John Cow dot Com

Put Your Crappy Content Away, Ya Lazy Bum!

John Cow — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:55:25 +0000

The times, they are a changin’. Although it hasn’t officially happened yet, there have been whispers in quite a few places for a while now that things are changing in the world of article marketing, specifically in the article directories and very specifically, with Ezine Articles. And in my personal opinion, it’s a change for the better.

Here’s what’s rumored to be happening: submission standards are about to get a whole lot higher. To put it in a nutshell, the minimum standard for articles to get approved (which, historically, has been pretty darn low) is going to be longer and better. No longer will you be able to throw together a crappy 250 word article full of spelling and grammatical errors and call it a day. Soon, that kind of sloppy work won’t get approved any more.

And what’s more…

The changes are reportedly retroactive!

Meaning if you’ve got crappy articles approved in the past, unless you update them and make them acceptable, they’ll disappear.

What do I have to say about this?

Well, I say it’s about damn time. I’ve said many times, on this blog and on the other sites I own, that putting quality content out there is the real key to succeeding in online business. And I use article marketing to promote my products, but when I mention that I’m an article marketer, people lump me in with those other bozos littering the article directories with crap content and giving the rest of us a bad name.

For my own article marketing, I’ve long held a stipulation that all the articles I use be at least 400 words long, always be completely original, and have really useful information for the reader. Keyword density should be between 2-5%, but is usually around 2.5-3.5%. Because I’ve been doing things this way for a long time, I know that, when the changes do come, I don’t have to worry about any of my old articles being taken down.

HOT TIP –> The MOST IMPORTANT thing i do however, is write the content first and then go back and keyword optimize it. If you write for a keyword the content will suck… create a title first, write a worthwhile piece of content and then go back and keyword optimize it. Your content will get both published and read!

So that’s my advice for anybody using article marketing right now – if you’re not already, make the change and start writing quality articles NOW, before the new rules come into play. Do this for two reasons; one, because quality is always better than crappy (in terms of your reputation and your bottom line), and you should have been doing it this way all this time anyway; and secondly, so that when these changes do come you’ll be ahead of the game and not one of the people left in the lurch when all of their articles get dumped.

NEW Update: Just saw a new update to the ezinearticles guidelines as we speak…

Expert Authors can now earn the ability to link-up 4-word and 5-word phrases* by submitting lengthier (over 400 words) high-quality articles.

BOTTOM LINE:

If your article is shorter than 400 words, each text link may only contain a maximum of 3 words*

If your article is longer than 400 words, each text link may only contain a maximum of 5 words*

* Important Note: Any common words, including to, is, in, on, it, and, at, by, a, an and others will now be excluded from the word count.

PS – If you are wondering why i am focusing on EzineArticles here… cause they are the grand daddy of all article directories and you NEED to be using them (IMHO).

So what’s your thoughts?

Split Tests Simplified & Explained – First, A/B Testing

John Cow — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:51:57 +0000

So what test should you start using?

Google’s Website Optimizer gives you two options: and A/B test or a multivariate test. But it’s not as clear-cut as that.

There are actually two ways to run an A/B test using Google’s Website Optimizer. One using the given A/B test option and one using the multivariate test option, and then there’s the actual multivariate test using the multivariate test option.

Confused yet?

I sure was when I started, but here’ a (hopefully) clear, non-jargon using explanation of what does what in regards to A/B testing (we’ll devote another post to true-multivariate testing).

The A/B test that Google gives you allows you either the capability to run a complex page comparison test or to completely waste your time by running an invalid test whose results are useless, depending on what your skill level with testing is going in. You can guess which end of the spectrum I was on when I started testing.

Here’s the reason for that:

Google’s A/B test runs a split-traffic test to multiple pages. ‘Pages’ is the key word there. Since you are testing whole pages, there is the ability to change multiple elements on each page. And as I’ve mentioned before, when you test multiple things willy-nilly, you get skewed results that you can’t trust because you don’t know what one thing caused the change in results. But thanks to me, you now know better, and so you’d better not do that.

**note** The once instance where changing multiple things can work is when you are testing one overlying thing, like a design scheme, which has multiple elements, but they are all tied together in some way and contribute the one thing that you are testing. But this is the only time I would recommend running an A/B test with multiple variations within one page.

You can run what is considered a ‘classic’ A/B test using Google’s version of the A/B test, you just need to practice some restraint, and make sure that you are only testing one element per page. Keep to that rule, and you’ll see some great results that you can actually use. The main point of the A/B test is to compare different versions of one element on a page. You could do an A/B test of a buy now button color and test red (control), blue, green, and yellow.

This is really an A/B/C/D test, but since it is only testing one aspect of one element on the page, it is an A/B test.

The A/B test is really the simplest to set up and run, so it’s a great place to start testing if you’ve never done it before.

Since the multivariate test allow you to isolate specific elements, you can also use it to run an A/B test. Doing this, and isolating only one thing to test, will ensure that you are not accidentally changing anything else, since the only part of the page that will be tested is the element that you identify. Everything else will appear exactly the same as before.

It’s up to you whether you choose to use Google’s A/B test of the multivariate test to run your classic A/B tests.

Listen to this post at Cinchcast.com –> A/B Split Testing

(This post is a contination of the series of Becoming a Trusted Expert. You can read the previous posts at http://www.johncow.com/how-to-become-a-trusted-expert-online/)

7 Steps for Successful Split Testing – Kinda Science-y Stuff

John Cow — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:00:34 +0000

This is a continuation of the Trusted Expert posts on testing…

For testing purposes and the examples we give, we’re going to be using Google’s Website Analyzer which is part of Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/). Why? Well, for one, because it’s free and therefore accessible to everyone; and secondly, because it’s a darn good testing platform… free or not.

Google’s Website Optimizer is free, powerful, fast and easy. What more could you want? It allows you to perform A/B and multivariate testing.

Why is it free?

Because Google knows that if you improve your conversion rates, you’re more likely to invest in more advertising campaigns, users are happy because they’re happier with the sites that they find through searches. Basically, everyone is happy and Google makes more money.

Makes sense when you put it that way, doesn’t it?

There are other, paid services that you can use to further your testing, measuring, and optimizing practices. But this series is all about making the most out of what you can get for little or no money spent, by concentrating on the buyer and conducting your communications strategy in a totally different way. For that reason, in regards to practical applications for testing that will be covered in this part of the series, we’ll be concentrating on how best to utilize the free Google tools.

The important thing to remember about the Google Website Optimizer is that it is a tool. It only provides the metrics, it can’t tell you what changes to make. You have to infer that for yourself. If you want the tests you run to be meaningful and give you the feedback you need to improve your site, then you need to make sure you’re going about it the right way, and making the most of the free tools that Google gives you.

Later in the series, we’ll be going through exactly what you should be doing to get you started with testing. Where you take it from there is up to you.

Before we delve into the nuts and bolts of actually running a test, there are a few things you need to remember for any test you run, whether it’s #1 or #1001:

Always start the test with a goal in mind. Know what you expect the outcome to be (although you may be wrong – very, very wrong; that’s what you’re testing.) In scientific tests, this is called the hypothesis. Your goal is the basis and the reason for the entire test.
Determine what you metric of success will be before you start the test. How much better is good enough to be considered a success? 5%? 10% 50%? Only you can decide that.
Remember not to muddy the waters. If you’re testing the color of the checkout button, don’t also change the shape or the font or where it appears on the site. You could get an amazing result, but you won’t know what variable was responsible for the change. Be especially aware of this when testing copy; any other changes you make, even inadvertently, to the layout or the font or any other aspect of the display will totally negate the validity of the test on the actual content.
Remember that you always need a control. Even when you’re dong multivariate testing, you still need to use the original version of the page to act as a control, something to compare the test results to.
Use descriptive names for your tests. You may be able to keep track of the fact that Tests 1-10 were about buttons and Tests 11-15 were about headlines, but what about when you’re at Test 345? If you give your tests clear, descriptive names, it’ll be easier for you to find the information and results when you need to refer back to them to plan more tests.
The tests mean nothing if you don’t learn anything from them. Your test isn’t really done (or of any use to you) unless you’ve analyzed the results and applied the learnings to your site. You then use that knowledge you’ve gained as the basis for the next test, because…
And finally, …You’re never done testing. There will never come a time when you can say “That’s it, it’s perfect, I’m done.” Even if your site is perfect and performing at it’s utmost capacity at that moment, the internet is a fluid, changing thing, and you need to make sure (through testing) that you’re keeping up with the changes and keeping you and your site relevant and maintain your presence on the web as a Trusted Expert.

(This post is a contination of the series of Becoming a Trusted Expert. You can read the previous posts at http://www.johncow.com/how-to-become-a-trusted-expert-online/)

Maintain Your Trusted Expert Status – The Importance of Testing and Where to Start

John Cow — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Every single page of you website has elements in it which affect how people view your website. And each of those elements came to be there because of a decision you made.

But was it the right decision?

You’ll never know how much better you could be doing unless you test.

While it may seem like a daunting prospect with all of the potential testing situations available to you, you need to start somewhere. Any testing is better than no testing at all. But if you go off testing willy-nilly, you may be getting skewed results because of other factors that are influencing the results.

Here’s what you should be looking at when you’re starting to test, in this order:

Function – I know, duh, but you’d be surprised at how many people ignore basic functionality for testing brighter, shinier, more interesting things, and then don’t understand why they don’t see results. If half of your pages lead to nowhere, and you’ve got a ton of broken links, and your shopping carts keep emptying, or there is an error in your opt-in form, then how can you expect to see good results when you’re testing the picture on the front page?

Make sure everything works on your site first. The worst impression you can make is that your site is not properly run; it will undermine the trust level with your users so profoundly that the best content in the world will not save you.

Accessibility – The basics of accessibility is making sure that all kinds of browsers can load your website, and that it looks like it should on all of them. You can test this out at a site like http://browsershots.org/ which will test how your site looks in all the browsers you can think of, including Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.

Other aspects of accessibility that you may not have considered, but are equally important are thinks like:

font size
language issues
script (java, php, asp, flash) errors
problems with things loading properly.

This is when it is very useful to have developed your buyer personas before addressing these concerns. For example, if your personas consist mainly of an older demographic, then size on font and clarity may be an important accessibility issue for you to consider.

Usability – Now that your site is functional and accessible, you have to start thinking about how people use your site. This is another opportunity for you to customize your site for your buyer personas.

What kind of font or layout to they prefer?
How do they move through the buying process?
What kind of navigation are they looking for?

It could even be something as simple as whether they prefer a blue button or a red one. A lot of the A/B tests you’ll do will have to do with usability (we’ll go through that whole process a little later – don’t worry.) There are a lot of things that you can find out about your buyers and your website through usability testing, and the improvements you can see from a few small changes is huge.

Intuition – The intuitive feel of your site is a little more subjective and can be harder to pin down. It as a lot in common with usability, but the intuitive level of your site is more about the entire user experience than about any one specific element. Through testing of intuitive elements, you can find the things that are preventing your users from completing the desired action you want from them.

These elements can include specific things like:

point-of-action assurances
customer reviews
color scheme
graphic design of the site itself.

Intuitive elements are the things that evoke a certain emotional response from our buyers. By testing these elements you can make sure that the emotional elements of your site are hitting the right notes with your buyer personas and further establishing yourself as a Trusted Expert in their eyes.

Persuasion – The persuasion elements of your site can be some of the trickiest to identify and tie down. These are the elements that actually persuade your buyers to perform the desired action. You only deal with persuasion issues after you’ve resolved all the other problems with your site.

Where to Start?

It’s important to focus your efforts on the things that will effect the most positive change with the least possible expenditure of time, effort, and money. Once you’ve addressed the basic concerns (functionality, accessibility, usability) then you can move on to the more emotional aspects (intuitive and persuasive elements). That still leaves a whole lot of testing to do.

Here’s how you can narrow those choices down:

1) Take a look at your site’s metrics.

This will tell you where you need to start testing. **Note – if you don’t have a site yet, make sure to address all of the concerns in order and build your site to meet your buyer personas needs and you’ll save yourself a lot of testing and you can go right to testing the emotional elements of your site to get a better response rate. Everybody else, keep reading.

2) Identify the following:

Pages with the highest bounce rate
Pages with the highest exit rates
Pages with the lowest time spent
The 5 most important pages on your site

3) Rank & Prioritize

Once you’ve identified these pages, you need to rank them in order of importance to you and (which really means in order of importance to your buyer personas, since it’s all about them, remember?) and where they fit along the functionality to persuasive scale, starting at the bottom.

You now have your list of things to test, and in what order to test them.

Also, in these areas, you can identify where your site has been lacking in thought leadership. Take this opportunity to change these areas so that it reinforces the idea of You the “Trusted Expert” in your niche.

Now you have a game plan to start testing with. Too bad you don’t know anything about actually running tests…

You didn’t think I’d leave you hanging, did you? That’s the next part!

(This post is a contination of the series of Becoming a Trusted Expert. You can read the previous posts at http://www.johncow.com/how-to-become-a-trusted-expert-online/)

SEO & Being a Trusted Expert

John Cow — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 03:13:44 +0000

You may not realize it, but the things that will make you a Trusted Expert will also help you with your SEO (Search Engine Optimization)…

…which will improve your natural ranking with Google…

…which will help people searching for your product or service find you in the top of the search rankings…

…which makes them think of you as a Trusted Expert!

See how that works?

If you want to be a Trusted Expert (and of course you do) you need to be all over SEO. That’s because people inherently trust natural search results more than PPC ads when they do a search.

Why?

It does not matter what the logical truth is, it’s the visceral emotional response (I am such a genius for knowing that big word) that counts, and gets people to take action. So, if you want to be considered a Trusted Expert in a certain niche, then you need to rank well in your target keywords.

You may expect this post to be full of SEO tips and tricks, but what you don’t realize is that you’ve already been doing a lot already to improve your SEO, if you’ve been doing all the things that I’ve recommended to become a Trusted Expert (and you have been doing those things, haven’t you… cause here is the previous post in the series if you missed it Press Releases the More Technical Stuff)

- Your blog. Google and the other search engines loves them some blogs. Every time you post, you improve your credibility and your standing with Google. Blogs are also a great way to target new keywords – a good blog post with the proper keyword density (2-5%) can bring you in a ton of new people if targeted correctly.

- Your online press room. Again, Google loves anything that provides fresh content, and you’re going to be posting every single press release you send out (and again, you are sending press releases out now, right?) This is especially important because the online press release services only keep your press releases indexed for a short time. Anyone searching on the terms you used in those press releases after that time will be directed to your online press room/latest news area. And if you don’t have an area for your press releases, then they’ll end up…at someone else’s websites.

Beyond your Trusted Expert content, there are a loads of basic technical things you need to be doing to improve your SEO.

Have a Google friendly site map and submit it to the google webmaster tools.
Use a robots.txt file.
Add your primary keyword phrase to your title, description & keyword tags (only one time in each)
Have your main keyword in an h1 tag (only once)
Use your alt tags and add your primary keyword to one of them (most important is to describe the image but when possible add a keyword to one of them)
Make sure no two titles and descriptions on your site are the same (Google often deems this as duplicate content, even though the pages might be completely different)
Internally link to your main pages with the keyword anchor text you want to rank for (internal linking is very important and often overlooked)
Link to related high authority resources (Google likes seeing you offering visitors relevant info and linking to high authority sites)
Check for broken links and images (Google hates errors)

There are a lot of other tips and tricks to improve your SEO, but this is a good place to start. Like most things about being a Trusted Expert, it all comes back to the content. Properly targeted content not only brands you as a Trusted Expert, but it also improves your SEO and makes it easier for people to find you, which helps them to see you as a Trusted Expert.

Funny how reciprocal that is… well i think so anyway… sort of.

Pride, Greed & Never Smelling the Roses – An Entrepreneurs Struggle with Managing!

John Cow — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:29:02 +0000

I was having a conversation with my uncle / friend today (we went for lunch) and we were talking about business and how as entrepreneurs we sometimes make terrible business people.

Now do not get me wrong… entrepreneurs are the people that start businesses but what you need to ask yourself is are they necessarily the right ones to run the business?

What he told me was an experience he had some years back when he worked for a company that grew from just a couple of employees to one with dozens of employees and saw revenue grow from $1 million to over $5 million… which sounds great… right?

Well the net profit of the company never changed at all… it was only $50 000 for all those years.

What that means is that the workload, the stress, the resources all increased… BUT THE PROFITS DIDN’T!

In my title of this post i wrote “Pride, Greed & Never Smelling the Roses” and i think that is a huge question to ask yourself, especially if you are an entrepreneur!

I know from my own personal experience, these are certainly areas that I have struggled.

Pride: Wanting to prove yourself to the neigh-sayers… showing that your ambition has paid off
Greed: Wanting to be rich and thinking growth is the only way to get there… plus losing site of lifestyle versus the bank account balance.
Never Smelling the Roses: Never wanting to step back and look at what you have created, taking account on what is already working and how to make it better and not just focusing on the next big project.

What i am getting at here is what do you want… do you want a bank statement or organization chart you can show people… or do you want a lifestyle you can enjoy.

Would not the person in the example above have a much better lifestyle if instead of focusing on growing, he focused on improving?

Do NOT always be looking for the next big thing… do not think that your financial dreams will always be solved by creating one more thing and do not overlook the power of stopping and smelling the roses.

One of the best books I ever read on this is a small book called “Acres of Diamonds”… you can check it out here too http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/rconwellacresofdiamonds.htm

Hope this ramble helps at least one of you

Following Up After You Have Them

John Cow — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:32:50 +0000

So you got them to opt in or try a free trail…. now what???

In the below video I talk about the importance of helping your customers see exactly why they made a wise decision and how to get the quickest and most effective use out of it.

Oh and what you think of the singing cow intro

A Powerful Comment Spam Killer – A One-Two Punch!

John Cow — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:51:10 +0000

I was just browsing through my stat logs and looked up at my “Akismet Stats”… to my surprise (why i did not pay attention to this before is beyond me) I noticed that in April my “Comment Spam” dramatically lowered from 15000+ to 5000+ and then the next month less then 100.

Click Here to Enlarge

The reason… that was when i upgraded my WordPress build and enabled the new “Automatically close comments on articles older then 15 days” feature.

Click Here to Enlarge

So…. if you run a WordPress blog and want to dramatically reduce your comment spam and have not already done this, then…

Install the “Akismet” plugin (is most likely already installed because it comes default with any WordPress installation… so just activate it) http://akismet.com/
Follow the directions at http://en.wordpress.com/api-keys/ and get an API key to be able to use the plugin
Go to “Plugins” –> “Akismet Configuration” and enter the API Key
Go to “Settings” –> “Discussion” and check the “Automatically close comments on articles older then [] days” and enter “15″, then save settings.

That’s it… You will start to notice a HUGE decrease in the amount of comment spam you are getting from that point on.

For most of you this was probably nothing new but if it helped let me know

Dangers of Following the Crowd – A Lesson From Jonestown!

John Cow — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:24:45 +0000

Last week i watched on TV about the incredibly sad Jonestown massacre. This was an American cult led by Jim Jones and it became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 909 “members” died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, in an event termed “revolutionary suicide” by Jones and some members on an audio tape of the event and in prior discussions.

To the extent the actions in Jonestown were viewed as a mass suicide, it is the largest such event in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the events of September 11, 2001.

This really made me think about how we as humans often NEED someone or something to grab onto.

This is by no means bad… I really believe that it is a perfectly normal human nature to want to believe in something and belong to something bigger then ourselves.

In my legendary (in my mind anyway) way of thinking and explaining things out, I ask that you just please bear with me here and yes this is eventually getting to a big point of running your business.

Were people fools for wanting something “bigger” to have hope in?
Were people fools for wanting to see what this “Jim Jones” was talking about?

ABSOLUTELY NOT… in my opinion anyway.

What i personally think was foolish however was blindly giving up on everything else, without proving it to yourself

When i listened to the interviews with the followers, I had to ask myself…

“Did this really fit into what they knew was right… or were they just blindly following someone else?”

In any of my membership sites, I always make a couple things clear…

1. “Do NOT listen to theory mongers”.

If you are giving them money and they are not willing to show you real life proof that is recent, well then how can you trust them? I always do real life live examples in my training to show people exactly what i am doing, that i am actually doing it and that it works. I know 100% for certain of a couple very popular products that did well on clickbank and were 100% theory and not from actual results the supposed authors claimed. One of them even tried to claim traffic results from the product itself but was actually based off of a former product launch that got a massive spike in traffic from his buddies emailing their list. Do not worry i have never and never will recommend or promote their products!

2. “Make it YOUR plan”.

What i mean by that is use what I teach you as a launching pad… do not just solely rely on what i teach as the end all be all. Figure out what works for you and fit it into your business model… if it all fits, that is GREAT… but if only parts of it fit or even none of it fits… well that’s great too… as long as you are basing it on your own proven results.

Did you catch that last point there… “as long as you are basing it on your own proven results.”

I remember last year, a member of one of my sites arguing with me about a strategy I recommended and how he did not want to implement it because he read an email from someone. First of all the email he referenced was 100% bullcrap (in my opinion) totally just trying to scare the person so they would buy their product. This however was not what bothered me so much as to the reason he gave for making the decision. It was because someone he trusted, recommended he check out a free report… from someone else who he never listened to before or has seen results from before.

So… what this came down to was even though I was openly showing real life proof of what i was recommending the person do and that it really worked… the person still went blindly in a different direction because (without proof) someone told him something that convinced him to give up on everything else and invest in him instead… without any real life proof!

So back to the two questions…

Was he a fool for wanting something “bigger” to have hope in?
Was he a fool for wanting to see what this “Supposed Expert” was talking about?

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

But ABSOLUTELY YES for blindly giving up on what he could see with his own eyes was working!

If you can get one single thing from this post… i hope it is this.

BE CAREFUL! If someone is telling you something and is not willing to show you real life proof (that is their own and not someone else’s) but still wants you to risk giving them money… are they really trustworthy?

Do not just follow the pack…

LEARN + IMPLEMENT + TEST –> then if it works, do not just give up on everything else… fit it into your business model and move forward!

The Risk FREE Trial Put Into Real Life – Darn Kids Sucked Me In!

John Cow — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:58:36 +0000

Story time!

The phone rings and i pick it up to hear the sweet little voice of my 9 year old daughter say “hello daddy”.

Immediately my guard is down… her cute, innocent little voice always makes me so happy.

But suddenly her tone changes… she is excited about something. Her cute little voice starts to get a little hyper and suddenly i hear the word…

“KITTENS”

NO.. I say with my tough father authority… we are not getting another pet!

For the next 2 minutes an argument takes place as to why we are not getting another pet. She throws everything she has at me but I simply say NO… cause I can!

Her last ditch effort is to cry… yes the one trick that seems to make me do almost anything for her… she starts to cry. But I am firm on this, I will not budge… I am the responsible adult here!

The conversation ends and I am victorious… or so I thought.

Moments later the front door opens, I hear it is my daughter. Then I hear foot steps coming up the stairs and suddenly i hear a “meow”. Not the meow of a full grown cat, but this extremely light and high pitched noise that sounds like a kitten.

She didn’t, i think to myself… she wouldn’t have!

I immediately get up from my desk and am faced with this tiny little orange ball of fur.

“Jillian”, i say with authority, “I told you no!”

She then continues to tell me that they let her take it home for a few minutes to play with.

Ya right I think, I knew what this was all about… show me this little fur ball and try to get me to fall in love with it. Well no way was i going to let that happen.

Then suddenly my daughter hands over the kitten to me… and something starts to happen… something strange. And what happened then…? Well…in Katzenback-ville they say that the Grouch’s small heart grew three sizes that day!

That darn free trial got me… I had a sample and I could not say no.

The moral of this little story (which is 100% true by the way): If you have a quality product then you should highly consider testing a free or $1 trial… get it into their hands, show them how to use it and let them see the benefits for themselves.

So whats your thoughts of my little story here

More on Press Releases – the More Technical Stuff

John Cow — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:19:29 +0000

OK, so now you know that you have to write press releases in order to become a Trusted Expert. You know that they’re good for business, your blog, or whatever it is that you’re trying to accomplish. But how exactly do you go about it? And in this post, I’m not talking about the content, since I covered that in the last post. Here’s the things you need to figure out to get your post seen by the right people:

1. How you’re going to distribute the press release. There are many options out there. First off, you need to decide your main distribution. There are many press release distribution services out there, both paid and free. While you have to pay money for the paid service (duh), the top paid services have a much wider and larger distribution. (It’s really a case of getting what you pay for.) If you’re really strapped for money, stick with the free one, getting your message out to some people is better than none. Here are some PR distribution services:

You should also make sure to always simultaneously publish your press releases to your online press room/ latest news area of your site, which I’m sure you all built after my last post, right?

2. What keywords you’re going to target. You need to treat your press release just like any other kind of content that you put on your site. And all of your content needs to keep in mind those keywords that will resonate with your buyer personas.

3. What links you’re going to include. At the very least you need to include a link to the area of your site that the release is talking about. Ideally, any time you mention something about your company, you should be including a link. Talking about the company history, or if you’re the company, information about you? Then link to the About Us/Bio page. Remember, you want to make it easy for your buyers/readers to find you.

4. The social media you’re going to utilize. Using social media tags will make your press releases easier to find, and they also give you the opportunity to reach new buyers/readers in the specific niche that you’re looking to target. The big ones are Technorati, del.icio.us, and DIGG, but there are many more. If you’re not sure how to go about using social media tags, Todd Defren at SHIFT Communications has a social media press release template that they have made available for free; you can find it at http://www.pr-squared.com.

And don’t forget to mention your news on your Twitter and Facebook as well, but those Social Media tools and how to use them to become a Trusted Expert deserve a post all their own.

Using Press Releases to be a Trusted Expert

John Cow — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:33:32 +0000

In my previous posts in the Trusted Expert series (Starts Here), I’ve mentioned the importance of press releases and how they can help you become a Trusted Expert. Well, today I’m going to talk about them some more. That’s how important press releases are to you and your business. If you haven’t been taking advantage of them yet, you need to start. Now.

Press releases have a two-fold purpose: they give you the opportunity to reach your buyers directly with news about you and your business, and they are fantastic for improving your standing wit h the search engines.

The first thing you need to do is add a press release/latest news page to your website. This will be where you put all the press releases after you send them out. Not only does it give your customers a chance to find all the latest information about your company, but it also indexes like mad and the search engines love it. Just make sure that you keep updating it regularly – it won’t look good if the ‘latest news’ on your website is more than six months old.

A lot of people don’t send out press releases because they don’t think they have anything to write about. Here are some easy ideas that anyone can use to base their press releases on:

You’ve added a new product to your site
You’re speaking at an industry related conference
You’re sponsoring something or donating something
You’ve written some Trusted Expert content
You’ve found a new use for your product
You’re targeting a new segment.

Once you know what to write about, you need to start thinking about how you’re going to write your press release. When press releases were only written for the traditional press, all you had to worry about was making it interesting enough to be featured. Now you still have to try to please the news outlets, but you also need to make sure that your press release resonates with your buyer personas. One of the best ways to do this by including a special offer that appeals specifically to your personas and will compel them to take action, whether that’s going to your site, signing up for a newsletter, or buying a product.

So, to recap, here’s what you need to do to get started using press releases to make you a Trusted Expert:

Add a press release/latest news page to your website.
Come up with a list of reasons to write a press release.
Figure out what offer you’re going to use to compel your buyers to take action.

In the next post in the series, we’ll go over the more technical details of an online press release, like keyword targeting and density, optimizing the press release for search, and the social media release.

Closing the Barn Doors To Full Page Ads Plus a Joke

John Cow — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:07:38 +0000

These here pastures are changing a wee bit as a result of focus and direction. One of the changes that I am implementing right away is the elimination of Full Page Ads or “Review Me Posts”.

What this comes down to is I want to focus on writing things that offer value, not advertisements and it is too hard to balance that when some one pays you cash to review their site. The fact is I do not have the time to write everyday as it is and it is not really fair to you the reader if you are not getting what you signed up here for.

Now since this is such a short post, here is a joke to hopefully put a little smile on your face:

A blonde, wanting to earn some money, decided to hire herself out as a handyman-type and started canvassing a wealthy neighborhood. She went to the front door of the first house and asked the owner if he had any jobs for her to do.

“Well, you can paint my porch. How much will you charge?”

The blonde said, “How about 50 dollars?” The man agreed and told her that the paint and ladders that she might need were in the garage. The man’s wife, inside the house, heard the conversation and said to her husband, “Does she realize that the porch goes all the way around the house?”

The man replied, “She should. She was standing on the porch.”

A short time later, the blonde came to the door to collect her money.

“You’re finished already?” he asked. “Yes,” the blonde answered, “and I had paint left over, so I gave it two coats. “Impressed, the man reached in his pocket for the $50. “And by the way,” the blonde added, “that’s not a Porch, it’s a Ferrari.”

Have a great weekend

Being a Trusted Expert and Blogs Part 2

John Cow — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:46:42 +0000

As I mentioned in the last post in the series (yes i am going back 4 weeks here), How to Use the Free Tools Available to Brand Yourself as a Trusted Expert, the next step in using blogs to become a Trusted Expert is to start your own blog.

So, how do you decide what to blog about? Well, you could blog about anything really, but since this series is about how to make your online business more successful, I would recommend that you do it about your business and your products (niche). Duh.

Exactly what about your business may be harder to decide.

Do some research (you should already know from your reading/commenting phase) and see what’s out there in your niche. Is there a gap that you could fill? Is there some information about your category that you think is important to get out there, and that will resonate with your Buyer Personas? Then that’s what your blog should be about.

Now here’s the list of things you’re going to want to know before you start your blog:

Your Domain (URL). Is it going be an extension of your existing main website, or will it have a unique name with branding and just point back to your site? Or is your blog going to be the main site? If so, you also need to decide what persona and feel you want your blog to have, which will influence the domain, tagline, and name you choose. If you are already adding your blog to your existing site, then you are somewhat limited as to choice, as it should relate back to the original site in some way. But if your blog is the whole site, then the sky and your imagination in the limit.
The tagline – remember that both the name and the tagline become searchable, so you need to pick them carefully to make sure that you’re indexing under the right keywords for your business.
The name (seems simple, but you’ll probably spend more time coming up with this than all the rest).

The reason why I’m telling you to take some time to come up with these 3 things is this: while you can change them later, as the search engines will reindex a site and you’ll maintain your rankings, but you will lose something more intangible – the branding and peronsa that you had built with that name or URL.

So, while you can go back and change it afterwards, putting a little thought and effort into it before you start will save you a headache and a bunch of rebranding after.

Here are the other things you’ll need to know when starting up your own blog:

Your design. There are a lot of software choices out there with customizable interfaces. If you’ve already got a look and feel that you like for your website, you can modify it and use it for your blog. Or, if you want something a little more stand-alone, you can just use the same colors (to connect it to your main site) but has a completely different look and feel. You can always go back and tweak it later, so don’t stress out about this one as much. Design is much more of a learning experience, and plus you’ll be testing elements to know exactly what your buyers want (and don’t worry, we’ll get to that part later, too).

Your voice. Blogs, more than any other kind of writing on the net, need to have a personality. The most successful blogs have their own unique voice that is so strong that you can almost imagine the person talking when you’re reading it. And although I’ve done posts on good grammar before, you need to walk a fine line – yes, use good grammar and spelling whenever possible, but you can also take liberties if it suits your voice. I’ve used non-good grammar thingies (see) where it’s appropriate. But if you keep to good grammar in every other way, it will be obvious that you’re doing otherwise for color and humor rather than that you don’t know any better.

Above all, keep in mind that your blog is supposed to be about you and your business. Don’t try to be something that you’re not – a big part about being a Trusted Expert is the fact that you are authentic.

Last point on this topic… just start a blog. I am serious here and I highly recommend everyone have a blog that is on a topic they are passionate about and especially if they want to be viewed as an expert in that niche.

Medical Transcriptionist – I Never Really Looked At It In The Right Light Before

John Cow — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:19:36 +0000

First of all I need to apologize to all my readers out there for my lack of posts. With the Beta of my Web2Mayhem, I have been swamped and thankfully that is going well and almost complete. So I will be back in full swing soon.

Now as for this post, it is first of all dedicated to Marie, for giving me the idea for it… so thanks Marie, I owe you a coffee or dinner or something.

What inspired me about this is it was a different angle on this whole internet/home business thing. Now if you’re like me you probably have seen ads in magazines for “Work at home and make money as a medical transcriptionist”. Well honestly I always thought of that as a scam, I thought it was some shady thing that really did not pay well… but boy was I wrong.

I want to share this with you to let you know I am quitting everything to become a fulltime medical transcriptionist. YES I am totally and 100% serious that I am NOT telling you the truth

OK seriously, this post will make sense in a moment… well I hope so… ok maybe not but do me a favor and pretend.

The whole thing here is first of all “THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX”!

I fall victim to this myself, I get stuck in my paradigm of what the steps are for something and I box myself in. I close my mind to things because of an assumption or rumor and miss out on things all the time. The simple fact is some of us are not looking for that million dollar payday (well I was and I want many more of them… bwahahaha) but some of us are only looking for enough to be able to live a different life.

So what this all comes down to is “WHAT IS YOUR REASON?”

Seriously, what is your reason… do you even have a clue?

Are you wanting to be rich, do you just want to earn a few hundred dollars a month to help make ends meet or do you want to be able to simply make enough to work from home so you can live a different life?

Don’t ask me why but the conversation I had with Marie was really a big reminder for me. She clearly knows what her reason is and she has a plan in place to achieve it… and the cool thing is she is almost there, already making decent money with it and things are getting better.

Now the bad news is (well it is not so much bad news as realistic news) it has taken her a couple years of working full time, raising kids and going to school to be able to achieve this but the whole point is, she set a goal, has a plan, knows what she is doing it for, realizes she has to sacrifice things and is almost there… she can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Now I realize some of you are doing this for nothing more than a hobby, you are having fun and like it… but some of you need to make your new venture work. So do yourself a favor and…

Do NOT just do what everyone else is doing… THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX and figure out what YOU want to do.
Know what you are doing this for.
Make a plan and get her done!

Once again Marie thanks for the reminder

Why I Like FaceBook Better Than Twitter

John Cow — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:25:06 +0000

FUN

Yup… that is the plain and simple answer.

Do not get me wrong… Twitter is a great tool but what does it offer other then micro blogging?

Well obviously nothing… since that is what it is… a micro blog.

OK so now you’re probably asking… whats the point?

Well are you providing FUN for your customers?

Now this is not some major revelation that I suddenly had by myself but rather something that Mike Hill in the CPA Tsunami course (not for sale anymore) reminded me of in his training material.

Basically what he talked about is ensuring you are looking at the total “life” value of your customers and be willing to invest in making them happy… not just proving what you initially promised them.

The cool thing is this is not always as difficult as you may think… take for example the punch cards you get at your favorite coffee shop… after a certain amount of purchases you get a free coffee. Yes it ends up costing money but it encourages return customers and loyalty and MAKES YOU MONEY!

Think about “Fun” things that cause you to get involved in things. Monopoly at McDonald’s, Roll up the Rim at Tim Horton’s (Canadian thing) and I am sure you can think of lots to add to this list.

OK, so why do i like FaceBook better… well they give me a lot more reasons to come back to them. Twitter on the other hand… well they are a little limited.

So what can you do to create “fun things” that will encourage your visitors to come back?

PS – Fun does not mean make them laugh… it is about engaging them and giving them something extra that gives them more reasons to come back then your standard offer.

How to Build Email List of Subscribers FAST!

John Cow — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 11:51:13 +0000

No matter what kind of Internet business you are in – blogging, affiliate marketing, SEO, or just providing a service for customers, you have to build an email list of subscribers along the way! Just look at the entire circle of successful Internet Business Owners, they are making huge money because of that list.

Now, I bet you have heard of “money is in the list”, but not many explain how to actually build email list, so you can make the money from it! Oh, and it is not about bombarding your visitors with offers…It is actually totally opposite from it!

Simply put you have to get visitors to sign up for your free offer – otherwise all your traffic efforts or content efforts are NOT going to be as effective! Why? Well, first time visitor is just that, first time visitor (let me say it – ONE time visitor). The repeat visitor knows you, trusts you, and will listen to your advice. Of course, if you do a good job with building a relationship

So how do you really build that relationship?

Drum roll please!!!! —> Give Them a Guide That Solves Their Problem For FREE!

It sounds so simple, yet so many people are not doing this! Or, they are trying to do it, and are not doing it the right way!

Let me give you an example. Let’s assume that your blog is about weight loss, your “capture lead offer” is “Lose 10 Pounds in 2 Weeks”. BUT if you do not give them a plan to actually lose those 10 pounds in 2 weeks, you have not built trust or relationship… You have actually lost all the good faith you had with that visitor, and that visitor will unsubscribe and you have just wasted all your efforts!

Not to repeat myself here, but you have to “Give Them a Guide That Solves Their Problem for FREE”! And you will establish trust and relationship that can really make you a lot of money!

Help those people! Helping them should be your primary focus – and the money will come in, trust me!

Now many people have tried list building and realized it takes a lot of work OR it was not as profitable for them! But what if you could build you email list, profitable may I add, of 2000 subscribers in as little as 3 weeks?

Click Here to learn how to – and get the eye-opening, mind-blowing, FREE email list building guide.

You see, there are only 3 things you need in order to build your list!

1. You need a good, FREE offer of extreme value – so that people would pay money for!
2. You need a squeeze page that converts at 50%-60%
3. You need lots of targeted traffic!

Click Here to get get a totally free blueprint copy!

Having an email list is like having your own search engine – just like getting traffic on demand!

How to Use the Free Tools Available to Brand Yourself as a Trusted Expert

John Cow — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:59:40 +0000

As I’ve mentioned before, you can’t become a Trusted Expert by buying advertising. It’s been a long time since advertising built trust, especially on the web, and we’ll never see those days again.

Now, if you were using traditional advertising theories and strategies, you would now be stumped as to what you could do to promote your business. But you’re not, you’re dealing with the online world, and you’re going to be applying new theories to this new way of reaching people. You are a Trusted Expert (or at least you will be by the time I’m done with you.)

And a Trusted Expert has tools at their disposal that they can use to establish their position in their category as an authority. And best of all, those tools are free. I’ll be going over those tools in the next few posts, starting with blogs.

Blogs

Your blog is your best resource for positioning yourself as a Trusted Expert. And you don’t even have to have your own to use it this way. Here’s how:

First thing to do – start reading blogs. (Which, if you’re here, you’ve already started doing.) Read ones in your category and niche, read ones outside of it. Bookmark and subscribe to the ones you like, and maybe even to a couple that you don’t like but has fantastic numbers. You’ll start to get an idea of what works and what doesn’t, how to reach out to readers, how to generate traffic, and how to create controversy and create publicity for yourself.

Next step is to start commenting on those blogs you like, don’t like, etc. Make sure you’ve got something reasonably intelligent to say, hopefully something witty, and link to your website. Not only will you get some additional traffic to your website from the blog, it makes Google’s search engine like you more.

Keep your eye out for comments on your category or niche; think of something useful to say (remember, you want to be a Trusted Expert!) Give people advice or help where you can. If it’s applicable, invite the person with the problem to take it to email where you can help them even more. Next time that person is looking for something you sell, chances are they’ll go to you.

If you come across a blog or comments that mentions you, your product, or your website in a negative sense, for goodness’ sake address it. Explain who you are; offer up the chance to address the problem directly. If there truly was a screw-up, admit it and apologize – in this age of “It’s anybody’s fault but mine” you’d be surprised how many people will appreciate a “Yup. I messed up; but I’m fixing it and it won’t happen again.” People will appreciate your honesty and realize that we’re all human and forgive you. And more importantly, associate you with a real human being and not a faceless corporation. (Note – they will do this the first time this happens; keep screwing up and, even if you admit it, you’ll look like an idiot who doesn’t know what he’s doing – the opposite of a Trusted Expert.)

More to come in the next post about what to do when you start your own blog….

Lazy Revenue – How to Make More Money From Your Website

John Cow — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:12:37 +0000

When you’re starting out in online business, you’re going to come want to start using scripts and software to automate certain things and to either make your life easier, save you time, or to get you where you want to be faster. And when you get to that point, you have two choices – you can either build the software or script for yourself, or you can purchase something from someone else.

While building it yourself can make you more money in the long run, as you’ll own the rights and can then turn around and sell it to other people, it isn’t the answer for everyone. Either you don’t have the knowledge, time, or expertise to do it, or you don’t know exactly what you need it to do. If that’s the case for you, then it’s better for you to buy a product rather than waste time and money trying to build something for yourself. In fact, if you’re just starting out , I recommend that you start out by buying products – most are not too expensive, and they will save you time and money when you need it most.

If you’re in the market (and we all are at some point – I still buy products on a regular basis) for scripts and software, then check out Lazy Revenue, at http://lazyrevenue.com/. It’s a new website that will showcase new and unique products that have been created to save you time and make you money faster and easier. Their products are software and scripts that will allow any webmaster, regardless of experience, to easily add them to your website and start making more money right away.

Their newest product is a “Get More Twitters” script. It sells a complete automated twitter solution, which promotes a customer’s Twitter account. It’s built in PHP and Ajax, and it targets followers, and will automatically follow people as well so things don’t get lopsided, as well as many other features. It’s easy to set up (although they’ll help you with that if you need it) and is an easy way to generate some revenue for your site. When you go to the site, the ‘buy it’ button is a little hard to find – just go to the detailed information page for the products, and it’s at the bottom of the page.

Lazy Revenue also has a great automated marketplace script that works like the old Sitepoint, but with a few added bells and whistles to make things easier (and more profitable). Same as with “Get More Twitters” the purchase button is at the bottom of the detail page. Prices are currently listed in British Pounds – check your conversion rate is you’re not in the UK, but even converted, the prices are pretty reasonable.

What I really liked about Lazy Revenue was their commitment to customer support. We’ve all bought products that promised a lot, but when we had problems with it, getting help was like pulling teeth. Lazy Revenue has phone, email and live chat support, and they’re more than happy to help you with any problem you might have.

So if you’re looking for easy ways to make getting money out of your site easier, check out Lazy Revenue at http://lazyrevenue.com/ today!

This is a paid review by Johncow.com

Learn how to have a Six Day Weekend (for free)

John Cow — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:43:50 +0000

A lot of the questions I get sent are about affiliate marketing and how to get started. If you don’t know much about it, it can seem a little daunting and hard to find a place to start. So, if you want to know how to get started in affiliate marketing, at no cost to you, then you should check out 6 Day Weekend at http://www.sixdayweekend.com.

6 Day Weekend is completely free affiliate marketing training by Sean Morrissy, and it really is free. Once you sign up, you’ll have access to over 90 training videos that will show you how you can start making thousands of dollars a month. Have I mentioned that it’s free? I really like that part.

Apart from being free, the other thing that I really like is that this system aims at generating you a steady, repeating income while only working one day a week – hence the six day weekend. Now, you’ll have to put in some work to get to that point, but I think that is a great goal to have. Plus, the 6 Day Weekend teaches and emphasizes the importance of learning how to outsource – a skill you absolutely need to have and master if you want that six day weekend.

So what’s the catch?

Nothing.

But why is it free if it’s so good?

Because Sean Morrissy understands the value of giving something useful away for free. By letting you use this training system, you’ll then know that it’s a good product, and you’ll then be more likely to be receptive and trust what he’s selling, when he has something to sell.

For those of you following the Trusted Expert series that I’m doing, this is a great example of branding yourself as a Trusted Expert – by providing something useful, not just by telling people to trust you while selling them something. Sean is putting his money where his mouth is, and wants to prove to you the value of what he has to offer before trying to sell you something.

So what do you have to lose?

Sign up for the 6 Day Weekend at http://www.sixdayweekend.com and not only learn how to make a ton of money in affiliate marketing, but you’ll also have a great practical example of how to be a Trusted Expert.

This is a paid review by Johncow.com