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My Top 5 Favorite Passive Income Methods

by Paul Joseph July 29, 2011 Featured

Whether passive income exists is an age old debate, which in my opinion will never be resolved. It all comes down to our individual definitions of the term. Without “duking” out whose definition is more accurate, here are my top 5 favorite passive income avenues . No matter how you define passive income, each of these has some characteristics that I am positive will meet your definition as well. 1. Inheritance Didn’t we all wish we had a rich uncle who loved us so much that he decided to name us the beneficiary of his entire estate? It only happens in movies from my recollection, but this is by far the quickest and easiest way to benefit from a passive cash windfall. All jokes aside, though massive inheritance cases are far and few, inheritances ‘happen’ everyday to all kinds of people in all corners of the world. The beauty of it is that YOU DO NOT have to create the initial capital needed to benefit from the passive income stream. 2. Interest On Certificates Of Deposit / Fixed Deposit I like this avenue because it not only provides a nice passive stream of income, but also protects your hard earned capital over the years, months, weeks, minutes or seconds (if you inherited it I suppose). As long as your money is protected or insured (example: FDIC insurance in the USA for up to $250,000 per account or RBI – Reserve Bank of India insurance up to $1M on foreign deposits), you can sleep well at night knowing your cash is safe and earning interest income. Of course, the historically low rates in the USA are not helping right now, but if you are in a country that pays in the double digit interest rate margin , you may be profiting nicely from this scheme. I just hope your country’s inflation is not as high or higher as well. The challenge in capitalizing from this passive income stream is obvious. You need to build a capital base first on which you can earn the income. 3. Royalties / Franchise Fees This one always intrigues me. I wished I had the genius to come up with an idea / patent and license it out in exchange for royalties. Either that or starting a burger joint like “In and Out” that blows people’s mind with their “secret sauce” so that I can franchise the concept and collect on franchisor fees. Unfortunately, I have neither going on for me, and that is why this one made it to my list of top 5 favorite, but not my list of the top 5 of MY highest passive income earners . 4. Rental Income This is one I currently capitalize on and enjoy a lot. I like the cash flow I receive monthly, the equity I build with each passing month (mortgage balance is reduced over time), the potential long term appreciation of the property and the short term tax benefits from depreciation and what have you. The challenge here is that you must understand real estate investing, and execute it to where you have investment property that generates passive income. Similar to accumulating a capital base on which to earn interest, this endeavor can also initially be capital intensive. 5. Internet Income You can’t deny it, but you GOTTA love this one. Aside from a fat inheritance, what other platform allows you to create something (a lot of things) from nothing? With a mere $10 investment in a domain name and another $20 in hosting, you can be flying with the pigs. There are so many ways to monetize your website or blog online. I currently capitalize from at least seven different income streams from my portfolio of niche websites. I generate profits from private advertisement, public ads such as Google Adsense , sales of my digital products such as e-books, lead generation and referrals, affiliate commissions and a few others. The success of my websites and blog have also led to several one on one coaching and consulting type gigs, with both individuals and small companies. The experience has truly been rewarding and I really enjoy this passive income avenue. But is this avenue truly passive? Not in the beginning, no way. You can toil for years before the fruits of your labor start paying off. From personal experience, once it starts raining, it pours. And the beauty is that it pours harder automatically on its own with each passing day, week, month, year. Concluding Thoughts I am not a trust fund baby. I have not yet and do not anticipate benefiting from an inheritance. That said, I have managed to amass a decent amount of cash on which I am generating a solid passive interest income stream. I don’t think anything can get any more passive than inheriting wealth (maybe finding a stash of cash on the street can be), but aside from that unlikely scenario, interest income on your savings is the epitome of passive income in my humble opinion. If you are wondering why dividend investing is not part of my list, I don’t particularly rank that avenue as high as these five because of the risk / uncertainty component attached to it. That said, a portfolio built carefully to yield dividend income can provide a nice trickle of passive income over time. Anyway, these are five solid passive income avenues, which are my favorite, but not necessarily my 5 top earning passive income streams. Perhaps in my next post I can talk about my personal top 5 earning passive income streams? What about you? What are your favorite passive income avenues? What are your current top passive income earning streams? Sunil Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: book, domain-name, income, street, thoughts

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Revealed: The Secret Source For Winning Google’s Love

by Paul Joseph July 28, 2011 Featured

In my last post on Entrepreneurs-Journey.com, we talked about the big fat truth – without unique, fresh, and lengthy content your blog search engine rankings are as good as dead. Check out the previous post here: Blog Writing 101: How To Satisfy Readers And Deliver Top 10 Google Rankings This time I will take it a step further and explain why, without great content, no link building campaign will take you as far with search engines as you would like to go. Some time ago, I ran a series on my blog on how to build an email list. It was only natural to discuss email autoresponder options in one of the posts in the series: after all, the emails you write to your list are only as good as the provider that delivers them or sends them to spam – depending on which autoresponder service you choose. Naturally, I wanted to rank my post for any and all possible keywords that had anything to do with Aweber , which is what I use, and autoresponders in general. Lo and behold, as I did my research on who was holding the current rankings for some of those keywords, Yaro’s blog kept popping up on the first page for almost all of them. Yes, Yaro’s AWeber Review – Email Autoresponder post was what stood between me and high search engine rankings of my own Aweber review. Naturally, a little competition never scared me away, so I started to drill in on Yaro’s links that played a huge role in ranking his post so highly. Checking Out Your Competition The best way to know what you need to do in order to rank your post for any keyword is to see which websites are currently ranking for that keyword and what their link building profile is. Since it would require a lengthy explanation as to how exactly I do competition research, I will direct you to read this post to learn more on how to use their competition link profile to outrank them: Link Building Tip: How to Do It the Smart Way . As I was doing research on Yaro’s Aweber post, I discovered that it was (and is currently) ranking for 10, what I would call, “money” keywords – the type of keywords that the potential Aweber buyers would be searching for when trying to make their final decision on their autoresponder choice. Now that I knew how many and what keywords he was ranking for, I needed to find out what links to his post allowed him to have such high rankings. And that’s what stopped me dead in my tracks. You see, as I previously mentioned, the easiest way to rank your own post for any keyword is to match and outdo your competition linking profile. Find out what their links are, in other words, get most of the same links and throw in a couple of extras. In most markets (barring you are going for some of the most competitive keywords, of course), that should do the trick and at least get you on the first page of Google . In Yaro’s case though, most of his links came from within content on other blogs . Learning that pretty much sucked, because there was no way I could get all those blogs to mention my Aweber review in their posts! The Secret Was In The Source Yaro’s Aweber post was so thorough and so good that many bloggers read it, loved it, and linked to it in their own posts, giving Yaro significant advantage in high rankings. It was HIS CONTENT itself that tipped Google scale in his favor. It is all coming together now, right? YOUR CONTENT is the single most important factor that will make or break your search engine rankings and either will bring you floods of targeted FREE search engine users or leave you with a donut whole. You can submit all the articles and videos you want, leave tons of comments on all kinds of blogs, spend some time building links through forums, but if I get a few bloggers to link to my post from within their content, as in mentioning my post because it was that good, I will have an upper hand in search engine rankings for sure. That kind of link building is what is referred to as “natural” link building and is definitely the best way to get your site ranked and swarming with search engine visitors. Link Building As A Search Engine Factor As I did in the previous post, I’d like to take you back to this recently released SEOmoz report on search engine ranking factors . After all, talk is cheap, but the collective opinion of 132 SEO experts around the world should definitely shed some light as to what are recognized as the best link building practices right now and in the future. We have already talked about your content being the cornerstone of any successful link building campaign – master that part and the links will come naturally. To further illustrate my point, allow me to quote the following from the report: “Through all this analysis of search optimization – we will always conclude that a site needs “more links, more quality links, more content, and higher quality content” – Todd Malicoat What other areas of link building should we pay close attention to? Diversity of links outweighs pure quantity : diversity of IP addresses, root domains, subdomains, linking pages where your links are coming from play a huge role – the more diverse, the better. Number of root domains linking with partial anchor text : yes, PARTIAL anchor text plays the same, if not bigger, role in successful search engine rankings than precise anchor text, as it used to be the case. If you don’t know much about anchor text or would like to learn more, I suggest reading this post: Your Ultimate Anchor Text Tutorial – from Basic to Advanced . Relevance of links . This one has been and I am sure will remain one of the most debated SEO link building factors: does it matter if the website that is linking to you is on the same subject as yours? Well, the consensus in this report says yes, it does.So don’t do link building to your cooking blog from a site that sells tractor parts. Nofollow matters : many SEOs say that nofollow links can help your rankings, which definitely goes against the very idea of Nofollow to begin with.Nofollow attribute is added to links to let Google know that, although you are willing to link to a particular website, you are not willing to vouch for them and share your site authority with them. Thus, any of your site PageRank will happily stay with your site and not be passed to the site you are linking to. To learn what Yaro thinks of Nofollow, take a look at this post: No More NoFollow . This new wave of expert SEO opinions on Nofollow links only strengthens “natural” link building point of view: you need both Dofollow and Nofollow links to have the kind of diverse linking profile Google would like to see. The Future Of Link Building What do SEOs believe will happen in the future with Google’s use of ranking features in the future? Prominence of ads vs content will remain a factor. Content usability / readability / design will increase as a factor. Analysis of perceived value to users will increase GREATLY. Social signals at domain level and page level will increase DRAMATICALLY. Marketing Takeaway Link building is here to stay, no question about it. However, the face of link building is changing and the type of CONTENT you serve to your readers is rapidly becoming the most important factor in any successful link building campaign. Ana Hoffman Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: book, online, search, words

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Revealed: The Secret Source For Winning Google’s Love

by Paul Joseph July 28, 2011 Featured

Tagged as: analysis, book, research, search, search-engine, small-business, time

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Blog Writing 101: How To Satisfy Readers And Deliver Top 10 Google Rankings

by Paul Joseph July 21, 2011 Featured

My name is Ana Hoffman , and if I learned anything after many years of building an online empire, it’s this: the online business industry is a scary place. A place where many a mighty business owner has fallen. Including me. That’s right, I’ve had some online business flops in the past, until one day I realized that my business was only as good as the number of eyes that saw it on a daily basis. That’s why I started the Traffic Generation Cafe blog, focusing on various free traffic generation methods like search engine traffic, social media traffic, networking, as well as how to convert that traffic into subscribers and buyers. In six quick months, my blog grew to be an authority on traffic generation. My blog’s traffic (I was ranked under 15K on Alexa ), reader engagement, and sales showed me that I was on the right track. This might all seem foreign to you. Stick with me and it will soon become second nature. Now let’s get down to business. Content is the main driving force behind any blog’s success. That’s it? That’s the premise for my post? You bet. And if all of us already know that and are putting it into practice back on your blogs, then why are so many blogs still failing? Why are so many blogs not generating even measly amounts of traffic? Why are you here looking for answers or pearls of wisdom to take back to your business? Your content is the single most important driving force that will determine whether your readers stay, share, and convert into buyers or subscribers, period. But that’s not the only thing that matters. Your readers are the ones to determine if your content is up to par, but the search engines, Google in particular, are the ones to decide if your content is good enough to bring you those readers to begin with. So you see, our goal as bloggers should clearly be to always serve two masters: Google and our readers . I can already hear the objections coming in. Isn’t it an oxymoron, you say? Writing personable content that attracts human interest, brings about discussions, connects with the reader on a deep personal level and keyword-stuffed metric-based content that would rank highly on Google? I agree this used to be the case. However, in the new post-Panda world Google tells us louder and more clear than ever: it wants to serve its searchers the kind of content the searchers want to read – unique, beneficial, and productive. When Google sends you organic search engine traffic, it wants to make sure that the search engine visitors are happy with what they find on your blog and don’t come back to Google searching for the same query. Thus, you do your job of delivering superb content right and satisfy the searchers looking for answers, and Google will happily send you even more traffic. Turns out that serving two masters in this particular case goes hand in hand. Killing two birds with one stone – how much more efficient can it get? So let’s take a look at what specifically we, the bloggers, need to pay attention to when writing that new killer post of ours. I am basing my conclusions on this SEOmoz report on search engine ranking factors . If it isn’t the holy grail of search engine rankings and how to draw the most traffic from it, then it’s as close as we can ever get to it. Uniqueness Of Content This might’ve not been as strong of a factor in pre-Panda times. (If you need more information on what on earth I refer to as “ Panda Update “, here’s the most coherent resource on the subject: Finding more high-quality sites in search – and it’d better be since it comes from the official Google blog). According to the above-mentioned SEOmoz report, the collective opinion of 132 SEO experts polled assign the uniqueness of content across the whole site 89 points out of 100 . Unique content was the most original marketing tool back in the 1990s and it’s, once again, taking its well-deserved place as one of the most significant positive indicators of the quality of the entire site. While many bloggers continued to stand firm on the principle of consistently producing unique content, many took the easier way of jumping on the bandwagon of flavor-of-the-month promotion techniques, thus diluting the core principle that goes to the heart of blogging “ Thou shall not produce the kind of content thou wouldn’t want to read yourself “. What would one refer to as “ unique content “? What might be the characteristics both your readers and the search engines are looking to find on your site? In the broadest terms, it’s the kind of content not found on the multitude of other sites . If I see another post on “ 15 Ways to Get Facebook Fans ” or “ How to Guest Post “, I am going to scream. I am not saying you have to invent something new every time you write a post, but a new angle on the old tired topic is in order at the very least. Onsite Duplicate Content: When Google crawls your site and sees that two out of three pages are duplicates of the first one, they will drop those two pages from rankings and will assume your site has a lot less unique content to offer than it actually does. Read Duplicate Content Phantom: Don’t Be Duped, Be Informed for more information and fix whatever issues you might have on your blog. Advertising: Yes, the amount of advertising on your site does matter – both to Google and your readers. The larger your Adsense and other advertisement blocks are, the less space you devote to your content = the less unique content you’ll appear to have. That’s precisely why some sites suffered in Panda update – not because they didn’t have unique content, but because their content to advertising ratio was too low. Freshness Of Content Freshness of content on the site got 75 points out of 100 – the second most significant signal among non-keyword related on-page factors. This signal also happens to have a direct affect on how much traffic your website gets. Want to see your blog traffic double? Double the number of your posts . ( Disclosure: don’t hold me to the exact number. ) That’s exactly what I did at my Traffic Generation Cafe blog back in October and I saw for myself what wonders it did for my traffic generation. I, since then, decided to take a little summer break and cut down to posting only three – four times a week and watched my traffic take a hit. It makes sense, right? The more fresh posts you have, the more reason your readers will have to come back on a regular, even daily basis – provided that you are meeting the threshold of unique content on your site. So if you are currently posting two times per week, try to post at least four times; if you are posting four times, try to publish everyday. It might sound like a lot, but remember: your brain is a muscle and, with due practice, it’ll be spitting out the needed amount of posts in no time. Length Of Content Aha – here comes a surprising factor. It appears that the majority of the 132 SEO experts think that the longer your posts are , the better chance they have to rank higher , thus bringing you more search engine traffic. Length of content on the page got 57 out of 100 . Once again, it makes perfect sense. The longer the post is, the more potential value it will deliver to the readers. So what to do if your primary methods of communication with your readers include videos, audios, cartoons, infographs, etc.? Try to beef it up by including scripts, captions, and explanations. And no, it’s not a concession to Google and other search engines – you’ll be providing a valuable alternative to those readers who still prefer to… well, read. I know, I am one of them, and I always appreciate it when a video is followed by a script. Marketing Takeaway I hate cliches, and I am sure I am not alone on this one, but in this particular case I have to resort to the old and true “ Content is (still) king ” motto. Yes, we all know it, but now we also have reasons to actually do it. And in the end, wouldn’t it be a win-win situation for everybody? Stay tuned for my future posts where we will be discussing why your content is the cornerstone of social media sharing and link building, and how to improve it to get more of both. Ana Hoffman Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: book, business, content, internet, online, reader, search engines, search-engine, seo, small-business, traffic

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7 Blogging Tips You Can Apply Today

by Paul Joseph July 19, 2011 Featured

About a month ago I wrote an email to all the columnists on Entrepreneurs-Journey.com with some advice on how they could achieve more rewards from their writing on this blog and also some tips to improve performance of their articles. As I was writing the email I realized much of the advice is good old fundamentals for successful blogging. I decided why not share some of the points with you and the rest of the E-J audience to help with your own blogging efforts. Some of this might seem obvious, the same old blogging advice you have heard before, but since most bloggers don’t follow even the most basic of advice I recommend you read over these points and ask yourself if you are on track. 7 Steps To A Better Blog 1. The Call To Action In Author Boxes This particular piece of advice refers to the little author boxes we use at the end of articles on this blog, which detail information about the author of the article (you can see mine at the end of this article). This is the primary tool columnists use to entice readers to visit their website or join their email newsletter and continue to gain from having a relationship with that particular writer. Chances are you don’t have the same box at the end of your blog articles, especially if you are the only author on your blog, however that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider adding them. They make great calls to action at the end of each piece of content you publish. Even if you don’t have these boxes, this advice is relevant for any area where you are trying to encourage your readership to sign up for something or click a link – any kind of call to action . Here is some of what I sent to the authors about how to improve their author boxes… Your author box is one of the best places for you to promote your own websites and offers, as well as describe your specialities and history. Although you are welcome to use this space to talk about yourself, you will reap more reward if you use the space to offer something of value (a benefit to the reader) and prompt the reader to click your link to get access to it. If you have a free report, or audio series or newsletter – anything you use a first entry point lead generator – your author box is the place to talk about. For example, if I was going to use the author box to generate leads, I would use something like – “Yaro Starak is the author of the Blog Profits Blueprint, a free report you can download instantly to learn how to make $10,000 a month, from only blogging 2 hours per day. You can access the report from here – http://www.blogprofitsblueprint.com” I recommend offering something like this that has only one link to click (focus is important), not too much text, a clear and tangible benefit and offer, that leads the reader to your best first impression. I derive the most value from my email list, hence I promote my report as the opt-in benefit for joining my list. You might prefer to promote a different page or offer of your own. 2. Use Case Studies and Stories You may have noticed many of the best articles on EJ, based on audience response, are when I explain what I do or what someone else does, to get a result. Talking strategy, theory and tactics are great, but people really engage when you combine these with a story to illustrate exactly what someone did. EJ is successful (as are many other blogs), because the writers focus on explaining what they did and what result they get, using specific details. The more specific and real world you can be with your case studies, the more the readers will respond to your writing and follow your work. 3. Be Specific, Avoid Generic Advice Continuing on from the previous point, whenever you teach or tell stories avoid being generic . People like it when you say things like – “I spent $151 in Google Adwords to buy traffic from the following list of keywords – how to grow tomatoes in winter growing tomatoes in winter grow winter tomatoes etc The result of this was 3546 visitors over two weeks, delivering 543 opt-ins to my newsletter” I could have simply written – “I spent some money on adwords to get traffic to my newsletter” The first explanation is a lot more specific and thus interesting to the reader. People want to know details, it gives them direction and clarity and makes you a much more valuable resource to them. The more value you give them, the more they will listen to you, pay attention to your work, click your links, and all the other things you can ask people to do when they actually pay attention. 4. Create “Top List” Articles If you really want to produce a very successful article the single best format I can recommend is a “Top List” . A top list is usually a Top 10 but might be a Top 20 or even 50 list. The idea is to come up with a list of top “somethings”. It’s especially effective if you focus on people. For example for this blog some good ideas might be – “Top 10 most successful female online entrepreneurs” “Top 50 websites to learn how to make money online (and the people behind them)” “Top 10 most inspiring entrepreneurial success stories” These types of articles work really well if you include photos of each person in the top list, then email them to let them know they are in the list. This can take a bit of research, but the rewards are significant as top lists are always shared around the web. You might consider making a top list in regards to whatever your specialty is. For example EJ team member Neroli who focuses on creativity in her column, might come up with a list of the “ Top 10 most creative business ideas of the 21st century “. You don’t need to have the absolute definitive top 10, this is simply your opinion based on your research and knowledge. Don’t be afraid to upset some people who don’t agree with you, this will do wonders for how popular your article becomes because of the controversy. 5. Write As If You Are Talking To One Person Although this blog has thousands of daily readers you should write to one person only when creating your articles. Only one individual actually reads the article in their head, so talk to them individually. For example, use singular words like “you” and “your”, not “people” or “readers” or “all of you”. I find this works best for me when I think that I am talking to just one person when I write my article. Apply this to your articles and you will foster a stronger connection with your readership, one reader at a time. 6. Respond To All Your Comments Comments left on your articles, especially the solid comments with questions or feedback, should be responded to as soon as possible. This shows that you care about the person who was interested enough in your article to leave a comment and are listening to what they have to say. Commenting facilities two-way communication , and all your readers will feel like you are more present if you respond to their comments, fostering better engagement. I’ve noticed several of the EJ team already do this and you can see the difference it makes, so great work. I have to admit that I have been very lax with this piece of advice in recent years myself. During the early years of EJ I was very diligent with comments and I know that is one of the reasons why this blog took off. In recent months I’ve increased my own comment replies to practice what I preach. 7. Be Consistent With Content Production This last tip I include because seven tips makes for a better headline than six, although it wasn’t sent through to the columnists originally because they are already well informed about the importance of being consistent with their column if they want results (it’s in the agreement they make when they come on board!). You already know content is the key to success with a blog. You also know that consistent content is key, yet this is where so many people fail. If you have ever done any article marketing campaigns you will know that without volume it is difficult to have any success. The same applies here. It goes back to the principle of “owning” more of the Internet. The more places you appear, the more exposure you have to your audience, the more people you reach. Don’t forget that just one exposure to one of your articles is not enough to convince a person to do something – they probably won’t even remember your name! It takes repeat exposures to build up some form of engagement with your audience, and no one person is the same. Some might read one of your articles and never read another, while others will come back and read everything you write because the first article they read of yours was so good. You can’t control when people read your work, or what article of yours they read first, or what situation they are coming from when they find your article, yet all these variables impact how well your content performs. The solution to this problem is put your best foot forward and keep walking – in other words, always produce amazing articles and do it again and again and again if you want to make a real impact, and down the line, reap rewards. Keep up the good work, Yaro Starak Still Blogging About Blogging Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: article, book, opinion, person, small-business, space, work

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How To Get More Facebook Likes

by Paul Joseph July 15, 2011 Featured

Facebook Fan Page Generator Review (WordPress Plugin) A few months ago, I made the decision to start a Facebook Fan Page . Obviously, Facebook is a major player in the online space. It’s where over 700 Million people spend a bunch of time, and it’s the site that people spend the most amount of time on. Even more than the “Big G” ( Google ). It made sense for me to get my Biology Website in front of their eyes. So, like I do whenever I try to get into any new venture, I decided to do some research . In my research, I wanted to look at people who were successful in setting up pages, getting people to like their pages and having meaningful interactions with their fans. Since I like to take things in Bite-sized chunks, I decided to attack the part of getting people to like my page first. The Famous “Like-Reveal” One of the things I realized with many of the pages I was checking out was that they implemented what’s called a “ Like-Reveal “. That’s where you visit a Fan Page, and all it shows you is what you will get when you like the page. It presents you with some offer, but you cannot get the offer until you become a fan. What does that do? Well, it causes you to click on the “Like” button IF the offer is compelling enough. From the time I saw that, I decided that I HAD TO include that on my Fan Page. So, I started looking for a way to do it. In doing so, I found a bunch of resources that allowed you to do it. Now, I’m a guy that used to be into HTML very much. I used to do it for fun. Then I learned about WordPress and started to kick HTML to the curb, piece by piece. The first thing I found were instructions on how to set it all up. It involved installing Static FBML, Creating and Designing the tab, adding in some code, inserting the stuff you want shown first, then inserting the stuff you wanted to reveal and eventually having it all set up. Then, of course, whenever you want to make a change, you would have to go back into the code, edit it, and save. After doing a bunch of reading, I decided that there had to be a better way. So, back to Google I went. Then I found services that you could sign up for, pay a monthly subscription fee, and design it easily. This seemed like a very good option, and I was very close to signing up for it. But then I found something else, that made me much more excited . . . The Facebook Fan Page Generator For WordPress The Facebook Fan Page Generator is a wordpress plugin that you can install, that allows you to use the features of WordPress that bloggers are very much used to, to design your Facebook Fan Page, with the “Like-Reveal” feature included. Here’s How it Works: Step 1: Install the Facebook Fan Page Generator for WordPress. This process is exactly the same as installing any other WordPress Plugin. Step 2: Create a Facebook App in Facebook. This is similar to what you would do to include Facebook Comments or any other Facebook-related features to your WordPress installation. Step 3: Attach your wordpress site to Facebook. Step 4: Create your page in WordPress. On the page that you create, their will be a Fan Page Settings box where you include your Facebook App ID. Step 5: Specify what parts of the page you want to show to someone who doesn’t like your page and which parts you want to reveal to those who like your page by using short codes, or by simply clicking on the buttons that are made available in your editor, after installing the Plugin. That’s pretty much it (although, it doesn’t necessarily have to go in that specific order). There are two short instruction videos (total of less than seven minutes) to show you how to do each step of the process. What I Did For My Fan Page When I was thinking about what I should do with my new “Like-Reveal” powers, there were two thoughts that came to mind: I could put together a free eBook , and give it away to everyone who likes my page. I could entice people with a video that they get to watch only if they like my page. Of the two, the second option seemed much easier, especially since I had a cool intro video for my website that I got made on Fiverr . Being the Lazy person that I sometimes am, I decided to go with the easy option. A little Background: My site is about taking complicated (and sometimes boring) topics in biology and make them fun, by making short, interesting videos that explain topics. My ideal target audience are Biology students who are struggling to understand these difficult topics. With that info, let’s move forward. So here’s what I did: First, I created two images with the intention of showing people that once you become a fan, biology becomes amazing You can see those images below: Once that was done, I set up my page in WordPress, and used the shortcode buttons to specify that I wanted those images to show up for non-likers, and that I wanted my YouTube video to show up to those who actually like the page. I grabbed my YouTube embed code as you would normally do when inserting a video into a blog page. You can see how that is done in the following pic: If you would like to see the finished product check out my Interactive Biology Fanpage . You can click “Like” to see what happens after you like the page, and how it all comes together. Don’t worry, when you are finished, you can unlike my page and my feelings won’t be hurt. It’s all for demonstration purposes. Are There Any Downsides? There’s one slightly negative thing I’ve noticed with the plugin. It seems like, because Facebook is pulling from another site (your site) to get the content for the page, it takes SLIGHTLY longer for the info to be displayed. I conducted a test where I looked at a page that was similar to mine. That page took on average around 1.2 seconds to load. However, mine took around 2.2 seconds to load. Yeah, I know. I’m being picky. But I’ve gotten so used to instant, that I do notice those things, so I decided to share that with you. Not a deal breaker, but just something I noticed. In Summary The Facebook Fan Page Generator is a very handy tool for any blogger who has a Facebook Fan Page, or thinking about starting one. Since becoming familiar with WordPress, I pretty much use it for all of my sites. Being able to use it to make my Facebook Fan Page seemed like a no brainer for me personally. It’s the tool I will be using for all of my fan pages (unless I find something better in the future). Click here to Check Out the Facebook Fan Page Generator Plugin All the best with your Fan Page! Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: book, code, facebook, internet, process, research, social-networking

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Is Email A Bigger Productivity Killer Than Marijuana? (UK Study Says Yes)

by Paul Joseph July 13, 2011 Featured

Tim sits at his desk. He fidgets. He knows he has to get some work done, but he can’t. He is going to be in big trouble if he doesn’t. Oops, his mind wandered off again, quickly, back to the task at hand. He fidgets again. “Ohhh, this is so hard. I feel uncomfortable” his mind groans. He looks at the clock, how long has it been? Is it time yet? The tension is building, it’s like a kettle boiling over. This is so hard. Tim isn’t a 12 year old school student needing to do an assignment. Tim is in his twenties and has a successful corporate job. But he can’t sit still and concentrate on a single task to save his life. Sound familiar? What We Do Everyday Shapes Our Brain But Tim wasn’t always like this. It wasn’t until technology changed and made things way more accessible, that Tim found his habits changing. Slowly as his habits changed, Tim’s brain and then his behavior began to change. And slowly he became someone who has self-induced attention deficit disorder. The brain is a remarkable organ and as humans we possess the most remarkable brain of all. Our higher functioning brain separates us from the primates, allowing us the use of intricate communication skills such as language, advanced manual dexterity, complex problem solving skills and higher cognitive thought processes such as philosophy. It also allows us to check email every five minutes, quickly update our Facebook status and look at Twitter responses. If I wanted to, I could also send an SMS to someone else while talking to another person on the phone. Just because I can, does it mean I should? It’s True, The Brain Can Change Probably one of the most profound medical discoveries that has really gained a lot of attention recently is that of neuroplasticity . It is a fancy way of saying that the brain is not a fixed and rigid organ but a malleable one, which is molded and influenced by our environment and repetitive tasks. The brain doesn’t discriminate between good and bad things to adapt to. Constantly thinking negative thoughts? That can become ingrained and that brain pattern can become stronger and stronger over time. Only every concentrating on one task for five minutes at a time before you check email, open a new browser or send out a tweet? Do that regularly everyday for a few months and you have rewired your brain and probably not for the better. We live in an age now where there is no shortage of information or things battling for our attention ( a previous article spoke about how advertisers are trying to break through the clutter). There is no problem being connected or online anymore. Most of us are online all day at work. Now our mobiles are online also, and if that’s not powerful enough you have your portable laptops and tablets to take around with you. We are basically online every waking hour. There can be a constant stream of information or form of communication reaching us all the time. But what has this done for our ability to stay focused on one single task, concentrate on it and just get it done ? Probably not a lot of good. The problem is most of us may not realize that these distractions are really hampering our productivity . The Marijuana vs Email Study This study is shocking to say the least. There was a study by a psychiatrist at King’s College in London in 2005 that administered IQ tests to three different groups: the first group just performed the IQ test, the second group was distracted by email and ringing phones, and the third was stoned on marijuana. It was no surprise the first group outperformed the other two by an average of ten points. What was surprising was the email/ringing phone group did worse than the stoners by six points. “Workers distracted by email and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers, new research has claimed.” The disruption of a task at hand can take up to 45 minutes until you ‘get back on track’. It is like there is a certain amount of cognitive momentum that is lost and takes time to regain. Our Attention Is Like A Flashlight We should look at our ability to concentrate on something as a flashlight. It can only shine brightly on one thing at a time. Sure you can spread the light out over many objects, but the strength and quality will be dissipated. Pick your one task and focus on it. How Can I Improve My Ability To Focus? Practice some form of meditation . Meditation can take many forms, but basically it is the ability to concentrate on one thing. Be it the breath, a repetitive mantra or a certain object. Meditation has been shown to be highly beneficial to the brain , especially the frontal lobes which are responsible for concentration. A practice of meditation does not have to be sitting cross-legged on the floor. You can practice meditation with any daily activity by fully engaging and concentrating on the activity. It can be done during washing the dishes. Instead of letting your mind wander aimlessly while dishwashing, bring it back to the present moment. At first it will be very difficult, but over time you will find it easier to do. Conclusion I think the best place to start is to just be mindful of our daily habits and the effect they can have on us. I see the unfortunate results of mindless behavior everyday now in adults with the attention spans of children. For example, a grown adult who cannot carry on a proper conversation with another adult in front of them without having to answer and reply to a text message. Be here now and be mindful of your current moment. Leevi Romanik Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: attention, book, college, environment, london

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How Showing Vulnerability Makes You A Better Blogger

by Paul Joseph July 11, 2011 Featured

I have an ongoing fascination with how technology has changed the way we do business and affects how we connect and communicate, and this fascination was peaked after reading Yaro’s last article . Having only started my adventure into this online world in the last two years, I’m always learning so much from reading the articles posted here. As I spend time on this blog, and the more I see of the connection between Yaro and the readers, I get to see how Yaro models running a successful business in the new economy. Today’s economy is a technology-based economy. It’s constantly evolving through the Internet, nanotechnologies, information and telecommunication technology and bionics. I’d like to share with you my observations of some of the elements I see that make up a successful model. They’re elements that are often unspoken, yet crucial to success in today’s hyper-connected world. These elements are: Blurring the lines between business and the rest of your life Transparency The Gift of Vulnerability and Connection I couldn’t think of a more succinct way to say, “blurring the lines between business and the rest of your life” but I think you get the idea. I’m referring to the ever-present element in business nowadays where your customers want to know more about you, they want to know who you are beyond just the business persona . This isn’t something new. When you think about it, humans once lived in small, local communities and traded with people within these small communities. Everyone did know a lot about the people they did business with. There were no clear lines between business and every other part of life. This served a very handy function, because you were able to gauge the level of integrity and value of a person in business by observing and interacting with them outside of their business persona. (Rural communities are still like this; I grew up in one and I’m currently writing this blog post from a property in rural Australia where I’m looking after my brother’s animals whilst the family are away.) Transparency The blurring of the lines between your business persona and who you are in other areas of life is a crucial element in today’s economy because it’s needed to build trust and create connection . What this does essentially is create more transparency and allows your customers to have a personal experience of you in your personal life, which helps them gauge the level of your integrity and authenticity. Even more importantly, it facilitates our primary need for human interaction and relatedness. Today’s economy is global and runs largely online, so your clients can’t get a good sense of who you are outside of business unless you share it with them. Most of us have a common preconception that people will put on certain “appearances” if they want to be perceived in a particular way. This isn’t an unfounded belief, it’s precisely how we often behave. So we’re wired to be somewhat distrustful and sceptical about other people’s business personas, because we know they’re not necessarily a complete representation of who they are. This is why it’s so important to allow your customers to see more of you than just your business persona, because it’s those aspects of the rest of your life that will create the greatest level of trust and connection between you and your clients . I read Yaro’s recent post , and was amazed and touched at how many people responded to his very open appraisal of what’s been happening in his personal life lately. Yaro’s article gives a great example of how to walk the line between remaining professional yet still communicate with others in an open and candid way that facilitates a greater sense of connectedness and relatedness . And reading peoples comments shows how much this is valued by his audience. Of course, transparency doesn’t mean sharing the most intimate details of your personal life with your clients. Even in the days when humans lived in small local communities, this didn’t happen unless you were married to the town gossip who would broadcast the family secrets daily : / Transparency simply means sharing some of who you are in your personal life, including and especially the challenging experiences, so that clients can have a greater sense of connection and relatedness to you. The Gift Of Vulnerability I say “ especially the challenging experiences” because it’s those experiences that show others our vulnerability . If you want to know what creates connection more than anything else, it’s showing some vulnerability. Again, I don’t mean becoming a bleeding heart that pours out its troubles endlessly. Simply showing others that you have real struggles and challenges in life and things are not always perfect is one of the greatest gifts of humanity you can give, and it has a powerful impact on others. Social media, like Twitter , Facebook and YouTube and blogging are the most commonly used channels of communication that blur the boundaries of business and life. All of them are highly effective if you know how to balance being professional whilst still sharing openly and authentically from other areas of your life. Living in small local communities has morphed into living online in communities we’ve chosen. The online communities we choose create the space for us to have a variety of interactions and connections; much of it comes down to fulfilling our primary human need for connection and relatedness. It’s a different version of connecting and communicating, but essentially serves the same function. The intricacies of human connection go a lot further than this. There’s a great TED talk by a research professor named Brene Brown if you want to look into it more. The main thing to remember as a blogger, is that you have a gift you can give your audience that will have a far greater impact on their perception of you than anything else you say. This is your ability to share aspects of your life (like personal challenges and difficulties) that facilitate a level of connection that we rarely give ourselves permission to experience. And the rarity of this in life is part of what makes it so appreciated. Cheers, Neroli. Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: book, business, family, internet, life, online, perception

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What Successful Internet Marketers Know (But You Don’t?)

by Paul Joseph July 6, 2011 Featured

Last week, I shared with you in part one of the series, how a personal consulting client of mine, Tom, was struggling with “analysis paralysis”, and that the fear of doing something wrong in his online business endeavors resulted in him doing nothing. My suggestion was that just starting to do something is often the hardest thing, but it is better than doing nothing . And we really just need to make a start . Be sure to read part one before continuing to read this article. Part 1: How To Beat Procrastination When You Don’t Know What To Do Next The concept that everything doesn’t have to be perfect, and you can learn and modify as you go along, was a big relief for Tom. But it appeared that this was not Tom’s only problem as I was soon to discover from the series of questions he started asking me. Do link wheels work? What will happen in the next Google update? Will [insert name] software still be as effective in the next Google update? Is blog commenting still valuable for backlinks? Does email marketing still work? When I started talking to Tom about a proper business strategy, I could sense some boredom with his glazed over look. You see to some people a proper business strategy may not sound “ sexy ” enough. In fact, it may sound too straightforward for some people to think that it is the answer. Tom kept pushing me for “ the secret ” so I finally gave it to him. The Secret To Online Business Success I told Tom to focus on delivering great information , helping people solve their problems and establishing proper relationships with your readers to the point where they really value and respect your opinions. Nothing too fancy. No trickery or exploiting a loophole I found in Google’s algorithm, or a piece of software that “blasts” thousands of blog comments, and no sinister way of convincing people to buy stuff. And this is the big difference between a business strategy and tactics . A business strategy is the bigger picture of what you want to accomplish with your business. I look at it as the things that never go out of fashion. If you follow the above mentioned business strategy, you don’t need to worry about the latest Google algorithm update, linkwheels or if email marketing is dead. You are building a proper sustainable business. You have a long term strategy and I think a lot of Internet marketers are missing that aspect. Tactic can be the things you use to accomplish the strategy. They are short term and can chop and change. They can be important, and using good tactics can certainly help, but without the framework of a business strategy they are useless. If you know what is working now, then sure go ahead and employ some of those tactics. Use them knowing very well that you may need to use something else in the future, but that it is just a means to an end of your bigger goal. It is very easy to get caught up in the next “new thing”. Especially in the Internet marketing space. A lot of “new things” and a lot of products marketed in the Internet marketing space are concerned with tactics. Small little things that may work for a while or push button software that promises thousands of dollars. And I think this lack of strategy is why many people fail in their Internet marketing attempts, a focus or obsession with tactics when there is no bigger framework or business strategy. A common scenario for many an internet marketer could go something like this: Read about a new tactic that promises the world (what a bargain at $37) Purchase new tactical product Implement new tactic and find out that the results are less than what was promised Give up or get distracted by the next new tactic Hands up if that sounds familiar? When I first got involved in Internet marketing, I used to spend a good majority of my time on forums . And while I am an advocate of learning, I must admit it is very easy to get distracted by the next “shiny object” that promises to stuff my pockets full of cash with no effort on my part. And I admit that is how I used to look at my online businesses. Like a “quick cash scheme” type of thing. Not that I ever did anything dishonest, but it was more my mindset towards them, my attitude and energy I put into them. You would never run an offline business like that. You would always have a strategy and bigger picture goal . But for some reason we may not apply this type of thinking to our online businesses. Everything changed when I started to look at my online efforts as proper businesses . When I decided I wanted to have a more sustainable business model, establish proper relationships with my clients, be a respected “authority” in my reader’s eyes for that certain niche and have repeat customers. If you put in the effort to buy a domain name, set up a website, write content, create a product or promote someone else’s, and set up an autoresponder series, then why not start looking at your website as a proper business and not some get rich quick scheme? I am not saying you can’t get rich quickly with a proper business, I am just saying why not also aim for some sustainability . By the end of our consultation I think I may have made some progress with Tom. It took some reassuring that I had not held back any “secrets” to online success though. The Take Home Message The two lessons to take away from these past two posts are firstly “get doing”. That may mean buying a domain name to get started on your online business or creating a product to sell online. There is never a better time than now, seriously you have so much to gain and really nothing to lose. Don’t waste another week or even a day wondering, “What if I…?”. Just do it . And secondly aim big with your online business. Have an idea of exactly what you want it to achieve, set proper business goals and have a proper business strategy in place. With a strong business framework you don’t have to be overly concerned with tactics. Leevi Romanik Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: book, clients, mindset, online, reader, young

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Why Even Entrepreneurs Need One Of These…

by Paul Joseph June 30, 2011 Featured

When you hear the term “ Mission Statement “, what comes to mind? For many of us, Mission Statements are synonymous with corporate entities and impersonal HR departments (did someone say TPS reports?). Yet Mission Statements aren’t just for the Kodaks and Coca Colas of the world – they can be effective tools for entrepreneurs to not only keep their focus and drive, but also lead the development of a cohesive entrepreneurial brand. Understanding The Mission Mission Statements are meant to inform , inspire , and justify . In just a few sentences, they can tell a suspect, prospect, or loyal customer volumes about an organization’s personality and standards. At their most basic, most mission statements are made up of a combination of three key elements: Purpose, People, and Passion. Purpose : What an organization does People : Who an organization serves Passion : Why an organization exists Mission Statements are used internally at organizations to share a message with associates and customers, as well as provide a touchstone and reference point for the brand identity . In good times, the Mission Statement becomes a victory call, a celebration of how success was won. In lean times, the Mission Statement can serve as a guide for winning new business and maintaining a cohesive brand identity while trying different strategies. At their best, Mission Statements can lead an organization to that next level of esteem among both internal and external customers. It becomes something that people want to be associated with and thus attracts top talent and top tier clients. At their worst, Mission Statements sound like pretentious, corporate BS that just evoke images of “suits”. Let’s take a look at two great, but different, Mission Statements: Dell and Twitter . First, let us look at the Mission Statement of Dell Computers. On their website, Dell states that: “[our] mission is to be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best customer experience in the markets we serve.” This Mission Statement contains all three basic elements and sends a clear message to both the consumer and employee about what Dell is all about and where the bar for success is set. No matter what your thoughts on Dell (some love their products, others not so much…), you are likely inspired by the positive and uncompromising language used in this statement: “most successful,” “in the world,” “the best,” “customer experience”, to visit their website, consider one of their products, or start talking about the company to a friend. Twitter just released a similarly effective yet different Mission Statement: “We want to instantly connect people everywhere to what is most important to them.” There is less specifics in this Mission Statement – if you’re reading it without knowing the company it’s attached to, you would have no idea how they would be connecting people, for example – however, it still mixes elements of Purpose, People, and Passion into a clear and powerful message. I don’t know about you, but both of these Mission Statements make me want to think about doing business with these companies. They showcase an element of vision, thought, and aspirations that inspire action on my end to associate myself with these brands, whether that action is through a business partnership or purchasing of products and services. The ability to inspire such actions in others is key to an entrepreneur’s success, which is why a Mission Statement isn’t just for corporations. The Entrepreneur’s Mission Let’s consider the three elements of a Mission Statement again, although this time let’s do so through the lens of an entrepreneur: Purpose : What an entrepreneur does People : Who an entrepreneur serves Passion : Why an entrepreneur does what they do When you think about your own entrepreneurial endeavors, can you speak to each of these elements – what you do, who you do it for, and why you do it? If you can’t, I’m willing to bet you are struggling getting that product off the ground or building your client base. Just think about it – would you spend money on a product or service that didn’t have its “what,” “who,” and “why” figured out? Probably not. What is compelling your market to buy without these specifics? The truth about Mission Statements is that, at their core, they are just dressier versions of basic brand value propositions. “What are you offering, and why should I care?” Mission Statements are especially valuable for entrepreneurs who have multiple projects and want to create a cohesive brand among them. Think about Tim Ferriss – he published a career book and a fitness book, two totally unique endeavors, and successfully marketed them under one, common Mission Statement: work smart – not hard – for maximum results. Building A Results-Focused Mission When thinking about your own entrepreneur’s Mission Statement, there are a few things to keep in mind: If you are looking for a place to start, list out all the Whats, Whos, and Whys of your business and start condensing the elements Keep it simple, short, and easy to repeat, so it can be shared easily Use language that is authentic to you and your industry – nothing makes a Mission Statement more empty than obviously pretentious language Make it motivational – the purpose is to communicate with potential associates and customers AND inspire them to an action Include it on all marketing materials, from your blog to your business card to your radio commercial Don’t be afraid to experiment – I’ve seen some Mission Statements that were fully formed sentences, and others that were just phrases or words listed out together. As long as you can intelligently and quickly explain it to someone else, feel free to express your Mission in whatever way feels “right” Finally: listen to your intuition , not your sales brain. Building a results-focused Mission Statement isn’t about writing the perfect hard sale, it’s about capturing an intangible element in those around you and within yourself. You want it to be a meaningful document you can be proud of, not just another piece of short-form sales copy. Have you established an entrepreneur’s Mission Statement? How has it helped the growth and development of your business and brand? Here’s to your Entrepreneur’s Journey, Nacie Get your bonus copy of my book “How To Start An Internet Business & Make Your First $1,000 Online” Download Here

Tagged as: book, industry, online, radio, sales, time

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