Archive for the ‘Marketing Tips’ Category

How to use the Law of Attraction in marketing and business

January 20th, 2010 admin
I’ve been involved in several conversations this week where the failure rate, in the Internet marketing industry, has been the topic of conversation. It stands, even today, that 97% of the people to try to start a business from home, using the Internet, eventually fail or quit for reasons that are just to numerous to mention.

Instead of focusing on failure, we need to focus on success. Thinking about failure will bring about failure… thus, the Law of Attraction.

The Law of Attraction functions when a combination of thoughts, emotion and concentration are focused, without distraction, for a certain period of time.

Through study I’ve learned that the common consensus concerning this required period of time is somewhere between 10 minutes and a half an hour.

What most people don’t understand is that the Law of Attraction is working against them, most of the time, because the are focusing on the negative. Just like a magnet, the Law of Attraction is always at work in your life, whether you realize it or not. If you are worried (emotion) about the toils of life, the emotion and concentration of that thought will attract more negative… that’s just the way it is.

Here’s an example… let’s say that Mike has a big bill come due. Not knowing how to use the Law of Attraction to meet his need, Mike starts to worry (emotion) and think (concentration) about the negatives associated with this burden. He think about not having the money, he worries about the consequences of not paying the bill and before Mike knows it, everything he has been worrying about comes to pass because this thoughts and emotions have created the very circumstance he feared.

I don’t mean to over simplify this, but the truth of the matter is that the Law of Attraction is not rocket science. It’s a simple natural law that is every bit as real as the Law of Gravity. The problem, with most people, is the application of this universal (natural) law as outlined in Mikes story above.

The Law of Attraction is the ability to use personal magnetism to attract the things in life that you want or need. This personal magnetism is a power that all of us were born with. You don’t need to acquire it, you already have it. The trick is to learn how to use it consciously. The key is to reverse the negative polarity and turn on the positive.

While there are numerous teachings on HOW TO make this happen, the best (in my opinion) ever written is The Master Key System. MKS can be acquired a couple of ways… you can buy it at Barnes and Noble for about 10 bucks or you can read it for free online. I have found that the best combination for using MKS to make a significant change in life is the combination of printed text (hard copy or digital) and audio.

The Master Key System has had such a profound impact on my life that it is my mission to provide this information to as many people as I can. Today, I am re-releasing a new Master Key System box set that is available for immediate download, free of charge, by clicking here. This is the full version of MKS in both .pdf format and mp3! (This is usually a $30 to $50 investment at the book store.)

What I am offering you, right now, are the keys to the kingdom. What you choose to do is up to you. I know there are a lot of people out there who reject this information because they don’t believe that it will product “fast enough” to meet their current needs. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing that will prolong the process is procrastination.

Once you learn to use the Law of Attraction you will be able to build anything at will. Build an MLM, a mailing list, a fortune… it only requires that you take action, concentrate and think!

Enjoy your journey!

Rex

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Tips for Effective Marketing on Facebook!

January 14th, 2010 admin

Facebook is a great place to market if you use it correctly.  It’s versatile and it offers several different strategies that will easily generate large volumes of traffic in a short period of time.  If you combine this with resources like Twitter, Friend Feed and Ping.fm, the traffic volume you can generate with one message is amazing.  Here’s a screen capture from bit.ly of a message sent just the other day…

The best way to get results like this is to share valuable information that will keep bringing people back for more.  This is not done by simply blasting ads at people.  It’s done be making an effort to go against the flow, step up and stand out in the crowd as the “Go To Gal/Guy”.

To do this, participation is required.  Facebook, if it’s anything, it’s participation oriented.  From groups, to multi-player games, Facebook is an incredible traffic resource.

To take advantage of that, here are a handful of strategies you can use to get great results:

1.)  Add Your Blog To Facebook:  This is a simple task that allows you to update your friends each time you create a new blog post.  To use this feature go to your applications menu, select “notes”, click “edit import settings” on the upper right and then add the rss feed from your blog.

2.)  Add New Friends:  I recommend adding 10 to 15 new friends per day by focusing on groups that qualify as your target market.  For example, if you are promoting a weight loss product/opportunity, you will want to add friends from weight loss groups.  This strategy will work with any target market.

As you add new friends, many times you will receive a message in the lower right hand corner of Facebook stating your request has been accepted.  When this happens, go directly to the wall of that person, thank them for accepting your friendship and start a conversation.  I usually use something like “Hi NAME, thanks for adding me as a friend, how are you today?”  Nothing fancy, just simply and basic… open the lines of communication and start building the friendship.

If you’re really gutsy you can go so far as to record a video, using your webcam, and send a video message to people each time they accept your friendship.  This makes a huge impact!

3.)  Start Your Own Group:  Starting a group is easy and it’s fun.  Setting one up is very simple… I’ve created a video on YouTube to walk you through the process:  click here to watch!  One of the coolest aspects of setting up a group on Facebook is the ability to message all of the members in your group.  Use this respectfully (in other words, don’t spam the daylights out of people) and it will serve you well.

4.)  Participate:  When given the opportunity, participate!  If you find a group where it’s okay to share your link, then share it.  Participate in discussions, wall posts, etc.  Each time you do this your action show up in the live and news feeds.  This is a great way to get the right attention and generate great traffic.

Hope these tips help!

Rex

Posted in Marketing Tips Tags: 1 Comment »

How to get great results with ad groups on the social networks

January 13th, 2010 admin

As an avid fan of the advertising groups located on some of the Ning networks, I was elated to see a decent group show up on Facebook this week.  There are several Ning ad groups that have grown to a decent size, but this new group on Facebook is growing at an alarming rate… which mean a whole lot of traffic!  Question is, how to do you tap into that traffic source and funnel it in your direction.

When it comes to advertising online, subject lines, titles and headlines are the key that opens the door to your marketing system.  If you aren’t grabbing people’s attention with your subject lines, titles and headlines then it doesn’t matter what’s behind them… good, bad or otherwise.

As is the case in most of these group scenarios, the majority of the people using them are just blasting ads about business opportunities at one another.  This method of advertising is pretty much useless on any resource.

The real key to generating the traffic you need is to offer a GREAT incentive!  An incentive can be a free report, a blog post, e-book, audio or video of TREMENDOUS value that is actually going to benefit the reader in some way.  Your incentive should be created around your niche market if you are building a weight loss business, for example.

Once your incentive has been created and coordinated with your marketing system, it’s simply a matter of advertising the incentive.  Advertising your business opportunity directly, online, is an absolute no, no unless you have the advertising budget to utilize Google advertising or something similar.

Another reliable method of funneling traffic is to identify the target interest of the group you are using.  In this case we are talking about advertising groups so the target interest of this group is, of course, advertising.  Not quite rocket science, I know… but it never ceases to amaze me how many marketers get this wrong or miss it completely.

So, if I am working to target an advertising group and I want to use it as a traffic source to build a specific mailing list, it’s simply a matter of creating an incentive that will attract that target interest and expose them to what it is I am offering.

In this case, I have created a blog post as my incentive to share advertising strategies for advertising groups available in many of the social networks.  I have provided valuable information through a blog post which draws traffic in.  My advertising is then strategically placed to funnel that traffic into a couple of different directions, BUT, all of my ad links and all of my banners (with the exception of 1) are pointed to resources that will allow me to add to my mailing list and harvest a lead.

If you scroll down a few posts you will find my video entitled “The Money Is In The List” which talks specifically about marketing systems and how they work.  If you look on the lower right hand side of my blog you will find a free resource that teaches you how to niche target any market using Twitter.  In the upper right hand corner you will see a promo for E-mail Marketing Mastermind.  This is another resource I have created to teach people this same strategy using opt-in e-mail marketing resources.  You can get started with E-mail Marketing Mastermind for free as well.

The resources on this blog are here to help you build a bigger, better business so feel free to take advantage of this information.

… and to take advantage of this awesome new group on Facebook, click here!

Have a great day and God bless!

Rex

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Twitter + Facebook + Ping.FM + FriendFeed + Your Blog = LETHAL Traffic!

May 17th, 2009 admin

The greatest strength of the social networking resources available to us today is their ability to connect people. Their second greatest strength is their ability to connect with each other.

By simply linking up a few key social networking resources you can put yourself in position to generate the best quality (and quantity) of traffic you’ve ever experienced. The traffic is so good, in fact, that it can only be compared to the quality of the search engines (under high ranking key words and phrases, of course.)

Any Internet marketer (worth their salt) will tell you that “the money is in the list.” Any Internet marketer who actually knows what they are talking about will tell you that “the money is in the RESPONSIVE list.” Without a great mailing list, any Internet based business (especially that of MLM, affiliate program, etc.) is a failure waiting to happen. Here’s why…

*The average person will visit your site 3 to 7 times before making a decision to purchase your product or join your opportunity. If you have not captured them as a lead before they hit your website, the chances of them coming back (unless they bookmark your site) are slim. This is especially true in the case of affiliate or replicated sites. If someone visits an affiliate site (that you are promoting along side of hundreds that are identical) and you have captured the lead, many times you will lose that sale or sign up as they will eventually join on the site of someone else.

*A mailing list gives you the opportunity to build a relationship with your database. The best list is going to be one that trusts you. A list that trusts you will buy from you. Having a list like this allows you to continue the marketing process and lose less potential clients, customers or prospects. It allows you to continue the marketing process even though paid conversion hasn’t taken place yet.

*Using the social networking resources you can build a targeted, niche specific list by driving the RIGHT traffic. Twitter and Facebook are especially good for this, as can be MySpace.

Understanding this, it’s important to generate your traffic from the right resources. Developing a traffic funnel is the key to getting the RIGHT traffic. Because the social networks allow you to target niche specifically, this creates a traffic funnel unlike any you will generate using advertising resources (safe lists, traffic exchanges, classified sites, traffic generators, etc.)

When Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, Your Blog, MySpace and other resources are connected together, this allows you to use a resource like Ping.FM to drive large volumes of quality traffic to a capture system. As you will see by the graphic below, these resources are no joke when it comes to driving traffic and converting traffic to leads.
 

Leads Generated Using Micro Blogging Muscle and Twitter Me This 

It is when this traffic is converted to leads that the conversion to sales, sign ups, etc. takes place.

The best place to start when it comes to driving niche specific traffic is Twitter. Twitter is the EASIEST social resource, there is, for building a niche specific based of followers for the purpose of generating targeted traffic. From there, add Facebook and MySpace to the mix, FriendFeed and then your blog, you have a recipe for an AWESOME traffic generator.

The details of my system are outlined in both Micro Blogging Muscle and Twitter Me This. Use the form on the right hand side of the site here to get your copy of Micro Blogging Muscle for free!

Cheers!

Rex

Posted in Marketing Tips, Twitter Tags: , , , , 1 Comment »

“How are you today?” Is this the MILLION dollar question?

May 12th, 2009 admin

I received an interesting e-mail from a follower on Twitter tonight that about knocked my socks off. Just when you think no one is watching … ;) … LOL!

In the message he sent he made the following comments… “that is no way to start a friendship or a business relationship. It’s impossible to network with someone who won’t respond to a simple gesture.” This comment was made in agreement to something I had said in a previous blog.

Clear as mud, right? Let me explain…

The terms “social networking” or “social marketing” or “social anything” point to a method… an order of conduct if you will… based (by definition via Websters online) as: “2 a: marked by or passed in pleasant companionship with one’s friends or associates <leads a very fullsocial life> b: sociable c: of, relating to, or designed for sociability <a social club>3: of or relating to human society, the interaction of the individual and the group, or the welfare of human beings as members of society <social institutions>.”

Now, let me ask you a question in all seriousness… does this sound ANYTHING like what’s taking place in the world of social marketing today? I think, if we are going to be honest, we both know the answer to that question.

At this juncture the choice becomes simple. People can continue to be part of the problem within the social networks or they can become part of the solution to several of the issues that bring division within the social marketing community.

Charles Haanel writes in letter 23 of the Master Key System, “We make money by making friends, and we enlarge our circle of friends by making money FOR them, by helping them, by being of service to them. The first law of success then is service and this in turn is built on integrity and justice.”

Again, I ask the question… does this sound like ANYTHING that’s taking place in the world of Web 2.0/3.0 today?

What I’m seeing doesn’t even come close to “social” or “helping” or “service.” What I continue to see is the exact opposite… and even though the money might be good for a season, when it’s generated for the benefit of the individual and not the whole, it will come and go like dust on the wind.

Without some moral fiber as the foundation of our efforts as Internet marketers the chances of success are grim. We have to be that “light” that shines in the darkness if we are ever going to put the Law of Attraction to work for us. Attraction marketing goes much further than waving checks in people’s faces or standing in front of a fancy car.

“You will find that money weaves itself into the entire fabric of our very existence; that the law of success is service; that we get what we give, and for this reason we should consider it a great privilege to be able to give.” – Charles Haanel, the Master Key System

Manipulation is not attraction and spam is not social marketing. Just because you are using a resource like Twitter, Ning, Facebook or MySpace does not mean make you a social marketer. A social marketer will be the light that reaches out with a simple gesture like “Hi, how are you today?” They will be willing to engage in conversation. They will be willing to put their use their understand of social networking to build friendships.

There are so many times when that “key” connection in life is missed due to lack of interaction. If you want to see an increase in wealth through business (home based or otherwise) my advice is this…

1.) Get into the Master Key System – If you’ve never read this or you’ve read it but never applied the teaching, make this a priority. Those who pick up the Master Key System daily, do what it teaches and do not put it down until they have mastered it all will find all of the wealth, health, peace, happiness and freedom they have ever dreamed of attainining.

2.) Be social – When people try to communicate with you online, respond! You never know when that one connection could lead to hundreds or even thousands more.

3.) Use automated resources to assist you, not replace you – If you are using all of the automated Twitter tools to replace you in the mix of things, they system WILL break down. Automated marketing tools are great, but people use these resources to become friends with people, not robots. Besides, it won’t be long before robots take over the earth anyway so it’s best to make friends now… ;) !!

I guess that leaves us with this… “Are you willing to make the changes necessary to achieve the freedom you desire?” Perhaps THAT is the million dollar question!

God bless!

Rex

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Leads are PEOPLE, go to the source!

May 5th, 2009 admin

There are two constants in the world of Internet marketing that continue to ring as true as they did when I started working on the Internet back in October of 1999.  One, marketers need and want leads and two, people want traffic from the search engines, social networks or anywhere else they can get it.  

While I’ll agree with the premise that leads will always remain a constant, I’m not so sure just how important search engine optimization, viral traffic systems or other “mediums” are anymore… let’s explore this a bit.

When it comes to business and marketing there is one key reason we want the top search engine listings for our niche/keywords.  There’s one reason we spend the time marketing and advertising that we do.  And, there’s one reason why marketers use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Ning, Plurk, Ping.FM and the hundreds of social networking resources that exist online today.  That reason is the NEED to reach PEOPLE.  I’ve said it before and you’ll hear me say it again, and again, and again.  PEOPLE are THE KEY ELEMENT that we need to be successful in business.  Without people, there’s no one to buy our products, use our services or join our business opportunities.

Based on this thought (as somone who is continuously thinking outside of the box) if PEOPLE are THE KEY ELEMENT that we need to be successful, is it really smart for us to be placing “mediums**” in between the PEOPLE we need and ourselves?  Let’s face it, people are as easy to find online today as they have ever been.  Based on the look of things, this isn’t going to change.

** Mediums – ANYTHING that we use in marketing that comes between US and our PROSPECT.  Mediums may be to your advantage or disadvantage based on HOW your are marketing and advertising.  The quickest path to success is ALWAYS to go DIRECTLY to the SOURCE OF SUPPLY.

Now, I’m not knocking some of the clever ways that people come up with to drive traffic.  Some are almost genius and get great results.  However, there are two things that you should take into consideration before joining any traffic generating resource.  First, most of the things you join online will want you to promote them as an affiliate which COSTS TIME (time is a precious commodity)… time that is going into the promotion of a resource, not your business.  

Second, many of these resources you have to promote just to get the traffic they generate which means that even IF that resource is MEANT to build your primary business, that the effort and traffic are going into the system of another, not yours.  The quickest way from point “a” to point “b” is a straight line!  In most cases (not all, but most) this is an example of how a “medium” can distract you from your primary objective, even though “it seems” like a good idea.  

Just yesterday I had a couple of friends contact me concerning a hot new traffic generator that people are getting some results with.  Upon reviewing the system, while clever (I will admit), I found it distracting and can see how people could lose traffic and sales from their primary business with the use of this system, even though they might make a few bucks with the promotion of the system itself.  Upgrades sell, that’s why these traffic/ marketing systems are so popular.

When it comes to business my belief is that the best approach is to stay focused on the development of your primary business, whatever that may be.  “When you make up your mind to do something, then do it!  Let NOTHING or NO ONE interfere.  The thing is settled, the die is cast, the “I” of you has determined it, there is no longer any room for argument.” – Charles Haanel, the Master Key System

The bottom line is this… the fact the we need PEOPLE to be successful in business is NEVER going to change (at least not unless robots take over the earth and need to buy food, deoderant and pet care products).  The fastest way to build our business is to go directly to the source that provides the KEY ELEMENT that we need to be successful.  That being said, here are a few lead generation strategies that you can use to increase traffic and build a better mailing list:

* Participate in the social networking scene.  Find a handful of networks and resources you want to use (you don’t need to join them all) and become and influencer in your network.  This is going to help you establish trust, making people more receptive to offerings that lead to products, services or opportunities.  While I am all in favor of automation for the purpose of communication and building relationships, I DO NOT support the use of Twitters’ DM system for the purposes of spam.  There will be NOTHING good that comes from this long term so do things right!

* Develop a GREAT incentive – Most Internet marketers are missing out on this POWERFUL method of marketing.  One of the analogies that I use with our team (more times than they probably care to hear) is that of Big Jim and Big Joe.  Big Jim and Big Joe sell barbecue outside of the local grocery store.  Big Jim stands on platform with megaphone hollaring at the people coming and going about how great is barbecue is.  Big Joe, on the other hand, always has a line of people because he markets with samples.  Having an incentive allows you to use a “taste and see” approach which gives you a HUGE edge over your competition.

* Use a marketing system – If you are not converting your traffic to leads using a marketing system with auto responder then you are losing business and money.  Most people DO NOT convert to a sale the first time they land on your website.  Having a marketing system in place allows you to continue the marketing process to those who have visited but are taking longer to make a decision about your product, service or opportunity. You’ve heard it said that “the money is in the list,” right? That’s the truth! You need to develop a mailing list!

If I need milk I go to the grocery store, not the hardware store.  If I need powertools, I don’t go to the beauty salon, I go DIRECTLY to the SOURCE of the products I need.  Why spend and waste countless hours doing the many things Internet marketers do (to reach people) when the PEOPLE are so easily reached via the social networks and media resources? 

Learn to set up your network for efficiency!  Target your niche and watch what happens!  

For more information on how you can begin harvesting leads while building an AWESOME, niche specific mailing list, request “Micro Blogging Muscle” by using the system on the right hand side.  Did I mention it’s free?  

Have a great day!

Rex

Posted in Marketing Tips, Rants & Raves Tags: , , , , , , No Comments »

Are You CONNECTING with your audience, niche or target market?

May 2nd, 2009 admin

It seems as the though (after all of the scrutiny in recent weeks) that the “let’s automate Twitter” idea is running rampant again.   I woke up to more spam in my DM box this morning than the local grocer has on their shelves.  

I have no problem with people using automated tools to ASSIST them in RELATING and CONNECTING with their audience, but the use of them for blatant spam (even though it might seem fruitful now) will be a recipe for disaster down the road.

The social media (if anything) is about reputation.  It’s obvious to me, however, that FEAR is keeping most people from levels of greatness based solely on their ACTIONS.  For example… if I were at church, the lodge, the club, wherever and someone approached me and said “Hi, my name is Bob, it’s great to meet you”, extended their hand and smiled… while I said nothing and walked away… what type of impression would that leave?

THAT TYPE OF BEHAVIOR IS LEAVING THE SAME IMPRESSION IN THE SOCIAL MEDIA!

I can’t tell you how many times, this week, that I have tried to communicate with someone via the DM tool on Twitter, only to receive TWO replies in an entire week (and that in adding over 1000 followers in the last 6 days.)

Now I’m not going to make this all about me in some cry baby, boo hoo type of blog here… that’s not what this is about.  What I want to point out is what PEOPLE ARE MISSING OUT ON by behaving in this way.

Let’s take a look at the way people do BUSINESS in the REAL WORLD.  In watching The Apprentice we can see several GOOD examples.  In thinking back to one of the earlier shows of this season, the teams were tested with a task of selling the most cup cakes for charity.  For those of you who saw that episode you will notice that the teams didn’t take a “hit and run” approach to their marketing and advertising efforts.  They went belly to belly with the people that they KNEW and DIDN’T KNOW.  There was no fear of rejection, nor was there complacency.  They called people and talked to people who also called people and talked to people (viral marketing). They were assigned a task and they did it.  In the end run they generated a boat load of money for charity. 

We NEVER know when that ONE person is going to meet us in the cross road of life that could help us take our business, product, idea, brand, whatever, to new heights of success!  This is why that the utilization of the social media (Twitter, Plurk, Ping.FM, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) as a method of COMMUNICATION is so vitally important.  

How sad it would be if the Law of Attraction brought us exactly what we were looking for through Twitter, via a great person, but because we were to busy focusing on self that we missed out on a connection that could have lead to a hundred more connections?

Here are a couple of Tweets from today that will illustrate what I’m talking about when it comes to opening the lines (and keeping open the lines) of communication.

“Good morning, I have a new blog posting that I thought might interest you.  Have a great weekend.” While the greeting is cordial, the message is quick to turn the FOCUS on the SENDER and not the RECIPIENT.  The sender has made the core theme of this message about THEMSELF.  Then, they instantly dismiss themself from the conversation by ending it abruptly, versus trying to carry on, connenct and ENGAGE.  This is happening for two primary reasons.  First, people just don’t know any better and second… FEAR!  

Most people are afraid to engage due to fear of rejection.  If you are going to use the social media for business then you better be prepared to hear more no’s than yes’s.  That’s all part and parcel of the gig.  This is why, I believe, so many people turn to automation is because they don’t want to deal with the no’s.  Moreover, they don’t want to integrate with the people!

Here’s another example that just came in via TweetDeck as I am writing this post…

@rexharrislive I’m doing fine! :) www.xxxxxxxxx.com – notice that there is no attempt to carry on, or even start a conversation here, but there’s no problem with making sure that their link is exposed.  

Friends, if you really want to be successful in life and in business then you are going to have to learn to put yourself asside and remember that PEOPLE are the key element that we need to be successful!  Without people, there is no one to buy our products, no one to join our business opportunities and no one to make use of our services.

Here’s a strategy that will allow you to use automation for the purpose of communication…

*TweetLater - Here’s a great resource for automating Twitter.  Now, keep in mind you want to use this to assist in building relationships, not just to spam DM’s.  

Using the automated messaging feature in TweetLater, set up a Tweet that goes out to all now followers following this outline.

1.)  Thank people for following you… it’s cordial and pollite.  A simple “Thanks for following!” will be suffice.

2.)  Offer people a gift of value.  By giving people something that will actually help them accomplish a goal or solve a problem, you begin the trust building process which is vital to any business relationship, especially online where trust is a commodity in this day and age.  

3.)  Never leave the message “close ended.”  Use the last sentence of your Tweet to engage people.  Something like “How are you today?” works very well.  NEVER make your first DM’s about you… make them about the people if you want to win friends and influence business.

Example:  ”Thanks for following!  Here’s a little something that will help you with Twitter (short link here)!  How are you today?”

Keep in mind that not everyone is going to reply to this, but many will… and those are opportunities that should NEVER be overlooked!  There will come a time when you you connect with the right person who not only join your business opportunity but tells ten of their friends and they do the same.  It happens all the time but you must leave these channels open if you ever plan to be successful using the Law of Attraction in marketing and business.

Remember that “the germ of defeat is in every selfish thought.  Every transaction in life and business must be done to benefit the WHOLE, not just the part” - Charles Haanel, The Master Key System

Have a great day!

Rex

Posted in Marketing Tips, Rants & Raves, Twitter Tags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments »

How to use forums and groups for niche marketing (or should I say HOW NOT to use them…)

March 30th, 2009 admin

It’s still PAINFULLY apparent that most of the people turning to the Internet to build their home based businesses are struggling to understand how social marketing works.

I just spent about 20 minutes in MySpace forums and was not surprised to see, that after a brief return to dignified conversation, that they are once again riddled with spam by self seeking individuals who either don’t know any better or just don’t care.

Wikipedia defines and Internet marketing forum as follows:

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site.[1] It is the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system.[2][3] From a technological standpoint, forums[note 1] or boards are web applications managing user-generated content.[4][5] People participating in an Internet forum can build bonds with each other and interest groups will easily form around a topic’s discussion, subjects dealt with in or around sections in the forum.

By definition, most of what I have been seeing the social forums is NOT people participating to build bonds with each other. Nor, is it topics of discussion or certain subject being dealt with.

Social networking is about GIVING VALUE! When people learn that and are willing to move beyond the me, me, me, I, I, I mentality, they will find that, “you know what, this actually does work! What do you know?”

One of the best ways to drive traffic through a profile, on any social network, is to share advice that is going to actually be of VALUE to the reader. Information is HUGE online and that’s never going to change. If you can find it in your soul to be the INFLUENCER and not the PROBLEM in your network, the traffic will come, and when it does it comes in GREAT volume!

When you talk specifically amongst those who would benefit from the offering of your niche, that traffic converts to leads, sales and even sign ups into affiliate programs, MLM and business opportunities.

A great strategy for niche marketing is to use the social network (groups and forums) within and around your target market. For example, if you are selling quilts and blankets then you are going to want to build your online presence around that. Everything from your blog to your Twitter account should be based on this exact strategy. From there, adding and sharing content that will benefit your audience will drive the desired targeted traffic.

It’s really not difficult when you think about it. All you really need to do is participate, share and have fun. Don’t worry about the business side of things so much, be the vendor that’s out there offering “the samples” so to speak (effective marketing strategy!) and watch what happens.

To learn more, download my new free report “Micro Blogging Muscle” through the form on the right side of the page. You can also contact me using Skype ID swimwithus if you have any questions… glad to help!

Cheers!

Rex Harris

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Bill Mitchells’ Notes From Facebook: Leveraging the World’s Largest Marketing Platform

March 17th, 2009 admin

So what is the worlds largest and most cost efficient marketing platform?
Is it television? Nope.
Is it Billboards? Nope.
What about “Word of Mouth” advertising? Still no dice

The largest and most cost efficient marketing platform is text messaging.
Some statistics to share, courtesy of Wikipedia:

1. 2.4 BILLION people worldwide own some sort of SMS text messaging enable device.
2. Since 2006, the text message advertising has exploded into a 80 billion dollar industry.

In this article, I am going to teach you how you can immediately take advantage of this technology to further grow your business.

There are two ways you can transmit text messages to text messaging devices:

1. You can send text messages via electronic mail and
2. You can send them via Instant Message

Let’s first before we dive into those two fascinating subjects talk about the legalities of leveraging SMS marketing. It’s important to note that SMS messaging is covered within the context of the CAN-SPAM act. This means, in order for you to begin sending information out to people they have to physically “agree to” or what we in the industry like to call “opting in”. People have to give their consent to you, before you can begin to send them commercial communication.

HOW DO WE GET THEIR PERMISSION?

Well online, you can do this simply by creating a few extra fields in your opt in squeeze pages. The first being the telephone number they would like the messages to be sent to, the second the type of phone service they are using (this is crucial to know especially if we are sending the messages via EMail) and last but certainly not least is a check mark, that one has to click to acknowledge they want to begin to obtain messages via SMS text messaging from you.

The only exception to this of course as I’ve already outlined to many of you, is if you create a separate twitter account (or any online account that sends updates via SMS text messaging), and make it private so those who follow you get that content and is not spammed to the general public. That in itself spells disaster.

A verbal acknowledgment constitutes as consent. So if someone you meet off line would like to opt in they can express interest verbally, and you would be covered, under the provisions of the CAN SPAM act because you’ve established a relationship with the people.

So now, assuming we’ve covered out back side legally, with the consent it’s time to start sending our content. First, we will talk about sending out messages to your SMS text messaging list, via electronic mail:

Step 1. Know how to communicate with the various text messaging providers.

By default many of if not all the various text messaging providers make it really easy to communicate to with people utilizing their network. The format of the email that you will send is of the following:

“phonenumber@serviceprovider.com/net”

You are contacting what is know as the SMS / text message gateway when you send an email to their address. From there, the gateway decides whom it is you are wishing to contact hence the phone number at the beginning of the of the email address.

BUT I DON’T KNOW HOW TO TARGET A SPECIFIC PROVIDER

That’s step two – I am going to publish below the ways you can contact various different SMS services (if your cell provider or if a cell provider is missing, please comment to this note and I will update this article accordingly):

T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com
Cingular: phonenumber@cingularme.com
Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com
US Cellular: phonenumber@email.uscc.net
SunCom: phonenumber@tms.suncom.com
Powertel: phonenumber@ptel.net
AT&T: phonenumber@txt.att.net
Alltel: phonenumber@message.alltel.com
Metro PCS: phonenumber@MyMetroPcs.com

Step 3. Create your message using your favorite email client such as Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird OR you can use your web based email account. Put the addresses you want to send messages to in the BBC: (blind carbon copy) field (after all we are dealing with sensitive information and we don’t want to leak someone’s personal cellular phone number to the general public. That would NOT be good)

Step 4. Create and send the message, just like you would any other email, keeping mind that unlike traditional email, and SMS message is kept to 130 characters or less. If you go over the character limitation, the SMS service you are contacting will send the abundance in multiple messages. Yikes! Again, not good.

DIDN’T YOU SAY YOU COULD SEND TEXT MESSAGE VIA INSTANT MESSAGE?

Indeed you can, as of the publish date of this article, only ONE Instant Messaging system will allow you to send and obtain SMS text messages (again if I am mistaken comment back, and I will make the necessary updates with the most credible and up to date information) is the AOL Instant Messenger.

To accomplish it’s a simple two step process:

1. You open an IM box as if you were going to IM someone on AOL or AIM instead of a screen name in the screen name field, you’ll type in a person’s telephone in the following format:

+1(area code)(telephone number) – Please understand, the +1 is the US country code, depending on where you live in the world that number will be something totally different that +1. In the text field underneath the screen name field, is where you place your content. Again, adhering to the 130 character rule, because we don’t want to send multiple messages to people if we don’t have to.

2. Click on the send button and viola, your message will be sent. Now keep in mind, before someone gets your message, the IM service (in this case AOL) will send the targeted individuals with a confirmation message. Meaning, AOL will send something like “You have a pending text message, from (such and such) reply back with the numbers 1234, to view this message” or something along those lines.

That’s it, it is as simple as that. Couple of things to keep in mind, if someone text messages your IM account or email account with the word QUIT, you must opt them out of any further messages immediately. If you ignore the QUIT message and keep on sending them messages after they have willfully opt out, you could get into serious legal trouble. The last thing to keep in mind, is to use this powerful tool respectfully and not use this knowledge to harass, abuse or spam others.

-Bill Mitchell

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Where are the Internet marketing hot spots?

February 25th, 2009 admin

I was born and raised by a hard working, born again, tournament bass fisherman with an undying passion for his beliefs, ethics and goals. Fortunately much of that rubbed off, and today, I’m very thankful for the blessing of having a great father in my life.

If there was one thing my dad taught me well, it was fishing. I don’t know what it is about fishing… and only those of us who have been “hooked” understand. The irony in it is that the hook that gets you with fishing is almost identical to the hook that gets you with Internet marketing. Most friends and family think your crazy, but for some reason, you believe, just like those who fish do!

Here is another similarity with fishing and marketing… if you don’t know how then the results are going to be poor. In fishing, you have to know which bait to use for which fish, where to catch them, what time they are biting the best, etc.

Markting online is the EXACT same way. There are variables that exist, that when not targeted correctly, can lead to little or no results.

For example… when it comes to fishing, one of the things a good fisherman will watch is barometric pressure. I good fisherman knows the barometric pressures that are likely to produce favorable results. An experience safe list marketer will know the best days and times to hit the safe lists for the best possible results from their marketing campaign.

The problem is this… the good fisherman and marketers (regardless of what they
say) never want to give up the good spots, lures, bait, tricks, tactics, etc.

As a fisherman you may hear that the fish are biting in a certain area, but if you don’t know the bait, the size of the hook, the leader and rig to use, you can expect to catch little or nothing.

Marketing is the same way. If you don’t know the “who, what, where, when, why and how”, you will find yourself hearing stories of fortune, but never able to tap into that goldmine that everyone else “claims” they are harvesting from.

So, after 10 years as full time Internet marketer, I’m giving up the goods! I’m sharing my tips, tricks, tactics, techniques, strategies, incentives, systems, resources… EVERYTHING… to help as many people, as I can, build the foundation for a solid, prosperous home based business.

However, my true passion is to help you obtain the one key element that all of us crave in life… and that, my friends, is FREEDOM!

So, to get started, I’ve created a brand new resource, fr.ee of charge call the “Fishing Report for Internet Marketers“. This report has been designed for one purpose… to tell you the truth about Internet marketing and what’s really happening so you can begin to take advantage of the resources so readily available to all!

Click here to get your free report today!

Enjoy!

Rex

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