Grasp The Nettle

TypePad Rocks!

2010-01-28T21:29:00.000-08:00

What started as an experiment to take advantage of TypePad's 14 day free trial is turning into something of a love affair! So easy to use.

So efficient.

I have set up multiple blogs to say nothing of the three or four private access blogs-behind-blogs...

And I can run everything from a single dashboard.

My main blog - the blog of blogs - can be accessed at:

http://news.davidpatrickhurley.com

It still looks like a house under construction, but you'll get the general idea if you check it out.

Coming soon...

A new membership site for my 100 members PLR article marketing subscribers.
A membership site for my Internet affiliate marketing training services.
A membership site for my English Renaissance academic papers.
A membership site for my English language students...

The Best Thing About Blogs...

2010-01-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

I have started thinking about switching all my operations over to Typepad.com as I hear a lot of good things about it as a professional blogging platform around which you can build multiple blogs each with an integrated website if you wish.

But what should anybody do with the blogs they leave behind? The best thing about blogs, they just keep going so it should not be such a big issue. Also, if you add links to your posts pointing them to your new blog, you'll be providing your readers with quick and easy access to your new virtual incarnation and giving it some link juice at the same time!

So, if you already have a blog but want to experiment with a Typepad blog or any other blogging platform... just go and do it and then decide which you prefer and point everything else towards it.

David H.
Best Internet marketing strategies

Ruben Gonzalez Is Set To Compete In His FOURTH DECADE of Winter Olympics...

2010-01-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

You may never have heard of Ruben Gonzalez, but I am a big fan of his and am delighted to learn that at the age of 47 (same age as me) his bid to participate in the 2010 Winter Olympics as a luger has been accepted.

Ruben: "On February 12th 2010, when I march into the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics at the age of 47, I'll become the first person to compete in four Winter Olympics each in a different decade."

When not risking his neck on the luge, Ruben travels the world as a professional motivational speaker, inspiring his audiences to raise their game by telling them how he came to achieve his dream of taking part in the Olympic games...

Check out Ruben's blog at:

http://www.thelugeman.com/rubengonzalezblog/

David Hurley
Ruben Gonzalez: What A Three-Time Olympian Can Teach Us About The Power Of Belief

The Biggest New Years Internet Marketing Giveaway Event Is Here!

2009-12-17T03:11:00.000-08:00

Guido Nussbaum and Davin Ogden's extremely successful New Year Giveaway is back again for the third year running!

in 2009 the "giveaway" pulled in over 20,000 contributors and members... So whether you want to build your list by offering a giveaway product, or simply want to get your teeth into a stack of juicy freebies, Nussbaum and Ogden's New Year Giveaway event is for you.

Nussbaum and Ogden offer contributors many ways to profit from the event and also, with their contests and prizes it's become a favorite end-of-the-year event for Internet marketers. If there's a single event in the year that you'd be nuts not to take part in... it's this one! It has been designed to be a win/win situation for everybody who gets involved.

If you are new to Internet marketing and are looking for a fast way to build your list then this event will help! That said, do not think you can come into this event and simply ride off the tails of the bigger marketers' promotional efforts. If you want to benefit you must promote the event yourself.

Promoting the event is only fair for all involved. The great thing is, that Guido and Davin provide newer marketers with training materials so they can successfully promote the event themselves. You'll receive proven and effective marketing tactics every other day by email. Everything is clearly explained.

If you are wondering what kind of giveaways you can grab as a member, I've just been checking out the site and this is what I've found so far:

When you sign up you get access to a ton of freebies. I've just been checking them out and there are some great offers on the site:

So far there are about 60 products, including:

* ebooks
* videos
* Wordpress templates
* PLR products and memberships
* Scripts
* Squeezepage generators
* Training courses
* Graphics packs
* Content generator (Hmm... I'll test drive this item and let you know what I think...)

Bear in mind that this is only the beginning... The event will be running well into January with new members adding their offers every day.

This is definitely one killer event you don't want to miss out on if you want to start off 2010 with a bang - and get hundreds of new subscribers onto your mailing list...

To find out more and sign up as a contributor click here.

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies

Why I Recommend The Online Tracking Service I Just Stopped Using!

2009-12-14T05:55:00.000-08:00

Experienced and successful Internet marketers will tell you that you need an online tracking service to track your hits, measure your results and split test everything.

I agree!

Right now I am experimenting with various online tracking options to try and find what works best for me. For the last nine months I've been using HitsConnect.com, which is a very convenient and easy-to-use service.

HitsConnect.com is a remotely hosted tracking service. In other words, you don't have to download any software but can log into your account on the HitsConnect.com website and manage everything from there.

One of the key benefits for me of HitsConnect.com was using it to track the sources of hits to my product pages on Tripleclicks.com where I sell Japanese mahjong equipment. Each time I sold a product I would upload another similar product and repoint the tracking url to the new product page.

By using HitsConnect.com to do this, not only could I track where my visitors were coming from, but also I could redirect ALL my links to the product page simply by repointing my tracking URL to the new page.

Another benefit of HitsConnect is that you can also track conversions by placing some code on your Thank You page. That way, you know which links are generating most CONVERSIONS.

One disadvantage of using a remotely hosted tracking service to track your links is that none of your links will work if the site goes down. That happened one day in the my time with HitsConnect.com. It was quickly remedied, but still, it had me worried for a few hours!

Anyway, I have moved on and am currently testing Adlandpro's URL Tracker Service.

Talking of price, here's what you get for free:

1 Rotator Account
10 Banner Trackers
1 Banner Rotator
An ad from your sponsor will be shown above the sites you track.

And here's what you get for $19.97 per month:

100 Tracker Accounts
10 Rotator Accounts
100 Banner Trackers
10 Banner Rotators
Show your links in the Downline Builders of Free Members
Sales/Action Conversion Tracking
Your own domain name in the tracker url
No ads shown above the sites you track.

It's a pretty good deal. But there is another reason why I recommend HitsConnect.com even though I have just stopped using it...

When I cancelled my account on the website, I thought nothing more of it. Then, a couple of days later I noticed that I had been billed for another three months' membership on my Paypal account. I immediately cancelled my subscription on Paypal and emailed HitsConnect.com to explain the situation and ask for a refund.

The next day, the full refund was sitting in my Paypal account.

So, thank you to HitsConnect.com for your fast response to my request for a refund. When a company acts in a positive way like that it makes me want to rejoin them straightaway!

I didn't resubscribe, but I now feel fully able to recommend HitsConnect.com as a tracking service, if you are looking for an online tracking service that is remotely hosted.

Best wishes,

David Hurley
How To Measure Advertising Success Online

A Look At Mutliple Streams Of Internet Income

2009-11-28T05:47:00.000-08:00

I just posted an article on my site that looks at Internet business programs that base themselves around the concept of multiple streams of Internet income.

The term "multiple streams of Internet income" was coined by Robert G Allen in the wake of his bestselling book Multiple Streams Of Income.

He followed up by writing "Multiple Streams of Income" by publishing a book that focused entirely on the Internet titled, "Multiple Streams Of Internet Income," published in 2000.

Since then, using the Internet to build multiple streams of income has become something of a holy grail with Internet affiliate marketers and it was not long before several online "business in a box" packages promising to deliver multiple streams of income began to appear on the Internet.

I guess the most famous and successful "business in a box" is Stone Evans' Plug In Profit Site.

I first got involved with the Plug In Profit Site in 2007 and struggled to get anywhere with it for about eight months and was about to give up when I joined Ken Troyer's mentoring group, the Affiliate Power Group.

As they say, "The rest is history"... Two years later, I have pulled myself out from an Internet marketing "loser" to someone who could break even on his expenses (sometime in 2008), and then to a position where I expect to make money EVERY month in increasing increments... $100... $200... each month setting a new higher target to go for, and each month having more cash in my pot to REINVEST in my success.

I'm not saying every month is rosy - there are inevitable ups and downs. It is a learning process with exciting breakthroughs and challenging frustrations. BUT once you commit yourself to Internet marketing success and set high goals for yourself, get good mentors or trainers, and get "obsessed" by it, you WILL succeed as I have done - and more.

One thing I have learned is that the quest for "multiple streams of Internet income" is worth pursuing, but there are major pitfalls out there that a lot of people fall into...

In this first article on the subject, I discuss What To Look Out For In Online Business Programmes That Offer Mutliple Streams Of Internet Income
.

To your success!

David Hurley
P. S. Here's one neat little programme I use that brought in 41 leads and has earned me over $150 on the front end in the last month alone.

What Would You Recommend For Long-Term Relevant Website Traffic?

2009-11-19T03:28:00.000-08:00

I just received a question via the contact form on my website from someone called Michael, who asked,

What would you recommend as the best tool to increase long-term relevant website traffic?

What would you recommend?

Here's my reply - see what you think:

Hi Michael,

Thank you for contacting me with your question about long-term relevant traffic building.

If you want to keep getting a flow of traffic long after you have performed the marketing action and if you want to be able to repeat that action again and again, the answer is "article marketing".

Here is part of my online marketing course that explains article marketing:

http://grasp-the-nettle.com/Article-Marketing1.html

Here is my blog dedicated entirely to the subject of article marketing:

http://article-marketing-research.blogspot.com

On the blog you'll also find an excellent, free ebook on the subject called "Harness The Power Of Article Marketing" which tells you everything you need to know.

Hope that helps!

Best wishes,

David Hurley

I'd love to know what you would have recommended, or what your response to my recommendation is, so please feel free to add your comment to this post - simply click on the title of the post to access the comments.

Thanks!

DH

How To Leverage Your Traffic Exchange Campaigns...

2009-10-29T04:49:00.000-07:00

It's common knowledge that you can get better results from traffic exchanges by posting squeeze pages and using them to build your downline and promote yourself and your business rather than try to flog somebody else's affiliate or network marketing programme.

It's common knowledge that you can generate credits across several exchanges more quickly if you surf several at once using the tabs on your browser to click across from one to the other.

But even so, credits disappear fast on traffic exchanges so it would be nice to think that there was a way to earn extra credits beyond the bonuses and prizes offered by the exchanges.

Upgrading on your favourite exchanges in certainly one option, and one that I use on about ten TEs.

Just recently I began experimenting with ways to EARN credits every time my splash page is downloaded. I don't mean earn credits on the TE where the page is being viewed, but on three other advertising sources - all at the same time. Here is an article I wrote about how I do that: How To Earn At Least 3 Credits Every Time Your Splash Page Is Viewed On The Traffic Exchanges (Or Anywhere Else).

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies

Tim Linden Proves That It Makes Sense To Ship Coals To Newcastle On The Traffic Exchanges...

2009-10-27T01:35:00.000-07:00

Tim Linden, who is the owner of the StartXchange traffic exchange and runs a blog about traffic exchanges, Internet marketing and web development, has confirmed something to me that I'd suspected for a while about traffic exchange users...

I mean that people who use traffic exchanges to promote their websites are obviously sold on the idea that traffic exchanges are good places to promote their websites!

So wouldn't it make sense to promote other traffic exchanges to them right where you can find them - on the traffic exchanges?!

Tim is doing just that with his own Traffic Exchange List of the top 10 traffic exchanges.

He just announced on his blog that Traffic Exchange List is his top performing splash page and brought in 96 subscribers for an outlay of just 2897 hits. That's pretty good going by any reckoning.

For my part, I have been using Affiliate Funnel's Top 10 list to build my downline with slow but sure results coming in off a more modest campaign.

Also, about twenty-to-thirty percent of people who join one or more traffic exchanges via the Affiliate Funnel splash page become regular surfers. That means you can expect to earn increasing numbers of traffic exchange referral credits over time.

Quite a few people also join all the TEs on the Affiliate Funnel list, and if they become active on more than one exchange, you get a big boost in TE credits on several fronts.

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies

Alan Mater Review: Flip Switch Profits

2009-10-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

My guest writer for today's post is Alan Mater. Alan is a rising Internet marketing professional who specializes in affiliate marketing, text editing/rewriting and proof reading for online marketers. Alan is fast gaining an enviable reputation for his high standards of work, his integrity and reliability.

A few months ago Alan and I realized that my focus on PLR article services, and his focus on editing and rewriting meant that we had excellent JV potential. So we joined forces, and Alan now offers a service in which he rewrites my PLR articles for customers who want to make them unique but don't have the time, experience or inclination to do it themselves.

Alan knows the market very well as he is an experienced affiliate marketer who researches and reviews affiliate programmes on his website at ReplaceYourSalary.com .

Flip Switch Profts Review
by Alan Mater

When someone comes to me and says they have a unique system to help people make money online, I'm immediately skeptical. Well, that's exactly what happened when Adam Berry, the creator of Flip Switch Profits, came to me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing his product. He claimed he developed a no cost, no risk method for generating unlimited income.

So naturally, I had to see if Adam was onto something, or if this was just another mediocre, repackaged and relabeled piece of garbage that most "gurus" get rich from selling, rather from actually using the methods they describe.

So, I wanted to get a close look at Flip Switch Profits and see if it lived up to the claims.

The website claims that Flip Switch Profits is designed so that anyone can make money online, even if you don't have a website, an e-mail list of subscribers, any marketing knowledge or even a product of your own. I quickly found out that, in fact, you don't need any of that stuff. This system is actually so much simpler than that.

The problem you find with many systems is that they require you to make some sort of initial costly investment or incur a monthly fee. For many people this just isn't possible. Many are struggling as it is which is why they're looking elsewhere to generate additional income. They don't need to be spending money; they need to be making money. Flip Switch Profits is different in that it doesn't require you to spend any money aside from the initial purchase of the course, which is very reasonable. Hence, a "no cost" method.

So what else sets Flip Switch Profits apart from other make money systems?

Another distinction is that Flip Switch Profits leverages other people's products and other people's e-mail lists. You don't need your own product or e-mail list to make it work for you. That's the beauty of this system. What's more is that you're not going to be marketing someone else's product all over the net, trying to get people to buy. That's just hard work, and I would know.

It is so simple that anyone who has a little bit of time to spare can put into action the few easy steps that Flip Switch Profits involves.

So what exactly will you be required to do?

In reality, you'll be required to find an area of interest, or a niche that interests you. Let's face it, there's no point in doing anything if you're not going to enjoy it. So you want to pick a subject that's appealing to you. From there, you'll have to spend just a few minutes doing some quick research on various websites. This is all explained for you, with screenshots included!

After your research is done, if you can copy and paste and click a button, you'll be well on your way to setting up deals that will have the potential to make you a nice amount of money. I'm not exaggerating by any means when I say that. I'm not the type of person that likes to create hype, so when I say that any average person who can follow directions can make this work, I'm being dead serious.

To be honest, I've known about this method for quite some time, but I never fully grasped the true potential that was there, until now. Finally, Adam has explained the whole process in easy to understand terms along with screenshots designed to help anyone who wants to become financially free to do so. He even goes out of his way to provide some advanced tactics. And, he throws in additional resources and cheat sheets that will help simplify the whole process for you, allowing you to do less work.

If you're struggling financially, looking to make some extra money, or trying your hand at the whole "make money online" gig, trust me, this will work.

I must warn you, though, there's no such thing as get-rich-quick. Just like anything else, you'll have to actually do some work. The amount of work and effort you put in will determine how much you make. Think about it, when didn’t you have to work in order to make money? The online world is no different, but it does make it a lot easier.

Adam Berry has created a winner. I proudly recommend Flip Switch Profits as a way to make money for the average person that requires no investment, no risk, no e-mail list, no product and no marketing knowledge.

And just to be clear, I was under no obligation and was not compensated in any way for writing this review. I like to provide you guys with reviews of products that I feel will actually help you in your quest to make money online and work from home. I am 100% sure that this will do what it says, so I am more than happy to tell you about it.

Click Here to check out Flip Switch Profits for yourself. I promise you won't be disappointed.

As always, leave your comments below…

Alan Mater

Don't Mistake The Vehicle For The Dream...

2009-10-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I showed my Japanese "English Presentation" students an excellent DVD presentation by Ruben Gonzalez, talking about how he had a dream to get to participate in the 1988 Olympic games after watching Scott Hamilton win the gold medal ice skating at the Olympics in 1984.

At the time, with a four-year target, at the age of 21, Ruben didn't even know which sport he could take up and get good enough to participate in the 1988 games.

He just had a burning desire to do it.

At the time, he was a football (soccer) player in the second eleven at his college and only allowed to play for about five minutes per game... Athleticism and skill were not his strong points...

What he needed was a sport that would play to his strength, which was persistence and an ability to tolerate pain and broken bones.

So he ditched football and took up the luge (see the video below if you don't know what a "luge" is).

Ruben explained that the luge (which can get up to speeds of 95mph on the bobsleigh track) was just a "vehicle" to transport him to his dream. In the DVD I showed my students, one thing Ruben said really grabbed my attention:

Don't mistake the vehicle for the dream.

The same applies to Internet marketing. You may have heard that a winner never quits, but what that means is that a winner never quits on his dream... not that he never quits a programme or product that is not working.

If you are not making any money with your Internet marketing business maybe you need to change vehicles so that you can get to your dream destination a bit faster. Here's what's working for me.

Did I mention, the other thing I like about Ruben is that he's a similar age to me, and gunning for his fourth winter Olympics in the luge...?

Meanwhile, this old timer is still playing football (soccer) in the Hiroshima City League, 15 years after my debut game in Japan!

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies

How To Load An Email Campaign Onto Your GetResponse Auto-Responder

2009-10-06T06:27:00.000-07:00

One of my Prosperity Marketing Service referrals asked me how to load the email letter series that is supplied in the "Affiliate Toolbox" section of the members' site into the GetResponse auto-responder.

As the instructions are the same for any email series, I thought it was worth publishing them here for anybody else who has not yet taken the step of launching their own pre-loaded email letter campaign and building their list...

How To Load Your Email Letter Series Onto GetResponse...

1. Log in to GetResponse.

2. Hover over "Create Campaigns" and click "Create New Campaign".

3. Give your campaign a name - name must be unique and lower case letterswithoutspaces.

4. Click the "CREATE NEW CAMPAIGN" button.

5. Now click the right hand picture, "Creating Follow-Up Messages"

6. Click "Missing the 80's? Choose Plain Text Format"

7. Copy and paste one of your pre-written email letters into the GetResponse message field, and add the title. To add a personal greeting, use "Hi [[FIRSTNAME]]".

8. Check the message options:

# Track open rate of this message
# Add Subscription Reminder
# Track click-throughs of your links
# Add Google Analytics tracking

I check the first, third and fourth, but not the subscription reminder. I want my readers to read my email, not a reminder that they have subscribed to my email.

9. Click the "Test Message" button and the system will send the message to your email inbox. Open a new browser window and check your message. If everything looks OK, click SAVE MESSAGE in the GetResonse browser window.

10. Repeat the process with the second message, and be sure to stipulate how many days after sign-up it should go out (every two days is probably best).

The whole process is very easy and once you've done it a couple of times you'll be able to load whole campaigns into your GetResponse auto-responder in half an hour or so.

If you join Prosperity Marketing Service you will be able to plug your GetResponse auto-responder straight into the Prosperity Marketing Service site so that you can build your list while promoting up to 16 of your own affiliate programmes, and of course earn both front end and residual income from Prosperity Marketing Service at the same time.

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies

What is a "Funded Proposal"?

2009-10-05T06:53:00.000-07:00

Internet Funded proposal systems are getting a lot of attention just now, but a lot of people aren't sure what they are or what they involve.

Basically, a funded proposal system is a two-step method of getting your main online business in front of prospects instead of the basic show-it-up-front method. A funded proposal system defers the moment when you introduce your main business until after your prospect has bought a small ticket item that is related in some way to your main proposal...

Today's syndicated writer, Karen Pore, a work-from-home mum, offers a useful introduction to the concept of funded proposals in this article...

What Is A Network Marketing Funded Proposal?

Author: Karen Pore

The network marketing funded proposal may be the most important tool the online network marketer has. Anyone who wants to build a successful network marketing business online needs to think about things that the off line marketer doesn't need to think of. It can get very costly advertising online. The network marketing funded proposal can remedy that problem for you.

The network marketing funded proposal works essentially like this. First, it's the development of a front end product that essentially adds value to what a prospect you would be targeting would be looking for. An answer to a problem for them perhaps. Second, the back end selling of a product or business.

The other problem that this concept can remedy is that there are no longer calling prospects who are uninterested and more just browsing the Internet for information. If your prospect is willing to pay a small amount for a system or product that interests them they are a much more qualified prospect to be spending time talking to.

Make sure when you are looking for a funded proposal system that you do your research correctly. Find a mentor that can help you and coach you and be available for ongoing support and assistance. Be sure that you find a useful, yet inexpensive product to sell and then develop the back-end of the product through network marketing; this back-ending is what will earn you the residual income you require to have long-term success as an a network marketer.

Perfecting the network marketing funded proposal concept will ensure your network marketing success infinitely. This process of front-ending and back-ending a simple product can not only result in getting your advertising costs covered, but lead to building you the solid network you need to succeed online.

Stop wasting your time with short-term solutions that never really solve the problem and have no residual income built in to them. Build your network marketing business with a funded proposal and leverage that through your organization and you will continue to reap the benefits for years to come.

About the Author:

Karen Pore is an a stay at home working mom who teaches and coaches in the online marketing and home based business industry. Learn more about what she teaches at http://www.KarenPore.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - What Is A Network Marketing Funded Proposal?

Lock In To Unlimited Article Submissions With The Best Article Marketing Service On The Internet - Before The Price Hike...

2009-09-29T07:27:00.000-07:00

Article marketing expert, Steve Shaw, has just announced that users of SubmitYourArticle can now submit as many articles as they like each month through his service. (Until now there was a limit of eight articles per month, and it was still excellent value.)

The best thing about it is that it's all at no extra cost ... but, yes, there is a catch.

It is all at no extra cost only if you act quickly and subscribe to SubmitYourArticle before 12pm EST on October 1st, 2009.

If you sign up before then, you can 'lock in' to their existing price - you'll effectively then be able to use the service at a considerable discount, month after month, with no increase to you.

But you really do only have a couple days left if you want to 'lock in' unlimited article submissions at the lower monthly rate, so click here to take advantage of the offer.

David Hurley

PS. Personally I love this service, and highly recommend it as the best article submission service on the Internet. But Steve has clearly stated that they will definitely be putting up the cost of using it at 12pm EST on October 1st, 2009, it's no gimmick. This is a strictly limited opportunity for you to lock in to their current price level - don't risk disappointment, just join SubmitYourArticle today.

Prosperity Marketing System: A Funded Proposal System Like No Other...

2009-09-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a funded proposal system that is also a beautifully produced, idiot-proof online business builder that will also train COMPLETE beginners (i.e. including people who don't know how to cut and paste...), I'd like to recommend Prosperity Marketing System.

At the moment you can get in early by joining for a one-time payment of $27 (soon to go up) and earn over 90% in commissions on the front end for each referral.

You will also be able to earn 50% residual income of $9 per month when members upgrade.

Even if nobody upgrades, you'll be in profit on your second referral - and referrals for a programme as professional as this will NOT be hard to find once you put the word out.

Check the link to see what I mean about "professional" - and enjoy the hypnotic video!

Prosperity Marketing System is ideal for the busy marketer who wants to promote everything via ONE link.

I am not easily impressed, but I am very impressed with this system: it is simply the best funded proposal system that I have seen - ever (and I have seen quite a few in the last couple of years).

The instructions are very clear. It is easy to understand what to do to set up the system to promote your own affiliate links. It is easy to understand how to market the system and start making money with it. The explanations backed up by audio and video tutorials.

MORE GOOD NEWS: A FREE UPSELL!

More good news... I knew there would be an "upsell" on the "backend" once I was inside the system. Sure enough, I found it...

...BUT...

...it was FREE to join and you can start making money with it straight away.

I've never seen a FREE backend product before - and not one as good as this. You WILL make money with it even if you don't do any selling.

Actually, you have a choice of going with the backend product or paying $19.97 a month to replace your sponsor's primary business with your own product. I'm sticking with the free product for now while I get to know how everything works and will promote my other stuff elsewhere within the system.

By focusing on this "funded proposal system" you will get money up-front each time someone joins, and you will be able to market to them via your autoresponder (several of the leading autoresponder services plug right into the system) and via your links inside the system.

At the same time you will be giving your downline an easy education in Internet marketing.

Perfect!

The system has only just been launched so to get in early, click the link to join Prosperity Marketing System.

David Hurley
Prosperity Marketing System

PPG Members On The Empowerism 2009 Leaderboard

2009-09-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

One of my aims for 2009 was to become one of the MONTHLY leaders of Empowerism. I'm getting closer but it hasn't happened yet... However, I just checked the leaderboard for the whole of 2009 and found that I am on it along with some familiar names from the PIPS Power Group.

Here is the Empowerism league table for 2009.

Ewen Chia 284
Stone Evans 212
RS Media Solut. 100
Joel Broughton 45
Brevity Marketing 42
Suzanne Morrison 37 <== PPG!
Chris Pearson 32
Paul Birdsall 26
Michael Glaspie 26
Cynthia Minnaar 26 <== PPG!!
Josip Barbaric 10 <== PPG!!!
David Hurley 9 <== PPG!!!!
Randolph Scheidelaar 8
Illion Investments 8
Hannes Johnson 7

By the way, the PIPS Power Group was set up to help struggling newbies to succeed with the Plug-In Profit Site, which was launched a few years ago by Stone Evans and is also promoted by Ewen Chia and quite possibly by some of the other people on the leaderboard as well as by everybody in the PPG.

If you are a Plug-In Profit Site who is struggling to make headway, check out the PPG by clicking the banner below:

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies

Testing The Traffic Exchanges With Ad Tracking

2009-09-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have been running a test on the traffic exchanges for an affiliate sales page (NOT a squeeze page) to see what kind of pulling power it has and also what kind of results the TEs will give me.

The page I am testing is the sales page of James Al-Oboudi's TWR Power System, which is in pre-launch phase at the moment. Here is the link I am testing:

http://grasp-the-nettle.com/htmlredir.html

I like to pass as much traffic through my own website as possible, which is what the above link does, while at the same time cloaking the affiliate link.

Typically, sales pages do not pull in good results on the TEs, which is why squeeze pages are so popular on the exchanges. A squeeze page is a very basic web page with a short sharp message that teases or tempts the surfer to fill in a form or click a button to find out more. Nowadays a lot of these pages have video or audio embedded and preset to start automatically when the page is downloaded.

On the main sales page for TWR Power System, you get a video of James Al-Oboudi, a lot of big print sales copy and a big red "free lock-in" button.

I'm tracking the hits I'm getting from the TEs. The service I am using to track the hits is HitsConnect, which tracks every single hit back to the source. The results have been very revealing not only about the pulling power of the main sales page but also into the varying ratios of hits-to-unique-hits that each TE delivers.

With HitsConnect you can also discover which hits led to sales IF you post a snippet of code on your "thank you page". Unfortunately, because this is an affiliate promotion and not a promotion of my own product I have been unable to do that on this occasion.

Even so, this test clearly demonstrates the value of using a professional tracking service such as HitsConnect.

Here are the results after a few days of exposure on several TEs:

Hits = Tot/Unq

easyh4uban = 1/1
easyhits4u = 502/413
goneclick = 262/35
hit2hit = 349/268
hitboopro = 132/118
hitboosban = 1/1
lotsmorhts = 2/2
maxtrafpro = 227/140
maxtrprban = 1/1
s4t = 274/205
traffwitch = 205/136
trafshodwn = 345/106
trafsplash = 297/256
trafsplban = 1/1
If you are familiar with the TEs it won't be difficult to work out which ones I've been tracking. The suffix "ban" refers to links to banner ads like this one:

What I have gleaned from these figures is this:

Top traffic exchanges such as EasyHits4u.com really do delivery a higher rate of unique hits (and much more quickly) than lower ranking TEs such as GoneClicking.com, which delivered just 35 unique hits in 262 views of the page. (EasyHits4u.com is the #1 ranking TE by a long way on Affiliate Funnel.)

When I saw how quickly EH4U was going through my credits I realized that it was one of the more important ones to keep topped up with manual clicking when I'm taking a break from more mentally taxing jobs.

Overall I am getting an average of around one unique hit for every two showings of the page, and ONE sign-up per 750 unique views. Hardly impressive, BUT this is NOT the ideal traffic exchange strategy; I am effectively funneling a bunch of cold prospects to the sales page and giving them 6-10 seconds to buy.

David Hurley
Ad Tracking: You Know It Makese Sense

The 5 Lessons A Millionaire Taught Me

2009-09-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Five Lessons A Millionaire Taught Me About Life And Wealth, by Richard Paul Evans, is a short book that you could easily polish off in an afternoon. But don't just read it once and lay it aside. Read it several times, digest the message, apply it to your own life and integrate it into your wealth-building strategy.

If you don't have a wealth-building strategy, then this book offers you a fast route to acquiring one.

As Richard Paul Evans says in the Preface,

The Five Lessons contained in this book, if followed, will lead to wealth and financial independence.

The beauty of this book is that it is enjoyable to read and easy to understand. The lessons can be applied immediately.

When Evans was twelve his father was incapacitated in an industrial accident. During that difficult time Evans attended a talk for local youth given by a self-made millionaire who pointed out that in the parable of the Good Samaritan,

"The Samaritan was able to help because he had the financial means to do so. Without it he could only have offered minor assistance."

It was this talk that set Evans on a new path, and it is to that self-made millionaire, Kerry Heinz, that the book is dedicated.

So, what are the five lessons?

They are:

Decide to be wealthy.

Take responsibility for your money.

Keep a portion of everything you earn.

Win in the margins.

Give back.

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies

Dropship And Wholesale Options For E-Commerce Vendors

2009-08-20T02:32:00.000-07:00

One viable option for people who want to start their own business on the Internet is to find a genuine wholesaler and set up an online store where you can retail your goods for a healthy profit.

You can either "do it yourself", or if you are in a hurry and don't have the time, inclination or technical know-how to build your own online store, you can set one up quickly and easily with eBay or Yahoo.

Getting your store set up is the easy step... Finding a genuine wholesaler can be more problematic. Of course, you can do a Google search, but go careful because the search engines do not distinguish between the genuine suppliers and the rip-off merchants.

When searching for a wholesaler, check whether they offer dropshipping as one of their services, so that with each product line you want to sell you can choose between dropshipping and wholesaling.

With dropshipping, you don't have to handle any products you sell. Instead, the wholesaler ships the product directly to the customer.

With wholesale, you take delivery of a consignment of products and then pack and ship out products to customers.

Some wholesalers offer different quantities of goods at wholesale. Chris Malta of WorldWideBrands has coined the phrase "light bulk" to define smaller quantity wholesale consignments as distinguished from "large volume" consignments.

Here is an article I posted to my website earlier this week explaining the difference between dropshipping, light bulk and large volume wholesale, and how each option can be best used by an e-commerce retailer seeking to maximize profits and minimize risk.

How Home Based Online Auction Sellers Choose Between
"Drop Shipping", "Light Bulk" And "Large Volume" Wholesale

by David Hurley

When it comes to selling physical products on the Internet, the two most common methods of obtaining products to sell are dropship and wholesale.

However, as they are often lumped together a lot of people are not clear about how each one is different from the other. So, in this article I want to show you what each one is and how to choose which method of supplying products is best for different business situations on the Internet...

Read rest of article

David Hurley
Dropship and Wholesale Choices For E-Commerce Retailers

Matt Cutts Talks About Google Caffeine

2009-08-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

Google Caffeine is now available beta testing at http://www2.sandbox.google.com/.

In the interview shown below, Mike Macdonald of WebProNews caught up with Matt Cutts at the Search Engine Strategies 2009 Conference and Expo, San Jose and asked him what Caffeine was all about.

Matt Cutts: "So fundamentally, it is a rewrite of our indexing system. So if you want to have a good search engine you have to crawl really well, you have to index really well, and then you have to serve it up really fast. So a good way to think about Caffeine is that it's essentially re-architecturing or rewriting a large chunk of how we index web pages so it's really good from that perspective...

"The idea of Caffeine is that it tries to be a lot more powerful a lot more flexible and a lot more robust in how we index. So that lets you in theory scale up to a lot more documents, but also lets you index those documents a lot faster so it's going to be pretty powerful."

Oh, and if you check out the video you also get the lowdown about Matt's new (no)hairstyle...

More WebProNews Videos

If you want to see how Caffeine is likely to affect search engine results for your check out this cool Google comparative search results tool:

http://www.facesaerch.com/caffeine/

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies

TipDrop - The Antidote To Twitter Twaddle?

2009-08-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

The question is not, "What are you doing?" but "What do you know?"

And Jonathan Leger's TipDrop is offering a challenge to Twitter by inviting people to share their knowledge by posting short tips or adding their knowledge to tips that have already been posted.

TipDrop was launched into Beta on Friday, July 17th, 2009. It looks a bit like Twitter, it "sounds" a bit like Twitter (no coincidence that it begins with T), and it asks a question and gives you just a little bit of space to answer it, rather like Twitter...

But, behind those similarities lies a fundamental difference of purpose. Here's what the blurb says on the TipDrop site:

Why Use TipDrop?

Because unlike other microblogging platforms, TipDrop creates focused sets of useful information on specific concepts. No wasting time reading what somebody had for breakfast here. (We also give you the option of keeping 75% of all ad-revenues generated from the tip sheets you create.)

Focused... useful... specific... and with a system in place to help users generate some revenue from Adsense.

Jonathan Leger has obviously spent a lot of time looking at Twitter and asking himself how microblogging could be improved for people who actually want to learn something from the experience.

Another way in which TipDrop resembles Twitter is that it is 100% free to join, and just as quick and easy to sign up and get started.

Here's the link: TipDrop.com .

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies

When Summer Comes... Internet Marketing Competitions!

2009-08-06T20:17:00.001-07:00

As someone who is both a freelance English language teacher and an Internet marketer, I love the summer, yes, even the humid, sweltering summer here in Japan!

Here's why...

1. When summer comes I have a much lighter teaching schedule because my college classes have all finished for two months, which gives me more time for Internet marketing.

2. When summer comes, it brings with it several exciting online competitions. Right now I'm involved in three internet marketing competitions, but I want to talk about the one that excites me most... and which is set to run until the end of August.

I'm talking about the "Will Write for Dollars" Affiliate Competition being run by Colleen Darwent, the affiliate manager at WorldWideBrands.

This competition is perfect for Internet marketers who have a talent for writing and would love to get paid $10 for every article they post promoting an affiliate program that pays out over $70 in commission per sale...

Oh yes, and the winner of the competition will recieve $100 in addition to the $10 per article.

This is a fantastic competition!

Even if you don't win, you could easily fund your next three months' online marketing spending by posting articles, and at the same time you will greatly increase your chances of generating some nice affiliate commissions too...

HOW TO JOIN

If you are not yet an affiliate, you can join here - it is free to sign up: when you land on the WWB page, hover over the "Log In" tab, then click the "Affiliate Log In" drop-down tab and hit the "Become Affiliate" button (lower left of screen).

YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!

Anyway, I have just submitted an article to Colleen and am going to relax on my balcony with a refreshing pre-lunch spritzer while I think about how coool it is to be an Internet marketer in the summer! -

See you later!

David Hurley
Need help with articles?

Isn't it Time You Hired A Certified Proof-Reader Check Your English...?

2009-08-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

One of the easiest ways to sabotage your reputation as a serious Internet marketer is to publish articles and web content that is riddled with careless typing errors, spelling mistakes and grammatical bloopers.

Okay, I'm not talking about those "deliberate mistakes" that can sometimes be found in highly successful sales letters... those are copy-writing technique that'd be worth a blog post of their own...

No, I'm talking about mistakes that are caused by ignorance and carelessness. Errors can easily creep into your writing, even if English is your native language. And don't imagine that the spellchecker will find them all for you. If you write "their" instead of "there", then the spellchecker will most likely pass over the word without detecting the error since it is NOT a spelling error.

One of the laziest examples of this sort of thing is the habit that slap-dash "marketers" have of posting PLR articles without bothering to modify, proof read or edit them.

Introducing Alan Mater, Internet Marketer & Certified Proof-Reader

Alan has been running the affiliate marketing website ReplaceYourSalary.com, supported by the respected affiliate marketing blog, Replaceyoursalary.com/work-from-home-blog, a "work from home resources blog" which tackles various aspects of Internet marketing in several posts per month.

I have known Alan for a couple of years now through our joint membership of various programmes and forums on the Internet and have been impressed by his continuing dedication to his online business and to educating his growing list of subscribers and readers in the techniques of successful Internet marketing.

One thing that sets successful Internet marketers apart from the crowd is that successful Internet marketers tend to develop their own unique products and services, and Alan has done just that with his highly rated proof-reading service geared to the needs of Internet marketers.

Alan is a certified proofreader and provides Professional Proofreading Services on a freelance basis for website owners, ebook publishers, small businesses and more.

So if you publish articles, and are filling up your website and blog with unique content, or perhaps writing that e-book, check out Alan's services and his rock-bottom rates and read through the testimonials he has received.

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies

Stop Selling Yourself Short With Management Buzzwords

2009-07-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

Why oh why do they do it?

Businessmen and politicians, I mean.

Why do they talk to you - at you, I should say - through a wall of self-congratulatory bilge, jejune business jargon and mindnumbing management buzzwords?

If you are guilty of this sort of thing, you need to realize that you are selling yourself short by using technical jargon instead of telling us what we want or need to know.

Just tell it to us straight, clear and simple, OK?

If you are ever tempted to adopt the way of talking that the young man in the following article by Michael Masterson uses, DO NOT DO IT!

Also, if you write copy for your website or blog, avoid slipping into business jargon. You want people to read your stuff, right? So keep your style open, friendly, direct and focused OUTWARD to the reader, and FREE of management buzzwords.

Yes, I could go on, but I shall desist because what follows is MUCH BETTER: an article on how business jargon does NOT impress, and how management buzzwords are more often than not COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE...

Over to you, Michael Masterson, for a guaranteed jargon buzzword free article on the art of selling yourself...

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times: Resist hyperbole."

- William Safire

If You're Trying to Impress Me, Don't Do This

By Michael Masterson

He had been strongly recommended for the job. And so, when I got on the phone with him, I was expecting a sharp, take-charge guy. Instead, I got this:

"I've been involved in strategically important roles with communications companies for 25 years. Throughout, I've focused on my core competencies, building brand recognition and interfaces with key personnel."

To which I responded: "Huh?"

He went on...

"It's been a personal paradigm of mine that quality control and dynamic leadership are essentials in today's globalized business environment, and that's what I feel I can bring to any company I work for."

I had already made an initial assessment: This guy was a fraud. But to give him a chance to redeem himself, I tried to keep the conversation going.

"So," I said, "what, exactly, have you been doing all these years?"

I could almost hear him thinking, "What kind of dummy am I dealing with?" But this is what he said:

"Bringing in a bottom line and achieving optimal results have always been goals that resonated with me."

"That's enough," I thought. "I can't take any more."

"I'm sorry to do this," I said. "But I have to jump off the phone now to handle an emergency. I enjoyed talking to you. I'll be sure to look at your resume and get back to you if something comes up that meets your qualifications."

And with that, I bid farewell to this young man and any chance he had of ever working for me.

In their book Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide, authors Fugere, Hardaway, and Warshawsky say there are three reasons executives - and people applying for management positions - sometimes speak like this.

Their focus is on themselves, rather than on the person they're speaking to. "When obscurity pollutes someone's communications it's often because the... goal is to impress and not to inform."

They fear using concrete language, because saying exactly what they mean can make it hard to wiggle out of commitments. "Liability scares [some people], so they add endless phrases to qualify [their] views, acknowledging everything from prevailing weather conditions to the 12 reasons we can't make a decision now."

They want to elevate and even romanticize their thoughts and deeds, because they are afraid they aren't impressive. They do so by using lofty language that disguises the mundane truth.

They are afraid to appear ordinary. Their solution is to attempt to bamboozle everyone they speak with - and particularly those with power.

This is a very bad strategy.

In a job interview, it makes the interviewee look pompous and vacuous - two traits any sensible employer wants to avoid.

When applying for a job, only two things really matter: what you know (your skill set) and who you are (your integrity). Pretending to know things you don't is a waste of your time, because you will soon be found out. Getting tossed into the street after only a few weeks on the job is both embarrassing and an ugly blemish on your work history.

You can demonstrate your good character by being honest from the outset. Be candid about what you know and what you have done. But make it clear that you are confident you can quickly learn to do anything that is required of you.

In granting you an interview, your future employer is trying to find out if you can help him solve his problems and grow his business.

He isn't looking to be impressed. He's looking for someone who can make his life easier by doing a great job. Your job during the interview is to sell yourself as being that person.

And the first rule of successfully selling yourself is to make sure you've got the basics down pat:

You must be good at something - really good.

That something must be useful to the success of the business you are attempting to work for. If you've been reading ETR - even for a short time - you already know what I mean by that: It must be some financially valued skill. Generally speaking, that's one of four things: marketing, selling, creating profitable products, or managing profits.

You must prove that you are good.

And then you must deliver.

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

SFI TripleClicks Online Store - It Works!

2009-07-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

It took me a while to get my act together and post an item for sale on the new SFI TripleClicks online store... but it was well worth it!

Sold after just five click-throughs!

Here's what I did. I live in Japan and play a lot of mahjong. I also handle Japanese mahjong sets for mahjong players around the world. I had a spare set so I listed it on the SFI online store, TripleClicks for just $35.

Then I linked to the listing from Japanese-mahjong.com using a tracking link on my HitsConnect link tracking account. That's how I know it took just five clicks to generate a sale!

Processing the order was also very easy. Note, you need to use a mail service that includes tracking so that TripleClicks can confirm delivery. This is because TripleClicks acts as a kind of escrow service and pays you after either they or the customer confirm delivery. That way, they ensure security for all parties.

If you'd like to try TripleClicks free, click the banner below and register today. (Registration is also free.)

David Hurley
Best Internet Marketing Strategies