The last two months have really open my eyes. Showed me a possible future.

My father had a stroke a few years back, but he recovered quite well. Besides losing sight in one eye, he was still doing very well.

In early January of this year, my father was having trouble getting around. My family and I visited during Christmas and while he was mobile, he sure was’nt himself. Right after getting back home from the holidays, I got a phone call from my mom, saying my dad was in the hospital. Basically his legs were not working.

Within a couple days I was back on the road for another 12 hour trip. Mom’s not always good at dealing with situations like this, same as dad would’nt know how to take care of the bills if something happened to mom.

Come to find out my dad had an infection in his lower back, good reason for his legs to give out. After a six week treatment of anti-biotics, my dad is now in rehab and doing quite well. Lucky he’s got a great attitude and is really working hard. I am so proud of him. After close to two months in the hospital and rehab, he’s got another reason to get back on his feet, to get home. After two months I’d be sure happy to do the same.

What has really opened my eyes is seeing my mom worry about paying for everything. Dad has some insurance, but it sure does’nt pay all the bills. His insurance company even tried getting him out of the hospital sooner, it’s all about the money. His rehab is only covered for 10 days, so another two weeks is going at $75 a day. Mom has a little money so she’s not to worried and she knows she can count on my wife and I to help out.

Sadly both my parents have worked all their life, except for my dad after his stroke. They have income coming in and mom still works, even after 40 years on the job, but it does’nt take too many of life’s surprises to drain the funds. After my dad’s stroke they had to sell a good amount of stocks to pay the bills, something I just learned. Parents are proud are’nt they?

The moral of the story is, where will you be when you grow old? Will you be able to survive some of life’s surprises? Many statistics say that most american’s retire and-or die broke.

Will you be just another statistic?

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Your not alone, I’ve been there many times and probably will be again.

The internet is both an amazing information source, and often a information overload at the same time. The deeper you dig the more you find and the more overwhelmed the whole super highway can become.

My Solution? Pen and paper. Easy enough.

Start from the beginning and break it down. Piece by piece, into digestible bites. A seemingly overwhelming task can turn out to be just a matter of several simple steps. Start with your main thought or idea. List all the possible steps you believe you will need to take to accomplish your task. If possible break as many of those down into more steps.

It will be much easier to complete little steps or tasks. Not to mention, smaller jobs will not seem as overwhelming.

It’s no big secret and you might already “know” the procedure.

But, do you use it

It’s always worked for me.

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suc·cess - [suhk-ses] –noun

1. The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.
2. a. The gaining of fame or prosperity: an artist spoiled by success.
b. The extent of such gain.
3. One that is successful: The plan was a success.
4. Obsolete A result or an outcome.

Does’nt number 1 say it all?

Something Desired. If you desire something so strongly that you live and breathe and believe you can not fail.

Planned. If you don’t know where you are going, how are you going to get there? When you travel, you take a map along so you know how to get to your destination without getting lost. The better your map (planning), the better your chance of reaching your goal.

Attempted. All the planning in the world will not get you there alone or by itself. You have to take action or attempt to work your plan. Although “attempt” is a weak word. Taking massive focused action can produce what seem to be miracles.

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Although, I’ve know this one for some time, a guy that goes by the name of the Conversion Doctor brought it all back.

He’s done some amazing testing. Testing many of the littile “tweaks”, most folks don’t even stop to think about. Small things that can make a big difference.

His latest test talks about the color and style of links, hyperlinks. His results show with statisical data, the best pulling or most clicked links are blue and underlined, the same type of link you see above for his blog post.

For a while I was trying to make my sites look more “in”, I was digging into CSS and changing my links to look cool and artistic. I changed the color and took out the underline, I was on my way. To be honest, I set it up so long ago, I really was’nt paying attention, but my sites looked so good. Good does’nt pay the bills.

It took Google dumping me once again, not completely, but still losing a good chunk of traffic, to get me looking at improving my numbers. I run a few directories which of course list sites other than my own. I did get smart and place my links at the top of each category, but then it hit me. I did’nt need my links to look cool, I needed them to pop, stand out above the rest. It did’nt take me long to figure out what I was doing to my own click though rates. It was amazing the difference when I changed my style sheet, the links stood out bold and beautiful. I don’t have the stats as proof, but I can tell you I made just as many sales with the lower traffic volume. Even better when my sites start climbing back up the serps. A few thousand too many links to track.

If you stop to think about it, it only makes sense. When surfers see a blue underlined link, they know it’s a hyperlink, they have been conditioned.

Still don’t believe me? Visit the Conversion Doctor, he’s got the proof and the numbers.

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I’ve always known words can be powerful, well, I should say to a certian extent. I don’t think I’ve every really thought about it, real serious. A couple of folks have got me thinking lately, for one it was James Brausch and Keith Baxter resounded the same train of thought on a podcast, even giving his thoughts on the subject.

Oddly I got sucked in to YouTube today, my son sent me a link for some funny video’s of Dave Lettermen. I try to stay away from that place because It’s too easy for me to get side tracked. And the internet is full of diversions.

It got me to thinking, how did Lettermen get so popular, if he did’nt talk, where would he be? If comedians could’nt speak a word, who would laugh? What if a Hemmingway book had no text? What if the bible had no Words? Of course these are all different types of words, but the words made a difference, they had power in their own way.

How many of us, if not all of us, want approval from those close to us, like our spouses, moms, dads, out children. Just a simple “I’m proud of you.” Powerful words.

They say a Picture can save a thousand words. Can not a word also paint a thousand pictures?

Next time I write copy I know I’ll think a little different.

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If you’ve been a student of business or making money on your own, your sure to have heard the phrase coined by Robert G. Allen, “Multiple streams of income”. Basically it means to have several different sources of income. If for some reason one of your sources of income was to dry up, you have others to get you by, your not totally up a creek, so to speak.

It only makes sense to apply this same rule to your on-line business when it comes to website traffic. Believe me I’ve learned the hard way and it cost me.

For example, say you put all your time, money and resources into gaining high ranking in Google. While it can be an incredible high and personal gratification, not to mention all the money you could earn, you can’t always count on it.

If you’ve done any search engine optimization, you’ll know the search engines change how they rank web pages, often several times a year. Traffic strategies that may have worked in the past may not be as effective after a major change. Often it can be attributed to certain webmasters exploiting the search engines.

Don’t get me wrong, you should always do your best to get in the favour of the search engines, but remember, if you ride all your income on it, some day if “could” crash. I’ve been there, seen many others there also.

So it comes down to, what if you came to depend on search engine traffic, and one day it was all gone? Webmasters usually don’t think about it, until it’s too late.

It’s in your best interest to protect your income by building your traffic base from many different sources. Even the fact of building link trades for another traffic sources, can help two fold, as we know the search engines have and will probably always rank in part to the number of linkbacks a website has coming in.

I dont’ know about you, but I plan on making my own money for years to come. I sure don’t want to ever have to go back to a “job”.

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We as humans have a great gift for making excuses don’t we? Often we make them so valid in our own minds, that we can justify not taking some type of action. Even to the point where it is an subconscious act, we don’t realize till some one calls us out, and the truth can hurt, if we let it.

My family is into horses, we have a few at a stable close to our house. My youngest daughter races around like a maniac and my oldest likes the slow and easy showing events. My sons horse was traded for a four wheeler, but thats another story.

Since we’ve started our pastime, we’ve met so many people, some great people. One of the biggest jokes is how many excuses people come up with for not getting on their horse or some one else’s. I’d be the very first one to admit, it’s a scary proposition. You getting up top of a 750 pound of bigger animal, that is well, still an animal. Even the most broke or kid proof horse can spook or act wild on the first warm day of the year.

We’ve even go so far as talking about writing a book listing all the excuses people use for not jumping on…

It’s too hot
It’s too cold
It’s too dry
It’s too wet
The horse is not broke
The horse is too broke.
The horse is too young
The horse is too old
Horse is too tall
Horse is too short
I don’t have my boots
I don’t have the right boots

Think you get the picture. It could be a long book. Sprinkled liberally with many of my own.

I can almost guarantee with certainty that people who complain they are’nt making any money have a whole pocket full of excuses. I’ve got mine. I’ve been there, done that.

How about you?

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There’s a good chance you’ve heard of a new movie out, called “The Secret”. It’s getting huge attention, even featured on the Oprah show twice already, both times taking up the entire show. People are just amazed by it and a large number saying their lives have been changed drastically, for the better, since they watched it.

If you have’nt heard of it or don’t know what it’s about, to sum it up, “thoughts become things”. What you think and believe, with passion, you will be.

I think it’s great this kind of thinking has finally hit the mainstream. I do have to chuckle that people are so amazed by this new “concept”. It’s not anything new at all, the secret has been revealed in many books, over many years. Napoleon Hill wrote about it back in the 30’s, W. Clement Stone wrote about the secret, so did Norman Vincent Peale.

Straight from the publisher:

Fragments of a great secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it.

For the first time? Sorry, even I have been learning the secret for a number of years. They bring up that the secret has been in the bible all along, well, ya it has. What bible has every one been reading before now?

The one thing I find strange. If you were to try explaining this “concept” to some of the folks that have been changed so much by the movie before they watched it, they would have brushed you off. If you’ve been a student of “The me I see, is the Me I’ll be”, you know what I’m talking about. People would laugh it off and try changing the subject.

Yet, when it’s in a big time movie, it’s life changing? They could have changed their life years ago and not have had to wait for the DVD. Well, I have’nt seen the whole thing, so maybe it gets the idea through to people, easier than say a book.

Will I buy it? Sure I will, I was out today looking for it. I personally can’t get enough of this kind of “stuff”. And just maybe the movie will help me apply the secret that I’ve known for some time.:)

Am I the only one that does’nt always apply myself?

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Besides the day I married my wife and the birthdays of each of my three children, there is another day I will never forget. Or should I say I’ll never forget how I felt that day.

It was back in 1999, when I quit working a job. I had given notice, so It was’nt like I just walked out or anything. I still remember though, at that end of that day, walking out of work and knowing I would’nt have to go back. It was an incredible feeling. It was like I walked into a whole new world, literally. The day felt great, I had a little spring in my step and my happiness was at an all time high.

It was’nt even my last boss, he was actually one of the best bosses I’d ever had. It was just the fact that for so many years I just hated working for some one else. How many family events I had missed over the years, because I had to work. How many holidays and weekends I had to work. Not to mentioned my life being scheduled by some one else.

In early 1999 was when I went full time on the internet. Although that day I was on an terrific life high, it was also very scary. I was making good money, but it sure was’nt a guarenteed paycheck every week. I was’nt getting paid by the hour for my work…..

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I’m not going to post much today as I think it’s kind of a blow off day.

Wheither you think it’s one of those made up holidays for the greeting card companies, or not, do we ever get enough reasons to show our love to those in our life that we care about? I don’t think so.

As for me, I am 800 some miles away from my love, so we have some “date” nights to make up for when I get home.

To Michelle, I love and miss you very much, can’t wait to get home.

Take a break today and show the love.. it can be Powerful.

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I opted out of yet another list today.

I originally subscribed to this list because it was suppose to be geared toward list building, a favorite subject of mine lately. It was titled, list building ideas. I just went though all the e-mails I recieved from this marketer, to double check, and not one related to the subject I signed up for. In reality every e-mail was just to sell me something, every one of them. To top it all off this marketer did’nt even try selling me anything that was related to my interest.

After I unsubscribed I ended up on their website, and it was not even remotely related.

I not bashing any one here, this person looks like they really work hard and put some effort into their mails. Right off the bat they are doing more than 98% of the population becasuse they are taking action.

This person could very well be making money off this list.

But..

What if all I recieved was information about list building? What if I recieved information on the subject I was interested in that I could use or even learn from? What if they tried selling me services and products targeted to my interest? At the very least I would have stayed on their list and a good chance I would have bought something.

I’ve spent many years pushing affiliate programs, to many it seems at times. One train of thought has always done well for me and made me money…

Targeting.

I target the traffic coming in with ads and copy focused on their interest and as narrow as I possibly can get. Same holds true for a mailing list. It’s worked for me, for over 8 years.

Now it’s your turn.

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If your not sure what I mean when I use the term, Bookmark traffic, it simple means, surfers who have bookmarked or saved your sites address, so they can easily find their way back to your website. Just like marking a page your reading in a paperback.

It stands to reason, if people have gone to the trouble of bookmarking your site, it’s most likely you got their attention and they are interested in what you have to say.

As the saying goes, it’s much less work to keep a customer than it is to find new ones.

We also know not every person will buy the first time they see your offer(s).

So on with the tips….

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Being on a number of lists, obviously I see quite a few mails from those building and running lists. A couple things in particular I’ve been seeing lately that inspired me to write this post.

You should always be reminding your subscribors, that they opted in to your list and where they signed-up. Right up top so it’s the first thing they see. Often I need to double check the entire e-mail to figure out where it come from.

Not only reminding them they signed up, but also branding your name in every mail. On a side note, using your name in the subject can also make a big difference as to wheither or not they even open your mails.

Branding yourself or your service can make a huge impact. Not only getting your name out there in the public, but building trust as you go. We can never get enough trust can we?

The quicker a subscriber realizes who you are and remember they did indeed sign up for your list, the less chance you’ll get spam compliants. These points are even more important if you do not mail very often.

Part 2 coming soon..

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More and more I see people complain they can’t make any money on the Internet. A number lately saying they have spent thousands of dollars on information, e-books, videos and even expensive classes, but yet they don’t make a dime.

These same people posting on a new site waiting for the new lauch, hoping this will be the big break, their road to riches. Hoping yet another “guru” will tell all his secrets and they will finally make it big, the cash rolling in without much effort.

Some of the same people saying  they don’t want to do anything complicated like writing an e-book, joint ventures, or heaven forbid, building a list.

Is this you? Does it sound familiar? I sure hope not, you might not like the rest of this post.

I don’t mean to make light of people or make fun of them, I’ve been there myself at one point or another in my Internet career.

Problem is, these same people could spend thousands more and add millions of pdf’s on their hard drive and it would’nt matter. They want the secret formula for getting rich. Problem is most already know the great secret, but will never realize or admit it.

Sir Francis Bacon coined the phrase, “Knowledge is Power”. I thank him for the quote, but he was’nt quite right, well at least in my world. It should have been “Knowledge is Potential Power”.

You could have all the knowledge in the world, all the reports and programs available on the net, every e-book ever written, every pdf ever created…

You could know everything, but it’s worth nothing if you dont use the knowledge and take action.

It’s only as complicated as you make it.

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Seems recently there is talk about turning off comments on a blog. The reasons seem quite valid.

It’s probably not what your thinking, it’s not just because of comment spam, though thats a pretty good reason and part of the discussion. The reason is more to keep the blog focused on the main theme, such as internet marketing. Often comments can be just lame attempts at marketing or traffic generation for another site.. Not to mention, some on the edge of abusive or name calling, etc.

While I don’t really disagree, it has it merits, but four things come to my mind.

First and foremost, if your going to have your trackbacks on, you better have some security. Comment spam is only on part of the problem from spammers, trackback spam is just as bad if not worst. When I first started blogging some time back, I made the mistake of having comments and trackbacks wide open. We all learn the hard way don’t we? Long story short, I was slammed with 100’s if not 1,000’s of trackback spams. Of course you can turn them off and use plug-ins to block, but the bad thing is they continue to show up in your stats as traffic, making it quite the mess. Amazingly even after blocking them, they still hit your site day in and day out. Only solution is to try contact those sites and get them to stop pinging your sites. Pretty bad when WE have to track THEM down to stop them from doing what they should’nt have been doing in the first place.

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I’m sure by now you’ve figured out that your not the only one who is trying to sell something and make a living on the internet. The more time you spend on the net and the more you sift your way though all the webpages, which seems never ending, the more you realize, there’s alot of competition, probably much more than you ever thought.

Granted your going to have some competition, but you know what? It does’nt matter, it really does’nt.

For one thing, the net is always growing, every day new users are coming on line. Every day there are new customers and prospects.

If you work hard and sell better than the next guy, then you’ll get more of the sales. If you provide your customers with superior producs and service, often you’ll have an edge over much of your competition. You have every oppurtunity as the next marketer. Much of the beauty of the net is that it levels the playing field if you use it your advantage.

On the other hand, it you do nothing but wishing, hoping and dreaming, or worring about how much competition there is, who’s going to get YOUR customers?

It could be me.

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Seems the big talk of the town has been a new program called Day Job Killier. It sure has had a good launch, you don’t have to surf much to find it mentioned numerous times. If your on any lists, there’s a good chance you’ve already heard of it also.

From what I can see, it seems to be a great product.

Will I buy it? Nope.

It’s not that I don’t think it could be a worthwhile investment.

It’s just not what I’m into right now.

If I bought it, then I’d have to read it all, I might get all excited about it, worst I might end up starting yet another new project. My entire focus and thinking would probably shift in it’s direction. Sound familiar?

It could very well make you alot of money, but you need to becareful. There will ALWAYS be a new product. There will ALWAYS be a new big incredible gotta-have-it launch. There are always going to be something new that could stop or hinder your focus.

Plus there is always the “Next Big Thing” that so many people get caught up in. If you keep chasing the next must have products, thats all your going to be doing is chasing.

The successful focus with laser precision on one thing and one thing only, in that moment. Instead of chasing the latest craze, do something, take massive action and focus everything you have, get it up and running and turning a profit.

Then, and only then, seek out new income streams.

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Are you where you want to be in life? Do you make as much money as you’d like to? Are you the success you’ve always dreamed of? If not, maybe your not creating your own picture and not living into it. Okay, your probably wondering what I’m talking about….

One of my favorite motivational speakers is Steve Chandler. Actually to hear the guy speak on some of his audio products, you’d think the guy was the least motivated person on the planet. That aside he’s outstanding.

One of his stories that I try to keep in my head is about Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know, the Terminator guy. Steve tells how he was once a sports reporter and had the job of interviewing Arnold. At the time Arnold was a body builder and had just won Mr Universe. Steve asked him what was next since he’d come so far in the sport. Arnold replied he was going to be the next box office action movie star. With a massive build and a very thick accent, Steve was quite surprised this guy could do anything more than flex. He then asked Arnold, just how he expected to fulfil his next desire.

“The same way I did with bodybuilding.” He said. “I created a picture of what I wanted to be and lived into that picture.”

I think you know the rest…

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I just read an article about marketing by Gary Simpson entitled, Rich Jerk, Poor Jerk. It talks about how certain marketers use almost abusive marketing tactics in an effort to sell their product. You’ve probably seen them, they are the ones that act as though they are better than you and the obvious fact that they are rich and you are not. Of course it’s all to grab attention, almost shock if you will. To get your attention and in an odd way, get you to buy their stuff. Sure not my way to trying to promote my products.

More and more lately I’ve been seeing so many people breaking the rules. I am talking about marketing rules or guidelines that have been around for ages. They have been around because they work, not in the short term, but long term.

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Maybe thats a little too drastic a title, but I’ve been there.

What is that your saying? Am I trying to say Search Engines are bad for business?

Nope, not even close. My problem with search engines occurred when I started to rely on that sweet traffic, a little too much. I worked my butt off optimizing my sites, trying to make them perfect, to be snatched up by the search engines gods. I even went to far as to hire a SEO guru, to make sure I’d done everything right.

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