Mike's Online Academy

Running Out Of Ideas?

2012-04-15T16:45:00.001+01:00

Running out of ideas for posts to your blog?

One thing that will help is having a means of recording your ideas when you are not in front of your PC.

These days it is a lot easier as most phones have a means of taking notes or voice recorder.

You never know when inspiration will hit.

A lot of songwriters have recorders to capture that melody that mysteriously pops into their head once in a while!

The same applies to your ideas.

A free tool I use is evernote which you can get at www.evernote.com.

Evernote is also available as an app too!

Happy Blogging

Mike

Turn an ordinary Facebook post into a viral optin form

2012-04-09T16:04:00.000+01:00

To get hold of this software Click Here

Thought For The Day

2012-04-07T17:44:00.001+01:00

Before you start your project think about who is going to use your finished product.

You can work your pants off creating your masterpiece but all this is for nothing if you havent got an end user!

Video Marketing: Where To Host Your Video.

2012-04-02T14:04:00.000+01:00

Hosting Video on the web is a bit different to hosting websites.

You need a hosting site to host your video on.

The most popular site to host your video on is Youtube but are there

alternatives you can use

One overlooked site you can use to host your video is Facebook.

When you upload a video to facebook you get the option to embed the code.

When you want to put your video onto another website then you can use the code given to you by Facebook.

Another site to check out is Screencast.com, they offer a paid service but you can get a basic account for free.

A popular site which is also free is Vimeo .

For businesses that want to have more control of their video and a more professional approach there are paid services such as Viddler and Amazon S3.

To use Amazon S3 you need an amazon account but their rates are good and you only pay for what you use.

The downside is that AMAZON s3 can be a bit tricky for newcomers as you have to have a bit of techie knowledge to start with.

If you have any questions please leave a comment below.

Best Wishes

Mike

How To Get Dot Com Domains For $3!

2012-03-17T16:08:00.000Z

This is a newsflash, just came across this video by Internet Marketing Legend Bill Myers on how to get up to 3 .Com domains for $3!

I tried it myself and it works so I thought I would pass on the good news!

If you haven't already, please subscribe to my newsletter or RSS feed and I will keep you updated on the latest skinny.

To watch Bill's video Click HERE.

Best Wishes

Mike

PS Click Here For FREE Download of an Internet Entrepreneurs Income Secrets

We Need To Think Outside Of The Box, Always!

2012-03-14T12:35:00.000Z

"Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances."
Dr. Lee DeForest, "Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television."

"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives."
Admiral William Leahy , US Atomic Bomb Project

"There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom."
Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people,
and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

"But what is it good for?"
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
Bill Gates, 1981

This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered
as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
Western Union internal memo, 1876.

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value.
Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,'
the idea must be feasible."
A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service.
(Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With The Wind" .

"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make."
Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment.
The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this."
Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads .

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy!"
Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."
Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University , 1929.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."
Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre , France .

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.

"The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required."
Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University

"I don't know what use any one could find for a machine that would make copies of documents. It certainly couldn't be a feasible business by itself."
The head of IBM, refusing to back the idea, forcing the inventor to found Xerox.

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon,"
Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.

And last but not least.....

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

What is RSS and How Can It Help Me Grow My Blog Or Website?

2012-03-12T13:36:00.001Z

The RSS Icon

What is RSS?

It means REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION

It is a code that enables a visitor to your blog to subscribe to your posts.

It means that others can view your content on other websites or blogs and increase your readership.

Another benefit is your visitors don't have to keep going back to your blog to read your posts.

There are two sides to RSS.

Firstly, you need to use specific software to translate your blog into an RSS feed so that people can subscribe to your posts.

Second, you need what is called an RSS reader to read content from other blogs or websites.

You can create an RSS feed for your blog or website by using or using free or paid for software such as www.feedburner.com, www.FeedYes.com which are free of charge or you can go for a paid service which has more bells and whistles like www.Feedforall.com.

To read RSS feeds you can use http://www.google.com/reader, there are many other readers available too.

You can also display RSS feeds on your blog by adding an element if you are using BLOGGER software or installing a PLUG IN if you use Wordpress.

If you use BLOGGER you can add adsense advertisments to your RSS feeds.

You can use it along with email to create a relationship with your subscribers

If you have the AWEBER autoresponder you can use your RSS feed to email your blog content to your subscribers.

RSS makes it so much easier for your visitors to keep up to date with your blog or website and form that all important relationship.

If you have a twitter account you can feed your blog into your twitter posts by using www.Twitterfeed.com

Also you can display your Twitterfeed on your blog or website by going into your profile page at twitter and clicking "adding twitter" to your website!

If you want to get your message out to a wider audience then don't overlook using RSS.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Best Wishes

Mike

How Not Reducing The Size Of Your Images Can Cost You Traffic!

2012-03-07T12:19:00.002Z

We have all been there, clicked a link to a website or blog and because it took ages to load we looked elsewhere.

The attention span of the average web surfer is pretty short so you do not want to put off a potential visitor!

That is a person not added to your list or a sale lost!

First things first, lets go over some basics.

In Order of size.

Byte

Kilobyte

Megabyte

Gigabyte

Certainly if an image is a Megabyte or more it will cause problems.

What is the best size for an image?, there is no definitive answer here but images are best small but not too small!

too many large images and your website won't load!

If you are giving away a free ebook and it contains images that are too large it will be hard or impossible to download!

Plus if you are uploading a photo to a social media site such as Twitter or Facebook your image might be too big so you need a way of reducing the size.

A popular piece of software to reduce the size of your images is Irfanview

It is a totally free piece of software that will help you reduce the size of your images!

So here is how you reduce the size of your file using Irfanview.

1.Download Irfanview from www.Irfanview.com

2.Once downloaded and running click on open

3.Then click the image button(at the top of the screen) to bring up another menu.

4.On this new menu click Resize/Resample. and a new box opens up

5.Enter The new dimensions of your picture in the new box

6.Keep The Preserve Aspect Ratio box ticked

7.Click file and then click Save As

8.Make sure you save as a JPEG for the best quality and give your picture a different name to the original picture if you want to keep it.

Having images that are too large is a common mistake.

Hope that helps.

Best Wishes

Mike

How To Create Persuasive Headlines - Business Letter Writing Tips

2012-02-23T01:17:00.001Z

Are You Standing Out From The Crowd?

The Formula For Advertising Is AIDA

What does that stand for?

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

Enjoy the Video!

Mike

Six Key Things Your Web Business Can't Do Without!

2012-02-06T08:14:00.006Z

It is so easy to go off in all directions at once and not have a clear idea about where you are going.

Let's face it you wouldn't order a cab without having a destination in mind!

So what are the six key elements you need for a business on the web?

1.First you need a market.

2.Then you need a product for that market

3.then you need a website to sell that product

4.You need visitors to the website selling your product

5.You need a way to get visitors and customers coming back for more!

6.And of course you need a way of attracting visitors to your website.

If you compare an internet business to a regular bricks and mortar business just substitute "Shop"for website!

Some internet marketers have the misconception that the internet is a new way of doing business and the old way is dead in the water!

No, the principles and rules are the same just the tools are different.

You still need a product that somebody wants even if your product is digital or a toilet seat!

But even before having a product there is the task of finding a market, preferably a hungry market or one that can be made hungry.

Some can sell sand to the Arabs by sheer force of personality, but for the rest of us,we want to sell something that somebody else needs or wants.

It would be a lot easier to sell fresh drinking water to the arabs!

How do you find a market, well go into your local large newsagent and survey the wealth of topics covered by the magazines being sold.

You can bet if there is a magazine on something there has to be a demand.

Same thing if you check on Amazon too.

Lot's of books covering lots of different interests or niches!

.Now the next step is sourcing a product for that market you can sell.

There are three popular ways of doing this.

The first is becoming an affiliate of a product in that niche you have chosen.

The second is buying a licence to a product that would be in demand from your market.

The third is creating your own product to sell to your niche.

Ok you have a product for your hungry market, next you need a presence on that internet which is usually a website but can be blog such as Wordpress or even a Facebook page.

In bygone days this was a "shop"!

Ok you have a website now how the hell do you get the right visitors to your website or shop?

Well that's quite a creative area, the same way you see businesses coming up with great advertising schemes such as monkeys selling breakfast cereal or tea.

The concept is no different on the internet!

The idea is to stand out from the crowd, not be boring or predictable.

Remember how Skoda were rehabilitated using a clever marketing campaign?

They used the negative image of Skoda as being wheelbarrows on wheels and changed peoples views probably for good.

Obviously the product has to be good too or the marketing campaign will grind to a halt.

Another important ingredient is capturing the address details. of your customers or visitors so you can keep in touch with them and either sell them something later or sell them someone else.

Again, using the bricks and mortar business analogy.

If a customer walks into your shop and doesn't buy anything then try and get his details by offering an inducement then allows you to market to that person in the future rather than the guy walking out of your front door and never seeing them again!

Most successful businesses do this.They build relationships with people.

Those businesses who do not see business in this way are not long for this world.

So many businesses blame the recession for their woes when there customer service and marketing stinks!

Bye For Now

Mike

PS:Do you need thousands of subscribers or customers on your list to be successful?

Click Here To Find Out!

World's Coolest Flight Attendant

2012-01-11T12:53:00.000Z

How To Create A Clickable Image

2012-01-10T11:10:00.004Z

Here is the code to create a clickable image.

<a href="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"> <img border="0" img src="yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"></a>

This code can be used to create banner ads or used in classified ads such as Craigslist Image ads..

Below is an example of a clickable ad

It is for a Free multi-media package contained in a zip file so if you want it then click it!

All you have to do is replace the X's with the webpage you want your visitor to go to which could be a squeeze page or a sales page.

You replace the "Y"'s with the URL of your image

For example "x" would be http://www.yoursqueezepage.com and "y" would be http://www.yoursqueezepage.com/yourpicture.jpg

Make sure you do not delete the quotation marks.

Hope you find this useful, I would love to hear your comments.

Best Wishes

Mike

What Is Facebook Edgerank? Get Your Facebook Posts Read!

2011-12-30T11:31:00.000Z

Firstly you need to post content that will "engage"

What do we mean by "engage"?. In the dictionary "engage" is defined as "to take part or participate"

If you think about it ,it's not much fun talking to someone who just talks about themselves.

Say your business is a restaurant, rather than just reeling off your menu in your posts why not ask your followers what they think, their opinions etc

You want to build a relationship.

Think about what makes you like or comment on a post.

Facebook uses a system called Edgerank which effectively scores your post.

Edge means an impression on your newsfeed which would be yours or somebody elses post.

And the rank would be their order of importance.

Some of the factors which contribute to your Edgerank score are

How often you have interacted with your friends or followers ,frequency of posting, likes, comments and shares.

If your post is shared Facebook love this and will increase your Edgerank.

The next most important for your Edgerank score are comments followed by likes.

So while getting likes will help your post higher in the newsfeed, it is even better to have your followers comment or share.

If you posts appear higher you can get maximum exposure so remember the key is engage!

So to get your Facebook post seen.

Post Frequently

Encourage Participation By Asking questions or having competitions etc.

And have content that is as recent as possible.

Any questions then please get in touch!

Happy New Year!

Mike

How To Install A Facebook Like Button And Send Button To Drive Traffic To Your Website.

2011-12-09T13:01:00.001Z

Why install a Facebook Like button at all?

Well if a visitor to your website likes what he sees they can hit the Like button on your webpage and that "like" will be registered on your visitors Facebook Wall and Newsfeed.

That in turn can in turn be seen by their friends and the whole thing can go viral generating publicity to your site.

Why install a Send Button?

If your visitor is impressed by your website he or she can share it with his friends by a direct message which can have more impact

How do you get them?

First you need what is called an APP or APPLICATION.

An application helps you add things to Facebook.

So to set up your app log into Facebook and then go to

https://developers.facebook.com/apps

You will then see a button "create new app" click on this.

On the next page you will see boxes for "App Display Name" and "App Namespace" for these you can just enter the name of your website.

After doing the above you will be taken to the "Advanced Settings" page.

At the top of this page look for "App ID" and "App Secret". You will need to copy these and keep them somewhere safe.

WELL DONE YOU HAVE SET UP AN APP ON FACEBOOK!

This app will be the basis of other Facebook gizmos you put on your website.

Next CREATING YOUR LIKE and SEND BUTTON : )

First go to http://tinyurl.com/likeplugin

Do this while still signed into your Facebook Account

This page prompts you to enter the website where you want to install your like button.

Remember now that you have created the app previously you can have the option of a "Send" button.

When you have done that press the "Get Code" button and you will see 2 lots of code.

The top bit is your App that allows you to host a whole load of Facebook features to your website.Make sure it has the APP ID that you saved earlier.

You only need to install this App once.on your website

The second part is the code to install your LIKE and SEND button.

The second lot of code you place in the area you want the LIKE and SEND button to be.

Hopefully now you will have a fully functioning LIKE and SEND button.

Please get in touch if you have any comments or questions.

Best Wishes

Mike

Click Here To Find Out How To Use Facebook To Build Your List!

Two Brilliant FREE Tools To Boost Your Online Marketing and Predict Trends

2011-11-25T12:23:00.002Z

Whether you are selling a product online or offline or thinking of selling a particular product there are 2 brilliant free tools from Google to help you market it.

The first is Google Trends which you can FIND HERE

It gives you peek at the search volume for a product is plus how popular that product is in different countries.

The results can be further broken down into cities and date ranges.

You can use it to spot trends or even see when a product has reached it's peak and is on it's way down.

Also products can have their peak times so you can target your marketing more effectively.

The other tool is Google Insights which you can find HERE

This tool goes into more detail than Google Trends, for example you can find out the volume of your search term in specific categories like "Food and Drink" or "Health"

Also you can target your results better by choosing "Seasonality" eg "last 30 days" or "2006,2007"

Plus you can find the Geographical location of the searches and even the types of search being done eg "image search" or "product search", all invaluable data!

It's a marketers dream!

Here's to your success!

Mike

PS Click Here To Grow Your Email List By Linking Facebook To Your Autoresponder

The Quick and Easy Way To Get A Google Plus URL.

2011-11-14T20:28:00.011Z

One definite advantage that Facebook have over Google Plus at the moment is the ability to get yourself a nice neat URL for your Profile or Page eg www.facebook.com/joebloggs.

Currently Google Plus do not have this facility.Something to do with Google Plus being linked to GMail apparently.

However if you get yourselves over to a .nifty website called

http://gplus.to

When you get there simply type in the nickname you would like for your page or profile and then enter the numbers that comes after https://plus.google.com

For example if your google plus page has the address:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/113387787806936309243/posts enter 113387787806936309243

Then voila you have a nice tidy URL like www.gplus.to/mikesharp which you can write down easily or put on a business card.

Important: use the address of your profile page NOT your Home page

Your Home page is the page with your "Stream" , your profile page has just your posts

Please let me know if you have any questions, time for tea!

Best Wishes

Mike

How To Add A Google Plus Button To Your Website Or Blog.

2011-11-11T11:07:00.001Z

You can now add Google Plus buttons to your website To Promote Your Google Plus Page.

We are all familiar with Facebook and Twitter and other social media sites having custom buttons that you can put on your website or blog to promote.

Now Google Plus Have their own button.

Go to This Page and follow the instructions.

Please note with Google Plus pages your page name is a bunch of numbers and symbols so check your browser window.

Your page name is what comes after https://plus.google.com/

If you have any comments please please let me know.

Have a fantastic day !

Mike

PS Internet Entrepreneur Reveals His Income Secrets FREE DOWNLOAD

Free Book On Kindle Publishing!

2011-11-05T14:42:00.008Z

Hello!

With Christmas on it's way there is loads of promotion for the Amazon Kindle.

This means that more than ever people are reading books on their Kindle devices.

If you want to publish your own book this could be the best time in history!

Luckily Amazon have produced a Free ebook on Kindle publishing.

Click Here To Get It

Also you can download the Free Kindle so you enjoy Kindle on your PC.

Click Here To Get It

Good Eh?

Until Next Time.

Mike

How To Get A Free Secure Webpage For Your Facebook Iframe

2011-11-02T22:43:00.004Z

There is a great App For Facebook called Social Server.

Just navigate yourself to their page and create an account.

Then you will see this.

Where it says "Adapt A New Facebook Page Tab" enter your unsecured URL eg http://www.acme.com (good old acme!)

Then voila you have a secure URL that Facebook will allow you to use!

Just copy the address after where it says "Secure URL"

As always let me know how you get on

Best Wishes

Mike

Click Here To Go To Social Server

Get Visitors To Your YouTube Channel

2011-10-24T12:38:00.000+01:00

In this article I want to show you how to add a You Tube Subscription Button To Your Web Page Or Blog etc to promote your You Tube Channel.

Why Have a subscription button? Well you can post bulletins to your You Tube subscribers informing them of new videos that have been added to your channel

Look for the “Post Bulletin” button on your You Tube channel page.

Ok so here is the code you can copy and paste to your website to install your Subscription Button.

style="overflow: hidden; height: 105px; width: 300px; border: 0;"

scrolling="no" frameBorder="0">

</iframe>

Just replace the x’s with your You Tube Username.

It should look something like this….

Or use this code for a smaller button:

style="overflow: hidden; height: 160px; width: 140px; border: 0;"

scrolling="no" frameBorder="0">

</iframe>

Which should come out something like this:

Remember to replace the X’s with your You Tube Username not the name of your Channel.

Let me know how you get on, time for a coffee!

Best Wishes

Mike

Free Ebook Cover Generator

2011-10-17T12:45:00.000+01:00

If you have written an ebook then you can create a cover for free by

Clicking Here!

How To Use Your Digital Camera To Help Pay Your Bills!

2011-10-12T12:37:00.000+01:00


You Can Make Money From Photos Like This!

These days the thought of going down the local chemist to process your photos seems as quaint as a black and white TV

The Digital Camera has revolutionized the world of photography and has provided an income opportunity for all us gold diggers!

Firstly have you come across a Digital Photo Library?

These are essentially a middleman between the photographer and the person who wants to use or buy the photograph.

When you sell a photograph the Digital Photo Library pay you a commission, good eh?

The most profitable photos are not always taken by professionals, amateur photos like pictures of people in action playing football, doing business etc.

Look for photos that are downloaded most from photo libraries also these libraries have most wanted lists.

If you are taking a picture of a person then you need to get the person to sign a Model Release form which is just a way of proving you have the person’s permission to take their picture.

A quick search on Google will help you find some Model Release forms.

If you take a picture of a building then as long as it is taken from a public area then you are usually covered, do a search on google for how the law stands on photographing buildings in your country.

To sign up with the photo libraries is easy you just email them some photos so they can check them out and when they have been approved you can start uploading photos to their site.

When you submit your photos you also will need to submit keywords for your photos so that they can be found easily on the site by potential customers.

Making money out of this depends on how many photos you submit and how much you sell them for.

The photo libraries sell your photo starting at around 1.50 per photo and take upwards of 15% Commission.

This is a great little sideline and it can be lots of fun too!

Here’s to your success!

Mike

Linking You Tube Accounts To Facebook And Twitter

2011-10-09T14:14:00.000+01:00

Hi Just a quick post today telling you how to link your You Tube account to Facebook,Twitter and others.

First sign into You Tube (If you don't have a You Tube account then use your Google account)

Go to the 'Account Settings" tab.

When you are there click on the "Sharing" tab.

Then just choose which Social media platform you would like to link to.

..and that's it!

Best Wishes

Mike

►► Challenge The Rules

2011-09-13T14:27:00.000+01:00

Here's something unconventional:

You've got to BREAK the RULES to have any kind of
REAL SUCCESS!

Think about it:

If you want a successful brick and mortar business, don't do
what 90% of business owners do. Break the rules and do what
the successful 1O% are doing.

If you want to be financially secure, don't look to those
you generally hang out with - break the rules and
find someone who IS financially secure and lap up everything
they've got to share with you.

If you want a happy relationship, don't ask those silly
astrologers or getting on to online forums or asking those who
still have rocky fiery relationships - break the rules and
find a couple who have a relationship to die for.

If you want to make a nice monthly packet from the Internet,
and you'd like to make it FAST, you don't want to load up
your hard drive with a ton of cheap ebooks and downloadable
products you'll never find time to read of get through...

- Break the rules and find someone that has done what you want
to achieve...

If the last example, sounded like you... then YOU'LL WANT TO
ABSOLUTELY BREAK ALL THE RULES ON THIS ONE!

And visit the website below...

www.hreport.info/breaktherules

Regards

Mike

From Parking Attendant To Millionaire!

2011-08-13T16:20:00.000+01:00

Dear Friend,

I hope you are enjoying what they laughingly call the summer.!

Today I want to introduce you to an unassuming chap from Reading called Nick James.

They do say the quiet ones are the ones to watch and a lot of internet marketers are all mouth and no trouser!

While others have been blowing their own trumpet this guy has been quietly RAKING IT IN!

He went from a job as a car park attendant on a low wage to banking a cool $1,000,000,000 a year!

He has a great FREE Download called INCOME SECRETS where he reveals how he achieved the EYE POPPING amount above

Click Here For Your Free Download

Any questions Click Here To Email Me Direct

or Click Here To Join Me On Facebook

Best Wishes,

Mike Sharp