The Scott Fox Click Millionaires Online Marketing Show broadcasts regularly via Blog Talk Radio and is syndicated via iTunes, too.

You can listen to my webcast or podcast shows live, or you can listen to them later here using this player below anytime.

Please enjoy the free entertainment and advice. Your feedback is always welcome!

The podcast shows available through this online player include my Click Millionaires Success interview series, plus the regularly scheduled simulcasts of the video webcast Scott Fox Show, too.

The most recent episode is always ready for you at the top of this player, with previous episodes available listed in order below it.

(You can also visit www.ClickMillionairesRadio.com to download MP3 files of the episodes, too.  Right-click-to-save on the "download" button under each episode posted here.)

Is Twitter still "the future of online marketing"? Or is it just a 21st century babble machine?

Charmed by the new tool's potential, I recommended Twitter in my latest book. But today (only a year later), I think Twitter is collapsing under the weight of its own success.

Here are 5 reasons why I think Twitter is OVER and has "jumped the shark":

1. Twitter is too easy to use: Twitter has such a low threshold to use (only 140 characters per message and FREE), that people have no hesitation to babble. And less scrupulous marketers have no hesitation to spam.

The pretend “conversation” we’re all supposed to be having on Twitter has devolved into an opt-in spam fest. 

“Big time” twitterers with large followings (or social media pros who are online all day) still find Twitter useful for conversation but the signal to noise ratio is dropping rapidly, making Twitter a less useful marketing tool every day.

2. Synchronicity - NOT: Twitter can only be used to communicate with people who are also on and active at the same time. This restricts Twitter’s utility to real-time conversations, often in the same time zone.

For example, since I am based in Los Angeles, I can easily communicate with fellow Tweeters in the Pacific Time Zone. But if I start my tweeting too late in the day, people in the Eastern Time Zone may be hard to reach, and my friends in Europe are virtually invisible to me on Twitter.

Where emails and podcasts are helpfully asynchronous, the requirement for both parties to be present in real-time is a fatal flaw in Twitter. It reminds me more of IM or even that old-fashioned telephone unfortunately.

3. Haves vs. Have Nots: If you are part of the Twitter aristocracy, like @jeffpulver, @guykawasaki, @scobleizer, or @mashable, you’ll probably disagree with me on this post.

If you have 1,000,000+ followers, or even a mere 25,000 followers, you probably still get some good reaction and click-throughs when you tweet something interesting. But you probably also benefited from rampant auto-following and the “Suggested Users” list of Twitter’s earlier days to accrue your big following.  Even more likely is that you are already a celebrity or you devote more time to social media than most folks can because social media interaction is your job.

For most beginning marketers and small businesses today, the chance of ever accruing even 10,000 followers (much less 100k or more) looks remote. The silly days of auto-follow are over and nobody seems to be listening any more anyway.

4. Automation: Twitter has done a brilliant job of opening its architecture to share APIs and data with its partners. This has created a huge ecosystem of Twitter apps, tools, and services to augment Twitter.com’s own limited feature set.

Unfortunately, the success of those feeder businesses has made it easier than ever before to pre-schedule, re-tweet, and manage multiple Twitter accounts with little added value (or human presence!).

5. Twitter Advertising: Coming soon Twitter will finally be trying to monetize all of its traffic and audience.

Advertising is great for Ev and Biz but unfortunately for marketers, that means introducing ads into the already deathly crowded Twittersphere. 

Is that what you need? More distractions for your Twitter followers' limited attention?

Lots of Talking – Is Anybody Listening Anymore?
It feels to me like Twitter has jumped the shark on its way to becoming the CB radio of the 1970’s, the telephone “party lines” of the 1980’s, and the huge real-time chats of Web 1.0 marketing in the 1990’s.

What’s Left for Marketers on Twitter?
I’m not sure yet. I'll keep tweeting at http://www.twitter.com/scott_fox, but I suspect that I’m not alone in feeling that Twitter just ain’t what it used to be.

Twitter will probably maintain its fun side as a place for social media professionals to have quick “watercooler” conversations, but that creates more of an echo chamber than a real marketing platform.

Will Twitter evolve to be just another alerts service? Or simply a quick delivery mechanism for 140 character teasers of meatier content posted elsewhere?

What do you think is next for Twitter?
Am I right that Twitter is headed for a big fall?
Where and how are you finding marketing value in Twitter today?
Please leave me a Comment on this post - I’d really like to know..!

See how I think you should use Twitter in this short video here.

More Scott Fox Twitter marketing strategy is also available on my blog in
my "Twitter Gurus Please Stop Whining" post here,
and in my most popular Twitter post, "4 Annoying Twitter Myths", here.

Thanks for visiting (and thanks to the New York Times for picking up this post!)

Do you have to pay big money to search engine optimization (SEO) consultants to get your site ranked in the search engines? 

NO!  Here are 5 of my favorite no-cost web site design tricks that can help your web site attract more customers for FREE.

Note – none of these free SEO techniques require spending any money with SEO consultants!

1. Upgrade Your Domain Name – Search engines rank sites based on their relevance to the searcher’s queries. If your web site’s domain name does not include your most important keywords, it may be time to upgrade. Change your domain name to one that includes key search terms and you’ll see a rise in SEO rankings for those terms. (This only applies to new sites or sites without much established SEO history, so be careful.)

2. Focus Your Keywords and Use them in Titles - Use free keyword tools like Google’s Traffic Estimator to determine the most popular words and phrases that customers use to search for your key products. Pick a specific version of that keyword phrase to use repeatedly in the titles of your blog posts and pages, especially on the product detail pages.

Being specific and focused in this keyword deployment will help drive your site’s search engine rankings up for that key phrase more effectively than if you try to use multiple versions and synonyms of your keywords. So use the words “hot dog” as much as you can in the titles and on the pages that sell your hot dog products.  And don’t confuse the search engines (and human customers) by also including on that page mentions of other your products like bratwursts, sausages, hamburgers, too.

3. Ditch Your Old Slogan – Replace your “corporate speak” slogan from the 1990s with a modern, keyword-driven one instead. No one knows what “Reaching for Excellence” means anyway. And they certainly aren’t searching on that phrase when looking for your web site that sells hot dogs.

Try something specific that both humans and search engines will appreciate more like “The Most Award-winning and Tasty Hot Dogs in Omaha”. Post that keyword-rich phrase in text (not graphics) at the top of your web site pages and it will help boost your SEO.

4. Use Keywords in File Names – Both web designers and developers like things “efficient” and “clean.” This often means that designers name their images and developers name their web pages with short, secret code-like names.

Instead, you want images of your hot dogs titled with names like “tastyhotdog.jpg”. Similarly, your web site’s pages should have names like “tasty-hot-dogs-and-catering.html” instead of “h4rrjxb.html”. The repeated use of keywords in both of these not so obvious types of file names will provide Google, Bing, and Yahoo additional clues about how to categorize your web site and where to rank it higher.

5. Anchor Text - When other sites link back to yours, ask them to include your keywords in the text that they link. For example, a link to your site XYZ.com is good, but much better from a search engine’s point of view is a link that says “XYZ.com Hot Dogs” if you are a hot dog merchant.

In all these cases the more keywords your site has on the page, the higher the search engines will rank your site for those keywords. Pick your keywords wisely and you can attract tons of free traffic from search engine users searching for info on those topics.

 What tips are working best for your web site?

What did I miss?

[For more free SEO strategies, check out the "SEO" category on my blog at ScottFox.com here.]

I’ll be in Toronto next week for two public speaking appearances.

If you’re in Toronto, too, please come say hello at these two exciting industry events:

1. Digital Strategies Conference – Keynote Speech – I’m pleased to be keynoting this top digital media conference on Wednesday, March 10. I’ll be speaking about the exciting future I see for online marketers in the digital age.

Registration details are here.

2. Canadian Music Week – Social Media Marketing for Musicians is my topic during the biggest music business conference in Canada. I’ll be joining a panel on Thursday afternoon, March 11.

Registration details are here.

If you are in Toronto and can make either of these events, please come say hi!

[And if your event is looking for a
dynamic and entertaining Keynote Speaker like me, learn more here.]

How much do you know about Alibaba.com, the world's largest B2B marketplace?  Learn more and win a new book below!

A new book called The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide can introduce you to Alibaba.com's product-sourcing capabilities.  And using Alibaba.com can help you find unique products to import that can differentiate your online business to increase profits.

Watch this short video to learn why I like The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide by Debra and Brad Schepp (with a foreword by Jack Ma, the Founder of Alibaba.com).  You'll hear why I recommend this new book to you, too, especially if you are curious about how to import goods from Asia safely and profitably.

[You can watch more Scott Fox business-building videos here.
Or subscribe to my YouTube Channel here.]

Have you heard of Alibaba.com before this video post? 

Have you considered importing manufactured goods for sale online?

Would you like to WIN A COPY of this new book? 
Just leave me a Comment below explaining your interest. 
I have two copies to give away!

How to get a bigger bang for your marketing bucks online? That’s the topic of my social media seminar on Thursday morning 2/25 in Irvine, California.

Please join us if you are interested in an overview of modern social media marketing, including:

• Social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn
• Social news sites, such as Digg
• Twitter, the hottest tech story of 2009
• Blogs and online communities
• Podcasting and online video

And, most importantly, how you can cost-effectively integrate all this into your company's e-mail marketing and web site marketing plans for 2010.

Hosted by the Technology Council of Southern California (where I am a Board Member), this event will be at the offices of TCOSC sponsor, the accounting firm of Singer Lewak.

Join me for some slides, some talking, and some great Q&A that can help you grow your business online.

Registration details here.

If you don't yet have a copy of my latest book, e-Riches 2.0: Next Generation Online Marketing Strategies, here's your chance!

It's an easy-to-win contest with just 3 quick steps to enter:

1. Please visit my NEW page on Facebook here.
2. Leave me a Comment.
3. Click on "Suggest to Friends" to invite your friends, too.

That's it!  I'll be giving away 3 copies of my latest book, e-Riches 2.0, in a drawing from among those who comment.

If you're on Facebook, a nice new copy of the best guide to online marketing could easily be yours.

And then stay tuned for more special promotions especially (and only!) for my Facebook fans!

Please Comment on my NEW page on Facebook now.

p.s. This is a NEW page on Facebook.  If you were already a Fan on my old page, please visit Facebook now to join again.

There are lots of activities you can do to fool yourself into thinking you’re making progress toward success.

But if you are looking to make money online, most of these activities are a waste of time, or at least premature if you are starting a new business.

10 “Fake Progress” Time Sinks to Avoid
Here are 10 “Time Sink” activities that I recommend entrepreneurs avoid:

1. Buying things, especially training courses and ebooks you won't use
2. Researching online, especially if that includes lots of worrying about the competition
3. Reading books, especially from people who have not achieved themselves
4. Writing business plans or marketing plans
5. Designing, redesigning, and overdesigning your web site
6. Incorporating, trademark, copyright and administrative paperwork
7. Designing, redesigning, and overdesigning your logo
8. Buying domain names
9. Facebooking and Tweeting to “build a following” with only vague plans for monetization
10. Building products or services that only work at scale instead of starting with small scale, real sales today

Why should you avoid these Time Sinks?
Because they are “fake progress.” They make you feel like you’re moving forward but they’re actually draining away your most precious asset: your time and attention!

All of these activities can be important and necessary steps for success eventually, but not today.

Make it Happen!
You need to finish that keyword research and pick your niche, get the first draft of your new web site finished, polish up that PDF and turn it into an ebook you can sell through Clickbank, or publish your first blog post or newsletter. 

The importance of taking action is true in almost any work situation but especially if you work in a startup or are a solopreneur.

My advice: Get on with it!
End your "analysis paralysis" and stop being such a "tweak freak"!  You will learn more in the first week of actually running your business than in months of planning to run it.

How about you?
What kind of “fake progress” most distracts from your momentum?

If you’re in Toronto next month, please consider joining me at the Digital Strategies Conference.

I’ll be giving the Keynote speech on Wednesday 3/10.

If you’re active in digital media, this is a great conference for you and your business. We’ll be discussing the road ahead for digital marketing and how your business can benefit.

Sponsored by leading industry publication, Digital Media Wire, the Digital Strategies conference also features top speakers and panels from Facebook, AOL, Myspace, NPR, Advertising Age, Nielsen, and more. 

Please join me for what I promise will be an inspiring keynote speech, plus lots of great info and networking, too.

Registration details are here.

[And if your event is looking for a
dynamic and entertaining Keynote Speaker
learn more here.]