Learning Internet Marketing

New Year, How Are You Doing?

2012-01-20T14:58:00.000-05:00

I've got a good feeling about this year. I'm finally getting it as far as understanding affiliate marketing. People have told me before that it isn't that difficult, but I think something needs to click and it finally has.

I'm still doing a lot of offline workshops for the local community centre and have also started renting my own venue to present them. I've done two so far. The first one I allowed people to pay at the door. Big mistake. They registered, but then sent me an email at the last minute saying they couldn't come. So after I paid for the location, I was in the hole.

The second one I did, I finally got smart and put a Paypal registration on my website. So much easier, not to mention nice to get the Paypal notification that I had made a sale. Ended up with three times as many paying attendees and they paid $5 more each than the first group. Lest you think I made a fortune, my first workshop only had two payees, but it sounds better to say three times as many people than to say six, don't you think.

I'm working on another book, this time a bit more in depth, now that I know my way around Createspace. And I've got a number of goals for the year. You can read about them on my business blog at motivatedtolearn.com.

Enough about me. How are you making out so far this year? Are you taking it slow and learning from those who aren't out to take advantage of you, checking out people before you put down your money? Don't be like a client of mine who has spent thousands and was given a website with 37 autoresponder lists set up and has no clue what to do with them. Since they're just numbered from 1 to 37, I'm not quite sure myself. Now please comment and let me know what's going on with you and your business endeavors online.

Until next time,

Carol

NAMS New Membership Site

2011-09-19T11:55:00.023-04:00

Update on this post: I think the 90% discount sold out, but it's still possible to get 85% off for the time being.

I received an email from David Perdew, the creator of the NAMS event in Atlanta that I attend. David is the gentle giant in the photo next to me. He has changed the NAMS concept into a membership site, which means more resources and less cost to us. I'm adding his email here, since he can tell you about it better than I can:

"Hey there Carol

Be sure to check out the new MyNAMS library. We've added more than 1260 video tutorials and much more there. We're leaving it open to the public this week only. After that, it goes inside the membership.

Check it out here:

MyNAMS Membership

Remember, until we hit our charter student member limit (and we're getting very close!), you can get into the MyNAMS membership with a 90% discount using the MYNAMS90 promo code.

You can join MyNAMS and get all the benefits at After you input the promo code in the cart, the monthly price will drop from $97.00 to $9.70 per month. The annual rate is an even better deal from $970 to $97.

Enjoy!
Peace & Prosperity!
David Perdew"

Since I know the value first-hand, I signed up right away. If you decide to join me, don't forget to add the special MYNAMS90 coupon code so you get the discount. (The form will start out saying $97 a month, but once you put in that code, it will change to $9.70 a month. Do make sure it says that discounted price before you finalize the shopping cart purchase). And if you join and are Canadian, please join the Canada forum area - we are presently a small but dedicated group.

Until next time,

Carol

P.S. Once you join NAMS, you can attend the live event for a very small price. One of many perks!

31 Tips For Promoting Your Business

2011-09-01T13:41:00.000-04:00

The trumpet sounds and the drums roll and here it is:
My book in Kindle version for a nice, quick read.

I know, you were probably expecting me to tell you I'm finally making a living online. Sorry, but it still isn't enough to claim even baby guru status. But I do have a book!! When you get to be my age, this will be enough of a thrill for your day, believe me.

My business name is no longer Knowledge To Profit, but if you knew how long it took me to get the cover created, you wouldn't ask me to change that little bit of info on the bottom. Or would you?

Until next time,

Carol

Marketing Tips For This Week

2011-06-04T16:02:00.003-04:00

I've been involved in a number of webinars and mastermind groups this week and taking all kinds of notes, although I know by now that the secret to success is to act on the things that I learn. And I am trying, small steps at a time:)

Anyway, here are the main takeaways I got from this week. Any comments of mine will be in brackets after the tips - which are in no particular order.

PDF's rank highly in Google. Turn some of your material into PDF's and then look for PDF directories and submit them - Scribd is one of the PDF directories. If you have ebooks to give away, do the same with free ebook directories. (I've started to put some of my materials in PDF format to download from my websites, but haven't used a directory yet. And if you need a quick way to create PDF files, use Open Office to create your document and then click the handy little PDF icon on the toolbar to create the file.)
Don't say 'submit' on your opt-in form, instead use 'register for ..., or get ..., and then be very specific about what they will receive. (Not doing very well with this tip so far. On this very blog I say 'submit'. On my other ones, I usually say 'Sign Up', which is better, but only on one of my sites was I specific about what they would receive as a result. No wonder my list building is going so slowly.)
Start off the comments on your blog posts. Then when others see it, they are more likely to comment as well. (Haven't done this yet either, so guess I'll start by commenting on this very post.)
I thought this was a great idea from Dan Morris - if you need an image to go with a blog post,use an image from Amazon and then as well as providing a visual, if someone clicks through, it's your affiliate link and if they purchase anything, you earn a commission. (I've done this for the first time on this post. Even if no one clicks through, it's an easy way for me to add a related image without spending forever to look for one.)
Re-purpose any really long posts as pdf's or create a short video or audio for each of the points covered in the article. (Another one I haven't done yet, and with a Flip camera to shoot Youtube videos and the FreeConferenceCalling service to do audios, I really have no excuse. In fact, I am starting to do audios for some of the posts on another blog as we speak. If I could only clone myself, I would be much faster - and yes, I know I can outsource, but I want my voice.)
Promote a book by releasing a free pdf of the first chapter. (Another no - not doing so well on this checklist so far. But I do have a book in progress, does that count?)
Keep posts current by updating them with links or new information every so often. (I really like this tip since some of my blogs have a lot of content and I hate the thought that all of the old stuff is probably not being read. The only thing I'm not sure about is if you leave the original date of publishing or update it? I would think you would leave it so your blog still looks like it's been around for a long time, but not sure. If anyone knows, please let me know. And if I find out from my pals at the Clicknewz forum, I'll tell you.)
For every link or bookmark of your own you submit to bookmarking sites,also submit 3 of other people's. Keep that 3 to 1 ratio. (I have not tried bookmarking yet at all. I know my daughter Melanie bookmarks all the time, so I need to get her to teach me. Or, since she's also my virtual assistant, I could just get her to do it for me.)
Offer to guest blog when you know people are traveling or very busy. (I have done guest blogging, although it has usually been on a long-term basis and after awhile, we both usually run out of time and ideas for one another's blog posts. So I think I would prefer to do this on a one time or limited arrangement.)
Write an ezine article every week. (I have written a number of these, although not so much recently. I was doing better for awhile because EzineArticles had a plugin I could use on my Wordpress website. Then it was simply a matter of adding to the content of one of my blog posts and submitting with the click of a button. But it seems that plugin is no longer in use, I guess because it also made it much easier for spammers to submit articles quickly. I need to schedule myself to write these every week, post them on my site, and then on an article directory.)
Check out quora.com if you haven't already. (I had never heard of this site and still don't use it regularly, but I seem to get followers fairly quickly.)
Concentrate on 4 things: building your list, branding yourself, creating products of your own, and joint ventures with others. (I'm working on the first three items, number four is way beyond me right now. But maybe after NAMS in August...)
If you start a regular BlogTalk radio show, you can submit to iTunes, use your show content for the search engines, and re-purpose the content.(I'll tell you more about all of that later. I signed up for a course starting next week with Cindi Dawson and Joe Marsh. I have done BlogTalk radio shows twice now, once my own and once as a guest, but I have no idea how to re-purpose the content.)

I know, 13 tips - take them as a baker's dozen rather than a superstitious number. Special thanks to Lynn Terry for her expertise. Many of the above tips came as a result of the weekly mastermind of the Elite forum at Clicknewz. Now it's your turn. Please comment and add what you've learned this week.

Until next time,

Carol

Presenting to a Large Group

2011-05-18T18:25:00.003-04:00

I've got a little bit of news to tell you today. I've been busy, workshops are getting more popular, and I've started doing more presentations. The latest was a talk I gave to members of the Assante Wealth Group about what social media is and the basics of using Twitter. The group of 150 people were 50+ and only a handful had ever used social media before.

I started with a general overview of Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, using comparisons to give them any idea of what each of those sites is used for. Then I used a little story with slide photos to get across some of the do's and don'ts when using Twitter. Right now I'm in the process of putting the slides together on Slideshare and then I'll post it here for you to see.

My entire presentation (30 minutes) was video taped, but apparently the quality wasn't very good, so I didn't get a copy. I did record the presentation for myself when I practiced ahead of time, and will include that audio here if you would like to listen. Remember, this was a practice run, so you'll hear notification that my virus checker has been updated, as well as a few 'um's' and a bit of stumbling around. For some reason, I'm intimidated by the telephone it seems:(

If you haven't started speaking to groups yet, I encourage you to get out there and do it. Start with small groups like I did at the local Chamber of Commerce and work your way up. I realized when I did a smaller group recently that I need to see the faces of the people listening in order to do a good job. I seem to feed off their energy or something.

Now my challenge is to get over my nerves beforehand. During the presentations and afterwards, I feel great, but for days before I'm almost sick and wondering why I do it to myself:) Any suggestions?

Until next time,

Carol

Podcamp Toronto

2011-03-04T10:27:00.010-05:00

This past weekend I attended Podcamp in Toronto. If you've never been to a podcamp, they happen in various cities and are billed as an 'unconference'. All kinds of people, young and old, with a common interest in social media. Sessions are free, refreshments are free, attendees come and go during the presentations, and anyone who feels they have knowledge to share can be a presenter. Maybe some day I'll do that, but I find the idea of people walking out while I'm talking a little unnerving.

I attended a number of presentations, the ones about Blogger and Wordpress both were good for my ego since they made me realize how much I do already know. The Youtube session was interesting, except for the guy in the audience who insisted on giving his two cents about everything that was being shared.

The LinkedIn presentation was okay, but I would rather have had some concrete ideas than statics about how useful a site it is and how easy to find joint venture partners.

My favorite session was a blogger from Ottawa who started selling ads on her site a couple of years ago. It was interesting to see that she took her time and has added content almost every day since 1998. Her advice and the mistakes she's made were quite helpful to anyone monetizing their site that way.

I think all of the presentation notes were made available on the Podcamp 2011 Toronto website if you want more information. And if you've attended a podcamp in your area, I'd love to hear what you thought of it.

Until next time,

Carol

Youtube Videos - Are You Using Them?

2011-02-10T22:11:00.003-05:00

Creating more Youtube videos is on my to-do list for this spring. But I think I need to take a lesson from my granddaughter's future husband and learn to use humor much more than I do. Here is a recent video he created to give you an idea of what I mean. Don't miss the surprise ending.

Until next time,

Carol

Conducting Workshops

2011-01-31T12:53:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy 2011 so far and I'm trying to get myself more organized. Besides attending the NAMS5 virtual training, which was pretty intense, I'm conducting a number of local workshops. These are on a variety of topics to do with marketing on the Internet, social media, and information product creation. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are very popular right now, both with businesses and people who want to keep up with technology. My favourite is showing how to use Hootsuite to bring it all together without taking too much time. Some workshops I've done before but since I use the classroom as my lab of sorts, I'm always trying new ways to present the information.

I know it would be much easier to create the content once and simply teach it, but there are always new things I've learned that I like to add. Plus I really enjoy the workshops that have a lot of interaction, so I try different ways to get the points across in fun ways that people will remember. If you've never tried conducting a workshop of your own, why not give it a go. It's great to share your knowledge, help people, and get paid in the process:)

One of these days, I'm going to get my materials together and offer it as a manual for people who would like to teach Internet workshops but aren't sure where to start. Now that I've been doing them part-time for the last five or six years, I think I've learned a little as I've gone along. If you've taught some workshops yourself, please comment and tell us about your experiences.

Learning Internet Marketing From the Experts

2011-01-18T12:20:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was a busy one, with sessions on various aspects of Internet marketing all day long. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the webinars were from 10 in the morning until 5 at night, with an hour off for lunch. That sounds like a heavy schedule and it is, but the one I attend live in Atlanta starts at 8:30 every morning and then ends at 6. Then everyone sits around and networks all evening. So in comparison, the virtual training was easier, plus if I had other plans, like my grandaughter's birthday party, I could take time off. All of the audio recordings will be sent so I can review those I missed later.

There were a number of different presenters and most of them spoke for close to an hour, with a live question and answer time at the end of their session. Some topics covered were affililiate marketing, building community and becoming a market leader, re-purposing your content, using Twitter and Facebook effectively, video marketing, strategies to convert your readers to buyers, copywriting, building a successful business blog, membership sites, teleseminars, getting your local business to rank highly on Google, getting content for your website, dealing with procrastination, and building credibility. I could mention more, but as you can see, it's been a very comprehensive training so far. And it isn't over yet. Monday to Thursday evening there are two more presenters each night, each giving an hour session.

There were all kinds of useful resources mentioned, many of them free. For example, screenr.com, tweetgrid.com, and fiverr.com. The only thing I would caution if you have been attending these NAMS sessions is not to feel overwhelmed with all the information. You can go back over it as often as you like and before you know it, all of those pieces that seem so difficult now will click and become much easier to understand. A lot of the sessions were classified as being a beginner level, but they aren't. If I was a total beginner, a lot of it would be over my head. Best not to pay any attention to the levels assigned for this virtual training. When you get to Atlanta, to the live event, each of the levels will be taught in a different room and there is also one for absolute beginners.

The main drawback to attending a virtual training like this is missing the social interaction and networking with the other people there. Although the webinar sessions are live and there is a question time, hearing voices just isn't the same as actually being there. But since Atlanta was struggling with snow, it might not have been the easiest place to travel to. And not having to pay for flights or hotel rooms was certainly a lot cheaper. As with most things, there are pros and cons to a virtual training event. An added plus with the NAMS workshop is that the one price also includes attendance at the live event in Atlanta in August. Much better weather then too - especially if you like the heat.

David Perdew has also decided that if anyone signs up for NAMS before the webinars end on Thursday night, they can still get the audios of this whole virtual time and the workshop in Atlanta. He's still allowing the discounted price if you use the code: UnderTheWire and there might even be a payment plan - first time for that. If you do want to attend, click this NAMS link to get to the page that tells you all about it. After Thursday night, the NAMS price will be for the summer session only.

Offline Presentations

2010-11-22T14:27:00.000-05:00

These days I've been doing a lot more in the way of presenting my knowledge to offline business groups. After all, I may not know a lot about marketing on the Internet compared to the big names, but I know a lot more than most brick and mortar businesses do.

Networking groups and local businesses, as well as your Chamber of Commerce and community centers, are always looking for interesting speakers for their members. Although you might not be paid for your time, those people will get to know, like, and trust you and when they need the services you offer, guess who they'll call.

To give you an idea of the possibilities, these are some of the presentations and their audience.

An ongoing monthly Meetup group - various ideas for using Internet marketing and social media.
A large business women's networking group - ways that businesses can promote themselves online.
A local government agency that provides help to unemployed workers - ways to make a little extra income online.
The local Chamber of Commerce - basic search engine optimization.
The local community center - an ongoing computer club.

There are people all around you that would love to hear what you have to share. If I can start a Meetup group and a computer club, so can you. If I can do presentations to business people even though I'm short, older, and self-taught, so can you.

Now your challenge is to go and do some of those things and then come back here and tell us all about it. I'll be waiting to give you a pat on the back:)

Using a Virtual Assistant - What Could YOU Delegate?

2010-11-03T20:12:00.000-04:00

At some point, we all realize we can't do everything ourselves. When that happens, it's time to start thinking about hiring the services of a Virtual Assistant. My life has been so much easier since I started working with my VA. She does all the techie things I can't do, keeps me on track, motivates me when I get discouraged. If you're wondering how outsourcing could help you, here are some of the tasks that can be delegated to a VA:

* Responding to customer e-mails and phone calls
* Scheduling business and personal appointments and interviews
* Bookkeeping: invoicing clients, receiving and paying bills, reconciling bank statements, tracking expenses and tax records, working with your accountant
* Internet research and fact checking
* Planning travel for speaking engagements and seminars
* Maintaining newsletter and customer mailing lists
* Managing website and newsletter ad sales
* Handling registrations for teleclasses and workshops
* Maintaining web site (copy edits, additions, responding to comments)
* Creating sales reports
* Shipping customer orders and shipping products for speakers
* Submitting articles to other publishers and article sites
* Placing ads in publications and at Web sites
* Formatting e-books, creating PDF files, and sending out for printing
* Designing PowerPoint presentations
* Creating backlinks

So what have I missed? If you have a VA, how does she/he help you out?

Our Mastermind Progress

2010-10-11T14:18:00.000-04:00

I mentioned in the last post that I was going to be involved in a mastermind group to help promote one another. So far we have met once on Skype and twice on a teleseminar. These are my observations so far:

Our Skype meeting was a lot of fun, but didn't accomplish much. I don't use Skype often and the others did only for one on one text chats. When the first two members got on Skype, it was fine, we could see and hear one another well. As soon as someone else entered the call, the video capability was lost. Once four of us were on (member number five couldn't attend that day) it was hard to hear properly. There was a lot of phone interference and we kept getting dropped from having a group call. We finally gave up and called it a day.
The next two sessions we've used a teleseminar service. I have a free trial for InstantTeleseminars so we used that. The advantage here over freeconferencecalling.com is that there were local phone numbers for the American members of our group to call. And the mp3 download was available instantly so that I could send it to everyone. The only problem we had was when I tried to answer another call that came into my phone. Since I was the host, that cut everyone off and we had to dial in again.

So far the sessions have been informative, fun, and motivating for all of us involved. With the audio available as well, we can go back and re-listen. We haven't had a set agenda so far, other than to see what everyone is working on and how we can help.

We have a stream on Hootsuite set up for the five of us so that we instantly see anything anyone has posted on Twitter and then we can re-tweet or send to Facebook or LinkedIn. We've also set up a Google docs page for our mastermind group and listed all of our social media links and our various blogs and squidoo lenses. As time goes on, we'll check that list and comment on one another's sites as we are able.

Lots more we can do to help one another, but we are taking it one step at a time.

Any advice for us? Have you started a mastermind group too?

Mastermind Promotion Groups - My Main NAMS Takeaway

2010-09-21T12:33:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Bob 'The Teacher' Jenkins, my main NAMS takeaway this past time was how beneficial it is to have a mastermind group. Consisting of up to six people, you work together to promote one another. Things like re-tweeting on Twitter, commenting on their blogs, cross-promoting, guest blogging for one another, commenting and liking each of the group's Facebook pages, adding their videos to your site if applicable. Basically, anything that you would love someone to do to help promote you, your site, and your products.

The best group members should have similar target markets and be marketing at a similar level. As much as I might like to have an Internet marketing superstar in the group, I doubt that's going to happen. So I've hooked up with four other marketers to do this. None of us are absolute beginners, but none of us are making megabucks online either. We all have different products and services, but our markets would be interested in hearing about the others in the group. We've just started and plan to meet on Skype once a week to encourage one another and get feedback. All of us are looking forward to what we can accomplish together.

How do you feel about having a mastermind group like that? And are you already involved in one? If so, how has it affected your business?

Jet Lag and NAMS 4

2010-09-06T23:58:00.000-04:00

Okay, it wasn't a jet, but I did take a 747 to NAMS. And yes, I've been back for a week now. But it takes me a while to recover so you won't get all the juicy details for a bit longer yet.

All I can say is I took loads of notes, hung out with some amazing people, and wish they didn't live so far away.

I learned a lot and really enjoyed the sessions with Bob 'The Teacher' Jenkins, Karon Thackston, and Kathleen Gage. Of course all of the presenters were great, but those three I got the most from.

And I had a 15 minute consultation with Mark Hendricks as well. The last NAMS I didn't think I had anything to discuss with him, but this time I forced myself to sign up. I was super nervous, but he was very easy to talk to, and he actually liked my idea for a membership site. I'll talk more about that another time.

Once I get my notes organized, I'll give you my top ten takeaway points. Now the challenge is to do them, not stay in learning mode.

So tell me, what is your burning Internet marketing question? Maybe I know the answer now:)

Are We There Yet?

2010-08-17T22:15:00.000-04:00

For those of us that have signed up to attend NAMS (Niche Affiliate Marketing System) in Atlanta, the excitement is mounting. We are starting to sound like a bunch of kids asking "Are we there yet?"

Well, two more sleeps and we'll be there! I'll try to keep an update of the goings-on for the time as often as I can. Better yet, follow me on Twitter - my user name there is TorontoCarol.

This time around, the NAMS group are going to be raising money for Dr. Mani's life-saving surgeries on children in India. I'll keep you posted on those efforts as well. There's no telling how much money a large group of Internet marketers might be able to raise together.

I'll be taking some books with me to read on the way to Atlanta. Right now I've started 'Click Here To Order' by Joel Comm. Next up is 'Social Media 10' by Chris Brogan. Do you have any other reading suggestions for me while I'm traveling?

Niche Affiliate Marketing System - NAMS Update

2010-08-03T00:12:00.004-04:00

Summer is moving right along. Too quickly, in fact. In three short weeks I'll be in Atlanta again, attending NAMS. Short for Niche Affiliate Marketing System, this will be my third time going to the workshop. Three days of hands-on working with some of the top affiliate marketers on the Internet.

For the first time, NAMS will be split into four learning groups rather than three. Two levels of Beginners, one Intermediate, and one Advanced. That will be a plus for the many new people that come since they are all at different stages. Beginner 1 will focus on those who don't even have a website yet. Beginner 2 attendees are already blogging, but making little or no money as an affiliate.

I'm usually in the Intermediate room, although I haven't made much affiliate income in the past. That's beginning to change now. I'm still doing a lot of offline training and I'm getting bolder at asking my students to sign up for domains and hosting under my link. Before, I would mention I was an affiliate and that was my link, but they didn't get the connection. I had to come right out and ask them to register using my link. I always explain that I get a small commission, but they still pay the same price and often get a discount. None of them ever minds.

Anyway, back to NAMS. It looks like my sessions will be "Developing a Blueprint" presented by Doug Hudiburg. I'm not familiar with him and have no idea what that will involve. Then Jeff Herring and Maritza Parra will be doing a session on Social Marketing. Lynn Terry's topic is "Wielding Influence in Your Community". Then I'm going to sit in with Kathleen Gage and learn to do teleseminars properly.

Did I mention that we go from Friday morning until Sunday night and each day runs from 8 am until 6 pm? So Sunday I'll be learning copywriting with Karon Thackston. I haven't decided which of the afternoon sessions to do that day.

There are daily keynotes as well. This time, those will be presented by David Perdew, Jeff Herring, Denise Wakeman, Paul Evans, Bob Jenkins, and Mark Hendricks.

Willie Crawford, Joe Marsh, Doug Champigny, Dan Morris, Sid Hale, and Nicole Dean will also be instructing, but unless I clone myself I can't sit in on their sessions. My mother and daughter will be with me, so I'm hoping they will be in some of the classes I can't attend. None of us will be in the Advanced group though, so I'll have to wait for the audio to listen to them.

I'm getting excited already, as are many of the other marketers that will be attending - 180 of us in all. Need to rest up now while I can. Not only are the days filled with activity, but lunches, dinners, and hanging out in the evening are spent together as well. The networking alone is worth the price of admission.

Sorry if I have you wishing you were coming with me, but the tickets are all sold out. I'll keep you updated both before and during the time I'm at NAMS. And I'll gather all the tips I can and share with you.

Any special questions you want me to ask?

Introducing Granny Blogger

2010-07-17T23:26:00.002-04:00

If you've ever felt that you were too old to learn Internet marketing, take heart from this story, written by an 85-year-old marketer (also known as my dear mother).

When I was a young girl attending public school in the 1930's, my city of Toronto, Canada had a population of less than one hundred thousand people. Now there are over 2.5 million people living here and of course it is still growing.

That population is not large compared to some cities in the far East such as Osaka, Japan, where my present day mentor and teacher Kevin Riley lives. Osaka has a population of over twelve million people.

During the years known as "The Great Depression", Toronto was a fairly safe city to grow up in and children played outside most warm evenings after school until the street lights came on. I always enjoyed school but the safe and pleasant after school activities back then were fun too.

My formal schooling had a temporary closure when I turned sixteen and had to work in a factory office in order to help out with finances at home. After the second world war broke out, when I was old enough to serve, I joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, Womens Division where my education resumed on a different level.

After the war, marriage and family kept me busy in other areas. However, education never really comes to an end when a person has a desire to learn. There are many opportunities to further ones education from night school classes to correspondence courses. When we bought our first computer my husband and I took a night school computer class and discovered that we both loved working with computers. Then I learned how to use spreadsheet and word processing programs to help us with our business.

Now in my retirement years I am attending classes on line and working from home at my own pace. In addition to this there are opportunities to promote the products of my teacher through advertising on my own websites.

It is very easy to promote affiliate products on the internet even if you do not have a website. However I really enjoy building websites for this purpose.

I hope this article will encourage readers to never stop learning. As my daughter always quotes on her websites, "you are never too old to learn".

How To Enjoy Playing Your Electronic Piano Keyboard and make your family and friends rave about your new found talent - A guide to get you off to a fast start. http://enjoypianokeyboard.com

Granny Blogger shows you how to blog - A complete step by step guide. http://elstatwebservice.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eleanor_McCallum

Taste of NAMS 3 - Joey Smith Presentation

2010-06-26T19:04:00.000-04:00

Adding a PDF File

2010-06-22T10:41:00.003-04:00

My daughter just taught me how to add an entire PDF report to a blog post. I've tried it on Wordpress and now am going to test it here on Blogger. If it works, you should be able to access my entire PDF report on How to Register a Domain Name and Re-direct It To Your Blogger Blog. So here goes:

Upload the PDF file as an image. Now I don't think that will work because it doesn't accept PDF as an image file. In Wordpress, it uploads to a separate URL and then you can link to it.
So for Blogger, it looks like I'll have to use the image URL option when I click to upload my image.
I need to go and find it on Wordpress first. Not sure where you would host it if you only have a Blogger account. Ideas anyone?
Okay, that doesn't work either. I guess the file is too large.
It seems the only way I can let you see the PDF report on Blogger is to link to it. So you'll have to go ahead and click Domain Registration Report and you should see it.

I guess this is another reason I prefer Wordpress no matter how easy Blogger is to use. Unless I'm missing something. Please let me know if that's the case. And I would love your feedback on the PDF report as well.

Kevin Riley Course - Step By Step

2010-04-26T14:41:00.003-04:00

I've decided to work my way through one of Kevin Riley's courses here for the sake of myself and everyone else. This particular course is called "How To Make a Bundle of Cash in Just 3 Days". I received it last year, so can't guarantee that he is still offering it. Still, if we do the steps together, we should make some progress. Your idea of bundle and mine may be different. My main goal is to learn the process.

Kevin suggests finding affiliate products that offer 100% commission. He has a number of them that are used as lead generators. Click here to check. You could also do a Google search and will probably find a number of possibilities. I like to purchase the products first to make sure I'm recommending something I won't be ashamed to be associated with. You want to select products that have a good sales page, including an attention grabbing headline, interesting content, cover image, bullets used, testimonials, a call to action that asks for the sale, and a guarantee.

First step - make sure you have a Paypal Premier account. Verify the account so Paypal doesn't limit the amount of money going in or out of the account. To verify, Paypal will put a small charge on your credit card, which is refunded after you tell them the four digit confirmation code.

Step 2 - After choosing your product, do a keyword search for it by looking at the sales page and choosing four or five good keyword phrases. Use quotes around the phrase when you search and see how much competition is trying to sell the same product by targeting those keywords.

Step 3 - Create a Blogger blog using your keywords for the title. Create content that uses the problem as its base and then introduce the product as the solution to that problem. Use keywords in your content, but not to the point that it becomes unreadable spam. Mention other possible solutions and why they aren't as good as the product you want to sell. Remember to have a call to action at the end of your posts. For example, mine for this post is "Click here for Kevin Riley's Info Products".

I think that's enough to keep us both busy for the next week. I'll update this with more steps once I finish these ones. Let me know how you make out, I'd love to hear.

Offline Tradeshows and Businesses

2010-04-12T22:47:00.000-04:00

This weekend I had a booth at a local women's show. It was my second time attending, and each time I learned a little more. The first time, I realized that a lot of people stand at a distance and look at what you have displayed, so it's useful to have things to attract their interest. I also realized that you never can tell who might be interested in what you have to offer. Many times, they didn't fit my idea of my target market.

I had plenty of handouts available this time and talked to as many people as I could. As a result of my interactions this weekend, I am questioning my current offline business model. Right now, I offer workshops and private training for individuals who would like to start an Internet home business. I enjoy showing them the possibilities available on the Internet. Motivating and training are my favorite things to do.

But I found that the main interest at the women's show came from the other businesses that had booths. They were keen to learn how to get more traffic to their sites, how to gather a mailing list and use an autoresponder properly. When I mentioned that I have my Aweber set to post on Twitter and to notify my subscribers whenever I update my blogs, they wanted to know more. I will be starting to work with one of the small businesses next week.

My business seems to be changing, although I hadn't planned it that way. Now I need to decide how much I want it to change. How would you handle it?

Stephen Pierce Book

2010-04-06T23:20:00.000-04:00

I recently came across a copy of 'Make Real Money On The Internet' by Stephen Pierce. Written in 2008, the information is still very helpful and covers selecting a micro-niche, delivering products to that niche, putting your business on autopilot and getting traffic to your site. I was familiar with most of the points that were covered, but if you are just starting out, this is an excellent reference and an easy, enjoyable read. Pierce's story itself is quite inspiring.

My takeaways from the book:

perform keyword research by focusing on trigger words - play, how to, help, order, buy, learn, instructions, training, tutorial, tip.
when you learn to generate traffic, you will become an expert and a person that is in-demand
take risks
if you can't write, there are many other ways to get your info product created
capture your customer information
get to the point that your whole business runs on auto-pilot

Make Real Money On The Internet

More NAMS Photos

2010-03-29T18:51:00.000-04:00

As well as the photos that were taken during Lynn Terry's Elite reception, a lot of posing took place in the hallways and especially in the lobby area every evening. Here are a few more Internet marketers good times together.

Mastermind Groups - Learning, Encouragement, and Fun

2010-03-22T14:31:00.004-04:00

After almost two months since attending NAMS in Atlanta, I finally have time to upload some pictures. There were about 150 people at NAMS and around 80 of them were members of Lynn Terry's Elite Mastermind Group. Lynn booked a room at the hotel for an Elite reception one evening, complete with food and drinks. As you can see from the photos, a lot of high profile marketers are members and we have a lot of fun when we get together. As an online group, we help one another to grow our Internet businesses, giving encouragement and motivatation when needed. Lynn is always there as a loving mother of her little flock. The result: one big family feeling.

So Do You Think You're Too Old?

2010-02-22T14:58:00.003-05:00

Okay, so you want to learn Internet marketing, especially since you've retired and have a lot of extra time on your hands. Plus you wouldn't mind earning a little extra money in the process. But you think you're too old for such a big learning curve. After all, Internet marketing is for the young and energetic - or is it?

Meet GrannyBlogger, 85 years old and learning more every day. She's an affiliate for a number of products, including Kevin Riley's. And thanks to his tutoring, she's finished creating her second infoproduct and has it up for sale. She's also my mother and accompanied me to Atlanta last month to the NAMS Internet marketing conference. At her age, she didn't feel up to the long days of workshops, but she made sure to mingle in the evenings. Here's a video of her and Kevin Riley, who came from Japan to be an instructor. Doesn't look too old to me!

Marketing Lessons Learned

2010-02-16T21:26:00.000-05:00

My daughter Melanie is a virtual assistant and Internet marketer. I don't know how she does it, with two toddlers underfoot, but she manages to have a netbook on her lap and make it part of her day. The following article is one of hers that I thought would be good to share with all of you.

"One of the hardest things for me to learn as I was fumbling my way through learning an online business, was proper marketing. I am not a seller by nature. I remember sitting many a times outside before a job interview trying to go over what I would say when they asked me why they should hire me. I am the type of person who can show you what I can do, not tell you how good I can do it.

When you want to be a successful business owner online, you need to learn how to hone your marketing skills. Whether you do pay per click, classifieds, email marketing, forum chats, article marketing, or any other form of advertising you choose, you need to grab your readers attention in the first few seconds or they are gone. You need to know the right set of words to use to get your selling points across to convince your reader that what you are offering will truly help them and not waste their time or their money.

It is great being able to run an online business because your customer base extends to around the world but there is also so much more competition. If you do not have a unique product or service with an original pitch, your visitors will pass on to one of your competitors who do.

It does not matter what niche you are in, or what service you are offering. You want to get the most out of your marketing efforts. Build up your contacts wherever you go, build your list of possible buyers, and always remember proper customer service procedures. The most crucial part of getting people to buy off of you is the ability to presell to your prospects without chasing them away with blatant sales hype forced down their throats.

If you want something from them, you need to give them something that they would like. Give away free reports, give away free services, coupons/discounts, or any other little tidbit you can to show them that you are not all about money. You should never try to sell something you do not believe in. If you have not tried the product or service, you can not give an honest recommendation or be prepared to answer any question that may come up.

Building a business that will last takes time. You can either push for a quick buck and never see the person again, or you can build up a relationship, enjoy yourself, and just let the money come to you as it will. If you can not afford to do that and need a constant immediate paycheck, you should think about keeping your day job in the outside world.

Most online businesses do not start seeing a profit or an income they can support a family with until the second or thrid year. There are exceptions to the rule, especially if you are doing affiliate marketing and have money to invest in pay per click but for the most part you need to be prepared.

Take care now.

Melanie

http://momsassistingmoms.info

p.s. feel free to visit my other site http://melaniebremner.com for more internet marketing tips. There are tons of posts that will help you learn and grow."

A Name Can Make All the Difference

2010-02-04T22:41:00.000-05:00

A couple of years ago, I advertised a workshop about creating a blog using Blogger. Not much interest. It seemed that people weren't quite sure what a blog was. Even a year ago, the response wasn't what I'd hoped for.

This past fall, the workshop was advertised as "Create a Free Website" and had a number of registrations - all because of the change in name. We still used Blogger to create the site and everyone was thrilled with their results.

If I had decided that people didn't want to blog and given up, I'd have lost out on a great opportunity. I was reminded of a comment made while attending NAMS in Atlanta this past weekend: "People don't know what they don't know." So you have to start with a familiar point of reference when introducing any new concept, product, or service. From there, you can help them to become more aware of what they are missing.

Next time you approach a potential customer, put yourself in their shoes. "What do they need to realize they don't know? And how can you help them see their need?

Social Media For Marketers

2010-01-30T16:08:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here at the Niche Affiliate Marketing System event. I'm in a room full of hyped up Internet marketers, from various niches, and all with varying levels of expertise online. Earlier today, we watched as a live panel of Social Media specialists answered questions about how to use Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube for marketing.

The panel was recorded and is now available for the attendees to sell at 100% commission. Not only that, but a number of the presenters offered a total of $8,000 of prizes for the winner. I hope that makes you want to attend the next NAMS event in August.

Anyway, since you aren't here, I'll tell you about the recording. Not only do you get it, but a pile of bonus videos as well. Check it out.

Amazon Products The Easy Way

2010-01-18T23:52:00.000-05:00

I am not a techy and I don't know how to code HTML. I have tried to figure out how to put an Amazon link on my Wordpress websites when I make a post. Until now I couldn't do it. But I found a trick.

When you sign up on Blogger as an Amazon associate, the Amazon dialogue box appears every time you open a post. From there, you can search by keyword for the product you want. Then click "link and image" and the HTML code is generated for you with your Amazon affiliate ID. Copy that code and paste it in the post on Wordpress that you want it to show. Quick and easy.

So what do you think? Or is doing it right from Wordpress easier than I've been able to figure out?

An Editorial Calendar - Are You Using One?

2010-01-11T23:44:00.000-05:00

Last month, as one of the members of Lynn Terry's Elite Forum, our challenge was to create an editorial calendar for this whole upcoming year. As someone who usually writes whatever fits my mood, it was a bit daunting to suddenly become so organized. So far I've only completed the first five months, but with six blogs that is an accomplishment for me.

I post on all six sites every week at least once. Having the editorial calendar is helping me to keep up with that schedule. In the past, if I wasn't sure what to write for one of the blogs, it just didn't get updated. But with the calendar I have no excuse.

My calendar is quite general - mainly a topic I'll be writing about. Having an idea to start with helps the writing juices to get flowing. And if I want to write about something else as well, that's fine too. I use any special dates as idea starters and have a set day of the week for each blog. I've tried updating all of them on the same day and it was exhausting.

I'm also trying in 2010 to be true to my own writing voice. Not to come across as someone I'm not. That means allowing my sense of humor and my emotions to shine through what I say. After all, if I can't be me by this stage of the game, I'll never find myself. And a lost old lady is a pitiful thing I'll tell ya.

InfoProduct Creation Excuses

2010-01-04T21:43:00.000-05:00

I'm on the topic of info product creation again. Have you started yours yet? If not, what excuses are you giving yourself? Don't know what to write about? Find an active forum related to your interest and see what questions they're asking and what problems you might be able to answer. Can't write? Then hire a ghostwriter or use minimal text and a lot of graphics. Or speak about it and record yourself, then hire a transcriber.

Too young? Do some research and you'll see how many young people are making money online with information products. Too old? Are you over 85? Then don't tell me you're too old! My mother is 85 and has finished not one, but two information products. Her newest guide came about after she spent time on a forum and then created a product to address the problems people were having. It's called "How To Enjoy Your Electronic Piano Keyboard." and although the sales page leaves a bit to be desired as far as formatting, she managed to upload her graphics - which I haven't figured out yet - and she has the guide connected to Paypal and ready for download. She did all those things on her own, following along with Kevin Riley's workshop.

Go ahead, tell me your excuses, and get ready to have me ignore them. That's a nice way of saying "get off the couch and get moving"!

Information Products - Why Aren't You Creating Them?

2009-12-30T13:18:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling a little excited right now. Well, maybe more than a little excited. You see, I've spent months working on an information product. I took Kevin Riley's course, and although he says it can be done in a matter of days, I wanted it to be perfect. So I kept adding to it and making it better.

Finally I decided enough is enough, I just need to get the thing out there. I still wasn't sure how to do my own sales page or anything like that. I've finally written the sales letter, but uploading without losing the graphics is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Anyway, I uploaded it as a digital product to Lulu to sell. Then I decided to offer it as a physical soft cover book. I never could get the graphic right for the book, so opted for one of their covers. The result is "How To Create Newsletters Your Grandkids Will Treasure".

The point is, I did it. And today it came in the mail! It's notebook size, 54 pages of nice thick, shiny paper and looks amazing. All the images and screenshots inside are very clear looking and the text is easy to read.

Can you tell how proud I am of my first real live book? Think I need to order a few of these and start selling them offline too. And am I motivated now to start writing another one!

Teaching What You've Learned

2009-12-26T14:26:00.001-05:00

I've found that one of the best ways to learn Internet Marketing, or any other topic, is by trying to teach it to someone else. You quickly realize how much more you know than you thought you did. And you get a better idea of what you aren't clear about and need to learn better.

Community Centers are always on the lookout for new programs to offer their members. Why not approach them about teaching a one day workshop or an ongoing course? You may not be an expert yet, but you know much more than the majority of people do.

Right now, I'm preparing content for a workshop I'm doing about
How To Set Up A Free Website. That free site is, of course, Blogger. We've tried advertising it as "setting up a blog", but a lot of people in the offline world still don't really know what a blog is. Since we changed the course title to "website", there have been many more registrations.

A lot of the things you do will change as you test them. For instance, I've often done day long workshops, but I find that most people feel overwhelmed with all of the new info by the end of the day and it's hard for them to concentrate. So this coming year, I'll be teaching in one-and-a half to three hour weekly blocks of time, depending on the course.

I'm doing seven different courses - from "Create a Website" to "Have An Online Radio Show". My most popular is "Start An Internet Home Business For Under $100" and involves registering a domain name after doing keyword research, getting hosting, setting up a Wordpress blog and adding an opt-in form. I stress that it takes time and hard work and I don't pretend I make a lot of money. But it is a business they can do from home with little expense and compared to the time, effort, and risk involved in an offline business it's a good alternative.

I try to have a lot of handouts. People really like them and it makes them feel that they've got their money's worth from the course. My main problem has always been giving too much information and I've been trying to scale back on that. It may take you five minutes to register and set up a Blogger blog, but a beginner might take half an hour. Have enough to do so that faster learners can go ahead and slower ones can continue at their own pace. You don't want anyone feeling bored or pressured.

I've been a bit frustrated that students have purchased products I recommend, like domain registration and hosting, but not through my link. So now I've started telling them that if you buy through my link, you will pay the same amount, but I will help you get started.

I encourage the completion of feedback forms at the end of each course. These help me a lot and like I said, the main negative feedback is usually too much info, too little time. And I also have a projector I hook up to my laptop to show what I'm doing. This has been a big help and I'm really glad I bought it.

Your payment will depend on the community center. One place splits the fees with me 50/50 - nice for a one day if enough registrants, and the other pays me by the hour - even if few in class I still get same amount. Plus I can plug private coaching, etc. as much as I like.

I would love to hear your ideas and how you use this. So go ahead and give teaching a try. If I can do it, so can you! Please keep me posted on your progress.

Record Yourself On Blog Talk Radio

2009-11-17T19:05:00.001-05:00

If you haven't yet realized it, I like to try out new things. I'm a non-techie, so they have to be simple to do new things. My thing for this past week was to try recording my own show at Blog Talk Radio. If you haven't tried it yet, do yourself a favor and get on over there. It's fun and I've had all kinds of people asking if I would interview them now. You'd think I was Oprah or something the way people act.

Anyway, I've done one show so far. You can do a one time session or a regular episode. My show is called Inspirational Women and after a couple of days of advertising the upcoming show, it occurred to me that it was a good domain name and I should probably register it. Too late, someone beat me to it, but guess what, they have it up for sale. After all, it has no content, just a neat name. Since I'm not into being forced, I purchased the .ca instead. Some day I may regret that, but for now I have the satisfaction that I stood my ground.

Back to the show. I registered to air at a specific time, then found out that the two ladies I wanted to interview weren't available then. Thankfully, there's an option to pre-record and then upload the file. I just had to phone in at airtime and stay on the line until the show was over. I was also on the computer at the same time, watching the action from the inside of my Blog Talk account. There is also a chat room so you can interact with listeners, and had the show been live, people could have asked questions if they had a mic.

I'm pasting in the widget so you can have a listen for yourself. There's a slight pause because even though I had selected autoplay, it didn't seem to work until I pressed the play button as well. The widget can be pasted on your website and will automatically update when you record a new show. The show will also be picked up by Itunes.

Now listen closely and let me know if you hear the hum of my frig in the background. I have to go and practice writing my autograph.

NAMS 3 - Will You Be There?

2009-11-06T16:40:00.000-05:00

In August of this year, I attended NAMS 2 in Atlanta. Short for Niche Affiliate Marketing System, NAMS is a three day hands on Internet marketing workshop. No sales pitches, just solid information and the chance to implement what you learn. With three different tracks - beginner, intermediate, and advanced, there is something for everyone.

You decide which level you are at and go into the room for that track. If you feel the content is over or under your head, you can switch to another room. No getting bored or confused at NAMS. My only complaint in August was the fact that the days were very long. We went from 8:30 each morning until 6:30 at night. Then of course we visited on the patio until all hours which didn't help matters. Apparently NAMS 3 will have shorter days, so more time to network. I hung out with Lynn Terry, Nicole Dean, and a number of Lynn's Elite Forum crew after hours - one of my favorite parts of the day.

I could go on and on, but you get the picture - NAMS is great. And NAMS 3 will have presenters like Lynn Terry, Kevin Riley, Jimmy D. Brown, Nicole Dean, Bob the Teacher, Willie Crawford - the list is long and amazing. Why not check it out for yourself?

Another reason you should purchase now - I've got a coupon code for $100 off - just enter 100nams3 for the discount. I bought my ticket the minute they were available. Get yours before they sell out - which they always do. And let me know if you're coming so I can make a point of saying hello.

Why An Internet Business Is Best For Me

2009-09-28T12:40:00.001-04:00

I'm presenting a full day workshop at the local community centre in a few days. My topic - Start an Internet Home Business For Under $100. With more than a dozen ways to make money on the Internet, this will be a brief introduction of all the possibilities that exist online. There is no way I can cover too much in depth - but I hope to inspire people to try.

Who am I to be telling anyone anything? Well, in the past few years I have learned more than I realize. I created a mindmap with six main topic areas - finding a niche, what you need to get started, monetizing, places to sell, getting traffic, and other possible options such as video and audio. Mindmapping was an easy way for me to see all the different things I could talk about. The hardest part is narrowing it down to what can be consumed in one day without causing information overload.

In the past, when I've presented workshops on topics like eBay, the only negative comments I've ever had are always about too much information presented. So I'm very mindful not to try teaching too much, but at the same time I want the participants to feel they got their money's worth. I also like everyone to have fun, so try to include group activities as well.

If you enjoy teaching and motivating people, don't hesitate to try your hand at presenting workshops. After I get over my initial stage fright and wondering why I thought I could do this, I really enjoy the time. And when you present on a topic you're passionate about, it comes across and rubs off on others.

As for my workshop title - yes, it is possible to start an online business for under $100. About $10 for a domain name, less than $10 month for hosting of unlimited sites (or free with Blogger or Weebly), and $19 a month for your autoresponder to keep in touch with a list of subscribers. Those are your necessities. Well under $100. Try that with an offline business. Sure it might take time, hard work,and traffic, but ask any business owner in your town how long it took them to get established and start making money.

Most offline businesses don't see a profit for years, and if you decide you want to change the products or services you offer, it isn't easy. Not so with the Internet.

A number of years ago, I operated a small Internet Cafe. A lot of work for months before I opened. Finding a location, getting permits to renovate, renovating and furnishing, leasing computers, getting a vendors permit and a food permit, dealing with the health department, getting insurance, having a sign made and put up, and advertising to get people to come. Then when I opened, guess what happened? Within a month I realized I didn't like being in a shop and waiting for people to come in. So I started offering classes. That was better, but they weren't every day all day, so the shop was a waste of money. Plus I gained weight from drinking so much coffee and cream so it wouldn't be thrown out.

The end result - I closed up shop less than a year later and took my business home. Less overhead and more time for myself. Now the Internet has opened an even easier way for me to have my own business and help other people. It's no wonder that I'm so passionate about the opportunities available online!

Now tell me your story. Why are you marketing on the Internet?

Product Types and Packages

2009-09-21T11:13:00.002-04:00

Here's another tip from NAMS, this time about the four types of products you can sell online and the different ways you can package them.

Four Product Types:

Consumables – such as memberships or regular calls. Things that people can repurchase time and time again.
Collectibles – e.g. collection of computer guides. Buyers will often buy similar products or services to add to their collections.
Toll Booth - necessary training, tools or information needed for what your customer wants to do.
Back end - add-ons of higher priced products.

Have different packages with various levels of quality. Make the highest quality package so beneficial in comparison that people choose it most of the time. Start by listing all of the possible things that could be included in a package. This would be your highest priced package. Then start deducting items to form the lower priced packages. I found this was much easier than starting with the lowest priced package and its contents and then trying to figure out how much to add for each of the higher priced packages.

To make money, you have to give people the opportunity to buy from you. Don’t give it all away or bother people trying to push sales. As we know, people love to shop, but they hate to be sold to.

More tips to come. I hope you are getting as much benefit from them as I have been.

Productivity

2009-09-17T17:34:00.000-04:00

Here are some NAMS tips I picked up to help with productivity:

Plan your day the night before.
Don’t look at your email until you’ve done your most important task (this is a hard one to follow).
Use the first hour of each day to help you monetize and grow your business - even before you do your work for a client.
Prioritize your to-do list and get rid of unnecessary tasks. Outsource as much as you can.
Failure is good. If you are afraid of failure, then you are also afraid of success. Fail often and fast, then you learn what works and what doesn’t. Launch, learn from it, improve, and relaunch.

Now get out there and start taking risks. For example, I created a guide for grandparents and spent months trying to make it just right. I finally got fed up and put it up on Lulu just so I could say I did something. Did it sell? Not really, but now I can add to it for a 2nd edition and try selling somewhere else. You don't know if you don't try.

When To Sell And When To Give Away

2009-09-08T17:27:00.002-04:00

If you are like me, you've heard the advise to create short reports and sell or give them away. But how do you know when to give it away and when to sell it? That was one of the questions asked at NAMS and I appreciated the following answer:

If you are pre-selling for a service or a physical product, then the report should be free. For example, if your niche is barbeques, write a short report with quick recipes for the barbeque and give it away with your affiliate links in it. But if your market are information product buyers, then create an informative report and sell it for a low price point (under $30). This is because your market are already proven buyers. By keeping the price point low, these people will make impulse purchases. The result - you are building a list of buyers.

Another great tip, courtesy of Lynn Terry. Now doesn't that sound easy?

Attending NAMS

2009-08-27T11:51:00.002-04:00

Hard to believe it's been almost two weeks since I attended the NAMS (Niche Affiliate Marketing System) workshop in Atlanta. I hadn't intended to go, since affiliate marketing isn't really my thing. Then I found out it was going to be a hands-on workshop involving a number of things to do with Internet Marketing. So at the last minute, I hopped on a bus and rode for 24 hours to get there. I know, a flight would have been so much better, but last minute was too expensive. I did fly home though.

Anyway, Friday started slowly as we all got used to the routine and to one another. By Saturday morning I felt that it was worth the long bus trip just for what I'd done up to that point. The workshops and the networking were top notch. One of my favorite sessions was the group panel that created an info product on the spot.

About 20 of us from Lynn Terry's Elite forum attended and spent many enjoyable hours on the patio together each evening. Lynn even had a special Elites only reception for us one night. And other NAMS attendees were sure wishing they could attend. We wined (or coffeed) and dined (on fruit platters and desserts) and generally enjoyed being together.

Lynn has opened membership to the Elites for a limited time if you're interested. We're like a big supportive family helping one another to achieve success online. Along with a weekly private webinar, we post our week's action steps to keep us accountable. The forum itself is a place to brainstorm and gain helpful input without fear that your ideas will be taken. Membership in Lynn Terry's Elite Forum is one of the best online decisions I've ever made.

Affiliate Marketing Is Hard Work

2009-08-06T15:08:00.004-04:00

Okay, I think I might throw in the towel on some of my affiliate marketing. At least I might close my Commission Junction account. I realize I'm not the most persistant or diligent person when it comes to writing about my affiliate products. But I do mention them, both the good and the bad points, and I do try to post about them every once in awhile. And I'm getting frustrated.

If my efforts gave me even enough return to buy a cup of coffee, then I'd work harder at posting about the products. But it looks like I could retire from adsense income before affiliate earnings. Since my adsense sits at about $20 that isn't saying too much. I'm glad I blog and learn Internet marketing because I enjoy doing it. If I was just after the money, I am a dismal failure.

Not to make this a negative post, there are other ways to make money online - thankfully. I can write, that makes me some. I know affiliate marketing is usually what newbies are encouraged to do first, but it isn't for me. Maybe you've had success with it and I would love to hear from you.

I'll continue to promote Kevin Riley's products, Hostgator, and Aweber since I think those three are essential pieces of the puzzle. But as for the rest - I'm sorry CJ but it just isn't working for me!

Update: Maybe I should have read Rosalind Gardner's book before I started affiliate marketing. Known as the industry expert, she started off as an affiliate with a dating site and took it to a mega-successful business. But I still think it was easier when she started than it is now.
What's your opinion?

Organizing Your Internet Marketing Materials

2009-07-20T16:32:00.003-04:00

Before you really get involved in Internet Marketing, try to have your materials organized. I didn't do this and lost track of which programs I had downloaded, which affiliate products I had signed up to promote, etc.

Set up a folder on your computer for all your Internet Marketing stuff and document everything you download to read, every purchase, every membership site, every affiliate program, all your blog details, and every password. You may not think you will need this, but trust me, later you will have collected enough to fill a textbook. (Especially since most copy is so convincingly written that you are afraid to pass it up in case you needed that bit of info.)

I also have a notebook that I record every purchase and every password. In fact my password notes are getting a little confusing, so I think I'll buy a little address book and set them up alphabetically. Recording your purchases makes it so much easier when tax time rolls around. I used to print off each invoice, but that can waste a lot of paper and give you a lot more filing to do!

O, another thing about passwords. Don't leave them written down in your computer folder. Save the whole thing to a flash drive or print off just the passwords, then delete them. If you leave them on your computer and someone hacks into you, I hate to see what might happen. That's why I rarely let my computer remember my Internet passwords for me. Sure it would be a lot easier, but .....

Tips For Using PLR

2009-07-06T18:42:00.004-04:00

It seems everywhere I look these days, marketers are discussing the pros and cons of PLR or Private Label Rights. Since there is such a demand for content on websites, these ready made PLR articles are an easy way to fill a site with material. Or are they?

Personally, I've tried using PLR a few times without much to show for my time and effort. Many of the articles are so poorly written that I don't know where to start. Sure, there may be some jewels of content, but you sure need to dig for them!

Some marketers use their PLR material as research and idea generators, rather than ready made reading material. Others break the text up, add their own content as well, and use it as blog posts or in emails to their subscribers.

I'm on a quest to learn the best ways to use Private Label Rights, especially since I have enough on my hard drive to fill a library. I did find a free report, again by Melanie Bremner, titled "Using PLR For Business". Have a read and let me know how (and if) you've been using PLR for your online business. All tips appreciated!

Update: Since my rant about having to give my life away to download this free report, Melanie has changed her service. It's now a simple download with no questions asked. Thanks Mel.

Creating Hub Pages

2009-06-09T21:16:00.007-04:00

Have you been looking for another way to get traffic to your existing sites? To become known as an expert in your niche? Even to make a bit of money while you're at it?

Why not create hub pages? I'd say they are a little bit like Squidoo lenses, although I'm sure someone will quickly let me know how they're different. Hub pages seem to be more writer focused and are particular about how you try to sell on your hubs.

Amazon sells a Hub Pages Guide as you can see, but they seem to be out of stock. Not to worry, all of the ins and outs are covered in a short report I recently enjoyed reading. Written by Melanie Bremner (the Content Queen) and Called “Hubbing with Hubpages for Fun and Profit”, you'll learn how to:

set up a profile on Hubpages
create a hub
understand the rating system used for hubpages
socialize and become known as a quality writer and expert in your field
promote a product or service for income potential without creating a commercial hub
build traffic to your hub
add affiliate products within your hub and earn money with various programs
properly utilize and setup SEO tags and keywords for the best results

At 22 pages complete with screenshots, this detailed report left me eager to set up my own hubpage. And at only $10, it's a great investment for your Internet marketing toolbox.
O, and be sure to comment and let us know about your new hub pages.

Youtube and eBay Marketing Idea

2009-05-19T22:24:00.004-04:00

I read about an artist in another country who wanted to make a living selling her paintings. So she came up with a very creative method of attracting interest. Every week, she creates a video showing her in the process of doing her painting. Then, on the same day each week, she uploads the video to youtube - along with a link to the sale of that same painting on eBay.

Since beginning this form of marketing, the artist has established a following who eagerly wait for her next video. And every week on eBay, she sells a painting - at a high price!

How can you and I use youtube and eBay to help market our products or services? I'd love to hear your ideas!

Using Spreadsheets For Your Blog

2009-05-11T21:49:00.002-04:00

I read a great tip recently from Michel Fortin. He suggested using a spreadsheet to record the titles and dates of the blog posts you do. I think I would also keep track of the topic, since my titles aren't always terribly descriptive.

Then he re-uses the older content on his autoresponder. Often people don't read your old posts, especially when you've got a lot of content that stretches over years. So it's a good way to get those evergreen (still current) topics back into circulation.

Now it's your turn. How do you keep track of your posts and re-use older content?

Quick Tips To Creating and Selling eBooks

2009-05-11T21:21:00.003-04:00

If you'd like an overview of eBook creation and sales, here's a quick read for you. At just eight pages long, "Quick Tips to Creating and Selling eBooks" talks about:

What are ebooks and how do you read them?
Finding Topics to write about.
How do you create an ebook?
Explaining pdfs,and ftp.
Hosting on your own site or using an online service?

Granted, you won't get a complete course with this, but the guide is free and gives enough information to wet your appetite. Melanie Bremner has a number of low cost or free guides and although grammar isn't always her strong point, with 20 eBooks to her credit, she's earned the title of Content Queen (at least in my books).

Branding Myself

2009-05-04T14:29:00.003-04:00

You may have noticed that my posts now say TorontoCarol rather than Mrs C. I've been trying to brand myself for awhile now, and other than becoming confused about who I am, I haven't done well.

I suppose if I had only one interest and had a clear focus right from the beginning, I wouldn't have this problem. But when I started online, I had a blog about Canada, a blog about computers, a blog about myself and on and on. See where I'm going with this?

I started off calling myself TorontoCarol and that's how I'm known on the Internet marketing forums. After all, I'm a native Torontonian and Carol is a very common name otherwise. Even Carol Bremner is owned by people I've found out about online from England and Australia (none of them related and one I wouldn't want to be mistaken for). So TorontoCarol was fine for the forums and worked well with my Canada blog.

But I have a company blog too. TorontoCarol doesn't sound very professional. There I just go by my full name, common or not.

Then there's the computer blog. Toronto has nothing to do with computers, so I started using Mrs C. Then I started blogging about grandparenting at my supergramma blog and created my first product for grandparents. So Supergramma was a good name there.

By this point, I can hardly keep track of who I am. Can you imagine what will happen in the future when my memory decides to work part-time? I'll have to pin a badge on myself so I remember my name.

Obviously, I have to make a decision before I have more names than a cat has kittens. I found out about a site called namecheck where I could go and enter the name or names I want to brand and see in what 2.0 sites the name is being used already. This was a big help.

As a result, I found that my real name was in use at a few sites. Mrs C was being used all over the net, so that was definitely out. TorontoCarol I had the corner on, but like I said, it wasn't right for the grandparenting market I'm trying to do. Gramma C was as popular as Mrs C and even SuperGramma was being used on eBay, Twitter, and Ning.

I had to make a decision. Who am I? I decided on Supergramma C and set up an account on Twitter, eBay, and youtube to start with. I'll try to do a few at a time until I corner the market on the name.

So there you have it. The long, drawn-out explanation of why I am signing these posts as TorontoCarol. What are your thoughts on branding? Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Does it really matter?

Publishing on Lulu

2009-04-29T21:00:00.003-04:00

I've been working on an info product for the last quite a while and I finally finished it. There is still more I need to do, but I felt that after such a long time, I needed to do something to move it forward. So I went to Lulu.

For those of you who don't know, Lulu allows you to self-publish, either physical books or digital ones, and sell them on the site. My guide, at least initially, is just being sold as a digital product. I do have to share my earnings with Lulu, but they get a lot more traffic than I do. And I wanted to see what the feedback was.

Publishing on Lulu was very simple. It was a matter of uploading my pdf file to their site, uploading a cover graphic (or use one of theirs), and writing a little blurb about the contents. Then set your price and you're done. Right away, the system shows you how much you pay Lulu per sale. I played with the price a little and then clicked 'finish'. If I decide to update the edition later, or make it a hardcover, I can do that at any time. Oh, and make sure you give Lulu your paypal information so they can pay you.

I'm still planning to add audio and video to the pdf and then burn the whole thing to a cd. Then I'll try my hand at selling it on eBay. But for now, putting my product up on Lulu at least got me doing something.

If you're curious, my guide is called "How To Create Newsletters Your Grandkids Will Treasure" and is the first in a number of SuperGramma Guides I plan on writing. I'll keep you posted on my results.

Attending Workshops

2009-04-09T11:22:00.000-04:00

It seems every time I turn around these days, there's a seminar or workshop I would love to attend. I know how helpful and motivational they can be. You can always learn at least one thing if you pay attention. Plus, the other marketers you meet are worth the price of admission.

Okay, we know how beneficial it is to attend a live event. But unless you're my rich uncle (and I didn't know I had one, so please contact me) you can't afford to get to them too often. I would love to have gone to Willie Crawford's birthday bash, and the price to get in was more than reasonable. So why didn't I? Because by the time I factored in airfare and hotel, the price was out of reach.

So one solution is to keep your eyes open to events that come to your locality or a bigger city not far from you. And if you can't afford the entrance fee, offer to help in exchange for attendance. I did that for a two day workshop, and all I had to do was give handouts to everyone throughout the day. Go ahead and give it a try. Worst scenario is you get a "no", but at least you tried. And you never know, you might be just the help that was needed!

Internet Marketing Terms

2009-04-06T11:07:00.003-04:00

Now you may very well be familiar with all of the Internet marketing terms, especially if you have a business background, since many might be similar. But for an old girl like me, even the words are new territory.

For example:
- a bump is when you're bumped up to another category, such as a two for one offer. I think I get those offers whenever I say no to one I can't afford. (Or am I mixing this with another term?)

- an upsell is when a marketer offers you something related to go with your purchase. Like when they ask me if I'd like a donut with my coffee (and many times this works, especially if I'm having a sugar craving).

- a cross sell is when you're asked something like "would you like dessert with your meal". Now correct me if I'm wrong, but a cross sell and an upsell sound like the same thing to me. Can someone please enlighten me on the difference between the two?

Persistance Pays Off Eventually

2009-03-30T17:06:00.003-04:00

Week by week these days it seems I have to keep on telling myself not to quit. I feel like I'm in a marathon and I'm getting tired and where is the finish line anyway?

I read once about a group that were asked to hold their hands in freezing cold water, not knowing for how long. They couldn't do it. The other group had a time frame and managed to finish the task. Just goes to show we have the ability, but when we can't see the end, it's easier to give up. I've decided that persistance is one of the keys to becoming a good marketer.

So this week, my persistance is finally paying off. I made a little affiliate income and was asked if I would take advertising on one of my blogs. So bit by bit...

Say it with me now "We will not give up!" Then let me know your success stories.

I'm Famous (Almost)

2009-03-20T13:10:00.001-04:00

As part of the traffic generation course I've been taking, I had to research information about the top ten Google sites for my chosen keywords. While checking one of them, I came across an Amazon ad for a physical book. Part of the blurb about this book sounded like it could have been written by me, so I investigated further.

Amazon allowed viewing of various parts of the text, which was quite interesting and well written. Called "Creative Computer Crafts", it features a number of projects and guess what else I found? My website, CreativeHomeComputing, was listed as a recommended resource. The book was written a few years ago and is on the shelves of over 100 public libraries (mainly in the states).

So here I've been famous for all this time and didn't know it. You can bet that everyone I talk to hears about it now though. I'm not about to let my rise to fame go unnoticed. And the book is going out of print, so I have to brag while I can.

Okay, lest I burst with pride, tell me your success stories and remind me I'm not the only one with something to crow about.

Host a Meetup

2009-03-17T12:44:00.003-04:00

If you've never heard of them before Meetup.com allows you to find like minded people in your locality. This is great news for you as a marketer. People sign up at Meetup and list the topics they're interested in. Then they wait for someone to organize a meetup on that topic.

That's where we come in. I decided I wanted to host a meetup for people in my area interested in Internet marketing and infoproduct creation. So I signed up as a Meetup host, paid my three month fee (about $15 a month) and decided on a time and place.

Then Meetup sent an email to all the people on their list who were just waiting for someone to host events related to those topics. Within an hour, I was already getting people signing up as a member. Not everyone who joins the group shows up for our meetings, but I have the capability to email all of them and mention anything I think they might be interested in. You have the option to charge your members to attend, also taken care of through the Meetup space. So far, I haven't done that - people simply pay for their food and drinks wherever we meet.

The group has a site on the Meetup space (at Cambridge Internet Marketers) with a board to post information on the topics we discuss. I recommended some products there and included my affiliate links (of course). We've met twice so far and although the attendance could be better, the group is keen and it's a great way to meet potential clients and to find out what the market is asking for.

So go ahead and start a meetup in your area. It'll force you out of your comfort zone, get you interacting with your target market, and will leave you feeling motivated (at least, that's been my experience so far). And don't forget to let me know how things work out for you!

When You Feel Like Giving Up

2009-02-20T18:04:00.000-05:00

There have been some rough spots to my Internet marketing plan this month, mainly because I was attacked by the "you'll never do it, so why not give up" bug.

I caught it when I went to a four hour seminar given by a well-known local Internet marketer. I was thinking of signing up for his 'Train the Trainer' course and when I mentioned the possibility, he replied with an astonished "you want to be a trainer?"

Right away, the negative virus started eating away at my self-esteem. Never mind that I already do trainings. Never mind that the feedback after my workshops is always very positive. I suddenly felt that I was too old and too underqualified to continue. All because of one negative germ.

So what helped turn me around? I found this video on youtube. If you feel like giving up, have a listen - especially to what she had to say about her teacher. And let me know what you think.

My Mother and Kevin Riley

2009-02-17T17:42:00.001-05:00

I mentioned in the last post that my mother (at 84) is a student of Kevin Riley's. If that got you curious, here they are:

Kevin Riley Information Products

2009-02-17T17:26:00.002-05:00

If you aren't familiar with the name Kevin Riley, you need to be. He's on of those Internet marketers that takes your hand and teaches you how to attain the same successes he has achieved. I've purchased a number of his information products and he is always available to answer any questions or concerns I may have. In fact, if you have a Twitter account, Kevin replies as soon as he reads your message.

I was recently involved in his 7 week infoproduct creation course and as a result, almost have my first information product ready to sell. My 84 year-old mother was one of his pet students and also finished a product, complete with screen shots and worksheets.

I'm planning to review each of Kevin Riley's products so you can see which ones might be right for you. In the meantime, you can check out his site at by clicking here

And be sure to read any of the free downloads. You can learn a lot just with them. O, and please let me know which guides you enjoyed.

Plan For 2009

2009-01-26T17:42:00.002-05:00

I'm a few weeks late, but Happy New Year anyway. I turned 60 at the beginning of the month and also have my days free now, so 2009 is my year to start making money.

I did actually make a little money last year, mainly by ghostwriting and teaching offline courses. But this year I want to make at least $1,000 a month. Still not much, but it will be a big encouragement for me to continue.

I've got myself a plan and every day I'm trying to do blog updates and article writing in the mornings and product creation in the afternoons. Unfortunately, plans do better on paper than in real life, and almost a month into it, I have yet to work for an entire day without interruption. From new babies, to houseguests, to being the family helper, things are always coming in to grab my time.

But I'm not giving up. Every day I try to do at least one thing and some days I'm able to spend quite a bit of time. My goal is to work only during the day, so my evenings can be free and my husband won't be left feeling like a computer widower.

As you can see from the blog, I've started adding extra content on the sidebar. And I've posted my first original youtube video. Now that I've got the hang of videotaping myself, expect another one soon.

That's it for now. Please let me know your goals and plans for 2009. Success is just around the corner - I can feel it in my bones! Then again, it might just be the damp weather affecting me.

Adding Video The Easy Way

2008-12-20T17:42:00.009-05:00

I just created my first youtube video and it wasn't too hard at all. Of course, if you look closely, the lighting is probably off. That didn't occur to me.

I'm not looking directly into the camera. I didn't have a tripod, so I held the camera up in front of me. The result is a far-away gaze every so often.

And I my daughter says I looked nervous. Really, I was just having trouble reading my cue cards.

Anyway, the point is - I DID IT! I got myself a Flip video camera and they are awesome. The sound and picture quality are really good and it comes with wires to plug into your tv and watch if you like. At under $200, it's easy to use and comes with push button software to upload it to youtube or other places.

Here I am - hold the applause and stand in line for autographs please.

Pictures From the World Internet Summit in Toronto

2008-11-13T20:31:00.006-05:00

My mother and I really enjoyed out time at the World Internet Summit Toronto. This is the first time it was ever held in Canada. There were a couple of highlites for us: one was meeting a lot of the Internet marketers that we only knew online.

The other was when one of the organizers, Brett McFall, found out that mom was 84 years old, has a blog, and has made some money online. He had her stand and introduced her to everyone there. If you happened to watch the videos, that happened on the last day. I hope she's as much an inspiration to you as she is to me.

Here are some pictures. This first one shows (left to right) Carol Bremner (me), Teri Champigny, Eleanor McCallum (mom), Doug Champigny, and John Cussons. The second is mom with Brett McFall.

World Internet Summit Toronto

2008-11-09T02:44:00.003-05:00

Right now, I'm attending the World Internet Summit in Toronto. This is the first time the summit has come to Canada - four days of top Internet marketing speakers showing us how they think, how they work, and the products they use to help them.

Today, Mike Stewart talked about using video and showed us onstage how to record and get it onto a blog in only a few minutes. Very informative and enjoyable to watch - he's got quite a sense of humor.

So far made quite a few contacts and a number of people have been interested in my ghostwriting service. Quite a few Canadian warriors are here, so it's nice to get together. I am with my 84 year old mother, who is a blogger, so it's never too late to get in the game.

If I've got you wishing you were here, you can sign up to watch the rest of it live online and to watch the ones you've missed at your leisure. And for a whole lot less than I paid too. Enjoy.

Watch the summit online This link is only available for 30 days, after which the info will probably be sold for megabucks.

Internet Marketing Update

2008-10-25T19:16:00.003-04:00

Although it seems as though I may have dropped out of site judging from the lack of posts, I am still here. Still working away trying to learn Internet marketing. Starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel if I can just keep my focus.

I've been busy updating my blogs, making them keyword optimized, trying my hand at selling some affiliate products, ghostwriting, and generally spending all of my waking hours, except when I babysit my grandson, on the computer.

Starting to make a bit of adsense income - $20 so far. Lest you say hooray too quickly, they don't send me a cheque until I make at least $100. So it may be awhile.

Ghostwriting is probably the most lucrative so far, but with the research and my picky nature, it takes a lot of time. Just about perfect when I'm done, I must say, but not a great use of my time.

Just became a member of the Twitter league, takes a lot of time, but kind of fun. I'm not really used to social marketing yet.

And I am going to the World Internet Summit in Toronto next month. Four days of being with like-minded people will be good for my motivation. Not only that, I am taking my 84 year old mother as a birthday present to her. She is learning Internet marketing herself and is quite excited about it.

eBay Workshops

2008-05-30T21:36:00.001-04:00

EBay continues to be something that a lot of people would like to learn and I will be conducting an number of workshops in the coming weeks on Saturdays from 10 in the morning until three in the afternoon.

Last year at this time, I was giving eBay workshops and having a hard time filling them. But since then, one of my students made a couple of thousand dollars on eBay, and there was an article written up in my local paper. As a result, I have four workshops filled to capacity and a waiting list of people waiting to attend.

It's amazing what the power of social proof can do. I haven't changed but other people suddenly see me as an expert because someone else said I was.

Dragon Naturally Speaking Voice Recognition Software

2008-05-27T21:16:00.003-04:00

I finally bought Dragon Naturally Speaking version 9 speech recognition software. Since I'm writing a lot of articles these days, I wanted to try it. It really does turn talk into text and is faster and more accurate than typing, especially my typing.

E-mail, instant messaging and surfing the web can all by done by voice. Although I had to teach it how I speak a few times before it was accurate, before long it was working very well and I'm impressed by how smart it is. Now if my husband listened so intently, just imagine.

I bought the cheaper standard version, on sale for $79. There is a preferred version which also transcribes recordings from handheld digital recorders, has wireless microphone support, and turns text into speech as well. The preferred version plays back your dictation so that you can correct it, inserts your signature or logo with a simple voice command and lets you import and export user files on any PC.

For what I need, the standard version is fine. It's capable of a lot more than just the simple dictation I'm using it for so far. My biggest problem seems to be that my brain goes to sleep when I have to open my mouth instead of lifting my pen. So the best way for me seems to be to write my thoughts in longhand and then dictate them to the Dragon Naturally Speaking software. Still saves me time, yet doesn't stifle my creativity.

Community Television Publicity

2008-05-25T21:03:00.003-04:00

Recently, I was asked to participate in a live television show at our local community TV station. I was part of a three woman tech panel and was there to discuss blogs. We talked a lot about how women could bring their businesses online and use a blog or website as a marketing tool.

The only thing that bothered me was that the other two women were techies who made a living setting up websites and blogs for people. They made it seem so difficult that a person couldn't possibly do it themselves. Since I teach blogging, I know that to set up a blog on Blogger is extremely easy. Even Wordpress, although more difficult, is still not impossible to do yourself. And imagine all the money you would save.

Anyway, I enjoyed the time, it was a great experience, and an added plus was the traffic to my site that resulted because of the publicity. If you get a chance to appear as a local expert on your community televison station, go for it.

Ghostwriting

2008-05-13T23:44:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm finally making some money online, but until I get my name out there, it's a lot of long hours of hard work. I've been ghostwriting for some Internet marketers, so along with making money, I'm learning about all kinds of topics, and seeing more of how marketers operate.

I joined the warrior forum - if you are serious about being an Internet Marketer, you should join if you haven't already. You can get a complete education just from reading the posts there. Anyway, I posted a number of times to establish myself with the community, then I posted a warrior special offer advertising a special on my ghostwriting. I'm doing 400 word articles and was hired by a number of different marketers, to the tune of over 100 articles ordered. Good thing I like to write.

So tell me, are you a warrior member?

Stop Collecting Information and Focus

2008-04-03T21:00:00.000-04:00

How often as new marketers do we get into the trap of buying eBook after eBook and course after course thinking we need to know more before we can succeed?

There is no magic formula for making money online, and I've come to the conclusion I will never know everything either.

That's one reason it's so important to hang out in forums, read all the free stuff out there and then choose a path that is suited to who we are. Then we need to focus and not be distracted by the latest fads.

Everyone's trying to sell us something. Trying to convince us it's the final puzzle piece we need, but then we buy and are still in the same boat.

So from here on in, I am trying to stay focused on a specific area and get to work. I need to stop buying products unless I know I can use them right now.

I've started to look at what I already have on my hard drive and plan to use it. I'm forcing myself not to read email or go to forums until I finish the tasks I've set for myself each day. And I'm being held accountable to a mastermind team, so when I say I am going to write an article or work on a new product, I better be able to say I did it. This alone has been a big help to me.

Didn't Meet My Goal But Still Pressing On

2008-03-31T21:41:00.003-04:00

I was determined to earn my first $100 online by the end of 2007, but I didn't manage to make it. Since it seemed so discouraging, I stopped blogging for awhile and tried to get on with my life.

But I've been bitten by the Internet Marketing bug, so after a couple of weeks, I was back trying again. This time I decided to focus on one blog until I had it where I wanted it, then go on to the next. That's why it's been so long since I've posted here.

I started with my CreativeHomeComputing site, since that was my first online venture. First step, a double opt-in form that offered some related information in return for signing up. Next, set my autoresponder to notify my subscribers each time I posted to the blog. Signed up with technorati and claimed the blog, then used a simple tags plugin (it's a Wordpress blog, so not sure what I'll be doing here) and put tags under each post.

I also inserted adsense ads, which is more difficult with Wordpress. That's one thing about blogger, it is so user friendly. Wordpress has the ability to do a lot more, but there's a learning curve for some of the plugins.

Anyway, I am trying to post at least two to three times a week, by using an option that allows me to change the datestamp and write all the posts at once. Then the posts are published throughout the week, instead of having to find time to create posts every few days. This is a big timesaver and the first thing I want to see if Blogger can also do. I'll let you know.

Glad to be back in the loop with this blog and still learning and doing every day. I also recently found the WarriorForum, which has had a lot of helpful information.

Ning and Social Networking

2007-11-27T01:48:00.002-05:00

I'm in social networking mode these days. Although I can't say Facebook makes any sense to me really (although all my kids love it), I've been squidooing my little heart out and I've even made a dollar sharing their ads! So far on squidoo.com, I've got a lens on life-long learning, one on Toronto, and one I just started on the Canadian National Exhibition.

My newest find is ning.com where you can create your own social network. Establish yourself as an expert, have fun, and collect friends along the way - so far I have only one (oh, well).

Ning is easy to set-up and you can make it public or private. It's free and like I said it's fun. Add videos, photos, text, it's just like having your own Facebook. Hmm - guess that means I understand Facebook more than I realized. The hardest thing I find is keeping it active. As administrator, you aren't notified when someone comments like you are with a blog. You need to keep going into your forum and answering comments, interacting, and starting discussions. It's a little more time intensive than it seems at first. Oh, well.

ID Theft and Your Website Information

2007-10-24T23:09:00.000-04:00

After watching a number of TV shows on Identity Theft and realizing that all someone would have to do is check the Whois information for my websites to find out a fair bit of information about me, I'm getting a little paranoid.

So I went to the GoDaddy account where my domains are registered and changed the setting to make my information private. Now all that shows up is the GoDaddy info.

I was hesitant to do that at first, since their agreement made it sound like I could be shut down if anyone mistakenly thought I was a spammer. But after speaking to someone at their customer service, I was assured that was not the case and the possibility of being charged with spamming was much less if I had my information private (not sure of the reasoning for that.) Of course you pay for the privacy service, but the charge is minimal.

Why does Internet business have to be so complicated? Do you ever worry about your information being online?

Next Internet Millionaire

2007-09-28T00:21:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I posted last, but I'm still plugging along, learning all I can about Internet Marketing. Have you watched Joel Comm's new Internet reality show "The Next Internet Millionaire"?

It's on the net every week and so far there have been 6 episodes. They started with twelve contestants - two from here in Canada, that were chosen by their youtube audition videos.

Every week, they are taught by a top Internet Marketer on a different aspect of the business. They have two different challenges per week, one individual and one as a team. And each week someone is sent home, so it has been enjoyable to watch.

You can't learn as much from the trainers as I had hoped, but if you listen closely, there are tips along the way. And most of the challenges have been really interesting. Except for the week when the contestants were allowed to answer less emails if they ate a couple of big, fat worms. Since this is a business show, I thought that was a bit crude and don't think I'd ever see Donald Trump ask anyone to do that. To her credit, the girl from Toronto refused.

So far, I think the guy from Costa Rica, the outspoken Christian, and the young youtube expert are my favourites. If you get a chance to watch the show, let me know what you think and who you're voting for.

Tip For Using PLR articles

2007-08-20T23:00:00.000-04:00

I've managed to collect a number of Private Label Rights articles and have yet to do anything with them. I came across this tutorial on youtube that has a great tip for using PLR's to drive traffic to your site.

Keeping Track Of Downloads

2007-08-05T19:16:00.000-04:00

2007-02-03T15:30:00.002-05:00

2006-12-16T07:06:00.002-05:00

After reading old blog posts of mine for the last two years and realizing that I start the year off with a bang and end with a fizzel, I decided to start early this year.

As noted on my intro, I am learning to make money on the Internet. So far, that is not easy. I have made some progress - two websites and three other blogs, a very small opt-in list for my not very regular newsletter, adsense set up in a few places, affiliate links in others. If you don’t understand what those terms mean, you are even a newer newbie than I am, so I will explain for you. That will make me feel smart and will also help you, unless of course, I give you the wrong information. But if that happens, there are many marketers online who will willingly take your money in return for their advice.

Opt-in simply means that a person signed up for your newsletter and double opt-in is the term used when they not only sign up once, but they click a link sent in a follow-up email to confirm that they did indeed want you to send the material.

Adsense are those little ads by Google that you often see at the top, bottom, side, or in the middle of the content of a page. When you click one of those links, the person running the site -me, in this case - will get a few cents. This can add up and after a year or so, you might make $10 like I did. To be fair, there are people who make a lot of money using adsense, so I continue to try and when I make more, it will surely be shouted from these virtual rooftops.

An affiliate link sends your readers to a page where if they purchase a product, you get commission on it. To do this, you first sign up for an account with the merchants you want to represent, trying not to get carried away and signing up for more than you could possibly ever remember.

Now, don’t you feel smarter already? I certainly do!

Until next time,

Carol