
about that later. First, let’s talk about the videos themselves.
If you’re in a hurry, you can just check the
videos out right now for free. Here’s the URL:
http://www.pikemalltech.com/minisiteprofits
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OVERALL QUALITY
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It’s important to note that these are online videos that you access from your web browser. Michael uses Camtasia Studio to create these videos, which is the
premier software program for creating screen capture tutorials such as these.
The first thing I noticed when I hit the play button on the first video was the incredible production quality. These are NOT your ordinary screen capture
videos. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone make videos that are this high quality before.
He uses beautifully created graphics to pass his wisdom along to you, and the sound quality is the highest you will ever hear in an Internet marketing
product. They sound like they were recorded in a professional studio.
Michael explained to me that he was sick and tired of seeing all the low quality videos out there, and so he set out to create something different in order to raise the bar in our industry. I think that, when you see Mini Site Profits Exposed for yourself, you’ll agree that he has succeeded.
Now let’s move onto…
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THE ACTUAL VIDEOS
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Here’s a brief summary of each video. Obviously it’s impossible to list every single thing here, but I want you to get a feel for what each one
covered, and how well it covered it.
If you’re in a hurry, you can just check the
videos out right now for free. Here’s the URL:
http://www.pikemalltech.com/minisiteprofits
VIDEO 1 - INTRODUCTION
This videos introduces you to the entire course, as well as the teacher himself. You’ll learn what you can expect from the course, and why it’s structured the way it is.
Michael realizes that you may not have heard of him, and so he spends some time establishing his credibility with you by sharing some of his biggest
successes. It doesn’t come across as bragging at all. Michael explains that, in order for you to get value from the teachings, you need to have faith that the teacher actually knows what he’s talking about. By the end of this video, you will have no doubt.
By the way, this is a good lesson for all of us product developers. If you want people to accept you as an authority on any subject, you first need to
establish your credibility with the reader. That way he’s willing to relax, and trust that what you’re telling him is sound advice.
VIDEO 2 - THE BASICS
This video will introduce you to the basics of mini site marketing. This will set the foundation that all future learning will rest upon, so it’s important to pay close attention to this one.
You’ll learn:
* What mini-sites are, and what makes them different
from regular content sites.
* Which businesses they work well for… and which ones
they don’t.
* The right mindset to have when it comes to creating
mini sites as part of your online business strategy.
* And the different tools you need to get started.
This was a great video, and did an excellent job of
kicking things off, and building the foundation for
the rest of the course.
VIDEO 3 - SQUEEZE PAGES
This is probably one of the most useful videos of the entire course. Every Internet marketer needs to build an email list, but how do you do it? What is the best way to capture the most opt-ins?
The answer is ’squeeze pages’. This video will teach
you:
* Why using a squeeze page is far superior to other
opt-in methods.
* The single most important thing you must include at
the top of your squeeze page to skyrocket your opt-in
rate.
* The secret structure of a squeeze page, and why most
marketers get it wrong (which costs them a LOT of
money).
* The most important to include in your opt-in process
that will make sure that people actually receive your
email.
After watching this video, you’ll know everything you need to know to start building a massive opt-in list right away. This will probably be the first video that you ‘take action’ on. You’ll be so excited about the
possibilities, that I guarantee you’ll go and create your own squeeze page right away.
VIDEO 4 - MINI SITE COPYWRITING - PART
ONE
Nothing happens until the sales copy is written. Graphics alone will never sell a product, but sales copy alone WILL. This video begins to demystify the
mysterious process of writing words that make people whip out their credit cards and buy.
Specifically, you’ll learn:
* Why you need to learn copywriting, even if you “hate
to write”
* What a compelling offer looks like, and how to tell
the difference.
* How to write an eyeball-grabbing headline that
practically forces your readers to go through your
entire page.
* A simple trick you can use in your opening to make
your reader want to learn more.
There is no skill that is more important to your success than the ability to write killer sales copy. Make sure you pay extra attention to this video, as
well as…
VIDEO 5 - MINI SITE COPYWRITING - PART
TWO
This video dives right into the individual components of a killer sales letter. You’ll learn how to create the “secret structure” of a mini site sales letter that makes big money. Specifically, you’ll learn:
* How to create captivating body copy that draws your
reader into the sales letter.
* Bullets that force your reader to keep reading the
whole page, and makes them insanely curious and want
to buy your product
* How to take the risk off people’s shoulders, so
they’ll feel safe buying from you.
* How to craft your ‘call to action’, and get people
to whip out their credit cards and buy immediately.
* The secrets of writing a killer P.S. that helps seal
the deal, and flip your prospect into a buyer
instantly.
This video covered a surprising amount of detail, especially considering that this course is not specifically about copywriting. Michael Rasmussen is
definitely someone who overdelivers in his educational products.
VIDEO 6 - HOW TO AUTOMATE THE
DELIVERY OF YOUR INFOPRODUCT
Unless you want to be chained to your computer, you must learn how to put your mini sites on autopilot. The only thing you should be doing is driving traffic, and letting the site itself do all the work, including
the work of instantly delivering the product to the
customer.
This video will walk you through the process of automating your product delivery, so you can just relax, and collect the money. The best part is… once you have this automated system set up, you never have
to touch it again.
VIDEO 7 - HOW TO “GROW” YOUR SALE
This video is guaranteed to be an eye opener for almost everyone who watches it, even the experienced marketers. Michael dives into some of the most
effective ‘upselling’ techniques that I’ve ever seen.
Nowhere else on the Internet have I seen such a thorough tutorial on how to increase the ’size’ of your orders. You’ll learn:
* The psychology of ‘upselling’, and how to use it
make your customer spend even more money with you.
The best part? He’ll think it was his idea!
* The absolute best time to upsell your customer. This
one will surprise you when you realize how much money
you’ve been leaving on the table by skipping this
step.
* 5 simple techniques to increase your profit by up to
100%.
If you’ve already got a mini site that’s up and running, this video will make a big difference for you right away. Use any of these ‘plug and profit’
strategies to increase your income literally overnight!
VIDEO 8 - CREATING AN AFFILIATE SALES
FORCE
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed that all successful marketers have in common, it’s that they have a great affiliate program. They create a program that allows other people to make good money by promoting their
products, and they get to just sit back and relax, while everyone else is doing the hard work of promoting FOR them.
If you’ve ever dreamed of having an army of motivated sales people working hard to make you money, then you’re going to love this video. Michael will teach you:
* What an affiliate program is, and how to set one up
very quickly.
* Exactly what tools you need to give your affiliates
(most people miss the mark here, so pay extra
attention to this part).
* Why merely having an affiliate program is NOT enough
to convince people to sign up, and what you can do
instead to have people eagerly trying to become one of
your affiliates.
* How to motivate affiliates to sell for you.
VIDEO 9 - MINI SITE MISTAKES TO AVOID
Let’s face it… it’s not enough to explain what you should do. You also need to know what mistakes you should avoid. Michael has already made these costly
mistakes, but you don’t have to. You’ll learn:
- Why people do judge a book by its cover… and how to
capitalize on that for your mini-site
- The single biggest reason people don’t buy from a
mini site, and how you can apply this ‘instant fix’.
- The single biggest thing that will kill your
mini-site (it’s not what you think, and making this
mistake is a surefire way to drain money from your
bank account FAST!)
- Two list building mistakes that’ll cripple your
long-term profits.
VIDEO 10 - SECRETS OF CREATING A
PRODUCT FUNNEL
This video will walk you through the process of designing a product line that will make you a TON of money. There’s a lot more to it than you’d think,
which is why this important concept (which was taken from direct marketing) gets it’s own video.
After watching this video, you’ll understand why you can’t just have a single front end product, and you’ll know exactly what to do in order to get your customer to keep buying more and more expensive products from
you… completely on autopilot!
This video is a MUST for any serious marketer who wants to make a lot of money from their online business.
VIDEO 11 - OUTSOURCING SECRETS FOR
WORKING LESS, AND MAKING MORE
The title of this video says it all. You’ll learn all of Michael’s secrets for getting top notch freelancers to help you create your mini site empire
in record time.
Let’s face it, you can’t be an expert at everything that mini sites require. For example, it’s really tough to be a top notch graphic designer, while also
mastering HTML, and then becoming a killer copywriter, on top of also creating the product itself.
And the list goes on and on. If you want to be efficient, and begin making money as fast as possible, outsourcing is the secret to making it
happen. This video will show you exactly what to do, as well as some common (and very expensive) pitfalls to avoid.
VIDEO 12 - OUTSOURCING SECRETS FOR
WORKING LESS, AND MAKING MORE
Let’s face it… it doesn’t matter how great your mini site is if you don’t get any traffic coming to it. Getting traffic can be one of the most confusing
and mysterious parts of making money online IF you don’t get the proper education.
Thankfully, Michael really dives in, and gives you a lightning fast education in this area. Specifically, you’ll learn:
* How to use Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising to get
targeted traffic fast.
* 3 ways to get targeted traffic without spending a
dime.
* 2 ways to leverage the experience and contacts of
other people to explode your traffic.
* 3 traffic strategies to avoid like the plague!
By the time you’re done with this video, you’ll know what to do right away to begin driving targeted visitors to your mini site.
Wow, you get all those videos for free? Click
here to check out the Mini Site Profits Exposed
course for yourself:
http://www.pikemalltech.com/minisiteprofits
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DELUXE VIDEOS
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Mini Site Profits Exposed comes with 12 videos, and has more content than most 300 dollar home study courses. And did I mention that it’s free?
If you decide that you want to continue your education, and get the biggest possible advantage, you can also upgrade to the deluxe course for a small fee.
The deluxe course contains four full-length videos that each cover one advanced topic in great detail.
Here’s a breakdown of each video:
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VIDEO 13 - DESIGNING A KILLER BACK END
THAT RUNS COMPLETELY ON AUTOPILOT
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This deluxe video could easily be a whole course in itself. It walks you though the entire process of setting up a back end that is completely automated using an autoresponder system.
You’ll learn how to set up your autoresponder to automatically remove a person from your prospect list after he buys, and then insert him into your customer
list. This is where your new autoresponder sequence will start promoting your back end products automatically.
Bottom line… if you want to make the big bucks like all the Internet marketing gurus, you need to create a back end that works hard for you while you’re out creating new mini sites and developing new products.
This video will show you how.
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VIDEO 14 - LIST BUILDING SECRETS
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In this deluxe video, Michael will walk you through some of his best tactics for growing a massive list from your mini site. He’ll not only teach you what to add to your mini site, but he’ll also show you what you must REMOVE from your mini site in order to get the most possible subscribers.
Building a list is about SO much more than just offering a free newsletter. In fact, Michael shows you five different things you can offer your readers to
get them to instantly give you their name and email.
You’ll also learn the best places to actually put the opt-in email form on your mini site. You’ll also learn about pop ups and tell-a-friend scripts, as well as a bunch of other incredible tactics for growing your
list.
I have a hunch that you’ll find yourself referring to this video over and over again.
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VIDEO 15 - MARKETING ACTIVITIES THAT
MAKE YOU MONEY
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When you think about all the ’stuff’ you can do to drive traffic to your site, it’s hard to know what you should focus on first. This video will walk you
through the four most important marketing activities you can do to drive traffic to your mini site.
Once you master these four, you’ll never have to wonder what you should do when you start a new mini site. You’ll have an easy-to-follow road map for
driving tons of targeted prospects to your site, so you can begin making money ASAP!
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VIDEO 16 - MAKE MAXIMUM PROFITS FROM YOUR MINI SITE
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In this final deluxe video, Michael will reveal his best kept secrets for squeezing maximum profit out of any mini site. These are techniques that you have NOT seen before, so you’ll want to pay extra close
attention to this one.
Think about it… if you’re going to put the time in, and set up a mini site the proper way (like Michael shows you in these videos), then it only makes sense that you’d want to make the most amount of money possible from it.
In this video, you’ll learn:
- How changing one sentence on your mini site could
double your profits easily.
- How to instantly increase the dollar amount of your
average order (which puts more money into your
pocket).
- The one thing you must add to your ‘download page’
that will instantly increase your income (with no
extra work, once this thing is put into place).
- How to turn your actual product into a money making
machine!
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CONCLUSION
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Whew! That was a lot of information, and I hope it helped you decide to check out Michael Rasmussen’s Mini Site Profits Exposed video course. Remember the
course is absolutely free, so you have nothing to lose.
Michael believes that it’s important for him to prove himself to you before he ever asks you to buy anything from him. He wants to show you that he will deliver you the absolute best education available anywhere, and he’ll gladly do it for free… just to win you over!
So go ahead and check out Mini Site Profits Exposed right now, and see what all the fuss is about. I highly recommend that you upgrade to the deluxe
course as well. Here’s the URL:
http://www.pikemalltech.com/minisiteprofits
Warmly,
Mike Paul
a2a_linkname=”Need Help With Your Mini-Site? These Free Videos Will Help…”;
May 5th, 2006 at 2:32 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/06/18/need-help-with-your-mini-site-these-free-videos-will-help/”;
OK, can we just talk straight for a few minutes?
Have there been times that another marketer has sold you on a product and you were convinced your
list would buy it in record numbers? Perhaps you had even started to imagine winning the prize
that the affiliate was offering to top sellers.
You eagerly sent the e-mail to your list and hoped that the PayPal server wouldn’t crash as
orders flooded in.
Instead, your list’s response left you whistling and waiting and checking your e-mail every five
minutes. The sales didn’t materialize like you thought they would.
You kept tweaking the website and investing more time and research and PPC money into driving new
traffic to your site but the sales still didn’t materialize.
Also, remember those times when you went to Clickbank and carefully studied the statistics of
products that look so promising but end up falling flat? I know that’s happened to me more
than I care to admit.
In the past all you could do was test, test, test and test some more before knowing if an affiliate
product would sell. It requires thousands of visitors to your site before you can accurately
gauge the performance of a product.
Imagine if you could determine the conversion rates of an affiliate product BEFORE you sell it?
Actually, you need not imagine at all, because now it’s a reality.
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Conversion Prophet predicts the conversion rate
BEFORE a sale is even made!
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Conversion Prophet uses a special pre-tracking algorithm. It can predict how well your keywords
will perform and what your conversion rate will be after only 100 visitors to your site.
This means all you have to do is send one e-mail to your list or write a few articles or do a
simple $20 Adwords campaign. You’ll know the results right away without any whistling and
waiting.
Stop investing countless hours into tweaking websites and researching keywords that will
ultimately never bring in enough money to your bank account.
Let Conversion Prophet do the testing and find the winners for you at a lightning-fast rate.
http://www.pikemalltech.com/conversionprophet
Conversion Prophet is so easy to use. You can say goodbye to spreadsheets and tedious number
crunching.
If your affiliate product is a winner, Conversion Prophet will help you as you split test to see
which headline is the most effective, etc. That means you can ditch the weaker headlines more
quickly and have a top notch website working for you within hours, rather than weeks.
So what are you waiting for?
http://www.pikemalltech.com/conversionprophet
Conversion Prophet is priced so that even a newbie internet marketer can afford it. Of course
you can try it risk-free for eight weeks. There are no strings attached…only results.
To Your Success!
P.S. You don’t have to just take my word for it.
Read what other marketers are saying about this
incredible product:
“My campaigns are lean and mean these days and
the time it takes me to make them like this is
barely a couple of days. Stop giving money to the
pay per click networks and start increasing your
ROI with this product.” ? Jean Morgan, United
Kingdom
“What used to be a test on almost 500 clicks is
now reduced to 25 clicks… I am able to see
trends that quickly, and my cost on adwords is
drastically reduced, by eliminating the keywords
that were wasting money.” ? Viramani Swaminathan,
India
http://www.pikemalltech.com/conversionprophet
a2a_linkname=”Double Your Conversion Rates Overnight”;
May 5th, 2006 at 11:16 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/06/17/double-your-conversion-rates-overnight/”;
photo credit: dannyman
As I started the day today, I saw an interesting topic about why most people most people fail in online business. After looking at these 6 short reasons, I realized that some of them struck a deep chord with me and why my own online efforts haven’t been more successful than what they are.
So, I thought I’d provide my own commentary on these 6 points and how they have come into play in my own business, and what I’m doing to overcome these obstacles and drive towards success. (Thanks to Michelle Waters for the original list, first posted in the Self Starters Forum!)
1. Lack of Action - OK, I’ve just as guilty of this as anyone and I’m pretty sure this is one of the most prominent reasons why people fail online. You get wrapped in up reading and buying every new product that comes out, looking for the fastest way to achieve your goals. You read about how to write your own ebook, create a video series, make money with blogging, make money with Adsense, and on down the list. But that’s all you do. You read. You fill up your hard drive with report after report and never do anything with them. I liken it to the person that gets a degree in chemical engineering and then goes to work for a toy store. What a waste!
Let me give you a piece of advice: Reading about doing something will never make you a dime. You have to dedicate to yourself to take massive action and start making things happen, rather than reading about what other people are doing. Let it be an inspiration and gain some knowledge, but don’t forget you have to put that knowledge to work!
2. Impatience - Yes, I am the world’s most impatient person. I want everything to be done now, now, now. I don’t have time to wait, I need to see immediate results. It’s just too bad that nothing ever really happens that way. And don’t get fooled when you see all of these massive product launches that generate thousands upon thousands of dollars in sales in the first few days. What you don’t see is the hours and weeks of prep time that had to go into these products to make them successful. Do you really think that you will earn six- or seven-figures on something that you just came up with 30 minutes ago and put up a web page about? It’ll never happen. Sorry to burst your bubble (and mine!) but it just doesn’t work that way. Be patient and work your butt off and then begin to see the results.
3. Life - Yep. We’re all humans and we all have lives. Sometimes life just happens. Sometimes we plan for life to happen (like my upcoming marriage to my best friend and the most beautiful, caring woman in the world who was put here to be my perfect partner and absolutely, 100% completes everything about every aspect of my life) and sometimes life just happens (like the tragic death of my fiancee’s cousin and the loss of both of my grandfathers in the last year and a half.)
Some of you have kids, some of you have full-time day jobs. Some of you are not in the best of circumstances. Some of you are up to your eyeballs in debt and can’t see a way out. Some of you are struggling to make ends meet and don’t know how you’re going to pay your rent next month. Some of you are just plain fed up.
You can make it. You can rise up from where you are now to where you want to be. But there will always be life and sometimes it just plain sucks. But then, there are the good times. The times that are in the home videos and pictures. Live for those times and make your own memories. Keep pressing on and overcome, there’s something spectacular waiting for you just on the other side of whatever situation you’re in.
4. Lack of Planning - You’re heard it before: Ready, Fire, Aim! This is not the way you want to go. Everything you do in your online business has to have a plan. From making sure that your site is set up correctly, to making sure that your payment processor is up and ready to go when all those orders start to come in, you’ve got to plan.
Planning ahead will save you a ton of headache later. I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but you will thank me for telling you to plan when you become rich and famous and we all start buying your ebooks on how to be successful online.
5. Negative Attitude - OK, I’m not going to spend much time on this one. Whether you believe it or not, your attitude absolutely affects your outcome of everything you do. If you think you’re going to fail, guess what? You will. Get an attitude adjustment and start believing that you’re going to be successful. ‘Nuff said.
6. Getting Bogged Down in the Details - This one kind of ties in with #1. As someone with an entreprenuerial mindset, we all tend to be perfectionists. It’s just something that comes with it. We want every little thing to be just perfect. And that stops a lot of progress for many of us.
One thing I’ve had to learn over the past couple of years is that sometimes good enough is good enough. Things dont’ always have to be perfect. As a matter of fact, they probably never will be perfect. So if you’re working towards perfection, you’re never going to get there. You’re getting stopped because of your own refusal to get things moving.
Forget perfection. Get that web page up. Write that report. Give out your business card. Start networking. Then, the results will come.
OK, so that’s the list. Are you letting some of these things prevent you from becoming a success? I know that I have in the past, but not any more. I’m taking my own massive action to create my own success and you should to. We are masters of our own destiny and the only thing standing in our way is ourselves. Get yourself out of the way and get started being the next big success story.
I’d love to hear your comments or how you’re overcoming your own struggles. And please share your success stories!
Until next time,
Mike Paul
a2a_linkname=”Why the Vast Majority Will Fail in Their Online Business”;
May 5th, 2006 at 7:12 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/05/20/why-the-vast-majority-will-fail-in-their-online-business/”;
Just a quick reminder. Did you head over to The IM Giveaway and get your free gifts yet?
No? Why not?
You can get tons of resources that you’d normally spend a boatload of money on for nothing.
Just head on over to The IM Giveaway and pick up your goodies!
No catch, nothing to pay. Really, it’s just a big “Thank You!” to all of you great people out there.
Remember, there’s only a few days left, so head on over now…
The IM Giveaway
a2a_linkname=”Did You Grab Your Free Gifts Yet?”;
May 5th, 2006 at 11:42 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/05/17/did-you-grab-your-free-gifts-yet/”;
photo credit: BAIA
One of the best possible means to attract probable clients to your site is by joint ventures. It is one of the fastest ways to hook up with your target market and also the most lucrative. Just what, exactly, is a joint venture?
A joint venture is an alliance between two involved parties. This alliance forges strategies in marketing that would make both parties benefit in the long run. With this, you can also utilize existing business relationships with your partner company, and vice versa. This cements more business deals (and more money) for both parties.
Being in a joint venture means that you have to take care of your partners assets as much as he takes care of yours. You promote the products or services that are being offered by the other party, and they do the same to you. This type of set up is ideal when there is a specific market that you want to target. Existing companies that are already doing business with your target market are the best companies that you could create a joint venture with. And the good thing with doing all this? You get to do business not only with your allies but also your competitors!
Aside from higher profits, you can greatly benefit from joint ventures as your base of customers grows in number. It is normal for joint ventures to have hundreds of new subscribers the moment they settle with the deal. Another good thing about this is you get the same credibility that the other party has established. Since the other party is endorsing your site, it is probable that their clients would bestow you with the same trust that they give your partner.
The best way to decide on which company to trust your site with, it’s wise to look around. Which companies offer the same product or service as you do? It doesn’t have to be entirely similar (for example, a site that offers computer software can set up a joint venture with a company that sells computer hardware in retail). With this set up, both parties end up happy.
Being in a joint venture also allows you to co-develop whatever you’re offering. You might be really good in marketing but your partner might be better in the creation of business ideas that would keep both of you alive longer, in the business sense of the word.
In all aspects of life, it has been proven that no man is an island. This is also true with marketing your website. As long as you have someone to fall back on, everything will be alright.
a2a_linkname=”Joint Ventures: Skyrocketing the Traffic to Your Website”;
May 6th, 2006 at 12:59 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/05/17/joint-ventures-skyrocketing-the-traffic-to-your-website/”;
My friend Reed Floren just released the internet’s most
massive giveaway ever:
The IM Giveaway
Simply sign up and get the scoop.
-tons of ebooks -tons of scripts -tons of everything you’ve
ever wanted
Where did all these goodies come from?
I teamed up with Reed Floren who has called in some favors
from a whole bunch of top online marketers and convinced
them all to give you TONS of Products at no cost to you.
It is our way of saying “thank you”!
These products are worth thousands and thousands of dollars
and have already made the owners thousands and thousands of
dollars.
One you’re inside, you can pick up my report “7 Steps to Niche Domination with Podcasting” as one of your free gifts. I know you’ll enjoy it!
I just can’t hide the excitement. This is probably the most
exciting news I’ve ever shared with you.
Go get it now!
The IM Giveaway
Warmly,
Mike Paul
a2a_linkname=”The IM Giveaway is LIVE!”;
May 6th, 2006 at 2:49 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/05/16/the-im-giveaway-is-live/”;
photo credit: mathoov
“How do You Make Money Online?” That question gets asked quite a bit. If you don’t think so, just do a Google search for the phrase “make money online” and start going through the list of over 15 million web pages having to deal with the subject.
Believe me, you’ll get lost somewhere around page 4. I know, I’ve looked myself.
Still, the Internet presents a great opportunity to anyone willing to put in a little hard work.
Oh, yeah. Don’t think that there is some magic program that “instantly delivers cash to your doorstep without lifting a finger!”
Sorry, folks, that just don’t happen.
But, you can make money online, and you don’t just have to do one thing to make it work.
There’s at least 20 ways. 20 ways that you can make $100 a day, working on the Internet.
Check out this fantastic ebook right now: 20 Ways to Make $100 a Day Online
Oh, did I mention that the customer-only affiliate program pays 100% commission?
a2a_linkname=”Make $100 A Day Online - 20 Different Ways”;
May 6th, 2006 at 6:30 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/05/14/make-100-a-day-online-20-different-ways/”;
photo credit: MikeBlogs
“The Money is in the List”
I’m sure you’ve heard that before. If you haven’t, either you haven’t been in the Internet Marketing world for very long, or you’ve had your head stuck in the sand.
Either way, let me tell you this statement is completely, 100% TRUE.
Now, for many of us, the word “list” can mean a ton of different things, especially in today’s Web 2.0 world.
Part of my list is comprised of RSS subscibers. (Psst! Subscribe to this feed right now before you forget!)
Part of my list is now comprised of my growing list of Twitter followers. (Psst again! Follow me on Twitter before you forget that too!)
Part of my list is comprised of podcast listeners. (OK, no Psst! this time. Here’s the feed for the best computer podcast.)
But, if you want to see real response out of a list, you pretty much have to rely on those people that have chosen to sign up on your email list.
Email is still the most direct way to talk to your customers and prospects. Email require a bit more action on their part to see what information you’re sending them.
But, to be able to send anything, you’ve got to have people subscribed to your list. And getting subscribers is not always the easiest thing to do.
So, here comes some help. My friend Reed Floren is hosting TheIMGiveaway which begins on Friday, May 16th. We’ll be sending a ton of traffic to this site which will offer some great ebooks, software, and other products for free to anyone that signs up.
Here’s your chance to get more subscribers on your list:
Head on over to the IMGiveaway site and get your free product listed. You’ve still got some time as the site doesn’t launch until Friday morning.
Get your product up and then, starting Friday, start promoting the giveaway.
The IMGiveaway runs for a week, through Friday, May 23rd. That should give you plenty of time to promote and get a flood of new subscribers to your list.
You’re welcome. I know you’ll make good use of this information, so best of luck!
Mike Paul
a2a_linkname=”Building Your List with Some Big Help”;
May 6th, 2006 at 11:14 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/05/14/building-your-list-with-some-big-help/”;
I’m sitting here realizing that there are a number of blogs out there that have repurposed content from one of my blogs on their site. Without asking my permission and without giving proper credit.
In most circles, this would constitute some serious plagiarism charges and would make most people really mad.
But not me, and it shouldn’t really bother you, as long as you’re taking the right steps to combat the content scraping menace.
Why, o fearless reader, do I not fret when someone reuses my content on their own blogs, surrounding said content with Adsense ads and affiliate links?
Because I’ve got my own links in my feed.
Suddenly, it’s no longer an issue of content scraping. Now, I have someone else providing links back to my blog, or a product, or one of my own affiliate links.
Do you think I really care that they are reusing my content without my permission?
Nope. Nada. Zilch.
They’re promoting whatever I’m promoting and I’m not having to lift a finger to do it. It’s just like having a great bio box in an article that you submit to any of the major article directories. If people want to use the article, they have to include the bio box.
If people want to scrape my RSS feeds, then they’re going to have to take all the links to the best computer podcast and my Internet Marketing and Podcasting blog, which you just happen to be reading right now.
So go ahead, all you content scrapers and swindlers. Reuse my content. Give me some more links back to my stuff. I don’t care.
We’ll both get some benefit out of the deal. I’ll just be the one that sleeps better at night.
a2a_linkname=”Using Your RSS Feed to Drive Traffic Back to Your Site”;
May 6th, 2006 at 4:22 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/05/12/using-your-rss-feed-to-drive-traffic-back-to-your-site/”;
There’s a lot of talk online these days about writing great content. And I’m totally 100% in agreement that if you’re not creating good content for your sites, person or business, stop wasting your time and move on to something else. Great content compels people to action and you need it on your site to grow and accomplish your goals.
But if no one sees all of your great content, does it really matter?
If you have no traffic to your website, is your content really that great?
Yes, your content is that great, but the Internet is not a “build it and they will come” type of environment. If it were, we all would have gotten very rich a long time ago and I probably wouldn’t have to sit down and write out this article for you.
But, since we have to drive traffic to our sites and since “drive” is one of those terrible, horrible words we affectionately refer to as “verbs” (you know, the ones that generally indicate that you have to do something), we’ve got to get off our rear ends and do something to get more traffic.
Otherwise, you can take that great content and stick it in a barrel, no one will ever know it exists.
5 Ways to Get Traffic to your Website
At this point, there’s only about 365 million ways that you can get traffic to your site, but I’m only going to cover five with you right now. All of these methods have a proven track record and are completely free. Well, they don’t cost any money, just some of your time and hard work.
(Yes, you still have to work to make money online, contrary to what the last five messages in your inbox just told you.)
1. Optimize Your Website for Search Engines. I’m no SEO expert and please don’t take this short little blurb as the definitve guide to SEO. There’s many more people far better able to tell you the ins and outs of SEO, but let’s just get some of the basics down. You want your site optimized for the search engines because search engine traffic is always and forever FREE. Give your web pages or blog posts descriptive titles that contain the keywords you want to target. If you want people to find your page when they search for “New York City defense attorney”, make sure those words are in your page title. Include those keywords throughout your article, but don’t make it sound silly. And make sure that when someone links to your site that they use your keywords in their link to your site. That one tip will help you get better search engine results and more free traffic.
To get more in-depth knowledge on search engine optimization, stop what you’re doing right now and go pick up a copy of Aaron Wall’s SEO Book. Aaron is a great copywriter and knows his stuff about SEO. The best part is, you get updates for life when you buy the book as SEO techniques change all the time. Go now and get your copy, then come back here and finish reading. I promise I’ll still be here when you come back.
2. Exchange links with other websites. Now, before you get all goofy, don’t go and get yourself wrapped up in one of those “link farms” that charge you a fee to link back to your site. Not good and you’ll get penalized for it. Find some other websites that are similar to yours or are related and ask for a link exchange. Just make sure you follow through on your end and put a link back to their site.
You also need to work on getting backlinks to your site from other sites. The more sites you have linking to you, the better your search engine rankings will be. Again, stay away from the “link farms” and get some help from Michelle MacPhearson and her 30 Minute Backlinks video tutorials.
3. Look for Joint Ventures. Joint ventures can be very powerful if done in the right way. Give your partners some really good reasons why they should promote your site. By providing them with the right promotional tools such as e-mails, signatures, articles, etc., he/she would no doubt accept your request. To ensure that your website gets better results, look for website owners that have the capability of sending a lot of traffic to you.
4. Join online groups, forums, etc. that could help you with promoting your website. For example, you may post your sites URL in your signature file for the users to see. So you can be a known member by the discussion groups you join, simply participate in discussions that interest you and contribute your knowledge and expertise to the rest of the members.
5. Get a free blog. Blogging is another free method that generates traffic to your website. Post some high-quality information regularly and don’t forget to ping all your posts as it can help in driving traffic to your website. You can sign up for a free blog at Wordpress.com or Blogger.com.
Now, this list is not exhaustive by any means. But it’s something to get you started. Whether you’re wanting to drive traffic to your personal site or your business site, these tips will get you on the right track. But they will don nothing for you if you don’t take action! Get started today and start seeing more traffic come to your website, see more clicks, and see more money coming to you!
a2a_linkname=”Five Free and Easy Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Website”;
May 6th, 2006 at 6:48 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/05/01/five-free-and-easy-ways-to-drive-traffic-to-your-website-2/”;
OK, gang. I’ve just seen one of the greatest collaborative efforts I’ve ever been a part of. Jason Calacanis of Mahalo.com just got a bunch of people to create a search results page for Home Theater PC. No spam, no junk, just good people working together to make a great search results page.
The great thing is, you can do the same thing. Anyone can create a search page on Mahalo.
I’m definitely going to make use of this more often.
a2a_linkname=”Live creation of Home Theater PC Search Page on Mahalo.com”;
May 7th, 2006 at 12:00 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/03/26/live-creation-of-home-theater-pc-search-page-on-mahalocom/”;
Hey, how are ya? If this is your first time here, welcome! You might want to think about subscribing to our RSS feed to get the latest updates, or you can even follow me on Twitter. I’ll even follow you back, I think that’s the very least I can do!
For those of you in the barren wastelands of Windows World, please take heed. If you’ve got either iTunes or Quicktime on your system, you should be getting some sort of notice from your software update that you’ve got another piece of software to download. And that software is Safari.Full disclosure time: I’m a Mac guy. I bought my first Mac two years ago and haven’t looked back. I’m actually going full out in a few days as I bequeath my last remaining HP desktop to my little brother before I move into my new place. Then I’m done with Windows, I miss nothing and I regret nothing.
Some folks are saying that what Apple is doing with this latest software update borders on spyware-like infiltration. Others say it’s just plain wrong.
I disagree. Apple has to do something to get more Windows users to switch. They first gave them the majesty of Quicktime. Apparently, that wasn’t enough. Then, along came iTunes. With this little piece of wonderment (and a little help from the iPod), some more folks crossed over into the promised land and bought a Mac. Thankfully by this time OS X was there to greet them and a fun time was had by all that joined.
But there’s still a few of you Windows knuckleheads that haven’t figured it out yet. Apple probably thought that Vista would be enough of a disaster to make you switch without having to put forth any extra effort, but no. You refuse to see the truth that lies before you.
You still want to stick with Windows. So, Apple has no choice. They have to shove one more piece of software down your throat to make you see the error of your ways and show you the light.
I only have one question…
Why the hell did they choose Safari to be said piece of software? I mean, C’mon! Why couldn’t they have ported Keynote or Pages over to Windows? Did it really have to be Safari? The crappiest web browser on the planet?
Sorry, Windows peasants. The overlords have chosen poorly with this one. Next time we decide to install software on your computers without really telling you what we’re doing, we’ll try to make it something worthwhile. My apologies from everyone here in magic Apple Land for trying to deceive you. We’ll do better next time.
Or, we could just give you TextEdit.
a2a_linkname=”Apple trying to sneak Safari onto Windows boxes - it’s for your own good”;
May 7th, 2006 at 9:16 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/03/21/apple-trying-to-sneak-safari-onto-windows-boxes-its-for-your-own-good/”;
Just a quick note to any new readers out there to let you know the many ways that you can get involved in the community here at PikeMall Tech and with 42 Media in general. You pick the options, I’ll give you as many as I possibly can.
1. Hop on over to the PikeMall Tech fan page at Facebook
2. Follow me on Twitter and now on FriendFeed. You’ll get all kinds of stuff here, including website updates and what music I’m listening to as I’m working.
3. Join the PikeMall Tech community at MyBlogLog or the neighborhood at BlogCatalog.
I’ll update this list periodically to give everyone more options to join our community.
a2a_linkname=”Join the PikeMall Tech Community - however you like”;
May 7th, 2006 at 9:52 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/03/18/join-the-pikemall-tech-community-however-you-like/”;
ReadTheWords.com is a service that allows you to convert web pages, Office docs, and even RSS feeds to MP3 files. I’ve heard of other services that are available on line that will convert your files to audio, but I’ve never been too impressed with any of them. I even get a little annoyed with my voice choices on my Mac and that group is just about the best I’ve ever heard.
I’ve always been concerned about the quality of the voice being produced by the reader. I know that a computer is going to be generating the voice, which is pretty much always a detriment to the audio quality. It’s very hard to produce an audio from a text reader that someone can’t just listen to and say, "Yep, that was a computer."
After just spending a few minutes over at the ReadTheWords website, I’m pretty impressed with the voices that they’ve put together. There’s a fairly wide variety, with several US male and female voices, along with some international flavor including French and Spanish speakers.
ReadTheWords is primarily designed for people with disablilties, providing a way that they can have access to information that at this point is better than any service I’ve heard before. And it’s free.
The service is easy enough to use. After signing up for a free account, you can create your first reading. You select what type of input you want to record, be it a text file, document, web page, or RSS feed. Choose your voice from the available list, decide whether or not you want the recording to be public, and click "Read".
I tried the service out using the RSS feed from this site (which you might want to subscribe to yourself) and overall, I was impressed. I don’t really recommend that you use a RSS feed as the input unless you really have to. The reader doesn’t just read the post, but all the information in the feed. Things like blog title, links at the top of the page, and any other text information in the RSS feed are automatically converted. And some words are not in the vocabulary of our new found speaking friends, like "iPhone".
Try out some of your documents or a web page with ReadTheWords.com and let me know how your experience was.
a2a_linkname=”Convert web pages, RSS feeds, Office docs and more to MP3″;
May 7th, 2006 at 12:23 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/03/18/convert-web-pages-rss-feeds-office-docs-and-more-to-mp3/”;
OK, I’ve officially got to start watching Charlie Rose on a regular basis. I’ve watched some bits and pieces of his interview show over the years, but have never been dedicated enough to the cause to sit down and watch full shows.
That ends today.
Apparently, Mr. Rose is quite the fan of his gadgets. That wonderfully large black eye and bandaged head are compliments of a meetup between poor Charlie and a stretch of pavement. Mr. Rose decided to sacrifice his mug in order to spare his MacBook Air from smashing into the pavement after taking a misstep through a pothole in Manhattan.
Apparently, his face didn’t fare nearly as well as the MacBook Air.
That’s some serious gadget love right there, people. 2 points for Charlie Rose in my book. Gotta start watching more of that show.
Tags: charlie rose, macbook air, black eye
a2a_linkname=”Charlie Rose bashes face to save MacBook Air”;
May 7th, 2006 at 7:29 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/03/18/charlie-rose-bashes-face-to-save-macbook-air/”;
So I wake up this morning and Twitter is all a-twitter with the news that AOL has purchased social media site Bebo for the nice sum of $850 million. Wish I had that kind of money lying around…
AOL, the online arm of mighty Time Warner, has paid a little more than $20 per user (Bebo has roughly 40 million) for the right to throw some more advertising in their faces. Randy Falco, AOL CEO says,
What drew us to Bebo was its substantial and fast-growing worldwide user-base, its vision of a truly social web, and the monetization opportunities that leverage Platform-A across our combined global audience. This positions us to offer advertisers even greater reach and marketers significant insights into the desires and needs of consumers.
OK, cool. I understand the raw power of having access to over 40 million people that spend around 40 minutes of their day at Bebo. That’s really a staggering number and shows the sticking power of a good social networking site. Just how many hours a day do you spend watching videos on YouTube or playing some silly quiz on Facebook? I will only admit to 15 minutes, although it’s much more than that.
So how will this affect Bebo? I’m not sure as I can’t make a judgement call on a site that I’ve never really spent much time at. But folks in Europe will soon be able to tell us how AOL is screwing up this company like they have so many others. Bebo is very popular on the other side of the pond and I’m fairly sure that if the suckage level gets too high, we’ll hear the shouts here on the Western hemisphere.
Photo credit: Business Wire
a2a_linkname=”Breaking News: AOL buys Bebo for $850 million”;
May 8th, 2006 at 3:54 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/03/13/breaking-news-aol-buys-bebo-for-850-million/”;
OK, so there’s no tech news or commentary in this, other than to say check out bitstrips.com. Way too much fun. You’ve already seen a short comic I did, now it’s time for me to feature my little brother who just happens to be a great deal funnier than me.
Hang on to your pants, this might get good…
a2a_linkname=”Unleashing my little brother on the world…”;
May 8th, 2006 at 8:24 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/03/12/unleashing-my-little-brother-on-the-world/”;
Apple has announced that over 100,000 people downloaded the iPhone SDK in the first four days of release. I knew the numbers were going to be incredible, since it took me nearly 8 hours after the announcement just to be able to reach the download page, and then I still had trouble downloading the SDK.
Amazing.
And at first glance, it seems that gaming companies are going to comprise the bulk of the first apps available in the App Store for the iPhone. We’ve already seen companies like Sega and Electronic Arts showing off their wares at the SDK announcement event last Tuesday, but now some other folks have announced their initial offerings.
Namco states that they are working on iPhone versions of Pac-Man and Galaga. (Yes, I’m already drooling over Galaga, quite possibly the greatest video game ever invented. If I can have it on my iPhone, I won’t have to buy the full-size arcade game. My fiancee will be happy to know this.)
Not to be left out in the cold, PopCap has announced that they’re working on iPhone versions of Zuma and the immensely popular Bejeweled. Now if we can get someone to get Tetris on the iPhone…
I’m wondering if any of the WordPress folks were paying attention when Six Apart announced that they will have a native iPhone interface for TypePad users. My first blog was hosted on TypePad, but I’ve since moved on to WordPress on all my sites. I’d love to see someone create a useful interface for WordPress on the iPhone, true blogging on the go. Sure would make my time much more productive.
Best of luck to everyone working on apps for the iPhone and sending in applications to the iFund. If you’re a new company and you want to talk about what you’re working one, we’d love to have you on iPhone Developer Radio when we launch. We’ll be taking interviews soon for a launch in early May. Might even have a few “beta” episodes out before then. If you’d like to be on, head over to our contact page and drop me a line. We’re building up a list of interviews and sponsors as we speak. Check back at iPhone Developer Radio soon for our launch.
With possibly 100,000 developers already onboard, Apple has definitely made a great start at turning the iPhone into a platform and not just a product. Are we seeing the beginning of the end for the notebook computer? Not sure, but we’ll have to wait and see.
a2a_linkname=”100,000 iPhone Developers competing for your hard-earned cash”;
May 8th, 2006 at 4:41 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2008/03/12/100000-iphone-developers-competing-for-your-hard-earned-cash/”;
May 8th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
OK, I know that a dollar isn’t worth what it used to be. And I know that we are slowing churning away inexorably to a time when none of us will use any other form of payment that some type of credit/debit/money/RFID chip/Mark of the Beast type card or swipey thing-a-ma-bob. I understand all of that and fully accept it. Hell, I hardly even use cash for anything anymore. I’ve been guilty of whipping out my debit card to buy some bubble gum or a soda. And nothing ticks me off any more than standing in line behind someone that refuses to accept the inevitable and gets out their checkbook to make that $12 purchase at Wal-Mart. GET OUT YOUR DEBIT CARD AND SAVE US ALL A LOT OF TIME!
(End of rant, post continues as normal…)
At this point, cash is still cash and can be used to purchase anything in a physical environment, such as a retail store, grocery, mall, or even a cell phone store. Cash is legal tender and not subject to the whims of some corporate entity that is crying over some problems with their product.
Someone needs to remind Apple of this…
I’m sitting around trying to relax today (I’m in the middle of a short vacation) and I read about some garbage that Apple won’t let you pay cash for an iPhone now. How stupid is this. I mean, come on guys! Do you really think that by making people purchase an iPhone with a credit card that you are going to curb sales made by unauthorized resellers? Are you really that concerned that people will not want to sign up for an AT&T account that you are going this far to protect your partnership with them?
I realize and understand that there is an obligation to AT&T with the iPhone. I understand having to protect your business and your business relationships, contractual agreements, and protect your own bottom line. Fair enough. You guys just keep on sending down updates that don’t allow people to use the iPhone with another network. That’s fine by me and I’m pretty sure it’s fine by the vast majority of iPhone owners. We wanted an iPhone, so we had to move to AT&T. No big deal. If you want an iPhone to work on another network, that’s silly. That’s like saying you want to buy a Mustang but you don’t want it to be a Ford, so I should be able to buy a Chevy Mustang. ‘Scuse my English but, it ain’t gonna happen.
But not allowing people to use good, hard cash money to buy an iPhone? Ridiculous. There are going to be a great many more people ticked off about this than are going to be happy about it. And I don’t think it will affect unauthorized sales all that much either.
Rethink this, please. Cash is cash. People work hard for it. Let them buy what they want with it.
a2a_linkname=”Your money isn’t good enough for Apple”;
May 9th, 2006 at 6:39 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2007/10/27/your-money-isnt-good-enough-for-apple/”;
It’s a late on a Friday night here in Kentucky as I’m typing this up. I’m sitting, as usual, in front of my trusty iMac and things have changed very little from any other day. Why, you ask? I haven’t done it yet.
I didn’t pre-order. I didn’t run to the new Apple Store in Louisville to pick up a copy, even though I still have that bright shiny $100 rebate to use, you know, the one that Apple handed to all of us early iPhone adopters to quell our searing hatred after the price drop heard round the world. Yeah, that $100 rebate.
I haven’t done what I know that most of you other Mac crazies have already done. I’m sitting here still running OS X 10.4 "Tiger" while you are knee-deep in the 300+ new features in OS X 10.5 "Leopard".
Call me crazy, but I’m gonna wait a little bit.
I know there won’t be a price drop like the iPhone debacle, but I’m just going to wait a few days, or weeks, to see how things go with the new OS as it is released on a large scale basis. Reviews can be all rosy and warm, but how well will the upgrades go when there are people like me that have never upgraded an OS on the Mac. And you know that there are quite a few of us out there now. More new Macs are being sold to switchers than ever before and the vast majority of those have never done an OS upgrade on a Mac. I’m not even sure how many have done a Windows OS upgrade.
So, my question is this, how long are you waiting before you upgrade to Leopard? Have you taken the plunge already? If so, how is the experience? Remember, I’m still pretty new to the Mac world, so let me know how things go!
a2a_linkname=”How soon before you upgrade to Leopard?”;
May 9th, 2006 at 7:54 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2007/10/26/how-soon-before-you-upgrade-to-leopard/”;
Good news. We can all breath a sigh of relief here in the US of A as our illustrious Senate and House have both decided to keep the ban on Internet access taxes for at least the next four years. While there are still some issues to iron out before the bill is sent to the President, it seems that our government understands the importance of keeping this ban in place.
We get taxed on plenty of things already, Internet access doesn’t need to be one of them. And I’m not saying that because I’m against any kind of taxes or something crazy like that. I happen to like having police and fire departments, clean water and all those other great benefits that paying at least some taxes affords us. I just don’t see the need in taxing someone’s Internet access.
Let me tell you why.
For those of you that don’t know, the Internet was originally conceived as a communication tool between scientists located in different parts of the world. Not to create some ghastly looking MySpace.com page that shows off your latest high school pranks and pictures of your cat. That’s what we’ve come to, but that’s not where we started.
Keeping the lines of access free and clear of any taxes has enable Internet usage to grow at an incredible rate, at least since the advent of the World Wide Web that made the Internet really accessible to anyone that cared.
The Internet has always been about delivering information to anyone with the access and there’s never been a time more important that people need access to any and all information that affects their world. From kids completing those ridiculously complex research papers, to the college professor doing some research on some new vaccine that will rid the world of acne, information is the backbone of the Internet.
And you shouldn’t have to tax to get access to information. I’m not saying that information should be free, not by any stretch of the imagination. But why tax the access? Are we trying to pay for the Internet? Who does that bill belong to? Not the people that are accessing the Internet, that’s for sure.
I’m just hoping that before the bill is actually signed into law that our beloved Congress has the sense to just make this ban permanent so that this issue doesn’t raise its ugly head again. Ban the internet access tax for good and move on to more important matters.
a2a_linkname=”Why we need to keep Internet access tax free”;
May 9th, 2006 at 12:50 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2007/10/26/why-we-need-to-keep-internet-access-tax-free/”;
I’ve taken a lot of internet marketing courses
and read a lot of ebooks. Most of them talk about
the same :
–Sign up for an autoresponder
–Create a squeeze page
–Create a series of emails
–Rinse and repeat
You can make a LOT of money doing this…don’t
get me wrong.
But you can make a lot more if you start
harnessing offline marketing in your business.
You see, online marketing is preached as the
"holy grail" of marketing.
But ask the big information marketing
powerhouses like Agora, Boardroom, and Weiss
where the REAL money is made. They absolutely
clean house offline…humiliating any online
marketer who comes in their path.
Here’s the deal: Millionaire internet marketer
Russell Brunson has just released a special
offline report: "The IM Myth" where he shatters
the myth that internet marketing is the "be
all-end all" of marketing.
You can check it out here:
The "IM Myth"
Believe me, this stuff is the real deal. The
marketers who absolutely annihilate their
competition are the ones that incorporate offline
marketing into the mix.
So check out Russell’s report today before you’re
competition discovers it.
Thanks,
Michael
P.S. One of Russell’s tips he reveals is how he
moved his offline list online. This absolutely
blew me away, and is something I’m going to
implement in my own business immediately.
So get it today, right now, while it’s still on
your mind.
The "IM Myth"
a2a_linkname=”Why you can’t make big money with Internet Marketing”;
May 9th, 2006 at 8:20 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2007/10/03/why-you-cant-make-big-money-with-internet-marketing/”;
It’s been a few days since I signed up for the best blog traffic generation tool ever conceived, BlogRush. While I’m not seeing the kinds of numbers generated by some other, more well known bloggers, I’m still fairly happy with the results I’m seeing so far…at least as far as the number of impressions go.
What I am seeing across the board is a dismal click-through rate. Mine is currently sitting at 0.0019%. Which is, to say the very least, beyond pathetic.
But, I’m not the only one in the crowd:
Darren Rowse is only seeing a 0.05% CTR, which is the highest I’ve seen so far. And while that’s significantly more than my own bottom-of-the-barrel numbers, we’re still not doing very good.
Why is this?
I think I have an idea and it has nothing to do with titles of articles, widget positioning, or any other of the common excuses reasons given by people for BlogRush stats to this point. I think what we’re seeing here is the fact that the majority of the people being exposed to BlogRush widgets at this point are other bloggers that are also using BlogRush. We’re only a few days out from the release of the widget and the mad rush to get bloggers signed up for the service, so we’re not getting a lot of exposure to the general public right now.
But, as time progresses with the program, I think we’re all in for at least some moderate levels of traffic brought in by BlogRush. It’s really far too early on to tell exactly where this is going to go, but I’m certainly going to stick around for the long haul.
If you haven’t signed up for BlogRush yet (have you been in a cave?), head on over and get your widget now, free.
a2a_linkname=”What are your BlogRush numbers?”;
May 9th, 2006 at 8:31 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2007/09/19/what-are-your-blogrush-numbers/”;
Yes, I admit it. I’m a blogger. I love it. I live it. I am pretty much obsessed with it. It seems I’m always coming up with a new idea for another blog or podcast. And since podcasts are really, in essence, just audio blogs I think I’m a certified junkie.
Ask any blogger what they want more of and you’ll very likely get one answer that rises above all others - more traffic.
Traffic is the lifeblood of any website. Whether you’re in business or not, you put up a website, blog, podcast or anything in between because you wanted people to hear what you had to say. You think your voice is pretty important…and you’re right.
But if nobody is listening to you, are you really saying anything?
Before I get too much further along, let’s just go over some of the ways you can get traffic to your blog. All of these methods are great, but none of them have the edge like the method I’m going to tell you about in just a minute.
You can buy traffic
You can borrow traffic
You can create traffic
You can beg and plead for traffic
All these are great, and all of them will work. But they involve a cost, either monetary or time. But now the rules have changed.
Enter BlogRush.
With BlogRush, you sign up, get some code, put it on your site and BOOM! You’re on your way to more traffic.
For every display of a page with your BlogRush code, you earn a credit to have your blog posts displayed on someone else’s BlogRush widget. The more traffic you get, the more traffic you can get…Get it?
And, you earn credits for everyone that signs up through your link. I know it sounds kind of pyramid schemey…but it’s not. Because you don’t have to pay anything for this traffic. And the time it takes to do this doesn’t really matter. In less than 2 minutes, you’ll be up and running, earning credits and banking new readers to your blog.
Are you sick and tired of not having traffic to your blog? Isn’t your voice important enough to be heard? Then head on over to BlogRush, sign up and in less than 2 minutes you’ll be on your way. Guaranteed.
a2a_linkname=”Discover the Easiest Way to Increase Your Blog’s Traffic, Simplify Your Life, and Attract Targeted Readers for Your Blog - Without Having To Spend a Dime”;
May 9th, 2006 at 11:45 pma2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2007/09/16/discover-the-easiest-way-to-increase-your-blogs-traffic-simplify-your-life-and-attract-targeted-readers-for-your-blog-without-having-to-spend-a-dime/”;
Yes I admit, I’m pretty pumped about this Next Internet Millionaire reality show being put out by Joel Comm. I’m a big fan of reality shows like The Apprentice and Survivor (and of course, American Idol). So my ears perked up quite a bit when I first heard about this concept several months ago.
I told you all about The Next Internet Millionaire a little over a week ago as we were heading into the home stretch before the premiere.
Episode 1 is up now for your viewing pleasure after a delay of a couple of days due to some computer issues. Namely, US customs holding Joel and Eric’s two ultra sexy and powerful brand spanking Mac Pros at the dock. (My thoughts are really that the customs guys are just jealous PC users that just had to get a taste of the good life while they had the chance…)
Overall, I really enjoyed the first show. The concept is pretty straight-forward and any fan of reality TV should be very familiar with the format of the show. Contestants work on projects related to Internet marketing and are then judged on their performance. The winners get some nice goodies, the losers have to come back and face Joel at the CommPlex (I laughed out loud when I heard that) and face elimination.
My favorite "twist" of this show is the elimination. It’s not your typical reality show elimination, but you’ll have to watch Episode 1 to see exactly what I mean.
Joel has brought in some of the best minds in Internet marketing to this competition and his first guest was none other than the creator of Simpleology, Mark Joyner. Mark shared with the contestants the concept of the "straight line" and how that applies to your business. Personally, just this one 5 minute stretch of the show has caused me to reevaluate my own business and think about how much time I really put forth on growing my business and how much time I put forth on growing absolutely nothing!
There are already a couple of the contestants that I like and a couple that I already despise. So, reality TV at it’s best has made it to the Internet. Episode 2 will be featuring Armand Morin, one of the most successful Internet businessmen and the creator of Big Seminar so make sure you watch the Next Internet Millionaire site to see the newest episode.
Until then, head on over and catch Episode 1 if you haven’t already. You’ll be glad you did.
a2a_linkname=”Next Internet Millionaire Episode 1 Review”;
May 10th, 2006 at 6:32 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2007/08/19/next-internet-millionaire-episode-1-review/”;
I’ve been using Wordpress exclusively as my blogging platform for the last year. I did a brief stint with TypePad when I was first getting started, but quickly grew out of that platform. Not because I don’t think that it’s any good (quite the contrary), I just like having more complete control over my own blog.
Wordpress offers that control. The amount that you can customize Wordpress with the plugins and other options available (with more being produced every day) is absolutely mind-boggling some times.
In fact, there’s so much out there it’s sometimes hard to figure out which plugins you need and then exactly how to implement them to get the best results from your blog.
With that in mind, I’m working on a series of training videos highlighting some of the best plugins for Wordpress and how you can use them to drive traffic to your site, get better conversions, rank higher in the search engines, and become an overall better blogger.
Now, these videos will not be a highlight of some of the more, let’s say, “fun” plugins but will revolve around the plugins that will do the most for your blog.
Before I get started, I’d like to hear what your thoughts are on this subject? Is anyone interested in such a program? Would videos like these help to get your blog to perform better? Are you ready to start ranking on the front page of Google for your target keywords?
Please post your comments below. I’d love to hear what you guys think and if you have any suggestions, let me know about those as well.
a2a_linkname=”Wordpress Training Videos”;
May 10th, 2006 at 6:45 ama2a_linkurl=”http://www.pikemalltech.com/2007/08/18/wordpress-training-videos/”;