We got screwed. And here’s the rest of our rant…

Choosing the right top-notch marketer “to follow” can be tricky at best.

We have our own personal guidelines for giving these marketers our time (and money) which starts, foremost, with that marketer’s sincere desire to help… us.

It’s very easy to throw stuff out there, but it takes time, patience, and a true desire to help others for an internet marketer to truly shine.

A willingness to help others is more than evident in many marketering “guru’s” business dealings online, and no more so then a marketer we will be telling you more about in tomorrow’s post.

In the meantime… Something happened that we feel duty bound to point out. What follows may sound like sour grapes to some, but created confusion, frustration, and anger for us.

Here’s what happened:

Last night checking back through outstanding business folders, we were reviewing a program we believed we would be participating in this week. The program will be one of those “giveaway” sites where, if your hard drive isn’t yet full enough, give you the opportunity to pick up more stuff… for free.

The odd thing about this is… we were declined.

Our offer was generous! A full 30 days of free assistance with one’s marketing and advertising. Initially, we got the setup a bit wrong, but then we made immediate modifications to our offer - thus fulfilling our end of the arrangement. The offer had to be your own original “something” and be free to boot. Ours was.

That, too, was denied.

We submitted an email stating our confusion as to why our offer was declined. The answer back was snotty to say the least. No need to say more, we logged right in and deleted our entire account.

We are amazed. We are confused. We are, now unfortunately, skeptical from all angles.

Ah well. Guess we could just say you win some, you lose some. But really, in the back of our minds, we cannot help but think… what the hell? Why wouldn’t someone accept other people’s offer of hands-on services to HELP [their participants] for FREE??

Just shaking our heads…

Reported Sunday, March 30 in the Washington Post, writer Juan Carlos Perez of the IDG News Service sites a second straight month of declining paid search for Google.

Perez’s referenced source is a comScore report that suggests, “Google’s revenue engine is slowing down, highlighting again the perils of the company’s overwhelming dependence on a single type of online advertising to fuel its business.”

Unless you are a comScore client, the possibilities of you getting your hands on this report are nil. However, Citigroup analysts Mark Mahaney and James Samford appear to back up this report, too.

Citigroup reports only a 3.1 percent year-on-year search using Google’s paid search ads. They also indicate that a 0.3 percent year-on-year decline in January presents an emerging trend that Google’s PPC ad business “may be losing steam, after powering the search giant mindblowing levels of revenue and profit growth for years.”

Investors in Google may be the ones most concerned over this development. But Google executives say they are aware of this situation and they are promising “concrete results this year and in 2009 in display advertising, such as banners, now that the DoubleClick acquisition has been finalized.”

What does this mean for the average marketer? It might well explain the phone calls and emails we’ve been getting about poor PPC results and excessive amounts of money being spent to sustain these types of marketing campaigns. The bottom line to these inquiries, what else can a marketer do to promote their website online?

While PPC may hold a spot in an online website owner’s business, diversifying your marketing methods has always been, and will continue to be, your best bet.

Resources to check out:

Molten Marketing
and
My Wizard Ads’ Numerous Advertising and Marketing Bundles

Remember… diversify!

Tonight doing my Entrecard thing (gotta keep up with our dropping), I came across the coolest blog with the best information to make your Firefox browser experience killer! Turns out that it not always your connection speed that’s the culprit. Could be your settings. I also learned parts of Firefox I did not even know existed lol!

8 Easy Firefox Tweaks For Super Fast Web Browsing

The best thing is madWAHM gives you step by step instructions PLUS screen shots so you cannot get this wrong. After making these 8 tiny tweaks, and closing and reopening your browser the speed increase for me was totally noticeable!

[Special Note: After making the tweaks, I ended up going back and turned the very first tweak from true back to false. Still works like a charm!]

If you load lots of pages, or heck even if you want to speed things up just for the sake of going faster, head to madWAHM now. This is worth the trip

Enjoy!

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is not our article, but the information is well worth your time.

by Gary Smith

The Web 2.0 social media revolution is in full steam. Are people finding your website?

As an entrepreneur, how do you make your business website stand out amongst 435 million other websites and more than 1 million blogs competing for your audience’s attention?

It’s not as hard as you might think.

To begin, let’s look at the demographics of Web 2.0 social networking sites, Myspace.com, Facebook and YouTube.com. This will give you an idea on how to position your message in the Web 2.0 World.

The Web 2.0 Social Networking Revolution

Web 2.0 is a real revolution on the Internet. And these aren’t just college kids…

- 62% of MySpace visitors are older than 25 (40% are 35+), and 83% are making over $30,000 a year. Nineteen percent (19%) are making $100,000 and up…

- On Facebook.com 46% are over 25 and 34% are 35+, but they’ve got deep pockets. Eighty-eight percent (88%) make more than $30,000 and twenty-three percent (23%) make $100,000 or more.

In the years ahead these numbers will get ridiculous…

- Social media giant Facebook is currently ADDING a million 25+ (non-student) adults per week to their rosters. That’s 52 million new users a year.

- YouTube.com gets over 50 million unique visitors per month. That equals over half a billion a year.

- Facebook and MySpace have the equal daily traffic of Google. Experts predict within the next year they will DOUBLE the daily traffic of Google search.

So your prospects are there. The traffic is there. The spending power is there. So NOW is the time you want to establish your presence on the social networking websites.

Web 2.0 Strategy: Why You Should Be a Maven, Not a Marketer

As a website owner, how should you position your message in the Web 2.0 world?

The increasingly savvy buying public will quickly shun marketers. Internet readers want information from the Internet. They don’t want advertising, marketing, or a “pitch”.

According to Schefren in his Attention Age Doctrine, the solution is to become a social media “Maven”.

A Maven is a trusted authority, like a friend, on the social media websites. As you gain their trust, your audience will return to you over and over again wanting to invest in your advice.

Five Steps to Becoming a Social Media Maven

Social Media Maven Step 1: Get in the Game

Begin blogging immediately. Create a video explaining how to solve a problem and put it on YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook with links back to your main website. Just those two things alone will establish more Web 2.0 presence than 90% of your competition.

Social Media Maven Step 2: Share your passion

Build your Web 2.0 website around your passions. Thirty-two year old Gary Vaynerchuk transformed his wine knowledge to his video blog, http://Tv.Winelibrary.com. It now has thousands of subscribers and does $50 million dollars a year in wine sales.

Social Media Maven Step 3: Be Controversial

Your audience will remember you more when you challenge the status quo. Controversy sells. Think like the tabloids and the local news channels here. For example, Web 2.0 Business Coach Rich Schefren challenges traditional marketing wisdom in each release of his Attention Age Doctrine special reports at www.attentionage.net/doctrine

Social Media Maven Step 4: Create World Class Content

You will drive repeat traffic to your website by offering top notch “how to” information. Gary’s wine tastings are highly educational on the benefits of wine, how to cook with wine, and how to choose a wine for your special occasion. Rich’s reports teach Web 2.0 marketing principles.

Remember, as soon as your audience feels that you are “pitching” them, you’ve lost them. So provide content not advertising.

Social Media Maven Step 5: Engage in the Conversation

Web 2.0 is a dialogue not a monologue. Internet businesses profit more when they observe and listen to their communities first before they broadcast their messages. Savvy mavens such as Gary and Rich encourage their audience to ask questions. The answers to these questions then become part of their user-generated content.

How Marketing in a Web 2.0 Social Media Environment Is Exciting

Visualize it like a big radio or television station or movie screen where you’re the star. You’re building a fan base so you need to entertain, inform, and deliver consistently for your audience.

You have more publishing power at your fingertips right now than at any time in history.

So use it.

Share your passions.

Reveal your trials and tribulations

Tell your story.

And, watch how quickly your audience builds.

=======================================

Master Copywriter, Gary Smith (www.rightbraincopy.com) has taught thousands of entrepreneurs how to write copy that persuades, motivates and inspires prospects to buy. He strongly suggests using Web 2.0 Internet Marketing Strategies revealed in Richard Schefren’s Attention Age Doctrine. Get it now for FREE at: http://www.attentionage.com/doctrine & discover never-before-revealed Web 2.0 tools and techniques to win in the Attention Age

This was Part 5 in a series HubPages has been sending us, and shows why we go on at such great lengths about how truly wonderful Hubpages is for online marketers of any business.

Testimonials and Advice From Current HubPages Users:

“Just to give you an idea, I’ve been with HubPages 4 ½ months, and I make an average of $10 a day from AdSense, plus a couple hundred every month from Ebay/Amazon… It’s been increasing steadily over the time I’ve been here, and I expect that to continue as I get more content up and published!”
- Maddie Ruud - One of Maddie’s Hubs: The Truth About Wu-Yi Tea

“Now I’m making a few hundred dollars per month for the things I enjoy doing. I know more people here are making thousands of dollars per month.”
- len7288 - One of len7288’s Hubs: Health Benefits of Cabbage

“If, like most people, you are on HubPages to share information and make a few dollars, be patient; you won’t find success overnight. Keep writing quality and original content and the money will follow. It took me three months before I got my first click on Google; I now receive a check every month.”
- jimmythejock - One of jimmythejock’s Hubs: World War 1 Trench Warfare

If you need some help publishing your first Hub, read through their step-by-step guide here:

Download the HubPages Starting Out Guide
(PDF file)

A step-by-step guide you can follow or print out that will show you:

- How to start your first Hub
- How to add pictures, videos, links, and more
- How to attract more readers to your Hubs
- How to set up your Google, eBay and Amazon accounts so you can make money

Ready to begin? Click on this link to begin publishing and earning!
Start Your First Hub

If you’d like some guidance and assistance from helpful members of the HubPages community, feel free to ask for help or participate in a discussion in our Forums

And just to prove that we are using HubPages, here are our current hubs that you’ll also find referenced throughout this blog. Note that we write about different things, not always internet marketing and we will be branching out even more as time goes by. Also please do feel free to rate the, you’ll find the thumbs up/down at the bottom of each article as they end (just before the comments start):

Wipe Out Stress With Stress Management

YouTube Video Sites In A Box Software Review

Weighing In With Weight Management Resources

Social Bookmarketing A Useless Tool or Clever Marketing Strategy

Keyword Research How Scrabble Is A Prime Example Of Getting It Right

Stress Management Meditation Technique

Qassia Even Without the U Is A Great New Social Media

Taking Your Online Business Local

Building Credibility On The Road To Success

You’ll note that our profile is not as high as those shown above in their testimonials, but we hover between where we are now, and 91. Hopefully growing as we continue to publish.

* * * * * STAY TUNED TOMORROW * * * * * *

We’ll be bringing you another amazing free way to socialize and make your website popular (screen shots included when possible).

Currently BlogCatalog is without a doubt our favorite place to hang out, make new friends, and post our most interesting posts. The people hanging on BlogCatalog go above and beyond to reach out, friend you, and then actually participate with you.

Many of these types of services appear to have a “clicky” mentality, you get a visit but no real interaction; isn’t that the point of socializing?

To further enhance BlogCatalog’s likeability, the setup is easy as can be. You do need to know some basics, but they are put in a simple to follow, logical arrangement. Once you are logging in, and if you stay logged in, moving around is a breeze.

We’ll go over some of the fine points here, and then below you’ll see a few links - a How To Setup BlogCatalog YouTube via (with great voice over!) as well as a link out to MattNutts blog (which we advise using Firefox if your IE gets a bit wiggy on you).

So here’s our pointers for making the most of BlogCatalog which are extremely easy:

1. Sign yourself up
2. Validate your email
3. Log in
4. Choose Edit Profile
5. Create a widgit for your blog
6. Start looking around discussions, communities, etc.
7. Up on the right, join stuff as you see them

It really is that simple; no where near the complexity of something like say Facebook or Myspace!

The great thing is your page will also come with some current event stuff going on - so use your right side panel to get off to a good start. To friend someone is also easy (though they call it a “Add to My Friends” right up there under your logged in information).

Frankly, this community is so great that the whole thing just naturally gathers its own steam. There is absolutely no arm twisting and begging here, people are just nice, friendly, helpful, and informed. You can gather a wealth of new information just be taking the time to visit your friends pages, and the pages of their friends. Take the time to interact. Use the My Shoutbox and leave a few words as you visit, watch your inbox and click out to broadcasts and new notices you receive.

A few final words/requests before you watch the video or go read the How To BlogCatalog posts below:

1. Use a real inbox for BlogCatalog you’ll want to get these notices

2. Please leave your feedback here so we know what’s on your mind, what you thought of this post, and any questions or suggestions you have. Even a simple Hello works for us.

3. Right below this article you’ll see some “Be Social Please Tag Us” buttons. Hover over the icons and please do submit our work to these online systems. We’d sure appreciate your efforts!

Okay, here is the video that’s worth the few minutes if you’re a visual person and need assistance with BlogCatalog, along with another How To BlogCatalog advice article. Thanks for reading! Comment, Rate, Enjoy!

And for additional reference (though again my personal experience is Firefox as is loads the page best):

Complete Guide to Use and Help for BlogCatalog

If you missed our mailing yesterday, then you won’t want to miss reading this post. Qassia is an up and coming social community that awards you with backlinks in exchange for your “wiki-like” writeups.

Read about Qassia social community here

[NOTE: Qassia does send you a "validate yourself" type email to create your account. Be sure to give a real inbox or you will have wasted your time. Validate and return to the site to continue setting up. Your DASHBOARD gives you access to all the different aspects of how to setup your Qassia and what's what on how to write.]

After signing up, you’ll want to do a few things before you start posting. Always, in any community, fill out your profile and upload a picture or your avatar. This particular social media community is not that indepth (nothing at all like Facebook or Myspace), but letting others know who you are and what you do is always critical. Make your information fun and informative, they like that

Then you use the “Add Intel” links to begin adding your tidbits to their wiki-type setup. You need to have a bit of backbone when publishing since 10 other people will read what you’ve written and “grade your work.” We note that not everyone plays fair, and while some questionable entries get okay marks, other pieces of information that would be of use to all don’t always get the proper marks. We think the members of Qassia just don’t “get it” yet, but hopefully do over time.

The great thing is reading is subjective. So don’t be disappointed (or even elated) about your marks. That’s not the point

Gaining valuable backlinks in the search engines for your tags and “reports” is the point. Quassia promises great things in the search engines, so why not be a part of it.

As with all new programs or websites, we are suspending judgment until it’s been around long enough to receive some sort of grade itself. However, if they stay on track with their goals, why not be in at the start of something new that has the potential to really boost your website, blog, etc., into the search engines.

Qassia, after joining or even if you don’t join, please take the time to tell us about your experience here on this blog.

Never pass up the chance to branding yourself!

Enjoy!

UPDATE: Our own Qassia url is already in Google! We only started yesterday…! Now to see if and/or how long before our tagged stuff appears.

Writing a press release just may be right up there with having all your teeth extracted in one go. We’re often asked if we write them, or conversely, if someone else is going to do their own, how to go about it.

Our upfront advice? Do not try doing this yourself, unless you are the rare exception and know the whole ins and outs of releasing information to the media.

That said, there also is nothing like going straight to the #1 source, in our book. So, if you’re interested in seeing if a press release is right for you, here are some quick links to all the information you need to know. By reading first you’ll help ensure your press release hits the airwaves with a bang (or decide this is not right for you):

Press Release Best Practices

Formatting Your Press Release

Press Release Template

Quick Tips for Effective News Releases

Editorial Guidelines

Yes, you’ll recognize the site when you get there we’re sure. And it would be safe to assume that the guidelines, tips, and tricks above for writing and releasing Press Releases would apply to any distribution source you might choose.

Again, it’s not easy writing one, and often spending the extra cash to have one professionally written for you is probably your best option. One thing to definitely remember is that a press release in and of itself must be “newsworthy.” This is not the place to try to pawn off some sleasy advertising (most likely it would not be approved anyway).

We would suggest when it comes time to submit your press release for distribution that you pay the extra bucks and have them (in this case PRWeb) distribute it immediately to Google and Yahoo! news feeds.

Should everyone do a press release? Our answer is no. Just because its out there doesn’t make it perfect for all occasions. Save press releases for grand openings, new product launches, new websites with unique twists.

Just our two cents.

Today, surprisingly (or not so), in my inbox was a question from one of our brand new clients. While this individual was interested in getting involved in various internet marketing strategy “pieces,” it was evident on a visit to the website itself (and view sourcing the code), that starting at the beginning was where he needs to be - title tag inappropriate, no metas, etc. After replying in detail and giving him specific directions to begin, I headed out to the internet to chase down a video someone had asked me to take a look at.

To make a long story short (because the video had nothing to do with marketing strategies [or did it??]), somehow I ended up at eMediaWire. Which lead to a press release, which lead to this free pdf you can get right here, without all the rigmarole… Funny how things work sometimes…

So… here’s my take on this free internet marketing strategy resource:

Online Equalizer appears to be one of those “pieces of gold” in pdf format. It is written in such a way that everyone, novice to pro, will benefit from the information it contains.

One hundred and sixty six pages (which I have only skimmed for the moment but will be returning to after this post because several things have already caught my eye) bears all the hallmarks of being one of those “keeper” downloads you infrequently stumble upon.

Brandon Cornett begins his presentation with:

and that’s just the first 40 pages!

I’m not going to spoil this and tell you the end of the movie (so to speak), but on page 42 there’s an interesting way of looking at your writing and search engines. It actually goes against the grain of what many tell you and has to do with article writing. But again I won’t spoil it for you

Actually while typing I’m skimming through this free pdf, and am confident that while some of you reading may feel you are beyond this point, never, ever look a gift horse in the mouth. Since it is free, and you can

DOWNLOAD IT RIGHT NOW

see what areas you may be personally missing - or check it out for ways to glamorize what you currently have… you just never know when that “oh!” moment will arrive - this pdf could be one of those moments.

Again, I’m heading back into reading. Should, for some strange reason, I change my mind about Online Equalizer, I will be sure to let you know. But from what I’m seeing, and because of those we interact with daily, I truly believe you’ll find immense value inside. Hey, and remember, it’s FREE lol!

P.S. When you’re done, would you please remember to come back and leave your comments and input on this material? We would love to hear what you think!

Everyone is buzzing about it - the magic “Web 2.0″ word is drawing people like bees to honey. But there’s one slight catch to the whole thing… there are so many of them, what to choose? Where to start? How to work them effectively so you get what you need without ticking a bunch of people off (which you really want to avoid!).

That’s where our suggestions come in handy. We’re actively using the resources we talk about on this blog. You’ll see down below (or off to the side) coverage we are giving to Facebook. Well here’s our next suggestions - Hubpages.com

BUT… before you rush off please finish reading this post. It will save you hours of work and, more importantly, your reputation online if you approach this (or any) social media website with the right mindset.

If you’re reading this blog (and we sincerely hope you are and telling others all about us, hint, hint), you’ll notice that versus posting an entire article here, we present a summary of what to expect and then send you out to hubpages to read the rest. It’s not laziness on our part, lol, but a really good marketing strategy that you, too, can benefit by using.

The really great part is that you don’t even need your own website to get started. If you do, great! If you don’t, don’t worry about it (though down the line you should plan to have at least a blog of your own).

You’ll first signup for a Hubpages account. From this one account, you create multiple “hubs” which are nothing more than a fancier way of saying “individual pages” under your one account. Yes, you can post numerous “hubs” from just one username login area. It’s great!

Which means you can write about ANYTHING that you’re imagination, and research, can dream up.

Each new hub gets a new name - typically it pulls from whatever title you’ve given your initial page. For instance, if we did an article about:

“How to Benefit From Using Hubpages”

the url would look like this (this is fictious)

/hubs/How-to-Benefit-From-Using-Hubpages

So you see hopefully right off the bat that placing your keyword into your title is a primary objective, right?

The idea with Hubpages is, after posting many (this will not work as a “do it once” strategy and should be avoided if you don’t plan to build multiple “hubs”), the search engines will pick up your hubs and create even more valuable backlinks to your hubpages and (ultimate) your website or blog.

Now versus reinventing the wheel, we’ve downloaded the nifty pdf that Hubpages provides to its users. You can:

Download the HubPages User Guide Here
Download and Read First!
It is highly recommended that you get this download first.
Read it through, it’s a clear step-by-step process guide, and then start
your own Hubpages hubs.
WORD OF CAUTION: This, nor any social media, is NOT the place to do blatant advertising! If you do, you will ruin your reputation in a heartbeat! Our suggestion is get the guide, read the guide, and then go travel around within Hubpages before doing anything. Get a feel for what’s what, who’s doing what, how they are doing it. Look for “high score” pages. You can bet these people understand the process and are working it properly.