index

Twitter, The New Safe list?

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:54:17 +0100

Has twitter become a great tool for marketers or just the new safe list to get lost in?
If you have been around Internet marketing for the last few years, you have undoubtedly heard of a safe list. If you have not, hear it is in a nut shell. When safe list's first started they where intended to help Internet marketers with there marketing efforts and a way to cut down on spam. The idea was people would sign up to send emails to other people on the list who are interested in receiving tips and ideas on how to grow their business. The main point being you can market to the people on the list who want to learn more. Great idea right? Your right it was. The thing is with the safe list was, if you wanted to use the service you would have to sign up, so you too can receive these marketing emails. So what inevitably happened was the safe list where full of marketers marketing to other marketers. Worst yet they would sometimes market the same product to each other. Then, you guessed it, people just stopped opening there emails from the safe list. Your customers or potential customers have to feel compelled to open emails from you, your business depends on it.
The same thing can happen to twitter for Internet marketers. There are those who use twitter to follow others to here what they have to say, and get this actually follow them. Then there are others who use twitter to follow others only with the hope they intern will get more followers them-self, making it a "safe list". Now you have a ton of marketers marketing to other marketers on twitter and not following them. So what is happening, is those that truly have a great message or tips and resources that can help others is getting drowned out be the never ending tweets of marketers marketing the same product. You have to ask your self if you are using twitter the correct way.
The best way to use twitter (my opinion) is to follow those people you really want to here from. Twitter is a great tool for Internet marketers who use it the correct way. If you are not a marketer, be careful. Make sure you read the bio of the person you are thinking about following and check out there website. This will help you follow some one who you really want to here from. This will intern help the Internet marketer to reach those who truly have an interest in the tips, resources and other tools the marketer has to offer. It does the Internet marketer no good to market to your email trash bins or their tweets be ignored. Internet marketers have a responsibility to use twitter the right way too. As a Internet marketer if some one follows you do your best to send a direct message to thank them for following you. We also need to stop bombarding our followers with tweets like "check this out" or "make more money with this" only to send those people to some affiliate capture page. Sending tweets to followers that will send them to an article, blog or video that can actually help them is the best way to go. You will find yourself building a relationship with the follower by treating them as a person and not a meal ticket. Then when you do send a tweet as a recommendation you will find out you get more people to open them then you did before.
All of us who use twitter realise it is a great tool to keep in touch with others and to market to some. However if we keep abusing twitter and not using it as it was intended we will all just be part of some big "safe list" that no one reads.

Exposing Myths in Cyber Security

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:32:31 +0100

We all know the cyber security is important. Having a good password is important to keep confidential information protected. We know that having an anti-virus, anti-malware and spyware application do wonders especially when you’re connected into a network or the web. Having all those applications is a good thing but we also know that having a correct firewall setting is quite important as well.

However, what most of us don’t know and what we are forced to believe is that having these precautionary measures are just enough. Well they are not. It is time that you know the truth and expose some of the myths cyber security that we have believed for years.

Let’s start of with anti-virus software and your system firewall. Despite what manufacturers say, despite what the advertisements say, despite what some of your friends tell you, no anti-virus software or firewalls for that matter are 100% effective. You need to understand that for one virus creators make malicious codes that are so advanced that an anti-virus application is not yet capable of handling an attack from it.

Despite the regular updates released by anti-virus software companies, they cannot foresee what kinds of virus will come out next month or the month after that. They can only provide their customers with protection based on the virus that they know off and the potential virus that could come out. As mentioned or implied earlier, the best way to have a degree of protection is combine the technologies together. Have separate virus software installed and keep a strong firewall active. Although, there might be a problem with some applications not working well together but conduct your won research and see which software works well together.

It is also important to know that not because you have installed an application that’s the end of it. You see you will need to get the patches or updates that manufacturers release. These patches or updates are fixes on some little or sometimes big inconsistencies or bugs in the application. This is very important for anti-virus applications especially.

Look into your installed application and see it there is a n automatic updating option, which there usually is, that allows you to automatically receive updates whenever manufacturers release a new version or an upgrade of the system.

Also, don’t believe that just because you have mainly personal and insignificant information in your computer that it’s not worth protecting at all. Please bear in mind that what you think is not important can turn out be quite useful for hackers. Every bit of information you have in your computer, email or any other system can be manipulated and used by hackers to access more of your confidential information or use it to gain some profit. Even if you keep your files in a computer not connected to any network, the one that a hacker gains access to can be used to attack other computers or cause problems with other systems.

Not being rich is not a good enough reason of being attacked as well. Hackers and identity thieves will grab any opportunity that they come across with. If they can get you personal information easily, they will do so and think about how they can use it for their personal gain and believe me, they will think of a way.

After we exposed some of these myths and now you know the truth cyber security, I hope you get a renewed conviction regarding cyber security.

Robert R. Thomas Owner The PLR Marketing Group	http://www.robertrthomas.com
Only working together can we achieve the ultimate success.
Visit MyBlogLog and get a signature like this!

The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:11:01 +0100

"Discover the Exact Step-by-Step Program
You Can Use To Start And Grow
Your Own Profitable Internet Business...

... You Don't Need Business Experience,
Products To Sell, Or Even A Website!"

Product Review:

"The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay"

By The Internet Marketing Center

If you'd like to start a business on the Internet, and potentially earn $10,000+ each MONTH -- even BEFORE you have a website -- you'll want to read this article very carefully...

I recently read the newly revised and updated version of IMC's "The Insider Secrets To Selling On eBay," and I've got to tell you, it's a must-have for ANYONE wanting to start earning money online!

It doesn't matter if you have NO business experience, NO money to invest, and NO products to sell...

... IMC's team of eBay PowerSellers will show you the EXACT steps you need to follow to start a SERIOUS eBay business.

IMC's experts have spend YEARS researching, developing, testing, and perfecting these strategies (which less than 5% of eBay PowerSellers know about), and thousands of people with no special skills or talents have used them to earn incomes of $2,500... $5,000... $10,000 and MORE each month.

In "Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay," you'll discover:

How to identify the hottest markets on eBay and guarantee auction success!
Where to find the products that offer the greatest profit potential!
How to write “bidder magnet” listings that explode your final selling price!
What you can do to automate your business — so you have more time to grow it!
Ways to drive swarms of traffic to your auctions with top-secret promotion strategies!
Advanced techniques tested and proven to grow your business further!
The LATEST changes to eBay's rules, and how to take advantage of them to beat your fiercest competition
And MUCH more

And because the entire program is delivered online, they constantly update it, whenever there are new test results or techniques to report (or eBay makes a change to its rules).

It's the only eBay "how to" program that NEVER goes out of date!

PLUS... IMC is also giving away FOUR super bonuses, including a 90-minute live webinar TOP with their TOP eBay expert!

As far as I'm concerned, "Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay" is a perfect 10, and I recommend you take a look at it right away.

And IMC's currently making trial copies available, so you can try out the profitable strategies for 30 days -- and prove to yourself that they really DO work -- WITHOUT risk!

To find out how, click here now...

Robert R. Thomas Owner The PLR Marketing Group	http://www.robertrthomas.com
Only working together can we achieve the ultimate success.
Visit MyBlogLog and get a signature like this!

Why do People Network Over a Network?

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 00:35:13 +0100

People's lives nowadays are focused on one thing, catching up to everyone else. Everything is fast paced when it comes to career, opportunities and relationships. People barely have the time to stop and look around them to assess what they have and what’s going on in the world. Because of this hyped up and fast paced way of life people are barely connected with the people that matter the most.

Some friends and family never really know what is going on with each other. There is a solution to all of this and it’s what they call social networking, the question is why do people network in a network?

There are a lot of reasons why and here’s a short list of the reasons why:

1. Know new people. Just about every social networking websites says meet new people and the fact of the matter is that it’s what it’s actually all about. Meeting new people over social networking websites is the primary objective of having social networks. It’s like speed dating, people meet people assess if they like them or not and add them in their network of friends. It’s a great way of finding out how small the world is.

2. Finding lost friends. If there’s a cheap way of finding a long lost friend it’s through social networking websites, it’s because people hate being left behind in all the techie stuff that they make their own network. One of the features that a lot of social networking websites have is the “how are you connected” feature. It shows you the link that goes back to the person who introduced you to that person that you have on your network. Another feature is the “friends you have in common” feature, this allows you to see who are the people you have in common in your network. And chances are if you have someone in common it’s easy to look for somebody else.

3. Chat away. If you got nothing better to do with your life, chat the day away. Forums or discussion boards on social networks are available for those people who have a lot to say but have nobody to talk to. I know it’s sad right…because of the power of freedom of speech everybody has the right audience to listen into what you got to say.

4. Be part of an interest group. One of the good things about social networking websites is that there’re always people who share what you like to do. Crazy as your hobby may sound there’s bound to be a few people doing what you do. Not so special anymore right? And all along you think that you’re weird because you like collecting stamps so you can lick them, but on second thought wouldn’t it be better to belong.

5. Blog. Blogging or weblogs are the current replacement of a journal. It’s a little space in cyberspace where you get to rant as much as you like, write poetry, curse at people, curse at the government, curse at the Idol judges, shares your thoughts on almost anything and everything under the sun.

6. Post your face in cyberspace. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a place where you can put all of those memories for people to envy? Indeed, social networking is a great way of showing off to your friends what you’ve accomplished and what other things you like to have.

Robert R. Thomas Owner The PLR Marketing Group	http://www.robertrthomas.yolasite.com
Only working together can we achieve the ultimate success.
Visit MyBlogLog and get a signature like this!

Twitter Practices

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:52:02 +0100

I found this fascinating quote today:

One of the most controversial practices widely used to build up influence on Twitter is now cause for account suspension, according to a message on the Twitter developers email list from a company support team member.readwriteweb, ReadWriteWeb, Jun 2009

You should read the whole article.

Robert R. Thomas Owner The PLR Marketing Group	http://www.robertrthomas.yolasite.com
Only working together can we achieve the ultimate success.
Visit MyBlogLog and get a signature like this!

The Internet Marketing Center

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:45:16 +0100

I got a question from one of my readers today asking is there a top affiliate program that I would recommend. The answer is yes I do Mark. What I want to show you is an exciting opportunity that is currently earning thousands of other entrepreneurs’ huge incomes every single month.

The "Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet" course is one of the best-selling Internet Marketing course online. You can find a great article on it on this website here. This is a UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY to make some great money as an affiliate marketer selling very high quality products. Check out what you get with this program.

EARN A $65 COMMISSION ON EVERY COPY SOLD!

This means that you can easily:

A) CAPITALIZE ON THE LIFETIME VALUE OF CUSTOMERS you may have from an existing e-business by sending them "backend" offers for the course. (Statistics have repeatedly shown that, of the people who have bought from you before, 36% WILL BUY AGAIN!)

B) EARN 250% MORE SALES than you would promoting your own product by making a "friendly recommendation" as opposed to pushing your own product or service.

... All without the usual hassles and expense of product development and fulfillment!

It's extremely easy to do because you just post a link, a banner, or a short letter of recommendation on your web site -- or perhaps recommend the course in your newsletter or Ezine -- and then COLLECT A PERCENTAGE OF THE PROFITS (called a "referral fee") when a sale is made!

You don't ever worry about:

- Collecting the money

- Packaging the product

- Shipping the product

- Customer service

... Or anything else for that matter! You just do the promotion and collect your referral fee from the resulting sales!

Typically, affiliates who have web sites with low traffic earn between $400 - $900 per month, affiliates with medium traffic sites earn anywhere from $1,200 - $2,700 per month, and heavy traffic sites can expect $4,000+ per month. Their top affiliates are earning $8,000+ every month!

So if you'd like to learn how you can join the Internet Marketing Center's Affiliate Program today -- at absolutely no cost, with absolutely no risk -- and start profiting from products that are earning current affiliates thousands of dollars every month, then I highly recommend visiting.

Internet Marketing Center

Robert R. Thomas Owner The PLR Marketing Group	http://www.robertrthomas.yolasite.com
Only working together can we achieve the ultimate success.
Visit MyBlogLog and get a signature like this!

10 Tips for Using Traffic Exchanges

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:08:45 +0100

The ability to generate targeted yet low cost traffic is crucial for the success of every Internet business. In fact a lack of traffic is the number one complaint of webmasters. But all traffic is not equal. The key to success lies in being able to generate targeted traffic. That is, traffic that is interested in what you offer and is ready, willing and able to take action.

A good Traffic Exchange will provide you with this targeted traffic. And although Traffic Exchanges will most likely not be able to send you all of the traffic you need. If used properly along with other forms of promotion, they can help you grow your business at a phenomenal rate. Here are 10 tips for using traffic exchanges.

1. Track Everything - As with all online marketing efforts, it’s critical that you track all traffic generated by Traffic Exchanges.

Tracking can be done using a tracking service which you pay for monthly, or using tracking software which you purchase and install on your server. Whichever option you choose, be sure to look for a solution that will give you as much information as possible. Many will tell you how many clicks you get, how many are unique visitors versus return visitors and where they were referred from. Some even give you conversion information by telling you which visits resulted in sales.

2. Know Your Audience - It is important to remember that everyone using Traffic Exchanges is first and foremost interested in having their own pages seen. Just like you, they all want to drive traffic to their sites. This means that you have to develop creative, eye-catching pages to entice them to take action. Simply using the same affiliate materials everyone else is will not be effective.

3. Make Sure Your Page Loads Quickly - Your website design and the time it takes for the website to load are very critical when using Traffic Exchanges. Your page will never be seen if your site takes 15 seconds to load and the exchange rotates the websites every 15 seconds. You want to have at least a 10-second viewing window to give the surfing exchange member time to respond to your offer.

4. Use Simple Splash Pages – Rather than sending surfers to your home page, which provides too much information, use a splash page. This is a page that does not require any scrolling. Its purpose is to be short, sweet and to the point. Typically it consists of a killer headline, a clear list of benefits and a simple call to action. You want your visitor to be able to make a quick decision whether to ask for more information or pass on your offering.

5. Include a Persuasive Call to Action - Make sure the page has a clear “call to action”. That is, that it clearly tells the customer what they should do next. Whether that’s join your newsletter, request your free eBook or take some other action, it should be obvious to the surfer what they are to do.

6. Capture Their Contact Information – Offer surfers something in exchange for their email address. This gives you permission to contact them later and introduce them to your products and services.

7. Learn From Others - As you’re surfing, be sure to take note of the pages that catch your attention. Chances are that if they are enticing to you, they are enticing to others. What is it about the page that appeals to you? What made you want to take action? This is very valuable information that you can use to improve your own pages.

8. Make Your Offer Stand Out – If you have your own niche website, then you already differentiated yourself from the pack. If you are an affiliate marketer, then you need to find products/services that everyone else isn't already promoting, especially within your particular Traffic Exchange.

Your individual promotion is everything. If you're trying to promote something everyone else is your sales conversions are going to be very low, or nothing at all.

9. Only Choose Traffic Exchanges that Offer Manual Surfing - Most people do not even watch the window when an auto surf is running. If it is a manual surf exchange they have to physically watch the pages in order to go to the next site. This gives you the best opportunity for them to actually see your site and be drawn in by your offer.

10. Test. Test. Test. – If you’ve put in place a good tracking system you’ll be able to run tests to find out what effect they have on your results. Try different headlines, graphics and offers to see which ones get the best response.

The most effective way to test is using Split Run Testing. This involves creating two pages that are similar but have one thing different (for example different headlines). You show the two pages equally to your visitors and see which one converts best. There are several scripts available to help you do Split Run Testing very easily.

Robert R. Thomas Owner The PLR Marketing Group	http://www.robertrthomas.yolasite.com
Only working together can we achieve the ultimate success.
Visit MyBlogLog and get a signature like this!

Free Yourself from your Business

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:35:36 +0100

We all want to build a business that will give us freedom. Freedom from our everyday grind of a job, freedom to travel, financial freedom and whatever your definition of freedom is. So we go into our business with that end in mind, not realizing that the very thing that was to free us is what can hold us back. Well how do we attain freedom?

I’m sure most of you know that 80% of all small businesses fail. Within the next five years 80% of those businesses fail, so you are looking at a 96% total fail rate with small business. How does this happen? Most small business owners are stuck in the everyday minutia of the business. Do yourself a favor and don’t let your ego get in the way of your success. Give up some control. Most of us feel we have to do everything, or we have to micro manage the very person we hired to do the job. To avoid this make sure to find the BEST person for the job and not the subpar individual thinking you are saving money (in the long run you are wasting money with subpar help). Find the most talented and give them the space to fail and learn from those failures and take ownership in the success of the business. Now when I say give up control that means some control, not all of it. You have to take the time to understand if there is a problem in a certain area of your business, what are the ways to solve it. More to the point what are the ways the person you hired, uses to solve that problem. Just take a day or two to learn this or you can hire a third party to do this for you. You can give up some control but not the farm.

So how do we gain this elusive freedom? There are three key ways to get this freedom we all search for.

1) Separate yourself: You have to ask yourself what is the most valuable product you have? One hint, it’s not you. The most valuable product you have is the business. If you can separate yourself from your business and think of it as a separate entity from you, you will run it differently. You start to think of ways your business can run without you. Making sure you hire the best and brightest people to run the everyday operations of your business. You can’t do this if you are the product. Now this is not to say you can’t brand your name. Branding your name is very important in gaining credibility and maybe your very own Guru status.

2) Tracking and Reports: Start today with tracking your business every day. Open an excel spread sheet with your dates on the left and three tracking matrix. First should be your daily leads, or how many are opting in to your mailing list every day. Second is a Daily customer line, how many of your leads turn into customers for your business. Third is how much money are you putting into the bank, tracking every cent you have in your business. You should keep track of these three matrixes for 30-40 days and then you can create a chart and see how your business is flowing and maybe areas you need to improve on.

3) Take time off: I know this will sound a little off but do you and your business a favor and take some time off. Taking time off helps you recharge your personal battery. This also forces you to learn to run the business without you. You begin to separate yourself from your product (your business). Taking time off can also help you gain perspective and a new way to look at how things are getting done with your business. You should start with a couple of days, then a week and eventually you will be able to take as much as a month off or more if you really focus on having your business run on its own.

Owning your own online business is just one vehicle to use to gain the freedom from everyday life. To gain that freedom sooner than later you need to take the steps early and think of your business as a product to build and to gain value. I feel if you do these simple steps in your business you will find yourself on a beach somewhere while your business is making you tons of cash. Good luck.

Robert R. Thomas Owner The PLR Marketing Group	http://www.robertrthomas.yolasite.com
Only working together can we achieve the ultimate success.
Visit MyBlogLog and get a signature like this!

Membership Marketing Tips

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 06:50:51 +0100

Robert R. Thomas Owner The PLR Marketing Group	http://www.robertrthomas.yolasite.com
Only working together can we achieve the ultimate success.
Visit MyBlogLog and get a signature like this!

10 Grass Roots Marketing Tips

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:47:06 +0100

There are many ways to market your website or blog. I think when you first start out you should do some grass roots marketing (old school). So this means you can't be lazy and you are going to have to get out of the house and pound the pavement. Some of these may seem like they are not going to work but they will pay off in the long run as word get around about your website or blog. Grass Roots marketing is a great way to build relationships with other Internet Marketers and Online business owners in your area. So marketing in this way can help your business in more than just driving traffic to your website or blog.

1. Print some business cards- Be sure to print out business cards with your URL in plain sight so anyone who has the card can see it clearly. You need to make sure you leave them at restaurants, on the community bulletin board at the supermarkets or library, in public restrooms, go to the library and slip them into books that are in your niche, tables in coffee houses or libraries and hand them to the person sitting next to you on the plane. The word will get around.

2. Send out some postcards. Postcards that announce your new website or blog can be sent to your friends, family members, and business associates. People will read postcard more than some form letter they may or may not open.

3. Print some flyers. Hand them out at public events, the local malls, swap meets and any other places you can think of. Check with the laws in your city to make sure this is okay.

4. Place an ad in the newspaper. People still read the classifieds and a nice small ad will help you generate some traffic.

5. Write letters to the local paper. Make sure to include your company name and URL in your signature. You will be surprised how many papers will print the web address right along with your company name.

6. Make an announcement in your local Weekly Shopper. This usually only costs a few dollars and will expose your URL to other people who are looking for all sorts of Stuff, maybe something you offer on your website.

7. Invest in some promotional materials. Pencils, pens, note pads, golf tees, and some T-Shirts that you or friends can wear around town to be walking billboards. Make sure your URL can be seen so it is easy for others to see it.

8. Join the Chamber of Commerce. Membership in the local chamber of commerce will allow you to network with other business people in the area and generate some interest in what you do. This will also allow you to build relationships with other business men and women that can help you drive traffic and grow your business in the long run. Working with likeminded people will also stimulate your business juices.

9. Print up a brochure. Make it a nice tri-fold brochure that fits nicely into a business envelope. This will make a nice follow up to the postcard you mailed out not to long ago. It will give your website or blog credibility with your would be customers, and they will be more likely to buy from you. If they don't buy they will at least join your mailing list. This is still a win for you.

10. Do some talking yourself. Find ways to work the name of your web site into casual conversation. Just try to do it with different people, not the same ones all the time. They will just get mad and make it a point not to mention your website or blog.

I hope the 10 Grass Roots Marketing Tips I suggested will help you in your marketing efforts. Some of these can be done in other cities as you travel to get you even more exposure and traffic. Good luck and happy hunting.

Robert R. Thomas Owner The PLR Marketing Group	http://www.robertrthomas.yolasite.com
Only working together can we achieve the ultimate success.
Visit MyBlogLog and get a signature like this!