I got a note on Facebook last night from Daniel Jesse Sherman who asked for my take about an upcoming event on affiliate marketing. After writing a lengthy reply, I realized that it might be something you’d be interested in, too.

I don’t know anything about the people hosting the event in question but a ticket was under $1000 and with early registration you could get in for as little as $297. The sales letter indicated there were several speakers and the pitch was essentially that you’d come home from the event armed and ready to make money whether you were an info marketer, public speaker, author, trainer, coach, etc.

Note: Some of what I’m about to say doesn’t apply to events like South by Southwest, PubCon and similar events with corporate sponsors and thousands of attendees. I’m referring to ‘make money’ seminars.

When a 2-3 day event is priced this low, it’s usually designed to get lots of people in the door and the speakers are going to try to sell you a coaching program or something along those lines. The speakers aren’t getting a fee to appear. They’re usually there on their own dime and seeking to make money on ‘back of the room’ sales. Whatever they sell is usually split 50/50 with the promoter so it’s priced accordingly.

I’ve got nothing against that and, in the past, have done the same kind of speaking gigs. The challenge is that sometimes these events are pitched in a way that leads the attendees to believe that they’re going to learn everything they need to know at the event. So they role the dice on a ticket and travel costs thinking that’s all they’ll need to invest.

While there are pitch-free Internet marketing related seminars and workshops, they’re usually priced higher and have 1-3 speakers rather than 10-12. If you’re not sure about a particular event you’re considering, shoot an email to the promoter and ask if it’s strictly content or if the speakers will be pitching from the stage.

Btw, there’s usually plenty of good information available at an event where speakers are pitching coaching programs but that information tends to benefit the attendees that already have a business because you’re getting tips you can apply right away as opposed to a complete system a beginner could use.

The first IM seminar I attended was Armand Morin’s first Big Seminar in Dallas in early 2002. At the time, I was making about $1,000 a month from a ebook sales and affiliate commissions. So, I didn’t have to go home Monday morning after the seminar and build a biz from scratch while trying to remember all the stuff I’d learned. Instead, I could apply tactics to my website immediately and see results. I was actually seeing sales come in from my site while at the event.

At that seminar, I met people that had been to multiple expensive seminars. When I asked about their website, they told me they hadn’t built one yet. What were they waiting for? Unfortunately, this happens to a LOT of people. If you may be one of them, don’t go unless you’re just looking for an excuse to get away for a few days.

As I attended more events, I discovered the biggest benefit often wasn’t what was being taught on stage. For me, the value was the people I met in the room. Other attendees can be mastermind partners that hold you accountable. They can be future JV partners. They can be valuable resources. For example, at that first Big Seminar, Ryan Deiss, John Reese, Frank Kern, Jeff Walker and Joe Vitale were among the attendees.

If you decide to attend, do yourself a favor. Don’t go to bed early so you can be there bright and early and ready to take notes. Instead, hang out in the bar. Go out for meals with other attendees and speakers. That’s usually where things really happen. If you’re in the right place, often you’ll meet the speakers and other people that know they’re stuff when you can speak to them candidly. Do a lot more listening than you do talking. Respect people’s space but don’t be shy either.

You can catch up on your sleep when you get home. There are too many opportunities to network at night. Often you’ll catch other speakers hanging out at the bar. Ask if you can join them or ask if you can buy them a beer. Sometimes, it can’t hurt if you’re the guy with the primo Cuban cigars or is a local and has a car. It doesn’t take long for the hotel restaurant to get old at a remote hotel and you can be a hero if you know the cool local places. Even if you’re not a local, it might be worth your while to rent a large sedan and do a little research on the area so you can offer others an opportunity to escape the hotel.

One last tip. If the speakers are good, you WILL be tempted to sign up for their coaching programs or whatever they happen to be offering. If so, do yourself a favor. Don’t sign up for more than one program. Unless you’ve got a team, it’s difficult to go through more than one coaching program at a time. Choose your coach wisely and then actually take action as you’re learning.

“Online reputation management (or monitoring) is the practice of monitoring the Internet reputation of a person, brand or business, with the goal of suppressing negative mentions entirely, or pushing them lower on search engine results pages to decrease their visibility.” – Wikipedia

Since reputation management is a big part of what I do, I was intrigued when I got Ryan Deiss’ email promoting a new course called “RepMogul” from Ross Goldberg created under Ryan’s Infomastery umbrella. I’d gotten good results with other products from Ryan’s company like Kate Buck’s Let’s Get Social and had met Ross a few years ago at a seminar and knew he’d done some good things in the SEO world so I ordered a copy.

The idea behind the marketing is you can get paid $300 an hour erasing online graffiti. Do I believe that’s possible? Well, I’ve had a client happily pay $5,000 per month for reputation management and the demand for this service has only increased in the past few years. The question I had before seeing this course is if it was thorough enough to teach a beginner not only how to do the work but how to get clients.

After spending a few days going over all the material and the included software as well as having a few brief email conversations with Ross Goldberg, here’s my review:

The course is broken down into 8 modules accessed through a password protected website. Each module includes video, audio and handouts as well as other files which you’ll find below. The audios and handouts are downloadable, the videos aren’t. Within each module, you’ll get an overview video (and audio) along with a video labelled “Live” in which Ross gives you additional insights. He plans to update the Live files as needed to let us know about any new developments.

One thing I really liked about this course is that in all the videos where Ross is either showing you how to do something online or with software, you can clearly see what he’s doing onscreen. Many courses, including this one, use software called Camtasia to record the screen. In many online courses, it’s difficult if not impossible to clearly see what’s going on onscreen because the video is too blurry. In this course, you’ll be able to see all the details.

RepMogul Module 1: What is Reputation Management?

In this module, Ross gives you an overview of Reputation Management as well as providing multiple examples and case studies as well as demonstrating how you can build a business around providing this service either to global/national or local businesses. The included handout is simply the slides he uses in his Powerpoints presentation along with a space to take notes.

RepMogul Module 2: Understanding SEO

This module includes five videos totalling a little over 30 minutes, the PDF handout, a glossary of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) terms and a copy of Ross’ 318 page ebook, The Web Traffic Book, which is the digital version of the book he sells on Amazon. It’s a pretty comprehensive course on SEO and there’s a nice bonus included in the introduction from Eric Stafford with a free course on how to build a website quickly and affordably.

RepMogul Module 3: The RM Process

In this module, Ross gives you the big picture view of his process which includes:

• Finding Leads
• Initial Research
• Client Sales Process
• Secondary Research
• Creating Content
• Distributing Content
• Reporting to Clients

He also breaks down the process for doing this for local clients.

In the “Live” video, he points out how social media managers and SEO companies can create an add-on package providing reputation management to their current clients. I was also very happy to see Ross spend time discussing the ethics involved in this business and how to avoid doing things which might get you (and your clients) into trouble. He also promises (and delivers) some low-cost methods to getting started in the business if you’re strapped for cash. Best of all, he shows you, in detail, how to outsource almost all the work and still be extremely profitable.

RepMogul Module 4: Getting Clients

With this module, Ross starts to get into the real ‘how-to’ portion of the course and you’ll want to take lots of notes. This module includes eight videos and runs about an hour. In the overview, he covers where to find clients, choosing the best candidates to work with and how to approach them. He claims getting clients is easy. I’ve heard this claim in a lot of courses but Ross makes a very good case for why it’s true with reputation management. He gets all his clients without doing any advertising and after watching this module, you’ll understand how you can do the same.

From there, Ross presents, as he will in several modules, methods for those that prefer to do it themselves and methods for those that prefer to outsource. Both are quite thorough and he covers clients like web based businesses, local businesses, brick and mortar stores, service based businesses as well as authors and consultants.

Next, Ross covers what to charge clients and he goes beyond what I’ve seen in other courses by providing you with a detailed formula to make sure you’re profitable. There’s also an Excel spreadsheet that you can use to quickly and easily calculate what your costs will be and provide you with a recommended minimum fee to charge your client.

Finally, you get a method you can use to help your clients prevent the types of problems that got them negative reviews in the first place so they don’t happen again.

RepMogul Module 5: Research and Content Creation

In this module, you get 6 videos as part of the overview, 5 videos for those that want to do all the work themselves and 2 videos for those that prefer the outsourcing route.

We also begin to get an appreciation for LinkBounder, the software that’s included with the course. Once I saw what it could do, I realized that the software alone was worth the cost of the course. I know that’s used frequently in sales letters but, in this case, it’s not hype. The software is pretty amazing.

When I first went through the how-to videos in this module, I found a few of them to be confusing because I felt like a step was skipped. However, once I went through modules 6 & 7, everything was crystal clear. So if you find yourself getting a little lost, stick with it. And I actually discussed this with Ross who told me he plans to update or add additional content as questions come up during the initial coaching calls.

RepMogul Module 6: Distribution

I won’t go into a lot of detail here because it won’t make sense until you’ve gone through the course but this is an essential part of the process and Ross’ methods are different from others I’ve seen. They’re also simpler and more effective, as you’ll see with his case studies.

In this module, you’ll also learn about four or five tools/websites that you’ll need to join. These sites could run you a few hundred dollars per month. However, you don’t need to join any of them until you have paying clients so that cost is passed on to the clients. In fact, in several modules of the course, Ross warns you not to sign up for these until you have clients. He also has wise recommendations on which are essential and which can be added as you get more income. And none of these are his products or services and there weren’t affiliate links.

RepMogul Module 7: Going Local

Ross lets you know that he prefers online clients to local clients and explains why that’s his personal choice. However, he’s got plenty of experience working with local clients and gives you a thorough understanding of the pros and cons of both types. What it comes down to is that local clients can be easier to get and make you feel a part of your community but they generally don’t pay as well because they usually can’t afford to spend more than $500 to $1000 per month. Also, local clients usually want more direct access to you since you’re in their city.

Still, he thoroughly covers what do to get and service these clients and, as I mentioned earlier, if you’re already working with local clients, this can be a great add-on service. Ultimately, it comes down to whether or not you enjoy a lot of client interaction and what type of income you’re seeking.

RepMogul Module 8: Managing and Growing Your Business

In this final module, Ross talks about how to manage your clients and, more importantly, manage their expectations. He covers billing, invoicing and reporting to clients. Also covered is hiring and managing employees if you go the outsource route. Finally, there are some cool strategies for handling the two biggest problems that clients bring up when hiring you. He also covers the basic steps to setting up your business the right way along with some good common-sense advice.

Extras:

In addition to the training, you get the LinkBounder software which, as I mentioned earlier, is by itself, worth what you pay for the course. Here’s a screen shot to give you an idea of what it can do:

RepMogul Linkbounder Software Screen Shot

You also get a number of useful documents, charts and templates including:

• Additional Lead Sources
• Advertisement Template for New Employee
• Battle Plan Worksheet
• Checklists for both DIYers and OUtsourcers
• Checklist for Managing Clients
• Scheduling
• Sample Reputation Management Contract
• Hiring Outsourcers Instructions
• Icebreakers for Getting New Clients
• Local Reputation Management Process Map
• Sample Menu of Services
• New Employee Instructions
• New Employee Interview Questions
• New Employee Test Task
• Outsourcing Lead Generation
• Press Release Example
• Press Release Template
• Postcard Template
• Reputation Management Process Map
• RSS Mashup
• Sample Client Evaluation
• Sample Invoice
• Web Traffic Book
• What to Charge Worksheet
• YouTube RSS Sneak

Price:

The main product, which includes all of the above, costs $94 (payable in two monthly payments of $47). I think this is, truly, a great deal given the amount of quality content and the Link Bounder software.

There is also a One-Time Offer for additional software for $297. I didn’t order it but probably would reconsider now that I’ve seen the main course but it was a one-time offer and I don’t see a way to order it later. After you’re presented with this 2nd offer, you’ll see an additional offer for a free trial which includes four weekly Q&A calls. Unless you cancel, you’ll be billed $39 a month after your first free month for ongoing coaching. I’d recommend taking them up on this offer. If you don’t feel like the first four calls provide value, you can always cancel before you’re billed. The calls are usually recorded in case you miss one or prefer to listen on your own schedule.

The way I see it, if you go through the course and start doing reputation management and have multiple clients paying you $500-$5000 per month, it seems worth it to spend $39 a month to be able to mastermind with Ross and the other participants once a week. If I feel differently after sitting in on some of the calls, I’ll come back and update this review.

Bottom Line:

I think this course provides tremendous value and, unlike many promises we’ve seen online, this one does provide the training you need to actually do the job as well as get clients. I like Ross Golberg’s training style and don’t think this will be too complicated for a beginner to do. You don’t need a sales letter or even a website to do this based on what Ross teaches you.

You will, as I point out in the review, need to spend money, but not until you actually have a paying client. You won’t need to spend money, beyond buying the course, to get started.

Click here to go to the RepMogul website. <— Affiliate Link (Note: I do get a commission if you order through my affiliate link. If you’ve followed my writing for any length of time, you know I only recommend products I actually use or have tested. I don’t write BS reviews or pull punches.)

If you’ve got questions or comments, please join the conversation below. NOTE: If you’re a first time commenter on this blog, your post may not appear until it’s been approved by a moderator. If you like this review, feel free to share with your friends.

I’ve been a Netflix fan for quite a while now. A couple of months ago, Netflix took a lot of heat when they announced a nearly 60% price increase. Their $9.99 a month for unlimited video streaming and DVD rental package was eliminated. Now they offer $7.99 a month DVD rental (for 1 video at a time) and $7.99 for unlimited streaming. If subscribers kept both services, they’d now pay $15.98.

Many subscribers were outraged and promptly dropped either the streaming option, the DVD rentals or both. By last Fridday, Netflix’ stock had dropped over 40% since July and Netflix estimates they will end this month with 600,000 fewer subscribers than they had in June.

Yesterday, subscribers received an email from Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix. The message also appeared on the Netflix blog. From the first few paragraphs, it looked like Mr. Hastings was demonstrating the power of transparency and social media:

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn’t make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So far, so good, right? But then Reed Hastings drops a bombshell…

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

This announcement may cost Netflix as many subscribers as the price increase did. Personally, the price increase didn’t bother me because Netflix and the Roku Box is part of the reason I was able to drop cable which saves me about $100 per month. I was also able to get rid of a couple hundred DVD’s that are now accessible via streaming. That brought in some nice pocket change plus saved me a ton of shelf space.

Netflix’ new strategy brings up a lot of issues:

1. Having two separate sites means subscribers wanting to keep DVD rentals will have to go sign up and re-enter all their information on the new site.

 

2. The current site provides subscribers with a “Queue” where they can add movies they’d like to see in the future. Many subscribers have as many as 50-100 movies in their Queue that they’ve added over time. That information will be lost when the transition to the new site is complete. Now if subscribers choose both DVD rental and streaming, they will have to create a new Queue.

 

3. When you looks up a movie, you’re also shown if it’s available for streaming. Now subscribers will have to go look up a film on two different sites.

 

4. The name. Qwikster? Really? Can you think of a worse name? There’s confusion with other brands on the market plus potential misspellings. I think the name change indicates Netflix plans to sell off the new division. Clearly the DVD rental business is shrinking and if Netflix planned to keep it in the fold, why not name it Qwikflix and retain the branding?

 

5. Netflix apparently forgot to check and see if the Twitter handle Qwikster was taken. It was. Qwikster belongs to Jason Castillo who has about 11,000 followers on Twitter. His tweets are mostly about either getting high or sex. Yesterday Castillo featured a photoshopped icon of the Sesame Street character Elmo smoking pot. That quickly disappeared most likely after Sesame Street’s attorneys came calling. It looks like he may be deleting some of his drug related tweets. Prior to the Netflix announcement, someone probably could have bought Castillo’s Twitter handle for $100. What do you think Netflix will have to pay for it now? And actually Twitter doesn’t allow the selling of user accounts so I’m not sure how this will end. Lack of foresight for a company that’s been pretty active on Twitter and Facebook.

 

6. Netflix has a recommendation engine that allows you to rate movies you’ve watched in the past. They use that data to suggest other movies you might like. The more movies you rate, the better the recommendations. I’ve discovered some great films that way. Since subscribers will now have to create new accounts on Qwikster, the suggestion tool won’t have all that data entered over a few years of rating movies on Netflix.

As a result of the announcement, Netflix stock dropped another 9.5% as of the market’s close on Tueday. They’ve received over 14,000 mostly negative comments on their blog. Will they recover? Time will tell but they certainly gave their competition an opportunity to cut into their market share. I don’t know who, if anyone, is handling PR for Netflix but that needs to change and fast.

A couple of things we can learn from this. Number one, keep it simple. Amazon.com is a site that does this well with things like 1-click ordering and their Prime Shipping model. Number two, if you plan on launching a new brand, do your homework and that means going beyond checking to see if the dot-com domain is available. Check Google and social media sites, too. Finally, if you’re selling online, avoid using a name that might be confusing to spell or pronounce.

What do you think about the way Netflix has handled this? Leave a comment below and let me know.

*Image courtesy of Graceish.

Some days a picture is really worth a thousand words.

Note the title of the post on the blog in the above image. Now note the obvious mistake the blogger did when setting up his own site and “not wasting his money on web designers.” I’ve magnified it in the image so you can’t miss it.

While some web designers do overcharge as the blogger claimed in his blog post, it’s clear from the picture that this guy makes a compelling argument for why one is often needed. Forgetting to replace WordPress’ “Just Another WordPress Blog” with a tagline of your own is a common mistake but I had to laugh when I saw it given this guy’s rant. Not surprisingly, he wasn’t really even writing a post. It was more like a pitch for some instant website software. There’s also, as Rich Currie pointed out, a little humor to be found in the site owner’s Recent Posts section.

When it comes to websites, I’ve got nothing against DIY types or even automated software if you have zero design budget. But it you go that route, ask a few friends and colleagues to go through your site for you. People will overlook a type here and there but in some circumstances they can totally kill your credibility.

Think of it this way, if an expert on say, how to cut your manufacturing costs, is late to a presentation. It doesn’t look good. On the other hand, if a time efficiency expert is late for their presentation, they’re toast.

Have you heard about Klout?

Klout is a free service that lets you measure your influence on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. They monitor the content you generate, how others respond to that content while tracking the size, makeup and influence of your followers. They look to see if people retweet or respond to your Tweets (and if you respond back). They measure the amount of ‘likes’, shares and comments you receive. And they measure the quality as well as the quantity of your connections.

When Klout came online in September of 2009 they only took Twitter into account and I dismissed them as a one-trick pony in a social media space that’s full of them. Judging by my score as well as scores of my friends, the numbers didn’t seem to be accurate. However, Klout has made a lot of changes. While I think there are still flaws in the system, they’ve made a lot of headway. Since their launch, they’ve added Facebook and earlier this month began working with LinkedIn.

Overall Klout Score

Getting your Klout score is as simple as logging in to their website via your Twitter or Facebook account. You’ll see your overall Klout score as well as some secondary scores. So what do those numbers mean?

Klout: Overall Score

According to Klout’s website:

The Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 35 variables on Facebook and Twitter to measure True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score.

The overall score, along with Network Influence and Amplification Probability range from 0 to 100. Klout looks to see if people retweet you, reply to you, comment, click on links you post and more. Your score will change over time and using the charts, you can actually see how your score in each category changes from day to day. This is really useful as you can see the impact of spending time tweeting, retweeting, responding to others and so on and use that to improve your social media strategy.

Your Network Influence Score on Klout

Klout: Network Infuence

In the image above, you can see my network influence score is 87 and that I am “constantly engaged by very influential people”. To the right, you can also see some of the figures Klout uses to determine your network influence score like:

• Unique Mentioners (People using @BillHibbler in a Tweet)
• Unique ReTweeters
• Unique Likers (on Facebook)
• Unique Commenters (on Facebook)
• Follower/Follow Ratio

I haven’t connected LinkedIn to Klout yet so those metrics aren’t shown in my score.

What Klout uses to determine your network influence is checking to see how influential are they people you influence, taking into consideration, among other things, the Klout score of those you interact with in social media.

Your Amplification Probability Score on Klout

Klout: Amplification Probability

The next score you’ll see on Klout is your Amplification Probability, which essentially measures the likelihood your updates will be shared, retweeted, liked and commented on. My Amplification Probability Score on this date is 40. Beside the chart, you can see the total number of Retweets, Likes & Comments I’ve had all-time on Twitter and Facebook.

Your True Reach Score on Klout

Klout: True Reach

The final piece of the puzzle regarding your score is True Reach. This number primarily there to filter out the number of fake as well as inactive Twitter accounts. According to Klout, even though I have 61,000 followers on Twitter, my true reach is 24,000. I doubt the number is that high but, as you can see in the above graphic, Klout says “We’re currently updating our TrueReach number — please check back soon.” So the 24k number is probably inaccurate and Klout has been displaying that same update message for a few weeks.

Your Topics of Influence on Klout

In addition to your score, Klout has added some new features that give you details such as Topics. What you find on your topics page are the topics Klout identifies you as being influential about.

Klout Topics

Note the orange bars in the above image. These illustrate the amount of influence you have for each topic. Since I’m a marketing and social media consultant, it’s no surprise that I score high on those topics. I also sometimes comment on affiliate marketing which shows up here at #3 but notice the orange bar is lower than for social media and marketing. Further down the list, topics like Amazon, Apple and cars show up on my list, all topics that I sometimes tweet about but aren’t really part of my business.

Klout Influencers

Klout Influencers

Another page on Klout is called Influencers. This page shows the overall Klout scores of those you influence as well as their topics of influence and what Klout calls their Klout Style. Also on this page is a list of Twitter users that Klout feels influences you.

Did they leave someone out? No problem because Klout gives you the option of adding anyone by entering their Twitter username. That probably won’t affect your score but I’ll be it influences the person you add’s score.

Your Klout Style

Your Style on Klout is an assessment of your personality or social media style. Klout determines this based on your output as well as the response to it. Your style is adjusted automatically as Klout spots changes. There are a variety of styles including Curator, Broadcaster, Taste Maker, Celebrity, Syndicator, Feeder, Thought Leader, Pundit, Dabbler, Conversationalist, Socializer, Networker, Observer, Explorer, Activist and Specialist.

Klout Style

Getting Started on Klout & Why You Should Care

To get started, head to Klout.com and follow the instructions. It’s a free service. Your Klout score will change regularly and if you utilize the daily charts, you can test different strategies to improve your Klout score.

Any widely accepted platform that measures the ROI on social media is going to be extremely useful. So is the ability to find and connect with the influencers in a particular niche. Klout is teaming up with other companies to offer brands the ability to find and interact with their biggest fans. That’s something that’s difficult to do when you have tens of thousands of fans or followers in social media.

Have you checked your Klout score? Have you used it for a client? Please share your experience below by leaving a comment. If it’s your first time to leave a comment on this blog, your comment will be held in moderation until I can review it. After your first comment is approved, your future posts will show up immediately. So join the conversation.

A few months ago, I came up with an idea for an Internet TV show I’d like to host & produce. I considered returning to the multi-million dollar studio in Dallas where I filmed Ecommerce Confidential but really wanted to explore other options.

In March at South by Southwest in Austin, I came across a device that completely blew me away, the Tricaster TCXD300. For about $15,000, the Tricaster lets you, while on camera produce the quality of tv show that would have cost half a million or more and require a crew of five or six people just a few years ago. This is the same piece of equipment that’s being used by Fox Sports and several other networks. (NewTek, the manufacturer, has several different versions of the Tricaster and different price points).

The Tricaster will allow you to connect up to three cameras, a computer (to display Powerpoint presentations, websites, etc.) and even bring in a guest via Skype. You can also add images, film clips and add graphics, titles and credits. It includes several virtual sets and there’s software available that let’s you create custom sets.

You can simultaneously create a live program streaming over the Internet while also recording the show on the Tricaster and, it will also send the signal out to a projector at a live event.

Last weekend, I rented the Tricaster 300 along with a couple of cameras and setup a greenscreen and lights in my home office. The results are amazing! In such a short time, I wasn’t able to take advantage of all the things the Tricaster can do but I did record an hour long interview with a friend as well as the 10 minute review featured on this page.

I rented the Tricaster from Videotex Systems in Dallas. To find a dealer in your area or for more info on the Tricaster TCXD300, visit Newtek.com. Special thanks to Darryl Newman and Russell Meehan from VideoTex for helping me get all the gear in place.

Recently I opened up my mailbox to discover a check for about $675. It was completely unexpected. Could you use an extra $675? And would you like to get good search engine rankings without a lot of hassle? If so, read on…

Back in 2002, when I was fairly new to Internet marketing, the late Corey Rudl taught me a great way to earn extra income online via affiliate marketing. The idea behind affiliate marketing is if you refer people to a particular website and they buy something, you get a percentage of the sale. It’s a brilliant concept and online merchants love it because it’s advertising they only pay for when they actually make a sale.

Corey taught me one of the best ways to generate affiliate income: writing product reviews. One way or another, I’ve been getting checks this way for years. One company in particular sends me between $500-900+ per month via Paypal and I haven’t actively promoted them in over 5 years!

When I first heard about this, I found most of the reviews I was reading were so positive that they could have been written by the product developers themselves. Instead, I wrote honest, uinbiased reviews just like you’d see if there wasn’t a commission involved. I wasn’t afraid to diss a product that deserved it, commissions be damned.

My consulting business keeps me pretty busy but I still make a habit of writing reviews for the various products and services I try that I think might also interest you.

But over the years, I’ve noticed a funny thing that’s happened. Without any extra effort on my part, my reviews often end up at the top of Google’s organic search results. For example, in 2005, I wrote a series of review posts for John Reese’s Traffic Secrets course. At the time, John offered a $500 commission on referrals. To this day, I rank #1 on Google for “John Reese Traffic Secrets Review”. That listing generated several thousand dollars in commissions.

My review of Craig Perrine’s course also got a #1 ranking on Google:

At the time of its release, I was #1 on Google with my review of Kate Buck’s Let Get Social. I’m still #4 on Google and that was good for nearly $700 last month. All from a post that took me about an hour to write:

I was #1 on Google the same day I wrote my review post of Armand Morin’s new Facebook ads course and saw an immediate impact on my Paypal acccount:

As I’ve said frequently on this blog and elsewhere, I think the ship has sailed on many of the ‘make money online’ opportunities that are still actively promoted these days. Yet I still believe in affiliate marketing, especially as a way to supplement your current income.

If you’ve got products and services that you’re using in your business every day, why not review them for your audience? Just keep it real and don’t hype the product and make sure you’re transparent about being an affiliate.

Have you tried affiliate marketing? How did it work for you? Or will you try it soon? Leave a comment below and let me know.

I recently started working with a new coach Laura Kowalski, who’s helping me increase my productivity as well as prepare for a move this summer. Moving is big ordeal for me because I have somewhere in the neighborhood of two thousand books, hundreds of CD’s and for good measure, a few hundred DVDs.

My books along with various marketing courses and audio books are stored on ten big 9 foot bookshelves in my home office. Many are titles I’ve never even read but that I’ve picked up at suggestion of of others as someday/maybe titles. Some are either review copies or books kept around for reference purposes. Besides the daunting task of moving all these books, Laura pointed out that these books were likely hurting my day-to-day productivity.

Laura helped me sort through everything and because I tend to save rather than discard I entrusted her to pare down piles of books on a variety of topics. The discard pile ended up filling my entire dining room. So I decided to invite several friends over and encouraged them to take as many books as they liked. Everyone left with a big grocery bag or two filled with books. It was a lot of fun for everyone involved and I donated anything left over.

The end result is that not only did I get rid of hundreds of books but my office feels incredibly lighter. The shelves have room to breathe and I now understand the psychological effect of having all these extra books around. The unread books are like items on a to-do list that weigh you down.

Five Steps to De-cluttering Your Home Office

Here are some of Laura’s tips on getting rid of the clutter in your home office:

1. Do One Room At a Time: This can be a surprisingly tiring & emotional process so don’t plan on doing more than a few hours at a time.
2. Keep Only What Lifts You – No Exceptions: Don’t keep things just because they were expensive or gifts or family heirlooms if they do not also make you feel good. Obligation weighs you down. Donate, donate, donate and lighten your load.
3. Keep It Current: That book that was perfect for you in college, is it right NOW? Unless something adds value to who you are and who you are becoming, it goes. Period.
4. Move It Out Immediately: Once you’ve sorted things into piles (like Donate, Give to Friends & Trash), don’t let them sit around the house or the garage. Drop them with friends or a donation books immediately. If you have a lot to donate, many organizations like The Salvation Army will come by for a pick-up if you call them a few days ahead of time. Give as much as possible away rather than saving the items for a garage sale.
5. Don’t Do It Alone: This isn’t a solo project. No matter how determined you are, a second opinion to err on the side of ‘give it away’ and give you reality checks is essential, especially in rooms that are filled with personal items. Ask a friend who truly LOVES organizing to spend a few hours with you to make this easier. Or hire a certified professional organizer and be specific about what their role will be. Meet with the pro beforehand to make sure you’re on the same page and that you get along with them.

After working with Laura, my office just feels so much better. And regarding giving books and similar items away, I had several books and courses that I was holding on to because I knew I could sell them on eBay or Amazon but never seemed to find the time to do so. In the end, giving them away felt better and got them out of my way. And it was fun to see delighted friends carting off all those items that were no longer serving me.

Try these steps yourself and see what happens. You might discover that lightening your load leads to better productivity, sleep and peace of mind like I did.

I was a little puzzled when I saw Armand Morin had created a Facebook ad training course since I’ve often heard him say he thinks social media is a waste of time. However, I’ve learned a lot from Armand over the years going back to when I attended his first “Big Seminar” in 2002 so I decided to buy it. In the introduction, he explains why he’s been against social media in the past.

Armand thinks the way most people do it, spending hours interacting on Facebook, Twitter and Linked-In, is a waste of time for the primarily solo-entrepreneurs that’s his core audience. He designed a course that’s designed to capitalize on Facebook’s massive audience without requiring daily participation on the site.

Facebook Ad Secret Training (<–Affiliate Link) or FAST is not a comprehensive course on Facebook. It’s designed specifically to show you how to build a large list (or multiple lists) fast using Facebook fan pages and Facebook ad campaigns. It’s not loaded with free tactics. You’ll need to spend money advertising on Facebook to build these lists but you’ll learn how to do it in a way that will save you a fortune in ad dollars.

Inside Armand Morin’s FAST training – Section 1

The course consists entirely of video content divided into three sessions designed to be used over a three day period. The videos must be watched online, they aren’t downloadable. They are, however, divided into multiple ‘sub-chapters’ making it easy to pick up where you left off if you need to review something or decide not to watch an entire section in one sitting.

One thing I really like about this course is it’s designed to be interactive. You don’t go through the course as an academic exercise and then, someday, take action.

You’ll have a Facebook page and ad campaign up and running by the end of the first session. And you’ll begin building a list immediately. Not just a list of fans for brand awareness but a list you can sell to effectively. Being effective is the key because we’ve all seen tons of people on Facebook get this wrong and alienate their potential customers with marketing messages they don’t want.

In session 1, Armand talks about Facebook pages and give you an overview on how to setup an ad campaign so that the end of the session, you’ll actually setup a page and accompanying ad campaign. He goes against what a lot of other Facebook courses are teaching in terms of how to do this. He feels, I believe correctly, that too many of these courses are built around theory rather than experience. Rather than use FB ads to drive traffic to a fan page about you or your products and services, he recommends you create a fan page around an appropriate very popular topic or celebrity building a massive list which you then siphon off to your main page. He’ll also show you some variations on this theme.

After watching this session, I saw how I could use this for several of my clients and also how this could be used very effectively to market multiple products as an affiliate.

One thing Armand overlooks is how long it will take a novice to set up a profile image. He actually shows you how to do part of this in the course but I think he leaves out a couple of steps that someone without a little experience with Photoshop or a similar graphics program might not get. But don’t let that stop you. Using the examples Armand gives you, you can outsource that graphic for $5 on a site like Fivver.com.

Inside Session 2

On day 2, if you choose to do the course as it was designed, one session per day, Armand gets into much more depth with Facebook ads. He shows you more about how to use FB ads to build a list but also how to use them to market products outside of Facebook. This is where the course will really pay for itself. Armand is showing you how to slash your ad costs while also getting the maximum conversions (visitors to subscribers or visitors to customers) from your ads. Even if you’re a sharp marketer with experience with, say, Google AdWords, it would still probably take you several hundred dollars worth of trial and error before you could match Armand’s numbers. And if you’re a novice, you could potentially save thousands of dollars.

Armand goes into a LOT of detail here showing you the best type of headlines to use, the most effective images, who to target with your ads (and why). By the end of the second session, you’ll be creating a group of Facebook ads and testing them to see which is most effective. And he’ll show you how to do this with very low ad budgets while you get your feet wet.

Inside Session 3: Putting it All Together

In this session, Armand gets into a lot more detail on how to setup effective Facebook pages.

You learn how to customize your Facebook pages, add opt-in pages, video pages and much more. There are a lot of techniques and advanced strategies covered here and, again, Armand provides a lot of detail so you’re not left confused about how to make these changes.

A Facebook fan page is essentially, nothing more than a web page but Facebook does make it challenging to customize your page so it looks exactly how you want it to. Beyond that, Armand gets into several ways to monetize your Facebook page which I haven’t seen elsewhere. I’m still digging into the course and will either come back and update this page or do a follow-up post to let you know how well these strategies work when I apply them to my own pages.

Bottom Line

The value in this course is you benefit from Armand’s extensive testing. I’ve known Armand for nearly ten years. He’s a fanatical tester. He tests everything. Copy, colors, graphics, where to put the subscribe or order button, etc. He’s tested and tweaked multiple campaigns in order to put this course together and he shows you, step by step, exactly what he’s done. And he promises, that in 10 minutes or so, you can have a Facebook fan page and ad campaign up and running. After that, you can start with the advanced strategies, tweaking your ad campaigns and your Facebook fan pages.

Could you buy a book on Facebook for far less than the cost of this course? Absolutely, but the problem with print books is they usually have a lag time of 9 months to a year between when the author turns them in and when they hit the bookshelf. With something like Facebook, a year is an eternity. The strategies and tactics in Armand’s course is current and that makes it worth the price of admission. With ad campaigns, you can easily spend hundreds or thousands of dollars per month driving traffic. What Armand is presenting here will, if you follow his advice to the letter, save you 10x (or far more) what you pay for it on your ad campaigns. That’s why I bought it and I believe you should to.

Click here to visit Armand’s site. (<– Affiliate link)