Today I want to share my experiences in Lynn Terry's Elite Internet Marketing Mastermind Membership Group (and invite you to ask me questions about it).  As with all of my reviews, you should expect zero hype and "nothin' but the facts.   But, if you are in a hurry, I'll tell you the conclusion right now:  Lynn's Elite Forum is awesome (just like Lynn), and if you think it is a fit for you, I highly recommend that you join and take advantage of the bonus I am offering (read the details below).

I recommend the membership for the following six reasons:

• Participating in a mastermind community is the single most important thing you can do to help your business
• Lynn is well-qualified to help you and has a wonderful helpful attitude.  Her community has the same positive feel.
• The cost of this forum is ridiculously low and may be worth more than 10, 100 or 1000 times the cost to your business.
• There are a surprising numbers of gurus in the forum that are like an "unannounced coaching bonus"
• Lynn hosts and Elite Mastermind brainstorming webinar call every Thursday.  This alone is worth the cost of the subscription.
• The resources provided by Lynn are nice and growing -- recorded webinars, free reports (that are for sale elsewhere), etc.

After getting so many questions about Lynn's elite forum, and writing the below review, I decided that what my readers really needed was hear from Lynn.  After all -- who better to tell you what to expect from her forum than the Lynn herself.  So, I rang her on Skype and asked her to describe what exactly her elite membership forum really is.  You can listen in on that call here:

Internet Marketing Coaching/Mentoring Is The Key

Here is the big secret:  Internet Business takes work, and it can be tough going sometimes.  As a result of that simple fact, sometimes you need some help.

Many of you know that I am a "true believer" in internet marketing coaching and masterminding.  It is really simple -- find people that are successful doing what you want to do, and emulate them (and eventually collaborate with them).  In the past, I have written about the importance of coaching in this process, and reviewed several coaching opportunities.  I almost all cases, when I review a coaching program I actually pay to join out of my own pocket.

Such was the case when I joined Lynn Terry's Elite Forum.   I paid out of my own pocket, and I still happily pay for the privilege of membership at the time of this writing.

Lynn's Elite Forum -- What To Expect

I've known about Lynn for a while, and really started to learn what she was all about by following her on Internet Marketing This Week, an excellent podcast about  news and trends in Internet Marketing.  Since that time, I have interviewed her on my own Podcast and really gotten to know what kind of person she is. Lynn's Elite Forum reflects the kind of person that she is -- positive, focused, helpful and kind. Here is what to expect when you join:

• First and foremost, this is a forum -- not a content membership site.  There is training content on the site, but that is not the primary mission.  Lynn is shooting for something much more valuable than just another collection of eBooks.  In her forums, you post questions, comments, or requests for input, and people (especially including Lynn) answer them.  You are paying to be part of a mastermind community of supportive, positive people.  Lynn keeps it light and does not tolerate any of the typical "negative behavior" that you will find in the bigger forums.
• I have noticed that Lynn answers just about every thread when it starts.  I don't think that she guarantees that specifically, but I can see that she is doing it.  So, if you want access to an affiliate marketing guru with 13 years experience in the business, this is the way to get it.
• Lynn's primary expertise is affiliate marketing and information products.  She has lots of broad experience with other stuff too -- but if you are looking for a PPC guru or an eBay person, she may not be the best choice for you.  If you are like me and your business depends on content creation and affiliate marketing, Lynn's Elite forum is probably just what you need.
• The forum is a great resource for getting started in internet business.  Not sure what to do next in your internet business?  Stuck?  Just post your question.  Questions range from very basic (like How Do I Get Started) to very advanced (both technical and marketing issues are discussed).
• The forum is a great place to test ideas -- there are several "A-List" Gurus that participate in the forums, and many more people with good internet marketing experience.  If you have an idea but are not sure where to take it, the forum is a safe place to ask others what they think.
• In addition to the main brainstorming forum, there are several subforums  for Social Media promotion, download, case studies, etc (shown below).

The Bottom Line:  I recommend that you try it

I love everything about the Lynn Terry's Elite Membership Forum, and I think it will help your business.  I honestly recommend that you join today.  I mentioned that I am currently a paying member.  So know that this review is based on my real experience as a real person really using her Elite forum to make my business better.  I think that you will have a similar positive experience -- that is why I recommend it.   Full disclosure -- there is an affiliate program, and I get a commission if you join.  But, the small commission is not why I am recommending this.  I am recommending it because I think it is great.

Still, I thought it would be cool if I could sweeten the pot for you.

So, if you join Lynn's Elite Forum through my link, I will send you the following two really cool that will help you with your business (note, you may want to clear your browser cookies before joining through my link):

	36 of the hottest techniques and websites to have ideas coming out of your ears! - CRUCIAL!
	A simple plugin that can cut hours off your research with just a few clicks!
	How to quickly and easily find out if people are opening their wallets in your niche - then exactly how to find out the magic formula to get them to do it for you!
	The 6 ways to find out how to reach your market which after you do this, will give you a treasure map to follow anytime you drive traffic!
	How to find out the best time to launch your campaign, and the times that will absolutely make it bust.
	How to use one insanely popular website to spit out ideas like a spammer sending out emails, and actually make it gives you LISTS of niches to choose from - no more hunting through sites!
	The truth about the absolute best types of niches, and ones you can profit from them like no other...
	A list of 'gateway' keywords you can exploit to get Google to give you more niches than you can use in your lifetime...

36 of the hottest techniques and websites to have ideas coming out of your ears! - CRUCIAL!
	A simple plugin that can cut hours off your research with just a few clicks!
	How to quickly and easily find out if people are opening their wallets in your niche - then exactly how to find out the magic formula to get them to do it for you!
	The 6 ways to find out how to reach your market which after you do this, will give you a treasure map to follow anytime you drive traffic!
	How to find out the best time to launch your campaign, and the times that will absolutely make it bust.
	How to use one insanely popular website to spit out ideas like a spammer sending out emails, and actually make it gives you LISTS of niches to choose from - no more hunting through sites!
	The truth about the absolute best types of niches, and ones you can profit from them like no other...
	A list of 'gateway' keywords you can exploit to get Google to give you more niches than you can use in your lifetime...

To claim your bonus, simply join through my link
and submit your receipt to my help desk.

Join Lynn's Private Community Now

That's about it. I would love to answer any of your questions about Lynn's membership forum. Just leave a comment below with your questions. Don't guess if this is the right coaching opportunity for you -- ask me. Tell me your particular situation. I'll give you a straight answer, guaranteed.

Update:  The program is now closed, but if you are serious about joining, then contact me directly (I may be able to help).

I just got back from a business trip to sunny California, and I
almost missed this one.  Sorry for the short notice.

My great friend Josh Spaulding is about to increase the price of
his coaching course (at noon today).  Yikes.

You can check it out here:

Coaching With Josh

Josh is one of my mentors, and he has coaching course graduates that
have been able to leave their day job and make their living on line.
If you have been struggling with making money on line, you should
take a look at this course.

The funny thing is, it only costs $24/month.  (Until noon today).

After noon today, the price goes up to $37/month (a 50% increase).

Josh only takes a certain number of people at a time, and I am
sure this last minute offer at the crazy $24 price will cause
him to fill up again.

So, check it out.  I'm a member there, and I hope to see you around
the forums.

Coaching With Josh

Regards,
Mark

I have been working on sales copy a lot lately, so I thought I would post a useful summary of the 15 most important elements of a sales page. This list is adapted from an excellent two-hour lecture presented as part of Aaron Aaber's free mentoring course over at FullTiltBlogging.com.  The audio lecture and the presentation slides are available for download as one the member benefits at LifeFoc.us (Aaron's membership site). In this post, I'll be telling you what the sales page items are. If you want to know how to implement them effectively, you have to talk to someone like Aaron (I am just learning - albeit quickly).

15 Key Sales Letter Components

First, you need to get the prospect's attention. If you cannot command your visitor's attention, they are not going to read your sales copy, and they will not buy. If a qualified prospect does not buy, you have failed. It is as simple as that, and the headline section is critical because almost every legitimate prospect that visits your site will take time to scan the headline. The pre-headline, headline and sub-headline work together with the attention device to get your prospect to read on below the fold. You want to grab their attention, promise them something, or encourage them to read further.

• Pre-Headline. This is that little sentence or two at the top of the sales letter prior to the headline. It is usually a statement that draws the reader to the headline (or motivates the headline in some way). This part is optional.
• Headline. Big font. Often red. Hard to miss. This component is critical to capture attention. Think front page of the New York Times. Note that this headline is almost always in quotes.
• Sub-Headline. Again an optional part that comes after the headline and can serve as the punchline to the headline.Attention Device. Simply put, the purpose of the attention device is to get your reader to read the rest of the copy. It can be part of the headline or stand alone. Often, it comes in the form of a warning, a statistic or an implied story (the story is usually delivered in the body copy below the fold).

So, here is an example:

Ready to finally build your own AdSense Empire using WordPress?

"Warning: The Amazing New Niche Site Themes For WordPress
Will Cause Your Puny AdSense Earnings To Soar"

You May Need To Hire A New Accountant.

Anyway, you get the idea. I am not the best copy writer in the world, but above you can see a pre-headline, a headline, a sub-headline and an attention device in the headline.

The Body Of The Sales Letter

The body of the sales letter needs to breathe and flow. You need to draw your prospect along as they read -- make them want to get to the next part. Tell stories. Break up paragraphs. Seduce your reader.

• Introduction.  Let the prospect know why you are and establish credibility. You can be an expert or have relevant experience documented here. I like the way Jon Leger does this -- he simply lists the great products he has launched before.
• Statement of Problem. If you have a product, you need to be solving a problem with that product, or you will not sell it. Simple as that. Why does your prospect need your product? If they do not know that they need your product, you will have to educate them here.
• Destroying the Old Method.  Take down existing solutions so the prospect can see your solution as the uniquely best option.
• Value Building (Bonuses and Testimonials). Prospects buy when the value excedes the price. What is the value of your product and bonuses. Testimonials can help to show value (and also to reduce risk). There are many ways to build value.
• Price Drop. This is almost a cliche in Internet Marketing, and is done incorrectly most of the time (including in my own sales letters). Aaron has some proprietary and very unique views on how to do this properly. Out of respect to Aaron, I will not reveal them here. Suffice it to say that you need to do more than cross out a wild price of $1997 and put $27 next to it.
• Why This is So Cheap.  Make sure that your deep discount is well justified, otherwise your prospect will think there is a catch. For example, if I offer you a brand-new iPod for $10, you will assume it is stolen.
• Reason for Offer. Why are you making this particular offer today. Urgency can go here (Act Now!)

Getting The Order

OK -- finally it is time for the sale. Just a few things left to do.

• Risk Reversal.  You need to offer an iron-clad money-back guarantee. Convince the prospect that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
• Closing.  You must ask for the sale. Call to action is a critical part of any sales letter. Do not leave the prospect guessing what you want them to do.
• PS.  Use the PS to target people who skipped the sales copy and headed to the bottom of the page to see the price. Summarize the offer and call them to action right there in the PS.

Next Steps

Writing sales copy is probably the most challenging part of Internet Marketing. Each of the 15 items above can be expanded into a full course, so I am really only scratching the surface here. Again, thanks to Aaron Abber for allowing me to summarize one of the many cool courses that you get as a member of LifeFoc.us.

Do you have any questions about sales letter copy? Drop a comment and ask me. If I cannot answer, I will ask Aaron to drop by and pontificate.

Regards,
Mark

Man, Time Flies....

Well, it has been almost a month since I did a trial launch of my first product, Niche Adsense Themes for WordPress.  Two weeks ago, I started a post series talking about the lessons learned in doing my first digital project launch.   A few days later, I offered a free copy of the product to anyone who asked the best question that I could use for a future post.

The Big Winners Revealed

I am happy to announce that i really liked two of the responses, so I have named two winners.

• Kent made a comment that reminded me that I was thinking about doing a step-by-step explanation of how to create an AdSense mini-site.  I had actually started something like that a long time ago.  Some of you may remember my series of posts on my mini-site the History of Elvis.  Anyway, I never finished that post series or that site.  I need to do that, and I would like to do a post series for beginners on starting an AdSense mini-site.  So, Kent, thanks for that.
• Alex commented that he likes lists and checklists.   That was a great comment.  It applies to the current task of posts about my digital product as well as the coming posts on AdSense sites and Elvis.

So, both Alex and Kent will get free copies of Niche Adsense Themes for WordPress.

Lesson Learned 2:  Good Sales Letters Are Hard

OK -- so here is the next lesson that I learned regarding my digital product.  Of course to sell a digital product properly, you need a mini-site.  The setup of that mini-site is a big deal.  If you want a great free tutorial on that topic, you can take a look at Michael Rasmuessen's free Mini-Site video tutorial.  It is outstanding.

Anyway, inside this mini-site, you need a sales letter.  That sales letter is this only thing (besides possibly a pre-sales endorsement from an affiliate) that a customer will see before they decide to buy your product.  This is important to understand.

A customer is not making a decision to buy based on your actual product.  They have not seen the actual product.  And, they will not see the product until they buy.  Rather, they are handing you their credit card based on the claims in the sales letter.

So what about the product?  Well, the quality of the product (specifically, whether or not you live up to the claims of the sales letter) impacts returns, repeat purchases, and referrals (I call these the three Rs).

Good Sales Letter Need Basic Things

Now, I am not a sales letter expert (yet), but I can tell you that sales letters need basic things to be successful.

• A killer headline.  You have about 10-30 seconds to capture someone after the page loads.  If they do not see something that captures their attention, they will hit that stumble button and never return.  So, you must grab them.
• A USP -- Ultimate Selling Proposition.  Why do they need what you have?  What is the value of it to them?  Why are the benefits that you are describing obviously worth ten or 100 times the price you are asking?
• Risk Reduction/Reversal. Why is a decision to trust you (buy the product) completely risk free?  Or better yet, is there negative risk (If you are not completely satisfied, keep the free knives as our gift just for trying the product).
• Urgency. Be careful with this.  Act Now! can be a real turn off if not real.  Digital products do not run out of stock, so artificial urgency can be dangerous as it feels sleasy.  Instead, consider offering your product at a discount for a limited time. (Be sure to raise the price as promised later).
• Call to action. It is an old truth in sales.  You have to ask for the sale.  Ask them to buy your product.

My Sales Letter Sucks

OK, so my first attempt at a sales was not so great.  Here are my stats:

• 3.5% conversion for highly targeted email list promotions from an expert in the field with an "email list that converts well."  This is OK, but not great.  A %10 conversion rate (or higher) should be possible.
• Very low conversion rate (less than 0.5%) for somewhat targeted email list traffic from an MMO blogger.  I expected 3-5% conversions.
• Almost zero conversions from random ClickBank affiliates.

What does all that tell me?  It tells me that my sale letter needs work.  So, I am working on it.  I am in the process of gathering input on how to make it better.

• I posted to 5 forums asking for comments and help on the current sales letter (including the Warrior Forum and DigitalPoint Forums.)  Man, you want some criticism, just ask for help over there.  It helps to have high self esteem.  All the comments I got were quite helpful.
• Phone consultation from Aaron Abber at FullTiltBlogging.com (I belong to his mentoring program and to his membership site).
• Private consultations from Garry Conn and Josh Spaulding via email.  I am also a member of Josh's coaching program.
• Reading lots of sales stuff by guys like Dan Kennedy.

So, in the next post, we can look at the old sales page and the new sales page, and I will summarize the changes.  We can also talk about split testing.

Regards,

Mark

P.S.  What do you think of my first sales page?  Be honest.  I can take it.  Leave your comments here.

photo credit: TheTruthAboutMortgage.com

I thought that I would take a moment this morning to welcome myself back from vacation. I just returned from a great few days in Galveston, Texas. Now admittedly, Galveston is by no means the most beautiful beach in the world, but it is really close to my parents. We actually stayed at Moody Gardens, which is a cool resort complex on the back side of the island. The complex includes an aquarium (complete with Penguins), a rain forest, an IMAX theater, a water park, and a man-made beach. Really neat. As fun as it was, I think it is better to stay closer to the beach (especially from the point of view of my children).

Before I left, I intended to get several posts queued for release during my vacation using the cool "future post" capability found in WordPress. If you are not familiar with this neat feature, drop me a comment and I will post a tutorial on how to use it. I think it's pretty obvious, but I am happy to help if I can.

Well, I obviously failed to get posts scheduled for release. I got completely distracted with other projects that I am currently working on and will be discussing here this week. Some distractions include:

• New Experiment with Jonathan Leger's 3-way Links Product. I'll be blogging about this in the near future, but basically this is a subscription-based service that gives you one-way back links. Your subscription allows you to get 250 one-way back links per site for 50 sites. On the sites that I am testing, I am seeing immediate results for targeted keywords. More on this later.
• Redefining the MasonWorld Roadmap. It's mid-year 2008, and I a revisiting my "Internet Empire" goals to be completed by the end of the year. I have a much clearer idea of my long-term goals now, so I will be sharing those with you as well.
• Continuous learning. I have also been participating in 2 mentoring/coaching programs. I work with Josh Spaulding for learning related to SEO and traffic, and I work with Aaron Abber for learning related to direct response internet marketing (email lists and products). Cool thing is that both guys actually know a lot about both topics, so there is a llot of synergy. My goals for 2008 include having several profitable adsense and affiliate sites, as well as a couple of product launches.
• Speaking of product launches, I will be launching my first product at the end of this month (target launch date is June 30). I have developed some niche adsense themes for WordPress that are designed for high CTR mini-sites, and will selling them along with a subscription for future themes and an install service. More on this as the launch date approaches. There will be a very generous affiliate program, so stay tuned.

By the way, one thing that I missed while I was on vacation was Aaron Abber's weekly mentoring class teleconference (mentioned above). This a very cool thing each week that I always look forward to (Aaron is entertaining in addition to being well qualified to present the class materials.) There are lots of cool things on Aarons blog for free (in addition to his free mentoring program). One of my favorites is his humorous 101 Ways to Grab More Blog Subscribers. So if you want a laugh with a bunch of great ideas mixed in, check that out.

OK -- that's all for now. Look for more sunstantative posts from me later this week.

Best regards,
Mark

I am actually on a plane to California from Texas this morning. I am on my way to a conference to speak on Design For Manufacturability in the Semiconductor Industry. But that is not what is on my mind this morning. In today's article, I am going to BLOW THE LID off of Aaron Abber's BARELY LEGAL Super-Secret "Free" Mentoring Program. His program is not free at all. I'll expose the HIDDEN COST.

I'll also be offering a BIG TIP (you heard it here first) about keeping your email list subscribers.

And I'll tell you about an ALMOST SNEAKY way to further reduce your UNSUBSCRIPTIONS (unsubs).

Keep Your Email Subscribers With Content

Here is the BIG TIP - and it is a revolutionary idea.

Content is King. (OK, maybe not revolutionary, but true).

If you send useful information to your list between promotions, AND the promotions you send are for things that are also useful, you will keep the subscribers (subs) that matter. Let's face it, some of your subs are "freebie people" -- they subscribed just to get a freebie, and they will unsubcribe (just as they planned) right away. That's OK. Keep them if you can, but let them go if they want to leave. If you have great content, it will be their loss. Don't sweat it. The biggest mistake I see people make is that they promote to their list too often and too much. You need trust before you sell. Treat them with respect. Underpromise and Overdeliver. Promote selectively.

Aaron Abber EXPOSED

I have been talking a lot about how much I am getting out of Aaron Abber's Free Mentoring Program. All that is completely true. Aaron is a great guy and it's really a great program. But let me tell you something -- Abber is FULL OF CRAP when it comes to the "FREE" part. You cannot get ANYTHING IN LIFE for free. To get things in life, you have to take action. For example, if you want to learn from Aaron, you need to get over there and subscribe to his program.

Now, here is the other part that is not free. If you want to stay in his program, you have to take action and do the work that will help you make money online. What are you waiting for? (See what I mean?) People fail on line because they fail to take action. Don't do that. Don't be that person. Do something. Now.

One of the advantages of being partnered up with Aaron is having his permission to reprint some of his content. This is also encouraged as a way to help him grow his mentoring program (see, you need to take actions -- nothing in life is free).

Barely Legal Email Subscriber Tip

The following is a reprint of a post from FullTiltBlogging.com, posted with Aaron Abber's permission (he is a fool for telling you this information, so pay attention).

“I Am Tempted to Not Share This Tip”

At least, not publicly.

I don’t mind my subscribers having it–after all, they see it all the time and some have even started copy-catting me already.

But I don’t want my competitors to start using it. If they do, they will be putting to work one of the most powerful email marketing strategies I have come up with.

“Imagine If No One Ever Unsubscribed”

You work hard to get people on your subscriber list. You work hard to put together sexy content. You craft your promotional emails carefully, doing all you can to convince your subs to visit the sales page with an open, positive mindset.

You hit “send” and your carefully crafted, compelling email goes out to your loyal subscribers.

When you check with Aweber the next day you discover you have made some sales–Whoopie! But they you notice something else–3% of your subscribers hit the UNSUBSCRIBE link.

You just lost 283 subscribers. That sucks. Those people will never buy from you again–even if you recommend the perfect product for them.

You’re about to discover a simple way to change all that.

In the next two minutes you can take the unsubscribe rate for your next promotion to just a fraction of what it was on your last promotion.

“Unsubscribing is NOT a Thought Out Process”

The vast majority of unsubscribing is done almost unconsciously. You do it; I do it; we all do it. You are going through your emails, see a bulk email you aren’t interested in, scroll down to the bottom and hit the unsub link.

It’s almost automatic.

And that’s the problem. Your subscribers aren’t thinking of you. They aren’t remembering that great article you sent them last week. They don’t remember that you are pro-kitten (unlike kitten hating Darren Rowse). They just automatically unsubscribe.

“You Have to Jump In There and Say STOP”

The key to stopping them from automatically unsubscribing is to interrupt their automatic brain function and get them to think.

One way to accomplish this is to hire The Amazing Kreskin to send out powerful brain interrupting neural thought waves each time you send out a mailer, telling your subscribers not to use the link.

Of course, that might get a little cost prohibitive.

An easier way is to create a

WARNING MESSAGE

just above the unsubscribe link. (Man, I think that friggin’ flashing is going to send me into a seizure.)

“Warnings Are Poweful”

You only have to overcome the slight automatic response in order to keep those subscribers. Just create a brief message urging caution. Make them think: “Wait, do I really want to do this?”

Just making them pause for a moment will eliminate most of them from clicking on the good-bye link.

“But Wait, There’s More…”

Not only do you want them to not click the link, you want them to think about the past and potential future value of their subscription. That makes them more likely to open, read and respond to the next email you send them.

So, now that I have whet your appetite, here is my personal anti-unsubscribe message:

*CAUTION*

Using the unsubscribe below will
PERMANTELY block your email address in
our system. Use with caution.

Now, go put this at the bottom of all your emails. It will make you money.

I just put up a new report you will want to pick up.

“101 Ways to Grab New Subscribers”
84 GREAT Ideas,
11 CRAZY Ideas,
5 ILLEGAL Ideas and
ONE MARKETING BABE

http://www.FullTiltBlogging.com/101ways

Just wanted to give you a heads-up regarding Monday's post.

In Monday's article, I am going to BLOW THE LID off of Aaron Abber’s BARELY LEGAL Super-Secret “Free” Mentoring Program. His program is not free at all. I’ll expose the HIDDEN COST.

I’ll also be offering a BIG TIP (you heard it here first) about keeping your email list subscribers.

And I’ll tell you about an ALMOST SNEAKY way to further reduce your UNSUBSCRIPTIONS (unsubs).

So, check back on Monday. I'll be posting early in the morning Texas time on Monday.

Have a great weekend,

Mark

Just a quick recap on the week to let you know what I have been working on. Man, has it been a crazy week.

• Attended Aaron Abber's mentoring class. Still getting a lot out of that at very low cost. This is a great value if you want to learn about list building and lead blogging from a pro.
• Logged some time at the Member site over at Coaching With Josh.
• Published a guest post over at Garry Conn's Make Money Online blog on Article Marketing.
• Started work on a super-secret link building experiment (don't tell anyone). I am really not sure about this one. More on this later if it works.
• Worked on integrating Yahoo Pipes, WordPress and phpBay. No luck yet.
• Worked on www.historyofelvis.com. That project needs to be restarted, and I am trying to get it going again.
• Attended the killer Jason Van Orden Podcasting Teleseminar. Will definitely be blogging about that. It was great.
• Started working on an updated MasonWorld Roadmap.  Man, I have be doing this Internet Marketing thing for over six months now, and I am really starting to get an idea about what I want to be when I grow up.  More on that in another post.

There is more to tell, but I am out of time (still doing that day job thing).

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Regards,
Mark

The following post is by Aaron Abber and is reprinted with his permission.

Have you ever felt like you are spinning your wheels? Have you ever felt you are working and working and writing and writing for your blog but still get no attention, no visitors and no money?

I’ll bet you have.

You are about to discover some news that will not only encourage you, it will make you money.

There are many things about online business you can’t control—yet we often hang our emotional hat on them. You can’t control how many people visit your site. You can’t control whether Google will make you first or 11th for your best keyword phrase. You can’t control whether a celebrity blogger will link to you. You can’t control whether your “link bait” will actually catch the eyes of hundreds of other bloggers.

These results are all beyond your control.

Yet, despite the reality of these things being beyond our control, many are quick to evaluate their blogging efforts based on these uncontrollable results. Maybe you fall into that category as well. It’s no wonder many bloggers just give up.

But that’s not how you measure success. You measure success by looking at what activity you are actually engaging in. You can’t control the results of those actions, but you can control the actions themselves.

Here are some high pay-off activities. The more of these you do each day or week, the more people who will eventually visit your blog:

Commenting wisely on blog posts by high visibility blogs in your niche
Writing blog posts targeting your top keyword phrases
Writing a post with a link back to a top blogger’s post
Creating a free digital report to give away
Writing link bait
Submitting articles to article banks

Try these—they pay off!

If you are truly serious about succeeding online join me and 24 others in my free mentoring program. You’ll learn how I bring in over $12,000.00 a month, part time and how you can duplicate my efforts for yourself.

You need to go here now and sign up:

http://www.FullTiltBlogging.com/blog/?p=194

Photo by Benjamin Earwicker.

This post is by Aaron Abber. Aaron is the owner of http://www.FullTiltBlogging.com where he teaches bloggers just like you how to make money blogging. Go there now to pick up his latest book “How to Retire on 200 Blog Visitors a Day” free.

Sometimes I feel like I am "drinking from a fire hose" trying to learn about internet marketing and how to make money online. I even wrote earlier in the week that I am trying to go on an information diet. Still, I am constantly trying to keep up with all of the A-list bloggers and what they have to say about blogging, making money online, and internet marketing. Being new to internet marketing, I am constantly on the lookout for new sources of information. The problem is that each time I find a new great blog, it makes it harder to keep up.

Today, I turned the tables a bit. I found FullTiltBlogging. One of the great features of FullTiltBlogging is the daily blog summary. As the name implies, the guys at FullTiltBlogging are scouring the internet every day looking for great posts. This is really cool -- now I can check out a blog that saves me some time each day. The blog is run by Aaron Abber. I don't know much about Aaron, but he is also running a mentoring program teaching people to make money blogging. The program sounds interesting.

Check out the blog, you'll be glad you did.

Regards,
Mark

I have mentioned how much I like Caroline Middlebrook's blog before. Caroline's eBook on building niche sites in WordPress inspired my current "Niche Super-Site case study." It's inspiring to watch her progress because she is doing what I want to do -- having success making money on line without going down the "snake oil path." A lot of people refer to Caroline as "the honest blogger," and that is about the highest compliment that can be paid in my book.

So, I was surprised and excited to hear that Caroline is finally working on an email-based StumbleUpon course that will result in her building an email mailing list. I was surprised because she has resisted this in the past. She finally settled on this project because it focus on delivering valuable free content, and not on selling. In fact, she has no definite plans to sell any specific products right now. For now she is happy to add value and learn about building lists. The press was stunned and amazed, and as you can see here, the story was instantly picked up by Net Money Daily.

I also said I was excited. I was excited because I have wanted to start working on my own list. Jay and Sterling over at Internet Business Mastery are always talking about the value of lists. Like Caroline, they focus on real businesses (not snake oil). They also happen to have the best Internet Marketing Podcast on the internet. Anyway, as usual I will be able to leverage off of Caroline's excellent work. This is great for me. As a part-time internet entrepreneur, I need all the help via mentoring I can get.

See, even though this is not Caroline's focus at this time, mailing list are important for sales. I heard once (from Sterling?) that studies show that it takes an average of 7 contacts before someone buys something. The cool thing here is that Caroline is not all about money - and she will build a list of people that know that about her. I expect that if she tries to sell me something from the list, it will be something that she really believes in. Why? Because that is her behavior. So, let's forget about internet marketing for a minute. What if one day Caroline's becomes aware of someone in her community that needs some help? She can use her list to ask for some help. It's permission marketing. People on your list have given you permission to talk to them. Lists are powerful -- they are the asset in an internet marketing operation.

Now the cool thing is that Caroline is introducing the project as a contest. The winner gets the privilege of having Caroline use their Aweber Affiliate ID to sign up for Aweber's excellent mailing list management service. This is an excellent prize as the affiliate commission is paid each month for the life of the subscription. Very cool. Aweber is really supposed to be the best, and if it's good enough for Yaro Starak, it's good enough for me.

So, I knew right away, I had to try to win.

But, Caroline has thousands of readers. No telling how many entries there will be. It's all very brilliant really -- a viral contest about mailing list to get mailing list opt-ins. I love it. Anyway, I was immediately worried. See, Caroline lives in the UK, and I live in the US. I was scared to death that she might still be pissed about that whole taxation without representation - tea party thing. Then I thought that maybe she is already over that. Phew. (God save the Queen and all that).

So, I settled on a multi-part entry. Here is my entry to Caroline's email course project contest in multiple parts:

1. Appeal to her European heritage. I've never been to Stratford-upon-Avon, but I suspect quoting William Shakespeare could have some positive effect. As it happens, much like Nostradamus, Shakespeare predicted the arrival of Web 2.0. "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast." Of course he was talking about the dangers of quick love in Romeo and Juliet -- or was he?
2. Buy her a word. I actually bought the word stumble from The Big Word Project and pointed it at yet to be defined page on her site. (Caroline, you need to make a landing page. You now own the word "stumble". This is a big responsibility). The Big Word Project allows you to purchase a word from their list to represent a site. That site will then represent stumble in their list and when people click on it, they will be taken to Caroline's site. The project is aimed at changing definitions and creating a new tapestry of words, meaning altogether different things.
3. Write poetry. Women love poetry. I wrote a haiku:

Web two-point-oh comes

In it's wake, some will stumble.

Some will be stumbled.

4. Digg and Stumble her contest announcement. OK, that was shameless, I know. But, I did it. I'm not proud, but I did it. I really want to win. I need to win. Winning is everything.
5. Find a cool graphic for my post. Boy, I sure did that. The above "stumbling down the stairs" graphic is from All Sux dot Com. I have given them a backlink, so hopefully they wont be pissed that I used their graphic without permission.
6. Long sales letter. Caroline loves long sales letters. I suspect she will be using a lot of long sales letters in her email list. I could add testimonials and yellow highlighting. There could be bonus video and free ebooks if she picks me. It could be a limited time offer. I would win for sure then. Strike that. Just kidding Caroline.
7. Redesign my blog.  Sure, it's a big expense and a lot of work.  But if I really expect to win this contest, I need to go all out.  So, a blog redesign may be just the ticket!

8. Call on a higher power. Looks like some local advertising might be just what I need to win.

That about does it for my entry. If you like my entry, please leave a comment here for Caroline to see, stumble it, and then go visit her blog. Note that I reserve the right to augment my entry before the deadline...never know what the competition will bring.

Thanks,
Mark