Uh..Bob

You’re two weeks away from launch date.

You’ve slaved and toiled and labored for months, and now here you are. Finally, with your latest product ready to roll. It could be a book you self-published, it could be a new website for your business, it could be software which took you months to develop. It could be anything, really.

You decided to outsource your web design, and the Indian guy you hired on E-Lance did a surprisingly good job for the $150 you’ve paid him. You snagged a snappy domain name, and now you’re sitting down in front of your laptop to write your salesletter.

Then… Blank.

*****

Outsourcing is the latest craze in the business world this 2008. The 4-Hour Workweek, the national bestseller by Tim Ferriss, dedicates an entire chapter to the art of outsourcing. It’s a crucial element in his step-by-step process into becoming part of the “New Rich” defined as “those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using…time and mobility.”

Let’s face it: sometimes, we just can’t be bothered to put in the hours to learn a new skill. Studying HTML and CSS will eat up a crapload of your time — time that could be better spent working on your business, instead of in it (which is the central theme of business bestseller The E-Myth). Many of us also do not have any artistic talent whatsoever — outsourcing your logo design often pays off in the long-run than to have lousy branding that could cost you thousands of dollars in lost sales.

But what about copywriting? What your website says about your product generates customer interest and persuades the purchase. This is the make-or-break point of your website. Should you put your best salesman in the hands of a complete stranger?

As a freelance copywriter, “Is it really necessary to outsource my copywriting?” is a question I’ve encountered several times. I put together a list of six pros and cons to ponder about when it comes to writing copy to hopefully help you towards a decision.

Pro: Land a professional copywriter and you will get professional results.

Copy isn’t just about words.

While the words you choose are crucial, it’s more than just that. The purpose of effective copy is to build instant credibility, make a compelling statement, tell a persuasive story and last but not the least, get your reader to take action. It answers any objections your reader may come up with, increasing sales in the process and reducing the amount of returns and refunds.

A lot of my clients became clients simply because they have no idea what to write on their website. Many people make the mistake of thinking that their copy should be about them. They talk about the company and its history, or launch a tirade on the X-amount of features their product has. Professional copywriters know and understand that to get a person to buy, they must know the benefits of what you can offer them. People don’t buy quarter-inch drills — they buy quarter-inch holes.

A professional copywriter will take your product, understand the benefits it has to offer, and most importantly communicate those benefits to your readers in such a way that it inspires action from them. Many times, the sales you’ll achieve from hiring a professional copywriter far outweighs the cost of hiring him in the first place.

Con: Professional copywriters who know their worth are very expensive.

Michel Fortin charges at least $3,000 per job. Dan Kennedy costs about $9,600 per day.  The rates for other, lesser-known copywriters are lower, but you can expect to be billed at least a thousand dollars for one quality salesletter.

This can be out of the budget for the startup, who often is bootstrapping his operations and can’t afford to eat up a huge chunk of their budget on any one endeavor. Hiring a professional copywriter is sometimes more of a gamble than an investment, as you don’t have a guarantee that sales will come in as a result of hiring him.

Pro: You’re focused on the things that matter.

Marketing/advertising and copywriting are two very different things. Marketing and advertising brings people to look at your website, where your copy can do its job of convincing the customer why he or she needs your product.

Both activities eat up a lot of time, money and effort. You might have the best salesletter on your website, but if you don’t market the damned site itself then nobody’s going to see it. Outsource your copywriting, and your priorities can be spent on growing your business and selling more of your products.

Con: Quality copywriters are hard to find.

On the other hand, there’s no sense in spending all that time marketing your website if it can’t do a good job of selling your product. Almost anybody can come up with hype-laden copywriting and outdated methods of persuasion, and many groups of people are particularly turned off by this type of copy. They do not want to feel like they’re being marketed to, even though they are.

In addition, copywriters who REALLY know their stuff are quite a rare breed. I love the folks at Elance, but a majority of them come from third world countries without English as the first language. I’m not bagging on these people (after all, I come from such a country myself) but the chances of you hiring an overnight copywriter are much, much higher. If they’re making basic grammatical mistakes, how can you expect them to write effective sales copy for you?

Pro: You know your product well.

Who better to write about your product than you?

Since you know the ins-and-outs of your product, then maybe you’re the best person to communicate those benefits to your customers especially if you yourself are part of your target market. You will know their pain points and the specific problems they encounter, and you’ll be able to express how it is exactly your product can help them get rid of these annoyances.

Knowing the product inside and out, you’ll also be able to highlight specific features and tell your readers the exact benefit for them. A copywriter who has two weeks to write something about your product might not be able to dig in as deep as he should be into your business, and might miss a couple of important points that he should otherwise emphasize.

Con: You know your product too well.

If the hypothetical situation in the beginning of this post resonates with you, then chances are it’s because you know your product too well. Can such a thing really happen?

Unfortunately, yes. It’s tough to realize it, but your mind could be so entrenched in the details of your product that looking at it from an outsider’s perspective is damned near impossible. Much more writing about it so an outsider will understand. It’s now your baby, and nothing less than perfect is good enough for it. So you delay releasing it and work on your copy for a little bit. Then you realize you’re not satisfied, so you delay it again. All because of that oh-so-evasive salesletter.

You could also be so overworked from making your product that the last thing you want to think about is writing the copy for it. You could be so sick of thinking and writing about the topic your ebook is about that you just want to flush everything down the toilet. Good luck writing persuasive copy then (it is exactly because of this why I’m an advocate of writing your copy first, or at least before you’re in too deep of the product creation process).

*****

All in all, the decision whether to write your own copy or hire a copywriter to do it is up to you. Thoughts? Post them in the comment section, folks.

A tool for Dissecting Problems in pursuit of Solutions

By learning how to use fish bone diagrams to create a layout dissecting the task at one, one can benefit from increased perspective on the causes and effect associated with a specific scenario; with such perspective, one should hope to gain the ability to tackle any kind of problem more easily. The purpose of this tool is to break down a complex problem into the simpler underlying causes. The expression fish bone refers to the appearance of this schematics: not unlike a fish skeleton, where the head represents the problem, and each bone sticking out from the vertebra represents factors contributing to the problem.

Keep your focus: Know your Bones

While building up a fish diagram, one will usually start by drawing the head of the fish, along with a set numbers of bones – usually 4, 6, or 8, associated with the manufacturing industry (Machine, Method, Materials, Man, Measurement, and “Mother Nature”), the administration and service industry (Price, Promotion, People, Processes, Place / Plant, Policies, Procedures & Product (or service), and the Service industry specifically (Surroundings, Suppliers, Systems, Skills). For most online entrepreneurs, the latter set of causes – referred to as the 4S’, is likely to be most relevant.

FishBone Diagram Hands-on Example

So, In order to flesh out a cause and effect diagram, you simply draw a fish skeleton with 4 bones, which you’ll tag “Surroundings”, “Suppliers”, “Systems” and “Skills”. For example, let’s imagine the problem you want to study is “My website does not get enough traffic”; first off, you tag the problem in the head of the fish. Now, for each bone, you’ll set additional scales, stemming from that specific cause. In order to do this, a brainstorm is recommended, where all people involved in both the problem and the solution are expected to come up with every possible facets leading to the specific problem.

Branch out your problems to the Root

So, when discussing the issue of low website traffic with your associates, you’ll focus branch while taking notice of every possible cause stemming down from each aspect of the problem. For example, while considering the first branch “Surroundings”, three important sub-branches would be “few inbound links”, “ineffective social media marketing”, and “Lack of visitor engagement”. Now, once you consider each sub-branch, it becomes easier to isolate specific actions that should be   taken to clear the bigger problem. Some examples would be “make link exchanges”, “create link bait”, “develop social media profiles”, “video broadcast”, “Create newsletter”, “Create forum”. As you can see, at this point one clearly gets a sense of actual things that should be done in order to tackle the problem.

The Golden Rule for effective Brainstorming

While brainstorming the possible causes behind each bone in the cause and effect diagram, it’s important to keep an open mind; at this stage, no possible cause should be discarded without careful consideration. The main purpose behind the fish bone diagram is to scrutinize all causes underlying a specific problem, some of which are likely to be unexpectedly subtle. For an optimum effect, a maximum possible causes should be considered, all of which should be clearly organized within the diagram. The Golden Rule for an effective brainstorming is quite simple: don’t hold back any idea that comes to mind, just put in on the table for everyone to consider; brainstormings are meant to be catharses, not organized efforts.

A tool is no good unless you can use it

Once you’ve completed a fish bone diagram focusing a specific problem you’re currently faced with, what you’ll get is nothing short of a road map, showing which steps should be completed in order to make sure the problem is overcome. While this is by no means a magical tool that will instantly dismiss your problems, it’s definitely a highly relevant tool which will help you organize your thought and get insight into something which prevents your business from running full speed. If you’re currently faced with troubles which look too complex to be sorted out, you should experiment with this strategy, since it might just help you get started on the way to a possible solution.

Sometimes the step from blogger to published author is a mere strike of luck and at others it is done at will right from the start.

Join me on my journey where I look at those who have already arrived and learn whether it was easy or hard for them to get there.

Julie Powell
365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment

Julie Powell’s amazing story begun back in August 2002. She was frustratingly stuck in a secretarial job and wanted out. Her aim to cook every single recipe from Julia Child’s book Mastering the Art of French Cooking within one year paid off handsomely. Her first post on her brand new blog The Julie/Julia Project announced her intention and caught the eyes of thousands of readers.

This was the beginning of a truly blessed journey.

Cooking 536 recipes in the space of 365 days from a small kitchen propelled Julie from frustrated employee to popular entrepreneur. Since those early days, Julie has been featured on Entertainment Weekly, on the Martha Steward Show and held cooking demonstration for Tyra Banks.

She also embarked on a nationwide book tour, labelled by some as “blook tour” (blog book). Julie still continues to blog despite being a wife, a mother, a cat owner, a writer and a national celebrity. Although, some might wonder where she takes the time from. Her blog What Could Happen is a satirical approach to life in general.

Clotilde Dusoulier
Chocolate & Zucchini
Life took a sharp turn for Clotilde when she was made redundant as a software designer in the Silicon Valley dotcom crash. That was back in 2003. Moving back to her home town of Paris, France, she decided to start a food blog by the name of Chocolate & Zucchini.

Today, Chocolate & Zucchini is a household name for most blog and food fanatics. Being one of the most popular consumer blogs, Clotilde’s transition to published author didn’t come as a surprise to anybody.

Clotilde’s book launch resulted in a nationwide book tour through America and Europe in 2007 and she has received nothing but praise for her publication. Being some kind of celebrity these days, Clotilde has a large following of foodies and housewife’s dreaming to live her life. She has been featured on the American Today Show, as well as in many magazines.

Her second book Clotilde’s Edible Adventures in Paris was released in April 2008 and has her fans licking her fingers in anticipation. If you can’t wait for the book to arrive you can visit Chocolate & Zucchini, Clotilde’s food blog in the meantime.

Salam Pax
The Clandestine Diary of an Ordinary Iraqi

Salam Pax made history as one of the most famous bloggers in the world. He started blogging pre-Golf War 2 to keep in touch with a friend who had left to study in Jordan. His friend’s name Read was the inspiration for his blog Dear Raed. The blog gained international attention as Salam blogged his experience from inside Iraq while war was raging all around him.

Risking his life to journal his journey made him a hero to many. For most of us it would be unimaginable to live in a country plagued by war while blogging what is happening around us. His bravery paid off though, unwillingly for him.

His online war diary was eventually published by Grove Press in 2005.

Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett
ProBlogger - Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

Darren Rowse is the problogger who has made history in many ways. His amazing rise to fame has and continues to inspire thousands of people of all ages all around the world. They want what Darren has got - the success, the fame, the work from home business.

Darren’s first blog LivingRoom was conceived in 2002 while he worked as a labourer and part time minister (who would have thought). He started ProBlogger in September 2004 and hasn’t looked back.

Besides founding a church in Melbourne, Australia, a blog network by the name of b5media, a digital photography blog, a blogging course and more, Darren has risen to fame with his ProBlogger blog attracting some 15,000-20,000 page views every day.

Despite having been a blogger for several years, Darren continues to post frequently to his blog, attracting a steady following of readers and fans. Even though he is famous, Darren has kept a low profile portraying himself as the guy from next door.

Chris Garrett was born in Calgary, Canada. He became addicted to the Internet in 1994 when most people didn’t even know it existed. He has since founded and co-founded several companies, one of them being the famous Performancing blog site which he sold to Slashpress Media in January 2007 for an undisclosed sum.

Chris regularly writes for a range of sites as well as being a coach, speaker, trainer, new media industry commentator and web geek. Chris is also a keen amateur photographer and snow sports enthusiast. His web home is ChrisG.

Could it be possible for you?
By looking at each of these published bloggers, it is clearly visible that they all have one thing in common. While each of them is a normal human being, with no specific fancy education, all have a deep passion for what they write about.

This passion has been reflected in respective blogs and it is this passion that has catapulted them from blogger to published author.

It was a natural progression for each of them. If you wonder whether you have it in you to be the next blogger to published author success story, I wouldn’t know. What I do know is this: If you are truly passionate about your subject and this passion clearly shows in your writing, then I’d say yes, you definitely have it within you.

So what are you waiting for?

It’s an old saw popular with business coaches. If you want to be successful, your first step isn’t to write a business plan, spot a niche or create your product. It’s to create a mastermind support group – a team of cheerleaders who’ll buck you up when you fail to land a client, buy you coffee when the VCs turn you down and give you a shoulder to cry on when your business goes belly-up and you’re wondering how to explain the last two years on your resume.

And they’re quite right, of course – although it does help if that support group can actually offer some sound advice rather than just a mocha frapuccino and an extra-large cookie.

In practice though, no one ever actually finds a group. Call a bunch of people and invite them to get-together for a you-boost session and you’re not likely to get many arrivals. What we all really need isn’t a mastermind support group so much as a bunch of trusted individuals who can offer help in different ways.

They’re Like Mentors but Smaller and Easier to Find

You can think of them as mini-mentors if you like but the good news is they’re much easier to find than a cohesive group of masterminds.

The first place to look is your family.

They’re likely to provide a relatively small pool of people to choose from and unless your surname is Rothschild, they’re also unlikely to offer too much in the way of powerful business knowledge.

But you won’t find better emotional support anywhere, and that’s important too.

When you’re building your own firm, there will always be moments when you wonder if it’s all worth it, whether the idea is sound and whether you’re the right person to do it. At that point, you will need someone you love to clip you round the ear and tell you to stop being such a cry-baby. It requires a special kind of knowledge – a knowledge of you and what makes you tick, and it’s something that you can only find in your closest circles.

When you have at least one person that you can turn to for those crises of confidence, you can look further afield. Unlike relatives, your friends are people you’ve chosen to spend time with. That’s usually because you think alike, have found something you admire in each other and you respect each other too.

But because we tend to choose friends with whom we have something in common, it’s also possible that at least one of your friends will have knowledge that has some bearing on what you’re trying to do.
If you were trying to create a software program for property lawyers, for example, you might not have friends who are property lawyers. But you might have friends who are software programmers, who can understand the challenge of debugging and can help you to think of ways to make the coding faster.

They might not be as good as your spouse or a sibling at bucking you up when you’re feeling down, but they can give you some pretty creative suggestions for handling a database.

Know Anyone with a Bag of Money?

It’s still unlikely though that even your best friends are going to have the sort of in-depth knowledge you’ll need to crack particular problems. You might want to know what angels really want to see in a business plan, for example, or which companies you should approach with your idea first.

Unless you know someone who has already started their own business – and swapped it for a giant sack of Google cash – then your immediate circle of friends might be little use for those special sorts of problems.

That’s when you need to work your network. Asking your friends if they know anyone who can provide that sort of specialized advice is a good start but these days, profiting from extended networks is easier than ever.

Pull open your pals’ Facebook or LinkedIn profiles and start following the lines until you come up with someone with the right knowledge. Ideally, you won’t have to go further than a couple of places removed but if you extend your definition of “friend” to include people in groups you’ve joined or networks you’re already a part of, it shouldn’t be too hard to find someone whose brains you can pick for some special advice.

The result of all this won’t be a mastermind group. It will be a collection of people you can call on to solve particular problems as you’re building your business. The frapuccinos you’ll have to buy yourself.

Such words have been presented to us by one of the founding fathers, and their validity is still remarkable, nowadays. Granted, experience is an extremely important asset, and it’ll take you far along the cyberspace snakes and ladders; however something else is required to ascribe the far shores of being a true master. You should always keep in mind that genuine mastery is a by-product of experience enhanced with strategy.

Experience is what you get through practice: doing something over and over again, thus improving your skill. Strategy, on the other hand, is a mindset which provides for optimization and expansion of the learning processes. You can think of experience and strategy as analogs to practice and theory; while the former is all about doing things, the latter is exclusively concerned with optimizing everything we do. When you learn how to balance theory and practice, strategy and experience, rest assured: you’ll be on the high road to mastery of your craft.

When it comes to the power of networking, one of the most striking examples that comes to mind is the popular author Maki, of DoshDosh fame. This young Canadian writer has become a leading authority in on line entrepreneurship, and he’s quite a shining example of someone who effectively articulates experience with strategy. With his clear-cut dissections of the multi-layered mechanisms behind on line marketing, this author consistently bridges the gap between theory and practice:

“I’m using this blog as a journal to record down the experiences and observations which result from efforts on some of my other websites.”

Build Reputation Through a Strong Network

No man is an island, we’re all part of a vast continent. If this is true for the physical world, it’s arguably even more so within the realms of on line entrepreneurial. When it comes to building a reputation on the Internet, networking is instrumental. By getting to know people and exposing your content, your thoughts, and even your personality, you’ll be creating bonds that will strengthen your roots and help grow both your reputation and your business.

While building a strong network of friends, associates and followers, you’ll actually be creating a human structure that will allow you to gain exposure and influence, as your reputation builds up. Getting a unique voice is half way done towards success; once you’ve secured your identity and purpose, it will take people to listen and help spread your message. By combining effective networking with engaging content, your success will come naturally.

Delivering a consistent supply of high-quality articles thriving with meticulous yet engaging analyses, DoshDosh has grown notoriously more influent in the over-crowded niche of on line enterprising. As natural consequence, the author has been endowed with increasing editorial power, and a growing legion of followers and supporters. In just a few years, Maki has succeeded in captivating thousands of readers (his website currently boasts 16630 subscribers, from FeedBurner alone).

Be Seen Everywhere - Literally

Certain individuals are capable of amassing such a huge influence through their networking efforts, they can actually be compared to vast continents of the cyberspace, in their own right and merit. As we observe the examples from the great moguls, it becomes clear that who you are and what you can do is secondary to who you know. Not only that, it’s crucial to get around a lot, and participate in all available activities, events and meetings.

By taking active part in the on line communities, you’ll cement your commitment to your work, which in turn will strengthen your influence. As you get around and meet other people, you’ll also make sure people also get to know who you are, thus paving the way for a future thriving with influence and recognition. However, you should keep in mind there’s a fine line between promotion and spam. You should move yourself naturally around the social commitments, showing what you can  do, but never pushing it around.

Within a recent article on strategic collaborations, Maki has written that

“One of the best ways to promote your website or business is to work together with others to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.”

The author clearly demonstrates his understanding of the power of networking, and through his body of work, a central cornerstone translates the importance of getting familiar with the new Internet landscapes - including social media, social bookmarks, micro-blogging websites – all of which should be regarded as important business tools, and used responsibly.

Be Unique, Be “The One”

In order to be able to stand out from the crowd, you need to be able to offer some unique distinctiveness. No one will look up to you if you’re just like everyone else, since people keep looking for the next best thing available. This is what you should try to deliver – while avoiding to compromise who you are. If you want to be regarded as an authority, you must put your undivided efforts into acting like one; not just pretending, but actually being. Get ahead in your game, learn all there is to know about it, and keep expanding both your skills and networks.

Try to find your own unique voice, and work actively to make all the things everyone does, in ways no one else has thought of doing – yet. Quite often the most brilliant solutions are also the simplest, and yet people tend to get constrained with complicated lines of thought. By learning how to nurture your uniqueness and spontaneity, you’ll easily find yourself being looked up to.

It’s not by accident I’ve chosen to use this author as a case study to illustrate this specific article. For one, I’ve personally been led to several insights through his writing, and second the author really is a living example of the principles this articles intends to demonstrate. I once approached him via instant message asking for some advice for a new web host. Much to my surprise, he refused to make a simple suggestion (which could easily have turned out in $100 profit from affiliate sale). It was from then my suspicions were confirmed; there’s something to this author that truly sets him apart from the crowd.

Spread Out - Branch Your Service

When it comes to networking, it’s not just about people – it’s also about products, services and business. Just as you should work actively to expand your network of persons, you should keep trying to find new ways to expand your business networks. This is something you can do by finding new business, as well as just coming up with creative ways to make business; a good entrepreneur is always on the lookout for opportunity.

The modern technological days we live by are thriving with new opportunities which quite often go by unnoticed because people still think excessively inside the box. If you want to go a long way, make sure to take a step back from what you’re doing every once in a while, and figure out ways to make your service more competitive and exciting.

There’s an old saying around the realms of on line entrepreneurship that cautions us never to put our eggs in a single basket. On line marketing is not unlike a joint puzzle where all kinds of pieces are required; by developing new skills and delving into new opportunities, you’ll be actively increasing your odds of success. For a thorough demonstration of this principle, you should read this article about niche blogging:

“I’m a big fan of diversity when it comes to making money on line and I seldom focus exclusively on one niche or target market.“

Confidence - Develop a Guru Attitude

If you think for a moment about the most common trait uniting all guru types, you’ll probably realize that it’s most likely a pervading sense of unabashed confidence. They are special individuals who remain invariably confident in what they are doing, even when faced with adversity. They are highly creative and self-assured, without much need for boasting: this is the balance you should strive towards.

Going around telling others you’re a guru of something or the other really won’t cut it – not by a long shot. You need to do just the opposite: mind your own business, and do your best efforts; work actively so people will notice just how different you are from the pack, and try to remain in perspective. Cherish your experience, and nourish your planning skills. The road to being a guru is doubtlessly the road less traveled, because it requires a special kind of effortless effort and undivided commitment that not everybody is capable of. How about you?

The term “guru” is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot, to the point it’s almost pejorative. A guru is by definition a “Meditation master who has attained oneness with God and who initiates others into the spiritual path and guides them to liberation.” When dealing with Internet Entrepreneurship, one could adapt this definition as “a master of strategy who has attained understanding of the Internet, who initiates others in the transcendent path, and guides them to self-sufficiency”.

Provided one would take such adaptation as accurate, then one should keep an eye out for the Canadian author who goes by the Internet handle “Maki”. To the best of my knowledge, he provides a good example worth learning from, and DoshDosh stands proudly as a leading haven for up-and-coming Internet entrepreneurs.

Freelance long enough and at some point someone will tell you that it costs ten times more to find a new client than to keep an old one. Or twenty times more. Or a hundred. Or just more than you can afford.

Whatever the real figure, retaining clients who have already trusted you with their work is always going to be cheaper than advertising for a replacement. More importantly, it’s a lot easier. That’s because if it’s a strain for us to find clients, it’s no easier for buyers to find reliable freelancers. Sometimes, all it takes is a small amount of regular nudging to ensure that a buyer who came to you once keeps coming back for more.

Here are some of the ways you can painlessly poke your clients in the ribs:

Provide Regular Valuable Information
In the good old days, websites would ask users to tick a box showing that they agreed to receive a regular newsletter packed with fantastic tips, advice and special offers.

The good old days are still here.

Companies are still using services like Aweber and ConstantContact to send out electronic newsletters and promotional emails.

To be effective, those emails have to be genuinely interesting. They have to provide information that the reader can use — tips to get more out of a product are always a good idea — or special offers that feel exclusive and will save the reader money. They also have to be regular. Once a month is usually the right frequency to keep you fresh in a client’s mind without bothering them.

You can write a corporate blog as well, of course. That can be useful too. But clients have to choose to visit your blog or to hit the subscribe button. Signing them up to receive your newsletter comes when they’re at their hottest and brings your message — and your reminder — directly to them.

Send Cards
Sometimes, the smallest thing can be enough to remind a client that you’re still around, that the two of you have a relationship… and that he should be giving you more work.

A Christmas card or a birthday card can do it.

One site that makes that a little easier is JackCards.com. This lets you enter your clients’ birthday details, choose the cards a year in advance and receive them stamped, addressed and ready to mail just before the event. All you’ll have to do is write your greeting — and add that you’re still available for big projects that pay well.

Send Gifts
If you’re really feeling generous, you could go a little further and send out presents. That costs a lot more but it also makes a much deeper impression. Restrict it to your most valuable clients — that 20 percent responsible for 80 percent of your income — and you should find that it pays you in spades.

Google is one company that’s very good at doing this. Each year, it sends out freebies to its top AdSense publishers and advertisers. Past gifts for advertisers have included a mini-fridge, while publishers have enjoyed digital picture frames, wireless mouse kits and 2GB memory cards.

Note that each of these gifts combines two elements. The items themselves are useful and imaginative (no ballpoint pens or printed coffee mugs from the Googleplex); and they have Google’s logo on them. That might seem a little crass but it’s tastefully done, and it’s where Google gets back part of the value of the gift (the part that goes beyond gratitude.) Every time the recipient uses the present, he remembers the company who sent it.

That’s advertising worth paying for.

PersonalizationMall.com is one option if you want to follow Google’s footsteps but their selection is a bit dull. A better choice might be to ask Etchstar to scratch your logo onto an electronic product, or if you’ve got more than 50 clients you want to please, ask Gelaskins to create a unique design for an iPod Nano.

Meet Them
We only said that these were “almost” effortless ways to keep your clients. When you’re used to working with people through email, telephone and Instant Messaging, a face-to-face meeting can seem a little strange — and a lot of work.

But it’s also very powerful.

Nothing cements a business relationship harder than actually meeting, talking and tossing around ideas.

Obviously, if you’re working in Idaho and your clients are in New York, San Diego and Burkina Faso, that’s not going to be easy. But when one of them happens to passing through, or if you’re visiting West Africa, it pays to make the effort, meet and sip some beans.

Make Sure They’re Getting Results
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how great the gift you send, how useful the information you supply or how well you get on over a cup of coffee and a croissant. If your client isn’t making money — or doesn’t expect to — you won’t either.

The best way to make sure that your clients will come back to you then is the simplest: ask how they’re getting on. Try to find out what the results are from your work and see if you can come up with ways to improve them.

That’s not always easy. It requires a little tact. You want to sound helpful, not nosey. But get it right — and make your clients rich — and beyond doing the job, you won’t have to make any effort at all to keep them.

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” James Chartrand

James from MenwithPens summed Twitter really good. It’s a service that allows users to stay connected with current friends and get connected to more like minded people. As we know, Twitter has picked up the pace in many facets when it comes to our online life. Bloggers have made a gradual move towards microblogging and some people have eliminated their RSS feed readers completely, and embraced Twitter as their new link generator to keep up with current news and posts.

If you have read my previous article on Twitter, you know that I am a ” Twitteroholic”. I love it. But just cause something is so powerful and so widely spread doesn’t mean it can take over everything. And the same goes true when it comes to Twitter replacing RSS feed readers as well. Some people have ruled out the use of feed readers to keep track of their favorite blogs and some still can’t seem to find a way to how Twitter can replace feed readers. In this post let’s analyze some Pros and Cons side by side on using Twitter as a feed reader.

I had sent out a “ tweet “ on Twitter asking “Can Twitter Replace RSS Feed reader?“

Here are some answers from some Twitter die hard fans:

“I don’t believe that Twitter can replace an RSS reader.” - Thomas, TwisterMc

“Someday, maybe. I still use my feed reader, mainly because there are lots of blogs in my reader that don’t tweet (yet.)” - Bob Younce, Writing Journey

“Twitter provides immediacy from my “inner” social network. Someone tweets a link and I read it.” - Karen D. Swim, Words For Hire

“No because many do not tweet their blog posts. I find feed reader still necessary–but not used as often.” - Michael Martin, Remarkablogger

“Twitter can never replace my feed reader.“ Jon C. Phillips, Freelance Folder

Like I said these are the answers from some of the most active users on Twitter. And although Twitter has helped them become more active in networking, microblogging and marketing among many other things, it seems like feed reader is still their choice when it comes to catching up on news and other information.

Twitter certainly has made life simple in many ways. When it comes to networking and marketing I think Twitter is the best web service out there. But when it comes to replacing a feed reader, I am not sure. May be someday. As for now, Twitter isn’t the way to catch up on links or information, that’s for sure.

Before I end this post I would like to add one more advantage that a feed reader has over Twitter,

Say you launch a new site, and you announce it on your current blog and on Twitter, I’m 100% sure you’ll get more visitors to your new site from the announcement via the feed reader than from Twitter. Of course this depends on your subscriber number. But if you aren’t a popular blogger already or somebody influential, then it’s pretty hard to get noticed on Twitter as well.

Personally, I love the fact that in a feed reader I can organize the feeds I have subscribed to the way I want. I can get to them anytime of day without having to worry about missing an important article or news. At the end of the day, I would rather open a my feed readers to fill myself up with information rather than my Twitter account. What about you? Please share your thoughts and opinion.

“It is a shame that most creative breakthroughs never materialize.”

That’s the philosophy behind Behance, a company dedicated to helping creative professionals turn their ideas into reality. The firm’s website provides networking opportunities, creative job listings, and articles and advice to enhance productivity.

That’s all useful stuff and certainly the positions on offer on the site, though few, are high quality. (There are only sixteen of them and none seem to be freelance, but Flickr is looking for a senior visual designer, and Apple wants someone to do design work on the iPhone.)

Behance’s main offering though is its Action Method.

This is a productivity approach designed specifically to help creative staff ensure that their plans aren’t lost somewhere between inspiration and implementation. It involves pulling three elements out of each creative process, whether that process is as formal as a brainstorming meeting in a lava lamp-lit room or as spontaneous as an article you’ve read on the MUNI or an idea that hits you on the head while sitting in the bath.

Each concept, Behance recommends, should leave you with Action Steps, Backburner Items and Reference Items.

The Action Steps are relatively clear. Behance gives examples that include “follow up with x, review y, meet with z.”

The Backburner is intended to be a place to hold ideas that “may someday require actions, or just to clear your mind of the little and non-urgent things.”

And Behance recommends that reference items should be kept sparingly to avoid clutter.

Burn your Ideas
None of these elements is particularly revolutionary. The BackBurner, for example, could be one of David Allen’s folders — a place where things go never to be seen again. (It’s not entirely clear why productivity systems think they need to tell us how to procrastinate but it does seem to be a vital — and probably the most popular — part of every work method.)

Reference Items are dismissed in one article on Action Method’s own website as being “generally pretty useless.” That’s likely to be an exaggeration. Most ideas will need some sort of research before the implementation process can begin, but it’s possible that Behance’s recommendation to keep that research to a minimum is one of the company’s most valuable suggestions. Collecting reference material can often be just another way of pushing an idea onto the backburner, replacing an action step with a procrastination step.

Reading about your project feels too much like you’re doing something to make it happen — even though you’re not.

It’s the Action Steps themselves though that are likely to be the element that brings the best results from the Behance’s system. Having an idea is nice. Describing that idea to other people and persuading them it’s the killer app that’s going to bring in the mega-bucks is even nicer.

But nothing is going to happen unless a course of action is clearly laid out right away.

Just being reminded of that simple truth is important. Remember to follow the Action Method and you should be able to drag a vision down to the ground and begin to put it in practical terms.

The Holy Grail of Creative Productivity
But the Action Method stops there, leaving any creative thinker with a whole bunch of vital unanswered questions. How do you organize the action steps? Which steps should be taken first and which put off until later? How do you prevent those later actions from disappearing over the edge of the backburner and never being acted on at all?

And most importantly, how do you extract practical steps from a creative vision? Is there a routine workflow that can turn any idea into a series of standard steps that need to be taken to reach the goal?

That’s really the Holy Grail of productivity systems and it’s one that, as far as we’re aware, no workplace guru has managed to track down.

It’s possible though that it is addressed in one of Behance’s advisory sessions, and it’s here that we can really begin to see the genius of the company’s system.

The ideas might be simple but as a marketing method designed to give potential clients a taste of what the company can do, Behance’s Action Method provides a great example. It attracts attention, outlines the benefits to clients and generates leads for its main product.

And it also provides sales for its long list of Action Method products — notebooks color-coded to match the system.

For any business looking to sell something as intangible as advice, it provides a great marketing model, even if it doesn’t do a great deal to increase creative productivity.

The Action Method does have its uses though. It can remind creative types that they need to get practical if they want to see results, and it tells them that it’s okay to put some things off and skimp on the research. But other than its lack of detail, it does have one major flaw: it isn’t a shame that most creative breakthroughs don’t materialize.

Most creative breakthroughs are worthless. Only a few will go on to generate money, and it’s those that tend to spark the enthusiasm and motivation to become real. It’s better that an idea withers away before it’s born than after months of effort have been put into its Action Steps and Reference Items.

Part of being successful involves knowing when not to take action — as well as which Action Steps to take.

Take a look at the Action Method here and tell us what you think.

For new Twitter users and non-Twitter users, this ebook should be shared by the experienced Twitter users.

So download our Twitter Ebook and pass it around.

And they spend all day on the phone annoying people with their sales pitches… before ending the month with the sorts of bonuses that make the rest of us green with envy.

But we have to admit they deserve it. Winning sales isn’t easy, and tracking down leads can take a lot of time and effort.

Salesconx.com is trying to make things easier. It lets US-based sales professionals introduce the people they know to other sales professionals — and pocket a fee for the service.

Psst… Wanna Buy a Used Client?
The examples the site gives are fairly innocuous. One case study describes how a furniture salesman noticed that a telecoms seller was looking for leads for his communication equipment. Knowing that his client needed that sort of product to put on his new desk too, the furniture seller made the introduction and earned a $100 commission on a sale of $5,000.

No one was hurt and everyone gained… provided the communications equipment does the job and works better than a couple of cans and a piece of string.

But it’s easy to see the problem here. A referrer can tell the seller that “This company needs services like yours.” That’s valuable. To the buyer though all he can say is: “This person is selling the stuff you’re looking for.” He can’t say whether the product is good, the service helpful and the technician knowledgeable. If he’s being paid for the introduction though, he’s certainly not going to say anything negative.

Which makes you wonder what the buyer is getting that he couldn’t have found by opening the Yellow Pages. He’ll have to sit through a sales pitch that will explain why the seller’s product is better than everyone else’s but if the pitch is true and the buyer is smart, he’ll know that anyway.

At best, Salesconx makes sure that some sellers get the chance to offer their product to a buyer in the market. At worst though, it commoditizes relationships, leads to clients being pestered by salesmen and generates bad buying decisions prompted by unfounded recommendations.

And for sellers, it isn’t really necessary to offer cash for leads. Social networking has made it very easy for marketers — and small business owners — to find people who know people with money to burn.

There are really three options: MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn.

LinkedIn’s Bonds are Strong… and Free
While all of those sites can be used for professional networking, the most effective when it comes to driving sales is usually LinkedIn. MySpace tends to be young, and while Facebook has been heavily hyped as a multi-billion dollar commercial marketing hub, the results have been fairly disappointing. It’s hard to find a company that boasts about all the sales they’ve won by networking on Facebook — let alone advertising on it.

LinkedIn though was designed for professionals. Everyone on the site understands that everyone else is there to meet people, win jobs and make professional connections. They’re willing to help not for a cash fee but because they hope that someone else will do the same thing for them.

That sounds like recommendations are being offered for rewards that are even more valuable than the sort of commissions tossed around on Salesconx, but on LinkedIn buyers can trace back the connection to the referrer. That means that they can be reasonably certain that the referrer’s recommendations are grounded and they are more likely to trust the seller. As a way of selling, it’s a lot more powerful than bribing someone to give you a phone number.

It’s also a lot slower though, and that’s the downside. Networking on LinkedIn takes time and effort. You have to create a complete and enticing profile, one that mentions everything you’ve ever done and every place you’ve ever worked in the same way that a resume does. You also have to link up with just about everyone you’ve ever met. The more connections you have, the greater the chances of finding clients.

And you need to be active too.

That’s the stage that many people on LinkedIn neglect. They assume that it’s enough to show off their experience and wait for the offers to roll in. That’s a poor strategy even for job-seekers. To be successful on LinkedIn, you also have to join groups, work the networks and keep in touch with the people you connect to.

You have to schmooze as well as solicit help and most importantly, you have to identify the people in the network who enjoy acting as brokers and are keen to lend a hand.

It’s not as simple as paying for introductions, but it is a lot more valuable… and it’s a lot more likely to get results too.

That’s no bad thing though. Choosing a finely focused niche rather than a general market area is usually the best way to build a successful business. Start a company that sells laptop computers, for example, and you’ll need a production line more efficient than Dell’s. Start a company that sells designer laptops for students or for gamers or for people who work in cafes and all you’ll need to do is be able to meet their needs. You’ll have fewer customers but the customers you have will be happier and you’ll have a shot at being that market’s main player.

Niches let small businesses fill the spaces left by companies too big to squeeze into every corner of the market. They give entrepreneurs a foothold, a place to start and room from which to grow.

So how do you find your niche?

Spotting your Niche
There are a number of different ways. The most obvious is to focus on the activities you love. It’s always going to be easier — and a lot more enjoyable — to turn a hobby into a business activity than to spend time learning about a specialty in order to make sales.

You’ll begin with a knowledge of the industry and an understanding of what the market wants — after all, you’re part of it. It’s a fun thing to do and a fun way to work too.

An alternative route is to look at your work experience. Creating a piece of software that makes life easier for graphic designers or a tool for better home repairs might not be as enjoyable as building a company that makes custom surfboards or strange lenses for cameras but again, as a professional user you’ll understand the market — and you’ll know there’s a demand for it.

Perhaps the worst way to identify a niche — although that doesn’t stop it from appearing to be one of the most popular, and even occasionally succeeding — is to feel that you’ve spotted a gap in a market that you use occasionally, and try to fill it. LookBetterOnline.com, for example, matches online daters to portrait photographers so that they can improve their appearance on dating sites. The service was formed by a couple who met on a dating site and had grown fed up trying to pick dates based on blurry holiday snaps.

The problem here is that an occasional buyer will have limited familiarity with the market. If a service isn’t available, the reason may be that you’re the only person who wants it, rather than that no one else has thought of it.

Wherever the niche idea comes from though, there’s always a second stage to go through before work can begin on the business plan and you can start looking around for employees. An idea might seem promising, exciting and destined to make you wealthier than Simon Cowell, but the real test will only come when you open up to customers and start selling.

That means asking a number of questions and making sure that at the very least you have answers — and at the most, the answers you want.

The first question you’ll need to ask is how big is the market. There’s always a danger of assuming that because you want something or think one way, that everyone else does too. While some people might agree with you, you want to be sure that there are enough people on your side to be able to provide a steady stream of sales.

There might well be a market for vegan wallets, for example. Vegan wallets for children could be a market too small.

Climbing the Wall
And the second question is how big is the niche — or rather how widely can you broaden it. A niche should be a place for a business to plant a seed and put down roots but most entrepreneurs want their company to grow. They might not be able to take over the entire building but they do want to be able to use their foothold to expand into other products and the servicing of related needs. Lensbaby may have produced a lens with a moveable sweet spot but the company has also produced a range of other lenses that build on the same idea.

Before you get to work on filling your niche, it’s worth spending a little time looking beyond your first idea to consider your company’s future direction — and whether it’s likely to have one.

No less important than the product itself though, is the way you’re going to market it. Specialized products can sometimes demand specialized marketing methods. LookBetterOnline, for example, relies in part on joint ventures with several leading dating sites to bring in customers. It’s important to understand the product and the market, but you should also know how you’re going to bring the two together, and whether you’ll need any special techniques to do so.

Ultimately, a niche is always the best way to start a business, but spotting one is only the first step towards filling it… and growing out of it.

Winning a new client sounds like something that can only bring benefits. It’s certainly a reason to feel proud. You’ve beaten off your competitors, proved that you’re the best person for the job, and you’ve increased your income too, of course.

But a new job also brings new risks. Every client is different and even if the job is familiar, the specific demands will be unique, as will the client’s expectations. Providing plenty of examples so that the client will have a good idea of what you’ll produce is always a good idea but you’ll never really know how the job will turn out until it’s completed — and neither will the buyer.

That’s where the problems can begin. If you’ve just spent three months working on a project, you want to be sure you’re going to get paid for that time. The client too wants to be sure that you’ve produced the product he needs, that he won’t have to pay for something he can’t use and that he won’t have to start again with another service provider — and find himself in exactly the same position in another three months’ time.

The best solution is to get regular feedback while the project is ongoing.

It sounds obvious, but in practice it’s neither natural nor always easy to organize.

Breaking it Down
Once you’ve won a project and feel that you understand the requirements, the temptation is often to knuckle down and get on with it. No one likes to be told what to do all the time, and if a client has seen your work and hired you, he’s given you his trust, leaving you to produce results in the way that you see fit — right up until the moment that you discover that your results don’t fit what he needs.

Long projects then should always be broken down into smaller, bite-sized pieces not just so that you’re not dependent on one big payment at the end that might never materialize, but so that you can find out whether you’re on the right track.

The first milestone then should come good and early. For a website design, for example, it could come after the architecture has been planned and a mock-up made of the home page but before the hard work of coding begins.

The key here though is to make sure the feedback you receive is full and detailed. Clients aren’t always skilled at providing information; they’ll often assume that what they have in mind is more than the best way to do the job; they’ll believe it’s the only way to do the job. Instructions to make a design “bolder” or “improve usability” might seem obvious to the person providing them but they tell the contractor nothing helpful.

When you send in the first milestone then, it’s a good idea to include a list of specific questions that demand detailed answers. A bullet-pointed list of features for the client to look at could be helpful as could yes/no questions to choices that have been puzzling you.

While it’s true that forcing clients to answer your queries — and answer them in full — does make demands of them, it also increases the chances that you’ll produce a better product, which is what both of you want, after all.

Keeping the Feedback Flowing After you’ve Been Paid
But the stream of information you receive from the client doesn’t have to end with the job. In fact, some of the most valuable words a client can provide come after the job has been completed satisfactorily — and they aren’t even the words on the check.

The first is a testimonial.

That’s easy enough. When you deliver the last installment of the project, the client should respond by telling you what a great job you’ve done. If the compliment is strong enough, just ask if you can use it in your marketing. Promise to include the name of their business and you’ll also be offering free advertising — a good reason to provide your own testimonials to people who have made you happy.

If all you get is a thank you, be bold. Once you’ve received your payment, ask for a testimonial. If the client was genuinely happy with your work, he won’t refuse; if he wasn’t happy, you won’t see him again anyway, so nothing will have been lost. Again, a reminder that you’ll include a link to the client’s business site can help to seal the deal.

Persuading the client to pass your name on to friends and colleagues is tougher. You could just mention that if he happens to know anyone else who needs the sort of help you provide, you’d love to lend a hand. But that’s likely to give you an agreement without any specific action.

You could also offer an incentive. Mentioning that other clients have provided referrals and that you rewarded them with a free upgrade, for example, or a discount coupon for future work can work, but perhaps the best way — if not the easiest — is to do it naturally. If your conversations with a client can touch on work that other people he knows need then suggesting that the client pass on your name to his friend will feel like you’re offering a favor rather than asking for one.

It’s not easy and it requires building a good relationship with the client during the production. But that’s also another good way of getting valuable feedback while you work.

The Internet, the Blackberry and the ability to telecommute from a home office, a café or a beach hut in Koh Samui has freed all sorts of people from the tyranny of cubicles. These days, Starbucks is as likely to be filled with graphic designers and bloggers churning out websites and creating their latest posts as with foot-sore shoppers giving their credit cards a rest with a green tea frappuccino.

But while the list of jobs that could be done anywhere with an Internet connection has now grown to encompass almost everyone but massage therapists and hairdressers, when you get right down to it, freelancers — whatever their field — only do two kinds of work: billable work and non-billable work.

Only one of those pays.

The challenge for freelancers then is always to try to fill as much of their day as possible with tasks that end in invoices while only doing enough non-billable stuff such as selling, quoting and filing — to keep the money rolling in.

Marketing without the Effort
FreelanceSwitch has some interesting advice about how freelancers can indulge in passive marketing so that they can focus on the paying stuff. Much of their suggestions seems to be based on referrals and having a good website with a solid portfolio.

Those are all sensible ideas, of course, but in practice, passive marketing has to go a little further than that. You could have a perfect set of samples and a website good enough to win a Webby but if no one sees it, you’re not going to pick up much work. Websites, like your services themselves, have to be actively marketed.

Unless, of course, you market smartly at the beginning.

The temptation here is to go for good search engine optimization which relies on a mixture of careful keywording and plenty of linking. But that can backfire. Answering emails from loosely-targeted leads might win you some new jobs but it also increases your amount of non-billable work. Only a small fraction of the people who Google “Web designer” and ask for a quote will actually become your clients. You’ll have to spend time writing to all of them.

A better option then might be to target your incoming links carefully rather than spreading them widely. While that might affect your SEO ranking, it could give you much better traffic. More of that non-billable work would be likely to become billable later on.

A freelance coder, for example, is likely to find that a recommendation and a link on a site selling software plug-ins generates fewer enquiries than a high page rank. But it could well generate more sales overall and less wasted time.

Happy Customers Come Back
Perhaps the best form of passive marketing though is to keep your old clients and continue working for them. Rubiqube recommends delivering work that makes buyers happy and being completely honest so that each side knows exactly what they can expect… even if that means losing the job in the short term.

Get that right, the site says, and you’ll be able to create an addiction to your services.

If only. Pleasing your clients is key, of course, and it’s always important to meet expectations (and even better to exceed them). But an addiction suggests constant demand and that’s something that isn’t created by quality alone.

If it were, Apple would never have to market an iPod again and music-lovers would buy a new one every week.

The best way to keep old clients is to turn one-off jobs into continuing work. A writer hired to produce a sales page, for example, could offer a discounted rate if the job also included a monthly newsletter that would promote supplementary products.

The initial act of upselling wouldn’t be passive. But the continuing work would come in by itself and as long is it does actually generate profits for the client, you can be certain he would become addicted to the income your work creates.

And that’s really the key to minimizing non-billable marketing work. Fill your book with satisfied clients who earn from what you do and you won’t need to spend any time looking for new gigs.

You might though have to spend time looking for people to outsource it to.

It used to be the case that parents would dream of their children heading off to medical school or burying themselves under a pile of law books. Today, proud moms who can boast of “my son the doctor” are quickly trumped by even prouder mothers who can say “my son the software engineer.” The pay is often higher, the future brighter and the beepers less likely to go off during Thanksgiving dinner.

But the road to respectable geekdom can be bumpier — and a great deal riskier — than the path to a medical residency or a call to the bar. Teenagers with an interest in curing the sick are unlikely to practice surgery in their spare time, while budding legal minds tend to join debating teams rather than dish out dodgy legal advice during a spare weekend.

Young geeks however, could well find themselves wasting hours on online games or worse, hanging out in the darker corners of the Internet, tweaking viruses, creating PC zombies, breaking into the Pentagon and starting international nuclear wars.

That last one might only be the dream of Hollywood scriptwriters but the combination of a little computer knowledge, a curious mind and always-on Internet access means that tech-savvy teenagers can get up to all sorts of dangerous — and illegal — mischief without ever having to leave their bedrooms. For parents, it’s a worry and for the kids themselves, it’s a wasted opportunity.

I’ve Got a Black Belt in Linux
One service that tries to channel that energy into positive results is Hackerteen, a Brazil-based course that offers young people classes in ethical hacking. The sessions, most of which can be taken long-distance, are divided into colored “belts” to make them as impressive to peers as martial arts feats, and are taught collaboratively. A team of six students, for example, may be set a task to recover data stolen from a company and stored on a server somewhere. The class could take the form of a role-playing game and use video, sound and even comics to drive the story and deliver challenges. Unlike other online courses which requires students to enter a password to begin, for example, Hackerteen students have to discover theirs.

At the moment classes are only available in Portuguese, although they are being translated into English and Spanish. And they’re long. Each of the six levels lasts four months and the whole course takes two years to complete. In the process, it covers entrepreneurship and hacker ethics as well as technical skills. A psychological exam at the green belt level helps Hackerteen gain a better understanding of the student but isn’t intended to test whether he’ll be using his new skills to break into company systems. Students with bad intentions, the company says, fail the ethics and security courses long before they reach this stage.

Interestingly, the entire course is taught on Linux rather than Windows. In part, that’s because Linux is the hacker’s favorite environment but it’s also because Hackerteen wants to put the focus on servers where the higher-paying jobs are.

That might be perfectly sensible. Hackerteen is run by 4Linux, a company that teaches open source software programming, specializes in computer security and has trained the digital crime units of a number of Brazilian police forces. It’s a practical company used to dealing with the business environment.

The Business of Hacking
But it does mean that Hackerteen is an odd mixture of different approaches. The Manga-style graphics and comic book stories make code-cracking seem entertaining and exciting. The challenges are always important and the learning structured so that one skill leads to another and solutions are always there waiting to be discovered.

Real life, of course, isn’t quite like that.

Professional network security staff are more likely to work in cubicles than their bedrooms. More of their job will be spent reminding employees to change their passwords and not to open strange attachments than tracking down stolen databases. And deadlines tend to be set by ambitious CTOs rather than the clocks on ticking bombs stashed in data centers.

On its website, Hackerteen reports that Pekka Himanen, a Harvard-based researcher of hacker communities, notes that for a hacker “controlled leisure and routine is as boring as forced labor. Hackers love to discover and overcome big challenges where they can freely use their intelligence.” That might be true and it’s something that Hackerteen avoids. Workplaces, on the other hand, tend to have lots of routine, plenty of forced labor and no leisure at all.

But if the company’s testimonials are anything to go by, Hackerteen works. Plenty of graduates seem to be taking the course and winning jobs at hi-tech companies.
As for the parents, who have to stump up fees of between $200 and $390 a month depending on the course level, at least they’ll have something to be proud of.

Viral Blogging unlike traditional viruses we avoid actually helps you get the word out. If you can make your blog go viral, marketing isn’t even something that you will have to work for. With viral blogging, the promotional aspect of maintaining a blog is taken care of by itself. However, creating a blog that spreads like a virus is no easy work. As anything else this requires time and patience but once achieved this virus will help you climb the success ladder in no time. Let’s analyze some ways we can tap into viral blogging.

I am 100% sure that if you follow what is below this line, you will certainly start seeing your blog go viral. The key to all this is as always valuable content.

The Hidden Gem
Incoming links are a blogger’s best friend but outgoing links are the true gem that have yet to find it’s importance. Most bloggers ignore the fact that linking out can be one of the most effective ways to make your blog or content go viral. Linking out will put you in the spotlight with other bloggers as they recognize you as somebody who appreciates what they do and write. Remember the unwritten rule – when you give a little, you get a lot more back.

Options Are Always Better
“Email a friend“ link. I have yet to see this option gain recognition and popularity among bloggers. Everyone loves options. If we are doing something on the web and a website asks us : What do you want to do next? It becomes our call, we stay in charge. Adding an “ email a friend link “ allows your readers to share your content with their friends. This especially helps you to promote your blog with non blog readers if one of your readers emails your content to someone who is unknown of the blog phenomenon. If this non blog reader finds your content worth his/her time, you will gain an active and loyal ambassador for your blog who will actively help you get the word out and spread the virus.

Take an Extra Step
If you are someone who updates their blog regularly, take a break and think of something that might be of even more value to your readers and the community that resides within your blog. If you write 4 posts a week, take a break this week and try compiling them all. Create an ultimate post or an ebook. If you are a designer, create a blog theme. It’s much simpler than you think.

The immediate benefit of this strategy is the link virus that spreads around the web is outstanding. Imagine you write an ebook and put your blog link at the bottom of each page or on the cover. If your ebook hits the home run ( valuable message is key ), imagine all the people reading your ebook are being exposed to your blog as well. And if they like your ebook so much, trust me they will check your blog out. The same rule applies with theme creation and such. Create something of utmost value and add your link and spread it like a peanut butter, thick and creamy.

Everybody Loves to Watch
Web today is swamped with videos. Some are there just because every body else has one and some really offer value to their audience. When talking about video, there is one that always comes to mind. Here is the link, check it out. This video has 300,000 plus views. Imagine the publicity and traffic this video must have driven to the creator’s site. It must have been a joy ride. As you can see from this video, it is simple yet very informative. Tap into the podcasting scene and create something valuable and informative. It won’t be too long before your video gets thousands and thousands views and your blog millions, literally!

Got To Read This One
Curiosity drives everything. Last week I was walking in the mall with my wife and I seen something that struck my eye. It wasn’t anything that I would have been interested in but the mere presentation of it made me stop, turn around and check the toy out ( yes it was a toy, a doll if you care to know ). What I am trying to convey is that a virus such as a blog can spread with curiosity. One definite way to create curiosity from your readers is to generate post titles that set their curiosity on fire. You have got to make them click to read and once you have mastered the art of title creation, your blog is bound to set on fire, well the blogging fire.

Marketing For Free Anyone?
Forget the traditional marketing. If you want your blog to go viral, social media is something you should definitely try your hands on. Of course the key to pleasing social media crowd is content. When it comes to blogging, content has always ruled the web and will forever. The immediate benefit of social media marketing is the troll of incoming links. If you can get a post on the front page of popular social media sites such as DIGG, reddit, propeller, etc. the number of incoming links can be hundreds depending on how beneficial your content is for the community within that site. The key is to be consistent so that the social media crowd sticks to your blog. Social Media can set the blogging virus to it’s full speed if you can tackle it effectively.

Copyright Rocks But So Does UnCopyright
Sometimes the best way to unleash the blogging virus is to give access to your content to others without asking anything back. Leo Babauta from Zen Habits is a prime example of this strategy. If you are someone who’s messages pack value for the readers, the best way to make your blog go viral is to make it free for all in every sense. Give your readers and vistors the right to your content. Let them copy and paste and change. Whatever they please, let them do it. What exactly is the benefit of letting go off the copyright? Your blog will transform into a viral blog, picked by many, used by many and re-visited by many day after day.