We recently held a webinar that was absolutely packed where we revealed an SEO case study of what we’re doing TODAY to get great rankings in Google. We tell you exactly what we did and we show you four very different case study examples. Best of all, you can follow our formula for your own success as well because we don’t hold anything back.

The webinar is about 90 minutes long and full of 80+ slides – tons of details. Plus you’ll be able to download all of the slides yourself so you have a detailed reference. We normally only post these webinars into our Insider’s Club membership, but this one was so important that we decided to share it with everyone. You can check it out over on our main blog – TopMarketingStrategies.com at the link below.

FREE SEO Case Study Webinar Replay

Check it out and make sure and leave us a comment on the page and tell us what you think or ask any questions you may have.

Enjoy!

** Note – We are Profit Hacks customers, as well as long time customers of Rich Schefren’s. We are not just writing a profit hacks review about a product that we haven’t used, nor are writing a review for the sale of writing a review like you will find on the web from others. We purchased it when it was first released to Rich’s list and we attended a live event in Delray, FL with Pete. We believe in Profit Hacks and believe it will help you as well. Additionally, this is a rewrite of our original Profit Hacks review Troy created on our TopMarketingStrategies.com site so that readers of each blog have access to it.

If we could choose just one word to represent what Profit Hacks has to offer, LEVERAGE is the word we would choose. What Profit Hacks helps you do is tighten your focus. You’ll zero in on the activities that you alone can do for your business and learn intelligent ways to structure all that has to get done in your business so that most of the work you spend time doing now gets outsourced to other competent people instead of devouring your time. We’re NOT talking about some course that merely covers the concept of outsourcing, we’re talking about discovering how to structure your work flow so that it’s intelligent and leverages every second of your time, each piece of content you have and every resource you tap into for your business.

Profit Hacks BackOffice On Video

For Starters, Here’s Why This Profit Hacks Review is Worth Reading

If there’s one thing that should be clear in our business model, it is that we recommend only products or services that we’re using ourselves and Profit Hacks is definitely not an exception to that ‘golden rule’. Back when it was still in ‘pre-release’ we bought it and the past couple months we’ve been putting it through its paces.

We have both met Pete Williams face to face when we went to a live workshop in Florida that he provided to a select number of those who had purchased Profit Hacks back on August 24th, 2012. Both of us benefited from the personal face-time Pete was willing to provide us with.

One thing I can say about Pete is that he’s very much one of a kind. This guy is not only authentic, he’s got a genuine passion for business and his money was NOT made only withing the arena of Internet Marketing. He’s got a veritable business empire running in his native Australia, even being engaged in the phone service / telecommunications industry. Why is this important to recognize? Well, unlike a lot of today’s marketers, Pete’s real income isn’t coming from IM products. He’s teamed up with Rich Schefren because they discovered a serious weakness that trips up a today’s entrepreneurs and they know how to provide the solutions that can eliminate that weakness.

Pete runs quite a few businesses and knowing this about him is crucial to understanding the philosophy behind Profit Hacks itself. He would never in the world be able to run so many businesses (with any success) if he didn’t do some major leveraging just like he teaches us in Profit Hacks.

In fact you you can read our Spotlight on Pete Williams by clicking here.

What’s the Real Mission Behind Profit Hacks?

The average business owner today has more of their resources tied up than ever before. There’s the ‘goal’ of one day working less by working right out of their own home, but most of us simply never reach that point. The truth is, most entrepreneurs work more hours every day than the ever did when they worked for someone else and the sad truth is, they still aren’t earning much more than before.

What Profit Hacks helps you do is dramatically alter this situation. It’s going to show you how to be not just more efficient, but more effective in how you handle your time. You’re going to learn to do more using less. Use your content in more ways and leverage it to spread exposure for your brand as you generate not just leads, but actual sales.

Rich Schefren is a guy we have been following for quite a long while and he’s how we found out about Profit Hacks a few months ago when it was still in its pre-release version. If you’ve seen or tried out BGS (Business Growth System) from Rich or are familiar with his Internet Business Manifesto (it’s a download worth checking out) then you know he’s all about “working smarter, not harder”. That’s why we purchased BGS when we did and it’s also why we decided to buy Profit Hacks.

Brilliant barely begins to describe Rich. He launched a business called StrategicProfits.com and hit $3.5 million worth of sales within the 1st week and you know what? The product itself hadn’t even been created yet! That’s right, he pulled in $3.5 million in pre-sales for the very first product he ever marketed on a site no one had ever seen before and you know how he did it? A free ebook called The Internet Business Manifesto. It’s probably one of the world’s most widely read ebooks and it’s nothing short of the best free ebook we have ever laid eyes on.

You can read our spotlight on Rich Schefren by clicking here.

The reason Rich is putting so much passion into Profit Hacks isn’t because he thinks it needs hype to sell, it comes down to “belief”. Things in Internet Marketing today are nothing like they were even a little while ago, everything’s changed. These days, we’ve got to be in multiple places at once and take advantage of every marketing channel at our disposal. One source gushing traffic isn’t going to do it, you’ve got channels all across the web and there are subscribers and readers all over the place. What you’ve got to do now is draw in people from many different sources, get traffic from lots of places and serve up media across multiple channels – written content, videos, audio broadcasts and any other avenue you can gain access to.

Rich and Pete Williams both understand this. However, trying to establish a presence on each of these channels can eat up the bulk of your time if you haven’t got a plan for how you can do it efficiently and in a way that gets results. That’s where Profit Hacks comes into play.

The Meat of Profit Hacks

Regardless of whether or not you go along with it, there are going to be those times when you are wrapped up in doing the same tasks over and over, trapped in the belief that you will somehow eventually see gains if you just keep going. This is true for business owners who can so easily find themselves snagged on some aspect of their business that they mistakenly believe are more important. Upon closer inspection, they would see these are time and energy drains that really don’t matter much.

What Profit Hacks gives you is a set of 6 modules from Rich and Pete that teach you valuable information and techniques, too, that are going to help you escape this misguided focus so you can tackle the real issues that have to be addressed in your business. The six modules cover topics such as managing your time effectively, putting together a team of professionals you can delegate tasks to, how to get products syndicated and other key points – the very things you have to be focused on if you intend to leverage your efforts to see real success. In addition there’s a bonus module that covers a ton of extra resources. We don’t want to unveil this last surprise quite yet, though.

If you run a business, then you know you have to drive your company well because even brief delays and tiny errors can alter the extent of your success, lengthening your path to success by months or years. If you find yourself struggling to get things done in time and to really see the success you know you’re capable of with your business, then Profit Hacks may be the tool you need to unlock your your ability to accomplish what you know you can.

A Look at the Way Profit Hacks Works

As soon as you’ve signed up for the Profit Hacks course you get given access to the members’ area and this is where you’ll find the 6 modules on business productivity and success. Each of these is a video session so make sure you’ve updated Flash player recently when you go to sign up. Members also gain access to links that allow for downloading the videos in MP3 audio file form. Plus, you’re presented with bonus resources that are located in their own tab on the dashboard of the members’ area.

There are a several coaching videos in every module and each is focused on helping you through a specific topic. As you are browsing through the videos, you’ll notice that each of them are laid out in a detailed way so you can watch them when it works best for you. In the end, you can look at them as separate training videos and not miss out on gaining the information you need, whether you decide to view them in advance or go back to check out one of the other tutorials offered. They do recommend that you do the most important videos contained in the first module before you move on to the rest of them.

Module 1 – This is where you’ll find all the basics, including how you navigate through the members’ area and how you find all of the tutorials that the course itself has to offer. The unique part of this module is that you’re given tools so you can run through a diagnostic exam of your business and take a look at both where it’s weak and where’s strong. Once you’ve done that, you will have a far better idea of which modules you should look at first so that you start seeing results for your business as quickly as possible.

The course teaches you that as the owner of a business, it is crucial to take focus time so you can get more done and put your entire attention to prioritizing the things which matter the most. Because Profit Hacks is all about avoiding getting trapped by placing your focus on the wrong aspects of business, this first module is really going to give you guidance on how you can put things into perspective and plan out scheduling that is both simple to understand and has a real impact on your business.

As an example, there are a plenty of us that believe we are being productive when answering calls, replying to emails or working doing work like posting on our social media profiles for our businesses. The thing is, like Pete tells us, these activities are simply distractions that take away from what’s most important. Sure, they add something to your business, but it is crucial that you divide your time into windows or CFTs where you focus on just one task for a specific length of time.

There are 7 sections in Module 1.

Module 2 and Module 3 – These are about focusing on your marketing skills and the ways you can use them to become a leader in the niche that your business is in. By zeroing in on activities that really do raise productivity and build your knowledge as you remain available to your customers, you’ll achieve the results you’re after. Profit Hacks teaches members how to put together only the information that is most relevant to them and then leverage that information as they communicate with their target audience and their customers, too.

Both of these modules include tutorials that show you how to get your ideas to take off by creating content that you can then distribute to your target audiences by way of a variety media platforms – all of this, according to Pete and Rich, can be completed in just minutes. From where to find interviews to how to make videos and a variety of other concepts you can start using to make the right kind of content, you’ll find that you actually get all of the information you need so that you can raise your profile and reach out to a far bigger crowd of people who could end up becoming customers.

There are 17 sections in Module 2 and 23 sections in Module 3.

Module 4 - As soon as you really understand the process of content creation, you will be ready to move on to Module 4 where you can start to learn how syndication works. This is an element of online business that we have had a great deal of experience with. We can tell you that without a proper system, syndication can eat up a huge amount of your time.

What caught our attention with this particular module is how it complete conceptualized syndication, covering every last detail. You’ll be shown techniques to help with syndication both online and offline, plus you’ll be shown how syndication can bring in a reliable income for your business. Included in this module are PDF guides you can print out or you can access them online whenever you are struggling with any aspect of publishing content. For anyone who has begun to feel bogged down in their business due not being able to connect with customers who will actually purchase from you, this module and all it has to teach is bound to be invaluable.

There are 17 sections in Module 4

Module 5 - Profit Hacks’ final module is centered around how to approach recruiting and delegating tasks. Most of us in business today will have had a few incidents where we simply wished we had six pairs of hands to get everything completed because we are just swamped and overwhelmed by all that needs to get done. In this module, you will learn how to interview people, how to make sure the people you hire are professionals with the qualifications you need to take those tedious yet essential tasks over so that you will have time and energy to concentrate on the most important jobs and projects that keep your business alive and growing.

You will also find an array of resources and tools that you are going to need when managing your team so you can keep them productive, streamline the work process for them and start seeing genuine progress. Plenty of strategies for communicating are covered, in addition to more videos that show you how you can build your lists of customers and clients with offers ranging from cards to discounts to bonuses included with the products you sell.

There are 20 sections in Module 5

The Defining Characteristics of Profit Hacks

The reality is, this course is far more than a collection of great modules. What we mean by this is that you get more than just some terrific training shortcuts and leveraging tips. Profit Hacks will change the way you approach your business by giving you a whole new philosophy – that is why it’s so powerful.

Why do we say this? For one thing, you get handed a treasure trove of tools, knowledge and resources you can start using if you are serious about achieving the success you’re after. Even more important, perhaps, is that you are going to have to drop those habits which did not work for you and misdirected your energy, ate your time and slowed down progress in your business. Instead, you will discover how to focus on what truly matters to your business, but this is only going to be a transformation that takes place if you can be serious enough to go through with an overhaul of yourself as well as the business you run.

On the subject of how we can get trapped into focusing on the wrong things in business – courses out there today really do not cover the small, specific details that actually work against you being able to become a successful business owner and that’s something Profit Hacks is exceptionally good at. Pete and Rich outlined every single step you need to take in order to become someone who succeeds as an entrepreneur, but also a business owner who is efficient and effective as a leader.

Here’s what really matters. The immense power of this course is how it can teach you to manage time, using its hacks, so well that even watching just 10 minutes of any of the videos at random, and then you actually do what you learned by watching, you are going to make serious progress with your business. Obviously, that would be the LEAST effective way to use the course… which is impressive in and of itself, isn’t it?

To really get the most out of Profit Hacks, you must be open to not just look at the hacks you’re shown, but you’ve got to let what you learn be a challenge to what you assume about how running a business works. People who get the most from Profit Hacks will be those who stay open minded about how to outsource tasks that they’ve got to do, how to leverage content they’ve created and to break down bigger projects into small, manageable ‘tasks’ that are far easier to complete.

Those who actually do this will easily get back 10x the investment they made to get Profit Hacks – at the very least.

So How Much Does Profit Hacks Costs?

The entire Profit Hacks course was initially offered to those on Rich’s list alone as all the details of this product were being finalized. The price that it will be available at once it is open to the masses in the first week of November will be $1497. In case you wonder whether the price will be worth the benefits, that is going to be something for you to evaluate in light of your business situation. As absolutely priceless as these hacks can be, those who do not actually use them are not going to get all that much value from them other than conceptually, perhaps. Each of us determine value in our own unique way. The price makes sense when you consider not just how much you get in terms of information, tips and coaching, but the real quality of all of these parts of the course that are available to you the moment you’re signed up. For us, we’re beyond satisfied by having bought Profit Hacks and also by the live event we went to. We’ve already started using a lot of these hacks to help us take our business to the next level.

If we had to stick to three words to summarize Profit Hacks, we’d say: simple, effective and comprehensive. Not only does it offer a platform from which you can learn so much, it’s also a way for entrepreneurs to improve the way they manage their time and the way they manage their enterprises, as well. Bringing the right know-how, a tight focus and resources together are the primary requirements for making any venture successful, no matter what it has to sell or what market it’s in. We believe Profit Hacks can show you not just this, it can teach you a great deal more that you’ll benefit from both right away and in the long run.

The Best Profit Hacks Bonus

There is no Profit Hacks promo code here, but what we do have to offer you is the BIGGEST BONUS WE’VE EVER OFFERED! We’re pairing it with the Profit Hacks course because this is something we believe in strongly. Right now, we’re not going to say exactly what this bonus is going to be (it needs to remain a surprise for right now), but we can tell you that if you become a member of our Profit Hacks Bonus mailing list then you will be in the very first to learn what we’re offering the moment we reveal it. Trust us, this is not something you want to miss out on – anyone who follows our work knows we give out some amazing bonuses, but this is destined to be the most incredible bonus ever on a product we believe strongly on.

If you’ve not yet been to TopMarketingStrategies.com, the newest addition to the Mike & Troy family of sites, we definitely recommend that you go have a look. The site is really rockin’ right now and we are posting up tons of great, actionable content that anyone with a business is going to be able to take advantage of. Each week we bring you tips and tactics not just from Mike & Troy, but also the best from the best marketing media sites around the web. Want to know what’s hot in SEO? We’ve got you covered. Looking to tap into the power of the latest social media strategies? We’ve got that, too. In fact, Top Marketing Strategies is building up into what we want to be more than just a place for great news – we want it to be a valuable, totally current resource you can use any time you like.

Today, we begin a tradition of keeping you up to date on what all is happening at Top Marketing Strategies this week. Each week, we will fill you in on the best of our latest content. So make sure you don’t miss this new site! In fact, subscribe to our RSS feed right now so you don’t miss a thing. Let’s take look at some of the best articles from this week:

• Why You Must Practice Mobile Marketing That Makes Sense

  Most people would agree that there are few people in the world who train harder to reach their goals than Olympic athletes. With the 2012 Olympics coming to an end, Troy reflects on the games and takes a little time to talk about that famed Olympic spirit. As with many of the articles on TMS, you will find this one has some videos you are not going to want to miss. Plus, Troy gives the straight scoop on the truth of how these champion competitors reach their goals and how you can apply knowledge of their methods to your very own business.

• Jon Morrow’s How to Get Massive Amounts of Blog Traffic Webinar

  Blogging your way to riches – that is what most people today are interested in doing when they start a blog. For those who share this interest, but who keep achieving only meager results or even total failures: you are not alone! Blogging legend Jon Morrow recently gave a webinar about the path to gaining a huge following a blog in a truly short amount of time and we had someone listening in to share those details with you. What you will find here is a look at Jon Morrow himself as well as the secrets he revealed in that webinar that can set you on the path towards blogging success.

• SEO Firms Turning Into Cleaning Services? It’s Happening!

  Google says it’s time to clean up and those sites that do not listen are getting slapped with lots of penalties. As a result, SEO professionals are having to do a lot of ‘janitorial’ work. It might not be fun, but it has to be done to pay for those ‘sins of the past’, so to speak. If you are interested in coming up to speed with the state of SEO today then this is an article you simply have to see. It can show you how to audit your site and make sure it looks alluring to the search engines.

In addition, two of the most popular posts on the site that you should not miss:

• Mike’s I Am A Recovering Linkbuilder – gies you a glimpse into Mike’s past as well as his future vision.
• Troy’s Google’s Penguin Algorithm Is A Huge Success drives home why we all need realize what we are all really up against and why you need to make a change to your marketing plans.

We all know that in terms of organic search traffic Google is really the only game in town. We have dozens of #1 rankings in Yahoo and Bing and they just don’t drive any real traffic – sad, but true. So if you can’t turn to other sources of organic traffic, then where should you be turning?

Paid Traffic – Go Where the Pros Go

The fact is that paid traffic is the fastest way to get a ton of targeted visitors to your site. We just wrote a big post about it on our new blog TopMarketingStrategies.com – you can read it here:  SEO is NOT the Only Game in Town. The beauty of paid traffic is just how fast you can ramp it up and the fact that it is almost limitless.

Yes there are some gotcha’s and yes, if you do it wrong, you can waste a lot of money as well. But today more than ever we need to focus on diversification – Panda should have taught you that lesson, but if it didn’t, then surly the Penguin did! Please don’t wait for the Google Platypus release (or whatever BS name they’ll come up with) to let this point settle in.

You need to be actively searching out and testing alternate sources of traffic besides organic - it’s just smart business.

Diversity Is Key

On the blog we also talk a lot about diversification in this blog post as well entitled – The Worst Number for Internet Marketers – obviously diversification is important and in many ways that you’ve likely not even stopped to think about.

Traffic diversification, however, is probably the most important of all because traffic is what brings you leads and customers and if you are relying on just one source of traffic  your business is on very tenuous ground for sure. Whether it be social media traffic, paid traffic, offline traffic, etc… you must embrace the idea that you need to get traffic from as many sources as possible besides just Google.

If you weren’t able to make the live training webinar with Gauher Chaudhry, then make sure to sign up for our Insider’s Club where you’ll get the replay as well as access to over 30 hours of additional training in our training vault.

Recommended Products by Gauher Chaudhry

• Pay Per View Formula – This is the premiere training course available in the marketplace for PPV marketing – it should really be a $1997 or at least $997 course. Don’t miss this one if you’re at all interested in PPV traffic, there is no better option available. It also includes his secret list of sites to ban to reduce costs in your campaigns as well as his own private tracking utility that runs on your own server. Check out the sales and informational video here for more information.
• Pay Per Click Formula - Most PPC courses we’ve seen focus on Google Adwords – this course is much, much different. Gauher looks at virtually every PPC source known to man and exposes just how many others there are out there beyond just Google. This is a terrific, high quality course and comes highly recommended.
• CPA Quantum – This is more of an introductory course for paid traffic in general, so don’t let the CPA title fool you. At just $47 it is a complete steal of a bargain as it will provide you with a terrific overview on several great sources of various types of paid traffic.

So the past week has seen yet another Google algorithm change this time they’ve dubbed it the Penguin – okay, whatever… Nice name guys, but perhaps you should pay a bit more attention to the algo than the name! Well, that’s our opinion. In our other blog post here you’ll see we give some embarrassing examples of just how bad this algorithm has been.

As we’ve analyzed our network of sites, our client sites and our own affiliate sites we have really seen one common trend and that is all to do with anchor text over-optimization. Now, yes, we’ve talked a lot about this in the past few webinars and really haven’t changed what we’ve said about Penguin or Panda for that matter in over a year now. The same things are being looked at as the original Panda, but just a lot closer than they used to be.

Now we’ve been saying this for awhile and our data has revealed it to be true. We’ve seen where once you start straying above 50% or so yo start entering into the gray area and are likely to be susceptible to the wrath of the Penguin. Now it was yesterday that I was surfing around and pulling up other research that not only confirmed what we were seeing but also added a new twist to it as well. Here’s a quote from Microsite Masters on the topic.

They go into a great deal of specifics and details and have slightly different numbers than we came across in our research, but the end result is the same – over-optimized anchor text *can* hurt you. Now, it doesn’t necessarily hurt you – there are some that are not affected but that’s pretty much always the case. However, the likelihood that the Penguin is swimming your way goes way, way up for high anchor text percentages.

I said above, however, that this site goes into even more detail than we did and came up with yet another secondary observation that, honestly, we hadn’t seen. Their observation is that link relevance is also becoming more important. Now, personally, we haven’t investigated that yet because we have many, many times in the past and it was not the case. However, this new data does warrant a fresh look. As we dive into some better tools and resources for identifying the classification of sites we’ll redo our research and get back to you.

Here’s what they said about it more specifically:

If you check out their site and chart, you’ll see, however that the percentages on link relevance are still pretty low and we expect them to remain that way. While this may contradict our earlier post about link relevance – see Is Link Relevance Relevant? – even so it is only a small shift towards relevancy. The most difficult part of determining relevancy is just that – determining relevancy. How do you do it? What tools are out there for that? I know many are being worked on – even the author links to and cites a beta version of a tool they used – which is good news, but right now there’s not much available other than your “gut check” of whether a site appears to be relevant or not.

Make sure to stop by our new blog and check out the in-depth post there for more information on Penguin and if you’re looking to “solve” the problem of short term tactical SEO failing you and rankings jumping all over the place, then grab a copy of our SEO Post Panda training and you’ll know how we’ve avoided most of this mess.

HELP!!!

Many of your questions and topics have been covered in our “Pandalized” – Panda 3.3 specific training, or Troy’s weekly webinar training series and even in our SEO Post Panda SEO Course, which has been updated for 2012.

SIDEBAR: In fact, recently Troy just went through our Feeding the Panda eBook and revised it for the recent Panda 3.3 changes. I looked at it afterwards and said, “really? that’s all you changed?”. The fact is, that 99% of the eBook went unchanged because what we talked about more than a year ago is still *exactly* what you need to be doing today. If you don’t own a copy of Feeding the Panda, now’s the time to pick it up.

The fact is nobody is going to help you per se, only advise. Only you can get yourself out. It is the same mentality that got people in this predicament that will keep some from recouping. Looking for quick rankings, has now gotten you looking for quick fixes and quick rankings again. It’s the SEO “circle of life”.

Now, let me quantify that…

I am not saying you are bad. I am not saying you were wrong. I am saying when you are doing any sort of linkbuilding for one specific search engine that begins with a G – you are an algo change away from a major anxiety attack. And, I am saying if you are looking for a quick fix, you probably won’t find it, and if you do, it probably won’t last long.

The facts are the facts. G has always frowned upon linkbuilding, and any sort of SERP manipulation is against their ToS. But marketing and promoting your site is not. There is a very fine line there between marketing your website and manipulating the engines. In fact the line is so thin, that in reality, they can interpret just about any sort of marketing you do as against their ToS whenever they see fit.

The house always wins. Always. The Big is House. There will always be winners and losers in this game.

What we have to do is start marketing again. A couple months ago I was driving to the store and I noticed someone put a sign at the corner advertising they will install TV’s on your wall for $99. In fact as I drove around I noticed the sign at every corner – I called the number, and had him mount 5 TV’s at our vacation home in Orlando. (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: If anyone is looking to rent a 4 bedroom townhouse in a wonderful resort in the Disney World area in Orlando for a vacation week let us know – we may rent it out for some weeks). My point is you have to advertise, you have to market your product some way and somehow. You can’t stop marketing. If you stop you won’t be found. If you stop you won’t get traffic, and you won’t make sales. And the only way to get traffic is by marketing.

The fact is, this shouldn’t be “news” to anyone. SEO, as we have always said, is just ONE FORM of online marketing. Now we have always believed it to be the “best form” because of the higher converting traffic and the natural “attraction” angle of it, but that still doesn’t change the fact that it should be just ONE of many forms of marketing and advertising that you do for your site. Unfortunately, for many people, they have relied solely on organic traffic – and that is a recipe for disaster.

If you find yourself in that group, please don’t take offense. Instead, look at this as a “wake up call” and resolve to change your business model so that you have many forms of traffic coming to your site – not just one… Don’t believe that paid traffic has to be expensive – you can start small, but you have to start. (Check out CPA quantum for just $37 to get a head start) Use Alexa rankings to target other sites in your niche that have good traffic or popularity and seek to buy advertising on them directly. Every one will NOT be a winner. In fact, most will be loosers. But if you evaluate a couple every month and continue to “search them out” you will discover the ones that work and work well.

Unfortunately, creating a website, sitting around and singing Kumbaya will not get you traffic.

This is where the “The Panda Power of Two” comes in to play (Yeah I just made that up)

There are two ways of getting traffic.

• Organic Traffic – This simply means traffic coming from the search engines organically to your site from your rankings, this also includes organic social traffic, etc…
• Paid Traffic – There are literally tons of different types of paid traffic from PPC/Adwords, to CPV, to PPV, to banners and media buys, to Facebook ads, direct advertising, etc, etc…

Paid traffic can be very expensive and out of some peoples budgets, and organic traffic converts much better. But in reality you should be doing both. In fact, in today’s environment and shaky ground with Google, I’d argue you cannot afford to NOT be doing some form of paid traffic – you simply need to be mitigating your risk. How expensive is it if NOT doing it ensures failure?

The cause of most peoples problems this year with their organic rankings have been two fold.

• You have had a huge link loss due to de-indexing of the networks you used, a link vacuum if you will, and…
• You have over optimized your keywords.

There are only two things to do for the Organic:

• Replace the links you lost
• Diversify your link profile

Well actually there are three, you can also quit.

And now we break my Power of Two analogy, (hmm Panda Power of Two Plus One maybe? )

• Build more links

Everyone is in a panic, everyone has stopped doing what they were doing. Nothing changes if nothing changes. Doing nothing gets you nothing. We have heard from people that have stopped everything, cancelled everything, people are just plain old frozen in place. BIG MISTAKE.

Waiting…… Waiting…… Waiting….. do you hear the crickets yet? Have you regained your SERP’s? Didn’t think so.

Do you think that just doing “nothing” is going to solve the problem? Worse yet, consider it from G’s perspective. You’ve been building links like crazy and the all knowing big G has seen this, they’ve seen the activity. Now they send out a “threatening and vague” message and “boom” – you stop what you’re doing COLD TURKEY. Nothing. Do you think that looks suspicious? You might as well yell out “penalize me, penalize me”!

You need to start marketing, and you need to keep your eye on the prize. You need to think long term. You need to think CHAOS.

When analyzing an authority websites backlinks, you will notice their backlink anchor text is chaotic in nature. There isn’t much of a rhyme nor reason for it. They have random one time usage anchor text. Not 500 anchors to the same word. They have links from many sources. And they have lots of natural ‘nofollow’ links, and tons of branded links.

NOTE: To make a link “nofollow” simply add the attribute rel="nofollow" to the anchor tag. As in: <a href="http://domain.com" rel="nofollow">test link</a>.

The blog networks worked really well, but unfortunately they are being hunted down. But the fact that they are being hunted down, tells you just how well they work. So that speaks volumes. High PR links still work very well for building authority and ranking. What else speaks volumes, has anyone noticed the sites that took over the top spots once other have fallen? Has anyone analyzed their backlinks? They are doing the exact same things – the same old strategies. Sites that are ranking for highly competitive keywords are still ranking based on paid links with rich anchor text. I have seen it dozens of times. We have analyzed dozens of affiliate sites that are sitting at the top spot for specific keywords and they all have the exact same types of links. The difference was their method of acquisition. They were not using BMR, and the HPRL from forums – they are using networks and sites that have not been discovered yet. Don’t believe it? Go check out your top competitors and sites that are now beating you in the SERP’s.  Seriously, Download a copy of Spyglass and start analyzing backlinks – download Spyglass here – you can try it out for free.

Which leads me to…………….

What is working today for 2012?

In a nutshell, everything is working, to some extent and at a different capacity.

We have yet to update our Best List for 2012 because lots of things have been in flux, and we may abandon it as whole, because publishing everything that works is part of the problem as well. Here is a quick run down on tools we or team members of ours are currently using today for our linkbuilding efforts.

The key to Linkbuilding in 2012 is – you have to be better, you have to be more diverse, you have to be smarter and you have to think ahead.

• #1. Content – great content has to be your #1 goal. The more content you have the more longtail traffic you can get from your content. We have Authority Bundles as well as Product Review writing services available at ArticlesOnTap.com – these are a great addition to a website looking to expand their footprints. Nothing beats writing the content yourself if you are a subject matter expert. But you can always buy content and then tweak it to add your inherent expertise so it is not as time consuming for you.
• #2. Social signals matter – We have always been huge fans of Synnd, and believe Synnd is now more important than ever. If you are signing up for Synnd, the Enterprise hands off version is a must – not the LITE. You can check out our Synnd review here – or go right to Synnd by clicking here.
• #3. Diversity – you must have a very wide dispersion of links in your linking profile, and if you can’t do it yourself you can have someone else do it. The ArticlesOnTap.com diversified SEO packages are a great way to go if you have the budget. Check them out here.

Think BRANDED and domain level links, think link building for authority not specific keywords.

• #4. Diversity Part 2 – for the Do It Yourselfers, Backlink Banzai offers a footprint free, blog network free way for link naturalization. They actually offer a naturalization process when you sign up for 66% non keyword rich anchor text – for just $67 – its a no brainer if you are looking to do things yourself. Check out Backlink Banzai here as well as their sister site WikiWhirlwind – at this point they are BOTH very recommended and we have seen SERP improvements on URL’s we have test with Banzai as well as we have heard countless stories from dozens of others that are using Banzai successfully. Just remember, it is not the answer to all your issues, it’s just one tool in the arsenal.
• #5. Diversity Part 3 – Article Distributions – Unique Article Wizard still works great for diversity due to the fact that they are sending your articles to a multitude of user owned sites – not private blog networks. You should consider sending extremely highly spun content through for the most bang for your buck, we recommend using Uber Toolz to generate highly spun content along with TBS. We actually prefer Traffic Kaboom – and UAW is a close 2nd to Kaboom. ArticlesOnTap.com actually offers an article submission service to UAW, Kaboom, MAN, Article Ranks and Spin Distribute here for the hands off approach. Article Demon still works and has been revamped with a 2.0 version. We also highly recommend using TBS and UberToolz to create highly spun and effective content for distributions.
• #6. Diversity Part 4- SEO Press releases work great for authority domain level backlinks and citations. We wrote a blog post on the effectiveness of SEO Press Releases here and we sell them here.
• #7. Diversity Part 5 – Yes Linkvana still works, but we now use it for diversity – we send 30 or more links a month, each link with a completely unique anchor text for anchor text diversification. Used in conjunction with other services it works well. Linkvana also works well for 2nd tier link building to Web 2.0 properties to build their authority, we send a lot of Linkvana links to Tiered properties – consider trying that yourself. The same holds true for The Private Network.
• #8. Video Submissions – they work marvelous for great authority backlinks from authoritative video sites. We review Article Video Robot a while ago and it still works wonders at converting your articles into Videos for distributions. Read our review here and check out AVR here. Another great tool for creating high quality videos very quickly is Animoto. Animoto allows you to upload some photos, add some quick text slides and choose some royalty free stock music and then “boom” – it automatically generates the video for you. Make sure to get the pro version though as it is the only way you can remove the Animoto branding/credits at the end.
• #9. Our ALOT services – They are not super diversified as other services we offer, but used in conjunction with other diversification techniques or stand alone for newer smaller sites – they work really well. Read our review here. We no longer recommend ALOT for brand new sites, but for established sites as part of adding to their profile.

The above list is not the end all be all to linkbuilding. You want to have a site that offers a great user experience, you want to have compelling content, you want to have a site with lots of user activity and interaction. You want to add social elements to your site, Facebook, Twitter, G+, Pinterest, links from tutorial sites and document sharing sites, etc… It is all just a piece of the puzzle, but you want a great site as well.

Additionally there are a few other tools that we can’t live without for 2012.

• SEO Spyglass – for analyzing your competitors and your own backlinks.
• Market Samurai and MicroNicheFinder in conjunction with each other
• Article Builder
• Backlink Booster

Okay, that’s it for now – go out there and “get back to work”… It’s time to quit living in fear and get back to marketing!

FYI – Make sure and leave a comment below and tell us what you think!

Effective & Affordable Post-Panda SEO

Forget writing content, finding link partners, evaluating and testing the best networks - just let us do it for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. Get a mix of link types, unique content, high PR links, a monthly Press Release - plus reports and rank tracking.

These days there are a lot more “names” than there used to be. The free Thursday webinar trainings fill up and lock the lines out almost every week now and your participation and enthusiasm is what fuels us. Hopefully that passion that we have comes through in our webinars, our products and even our blog. If not, then we’re screwing something up!

We have truly been blessed in creating a 7 figure business in just a couple of years online. We made a lot of mistakes along the way and the truth is we continue to make them as well, but we surly have been blessed. One thing we have NOT been, however, is LUCKY!

I don’t like that word and you shouldn’t either. You see, we (all of us), make our own “luck”. Those that “get it” get it and those that don’t probably will argue with me till the cows come home on this topic. So be it.

Unfortunately today most live in this instant gratification lottery winning society and have been drinking the kool aide so much that they actually believe their own bullshit anymore. We’re “told” that as Americans we’re “lucky” to live in such a great country. I say bullshit. I’m former Military and so are many of my relatives as well. I know very well that “luck” had very little to do with the strength of the United States.

My great uncle served on Iwo Jima – was there when the flag was raised. He lied about his age, said he was 18 when he was 17, and nearly died from enemy fire protecting our “lucky” country before he was old enough to have a beer. His best friend did the same, only he was on Iwo Jima at the ripe age of 15 – just a boy – but with the courage of a man willing to die for what he believed in. We all owe our grandfathers generation a debt that can never be paid – they were the last true American heros.

Luck is made – where’s yours?

Every action you take – every sales phone call you make, every speaking engagement you volunteer for, every single blog post you write exposing yourself, your fears, your strengths, your successes and, yes, your failures, every video you put out on YouTube to market your business – every single action you take “creates” the opportunity for your luck to arrive.

Unlike the BS we’re told by all of the slick sales copy, the fact is that success is just accumulation as Andrew talks about on his blog. I read this post a long time ago and it is one that has stuck with me through the years – it’s spot on. Mike and I didn’t strike it rich overnight – hell no. We bust our asses for every bit of the business we create – no one is handing out SEO contracts on the corner!

At first it came slowly – so slowly that it almost was imperceptible. But over time, it gradually began to build and grow quicker. You see, success is just accumulation. You accumulate small successes and they build up gradually and turn into a larger one. Your first $50 sale online becomes a $50 daily income, which grows to $250 a day and next thing you know you’ve hit $1k a day, $5k a day and beyond. Two years ago I could not have imagined making in a month what used to take almost a year to achieve. Now six figure months are leading to larger goals and, yes, MORE ACTION (are you getting the vibe here?).

Success starts small…

Learn to embrace the small successes – they are signs of things to come. Don’t brow-beat yourself over small successes when you desire bigger ones, simply make more small ones happen – they will accumulate. But the key here is that you must “make your luck” – you must take action and you must give luck a chance to find you.

I just got back from Utah – yeah, Utah. LOL… Hardly the “vacation spot” for someone who makes his residence in Brazil, but it wasn’t a vacation. In fact, the trip was a bit of a nightmare for me. I rarely travel internationally unless I stay at least two weeks – that’s my “rule”. It’s just too exhausting to do less. But this time I made an exception and flew in just for about five days, why?

Action – that’s why. I wanted to be a part of what my friend Ryan Lee is building – the momentum that he’s fueled – and I didn’t want to miss his event. It wasn’t convenient. The 14 hour flight (without layovers, airport checkin time and all of that other crap that stretched that number to more like 24 hours) sucked. The weather wasn’t exactly “my thing” coming from Brazil. It certainly wasn’t cheap for me to attend when you factor in my travel costs, etc… Etc… etc… etc… In other words, I could have created with negative self-talk and self-righteous justification a thousand excuses as to why it wasn’t the most “prudent” thing to do.

But I’m an action taker – that’s what I do. It was great seeing Ryan again and his event was awesome. I enjoy these events – but generally for different reasons than most. Generally I attend not for the speakers or the presentations but rather for the ability to meet people and make business connections. So far I’ve spent tens of thousands attending events and I can tell you that it has paid off every time – this time included.

There are very few marketers that I “seek out” – that I look to spend time with. Ryan Lee is one of them and for good reason – he’s an action taker. He makes shit happen and I like that – it’s inspiring and it gets me going for the “next round”. Hell, Ryan’s even launched his own TV show now with Andrew Locke and Chris Farrell – both of whom I enjoyed meeting this past week and am looking forward to working with. Great stuff.

Don’t fear success or envy the successful – model them instead!

So many people say that they want to be successful online, but is it genuine? Is that a real burning desire? Or just a “someday” or a “when I get a round to it”… because very few actually take the action necessary to MAKE THEIR LUCK. Having a 250,000 subscriber list like Ryan Lee has doesn’t just “happen” – it takes action, lots of it! Building a 7 figure business like ours in 2 years doesn’t just happen either (though we’re a long way from Ryan’s 7 figure a MONTH business, that’s okay, we’ll get there).

So step back a bit, put things in perspective. Don’t focus on huge numbers or “the dream”. Instead embrace the small successes and keep putting in the action necessary to “grow” them. If you do, they will. But most of all, don’t “fear” success – don’t let the “fear of failure” just become a self-fulfilling prophecy through paralysis.

Lastly, don’t let yourself become “envious” and throw out the “oh they’re just lucky” statement. Embrace the success of people like Ryan and others that have created tremendous success online and done so with ethics, with candor and the respect that would make our grandparents proud. Embrace their success because if you dismiss it, you’re dismissing yourself as well. If you just dismiss it as “luck” then you’re just saying that everything you do is futile and that you’ll only succeed if you’re “lucky” too. Bullshit. Don’t fall into that trap.

Instead, model them. By that I mean, learn from them, analyze them, look at why they’re successful, look at how you can follow in their lead – quit trying to go it all alone and instead let others show you the way. There are lots of successful entrepreneurs worth of that respect.

Go out TODAY – not tomorrow, not next week – TODAY – and create a small list of the top 3 things that you know you should be doing NOW to create more income in your business. Forget about procrastination (don’t give it the power to run your business). Forget about fear (break through that next wall). Just strip away the BS and list the 3 things that you fear most but know could make a big difference in your bottom line and then simply “make it happen”.

TIP: Turn off the damn TV already! I can’t tell you how much I believe that a lot of my success comes from the fact that I rarely watch TV. Living in Brazil it’s just not “relaxing” for me because I have to think in Portuguese and “pay attention” when what I really want is to just “veg out”… so I just don’t watch TV. I have no idea of the depressing depths of the economy, because for me, it doesn’t exist. Think about that for a bit and let it settle in. If you just didn’t give the negativity a chance to “grab hold” of you, how much better off would you be?

Your business growth will follow your personal development

One thing that I have learned over the past few years – probably the most cherished lesson – is that your business growth will follow your personal development. No, this is not some hyped Tony Robins kind of moment here (though I do like Tony) – it is just a simple “law of business”. Remember, as I’ve said many times before, a “law” is true whether you believe it or not. Gravity is a “law” and it really doesn’t care about your positive mental thinking or your disbelief – it’s gonna break that plate when it falls to the floor every time regardless.

So what do I mean about personal growth governing your business? Well, if you are honest and you look at what is holding you back in your business – whether it’s procrastination, poor time management, fear of trying something new, fear of making sales calls, fear of public speaking, etc… – they are all “personal” traits. Your business is a “reflection” of you and until you conquer some of your own fears, tear down some of your own walls, take action, and, most importantly, stop making excuses and hold the “man in the mirror” accountable – well, the reflection will be weak. You, however, can change all of that…

Some resources to help…

Our Insider’s Club is your chance to work with us on a very direct and candid level, including monthly private “insider only” access webinars where you can ask us anything you like about SEO, Internet Marketing or just how to take your business to the next level. You’ll also get full access to our training vault of over 25 hours of quality content, videos and business guidance. If you’re looking for dating advice, we’re probably not the guys to ask, but I can recommend a great country to vacation to!

Ryan Lee has a great course out right now called $1k a day – and yes, he’s qualified to talk about it at that level and yes, we own it. It’s going to be doubling in price in the next few days (not exactly sure when) so you should check it out. There is an 84 minute free training that is included whether you purchase or not, just for checking it out.

Here’s a video from one of his students that is making $1k per day after going through his course.

Effective & Affordable Post-Panda SEO

Forget writing content, finding link partners, evaluating and testing the best networks - just let us do it for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. Get a mix of link types, unique content, high PR links, a monthly Press Release - plus reports and rank tracking.

Those that really understood the game all along didn’t fall into this trap. But someone just starting out with SEO or Linkbuilding can’t help but being bombarded by all of the “get page one rankings” today hyped traffic loophole products being shoved down his or her throat. The fact is, there have always been loopholes and there always will be loopholes. As long as there is an algorithm, there’s a way to game it. As long as there are rules, people will break them. That’s just the nature of life.

But who are you really gaming?

I want to challenge you today to consider one key question – “Are you building a business or just tinkering with a hobby?”

I really want you to think about that for a minute and let that question resonate for you. Now, let’s talk about what a business is and what a business isn’t – because that’s probably the clearest path to answer that question for yourself.

• A business is, first and foremost, a legal free-standing entity – a corporation, an LLC, a general proprietorship, etc… Now I know many will argue that just having a business entity doesn’t make you a business – we agree. However, it is one of the first steps that any brick and mortar business takes – why is that? Well, you can’t open a storefront without a lease. You can’t get a lease without a bank account. You can’t collect payments or accept credit cards without a bank account and you can’t conduct business under a business name without a legal entity. While having a legal entity in place will not ensure any degree of success, it certainly does convey a degree of “resolve” and “determination”. That is part of what is missing in most online “wannabe” businesses – resolve and commitment.
• A business stands separate from the individual – separate tax ids, separate bank accounts, separate accounting, separate legal accountability – it’s its own separate entity entirely. As such, a business can be sold. Ask yourself this, would someone “buy” your online business?
• A business is something you would invest in – So maybe that’s not some boiler plate definition, but I think it holds water. Ask yourself if you would “buy” your own business. If it’s not free-standing and something that you personally would buy from someone else, then clearly you don’t have a business.

So why all of the talk about a “business” in a post that is supposedly about the ever growing role of quality content? Well, because whenever we mention quality content most people shy away from it. Most people are trying to build a minimum effort “mini-site” and not a business.

Sorry, don’t mean to piss you off… But we’ve been saying this for months now – many, many months. And yet about 85% or more of the sites that we analyze for customers still do not have nearly enough content and the customers themselves are still not embracing the idea of adding quality content.

The fact is that your #1 user is *not* the person coming to your site that you’re hoping to sell to. Nope, that is NOT your #1 user! When it comes to organic traffic, your number one user is Google – you need to accept that, design for it and embrace the reality. That means that you need to give Google what it wants if you want to get what you want (traffic and sales). Otherwise your site will only serve as a landing page for paid traffic – sorry, but that’s the cold, hard truth in the matter.

Sorry to go off on a bit of a rant, but it is frustrating to preach the same sermon over and over only to have people complain that linkbuilding isn’t working or that the SEO isn’t working. Guys, SEO is more than just Linkbuilding. If you’re having rankings troubles, then you need to acknowledge that. SEO is about having a quality site in the first place that connects well with Google and “fits” within it’s defined playground. Onsite SEO is super critical today and you need to be paying attention to that.

In case you missed it, we’ve added lots of new content related products to ArticlesOnTap.com to help you beef up your site. We’ve added mixed size authority content packages and have even added high end reviews that you can purchase to help build out your review sites. Regardless if you buy from us, buy from someone else or just do it yourself, you’ve got to step up your game when it comes to onsite content. If you don’t have at least 100 or more pages in your sitemap.xml file that are of high quality and large content of 700 or more words (preferably 1000 or more words) then you have got some work to do (and please, don’t count your “about us” and “contact us” pages, etc… I’m talking about real content here).

Lastly, here is a “freebie” that you can get. A very indepth webinar going over how to author quality content. We’re featuring it as a “preview” of the quality of content that we offer inside our Insider’s Club. So if you’re not yet a member of the Insider’s Club then make sure to check it out here.

To access the free webinar, just login to the Customer Portal here:

https://mikeandtroy.customerhub.net

After you do go to the following URL (it’s not in the menu structure, just change the /home to /insiders-preview in the browser and hit enter).

https://mikeandtroy.customerhub.net/insiders-preview

REMEMBER, you will have to login first. If you’re not a registered member of our customer portal, don’t worry, you can sign up there as well – it’s free!

Make sure to leave us a comment below and tell us what you think!

We’ve had tons of people emailing us and asking us when we would be reopening the coaching program – well, they day has come! You can go and check it out yourself here:

We’re excited to be opening the doors again and looking forward to working with as many of our readers and followers as we can. We’ve added lots of extras into the Insider’s Club that we know you’re gonna love – so don’t delay. We don’t know how long it will be open, so come check it out…

We’re not going to list all of the features and benefits here, but just click on the logo above and it will take you directly to the sales page where you can check it all out yourself…

Here’s the thing. If you’re looking for help and assistance, then you’ve come to the right spot. If, however, you’re looking for the “magic button” or a simple “do a, b, c SYSTEM” well, then we are NOT for you. The fact is this is the No BS zone – we tell it like it is, even if that is NOT what you want to hear.

There are far too many marketers out there that will “tell you what you want to hear”, but if you want to instead learn from someone who has “been there and done that” then you should be checking out this coaching program. Mike and I only teach what we ourselves do and have done. You won’t here us spouting out “theory” – just solid, practical advice based on our own business experience. Experience which has let us to $317k our first year in business and into 7 figures our 2nd year.

If you hired us for consulting our time is $250 an hour, but in the Insider’s Club you’ll get tons of access to us for a tiny, tiny fraction of that amount – even a monthly private, Insider’s Only webinar where you can ask whatever you want and get the answers you need.

Come check it out here…

There will surely be a lot of copy-cat products coming out very quickly to cover the many changes coming with Facebook and we want to get out ahead of all of the “noise” and provide you with some real value first before you fall for any of the crap. This is NOT a complete review yet, but will be expanded in the next few days as Mike and I dive into this product ourselves.

So, why are we posting about it now?

The fact is, it’s a Ryan Lee product – and that says a lot. Ryan Lee is one of the few guys in the Internet Marketing space that Mike and I work with, endorse and fully support. Likewise, Ryan has worked with us as well and featured Troy on his Inner Circle Coaching program a few weeks back where Troy hosted a private webinar all about SEO and Google’s Panda to Ryan’s private coaching group. Ryan is known as the “Continuity King” and has hosted numerous Continuity Summits and conferences teaching about the importance of creating recurring revenue continuity and membership sites. Here are just a few of the other great products that Ryan Lee has released:

• Inner Circle Coaching – Voted best membership site of 2011 and has lowest return rates of any Clickbank product (that says a lot)
• $1k Per Day Training – Learn how to get to $1k per day earnings quickly
• Nano Continuity – A great course teaching you how to build up big profits easily on tiny little continuity programs

Anyway, the full review of Facebook Fan Pages Simplified will be coming shortly, but in the meantime, just check it out for yourself. It is ridiculously low priced, so you really can’t go wrong.