The other day I was talking with a friend of mine and he mentioned that he has been creating a ton of apps for Facebook and they have been making a ton of money doing it. This is because of the massive amounts of time people spend on their favorite social networks. I personally don’t utilize my social networks as well as I could, but after that conversation, I decided to take a look at how I approach my own social media usage. I came across a great article that gave me a lot of good ideas of what NOT to do and what TO do. Here’s what it’s all about.

So this post is going to outline all of the worst offenders we’ve seen in social media. If none of these apply to you, congratulations! Use these as entertainment over your lunch break. Otherwise, consider these cautionary tales to help protect your own social media strategy.

I recommend that you take a few minutes and read through this article. Then take a look at what you are currently doing and see if there is something you can do or not do better.

Related posts:

1. How to Create a YouTube Account
2. 5 Ways to Blog and Profit!

{EAV:1075e7e9467f8a1f}

Traffic is something that every website owner is looking for. It is usually one of the first answers I get when I ask the question, “What do you need to be more successful online?”

This is a great video from MindValley that talks about strategies you can utilize to increase your website traffic. What are you doing to drive traffic to your website?

Related posts:

1. 1 Weird Tip to Increase Website Conversions
2. Does Having Money Increase Your Certainty?
3. Can Thinking the Right Thoughts Increase Your Income?

Each of us is born with creative minds and specific unique abilities and talents. Sir Ken Robinson shares some great ideas about our current education system and what it means for our children and their futures.

This is a very entertaining presentation talking about a very controversial topic. I love what Ken shares and agree with his view. It’s super important that we create an environment that doesn’t crush the creativity of our children.

This year, we started homeschooling our 4 wonderful children for a lot of the reasons that Ken talks about. I watched as my kids became scared to be “wrong” and told that they weren’t doing things the “Right Way.” What the crap does that mean? The “Right Way”… according to who?

Take a few minutes and watch the video, then comment below and let me know what you think.

Incoming search terms:

• schools killing creativity response

Related posts:

1. Is Sitting in a Chair Killing You?
2. Killing Sacred Cows

Read the Story Here

Related posts:

1. Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard
2. How to Send Scheduled Emails with Apple Mail

For those of you out there who have iphones and are interested in the iOS 5.0 / 5.0.1 jailreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2, here is a slick guide on how to do it.

How to JailBreak iPhone 4S & iPad 2 running iOS 5.0 or 5.0.1

The post walks you step by step through the jailbreak and through issues you may encounter.

Check it out and let me know what you do with your jailbroken iphone 4s

Related posts:

1. Flash on the iPhone? Can it be?

I know, I know… Eminem is a role model?  Let me explain…

Eminem has sold more albums than any other artist in history. Yes, more than Justin Bieber Obviously, he has done something right.

I don’t really care if you like his music or think he is the devil. What I do care about is how he has sold so many albums and how he keeps creating “product” that people WANT TO BUY!

There is a sweet post over at copyblogger that analyzes why Eminem has become the great marketer that he is. TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT.

If you want to become a better writer and marketer, take the time to read this article and then think “What would Eminem Do?”

Here’s the link: http://www.copyblogger.com/eminem/

Let me know what you think in the comments below…

Incoming search terms:

• eminem is my role model
• eminem role model ? yes or no
• why eminem is my role model

No related posts.

Most people who have a blog would love to make some money from it. I understand, there are those of you who just want a place to have your voice heard and that is fine. This post is for those who are looking to make money from their blog. There are a lot of ways to make money blogging. I’ll cover a few of them.

1 – Pay Per Click Ads

You can put ads on your site and get paid when people click on them. The most popular pay per click program is Google Adsense. Adsense will put ads on your site relevant to the content. Don’t expect to get rich from this, but it can add up if you have a lot of traffic.

2 – Affiliate Programs

There are a ton of affiliate programs out there. You can probably find something you can affiliate in just about any industry/niche. One place to start is clickbank.com. It’s an affiliate network where you can find products in all sorts of categories.

3 – Market Your Own Products

Your blog can be one of the best places to promote and market your own products and/or services. Make sure you are spending the bulk of your time creating great content that others will want to read, but don’t be afraid to let your readers know that you have something they might want.

4 – Create a Membership Website

If you are an expert in what you write about (which you should be), you could create a membership site with premium content and charge a monthly fee for it.

5 – Sell Ad Space

This is similar to pay-per-click advertising except that you get paid up-front (most of the time). It can be a great source of passive income, but you do need to have a lot of traffic to make it work.

These are only a few of the ways that you can use to start monetizing your blog. Blogging can be a rewarding experience. It can help you learn more about your topic, give you a reason to research things you are interested in, and it can even make you some money.

The best blogging platform out there is by far WordPress. I have created a program teaching how you can get started blogging with WordPress and how you can start to monetize your WordPress blog. To learn more and see all of the videos available in the course, click here.

What do you do to monetize your blog. Tell me in the comments below.

No related posts.

Often people ask me about how they can increase conversions on their website. This is a tough questions to answer, because it really depends on the site. The reality is that you really need to test different versions of your pages to see what converts better.

In this short article, I just wanted to share with you one thing that may seem strange, but which, if you give it a shot could help your site out significantly.

Ready?  Here it is… It’s really weird and SIMPLE.

Bring up your website in a browser window. Now, take about 3 – 5 steps back from the computer and see if you can still see what you are supposed to do on the page. If you want to take it a step further, have someone else stand 5 – 10 feet away from the screen and see if they can tell you what you want them to do.

Seriously, I believe that one of the biggest problems of a low converting page is that visitors don’t know EXACTLY what to do. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes.

Incoming search terms:

• weird tip

No related posts.

As much as we as marketers talk the talk, there are a ton of mistakes we make everyday. I have been working with a lot of people on different marketing projects, and here is a short list of mistakes I make and I see others make all the time…

1. No way for people to “opt-in” – There are many sites that receive traffic, however… there isn’t anything for visitors to do other than read. Often there are no links, no opt-ins, nothing. Just an article. The readers read and leave.
2. Not using affiliate links. If you have a website and are writing about or promoting a product or service, make sure you use an affiliate link. Most products and services have affiliate programs. If you use your affiliate link, you will make a little extra money. If you don’t… It’s money lost.
3. Not enough research – Most marketers get excited about whatever it is they are working on (myself included) and don’t take the time to do complete research. The better you understand your audience and the market you are in, the better your marketing efforts will pay off.
4. Not keeping repeat customers – this one is serious! I have seen so many marketers that are going after an initial sell. You need to remind yourself that every communication you have with your client is a step toward the next sell. This doesn’t mean that you treat them like a commodity, but don’t sell them and then lose them. Sell them again and again and again. Much cheaper marketing too
5. Putting all your “eggs in one basket” – A lot of business owners and marketers have a favorite advertising medium. For some, it’s TV or radio, or maybe Facebook Ads or PPC. I have found myself in the trap of only using one medium for my advertising and then having that channel stop working. You need to find what works, then expand. The more channels of effective advertising you have, the better. Obviously, you are going to spend the most time and money on the highest rate of return, but make sure your bases are covered.
6. Try to sell to everyone. This is one of my favorites. It is so tempting to say that your product or service is for everyone. In reality… IT IS NOT. I don’t care what industry or niche you are in. What you are selling is not for everyone. The sooner you realize this and get clear about who it really is for, the better. Build a customer avatar and sell to that ideal client.
7.  Overselling – This one happens online as well as offline. You need to balance your communication with people around you. Don’t be the guy at the supermarket that hands out a business card to every person you see. I was at an internet marketing seminar with several hundred people. We had a break for lunch and after lunch, I returned to my seat to find a business card sitting on my chair. I looked around and noticed that every single chair in the room had the same business card on it. WOW… do you think this impressed me. NO WAY. Take the time to care for people. Get to know them and build meaningful relationships. People are your biggest assets. Don’t abuse them or you WILL lose them.

What other mistakes do you see marketers making repeatedly? Let me know in the comments below.

Related posts:

1. All Marketers are Liars (with a New Preface): The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works–and Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of All
2. How-To Make a YouTube Playlist
3. Can Taking Breaks Make You More Productive?

Black Friday has been a CRAZY tradition for so long. It is getting worse and worse. This video shows the stupidity of what happens when you combine “great deals” with scarcity. Maybe there is a marketing lesson to be learned here.

No related posts.

I love watching this guy sell his heart out. I would love to be sold to like this all the time. Imaging going into your local electronics store and being greeted by someone like this!

No related posts.

I’m not a huge follower of the NBA, but with the NBA lockout, I wanted to make sure that everyone knows that the NBA is in need of your charitable contributions

No related posts.

I get asked all the time, “Where can I find good looking, professional, themes WordPress.”

The problem is… there are thousands of places to find themes on the internet. If you do a Google search for “WordPress Themes” or even “Professional WordPress Themes,” there are millions of results. It can be a crazy task to search through them all to find what will work for you.

I have been working with WordPress for several years, and have found some of the best places to look for high quality WordPress themes. Here’s a little disclaimer before I get going though. When it comes to WordPress themes, you pretty much get what you pay for. There are a few free themes out there, but most of them are not even in the same league as the sites I am going to show you. Remember that your website/blog is a representation of you! I’ll share a few free places to get themes, but for the most part, spend a little money and Get something you’ll love.

So… Here we go:

Theme Forest is where I purchase most of my WordPress themes. They have a huge selection and they are very inexpensive themes. It can take some time to look through their themes, but they do have some good filtering options. Spend some time here and it will be worth it.

WooThemes is another great site full of awesome themes. I have used them time and time again to get super high quality themes. All of their themes are top notch. When you use a WooThemes theme, your wordpress site will have a new admin options panel with a ton of options for the theme. Each theme comes with full documentation and setup instructions plus they have great customer support.

Elegant themes has several themes that I really like. They are generally very simple and professional looking themes. Elegant themes charges an annual fee to have access to all of their themes. This means you pay once and get access to a bunch of cool themes.

Rocket Themes are generally more flashy themes with some really cool features. Not only do they have cool themes, but most of the themes also have custom plugins for content rotation, slider menus and more.

Press75′s themes are unique, clean and efficient with several key customization and content management options. I love there themes especially when building video blogs of other multimedia sites like photo portfolios, etc.

Thesis is a single theme with pretty much unlimited options. If I could only pick one wordpress theme to have, this would be it. It does have a learning curve, but it is super powerful, seo optimized and can become just about anything you can think of. In my WordPress training program at http://www.ezwordpress.com I have several videos dedicated to the setup and customization of the Thesis theme.

As I stated, if you want truly professional themes, spend a few bucks and get something awesome. If you don’t have the money or just want to get started with something free, here are a few places to look.

This is a massive directory of thousands of free WordPress themes. You can spend hours here looking through themes. They have some good search/filtering options that can help you narrow down your search.

This is a list of some really nice free themes. You might want to check it out.

Similar to the wordpress themes directory, this site has many themes to look at. You can probably find something you like here.

Related posts:

1. My Favorite WordPress Plugins
2. Elimiate WordPress Comments Spam with Akismet Plugin
3. Using WordPress Pretty Link Plugin

Man, this is a content rich, power packed video of Mike Koenigs interviewing infomercial extraordinaire, Dean Graziosi. Dean has one of the most (if not the most) profitable infomercials ever created. In this video, Dean share with Mike Koenigs many of his secrets of success.

You really should take a few minutes, get out a pen and paper and take some good notes.

Unfortunatly, they have “embedding disabled” so I can’t put the video here on the page, but just go here to watch it:

http://youtu.be/rG2Z1MAMImA

Incoming search terms:

• mike grasiosi

Related posts:

1. All Marketers are Liars (with a New Preface): The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works–and Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of All
2. A Simple Marketing Flow for Online Businesses
3. Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers

This past weekend, I had an awesome opportunity to attend the 8 Figure Bootcamp. The event was all about things we could do to take a 7 figure business and turn it into an 8 figure business.

Most people can’t even fathom having a business that produces at least 10 million dollars each year. In this bootcamp, all of the people not only saw it as a possibility, but as the next inevitable step for their current business.

As each person shared their business model, current challenges, and goals and then listened intently to the feedback from the rest of the group, I observed the language, attitudes and actions of both those on the “hot-seat” and those giving feedback.

Without exception, each of the people attending this event think different than most “small business” owners. They see big challenges, not as obstacles, but as opportunities. They see customer service as a vital part of their SALES process and they look at fulfillment of each of their products and or services as the start of the next sale. They understand that people are assets and that by providing massive value, people will continue to buy what they are selling.

The event was a short 3 days, and I know that the things we learned will produce tens of millions of dollars of the next year.

The thoughts we think directly effect the lives we live, the actions we take, and the way we build our businesses. What thoughts are you thinking that will lead you toward your goals?

Incoming search terms:

• think right thoughts

No related posts.

Just thought I would share this really cool app with you. During the coaching program we have been running, I have been holding one on one phone calls with our students. I found that sending a text reminder about 15 minutes before our call reminding them of the time as well as the call in number and pin made it much easier for them to be on-time and to easily have the call info at hand.

At first, I would send each text manually, then realizing that I am using a “smart” phone, I decided to see how/if I could schedule these sms messages to send on my droid.

I know there are a bunch of services out there where I can schedule texts to go out and I have used several of them. This time though, I wanted to just schedule it to send directly from my own phone number and from my own phone. After testing them all out, here is the app that I use almost everyday… It’s called “Schedule SMS Wishes.”

It was created by a company called DiotaSoft.

This app is awesome. It let’s me schedule a message to go out an anytime I specify. I can create recurring messages, and I can send to a list of contacts. It has allowed me to set my reminder text messages to send from my phone and then forget about it.

If you want to schedule sms messages to send and you are on an android phone, make sure to check it out. If you have any other recommendations of great android apps, I’d love to know. Personally I can’t wait to get an iphone but my contract isn’t up yet:)

Incoming search terms:

• android app send sms on recurring day and time
• send recurring text messages from list
• scheduling texts
• scheduling messages in android
• schedule text messages android
• schedule sending a text android
• schedule phone to send a text
• schedule message on android
• recurring texts android
• phone have to be on scheduled texts

No related posts.

I good friend of mine, Adam Spiel, posted a really cool post on his blog, and I wanted to share it. In the post, Adam asks…

Have you ever driven on a freshly paved road or a new highway?

At first the road is nice and smooth and new.

But then as the tires pound the pavement, sun and the snow beat down expanding and contracting the cement and asphalt – cracks begin to emerge. Stress fractures on the roadway surface.

These cracks are small at first. A few here and there – nothing big. Then a pothole or two.

Left unrepaired, the road goes from cracked to crumbling – we are seeing this right now

He then goes on to talk about many of the roadblocks we are seeing today. It really was eye opening and interesting to think about all of the many things that seem to be falling apart around us.

So… my questions is which road are you on?

Incoming search terms:

• roadblocks

Related posts:

1. A Lesson from Road Rage

Here is a cool little trick. If you have ever watched a video on YouTube and wanted to share a specific part of the video, you probably had to send the link to the video in an email and tell everyone to skip ahead to the specific time.

Did you know that you can actually change the link just a little and have the video start at the time you specify? Here’s how you can do it…

1. Go to the YouTube page for the video. (It needs to be the individual page for the video. If it is the channel page, it won’t work. The url you are looking for is something like this… www.youtube.com/watch?v=akjdhwoiu )

Immediately after the last character of the url, you need to add a small snippet of code. It will look like this #t=0m43s Replace the zero with the minute you want to start with and the 43 with the number of seconds. So, the url would now look like this… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Dj7Ag1-DU#t=0m43s.

When you then send that link to someone, the video will start at the time you specify. Pretty cool huh.

Do you have any cool YouTube Tricks? Share them below…

Incoming search terms:

• go to youtube video specific time
• how do you make a youtube video start at a certain time
• post youtube video on facebook to play at a certain time
• specific time for video on facebook

Related posts:

1. The Big Moo : Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable
2. How to Create a YouTube Account
3. How-To Make a YouTube Playlist

Are the expectations you have set for yourself working or not working? Are you held back when you don’t live up to all of your expectations? Watch this short video and then leave your opinion or feedback.

No related posts.

Have you ever wanted to do something really mean to another driver? It doesn’t happen to me very often, but a few weeks ago I learned a valuable lesson. Let me explain.

It had been a really long and stressful day. I had been driving to meetings, dealing with the minutia that seems to come up in business and I just wasn’t in the best mood. I had just finished my last meeting and was on my way home. I called my wife to talk (or maybe complain) while I drove home. This is when it all began…

I’m driving on the freeway in my car that feels like it’s an oven inside, traffic isn’t too bad, but there are a lot of cars. Having raced cars in the past, I enjoy moving quickly (read: speeding). As I pulled into the “fast” lane, a huge truck, you know the ones with huge lift kits and giant tires, pulled into the lane right behind me. The driver was right on my bumper and wouldn’t back off.

Everytime there was even a small gap, he would unsuccessfully attempt to pass me. I could feel my frustration from the day growing and I started projecting it all on this truck. Why was he being such an idiot? Maybe I should slam on my breaks and have him rear-end me! (That would teach him a lesson).

Thoughts like this continued as we sped along on the freeway. Then something just snapped. HE HONKED AT ME!! I was going about 10 miles per hour above the speed limit and way faster than most of the other traffic and this guy honked at me. I couldn’t believe it. So… being stuborn as I can sometimes be, I slowed down instead of speeding up. I could tell this did not make my assailant very happy because he continued to honk every mile or so.

As I neared my exit and started changing lanes, the truck stayed right behind me. Now I was really upset. I started telling myself stories that he was following me and this was going to end in a fight or something. I exited the freeway, and guess what, so did the truck. I turned right, so did he. Made another right, so did he. I only had two more turns to make, and by now, I was ready for whatever might happen. I decided that I would make one more turn and if he followed me, I would pull over and see what would happen.

He honked at me a few more times, and then as we turned the corner, my heart sank to the bottom of my stomache. As I realized what was going on, I actually broke down and cried.

Up the street ahead of what I saw put everything into perspective. There was a firetruck, police vehicles, and an ambulance. They were all parked at a house and there were people running around. As it hit me, I hoped that the truck that had been so impatiently tailgating and driving like an idiot wasn’t headed there, but I knew they were.

I quickly pulled my car to the side of the road, and the trucks engine roared as he sped past me. Sure enough… he pulled over and ran from the truck. Wow, what had I done. I had been doing everything in my power to not let him pass, to slow down his trip and I was ready to fight if I needed to. All he had ever wanted was to make it to someone he loved before it was too late.

I don’t know what exactly was happening, and I don’t think I ever will, but I learned a very valuable lesson that day. I hadn’t ever even considered that there was something beyond what I was experiencing as my reality. I can only imagine the story that the driver of that truck tells about me and the actions that I had taken.

How often in your life do you assume you know what is really happening? I am determined to re-evaluate my actions and live in more awareness to possibility.

Related posts:

1. The Road Less Traveled “It’s the One Without the Roadblocks”

Who gets to decide what reality is? I have always thought it is interesting that two people can experience the exact same event at the exact same time, yet have two totally different perspectives as to what ACTUALLY happened. They have seen that often in police reports, witnesses will report different descriptions of what took place.

What do you think? Who determines your reality?

No related posts.

I have often wondered what motivates me to create, and what slows me down. I often find myself going through a cycle where for several days or weeks, I will be on a productive “high” creating amazing results and feeling ultra-effective. Then… I’ll have a “down time” where things seem to take forever and I am not nearly as productive as I could be or as I feel like I should be. This video gave me some good insights and I thought I would share it. What do you think? What motivates you? Leave your answer in the comments below.

No related posts.

Today, a good friend of mine, Neil Bryce, posted this video on facebook. I liked it so much, I decided to post it here. Nick and Neil both went to downtown Salt Lake City, and spent 24 hours living the life of a homeless person.

I know that living only 2 hours in these conditions knowing that you can go home to your house and plenty of food make the experience a little different, but it was inspiring to me to see these two experience something most of us will never experience.

Would you do this?

No related posts.

So, as I was sitting here thinking about what I could share today, I thought about a story I heard several years ago about a man named Nick Vujicic. Actually, I saw a video of Nick giving a speech. The speech was a close-up shot of his face from about the top of his head to the top of his shoulders. It was a great speech. Nick was talking about how much he loved his life and how God had blessed him so much in his life.

As Nick continued with his speech, the camera zoomed out until I could see the Nick did not have any arms or any legs. That’s right… NO LIMBS AT ALL. I decided that today, I would share a short video compilation of footage from Nicks life. Watch it then answer this questions in the comments…

What is it that currently holds you back that you are committed to overcoming?

Related posts:

1. The Power of “You”

A few years back, my good friend and business partner, Neil Bryce, and I ran a company called Surface 9. At Surface 9 we helped hundreds of people with their websites. We worked with them on new sites, site re-builds, marketing funnel creation, etc.

During this time, we used a document that we created to help our clients better understand the purpose of their site and the goals they wanted to achieve with their online endeavors.

This afternoon, I came across the document we called the “Needs Analysis.” I decided that it could be a valuable exercise for all of my reades to download and review this document. You can take just a few minutes and browse through, or if you really want to get the most out of it, jump all in and answer every question the best you can.

Once you have completed the document, come back to this post and comment about any insights you had, or ask any questions that may have come up and I will answer them right here for you.

So, no more waiting. You can download the document by CLICKING HERE.

Related posts:

1. 1 Weird Tip to Increase Website Conversions