One of the most valuable, free, and overlooked forms of marketing and advertising is commenting on blogs. We state it over and over at the end of every post we make, and while many take us up on the offer, there are hundreds if not thousands who visit and completely miss the boat.

Below, we’ve inserted a video that will give you complete and meaningful instructions on how to choose the right blogs to comment on, why, and the tools to set this all up to make your life a whole lot easier (and all the tools are free). (more…)

One of our “tenets” in our tag line for this blog includes “hot topic news” and this most certainly fits the bill. Please read on!

I must be having withdrawal symptoms since my favorite MSNBC news shows air only Monday through Friday. So it’s digging deep into our local, “switch sides every other day” (sound familiar?) local newspaper, The Las Vegas Review Journal that grabbed my attention this morning.

Actually much of the following - other than my own two cents - comes from a section of the paper, the Las Vegas Sun (don’t ask me what their relationship is - but the one does stick in parts of the other). And, just so you know up front, the Las Vegas Sun endorses Obama.

The first tidbit I’d like to share is along the lines of “is wealth distributed properly in this country.”

Here’s a shocker for all us working “Joes and Janes” (thanks Palin) - from Sunday’s Parade Magazine:

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If ever there is a Gold Medal for blogging, Linda Rembowski of Forcedgreen would win hands down!

The August 16th edition of the WebProNews includes a quick (I don’t know what to call it… article? post? tidbit?) of information from their staff writer, David A. Utter. He writes:

The popularity contest of blogging and gaining links and traffic doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and work.

And, of course, he’s not far off the mark. However, today we’ve got the great pleasure of taking our Sunday Fun Day to tell you about the huge success of (more…)

If you’re tracking stats on your own blog, and you should be, there will be posts that you make where you notice lots of activity. Ideally, you (like us) have your hopes up each time you post that your readers will do more than read (which is always cool), and stay to strike up a conversation with you (in the form of comments).

Well we’re no different than you

We track things. We love to track things! It just may be an obsession around here!

So in going back through our visitor logs, there is a striking up swing whenever we talk about ways to (more…)

This morning I was over at BlogCatalog trying valiantly to get caught up on friend requests, and visit blogs I’ve missed out on all week. Working my way down the list was a request from TheBostonBachelor.

Not knowing what I’d have in common with any of his tags (sex, women, relationship advice (okay maybe that one), dating advice, boston, celtics) nor his description, “What your girlfriend doesn’t want you reading…” I headed over to his blog (maybe in spite of all that LOL!).

Trolling down the page, I saw one of my all time favorite cartoons: (more…)

Here’s another great way to handle much of your website social media marketing all from one central spot.

The Bloggers Choice Awards website allows you to enter your own blog (or get someone to do it for you) into their voting system. It also is a great one-stop spot for visiting other bloggers and leaving your comments and more (for backlinking where allowed or just building your standing in a social community by participating).

Visiting others and establishing relationships is what it’s all about

There are numerous categories and you can enter your blog into more than one. Choosing the best categories, of course, makes the most sense.

Then, after the approval process, you can log into your account, click on your blog, and “Get Code.”

You’ll notice in our right-hand side bar, in the same box as our Entrecard drop box, we’ve got a “please vote for us!” button.

For BloggersChoiceAwards, and most all websites like this, you do need to create an account. You can create an account even if you don’t have a blog you want to enter. Sign up just for the fun of it, and, of course, use it as a community to meet and greet others!

So… your assignment for today (lol!), please vote for us!

Yes, it’s all about numbers. The more votes you get the higher your information goes in their system.

But again, there is more here than meets the eye. Comment and voila! you’re getting traffic!

And, it doesn’t end there…

In fact, our blog was entered on March 18th. Yesterday, March 19th (!) for our website url return results in Google, the BloggersChoiceAwards link is already showing (with an indent to boot!).

Screenshot Showing Our YouTube In A Box, BloggersChoiceAwards, and BlogCatalog All Make the Front Page For Our Domain

List your blog at Bloggers Choice Awards! And please take the time to vote for us

Enjoy!

“What Can a Dentist Teach You about Business, Life and Success? Discover Secrets to Achieving Total Success!”, a new book launching this week on Amazon, quickly teaches you that your willingness to be different can make all the difference in how your business is perceived. Dr. Joe Capista gives you an inside view of how he took a struggling business and, with a clear vision of what he wanted to accomplish, built a multi-million dollar business.

The beauty of this book is the way in which the story is told. Forget the dry, disinterested approach, Capista takes you on a journey through his life, the mentoring and direction he received, and sums it all up in a 222-page discovery he calls The Success Triangle(TM). Capista offers a roadmap that virtually any business can implement to achieve higher profits, greater customer satisfaction, more satisfied employees and the ability to sustain any turn in the economy.

With permission, we offer a few excerpts for you to enjoy below, ways you can become familiar with this author; his style of writing. Throughout this book, Capista brings you a wealth of information based on family type situations, business situations, and personal experience. We’ve chosen a few from Chapter 8 (along with the summary of what Chapter 8 covers) entitled, “Five Part Forumla for Success”:

Become an Expert
Have a Great Product and/or Service

“By investing in your own training and education, you will gain more in the long run than you’re giving up. With increased skill comes increased confidence. With increased confidence comes increased competence. The rewards will continue to multiply.

Many are comfortable with the status quo. They feel because they’ve been at something for a long time it qualifies them as an expert. I learned a long time ago just because you’ve got a lot of years in or you’ve done something repeatedly, that doesn’t necessarily make you an expert. Some people work in a vacuum doing the same thing day in and day out thinking they are the best at what they do. Wrong!

You can’t increase your expertise on your own; someone has to teach you. I don’t care if you’re already at the top of your game, there’s somebody that’s on top of you that’s doing it better. That’s the person you have to talk to!”

Develop Sales and Marketing Skills

“Sales is a kind of strategic influence. Too many times we think of sales as manipulation because we have the vision of the slick salesperson; the person who’s trying to sell for his or her good and not for the good of the customer. Sales is about benefits and coming to a mutual agreement with your customer that what you have to offer is of value. Once value has been established, you have the responsibility to influence the person to say, “Yes.”

You always have to have the other person’s highest good in mind. In fact, Charlie used to tell me about the U Attitude. When he first presented the U Attitude idea, it was foreign to me. He would sit in front of me, hold his pad of paper and he’d draw a U. One part of the U started with the customer coming to me and it ended back with the customer to complete the U. This means the process has to start with the customer, come to me, and then go back to the customer. The customer always has to be the person who benefits the most in the sales process and the U Attitude has helped me to remember this over the years.

Selling is about helping the client. The times I have been sold by people who have good sales skills is fantastic; a great experience. They see what I want and what I need. They know how I’m going to benefit by it and they help me get there. Sales require compassion, understanding, and talking in such a way people are comfortable dealing with you. When you create comfort for your customer, they will return again and again.”

Get Help from Experts (Mentors)

“Mentorship doesn’t have to be a difficult experience. There are very informal as well as formal methods of mentorship. Let’s begin with the informal. Consider the top five people you spend time with the most. Each can be a mentor in his or her own right. To be successful you need to make sure those you associate with most are people that inspire you and lift you up. You must be clear about who you want to spend time with and understand the power they have in your life.

There is an exchange of energy in all relationships. Some people enhance our energy; others can actually deplete our energy. I’m very deliberate in choosing people that increase my energy and fuel my dreams. We may not call one another mentors, but the influence we exert on each other’s lives is the same as a mentor/student relationship. I feel so strongly about this I’ve made efforts in the opposite direction, minimizing relationships with certain people because we weren’t on the same track or heading in the same direction. I look to mentors in both my personal and professional life.”

Chapter 8 Success Summary

1. Business Success and Life Success are not exclusive of each other. To have TOTAL SUCCESS you need success in both areas.

2. To have TOTAL SUCCESS you need to:

o Become an Expert (have a great Product and/or Service)
o Develop Sales and Marketing Skills
o Get help from Experts (have mentors)
o Control your Thoughts
o Create Balance in your life

3. You may not be the “best” at what you do, BUT be the best you can be.

4. To be the best in your field requires continued training.

5. The success of your business and the success of your personal life is directly proportional to your ability to sell and market.

6. Our lives revolve around selling a Product, Service or idea.

7. Sales is strategic influence, not manipulation.

8. Develop a ‘U’ Attitude.

9. Always have the customer’s interests foremost and have integrity and honesty in your sales process.

10. Sales and Marketing are skills that need to be learned. Very few people are “natural born” sales or marketing people.

11. You need people - mentors - to teach you what you do not know.

12. Find successful people and study their behavior.

13. Mentors can be living or dead.

14. Pay people to teach you what you do not know.

Again these excerpts are just that, pieces we’ve taken that caught our eye. The stories and information are much more indepth than we can cover here. Suffice to say this is an interesting, informative, and (more than slightly) different way of following key patterns to personal success.

Order you own copy of What Can a Dentist Teach You about Business, Life and Success? within the next 24 hours and receive over $2,551 in bonus gifts from experts around the globe. Go to www.joecapista.com/amazon.htm

Success online means building relationships and trust. We cover three major factors in our article posted on Hubpages.com, Building Credibility On the Road to Success (click to read the entire article, it opens in a new window).

Here’s a snippet from that article:

Building a profitable business online requires trust in order to succeed. Your potential clients need to see you as an authority in your field. There are a few ways when marketing online to accomplish this goal, but you first need to realize that your mission is not to sell right out of the gate.