As a hobby Standup comedian I know about this fear. Every time I get a new spot in a local comedy club I get this feeling inside me. “What if they don’t laugh?”, “Will my new material work in this town?” and so on. Sometimes it’s so bad that I’m on a point of calling in sick. But then this other voice inside my head starts telling me how good it will be and there is another voice saying “Remember that you’ll get paid sick loads of money for being funny on stage for just 10 minutes”. And I get my act together and just put myself out there. I just need to get over that afraid part. The – what if not everyone like me part.

And it’s used to be the same when working on my business. I learned different strategies that the marketers behind the products I bought talked so warm about. And for the reason of being afraid of what people where thinking I waited way to long before I created my own product in any niche. Now I know that after I have tested a market and see that it works, I can just make my own product and earn much more with better marketing. I’m not afraid to put myself out there and telling you what I think.

There will always be someone that is better then you in marketing, in product creating, in making videos online, in being funny on a stage. But for many people you are also an expert in the same parts. That’s why it’s so important that you just get started.

So why does this happen? Why don’t we do the things we should?
First of all you are to comfortable with the situation you are in. You never want to be in your comfort zone. Step out of this zone and jump over to the Progress or Pain zone. They are the best motivators. That’s why you here of people that are in thousands of dollars in dept suddenly gets enormous success in whatever they achieve.  They was in the pain zone and for some reasons you are better in finding solutions. The same with progress zone. When you first get started to earn the first few dollars online and you see that a certain strategy work, you keep on doing more.

Another reason is Distractions. It’s easy to get distracted doing this type of marketing work. Just think about all the email offers you receive everyday. All the Facebook and Twitter messages you want to read and click on. All the other blogs you need to read. The solution is to find things that fulfill you and cut out the rest.

Excuses are another reason you don’t do things you should do. That’s why it’s a good idea to partner up with someone. Get a mentor or be part of a mastermind group.

The last think I believe is a factor for not doing what you should is the Lack of Ambition. You maybe have some ideas about your ambitions, but you need to be setting goals that are ambitious. There is a bigger chance on taking action on those goals.

Hope this helps you to start doing the things you need to do. And if you have other reasons I would love to hear about them in the comments under.

It’s the first year I’m entering this JV Giveaway Event and I must say I never thought it would be this big. The two guys behind the event have done a great job promoting it.

The door is now open for you so that you can start downloading products.

The best part is that even though you’re not an contributor in this years Giveaway event, you can still make some money from this. You make 100% instant commissions on upgraded referrals in the members area that your referrals buy. INCLUDING an irresistible OTO (an ACTUAL One Time Only Offer) that you can review for yourself, when you login now.

Many Schemes and tools out there has been to massive and heavy to mess around with. But the other day I finally found a cool online tool that makes tracking and assessing my goals simple. It’s called Disciplanner.

We all have a bunch of habits. Both positive and negative ones. (At least I do) And Disciplanner let me make categories for them. This way I can track how long I watch useless TV shows (negative habit) instead of working on recording great new content for my subscribers (positive habit)

All I need to do is to visit Disciplanner in the end of each day and put in the number of time spent on the different categories. (You need to be honest with yourself here) And after a week or two it will all make sense with a cool graphical report. Now you ca see where your time went. Finally!

Best of all it’s totally FREE but you need to register for an account. (How else will it be able to track you?)
It’s time for getting rid of those bad habits!

Visit Discplanner.com here

Brand = User Experience: The Interface of a Cheeseburger
Smashing Magazine did a great article where they focus on branding together with user experience. They use a Mc Donald’s cheeseburger as a great example. It’s actually a web designer starts in a McDonald’s, where he discovers that there is a worm hole between the world of Branding and User Experience Design. Years later he learns that it is the Interface that connects both worlds. This is the first part in a series.

Conquering the Intimidation Factor
Blogging Tips.com is a great blog that is giving your just that. This week I read a great article from Larry Brooks on how it feels like to get started with blogging. There is the thing about all the new terms that gets thrown at you every day. And then you have the blogging superstars that we aspire to blog with and for them, and we wonder why they don’t answer our emails or respond to our clever commentary on their sites. A great article that gives a great insight of a bloggers worlds.

Facebook Humor: Funny Facebook Cartoons
Techie Buzz did a funny Friday Humor post this week and it was all about Facebook Humor. So go ahead, feast your eyes and ROFL (Roll on the floor laughing) while you view these funny images and cartoons for Facebook, and of course our funnier commentary to go with it.

Create a Stylish Social Networking Set of Side Tabs for Your Blog
Human 3rror posted a great article on how to make a very cool and stylish social networking set so you can put on your blog. A super duper tutorial with all the code ready for you to copy and paste. This is for you more advanced bloggers out there..

Make Professional Multimedia PDF Portfolios with Adobe Acrobat 9
Wow.. looks like Adobe Acrobat 9 is going to bring digital products to the next level. Or what do you think? Now you can fill your e-books up with videos and 3d graphic. Check out the video to see all of the new features in action!

Anyhow, this time when I was visiting his blog I find him giving Internet Marketing tips naked in a spa at his luxury apartment suite at the Luxor Casino in Las Vegas. He was really kicking some ass in Vegas with his many small but good Marketing Tips videos. Take a look at the crazy tub video here…

The crazy thing was not finding Gary Simpson in the tub. The crazy thing was to know that I did something similar just a couple of months ago in a video that I shared with my own mailing list. (See the picture under)

So What is it With Marketers Being Naked in The Tub?
I needed to ask myself that question. Gary is enjoying his bubbles when sipping Jack Daniel’s, I have less bubbles but I’m enjoying my local beer Hansa. We both talk about important stuff and sharing some good knowledge about success. And then I realize it! It is representing the new way of living. A super cool lifestyle where you are free to do what ever you want and where ever you want. (Just follow the local laws)

When you have a business that you can run from your computer anywhere in the world, you can have a lifestyle like this. – So the lifestyle of an Internet Marketer is to always be naked in a tub somewhere?  It is if you want it to. I can’t speak for Gary, but I know I love to do other things as well like rock climbing and exclusive wine tasting.

Are you ready to get started?
Well this weekend, starting 24th of October, I’ll give away a special gift so that you can get started yourself. All I can say is that it’s going to be FREE and filled with High Valued content! (And I will not be naked in a tub) Look out for more spoilers in the following days..

In the meantime, enjoy the pictures of me and Gary, and visit Gary’s Blog so that he doesn’t get mad at me for using his naked pictures on my blog… hehe..

So what’s this all about?
Well the FTC have created some new regulations that affect all marketers. Online or ofline and yes, they affect you even if you don’t live in the USA.

If this is totally new for you I’ll recommend that you start reading it here:
FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials

Let’s break it down
The two biggest changes or new guidelines has to do with Endorsements and disclosure, and Testimonials. This will change the Affiliate Marketing industry a lot.

If you promote an affiliate product, even if it’s something you give away for free and is not getting paid for, you mus be fully disclosed or you will get hit in the face for misleading adverting. That means you can no longer hide an affiliate link on your site or on an email without telling your visitors that if they signup you will get paid when they buy the product. Even if you are just promoting a free download of an e-book, if the marketer is offering something on the back end that you will earn money on you still need to tell your visitor. If not, it’s misleading advertising.

Even more important is the guideline for using testimonials.  And I’m very sure that this one will totally change the game. It’s not enough to write on your product page that “results are not typical”. You know, the normal disclaimer. If you are selling a product now you need to let your buyers know what the average buyer will achieve!

I’m very sorry for my language here but.. WTF?

This will destroy many niches and markets. It’s nearly impossible to tell. Training, diet and making money online. It all depends on people taking action or not. If you just control your “inner whiner” that always tell you that you can’t do it and listen to your “inner winner” you will succeed.  But you see, I cant write that as an average on any product.

Looking forward to some smart marketer that comes up with a “creative” way to get around this new guidelines.

So what to do?
Follow the new guidelines! Be honest with people. Tell them if they find the product interesting you will earn a commission. I’m very sure that you will still be able to sell infoproducts without testimonials.

Finalwords
You should really read the FTC brief yourself. I’ll link it up here again. I’m not an attorney you need to seek your own legal counsel on what to do. This is just information on what’s happening in the marketing world and I thought you should know.

If it’s good or bad for the Internet Marketing industry, I guess time will show. Let me know what you think in the comments.

At least Google’s Gmail started to fix the problem and made threaded conversation easier to follow.  At least it was a big step up from my Outlook inbox. Now Google is doing it again. They invented a new platform of communicating. They call it Wave. You have probably heard something about it but are not sure how it will work. Here is a great animated explanation that I just found.

What is Google Wave

You are not alone, but what can be done about this? Should we only wait and see where the recession will lead us or should we try to do something about it? I vote for some work and here is 5 steps to boost your internet marketing business.

1. Lower your cost
   I know this sounds like a crazy idea when you want to earn a lot of money. But the fact is that a lower cost for your product will probably be the thing that gets your customers to consider your offer one more time. Many people out there is turning around every dollar at the moment, and if your product or service was just a few dollars less it might fit their new tight budget for this month.
2. One Time Offer (OTO)
   This might sound silly, but not many internet marketers are using this sales method when they know they should. After your customers have bought something they are probably looking for a great deal on a similar product or a product that fits with the product they already bought.  There is a lot of money to be made on the back end of your marketing funnel, so why wait to set it up?
3. Spend Less Money
   Hopefully you are threating your business like a business. If you are you are like me you are always on top of what’s new in your niche. You educate yourself and buy a lot of eBooks and audio books and some of your mentors newest products. This is the place to save money. Before buying a new audio book or an eBook, I always look for Coupons or codes. This goes for domains and hosting too. There is lot’s of money to save here. I also buy into less products then I did before and try to find the information within the community instead.
4. Partner Up With Somebody
   Becoming a JV partner with someone that is more successful then you will help you out big time. They probably have a larger list with better converting rate then yours, sales through this list will mean some money in your pocket and a new customer on your list. You do have to pay your partner a commission, but with out him giving you the sales your business could be dead.
5. Offline Marketing For The Win
   This would be my best tips at the moment. If you know how to market, you know a little SEO and you know Social Media you are up for a treat. There is lots of lots of companies that need help with getting traffic for their website. Many of them don’t know how to set up Adwords campaigns, they don’t know about getting free traffic from Twitter and Facebook and they definitely don’t know about setting up a blog for their company to build more backlinks and get more business in that way. You could help them out and earn some money for that at the same time you are monitoring your own business. You can also outsource it and still be holding most of the money for the job.

There you go. 5 super steps to boost your internet marketing business. Hopefully the economy will also get a boost soon so that we can go back to normal.

5 Ways To Schedule Your Tweets
Being able to schedule a tweet in advance can really come in handy for various reasons. Maybe you might need to send yourself reminders or want to schedule birthday or holiday greetings in advance, so you don’t forget. Many also use tweet schedulers to promote products and affiliates or to help them monetize Twitter. Whatever the case may be, it’s good to have an easy to use, reliable service that you can depend on. So, here are five tools that can do the job for you.

Internet Marketing Tips #7 – Gary Simpson
This is video #7 of the Internet Marketing series. If you have been following them then you will get a good idea about what Las Vegas looks like – in and out of the Casinos. And you would also have gotten a lot of great Internet Marketing Tips from my friend Gary Simpson.

Top 5 Characteristics of an Entrepreneur
On the internet, the characteristics of an entrepreneur are no different from the real world. You still need to put in some time and effort to make any money online. You’re running a business, after all. It might not be the brick-and-mortar business your parents are used to but it is still a business. That means the key personal characteristics which mark a successful entrepreneur in the real world are the same for the online entrepreneur.

List vs. Listless — 14 Ways to Focus Your Blog
Lists are everywhere here in blogland.  They’re prevalent in magazines, too, especially in how-to and enthusiast publications, and more than a few grocery checkout tabloids.
We should pay attention to the latter and take care what we emulate in our blogs. Because we, as bloggers, have a higher standard to strive for

HOW TO: Develop into a Leader on Twitter
How exactly does someone develop into a leader on Twitter? If you want to learn how to play basketball, you watch Michael Jordan. If you want to learn how to play golf, you watch Tiger Woods. It’s the same in social media. If you want to learn how to be a Twitter leader, you watch those who have already mastered it.

A Billion Reasons for Twitter to be Happy
So it looks like Twitter has entered some rarefied air for sure. According to ReadWriteWeb and TechCrunch the micro-blogging juggernaut is moving into an exclusive club by securing a new round of funding ($50 million) based on a valuation of $1 billion (yup, it’s a b). No doubt, this will begin to stir the supporters and detractors alike. Unless we have ridiculously short memories or just think that this time will be different one has to wonder how a company that no one can figure out revenue wise can be valued at that much.

Do You Have a Great List of Twitter Tools?
So…now that you are on board with Twitter (or thinking strongly that it would be a really good idea to see what all the hub-bub is about), know that a great list, chock full of tools, is essential.  See what you can discover from these very useful, and some fun links.

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Well, their blog is just a little piece of the Internet. How in the world are they going to reach new readers and get their blog noticed out there?

I’ve put together a list of 10 easy to do tips that will make your blog more noticed, if done right. They are all great traffic generators and they will leave your visitors wanting more. If you have more great tips let me knot in the comments.

1. Good and Interesting content
   It’s important to have up to date content so that your visitors always have something new to come back to. At the same time you need to be sure your content is archived and that your visitors can go back in time to read the content again.
2. Be part of the community
   When you jump around and read other peoples blog, be sure to leave your comments. You will get noticed by the blog owner and his readers. You should also be known as an active user in many niche related forums.
3. Run Contests
   People are crazy about contests. If you have something to give away or you can get a prize from a sponsor you should run a contest on your blog. You should probably have some base of visitors before your start a contest or you can get some help from the community and social medias to get traffic for your contest.
4. Advertise your blog
   PPC (Pay pr click) – advertisement with the right keyword and your banner placed on the right blog will absolutely help you get noticed out there. It will also bring you a lot of new traffic for sure.
5. Use Twitter and Twibe
   We all know that Twitter alone can make you very noticed online. I get a lot of my visitors from Twitter. But instead of pushing out ads for people to sign up on your affiliate program, you should network and get more personal. Follow people that is right for your website. If you have not heard of Twibe, this is a Twitter site where you can be a member of a group and watch only their tweets on a single page. Very good to catch people in a niche.
6. Podcasting
   You should put yourself out there either in audio or video. This makes people really notice you. You can submit your podcast to lots of directories and end up getting many new visitors that is interested in your niche.
7. Offer Consultation
   If you are an expert in your specific niche you can offer consultation for your visitors. This can easily be done through an order form with a paypal button and your product will be a skype call where you go through your clients website and point him or her in the right direction.
8. Tutorials
   An other way to show that you are an expert is to make tutorials. This can be done either with text and pictures or video. Either way a tutorial would be something people come back to every time to see how things are done. You can also submit your tutorials to other big sites to get more noticed.
9. Social Bookmarking
   Be sure that your visitors can add your site to their favorite bookmarking tool. Since most social bookmarking tools are based on sharing links with others and that my friend means new visitors to your site. Also be sure to add you own site to all the social bookmarking sites so that back links are made.
10. Go to networking events
    My final tip would be to attend all kinds of events for blogging in general and for your niche. There is a lot of events to be found if you just take a look at Facebook or your local paper. Events like these are great for learning and also to network with other people doing the same thing as you do. Remember to bring your business card and talk to everyone.

Hope you can use some or all of these tips, and if you like them be sure to use my Gree Little Tweet Me button and spread the word. I also want to hear your comment about this post.