Do you have a lot of blog’s that you are trying to keep track of? Do you take advantage of your Google Reader?

We are all very busy, but yet there are so many things we want to make sure we read…and for me, this is a list of blogs that I don’t want to miss. I have subscribed to their RSS feed and have them sent directly to my Google reader.

Whether it be business blogs, news, hobbies, or family and friends, I want to make sure I know what’s going on. I was showing a family member how to use this great tool, and thought….hey why not write about it just in case there is somebody else who may not know of this great tool.

Tips and tricks

If your phone has a data connection, you can access Google Reader on the go by pointing your mobile phone’s browser to http://www.google.com/reader/m.

When you find a great blog, such as this one, and you want to continue to read each new post, then click on the RSS feed button, and you will have the option of having it go to your Google Reader or to your homepage. I find that the reader works best for me, as I can read each one right after another, and skip past those that hold no interest.

One blog I like to read is from The Underachiever Life by Ed Dale. You can have your own blogs gaining a lot more traffic by posting them on BlogRush. This is a great way to bring more readers to your blog. Register, add the Blogosphere widget to your site and when you blog, it will be posted in the Blogosphere on related blogs.

As you can see, I have just added BlogRush on this blog and Whilst some people say they don’t get any decent results with BlogRush, I say, try it for yourself and track your own results. Be sure to write good, ‘buzz’ headlines!

Note: Firstly, sorry for making you wait 4 days for a new post! I was meeting my business partner and working on a new project… You can watch my first EVER video online HERE …

LinkSpank Spanking?

I have come across another great tool for your viral marketing strategy and it involves a bit of ‘spanking’. No, not the kind you are thinking, this spanking is not the naughty kind, but actually a way to share your content that you like. When you find a page, product, or service that you find interesting, you “spank it”. LinkSpank is a new form of social bookmarking!

This is a fun new way of voting for your favorites or sharing by sending these sites through email. You can also post it to your wall, adding items such as videos, which will all be an additional spank. You will be encouraging users to develop some deep discussions around the items you have submitted and all throughout LinkSpank.

You will make a LinkSpank profile and this profile will be your Inbox where you will be able to receive and send your favorites between your friends. You will be sending these through your email and will be receiving spanks from your friends. If you find that you are getting too many spanks, you can adjust your settings.

There is always the bad with the good, and we have found the kind of bad with LinkSpank is the way they share the content. You can relate it to UPS where all the packages are sent to the central warehouse or hub then sent out from there. Basically, you are collecting your favorite content in LinkSpank and emailing them from there. This is quite different from the way you normally share things such as on Facebook or sending an email directly.

But this is actually what LinkSpank is trying to accomplish by doing it this way:

1. This is a catchall for any content that you want to share
2. It is organized and easily accessed for anytime in the future
3. You can find your content through a simple search
4. Works a lot like your email inbox

This is not a replacement for the other social bookmarking sites, but an additional way to get your products and services known.

There is a buzz word going around now called permission marketing. Permission marketing is a privilege that you have to send messages to to people who actually want to receive them. The best and most effective way to make your viral marketing campaign work is when you first have the permission of the recipient of your marketing material. This is not only sending something to someone who wants it, but you are showing great respect and this is the best way of getting their attention.Attention is another key word that you need to focus on. A permission viral marketer knows that when someone gives you their attention, they are giving you some they cherish and that is their time. You are taking up their time in reading your content, giving them a chance to decide if what they are reading, hearing or watching is worth their time and will add value to their life.

When you have obtained someones email through a website or sales page, you have their permission to send them content. They are expecting to receive some valuable content from you. Now if you want to make sure that your product is marketed, then you need to assure that your content is worth their time. Once they receive it, review it, and find that it was what they were hoping for, or even more than what they were expecting, they will want to pass it on to their friends, their co-workers, and their family.

Once you have their permission, then you need to make sure you follow through on a continuous basis with something of value. Don’t start throwing gimmicks their way, or trying to get them the buy something with each message, give them something, make this be about what you can give, not what you can get.

When someone subscribes to the newspaper, they are expecting content daily, and they are looking forward to it. The newspaper has their full attention, because they have their permission to drop off this content on a daily basis. They have earned the trust of the recipient and therefore, can still drop off a paper daily, and the ads will be read, merchandise will be sold.

So, think of yourself as someone who is willing to gain the trust of your recipients, that you want to have their permission to show up in their email once a week, or however many times you plan on delivering quality content. Once you win their trust, you have them for life, and you will see your viral marketing campaign take off.

I have been talking a lot about viral marketing…and the reason I am doing this is because it works! This a great way to expand the growth of your business without having to pay for advertising and spending the time to do it. You do this simply by offering your product or service for FREE along with your sales copy. Now the plan is that your product will be read and shared with friends and family…and they will share it with clients, prospects, visitors to your sites and those who have your product.

A good way to do this is with a trial or lite version of a software program. Everyone loves something for free, and getting a free software is really fun to get. When they have used it, see the benefits, they are going to want to share it with everyone they know. You want to make sure your customers know to share the software with anyone and everyone. If you need some help in developing some software…you can hire help at Elance.

Next, you should start using discussion boards. Set up a discussion board on your website, and post it up at the top by your banner ad. Then you want to encourage your readers to provide a link to this on their own websites.

What about Ebook’s? This is another great strategy that will make your viral marketing a success. You are going to give away your Ebook with the traffic that comes to your site. You want to advertise your best product line with a captivating full-color ad including your contact information. Remember…tell everyone who gets yourEbook to share it with their visitors and their contacts.

Article writing!

Write articles that coincide with your niche or product. In your byline, you will put your contact information along with your website. Then, give permission to anyone to publish your articles as long as they leave the byline in the article, and without changing it. Your articles will soon be in article directories such asEzine, in newsletters, on websites and anywhere else that can bring you attention to your site.

Another way to do this is through web hosting. Find a small business and make an offer to host their websites on your server for free. In return, you place your banner at the top of their site.

Another great marketing technique is using templates. You can create templates and give them away as a free download, which needs to include your own marketing information. Make them easy to pass along from your recipient to their contacts. You have a few techniques here to try out…see which one works out best for you. When you are using viral marketing techniques, it shouldn’t take long for you to start seeing some successful changes happening.

Check out this article at USA Today regarding Viral Marketing. You will see here why this is such a successful marketing tool. Also another great resource that I have found is the Online Marketing Blog.

Here are some Viral Marketing Tools you need to see and take advantage of!

There are a number of Social Marketing networks and platforms for you to spread your name and get your brand out and known. As you know, we have been giving you some great tips on social marketing and how to use these great tools for your benefit. One to give notice to is Utterz which allows you to use your cell phone to post voice, videos, pictures and text mashups to your blogs at anytime, anywhere right from your cell phone. You can post to one site or all your sitesl at once. Utterz is free to use, does not require any special software for your cell phone, and can be done conveniently whether you are traveling, or just away from your computer.

Another one of the fastest growing communities is CafeMom. This is a site that was launched November, 2006, and has since become the most popular site for women. They have become famous for their photo-sharing, widgets, micro-blogging and more. If you are marketing for the female audience, this is a great place to be.

Here is a site to add to your viral marketing plan, it is coComment. This has been the leader of blog access and comment, aggregation, and tracking technology. They have provided a great hub enabling conversations online, ability to track and share comments anywhere on the Internet.

Get Your Marketing Going Quickly and Effectively!

Another stop on your travels online needs to be FaceySpacey, which is a leading Social Media Marketing and Development Company. They specialize in flash widgets, Facebook Aplications, social networking sites, Rich Internet Applications, YouTube-style sites, and yes, viral marketing! They started sites like OganicIncentive.com, ReelProperties.tv and so many more. FaceySpacey is the shopping mall for Social Media.

Another stop on your Social Media Marketing tour is KickApps and KickDeveloper. This is a great on-demand social media application which enables marketers and web site builders to monetize quickly and easily an online audience. This has a SaaS platform with user generated content, social-networking, viral widgets, and online video players.

There are a few strategies that will bring traffic to your blogs, and one is Controversy. We all love a good argument, and a chance to voice our opinions. Controversy has been used throughout the ages bringing about headlines, discussions, views of opinion, and a lot of gossip.

Give some case studies…bloggers don’t do this enough, but they can be great for reading. A good case study will bring to point “is this for real?”, and will help your reader decide this for himself. By using case studies, your readers are able to see themselves using ‘your’ solution.

Talk to your readers, make them feel less alone. One of the biggest fears of people is actually being alone. By sharing your experiences, or writing about something your reader can associate with, sharing a common concern or fear, maybe talking about something that makes you happy, or ask a question about something you would like to know. In other words, create a connection between you and your reader. Make him or her feel like they are coming home when they come to your blog. Make them feel like you understand them, and that you are no better than they are…and you have your ups and downs too.

If you make any claims, back them up with proof. What kind of business are you in? Give some screen-shots of your work, maybe some photos, or some statistics. Give your reader a reason to believe you, to have faith in what you say. Show that you have integrity, and that you are not trying to push something over on anyone. Earn their trust.

Be honest, if you have a bad day, let them know, if you make a mistake, learning from it and share what you have learned. You want to have your readers care about what you have to say, not to get them to agree with you. You will never have everyone believing what you believe, or agreeing with your views, and that is great, that is where the controversy comes into play. But, be honest! Don’t be tempted to stretch the truth to make things or yourself look better….you will lose your readers doing this. Remember, honest is always the best policy.

Give a place for bragging rights by your readers! Give them a place to share their successes, and you can share in their excitement. You may actually want to turn this into a forum eventually. You want your readers to have a place to come and say, “I did it!” And to receive the praise from you and your other readers. Then you will look good because your readers are succeeding, and benefiting by your site.

Have you readers contribute to your blog with their questions. Encourage conversation, and have your readers become contributors to your blog.

Because it Works! Viral marketing can be done in many different ways, but when you decide to make the leap, it is best to pick on a particular strategy and focus on it. This will be the best way to get the results you are looking for. If you are using an article marketing strategy, you can turn some of your articles into an Ebook or report

Because you have already put the articles together, it won’t take a lot of time to develop them into something that can bring in some traffic and sales for many years to come. You will gather your articles, compile them into a single document, and then maybe do some rebranding, make it look nice and appealing.

The key here is not to focus on the advertisements or the marketing components of your product, but to add value to the reader. This is about them, what they will be looking for. A popular technique used is adding a few products in your niche. You can include them as your own affiliate links, but consider cloaking them to make them less obvious.

When you are ready to distribute it, this can be done in one of many ways. If the publication you have put together is good quality, you may want to sell it. If you want to make it viral, you need to include reprint rights. You will get the sales from the product as well as having it spread around.

Now, if you really want it to go viral, then you should give it away for free and encourage others to do the same thing, with the provisions that nothing is changed in any way whatsoever. This way you can advertise your giveaway in emails and forums. Another place that is often forgotten is on the download page of any similar products that you sell. Everybody loves bonuses, and the unadvertised bonuses are even better, and when it is on the download page, it becomes a part of the actual order, and then most readers will download it.

When it comes to cost, viral marketing is considerably less expensive than traditional advertising. Remember that viral marketing is only one component of your marketing strategy. You need link it with other strategies like your opt-ins and setting up squeeze pages. This will all help to generate traffic to your site, developing a solid customer base and increasing your sales.

We have all heard about the The Secret...well, since this has been brought into light, the lives of many have been drastically changed. On Oprah, the original author of this concept was a guest on her show. Her name is Louise Hay, and she wrote a book called ‘You Can Heal Your Life’.

She wrote this international best seller 24 years ago and since has seen this change the lives of so many. There were two more guests who spoke about the power of your thoughts and of making lists.

Now the reason I bring this up is because this makes such a dramatic difference in your life and the success of your business.

You and I have the power to bring good into our lives by changing your thinking. Louise Hay was thrilled when The Secret came out last year, happy to know that everyone will have the chance to apply this into their lives.

This power can work not only in big ways, but in many little ways. Oprah shared an experience she had last month when a Bubble Blower came on her show…she thought she she would love to go blow bubbles with her god-daughter and needed to get some bubbles. She went up to her office, and next to her desk was a bag with 6 bottles of bubbles and a silver bubble blower from Tiffany’s. She asked her assistant if she had gone out and bought these bubbles for her. Her assistant replied “No, I bought those for your birthday, and they have always been there, you just have never noticed them before today.” Oprah was stunned! She couldn’t believe that these bubbles had been there this entire time, but because she had not thought of them until now, she had never noticed them.

We, you and I, can really change our lives with our thoughts. We become what we think about, whether we want it or not. You need to first start off with positive affirmations, and this is the foundation that you build upon. If you are always talking negatively to or about yourself, how can you bring anything positive into your life? How can you be successful in your business if you think of yourself as a failure? You need to love life and know that life loves you in return.

Affirmations are like planting a seed, you give it a chance to grow, it may take time, but it will grow if your nourish it. This is too where making goals and lists, writing out your desires of where you want to be is so important. You are reinforcing this in your mind, you are making it concrete in your consciousness.

They talked about making lists, some made out of fear…’the shallows’, and then the list that comes from our heart. This does not work if you are desiring things from the ‘shallows’, but things that are of real value. An example they used was King Midas…he wanted gold to make him rich, but he soon learned, after his wife and child were turned to gold, that all he really wanted to love and happiness. If he had asked that in the first place, he would have that plus the gold.

I just wanted to share this with you, it has reinforced the role of positive thinking in my own life and I know it will help you as well.

I Am A Fan of Squidoo Lenses

I have been a fan of Squidoo for a long time and they have now added another lens to its ever growing options to market and promote your business, products, and services. Squidoo is quickly becoming a place to establish yourself as an authority in any area and providing a way to aggregate your content and data, sales for eBay or show your video collection.

The latest addition on Squidoo is called Hey MonkeyBrain!

This is bound to be a huge success and bringing in a lot of new users who want to get into some deep discussions in their interactive forum. This is a place to debate, argue, defend or express ideas, theories, statements, and anything else you want to discuss. This is similar to outquibb.

As a user, you can set up discussions and have other readers join in with their own personalities and views, the more the merrier. Matter of fact, they need to be registered Squidoo users to join your argument.

This is a great way to bring more to your site, and it guarantees a lot of fun, but the greatest aspect about HeyMonkeyBrain is that you can add supplemental information at anytime through various methods. You can add links, blurbs, videos, eBay items, and so much more. Not only are you able to use all methods of aggregate data at any time, but it also enables you as a Squidoo user and Squidoo to create various connections throughout other lenses. This opens up a huge opportunity for viral marketing.

You can use MonkeyBrain for self-promotion!

You can encourage the visitors to your lens to take some action, as well as collect some great marketing research and feedback on the topic of your choice. Your MonkeyBrain lens will show up on your Squidoo profile along with all the other lenses you have built, which also gives you more visual impact on your other lenses. You are basically going to build your own mini-network all around yourself. This is a great way to get your Viral Marketing going!

How can you benefit and get the most out of SMM (Social Media Marketing)? You find tips and tricks all over the Internet and I came across a blog, netbusinessblog that covers this topic beautifully. According to this writer, there is a one and only secret to using SMM properly. He first states…

The Problem:

The problem is by the ways SMM is being used. There are a lot of articles voicing the benefits but very little on how to use it properly. There was an analysis done by Gary Ruplinger on the SEO side of PR back-links, getting instant exposure, and the potential for viral marketing success overnight. If you set out playing this game without knowing what you need to do, you may end up hurting your reputation.

The Solution:

The only way to make use of SMM is by really participating in the community. Become a real contributor, using the services offered the way they are meant to be used. This is the key, become a member of the community you want to be known in.

Do you want to make the frontpage of Digg? Then do it buy building your reputation with good stories and content. The same goes for Reddit with your articles, or YouTube with your videos. Submit your best and your name will be known, coming up through the ranks, all built upon your honest and sincere reputation and contributions.

By taking the shortcuts, you won’t make it. You need to be actively engaged in the community, become a genuine user. Don’t try to play games with people, eventually they will see through it. Remember, Social Media is done by using it, becoming a part of it.

How To Do It:

*Do you want to gain a reputation on Digg?

Then submit some great stories, and vote on the stories you like.

*Do you want people to go to your MyBlogLog?

Visit their blogs, if you like what you see, let them know, join their community.

These are simple questions with even simpler answers. You need to dive into these social media site and learn how to use them. You cannot go into the social media with the mindset of what you can gain from it, you need to know how to use it and enjoy it. Then you will naturally build a good reputation, gain some new readers, and be the winner in the end.

I have had people ask me how you setup Aweber with Feedburner, so I decided to write a Step-by-Step post on how to do it but first lets quickly review why you should do it:

Why Use Aweber with Feedburner:

* Scheduling – Aweber allows you to choose the time and how often (day, week, month) to send out your blog broadcasts
* Designs – You can design your template for your blog broadcasts
* Post Count – You can setup how many new posts before it sends an email with a link to all the posts
* Build a List – You can email your newly established and growing list about anything at any time
* Can-Spam Compliant – There is a link in every email for a subscriber to be removed, fast & easy, so good for your readers
* Now Counts Towards Feedburner Count – Better Than RSS subscribers as it counts them every day, even if they delete the email without reading it. Having a high feed count is very good for getting advertisers, growing your blog and of course increasing your blogs value!

How To Set It Up:

It really is quite simple once you know what you are doing, but to save you some time, here is a step-by-step on how to get Aweber configured to handle your email blog subscriptions and reflect in your Feedburner counter.

First: you need to have an Aweber account, so if you don’t you should open one up. The cost is $19.95 per month.

Second: Create a new autoresponder for your blog:

Third: You click on ‘Messages’ then ‘Blog Broadcast’, from there you click ‘Create Blog Broadcast’:

Fourth: Fill out the form entering your feed, configuring your template and title. Here you also choose how many posts are made before it sends, I have mine set to 2. Also, click on ‘Automatically deliver’ so that it starts sending without you needing to log into Aweber and approve it first each time. (maybe leave it manual for the first few to get the design right):

Fifth: Save your settings then go to ‘List Settings’ and then click on ‘Web Form’. Setup a form and then confirm it. (maybe only use email if you don’t want first name. On my email feed I have first name configured too. Then update setting’s and click on ‘html’. Take the html and paste it into the site where you want to have your form:

Sixth: Your site is now ready to grow you a list with Aweber and communicate your subscribers stats via feedburner. The next thing to do is configure your thank you pages and also the personal email sent for the member to confirm.

To see how you can set it up, why not sign up to my email update service and see how I have done it.

Wow! A whole week has gone since I last wrote my first ever Sunday Summary – It honestly only feels like a day!

Personal Update:

Personally this week I have been focusing on getting back into gym and watching my diet. Being a marketer we do tend to not focus on this aspect as much as we should, so this week a conscious decision was made to get focused again on the ‘healthy lifestyle’.

I also went to go and see a live performance of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ which was wonderful. I saw it in London before but Brisbane did a pretty good job too!

This week I also focused on my business ventures (as I do every week) and am happy with the way things are progressing, a little slowly for mine, but then again, I have always been a bit impatient (not a great quality to poses). I also spent time reading and learning Forex ins-and-outs because, well, it’s one thing to make the money, its another thing to leverage that money to good use. I have a stake in property already, so looking to expand and diversify my portfolio a bit. I will keep you updated on how that progresses.

In Other News:

Last week I covered microsofts bid for yahoo, well it looks like it might be costing them. Techcrunch covered the story which omits the fact that all tech stocks are doing it rough at the moment but it does seem Microsoft investors (a few of them at least) are ‘jumping ship‘.

Ebook Launch:

This week was the very soft launch of my ebook. I am still revising the additions and improving it, but so far have had very good feedback!

You can check it out at: http://www.ViralMarketingManuscript.com – As I do new revisions and updates, you will be sent them via email included in the purchase price.

Digsby Becomes a part of Centralize Email, IM, Facebook and MySpace According to Mashable

If you have not heard of Digsby, then check it out! This is an upcoming aggregator of profiles that will work right on your desktop. This will allow you to keep in touch with your email inboxes, IM buddies and your Social Networking accounts. This looks a lot like an AOL buddy list where you can sign in with all the popular instant messenger sites, email clients as well as MySpace and Facebook. If you want to try it out, then Download the application and enter the names of your clients and email accounts. You can get your Facebook and MySpace alerts on this as well. When you are asked for the passcode, enter the word “mashable“.

The most complex part of this program is the integration with Facebook. The Facebook operates from a application that gives a variety of updates, telling you when someone adds a note, changes a picture, etc…The Facebook integration will allow you to use Digsby as a chat window to converse with your network buddies.

MySpace does not offer as many updates, and not as integrated as Facebook is. Just as you would see an IM alert with AOL, you will see a new message flash on the bottom of your screen while you are logged in to your accounts. As well as getting these alerts, you will see your updates for your social networks and email just by scrolling over the account on your desktop client.

Digsby is a great tool to help in your Social Marketing:

This is a downloadble application that is pretty easy to use. This program has some great centralized update tools that can be found on other social browsers. But this however, seems to be the new and updated version of profile aggregators. Check it out.

There is a new generation coming in the forefront of entrepreneurship. The generation born between 1977 and 1994 are well on their way to becoming the most entrepreneurial generation in history…why? The people born during that time were taking their baby steps when we were first entering the first true entrepreneurial decade. They watched and learned as their parents were restructuring from the life of Corporate living; they have the boom of technology growing with them. This was a time of great change.

There was a study done by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor that showed people from the ages of 18 to 24 years in the US are starting their own businesses at a rate faster than those between the ages of 35 to 44 years of age, and they are getting rich! College campuses are a fertile breeding ground for innovation and builders of new companies, inventors, leaders, they are growing in number daily.

Jeff Cornwall of the Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. said “Forty percent or more of students who come into our undergraduate entrepreneurship program as freshmen already have a business, It’s a whole new world.”

The up and coming stars that are on INC.’s “30 under 30″ list for the year 2007 would also agree to the above statement. They state that there are a few high school startups, and even more in the college dorm rooms…business racking up revenue in the tens of millions, then there are others who are just starting to see success, nevertheless, they will see it.

You who are reading this blog, and people like me, are those to drive success. We are the future here, we are the “E” generation…there is no reason for sitting back and watching everyone else succeed. We are the generation that can really make a difference. YOU can make the difference. Talk to your friends, ask them what their plans are…most of them will say they want to start their own business.

There is one particular characteristic that defines the “E” generation, which was discovered in a recent survey by OPEN from American Express. They compared our E generation and the baby-boomer entrepreneurs. 59 % of the E generation business owners referred to themselves as serial entrepreneurs, as to only 33% of the baby boomers. Could this be the attitude about risk? Generation E is polled at 72% being risk takers, and actually enjoying taking risks, where the older generation show only 53% of being risk takers.

Some may say this is a pipe dream, but then that is where the risk comes in. In addition, it is also much easier for a 22 year old to start a business of their own, than someone who is in their 50′s, which has financial obligations such as a mortgage, college tuition for children, and caught in the life that they have always lived. I am not saying that if you are in your 50′s you can’t become an entrepreneur, I am saying the majority are the younger generation. There are many more than you would ever realize that are gaining great success in this venue, and you can do it too!

Stick around; you will continue to learn how to be one of the successful Generations “E”. I will help you get there.

BIG Call there but….

It’s true. You hear all the time, ‘the money is in the list’ and more recently Frank Kern stated in one of his Mass Control Videos, ‘The Money Is In The Relationship With Your List’. I subscribe to Mr. Kern’s thought process but in order to have a good relationship with your list, you first need to have a list.

Aweber is a List Builder and Autoresponder, for those who don’t know what Aweber does, it allows you to capture your prospects names, emails and anything else you might consider useful and then contact them at will.

With Aweber you can setup unlimited lists, Autoresponders and contact forms and send an unlimited number of messages for one low monthly fee. Aweber are also known for their amazingly high deliverable rates with full time staff working on keeping Aweber off the spam lists so that your email gets delivered.

Aweber Works With Feedburner:

I use Aweber with my sites and Niches and in fact have a couple of accounts with them. It just got even better though, because now Aweber offers the ability to integrate in with your blog, so no longer do you need to use Feedburner email subscription as Aweber now reports your numbers to feedburner and allows you to manage your own list and presentation of the newsletter. The benefits here are huge! If you have some vital information you want to get out to your subscribers, you can just login and send them an email, also for those that use the ‘rss counter’ widget provided by feedburner, your subscribers are now reported and show up on there!

This is a brand new function and I have just added it to my blog. At the moment, every time there are 2 posts made an email is sent out to my subscribers that subscribe to this blog by email, with the content of those posts, allowing my readers to never miss a post.

If you don’t yet have an Aweber account and are serious about making money online, I suggest you get one and start building a list from whatever niche you are targeting online

Get Your Account Now

To see the Blog broadcast function in action and to never miss another ‘content rich’ post on ViralKing Dot Com please:

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The question; is there a market for another PPC network for bloggers?

Simon Emery and I were having a chat on MSN as has recently become the norm, and we were talking about needs in the blogosphere marketplace when it dawned on me… We have PPC text ads for bloggers, but we don’t have a dedicated network of PPC ads for 125*125 banner boxes that has now become popular as well as the other common banner forms by bloggers, for bloggers.

I was looking on my blog, and as it is (at time of writing this) new there is a lot of unsold ad inventory. What if my banners on the side, and my featured banners at the top, could be populated with Default ads that earn me a CPC every time someone clicks it.

Then if someone wants to buy the ad on my site for a month, like is the norm, they can and it will automatically replace one of the CPC spots.

Next, from an advertiser point of view, what if, instead of paying each blog to get my ad shown, I can bid a CPC amount, select geotargetting such as the niche of the blog, country of the visitor and possibly even age demographic and have my banner ads serviced on many blogs that fit my filter! These blogs will be of a high standard due to the fact that we plan to review each blog before accepting it into the network.

I got excited and pitched this idea to Simon. Guess what, turns out he was thinking along the same sort of lines for his OIO plugin that allows you to sell your ad inventory and cut out the ‘middle man’. He wanted to allow users to service default ads with CPC ads until that spot was sold.

Now we were talking, both of us thought it was a great idea and now we are at the stage of finding a viable platform to add-on to. Simon has published some research on the current ad platforms he has found. He has omitted some of the higher range stuff (One platform as high as $30,000 + 5%) which we may need to consider too.

If you think that we should not be publishing our ideas for the world to see at such an early stage, worry not, we have some very unique and clever ideas for the network that will of course not be reveled until we launch in Beta.

If you have done any kind of Internet marketing before now, then you know about search engine optimization and how important this can be. Well, something just as important as SEO is Internet Branding.

What is Internet branding? Well, it’s not a hot metal object with a logo on the end, stuck in some hot coals then slapped on a cow’s butt. Nope…not that…it is something totally different. This is a brand that states who you are, the company you are representing, your logo. This is the most important thing you can do for yourself is to make a name, get yourself known. You want to have a logo that is seen and automatically associated with you and your website, your product or service. You want to be known through your Internet branding.

Before you ever knew of the golden arches, Ray Kroc was creating a vision, a vision that would make McDonald’s known throughout the world. He came up with the golden arches. He not only branded himself but his business. Now, as you know, the golden arches is the most recognizable brand in the world.

Ok, let’s think of another logo or brand, what about Nike or Coca Cola? Let’s get closer to home, what about Yahoo or Google? Do you see what I’m saying here? You may need to invest some money in a good graphic artist, but if you are serious in doing this full time, making a success out of your product, then you need to have a marketing brand.

SEO and Internet branding are marketing concepts that work great together, when you combine this along with your viral marketing, then you have a winning combination. Don’t just settle for one form of marketing when you can have a great trio working for you.

This is the Kings first Sunday Summary and with the blog coming out of Pre-launch tomorrow, exciting times lay ahead. The biggest news in the Business sector this week for mine was the bid Microsoft placed to buy out Yahoo Inc.

Take Over Bid:

The $45 BILLION bid will see the second and third largest search engine players combine provided that the deal is approved under the monopoly act. Although Google control over 60% of the search market, both MSN Adcenter and Yahoo Publisher network are big players in the PPC industry and some circles are saying that by combining these two together, provided they work on ‘userbility’ could start giving google a run for top spot.

This is made even more likely with Google Revenues on big publisher sites dropping as much as 60% with the change in the ‘ad click areas’ of the ad.

Give Up Already:

I made a post earlier that the key to success, in any industry is Focus. Unfortunately not everyone has this train of thought, and some people have even dedicated blogs to telling people to give up before they even start! I almost Joined Geoff’s Blog feed out of interest and for a bit of a laugh, but it goes too far against what I believe. You Simply can’t let negativity into your mind, you can’t think of anything other then success in life. Here is a guest post on John Cow that says otherwise. I suppose marketing to the cynics is a business opportunity too. Ironic that he is trying to make money telling other people to not even bother trying to make money!

It Can Be Done:

Not sure how Geoff plans on explaining the fact that bloggers are reporting good incomes from blogs that are not even that old. John Chow has just cracked the $30,000 income from his blog in one month! Congrats to John, 12 months ago he made around about a 10th as much, so that equates to a 100% increase almost every month on average!

Another newish blog is Jac Johnson and he too has just released his monthly figures from last month. His blog brought in $3,000 and while that is not enough to be considered full time income yet, he is sure to increase that figure fast if Chow’s blog growth is anything to go by.

Don’t Only Focus on blogging:

Congrats to all the bloggers out there earning good incomes from their blogs. While it must be noted, the majority of successful bloggers have other, bigger businesses and blogging is a creative outlet and a supplementary income. Shoemoney runs ringtone and other businesses, Chow has a media company, Jac is a supper affiliate and I (althoug just starting this blog and know I’m at least a year from having a blog that can be mentioned in the same breath) have a six figure business and working on a few more too.

Well that does it for this week. Stay tuned guys and gals…

If you are just getting into the online marketing business, there are a lot of ways to start your journey. I am not going to tell you that the road is easy, the road is actually a bit bumpy…but it is also a lot of fun and very exciting. The first thing you are going to learn is the importance of research. Research will be the key to your success. Find out what you are interested in…what appeals to you. Are you interested in creating your own products, or maybe you like the idea of selling products for others for a commission, such as Clickbank products?

You will find a lot of options and even more hype. This is why it is so important to do your research. There are many who just start on the journey, and that is where the bumpy ride begins, so you can save a great deal of that by knowing how you are going to do this. So, do your research.

If you don’t have a product of your own, then you can sell information products that belong to other people. But before you do this, test the product. Don’t sell something that you haven not personally tested. Think of it this way…if you are going to buy a product, who would you buy the product from…Seller A who knows nothing about the product, or seller B who has firsthand experience with the product and can share his own experience and success with the product? Well, you know the answer…so test the product before you sell it.

Be honest with your customers, let them know that you are someone they can trust and that you have integrity. Integrity seems to be something that is indeed lacking in the Internet Marketing business. If you are honest in the way you portray yourself and your products, then you will have return customers and referrals. This is a key to viral marketing, your reputation will follow you for a very long time….so protect it.

Let’s talk a minute about Email

Email is wonderful! Or IS it? Email comes in many shapes and sizes, and it is sent and received instantly. Email comes in HTML, plain text, and even “rich media”. Email can be a major tool to marketing online. You can use it for advertising, newsletters, and to reach business contacts as well as friends. But as does everything, it has a flip-side. This flip-side would be SPAM. No one likes that four letter word. Sadly to say, spam is a form of email marketing, if you think about it in technical terms. For you however, the legitimate email marketer, it poses as a threat.

Not everybody has the same definition of spam, but typically, it is email from a source you did not request the information from. There are dangers of sending spam, one being the legal consequences, but another very important consequence that is often overlooked is the credibility of the sender. There has been companies that have had their credibility ruined just by sending out spam. So, before you become a “spammer”, know the consequences and the risks you are taking, it could mean “the end”.

Note: You need to be targeting a list of members that have opted in for information from you and are in your niche. They need to be able to opt out at any time too. We have provided a solution called: ViralUrl where you can build an optin list and even instantly have a list of 3,000 by upgrading to Gold. You never have to worry about spam with our program. Check it out.