I am currently on a productivity drive, it all started thanks to Alex Jeffreys and of course Rich Schefren, who recommend oil rig hopping (blog hopping) and working smarter not harder.

The problem with being online is that there is so much you should do and even more you could do. Therefore it is essential that you focus on what is best for your business and not what you feel like doing that morning.

In every sales letter directed to the opportunity seeker is the promise of an easy automated magic button path to success.

Well having talked to many marketers this magic button does exist however it is not what you may have been promised or even thought to look for, the magic button to success is getting to know and work with others.

Crucially this must be done with a spirit of generosity, you should approach them with the intention of  helping them without asking for anything in return.

Of course you have more opportunities to do than you can possibly hope to manage which is where FeedDemon comes into play.

This desktop software is an RSS feed manager, it allows you categorise your feeds into niche topic, highlight sites that are driving traffic to your site whilst identifying sites with new content without having to visit them.

That is the crucial feature in this software, there is little point going to multiple sites if there is nothing for you to comment upon or learn from, you already have enough to do without wasting time on fruitless activities.

Of course you won’t always be in front of your computer but if you take the time to setup this software correctly then you can synchronise your feeds with Google Reader and thus you can happily visit the updated sites from your portable gadgets, of which there are far too many to mention.

Okay so lets take a step back and show you how to gather these feeds into FeedDemon.

If you are an Internet marketer you will already have done some research into your niche of choice, so will know who the movers and shakers are in your market. With this information to hand the first step is to visit their site and look for the RSS icon, its generally orange in color and looks like ripples radiating from a central point. That is actually a good description of the power of the RSS feed, the central point of course is your content and the ripples are those that collect and share your RSS feed, this social effect allows your message to spread far and wide.

Unfortunately not all sites display or have an RSS feed which is a big mistake on their part, for just like a sales letter they have only once chance to convert their visitor. With the RSS feed, your visitor can collect your sites information and schedule in a time to take another look at your site, of course they may forget but if you keep adding new content then FeedDemon  will alert them to this new content and perhaps remind them of the stored content.

If the site you visit does not have an RSS feed then there is a way around this, especially if its powered by WordPress.

The image to the right is from http://adriennesmith.net, Adrienne provides consistently great content, she also had the sense to add the RSS feed icon however if that was missing you can still check if there is a feed available, WordPress creates an RSS feed by default and you can check this by simply entering the following to the end of the url “/feed/” thus http://adriennesmith.net becomes http://adriennesmith.net/feed/ and her RSS feed is displayed.

The next step is to click on the subscribe button in FeedDemon and follow the prompts to add this feed to your collection.

With all of your movers and shakers added it is simply a process of looking for updates during your site hop session and adding value to these posts via the comment box.

Your possiblities with RSS feeds are limited only by you imagination but the first step is to ensure you have a way to manage all of the key sites you need to visit and FeedDEmon is a great way to do this, plus its actually free from the following site, http://feeddemon.com/

First off lets start by explaining what Camtasia is.

This software will be installed on your computer and allows you to capture what is displayed upon your screen, edit the recording then share this with others. However the quality and ease in which it does this is where it really begins to shine, each and every feature works really well to make your recording the best it can be.

Due to the fact that there are so many features, I am going to be adding to this this review over the next few weeks weeks but for now lets just show you what it can do.

Of course the best way to do is with an example.

In the following video, I have made some deliberate mistakes and added elements to illustrate how you can enhance the learning experience of your audience with Camtasia.

In the video there were some key features that you can put to great use.

Firstly you can protect confidential material when you record the screen, just remember to avoid scrolling the screen or zooming whilst this information is on screen as Camtasia does not have a dynamic zoom feature.

Secondly you can add annotations to the video if you forget to mention a point or a feature changes, this allows you to update the video without having to create another video from scratch.

Thirdly if you need to highlight a part of the page then you can zoom into that particular area and zoom back out before you carry on.

There are plenty of other great features in Camtasia, in particular you may have noticed the lack of background noise, this was due to the super simple noise reduction process in this software plus any remaining noise can be masked by the backing track that you add to the video.

Of course there was a mini-me in the corner chatting to you as we went through the illustration of features in Camtasia.

If you are interested in purchasing this software but are new to video capture and editing then I would recommend you consider investing in Jing or Snagit first as they allow you to ramp up your screen capture skills for a much reduced cost. I actually still use Jing when I want to make a quick off the cuff screen capture. All three can be trialled at the Techsmith Website

So you went to bed and are in the middle of a great sleep, there is a violinist sitting at the bottom of your bed playing soothing classical music, you are not sure where he came from but hey ho, he is helping you sleep so you leave answering that question for later.

Then it happens.

The digital equivalent of having a defibrilator attached to your chest, the alarm sounds, the violin player quickly disappears and you are left lying in your bed with the prospect of a new day with fresh challenges.

You are now at your most crucial part of the day, get it wrong here and the rest of the day could all go wrong.
This is where Remember the Milk comes in, this is a task manager that works on pretty much every platform that you could wish for and I have it on my Android phone which also monitors just how soothing that violinist made my sleep but that is another product for another time.

The first thing I do after being awoken at the best time thanks to that sleep monitor and crucially before the defibriliator pounds my chest is to check my daily task list which means I start with the first question of the day already answered.

“What do I need to do today?”

Once you know that first task you can let your brain begin working whilst you stumble in the general direction of breakfast.

This is the primary reason I love Remember the Milk, it is always there ready to keep me focussed on my daily activity.

Scheduling tasks is done using real words and times with categories that make sense to you. For instance if you need to meet your partner for lunch on Tuesday at 1pm then that is how you enter it into the application, the system understands that you mean the next available Tuesday. You can of course set lunch up for every Tuesday if you so wish and that is just as easy.

You could also of course for those days when you are not eating out use this as evidence that really today it is not your turn to do the dishes!

For those running a business then there are crucial features available to keep your team all working in the same direction. You can share, send and publish their required tasks to ensure they have no excuses for getting the wrong things right.

This application can be tested for free and I recommend that you do by visiting the Remember the Milk website, as it is a beautifully simple solution that will fit quickly into your daily routine with or without the mystery violinist!

If you run a household or a business the benefits are the same, you can make everyone aware of what they are supposed to be dong and keep it all in a master plan with a list for each member of the team

I upgraded to the pro version which at $25 per year was hardly a big financial decision but allows you to synchronise your diary across all of your devices so instantly you have access to the most up to date version everywhere, including your online account.

The best way to see the power of Remember the Milk is to try if for free here and I would be amazed if you did not bring this into your daily routine

This product is designed to be used in the car or in whatever you call home, the main goal of this device is to get you connected wirelessly and this is achieved with the use of the inbuilt network adaptor and the 5dBi Antenna.

To clarify, dB stands for decibels which is a logarithmic scale rather than a linear one, that probably did not help so let me explain further.

3dB is twice as powerful as 0dB therefore this device will increase your signal strength by nearly 9 times its original condition because 5 is closer to 6. If this is starting to hurt your head then do not worry, all you need to know is the following.

The Alfa AWUS036H will give you better access to your own Wifi connection and allow you to see those that you did not know existed.

I live in a rented downstairs extension at the back of a house whilst the WiFi hub is located upstairs at the front of the house. The only way this could be any worse is if  it was an old house built with solid Victorian bricks or perhaps a mansion with me living in the 7th bedroom in the converted stables!

The bottom line before this came I was only able to get a 2 bar connection which clearly is not ideal when you are trying to run an Internet business.

This was manufactured by a company called Alfa and it bears all the hallmarks of a generic product designed by a small unknown factory in China, I used to import and sell items on eBay, so I recognise this unbranded manufacturing style easily.

This was purchased at the start of March 2012 and unlike many of the electronic products you can buy from China, this one actually works really well. I started with a 2 bar connection and now enjoy a solid 5 bar type G connection consistently.

The installation was a breeze and as Amazon are masters at the upsell I took the USB extender cable option which allows placement of the antenna away from your PC. The adaptor actually comes with a holder and rubber window sucker for use in the car but thanks to that I now have the adaptor attached to the window looking towards the rest of the house.

The software comes on a mini-disc another hallmark of that manufacturing style but my Windows-7 64 bit PC readily accepted both the disc, the software and the USB adaptor without any of the usual Microsoft grumblings.

All in all installation was done in 5 minutes and I was quickly upto a 5 bar connection.

There are of course a multitude of technical specs that you can pore over if you are interested but for those that want to get on here are your key points

• PC, Linux and Mac 10.4 compatible
• 802.11G compatible
• Security is 64/128 WPA, WPA-PSK and WPA II
• Data Rate, 54Mbps

I would recommend getting the extension cable as even though the original cable is couple of metres long with the extension you are able to optimize your connection with the added freedom it brings, you will see the extension in the Amazon write up.

If you are struggling to get the best connection on your desktop computer or even your laptop then I know from my experience that you will benefit from using this.

Why struggle with a poor or limited connection this is a solution that works and does so really well and as with all of the reviews on this site it is something that I actually use. Thus with that in mind, I recommend you hop over to Amazon and see if this will work its magic on your Internet connection.

If you have young children or have had the delight of these in summer then you will know what the title relates to.

If not then let me clarify.

During the summer months when we are all pleased to see the return of blue skies and bright sunshine, it is for the children a trigger to get up and start the day, we as parents and grown ups have a different take on the 4am sunrise!

There is no getting away from this beautiful piece of nature, we are still animals at heart, no matter how well dressed or close shaven we eventually develop into after a few moments of rubbing our eyes.

Our internal body clock is aligned with the rising and setting of the sun thus when the sun arises we are at our most alert, although several cups of coffee does help this process.

As Internet marketers we are able to remove ourselves from this cycle thanks to the wonders of internal lighting and for the most part not looking up from our computers. This is where this software comes into its own,  for when it comes time to sleep whether through choice or from that burning sensation in the back of your head, you will get a better nights sleep when your body thinks the sun has set.

The video below illustrates how this software works, unfortunately I was unable to capture the effect using Camtasia so had to go old school with the screen capture. If anyone can explain at what point in the processor cycle screen capture software does its work and how this software is able to avoid being captured I would be grateful.

If the video fails to play, it is a very large video due to the HD Camera recording, click here to watch on YouTube

I first heard about this daily cycle effect on the BBC technology program Click, they reported the findings of research into a fully blind woman whose pupils responded to varying light levels. It turns out there are photorecptors positioned alongside the well known cones and rods, the task of these is to keep the circadian cycle in check with the natural world around us which means that when the sky or screen is blue, our body is programmed to awake and start the daily cycle.

This software is free and you can find out more from the download page below.

http://stereopsis.com/flux/

<DH6B6G2676GR> The Windows Live Writer software is designed for blog writers that love to create content when the mood and inspiration takes them without the need to log into the destination site for this flash or inspiration.

This software has been designed by Microsoft and is totally free from trial periods or any future costs which both make pleasant surprises.

Alright so you can already create posts within your site or your blog, after all WordPress comes with an acceptable post editor so why use this additional software?

If I stood next to you and demanded that you write a post now, how would you react?

I am guessing your response would be like mine, your creative juices would turn to ice and there would be no post until you had managed to thaw your creativity.

I already mentioned this effect in my review of text formatter plus which is designed for writing emails or newsletters. You see, I have found that the process of opening a browser and entering your login details is just as effective in killing your inspiration and creativity as having your boss or me lurking over your shoulder.

This is why I use Windows Live Writer and why I recommend you do also, you are free to create when the mood takes you and the only interruption is the time taken for the software to open.

Once inside you will find that it looks like any other post 2007 Microsoft Office Product with of course a few specialist tweaks for creating posts and articles. The first of these is that you can tailor your creativity to suit the theme of your site which is achieved by downloading your theme settings, this allows you to create content just as if you were  writing inside your site, without of course the disruption to your creativity.

However I must admit that downloading your blog settings does not always work, this seems to affect free themes more than paid ones but even with this glitch you can still create and upload to your site without any drama.

If you have been following my advice on this and my other blogs then you will have a library of images and videos ready to be used for your creations without any licensing issues.

Those images that are appropriate to the content of your creative juices can be placed strategically throughout the post and the layout verified prior to publishing on your site, this also applies to videos. However as I use flowplayer for my videos, I add videos after the draft version has been sent to my site.

How much should you write is a common creativity question and the answer is of course super simple.

You should continue to write until you have covered all of the points you want to make but of course if get carried away then you may need to pare the content back. Windows Live Writer has an editing section that includes spell checking, word count and content finder utilities which makes editing and proof reading super simple.

I have mentioned that you can upload the content to your site but how is this achieved?

This is where you have to open your blog to external content via a the Settings>Writing panel this is not as scary as it sounds as you will have to enter your WordPress login details to allow Windows Live Writer to communicate with your blog.

One tip on WordPress site security here, as you can see in the image, I have completely deleted the post via email settings, these are filled in by default which means that someone could use these default setting to  gain access to your site. Of course with XML-RPC enabled you have also opened a vulnerability for your site but for me the advantages far outweigh the minimal risk that this creates.

To mitigate this risk, with this software you can save your posts onto your computer so should the worst happen then at least you will have a copy of each post ready to be re-posted once your sites phoenix rises from the flames of hacking or corruption.

The free Windows Live Writer software will allow you to write content or even parts of content when the mood takes you without having to go through the hassle of venturing into the cloud to gain access to your sites content creation facilities. This ultimately means that the quality of your content will increase as you return to enjoying the process of content creation.

I recommend this software which can be obtained here from Microsoft and of course you now know that I actually use this software as the content in the first image is the very content that you have just read.

I am not sure why they called it Digsby but if you are able to get past the strange name you will discover a massively powerful messenger client that does exactly what it promises.

It manages the email, social media and Instant messenger accounts that you instruct it to monitor.

The beauty of this is that you can see in an instant which accounts have new messages which means no more digitally lying underneath your mailbox waiting for the virtual postman to deliver that vital message you were promised.

I will confess I have been guilty of this but this messenger removes the need for you to lurk.

The video below shows you how I use this application

Unlike many other applications of this type you are not limited to just one Twitter account, you can have as many as you desire and when it comes to email the same applies.

It has fast setup options for the following messenger services

• Gmail
• POP / IMAP Email
• Ymail
• Windows Messenger
• GTalk
• AIM
• ICQ
• Jabber
• Twitter
• Myspace
• LinkedIn
• Facebook

These can all be setup very quickly and without any headaches

Once you have these setup you can then post a Digsby messenger client status update to all of the Instant messenger services that you use, allowing your friends to see when you are free to chat.

The most useful feature I find with this service apart from getting alerted to any issues that I need to address when my computer starts up is, you can go directly to the relevant account by simply clicking on the notification.

This one simple click saves you the hassle of having to log into each account every time you wish to respond to a notification, you can of course disable Digsby from storing your account passwords but that would seriously cripple the benefits this messenger client can bring to you.

The one thing to take away from my gushing about Digsby is that there is not a lot to say about it as it is a highly focussed messenger client that does not have any unrelated bells and whistles to distract you. This is the messenger client that is as focussed on moving forwards as you are.

I have been using this service for ages and highly recommend this to anyone who has more than one email address and a social media presence. By the way I almost forgot to mention, it is free to use.

Focus booster is an activity timer that will countdown and alert you when a work session is over, it also allows you to set a break duration after each session

This is produced by focus booster.com and can also be sourced from softpedia if you do not like downloading software from sites you have not heard of.

There is only good news about this software and the first is that it is completely free without any trial periods or licenses to worry about.

This software is based upon the Pomodoro technique?

This is a time management method created in the 1980′s by Francesco Cirillo. It acts as a valuable asset when you desire to accomplish any task in the most efficient manner and comes highly recommended by many marketers.

What Pomodoro actually encourages is for you to break down your work sessions into 25 minute sessions separated by 5 minute breaks. The premise being that going hell for leather on your tasks in short bursts is a far more efficient and healthy way to work.

Of course each session must be totally devoted to one single task otherwise you will not get the benefits.

Which leads to the 5 basic steps to using Focus Booster effectively.

• Decide on the task to be done
• Set Focus Booster to 25 minutes, leave the break length at 5 minutes
• Work on only that task until the timer rings
• Record the task status, how on track are you?
• Take the short break, a drink or domestic break.
• Every 2 hours (four sessions) take a longer break of 15 minutes.

Now although the original technique was based upon a mechanical timer, I have found a digital one to be far more effective. Primarily because almost all of my work is done on the computer and the fact that the stop button on the mechanical timer broke after several strikes thus I searched and found a more reliable alternative.

Focus booster options allow you have it always on show no matter how many windows you open. This however does not create an functional issue as the timer is very small as shown in the image.

The optional optional ticking sound is a healthy irritant because it is a timely reminder that you are working to a deadline which of course you should be.

Now setting session times is all good and well but there is a more important benefit from using the Focus Booster timer.

After you have used this for a while and have got into the rhythm of noting how long it actually takes a highly focussed you to do each task, you can then plan your weeks activity based upon real durations which of course leads to a more efficient, productive and less stressful working environment.

Of course if you are working away from your own computer you could always use the online version which can be accessed here

Focus Booster Live

or simply apply the Pomodoro techniques using the timer on your cell phone or even a mechanical timer, just remember to treat it gently.

I absolutely love this software and highly recommend that you start using this software. Remember it is totally free and you have a choice of download sources below:

Focus Booster website

Focus Booster via Softpedia

As marketers we all know that we should be building email lists and engaging with those that subscribe to our lists however this can often feel like a chore rather than the pleasure it should and can be.

I faced this problem and found a solution in Text Formatter plus which is a text editor designed specifically for ezine and email writers like you and me.

This was Created by  Format Blue Software who have a record of producing simple but very powerful solutions and they come highly recommended by such people as Armand Morin and Martin Avis.

I have been using this email solution since September 2010, I took the free 30 day trial on the recommendation of Martin Avis but quickly paid the very low purchase price of $19 to get the full version as I recognised the power and efficiency of using this software

The most important thing in your marketing is your mindset and when creating messages it is essential that you are in a positive and creative frame of mind when you start to write.

What I noticed prior to using this software was that by the time I had logged into my autoresponder and opened their text message editor, my enthusiasm for writing a message had massively reduced and all too often completely evaporated.

This maybe down to the fact you are now ‘trapped’ inside a log in session and hence perhaps your mind feels equally trapped which stifles your creativity.

The alternative is to have this on your PC’s shortcut bar which allows you to quickly start writing your message without having to worry about Internet connections or session time outs.

The Free Alternative

You could of course use a normal text editor but then you would have to format the line width manually and this is a very slow and tedious process which will mean you start to hate writing messages.

Ultimately by taking the free alternative your relationship with your subscribers will suffer as will the income generation potential from your email lists, this could be the most expensive $19 you ever saved..

Releasing Your Creativity

I am sure you have a great message to share with your subscribers and this software makes it easy to create that message

In Text Formatter Plus, you have 3 views,

Original

Original is where you just write without consideration for line width

This leaves you to focus on releasing the creativity trapped inside your mind and where you do all the standard text formatting tasks like selecting fonts, indentation, bullets, word count and of course spell checking. The great thing about the spell checker is that it comes in over 12 languages and if you are an English speaker that includes both US and UK versions with a thesaurus.

Generated

This is where you see how the message will look with the line width applied.

If you are happy with your messages appearance then all that is left to do is copy and paste the message into your autoresponders editor and share your creativity with your subscribers.

Snippets

If you are sharing a recommendation or using a text passage on a regular basis then this is where you can store these.

As your affiliate links and most effective text passages are within easy reach you can get today’s message written far quicker without disturbing your creative mind with boring tasks like searching for links or extracting content from previous messages.

Remove Your Constraints Today

Okay so you want to free your mind of constraints and release your creativity when writing your emails or newsletters then this is the software for you, after all if it is good enough for Armand Morin and Martin Avis then I am sure it is good enough for you.

You can start your 30 free trial by clicking on the link below

Text Formatter Plus Trial

As the quote says, if you do not know where you are going then any destination will do.

Of course if you have a dream lifestyle that you wish to make a reality then any destination is most definitely not what you want to achieve.

However to travel in a focussed and personalised direction, you must have a clear path in mind and this is where business planning comes in, sounds really boring and perhaps you have tried before and got nowhere.

This is where mind mapping comes into its own and which is why I use and recommend Xmind.

Mind mapping and building a business plan can only happen through taking action so the best way to illustrate the power of Xmind and why I love it so much is through a video which I have made for you below.

As a gift I have attached my process map template with a short video on how to use it.